INDIA in F1

Tag: grand prix

  • Hamilton tops in Free Practice

    Free Practice 2

    Sao Paulo, 23 Nov 2012: McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton topped the order in FP2, again leading from Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel.

    Hamilton carried on where he left off in the morning, fastest of anyone, though by an increased margin, 0.274 up on Vettel. Mark Webber was again third quickest, followed by Felipa Massa and Fernando Alonso in the Ferraris. Michael Schumacher was sixth for Mercedes ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg.

    Hamilton, a McLaren photo

    Jenson Button was eighth ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, with Paul di Resta rounding out the top ten for Force India.

    With track temperatures at Interlagos reaching 49°C, the cars hit the track immediately the pit lane light turned green. Fastest in the initial stages was Webber with a time of 1:16.000. While most runners were working with the hard tyre, Vitaly Petrov and Daniel Ricciardo continued to gather data with the experimental 2013 compound.

    Hamilton briefly took top spot before Vettel took over with 1:15.226 but then the migration to the medium tyre began. Romain Grosjean was the first man under 1m15s with 1:14.994 before Lewis Hamilton set 1:14.026 with 39 minutes of the session remaining. That time would stay top until the end of the session, though others would close the gap.

    Outside the top ten Nico Hülkenberg was 11th, ahead of Räikkönen, Bruno Senna, Sergio Pérez, Kamui Kobayashi and Daniel Ricciardo. Pastor Maldonado was 17th, though in the high-mileage session managed a colossal 47 laps. Behind him came Jean-Eric Vergne, Vitaly Petrov, Heikki Kovalainen, Pedro de la Rosa, Timo Glock, Charles Pic and once again Narain Karthikeyan brought up the rear. Pic was the only casualty of the session, an alternator problem ending his session 20 minutes early.

    “It’s been a positive first day – I hope we can maintain our form or even progress it tomorrow,” said Hamilton afterwards. “We’re certainly looking strong, but this place can be so tough on tyres that it’s hard to make any accurate predictions at this stage.”

    Free Practice 1

    Earlier, Lewis Hamilton did just enough to finish on top of FP1, nine-thousandths of a second ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

    FP1 was busier than usual with teams taking advantage of Pirelli’s 2013 prototype tyres, which were available today in addition to the 2012 specifications. Hamilton set his fastest lap of 1:14.131, 20 minutes into the session with the experimental rubber on his McLaren. Vettel got to within three-tenths of a second early in his run on the same 2013 tyres, and closed to within 0.009s after putting the 2012 hard tyre on the Red Bull.

    Mark Webber would complete the top three in the second Red Bull and Jenson Button finished P4 in the other McLaren. All four men were within a tenth of a second. There was then a gap of two-tenths back to the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso is P5 who was three-tenths up on his team-mate Felipe Massa. Massa was the only spinner of the session, rotating his car at Pinheirinho as the session drew to its conclusion. Romain Grosjean, Paul di Resta, Pastor Maldonado and Nico Hülkenberg completed the top ten.

    Valtteri Bottas was the first man to set a time, the Williams tester did an extended installation at the start of the session and recored a time of 1:21.218. Sergio Pérez opted to go out early for his first run and soon knocked the benchmark down to 1:15.869 before Hamilton appeared and set about taking large chunks out of that time. One name absent from the early running was that of Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn reported engine issues on his installation lap and returned to the garage. Lotus got him running towards the end of the session but the 2007 World Champion only managed 16 laps, whereas most runners got into the thirties. Also frugal with their time on track were the HRTs. Pedro de la Rosa managed 15 laps and Narain Karthikeyan 13.

    Michael Schumacher in his final race finished FP1 in 11th, just ahead of Kamui Kobayashi, Pérez and Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo with fifteenth ahead of Räikkönen and Ricciardo’s Red Bull team-mate Jean-Eric Verge was 17th. Nico Rosberg could only managed 18th and behind him came Caterham tester Giedo van der Garde. He was followed by the Marussia of Timo Glock, Vitaly Petrov’s Caterham, Charles Pic for Marussia and then de la Rosa and Karthikeyan bringing up the rear.

    ends

  • Sahara Force India gets £50 million boost

    Sao Paulo, 21 Nov 2012:Dr Vijay Mallya, Sahara

    File photo of Dr Vijay Mallya, courtesy Sahara Force India F1 team.

    Force India team principal revealed today that the F1 team’s Board has approved a sum of £50 million capital investment programme for the team as he sums up 2012 and looks ahead to the season finale here on Sunday.

    “We had a board meeting in India after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the board has approved a £50 million capital investment programme for the team. We are going to invest heavily in new technology and give more tools to our design team to try and move further up the grid,” said the beer baron of India.
    Last year, Sahara Force India finished in sixth place ahead of Sauber but going into the last race the Indian team is 12 points behind Sauber. But they have been improving year after year and have scored more points this year. With one race to go the team has 99 points.
    “Looking back at the season so far, we have every reason to feel proud. We’ve scored more points than in any previous season and every year we’ve demonstrated that we’ve gone up the ladder. And we’ve taken fairly significant steps, not just baby steps. Given the tools that we have, which are mostly of the Jordan era, we have done exceptionally well,” felt Vijay Mallya.
    With the championship’s driver’s title precariously poised and with the prediction of rain, it is anybody’s game. Though Sebastian Vettel is leading by 13 points, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso hopes different circumstances will give him a better chance to beat Vettel. Meanwhile, Mallya is hoping that Nico will come good at a place where he has good memories.
     
    “We hope that Nico will be able to pull off what he did for Williams in 2010 [pole position]. That’s what is needed if we want to catch Sauber! Otherwise I hope we can end the season with a strong result. Two cars in the points would be nice. Up at the front I look forward to seeing how the fight in the drivers’ championship concludes because it’s never over until it’s over.  Also, many congratulations to Red Bull for securing the constructors’ championship in Austin,”  said Mallya.
    The team says goodbye to Nico this weekend and when asked how much has Nico contributed to the team this season, Vijay Mallya said: “Nico has been one of the stars this season. He’s delivered exactly what we expected of him and brought a lot to this team. He has a big future in Formula One and we wish him well.”
    Nico on Brazil
    Nico Hulkenberg gets set for his last race with the team and hopes to capture a special result.
    Nico, another four points in Austin brings your total to 53. How do you look back on the second half of the year?
    It has been very positive. We had some good results in the first half too, but I think we found our consistency after the summer break. I think some of my best races were Japan and Korea where we didn’t necessarily expect to do so well. To score points there was very satisfying. Also, races such as Austin, where I was under so much pressure towards the end are the moments I will remember from the second part of the year. These were races where we maximised everything.
    Your two-year spell with the team comes to an end this weekend. How much have you enjoyed being a part of Sahara Force India?
    First of all I want to thank everyone for believing in me and giving me the chance to return to Formula One this year as a race driver. I’ve learned a lot during the last two seasons, even as a third driver, and the time has flown by very quickly. It’s a great team of people; they’re fun to work with and I think we can be proud of the results we achieved together. That’s why it was not an easy decision to leave, but I’m happy to be leaving with good memories. The task now is to end the year in style with a great result.
    Paul on Brazil
    Paul Di Resta looks back on the season.
    Paul, after 19 races you’ve scored 46 points. Are you happy with the season as a whole?
    I think as a whole it has been a good year. For me the standout races are Bahrain and Singapore – races where everything came together. The second half of the season has been more mixed. When you look at the results on paper, it certainly doesn’t tell the whole story. For various reasons some good results slipped away from us and we’ve had issues that held us back while we tried to understand them. The last race in Austin was looking very positive to begin with, but after my pit stop I just could not get the tyres to work, so I’m hoping that the conditions in Brazil will suit me better.
    You raced in Brazil for the first time last year. Tell us about that experience…
    I enjoy the circuit, but at the same time it’s quite tricky because of the undulating layout and there are some unusual corners. It’s also quite a tough track on your neck because of the anti-clockwise layout and the high number of left-hand corners. After three races on very new circuits it will make a nice change to go back to one of the classic old-school tracks. It’s a circuit that usually produces good racing and there’s also talk of rain, which would add another element into the mix.
    ends

     

  • USGP: Hamilton thanks fans at FIA press conference

    The top three Drivers who attended the final FIA Press Conference after the race at the United States Grand Prix are: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren); 2 – Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing) and 3 – Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

     PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Mario Andretti)

     Lewis, I know you really tormented Sebastian for most of the race but you have the resolve and did a fabulous race. What I’m interested in, give me some reaction, your reaction to the circuit. Obviously everything’s new, first winner, first time winner and all of that.

    Lewis HAMILTON: First time winner, yeah, I’m so happy. The fans have been amazing this weekend, so thank you so much. The warm welcome we’ve had has been fantastic and I think this is probably one of the best, if not the best grand prix we’ve had all year. Especially for me and my team, this is so special. It’s been a long, long time since I had a win and I’m just so proud, so proud of the work the guys did, so grateful for the support we’ve had.

    Sebastian, obviously you did everything you needed to do to protect your lead in the championship and as usual you were fantastic with your qualifying and so forth. The obvious question again is your reaction to the circuit.

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I mean first of all thank you very much. As Lewis said, it was incredible. Actually I did my first race five years ago, the last time we were racing in the United States, so it’s a very nice comeback today, it was my 100th grand prix, and amazing y’know, the amount of people we had all weekend. It’s great for us to have so much support, very happy today for the team in particular. We won the Constructors’ Championship so, yeah, thanks to all of you, it’s been a great year, now we’ve got another station coming up in Brazil and as you said, in terms of the Championship it’s looking a bit better after the race today. Obviously it was a close fight with Lewis, he had one chance and he took it. After that I tried to stay with him and maybe pass him again but he was probably as quick as I was and there wasn’t much in between us. All in all, a great race and a great result for us.

    Fernando, as usual, you’ve been brilliant the entire season, fantastic start, as usual again, you’ve always done your very maximum and here again you’ve kept this championship fight alive, fighting to the end obviously. The same question to you, how about this circuit? You like it? You enjoy the ride? What’s your reaction?

    Fernando ALONSO: Yes, as Sebastian said, the circuit was fantastic but the fans were fantastic all weekend. We really enjoyed and we really have to say big thanks to all the fans coming here, all the Americans, the Mexicans and all the South Americans that came also to support us. So the circuit… basically the layout is challenging for us, challenging for the engine as well. As I said we enjoyed racing here thanks to the fans, thanks to the fantastic facilities and I hope we put on a good show for everybody and people will enjoy even more next year.

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, an absolutely fantastic drive and victory in a straight fight with Red Bull Racing and with Sebastian. How much satisfaction does that give you?

    LH: A huge amount. It’s been a great weekend, to be able to beat Red Bull and Sebastian is definitely a tough challenge but we managed to do it today. I don’t know, we weren’t so bad in the first stint but it was very difficult to follow and to get past. In trying to do so I locked… my tyres went off. We pitted maybe two laps before Sebastian, so then he came out quite far ahead but traffic really worked out quite well for once. Traffic usually catches me out, so I was glad that it worked slightly in my favour at some points. But yeah, what a great feeling to win the first grand prix here, back in the States, I won the last one here as well, so I’m massively proud.

    Where was the Red Bull so strong? Because it did take quite a few DRS efforts before you managed to make it.

    LH: It was everywhere, they’re pretty strong everywhere. I think it was more so… the first sector is very difficult to follow through Four, Five, Six, Seven, such high speed it’s quite difficult to follow through there. The place where he really extended his gap was the exit of Nine. That was really where, in the most important part, where he made over a second gap, so I was struggling to really get… to remain close. As I said with traffic it all worked out really well. He kind of… I knew that lap would be the lap that I would have a chance, so I turned the engine up and got close.

    Sebastian you did all you could and you’ve extended your championship lead. What are your feelings after second place?

    SV: I think, as Lewis said, obviously it was close between us, there wasn’t much between. I think very quickly we noticed that Lewis is the one we are racing. Obviously, for the rest, I don’t know what happened to Mark – he was quite a while in third place. After that, obviously, there was a big gap down to the Ferraris, so yeah, it was clear that we were racing Lewis. Everything seemed to be in control. As Lewis touched on, with traffic it’s quite difficult depending where you get it on the track. Surely it didn’t work in my favour. Lewis was then close enough, after he tried many times before, to open his rear wing and then down the back straight, it was a bit of an invitation really. It didn’t matter which side I would have picked, they were quick enough on the straight and he took the lead fair enough. After that I tried to be as close as I could but, as he said, it was difficult to follow, difficult to get in range. So, bit of a shame to lose first place but as you said I think we did everything we could. Fantastic job for the team today to seal the Constructors’ Championship against Ferrari who are now in second. I’m very happy with that and the guys can be, for sure, very proud of themselves. I think we will have a drink tonight, enjoy the time here. All weekend has been incredible, I think, for all of us, for the whole Formula One paddock here. The last race [in the US] obviously, as Lewis said, he won it. It was my first race in Formula One here in the United States and to come back and get so much support, so may fans… The signing session yesterday was absolutely crazy and full grandstands, so full house. It was really, really nice to race today in front of the crowd.

    Fernando, really a fantastic start and then it was just a matter of holding station.

    FA: Yes, we know our championship keeps alive maybe thanks to the first laps. We always qualify around seventh or eighth and we finish the first lap in the first three or four positions normally and then after that the race becomes a little easier when that happens, when you are in the leading group, and today we knew that was a good chance, try to overtake people at the first corner, and then the pace on Sunday normally improves so we knew that if we are in the leading group we can more or less keep the pace. Today not possible to keep the pace with these two guys, that they were too far ahead but enough to keep for the guys behind. And then I think this podium, after all the difficulties we went through this weekend is like a victory for us. Losing three points maybe was in no-one’s thoughts I think yesterday night or Friday night after seeing the practice, so we are really happy again to have a very good Sunday and score again good points.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, your teammate stopped with another alternator problem, you probably heard that over the radio. To what extent is that a concern? It seems to be an unsolved problem.

    SV: I don’t know what happened to him, so I need to check, obviously. The first info I only get now, so it’s hard to comment but in case it was the alternator, it’s not good news but I think we’ve managed the last couple of races pretty well so I’m sure it should be easy to explain, to find the problem. After Monza, I think we learned the lesson and we should be prepared enough for next week.

    Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Live) To all three of you: with what feelings will you go to the last race in Brazil?

    LH: For me, it’s excitement that we have a good car and hopefully we can try to compete again with these guys. I’m obviously not fighting for the championship. It’s maybe more exciting for these guys but for me, I’m just having fun.

    SV: I think pretty much the same as Lewis: excited because the car seems to work very well, good enough to fight for a win. We’ve been very quick in Brazil the last couple of years so plenty to look forward to. On top of that, we increased our lead in the championship today so I think we are in the best possible position.

    FA: We will try to go to Brazil with the possibility to fight for the World Championship which is something that we fight for all through the year and we arrived in that fantastic position. Only Sebastian is in a better position than us but we should be proud of ourselves so try to enjoy the Brazil race and do our best, fight all the race and see what is the outcome at the end.

    Q: (Adam Hay–Nicholls – Metro) Seb, what were you complaining about when Lewis overtook you?

    SV: I think you misunderstood. I wasn’t complaining about Lewis, obviously. I wasn’t too happy send a nice big invitation to Lewis when I obviously had to go through Karthikeyan and he was basically right behind at the DRS zone; to do a big difference within one corner is hardly possible and then he took that opportunity – fair enough – down the straight and passed me. I tried to defend, I moved to the inside but I knew that he would have so much more speed that he can pick either side, so it didn’t really matter what I was doing and after that, I was obviously not too happy, because on all the laps before I tried to manage the gap to him, tried to manage the tyres until the end of the race, to be able to attack towards the last couple of laps. We had, I think, something like 20 laps, 15 laps to go at the time. It was not targeted at Lewis, it was more targeted at the backmarker which, as I said, gave a nice big envelope with an invitation to Lewis.

    Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com world sport) It was a similar question, actually, but we don’t often see you, Sebastian, being very emotional but we heard you being emotional on the radio there. A question about the pressures you’re feeling. You’ve been in this position twice before, is it harder third time around?

    SV: I don’t think it had anything to do with that in that moment. I was really thinking about the points that could make a difference today or next week or the championship. I wanted to win today. I had a fantastic race, I was very happy, enjoyed the fight with Lewis a lot and obviously through that lost the lead. Equally knew that we can get it back but as it turned out it was extremely difficult. We had the same pace so I think I was probably in the same boat as Lewis, the first half of the race where I was just trying to get close enough to try and get the move done but that didn’t happen until the end. I think many times it’s difficult for you to judge what’s going on because not all the messages get broadcast so we do communicate quite a bit during the race –  sometimes calmer, sometimes not so calm so at that moment, obviously, I wasn’t too happy to lose the lead.

    Q: (David Estrada – Port Arthur News) Lewis, welcome to the United States; you had celebration champagne. Are you going to have a celebration barbecue tonight?

    LH: I had a few burgers last night so I was nice and heavy today! I tell you what, I’m so happy to be here. We’ve had such a great weekend. I actually don’t really drink. I had a little bit of champagne, it doesn’t really taste that good. Fernando said it was 7-Up or Sprite at the last race, it wasn’t the same this time. Tonight, hopefully I can get together with the team tonight. We already did last night but I’m sure we will celebrate tonight.

    SV: He said earlier he…  and I saw him exchanging phone numbers with the girls on the podium. He said earlier we’ll have a good time tonight!

    LH: I think it was the other way around actually! He stayed behind. That’s why we were late here.

    SV: He was first, you know, not just in the race but also picking up the girls.

    File photo of Lewis Hamilton at the US GP on Thursday. A Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team photo.

    Ends

  • Vettel tops Free Practice 1

    Austin, 16 Nov 2012: The inaugural United States Grand Prix kicked off  at the brand new Circuit of Americas with the first free practice sessions. On Friday morning, HRT’s test driver Ma Qing Hua stepped into the F112 once again and accompanied Pedro de la Rosa for the fourth time this season in FP1 and Narain Karthikeyan once again missed a chance to test the new circuit. Caution was advised, as conditions were quite tricky on the early stages due to a dusty and cold track, and both drivers conducted an impeccable session improving considerably throughout the session.
    However, Narain Karthikeyan returned for the afternoon session and had a hard task ahead to both learn the track and evaluate both tyres’ options over the 20 laps the Indian did around the 5.516 km circuit.
    Narain Karthikeyan: “The circuit is quite nice. It has a lot of fast corners, like the first S’s, and it is very technical and demanding. It is not easy to learn but I did my best with the limited number of laps we had. Grip level was quite low over the first laps and I couldn’t manage to keep the tyres’ temperature high enough, which made driving quite challenging. But, as laps went by, it got better and going out with options also helped. We still have a lot to improve but I’m confident for tomorrow”.
    Overall, after McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton led for most of FP1, Sebastian Vettel arrived late with a time that blew everything else away.

    Hamilton held top spot until Vettel emerged for his final run of the session. The reigning World Champion was the first man under 1m39s and eventually set a time of 1:38.215 for Red Bull Racing, an enormous 1.4s ahead of the Englishman, crossing the line as the chequered flag flew. Behind them Fernando Alonso was third for Ferrari and Jenson Button fourth in the second McLaren. Mark Webber took fifth in the second Red Bull ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. Nico Hülkenberg was seventh for Force India, Saubers Kamui Kobayashi was eighth, Nico Rosberg finished ninth for Mercedes and Sergio Pérez was tenth in the second Sauber.

    The first practice session began with cars sliding and slithering on their out-laps – it was a theme that would continue throughout the session, cold temperatures and a green track contributing to a number of spins and off-track excursions. The unknowns of the new circuit prompted most teams to put both race drivers into the car straight away, rather than running FP1 with a reserve. The exception was HRT, where Ma Qing Hua stood in for Narain Karthikeyan.

    Kobayashi and Williams’ Bruno Senna were the first men to venture out for proper running. They set cautious times while reconnoitring. Of the front-runners, Webber set the early benchmark with 1:45.918. From that chunks of time were hewn as drivers grew more confident. Alonso reset the standard at 1:42.538 and the Hamilton with 1:40.175.

    Into the final 15 minutes Hamilton was the first man under the 1m40s barrier with 1:39.687. He took another tenth off that and looked like holding P1 until Vettel swept around, first taking a full second off the McLaren man and then underlining his pace by finding another half-second on his final lap.

    Outside of the top ten, Paul di Resta’s Force India was 11th followed by the Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. Abu Dhabi winner Kimi Räikkönen was 14th, ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean as Lotus struggled for grip. Pastor Maldonado was 16th for Williams, Michael Schumacher seventeenth for Mercedes and Charles Pic the best of the backmarkers in 18th for Marussia.

    Behind Pic came Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov, 19th and 20th respectively for Caterham. Timo Glock was 21st for Caterham. Bruno Senna could do no better than 22nd in the second Williams, and HRT brought up the rear with Pedro de la Rosa ahead of Ma.

    ends

    Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing in Free Practice 1 on Friday at Austin. Red Bull Racing photo

  • US Grand Prix: FIA Thursday Press Conference

    Austin, 15 Nov 2012:

    Kimi Raikkonen file photo by Lotus F1 team.

    DRIVERS – Pedro DE LA ROSA (HRT), Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren), Sergio PEREZ (Sauber), Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing), Kimi RAIKKONEN (Lotus)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Gentlemen, a question to you all to start with: what are your impressions of the circuit so far; your feelings about being back in America. What it’s like to be back here?

    Pedro DE LA ROSA: Good morning to everyone. I’ve just been doing a lap, just walking around. I don’t know much apart from this lap, and apart from what I’ve been able to see from the internet – from the lap Jérôme [D’Ambrosio] did in the Lotus -– and it looks fantastic… a very difficult track, with very big gradient changes and very challenging because most of the corners, the apexes are blind. So let’s see tomorrow, but it’s one of those tracks that you can say it’s going to be difficult and challenging.

    Lewis, have you done anything on simulation?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Good morning everyone. Yeah, I think everyone’s done simulations probably. It’s quite an interesting track. It’s quite difficult to learn initially but it looks fantastic to drive. I really started to enjoy it once I got used to it, which took perhaps a little bit longer than some of the other circuits to learn but it’s going to be very interesting this weekend.

    Sergio?

    Sergio PEREZ: I haven’t done any simulator, we don’t have one with Sauber. I’ve seen some video of the track and I walked the track and it’s amazing. I think it will be very enjoyable for all the drivers.

    Fernando, have you been around the circuit, done any simulation?

    Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, we did some simulator programmes, after Singapore it was that we started. A bit more intense this last week and yesterday I also did two laps on the bicycle. The programme is to do some more this afternoon. So, we are more or less ready. The track seems spectacular, very, very nice. It will be challenging for us drivers and for the engineers as well. I think it will be a good show for everybody and hopefully some good overtakings as well, opportunities around the track. It can be a very good weekend.

    Sebastian?

    Sebastian VETTEL: We also prepared in the simulator but apart from that I haven’t seen much. I will walk the track this afternoon but I think if we have to wait until we get out until we have a judgement on how the circuit feels. So by the looks of it, it looks quite interesting, but you know it’s always the feeling you get inside the car that is most important, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

    Kimi?

    Kimi RAIKKONEN: I’ve only seen the video from when they did the demo run here, but I haven’t seen the circuit itself. I will see tomorrow how it goes.

    You won’t even walk the circuit this afternoon?

    KR: I don’t know yet. I’ll have to see.

    After the comment from the last grand prix, it’s good to see…

    KR: Well, I mean, if I found a golf cart or something.

    Some individual questions now. Pedro, there have obviously been some stories around about HRT etc. What can you tell us? What are your own personal plans? What do you know? Maybe you can’t tell us anything.

    PDLR: Well, unfortunately there’s not much I can say really. It’s a corporate decision, which I’m not involved in. All I can say is, we are here, that there are two grands prix to go and no matter what’s going on in the background, we will give it 100 per cent like we’ve always done. No matter in which position we fight and who we fight against we will do a professional job. We are here to do that and there are two very interesting grands prix left. Hopefully there’s some more retirements than in the last few races, even more and we can achieve a good result. But first we have to finish the races and make sure that we do as much as we can on both Friday sessions that are left.

    Lewis, obviously winner of the last US Grand Prix which took place on this soil in 2007 from pole position, an interesting comment from your team boss saying that you regret your decision, or you may have regretted your decision to change teams. What’s your reply to that?

    LH: Yeah, I was a little bit surprised to hear that. It’s clearly absolutely not the case.  But I’ve got a great team and I’ve been with them such a long time. So, I’m sure everyone has emotions within the team but I’m still here giving 100 per cent to them for the last two races. Of course it’s quite emotional for me but I’m very, very happy with the decision I’ve made.

    Sergio, do you call this your home grand prix? To what extent is it?

    SP: Well, it’s the closest one I have ever raced in the last eight, nine years in my life, so I expect to have a lot of support here, many Mexicans coming because it’s quite close to Mexico. I think it will be a great weekend.

    Fernando and Sebastian. It’s interesting to come to this race with the championship the way it is with this very much a level playing field: a circuit that no-one’s ever raced on before. What sort of preparations can you make? What are your feelings? What sort of plans do you have? Has anything changed for you just for this one race?

    FA: Nothing really changed in terms of preparation and approach for the weekend. Maximum concentration, maximum effort from everybody in the team. Preparing some new parts that we are bringing every grand prix and hopefully that we can test them tomorrow and have some feedback about that. Try to do our very good, smooth Friday, good test and here, maybe more important than some other circuits, to do a lot of laps, to learn the racing lines, the possibilities and some… maybe tricks… that the circuit can have. And a good Saturday, try to be in the best position possible for the race and 58 or 60 or whatever laps, qualifying laps, Sunday try to score as many points as possible. Exactly the same as every other weekend.

    Sebastian, is there any more you can do? I mean you do a huge amount anyway…

    SV: Usually you try to prepare as much as you can. It’s not the first time we’ve raced on a completely new circuit. Obviously we had this kind of challenge previous years as well. I think we do what we can. The most important is to get into the rhythm tomorrow and have a good start and go from there.

    Kimi, winner of the last grand prix, what has changed in terms of your feeling coming to a grand prix. Has anything changed?

    KR: Not really. Of course the team is happy, I’m happy that we finally win but it’s a new place, new race again and we try to do the best. I don’t expect we suddenly going to start winning or being in front. Probably it’s going to be very similar to where we’ve been in the last races in top five and then go from there and see what happens.

    Have they all brought their T-shirts with them?

    KR: I don’t know, I just arrived here. I don’t know yet.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Sebastian, do you remember your first grand prix in America, and what sort of memories do you have?

    SV: I remember my first race obviously. I think you can’t forget. There are some positives, some negatives. I didn’t have the best start, and not the best first corner but then it was quite an interesting race. And obviously a big challenge at the end of the race. I was physically destroyed, I remember that as well. And I knew that I had a lot to do – but I knew as well that’s what I want to do in the future. Sitting here 100 races later is quite crazy in a way. I think if the number gives you anything, it’s just that you don’t realise how quickly time goes by. I think it’s always like that when you do something you enjoy a lot. You don’t count the days and the months and the years going by. Looking back now it doesn’t seem a long time ago but looking on the calendar it’s five years ago. So… yeah.

    (Frederic Ferret – L’Equipe) Fernando, what is your memory for your hundredth grand prix?

    FA: I don’t remember anything. I don’t even know where it was.

    (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Question for Pedro, the Spanish media were yesterday reporting that there are concerns within the team that, due to a lack of spare parts, your cars aren’t actually going to be safe to run this weekend. Is that media scandal or have those voices, have those concerns been voiced inside the team?

    PDLR: It’s something that I’m not aware of and it’s the first news comes from you. All I can say is that we might be modest, we are small and we are what we are – but we are a professional Formula One team and for sure when we start running it’s because the car is safe. I’m experienced enough to… y’know, I would never jump into an unsafe car because of parts being too old. So no, the answer is, the car is slow but it’s safe.

    (Jim McEvoy – The Daily Mail )  Sebastian, I was wondering what it would mean to you if, at the end of the week, you have won your third world drivers’ [title].

    SV: I think it would be incredible. Obviously it has been a very tough season, up and down I think for everyone. Extremely challenging, different to previous years in many ways. I think we learned a lot and did way less mistakes this year. We have a very competitive car, we’ve had one since the start of the season. Maybe sometimes not good enough to win but still good enough to collect a lot of points. I think that put us in a very strong position and we are able to fight for the championship. Only two races to go, so whatever happens this weekend, before anything happens we have to make sure we get the maximum on Friday, on Saturday, because the points are there to grab on Sunday and not before. But for sure it would mean a lot, and probably difficult now to find the right words.

    (Jim McEvoy – The Daily Mail)  Fernando, what would it mean to you to do it?

    FA: I think we need to wait and see. I think as Sebastian said, now is very difficult to imagine what it can mean or what emotions that you could feel. We’ll just concentrate in our job and try to do a good weekend and then fighting in Brazil for the championship, because in my case I cannot do anything here. I can only save this much points and wait for Brazil.

    (Jim McEvoy – The Daily Mail)  Just one more to Lewis. You’d like to be where those guys are, gunning for your third… how hard is it for you to watch on knowing that you are not involved in that? Maybe you could speak about how much respect you have for these guys and how brilliantly they’re each doing as well?

    LH: I think it goes without saying that these two are obviously two of the best here. What they’ve achieved it absolutely incredible and all of us other drivers are trying our hardest to aspire to do the same. They’re both incredible professional. Amazing to see how professional they are considering how much pressure there is on the both of them. But they’re both World Champions, they handle it no problem. And as for me, it is what it is. Happy just to be here fighting. I’ve got two last races in my team and just want to do the best job and try and see if we can still fight with them, even though we’re not fighting for the championship.

    (Azul Ananda – Jawa Pos Indonesia) Question for Fernando. Sebastian will have his 100thrace this week and you are almost 200 and yet both of you are going for the third championship. Can’t believe that 2005, 2006 you already won two and now there is another guy, half the races that you did and will go for the third. How do you feel about that?

    FA: Yeah. I think it’s normal, it’s motorsport. When I won the second championship I was also around this number of races. I start in 2003 in Renault and then in 2006 won the second title. And 2007 fight for the third title until the last race, so similar of what Sebastian is now. It’s good, it’s sport and everyone has his own career. We saw many examples in Formula One. We saw with all the drivers, with Michael, now after winning seven titles, three years with not very good results. We saw Barrichello for example, was a man who raced more times here in Formula One, he was fighting for Q1 with Williams and fighting for world championship with Brawn GP the following [preceding] year. It’s up and down for everybody. I’m proud of my nearly 200 grand prix, always fighting with all the cars, always winning some grand prix every year and yeah, fighting for the world championship already four or five years. So, it’s good and I’m happy.

    Q: (Richard Oliver – San Antonio Express News) Sergio, could you quantify emotionally how you’re feeling? You started in Guadalajara and now you’re not that far away; this track has been erected over the last year. How do you feel emotionally about the evolution of your career and how you’re here, so close to home?

    SP: I feel very happy to be so close to home. I left Mexico at a very young age. All these guys, they always do a race or two during the year in their own countries and they have done all their careers in their countries. I had to move to their countries to do my own career which means that I left Mexico at a very young age. I think it’s the closest that I will race. I will have all my family – even my grandmother is coming here, my friends, all the people who never saw me racing live, they will be here, plus lot of Mexican fans, so it’s great. I feel very emotional about this weekend.

    Q: (Stefano Mancini – La Stampa) Fernando, after the aero tests Ferrari had recently, are you now more or less optimistic?

    FA: Same.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) To Fernando: as you said, it’s not the first time you have fought for the World Championship at the last races. What’s different, compared to the past? How have you changed compared to the past?

    FA: I’m much more relaxed, much more focused. In 2006, I arrived at the last race fighting with Michael in Brazil. It was quite stressful, quite an intense weekend and not easy to get focused or sleep or things like that because it was a very emotional weekend. The year after, 2007, it was also a very stressful last race, three of us fighting for the World Champion:  Lewis, Kimi and me and it was also a stressful weekend and not easy to do things. In 2010, we arrived in Abu Dhabi, again fighting for the World Championship at the last race. I was much more calm there, I was more confident and things in the race, in the weekend were quite good for us and we did more or less – in terms of preparation and approach – it was much more calm and more mature, I felt, in 2010. The race was what it was and we didn’t win in the end but feeling-wise we were much more prepared. In these last two races, I feel, as I said before, completely normal. It’s good experience. It’s the fourth time we have been fighting for the World Championship up to the last race – hopefully – and you really feel the difference, being much more focused, concentrated, trying to do the job and understanding that if you do everything perfectly you have a chance; if you make a mistake you will lose the chance, so let’s focus on us.

    Q: (Simon Cass – Daily Mail) Fernando, is it an advantage for you that you’ve never raced here before this weekend, in terms of the fact that you need to take it to the next round, and also, just how confident are you that you are going to make it, and if you are, what gives you that confidence?

    FA: I don’t think it’s an advantage for it to be a new circuit. I think we all will adapt very quickly in first practice and we all have simulators and everything that we use to prepare for the race, so I think that’s more or less the same as every other race.  Confident? I’m very confident, I trust my team, I trust myself. We are honest with ourselves, we know that we don’t have the quickest package out there and we’ve qualified an average of sixth or seventh this season, so if we see that on Saturday we are sixth or seventh, people will say ‘maybe you say bye bye to the title’. No. I think it’s our normal position but even with this normal position, we were leading the championship until three races ago and we are ten points behind the leader, so this is not our strong point. Our strong point is to score more points than the others on Sunday and I’m sure we will do this in the next two races.

    Q: (Pierre van Vliet – F1i Magazine) Lewis and Kimi: if you have a winning package this weekend – if after qualifying you realise you have a chance, what can you do not to disturb the World Championship battle between these two?

    LH: Go for it Kimi, I would love to hear what you have to say.

    KR: We try to do the best that we can as a team in the race, and wherever we end up, if we take some points out of either of them, that’s racing, that’s life. We don’t try to disturb anything, we’re just doing our normal race and see what happens. I’m not looking who is there or if I’m taking points from them or somebody else. We just try to win, if not, score as much as we can.

    LH: It was a good answer. Yeah. We have no means to try and get in the way of anyone, but we want to beat them, we’re still fighting for position in the championship, even though we’re not fighting for the top position so we just have to focus on our job. Kimi did a great job in the last race. I think we were very strong as well, hopefully we will have less reliability issues this weekend and hopefully we can compete right at the front with all these guys.

    Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Question for Kimi, Pedro, Lewis and Segio; between Sebastian and Fernando, who would be your bet for the championship?

    KR: I think whoever scores most points will get it and deserves it. Right now Sebastian is in a bit of a stronger position but we’ve seen before many times that you have one bad race and things are completely different.

    PdelaR: I think that until Brazil, I’m not prepared to answer this question. I don’t know. We’ll see.

    LH: I don’t know really. I think you just put money on both of them. Either way, you have a good chance of winning.

    SP: Well, I think after this weekend we will have a better idea, but let’s wait until Brazil. Everything can happen.

    Q: (Jim Vertuno – Associated Press) Sebastian and any other driver, what do you make of the request for drivers to clean up their language a little bit post-race and do you see that as an attempt to appease an American audience that might be a little sensitive to that sort of thing?

    SV: I think if you’re sensitive you should watch – I don’t know – some kids’ programme. You have the remote control in your hand, so you can chose. Surely it wasn’t intentional at the last race. I think it’s a bit unnecessary to create such a big fuss but anyway, if I said some things that weren’t appropriate then I apologise but I think there’s not a lot I have to do differently to succeed in that regard.

    Q: (Adriana Terrazas – Comunidad Fan Mexico) Checco, there have been lots of rumours recently over the past weeks that Esteban Gutierrez will finally be at Sauber; everything indicates that it will be so, but what would it mean to you to have two Mexicans in 2013, especially with someone so close to you, and someone that will be here presently?

    SP: It will be good for the country, for us. I think he’s a good driver. As you said, there have been a lot of rumours that he will be the driver taking my place at Sauber but at the moment I know as much as you do, so I have no idea as to who is going to come. If he comes, it will be good to have two Mexican drivers after so much time without a driver; now we are finally going to have two on the grid. If it happens I think it’s great.

    Q: (Carlos Jalife – Fast Mag, Mexico) To all but Sebastian: do you feel that a driver getting the championship three times in a row is good for the sport, because fans are basically fearing a repeat of the Schumacher era when it got boring? You just turned the TV on and Schumacher won whatever happened and so they are a bit confused about this. What are your thoughts on this?

    PdelaR: I will start, I will break the ice, iceman. I think that the important thing is really not how many championships one driver (wins) or if he dominates or there’s an era related to a team or driver. I think the important thing really is that the championship is decided in the last race and by a small amount of points. This is the deciding factor, and I think that this year is a great example of a great championship that hopefully is decided in the last race between great drivers, great teams. That’s my view. Those championships, like last year, were pretty boring for all except Sebastian. When there is such domination, it’s not as good. That’s my view.

    LH: Yeah, I agree with Pedro. I think to keep the championship title battle right to the last races is for me the most exciting. When I’ve watched it in the past, when the championship’s finished before, there’s not really a lot of point watching the last few races. The suspense is not there, so I think we’ve just got to try – and this year is a good year – to show that hopefully these guys will go to the last race and people will enjoy it.

    SP: I think that last year was maybe a bit boring, with Sebastian winning a lot, but this year it has been a great championship and I think the one that wins, it will be a great champion because it will be well deserved and it will be a great championship. It has been a great championship all year, with so many different winners in the beginning, and so many cars fighting for wins. I think it has been a great year, this year.

    FA: Yeah, I think it’s OK, to arrive to the last race; more interesting.

    Ends

  • F1 returns to US after 5 years

    Austin (Texas, US), 15 Nov 2012: It’s been five years since Formula One last raced in the USA but for the 19th and penultimate round of the 2012 season the series is returning to America this weekend for the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

    The new Circuit of the Americas is a purpose-built 5.516km (3.4 mile), 20-turn, F1 standard facility located 15 miles outside downtown Austin and promises to provide teams with some interesting challenges, and spectators with some thrilling racing.

    Chief among the challenges is, of course, the fact that no team has yet turned a wheel in anger here. Former F1 driver David Coulthard drove a Red Bull Racing showcar here when circuit construction had just begun and more recently Lotus test driver Jérôme D’Ambrosio piloted a 2010 Renault R30 on opening day at the track, but beyond those very different laps teams will only have simulator data upon which to base their weekend preparations.

    That should make Friday’s free practice sessions labour-intensive workouts for the teams, though again it will present a challenge as the new track will undoubtedly be largely free of grip in the early stages of the weekend.

    It means that the unknown of Austin represents the perfect wildcard for a championship that has become increasingly hard to call in recent weeks. After a dramatic race in Abu Dhabi, defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing leads Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso by just 10 points, with a maximum of 50 on the table over the final two rounds. Kimi Raikkonen’s win in the UAE was a spectacular feat in his comeback year but even with that victory the Finn is now out of the title fight.

    So it comes down to a head-to-head battle between the famous red of Ferrari and the blue of Red Bull Racing. And after recent events in the US, locals will know just how intense red versus blue showdowns can be!

    Release from Pirelli, the F1 tyre suppliers: US Grand Prix from a tyre point of view

    US GP grid photo courtesy Lotus F1 team

    What’s the story?

    Milan, November 12, 2012 – The Formula One teams and Pirelli take a step into the unknown this weekend with the inaugural United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas: a newly-built track that has never been raced on before.

    The Italian firm is bringing the P Zero Silver hard and P Zero White medium tyres: a reasonably conservative compound choice for a circuit where there are still a number of unknown factors when it comes to tyre performance. The teams will be given an extra set of the hard tyre for Friday’s two free practice sessions in order to help them learn the all-new track.

    One sure thing is that the Texas circuit will be fast and challenging, with warm ambient temperatures adding to the mechanical demands placed on the tyres. The 5.515-kilometre track features varying elevations that alternate slower and more technical sections with other areas that are very quick. Initial information suggests that the track surface will be quite smooth.

    The opening sector of the lap is particularly demanding, with a uniquely profiled hairpin turn one and then a rapid sequence of direction changes from turns four through to six: reminiscent of Silverstone or Spa. This puts a lot of energy through the tyre structure, particularly the outside tyre that has to withstand the majority of the cornering forces. Traction is also a vital aspect of tyre performance in America in order to find optimal grip coming out of the slower corners.

    With no data from previous years to fall back on, Pirelli has used advanced simulation technology to predict how the tyres might behave on the Austin circuit. The teams will also use similar data when it comes to formulating some initial ideas about race strategy; however the information gained from free practice will be even more vital than usual. Teams will be aiming to collect as much tyre data as possible on both full and empty fuel tanks and the extra set of hard tyres should enable them to maximise their running.

    Pirelli’s motorsport director says:

    Paul Hembery: “Austin is one of just three new tracks for us in Formula One competition this year, alongside Bahrain – which we’ve tested at previously – and Hockenheim, where we previously raced in GP3. So in many ways America will be the biggest challenge for us of the year, but stepping into the unknown is a situation that we are used to: last season the majority of tracks were completely new to us. We’ve chosen the hard and the medium compounds as we think it will be quite a demanding track, based on the asphalt samples and simulation data we have gathered. Naturally we’ve leaned towards a slightly more conservative choice in order to cover every possibility at a brand new circuit, but the tyre choice in Abu Dhabi was also conservative and yet we saw one of the most exciting races of the year. We’re all absolutely delighted to be returning to America with Formula One: it’s a crucial market for us as well as being the home of many of the most enthusiastic fans out there. We’ve felt a huge buzz about this race, and with the championship so finely poised it couldn’t come at a better time.”

    The men behind the steering wheel say:

    Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing): “I was in Austin after the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2006, catching up with some friends over there and I remember it as a really cool city. I remember there were lots of great options for food, everyone was pretty laid back and didn’t take themselves too seriously: it was nice to just have that sort of relaxed atmosphere in the city. I’ve heard from my guys out there that everyone is pumped and excited about the race being on. Formula One traditionally has been very dominant in Europe so it’s good that we are going back to the States. We know there’s a huge number of motorsport fans in America, as you have big categories like NASCAR and Indycar; even some of the dirt track stuff is huge. The track looks pretty quick: it’s got some very fast changes of directions, left-rights and fifth/sixth gear stuff, which is not hanging around for us. It looks like they’ve done a really good job and there are lots of undulations, which is important. With a new track there are always things we don’t really know until we get there, such as the subtleties of the cambers of the corners, which we will find out about on Friday.”

    Pirelli’s test driver says:

    Jaime Alguersuari: “I don’t know anything at all about the Circuit of the Americas – I’ve only ever seen some photographs and videos – but it looks like a great track and a lot of fun to drive. It’s clear that all the teams have good knowledge of all the Pirelli tyres now, so I would say that understandably the hard and the medium tyres are quite a conservative choice, but of course this depends on many other factors such as the macro-abrasion of the surface in Austin. We could be looking at a one-stop race although there are other outside circumstances that can always affect this, such as safety cars and the weather. A new track often shakes things up a bit, so I’m sure it will be interesting.”

    Technical tyre notes:

    • As Austin is a brand new circuit, the surface is likely to be ‘green’ and slippery, with a high degree of track evolution over the weekend. A totally new track often has a thin film of greasy oil on the surface, which is released by the asphalt as it settles into place. The race length will be 56 laps.
    •  Turn 11 is also particularly demanding in Texas as the driver starts braking heavily with the car already turning, creating an uneven distribution of forces across the tyres. Good grip from the compound is essential for an effective turn-in.
    • The cars are likely to run with low gearing and medium downforce, with the set-up not expected to be dissimilar to that of Istanbul Park in Turkey.
    • The weather can be uncertain in Texas at this time of year, with a 31% chance of rain on any given day on average. The month of November is characterised by rapidly falling daily high temperatures, with daily highs decreasing from 25°C to 19°C over the course of the month, exceeding 29°C or dropping below 13°C only one day in 10.
    • ends

     

  • Ice man wins; Vettel stuns from pits to third

    Abu Dhabi, 4 Nov 2012: Kimi Räikkönen took his first Formula One victory of the season with a controlled drive for Lotus in a thrilling Abu Dhabi Grand Prix here on Sunday.

    Behind him Fernando Alonso pushed all the way in his Ferrari to finish second but perhaps the happier – or most relieved – driver on the podium was Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel who emerged from a torrid 24 hours with his title aspirations not seriously diminished.

    Vettel’s race had been badly compromised before it began: demoted to the rear of the grid on Saturday evening for a breach of the technical regulations during qualifying. The championship leader opted to start the race from pitlane, thus allowing Red Bull mechanics to set up his car specifically for a hard-charging attack from the rear of the field and start him on the medium compound tyre.

    He wasted no time: up to 18th by the end of lap two, and to 12th by the close of lap nine. His advancement did not come without a price: He clashed with Bruno Senna at the start, resulting in damage to his front wing. The damage would get worse when the safety car made it’s first appearance, following an incident involved Nico Rosberg and Narain Karthikeyan. Karthikeyan slowed dramatically after a mechanical failure and Rosberg ran into the back of him at high speed. Both drivers walked away unscathed from the crash.

    Following Daniel Ricciardo in the safety car train, Vettel had to swerve to the right to avoid the Toro Rosso as Ricciardo aggressively maintained the temperature in his brakes. Vettel collided with a polystyrene barrier, damaging his nose further. Red Bull opted to pit the German for a new nose and a set of soft Pirellis.

    Dropped down the field again, Vettel faced another battle through the order but by lap 38 he had risen to fourth, despite another stop for a second set of soft tyres. The gap to the top three of Jenson Button, Alonso and Räikkönen was great, however, and it looked as if Vettel would have to settle for fourth.

    Then came a second safety car period, which again closed up the field. Trying to take advantage of a tussle between Romain Grosjean and Paul Di Resta for fifth place, Sergio Pérez attempted to around both. He went off track but carried on a hyperbolic path, rejoining at racing speed, straight into the path of Grosjean. The Lotus driver had few options and strayed inadvertently into the path of Mark Webber’s Red Bull. The clash dumped out both Grosjean and Webber. Pérez received a stop-go penalty.

    When racing resumed, Vettel began to pressure Button for third. Initially, the tactic failed as Button defended stoutly, but on lap 52 Vettel shouldered his way past around the outside of Turn 11 and claimed the final podium spot.

    “Usually it’s hard enough to fight your way once through the field but we did it twice today,” said Vettel speaking later in the FIA post-race press conference. “I think it was a fantastic race. I had a great fight with Jenson at the end. It was very close with him but I enjoyed the fight a lot, tried a couple of times and finally made it. He was very fair. You can’t do that kind of move with all the drivers on the grid.

    “After that there were not enough laps left to catch up with Kimi and Fernando but it was still a great result in the end. It was a big chance to lose out a lot today, but we didn’t lose anything, so I’m very happy.”

    It was the last real action of the race. With only a few laps remaining, Vettel was unable to set about Alonso or Räikkönen who were having their own duel several seconds ahead. Alonso refused to concede defeat but the Finn had enough pace in his Lotus to maintain a gap of over a second, crucially keeping outside the DRS envelope.

    Räikkönen’s race had been made at the start, when a superb getaway saw him jump from fourth to second, passing Pastor Maldonado and Webber. He slotted in behind pole position man Lewis Hamilton, briefly challenged for the lead on lap two and then consolidated his position in second when Hamilton proved too strong.

    Hamilton was the fastest man on track throughout the first stint. He set his latest in a string of fastest laps on lap 20 – but then coasted to a halt on lap 21 as his McLaren lost all power. Räikkönen swept through to take the lead and thereafter began to forge his own gap to the chasing pack. His advantage was erased by the safety car period in the aftermath of the Pérez-Grosjean clash but Räikkönen held on for his 19th F1 victory and his first since the Belgian Grand Prix of 2009.

    “I’m very happy for the team,” said Räikkönen. “At least we’ve got one win now, so we’ll keep trying to push still and see what we can do in the next race.”

    Alonso was also a climber at the start, moving up from sixth to fifth off the line, passing Webber for fourth with straight line pace and then making a brave move on Maldonado to take third. He advanced into second following Hamilton’s retirement. “I’m very happy, I think we were not super competitive this weekend,” said the Ferrari driver. “We started seventh, sixth with Sebastian’s penalty, so we had to fight all the way through the race.

    “A very good strategy gave us the ability to fight at the end for the victory,” he added. “In the last couple of laps Kimi was a little bit slower, so we attacked. But second, I think, was the maximum today, so a perfect Sunday again for us and we kept fighting until the end.”

    The result means that Vettel keeps control in the championship battle but now with a slimmer advantage over Alonso. He leads 255-245 going to the penultimate round.

    Button finished fourth and fifth went to Maldonado. Kamui Kobayashi took sixth, ahead of Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna. The final points positions went to Paul Di Resta and Daniel Ricciardo. Massa’s six points were crucial to deny Red Bull the Constructors’ Championship: they now lead Ferrari 422-340, and need a maximum of four points in Austin to secure a third consecutive constructors’ title.

    ends

    Kimi Raikkonen on podium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday 4 Nov 2012. A Lotus F1 team photo.

  • Abu Dhabi GP: Final FIA Press Conference

    Abu Dhabi, 4 Nov 2012: The following top three drivers attended the final FIA press conference here on Sunday: 1. Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Lotus); 2. Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari) and 3. Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing).

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by David Coulthard)

    Kimi – your first victory since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. Tell us about your emotions at this time.

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Not much really.

    People want to know how amazing it is to win a grand prix. Tell us.

    KR: Last time you guys was giving me shit because I didn’t really smile enough, so maybe this time again but I mean I’m very happy for the team – and myself – but mainly for the team. It’s really a hard season for the team and not an easy time. Hopefully this gives them more belief, not just for the guys making all the work but also for the guys who run the team. I hope this can turn around the tables and give us many more good races and wins. If not this year then next year.

    Fernando, you never gave up, you were chasing Kimi down in the closing stages of the Grand Prix. You must be surprised to see your world title… well all three of you were technically in the world championship battle until this moment. Tell us about your race and how you felt it was going.

    Fernando ALONSO: I’m very happy, I think we were not super competitive this weekend. We started seventh, sixth at the end with Sebastian’s penalty so we have to fight all through the race, the first laps to do some good overtakings and then a very good strategy that gave us the ability to fight at the end for the victory. In the last couple of laps Kimi was a little bit slower, so we attack. But second, I think, was the maximum today, starting sixth, so a perfect Sunday again for us and we kept fighting until the end.

    Sebastian, did you honestly believe you could be standing here today, starting from the end of the pitlane?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Yes, I did, to be honest with you. After the first couple of laps obviously that target was drifting a little bit away. I had a messy start to the race, which is quite difficult at the back, to get through the cars as quickly as I could, damaged my front wing. And then to the safety car, yeah I had a little bit of a big mistake with Daniel [Ricciardo] I think, who was stopping his car on the straights and I was very surprised. Turned to the right and… if it would have been 50m earlier, 50m later I wouldn’t have done damage to my front wing further but after that, I said to myself ‘yeah, either we go full attack or nothing’. So that’s what we did and I had a fantastic race. I enjoyed it a lot. Obviously the safety cars here and there was helping, the second one, and after that, at the end it was a nice fight with Jenson. He was difficult to pass. I expected to have a little bit easier time because obviously I was passing the slower cars before and with him I was a bit struggling. Then I just squeezed my way past into Turn 11 which was nice, it was very fair but for sure, it was a thrilling grand prix, up and down all the time. Yeah. Obviously it’s very nice to stand here now, pick up a trophy and drink some champagne. It’s not actually champagne, I don’t know what it is but it tastes good.

    Your name is up there as a double world champion. Do you now feel that you’ve got your hands on one side of the cup for a third world title?

    SV: I think it’s still two races to go so obviously we see how quickly things can change. Yesterday was a surprise for us, I think would we have started from third it would have been a different race. But yeah, it was obviously a chance to fuck it up and we didn’t do that. So I think we can be very proud today: we got the maximum. We lost only a very little bit, I think we have the momentum still, the car is bloody quick, so looking forward to the next two races. We are definitely believing in it and that’s the target.

    Kimi, you’ve won before, you’ve won the title before and standing here you sent a message to the team about how you hope this will motivate future success, but when it is moment going to sink in? That you’ve won a grand prix in your comeback year.

    KR: I mean like I said, I’m happy, but there’s nothing to jump around about. Really we still have a few races to go, I’ll try to do the same again, and for sure we’re going to have a good party today and hopefully tomorrow, when we are feeling bad after a long night, we will remember how we feel so… I’m just happy for everybody in the team.

    PRESS CONFERENCE.

    Kimi, well done, congratulations. Fantastic win for you, you’ve really been waiting for this win, I think, all season and now it’s happened. What are your feelings?

    KR: Like I said before, I’m very happy for the team. We have had hard times lately and hopefully it gives some belief for the people, even more that… I mean they’ve been working very hard the whole year but with the hard times there’s a bit unknown in the whole situation and hopefully for the people who runs the team, who owns the team, the people who works for… for everybody, hopefully it gives a bit more support and hope that things will turn around and be even better than it’s been this year. So, great thing for the team itself, for the guys and, I mean of course I’m happy myself, but if I win it’s great, if I don’t I will try again and it’s not the end of the life. We’ve been close few times but now I said that even the last race I think we had the speed to even win the race but if you don’t start in the front we see what can happen. We knew the start would be a really big key and I got a really good start so I think with the McLaren we didn’t have the speed, at least in the beginning of the race – but then we have to finish the race to win so… I mean after that we were pretty good. Just the safety cars made us a little bit more tricky today.

    The start really was… gave you the second place straight away, it was a really excellent start.

    KR: Like I said yesterday, this going to be key, to get behind the faster car and not start behind the cars that cannot go as fast as us. And I mean we have a fast car for lap time in the race but if we stuck behind there’s no way we’re going to get past so, that’s what we could do this weekend: put yesterday in a good position and then made a good start and then just go from there.

    And how much is the development that has been taking place on the car with the exhaust etc, how much has that been bringing pace to the car?

    KR: It brings some pace, helps our straight line speed. So in average we gain some advantage but it’s exactly the same car we have in Korea. So we see how much even this year in all the races some circuits suits better for one team and the next one is not so good for you. We had good speed last race as I’ve already said. We made some mistakes in qualifying and paid the price in the race. So now we put all together like we should have done quite a few times this year but for one reason or another we haven’t. But at least we’ve got one win so we’ll keep try to push still and see what we can do in the next race.

    Fernando, tremendous pace at the end there, where did that come from and was it just a little bit too late?

    FA: Well, I think we just saw on the board eight laps to go, there was no more concerns about the tyres because obviously doing one stop you never know how the tyres will finish the race, and also after the last safety car we saw Sebastian with the soft and the first three of us, we were with the prime, so we didn’t know how much a threat was Sebastian for fight until the last lap. So after they lost a little bit of time, Jenson and Sebastian, and we didn’t care any more about the tyres, I push 150 per cent for eight laps and I tried to catch Kimi but it was never enough to be within one second for the DRS to be even closer. So at the end we didn’t have the pace to win but fantastic race anyway. We didn’t have the pace this weekend in any practice, in qualifying seventh and ninth and then today we were fighting for a victory – surprising again. This is thanks to a perfect car for the race, a perfect start, perfect strategy, perfect pitstops so everything perfect Sunday for us, maximising what we have in hands.

    Do you think the modifications brought to the Ferrari helped during the race today?

    FA: I think it helped for sure because when we tested it on Friday, they gave us some performance but we are talking very few hundredths of advantage that for sure when you have a gap to close that is a couple of tenths, when you bring hundredths and your opponents bring also some new parts, I think more or less you are in the same position. So, we need to keep working and in Maranello they work day and night very hard to bring new parts. Here in the track, mechanics work 24 hours and we are doing our maximum and we sure that hopefully it will be enough.

    Are you a bit disappointed that you didn’t have more of an advantage over Sebastian, you only pulled out three points?

    FA: To be honest we were concentrating on our race. Our simulations we had gave us the possibility to finish fifth or sixth, so we were not very optimistic with today’s race and despite what Sebastian was doing in the race we were taking eight, ten points maximum in our simulations. So we concentrated on our race. He did a very good race and he was able to use the performance in some of the parts of the race when he was in clean air plus the safety cars that I think put the group all together. So at the end I think this is nothing we can do, we just need to concentrate on our race and if we finish in front of Sebastian in the next two races then maybe we have a chance. So that’s our concentration now.

    Sebastian a pretty lively race for you one way or another. It’s quite lively back there isn’t it – there’s a lot going on?

    SV: Yeah, usually it’s hard enough to fight your way once through the field but we did it twice today so… Yeah, obviously not the first couple of laps we were hoping for. We damaged the front wing early, which didn’t seem to be a big problem but it was probably the worst possible time with the safety car. I think we were already quite high up, close to the top 10, around 13, 14, 15 or something like that. And then I had a moment with the Toro Rosso. I don’t know what he did. He was braking his car down and I was surprised, caught out. Maybe I should have paid more attention, but yeah, I went to the right and I wasn’t very lucky, there was the DRS board, which I took head on and then I thought ‘well, now the front is fucked at least, so we’ve got to change it,’… (sorry). We did it in the worst possible moment, during the safety car, when all the cars were already queued up and yeah we lost everything. We were dead last. At least we had a fresh wing and from then went through the field. It was a lot of fun. Quite difficult with some guys, a little bit easier with other guys, but the most important thing was that the pace was there and we were in a very strong position – already halfway through the race, 20 laps to the end and also on the soft tyres in the last stint. Obviously the safety car helped a little bit. Nevertheless, I think it was a fantastic race: a great fight with Jenson in the end, who was the most difficult to pass, obviously he was the quickest I passed in the whole race. We know that… I think it’s quite difficult for us to get past a Mercedes-engined car. It was very, very close with him. I enjoyed the fight a lot, tried a couple of times and finally made it. He was very, very fair. You can’t do that kind of move with all the drivers on the grid. And after that not enough laps left to catch up with Kimi and Fernando but the pace was there. Obviously we had an interesting race, up and down all the time and a great result in the end. It was a big chance to lose out a lot today, but we didn’t lose anything, so I’m very happy. The guys are pushing 100 per cent. I feel very happy they’re all behind me and I try to do my best for them. I think we have two more races ahead of us, we’re in the best possible position so I think we’re looking forward to the next race – a new grand prix, a new challenge. It’s difficult to know who is going to be quick but I think it was another race today where we see that it’s over as soon as we see the chequered flag and not before.

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, was that your best start in a Lotus and after that, which one was the hardest competitor, the second safety car or Fernando?

    KR: I think we’ve had some very good starts before, but compared to the others, today was a pretty normal start on our scale. I managed to pass Mark and Maldonado before I changed into second gear. I’d had a very good start on the warm-up lap so I knew this was going to be good. That was our aim, to try to make a good start and we managed to do it, so it was key for our win today.

    For sure, the safety car hurt us much more than the others. We had a good lead and then nothing, and then twice. The first time was when Hamilton was in front of us but it definitely didn’t help us today.

    Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Live) Kimi Raikkonen, how and with whom and how many days will you celebrate this win?

    KR: I have almost two weeks. As long as I manage to get myself to the next race I think the team is happy. I try to get home at some point.

    Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Kimi, one of the highlights of the race was your radio messages, the ones that you were giving to the team. How distracting is it when you’re fighting behind the safety car or whatever, to have them reminding you to warm-up your wheels?

    KR: It’s a normal thing. It’s the same with all the teams. For sure, they are just trying to help but if you keep saying the same things two times a minute, I’m not so stupid that I cannot remember what I’m doing. It’s a normal thing, they are just trying to help. I know what I’m doing. I will ask for help if I need it. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time. It’s been many times with other teams also but they are all there to help you and try to put you in the best position. Different people like different things.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, was it a bit of racing into the unknown at the beginning; you changed the gearbox, the ratios? Were you pretty sure you could do this kind of race or were there some obscure points that you had to sort out during the first laps, to find out what you could do?

    SV: No, I don’t think it was racing into the unknown. Obviously what we didn’t know was how quickly we would get through the field. We knew that we were quite a lot quicker than the first couple of cars that we were approaching; obviously we have a different pace to Marussia, HRT, Caterham, so it was important to get through those. We took the chance to take ratios which helped down the straights, made life a little bit easier but obviously when you’re not in the pack, you pay the price as well, so I think it did help us for overtaking but when we were in clean air, it was surely not optimum but it’s always a trade. I think from Friday to Saturday we changed the car, not necessarily made a step forwards. We were changing quite a few things and getting closer to what we had on Friday which I think was a faster car so it was as simple as that.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Fernando and Sebastian, Michael has had 56 races without a win after his comeback; are you surprised that Kimi won his 18th after his comeback?

    SV: No, I think it doesn’t matter how many races it takes you. The most important thing is that you get the results you can achieve. I think Kimi drove a fantastic race today. For the first time the car was probably able to win and he did it. I don’t know how their race was at the front, I was busy myself but I think we’ve seen this year that generally if you compare this year, the Mercedes was not as competitive as the Lotus, so it’s as simple as that, not in every race but in the majority of races. I think Michael showed his talent more than once in the last three years, even though he probably wasn’t as successful as he was before, I don’t think it makes him any worse.

    FA: I agree.

    Q: (Khodr Rawi – F1 Arab) Kimi, how special is it to be the first driver to win for Lotus since Ayrton Senna in 1987

    KR: It’s a long time for them, I guess. I don’t think there are any (of the same) people in the team any more. It’s a name. It’s the same team and it has been since Fernando was there, just a different name. It’s a great name for us, good past but you know I race for the team whatever the name is, I don’t really care so it’s just for the guys who do all the work. Maybe it looks good in somebody’s eyes but for me it really makes no difference.

    Q: (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) To each of you: who is going to win the World Championship?

    KR: I wouldn’t put money on me! They are quite close; I don’t know what the points difference is. Ten? One bad race could decide the championship if they keep doing what they’ve been doing. It’s hard for Fernando but we saw yesterday and in races before that anything can happen. If it’s a normal situation I don’t think much can happen but one small mistake can decide everything.

    FA: Yes, I’m confident. We will fight until the end. We are not fast enough, this is true and we are honest with ourselves, we know this. We need to accept this. It’s a weak point, the performance that we have at the moment in our package, and we have some strong points which we will try to use.

    SV: I think we were not always fast enough this year but for the last couple of races we were, so looking forward to the next two races.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, this has been a pretty troubled weekend for the team. On Friday Mark had the issue with the KERS, you yesterday in the morning, then the problem with the fuel. How much of a relief is it for you to come out of such a weekend and be on the podium losing only three points to Fernando?

    SV: Honestly, I would have loved to have got past Jenson quicker and past Fernando as well. I think the speed was there but it turned out to be quite tricky to pass Jenson, and took a lot of time. But yeah, I think we can be very happy with today. I think it’s one of those races where it’s difficult to predict the outcome. We have simulation tools etc telling you one thing but I was convinced that you have plenty of chances and I said yesterday, obviously it was a big hit for us because if you can chose between starting third and last you don’t need to be a genius to make that one out. It was a big hit but I said yesterday that every chance is an opportunity and there were lots of chances today for us. I think we had a very good race, I enjoyed it a lot and I’m very happy with today’s result.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, you said before that yesterday was a mistake. How angry are you that this mistake happened? You don’t have to be Einstein to calculate how much fuel has to go in for three laps, especially after it had already happened to Hamilton in Barcelona. Do you think the team should have been more careful?

    SV: There are so many things that could have worked differently. I made a mistake on the last run, I aborted the lap, nobody ever finds out, nobody realises there was a problem. As I said earlier, it was a mistake, there was no intention to go stupidly close to the limit for a gain of nearly nothing. I think it’s different to what happened to Lewis in Barcelona at the beginning of the season, obviously they deliberately put less fuel in the car and stopped on the in lap, but for us, we had enough fuel but somehow we had enough fuel on paper but not in the car. Obviously we stopped the car for emergency reasons, not to damage anything and then obviously it was quite a long procedure yesterday and unfortunately we couldn’t drain the fuel that we wanted and it was not enough to provide the sample so it was as simple as that. Rules are clear. I think the penalty was very harsh but we had to take it. Rules are clear. If it happens to you in race three and you are in a similar position at the end of the year, nobody is asking and it’s not a big fuss but if it happens to you three races from the end, obviously there’s more attention etc. We had to live with that.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, your last win was at Hockenheim in July, more than three months ago. Do you think you absolutely need to win one or both of the last two races to gain the title and do you think it’s possible to do it?

    FA: That will help, for sure, but I don’t think so.

    Q: (Vanessa Ruiz – ESPN Radio) Sebastian, so in the end, after all the difficulties, do you guys consider your result a surprise or not?

    SV: I don’t think you can talk of a surprise. I think we knew we were quick. I think if you look at the race, there were a lot of things that happened that you couldn’t foresee. I don’t know what happened to the HRT which caused the first safety car and I don’t know what happened to Romain who caused the second safety car, but obviously these things are difficult to predict. I think we knew that we had a chance to get into the top five, even with a normal race. Given the pace was there, as I said earlier, what we did from Friday to Saturday, obviously we tried to improve the car, not necessarily achieved that but we are hungry, we want to try things to make the car faster. I don’t blame anyone for that. I was one of the biggest drivers to make the changes, behind that on Friday, and they didn’t work, but yeah, obviously we’re not talking seconds per lap but small things and today we lost a position on the grid but we got the chance to change the car which we did and we knew that it will be a very competitive car. The speed was there, as I said, and obviously here and there we were a little bit lucky, but I think we created our own luck in that regard.

    Q: (Shubha Chandran – Chequered Flag, India) Sebastian, what kind of focus, commitment and mental strength does it really take to start from where you did, and eventually end up where you have, from a purely individual perspective?

    SV: The race is long. I said to the guys before the race that I trust them 100 percent and they can trust me. I will try everything. There’s no reason to give up. Of course, if you look where we started, it was the worst possible spot but we gave everything we had and I think when you do that, you cannot fail so it was a perfect example of that today. Everyone was focused on the moment and enjoying it as well. Don’t forget that, I think we are here, obviously, to fight for wins and stuff like that but we are also here to have a good time, enjoy and have fun and I think all the guys in the team at the moment, they don’t want to be anywhere else. Obviously it’s tough on Sundays. The tension is there, obviously you’re nervous, excited, any race such as this one, especially with the difficulty of starting last but it’s also the challenge that you like, to race every single lap. Obviously it’s nice to sit here and look back. Some days it will be difficult again, when we sit – not here – and look back and look at the mistakes that we’ve made, but hopefully we will learn from those as we did in the past to maximise the times that we sit here.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta -Turun Sanomat) Kimi, does it take anything from your joy that when you win you kill your last hope of the championship?

    KR: No, I think we knew already, a few races ago, that we didn’t have the speed to challenge at the front. We always said that we would keep fighting and trying to do the best that we can. We got the win, we might have lost the championship on the same day but I don’t really care. We didn’t really expect to be fighting with them anyhow. We’ve always been a bit behind and not really had the speed to challenge them in normal races and now in the last few races we’ve had very good speed and finally we put all the things together and won. We will try again next year.

    Q: (Anne Giuntini – L’Equipe) Sebastian, sorry to come back to yesterday’s incident but we didn’t really understand why you stopped the car, because a loss of fuel doesn’t really damage the engine, normally?

    SV: Obviously it was a precaution. We saw some numbers going down and in order to save the engine at last, save the pumps in between etc, we decided to stop the car, convinced that we had enough fuel in the car to provide a sample but, as I said, for some reason we didn’t have enough fuel so I don’t know what happened. There must have been a mistake somewhere which was a big hit, like I said, but I’m sure we will learn from that and it won’t happen again. I think we have done the exercise a lot of times, we know the rules. As I said, we are talking two hundred millilitres that were missing. If you go to the loo before qualifying or something like that it can make the same kind of difference. I think it’s very difficult to measure. It was a mistake for which we had to pay a very hard price but c’est la vie.

    Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, in two weeks we’re going to Austin, you have the first chance to win the third title and it’s going to be your 100th Grand Prix.

    SV: Yeah, it sounds a lot. Obviously time goes by quickly. I’m sure when you ask Fernando and Kimi they remember their first couple of races and probably don’t feel that it’s so long ago. I think that more than anything, if you do something that you love, that you enjoy the time goes by quickly. Now, when I’m talking about 2006, 2007, when I started to drive a Formula One car for the first time, I still know most of the guys and can recall the places I’ve been. If you then tell me it’s six years ago, it sounds like a big number. I’m sure, when someone tells you the first time that you came into a Formula One paddock, it’s however many years ago, it might be shocking as well. Time goes by and obviously with age, you get a little bit smarter – hopefully. You learn certain things and you get a little more relaxed probably but also it’s important to stay childish, stay hungry and do mistakes, otherwise how can you go forward. All in all, looking forward to going home, get some rest, charge some energy to be full charged in America to attack and obviously try to win.

    Abu Dhabi podium on Sunday 4 Nov 2012. Lotus F1 team Photo

    Ends

  • Stewards force Vettel to start at the back of the grid

    Abu Dhabi, 3 Nov 2012: Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing who is cruising towards his probable third World title with four straight wins till India, suffered a severe blow here after qualifying in P2 as he was sent back to the grid with a Stewards’ penalty.

    Sebastian Vettel has been sent to the back of the grid after stewards excluded him from the results of qualifying. Vettel had stopped on track at the end of the session, having qualified in a provisional third place. However, the Red Bull team has confirmed that Vettel would start from the pit lane which gives the team a chance to work on the car set-up.

    The stewards agreed that his actions were acceptable under the rules of force majeure, however the post-session scrutineering report stated that an insufficient amount of fuel remained in the car for sampling.

    After an afternoon practice session disrupted by brake problems, Vettel had rallied strongly during qualifying and was consistently near the top of the order during the session. However, as the chequered flag came out, under instruction from his team the World Champion pulled over to the side of the track and got out of his Red Bull RB8.

    After several hours of deliberation during which telemetry was studied and Red Bull Racing stated their case, the official decision was handed down. Vettel was deemed to have infringed article 6.6.2 of the 2012 technical regulations which states: Competitors must ensure that a one litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the event. Except in cases of force majeure (accepted as such by the stewards of the meeting), if a sample of fuel is required after a practice session the car concerned must have first been driven back to the pits under its own power.

    Vettel will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from 24th and last on the grid.

    The decision echoes the punishment handed to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona. Hamilton had taken provisional pole, though a fuelling mistake saw the Briton not complete his in-lap, instead pulling to the side of the Circuit de Catalunya. Starting last, Hamilton battled back to finish the race in eighth position.

    ends

    Vettel at Abu Dhabi on Saturday. A Red Bull Racing photo

  • 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