Category Archives: Uncategorized

HRT has changed its original plan for the Indian GP and ‘guest driver’ Narain Karthikeyan will now be partnered by Daniel Ricciardo.

It has been intended that the Red Bull protege would not contest the race but the team has asked Tonio Liuzzi to step aside instead.

HRT boss Colin Kolles said: “Narain is a talented driver and we are proud to be going down this path with him. For this single event, Narain will be driving alongside Daniel Ricciardo. I have asked Tonio Liuzzi to step aside  for the Indian GP in order to allow driving programmes with Ricciardo and Karthikeyan to be completed. I have to thank Tonio for his professional approach and attitude.”

“Driving in front of the home crowd cheering on is going to be a surreal experience,” said Karthikeyan. “A once in a lifetime experience, and I feel extremely fortunate. There is a huge buzz around the Grand Prix already and I’m sure that it’ll be a resounding success that will motivate more youngsters towards the sport and give us the future F1 drivers.

“Making it into F1 at the time I did was a seriously uphill task and the thought of being able to compete in the inaugural Indian GP was non-existent. But it is finally here and I’ll be on the grid. It is going to be one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar.

“There are points at which, if you’re in an F1 car, you will see nothing but the sky. The layout itself is going to put tremendous energy through the tyres and the strategy will play a key role in the final result. For sure I’ll race hard and try to get a good result for myself and the team.”

Mika Hakkinen is to make a racing comeback next month, four years after his last appearance.

Hakkinen will compete in the finale of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup on November 13 in Zhuhai. He will share a  Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 with 2010 DTM driver CongFu Cheng, and Lance David Arnold. The car will be entered by Customer AMG Sports Team China.

Hakkinen’s last outing was a DTM race at Hockenheim in October 2007.

The 42-year-old Finn said: “Although I’ve visited China many times, I’ve never raced there, which is why I’m really looking forward to Zhuhai. It will be a tough race in a competitive field, but I’ll do my best for Customer Sports Team AMG. Of course, being a guest driver in such a line-up should be a lot of fun, especially in the SLS AMG GT3. It’s a great customer motorsport vehicle which is both fast and extremely good-looking.”

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has reiterated that the team is out to win the remaining races of the season while taking the opportunity to test parts for the 2012 car.

Whitmarsh says that the conclusion of both title battles has made no difference to the team’s approach.

“There’s not been a great distinction, ” said Whitmarsh in a team preview. “We go racing to win, and, as I’ve said before, that’s the firm intention we take with us to all remaining races on the calendar. We’ve made some good progress recently with the 2011 car and we feel we have a car that can challenge for victory at all the remaining Grands Prix.

“While we’re winding down the development of the 26 and ramping up development of MP4-27, we still have a few more opportunities to track test components and developments that can be carried over to next year.

“And we take plenty of positives away from the last two races. I think Jenson’s win in Japan and Lewis’s drive in Korea were two of the best performances of their respective careers. Both drivers are motivated to win, and want to lead the team through these final few races and into the winter. There’s a lot of positive energy back at MTC, and you’re seeing that at the racetrack, too.”

Whitmarsh says that the Indian GP will be a event for both the team and the sport.

“Certainly, every new venue we visit is important to the sport of Formula 1 and to our partners, many of whom have a considerable presence in India, and who are delighted by the prospect of the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

“I think it’s important that the world championship is fully represented on the world’s stage – and a GrandPrix in India is certainly a very positive step. For Formula 1, the most important thing is to educate, nurture and cultivate our audience – I firmly believe that Formula 1 is the greatest sport in the world and I want us to spread that word across the whole Indian subcontinent.

“Secondly, we want to take Formula 1 to the people. I know that our partners such as Vodafone are already very actively engaged in this activity in India, but I think we’ve done the right thing by establishing the circuit close to New Delhi. Initial impressions suggest the track will be a good one, with particular regard paid to close and exciting racing. And I’m also told that the prospect of the Grand Prix is causing a great deal of excitement within the city and the country as a whole.

“So I think we’re doing everything right – and I sincerely hope we can walk away on Sunday evening having done a great job for the country and for Formula 1.”

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button say they are excited about the upcoming trip to India.

Hamilton has been there before on PR visits and was impressed by the enthusiasm of the locals.

“The last time was just crazy,” he said in a team preview. “Just after Singapore, we did a demo run in Bangalore and were expecting 5,000 people to turn up. On the day, there were around 40,000 fans – it was just incredible.

“You can’t believe how many people are aware of Formula 1 and how many are looking forward to the race next week. There’s already a great deal of knowledge about the sport – I think it’s going to be a big deal.

“India’s a sport-mad nation – mostly, it’s about cricket, which is understandable because they’re a very successful cricketing country, but I really think the people of India are going to take Formula 1 to their hearts. The reception we’ve had in the last few years has been greater than I could ever have predicted and I think the whole country is ready for something new and something exciting.

“I really hope India will get turned on to Formula 1 in a big way – it would be amazing to have an entire continent supporting you – and I really hope we can put on a fantastic race!”

Meanwhile Jenson Button said: “I always look forward to the next Grand Prix. The word is that people in India are really excited about Formula 1 and the event – it’s important for the sport that we make a good first impression and I really hope we have a fantastic race. Our car’s been pretty competitive recently and we’d like to win more races before the end of the season.”

Button says from what he’s seen on simulations, the track will be an interesting one.

“Well, I can’t really say properly until I’ve driven it. But the track itself has quite a nice mix of corners – the start of the lap is pretty stop-start, there are a couple of long straights mixed with tight hairpins, but it’s the end of the lap that’s more interesting: there are some pretty high-speed changes of direction through the esses and some gradient change.

“One of the things that looks really interesting is the double-apex banked corner at the back of the circuit – that’s pretty unusual. It’s sort of a mix between Turn 13 at China and Korea’s Turn 11.”

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton are among the many racing personalities to have paid tribute to Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon, who died after a crash in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Both of the McLaren drivers knew Wheldon from their karting days, with contemporary Button having been a fierce on track rival for many years.

Speaking on Twitter, Jenson said: “I have so many good memories of racing with Dan in the early 90’s, a true fighter. We’ve lost a legend in our sport but also a great guy. I can’t begin to imagine what his family are going through and my thoughts are with them at this very difficult time.”

In a statement issued on his behalf by McLaren, Hamilton said: “This is an extremely sad day. Dan was a racer I’d followed throughout my career, as I often followed in his footsteps as we climbed the motorsport ladder in the UK.

“He was an extremely talented driver. As a British guy, who not only went over to the States but who twice won the Indy 500, he was an inspirational guy, and someone that every racing driver looked up to with respect and admiration.

“This is a tragic loss at such a young age. My heart goes out to his family and friends during this extremely difficult time.”

Jenson Button has had a great run of races recently, but in Korea he struggled badly with lack of front end grip, a problem that also hurt Lewis Hamilton.

Crucially he was lacking performance onto the pit straight, and thus into the DRS activation zone that followed it.

That made it hard for him to compete with those ahead, and after recivering from a bad first lap he ultimately had to settle for fourth.

“Towards the ends of the stints the pace was OK, but I just couldn’t get close enough in the last sector,” said Button. “Whether I didn’t have enough front end in the car or not, but I put a lot of front end in the car at the stops, but still i had so much understeer in the last sector I couldn’t get close enough to them to use DRS. I only used it once during the whole race.

“When you’re out of the DRS zone it’s really tricky, because the car in front if he’s using DRS is gaining half a second on you, and to make that up over lap to try and get DRS the next lap is quite tricky.”

Button’s race was made harder when he lost out to Felipe Massa and Mark Webber on the first lap: “The start was alright. I thought Mark was behind me down into Turn 3, I don’t know where Massa was, and I braked where I felt was correct, and it felt correct. I turned in and there was a car there, I couldn’t see him at all before I actually turned in.

“And then I was stuck on the outside and lost a lot of places. I don’t think it would have changed my race, even if I didn’t have a bad start, a bad first lap, because I wasn’t quick enough.”

He also had an interesting battle out of the pitlane with Nico Rosberg which saw the German emerge first, slide wide, and then re-pass Jenson via DRS on the next straight.

“It’s a weird one here because coming out of the pits, second is actually better, because you get the DRS all the way down to Turn 3. But he locked up coming out of the pitlane so I ended up going across the DRS line first. I don’t think he did it on purpose, you don’t plan a lock-up. So I crossed the DRS line first, he got the DRS, and got past me on the straight. So just a little bit unlucky on that.

“It’s not a great one, but it’s better than last year, I struggled here a lot last year. It’s not one of my better circuits. I didn’t have any more really, so fourth was it. Couldn’t get close enough to use DRS, so fourth was it. A bit disappointed, but we’ll go back and look at the data and look at the reasons for it.”

Christian Horner says that FOTA could fold unless the teams’ organisation can come to an agreement on the Resource Restriction Agreement.

The team bosses met in Korea this morning, but it seems that there are still differing views.

“I think that FOTA has reached a crossroads where it needs to deal with some of the key issues moving forward, all we’ll stop, it’s a simple as that,” said Horner. “The principal issues are obviously Concorde Agreement moving forward, what direction that goes in, and fundamentally the RRA. And if we can’t find agreement on that, then what is the purpose of FOTA?”

Asked if a collapse was really possible he added: “I think is a solution isn’t found, and a direction that the teams want to go in with that, then yes. I’d be wrong to comment on the content of the meeting, but those are the fundamental issues that need to be addressed.”

Intriguingly RBR today announced increased co-operation with Infiniti/Nissan in the future, including access to R&D facilities in Japan. Horner says that doesn’t come under the auspices of the RRA.

“It just puts us on a par with the likes of Mercedes-Benz, or Fiat and Ferrari. It still has to be done at an affordable cost. Obviously RRA is something that’s under discussion, under debate for the future, and it’s something that needs to be addressed to take away some of the paranoia that currently does exist.”

Meanwhile regarding FOTA’s position on the 2012 Bahrain GP, Horner said: We have total trust in the promoter and the FIA. There’s plenty of time for them to discuss it. I’m sure it will be dealt with in the fullness of time.”

Sebastian Vettel has escaped without penalty after being called to see the stewards after taking a shortcut in Q3.

After his first run Vettel was told by his engineer that he needed to do a quick in-lap because of a lack of turnaround time. He duly took a shortcut between T4 and T6.

The stewards looked into it and decided that since he subsequently crossed the line to start his last lap with 17s to go, he had gained no advantage – ie he had not gained enough to avoid hitting the chequered flag, as happened to Lewis Hamilton at Suzuka.

They thus decided that there was no breach of Article 20.13, which refers to staying within the confines of the circuit.

It’s a decision that sets an interesting precedent as in effect it means that drivers are free to cur corners in similar circumstances in the future.

On tracks with long laps teams have very little time to changes tyres and refuel between qualifying runs in the short Q3 session.

Mercedes GP has been fined €10,000 after Nico Rosberg’s collision with Jaime Alguersuari in FP2 in Korea – but not because of the crash itself.

Rosberg lost control at Turn One and slid straight on, striking the Toro Rosso driver, who was coming out of the pits.

He has been found guilty under Article 16.1, which means causing a collision. However unusually he did not get a penalty, the stewards even citing his “good record.”

The stewards said that they had regard “for the extenuating circumstances involving the pit exit, the wet track and the telemetry which indicated the driver of car 8 was on full braking from the time where he apparently noticed car 19, and further, taking into account Mr Rosberg’s good record during his years in F1, decide to impose new penalty.”

The fine in fact relates to how long it took Rosberg to go and see the stewards. They found out from the internet that he had already talked to the media, which is his usual schedule after FP2, rather than going straight to see them.

He breached Appendix B, Obligation of C0-operation, of the sporting code.

He spoke to German TV and then to the English language contingent, which comprised the BBC’s Ted Kravitz, Autosport’s Edd Straw, and this blog. Edd’s story alerted the stewards to the fact that Nico had been a bit tardy, and also contained a quote from Nico in which he said he thought Alguersuari would back off and leave him space to get past without contact.

He said: “I thought he was going to stop a little bit more to let me go through, but then he didn’t and by the time I realised that, it was too late. It was just unfortunate.”

The stewards took that to mean that he could have avoided the accident by going behind Alguersuari.

Half of the fine is suspended for 12 months.

Fernando Alonso admits that Ferrari struggled badly in the wet conditions in Korea today, but is hopeful of a better performance in the dry as the weekend progresses.

Alonso said that the lack of dry track time today was frustrating, especially given Pirelli’s use of the soft and supersoft tyres here. Teams are keen to get som data.

“To lose today’s practice in dry conditions is even more difficult, but the good thing about this is that it’s the same for everybody,” said Alonso. “We just need to maximise tomorrow’s FP3. If it’s dry it will be not a normal Saturday morning.

“I think we all want to test more things tomorrow, and then in qualy and the race we will arrive with not much information. We have the fuel for the whole race, but the strategy is not a big problem, you stop as many times as you need.

“Today we were not very happy or very competitive in wet conditions. Unfortunately it seems that we replicate the problem that sometimes happens to us in dry conditions with the slow warm-up. In wet conditions this is maybe an even bigger problem, and we take too many laps to get the right performance and right tyre temperature, and in that lap the tyre is maybe not in good shape any more, when you get the temperature.

“We saw the McLarens today very dominant, they did a time straight away from the box. For the race maybe this can be an advantage, because we can be much more consistent and run the tyres a little bit longer, but sure for qualifying it’s a penalty.”