Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2012: Race Report - Lewis Hamilton 8th, Jenson Button retired

LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27A-03
- Started: 2nd
- Finished: 8th
- Fastest lap: 1m37.733s (+1.354s, 7th)
- Pitstops: Three: laps 9, 23 and 36 (Opt-Pri-Pri-Pri)
- 2012 points: 49 (2nd)

“There are good times and bad times in motor racing. I guess this was just one of those days.

“By rights we should have been fighting to finish in the top four today, but it didn’t work out like that in the end. The delays in the pits were a big part of that, of course. For the driver sitting in the car, that’s always frustrating, because you’re just waiting and there’s nothing you can do to help.

“We lost a bit of world championship momentum today – but, on the plus side, we still picked up four world championship points, and every point you score is valuable in a season as close-fought as this one.

“Now we’ll head into the European season, and it’s clear that we’ve got to do two things: we’ve got to work on the pace of our car and we’ve got to improve our pitstops.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27A-02
- Started: 4th
- Finished: Retired (lap 55, differential)
- Fastest lap: 1m38.046s (+1.667s, 9th)
- Pitstops: Four: laps 8, 22, 37 and 53 (puncture) (Opt-Pri-Pri-Pri-Opt)
- 2012 points: 43 (4th)

“I didn’t have a very good balance today: I was struggling all afternoon with oversteer. We were taking front wing out of the car all the way through the race, in fact.

“However, my final stint was a long one, and, if I hadn’t struck trouble, I reckon things would have got quite interesting in the final laps. Some drivers had pushed harder at the start of that stint, but I’d been looking after my tyres. Into the last five laps, I started pushing pretty hard, and I caught up with Paul [di Resta] and Nico [Rosberg]. But, just as I braked for the final corner [on lap 53], the right-front corner lifted up in the air and I realised I had a [left-rear] puncture. So I quickly radioed the team, and pitted.

“In the last few laps, the car sounded really noisy. I think the initial problem was an exhaust failure, then my puncture, and then a differential failure; so I had to retire.

“It’s been a pretty difficult weekend for the whole team.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Clearly, our performance was disappointing this afternoon.

“Having said that, both Lewis and Jenson drove very well in extremely challenging conditions.

“Lewis pulled off some sensational passing manoeuvres in his efforts to push his way through to the front, but in the end he was let down by two slow pitstops, both of which were caused by delays at the left-rear corner of his car. Jenson’s pitstops were trouble-free, by contrast, so we’ll have to investigate what the problem was with the left-rear corner of Lewis’s car.

“Jenson, too, had a frustrating run, which was finally curtailed by a puncture and a problem with both his differential and his exhaust, the combination of which forced us to retire his car. Again, we’ll investigate what caused those problems in due course.

“Having said all that, we’re in second position in the constructors’ world championship, just nine points behind the leaders; equally, our drivers lie second and fourth in the drivers’ world championship. Lewis, in second, is just four points off the lead.

“From here we travel to Barcelona, on which circuit we performed strongly in pre-season testing.

“Lewis and Jenson are as resilient as they are competitive, so you can be well sure that in Spain they’ll both do their utmost to score as many points as possible in an effort to put Vodafone McLaren Mercedes back at the top of both the drivers’ and the constructors’ world championship standings.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the 2012 season is shaping up to be both gripping and unpredictable. Some races you win, some you don’t. That’s motor racing. But, above all, motor racing is a team sport – and I probably know better than anyone what a superb bunch of men and women the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team is made up of, which is why I’m utterly certain that every last one of them will now work as hard as is humanly possible to make sure that, on the sweeping curves of the Circuit di Catalunya, we’re back where we belong: at the front.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Bahrain F1 Grand Prix 2012: Race Report - Nico Rosberg 5th, Michael Schumacher 10th

Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher both scored points in the Bahrain Grand Prix today as the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS pair finished the 57-lap race in fifth and tenth places respectively.

• Nico had a hard-fought race, running in P9 through the opening stint, then gaining places as the race unfolded
• He completed three stops on laps 8, 22 and 36 running an option/option/prime/prime tyre strategy
• Starting from P22, Michael climbed 12 positions through the field over the course of the race to finish in P10
• Michael made three stops on laps 9, 23 and 37, also running an option/option/prime/prime strategy
 • The team averaged 22.216 seconds in the pit lane over six pit stops, with Michael the day’s fastest three-stopper

Nico Rosberg
“I had a pretty bad first lap today, but after that I was able to recover and get the most of our race. We had a good strategy and the pace of the car was pretty strong compared to the start of the season, although it was difficult to make progress as there were a lot of cars fighting for the same positions. Overall I’m happy with our weekend as fifth place gives me a few more points and I can see that we are making progress. Now we have a short break where we can work hard in the factory ready for the start of the European season. Before that, I’m looking forward to visiting the DTM opening race in Hockenheim next Saturday. It’s my first chance to return to Germany after two good weekends, particularly of course the win in China, and I look forward to celebrating that together with our fans.”

Michael Schumacher
“Considering where I started the race today, it’s a positive that I was able to fight up to 10th place, score a point and finish a dry race this season. The tyres obviously played a large part in the race today, and in the conditions here, we had to adapt the driving style to keep the tyres together. It will be good to have the time now before Barcelona to sort out some issues and prepare our updates for the test days in Mugello. Next weekend, the DTM starts in Hockenheim and I am looking forward to my first visit to a DTM race for twenty years.”

Ross Brawn
“That was a tough but ultimately rewarding race today. Nico didn’t get the best of starts and lost some positions which made the early part of the race difficult, but he had a very good drive to fight his way back up to fifth place. Michael did well to recover a point in 10th place, considering that he started at the back of the grid in 22nd. We saw again today that if you get the car right on the day, it makes a great deal of difference, with Red Bull and Lotus clearly getting their cars in better shape than we did. We will learn more lessons from today, however we made the best of what we had so I’m reasonably happy. Now we can look forward to some time back at the factory to improve the car before the next race.”

Norbert Haug
“Having started fifth, Nico was running in ninth by the end of lap one. More than to recover to fifth place was not possible afterwards. Following Nico´s victory in China, we handled the tyres quite well on this track in hotter temperatures, and we showed that we have a good base to work from. Michael came home in 10th place after starting in 22nd, which is a good result considering the extremely high level of competition this year. We are now looking forward to the next race in Barcelona where MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS will, like most of the teams, introduce upgrades which will be evaluated during the Mugello test.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Chinese F1 Grand Prix 2012: Race Report - Nico Rosberg scores first career victory at Shanghai

Nico Rosberg took a commanding victory at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai today. Starting from pole position, he took the chequered flag with a 20s margin over the second placed car, achieving his first win in Formula One.

• Nico ran a two-stop option/prime/prime strategy to win by 20.626 seconds over Jenson Button´s McLaren-Mercedes
• Michael was forced to retire on lap 13 after his right front wheel was not properly attached at his first pit stop
• This was Nico´s 111th Formula One start, and comes 111 years after Mercedes´ first win at the 1901 Nice Speed Weeks
• It’s the first win for a works Silver Arrow since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, on 11 September in Monza - 25,671 days ago!
• The victory is the tenth in Formula One for a works Silver Arrow, and brings the total number of Mercedes-Benz F1 victories to 90
• Mercedes-Benz powered cars filled the podium for the second time in three years at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg
“This is a very special moment for me. The whole weekend went perfectly. My first pole position, now my first win in Formula One - it really is fantastic. But it´s not only this; it´s the first win for the new Silver Arrow and for this great team. That is really special for me. Thanks to everybody in the team, here in China and in our factories in Brackley and Brixworth. It makes me very proud that we have improved the car so quickly. I will never forget this race, and the last 20 laps felt as long as if I was racing in the Le Mans 24 Hours! But then crossing the line was so intense. We will enjoy this success, but our feet are still on the ground. We are still not where we want to be, we are still working hard to understand the car and the tyres in all conditions, and we will keep pushing to improve our race pace even further. We will see how that works out in Bahrain.”

Michael Schumacher
“First of all, congratulations to the whole team, to Mercedes-Benz and of course to Nico who achieved a perfect victory from start to finish. He did a great job today and yesterday, and I am happy for him. As for my race, my right front tyre got loose following my first pit stop. As I did not want to cause any bigger damage to the car, I stopped on the grass. I felt there was something wrong immediately and especially in turn three, when I put pressure on the right side of the car. Up until then I had a controlled race I´d say, keeping the others behind me and the tyres together. Of course, this was an unfortunate ending to what could have been a nice race, and I feel sorry for the guys, who always work so hard and give their best. But we all know that´s part of the game.”

Ross Brawn
“This is a truly special and historic day. I am so delighted for Nico, he has deserved to take his first victory several times, and has now done so by driving a perfectly judged race from pole position. I am excited to see how he develops now he has that win under his belt. Commiserations to Michael, who was driving a controlled race in second position, but was forced to retire after his pit stop. However, he is the first man to say that we win and lose as a team, and his performances this year prove that he is equally capable of climbing to the top step of the podium. Heartfelt congratulations to all our team here at the track, in Brackley and in Brixworth; they have put tremendous effort into this project, and we are now starting to see the rewards for their dedication and expertise. Finally, I must thank all our colleagues at Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart and around the world - their support has been unstinting, and we are proud to deliver the first victory for a works Silver Arrow car in 57 years. I was just one year old when Juan Manuel Fangio won in Monza in 1955 - but this victory is something I will remember, and savour, for a very long time indeed!”

Norbert Haug
“What a sensational victory from Nico and our team! It was unbelievable how Nico drove and controlled the race from lap one to 56. A big thank you to everybody in Brackley, Brixworth, Stuttgart, Fellbach, Untertürkheim and Möhringen for all their relentless work and their belief in our capabilities and that we can make it. Nico´s performance was superb today, the team executed a great two-stop strategy, and Nico and his car managed the tyres very well. It was a shame for Michael, who dropped out after his first pit stop because of a problem with the right front wheel; he missed out on a possible very good podium result. It was particularly sweet to see Jenson and Lewis on the podium - Mercedes Power to the power of three!”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.