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Fernando Alonso says there is more to come from Ferrari after he finished the first day at Suzuka as second fastest, behind Jenson Button.

However the Spaniard cautioned that Red Bull is likely to end up trumping both teams come Sunday.

“I’m sure that all drivers tomorrow will try to find something more,” said Alonso. “Even if Suzuka is a track where if you push a little bit over the limit then you go off the track. In my case I’m sure that tomorrow I can find some more tenths, especially in the first sector, the Esses, always when you go through there you think that you can push a little bit more on the next lap.

“But with this year’s tyres there is not any more the next lap, you have only one chance, so tomorrow in Q3 I’m sure we will find the perfect lap.”

Regarding his prospects for the race, Alonso added: “I think we need to look at the grid position tomorrow after qualifying and then we decide. Our target, our aim is to fight for the podium in the races from now until the end, but we know that Red Bull tomorrow will be very strong, as normally they are on Saturdays. On this type of circuit the normal result is first and second, so we need to fight with McLaren for the third position.”

Sebastian Vettel was happy enough with the first day in Japan, despite a crash in FP1 this morning.

Vettel made the classic Suzuka mistake of running wide at the first Degner corner and failing to get back on track to take the second part. He damaged his front wing on the tyre wall.

Vettel still finished third in that session, and was also third – behind Button and Alonso – in the afternoon.

“I think it was not really a big mistake,” said Vettel. “Mistakes around here can be quite costly. I went off and tried to come back, tried to slow the car down as much as possible, but didn’t make it and hot the wall slightly. Not a big impact, but obviously some damage to the car.

“Not perfect, and it did affect our run plan a little bit. But we had a solid afternoon, it’s pretty tricky this year with the tyres, I think the cars generally are much more alive. After I stopped I had the opportunity to see some of the car I could see for Suzuka they are much more alive than they used to be. Sunday will be quite an interesting race.”

Vettel said it wasn’t easy to take the 130R lefthander with the DRS open.

“It’s not comfortable, let’s say. I think last year we went generally a bit quicker round here, this year we are a bit slower. It’s definitely exciting, not as easy as it used to be, 130R, most of the time we lifted today, usually it was always easy flat. It wasn’t today, especially with the DRS open.”

Asked if it was difficult not to be distracted by the championship situation, Vettel said: “I would say I had a good reminder this morning in the practice not to think about something else!”

Lewis Hamiltonwas in reflective mood when he met the media today, and inevitably his recent run of frustration was a topic of conversation.

Lewis insisted that there is no specific reason why he’s had a disappointing season relative to team mate Jenson Button.

“It’s just the way it is,” said Hamilton. “I’m not doing anything wrong. It’s not my management, like everyone’s talking about. I’m very, very happy with my management, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made, and I think it’s just been unfortunate. I’ve made some mistakes…

“That’s it you know, and Jenson’s done a good job. People forget that I’m still only 17 points away from second, people also forget that all the people behind Sebastian are also 100 plus points behind, so it’s not just me.”

Asked about the clash with Felipe Massa in Singapore, Hamilton said: “When things go that quick, sometimes you get it wrong. I got a penalty for it, and it’s done and dusted, that’s the way it is. I’ll do it plenty of times over the course of my career. Obviously I’ll try my best to avoid those things but I’ve been in awkward positions this year. I was quite a bit behind and trying my best to get up, and you get caught in incidents.”

Lewis also denied that he was affected by media criticism.

“I don’t read anything so I don’t feel any criticism. But I know everyone here and around the rest of the world is writing stories, and I hear about them. I just live my life. I’m happy, I’ve got great people in my life, great management, family and friends, people that I enjoy being around.

“I’ve got an amazing job, so I can’t really complain, regardless of if people write shit about me, I just keep my head focussed on the main thing, which is trying to win races.”

McLaren says that it is “building for the future” after signing a new multi-year deal with Jenson Button.

While the team had always insisted that Jenson would stay, the duration of the contract was the major sticking point.

With Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel already committed to long term deals with Ferrari and Red Bull respectively, the grid looks set to have a familar look to it for some time to come.

Button said: “I’ve never felt more at home at a team than I do at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. I’ve won four of the greatest races of my life here, I’m currently lying second in the drivers’ world championship, and I feel that I’m driving better than ever.

“You can only achieve that with the right level of support – and I truly believe that the passion and determination to win are stronger here at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes than anywhere else.

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“As a Grand Prix driver, those are incredibly powerful feelings to share and be part of, and they’ve only reinforced my desire to commit my long-term future to this team.

“I’ve made no secret of my ambition to continue winning races and world championships, and I fully believe this is the place where I can achieve those aims. We at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes know how to win, and we’re busy refining an organisation that will enable us to keep on doing that for years to come.”

“It’s great news that Jenson has chosen to stay with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes,” said Lewis Hamilton. “Jenson has been a great person to work with, and a genuine team-player, from the moment we welcomed him on board.”

Martin Whitmarsh added: “Jenson is a great driver and a great guy. In fact, I can safely say that he’s one of the most capable and respected drivers we’ve ever had, and I’m therefore absolutely delighted that he’ll continue to work with us into the future.

“He’s a considerable credit to this organisation, and I’m proud to be his Team Principal. I feel sure that he’ll now build on the considerable success he’s already achieved with us, and will be even more successful with us in years to come.

“I think he and Lewis say it better than anyone. Their comments show just how much they respect and trust each other, and they once again continue to prove what we as a team have always known: that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has the very best driver line-up in all of Formula 1.”

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has defended Lewis Hamilton in the aftermath of his collision with Felipe Massa in Singapore.

Pressed on Hamilton’s run of incidents this year Whitmarsh insisted that Lewis had done a great job to put the collision and subsquent penalty behind him, and recover to fifth place.

“When things don’t go well in the team it’s natural that it’s frustrating for all of us,” he said. “I think it would have been easy, half way or a third of the way into that race to say this is very frustrating, give up or whatever, and it’s clear that Lewis didn’t do that. He did some of the best overtakings, some fantastic driving, to get back into the points. I think he should be given credit for that.

“Various things have happened, the team can take some blame, and Lewis can take some blame. I think sometimes in motor racing things just don’t go your way, and you have those runs. It’s been a tough season. We’re still going to go out there and try and win five races, and Lewis will be doing that I’m sure.

“I think the way he dealt with the frustration that he would have felt, when you’re told that you’re back in 18^th/19^th place on a circuit like that, it’s deeply, deeply frustrating. So to be able to deal with and perform as well as he did is extraordinary, and he’s got to have some credit for that.

“None of us is perfect. The team’s made some mistakes, we’ll make more mistakes. We don’t want to, but that’s life. We’re pretty open and honest about things, we don’t conceal them, and that allows people to take a view on it and amplify it.

“As a team we’ve got to try and get better, Lewis has got to try and get better as a race driver, but I think he drove from very difficult circumstances, five times through the pitlane, to score valuable points and a strong fifth place like that was a great drive.”

Asked whether it was time for him to sit down and have a chat with Hamilton, Whitmarsh said: “Believe or not I sit down with Lewis quite frequently, and we talk about lots of things. I think now’s the time to reflect on what happened here. I think Lewis is incredibly self-critical. He’s done a fantastic job to recover the situation, but it was a very tough race for him.

“Lewis is a great driver. There are five races, I’m sure we’ll see some absolute classic Lewis drives in the remaining five races of the year.”

Macca captured in action by this blog a couple of years ago

Paul McCartney is to be the headline act at the Abu Dhabi GP, and will play on the Sunday night after the race.

It will be the former Beatle’s first ever appearance in the UAE.

It’s a massive coup for the organisers and without a doubt the biggest musical draw yet added to an F1 weekend, trumping the likes of Metallica’s upcoming appearance in India and The Who in Australia in 2009.

Others appearing will be Britney Spears (the 11th) and Incubus and The Cult (on the 12th).

Felipe Massa was furious after the Singapore GP after once again his race was compromised by a clash with Lewis Hamilton.

Massa picked up a puncture in the incident, but was able to recover to ninth place.

The two had already had a territorial dispute on the track during qualifying. After the race he had a brief confrontation with the British driver, who was conducting a TV interview at the time.

“My thoughts are again, as I told you yesterday, he cannot use his mind, even in qualifying, so you can imagine in the race – again,” said Massa of the collision. “What he did, he could have caused a big accident. And he’s paying for that. That’s the problem, he doesn’t understand, even paying for a problem, you know. Anyway, the problem is that I was in the middle and I had a puncture in my tyre, so I paid a lot.”

Massa added that his strategy had not worked out for him.

“I was not even lucky with the safety car, because I stopped and put the supersoft at that moment to gain lap time, but then after five laps, six laps, the safety came and I had the wrong tyres to finish the race.

“So I was not very lucky as well with the strategy, and also again something happened with a guy who did it how many times with me this year, so many times. As I said it’s important that the FIA is looking and penalising him all the time he is going in the car because he cannot be thinking about it.”

Team Lotus has extended its engine deal to 2013, the last year of the V8 engine formula.

In addition the team will have KERS for the first time next year on top of its existing deal with Red Bull Technology for the supply of gearboxes.

Like the other new teams Team Lotus has given up lap time this year due to lack of KERS, although not enough to have moved the green cars up the grid.

Team boss Tony Fernandes said: “Having established an incredibly good working partnership since the first days of our agreement we are absolutely delighted that Renault Sport F1 and Red Bull Technology will be playing such an integral role in the ongoing development of our team until at least 2013, and then we are aiming to keep working together when the new rules are introduced.

“They are both passionate, dedicated teams of people with whom we have a growing relationship that is creating a number of exciting opportunities for us for the future. They share our vision for where we want to take our team, and we are very proud to have their power pushing us forward.

“Not only will we be able to build on everything we have learnt through working with Renault and Red Bull Technology in 2011, but we will now have the added benefit of KERS for next year, which really is a major step forward for our team. We have done the very best job we can this year but without that extra power we are always competing on a different level to the teams ahead, so to give our drivers that boost is a key element of helping us catch the cars ahead, and compete with them when we do so.”

Christian Horner added: “We’re very happy to extend the relationship between Red Bull Technology and Team Lotus, which already utilises our gearboxes, to include KERS for 2012 onwards. This endorses the joint venture between Renault Sport F1 and Red Bull Technology, which will continue to develop in the coming months. Hopefully this will enable Team Lotus to build on the significant progress they have already made this season.”

Fernando Alonso says he’s not disappointed to be only fifth on the grid in Singapore, and the Ferrari ace remains convinced that he has a good chance of making progress in the race.

Alonso believes that the fact that his car is kinder on its tyres than some of its rivals will pay dividends.

“I think I’m happy because it’s the place we deserve, it’s the maximum we can achieve so we have to be happy to exploit the potential of the car,” said the Spaniard. “But I think when you see the final times and you see that with one tenths we were third, that can change your race if you are third or fifth. Unfortunately we are the fifth one today, and tomorrow we will try to recover.

“The start will be important, the high degradation of the tyres will play a big role tomorrow, and also there is the possibility of safety cars, some people will come in, some people will stay out, if we make the right calls tomorrow in the right moments, the podium possibility is still there.”

Alonso said he hadn’t ruled out the possibility of winning in Singapore once again: “Winning the race is not out of the question, but we need some help from the others.

“We’ll see. It’s possible, yes. As I said I think there will be many different strategies in different parts of the race, there are the two compounds o the tyres and it’s not clear which one is better to use in the race. I’m sure that there will some mix of strategies. If you make the right one you recover places very quickly. As we saw this year with the KERS, DRS etc, it’s easy to overtake. I’m still confident.”