Monthly Archives: November 2012

RBR will be known as Infiniti Red Bull Racing from 2013 after agreeing title sponsorship with the Japanese manufacturer.

The deal, which runs until 2013, also includes technical co-operation in areas such as energy recovery.

Infiniti president Johan de Nysschen said: “While our first 24-months have been very beneficial to both parties, our new deeper relationship will bring increased advantages to Infiniti and Red Bull Racing.  As title partner, Infiniti Red Bull Racing will help us garner even more worldwide exposure for our brand, products and technology.”

“Red Bull Racing and Infiniti have been working on a number of initiatives since the start of our relationship in March 2011,” said Christian Horner. “During that time, Infiniti has demonstrated significant technical prowess, and I’ve been impressed by the depth of the wider engineering capabilities of the Nissan Motor Company.

“In terms of marketing, Infiniti has leveraged their involvement with Red Bull Racing and Formula One very effectively and has become well known in a short space of time. These two attributes are what makes Infiniti the ideal title and technical partner for Red Bull Racing.”

Adrian Newey said: “Having a committed technical partner like Infiniti gives us a great platform for working together on technical projects, such as the Energy Recovery Systems for the 2014 season.”

Fernando Alonso says that reaching the final race in Brazil still in contention for the World Championship will be what he remembers from 2012, win or lose on Sunday.

Alonso qualified eighth in Interlagos, although he has gained a grid spot from Pastor Maldonado’s penalty.

When asked by this blog to describe the highlights of the season Alonso said: “I think the highest point was to be here, sitting here with a car that we were constantly eighth in the last races, and we’re still talking about the World Championship fight.

“This is something not normal, so I’m very proud of this, and about the achievements we had this year. If we had the normal position maybe we’d have the points of someone similar to our cars and you’d say bye-bye to the championship in Monza or in Singapore, and you’d have very relaxed races in the last part of the championship, as we had last year.

“But it’s something not normal. We found ourselves eighth on the grid and a lot of people think that tomorrow we have a chance to win the World Championship, because they trust so much in ourselves and our jobs on Sundays. So this is the thing that feels me more proud and I will remember this season like this, whatever happens tomorrow.”

Regarding the disappointments of the season, he added: “The low moments of the championship for sure are Spa and Suzuka, because without our fault we lost points… And maybe mathematically we were champion in Austin without the two Lotus [collisions], with 36 points more or something than we had. So that will be also remembered.”

Michael Schumacher will start his final Grand Prix in Brazil from an unlucky 13th place, having gained a place from his original position thanks to Pastor Maldonado’s penalty.

The former champion is determined to go out on a high, and says that a move towards a wet set-up handicapped him today but will help him in Sunday’s rain – although most top drivers say that there’s not much that can be done these days to tune a car for the wet.

“It was obviously not very exciting, quite honestly,” he said when asked about his day by this writer. “Yesterday looked pretty reasonable, today we didn’t look that strong in comparison so what we were able to do yesterday.

“Obviously I was focussing a little bit more towards tomorrow, on top of this one I didn’t get the tyres spot-on for their use, so as a combination we ended up where we did. Nevertheless I don’t think we had a great potential for qualifying, but we probably have a reasonable car for tomorrow.”

As to whether getting to the finish would be a priority, he said: “It’s not important climbing out of the car at the end of the race, it’s important what position I might do so, and obviously the better the more exciting it will be.

“From where I come I feel a little bit off-set, so there’s going to be some excitement, particularly in the conditions that we face tomorrow. I very much look forward to this, because that offers lots more opportunities.”

Lewis Hamilton gave himself the best chance of ending his McLaren career on a high by securing pole in Brazil.

Although Hamilton won the title at Interlagos in 2008 he has never actually led a lap of the circuit.

“It’s been a good weekend so far,” said Hamilton. “I’m grateful to be able to put the car on the front row, and to have the last one-two in qualifying with Jenson in the same team. Just a fantastic job by the team – so grateful for all the opportunities they’ve given me. I hope that we can turn it into something really positive tomorrow.”

Regarding the race he said: “I think the weather is going to be tricky tomorrow so it’s definitely going to make it more of a lottery. But I think we’ve put ourselves in a really good position, and we are just going to do the best job we can from there and work together as a team, the best we have been for quite some time. So we will make sure we will do absolutely everything to get the top result.”

Like other drivers, he played down talk about running a wet set-up.

“Generally nowadays you don’t even really have much of a wet set-up. It’s not like in karting when you soften everything off.  The set-up in the dry and the wet is very, very similar – apart from ride heights maybe.

“We’ve just set the car to attack the qualifying and we don’t know what the hell is going to happen tomorrow. We just have to wait and see, make sure we get our tyre pressures right, make sure we get the tyre temperatures right and the brake temperatures and try to steer clear of any big puddles.”

Fernando Alonso has once again benefited from a grid penalty, although this one was outside the control of Ferrari.

Having qualified sixth Pastor Maldonado was given a reprimand after missing a weight check during qualifying, and as it was his third of the year, the Williams driver has earned a 10-place grid penalty under Article 18.2 of the sporting regulations. An automatic penalty results from three reprimands within a season.

Alonso now moves up from eighth on the grid to seventh, which is exactly what happened in Austin last week, although the change from the dirty to clean side created an extra impact.

The top eight now reads Hamilton, Button, Webber, Vettel, Massa, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Raikkonen.

No action was taken by the FIA on the incident involving Pedro de la Rosa and Romain Grosjean.

Fernando Alonso will start the Brazilian GP from eighth place, four places behind title rival Sebastian Vettel.

The Spaniard was keen to point out that he reached the podium from similar places in the last two events, adding that he needs a “chaotic” race.

“Nothing surprising, we started seventh in Abu Dhabi, ninth in the USA [before the penalties], and eighth here, so more or less the same. We’ll try to repeat the performance on Sunday and try to achieve the podiums we achieved in Abu Dhabi and Austin starting in those positions.

“So, an interesting race. Obviously we need some strange circumstances, we need a chaotic race in a way, with rain affecting it or something. Let’s hope we see something like that.

“Maybe the rain can help, but you never know. We need to push the maximum to enjoy tomorrow’s race, and as I said, try to be in the podium.”

He played the significance of any move towards a wet set-up: “Nothing changes in our days. I think F1 now is dominated by aerodynamics, the only thing you can change is you can put more downforce or less downforce on the car.

“We ran with maximum downforce in the dry and obviously it’s the same in the wet, so no big changes, or no one jumped today for a wet set-up, because there’s minimum changes.”

Sebastian Vettel will start the Brazilian GP from fourth place after losing out to both McLarens and team mate Mark Webber in Q3.

Vettel was fastest in Q2 but was on the back foot after making mistake on his first run in Q3, which saw him drop to 10th at one stage.

“On the first run I made a mistake in Turn 4, the second run I was pretty happy with it,” he said. “Q1 was quite busy, the circuit was getting quicker throughout, so the last couple of laps were the most important.

“I’ve come out of qualifying and I could have done a little bit better. I need to go back now and see the data and see where I wasn’t quick enough, obviously Mark was a bit quicker. I think all in all we are in good shape, we’ve been competitive all weekend. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow. We have to do our race. We’ve had 19 race so far this is just another one. We’ll try to do our best.”

Asked whether he would be out to win the race, he said: “Of course, we’re not here to finish fourth, we’re here to fight for victory. McLaren was very quick all weekend, we knew that they would be competitive again in qualifying. Like I said the lap in Q3 was maybe not 100% perfect, so I need to go back and check out where I lost out.”

Lewis Hamilton was in upbeat mood after practice in Brazil having topped both the morning and afternoon sessions.

Hamilton says he was encouraged by the pace of the McLaren on a day when the high temperatures made it difficult for everyone.

“It’s so hot here and I think the track temperature went up 10C or something like that,” said Hamilton. “You’re just sliding around, it’s almost like the tyres are melting as you’re going round, it’s just so hot. Our runs were still pretty good though. The laps are so fast. It’s obviously 1m14s, when I’d done my long run I felt I’d only done 10 laps maybe, but I’d actually done 15 laps, so it’s not so bad.

“It depends on what fuel loads people were on, but we’re definitely strong, just as we were in the last three or four races. But here’s it’s so tough on the tyres, I hope that we can continue to compete with them tomorrow.

“The single lap pace was good. I struggled a little bit on the prime, but on the option was able to get a very good lap out. At the time it was eight-tenths faster than anyone, although they closed the gap towards the end. Sebastian had several attempts, and he got close, but it didn’t look like he could match the time, so that’s a positive for us.

“We are definitely there or thereabouts this weekend. The long runs are the hardest part, looking after the tyres. Red Bull have generally been very good at that. We seem to be a little bit quicker than them on the long run, at least we’re quicker than Webber.”

Hamilton said he was savouring his final weekend with McLaren: “Yeah, every moment. I just took some pictures of my engineers, I’ll take some pictures of my mechanics later. This was one of the best Fridays for a long, long time, so it’s a perfect Friday to have.”

Esteban Gutierrez admits he has a lot to learn and says he doesn’t know yet if he’s well enough prepared for his F1 debut with Sauber next year.

Although the Mexican has been associated with the team for several years, he has done relatively little testing during that time.

“To be honest I don’t know if I’m ready yet,” said Gutierrez. “I think when I’m going to be living the position of being an F1 driver next season, then I’m going to know if I was ready or not! But definitely I feel that I was comfortable to do the next step in my career. After all the experience in Formula BMW, F2, GP3 and GP2 – two years in GP2 – and now F1, it’s one of the basic structures of introduction into racing.

“And now reaching F1 is just the beginning of a reality, so I’m very pleased with it and really thankful with all my team my family, my parents, because they were always very supportive. It’s a family project and reaching this position is very special for us, it’s an important step in my career.”

Regarding the expectations in Mexico given the success of Sergio Perez, he said: “It’s important to take it in a very realistic way. Of course I’m going to try to adapt as quick as possible, and not only as quick as possible, I want to reach a certain solidness in F1 first of all. I think one of the main goals is to try to be consistent, because that’s the way to be then progressive into the future.

“I think things for the team have been looking very good in the last two years, and hopefully we can do another step next season.”

On the subject of new team mate Nico Hulkenberg he said: “Nico is a very experienced driver, knowing that he will be my team mate, I think it’s great to have a good reference.”

Caterham has confirmed that Charles Pic has joined the team on a multi-year contract.

Intriguingly the announcement underlined that Renault is very pleased to see a French driver powered by its engines next year, so clearly the manufacturer has been in the loop on the deal.

Team boss Cyril Abiteboul said: “We are thrilled that Charles has decided to join us for his second season in F1 and beyond. We are all looking forward to working with a young driver who has clearly shown in his first season in F1 that he has the pace, racecraft and demeanour to help us achieve our goals.

“Throughout the 2012 season we have been monitoring the progress that Charles has made, challenging us on several occasions in qualifying, and it is clear that he is a special talent. As the year has progressed he has performed extremely well against a very experienced teammate and we are looking forward to seeing him develop further within the environment we will provide in 2013 and beyond.

“We will continue growing together, and the energy and image he will bring to our team and his partners will be a very positive influence on the seasons that lie ahead. Being able to make this announcement before the end of the current season gives us the chance now to allow Charles and the team to prepare fully for the 2013 season and quickly learn how to maximise the performance benefits of the Renault Sport F1 and Red Bull Technology powertrain that will be new to him.”

Emphasising the French commercial involvement, Pic added: “I’m enthusiastic to have the opportunity to continue to grow in a team that has a technical relationship with a number of French global companies, including Renault and Total, plus an Official Partnership with EADS. It is clear that the team has great ambitions for the future: the investments already made and the decisions taken in the last few months show how committed the shareholders are to succeed and demonstrates their willingness to keep going forward.

“The prospect of the automotive industry project nurtured by Caterham Group to produce sports road cars in conjunction with Renault is another reason for my decision to join the team. I would like to thank Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun for the roles they have played in helping make this dream come true.

“I am very excited about starting my second year in F1 with a team that has so much potential. Caterham F1 Team has everything in place to help it move into a position to fight with a number of teams ahead. I know how determined the team is to keep progressing and I am looking forward to playing my part in helping them move up the grid.”