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By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted June 6, 2014 | In Formula1, MotoGP, Sport News, Sport Sponsorship, Sports Marketing
Nico Rosberg has qualified on pole position for the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix, stealing the position away from Lewis Hamilton at a circuit that many consider to be his best. Hamilton had to settle for second, with Sebastian Vettel grabbing 3rd place at the last moment in an excellent performance at a track where Renault and Ferrari powered cars were expected to struggle.
Q1:
The general consensus heading into qualifying was that pole position was Hamilton’s to lose. This was bolstered by the results of final practice where Lewis was faster than Nico by half a second.
We’d lost a driver from Qualifying before it had even begun, with Esteban Gutierrez unable to qualify after a seemingly minor crash in FP3 which ruined the suspension on his Sauber. This alleviated the pressure for some who may have been on the cusp of being eliminated, but some were still at risk.
The two Williams cars were the early pace setters in the first few minutes of qualifying, with 2nd row qualifier Valtteri Bottas a tenth ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa. This was prior to the two Mercedes fast laps. Rosberg duly took the top spot away from Williams, with Hamilton unable to do so initially after an off track moment at turn 1. Lewis made up for it shortly after by going a few tenths quicker. Hamilton then really showed his speed by going 7 tenths faster than his team-mate.
The final few laps saw a last minute scramble to get into second session by some drivers who emerged onto the track on the super soft tyres. Perez was amongst them but made a mistake when he dipped a tyre into the grass at turn 8, spinning the Force India around. He was on the edge of being eliminated in 16th but was rescued after Pastor Maldonado pulled his Lotus off of the track due to a mechanical problem. Any threat of an advancement by a either Marussia or Caterham was also quelled when Ericsson put his car into the wall at turn 9, destroying the rear suspension and bringing Q1 to a premature close.
Out of Q1:
POS | Driver | Team | Time |
17 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1’18.328 |
18 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 1’18.348 |
19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 1’18.359 |
20 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham | 1’19.278 |
21 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham | 1’19.820 |
22 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | No time |
Q2:
With the debris cleared at turn 9, the 15 minutes of Q2 began with the two Williams cars taking the early lead, as they had done in Q1. The difference this time was that Massa was the faster of the pair and that they, like the rest of the runners, were on the faster super soft tyre.
The Mercedes pair left it late to make their first runs and surprisingly they did not take the top spot. Massa’s time was good enough to remain a few thousands ahead of Rosberg and Hamilton for the time being, with Bottas being pushed down to P4. Bottas made another run in the final minute to take him back up past the two Mercedes.
The two Red Bull cars were struggling in the early stages of qualifying, with Vettel unable to find a time to put him in the top 10 initially. He found a whole chunk of time to go just ahead of of team-mate Ricciardo in P6, with the Australian just getting back ahead of him in the closing stages. The late improvements by the Red Bull cars saw both Force India cars knocked out of qualifying, with Hulkenburg just on the edge in P11.
Normality was reinstated at the head of the times in the final few seconds, with Rosberg jumping to the top of the pile ahead of the two Williams, with Lewis Hamilton then bursting the Germans bubble by taking P1 by two tenths.
Out of Q2:
POS | Driver | Team | Time |
11 | Nico Hulkenburg | Force India | 1’16.300 |
12 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | 1’16.310 |
13 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’16.472 |
14 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1’16.687 |
15 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1’16.713 |
16 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | 1’17.314 |
Q3:
The trend of this year’s Canadian qualifying continued Q3 with Williams out front for the start of the session, with Valtteri Bottas a few tenths faster than his time in Q2. His team-mate would follow him through a few minutes later to go a tenth slower, but not before the two Mercedes cars blasted to the top of the pile. Rosberg was the man to go fastest first as he became the first driver to dip into the 1’14’s. Lewis Hamilton caught a tiny sniff of traffic on his lap and settled for a time that was a tenth slower than P1.
The first runs ended of the session ended with the Mercedes, Williams and Red Bull cars paired two-by-two from P1 to P6, with Alonso, Vergne, Button and Raikkonen the other drivers in the session; with Kimi yet to set a time with 2 minutes to go.
Vettel was the first man to take the chequered flag, as he moved up into P3. Rosberg was the next man through as he extended his advantage at the head of the field. Hamilton was yet to finish his lap however and was trying to steal the pole away on what is considered his favourite track. He was pushing too hard however as he locked up into turn 8 and lost a few vital thousandths of a second which ultimately would be the gap between Rosberg in pole and Lewis in 2nd.
Vettel’s late effort was good enough to secure him 3rd, with the two Williams cars of Bottas and Massa taking 4th and 5th; the first time that both Williams cars had made Q3 since 2004 when Ralf Schumacher set the lap record on the circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Ricciardo was finally out-qualified by his team-mate after a string of excellent grid positions, with the Australian taking P6 ahead of Fernando Alonso in 7th. Jean-Eric Vergne got 8th place to out-qualify Jenson Button’s McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.
2014 Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying results:
POS | Driver | Team | Time |
1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’14.874 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’14.953 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1’15.548 |
4 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1’15.550 |
5 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’15.578 |
6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’15.589 |
7 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’15.814 |
8 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1’16.162 |
9 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’16.182 |
10 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’16.214 |
11 | Nico Hulkenburg | Force India | 1’16.300 |
12 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | 1’16.310 |
13 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’16.472 |
14 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1’16.687 |
15 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1’16.713 |
16 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | 1’17.314 |
17 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1’18.328 |
18 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 1’18.348 |
19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 1’18.359 |
20 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham | 1’19.278 |
21 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham | 1’19.820 |
22 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | No time |
Nico Rosberg, pole-sitter for the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix: “I know it’s a track where Lewis is really strong. I’m very happy it worked out. It has been a fantastic day and through the weekend we have been progressing all the time and I’m in the best position for tomorrow.”
Lewis Hamilton, who qualified 2nd: “Nico did a fantastic job so congratulations to him. It was not a particularly [bad lap], it just wasn’t the greatest qualifying – sometimes you have a good qualifying, sometimes you have bad qualifying. But it’s a great to get a one-two for the team and a fantastic performance. Let’s hope we can make history tomorrow.”
Sebastian Vettel, who qualified 3rd: “The start of the last lap was not great. I still didn’t get the first sector right. The second one I found a significantly better line so all in all it was a very good result. There are four or five cars within about five or six hundredths of each other – the Williams are really quick here. It’s a long race so the strategy could be a bit of a surprise. Williams have a very quick car down the straight.”
By Jordan Groves Formula 1 correspondent for RTR Sports Marketing - Sport Sponsorship Agency
Are you ready to explore the transformative power of athlete sponsorship for your brand? Click here to learn more about how sponsorship can help brands grow and thrive in the exciting world of motorsports.
A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
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Read MoreIn an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a sponsorship or sports marketing project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Sports is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Sports is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A sports marketing and sports sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which sport, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of sports sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a sports marketing project you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase on the Web, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in sports sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
The online platform where you can discover the latest trends, strategies and insights from the exciting world of sports marketing.
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