quoteKimi knows how to exploit the potential of the SF16-H
“I think that if we manage to put a good lap together and do our maximum in qualifying, then I’m sure that we’ll be more or less there in front. This should make our race easier and probably we can use our speed. We know where we are in the Championship and this is not the position we want to be, we want to be at the top, but so far we haven’t got what we aim for as a team, myself included. We know the areas we have to improve to get there and it’s not easy, we keep working hard and improving things and try to be as soon as we can in the position. Regarding James Allison leaving the team, it’s not my job to comment and to be honest I don’t want to get involved because I have a great respect for him.”
Big FIA meeting today. The results in short: no halo 2017, the radio ban is not longer and they will not longer start the races behind the safety car when it rains. Here you can read more: http://f1madness.co.za/halo-head-protect...ctions-relaxed/ Not sure the drivers will be happy. Seb said today, that 90-95% of the drivers want the halo.
quoteKimi Raikkonen: F1 driver meetings rarely lead anywhere
9:08 PM CEST
Kimi Raikkonen says drivers are rarely listened to by rule-makers when they voice their concerns about Formula One.
Raikkonen labelled F1's rule enforcement "a joke" in Hungary after seeing Max Verstappen escape punishment despite some very aggressive driving under braking as the pair diced for fifth position. It came at the end of a controversial weekend, which also involved confusion over yellow flag rules in qualifying.
With Friday's driver briefing expected to be a long one with plenty of issues on the table , Raikkonen doubts the discussions will lead anywhere meaningful.
"There's always a lot of talk in Formula One, half the time it's rumours and the other half is something else," Raikkonen said. "There's nothing wrong with meetings, when there's a purpose behind it's fine, then we get somewhere. If you guys [the media] were there in the meetings, you'd see it's been the same things for the last ten years. Most of the time, it's about blue flags and circuit limits - stuff like that. Obviously now there will be another thing.
"Sometimes it feels that if they'd listen to what we say it would probably change and fix something's but we're not the guys that make the rules. We say our side of the story and who knows what happens with that. For sure there will be discussions, but let's see what happens."
When asked if he has spoken to Verstappen to clear the air, Raikkonen said it did not matter because the next incident he has with a driver could lead to a different verdict from the stewards.
"No, I haven't had any talks with anybody. In a way, it's hard to say what will happen the next time, it may even never happen, you never know. You cannot just rely on what happened the last time because people will look at it in a different way.
"If the next time we touch they me penalise me or him - that's the problem, because you cannot say this is how to drive and this is what's going to happen next time. It may be a completely different story and that's the issue."
quoteKimi confident with further overnight improvement “On Friday it’s always difficult to have a clear idea of where you are, from tomorrow we’ll understand more, but the session today was not too bad. For sure there’s some work to be done to improve, but more or less we are about there. Obviously we want to be in the front, so this evening we are going to focus on fixing some things and improve in certain areas, then I’m sure we’ll be ok.”
Nico Rosberg claimed his fifth pole position of the 2016 Formula 1 season at the German Grand Prix.
Having been outpaced by Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the first two segments of qualifying, Rosberg was on the back foot after the first runs in Q3 having had to abort his lap because of an "electronic issue".
Hamilton meanwhile went quickest by six tenths of a second among those who completed an early run.
Rosberg headed out early for his second run on super-softs, presumably to give him the option of a second lap if required, and took top spot by just over a tenth of a second.
Hamilton then set off for his final run, but after being just over a tenth of a second faster than Rosberg in the first sector, locked up at the Turn 6 hairpin and fell short.
Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo beat team-mate Max Verstappen to fourth, 0.363s off Rosberg's pace.
Ferrari locked out the third row, with Kimi Raikkonen outpacing Sebastian Vettel by almost two tenths to win the intra-team battle.
Force India and Williams had a very close battle for the final four places in the top 10, with the four cars covered by just 0.105s.
Nico Hulkenberg won the battle ahead of Valtteri Bottas, with Sergio Perez ninth ahead of Felipe Massa.
Esteban Gutierrez was the fastest driver in Q2 to be eliminated, ending up 11th on the grid, after briefly breaking into the top 10 with his final run before being eliminated by Massa's late improvement.
McLaren driver Jenson Button was 12th ahead of Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz Jr, who is under investigation for impeding Massa at Turn 2.
Fernando Alonso was 14th after running wide over a kerb and shedding some small parts of his front wing in the stadium section - although he also complained about being held up by Vettel's slow Ferrari.
Romain Grosjean, who lost most of Saturday morning practice to a gearbox problem that will lead to a five-place penalty, was 15th ahead of Renault driver Jolyon Palmer, the Briton making his first Q2 appearance since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March.
Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat was the surprise driver to be eliminated in Q1 thanks to late improvements from the Renault drivers and Manor's Pascal Wehrlein.
Palmer's final lap put him into Q2, with Kevin Magnussen taking 17th place with a lap less than a tenth slower than his team-mate.
Despite not believing he could have gone any quicker after his second run, Wehrlein used a third set of super-softs to take 18th with what he described as a "great" lap ahead of the baffled Kvyat.
Sauber pairing Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson locked out the back row, with the former just over a tenth faster than his team-mate.
Quote: jpp47 wrote in post #9Good to see Kimi ahead of Seb......!😃
It's definitely good to see Kimi's performances this season compared to last.. But it's not so great to see the Ferrari about 3/4 of a second off of the Pole in such a 'short' lap.
I think it was pretty obvious Allison was going to leave the team ever since the tragedy with his wife. Something isn't right within the team, and it has nothing to do with the drivers. It's just a damn shame that the car isn't competitive enough to even be 2nd best on the grid anymore..