Category: Formula 1

Bahrain, 21 April 2012: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton exuded confidence and would be going for an all-out win in the Bahrain Grand Prix, the fourth GP of thw Formula One World Championship, at the Sakhir international circuit on Sunday though he would be starting from the second place.

While Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, the current world champion got the best position this year by taking the pole position, Lewis Hamilton who got three podium places in the last three races (after starting on pole) took the top spot on the leader board of the drivers’ championship and is all geared up to go for a kill from the second place with teammate Jenson Button taking the fourth spot..

LEWIS HAMILTON

MP4-27A-03

P3

4^th                                         1m33.782s (+0.528s) 16 laps

Qualifying

Q1 16^th                    1m34.813s (on Primes)

Q2 1^st                      1m33.209s (on Options)

Q3 2^nd overall         1m32.520s (on Options)

“I’m very happy with how qualifying went and the job the team has done so far this weekend. I’ve put the car on the front row at every race this year, and I feel this was one of my best qualifying performances so far. Both my laps in Q3 were very good and I feel I got everything out of the car.

“Fingers crossed for tomorrow: both Red Bull drivers will be very hard to beat in the race, but we’re less than a tenth behind on race pace. The start could be key – we’ve had good launches all season so I expect us to be able to challenge Seb [Vettel] down to Turn One.

“This season is shaping up to be very interesting: it’s anyone’s for the taking, at the moment”

 JENSON BUTTON

MP4-27A-04

P3

6^th                            1m33.899s (+0.645s) 14 laps

Qualifying

Q1 15^th                    1m34.792s (on Primes)

Q2 6^th                      1m33.416s (on Options)

Q3 4^th overall         1m32.711s (on Options)

“Fourth position wasn’t quite what I’d been hoping for, but it’s not too bad. It’s always a horrible feeling on your final Q3 lap when the balance isn’t quite where you want it. I couldn’t get the best from the car so I pitted early to save the tyres. Besides, fourth isn’t too bad anyway.

“The car is definitely a lot better than it was yesterday – we made some improvements overnight. We’d expected the Red Bulls to be very quick in qualifying, so to be close to them is a positive. A nice surprise is that we’re ahead of Nico [Rosberg] who was on pole just a week ago.

“A good launch tomorrow will be very important – both Lewis and I will be starting on the dirty side of the grid, which makes things more difficult, so we’ll need to get it right. Tyre management will be crucial too.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH

Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“As we’ve already got used to seeing this season, it was very tight at the top today.

“Even the early stages of qualifying – Q1 and Q2 – are nowadays extremely hard to get through. Michael [Schumacher] and Kimi [Raikkonen] can confirm that.

“As for our boys, well, Lewis drove an excellent lap, and missed out on pole position by just a tenth of a second. Jenson, too, was his usual rapid and reliable self, ending up in fourth place, directly behind Lewis on tomorrow’s grid.

“The race will inevitably be a physically challenging one for all the drivers, as is always the case in hot climates such as Bahrain’s, but we’ve got two tough racers in Lewis and Jenson and our intention is to go for the win.”

ends

Bahrain, 21 April 2012: Current World Champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing showed Bulls are still in when he won the pole for the first time this season. Here are the excerpts of the FIA Press Conference number three at the fourth GP of the season in Bahrain on Saturday.

TV UNILATERAL

Sebastian, four races into the 2012 season and your first pole position of the season? I take it it’s good to be back?

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it obviously feels great and I think this one I completely owe it to the team, to the guys. It wasn’t the easiest start to the season for us. Surely, a lot of expectations, but I think more than anything it’s what we expect from ourselves, and we didn’t match our expectations and we’ve been extremely busy working on the car, trimming here and there, finding the perfect solution and the right way to go, the way forward. And the boys – I don’t think they had much sleep to be honest in the first four races. We had a tough weekend last weekend in China and now, here, they seriously had a lack of sleep, and it’s very good to put the car on pole. I think both of us, we owe the result today to the team – it’s good. The car felt much better all weekend. I was quite happy. I didn’t have the smoothest qualifying. I was nearly out in Q1 and nearly out in Q2 but then I knew that when I get the lap in – I nail it –  then we should be in a better place. It’s great, obviously, to see that we’ve just beaten Lewis for pole, so I’m very happy.

Lewis, too, I’m sure a few anxious moments for you in qualifying one and compared to this morning with the pace of your car so much better in qualifying session. So even though you’re second, is that satisfying overall?

Lewis HAMILTON: Definitely. I’m very happy with the job we’ve done. Just been trying to improve the set-up all weekend and in FP3 it wasn’t the most spectacular. But yeah, a little bit close in Q1 but thank goodness we got through. Generally, probably one of my best qualifying sessions, even though obviously in the past we did it on the first lap, getting pole position, but the first lap wasn’t great and the second lap was great. I’m quite happy with that and we just need to keep on pushing.

Mark, you were on provisional pole but was this just a track that was evolving constantly right up until the last car went over the line? Was that what separated you from your team-mate today?

Mark WEBBER: I think it’s always beneficial if you can go a bit later, especially today, but you know we take it in turns at each race and this track looked particularly sensitive to that all weekend. In the end Seb did a good lap, it was a good pole. In the end we’re satisfied with being towards the front. There have been some big gaps to the opposition, on Saturday in particular. I think we’re pretty surprised to be as competitive as we are on a track that is demanding of probably not some of our strengths. All in all it’s for the guys. We’re at the front and we can definitely race from there.

You made a slight mistake, Mark. Did that cost you any time whatsoever?

MW: In?

On your final run, just a little lock-up.

MW: No. That was not too bad. I didn’t leave enough of a gap to Paul [Di Resta] actually. I was surprised by how much I closed on him and got him a little bit in 13, so lost a little bit there. That was the only thing I would have liked to have done better, given him a better gap. But, yeah, we’re here.

Throughout this weekend we’ve seen that it’s been very difficult to string together the perfect lap. Sebastian, you’ve got to do 57 of them in Sunday’s race. Just how tough will that be, even from pole position?

SV: I think it’s always tough. The race here is long and anything can happen. I think we are pretty aggressive and we should be better off in the race. The race pace has proven to be pretty consistent over the last couple of races. This one, I’m definitely happier with how the car feels and we should be able to hopefully get the same kind of feeling and result tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the start of the race and then I think it will be pretty tight to be honest. Of course, you’re obviously dealing here with the top three but I think there are also other people tomorrow who will have a very good chance. I think Nico has been very, very strong all weekend, and the Lotus guys they can surprise. So, in terms of race pace, I think everyone will be much closer together and I just hope we can keep it up and have a good result tomorrow.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Your 31^st pole position Sebastian, and your second pole position here

SV: 31? Shit! Yeah, pretty happy, obviously, as I mentioned. I felt much happier with the car all weekend, I went out and I think we’ve always had the ability to go reasonably quick. Surely it depends a little bit when and where you are, which tyres etc., but I had a good feeling all throughout the weekend and I’m very happy. I knew in qualifying we should be able to put the car higher up this time in qualifying. Q1 and Q2 wasn’t perfect, the laps I got in were not 100 per cent without mistakes and I knew in the third qualifying that getting everything together we should be in a better place. First run I obviously ran the set I scrubbed in Q2, wasn’t ideal, so I knew that with a new tyre there was a little bit again to gain and it did happen, so I’m very happy, very pleased and extremely happy for the team because the guys have done incredible lately. Four races so far but the last two weekends in particular, here and China, I don’t know how they managed, how they do it. They get hardly any sleep, probably an hour or two or three on average every night and still they’re full of energy and willing to work even harder – and I think we owe the result to those guys it the garage today.

You mentioned you found some answers in China and a step forward here, can you give us some indication of that?

SV: Well, I think given the balance we had – or I had in particular – the first two races where I wasn’t happy, we decided in China to go back and see where we are. Equally, Mark carried on, which I think was good to get a straight comparison. And we found that the new car, or new package, has its advantages and the old package has its advantages and I think it was good to get an answer on that. So, we ended up with two cars, either one probably strong in a certain area so I think it helped us also going into this weekend trying to set up the car, working with the tyres, which seem to be tricky this year. We felt a little bit happier all around, also given the high temperatures here, which is not making life easier.

What’s it like driving on the soft tyres? Everyone’s saying that’s what it’s going to be about during the race itself.

SV: I think they worked pretty well. Yesterday in second practice I improved by one-tenth, I don’t know why, so today yeah, I was able to squeeze the same amount of lap time out of the tyres that everyone else compared to the hard – or the medium – tyre. So, yeah, I think we should be in a good position tomorrow. I think the car is good in the race, we’ve proven in the last races that race pace is good enough to get some big points. Now we are starting for the first time a little bit further up and yeah, hopefully that makes our life a little bit easier. I’m looking forward to the start, the first corner, first lap and yeah, if we’re not P15 after the first lap then it will be a different race. So, fingers crossed, but surely tomorrow with the temperatures being so hot it will be crucial to take care of those tyres.

Lewis, the one thing that’s been constant throughout the season is you on the front row, or at least first and second in qualifying – even if obviously in China you got the penalty – but you must be pleased with the way qualifying has been going this year?

LH: Absolutely. Very happy with the performance of the car and the performance of the team and improvements that we’ve been making – and also really happy with the laps that I’ve been doing. I’ve been really eking out everything that I can from the car. Today we just weren’t quick enough to get a pole but still to be on the front row is a great feeling and compared to the last race, obviously we were on the front row but we weren’t able to start there with the penalty. This weekend we’re in a much better position, so I’m really excited for a good race but as Sebastian said, it’s going to be tough to look after the tyres tomorrow.

And also the rivals are different. All of a sudden it’s dark blue whereas at the last race it was grey with Mercedes.

LH: Yeah, absolutely, they’ve clearly made a good step this weekend. I anticipated they’d be very quick this weekend and in their long run pace they’re very strong, probably the strongest – and Mark’s been the fastest in all the races so far I think – so it’ll be interesting tomorrow but we’ll do everything we can to give them a run for their money.

And is it all about tyres and temperatures and wind at this circuit at this moment?

LH: It is. The wind, I don’t remember any other circuit – maybe Barcelona – but otherwise this is one of the trickiest circuits in terms of the wind direction and how it helps and the positives and negatives on certain corners. It’s quite interesting. It’s not easy to get it right: some of us do, some of us don’t.

Mark, you said yesterday the challenge was to get it all together. Presumably you got it all together?

MW: Yeah, it was a pretty good session. Quali wasn’t easy for us in the first part. And I think the guys have done a great job. Pretty happy with Q3 to be honest, we’re up there towards the front.

Is it all about the rear tyres, about traction?

MW: Yeah, it’s pretty tough on the tyres here, bit of a surprise for all of us yesterday. We did our homework and we’ll how that obviously unfolds in the GP.

And this is your best grid here.

MW: Yeah, it’s normally not a great track for me but I’ve been quick all weekend and I feel confident for the race.

And the Australian Junior Team starts sixth on the grid – as in Daniel [Ricciardo]

MW: Oh, I didn’t know that. Good effort!

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Kate  Walker – Girl Racer) Question to all of you; coming into the weekend, one of the things that we heard was a possible concern was the engine due to dust and sand. We’ve seen a very very dusty day today. Have you got concerns about your engines in the race tomorrow?

SV: No, because we’ve run here previously and it’s more or less the same: sometimes more sand, sometimes less. They do a good job here around the track, cleaning the circuit. I was surprised this year that there seemed to be less dust on the track than in previous years, so I think that if they keep doing that we should be OK tomorrow concerning the engine.

LH: The same really. The engineers do a fantastic job to design the engine, it’s hardly affected, the filters are very very good, so it doesn’t cause us any trouble.

Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, how much of a relief is it for you to get this pole position after the difficult start to the season? Were you worried that this could be a more difficult season; now you have the car that you were used to?

SV: Pretty much the same way as people around, really. Not us inside the team, not myself. I started to… it looked like panic, it’s the same now. We’ve got a very good result today and I’m very happy. Of course I’m happy to be on pole for tomorrow’s race. For sure it feels good but zero points scored so far as the race is tomorrow. I think we are only a couple of races into the season, as I’ve mentioned many times now because I’ve had the same questions. We didn’t have the start that maybe we expected and people probably expected of us, but since day one, where we realised that maybe we weren’t as strong as we wanted to be, we’ve worked very very hard and this is step one towards the right direction so we keep fighting and keep working hard to make sure that the results similar to today come more often again.

Q; (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian and Mark, we saw that in the last race Nico Rosberg did very well, but today he’s further back as you were in the last race. Is this a new phase for the team or is it a characteristic of the season in Formula One, all these changes?

SV: I think that we’ve seen so far that things can change very quickly. We’ve seen that Nico had a phenomenal lap in China, he out-qualified everyone by half a second, no one had a chance on that Saturday and to be fair, also on Sunday he was in a league of his own. This weekend I think they’re very strong again. I think Michael went out in Q1 because they didn’t run again and then I don’t know what happened to Nico. I heard that he’s fifth so I don’t consider that is qualifying at the back, and I think they will be very strong tomorrow. This circuit is known for being a bit of an engine circuit; they have a very strong package, they are very quick on the straights so surely, given the pace he had all weekend, we expected him maybe to be a bit stronger in qualifying, but given the margins and given the gaps between the cars, first, second, third, fifth, I haven’t seen the complete result yet but I don’t think there’s much between them, so a little mistake here or there is enough to maybe not get the best result you can or you could on that day. Equally, I went out last weekend in Q2, or I didn’t make it to Q3 and there wasn’t much missing, so I think it’s fairly close this year and I think that the racing we have seen as well and probably will see again tomorrow.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, two days ago you said that you were lacking something to have a winning car. Now did you change your mind? And the second question is about Nico: it seems that Nico saved a set of new soft tyres. Is that crucial or doesn’t it matter?

SV: Surely it’s an advantage for him if he has more sets of new tyres. How much of an advantage you will see tomorrow. Sometimes it turns out to be a massive advantage, sometimes none. People run different strategies and we start to do that already on Saturday. All in all, I’m very pleased with the result today. As I said, I was much happier with the car all weekend and felt that we can qualify in a much better position. Going into qualifying, I knew that with a little bit here and there we could potentially go on pole. Going into Q3, seeing everyone’s first shot – Lewis very competitive – I know that we should be able to match him, maybe go a bit quicker so in the end, I’m very happy that we did, but I still think that for tomorrow, other people are probably the favourites. We start from the front row, P1, but it’s a long race and a lot of things can happen. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the race, so we will see.

Q: (Khoda Rawi – F1Arab.com) Lewis, I believe you are the first driver in F1 history that finished the first three races of the season in third position, and you’ve never won here before. Do you think you can do it tomorrow, since the car seems competitive on all tracks?

LH: It’s going to be massively hard tomorrow, for sure. We seem to have had some good races here. I think in my first year I was second here – we struggled a little bit that year and yet we still got good results and I think we have a better car this year to fight the Red Bulls in the race. I think their race pace has generally been a little bit quicker in the last couple of races, within a tenth (of a second) of race pace, but we’ve made some improvements so I hope that tomorrow our set-up works really well for us and we can challenge for a win.

Q: (Khoda Rawi – F1Arab.com) Lewis, you have a huge fan base in the Middle East; what would you like to say to your fans?

LH: To my fans here… Growing up I never ever thought that I would ever have fans so to learn that I have more and more fans coming from different places and particularly the Middle East is a fantastic feeling, so I’m very much appreciative of all the support that they give me and I hope that many of them come this weekend. And a big thank you to all of them for some of the messages that I get, because I do notice that I have certain messages on Twitter or Facebook from out here in the Middle East, so just a big thank you to them, and fingers crossed for the season.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, as it was mentioned already, Rosberg had one run in each of the qualifying sessions. I think you had two attempts each. Was that planned or were there some problems?

SV: No, surely it was not planned. Ideally you go through with one run only, the minimum amount of effort so in the first qualifying I think both Mark and myself weren’t happy with the first run and then we were able to re-balance the car and we were maybe then fine in the second run. But it just shows how competitive it is, how close it can be. I saw that Lewis was P16 or 17 and just made it by four hundredths so half a tenth. With the track improving and the other people having very competitive cars, it’s very close. The same in Q2: I wasn’t entirely happy with my lap. I made a little bit of a mistake going into turn eight and I know that I should have been in a better place in Q2. I wasn’t keen to go out and then we went out but I didn’t make it across the line in time in order to have another go, so fortunately it was good enough, but again, in Q2, I think Kimi got caught out and didn’t make it to Q3 so… If you can make it with one run, that’s preferred because you save tyres.

Q: (Stephane Barbé – L’Equipe) Sebastian, being a two time World Champion already, how much did it help not to panic after the first races?

SV: It’s the same as I said before, I think we had no reason to panic and equally, now it’s not as if we are living in a different world, so we still know that we have a lot to do, a lot of work ahead of us. Surely the result is very good for all of us, because it gives you a lot of energy knowing that if you work hard, you also get the rewards. As I mentioned, especially for the guys in the garage, working day and night, as much as they can, I think it’s good to be back on top, but we have a race tomorrow and that’s when we can score points and not before. As I said, I don’t think we had a reason to panic and equally, now the world is still turning and we keep fighting and keep doing what we were doing, working hard and trying to come back to where we have been last year.

Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) With regards to the death of a young man last night in the protests that have marred this Grand Prix, I just wondered if any of you drivers would care to comment on that at all?

SV: It’s the first time that I’ve heard about it. I don’t know what happened so it’s difficult to comment. I think it’s always… either you know the person or you don’t, but I think it’s always dreadful if someone dies, but I don’t know what happened, so…

MW: I don’t know the situation so… it’s never good, of course.

Ends

Bahrain, 20 April 2012 (FIA): At the second official press conference of the F1 week-end of the much-publicised and controversial Bahrain Grand Prix, the team officials of major teams including Vodafone McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Force India have allayed fears about the safety of running an F1 in the Gulf Kingdom of Bahrain ruled by the minority community.

Both the FIA, the international governing body for running and promoting motorsport and the F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone stuck to their guns to keep the word given to the government and to protect their pockets but critics argued that it was a bad advertisement for the sport to run the race under such adverse public glare.

However, its race time and its Friday and so the following team representatives participated in the second FIA press conference of the week: Bob FERNLEY (Force India), Stefano DOMENICALI (Ferrari), Eric BOULLIER (Lotus), Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren), Norbert HAUG (Mercedes), Christian HORNER (Red Bull). The transcript:

PRESS CONFERENCE

Gentlemen a subject we can’t escape, unfortunately: This grand prix is definitely one of the best organised, the drivers all say that. We’ve had a lot speculation from both angles, negative and positive, but I’d like to your views regarding the security situation. Are you comfortable with how things are evolving?

Martin WHITMARSH: There have undoubtedly been difficult times here but from a pure team perspective, we’ve been comfortable with the situation. Clearly we race as an international sport all over the world and we have security concerns and issues at a number or races and we take that very seriously, and we’re cautious, and we try to take the right precautions. But ultimately we’re a race team. We’re here to go motor racing and that’s our number one priority.

Norbert HAUG: Absolutely the same.

Christian HORNER: Martin’s summed it up perfectly, I think. Formula One is a sport at the end of the day and it’s wrong for it to be used politically. We’re here to race, we trust in the FIA, in the decisions that they made, and we’re comfortable with the decisions that they have made. For us, it’s about trying to extract the maximum from this weekend as a sporting team in a sporting championship. The calendar is obviously set by the FIA.

Eric BOULLIER: I think everything has been said by the first row, so, as far as we are concerned, as Lotus, and regarding the specific question, we are fine.

Stefano DOMENICALI: You are speaking about security and I would say that we have received all the guarantees from the organisers, the federation, the embassy, and it is pretty clear at the moment that it is like that. We don’t seem to be the target of anyone that is protesting. We are here for the event that is racing, the race of the F1 World Championship and we are here to make the best of it. From a political point of view, the only thing I can is that there are a lot of things going on and we really hope that all the dialogue that has started within the different parts will do the best thing in the shortest time possible for everyone. This is really the hope that we have, as sportsmen and as a man of the world.

Bob FERNLEY: I completely agree with the guys. Hopefully, the Formula One programme has brought the world’s media here, it gives a good platform for debate and hopefully it will help with the healing process for Bahrain, and that’s why we’re here.

We’ll go on to the sporting side. Martin, if I can start with you. You’re leading both world championships. How have things evolved today for you in terms of free practice? You’re not perhaps quite as competitive as we thought you would be.

MW: No, I think it’s been a tricky day. The wind changed direction. I think from about half way through that [afternoon] session there was a tailwind through turns four, five, six and seven, which made it quite tricky for the drivers. I think we weren’t happy with where we were in terms of grip, generally. But that’s what Friday is about. It’s about learning how to set the car up for this particular circuit and these particular conditions. I think the wind is going to be quite significant. It often is here. If you recall it is an island where the wind can change quite dramatically from 10 o’clock in the morning until midday and then drop off in the afternoon, so I think that makes it, with all the other challenges of selection of top gear for the race and for qualifying… wind direction is going to quite an interesting challenge and if you get that right I think you’ll be in good shape. So, overall, I think, we’ve got some reasonable data and the trick is to put that to good effect and make sure we can dial in and have a competitive car tomorrow.

Norbert, obviously a fantastic weekend for you last weekend and you still seem to be up there?

NH: Well, I think it’s quite difficult to judge. I would not really read too much into the quickest time on Friday, we saw that before. I think people run various programmes, different programmes, but I think we are heading in the right direction. We learned quite a lot. The challenge is how to use the tyres, how to set up your car and then do the necessary amount of laps for the race and decide on how many stops you will do. You get the first impression of that on Friday. I think the team learned quite a lot. I haven’t seen the analysis so far, we’ll probably know a bit more later. Currently, I really cannot judge where we are. We should not read into the fact that we are first today that we are the big favourites for tomorrow and Sunday.

Christian, so on the same basis should I not read too much into the fact you were up in the top four today?

CH: I think it’s been a sensible day for us, we’ve worked through a programme. I think this year the tyre has dominated performance and I think it’s crucial to try and understand how the tyres work, how to get on top of those tyres and I think we’ve learned a lot over those first three races. Each of the races has been at a different nature of circuit, different conditions. We’ve seen the form of all the teams moving around a lot and the midfield making a big step as well. And that’s produced some great racing, I think last weekend was a phenomenal race and that adds to the challenge. We’ve worked through our programme today, both the drivers seem reasonably happy with their cars and obviously a lot of information to look over tonight before we go into the final practice tomorrow.

Eric…

EB: We had a heavy Friday today with a lot of parts to evaluate. Parts of the upgrade from Shanghai, we had to use them back on the car. Also, a very heavy programme with the tyres. It’s clear that the key for performance is the tyres and also the degradation for the race, as we saw in Shanghai, so we had early runs in practice and obviously heavier fuel load runs as well.

Any change Stefano?

SD: No, I think we have already said what we have to say. For us hopefully this will be the last grand prix of the most difficult start that we’ve had. But that’s the way it is. At the track the only thing we have to do is try to maximise the package that we have and understand the tyres and prepare for the race. That will be crucial, as we already said, in this condition the only objective we have at the moment is to try to score the maximum points and considering that we have been third in the Championship it means a lot. It means that we have to stay focussed. Unfortunately it’s very painful for us but that’s the way it is. So heads up and work hard.

Bob, limited running, obviously…

BF: Well, we had a very busy morning and as you know we didn’t run in FP2, we slightly rescheduled our programmes, but we’re very comfortable. The data was collected this morning for what we need and we’re very comfortable for FP3 tomorrow.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

(Kate Walker – Girl Racer) I have question for Norbert: Reuters reported yesterday that Aabar are considering a complete withdrawal of their Daimler stake, could you please comment on that, let us know what you know?

NH: I just hear the speculation and read the speculation. Nothing more.

…There’s no discussion in Stuttgart?

NH: Nothing more to say, no.

(Simon Cass – Daily Mail) Probably a question for all of you gentlemen. The thing that seems to be said is that politics and sport don’t mix but even by some of your answers that you gave previously, it’s quite obvious that they do. Given that, wouldn’t it have been better to try to wait another year for Bahrain to progress a little further before coming back to have a race here?

Martin, as the spokesman of FOTA?

MW: I didn’t know I was the spokesman. I think, again, the calendar has been set for some time, we are the competitors, it’s a race in the calendar, we are here to race. Period.

Does anyone have more to add to that? Christian? Norbert? No.

(Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Since arriving I’ve been contacted by a number of Bahrainis who are actually supportive of the race, have you and any of your team members found similar contact from the citizens of Bahrain?

MW: I think there is a lot of support for the race from all parts of society here, so I think that’s positive. Clearly often the majority aren’t heard on these occasions but I think there’s a fair amount of support, you can feel it here. I understand they’ve sold out the grandstand so presumably that’s a tangible sign of support.

CH: I think the guys here have been very welcoming. They look after the teams very well and hopefully we can put on a good show on Sunday. I think at the end of the day it’s a sport, we’re a sporting team competing in a sport that competes at 20 venues around the world. We’ll do our best as we do in all of those other events to do the best job we can on Sunday.

Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) Christian, Stefano and Martin, as the representatives of the top three teams last year, setting aside the safety of F1 personnel, if there is any bloodshed or injury or worse this weekend, among protestors, that are clearly aimed at having an anti-F1 element, should F1 be held responsible in any way, is F1’s presence here acting as a trigger?

MW: I don’t think we’re going to comment on that. We are here to take part in a race. I think we’ve made our position clear. So unless anyone else wants to add anything, I think we are here to race.

CH: I echo Martin’s comments.

SD: We need to be positive in life. It seems that we are looking for something to happen and this is what we don’t want, as I said. This is really the objective that all of us here in the paddock should have, to be honest.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) The stock answer that keeps coming back when we ask about this race is that ‘it’s on the calendar.’  There is a sporting commission, there is a technical commission, there’s also a calendar commission. Now the first two actually go through the Formula One Commission and then onto the World Motor Sport Council. The calendar doesn’t. Do you people believe that there is a need for the teams – for the Formula One commission, certainly – to have some input and to ratify calendars?

CH: I think that’s a position for the promoter and the FIA at the end of the day. When we enter a championship at the beginning of the year a calendar is published and you have the choice whether to enter or not. It’s something that historically has always been the same and it’s down to the promoter and then the governing body that’s responsible for the safety of the drivers, the safety of the spectators and the teams to decide where those venues are.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) The question was, would you like to have input into it, as opposed to the procedure – I know the procedure?

SD: Normally it’s not like that, to be honest. If we have to race over 17 Grands Prix, we need to have the organiser and the F1 has to have clearance from the teams so the discussion happens and this is related to the opportunity that they have. Then of course, the responsibility of other subjects is related to the national sporting authority, so the federation and the organiser, but that’s the way it is at the moment.

EB: And if I may add something, we still have the opportunity to discuss with the governing body and the promoters about some adjustment in the calendar, not the location but maybe sometimes for logistical reasons we have some input.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Effectively, what we’re then saying is that the teams are also responsible for the shape of the calendar the way it is at the moment, including the Bahrain race.

MW: Well, you’re saying it, we’re not. Sorry, I thought you said ‘effectively you’re saying it’ but I don’t think we’re saying that at all. The commercial rights holder and the FIA agree the calendar together. I think you know that and so do we, so I don’t know why we’re having this discussion really.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) But if it goes beyond 17, you have input.

MW: In theory we do, but as you know, the commercial rights holder… he has to get the races into the calendar and typically we’re not consulted individually on each race.

Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) The Sunni/Shi’a schism is a conflict that dates back over a millennia; how do you feel about being used as political tools in this game?

MW: Listen, I tell you, we’re at the start of a fantastic World Championship. There have been three outstanding races and there’s a great championship ahead of us. We’ve had three different winners, it’s been a fantastic start to the championship and I think we can have a fantastic race here on Sunday. I don’t think that going into what’s happened over the last millennia or the politics around the world is something that most of us here are equipped to comment on.

Q: (Daniel Ortelli – Agence France Presse) We’re all talking about politics, ethics etc. Do you agree that the main reason for having this race here and being here today is that there is so much money from the Emirates in Formula One and in some of the teams that you represent?

MW: Well, again, this isn’t part of the Emirates and I think the commercial model of races, I think there is a lot of places in the world, and fortunately most places which pay reasonable money to hold a Grand Prix, so I don’t think there’s any particular premia in this part of the world.

Q: (Miran Alisic – RTV Slovenia) Excuse me, don’t you think that sometimes a race – even a fantastic race – becomes irrelevant if something more important happens somewhere?

SD: If I might say something about that, once again it seems really we (you) want to find something to make sure that this event is not happening and this is really what, hopefully, we, for sure, as a team, would like not to see and that’s our approach, as I said. I don’t think it’s correct for us to go into a political discussion on what is happening. Of course we need to make sure that what has hopefully been started as a process in this country will happen soon and this is what everyone is really looking for but more than that, I think they will want to pull the things from different stories, different angles. Let’s focus on our jobs and try, on our side, to speak about the sport. This is really our task, to be honest.

BF: If I could come in there as well, I think the Bahrain programme has been very very successful. As much as there is opposition to it, there is also a huge amount of people that are for this process, for the programme to bring through. As Force India, we are totally committed to this Grand Prix and to bringing this programme to reality for Bahrain, and hopefully, as we said earlier, it will form part of the healing process, and if we’re part of that, we should be proud, not looking at ourselves and being negative.

Q: (Vanessa Ruiz – Estadao ESPN) Bob, your decision not to take part in the second part of practice has been interpreted as many things and one of them is a sort of field protest because of what happened to the team on Wednesday evening. Is it to be taken as that or what?

BF: I don’t think it’s because of that at all. I think that what you have to accept is that on Wednesday evening there was a very unfortunate incident for members of Force India, and there is no question, it de-stabilised the emotional element of our team. Yesterday evening we put a programme together which addressed all the issues from the team, we sat down with them all, and that meant a slight re-structuring of the programme in order that we could make sure that there was comfort within the team and that we delivered a very strong qualifying and race programme, and I have to say that Sheikh Abdulla, Bernie, everybody has been enormously helpful in our process, but we have, as a team, to make sure that we gel that together properly and it’s nothing whatsoever to do with… It’s an internal matter that just needs stability, we provided that stability and we’ve stuck with the programme that we’ve had to put in place. It’s not a slight at all on the event, it’s just about an internal structure of Force India. We’ve had to do that, we’ve done it with pleasure and we’ve supported our team in that process and as a result of supporting the team, the whole of our programme is now secure for going forward for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Ends

Bahrain, 19 April 2012: Amidst all the protests by the majority anti-government groups, the FIA and F1 ring master Bernie Ecclestone have decided to continue to go ahead with sport and the the Bahrain Grand Prix will be held as scheduled this Sunday.

The Bahrain circ;uit

will revert to using the 15-corner Grand Prix Circuit configuration last used in 2009 rather than the Endurance Circuit configuration used in 2010.

The Bahrain International Circuit will host the fourth round of the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship. Designed by Hermann Tilke, BIC made its F1 debut in 2004 and was the first circuit in the Middle East to do so. The grand prix has never been won by anyone from beyond the first two rows but neither has it been particularly favourable to drivers on pole – only three times in seven runnings has the pole-sitter gone on to win the race. It has, however, been a circuit that rewards a strong car with six out of the seven races being won by the team that has gone on to win the Constructors’ Championship. The one exception being 2010 – though eventual Champions Red Bull Racing were leading the race comfortably until a faulty spark plug caused Sebastian Vettel to fall back.

For 2012, F1 is going back to the 5.4km Grand Prix Circuit configuration as used in 2009, rather than the 6.3km Endurance Circuit on which it raced in 2010. The revision to the earlier layout cuts out a large slow-speed sector of the track, bringing down the number of corners to 15 from 24. One peculiarity of racing in the desert is the amount of dust on the circuit. Bahrain sees a great deal of track-evolution over the weekend as cars clean the racing line. Another factor with the dust is the amount of attention teams pay to air filtration and monitoring engine wear – ingress of sand or dust into the engine is potentially catastrophic.

The circuit itself is very smooth and doesn’t have the harsh kerbs seen elsewhere, meaning teams can set ride-heights low but still attack apexes aggressively.  This is a heavy braking circuit and calls for unusually high levels of brake cooling. Managing that and providing the right level of traction on the evolving surface are both key technical issues. McLaren go into this race holding a lead in both championships but Bahrain has not been a race at which they have prospered in the past, having neither a victory nor a pole position at BIC.

Bahrain GP4 FIA 1pc

DRIVERS – Heikki KOVALAINEN (Caterham), Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus), Timo GLOCK (Marussia), Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Felipe MASSA (Ferrari)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Heikki, it’s been a difficult start to the season for you. What were you expecting from these first three or four races?

Heikki KOVALAINEN: Well, obviously we’re hoping for better finishes. I think we’ve had some issues pretty much

every race, but we’re working on them and we’re trying to make sure that those kind of troubles that we’ve had don’t happen again. We’ve done everything we can; everything we could do in this short time to make sure that we have a trouble-free race.

Are you expecting a big step forwards, therefore, for Barcelona?

HK: We have upgrades coming, not only for Barcelona, but all the way through the season. We are still catching up. We have not yet joined the midfield, so we’re still targeting that. Obviously everybody’s bringing updates, so how much we will be able to make a rapid gain remains to be seen. But I think we’re working flat out and strengthening the team in every area to be able to do that.

So, what are your hopes for this weekend then?

HK: Hopefully to have a trouble-free weekend, without any incidents, especially in the race. To have smooth pit stops without any extra incidents. Hopefully we can get everything out of the team and out of the car. Like we’ve shown in the last couple of race, especially in China, we were able race a few cars for quite a long time in the race. Hopefully we can carry on doing that.

Romain, now 26-years-old, happy birthday! This is a circuit you know well, you’ve been talking about your GP2 races here and I think you had a ‘full house’ here if you understand what that means.

Romain GROSJEAN: Yeah, well, it’s a circuit I know quite well, from racing in GP2 and testing with Pirelli for the development of the tyres. I think it’s a nice circuit, I quite like it and think we can have a good car here. The weather will be, for once, stable, with some decent temperature and hopefully we can have a clear qualifying and a clear race altogether and achieve an even better result than what we had in the previous race.

In China you got the result you were waiting for, or maybe you were hoping for even better?

RG: You always hope for better! In a way what you want to achieve whenever you start the race is to win. That’s the goal for every driver on the grid. But China was a good race, I think it was very tight, some good battles and we were showing that we were able to carry through the race with good pace and some good moves and to be able to be gentle with the tyres. That was the key in China and I think that will the key one more time here.

But this is such a different circuit and the temperatures and conditions are going to be so different.

RG: Yes, but I hate the cold, so I feel better here. The tyre strategy will be different and the tyre usage will be different here as we have these temperatures but as well I don’t think we are not going to struggle with warm-up issues or making the work, which will help us to set up the car in a good way.

Timo, obviously the team has been playing catch-up since the start of the season but how do you feel they’ve been getting on? It seems to be a very steep learning curve.

Timo GLOCK: Yes, absolutely. If you do 200kms of testing before the first race, every lap, every kilometre you do is like a learning process for us at the moment. I’m quite happy with the past races, I think we’ve closed the gap quite significantly: last qualifying we were three seconds behind; first race we had five and a half seconds, so there’s a clear step forward and that’s good.

The results seem positive and the car’s reliable as well, how far can you go, do you feel?

TG: I hope we can continue like this in terms of improvements but it will be difficult. European season everyone comes with new updates so we just have to work hard and continue the process we’re doing at the moment. It would be great to have at every race a step like we had in China, so we have to see what we can do. We have some little parts here, which could improve the car again, so we’re looking forward to it. I think we have a good baseline to really catch-up.

Is the big update coming at Barcelona like most people?

TG: Yeah, we’re working on it. It’s not definite how much we will get out of it but at the moment we’re getting new parts every race. If that continues I don’t care how big the update is in Barcelona. If you can keep it up through the whole year that’s more important.

Lewis, did you expect to be leading the Championship with three third places after three races?

Lewis HAMILTON: Good afternoon everyone, no, definitely not. The target every year I think is to have consistency and sometimes it just doesn’t go to plan but this year I think we’ve been quite fortunate. Finishing on the podium for the first three races has been fantastic for us. Obviously it’s very early in the season. In previous seasons you’ve seen Championship leaders swapping and changing throughout the year so it doesn’t really mean too much at the moment.

Do you feel your car is suited to this circuit? I mean it seems that the game has changed this year with less downforce. The tyres are just so, so important, even more than they have been before – is that the case?

LH: I personally don’t think they’re much more important than in the past, I think last year we had similar tyre degradation and we had to manage the tyres in a similar way. If you look at the last race the people on a two-stop were slow at the end of the race and people on three stop were overtaking them. It was the same last year – that’s how I won the race. This year the tyre window, the working range is slightly narrower than it was last year, which is making it a little more difficult for people to warm-up the tyres in qualifying, for example. It is a little more challenging but it’s providing good racing.

And who is your main competitor? Is he [Nico] your main competitor having been the winner of the last race, or your team-mate? It’s difficult to say, isn’t it?

LH: It is very difficult to say. You know, when you look at qualifying we’re competitive there, Mercedes is now the quickest but it’s quite close between a lot of the cars, but in the race pace then you look at the Red Bull being very quick, the Mercedes is very quick, we are quick, even Sauber’s quick. It’s a real mixture at the moment and it’s just about trying to stay consistent and trying to maximise every opportunity you have.

Nico, sadly only a few days to enjoy the win from last weekend but very interesting, this is a circuit that you’ve done very well on in F3, in GP2, made your F1 debut here and had fastest lap – you must be looking forward to this weekend?

Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, for sure. This is a track I really enjoy, I’ve had some very good memories here but again it’s just difficult to know where we’re going to be exactly. In Shanghai of course we did very well but previously we did have a few issues in the races, so it’s possible it’s going to be a bit more difficult here.

You mentioned those issues, which were tyre-related, and yet you seemed to get it absolutely right in China, can it just go back to square one again here? Is that how difficult it is to get it right?

NR: Well at the same time the engineers and everybody have really been making some good progress on the car, setup-wise and things like that. So we’re learning very quickly, so it wasn’t a coincidence that we were fast in Shanghai. No, we did a good job and got the best out of it – but the situation could be different here with the temperatures and that might prove a little bit more of a challenge but I don’t know.

The emphasis more on setup than it used to be?

NR: Tyre management is more of a problem in the races than it used to be. That’s definitely the case and that can be influenced with setup and various other things.

Q: Felipe, this has been a good circuit for you in the past: two wins here, three times qualified second. Do you feel that you’re on an upward curve now?

Felipe MASSA: Yeah, for sure it’s a very nice track. I have had a great time here. I would expect to have a good race here, the best of the season – so far. I’m just looking forward to having a nice race, scoring good points and working now on having a better race all the time.

Q: Did you feel you had made progress in Shanghai?

FM: Yes, definitely, even if the result at the end was not very satisfying for the team, for Fernando or for me, it was a normal race in terms of race pace, in terms of qualifying and everything. Everything was normal. For sure it was a much more different race in Shanghai compared to the first two races.

Q: And will these temperatures, even though they are very different to Shanghai, will they be more suited to the car?

FM: I hope so. For sure it’s a different track, very different to Shanghai but in a way, we’re still working to improve the car, still working to make the car more competitive and the car here is not very different to the car in Shanghai, so we will see how the behaviour of the car is on this track in qualifying, but also in the race and see if we can do something different, be more competitive than in Shanghai.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Julien Febreau – L’Equipe) Lewis, it seems that you’re even stronger as a person than last year. Do you feel that way and if so, do you feel that your challenging season last year has helped you?

LH: I definitely think that the last three years have added to where I am today. I think there have been a lot of lessons learned and a lot of good and bad experiences which of course definitely help you when you have a good car and when you’re in a much better position. Yeah, as for all athletes, I think you have to get your mind set in a certain way and there are  many things that can affect that. For example, look at Tiger Woods. He’s there and sometimes he’s not and he’s the best out there. It’s really a massive mental game which is about trying to get your mind on the right path. But I feel that I’m there or thereabouts at the moment, still working hard.

Q: (Alex Popov – RTR)  Romain, you had a very intense race last Sunday in Shanghai. Your personal battle with Maldonado was perhaps even more than intense. Do you personally see it as revenge for Melbourne?

RG: No, it’s not revenge. I made a mistake with Mark Webber which is why I had to fight with Pastor Maldonado. I think that the fight was a little bit tight. Honestly, I wish we hadn’t touched each other’s cars, but at the end, I ended up in front of him and then I could pull away and finish my race at my own pace and even overtook the second Williams to score more points but that’s what I was glad of.

Q: (Alex Popov – RTR) Romain, did you have a lot to say to your engineer about your strategy during the race? Is there a lot of communication?

RG: Well, there is a lot of briefing before the race when there is time to go through the strategies. We had two options basically: either two stops or three stops. The question arose during the second stint: either you really want to push and try to go for three stops, or you make your tyres last for the 20 or 25 laps that you need and you just go for two stops. I think our set-up was pretty good and the car was working very well on the prime tyres. The second stint was very good and we had pitted to cover Sebastian Vettel, if not, we could have done more laps in the second stint which would have made the third one even easier, but at the end of the story, my engineers did a good job, they helped me to save the tyres and make them last longer. When you are fighting with other cars, it’s always difficult to save them. You have to realise that the race is long and that you still have a few laps to go.

Q: (Thomas Hanratty – Gulf Daily News) Obviously there’s been a lot of media hype in the build-up to this weekend; has it been much of a distraction for you, in terms of your preparations, or have you just been able to block everything out and keep focused?

HK: It hasn’t had the slightest influence on my preparation. I’ve prepared for the Grand Prix, physically and mentally, the same way that I do any other race. That’s all I can answer to that question.

RG: Well, we’ve been preparing for the event as well as we can. As you say, we can’t ignore the situation but in another way, I hope the race may make a clear vision and help the situation and I think the Grand Prix will be nice.

TG: No, we have made the same preparation as all the other races.

LH: They’ve said it all. The team has just been focusing on preparing ourselves for the best way of trying to get some wins.

NR: No, we have been preparing to the best of my possibilities and the team’s also.

FM: Yeah, the same preparation as always. We came here for the sport, that’s the best thing to do, it’s a sport.

Q: (Gary Meenaghan – The National) Nico, now that you’ve tasted the taste of success, do you think it’s going to be harder for you to cope if you’re not racing… if you’re not fighting for the win at every race?

NR: Niki Lauda said right after the race, ‘Nico, believe me, the first win is by the far the most difficult and after that it becomes much easier.’ So I’ll go for that, he should know.

HK: I got a message from Bernie (Ecclestone) after the first race (win) which said that ‘now it’s downhill’, so there’s also that option.

Q: (Alex Popov – RTR) Nico, after qualifying in Shanghai you explained the huge gap of half a second by the drop in temperature by a few degrees, that you had changed the set-up between Q2 and Q3 etc etc, but in the race itself, after the first ten laps, the gap was five seconds, so it never reached the same half a second, so how do you explain that? Was that you?

NR: No, definitely not. It was just that everything came together. I was on top of my game for the weekend in qualifying and the race, but also the set-up – the car was working very well  still, I think, in qualifying. Even in Shanghai, we were stronger eventually in the race but of course it was enough to win by some margin. All in all, it was a really strong weekend.

Ends

Shanghai, 15 April 2012: Nico Roseberg of Mercedes came out as an amazing winner to put paid to the hopes of Jenson Button, whose late pit stop ruined his changes and McLaren had to be content with a second and third place while it was a brilliant first win for the German. Nico won after starting from pole. It was the first time since 1955 that the front row was occupied by Mercedes but the seven time national champion missed out after an off the field excursion after being in a strong third position.

It was really grat moment for Nico, who earned his first pole position on Saturday. He was very pleased at the post conference Press Conference where all the first three drivers attended.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to publish any photos of Mercedes as we are not officially accredited by the Mercedes team.

Here goes the FIA, final press conerence for the Chinese GP week=end.

TV UNILATERALS

 Nico, well done. You join an exclusive club of drivers who’ve turned their maiden pole into their maiden win. How do you feel?

Nico ROSBERG: Thank you very much. Well, it’s an unbelievable feeling: very, very cool. I’m very happy, very excited. It’s been a long time coming for me, and for the team as well over the past two years and a bit. Now, it’s finally here. It’s just amazing and it’s just nice to see how quickly we are now progressing. I didn’t expect to be that fast today. I expected that we had a good chance to be in front, but I was very happy today with the pace I was able to go in the race.

Jenson, a three-stop strategy for you today, but the third stop really cost you big time didn’t it?

Jenson BUTTON: Yeah, it did. But before that our race pace was good, especially on the harder of the two tyres. I had some really good battles out there. And then in my last stop, I stopped on the marks and we had a problem with the rear of the car, so I was stuck there for nine or ten seconds I think it was. It was a pity because when I exited the pits I had four cars in front of me; cars that I wouldn’t have been racing, and I would have had a nice clear track to hopefully hunt down Nico. It was a big gap but you’ve got to give it a go. But, all in all, a fun day. I really enjoyed today. It was a good race, some good overtaking out there and nice to eventually come away with some good points and second place.

Lewis, you started seventh and finished third. Were you surprised by Nico’s pace today?

Lewis HAMILTON: We knew that all weekend they had been quick and if we let these people get away it would be hard to catch him, so fantastic for him, congratulations. Your first pole and your first win is an incredible feeling. But I’m very happy to have made it up to the podium. As I said, I wanted to just go forwards and the team did a great job with the pit stops and with strategy. I think it was one of the best races so far this season, just because there was a lot of overtaking and there was a train of us – I think seven cars or something – it was incredible. Yeah, fantastic day.

Nico, there were a lot of questions marks about Mercedes’ race pace going into this race. What have you done to the car to improve it so much?

NR: Big thanks to the whole team, because all the engineers especially in the past few weeks have been working very, very hard also, as everybody else has also, just improving the set-up, because we really struggled in the first two races with race pace. Today it all came good. It’s great to see just how quickly we managed to progress. It’s just fantastic.

Jenson, a key moment for you was obviously the start, you went up from fifth place to third place. Tell us about it?

JB: Yeah, I got a good start. I think all year, so far, we’ve had very good starts, if not the best starts and [that’s] promising when you don’t qualify so well. Great job by the whole team for sorting out a special start out for me and great to get up into P3. But I think lastly for me, I’d like to congratulate Nico. We all know how special it is, your first win, and I’m sure there will be many more, just hopefully not too many more this year.

For you Lewis, a lot of battles throughout the race but a very exciting one at the end with Sebastian Vettel. Tell us about it?

LH: It wasn’t just with him. It was with everyone really. They [Red Bull] were massively quick on the straight, even when we had the DRS engaged. You had to use all your KERS to get right up behind and obviously you get to the DRS zone and try to use the DRS to catapult past. Finally, I got close enough to do so. I guess he was out a bit longer on his tyres. Nonetheless, he put up a good fight. So did all of them really. I think we lost a little bit of time behind, I think, maybe Pérez. But nevertheless it was still exciting racing.

Finally, back to you Nico. Your father Keke, of course, a grand prix winner and a world champion. What are you going to say on the phone to your dad tonight?

NR: We’ll see. Hopefully he’s very happy too and I look forward to speaking to him.

PRESS CONFERENCE

 Nico, a bit of a packed weekend for you, what with setting records with Mercedes, your first pole, your first win etc. It’s all come at once!

NR: Yeah, I know. It’s been the perfect weekend. Everything’s gone [well]. It couldn’t be better. Very happy. It was a great race. It was impressive to see really how we’ve managed to progress so quickly. We’ve really had some difficult times in the races, the first two, but we’ve made a lot of changes, worked hard at it and all of a sudden it’s come good. That’s been fantastic to see today. I’m just so happy for all of us and I really look forward now to spending some time with the team later on.

Was everything perfect in the car as well, throughout the race?

NR: Perfect? Well, it’s never perfect but it definitely felt very good out there.

You didn’t seem to have any problems. It seemed to be a trouble-free race for you.

NR: It’s never easy, especially taking care of the tyres was a big difficulty and a big challenger today because there was a lot of tyre wear, but it worked out well.

Yesterday you gave the impression that, OK, you’re on pole but it was going to be a lot more difficult to win the race – but you won it, it didn’t seem to be that much more difficult.

NR: Of course I was a bit careful yesterday because yes, we were on pole but we’ve seen good qualifying performances all along this year and we’ve had more difficulties on high fuel in the race, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect – but fantastic outcome.

And the tyre strategy, you were happy with that as well, rather than a three-stop?

NR: I think we got it all right today, even tyre strategy. Everybody in the team did a great job, all the different people, my engineers at the start, the strategy, this and that – everything came together.

What you did miss was an incredible battle going on behind you…

NR: I was aware of a bit of that because every lap the name changed of the person behind me – I said ‘what’s going on back there?’

Jenson, you must love that little DRS thing, that was great, picking them off one after the other.

JB: Yeah, but we made it a little bit harder for ourselves in the last stint with a long pit stop – but hey, these things happen, and the first two were very good. A great race, we went for a three-stop strategy, which was different to a lot of people, it was good fun, even with the problem we had, and the possibility that we could maybe have chased down this guy [Nico]. Even though we didn’t have that possibility it was still a great race. I’m very happy to come away with second. I can’t remember how many cars I overtook during the race but it was a good fight and most of it was very, very clean, which is good to see. I think we put on a great show for all the viewers and especially all the fans here in Shanghai.

Your race was a little bit easier than Lewis’. Lewis had a little bit of a tougher time I think.

JB: Ah, I don’t know. I think when you’re in front for the first few laps it always makes it easier. You’re dropping the traffic better. Everything was going to plan, I knew I’d have traffic and we were picking them off nicely up to the second pit stop. But after the last stop it was a lot more difficult. Kimi was leading a train of about eight cars and everyone was DRS-ing at the same time, so, until Sebastian had a go at Kimi, I couldn’t have a go at Sebastian. It was good fun. Overtaking Sebastian was probably the most fun move of the race, down into the hairpin. Or maybe Grosjean, when I took him before the actual back straight, through the right-hander, that was quite nice as well.

A lo of satisfaction from that I can imagine.

JB: Yeah.

Q: Lewis, I know it’s another third place, but you had a great race out there, a lot of people to overtake.

LH: Yeah, I had my work cut out today. It was a fantastic race, I really enjoyed it. As I said yesterday, I just wanted to see if I could move forwards: a good start, good pit stops, good strategy, but what an incredible race with so many World Champions and so many of the great drivers all in a train, just fighting each other. It’s great to see racing like that and to see cars so close in pace. It was a little bit unfortunate that there was quite a lot of traffic throughout the race but I’m sure that if we started a little bit higher up it would have been a little bit of a different result for us, but nonetheless, Nico did a fantastic job so congratulations to him. I’m glad we were able to get some good team points today.

Q: How much downforce were you losing in that train, for instance through the corner onto the straight?

LH: You try to stay out of the wake of the car in front, so you take a slightly tighter line which enables you to remain as close as possible. As I said, it just provides great racing. I don’t remember being in a race like that for some time so we’re doing something right.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

 Q: (Frederique Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico, you said you wanted to win with Mercedes, now you have done so, just like Fangio and Stirling Moss. What does that mean to you?

NR: Ah, it’s definitely very special, the whole thing, firstly just to win the race, to win my first race is special and everything that comes with it, with the Silver Arrows, with the team that I have, with everybody who has been working together for more than two years now. Yeah, it’s a very happy moment.

Q: (Yan Xiao Yan -Titan Sports) It’s your seventh year in Formula One; do you think that the champagne has come to you too late?

NR: No, I’m not going to say that, no. But I look forward to many more in the future, definitely.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Nico, you said that you have had incredible car development from the last race to this one. Can you give us some details? Is it mechanical, set-up? What exactly explains this?

NR: Well, it’s set-up really, really thinking about what’s going on in the race and why are we struggling and trying to improve that situation. Surely the conditions helped us today, I think, but even so, we’re just moving forward and that’s very nice to see. Already from the beginning of the year we’ve been very strong in qualifying, perhaps more difficult in the race. Now we’re still strong in qualifying – very strong, maybe even stronger – and also improving the race, so it’s good progress forward and I’m sure that we will continue this ongoing development. It was mainly set-up.

Q: (Frederique Ferret – L’Equipe) Jenson, you had to wait some time to win for the first time; do you think that Nico can take the same path as you?

JB: We were talking on the podium and yeah, he beat me by two races. I took113 and he’s on 111. It’s amazing how, with some people, it can happen very quickly if you can find yourself in the right situation. For others it takes a little bit more time. Which way would you chose? We’d all chose to win immediately, I think. I wouldn’t chose my career path and the mistakes that I’ve made and obviously the good things that have happened in my career – it’s just different for all of us. I’m sure that this won’t be Nico’s first and last win. They – the team – seem very competitive this year and Nico obviously hasn’t put a foot wrong all weekend. So I think we’re going to have a battle on our hands this year which is good to see.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, when did you make the decision to stop only twice, and when were you sure it was the right strategy?

NR: Well, I think we’re very strong on strategy – just great people involved with that as well. We have a lot of competence in the team which is fantastic. Before the race, that was our plan. Of course you have Plan B if things don’t go well but things progressed exactly as we had hoped for. The tyres lasted for exactly the amount of laps that we were hoping for so it just all went to plan.

Q: (News Time – Yan Peng) Nico, who will you make the first phone call to? Your Dad or (girlfriend) Vivian?

NR: I don’t know. I will see.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Jenson, if you had come out in front of the train without the problem at the last pit stop, do you think you could have caught Nico? I think your tyres were five laps younger.

JB: That was obviously the aim but you never know if that’s going to be possible. It was a big gap to chase down but before the stop, we had very good pace on new and old tyres so I don’t know. That was our aim but it didn’t go to plan, but we had a problem at the pit stop which cost us a lot of time – it didn’t just cost us time, it cost us places as well, so it made it very difficult to have the possibility to chase down Nico. But that’s the way it is. Sometimes it doesn’t quite go your way but I must say that most of the pit stops that we’ve had this weekend have been fantastic. We’ve just got to get rid of that bad one.

Q: In a week’s time we will be in Bahrain, at what we would expect to be a hotter race; how’s that going to affect you? Do you think that you can do the same again – for both Nico and McLaren?

NR: Yeah. For sure we’re not where we want to be in the race. I had a great race today but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be like that at every race. We still need to push hard and continue progressing. Bahrain could be a little bit of a different story again. We need to wait and see. It’s difficult to predict. I couldn’t have predicted today so we’ll just take it as it comes, but for sure I’m looking forward to what’s to come because we’re looking much stronger.

JB: I’m looking forward to it being hot. We would hope to go even better. I’ve just struggled – I think everyone has this weekend – with trying to get the tyres in an operating window. It’s been so difficult. The change in four or five degrees has been massive difference in car balance. I would rather it to be a little bit more straightforward and we can really get down to business.

Q: (Frederique Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico, the last time you were leading in China, both of the McLaren drivers won that time. Are you enjoying the fact that these two guys are behind you now?

NR: No, I don’t think about that. Not really, no.

Ends

Following is the FIA Press Conference for the top three qualifiers at the Chinese Grand Prix held on Saturday in Shanghai.

DRIVERS Present

1 – Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)

2 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren)

3 – Michael SCHUMACHER (Mercedes)

 TV UNILATERAL

 Nico, sensational lap how do you feel about your first F1 pole?

Nico ROSBERG. Fantastic, yeah, thank you. It went really well, it’s a very special feeling definitely. Now obviously looking forward to starting first tomorrow.

Where did you find the time?

NR: The track was cooling off a little bit, the temperatures were coming down slightly and so the rear tyres started to work a little bit better. Changed the setup of the car slightly before the last run and just got a perfect lap so it worked out really, really well.

Lewis, moving to you, you virtually grew up with Nico through the karting and the single-seaters. Tell us how you feel first of all about his achievement today?

Lewis HAMILTON: Big congratulations to Nico, it’s fantastic and really done in style: it’s quite a big gap between us. I’m very proud of him and obviously we grew up racing together and always dreamed of being in Formula One together and now we’re on the front row together. Obviously I’ve got a penalty but still, it’s a good day.

And what about your own performance today and how you feel you’re fixed for the race, bearing in mind where you’re going to start on the grid tomorrow?

LH: We’re in a good position I think. I made some good setup changes to the car, it feels good, particularly for the long runs. It’s going to be tough for sure, there are a lot of good drivers ahead of me but I’ll be pushing as hard as I can.

Michael, we heard you on the radio asking for Nico’s lap time and when the engineer told you, you sounded pretty surprised by what he’d achieved. Sum up what you think about what you two have done today.

Michael SCHUMACHER: No, I said actually ‘well done’, because that was a phenomenal lap time. For all of us, to see the gap that big is a bit of a surprise but there you go. He’s known as a good qualifier and no reason [for me] to be unhappy. The opposite: happy for him for his first pole. Congratulations as we know – I guess – it’s going to be the first [front] row of a proper Mercedes Silver Arrow that we’re going to take place in the Shanghai Grand Prix tomorrow. That’s a great achievement.

That’s right, with Lewis moving five places back

MS: Good for us!

How about your race situation? Obviously you’ve qualified well inn these cars so far this season but we’ve seen you go backwards in the race. Do you think it’ll be easy on the tyres tomorrow in this car?

MS: Well, my two races, one I retired and the other one I got put backwards by being spun around, so it’s not completely clear what we would have seen with our car. It’s certainly a question mark whether we would have been able to keep up that position but we’ll try our best to do so.

Back you Nico, that’s qualifying over with but what do you feel you can do in the race because Mercedes certainly need the points tomorrow, don’t they?

NR: Yeah, for me it’s also sort of the start of the season now because the first two races haven’t gone too well. So it’s not bad to start first, obviously for us it’s fantastic. Of course it’s pretty clear I think that in the race we been not quite as good as in qualifying lately. We’ve worked very hard to try and improve that but it’s not something you can change in a few weeks. It’s going to take some time but we’re making good progress in the race, that’s important. It’s difficult to know exactly where we’re going to be tomorrow because again with the conditions changing, if it becomes a little bit colder that might help us, for example. I don’t really know how it’s going to go. For sure we’re going to try our best. We’re going to work hard tonight to try and do the final little details on the set up, electronically specifically, and make the most of it.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Nico, congratulations, I’m sure you’ve been waiting for this for a little while?

NR: definitely. It’s a great feeling. Fantastic. It worked out well, qualifying, especially as we got it all right in the end. It was a good lap and it all came together. It’s the perfect start until now. I’m really happy for the whole team. It really shows that, as a team, we’re moving forward. In qualifying we’re very, very strong now. In the race we’re still not quite as strong and not where we want to be yet but also there, we’re learning a lot and progressing fast. The thing is we can’t make huge jumps in a couple of weeks, it’s going to take a bit more time, but we’re getting there.

You said yesterday that you were struggling a little bit with the front tyres. I guess you weren’t in qualifying?

NR: In qualifying, not so much, no! In qualifying it was definitely better. The temperature coming down in the end slightly helped, just helped the rear tyres a little bit. We’re depending on that also a lot for tomorrow, then how the conditions are can change things a lot for us. It’s difficult to know really how well we’re going to go tomorrow. We’ll see.

You had an amazing margin over whoever was going to be second at the end. It must have been a funny situation when you were walking down the pit lane and everyone was still trying to beat you?

NR: You can say that for sure. The lap time was very, very strange. I had no idea if the track got a lot better or what was going on out there, so I was just hoping, ‘come on, let that be enough, please’ and it was, so it was good.

It must have been a perfect lap?

NR: It was, definitely.

Lewis, on the front row again, but sadly, you won’t be on the front row again [this weekend]. It looked like a good lap.

LH: Yeah, it wasn’t such a bad lap, but I’m pleased to say congratulations to Nico, it’s fantastic to see him up there and for us to qualify on the front row, for me, is a quite a cool feeling because we were team-mates back in 2000 and good friends from way before that. We always dreamed of being here on the front row and racing in Formula One and here we are. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to have that front row, but I’ll just have to work my hardest to try to catch him up.

What about that last lap. You aborted it. Were you just not going to be quick enough?

LH: I probably could have gone a tenth quicker but it was very close. It wasn’t enough to close the gap to Nico. No one else was improving on their times so it was important to try to save the tyres.

You’re a two-time winner here, so what are your chances tomorrow?

LH: I have a lot of work ahead of me. Just moving forward is what I’ll be aiming for and obviously to finish the race. Then we’ll just see what happens from there. You know anything can happen here with the weather. These guys are going to be massively quick, so I wish them all the best but I just hope me and Jenson can make our way forward and score some valuable points.

Q: Michael, you actually won from sixth on the grid here, that was your best ever grid position here and you’ve just beaten that by three places. We almost had the sight of Norbert (Haug, Mercedes motor sport boss) dancing in the garage just now, he was so happy. Obviously it’s a great result for the Mercedes team.

MS: Absolutely. Norbert has been suffering with us for the last two and a half years. Obviously it’s his little baby, to get the Mercedes car up front and to achieve this, with all the effort that Mercedes has put in, the team has put in, it’s just great. It’s the first front row for Silver Arrows for I don’t know how many years (Monza, 1955, three cars, Fangio, Moss, Kling), yeah, very proud of this one.

Q: Was this the sort of performance you’ve been expecting for the last couple of races?

MS: Actually not. Looking at yesterday, I didn’t think it would be enough to fight for pole position and looking at what Nico was able to do, obviously I think it’s a little surprise for all of us, but nevertheless, the gap looked a little bit bigger than it finally was today and good for us, let’s hope we can keep it that way. Obviously the further forward we are the better the prospects are for tomorrow.

Q: Are you quite confident with the tyres for the race tomorrow?

MS: Yeah. No, we don’t have a particular problem, it’s just a question of how the general speed on high fuel compares to the others, what that means, and then obviously you have tyre degradation, everybody has it, some have more, some have less but for me, I guess it will be the first proper race which I’m hopefully going to finish and I will tell more at the end!

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

 Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, you only had one run in Q3; was it because you didn’t have any tyres any more or did you save one set?

NR: It was just a decision to save another set of tyres. It was a good lap, I didn’t know if it was going to be enough or not, but it was definitely a good lap and saving a set is very good for the race, so we just took the decision to go for that, because the race is where the points are, not in qualifying.

 Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) You could have had two runs, did you save a set of tyres beforehand, then?

MS: Yup, same (as Nico).

Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Nico, what was your feeling when you discovered that you had pole?

NR: First of all, it was strange beforehand because I was standing there on my own and everybody else was still going round, but I couldn’t do anything any more, so it was strange. And then slowly but surely, I saw the sector times and I saw that it was definitely going to be enough so fantastic, very excited.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico, you said that tomorrow might be good if the temperature goes down a little bit, because it might be better for the rear tyres, but yesterday, wasn’t it a problem that the low temperatures created some graining on the front?

NR: Yeah, that’s true, that’s why it’s difficult to foresee tomorrow and our performance compared to the other top teams. We just need to wait. We’re in a good position now, we’ve done our homework over the last couple of days, we’ve optimised what we have with the knowledge that we have. Of course, we’re still learning a lot with the car, a lot of things are different but we will see. Difficult to say.

 Q: (China Radio International – Peng Yan Yuan) Michael, you came back last year, and now you’re doing well this year and we have Kimi coming back this year. So who’s going to be the next former World Champion coming back to Formula One?

MS: Well, there are plenty of elder champions around so I don’t know. Ask around!

Q: (Xinmin Evening News – Li Ran Ran) Nico, this year you have your first pole, do you feel pressure with Hamilton and Michael behind you?

NR: Of course. Of course I’m very proud, the first pole is great, for the whole team, it’s a special moment for the whole team and the first of many moments to come, great results and everything. And it’s great to share the qualifying podium here with Lewis and Michael. With Lewis, in the year 2000, we were saying how we imagined one day we were going to be one and two in F1 and now here in qualifying that’s the case, so that’s nice. Of course, having Michael to share the front row with is fantastic for the team, so it’s good.

Ends

Shanghai, 5 April 2012: While Lewis Hamilton, who finished third in both the Australian GP and the Malaysian GP after starting on pole is much more sober and philosophical now. Though he was angry at Australia for not winning, he was more at peace with the third place in Sepang in a rain-hit race that kept him in the points. Get points in every race and being close to the front runners is important, but I would love to win every race,” quipped last year’s Chinese Grand Prix winner which takes place on April 15.

You called the Malaysian Grand Prix a “bad day in the office” – does that change your preparations for this weekend’s race in Shanghai?

“Not really, it makes you a little keener to get back in the cockpit as you’re always a bit more determined to be looking ahead rather than looking back. But, like I say, it doesn’t really make any difference. In fact, the three-week break has been extremely relaxing – I was able to get away, relax and keep training. It’s still the start of a very long season, so it’s good to keep fit and refreshed. I’ve usually gone well in Shanghai, it’s a circuit I really enjoy and I’m looking forward to the race weekend.”

You memorably won here in 2010 – what is it about the circuit that makes it special?

“Well, the facilities are amazing, but it’s a very good, modern circuit – the first two sectors are pretty technical, there are some interesting combinations of corners and you need a good, responsive car to go well. Then the track opens up, the straight is one of the longest in Formula 1 – it just keeps going – then you’re into the hairpin and the final turn, both of which offer good opportunities for overtaking. There’s no one particular corner that stands out, but that’s good, because it means they’ve done a good job with the whole track.

“And if it rains, then it’s going to be another extremely unpredictable race as we’re all still learning about the cars and tyres in damp conditions. Whatever happens, it should be interesting.”

What will be the key to a good race performance in 2012?

“There will be the usual set-up compromises: setting the car up to offer good downforce through some of the faster corners, but without sacrificing too much speed along the straights. We saw different teams address that balance in different ways over the first two races, so it will be interesting to see if things start to converge this weekend after a few weeks back in Europe.

“Tyre wear will also be very important – last year we saw a real disparity between the compounds – so getting the preparation right will be crucial.”

Car 4: Lewis Hamilton

Age      27 (January 7 1985)

GPs      92

Wins    17

Poles   21

FLs      11

You opened your winning account in China last year, are you hoping for the same this season?

“I’m looking at the championship as a whole – although, of course, I’d love to win every race, it’s more important to be in a good points-scoring position at every race. I think the first two races have shown that, as a team, we’re definitely in positions to win.

“I think Malaysia was a good example of how to pick up points when you’re looking at the championship – and that was something I really took away as a positive from that race. But yeah, I’ll be heading to China looking to win – but it’s just as important to pick up some good points if, for whatever reason, a win isn’t on the cards.”

What do you like about the Shanghai International Circuit?

“I have some vivid memories of racing in China – some good, some not so good! I’ve won there twice – both were victories I’m really proud of: in 2008, it was a very important race, and I really needed a good result for the championship – we had a pretty much perfect weekend with pole position, fastest lap and the race win. Then in 2011, coming off the back of a difficult weekend in Malaysia, I had a great race, kept pushing every lap and managed to take the lead right at the end. It was a very important win because it showed that we could be a force in the championship that year.”

“I won’t deny that I’m disappointed to have had two pole positions and not to have been able to convert either of them into victories, but I prefer to think of it that luck just hasn’t been on my side, and that it will swing my way sooner or later.

“I also think last year taught me the value of consistency: it’s no use chasing a great result if you can’t back it up with another strong finish the following week. So maybe I’m just playing myself in gently: after all, in 2007, I didn’t win a race until the sixth round, and I was in the hunt for the title all through the year. I still don’t think the pecking order has settled down yet, so it’s important to get some good results in the bag while we can. It will be very interesting to see how the order has shaken itself out over the last three weeks – it’s going to be an interesting weekend.”

Martin Whitmarsh

Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“The Chinese Grand Prix is a race in which we’ve traditionally gone very well – we’ve won three of the past four races here, all of which have come through faultless performances from Jenson and Lewis – and we head to Shanghai this year keen to add to that tally.

“While there are mixed feelings to have only been able to convert two all-front-row starting positions into one race win, everybody here at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes feels extremely encouraged by our pace in the first two grands prix of the season.

“Make no mistake, however: we’re acutely aware that our rivals won’t have stood still during the past three weeks. We’ve certainly been extremely busy, too, and we don’t take anything for granted: if the overall competitive order was a little hard to read in the first two races, I have no doubt that it will start to become clearer next weekend, and I strongly believe that, once again, it will be closely fought at the front.”

How McLaren defined six days in the history of the Chinese Grand Prix

1. September 26 2004

The inaugural Chinese Grand Prix ends with the top three separated by just 1.4s. Kimi Raikkonen comes home third for McLaren, after sitting on the gearbox of Jenson Button from the second round of pitstops.

2. October 16 2005

Kimi finishes second to newly crowned world champion Fernando Alonso. He sets the fastest lap of the race, but loses a strategic advantage when the Safety Car is deployed after Juan Pablo Montoya dislodges a piece of metal grating at Turn 10.

3. October 7 2007

Lewis Hamilton does everything right early on. He leads the race from pole position, but as he pits on lap 31 he runs wide at the pitlane entry and beaches his car in the gravel. Raikkonen wins for Ferrari, ahead of Fernando in the second MP4-22.

4. October 19 2008

Lewis converts pole position into the team’s first victory in China. His fastest lap of the race emphasises his dominance and, as a result of this win, all he needs is fifth place in Interlagos to clinch the world championship.

5. April 18 2010

A classic Jenson Button victory. Light rain falls at the start of the race and Jenson stays on slicks while his rivals pit for intermediates. When the rain stops and the track dries out, Jenson moves into the lead and is never headed. Lewis finishes second to give Vodafone McLaren Mercedes a one-two finish.

6. 17 April 2011

A three-stop strategy and a fresh set of tyres at the end of the race allows Lewis to rapidly close on Sebastian Vettel, who he audaciously passes for the lead with four laps left. Jenson comes home fourth to maintain his 100 percent finishing record in China.

Shanghai International Circuit facts & stats

The scale of the Shanghai International Circuit is breathtaking. Built on marshland in 2003, the track sits on more than 40,000 stabilising concrete pillars and its infrastructure is bigger and bolder than at any other circuit on the Formula 1 calendar.

The track is a good technical challenge for the teams and drivers with some high-speed changes of direction and a 1km back straight offering a challenge to find the least compromised set-up. One of the most demanding corners on the lap is Turn One, a tightening right-hander entered at speeds in excess of 300km/h with an apex speed or 70km/h. It places the left-front tyre under prolonged stress, which has an impact on wear rates and race strategy.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has a strong record in the Chinese Grand Prix. The team has won the race three times and finished on the podium on seven further occasions.

Race distance               56 Laps (189.568 miles/305.066km)

Start time                     15:00 (local)/07:00 (GMT)

Circuit length               3.387 miles/5.451km

2011 winner                  Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) 56 laps in 1hr 36m58.226s (188.758km/h)

2011 pole                     Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) 1m33.706s (209.416km/h)

Lap record                   Michael Schumacher (Ferrari 2004) 1m32.238s (212.749km/h)

McLaren at the Chinese Grand Prix

Wins                3 (2008, 2010, 2011)

Poles               2 (2007, 2008)

Fastest laps      3 (2005, 2008, 2010)

Car 3: Jenson Button

Age      32 (January 19 1980)

GPs      210

Wins    13

Poles   7

FLs      7

eom/ Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team press release.