Stray visor tear-off forced Alonso out of Spanish GP

McLaren has confirmed that a stray visor tear-off forced Fernando Alonso to retire from the Spanish Grand Prix.

Starting 13th, Alonso ran as high as seventh during Sunday’s race but had to retire after encountering an issue with the brakes on his McLaren.

The Spaniard toured into the pits to retire, but missed his pit box, with his McLaren mechanics fortunately able to scamper clear.

A post-race investigation by the team revealed that a visor tear-off had become lodged in Alonso’s rear-brake duct, causing the failure.

“My pitstop was a scary moment – I didn’t have much rear braking for my whole in-lap, then even less at the stop,” Alonso said. “It was scary for the mechanics, but luckily it didn’t hurt anyone.

“My brake issue was separate from Jenson’s problem yesterday; in qualifying, he had a single disc that wasn’t reaching temperature, but I had no brakes. I think the rear disc stopped working, so I only had front brakes.”

After a testing weekend in front of his home crowd, Alonso is simply looking ahead to the next round in Monaco.

“Things are coming together. We’re still a long way off the front and need to take bigger steps, but this is a very challenging project and I’m happy that we’re recovering well.

“This has been a disappointing day, but the team will investigate what happened, and we’ll come back stronger in Monaco.”

Image courtesy of McLaren

Rosberg ends win drought with commanding Spanish GP victory

Nico Rosberg secured a dominant first win of the 2015 season at the Spanish Grand Prix, leading home team-mate Lewis Hamilton to secure a one-two for Mercedes.

The German took a comfortable lights to flag victory, with Hamilton a distant second, ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who rounded out the rostrum in third.

Rosberg led the field away from pole, with Hamilton dropping to third behind the fast-starting Vettel.

Rosberg quickly dropped Vettel, but Hamilton was unable to clear the Ferrari, prompting Mercedes to switch the reigning champion to ‘Plan B,’ in an attempt to try the undercut.

This meant an early stop for Hamilton on lap 13, but a sticky left-rear tyre cost him precious time, allowing Vettel to retain track position when he pitted a lap later.

Rosberg covered the pair with his own opening stop on the following lap, re-joining comfortably ahead.

The German stretched his lead during the second stint, while a three-stopping Hamilton was in early again for a second stop, moving onto the hard tyres.

Hamilton make quick progress, clearing first Kimi Raikkonen and then Valtteri Bottas, with an eye to jumping the still yet to stop Vettel.

The Ferrari racer pitted on lap 41, re-joining in third, behind Hamilton, who was pushing to build the advantage needed to jump Vettel at his final stop.

Rosberg made his stop five laps later, briefly promoting Hamilton into the lead, which  the reigning champion relinquished on lap 51 as he pitted for the third and final time, crucially coming out ahead of Vettel.

Hamilton traded fastest laptimes with his team-mate in the closing stages, but was unable to seriously dent Rosberg’s advantage as the German cruised home to his first win of 2015.

Vettel, having lost out to Hamilton in the pits, collected his fourth podium finish of the year in third.

Valtteri Bottas crossed the line fourth for Williams, having seen off a late challenge from Kimi Raikkonen, who struggled to make progress from seventh on the grid.

Felipe Massa was sixth in the other Williams, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who came home a lapped seventh.

Romain Grosjean finished eighth for Lotus, despite losing time in the pits when he clipped a mechanic.

Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr. slipped down the order to finish ninth after banging wheels with Daniil Kvyat on the final lap, dropping the Russian to tenth.

Like Sainz, team-mate Max Verstappen struggled in the race, coming home 11th, and outside of the points.

Felipe Nasr beat Sergio Perez to finish 12th and lead the Sauber/Force India battle, with team-mate Marcus Ericsson 14th, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.

Jenson Button was a lapped 16th for McLaren-Honda, while team-mate Fernando Alonso ran as high as seventh before encountering a terminal brakes failure which caused him to overshoot his pit box and into retirement.

Pastor Maldonado damaged the rear wing of his car early on but raced on until he parked the Lotus in the closing stages.

The two Manor Marussia cars rounded out the order, with Will Stevens comfortably shading team-mate Roberto Merhi to finish 17th.

Images courtesy of Daimler

Rosberg ends Hamilton’s qualifying streak with Spanish GP pole

Nico Rosberg beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to record his maiden pole position of the year in qualifying for the Spanish GP.

Rosberg jumped to the top of the timesheets with a 1:24.681 on his opening run in the final shootout, and held on for pole when Hamilton failed to improve on his final flier.

Sebastian Vettel was the best of the rest in third for Ferrari, some eight tenths shy of Rosberg’s pole time, while Valtteri Bottas was fourth for Williams.

Toro Rosso looked out the third row of the grid, with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen fifth and sixth fastest.

Kimi Raikkonen was just seventh in the second Ferrari after a difficult session, while Felipe Massa split the two Red Bulls of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo in ninth.

Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were 11th and 12th respectively for Lotus, as the pair both narrowly missed out on a place in the final top-ten shootout.

Fernando Alonso was 13th, ahead of McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, while Felipe Nasr was 15th for Ferrari-powered Sauber.

Team-mate Marcus Ericsson was an early casualty of the opening phase of qualifying in 16th.

Nico Hulkenberg was the best of the Force Indias in a lowly 16th, a tenth clear of Sergio Perez in the sister VJM08.

The Manor Marussia team propped up the standings, with Will Stevens once again ahead of team-mate Roberto Merhi.

Image courtesy of Daimler

Practice spin ‘just a bit of fun’ – Alonso

Fernando Alonso admits he was “having a bit of fun” when he spun his McLaren during opening practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Spaniard finished the morning session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya 11th fastest, despite the minor spin as he returned to the pits.

“Today felt more like a test day than the Friday of a grand prix weekend,” he said. “But it’s been positive: we ended the day without any technical problems, and we completed everything on our run programme.

“I had a little spin at the end of FP1 – I was pushing on one of my in-laps, just having a bit of fun, when the car pirouetted at Turn 12.”

Alonso is confident McLaren can close on its rivals this weekend after a positive opening day of running.

“The track was a little bit slower today than it was in winter testing, and we had to adapt the car to today’s conditions, but hopefully tomorrow we can be a little bit closer to the cars at the front.

“We’ve made a number of positive steps today, and the car seemed to behave well, but we have a lot of work to do tonight. We need to pull everything together and then select the best parts for qualifying tomorrow.”

Image courtesy of McLaren

McLaren must continue positive momentum – Alonso

Fernando Alonso says it is crucial that McLaren continues its positive momentum by taking another step forward at the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix. 

McLaren struggled to string just a handful of consecutive laps together during pre-season testing, but the team has made great strides since the season opener, when Jenson Button came home two laps down.

Alonso narrowly missed out on the team’s first points of the year in Bahrain, finishing 11th, but he says it is important that McLaren pushes on as the European leg of the campaign kicks off.

“I’m incredibly happy to be heading back to Europe, to my home country and racing in front of the loyal Spanish fans,” he said.

“We’ve taken some useful steps forward during the flyaway races and I’m looking forward to getting back in the car after the three-week break and continuing our push.

“We are seeing improvements race by race, and I want to ensure that we maintain this consistency throughout this weekend.

“It will be very difficult, as other teams will also have been working hard to develop their cars too, but I’m hopeful that the start of the European season will be positive for us and allow us to carry momentum into the next few races.

Despite the McLaren’s current position, Alonso admits it will be special to race in front of the Spanish fans.

“I really enjoy driving on this circuit – it’s high-speed and really tests the balance of the car, so we’ll be working to get that right as soon as we get out on track.

“There’s a huge amount of positivity in the team and all of us are working hard for better results in each race.

“Although we won’t be fighting for victory in Barcelona, I know I can count on the support of the fans to bring even more motivation during the whole weekend, which will be very special.”

This article first appeared on Richland F1 – Image courtesy of McLaren

McLaren drops chrome livery for ‘graphite-grey’ design

McLaren has confirmed it will run a new ‘graphite-grey’ livery from this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix onwards.

The team will run an altered livery in Barcelona after encountering issues with reflections from its original chrome design.

A McLaren spokesman said: “We have revised our car’s livery, improving its visual impact, optimising it for not only bright sunshine but also for the floodlights increasingly used in twilight and night races.

“The result is a dynamic, predatory, graphite-grey colouration, complemented by McLaren-dayglo ‘Speedmarks’ and keylines, reducing the reflection issues caused by our latest chrome-silver treatment.”

McLaren CEO Ron Dennis previously stated that the team would only adopt an all-new livery for commercial reasons, after calls from fans to adopt a historic Marlboro-inspired design.

This article first appeared on Richland F1 – Image courtesy of McLaren

Video: Alonso vs Button – ‘Don’t Crack Under Pressure’

McLaren team-mates Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button do battle on track in this latest teaser from long-time team partner TAG Heuer.

Alonso, behind the wheel of the all-conquering Honda-powered MP4/4, dices with Button, driving the current MP4-30, around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The circuit will play host to this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The film, titled ‘Don’t Crack Under Pressure’ will launch on Thursday May 7.

2015 Bahrain Grand Prix Driver Ratings

There were inspired performances up and down the field during the Bahrain Grand Prix, but just how well did each driver do? Here are Richland F1’s driver ratings from under the lights in Sakhir.

Lewis Hamilton – 10/10

The reigning champion took his fourth pole position on the bounce and in the race cruised to an easy win – even if his late brake-by-wire failure betrayed the fact he had led comfortably throughout. Hamilton must be content with three wins from four races and a 27 point lead at the head of the standings. He has barely put a foot wrong so far in 2015.

Nico Rosberg – 9/10

Rosberg set the pace on Friday, but then went missing when it mattered in qualifying, lining up just third on the grid. He dropped to fourth off the start, but fought back with a gutsy drive, passing Vettel three times during the race thanks to Ferrari’s superior use of the undercut. Lost out to a late attack by Kimi Raikkonen as his brakes faded, but it was Rosberg’s most impressive race of the campaign by some margin.

Daniel Ricciardo – 8/10

Sixth at the flag, ahead of Felipe Massa after the Brazilian’s early problems is about all Ricciardo can have hoped for from the race, given Red Bull’s current form. His spectacular engine failure as he crossed the line means he is onto his fourth power unit of the season already – penalties will undoubtedly follow.

Daniil Kvyat – 6/10

Dropping out in Q1 was a tough hit, but the Russian drove well in the race to come from 17th to finish ninth, collecting two points. It is hardly a headline grabbing drive, but a solid result given his tough start to life with Red Bull Racing. Kyat must deliver once the European season kicks off if he is not to become a forgotten man.

Felipe Massa – 7/10

A sensor problem on the way to the grid meant he was forced to start from the pitlane  and his task was not made any easier after he was tagged by Pastor Maldonado in the early stages – damaging the floor of the Williams. Despite the early setback, Massa made steady progress on an aggressive strategy, but ultimately struggled to make the medium tyres last on a mammoth final stint, dropping to tenth by the chequered flag.

Valtteri Bottas – 9/10

As had been the case in China, Bottas seemed set for another lonely race, only for Sebastian Vettel to re-join behind him after his unscheduled stop for a new nose. The Finn defended beautifully in the closing stages to see off the challenge of the faster Ferrari racer, and score his best finish of the campaign so far.

Sebastian Vettel – 4/10

Did well to split the two Mercedes cars on the grid, but Vettel’s run to a potential fourth podium on the bounce was spoilt by a series of uncharacteristic mistakes. He was passed by Rosberg three times, and run wide at the final corner, breaking his front-wing which dropped him behind Bottas. His failed attempt to pass the Finn in the closing stages, which nearly ended with him rear-ending the Williams summed up a race to forget.

Kimi Raikkonen – 9/10

Starting fourth, the Finn took the fight to Mercedes with an aggressive strategy, running the hard tyres during the middle stint before switching to the soft rubber for the run to the flag. His pace on the harder Pirellis kept him in the hunt, and he flew in the closing stages after switching to the faster compound, reeling in Rosberg, who gifted him second after running straight on at Turn 1. Could have won with a few more laps.

Fernando Alonso – 8/10

While Jenson Button spent the best part of the weekend cursing his luck, Alonso delivered McLaren’s best relative performance of the year. He hauled the MP4-30 into Q2 for the first time in 2015 and narrowly missed out on the team’s first points of the campaign by three seconds in 11th.

Jenson Button – N/A

Button’s weekend was blighted by setbacks, with an engine cutout causing a spin in the opening minutes of running on Friday, while he was later forced to stop on track in the evening session. He hit more of the same problems in qualifying, with the MP4-30 grinding to a halt in Q1, leaving him last on the grid. McLaren encountered another technical issue on race day and he failed to take the start.

Nico Hulkenberg – 6/10

Starred on route to eighth on the grid in the still underdeveloped Force India, but he struggled to make the tyres work during the race, forcing a third stop which saw him tumble out of the points to 13th.

Sergio Perez – 8/10

He was unable to replicate his team-mates fine showing in qualifying, but the Mexican made up for it during the race as he perfected a two stop strategy – which his team said would not work – to climb into the points. Four points was a just reward after a fine drive to eighth.

Max Verstappen – 5/10

The star of the Chinese Grand Prix, Bahrain was an altogether tougher weekend for the Dutch rookie. Appalling understeer in qualifying left him just 15th on the grid, and he was all-but anonymous on Sunday before an electrical issue forced him out for the third time in four races.

Carlos Sainz Jr. – 7/10

Pulled out a fine lap to haul the Toro Rosso to ninth in qualifying, but like team-mate Verstappen he failed to finish the race after he was forced to stop with a loose wheel after his opening stop.

Romain Grosjean – 8/10

Continued his 100 per cent record of progressing to Q3 this year, even if he was disappointed with ‘just tenth’. The Frenchman jumped Hulkenberg and Sainz on the opening lap but could not keep in touch with Ricciardo, and eventually came home a lonely seventh to repeat his finish of a week ago in China.

Pastor Maldonado – 6/10

Maldonado looked the faster of the two Lotus cars during practice, only to tumble out in Q1 with another brake problem. He managed to line up in the wrong slot on the grid – earning a five-second time penalty – but made decent progress on the soft tyres before an engine problem caused a lengthy final stop, costing him a shot at points.

Will Stevens – 8/10

Given his equipment, it was another decent performance from Stevens, who despite being compromised by Maldonado’s grid mix-up comfortably went on to beat his Manor team-mate Roberto Merhi by 44 seconds.

Roberto Merhi – 5/10

Merhi was unable to match his team-mate throughout the weekend and was a second adrift of Stevens in qualifying. He got the drop on the Englishman off the start but ruined his own tyres in a futile attempt to keep Stevens at bay.

Marcus Ericsson – 6/10

The Swede started well to run inside the points but a problem with his front-left tyre in the pits dropped him well out of contention.

Felipe Nasr – 8/10

The Brazilian was sluggish away off the start, dropping behind his team-mate in the opening stages. He fought valiantly in the midfield, clocking up a tonne of TV time, but dropped back after encountering a power unit problem that saw him lagging behind on the straights.

This feature first appeared on Richland F1 – Images courtesy of of Daimler, Red Bull Content Pool, Scuderia Ferrari, Sahara Force India, Lotus F1 Team, Sauber Motorsports AG

Hamilton takes comfortable Bahrain GP win

Lewis Hamilton eased to his third win of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Hamilton led comfortably throughout the race to claim victory under the lights, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who passed Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes on the penultimate lap, as the German faded with brake issues.

Pole sitter Hamilton retained the lead off the start, as Raikkonen took advantage of the squabbling Sebastian Vettel and Rosberg to snatch third from the Mercedes racer into Turn 1.

As Hamilton built up an early advantage up front, a recovering Rosberg passed Raikkonen for third, before taking advantage of Vettel running wide at Turn 1 to take second place a lap later at the same corner.

Vettel was the first of the front-runners in on lap 14, successfully using the undercut to repass Rosberg when he stopped a lap later.

Race leader Hamilton stopped on lap 16, re-joining ahead of Vettel, as Rosberg dived down the inside of the Ferrari to snatch second at Turn 1.

Hamilton stretched his lead during the second stint, successfully covering Vettel’s stop to retain his position.

Rosberg was in a lap later, dropping behind Vettel, but he was soon back through after  the Ferrari racer ran wide at the final corner, damaging his front wing and prompting a third stop, dropping him down the order.

Hamilton was promoted back into the lead on lap 40, with Raikkonen pitting for the soft tyres, re-joining third, behind Rosberg on the harder Pirellis.

The Finn reeled in Rosberg – who was struggling with a brake problem – on the faster rubber in the final stint, and capitalised when the Mercedes racer ran wide at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap to snatch second.

Out front Lewis Hamilton cruised home – battling his own brake issues – to record a comfortable win, his third of the season.

Kimi Raikkonen came home second to secure his first podium finish since returning to Ferrari in 2014, with Nico Rosberg forced to settle for third for Mercedes.

Williams’ Valtteri Bottas held off a late challenge from a charging Sebastian Vettel to claim his best finish of the season in fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo was sixth for Red Bull, but suffered a major Renault engine failure as he crossed the finish line.

Romain Grosjean finished seventh for Lotus, ahead of Sergio Perez, who secured Force India’s first points since the Australian Grand Prix in eighth.

Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat bounced back from a miserable qualifying session to take the two points on offer for ninth, while Felipe Massa was tenth for Williams, despite a pitlane start and a collision with Pastor Maldonado in the opening stages of the race.

Fernando Alonso narrowly missed out on McLaren-Honda’s first points of the year in 11th, ahead of Felipe Nasr in the Sauber.

Nico Hulkenberg battled tyre trouble on route to 13th, while Marcus Ericsson was 14th in the second Sauber after a lengthy pitstop.

Maldonado came home a lowly 15th following his early clash with Massa and an engine glitch in the pits.

Will Stevens lead home Manor Marussia team-mate Roberto Merhi as the last of the classified finishers.

It was a tough day for Toro Rosso as Carlos Sainz Jr. retired after a botched pitstop, while Max Verstappen was forced to retire with a gearbox problem.

Jenson Button failed to start the race for McLaren after a reassurance of the electrical issues which caused him to stop twice on track on Friday.

Images courtesy of Daimler

Hamilton beats Vettel to Bahrain GP pole

Lewis Hamilton beat Sebastian Vettel to take pole for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Hamilton took the early advantage in the final shootout with a time of 1:33.522, while team-mate Nico Rosberg’s opening lap was only good enough for third.

Vettel snatched the top spot with his final flier, with Raikkonen slotting into second to make it a provisional all-Ferrari front row.

An improving Rosberg did enough to split the two Ferraris cars, but not enough to match Hamilton, who clocked a 1:32.571 to smash Vettel’s fastest lap by four tenths and secure his fourth pole of 2015, and first ever at the Bahrain circuit.

Rosberg was forced to settle for third in the sister Mercedes, and will be flanked on the second row by Raikkonen, the Finn unable to match his team-mate Vettel.

It will be an all Williams third row, with Valtteri Bottas ahead of Felipe Massa, while Danile Ricciardo was seventh for Red Bull.

Nico Hulkenberg secured Force India’s best starting position of the year in eighth, as Carlos Sainz Jr. and Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10 for Toro Rosso and Lotus respectively.

Sergio Perez had to settle for 11th in the second Force India after narrowly missing out on a spot in the final shootout to Sainz, with the two Saubers of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson 12th and 13th respectively.

Fernando Alonso hauled the McLaren into Q2 for the first time this season in 14th, ahead of Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen.

Pastor Maldonado was 16th for Lotus after he encountered an engine problem, ahead of Daniil Kvyat, a high-profile dropout in the Red Bull.

Will Stevens beat Manor team-mate Roberto Merhi to 18th by over a second, while Jenson Button failed to set a time after stopping out on track in the opening stages in the McLaren.

Image courtesy of Daimler