Category Archives: Uncategorized

The FIA’s Charlie Whiting has confirmed that there will be two DRS zones at each race – if the circuit layout allows it – starting from Montreal.

The two zones will have to be consecutive, as the wing will be activated at the same point.

In Montreal they will be the last straight and the pit straight.

Whiting said the software that allows the use of two zones first became available for Turkey, but it wasn’t yet proven.

“We only had the software available in Turkey,” he said. “I thought it was too new and I wanted to make sure there were no bugs in it. We didn’t think there was anywhere suitable here, because they have to be consecutive straights, ideally, because it becomes more complicated the further apart they are.

“The first realistic opportunity we felt was Montreal. And in Valencia as currently planned it will be between Turns 10 and 12, and again between 14 and 17.”

Despite being a second off the Red Bull of Mark Webber today Fernando Alonso seemed positive about prospects for the weekend.

Ferrari treid a lot of development parts today and Alonso said the best package would be on both cars tomorrow.

“We are testing so many parts and trying to analyse everything tonight and put the best combination tomorrow,” said Alonso. “There were new parts in my car. There were different parts in Felipe’s, so we need to make a mix now of what works, what doesn’t work, and tomorrow hopefully be more competitive.

“No surprises, Red Bull in front of everybody, I think there is this circuit and also Budapest we saw last year that it seems to suit their philosophy of car. We knew this, especially in qualifying it will be tough to beat them, but in the race everything seems to be more close,

“I’m sure that either McLaren and Ferrari will try to make some difficult time for Red Bull in Sunday’s race.”

Alonso admitted that the new hard tyre was a problem: “I think it’s a bit different. It was already a bit different in the first four races, and for whatever reason they decide to change the hard tyre to an even slower tyre, and now it’s difficult to think about Q1 with the hard tyre.

“So I think 95% of the people will try to use one soft – unfortunately – in Q1. We’ll see if someone takes the risk. But yes it’s a tyre that… better I don’t say anything!”

Lewis Hamilton has branded Pirelli’s new ‘super hard’ tyre a disaster after the first day of practice in Barcelona.

All drivers struggled for grip on the new tyre, and Fernando Alonso said it would be better if he didn’t say what he thought about it.

“The car was OK once we got to the better tyre,” said Hamilton. “I think everyone was much, much happier with the [soft] tyre. The super hard is a disaster, that wasn’t nice to drive. A two second difference, and they don’t last longer.”

Asked to elaborate he said: “It was feeling pretty poor this morning with the new super hard tyre, I don’t know why they’ve brought that tyre, because the previous tyre was pretty good. It looks pretty difficult to switch on, and then to last, it’s just sliding.

“I think we were about 2.5 seconds off the pace just with that tyre. Then we switched to the normal soft, and it was fantastic. I think you’ll see most people driving with that tyre for the weekend.”

Hamilton finished the session an encouraging second, only 0.03s behind Mark Webber’s Red Bull.

“I think we’re just as competitive as we have been perhaps in the past, but that doesn’t mean we’re actually close to them. We’ll wait and see tomorrow if we’re actually close to them. It really depends what engine modes they’re on and all that kind of thing.

“From the times it looks great, but usually when we get to qualifying they end up switching something on, and pulling out half a second. Undoubtedly they are the quickest car, on the long run they were still quicker than us.

“We made some small steps forward today, I think we improved a couple of small areas, which is good. The front wing, we put it on and it seems to be a little bit better. Globally, not too bad.”

Mark Webber gave himself a boost by topping the times in FP2 at Barcelona, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and his team mate Sebastian Vettel.

2010 Spanish GP winner Webber was a handy 0.362s ahead of the World Champion.

“One of our better Fridays actually, the car ran well, and we got a lot of information,” said the Aussie. “It’s the first time we’ve been to Barcelona in these temperatures, obviously in the winter when we’re here it’s much cooler, so it’s good to get both cars out there running round getting all the information we need for Sunday.

“The usual suspects are going to be there. We’re going to be towards the front, Ferrari and McLaren should be how it’s been the last two and half years so I don’t think it’s going to change this weekend.

“We go a lot slower because of the tyres. Last year we ran I think 1m19s, we know that ultimate grip is not there. Also the degradation, so we do similar lap times to GP2 on the long runs. This is how it is, the same for everybody.”

Webber admits that Barcelona is a track where things usually work out for him: “It’s nice to come here with a nice result from last year and also a solid result from the year before as well. It’s always been reasonable for me around here. I don’t try any harder than other venues, but it seems the results have come a little bit easier in the past. Of course I need to get my head down again this weekend, and do something similar.”

Ferrari hogged the headlines today by announcing that Fernando Alonso will stay on board until 2016.

The extension came as a surprise to the F1 paddock, and while no one doubted the commitment of each side to the other, a firm deal of that length is unprecedented.

On the other hand the Spaniard had already suggested that he would finish his career with the Scuderia, and given that he was never going to return to McLaren, sealing his deal now makes a lot of sense. It also leaves us wondering who might be a suitable team mate over the long term.

“It was good news for me, for my career to extend the contract and to make an extension to 2016,” said Alonso this afternoon. “As I also said last year the intention is to finish my career at Ferrari. I don’t imagine any other better place to race for a racing driver. I have been lucky to arrive here last year.

“I felt at home from day one and now I have this possibility to be racing here. At the end of 2016 it will be seven years in Ferrari, so I feel very privileged, very happy to that, and in 2017 we will see maybe another contract, if I am not too old at that point, and if Ferrari are still happy with me.

“It is not a big change in my mind or in my head as it was already for me very clear that I would race here for many years. Despite what the number of the contract said, which year it finished, the stability was already 100 per cent in my case and I felt the same with the team. This is just a public confirmation, nothing changed inside the team and stability is always good for a Formula One team.

“There are so many rule changes, so many things to look at, that for a driver point of view or a team point of view it is good to programme in the long-term to develop and to create a good partnership together and bring some success to Maranello.”

Alonso said that negotiations started and finished very quiuckly. “I think it was very easy, very simple for us. We started talking maybe one or two weeks ago, about the future. Both sides wanted to continue. I was very happy with the team; they seemed to be happy with me as well. So we said, OK, we make an extension of the contract. We arrived at the date of 2016 and everything is more clear for us, for the team members and for everyone: to have some stability, as we said. It was a decision from both sides.

“I think when both sides want to continue, it’s the best thing. You find a compromise, a decision, very, very quickly.”

While a long term commitment might seem like a gamble, he made the point that even in a bad year, Ferrari usually manages to finish no lower than third.

“Formula One is impossible to predict and it’s impossible to think about winning championships before I’ve even started. I think the intention is to keep enjoying racing. For sure, I think I’m in the best team possible to fight for World Championships. I think some other teams go up and down. They have good years and bad years.

“At Ferrari, in the worst season you finish third or second in the World Championship, so this is something that Ferrari can offer to a driver. So in these six years, I will try to enjoy racing and I’m sure that opportunity will come. Opportunity came last year. We missed it by only four points and hopefully we can repeat that fight and next time, hopefully, we can take it. But it’s impossible to predict…”

After the French media heard his side of the story over the Istanbul weekend Genii co-owner Eric Lux has now issued the following statement in the form of a press release from a Swiss legal firm:

“In the view of the recent events which occurred in Shanghai on 17 April, Mr Eric Lux has decided to file a criminal complaint against Mister Adrian Sutil for physical assault and grievous bodily harm.

“As soon as the complaint is registered, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the team Force India will be notified.

“Furthermore, please note that Mr Eric Lux does not exclude commencing an action against any other persons involved in this matter.”

Nico Hulkenberg has parted company with manager Willi Weber, who masterminded his rise through the ranks.

A statement on the Force India reserve driver’s website last night said: “Nico Hulkenberg and manager Willi Weber part their ways. The 23-year-old Formula 1 driver from now on takes management matters in his own hands.

“Both sides are currently working on a smooth changeover and on a satisfying solution for anyone. Hulkenberg will from now on be supported in executing his management issues by his former PR advisor Timo Gans. “

Raine Group LLC, described in the business media as a ‘boutique merchant bank,’ is the latest organisation linked with the News Corp/Exor consortium’s interest in F1.

The likes of Bernie Ecclestone, CVC and Jean Todt have downplayed any possibility of a serious bid, but the story continues to gather momentum.

Sky News’s business editor Mark Kleinman says that Raine has been in contact with News Corp/Exor about a possible investment.

It was recently reported by the Financial Times that Raine, which has links with IMG, has $500m to spend on sports/media/entertainment assets.

Intriguingly Jeff Sine, co-founder and CEO of the company, was previously associated with F1 sponsor UBS.

Mubadala  – the Abu Dhabi investment arm that a significant stake in Mercedes GP and is associated with Ferrari – has an investment in Raine.

Raine holds investments for a number of Hollywood stars, while other well known names involved in its fund apparently include Eric Schmidt  (executive chairman of Google), Sean Parker (former president of Facebook), Marc Andreesen (founder of Netscape), the Lee family (Samsung) and Terry Semel (former chief executive of Yahoo), all of whom carry some clout.

Felipe Massa says that he doesn’t know why Ferrari has been struggling in qualifying, but emphasies that under 2011 rules race pace is much more important than it was.

The Brazilian had a nightmare weekend in Turkey, starting 10th and finishing 11th after some glitches in the pits.

“It’s hard to pinpoint the exact reason,” said Massa on the Ferrari website on the car’s qualifying pace. “But let’s say it just seems to be a characteristic of the car, because even last year, we had a similar situation. I think qualifying is still important, but much less than before, like in the days when it was almost the most crucial part of the weekend, when overtaking another car during the race was so difficult.

“Even if qualifying is less important, there is nothing disappointing about that, because for the fans, it’s the race that counts as the most important part of the weekend, so the current situation is, in my opinion, good for the sport.”

Massa admitted he was disappointed by the pit stop problems in Turkey.

“As for the pit stop difficulties, I would say I had a few too many, because without them I was definitely heading for a top five finish. This was frustrating for me and for the team. We do a lot of pit stop practice, but that Sunday it just did not work properly.

“We will have to study the problem and try to be more consistent, because in a single stop, just a small delay in changing wheels and you can lose position, as happened to me in Istanbul.

“The pressure on the pit crew is now very great, because not only are they having to be perfect several times during a race, but also since the banning of refuelling, they no longer have that time cushion changing wheels, while waiting for all the fuel to go in. We all have to improve ourselves, drivers included, because our role in the pit-stop operations is very important as well.”