Chester: Ferrari's win gives the chasing F1 pack hope - MotorSportsTalk

Lotus technical director Nick Chester thinks that Ferrari’s win at last weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix should give the rest of the Formula 1 field hope in the face of Mercedes’ dominance in the sport.

After winning a record-breaking 16 races in 2014, Mercedes looked poised to enjoy a similar advantage over the rest of the field this year, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg easing to P1 and P2 at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

However, the Silver Arrows were upstaged in Malaysia when Sebastian Vettel stormed to victory for Ferrari, proving that, contrary to Red Bull’s claims, it was possible to beat Mercedes in a straight fight.

Speaking ahead of next weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, Chester explained how he thought the result was not only good for F1, but also proof for the rest of the field that Mercedes could be caught.

“It’s a long season ahead and we’re all trying to do exactly that,” Chester said. “We’ve seen in this year that Ferrari have improved significantly over the winter months and it seemed that the hot track in Sepang suited them well.

“They had an improving car, a good strategy and they put it all together to take the win. It shows that with enough development Mercedes can indeed be beaten which is good for the sport.

“Rest assured, we’re doing everything we can at Lotus F1 Team to challenge Mercedes, Ferrari and every other team as best we can over the course of the year.”

Chester confirmed that Lotus would be bringing some minor upgrades to China to aid the E23 Hybrid’s performance, with the main focus being on tire temperature in Shanghai due to the cold conditions.

“We have bodywork upgrades at the front and rear of the car,” he said. “In combination, we have a reasonable upgrade package for Shanghai which mainly focusses on improving our downforce.

“The range of ambient temperatures can vary significantly in Shanghai from around 10ºC to 30ºC so that’s quite significant. We can’t know for sure in advance what the weather will be like but yes it will certainly be cooler than the last race!

“We will put emphasis towards generating the right tire temperatures. And we’ll certainly pack our fleeces.”

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

Chester: Ferrari’s win gives the chasing F1 pack hope

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

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