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Ferrari chassis boss Pat Fry says that the team is still developing this year’s car, and suggests that there is still useful potential in it – and that the benefits will also go into next year’s model.

He also says that the Silverstone win, the first of 2011, was a huge boost for the Italian team.

“The main satisfaction was that it was great to get a victory in Silverstone after all the hard work of the past four months trying to close the gap,” said Fry on the Ferrari website. “And it was gratifying to see that it had paid off. It does not change our approach for the next few races.

“What that win does is show that we have understood our problems and we are working in the right direction. We will continue to develop the car as quickly as we can, and each step we make improves our understanding, which is important as it also impacts on work for next year’s car.

“We have a few more updates coming for this weekend at the Nurburgring and then one further update for Hungary the following week. We are keeping the pressure on to develop as much as we can before the summer break.”

Fry says he’s hopeful that the Nurburgring will suit the Ferrari, and believes that the car is now competitive on all Pirelli’s compounds.

“In a way it can be compared to Silverstone, in that it has long duration corners, even if they are more medium speed than high speed. Trying to find a balance through those corners is a little bit more difficult as it suits our car less than the brake-turn-accelerate type of circuit like Canada and Valencia.

“In terms of tyres, we will have the Medium and Soft again, a sensible choice for this track, and one which suits our car well. However, the last race showed we are making progress in adapting the car to all tyre types. Earlier in the year, in Barcelona for example, we struggled on the Hard tyre, but we have made improvements and our qualifying pace on Hard tyres in Silverstone was a match for others.”

Fry anticipates that the DRS might not be very effective this weekend: “We cannot be certain until we have run the cars on track, but at the Nurburgring, the DRS zone involves following someone closely through the high speed corner onto the back straight, which will be a little bit of a challenge for drivers to get within the regulatory one second gap to the car ahead before they are allowed to activate the system.

“This means the degree of difficulty should be similar to Silverstone, rather than somewhere like Canada or Valencia.”

Mark Webber and Sam Michael have joined forces to help raise funds for Australian Speedway legend Leigh Adams.

Adams suffered spinal injuries last month while practising for the Finke Desert Race off-road event, having recently retired from frontline speedway competition.

The two Aussie F1 personalities and journalist Norbert Ockenga have helped to gather items for an eBay auction which has now gone live. Paddock passes and signed bodywork are among the star attractions.

“He is a 10 times Australian speedway champion and he raced in the world championship for about 15 years, winning multiple GP’s before returning to Australia about six months ago,” said Michael. “He’s basically the Peter Brock of speedway in Australia!  Now he has a long rehab road in front of him, with his wife and two kids as well.

“Leigh is a die hard racer and not short of friends in the F1 paddock including myself, Mark Webber and Norbert Ockenga. With the kind help of others, we’ve managed to pull together some items to auction to raise money for his rehab.”

The eBay member name is ‘leighadamsrehabauction’, or you can copy this link:

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/leighadamsrehabauction

“I am hugely relieved to have recently been given the OK to stop wearing a neck brace that was driving me crazy,” said Adams on his website today. “Not having the neck brace makes everyday tasks that bit easier. I’m happily propelling myself around in a wheelchair and I’m already looking ahead to a lighter, more agile design to aid my increasing mobility.

“My plans for the future will require some initial lifestyle changes, but remain relatively unchanged. My goal is to enjoy time in Australia with my family and to continue with my plans to conduct Speedway training schools across the nation and to develop junior speedway bikes.”

The FIA has now formally confirmed that engine mapping will revert to the Valencia rules for the remainder of 2011, following the agreement made amongst the teams last weekend. As stated here previously they have also agreed not to protest each other.

Meanwhile the FIA has released a Q&A that gives its side of the story and especially what happened at Silverstone:

This issue arose shortly before the Spanish Grand Prix. Was it initiated by the FIA or did it come from an F1 team?

The matter was initiated by the FIA when facts concerning some quite extreme, and hitherto unseen, engine mapping began to emerge. We were concerned that exhaust tailpipes were being positioned and engine maps created with the primary objective of improving in the aerodynamic performance of the car. Prior to that it had been assumed that any aerodynamic benefits were incidental to the primary purpose of the engine and its exhausts, i.e. that of generating torque.

Why did you decide to act?

We decided to act as, not only did we consider such extreme mapping to be arguably illegal, but also if such freedom was left unchecked it would result in the teams incurring significant further development costs during the season.

Is the off-throttle blown diffuser illegal under the 2011 technical regulations?

We certainly consider them to be questionable, however, the key is whether or not we consider any particular engine map to have been created for any other reason than the generation of engine torque.

Is its illegality an unforeseen side-effect of the rule to ban F-Ducts?

No, the two are unconnected.

Why was it not possible to simple introduce blanket limits on hot and cold-blowing and apply them equally to every car?

This is precisely what we attempted to do in the first communication to the teams on 12 May. However, it soon became apparent that the matter was more complex than initially thought. The main problem was the difficulty of ensuring that teams were not prevented from using existing legitimate strategies whilst ensuring that the extreme mapping was no longer possible. This is why we postponed the introduction of the measures until the British Grand Prix. There are also a number of other mechanical factors to take into account such as the architecture of the engine throttles themselves (butterfly or barrel operation).

What were the measures that were introduced for the European Grand Prix in Valencia?

Whilst examining the engine maps from several teams it became clear that extreme solutions were being used for short times in qualifying and then being changed for more durable solutions for the race. The felt that this was certainly against the spirit of the parc ferme regulations but, more importantly, the relevant regulations simply do not allow changes to be made whilst the cars were being held under parc ferme conditions, connections to the car may be made and electronic units freely accessed, however, no changes to the set-up of the car can be made. We therefore informed the teams on 14 June that we would take these measures in Valencia, this was done and cars run accordingly with very few difficulties.

Why was the matter still being discussed over the weekend of the British Grand Prix, and why did the clarification change from Friday to Saturday?

The matter was still being discussed because one engine manufacturer (Renault Sport) was reluctant to run with the settings we had imposed and continued to try and convince us that they would require alternative settings in order to maintain their perfect reliability record. At the last minute additional information was provided to us which we felt would be hard to refuse having already made a small concession to another manufacturer (Mercedes Benz HPE). However, further discussions on Friday evening and Saturday morning resulted in us deciding that we had conceded too much and, to be fair to the manufacturers who had presented cars in what we considered the correct configuration, we should revert to the specification we had specified in our note to the teams on 20 June. This is how all teams then ran on Saturday and Sunday in Silverstone.

What was the purpose of holding two Technical Working Group meetings in Silverstone?

Following the events of Friday the FIA President felt that it would be useful to have an open discussion in order to see if consensus could be reached. Following these two meetings there was unanimous agreement among the teams to revert to the engine mapping regime used in Valencia, i.e. freedom on settings but no changes to the maps between qualifying and race. This was felt to be the most sensible solution to a very complicated matter as the possibility of finding an alternative solution, which would be fair to all engine manufacturers, was becoming increasingly unlikely.

If the FIA had not acted, would there have been a protest?

As all the teams had reached consensus there would have been no point in doing so.

Has the matter now been settled?

Yes, and all cars will run under ‘Valencia’ conditions for the remainder of the season.

Are there likely to be any protests now that this matter seems to have been settled?

We are optimistic that there will be no protests over any engine mapping and exhaust tailpipe issues this season. In addition to the main part of the agreement reached in the TWG meetings it was also agreed that no team would raise a protest against another on these matters for the rest of the season.

What will happen in 2012 and beyond?

The teams have already agreed to strict constraints on exhaust tailpipe position which will result in them exiting the bodywork much higher up and no longer in the vicinity of the diffuser. Therefore, any aerodynamic benefit from exhaust gas flow over bodywork will be kept to an absolute minimum. Engine mapping will remain free (within the existing constraints of the FIA SECU) as, with the exhaust tailpipes in this new position, it is felt that any aerodynamic benefit will now be incidental to their primary purpose.

Jenson Button has defended the McLaren mechanics in the light of his disastrous pit stop at Silverstone.

Button was battling with Mark Webber for third place and was hoping to come out of the pits ahead of the Aussie, who had just stopped. He was waved out without the front right wheelnut fitted, leading to instant retirement – and later a token $5000 fine for an unsafe release.

“We have a lot of practice in overtaking, and sometimes we make a mistake on that,” said Jenson. “I’ve tried doing a pit stop myself, and I know how difficult it is. When you’re in the heat of battle and you’re fighting another car, trying to get out of the pits as quick possible, sometimes this happens. We’ve just got make sure that we limit the mistakes, because it was one mistake after another.

“The wheel came off basically, we didn’t put a nut on the front wheel. The first nut flew off into the garage, and I think when he reached round to find another nut, or to get the second gun, I think the guy on the front jack thought that was a sign to go, and he dropped the car.

“And then the lollipop man goes off the jack man, and he lifted the lollipop, and then we went. It’s a mistake obviously. But this sort of thing happens when you’re fighting, and especially fighting for position. It was very close with Mark and myself. It could have been a great stop, but it went the other way, and my wheel fell off. Not great.”

Button says he could have come out in front of Webber, in which case he could have been in a position to chase down second placed Sebastian Vettel before the flag.

“We waited for him to pit, and then we pitted on the next lap, and I think I equalled my best time on that lap. The pace was good. I came in the pits, I had a good entry, I think I got the fastest last sector of the race coming into the pits.

“I don’t know where I would have come out, but the team think I would have come out alongside Webber, if not in front. Our aim was to pit on a different lap to him because the pace of my car was better than the three cars in front.

“When you’re in the heat of battle like we were with Mark, these things can happen. It’s either a really quick stop, or something bad happens. Something bad happened this time and it was disappointing, but we’ll learn from this, and hopefully it won’t happen again.”

Red Bull Racing’s decision to tell Mark Webber not to attack Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps at Silverstone has inevitably caused some controversy, even though team orders are now legal again.

Christian Horner made it clear after the race that he wasn’t happy that the Aussie had ignored instructions from his engineer. In the end Horner had to intervene personally, saying ‘Mark, you need to maintain the gap.’ Afterwards he insisted that he’d made the right call.

“About four laps from the end we felt it had gone far enough now,” said Horner. “From a team point of view, a big pool of points on the table today, and it made absolutely no sense to risk seeing both cars in the fence. So from a team perspective at that point we said OK, that’s enough.  It’s time to consolidate those points.

“At the end of the day the team is the biggest thing, no individual is bigger than the team. I can understand Mark’s frustration in that, but had it been the other way around, it would have been exactly the same.

“It happened a couple of years ago in Turkey, where exactly the same happened with Sebastian. It makes no sense from a team point of view to risk both of your cars, and it was obvious that neither was going to concede.

“As we saw with Massa and Hamilton at the last corner, who very nearly made contact, it made absolutely no sense from a team point of view to allow them to continue to fight over those last couple of laps. Mark obviously chose to ignore that, and didn’t make the pass in any event. That is the team’s position.”

Horner stressed that the constructors’ points were a priority.

“At the end of the day, the team championship is every bit as important as the drivers’ championship to us. And we risked giving away 33 points today in the last three laps by allowing our drivers to fight it out.

“As we have seen previously, that can have dire consequences. We said, OK, we’ve allowed them to race up until that point and, with three laps to go, rather than risk both of them being in the fence, it was the right decision. And as a team it was absolutely the right decision.

“I can understand that sometimes a driver will be frustrated with an instruction, but my responsibility is that a team optimises its results. And there would have been absolutely no benefit in both cars coming back in a tow truck today if they had got together.”

Horner denied that Webber was being held back in any way: “If you look we also gave Mark an undercut at both the first two stops. We didn’t stop them racing each other at the start. There comes in a point in a race with two or three laps to go, when you’ve got a lot of points, both cars are on the podium, it would be absolute stupidity to allow them to race. We saw it get very, very close between the two of them, and we would have looked pretty stupid if they’d have both ended up in the fence.

“I can understand Mark being frustrated, but at the end of the day he drives for a team. We all work for the team, no individual is bigger than the team, and the most important thing is optimising the team’s results.”

Lewis Hamilton gave his loyal British fans something to cheer when he finished fourth at Silverstone, having survived a spectacular last corner clash with Felipe Massa – and avoided any censure from the stewards.

Hamilton’s official margin over the Brazilian was just 0.024s.

Lewis was fastest at some points in the race, but was badly compromised when he was told to save fuel, having gone ‘over budget’ when his early pace proved faster than expected. The fuel saving in turn left him struggling with lack of brakes in the latter stages.

“Unfortunately about 20 laps from the end I had to save fuel, massively,” said Hamilton. “So I had to give Mark Webber the position. They kept telling me, and on the last lap they said I can push. I said, ‘Thanks!’ After I’d let him catch me up… I was not giving him that position, no way.

“I was struggling massively, because I was having to fuel save. That means you’re having to lift and coast. It means my brake temperatures had dropped. I had no brakes pretty much, that’s why I kept locking up, my left front was just cold. I knew braking into there I was going to struggle. I tried to keep myself on the inside, he braked massively late on the outside. I was stopping as fast as I could, and then he just tried closing the door I guess, and we came together.”

Hamilton admitted that driving to save fuel wasn’t much fun.

“You’re always trying to drive a fine line. The guys in front, they didn’t look like they had to save fuel. That’s not a positive on our side. They told me to go to this delta, and I want to make sure I’m always there, not too much, not too little, I don’t want to save too much fuel, I want to keep my position. I did the best job I could. I’m so grateful, the support I had when I crossed the line was if I had won.”

The blown diffuser saga is – we hope – finally over as all 12 teams have now agreed to return to the rules as they were in Valencia.

In a meeting this morning 10 of the teams signed a five-point letter of agreement, while Ferrari and Sauber initially declined to do so. However, while some team principals were in the meeting, Ferrari was represented only by technical director Pat Fry and engine chief Luca Marmorini, and presumably they felt they had to check with their boss before making any commitment.

Between the meeting and the race Martin Whitmarsh also had contact with Domenicali, who then told the McLaren chief on the grid that his team now agreed with the proposal. Sauber, who had apparently said that if they were the only dissenter they would agree, also signed.

The basis of the agreement is that everyone accepts the rules as in Valencia, and agrees not to protest on the matter in the course of the season.

Although he declined to confirm publicly that he had signed, Domenicali conceded that a solution was on the way.

“This situation was not good for anyone,” said Domenicali. “We need to draw a line and look ahead, because otherwise, where are we going? Even if I don’t agree that for the process that was taken, I think for the benefit of the sport we took that action.”

In another era one might imagine a scenario where Ferrari said ‘we like the rules as we are now,’ but things have changed at Maranello under Domenicali.

But equally having won what is likely to be the only race of 2011 under the ‘legal’ diffuser rules Ferrari will clearly score some PR points by then handing back the advantage it apparently had this weekend.

“When you think of the bigger picture, you have to have a wide opening in your mind,” said Domenicali. “I have to sayI don’t think a lot of people would behave like we are.”

Ferrari and Sauber have declined to sign an agreement that would see the exhaust/diffuser rules return to Valencia spec from the next race in Germany.

That means that overnight Williams changed its mind and said yes, while Ferrari did the opposite and said no. Sauber has held firm, with team boss Peter Sauber believed to be frustrated by the pressure being applied by Red Bull on the issue.

It’s worth noting that after saying yes in yesterday morning’s meeting Ferrari put both its cars on the second row in qualifying, with a smaller time gap to the pole than the team has had all year, suggesting that the team is not unhappy with the current 10% rules.

In today’s Technical Working Group meeting a letter was signed by 10 of the teams, with Christian Horner doing most of the lobbying.

One alternative discussed today was for all the engine manufacturers to come up with a throttle opening percentage that would equate cold blowing to hot blowing between different engines in terms of the volume of gas produced.

The next step could be another meeting next week, but the FIA told the teams that unless agreement is reached by the end of next week, then Germany will also be run to the current 10% rules.

Intriguingly it seems that Jean Todt was one of the motivating forces behind the offer the FIA gave the teams to come to an agreement to drop the 10% rule.

The blown diffuser saga could be ended tomorrow if all 12 teams sign a letter agreeing to return to the rules as they were in Valencia.

If agreement is reached then we will revert to the old interpretation of the rules for Germany, and the 10% throttle limit for Silverstone will have been a one-off.

In today’s hastily arranged meeting of the Technical Working Group all the teams bar Sauber and Williams provisionally agreed to the proposal. FOTA has taken on the task of composing the letter and getting it signed by all 12 teams, with Williams and Sauber expected to agree, having mulled over the consequences.

As suggested here earlier, a key part of the arrangement is that all the teams will have to agree not to protest on the matter in the future. It was the threat of protests that led to the clampdown in the first place.

In effect the FIA is acknowledging that despite its best efforts, it has proved impossible to come up with a solution to the problem of controlling blown diffusers that keeps everybody happy.

The problem goes away next year because exhausts will have to be directed away from the diffuser, so it will be impossible for anyone to gain any benefits.

Sam Michael of Williams told this blog that the other teams now have a better understanding of why there were concessions related to the Renault and Mercedes engines: “One thing we did get out of this morning’s meeting was a lot more clarity on what the Renault and Mercedes issues were, which we didn’t really know about. So that was made clear in the meeting – not 100%, but we have a better idea.”

Fernando Alonso is to get some extra mileage at Silverstone tomorrow morning when he has a go in a 1951 Ferrari 375.

Owned by Bernie Ecclestone, the car is the one used by Jose Froilan Gonzalez to win that year’s British GP – the first World Championship win for the Italian marque.

It was hoped to get Gonzalez over to the UK for the 60^th anniversary celebrations, but the 88-year-old was unable to travel.

He will however be in a TV studio in Argentina tomorrow to receive a message from the team. He doesn’t yet know that Alonso will be driving his old car.

Fernando has previously driven a similar car that was built for the Indy 500.