INDIA in F1

Tag: formula 1

  • Abu Dhabi GP: FIA Saturday Press Meet

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren)

    2 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    TV UNILATERAL

    What are your feelings for tomorrow?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Very excited, very excited. It’s the first time for a long time to be ahead of the Red Bulls, and not to be seeing the tail of them at the start of the race but I know it’s going to be, as always, very, very tough in the race because they’ve got great race pace. But we are strong enough to fight them, the team’s done a fantastic job all weekend. The car’s felt beautiful all weekend. I don’t know why the car works so well here. We’ve not really made any improvements to the car since the last race, so I guess it just suits. The guys are still massively focused so I hope that tomorrow’s a good day for us.

    How have the long runs been looking?

    LH: We did a couple of long runs and they seemed to be OK. On one of my long runs I had a lot of traffic, but Jenson had a fairly decent long run, which shows… a bit like last race, we should be quite competitive. But for me it’s trying to improve the start of the race because these guys are so quick over the first couple of laps.

    Mark, well done, second fastest in qualifying. You’ve out-qualified your team-mate as well. But there have been some worrying moments, for example last week you had the loss of KERS and you had the problem yesterday. Are you slightly on the back foot?

    Mark WEBBER: Well, first of all credit to Lewis, he’s obviously got a quick car this weekend and he bumped us off the front row, that’s the first time in a while, maybe since six or eight weeks ago when we had a good run, so now they’ve done a good job today. Credit where it’s due and we did the best we could. I think it was a pretty smooth qualifying session for both Seb and I and we did what we could. I think it went well but as you say we’ve got a little bit of a fire going which we need to tidy up and the quality of the team is exceptional, we know what we need to improve on, to help our championships along. Obviously Seb’s still involved in the Drivers’ [title] and the Constructors’ is still important to us, so we’ll focus on tomorrow’s race. The car generally works pretty well on Sundays but Lewis and JB did some pretty strong long runs as well, so yeah, a little trouble this weekend but overall we’re positive and looking for a good strong run.

    Sebastian, obviously you had a problem with the brakes this morning and we’ve just seen you stop on circuit this afternoon, but you’re third on the grid, at least you salvaged that. What are your feelings about that?

    Sebastian VETTEL: I don’t why I was asked to stop. I think probably some problem. It shouldn’t be something major. Obviously this morning wasn’t ideal, not being able to run. So we didn’t get probably the answers that we were hoping for. Nevertheless, this afternoon we were settling in quite well and the pace was there, but I think as Mark touched on, McLaren, in particular Lewis, are pretty quick. So they were out of reach today. I’m not entirely happy with my qualifying, the last part of qualifying was quite tricky for me. I think I should have been a little bit quicker, whether it would have been enough to beat Mark… obviously he’s on a different sheet of paper, but all in all I think we can be quite happy. Race pace should be good tomorrow. As we know it’s a long race here and there’s a lot of things that can happen, so looking forward to tomorrow.

    But there must be a certain relief in being three places ahead of your main championship rival?

    SV: Is he sixth or…?

    Seventh.

    SV: Ah, so… yeah, I think we’ve seen so many races this year that have been up and down, so from where we start it’s obviously quite good, close to the front, so we go from there. As I said, it’s going to be a long race; a lot of things to look out for. I think strategy-wise it’s probably not 100 per cent clear yet, a similar position to last race in India, so yea, I think we have to look after ourselves, try to race this guy and then we should be in quite a good place tomorrow.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    So Lewis, you can’t really explain why you’re so quick here this weekend?

    LH: No, I don’t know. The car’s been feeling fantastic all weekend, like I said we haven’t come with upgrade packages, we haven’t got any… y’know we’re always modifying small, little wings but it does very, very little – but the car’s felt great from the get-go this weekend and done some fine tuning and every now and then you’re fortunate enough to make the right change and it feels even better, which it did. So, I didn’t really have to change too much going into qualifying. Actually I didn’t change anything going into qualifying from P3. That lap felt fantastic. The next lap I was up a little bit, I think I was up a tenth or so, and then I lost it. I had no idea I’d done a good lap, so it was just about going completely over the line and seeing if you can get something – but it didn’t work.

    We have seen a lot of drivers doing that this weekend and I guess it’s just exploring the limit.

    LH: Yeah. Well, I know what the limit is because I was on it when I did my first lap but I was trying to go way past the limit and see if it was possible. It worked for half the lap but then it didn’t work the rest of it.

    Mark, the reliability thing, has that set you back a little bit in terms of race preparation, yesterday for example.

    MW: Yeah, you would like to do that work for sure but obviously we have a huge amount of historical data, this year and also at this venue and Seb did some work. I did one lap, so I’ve got a little bit to look at. But it should be OK, the Friday’s running is never a bible anyway, it’s just a good reference. So we’re in pretty good shape in terms of data going into the race. So obviously we’ll have a bit of a look through in the morning to see how we’re going to prepare. But yeah, we realised we’ve got to work on our reliability. We’ve had a few issues of late and that’s something the group is on. There’s nothing Sebastian and I can do about it. It’s not our job, it’s their job and they know they’ve got to improve.

    And you’ll be starting ahead of Sebastian, so what chances in the first corner?

    MW: Well, good. You never know. Lewis’ starts lately haven’t been phenomenal so let’s see if he has a good one tomorrow. Generally it’s down to how the clutch is and things like that – it’s not really down to Lewis. We’ll see how they go off the line but I’m looking to go forward, for sure. Then we’ll get settled into the race and see where everyone is after that.

    Sebastian, the brake problem today, is that something that has been cured and you’re confident you won’t see again?

    SV: Yes, I think so. Obviously it wasn’t expected, it wasn’t the plan because the plan is to run in free practice – but I think we fixed the problem, I had a fantastic brake in qualifying, so I think we got on top of the problem at the end. I had a little bit of a run, two laps in the practice this afternoon, so should be fine.

    Overtaking has been difficult here in the past. Admittedly you haven’t had to do very much but it’s been difficult, there’s a double DRS, how vital is pole position and a good qualifying position?

    SV: Well, I think Lewis is pretty happy where he’s going to start tomorrow. Obviously we are not on pole but yeah, I think, y’know, third is not far off and it should be a good race. Obviously, as you touched on, it’s difficult to pass here, even though you’ve got long straights, we’ve got the double DRS so we’ll see if that helps. I’m sure it’s not impossible. It’s definitely possible to pass people, even though it’s not easy but, y’know, race pace should be good. Should be in a good position.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, yesterday you said after second practice that you didn’t believe you could get pole, it would be extremely hard. What changed? Was it you and your car that did more or was it perhaps Red Bull which haven’t performed as you expected?

    LH: They were slower than I expected but we were faster than I expected as well. Mark did a great lap as well – what’s the margin, it is three tenths? I knew that they were very very quick but I would never have imagined being this far ahead of them. But I did do a really really good lap, very happy with the lap. I thought that we would be a match or slightly slower than them this weekend and it’s a blessing in disguise to be ahead of them.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Honorary) Sebastian, on a different subject, Michael Schumacher has just three races left in his F1 career. How do you view his last three years in Formula One?

    SV: We have commented on this a couple of times. I think Mark summed it up pretty well a couple of races ago, that obviously those three years are very different to the years he had before that, but it doesn’t make him a worse driver. I think the last three years he was hoping to have a better car than he probably had. When the car was there, I think he was able to use the potential so I think we’ve seen that he’s still very quick, for example in Monaco, when the car was there. Obviously very different to the years with Ferrari when they were dominating a lot, but it also shows that you need to have the right car beneath you, and the right team in order to fight for wins and championships.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, in Q1 you touched the wall a little bit, did that have any effect on your mind during the rest of qualifying?

    SV: It was the first lap, I was a little bit greedy on the exit of turn 19 and I just brushed the wall a little bit so not really hard contact. There was no problem for the car.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Sebastian, you were hardly able to run in the morning; had you been able to do that, would you have found out something which would have helped you in qualifying?

    SV: I think so. Obviously Saturday morning – or Saturday afternoon in this case – is the last chance before qualifying and also the first chance after practice on Friday to have a read on the car and I think we tried a couple of things. Obviously I would have loved to get a proper answer so I think that what we had in qualifying was still pretty good and very competitive but obviously some boxes will never be ticked so we won’t get an answer on the things that we wanted to but I’m quite confident we found a good compromise, nevertheless.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, is it a kind of relief having Fernando seventh, given that it’s not so easy to overtake here. Will that change something in your strategy going into the race, or are you going to race, attack and try to win?

    SV: I think we have to try to race. I don’t think you can go round looking at one guy in particular, so, as I said, you don’t have to be Einstein to make out that it’s good if you’re ahead and bad if you’re behind but today there’s no points, it’s a long race tomorrow. I think some of the guys were very quick in qualifying, arguably they are slower in the race so we are going to find out tomorrow. I think if you are quicker, then it’s also possible to overtake. Obviously it might be tricky, we’ve seen that in previous years but as I touched on earlier, it’s not impossible and for us, also in terms of strategy, we go for the fastest race, that’s what we have to focus on and at the moment, Lewis is ahead of us so we are trying to hunt him down.

    Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Live) Lewis Hamilton, do you give a chance to the Red Bull drivers at the start tomorrow?

    LH: Do I give them a chance? Definitely not, de-finitely not. As Mark was saying, I’ve had some very very bad starts but that’s down to clutch performance but I will be onto my guys tonight to make sure that that doesn’t happen tomorrow.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Honorary) Mark, when we talked to Christian Horner on Thursday, he never used the word team orders. He did say you’re a strong team player, an important part of the team, and you would know what to do. Are you comfortable with that for tomorrow?

    MW:  Drive flat out.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, yesterday you were struggling more with the option tyres and this is why you were also explaining your difficult session. Do you think you have solved the problem?

    LH: Yeah, I just changed my technique a bit, in terms of warming them up and then from the previous race when we struggled in Q3 on the option tyres particularly in P3 in India, I think it was, we used the method that we improved there, which seemed to have helped this weekend, which I am sure other people are doing. It’s nothing special, it’s just with tyre temperatures and pressures and other things, but it worked, they worked really well.

    Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) You have pretty broad sporting interests, Mark. the Melbourne Cup is coming up on Tuesday, the (horse) race that stops the nation (Australia), they say. Are you interested? Will you watch it, do you have a tip?

    MW: I love sport but horse racing is not far off the bottom of my list. Gambling, in my house, my father didn’t tolerate it. Actually, I’m not a big fan of how much it’s rammed down your throat in Australia, in terms of how you can bet on who farts at what stage in a football match. It’s incredible how obsessed we’ve become with gambling and betting but each to their own. If you love gambling it’s a good buzz but it does nothing for me. I would rather ride my mountain bike.

    Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) That’ll be No then.

    MW: That’s a No. I got busted once. I was in the principal’s office at school for playing up and the race was on, so she couldn’t see me so she had to wait until the race was over. I did, when I was very very very young, my grandparents let us put a little sneaky fiver on sometimes, which wasn’t always allowed and the horse was called Tawrrific and it actually won the race, so I told her that I was very happy and she wasn’t very impressed, because her horse didn’t win.

    Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) Did you watch the Aussie V8s today?

    MW: Not enough, the time schedule is not very helpful and they’re parked down the other side of the track. I want to go and see some of the guys for sure. It was just great that they managed to drive on the same track as us, a slick operation as usual, it’s a good category. No, I haven’t got to see any of the action yet but I’ve seen the results, but I haven’t seen a single lap.

    Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) You could take Lewis and Sebastian with you. You guys would go and see the V8s, wouldn’t you?

    LH: Sure. When we have time.

    Lewis Hamilton poses with Road Safety backdrop after gaining pole at Abu Dhabi on Saturday 4 Nov 2012. Photo by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team.

    Ends

  • Hamilton takes pole, ahead of Webber: Abu Dhabi GP

    Abu Dhabi, 3 Nov 2012: Mark Webber was edged out to second place and Sebastian Vettel third as Lewis Hamilton dominated the battle for pole position at Yas Marina here on Saturday. However, Vettel was excluded from qualification later by stewards for not having enough fuel in his car and he will start at the back of the grid.

    Lewis Hamilton has been the pace-setter through most of the weekend, running quickest in the first and last free practice sessions, and the McLaren driver confirmed his pole position credentials in the opening segments of the qualifying hour by claiming top spot in both Q1 and Q2. He then took provisional pole early in Q3 with a lap of 1:40.630, four-tenths clear of his closest competitor. And as his rivals failed to significantly dent the gap, Hamilton has the luxury of backed-out of his final run.

    “It’s the first time for a long time we’ve been ahead of the Red Bulls rather than seeing the tail of them at the start of the race. However, I know it’s going to be very tough in the race because they’ve got great race pace,” said Hamilton. “We are strong enough to fight them: the car’s felt beautiful all weekend. I don’t know why the car works so well here. We’ve not really made any improvements to the car since the last race, so I guess it just suits.”

    Mark Webber came the closest to upsetting the Briton, for whom it is a sixth pole position of the season. After comfortably making his way through the opening segments, the Red Bull Racing driver found himself six-tenths adrift of Hamilton after his first run. Webber dug deep and found more pace on his final run, halving the deficit but unable to do any more.

    “Credit to Lewis, he’s obviously got a quick car this weekend and he bumped us off the front row, that’s the first time in a while,” said Webber. “It was a pretty smooth qualifying session for both Seb and I, and we did what we could.”

    Despite settling for second-best in qualifying, Webber expressed hope of beating Hamilton off the line tomorrow. “You never know. Lewis’ starts lately haven’t been phenomenal, so let’s see if he has a good one tomorrow,” he said. “Generally it’s down to how the clutch is and things like that – it’s not really down to Lewis. We’ll see how they go off the line but I’m looking to go forward, for sure. Then we’ll get settled into the race and see where everyone is after that.”

    Having won the last four races, Sebastian Vettel struggled on Saturday when a brake problem heavily compromising his running in the final free practice session. His travails of the afternoon continued into the evening. He clipped a wall on his first run in Q1, and was fortunate to suffer no damage. Then, at the end of the session, after securing third spot on the grid, the German was told by his team to stop the car on track. “I don’t know why I had to stop,” he said afterwards. “I was asked to stop, I guess there was some problem. It should not be something major.”

    “It’s difficult to pass here, even though you’ve got long straights,” he added. “We’ve got the double DRS, so we’ll see if that helps. I’m sure it’s not impossible.

    If Vettel had a mechanically-troubled day, title rival Fernando Alonso was simply troubled by rivals. The Ferrari driver looked strong in the early part of Q3 and slotted into fourth. However, he was eclipsed by William’s Pastor Maldonado (fourth), Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen (fifth) and McLaren’s Jenson Button (sixth) in the final runs. The flurry of quick laps dropped him to seventh, his worst starting position since the Italian Grand Prix, when a broken anti-roll bar saw him trail around at the back of the Q3 order.

    “I did almost the same time on three occasions between Q2 and Q3, which means there was nothing more to come,” said Alonso of his performance. “The updates we brought here have improved our performance but the others have not been relaxing on the sofa watching television while twiddling their thumbs…

    “Usually, Saturday is the day we suffer the most, while on Sunday things always go better: let’s hope that will also be the case this time. It’s also true that with so little tyre degradation, the strategic choices are much more limited and so too the opportunities to make up places.”

    Behind Alonso the top ten was completed by Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes in eighth, ahead of Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean for Ferrari and Lotus respectively.

    ends

    From left: Vettel (3rd), Hamilton (1st) and Webber (2nd) after qualification on Saturday. Vettel was later penalised to the back of the grid. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes photo.

  • Abu Dhabi GP: FIA Friday Press Conference

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – Andrew GREEN (Force India), Antonio CUQUERELLA (HRT), Rémi TAFFIN (Renault Sport F1), Ross BRAWN (Mercedes), Pat FRY (Ferrari)

    A question to you all about engines at this stage. It gets towards the sharp engine of the season and people are running out of mileage on their engines. Perhaps you could give us an update on how you are with engines at this stage?

    Andrew GREEN: We’re completely to plan. As we worked it out from race one, so no issues for us at the moment.

    Antonio?

    Antonio CUQUERELLA: Yes, same for us. We’re going to start this race, both cars with the last engine and it’s all according to plan as we planned in the winter.

    Pat?

    Pat FRY: Yes, exactly the same really. It’s going to plan. I think we have one engine left to play but touch wood it should be fine.

    Ross.

    Ross BRAWN: As with everyone else, you manage it through the whole season. So you’re making adjustments and corrections as you go through the year and we’re OK.

    Rémi, your teams?

    Remi TAFFIN: Let’s say since last race we’re on plan. We’ve obviously had up and downs during the year but we’re all fine. We also have some engines left obviously for six of our eight drivers, one left, which we should use for this weekend. So it will be up to eight this weekend for all our customers and we should be OK for the rest of the year. Obviously we have to manage the mileage on Fridays but yeah, we’re on target.

    Andrew, first of all, Force India seems to be fairly comfortable in the midfield but what does it take to get the team towards the sharper end of the championship?

    AG: Quite simple: you’ve got to out-develop the guys in front of you.

    Is that money? Is that personnel?

    AG: It’s everything. But ultimately you need the money to invest in the team, in the hardware and in the people and ultimately that will increase your rate of development. That’s what you need to do, that’s what we would need to do if we were to start to target these guys in front of me [Fry, Brawn]. It’s something we’ve discussed with the shareholders at great length, telling us where they want to be, what they want to do. There’s more discussions happening very shortly and hopefully we’ll be able to announce something in near future.

    Have you still got developments coming this year or are you working one hundred per cent on the new car now?

    AG: Oh, we’ve been on the new car for several months now. There’s been no development on this car since the shutdown effectively.

    Antonio, can you give us an update on how the team is developing in Madrid, in terms of staffing etc.,

    AC: Yeah. As you know we’ve done a big change this year, moving everything, everybody’s under the same roof now and we got our DO [design office] as it started from the summer and now our department is moving from Germany to Spain. We are recruiting, we are doing a lot of interviews and we are recruiting at a high rate of people. But still we are the smallest team, there’s no need to hide that. It’s a long way for us to get into the midfield, or let’s say the average size of team. But we are growing fast.

    In terms of development of the car for next year, is it going to be essentially the same car?

    AC: Oh no. It’s not going to be the same car. It’s going to have… all the cars they have a lot of common parts that carry over from one to the other but of course it’s going to be completely new in many areas: suspension, aerodynamics and many areas. Of course some parts of the transmission are parts we are going to keep them but I would say all the parts that are lap time-relevant are going to be improved or replaced.

    Pat, I think you made quite a big push for this grand prix in terms of developments. Can you give us some sort of update on it?

    PF: We’ve been pushing for the last few grands prix really. There’s a few new developments on the car; we worked through our programme this morning and this afternoon, looking promising but we need to analyse all the data as normal before we decide what to run for tomorrow.

    How much did you change your schedule to bring those parts to here? Is it something that’s recently come in? And how much has that been affected by the shutdown of the wind tunnel?

    PF: Well, we’re still using our wind tunnel. We’re obviously using a customer one as well. I mean it’s just been part of our normal tunnel programme if you like, and I suppose we are a little bit later this year than we were last year with the new car but development on that has been going strong for quite a while as well.

    Q: Ross, obviously the announcement that Niki Lauda will have a role within the team has been of interest? How is that going to work with you?

    RB: Niki is non-executive chairman, chairman of our board. We meet our board several times a year, to discuss the major issues. I think Niki is also going to add a lot of racing experience to the board. The board meetings will probably have a slightly different complexion in the future. And Niki’s helping with some of the bigger strategic issues, such as the new commercial agreement with Bernie; obviously Niki had some involvement with persuading Lewis to join us – so those sort of issues but not involved with the day-to-day running of the team.

    Q: So your role essentially doesn’t change.

    RB: No, no. I’ve just a got a new chairman. I had one before, I’ve got a different one now.

    Q: You touched there on Lewis joining the team, to what extent would you encourage him to build the team around him, rather as Michael Schumacher did at Ferrari all those years ago? And how would that therefore work with the other driver?

    RB: Well, I think both drivers in the team contribute to developing a team, building a team. We are clearly not achieving the results we want to achieve yet, so we’ve got some progress we need to make and I think Lewis will be able to contribute a lot to helping us make that progress. We obviously believe and we know he’s a very very quick driver. This is perhaps a new challenge he’s facing of helping a team grow and develop and become more competitive. So there’s some different aspects, perhaps, to what he’s going to face with us and what he’s faced at McLaren, which was a pretty complete and rounded team.

    Q: Remy, first of all, interesting developments from Lotus with the Coanda exhaust; how does that affect the Renault engine? What do you have to do to the engine with different exhaust systems?

    RT: Obviously that affects the performance of the engine so get the performance down from the first attempt of the exhaust. Thereafter, we have to work on how we can assess this loss and try to minimise it, so that’s our main objective when we work on this exhaust back at the factory. That’s why you can see some different versions coming at any race we do, so that’s the part of the job we do.

    Q: And here, how much is the performance of the engine affected from free practice in the morning, through to qualifying or the race, the difference in temperature, 13 degrees track temperature, but how much does the ambient change affect the engine and performance?

    RT: If we look at what we’re going to get at the end of the race, it could be five to 10 degrees down. Engine-wise it’s more like what we’re going to try to assess for the cooling, for example, so we just basically have to get the data from P2 because it’s more or less the same timing, and assess the set-up of the car, we need to get with it, and that’s basically it. Racing is pretty close to what we’ve been doing in P2 so that’s when we will get the data and find out what we need.

    Q: Is there a power change at all?

    RT: Obviously there will be a power change, but let’s say it’s the same for everyone. The only real change that we have from Friday to Saturday or Sunday is the engine change, because we’re going to change the engine for tomorrow, so that’s going to be the main difference.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Ross, the FIA has published the entry fee requirements for next season with a significant increase in the amount for every point scored, which is probably going to hit the mid-table teams more than others. I was just wondering about your thoughts on that? Mercedes, presumably, can afford to pay it but it’s quite a significant increase on this season.

    RB: I think, for us, we would be delighted to pay it because we would be scoring a lot of points. In fact, if you’re a mid-range team, and considering the fact that all the extra facilities that we pay for separately at the moment are rolled into that entrance fee, I think for a lot of teams it’s going to be very similar. It’s going to make more substantial difference for those teams who finish in the top three or four of the championship. I was being a bit flippant, but obviously I hope that we can have that problem next year.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Pat, are you confident you can reduce the gap from Red Bull in qualifying or do you think you will suffer again as you have in the last races?

    PF: We are trying as hard as we can to improve the qualifying performance. As I say, we’ve got some updates here. I need to go through… or the guys need to go through and check the exact performance level, but obviously our race pace is quite reasonable, as last weekend showed. We need to work on our qualifying, so we will keep on trying, we will keep on pushing.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) A question for Remy: we understand that the new Red Bull or the new Renault alternators are going to be seen in Austin for the first time; could you tell us what work has been done to integrate them on the engines and what the differences are with the new specification?

    RT: The new specification we’ve been running now since Singapore. It was obviously run on Fridays but before we did that, we did the normal job we do with any parts that we fit on the engine on the dyno, for example, so it has obviously passed all the tests, so we are now quite confident that we can race it and that’s why we have a target to introduce that at race 19, so in Austin. The question now is whether we’re going to fit that on all of the cars or all of the teams we supply and it’s just a question of supplying the parts. It’s not that easy to get all the parts changed but obviously the major changes we’ve done is all about what failed and we’ve discussed bearings so that’s the work we’ve achieved so far, so that’s where we are.

    Andrew Green (GBR) Sahara Force India F1 Team Technical Director in the FIA Press Conference. at Abu Dhabi on Friday. SFI photo

    Ends

  • Abu Dhabi GP: FIA’s Thursday Press Conference

    Drivers Present:

    File photo of Ricciardo by Toro Rosso F1 team

    Vitaly PETROV (Caterham), Daniel RICCIARDO (Toro Rosso), Charles PIC (Marussia), Kamui KOBAYASHI (Sauber), Felipe MASSA (Ferrari), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Vitaly, like a number of drivers here today whom we’ll all be talking to about the same subject, the future is not decided for you. What are your feelings about that, what’s happening and when are we likely to hear about it?

    Vitaly PETROV: Bob, I think you’ll know what I mean when I answer this question. Last time you asked Nico [Hulkenberg] the same question so, I think I will answer the same: I’ll focus on this year trying to do the best race to race. My management is doing the work and that’s it.

    What about the recent performances? The car seems to be going better. Are you happy with that? You’ve been matching Heikki pretty much if not finishing ahead of him.

    VP: I’m working quite hard to beat him every race and I have a goal. Look like we now understand much more the car and the set-up. We’re very excited for this weekend because we bring quite a big package of updates, so we’ll need to test a lot of things in P1, P2 and P3 – probably even in quali. We’re looking forward to understanding them, as those updates will probably be on next year’s car as well. So I’m really excited to see how they are because in the last few months we bring some updates but we didn’t bring in… towards being quicker, you know. So this is why this test is quite important for us.

    Daniel, the news came out a couple of days ago that you’re staying with the team. I guess everybody thought that was automatic but it doesn’t seem that way.

    Daniel RICCIARDO: I guess until something’s signed and sealed, you always keep a bit reserved, so it’s nice to get confirmation that I’ll be back with Toro Rosso next year. Yeah, it’s good to now focus on the last few races and it’s good to know we’ve got that behind us for next season. There are some big expectations there have been some big changes throughout this year and they’ll be in full effect next year essentially. It’s been a little bit too late to make a huge difference this year but we’re definitely expecting good things for next year and I’ll have a bit more experience behind me, which will help as well.

    Talking about improvements in the car, will there be improvements here?

    DR: We hope so. We’re not bringing any big updates this weekend, nothing to brag about. We’ve been pretty good since the summer break, we’ve definitely been more consistent in compiling the points more regularly. Unfortunately, in India it wasn’t the case, but prior to that we’ve been pretty good. This weekend we’ll see what happens. Quite a few sponsors and guests here this weekend, so we’ll do our best to impress them all.

    Charles, also a question about the future. What is there in the pipeline for you?

    Charles PIC: I don’t know, there are still three races to go and I want to be focused on this. Of course we are asking about next year but nothing is done, so I will have to wait.

    Are there updates coming for the car here?

    CP: No. I think from Singapore we made a step and we are much closer to Caterham, our direct competitor and our objective is to try to keep this 10th position.

    Kamui, again, another future question for you, what’s happening with you?

    Kamui KOBAYASHI: Hi everyone. I have the same thing as the guys – we have to work hard to get next year’s seat. I think I’m pretty confident to deserve a Formula One seat but for sure we definitely need to focus for these last three races. So, let’s see. We don’t have so many seats [available] either, so this is also a big question, so I think I try to focus on the results and also negotiate with other teams or the same team, I don’t know.

    And this is a circuit where you scored your first World Championship points, so it must be one that you remember.

    KK: Yes, definitely. I have a good memory here. Abu Dhabi is one of my good memories of track, and especially I think like Toyota’s race is something special for me and at the same time scoring first points here. Of course I think we had different cars and I think had to take a different approach. But the last two years experiencing it with the same team I have quite a positive feeling for here.

    Felipe, we haven’t spoken to you since you were decided for 2013 for Ferrari. It must be a relief to be signed.

    Felipe MASSA: Yes, I think it’s very nice to stay with Ferrari after a long time now. Going to the eighth championship for Ferrari, not counting even when I signed the contract when I was a young driver. Not so young anymore but still a young driver, before Formula One, when I signed a contract for Ferrari. It’s a long time now. It’s very nice, and really looking forward to finish well this end of the Championship but also to concentrate 100 per cent for different and very competitive 2013 as well.

    The race results have been getting better for you over the last few races. Has that been because the car has come towards you with the development?

    FM: A little bit, yes, but also I think, y’know, I would say maybe I had a better direction for the second part of the season. I had good races before, for example the pace was very good in the race, the possibility to score good points and finish in the points was high but always something was happening with some race and I couldn’t put it together. I would say after August everything was much more in the right direction. Nothing was happening during the race; the position on the start was better; so I think you know, this helps a lot. Also my mind, I mean I put it on my mind that if it’s OK, it’s OK, if it’s not OK, is not OK and that’s fine. I try to enjoy, like I always did in my career, going in the car, trying to have fun, enjoy and I think when you do that, you can put the best possible and make the car as quick as possible and the result is there.

    Jenson, you’ve had three third places here. Is it a track that’s going to suit the McLaren this year?

    Jenson BUTTON: I really don’t know! I think as you’ve seen in the last few races, Red Bull, the Ferrari and our car have been relatively strong. Maybe Ferrari and us not quite as strong as the Red Bulls but this is a very different type of circuit to India. It’s not front-limited like India was, I think the rear is going to be the limitation. So, we will see. It is going to be very competitive, I think. And that’s just those three teams: I think you’ll also have a couple of other teams that we’ve seen be strong on occasions. Especially the latter part of the season, that we’ll see at the front fighting as well.

    I don’t know if you’ve been out on the circuit but they’ve added some kerbs, quite a few kerbs around the circuit.

    JB: I haven’t, no, I’m going to head out this evening. This is a fun circuit to drive. It’s a difficult circuit to overtake on but it’s fun to drive and it’s good that they’ve put bigger kerbs in, I think. Last year, if you saw the footage, we were using probably more of the circuit than we should be because there isn’t a limit in terms of a big kerb to stop you from going over the white lines. Now there are bigger kerbs, I think it’s a good thing: it keeps us all on the circuit, keeps us in the right place between the white lines. Now we have to see what the kerb ride is like because obviously it’s different to what it was last year.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Alex Popov – RTI) Vitaly and Kamui, since nobody in big business in Russia and Japan are interested in following you or supporting you next year, if it’s like this, would you consider looking for a foreign sponsor, a big international company, not specially Russian or Japanese?

    VP: I don’t think it’s my job to do it, because I don’t understand too much about it. My management must do that, and I hope for that, so I don’t know what to say.

    KK: I think it’s interesting, but after the race at Suzuka this year, since then I think Japan is more interested in motor sport, especially Formula One. I think if I had a little bit more time I could find more sponsoring from Japan. This is what I’m looking for. After Suzuka, we definitely had a lot of contact from a couple of companies. It’s very difficult to judge what I have to say, because I’m not deciding the team and I don’t know the budget. I have no idea. This is a very difficult moment, but at the moment I could find quite a lot of sponsors and we definitely see a lot of good signs after the Suzuka result. It’s very important to get international but also my preference is if I could bring some sponsoring from Japan, to get more popular in Japan. I think this is what I’m really focusing on at the moment.

    Q: (Ross Macdonald – Gulf News Broadcasting) Jenson, what is Abu Dhabi to you? Is it just another day at the office, or is there something special about the place?

    JB: I haven’t actually spent much time in Abu Dhabi. The only time I’ve actually been in Abu Dhabi was for a party, post-Grand Prix. Apart from that, I’ve never actually been to Abu Dhabi. I’ve only stayed at the hotels on the outskirts. I’ve obviously been to the circuit. The facilities out here are phenomenal, probably the best in the world. I think for the people watching and the people watching on TV, it looks like a spectacular race. I think everything’s done very well here. It’s a good Grand Prix, not a bad Grand Prix for me over the last three years. I like coming here, it’s an enjoyable Grand Prix for me but as I said, I haven’t been here, I’ve been down the road in Dubai for the last three days.

    Q: (Ross Macdonald – Gulf News Broadcasting) How was the party?

    JB: I can’t remember. It must mean it was good.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association)

    JB: That’s always good: can’t hear Parkesy!

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Jenson, just been speaking to Sergio earlier and he’s mentioned that he’s already had a couple of conversations with you about McLaren, what it’s going to be like joining next season. I was just wondering about the ten year age gap between you two, whether you feel like an older brother to him in some respects?

    FM: Getting older.

    JB: I don’t actually think I’m that old. I was surprised when I was told he was 22-years old. It seems like he’s been around for a lot longer than that. But no, I don’t feel like an older brother, no. It’s important to work closely with your teammate. I think that when he’s in the team he will probably learn a lot from someone who is older, with more experience, which is me but I still think that when you’re an older driver you can still learn from a younger teammate, to bring fresh ideas to the table. But as an old brother? No, I definitely don’t feel like that.

    Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) What do you expect to learn from him?

    JB: I don’t know yet. We’ll see.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Jenson, just following up on Parksey’s question: how much has Lewis learned from you, given that the age gap there is a few years as well?

    JB: That’s a great question. I don’t know. I think you will have to ask him that. You’ll get a good answer, I’m sure, on that one.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Charles, we have heard today that Marussia have confirmed that they have got financial difficulties. We know that there are possibilities of new investors in the team. Does this mean that you are broadening your discussions with other teams for a drive next year?

    CP: Actually, I try to be focused on my job and for the moment, my job is to give my best for the three last races. After we will see what’s open for next year. We are speaking with some team but I think it’s too early to say anything. Thank you.

    Q: (Mike Casey – Associated Press) Jenson, following up on Perez: what does he bring to the team? You’re losing Lewis, does he make the team better? From what you’ve seen in his driving, how is he different from Lewis?

    JB: Obviously it’s very difficult to know what he brings to the team, because he’s not there yet. With Lewis leaving, obviously the team loses a very fast driver, a guy that’s achieved a lot with the team, wins and obviously a World Championship – the last guy to win a World Championship for the team. It is a big loss but things change and you learn to move on and adapt. It’s definitely not the end of two strong drivers at McLaren. I think Sergio will be fast but I really don’t know. He’s obviously unknown in a McLaren, because he’s not there yet. But it’s a great opportunity for Checo and I’m sure he will take it with both hands.

    Q: (Ralf Bach – R&B) Jenson, do you think that Lewis is able to make a Mercedes car quicker and better next year?

    JB: I really don’t know. I think the first year with a new team is always a little bit tricky. It’s a new experience for Lewis. I’m sure he’s excited about it. I really don’t know. He’s as quick as they come but sometimes it’s not that easy to win Grand Prix and to build a team around you and also to help a team achieve great results.

    Q: (Gaetan Vigneron – RTBF) For all you: between Fernando and Sebastian, which is the driver who deserves the title the most, do you think?

    VP: I think it’s clear, for me, at the moment, today, that the Red Bull car has a big advantage compared to Ferrari. This year, Alonso did a fantastic job from the beginning; he’s had a few crashes but all of us know that Ferrari is not on the same pace as Red Bull. It will be difficult for Ferrari but I think Ferrari also has the passion to win and they bring a lot of updates maybe for this weekend or another weekend. I really don’t know, but what I can see at the moment is that Red Bull is the quicker car. That’s it.

    DR: I think he said that quite well. I think this season has been very hard to judge. It’s been a very exciting season. I think anything can happen, so even if it is the case that the package of Vettel himself and the car is better at this stage, it doesn’t confirm a World Championship. You have to get it done on Sunday and there are still three Sundays to go. Things can happen. I think they both have had their little bit of bad luck this season. I think, for now, they’re going to go head-to-toe but yeah, we’ll see. Obviously Red Bull’s been the car to beat for the last four races or so, but I think the pace is always changing, and Ferrari’s obviously got some good experience and some good people behind them, so I’m sure a surprise is not impossible either. See what happens, it’s exciting. I would like to be part of it.

    CP: Yes, I think maybe Sebastian is in a little bit better position than Fernando right now. From the last few races, they had a little advantage but I think it’s still quite open and there are three races left. The championship is still quite close so anything can happen.

    KK: For sure, I think Red Bull has the greater advantage but I think the last three races will be quite difficult to judge. At the moment, I think Sebastian has the greater chance but if there’s something… if Sebastian misses one race, then I think there is a lot of chance for Fernando. We will see. But at the moment I think Sebastian has more chance.

    FM: Well, I think both drivers have had a fantastic championship. I think Fernando did an incredible job up to now, Sebastian as well, especially in the second part of the championship, so I think we are not talking about one guy who has many victories and the other one not. I think we are talking about two drivers one of which will win and who we will say deserved it. But anyway, I hope Fernando will win.

    JB: It’s a very difficult one to answer. As Felipe said, they have both done a fantastic job this year. You would say that throughout the season, Fernando has been the more consistent. In the last few races, yeah, it’s been a great job by Red Bull, but also a great job by Sebastian. He’s been given the equipment and he’s delivered. You don’t win Grands Prix on your own, and you don’t win championships on your own, so whoever comes out on top is the driver and the team that deserves to win it.

    Q: (Vanessa Ruiz – ESPN Radio) Kamui, you just said that you were pretty confident that you’re going to get a seat next year. Sauber has just confirmed Nico Hulkenberg and postponed the decision or at least the announcement about the second driver, so I wonder what it is that makes you confident that you’re going to get the seat?

    KK: It’s a feeling. I have nothing, you know, but just feeling. If I can explain something I think it’s better but unfortunately not. I think we have to see. I think we still have the last three races and if we have some good results in the last three races maybe something can happen. I believe in that and try to focus. But the feeling for next year is just… feeling.

    Q: (Ross Macdonald – Gulf News Broadcasting) Felipe, I know last year you took part in a charity football match when you were in Abu Dhabi. Is that something you will be trying to do again this year, or do you see Abu Dhabi as more than just another day at the office?

    FM: I thing Abu Dhabi is growing a lot. Every year when you come here you see so many new things so I think that’s very nice. I had a nice football match last year. This year we didn’t have it but anyway I think it’s really a nice place to come: you have nice restaurants, great hotels and everything. It’s beautiful. As Jenson says, it’s one of the most incredible races, even to watch. I really enjoying coming here. Hopefully we can have a good race as well, another great race for the people.

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Kamui, when you first came into Formula One you had about two or three races to make an impression and you did it and you secured your future. Do you feel that these next three races are a similar situation, that you could possibly change things in the last three races and secure your future?

    KK: Of course, I think this is a good opportunity like three years ago, but this year I have a little bit different feeling. I didn’t know three years ago that Toyota would leave Formula One, so just to give myself a good result, just driving for the same team. At the same time, I have to negotiate and do everything, a good result is very important, but this year it seems there are not many seats left so I think we have to move quite quickly as well.

    Ends

  • Bigger kerbs at Yas Marina, a good thing: Button

    Abu Dhabi, 1 Nov 2012:McLaren’s Jenson Button has applauded the decision to bring in bigger kerbs at Yas Marina. The high style of kerbs that previously have only been seen in the Turn 8-9 chicane have been installed elsewhere on the circuit and now feature on the apexes of Turns Five, Six, 12, 13, 14, 18 and 19. The intention is to oblige drivers, always keen to take the fastest line, to keep their cars between the white lines. It’s a move that

    Jenson Button in Abu Dhabi. A Thursday photo by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team:

    Button, the only man on the podium at all three grands prix here, applauds.

    “It’s a difficult circuit to overtake on but it’s fun to drive and it’s good that they’ve put bigger kerbs in, I think,” said the 2009 World Champion, speaking in the FIA Thursday press conference. “Last year, if you saw the footage, we were using probably more of the circuit than we should be because there isn’t a limit in terms of a big kerb to stop you from going over the white lines. Now there are bigger kerbs, I think it’s a good thing: it keeps us all on the circuit, keeps us in the right place. Now we have to see what the kerb-ride is like because obviously it’s different to what it was last year.”

    Asked whether he believed Yas Marina would suit McLaren, Button said he really wasn’t sure.

    “I really don’t know! I think as you’ve seen in the last few races, the Red Bull, the Ferrari and our car have been relatively strong. Maybe Ferrari and us not quite as strong as the Red Bulls but this is a very different type of circuit to India. It’s not front [grip] limited like India was, I think the rear is going to be the limitation. So, we will see. It is going to be very competitive, I think. And that’s just those three teams: I think you’ll also have a couple of other teams that we’ve seen be strong on occasions that we’ll see at the front fighting as well.”

    ends

  • Sauber signs on Nico Hulkenberg for 2013

    Hinwil, 31 Oct 2012: Nico Hülkenberg has been confirmed as one of the two team drivers for the Sauber F1 Team in season 2013. The 25-year-old German won the GP2 Series in 2009, made his Formula One debut in 2010 with the WilliamsF1 Team and managed to capture a pole position in his maiden year. He is currently driving for Sahara Force India and ranks 12th in the Drivers’ World Championship with 49 points after 17 out of 20 races. Hülkenberg’s best Formula One race result this season was at the Belgian Grand Prix, where he finished fourth on the challenging Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

    Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn commented: “We’ve been observing Nico for some time now and his performances have been very persuasive. That was the case in GP2 and has continued into Formula One. An obvious highlight was how he scored pole at Interlagos in 2010 despite the most challenging external conditions. He clearly showed that he can seize the chance if it arises. But high spots like that are one thing; systematic teamwork is another – and on that score I have confidence in Nico too. I’m sure he will fit in very well with the Sauber F1 Team. We look forward to working together with him.”

    Nico Hülkenberg’s reaction: “I’m really looking forward to working with the Sauber F1 Team. It’s a well-placed team and very competitive. Plus it’s a team in which young drivers have repeatedly delivered exceptional performances. I would like to take up that baton. The Sauber F1 Team is currently going through a very positive development and I’m certain that together we can achieve a lot. Until that time I will remain fully focused on my job with the Sahara Force India Team. I’d like to thank the management at Sahara Force India for giving me the chance to return to Formula One as a team driver.”

    The Sauber F1 Team will announce its second driver for the 2013 season at a later date.

    Meanwhile, Sahara Force India team Principal and Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya when asked if he enjoyed working with Nico Hulkenberg who will be leaving the team at the end of the season said: 

    Nico Hulkenberg file photo from Sahara Force India F1 team.

    It has been a pleasure to have Nico with us for the last couple of years. At the end of 2010 we identified him as a star of the future and it has been rewarding to watch him develop his racing skills. Together with Paul he has done a brilliant job for us, helping the team score more points than ever before and giving 100% commitment every weekend. We would like to thank him for all his hard work and wish him well for the future. With three races remaining this season, we know Nico will remain totally committed and continue to deliver his best performances for the team.

    ends

  • Abu Dhabi preview: Can Vettel make it 5 in a row?

    Abu Dhabi, 31 Oct 2012: Abu Dhabi hosts the 18th round of the 2012 Formula One World Championship with teams making the short trip from India to the Yas Marina Circuit. F1’s only day/night race has been a great success in its three previous runnings, with the organisers entertaining the crowd with a good selection of support races and other attractions. Inside the F1 paddock, the Yas Marina Circuit has developed a  good reputation – both for its compact arrangement and convivial atmosphere but also with the quality of its garage and circuit facilities, which have been instrumental in it becoming a venue for the young drivers’ test which will take place in the days following the Grand Prix.

    YMC has three very different sectors. High-speed turns dominate the start of the lap, down to the chicane and hairpin at Turn Seven. After that, the middle part of the lap has two very long stra

    Abu Dhabi circuit. Courtesy FIA

    ights separated by a heavy braking zone into a slow-speed chicane. The end of the lap around the harbour has been deliberately designed to mimic Monaco, and like that circuit is mostly slow speed and highly technical.

    YMC demands a little bit of everything in terms of set-up. It has the second-longest straight in F1 so demands good top speed; it features heavy braking and a varied selection of cornering speeds requiring good traction and high downforce. It suggests a wider array of set-up options, though compared to the last three races it does not place such a premium on high-speed cornering ability.

    Famously the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw Sebastian Vettel crowned after a tense season finale into which he went lying third in a championship, 15 points behind Fernando Alonso and seven behind Mark Webber. The finishing order in India last week ensured the Drivers’ Championship cannot be claimed at Yas this year – but Red Bull go into the race with a good chance of taking the Constructors’ Championship.

    CIRCUIT DATA

    YAS MARINA CIRCUIT

    Length of lap:  5.554km

    Lap record: 1:40.279

    (Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, 2009)

    Start line/finish line offset: 0.115km
    Total number of race laps: 55
    Total race distance: 305.355km

    Pitlane speed limits: 60km/h during practice and qualifying, 100km/h during the race

    Changes to the circuit since 2011: Higher kerbs, similar to those on the apex of turns eight and nine, have been installed on the apexes of turns five, six, 12, 13, 14, 18 and 19..

    ends

     

  • Toro Rosso retains same drivers for 2013

    Scuderia Toro Rosso has confirmed on Wednesday 31 Oct that it would continue with its current driver line-up of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne for the 2013 Formula 1 season. It will be the second year with the team for both of them.

    Franz

    Daniel Ricciardo of Australia (left) and Jean-Eric Vergne of France were retained as drivers for 2013 by Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 team. File photo from Scuderia Toro RossoPrix at Silverstone Circuit on July 5, 2012

    Tost: “Both drivers have done a good job this season. Daniel joined us with a few Grands Prix under his belt and so his feedback and experience was particularly useful while Jean-Eric got up to speed, often having to deal with tracks he had never seen before. Since the summer break, both drivers have scored more points and everyone in the team has been impressed with their maturity in terms of working with the engineers and their racecraft on track. We will be doing our best in the next few months, to produce a 2013 car which will allow them to demonstrate their talent.”

    Daniel Ricciardo: “I am really pumped to know that I am continuing with Scuderia Toro Rosso for another season and want to thank the team and Red Bull. There are big expectations for next year and I’m ready and willing to fulfil them. I feel I have been growing and developing as a driver and my approach to the technical side of the sport has also progressed this year, so I am sure that will serve me well in my second season with Toro Rosso. We have had quite a tough season, but despite that, I have always enjoyed a good relationship with all the guys and I am delighted at the idea of working with them for another year.”
     
    Jean-Eric Vergne: “I am really happy about this great news. Thank you Toro Rosso and thank you Red Bull, who have backed me since the early days of my career.  It has been a difficult season and, as a rookie, I have learned a lot, thanks to the support I got and the excellent relationship I have enjoyed with all the guys. I feel much stronger now and I know I have become a better driver over the course of the season. I really believe in this team and with all the experience I have gained, combined with the team’s ambitious plans for next year, I think we can look forward to great things in 2013, attacking all the way.”
    ends

  • Vettel moves closer to title

    New Delhi, 28 Oct 2012: Sebastian Vettel moved 13 points clear of Fernando Alonso in the Formula One Drivers’ Championship with a commanding victory in India.

    It was Vettel’s second victory in a row at the circuit, his fifth win of the campaign and his fourth in succession. Alonso could only manage second behind the defending champion, a result which leaves him on 227 points compared with Vettel’s 240. Mark Webber would likely have given Red Bull Racing another 1-2 finish but for a KERS problem that allowed Alonso, 12 laps from home, to ease by. Webber then held off a late charge from Lewis Hamilton to hold on to third and his fifth podium finish of the year.

    “I think it’s been an incredible two years for us, both times to come here and win the race. To get the pole on Saturday and win the race on Sunday is fantastic,” said Vettel. “There’s always a very nice trophy so I’m very, very happy to pick up another nice one this year, so a very special grand prix. I don’t know what is it about this circuit but I really like the flow of it.”

    Vettel’s fifth win of the season was largely sealed at the start. When the lights went out both he and Webber made good starts off the front row. The Australian momentarily drew alongside but he had to give way though as they lanced towards turn one.
    With that battle won, and in clean air at the front of the pack, Vettel was able to build a solid lead over the first half of the long opening stint. After a dozen laps he had forged a gap of over eight seconds over third-placed Alonso. Webber was also settling into a good rhythm, almost four seconds clear of the Spaniard.

    Vettel made his one and only stop on lap 33, taking on the harder compound and from there began to pace himself as he arrowed towards his fourth victory in a row.

    “I think we felt after a couple of laps that the tyres were holding up reasonably well and then when you cross around 15-16 to 20 laps with still something in the tyres left, you obviously know it goes more to the direction of one stop,” he said of his long first stint. “I think we were very competitive on the soft tyres; on the hard tyres I think McLaren and Ferrari were pretty competitive. I think we were probably not as competitive on the primes as on the soft tyres but all in all a fantastic race.”

    Behind the leader, Webber was having a tougher time. After his single stop he came under brief pressure from Alonso, but the Red Bull driver responded to break clear of the sub-one second gap Alonso needed to remain within to activate his DRS. It looked like Webber had done enough to secure second but then the Australian reported that his KERS was no longer working.

    That difficulty saw him once again fall into Alonso’s orbit and the Ferrari driver, scenting an opportunity, stepped up the pressure. Webber defended bravely but with no boost the gap to the Ferrari soon fell below the one second mark again and on lap 48 Alonso slipped past.
    “It [the KERS] was on and off, and then completely off. I was a moving target,” he said. “We needed to screw around with brake balance and just manage as best we could [to not] lose rhythm and tempo. We needed to keep the focus, but it is so demoralising on that straight with no KERS – it is not really a battle. Fernando came past – they have good top gear – and that was it.”

    It was a tough break for Webber who was holding off Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren in the final laps of the race.

    “I pushed as strong as possible to get to the end of the race, but I was lucky Lewis made a mistake on lap 57,” he said of his battle with the McLaren driver. “That was important because he was starting to get a bit of momentum. I was keen to keep him out of DRS as much as possible.”

    For Alonso, Webber’s KERS issue was a gift. Despite seeing Vettel extend his championship lead, the 18 points earned by the Ferrari driver limited the damage and kept his title aspirations alive with three rounds to go.

    “Nothing [has] changed in one race,” he said of his championship hopes. “There are 75 points [left] and we are 13 behind and we know we need to improve. We are not fast enough, especially on Saturday, but we can improve the situation in Abu Dhabi or in the USA. As we saw with Mark’s KERS problem, it can happen to Seb or it can happen to us, so I am optimistic.”

    He conceded, however, that Ferrari must improved quickly if he is to stand a chance of taking his third championship win.

    “I think we need to bring some new parts to Abu Dhabi and hopefully improve a little bit the competitiveness of the car and get closer to Red Bulls on Saturday and hopefully Sunday as well,” he said. “There are three races remaining and the championship is the main target. We need to recover some points. It would be nice to finish in front of Seb there [Abu Dhabi] and if we win even better. For that we need to make a step forward as at the moment we are not able to win.”

    With Hamilton fourth, fifth place was taken by McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, with Felipe Massa sixth. The final points positions where taken by Kimi Räikkönen in seventh for Lotus, Nico Hülkenberg’s Force India eighth, Romain Grosjean ninth in the second Lotus and and Bruno Senna taking the final point in tenth for Williams.

    ends

    Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing team celebrates after winning the Indian GP on Sunday 28 Oct 2012. Red Bull Racing F1 team photo

  • McLarens, Hamilton disappoint

    New Delhi, 28 Oct 2012: Both McLarens finished one place worse off than they started but took heart from showing good pace towards the end of the Indian Grand Prix.

    Lewis Hamilton starting third and Jenson Button fo

    Hamilton who started on P3 fails to make it to the podium at BIC on Sunday 28 Oct 2012. McLaren photo.

    urth were embroiled in an early fight with fifth-on-the-grid Fernando Alonso. Alonso eventually came out on top and would later exchange third for second when Mark Webber’s Red Bull had technical difficulties. Button had initially passed Hamilton on lap one but would cede the place back on lap six. He ran unhindered to fifth at the flag but Hamilton had a more eventful race to eventual fourth, including a change of steering wheel at his pitstop.

    “During that first stint I started having a downshift problem – I was having to change down with my right hand instead of my left, so the team elected to change the steering wheel,” said Hamilton. “I’ve never had to change a steering wheel during a race before. We’ve done it in Barcelona testing before, but never in a race. Even so, the guys did it fantastically quickly, under immense pressure, so I want to say ‘well done!’ to them all. I took the wheel off before I’d even stopped the car, and threw it out. The team then fitted a new one, I clicked it into first gear, and I was away – all in just a bit over three seconds flat.”
    While the McLarens were not able to keep up with the leaders on that initial soft tyre stint, they became more competitive on the hard tyre and when Webber began to experience KERS issues, Hamilton was able to close in and look like having the potential to steal third. “I tried to chase down Mark in the closing laps, but by then it was too late and he was going too quickly for me to be able to mount a serious challenge. But I never give up, and, right until the very last corner, I thought I might just be able to catch him, but in the end it wasn’t to be.”
    “Still, I loved it out there today – I can’t remember the last time I’ve pushed so far, so hard, for so long, right on the limit – it felt great. It felt fantastic, in fact, to be in the middle of such a battle.”

    For Button all of the excitement came at the very beginning in his tussle with Hamilton and Alonso, and at the every end of the race when he set fastest lap – McLaren’s 150th in F1. “The start of the race was my highlight,” said the 2009 World Champion. “There were just millimetres between Lewis, Fernando and me. I’ve never had a start quite like that before – unbelievably hard-fought – and none of us hit each other. It was so close, so tight, yet so clean. It’s just a pity that the rest of the race wasn’t as enjoyable!

    “My first stint was pretty disappointing; I think maybe we struggled more on the Options than the other runners did, so I couldn’t keep the guys behind me. But getting fastest lap on the final lap was great, and I think there’s plenty of potential that we can build on and take with us to Abu Dhabi next weekend.”

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