Monthly Archives: April 2011

Fernando Alonso was frustrated to find himself only seventh at the end of the Chinese GP as the Ferrari showed an overall lack of performance – and he made it clear that he’s not enjoying the 2011 rules.

Alonso made a bad start and lost out to Felipe Massa for the third time in three races this year. Later he lost a lot of time when stuck behind Michael Schumacher, and while he briefly ran third, he was always destined to tumble down the order again.

“It was very bad the start, a lot of wheelspin, and I lost one position,” he said. “I had to close the door for the Force India [Di Resta] that arrived very quick as well. So we lost a position there. It was not a big problem, because we know this year’s races anything can happen with tyre degradation and pit stops etc. But it was not only the start, the race pace was too slow, so unfortunately we lost our opportunity.”

Alonso admits that he finds this year’s race format frustrating: “With this year’s tyres, some parts of the race you feel competitive, you feel you are doing a good race, and some parts of the race you feel very slow, because there are people who catch you and overtake you without any problems.

“So you need to keep concentration, you need to keep focussed on your own strategy. And in the end when you have a quick car, any strategy is good, as Webber showed today. When you have a slow car, everything is more difficult.”

Rear tyre wear left Jenson Button struggling to keep up the pace after he led the opening stint in China.

Having jumped Sebastian Vettel at the start Button lost the lead at the first stops after he wasted a couple of seconds driving into the Red Bull pit box.

Later he was overtaken on the road by Lewis Hamilton, and then was passed by the flying Mark Webber on the penultimate lap.

“First of all, massive congrats to Lewis, he drove a great race,” said Jenson. “It was one of those races where there was a lot of overtaking, a lot of action involved. It was good fun to be a part of. But I wasn’t quick enough. I really struggled to look after the rear tyres, for some reason. So fourth place was as good as I could get out of the car.”

Button said that while racing 2011-style is fun, it’s frustrating to be caught by cars on newer tyres.

“It’s enjoyable, but you’re also a sitting duck when people have got new tyres. You cant do anything . For example when Webber past me, he was going so much faster. You really can’t do anything, you try and fight back, you don’t have the grip, you don’t have the braking power, you don’t have the traction, so it’s very tricky.

“So a tough afternoon for me for some reason, I didn’t have the pace. It could have been a better, could have been a lot worse. Fourth is OK.

“Getting strategy right is obviously very important. Webber finishing behind his team mate – Sebastian started on pole, Webber was 18^th – it really is amazing. But basically I wasn’t quick enough today, and that’s it. But a fantastic job by Lewis and the whole team.”

Button said he was distracted when he made his pit mistake: “I made it difficult for them at the first stop as well, I was actually looking down when I came into the pits, and went into the wrong pit spot. It wouldn’t have actually changed my race at all, but it just made it a bit tougher for the guys.”

Lewis Hamilton put in one of the drives of his career in China, charging onto the tail of leader Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps, and getting by with five laps to go.

The McLaren driver made one more stop than the German, which left him on fresher tyres for the crucial final stint.

The win was all the more dramatic thanks to an engine problem prior to the grid, which was only just resolved in time to get him out before the pitlane closed.

“I was in the car nice and early to go out and then we had a problem as the car just would not start,” said Hamilton. “I am still not sure exactly what went on but they had to take a lot of the bodywork off and I knew there was six minutes to go.

“Then there was two minutes to go but fortunately everything just came together very quickly. The guys did a great job but, of course, for me it is very important to stay as clam as possible as that reflects on all the guys in the garage. I tried to stay positive and they got the car out which was the most important.”

He charged past Vettel into second place at the start, and later in the race passed team mate Jenson Button in a brilliant move at Turn One.

“Every inch of the race, every second, was incredibly enjoyable. I love being able to fight with different drivers and have the battles and have them at their best. I really felt that today. Whilst the tyres were going off on some of the cars, I felt they were really performing and driving very well to defend their position, so it made that even more exciting.

“I think with the whole thing that happened in the pitlane, I was confident going into the race but perhaps I wasn’t even going to be in the race. I thought I was going to be back with Mark, and obviously just the way the race turned out. I came out behind someone and I think Sebastian came past me at one stage.

“I wanted to pit at one stage and Jenson was pitting, so I couldn’t pit as he was pitting. I had to try and keep things up and I was just able to pull through several cars. I couldn’t believe I was catching Sebastian. He was doing a great job to stay ahead. He put up a very, very fair and strong fight and I am very happy I was able to get by.”

Hamilton was full of praise for McLaren: “We came out to Barcelona with the upgrade package we had there and it really wasn’t working and the reliability was a disaster. We couldn’t even get past 20 laps. Then they pushed very hard in the space of a week-and-a-half, two weeks, and it was just incredible what they were able to bring to Australia.

“Australia was our first race distance and the car has been great. It really has been great.  Red Bull are doing a fantastic job. They are very, very fast. They have got a wonderful car and they are doing the job and we are having to push with absolutely everything we have to try and close the gap.

“I think today we were similar pace perhaps in the race, I think they were generally a little bit quicker, but I think it was just due to us just trying to be a little bit smarter on the strategy and making it work and fortunately it did today. Other times perhaps it won’t work out but today it did so we are very happy.”

Webber's crew worked through the lunch break after P3 dramas

Mark Webber insists that he could have got through to Q2 on the hard tyres, had he been able to get in two timed laps at the end of the session, as the team had planned.

In the end he only got one lap because the car didn’t quite make it out of the garage in time.

Webber’s day was already compromised by an electronic problem that cost him most of P3 and the fact that he had no KERS, which is worth around 0.5s a lap.

“One lap in P3, that doesn’t help,” said Webber. “We were a little bit on the back foot. Obviously the guys did a phenomenal job, we just got the car together minuts before qualifying. We went out and my first run was probably half a second shy of where we needed to be, with obviously KERS as well added on top of that.

“We were on the bubble and decided to go for another run on the prime to have a few laps on it, but we never got out quick enough, so we only had one timed lap, and added to that the tyres weren’t up to temp. So that second set was a bit more difficult to get the job done.

“I was pretty cool with it, but obviously we all started to panic a bit at the end when we knew we weren’t going to get in two laps. The tyre should have been enough, but on one lap it wasn’t enough. That’s where we got squeezed. We snookered ourselves really.

“We had electrical problems in P3, and always we had some upshift problems in P3, so we’ve had a pretty solid day in terms of the car putting up a bit of a fight. But the guys have worked like hell, they’ve done what they can, and that’s the way it goes sometimes.

“At this level you need everything perfect, we know, to be successful. We’ve had it in the past, and we’ll work hard again to get it in the future. We had a tough GP in Malaysia, and we had a tough Saturday here. We just need to try and put some Saturdays and Sundays together. There’s flashes there for sure, that we can do it, put it’s just pulling it all together at the right time.”

Although Webber said it was a team decision, clearly sitting in the car a driver has less idea than the team about the potential cut-off point. Asked by this blog whether he agreed, he said: “When any top team goes out in Q1 we can all put the hindsight goggles on go yeah, we should have done this. In the end for sure options would have made life easier, that’s completely obvious. We could have made that decision, but we didn’t, as a team.

“We all thought we were going to get enough laps in on the prime to get the two timed in, but we were a bit late going out, and they were the wrong tyre as well. The timing was the problem, not the tyre.”

Nico Rosberg showed that Mercedes may have turned the corner in terms of developing the W02 by outpacing the Ferraris to qualify fourth in Shanghai.

The Mercs both looked on Friday, although Michael Schumacher was out of luck today and didn’t make it out of Q2.

“It’s a positive day for us,” said Rosberg. “It’s been very difficult the last few weeks, and today we’ve improved the car, that’s clear, just with very simple, basic things – and obviously a lot of hard work too. It’s nice to see.

“So we’re not there where we want to be yet, but now we’re very close to McLaren, and way ahead of Ferrari, today at least. So that’s a good thing, and even for race pace for tomorrow there’s a good chance I can do a good race, because we’ve improved our race pace too.”

Asked if he could do anything about the three cars ahead, Nico said: “I think I can put some pressure on them. Why not? We’ll see.”

Nico Rosberg showed that Mercedes may have turned the corner in terms of developing the W02 by outpacing the Ferraris to qualify fourth in Shanghai.

The Mercs both looked on Friday, although Michael Schumacher was out of luck today and didn’t make it out of Q2.

“It’s a positive day for us,” said Rosberg. “It’s been very difficult the last few weeks, and today we’ve improved the car, that’s clear, just with very simple, basic things – and obviously a lot of hard work too. It’s nice to see.

“So we’re not there where we want to be yet, but now we’re very close to McLaren, and way ahead of Ferrari, today at least. So that’s a good thing, and even for race pace for tomorrow there’s a good chance I can do a good race, because we’ve improved our race pace too.”

Asked if he could do anything about the three cars ahead, Nico said: “I think I can put some pressure on them. Why not? We’ll see.”

Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed that he has been in contact with State Prosecutors in Munich in relation to the Gerhard Gribkowsky affair.

The former banker is being investigated over an alleged bribe related to the sale of the F1 Group to CVC in 2006.

In a statement sent to the media, Ecclestone said: “I have been cooperating with the State Prosecution Office’s investigation of the affairs of Dr Gribkowsky since the outset. When I was informed that there was a first suspicion in relation to my perceived involvement in the matter, I went to see the Senior State Prosecutor and her team in Munich earlier this month to clear up any allegations against me.

“I am confident that when the full facts have been established, I will be exonerated of blame for any wrongdoing.”

Lewis Hamilton was third and second fastest in the two session at Shanghai today, but he made it clear afterwards that he’s not happy with the McLaren MP4-26.

Hamilton tried the latest floor upgrades today, but struggled to find a balance.

“It’s not been the best of days,” he said. “It wasn’t too bad at the end, but I had a lock-up on my option run, which meant I couldn’t do a long run on it. But set-up wise we’re struggling a little bit with the set-up today, which is the first time since we had the new upgrade on the rear of the car.

“We just need to analyse a little bit and analyse whether the car is actually performing in certain areas of downforce as we expect – I don’t think it is – so that’s really the question for the analysts to understand.

“This morning’s session was difficult. They were changing little bits on the rear floor, and I had a big off moment. That was I think partly to do with one of those things not working. I think there were some positives, and some negatives. The guys are just trying to analyse and understand which way we’re going to go.

“In the afternoon we chose to go with the upgrade which we had. But I’ve been really struggling with the balance of my car. I don’t know if it’s because of the upgrade that we have, or if we’re just in the wrong area of the set-up. At the end I was able to get a reasonably decent lap time, but I wasn’t very comfortable with the car. The long run at the end was not too bad, but generally quite a bit off the Red Bulls.”

Hamilton suggested that the latest update is not yet ready to race.

“My gut feeling is it’s not quite, just yet. We’ve made some adjustments to the upgrade we had last week, which didn’t work then. I think we’ve found some improvements in it, but perhaps it’s not as good as the one we had before just yet. It doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world, I think the car is still great with what we had before. Fingers crossed, either way we’ll be good. I think we’re not in a bad position.”

PS: Apologies for lack of Twitter service this week, so far I have not been able to find a way to beat the Chinese censors. Any suggestions welcome via comments here!

Fernando Alonso says that Ferrari is having much more success at warming up the tyres in China, which should help with the team’s qualifying performance come Saturday.

Alonso lost some track time with hydraulic problems in the afternoon – caused by what the Spaniard called “experimental parts” – so his ultimate lap time was not representative, and he was well down the order.

“We did our normal Friday programme, with some new parts in the first session and some tyre work in the second one,” he said. “Tonight we will analyse everything, hopefully with some positive results, and we can keep moving.

“I think it was better here today. In Australia it was a problem with the warm-up, and even in Malaysia with the hard tyre the first lap was not the quickest. Here for whatever reason it was OK.

“I was weaving on the straight because I had a very slow out lap with some traffic at the beginning, so I let some cars go, and then I weaved a little bit. For Felipe and me we found better warm-up in the hard tyres, so that should be better for us in qualifying, and also in terms of the race.”

Alonso says it’s not a question of compromising race set-up to find qualifying speed, but more of simply making the car faster overall.

“What we need to do is to improve the car, and when the car is good, the qualifying will be good, then the race will be even better than now. We have to find some lap time in the car, some improvements, then the qualifying or the race pace come altogether when the car is quick. Everything become much easier, strategy works always fine.

“That’s the main priority for us, improve the car as quick as we can, bring in new parts every race and hopefully they work good enough. We know that all the teams will bring new parts as well, so we just have to bring more parts than them.”

PS: Apologies for lack of Twitter service this week, so far I have not been able to find a way to beat the Chinese censors. Any suggestions welcome via comments here!

The new 'COTA' name and logo was launched today in Austin

The Austin GP venue has been branded as the “Circuit of the Americas,” it was announced this afternoon in the Texan city.

The track will also host Moto GP from 2013, a year after its debut as an F1 venue.

A statement from the organisers explained that “the brand signifies that the centre will be a premier destination in the western hemisphere where business leaders, entertainers and sports fans come to see world-class performances. The name draws on the history and tradition of motorsports racing globally and serves as an invitation to every fan seeking a premier entertainment experience.”

Tavo Hellmund, the chairman of the event added: “We are building a destination for entertainment and business, not simply a race track, and this brand reflects that entire idea. Racing days will account for a total of about 30 days a year, but great performances and winning ideas will be inspired by this brand every day.”

Billionaire Red McCombs, one of the key backers of the event, said: “One of the most inviting aspects of the name is the word ‘Americas’.It reflects Austin’s ideal location at the crossroads of North America from north to south, east to west. Also, it speaks to our state as a centre of commerce and cultural exchange in this hemisphere. I look forward to meeting many fans and visitors who will be coming from every country.”

Stefano Domenicali has re-iterated that Ferrari needs to improve its qualifying form, and added that new updates could be ready as early as this weekend.

The team boss said on the team’s website today that there was still a lot to be pleased about after Malaysia.

“The main problem we need to deal with is our performance the day before the race in qualifying which is not at the same level as the teams that are currently best,” said Domenicali. “It is vital for us to react immediately, because we have seen how rapidly things can change in Formula 1.

“In terms of strategy we can say our race in Sepang was a good one, because our choices proved to be the right ones and the fact we were unable to bring home more points was down to other causes. So strategy and race performance are two positive factors.

“Felipe drove to a very high standard, showing a return to form and Fernando was very aggressive, which is always good for a driver.”

Domenicali said aero performance is the key to improving the car: “Back at the factory we have to have a big push to understand our lack of performance. We need to push a lot to upgrade our aero package because aerodynamics is the key to it all.

“We will try and bring as quickly as possible the upgrades, maybe already in China, that we require. We need to understand as soon as possible why the performance on track has not matched the figures coming out of the wind tunnel.

“If we have not a clear picture, then we need to change the direction of the work we are doing in terms of development. The other important factor is to keep on increasing our understanding of how to use the tyres, because we saw in Malaysia that this is another area that makes a difference.

“As for KERS, I cannot talk about it in general, but certainly for us it is a useful aid in terms of boosting car performance. Then, when it comes to the race, it can be used either to attack another driver or to defend your own position. Therefore it is an interesting addition to the sport.”