Turkish GP 2010: Hamilton The Surprise Victor As Red Bull Drivers Collide
Lewis Hamilton emerged the surprise victor of the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix following a collision between the two Red Bull drivers which left World Championship hopeful Mark Webber languishing in third place. Jenson Button finished 2nd making it a McLaren 1-2.
Race Review
The race temperatures were hot as we got the first anti-clockwise race event of the year underway. There was little incident into the first corner, a surprise considering recent activity. Perhaps because Jarno Trulli was so far back this year, or maybe because of Giancarlo Fisichella’s absence.
Drivers traded places through the first few turns with little or no overtaking moves sticking, most notable was Rubens Barrichello who went down to 20th place. Sebastien Buemi and Adrian Sutil had a slight coming together around turn 3, the Swiss driver had to pit immediately for emergency repairs but the Force India driver kept on going.
The first part of the race was relatively quiet, and somewhat boring in a similar fashion to the lacklustre Spanish Grand Prix a month ago. The Ferrari of Fernando Alonso pitted early onto the harder compounds, the under-peforming in qualifying Spanish driver was set in for a long run.
Lewis Hamilton, at this point in 2nd place thought the pitstops would give him an advantage, instead he didn’t have a clean stop and ended up behind Vettel’s Red Bull, now 3rd place was all he could hope for as the Red Bull’s held a theoretical 1st and 2nd. Only Button stayed out slightly longer, but the World Champion ended up in 4th after his stop behind his team mate.
Rain was predicted but never arrived, the drivers who were stuck behind Nico Rosberg would have been after that shower if only to move the mobile Mercedes chicane. Rosberg was lapping slower than Kovalainen and Alguersuari at one point, not catching his team mate Michael Schumacher who was having a quiet and consistent race in 5th. It hampered the chances of Kubica, Massa, Petrov and Alonso.
Unfortunately for the best new team Lotus, both of their cars retired on laps 33 and 34 thanks to hydraulic failure. It had been a positive weekend for the Norfolk/Malaysian based outfit who were within half a second of Scuderia Toro Rosso in practice.
Lap 40 was the exciting one however. On the back straight, the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel slipstreamed team mate Mark Webber, the young German slotted his car down the inside but as they both hit the rev limiters in 7th gear, Vettel’s rear flew over Webber’s car sending them both spinning off onto the run off area. Vettel’s arms flew out of the car with surprise, anger and shock – he was to retire with a rear puncture. Webber narrowly avoided the spinning German and had to pit for emergency front wing repairs.
Hamilton and Button, who traded places in a beautiful turn 10 to turn 2 set of moves could hardly believe their luck. However with Hamilton ahead, it was revealed the cars were low on fuel due to the heat and the laps where they attempted to match Red Bull pace. The pairing would have to limp to the end of the race on an economy run.
Alonso and Petrov got ina tangle around turn 3, with Alonso grabbing 8th place while Petrov got a puncture for hitting the Spaniard. Kamui Kobayashi and Adrian Sutil traded places for 9th and 10th, the Japanese driver ending up with 10th place and a point – at last!
Classified Results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | L. Hamilton | McLaren Mercedes | 1.28.47.620 |
| 2 | J. Button | McLaren Mercedes | +2.645 |
| 3 | M. Webber | Red Bull Renault | +24.285 |
| 4 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes GP | +31.110 |
| 5 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes GP | +32.266 |
| 6 | R. Kubica | Renault | +32.824 |
| 7 | F. Massa | Ferrari | +36.635 |
| 8 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +46.544 |
| 9 | A. Sutil | Force India Mercedes | +49.029 |
| 10 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber Ferrari | +1.05.650 |
| 11 | P. De la Rosa | Sauber Ferrari | +1.05.944 |
| 12 | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso Ferrari | +1.07.800 |
| 13 | V. Liuzzi | Force India Mercedes | +1 lap |
| 14 | R. Barrichello | Williams Cosworth | +1 lap |
| 15 | V. Petrov | Renault | +1 lap |
| 16 | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso Ferrari | +1 lap |
| 17 | N. Hulkenberg | Williams Cosworth | +1 lap |
| 18 | T. Glock | Virgin Cosworth | + 2 laps |
| 19 | L. di Grassi | Virgin Cosworth | +3 laps |
Retirements
| Driver | Team | Lap | Reason |
| K. Chandhok | Hispania HRT Cosworth | 53 | Unknown |
| B. Senna | Hispania HRT Cosworth | 47 | Unknown |
| S. Vettel | Red Bull Renault | 40 | Accident |
| H. Kovalainen | Lotus Cosworth | 34 | Hydraulic |
| J. Trulli | Lotus Cosworth | 33 | Hydraulic |
Post Race Interviews
L. Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes (1st): “Red Bull made it tough for us and we put up a good fight. You can see how close it is between the four of us. It’s down to momentum, and we will do the best we can to win both championships. We have been ragging their tails for some time. It’s such an achievement for us, to really be able to take the battle to them. They had one strength that was particularly good here, we had a strength here, and we didn’t know how it would pan here. Me and Jenson were able to compete with them and push our hardest to be on their tails. To get our second 1-2 is fantastic.”
J. Button – McLaren Mercedes (2nd): “The pace of our car was very good and it was great to be battling with the Red Bulls. So many times we have seen them disappear into the distance. I had a battle with Lewis at the end,” added the Briton, who also made contact with his team-mate while battling for the lead. We were both told to save fuel but it’s always difficult to know how much and when Lewis got back past me I was told to keep saving and I think it got a bit critical towards the end.”
M. Webber – Red Bull Renault (3rd): “Seb had good a top speed advantage and he went down the inside. We were side by side and then looks kike he turned pretty quickly to the right and we made contact. It definitely happened fast. It’s a shame for the team, but not an ideal day. The McLarens were solid today. It was good race between all four of us up until then. Neither want to make contact but it can happen sometimes when both are in front. It is never ideal but it happened.”
M. Schumacher – Mercedes Benz (4th): “My race started as I had hoped when I was able to catch Jenson right at the start. Unfortunately, I did not have a lot of grip with the tyres as the formation lap was quite slow and the pressures had gone down which, combined with the top speed of the McLarens, meant that I could not hold Jenson behind me for long. I was even struggling to keep the car on the track during the first lap. From there onwards, I was in my starting position and when Sebastian retired, we were able to pick up a place. That was about it. It was a straightforward race for me without any more possibilities.”
F. Alonso – Ferrari (8th): “We have been a bit surprised, as both in Barcelona and here we were not too competitive. All race Felipe fought with Rosberg and I fought with Petrov, so we are at Renault’s level, which is obviously not enough. We have an improvement for Canada and then for Valencia we have a bigger package. But we know McLaren and Red Bull are very far away, and we don’t know if that’s enough, so we have to work very hard.”
K. Kobayashi – Sauber Ferrari (10th): “I am very happy that we finished the race with both cars and got the first point. In the end I could see from the car the canvas on the front right tyre. Therefore I started to be very careful, especially in turn 8, and that’s also the reason why I didn’t defend any harder against Adrian Sutil.”
V. Petrov – Renault (15th): “Although I’m disappointed to miss out on points today, I really enjoyed the race and the car felt really good. During the race I thought there was a chance of rain, which would have made things interesting, but in the end it was very light and didn’t have a big impact on things. At the end of the race my tyres were really worn when I was fighting with Alonso.”
S. Vettel – Red Bull Renault (Ret): “Obviously, I think if you look at the pictures it was clear I had the inside. I went on the inside, I was ahead and just going down to focus on the braking point and honestly, you can see we touched and he touched my right rear wheel and I went off. There is no fight. This is something that happens. We do not need it but there is nothing we can do now. Obviously I am not very happy, I was inside focusing on the braking point, we touched and that was it.”
Turkish GP 2010: Button Continues McLaren Dominance In Practice
Jenson Button kept McLaren at the top of the Friday practice timesheets – just – as the Red Bull’s sped up to be right on the heels of the chrome coloured car.
Lewis Hamilton slumped from his morning first position, but Mercedes and Renault kept their good pace. Fernando Alonso slotted into 5th as he got more comfortable with the car.
Tonio Liuzzi had a lovely long slide moment leading to a spin at the infamous turn 8, not as exciting as Adrian Sutil’s morning incident where the German destroyed his Force India.
Bruno Senna strapped himself back into the Hispania and was quicker than Karun Chandhok who had the benefit of the morning session.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.280 30 2. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:28.378 + 0.098 24 3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:28.590 + 0.310 26 4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.672 + 0.392 32 5. Alonso Ferrari 1:28.725 + 0.445 30 6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:28.914 + 0.634 22 7. Schumacher Mercedes 1:28.974 + 0.694 22 8. Kubica Renault 1:29.225 + 0.945 34 9. Petrov Renault 1:29.501 + 1.221 36 10. Massa Ferrari 1:29.620 + 1.340 26 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:29.629 + 1.349 16 12. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:29.987 + 1.707 17 13. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.053 + 1.773 34 14. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.176 + 1.896 34 15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:30.386 + 2.106 32 16. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:30.627 + 2.347 28 17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:30.766 + 2.486 32 18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:30.933 + 2.653 37 19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:31.610 + 3.330 37 20. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:33.013 + 4.733 28 21. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:33.081 + 4.801 11 22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:33.312 + 5.032 29 23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:33.420 + 5.140 35 24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:33.740 + 5.460 25
Turkish GP 2010: Hamilton Flies Into Top Spot In FP1
Lewis Hamilton took McLaren’s fight directly to Red Bull Racing with a fastest lap performance in the first free practice session in Turkey.
Mercedes Benz and Renault looked strong too, while Ferrari lainguished slightly lower with Alonso’s performance only good for 9th on the weekend of the Scuderia’s 800th Grand Prix appearance.
For the new teams, Lotus were strongest. Kovalainen was within half a second of the Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari.
Sakon Yamamoto completed the session for Hispania instead of Bruno Senna as the team try to make progress with new aerodynamics following their split from Dallara.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.653 20 2. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.615 + 0.962 20 3. Schumacher Mercedes 1:29.750 + 1.097 24 4. Rosberg Mercedes 1:29.855 + 1.202 24 5. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:29.867 + 1.214 30 6. Kubica Renault 1:30.061 + 1.408 23 7. Petrov Renault 1:30.065 + 1.412 24 8. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:30.097 + 1.444 26 9. Alonso Ferrari 1:30.294 + 1.641 20 10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:30.501 + 1.848 17 11. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.615 + 1.962 20 12. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:30.853 + 2.200 21 13. Massa Ferrari 1:30.867 + 2.214 21 14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:31.011 + 2.358 23 15. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.238 + 2.585 17 16. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:31.355 + 2.702 23 17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:31.464 + 2.811 19 18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:31.735 + 3.082 27 19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:32.161 + 3.508 24 20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:32.990 + 4.337 22 21. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:34.876 + 6.223 13 22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:35.137 + 6.484 21 23. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:35.583 + 6.930 15 24. Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:36.137 + 7.484 26
Horner Dismisses Raikkonen F1 Return Rumours
Christian Horner has openly dismissed the rumours circulating that his red Bull Racing team was about to hand the 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen a race contract for the 2011 season.
Raikkonen quit Ferrari at the end of last season so the team could take on Fernando Alonso. After failing to agree terms with McLaren, the former champion Raikkonen went off to race in the World Rally Championship for the Citroen Junior Team. At the time there was speculation he had a return to F1 contract signed with Red Bull, following the drink manufacturer becoming the Finn’s title sponsor with Citroen.
When asked about Kimi returning was a possibility Horner said ”No. Kimi has committed himself to rallying, and he seems to be enjoying that environment.
“We have been happy with the job that Mark is doing, so why would you change?”
Mark Webber now looks set to recieve a big contract to stay with the team for another year, as the 2011 silly season’s big movers are set to stay in their current environments. Felipe Massa is set to be offered another contract by Ferrari and Robert Kubica will commit himself to another season with Renault.
“When we sit down and talk about it, it will be very straightforward,” said Horner. “Mark is an important member of the team, he enjoys driving for the team and we have a great balance between our two drivers. So, it is the usual thing – if it is not broken, don’t fix it.
“I think that it is clear where our intent is, it is clear where his intent is. It is just a matter of sorting out the paperwork with his management, but in the coming weeks I am sure that will be sorted.”
Schumacher Happy With Safety Car Clarification Following Penalty
Michael Schumacher has declared himself satisfied with the explanation, and recent clarification of the rules regarding the safety car following his incident with Fernando Alonso at the end of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Schumacher overtook Alonso on the final corner at Monaco, in breach of rule 40.13 as he overtook the Spaniard while still technically under safety car conditions, despite the car pulling into the pits as it was the final lap.
The rules have been adjusted slightly to make this clearer after Schumacher told reporters he was told to race to the line.
“There is no point to get into past incidents,” said Schumacher in an interview with Sky Italia.
“But the point is that if I understand the situation correctly, the FIA has identified something that happened in Monaco and they want to improve the situation.
“That is something good for the sport and I am quite happy for this to happen.”
Force India and Red Bull Racing To Run F-Ducts In Turkey
Force India and Red Bull Racing have confirmed that they will be running F-Ducts in the practice sessions for the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend as they evaluate whether the air flow control mechanism is a worthy new technical advancement to their cars.
Vitantonio Liuzzi told reporters that the Force India team were very confident of their system, a system which is operated by the drivers wrist.
“We are really optimistic about it,” Liuzzi said. “You can never know. It might change tomorrow, but the team has done a big work in the wind tunnel for the last two weeks to test it and it seemed to work pretty well.
“Tomorrow we’ll get the confirmation because on track you never know, but we are pretty optimistic that it should be spot on.”
“We made a simple system with the wrist so we don’t have to take the hand off the steering wheel,” he added.
Meanwhile Red Bull Racing’s man of the moment Mark Webber told reporters in the pre-race press conference that Red Bull were to evaluate their own F-Duct system as they try and maintain their recent dominance.
“Yes, we will give the F-duct a go tomorrow,” Webber said during a pre-event press conference in Turkey. “We will give it a chance.”
Ferrari, who were one of the first teams to use the system are going to try a variation on the position of the hole that needs to be covered in order to stall the air during practice.
F-Duct air vent
Pirelli On The Verge Of Becoming Solo Tyre Supplier For 2011
Pirelli, the Italian tyre manufacturer is said to be on the verge of confirming a deal with the organisers and teams of Formula One to become the new single tyre supplier to the sport starting next season.
The rubber manufacturer has thrown its hat into the gauntlet to take over from bridgestone when their contract ends this season. Michelin is the other front runner, but they want to bring about large technical changes to the size of tyres and rims which was unpopular with the teams, drivers and most importantly Bernie Ecclestone.
Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera told Gazzetta dello Sport: “We’ll see, there is this hypothesis. By Friday we should know something.”
They are likely to become the solo tyre manufacturer until 2013 when they would still be allowed to supply, but there would be the opportunity for a rival to set up creating a tyre war.
“I think that Pirelli has a very big tradition in motorsport,” Mario Isola of Pirelli told Autosport Magazine a couple of weeks ago.
“We have been involved in motorsport for more than 100 years. In all our story, we showed that we have the technical ability to build motorsport tyres – also in the past with F1, with WRC recently as the sole supplier contract.
“In that case, it was not easy because there were some teams that had never used our tyres, they started in an unknown situation so we showed that we were able to build and develop a tyre that was consistent and reliable. I think the teams recognise that we have the ability to do it.”
ART Confirm Entry As Do USA Based Team
ART Grand Prix, the multiple GP2 and Formula 3 winning constructor have announced they have tendered an application to be considered for the available team slot in Formula One from the start of the 2011 season.
One of ART’s manager, Nicolas Todt the son of FIA president Jean announced the intentions to Autosport.
“The news that we have proposed ART is real, but at the moment it’s just a request, there is no certainty we’ll take the start next season,” he said.
“Realistically, I think it won’t be easy to take part in the 2011 F1 championship, because it’s not easy to set up a programme with very high costs.
“In light of this, I didn’t want to make bold statements over something that still needs to be defined. If we don’t make it, then it won’t be a drama. We’ll carry on working over this project, and if it doesn’t happen next year, then we’ll try again in the future.”
The team took Lewis Hamilton to a world title among other drivers and have sufficient experience to be a successful name within the sport.
Also announcing their intentions for an entry is a revised edition of the failed USF1 team project, with Chad Hurley and Parris Mullins two of the former board members of the team wanting to come into Formula One.
The team is based around a team known as the Cypher Group.
“I am part of a project right now that is trying to enter the sport,” Mullins told AUTOSPORT, in his first full-length interview since the end of US F1. “I can’t give away any specifics right now, but I can say I don’t believe a start-up team is possible.
“That is definitely a topic that will be debated for some time until a practical solution is found, but I think personally, given the current state of the sport and its rules, then a competitive start-up team simply isn’t possible.
“This sport is all about knowledge and you need to apply the experience gained from the previous years of competing in the sport, and the team needs to be operating in a cohesive environment.
“I think a great example is the Honda/Brawn situation last year. Here was an existing team that was taken over, the necessary changes were made and it was turned into a championship-winning team the following year. And that is no different from what we have seen in the past – with Red Bull Racing, Force India and Toro Rosso.”
Ferrari could throw the team a lifeline into Formula One by suggesting it wants to outsource two cars to use as a junior team for Ferrari in a similar fashion Toro Rosso are used by Red Bull.
“I dream of a third Ferrari managed by an American team, with the stars and stripes flag,” Luca di Montezemolo the boss of Ferrari told Gazzetta dello Sport.
Parris Mullins
Chandhok Believes Willis Can Save Hispania
Karun Chandhok, the popular Indian driver has said that he believes Geoff Willis will be the saviour of the Hispania team for this season, and almost certainly next season.
Willis, a highly experienced aerodynamicist and engineer has worked with various teams including Red Bull Racing, and was drafted into Hispania HRT to provide the team with advice on how to advance their 2010 car, and help design the 2011 machine. Willis described the 2010 car as “a dog, absolutely awful” previously.
However Chandhok believes his input is going to be absolutely vital.
Speaking about how he sees the next few months panning out, Chandhok told Autosport Magazine: “As long as there is a car in the pitlane and my seat in it, I will go drag the arse out of it.
“I have to look at it with a slightly long-term view. If the team improves I would love to be here, and if they can give Geoff the opportunity and budget to build a good car for 2011, he could do a good job.
“He has done it in the past, he has a capable team of aero people that he is pulling together from other teams and, if he does have the right financial possibility and the right infrastructure, it won’t be a bad place to be next year.
“I want to be in the best possible place for 2011, and I reckon this team has the potential if Geoff is given the right opportunity – he is key to where we go.”
Speaking about his own performance in an honest and frank interview with Autosport this week, he said he was rather happy.
“At the end of the day, you give me a car that is capable of doing a certain lap time and my job is to do that lap time,” he said. “And as long as I am quicker than Bruno [Senna], as I have been so far, and people see that I am doing well in the car, then it is good for me.
“They put Christian Klien in the car in Spain and within three laps I went quicker than him, with the same tyre and same fuel. So you can argue all you want, but I feel I am extracting the maximum I can out of this car.
“It is really down to the team to develop it. There is only so much I can do.”
There has been significant rumour that Hispania will replace one of their drivers with Christian Klien in the very near future, and although Karun is faster than Bruno Senna you can be your bottom dollar that if one of those two is to lose their seat it will be Chandhok.
Di Resta Won’t Test For Force In Turkey
Paul di Resta has told of how he will sit out free practice testing duties for Force India this weekend in Istanbul park as the Silverstone based team use their two race drivers to evaluate upgrades.
Di Resta has been used in place of one of the race drivers at various race free practices on Friday’s this season as the team evaluate the DTM racer for a potential future race seat.
However the bosses at Force India have decided they want Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi to give them experienced feedback on new parts being put on the car this weekend.
Speaking about the decision, di Resta said: “It was a late call from the team but I completely understand their decision as there are some new upgrades coming through this race that really need the drivers’ and the team’s attention.
“I’ll still be there in the garage, trying to learn as much as I can as the developments are pretty exciting. I’ve still done all the groundwork, going in the simulator for some running as I’ve never driven Istanbul Park before.
“It’s a pretty busy time of the year for me as well with the DTM race in Valencia between Monaco and Turkey. But it’s keeping me sharp and focused on racing, which is the best possible situation for me right now.”
Montezemolo Delighted With Alonso
Luca di Montezemolo the head of Ferrari has declared himself very happy with new driver Fernando Alonso.
Montezemolo stated his happiness with the two time world champions driving following some criticsms following a jump start and the bad accident he had in Monaco. Some Itlaian media had suggested Luca was unhappy with Fernando and wanted Michael Schumacher back.
Montezemolo dismissed these claims however.
“Not one bit,” di Montezemolo said when asked by Gazzetta dello Sport if there were regrets. “It was good with Michael but it’s over. No regrets. Today I’m very happy with Alonso, both on and off the track.
“Alonso has team spirit, conscientiousness, attachment to the team. And when he races he’s a fantastic fighter.”
“I consider a mistake only what happened at Monte Carlo, due to excessive confidence,” he said. “He wanted to test the limit while thinking of pole, and he crashed. The jump start in China was down to the tension. But we are in a great position for the championship – the game is on.”
Montezemolo also hinted to La Gazetta Dello Sport that Felipe Massa could keep his seat with the Scuderia.
“[He needs to]Carry on working with the same spirit while taking care of himself and the team.”
Some rumours in the German and Italian media have been suggesting Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher could make a sensational return to Ferrari.
Canadian GP Plunging Into Issues Both Structurally And Financially
It has been revealed that the Canadian Grand Prix is plunging into problems both financially and with the circuit structure.
The track, built in an island in the St Lawrence sea way has recently been audited by a government based firm. They found that the pipe work, which is over 30 years old could potentially fail to such a catastrophic level it would severely affect the hosting of the Grand Prix. The original system was installed in the 1960′s for EXPO ’67 , and has failed some 32 times in the past 4 years.
The auditor commented “[A] rupture … could jeopardise the Formula One event”
Of course in 2008, we had track repairs during qualifying and during the race as the new, poorly laid surface broke up during the event much to the disgust of Bernie Ecclestone hence their lack of race in 2009.
In other financial news, Francois Dumontier the organiser of the event admitted in a newspaper interview that the event has still not attracted a title sponsor. The newspaper estimates that the shortfall financially of the event will be around $5million.
Dumontier told La Presse that firms should ”look more closely at this wonderful event”.
Mid race circuit repairs in 2008 were necessary, not a good look for the sport however
Alonso Not Surprised By Schu Move At Monaco
Fernando Alonso has told Spox.com that he was not surprised Michael Schumacher tried to pass him while under safety car conditions in Monaco.
The former rivals were in 6th and 7th place on the final lap when Schumacher pulled the contraversial overtake at the final corner. Schumacher believed the safety car to have gone in so racing continued, but was in breach of rule 40.13 which states that if a safety car is out at any point on the final lap then no overtaking can take place.
Alonso made a small error into La Rascasse giving Schumacher the opportunity to pull the illegal move.
“The team told me over radio that we could not overtake,” Alonso said.
“I wanted to attack Lewis Hamilton, but I was forbidden by the team to do it. The fact that Michael went ahead to pass me did not surprise me.”
“I was calm and that was later confirmed by the stewards, who put things right,”
Williams Misses Webber But Throws Symonds Lifeline
Sir Frank Williams whose team bears his namesake says that he feels not renewing mArk Webber’s contract for the 2007 season was one of the biggest mistakes he has ever made.
Williams, confined to a wheel chair since a horrific road accident near the Paul Ricard Circuit some years ago, employed Webber when he was fresh out of the failed Jaguar team. During that time the Williams team were not particularly competitive, and when Webber asked for more money along with a contract extension at the end of 2007, Sir Frank and assistant Patrick Head decided the best thing would be to let the Australian go.
Webber went to Red Bull, and had a good season in 2009, but this season he has been on fire winning the past 2 races in a row. Indeed things are looking so good, he is being tipped for the World Championship and potentially a race drive with Ferrari.
“Our car was not competitive, and we thought that Mark was part of the problem. To renew the contract for 2007 had requested an increase of engagement. We were reluctant to pay a large wage to him, partly because we lost our sponsor. Today I would say that it was still a mistake. ” Williams told Autosprint
“When he was with us Webber was very quick over one lap in the race but had a tendency to make mistakes.” Williams added
The first year with Red Bull behaved in much the same way, but in the second began to improve. But now he is running very well. “
Meanwhile the Williams team could be set to offer disgraced former Renault technical director Pat Symonds a lifeline job for the 2011 season as a consultant to the FW33 car. Symonds who was involved in the crash-gate scandal had a lifetime ban overturned recently in the high court along with former employer Flavio Briatore. Out of work since, the Williams team are looking for someone with a wealth of experience to help them build a competitive car for next season which could potentially have Renault engine.
Sir Frank Williams (Centre) with Mark Webber (Left) back in 2005
Toyota Claim F1 Is Too Elitist
Former Toyota F1 Team principal Tadashi Yamashina has claimed that Formula One has become far too elitist for its own good.
The man formerly charged with leading Toyota’s bid in F1, says that the sport did not allow the fans to get close enough to it for it to be a viable advertising option for a manufacturer. He cited this as one of the many reasons why the Japanese manufacturer, who have recently had serious struggles with their road cars, to be one of the reasons why Toyota pulled out of F1 at the end of last season.
“There is a big gap between Formula 1 and Toyota’s actual car users,” Yamashina told Automotive News. “F1 remains the pinnacle of auto racing, but its image grew too elitist.
“At races such as Nurburgring [24 Hours], fans can get right into [the] pitlane, mingle with the teams and touch the cars. They can soak up the atmosphere and feel part of the event. By contrast, average fans have no hope of strolling the paddock at an F1 race. For the fortunate few who can afford to do that, it’s fine.
“I think the best kind of races are those in which people can get in close to the race.”
Toyota officials will be at a round of the WTCC to continue rumours that they will be entering some form of touring car championship soon. DTM is also set to be courted as Lexus may enter in 2011 under the new Super GT rules which the series is likely to follow. Former F1 team BMW have confirmed they will be competing in the German race series also.
Renault To Increase Engine Supply For 2011
Renault have announced that they are ready and willing to increase their engine supply programme for the 2011 season.
The teams engine division, which has also produced engines under the Mecachrome and Supertec banner, currently provides customer units to Red Bull as well as to their own works team. However, an increased strength engine that the team now has thanks to modifications allowed under a special FIA programme means the 2.4l V8 unit it becoming more and more appealing to other teams.
Williams and Lotus, who currently run Cosworth units, are considering a move to Renault for 2011.
“We don’t know which teams we will be supplying next year,” said Remi Taffin of the Renault engine division
“We certainly have got the capacity to supply more than the two teams we have been doing this year, it’s not a big problem for us.
“Obviously we have to produce a few more engines and get some more people to do the job. As far as getting an engine ready and supplying two teams, it’s then not a big problem to do so for three or four teams with an extra effort.”
Renault are also tabling a bid to become the sole supplier of a KERS unit if KERS standardisation is brought in for the 2011/2012 season.
Domenicali In Push For Spare Car Return
Stefano Domenicali, the team principal of Ferrari has said he is going to try and lobby to change the rules regarding the test or spare car which were banned in attempts to reduce costs through equipment and crews.
However last Saturday Ferrari’s top driver Fernando Alonso smashed his car up in practice so badly he was unable to qualify.
This has meant the question over whether T-Car’s as they are known has reared its head into conversations with the FIA with the discussions stating that the teams want there to be a third car once again, based on the fact they take all of the equipment to build a third car in the event of such an accident – all that happens is that the mechanics have to work around the clock to build the car rather than adjusting it for each driver.
“Let’s start from the reasons why the rule book was modified a couple years ago: costs had to be reduced by getting rid of the T-car and reducing car crews,” said Domenicali. “This was the reason why the regulations were changed.
“After that, as usually happens in F1, we lost sight a bit of the events that may happen, like on Saturday. So I think this is an issue that will be re-discussed again as soon as possible, because preventing spectators from seeing the car for this sort of reason is in my opinion worth looking at.”
Liuzzi Laughs Off Di Resta Seat Link
Vitantonio Liuzzi has laughed off rumours linking Force India test driver Paul di Resta taking his race seat with the Silverstone based team.
Liuzzi tested for Force India before gaining a permanent race seat for this season, spending time waiting in the wings following time with Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso.
Results for the highly rated Italian have been up and down, and often not as good as his team mate. This sparked rumours that Di Resta could take his seat, the DTM ace performing well in Friday tests. However Liuzzi had a great race in Monaco and says he is not concerned at losing his seat.
“I am not worried about these rumours; speculation is always at the door and all over the papers,” he said in his exclusive column with ESPNF1. “I have a contract for two years with Force India and they believe in me and I believe in them, so our relationship is very good. They know exactly the problems I was having in China and Spain and they know that it was not due to anything else.
“Also I scored points at the first two races and again in Monaco, so they can see that I’m very much fighting for the team to meet its targets. It really doesn’t worry me that this sort of stuff is printed and it’s quite normal that you get this kind of speculation when you are competing at the highest level.”
Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer said last week: “We still support Tonio fully. t was never the plan to race Paul this year.”
FOTA and FIA To Discuss Race Weekend Changes
FOTA and the FIA are set to meet to discuss a multitude of changes for the 2011 season, including selecting a tyre supplier and potentially changing the format of the race weekend.
The race weekend changes are something that has been discussed many times, including moving to a two race system with less laps. One sprint style race and one feature type race as seen in GP2 and formerly in A1GP.
The change possibilities have reared their heads once again as concerns grow over attendances at F1 circuits. The teams are plugging the fact that the calendar is poorly set out too, citing the single race in North America this season as a huge expense. The teams want either two race on the continent or no race at all.
“The meeting with Bernie was to talk about race weekend format, the calendar for next year and tyres,” Adam Parr the CEO of Williams F1 told Autosport. “We are all keen to improve the weekend format and make things more engaging for fans.”
“There are some ideas around about what we can do over race weekends to address the issues we have,”
“But it is too early to talk about it in detail, because it is by no means an agreed philosophy.”
“The costs have been driven up and up and up,” Parr added. “We are going to Canada and there is no way we as teams are going to make money going to Canada, so we are effectively subsidising that race. It is a one-off flyaway to North America and back again. It is crazy stuff – and very difficult.”
Hugo Boss Continues McLaren Sponsorship Deal
Hugo Boss, the exclusive clothing manufacturer has tied up a contract extension deal with the McLaren team.
Hugo Boss have been sponsoring McLaren for around 30 years and this extension confirms that it is one of the longest serving sponsorship deals in motorsport.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: “We’re proud and delighted to be able to announce this extension today, not least because it takes our partnership with Hugo Boss into record-breaking territory.”
Button Frustrated By Team Error Causing Retirement
Jenson Button has confirmed that it was an error by the team that led him to retire from the Monaco Grand Prix yesterday.
The British driver, in his first season with McLaren stopped only a handful of laps into the Grand Prix, which he won in 2009, with an overheating engine. It was caused by a cover being left over the left sidepod during the lap from the pits to the grid ahead of the race. This caused the engine to reach high temperatures that it should not be exposed to so early in the Grand Prix. While touring behind the safety car early on, a lack of cooling caused the engine to overheat and Button had to retire.
He was disappointed too for the mechanic responsible, and said he would help try and iron out these issues.
“It is disappointing for everyone in the team and for the person responsible,” Button said. “I know these things happen but it is just hard to accept when it does. Obviously he is devastated. When you are trying to do your best and you make a mistake it is devastating.
“It is a cooling cover usually used in the garage or in transport. It was left in. The car went to the grid with no airflow and was cooked. You do what you can but you cannot recover from that. These cars don’t have fans, they rely on airflow, so if you deny that you are not going to survive very long.”
“It’s a mistake that you would think shouldn’t happen but it does. I’m sure the guy who did not pull it out is gutted. I feel sorry for the guy. We all make mistakes. We just have to make sure we don’t make them again. It’s done now. Last week was annoying because I lost everything on the steering wheel. But this one was a race stopper.
” We thought everything was going to be okay, and it would probably have been fine if we hadn’t had a Safety Car. My car quickly began to overheat and I started losing engine power, so I turned the engine off pretty sharply because the last thing I wanted was to leave engine oil on the racing line.”
Mark Webber Set To Secure Red Bull Future Following Monaco Success
Mark Webber’s victory in the Monaco Grand Prix yesterday looks set to deliver him more than just a helping of pride and a hangover, following an interview released with his boss Christian Horner.
Horner, who in team principal for Red Bull Racing Webber’s employer, says that he wants to offer the Australian another contract to stay on with the team and partner popular German Sebastian Vettel.
Webber’s future with the Austrian energy drink backed team had been in doubt with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, and former World Champion turned rally driver Kimi Raikkonen both being linked with poaching the seat with the current constructors championship leaders.
However despite this, the team say they want continuity as they focus on winning both the drivers and constructors titles and pushing their team to the front of the grid.
“We are very happy with the way that Mark is performing,” Horner told ESPN last night.
“He’s an important member of our team and he has got to a stage where, at 33, we said let’s take one year at a time rather than signing some long-winded agreement. I am very happy with the balance and dynamics in team, and there is nothing that we would change for.
“It’s all down to relationships and how he feels at the end of the day. He is driving fantastically well, he is a very valued member of the team, so when the time comes to sit down and talk about contracts I am sure it will be a very short conversation.”
Monaco GP 2010: Webber Takes Win As Monaco Delivers Interesting Grand Prix
In contrast to my dull review last week, the Monaco Grand Prix was full of flair which some may say as a lights to flag win for Mark Webber, which is completely true, but the midfield action, Fernando Alonso’s great overtakes and a series of safety cars led this to be a rather interesting Monaco Grand Prix.
Race Review
Off the line, Webber got a great start, and his team mate Vettel slotted himself down the inside of Robert Kubica. The ailing Polish driver was attacked by both Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton but clung to third while the former managed to sneak back ahead of Lewis on the run up Beau Rivage.
Further back Nico Rosberg went well down the field while Rubens Barrichello flew up into 6th place, and Michael Schumacher netted himself 7th behind his former Ferrari team mate.
Fernando Alonso got going, and narrowly missed being caught up in Nico Hulkenberg’s scary first lap accident where he went straight into the wall in the tunnel causing serious damage and a safety car period.
The Spanish driver who started from last following a mega crash in free practice which meant the entire car had to be rebuilt before the race, started smoking through the field following a pit stop onto the harder tyre meaning he had used both compounds and would not need to pit again. Lucas di Grassi tried to keep the significantly faster Alonso behind with some scary moves and flails across the track, endangering both drivers.
Alonso continued racing through the field, but got slowed slightly as Lewis Hamilton pitted and came out in front of him. He could have got third if he hadn’t been stuck behind traffic. Others pitted, and a change of pit stop lap from Rosberg meant he ended up behind Massa, Hamilton, Alonso and Schumacher who formed a train that followed each other around for a series of laps.
Webber pulled well clear at the front with a series of fastest laps, and his team mate was very quick too. No chance of catching the front two today.
Bad luck struck the Virgin team with a double retirement, and Heikki Kovalainen and Bruno Senna would later retire with mechanical issues too. It is still a steep learning curve for these new teams in Formula One.
Rubens Barrichello was the next victim of the Monaco circuit, a left rear puncture throwing him into the barriers on the way into Mirebeau, his car strewn in the middle of the road leading to another safety car. The angered Brazilian threw his steering wheel out onto the track and into the path of a Hispania car, the car ran it over – it is unknown if he will be penalised for this action.
Only laps after the safety car came in, it was out again for an alleged loose drain cover which caused many problems in the past at various circuits.
From here on in, there was a level of consistent running from the drivers and the main order remained relatively unchanged. Both Force India’s were in the points, the first time that has happened this season – a good haul for both drivers.
Everything was running smoothly until 3 laps to go when a scary, and almost dangerous overtaking move from Jarno Trulli on Karun Chandhok at La Rascasse took them both out of the race. The Lotus pivoted onto the top of the Hispania, the Indian driver inside putting his hands onto his helmet – he was lucky not to have serious injuried.
The locale of this crash meant a safety car until the end, but when it peeled in with one corner left to go, everyone thought the order would remain un changed. A plucky and cheeky move from Michael Schumacher meant he got ahead of Fernando Alonso, and initial reports believed it was legal following the changes in safety car overtaking moves. However it has been reported he could be in contravention of the rules 40.13 which states a safety car out on the final lap means no overtaking. He was found guilty by the race stewards, including Damon Hill, and has been handed a 20 second penalty. This means that he is demoted to 12th place and is stripped of his points. There has been no comment from Mercedes or Schumacher since the penalty was handed out.
Classified Results (Provisional)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | M. Webber | Red Bull Renault | 1.50.00.000 |
| 2 | S. Vettel | Red Bull Renault | +0.448 |
| 3 | R. Kubica | Renault | +1.600 |
| 4 | F. Massa | Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro | +2.600 |
| 5 | L. Hamilton | McLaren Mercedes | +4.300 |
| 6 | F. Alonso | Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro | +6.300 |
| 7 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes Benz | +6.600 |
| 8 | A. Sutil | Force India Mercedes | +6.900 |
| 9 | V. Liuzzi | Force India Mercedes | +7.300 |
| 10 | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso Ferrari | +8.100 |
| 11 | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso Ferrari | +9.100 |
| 12 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes Benz | Penalty |
Fastest Lap: S. Vettel 1.15.192
Retirements
| Driver | Team | Lap | Reason |
| V. Petrov | Renault | 74 | Brakes |
| K. Chandhok | Hispania HRT | 71 | Crash |
| J. Trulli | Lotus Cosworth | 71 | Crash |
| H. Kovalainen | Lotus Cosworth | 59 | Gearbox |
| B. Senna | Hispania HRT | 59 | Hydraulic |
| R. Barrichello | Williams Cosworth | 28 | Crash |
| K. Kobayashi | Sauber Ferrari | 27 | |
| L. di Grassi | Virgin | 26 | Engine |
| T. Glock | Virgin | 23 | Engine |
| P. de La Rosa | Sauber Ferrari | 22 | |
| J. Button | McLaren Mercedes | 3 | Engine |
| N. Hulkenberg | Williams Cosworth | 1 | Crash |
Post Race Interviews
Mark Webber – Red Bull Renault (1st): “Absolutely incredible and for sure one of the greatest days of my life today. To win here was very special, it started yesterday with qualifying when it went well but here it is such a test for two hours. I had a lot of work to do, the track changed a lot, backmarkers and lot of safety cars – getting restarts and tyre pressures right – all the basics that could test were in front of you today. It is amazing – to join Ayrton Senna and those guys [as a winner] around here is great.”
Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull Renault (2nd): ”I wasn’t able to keep up with him [Mark Webber], there was a big difference. Later on when I felt the grip he was too far off. There was no real point to make an effort to catch him, with overtaking him being so difficult. To be honest I had to look more in my mirrors. Robert [Kubica] was pushing quite hard and it was quite difficult to get away from him at the restarts. I was going more sideways that straight, it was quite difficult. It was our optimum today and I am very happy. A lot of good points – and those count at the end of the year.”
Robert Kubica – Renault (3rd): “It was known that starting from the dirty side would be difficult for me. Normally I would defend but I saw Mark did a slow pull-away so I thought I had a chance to overtake him. I just got on the power too early and got wheelspin, so it was too late to close the door on Vettel and then had to defend from Felipe. I couldn’t see the pit board and was surprised about pace. Third place we have to be positive about. No was expecting us to finish on the podium. Congratulations to Renault to have all spots on the podium.”
Michael Schumacher – Mercedes Benz (6th): “[I am not expecting a penalty] No, not really. I think there is either this message, or there is the message ‘track clear’ and ‘safety car in’ and that was the message that was given to all of us and when this message is out it means track clear and back to racing. The cars were removed. There was no further need [for the safety car] so I took my opportunity.”
Jenson Button – McLaren Mercedes (Ret): “I think the car got a bit hot on the grid. It got very hot and I had to turn it off. It might have been fine if we hadn’t had a Safety Car but at such a slow speed we just couldn’t cool it down.”
Pedro de La Rosa – Sauber Ferrari (Ret): “When you look at the standings, it’s zero points. We have to improve. Reliability is our Achilles heel at the moment. That’s why before of every race I say we have to finish, we have to finish, because it doesn’t matter how fast or slow you are if you don’t finish.”
Sam Michael – Technical Director at Williams: “That was not a good day for the team after a promising start for Rubens. Nico had a problem with the clutch paddle on the steering wheel during the formation lap. He then had a failure with the front wing mounting on the first lap of the race. Rubens had a fantastic start and was running in sixth when he started to experience poor handling after his stop. Eleven laps after his pitstop, he had a failure at the rear end of his car. We need to get all the parts back to the factory in order to identify correctly what components on both cars caused the failures. We have quite a bit of car damage to repair, but we’re making progress with performance and look to further that in Istanbul.”
Ecclestone Hints Hispania’s Future Is In Doubt
Bernie Ecclestone has cast doubt upon the long and even short term future of the Spanish based team Hispania HRT Racing Team.
The team, born from the ashes of Campos Meta, have had no testing time, launching their car days before the first grand prix in Bahrain. The team fired up their cars for the first time in the garages ahead of free practice in the gulf state.
The team’s chassis and aero package has been described by both Geoff Wills, a consultant drafted in and test driver Christian Klien as “unworkable, slow and surprisingly bad”. They have been up to 8 seconds off the pace of the front runners, leading some to describe the cars as dangerous.
Drivers Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok have tried their best, and both look competent racers but the car itself is very poor. Senna looks tired and bored with the team, and could well be considering a future elsewhere. The drivers may not be the problem but drafting in experienced Christian Klien and Sakon Yamamoto must mean that the current line up and considering their futures.
With a lack of sponsors, it is unknown where the money to pay for the significant upgrades would come from.
Now in an exclusive interview with a British newspaper about the season so far, Ecclestone states that he is providing aid and assistance to the ailing squad just a handful of races into the season.
“HRT have got problems. I will sort it out,” Ecclestone told the Telegraph in an interview on Friday.
“I’d like to see 12 teams finish the season because they have made the commitment to come in.
“We might lose one of them. But I’m doing my bit to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
