Adam Cooper F1

Fernando Alonso admits that he and Ferrari were flattered by leading at the start in Spain, and his eventual fifth place was rather more representative of the true form of the car.

Alonso jumped into the lead by the first corner and managed to stay ahead even after the first pit stops. Having lost the lead after his second stop on lap 19 he ended up being lapped by Vettel and Hamilton, having struggled badly on the hard tyres.

“We were missing some good starts this year and it finally came today,” said Alonso of his getaway. “And here with the long straight to Turn One you have the opportunity to take the slipstream as well. Basically we were out of position in a way, we were not quick in the weekend. We did a very good lap yesterday and we were fourth, and maybe it was a strange result, and today on lap one we were first.

“It was not our position so it looks a little bit sad when you start losing positions, but we need to understand that P1 was not our position.

“Fifth is unfortunately what we deserve this weekend, we were not competitive, especially in the race pace we were too slow, with the hard tyre even more. I think the first two cars they lapped until the fifth guy, so there are clearly two teams ahead of everybody at the moment. We need to change the situation. Monaco is so special that anything can happen, but in Canada we have to make a step forward.”

Mark Webber had a frustrating day in Spain as he fell to fourth place after starting from pole.

He eventually finished 47 seconds behind his team mate, having lost the use of KERS at some stage in the race. Webber said he didn’t get a particularly bad start, despite dropping to third place by the first corner.

“I don’t think it was hideous, but it looked like Fernando got a phenomenal one,” said the Aussie. “And then obviously everyone’s in the tow for the run to the first corner. I went down the inside and was a bit compromised, and it helped that Seb was on the outside.

“And then it was just chess really from there, people covering each other off stops. We didn’t really do much racing on track.

“Interesting day today, goes to show how fine the margins are if you’re off a little bit on strategy and you can’t clear people at the right time, then you get exposed. I think at certain stages I was quick, and at other stages I was not so quick. That’s the way it was today.”

Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed that the idea of allowing V8s and the new turbos to race alongside each other in 2013 was floated at yesterday’s meeting in Barcelona.

Jean Todt met with engine representatives and FOTA’s Martin Whitmarsh, who had the chance to express their opposition to the rules. Although he still intends to pursue the turbo route the Frenchman acknowledged that one solution might be to allow the V8s a longer lifespan.

“What he is talking now is about letting the V8s run for a year or something,” Ecclestone told Reuters today. “But I mean, equivalency formulas never work, do they?”

Bernie acknowledged that it at least it was a sign of potential flexibility from Todt.

“We’ll have to see now. I don’t know. I hope, I hope, I hope. I think he’s beginning to understand that the manufacturers all realise its going to cost them a lot of money and they can’t hand that on to their customers because the engines are going to be too expensive.

“I think the whole idea of this engine is the wrong way to go. I haven’t changed and I told him yesterday I have not changed my opinion.

“Jean is still believing that he says we should be giving a message. I don’t know what the message is because there is more fuel used in the Tour de France than there is in Formula One.  In my opinion it’s all a bit of window dressing for the wrong reasons.”

Nico Rosberg has been at the sharp end of the field in the last two races only to end up in fifth place in both events after Mercedes couldn’t follow-up on that form.

In Spain the German starts seventh, but insists that the team has put a greater emphasis on its performance over a race distance. Nevertheless, he’s disappointed to be so far back.

“For sure it’s a disappointment, it’s obviously not great,” he said. “In Turkey I was third on the grid, and here seventh, that’s not ideal. But taking a step back, it was to be expected. We changed our approach a little bit and just concentrated more on race pace, so for the race we’re definitely looking better for tomorrow than what we looked like in Turkey, because in Turkey I definitely struggled in the race. So that was no good.

“We’re trying generally to do a better job here, so we’ll see if it works tomorrow, starting a bit further back, hoping we have a better race pace. Then again I’m not sure because the other guys seem to be a little further ahead at the moment, so it will be difficult. In terms of tyres also I’m looking better for example than Ferrari. Not sure about McLaren. So it’s possible.”

Jenson Button says he’s not unhappy with fifth place on the Barcelona grid, despite being bumped down by Fernando Alonso at the end of Q3.

Like his team mate Button has the advantage of starting on the cleaner side of the track.

“Disappointed to be fifth, and a little bit surprised!,” said Button. “It was pretty good, I felt pretty good out there. The car got better and better through qualifying with the softer tyres, and working with the set-up. My lap wasn’t too bad. I was three hundredths behind Lewis, and obviously disappointed not to be third on the grid. But three hundredths was close. I felt the lap was good.

“And then Fernando got in between us as well. It’s so, so close, three hundredths from being third to fifth. I suppose for me the positive is I’m on the clean side of the grid, and that makes a big difference.”

Button said that strategy will be complex on Sunday, but says that he’s in a good position having saved a set of tyres.

“It’s very difficult. Having your tyres in good condition makes such a big difference now, even on in-laps you’re not pushing as hard. So the tyres are a big part of the race. We’re in pretty good shape. On my soft tyres I’ve got two sets that have one timed lap and another set that’s brand new.

“I think Fernando’s used all three of his sets, which is nice. And obviously we have the prime tyre, which is going to be a tricky tyre in the race. It’s a big, big difference from the soft to the hard. You’ll see some different strategies tomorrow.”

Bernie Ecclestone has admitted that it’s possible that the Indian GP could be moved from October 30 to December, freeing up the original date for a re-instated Bahrain GP.

December 4 has been suggested as the likely new date for the Delhi race.

“Everything’s possible. We could do, yeah,” Ecclestone told Reuters. “I’m not sure at the moment what I’m going to do. Everything’s up in the air. I haven’t decided about it. We’ll see if we have to go to Bahrain.”

Sources told this blog today that the Indian race could in fact end up on December 11.

The big problem is that having Brazil on Nov 27 and India a week later will be a huge logistical challenge. Traditionally F1 never goes to a new venue on such a schedule because of uncertainties about customs clearance and so on.

Intriguigingly the FIA already has a big splash planned for India in December, having moved its end-of-season activities from Monaco. At the moment a WMSC meeting is scheduled for Dec 6, the Awards Gala for Dec 7, and the General Assembly for Dec 8.

The FIA is looking into Ferrari’s use of  a higher than normal Gurney flap on its rear wing in practice today.

The FIA denies that other teams have complained but have confirmed that Ferrari has come up with its own interpretation of the rules. The higher flap clearly creates extra downforce.

“No teams have complained to me at all,” said Whiting. “We are aware of the development on the Ferrari rear wing of course, and we are currently discussing it with Ferrari.”

Asked whether the wing would be seen on Saturday, Whiting said: “That will depend on what we will decide tonight. It’s a very clever interpretation of the rules, and we’ve got to decide whether we think it’s a good interpretation of the rules. It will be clear tomorrow.”

Whiting explained the issue as follows:

“It’s article 3.10.3, which deals with slot gap separators, the devices which are normally just vertical, two of them typically on each wing, which keep the distance between the profiles constant. The fact that these separators have to totally encircle these profiles, also ensures that the profile remains the same. We had some issue with changing profiles a few years ago.

“These separators can’t be more than 250mm apart. It’s an alternative interpretation shall we say of that rule, that we’re currently discussing.”

Pics can be found here: http://yfrog.com/h03ttfjj

The FIA’s Charlie Whiting has confirmed that there will be two DRS zones at each race – if the circuit layout allows it – starting from Montreal.

The two zones will have to be consecutive, as the wing will be activated at the same point.

In Montreal they will be the last straight and the pit straight.

Whiting said the software that allows the use of two zones first became available for Turkey, but it wasn’t yet proven.

“We only had the software available in Turkey,” he said. “I thought it was too new and I wanted to make sure there were no bugs in it. We didn’t think there was anywhere suitable here, because they have to be consecutive straights, ideally, because it becomes more complicated the further apart they are.

“The first realistic opportunity we felt was Montreal. And in Valencia as currently planned it will be between Turns 10 and 12, and again between 14 and 17.”

Despite being a second off the Red Bull of Mark Webber today Fernando Alonso seemed positive about prospects for the weekend.

Ferrari treid a lot of development parts today and Alonso said the best package would be on both cars tomorrow.

“We are testing so many parts and trying to analyse everything tonight and put the best combination tomorrow,” said Alonso. “There were new parts in my car. There were different parts in Felipe’s, so we need to make a mix now of what works, what doesn’t work, and tomorrow hopefully be more competitive.

“No surprises, Red Bull in front of everybody, I think there is this circuit and also Budapest we saw last year that it seems to suit their philosophy of car. We knew this, especially in qualifying it will be tough to beat them, but in the race everything seems to be more close,

“I’m sure that either McLaren and Ferrari will try to make some difficult time for Red Bull in Sunday’s race.”

Alonso admitted that the new hard tyre was a problem: “I think it’s a bit different. It was already a bit different in the first four races, and for whatever reason they decide to change the hard tyre to an even slower tyre, and now it’s difficult to think about Q1 with the hard tyre.

“So I think 95% of the people will try to use one soft – unfortunately – in Q1. We’ll see if someone takes the risk. But yes it’s a tyre that… better I don’t say anything!”

Lewis Hamilton has branded Pirelli’s new ‘super hard’ tyre a disaster after the first day of practice in Barcelona.

All drivers struggled for grip on the new tyre, and Fernando Alonso said it would be better if he didn’t say what he thought about it.

“The car was OK once we got to the better tyre,” said Hamilton. “I think everyone was much, much happier with the [soft] tyre. The super hard is a disaster, that wasn’t nice to drive. A two second difference, and they don’t last longer.”

Asked to elaborate he said: “It was feeling pretty poor this morning with the new super hard tyre, I don’t know why they’ve brought that tyre, because the previous tyre was pretty good. It looks pretty difficult to switch on, and then to last, it’s just sliding.

“I think we were about 2.5 seconds off the pace just with that tyre. Then we switched to the normal soft, and it was fantastic. I think you’ll see most people driving with that tyre for the weekend.”

Hamilton finished the session an encouraging second, only 0.03s behind Mark Webber’s Red Bull.

“I think we’re just as competitive as we have been perhaps in the past, but that doesn’t mean we’re actually close to them. We’ll wait and see tomorrow if we’re actually close to them. It really depends what engine modes they’re on and all that kind of thing.

“From the times it looks great, but usually when we get to qualifying they end up switching something on, and pulling out half a second. Undoubtedly they are the quickest car, on the long run they were still quicker than us.

“We made some small steps forward today, I think we improved a couple of small areas, which is good. The front wing, we put it on and it seems to be a little bit better. Globally, not too bad.”