Silverstone's managing director Richard Phillips is confident the new pit complex will be ready in time for next year's British Grand Prix.
"We're on programme for that at the moment," Phillips told AUTOSPORT during the official unveiling of the new Arena layout where this year's race will take place.
"Everything is looking good for that. Contractually we don't have to be finished until 2012, but we would really like to get the job done now and move on."
He added: "The pitwall is in already. The steel is coming on site in the next few days, and by this year's Formula 1 Grand Prix we hope to have that up.
"It's on plan at the moment for a delivery around April/May next year but then it has got to be bedded in for the first race, which will be the F1 grand prix in 2011."
Phillips is hopeful next year's F1 race will be first one to be run new pitlane and startline.
"We are quite excited about it because we already have the existing pits and some of the racing will start on there and finish up on the existing pit straight and then we will have the F1 paddock down here at the new building, so we will have a start and finish down here.
"All operated from one race control. So it going to be a very interesting time, but of course much more interesting for the public."
And he reckons Silverstone will overtake Monza as the quickest track in the world thanks to the new layout.
"That's what the simulations are telling us, but until we have actually held a race we won't know for sure. Simulations are one thing, doing it for real is something else."
News from Formula One in the Formation Lap.
Thursday 29 April 2010
Pirelli confirms 2011 F1 tyre offer
Pirelli has officially confirmed its intention to apply to become Formula 1's standard tyre supplier from next season.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Milan-based company announced it will present an offer to the FIA and the teams with the view of supplying its tyres to the field from 2011.
"Pirelli communicates its decision to present a technical and commercial offer for supply of tyres to all the teams in the Formula 1 world championship," said Pirelli in a statement.
"The company plans to present the bid to FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) and FOA (Formula One Administration Limited) by 9 May, the date of the next Formula 1 Grand Prix to be held in Spain."
Pirelli's statement comes after Williams technical director Sam Michael said following a FOTA meeting that the teams were set to choose between Michelin and Cooper Avon.
"The conversations really, at this point, are between Michelin and Avon," Michael told Reuters. "Avon's a lot cheaper (than Michelin) but it's a less proven product although they've done plenty of highly competitive tyres.
"They are a bigger unknown than Michelin because Michelin did it (in F1) very recently. But there is a significant difference in cost and you are probably talking over three times the difference in cost to the teams.
"So that's what's being debated at the moment."
Paul Hembery, Pirelli's motorsport director, said: "I stand by the press release we have just issued. Last week we said we wanted to make a study into this, we've made that study and progressed to a formal offer."
Pirelli's last spell in Formula 1 was from 1989 to 1991.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Milan-based company announced it will present an offer to the FIA and the teams with the view of supplying its tyres to the field from 2011.
"Pirelli communicates its decision to present a technical and commercial offer for supply of tyres to all the teams in the Formula 1 world championship," said Pirelli in a statement.
"The company plans to present the bid to FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) and FOA (Formula One Administration Limited) by 9 May, the date of the next Formula 1 Grand Prix to be held in Spain."
Pirelli's statement comes after Williams technical director Sam Michael said following a FOTA meeting that the teams were set to choose between Michelin and Cooper Avon.
"The conversations really, at this point, are between Michelin and Avon," Michael told Reuters. "Avon's a lot cheaper (than Michelin) but it's a less proven product although they've done plenty of highly competitive tyres.
"They are a bigger unknown than Michelin because Michelin did it (in F1) very recently. But there is a significant difference in cost and you are probably talking over three times the difference in cost to the teams.
"So that's what's being debated at the moment."
Paul Hembery, Pirelli's motorsport director, said: "I stand by the press release we have just issued. Last week we said we wanted to make a study into this, we've made that study and progressed to a formal offer."
Pirelli's last spell in Formula 1 was from 1989 to 1991.
Lopez sings praises of Renault drivers
Renault co-owner Gerard Lopez has heaped praise on Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov, as well as the team as a whole, following the Enstone squad’s impressive start to the season.
The former world champion squad has begun its new era under the majority control of Lopez’s Genii Capital investment group in promising fashion, Kubica having claimed a second-place finish in Australia already which has helped the team to fifth in the constructors’ standings.
Kubica was hired to spearhead the team’s resurgence following the departure of Fernando Alonso and Lopez has no doubt that the team has a future world champion on its books.
“I knew Robert from BMW, even before he was an F1 [race] driver there,” Lopez told speedtv.com.
“I’m a very strong believer that on pure speed and character he’s one of the few that deserves a world championship at some time.”
The Spanish entrepreneur also praised rookie Petrov’s performance at the last round in China when the Russian recovered from a spin to claim his first Formula 1 points in seventh in the rain-hit race.
“I’m pleased with Vitaly, and how he recovered from a rookie mistake, when he spun out,” Lopez added.
“Rain is a great leveller, and rain tells you a lot about drivers, because it levels the playing field much more. So the job he did was amazing in rain conditions.”
Renault laid the foundations for its fifth and seventh place finishes in Shanghai when it was the only team to keep both of its cars out on slick tyres in the early showery conditions – the kind of correct calls Lopez believes the team has been making since Bahrain.
“It was a good race for us,” said Lopez.
“The basis was the fact that again the team made no mistakes, and made the right decisions, and they’ve been doing that since the beginning of the season.”
The Enstone team will continue its aggressive development path with a further package of upgrades for Barcelona next week and Lopez says ensuring it starts races further up the grid is its next target.
“In qualifying Robert is pretty much where we are supposed to be right now, between sixth and eighth probably, with Vitaly scratching around for 10th, which is great for a rookie obviously," he added.
"In the races we’re better. The car is where we expected in the races, and we’re working very hard to get it up to speed in qualifying.”
The former world champion squad has begun its new era under the majority control of Lopez’s Genii Capital investment group in promising fashion, Kubica having claimed a second-place finish in Australia already which has helped the team to fifth in the constructors’ standings.
Kubica was hired to spearhead the team’s resurgence following the departure of Fernando Alonso and Lopez has no doubt that the team has a future world champion on its books.
“I knew Robert from BMW, even before he was an F1 [race] driver there,” Lopez told speedtv.com.
“I’m a very strong believer that on pure speed and character he’s one of the few that deserves a world championship at some time.”
The Spanish entrepreneur also praised rookie Petrov’s performance at the last round in China when the Russian recovered from a spin to claim his first Formula 1 points in seventh in the rain-hit race.
“I’m pleased with Vitaly, and how he recovered from a rookie mistake, when he spun out,” Lopez added.
“Rain is a great leveller, and rain tells you a lot about drivers, because it levels the playing field much more. So the job he did was amazing in rain conditions.”
Renault laid the foundations for its fifth and seventh place finishes in Shanghai when it was the only team to keep both of its cars out on slick tyres in the early showery conditions – the kind of correct calls Lopez believes the team has been making since Bahrain.
“It was a good race for us,” said Lopez.
“The basis was the fact that again the team made no mistakes, and made the right decisions, and they’ve been doing that since the beginning of the season.”
The Enstone team will continue its aggressive development path with a further package of upgrades for Barcelona next week and Lopez says ensuring it starts races further up the grid is its next target.
“In qualifying Robert is pretty much where we are supposed to be right now, between sixth and eighth probably, with Vitaly scratching around for 10th, which is great for a rookie obviously," he added.
"In the races we’re better. The car is where we expected in the races, and we’re working very hard to get it up to speed in qualifying.”
No big Williams update until Monaco
Williams has warned that it could be the Monaco Grand Prix before it makes significant gains, as it will not be introducing as major an upgrade for Spain as many of its rivals are expected to.
The first European race of the season at Catalunya in ten days' time is set to see a huge number of new developments on the cars as teams make the most of being back on their home continent after four flyaway races, and of having a three-week break since Shanghai.
But Williams technical director Sam Michael said his team planned to bring its new parts later.
"We do have some stuff for Barcelona, and that's a good step, but I think the bigger steps will come for Monaco and Istanbul," he said.
Despite looking strong in the final pre-season tests Williams is currently only seventh in the constructors' championship with Rubens Barrichello's eighth place in Australia its best result of 2010.
However Michael remains confident that the FW32 has good potential that just needs to be extracted.
"We've made a lot of changes, so it's taking time to get us a little bit more up to speed," he said.
"We've got a good development programme for the car and a lot of stuff coming through in the next couple of races - Monaco and Istanbul.
"We'll just keep our head down and try and get that stuff on the car as quick as we can."
The first European race of the season at Catalunya in ten days' time is set to see a huge number of new developments on the cars as teams make the most of being back on their home continent after four flyaway races, and of having a three-week break since Shanghai.
But Williams technical director Sam Michael said his team planned to bring its new parts later.
"We do have some stuff for Barcelona, and that's a good step, but I think the bigger steps will come for Monaco and Istanbul," he said.
Despite looking strong in the final pre-season tests Williams is currently only seventh in the constructors' championship with Rubens Barrichello's eighth place in Australia its best result of 2010.
However Michael remains confident that the FW32 has good potential that just needs to be extracted.
"We've made a lot of changes, so it's taking time to get us a little bit more up to speed," he said.
"We've got a good development programme for the car and a lot of stuff coming through in the next couple of races - Monaco and Istanbul.
"We'll just keep our head down and try and get that stuff on the car as quick as we can."
Wednesday 28 April 2010
Key hopes to unlock Sauber potential
Sauber may be experiencing its worst start to a season since it entered Formula 1, but new technical director James Key is optimistic that the team has what it needs to recover the lost ground.
The Hinwil-based outfit headed into the campaign full of optimism after some encouraging performances in winter testing, but the C29 failed to carry through that strong form into the first race, while reliability dramas have also hampered its progress.
Those factors have left Sauber without a point to its name after the first four races - the first time that has happened since 1996 - and have increased the need for Key, who took on his new role earlier this month, to turn things around.
But rather than be downbeat about the situation Sauber has found itself in, Key believes the team is more than capable of making the progress it needs.
"Obviously the pressure is on to see if we can make some steps forward," said Key, whose first race with the team was the Chinese Grand Prix. "That pressure is not just on me, it is on everyone.
"Perhaps the season isn't quite what everyone hoped, but we have to take it a step at a time. Some of it may be that the competition has made more steps that we expected, but we have plans for the future.
"We have some tweaks for the next race and other steps after that. It is just a case of making sure we are optimising ourselves as the small team we are now to hit the big areas of development. There is work to do, but there is no mystery at the moment as to what needs to be done. There is direction, it is just a question of getting there."
Key has conducted a thorough analysis of the operation and car since he joined Sauber, and has seen nothing that has left him unduly concerned. In fact, he is encouraged that he has been able to find obvious areas that need improving.
"The fundamentals are there first of all and I don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong," he explained. "The straightline speed is something that needs to be improved, but the team is aware of that already - and that is just a drag calculation. It is something the team is working on and there are clearly some tenths wrapped up in that.
"There are certainly other things too that we are setting directions on now. I can't go into too much detail, but there are certain things aerodynamically that are slightly different in terms of characteristics in the way the car is to what I would expect or would want to see in a car.
"These are directions that we are working on now to see if we can develop for the future. They are not quick fixes that you can bolt on and it works the next day, but they are development directions for the future. There are things I have identified, but I don't think there are any mysteries about the car at the moment - we will have to see how things develop. But there are certain things we have to try and work out.
"It is a very neat car, it is extremely well built and the quality for me is extremely good. There are also some neat features on suspension and those sorts of areas. There are some areas that are different to what I am used to, there are areas where development direction will form around, and I think a few areas that need a bit of work at the moment. It is a nicely put together car."
Although one of Sauber's main concerns at the moment is reliability, with the team having suffered engine and hydraulics problems in the first races, Key believes the team must continue to balance curing those issues with bringing more speed too.
"Naturally reliability is a big priority and the team is working on that very well," Key added. "It's been unfortunate because in winter testing there wasn't any hint of there being a reliability issue, but now we are keeping a close eye on it.
"But you have to do that in tandem with performance, because as soon as the reliability is there you want to make sure that you are in a position to score points."
Key believes one of the main challenges over the next few weeks is in getting the team's new structure working at its best - on the back of BMW's withdrawal and the subsequent cutting down of manpower in Hinwil.
"There is a little bit of work to do in making sure that we take what the team is now and gluing it together in the right way, after what went on over the winter and the uncertainty there.
"There are some departments that were much bigger before and now are just one or two people, and if there are several of those then it is a question of putting them together and helping the team reform a bit as a smaller operation than it has been used to. But as I have said before, the fundamentals are there."
Key is hoping to agree a development plan with the team within the next fortnight - to take into account updates for this year and the creation of next year's C30.
"We have the balance with next year's car as well to consider, like everyone. As a small team it is always more difficult because your resources are only so big, but there are plans emerging now.
"We have some tweaks for Barcelona but over the next couple of weeks a clearer picture will emerge of which events we will try to hit with updates, and how we want to pitch them. There is a preliminary plan already."
Although Key could be forgiven for feeling a tinge of regret having left Force India at a time when it has made another big step forward, he actually feels his old team's situation is a cause for extra motivation for himself and his new employers.
"I feel very proud actually," he said about Force India's form. "It is a team I was involved with for a long time and in some ways I wished I hadn't pushed them so hard over November and December, because obviously it worked! But I think, good for them. I am glad it worked for them and it is a pretty good target for us. We have to aim to beat them and aim for that level.
"For us, there is this middle group of teams and Force India and Renault are leading that right now. But there is no reason why we cannot catch them up. It may take a bit of time, but we can do that - and then it's the top four after that."
The Hinwil-based outfit headed into the campaign full of optimism after some encouraging performances in winter testing, but the C29 failed to carry through that strong form into the first race, while reliability dramas have also hampered its progress.
Those factors have left Sauber without a point to its name after the first four races - the first time that has happened since 1996 - and have increased the need for Key, who took on his new role earlier this month, to turn things around.
But rather than be downbeat about the situation Sauber has found itself in, Key believes the team is more than capable of making the progress it needs.
"Obviously the pressure is on to see if we can make some steps forward," said Key, whose first race with the team was the Chinese Grand Prix. "That pressure is not just on me, it is on everyone.
"Perhaps the season isn't quite what everyone hoped, but we have to take it a step at a time. Some of it may be that the competition has made more steps that we expected, but we have plans for the future.
"We have some tweaks for the next race and other steps after that. It is just a case of making sure we are optimising ourselves as the small team we are now to hit the big areas of development. There is work to do, but there is no mystery at the moment as to what needs to be done. There is direction, it is just a question of getting there."
Key has conducted a thorough analysis of the operation and car since he joined Sauber, and has seen nothing that has left him unduly concerned. In fact, he is encouraged that he has been able to find obvious areas that need improving.
"The fundamentals are there first of all and I don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong," he explained. "The straightline speed is something that needs to be improved, but the team is aware of that already - and that is just a drag calculation. It is something the team is working on and there are clearly some tenths wrapped up in that.
"There are certainly other things too that we are setting directions on now. I can't go into too much detail, but there are certain things aerodynamically that are slightly different in terms of characteristics in the way the car is to what I would expect or would want to see in a car.
"These are directions that we are working on now to see if we can develop for the future. They are not quick fixes that you can bolt on and it works the next day, but they are development directions for the future. There are things I have identified, but I don't think there are any mysteries about the car at the moment - we will have to see how things develop. But there are certain things we have to try and work out.
"It is a very neat car, it is extremely well built and the quality for me is extremely good. There are also some neat features on suspension and those sorts of areas. There are some areas that are different to what I am used to, there are areas where development direction will form around, and I think a few areas that need a bit of work at the moment. It is a nicely put together car."
Although one of Sauber's main concerns at the moment is reliability, with the team having suffered engine and hydraulics problems in the first races, Key believes the team must continue to balance curing those issues with bringing more speed too.
"Naturally reliability is a big priority and the team is working on that very well," Key added. "It's been unfortunate because in winter testing there wasn't any hint of there being a reliability issue, but now we are keeping a close eye on it.
"But you have to do that in tandem with performance, because as soon as the reliability is there you want to make sure that you are in a position to score points."
Key believes one of the main challenges over the next few weeks is in getting the team's new structure working at its best - on the back of BMW's withdrawal and the subsequent cutting down of manpower in Hinwil.
"There is a little bit of work to do in making sure that we take what the team is now and gluing it together in the right way, after what went on over the winter and the uncertainty there.
"There are some departments that were much bigger before and now are just one or two people, and if there are several of those then it is a question of putting them together and helping the team reform a bit as a smaller operation than it has been used to. But as I have said before, the fundamentals are there."
Key is hoping to agree a development plan with the team within the next fortnight - to take into account updates for this year and the creation of next year's C30.
"We have the balance with next year's car as well to consider, like everyone. As a small team it is always more difficult because your resources are only so big, but there are plans emerging now.
"We have some tweaks for Barcelona but over the next couple of weeks a clearer picture will emerge of which events we will try to hit with updates, and how we want to pitch them. There is a preliminary plan already."
Although Key could be forgiven for feeling a tinge of regret having left Force India at a time when it has made another big step forward, he actually feels his old team's situation is a cause for extra motivation for himself and his new employers.
"I feel very proud actually," he said about Force India's form. "It is a team I was involved with for a long time and in some ways I wished I hadn't pushed them so hard over November and December, because obviously it worked! But I think, good for them. I am glad it worked for them and it is a pretty good target for us. We have to aim to beat them and aim for that level.
"For us, there is this middle group of teams and Force India and Renault are leading that right now. But there is no reason why we cannot catch them up. It may take a bit of time, but we can do that - and then it's the top four after that."
Williams increases share in hybrid arm
The Williams Formula 1 team has announced that it has increased its share in Williams Hybrid Power from 40 per cent to a majority stake of 78 per cent.
The team initially took the share in the company then known as Automotive Hybrid Power in the early days of F1's move towards Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) in 2008.
The magnetically loaded composite flywheel technology subsequently developed by the renamed Williams Hybrid Power organisation was never used in F1, but has been used in partnership with Porsche on its GT3 R Hybrid sportscar, which is currently racing in Nurburgring endurance events. WHP is also developing hybrid technologies for the road car market.
"I am delighted that we have now taken a larger stake in Williams Hybrid Power," said WHP chairmain and Williams F1 CEO Alex Burns.
"This agreement means that the business has the funding it needs for the development of a family of MLC flywheels to suit a range of applications in the automotive and other industries.
"I am confident that WHP will continue to deliver value to its customers and develop into a substantial, successful business."
The team initially took the share in the company then known as Automotive Hybrid Power in the early days of F1's move towards Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) in 2008.
The magnetically loaded composite flywheel technology subsequently developed by the renamed Williams Hybrid Power organisation was never used in F1, but has been used in partnership with Porsche on its GT3 R Hybrid sportscar, which is currently racing in Nurburgring endurance events. WHP is also developing hybrid technologies for the road car market.
"I am delighted that we have now taken a larger stake in Williams Hybrid Power," said WHP chairmain and Williams F1 CEO Alex Burns.
"This agreement means that the business has the funding it needs for the development of a family of MLC flywheels to suit a range of applications in the automotive and other industries.
"I am confident that WHP will continue to deliver value to its customers and develop into a substantial, successful business."
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Liuzzi: Force India now a big team
Force India has shaken off its old mantle as one of Formula 1's small teams on the back of its strong start to the 2010 season, reckons driver Vitantonio Liuzzi.
The Silverstone-based outfit has scored points in three of the first four races of the year and, with strong qualifying performances too, Liuzzi believes the outfit has hit the kind of form it needs to threaten more established outfits.
"When you start having results and you start scoring points then you feel much stronger," said Liuzzi. "You feel better because you see your efforts have paid off. And also it is good because it's not just your confidence that goes up, the team confidence goes up too.
"That is an important thing, especially for a team like our one. We are doing big things, we are scoring points consistently and we have shown that we are no longer a small team. These things keep you alive, keep you believing and keep you moving forward."
Liuzzi thinks the fact that Force India has moved forward from its promising end to 2009 is evidence of how strong the team has become, but he equally knows that there remains a big challenge in keeping the improvements going.
"Even last year I was saying that Force India will surprise some people, because it has a really strong group of people. There are really great people working there, great technical people, great mechanics, and everyone is working really well together. It is the best team I've ever worked with in my short career.
"It shows that the performance we are having this year is not the result of luck, but we also know we could be much faster. We are at the moment achieving our target where we want to be, but we need to push hard because the other teams are not sleeping and the development after Barcelona will be crucial for the remaining part of the season."
And on the back of recent comments from Robert Kubica suggesting that Renault needed to keep a watching eye over Force India's pace, Liuzzi knows how serious his team's rivals are treating the outfit.
"With Robert we are really good friends, we speak after every race and we always believe we are competitors for them and they are competitors for us," he said.
"We are pushing like hell to develop, because we think we can get good results in the remaining part of the season as well. It is nice to hear that they are looking at us and also nice that other teams are looking at us too. It shows we are no longer a backmarker team."
The Silverstone-based outfit has scored points in three of the first four races of the year and, with strong qualifying performances too, Liuzzi believes the outfit has hit the kind of form it needs to threaten more established outfits.
"When you start having results and you start scoring points then you feel much stronger," said Liuzzi. "You feel better because you see your efforts have paid off. And also it is good because it's not just your confidence that goes up, the team confidence goes up too.
"That is an important thing, especially for a team like our one. We are doing big things, we are scoring points consistently and we have shown that we are no longer a small team. These things keep you alive, keep you believing and keep you moving forward."
Liuzzi thinks the fact that Force India has moved forward from its promising end to 2009 is evidence of how strong the team has become, but he equally knows that there remains a big challenge in keeping the improvements going.
"Even last year I was saying that Force India will surprise some people, because it has a really strong group of people. There are really great people working there, great technical people, great mechanics, and everyone is working really well together. It is the best team I've ever worked with in my short career.
"It shows that the performance we are having this year is not the result of luck, but we also know we could be much faster. We are at the moment achieving our target where we want to be, but we need to push hard because the other teams are not sleeping and the development after Barcelona will be crucial for the remaining part of the season."
And on the back of recent comments from Robert Kubica suggesting that Renault needed to keep a watching eye over Force India's pace, Liuzzi knows how serious his team's rivals are treating the outfit.
"With Robert we are really good friends, we speak after every race and we always believe we are competitors for them and they are competitors for us," he said.
"We are pushing like hell to develop, because we think we can get good results in the remaining part of the season as well. It is nice to hear that they are looking at us and also nice that other teams are looking at us too. It shows we are no longer a backmarker team."
Monday 26 April 2010
Chinese GP Race for Williams
A rain-affected Chinese Grand Prix delivered an unsatisfactory result for the AT&T Williams team at the Shanghai International Circuit this afternoon. Light drizzle at the start of the race quickly turned into continuous rain, which ultimately compromised the team’s strategy and led to a series of pitstops for both drivers to counter the conditions. At the conclusion of the 56 lap race, neither driver had made it into the points, with Rubens Barrichello finishing in 12th and Nico Hulkenberg in P15.
Rubens Barrichello:
The race didn’t go as planned. I was called into the pits for the intermediate tyres early on, it was a hard call and the race developed from there. I think we made good calls after that but by that time it was too late to recover.
Nico Hulkenberg:
It was a tough race and obviously not very satisfying for the team. Looking at the positives, it was good experience for me to complete the full race distance and experience all of the different conditions that we faced today. In particular, it was helpful to see how the car and tyres handled and we now have some good data for any races which might be similar in the future. Results-wise, though, this is nowhere near close enough to where we want to be.
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It was disappointing not to score points today with either car. Some of the calls on our pitstops were wrong, some were right, but overall we weren't fast enough and didn't make the right decisions. Rubens made a good start so we have improved in that area since Malaysia. We’re now looking ahead to Barcelona to take a step forward with our performance.
Race Result
Position
Driver
Team
Time
Fastest Lap
Grid Position
1
J Button
McLaren
1:46:42.886
1:42.886 (4th)
5
2
L Hamilton
McLaren
1+1.530
1:42.061 (1st)
6
3
N Rosberg
Mercedes
+9.484
1:43.245 (5th)
4
12
R Barrichello
AT&T Williams
+63.665
1:45.559 (14th)
11
15
N Hulkenberg
AT&T Williams
+ 1 lap
1:44.549 (12th)
16
Rubens Barrichello:
The race didn’t go as planned. I was called into the pits for the intermediate tyres early on, it was a hard call and the race developed from there. I think we made good calls after that but by that time it was too late to recover.
Nico Hulkenberg:
It was a tough race and obviously not very satisfying for the team. Looking at the positives, it was good experience for me to complete the full race distance and experience all of the different conditions that we faced today. In particular, it was helpful to see how the car and tyres handled and we now have some good data for any races which might be similar in the future. Results-wise, though, this is nowhere near close enough to where we want to be.
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It was disappointing not to score points today with either car. Some of the calls on our pitstops were wrong, some were right, but overall we weren't fast enough and didn't make the right decisions. Rubens made a good start so we have improved in that area since Malaysia. We’re now looking ahead to Barcelona to take a step forward with our performance.
Race Result
Position
Driver
Team
Time
Fastest Lap
Grid Position
1
J Button
McLaren
1:46:42.886
1:42.886 (4th)
5
2
L Hamilton
McLaren
1+1.530
1:42.061 (1st)
6
3
N Rosberg
Mercedes
+9.484
1:43.245 (5th)
4
12
R Barrichello
AT&T Williams
+63.665
1:45.559 (14th)
11
15
N Hulkenberg
AT&T Williams
+ 1 lap
1:44.549 (12th)
16
Q and A with Fernando Alonso
After three difficult races in Australia, Malaysia and China, Fernando Alonso arrives in Spain next week for what he reckons is the real start of the championship.
And the Spanish driver is bullish his Ferrari team will be up there fighting.
AUTOSPORT heard from Alonso during a media event for sponsor Santander.
Q. How do you judge the car so far and what is the situation with the engine problems?
Fernando AlonsoFernando Alonso: The car is fine. For one reason or another we haven't managed to score as many points as we wanted, but I think we are going to have a good car again in Barcelona. I'm not worried.
As for the engines, we have found the problems that we had. I know there have been things written about the valves and the air consumption system of the engine, which are completely untrue, as it usually happens. So we are quiet because we have found the problems and we'll try to do the rest of the season with an engine that's 100 per cent reliable.
Q. Felipe Massa told Brazilian media that he thought there could have been an accident in China. What's your point of view?
FA: I don't know what Felipe said. What's clear is that 15 days after a race you can't keep talking about such minuscule things, so I'm not going to answer because otherwise tomorrow we'll have another front page and I think that's unnecessary.
Q. Is it true that Ferrari has asked the FIA to be allowed to modify its engine?
FA: I don't know what the team has asked exactly. What I know from what I've talked about with the engineers is that they are very confident they have solved the problems. The issues we and Sauber had were different, it wasn't only one thing in particular, but I believe it's solved.
Q. You said in Australia that you were not worried about the result because the drivers ahead of you were not your main championship rivals. Now that Button has won two races, do you believe he's a real contender?
FA: I always respect all my rivals. Even so, I believe there are rivals you have to have more under control and others you can give a certain margin to. I've always said that Hamilton, Vettel or Michael, Felipe are very good drivers who can fight for the title.
Button didn't win the title by chance last year, it was because he deserved it. And now he's leading the championship on his own merit because he has done better than us, so we have to improve. All rivals are respectable, but to me there are two or three I'll keep a closer look on.
Q. After four races, what's your feeling? Relief for having rescued points in complicated races or frustration because you could have won more races?
FA: There's always frustration on Sunday afternoon when you don't achieve all the points you should have scored, but from a more general perspective, after a week home, these four races have been very positive. Being third in the championship, very few points away from the leader, I believe is a very good situation.
With the potential that we have, with the super team that I have, this is just the beginning and I have a real chance to fight for the world championship, something I couldn't even think about last year after four races.
I'm enjoying it again, and I've felt that bug from winning a race or winning the championship again, and that's the most positive thing about the start to this year. We can't forget that last year during the final part of the season Ferrari was very far from the leaders, so there were a lot of things to confirm and many wishes to grant and they have been granted.
Q. Is the real championship starting in Europe?
FA: The championship always starts in the first race, but it's true that it's just a race to confirm the good sensations you've had during testing. But it's true that in Europe it is time to show who is going to fight for the title and who isn't.
The first races can be atypical races with changing weather all the time, so now in Europe it's the moment of truth to show who is going to be in the title fight, and also for the teams to prove they can develop faster than their rivals. It's the start of a nice fight.
Q. You said the F10 was the best car you had ever driven. Do you still stand by that?
FA: Yes, I said it during the pre-season and I still believe it's the best car I've very driven. It's very good in every sense, but obviously in Formula 1 everything can be improved because engineers are inventing new parts every day. So the best car I've driven in my life is yet to come, and that will be the one I use in Barcelona, then in Monaco, then in Turkey. Every day it will be better.
Q. Will Ferrari use the F-Duct in Barcelona?
FA: We are on it. There's nothing confirmed yet. I wish there are lots of updates for Barcelona, but it's not an easy system to make work. I know the team is working hard so it's available as soon as possible.
Q. Will those improvements be enough to catch Red Bull in qualifying trim?
FA: I think so. I believe we'll catch them.
Q. Germans seem to be disappointed with Schumacher. Is there such a feeling on the grid too?
FA: No, there's no such feeling. It's not like we spend too much time thinking about what the others are doing, but we have a huge respect towards Schumacher and every driver on the grid knows it's been a bad start for him, with very few points in the first races, but I believe there's nobody ready to say the championship is over for him. We knew what he's capable of doing so we have to respect him and we know the best is yet to come from him.
Q. In the last two races there were two controversial actions from Hamilton: the weaving in Malaysia and the pitlane exit side-by-side with Vettel. He wasn't punished for those. Do you believe Hamilton has a privileged position when judged by the FIA stewards?
FA: No, I don't think so. The decisions are perhaps not very consistent, because there will be other times when the same happens and someone gets a penalty for it. So it varies a bit, but I don't think that's very important.
He got two warnings and maybe he will be penalised in the next race if he does something wrong. It's like referees in football: their intention is not bad, but sometimes they make a decision and other times a different one.
And the Spanish driver is bullish his Ferrari team will be up there fighting.
AUTOSPORT heard from Alonso during a media event for sponsor Santander.
Q. How do you judge the car so far and what is the situation with the engine problems?
Fernando AlonsoFernando Alonso: The car is fine. For one reason or another we haven't managed to score as many points as we wanted, but I think we are going to have a good car again in Barcelona. I'm not worried.
As for the engines, we have found the problems that we had. I know there have been things written about the valves and the air consumption system of the engine, which are completely untrue, as it usually happens. So we are quiet because we have found the problems and we'll try to do the rest of the season with an engine that's 100 per cent reliable.
Q. Felipe Massa told Brazilian media that he thought there could have been an accident in China. What's your point of view?
FA: I don't know what Felipe said. What's clear is that 15 days after a race you can't keep talking about such minuscule things, so I'm not going to answer because otherwise tomorrow we'll have another front page and I think that's unnecessary.
Q. Is it true that Ferrari has asked the FIA to be allowed to modify its engine?
FA: I don't know what the team has asked exactly. What I know from what I've talked about with the engineers is that they are very confident they have solved the problems. The issues we and Sauber had were different, it wasn't only one thing in particular, but I believe it's solved.
Q. You said in Australia that you were not worried about the result because the drivers ahead of you were not your main championship rivals. Now that Button has won two races, do you believe he's a real contender?
FA: I always respect all my rivals. Even so, I believe there are rivals you have to have more under control and others you can give a certain margin to. I've always said that Hamilton, Vettel or Michael, Felipe are very good drivers who can fight for the title.
Button didn't win the title by chance last year, it was because he deserved it. And now he's leading the championship on his own merit because he has done better than us, so we have to improve. All rivals are respectable, but to me there are two or three I'll keep a closer look on.
Q. After four races, what's your feeling? Relief for having rescued points in complicated races or frustration because you could have won more races?
FA: There's always frustration on Sunday afternoon when you don't achieve all the points you should have scored, but from a more general perspective, after a week home, these four races have been very positive. Being third in the championship, very few points away from the leader, I believe is a very good situation.
With the potential that we have, with the super team that I have, this is just the beginning and I have a real chance to fight for the world championship, something I couldn't even think about last year after four races.
I'm enjoying it again, and I've felt that bug from winning a race or winning the championship again, and that's the most positive thing about the start to this year. We can't forget that last year during the final part of the season Ferrari was very far from the leaders, so there were a lot of things to confirm and many wishes to grant and they have been granted.
Q. Is the real championship starting in Europe?
FA: The championship always starts in the first race, but it's true that it's just a race to confirm the good sensations you've had during testing. But it's true that in Europe it is time to show who is going to fight for the title and who isn't.
The first races can be atypical races with changing weather all the time, so now in Europe it's the moment of truth to show who is going to be in the title fight, and also for the teams to prove they can develop faster than their rivals. It's the start of a nice fight.
Q. You said the F10 was the best car you had ever driven. Do you still stand by that?
FA: Yes, I said it during the pre-season and I still believe it's the best car I've very driven. It's very good in every sense, but obviously in Formula 1 everything can be improved because engineers are inventing new parts every day. So the best car I've driven in my life is yet to come, and that will be the one I use in Barcelona, then in Monaco, then in Turkey. Every day it will be better.
Q. Will Ferrari use the F-Duct in Barcelona?
FA: We are on it. There's nothing confirmed yet. I wish there are lots of updates for Barcelona, but it's not an easy system to make work. I know the team is working hard so it's available as soon as possible.
Q. Will those improvements be enough to catch Red Bull in qualifying trim?
FA: I think so. I believe we'll catch them.
Q. Germans seem to be disappointed with Schumacher. Is there such a feeling on the grid too?
FA: No, there's no such feeling. It's not like we spend too much time thinking about what the others are doing, but we have a huge respect towards Schumacher and every driver on the grid knows it's been a bad start for him, with very few points in the first races, but I believe there's nobody ready to say the championship is over for him. We knew what he's capable of doing so we have to respect him and we know the best is yet to come from him.
Q. In the last two races there were two controversial actions from Hamilton: the weaving in Malaysia and the pitlane exit side-by-side with Vettel. He wasn't punished for those. Do you believe Hamilton has a privileged position when judged by the FIA stewards?
FA: No, I don't think so. The decisions are perhaps not very consistent, because there will be other times when the same happens and someone gets a penalty for it. So it varies a bit, but I don't think that's very important.
He got two warnings and maybe he will be penalised in the next race if he does something wrong. It's like referees in football: their intention is not bad, but sometimes they make a decision and other times a different one.
McLaren not satisified with MP4-25 speed
Martin Whitmarsh insists that McLaren cannot be satisfied with the speed of its car, despite leading the world championship standings heading into the start of the European season.
Although the Woking-based outfit has made the most of the opportunities that have come its way in the first four races, with Jenson Button's two victories helping him lead the drivers' standings, team principal Whitmarsh thinks there is plenty of work to do to extract more pace from the MP4-25.
"There is no secret that we will keep pushing," said Whitmarsh, who is well aware that Red Bull has secured pole position at every race so far.
"We have a new package that we are bringing for Barcelona and for every race we have demonstrated over the years that we can improve the car, race on race, and that is what we have got to do.
"All the teams will be doing that and we just have to do it at a quicker rate. We are closer than we have been, we are not satisfied with the car, and we have to improve it and have to make it quicker."
Whitmarsh also admitted that his team was left slightly frustrated by the way Formula 1's ride-height control controversy panned out - having been given the go-ahead to develop its own version prior to the FIA outlawing it after the Malaysian Grand Prix.
"It was understood some time ago by previous rulings that you could not have specific parts that move in relation to the sprung mass which have influence on the aerodynamics of the car," he said.
"From that we were given that you could not have parts in the suspension system that moved the ride height, but we sensed that maybe some teams were taking advantage of that capability, quite possibility legitimately. We enquired with the FIA and we were surprised when we were told that such systems were legal.
"On the basis of that, we started to develop such systems and we intended to have such a system in China. Then, before the race, we were told that the FIA had reconsidered that position and that such systems were no longer legal - so we had wasted a bit of time.
"We are not trying to be critical of the FIA, because in fairness Charlie [Whiting] and the FIA have 12 teams diligently pestering them trying to get rulings, twists and turns in the regulations and interpretations, but I was surprised when we had a positive ruling, and delighted because we are about creative engineering and we enjoy those sort of challenges.
"So it was shame we could not introduce it, it would have given us a little bit of an advantage but we couldn't do it, so we move on. That is the nature of it. The FIA has to make difficult decisions. It can always do things better, but it would have been nice if we had had a clear no at the outset but we didn't."
Despite being forced to abandon its suspension plans, Whitmarsh says there is still plenty of scope for McLaren to bring more pace to its current car.
"We can generate more downforce, we can bring on more aerodynamic efficiency, we can make is less sensitive, we can make it lighter, we can do all those things. That is our job and that is what we enjoy chasing and pursuing.
"If every now and again the regulations throw up an unexpected opportunity, we will jump on it. This [ride-height affair] momentarily threw one up, we jumped on it but ultimately couldn't exploit it."
Although the Woking-based outfit has made the most of the opportunities that have come its way in the first four races, with Jenson Button's two victories helping him lead the drivers' standings, team principal Whitmarsh thinks there is plenty of work to do to extract more pace from the MP4-25.
"There is no secret that we will keep pushing," said Whitmarsh, who is well aware that Red Bull has secured pole position at every race so far.
"We have a new package that we are bringing for Barcelona and for every race we have demonstrated over the years that we can improve the car, race on race, and that is what we have got to do.
"All the teams will be doing that and we just have to do it at a quicker rate. We are closer than we have been, we are not satisfied with the car, and we have to improve it and have to make it quicker."
Whitmarsh also admitted that his team was left slightly frustrated by the way Formula 1's ride-height control controversy panned out - having been given the go-ahead to develop its own version prior to the FIA outlawing it after the Malaysian Grand Prix.
"It was understood some time ago by previous rulings that you could not have specific parts that move in relation to the sprung mass which have influence on the aerodynamics of the car," he said.
"From that we were given that you could not have parts in the suspension system that moved the ride height, but we sensed that maybe some teams were taking advantage of that capability, quite possibility legitimately. We enquired with the FIA and we were surprised when we were told that such systems were legal.
"On the basis of that, we started to develop such systems and we intended to have such a system in China. Then, before the race, we were told that the FIA had reconsidered that position and that such systems were no longer legal - so we had wasted a bit of time.
"We are not trying to be critical of the FIA, because in fairness Charlie [Whiting] and the FIA have 12 teams diligently pestering them trying to get rulings, twists and turns in the regulations and interpretations, but I was surprised when we had a positive ruling, and delighted because we are about creative engineering and we enjoy those sort of challenges.
"So it was shame we could not introduce it, it would have given us a little bit of an advantage but we couldn't do it, so we move on. That is the nature of it. The FIA has to make difficult decisions. It can always do things better, but it would have been nice if we had had a clear no at the outset but we didn't."
Despite being forced to abandon its suspension plans, Whitmarsh says there is still plenty of scope for McLaren to bring more pace to its current car.
"We can generate more downforce, we can bring on more aerodynamic efficiency, we can make is less sensitive, we can make it lighter, we can do all those things. That is our job and that is what we enjoy chasing and pursuing.
"If every now and again the regulations throw up an unexpected opportunity, we will jump on it. This [ride-height affair] momentarily threw one up, we jumped on it but ultimately couldn't exploit it."
Mercedes to increase W01 wheelbase
Mercedes hopes the longer wheelbase car it plans to introduce at the Spanish Grand Prix will help it get a grip on the weight distribution issues that it has encountered so far this season.
The Brackley-based outfit is set to introduce a major aerodynamic upgrade to its W01 for next month's race at Barcelona, and will also lengthen the wheelbase of the car.
Team principal Ross Brawn has revealed that the motivation for making the major wheelbase change has been prompted by the fact the team miscalculated the weight distribution needs for the 2010 tyres.
"The problem is not actually the wheelbase per se, it is the weight distribution," Brawn said about the motivation for the change. "We got the weight distribution wrong.
"When we got to test these tyres we realised we didn't have the correct weight distribution and we went to the limit with what we could achieve with this car. It is not the wheelbase as such, it is the weight distribution that is not what we wanted it.
"The tyres changed quite a bit... and we didn't have the opportunity to test these tyres, and we didn't have as good a guess of what was required as some of the other teams. So we will have a modification to the car at Barcelona which will give us a better range for the weight distribution that we can achieve."
As well as helping with the overall handling of the car, the weight distribution changes may well help iron out some of the understeer tendencies that have left Michael Schumacher struggling on his F1 return.
Brawn also said that Mercedes will likely introduce a fully working version of an F-duct in the next few events, having begun experimenting with a blown rear-wing in China last weekend.
"McLaren's system, which is driver operated, is quite complicated to get to work properly," said Brawn. "McLaren conceived that car to accommodate the system, and it is not so easy to put it onto [other] cars.
"What we had in China was a simple, passive system. It is not driver operated, so it is not as effective as the McLaren system.
"We are still working on a proper system that we will have at Barcelona or Istanbul. It is complicated to get to work properly, but our aerodynamicists are working on it."
The Brackley-based outfit is set to introduce a major aerodynamic upgrade to its W01 for next month's race at Barcelona, and will also lengthen the wheelbase of the car.
Team principal Ross Brawn has revealed that the motivation for making the major wheelbase change has been prompted by the fact the team miscalculated the weight distribution needs for the 2010 tyres.
"The problem is not actually the wheelbase per se, it is the weight distribution," Brawn said about the motivation for the change. "We got the weight distribution wrong.
"When we got to test these tyres we realised we didn't have the correct weight distribution and we went to the limit with what we could achieve with this car. It is not the wheelbase as such, it is the weight distribution that is not what we wanted it.
"The tyres changed quite a bit... and we didn't have the opportunity to test these tyres, and we didn't have as good a guess of what was required as some of the other teams. So we will have a modification to the car at Barcelona which will give us a better range for the weight distribution that we can achieve."
As well as helping with the overall handling of the car, the weight distribution changes may well help iron out some of the understeer tendencies that have left Michael Schumacher struggling on his F1 return.
Brawn also said that Mercedes will likely introduce a fully working version of an F-duct in the next few events, having begun experimenting with a blown rear-wing in China last weekend.
"McLaren's system, which is driver operated, is quite complicated to get to work properly," said Brawn. "McLaren conceived that car to accommodate the system, and it is not so easy to put it onto [other] cars.
"What we had in China was a simple, passive system. It is not driver operated, so it is not as effective as the McLaren system.
"We are still working on a proper system that we will have at Barcelona or Istanbul. It is complicated to get to work properly, but our aerodynamicists are working on it."
Thursday 22 April 2010
Mosley hits out at Montezemolo, Ferrari
Max Mosley at MonzaLuca di Montezemolo is a weak character and his team would not be winning races using the same budget as its rivals, according to former FIA president Max Mosley.
The former FIA president criticised di Montezemolo, the current Ferrari president, in an interview that appears in the May edition of F1 Racing on sale today.
Mosley said: "Luca is very, very good with people and he's certainly a very personable, pleasant person, but, in my opinion, he's also a very weak character so he's easily led."
Mosley's comments came after a number of revelations he made when responding to an F1 Racing reader's question on whether the FIA favoured Ferrari.
"We never did favour Ferrari, although there was this perception that we did. You could go to Ferrari and they would be completely honest and open with you; most of the other teams wouldn't do that."
However, Mosley admits that the FIA had handled the events of the Malaysian GP in 1999 incorrectly, when Ferrari was nearly thrown out of the race for barge board irregularities.
"They were legal if they were at a slight angle to the chassis and illegal if they were vertical," Mosley said. "I think that they were probably vertical, but we took them off to look at them, and then Ferrari [said], 'No, they were at a slight angle', and they got off on that basis.
"We should have impounded the entire car, but you live and learn and we would never make that mistake again."
He also claimed that Ferrari was "not prepared to take on the other teams on an equal basis," saying the Maranello squad would "fail" if it used the same budget as its rivals.
"Between January and May in 2008, we had a series of meetings and everyone was agreed on the cost-cap and the methodology - but Ferrari were always against it," said Mosley. "I think it's because they know that if they had the same amount of money to spend as the other teams, they would fail."
Mosley said that any animosity directed towards him by fans during his tenure as FIA president was as a result of misconceptions.
"If the fans really understood the issues, I don't think they would be against me, because everything I've ever done has always been done with a view to keeping Formula 1 going and stopping it collapsing," said Mosley. "It's a much more fragile structure than people realise."
The former FIA president criticised di Montezemolo, the current Ferrari president, in an interview that appears in the May edition of F1 Racing on sale today.
Mosley said: "Luca is very, very good with people and he's certainly a very personable, pleasant person, but, in my opinion, he's also a very weak character so he's easily led."
Mosley's comments came after a number of revelations he made when responding to an F1 Racing reader's question on whether the FIA favoured Ferrari.
"We never did favour Ferrari, although there was this perception that we did. You could go to Ferrari and they would be completely honest and open with you; most of the other teams wouldn't do that."
However, Mosley admits that the FIA had handled the events of the Malaysian GP in 1999 incorrectly, when Ferrari was nearly thrown out of the race for barge board irregularities.
"They were legal if they were at a slight angle to the chassis and illegal if they were vertical," Mosley said. "I think that they were probably vertical, but we took them off to look at them, and then Ferrari [said], 'No, they were at a slight angle', and they got off on that basis.
"We should have impounded the entire car, but you live and learn and we would never make that mistake again."
He also claimed that Ferrari was "not prepared to take on the other teams on an equal basis," saying the Maranello squad would "fail" if it used the same budget as its rivals.
"Between January and May in 2008, we had a series of meetings and everyone was agreed on the cost-cap and the methodology - but Ferrari were always against it," said Mosley. "I think it's because they know that if they had the same amount of money to spend as the other teams, they would fail."
Mosley said that any animosity directed towards him by fans during his tenure as FIA president was as a result of misconceptions.
"If the fans really understood the issues, I don't think they would be against me, because everything I've ever done has always been done with a view to keeping Formula 1 going and stopping it collapsing," said Mosley. "It's a much more fragile structure than people realise."
F1 equipment expected in Europe today
Formula 1's car and equipment are expected to land back in Europe later today, following the air chaos delays caused by the Icelandic volcano, easing fears that teams faced a major headache to get ready in time for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Although a large number of team personnel and other F1 staff are still trapped in China as airlines try and find available space on planes, teams will at least breath a sigh of relief that cars and equipment are now on their way back.
The FOM freight planes, which are used to ship the equipment, had been trapped in Europe until earlier this week, but airspace restrictions meant they were able to get out and head to Shanghai.
After getting the planes loaded yesterday, they are due to get back to the UK later today - when more team personnel are also expected to return
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said: "The cars and freight will arrive back today, probably beating the team home by an hour or two."
Although the loss of a few days may not seem a lot, with teams planning major upgrades for the Barcelona race then time was always going to be tight to turn the F1 cars around after four races on the road.
But Horner believes that the extra week's gap in the calendar meant there would be minimal disruption.
"Thankfully, the way the calendar is with the extra week between the Chinese and Spanish Grand Prix, it has a very limited impact," he said about the delay. "There's still over a week to turn the cars around and a lot of the components for the next race are produced here in the factory.
"The factory hasn't been affected - obviously the turnaround components are a little bit out of sync now coming back two or three days late, but with the additional week, we're confident it won't cause us any major issues."
With air schedules getting back to normal, the return of the freight and staff to Europe will also erase any concern that the Spanish GP could be under threat.
Although a large number of team personnel and other F1 staff are still trapped in China as airlines try and find available space on planes, teams will at least breath a sigh of relief that cars and equipment are now on their way back.
The FOM freight planes, which are used to ship the equipment, had been trapped in Europe until earlier this week, but airspace restrictions meant they were able to get out and head to Shanghai.
After getting the planes loaded yesterday, they are due to get back to the UK later today - when more team personnel are also expected to return
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said: "The cars and freight will arrive back today, probably beating the team home by an hour or two."
Although the loss of a few days may not seem a lot, with teams planning major upgrades for the Barcelona race then time was always going to be tight to turn the F1 cars around after four races on the road.
But Horner believes that the extra week's gap in the calendar meant there would be minimal disruption.
"Thankfully, the way the calendar is with the extra week between the Chinese and Spanish Grand Prix, it has a very limited impact," he said about the delay. "There's still over a week to turn the cars around and a lot of the components for the next race are produced here in the factory.
"The factory hasn't been affected - obviously the turnaround components are a little bit out of sync now coming back two or three days late, but with the additional week, we're confident it won't cause us any major issues."
With air schedules getting back to normal, the return of the freight and staff to Europe will also erase any concern that the Spanish GP could be under threat.
Korea boss confident GP will be a hit
South Korea's Grand Prix boss hopes that doubts about his venue's state of readiness have now been totally laid to rest following Bernie Ecclestone's recent visit to the track.
A report in German magazine Focus last week suggested that the South Korean event was doubtful for this year - but the claims were dismissed by race organisers and Ecclestone who flew into the venue last week.
Now Yung Cho Chung, the CEO and president of race organisers KAVO, thinks that these assurances over the race's future will serve to silence doubters.
Speaking to AUTOSPORT about why there had been so much scepticism about the Korean event happening, Chung said: "I remember when Turkey was new, exactly the same thing happened. And now, like last year, when there was Abu Dhabi, exactly the same stories came around.
"This week we have heard these stories about us, and I am actually now quite thankful because in the last week everybody is now interested in the race and it has switched back that it is definitely happening.
"Bernie Ecclestone was there and he clarified everything, so I have to thank him!"
Chung says that the F1 circuit is now 79 per cent complete – and has revealed that the venue will establish its own identity on the calendar.
"Korea is very strong on telecommunications, with companies like LG and Samsung," he said.
"Our circuit and grandstands will have beacons like old style signal [transmitters]. Around the world it is sad that so many circuits look similar, but when you come to Korea you will recognise it as being the Korean track."
Chung says that the circuit's infrastructure and organisational plans for getting equipment and cars into the venue had been approved by Formula One Management, and he played down any talk that there were not enough hotel rooms near the venue to house the F1 circus.
"I always say that people will have to bring their own tents," he joked about the accommodation stories. "No seriously, there is no problem. We have the new airport and you can fly right down there. We also have express railways that are only three hours from Seoul.
"Mr. Ecclestone was at our circuit and we were having lunch in the hotel, and Mr. Ecclestone turned around and could see that the circuit was only three minutes away! There are lots of rooms around there, and enough hotels."
A report in German magazine Focus last week suggested that the South Korean event was doubtful for this year - but the claims were dismissed by race organisers and Ecclestone who flew into the venue last week.
Now Yung Cho Chung, the CEO and president of race organisers KAVO, thinks that these assurances over the race's future will serve to silence doubters.
Speaking to AUTOSPORT about why there had been so much scepticism about the Korean event happening, Chung said: "I remember when Turkey was new, exactly the same thing happened. And now, like last year, when there was Abu Dhabi, exactly the same stories came around.
"This week we have heard these stories about us, and I am actually now quite thankful because in the last week everybody is now interested in the race and it has switched back that it is definitely happening.
"Bernie Ecclestone was there and he clarified everything, so I have to thank him!"
Chung says that the F1 circuit is now 79 per cent complete – and has revealed that the venue will establish its own identity on the calendar.
"Korea is very strong on telecommunications, with companies like LG and Samsung," he said.
"Our circuit and grandstands will have beacons like old style signal [transmitters]. Around the world it is sad that so many circuits look similar, but when you come to Korea you will recognise it as being the Korean track."
Chung says that the circuit's infrastructure and organisational plans for getting equipment and cars into the venue had been approved by Formula One Management, and he played down any talk that there were not enough hotel rooms near the venue to house the F1 circus.
"I always say that people will have to bring their own tents," he joked about the accommodation stories. "No seriously, there is no problem. We have the new airport and you can fly right down there. We also have express railways that are only three hours from Seoul.
"Mr. Ecclestone was at our circuit and we were having lunch in the hotel, and Mr. Ecclestone turned around and could see that the circuit was only three minutes away! There are lots of rooms around there, and enough hotels."
Monday 19 April 2010
Horner: RBR would have won normal GP
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner is adamant his team would have dominated the Chinese Grand Prix had it been run in normal conditions.
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished a distant sixth and eighth respectively in the Shanghai race, despite having started from the front row of the grid.
Red Bull struggled in the tricky conditions, with rain hitting the circuit several times during the race.
Horner believes, however, that had it been dry, his drivers would have emerged on top quite easily.
"A far from straightforward race in very tricky conditions, and sixth and eighth is still very valuable points," Horner told AUTOSPORT.
"It is just obviously frustrating, that with a straightforward dry race today I don't think the opposition would have seen us."
Despite Red Bull having missed several opportunities in the first four races of the season, Horner insists there are lots of reasons to be positive.
"We know we have a fast car," he said. "I think in conditions like in China it is not just about strategy, there is a degree of luck involved. And when you start seventh and eighth you have less to lose and more to gain.
"We head back to Europe have gone to four very different venues, had had two 1-2 starts and one 1-3 start.
"So I think there is an awful lot of positives. As you saw with Ferrari here, they didn't score big points either. So I think it is innate to the championship that there will be swings and roundabouts to it."
And he reckons Red Bull is operationally stronger than last season, despite having won just one race out of a possible four so far.
"Absolutely. There is no question about that. Here was not anything to do with strategy or operationally. I think the communication between the engineers and the cars and the drivers - at the end of the day they made all the same calls as Lewis [Hamilton] did, so I don't think there are any issues there whatsoever."
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished a distant sixth and eighth respectively in the Shanghai race, despite having started from the front row of the grid.
Red Bull struggled in the tricky conditions, with rain hitting the circuit several times during the race.
Horner believes, however, that had it been dry, his drivers would have emerged on top quite easily.
"A far from straightforward race in very tricky conditions, and sixth and eighth is still very valuable points," Horner told AUTOSPORT.
"It is just obviously frustrating, that with a straightforward dry race today I don't think the opposition would have seen us."
Despite Red Bull having missed several opportunities in the first four races of the season, Horner insists there are lots of reasons to be positive.
"We know we have a fast car," he said. "I think in conditions like in China it is not just about strategy, there is a degree of luck involved. And when you start seventh and eighth you have less to lose and more to gain.
"We head back to Europe have gone to four very different venues, had had two 1-2 starts and one 1-3 start.
"So I think there is an awful lot of positives. As you saw with Ferrari here, they didn't score big points either. So I think it is innate to the championship that there will be swings and roundabouts to it."
And he reckons Red Bull is operationally stronger than last season, despite having won just one race out of a possible four so far.
"Absolutely. There is no question about that. Here was not anything to do with strategy or operationally. I think the communication between the engineers and the cars and the drivers - at the end of the day they made all the same calls as Lewis [Hamilton] did, so I don't think there are any issues there whatsoever."
Good weekend, bad weekend
The Chinese Grand Prix was a GOOD weekend for...
Jenson Button
Did anyone – even Button himself – honestly ever imagine that after four races of 2010, Jenson would have two wins and the championship lead, and Lewis Hamilton would have won zero races and been out-qualified by his new team-mate three straight times? Hamilton's driving has been incredible at times this year, but he's making hard work for himself too often, whereas Button’s pace is similar and sometimes quicker, and he is sailing serenely on with consistent driving, great judgement and impressive maturity. A decade into his F1 career and with a world title under his belt, it seems Button is getting better and better.
Vitaly Petrov
Okay, so he's not as quick as Robert Kubica at the moment, but would anyone be in Petrov's position – bearing in mind the experience gulf between them and Kubica's already-established status as superstar underdog of the year? Petrov's solid run in fourth and great recovery to seventh after spinning, which saw him conjure much more speed on destroyed tyres than the big names were managing, suggests those who insisted he was an under-rated rough diamond rather than a wealthy seat-filler are going to be vindicated.
Nico Rosberg
For all the post-race smiles, Rosberg must be frustrated that he let the lead slip away. But there was still plenty to be proud of: He out-qualified the McLarens in a car most would agree is slower, made the right tyre choices and was pulling away from Button on slicks in the wet, which is quite a tall order. Plus he blew away the famous guy in the other Mercedes by the most comprehensive margin yet.
But the Chinese Grand Prix was a BAD weekend for...
F1 teams' logistics departments and F1 personnel's families
While the teams were setting up in China, a volcano in Iceland decided to make life very difficult for anyone needing to travel into, across or out of Europe. And by the time the race was over, the F1 paddock was resigned to a nightmare journey home and pondering whether to try convoluted routes via Malaysia, New York or even a Russian train, or whether it was better to sit tight in China for now. Will some of them even make it back to the UK before Barcelona? As for the drivers, most seem to be going on holiday in Asia instead...
Anyone who thought Red Bull was cheating
The theory was that, despite its vehement denials, Red Bull must be running some form of dodgy ride height adjusting system in qualifying. The FIA's newly clarified hard line on such devices would force Red Bull to remove its trick parts and its qualifying edge would be a thing of the past, its rivals hoped. Then Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber blitzed the front row again... "Who needs ride height control, eh?" said a jubilant Christian Horner over the radio to Vettel. Point made.
Sebastien Buemi
“How annoying,” thought Buemi as he sat in the pits for much of Friday morning watching his mechanics fix a leak on his Toro Rosso, “yet another technical problem costing me practice mileage, what an inconvenient start to the weekend.” Then when he did get out, an upright failure caused both sides of his front suspension to shatter at high speed as he tried to brake from 200mph for the hairpin, sending his now rear-wheels-only car sledging helplessly into the barriers while he instinctively tried to steer out of trouble before remembering he had no front wheels. Then he got taken out on lap one by Tonio Liuzzi spinning into the side of him, meaning he never got chance to use the wet set-up that had compromised his qualifying session. After all that, the Friday morning leak probably didn't seem so bad.
Jenson Button
Did anyone – even Button himself – honestly ever imagine that after four races of 2010, Jenson would have two wins and the championship lead, and Lewis Hamilton would have won zero races and been out-qualified by his new team-mate three straight times? Hamilton's driving has been incredible at times this year, but he's making hard work for himself too often, whereas Button’s pace is similar and sometimes quicker, and he is sailing serenely on with consistent driving, great judgement and impressive maturity. A decade into his F1 career and with a world title under his belt, it seems Button is getting better and better.
Vitaly Petrov
Okay, so he's not as quick as Robert Kubica at the moment, but would anyone be in Petrov's position – bearing in mind the experience gulf between them and Kubica's already-established status as superstar underdog of the year? Petrov's solid run in fourth and great recovery to seventh after spinning, which saw him conjure much more speed on destroyed tyres than the big names were managing, suggests those who insisted he was an under-rated rough diamond rather than a wealthy seat-filler are going to be vindicated.
Nico Rosberg
For all the post-race smiles, Rosberg must be frustrated that he let the lead slip away. But there was still plenty to be proud of: He out-qualified the McLarens in a car most would agree is slower, made the right tyre choices and was pulling away from Button on slicks in the wet, which is quite a tall order. Plus he blew away the famous guy in the other Mercedes by the most comprehensive margin yet.
But the Chinese Grand Prix was a BAD weekend for...
F1 teams' logistics departments and F1 personnel's families
While the teams were setting up in China, a volcano in Iceland decided to make life very difficult for anyone needing to travel into, across or out of Europe. And by the time the race was over, the F1 paddock was resigned to a nightmare journey home and pondering whether to try convoluted routes via Malaysia, New York or even a Russian train, or whether it was better to sit tight in China for now. Will some of them even make it back to the UK before Barcelona? As for the drivers, most seem to be going on holiday in Asia instead...
Anyone who thought Red Bull was cheating
The theory was that, despite its vehement denials, Red Bull must be running some form of dodgy ride height adjusting system in qualifying. The FIA's newly clarified hard line on such devices would force Red Bull to remove its trick parts and its qualifying edge would be a thing of the past, its rivals hoped. Then Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber blitzed the front row again... "Who needs ride height control, eh?" said a jubilant Christian Horner over the radio to Vettel. Point made.
Sebastien Buemi
“How annoying,” thought Buemi as he sat in the pits for much of Friday morning watching his mechanics fix a leak on his Toro Rosso, “yet another technical problem costing me practice mileage, what an inconvenient start to the weekend.” Then when he did get out, an upright failure caused both sides of his front suspension to shatter at high speed as he tried to brake from 200mph for the hairpin, sending his now rear-wheels-only car sledging helplessly into the barriers while he instinctively tried to steer out of trouble before remembering he had no front wheels. Then he got taken out on lap one by Tonio Liuzzi spinning into the side of him, meaning he never got chance to use the wet set-up that had compromised his qualifying session. After all that, the Friday morning leak probably didn't seem so bad.
James Allen's Chinese GP verdict
Some timely Shanghai showers helped produce another enthralling grand prix, with overtaking galore and a host of impressive drives.
ITV.com/F1 columnist James Allen analyses all the key performances and the decisions that shaped the outcome in his regular post-race verdict.
Remember that furore after Bahrain about Formula 1 being boring? No, neither do I.
The fundamental problems of F1 remain – cars find it hard to overtake in dry conditions, compounded by the absence of refuelling.
And these issues still need to be addressed. We will have dull races like Bahrain again; Barcelona is often pretty tedious.
But for the third time in a row since Bahrain, we have enjoyed a cracking grand prix full of overtaking, drama and well-judged performances.
Top marks to Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso in particular.
For Button this was another strong drive, which was built on his early decision to stay on slick tyres on a damp track.
Thereafter he still had plenty of work to do, including passing Rosberg for the lead as the rain started falling more heavily and the pair were still out on their slick tyres.
Rosberg and the two Renault drivers benefited from making the same tyre call as Button, and it gave them a huge lead when the rest were forced to pit for a second time to replace the intermediates they wrongly thought were essential for the conditions.
It was pretty tough on the leading drivers when they were later forced to fend off challenges from the big names, who were brought back into the race by a fortuitous safety car period.
Hamilton was one of these, along with the two Red Bull drivers, the Ferraris and Michael Schumacher.
Fans have been waiting to see Hamilton and Schumacher racing each other and two battles came along today.
The first came about because Hamilton was two seconds per lap faster than Schumacher but took a couple of laps to pass him, giving the great champion plenty of respect.
Red Bull had a horrible day, turning a front-row lockout into sixth and eighth places.
At the start, Mark Webber avenged the pass that Sebastian Vettel made on him at the start in Malaysia, but it amounted to little because both made the intermediate tyre call on lap three.
Webber came in first and damaged his wing and the front jack. Vettel lost a lot of time because he was queuing behind and the team had to get a new jack.
After that they battled their way through the field but, as Vettel observed after the race, they struggled to get the tyres up to temperature after the safety car and the pit stops.
In the closing stages their pace was nowhere near as good as the McLaren. And yet they had enjoyed a significant margin over the others in qualifying once again, taking their fourth pole position in four events.
Rosberg has now taken two podiums and has well and truly shaded his team-mate Schumacher, who is not enjoying an auspicious comeback.
Rosberg is another, like Button, who is forcing people to re-evaluate his quality.
He did a great job in qualifying to get ahead of Button on the grid in fourth place, which gave him the lead after the Red Bulls’ early stops.
Although he couldn’t resist Button’s pass once it started raining again, he nevertheless did a fine job once again to take another podium and he now sits second in the world championship.
Kubica also built on a strong qualifying performance with another clean race and the right tactical calls en route to fifth place.
Like Button and Rosberg he made just two pit stops today, compared with four for the Red Bulls and Schumacher.
His Renault team-mate Vitaly Petrov also had a reputation-enhancing day, with some strong overtakes, including one on Schumacher, to take seventh place.
But the most remarkable story is probably Alonso, who finished fourth despite five visits to the pits, one of them to serve a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.
This was entirely his own fault and one can only guess what the result of the race might have been had he not done that.
Felipe Massa was with him for much of the race, apart from the drive-through of course, and yet finished down in ninth place, 45 seconds behind.
The safety car made a big difference to Alonso’s race. He was 10th and over 40 seconds behind the leaders when it was deployed.
The race restarted on lap 26 and three laps later Alonso was passing Adrian Sutil for sixth place and was up to fourth by lap 40.
One final thing to mention is that the stewards again took a more conciliatory line with drivers today, as in Malaysia.
Once again Hamilton was in the thick of the action, this time battling with Vettel on the way in and out of the pits.
The exit was the dangerous one; McLaren released Hamilton a second after Red Bull and as Vettel rolled alongside the McLaren box, Hamilton came up on his right.
Hamilton didn’t yield and Vettel squeezed him to the right, towards the pit apron and mechanics.
The stewards gave both drivers a reprimand, rather than a time penalty added to their race time or a grid penalty at the next race.
It marks a change of style from the last few years where stewards upset fans and drivers by being overly harsh at times in judging close driving calls.
Perhaps the presence of ex-drivers on the steward panel is having an effect. Here it was Alex Wurz whose voice was being heard in the stewards’ room.
ITV.com/F1 columnist James Allen analyses all the key performances and the decisions that shaped the outcome in his regular post-race verdict.
Remember that furore after Bahrain about Formula 1 being boring? No, neither do I.
The fundamental problems of F1 remain – cars find it hard to overtake in dry conditions, compounded by the absence of refuelling.
And these issues still need to be addressed. We will have dull races like Bahrain again; Barcelona is often pretty tedious.
But for the third time in a row since Bahrain, we have enjoyed a cracking grand prix full of overtaking, drama and well-judged performances.
Top marks to Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso in particular.
For Button this was another strong drive, which was built on his early decision to stay on slick tyres on a damp track.
Thereafter he still had plenty of work to do, including passing Rosberg for the lead as the rain started falling more heavily and the pair were still out on their slick tyres.
Rosberg and the two Renault drivers benefited from making the same tyre call as Button, and it gave them a huge lead when the rest were forced to pit for a second time to replace the intermediates they wrongly thought were essential for the conditions.
It was pretty tough on the leading drivers when they were later forced to fend off challenges from the big names, who were brought back into the race by a fortuitous safety car period.
Hamilton was one of these, along with the two Red Bull drivers, the Ferraris and Michael Schumacher.
Fans have been waiting to see Hamilton and Schumacher racing each other and two battles came along today.
The first came about because Hamilton was two seconds per lap faster than Schumacher but took a couple of laps to pass him, giving the great champion plenty of respect.
Red Bull had a horrible day, turning a front-row lockout into sixth and eighth places.
At the start, Mark Webber avenged the pass that Sebastian Vettel made on him at the start in Malaysia, but it amounted to little because both made the intermediate tyre call on lap three.
Webber came in first and damaged his wing and the front jack. Vettel lost a lot of time because he was queuing behind and the team had to get a new jack.
After that they battled their way through the field but, as Vettel observed after the race, they struggled to get the tyres up to temperature after the safety car and the pit stops.
In the closing stages their pace was nowhere near as good as the McLaren. And yet they had enjoyed a significant margin over the others in qualifying once again, taking their fourth pole position in four events.
Rosberg has now taken two podiums and has well and truly shaded his team-mate Schumacher, who is not enjoying an auspicious comeback.
Rosberg is another, like Button, who is forcing people to re-evaluate his quality.
He did a great job in qualifying to get ahead of Button on the grid in fourth place, which gave him the lead after the Red Bulls’ early stops.
Although he couldn’t resist Button’s pass once it started raining again, he nevertheless did a fine job once again to take another podium and he now sits second in the world championship.
Kubica also built on a strong qualifying performance with another clean race and the right tactical calls en route to fifth place.
Like Button and Rosberg he made just two pit stops today, compared with four for the Red Bulls and Schumacher.
His Renault team-mate Vitaly Petrov also had a reputation-enhancing day, with some strong overtakes, including one on Schumacher, to take seventh place.
But the most remarkable story is probably Alonso, who finished fourth despite five visits to the pits, one of them to serve a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.
This was entirely his own fault and one can only guess what the result of the race might have been had he not done that.
Felipe Massa was with him for much of the race, apart from the drive-through of course, and yet finished down in ninth place, 45 seconds behind.
The safety car made a big difference to Alonso’s race. He was 10th and over 40 seconds behind the leaders when it was deployed.
The race restarted on lap 26 and three laps later Alonso was passing Adrian Sutil for sixth place and was up to fourth by lap 40.
One final thing to mention is that the stewards again took a more conciliatory line with drivers today, as in Malaysia.
Once again Hamilton was in the thick of the action, this time battling with Vettel on the way in and out of the pits.
The exit was the dangerous one; McLaren released Hamilton a second after Red Bull and as Vettel rolled alongside the McLaren box, Hamilton came up on his right.
Hamilton didn’t yield and Vettel squeezed him to the right, towards the pit apron and mechanics.
The stewards gave both drivers a reprimand, rather than a time penalty added to their race time or a grid penalty at the next race.
It marks a change of style from the last few years where stewards upset fans and drivers by being overly harsh at times in judging close driving calls.
Perhaps the presence of ex-drivers on the steward panel is having an effect. Here it was Alex Wurz whose voice was being heard in the stewards’ room.
Ferrari targets qualifying improvement
Ferrari must focus more of its effort onto improving its qualifying form if it is to stand a good chance of winning the world championship this year.
That is the view of team principal Stefano Domenicali, who believes that the edge that Red Bull Racing has enjoyed in qualifying this season must be closed down.
"One thing that we need to work towards perhaps in a little bit of a different way is to prepare qualifying," said Domenicali.
"We know that qualifying is really important and we saw that our major competitor seems to be, at least from what we have seen in the times, a little bit better than us on that moment of the weekend."
Like many teams, Ferrari is planning to bring an upgrade package for the Spanish Grand Prix - with Domenicali under no illusions about the effort his team needs to make to beat Red Bull Racing and McLaren.
"We are working very hard in order to bring new performance developments already for Spain because we have seen this weekend that the others have done the same," he said. "The difference between the cars is so small.
"It is unbelievably small and if you do a little mistake while you are driving, you move from first or second to seventh or eighth position. That is the way it is with this championship. We knew it, and that is the way that we will approach it."
He added: "But, on the other side, and as we have always said since the beginning, the competition is very tight. It is very tough.
"And we don't have to give up and push like hell in order to make sure that the new step that we will bring at every race will be enough, because we did a step in this race but we have seen that the others have done the same. That is the racing of this year, and that is basically the situation."
That is the view of team principal Stefano Domenicali, who believes that the edge that Red Bull Racing has enjoyed in qualifying this season must be closed down.
"One thing that we need to work towards perhaps in a little bit of a different way is to prepare qualifying," said Domenicali.
"We know that qualifying is really important and we saw that our major competitor seems to be, at least from what we have seen in the times, a little bit better than us on that moment of the weekend."
Like many teams, Ferrari is planning to bring an upgrade package for the Spanish Grand Prix - with Domenicali under no illusions about the effort his team needs to make to beat Red Bull Racing and McLaren.
"We are working very hard in order to bring new performance developments already for Spain because we have seen this weekend that the others have done the same," he said. "The difference between the cars is so small.
"It is unbelievably small and if you do a little mistake while you are driving, you move from first or second to seventh or eighth position. That is the way it is with this championship. We knew it, and that is the way that we will approach it."
He added: "But, on the other side, and as we have always said since the beginning, the competition is very tight. It is very tough.
"And we don't have to give up and push like hell in order to make sure that the new step that we will bring at every race will be enough, because we did a step in this race but we have seen that the others have done the same. That is the racing of this year, and that is basically the situation."
Teams hoping for swift tyre decision
Formula 1 teams hope to finalise their tyre choice for next season by the Spanish Grand Prix next month, with both Michelin and Cooper Avon interested in supply deals.
As AUTOSPORT revealed last weekend, Cooper Avon has emerged as a surprise late contender to supply tyres for 2010 - with not all outfits happy with the commercial terms currently being offered by Michelin.
Discussions took place between teams and Bernie Ecclestone in Shanghai last week to try and get a deal agreed as soon as possible, because 2011 car designs need to start being worked on soon.
And although no final decision has been taken about the preferred route for next season, several team principals are optimistic that the matter can be resolved in the next few weeks.
Red Bull Racing's Christian Horner told AUTOSPORT: "I think there are two credible options potentially on the table and hopefully in the next few weeks it can be finalised."
When asked whether he favoured the Michelin or Cooper Avon route, Horner said: "I am totally impartial. I think both tyre companies that have been mentioned are more than capable of producing quality tyres and it is important that specification of the tyre, the quantity, the service and all those elements are right for F1. And also the cost implications as well."
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, who met Ecclestone, said: "I think we are making some progress. We have some options and that is something we have got to work out. I hope it will be sorted by Spain. We will see. At least we look like we are going to have some tyres next year. That is a pretty important one, and we now just have to decide how and where and who they are from."
Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali added: "Of course it is a point of concern for the future of F1 – there is no doubt about that.
"As far as I can say, as you know Michelin has made a proposal that is under evaluation to make sure that it is the best proposal from the technical point of view and the commercial point of view.
"On the other hand I know that there is a possible discussion to have another tyre competitor who can be ready to come for next year, and I think we will know something more, I would say 100 percent, by Barcelona. So by Barcelona the situation of tyres should be almost clear if not defined."
As AUTOSPORT revealed last weekend, Cooper Avon has emerged as a surprise late contender to supply tyres for 2010 - with not all outfits happy with the commercial terms currently being offered by Michelin.
Discussions took place between teams and Bernie Ecclestone in Shanghai last week to try and get a deal agreed as soon as possible, because 2011 car designs need to start being worked on soon.
And although no final decision has been taken about the preferred route for next season, several team principals are optimistic that the matter can be resolved in the next few weeks.
Red Bull Racing's Christian Horner told AUTOSPORT: "I think there are two credible options potentially on the table and hopefully in the next few weeks it can be finalised."
When asked whether he favoured the Michelin or Cooper Avon route, Horner said: "I am totally impartial. I think both tyre companies that have been mentioned are more than capable of producing quality tyres and it is important that specification of the tyre, the quantity, the service and all those elements are right for F1. And also the cost implications as well."
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, who met Ecclestone, said: "I think we are making some progress. We have some options and that is something we have got to work out. I hope it will be sorted by Spain. We will see. At least we look like we are going to have some tyres next year. That is a pretty important one, and we now just have to decide how and where and who they are from."
Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali added: "Of course it is a point of concern for the future of F1 – there is no doubt about that.
"As far as I can say, as you know Michelin has made a proposal that is under evaluation to make sure that it is the best proposal from the technical point of view and the commercial point of view.
"On the other hand I know that there is a possible discussion to have another tyre competitor who can be ready to come for next year, and I think we will know something more, I would say 100 percent, by Barcelona. So by Barcelona the situation of tyres should be almost clear if not defined."
Lapthorne steps down from McLaren
Richard Lapthorne has left McLaren just a year after he was appointed non-executive chairman of the group.
Lapthorne joined McLaren in April last year when Ron Dennis decided to relinquish his Formula 1 duties.
At the time, Lapthorne was appointed non-executive chairman of the McLaren Group and a non-executive director of McLaren Automotive.
After just one year, Lapthorne said his job is done.
"We had a full list of issues last April," he was quoted as saying by the Times newspaper. "Ron and the team have been brilliant in working through them and with the road car company poised for a spin-off, my job's done."
Lapthorne joined McLaren in April last year when Ron Dennis decided to relinquish his Formula 1 duties.
At the time, Lapthorne was appointed non-executive chairman of the McLaren Group and a non-executive director of McLaren Automotive.
After just one year, Lapthorne said his job is done.
"We had a full list of issues last April," he was quoted as saying by the Times newspaper. "Ron and the team have been brilliant in working through them and with the road car company poised for a spin-off, my job's done."
Sunday 18 April 2010
Vettel, Hamilton get a reprimand
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have both been reprimanded by the race stewards for dangerous driving during their pitlane incident in the Chinese Grand Prix.
Hamilton was released after a pitstop just as Vettel was near him, and the pair chose to race side-by-side down the length of the pits rather than concede the position.
The stewards believed that such driving, which included Hamilton getting sideways as he tried to out-accelerate the Red Bull Racing driver and Vettel edging over on the McLaren, was done in a "dangerous manner."
The stewards spoke to both drivers and reviewed video evidence before making their ruling.
Hamilton was released after a pitstop just as Vettel was near him, and the pair chose to race side-by-side down the length of the pits rather than concede the position.
The stewards believed that such driving, which included Hamilton getting sideways as he tried to out-accelerate the Red Bull Racing driver and Vettel edging over on the McLaren, was done in a "dangerous manner."
The stewards spoke to both drivers and reviewed video evidence before making their ruling.
Renault evaluating rear wing system
Renault is now evaluating introducing its own version of a blown rear wing, AUTOSPORT has learned, despite ruling out a straight copy of McLaren's F-Duct.
With the French car manufacturer adopting an aggressive development programme this year, the team has been pushing hard in bringing upgrades to its cars at every race.
And although Renault has opted against using an F-Duct concept for a straight-line speed boost, the team is working on a similar idea to help stall the rear wing.
Team principal Eric Boullier told AUTOSPORT: "We definitely don't want to copy McLaren, but the idea could be good. However, until we have proved ourselves that there is a gain, then we will not do anything about it.
"We are looking at the idea, but that is because we are looking at many, many different ideas and many things. But we will not copy McLaren.
"We will not do a copy as that will be a waste of time, but we are looking something with a similar concept - like a blown wing."
McLaren and BMW Sauber are the only teams to have raced fully-functional F-Ducts so far, while Ferrari, Mercedes GP and Williams all began evaluation of 'blown wing' concepts in China this weekend.
With the French car manufacturer adopting an aggressive development programme this year, the team has been pushing hard in bringing upgrades to its cars at every race.
And although Renault has opted against using an F-Duct concept for a straight-line speed boost, the team is working on a similar idea to help stall the rear wing.
Team principal Eric Boullier told AUTOSPORT: "We definitely don't want to copy McLaren, but the idea could be good. However, until we have proved ourselves that there is a gain, then we will not do anything about it.
"We are looking at the idea, but that is because we are looking at many, many different ideas and many things. But we will not copy McLaren.
"We will not do a copy as that will be a waste of time, but we are looking something with a similar concept - like a blown wing."
McLaren and BMW Sauber are the only teams to have raced fully-functional F-Ducts so far, while Ferrari, Mercedes GP and Williams all began evaluation of 'blown wing' concepts in China this weekend.
Webber: Red Bull blown away in China
Webber says Red Bull was 'blown away' at the Chinese Grand Prix after the team had to settle for a disappointing result having started from the first row.
Webber finished in eighth position, two places behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel, as Red Bull was unable to be competitive in the difficult conditions.
The Australian admitted his team was simply not fast enough.
"We got blown away so it was a very difficult grand prix for us," Webber told the BBC. "We weren't quick enough, simple as that.
"They were changeable conditions but it's the same for everyone, and the car is very sensitive in these conditions if it is not going one way or the other for you. Interesting grand prix.
"We know (where we lose out in these conditions) and we have got to improve it."
Vettel, starting from pole, admitted the result was disappointing, although he reckons the points could be important later on.
"In the end to finish sixth can be quite important, but our main competitors finished ahead so that's not nice," Vettel told the BBC. "It was a very difficult race for us, both of us struggled quite a lot in certain conditions.
"Once we are in clean air our pace was decent, but you know, it is very on/off in these conditions and it is a lot just to maintain track position.
"We need to understand why we were not able, especially out of the restart, why we were not able to be there straight away. We were lacking a little bit of temperatures in the tyre."
The German, under investigation for his pitlane incident with Lewis Hamilton, said he did not understand the Briton's driving.
"I was in a similar track position as he was after the first stop and we found our way through the field," he said. "At the stop you were mentioning I was ahead, I don't know why he was keen to touch me.
"I thought hopefully I don't suffer a puncture after that, don't really understand because I was a bit ahead. He turned out to be a little bit faster on the track anyway so we need to see."
Webber finished in eighth position, two places behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel, as Red Bull was unable to be competitive in the difficult conditions.
The Australian admitted his team was simply not fast enough.
"We got blown away so it was a very difficult grand prix for us," Webber told the BBC. "We weren't quick enough, simple as that.
"They were changeable conditions but it's the same for everyone, and the car is very sensitive in these conditions if it is not going one way or the other for you. Interesting grand prix.
"We know (where we lose out in these conditions) and we have got to improve it."
Vettel, starting from pole, admitted the result was disappointing, although he reckons the points could be important later on.
"In the end to finish sixth can be quite important, but our main competitors finished ahead so that's not nice," Vettel told the BBC. "It was a very difficult race for us, both of us struggled quite a lot in certain conditions.
"Once we are in clean air our pace was decent, but you know, it is very on/off in these conditions and it is a lot just to maintain track position.
"We need to understand why we were not able, especially out of the restart, why we were not able to be there straight away. We were lacking a little bit of temperatures in the tyre."
The German, under investigation for his pitlane incident with Lewis Hamilton, said he did not understand the Briton's driving.
"I was in a similar track position as he was after the first stop and we found our way through the field," he said. "At the stop you were mentioning I was ahead, I don't know why he was keen to touch me.
"I thought hopefully I don't suffer a puncture after that, don't really understand because I was a bit ahead. He turned out to be a little bit faster on the track anyway so we need to see."
Button wins Chinese Grand Prix
Jenson Button took his second victory of the year by controlling a hectic, wet Chinese Grand Prix.
The reigning world champion once again benefited from an early tyre call - this time staying out on slicks in the rain while most pitted for intermediates – and showed his class again from the front.
Even when a safety car period eradicated the lead his tyre gamble had earned him, he kept his head in tricky conditions and even stretched away from McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages when it came down to who had looked after their tyres the best.
But far from being a race of nursing the cars home, for close to 90 minutes it was frantic stuff as the weather once again played havoc with Formula 1.
The drama started early when Vitantonio Liuzzi lost control of his Force India under braking, spun and collected the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber.
Adrian Sutil, Jaime Alguersuari and Rubens Barrichello were also involved and headed for repairs in the pits, while Nico Hulkenberg did well to pick his way through unscathed.
But the safety car was still required, prompting both Red Bulls, both Ferraris, Hamilton and Michael Schumacher to gamble on changing to intermediate tyres.
Initially, it looked like the right call as Fernando Alonso charged past cars still on slicks. But Nico Rosberg and Button, up front having stayed out on slicks, were lapping faster just one tour later as the inters cooked quickly with the circuit not quite wet enough for them.
Within a couple of laps all those to take them were back in the pits for slicks, leaving Rosberg, Button, Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov well ahead of the rest.
The stops included Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel racing each other into the pitlane and leaving side-by-side too, an incident that will be investigated later.
No sooner had the likes of Hamilton and Vettel fought their way back up the order that the rain started again, heavier this time. Leader Rosberg was caught out and a brief off-track excursion allowed Button a run at him to take the lead, and soon after everyone was in the pits to get inters back on.
The rain gifted Button, Rosberg and the Renaults a free pitstop, so the leaders 50-second advantage remained. But the safety car was back out after Alguersuari clipped the back of an HRT car and left front wing debris scattered on the track.
Button bunched the pack right up for the restart and, with the new rule about overtaking from the pitlane line, rather than the start/finish line, Vettel tried to take advantage to mug Hamilton into the last corner. But it backfired for his Red Bull team as he only succeeded in forcing Hamilton wide and shoving Webber off the track on the outside, costing the Aussie several places.
Hamilton once again had to make his way back to the front and his journey included a great battle with Schumacher. The old hand defended brilliantly for the first few advances, despite struggling for traction in his Mercedes. But eventually Hamilton made it stick with an opportunistic dive between Turns 8 and 9 – something that became his staple move of the day.
He then caught and passed Rosberg for second, just before the field descended on the pitlane once more for a final fresh set of intermediate tyres.
Things eventually settled down for the last 20 laps, as Button kept Hamilton at a safe distance. There was just a brief scare four laps from home when he overshot the final hairpin. But Hamilton was also struggling to keep his car on the road with fast-balding inters.
Rosberg couldn't quite challenge for the victory but had no trouble keeping Fernando Alonso at bay for third – the Spaniard getting in reach of the podium despite five pitstops, including a drive-through for jumping the start.
Kubica continued Renault's good form, capitalising on his early decision to stay on slicks to hold onto fifth. Vettel looked like homing in on Kubica in the closing stages but never threatened.
Webber had another day of missed opportunities and couldn't make his way forward at the same rate as Hamilton or Vettel, but he also had his share of misfortune. Already down the order he gambled on an earlier final stop, but it just left him in more tyre trouble than most come the end of the race and he was mugged for seventh by Petrov two laps from the end.
Some wise calls and excellent race craft kept Schumacher in the hunt in spite of his lack of pace. But when the race finally settled down he had no answer and was jumped late by Petrov, and then by his former Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa on the final lap – the latter once again failing to impress in a chaotic wet race.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai International Circuit, China;
56 laps; 305.066km;
Weather: Mixed conditions.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h44:42.163
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 1.530
3. Rosberg Mercedes + 9.484
4. Alonso Ferrari + 11.869
5. Kubica Renault + 22.213
6. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 33.310
7. Petrov Renault + 47.600
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 52.172
9. Massa Ferrari + 57.796
10. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:01.749
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:02.874
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:03.665
13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:11.416
14. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 1 lap
15. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
16. Senna HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
17. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps
Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:42.061
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 27
Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 9
De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 8
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1
Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1
World Championship standings, round 4:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Button 60 1. McLaren-Mercedes 109
2. Rosberg 50 2. Ferrari 90
3. Alonso 49 3. Red Bull-Renault 73
4. Hamilton 49 4. Mercedes 60
5. Vettel 45 5. Renault 46
6. Massa 41 6. Force India-Mercedes 18
7. Kubica 40 7. Williams-Cosworth 6
8. Webber 28 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
9. Sutil 10
10. Schumacher 10
11. Liuzzi 8
12. Petrov 6
13. Barrichello 5
14. Alguersuari 2
15. Hulkenberg 1
Saturday 17 April 2010
Vettel hails 'fantastic' pole lap
Sebastian Vettel hailed his final qualifying lap as "fantastic" after securing pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix.
The German claimed his third pole in four races, also making sure Red Bull has secured the top spot in all the grands prix of the season so far.
Vettel, who had struggled with his car's set-up before qualifying, admitted his lap had been superb, especially on the first sector, where the German had had more trouble this weekend.
He qualified nearly three tenths ahead of team-mate Mark Webber.
"It was tough today. I was not so happy yesterday and this morning especially Mark was quite a bit quicker than me," said Vettel.
"We did some changes and went a little bit in Mark's direction but it was extremely difficult. "I was struggling in the first sector especially but now in qualifying I was purple in sector one.
"I found a line like last year a little bit. I had two very good runs in Q3, the last corner on the first run I was a bit too wide, otherwise it would already have been a good time, but the second run was a bit better everywhere.
"It was a fantastic lap, and the fourth consecutive pole position for Red Bull. We are proving we have a very good car independent of the circuit type. We are always up there.
"Special thanks to the mechanics because they had zero lunch as we required a lot of changes that they had to work from free practice to qualifying."
Vettel said he is confident he will be strong in any conditions in tomorrow's race, when rain is expected to hit the circuit.
"I think it will be raining tomorrow, it's just a question of when," he added. "It will be similar to the last two races. We are not afraid of any rain, for Sunday it looks quite bad if you look at the weather.
"The question is will it be wet throughout the whole race or after the start? We have good memories of the wet conditions last year and if the rain comes it is best to start at the front because you are the one who sees the best. Dry or wet we should be well armed for tomorrow."
The German claimed his third pole in four races, also making sure Red Bull has secured the top spot in all the grands prix of the season so far.
Vettel, who had struggled with his car's set-up before qualifying, admitted his lap had been superb, especially on the first sector, where the German had had more trouble this weekend.
He qualified nearly three tenths ahead of team-mate Mark Webber.
"It was tough today. I was not so happy yesterday and this morning especially Mark was quite a bit quicker than me," said Vettel.
"We did some changes and went a little bit in Mark's direction but it was extremely difficult. "I was struggling in the first sector especially but now in qualifying I was purple in sector one.
"I found a line like last year a little bit. I had two very good runs in Q3, the last corner on the first run I was a bit too wide, otherwise it would already have been a good time, but the second run was a bit better everywhere.
"It was a fantastic lap, and the fourth consecutive pole position for Red Bull. We are proving we have a very good car independent of the circuit type. We are always up there.
"Special thanks to the mechanics because they had zero lunch as we required a lot of changes that they had to work from free practice to qualifying."
Vettel said he is confident he will be strong in any conditions in tomorrow's race, when rain is expected to hit the circuit.
"I think it will be raining tomorrow, it's just a question of when," he added. "It will be similar to the last two races. We are not afraid of any rain, for Sunday it looks quite bad if you look at the weather.
"The question is will it be wet throughout the whole race or after the start? We have good memories of the wet conditions last year and if the rain comes it is best to start at the front because you are the one who sees the best. Dry or wet we should be well armed for tomorrow."
Cooper Avon enters race for 2011 tyres
Cooper Avon has emerged as a surprise late contender to supply Formula 1 tyres next season, AUTOSPORT has learned, despite teams having agreed in principle a deal with Michelin.
After weeks of discussions between F1 teams and Michelin about the French tyre manufacturer returning to the sport next season, high level sources have revealed that an official offer for a 2011 deal has now been proposed in writing to the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA).
While what is proposed is believed to have the support of every team, the move still needs ratification from the FIA and F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone before it can be put into practice.
However, despite the teams being keen on the Michelin plans - which will include a switch to 18-inch wheels – sources claim that Bernie Ecclestone is not in favour of such a move, and is instead believed to be keen on a different tyre manufacturer getting involved.
AUTOSPORT understands that FOTA representatives are now hoping to meet Ecclestone at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday to try and sort out the situation – with him not having yet informed teams what his own preferred route for 2011 is.
A source told AUTOSPORT: "We want to know by the Spanish Grand Prix what tyres we are running in 2011. That is why we plan to meet with Ecclestone on Sunday to see what his idea is."
Sources suggest that Ecclestone is pushing for a deal with Cooper Avon. It is possible that the tyre manufacturer could use former Bridgestone personnel to help service the tyres and ensure it is operating at a level that will satisfy F1 teams.
FOTA has now ruled out any hope of Bridgestone being persuaded to remain in the sport – even as supplier to a few teams – despite a push by the teams to try and convince the Japanese manufacturer to remain after this season.
After weeks of discussions between F1 teams and Michelin about the French tyre manufacturer returning to the sport next season, high level sources have revealed that an official offer for a 2011 deal has now been proposed in writing to the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA).
While what is proposed is believed to have the support of every team, the move still needs ratification from the FIA and F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone before it can be put into practice.
However, despite the teams being keen on the Michelin plans - which will include a switch to 18-inch wheels – sources claim that Bernie Ecclestone is not in favour of such a move, and is instead believed to be keen on a different tyre manufacturer getting involved.
AUTOSPORT understands that FOTA representatives are now hoping to meet Ecclestone at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday to try and sort out the situation – with him not having yet informed teams what his own preferred route for 2011 is.
A source told AUTOSPORT: "We want to know by the Spanish Grand Prix what tyres we are running in 2011. That is why we plan to meet with Ecclestone on Sunday to see what his idea is."
Sources suggest that Ecclestone is pushing for a deal with Cooper Avon. It is possible that the tyre manufacturer could use former Bridgestone personnel to help service the tyres and ensure it is operating at a level that will satisfy F1 teams.
FOTA has now ruled out any hope of Bridgestone being persuaded to remain in the sport – even as supplier to a few teams – despite a push by the teams to try and convince the Japanese manufacturer to remain after this season.
Whitmarsh defends Hamilton weave
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has jumped to the defence of driver Lewis Hamilton amid criticism about the former world champions weaving in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Hamilton weaved several times down the start-finish straight at Sepang as he tried to break the slipstream from a pursuing Vitaly Petrov, whom he had been battling with for several laps.
And although Hamilton was given no penalty for the move, with the stewards just giving him a warning for unsportsmanlike behaviour, several rivals have said they are unhappy about what he did.
However, Whitmarsh insists that Hamilton did absolutely nothing wrong and that his driver would never race in a dangerous manner.
"The stewards looked at this and decided not to penalise Lewis," said Whitmarsh in China. "Lewis was seeking to break the tow, not prevent an overtaking move. As always Lewis drives and races passionately, but always seeks to be entirely safe."
The matter is likely to be brought up in Fridays drivers briefing in China, however, with Williams driver Rubens Barrichello expressing his own disappointment about what happened.
"I don't think this is the right thing to do," said Barrichello in China on Thursday. "When I saw it, I was by myself watching the TV and I was quite critical of it. If he was beside me I would have given him some bollocking because it wasn't right."
Hamilton weaved several times down the start-finish straight at Sepang as he tried to break the slipstream from a pursuing Vitaly Petrov, whom he had been battling with for several laps.
And although Hamilton was given no penalty for the move, with the stewards just giving him a warning for unsportsmanlike behaviour, several rivals have said they are unhappy about what he did.
However, Whitmarsh insists that Hamilton did absolutely nothing wrong and that his driver would never race in a dangerous manner.
"The stewards looked at this and decided not to penalise Lewis," said Whitmarsh in China. "Lewis was seeking to break the tow, not prevent an overtaking move. As always Lewis drives and races passionately, but always seeks to be entirely safe."
The matter is likely to be brought up in Fridays drivers briefing in China, however, with Williams driver Rubens Barrichello expressing his own disappointment about what happened.
"I don't think this is the right thing to do," said Barrichello in China on Thursday. "When I saw it, I was by myself watching the TV and I was quite critical of it. If he was beside me I would have given him some bollocking because it wasn't right."
Sunday 4 April 2010
Williams drivers say car lacking pace
Nico Hulkenberg admitted his Williams was simply not quick enough to achieve a better result at Sepang, despite scoring his first Formula 1 point.
The German had started the race from fifth position thanks to yesterday's rain-hit qualifying, but had to be content with a distant tenth position in toady's race.
Hulkenberg conceded there was not much he could have done due to the lack of pace from the Williams car.
"We picked up a point today, maybe because our car was more reliable, but that's racing," said Hulkenberg. "It was a tough race because we just don't have the pace at the moment.
"I wish we could do better, but we have some work to do to catch up."
Team-mate Rubens Barrichello went on to finish in 12th after nearly stalling his car at the start, something that sent him to the back of the grid from seventh position.
"I don't know what happened at the start, I'll go through that with the team," he said. "From there I went to the back of the field. We tried a different strategy to get us back up, but our car was just not competitive.
"We lost a nice opportunity today."
The German had started the race from fifth position thanks to yesterday's rain-hit qualifying, but had to be content with a distant tenth position in toady's race.
Hulkenberg conceded there was not much he could have done due to the lack of pace from the Williams car.
"We picked up a point today, maybe because our car was more reliable, but that's racing," said Hulkenberg. "It was a tough race because we just don't have the pace at the moment.
"I wish we could do better, but we have some work to do to catch up."
Team-mate Rubens Barrichello went on to finish in 12th after nearly stalling his car at the start, something that sent him to the back of the grid from seventh position.
"I don't know what happened at the start, I'll go through that with the team," he said. "From there I went to the back of the field. We tried a different strategy to get us back up, but our car was just not competitive.
"We lost a nice opportunity today."
Kovalainen encouraged by Lotus pace
Heikki Kovalainen was encouraged by the competitiveness of his Lotus team despite failing to finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
"It was still a very positive race for us, despite the issues," said the Finn, who had finished the first two races of the season.
"My start wasn't fantastic and it meant I dropped immediately to the back. After that I got into a good rhythm, but started to see some issues on the dash.
"I tried to make a move on di Grassi, but clipped his front wing when I was going past and damaged my left rear tyre, so had to come in to pit.
"Even with the problems we had the car was competitive and I was very comfortable. Compared to the other new teams our times are very competitive indeed, so I'm not going to let this race trouble me - we learned a lot and now we'll move on and look ahead to China," he added.
Team-mate Jarno Trulli went on to finish in 15th position after making contact early on with Virgin's Timo Glock.
"We made a good start, but then on the second lap I was hit by Glock, which made me spin, and from then on my race was compromised," said the Italian.
"Despite that I got the car home to the end and that shows our focus on reliability has been worth the effort."
"It was still a very positive race for us, despite the issues," said the Finn, who had finished the first two races of the season.
"My start wasn't fantastic and it meant I dropped immediately to the back. After that I got into a good rhythm, but started to see some issues on the dash.
"I tried to make a move on di Grassi, but clipped his front wing when I was going past and damaged my left rear tyre, so had to come in to pit.
"Even with the problems we had the car was competitive and I was very comfortable. Compared to the other new teams our times are very competitive indeed, so I'm not going to let this race trouble me - we learned a lot and now we'll move on and look ahead to China," he added.
Team-mate Jarno Trulli went on to finish in 15th position after making contact early on with Virgin's Timo Glock.
"We made a good start, but then on the second lap I was hit by Glock, which made me spin, and from then on my race was compromised," said the Italian.
"Despite that I got the car home to the end and that shows our focus on reliability has been worth the effort."
Alonso bemoans 'hardest race ever'
Fernando Alonso labelled the Malaysian Grand Prix as the hardest race of his life after having to cope with gearbox issues before retiring.
The Ferrari driver lost his clutch before the start of the race and was forced to step on the throttle on corners in order for the gears to engage.
Despite that, Alonso battled with team-mate Felipe Massa and McLaren's Jenson Button, before an engine failure forced him out with two laps to go.
The Spaniard looked set for ninth position, which would have helped him keep the championship lead. As it was, however, Alonso is now tied in second place, two points behind Massa.
"From the start things went wrong," Alonso told Spanish television. "On the formation lap my gearbox broke and I had no clutch during the race, so I had to brake in a weird way.
"I had to first gear down and then push the throttle hard so it would engage the gear for that corner.
"So it was probably the hardest race of my whole life in terms of driving, because I had to improvise for every corner. But even so we were going to get a few points, which in the end was not possible because of the engine.
"But if the gearbox and then the engine are going to break, it's better than in happens when you are ninth than when you are leading and you lose 25 points."
He added: "A tough weekend. Sometimes it's us, sometimes it's other. You have to take the opportunities."
The Ferrari driver lost his clutch before the start of the race and was forced to step on the throttle on corners in order for the gears to engage.
Despite that, Alonso battled with team-mate Felipe Massa and McLaren's Jenson Button, before an engine failure forced him out with two laps to go.
The Spaniard looked set for ninth position, which would have helped him keep the championship lead. As it was, however, Alonso is now tied in second place, two points behind Massa.
"From the start things went wrong," Alonso told Spanish television. "On the formation lap my gearbox broke and I had no clutch during the race, so I had to brake in a weird way.
"I had to first gear down and then push the throttle hard so it would engage the gear for that corner.
"So it was probably the hardest race of my whole life in terms of driving, because I had to improvise for every corner. But even so we were going to get a few points, which in the end was not possible because of the engine.
"But if the gearbox and then the engine are going to break, it's better than in happens when you are ninth than when you are leading and you lose 25 points."
He added: "A tough weekend. Sometimes it's us, sometimes it's other. You have to take the opportunities."
Vettel leads dominant Red Bull one-two
Red Bull finally delivered the kind of crushing performance it had threatened to all season as Sebastian Vettel led Mark Webber home in a one-two demonstration run at Sepang.
Nico Rosberg gave the new Mercedes works team its first podium in third, although his team-mate Michael Schumacher was an early retirement, while the McLarens and Ferraris all recovered into the top ten following their qualifying miscues, although Fernando Alonso suffered a last gasp engine failure.
The potential for downpours and chaos had dominated conversation in the build-up, but ironically the race was dry throughout. Vettel got a great start from third, instantly passing Rosberg and slipping down the inside of Webber into the first corner to take the lead.
The two Red Bulls then pulled away from the Mercedes in formation, remaining a second or so apart until their pitstops on laps 23 and 24, where any chance of Webber threatening Vettel was removed when an airgun problem on his right front wheel meant his tyre change took a crucial 1.4s longer. That briefly put Webber behind the yet-to-stop Lewis Hamilton, and gave Vettel a clean break. He duly cruised clear to clinch his and Red Bull's first win of 2010.
Rosberg was a safe third throughout, but the second Mercedes of Schumacher dropped out on lap eight when its left rear wheel came loose.
Robert Kubica continued Renault's strong form with fourth, never quite close enough to scare Rosberg, and safe from attack from behind as fifth-placed Adrian Sutil (Force India) had his hands full resisting Hamilton by the end.
Hamilton made the most assertive progress of the displaced frontrunners, getting into the top ten within seven laps, despite being warned for excessive weaving during a spectacular battle with Renault rookie Vitaly Petrov, and ultimately rising as high as second as he left his pitstop until lap 30.
He emerged right alongside team-mate Jenson Button, who had pitted as early as lap 10, but it was Hamilton's strategy that proved best, as the younger Briton fended off his team-mate and then quickly pulled away - leaving Button at the mercy of the charging Ferraris. Felipe Massa had run until lap 28 before pitting, while Fernando Alonso, who had struggled with a downshift problem all race and been low-key in the early stages, stayed on hards until lap 36, and then set a string of fastest laps as he charged into contention.
Massa eventually got past Button and then closed on Sutil and Hamilton, while Alonso remained stuck behind Button until he dived past with two laps to go - only for his Ferrari's engine to immediately fail as he completed the move. Alonso's retirement means Massa edges into the championship lead.
Jaime Alguersuari earned his first Formula 1 points with the finest drive of his career to date, as he determinedly battled past Nico Hulkenberg and Petrov to ultimately take ninth.
Williams could not capitalise on its brilliant qualifying result, with Rubens Barrichello tumbling to last at the start thanks to an overheating clutch, and Hulkenberg losing a few positions on lap one then dropping further back as his early tyre stop strategy failed to pay off. He at least picked up 10th thanks to Alonso's late failure.
The battle between the new teams turned physical in Malaysia. Virgin's Timo Glock retired on lap three when a bid to overtake Jarno Trulli saw him spin into the Lotus, while Heikki Kovalainen's attempted pass on Virgin driver Lucas di Grassi seven laps later caused more contact - the Lotus slicing a rear tyre on the Virgin's front wing as it slid past sideways.
It was di Grassi who ultimately emerged on top, giving Virgin its first race finish as he nursed its inadequate fuel level to the flag and finished ahead of the two Hispanias. Trulli made the flag despite backing right off with hydraulic problems at the end - with similar issues forcing Kovalainen to lose several laps in the pits.
Also hitting mechanical trouble were Petrov, Force India's Tonio Liuzzi, and both Saubers - Pedro de la Rosa striking engine problems on his way from the garage to the grid.
The Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang F1 Circuit, Malaysia;
56 laps; 310.408km;
Weather: Sunny.
Pos Driver Team Gap
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 4.8s
3. Rosberg Mercedes + 13.5s
4. Kubica Renault + 18.5s
5. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 21.0s
6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 23.4s
7. Massa Ferrari + 27.0s
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 37.9s
9. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m10.6s
10. Hulkenberg Williams + 1m13.3s
11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m18.9s
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Alonso Ferrari + 2 laps
14. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
15. Chandhok Hispania-Cosworth + 3 laps
16. Senna Hispania-Cosworth + 4 laps
17. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth + 5 laps
Not classified/retirements:
Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 46 laps
Petrov Renault 32 laps
Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 12 laps
Schumacher Mercedes 9 laps
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 8 laps
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 2 laps
De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 0 laps
Fastest lap: Webber 1m37.054s
World Championship standings, round 3:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Massa 39 1. Ferrari 76
2. Vettel 37 2. McLaren-Mercedes 66
3. Alonso 37 3. Red Bull-Renault 61
4. Button 35 4. Mercedes 44
5. Rosberg 35 5. Renault 30
6. Hamilton 31 6. Force India-Mercedes 18
7. Kubica 30 7. Williams-Cosworth 6
8. Webber 24 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
9. Sutil 10
10. Schumacher 9
11. Liuzzi 8
12. Barrichello 5
13. Alguersuari 2
14. Hulkenberg 1
Saturday 3 April 2010
Australia set for start time change
start time of the 2011 Australian Grand Prix is set to be brought forward, AUTOSPORT has learned, after FIA light tests at last week's race deemed it to be too dark.
Drivers had complained vociferously in Melbourne that the 5pm start time meant conditions were not bright enough in the closing stages of the race.
The FIA duly conducted light tests of the event and its findings showed that the brightness was below the minimum that is demanded for night race conditions.
It is understood that the FIA has recommended that the start time be moved in time for the 2011 event - which could mean the race start time shifting forward by up to one hour.
Michael Schumacher welcomed the fact that the FIA had stepped in with some official measurements in a bid to ensure safety for the drivers.
"I think somebody else decides whether we run at four or five or whatever time of the year. I just know that in Australia it was certainly over the limit," he said. "By the end of the race it was certainly too dark and I understand the FIA has measured this and will take action for next year.
"But at least there seem to be some guidelines now as to what light conditions you have to have as a minimum for the future."
Robert Kubica was happy by the fact the FIA had accepted it was too dark – and even suggested that the race take place early in the morning so as to be broadcast on Saturday evening in Europe.
"Last year when we had this big shift [of start time], we knew what the reason was. But then I say, let's do it early in the morning so it is Saturday evening in Europe.
"For a late start, it is risky if like today there will be big clouds and heavy rain and a lot of spray. I think after Australia we complained already twice. The FIA did some measurements and it is clear it is too dark for them – for the safety target they are putting. It is a serious problem and this year was very dark in Australia and the year before the sun was very low, which was very dangerous."
The start time of the race will have to be decided by Australian Grand Prix organisers in conjunction with Formula 1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone.
Drivers had complained vociferously in Melbourne that the 5pm start time meant conditions were not bright enough in the closing stages of the race.
The FIA duly conducted light tests of the event and its findings showed that the brightness was below the minimum that is demanded for night race conditions.
It is understood that the FIA has recommended that the start time be moved in time for the 2011 event - which could mean the race start time shifting forward by up to one hour.
Michael Schumacher welcomed the fact that the FIA had stepped in with some official measurements in a bid to ensure safety for the drivers.
"I think somebody else decides whether we run at four or five or whatever time of the year. I just know that in Australia it was certainly over the limit," he said. "By the end of the race it was certainly too dark and I understand the FIA has measured this and will take action for next year.
"But at least there seem to be some guidelines now as to what light conditions you have to have as a minimum for the future."
Robert Kubica was happy by the fact the FIA had accepted it was too dark – and even suggested that the race take place early in the morning so as to be broadcast on Saturday evening in Europe.
"Last year when we had this big shift [of start time], we knew what the reason was. But then I say, let's do it early in the morning so it is Saturday evening in Europe.
"For a late start, it is risky if like today there will be big clouds and heavy rain and a lot of spray. I think after Australia we complained already twice. The FIA did some measurements and it is clear it is too dark for them – for the safety target they are putting. It is a serious problem and this year was very dark in Australia and the year before the sun was very low, which was very dangerous."
The start time of the race will have to be decided by Australian Grand Prix organisers in conjunction with Formula 1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone.
Horner says tyre choice was a gamble
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has praised Mark Webber's decision to run with intermediate tyres after the Australian secure his first pole position of the year.
Horner added, however, that the decision was a gamble that could have backfired.
Webber secured the top spot by 1.3 seconds from Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, as Red Bull scored its third pole in three races.
"I think cool heads from both the engineering crew and the drivers," said Horner of how the team managed to get Webber first and Sebastian Vettel third on the grid.
"We took a bit of a gamble - that I was happy to take in the final session, where as Mark wanted to go with the inters, which was brave."
"Our spotters were telling us there was more rain due, but it was one of those things that was worth rolling the dice. Both drivers did a great job to finish first and third. The ability to get it wrong today was very high."
Horner also backed the decision to stop qualifying when it was obvious there was too much water on track.
"Absolutely. Both our drivers were immediately on the radio saying they were passengers, out of control, doing a lot of damage. I think the race director and the stewards made exactly the right call in those conditions. The difficulty will be tomorrow in the race if we have similar."
He added: "Every day I've been here it's rained between 4pm and 7pm, it's just a question of when. The chances are it's going to rain tomorrow, it's just when, whether it's before the start of the race, during the race or ideally, just after it. But we're not likely to be that lucky."
Horner added, however, that the decision was a gamble that could have backfired.
Webber secured the top spot by 1.3 seconds from Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, as Red Bull scored its third pole in three races.
"I think cool heads from both the engineering crew and the drivers," said Horner of how the team managed to get Webber first and Sebastian Vettel third on the grid.
"We took a bit of a gamble - that I was happy to take in the final session, where as Mark wanted to go with the inters, which was brave."
"Our spotters were telling us there was more rain due, but it was one of those things that was worth rolling the dice. Both drivers did a great job to finish first and third. The ability to get it wrong today was very high."
Horner also backed the decision to stop qualifying when it was obvious there was too much water on track.
"Absolutely. Both our drivers were immediately on the radio saying they were passengers, out of control, doing a lot of damage. I think the race director and the stewards made exactly the right call in those conditions. The difficulty will be tomorrow in the race if we have similar."
He added: "Every day I've been here it's rained between 4pm and 7pm, it's just a question of when. The chances are it's going to rain tomorrow, it's just when, whether it's before the start of the race, during the race or ideally, just after it. But we're not likely to be that lucky."
Wirth praises Virgin's step forward
Virgin's technical director Nick Wirth praised the team's step forward after Timo Glock qualified in 15th position for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
"Today has been a great day for everyone involved in Virgin Racing - a clear step forward for the team," said Wirth, whose team had never made it to Q2 before.
"Despite still not running qualifying fuel loads, it was nice to again demonstrate the underlying potential of this car and its unique design process," added the Briton, referring to his cars still running with more fuel than necessary to work around its fuel pick-up issues.
"Timo continued to demonstrate our potential in Q1 and whilst some of our more experienced competitors elected to stay in the garage at the optimum time, Timo made it through to Q2.
"The Q2 session was tricky. We were running with all our weather prediction services warning us of an imminent downpour, so unfortunately we ran our last set of Intermediates a little bit early, which costs us a place. Looking at our times from earlier today though, that won't matter in the race."
Glock was also very pleased with his day's performance.
"It's been a very good weekend for us so far," he said. "We've had no real problems with the car and we've been able to do proper work during every session. Qualifying went quite smoothly considering the rain at the start of the session.
"It was critical to get out on time and my lap in Q1 was really good, getting me into Q2. It was good to see us do a better job than some of the top teams and as a result they will be starting behind us. Q2 wasn't perfect though as we came in too early and that cost us the place against Heikki.
"In general though we have to be happy with what we have achieved today. It's great for the team and there is now a lot of motivation for tomorrow. It looks like it could be a crazy race tomorrow, so we have to stay focused - and stay on the track - and we'll see how it all ends."
Team-mate Lucas di Grassi, on the other hand, was unable to escape trouble and qualified at the bottom of the grid.
"Once more some problems affected us today and we had to rebuild parts of the car between practice and qualifying," di Grassi said. "It was touch and go whether we would even get the car out at all for qualy, but the mechanics did an incredible job and because of that we were able to do at least a couple of laps to make sure the car was working well.
"While it has been a disappointing day for me personally, it has been a good day for the team so we all have to be pleased for that. We look forward to the race tomorrow and hope that brings better things, including achieving our target of finishing our first race.
"Today has been a great day for everyone involved in Virgin Racing - a clear step forward for the team," said Wirth, whose team had never made it to Q2 before.
"Despite still not running qualifying fuel loads, it was nice to again demonstrate the underlying potential of this car and its unique design process," added the Briton, referring to his cars still running with more fuel than necessary to work around its fuel pick-up issues.
"Timo continued to demonstrate our potential in Q1 and whilst some of our more experienced competitors elected to stay in the garage at the optimum time, Timo made it through to Q2.
"The Q2 session was tricky. We were running with all our weather prediction services warning us of an imminent downpour, so unfortunately we ran our last set of Intermediates a little bit early, which costs us a place. Looking at our times from earlier today though, that won't matter in the race."
Glock was also very pleased with his day's performance.
"It's been a very good weekend for us so far," he said. "We've had no real problems with the car and we've been able to do proper work during every session. Qualifying went quite smoothly considering the rain at the start of the session.
"It was critical to get out on time and my lap in Q1 was really good, getting me into Q2. It was good to see us do a better job than some of the top teams and as a result they will be starting behind us. Q2 wasn't perfect though as we came in too early and that cost us the place against Heikki.
"In general though we have to be happy with what we have achieved today. It's great for the team and there is now a lot of motivation for tomorrow. It looks like it could be a crazy race tomorrow, so we have to stay focused - and stay on the track - and we'll see how it all ends."
Team-mate Lucas di Grassi, on the other hand, was unable to escape trouble and qualified at the bottom of the grid.
"Once more some problems affected us today and we had to rebuild parts of the car between practice and qualifying," di Grassi said. "It was touch and go whether we would even get the car out at all for qualy, but the mechanics did an incredible job and because of that we were able to do at least a couple of laps to make sure the car was working well.
"While it has been a disappointing day for me personally, it has been a good day for the team so we all have to be pleased for that. We look forward to the race tomorrow and hope that brings better things, including achieving our target of finishing our first race.
Sutil delighted with second row slot
Adrian Sutil was delighted with his qualifying performance in Malaysia after securing fourth place on the grid ahead of tomorrow's race.
"It was a great qualifying again for us," said the Force India driver after his best performance of the season so far.
"As I expected it rained at 4pm, I said that yesterday I think! It was challenging and the conditions changed a lot over the sessions. Sometimes it was a lot of rain, sometimes half wet, half dry so it was very important to choose the right tyres.
"I think we did a great job in those conditions and every session we did the optimum. I am so happy to be in this position now. It's a great achievement and my team really deserved it.
"They did a fantastic job: being there on the right time on the right tyre was very important. My time in the end was good for P4: a great job all round," added Sutil.
The German finished ahead of team-mate Tonio Liuzzi, who will start from 10th, completing a strong day for the Silverstone-based squad.
"We can be happy about getting through to Q3 as this was our target for this weekend," he said. "It was a good qualifying, Q3 started very wet, very similar to Brazil last year, and then it dried up very quickly at the end.
"I had a problem on the last lap with a locking front brake and lost the last run but that's how it is in these conditions: you have to get the right spot at the right time.
"Tomorrow will be a tough race from where we are. We have a lot of quick cars around us but as we've seen today we are strong in all conditions. I'm looking forward to it."
"It was a great qualifying again for us," said the Force India driver after his best performance of the season so far.
"As I expected it rained at 4pm, I said that yesterday I think! It was challenging and the conditions changed a lot over the sessions. Sometimes it was a lot of rain, sometimes half wet, half dry so it was very important to choose the right tyres.
"I think we did a great job in those conditions and every session we did the optimum. I am so happy to be in this position now. It's a great achievement and my team really deserved it.
"They did a fantastic job: being there on the right time on the right tyre was very important. My time in the end was good for P4: a great job all round," added Sutil.
The German finished ahead of team-mate Tonio Liuzzi, who will start from 10th, completing a strong day for the Silverstone-based squad.
"We can be happy about getting through to Q3 as this was our target for this weekend," he said. "It was a good qualifying, Q3 started very wet, very similar to Brazil last year, and then it dried up very quickly at the end.
"I had a problem on the last lap with a locking front brake and lost the last run but that's how it is in these conditions: you have to get the right spot at the right time.
"Tomorrow will be a tough race from where we are. We have a lot of quick cars around us but as we've seen today we are strong in all conditions. I'm looking forward to it."
Hulkenberg hails qualifying breakthrough
Nico Hulkenberg hailed his qualifying performance as a breakthrough after reaching Q3 ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Williams rookie will start the race from fifth position after having reached the final qualifying segment for the first time.
Hulkenberg also qualified two places ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello.
"Yeah, good success," Hulkenberg told the BBC. "I mean finally a bit like a breakthrough. I'm obviously very happy even though I think it's very tight - the guys in front, I could have had them.
"Not an ideal lap but it's very difficult in these conditions anyway, but I'm quite happy where I am and happy for the team as well."
The German admitted it will be a big day for him tomorrow, but he claimed he is ready to attack to get a good result.
"It is, but I'll just get out there and get my job done, at least try to maintain my position and in the best case gain places. I'll not be shy."
The Williams rookie will start the race from fifth position after having reached the final qualifying segment for the first time.
Hulkenberg also qualified two places ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello.
"Yeah, good success," Hulkenberg told the BBC. "I mean finally a bit like a breakthrough. I'm obviously very happy even though I think it's very tight - the guys in front, I could have had them.
"Not an ideal lap but it's very difficult in these conditions anyway, but I'm quite happy where I am and happy for the team as well."
The German admitted it will be a big day for him tomorrow, but he claimed he is ready to attack to get a good result.
"It is, but I'll just get out there and get my job done, at least try to maintain my position and in the best case gain places. I'll not be shy."
McLaren duo rue wrong qualifying call
McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were left lamenting their mistake after being knocked out in Q1 for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The duo waited to go out and set a time, hoping that conditions would improve after heavy rain had hit the track.
However, conditions only worsened and by the ttime they set a timed lap, the circuit was too wet to reach Q2.
Hamilton admitted McLaren's had been the wrong call.
"I think we started a bit too late, but we went out at a similar times to all the other top teams, but it was just unlucky," he said.
"It's one of those things. We had been fastest all weekend and then it's just so my luck, but what can you do? You just have to shrug it off and tomorrow I'll race my heart out again."
He added: "It was one of those days. It's been a good weekend so far, but we didn't expect it to rain anymore and it got wetter and wetter and couldn't get the time, so. Hard work tomorrow, for sure but I'll do my best."
Hamilton will start from 20th position, three places behind Button, whose session ended when he lost control of his car and got stuck in the gravel.
"We read it wrong, basically," Button said. "We thought nothing else was coming so we waited and it was obviously the wrong thing to do.
"My first lap on inters felt okay. It was quite wet but it felt okay. I just aquaplaned off, really. I couldn't do anything about it. I was stuck in the gravel. I hope I haven't damaged anything because I was stuck in the gravel with the engine running for quite a long time hoping to get pulled out, but that wasn't the case.
"Very disappointing, and a very strange session with both McLarens out and both Ferraris out."
The world champion at lest found some consolation in the fact that both Hamilton and the Ferrari drivers had qualified behind him.
"On the way back you feel pretty awful having gone off the circuit, but I'm in front of my championship rivals. I suppose that's the best way of looking at it. But I'm behind all other rivals which is a tough one. We made the wrong call and paid for it. Hopefully we'll make up for it tomorrow."
The duo waited to go out and set a time, hoping that conditions would improve after heavy rain had hit the track.
However, conditions only worsened and by the ttime they set a timed lap, the circuit was too wet to reach Q2.
Hamilton admitted McLaren's had been the wrong call.
"I think we started a bit too late, but we went out at a similar times to all the other top teams, but it was just unlucky," he said.
"It's one of those things. We had been fastest all weekend and then it's just so my luck, but what can you do? You just have to shrug it off and tomorrow I'll race my heart out again."
He added: "It was one of those days. It's been a good weekend so far, but we didn't expect it to rain anymore and it got wetter and wetter and couldn't get the time, so. Hard work tomorrow, for sure but I'll do my best."
Hamilton will start from 20th position, three places behind Button, whose session ended when he lost control of his car and got stuck in the gravel.
"We read it wrong, basically," Button said. "We thought nothing else was coming so we waited and it was obviously the wrong thing to do.
"My first lap on inters felt okay. It was quite wet but it felt okay. I just aquaplaned off, really. I couldn't do anything about it. I was stuck in the gravel. I hope I haven't damaged anything because I was stuck in the gravel with the engine running for quite a long time hoping to get pulled out, but that wasn't the case.
"Very disappointing, and a very strange session with both McLarens out and both Ferraris out."
The world champion at lest found some consolation in the fact that both Hamilton and the Ferrari drivers had qualified behind him.
"On the way back you feel pretty awful having gone off the circuit, but I'm in front of my championship rivals. I suppose that's the best way of looking at it. But I'm behind all other rivals which is a tough one. We made the wrong call and paid for it. Hopefully we'll make up for it tomorrow."
Webber on pole in disrupted qualifying
Mark Webber continued Red Bull's run of pole positions with a brilliant gamble on intermediate tyres in a dramatic, rain-interrupted, Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying session.
Mercedes' Nico Rosberg will join Webber on the front row, with Sebastian Vettel third in the second Red Bull.
Both McLarens and both Ferraris were caught out by the weather and will start outside the top 16.
Rain began just before the session, leaving the track initially sodden in places, slippery in others, but also with some virtually dry sections.
Expecting conditions to get better rather than worse, all of the top four teams' drivers bar Sebastian Vettel waited in the pits for the first eight minutes.
It was the wrong decision, as the rain quickly intensified. Webber and the Mercedes got adequate laps completed just in time, as did Button - only to spin into the Turn 6 gravel on his next lap, leaving the world champion 17th on the grid as he would be unable to run in Q2 despite qualifying for it.
Hamilton spun at the last corner on his first run and the Ferraris' initial efforts were too slow, leaving all three outside the Q2 cut. They kept pushing - Alonso having a triple spin out of Turn 8 and Massa sliding through the gravel - but were all 0.2-0.4s adrift of the required time and will line up in 19th to 21st places.
While Q2 was uneventful by comparison, Q3 was then red-flagged before any of the drivers had completed a flying lap as the heavens opened again. The officials waited 15 minutes to let the storm pass before resuming for a final seven minute pole shoot-out.
Force India's Adrian Sutil set the early pace, but then track conditions began to come to Webber - the only man on intermediates. He jumped to provisional pole, and then on his third and final lap of Q3 moved 1.3s clear of his wet-shod competition.
Rosberg denied Red Bull another front row sweep by taking second ahead of Vettel, with Sutil pushed back to fourth.
Williams' rookie Nico Hulkenberg was a frontrunner throughout the session and took a brilliant fifth, ahead of Renault's Robert Kubica, who had topped Q1.
Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher are on row four in the second Williams and Mercedes, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi - who gave Sauber its first top ten start of 2010 - and Force India's Tonio Liuzzi.
The big names' mistakes allowed Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen and Virgin's Timo Glock to reach Q2 for the first time in their teams' history - Kovalainen pipping his team-mate Jarno Trulli to 17th in Q1 by just 0.009s. Kovalainen and Glock will share row eight tomorrow.
There were no wet weather heroics for Toro Rosso today, Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari filling row seven. Renault's Vitaly Petrov only just missed out on a Q3 spot and will start 11th, ahead of Pedro de la Rosa, who was a second off his Sauber team-mate Kobayashi's Q2 pace.
Karun Chandhok out-qualified Hispania team-mate Bruno Senna for the first time as the Brazilian spun off early in Q1. Both beat Lucas di Grassi - who only joined Q1 for the saturated closing minutes as post-practice work on his Virgin over-ran.
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:51.886 1:48.210 1:49.327
2. Rosberg Mercedes 1:52.560 1:47.417 1:50.673
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:47.632 1:46.828 1:50.789
4. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:49.479 1:47.085 1:50.914
5. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:49.664 1:47.346 1:51.001
6. Kubica Renault 1:46.283 1:46.951 1:51.051
7. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:50.301 1:48.371 1:51.511
8. Schumacher Mercedes 1:52.239 1:48.400 1:51.717
9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.467 1:47.792 1:51.767
10. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:49.922 1:48.238 1:52.254
11. Petrov Renault 1:47.952 1:48.760
12. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:47.153 1:48.771
13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.945 1:49.207
14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.655 1:49.464
15. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.875 1:52.270
16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:52.398 1:52.520
17. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:52.211
18. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.884
19. Alonso Ferrari 1:53.044
20. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:53.050
21. Massa Ferrari 1:53.283
22. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:56.299
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:57.269
24. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:59.977
Mercedes' Nico Rosberg will join Webber on the front row, with Sebastian Vettel third in the second Red Bull.
Both McLarens and both Ferraris were caught out by the weather and will start outside the top 16.
Rain began just before the session, leaving the track initially sodden in places, slippery in others, but also with some virtually dry sections.
Expecting conditions to get better rather than worse, all of the top four teams' drivers bar Sebastian Vettel waited in the pits for the first eight minutes.
It was the wrong decision, as the rain quickly intensified. Webber and the Mercedes got adequate laps completed just in time, as did Button - only to spin into the Turn 6 gravel on his next lap, leaving the world champion 17th on the grid as he would be unable to run in Q2 despite qualifying for it.
Hamilton spun at the last corner on his first run and the Ferraris' initial efforts were too slow, leaving all three outside the Q2 cut. They kept pushing - Alonso having a triple spin out of Turn 8 and Massa sliding through the gravel - but were all 0.2-0.4s adrift of the required time and will line up in 19th to 21st places.
While Q2 was uneventful by comparison, Q3 was then red-flagged before any of the drivers had completed a flying lap as the heavens opened again. The officials waited 15 minutes to let the storm pass before resuming for a final seven minute pole shoot-out.
Force India's Adrian Sutil set the early pace, but then track conditions began to come to Webber - the only man on intermediates. He jumped to provisional pole, and then on his third and final lap of Q3 moved 1.3s clear of his wet-shod competition.
Rosberg denied Red Bull another front row sweep by taking second ahead of Vettel, with Sutil pushed back to fourth.
Williams' rookie Nico Hulkenberg was a frontrunner throughout the session and took a brilliant fifth, ahead of Renault's Robert Kubica, who had topped Q1.
Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher are on row four in the second Williams and Mercedes, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi - who gave Sauber its first top ten start of 2010 - and Force India's Tonio Liuzzi.
The big names' mistakes allowed Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen and Virgin's Timo Glock to reach Q2 for the first time in their teams' history - Kovalainen pipping his team-mate Jarno Trulli to 17th in Q1 by just 0.009s. Kovalainen and Glock will share row eight tomorrow.
There were no wet weather heroics for Toro Rosso today, Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari filling row seven. Renault's Vitaly Petrov only just missed out on a Q3 spot and will start 11th, ahead of Pedro de la Rosa, who was a second off his Sauber team-mate Kobayashi's Q2 pace.
Karun Chandhok out-qualified Hispania team-mate Bruno Senna for the first time as the Brazilian spun off early in Q1. Both beat Lucas di Grassi - who only joined Q1 for the saturated closing minutes as post-practice work on his Virgin over-ran.
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:51.886 1:48.210 1:49.327
2. Rosberg Mercedes 1:52.560 1:47.417 1:50.673
3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:47.632 1:46.828 1:50.789
4. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:49.479 1:47.085 1:50.914
5. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:49.664 1:47.346 1:51.001
6. Kubica Renault 1:46.283 1:46.951 1:51.051
7. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:50.301 1:48.371 1:51.511
8. Schumacher Mercedes 1:52.239 1:48.400 1:51.717
9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.467 1:47.792 1:51.767
10. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:49.922 1:48.238 1:52.254
11. Petrov Renault 1:47.952 1:48.760
12. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:47.153 1:48.771
13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.945 1:49.207
14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.655 1:49.464
15. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.875 1:52.270
16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:52.398 1:52.520
17. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:52.211
18. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.884
19. Alonso Ferrari 1:53.044
20. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:53.050
21. Massa Ferrari 1:53.283
22. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:56.299
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:57.269
24. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:59.977
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