“I’ve not been a very late braker this year” – Hamilton

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton admits his lack of confidence under braking in his Mercedes could hold him back this weekend.

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Mercedes in good shape – Hamilton (BBC)

“This track is all about late braking. I’ve always been the latest of late brakers. That’s why I always was so successful here. I’ve not been a very late braker this year, so it won’t do me too well here unless I pull my socks up.”

Mercedes deny Vettel report (Sky)

“Mercedes have denied the existence of the ‘secret’ Barcelona test was first divulged in a conversation between Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.”

Mercedes could face sanctions over tyre test (The Times, subscription required)

“[The court] will be headed by Edwin Glasgow, president of the tribunal and one of the most distinguished barristers working in sports law. Apart from his FIA position, Glasgow is also a judge and arbitrator for the English Premier League and the Rugby Football Union.”

Nico Rosberg Q&A: tyre test played no role in Monaco win (F1)

“Was there ever the feeling you were participating in something that wasn’t right?
NR: Oh no, not one single moment. I never expected that there would be discussions afterwards.”

How the International Tribunal works (FIA)

“Adopted by the 2010 FIA General Assembly, the IT exercises the FIA’s disciplinary powers at first instance, for all cases whether they have been dealt or not with by the stewards of the meeting.”

Vettel criticises new Pirelli tyres delay (Autosport)

“As far as we learned, we would have had different tyres for this racee. And then during the week we found out that we won’t, which I don’t understand, because I think the points that we tried to make clear from a driver’s perspective were based on safety.”

Raikkonen on Perez: “Some guys for sure you know what to expect…” (Adam Cooper’s F1 Blog)

“There’s nothing else I could have done apart from just drive straight. Using my own line I could have easily made the corner, but obviously he comes too fast and can’t stop.”

2013 Canadian Grand Prix – Thursday Press Conference (FIA)

Felipe Massa: “Why I never made a podium here? I think my best result was fourth. I think last year was pretty much in the right direction as well, I just spun but I was pretty quick during the weekend. Why, I don’t know.”

Lewis Hamilton fears tyre issues could trouble Mercedes in Canada (The Independent)

“Monaco is one of those tracks that doesn’t really hurt the tyres very often. With good management you can look after them, so I wouldn’t really say we have made a step forward.”

Pima sees Formula 1 racetrack in future (Arizona Daily Star)

“The Pima County Board of Supervisors has given the green light for the county economic development staff to investigate leasing 400 acres south of the Pima County Fairgrounds for open-wheel racing, and finding someone willing to build a track.”

Canadian Grand Prix betting: Rosberg the value in Canada (Unibet)

My Canadian Grand Prix preview for Unibet.

Montreal FOTA Forum (Livestream)

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Comment of the day

Check out AdrianP’s webcam for updates during what looks set to be a wet weekend in Montreal:

As in previous years we’ll have our webcam up for this year’s Montreal GP – we’re located about 1.5 miles due west of the circuit so any weather heading towards the circuit (including snow which we’ve had in the past two weeks) normally can be seen on the webcam a few minutes before it hits the circuit. We also have some weather radars etc.
AdrianP (@Plattsa2)

From the forum

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On this day in F1

Alberto Ascari’s victory for Ferrari in the Dutch Grand Prix 60 years ago today was less than a surprise: it was his eighth consecutive win in a world championship race (though he hadn’t contested the preceding race, the Indianapolis 500).

Ferrari team mate and 1950 world champion Giuseppe Farina took second ahead of Jose Froilan Gonzalez, who had taken over the Maserati of team mate Felice Bonetto.

Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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54 comments on ““I’ve not been a very late braker this year” – Hamilton”

  1. Vettel keeps the hypocrisy going, I see.

    1. Why do you say that? Because Pirelli said there’s going to be different set of tyres and then said, well we will go with the old ones? Who’s the hypocrit here?

  2. It took me a second read to notice the joke, that’s a funny tweet from Jon Gates.

    1. much the same for me @tdog, although its a bit sad in a way.

    2. If indeed it was a joke, fair enough, but sarcasm doesn’t come across particularly well in text, especially without any intonation/formatting.

      I’m inclined to agree with @bascb though, I think it’s a bit sad really and ever so slightly churlish. Gates clearly has a very short memory, after all, it wasn’t that long ago McLaren were caught with their pants down. In a big way.

  3. It’s a mess, isn’t it? They could simply allow an hour extra practice time for all teams (except Mercedes) on Fridays. And use that time, or some of it, to test the 2014 (and 2013) tyres.

    But then, the FIA seems to have gotten hooked on the idea of springing tyre surprises on the teams at the start of each season, and that won’t happen if there is proper testing. I honestly don’t think the FIA wants the teams to be testing the tyres.

    The long term solution to F1’s woes has to include the governing body taking a less active role in trying to control the outcome of the show. It’s their meddling which is behind the current problems.

    1. It is indeed!

    2. Actually on most tracks there’s not much free time to give an hour extra, so they would have to actually give Mercedes an hour less.

    3. How about testing on the Monday after the race at suitable venues. Most of the packing up can be done on Sunday, leaving one team of mechanics and a few other personnel to run a single car. The personnel can rotate at different weekends.

  4. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    7th June 2013, 1:28

    Whatever anybody can say, it can’t match all the info available on the COTD. Thanks AdrianP I’ll be checking it. @Plattsa2

    1. Abdurahman (@)
      7th June 2013, 7:02

      Yeah thanks, that is up to the minute as it gets!

  5. Seb Vettel, for the love of all that’s holy, stop whining already.

    1. I think Seb is still a director of the Drivers’ Association, so he may be ‘whining’ on their behalf here instead of his own.

      1. Perhaps Pirelli think it is wise to test the new tyres before sending them out on a race?

      2. true, its Jenson and Seb as directors, with PDR as chairman. I try and take that into account whenever I read something they say – In my experience union reps tend to speak with two voices!

        1. DaveMouseEarsNicey
          7th June 2013, 21:55

          jenson hasn’t rlly complained about the tyres though. Granted he’s not in a position to worry but by that logic this is sebs agenda

  6. Montreal is such a beautiful place and now the last gravel and grass bits are a thing of the past. Do they ever look at tracks from the scenic perspective, in my view that’s second to the cars.

    1. DaveMouseEarsNicey
      7th June 2013, 22:00

      Well it sort of has to be i mean i want a grandprix on the moon and under the ocean i supose the moon could see a return to non championship grandprixes sinces it’s not on the world. I take your point however there is no need for it in this case.

  7. Loved Kimi’s forth right views. The youngsters really need to be reigned in, there is a total lack of respect.

    We’ve seen the likes of Button, Webber, Kimi and Alonso race hard against each other…but they have been fair. The youngsters should watch and learn.

    1. @jaymenon10

      The youngsters really need to be reigned in, there is a total lack of respect.

      The “youngsters” don’t owe the older drivers anything. If they think another driver has left the door open, then they are perfectly entitled to make a move for it. If a driver like Raikkonen is expecting the likes of Perez to show restraint simply becase he’s Kimi Raikkonen, then he has no business being in Formula 1.

      And if you watch the video of the incident from Perez’s on-board camera, you’ll see that Raikkonen moved over to the defensive line far too late. If he had avoided contact with Perez, he wouldn’t have made the corner. So to my mind, the burden of responsibility rests with Raikkonen – given the line he took, there is no way he could have kept his position.

      1. @prisoner-monkeys And, if you by your knowledge of F1, claim that Raikkonen would not have made the corner considering his line, how on earth do you mean Perez would have made the same corner, considering his speed and chosen line?

      2. not really, kimi was behaving defensively right after he exit the tunnel.

        Its just that you cant close in too much and make a 90 degree left hand turn.

        That’s common sense for every drivers and gamer that played codemaster etc.

        1. Compare the line Raikkonen takes to the line Alonso takes when they are defending the position. Alonso moves over early, then cuts back to the racing line so that he can make the corner. Raikkonen, on the other hand, moves over much later and doesn’t have enough time to return to the racing line.

          1. @prisoner-monkeys

            He chose the same line on laps before and made the corner perfectly well. It sacrifices the corner entry but you don’t necessarily have to be on the optimal line to make the corner at all.

          2. I said this on another article, that Raikkonen was late in moving over to a defensive line. He didn’t start defending at the exit of the tunnel like some people would have you believe, it was after the kink. If he had defended earlier, and like you say, moved back onto the racing line to take the corner, Perez would still have been behind. It was poor defensive driving by Raikkonen.

      3. If you look at the onboard video from Perez’s car you can clearly see him dive bomb and not have full control of his car as he makes contact with Raikkonnen’s car. Raikkonnen is the car infront with his designated race line going into the corner first so he does not need to move over for the car behind which clearly would not have made the corner unless Raikkonnen rolled out the red carpet and kindly let raging Perez past.

        1. But the problem with that statement is that Raikkonen took a line that was too shallow into the chicane. If he hadn’t made contact with Perez, he would have run wide through the chicane and gained an advantage from it.

          I strongly suspect that if we were talking about Raikkonen making a move on Perez, people would be applauding him for attempting to make a move at Monaco. But the truth of it is that the stewards deemed it a racing incident, and didn’t hold either driver accountable.

          1. @prisoner-monkeys

            the truth of it is that the stewards deemed it a racing incident, and didn’t hold either driver accountable.

            That’s the telling thing for me. Raikkonen has persistently characterised the collision as being Perez driving into the back of him. But that isn’t really what happened.

            It is what happened in the case of Ricciardo and Grosjean, and the stewards took action. They didn’t in the case of Raikkonen and Perez because they don’t agree with Raikkonen’s view that the accident was entirely Perez’s fault.

          2. I suspect the stewards would have agreed with Raikkonen if he had kept to the conventional racing line. Most drivers taking a defensive line into the chicane move over at the top of the drop down into the braking zone, but Raikkonen didn’t move over until he had gone down the hill. It was a late move and it came when Perez was committing to his own move, so I think that’s what contributed to the decision by the stewards.

          3. Maiden-ty-one
            7th June 2013, 22:06

            I agree with u monkeys but what he was doing still wasn’t rlly fair perez should have got something for it a reprimand maybe the lowest of the low to just say be sensible.

      4. And if you watch the video of the incident from Perez’s on-board camera, you’ll see that Raikkonen moved over to the defensive line far too late. If he had avoided contact with Perez, he wouldn’t have made the corner. So to my mind, the burden of responsibility rests with Raikkonen – given the line he took, there is no way he could have kept his position

        It really did look to me like Raikkonen would have made the corner. Also Perez wasn’t actually alongside Raikkonen when Raikkonen started to move over. Surely as someone who watches a lot of motorsport @prisoner-monkeys you must appreciate that to overtake someone, you must be able to get into a position to get alongside the other driver before they have the chance to close the door. If you can’t then then surely you are responsible for any collision that occurs. I do like drivers having bravery to make the move, but we can’t have the leading driver jumping out of the way and giving the position to someone who misjudged the move.

    2. @jaymenon10
      Kimi is starting to sound like one of those boring old men who sits in the corner of the pub moaning about “kids today” and claiming things were different when he was a lad: even though it was only a few years ago that he lost control of his car coming out of the tunnel, taking another driver out of the race in the process.
      If someone had punched Kimi in the face every time he’d done something stupid in an F1 car he’d be looking like Sloth from the Goonies by now….

      1. Reporter asked him about that. He would be slate for being impolite if he didnt said anything. He would be slate as whining if he does.

        Cant satisfy everyone.

        Perez already said he expect kimi to cut the corner, meaning that he didnt expect himself to be able to make that corner. That’s not overtake by any means.

      2. Maiden-ty-one
        7th June 2013, 22:12

        loosing control is entirely understandable having control and putting someone in a lets crash or yield situation isn’t rlly.

  8. Make up your mind Lewis, in the BBC article he says:

    “We were as competitive as everyone in long-run pace [in Monaco] so I have the feeling it will be the same here. It’s definitely a track you can overtake on. I’m hoping we will continue with the performance we have.

    And in the Independent one:

    “Monaco is one of those tracks that doesn’t really hurt the tyres very often. With good management you can look after them, so I wouldn’t really say we have made a step forward.
    The problems we had in Barcelona, we’ll still have those going forward until we make some improvements.”

    Sometimes I wonder if these “statements” before each race are real or not, normally I don’t even bother to read them but the two headlines made me suspicious.

    1. Depends on the source of those statements. If they were given directly to the reporter, you’d have to trust they’re accurate. If they are from a press release, you can ignore the whole thing. Press releases are usually full of **.

  9. I’m not sure what year, but qualifying between Schumacher and Hakkinen in Canada was simply unbelievable. As I recall now they went out three time consecutively beat each other sector times by thousands of a second. Great show.

    Not to dis current format in any way, I like how it is no.

  10. I love this idea that somehow the FIA is to blame for Mercedes illegally testing. As if Jean Todt himself sternly strapped Rosberg and Hamilton into the car and barked at them to drive.

    How about Mercedes take some responsibility for their actions?

    1. Indeed.

    2. I’d like to see Mercedes get away with it, by which I mean that the test conformed with the letter of the law set down by the FIA in this instance. The teams will always look for an advantage, no matter how unsporting. But the FIA are being strong-armed by manufacturers threatening to leave at every moment, particularly when faced with large fines or other sanctions. This is fueled in turn by the greediness of CVC who won’t give the teams more of a share in the profits of the sport. If CVC et al would give the teams more cash, the consequences of sanctions against them would hurt performance rather than risk board members pulling the plug on a manufacturers participation.

  11. Vettel needs to stop crying about everything Pirrelli does. He’s just reached the #2 spot on the whiners list.

    Its fun to see him trying to throw his weight around when the RB isn’t head and shoulders above the competition. Time for him to man up a little and just get on with it.

    1. Its a bit strange, he seems to complain about the new tyres not being used, but the way RBR has been harking on about them didn’t do anything to make everyone agree on that.

      And its a bit curious how he keeps on mentioning its a safety thing, because its pretty clear that the only thing really in danger from those delaminations is Pirelli’s image.

      1. @bascb

        And its a bit curious how he keeps on mentioning its a safety thing

        That’s probably because the FIA ruled that Pirelli could only make changes to the tyres on the grounds of safety. Red Bull have been lobbying for changes to the tyres since the Malayasian Grand Prix, and they finally got what they wanted when Pirelli announced the planned changes. But then the FIA shot the changes down, and Red Bull were faced with racing on tyres that didn’t suit them. So they kept pushing for changes, but they changed their tune to claim the current tyres are unsafe.

    2. That’s a bit rich coming from an Alonso fan, don’t you think? :) Alonso is the one crying about bad luck and hoping for Vettel’s bad luck instead of getting the job done. At least Vettel is getting the job done, despite the tyres he complains about. It would be one thing if he was 3rd in WDC standings and complaining. Then it would be reasonable to call him a sore loser and tell him to “man up and get on with it.”

      1. Alonso is the one crying about bad luck and hoping for Vettel’s bad luck instead of getting the job done.

        Well.. luck cannot be amended like Pirrelli tyres can. Luck isn’t in the FIA regulations either. Luck isn’t the same for every race driver every race weekend either. So you’re really comparing apples to dinosaurs here

        I think its worse to be leading the championship and crying about the tyres.

    3. I agree the constructions need changed but although I don’t like the compounds either they can’t really be changed now. The tyres are pretty dangerous though in this situation: what if there were a delamination on Eau Rouge?

      1. Sorry man.. I dont see why these tyres are particularly dangerous for Sebastian as compared to the grid. Maybe Sebastian has some insight everyone is missing

    4. Vettel needs to stop crying about everything Pirrelli does. He’s just reached the #2 spot on the whiners list.

      Maybe he wants to be #1 whiner @todfod so he can do the “finger” :-p

      I suppose at least he’s consistent. I was surprised about how critical he was about the tyres at the end of preseason testing. “Poor” was his buzzword

      1. Maiden-ty-one
        7th June 2013, 22:19

        Lets face it 2nd whiner is first of the loser whiners.

  12. They’ve had snow for the past two weeks? It’d be so interesting to see if it started snowing during this weekend’s race! Haha

  13. That orange kerb (pic.twitter.com/svGh015No7) mentioned in the Williams tweet looks ridiculous! And dangerous! I hope it gets removed before the GP…

  14. So it’s ROSBERG who spilled the beans on Merc’s tyre testing…..

    1. DaveMouseEarsNicey
      7th June 2013, 22:23

      Well he sure was yesterday.

  15. Thanks for the Birthday shout out – defiantly going to get all meteorological-fyed for the Canadian GP with AdrianP’s awesome website!

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