Adam Cooper F1

To no one’s great surprise Williams has confirmed that Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado will drive for the team in 2013.

Bottas has looked like a dead cert for the second seat for some months after impressing in FP1 sessions this year.

Sir Frank Williams said: ‘’In Pastor and Valtteri we have two of the most exciting talents in motor racing and I am especially excited about what 2013 can bring for Williams. Pastor has always demonstrated remarkable pace and this year has seen him mature as a racing driver.

“Valtteri is quite simply one of the most talented young racing drivers I have come across and we expect great things from him in the future. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our departing driver Bruno Senna for his hard work over the past year and wish him the best of luck going forward.’’

“I’m really enjoying my time with Williams and I was obviously very happy when I was told that I would be continuing with the team in 2013,” said Maldonado. “2012 was a memorable year for me with the win in Barcelona and we made a big step forward in terms of performance. I have a lot of confidence in the team and hopefully next year will see us move even further up the grid and taste more success.’’

“I’ve really enjoyed my three years with Williams so far and feel very at home here so my goal was always to stay for 2013 and progress to a race seat,” said Bottas. “I’m looking forward to getting my Formula One career started and enjoying a lot of success with Williams.’’

Christian Horner says that Red Bull Racing can still get better as it learns lessons from a tough 2012 season.

The Red Bull boss said the team’s ambition is its strength.

“This team has not been around too long and we’ve achieved a great deal in a very short period of time,” said Horner. “Sebastian now joins a list of elite drivers that are triple World Champions, and the team joins an elite group of only three other teams that have achieved three consecutive constructors’ World Championships. It’s a phenomenal achievement and one that we’re all incredibly proud of.

“I think we’ve got such a strong group, but you can always learn. We’ve learned a lot of lessons from this year, and we’ll look to apply them. One of the strengths of this team is that we’re never satisfied.

“We’ll always look inwards, whether that’s the drivers, whether that’s the engineers, whether’ that’s technicians, whether it’s people in production – in all the different departments, where we can we improve, what can we learn. I think it’s that spirit and that desire which has kept us at the top for three years.

“We were restrained last week because we felt the job was only half done. It’s been a tough weekend but everybody’s kept their focus, held their nerve. Then what we were faced with today could not have been more stressful.

“It’s not just about today, it’s about the season as a whole, the 20 races, the way this championship has ebbed and flowed. We’ve fought our way back into it, and Sebastian in particular has never given up.”

Horner was full of praise for Vettel.

“He really wanted this championship, he’s driven with great determination. It doesn’t ever get any easier. I have to congratulate Fernando Alonso, he’s been a formidable opponent. He’s pushed us all the way, and at one stage we looked like we were out of the championship, But we fought back and fought back delivered what we need to in the end here in what couldn’t have been a more mixed and stressful race.”

Asked by this writer about Vettel’s accusation of ‘dirty tricks,’ he said: “It’s been a tough competition. F1 is a tough business, and you’re up against some big opponents. The fastest way to become unpopular is to have repeated success. We’ve ignored what other teams are doing and just really focussed on ourselves.”

Perhaps not surprisingly Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali insists that Fernando Alonso would have been a more deserving World Champion than Sebastian Vettel.

Domenicali stressed once again that the first lap retirements in Spa and Suzuka had been very costly.

“We are proud of him, and we are very disappointed because I think the one that deserved the championship was really him,” said Domenicali. “It’s a shame because after such a long season when we really fought in all conditions that we raced in 18 races and not 20. Being second only three points for that hurts a lot. But that’s the way it is, we need to take it and congratulate Vettel who has won the championship.

“Sometimes it’s a sign of the destiny that you really can appreciate what is the direction of the wind. Because after the first lap, after you see what has happened, seeing what was the outcome of the first lap, you start to think well maybe… For sure we need to do a better job next year.”

Asked by this writer about the tricky strategy decisions in the race, he said: “It was a very difficult race, in difficult conditions. The first situation if I remember only Button and Hulkenberg decided to stay out with the dry tyres it was a decision that at the end as always when you take this kind of decision you are fantastic but if two more drops of rain took them out it would have been a wrong decision.

“So I think that we took the decision in a way that was most correct for what we had to do, without risking too much either in a conservative or a strange way what we should have done. On that respect I think the team managed very well the situation. Not easy.”

Domenicali praised the consistent job that Alonso has done in 2012.

“I said before this Grand Prix that in my view Fernando did his best season, always at the limit. Not always from the technical point of view, because this is something you expect from a World Champion like him, but also from the way he was working with the team.

“For me this is something that we have the privilege to have, but unfortunately in the last three years we lost two times at the last race, and we need to make sure that when we start next year we’re going to arrive in the last race to win.”

Regarding preparations for next year, he said: “This is a fact, don’t forget that in the last four races we are the team that has scored more points. In racing we were maybe the best on average in terms of managing the pit stops, managing the strategy, the best on reliability. These are facts. We didn’t have the fastest car at the beginning of the season, and maybe in the second half of the season we were not able to improve the car.

“For sure this is something, that we need to work harder to improve it, and we have of course ideas because we know where we lack a bit. And we also know unfortunately that we were paying a big price in the qualifying that hurts our performance in the race.”

Jenson Button ended the 2012 season as he started it, adding his success in Brazil to the ones he scored in the opening race in Australia and in Belgium in August.

Famous for getting it right in wet/dry races, the McLaren driver didn’t put a foot wrong on a difficult day for all the drivers.

“It was one of the toughest races I’ve had,” said Button. “It was very tricky. It was on that point many times when you think Inters is the right tyre. I kept asking the team “what’s going to happen with the weather, it’s supposed to be light showers?”

“Well OK, we’ll see how we go but it was so, so difficult. You’re locking up tyres here and there, but you’ve just got to push to the limit. You have to wait for the team to give you the information about all the other people on Inters so it’s not just about driving the car at that point. You need every single piece of information that’s out there to know that you’re doing the right thing. But it was a really good race.”

Button’s life was made harder by the safety car, which cost him the advantage that both he and Nico Hulkenberg had built up by not pitting.

“I lost 40 seconds, the race was between me and Nico then. It was made a lot more difficult. And then when the safety car came in I grained the front-right tyre. I really struggled, but when that went away it was good. The two guys in front obviously had a coming together, which helped things but in that sort of race you never really know what the outcome is going to be. We still had a lot more rain coming.

“We still had to make the right call on the pit stop again, which I think we did, and then we just tried to hold the gap really to the Ferraris, which was about 20 seconds, which was difficult in itself, because there was so much water out there for inters.”

Button said he was happy to end the season on a high.

“We started the year so strong, and we’ve ended it so strong. Just a few areas that we need to improve in the middle of the season. It’s sad that Lewis isn’t here to enjoy his last race with the team, but it’s racing, and these things happen.

“I’d like to bid him farewell. We’ve had a good time together over the last three years and I think we’ve proved that on the first ten laps of the race with how close our fighting was. I hope he has a good career in his next team. Lastly, I’d like to congratulation Sebastian on his third title in a row. He’s very, very impressive so congratulations to him and also Red Bull for clinching the Constructors’ at the previous race.”

Fernando Alonso was in philosophical mood after losing the World Championship to Sebastian Vettel by just three points.

Alonso said his mood was very different to Abu Dhabi in 2010, when he went into the final race with a 15-point lead.

“I’m very satisfied. I think it’s very good feeling what I have now,” said the Spaniard. “It was very frustrating maybe in Abu Dhabi two years ago because we had it in our hands and we lost it. It was some kind of frustration there. Here is completely the opposite.

“I’m so proud and I’m so happy to fight until the last lap with the package we have in hands. That is the best thing for me, to feel proud of myself, it was by far the best season of my career and I will remember this 2012 like some dream season. Obviously we didn’t achieve the points to win the title but I won so many things this year: so much respect from everybody.”

Alonso had hoped that the wet conditions would play into his hands.

“It was more or less what we wanted. Mixed conditions, and a very, very difficult race. It was one of the most difficult races we ever drove, I think with the conditions out there and you feel that you are with the wrong tyre every lap, but you ask the team and everyone is in the same position so you need to keep fighting.

“There was a lot of risk every lap to crash and have an accident and finish the race there.  So we could not afford this for sure because we needed a podium finish to have any chance, so it was a very delicate situation but we managed very well and again we starting in eighth or seven or something like that and we finished in the podium one more time.  As usual in the last couple of races.

“So this can only be achieved with perfection from the team, with good strategies, with good start, with good pace in the car. And today we mixed all again and it was very fine.”

He admitted that all he could do was hope that Vettel hit trouble.

“Obviously you are not in control of what your rivals do. And I think we need a second place and Sebastian eighth or something like that, which we know that is a very strange combination of results, because to be out of the first eight positions for Red Bull in this race is not so easy.

“So we were hoping for a little miracle, as we were hoping for all through the year. I think from the start to the end it was a dream, and we had this little present to fight for the championship until the last race. So we enjoyed the race, we did our job and the dream continued until today.”

Asked where he thought he had lost the championship, he said: “Obviously I have two retirements in the year, over 20 races and the two retirements was not engine problem, not gear problem, not driver error. It was nothing. It was one car puncturing your rear tyre and one car passing over you.

“Nothing really you could do in these two starts. So for sure there you lose a couple of points. There were also some races that we have some strange decisions let’s say, and some penalties, so maybe we lost also there.”

RBR will be known as Infiniti Red Bull Racing from 2013 after agreeing title sponsorship with the Japanese manufacturer.

The deal, which runs until 2013, also includes technical co-operation in areas such as energy recovery.

Infiniti president Johan de Nysschen said: “While our first 24-months have been very beneficial to both parties, our new deeper relationship will bring increased advantages to Infiniti and Red Bull Racing.  As title partner, Infiniti Red Bull Racing will help us garner even more worldwide exposure for our brand, products and technology.”

“Red Bull Racing and Infiniti have been working on a number of initiatives since the start of our relationship in March 2011,” said Christian Horner. “During that time, Infiniti has demonstrated significant technical prowess, and I’ve been impressed by the depth of the wider engineering capabilities of the Nissan Motor Company.

“In terms of marketing, Infiniti has leveraged their involvement with Red Bull Racing and Formula One very effectively and has become well known in a short space of time. These two attributes are what makes Infiniti the ideal title and technical partner for Red Bull Racing.”

Adrian Newey said: “Having a committed technical partner like Infiniti gives us a great platform for working together on technical projects, such as the Energy Recovery Systems for the 2014 season.”

Fernando Alonso says that reaching the final race in Brazil still in contention for the World Championship will be what he remembers from 2012, win or lose on Sunday.

Alonso qualified eighth in Interlagos, although he has gained a grid spot from Pastor Maldonado’s penalty.

When asked by this blog to describe the highlights of the season Alonso said: “I think the highest point was to be here, sitting here with a car that we were constantly eighth in the last races, and we’re still talking about the World Championship fight.

“This is something not normal, so I’m very proud of this, and about the achievements we had this year. If we had the normal position maybe we’d have the points of someone similar to our cars and you’d say bye-bye to the championship in Monza or in Singapore, and you’d have very relaxed races in the last part of the championship, as we had last year.

“But it’s something not normal. We found ourselves eighth on the grid and a lot of people think that tomorrow we have a chance to win the World Championship, because they trust so much in ourselves and our jobs on Sundays. So this is the thing that feels me more proud and I will remember this season like this, whatever happens tomorrow.”

Regarding the disappointments of the season, he added: “The low moments of the championship for sure are Spa and Suzuka, because without our fault we lost points… And maybe mathematically we were champion in Austin without the two Lotus [collisions], with 36 points more or something than we had. So that will be also remembered.”

Michael Schumacher will start his final Grand Prix in Brazil from an unlucky 13th place, having gained a place from his original position thanks to Pastor Maldonado’s penalty.

The former champion is determined to go out on a high, and says that a move towards a wet set-up handicapped him today but will help him in Sunday’s rain – although most top drivers say that there’s not much that can be done these days to tune a car for the wet.

“It was obviously not very exciting, quite honestly,” he said when asked about his day by this writer. “Yesterday looked pretty reasonable, today we didn’t look that strong in comparison so what we were able to do yesterday.

“Obviously I was focussing a little bit more towards tomorrow, on top of this one I didn’t get the tyres spot-on for their use, so as a combination we ended up where we did. Nevertheless I don’t think we had a great potential for qualifying, but we probably have a reasonable car for tomorrow.”

As to whether getting to the finish would be a priority, he said: “It’s not important climbing out of the car at the end of the race, it’s important what position I might do so, and obviously the better the more exciting it will be.

“From where I come I feel a little bit off-set, so there’s going to be some excitement, particularly in the conditions that we face tomorrow. I very much look forward to this, because that offers lots more opportunities.”

Lewis Hamilton gave himself the best chance of ending his McLaren career on a high by securing pole in Brazil.

Although Hamilton won the title at Interlagos in 2008 he has never actually led a lap of the circuit.

“It’s been a good weekend so far,” said Hamilton. “I’m grateful to be able to put the car on the front row, and to have the last one-two in qualifying with Jenson in the same team. Just a fantastic job by the team – so grateful for all the opportunities they’ve given me. I hope that we can turn it into something really positive tomorrow.”

Regarding the race he said: “I think the weather is going to be tricky tomorrow so it’s definitely going to make it more of a lottery. But I think we’ve put ourselves in a really good position, and we are just going to do the best job we can from there and work together as a team, the best we have been for quite some time. So we will make sure we will do absolutely everything to get the top result.”

Like other drivers, he played down talk about running a wet set-up.

“Generally nowadays you don’t even really have much of a wet set-up. It’s not like in karting when you soften everything off.  The set-up in the dry and the wet is very, very similar – apart from ride heights maybe.

“We’ve just set the car to attack the qualifying and we don’t know what the hell is going to happen tomorrow. We just have to wait and see, make sure we get our tyre pressures right, make sure we get the tyre temperatures right and the brake temperatures and try to steer clear of any big puddles.”

Fernando Alonso has once again benefited from a grid penalty, although this one was outside the control of Ferrari.

Having qualified sixth Pastor Maldonado was given a reprimand after missing a weight check during qualifying, and as it was his third of the year, the Williams driver has earned a 10-place grid penalty under Article 18.2 of the sporting regulations. An automatic penalty results from three reprimands within a season.

Alonso now moves up from eighth on the grid to seventh, which is exactly what happened in Austin last week, although the change from the dirty to clean side created an extra impact.

The top eight now reads Hamilton, Button, Webber, Vettel, Massa, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Raikkonen.

No action was taken by the FIA on the incident involving Pedro de la Rosa and Romain Grosjean.