Formula One comes back with a bang, as the Silver Arrows score double podium in Melbourne. Lewis Hamilton came home in P2 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit to claim his 105th Formula One podium finish. Valtteri Bottas completed a double podium for the Silver Arrows in P3 on his debut for the team, taking his career tally of top three finishes into double figures. Lewis (18) sits P2 in the Drivers' Championship, seven points shy of Sebastian Vettel (25), with Valtteri (15) a further three points behind in P3. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (33) trail Scuderia Ferrari (37) by four points in the Constructors' Championship.

Race at a glance

Lewis Hamilton
Chassis No.: F1 W08 EQ Power+/01
Grid: P1
Result: P2
Fastest Lap: 1:27.003 (Lap 44)

Valtteri Bottas
Chassis No.: F1 W08 EQ Power+/03
Grid: P3
Result: P3
Fastest Lap: 1:26.593 (Lap 56)

Strategy

No. 44
Start: UltraSoft
Stop 1: Soft (Lap 17)

No. 77
Start: UltraSoft
Stop 1: Soft (Lap 25)

Weather
Dry, Warm, Clear

Temperatures
Air: 24 – 25°C
Track: 31 - 37°C

Post-race Comments

Lewis Hamilton
A big congratulations to Sebastian and Ferrari. I know this win has been a long time coming for them. This shows we’ve got a real race on our hands this season and it’s a challenge we will relish. It’s going to be great for the fans. We had a really good start which is fantastic. It was nice to get a good getaway. But I was struggling with grip from the get-go. Sebastian was able to always answer me in terms of lap time and just go quicker. Towards the end of the first stint I caught some traffic and that overheated the tyres. I struggled for grip to the point where I needed to come in, plus the gap was closing up and I was sliding around a lot. We made the call to pit, because otherwise I think Sebastian would have come past me anyway. After my stop I got caught in some traffic which was unfortunate but that’s motor racing.

Valtteri Bottas
There are always things that could have gone better on the day but it’s a good starting point for my journey driving for Mercedes. As a team I think we did a really good job with the car we had. But Ferrari were quicker today, there’s no doubt about that. They’ve obviously done a great job over the winter. From my side the main issue was the first stint. I felt like I was always sliding around on the UltraSoft tyre - missing front and rear grip - especially after 10 laps. That wasn’t easy. But once we stuck on the Softs I had a great feeling with the car. It was behaving really nicely and it felt really nice to drive. It’s a shame it was just a bit too late. But overall this race wasn’t a disaster. It’s good to start with a podium with a new team and every position is important for the Championship. There’s a long season ahead. I have my points and I’ll do better next time. I’m looking forward to China.

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
Some races you win, some races you lose, and when the days come where another team has done a better job, you need to accept that with humility and recognise their performance. Today, Sebastian and Ferrari were well-deserved winners. From the early stages of the race, it was clear that Sebastian was very quick because Lewis wasn’ t able to pull away. Sebastian came into the window where the undercut was possible and we had the feeling at that point that the tyres were not lasting. It was the team’s impression on the pit wall looking at the data and Lewis’ in the car, too. So that was when, with all the clear risks of coming out in traffic, we took the decision to come in. We were between a rock and a hard place, really, and we went for it. But Ferrari played it very well – and they had the quicker car today. After that, we seemed to pick up in performance on the Soft tyres. Lewis managed everything perfectly and I must compliment Valtteri, too – he showed really good pace, made no mistakes through the whole weekend and got his first podium with the team in his first race. Now, the job for us is to learn the lessons from this race, understand why we didn’t perform to our maximum today and keep working hard to improve the car in every area.

James Allison, Technical Director
If it wasn’t already clear after qualifying, then it’s certainly clear now that this is going to be a season of very small margins. We got a good getaway from the flag. But credit to Ferrari today, they had a very quick car and we just weren’t quite good enough to stick with them. We won’t panic, though. It’s race one of a long season and we scored some very good points with both cars today. We’ ll be determined to come back stronger in China and make sure those small margins go our way next time.















Credits: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport

Copyright © 2017, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS secured second place in the Constructors´ Championship today after a thrilling final race of the season.

• The team finished the 2013 season with a total of 360 points - 218 more than in 2012

• The season saw a total of three wins, six further podiums and eight pole positions

• Nico finished P5 this afternoon on a two-stop strategy, running option/prime/prime with stops on laps 22 and 44

• Lewis finished P9 after making two pit stops (laps 21, 47) and serving a drive-through penalty on lap 52

• Lewis also ran a tyre strategy of option/prime/prime and completed his 18th finish in 19 races in the 2013 season

Drivers - Car No. - Chassis No. - Race Result / Fastest Lap
Nico Rosberg - 9 - F1 W04 / 03 - P5, 1:16.442
Lewis Hamilton - 10 - F1 W04 / 04 - P9, 1:16.692

Weather - Dry with slight showers
Temperatures - Air: 18-20°C / Track: 22-26°C

Nico Rosberg
“Today is a great day for the team and to finish in second place in the Constructors´ Championship is a huge step forward for us. My thanks to everyone who made our success possible and congratulations to the team here at the track and back at our factories. It was certainly an interesting race today; I had a perfect start but then I struggled a lot with my rear tyres in the opening stint and lost a few positions. We could have cleared Jenson in the pits but it was better for us to be conservative and focus on our battle with Ferrari. I´m so happy that we have achieved our aim and now everyone can look forward to a break and the new challenge of 2014. It´s a huge project and there´s a lot of work ahead over the winter. I´m very much looking forward to working with the team to put us in the best possible position for next season.”

Lewis Hamilton
“Firstly, congratulations to the team today for achieving second place in the Constructors´ Championship. That result means so much to everyone and I´m so grateful to have been a part of it this year. From my side, it was a tough race today. I don´t know what happened exactly with Valtteri and will have to have a look at the replay. I thought that I had moved to the left, he outbraked me and then we touched but it happened so quickly and it was obviously judged that I did something wrong. I was having a good race until that point in fourth place and a podium might have been possible as I was closing on Fernando. That´s why I´m so disappointed with my own race but of course I´m delighted for the team. They have done an incredible job this year and really deserve this result. It´s the reward for what I know has been many years of hard work and my thoughts are with everyone here at the track and back at our factories at Brackley and Brixworth. We´ve got so much to look forward to next season so I´ll put today behind me quickly and focus on what should be a great year in 2014.”

Ross Brawn
“Well, I´ve certainly got a few more grey hairs after that race! Both cars made fantastic starts but it was soon clear that we hadn´t found the sweet spot with the car balance for Nico and he was struggling for rear-end grip. Lewis was stronger in the opening stint and showed good pace before and after his first stop. Our race obviously turned on the two drive-through penalties for Felipe and Lewis. Our drivers had been reporting that Felipe was consistently crossing the white line at pit entry with all four wheels and when the FIA eventually took action, that obviously helped us. Then we had Lewis´ unfortunate incident with Bottas and we have to take that one on the chin as we should have kept Lewis better informed of just how quickly the Williams was closing, even though he was a lap down. He then drove strongly after the penalty, especially considering his floor was damaged by the flailing tyre. But the key thing today is that the team secured second position in the Constructors´ Championship, even though we made rather hard work of it. That was done on the basis of a very good step forwards and one we made for good reasons. My thanks and congratulations to everyone at our team for all of their hard work, dedication and commitment. Red Bull have been extremely dominant in 2013, and congratulations to them. But our progress is the first fruits of the technical team we began building two years ago and I am optimistic that the trend of progress will continue in 2014.”

Toto Wolff
“Our target today was to secure second position in the Constructors´ Championship; we achieved that target and that´s what counts. Ferrari, and Fernando in particular, made life extremely hard for us in the first half of the race and that kept us on our toes and gave us some nervous moments. Lewis´ incident with Valtteri was unfortunate; we must be glad that it did not ultimately cost us any positions in the standings and learn our lessons from it. Thank you to everyone at the team, both at the track and at our factories, for their efforts and please keep up the hard work! Congratulations also to Red Bull, who once again showed incredible pace and have set the standard this season. From tomorrow, our attention will be fully focused on 2014 and taking another significant step forward in performance.”























~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2013, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A-02
- Started: 14th
- Finished: 4th
- Fastest lap: 1m16.450s (+1.014s, 7th)
- Pitstops: Two: laps 20 (2.95s) and 43 (3.94s) [Pri-Opt-Opt]
- Points: 73 (9th)

“For Checo, myself and the whole Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, today was an incredible day.

“I’m pleased to have finished fourth: it’s almost the podium position that I came here aiming for. We really needed today’s result.

“The 2013 season hasn’t been an easy one – it’s been tough for all of us at the circuits, but it’s probably been even tougher for the guys back at the factory, working flat-out to make parts. They’re a really amazing bunch of totally passionate and utterly dedicated people, and they richly deserve the ‘lift’ that today’s result will have given them.

“I’m also pleased for Checo. He won’t be with us next year, but he drove a great race today. Well done, mate.

“I also want to say a big ‘thank you’ to Vodafone. Vodafone has been an absolutely incredible title partner, and we’ve also had a lot of fun together – both on and off the track. Some of the videos they made with us have been truly brilliant. I’m sad to see them leave, but I guess nothing ;lasts for ever.

“This is a great way to end the year, and now our focus turns squarely to 2014. McLaren is an incredibly strong and powerful organisation – and, believe me, we will fight back.”

SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A-03
- Started: 19th (following yesterday’s five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change)
- Finished: 6th
- Fastest lap: 1m16.246s (+0.810s, 5th)
- Pitstops: Two: laps 19 (2.58s) and 44 (2.65s) [Opt-Opt-Pri]
- Points: 49 (11th)

“What a contrast today was to yesterday, when we were unlucky to lose five grid positions owing to a gearbox-change penalty, but I think we made a very strong recovery this afternoon.

“I was praying for heavier rain at the end of the race, so that I could have a go at making up some more positions. But unfortunately I had to save fuel in the final laps, which meant I couldn’t really attack Nico [Rosberg] as hard as I’d otherwise have been able to.

“I’ve learnt so much from everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, the best team I’ve ever raced with, and I wish every single one of them all the best for the future. I wish Jenson and Kevin all the best for the future, too.

“I think I’ve grown up a lot this year – both as a racing driver and as a man – and I think I’ll be an even stronger competitor in future as a result.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Undoubtedly, that was our best grand prix of the year.

“It’s frustrating to have to say that after a race in which our drivers finished only fourth and sixth, but it’s also true.

“Moreover, the manner in which those results were achieved was heartening indeed: both Jenson and Checo had difficulties in qualifying, through no fault of their own, but the way they charged through the field from their lowly grid slots this afternoon was seriously impressive.

“It also illustrated very creditable race pace, which was good to see.

“Having said all that, 2013 been a long, hard and disappointing year. Nonetheless, I want to take this opportunity to pay particular tribute to our trackside mechanics and engineers, who are without doubt the best in the pit-lane. That’s not only my opinion, by the way; the stats bear it out, too.

“As of today, McLaren became the first team in Formula 1 history to have both its cars classified in every grand prix during the season.

“And, also as of today, McLaren completed 99.17% of the season’s total possible race distance – 7139 miles [11,488km] out of a possible 7198 miles [11,584km] – which is not only better than every other team managed this season but is also a new world record, beating the previous record of 98.30% set by BMW-Sauber in 2008.

“Those two stats constitute compelling proof of the fact that our trackside mechanics and engineers possess the three D’s in impressive abundance: dedication, determination and discipline. Well done, boys, I’m proud of you.

“Today, Jenson broke a record, too, becoming the first British F1 driver to start 247 grands prix, eclipsing the previous British milestone of 246 set by our old friend David [Coulthard]. And the way Jenson drove today proves that he’s as hungry and as competitive as ever he was.

“Checo also drove a superb race today, surging from 19th on the grid to sixth at the flag, and I’m personally delighted that he was able to end his year at McLaren with such a fantastic performance. As I’ve said many times, he’s a fine driver. He’s also a lovely guy, and the way he’s conducted himself over the past 10 days, in particular, in extremely challenging circumstances, has been hugely impressive. He’s a class act.

“Today we also have to bid farewell to our title and total communications partner Vodafone, after seven seasons in which together we won one world championship, here at Interlagos, in 2008, perhaps the most dramatic denouement in Formula 1 history, and also scored 34 grand prix wins. Vodafone has been a fabulous partner for McLaren, and has contributed not only funding but also technology. Moreover, our partnership delivered all the marketing objectives that Vodafone had set for it, and gave its clients and customers a lot of fun, too.

“Finally, I want to say something about the future. Formula 1 is a relentlessly demanding sport, and next season’s new regulations are already presenting all the teams with a daunting array of technical challenges – not only powertrains but aerodynamics, too. For quite some time we’ve been working extremely hard on those technical challenges, and our focus will be unstinting and unwavering from now onwards, throughout the winter.

“In other words, the 2014 season starts this evening.”
















~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2013, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.