POS. DRIVER TEAM TIME 1 LEWIS HAMILTON MERCEDES 1:22.000 2 NICO ROSBERG MERCEDES 1:22.280 3 DANIEL RICCIARDO RED BULL RACING 1:22.680 4 MAX VERSTAPPEN RED BULL RACING 1:23.087 5 KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN FERRARI 1:23.113 6 SEBASTIAN VETTEL FERRARI 1:23.334 7 VALTTERI BOTTAS WILLIAMS 1:23.522 8 CARLOS SAINZ TORO ROSSO 1:23.643 9 SERGIO PEREZ FORCE INDIA 1:23.782 10 FERNANDO ALONSO MCLAREN 1:23.981
It was not an easy day: we did our best, but the result is a bit disappointing. We seemed to struggle quite a lot in the last sector and I’m not surprised we were losing a lot of time there. Before qualifying we made some changes to my set-up and the car felt better, but it was not easy to get the laps that we wanted and make the handling exactly as we desired. The car felt ok yesterday, today I was quicker, but the wind has been turning around a bit, making some places quite tricky. My last run was better than so far today, but obviously it’s not where we want to be. Our rivals did a better job today, we have to keep working and improving and see what we can do tomorrow in the race.
quoteMarchionne's faith in Arrivabene 'beyond any question'
By Chris Medland, 15/05/2016 at 12:02
Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne insists his confidence in team principal Maurizio Arrivabene is "beyond any question".
Marchionne increased the level of expectation at Ferrari this year following three race victories in 2015, but so far Mercedes has taken every pole position and won all four races. The difficult start to the season led to reports in the Italian press that Arrivabene could be replaced as part of a senior management overhaul.
However asked if Arrivabene has his confidence, Marchionne replied: "Totally, totally. Beyond any question."
Speaking in the Barcelona paddock on Sunday, Marchionne also reserved praise for the two drivers and says there is no need for change at Ferrari.
"No, I still think we have two of the world’s best pilots … We probably have the best pilot. I probably shouldn’t be saying this with four drivers in front of us but I think we have great pilots. I think the team is in the best shape I’ve seen it in a long, long time.
"I think they need to work diligently to fix these issues … I would not make a huge issue of the fact that yesterday we had this out of body experience with operating the car in a temperature window which was not proper. Had we known it we would have done a variety of things differently.
"We’re learning and the process has never happened to us, so we’ll get better in this."
Despite the poor performance on Saturday - when Kimi Raikkonen qualified fifth and Sebastian Vettel sixth - Marchionne says a discussion with Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche reassured him Mercedes had suffered the same problem in the past.
"Yesterday afternoon I think we left whatever luck we had, we left elsewhere - it could be in your pants for all I know, but it was not at the track.
"I had an interesting conversation with Dieter about this, Mercedes had a similar issue to this. There’s an operating window of temperature for the tyres which as a result of the increase in temperatures on the track this time around … we were not ready, we were caught off guard. Both drivers felt inadequate at the time but there was not much could be done.
"It’s going to be a very difficult race. I think having four drivers of the calibre in front of Ferrari is going to make the race tough. That’s life, it will happen … things like this happen."
Quote: Olga wrote in post #23 4. and finally, having faced huge trouble last week which may have prevented me to go to the planned monaco trip, i think i'll make it!
quoteKimi reckons win was close but is pleased after a ‘difficult’ weekend
I had a poor start, with massive wheel spin when I released the clutch. I managed to recover some places in the first few corners and then I caught up with Max pretty easily. The car was ok and the speed was good, but once you are following another car for many laps this doesn’t help the tires and I was missing a bit of grip and downforce. It was a struggle to follow him close, I never really had a good run on him out of the last corner because he was really fast there. It’s a bit disappointing when you get that close and you don’t win, but after a difficult weekend we have to be somehow happy for this result. As a team we keep working as hard as we can and try to get the wins, we keep fighting and when we have difficult weekends likes this one, we have to keep the fight alive and be up there to score points. Max really deserves this win, for me he’s not a surprise. He was doing a very good job already last year and today in a better car he was able to win.
I'm not as happy as I could be, because it was a nice chance for a P1 for Kimi... that said, of course I am very happy and surprised by Max's drive, not anyone can keep Kimi behind like that for that many laps. Yes, the track helped him a bit, but still a very good drive.
I am very glad to hear our girls will all go to Monaco, so I wish them a very nice trip and a great race for them to see.
About the Mercs... I agree with Olga
quote Q: Coming to you Kimi, second today and second in the championship. Swings and roundabouts for you: the start cost you but then the strategy came towards you. Youngest driver in the field against the oldest, what were you thinking in the final laps?
KR: yeah, I had a poor start. When I released the clutch I got wheelspin and it’s impossible to recover from the first part of wheelpsin when that happens. Luckily, I managed to go around the people in Turn Three and I didn’t lose too badly. It could have been an awful lot more worse. I think speed-wise it was pretty OK. I was able to catch the three guys in front of me. But in the end when I got to Max, I got close but I could not follow close enough or get a good enough exit in the last corner because I was close and obviously I gave quite a hard time to my tyres to following him for so many laps. It’s disappointing not to win but after yesterday and after a bad start I take what we got today and especially for Ferrari as we quite a good points today with two cars. It’s going forward, not what we want, but I’m happy for him [Max]. We all know he is a good driver and he’s in a good team now. When it comes to youngest and oldest, it happens to be like that. I raced against his father. That actually sounds even more scary. In F1! That’s how it goes.
Kimi's right, him having raced with Verstappen's father is scaryer than Max (the youngest) racing Kimi (the oldest) today.
@Olga, please don't ask Kvyat to sign a Max Verstappen pic now
Quote: WHATEVER wrote in post #29 @Olga, please don't ask Kvyat to sign a Max Verstappen pic now
I will take care and tell her the right names (and it´s not that I don´t told her last year this is Max. But she run and let him sign- the Kvyat picture )