Adam Cooper F1

Fernando Alonso says that McLaren’s double finish in China was a big step forward for the team – and he expects more progress this weekend as more is learned about the package.

Alonso, who finished the Shanghai race in 12th place, believes that McLaren could make Q2 this weekend if everything goes right.

“We both finished the race because we had some new parts in the car to avoid the problems of the Malaysia retirements,” he said in Bahrain today. “Being able to finish the race was a good step forward because there was a concern again that finishing the race was not a possibility. So I think that was a good step forward and in terms of performance we were a little bit up and down during the weekend. Good on on Friday, more or less OK on Saturday, on Sunday some parts of the race we were competitive, some not. And we know the reasons, so in terms of performance there are things that we will improve here hopefully.”

Asked if he could make Q2 this weekend he said: “The cars are very similar to China, not only for us, but for everybody, because it’s only four days between China and here, so I don’t think the performance will change so much, but the goal is still to keep improving, and if the track characteristics and the weekend go well for us then Q2 is possible, if it doesn’t go in the right direction maybe Q2 is not possible. Many things we need to learn.

“There is a good programme of testing tomorrow, with some aerodynamic parts in FP1, some tyre testing, and some other set-up changes in FP2, so this is the key part of the weekend for us, to keep improving and not to concentrate in position 15, or 13, or 17. This is a little bit of a second priority at the moment, until we don’t find for important things, to be 15 or 17, it doesn’t change too much. But if we make sure that all the direction we are going is the right one, this is the key performance.

Alonso doesn’t believe that the Bahrain circuit will suit the car more than China.

“I’m not sure… I don’t think so. I don’t think that there are big differences between here and Shanghai for our performance. As I said at the moment it’s important and we are racing, but it’s not a matter of one position or two positions when you are in this kind of area. The important things are on Fridays and the direction we may take for Barcelona.”

Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost continues to be impressed by the form of both Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz thus far in 2015.

Verstappen was particularly strong in China before he retired in the closing laps.

“It was a fantastic race from his side especially regarding the tyre understanding, the tyre usage,” Tost told this writer. “And also from the car. It’s encouraging, but at the end you need a result! Only this counts. We are convinced that Red Bull made the right decision with Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, and the results show this.”

Regarding Verstappen’s impressive start to the season he said: “He is a very high skilled driver, and also his commitment and attitude is very positive. He’s spending a lot of time with our engineers, they analyse everything. He’s learning very fast, his gradient on the learning curve is very steep. I must say we are more than happy with both drivers because they’re doing a really good job.

“Of course we must provide them with the best possible material so that they can show their talent and they can finish the race within the points, and this is possible, under normal circumstances.

“In Sepang we had a fantastic race result. Here we had a bad race result. We think we know the reasons why, and that also belongs to the education process. It forms the character of everybody.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says it’s no surprise that emotions are running high in the Lewis Hamilton v Nico Rosberg battle – and he insists that the team doesn’t want to put a stop to it.

It’s been apparent since Ferrari’s win in Sepang that it will be harder for the team to manage the dynamic between the two drivers.

“After the wake-up call in Malaysia, it was satisfying to see how the team pulled together for the race in China,” he said in a team preview. “We did our homework, made improvements and scored a strong one-two finish. But China also confirmed that Ferrari will be a threat in all conditions this year, not just when it’s very hot, and that we will have new challenges to face as a team, with another competitor who is much closer to our level of performance.”

Regarding Hamilton and Rosberg in China he said: “We saw tensions between Nico and Lewis in the race, and we tackled them directly on Sunday night to stop anything carrying over to this weekend. When you have intense competition, it’s normal that it causes emotions to run high – and that’s not something we want to change.

“But both drivers are now very focused on delivering maximum performance in Bahrain and our package should cope well with the demands of the circuit. We maintain our philosophy of letting the drivers race – but they both know that the number one priority for the team is to win for Mercedes-Benz.”

McLaren boss Eric Boullier says that the double finish for Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in China was a boost for both the team and order

It was also positive to see that the drivers could at least fight with other cars on Sunday.

“It was good for their motivation and good for us, and at least we got some excitement during the race,” the Frenchman told this writer. “We’re still frustrated because we’re not where we want to be, but definitely happy because we had a reliability package, and we had an absolutely troublefree race.

“That’s new for us, a good achievement for Honda, and I think a good reward for both of us. Now we have achieved this we can power up again because we know there is some potential still in this power unit, before we go to the next power unit upgrade.

“In an ideal world we would have loved to gone to Australia and go for pole even if you blow up the engine at the first corner! But we can’t do that. Especially after the winter testing issues we had we are obviously unsure about the reliability so we had to be very constructive let’s say, and in some ways conservative.”

Boullier says while there will be less of a jump in Bahrain, the package is constantly getting better.

“To be honest with you we want to keep bringing performance like we do. We are not gaining a tenth like you normally do at a race, we are gaining half a second. I’m not sure in Bahrain we’ll have half a second, because it’s a back to back race, but we need to keep this development pace. We are now close to the midfield pace so we can maybe break into that group in the coming races. That’s the target – but our real target is the top spot.”

Toto Wolff has reiterated that after China Mercedes may have to focus more on how best to manage the team’s two drivers in the light of the increasing challenge from Ferrari.

He stressed that the priority was team wins, and that might involve interference in the Hamilton/Rosberg fight.

However Wolff, who already said after Malaysia that strategies might be split, insisted he wouldn’t be telling the drivers to hold position and not fight each other.

“It could come to a situation where you see that we are risking the win against the Ferrari that we night do any unpopular call,” said Wolff. “We wouldn’t freeze anything like this, that is something that we decided not to do, but it could be a situation where we need to manage them more.

“Our objective number one, and this is what we decided with the drivers, is that we have a big responsibility to the team, to a big brand. It’s not just about the two guys out there but about a thousand people working on those cars. And if it would ever come to the call between interfering between the two of them because we risk to lose a race, then we would do that. We don’t have the gap any more from last year where we can just let them push each other until the very end. We need to manage the gaps between the two of them.”

Regarding any ‘hold station’ orders he said: “What we understand as a clear team order, which we’ve seen in the past, is saying ‘you’re not allowed to overtake,’ because you’re the faster car for example. This is not something I can honestly see happening.

“I can see why teams in the past did it, because they were under threat of losing a championship. Knock on wood we haven’t been in that situation yet, but managing more, without making such a drastic call, is within the possibility now.”

A little over six months after his accident in Suzuka the condition of Jules Bianchi remains unchanged, according to his father.

A clearly emotional Philippe Bianchi spoke for the first time in some weeks in an interview with Nice-Matin.

“The only thing we can say is that he fights with force, as he always fought before and after the accident,” said Bianchi Sr. “Every day, Jules is doing a marathon. From a medical point of view, his condition is stable. He is fairly autonomous. No physical problem. All his organs are working without assistance. But for now, he remains unconscious, in a coma.

“For this kind of trauma, as we know, evolution is very slow. Compared to what was said by the Japanese professor who was immediately operated in Yokkaichi, this is already day and night. There, when we arrived, with Jules‘s mother, there was no hope. The prognosis was alarmist. There was talk of irreversible damage, and a one year period at least before the transfer, which was finally done after seven weeks, as he quickly could breathe again on his own.

“Neurologically, the doctors told us that there is no specific intervention to do. Most importantly, to stimulate Jules is that he feels a constant presence at his side. That’s why we take turns every day, his mother, his sister, his brother and me. Also Gina, the German girlfriend of Jules, who lives here now.”

He added: “From time to time, at his bedside, we see that things are happening. At times, he is more ‘active,‘ he moves more, his hand shakes. But is it mere reflex reactions or real? Hard to know. The important thing is that he is followed by excellent specialists.”

Romain Grosjean’s seventh place in China was the Frenchman’s first score since the 2014 Monaco GP – and the Lotus driver dedicated the result to his countryman Jules Bianchi, who also made the points in that race.

China also came a little over six months after Bianchi’s accident in Suzuka last year.

“When I crossed the line there were big thoughts for Jules,” said Grosjean. “Last time I scored points he was scoring points as well. I think if I can give him a little bit of energy and a little bit of something for the fight he’s in – I believe if you never give up, it goes true.

“It was a shit day, that six months anniversary. It feels hard, he’s with me on my helmet, I’m sending him as much thoughts and power as I can from what we do. I’m just hoping that a miracle happens.”