Panasonic Toyota Racing continues the 2009 Formula 1 season with
another trip eastwards, this time to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand
Prix, which comes much earlier in the season than its usual autumn
spot. Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli finished third and fourth
respectively in the Malaysian Grand Prix last time out, reversing
the result in Australia and taking the team's Formula 1 podium tally
to 10. After the race the team briefly returned home to its
technical centre in Cologne, Germany before making the trip to China,
although the cars and equipment went directly from Sepang to
Shanghai. Last year Timo Glock finished seventh in China to score
more points in his debut season while Jarno Trulli was eliminated in
an early accident. Toyota has finished on the podium before in China,
in 2005 with Ralf Schumacher, and that will be the target again this
weekend.
Drivers Championship
1 Jenson Button Brawn GP Formula One Team 15
2 Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP Formula One Team 10
3 Jarno Trulli Panasonic Toyota Racing 8.5
4 Timo Glock Panasonic Toyota Racing 8
5 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber F1 Team 4
6 Fernando Alonso ING Renault F1 Team 4
7 Nico Rosberg AT&T Williams 3.5
8 Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 2
9 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1.5
10 Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1
11 Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1
12 Adrian Sutil Force India F1 Team 0
13 Felipe Massa Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 0
14 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India F1 Team 0
15 Kazuki Nakajima AT&T Williams 0
16 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 0
17 Nelsinho Piquet ING Renault F1 Team 0
18 Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 0
19 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber F1 Team 0
20 Heikki Kovalainen Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 0
Constructors Championship
1 Brawn GP Formula One Team 25
2 Panasonic Toyota Racing 16.5
3 BMW Sauber F1 Team 4
4 ING Renault F1 Team 4
5 AT&T Williams 3.5
6 Scuderia Toro Rosso 3
7 Red Bull Racing 1.5
8 Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1
9 Force India F1 Team 0
10 Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 0
---- Race Schedule (All Local Time)-----------------------------------
FORMULA 1 Round 3 Grand Prix of China
17th April Friday 10:00-11:30 Practice Session 1
14:00-15:30 Practice Session 2
18th April Saturday 11:00-12:00 Practice Session 3
14:00- Qualifying
19th April Sunday 15:00- Race
News from Formula One in the Formation Lap.
Monday, 13 April 2009
The f1 diffuser hearing
The 2009 season may not yet be a month old but it’s already on the brink of its first big turning point with the FIA’s International Court of Appeal meeting on Tuesday to clarify the legality of controversial ‘double decker’ diffusers once and for all.
ITV.com/F1’s James Allen sets the scene ahead of the crunch Paris hearing and assesses what the potential verdicts could have on the championship as a whole and pecking order going forwards as we head towards the European season.
It’s been a fairly quiet Easter as far as happenings in F1 are concerned.
I guess Malaysia was such a momentous weekend, with the McLaren/stewards affair and the crazy race, it’s hardly surprising that the sport needed to take a breather.
But tomorrow (Tuesday 14th) things will get intense again as the international appeal court makes its decision regarding the legality of the diffusers of Brawn, Williams and Toyota. This decision could well decide the outcome of the world championship – certainly that is the view of former world champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, who are on the wrong side of the debate.
Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and Red Bull know that the first four races – a quarter of the season – will have been lost if the decision goes against them.
If the decision goes with the protesters, we will have to unpick the results of the first two grands prix, which will be very messy. We’ve already had a high-profile reversal before the season started on the points system. To tell the world also that the first two races are meaningless would make neutrals wonder what the heck is going on in F1.
However that’s a risk we have to take because the important thing here is that we get the right decision, so everyone can move forward. The top teams all have their own versions of the ‘double decker’ diffuser in the wind tunnel at the moment and will be ready to run them either in Bahrain or Barcelona, depending on their manufacturing capability. This should give them a vault in performance.
The Brawn team hopes to keep its nose ahead and has some updates of its own to roll out in Spain, because the team has the luxury of being one step ahead of the rest.
But it will be interesting to see whether these updates give anything like the returns that the diffusers will give to the rest. Meanwhile Toyota and Williams have benefited from the diffusers and, for as long as it lasts, they are taking points off the top teams.
McLaren and Ferrari look out of sorts at the moment, McLaren because of a slow car and the strife they have brought on themselves. Internally there is some real soul searching going on and a threat that they may lose their lead driver over the damage done to his reputation. That is very destabilising.
Ferrari are on the ropes because they have made mistakes and had reliability issues. They need to get onto the right path as a team and I’ve no doubt that they will.This is not like turning an oil tanker around, an F1 team with a winning culture can adapt and change direction very quickly.
BMW should benefit greatly from the updated package they will bring out in Spain.
They have combined the need to build a car with a trick diffuser with the need to make a lighter chassis for Robert Kubica, so he can use the KERS system and he will be driving essentially a B-spec car in Spain.
I expect him to start to feature in a big way after that. He’s been one of the few top team drivers to have given the diffuser cars a run for their money in the opening races.
Renault are coming from a bit further back, while Red Bull have a different concept to the rest and have been quick in the opening races. If forced to adapt to the trick diffusers, it will be interesting to see whether they gain or lose relative to the opposition.
If the appeal court decision goes Brawn’s way it will certainly give Jenson Button a fighting chance of winning the title, as he will have had four ‘open goals’ at the first four races, a head start that it will take the big teams a lot of the season to catch up.
ITV.com/F1’s James Allen sets the scene ahead of the crunch Paris hearing and assesses what the potential verdicts could have on the championship as a whole and pecking order going forwards as we head towards the European season.
It’s been a fairly quiet Easter as far as happenings in F1 are concerned.
I guess Malaysia was such a momentous weekend, with the McLaren/stewards affair and the crazy race, it’s hardly surprising that the sport needed to take a breather.
But tomorrow (Tuesday 14th) things will get intense again as the international appeal court makes its decision regarding the legality of the diffusers of Brawn, Williams and Toyota. This decision could well decide the outcome of the world championship – certainly that is the view of former world champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, who are on the wrong side of the debate.
Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and Red Bull know that the first four races – a quarter of the season – will have been lost if the decision goes against them.
If the decision goes with the protesters, we will have to unpick the results of the first two grands prix, which will be very messy. We’ve already had a high-profile reversal before the season started on the points system. To tell the world also that the first two races are meaningless would make neutrals wonder what the heck is going on in F1.
However that’s a risk we have to take because the important thing here is that we get the right decision, so everyone can move forward. The top teams all have their own versions of the ‘double decker’ diffuser in the wind tunnel at the moment and will be ready to run them either in Bahrain or Barcelona, depending on their manufacturing capability. This should give them a vault in performance.
The Brawn team hopes to keep its nose ahead and has some updates of its own to roll out in Spain, because the team has the luxury of being one step ahead of the rest.
But it will be interesting to see whether these updates give anything like the returns that the diffusers will give to the rest. Meanwhile Toyota and Williams have benefited from the diffusers and, for as long as it lasts, they are taking points off the top teams.
McLaren and Ferrari look out of sorts at the moment, McLaren because of a slow car and the strife they have brought on themselves. Internally there is some real soul searching going on and a threat that they may lose their lead driver over the damage done to his reputation. That is very destabilising.
Ferrari are on the ropes because they have made mistakes and had reliability issues. They need to get onto the right path as a team and I’ve no doubt that they will.This is not like turning an oil tanker around, an F1 team with a winning culture can adapt and change direction very quickly.
BMW should benefit greatly from the updated package they will bring out in Spain.
They have combined the need to build a car with a trick diffuser with the need to make a lighter chassis for Robert Kubica, so he can use the KERS system and he will be driving essentially a B-spec car in Spain.
I expect him to start to feature in a big way after that. He’s been one of the few top team drivers to have given the diffuser cars a run for their money in the opening races.
Renault are coming from a bit further back, while Red Bull have a different concept to the rest and have been quick in the opening races. If forced to adapt to the trick diffusers, it will be interesting to see whether they gain or lose relative to the opposition.
If the appeal court decision goes Brawn’s way it will certainly give Jenson Button a fighting chance of winning the title, as he will have had four ‘open goals’ at the first four races, a head start that it will take the big teams a lot of the season to catch up.
F1 North American grand prix need extended calendar
Bernie Ecclestone says the future of Formula 1's North American grands prix depends on the teams' willingness to accept more races.With Montreal following Indianapolis off the calendar, there are no North American races on the 2009 schedule.
The teams have repeatedly expressed their frustration at this, insisting that America is a vital market for their sponsors.Ecclestone says he is willing to revive the American dates, but not at the expense of other venues as he wants F1 to continue visiting new destinations such as Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
He therefore believes that if the teams are so keen to race in the USA, they should be willing to drop their long-standing objection to the calendar being extended to 20 races."The trouble is that the teams don’t want to do more than 17 races," Ecclestone told Motor Sport magazine.
"If they don’t want any more than that then we cannot put on a race in America or get Montreal back."
He confirmed that efforts were underway to get Montreal back on the schedule as soon as possible."We are trying to get that back on again," said Ecclestone."The government is interested."
Ecclestone is less certain about America's prospects, as he believes Indianapolis is the only current US track capable of hosting F1.
Indianapolis replaced F1 with MotoGP last season after failing to agree a new contract with Ecclestone.
"Apart from Indianapolis, where we have been, there is nowhere in America we could go to and hold our head up and say, ‘This is comparable to other circuits we are building around the world,'" said the F1 supremo.He said his preference remains for a new track to be constructed in New York."It is the one place where someone could make a business out of it," he said.
The teams have repeatedly expressed their frustration at this, insisting that America is a vital market for their sponsors.Ecclestone says he is willing to revive the American dates, but not at the expense of other venues as he wants F1 to continue visiting new destinations such as Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
He therefore believes that if the teams are so keen to race in the USA, they should be willing to drop their long-standing objection to the calendar being extended to 20 races."The trouble is that the teams don’t want to do more than 17 races," Ecclestone told Motor Sport magazine.
"If they don’t want any more than that then we cannot put on a race in America or get Montreal back."
He confirmed that efforts were underway to get Montreal back on the schedule as soon as possible."We are trying to get that back on again," said Ecclestone."The government is interested."
Ecclestone is less certain about America's prospects, as he believes Indianapolis is the only current US track capable of hosting F1.
Indianapolis replaced F1 with MotoGP last season after failing to agree a new contract with Ecclestone.
"Apart from Indianapolis, where we have been, there is nowhere in America we could go to and hold our head up and say, ‘This is comparable to other circuits we are building around the world,'" said the F1 supremo.He said his preference remains for a new track to be constructed in New York."It is the one place where someone could make a business out of it," he said.
Sunday, 12 April 2009
F1 driver Massa joins GPDA
The Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) has succeeded in boosting its membership numbers by convincing previous high-profile sceptics, including Felipe Massa and Adrian Sutil, to join the organisation, AUTOSPORT can reveal.
With the GPDA having endured a difficult 2008, with world championship frontrunners Lewis Hamilton, Massa and Kimi Raikkonen not members, its chairman Pedro de la Rosa together with directors Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber worked hard throughout last winter to get the doubters back on board.
With big progress being made on the eve of the season as Hamilton signed up to the GPDA for the first time since he entered F1 in 2007, AUTOSPORT has learned that Massa and Sutil also agreed to become members at the same time.
With a host of reserve drivers and F1 rookie Sebastien Buemi also joining up, it means that Kimi Raikkonen is now the only regular driver who has not yet agreed to become a member.
De la Rosa said he was delighted that the likes of Hamilton and Massa were now on board - which comes after a winter when the GPDA helped agree with the FIA a reduction in super licence fees for all drivers.
"It is important we are all there," de la Rosa told AUTOSPORT. "It is great news that Lewis, Felipe and Adrian have come on board, but also that test drivers like Christian Klien are there too, and new drivers like Buemi. It's quite reassuring.
"I admit we were weak last year, especially when Felipe left. But he has come back, and I'm glad he has. I'm really delighted about Lewis being there too."
De la Rosa said he hoped Raikkonen, who is still considering becoming a member, would also sign up to ensure that every driver on the grid is in the GPDA.
"We wish Kimi was there, as he is one of the top guys, so hopefully he will agree soon too," said the Spaniard.
"The GPDA is an important organisation. Although the drivers fight each other on the track, we must be able to work together off it to solve problems. I believe the GPDA today is stronger than ever."
With the GPDA having endured a difficult 2008, with world championship frontrunners Lewis Hamilton, Massa and Kimi Raikkonen not members, its chairman Pedro de la Rosa together with directors Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber worked hard throughout last winter to get the doubters back on board.
With big progress being made on the eve of the season as Hamilton signed up to the GPDA for the first time since he entered F1 in 2007, AUTOSPORT has learned that Massa and Sutil also agreed to become members at the same time.
With a host of reserve drivers and F1 rookie Sebastien Buemi also joining up, it means that Kimi Raikkonen is now the only regular driver who has not yet agreed to become a member.
De la Rosa said he was delighted that the likes of Hamilton and Massa were now on board - which comes after a winter when the GPDA helped agree with the FIA a reduction in super licence fees for all drivers.
"It is important we are all there," de la Rosa told AUTOSPORT. "It is great news that Lewis, Felipe and Adrian have come on board, but also that test drivers like Christian Klien are there too, and new drivers like Buemi. It's quite reassuring.
"I admit we were weak last year, especially when Felipe left. But he has come back, and I'm glad he has. I'm really delighted about Lewis being there too."
De la Rosa said he hoped Raikkonen, who is still considering becoming a member, would also sign up to ensure that every driver on the grid is in the GPDA.
"We wish Kimi was there, as he is one of the top guys, so hopefully he will agree soon too," said the Spaniard.
"The GPDA is an important organisation. Although the drivers fight each other on the track, we must be able to work together off it to solve problems. I believe the GPDA today is stronger than ever."
Saturday, 11 April 2009
USF1 considering Cosworth engine deal
Team USF1, which plans to be on the grid at the start of next season, is 'seriously' evaluating using the standard Cosworth engine in 2010, AUTOSPORT has learned.
Although team chiefs Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor said at the launch of their outfit in February that they would approach every manufacturer on the grid, it has now been revealed that a deal with Cosworth may actually suit it better than alignment with a car maker.
"The engine decision is part of the whole rebirth that F1 is going through right now," sporting director Windsor told AUTOSPORT.
"The Cosworth engine is certainly an attractive proposition. It is homologated, those guys were doing a great job with Red Bull Racing when Red Bull suddenly switched to Renault.
"A lot of people who were at Cosworth have left, but equally there are a lot of good people still there too. That is a really interesting thing for us. Apart from anything else, Cosworth is now owned by an American, Kevin Kalkhoven, and that is a nice little link for us as well.
"The idea of working with a small specialist company is kind of in-tune with the way we are operating as a race team as well."
When asked if Cosworth was Team USF1's preferred option, Windsor said: "I wouldn't say preferred, but it is definitely an option we are looking at very, very seriously."
Windsor also said that the team's official new name should be formalised in the next few weeks, with it needing to add the 'Team' moniker because of trademark implications in using the term ‘F1'.
"The USF1 name was basically a place mark name that Ken [Anderson] came up with. It is a great name! It was a working title for a work in progress that we began four years ago.
"Like everybody, we know that 'F1' is a protected name, and we always wanted to do the correct thing. But until we were an existing operation there was no point in doing that because it was just a working title. As soon as we had a position publicly, and we were going to become a team, then we needed to sit down and see what the situation was.
"Ken had registered several domain names for that situation, so we immediately kept everything on ice with another domain name to keep it ticking over. The new name, which is not too far away from the original name, is due to be announced soon.
"When the entry is formalised, when the 2010 championship is announced by the FIA, that is when we will come on line with a team name and a few other really good announcements as well."
Although team chiefs Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor said at the launch of their outfit in February that they would approach every manufacturer on the grid, it has now been revealed that a deal with Cosworth may actually suit it better than alignment with a car maker.
"The engine decision is part of the whole rebirth that F1 is going through right now," sporting director Windsor told AUTOSPORT.
"The Cosworth engine is certainly an attractive proposition. It is homologated, those guys were doing a great job with Red Bull Racing when Red Bull suddenly switched to Renault.
"A lot of people who were at Cosworth have left, but equally there are a lot of good people still there too. That is a really interesting thing for us. Apart from anything else, Cosworth is now owned by an American, Kevin Kalkhoven, and that is a nice little link for us as well.
"The idea of working with a small specialist company is kind of in-tune with the way we are operating as a race team as well."
When asked if Cosworth was Team USF1's preferred option, Windsor said: "I wouldn't say preferred, but it is definitely an option we are looking at very, very seriously."
Windsor also said that the team's official new name should be formalised in the next few weeks, with it needing to add the 'Team' moniker because of trademark implications in using the term ‘F1'.
"The USF1 name was basically a place mark name that Ken [Anderson] came up with. It is a great name! It was a working title for a work in progress that we began four years ago.
"Like everybody, we know that 'F1' is a protected name, and we always wanted to do the correct thing. But until we were an existing operation there was no point in doing that because it was just a working title. As soon as we had a position publicly, and we were going to become a team, then we needed to sit down and see what the situation was.
"Ken had registered several domain names for that situation, so we immediately kept everything on ice with another domain name to keep it ticking over. The new name, which is not too far away from the original name, is due to be announced soon.
"When the entry is formalised, when the 2010 championship is announced by the FIA, that is when we will come on line with a team name and a few other really good announcements as well."
Friday, 10 April 2009
F1 Ferrari team need to improve
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has told the struggling team to cut out the comedy routine following its worst start to a season for 17 years.
Montezemolo attended a crunch two-and-a-half hour meeting at the Italian squad’s Maranello base on Tuesday as the post-mortem began into its failure to score points in Australia and Malaysia.
After reliability failures struck both its cars in the Melbourne season-opener, Ferrari’s problems in taking the fight to the early-season pacesetters were exacerbated at Sepang last weekend by two embarrassing tactical gaffes.
Firstly Felipe Massa missed the Q1 cut in qualifying after the team kept him in the garage on the wrong assumption he had set a time which would be fast enough to progress to the second stage.
Then Kimi Raikkonen’s race was wrecked after his car was fitted with full wet tyres while the track was bone-dry. And now Montezemolo, who brandished a monk’s hood at the Maranello meeting, has warned the team not to become a laughing stock – although he did express his confidence in the reigning world champion squad’s abilities to turn the situation around.
"I met some very angry people and that’s an understatement,” he said on Ferrari’s official website following the meeting.“They were angry with themselves, but very determined to react.
"I brought a monk’s hood with me to make everyone understand that we have to tackle this season with humility and I made the point that I don't want to see us on "Candid Camera" after every race.
“Joking apart, I know that this group has a very strong sense of pride and that will help us to get out of this situation.”
Ferrari, along with other protesting teams, feels its chances of fighting for wins are currently being diminished by the fact that three of the front-running teams are using rear diffusers it claims are illegal and which offer clear downforce advantages.And while an FIA appeal hearing is set to clarify the situation once and for all next Tuesday, Montezemolo says Ferrari will in any case bring forward planned developments for the F60 in order to catch up.
“It was an intense but constructive meeting,” he said.
“We know that we have to react to close the performance gap, even if part of it is down to an interpretation of the technical rules that many teams consider to be incorrect.
“That's why we'll work very hard over the next few days to bring forward as much as possible the aerodynamic development of the F60
“I have faith in the team, which – let's not forget – has won three of the last four world championship titles.”
He insisted that the team was pulling in the same direction to recover from its poor start.
“Our discussions are held in the locker room, just like we did it with Todt and Brawn during difficult moments,” added Montezemolo.“The team remains united and I have every confidence in it."
Montezemolo attended a crunch two-and-a-half hour meeting at the Italian squad’s Maranello base on Tuesday as the post-mortem began into its failure to score points in Australia and Malaysia.
After reliability failures struck both its cars in the Melbourne season-opener, Ferrari’s problems in taking the fight to the early-season pacesetters were exacerbated at Sepang last weekend by two embarrassing tactical gaffes.
Firstly Felipe Massa missed the Q1 cut in qualifying after the team kept him in the garage on the wrong assumption he had set a time which would be fast enough to progress to the second stage.
Then Kimi Raikkonen’s race was wrecked after his car was fitted with full wet tyres while the track was bone-dry. And now Montezemolo, who brandished a monk’s hood at the Maranello meeting, has warned the team not to become a laughing stock – although he did express his confidence in the reigning world champion squad’s abilities to turn the situation around.
"I met some very angry people and that’s an understatement,” he said on Ferrari’s official website following the meeting.“They were angry with themselves, but very determined to react.
"I brought a monk’s hood with me to make everyone understand that we have to tackle this season with humility and I made the point that I don't want to see us on "Candid Camera" after every race.
“Joking apart, I know that this group has a very strong sense of pride and that will help us to get out of this situation.”
Ferrari, along with other protesting teams, feels its chances of fighting for wins are currently being diminished by the fact that three of the front-running teams are using rear diffusers it claims are illegal and which offer clear downforce advantages.And while an FIA appeal hearing is set to clarify the situation once and for all next Tuesday, Montezemolo says Ferrari will in any case bring forward planned developments for the F60 in order to catch up.
“It was an intense but constructive meeting,” he said.
“We know that we have to react to close the performance gap, even if part of it is down to an interpretation of the technical rules that many teams consider to be incorrect.
“That's why we'll work very hard over the next few days to bring forward as much as possible the aerodynamic development of the F60
“I have faith in the team, which – let's not forget – has won three of the last four world championship titles.”
He insisted that the team was pulling in the same direction to recover from its poor start.
“Our discussions are held in the locker room, just like we did it with Todt and Brawn during difficult moments,” added Montezemolo.“The team remains united and I have every confidence in it."
F1 McLaren not speaking at appeal
McLaren will not attend next week's International Court of Appeal hearing in an active role, the British squad has clarified.
The FIA confirmed on Thursday that eight teams, including McLaren, will attend the hearing that will decide on the legality of the rear diffusers of the Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams teams.
BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault have been the only four teams to officially lodge protests over the design of the diffusers.
McLaren has made it clear, however, that while it still believes the diffusers are not legal, the team is not planning to speak at the hearing.
"When questioned about this by media in the past, McLaren personnel have stated that we believe that the diffusers used on the Brawn, Toyota and Williams cars are outside the scope and intent of the technical regulations," a McLaren spokesman said.
"We will therefore be attending Tuesday's hearing, but will not be making any oral presentations.
"McLaren's role is therefore not an active one, whereas it is understood that BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault will all be making oral presentations to the ICA at the hearing. The ICA has acknowledged that McLaren will not be making any oral presentations at the hearing."
The FIA confirmed on Thursday that eight teams, including McLaren, will attend the hearing that will decide on the legality of the rear diffusers of the Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams teams.
BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault have been the only four teams to officially lodge protests over the design of the diffusers.
McLaren has made it clear, however, that while it still believes the diffusers are not legal, the team is not planning to speak at the hearing.
"When questioned about this by media in the past, McLaren personnel have stated that we believe that the diffusers used on the Brawn, Toyota and Williams cars are outside the scope and intent of the technical regulations," a McLaren spokesman said.
"We will therefore be attending Tuesday's hearing, but will not be making any oral presentations.
"McLaren's role is therefore not an active one, whereas it is understood that BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault will all be making oral presentations to the ICA at the hearing. The ICA has acknowledged that McLaren will not be making any oral presentations at the hearing."
Thursday, 9 April 2009
F1 China preview quotes: Bridgestone
Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, said:
What are the challenges of Shanghai?
"Shanghai International Circuit is severe on tyres. There are very high lateral forces and we expect to see graining on the front left tyres, especially caused by the increasing radius turn two and the banked turn thirteen. We could also see graining on the rear tyres here too. The circuit layout means that a medium downforce set-up will be used, as there are two long straights, but a large percentage of the track is also very twisty and technical. For the teams and drivers, finding the correct set-up to make the best use of their tyres will be a big challenge."
We will see the super soft compound in use again, how difficult will tyre management be?
"In Australia there was a particular challenge of graining on the super soft tyre, however this graining varied across the teams between the front and the rear, which means that the correct compromise set-up for these new cars is still being found. For this reason we would expect less graining in China as the teams now have better understanding of their cars than at the first race. Also, Shanghai is a permanent race track so the track surface should be better."
What are the challenges of Shanghai?
"Shanghai International Circuit is severe on tyres. There are very high lateral forces and we expect to see graining on the front left tyres, especially caused by the increasing radius turn two and the banked turn thirteen. We could also see graining on the rear tyres here too. The circuit layout means that a medium downforce set-up will be used, as there are two long straights, but a large percentage of the track is also very twisty and technical. For the teams and drivers, finding the correct set-up to make the best use of their tyres will be a big challenge."
We will see the super soft compound in use again, how difficult will tyre management be?
"In Australia there was a particular challenge of graining on the super soft tyre, however this graining varied across the teams between the front and the rear, which means that the correct compromise set-up for these new cars is still being found. For this reason we would expect less graining in China as the teams now have better understanding of their cars than at the first race. Also, Shanghai is a permanent race track so the track surface should be better."
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Brawn predicts formbook shake-up 2009 grand prix
Ross Brawn believes it is only a matter of time before struggling champions Ferrari and McLaren get to grips with the 2009 regulations and catch up with the current pace-setters.
Brawn’s team has sensationally dominated the opening two grands prix, despite being on the brink of extinction until March following Honda’s withdrawal from F1 at the end of last year.
Meanwhile perennial title rivals Ferrari and McLaren have barely troubled the scorers, with a single point between them courtesy of Lewis Hamilton’s seventh place in the rain-shortened Malaysian GP last Sunday.
But rather than heralding a ‘new world order’ in F1, Brawn reckons the shake-up in the pecking order is simply a logical consequence of teams’ differing priorities last year.
“I think it's a reflection on what's gone on over the last year or two with such a big change in regulations,” he said at Sepang.
“McLaren and Ferrari had a championship to fight over and I can understand that it was very difficult for them to say 'we'll stop pushing this year and put all our effort into next year'.
“For us it was a very easy decision. It wasn't a clever decision, it was a very easy one.
“We didn't have a good car so why waste time on it?”
While his team has clearly stolen a march on the field, Brawn feels the intrinsic quality of Ferrari and McLaren means they will rapidly make up ground in the development race.
“They're both very strong and fantastic engineering companies, so I'm sure they will sort it out, but I think they're just paying the price for winning the championship last year,” he said.
“Because normally if you're fighting for a championship you develop a car and that same car goes forward into next year so you don't lose anything.
“Everything they did last year for the championship last year was in the bin after the last race. It was gone.
“We had slick tyres, new aerodynamics, so virtually everything they ended last year with they could throw away.”
Brawn’s team has sensationally dominated the opening two grands prix, despite being on the brink of extinction until March following Honda’s withdrawal from F1 at the end of last year.
Meanwhile perennial title rivals Ferrari and McLaren have barely troubled the scorers, with a single point between them courtesy of Lewis Hamilton’s seventh place in the rain-shortened Malaysian GP last Sunday.
But rather than heralding a ‘new world order’ in F1, Brawn reckons the shake-up in the pecking order is simply a logical consequence of teams’ differing priorities last year.
“I think it's a reflection on what's gone on over the last year or two with such a big change in regulations,” he said at Sepang.
“McLaren and Ferrari had a championship to fight over and I can understand that it was very difficult for them to say 'we'll stop pushing this year and put all our effort into next year'.
“For us it was a very easy decision. It wasn't a clever decision, it was a very easy one.
“We didn't have a good car so why waste time on it?”
While his team has clearly stolen a march on the field, Brawn feels the intrinsic quality of Ferrari and McLaren means they will rapidly make up ground in the development race.
“They're both very strong and fantastic engineering companies, so I'm sure they will sort it out, but I think they're just paying the price for winning the championship last year,” he said.
“Because normally if you're fighting for a championship you develop a car and that same car goes forward into next year so you don't lose anything.
“Everything they did last year for the championship last year was in the bin after the last race. It was gone.
“We had slick tyres, new aerodynamics, so virtually everything they ended last year with they could throw away.”
BMW Sauber want urgent action on grand prix diffusers
BMW Sauber boss Mario Theissen has fired a fresh salvo in the diffuser controversy – saying the FIA must take “urgent action” in clarifying their legality to ensure the sport is not devalued by “meaningless” results.
The German also claims Formula 1's cost-cutting drive has been “torpedoed” by the fact that teams not running ‘double-decker’ designs are being forced to develop them, while the taller diffusers have also pushed cornering speeds back up.
Early season-pacesetters Brawn, Toyota and Williams have raised the ire of their rivals after all taking a different interpretation of the 2009 regulations regarding the diffuser at the rear of their cars.
And with the alternative designs appearing to offer a clear performance advantage, the season’s first two races have seen protests lodged against the trio’s cars, first by Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault in Australia and then by BMW last weekend in Malaysia.
Although race stewards declared on each occasion that the cars were legal, the four protesting teams will now take their grievances to the FIA’s International Court of Appeal on April 14 – where another green light from the governing body would force the rest of the grid to adopt them.
Theissen says the fact that teams have been working to different interpretations of the rule book has been damaging for the sport and has called on the FIA to make a definitive judgement on the situation next week.
“Once again, the dominance of the teams using the two-level diffuser was there for all to see in Malaysia,” he said on BMW Sauber’s official website.
“As early as qualifying it was difficult to break this trio’s stranglehold.
“The FIA must take urgent action to clarify the situation, to rule out different interpretations of the regulations.
“This kind of thing is not good for the sport.
“Sport is only interesting if everyone plays to the same rules.
“The diffuser issue is the equivalent of a 100m race in which some runners start 10m in front of the rest of the field.
“The result would be meaningless.”
If the ICA does reject the four teams' appeals next Tuesday then the rest of the grid will face a race against time to redesign their cars to incorporate the two-step diffusers.
Theissen says the continuing uncertainty over their legality has meant that BMW has had to get work on its own version underway.
But he says teams that have not been running the controversial designs will struggle to catch up given the head start the "diffuser gang" have had in optimising their performance.
“We have, of course, been forced to start developing a similar solution,” said Theissen.
“The teams without the so-called double diffuser must retro-fit their cars in order to be competitive, and this cannot be done in one fell swoop.
“The trio already racing with this solution will also continue to develop.
“We must assume that there is still potential for plenty of improvements in this sensitive area.”
Theissen added that the unexpected development push has only served to increase budgets again, while at the same time negating one of the intended effects of the sport’s technical overhaul.
“It goes without saying that this torpedoes the cost reductions we were striving towards,” he said.
“Another aspect is safety.
“The aim of the new aerodynamic regulations was to reduce cornering speeds.
“The double diffuser means these speeds are even higher than they were last year.”
After having its original protest against the controversial diffusers in Melbourne thrown out on a technicality, BMW officially lodged its displeasure at the designs by protesting against the three teams last weekend.
Theissen confirmed that the protest was designed to ensure that the results from both the Sepang race and the season-opener will be taken into account at next Tuesday’s appeal hearing.
“It is purely a formal matter,” he said.
“It is intended to ensure that the result in Malaysia is also taken into consideration in the judge’s decision in the appeal proceedings on 14th April."
The German also claims Formula 1's cost-cutting drive has been “torpedoed” by the fact that teams not running ‘double-decker’ designs are being forced to develop them, while the taller diffusers have also pushed cornering speeds back up.
Early season-pacesetters Brawn, Toyota and Williams have raised the ire of their rivals after all taking a different interpretation of the 2009 regulations regarding the diffuser at the rear of their cars.
And with the alternative designs appearing to offer a clear performance advantage, the season’s first two races have seen protests lodged against the trio’s cars, first by Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault in Australia and then by BMW last weekend in Malaysia.
Although race stewards declared on each occasion that the cars were legal, the four protesting teams will now take their grievances to the FIA’s International Court of Appeal on April 14 – where another green light from the governing body would force the rest of the grid to adopt them.
Theissen says the fact that teams have been working to different interpretations of the rule book has been damaging for the sport and has called on the FIA to make a definitive judgement on the situation next week.
“Once again, the dominance of the teams using the two-level diffuser was there for all to see in Malaysia,” he said on BMW Sauber’s official website.
“As early as qualifying it was difficult to break this trio’s stranglehold.
“The FIA must take urgent action to clarify the situation, to rule out different interpretations of the regulations.
“This kind of thing is not good for the sport.
“Sport is only interesting if everyone plays to the same rules.
“The diffuser issue is the equivalent of a 100m race in which some runners start 10m in front of the rest of the field.
“The result would be meaningless.”
If the ICA does reject the four teams' appeals next Tuesday then the rest of the grid will face a race against time to redesign their cars to incorporate the two-step diffusers.
Theissen says the continuing uncertainty over their legality has meant that BMW has had to get work on its own version underway.
But he says teams that have not been running the controversial designs will struggle to catch up given the head start the "diffuser gang" have had in optimising their performance.
“We have, of course, been forced to start developing a similar solution,” said Theissen.
“The teams without the so-called double diffuser must retro-fit their cars in order to be competitive, and this cannot be done in one fell swoop.
“The trio already racing with this solution will also continue to develop.
“We must assume that there is still potential for plenty of improvements in this sensitive area.”
Theissen added that the unexpected development push has only served to increase budgets again, while at the same time negating one of the intended effects of the sport’s technical overhaul.
“It goes without saying that this torpedoes the cost reductions we were striving towards,” he said.
“Another aspect is safety.
“The aim of the new aerodynamic regulations was to reduce cornering speeds.
“The double diffuser means these speeds are even higher than they were last year.”
After having its original protest against the controversial diffusers in Melbourne thrown out on a technicality, BMW officially lodged its displeasure at the designs by protesting against the three teams last weekend.
Theissen confirmed that the protest was designed to ensure that the results from both the Sepang race and the season-opener will be taken into account at next Tuesday’s appeal hearing.
“It is purely a formal matter,” he said.
“It is intended to ensure that the result in Malaysia is also taken into consideration in the judge’s decision in the appeal proceedings on 14th April."
TWG to clear up Williams complaint
Williams expects the complaint that led to its protest against Ferrari and Red Bull Racing at the Australian Grand Prix to get cleared up by technical chiefs later this week.
The Grove-based outfit originally lodged a complaint against the designs of the Red Bull Racing and Ferrari cars - claiming that the teams were illegally using an unregulated area in front of the sidepods for aerodynamic advantage.
The matter was discussed at length by the team and the race stewards in Melbourne but the protest withdrawn after it was found out that McLaren, Scuderia Toro Rosso and Williams' engine suppliers Toyota also featured similar design concepts.
Williams co-owner Patrick Head now says that the matter should get sorted out in a meeting of F1's Technical Working Group, which is made up of technical directors, later this week.
"As I understand it, it's one of the items on the agenda to be discussed at the next Technical Working Group, which is on Thursday," he explained.
"I believe there were ten cars on the grid with the particular design detail that we said didn't comply with the regulations, and it's not something we thought was a major performance differentiator. So I think it will be tidied up behind closed doors and clarified on Thursday."
Head denied any suggestions that Williams' decision to protest only Ferrari and Red Bull Racing over the matter was a tit-for-tat response to those two teams protesting its diffuser.
"No, [it is] none of that," he said. "Those were the teams we observed it on, and we were quite surprised to find the stewards said there were ten cars."
The Grove-based outfit originally lodged a complaint against the designs of the Red Bull Racing and Ferrari cars - claiming that the teams were illegally using an unregulated area in front of the sidepods for aerodynamic advantage.
The matter was discussed at length by the team and the race stewards in Melbourne but the protest withdrawn after it was found out that McLaren, Scuderia Toro Rosso and Williams' engine suppliers Toyota also featured similar design concepts.
Williams co-owner Patrick Head now says that the matter should get sorted out in a meeting of F1's Technical Working Group, which is made up of technical directors, later this week.
"As I understand it, it's one of the items on the agenda to be discussed at the next Technical Working Group, which is on Thursday," he explained.
"I believe there were ten cars on the grid with the particular design detail that we said didn't comply with the regulations, and it's not something we thought was a major performance differentiator. So I think it will be tidied up behind closed doors and clarified on Thursday."
Head denied any suggestions that Williams' decision to protest only Ferrari and Red Bull Racing over the matter was a tit-for-tat response to those two teams protesting its diffuser.
"No, [it is] none of that," he said. "Those were the teams we observed it on, and we were quite surprised to find the stewards said there were ten cars."
McLaren to appear at FIA hearing
McLaren will be hauled before the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council on April 29 to answer charges that it has brought Formula 1 into disrepute after being found to have lied to the Australian Grand Prix stewards.
The FIA announced on Tuesday that it had called an extraordinary general meeting of the WMSC after Lewis Hamilton and the team’s then sporting director Dave Ryan were found to have given “deliberately misleading” evidence to stewards following the season-opening race.
Hamilton was disqualified from third place in Melbourne after the stewards reconvened at Sepang last Thursday in the wake of new evidence coming to light, with radio traffic disproving Ryan and Hamilton’s earlier statements that there had been no instruction to allow Jarno Trulli's Toyota past during the late-race safety car period.
Ryan was suspended by McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh last Friday – and has since left the team altogether – while Hamilton later held a press conference to apologise for his role in the deception.
However the FIA did not rule out taking further action against the team and said that it would consider a further investigation into the affair once it had received a report from its stewards.
The governing body has now confirmed that the matter will be brought before the WMSC in Paris on the Wednesday after the Bahrain GP and cites five counts on which it says McLaren has breached Article 151c of the International Sporting code.
The FIA announced the five charges as follows:
- On 29 March, 2009, [the team] told the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix that no instructions were given to Hamilton in car no. 1 to allow Trulli in car no. 9 to pass when both cars were behind the safety car, knowing this statement to be untrue;
- procured its driver Hamilton, the current world champion, to support and confirm this untrue statement to the stewards;- although knowing that as a direct result of its untrue statement to the stewards, another driver and a rival team had been unfairly penalised, made no attempt to rectify the situation either by contacting the FIA or otherwise;- on 2 April, 2009, at a second hearing before the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix (meeting in Malaysia), made no attempt to correct the untrue statement of 29 March but, on the contrary, continued to maintain that the statement was true, despite being allowed to listen to a recording of the team instructing Hamilton to let Trulli past and despite being given more than one opportunity to correct its false statement;- on 2 April, 2009, at the second stewards' hearing, procured its driver Hamilton to continue to assert the truth of the false statement given to the stewards on 29 March, while knowing that what he was saying to the stewards was not true.
A breach of Article 151c is defined as "any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally".
It will be the second time in less than two years that McLaren has appeared before the World Council charged with contravening the disrepute clause, having been found guilty of possessing confidential Ferrari information in the 'spygate' scandal in 2007.
The FIA announced on Tuesday that it had called an extraordinary general meeting of the WMSC after Lewis Hamilton and the team’s then sporting director Dave Ryan were found to have given “deliberately misleading” evidence to stewards following the season-opening race.
Hamilton was disqualified from third place in Melbourne after the stewards reconvened at Sepang last Thursday in the wake of new evidence coming to light, with radio traffic disproving Ryan and Hamilton’s earlier statements that there had been no instruction to allow Jarno Trulli's Toyota past during the late-race safety car period.
Ryan was suspended by McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh last Friday – and has since left the team altogether – while Hamilton later held a press conference to apologise for his role in the deception.
However the FIA did not rule out taking further action against the team and said that it would consider a further investigation into the affair once it had received a report from its stewards.
The governing body has now confirmed that the matter will be brought before the WMSC in Paris on the Wednesday after the Bahrain GP and cites five counts on which it says McLaren has breached Article 151c of the International Sporting code.
The FIA announced the five charges as follows:
- On 29 March, 2009, [the team] told the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix that no instructions were given to Hamilton in car no. 1 to allow Trulli in car no. 9 to pass when both cars were behind the safety car, knowing this statement to be untrue;
- procured its driver Hamilton, the current world champion, to support and confirm this untrue statement to the stewards;- although knowing that as a direct result of its untrue statement to the stewards, another driver and a rival team had been unfairly penalised, made no attempt to rectify the situation either by contacting the FIA or otherwise;- on 2 April, 2009, at a second hearing before the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix (meeting in Malaysia), made no attempt to correct the untrue statement of 29 March but, on the contrary, continued to maintain that the statement was true, despite being allowed to listen to a recording of the team instructing Hamilton to let Trulli past and despite being given more than one opportunity to correct its false statement;- on 2 April, 2009, at the second stewards' hearing, procured its driver Hamilton to continue to assert the truth of the false statement given to the stewards on 29 March, while knowing that what he was saying to the stewards was not true.
A breach of Article 151c is defined as "any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally".
It will be the second time in less than two years that McLaren has appeared before the World Council charged with contravening the disrepute clause, having been found guilty of possessing confidential Ferrari information in the 'spygate' scandal in 2007.
F1 McLaren parts company with Ryan
McLaren said on Tuesday it has parted company with sporting director Dave Ryan, while vowing to work with the FIA ahead of the World Motor Sport Council hearing later this month.
The Woking-based team has been summoned to appear before the WMSC on April 29 to answer charges that it brought the sport into disrepute after lying to race stewards at the Australian Grand Prix - and then at a second hearing in Malaysia last week.
Stating that it wanted to work with the FIA for the best interests of F1, McLaren also confirmed that Ryan, who was suspended for his involvement in the matter last Friday, had now parted company with the team.
"McLaren acknowledges receipt of an invitation to appear at an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris on April 29, received this afternoon," said McLaren in a statement issued on Tuesday.
"We undertake to co-operate fully with all WMSC processes, and welcome the opportunity to work with the FIA in the best interests of Formula 1.
"This afternoon McLaren and its former sporting director, Dave Ryan, have formally parted company. As a result, he is no longer an employee of any of the constituent companies of the McLaren Group."
The Woking-based team has been summoned to appear before the WMSC on April 29 to answer charges that it brought the sport into disrepute after lying to race stewards at the Australian Grand Prix - and then at a second hearing in Malaysia last week.
Stating that it wanted to work with the FIA for the best interests of F1, McLaren also confirmed that Ryan, who was suspended for his involvement in the matter last Friday, had now parted company with the team.
"McLaren acknowledges receipt of an invitation to appear at an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris on April 29, received this afternoon," said McLaren in a statement issued on Tuesday.
"We undertake to co-operate fully with all WMSC processes, and welcome the opportunity to work with the FIA in the best interests of Formula 1.
"This afternoon McLaren and its former sporting director, Dave Ryan, have formally parted company. As a result, he is no longer an employee of any of the constituent companies of the McLaren Group."
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
f1 biofuel future
FIA president Max Mosley is cautious about Formula 1 having a biofuel future - despite Richard Branson's move to try and make the sport greener.
Branson's Virgin Group has entered F1 as a sponsor of the Brawn GP team, and he made clear at the Australian Grand Prix that he wanted to create a 'clean fuel' revolution in the sport.
"I am delighted to say that they have come up with such a [clean] fuel and over the next few months we will be trying to talk to F1, talk to the various car companies and see if we can have this fuel introduced as the fuel that F1 uses, so this sport goes from a slightly polluting sport to a clean sport," he said.
But Mosley is more sceptical about plans to make clean fuel a standard in F1, because of concerns that shifting crop production away from food and onto biofuels can be detrimental.
"We're obviously just starting with serious efforts on the environment in Formula1," said Mosley. "The danger is people get carried away with new ideas for environmentally friendly motorsport, the most obvious one being biofuel.
"We now all understand the first generation biofuels are actually a negative in that what you're effectively doing is taking fuel away from people. The source of the first generation biofuels is the same as food and, when you've got one billion people in the world who don't have enough to eat, it's really not a good thing to do.
"Second generation biofuels perhaps, but the approach we have taken in Formula 1, and we intend to take in the future in the WRC, is to try to encourage efficient use of energy rather than to dictate which source of energy it should be."
Mosley believes the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) in F1 this year, and more use of similar technology in the future, will have a greater benefit on the environment that just biofuels.
"If you can get more work from a given quantity of energy or fuel, then that's precisely the direction the car industry is going and needs to go," he said.
"The KERS system is an example of that. Other examples are the recovery of energy from exhausts and even from the cooling system, both of which will come into Formula 1 in 2013.
"The KERS system is an obvious thing that needs doing because anybody can see that to waste the energy you have in a car when it is moving by simply turning it into heat and putting it into the atmosphere is completely wasteful.
"If the technology exists to recover the energy again and use it again then obviously we should use that. It doesn't matter if the car is an electric car, a hydrogen car, runs on biofuel or second generation biofuel, it doesn't make any difference. At the moment almost every car on the road and certainly every car on the rally whenever they put the brake on, that energy is lost.
"To reuse the energy again and again is clearly a massive step forward. We see this with some road cars such as the Toyota Prius is the obvious example. But those cars don't absorb all the energy when you put the brake on, certainly not if you brake at all hard."
He added: "Formula 1 is developing systems that are capable of absorbing all the energy, but at the same time are very small and very light like they have to be. The problem with the road cars is the systems tend to be very big and very heavy, so that's going in the right direction.
"That can continue to the car industry and the road traffic industry as a whole, and that's something we'd like to see coming in in rallies."
Branson's Virgin Group has entered F1 as a sponsor of the Brawn GP team, and he made clear at the Australian Grand Prix that he wanted to create a 'clean fuel' revolution in the sport.
"I am delighted to say that they have come up with such a [clean] fuel and over the next few months we will be trying to talk to F1, talk to the various car companies and see if we can have this fuel introduced as the fuel that F1 uses, so this sport goes from a slightly polluting sport to a clean sport," he said.
But Mosley is more sceptical about plans to make clean fuel a standard in F1, because of concerns that shifting crop production away from food and onto biofuels can be detrimental.
"We're obviously just starting with serious efforts on the environment in Formula1," said Mosley. "The danger is people get carried away with new ideas for environmentally friendly motorsport, the most obvious one being biofuel.
"We now all understand the first generation biofuels are actually a negative in that what you're effectively doing is taking fuel away from people. The source of the first generation biofuels is the same as food and, when you've got one billion people in the world who don't have enough to eat, it's really not a good thing to do.
"Second generation biofuels perhaps, but the approach we have taken in Formula 1, and we intend to take in the future in the WRC, is to try to encourage efficient use of energy rather than to dictate which source of energy it should be."
Mosley believes the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) in F1 this year, and more use of similar technology in the future, will have a greater benefit on the environment that just biofuels.
"If you can get more work from a given quantity of energy or fuel, then that's precisely the direction the car industry is going and needs to go," he said.
"The KERS system is an example of that. Other examples are the recovery of energy from exhausts and even from the cooling system, both of which will come into Formula 1 in 2013.
"The KERS system is an obvious thing that needs doing because anybody can see that to waste the energy you have in a car when it is moving by simply turning it into heat and putting it into the atmosphere is completely wasteful.
"If the technology exists to recover the energy again and use it again then obviously we should use that. It doesn't matter if the car is an electric car, a hydrogen car, runs on biofuel or second generation biofuel, it doesn't make any difference. At the moment almost every car on the road and certainly every car on the rally whenever they put the brake on, that energy is lost.
"To reuse the energy again and again is clearly a massive step forward. We see this with some road cars such as the Toyota Prius is the obvious example. But those cars don't absorb all the energy when you put the brake on, certainly not if you brake at all hard."
He added: "Formula 1 is developing systems that are capable of absorbing all the energy, but at the same time are very small and very light like they have to be. The problem with the road cars is the systems tend to be very big and very heavy, so that's going in the right direction.
"That can continue to the car industry and the road traffic industry as a whole, and that's something we'd like to see coming in in rallies."
Williams f1 Malaysian GP Review
Synopsis
After showing strong form at the opening round of the season, the second leg of the Australia-Malaysia back-to-back reinforced the team’s competitive pace and reliability, this time on a more traditional, high speed circuit. The weekend opened with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima dominating Friday’s first practice session in their FW31s, followed by P4 for Nico and P8 for team-mate Kazuki in session two. In a closely fought qualifying battle, Nico secured P6 from the top ten shoot-out, while Kazuki just missed out on a slot in Q3 by a tenth of a second. Both drivers were promoted to P4 and P11 respectively following Vettel and Barrichello’s grid penalties.
A flawless start to the Grand Prix saw Nico take the lead going into the first corner, which he retained up until his first pitstop on lap 15. Wheel-spin off the line cost Kazuki position to the surrounding KERS-equipped cars at the start, forcing him to spend the opening stage of the race behind a slower Piquet in the Renault. A later start time of 5pm this year saw Malaysia’s notorious early evening storms arrive mid-way through proceedings, as anticipated. With lightening striking the grandstands and lashing rain quickly turning the track into a swimming pool, the safety car was soon deployed before Race Control red flagged the Grand Prix seconds later on lap 32. Little improvement in the conditions kept the cars on the start/finish straight for over 45 minutes before the stewards ruled out a re-start. With the race abandoned, the drivers were classified in accordance with their positions on lap 31; Nico in 8th and Kazuki in 12th.
Q&A WITH SAM MICHAEL, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Practice
Q What updates did you introduce on FW31, and did they perform as you'd hoped?
We bought a new suspension component and a front wing endplate. Both performed as we expected.
Q What set-up changes did you make to both cars on Friday?
We tested normal set-up items, so aero balance and roll stiffness, and we also concentrated on the two Bridgestone tyres.
Q Were you surprised that Nico was quickest in two of the three practice sessions?
Not especially.
Qualifying
Q How good was Nico's fastest lap on heavier fuel in Q3?
We appear to be more competitive with a heavier fuel load than when we are running with less fuel, like in Q2, so Nico's lap was good.
Q How much did the post-qualifying grid penalties of Vettel and Barrichello affect your fuel strategy with Nico?
We went a couple of laps shorter than normal to ensure a place on the second row.
Q Where was Kazuki losing out to Nico?
For most of practice Kazuki was very close to Nico but, when the grip ramps up like it did in qualifying, Nico seemed able to extract just a little bit more out of the car.
Race
Q It was an amazing start by Nico from the dirty side of the grid. How did he do it?
You could probably put it down to some great engine torque from Toyota.
Q How was his tyre wear during the first stint?
Tyre wear wasn’t a problem.
Q Kazuki lost out to various KERS cars at the start; when will we see the system on FW31?
As soon as possible.
Q What was your weather forecast telling you about the chances of rain? Was it accurate?
It was saying full rain was due around lap 20. That obviously wasn't accurate because we had moderate rain for about 15 minutes before the full-on deluge arrived. Going to the intermediates would have worked better for us but considering the radar pictures we had at the time it would have been risky to have made that call.
Q Once the race had been stopped, what information did you receive from race control about a potential re-start?
Just the normal information like grid positions for the re-start.
Q Should the race have been re-started?
No. It was too wet and by then too dark.
Q Do you think next year's Malaysian Grand Prix should start at 5pm?
I think it should start at 4pm.
STATS
Nico Rosberg
Practice 1: 1:36.260 (1st)
Practice 2: 1:36.015 (4th)
Practice 3: 1:35.940 (1st)
Qualifying: 1:35.750 (6th)
Grid: 4th - promoted following grid penalties for Vettel and Barrichello
Race: 8th
Fastest lap: 1:37.598 (4th)
Championship points: 0.5
Total points and championship position: 3.5 = 7th
Kazuki Nakajima
Practice 1: 1:36.305 (2nd)
Practice 2: 1:36.290 (8th)
Practice 3: 1:36.325 (8th)
Qualifying: 1:34.788 (12th)
Grid: 11th - promoted following Vettel's grid penalty
Race: 12th
Fastest lap: 1:39.387 (15th)
Championship points: 0
Total points and championship position: 0 = 15th
Race ResultsDriver Grid Position Pit Stops Best Lap Result
N Rosberg 4th 4 (15,22,27,30) 1:37.598 (4th) 8th
K Nakajima 11th 3 (21,28,30) 1:39.387 (15th) 12th
After showing strong form at the opening round of the season, the second leg of the Australia-Malaysia back-to-back reinforced the team’s competitive pace and reliability, this time on a more traditional, high speed circuit. The weekend opened with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima dominating Friday’s first practice session in their FW31s, followed by P4 for Nico and P8 for team-mate Kazuki in session two. In a closely fought qualifying battle, Nico secured P6 from the top ten shoot-out, while Kazuki just missed out on a slot in Q3 by a tenth of a second. Both drivers were promoted to P4 and P11 respectively following Vettel and Barrichello’s grid penalties.
A flawless start to the Grand Prix saw Nico take the lead going into the first corner, which he retained up until his first pitstop on lap 15. Wheel-spin off the line cost Kazuki position to the surrounding KERS-equipped cars at the start, forcing him to spend the opening stage of the race behind a slower Piquet in the Renault. A later start time of 5pm this year saw Malaysia’s notorious early evening storms arrive mid-way through proceedings, as anticipated. With lightening striking the grandstands and lashing rain quickly turning the track into a swimming pool, the safety car was soon deployed before Race Control red flagged the Grand Prix seconds later on lap 32. Little improvement in the conditions kept the cars on the start/finish straight for over 45 minutes before the stewards ruled out a re-start. With the race abandoned, the drivers were classified in accordance with their positions on lap 31; Nico in 8th and Kazuki in 12th.
Q&A WITH SAM MICHAEL, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Practice
Q What updates did you introduce on FW31, and did they perform as you'd hoped?
We bought a new suspension component and a front wing endplate. Both performed as we expected.
Q What set-up changes did you make to both cars on Friday?
We tested normal set-up items, so aero balance and roll stiffness, and we also concentrated on the two Bridgestone tyres.
Q Were you surprised that Nico was quickest in two of the three practice sessions?
Not especially.
Qualifying
Q How good was Nico's fastest lap on heavier fuel in Q3?
We appear to be more competitive with a heavier fuel load than when we are running with less fuel, like in Q2, so Nico's lap was good.
Q How much did the post-qualifying grid penalties of Vettel and Barrichello affect your fuel strategy with Nico?
We went a couple of laps shorter than normal to ensure a place on the second row.
Q Where was Kazuki losing out to Nico?
For most of practice Kazuki was very close to Nico but, when the grip ramps up like it did in qualifying, Nico seemed able to extract just a little bit more out of the car.
Race
Q It was an amazing start by Nico from the dirty side of the grid. How did he do it?
You could probably put it down to some great engine torque from Toyota.
Q How was his tyre wear during the first stint?
Tyre wear wasn’t a problem.
Q Kazuki lost out to various KERS cars at the start; when will we see the system on FW31?
As soon as possible.
Q What was your weather forecast telling you about the chances of rain? Was it accurate?
It was saying full rain was due around lap 20. That obviously wasn't accurate because we had moderate rain for about 15 minutes before the full-on deluge arrived. Going to the intermediates would have worked better for us but considering the radar pictures we had at the time it would have been risky to have made that call.
Q Once the race had been stopped, what information did you receive from race control about a potential re-start?
Just the normal information like grid positions for the re-start.
Q Should the race have been re-started?
No. It was too wet and by then too dark.
Q Do you think next year's Malaysian Grand Prix should start at 5pm?
I think it should start at 4pm.
STATS
Nico Rosberg
Practice 1: 1:36.260 (1st)
Practice 2: 1:36.015 (4th)
Practice 3: 1:35.940 (1st)
Qualifying: 1:35.750 (6th)
Grid: 4th - promoted following grid penalties for Vettel and Barrichello
Race: 8th
Fastest lap: 1:37.598 (4th)
Championship points: 0.5
Total points and championship position: 3.5 = 7th
Kazuki Nakajima
Practice 1: 1:36.305 (2nd)
Practice 2: 1:36.290 (8th)
Practice 3: 1:36.325 (8th)
Qualifying: 1:34.788 (12th)
Grid: 11th - promoted following Vettel's grid penalty
Race: 12th
Fastest lap: 1:39.387 (15th)
Championship points: 0
Total points and championship position: 0 = 15th
Race ResultsDriver Grid Position Pit Stops Best Lap Result
N Rosberg 4th 4 (15,22,27,30) 1:37.598 (4th) 8th
K Nakajima 11th 3 (21,28,30) 1:39.387 (15th) 12th
Whitmarsh learns lessons from Mclaren debacle
Martin Whitmarsh has vowed to learn from mistakes he made in handling the turmoil that engulfed McLaren at Sepang last week – admitting he misjudged the gravity of the situation and did not foresee it spiralling out of control.
A saga that began with an apparently inconsequential exchange of positions behind the safety car in Melbourne had snowballed into a full-blown crisis by last Thursday, forcing Lewis Hamilton to make an unprecedented public apology the following day for deceiving race officials.
Whitmarsh, who suspended the team's sporting director Dave Ryan on Friday morning, confessed on Sunday that he had been slow to appreciate what was at stake and to inform himself of what had been said at the initial stewards’ meeting in Australia.
He said he regretted not cutting short a holiday in Indonesia, which meant he didn’t arrive at Sepang until Thursday afternoon – by which time Hamilton and Ryan had already been summoned to a second stewards’ meeting and most of the damage had been done.
“One of the criticisms against me is that I was on holiday, that I didn't arrive here in time,” said Whitmarsh.
“And I have got deep regret about that.
“But clearly as I left Australia on Sunday evening I wasn't aware of an issue.
“An issue started to be reported on Wednesday, which I was told about, but frankly I did not believe the scale of it nor the speed of it.
“I didn't know that the Australian stewards would be here and I hadn't imagined – and again this was maybe a big misjudgement on my part – but I hadn't imagined that there was going to be a stewards’ hearing here.”
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Whitmarsh initially denied that Hamilton and Ryan had lied or tried to conceal a key radio instruction so the stewards would be more likely to find in their favour.
But that partial defence soon unravelled when the FIA revealed that Hamilton and Ryan had not merely failed to volunteer evidence but had made false claims when asked specific questions about the radio conversation.
Whitmarsh said he had defended the pair out of misplaced loyalty and without knowing all the facts, having failed to do sufficient “homework”.
“I had a human instinct, which was wrong probably, to defend colleagues, both Davey and Lewis.
“And in doing that and jumping to their defence, I hadn’t done the necessary homework, which I am deeply regretful of.
“Lewis told me on Thursday evening that he felt he had lied.
“Davey still did not, but I reflected on it overnight, and had to come to the view that I had to suspend Davey.
“I told the FIA what had happened and explained it to them on Friday.”
Whitmarsh said he had not asked Ryan to relate what had been said at the original stewards’ meeting because he had expected it to be routine and left the track promptly on Sunday evening.
And he claimed his holiday and late arrival in Malaysia also explained why there was no high-level discussion within the team – in which Ryan and Hamilton’s false testimony would surely have come to light – prior to the second stewards’ meeting.
“By the time I was here, obviously in the aftermath on Thursday evening, I spoke again to Davey and I spoke to Lewis, and there was a degree of denial still going on there,” he said.
“That’s why I had decided to speak to the FIA but after a night of reflecting on it, and why I came to the decision I did on Friday morning.”
The decision to suspend Ryan, which Whitmarsh said he made on his own and not in response to any outside pressure, was regarded by some as a cynical ploy to portray the New Zealander – a McLaren stalwart who had joined in 1974 – as the sole villain and Hamilton as an innocent victim.
But Whitmarsh said he would have been criticised whatever course of action he had taken.
“It was my decision, and it’s one of those issues where on the one hand if you do it you are accused of scapegoating, and if you don't do it you are accused of not taking matters seriously enough.
“So I realised in this situation that there wasn't going to be a right outcome and certainly I was going to be judged badly either way.”
And he argued that while Hamilton rightly accepted his share of the blame, ultimately the team had failed in its “duty of care” towards him and had to bear the brunt of the responsibility.
“Lewis is still a young man, but he is a world champion and he’s got to be accountable and responsible for his actions,” he said.
“He is an important ambassador to this sport, and I think the greatest shame is that we as McLaren haven't led him well enough to uphold the standards that I know he intended to and wanted to.
“We’ve got to lead him and direct him and that duty of care we failed on and that's something that we are deeply apologetic for.”
Asked whether this affair had changed his perception of the role of team principal, Whitmarsh replied: “I think it’s been an accelerated learning curve, let's put it like that.
“I have been in this team for 20 years and I hope over those years I have made some contribution.
“This has been an experience that perhaps I wasn’t as prepared for.
“McLaren, with Lewis Hamilton in it and with this sort of controversy gets a fair bit more attention than most of us are accustomed to. So I’ve got to learn from that.
“I hope that once we’ve understood, learned from this, and can come out of it, then we can return to focusing on being a racing team, which is what I joined in the first place to do.”
He said the biggest lesson he and McLaren needed to learn was how they had allowed a minor dispute over track position to escalate into an epic public relations disaster.
“Anyone who sits back and looks at what this started from… it is quite ridiculous,” he said.
“Although people like the idea of conspiracies or those sorts of things, it was an innocuous and silly incident in which we weren’t guilty of anything that has led to this.”
Up to the shareholders
Whitmarsh’s own position has inevitably come under scrutiny and he refused to rule out standing down from his post.
“It wouldn’t be true if I said I wasn’t [contemplating his future] because at a time like this you think about what you got involved in this sport for, and it wasn’t for this sort of thing,” he said.
“You also think about what’s best for the company and this great team.
“It hasn’t been a great experience for me; this wasn’t what I started out 20 years ago to experience.
“However, the loss of Davey has left a huge hole. He ran this team, let’s be frank.
“There are various people who have been the figureheads of this organisation, but Davey ran this team – he made the operational decisions, he made it happen.
“To contemplate the future without Davey has been challenging in the extreme.”
But he said he had been heartened by the support of colleagues and intended to do his best to normalise the situation in the coming weeks.
“I think I’ve been very fortunate, in that there have been some deeply painful moments for me over the course of this weekend, but there have surprisingly been one or two moments where your faith in this team and in humanity is restored.
“Some very kind things have been said, I’ve had fantastic support from within the team, and I owe it to not just the people here, but there are a thousand people in Brixworth, Woking and Stuttgart who concentrate on this programme, and I’ve got to do what I think is best to stabilise a very difficult situation.
“In the longer term, I can contemplate my own future.”
Whitmarsh said his fate would ultimately be decided by McLaren’s shareholders.
“Of course it’s not self-determining; it’s for the shareholders of this team to take a view,” he said.
“They have to decide what’s the best thing.
“There’s a representative of the largest shareholder sat alongside me [Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug], and I think ultimately it’s for those people to decide what happens in this team, not me.
“I’m not resigning this weekend. We’ve made a commitment to look at how we arrived in this situation, we’ve got to learn from it and do a better job in future.
“I think therefore it’s wrong to rule anything out. I think I’ve got to look at what is the best way forward for this team and how can we be better in future.”
A saga that began with an apparently inconsequential exchange of positions behind the safety car in Melbourne had snowballed into a full-blown crisis by last Thursday, forcing Lewis Hamilton to make an unprecedented public apology the following day for deceiving race officials.
Whitmarsh, who suspended the team's sporting director Dave Ryan on Friday morning, confessed on Sunday that he had been slow to appreciate what was at stake and to inform himself of what had been said at the initial stewards’ meeting in Australia.
He said he regretted not cutting short a holiday in Indonesia, which meant he didn’t arrive at Sepang until Thursday afternoon – by which time Hamilton and Ryan had already been summoned to a second stewards’ meeting and most of the damage had been done.
“One of the criticisms against me is that I was on holiday, that I didn't arrive here in time,” said Whitmarsh.
“And I have got deep regret about that.
“But clearly as I left Australia on Sunday evening I wasn't aware of an issue.
“An issue started to be reported on Wednesday, which I was told about, but frankly I did not believe the scale of it nor the speed of it.
“I didn't know that the Australian stewards would be here and I hadn't imagined – and again this was maybe a big misjudgement on my part – but I hadn't imagined that there was going to be a stewards’ hearing here.”
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Whitmarsh initially denied that Hamilton and Ryan had lied or tried to conceal a key radio instruction so the stewards would be more likely to find in their favour.
But that partial defence soon unravelled when the FIA revealed that Hamilton and Ryan had not merely failed to volunteer evidence but had made false claims when asked specific questions about the radio conversation.
Whitmarsh said he had defended the pair out of misplaced loyalty and without knowing all the facts, having failed to do sufficient “homework”.
“I had a human instinct, which was wrong probably, to defend colleagues, both Davey and Lewis.
“And in doing that and jumping to their defence, I hadn’t done the necessary homework, which I am deeply regretful of.
“Lewis told me on Thursday evening that he felt he had lied.
“Davey still did not, but I reflected on it overnight, and had to come to the view that I had to suspend Davey.
“I told the FIA what had happened and explained it to them on Friday.”
Whitmarsh said he had not asked Ryan to relate what had been said at the original stewards’ meeting because he had expected it to be routine and left the track promptly on Sunday evening.
And he claimed his holiday and late arrival in Malaysia also explained why there was no high-level discussion within the team – in which Ryan and Hamilton’s false testimony would surely have come to light – prior to the second stewards’ meeting.
“By the time I was here, obviously in the aftermath on Thursday evening, I spoke again to Davey and I spoke to Lewis, and there was a degree of denial still going on there,” he said.
“That’s why I had decided to speak to the FIA but after a night of reflecting on it, and why I came to the decision I did on Friday morning.”
The decision to suspend Ryan, which Whitmarsh said he made on his own and not in response to any outside pressure, was regarded by some as a cynical ploy to portray the New Zealander – a McLaren stalwart who had joined in 1974 – as the sole villain and Hamilton as an innocent victim.
But Whitmarsh said he would have been criticised whatever course of action he had taken.
“It was my decision, and it’s one of those issues where on the one hand if you do it you are accused of scapegoating, and if you don't do it you are accused of not taking matters seriously enough.
“So I realised in this situation that there wasn't going to be a right outcome and certainly I was going to be judged badly either way.”
And he argued that while Hamilton rightly accepted his share of the blame, ultimately the team had failed in its “duty of care” towards him and had to bear the brunt of the responsibility.
“Lewis is still a young man, but he is a world champion and he’s got to be accountable and responsible for his actions,” he said.
“He is an important ambassador to this sport, and I think the greatest shame is that we as McLaren haven't led him well enough to uphold the standards that I know he intended to and wanted to.
“We’ve got to lead him and direct him and that duty of care we failed on and that's something that we are deeply apologetic for.”
Asked whether this affair had changed his perception of the role of team principal, Whitmarsh replied: “I think it’s been an accelerated learning curve, let's put it like that.
“I have been in this team for 20 years and I hope over those years I have made some contribution.
“This has been an experience that perhaps I wasn’t as prepared for.
“McLaren, with Lewis Hamilton in it and with this sort of controversy gets a fair bit more attention than most of us are accustomed to. So I’ve got to learn from that.
“I hope that once we’ve understood, learned from this, and can come out of it, then we can return to focusing on being a racing team, which is what I joined in the first place to do.”
He said the biggest lesson he and McLaren needed to learn was how they had allowed a minor dispute over track position to escalate into an epic public relations disaster.
“Anyone who sits back and looks at what this started from… it is quite ridiculous,” he said.
“Although people like the idea of conspiracies or those sorts of things, it was an innocuous and silly incident in which we weren’t guilty of anything that has led to this.”
Up to the shareholders
Whitmarsh’s own position has inevitably come under scrutiny and he refused to rule out standing down from his post.
“It wouldn’t be true if I said I wasn’t [contemplating his future] because at a time like this you think about what you got involved in this sport for, and it wasn’t for this sort of thing,” he said.
“You also think about what’s best for the company and this great team.
“It hasn’t been a great experience for me; this wasn’t what I started out 20 years ago to experience.
“However, the loss of Davey has left a huge hole. He ran this team, let’s be frank.
“There are various people who have been the figureheads of this organisation, but Davey ran this team – he made the operational decisions, he made it happen.
“To contemplate the future without Davey has been challenging in the extreme.”
But he said he had been heartened by the support of colleagues and intended to do his best to normalise the situation in the coming weeks.
“I think I’ve been very fortunate, in that there have been some deeply painful moments for me over the course of this weekend, but there have surprisingly been one or two moments where your faith in this team and in humanity is restored.
“Some very kind things have been said, I’ve had fantastic support from within the team, and I owe it to not just the people here, but there are a thousand people in Brixworth, Woking and Stuttgart who concentrate on this programme, and I’ve got to do what I think is best to stabilise a very difficult situation.
“In the longer term, I can contemplate my own future.”
Whitmarsh said his fate would ultimately be decided by McLaren’s shareholders.
“Of course it’s not self-determining; it’s for the shareholders of this team to take a view,” he said.
“They have to decide what’s the best thing.
“There’s a representative of the largest shareholder sat alongside me [Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug], and I think ultimately it’s for those people to decide what happens in this team, not me.
“I’m not resigning this weekend. We’ve made a commitment to look at how we arrived in this situation, we’ve got to learn from it and do a better job in future.
“I think therefore it’s wrong to rule anything out. I think I’ve got to look at what is the best way forward for this team and how can we be better in future.”
Use of diffusers in f1
Renault boss Flavio Briatore insists his team has not given up hope of getting itself back in the hunt for the world title - despite its shaky start to the season.
Former world champion Fernando Alonso said at the weekend that his team needed to up its game if it was to make the R29 a race winner - having failed to shine in the first two races of the campaign.
And Briatore has issued a rallying call – believing that his team's form has more to do with the diffuser controversy overshadowing the sport rather than his team not producing a good car.
"Like everybody else, excluding three teams, everybody is having a tough time," Briatore told AUTOSPORT. "Malaysia was tough as well, especially with the weather, and our downforce is very poor. And this is very clear.
"But we do not give up, absolutely. We have the hearing [of the FIA's Court of Appeal] on April 14 and we need to see what happens as well.
"This weekend it was so clear what happened. It is not normal. In this moment, Kazuki Nakajima is a fantastic driver, but these people did not make such a big improvement from last year.
"In Malaysia it was very clear what the diffuser has done, and I think [Jenson] Button in qualifying was one second clear. It is very clear there is a lot of downforce and a lot of ground effect."
Briatore's belief that F1's 'diffuser gang' of Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams are in a different league has been backed by BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen.
Nick Heidfeld's second place in Malaysia was the first time a car that did not feature a double diffuser had been on the podium this season.
When asked by AUTOSPORT if he said that that result would increase efforts ahead of the April 14 hearing, Theissen said: "You cannot take the race result for that, but you have to look at qualifying.
"If you take out Sebastian Vettel, who was on a very low fuel load, or if you adjust the fuel load of Sebastian and Robert, they were almost equal and the two best standard diffuser cars. That definitely tells you that it has to be sorted out."
Former world champion Fernando Alonso said at the weekend that his team needed to up its game if it was to make the R29 a race winner - having failed to shine in the first two races of the campaign.
And Briatore has issued a rallying call – believing that his team's form has more to do with the diffuser controversy overshadowing the sport rather than his team not producing a good car.
"Like everybody else, excluding three teams, everybody is having a tough time," Briatore told AUTOSPORT. "Malaysia was tough as well, especially with the weather, and our downforce is very poor. And this is very clear.
"But we do not give up, absolutely. We have the hearing [of the FIA's Court of Appeal] on April 14 and we need to see what happens as well.
"This weekend it was so clear what happened. It is not normal. In this moment, Kazuki Nakajima is a fantastic driver, but these people did not make such a big improvement from last year.
"In Malaysia it was very clear what the diffuser has done, and I think [Jenson] Button in qualifying was one second clear. It is very clear there is a lot of downforce and a lot of ground effect."
Briatore's belief that F1's 'diffuser gang' of Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams are in a different league has been backed by BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen.
Nick Heidfeld's second place in Malaysia was the first time a car that did not feature a double diffuser had been on the podium this season.
When asked by AUTOSPORT if he said that that result would increase efforts ahead of the April 14 hearing, Theissen said: "You cannot take the race result for that, but you have to look at qualifying.
"If you take out Sebastian Vettel, who was on a very low fuel load, or if you adjust the fuel load of Sebastian and Robert, they were almost equal and the two best standard diffuser cars. That definitely tells you that it has to be sorted out."
Monday, 6 April 2009
Formula one: Ferrari and McLaren are paying for success, says Ross Brawn
• Brawn expects rivals to improve over course of the season
• 'We didn't have a very good car so why waste time on it?'
Lewis Hamilton's McLaren team and the reigning formula one champions Ferrari are paying the price for last year's success, according to Ross Brawn. The Brawn GP owner, whose team have won both this season's races, feels his rivals' difficulties are a direct result of last year's title battle.
"It is a reflection of what has gone on in the last year or two," said Brawn, who guided Michael Schumacher to seven titles with Benetton and Ferrari. "McLaren and Ferrari had a championship to fight over and I can understand that it was very difficult for them to say 'Look, we'll stop pushing this year and put our effort into next year'."
In contrast, Brawn have benefitted from starting work on a car for the 2009 season much earlier than last year's frontrunners. "For us it was a very easy decision," said Brawn. "It wasn't a clever one, just a very easy one. We didn't have a very good car so why waste time on it?"
But Brawn, along with Jenson Button, who led the team to victory at Sepang yesterday after his triumph in the season opener in Melbourne the week before, expects McLaren and Ferrari to fight back strongly. "They are both very strong and fantastic engineering companies so they will sort it out," he said.
• 'We didn't have a very good car so why waste time on it?'
Lewis Hamilton's McLaren team and the reigning formula one champions Ferrari are paying the price for last year's success, according to Ross Brawn. The Brawn GP owner, whose team have won both this season's races, feels his rivals' difficulties are a direct result of last year's title battle.
"It is a reflection of what has gone on in the last year or two," said Brawn, who guided Michael Schumacher to seven titles with Benetton and Ferrari. "McLaren and Ferrari had a championship to fight over and I can understand that it was very difficult for them to say 'Look, we'll stop pushing this year and put our effort into next year'."
In contrast, Brawn have benefitted from starting work on a car for the 2009 season much earlier than last year's frontrunners. "For us it was a very easy decision," said Brawn. "It wasn't a clever one, just a very easy one. We didn't have a very good car so why waste time on it?"
But Brawn, along with Jenson Button, who led the team to victory at Sepang yesterday after his triumph in the season opener in Melbourne the week before, expects McLaren and Ferrari to fight back strongly. "They are both very strong and fantastic engineering companies so they will sort it out," he said.
Malaysian GP results
Jenson Button Brawn GP 0h55m30.622
Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber + 22.722s
Timo Glock Toyota + 23.513s
Jarno Trulli Toyota + 46.173s
Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP + 47.360s
Mark Webber Red Bull Racing + 52.333s
Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes + 60.733s
Nico Rosberg Williams + 71.576s
Felipe Massa Ferrari + 76.932s
Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 102.164s
Fernando Alonso Renault + 109.422s
Kazuki Nakajima Williams + 116.130s
Nelson Piquet Jr Renault + 116.713s
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari + 142.841s
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing + 1 lap
Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 lap
Adrian Sutil Force India + 1 lap
Giancarlo Fisichella Force India + 2 laps
Robert Kubica BMW Sauber + 30 laps
Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes + 31 laps
Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber + 22.722s
Timo Glock Toyota + 23.513s
Jarno Trulli Toyota + 46.173s
Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP + 47.360s
Mark Webber Red Bull Racing + 52.333s
Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes + 60.733s
Nico Rosberg Williams + 71.576s
Felipe Massa Ferrari + 76.932s
Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 102.164s
Fernando Alonso Renault + 109.422s
Kazuki Nakajima Williams + 116.130s
Nelson Piquet Jr Renault + 116.713s
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari + 142.841s
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing + 1 lap
Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 lap
Adrian Sutil Force India + 1 lap
Giancarlo Fisichella Force India + 2 laps
Robert Kubica BMW Sauber + 30 laps
Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes + 31 laps
BMW f1 chief, Theisson lauds Heidfeld in Malaysian podium finish
BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen believes the performance of his driver Nick Heidfeld was key to his team taking its first podium of the year in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Heidfeld made the most of a one-stop strategy to come through the field and grab a surprise second spot.
And Theissen reckons that most of the praise for the result should be aimed squarely at Heidfeld.
"It was an unlucky loss of a podium finish in Melbourne, and the lucky win of a podium finish here," Theissen said about his team's start to the year. "I think for Nick it worked out perfectly.
"We expected wet weather conditions so we sent him out on a high fuel load and he was just able to stay out until the rain came. It meant he could do it on one pit stop, which was a very good strategy.
"Then in the wet, I have to say Nick did a fantastic job. He had been on his wet tyres for very long already when it really poured down, and the car was undriveable.
"We were ready all the time to service him, but he decided lap after lap to stay out, and he finally managed it until the red flag. That was the key then to P2 - and it tells a lot not just about Nick's experience but also his driving capabilities in the wet. That was really very good."
Theissen has also expressed regret about Heidfeld's teammate Robert Kubica failing to score a point once again.
"Robert definitely had an unlucky start and could have won Melbourne," said Theissen. "He would definitely have been P2, and here he was caught out by a technical problem.
"So for him it has been a very disappointing start to the season, and I hope we can see better results for him in the coming races. For Nick it was okay. Coming home with second place is definitely more than he could expect after the two qualifyings."
Heidfeld made the most of a one-stop strategy to come through the field and grab a surprise second spot.
And Theissen reckons that most of the praise for the result should be aimed squarely at Heidfeld.
"It was an unlucky loss of a podium finish in Melbourne, and the lucky win of a podium finish here," Theissen said about his team's start to the year. "I think for Nick it worked out perfectly.
"We expected wet weather conditions so we sent him out on a high fuel load and he was just able to stay out until the rain came. It meant he could do it on one pit stop, which was a very good strategy.
"Then in the wet, I have to say Nick did a fantastic job. He had been on his wet tyres for very long already when it really poured down, and the car was undriveable.
"We were ready all the time to service him, but he decided lap after lap to stay out, and he finally managed it until the red flag. That was the key then to P2 - and it tells a lot not just about Nick's experience but also his driving capabilities in the wet. That was really very good."
Theissen has also expressed regret about Heidfeld's teammate Robert Kubica failing to score a point once again.
"Robert definitely had an unlucky start and could have won Melbourne," said Theissen. "He would definitely have been P2, and here he was caught out by a technical problem.
"So for him it has been a very disappointing start to the season, and I hope we can see better results for him in the coming races. For Nick it was okay. Coming home with second place is definitely more than he could expect after the two qualifyings."
Sunday, 5 April 2009
F1 malaysia 2009 Button Brawn win Grand Prix
Jenson Button continued Brawn GP’s sensational start to 2009 by winning in Malaysia after a Biblical downpour forced the race to be abandoned after 31 of the 56 laps.
Officials initially hoped the race could be resumed but continuing rain, the volume of standing water and the fading daylight made that impossible.
With the official clock and timekeeping system continuing to run, the race ultimately hit its two-hour cut-off point and the result was declared – albeit with half-points being awarded to the top eight.
Button had slipped from pole position to third on the opening lap, but regained the lead with two stunning laps prior to his first pit stop.
Timo Glock was lying second at the time the red flag was shown, but the result was based on the last full lap of green-flag racing and he was shuffled back to third behind German compatriot Nick Heidfeld.
Glock had carved his way up the order thanks to a tactical masterstroke from Toyota, which put him on intermediate tyres in the earlier damp conditions when everyone else opted for full-wets.
Heidfeld’s progress was typically stealthily. The BMW veteran, who started 10th and heavily laden with fuel, profited from making a single pit stop for wet tyres compared to at least three for all his rivals.
Jarno Trulli finished fourth to complete a fine day for Toyota, while Rubens Barrichello made it an even better one for Brawn GP with fifth place.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber emerged with sixth ahead of Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Nico Rosberg (Williams).
Officials initially hoped the race could be resumed but continuing rain, the volume of standing water and the fading daylight made that impossible.
With the official clock and timekeeping system continuing to run, the race ultimately hit its two-hour cut-off point and the result was declared – albeit with half-points being awarded to the top eight.
Button had slipped from pole position to third on the opening lap, but regained the lead with two stunning laps prior to his first pit stop.
Timo Glock was lying second at the time the red flag was shown, but the result was based on the last full lap of green-flag racing and he was shuffled back to third behind German compatriot Nick Heidfeld.
Glock had carved his way up the order thanks to a tactical masterstroke from Toyota, which put him on intermediate tyres in the earlier damp conditions when everyone else opted for full-wets.
Heidfeld’s progress was typically stealthily. The BMW veteran, who started 10th and heavily laden with fuel, profited from making a single pit stop for wet tyres compared to at least three for all his rivals.
Jarno Trulli finished fourth to complete a fine day for Toyota, while Rubens Barrichello made it an even better one for Brawn GP with fifth place.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber emerged with sixth ahead of Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Nico Rosberg (Williams).
Saturday, 4 April 2009
F1 grid for malaysia 2009
1 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:35.181
2 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:35.273
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:35.518
4 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:35.651
5 Timo Glock Toyota 1:35.690
6 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:35.750
7 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:35.797
8 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:36.106
9 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:36.170
10 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:37.659
11 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:34.769
12 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:34.788
13 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.905
14 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren- 1:34.924
15 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:35.431
16 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:35.642
17 Nelson Piquet Jr Renault 1:35.708
18 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:35.908
19 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:35.951
20 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.107
2 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:35.273
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:35.518
4 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:35.651
5 Timo Glock Toyota 1:35.690
6 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:35.750
7 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:35.797
8 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:36.106
9 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:36.170
10 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:37.659
11 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:34.769
12 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:34.788
13 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.905
14 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren- 1:34.924
15 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:35.431
16 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:35.642
17 Nelson Piquet Jr Renault 1:35.708
18 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:35.908
19 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:35.951
20 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.107
Button storms to pole again in Malaysia
Jenson Button showed Brawn GP’s fairytale start to Formula 1 life is not about to end any time soon by storming to his second successive pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The winner of last week’s season-opener in Melbourne had run under the radar for much of practice but again demonstrated his and the team's stunning speed by coming to the fore when it really mattered to pip Toyota’s Jarno Trulli to the top spot at Sepang.
Button’s stunning final Q3 lap of 1m35.181s initially put him half a second clear of his rivals, but Trulli so nearly matched it on his own final run and finished just under 0.1s slower to claim a still impressive front row berth.
Sebastian Vettel again showed strong speed in the Red Bull to set the third best time, outpacing the second Brawn car of Rubens Barrichello.
However, both drivers had penalties hanging over them heading into qualifying and will drop down the order to 13th and eighth places respectively, promoting the second Toyota of Timo Glock to third and Williams's Nico Rosberg to fourth.
Again like the Australia season-opener, the appearance of the Brawn, Toyota, Red Bull and Williams cars at the front of the grid shows a new order is beginning to emerge in F1's new era.
Reigning world champion team Ferrari had been tipped to join them here after showing stronger pace in practice following its dismal showing last week.
But the threat did not materialise as Raikkonen struggled towards the bottom of the top 10 (his ninth place becoming seventh courtesy of the penalties) while Felipe Massa was knocked out early and will start 16th after a Q1 gamble spectacularly backfired.
The Brazilian and his engineers thought his two early flying laps on the softer compound rubber would be enough to safely see him through to the second stage, especially as he returned to the garage fourth on the times.
But while Ferrari prepared Massa’s car for Q2 in the garage, over half of the field were in a scramble to ensure they weren’t knocked out as they moved onto the softer tyres in the closing minutes.
Ferrari’s worst nightmare then played out as driver after driver posted a quicker time than Massa and, with the track picking up grip all of the time, the pole-sitter here for the past two years was shuffled below the cut line.
Indeed Raikkonen was lucky not to suffer the same fate as he walked the same tightrope, but his slightly faster flying lap meant he just stayed above the elimination line in 14th.
The Finn's F60 didn't pick up much as the hour progressed and he will now be pinning his hopes on his KERS system catapulting him past the cars directly ahead of him on Sunday's grid.
The drivers most at risk will be Mark Webber, who will lead Red Bull's challenge after Vettel's penalty, in fifth and BMW's Robert Kubica.
Behind Barrichello in eighth will be Fernando Alonso, who showed commendable battling spirit to haul his previously uncompetitive Renault into the top 10 despite struggling with an ear infection.
Vettel’s demotion means Nick Heidfeld will start 10th, but the German again failed to follow team-mate Kubica into the pole position shootout despite being the sole BMW driver carrying the advantageous KERS unit.
Still, there was little to choose between Alonso, Heidfeld and the second Williams of Kazuki Nakajima on the Q2 cut line – with the Renault man finishing ahead of the pair by under 0.1s.
Nakajima will share the sixth row with reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, the McLaren man putting the trauma of the previous day behind him to show the MP4-24 appears to be be making progress after finishing just 0.2s shy of the top 10.
The penalised Vettel slots in to 13th, ahead of the second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen.
Sebastien Bourdais earned Toro Rosso its first Q2 appearance of the season after a fine lap on the soft tyres in the first phase, the Frenchman starting 15th.
Massa’s first Q1 elimination for three years means he starts from the unusual position of 16th and with it all to do if he is to open his points account for 2009.
Nelson Piquet Jr is a more regular driver to make up the Q1 drop zone and the Brazilian, under pressure for much of his debut season due to continued qualifying struggles, may be able to about to come under renewed scrutiny from his Renault bosses after failing to get beyond the first phase for the second race in a row.
He was joined again by the Force India duo, although Fisichella got off the back row and briefly put himself in a position to make Q2 until the dramatic late shuffle of the order knocked him back down to a more familiar position.
His team-mate Adrian Sutil will join Toro Rosso rookie Sebastien Buemi on the back row, the latter enduring the first disappointment of his F1 career after outqualifying Bourdais and scoring two points on his debut.
Buemi was 0.3s up on his best time following the first sector of his final lap, but fell of the road at turn eight.
Malaysian GP starting grid
1. BUTTON Brawn
2. TRULLI Toyota
3. GLOCK Toyota
4. ROSBERG Williams
5. WEBBER Red Bull
6. KUBICA BMW
7. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
8. ALONSO Renault
9. BARRICHELLO Brawn*
10. HEIDFELD BMW
11. NAKAJIMA Williams
12. HAMILTON McLaren
13. VETTEL Red Bull**
14. KOVALAINEN McLaren
15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
16. MASSA Ferrari
17. PIQUET Renault
18. FISICHELLA Force India
19. SUTIL Force India
20. BUEMI Toro Rosso
* five-place penalty for gearbox change
** 10-place penalty carried from Melbourne
The winner of last week’s season-opener in Melbourne had run under the radar for much of practice but again demonstrated his and the team's stunning speed by coming to the fore when it really mattered to pip Toyota’s Jarno Trulli to the top spot at Sepang.
Button’s stunning final Q3 lap of 1m35.181s initially put him half a second clear of his rivals, but Trulli so nearly matched it on his own final run and finished just under 0.1s slower to claim a still impressive front row berth.
Sebastian Vettel again showed strong speed in the Red Bull to set the third best time, outpacing the second Brawn car of Rubens Barrichello.
However, both drivers had penalties hanging over them heading into qualifying and will drop down the order to 13th and eighth places respectively, promoting the second Toyota of Timo Glock to third and Williams's Nico Rosberg to fourth.
Again like the Australia season-opener, the appearance of the Brawn, Toyota, Red Bull and Williams cars at the front of the grid shows a new order is beginning to emerge in F1's new era.
Reigning world champion team Ferrari had been tipped to join them here after showing stronger pace in practice following its dismal showing last week.
But the threat did not materialise as Raikkonen struggled towards the bottom of the top 10 (his ninth place becoming seventh courtesy of the penalties) while Felipe Massa was knocked out early and will start 16th after a Q1 gamble spectacularly backfired.
The Brazilian and his engineers thought his two early flying laps on the softer compound rubber would be enough to safely see him through to the second stage, especially as he returned to the garage fourth on the times.
But while Ferrari prepared Massa’s car for Q2 in the garage, over half of the field were in a scramble to ensure they weren’t knocked out as they moved onto the softer tyres in the closing minutes.
Ferrari’s worst nightmare then played out as driver after driver posted a quicker time than Massa and, with the track picking up grip all of the time, the pole-sitter here for the past two years was shuffled below the cut line.
Indeed Raikkonen was lucky not to suffer the same fate as he walked the same tightrope, but his slightly faster flying lap meant he just stayed above the elimination line in 14th.
The Finn's F60 didn't pick up much as the hour progressed and he will now be pinning his hopes on his KERS system catapulting him past the cars directly ahead of him on Sunday's grid.
The drivers most at risk will be Mark Webber, who will lead Red Bull's challenge after Vettel's penalty, in fifth and BMW's Robert Kubica.
Behind Barrichello in eighth will be Fernando Alonso, who showed commendable battling spirit to haul his previously uncompetitive Renault into the top 10 despite struggling with an ear infection.
Vettel’s demotion means Nick Heidfeld will start 10th, but the German again failed to follow team-mate Kubica into the pole position shootout despite being the sole BMW driver carrying the advantageous KERS unit.
Still, there was little to choose between Alonso, Heidfeld and the second Williams of Kazuki Nakajima on the Q2 cut line – with the Renault man finishing ahead of the pair by under 0.1s.
Nakajima will share the sixth row with reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, the McLaren man putting the trauma of the previous day behind him to show the MP4-24 appears to be be making progress after finishing just 0.2s shy of the top 10.
The penalised Vettel slots in to 13th, ahead of the second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen.
Sebastien Bourdais earned Toro Rosso its first Q2 appearance of the season after a fine lap on the soft tyres in the first phase, the Frenchman starting 15th.
Massa’s first Q1 elimination for three years means he starts from the unusual position of 16th and with it all to do if he is to open his points account for 2009.
Nelson Piquet Jr is a more regular driver to make up the Q1 drop zone and the Brazilian, under pressure for much of his debut season due to continued qualifying struggles, may be able to about to come under renewed scrutiny from his Renault bosses after failing to get beyond the first phase for the second race in a row.
He was joined again by the Force India duo, although Fisichella got off the back row and briefly put himself in a position to make Q2 until the dramatic late shuffle of the order knocked him back down to a more familiar position.
His team-mate Adrian Sutil will join Toro Rosso rookie Sebastien Buemi on the back row, the latter enduring the first disappointment of his F1 career after outqualifying Bourdais and scoring two points on his debut.
Buemi was 0.3s up on his best time following the first sector of his final lap, but fell of the road at turn eight.
Malaysian GP starting grid
1. BUTTON Brawn
2. TRULLI Toyota
3. GLOCK Toyota
4. ROSBERG Williams
5. WEBBER Red Bull
6. KUBICA BMW
7. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
8. ALONSO Renault
9. BARRICHELLO Brawn*
10. HEIDFELD BMW
11. NAKAJIMA Williams
12. HAMILTON McLaren
13. VETTEL Red Bull**
14. KOVALAINEN McLaren
15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
16. MASSA Ferrari
17. PIQUET Renault
18. FISICHELLA Force India
19. SUTIL Force India
20. BUEMI Toro Rosso
* five-place penalty for gearbox change
** 10-place penalty carried from Melbourne
Mosley: No decision on McLaren yet
FIA president Max Mosley says he is awaiting reports from officials before deciding whether or not McLaren will be brought before the World Motor Sport Council to explain why the deliberately misled race stewards.
With the controversy surrounding McLaren's misrepresentation of a radio conversation between the pit wall and Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix still dominating talk in the Sepang paddock, Mosley has indicated that he remains open minded about the matter.
When asked during a briefing with journalists at the Rally Portugal whether Hamilton's apology for lying to the stewards was enough for McLaren to avoid facing sanctions, Mosley said: "I don't know. We haven't had the reports.
"There may be a report to World Council. If there is, I will almost certainly be one of the people there to decide what happens. Therefore it would be completely wrong for me to discuss the rights and wrongs of the situation."
Further details about the McLaren team's specific involvement in the affair, and especially what happened in the days following the original stewards' hearing at the Australian Grand Prix, could be revealed during the team's regular press briefing which has been scheduled to take place at Sepang on Sunday morning.
Questions are being asked about why McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh was not aware of what Ryan and Hamilton had been saying to the stewards prior to the second hearing that took place in Malaysia on Thursday afternoon. Even later that day, following the hearing and stewards' decision, Whitmarsh insisted that his team had not 'lied'.
The events have overshadowed the Malaysian GP weekend, and it is understood that relations between Hamilton and his McLaren team have been strained by all that has gone on.
Hamilton himself admitted during his emotional appearance at a press conference on Friday that he had been 'misled' - and was hurt that by acting on the orders of a team he had left him open to scathing criticism in the media for ‘lying'.
"I've never felt so bad," he said. "Try and put yourself in my position and understand that, like I said, I am not a liar. I have not gone through my life being a liar or dishonest. And so for people to say I am dishonest and for the world to think that....what can I say?"
Mosley has insisted that despite Hamilton's disqualification from the Australian GP coming on the back of a number of penalties over the past 12 months, there was no personal vendetta against the British driver.
"We're trying to make sure everybody conducts themselves as they should," he said. "But you always have to remember with motorsport generally and Formula One in particular that it has all the complexities of any sport when there's one person or people against each other plus all the mechanical difficulties so it's very complex.
"Our system isn't perfect but we are doing our utmost to make sure everybody follows the rules. I wouldn't say we're stricter than in the past but maybe we've got better people doing it."
With the controversy surrounding McLaren's misrepresentation of a radio conversation between the pit wall and Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix still dominating talk in the Sepang paddock, Mosley has indicated that he remains open minded about the matter.
When asked during a briefing with journalists at the Rally Portugal whether Hamilton's apology for lying to the stewards was enough for McLaren to avoid facing sanctions, Mosley said: "I don't know. We haven't had the reports.
"There may be a report to World Council. If there is, I will almost certainly be one of the people there to decide what happens. Therefore it would be completely wrong for me to discuss the rights and wrongs of the situation."
Further details about the McLaren team's specific involvement in the affair, and especially what happened in the days following the original stewards' hearing at the Australian Grand Prix, could be revealed during the team's regular press briefing which has been scheduled to take place at Sepang on Sunday morning.
Questions are being asked about why McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh was not aware of what Ryan and Hamilton had been saying to the stewards prior to the second hearing that took place in Malaysia on Thursday afternoon. Even later that day, following the hearing and stewards' decision, Whitmarsh insisted that his team had not 'lied'.
The events have overshadowed the Malaysian GP weekend, and it is understood that relations between Hamilton and his McLaren team have been strained by all that has gone on.
Hamilton himself admitted during his emotional appearance at a press conference on Friday that he had been 'misled' - and was hurt that by acting on the orders of a team he had left him open to scathing criticism in the media for ‘lying'.
"I've never felt so bad," he said. "Try and put yourself in my position and understand that, like I said, I am not a liar. I have not gone through my life being a liar or dishonest. And so for people to say I am dishonest and for the world to think that....what can I say?"
Mosley has insisted that despite Hamilton's disqualification from the Australian GP coming on the back of a number of penalties over the past 12 months, there was no personal vendetta against the British driver.
"We're trying to make sure everybody conducts themselves as they should," he said. "But you always have to remember with motorsport generally and Formula One in particular that it has all the complexities of any sport when there's one person or people against each other plus all the mechanical difficulties so it's very complex.
"Our system isn't perfect but we are doing our utmost to make sure everybody follows the rules. I wouldn't say we're stricter than in the past but maybe we've got better people doing it."
Alonso says Renault must improve fast
Fernando Alonso says his Renault team must make a significant amount of improvement quickly if they are to stand a chance to fight for the titles.
The French squad has endured a shaky start to the season, not showing the kind of pace needed to fight for victories yet.
Alonso finished in fifth place at the incidence-filled Australian Grand Prix and will start tomorrow's race in Malaysia from a distant ninth position.
The Spaniard admitted he was expecting better from the Sepang weekend, but the team realised it would not be competitive early on.
The two-time champion has warned that Renault must make progress quickly or risk losing touch with the championship leaders.
"It (the position) is a bit better than what we did. We had been 10th, very, very on the limit. We were expecting more," Alonso told reporters after qualifying. We were expecting to be in the top five or top seven in Q2 and the same in Q3 and it wasn't possible.
"We knew from yesterday that we were not very competitive. This morning we confirmed that feeling unfortunately, so we went into qualifying with some doubts about our performance and we saw Nelsinho going out in Q1 so we were not very happy with our performance today.
"If we want to fight for the championship we need to be more at the front. We need to improve our pace almost from the next grand prix."
Alonso conceded the race is likely to be difficult for him, but was still hopeful that, like in Australia, something could happen to help him move forward.
"You never know. Races are always difficult," he added. "We saw in Australia that after the first corner I was last and then I finished fifth. You never know what's going to happen in the race. You can never give up, but it's true we are starting ninth. All the cars in front of us are quicker than us.
"Some cars behind us, like Vettel, are quicker than us. So it's difficult to hope for something better than ninth if you see how quick the guys in front of us are. But the race is very long, very different, the start will be interesting if we can gain some places with the KERS. We'll see after that."
The French squad has endured a shaky start to the season, not showing the kind of pace needed to fight for victories yet.
Alonso finished in fifth place at the incidence-filled Australian Grand Prix and will start tomorrow's race in Malaysia from a distant ninth position.
The Spaniard admitted he was expecting better from the Sepang weekend, but the team realised it would not be competitive early on.
The two-time champion has warned that Renault must make progress quickly or risk losing touch with the championship leaders.
"It (the position) is a bit better than what we did. We had been 10th, very, very on the limit. We were expecting more," Alonso told reporters after qualifying. We were expecting to be in the top five or top seven in Q2 and the same in Q3 and it wasn't possible.
"We knew from yesterday that we were not very competitive. This morning we confirmed that feeling unfortunately, so we went into qualifying with some doubts about our performance and we saw Nelsinho going out in Q1 so we were not very happy with our performance today.
"If we want to fight for the championship we need to be more at the front. We need to improve our pace almost from the next grand prix."
Alonso conceded the race is likely to be difficult for him, but was still hopeful that, like in Australia, something could happen to help him move forward.
"You never know. Races are always difficult," he added. "We saw in Australia that after the first corner I was last and then I finished fifth. You never know what's going to happen in the race. You can never give up, but it's true we are starting ninth. All the cars in front of us are quicker than us.
"Some cars behind us, like Vettel, are quicker than us. So it's difficult to hope for something better than ninth if you see how quick the guys in front of us are. But the race is very long, very different, the start will be interesting if we can gain some places with the KERS. We'll see after that."
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