Tales from the paddock – Daniel Juncadella: ‘Titanium Man’ returns to the cockpit

Daniel Juncadella was back in a racing car during the DTM tests at Hockenheim for the first time since fracturing his collarbone. In this week’s main interview, Titanium Man tells us what it was like.

• This is what happened: Weekend results and facts
• News from the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport teams
• Three questions for Daniel Juncadella
• Social media news: What’s new online?

This is what happened: Results and facts

• Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas both make it onto the podium in the Bahrain Grand Prix
• VLN: Adam Christodoulou, Manuel Metzger, Dirk Müller and Maro Engel finish second on the Nordschleife
• Blancpain GT Series: Michael Meadows and Raffaele Marciello are runners-up in Race 2

News snippets

Stat-Attack – Bahrain: Although Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport narrowly missed out on their first win of the 2018 Formula 1 season in Round 2 at the Bahrain International Circuit, the team nonetheless passed some further milestones on the desert track. Lewis Hamilton and team principal Toto Wolff completed their 100th Grand Prix with the Brackley-based outfit last weekend.

Lewis staged a magnificent charge through the field from ninth on the grid to finish third and make his 119th Formula 1 podium appearance (the 70th in 100 races with the team). It was also his 27th Top Ten result in a row, beating the previous record set by Kimi Räikkönen. Valtteri meanwhile finished second to claim his 23rd Grand Prix podium and 14th with the team.

China, here we come: No time to relax! Just one week after the Bahrain Grand Prix, the third round of the 2018 Formula 1 season is due to take place at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. Lewis is very much looking forward to the Chinese Grand Prix – after all, he is assured of his customary euphoric reception from the Chinese fans. But also in sporting terms, this particular track on the outskirts of Shanghai has always been a happy hunting ground for the reigning world champion. 

In eleven races there, he has scored five victories, six pole positions, six fastest race laps and eight podium finishes. Since 2014, the winner has consistently been a Silver Arrows driver: three times Lewis and once Nico Rosberg. That first Grand Prix victory for the German ex‑c hampion in Shanghai in 2012 was also the first for Mercedes since it was reconstituted as a works team. Incidentally, the sixth anniversary of that win falls on the same date this year – 15th April.

New season, new paint jobs: To coincide with the DTM tests at Hockenheim this week (9th - 12th April), the last before the start of the season, the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM Team unveiled the new designs of the six Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM cars in which the driver sextet will be competing during the imminent 2018 DTM season.

Successful weekend for the Mercedes-AMG GT3: In the second VLN race of the season last weekend, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 had its first podium finish. Adam Christodoulou (GBR), Manuel Metzger, Dirk Müller and Maro Engel (all GER) of Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON were runners-up in the general classification on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. No fewer than four Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars came home in the Top Ten, thus making it a successful dress rehearsal for the 24-hour race on the weekend of 10th - 13th May.

At the Circuit Zolder in Belgium, there was another second place for the Mercedes-AMG GT3. In the opening round of the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup, Michael Meadows (GBR) and Raffaele Marciello (ITA) of AKKA ASP made their podium appearance in the second race. Felix Serralles (PUR) and Nicolas Jamin (FRA) in the sister car were only two seconds short of joining them and had to settle for fourth place.

Mercedes-AMG monopolised one of the podium ceremonies in the 3 Ore Endurance Champions Cup at Mugello in Italy. Stefano Pezzucchi, Marco Zanuttini and Mario Cordoni (all ITA) driving a Krypton Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 finished second in the general classification and first in their class. Customer racing team MDC Sports came second with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 and third with an SLS AMG GT3, making it a class podium lock-out for Mercedes.

In the season opener of the Super GT Series at the Okayama International Circuit in Japan, three customer racing teams finished in the Top Ten – LEON RACING (4th place), GOODSMILE RACING (8th place) and Arnage Racing (10th place).

Mercedes-AMG GT4 as class winner: Following its maiden victory in the first VLN race of 2018, the new Customer Racing car has had further success on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. In the second race of the season, the Mercedes-AMG GT4 driven by Stefan Karg, Fidel Leib and Moritz Oberheim (all GER) finished second in the SP10 class. Another car based on the Mercedes-AMG GT4 and crewed by Patrick Simon, Christian Gebhardt, Bernd Schneider (all GER) and Jethro Bovingdon (GBR) won the SP8T class.

Meanwhile, the 2018 GT4 European Series and Belcar Endurance Championship were getting underway at Zolder. In the 60-minute sprint races of the GT4 European Series, the Selleslagh Racing Team registered the best result with a class victory. In the 125‑minute race of the Belcar Endurance Championship, the QSR Racing School duo of Jimmy de Breuker and Yannick Hoogaers (both BEL) won their class.

Three questions for Daniel Juncadella

Daniel, you drove a DTM car on Tuesday for the first time since your injury. How did it feel?

Daniel Juncadella: It was a very special situation for me. I knew I could move my arm before then, but Monday was the first time I had sat in the car and got strapped in. That was when I realised just how tight it is in the cockpit. After that, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to drive on Tuesday. But after the first run, I concluded that we only needed a few adjustments to the steering wheel and seat. 

On the second run, I was already feeling OK. When I got out of the car, I saw that I was in second place at that time, only three tenths behind Gary. That came as a big surprise for me, because although I felt good in the car, I expected the injury to put me well down on the timesheets. After all, I have to make more use of my right arm on the right-hand turns, and here in Hockenheim, there are quite a few of those.

In the team, you’ve already acquired the affectionate nickname ‘Titanium Man’. How do you react to that?

Daniel Juncadella: Well of course, I now have quite a sizeable chunk of titanium inside me. Maybe I will post some pictures in the next few days day to prove it. But seriously, it was a very special day for me. It was a feeling similar to some of the biggest successes in my career. At the beginning of the afternoon, it was a bit harder for me, but all in all, everything went really well and I was able to complete 121 laps.

How did the car feel?

Daniel Juncadella: It was good. The team had made a few changes from the first day of testing on Monday, so the setup was very neat right from the start. We tried some things in the morning that had a beneficial effect. In the afternoon, we concentrated on racing simulations. It was the first race simulation for me with the new tyre compound that I tested two years ago. That also went very well, and I think I was competitive. Overall, it was a perfect day for me. I couldn’t have wished for a better one.

Source: Daimler

2018 Bahrain Grand Prix - Saturday

Valtteri scores P3 in Qualifying, with Lewis in fourth

• Valtteri will start tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix from P3
• Lewis set the fourth fastest time in Qualifying, but will start tomorrow’s race from P9 on the grid owing to a gearbox penalty
• Valtteri completed one run on the Soft compound tyres in Q1, then two runs on the SuperSoft in both Q2 and Q3
• Lewis completed one run on the SuperSoft compound tyre in Q1, one run on the Soft and the SuperSoft in Q2 and two runs on the SuperSoft in Q3

Valtteri Bottas

It’s disappointing not to be in the first row. We’ve made some good progress through the weekend, but Ferrari was quicker today. We definitely have work to do at this type of circuits and in these kind of conditions. 

I think we have the right set-up of the car for the race, but it’s difficult to estimate the race pace. I think it’s going to be really closely matched between Ferrari, Red Bull and us, so it should be an interesting race. 

I learned a lot about tyre management last year at this track that I think I can use this year. We’ll definitely go for it tomorrow and hopefully Lewis can also come back to get some good points so we can keep the pressure on Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton

Today wasn’t the best of days and tomorrow is going to be one of the hardest races for us in some time. We’ve been trying to get ahead of the Ferraris, but it has been tough, they just had the pace all weekend. 

It wasn’t the greatest of laps from my side and Ferrari had the edge as they often do in these hotter conditions. The goal for tomorrow is damage limitation. I’ve got the Soft tyre, so I should be able to go longer – it’s going to be interesting to see, there’s a couple of different strategies tomorrow. 

I’ll try and eke out every last bit of power and strength from this car. I don’t know what we are going to be able to achieve tomorrow, but I will give it everything I’ve got and hope that I can do something.

Toto Wolff

This was a difficult qualifying session for us but about what we expected after practice yesterday and today. Ferrari have always been strong in the hot conditions and they confirmed that with their one-two in qualifying, with pace that was just out of reach for both Valtteri and Lewis. 

We have said through the winter that the performance between the top teams is very close and this result simply confirmed it. Like always, we need to keep our feet on the ground, stay humble and keep working. 

The long runs in practice were very close between Ferrari, Red Bull and ourselves, so there is still much to play for tomorrow. But it’s clear from today that Ferrari will start as favourites.

James Allison

Although we made a small step forward relative to our performance yesterday, we were disappointed to learn this afternoon that it was not enough to compete on level terms with Ferrari. 

However, we know from Friday’s long runs in practice that we have good tyre degradation, and there is every reason to expect a close race tomorrow, especially for Valtteri who will start from the clean side of the grid. With Lewis, we will need to be quite imaginative with the strategy to allow him to recover from the gearbox penalty – but this is a circuit where overtaking is possible, although never easy, and which will offer opportunities to make progress by starting on the soft compound.

Source: Daimler