Adam Cooper F1

Just five days after the Abu Dhabi GP preparations for 2011 got underway with the first of two days of general Pirelli testing at the same venue.

This is the only chance for teams and drivers to sample the new rubber before they launch their new cars next year. Every team fielded a 2010 race driver except McLaren, who relied on tester Gary Paffett, and HRT, who used future Williams man Pastor Maldonado. In addition Paul di Resta shared Force India duties with Adrian Sutil.

Each team had four sets of tyres today, although any that were not used can be carried over for tomorrow. Times were relatively unimportant, although for the record Felipe Massa was fastest for Ferrari. The Brazilian ran a chart topping 94 laps, a figure matched by Paffett.

Drivers and engineers have been universal in their praise for Pirelli. Although they have been careful not to say too much at this stage – and comparisons with Bridgestone have been studiously avoided in any official statements – it’s clear that everyone is relieved that the Italian company has reached a good level some 15 weeks before the start of the 2011 season.

Here’s a sampling of what some key people had to say:

Felipe Massa: “It was a positive start to begin to understand the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres. I felt at ease right from the start and there were no unpleasant surprises. We tried two different types and acquired a lot of data which will be useful for the Italian company to develop the tyres still further for the start of the 2011 season: on the hards, there were some difficulties over a long run while the softs worked well both on the very first lap and also after they had done a larger number of laps.”

Sebastian Vettel: “I think the tyres behaved well, better than expected given the short amount of time Pirelli have had and they’ve done a good job. Pirelli are obviously in the middle of their development and what we used today is not what we will race with, but it was a good start. The circuit was in good condition and we had blue skies all day.”

Nico Rosberg: “As a team, and particularly the engineers, we did a really good job to be well prepared for this week’s Pirelli test with the work back at the factory and the support here at the track proving invaluable. That really helps once you get the tyres on and we were able to focus precisely on the set-up direction and have found various improvements. It’s a good start however there is obviously still some way to go before we get the best out of the tyres.”

Rubens Barrichello: “We’ve had a busy schedule today with plenty of work to do. This morning we evaluated aero set-up, before going for performance runs in the afternoon. This was our first session with the Pirelli tyres and I found it quite interesting. My initial impressions are positive and I look forward to working with them again tomorrow.”

Robert Kubica: “It’s always interesting to test new tyres and today was our first chance to try the new Pirellis and work with the new tyre engineers. We all know how important the tyres are for the behaviour of the car and so we concentrated on evaluating both compounds and understanding as much as we could about the tyre characteristics. Although we didn’t do a massive number of laps, we have still learned a few things and it feels good to have begun our relationship with Pirelli. Because we stopped early, we have saved some of the tyres for tomorrow, so it will be a busy day as we continue learning.””

Kamui Kobayashi:  “I think the tyres from Pirelli are well made. We tested how to work with these new tyres and how we need to further develop our car for them, learning in which way they are different to what we were used to running. The tyres were quite consistent. Only in the morning I struggled with tyre wear, but after we made some set-up changes this wasn’t an issue any longer. It was a very interesting test for us.”

Ross Brawn (Mercedes): “Today has been very important for the team to start building our relationship with Pirelli. Whilst a lot of details remain to be understood, we feel that we have gained an initial understanding of the operational requirements of the two compounds that we have and have highlighted some important areas for investigation and improvement. We have been lucky to have been able to get exposure to the Pirelli tyres at a track with which we are now very familiar and in conditions that we will not experience again until the final test of the season in Bahrain. Michael watched today’s proceedings with great interest and is looking forward to experiencing the tyres for himself tomorrow.”

James Key (Sauber): “It was a very productive day. The baseline set-up was not too far away to begin with. We made a few changes and found a reasonable balance for the car fairly early. We ran our programme as planned with shorter runs to conserve tyres and consistency and a longer run in the end. We feel we learned a lot about the way the Pirelli tyres are behaving and responding to different set-up changes. We have to hand it to Pirelli, the tyres are already on a good level and we feel it was a very positive day.”

Alan Permane (Renault): “The morning went well and Robert was reasonably happy with the car balance, although we made a few changes during the day to improve it. Our initial impression of the tyres has been positive. They were working well with good grip and no warm-up issues. Unfortunately we had to stop early because we had a mechanical issue with the car and we preferred to save the tyres for tomorrow when we’ve rectified the problem.”

Mike Gascoyne (Lotus): “We had no mechanical issues on the car and managed to complete our full programme in 88 laps. The car was ballasted up to the 2011 weight limit for the day and we ran a series of fundamental tests within the parameters we could change with the tyres and in the afternoon we found some clear and useful setup directions for the engineers to work on. We set our quickest lap of the day at the end of the session on a pretty worn set and all of the data gives us very useful information that we will carry over to tomorrow when Jarno is back in the car for his first taste of the new Pirelli tyres.”

Pirelli has confirmed that teams will get four sets of tyres per day when for its initial test session in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday.

Each team will run one car – mostly with their race drivers – and will have the chance to try the soft and medium compounds from the company’s new range. Pirelli will have a team of 30 in Abu Dhabi, and will conduct shared briefings and debriefings with all the teams.

Pirelli has also confirmed that it will run its Toyota TF109 programme in Bahrain next month, giving it a useful opportunity to run in hot conditions.

“We come to these tests with plenty of confidence and satisfaction with our work carried out so far,” said Pirelli motor sport director Paul Hembery. “The tests in Europe have given us all the data we needed at this current phase of development. From tomorrow, the drivers and engineers from every team will give us their opinions and feedback, which are of vital importance for the second phase of testing: a challenge that we are already well-prepared for.”

Under Pressure - Montezemolo faces a grilling on Sunday night

Ferrari has used its website to publish a letter to fans from company president Luca di Montezemolo in the wake of the team’s frustrating Abu Dhabi GP.

In it Montezemolo – who has faced a battering in the media and bizarrely from Italian politicians – thanks everyone for their support, and insists that Ferrari will bounce back with a winning package next year.

The letter read as follows: A couple of days after the huge disappointment of the outcome of this season’s last race, which still hurts, I want to talk to you. I felt, just like you and the whole team that the goal we have been pursuing over the whole season even when others had written us off was even closer after Saturday afternoon’s qualifying.

Unfortunately a wrong evaluation from the pitwall during a crucial stage compromised the race, preventing the conquest of the title. The five marvellous victories by Fernando and the team weren’t enough to reach our goal. This is the law of sports.

Nevertheless I think that all those who have worked so hard during the year – technicians, mechanics, workers and drivers – have to be thanked for their commitment, their dedication and their competence they showed every single one of them. I thanked them personally last Sunday evening at the track and yesterday at the Works, but today I want to do it together with our fans. Unfortunately the final is not on a level with an exciting season, where we were the undisputed protagonists of an incredible pursuit race and therefore the result leaves us with an even bigger bitter aftertaste.

I also whole-heartedly want to thank all of you, who encouraged us, cheered for us, stimulated us and criticised us, although always with affection and the passion, which characterises those who really love Ferrari. It’s during those moments, which aren’t so easy, when you recognise the real fans like you.

I received numerous messages of encouragement, strengthening our desire to react. We all want to get back onto the track immediately for a return game, but we have to wait until the start of the next Championship. Meanwhile we will continue to work relentlessly on the 2011 single-seater, because we all, together with you have an objective: taking a winning car onto the track as of the first race.

Thank you all and Forza Ferrari!!

Toyota Motorsport put out a statement earlier today saying that the company had ended its co-operation with Hispania, adding that it “will not resume.”

The team was intending to use a version of the stillborn 201o chassis with a Cosworth engine and Williams gearbox as a shortcut to a respectable package for next season. However, it could only be a temporary solution while Colin Kolles sorted out an alternative chassis for the longer term.

Kolles was bullish about prospects for next year when this blog spoke to him in Abu Dhabi. This morning he was spotted in deep conversation with the Carabante family, the main shareholders in the team.

If the Toyota deal really is dead then the only realistic option the team will have is to use this year’s Dallara-built cars once again.

The Toyota statement said: “Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) confirms that all cooperation with Hispania Racing F1 Team (HRT) has been terminated and will not resume.

“TMG retains all intellectual property rights to its current F1 car and is completely free to pursue other projects and support new customers for its high-performance engineering services.

“TMG regrets that HRT has not met its contractual payment obligations and will pursue all available options to reach a satisfactory conclusion to this matter.”

HRT responded quickly with its own statement, saying that it was surprised by the Toyota news, and was seeking further clarification.

Felipe Massa says that Ferrari has to focus on doing a better job next season rather than worry about what went wrong in Abu Dhabi, where the title slipped from Fernando Alonso’s grasp.

“I think we need to think about next year now, so we need to concentrate,” said Massa after the race. “For sure we’re going hear and read many things, but I think that’s not the most important thing, the most important thing is to concentrate to be strong in 2011.

“We’re going to have a test here with the Pirelli tyres, and I hope we can learn straight away. I think that is the right direction, to concentrate on next year and try to do an even stronger championship than we did this year.”

Like his team mate, Massa pitted in a reaction to Mark Webber’s stop, and as a result he finished a frustrated 10^th.

“We had not an easy race, definitely. We started on the normal way, and then we had a safety car, but we thought it was a bit too early to stop. And then after a while we saw Webber stopping. Then we took the decision to stop to try to pass him, especially on my case. It was not enough, so I came behind him.

“The worst thing is we came behind the guys who stopped before. So that was very difficult and very tough, because it was almost impossible to overtake, especially in my case we had Alguersuari in front his car was doing 316km/h without a tow, and I was doing 312km/h with a tow. So it was almost impossible to overtake.

“With Fernando it was the same, because Petrov was very quick on the straight as well. It was really not an easy race. This penalised everything to the end, because we were not able to pass the guys, we were not able to fight, and it was not a great race.”

Rubens Barrichello has won the battle – if there was one – to retain a seat at Williams next year.

Just a week after getting pole in Brazil, Nico Hulkenberg is leaving the team. The second driver had not been announced but the world will not be surprised if it’s Pastor Maldonado, who tests for the team on Wednesday.

Frank Williams said: “First, I would like to thank Nico for his hard work this year, and before that in preparing himself for Formula One. We are very proud to have supported him as he secured the Formula 3 and GP2 titles and during his debut in Formula One. At Williams we have for many years tried to bring new talent into the sport, and we are convinced that Nico will go on to great things. We wish him well and hope that our paths will cross again in the future.

“We recruited Rubens to Williams knowing that he would bring technical expertise, experience and passion. He has delivered everything we could have hoped for this season and we are delighted to confirm that he will drive for us again in 2011.”

Fernando Alonso says he’s happy with his 2010 season, despite losing the title at the last hurdle.

Intriguingly he cited his position in the all-time victory list – boosted by five wins – as the high point of the year. Michael Schumacher was never one for statistics…

“It was an interesting season, with some ups and downs for everybody,” said Fernando when asked by this blog to summarise the year. “For us it was a very good year, the first year of the relationship with Ferrari. I’d been fighting to be in Q3 for the last two years, and now I’m finally fighting for the World Championship once more, so I’m really happy for this.

“I had five victories this year which put me on the list in front of Niki Lauda, Fangio and some other names which for me are very special, because I never thought to be in that privileged list.

“So in a way happy for all these things. For sure in the year there were some good moments, some bad moments. Maybe the best was Monza, maybe the worst was Monaco, without being able to go in qualifying. I will remember 2010 very well, despite the final result. I think we fought until the last race, maybe with the third quickest car, because we are third in the constructors’ championship.

“So I’m very proud of this, with the job with the team, how we approached the last part of the year. We had engine problems in the first part so we were very limited with engines from race four onwards, and we managed to fight for the championship until the last lap in the last race. So overall I think we did our best.”

He admitted his frustration at losing, although he steered clear of criticising the team for its strategy choice.

“Obviously a sad feeling half an hour after the race, but nothing we can do now. The race didn’t go as we wanted, the start we really hoped the McLarens would overtake Vettel, that would clear things a little bit. But this time Button started very well but not Hamilton.

“The start was not bad. I felt good. Distance wise, we checked now, and it was good. So it was a good start for us. But obviously much better for Button.

“We needed the fourth position at that point. Obviously there was a safety car, so Rosberg and Petrov made a decision to stop, that also was a little bit unexpected. And then Webber stopped very early as well. Then we found ourselves… we had to protect either from Webber or Rosberg. We decided to cover Webber, to exit the pits in front of him, and that in the end was not the right thing maybe.

“But it’s always very easy to see the strategy after the race. In a way nothing we can do or we can change. Someone did a better job than us because they have more points than at the end of the championship, so we congratulate them and next year we try.”

Sebastian Vettel said he was struggling to find the right words when he met the media after his amazing World Championship victory in Abu Dhabi, but that didn’t stop him coming out with some entertaining soundbites.

The German didn’t know until the flag that he had done enough to clinch the title as the team wanted him to focus on winning the race.

“I don’t know what to say,” said Vettel. “I am still a bit empty. I can’t believe it. When I crossed the line I did not know if it was enough or not. All weekend I did not try to focus on the championship as the situation was pretty clear. We had to try to win this race, do our maximum and the rest was up to the others. I did the in-lap and just enjoyed it. Since I am a little kid I follow Formula One.

“Before the race I said to myself ‘look there are so many people coming here to Abu Dhabi to watch the race’. So many people thrilled about this race about to take place, watching the World Championship decision and to find out who is going to win it. Just to be part of that race and part of that fight, to be one of the four, I was feeling extremely proud, happy. I don’t want to sound philosophical but we travel so much all year and we get to see so many places, different people, and I was just feeling extremely happy with myself as I can do something I really love.

“People keep saying we are not doing too bad and I am able to enjoy it. I said to myself ‘no matter what happens it has been a good season’ with all the trouble we had and things slowing us down and taking points away from us. Then crossing that line. I was already thinking… I was tempted to watch the screens but I didn’t as my engineer, the last 10 laps, kept telling me all sorts of things, the gaps and pace. Partly I asked for it, to know where I am. But things I have to watch out for which is fine but I think in none of these 19 races he has been so alive in the last 10 laps.

“I was already thinking ‘what is going on?’ and I was seeing sometimes on the screen Lewis behind the Renault and also I think it was Alonso and Ferrari behind the Renault. But then I just tried to forget and kept driving and focused on myself.”

Vettel admitted he was surprised to become the youngest World Champion, beating Lewis Hamilton by 167 days.

“Yeah, when it comes to records, after Lewis won the championship, I thought to myself, it will be questionable if there will ever be anyone younger than him. And to be fair, he only missed it by only one point the year before. You can argue but records are there to be broken in a way.”

Mark Webber says he tried his hardest to win the 2010 title, and has no regrets about just missing out.

Webber finished third in the World Championship, having been the leader until he crashed out of the Korean GP.

“It was a big day and we had the chance to do something incredibly unique, but in the end it didn’t turn out for us,” said Webber. “Earlier in the race we knew we had to roll the dice and go for it with the strategy, but it left us exposed and Fernando covered us.

“I tried my absolute hardest and we did everything we could, but in the end it wasn’t enough. You’ve got to take your hat off to Sebastian, he’s done a great job all year and to lead the Championship at the last race, he’s got the timing right and I fully congratulate him on the World Championship.

“I was in with a chance of winning the Championship until the last race, so I must have been doing something right and in the end there are a lot of positives. I feel I have driven very well for most of the season and that’s the most important thing to me. This weekend didn’t turn out and it’s a shame, but it’s a good time to reflect in the next few weeks and look back at the highs and the lows but that’s the way the sport is sometimes.”

 Webber says he will bounce back next year: “There have been quite a few emotions over the last couple of weeks; when you come so close to the top and just miss out, it’s a shame, but I tried my absolute hardest and I have great guys around me. I think two championships for the team is not bad and I’ll be fighting again next season.”

Calm before the storm? Drivers posing 90 minutes before the start

So here they are, the complete 2010 field on show in Abu Dhabi a few minutes ago, including Michael Schumacher, Bruno Senna and Timo Glock, who were all missing from Friday’s photo shoot organised by Bernie Ecclestone.

Intriguingly Webber and Alonso spent some time chatting both before and during the parade, reminding us that they get on well.

BTW, this morning I asked Ecclestone what he thought of Webber and his season. “He’s a Ferrari driver,” said Bernie. ” I think he’s got the character that the Old Man would have liked.”

Now I wonder why he said that…