British F1 Grand Prix 2012: Race Report - Lewis Hamilton 8th, Jenson Button 10th

Don't Copy From This Blog...

LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27A-04
- Started: 8th
- Finished: 8th
- Fastest lap: 1m36.173s (+1.512s, 15th)
- Pitstops: Two: laps 21 (2.6s) and 28 (3.1s) [Pri-Opt-Pri]
- Points: 92 (4th)

“It wasn’t a great race for me – I just wish we could have done more for the fans today. We tried as hard as we could, but we simply didn’t have the pace this afternoon.

“My tyres were still good at the end of my first stint, and I was able to hang on to Fernando [Alonso]. So it’s hard to understand how we could be leading the race at one point and then fall back to eighth place, especially as our car doesn’t feel bad overall.

“I raced my heart out and was flat-out right to the end. We’re still in the hunt for the world championship – and, if we can find a bit of lap-time, we can stay in the hunt, too.

“I gave the fans a little donut on the slow-down lap – simply because I wanted to say thank-you to everyone who came out to watch us here today. I’d love to have done better in my home Grand Prix, but, regardless, the fans were fantastic throughout the weekend.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27A-02
- Started: 16th
- Finished: 10th
- Fastest lap: 1m36.086s (+1.425s, 14th)
- Pitstops: Two: laps 16 (3.0s) and 31 (2.9s) [Pri-Opt-Pri]
- Points: 50 (8th)

“It was good to get a point in my Grand Prix, but of course that’s not what we ought to be doing: we’re a front-running team and we’ve got a bit of work to do to start running at the front again. I don’t think we made any mistakes with our strategy today; we’re just not quite quick enough at the moment, that’s all.

“Most important of all, though, I’m a bit sorry for the Silverstone fans, because they’ve been truly amazing this weekend. Like them, we wanted a lot more from today’s result. So we’re sorry, guys; we weren’t able to fight at the front today, but hopefully we’ll be back there soon.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“A dry race wasn’t what we were expecting – and, undoubtedly, had it been a wet race, as was predicted, our competitiveness relative to that of our opposition would have been significantly enhanced.

“Lewis drove an excellent stint on his initial set of Prime tyres, making consistent progress throughout the first third of the race. Thereafter, with hindsight, perhaps we should have given him more laps on his Options, because, from the very beginning of his third stint, he was never happy with his second set of Primes.

“For Jenson, the 2012 Santander British Grand Prix was always going to be a bit of a struggle, starting it as he did from 16th place on the grid. Again, as with Lewis, had it rained earlier this afternoon [rather than only after the race had ended], as it did yesterday and on Friday, and as it was forecast also to do today, undoubtedly he’d have been able to make up more places, more quickly, than in the event he did. As it was, he earned a single world championship point for his efforts, which was meagre reward for a pretty gutsy performance.

“Next we travel to Germany, and Hockenheim, the home Grand Prix of our engine partners Mercedes-Benz, whose Mercedes AMG HighPerformancePowertrains V8s have served, and continue to serve, us so well. But, before then, we’ll go back to Woking [Surrey, UK], to the McLaren Technology Centre, with a determination to work as hard as is humanly possible to develop our car such that we can put on a fine and competitive show in the homeland of the famous three-pointed star.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

Read More

British F1 Grand Prix 2012: Race Report - Michael Schumacher 7th, Nico Rosberg 15th

Don't Copy From This Blog...

Michael Schumacher finished the British Grand Prix in seventh place today with Nico Rosberg coming home in 15th.

• Michael ran a two-stop strategy, running option/prime/prime, stopping on laps 12 and 34
• Nico also made two stops, running prime/prime/option, with stops on laps 15 and 37

Michael Schumacher
“We achieved what was possible for us today, and we have to be satisfied with that. We were pretty competitive towards the end of the race, but overall we knew that the characteristics of this circuit wouldn´t suit us in normal conditions - we definitely could have done better in the wet. Even so, we managed to score a few points, which can be important for the team. Our attention now turns to Hockenheim, our next home circuit, where things should look better in any case. I can only say to all motorsport fans that we are counting on your support. Like always in Germany, it will be a very special weekend, and we want to celebrate it together with them. So make sure you´re there in Hockenheim!”

Nico Rosberg
“The whole weekend just hasn’t gone to plan for me which is a bit unexpected and really disappointing. In the race today, I had a poor start and generally we just didn’t have the pace. Then a slow second pit stop held me up towards the end; so all in all, it really didn’t come together. Now we need to work hard to improve the car for our next home race at Hockenheim in two weeks time. Hockenheim is a completely different circuit to here which should suit our car better, and we will hope to put on a great show for all of our fans there.”

Ross Brawn
“We were the fourth best team today and that was reflected in Michael´s seventh place finish on the road. Clearly, our pace in the dry didn´t match our competitiveness yesterday in the wet, and we will have to take a good look at the data to find out why. Both drivers experienced graining on the option tyre this afternoon - Michael in his first stint, Nico in the final one - and that certainly compromised our performance at important parts of the race. Michael drove solidly to seventh place, defending his position against the cars around him, and he was particularly competitive in the final stint - right up to setting his fastest time on the final lap of the race. Nico´s race was compromised by a bad start, which left him 15th at the end of the first lap. From then, he was fighting an uphill battle, and it was hard to find clean air for him to run in, which further complicated things. We can take positives from our weekend - including our much-improved wet weather performance - and we will work hard to learn our lessons from today before Hockenheim.”

Norbert Haug
“Not a great result for us today after a good qualifying performance from Michael yesterday. We expected rain this afternoon and Michael´s car was not ideally balanced during the first half of the race. Michael´s lap times in the second half were much better compared to the fastest cars at the front and he finally finished 7th after 52 laps, 30 seconds behind winner Mark Webber, after overtaking Lewis Hamilton with five laps remaining. Nico started 11th and lost four places during lap one which prevented him from scoring points today. We now are looking forward to our next home race in two weeks at Hockenheim, where we will welcome the spectators with a very special, cost-free programme at the Mercedes Grandstand.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

Read More

British F1 Grand Prix 2012: Qualifying Report - Lewis Hamilton 8th, Jenson Button 18th

Don't Copy From This Blog...

LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27A-04
- FP3: 6th, 1m32.477s (+0.310s), 20 laps
- Qualifying:
- Q1: 14th, 1m47.433s (on Intermediates)
- Q2: 1st, 1m54.897s (on Full Wets)
- Q3 8th overall, 1m53.543s (on Full Wets)

“I don’t really know what happened in Q3. The Full Wets had been working really well, but, as the track gradually became less wet, I sought better grip and switched to the Intermediates – but we struggled to get enough temperature into them and just couldn’t switch them on.

“So I had very little grip on the Inters, having felt more confident on the Full Wets; obviously, we’ll have to try to analyse the problem overnight and hopefully fix it for tomorrow.

“I want to give a shout-out to the fans. They’ve been fantastic: very patient and so supportive. The cheers from the grandstands were spectacular. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a car on the front row for them, but we can still push tomorrow.

“Although eighth position isn’t the best place from which to be starting, it’s going to be a tough race and we’re not that far away.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27A-02
- FP3: 2nd, 1m32.320s (+0.153s), 20 laps
- Qualifying:
- Q1: 18th overall, 1m48.044s (on Intermediates)
- Q2: -
- Q3: -

“I can usually drive a racing car in the wet, but obviously not today. The car felt completely different on its second set of Inters – on the first set, I’d had a lot of front-shuddering and couldn’t get the tyres working, but on the second set that problem was much better.

“So, on my final run, I was around 1.8sec up on my previous best. Sadly, however, I wasn’t able to make that count in terms of my overall lap-time, because it was particularly wet in the final sector and there was also a yellow flag along the startline. That’s the way it is sometimes. It’s the story of my year, really, I guess.

“If Sunday is wet, as we expect it to be, then the fact that we haven’t put too many miles on the tyres may make me a bit better equipped for tomorrow.

“You’ve just got to take the positives from the situation, wherever you can.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Clearly, eighth and 18th isn’t where we’d hoped to qualify for our home grand prix, and to do so is therefore very disappointing.

“Q1 was a bit of a lottery – it was principally a question of trying to switch on your tyres at the right time without encountering traffic – and those variables never quite aligned for Jenson. But he’s looked quick at various points so far this weekend – and, bearing in mind that we expect the wet weather to continue tomorrow, he’ll be looking to make progress through the field towards a points-scoring position by race’s end. He’s one of the ablest wet-weather racers out there, as we’ve seen him prove many times before.

“Lewis was very quick in full-wet conditions, as he demonstrated emphatically by being fastest of all in Q2 – but, when it came to the restart, and Q3, to our disappointment we discovered that our car was somewhat less competitive on the intermediate tyre.

“So, since our car is demonstrably very competitive in the full-dry or the full-wet, but less so when intermediate conditions prevail, axiomatically it follows that we’d prefer it to be full-wet or full-dry tomorrow. I guess it’s unlikely to be full-dry, so let’s hope it’s full-wet!

“Speaking of which, in conclusion, I want to pay tribute to the spectators here today, who have come in large numbers to watch the sport they love, despite knowing that they’d get drenched to the skin in the process. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: British Formula 1 fans really are the best in the world, hugely knowledgeable and massively enthusiastic in equal measure. So, whatever the weather, for their sakes, here’s hoping that tomorrow’s Santander British Grand Prix offers them the spectacle and excitement that they’ve been waiting all year to enjoy.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

Read More