INDIA in F1

Tag: Force India

  • Sahara Force India and Mercedes-Benz in long-term powertrain supply agreement

    Bangalore, 28 March 2013: Sahara Force India and Mercedes-Benz are delighted to announce the signature of a long-term agreement for the Silverstone-based team to use a full Mercedes-Benz powertrain from the 2014 season onwards, said a Press Release here on Thursday.
    The agreement will see Mercedes-Benz supply Sahara Force India with a complete Power Unit (Internal Combustion Engine plus Energy Recovery System), transmission and all associated ancillary systems under the new regulations for 2014.
    Mercedes-Benz entered the era of customer engine supply in 2009 with the Silverstone-based team and this close working relationship is now in its fifth season. These historic links and the growing competitiveness of Sahara Force India helped pave the way for an expansion of the existing partnership to also include the supply of the gearbox and hydraulic systems.
    Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director of Sahara Force India: “Our new agreement with Mercedes-Benz for the coming years is the most significant in the history of Sahara Force India. With new powertrain regulations being introduced next year, I can’t think of a better partner to work with as Formula One enters a new and exciting era. The agreement gives us the long-term stability we require and will enable us to continue our journey towards the front of the Formula One grid.”
    Toto Wolff, Executive Director of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS: “It is a significant milestone to announce our first long-term agreement for powertrain supply under the 2014 regulations. Sahara Force India was our first genuine customer in Formula One back in 2009 and we are delighted to enter an expanded, long-term relationship with them from 2014 onwards. This long-term agreement offers excellent value in terms of the balance between price and performance. We hope it will mean Mercedes-Benz and Sahara Force India working together for the entire life cycle of the new powertrain generation.”
    ends

  • Sutil starts on P8 hoping for a dry race; Kimi penalised

    Sepang, 23 March 2013: Sahara Force India showed good pace in today’s Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying with Adrian Sutil topping the time charts in Q1. However, rain played spoilsport as Sahara Force India cars had good pace in the dry. 
    In the Q2, only Adrian Sutil could go through to Q3 and finally he qualified in ninth place. Adrian will move ahead a place following the stewards’ penalty for Kimi Raikkonen for obstructing Nico Roseberg. Raikkonen will now start on P10.
    Paul Di Resta was caught out by rain showers in Q2 and will start from P15. Paul had an off-the-road excursion in one lap and in the very next took a multi-spin to finish way back and failed to qualify for Q3. He will start from P15.
    King of Good Times, Vijay Mallya, will be arriving on Saturday and will be present with the team on Sunday. Sahara Force India, who finished 7th in the Constructors’ standings in 2012 where they consistently competed with Sauber team but lost out the sixth place. The goal for this year, is to regain the sixth place and the team started the season well with a double finish in Melbourne and with 10 points in the kitty, they will be looking for a dry race to score more points tomorrow.
    P9        Adrian Sutil    VJM06-03
    Q1:      1:36.809
    Q2:      1:36.834
    Q3:      1:53.439
    Adrian: “It’s a shame that the rain arrived for Q3 because our pace in the dry had been very strong. I’m still not totally confident with these tyres in the wet and the car was sliding around in the corners with too much oversteer. I will hope for a dry race because we have a competitive car and I’m happy with the balance. The target is to try and push to the front tomorrow with a good strategy and come away with points or maybe more.”
    P15      Paul Di Resta VJM06-04
    Q1:      1:37.493
    Q2:      1:44.509
    Paul: “Quite a frustrating day because we got caught out by the weather. We’ve looked strong this weekend so felt quite confident heading into qualifying, but the rain arrived earlier than the team expected. Now we need to see what the weather does tomorrow, but I will certainly come back fighting. I’ve got lots of new tyres, which is more than enough to complete the race and the car has been working well here so far.”
    Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
    “We ended qualifying today feeling a little bit disappointed. Throughout practice we have been very competitive in the dry and Adrian demonstrated that once again during Q1 when he set the fastest time. In Q2 we misjudged the weather with the rain coming in earlier than anticipated, which proved very costly for Paul who didn’t have time to complete his quick lap in the dry. Adrian progressed to Q3 but struggled in the wet conditions and didn’t feel comfortable on the intermediates. Had it been dry, I’m confident he would have been higher up the grid. Going into the race we will keep a close eye on the weather and be pushing hard to get both drivers home in the points.”
    ends

     

  • Kimi tops with Friday times

    Sepang, 22 March 2013: Kimi Räikkönen topped the times on the first day of running as the second round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship – the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix – got underway at the Sepang International Circuit.

    Kimi set a 1min 36.569secs lap in an afternoon session which was interrupted by a minor rain shower, while Romain Grosjean was sixth fastest. The team evaluated new front wings on both cars with a new exhaust and related bodywork also featuring on Kimi’s car.

    Meanwhile, Sahara Force India was back in action today as Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta completed their free practice programmes ahead of Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Paul was P8 to Sutil’s P10 in the second FP session today.

    Adrian Sutil      VJM06-03
    FP1:     1:37.769            P6        17 laps
    FP2:     1:37.788            P10      10 laps
    Adrian: “The morning went OK and the balance was quite good. We made a change during the lunch hour to cure some oversteer and my general feeling with the car is good. I missed out on some running this afternoon, but I think the rain interrupted things for everybody so I didn’t miss too much dry track time. I still managed a run on the hard and the medium this afternoon so I’ve got a feel for both the tyre compounds.”
     
    Paul Di Resta   VJM06-04
    FP1:     1:37.773            P8        15 laps
    FP2:     1:37.571            P8        30 laps
    Paul: “I think we’ve had a reasonable day. We’ve got some tyre data and first impressions suggest that our performance level is pretty similar to where it was in Melbourne last week. Hopefully we can continue the progress overnight. Generally I’m fairly happy but, as always, there’s some work to do tonight to make sure we’re comfortable on both the compounds going into the race.”
    Jakob Andreasen, Chief Race Engineer
    “A fairly typical day in Malaysia with dry running this morning and a light shower in the afternoon session. On the whole we got through the bulk of the programme and both Paul and Adrian seemed pretty content with the handling of their cars from the start of running. Adrian’s afternoon session was cut short as a precaution, but it did not cost him too much dry track time relative to the others. Paul clocked up 30 laps this afternoon, running both the hard and medium compounds, and is in good shape heading into tomorrow. We don’t have as much long run data as we would ideally like, but we have enough information to make some sensible predictions.”

    Lotus team quotes as Kimi runs on top again

    Alan Permane, Lotus Trackside Operations Director sends his technical programme notes:

    – We evaluated a new front wing on both cars.
    – Kimi ran with a new exhaust and outlet package in both sessions.
    – Pirelli’s hard (orange) compound tyre was used in the first session, the hard and medium (white) dry tyres as well as the intermediate (green) in the afternoon.
    – The second session saw rain-interrupted long runs on both tyre compounds.

    What we learned today:
    – The E21 ran reliably, giving strong performance on all tyres and in all weather conditions.
    – The new front wing works well and will be retained for the rest of the weekend.
    – The new exhaust package works well and will remain on Kimi’s car for the rest of the weekend.

    Kimi Räikkönen, E21-03
    Free practice 1: P2, 1:37.003, 15 laps
    Free practice 2: P1, 1:36.569, 28 laps

    Kimi: “It was a pretty good day. We tried changing a few things on the car and made progress with where we wanted to be at the end of the sessions. We had some running in the wet which you often get around here and the car feels fine. We ran pretty heavy today so I don’t know how we’ll be when everyone is light for qualifying, but I’m happy with where we are and expect we’ll be reasonable tomorrow.”

    Romain Grosjean, E21-01
    Free practice 1: P10, 1:37.915 17 laps
    Free practice 2: P6, 1:37.206, 26 laps

    Romain: “We’re still working on the setup of the car as it’s not quite right for me and it’s difficult to understand why exactly. The new front wing does feel better than the one before so that helps. Kimi was running an updated aero package which looks to be an improvement so we know there’s more pace to come in that area, but there are still things we can do with the current specification once I get everything working for me. It was pretty hot out there – quite a contrast to Melbourne – but I felt comfortable and I’m looking forward to making some improvements tomorrow before we head into qualifying.”

    James Allison, Technical Director: “I’m happy with our day’s work. We came here this week seeking reassurance that our car would be equally as competitive in a very different set of conditions to what we saw in Australia, and the early indications are that it looks reasonably useful. The upgrades we’ve trialled today also appear to be working well. Although both drivers ran the new front wing, Romain was at somewhat of a disadvantage in not having the latest exhaust variation and related bodywork on his car, so he can take heart from a healthy position on the time sheets. The only slight interruption to proceedings was a compromise to our long run programme once the rain arrived, but this actually proved to be pretty useful in itself as we now have a better understanding of the crossover point for the intermediate tyres. Overall it’s been a very productive day.”

    ends

  • Splitting strategies is to attack for points: Bob Fernley

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Bob BELL (Mercedes), Cyril ABITEBOUL (Caterham), Robert FEARNLEY (Force India), Sam MICHAEL (McLaren), James ALLISON (Lotus), Pat FRY (Ferrari)

    FIA Friday PRESS CONFERENCE

    James, can we start with you? A great win for you and the team to start the year off in cold conditions in Melbourne and from what we saw this afternoon can we conclude that you’re pretty quick in the heat as well?

    James ALLISON: The weekend will tell but it’s been a good day so far and the car seems quite happy here.

    Is there any circuit that you fear from here?

    JA: All of them! You just take them one at a time. It would be good to come away from here, if we can, competitive. So I think doing well in cold and doing well in hot would be good.

    Will you able to maintain that development throughout the 2013 season against your main rivals?

    JA: I think our team has got a reasonable history of keeping up with, and sometimes exceeding the general development race that happens during the season.

    Can you say anything about the way Kimi Raikkonen drove in Melbourne. There seems to be a surge of confidence really. He’s gone up a level has he, since last year?

    JA: He’s certainly very, very relaxed and confident this year. He drove the race incredibly patiently. I think he knew he had a good car under him. He knew he didn’t have to scamper up behind the group in front and he looked after the tyres, only going quickly when he needed to. It was just a very mature and smooth, fast race.

    Bob Bell, last year the Mercedes was very good in cold conditions, perhaps less good at places like this. Have you addressed that with this car?

    Bob BELL: Yes, I think we very much hope we have. We put a lot of effort in over the winter to really understand what the issues with last year’s car were. We had a pretty reasonable winter test in cold conditions. Of course Melbourne, as you said, was cold as well. We’ll see when we come away from here whether we’ve actually got on top of those issues. I think we’re pretty upbeat, pretty confident we’ve achieved that.

    What differences have you noticed in the way you’re operating as a team with the arrival of Lewis Hamilton?

    BB: Lewis, no question, is a new dynamic for us and that always happens with the introduction of a new driver, particularly one as competitive as Lewis is, so he’s a real motivational force in the team and indeed for his own team-mate. I think he’s lifted all of our game. He’s driving us; he’s clear about what he wants, what direction he wants to go in, and that is sympathetic to where we were going anyway, so I think it’s going very well.

    What effect do you see he’s had on his team-mate Nico Rosberg?

    BB: Team-mates naturally always want to outdo each other, so if you bring a new one in, if that raises his game then I think his team-mate will try and follow suit. It’s perfectly natural healthy competition.

    Pat Fry from Ferrari – second place finish in Australia, ahead of Red Bull. You’re leading the Constructors’ Championship going into this race. What was the feeling, the mood like in the post-race debrief?

    Pat FRY: I think people were pleased with the race pace of the car. It was quite obvious that Kimi was going to be two-stopping. I think you could see him two seconds back from the group, as James mentioned. I don’t think we could have followed suit and competed on a two-stop which is why we went for the aggressive three-stop, which got us through the traffic. All in all, it’s one those… with that and the 60km/h pit lane limit, it’s always that balance between two-stop and three-stop. We weren’t brave enough to make the two-stop work. Kimi was, so good luck to them, or well done to them. We just need to keep on working on the pace of it. It’s nice being second but you always want to win don’t you.

    What are your thoughts about the pace of Lotus, the way they’ve started the season?

    PF: It is very good. I don’t think we would have been brave enough to have attempted a two-stop there, so yeah, I think they’ve done well.

    Can you talk a little bit about the renaissance of Felipe Massa? Obviously he was strong in the second half of last year, he out-qualified Alonso in Melbourne and raced ahead of him for two stints. What is it that’s changed in him do you think?

    PF: It’s hard to say really. He’s got a good attitude. He’s driving very well. Very sensible not overdriving the car. If you look at last year the first half was a bit of a struggle, the second half was a lot better and he’s continued that form into this year, which is obviously good for us as a team in the Constructors’ [Championship].

    We’ll come to Bob Fearnley from Force India. Force India obviously led the last race of 2012 in Brazil and you led twice in Melbourne last weekend en route to seventh with Adrian. What’s the outlook, do you think, for the year ahead?

    Bob FEARNLEY: I think the Brazil race was on merit to a degree what we did in Melbourne obviously was tyre choice. It was very nice to be there but it was the result of strategy more than anything else. Overall, I think the performance of the car and team is quite good at the start of the season.

    Q: And what was the problem for Adrian Sutil? We saw him in his shorts with half an hour to go.

    BF: We had an oil seal problem. We just needed to stop it to make sure there was no damage to the engines.

    Q: Can you talk a little about Sutil, his return from over a year out of a Formula One cockpit, very little testing. Were you surprised by his performance?

    BF: I wasn’t surprised after his test in Barcelona. I think in Barcelona, when Adrian came in, if anybody could have put together a perfect assessment of a driver coming in for a test it was that occasion. I think Adrian did a great job and didn’t surprise me at all in Melbourne.

    Q: Cyril, Caterham one of I guess three teams that were perhaps a little disappointed with performance in Melbourne – perhaps along with Williams and McLaren – what’s going on behind the scenes at Leafield that gives you confidence going forward?

    Cyril ABITEBOUL: Clearly, I think that we have chosen to go for a strategy that is a little bit different from other teams, in the sense that we do not operate our new car for now. We have strategies that will make the car evolve according to different packages, the first of which will come in Bahrain. So we are running right now on hybrid car, so we are pretty much where we expected it to be. It doesn’t mean it is where we wanted it to be. Having said that, we have been analysing clearly the difference, the gap between Marussia and our car. First we want to diminish a little bit the fight between Marussia and ourselves. We are just competitors and we would like to make our way up through the grid, not backwards but up towards the front.  Clearly we see most of the developments that we did over the last year, the last 12 months, we think they made two-thirds of the difference over the last 12 months and only one-third over the winter. And of that one-third only half is coming from KERS. So I think that we have a real chance to be optimistic. Some good stuff is happening in the wind tunnel. Obviously we want to make sure this is translating into reality in Bahrain.

    Q: Obviously it’s a home race for your Malaysian shareholders. How’s it looking for this weekend?

    CA: It’s looking pretty much similar to the last weekend in the sense that it’s going to be on the edge with Marussia. I think the utilisation of tyres and driver familiarisation, driver mistakes also can make a difference so this is what we are getting ready for. We are going to have our shareholders present, so we want to make sure we have a good show at that moment.

    Q: Sam, the team and drivers were very open in Melbourne about the problems that you were suffering with the car. Can I ask you what went well that weekend?

    Sam MICHAEL: I think we got close to extracting most out of the car. First of all it goes without saying that we’re not… there’s no-one in McLaren who’s satisfied with where our performance is. So we’ve spent a lot of time in the last few weeks – before Melbourne as well because we had all the signs there from winter testing – going through data and analysing exactly what we need to do to improve the car. We’re about winning races, as we proved at the end of last year. We made some quite substantial changes to the car with a view that over the course of the season they would pay us back in terms of wins. I’d say that we… all of the people inside the group at the moment are focussed on understanding the 28 and turning it into a winner as soon as possible.

    Q: Presumably you’ve considered – you won the last two races of last year – you’ve considered bringing last year’s car? Have you now ruled that out as a plan?

    SM: All of our focus is on the current car. That involves understanding it, doing tests, we’ve done a lot of testing today actually on the circuit, we’ve done a lot of work in the factory in the last four or five days since Melbourne, making some encouraging progress in those areas, so right now all of our efforts are concentrated on the current car.

    Q: What does your experience tell you about how long it will be before you’re challenging the two gentlemen [Fry, Allison] to the right?

    SM: As soon as possible – but it’s very hard to make predictions because when you’re trying to unlock two or three different areas on the car, my experience tells me it’s very unpredictable to know when that’s going to happen. What I will say is the past history of McLaren as a group to recover from situations like this is extremely strong and consistent. They’ve done it before and I don’t see any reason why the engineers won’t do it again this time – especially based on the activity that I’ve seen and we’ve all been involved in over the last couple of weeks. I think it won’t take long for us to be back up there – that’s the target.

    Q: It looked like Jenson Button in particular was a bit closer to the pace when the conditions got more changeable after the rain. Are you hoping for more of those conditions over the weekend?

    SM: Hopefully. That was a trend that we saw in Melbourne as well – that we were extremely competitive on intermediate conditions. Not so much on full wets, and the slicks… we know where we are. We’ll see what happens. Normally here it’s full wet or nothing. It’s one of those one zone-type tracks.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) To the two engineers plus anyone else if you’d like to contribute: last week we had qualifying delayed and then run on Sunday. We’ve had races red-flagged here and postponed – it’s been happening more and more recently. Is there any way the sport can put together regulations where we can minimise the number of either red flags or postponements to give the fans what they really come here to see and pay for?

    PF: I think that with the conditions you sometimes get here, there’s so much rain, it would just be impossible to run so I think we can try and make the cars safer to run and I think we have but purely down to the… is there a tyre good enough for the conditions… there was a downpour in 2009, wasn’t it… you’re never going to make something that can survive that kind of situation.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Sorry, I’m talking generally, not just about here, because we’ve had it in Canada and all over the place. So I’m saying should we not be looking at a committee to investigate some way of overcoming this, not necessarily just here in Malaysia?

    PF: I just think that for me, personally, I just think it’s a very difficult thing to overcome. With that much water, it’s not safe to run. Whether the FIA want to get a committee together to try and understand and see if it is possible to run in that, that’s entirely up to them.

    JA: I haven’t got a lot to add. You know, you’ve seen it. The spray becomes impenetrable very quickly and the cars start to aquaplane. You could do something about the aquaplaning to an extent, with a different set of tyres, but the spray would still be an issue and there would still come a point where the aquaplaning would dominate, especially at places like this so I don’t think technically there is much of a solution. We just have to wait for when there are conditions that a car can run.

    BF: Not unless anybody’s got a quick connection to the man upstairs, no.

    BB: No, I don’t think I can add anything to that. I think the teams are genuinely busy enough trying to design the car to meet the existing regulations. I’m sure the FIA have it within their power to investigate these things and see whether something could be done but as far as the teams are concerned, we’ve just got to get on and do the best job we can within the regulations as they currently stand.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Mr Fernley, over the last few races – last season, we saw it last week as well – you guys seem to have made a deliberate decision on the pit wall to split your strategies and do almost opposite things with your two drivers. Is this a lack of confidence in your strategic decisions, or is it something more deliberate?

    BF: I don’t think it’s a lack of confidence. I think I would have thought that Melbourne was obvious, that you’ve got one driver that’s qualified on a supersoft and then you’d be the first of the contenders running on the medium. I didn’t think there was anything risky in that at all.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) It just seems that with that kind of approach, it’s not just in Melbourne, we did see it in 2012 as well, that it will give one driver the opportunity to finish really well and the other less so. Not that you’re favouring one over the other, it was an even split. I was just wondering what the thinking behind that approach was?

    BF: Well, I think in 2012 you’ve got a slightly different process there because obviously we were defending – not defending, actually we were attacking and trying to get our position back from Sauber, so what you’re trying to do is maximising the opportunities for optimum points and that would be the reason for the main split of the strategies. But where possible, you’re always going to go for an optimum strategy for both drivers and we would do that. I think in Melbourne that was an optimum strategy for both drivers.

    Q: Speaking of two different drivers, James, what’s the situation with Romain Grosjean? He’s not been quite on Kimi’s pace in the first Grand Prix and obviously again today he seems to be a bit behind; what’s your analysis?

    JA: Romain showed us over and over again last year that he is a driver with a lot of pace. That’s the one really valuable commodity that a race driver has and he’s got that. He’s not had an easy weekend either here or there, because we haven’t been able to provide two cars in exactly the same configuration on either occasions so in Melbourne on Friday he was running a step behind Kimi in terms of his aero package, and then he had the upgrade for Saturday morning but then Saturday was disturbed by the weather as we all know.  Here, once again, we only have one set of kit and we’ve chosen to run that with Kimi and Romain is disadvantaged for that. It’s a feature of not having in-season testing that you try to upgrade the cars as fast as you can and generally speaking, that means that you’re always going to have one set of kit ahead of the second set and that almost inevitably means that one driver gets to try it before there is a second one available. We will always try to get two sets available but not always possible. So he’s had a difficult set of circumstances and he’s also up against a teammate who is really firing on all cylinders so those are the two things.

    Q: (Alex Popov – RTR) Cyril, can you clarify the story of a possible merger with Marussia?

    CA: Yeah. I think we provided a comment – both Marussia and ourselves – regarding the fact that there have been some discussions over the Christmas period but clearly I think we all know that business, we all know Formula One, we know that it’s quite a fluid and versatile environment. To be honest, I’m not that old and since I’ve been in F1 I think I’ve maybe heard ten times about mergers, including four big names, so there is nothing very big in that. We looked at that, we looked at whether it was making any sense, it didn’t make any sense, it didn’t happen. End of story.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Pat, are you confident you can have the same pace as Lotus or even better in this race compared to Melbourne?

    PF: I think our race pace should be OK here, similar to Melbourne. In terms of tyre degradation I’m not sure yet. We need to go and look at the numbers. Obviously today’s running was a little bit mixed up. When everyone was doing their long runs this afternoon, there was rain in turns six and seven, so we need to see. Hopefully we will be able to get the degradation under control as well.

    Q: Is it likely to be another race where doing one less stop than your rivals is one of the keys to success, do you think?

    PF: I’m not sure how close we are to a three to four changeover or a two to three changeover. We need to have a look through the data and see really. I’d like to see James try and two stop here on Sunday.

    Q: James, do you fancy it?

    JA: Generally speaking this track is one stop more than Melbourne, so I think that might be a bit brave.

    Ends

  • Sahara Force India looks to build on good start: Mallya

    Sepang, 19 March 2013: Sahara Force India looks forward to round two of the FIA Formula One World Championship in Sepang on March 24. The team started the season with a bang with a double points finish in Melbourne last Sunday and is looking forward to more points in Malaysia.
    Team Principal and Managing Director, Dr Vijay Mallya, reflects on the team’s best ever start to a Formula One season.
    The first back-to-back races of the season mean we are already heading to Malaysia for the second round of the Championship. We have scored points in Sepang the last three times we raced there, including a double-points finish last year, and I believe we can build on the early-season momentum to bring home a valuable result.
    Last weekend’s race in Melbourne was a great demonstration of how far the team has come lately: to race against the established front-runners on merit shows the quality of our car, of our driver line-up and of the work everyone in the team is producing every day, whether at the factory or at the circuit. We have led the last two races and hopefully soon we will have a special result to repay all that effort.
    With improved results come increased responsibilities: the whole world of Formula One – our rivals, the media and the fans – now look at Sahara Force India as a competitor for points at every race. It is our duty to sustain this scrutiny by going out every day and performing to our best to keep challenging the top teams in the world.
    “The 2013 Championship is just at the beginning, and it is important not to get carried away with enthusiasm: we will need to channel this positive energy into consistently good performances and continue to improve. We are on a good road, and we must all keep progressing,” the Indian liquor baron concluded.
    Paul di Resta on Malaysia
    Paul, what’s your overall feeling about finishing eighth in the first race?
    It’s positive to have four points on the board already, but it’s a shame I was stuck behind Jenson at the beginning of my second stint. He was running a three-stop race and essentially that’s what lost me a lot of track position. We’ve got some things we need to pick up on and we can definitely make some improvements, but we’re in a good place to start the season. Also, we’ve seen already that we can make a stop less than some of our competitors so let’s see if that remains the case in Malaysia.
    Any thoughts on Malaysia?
    You never know what to expect! It could rain, or it could be dry. Temperatures are going to be high, degradation is going to be high, but I think our car is going to suit the warm weather. We’ve had a reasonably strong performance for the last couple of years in Malaysia, so I think we should go there feeling quite optimistic. We have a few days to conquer the jet lag and hopefully be fighting fit.
    Is it a track you enjoy?
    I think it is probably one of the most complete tracks of the season. It was the very first of the new generation tracks and it has nice flowing sections, some slow bits, as well as high-speed chicanes. I think it’s one of the better tracks on the calendar. Along with the next one in Shanghai, it’s one of the tracks I enjoy.
    Adrian Sutil on Malaysia
    Adrian, you had an incredible race in Australia. How would you sum it up?
    It was a great feeling! We were on a different strategy and we knew we would probably go to the front quite early in the race, but we never expected to be leading for such a long time. It was a surprise for everyone and even more of a surprise that we could keep all the cars behind us while doing really competitive lap times. I actually pulled away from Vettel at one stage in the race. I knew the car was fast, I felt good, I felt confident. On the supersofts I had to give up a few positions, that was normal, that was our strategy because you had to be on them at least once. But I’m not disappointed at all, seventh place is a good way to start the season.
    You’ve fought with drivers from the top teams before, but in the rain or other unusual circumstances. Is it different when everyone is flat out?
    In the rain it’s easier sometimes to be at the front and race with the top teams, but in the dry it’s more difficult and normally never happens. It’s amazing to see that it was possible in Australia and don’t forget that Nico [Hulkenberg] led for this team at the final race of last year too. There are opportunities, and if you believe in it, you can take those chances. If you don’t believe you can win, you will never win. It’s just an approach, I think. It’s important to set your mind. It’s sometimes hard because we are usually in the midfield, but you should always think a step further.
    Any thoughts on going back to Malaysia?
    I finished fifth in 2010, so I have some good memories. It’s not my favourite track, but it depends on the car. If the car is quick and stable, you enjoy it more, but sometimes you really struggle with the balance, and then it’s a real challenge – the corners are so long, you need a lot of aerodynamic grip. It’s a track I like to drive, but it’s not like a Monaco or a Spa. I don’t really know what effect the high temperatures will have because we haven’t had them during testing. I think the weather in Australia suited us quite well, so let’s see how Malaysia is.
    Paul di Resta took 8th place and four points in Melbourne last Sunday. A Sahara Force India photo

    ends

  • Vettel on pole for season opener; A Pirelli view

    Melbourne, March 17, 2013 – Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel claimed his 37th career pole position at the Australian Grand Prix using the P Zero Red supersoft, after an unusual qualifying that was split between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

    Q1 took place on Saturday as usual with Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg going fastest on the Cinturato Green intermediate in the early stages. As the rain fell harder, Q2 and Q3 were postponed after multiple delays, with darkness drawing in and more rain expected.

    Meanwhile, Sahara Force India delivered a strong showing as qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix resumed this morning. Paul Di Resta qualified in ninth, while Adrian Sutil ended the session in twelfth, according to an SFI release.
    Paul: “We came here with intentions of reaching Q3 so it’s a good way to start the year. I think we got most things right today, especially the timing of the switch to a fresh set of intermediates towards the end of Q2. Ninth position is a good place to be starting and it’s on the cleaner side of the track too. It’s difficult to predict much for the race, just as it’s hard to predict the weather, but we’re in a strong place to start the race. Our long runs on Friday looked competitive and consistent so we will go into the race with maximum attack and aiming for points.”
    Adrian Sutil: “The track conditions were much better this morning, but it was still tricky and I didn’t feel that comfortable on the damp track. The key to Q2 was the timing of your lap and we probably changed a bit too early to the new intermediates because there was only one quick lap in those tyres. I had time for another lap, but my tyres were going off and I could not improve. Even so, I’m quite happy with the session and it’s not bad to end up twelfth in my first qualifying session back with the team. I can feel there is more to come and I felt good in the dry conditions on Friday, so I hope we carry that into the race.”
    Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal
    “We’re feeling pretty positive with our qualifying showing this morning and our performance level is about where we expected. The conditions remained tricky with a damp and drying track, but we managed to get Paul through to Q3 and that was a clear objective. Adrian didn’t feel totally comfortable in the wet, but given that this was his first qualifying session for over a year, twelfth place is a good effort. The weather forecast for the rest of the day looks uncertain, but our strong showing on Friday gives us every reason to be optimistic this afternoon. Points should be in reach for both cars and will remain our objective.”
    Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing began the season in style taking pole position in Melbourne on Sunday morning. A Pirelli photo

    All 16 eligible drivers started the second session at 11am on Sunday using the Cinturato Green intermediate tyre, with track temperatures of 13 degrees centigrade and ambient temperatures of 15 degrees. With five minutes to go, McLaren driver Sergio Perez was the first to move onto the Red supersofts. However, the track was still not ready for slicks, with Rosberg again going fastest in Q2 on the Green intermediates and the slick tyre runners eliminated.

    The final qualifying session also started on intermediate tyres, with McLaren’s Jenson Button the first driver to go out on slicks. But with the track drying all the time, pole position was set in the closing seconds – with Vettel actually crossing the line for his lap with just one second to go.

    The final free practice session on Saturday morning was also characterised by wet weather, with Lotus driver Romain Grosjean going quickest.

    Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “The pressure was on everybody with Q2 and Q3postponed until this morning, but safety always comes first. With the risk of drivers aquaplaning on standing water, or losing control over the many slippery painted white lines that are a particular feature of this street circuit, it was the right decision. Judging the crossover point proved to be the key to qualifying today. The rapid warm-up and peak performance of our supersoft tyres enabled the leading drivers to push with confidence during Q3 even when the track was not totally dry. With not so much information to go on from qualifying, it will be interesting to see how the different race strategies pan out. Due to the low temperatures we experienced some graining on the supersoft, but it was still the most effective tyre for the conditions in qualifying.”

    The Pirelli mystery strategy predictor:

    The strategy, as usual, will depend on the weather and the speed of each car. If it rains, then the strategy is much harder to predict – and the teams will just have to rely on any opportunities that come their way.

    Likely winning strategies are as follows:

    • The fastest strategy looks likely to be a two-stopper: Start on the Supersoft / 1ststop: change to Medium on lap 14 / 2nd stop: change to Medium on lap 36.
    • The second fastest strategy is a three-stopper with a start on the Supersoft / 1ststop: change to Medium on lap 8 / 2nd stop: change to Medium on lap 23 / 3rd stop: change to Medium on lap 40.

  • All teams should be represented in F1 Commission: Bob

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – James Key  (Toro Rosso), Toto WOLFF (Williams), Bob Fearnley (Force India), Jean-Francois CAUBET (Renault Sport F1), Martin WHITMARSH (McLaren) Tony FERNANDES (Caterham).

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    James, welcome back, new shirt, you’ve had your feet under the desk for a week or two now, what have found at Scuderia Toro Rosso? What are the strengths and weaknesses?

    James KEY: Thanks for the welcome Bob, I think – it’s early days obviously – but I think one of the big strengths I noticed very quickly in the team is the enthusiasm everyone has and the ambition to make it succeed. Everyone is desperate for it to work, there’s a real passion there, as you can imagine, being Italian in the team’s origin. Primarily it’s a very good atmosphere to work in, something a little bit familiar to me in a way, there’s a bit of family atmosphere because it’s a small team that’s grown very rapidly. As a result of that with the rapid growth it means that it needs a little bit more gluing together in a way. There’s still separate departments doing a very good job but it needs to come together – and everyone recognises that. It’s just a case of going through that process. So, the strength, I think, is the will and the ambition of everyone. On the weakness side, I think it’s just still a team that’s growing. There’s no lack of effort from everyone, it just needs to be given direction. There’s certainly some work to do on the aero side, which is very clear and mechanical, for that matter, from a technical point of view. There’s some pretty clear steps. Some of it takes time, some of it’s fairly obvious for next year.

    And what can you do for this year’s car? What can you do for next year’s car? Can you still put your stamp on next year’s car?

    JK: I think for this year, obviously time is short, and this is a time of year when you’ve really got to prioritise and so we’re doing what we can with this year’s car. What we can do now is obviously carried over to next year too. I think for next year, the architecture and a lot of the suspension geometry was already defined before I arrived, so it’s a case of picking up what I can, together with the guys in Faenza and at our wind tunnel in Bicester from this point forward. I’d say there’s probably 40 per cent of the car still to go, so certainly we can work on that. But I have to say a lot of very sensible decisions have already been made for next year’s car, exactly what I would have done. Which is good. So, we’re all aligned in our direction and we’ll do everything we can in between now and Melbourne.

    Toto, obviously a very competitive car this year: we’ve seen it in the top ten in qualifying quite a lot and of course it’s won a race as well. How easy is that to preserve and to keep on, and improve on for next year?

    Toto WOLFF: I think that most of the teams are going to have a carry-on car for next year. It’s not going to be a massive development because everybody is looking forward to 2014, which is a big change. So, I hope we can carry the momentum and keep the good base of the car and then carry it over for next year.

    And looking at your drivers but particularly one you have an interest in, what is Valtteri Bottas’ future?

    TW: I think Valtteri Bottas’ future is Formula One. We have not decided yet where we are going to head to because we go on to give maximum support to the two current drivers. He has been with us for a couple of years now, so he is definitely part of our thoughts – but no decision has been made until now.

    Bob, first of all, I think you’ve moved on already to next year’s but already you car looks very competitive here. Last year here we saw Paul Di Resta do a phenomenal run of 31 laps on the soft tyre. Is this looking like a good result for you here? What are your thoughts? It’s very early days I guess.

    Bob FEARNLEY: It is early days. You don’t know what fuel levels everybody else has been running on today. But it is reasonably encouraging for the first two sessions.

    Looking at Jules Bianchi, his performance in the Magny Cours test. What’s his future with the team?

    BF: We’re looking for stability for 2013 with all drivers, that’s our first goal. But I think from the young driver test, it just goes to show how beneficial running the FP1 programme was, because Jules was very quick all three days, particularly in the Force India car. So I think it’s a testament to the team’s effort to having a reserve driver who is really up and running and competitive all the time.

    Jean-Francois, I’m sure you’re expecting a question about alternators. What is it about Sebastian Vettel that it seems to happen to him and nobody else?

    Jean-Francois CAUBET: First of all we started to have a problem in Valencia with two drivers Sebastian Vettel and Romain (Grosjean). It was not easy to detect or find because both alternators were completely melted and destroyed. So we were thinking it was an electric problem and probably the levels of power in the car, so we decided to change a bit the levels of power in each car. Spa was OK but again in Monza we have a problem with Sebastian two times and another driver also. We had a bit of fortune because we stopped the Lotus car just maybe some problem with the alternator and at the end it was not an electrical problem, it was a mechanical problem, a bearing probably. So, we are trying to change something. It is not easy because we detect that a few days but I think we are quite optimistic. The problem we have is that we are running the new solution in the dyno but only the race will give us an answer.

    Do you think the heat is going to be a factor here?

    J-FC: I don’t know. P1 was OK, P2 was OK. We cross our fingers for P3, qualifying and the race.

    Recently, you lost Monsieur Arbiteboul to Tony over here. How important a loss is that and what can he expect from his new CEO?

    J-FC: I think it is good news for Tony. I was working with Cyril for eight years. He was working with Flavio in the team. We sold the team. We built a new strategy on the engine side. I think after eight years at Renault I think this is a fantastic opportunity for him to do something probably more concrete, more challenging but why not he will be back one day in Renault no?

    Q: Martin, there’s been a lot of speculation about the team, how much of a distraction has it been?

    Martin WHITMARSH: No, I don’t think it has been. I think over the last three races we’ve got stronger and more focused. I assume that the distraction you refer to is Lewis but I think anyone who knows Lewis and witnessed Lewis last weekend (in Italy) and actually also this weekend would say he’s very very focused on doing the job. I think he realises that this year we have a strong opportunity to win a World Championship and I think we all realise that the right thing to do is focus and improve the car, don’t make mistakes and maximise the points you can get from each race. I think that’s what we’re very much focused on. I know that there are stories and speculation that swirl around and I guess that’s Formula One and I think we’re content to get on with the job quietly.

    Q: Excellent performances in the last three races; you must be favourites to win a World Championship even though there is that huge gap, and there are seven races to go.

    MW: I think you’ve got to be cautious. I think we were firm favourites going into the season, we were firm favourites coming out of Australia and it can change. I think we’re very pleased that the last three events have been on very different circuits and we’ve been competitive at all of them. I think we’re cautious here. Hopefully we can be competitive. What we haven’t done is just pile in the points that we should have done, given the competitiveness of our car. I think after 12 or 13 races, I think we’ve been on the front row eleven times. We’ve clearly got a strong package and therefore we should be disappointed in the number of points that we don’t have rather than the points that we do have. But you don’t look back, you look forward. I think we’ve got quite a good development momentum so we’re making the car quicker. I think we’ve got two great racing drivers who are very much focused on trying to win races and other things, so we’re hopeful that we can get a result here and keep the pressure on. You’ve got to say that Fernando’s done a great job to be where he is and that’s going to take some effort to overhaul but it’s certainly do-able and we’re going to keep pushing as hard as we can.

    Q: Tony, you’ve got a new CEO in Cyril Abiteboul, what was the thinking behind hiring a CEO when you seem to have a lot of chiefs already?

    Tony FERNANDES: Well, I think we’re evolving into a little bit of an auto group with the cars division and technology division that we’ve put together which Riad (Asmet) is looking at, and I am not as involved so the team needs leadershi. Cyril has been someone that I’ve courted for a while and we’ve finally persuaded him – with Renault’s blessing – to come over to Caterham. It provides us with a (inaudible) for the F1 team going forward.

    Q: So will he be the team principal?

    TF: Not at the moment, no. I will still remain in that job for a while. Eventually, maybe.

    Q: And your thoughts on your drivers for next year; is Heikki staying? What’s the situation with Vitaly?

    TF: Well, it’s… I don’t know. We will have to have a discussion at some point and we also have options on that front. I would like Heikki to stay, very much. He’s been great for us over the last three and a half years. We’ll have to sit down and decide where we go from here.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Paul Weaver – The Guardian) Martin, you described as fantasy reports that Lewis might be joining Mercedes. Do you still describe that as fantasy or did you seriously under-estimate the situation?

    MW: I don’t remember that but…

    Q: (Paul Weaver – The Guardian) I do.

    MW: …good! I think if you told me that he had signed the deal as you said that was fantasy so in answer to the same question I would give the same response to that.

    Q: (Simon Cass – Daily Mail) Martin, do you accept that Lewis has had an offer from Mercedes?

    MW: I suspect that Tony here has made him an offer as well, he’s a very good racing driver.

    TF: I haven’t!

    MW: He’s not ambitious enough, you see.

    Q: (Benjamin Hunt – The Sun) Martin, you risk losing a driver, potentially; have you started even thinking  about a replacement yet?

    MW: No, as I said earlier, I think we’re very focused on trying to do a good job here.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) To Bob and to Tony: there’s a possibility that the regulations from next year onwards will be decided by the six top teams as opposed to the Formula One Commission. How do you people, as team principals of teams that don’t fall within those six, feel about that possibility?

    BF: I think that we would like the stability to stay where it is, with all teams being represented at the F1 Commission, Dieter, so I don’t think there’s any doubt about where we would like to be. Tony will have to speak for himself, but I think it’s a much better balance when the teams are fully represented.

    TF: I share the same v

    Fie photo of Bob Fernley, A Sahara Force India photo.

    iew obviously. The one thing is though… the key is that all of us have to find a way of standardising regulations and having less changes and less irregularities but I think there is a danger that the six teams are hyper-competitive and sometimes things go on and on and on, so I do think that there could be an imbalance here but the key to me is not whether there are six teams or twelve teams or two teams, the key is to have simple regulations that won’t have a tremendous amount of debate and we just will go racing.

    Q: (Byron Young – Daily Mirror) Martin, why has it taken so long to solve Lewis’s situation? Even by Formula One standards it seems to have taken an age.

    MW: I think it seems a long time because of the speculation that people have made, but when you sit down and seriously put your mind to entering into a new contract it doesn’t take too long. I think it’s a question of priorities and other things we’ve been doing.

    Q: (Simon Cass – Daily Mail) Martin, are you actually trying to pay him less money for his new contract?

    MW: I’m sure he will want more money and I’m sure we will want to pay less – that’s how business normally works.

    Q: (Matt Coch – pitpass.com) Tony, you’ve moved into the new Leafield facility, an immense complex. It’s much bigger than what Caterham as a Formula One team is. What’s the long term plan with the spare capacity there?

    TF: I think over the next few months details will evolve as to what we’re planning. It’s not a hidden secret that I got into Formula One to manufacture cars and Lotus was my initial objective which went spectacularly wrong in many ways, shape or forms but the ambition and the vision is still the same and Leafield will play a part in that vision. The brand may have changed but the vision and the idea of what we’re trying to put together still exists. I think we are putting all the infrastructure in place to have a reasonable Formula One team. We have a reasonable car now, we just have to optimise it as much as possible. I think we’ve got some good people together, we’re in a facility in a location which attracts other people into it, plus with our other two divisions it will all come together. I think in the next few months you will see some clarity as to what we’re trying to achieve.

    Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Jean-Francois, certain people continue talking about retaining the current V8s for an additional year or two after 2014. In addition to that, you’d said that you people wanted to possibly supply six teams with your 2014 technology. Where do you stand on these two points please?

    J-FC: I think the V6 will be on the track for all the teams in two years. I think Mercedes, Ferrari and us are all changing our dynos from V8s to V6s so now it’s impossible to make a change. For the teams, the strategy is to keep four teams and I don’t know if it’s possible to do more. I think that if you want to have good reliability, good performance you need to keep four teams, but if there will be a need for more, we don’t want to close the door.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Martin, I can understand why you would want to laugh through some of the questions facing Lewis and put on a bit of a brave face but is part of you seriously appreciating the fact that there could be life without Lewis from 2013 onwards?

    MW: As I said earlier, it’s not a question of putting on a brave face, it’s a question of focusing on doing our job, and we’re concentrating on this year’s championship. I think speculation on next year is something that we don’t need to entertain or respond to so we’re focusing on the here and now.

    Q: (Bryon Young – Daily Mirror) So does that mean there won’t be an announcement until after the end of the season, because you’ve got to focus on all the races haven’t you?

    MW: We might wait until then, you never know.

    Ends

     

  • Nico Rosberg sets fastest time on last day of testing

    Barcelona, 3 March 2013: Nico Rosberg completed the final day of pre-season testing for MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday. With twelve days of track action completed over three tests, the team will return to base to make the final preparations for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in two weeks time.

    Meanwhile, Sahara Force India wrapped up its winter testing programme in Barcelona today with Paul Di Resta completing 112 laps in the VJM06.
    Day Four Numbers:
    Chassis: VJM06-03
    Laps: 112 laps
    Mileage: 521 km  
    Fastest lap: 1:21.664
    Classification: P6 of 13
    Paul Di Resta: “My last day in the car before Melbourne and we made the most of it. The race distance this afternoon was straightforward and there were no red flags while we were running. The weather was much warmer today and that gives us useful tyre information, which we can compare with the data we have from Adrian’s work yesterday in similar conditions.”
    Jakob Andreasen, Chief Race Engineer
    “Winter testing comes to an end with another full day and a race simulation for Paul. Combined with the race distance for Adrian yesterday, we’ve achieved our mileage target and have a much better understanding of the performance windows of the tyres. Two weeks today we will be racing in Melbourne and we are feeling positive and pretty well prepared. Our reliability has been good and we’ve made steady progress through the job list. As always at this time of year, it’s a case of all hands on deck, both at the track and back at base, but everybody has played their part to ensure a smooth winter programme over the last few weeks.”  
    AMG Mercedes Press Re

    Paul Di Resta on the last day of Barcelona testing on 3 Mar 2013. A Sahara Force India Photo.

    lease said:

    • Nico’s programme today focused on set-up evaluations over short runs in the morning and longer runs this afternoon
    • His fastest time of the day was set during the morning session on the soft compound Pirelli tyres
    • Nico completed 131 laps, just under two race distances, which was the highest mileage recorded today

    The F1 W04 has completed 5224 km over the three tests, with Nico and Lewis totalling 2640 km & 2584 km respectively.

    Nico Rosberg 
    I’m pleased with our pre-season testing programme. We have achieved a lot of mileage and I can feel that the balance of the car is good. I have the general feeling that we are in a better position than in the second half of last year but this is testing not racing, of course. The conditions in the first race will be completely different to here as it will be much hotter in Melbourne and Sepang so we need to wait and see. Thanks to the team here at the track and back home at the factory for all their hard work over the last month. I hope it pays off and we can look forward to a positive season ahead together.

    Ross Brawn 
    With the conclusion of our testing programme, I am pleased with the progress that the team has made over the last month and the steps forward that have been made with the car. We have achieved our objectives for the test programme and the mileage that we have been able to complete has been very satisfying. Lewis has settled into the team extremely well and everyone has enjoyed working with both him and Nico throughout the three tests. We now have one final week back at the factory to complete our preparations; both drivers will be at the factory this week and, as always, there is a lot of work to do in a short space of time. We’re realistic about our performance here and our position once we get to Melbourne, and we look forward to the challenge of a new season ahead.

    Pos. Driver Car Time Laps
    1 Nico Rosberg MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS 1:20.130 131
    2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:20.494 120
    3 Jenson Button McLaren 1:21.444 122
    4 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber 1:21.541 118
    5 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 1:21.658 50
    6 Paul Di Resta Sahara Force India 1:21.664 112
    7 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:22.415 42
    8 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:22.514 100
    9 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:22.524 31
    10 Charles Pic Caterham 1:23.115 116
    11 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:23.167 62
    12 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:23.628 91
    13 Max Chilton Marussia 1:24.103 49

     

  • Finally, Adrian Sutil gets Sahara Force India drive

    Barcelona, 28 Feb 2013: In an official statement today, Sahara Force India said it was pleased to announce that Adrian Sutil would complete its driver line-up for the 2013 season.
    The 30-year-old German will race alongside Paul Di Resta, recreating the successful partnership that raced together during the 2011 season.
    The 2013 campaign will be Adrian’s fifth racing season in the colours of Sahara Force India and his sixth year of Formula One competition.
    Adrian will test for the team this week in Barcelona, driving on Friday and Saturday. Paul Di Resta will be back in the car on Sunday.
    Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: “The decision over our driver line-up has not been an easy one and we have given it great consideration over the last few months. It was a close call, but ultimately we felt that Adrian’s experience and historic links to the team gave him the edge, and will provide us with the best possible chance of realising our ambitions for the coming season. If he can rediscover the exceptional form he showed in the second half of 2011, I’m confident that we can pick up where we left off at the end of 2012. As for Jules Bianchi, he has impressed us enormously with his speed and work ethic, and I’m hopeful we can continue working with him this year to help him develop into a future Grand Prix driver.”
    Adrian Sutil: “I’m delighted to be back in Formula One, especially with a team I know so well. I’m very happy and I want to thank Sahara Force India for giving me a second chance. Having been away from the sport, I’m even more determined to achieve my goals in Formula One. Things went really well at the Barcelona test last week and it almost feels as though I’ve never been away. Driving the car felt so natural and I was able to get back in the groove quickly and find the limit. Now my focus is on making the most of the final test session this week, working with the team in the simulator and getting myself in the best possible shape for Melbourne.”
    A Sahara Force India photo of Adrian Sutil in the car.

    ends

  • Di Resta does 82 laps for Tyre work and Aero programme

    Circuit de Catalunya, 19 Feb 2013: Sahara Force India began its Barcelona test session on Tuesday  as Paul Di Resta spent the day in the VJM06 and clocked up 82 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya getting a mileage of 382 kilometres and notched up his fastest lap at 1:24.144. He was classified 8th of the 12 drivers that took to testing on the first day at Barcelona as F1 world moved from Jerez testing to Barcelona.
    However, there is no word on the second driver.  Reliable sources rubbished the news of Narain Karthikeyan having any chance of getting into Sahara Force India team.  Sources also said that Karthikeyan has complained to the Editors of the newspaper in Chennai (India) that the report about him, suggesting a move to Sahara Force India, was in bad taste as he was not contacted at all. International Media reports  put Adrian Sutil and Jules Bianchi in contention for the lone seat available for the 2013 season.
    Paul Di Resta: “The first day of running was mainly about tyre work and making some comparisons with Jerez. I was running on the hard and the mediums and we got a good feel for them once again. We also did an aero programme this morning, which is part of the correlation work as we evaluate some of the new parts going on the car. The plan is for more of the same tomorrow.”
    Jakob Andreasen, Chief Race Engineer
    “It has been a solid first day of work in Barcelona with Paul. We’ve put into effect what we learned in Jerez and made some useful comparisons, especially in terms of tyre evaluation. After the aero programme this morning, we did some shorts runs with new aero components and then moved to longer runs later on. The track conditions were not at their best this morning, but from midday onwards things started to improve and the cloud cover kept the track temperatures relatively low. With Melbourne less than a month away the team is gelling nicely and the new personnel and structures we have put in place are working well.”
    Paul di Resta in the VJM06 on Day One of the F1 testing at Barcelona on Tuesday. A Sahara Force India photo

    ends