Formula 1 2018 VTB Russian Grand Prix

Russian Grand Prix – Sochi, 30 September

Posted: 30.09.2018
Source: Ferrari

Maurizio Arrivabene: “Right from Friday, the Sochi weekend was rather a difficult one for us. Despite all our efforts to find the ideal set-up, neither on Saturday nor in the race were we competitive enough to worry our closest rivals. Compared to the way we performed at other circuits, something was missing here and so we were unable to reduce the points gap. On paper, the next race in Japan should have very similar characteristics to the one at Silverstone, so in Suzuka, we will get a more precise indication as to the potential of our car. If it goes well, we will know that, despite the difficult situation in terms of the classification, we still have the right tools with which to fight all the way to the very end.”

Sebastian Vettel: “Today the feeling with the car was very good and I was able to push, but I just wasn’t as fast as the others. Obviously, today it was better than yesterday in terms of pace, but it wasn’t enough to put pressure on our competitors. We tried everything and I am happy that we got a podium finish, but obviously this is not the result we were looking for. My start was good, but there wasn’t much track space for me and I could go nowhere. After pit stop we were able to overcome Lewis, but he could pull ahead more than us and at the end there was nothing to do. We lost some points during the two last races and it doesn’t help, but we have our plan to follow and hopefully we can make some progress in the races to come. Maybe the next couple of tracks are better suited for us, we will know when we get there. We need to keep pushing and try; who knows what will happen in the next races.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “Not much happened in my race today, I was most of the time on my own. Unfortunately, this is what we kind of expected to happen. The feeling with the car was pretty good; with the first set of tires we suffered a bit with the front left, but then on the Softs the car was very nice to drive. Unfortunately yesterday in qualifying we were not fast enough and obviously today in the race it was very difficult to overtake.”

Russian Grand Prix – Third and fourth in Sochi

Posted: 30.09.2018
Source: Ferrari

Seb on the podium, Kimi right behind in Sochi

Sochi, 30 September – Scuderia Ferrari ended the Russian GP in the positions from which they started, third for Seb Vettel and fourth for Kimi Raikkonen. Now it’s time to look ahead to the next Grand Prix, which takes place this coming weekend in Suzuka.

FILM OF THE RACE – Rain before the start caught everyone’s attention, as a few drops fell on the grid, while the sun still shone. The thermometer indicated that air temperature was 24 and the track was at 27.
The first four started on Ultrasoft tyres, with the SF71Hs both on the second row. Seb tucked into Hamilton’s slipstream, getting alongside at Turn 1, but he was unable to get past as they hit the braking area. Kimi was right behind. The pace settled down in the first stint prior to the pit stops.

Bottas came in early on lap 13. Ferrari reacted, bringing Sebastian in next time round for a set of yellow Softs. The number 5 car came out in clear air behind Valtteri. Seb gave it his all and when Hamilton, who had to cover the Ferrari move, came out of the pits, he found the red car ahead of him. The two men engaged in battle, but the Mercedes man managed to retake second place. The race director announced an investigation into Vettel’s first defensive move, but it was deemed that no offence had been committed.

All this left Kimi in the lead and he tried to get out ahead of Ricciardo. He pulled it off and everyone on track was now using the harder tyre. Both Ferraris posted fastest race laps. Verstappen was leading, but he had yet to pit and the others were lined up behind him.

On lap 25, Bottas slowed and let his team-mate through. Seb continued to force the pace, setting the fastest lap on lap 32, followed by Kimi. In terms of race pace, the Ferrari seemed more competitive than in qualifying. Raikkonen did what he had to fend off Verstappen, who only changed tyres in the closing stages. Seb was slowed by backmarkers and that’s how the race ended. “We tried,” said Vettel over the radio. And we’ll try again.

Russian Grand Prix – Attacking from 2nd row

Posted: 29.09.2018
Source: Ferrari

Seb and Kimi looking forward to race opportunities

Sochi, September 29 – The qualifying session ended with P3 and P4 for Seb and Kimi respectively. Both drivers used two sets of Hypersoft tyres for their Q3 runs, but managed to make the cut in Q2 with the Options (Ultrasoft), which will be the ones they start on tomorrow, thus being able to count on running a longer first stint for the 53-lap race.

SEB: I think the car today was better than yesterday. The session was fine, and I think we could use our car to its full potential, there was nothing wrong with it, but we just weren’t very fast enough. Nevertheless, the race is tomorrow, and if I can bring the good feeling I had towards the end of the session into the race, then I think we are in a good position. For sure, I want to do everything well and I think that there is a chance to overtake after the start. We need a good getaway-but not too good, otherwise you end up giving the other guy a tow!

KIMI: Today In qualifying our car was the best we have seen this weekend . On my last attempt in Q3 I had a pretty good lap going , but then one of the Mercedes backed off in front of me and the lap did not come together. The feeling with the car was pretty good, but obviously it was not enough. Overall, It looks like we are a bit behind here, and it has been like this all weekend so far. Obviously it’s not ideal, but it is what it is. This is not an easy place to overtake, but tomorrow we’ll do our best and see what happens.

Russian Grand Prix – Improvement expected

Posted: 28.09.2018
Source: Ferrari

Seb and Kimi comment on today’s session

SEB: “Some Fridays are good, some aren’t and this one hasn’t been great for us. We are not where we want to be yet and we’ve got some catching-up to do. Today it was difficult to put the laps together, we went through the tyres too fast, especially the front left, and struggled a bit with both the fast laps and with fuel on board. There was also a lot of traffic and obviously this never helps. Now we have some work to do, as we need to find the reasons for that and come back stronger. However, I am positive as ever, as I think that tomorrow and on Sunday it will be better and we’ll find out the right things to apply. We want to put both cars on the front row tomorrow; we don’t know yet what will happen, but we’ll try to do our best as pole is the best place to start from”.

KIMI: “Usually, on Friday,  it is always tricky with the tires; then the situation improves, the circuit cleans up and there’s more grip to be found.  Today, the conditions we found were pretty much those we had expected. Normally, we don’t look too much into the lap times on Friday ; we try many things and  learn from it. For sure there’s some work to be done and there are things to improve, but this is normal. We’ll see what tomorrow brings in qualifying, when everybody is pushing to the maximum.

Russian Grand Prix – “All of us are very motivated”

Posted: 27.09.2018
Source: Ferrari

Scuderia Ferrari drivers comments

KIMI: “It’s really nice to come here, I enjoy this place and the track . The circuit itself it’s not very hard on the tires, or at least, that has been the case in the past years; they seem to last forever, so you never really make the difference on the tire war, anywhere, and this makes it very difficult to overtake.
Usually, this circuit doesn’t bring about very exciting races. The first time we came here it was quite tricky to make the tires work, but as the tarmac gets older the grip increases. We’ll see how it is this year. It is one of those circuits where you think you can always push more and more, but if you try, you actually end up going slower.
It’s a very nice circuit, but not so easy to make the best lap time. We always aim at doing the best we can and then we will see what happens. We’ll push hard this weekend and try to maximize every race”.

SEB: This track in Sochi is a fast one, with long straights and obviously we expect to do well as we are one of the top three teams, but I don’t have a clear idea of what will happen. After tomorrow we’ll see how the other cars work and how we feel with ours.
We are some points behind in the championship and we need to catch up to make sure we are there; that’s our target and the best way to do it is to finish ahead. That’s what we generally try to do, so our plan doesn’t really change from race to race. We try to give everything we have and I still believe we have a chance to win.
We always have a look at what we did over the weekend and certainly after qualifying in Singapore we didn’t get the best out of our package, but we tried everything during the race. I think we had a good start there and then we tried to use all the opportunities we had, but it didn’t work well enough; we didn’t perform the best way and the others were faster than us. So, we need to give credit to the others.
Our car is different this year as last year I think it was a surprise for many people to see we were so competitive, but this year everyone knows it is strong. I think we don’t have to get distracted by the result, but we need to focus on the job we have to do and see where we are.
Some races didn’t go the way we wanted to, but all of us are very motivated; the guys in the team have been nice to me – and they meant it – and this really helps me to overcome these races. I get all my energy from outside, thanks to our fans and supporters. It’s great to receive positivism and support from all of them.

Russian Grand Prix – On the shores of the Black Sea

Posted: 26.09.2018
Source: Ferrari

Sochi kicks off another double header

This will be the fifth Russian Grand Prix in the modern era, but the event has come from a long way back. Over a hundred years ago, in 1913, even before the creation of the USSR, the first race was run. At the start of this century, racing driver Sergei Zlobin drove in some tests and there was a stillborn project to build a race track on Nagatino island, which isn’t actually an island, but a district. Other ideas, also in the Moscow area, came to nothing. Eventually, the decision was made to move 1600 kilometres to the south of the capital, to the shores of the Black Sea. The rest is history.
The Sochi track, which is actually closer to the town of Adler, wends its way through the buildings of the winter Olympics. It features a particularly smooth track surface, which is well suited to the softer tyre compounds, the Soft, Ultrasoft and making its first appearance here this weekend, the Hypersoft. Temperatures should be of the order associated with a late summer. The track combines a very fast section with a sector featuring right-angle turns. The run from the start line down to the first corner is a little bit more than 400 metres, but in reality the first braking zone is much further down the track, so that, after the start, drivers can get in the slipstream of those ahead. The 3-4 turn, a long left handed semi-circle, is actually taken almost flat-out. Fuel consumption is high and mechanical grip is not that excessive, given the need to balance the amount of downforce from the wings, for the fast sections.
Russia marks the start of another back-to-back, with two races in two weeks. Come the Monday after the race, the crew and equipment of Scuderia Ferrari will already be Japan bound, for the classic event at Suzuka.