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Sebastian Vettel has played down his form at Monza today, despite setting a lap 0.6s quicker than anyone else in FP2.

Vettel insisted that the performance flattered him, and that the morning session – when he was fourth behind two Mercedes and a Ferrari – was more indicative of how qualifying might play out.

“It was a good day, that’s for sure, but we’ve got our feet on the ground,” he said. “It’s still only a Friday. I don’t know, maybe the others had some problems. But regarding ourselves, it was a good day, I didn’t have any issues with the car, it felt pretty comfortable.

“I’m sure it will be very tight, as we saw in first practice. Second practice, if you look at it too much, is a bit of a distraction. I think it will be close tomorrow in qualifying, with many cars in a couple of hundredths.”

Vettel said the car wasn’t quite right yet: “Obviously you always try to optimise. There’s always two or three things, even though the car was great, there are still two or three corners where you slide a bit more than you like.

“Surely today was positive, but it’s a long weekend. We’ll see what we can improve for tomorrow. I thought the balance was pretty strong, that’s a positive, but there’s always something that you can find tune.”

FIA presidential candidate David Ward has kickstarted his campaign by launching a website containing his manifesto, which he calls an ‘Agenda for Change.’

He has also written to member clubs in order to garner the support he needs to be formally nominated as a candidate for the December election.

In the letter, he explains why he is standing:  “Over the last year I have been approached by a wide range of FIA stakeholders encouraging me to be a candidate. The role of President of the FIA has not been something I have wanted or envisaged for myself. My preferred option is for a club President to serve as President of the FIA. Indeed it has been a long time since a club leader has also led the FIA. However, in the absence of another candidate I am interested to stand to promote an agenda of further governance reform.

“Under the leadership of both Max Mosley and Jean Todt there has been continual progress in shaping the FIA to meet the challenge it faces in a rapidly changing world. Jean Todt’s Presidency has solid achievements to highlight and I am still proud to have played a key role in his successful 2009 election. However, that does not mean that further change isn’t necessary to ensure that the FIA develops a governance system that meets global best practices.”

Requesting nominations, he says: “For my candidacy to be confirmed by mid-November I will need to have obtained nominations from 26 clubs, comprising nine ACNs, ten mobility clubs, and seven ASNs. I would be honoured, therefore, if your club would consider nominating me as a candidate for the position of FIA President for the election to be held on December 6th 2013.”

He concludes: “I passionately believe that the FIA has an important role to play as the defender of motorists and motor sport participants and as the guardian of safe and fair competition on road and track. All I would ask is for a fair hearing for the governance reforms that I believe are necessary to strengthen the effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of the FIA so that it can better serve the interests of its membership.”

More on his campaign can be found at: http://www.davidwardandteam2009.com.

Daniel Ricciardo made his first public appearance today since he was confirmed as a Red Bull driver for 2014, and the Aussie made it clear that he was pleased that there would be no more interrogations from the media about his future.

“I think it’s a bit of a relief now that there’s no more speculation and no more dodging questions and all the rest of it,” he said. “Everyone knows what’s happening, including me. It’s nice. It’s something to look forward to and obviously I’m very pleased with the news, but I have eight more races this year and looking forward to giving Toro Rosso a nice farewell I hope and I’ll put all my energy into that.

“I think this weekend will of course be a bit hectic because the news is fresh but I think from this point on it should start to settle down and get back to normal stuff.”

Ricciardo insisted that he didn’t know until last week.

“To be honest, in Spa, as I said, I still didn’t know – that was the truth. I found out, I think it was Wednesday that following week, so a few days before the announcement took place. I can confirm I still didn’t know at Spa, so no lies being told there.”

Regarding his target for next year, he said: “I would love to be as competitive as I can as quickly as possible, so for me, I’ll obviously finish the season as strongly as possible with Toro Rosso, but as soon as it’s finished, switch my focus to 2014, try and put in a really good off-season, at least do as much as I can to prepare myself to be there for the first race.

“I know it’s obviously not going to be as easy as it seems but the best thing I can do is push myself as much as I can. I have one of the best teammates in the world now to measure myself against so no better man to have but him and push myself as hard as I can.”

The Grand Prix of America in New Jersey does not appear on a provisional 2014 F1 calendar given to the teams and circulating in Monza today.

While the schedule won’t be definitive until the World Motor Sport Council approves it on September 27, it appears that there is little chance of the race being slotted in unless another event is dropped.

The schedule includes 21 races, including Russia, the already announced return to Austria, and a return to Mexico that has been rumoured for some weeks. The latter event is scheduled to run a week before Austin.

As expected India is absent, although the race is expected to return in 2015.

Korea, which many expected to be dropped next year, has been moved to the start of the year. It is now twinned with Shanghai. However, it is marked subject to confirmation, as indeed are Mexico and Russia, as the venues have to be formally approved.

New Jersey’s absence would appear to confirm that the promoters have not met their commercial obligations, and given that the event was already dropped from the 2013 calendar, a further reprieve appears unlikely.

“They have a contract,” Ecclestone told this writer at Spa. “If they can comply with the contract, we want to be there. If they come to me next week, and show they have complied with whatever it should be, it’s alright. They’ve got to finish the circuit, so they need to pay, and they need to comply with the conditions for us.”

2014 Draft F1 Calendar

Mar 16: Australia

Mar 23: Malaysia

Apr 6: China

Apr 13: Korea*

Apr 27: Bahrain

May 11: Spain

May 25: Monaco

Jun 8: Canada

Jun 22: Austria

Jul 6: Britain

Jul 20: Germany

Jul 27: Hungary

Aug 24: Belgium

Sep 7: Italy

Sep 21: Singapore

Oct 5: Japan

Oct 19: Russia

Oct 26: Abu Dhabi

Nov 9: Mexico*

Nov 16: USA

Nov 30: Brazil

*subject to confirmation by FIA

Red Bull has confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo will partner Sebastian Vettel in 2014.

While the decision was not unexpected, the team admits it had looked at some more experienced drivers, which presumably explains why it took a while for the announcement to finally emerge.

“Since joining F1 in 2011 I hoped this would happen and over time the belief in me has grown,” said Ricciardo. “I had some good results and Red Bull has decided that this is it, so it’s a good time. Next year I’ll be with a Championship-winning team, arguably the best team, and will be expected to deliver. I’m ready for that. I’m not here to run around in tenth place, I want to get the best results for myself and the team.

“I know the team quite well already since being its reserve driver in 2010, which should make the transition easier. It will be a great challenge to be up against Sebastian Vettel, I’m looking forward to that. My aim is to finish this season as strong as possible, for myself and Scuderia Toro Rosso. Then, once the off-season is here, I’ll be fully focussed on next year and the next stage of my career.”

Team boss Christian Horner said: “He’s a very talented youngster, he’s committed, he’s got a great attitude and in the end it was a very logical choice for us to choose Daniel. He joined the Red Bull Junior Team in 2008 and we’ve seen in his junior career in Formula 3 and Renault World Series that he’s capable of winning races and championships. He’s stood out in each of these categories and we’ve followed his progress with great interest.

“He’s got all the attributes that are required to drive for our team: he’s got a great natural ability, he’s a good personality and a great guy to work with. Daniel knows what the team expects from him; he’ll learn quickly and it’s very much a medium to long term view that we’re taking in developing him. The seat within the team is a wonderful opportunity and I think he’s going to be a big star of the future.”

Adrian Newey added: “We could have taken an experienced driver, somebody guaranteed to deliver to a relatively known level, or equally we could take on a much younger driver in the hope that they’ll develop to a very high level. We looked at the latter option and concluded that of the younger drivers, Daniel is the most promising. From Red Bull’s point of view that also fits well because the driver that Christian and I feel is the most promising is part of the Red Bull young driver programme.

“The decision actually reminded me a little bit of a similar situation we had when I was at Williams. Nigel Mansell was leaving and we needed someone alongside Alain Prost. We could stick with Riccardo Patrese or take a punt on a young driver called Damon Hill who was our test driver at the time. I think it’s good to bring young blood in and give promising drivers a chance.”

Sam Michael expects McLaren to show good form at Monza, where teams will run even lower downforce levels than seen at the last race in Belgium, where Jenson Button finished sixth.

“It’s not really the same as Spa,” Michael told this writer. “At Spa you have a trade-off between sector two, which is maximum downforce, and one and three which are minimum downforce. Monza is obviously all low downforce so it is a different aerodynamic track. But we should be good there as well, I think.”

In recent years teams have not always run with ultra low drag in Italy.

“People have run a bit more downforce at Monza since DRS started. The only reason why you ran really low was to give yourself overtaking capacity. Once you have DRS you can overtake anyway, so you don’t have that requirement anymore.”

Meanwhile Michael says he was happy with progress at Spa, where Button had to abandon his plan to stop only once.

“It was where I expected it to be, to be honest. A top six performance is about where the car is. I think probably the pace in the first stint was where we couldn’t run with the guys, that’s really where we lost it. The pace after that wasn’t bad. We knew one stop was going to be very hard if you didn’t get to lap 20, and that was right. We didn’t give on it completely at the first stop, but we did later.

“We gave up on the one-stop when the front tyres gave up – Jenson called that. You could see the lap time drop pretty dramatically. And we wanted to cover Grosjean as well.

“Sergio’s pace was also good, but unfortunately he had the penalty. You have to respect the stewards’ decision. The rule is there about crowding, the stewards make the choice, and you respect it. But apart from that, his pace was good.”

The FIA Foundation’s director general David Ward has resigned his post in order to challenge Jean Todt for the FIA Presidency.

In a statement Ward said: “After much careful thought I have decided to stand as a candidate in the 2013 FIA Presidential election. The election period begins in September and it will be necessary for me to approach FIA members to secure nominations. In these circumstances I think that the correct course of action is to resign.

“Election processes inevitably involve robust and lively debate, and whilst the Foundation is independent and there is no legal requirement for me to resign, I believe that it is in the best interests of the charity that I stand down now.”

Formerly an advisor to the Labour party, Ward has been involved with the FIA since 1996, in a variety of roles. An associate of former president Max Mosley, he is very well connected.

The FIA Foundation’s website reveals just how many hats he has been wearing of late: “He is the Executive Secretary of the independent Commission for Global Road Safety, a member of the Executive Board of the World Bank’s  Global Road Safety Facility, and represents the  FIA Foundation in the United Nations Road Safety  Collaboration and is the Co-Chair of its Vehicle Safety Project Group.

“He is also a Trustee of the International Road Assessment Programme. David is also involved in environmental issues. He is co-chairman of the Global Fuel Economy  Initiative and represents the FIA Foundation in the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles  managed by the UN Environment Programme.”

One close associate of Mosley told this blog earlier this year that he would love to see Max return and challenge Todt. Ward will now pick up that support and possibly a bit more as well…

Adrian Sutil has blamed Pastor Maldonado for the “stupid” move that saw the pair make contact at the Spa chicane.

Sutil was able to continue unharmed, but the Williams driver then slammed hard into Paul Di Resta, knocking the Force India driver out of the race. Maldonado later received a stop and go penalty from the stewards.

“You know with certain drivers you have to be a bit more cautious and careful,” Sutil told this writer. “Maldonado hit my left rear tyre, and I wasn’t sure if it was still OK. I think what he was trying to do was absolutely stupid. I don’t know, what can you say?

“If you are absolutely on the outside and there are three cars on the inside and you want to go inside to the pits, well you can’t. You have to sometimes think a little bit earlier. He almost took me out of the race, he took Paul out of the race, and Gutierrez was also close to getting out of the race.”

Meanwhile Di Resta said: “I don’t see myself at fault in any way, shape or form on that one. He wasn’t going to make the cone in the pits so I don’t know what he was trying to do, I don’t know where he was going.”