Adam Cooper F1

Lewis Hamilton is in the headlines again after his clash with Jenson Button in Montreal.

He had already tangled with Mark Webber at the first corner, meaning that he has now had four controversial incidents in two races.

Regarding the contact with Webber, he said: “He seemed to brake a little bit early, and I braked down the inside and tried to take the inside line.

“I was trying to overtake, I just understeered a little bit, and we collided. I haven’t seen it on the data, but it wasn’t intentional. I had a little bit of damage, but that’s racing.”

On the later incident, he said: “It appeared Jenson braked quite late and outbraked himself into the chicane, and he got a very poor exit, and I got quite a good exit and pulled up alongside him.

“He continued to pull across, whether or not he saw me or not, and there was no room for me, there was no run-off, so I was just in the wall. Kinda lucky we didn’t take both ourselves out.

“There was nothing I could do, it was too late for me to bail out. He just didn’t leave me any room.

“I don’t think it was intentional, I know Jenson quite well, he wouldn’t do that. I thought I was alongside him. Well, it doesn’t matter now.”

Asked what kind of discussion he might have with the stewards, Lewis said: “I have no idea. Have a safe trip home, hopefully.”

Hamilton said he was looking forward to the next race.

“Onwards and upwards, I just go the next one and try and stay out of trouble. It will be great if we can qualify a little bit higher, and maybe avoid being in these positions, but that’s the way it is.”

The FIA is pushing ahead with its clampdown on ‘extreme’ blown diffusers, commencing with the British GP next month.

On Saturday the FIA wrote to the teams to confirm that the ban on engine mapping influencing aerodynamics – which was put on hold after a previous attempt before the Spanish GP – would go ahead. It cites cost implications of a development race as the main reason.

Details will be discussed at next week’s meeting of the Technical Working Group, but the FIA insists that the principle aims will be maintained.

In addition the governing body intends to ban any kind of exhaust action on diffusers from 2012, with strict controls on exhaust exits by restricting teams to a basic ‘straight through’ layout, which will put an end to Renault’s system.

The Silverstone ban could affect the balance of power between the top teams for the remainder of this season, with Red Bull Racing likely to suffer more than anyone else.

Having honed their cars to work with the systems, teams will now have to revise them within a month. Ironically Ferrari has just made a step by getting more out of its diffuser this weekend.

McLaren’s Whitmarsh made it clear that he was happy with the change, while a frustrated Christian Horner told this blog that RBR took the opposite view

“I don’t think it will create a fundamental change to the picture,” said Whitmarsh. “But it will hurt some more than others. Depending on how optimistic you are feeling that day, you like to think that it will hurt others more than you! It will change according to which team, who’s exploiting these tactics the most. It’s been a moving feast. Here you can hear changes and difference in some teams [ie Ferrari’s exhaust note] which will not be there when we get to Silverstone.”

This blog has seen a copy of the technical directive, which justifies the clampdown as follows:

“It is clear that some engine control maps have become extreme both during overrun and acceleration phases and, combined with similarly extreme exhaust systems, have become powerful downforce generating devices. Such systems arguably contravene the F1 Technical Regulations by generating exhaust air flow that goes beyond their primary purpose, that of generating engine torque.

“There are clear indications that this is an active development area and far more extreme systems or procedures can be expected to appear.

“Additionally, the financial, technical and human resources required to support such developments, as well as the impact on engine reliability and on fuel consumption are totally contrary to the objectives pursued by the FIA, the teams and the engine manufacturers.

“The FIA intends to ensure that no engine mapping is used to artificially alter the aerodynamic characteristics of a car beyond the primary purpose of generating engine torque.”

McLaren and Lewis Hamilton have a great record in Montreal, but today the former World Champion couldn’t better fifth place in qualifying.

An improvement by Ferrari and lack of straightline speed – due Lewis said to a wrong decision over seventh gear – contributed to the Englishman’s disappointment. It was clear that he was trying to put on a positive public face.

“I feel OK, I feel happy within myself,” Hamilton insisted. “I don’t think I’ve ever driven the car so hard in my life, really. I was on such a ragged edge, I even touched the wall at one stage, I literally gave everything I could.

“We were also trying to use the tow of another car, because we were so slow on the straight – we had the wrong seventh gear in. So we were 10 kms or even more – 12 or 13 kms – slow on the straight, so we were losing a couple of tenths just on the straight. But I pushed as hard as I could. It seems the other guys have made a step forward, so back to the drawing board.”

Hamilton gave an enigmatic response when asked if he was hoping for better race form.

“I really, really hope so. We had a little bit of a bad news earlier on about something on the car. That will undoubtedly hamper our race pace.”

Lewis said he had no preference for a wet or dry race: “I don’t mind. I’d love a dry race, I think it would be great for all the fans. However it would be cool if it started dry and it rained half way through or something like that, and spiced it up a bit.

“I just want to finish tomorrow. Vettel’s gone, he’s on his way. It’s going to be very, very hard for us to catch him at this race. But I’m still hopeful. I don’t know when we’ve got anything coming, but I really, really hope that sometime soon we’ll have some positive steps on the car.”

Pedro de la Rosa had a lot of learning to do when he was thrown into the Sauber this afternoon with minimal preparation.

Although the 40-year-old drove for the Swiss team nine months ago, that car didn’t have KERS or DRS, and he hadn’t driven anything on track since a McLaren test in February.

“It’s an opportunity I did not expect,” said the Spaniard. “I want to do a good job, a solid job as normal, and try to build on today. Hopefully tomorrow my reactions will be more instinctive, and I don’t have to think before I press any button in the steering or somehow. I’m just happy to be here.

“We could use my seat from last year, which was absolutely very important and vital. All the rest, I went out with my McLaren overalls, boots helmet, we did a quick fix on the ear pieces just to match the radio systems from Sauber. The pedals were a compromise.”

Although he has run the 2011 systems in the McLaren simulator, those on the Sauber are different.

“The DRS, it’s the first ever time I’ve driven it in a proper race car, so it’s all new. It’s just a matter of pressing everything when you have, it’s just a matter of extracting the most out of KERS and DRS, and for me this is the point where at the moment I have more to learn. I’m not really disciplined enough with the buttons to extract 100%.

“I have to practice pit stops. Unfortunately I haven’t practised one start, so I need to do that.”

Fernando Alonso topped the times in Montreal on Friday, although the Ferrari driver was helped by a disjointed session which saw red flags disrupt the quick runs of many drivers.

Alonso was happy with progress, but he remains a little cautious.

“I think it was OK for us,” said Alonso. “Obviously we tried to concentrate on the two types of tyre, the soft and the supersoft tyre. We had a little bit of an aerodynamic programme this morning with some things to analyse on the rear wings, so we tried to complete our programme. We didn’t concentrate on the times or whatever so it’s always positive to see yourself in the first four or five positions at the end of the practice, but to be honest today is not really important.

“We also topped the practice in Monaco and then in qualifying Vettel was one second quicker than us. We know that tomorrow is the day to put everything and we know Red Bull will be very strong and probably the favourite, and also at the moment it’s supposed to rain, especially on Sunday. So the job we did today maybe just for practice because everything can change tomorrow.”

Alonso says Ferrari put a lot of effort into brakes today.

“We had obviously an intense programme on the brakes, we know that Canada is maybe the hardest circuit on the brakes. We had two types of brakes, a different type of cooling on the brakes, so Felipe and me combined the programme to have the best combination. We have to study the results now and prepare the car for tomorrow. But everything seems quite OK, we’re quite happy with the results.”

Regarding strategy, Alonso said: “In between two and four stops can be the possibility, quite an open race.”

Sergio Perez admits that he wasn’t feeling up to the job after the first session in Montreal today, leaving the team with no choice but to hurriedly put Pedro de la Rosa in the car.

“Of course I wanted to drive and I had no doubt I was alright,” said Perez. “But apparently this is unfortunately not the case. I am deeply disappointed. I spoke to the team after the session and told them that I’m not a hundred per cent fit. I only want to drive when I’m a hundred per cent well. I need some more time to recover.”

“This development hit us by surprise,” said Peter Sauber, “because Sergio underwent thorough medical checks, first in the hospital in Monaco, then in a hospital in Zürich, and finally, the FIA doctors gave him the green light this Thursday in Montreal. Nobody could have foreseen that he would feel unwell. Maybe we are being overly cautious, but when it’s about the health of our drivers we take zero risks.

“We want to thank Pedro de la Rosa and McLaren for helping us out in this situation.”

Pedro de la Rosa is to replace Sergio Perez in the Sauber in Montreal after the Mexican didn’t feel 100% after practice this morning.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh met Sauber management during the lunchbreak today and the Spaniard hurried down to the Swiss team’s garage with his luggage in tow.

Clearly there are massive contractual headaches to be overcome in such a short time but it seems that the two teams have dealt with it.

It remains to be seen whether he actually gets out in this session although his name is already on the timing screens.

De La Rosa drove for Sauber last season until being dropped in favour of Nick Heidfeld.

On Thursday night the Bahrain saga staggered to a conclusion when the organisers admitted defeat and said that they were now looking forward to a race in March 2012 – which is the route that the World Motor Sport Council should of course have decided in the first place. One of the key players behind the scenes has been FOTA Chairman Martin Whitmarsh, who had to tread a very fine line as McLaren is part owned by the Bahraini government – and yet he appears to have taken a firm stance on FOTA’s behalf. This writer had an exclusive chat with him about how things have developed.

Q: Are you pleased that this story finally seems to be over?

“I’ll be pleased when I can talk openly about it, and that isn’t now! In fairness we took a decision which was to get the teams together. We formed an opinion. We sent a private letter – I know people leaked it but it didn’t leak from me – and we expressed some views. And there’s a process which I hope will come to the right solution. If other people want to jump in and claim they’ve done it or they sorted it or take the credit for it, then that’s good, I don’t mind.”

Q: What do you think of Jean Todt’s response to FOTA?

“I spoke to Jean quite a bit over the last few days. You can get into the legal interpretation of Concorde and the International Sporting Code – and bear in mind the letter we sent had to satisfy 11 teams – the lawyers can argue it each way. I think we’re missing the point if we get into a discussion about the legality or the interpretation of the regulations. I think there are more fundamental issues that need to be discussed than interpretation of the regulations. I’ve heard what happened in the World Motor Sport Council – I don’t know whether he’s released the transcript of that yet but I have had the transcript – and in fairness to Jean he in an orderly and disciplined manner chaired a meeting, sought views and opinion around the table, and did get a unanimous decision.”

Q: The tone of the letter was that the FIA had done everything correctly…

“In fairness I think he did.”

Q: He also said that Bernie is there representing the teams…

“I don’t think Bernie is there to represent the teams frankly, but there you go.”

Q: So how did FOTA react to the original decision?

“A decision came out. As soon as it came out on the Friday I called for a FOTA Executive conference call to be held. At the time people were travelling and all over the shop. We got one together on Monday, and it was thoroughly debated. And following that, we wrote the latter and expressed our views.”

Q: The question people ask is how could Ferrari express one view in the meeting and then be part of a different view a few days later.

“In fairness I think Ferrari didn’t express a view one way or the other in the meeting, in the transcript I’ve read.”

Q: So it wasn’t as unanimous as has been said?

“It was a show of hands, which doesn’t come across well on a transcript! But a show of hands for and against was requested, and after an apparent verbal silence Jean says ‘So it’s unanimous then?,’ and no one said, ‘No it isn’t.’ I don’t have a video, I only have a transcript. In fairness to Jean on that one he asked and he got a unanimous judgement.”

Q: Do you agree that there are no winners in this, everyone in F1 has lost?

“I think it’s very unfortunate, and there aren’t any winners. Hopefully no one’s looking for winners. It’s a great event, it’s a fantastic paddock. The way it’s panned out this year, I don’t think we should be looking for winners. Ultimately we want F1 to be the winner. One of the problems of this sport is that there are egos who want to be personally winners, and that’s not what we should be about. We should be about sport and the fans winning. And I think that’s what FOTA is trying to do, really just trying to take a view and express a view on what is the right thing for the sport.”

The Bahrain GP organisers have tonight accepted that their race is not going to happen in 2011, and have issued a statement saying that they will not pursue the matter and focus on next year.

In effect as with the original postponement the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone have allowed the Bahrainis to withdraw gracefully by making their own announcement.

The next step will be for the FIA to restore the original calendar, with India back on October 30.

The carefully worded statement reads as follows:

In the light of ongoing difficulties relating to the rescheduling of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Bahrain International Circuit chairman Zayed R Alzayani, today made the following statement:

“Whilst Bahrain would have been delighted to see the Grand Prix progress on October 30th in-line with the World Motor Sport Council’s decision, it has been made clear that this fixture cannot progress and we fully respect that decision.

“Bahrain has always sought to play a positive role in the continued development of Formula One, from pioneering F1 racing in the Middle East, to helping other countries in facilitating their own races in new territories, as well as providing our own unique experience and universal welcome to Grand Prix supporters.

“Bahrain has absolutely no desire to see a race which would further extends the calendar season detract from the enjoyment of F1 for either drivers, teams or supporters.  We want our role in Formula One to continue to be as positive and constructive as it has always been, therefore, in the best interest of the sport, we will not pursue the rescheduling of a race this season.

“We look forward to welcoming teams, their drivers and supporters back to Bahrain next year and would like to extend our deepest gratitude to our supporters, including staff, volunteers, sponsors, private businesses and the general public, for whom I know this year’s decision will be a disappointment.  We would also especially like to thank the FIA, FOM, The Bahrain Motor Federation (BMF) and the teams for all support and understanding they have extended to us at this time.

Sebastian Vettel is confident of a good weekend in Montreal despite Red Bull’s inherent weakness in recent years on tracks dominated by long straights.

Vettel finished fourth in last year’s eventful strategy-dominated race, and in Monaco both Christian Horner and Adrian Newey admitted to this blog that Montreal was still not the team’s favourite track.

“We will see where we are,” said the German today. “I’m quite confident. Last year I think we had a good car here, we didn’t win, we were not on the podium, but I think we started the race on a different strategy, which turned out not to work. It was a surprise for us at the time.

“But we learned our lesson, and for this year we’ll see where we are with tyres, how they work, how they last, how long they last. I think in terms of pace, we should be OK. We know that long straight lines and so on are not always in our favour. Our car is very competitive in corners, fast corners. We don’t have many fast corners around here. So we’ll see.”

Not surprisingly, Vettel says this weekend will be about tyres.

“We’re bringing some new bits here, not massive, but again little steps. We’ll see tomorrow where we are, how we are working with the tyres. It can turn out differently maybe if you work better with the tyres, worse with the tyres, compared with other teams.

“I think it’s one of the most difficult weekends here, because the track is different, the asphalt is very smooth, so tyres as I mentioned earlier will be very important. Plus you’ve got the walls very close in some places. I felt it in 2008 where I couldn’t do qualifying, because of hitting the wall in practice. It’s a long weekend.”