quoteHungarian GP – Allison: “Much work on both projects”
Maranello, 22 July – The Tour de France, currently in full swing, has a daily prize at the end of each stage known as the Combativity Award, given out to the most aggressive rider. If Formula 1 did the same, chances are Fernando Alonso would be winning that accolade, for his duels with Vettel in the British GP and with Ricciardo in last Sunday’s German GP.
“It was good to bring Fernando home a little bit ahead of where he started in Hockenheim,” reflects Scuderia Ferrari’s Technical Director James Allison. “Sunday’s race was exciting for us because there were lots of close-fought battles, plenty of overtaking and as far as we were concerned, lots of little dramas for us to manage, arriving at the finish line having monitored fuel consumption and the ERS system, all while keeping an eye on the ever present threat of rain during the race.
“However, it was disappointing that we didn’t manage to get Kimi into the points even if some of that was down to the damage sustained to his front wing earlier in the race.” In Germany, Kimi confirmed that changes to the F14 T meant that he was beginning to feel more comfortable with the handling of the car, so hopefully in Hungary, a race that sees the biggest turnout of the year from Finnish fans, he can get a result worthy of his talent.
Hot weather was the dominant factor in Germany, apart from race day and similar conditions can be expected at the Hungaroring. “It’s usually very hot which is a challenge for the drivers but also for the cars and their cooling systems,” confirms Allison. “The heat will most especially affect the Energy Recovery System, because it’s a short lap with no real straights and there will be a fair amount of energy passing to and from the battery. The track itself is usually very dusty and dirty for the start of free practice, but then evolves very quickly as the rubber goes down.”
The mathematical halfway mark of the season was passed a while ago, but the Hungarian weekend leads into the official mid-season two week break. “One week after the Hungarian Grand Prix, we are not allowed to do any work in the factory,” explains the Englishman. “So we will be trying to fit quite a lot into that week, to be ready to be up and running again immediately after we return, to be prepared for the next Grand Prix in Belgium”.
“This stage of the season always marks the transition point between the current racing car and the next season’s car, with resources in the factory transitioning from one to the other,” continues Allison. “So it’s a time of much work on both projects, with plenty of effort still going into improving lap time on the 2014 car, while pushing ahead with the 2015 project.” - See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/hungari...h.cgfMnA1f.dpuf
quoteOskari Saari @OskariSaari 49m #Kimi to #mtvf1: 100% sure that he'll drive for @InsideFerrari next year as well. Could not care less about all the shit in media.
quote Oskari Saari @OskariSaari · 46 Min. #Kimi to #mtvf1: 100% sure that he'll drive for @InsideFerrari next year as well. Could not care less about all the shit in media.
quoteRäikkönen: 2015 car will be more to my liking
Kimi Räikkönen is certain that next year's Ferrari design will be better-suited to his driving style.
The former World Champion has struggled on his return to the Maranello-based outfit, failing to finish higher than seventh during the first half of the season amid persistent troubles with the handling of the F14 T chassis.
He currently lies 12th in the standings, eight places and 78 points adrift of team-mate Fernando Alonso.
But speaking ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Räikkönen says he expects a much stronger 2015.
"Obviously the team knows what I like. The designers are designing a new car. I have 100 per cent faith in the guys back at the factory that they can change things so the car will be more to my liking," explained Räikkönen.
He added: "We have to improve, but we are pushing. This year is really bad and we are not where we should be. We have a lot of work to do, but I'm sure that we have the tools and the people to turn things around."
Räikkönen has finished on the podium at the past five Hungarian Grands Prix and won the race in 2005
quoteHungarian GP – Raikkonen: “100% belief in the guys in the factory”
Mogyorod, 24 July – Kimi Raikkonen had his usual meeting with the media this afternoon, in the hot conditions that are likely to typify this Hungarian weekend. As to how the Scuderia Ferrari man expects to perform at the Hungaroring, it’s the usual Thursday guessing game. “Hopefully, we’ll get that good feeling and get the car where we want and just have a clean weekend without any issues in any practices and can try things where we want,” he began. “Even though it’s twisty and people say you can’t overtake here, we’ve seen in the past that it can change a lot in the race after qualifying so we’ll see how it goes.”
On the much discussed topic that the Finn has found it hard to get a good feeling form his F14 T, the Ferrari man felt progress was being made. “There’s sometimes a good feeling and unfortunately it doesn’t last long, but last weekend was a better feeling again, we changed something in the car so hopefully that will put us in the right direction and we can get to where we should be.”
Kimi has spent a lot of time in Maranello and what he saw in the factory has put him in a positive frame of mind when it comes to next year. “I have 100% belief in the people in the factory and I know that we have the tools and the people to do the job we’re supposed to do. I’m sure we can be where we should be, hopefully already next year. With Marco (Mattiacci,) he didn’t have much knowledge of F1 when he came in but he has a smart head. I think he’s doing good work, making good decisions, but it takes time to get involved and get people’s trust but I think he’s the guy we need.”
quoteRaikkonen sure he can turn season around Kimi Raikkonen is confident he can start to reap the rewards of his recent progress with the Ferrari F14 T in Hungary this weekend after a series of disappointing results.
Raikkonen has scored just two points in the last five races and finished 11th in Germany after a poor qualifying result and car damage in the race. However, he is confident he made progress at Hockenheim and is hoping for a problem-free weekend to make the most of his progress.
"Overall it was a bit better and a lot more to my liking over the weekend," he said. "But I did qualifying and we were a bit out of position compared to where I think we should have been. Then you end up between the cars fighting and we got damaged twice on the front wing and I think that compromised our race a lot.
"Probably we should have done different things on the tactics, but that's how it went. There were some good times and hopefully that's happening more and we can keep it all the time.
"Obviously [at Ferrari] it's a different team, different car design and certain things are slightly different to how it was in the past. The biggest difference is that it's not to my liking, and unfortunately these are not easy things to change.
"I'm sure we can turn it around and sometimes there is a good feeling but it doesn't last long. Last weekend was a better feeling again and we changed something and got something new in the car so hopefully that will start putting us in the right direction and we will get to where we should be."
Raikkonen's highlight of the season came in Monaco where he was running third before a collision with Max Chilton. He is hoping the Hungaroring's tight layout will give him a chance to be competitive again this weekend.
"It's a different circuit more close to Monaco than the other place. We were having quite a good race there but obviously we have to see if we get that good feeling and get the car where we want and have that good feeling without any issues in practice to try things however we want.
"We will have to see tomorrow, but usually it is a good race and even this twisty track where people say you can't overtake, we have seen in the past that it can change a lot in the race after qualifying. We'll see how it goes."
quoteAlonso: Raikkonen having the same difficulties as me
Fernando Alonso has no concerns about Kimi Raikkonen’s performances for Ferrari in 2014, explaining how they are both struggling to work with the troublesome F14 T car.
The 2014-spec vehicle has proved to be something of a problem child for Ferrari, causing the Italian marque to slip to fourth place in the constructors’ championship behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Williams.
While Alonso has scored points at every single race, Raikkonen has struggled, recording a best finish of seventh. Nevertheless, the Spaniard is unconcerned about his teammate.
“I don’t really have an opinion on that,” he said when asked about Raikkonen’s struggles. “Obviously, the car is not great, we lack some downforce, some traction. We had some difficulties under braking in the first half of the races, brake-by-wire and all the systems that are new this year. Probably he was not feeling confident with the car, or he was not totally happy with the balance.
“At the moment, we are not super happy with the performance, either him or me, and we try to keep improving and score more points, especially with the constructors’ championship. We’re going backwards a little bit and we need to put both cars in the points as many times as possible.”
Alonso confirmed that he is constantly sharing feedback and information with Raikkonen, despite the Finn having a reputation for a less co-operative approach from his time at Lotus.
“Definitely we work a lot together,” Alonso confirmed. “The meetings are quite long this year, because we have quite a lot of things to sort out after the races, and we’ve been constantly making our suggestions and our comments on what we see on the track, and try to help the engineers to transfer that to Maranello and translate those comments into ideas to help the car.
“It’s not a big change from the work that I have done with Felipe [Massa]; it’s a working relationship trying to help the team all the time.”
Both drivers will be hoping to get Ferrari back ahead of Williams in the constructors’ championship this weekend after dropping behind the British team in Germany. However, Alonso is thought to be considering his options for 2015, and could walk away from Ferrari in favor of a move back to McLaren if the stars align and he is that unhappy at Maranello.
Every f1 weekend we hope it will be a good one and then something happens. Even I am tired of it! But there's nothing else to do than keep hoping for a turn in this shitty season!! I have a lot of thoughts I want to share at some point but need some time to put them in order and write them...
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Thu Jul 24, 2014 6:53 am (Last edited: Thu Jul 24, 2014 6:54 am)
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Mark and Kimi
