Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2017 i AUTOSPORT

About an hour and a half after the end of the Azerbaijan GP, Williams organised a celebratory photograph with Lance Stroll and their team of mechanics in the pitlane in front of their garage. After such a difficult start to the 18-year-old’s rookie year, it was great to see him enjoying the adulation from his first podium finish, and I managed to capture this shot of him being held aloft by his team. We had to wait for Williams to finish their race debrief, so it was quite late, and well after sunset, by the time this picture was taken. But I was lucky because Lance has been lit up by the fash going off from someone else’s camera. Photographer : Lorenzo Bellanca Where Baku, Azerbaijan When 8.21pm, Sunday 25…

JULY 9 July > F1 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg 16 July > F1 British Grand Prix, Silverstone 28-30 July > Silverstone Classic This packed weekend of multi-discipline racing action will include the FIA Masters and HGPCA races for historic F1 machinery, including cars such as Mark Hazell’s Williams FW07B, which ran at the Williams 40th Anniversary day in June (see p72). There will also be demo laps of historic Williams machinery throughout the weekend. 30 July > F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest AUGUST 11-13 August > Oldtimer Grand Prix, Nürburgring See grand prix and F1 cars from the 1920s onwards duking it out on track. Honours are divided equally as prewar ERAs take on postwar machinery such as Maserati 250Fs, Coopers, BRMs and Lotus. 27 August > F1 Belgian Grand…

ANTICIPATION HANGS IN THE AIR. The grandstand opposite Silverstone’s dramatic ‘Wing’ pit complex is every bit as packed as it will be over the weekend of the British Grand Prix weekend (14-16 July, if that date isn’t already inscribed in your diary), and each person within it is fixing their gaze firmly on the line of garages on the other side of the track. Anyone with a phone is pointing its camera in this direction rather than idly scrolling through Facebook. Within the Wing, four decades of Formula 1 and sportscar historic machinery is barking into life in turn. The familiar growl of Ford’s venerable DFV V8 gives way to the angry squall of a BMW V12, which, in turn, hands over to the high-strung blare of a Renault V10.…

THE MAIN EVENT Along with Monaco, Spa and Monza, historic Silverstone has the distinction of having held a grand prix in the first year of the Formula 1 drivers’ world championship in 1950. The British Grand Prix has since become an integral event on the F1 calendar, and once again it takes up its traditional summer slot in mid-July. While the circuit has undergone several transformations over the decades, it still retains its high-speed thrill. The fearsome Copse corner, leading on to the sweeps of Maggotts and Becketts is arguably one of the best sequences of turns anywhere in the world. Throw in the temperamental British weather and the weekend often has an excitingly unpredictable edge. One thing you can foresee is huge support for home hero Lewis Hamilton. Having…

A cocktail of culture, Singapore intertwines history and heritage into an exciting metropolis. From iconic temples to futuristic skyscrapers, this global financial capital has a tropical climate and a stunning landscape that provides the perfect backdrop for the 2017 Singapore GP. This September the sport will celebrate ten years of racing under the lights on what is widely recognised as being one of the most challenging circuits on the Formula 1 calendar. One of a swathe of new circuits designed by Herman Tilke, the Marina Bay street circuit has fast become a fan-favourite because of its daunting lack of run-off and fearsome second sector, which runs through the famed Singapore Sling chicane and then down into the tight hairpin of Turn 13. Since the Malaysian Grand Prix will no longer…

One of the big stories from that crazy race in Baku was of Lewis Hamilton’s headrest coming loose soon after the race had restarted following the red-fag stoppage. I was standing at the first corner and could see that he was trying to clip it back into position as he came down the straights. What I like about this picture is the early-evening sun casting long shadows across the track and, in the distance, the shimmering Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel hunting down the leading Mercedes. In the end Lewis had to pit to have his headrest replaced, while Vettel was penalised for his moment of madness. So ultimately both lost out. Photographer : Lorenzo Bellanca Where Baku, Azerbaijan When 6.29pm, Sunday 25 June 2017 Details Canon EOS-1DX MkII, 600mm lens,…

06.06.17  Robert Kubica returns to an F1 cockpit for the first time in six years 10.06.17  Lewis Hamilton matches Ayrton Senna’s 65 pole record 11.06.17  McLaren win the Montréal mechanics raft race 16.06.17  The Sepang circuit in Malaysia is open to a new deal after this year’s race 19.06.17  The 21-race 2018 F1 calendar is unveiled, with the first-ever ‘triple-header’ 21.06.17  Team boss Monisha Kaltenborn parts company with Sauber 21.06.17  The FIA confirms an approach by a prospective new Chinese-backed Formula 1 team…

1960 THE CLOSEST CALL An early marker that Graham Hill was made of stern stuff. He stalled his BRM P48 at the start at Silverstone, but drove brilliantly from the back to take the lead from Jack Brabham, only for a brake problem to cause him to spin off at Copse just five laps from the flag. It would be the closest he’d come to winning the British GP. A BUNCH OF ‘SALOON-ATICS’ Graham was among the F1 stars to take part in a ‘parade’ of these Mini Minors, and predictably, they got a little carried away. By the end of the demonstration, there were a few bent bumpers – and Jack Brabham arrived in the paddock backwards! “I’ve driven a lot of these old cars of my dad’s over…

1964 MEXICO A three-way fight between Brits Graham Hill, John Surtees and Jim Clark played out with plenty of drama. Title outsider Clark dominated from pole position, but Hill clawed his way to the third place he needed – until contact with Surtees’ Ferrari team-mate Lorenzo Bandini pushed him out of contention. Then Clark’s Lotus failed on the penultimate lap, Bandini moved over to gift Surtees the second place he needed and history was made – by one point. ‘Big John’ became the first and only man to win world titles on two and four wheels. 1976 JAPAN James Hunt vs Niki Lauda… the battle had raged all season. Despite dreadful burns from his Nürburgring crash, Lauda arrived at Fuji with a three-point lead. But the climax would be delayed…

THE MAIN EVENT Because the Hungarian Grand Prix is the last race before the enforced two-week summer shutdown, the event often has an ‘end-of-term’ feel about it. By this stage of the year, team personnel are weary as a result of all the traipsing back and forth across Europe in the July heat, and are more than ready to enjoy a proper break before commencing the second half of the season. At the Hungaroring, however, it’s a very different story; drivers are really put to the test here and have little chance to relax. One corner quickly leads into another, giving this circuit the feel of an oversized kart track. This is perhaps why Lewis Hamilton has always performed so strongly here, having won five out of the ten GPs…

A few years ago I remember Lewis Hamilton winning in Montréal and coming down the pitlane waving a Union Jack; I wondered if he might do the same again this time. I was shooting the end of the race from Turn 1 and afterwards sprinted back to the pits and waited near parc fermé, just underneath the podium. Sure enough, Lewis did come down the pitlane holding a British fag again. Because this was taken on a 600mm lens, it creates a low depth of field so you can see the heat haze coming off the back of the car. You can also see all the dead bugs and bits of rubber that have splattered across the front of the Mercedes. Photographer : Lorenzo Bellanca Where Montréal, Canada When 3.28pm,…

Late on Friday afternoon I was positioned on the outside of Turn 12 of the Baku City Circuit, the first left-hander after the fiddly, narrow ‘Castle’ section of the lap. One of the great things about the race in Azerbaijan is that the session timings are late, so you get these pools of soft light that fall between the buildings and trees. This was taken just after six in the evening on the first day of practice. It was technically difficult to get Valtteri Bottas’s helmet in the light, while the rest of the Mercedes is in darkness. The other upshot was to get a ‘tiger print’ effect of the buildings refected in the engine cover. Photographer : Steven Tee Where Baku, Azerbaijan When 6.14pm, Friday 23 June 2017 Details…

“IT’S ALL ABOUT BEING ON YOUR TOES THE WHOLE TIME – AND BEING READY TO POUNCE” “THE SECRET TO WINNING THIS RACE IS TO BE DYNAMIC WITH YOUR DRIVING” ARMS RELAXED AT THE STEERING WHEEL, Lewis Hamilton is ready to put in one more lap. You could certainly say that he knows his way around the 3.66 miles of asphalt stretching out ahead of him. Wet or dry, his record on this windswept, former RAF airfield is excellent: four poles, four wins. He’s no fash in the pan; over the past decade, Lewis, 32, has become an established star on home soil, and now, sitting at the wheel of the fastest E-class Mercedes have ever built, he blips the loud pedal. He’s all set to unleash 612bhp and is ready…

There was only one person who truly believed Ferrari could turn the situation on its head – moving from a disastrous 2016 to a year improbably rich with glory, giving the team a genuine chance of winning the championship. That person was chairman Sergio Marchionne. Perhaps it was more a matter of intuition than cast-iron certainty. But either way it has been enough to restore Ferrari to the lofty position they now enjoy, as leading lights of F1 rather than supporting actors. Since the Schumacher era, they have largely played the lesser role – with the exception of 2007, when Kimi Räikkönen took the title by a single point from the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. This was what one team insider defined as “a happy anomaly”. Marchionne…

THE MAIN EVENT The Austrian Grand Prix returned to the calendar in 2014 after an 11-year hiatus and a significant upgrade to the circuit’s facilities by new owners Red Bull. The modern, ten-corner lap is a shadow of the former Österreichring, which was a thrilling blast through the Styrian countryside. Today’s Red Bull Ring still has the mountain backdrop, but lacks the wonder of its previous incarnation. Times between drivers and teams are much closer here than on many other tracks, due to there being far fewer corners on the lap. The pole time last year was below the 67-second mark, so spectators get great value for money, with cars passing them 71 times on race day. Red Bull have invested a lot of money in promoting this event, and…

5,938 MILES The distance from his home town of Stevenage, to Interlagos – the scene of his first F1 title success 50% Lewis’s win rate out of the ten Hungarian Grands Prix in which he has so far competed ZERO fastest laps in 2009: the only season of his F1 career in which Lewis has failed to record one 196 The number of races he has started with Mercedes engines, the most a driver has started with a single make, beating Michael Schumacher’s 179 with Ferrari 20X3 He’s the only driver to make the podium three times after starting a race from 20th or lower 427 His AC Cobra 427 is one of his favourite cars. The ‘427’ refers to the capacity, in cubic inches of the 7-litre engine 9…

Silverstone 2003. During the Friday prelim, Rubens Barrichello lost the back end of his Ferrari on the approach to Priory, the 90⁰ after the mega-quick Bridge right-hander. He was trying something new with the diff and slid slowly into the sandtrap, finishing the session dead last – which meant he would be first out on track for the grid-defining qualifying session on Saturday afternoon. Race tracks invariably pick up pace as the rubber goes down. The last to run has the best shot at the pole. And yet… The F2003-GA (named for Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli, who died that year) was suited to the fast corners of Silverstone. Monaco and Magny-Cours, where the Michelin-shod Williams-BMWs had been unbeatable, fell into context. At Silverstone, on the new, stiffer Bridgestone rubber, on…