Categories: FeatureFeatures

Between the lines

The F1’s official FIA Press Conferences are the traditional home of ‘for sure’, ‘the team’s done an amazing job’ and ‘we’re investigating that’, but what lies behind the platitudes? F1i reckons it has the answer…

Thursday 10 April 2015 – Drivers’ Press Conference China

Sebastian Vettel

The Question: We saw really good pace from Ferrari in Malaysia. Is this pace for real and can you continue to take the fight to Mercedes?

What Sebastian said:

SV: For here and for the next races, I think in general [at] the start of the season, things can be up and down. We want to make sure that there is quite a lot of up, not so many downs but it’s normal that some races you are more competitive than others, so I think that we managed to do a very good job in Malaysia but for here and for the next races we have to be realistic about what we want to achieve.

What he might have meant:

SV: No chance. I’m going to finish third. Valtteri will be fourth. Kimi, on the other hand, will start 8th and will climb to fifth by the end of the first stint. Then he’ll have a bad pit stop in which the team screws him badly, he’ll then get clipped by a backmarker on his out lap. He’ll drop to 17th and then spend the second half of the race racing back to fifth. I think I’m just going to call him Mark from now on.

Page: 1 2 3 4 5

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Vasseur relieved after Ferrari reset: ‘They left my room joking'

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur admits to feeling relieved after his sit-down in Brazil with…

1 hour ago

Schumacher's first crown, but not his finest hour

On this day in 1994, Michael Schumacher clinched at the season finale Australian Grand Prix…

2 hours ago

Hadjar ‘sad’ to see 2026 end with plenty still ‘in the tank’

Red Bull's Isack Hadjar is not quite ready to call time on his 2026 campaign.…

4 hours ago

Brundle: Stroll is ‘at his wit’s end’ over Aston Martin crisis

Aston Martin F1 team owner Lawrence Stroll is reportedly “at wit’s end”, according to Sky…

5 hours ago

Wolff: Mercedes were not ‘complete losers’ during title drought years

Toto Wolff has no intention of rewriting Mercedes’ recent history now that the team is…

6 hours ago

‘They will get him’: Steiner's Ferrari prediction for Antonelli

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes an alliance between 2026 F1 world champion Kimi…

8 hours ago