MotoGP News
Date: 30/July/2012
Casey Stoner credited an ‘against the grain’ tyre choice for his third MotoGP victory at Laguna Seca in the USA on Sunday.
Unlike fellow front row starters Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, reigning World Champion Stoner selected the softer rear tyre - a decision that looked to immediately backfire when he dropped to fourth into turn one.
In order to make the soft tyre work, it was assumed Stoner would need to break away early and then cling on when the grip faded. But Stoner was still stuck behind race and title leader Lorenzo’s Yamaha as the halfway point came and went.
However Stoner was nursing his tyres and instead of a performance loss, Stoner got stronger - eventually blasting past Lorenzo out of the final turn with ten laps to go.
Stoner’s Repsol Honda took the chequered flag 3.5s ahead of Lorenzo.
Stoner said: “The tyre choice wasn’t a gamble but we had to be careful. We knew if we went out there and burnt it up at the beginning we would struggle later.
“My plan was to get a good start, use the extra grip at the beginning to pull a gap then relax the tyres. That didn’t work.
“I was fourth into turn one and had to pick my way back through. Jorge and Dani were running fast lines and especially Jorge. I wasn’t able to get through and I was using my tyres too much trying to overtake.
“So I backed off and started running my own lines. Then towards the end of the race we started going again, slowly eased the pace back up. We calculated everything right. It was against the grain. Nobody else really took the option and it paid off for us.
“I was confident it would work all along but we had to do everything right”
Despite his fourth win of the season, Stoner remains third in the championship, nine points from Pedrosa and 32-points from Lorenzo heading into the summer break.
“I need to do more than just chip away. Especially with these guys. It’s bloody hard work,” he said of his title chances. “We have to do something a bit extra.
“The mistake at Sachsenring really cost us, but at the same time it just gave back the points we gained from Jorge at Assen. I’m most disappointed with the points we lost [with eighth place] at Mugello. That’s what’s hurt us.”
Hamilton holds off Raikkonen in Hungary
F1 News
Date: 29/July/2012
Lewis Hamilton held off a feisty Kimi Raikkonen to record his second win of the 2012 F1 season at Hungary on Sunday.
Barring pit stops, the McLaren driver led from start to finish, completing a near perfect weekend for the Englishman.
Yet it was Raikkonen who arguably stole the show, the Finn overcoming a bad start and KERS problems to spend the final 15 laps tucked under Hamilton’s rear wing.
Raikkonen’s first victory since his F1 comeback, and first for the Lotus brand since Ayrton Senna in 1987, looked firmly on the cards. But Hamilton wasn’t to be denied and held firm to the finish.
A delighted Hamilton said: “The races you win like this - where you’re under intense pressure from great drivers like Romain and Kimi - feel great, because you have to have your mind 100 per cent focussed.
“The team didn’t flinch and neither did I.”
Hamilton revealed that he actually let Raikkonen close up in some corners in the hope that the ‘dirty air’ would accelerate the Finn’s tyre wear.
“Kimi was never really close enough to pass. I purposely allowed him to close up in certain corners, so that he may have problems with his tyres,” he said. “But I made sure I drew a big enough gap in the last three corners to try and keep clear of the DRS.”
Hamilton also had warm words for former McLaren driver Raikkonen, who sat out the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
“It's great to see Kimi up here with me. I've got a huge amount of respect for him. I remember watching him on TV before I even got to Formula One and when I used to play the computer games I would always play as him,” said Hamilton.
Victory was also the perfect response to criticism that Hamilton’s sometimes high-profile private life is a distraction.
“There always seems to be a lot of talk about me and my private life. Hopefully this will answer lots of the things that have been said. I am 100 percent focused this year, regardless of what people think.
“I've been on it all year, I've never been so committed but of course, I'm still in my twenties, I do want to enjoy my last bit of my twenties, because I've heard it's downhill from then on. I've got to strike a nice balance and I think I am.”
Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion for Ferrari at Hamilton’s expense, had spent the early part of the race in sixth place, but delivered excellent pace between pit stops to squeeze ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean after his final tyre change.
The 32-year-old then quickly bridged the four-second gap to Hamilton, but confessed his only chance of a victory pass was if Hamilton’s tyres went over the edge.
“My only chance was that they would run out of the tyres - but that never happened, so we probably should have had 20 more laps,” he smiled.
“I didn’t win, so there’s no point to worry about it.
“Yeah, you would rather win than come second but it's a long season and I think we're improving all the time. If the win comes it's great, if not, we keep trying. I've been in the business long enough that I don't really worry about things too much.”
Raikkonen was joined on the podium by rookie Grosjean, underlining the race-winning potential of the former Renault team.
Hungary marked Raikkonen’s third podium of the year and he is now being linked to a possible Ferrari return alongside Fernando Alonso, who extended his title advantage despite a fifth place in Budapest.
Asked if he would consider a Ferrari comeback, Raikkonen replied: “I always said that I didn't have bad feelings against [Ferrari]. I had a good time with the team. I won my championship there but things probably could have gone a nicer way in the end.
“Life goes on and you never know what happens in the future but I'm happy where I am now and things are going pretty nicely. I don't come up with the rumours, so perhaps you have to ask the people who write them.”
Raikkonen is fifth in the championship, eleven places ahead of Alonso’s current team-mate Felipe Massa.
The Spaniard heads for the summer break with a sizable 40-point lead over Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who could only manage eighth place after a diff problem.
Hamilton is 47-points behind Alonso in fourth, but insists his title hopes are far from over.
Hamilton said: “This weekend shows that it's all to play for still. Bit by bit, if we can continue with this kind of performance then we can slowly catch him, but we know we need consistency and we need to improve the car.
“The team is doing a fantastic job. We've now usually got the quickest pit stops and today I got the best start I've had all year, I was really surprised by it.
“This is a really good stepping stone for us, especially after the last three tough races. It's great to come and end the summer on this high.”
Round 12 of 20 will begin at Spa, Belgium on August 31.
Date: 29/July/2012
Lewis Hamilton held off a feisty Kimi Raikkonen to record his second win of the 2012 F1 season at Hungary on Sunday.
Barring pit stops, the McLaren driver led from start to finish, completing a near perfect weekend for the Englishman.
Yet it was Raikkonen who arguably stole the show, the Finn overcoming a bad start and KERS problems to spend the final 15 laps tucked under Hamilton’s rear wing.
Raikkonen’s first victory since his F1 comeback, and first for the Lotus brand since Ayrton Senna in 1987, looked firmly on the cards. But Hamilton wasn’t to be denied and held firm to the finish.
A delighted Hamilton said: “The races you win like this - where you’re under intense pressure from great drivers like Romain and Kimi - feel great, because you have to have your mind 100 per cent focussed.
“The team didn’t flinch and neither did I.”
Hamilton revealed that he actually let Raikkonen close up in some corners in the hope that the ‘dirty air’ would accelerate the Finn’s tyre wear.
“Kimi was never really close enough to pass. I purposely allowed him to close up in certain corners, so that he may have problems with his tyres,” he said. “But I made sure I drew a big enough gap in the last three corners to try and keep clear of the DRS.”
Hamilton also had warm words for former McLaren driver Raikkonen, who sat out the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
“It's great to see Kimi up here with me. I've got a huge amount of respect for him. I remember watching him on TV before I even got to Formula One and when I used to play the computer games I would always play as him,” said Hamilton.
Victory was also the perfect response to criticism that Hamilton’s sometimes high-profile private life is a distraction.
“There always seems to be a lot of talk about me and my private life. Hopefully this will answer lots of the things that have been said. I am 100 percent focused this year, regardless of what people think.
“I've been on it all year, I've never been so committed but of course, I'm still in my twenties, I do want to enjoy my last bit of my twenties, because I've heard it's downhill from then on. I've got to strike a nice balance and I think I am.”
Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion for Ferrari at Hamilton’s expense, had spent the early part of the race in sixth place, but delivered excellent pace between pit stops to squeeze ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean after his final tyre change.
The 32-year-old then quickly bridged the four-second gap to Hamilton, but confessed his only chance of a victory pass was if Hamilton’s tyres went over the edge.
“My only chance was that they would run out of the tyres - but that never happened, so we probably should have had 20 more laps,” he smiled.
“I didn’t win, so there’s no point to worry about it.
“Yeah, you would rather win than come second but it's a long season and I think we're improving all the time. If the win comes it's great, if not, we keep trying. I've been in the business long enough that I don't really worry about things too much.”
Raikkonen was joined on the podium by rookie Grosjean, underlining the race-winning potential of the former Renault team.
Hungary marked Raikkonen’s third podium of the year and he is now being linked to a possible Ferrari return alongside Fernando Alonso, who extended his title advantage despite a fifth place in Budapest.
Asked if he would consider a Ferrari comeback, Raikkonen replied: “I always said that I didn't have bad feelings against [Ferrari]. I had a good time with the team. I won my championship there but things probably could have gone a nicer way in the end.
“Life goes on and you never know what happens in the future but I'm happy where I am now and things are going pretty nicely. I don't come up with the rumours, so perhaps you have to ask the people who write them.”
Raikkonen is fifth in the championship, eleven places ahead of Alonso’s current team-mate Felipe Massa.
The Spaniard heads for the summer break with a sizable 40-point lead over Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who could only manage eighth place after a diff problem.
Hamilton is 47-points behind Alonso in fourth, but insists his title hopes are far from over.
Hamilton said: “This weekend shows that it's all to play for still. Bit by bit, if we can continue with this kind of performance then we can slowly catch him, but we know we need consistency and we need to improve the car.
“The team is doing a fantastic job. We've now usually got the quickest pit stops and today I got the best start I've had all year, I was really surprised by it.
“This is a really good stepping stone for us, especially after the last three tough races. It's great to come and end the summer on this high.”
Round 12 of 20 will begin at Spa, Belgium on August 31.
Spies to ride through the pain for US podium chance
MotoGP News
Date: 29/July/2012
Ben Spies isn’t sure if he fractured some bones in his heel during a crash at the end of qualifying for his home US MotoGP round at Laguna Seca.
But whatever the medical verdict the Texan, 28, will be back on track and chasing his first podium of the season after showing strong pace all weekend.
Spies said: “The weekend had been going pretty good, pretty smooth.
“I just got on the gas a little too early. I had a highside and came down pretty hard on my heel. It’s a bit complicated with heel injuries, because there are so many small bones.
“We’ll have to wait until the swelling goes down to see if there’s any fractures, but on the bike it should be no problem anyway. Other than that I hit my head pretty hard.”
Despite the accident, and lost track time, Spies will start his home round from fourth place and is confident he has the pace to turn around a torrid season.
“The bike is feeling good and I think we can have a strong race,” he declared.
“We have enough pace to think about getting on the podium, but not the win. We’ll look at the data and try and get some more speed for tomorrow.”
Tyre choice between the hard and soft rear is likely to be a last minute decision for the frontrunners and will depend heavily on the weather.
“Both tyres are working good. I’ve been fast on the soft and fast on the hard tyre. We’ve got to wait and see,” he said.
Spies’ starting position means he will be able to easy spot which tyres the top three of Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa choose.
“I’ve got the luxury of seeing what the front row do and I can change on the grid!” he confirmed.
Spies, who announced he is quitting Yamaha at the end of this year, refused to comment on rumours that he will return to World Superbike with BMW next year.
“I haven’t made a decision yet and it is still going to be some time until I do,” said Spies. “Like I said two days ago when I make a decision I will announce it.
“Right now I don’t know what I’m going to do. We have many offers from other people so we’ll wait and see.”
Team-mate and World Championship leader Lorenzo took his fourth consecutive US GP pole on Saturday.
Date: 29/July/2012
Ben Spies isn’t sure if he fractured some bones in his heel during a crash at the end of qualifying for his home US MotoGP round at Laguna Seca.
But whatever the medical verdict the Texan, 28, will be back on track and chasing his first podium of the season after showing strong pace all weekend.
Spies said: “The weekend had been going pretty good, pretty smooth.
“I just got on the gas a little too early. I had a highside and came down pretty hard on my heel. It’s a bit complicated with heel injuries, because there are so many small bones.
“We’ll have to wait until the swelling goes down to see if there’s any fractures, but on the bike it should be no problem anyway. Other than that I hit my head pretty hard.”
Despite the accident, and lost track time, Spies will start his home round from fourth place and is confident he has the pace to turn around a torrid season.
“The bike is feeling good and I think we can have a strong race,” he declared.
“We have enough pace to think about getting on the podium, but not the win. We’ll look at the data and try and get some more speed for tomorrow.”
Tyre choice between the hard and soft rear is likely to be a last minute decision for the frontrunners and will depend heavily on the weather.
“Both tyres are working good. I’ve been fast on the soft and fast on the hard tyre. We’ve got to wait and see,” he said.
Spies’ starting position means he will be able to easy spot which tyres the top three of Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa choose.
“I’ve got the luxury of seeing what the front row do and I can change on the grid!” he confirmed.
Spies, who announced he is quitting Yamaha at the end of this year, refused to comment on rumours that he will return to World Superbike with BMW next year.
“I haven’t made a decision yet and it is still going to be some time until I do,” said Spies. “Like I said two days ago when I make a decision I will announce it.
“Right now I don’t know what I’m going to do. We have many offers from other people so we’ll wait and see.”
Team-mate and World Championship leader Lorenzo took his fourth consecutive US GP pole on Saturday.
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