Monthly Archives: November 2012

Sauber has finally confirmed that Esteban Gutierrez will race alongside Nico Hulkenberg  next year.

Given the ongoing Telmex commitment the inclusion of the Mexican at the expense of Kamui Kobayashi comes as no surprise.

Meanwhile Dutchman Robin Frijns, who tested for the team in Abu Dhabi, will be the reserve driver.

“Esteban has already been part of the team for a long time and we have followed his career very closely,” said Monisha Kaltenborn. “In 2010 we signed him up as an affiliated driver, and in 2011 and 2012 he was our test and reserve driver. We mapped out his path to Formula One step by step.

“Esteban has great talent and now he’s ready to take the leap. We are in no doubt we have a strong driver pairing in place for the 2013 season with Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Gutiérrez.

“Monitoring Robin’s racing career makes it easy to spot his potential. This was the reason we gave him the chance to drive the Sauber C31-Ferrari at the Young Driver Days in Abu Dhabi. He managed this very well. We will now carefully guide him to Formula One. This is a long way, but Robin has got the skills to do that successfully.”

Regarding Kobayashi, she said: “Over the last three years Kamui has shown us he is not only a fierce competitor on the track, but also a wonderful person and fantastic team player. Every member of our team has the greatest respect for him, and his podium in Japan was a particularly emotional moment for all of us.

“This has not been an easy decision for us to take, but we have committed ourselves to a new beginning and our time with Kamui will come to an end after the final two races of the season. We wish Kamui all the best for the future. Our thanks also go to Sergio Pérez, who has claimed three podiums for the team so far and now has the opportunity at McLaren-Mercedes to display his immense talent with one of the most successful teams in Formula One history. We would also like to wish Sergio all the best and every success for the future.”

Gutiérrez said “After three years working with Sauber I feel very grateful for all the attention I have received from everyone in the team and for all their input, which has allowed me to develop into a Formula One driver in a very progressive way. Now, after experiencing other categories of racing as an introduction to Formula One, this is the start of the real challenge to succeed at the pinnacle of motor sport.

“The support from my family, as well as from my sponsors, has been a key factor in getting there and I am very grateful to everyone who has been involved in our project. It will be a great pleasure to be racing in the same team as an experienced driver like Nico Hülkenberg. He will be a good reference point for me and will push me to adapt quickly to F1 competition so we can develop the car together with the team in the best way.”

Fernando Alonso reiterated today that the outcome of this weekend’s title showdown in Brazil is out of his hands – and all is finish on the podium and then see how rival Sebastian Vettel fares.

Alonso is 13 points behind the German, and this needs at least a third place to have any chance of winning the title on Sunday afternoon.

“I think we need to try to do a normal weekend, and try to score as many points as we can,” said Alonso. “Obviously it will be good to be on the podium and score a minimum 15 points and then when we cross the line we see where Sebastian is and we try to do some numbers after that.

“The first priority for us is to be on the podium, let’s say, which give us the possible to score more than 13 points and then we need to wait obviously for the results from Red Bull because it is not in our hands, we have not much to lose, we have only the possibility to win something and we will try to do our best.”

Asked about his loss to Vettel in Abu Dhabi in 2010, Alonso said: “I think these are different circumstances from Abu Dhabi. Now we have DRS, KERS so it was a little bit more difficult to pass, and maybe the rule was also introduced because of that race.

“I think even if you find yourself at the back of the grid, you’re still able to recover positions as we saw in Abu Dhabi this year. Even if Seb started last, he finished on the podium, so we will see what we have in mind, that this is Formula One.

“This is a sport and anything can happen until the chequered flag so we will try to do the best race we can and, as I said, cross the line on the podium which gives us more than 13 points and see where Sebastian crosses the line. If we win, we will be very happy but we know that we need some strange combination of results; if we don’t win, we will congratulate him and we will try next year.”

Alonso also made it clear that Ferrari has to find performance in 2013.

“We are working hard, it was a tough season for us, the first couple of months were not as we expected. When we put the car on the circuit the first time in Jerez we were two seconds off the pace, and we didn’t understand how the car was working, so we changed many things.

“There was a lot of work going on in the wind tunnel in Maranello, in the car itself, and after some understanding of the car we were a little bit more in the pace, and we were able to fight for podiums more or less constantly all the season. And that gave the possibility to be right now fighting for the World Championship.

“But we are not totally happy with the performance of the car all through the season, and many changes will be made for next year. Hopefully we can recover a little bit of the gap we have now. In winter we will have to do an extra job compared to the other teams to recover this gap.”

Sebastian Vettel insists that he will treat this weekend’s World Championship showdown in Brazil like any other event.

Vettel has a 13-point advantage over Sebastian Vettel heading into the finale at Interlagos, with the weather forecast predicting rain for Sunday.

“I think the secret is to take it as any other,” said Vettel. “If you look in the calendar, Brazil is a race like every other one. You get the same amount of points and I think we are here to attack. Obviously we know that we are in a good position. Obviously, as I said, it’s something we know but still we have to be sharp and ready to attack.

“I think the circuit seemed to suit our car in previous years. I think we need to confirm it. So all eyes on Friday, to start the weekend, to get into the groove, but I think we can be as confident as we could in this stage. Obviously we know there is a lot ahead but we are in a great position.

“The weekend starts tomorrow morning and not on Sunday, so really we have to go step by step, trying to do everything to ensure that we get the maximum result. Historically we’ve been very quick here, historically we know also it’s quite a place where a lot of things can happen so we need to be sharp in the moment and see what we can get.”

Regarding the prospect of a wet race on Sunday, Vettel said: “In terms of general preparation we do what we can. Weather-wise, it’s Sao Paulo. It’s the same as if you go to Spa, you know, things can happen quickly and the weather can change a lot here. I spoke to some locals and I think there was a big rain two days ago which wasn’t expected.

“Probably for Saturday, Sunday, there’s some rain on the way, but then again you don’t know how much, and when so I think I asked Pirelli yesterday if they have all the containers here with the rain tyres, and that’s the case, so I don’t think we have to be concerned!”

Coca-Cola has announced that it will sponsor Lotus via its ‘burn’ energy drink brand next season.

The deal, which has been rumoured for some time, sees the Coke brand take on Red Bull.

Emmanuel Seuge, the group director of Worldwide Sports & Entertainment Marketing for the Coca-Cola Company, said: “The creativity of teams and the passion for speed and energy that fuel the sport of Formula 1, make a partnership with this iconic sporting property a compelling proposition for the burn brand.

“Lotus F1 Team, as the number one emerging challenger in the sport, has demonstrated exceptional creativity in their approach to Formula 1 racing and their collaborations with partners – an approach that mirrors the philosophy of burn. We will bring that same creativity through burn, incorporating art and music in a way that will break the conventions of traditional Formula 1 sponsorship marketing.”

Eric Boullier said: “We are proud that The Coca-Cola Company has chosen Lotus F1 Team as the best vehicle to represent the burn brand in its most high profile partnership.

“We are excited to partner with burn to build a new and innovative model for sponsorships that will combine experiences, content creation and social media, an area in which our team has been at the cutting edge in Formula 1 for the past 18 months, recording the highest growth rate amongst fans this year.”

New York financial company Bluewaters Communications Holdings has launched a $650m legal claim against Bernie Ecclestone, his associated companies and others in relation to the Gerhard Gribkowsky bribe affair.

In essence Bluewaters says it was a potential buyer of the F1 business, and lost out because of the bribe.

The action, filed in the Supreme Court of New York State, is against Ecclestone, CVC Capital Partners, Ecclestone-run companies Alpha Prema, Alpha Topco and Delta Topco, Gribkowsky, and Bayerische Landesbank.

The introduction sums it up thus: “This case arises out of a $44 million bribe paid by defendant Ecclestone to defendant Gribkowsky using money supplied by defendants CVC and BayernLB. Gribkowsky was prosecuted and convicted of taking the bribe and is now serving an eight-and-a-half year prison sentence. Ecclestone orchestrated and paid the bribe to preserve his status as head of an automobile-racing empire known as ‘Formula 1.’

“Plaintiff was the high bidder for the purchase of Formula 1, but Ecclestone bribed Gribkowsky—using CVC’s and BayernLB’s money—to steer the sale of Formula 1 to CVC for CVC’s and Ecclestone’s benefit. Plaintiff has been damaged in an amount exceeding $650 million.”

After explaining the details chronology of the affair over some 27 pages, it concludes: “Each of CVC, Alpha Prema, Alpha Topco, and Delta Topco extracted billions of dollars from Formula 1 that do not rightfully belong to them. CVC, Alpha Prema, Alpha Topco, and Delta Topco have profited enormously from CVC’s wrongful acquisition of Formula 1, which is currently valued at $10 billion.

“Ecclestone was unjustly enriched by receiving an improper ‘finder’s fee.’ Gribkowsky was unjustly enriched by accepting an improper bribe. CVC, Alpha Prema, Alpha Topco, Delta Topco, Ecclestone, and Gribkowsky must disgorge the profits rightfully belonging to Bluewaters.”

Martin Whitmarsh admits that Lewis Hamilton’s victory in Austin is huge boost to the McLaren team after a recent run of misfortune.

It was also achieved in one of the highest profile races of the year, in front of a lot of corporate VIPs.

“That was a fantastic result, and great for the team,” said Whitmarsh. “It’s our 12th victory in the States, we won here last time, that’s a good feeling and it’s important to us.

“It’s near the home of Exxon Mobil, and great to come here and do that for them. One race to go, and we like to go there and win that as well. That would be some compensation for some of the disappointments and some of the failures we’ve had this year.

“We’ve got to get better, we’ve got to get stronger, we’ve got to make less mistakes. We’ve had a lot of potential this year and we haven’t really got what we should have got from the potential that we’ve got in the team. We’ll learn from that and come out stronger next year, but at the moment we’re focussed on a few days time in Brazil. A great circuit, and again great history for us.”

Asked about the inevitable emotions involved as Hamilton’s departure draws near, he added: “I said to Lewis weeks ago we’ll have the emotion after Brazil, let’s really focus on doing the best job we can. We should have won two weeks ago and I felt sorry for him and sorry for the team, and obviously Singapore as well.

“His second ever win was in the States obviously and I remember that very well, and we had a great time after that. We’ve had some amazing highs together. I don’t want to make it easy for him to leave this team, but at the moment let’s focus and see if we can get the win in Brazil.”

Sebastian Vettel might not have secured the drivers’ championship in Austin, but Red Bull still had plenty to celebrate as the team won its third straight constructors’ title.

Vettel finished second after losing the lead to Lewis Hamilton on the 42^nd lap, and no has a 13-point lead over Fernando Alonso.

“We’re half way there,” said team principal Christian Horner. “We’ve closed out one championship. To have won a third consecutive constructors’ is something we could only ever have dreamed about a few years ago. To have achieved what we have in 2010, 2011 and 2012 against the opponents that we have in only our eighth year in the sport is something that’s quite remarkable.

“I think that it’s testimony to the long hours, the determination, the dedication that there is in the team that we’ve managed to achieve this. It’s something that every member of the team is fiercely proud of.”

Regarding the showdown in Interlagos next week, he said: “To finish second, to have extended our lead by three points, is still a fantastic result. We now head to Brazil with a 13-point lead, and still everything to play for. I’ve said all season I think this championship will go to Brazil. Unfortunately I’ve been proved right today!

“We’ve just got to approach the next race as we have the previous 19. We’ve got to go there, attack the weekend, get the best out of ourselves, the car, the strategy, the drivers, reliability. Anything can happen as we’ve seen this season. It’s good to be going there with a lead, and we’ll just be going there determined to try and close the job off.”

Horner acknowledged that it was a close fight for the win in Austin, but said that backmarker Narain Karthikeyan had helped Hamilton get into Vettel’s DRS tow.

“It was nip and tuck between the two of them throughout the race, and obviously in the dirty air it’s tricky to get too close. Sebastian was doing a fantastic job in managing the gap to Lewis.

“Lewis was a little stronger than us in the first sector, but sectors two and three, we were able to eke out a bit of a gap. It was about not making any mistakes. Sebastian was driving immaculately well, and I’m quite convinced that without the backmarker, he could have hung on, but that’s motor racing.

“He’s a racer, and he didn’t want to give up on fighting Lewis. They were 35 seconds ahead of Fernando at that stage. He just wanted to keep the pressure on over the closing laps. Throughout the race there was rarely less than a second or so between the two of them.”

Ferrari boss Stefano Domencali says that he had no doubts about the decision to help Fernando Alonso by dropping Felipe Massa down the grid in Austin.

The team broke the seal on the Brazilian’s gearbox, which generated an automatic five-place penalty. That in turn moved Alonso up from eighth to seventh, and onto the clean side of the track. It paid off spectacularly as he jumped up to fourth at the start.

Ferrari had made it clear to the stewards what its intentions were before breaking the seal, and Domenicali denied that there was the decision was unsporting, despite some criticism in the paddock.

“I prefer to be totally transparent, because honestly something like that you can easily simulate something, if you want,” he said. “But I felt it was more correct to say the truth, this is our style, my style. You can agree or not with that decision, but honestly at the end of the day it is something that is on our responsibility to do it.

“We knew before the start of the race that the difference in grip level of the two side of the grid was very high, and we knew that it was very important to be with the first cars in the first couple of laps, otherwise the race would have been almost finished.”

Domenicali said that Massa, who eventually finished fourth from 11^th on the grid, had accepted the decision.

“At the end of the day retrospectively from a strategic point of view it was the right thing to do. As I said when you work for the Ferrari team you know that the team is the centre of the decision, and you know that the drivers and the team respect it.

“I have to thank Felipe for that. He drove extremely well during the whole weekend and this is something that is positive looking ahead for Brazil, because also we need both our drivers doing a great race if we want to challenge Vettel to win the drivers title.

“I take the opportunity to congratulate Red Bull because they won the constructors’ title, and now we try to make sure that they will be tense up to the last moment after the chequered flag.”

He added: “I have to say if another team principal is saying we didn’t do the right choice, he’s lying to you.”

Lewis Hamilton was a hugely popular winner of the inaugural US GP in Austin, having previously won the final race in Indianapolis back in 2007.

Hamilton dropped to third at the start, but passed first Mark Webber and later Sebastian Vettel to win by less than a second.

“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,” said Hamilton. “I don’t know, we weren’t so bad in the first stint, but it was very difficult to follow and to get past. 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 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.”

Hamilton admitted it was hard to keep up with the Red Bull given the RB8’s speed.

“They’re pretty strong everywhere. 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 remain close. As I said with traffic it all worked out really well. I knew that lap would be the lap that I would have a chance, so I turned the engine up and got close.”

Felipe Massa is set to get a five-place grid penalty in Austin after Ferrari broke the seal on his gearbox.

It means that Fernando Alonso moves up from eighth to seventh on the grid, which not only gains him a place but puts him onto the clean side of the grid.

The team has just broken the seal, and not changed the gearbox. Article 28.6s says a penalty “will be imposed” in such circumstances.

A Ferrari spokesman tols this blog: “It’s a decision taken to maxmise the potential for Fernando at the start.”

The top 10 are now:

Vettel

Hamilton

Webber

Raikkonen

Schumacher

Hulkenberg

Alonso

Grosjean

Maldonado

Senna