Monthly Archives: November 2010

Nico Hulkenberg says he has no idea what the future holds for him at Williams after his impressive qualifying performance in Brazil.

Pastor Maldonado is waiting in the wings, although it remains to be seen whether the Venezuelan jumps straight into a Williams race seat or is loaned out to Hispania as part of the gearbox deal. Maldonado is due to test for the Spanish-owned team in Abu Dhabi.

“I don’t know yet,” said Hulkenberg when asked about his 2011 plans. “Ask Patrick or Frank. I can’t tell you what they think right now. I think I’ve done everything right this weekend, made the most out of my chances.

“Talent should come first [rather] than money in F1. But obviously with the economy having some trouble, it’s become a valid point. It may change things that I still hope that things go the way, how they should go. Rubens and I are the perfect driver combination, and I really hope we can drive together again.”

Hulkenberg said he was happy with his weekend, even if pole only resulted in eighth place.

“A positive weekend. Obviously yesterday was a big highlight for us and myself. We made the most of our opportunities. The race pace looked very poor, especially in the first stint we were struggling a lot on the option tyre. So we made the most of it. I’ll take the eighth, four points, which puts us one point ahead of the Force India guys. So that’s the positive news.

“Obviously I was a bit more nervous than usually, but if you’re nervous it’s also good, it keeps you awake and sharp. I’m used to starting from the front in GP2 and F3, but obviously this one was a bit special and different. My start was OK. I lost one position to Sebastian, who had a very good start. And then you know trying to keep in front of the big guns, the big boys, as much as I could. I defended hard but fair. I drove the race without a mistake, kept Kubica behind me all the time.

“It was very difficult. I knew where to brake and what to do, but my car was sliding a bit more than theirs, so I was sort of an easy target for Mark. Alonso was also quite quick to pass. But then Lewis struggled a bit more. In fact he didn’t even get past, just because I pitted.

“If we had a better car pace we could easily have finished fifth or sixth, we got only overtaken at the pit stops. Both Mercedes, Jenson, people who came from P14 are now well ahead of us, which is quite unfortunate. With half a second better pace per lap, we can achieve a lot more.”

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali was pretty relaxed about the outcome of the Brazilian GP on Sunday afternoon, even though Fernando Alonso missed the chance to put the World Championship beyond doubt.

Nevertheless he still has a useful lead, one that means finishing first or second means it doesn’t matter what anyone else does.

“I have to be very honest with you, I was totally focussed on the fact that the championship would have been finished in Abu Dhabi, speaking for the drivers’ [version] of course,” said Domenicali.

“I was not convinced that the championship would be finished here, unless there was a problem of reliability. But we know Red Bull is very, very strong, and I take the opportunity to congratulate them, because they deserved this title on the constructors’. They did the best job of everyone, and they deserved this title.

“On the other hand it’s great that we are going to Abu Dhabi to fight with them for the other title. This is for me great news for the team. It’s very important.

“We don’t have to make a very difficult calculation. We know that if we are in the middle of the two Red Bulls, it’s fine. But apart from that we need to make sure that we are fast. We need to do a perfect qualifying, as you know that it’s very important, fundamental. And we need to do the best that we can.

“We need to wait up to the last metre, because reliability is a big point. Everyone will be worried about not only engines, but everything. So that will be a very long race in Abu Dhabi.”

He admitted that the situation was complicated by having two main rivals, in that if one Red Bull retires, the other could still be there.

“It’s a problem, because there are two instead of one. For sure they’re in a better position, but we know that we need to look inside, we don’t need to look at what the others will do. We need to do the best race, the fastest race, the fastest qualifying. Who will win will deserve the title, for sure.”

Domenicali says that the easiest thing is just to win the final race: “We’ll try. It’s something that we need to do, because if you win it’s easy. No calculation! But we know the Red Bull is very strong, it was strong last year. But last year on our side we were in a very different scenario, we stopped development. I think it will be a very challenging race.”

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner says that the team will not impose any orders in Abu Dhabi next week.

In essence that means that it’s up to Sebastian Vettel to decide whether he will move over and help Mark Webber’s championship challenge, should his own chances be finished.

“It’s not down to us to put team orders,” said Horner. “The drivers know that they need each other. It would have been wrong for us this weekend to remove one of the drivers from the World Championship effectively. If they’re in that situation I’ve every confidence that they will do the best thing for the company, which is to ensure that we achieve the best result. Still a few racing laps before we get there.

“Both drivers can win this World Championship. We’ve backed them all year, and we’ll do it again next weekend. They’ve both got a chance. Some of it will depend on what Fernando does, but we’re going there with an objective to try and win the championship, and I’m sure that they’ll do the best they can to ensure that we lift the trophy.”

Meanwhile Horner paid tribute to his RBR crew for winning the constructors’ title. “Red Bull Racing as constructors’ champions is an unbelievable feeling, and it’s testimony to the team, the effort, the commitment that’s gone in. It’s just mind boggling. Together with all the backing we’ve had from Red Bull, particularly Mr Mateschitz, who had the vision, had the dream, and gave us the opportunity to fulfil it.

“It’s about what you do on the track, not what you do in the pit lane. We’ve done a great job this year. We’ve won eight Grands Prix, this was our fourth one-two finish. “This season we’ve won Monaco, we’ve won Silverstone, we’ve won Brazil. We should have won more, but we’ve still won more than anybody else, so an unbelievable year. And still both drivers are very much in contention for the drivers’ World Championship.”

Jenson Button has just recounted the story of his unfortunate encounter with armed robbers in Sao Paulo last night.

Button and his entourage had a lucky escape, because a group of Sauber engineers were later attacked, losing their rucksacks, among other items. Their attackers comprised a group of five men, one of whom had a machine gun, which matches the description of the Button attackers.

Button explained the events as follows: “I was with our driver, we were driving in a B-Class Merc, heading down just outside the circuit, about a kilometre away, if that. We pulled up at some traffic lights about three rows back. It’s a three lane road, about six or seven cars in front of us.

“Our driver as always stops early, doesn’t pull up right behind the car in front. and we looked to the right and then we saw a few guys gathering just at the side of the road, just at the entrance to a building. They were just stood there, they looked a bit suspect, but we didn’t think anything of it. Then Richard saw that one had a baton hanging down from his arm. One guy was playing around with something in his trousers, and it was a gun.

“As soon as I said that the driver looked across, and they saw him look and started running towards the car. So we angled the car and floored it – it didn’t look like there was a big enough space there, and we got between six cars, just rammed every single car to get past, got through in the end and got away. Looking behind there were two guys with hand guns, quite simple looking hand guns, and one guy with what looked like a machine gun.

“We were in a B-Class Merc, which is not the biggest of cars, but it was bulletproof, so it’s pretty heavy, and it’s good at going through traffic like that. It stood up, which is good.

“It was blacked out, so you can’t see anything. We stopped right outside the entrance, so I think we were probably unlucky more than anything else. A B-Class Merc is a smaller car, one of the cheapest cars they have, so it’s not a big flash car. You see a lot more flashy cars on the road that drive around this streets.

“It’s a horrible thing to happen. I feel fine now. There’s obviously a lot of attention because it’s the first time it’s been a driver that’s been held up, but hopefully it will show the dangers down there and we’ll take more care. I think from what I hear most of the drivers have got police escorts into the circuit as well as a bulletproof car and as well as a policeman as a driver. It’s not a comfortable feeling, but we’re here now and we’re here to have a good race. That’s the most important thing.”

McLaren has revealed that Jenson Button has escaped unscathed from an apparent armed robbery or car jacking attempt in Sao Paulo this evening.

Apparently six men with machine guns were involved in the attack which happened as Jenson was being driven to his hotel. Jenson and his entourage emerged unscathed, because their police driver was able to get away by bouncing off other cars.

The Daily Mail tonight reports Jenson as saying: “We were going back from the track and were outside a shanty town and moving slowly on a busy road. I saw a dog come out. It was very cute. The next thing I saw was a man with a gun. Our guy angled the car and floored it.

‘That’s when we saw six men, all of them brandishing machine-guns. My driver was a legend. It was very scary. I don’t know whether they knew who it was they were ambushing. I said, “Isn’t that a gun?” and as soon as I said that, the driver angled the car. I am glad I didn’t have my girlfriend Jessica with me – she would have been terrified.’

The incident is extremely worrying for all F1 personnel.

A McLaren statement said: “On Saturday evening (November 6) on the way back from the Interlagos circuit to Morumbi (Sao Paulo), armed would-be assailants made an attempt to approach the car that was carrying Jenson Button.

“Neither Jenson nor the other occupants of the car were hurt. (The other occupants were John Button [Jenson’s father], Mike Collier [Jenson’s physio] and Richard Goddard [Jenson’s manager].)

“Vodafone McLaren Mercedes had provided both Jenson and team-mate Lewis Hamilton with reinforced armoured vehicles driven by police drivers, who had been trained in avoidance techniques and were armed.

“The police driver of Jenson’s vehicle reacted swiftly and, using avoidance techniques, rapidly forced his way through the traffic, taking Jenson and the other occupants of the car immediately away from any danger and back to their hotel.

“The Sao Paulo authorities have also acted efficiently and will be providing additional security to transfer Jenson and other senior Vodafone McLaren Mercedes personnel to the Interlagos circuit for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.”

Patrick Head says he’s delighted with Nico Hulkenberg’s pole in Brazil, and believes that the German can have a strong race, despite having the ‘big guns’ ranged up behind him.

Hulkenberg was backed up today by Rubens Barrichello, who took sixth place in the other car.

“I think we were reasonably confident about getting two in the top 10 if it was going to be wet,” Head told this blog. “But it was a very special run from Nico. He did three timed laps on the dries, and my impression was that every sector was a ‘purple.’ I think there were nine purples. So, very impressive. The boy’s obviously got a future! He’s very good in tricky conditions.

“I think he can get away well. I don’t think we’re kidding ourselves that we’re fully competitive in the dry with Red Bulls or Ferraris. Inevitably it will be difficult for him. But then nobody’s going to complain about starting on pole. It’s a question of trying to run a sensible race without being improperly defensive, which I don’t think he will be.”

Frank Williams is not in Brazil, but he has spoken to Patrick by phone: “He said ‘not bad chap, we’ll see how you get on tomorrow!’”

The big question now is what happens next year, with the team seemingly facing an awkward ‘three-into-two’ scenario when Pastor Maldonado comes on the scene, and neither Hulkenberg nor Rubens seemingly guaranteed a seat.

“At the moment we’re just totally focussed on trying to get a good result here, so we’re not thinking about that…”

Fernando Alonso insists that he’s not disappointed to be only fifth on the grid in Brazil, and says that other than the intervention of Nico Hulkenberg, it’s pretty much business as usual at the front.

And while downplaying his title aspirations he admits that he will be careful on the first lap, given that there could be some action in front of him.

“In a qualifying like this with wet/dry etc you don’t make any expectations or any predictions,” said the Spaniard. “I think you do your best. Obviously it was a difficult time for us in Q2. I think I was eighth, Felipe was 10^th, so we were struggling a bit with the intermediate tyres. Then with the dry tyres obviously it was a tricky circuit to play. At the end fifth obviously is not pole position, but we saved one tricky qualifying.

“Obviously if you take Williams out of the picture, the result is the normal qualifying position in a way. The two Red Bulls, Hamilton, and me. It was like this 50% of the year. Fifth sounds strange because there is Hulkenberg in front of everybody, but in a way, it’s more or less as expected.

“Obviously it will be an interesting start. There are two Red Bulls, Hamilton, and me in the four positions. All of us have to finish in front of the other three guys, so it will be interesting to see how they are fighting. I will probably take it a little bit easy. Then the race is long.”

Despite his caution Alonso says he’s not thinking about the World Championship at this stage: “Not much, I think. I know that there are some strange results that can give you the championship, but for us the main priority is to increase the gap with the second guy. Now it’s 11 points to Mark. If we can finish tomorrow afternoon with more than those 11 points, it will be great. If we have to give some points, hopefully not too many.”

Lewis Hamilton says he’s confident of a good race in Brazil after qualifying fourth.

The McLaren man is behind his Red Bull title rivals, but crucially he is ahead of leader Fernando Alonso. However he will start on the less favourable dirty side of the track.

“It was tricky, but the track was improving,” said Hamilton. “Undoubtedly the last guy across the line probably was going to get pole position. He was the last one to go through the best patches on the track. I lost a bit of time on my last lap, as always! That’s the way it goes.

“The car was not too bad. It wasn’t spectacular in the wet. In the dry it definitely was feeling a lot better. At the end of the day they [Red Bull] are quicker in the dry that’s for sure, but it’s a surprise that they’re not first and second. We’re close, we can still fight.

“I think we’ve got a good race pace, a good end of straight speed, I think we’re in a good position for tomorrow.

Lewis said his target for Sunday was to “get ahead of everyone in front…”

The FIA General Assembly has approved a major change to the disciplinary process that will take F1 controversies out of the hands of the World Motor Sport Council.

Cases will now be heard by a newly created International Tribunal, which will feature judges chosen by another new body called the Judicial Appointment Committee.

The change was one of the major planks of Jean Todt’s campaign for the presidency. In the recent past major legal cases – such as the McLaren Spygate affair – were notable for the close personal involvement of Max Mosley. Anyone reading transcripts or listening to recordings of such proceedings was left in no doubt as to who was in charge and seemingly combining the roles of judge, jury and executioner…

The new system is intended to create transparency and give competitors more confidence that they will get a fair hearing.

An FIA statement explained the new process as follows: “The International Tribunal (IT) will exercise disciplinary authority in the first instance for example in the FIA Formula One World Championship and will judge all infringements of the Statutes, the International Sporting Code and the regulations of the FIA, without prejudice to the powers of the stewards of the meeting at the events.  It will comprise 12 judges who will act totally independent of the World Councils and of other FIA bodies.  The decisions of the IT can be appealed before the ICA.

The International Court of Appeal (ICA) will keep its present powers and will essentially continue to operate in the same manner.  It will comprise 24 judges who will act totally independent of the World Councils and of other FIA bodies.

The IT and the ICA will be comprised of judges nominated by competitors of the five FIA World Championships”

In addition the FIA has ratified two major changes that were announced some months ago. Holders of Superlicences can now be disciplined for road traffic offences, while senior team members will be licensed and thus subject to bans.

Confirming the latter, the FIA said: “All those involved in the FIA World Championships are directly subject to the FIA’s jurisdiction.  Those who are guilty of conduct contrary to the FIA regulations will be denied access to the areas under the control of the FIA in the events counting towards these championships.  The procedure for implementing this system will be examined within the framework of working groups specific to each of the FIA World Championships.”

In addition the maximum fine that can be levied by stewards has risen from $100,000 to €250,000.

HRT has confirmed that it has a new investor in the form of businessman Juan Villalonga, the former Telefonica boss who was behind that company’s move into F1 in the late nineties. There is now a clear push to emphasise the Spanish roots of the team.

Villalonga was named one of the world’s top 100 CEOs by the Harvard Business Review this year, and clearly his contacts book is of great value to the team, which has been given a hard time by Bernie Ecclestone in the media. However Villalonga has already met with Ecclestone to discuss his plans.

The team says that “as soon as the agreement was made, both parts said that their partnership has been established to reinforce the team, create and strengthen the project of the first ever Spanish Formula 1 team. The immediate aim, following the recently announced agreement with Williams F1, is to be able to have a much more competitive team.”

Team owner Jose Ramon Carabante said: “He has always felt, as I do, a clear passion for motorsport. We will substantially strengthen our ability to generate innovative activities in marketing and sponsorship with his incorporation. We will also be able to make the best of his leadership, knowledge and relationships in the fields of technology and communications, and therefore be able to fully exploit the opportunities we are given after this tough first year. This is a sum that multiplies and enhances our ability to grow as a team”.

Villalonga added: “Formula One is always associated with innovation, research and technology, and Hispania Racing must be represented on that level, with a stable leadership. The key is the quality and not the quantity of sponsors.”

 The team also issued a CV which gives some indication as to Villalonga’s profile in Spain: “Juan Villalonga Navarro (born April 8, 1953) is one of the most influential Spanish businessmen of the 21st century.  His high-profile career includes such prominent positions as chief executive officer (CEO) of Telefonica (1996-2000), partner at McKinsey & Company (1980-1989), CEO for Credit Suisse First Boston (1993-1994), and CEO of Bankers’ Trust in Spain (1995-1996). Today, he is a business advisor and accelerator for companies and management teams worldwide, using instinct, market vision and sharp analytical skills to help these companies identify new growth opportunities, increase revenues, and create cultures that encourage risk taking and develop value for the clients.  In 2010, Harvard Business Review named Villalonga one of the world’s top 100 CEOs. Villalonga grow Telefonica from a state-owned monopoly to one of the top three telecommunication companies in the world.  In just four years at the helm, he  increased Telefónica’s market cap by $127 billion, securing the company’s leadership position in Spain and transforming Telefonica into an international telecommunications force. His vision to enter in Brazil in 1998 was key to become one of the leading operators in the world.”