Adam Cooper F1

Felipe Massa says that the Malaysian GP team orders saga was “a mistake” by Williams – and insists that the team supports his opinion.

Massa insists that it had not been discussed in advance.

“This scenario was not discussed, definitely, before the championship,” he said. “Anyway what’s happened in the last race was a mistake. And this will come from the team as well, not just myself.

“What happened in the last race was not correct, and I’m sure the team will answer as well, what’s happened. Everything was clear in the table, I put my ideas in the table, with everybody inside the team, and I think that’s the most important thing. Going into details now, this and that, will not be the right thing. The right thing will be to speak inside, and I spoke, and I have no problems to say what I did in the last race for me was the correct thing to do.

“For sure I’m a very professional driver, I always was, and I will carry on being very professional, doing the best for my team, but doing the correct thing as well, doing the best for myself as well. We know that we need to do the best for the team all the time, but definitely I race for myself as well, my career is very important to me.”

His main point was that Malaysia was not the right time for team orders.

“Everything is agreed inside the team now. I have no problem to work for the team when it’s necessary, and when it’s the correct time.

“Team orders is part of our sport, but it needs to be part of our sport when it’s necessary, and I think everybody here is intelligent enough to understand when it’s necessary and when it’s not necessary, and this is when it counts.”

Massa admitted that the fact that the infamous phrase “faster than you” was used, as in the Alonso/Hockenheim affair. had not gone unnoticed: “Also in the same words as well! It was funny…”

This year’s Amber Lounge Fashion Monaco event will be in aid of the Brain & Spine Foundation.

The annual show, held on the Friday evening of the Monaco GP weekend, sees F1 drivers and their partners take to the catwalk.

The charity was chosen in the light of Michael Schumacher’s accident. Founded in 1992, the Brain & Spine Foundation assists people afflicted with severe brain and spine conditions.

“When I first heard news of Michael, it absolutely shattered me,” says Amber Lounge founder Sonia Irvine. “My brother, Eddie, had raced alongside Michael at Ferrari, and that’s when we became friends. I knew that the very least I could do was to help people who were in a similar condition to Michael but who do not have the resources to overcome their condition. Michael and his family will always have a close place in my heart and this year’s event will aim to raise as much as we can to support the Brain and Spine Foundation.”

The show features a charity auction and this year a new VIP experience called U*NITE. Amber Lounge says that “with one all-inclusive ticket, guests can dine on an exclusively designed menu, sit front row at the fashion show, set to be creatively spearheaded by luxe resort-wear design team Odabash & Macdonald, and dance until dawn alongside a buzzing crowd of celebrities and F1 drivers – whilst being given the opportunity to donate to the Brain & Spine Foundation.”

More information can be had from: http://www.amber-lounge.com/

Ferrari technical director James Allison is confident that the team can make good progress in the coming weeks, citing the improvement already seen between Australia and Malaysia.

“We are working in a constant way and with the highest levels of dedication in all the areas of potential development,” said Allison on the Ferrari website. “We brought a useful upgrade to the Malaysian GP, and were duly rewarded with a more competitive performance than at the first race, but the whole team is in no doubt about the size of the challenge that remains ahead of us this season.

“We are not disregarding anything. Much has been spoken about the new power units on the 2014 cars, but it is rarely mentioned that 1% of engine power is not so different in its effect on the stopwatch as 1% of aero efficiency.”

Allison is adamant that the team will move forward.

“Our development programme will keep delivering steps to the efficiency of the F14-T; aero, power unit, mechanical grip – race by race these steps will help to hunt down those in front. If we can keep up the progress that we made between Melbourne and Malaysia then it will start to tell in both in grid positions and in the Championship.”

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says that the team hopes to be in a strong position in Monaco and Montreal, even if it is still struggling with a lack of downforce.

He accepts that the next three races, which feature a lot of high speed corners and put a premium on aero efficiency, are going to be tough.

“It’s going to be quite, quite painful, we know this,” he said when asked by this writer. “This is why we are in aggressive development mode already. Every race we bring parts, and I feel a bit of a relief today, for a lot of reasons. We spent the winter ensuring that we had a good correlation between the wind tunnel and the track, and it looks like it works out.”

Regarding Monaco and Montreal he agreed that the team could be at less of a disadvantage.

“Yeah obviously, because less downforce [in Montreal], and Monaco will be a different story as well, because in terms of fuel management you don’t have to worry. I think by then we should have recovered.”

Meanwhile Boullier said it was unwise to make too many judgements based on Malaysia, where McLaren lost performance relative to the season opener in Australia.

“You have to be careful. We struggled this weekend, because of the heat. If you look back at Friday morning we were OK. We were not in a position to win the race, but our relative pace was much better compared with the others. I think with the heat we knew we would suffer because the tyres were degrading much more, and overheating, and this is where the other teams gained.”