Hello fellow F1 fanatics, we are up to the penultimate F1 Newsbites for the year. This is the Brazilian GP edition. Let’s dive into the latest news from the paddock.

 

 

Bottas pips Hamilton in Mercedes one-two in FP2

 

Valtteri Bottas topped the afternoon second practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix leading a Mercedes one-two.

 

Bottas set the benchmark with a 1:08.846 on the red-branded supersoft tyres with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton missing out on the quickest time by a whisker of three-thousandths of a second.

 

This was down to Bottas having a great middle sector whilst Hamilton had the advantage through the first and third sectors.

 

Sebastian Vettel put his Ferrari SF71H third fastest and only 0.073 seconds behind Bottas’ quick time having held top spot momentarily despite reporting to the team over the radio of something rattling around in the cockpit on that run and the first one.

 

“There’s still something lose, jumping back and forth,” reports Vettel after posting the quickest time. With Ferrari continuing to search inside the cockpit after the German returned to the garage.

 

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo ended the day fourth fastest, and 0.318 adrift of Bottas’ time whilst his Free Practice 1 pace-setting team-mate Max Verstappen missed the first 45 minutes of the session due to an oil leak.

 

The Dutchman returned to the track and firstly moved to sixth place with his initial stint on the soft compounds before jumping ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari for fifth place.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean was best of the rest in seventh and just 0.174 seconds in-front of Sauber’s eighth-placed Charles Leclerc.

 

The other Haas VF-18 of Kevin Magnussen took ninth place and ahead of Force India’s Esteban Ocon who rounded out the top ten.

 

Sergio Perez was 11th in the second Force India, although the Mexican spent most of the hour and a half session in the garage due to a steering issue and the rack had to be replaced, he returned to action with 15 minutes remaining.

 

Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was 12th quickest in the session and pipped McLaren’s Fernando Alonso by just 0.002 seconds with the pairing ahead of Carlos Sainz’ 14th-placed Renault.

 

Sainz slightly banged wheels with Grosjean’s Haas VF-18 in the final stages of the session at the first corner when both were running their race stints.

 

The second Sauber of Marcus Ericsson was 15th fastest and 1.685 seconds off the pace and finished the day in-front of Williams Martini Racing’s Sergey Sirotkin who was 16th and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne who ended the day 17th.

 

Lance Stroll was 18th in his Williams and ahead of Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley who was 19th with the Kiwi the slowest to set a time on the supersofts and was under a second slower than best of the rest Grosjean.

 

The session was red flagged nine minutes in due to a crash from Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg coming out of Juncao left-hand corner that leads down the long main straight.

 

Hulkenberg placed his right side wheels onto the grass behind the kerb at the exit and his RS18 racer spun and hit the barriers as the German tried to follow the circuit as it continued to bend left.

 

The RS18 suffered major damage at the rear and the right front, which meant the German could not continue on for the rest of the session and finished at the rear.

 

Official: Vietnam Grand Prix coming to Hanoi in 2020

 

 

Formula 1 and the city of Hanoi announced during the week that a Grand Prix will be held in the Vietnamese capital in April 2020.

 

This is the first race to be announced under the sport’s leadership from Liberty Media, and the Vietnamese Grand Prix represents Formula 1’s commitment to the Asian region with Grands Prix already established in China, Japan and Singapore.

 

It also is part of Formula 1’s long term strategy to broaden the sport’s appeal and attract new fans and audiences.

 

Hanoi promoter Vin Group signed a three year deal to host a Grand Prix, which will be a street race in the heart of the city.

 

Working together with the City of Hanoi authorities, the Promoter and Formula 1 officials, the 5.565km circuit will deliver a spectacle for the drivers as well as the fans.

 

You can read the full statements from Formula 1 Chairman and CEO Chase Carey, City of Hanoi Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung and Vingroup Vice-Chairman and CEO Nguyen Viet Quang at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.vietnam-to-host-formula-1-grand-prix-from-2020.5GwYlGbr56A0GCycMuUM0G.html.

 

Hamilton: “Car has improved from Mexico”

 

 

After celebrating his fifth World Championship crown at the Mexican Grand Prix in which he described as a ‘horrible race’, with his Mercedes finishing the race in fourth place behind winner Max Verstappen and the two Ferrari’s, Lewis Hamilton was hopeful he can fight for victory this weekend in Brazil after a promising Friday.

 

Whilst the Briton wrapped up his fifth World Driver’s title, the season is not over with the Silver Arrows still fighting for the Constructors Championship and are well aware a fifth consecutive double championship haul will be celebrated in Brackley if arch-rivals Ferrari fail to score Mercedes by 13 points.

 

The signs of a great weekend look promising with Valtteri Bottas pipping Mercedes team-mate Hamilton in FP2 by just 0.003 of a second, while Sebastian Vettel was within a tenth of the Finn’s benchmark, suggesting a close-fight heading into Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

 

It was a big boost for Hamilton after a tough race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, but the Briton is hoping to claim his second victory in Brazil and his 50th since the V6 Turbo Hybrid era in 2014.

 

“The car felt better than it did… in Mexico,” explained Hamilton. “We still have problems that we are trying to work through and understand. But the pace doesn’t seem too bad so just have to keep working at it.”

 

When asked who will be a threat this weekend after seeing Red Bull’s Verstappen topping FP1 or Ferrari who were a lot closer to the Silver Arrows in FP2 he added: “Maybe Ferrari.”

 

Hamilton won a wet and wild Brazilian Grand Prix in 2016, his only victory at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace and with rain and storms predicted again this weekend, it could give him a major boost of success.

 

“I love the rain,” Hamilton continued. “It’s whatever happens. I love driving in the rain but we have to work on making sure we are quick enough in the dry. It’s quite close clearly between us at the front but I think there’s more potential there so we have to try and squeeze it out.” Hamilton concluded.

 

On the other side of the garage, pace-setter Bottas was satisfied with the improvements in his W09 EQ Power+, having finished sixth in the morning session before topping the time-sheets in FP2.

 

“The car seemed much better in the afternoon,” explained the Finn. “I have to say, the morning was quite difficult. It was easy to make mistakes, I had so many lock-ups and many aborted laps.”

 

“So then it was difficult to build a good rhythm. But second practice, we really improved the car and I think we found a rhythm. Pace seems to be good. But as always here, it’s a short track so the margins are small.” Bottas concluded.

 

Red Bull: “Pole a bit of a stretch”

 

 

Red Bull enjoyed a mixed first day at the Brazilian Grand Prix with Max Verstappen narrowly quickest in FP1 while team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was the Milton Keynes-based outfit’s highest runner in fourth place during the afternoon session.

 

However, Verstappen was set back after an oil leak kept the Dutchman stuck in the garage for half the 90 minute session before being hit with traffic on his supersoft runs when he finally made it out on track.

 

Qualifying in Brazil has not been the Anglo-Austrian squad’s strong place since the V6 Turbo Hybrid era began, with Red Bull never being higher than the third fastest car in Sao Paulo. That’s mostly down to a hilly sector three and a power deficit compared to Mercedes and Ferrari.

 

This meant as Ricciardo summed it ‘pole will be a bit of a stretch’ although solid race pace suggests that Red Bull could still come away with a result in the race.

 

“You can see the car is great in the middle sector,” explained Team Principal Christian Horner. “We’re okay in the first sector. It’s the last sector that is a bit painful. If we can get a car on the second row here, we’ve got good race pace – you could see the others were blistering their tyres quicker than we were. I think come Sunday, especially if the temperature increases, we’re in good shape.”

 

Last round’s Mexican Grand Prix winner Verstappen focused more on the race compared to Saturday’s qualifying as he looked back on Friday’s outing.

 

“Straight away I was actually quite happy with the car,” explained Verstappen post-Free Practice 2. “I don’t think we are going to fight for pole position [but] the car is in a good window. In the long runs, I was quite happy. There a few things to improve but I’m quite confident we can improve them.”

 

After his eighth DNF of the season in Mexico, Ricciardo will take another hit in Brazil with the Australian being hit with a five-grid placed penalty for a new turbocharger due to a marshal squirting a fire extinguisher up the stricken RB14’s exhaust pipe at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

 

At a circuit where overtaking is possible, and being regarded as one of the best over-takers in the field, Ricciardo is looking forward to going on a charge come race day, as well as attempting a different strategy to try and help him secure a podium in his penultimate race for the Milton Keynes-outfit.

 

“Race pace seems solid,” explained Ricciardo after reflecting on the day’s running. “It’s always a tricky track here to get the car set up right – it’s quite demanding on the tyres, so we struggled a little bit with that in the morning, but we found a sweeter spot in the afternoon.”

 

“All three tyres don’t actually seem that bad to start the race on so we’ll try and do something different, maybe, on Sunday.” Ricciardo concluded.

 

Hulkenberg: “I was passenger in FP2 crash”

 

 

Nico Hulkenberg has good memories of Interlagos having claimed pole at the 2010 event and lead laps during the 2012 and 14 Grands Prix. However, his 2018 weekend got off to a bad start after crashing heavily in FP2 after taking too much kerb at the final corner.

 

“I ran a bit too wide at the exit of the last corner, took a little bit too much kerb there, wanted a bit too much probably,” explained Hulkenberg, whose shunt came on his only stint in the 90 minute session.

 

“The car bottomed out, and from there it was done, I was a passenger. Once I bottomed out that really pulled me out of the track and onto the grass. Obviously no grip on the grass, and it was inevitable from there that I would hit the wall. It’s a pity and it’s frustrating. Obviously it’s far from ideal to crash on a Friday, it’s not what I want, but unfortunately it happened today.”

 

Luckily the German’s RS-18 racer suffered no major damage in the incident that the Renault technicians wouldn’t be able to repair overnight, though Hulkenberg isn’t expecting to be near the front of the field this weekend.

 

When asked about how the rest of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend will go, Hulkenberg said: “Tricky. I think we don’t look as competitive as in Mexico and in Austin. A little bit as expected, this track is a bit more challenging for us in the balance that we face. Challenging weekend ahead.”

 

Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team: “Smooth day of running”

 

 

It was a smooth first day of running for the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team at the Brazilian Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi completing the first practice session for the Hinwil-based outfit with both driver’s focusing on aerodynamic testing and the team focusing on optimising performance for qualifying and the race.

 

Both drivers were running strong in the morning session with Leclerc in ninth and Giovinazzi 13th.

 

Marcus Ericsson returned to the cockpit of his C37 in FP2, where he and Leclerc tested various aerodynamic configurations and tyre management over the three available compounds for the weekend.

 

The two drivers showed the Ferrari-powered C37 has potential on the Interlagos circuit, putting on strong performances in both shorter and longer runs with Leclerc ending the day in eighth and Ericsson 15th.

 

In today’s coming qualifying session, drivers and teams across the entire field will face a difficult challenge to put in the perfect lap as the short track will see plenty of laps being hindered due to traffic and minimal gaps between lap times of all competitors.

 

The threat of rain and storms will provide an extra challenge for the drivers and teams as they take on the physically demanding Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, a place of many historical moments and legendary battles in the sport’s history.

 

“It was a positive day overall,” explained Leclerc who reflected on the day’s running. “We were quite strong in our qualifying pace and feel confident for tomorrow.”

 

“Some work still lies ahead of us in determining where we are in terms of our race pace in comparison to the other teams, but it is looking good so far. The weather was better than expected, and we gathered quite a bit of data in dry conditions, which is positive. I look forward to seeing what we can achieve tomorrow.” Leclerc concluded.

 

On the other side of the garage, IndyCar-bound Ericsson was satisfied with the C37’s potential despite missing out on the morning session “The second practice session went smoothly, and I completed plenty of laps then.”

 

“The car felt good in terms of the balance and we will work over night to analyse and define what we will do tomorrow. We know that the lap times are very tight here, so it will be about putting everything together in qualifying. In general, it has been a positive Friday and we have a good base to work on for the rest of the weekend.” Ericsson concluded.

 

Ferrari: “There’s more work to be done”

 

 

With an outside chance of the Maranello marque claiming it’s seventeenth Constructors Championship despite trailing 55 points behind leaders Mercedes in the standings and after losing ground due to a combination of mistakes and wrong development direction, Vettel feels Ferrari are back on the right path.

 

Vettel was second quickest in Free Practice One and ended the afternoon session in third place behind the two Mercedes with the German explaining that tyre wear is looking to be the issue this weekend as well as finding the right balance.

 

“Today was a good Friday and I think we had decent runs,” Vettel said. “The biggest worry we had today was a little screw that had ended up between my feet, but we found it in the end, so apart from that, I think it was ok.”

 

“Tyre management was also ok, but Sunday is going to be more challenging. However, we still need to improve the car as it is does not feel perfect yet. There’s still some work to do, but I think that if we can get the balance in the window, it can be fine. It is supposed to be hotter over the next days, so that could make it tricky for the tire management, but we’ll see”. Vettel concluded.

 

Vettel’s title challenge ended at last round’s Mexican Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton wrapping up his fifth World Driver’s Championship crown.

 

On the other side of the garage, Kimi Raikkonen ended the day sixth quickest in FP2 with the Finn reflecting the words of team-mate Vettel that there’s more work to do on the SF71-H racers.

 

“It was not the easiest day today, quite tricky in many ways, but it’s Friday and that’s how it goes sometimes,” explained Raikkonen. “Very often, on the first day of practice, we struggle a bit here and there; there are some sections of the track which are good for us, and some others which are not that good, but that’s part of the game.”

 

“Regarding the tyres, the harder compound felt a bit slippery, but it’s more or less what we expected. For sure we have some work to do; we’ll make some changes and then we’ll see where we get to”. Raikkonen concluded.

 

The Scuderia need to outscore Mercedes by 13 points this weekend to extend the Constructors Championship fight to the final round at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.