Adam Cooper F1

Ross Brawn is confident that Mercedes can follow-up on its qualifying performance in Shanghai with a strong showing in the race – despite the disappointments in Australia and Malaysia.

Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher start from the front row in China, and both have saved a set of soft tyres.

“I think one of the interesting things that was illustrated today was the narrow window that these tyres have in terms of their temperature window and their optimum working range,” said Brawn this afternoon.

“If we can hit that sweet spot, then we should have a good race tomorrow. But as you saw with Sebastian today, if you don’t quite get it right it makes it difficult.

“We’ve made a fair commitment this weekend to try and get the car in the best shape we can for the race, and then qualifying as with all teams I think comes as a second consideration. If we can carry over what we saw with our high fuel run then we can have some confidence that we can have a better race tomorrow. I’m not so confident that we can enjoy the advantage we had today, particularly with Nico, but I’m certainly optimistic that we can have a decent race tomorrow.”

Ross gave some fascinating insight into the challenge of keeping on top of the tyre temperature issue, and suggested that the situation would be more manageable than in the past two races.

“It is tricky, and you almost have to follow it and track it. There’s very little you can change before or during a race. Tyre pressures are free, front wing setting you’re allowed to change. There’s nothing else you can change on the car, so with the very small adjustments that you can make then you have to try and get the tyres to work properly. You’ve got no feedback. You’ve got nothing which is telling you exactly the right range.

“One of the things we have to achieve with the car in the future going forward is a broader sweet spot for the car. I think today we managed to get the car right in those conditions, with the tyres and the low fuel, and we’ve got to find ways of translating that into the race. I don’t know yet tomorrow whether we’ll hit that correct period.

“I think we’ve got a better chance because the conditions tomorrow are going to be more consistent that we’ve had for the last couple of days. We’ve had a couple of days of setting the car up. Both Melbourne, with a much hotter race day, and Malaysia, with a much colder race day, presented some challenges. We were not on the top of the job in those two races, and there were changing conditions.”

Nico Rosberg took the first pole of his F1 career with a superb effort in China, putting in a first run that was so fast that he didn’t need to go out again and use his last set of tyres.

The German had made mistakes on his Q3 laps in both Australia and Malaysia, and this was the first time that he’d really done himself justice this year. It was also the first pole for a works Mercedes since 1955.

“It worked out well, qualifying, especially as we got it all right in the end,” said Rosberg. “It was a good lap and it all came together. It’s the perfect start until now. I’m really happy for the whole team. It really shows that, as a team, we’re moving forward. In qualifying we’re very, very strong now.

“In the race we’re still not quite as strong and not where we want to be yet but also there, we’re learning a lot and progressing fast. The thing is we can’t make huge jumps in a couple of weeks, it’s going to take a bit more time, but we’re getting there.”

Rosberg climbed out of his car after his first run and walked calmly down to the FIA weight check to await the end of qualifying. Fortunately it was a good call, and nobody went faster.

“It was just a decision to save another set of tyres. It was a good lap, I didn’t know if it was going to be enough or not, but it was definitely a good lap and saving a set is very good for the race, so we just took the decision to go for that, because the race is where the points are, not in qualifying.

“It was strange beforehand because I was standing there on my own and everybody else was still going round, but I couldn’t do anything any more, so it was strange. And then slowly but surely, I saw the sector times and I saw that it was definitely going to be enough so fantastic, very excited.”

The prospects for Mercedes in tomorrow’s race remain unknown, given that the team has had two troubled events so far, and looking after the tyres will clearly be critical.

“For me it’s also sort of the start of the season now because the first two races haven’t gone too well. So it’s not bad to start first, obviously for us it’s fantastic. Of course it’s pretty clear I think that in the race we been not quite as good as in qualifying lately. We’ve worked very hard to try and improve that but it’s not something you can change in a few weeks.

“It’s going to take some time but we’re making good progress in the race, that’s important. It’s difficult to know exactly where we’re going to be tomorrow because again with the conditions changing, if it becomes a little bit colder that might help us, for example. I don’t really know how it’s going to go. For sure we’re going to try our best. We’re going to work hard tonight to try and do the final little details on the set up, electronically specifically, and make the most of it.”

Mark Webber outqualified team mate Sebastian Vettel in China, but the Aussie was still only seventh fastest as Red Bull struggles to repeat its form of the past two seasons.

The RBR drivers have taken different routes on exhaust arrangements this weekend, with Webber using the latest version and Vettel going back to the earlier spec.

“It’s a different championship this year, it’s tight,” said Webber. “Any bobble… If I made a mistake on my second lap in Q2, I’m out as well. So it’s very easily done.

“It was the best we could do, but in the end it wasn’t enough. We’re learning a lot, and it’s a tight field. If you’re not getting everything completely together, then you’re exposed.”

Webber conceded that RBR still has a lot of work to do: “We can keep saying we’re gonna get there, but we’ve got to do it. The team is working very, very hard, the guys have done a great job, but we have some pretty quick cars out there. I think today was dominated by tyre prep and tyre awareness I suppose.

“We know the Mercedes is very, very hard on its tyres, so that night have helped them on one lap today. I’ve been there, like the old Jaguar days, very fast in qualy but hard in the race. Let’s see how it goes. We’re very strong in the Grands Prix, so looking forward to it.

“We’ll see how the tyres go. Temperature seems to be playing a big role this weekend on the tyres.”

Ferrari’s chassis technical director Pat Fry says that the team has no easy way out of its current problems – and admits that the Italian outfit is reviewing the way it does things as it seeks to get back on course.

“I think we have a reasonable understanding of them and the areas we need to be working on,” said the Briton today. “It’s like all these things, there’s never a golden bullet, it’s not a light switch you can turn on. You might have the idea of, ‘OK, that’s the problem’ but it’s hard work to try and fix it. And you’re not going to change it around in a week. Everyone is working very hard to fix all those issues and then get back on a sensible development curve.

“I think there’s a number of different issues that we’ve had, the most obvious one from the early testing was the exhaust system where we were struggling with what that was doing to the rear tyres. I think we now understand that and are on top of that – though we haven’t run that style exhaust system since the first Barcelona test.

“The other areas have come to light where we knew we had the problems [but] we didn’t know where and we were really learning that through the last Barcelona test. And then to fix problems it’s not the work of a minute. Here there are quite a few new parts on the car. There will be another set of updates, bigger updates, coming through for Barcelona. It’s a race of upgrading.”

Fry didn’t want to elaborate too much on the problems: “As I said, the exhaust is one of the more obvious changes that we’ve made, but that’s quite a small part of the problem that we’ve got. I don’t really want to go into where all the problems are – it’s not just a case of us trying to build a quicker car, we need to fundamentally be changing the methodologies that we use to select, design and manufacture so that we are competitive long term.

“There’s work on all fronts, not just work going into what we’re taking to Barcelona, there’s also a huge amount of work in just trying to change the fundamentals of what we do so we can actually take a step forward and be competing with everyone else.”

Asked about where Ferrari was losing out Fry made it clear that as ever, aerodynamics was at the heart of the matter.

“The biggest performance differentiator is aerodynamics. We’ve got some issues there that we’re trying to resolve. The areas you need to be working on is everything from the way you run the wind tunnel, the accuracy of your wind tunnel, the simulation that you use to decide what components to take forward, so we’re not leaving any stone unturned.

“We’re actually trying to review and revise our methodologies through the whole process and that carries on into the design office for trying to get weight out of various parts, make other bits more durable, so there’s  work going on absolutely everywhere  within the company, on the basic fundamental methodology as well as just trying to upgrade the car.”

Michael Schumacher topped the times in Shanghai this afternoon, and the German reported himself happy with the performance of the Mercedes W03 – although as ever, he remained a little cautious.

“Generally it’s been OK, a troublefree day considering we got rain this morning,” said the German. “The car handles definitely much better than we experienced the last two years here. If you have a balanced car here it makes a lot of contribution to lap time, and definitely that is the case. We are not yet where we want to be in terms of pace.

“We have got a lot stronger as a team over the last two years in making the pre-analysis and getting the car right, but you know we are on a Friday, not on a Sunday afternoon.”

Schumacher admitted that he was pleased that the FIA has now declared the W03’s DRS system legal.

“It certainly should quieten down some people who like speculation. It is a good innovation and I think it should be honoured by everyone. If you have an innovation, people should simply accept that. Mercedes has done a good job on this one, although it’s been overestimated, the worth of it, but it’s good. We put it on because it gives us some time.”

Bernie Ecclestone met with the team bosses in Shanghai on Friday lunchtime and insisted afterwards that the Bahrain GP is still going ahead.

The team used the opportunity to express their concerns, but Ecclestone denied that the subject had even been the main focus of the meeting.

“I just asked if anybody had any problems, and everybody said no problem at all,” he said.

“This race is on the calendar, it’s been on the calendar for quite a long time. We will be there. All the teams are happy to be there.”

Asked whether he had any concerns, he said: “Not at all. We haven’t got any problems.”

Questioned about doubts expressed in the media, he added: “That’s the problem, it’s been discussed by the media, they don’t have any idea what’s going on.

“I know people that live there, and it’s all very quiet.”

When asked by Sky News whether he was going to the race, he said: “What a stupid question. You’re going to get a stupid answer. What would you expect?”

Regarding the political aspect, Ecclestone said: “What F1 has done for Bahrain is put Bahrain on the map. They will sort out their internal problems, I’m quite sure.

“I’m happy that our position is quite clear, we don’t get involved in the politics in a country.

“We had some problems in England recently,” he added.

The FIA has broken its silence and pre-empted any discussion between the teams and Bernie Ecclestone today by stating that the Bahrain GP will go ahead as planned.

The governing body has issued the following statement, reproduced in full:

The FIA is the governing body of motor sport and therefore of Formula One. As such, it sets the season’s calendars following the proposal of the Commercial Rights Holder (CRH) in accordance with the local national authorities in all matters relating to safety.

Within that context, the FIA ensures that any event forming part of an FIA World Championship is organised in compliance with the FIA Statutes and the relevant Sporting and Technical Regulations, and that the safety of the public, officials, drivers and teams is secured at all times during an event.

The FIA must make rational decisions based on the information provided to us by the Bahraini authorities and by the Commercial Rights Holder. In addition we have endeavoured to assess the ongoing situation in Bahrain.

President Jean Todt led a fact-finding mission to the Kingdom in November 2011, meeting a large number of decision-makers and opinion formers, including elected Shia members of parliament, the president of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, ambassadors from the European Union countries, the Crown Prince, the Interior Minister and many members of the business community.

All expressed their wish for the Grand Prix to go ahead in 2012, and since then, the FIA has kept in close touch with all these stakeholders. Away from the public eye, the FIA has received regular security briefings from the most senior diplomatic officials based in the Kingdom as well as from other independent experts.

The 2012 calendar, as presented by the CRH, was ratified by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in September 2011. Since then no request from the F1 Commission or the CRH has been made to the WMSC to either postpone or cancel the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Based on the current information the FIA has at this stage, it is satisfied that all the proper security measures are in place for the running of a Formula One World Championship event in Bahrain.

Therefore, the FIA confirms that the 2012 Gulf Air F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain will go ahead as scheduled.

The FIA Stewards at the Chinese GP have rejected the protest made by Lotus F1 against the controversial Mercedes DRS/F-Duct system.

The decision means in effect that the legality of the device is not in question as far as the FIA is concerned and rivals are faced with the prospect of copying it, if they can.

Lotus had in essence challenged the Mercedes on the basis that it was an aerodynamic device operated by the driver, even if the F-Duct effect was secondary to the permissible use of the DRS wing.

Lotus director of engineering Alan Permane told this writer recently: “It’s a secondary effect, but it’s absolutely operated by the driver. Mercedes hasn’t invented something, it was there, and other people were under the impression that it wasn’t legal. If this is allowed you’ll see everyone doing it, and it won’t stop there, there are many, many other things that can happen.”

In today’s proceedings James Allison and Permane appeared for Lotus, and Ross Brawn and Geoff Willis for Mercedes. The FIA pointed out that while Mercedes provided a document explaining how it worked, Lotus was not allowed to see it.

The FIA in effect decreed that it was not operated by driver moment, but by the movement of the DRS, which is legal.

One of the principal arguments of the FIA was that “There are many different parts of bodywork fitted to cars from a variety of teams, which have been designed specifically to take advantage of the change in airflow caused by the activation of the DRS.”

Intriguingly the stewards added that the system had already been approved by the FIA whereas in the past approvals given by Charlie Whiting and/or technical delegate Jo Bauer have subsequently been overruled.

The problem for rival teams wishing to copy Mercedes is that they will have to find a way to connect the airflow between the front and rear wings via a system of pipes and ducts, something that was built into the W03 when it was designed. Some may have a better chance than others of succeeding in that.

Fernando Alonso stressed today that his Malaysian GP win won’t make any difference to the status quo in China this weekend.

He expects Shanghai to be a difficult event for Ferrari, whose car has been struggling for pace in normal conditions, and suggested that he might not make Q3.

“Nothing changed,” said the Spaniard. “I think it’s going to be a tough weekend for us again. I don’t expect any big surprises as we’ve been saying, the team and myself, all week, the car has some small improvements, nothing big for this race and I think it’s the same, more or less, for all the other teams around us in the paddock.

“So I expect more or less the positions to maintain, or to keep the same as the first two races, which means a difficult to weekend for us. Struggling to be in Q3, I guess, in qualifying and then in the race to score as many points as possible as we did in the first races – trying to do a good strategy, a good management of the tyres and a little bit of luck. It’s always a factor that we always seem to forget is there.”

Alonso said it was impossible to guarantee that planned future upgrades would make a major difference.

“No big improvements for this race and as I said, we’re working, we’re working on the car and I think we cannot say that for Barcelona there will be a big improvement because we don’t know. We are working day and night to do the work and to improve the car and I think we have some new parts for the car which we need to test tomorrow – maybe they are working fine, maybe they are not working and we need to come back with those parts.

“In Barcelona there will be more new parts which I’m hoping for. We need to test to see if they are working fine. As I said, Formula One these days doesn’t have a magic button where we change something, we arrive in China, we arrive in Barcelona, in Canada and you change one part on the car and you improve by one second.

“This will be constant work from the team, improving one tenth, two tenths, three tenths every step that we do and we need to do it quicker than the others because all the other teams will bring a couple tenths (advantage) to every race so we need to bring some more.”

He conceded that another wet weekend might not be bad for Ferrari: “It can be a very good weekend for you or very bad because it’s a little bit of gamble in the rain. Anything can happen. You can be with the right tyre in the right moment or completely the wrong tyre in the wrong moment, so this is what happens in wet races. As I said, with a normal race we know our possibilities, we know our limitations at the moment, which is not quick enough.

“So in a wet race, we can lose a couple of points or we can win a lot more. Maybe this risk of a wet race can be good for us at the moment because in normal conditions we are not as fast as we expected.”

Lewis Hamilton is still optimistic about his prospects for this weekend’s Chinese GP, despite picking up a five-place grid penalty.

McLaren discovered a problem with the gearbox he used on Saturday/Sunday in Australia and Malaysia, so it was decided today that a fresh one will have to be fitted for the start of FP3 on Saturday.

“When you arrive at a weekend and you’ve done all you’re preparations and the whole team’s done its preparations of course it’s not the nicest thing to hear that we’ve got a problem,” said Hamilton.

“But all you can do is take it on the chin. We’re still here, we’ve still got a great chance to win, we’ve still got a quick car, we’ll try and put ourselves in the best position possible to make the right strategy and make sure that we’re quick enough so that we can still fight for the lead.

“We’ve got some upgrades, the team have done a great job to bring those, and we can still fight for wins. I came from third last year to win the race. You look at the last race and Fernando came from way further back, so anything is possible.”

Hamilton said he was not disappointed at coming away from the first two races with a pair of third places after starting from pole.

“You’ve just got to keep moving forward. I’m pretty happy with the fact that I’ve had two podiums so far, and definitely don’t take anything for granted. I’ve got a good car and we’re in a really good position, but we’re still fighting. I’ve been training very, very hard trying to get myself in the right frame of mind for this weekend, and whilst we’ve come here with a small issue, I still feel very positive about the weekend, and as I said we still have a chance to race.

“I love racing, when I was a kid I always used to love coming from the back of the grid. I’ll be five places back from wherever I qualify, that means I’m going to have to have a good race with a few people to fight for position.”