F1 Paddock Notebook - Russian GP Thursday

With a run-down of all the additional news and notes from media day ahead of the Russian Grand Prix, here's the Crash.net paddock notebook courtesy of Julianne Cerasoli.

- Max Verstappen didn’t make any friends at Renaut when he said he is “sure” Honda will start the 2019 season ahead of the French manufacturer. “It looks promising. They are spending a lot of money on the project, which is really good”, he pointed out. But the Renault drivers don’t agree with Verstappen. “I still have faith with Renault. Obviously I’m sticking to it for next year, with another team. We need to trust”, said Carlos Sainz Jr.

- On the other side of the Renault garage, Nico Hulkenberg was still remembering his “race” against Valtteri Bottas during the Singapore GP. With used tyres, the Finn just couldn’t get close enough to lap the Renault driver, much to Hulkenberg's delight. “I felt like I was winning the race because I had a Merc behind chasing me and I was racing. It felt great!”, he joked.

- On a more serious note, the blue flags saga was one of the hot topics in the paddock, with some suggesting they should be simply scrapped. However, Haas boss Gunther Steiner said he felt it was "part of racing" for all drivers: "You always complain there is no racing, but if there would not have been blue flags [in Singapore] Max would have caught Lewis and we would have had a fight. Fair or not fair, it was a circumstance where the other car was racing as well."

- Williams' Lance Stroll said that the matter should be looked into by F1 officials to see if there is a way of improving the current system. “It’s a fragile topic because the leaders are fighting for their own race and it’s more important than ours”, said Stroll. “But at the same time everyone is competing with their own car and they’re not in the same race as the Mercedes or Ferrari. We want it just as bad as them.”

- Another hot topic in Sochi was the advantage that drivers starting just outside the top 10 had in Singapore, as they did not have to start the race on the Hypersoft tyres. Some argued it was a circuit-related situation, but Romain Grosjean was very clear about his thoughts: “It’s really a big disadvantage, what’s the point of making qualifying then?” Interestingly, Carlos Sainz revealed the drivers have been briefed about a possible rule change for 2019. “It is a subject that has came up in our meetings with Charlie [Whiting] and they said they are looking into it.” 

- Speaking of Grosjean, Steiner hinted that the Haas driver announcement should be made before the Japanese GP. And had nothing but kind words about the Frenchman, even after all the criticism Romain suffered in Singapore: “He was here from beginning. He did take a risk for his career when he signed with us, because he didn’t know us properly. I think our relationship is really good.”

- While Haas seems to be happy with their drivers, and another door has been closed with Antonio Giovinazzi being confirmed in Marcus Ericsson’s cockpit at Sauber, some drivers are realising F1 may be lacking seats for 2019. Stoffel Vandoorne said he is considering IndyCar and Formula E, and Esteban Ocon didn’t rule out being a reserve driver next year. But Ocon was very clear that he is not looking anywhere else: “What I’m trying to do is if I’m not racing next year is to come back in F1 in ’20. I feel like there is nothing for me to learn away from F1”.

- Both Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz started the weekend in Sochi fighting illnesses. The Australian sounded like he had a flu and the Spaniard revealed he had a infection as has been taking antibiotics. “I don’t feel any pain, so I don’t think it will be a problem during the weekend”, said the Renault driver.

- The Red Bulls and the Toro Rossos will have engine penalties this weekend, but for different reasons. Honda brought an upgrade trying to improve their performance just before their home race in Suzuka, while the Red Bulls will have to go back to the B spec engine as the C one cannot run in the high altitude tracks The plan is to get a fresh B spec in Sochi on Friday, but race on the C spec, saving the new one to Mexico and Brazil.

- As for the big two, Lewis Hamilton said he is living his best moment ever in F1, saying he felt "healthier, happier and stronger than ever.” But he denied the title is nearly decided despite his 40-point lead: “I don’t think you ever have one hand on it, I’d prefer have both hands on it and we don’t.”

- Sebastian Vettel, on the other hand, adopted the ‘be in the moment’ mantra, but let it slip that he actually would like to have more races still to go in this season. “I mean, I'm not aiming to win all seven races”, said the German. “First of all, I'm aiming to win here, then once that's done we go to the next one and we go to the next one.” With the Russian GP being the 16th race of the season, there are only six races to go...