INDIA in F1

Tag: formula 1

  • JPSI announces Airtel Indian GP schedule

    New Delhi, 17 Oct 2012:Jaypee Sports International Limited (JPSI) has announced the schedule for the second edition of Indian Grand Prix  at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC), Greater Noida, on Sunday the 28th of October 2012

    A file picture of Sameer of JPSI receiving Bernie Ecclestone. Photo JPSI

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    Motorsport Fans will get a chance to experience the adrenaline rush of F1 up close and personal on October 26 with the first practice session scheduled for 10 AM. It will be followed by a second practice session from 2 PM to 3.30 PM. JK Racing Asia Series and MRF Challenge 2012 will be the two support races for the Indian GP.

    The all-important qualifying will begin at 2 PM on October 27, which will be preceded by the one-hour long third practice session from 11 AM. The final race will be flagged off at 3 PM on October 28.

    Indian GP schedule: (Detailed Schedule annexure attached)

    Friday, October 26: JK Racing Asia Series (practice): 08:45-09:15; F1 first practice: 10:00-11:30; MRF challenge (practice): 12:00-12:30; F1 Paddock Club (pit lane walk) 12:35-13:45; F1 second practice: 14:00-15:30; F1 press conference: 16:00-17:00; MRF challenge (Qualifying): 16:00-16:30; Marshall Pit Lane Walk : 17:45

    Saturday, October 27: JK Asia Racing Series (Qualifying): 09:15-09:45; F1 Paddock Club (pit lane walk): 09:50-10:40; F1 third practice: 11:00-12:00; MRF Championship 1st Race (10 Laps or 25 Mins): 12:25-12:55; F1 Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk: 13:00-13:45; F1 Qualifying: 14:00; JK Asia Racing Series 1st Race (10 Laps or 25 Mins): 15:30-16:00

    Sunday, October 28: F1 Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk: 10:00-10:50; MRF Championship 2nd Race (10 Laps or 25 Mins): 11:00-11:30; JK Asia Racing Series 2nd Race (10 Laps or 25 Mins): 12:00-12:30; F1 Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk: 12:35-14:15; F1 drivers grid parade: 13:30; F1 starting grid presentation: 13:40-14:15; National Anthem: 14:46; Grand Prix: 15:00

    The tickets for the race days are available on www.bookmyshow.com. They are also available in selected outlets in key metros from 11.00 AM from 5th October, 2012. Tickets, outlet details, parking charges, shuttle services from various points in NCR, location of stands, etc, are now available at www.buddhinternationalcircuit.co.in

    About Jaypee Sports International Limited (JPSI)

    Established in October 2007, Jaypee Sports International Ltd., a subsidiary of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. (JAL), has constructed India’s premier motorsports destination – Buddh International Circuit (BIC) – which hosted India’s first ever F1 Grand Prix on October 30, 2011. In addition to F1, the track is also expected to host other top-level international motorsports events. BIC will be a part of Jaypee Sports City, which is spread over 2,500 acres. This facility will include a Cricket stadium that is being developed in two phases and which will have a seating capacity of 100,000 people. There will also be a hockey arena, a sports training academy and infrastructure for other sports. Jaypee Sports City, the country’s first fully integrated megacity built around a sporting lifestyle and featuring premium residential and commercial spaces, has been designed by world renowned architects and planners, WATG. One of the world’s leading design consultants for the hospitality, leisure and entertainment industries, WATG has made a significant contribution to making Jaypee Sports City the best of its kind anywhere in the world.

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  • Sauber chief Monisha dwells on her Indian roots

    Hinwil, 17 Oct 2012: Monisha Kaltenborn is almost a week into her post as the first female team principal in Formula One. With a total of four podium places so far, the Sauber F1 Team has enjoyed a very successful 2012 season. The forthcoming Indian Grand Prix takes the new boss to her native country. There’s plenty to talk about.
    Your passport gives your full name as Monisha Kaltenborn Narang. Why do you so rarely use your double surname?
    Monisha Kaltenborn: “I really like my Indian name. My Indian heritage and my parents’ family mean a great deal to me, which is why I never wanted to give up Narang. On the other hand, you have to admit that double-barrelled names aren’t very practical in day-to-day business operations. That’s why I only rarely use my full name.”
    What does the Indian Grand Prix mean to you?
    MK: “Well, I really have to distinguish between the professional and the private side. From the sports point of view, as far as the Sauber F1 Team is concerned the Indian GP is a race like any other, with the same meticulous preparations and the same aspiration to achieve the best possible result. From a personal point of view, it’s rather different. Obviously I’m particularly looking forward to this race in my home country. As I travel to all the grands prix as part of my job, I don’t have time for private trips to India. During my school and university days I would go there regularly. My husband Jens and I celebrated our marriage in India with a fabulous and very happy Hindu ritual. I feel very attached to India.”
     
    Will you be seeing friends or family during the grand prix?
    MK: “I won’t really have time for private visits during this year’s race, but I’ll be flying out at least a day early to spend some time looking around New Delhi and attending various media events. I’m also involved as an ambassador for the FIA’s Women in Motorsports Commission, as well as an event by the F1 in Schools initiative.”
    Which memories do you associate with India?
    MK: “Oh, undoubtedly my wonderful childhood. Since I was their only grandchild for a long time, my grandparents spoilt me rotten, and we had three delightful dogs. Up to the age of eight I attended Welham Girls’ High School in Dehradun, my birthplace and one of the oldest and most traditional cities in the north of this vast country. It was a very happy time with marvellous friendships. Then in 1979 my parents decided to emigrate to give me a better education.”
    What made your parents decide on Austria?
    MK: “Originally the plan was to find a new home in an English-speaking country. But Vienna was the first stop on our journey because an uncle of my father’s was working at the atomic agency there. We liked it and so we stayed. I was sent straight to an Austrian rather than an international school, so I learnt the language very quickly and became integrated. I also completed my law studies in Vienna and took on Austrian citizenship, which had many advantages. And of course I have a lot of ties with Austria. I’ve spent a considerable part of my life there, after all.”
    To what extent are you still Indian today?
                                                             
    MK: “I don’t think you ever lose your roots, and anyway you can tell where I’m from just by looking at me. I also think I have a certain serenity and openness you might describe as Indian. That includes shrugging off negative experiences and focusing positively on the future – something that is very important in an environment as competitive as Formula One. As for my Hindi, it’s no longer as good as I’d like it to be. But I do try to talk Hindi with the children occasionally. Our son is ten years old, our daughter seven, and I’d like them to learn the language. But my parents are better teachers than me.”
    How important do you think Formula One is for India?
    MK: “Basically it’s difficult for any sport to find a place in India next to cricket. But I do think that the interest in Formula One has risen significantly since its debut last year. At least the media interest we are experiencing as a team would strongly indicate that. It seems right that India, as an upwardly mobile nation, a huge marketplace and a high-tech location, has found a place in the Formula One calendar with its excellently trained engineers. Both Formula One and the country can benefit from it.”
    What chances do you hold out for the Sauber F1 Team at the Indian Grand Prix?
    MK: “The track layout is very similar to that in Korea. There are slow and fast turns and quite a long straight. However, it will be warmer there and Pirelli is providing different tyres – soft and hard rather than the super-soft and soft ones we had in Korea. That will mean different race strategies. For the C31, the circuit in India is likely to be neither ideal terrain nor particularly problematic. I’m confident that we will manage another decent points haul there.”
    You’re into your first week as Team Principal at trackside. What does this step mean for you?
    MK: “I’m very happy at the confidence that Peter Sauber has placed in me. I grew into this role step by step, of course. I had been head of the company’s legal department since 2000, in 2001 I joined the Board of Management, in 2010 I became CEO, and since the end of 2011 I’ve held a third of the company’s stakeholding. Peter Sauber’s withdrawal from the day-to-day running of the business has been on the cards for a long time, so this latest step was well prepared. I’m acutely aware of what it means to carry the responsibility for this company, which has been around for over 40 years and involved in Formula One for almost 20 years.”
    Is it more difficult as a woman to be accepted as Team Principal?
    MK: “Professionally I’m sure gender plays no role. And as I’ve been around for such a long time, I don’t think I’ll be seen more in terms of a woman than a boss. People who are new to the scene might just do a double-take at first, but that will soon settle down.”
    How do you manage to cope with the twin responsibility of work and family?
    MK: “It usually works very well, though in some situations it can prove an organisational and emotional challenge. I believe it’s very important to involve the children. We stay in touch on race weekends by phone or skype – these days, fortunately, there are such options. At home my husband, my parents and a nanny manage to cushion my professional absences. I’ve got a strong support system, and the kids are really proud of what their mother does.”
    How satisfied are you with the Sauber F1 Team’s achievements so far this season?
    MK: “With four podium places and now 116 world championship points, we can certainly be proud of our achievements so far as a private team. Of course there have been races where things didn’t go to plan and we forfeited valuable points. Our car, the Sauber C31-Ferrari, is a great success and has proved competitive on virtually any kind of circuit. Some describe it as one of the best cars on the grid. Now it’s a matter of carrying the impetus forward into the remaining four races. Our ambitious goal remains to finish fifth in the Constructors’ World Championship. And I have the utmost confidence both in our team at Hinwil and in the crew at the track along with our two drivers, Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez.”
    What are your personal highlights of the season so far?
    MK: “To answer that I’m going to have to take off my sober, objective hat for a moment: it was just so emotional when Kamui finished third in Japan.”
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    Monisha Narang, the new Sauber team Principal, in a file photo as admires Kamui Kobayashi's home race feats. Photo Sauber F1 team.

  • Vettel goes past Alonso with 3rd straight win

    Sebastian Vettel completed Formula One’s tour of the Far East with a third straight victory, in the process taking the lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

    Sebatian Vettel of Red Bull Racing takes the driver championship lead with a third straight win at the Korean GP on 14 Oct 2012. Red Bull Racing photo

    His third victory in a row was secured in the first three turns of the race. When the lights went out pole position holder Mark Webber made a marginally slower getaway and Vettel was able to pull alongside his team-mate into Turn One. It was a close battle but by the end of the circuit’s long back straight the champion was ahead and had the better inside line. After that Vettel opened up a gap of a couple of seconds and seemed able to respond whenever Webber went quicker.
    On lap 14 Webber headed for the pits to discard his supersoft tyres for a set of the softs. Vettel stayed ahead after his stop a lap later and set about increasing his lead to around 10s where it stayed. From there it was simply a case of both drivers managing tyre wear in order to maintain their one-two status to the flag. It was Red Bull’s first one-two finish since last season’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

    Behind them Ferrari finished third and fourth with Felipe Massa tucking in behind Fernando Alonso. Kimi Räikkönen was fifth for Lotus, Nico Hülkenberg a hard-fought sixth for Force India ahead of Romain Grosjean in the second Lotus. Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo were eighth and ninth respectively for Toro Rosso, and Lewis Hamilton picked up the final point for tenth after McLaren had a bad day.

    This is the first time Vettel has led the Drivers’ Championship since May. He has 215 points compared to Alonso’s 209. Räikkönen remains third in the standings, increasingly distant on 169, while Lewis Hamilton is fourth with 153. “I think it was a fantastic race,” said a delighted Vettel. “Obviously the foundation was to have a good start, which I wasn’t sure [of] because I was starting on the dirty side but I have to say I had reasonable grip and a very good launch.  I could see that Mark was struggling a little in the first bit of the start and I was able to get side-by-side. Then I had the inside into turn one, which was good.”

    Vettel conceded that after that it had simply been a case of controlling the gap back to Webber and his rivals and managing his fading tyres.  “It was a perfect first stint,” he said. “I think towards the end I was able to pull away a little bit and open a gap to Mark which helped to stay out a little bit longer and I think after that we had a very good stop, a very strong second stint opening the gap again.”
    Webber, meanwhile, admitted that his less than perfect getaway had compromised his race. “The initial launch wasn’t good. The first bite just kicked to wheelspin and from then on I knew I could have some issues,” he said. “It was just a very mediocre run to the first corner. Seb got a good one.”
    Alonso said he was happy with having got the maximum out of his Ferrari but admitted he did not know what his team could do to counter-punch against the form currently being shown by Red Bull. “I think it’s a question mark,” he said. “We didn’t bring to the last six or seven races, anything new. We are doing what we can at the moment and we are trying to save points, which I think we are doing perfectly every Sunday.

    “Again it was a perfect Sunday for us: good start, good strategy at the right time and in the right moment, then finishing again on the podium. “I think it was a very strong Sunday. We overtook McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship, which is something that maybe we didn’t expect two or three races ago, so definitely we are moving in the right direction. We just need a little last step to be as competitive as Red Bull and I think it will be a beautiful last four races to the end.”
    Red Bull increased their Constructors’ Championship lead to a commanding 77 points, with 367 compared to Ferrari’s 290. As Alonso said, third and fourth in the Korean Grand Prix jumped his team ahead of McLaren in the standings, for whom Jenson Button had a first-lap retirement after being hit by Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber on the run down to Turn Three. Lewis Hamilton lost third place to Alonso at the start and then suffered an anti-roll bar failure mid-race that upset his car’s balance and forced him into a three-stop strategy for badly wearing tyres.

    Hamilton conceded “In terms of winning the world championship, logic suggests that that’s probably it for me,” while Räikkönen said “The gap to Sebastian in the Championship is quite big now so it will be very difficult to catch him.” Increasingly the season looks like becoming a straight fight between Vettel and Alonso, with the momentum definitely in the German driver’s favour.

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  • This is my best race in F1 this year: Vergne

    Jean Eric Vergne scores his third 8th place this season. Photo: Toro Rosso – Red Bull Content pool.

    Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne has branded his eighth-place finish in the Korean Grand Prix as his best performance in Formula One so far.

    The French driver started 16th and put in a committed drive to take four points at the Korean International Circuit, equalling his previous two best finishes in Malaysia and Belgium.

    The result puts him on 12 points, three ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who finished a place behind Vergne in Korea after a brake problem hampered his progress in the closing stages of the race.

    “I’m really, really happy, as this was definitely my best race of the year and the car worked well with very little tyre degradation on both the prime and the option,” said Vergne.

    “I did not take too many risks at the start and I had a nice fight with Perez in the early stages and then with Di Resta and also Hamilton,” he added. “Daniel [Ricciardo] and I were on different strategies and both seemed to be effective. Towards the end, I was told that my team-mate had a problem, but overall for the team, to get eighth and ninth, with Daniel also driving a great race, is a fantastic result.

    “In general, we seem to be making progress and this track seemed to suit us well, which I think we can also expect to be the case in India. The best part of the race? Seeing the chequered flag in the points!”

    Ricciardo, meanwhile, was pleased with his two points but felt he could have achieved more had it not been for the late-race brake issue.

    “My last stint on the Prime was my best until, with about ten laps to go, I found myself going straight on at turn three,” said the Australian. “At first I thought it must have been a suspension failure because the car suddenly shot to the left and I couldn’t stop it.

    “However, I realised I could keep going, even if every time I braked the car pulled to the left and I was locking the front a lot. Unfortunately, that cost me eighth place. I’m still grateful to be in the points with such a problem, although it’s a case of mixed emotions, as it would have been my best result of the season. But for the team overall, it’s been a very good day.”

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  • FIA Sunday Press Conference: Korea

    DRIVERS

    1 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Johnny Herbert)

    Sebastian, you’ve got to be happy with the way it’s gone? Perfect start, perfect race, third straight win, you’ve got to be happy with the way things are going?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, very pleased, fantastic, I’m very, very happy. I think it was a fantastic race. Obviously the foundation was to have a good start, which I wasn’t sure because I was starting on the dirty side but I have to say I had reasonable grip and a very good launch. I think Mark had a little bit of wheel-slip and I was able to get even side-by-side. Even then it wasn’t over because it’s a long way. When I was up-shifting to seventh gear I could hear Mark coming, he was side-by-side and then I tried to use my KERS to defend and fortunately had a good exit after the third corner, so was able to stay ahead. And after that tried to push. It was quite close in the first stint, Mark was always on my toes but towards the end I felt I had a little bit more left in the tyres and could go a little bit longer. We had two brilliant pitstops. The only mistake I did was once I locked-up the front right quite badly into Turn Three, bit of a mistake from my side but fortunately by then we had quite a cushion to the cars behind and were able to control the gaps in the end. I think we were all a bit worried about the front tyres because we’ve seen a lot of people locking up wheels and overshooting the apexes. So, really, really happy. I have to thank the boys on this one. The mechanics in the garage because they have been flat-out, arriving here obviously there’s not much break from Japan to here, flat-out every night and working very hard on the car. I think we have done another step and that is exactly what we need and hopefully we can carry that momentum through to the next races.

    Mark, second place. Pole position was obviously a good start for you – unfortunately on that start you just didn’t get off the line – but what was the race like for you? What difficulties did you have, if any?

    Mark WEBBER: The start wasn’t sensational. I’ll have to look into it but yeah, probably the initial getaway wasn’t too great but after that it was… everyone wants… it’s not the best corner to lead off so I thought, OK, we won’t risk too much in the first corner, and then we got a good slipstream off Sebastian but it was just neck-and-neck for us along the back straight. After that I just tried to hang in there as best I could. But then it was just about tyres, looking after the front right. And at the end of each stint it was difficult to keep the front right alive. Yeah, the first two stints were quite tricky for me and then the last stint I was much happier with the balance but it was all too late then. So, good drive for Seb, great day for the team, the guys did a great job. Of course I’m disappointed but I’m happy to get a good result in the other side as well. Thanks to all the fans for coming out today. Cheers.

    And Fernando, well the championship battle is on now isn’t it? You’ve led for so long in this championship, you’re six points behind – I think you should be happy today because the car was quite competitive. Do you feel that? Do you feel there’s more to come from you and Ferrari?

    Fernando ALONSO: Yes, definitely. I think we have to be happy with the performance today, we finished third and fourth, just behind Red Bull that at the moment are difficult to beat. So, it was a good day for the team, for Felipe, for me, and I think we also overtook McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship, which is something that maybe we didn’t expect two or three races ago, so definitely we are moving in the right direction. We just need a little last step to be as competitive as Red Bull and I think it will be a beautiful last four races to the end.

    Seb, a last thing from you, obviously you’re leading the championship finally, how are these guys, especially Fernando, going to be able to beat you? What are you going to do?

    SV: It’s tough but that’s what it is about. I’m looking forward to the next couple of races. We had a good last couple of races but y’know we’ve seen the championship is pretty much up and down, a lot of things can happen. What do we do? I think we have to focus on ourselves; we need to have our best possible results and then we go from there. I think at the end of the year if we have enough points there’s a lot of people telling us so we don’t have to do the mathematics ourselves.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Sebastian, well done. First of all, was it really all about the start, and then tyre management I guess?

    SV: Well, we didn’t know! It’s difficult to say. Obviously now we can say that the start was very important. In my case obviously we started from the dirty side. I think the right side generally we saw last year, usually is a bit better but I had a very good launch and yeah, could see that Mark was struggling a little bit in the first bit of the start and I was able to get side-by-side and obviously then had the inside into Turn One, which was very good for us. But it wasn’t over at that stage because there’s still a long straight and quite a big headwind all race from Turn Two to Turn Three. I could hear him coming and obviously he was side-by-side but fortunately I had the inside and after that I focussed on having a very good exit out of Turn Three, which fortunately I had and then I was able to stay ahead. I think it was then that Mark was side-by-side with Fernando, going into Turn Four. It was a perfect start for myself and after that a perfect first stint. I think towards the end I was able to pull away a little bit and open a gap to Mark which helped to stay out a little bit longer and I think after that we had a very good stop, a very strong second stint opening the gap again. Only at the end of the second stint I had a mistake, braking for Three, locking up the right front. I think a lot of people suffered issues with the front today so the last stint I tried to control a little bit more and I had more juice in the tyre until the end. Obviously we had the gap and were controlling that towards the end, but I think once you reach the point where the front tyres are gone, it’s sudden death, so there’s no point of return. We were talking a lot over the radio, trying to stay on top of the problem and manage the front tyres quite well, which I think we did until the end. Very happy with the result and have to say thanks again to the mechanics, the team, they have been working more than what we should ask them for. Every night, flat out, the whole team and I hope now they get a bit of a break, some sleep finally. But obviously it’s a nice reward to finish first and second today for the guys in the garage. Really pleased with the result.

    It’s the first 1-2 for a team this year, so that’s the reward. But obviously Ferrari’s going to come back as strong as they can, McLaren too. Have you still got bits in the pipeline, is the motivation still there?

    SV: I think the motivation is still there for sure. The guys, I don’t know, I could not deal a single night with that lack of sleep and they do it three weeks in a row. So, really impressive and I think we are not lacking motivation. The spirit is perfect in the garage, the atmosphere is great and I think we all want to do our best and to really try and win the race on a Sunday. I think we’ve been pushing very hard all season; we have tried lots of stuff. Sometimes it was more successful than other times but the most important is today. Obviously whatever happened is history and we have to look forward. Very pleased with the result today. I think we can have a couple of drinks tonight before heading back. It’s difficult to predict the next couple of races. As you said, the first 1-2 this year, I think it shows how difficult the season has been for everyone. Ferrari was extremely competitive today, probably more competitive than everyone expected in the race. Both of them, Felipe I think was only a little bit off Fernando, so yeah, quick in the race, we know their car works in all circumstances, so we have to stay on top of our game, focus on ourselves and do what we can.

    Mark, exactly what happened at the start there? We could see from Sebastian’s… it’s almost as if when you moved into second gear it…

    MW: Yeah, I think we were chasing the clutch quite a bit after the first launch on the formation lap, and also coming to the back of the grid the boys were asking me to get the move clutch ring quite a bit so the initial launch wasn’t good. The first bite just kicked to wheelspin and from then on I knew I could have some issues. It was just a very… mediocre let’s say… run to the first corner. Seb got a good one. All wasn’t lost, obviously, second corner, getting the slipstream on the back straight I thought it was still possible to do something there. We were side-by-side, I had a tow but when once I pulled out I just hit a brick wall as well, both of us were just…  vvrrrmmmmmm… and then everyone just coming up behind as well. So, yeah, and then after that we had to manage the tyres really, look after the… go as quick as you could, looking after the tyres but also trying to keep some pressure on Sebastian. It’s the way it is these days: you’ve got to look after the black things on the corners and yeah, so that’s part of it. Mixed emotions for me, it’s still a very solid result, I was very, very happy with the lap I did yesterday, could have easily been not on pole but I was through a solid lap and today is a good result but yeah, it’s mixed emotions. Second is a big difference to first. I have good points and champagne but it’s not what I was after. But for the guys, it’s a great result for the team and they’ve done a very good job in the last two weeks and I’ve got to congratulate Sebastian on the win.

    Fernando, your fourth third place but I’m sure you’re looking forward to getting back on top. What sort of effort can you imagine Ferrari making before the next couple of races?

    FA: Well see, I think it’s a question mark. We didn’t bring to the last six or seven races nothing new so we are doing what we can at the moment and we are trying to save points which I think we are doing perfectly every Sunday. Again it was a perfect Sunday for us: good start, good strategy at the right time and in the right moment. Then finishing again on the podium. So, I think it was a very strong Sunday but we hopefully make a little bit of a step in terms of performance and then we can fight for bigger things. But anyway, very, very happy with today’s race, very happy with the performance. We saw Sunday again move us a little bit closer to the top guys, and also with the position in the championship. Obviously we lost the lead by six points but if we think how it went for us the last four or five races, with two retirements, nothing to do with the team, no mistakes from the team, not mechanical problems or anything like that, just some people flying over us and things like that. With all these problems, being six points behind leaves open a lot of possibilities for us in the last four races.

    You got to within 1.4s of Mark at one point, 1.3s, but similarly, Felipe got to within about the same of you as well. Was that all down to tyre performance?

    FA: It depends how much you use your tyres or what the conditions of the tyres in that part of the race. We seem to be a little bit more competitive or less competitive. Or closer or a little bit further than the opponents in terms of distance. Obviously it was nice to try to be within one second here because you can use the DRS on the straight – but we could not have that possibility so we lost a little bit there.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, as you said, Ferrari is not bringing any new parts. You’re still there fighting and staying close to them. How frustrating is it?

    FA: Nothing new, nothing new. The last five years of my career has been like this. I’m good, I’m confident, used to this situation. We have normally one set of tyres in Q3, there is not time for mistakes, no time to lock up a tyre or go over a kerb or anything like that on Saturday or on Sunday. We are always on the limit, but we feel comfortable, let’s say, like this. We seem to extract the maximum from the car when we are under pressure and as I said, four beautiful races to come with good possibilities for us to fight for the championship, but in the end, I’m sure there will be some circuits where we are a little bit more competitive, and some circuits where we are maybe not competitive enough, but overall, in the last four races, as we said, now we need to score seven points more than Sebastian, that will be extremely tough but we believe we can do it.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Fernando, earlier on this season, before this round of fly-aways, you said that Ferrari’s best circuits were going to be Singapore, Japan and Korea. We’ve obviously finished those. What kind of expectations do you have for competitiveness at the other circuits, apart from Austin?

    FA: We will see. It will depend obviously on the updates in the car. I think we will see in India if there are any new parts. If there are, we will need to test them. For sure, the other teams will also bring new parts, maybe more than us, so we need to see which of them are working, which of them are not working and for who they work. I think the performance of the car will depend on that. I think in Singapore and Suzuka and Korea we felt competitive. In Singapore maybe not so much but we were able to be on the podium. In Suzuka we saw Felipe finish in second and here both of us were third and fourth, so overall they have been more or less good races for us apart from the puncture in Suzuka, so in terms of performance I think we are there. Obviously Red Bull have made a step forward and they won three races. They were one and two in qualifying in Suzuka, one and two in qualifying here, one and two in the race here so it’s something that is not in our hands.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, do you believe that the yellow flag was a key factor in the beginning of the race, nine laps with the yellow flag in the first sector?

    FA: I don’t think so, I don’t think so because I was not within one second of Mark so it was not really a possibility to use the DRS – obviously with the DRS you cannot do it. I think it was maybe a little penalty – or a little bit worse for the guys behind me. I think Lewis, Felipe and Kimi didn’t have the possibility to open the DRS because of the yellow flag and I think for Felipe’s race it was a little bit easier if he could overtake Hamilton straight away at the beginning, but not for me.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, in the last few laps, on the radio we were always hearing the team telling you to be cautious, go slow, there was a problem with the tyres and then you set your fastest lap on the last lap, so what is the truth: was it a big risk?

    SV: Obviously you start your stint in the beginning with a little bit more than 20 laps to go, after the last stop. I think you can work that out yourself, you have a lot of kilos in the car. Towards the end it’s nearly empty so you go quicker without even trying harder. I think it’s the same for everyone, given that you still have the tyres. Obviously we try to look after them during the whole of the last stint, because we’ve seen in the stint before how sudden the front tyre can lock up and you can lose control of the front tyres, so obviously we didn’t want to run into that sort of problem again, especially with pressure from behind so even if you have quite a big gap, when you start to struggle a lot with these tyres, then there is a lot of time lost within a couple of laps – I’m speaking of a couple of seconds per lap, so we didn’t know that. As I said, we controlled that very well so we still had some shoes left, tyres were not new but they were not completely worn until the end so I was going a little bit quicker in the last sector so that’s why the lap time was pretty similar to what I started with in the beginning of the stint, but calculate the difference of fuel and it’s a big difference.

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Serra) Sebastian, do you also now have a psychological advantage over Fernando, from a technical point of view, as Red Bull seems to be ahead. And secondly, how did the double DRS help you, as you didn’t use it in Suzuka?

    SV: Well, I didn’t use it again today in the race. It was obviously not an option. It’s not just one feature on the car that makes you go quicker. I think we tried to work a lot around the car and sometimes you bring some new parts but sometimes you just work on the set-up: you do something smart, you listen to your stomach, you listen to what you see on the data and you act on what you see on the data and everyone is pushing hard. You sometimes might find more with the set-up than you might find with new parts so, as I said, we are pushing very hard but I think if you look at this season, it has been pretty much up and down and it was very good for us in the last couple of races but we also know how little it takes to maybe end up in a different position in the Grand Prix. I think we can take nothing for granted, we have to look after ourselves. Whether we have a mental advantage or not, psychological advantage or not I don’t really care. I’m not into those kind of things. As I said, we look after ourselves. There’s a lot of things we have to focus on to do a perfect job and that is the target every weekend.

    Q: (Cristobal Rosaleny – Car and Driver, Spain) Fernando, you used to say that the weakest point at Ferrari was in qualifying, but Red Bull looked clearly faster than you in the race. Were you expecting that and are you a bit concerned for the next races?

    FA: Of course I was expecting that. I think we were not the fastest car in the race in our championship so I didn’t come to Korea expecting to be the fastest car on Sunday. We always said that we improve on Sunday compared to Saturday. I think between the two cars, in 15 or 16 races, the other Ferrari was in Q3 six times, ten times not in Q3 so definitely there is not the performance in qualifying which we then see on Sunday, when we normally improve. Yesterday we were P4 and P6 and today we were in P3 and P4, so definitely on Sunday there is always a step forward for us but we never believe or we never thought we were the fastest in the race and today was more or less as expected or better than expected, because we were fighting with Webber all the race which was something we were not able to do in Singapore or in Suzuka.

    Q: (Marco dell’Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Mark, if you look at these two guys beside you, do you think that with the 18 points from today, you still have the chance to fight with them for the championship?

    MW: Yeah, well it’s getting tricky now. I obviously need some bizarre circumstances. It’s clearly possible for me to win Grand Prix. You just need to get everything perfect and today I didn’t, I paid the price. I can win some races before the year’s out but the gap is massive to these two guys. That’s the way it is. We have quite a few races and all the points add up at the end of the year. Of course we’re all on our game, we all drive pretty well. I only smelt a little bit of tyre smoke off Seb today so I knew that that was unusual for him, but apart from that it was a clean Grand Prix for all of us and that’s how it generally goes for us three, when we don’t get smashed out by other people. It’s difficult but you never never never know.

    File photo of Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull Racing photo

    Ends

  • Torrid time for McLaren in Korea

    McLaren left the Korea International Circuit with just one point to show from the weekend after a torrid grand prix saw Jenson Button crash out at the start and Lewis Hamilton finish tenth after his race was wrecked by an anti-roll bar failure.

    Button’s race had alrea

    Hamilton manages to finish 10th to get a lone point for McLaren despite a problem. McLaren photo

    e Briton had admitted that battling back from an 11th-place start would be tough. In the end, however, his battle was over almost before it began.

    As he headed into turn three after the start, Kamui Kobayashi clipped the rear of Button’s McLaren and, losing control, the Sauber driver then ploughed into the front right of the McLaren. Button skittered off track and out of the race his front suspension in tatters.

    “I got a really good start and was able to get past both Mercedes,” said Button. “Into the first corner, there was a slight incident in front of me [when Sergio Perez braked late and tapped the car in front], so I was forced to run wide and push Nico [Rosberg] off the circuit.

    “Nico and I then had a good drag-race down the back straight on lap one. I braked really late for turn three, then suddenly Kamui’s [Kobayashi] car was climbing all over my car’s right-hand side.

    “It’s extremely disappointing. This is a long race, with so much opportunity for everyone. It’s a great circuit for overtaking, so it’s surprising to see people behaving like that on the first lap.”

    With Button out, all focus shifted to Hamilton and the 2008 champion looked in good shape as he slotted into fourth place behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

    However, after Hamilton’s first stop on lap 13 he reported that the car felt nervous and thereafter his pace fell away as he struggled with excessive tyre wear, causing him to make three stops for fresh rubber compared with more standard two.

    Late in the race a piece of Astroturf from the run-off also became entangled with his sidepod and he was forced to defend 10th place from a hard-charging Sergio Pérez in the final laps.

    “I was told after the race that my car had suffered a rear anti-roll bar failure a few laps into the second stint,” said Hamilton. “It was safe to drive – and I was trying my best with it, pushing all the way – but it was extremely hard to maintain a good pace. The balance was switching from corner to corner, the car was moving around along the straights, and it was eating up the tyres, which meant we lost further ground by being forced onto a three-stop strategy.

    “To make things even more difficult, I then picked up some stray run-off Astroturf, which tangled itself around my sideboard winglet for the final few laps. It stalled the diffuser – so I had no rear downforce at the end, which made it even trickier to hang on to 10th place.”

    The result left Hamilton admitting that his title fight is now probably over.

    “In terms of winning the world championship, logic suggests that that’s probably it for me. Having said that, there are a lot of points still up for grabs, so I’ll keep pushing. Stranger things have happened, and I’ll never give up.”

  • Webber takes Korean Pole

    Webber takes pole in Korea. Red Bull Racing photo

    While practice times had Sebastian Vettel favourite to take pole position in Korea, it was team-mate Mark Webber who finished qualifying in P1.

    Red Bull Racing’s Webber won the Monaco GP earlier this year after inheriting pole position when quickest man Michael Schumacher was. However, at the Korea International Circuit, pole position was all Webber’s own work.

    “It was a tight session for all of us,” he said after beating his team-mate by just seven hundredths of a second. “I think as the session unfolded, people were having different balance issues on different tyre compounds. I was happy with my lap there, it was solid and it’s good to get pole. It’s a great place to start the race from. I’m looking to get off the first corner very well, that’s important as there are two long straights after that.”

    The Red Bulls looked like being the only cars in the hunt for pole position. Having dominated practice, the carried the form into qualifying, going immediately to the top of the timesheet in Q1 when they emerged from the pits. Vettel was the quicker by two tenths, and given his form in practice was a strong favourite for pole.

    Elsewhere, championship leader Fernando Alonso had a difficult opening session and the Ferrari driver needed to put on the supersoft tyres to ensure progress to the second session. Even then he could only manage 16th place. That was one place better than Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton opted to stay in the garage during the final stages of the session. As fastest times came in his name dropped down the leaderboard until he was perilously close to the drop zone. He was teetering on the brink of elimination when Bruno Senna abandoned his last lap and ensured Hamilton progressed. “It was quite a shocking session for me: didn’t get a lap, did quite a poor job… I’m very lucky that I got  through,” said Hamilton afterwards.

    Further back, the drop zone shaped up as expected with the Caterhams, Marussia and HRTs all being eliminated. HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan endured a big spin at Turn 3 that sidelined him from the rest of the session. The problem was later reported to have been caused by a broken brake disc.

    The second segment largely followed the pattern of the first, at least for Vettel. Fernando Alonso set the pace on his first run with a lap of 1:38.987 but the German beat by just over two-tenths. His team then opted to keep the World Champion in the garage for the remainder of the session, his time being good enough for him to remain top. The big casualty of the second session was McLaren’s Jenson Button. The Briton needed a good final run to ensure he’d be around to fight for pole but at the tail end of Q2 Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo stopped out on track with a gearbox problem. As the yellow flags came out, a number of drivers were forced to back off, including Button.  He finished in 11th place, ahead of Sergio Pérez, Kamui Kobayashi, Paul Di Resta, Pastor Maldonado, Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

    After dominating the opening two segments, the final 10 minutes should have been all about Vettel’s march to a 35th career pole. Webber, though, had other ideas.
    After the duo’s first runs, Vettel had the upper hand, putting in a time of 1:37.316. Webber, meanwhile, could do no better than fourth. In the final runs however, it was the Australian who found the extra injection of pace. Vettel, though, was still lapping but the German’s first sector was poor as he was forced to back off when he encountered the much slower Felipe Massa shortly before the start of his lap. Mistakes in the second sector then compounded the damage.

    “Overall we can be very happy with the result,” said Vettel. “We were quite quick in the first and second qualifying sessions and had a good start to Q3. On the last run, I had to back off starting the lap as Massa was there, it wasn’t his fault, but I had to back off. Nevertheless, the second lap in Q3 wasn’t good enough. I lost time in the middle sector, which seemed to be okay all weekend, but when the circuit ramped up I wasn’t able to go with it, so I lost a bit.”

    Webber then will start from pole for the first time since Monaco with his team-mate on the front row beside him. Hamilton will start from third with Alonso alongside. Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen will start fifth, with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa lining up alongside him. Seventh place went to Lotus’s Romain Grosjean, follwed by Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and the twin Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.

    ends

  • FIA Saturday Press Conference – Korean GP

    DRIVERS

    1 – Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren)

    TV UNILATERAL

    Mark, congratulations, your first pole of the year.

    Mark WEBBER: Yeah, OK, well Monaco was by default but yeah, the first one of track I suppose, nip and tuck with Fernando in Silverstone so, as most qualifying sessions this year have been tight and, yeah, very, very happy to get the job done today, get the pole position. It was as reasonable lap and we did it when it counted obviously. So that’s what qualifying’s all about, it’s been a tricky last few events for me but really happy to start on pole. Tomorrow’s the main day and we’re in a good position to get a good result.

    Red Bull have been looking so good last weekend but also this weekend all the way through – what’s been the secret?

    MW: Well, I think off the back of Suzuka we felt that we’d improved the car a bit but you never, ever get ahead of yourself these days. We had a good car in Valencia and then after that it was not that easy for us. We were a bit open to that after Suzuka, coming here knowing that it’s not going to be a given, but we have a pretty handy car around here for sure, and I think that the guys have been working very, very hard and there’s no question, the hard work’s paying off but we focus on ourselves and just keep pushing the lap times down as much as we can – and it’s lucky we do because obviously the gap is not that big to Lewis.

    Sebastian, what happened on that last lap? You mentioned Massa.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Overall I think we can be very happy with the result obviously. We were quite quick in the first qualifying session, quite quick in the second one and then had a good start to Q3. But the last run, I don’t want to blame it on Felipe, I thought he was coming in but then on the last sector he was right in front of me so I had to back-off. Not ideal, just starting a timed lap, and just before that to back off but I think nevertheless the second lap wasn’t good enough. Lost a little bit today in the middle sector, which seemed to be OK all weekend but yeah, when the circuit ramped up I wasn’t able to go with it. Lost a little bit but I think second is a very good position to start from. Obviously around here you never know – you have a long straight, straight away after the start, so it could be interesting tomorrow.

    And third on the grid Lewis, first time you’ve started third, what can you do about these two guys ahead of you?

    Lewis HAMILTON: I think it will be very tough to get ahead of them but we’ve put ourselves in as good a position as we could. It was very tough this weekend, these guys have clearly made quite a big step within the last two races and so we’ve just got to keep pushing. We’re not far off and the race pace for Jenson looked quite good yesterday. I’m just happy I got a clear lap and was able to put it as high up as possible.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Mark, well done, how did you feel about the lap?

    MW: Pretty good. We had a few plates spinning, to be honest, with some little background issues that we were managing as best we could on the lap but the lap was very good, apart from Turn 15, I made a mistake there so, yeah, probably got in OK but the exit wasn’t great but apart from that it worked well. I think I got 11 and 12 as good as I could get. So, yeah, take the rough with the smooth. I think it was a tight session, I think, for all of us: up and down; scrubbed tyres; new tyres. Fernando did a pretty solid laptime on the scrubbed at some point there. So, yeah, that’s just the way it is. With the old Pirellis, things can move around quite a bit.

    After this morning’s problem, presumably you went pretty blind into qualifying?

    MW: Yeah, we didn’t get to run anywhere near as much as we would have liked to in P3, so our information on the option was limited. So there was a bit of catch-up going on for sure. After my first run on the option in Q2, I had not the best sector two and three for balance issues and also some other things that Ciaron was working on to get the car to finish the lap better – so that’s what we focussed on in Q3. And got the job done.

    A little disappointment not to be on pole Sebastian? Although you’ll be pleased to hear that no-one’s every won from pole so far.

    SV: Yeah, obviously I have good memories from last year with Lewis, when he was on pole. I think we’ll see tomorrow that it’s a long race. Surely the lap was fine but I should have been a little bit quicker, so yeah, wasn’t able in the end to do the final step, especially in the second sector. I think sector one and sector three were fine but yeah, got a little bit mixed-up second sector, so I think if you look at the laptimes in the end it was fairly close, so y’know, I think we’re happy with second and a front row for Red Bull Racing. Obviously the car seems to work well, I think in the race we might be even in a little bit better place. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

    Not being on pole, that wasn’t part of the plan?

    SV: It’s difficult to have a plan going into qualifying because you never know what happened. If you catch the yellow flag in the wrong place, etc., we saw last week it can be quite tricky. We’ve seen this week in Q2 there was some yellow. These things can happen to you all the time so therefore it’s impossible to have a certain plan. But surely after the Q1 and Q2 we had where it looked very good, the target was to go on pole – and we missed that by a little bit. I think it was possible to get it but we didn’t get it in the end – and it’s as simple as that.

    Lewis, the biggest worry, as far as I could see, was Q1. You nearly didn’t make it – was that a concern?

    LH: Definitely. It was quite a shocking session for me: didn’t get a lap, did quite a poor job, struggled to get… when the tyres weren’t so bad temperature-wise I just had a bit of traffic, locking up. It was very poor. But I’m very lucky that I got through.

    We’ve seen various drivers going off at various parts of the circuit, particularly down at Turn One. Is that still a concern for you? You’ve been off there a couple of times as well.

    LH: I’ve been off there a lot this weekend yeah. It’s like these guys have ABS brakes – when we attack the corners it’s very easy to lock-up, so it’s quite tricky. We have to try to work around and sometimes you just have to drive with flat-spots. But fortunately my tyres from that lap, I didn’t have any lock-ups, so hopefully that will remain the same throughout the race.

    And what sort of confidence for the race itself?

    LH: Well, I didn’t do a long run yesterday, again I had not a great session, particularly in P2 yesterday, but Jenson did a great job and quite a competitive long run, so I hope I’m able to do the same tomorrow.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR.

    Q: (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) To the Red Bull drivers: how much has the car changed for you since this summer and how happy are you with it?

    MW: Since the August break? Yes, we have been making small developments at each Grand Prix, that’s the way it is. If you look at where the car is from Spa, obviously it’s a different aero package for Spa and Monza, but to where it is now, the base of the car for sure is probably a decent step but it’s always… every Grand Prix, we try to just put little bits on the car to help. At some Grands Prix we don’t put anything on, we miss and at the next one we catch up a bit more, and also, you have to bear in mind that it’s circuit-specific as well. You have to understand what each track needs and those type of things, so the last two venues have probably been pretty good for us in terms of layout, especially the last one. Yeah, happy drivers are drivers at the front so when you’re towards the front it makes you satisfied but we can still improve the car, there are always areas to improve. That’s what we’ve got to keep working on.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Sebastian, you’re going to be starting on the dirty side of the grid tomorrow and at this track, it’s particularly dirty due to the lack of use. What kind of concerns do you have going into the first corner?

    SV: Well, I don’t think it’s a big disadvantage. Surely I think I would rather be on pole but qualifying is over so we start from second and I don’t think it’s a big problem. Last year we made a good launch and I think here that you never know what happens. You might as well start third, fourth, fifth and you could end up first by turn four, so you don’t know. There’s a long straight after the second corner. Obviously I had a tight battle with Lewis last year so these things you have to take them as they come, so it’s difficult to know now what’s going to happen, but first of all I will focus on the start and then go from there.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, coming back to the development; yesterday you had different bodywork than your teammate, why did you change, why did you come back (to the original)? And the second question is that in Italy they are saying that there was a red car in front of you on your last run; is that correct? Did you have a problem with that?

    SV: I don’t want to blame it on Felipe. I don’t like all these discussions; we’ve had a lot of them lately. These things happen, it’s not Felipe’s fault at all. I should have known earlier. If anything it was my mistake. I might have lost a little bit but I’m not a fan of blaming anyone or anything for a certain result or not. I was happy with my qualifying, a little bit at the end.

    The first question was why… because it’s faster, that’s why I changed it.

    Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, we saw a problem in the pit lane with your future teammate or Michael, I don’t know which to be honest, we couldn’t see. What happened exactly?

    LH: I didn’t have any problems. I was let out of my garage before he was and then they tried to get him ahead of me but he was coming out slowly so I overtook him, because I was already on the speed limit which is 100 and he was doing maybe 20 or 30. But it gained position which is important, position is everything here. If you can get by safely throughout the lap that’s very important.

    Hamilton takes P3 at Korean GP. McLaren photo

    Ends

  • FIA Friday Press Conference: Lotus goes Coanda

    In Korea, Lotus became the latest team to migrate to a Coanda-type exhaust system.

    James Allison at the Friday Press Meet in Korea. Lotus photo

    In Friday’s practice sessions, Lotus ran the system, generally assumed to be advantageous for gaining downforce. Later, speaking in the FIA Friday press conference, technical director James Allison stated the likelihood was that his team would retain the system and run it during the rest of the weekend.  “We’re reasonably happy with the way they’re working,” he said. “I think we’re at the beginning of a relatively long road with them – they’re not straightforward to make work perfectly first go out but the numbers we’re getting from them are good.”

    Lotus have ran with a more straightforward system for much of the season but Allison revealed work on the Coanda has been continuing in parallel at Enstone. “We kept working on the [coanda] because it was fairly clear that was where the centre of gravity of opinion in the pit lane was and also because it was a reasonably productive avenue back in the wind tunnel. It got to a point where the gain of the coanda system was sufficiently far ahead of our previous race system that it was quite clearly something that we ought to look at both for this year and also to make sure we’re doing the right thing for next year. That’s pretty much the history of it; probably could have committed a bit earlier but then things were going quite well for us on the track as well.”

    The decision to go with a conventional system from the start of season was characterised by Allison as being based upon the trade-offs between potential gain and risk. “At the point when we were committing to what we were going to start the season with, we had two paths: a coanda path and what we chose which was a very simple exhaust which was there to optimise power. At the time, the coanda solution was worth a little bit more theoretically than the power maximising solution but you had to be confident that it was going to deliver all the downforce that it promised, because you could be fairly certain that it was going to deliver all the horsepower loss that the more convoluted exhaust pipe requires. So if the downforce didn’t materialise, you knew you were down on the deal. Where we were when we launched our car, that was a relatively finely balanced decision. We launched with the simple thing.”

    TEAM REPRESENTATIVES – David GREENWOOD (Marussia), Mark GILLAN (Williams), Pierre WACHÉ (Sauber), James ALLISON (Lotus), Paddy LOWE (McLaren), Adrian NEWEY (Red Bull Racing)

    David, you’ve made progression in 2012, presumably you’re hoping to carry that through to 2013. How is work progressing on that car?

    David GREENWOOD: I think it’s been mentioned many times, the aero rules are quite consistent between 2012 and 2013, so a bit like a few other teams we opted to stay developing this car a little bit longer but now we’ve firmly switched over to the ’13 car and that’s going reasonably well. A little bit of layout change required because of the KERS, so it’s taken a few wind tunnel sessions to start getting into that with different wheelbases etc., so really that’s what the aero guys are focussing on. To mention the KERS, obviously quite bit of installation work going on to there to get that into the car from the design guys. But that’s gone reasonably well, the first chassis is in manufacture and the guys are starting to do sample crash tests, so we’re in a lot better position than maybe we were last year. So hopefully with doing a bit more of our homework earlier one, we’re looking to progress.

    You’re in the intriguing position of having technical partnerships with two other teams: McLaren and Williams. How does that work and what are the benefits to that?

    DG: Starting with the McLaren one, which is the first one we did, with McLaren Applied Technologies, it’s going very well. We’re pleased with the wind tunnel, we’re pleased with the correlation we get to the circuit, which is one of the things that’s given us the ability to progress at the back end of this season. Most updates that we’ve had have done what they should, so that’s been very pleasing. The simulator programme is going well, particularly helping Charles with learning circuits. This back end of the year has been perhaps circuits that he’s not used to, so that’s been a valuable tool for him. Moving on to Williams, we’re exceptionally pleased with the support we’ve had from them on the installation of the KERS. It’s been really, really good support from them and it’s enabled us to get it into the car relatively easily and all of that work has gone well so far.

    Mark, we’ve seen the Williams good in the first part of the season, then there was a less productive middle part, and now it seems to be coming back again. How do you see the season so far?

    Mark GILLAN: In terms of pace, our performance has been improving through the season – we just haven’t capitalised on the general pace of the car. We obviously had a high point at the beginning, at Barcelona, and really haven’t delivered the points that we should have over the last number of races. Hopefully the last race was a turning point: we didn’t qualify as strongly as we were hoping, the race pace was very good but we need – as you always do – to string it all together through the weekend. And that’s something that we have to aim to do.

    And plans for the rest of this season and maximising the good points of this car for next year?

    MG: Last season we basically spent the last six events developing the car for this year and understanding the weaker points on last year’s car. This year we’re really pushing to the end of the season with development, and balancing the development all the way to the end of the season with 2013 – and obviously very importantly 2014 as well.

    Pierre, I guess the burning question is ‘can you catch Mercedes?’

    Pierre WACHÉ: I don’t know. What I know is our car performed well in Suzuka, we had quite a good car. I don’t know if for these kind of races we’ll be at the same level but I think it will be more challenging for us in qualifying, maybe more in the field – but we can expect good performance for the race.

    Can you maintain this car for next year? It’s interesting that things have slightly changed on the technical side of the Sauber team.

    PW: I think we can maintain and improve what the car is delivering at the moment for the next year. Clearly we follow the same concept in terms of developing the car, make a good basic of the car and try to improve the weakness of the last year’s car, like we did this year. And try to do that in the most efficient way. It’s what we try to do: to use as less resource as possible but for the maximum performance and be able then to develop the car during the season.

    James, everyone’s talking about the modifications here, and whether they’re working or not. What the general viewpoint?

    James ALLISON: Reasonably happy with the way they’re working. I think we’re at the beginning of a relatively long road with them – they’re not straightforward to make work perfectly first go out. But the numbers we’re getting from them are good, so yeah, quite pleased.

    Romain Grosjean yesterday said you know the weaknesses of this car. What are you able to do about them?

    JA: Same as anyone else – you just chip away at them. It’s an annoying sport this: you can think you’re making progress and then everyone else gives you a wake-up call. But we’ve got a good team back at the factory and a good team here at the track. We just keeping working away at the things that aren’t so good and try to make the things that are good even better. It’s always the same job.

    Paddy, five races to go and according to the FIA sheet you’ve used all eight engines. Is that a concern?

    Paddy LOWE: No, not at all. We’re working exactly to the plan we set out at the beginning of the year. I think, like all the teams, we deploy our engines in what we consider the optimal pattern across the different races. Some circuits are better for power than others, so we happen to have used engine number eight where we thought it was best. Other teams have different solutions. But there’s no concern at all, it’s all to plan.

    You seem to have had a few reliability issues of late. Would that be fair to say?

    PL: It hasn’t been what we’d like. I think if you look on a historical level it hasn’t been that bad but they all came in a bit of a bundle through Italy and Singapore. Very unfortunate for us but actually overall, looking at the season, it hasn’t been so terrible.

    Adrian, Japan looked so good, is that representative of the circuits for the rest of the season would you say?

    Adrian NEWEY: It’s very difficult to tell, I think. We’ve seen swings from race to race, team to team all through the year. That’s been one of the hallmarks of the year. You’ve only got to look at Mercedes performance in China, which looked so dominant, yet they’ve been less dominant on other races. So I wouldn’t like to predict anything on the basis of one race.

    Here there are so many different characteristics of this circuit. You look good in the third sector. Is that a sector you concentrate on? Do you concentrate on one sector of a circuit?

    AN: No. It’s a tale of two tracks here in as much as the first is very long straights. Engine power is important. And then you’ve got the rest of the lap, which is quite twiddly, so you can get quite big swings between the various sectors.

    If I can come back to David Greenwood: the same question for you about eight engines, with Charles Pic. Is that a concern for you?

    DG: Yes, I would say so. At the minute that is a concern on where we are with the engines.

    So it’s not tactical?

    DG: Perhaps not in our case.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Miguel Sanz- Marca) Mr Newey, do you think it’s possible that one of the final five circuits won’t suit your car? Is there any chance?

    AN: It’s wholly possible. Just don’t know which ones yet! As I said, I don’t know which one yet.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) James, you’re one of the last teams if not the last team to play around with the coanda effect. I know you’ve had it in development for a while. What was it that took so long to get it to the track?

    JA: Well, at the point when we were committing to what we were going to start the season with, we had two paths, a coanda path and what we chose which was a very simple exhaust which was there to optimise power. At the time, the coanda solution was worth a little bit more theoretically than the power maximising solution but you had to be confident that it was going to deliver all the downforce that it promised, because you could be fairly certain that it was going to deliver all the horsepower loss that the more convoluted exhaust pipe requires. So if the downforce didn’t materialise, you knew you were down on the deal, so where we were when we launched our car, that was a relatively finely balanced decision. We launched with the simple thing and then we got under way and have had a reasonably bright season and have been pretty competitive deep into the year. We kept working on the other solution because it was fairly clear that that was where the centre of gravity of opinion in the pit lane was and also because it was a reasonably productive avenue back in the wind tunnel. It got to a point where the gain of the coanda system was sufficiently far ahead of our previous race system that it was quite clearly something that we ought to look at both for this year and also to make sure we’re doing the right thing for next year. That’s pretty much the history of it; probably could have committed a bit earlier but then things were going quite well for us on the track as well.

    Q: (Daniel Ortelli – Agence France Presse) James, are you going to again try your double DRS or are you slowly giving up on that project?

    JA: Certainly not giving up on it because there is some goodness in there but that really is tricky – well, we’ve found it so anyway. So we will keep working on that but you probably won’t see it as much on Fridays; we’re going to bring it out to play again at the young drivers’ test and hopefully make a bit of progress there.

    Q: (Vanessa Ruiz – ESPN Radio) Some drivers mentioned that they could not practise on the simulators for the Korean Grand Prix because the teams didn’t have the laser models. Did that happen to all your teams, and secondly, to use an expression that Mark has just used, how does that affect the capitalisation of your cars?

    AN: Well, yes, Mark went in the simulator prior to leaving for Singapore, did both Singapore and Korea. Sebastian, to the best of my memory, didn’t do Korea. I think, really, the level that Formula One drivers are at – the more experienced ones, certainly – then they don’t really need to go in the simulator, if you like, to warm themselves up and remember whether turn one’s a lefthander or a righthander. As you started to hint at in the second part of your question, it’s more for the engineers to understand what’s required at that circuit, but at the same time, everybody has simulation techniques as well. The only difference, really, between simulation and simulator is that one has the driver in the loop, the other is effectively driven by the computer. We’re not going in blind, we’ve had two years of experience at this track so I don’t honestly see it as a particularly big factor.

    DG: I think, from our perspective, it was a little bit more difficult for Charles to learn Korea versus Japan because of the quality of the track model. That has shown up a little bit this morning. He did say it was harder and definitely in Japan he got more on the pace quicker. It’s not ideal but we’re all in the same situation, so that’s what we use and we get on with it.

    MG: I agree. The level of fidelity of the simulator model obviously depends on the quality of the laser scan or whatever other information you can extract from it. What Adrian says is quite true: the more experienced the driver, the less they require the simulator in terms of preparing for the event but for instance, with Valtteri, who has not been round this track before, the simulator is a very important tool, so he maybe spent a little bit more time getting up to speed with the track than he may have done if we had had a very detailed model.

    PW: For us, we don’t have a simulator so it doesn’t change anything for us, compared to other tracks. For sure, in this case the driving time during Friday is very important and also the set-up is defined by simulation before Friday and to leave as much time as possible for a good set-up for the driver, so then he can train on the track.

    JA: Neither of our two drivers had been here, and I don’t think Kimi had even been round the track but you could see how quickly both of them adapt to it. I think any racing driver worth his salt can very quickly come to terms with the track and I really don’t think I can add much more to what Adrian said. The driver-in-the-loop simulator is much more for the engineers than it is for the driver.

    PL: Yeah, the same. I think ultimately it just affects the quality of that particular track that you create and it would mean that this wouldn’t be a circuit that you would use for very in-depth studies because we don’t have that data, but it doesn’t actually affect this event particularly for us.

    Q: (Edd Straw – Autosport) James, will you continue to run the new exhausts tomorrow?

    JA: I think so, yeah. We haven’t decided yet but it looks like we will.

    Q: (Daniel Ortelli – Agence France Presse) Is anyone of you brave enough or senior enough to tell us what’s on the agenda of the October 23rd meeting in Paris?

    PL: Well, we had a meeting in – was it May or June? – yeah, we had a meeting in Monaco in May and I believe there was going to be a second meeting in August or late July and this is that meeting postponed. It will be to continue the same agenda which is about cost-saving and regulations.

    Ends

  • Red Bulls pull away from Hamilton in FP2

    Red Bull Racing put in a good show and Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber are the only two cars who came under one minute 39 secs in the second Free Practice on Friday. Vettel Set a time of 1:38 .832 while Webber clocked his lap 1: 38. 864.

    Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, Jenson Button of McLaren and Michael lSchumachar of Mercedes were fastest in that order.

    Earlier, in FP 1, Hamilton was the fastest. But in FP 2 he finished 8th fastest, almost a second slower than the top two Red Bulls.

    Hamilton in FP 1. McLaren photo

    McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap on Friday morning as practice got under way at the Korea International Circuit. Hamilton set the time of 1:39.148 in the final seconds of the session, narrowly extending the advantage he already had.

    As usual on a dirty track, running in the first half hour was largely limited to installation laps. Four reserve drivers were taking part in the session: Valtteri Bottas for Williams; Guido van der Garde at Caterham; Jules Bianchi for Force India; and Dani Clos at HRT, the only man to set a time in the first 20 minutes was Bottas. His lap of 1:45.225 was six seconds off the fastest race lap of 2011. It was soon eclipsed by Jenson Button, who lowered the benchmark to 1:41.395. Gradually the pitlane became busier as the track cleaned up, and by the halfway mark, most drivers were lapping.

    One driver late into the running was Timo Glock. Marussia opted to change his steering rack after the installation lap. Later in the session Bottas would have the floor of his Williams removed for inspection but otherwise the session passed without incident.

    Though most drivers were struggling for grip, times fell throughout the session. At the hour mark Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso had lowered the benchmark to 1:39.857, only to be replaced by Hamilton in the last 15 minutes of the session. The final order had Hamilton ahead of Alonso by three-tenths. Mark Webber was third for Red Bull, ahead of Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel was fifth in the second Red Bull, ahead of the two Mercedes, with Michael Schumacher shading Nico Rosberg. Romain Grosjean was eighth for Lotus, Paul di Resta ninth for Force India and Jenson Button rounded out the top ten in the second McLaren.

    ends