Category Archives: Uncategorized

Felipe Massa lost a shot at a podium finish in Canada after he had to pit for a new nose in the last segment of the race, which dropped him down to sixth at the flag.

The Ferrari driver was tripped up when he came out of the pits on slicks and came across a slow moving Narain Karthikeyan.

“I feel really disappointed, because it was a great race for me,” said the Brazilian. “Everything was going very well during the whole race in the difficult conditions, and suddenly when I put the dry tyres on the out lap there was a Hispania, Karthikeyan I guess.

“He was very slow in the dry, because he was not doing right the corners, he was very slow. I passed him on the right and then my car was just driving on the ice, because it was wet. Then I lost the car, and I lost my podium. I lost even maybe the possibility to fight for the victory.

“It was a shame because it was a race to fight really there in the front.”

Karthikeyan had also just come out of the pits, and his unusual explanation for his lack of pace was that he didn’t know he had been given slicks, and had thus deliberately driven on the wet line…

“For whatever reason I didn’t get a call saying we were going to go on slicks, so in my mind I thought I was still on intermediates,” said the Indian. “And when I came out of the pits I realised that they were slicks, but it was too late because I was on the wet line and the car was sliding a lot.”

Lewis Hamilton was in surprisingly relaxed mood after the Canadian GP, given his short – and fraught – afternoon on the track.

When we caught up with him he insisted that he had no problem with his incident with Jenson Button, and was just happy to see McLaren win the race.

“I don’t know why I don’t feel too frustrated today, but I feel quite relaxed,” said Hamilton when asked for his thoughts by the BBC’s David Croft. “I think tricky conditions probably made it a lot less possible for people to see me behind, perhaps even more difficult than perhaps it would be in the dry.

“There were incidents that were unintentional, times that we came together, but I’m happy with the team, everyone’s wearing the red [victory] shirts, and you don’t see that in other teams where people celebrate like we do, so I’m happy.”

The reference to ‘the team’ was intriguing, given suggestions that he is considering a move elsewhere.

Meanwhile he confirmed that he and Button had talked during the red flag.

“When they had the long break Jenson came up to the room and just said ‘Sorry about that I didn’t see you,’ and I said, ‘Yeah my fault entirely, I was in the wrong place really at the wrong time,’ and that’s it. We’re good team mates, I think.”

He said that luck would turn his way in the future: “You know what, I think you make your own luck. I feel very blessed to be here still in F1, fit, healthy and alive and still racing. There are many, many drivers that wish they could be in our position.

“Of course you could always hope for things to be better, but good times do come to those who wait. So I’ll just bide my time and hope that at some stage it will be mine.”

The FIA Stewards – who this week include Emerson Fittipaldi and Teddy Mayer’s son Tim – have given unusually detailed explanations as to why Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso all escaped punishment after the two dramatic incidents involving the race winner.

With regard to the Button/Hamilton collision – which put Lewis out of the race – they said:

The Stewards have reviewed the Incident involving Car 3 (L. Hamilton) and Car 4 (J. Button) on their 7^th lap of the race. The Stewards reviewed the lines of several cars, including the two cars involved, using multiple angles of video evidence over several laps, the speed traces of both drivers, the GPS tracking data from the cars and have heard the drivers and team representatives.

The Stewards concluded that:

Exiting Turn 13 there was a legitimate overtaking opportunity for Lewis Hamilton as his speed was greater than Jensen Button’s.

Both drivers took lines substantially similar to many of the other drivers, and did not move as far to the left as the preceding driver, Michael Schumacher. At the moment after Hamilton moved to the left to pass, Button looked into his mirror. It appears from the position of Hamilton at that moment [and is confirmed by the drivers] that Button was unlikely to have seen Hamilton.

At the point of contact Button had not yet moved as far to the left of the track as he had on the previous lap, or that Schumacher had on that lap. The Stewards have concluded that it was reasonable for Hamilton to believe that Button would have seen him and that he could have made the passing manoeuvre. Further, the Stewards have concluded that it is reasonable to believe that Button was not aware of Hamilton’s position to his left.

Therefore, the Stewards decide that this was a “racing incident” and have taken no further action.

One intriguing point here is that the ‘drivers’ (ie both) evidently explained that Lewis was in Jenson’s blind spot, which begs the question why Hamilton took the risk of putting his nose in there in the first place…

In the case of the Alonso incident, they reported as follows:

The Stewards have reviewed video evidence and heard from the drivers and team representatives regarding the incident on Lap 38 at Turn 3 between Car 5 (F. Alonso) and Car 4 (J. Button.)

Car 5 was on an out lap having pitted. Car 4 appeared to be firmly established on the inside line prior to the entry of the corner and drove onto the kerb to avoid Car 5 on the outside.

In view of the conditions and the statements by both drivers and their team representatives, the Stewards decide that this was a “racing incident” and have taken no further action.

Lewis Hamilton is in the headlines again after his clash with Jenson Button in Montreal.

He had already tangled with Mark Webber at the first corner, meaning that he has now had four controversial incidents in two races.

Regarding the contact with Webber, he said: “He seemed to brake a little bit early, and I braked down the inside and tried to take the inside line.

“I was trying to overtake, I just understeered a little bit, and we collided. I haven’t seen it on the data, but it wasn’t intentional. I had a little bit of damage, but that’s racing.”

On the later incident, he said: “It appeared Jenson braked quite late and outbraked himself into the chicane, and he got a very poor exit, and I got quite a good exit and pulled up alongside him.

“He continued to pull across, whether or not he saw me or not, and there was no room for me, there was no run-off, so I was just in the wall. Kinda lucky we didn’t take both ourselves out.

“There was nothing I could do, it was too late for me to bail out. He just didn’t leave me any room.

“I don’t think it was intentional, I know Jenson quite well, he wouldn’t do that. I thought I was alongside him. Well, it doesn’t matter now.”

Asked what kind of discussion he might have with the stewards, Lewis said: “I have no idea. Have a safe trip home, hopefully.”

Hamilton said he was looking forward to the next race.

“Onwards and upwards, I just go the next one and try and stay out of trouble. It will be great if we can qualify a little bit higher, and maybe avoid being in these positions, but that’s the way it is.”

The FIA is pushing ahead with its clampdown on ‘extreme’ blown diffusers, commencing with the British GP next month.

On Saturday the FIA wrote to the teams to confirm that the ban on engine mapping influencing aerodynamics – which was put on hold after a previous attempt before the Spanish GP – would go ahead. It cites cost implications of a development race as the main reason.

Details will be discussed at next week’s meeting of the Technical Working Group, but the FIA insists that the principle aims will be maintained.

In addition the governing body intends to ban any kind of exhaust action on diffusers from 2012, with strict controls on exhaust exits by restricting teams to a basic ‘straight through’ layout, which will put an end to Renault’s system.

The Silverstone ban could affect the balance of power between the top teams for the remainder of this season, with Red Bull Racing likely to suffer more than anyone else.

Having honed their cars to work with the systems, teams will now have to revise them within a month. Ironically Ferrari has just made a step by getting more out of its diffuser this weekend.

McLaren’s Whitmarsh made it clear that he was happy with the change, while a frustrated Christian Horner told this blog that RBR took the opposite view

“I don’t think it will create a fundamental change to the picture,” said Whitmarsh. “But it will hurt some more than others. Depending on how optimistic you are feeling that day, you like to think that it will hurt others more than you! It will change according to which team, who’s exploiting these tactics the most. It’s been a moving feast. Here you can hear changes and difference in some teams [ie Ferrari’s exhaust note] which will not be there when we get to Silverstone.”

This blog has seen a copy of the technical directive, which justifies the clampdown as follows:

“It is clear that some engine control maps have become extreme both during overrun and acceleration phases and, combined with similarly extreme exhaust systems, have become powerful downforce generating devices. Such systems arguably contravene the F1 Technical Regulations by generating exhaust air flow that goes beyond their primary purpose, that of generating engine torque.

“There are clear indications that this is an active development area and far more extreme systems or procedures can be expected to appear.

“Additionally, the financial, technical and human resources required to support such developments, as well as the impact on engine reliability and on fuel consumption are totally contrary to the objectives pursued by the FIA, the teams and the engine manufacturers.

“The FIA intends to ensure that no engine mapping is used to artificially alter the aerodynamic characteristics of a car beyond the primary purpose of generating engine torque.”

McLaren and Lewis Hamilton have a great record in Montreal, but today the former World Champion couldn’t better fifth place in qualifying.

An improvement by Ferrari and lack of straightline speed – due Lewis said to a wrong decision over seventh gear – contributed to the Englishman’s disappointment. It was clear that he was trying to put on a positive public face.

“I feel OK, I feel happy within myself,” Hamilton insisted. “I don’t think I’ve ever driven the car so hard in my life, really. I was on such a ragged edge, I even touched the wall at one stage, I literally gave everything I could.

“We were also trying to use the tow of another car, because we were so slow on the straight – we had the wrong seventh gear in. So we were 10 kms or even more – 12 or 13 kms – slow on the straight, so we were losing a couple of tenths just on the straight. But I pushed as hard as I could. It seems the other guys have made a step forward, so back to the drawing board.”

Hamilton gave an enigmatic response when asked if he was hoping for better race form.

“I really, really hope so. We had a little bit of a bad news earlier on about something on the car. That will undoubtedly hamper our race pace.”

Lewis said he had no preference for a wet or dry race: “I don’t mind. I’d love a dry race, I think it would be great for all the fans. However it would be cool if it started dry and it rained half way through or something like that, and spiced it up a bit.

“I just want to finish tomorrow. Vettel’s gone, he’s on his way. It’s going to be very, very hard for us to catch him at this race. But I’m still hopeful. I don’t know when we’ve got anything coming, but I really, really hope that sometime soon we’ll have some positive steps on the car.”

Pedro de la Rosa had a lot of learning to do when he was thrown into the Sauber this afternoon with minimal preparation.

Although the 40-year-old drove for the Swiss team nine months ago, that car didn’t have KERS or DRS, and he hadn’t driven anything on track since a McLaren test in February.

“It’s an opportunity I did not expect,” said the Spaniard. “I want to do a good job, a solid job as normal, and try to build on today. Hopefully tomorrow my reactions will be more instinctive, and I don’t have to think before I press any button in the steering or somehow. I’m just happy to be here.

“We could use my seat from last year, which was absolutely very important and vital. All the rest, I went out with my McLaren overalls, boots helmet, we did a quick fix on the ear pieces just to match the radio systems from Sauber. The pedals were a compromise.”

Although he has run the 2011 systems in the McLaren simulator, those on the Sauber are different.

“The DRS, it’s the first ever time I’ve driven it in a proper race car, so it’s all new. It’s just a matter of pressing everything when you have, it’s just a matter of extracting the most out of KERS and DRS, and for me this is the point where at the moment I have more to learn. I’m not really disciplined enough with the buttons to extract 100%.

“I have to practice pit stops. Unfortunately I haven’t practised one start, so I need to do that.”

Fernando Alonso topped the times in Montreal on Friday, although the Ferrari driver was helped by a disjointed session which saw red flags disrupt the quick runs of many drivers.

Alonso was happy with progress, but he remains a little cautious.

“I think it was OK for us,” said Alonso. “Obviously we tried to concentrate on the two types of tyre, the soft and the supersoft tyre. We had a little bit of an aerodynamic programme this morning with some things to analyse on the rear wings, so we tried to complete our programme. We didn’t concentrate on the times or whatever so it’s always positive to see yourself in the first four or five positions at the end of the practice, but to be honest today is not really important.

“We also topped the practice in Monaco and then in qualifying Vettel was one second quicker than us. We know that tomorrow is the day to put everything and we know Red Bull will be very strong and probably the favourite, and also at the moment it’s supposed to rain, especially on Sunday. So the job we did today maybe just for practice because everything can change tomorrow.”

Alonso says Ferrari put a lot of effort into brakes today.

“We had obviously an intense programme on the brakes, we know that Canada is maybe the hardest circuit on the brakes. We had two types of brakes, a different type of cooling on the brakes, so Felipe and me combined the programme to have the best combination. We have to study the results now and prepare the car for tomorrow. But everything seems quite OK, we’re quite happy with the results.”

Regarding strategy, Alonso said: “In between two and four stops can be the possibility, quite an open race.”

Sergio Perez admits that he wasn’t feeling up to the job after the first session in Montreal today, leaving the team with no choice but to hurriedly put Pedro de la Rosa in the car.

“Of course I wanted to drive and I had no doubt I was alright,” said Perez. “But apparently this is unfortunately not the case. I am deeply disappointed. I spoke to the team after the session and told them that I’m not a hundred per cent fit. I only want to drive when I’m a hundred per cent well. I need some more time to recover.”

“This development hit us by surprise,” said Peter Sauber, “because Sergio underwent thorough medical checks, first in the hospital in Monaco, then in a hospital in Zürich, and finally, the FIA doctors gave him the green light this Thursday in Montreal. Nobody could have foreseen that he would feel unwell. Maybe we are being overly cautious, but when it’s about the health of our drivers we take zero risks.

“We want to thank Pedro de la Rosa and McLaren for helping us out in this situation.”

Pedro de la Rosa is to replace Sergio Perez in the Sauber in Montreal after the Mexican didn’t feel 100% after practice this morning.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh met Sauber management during the lunchbreak today and the Spaniard hurried down to the Swiss team’s garage with his luggage in tow.

Clearly there are massive contractual headaches to be overcome in such a short time but it seems that the two teams have dealt with it.

It remains to be seen whether he actually gets out in this session although his name is already on the timing screens.

De La Rosa drove for Sauber last season until being dropped in favour of Nick Heidfeld.