Adam Cooper F1

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali says that he doesn’t know how the rule clarification for Silverstone will impact the status quo between the top teams.

In Valencia Fernando Alonso finished second, having kept Red Bull on its toes all day.

“Congratulations to Sebastian because he has won the race, he has won six out of eight or something like that,” said Domenicali. “But I think without looking at the classification, we need to make sure that race by race we improve our performance, and if we are able to put him under pressure, we will see.

“I don’t know what is going to happen at Silverstone in terms of what is the effect on the performance of our car and what is the effect on the performance of Red Bull and all the others. We will see, that will be very interesting. Of course Silverstone is a race where normally Red Bull is very strong, it’s a high speed corner track. So we need to wait and see.”

Regarding the Valencia result, he said: “I think that Fernando’s race was really good. It was a great race, pushing lap by lap, a lot of backmarkers in the middle, so that was not really an easy job for anyone, unfortunately also for him too.

“I’m very pleased, because we saw that on race pace we were there. We beat one of the two Red Bulls on the track. The strategy applied was the right one to jump Mark on the track. So really, a positive outcome of the day.”

Ferrari has been competitive at the last three tracks, and when asked if the circuits or car development had given the team a boost, Domenicali said: “I think it’s both. For sure the track suits better our car, but we improved the car everywhere, I would say.

“For sure now we need to see the package that we are preparing to arrive in the high downforce tracks, and in the tracks where the high speed corners are very relevant, and we will see where we will be. I think that Silverstone will be important because that will be a line to see where the performance will be considering the changes there will be.”

The problem for Ferrari is that Pirelli has not confirmed its tyre selection for the British GP, and the team clearly prefers the softest products in the range.

Lewis Hamilton was able to put on a brave face after the European GP, but it was clear that he wasn’t very happy with the outcome of the weekend.

He eventually finished fourth and a massive 46 seconds off winner Sebastian Vettel. Most tellingly he conceded that his title hopes are slim.

“It’s finished really, in the sense of the championship,” he said. “It’s almost over, really.”

Hamilton said the problem was a simple lack of pace. “It wasn’t a frustrating race, we just weren’t quick enough, it’s as simple as that. The Ferraris were massively quicker than ourselves. We were really struggling to keep up with the Red Bulls and Ferraris ahead of me, I think we were quite lucky to stay ahead of Massa, really. The guys did a fantastic job in the pit stops, the best pit stops we’ve had all year. Unfortunately, just struggling with pace.

“The guys were asking me to stay out longer, I said guys I’m trying to look after the tyres as best I can, so this is all I can do. So I was pushing all the way, but with the tyres I was really, really struggling with oversteer for a long time. Seems like we’ve taken a step backwards perhaps this weekend in terms of performance, or maybe others have taken a step forward.

“I said I would be happy if I was able to keep my [grid] position, so I can’t say I’m happy.”

Hamilton made it clear where the problem lies: “I think we’re quite a bit down on downforce. We’ve not made an upgrade for several weeks now. I mean we’ve had upgrades, the front wing for example, but I mean rear downforce, we’ve really been struggling with that. In the next race we will really, really struggle. Once we lose the engine map we may see some differences there. “I think we might be affected more than the two teams ahead of us. It could be even worse for us.”

Asked whether he was looking forward to his home race, he said: “No! I’m really looking forward to seeing the fans, because they always put a spark in the weekend and make it that much brighter. I hope the weather’s great for us. Of course I’ll be coming there as best prepared as I can, as fast as I can be there.”

Fernando Alonso was in upbeat mood after qualifying in Valencia, despite being unable to match the front row spot he earned last time out in Canada.

The local hero insists that he’s happy to start fourth, behind the Red Bulls and Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren.

“It’s the best qualifying of the year apart from Canada, where we were on the first row of the grid,” said Alonso. “Of course we know it’s our maximum position at the moment. Red Bull is out of reach, they’ve had the last 13 pole positions, regarding the last races of last year. This is F1, no magic tricks from one race to the other.

“The real goal was to beat the McLarens. We have one McLaren in front and one behind, so more or less it’s achieved, the goal. Felipe and me we start in between them, so hopefully tomorrow we can fight for a podium, which is the main goal for this weekend.”

Alonso, who has never finished in the top three at this track, says he hopes to take advantage of any trouble ahead.

“A podium is the realistic target for us. We’ve been saying this from Thursday. It’s true that in free practice we were quick, but now in qualifying we see the real potential of all cars, and we see the Red Bull clearly favourite for pole position and for the race win.

“We just need to overtake one car. I’m sure Lewis will be aggressive on the first corner. We need to overtake the Red Bulls quickly, if I can take any benefit from some accidents, I will be ready…”

Ferrari technical director Pat Fry says that the Italian team has to come up with bigger innovations in the winter rather than rely on ongoing development in its quest to improve performance.

“If you look at the rate at which all the teams develop through the year, Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes, their actual development rate though the season is very, very similar,” said Fry.

“Obviously you bring different packages to different races, but if you average it out, we all sort of develop at the same sort of performance rate. So you have to be creative, and make the bigger steps in the winter period. Red Bull have done a very good job, we need to do a better one. We need to create the environment where we can make a bigger step.”

Although there has already been talking about when teams might give up on a title challenge and start to focus R&D efforts on their 2012 cars, Fry says that Ferrari intends to carry on with the current model.

“In reality as there’s not a big rule change [for 2012] we can carry on developing this car all the way through. We’re learning different techniques. The only thing that won’t carry over is anything we learn from the exhaust system and blowing the floor. We will develop things on this car all the way through to the end of the year, because it’s improving our understanding for next year.”

Christian Horner says that team harmony at Red Bull would take priority over creating an enviable Sebastian Vettel/Lewis Hamilton line up.

Hamilton has been linked with a possible future at RBR after he met with Horner in Montreal.

Asked by the BBC whether he could envisage Hamilton and Vettel working together, Horner said: “Sometimes as a team you have to look beyond what on paper perhaps looks the most attractive. It’s all about harmony and team at the end of the day, it’s not about individuals. That’s the most important thing to us.”

Asked whether he thought Hamilton really wanted to leave McLaren, he added: “I think that’s only really a question that Lewis could answer. He’s been there since he was almost just out of nappies. It’s one that I can’t answer. Of course every driver at the moment would like to be driving a Red Bull car, that’s only normal when we’ve had the kind of performance we’ve enjoyed over the last few years.”

FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting has defended the decision to clamp down on the use of engine mapping in conjunction with blown diffusers, insisting that what the teams have been doing is illegal.

Regarding the inevitable suggestions that the changes have been brought in to specfically handicap Red Bull, Whiting was adamant that it was not the case.

“If that’s what people want to say, then they’re perfectly at liberty to do it, of course,” said Whiting in Valencia. “All we’re doing is making sure that everyone is running how we think a car should be run legally. It’s not for us to say whether or not a certain team will be penalised more than others. It just depends on extreme they go. I’ve certainly seen evidence of maps from a number of teams that are extremely extreme. It’s not confined to one team, I can assure you.”

Asked why the FIA didn’t address the issue earlier, given that blown diffusers were in use last year, Whiting stressed that things had moved on.

“We know they all had blown diffusers, but it was how they were being used. It’s quite simply really. We know that exhaust gases have an influence on the aerodynamic performance of the car. We accept that, but the point is the design should minimise the effect that the exhaust has on the car, they shouldn’t attempt to use the exhaust for a completely different reason. That’s our view.

“It’s a bit like the mass damper for example, when it’s use, when first introduced by one team, it’s use was fairly benign when it came to aerodynamics. But the more it got developed, the more extreme the designs were. There were four or five or six mass dampers on the car, and they were clearly being used for aerodynamic reasons. These things escalate, as we all know, to the point where something has to be done. It’s exactly the same type of approach that we’re taking.”

However he drew a distinction between the current situation and examples such as the F-Duct and double diffuser, which were outlawed between seasons.

“The double diffuser and the F-Duct were legal, but during the course of the season the teams got together with us and decided that they weren’t good for F1, or weren’t needed in F1, so we wrote rules which would outlaw them. They actually complied with the rules, that’s why they were allowed to stay until the end of the season. But the new rules which came in the next year outlawed them.”

Whiting said the current changes were not prompted by any formal challenge from a team.

“The FIA Technical Department can only give an opinion. The stewards are the ones that decide whether or not the opinion of the technical department is correct. No one has yet challenged our opinion on this one. They are all happy to remove the extreme maps from their ECUs, but it’s just a matter of timing, and exactly what they do without affecting any perfectly legitimate routines and systems.”

Whiting admitted that one team had come close to filing a protest in Monaco: “I gave the team the assurance that we were going to follow this through, we weren’t going to give it up. That’s what they were concerned about. They were concerned about us changing our minds completely, letting things go for the rest of the season. On that basis we haven’t had any protests yet. I’ve always emphasised to the teams that that option is open to them. But I think everyone is doing to some degree the same thing. We just need to be sensible about it and approach it in a sort of pragmatic way in order to get the situation under control.

“Some are doing it more extremely than others, and you could even say some are doing it better than others. But everyone is doing it to some degree.”

Fernando Alonso has never had much luck in Valencia, and despite being fastest in practice today, the Ferrari driver was not getting too excited. However, he was willing to concede that he was “optimistic” for qualifying.

The local hero was 0.2 ahead of nearest challenger Lewis Hamilton, and a further tenth clear of Sebastian Vettel.

“It was OK, a normal Friday for us,” said Alonso. “We’re trying to understand the medium tyres. Everything seems OK, according to our information. We completed a lot of laps in the programme with both cars. We had a smooth Friday, but how competitive we are, I don’t think we can have an idea.

“We’ve been first position on Friday some races already, and then on Saturday we are fourth or fifth, with Red Bull always very dominant, and McLaren on average in front of us. I don’t expect tomorrow a big miracle. It will be very tough for us, if we want to be in front. Obviously we are optimistic, we are confident that we can do a good qualifying, and we will give 100%.”

Alonso downplayed the rule changes that are expected to rein in Red Bull in qualifying.

“I think the change of the regulation means nothing [here]. We have exactly the same car as we had in Canada. In Silverstone it can be more change, but here is exactly the same. If we are competitive here, it’s because of the track characteristics. The car is more or less identical to Canada, it’s just the circuit and the tyres are working well. We’ll see tomorrow.”

Although overtaking has been much easier at other venues this year, Alonso thinks it will still be tough in Valencia.

“It will be difficult. I had a couple of laps behind the Sauber in the last run, and I noticed it was very difficult to overtake, even using the DRS. Obviously it’s not as extreme as Monaco, where it is impossible to overtake, but I think here in Valencia it is very, very difficult.

“A good starting position is important tomorrow, so we need to find a good set-up for the race, but we cannot forget qualifying, because as I said it will be difficult in the race to see as many overtaking as some other places.”

Sebastian Vettel was unperturbed after being only third fastest on Friday afternoon in Valencia, behind Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

In the morning Vettel experimented with a car in ‘Silverstone legal’ spec, and he was only16th.

Although the consensus is that the new engine mapping rules – starting with the qualifying clampdown in Valencia – will hurt RBR more than most, Vettel downplays the changes.

“To be honest I can understand that this is news to everyone, and everyone wants to get some information,” said the German. “I can only say that it will affect everyone, when the rules change, but I don’t see us suffering more than other people, to be honest. Maybe we will be surprised, maybe not. What I can judge now I think we have nothing to be afraid of.”

Regarding his morning experiment, Vettel said: “Sometimes you try different things. If you’re not in the top five or the top 10, clearly you’re running a different programme from the others, so that was this morning. In the afternoon we were more or less on the same pages as the rest. As you’ve seen, it’s very tight. I had a good feeling, to be honest, it was much better than in the morning.

“It is a Friday, and it’s always difficult to see what other people do. The important thing is we are there or thereabouts. It is tight here. Last year obviously we had a very good race, but there were a couple of people, Lewis and Fernando in particular, who were very close to us. The race unfolded a bit differently so we had a nice time at the front.

“It changes circuit by circuit. You can’t really say that’s team A, team B, team C. Sometimes the gaps are bigger, sometimes they are much closer. I give you the perfect example – we go to Australia, we are quite a bit quicker than the rest, we come to Malaysia, and we really had to push hard to qualify on pole. That’s two weeks, nothing was changed on the cars, it was just a different track. That’s how it goes. That’s why here as we expected it will be very tight.”

Plans for a movie about the 1976 F1 season and the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt appear to have taken a step forward with the news that two of the biggest names in the field of true life drama are collaborating on the project.

Veteran director Ron Howard, whose long list of credits includes Apollo 13, Frost/Nixon and A Beautiful Mind, is said to be ready to take on the film, which is tentatively called Rush.

Meanwhile scriptwriting chores are in the hands of his Frost/Nixon partner Peter Morgan, who was also responsible for The Queen and The Damned United, and whose latest film is about the life of Freddie Mercury.

Financing is from Cross Creek Pictures, a relatively new production company that was responsible for Oscar-winning ballet movie Black Swan. Its latest projects include The Ides of March, with George Clooney, and The Woman in Black, with Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe.

Paul Greengrass, who directed two of the Bourne movies, had originally been slated to direct.

A lawsuit filed by three Austin citizens could disrupt preparations for the US GP.

The suit claims that it seeks to prevent “the unlawful plunder of public funds for promoters of a Formula One race at a time when the State of Texas claims it cannot afford to adequately fund essential services, such as its public education system.”

One of the plaintiffs is a teacher who lost her job in a recent round of spending cutbacks.

A key element of the financial plans for the race is that the sanctioning fee due to Bernie Ecclestone is to be taken care of by a $25m grant of public money from the Texas state’s Major Event Trust Fund.

This was guaranteed to Bernie Ecclestone by Texas State Comptroller Susan Combs in a letter of May 10 last year, in which she assured him that the $25m fee for the 2012 race would be paid to Formula One World Championship Limited by July 31 2011, and that a similar amount would be paid for the remaining nine years of the contract, always before the end of July of the previous year.

The legal suit has been filed against Combs, in essence on the basis that the processes related to the Major Event Trust Fund were not correctly followed, and that she was not authorised to guarantee the payment to Ecclestone.

Among the key points cited by the plaintiffs are that there was no “highly competitive selection process” for the event.

They say that “offering public funds after the site selection has been made is an illegal gift for private purpose.”

It’s also claimed that the incremental increase in state and local tax income derived from the F1 event – and which justifies the use of the METF funding – has not been properly calculated.