Adam Cooper F1

The FIA has finally followed up on the Ferrari team orders controversy by confirming that the World Motor Sport Council will indeed look into the affair.

The hearing will take place in Paris on Wednesday September 8. There has been suggestions that it would be added to the agenda of the meeting already planned for Como later that week, but clearly it would have been tricky to get hold of the Ferrari drivers and personnel, who will be busy at Monza from Thursday.  

The FIA announcement makes it clear that FIA President Jean Todt personally approved the decision to follow up on the recommendation of the Germn GP stewards that he case go to the WMSC. However he won’t be at the centre of the actual hearing, as his predecessor Max Mosley was in the past. It’s a co-incidence that the first major F1 scandal on his watch involves Ferrari and Felipe Massa, but naturally Todt will be somewhat in the spotlight as things unfold.

The full announcement reads as follows: “On 25 July 2010, on the occasion of the Grand Prix of Germany counting towards the 2010 Formula One World Championship, the Stewards of the meeting, after hearing the persons concerned, noted an infringement by the Scuderia Ferrari of:

– Article 39.1 of the 2010 Sporting Regulations (“Team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited”)

– and Article 151 c) of the International Sporting Code (“Any of the following offences (…) shall be deemed to be a breach of these rules (…) any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally”).

“In the light of the information in their possession, the Stewards decided to impose a fine of $100,000 on the Scuderia Ferrari and to forward the dossier to the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

“On the basis of that decision and of the inquiry report, and following the receipt of a report sent by the Stewards to the FIA, the FIA President has decided, in conformity with the new rules of disciplinary procedure adopted at his initiative on 11 March 2010, to submit the case to the judging body of the World Motor Sport Council.

“The disciplinary hearing of the World Council will be chaired by the FIA Deputy President for Sport and will take place in Paris on 8 September 2010.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says that his team can he happy with the outcome of the Hungarian GP, despite Sebastian Vettel throwing away a win and dropping to third.

In the end an inspired strategy call – in which Horner himself played a part – gave Mark Webber the chance to jump Fernando Alonso. And ultimately, thanks to the penalty Vettel suffered, it got him past his own team mate.

According to FIA sources Vettel dropped as much as 110 metres, or 22 car lengths, behind Webber. The rule says you have to stay within 10 car lengths at all times.

“It was a fantastic race for Red Bull, to win our 100^th Grand Prix with a one-three finish,” said Horner after the race. “The start was where we were always going to be exposed, and from the dirty side of the grid, Seb made a great start. Mark form the dirty side dropped a place to Fernando, and then the pace car came out at one of those crucial and uncomfortable times where we elected to split the strategy.

“It was a bit of a risk with Mark. We got Seb in right at the at the last moment, we managed to get him into the pit lane, because if he had completed that lap as we saw with [Fernando] in Valencia it would have been a disaster. We managed to get Seb serviced and back out.

“For Mark it was always going to be about building 20 seconds to the Ferraris, to get him ahead. Which was always going to be a tall order. Unfortunately at the restart Sebastian dropped too far behind the 10 car lengths he was supposed to be. I’m not quite sure why, we’ll have to have a chat with him to fully understand that. And then he had a drive through penalty which was fair, because Seb was that far behind Mark.

“And then Mark had to get his head down and achieve that 20 second magic number, which was the number he was chasing, to be able to do a pit stop and get ahead of the Ferraris. He managed to achieve 23, a great pit stop from the boys, and then it was a very comfortable second half of the race for Mark. Sebastian put Fernando under a huge amount of pressure, but at a track like this overtaking was always going to be very, very difficult.”

Horner said he didn’t know why Vettel had dropped so far behind in the safety car queue, although it seems pretty clear that the German had brainfade and just forgot the rule, assuming that he was fully aware of it in the first place.

“I think this kind of thing is obviously covered in the drivers’ briefings, and there was some discussion after China about this. We had a few radio issues with Seb, where it wasn’t fully clear whether he could fully hear us or not, which is why I spoke to him a couple of times in the race.

“It was something we discussed on the pit wall, and we obviously told him to push. I’m not sure how many of those messages he got, because we didn’t get a lot of response from the car, and that’s why I also delivered the message, because again he didn’t understand why he had the penalty, so I used the radio to try and explain to him.

“It was one of those things, which unfortunately for whatever reason, caught him out. What would have been a relative comfortable victory for him today turned into a third place, but a third place on a day when Lewis Hamilton didn’t score any points, and Jenson scored very few, it’s still a great team finish to get a dominate victory and a third place.”

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says that the team is still in the fight for the World Championship, despite Red Bull’s ominous performance advantage in Hungary.

Domenicali says that Ferrari has to take any opportunities that come its way, especially when the opposition slips up.

“I think that for sure if you look from the beginning they were consistently faster than anyone else,” he said. “Certain Grands Prix, like Spain, Turkey, they were able to be faster by more than one second. Here it was the maximum gap. But then we had a couple of races, Canada, Valencia, Silverstone, where the gap was pretty much smaller.

“So I think for sure it’s our objective, but it’s not easy. In order to fight for the championship we need to do the maximum we can in terms of development, and then score the maximum points that we can, because as we saw today, anything is possible and everything can happen to anyone.”

Ferrari is hoping that an upgrade package for the next race in Spa will give the F10 a boost: “We have some developments that will be done, considering the downforce level of the Spa track. If it’s enough to close the gap, we will see. We will have a feeling on the Friday evening of the Spa weekend.”

Rubens Barrichello made his feelings about Michael Schumacher’s driving in Hungary clear by suggesting he didn’t want to beat his former team mate to heaven.

He also accused Michael of using karting tactics as he tried to defend 10^th place by edging Rubens into the pit wall. Schumacher was given a 10 place grid penalty by the stewards for the next race in Belgium.

“I like a fair battle, and I don’t think it was a fair battle,” said Rubens. “It was a bit of a go-karting manoeuvre. If he wants to go to heaven before me – if he goes to heaven, I don’t know if he goes to heaven. But if he wants to go before me, go up or down, I don’t want to go before him.

“I will never back off from a situation like that. It’s not fair for me to comment, I’m just happy for the team that we scored good points after a not very good qualifying. I’m a little bit sorry that the safety car came in and I lost out, but still it was a good race.

“It’s not up to me to give penalties. But if I was sitting there I would know exactly what to do. I’m a racing driver, I will never back off in a situation like that, especially after all I went through in my life with that, and who was it.

“He kept on coming, coming, coming. He should have chosen his line much before, and all of a sudden he chopped me across.”

The FIA is to clamp down on so-called ‘flexible wings’ – or at least attempt to clear the air on their use – by introducing more stringent load tests by the next race in Belgium.

The teams are being informed tonight at the governing body is making use of a rule which allows it to change the load tests in the course of the season, should it be deemed necessary. In essence teams are being told ‘this is what the tests will be like at the next race, be prepared’…

The FIA is to use Article 3.17.8 of the F1 Technical Regulations, which reads as follows:

“In order to ensure that the requirements of Article 3.15 are respected, the FIA reserves the right to introduce further load/deflection tests on any part of the bodywork which appears to be (or is suspected of), moving whilst the car is in motion.”

Article 3.15 covers movable bodywork as follows:

“With the exception of the cover described in Article 6.5.2 (when used in the pit lane), the driver adjustable bodywork described in Article 3.18 and the ducts described in Article 11.4, any specific part of the car influencing its aerodynamic performance:

“Must comply with the rules relating to bodywork must be rigidly secured to the entirely sprung part of the car (rigidly secured means not having any degree of freedom):

“Must remain immobile in relation to the sprung part of the car:

“Any device or construction that is designed to bridge the gap between the sprung part of the car and the ground is prohibited under all circumstances.

“No part having an aerodynamic influence and no part of the bodywork, with the exception of the skid block in 3.13 above, may under any circumstances be located below the reference plane.”

Ferrari young driver Jules Bianchi suffered a back injury in a crash in today’s GP2 race in Hungary, and will be out of action for a while.

Bianchi spun and was hit head-on by Ho-Pin Tung at the start of the race. He will likely miss the Spa and Monza races, and clearly his absence won’t do much for his career momentum. Ironically he is managed by Nicolas Todt, who had to deal with the Felipe Massa at the same track last year.

A Ferrari statement said: “Jules Bianchi, the talented young GP2 Series driver of the Ferrari Driving Academy, will be out of action for quite a long time following his accident on the Hungaroring circuit at the start of the first race of the seventh round of the championship. The Art Grand Prix driver fractured his second lumbar vertebra and is now recovering at Budapest’s AEK Hospital. The French driver, who never lost consciousness after the heavy impact of the accident that happened during the early stages of the race, will not be back in the cockpit until he has fully completed his rehabilitation programme.”

Jenson Button says he ended up stuck in 11^th in qualifying in Hungary simply because he couldn’t get the soft tyres to work.

That was despite him taking an extra set of the them at the start of Q2 so that he could make sure that the McLaren was dialled in on the options.

“We chose to run with option tyre in Q2 because we were worried that we would put it on the end of Q2 and find a very different balance with the tyre,” said Button. “I did a find a different balance with the tyre, I was struggling with entries quite a bit at the rear, and a lot of understeer apex and exit. The problem was the difference from entry to exit was so different it was very difficult to find a balance.

“So basically I just couldn’t find the grip on the option tyre. On the prime tyre the pace was good in Q1, but I couldn’t find the time in Q2 on the soft tyre. Obviously disappointing, Lewis did a great job in Q3. The frustrating thing for me was it seemed that in Q3 everyone apart from the first five didn’t really get a lap together, they weren’t quick.”

Despite his problems, Button is trying to see the glass as half full.

“It’s disappointing to be outside the top 10 by about two-hundredths. But looking on the positive side, which we have to now, I’m starting on the clean side, which makes a big difference around here. And I have a new set of tyres to put on the car. It’s not all bad, we can still have a good race from there tomorrow.”

Lewis Hamilton saved McLaren’s day in Hungary by qualifying fifth after team mate Jenson Button was stranded down in 11th, and he now has the chance to do some good damage limitation as he seeks to defend his championship lead.

McLaren had targeted fifth after accepting on Friday that it would be impossible to beat the Red Bulls or Ferraris, but Button’s problems in Q2 caused some concern prior to the final session.

Hamilton says he’s hopeful of a good start and a solid race performance.

“It was really my target!,” said Hamilton. “The Red Bulls are impossible to beat, the are 1.7s ahead this weekend. It’s incredible. I saw Massa was just ahead of me, and it was possible to get very close to him, but I don’t think to be ahead of him.

“I am happy with that result. To get into Q3, I was relieved, it was very close. And then I feel that I pulled absolutely every inch out of the car. Obviously we’ve got to work hard, but that’s a good position for us to start tomorrow, on the clean side. So that’s a positive for the start. It’s a long haul down to Turn One, so anything’s possible.

“I think it’s important for myself and the team to keep our heads up. We need to make as good a start as we have for the last few races and stay clean, get round the first corner. As always we want to move forwards. If we can make a step forward, fourth or third will be spectacular.

“You can’t overtake here, but I can imagine it would be a very hard race if I ever had a Ferrari behind me. But we’re going to do the best job we can, and I’m ready for it.”

Hamilton admits that it’s easy distracted by the pace of the Red Bulls: “I think on the team side and on the engineers side it’s probably harder than for us as drivers. I think for us it’s not a case of a tenth or two here and then, it’s half a second in the middle sector, it’s half a second in the last sector.

“For us drivers we look at the onboard footage and we just laugh, me and Jenson, it’s just insane how fast they are going. For me the car is the best it’s ever been at this circuit. But those guys, I don’t know what they’re doing, but it’s incredible the pace they have.”

The Cypher Group has dropped its bid for the 13^th entry in the 2011 World Championship, but we are still awaiting news from the FIA as to who might actually get the slot. With the calendar ticking into August tomorrow whoever does win it will face a huge challenge to be ready in time.

The FIA seems to have failed to learn from what happened last year, and the lack of a a decision from is quite extraordinary given that the three candidates were announced on June 12 – and even then one failed to get its act together and another only just made it. And while Lotus didn’t get its entry until September, Tony Fernandes and Mike Gascoyne were given a positive response from Max Mosley as early at the British GP, and began work.

Little hard information had come from  Cypher other than confirmation of a link with Jonathan Summerton. A statement from the North Carolina-based outfit said: “We remain completely committed to developing a credible and viable Formula One team and were able to raise a considerable amount of sponsorship and interest in recent months.

“However after much deliberation, we have decided that the budget we have is not sufficient to allow us to pursue the project in a manner befitting the series. It was not an easy decision, but one made out of respect for the FIA Formula One World Championship and our loyal supporters.

 “The Cypher Group is reviewing projects and opportunities that will allow it to achieve the ultimate goal of entering Formula One in the near future. We would like to thank our fans for all their support and understanding.”

With ART already gone the news appears to leave Villeneuve/Durango, Epsilon Euskadi and Stefan GP as the only remaining candidates.

Felipe Massa says he was able to forget about the Hockenheim controversy and get on with his job when he got back behind the wheel in Hungary

“Completely, for sure,” said Massa when asked by this blog whether he could forget last week’s distractions. “When you’re back to the car, you don’t think about anybody, you think about driving the car and working yourself, working to improve, working to achieve what you want, you know.

“[There’s no point] to really go back and get crazy about that, so you need to go forward and to do your job. Everybody knows that driving an F1 car is not an easy job, that’s why you need to be concentrated on driving and thinking about doing the best.”

He also said that he had no thoughts about last year’s accident, although he admitted that yesterday’s visit to the track medical and rescue crews had been an emotional experience.

“I think it was just nice to be back on the track after what happened last year. Definitely I didn’t think about when I was in the car. I thought about how to work on the car and to drive. For sure yesterday was much nicer when I met and I saw everybody in the hospital here in the track who helped me last year, so that was much more emotional. But anyway today in the car I didn’t think about it.”

Massa finished Friday practice in fourth place, some 0.4s his off team mate Fernando Alonso. Although Ferrari was comfortably the second fastest car, Massa says there’s still a lot of work to be done.

“I think the car was OK, competitive. Definitely on the new tyres we need to improve a bit more. On the old tyres, we were very strong, very similar picture we saw many times during the season as well. I saw Red Bull very strong with the new tyres, easy to make a lap time straight away, and for us it was a little bit more difficult.

“For sure the most difficult thing for us is to make the lap time on the new tyres, which is where sometimes we’re struggling more compared to Red Bull. But then we go to the long run, and we’re very strong. It’s just something to work on tomorrow, to improve tomorrow for qualifying.”