Adam Cooper F1

Jenson Button has defended the McLaren mechanics in the light of his disastrous pit stop at Silverstone.

Button was battling with Mark Webber for third place and was hoping to come out of the pits ahead of the Aussie, who had just stopped. He was waved out without the front right wheelnut fitted, leading to instant retirement – and later a token $5000 fine for an unsafe release.

“We have a lot of practice in overtaking, and sometimes we make a mistake on that,” said Jenson. “I’ve tried doing a pit stop myself, and I know how difficult it is. When you’re in the heat of battle and you’re fighting another car, trying to get out of the pits as quick possible, sometimes this happens. We’ve just got make sure that we limit the mistakes, because it was one mistake after another.

“The wheel came off basically, we didn’t put a nut on the front wheel. The first nut flew off into the garage, and I think when he reached round to find another nut, or to get the second gun, I think the guy on the front jack thought that was a sign to go, and he dropped the car.

“And then the lollipop man goes off the jack man, and he lifted the lollipop, and then we went. It’s a mistake obviously. But this sort of thing happens when you’re fighting, and especially fighting for position. It was very close with Mark and myself. It could have been a great stop, but it went the other way, and my wheel fell off. Not great.”

Button says he could have come out in front of Webber, in which case he could have been in a position to chase down second placed Sebastian Vettel before the flag.

“We waited for him to pit, and then we pitted on the next lap, and I think I equalled my best time on that lap. The pace was good. I came in the pits, I had a good entry, I think I got the fastest last sector of the race coming into the pits.

“I don’t know where I would have come out, but the team think I would have come out alongside Webber, if not in front. Our aim was to pit on a different lap to him because the pace of my car was better than the three cars in front.

“When you’re in the heat of battle like we were with Mark, these things can happen. It’s either a really quick stop, or something bad happens. Something bad happened this time and it was disappointing, but we’ll learn from this, and hopefully it won’t happen again.”

Red Bull Racing’s decision to tell Mark Webber not to attack Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps at Silverstone has inevitably caused some controversy, even though team orders are now legal again.

Christian Horner made it clear after the race that he wasn’t happy that the Aussie had ignored instructions from his engineer. In the end Horner had to intervene personally, saying ‘Mark, you need to maintain the gap.’ Afterwards he insisted that he’d made the right call.

“About four laps from the end we felt it had gone far enough now,” said Horner. “From a team point of view, a big pool of points on the table today, and it made absolutely no sense to risk seeing both cars in the fence. So from a team perspective at that point we said OK, that’s enough.  It’s time to consolidate those points.

“At the end of the day the team is the biggest thing, no individual is bigger than the team. I can understand Mark’s frustration in that, but had it been the other way around, it would have been exactly the same.

“It happened a couple of years ago in Turkey, where exactly the same happened with Sebastian. It makes no sense from a team point of view to risk both of your cars, and it was obvious that neither was going to concede.

“As we saw with Massa and Hamilton at the last corner, who very nearly made contact, it made absolutely no sense from a team point of view to allow them to continue to fight over those last couple of laps. Mark obviously chose to ignore that, and didn’t make the pass in any event. That is the team’s position.”

Horner stressed that the constructors’ points were a priority.

“At the end of the day, the team championship is every bit as important as the drivers’ championship to us. And we risked giving away 33 points today in the last three laps by allowing our drivers to fight it out.

“As we have seen previously, that can have dire consequences. We said, OK, we’ve allowed them to race up until that point and, with three laps to go, rather than risk both of them being in the fence, it was the right decision. And as a team it was absolutely the right decision.

“I can understand that sometimes a driver will be frustrated with an instruction, but my responsibility is that a team optimises its results. And there would have been absolutely no benefit in both cars coming back in a tow truck today if they had got together.”

Horner denied that Webber was being held back in any way: “If you look we also gave Mark an undercut at both the first two stops. We didn’t stop them racing each other at the start. There comes in a point in a race with two or three laps to go, when you’ve got a lot of points, both cars are on the podium, it would be absolute stupidity to allow them to race. We saw it get very, very close between the two of them, and we would have looked pretty stupid if they’d have both ended up in the fence.

“I can understand Mark being frustrated, but at the end of the day he drives for a team. We all work for the team, no individual is bigger than the team, and the most important thing is optimising the team’s results.”

Lewis Hamilton gave his loyal British fans something to cheer when he finished fourth at Silverstone, having survived a spectacular last corner clash with Felipe Massa – and avoided any censure from the stewards.

Hamilton’s official margin over the Brazilian was just 0.024s.

Lewis was fastest at some points in the race, but was badly compromised when he was told to save fuel, having gone ‘over budget’ when his early pace proved faster than expected. The fuel saving in turn left him struggling with lack of brakes in the latter stages.

“Unfortunately about 20 laps from the end I had to save fuel, massively,” said Hamilton. “So I had to give Mark Webber the position. They kept telling me, and on the last lap they said I can push. I said, ‘Thanks!’ After I’d let him catch me up… I was not giving him that position, no way.

“I was struggling massively, because I was having to fuel save. That means you’re having to lift and coast. It means my brake temperatures had dropped. I had no brakes pretty much, that’s why I kept locking up, my left front was just cold. I knew braking into there I was going to struggle. I tried to keep myself on the inside, he braked massively late on the outside. I was stopping as fast as I could, and then he just tried closing the door I guess, and we came together.”

Hamilton admitted that driving to save fuel wasn’t much fun.

“You’re always trying to drive a fine line. The guys in front, they didn’t look like they had to save fuel. That’s not a positive on our side. They told me to go to this delta, and I want to make sure I’m always there, not too much, not too little, I don’t want to save too much fuel, I want to keep my position. I did the best job I could. I’m so grateful, the support I had when I crossed the line was if I had won.”

The blown diffuser saga is – we hope – finally over as all 12 teams have now agreed to return to the rules as they were in Valencia.

In a meeting this morning 10 of the teams signed a five-point letter of agreement, while Ferrari and Sauber initially declined to do so. However, while some team principals were in the meeting, Ferrari was represented only by technical director Pat Fry and engine chief Luca Marmorini, and presumably they felt they had to check with their boss before making any commitment.

Between the meeting and the race Martin Whitmarsh also had contact with Domenicali, who then told the McLaren chief on the grid that his team now agreed with the proposal. Sauber, who had apparently said that if they were the only dissenter they would agree, also signed.

The basis of the agreement is that everyone accepts the rules as in Valencia, and agrees not to protest on the matter in the course of the season.

Although he declined to confirm publicly that he had signed, Domenicali conceded that a solution was on the way.

“This situation was not good for anyone,” said Domenicali. “We need to draw a line and look ahead, because otherwise, where are we going? Even if I don’t agree that for the process that was taken, I think for the benefit of the sport we took that action.”

In another era one might imagine a scenario where Ferrari said ‘we like the rules as we are now,’ but things have changed at Maranello under Domenicali.

But equally having won what is likely to be the only race of 2011 under the ‘legal’ diffuser rules Ferrari will clearly score some PR points by then handing back the advantage it apparently had this weekend.

“When you think of the bigger picture, you have to have a wide opening in your mind,” said Domenicali. “I have to sayI don’t think a lot of people would behave like we are.”

Ferrari and Sauber have declined to sign an agreement that would see the exhaust/diffuser rules return to Valencia spec from the next race in Germany.

That means that overnight Williams changed its mind and said yes, while Ferrari did the opposite and said no. Sauber has held firm, with team boss Peter Sauber believed to be frustrated by the pressure being applied by Red Bull on the issue.

It’s worth noting that after saying yes in yesterday morning’s meeting Ferrari put both its cars on the second row in qualifying, with a smaller time gap to the pole than the team has had all year, suggesting that the team is not unhappy with the current 10% rules.

In today’s Technical Working Group meeting a letter was signed by 10 of the teams, with Christian Horner doing most of the lobbying.

One alternative discussed today was for all the engine manufacturers to come up with a throttle opening percentage that would equate cold blowing to hot blowing between different engines in terms of the volume of gas produced.

The next step could be another meeting next week, but the FIA told the teams that unless agreement is reached by the end of next week, then Germany will also be run to the current 10% rules.

Intriguingly it seems that Jean Todt was one of the motivating forces behind the offer the FIA gave the teams to come to an agreement to drop the 10% rule.

The blown diffuser saga could be ended tomorrow if all 12 teams sign a letter agreeing to return to the rules as they were in Valencia.

If agreement is reached then we will revert to the old interpretation of the rules for Germany, and the 10% throttle limit for Silverstone will have been a one-off.

In today’s hastily arranged meeting of the Technical Working Group all the teams bar Sauber and Williams provisionally agreed to the proposal. FOTA has taken on the task of composing the letter and getting it signed by all 12 teams, with Williams and Sauber expected to agree, having mulled over the consequences.

As suggested here earlier, a key part of the arrangement is that all the teams will have to agree not to protest on the matter in the future. It was the threat of protests that led to the clampdown in the first place.

In effect the FIA is acknowledging that despite its best efforts, it has proved impossible to come up with a solution to the problem of controlling blown diffusers that keeps everybody happy.

The problem goes away next year because exhausts will have to be directed away from the diffuser, so it will be impossible for anyone to gain any benefits.

Sam Michael of Williams told this blog that the other teams now have a better understanding of why there were concessions related to the Renault and Mercedes engines: “One thing we did get out of this morning’s meeting was a lot more clarity on what the Renault and Mercedes issues were, which we didn’t really know about. So that was made clear in the meeting – not 100%, but we have a better idea.”

Fernando Alonso is to get some extra mileage at Silverstone tomorrow morning when he has a go in a 1951 Ferrari 375.

Owned by Bernie Ecclestone, the car is the one used by Jose Froilan Gonzalez to win that year’s British GP – the first World Championship win for the Italian marque.

It was hoped to get Gonzalez over to the UK for the 60^th anniversary celebrations, but the 88-year-old was unable to travel.

He will however be in a TV studio in Argentina tomorrow to receive a message from the team. He doesn’t yet know that Alonso will be driving his old car.

Fernando has previously driven a similar car that was built for the Indy 500.

After Charlie Whiting met team technical directors this lunchtime the FIA has said that it will keep the 10% throttle opening arrangement in place for this race, but may abandon it for the next event.

However a return to the rules as they were in Valencia will only happen if all the teams agree.

Presumably they will also have to agree not to protest, which was previously one of the main concerns that led to the attempted clampdown.

The FIa said today: During Saturday morning’s Extraordinary Technical Working Group Meeting the members discussed the vialbility of returning to the pre-Silverstone set-ups and strategies.

If the teams are in unanimous agreement, the FIA is prepared to adopt this arrangement until the end of the current season.

Jenson Button says he’s mystified at how McLaren fell off the pace in qualifying at Silverstone today.

Button qualified fifth, while team mate Lewis Hamilton is back in 10^th. Button’s biggest concern was the time gap to the third placed Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.

“It wasn’t perfect, but I think we made the best out of it,” said Button. “We didn’t have the best balance to be fair, and it cost me quite a bit of lap time, But still, to be that far behind the cars in front, and it felt OK, is very surprising.

“We’re 1.3s behind a Ferrari, who at the last race were very similar to us in qualifying. We brought a lot of updates here, and you’d expect we would be closer, but we dropped back, and they gained 1.3s.

“I can say that I didn’t have a great lap, because I didn’t have a great balance. And it’s the same for everyone I’m sure, not everyone had a perfect balance.

“I just don’t understand why we’ve lost so much pace. The guys have done a great job, but the car hasn’t really felt the same all weekend. I don’t know whether it’s the regulations or what.”

Button is still hopeful of a good result, especially if the race is damp.

“I think we can really take the fight to the other guys, in mixed conditions, and maybe have one over on them, I hope.”

The FIA issued a further Technical Directive this morning that in effect brings us back to where we were earlier this weekend, with teams restricted to 10% throttle opening under braking.

Renault and Red Bull have thus lost the advantage that rivals claimed they had been given yesterday.

After the letter was sent out this morning Adrian Newey and Christian Horner went down to visit race control to discuss it further. In fact this blog told Charlie Whiting that they were waiting for him…

Today’s TD26 says that from today the FIA will revert to the already issued TD22 and TD25, and states that any evidence on the matter that has arisen since Thursday is not admissible in terms of influencing the FIA’s decision.

The directive says: “In line with the requirements to provide acceptable SECU configurations to the FIA before the start of the British GP, ie before the start of the Event at 10am on Thursday, we consider any information provided after that time to be inadmissible for this Event.”

The directive adds that there is “an exception (of which every manufacturer was aware before the event) fired overrun will be permitted in FC04.”

The significance of that is that as Horner made clear yesterday Renault cannot take advantage of that for reliability reasons, whereas Mercedes can.

Update: During the lunchbreak today there was a hurriedly organised meeting of the Technical Working Group, chaired by Whiting, to discuss the issue.