Adam Cooper F1

Stefano Domenicali was clearly delighted yesterday having seen Ferrari and Fernando Alonso get back in the title hunt, but cautioned that it’s easy for something to go wrong for any of the five contenders.

The win was the first for Ferrari at home since the day Michael Schumacher announced his retirement in 2006. Michael is also the only man in the last 20 races there to have won Monza and gone on to win the title, a feat he managed in both 2000 and 2003.

“Of course we are very happy to have done this performance here in front of our people,” said Domenicali. “It’s amazing when you are on the podium, to feel that live, with the people under you like a sea of red supporters singing the national anthem. We were just saying together with Jenson that it’s really unique and fantastic.

“So we’re very happy, no doubt. But on the other hand, as I said in Belgium, the only objective that we had to reach today was to try to close up the gap to the leaders. And we did it. So target accomplished today.

“Here you feel the extra pressure to be at home in front of your supporters. It was really a great response from everyone, to see how they were cool, and to do a crucial thing regarding the strategy of the race.”

Domenicali says the title is still very much up for grabs.

“For sure the championship will be open until the end, when mathematically you cannot do it, because as we have seen the races this year are very peculiar. If someone that is in front loses the opportunity or makes mistakes or goes out or crashes or whatever it is, then the others will jump very close. It’s really important to be consistent and stable up until the end, and then we’ll see in Abu Dhabi.

“We never give up. That’s for sure our approach, and this is something that I can guarantee.”

Amazingly enough Ferrari has yet to score a point after two outings in Singapore, although Felipe Massa led in 2008 until the infamous Piquet generated safety car period ruined his evening.

Asked by this blog about the team’s prospects in the next race, Domenicali said: “Personally Singapore is a race where you cannot be really relaxed up until the chequered flag, because it can happen everything at the last moment. So that is one fact. The other thing is Singapore in terms of performance – I cannot say where we will be.

“As I said I feel that Red Bull will come back again, at the normal pace – apart from this race I would say – they [had] since the beginning of the season. McLaren will be strong, because they’ve been very strong there always. I really hope that what we’re going to bring there will really help us keep the pace of our competitors.”

Sebastian Vettel’s brief scare in the middle of the Italian GP was caused by the brake pedal not returning fully.

Vettel first reported what he felt to be an apparent loss of power when he got up to seventh gear coming out of Parabolica to start lap 20. He continued to suffer later round the lap, and was passed by team mate Mark Webber at Ascari.

The problem then cleared itself almost as quickly as it had appeared, and he did not have any more issues with the pedal for the remainder of the race. The telemetry told the team that there was slight brake pressure applied during that lap, despite Vettel having his foot off the pedal.

One RBR team member such an occurrence is rare but not unprecedented given the tight confines of the pedal area of the cockpit.

Despite the problem he was ultimately able to get back in front of both Webber and Nico Rosberg with the unusual strategy of staying out on his original tyres until the last lap.

Seb at a function with some fellow ex-Formula BMW racers tonight

Well that headline got your attention! I make no apologies for using it because it shows that, despite recent stress and starting only sixth at Monza, Sebastian Vettel still has a sense of humour.

He said tonight that if he wants to he could live up to the expectations of his critics after Spa and be a “bowling ball,” taking out his title rivals in tomorrow’s race. Fortunately the German was only joking. I think…

“According to all the experts speaking up lately about giving me driving lessons and so on, I’m not sure what I want to do,” he said. “Either I can follow the experts and how they analysed it, I can be a bowling ball and try to get rid of the five cars ahead, or approach the race as I usually do, normal, and just try to do the smartest I can do…”

Despite his grid position, Seb is pretty hopeful of a good race: “It’s a long race tomorrow, we know it’s not an easy one, because simply we are not the quickest, we don’t have the pace here, we don’t have the speed on the straights, so we see what we can do.

“I think it will depend on the ambient temperature, how hot it is going to be. If it is hotter like this afternoon it might favour the people with more downforce on the car. For instance, someone like Jenson, who has more wing on the car. It you want to judge us, I think our hands are tied. They were tied before we came here already, simply because we know we don’t have enough power to play around, and try different options. What we have is what we have, and we have to deal with it.”

Meanwhile Mark Webber has his own unusual turn of phrase today. Asked whether he would take risks or adopt a cautious approach and just try to log some points, he said: “Yeah, Grandma Jones is not going to help me. But the chequered flag is also important.”

Who was Grandma Jones? A relative of Bob Dylan’s Mr Jones perhaps? Or of a previous Aussie F1 star? It had everyone reaching for the Encyclopedia of Australian Culture – or would have done if anyone could find one.

We think he was trying to say something like being cautious, or driving like an old lady, was not going to win him the World Championship…

Lewis Hamilton was not in a happy frame of mind after qualifying fifth in Italy, and he admits that the decision to run with no F-Duct but with a low drag Monza wing has backfired.

Team mate Jenson Button chose to go with the F-Duct and a bigger wing, and will start from second place.

Hamilton found that the car was sliding around too much in qualifying trim and conceded that choosing it was a mistake.

“It would appear so, maybe we took the wrong route,” said a clearly frustrated Hamilton after the session. “What can I say? I’m a little bit disappointed, I think we should have been higher up. Jenson did a good job, but I think we had the wrong wing on, maybe.

“We decided as a team just to use it, it looked good so we decided to stick with it. I have good high speed, but I can’t follow through the corners, so it will be tough tomorrow.

“I think it had quite a big impact on the end result. I struggled quite a lot on each tyre and I just didn’t have the downforce. A wrong choice, a bit of a mistake.

“The Q3 laps were terrible I think, they weren’t very good laps. But I have no downforce on the car, so I’m pushing as hard as I can, and the car was sliding everywhere. I can’t push any harder than what the car would give me, and it won’t give me any more.”

As of 10pm Friday night Button's car still has its F-Duct and big wing

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button look set to be running very different McLarens for the rest of the weekend in Italy after experimenting today.

In the afternoon session Hamilton ran a car with a standard ultra low drag Monza wing, and no F-Duct, while Button stuck with the F-Duct and a much larger wing than would normally be used at Monza.

Amazingly they produced lap times that were just 0.056s apart in that session – with Hamilton just ahead – but they did so in different ways, with Lewis as expected producing a higher top speed but having less downforce available in the corners.

Sources say that each driver feels happiest with what he ran and they have decided to stick with it, and while there has been no confirmation from the team as of 10pm tonight the cars were still being prepared with the same wings on.

It makes for a fascinating technical experiment as we see which one ultimately works out in qualifying and the race. In theory Button’s will be kinder on the tyres because his car will be sliding less, but other teams say degradation is not an issue. Equally his car could be more stable under braking, especially with a full fuel load, as he has a bit more downforce.

Although clearly their plans could change between Saturday morning practice and qualifying, that would seem to be highly unlikely.

“It felt fairly similar,” said Hamilton after the session. “We have two levels for us. One is slower down the straights and quicker through the corners and the other is quicker down the straights and slower through the corners, and they pretty much balance themselves out.

“It’s really trying to decide which one’s better on high fuel, and whether there’s more potential out of one or the other. We have to really to look at the data. And the balance of the car is not the same for the both of them as well, so it’s trying to optimise that. We have to decide tonight what we’re going to do tomorrow.

“I think it’s going to be a tough battle for me and Jenson against the rest, as clearly they’ve shown great pace. But I believe we can do it. Tomorrow will tell in terms of pace through P3 and then obviously going into qualifying.”

Felipe Massa had a lucky escape from a major moment on the exit of Parabolica in the second practice session at Monza while gunning for fastest time.

The Brazilian ran wide and went through the gravel trap, but by keeping his foot on the throttle managed to drive his way out and get back on the track. He was then able to dive straight into the pit lane to catch his breath.

“When I arrived in the corner it reminded me of Kimi, as I tried to do a bit of rallying!,” joked Massa. “No I mean I was just very lucky. I was behind Michael [Schumacher], I was on a very good lap, I was supposed to improve my lap time on that lap. It was one and a half tenths quicker than my best lap until the last corner, I tried everything to keep the lap, but when Michael was in front, I lost a little bit of grip best and was out.

“I was very, very lucky. Even when I went out of the track, I was completely on the gravel, sideways, and I thought I was going to crash on the back, I kept the throttle completely open, to see if it could help. And it helped completely to turn the car and pass the wall!”

Meanwhile Massa finished the session third, just behind his team mate, after the pair had been only eighth and ninth in the morning.

“I think today was not an easy day for us to understand many directions in the car. Usually this is a different track to most of the tracks we race, and finding a good balance and good direction was not so easy. But anyway we improved quite a lot between both session, and at the end I’m quite happy with the balance, quite happy with the car, looking at how we started the first session and how we finished the second.”

Massa confirmed that both Ferrari drivers had kept the F-Duct on the car all day: “We used the F-Duct all the time, we didn’t do anything special. We tried different wings, that was all.”

The World Motor Sport Council chose to ignore a recommendation from its own investigator to hand the German GP win back to Felipe Massa.

Swedish FIA veteran Lars Osterlind was appointed as the ‘Reporter’ in the case and personally investigated all aspects of it. His conclusion was that the $100,000 fine should stand, five seconds be added to Alonso’s time (which would have changed the result), and there should be a loss of both driver and constructor points – but suspended unless there was another offence.

Although Osterlind presented a compelling case – and clearly was not swayed by Ferrari’s claims that team orders were not involved – the WMSC chose not to change the original penalty.

Its reasoning was in essence that the FIA’s own rule, which has been in place for eight years, was difficult to police. Ferrari’s evidence included other cases that it alleged were team orders, involving McLaren in Germany in 2008 and Turkey this year, and it also referred to RBR in Turkey this year.

It also insisted that Massa was not subject to team orders, but had made his own decision based on evidence that was presented to him. “Fernando is faster than you,” etc…

Intruingly Osterlind determined that was not necessarily the case and found that both drivers had been asked to turn their engines down – before Alonso turned his revs up again “without Mr Felipe Massa’s being informed.”

Osterlind’s report also covered the question of sports ethics, saying, “Motor racing ought to be unpredictable, as it has been to date. Part of that competitive element is to take equal interest in all competitors. Irrespective of their fitness, talent or position in the race, competitors should be able to rely on themselves for purposes of winning the race without any form of external aid influencing their sporting performance.”

I think most fans would agree with that assessment…

 The World Motor Sport Council has finally issued a statement relating to today’s Ferrari case, and it makes the important point that it has confirmed the decision made by the stewards at the German GP.

In other words the team has not been found not guilty in any way, but neither has it suffered an increased punishment.

The WMSC also intends to take a look at the team orders rule, presumably on the basis that Ferrari made a good case for F1 being a team sport and the rule untenable.

More details will be released tomorrow, but the full text issued tonight is as follows: “On 25 July 2010, at the Grand Prix of Germany, the Stewards of the meeting found an infringement by the Scuderia Ferrari to the prohibition of team orders interfering with a race result and then decided to impose a fine of $100,000 and to forward the dossier to the World Motor Sport Council for further consideration.

The Judging Body of the World Motor Sport Council held an extraordinary hearing in Paris on 8 September 2010 to examine this matter.

After an in depth analysis of all reports, statements and documents submitted, the Judging Body has decided to confirm the Stewards’ decision of a $100,000 fine for infringing article 39.1 of the Sporting Regulations and to impose the payment of the costs incurred by the FIA.

The Judging Body has also acknowledged that article 39.1 of the Sporting Regulations should be reviewed and has decided to refer this question to the Formula One Sporting Working Group.

Proceedings

In March 2010 at Bahrain at the initiative of the FIA President, the World Motor Sport Council adopted a new transitional disciplinary procedure, in order in particular to ensure the separation between the prosecuting body and the judging body. At the General Assembly on 5 November 2010, a more global reform of the FIA judicial system will be submitted for approval, including in particular the creation of an International Tribunal which will exercise the disciplinary power in the 1st instance in place of the World Motor Sport Council.

In application of this new procedure, previously applied within the context of the US F1 case, the FIA President exercises the role of prosecuting body. As such, he has the authority to notify any person being prosecuted of the grievances brought against him and to submit the matter to the Judging Body of the World Motor Sport Council, chaired by the Deputy President for Sport, Mr Graham Stoker.

The Deputy President for Sport has the power to proceed with an investigation and, within this context, to designate a reporter from among the members of the World Motor Sport Council.

In the present case, the Deputy President for Sport designated Mr Lars Österlind, a member of the World Motor Sport Council, as reporter. Mr Österlind’s report was forwarded to the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro as the party being prosecuted.

Prior to the hearing, the members of the Judging Body of the World Motor Sport Council received all the documents in the case, including the observations submitted by the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.

The FIA President did not attend the hearing but was represented by Maître Jean-Pierre Martel from the law firm Orrick Rambaud Martel.

The hearing before the Judging Body of the World Motor Sport Council, assembled on 8 September 2010 in an extraordinary meeting, was chaired by the Deputy President for Sport and allowed the hearing, in person, of Mr Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal of the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, assisted by lawyers, Mr Henry Peter and Nigel Tozzi. The World Motor Sport Council had the possibility to join the drivers Mr Fernando Alonso and Mr Felipe Massa via video conference.”

Ferrari has thanked the World Motor Sport Council for its proposal to review the team orders rule after today’s meeting in Paris.

A brief team statement said: “Ferrari has taken note of the decision of the FIA World Council, relating to the outcome of this year’s German Grand Prix and wishes to express its appreciation of the Council’s proposal to review article 39.1 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, in light of what emerged during today’s discussions.

“Now, all the team’s efforts will be focussed on the next event on track, when the Italian Grand Prix takes place at Monza this weekend.”

One presumes that the team hopes that the review is concluded before the end of this season…

Ferrari has not received any further sanctions after today’s World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris into the team orders affair. However, the original $100,000 fine still stands.

It remains to be seen what the thinking behind the decision is, but the Hockenheim stewards may have made a bad call in giving a punishment and referring the matter to the World Motor Sport Council. Had a fine not already been imposed, the WMSC might have been more inclined to take more serious action.

The fine was the highest that the stewards were able to impose on the Sunday night of Hockenheim,

More later…