In the round-up: Pirelli say they are unlikely to select the Hard compound tyre for use at races until the Japanese Grand Prix.
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Pirelli says hard F1 tyres unlikely to be used again before Suzuka (Autosport)
Mario Isola: "If you look at the natural deadline it was before the race in Barcelona, last Thursday. We decided to postpone the choice until after Barcelona, to give to the teams more information on the performance in Barcelona. The process is usually that we make a proposal that we agree with the FIA."
Raikkonen on Q3 disappointment: I just need to drive better (ESPN)
"I struggled for whatever reason to put a decent lap, all the corners, together in qualifying. I thought I had a lot of speed but I never really managed to make a good lap out of it. It's disappointing, OK, it's fourth place, but being so close it hurts a bit."
Vettel guarded on Ferrari future to focus on 2017 title bid (Sky)
"It's my first time in this situation where I don't really know what happens next year, but I'm not too worried. I'm really focused on what's going on right now, and that's the same in the team from what I hear from people. "
Kvyat laments 'undriveable' Toro Rosso (Formula1.com)
"The car just wasn't driveable today. It was very hard to get my… to get the car around. Something was wrong with it I'm sure - 100 percent."
Pirelli lowers tyre pressures as load fears prove unfounded (Motorsport.com)
"Having studied the data collected on Friday, Pirelli has decided that it can now safely lower the minimum level to 18.5psi. The fronts have dropped from 22.5 to 22.0psi."
Gutierrez ‘definitely not done’ with F1, wants full-time race program (NBC)
"Definitely I’m not done (with F1). I had opportunity to be there as a third driver, but I wanted to focus on a racing program. Step by step, you know achieving the things that I want to achieve."
No Brexit contingency plan, says Renault Formula 1 boss (Reuters)
"When it comes to contingency plans...we don’t really have a plan as we are building new buildings in Enstone in the UK, we don’t really have a plan to move that we are currently building somewhere else. We are still assuming that people will be reasonable and we trust the UK to protect their industry and motorsport is an important industry for the UK."
Ocon repaying his parents' sacrifices (Reuters)
"It hasn’t been easy. A lot of sacrifices were done for me to keep racing. We were living in a caravan for a long time."
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Ole!! @alo_oficial He's my hero. #F1
— Damon Hill (@HillF1) May 13, 2017
Car felt great out there today!! Excited for the race ahead. Let's go @MercedesAMGF1! #P1 #SpanishGP #TeamLH 📸 x Steve Etherington pic.twitter.com/oQ2WE5iATu
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) May 13, 2017
3rd today in the qualifying. All to play for in the race tomorrow! 🏁#F1 #VB77 #SpanishGP @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/QfomhAfPVp
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) May 13, 2017
A little banter never hurt a title race #F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/IhG8w4SjGr
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 13, 2017
Bromance is in the air! 🤗@MassaFelipe19 @Max33Verstappen #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/04SRPM7Wlw
— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) May 13, 2017
Turning into quite a good day for Honda – P7 in #F1 qualifying, a good fourth for Matushita in F2 and now a win for @Nirei0124 in GP3
— Chris Medland (@ChrisMedlandF1) May 13, 2017
One of the day's better pleasure – catching up with 'Mr Clean' Peter Sauber, a true gentleman in every sense pic.twitter.com/XtWYVMpCZz
— Fritz-Dieter Rencken (@RacingLines) May 13, 2017
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
After Marcus Ericsson and Daniil Kvyat were both eliminated in Q1 while their respective team mates progressed, @thegianthogweed believes it’s not as bad as it looks for the two disappointed drivers.
I really am surprised that so many people are rating Kvyat and Ericsson as low as they are. Ericsson hasn’t done much worse than Wehrlein so far this season. The only big difference was their very first qualifying session. Ericsson in the 2 qualifying sessions before wasn’t bad at all. He got in to Q2 both times. And in this qualifying session, Wehrlein only beat him by 0.005 seconds. But yes, that was enough to get him through to 15th so he got through to Q2 which is what counts. But with Kvyat, he was very close to Palmer a lot of his lap which really won’t have helped. He was released at an inconvenient time. I’m pretty sure he’ll have managed to get into Q2 at least as he’s been beating Sainz in qualifying several times this year.
I think Kvyat and Ericsson are 2 drivers that people are underrating this year. Kvyat has pretty much been level with Sainz so far this year. People just remember his poor form last year which I think he has totally recovered from. Wehrlein may be better than Ericsson but they both make mistakes and I don’t think there is a big difference between them. I think the main driver that is really not impressing me is Palmer. We need to give Stroll at least a few more races to get used to F1. He’s been unlucky to have to retire in the 1st 3 races so he’s only had 1 race to prove himself so far. But His qualifying so far looks really poor yes.
@thegianthogweed
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juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
14th May 2017, 0:51
Re COTD: even Stroll was only a tenth or two behind Massa in Q1 – his best effort so far – but was out in Q1 while Massa went through to Q3. Stroll was certainly happy with his efforts when interviewed.
Sundar Srinivas Harish
14th May 2017, 1:30
It is a good point. However, with the back of the pack bunched so closely together, it is imperative for the drivers to impress as much as possible. I’m sure that the driver’s team and rivals will NOT look at it the same way, especially with so many young drivers eager to get out there and drive.
Simon (@weeniebeenie)
14th May 2017, 4:37
Yeah but you have to bear in mind Massa was comprehensively beaten by Bottas last year 17-4 in qualifying, so for Stroll to be comprehensively beaten by Massa, it’s not good. He still looks seriously uncomfortable behind the wheel to me.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
14th May 2017, 6:47
He is the most raw driver I’ve ever seen. I don’t doubt he’s got talent, maybe even enough for F1. But he’s definitely not got the talent to make a Verstappen jump. Every steering move he makes seems bereft of conviction, choppy and immediately overcorrected. It’s very unusual.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
14th May 2017, 5:29
Just watched Alonso’s Q3 lap.
Have to say, the Honda PU sounds a lot better than it did a couple races ago. Sounds a lot smoother between shifts. Appears that their drivability updates are working.
Good to see. Hopefully Fernando can have a good race and finish it for a change.
Whatever happens, Alonso is already in my top 3 drivers of the weekend.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
14th May 2017, 6:51
Loved reading about Esteban Ocon and the sacrfufic his family made. Makes for such an immediate and striking contrast with the likes of Stroll and Palmer.
I’m so happy to see Ocon in that car and doing well. After winning both F3 and GP3 on the virtue of remarkable consistency and racecraft he really deserved a seat. That he was put in DTM worried me, because I feared for the DTM to F1 route. So let’s be glad Ryo Haryanto wasn’t quite up to snuff, because we’ve got a future race winner here and he’s a great guy to boot.
x303 (@x303)
14th May 2017, 10:38
Agreed, it’s really lovely to learn about those sacrifices. And the guy looks lovely too, I may take a tour to Evreux and see if I can find him around a corner… :D
Nigel
14th May 2017, 11:38
Ocon is very impressive and is already pushing Perez.
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
14th May 2017, 7:08
Anybody cares about Gutierrez’ future dreams?
faulty
14th May 2017, 7:24
I do.
Rick (@)
14th May 2017, 10:36
@hanswesterbeek You seem to care enough to ask questions about it. 😉
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
16th May 2017, 8:59
I guess that’s 50/50 then ;)
Todfod (@todfod)
14th May 2017, 8:04
This was a really disappointing quali session for Kimi. He looked the quicker of the 2 Ferraris all weekend up until Q2 and Q3. It’s almost like he’s destined to drop the ball when it matters, which is the exact opposite of his teammate, who finds a little something extra when it matters. I think Ferrari will throw all their weight behind Vettel starting Monaco anyways, so Kimi’s time to impress has already passed him.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
14th May 2017, 8:18
Pretty much this. He is good and all, but when it matters he is not there.
Nigel
14th May 2017, 11:25
+1
Gabriel (@rethla)
14th May 2017, 9:33
Ericsson underrated what a revelation. People take every shot they can bashing at him.
Kvyat is doing alot better this year, i wonder what happened to him because surely it cant all be down to poor positioning on his last lap.
Joao (@johnmilk)
14th May 2017, 9:47
In 3 seasons what has Ericsson shown?
x303 (@x303)
14th May 2017, 10:43
I’d say a good progression @johnmilk. He was hopeless in the Lotus, and now he’s more like a slow safe pair of hands. Even on his pace, he is improving: as COTD points out he’s not that far off Wherlein at the moment.
He lacks natural talent but looks like a proper worker (I don’t think you can improve that much by luck).
Gabriel (@rethla)
14th May 2017, 11:10
Not that far of Wherlein is an understatement. He had solid qualifyings the first races and a really poor one in Russia. In the russian race he had better pace than Wherlein until his car broke down. This qualifying hes 0.005 of Wherlein after making a costly mistake in sector 2.
Saying that either driver is better than the other at this point is just speculation or pure bias.
Joao (@johnmilk)
14th May 2017, 11:37
@x303 improvement is to be expected, he gains experience after all.
“A slow safe pair of hands” F1 can’t have drivers that have this sentence as their best compliment.
The comparison with his team-mate, we only have two races with them, it is too soon to draw conclusions. At the end of the year if Ericsson beats Werhlein, it just tells me that both of them aren’t good enough to be in F1.
On COTD the two Q2 appearances were down to luck than ability with the red flag on the last minute.
x303 (@x303)
14th May 2017, 12:43
@rethla I haven’t really been paying attention to Ericsson this year so far, to be honest. I remember how he improved the previous years.
@johnmilk Sure, being reliable but slow is not enough for an F1 driver, but I think you are being unfair judging that Ericsson is a lost cause, and whoever he beats needs to be shown the door.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
14th May 2017, 9:41
The hard tire is even way too hard for Catalunya, so either Pirelli have to improve their hardest tire compounds or not use them at all. Last year the addition of a third tire compound made the races more interesting, but now we’re back to the old days where the drivers essentially can choose only between two compounds. For today’s race it seems there is only one suitable compound, which is definitely not good for racing.