FORMULA 1 - 2012

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SCHUMACHER FASTEST IN QUALIFYING, BUT WEBBER INHERITS POLE AFTER PENALTY:

In a surprising and frantic qualifying session in Monaco, 43 year old Michael Schumacher gave Mercedes its second pole position of the season and the 69th of his career. Schumacher is the fourth oldest pole sitter of all-time; only Jack Brabham, Juan-Manuel Fangio and Giuseppe Farina took pole position at a greater age than Schumacher is today. He is the oldest pole position driver since Spanish GP 1970.

But with the 5 place penalty he was handed for the collision with Bruno Senna in Spain, Mark Webber will inherit the pole, his second in Monaco. And that will give him a golden opportunity to become the sixth winner in six races, which would be the first time in F1 history.

Webber won the race from pole here in 2010 and has every chance of a repeat tomorrow, as Monaco has been won from pole all but one occasion in the last seven years. Nico Rosberg was third on the day and will therefore start from the front row tomorrow with his best chance yet of a win in the he grew up in.

The threat from McLaren, Lotus and Ferrari was somewhat blunted. Romain Grosjean saved two new sets of supersofts, but the signs were already there from his team mate's struggles that the Lotus wasn't really performing over a single lap. It's strengths lie in low speed traction and the way that lack of wheelspin leads to better tyre life on long runs. However Grosjean was lying second after the first runs in Q3, but Grosjean's final run didn't work out in the middle sector.

"I did a very good lap in the first part of Q3 but then I couldn't improve on my second set of tyres, " said the 26 year old Frenchman. "This was a shame because our strategy was perfect for the last part of qualifying. The traffic wasn't too bad but I missed out in sector two. I think pole position was within reach."

Nevertheless Grosjean starts fourth, just behind Lewis Hamilton, another pre-race favourite. The McLaren wasn't at the top of the time sheets at any stage in qualifying, but Hamilton – one of only two drivers to have scored points in every race – is on a consistency programme and will be targetting a podium as a minimum tomorrow.

The Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were much closer then they have been in prior races and they will sandwich Schumacher on the grid tomorrow in fifth and seventh. They looked to be competitive throughout, although Massa was unable to improve on his Q2 lap time and challenge for pole position. Sebastian Vettel used up all his sets of supersofts just to get into Q3 for the second race in a row. He set no time in Q3 again, so has a free choice on starting tyre tomorrow and has hinted he may start on the harder tyre.

Pastor Maldonado will start 19th after being handed a 10 place penalty by stewards for driving into Perez at the end of practice 3.

Mercedes' threat had been clear from Saturday morning practice; Rosberg had been the pace setter and was on provisional pole after the first runs in Q3. But he did not find enough improvement at the end to hold it and Schumacher and Webber slipped through.

The Mercedes pairing looked like potential pole sitters from the outset of qualifying, as they were both in the top five in each session. A variety of cars were in amongst the front three rows of the grid during the earlier stages, including Felipe Massa, who set the pace in Q2 and, like Schumacher has done no harm to his confidence.

As is often the case in Monaco, track conditions improved significantly during the session and times continued to drop until the dying seconds of each session, causing headaches for teams that did not want to waste a second set of tyres. However, the lack of overtaking in the Principality means that starting position is all the more important. And for those that could get the job done in the earlier sessions on just one set of tyres, they were able to save a set of options for the final shoot-out. This was the case for the front three cars, as well as Hamilton and Grosjean.

Schumacher did not want to compare the pole to others from his first career, "Monaco is so special, it's more of a driver track than others but it's super fantastic if you do such a lap. We saw how tight qualifying was. It's sweet and a good feeling. You come back and hope for results and finally you get it together and are able to prove it. You have to see there are two different chapters of my career," said Schumacher. "This is the second one. It's the best position I've been in and I can give back a little to the team for all the trust that's been put in me these last two years."

Webber was delighted with the way qualifying had turned out, especially after not finding the sweet spot in practice on Thursday, but some changes to the balance on the car since Thursday have given him a car with the feel he was looking for.

"Its Michael's day, it was a good lap from him," said Webber. "Quali is the first time you start to pull everything together. I was aiming for the first few rows, I thought I would go for pole, it was a good lap and it's a good position to start from tomorrow."

The session started with Sergio Perez crashing heavily in the Sauber after a breakage in the left side of his steering arm. This is the corner of the car that was hit by Pastor Maldonado at the end of FP3, which led to Maldonado being given a 10 place grid penalty by the stewards.

In Q2 Jenson Button was the high profile scalp, failing to make the cut, along with both Force Indias, both Toro Rossos, Senna and Kobayashi. The Briton had set the fastest time in practice on Thursday but couldn't get the performance when it mattered. He only just scraped through Q1 by a tenth of a second.

MONACO GRAND PRIX, Qualifying

1. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m14.301s

2. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m14.381s + 0.080

3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m14.448s + 0.147

4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m14.583s + 0.282

5. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m14.639s + 0.338

6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m14.948s + 0.647

7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m15.049s + 0.748

8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m15.199s + 0.898

9. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m15.245s + 0.944

10. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull no time

11. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1m15.421s + 0.510

12. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m15.508s + 0.597

13. Jenson Button McLaren 1m15.536s + 0.625

14. Bruno Senna Williams 1m15.709s + 0.798

15. Paul di Resta Force India 1m15.718s + 0.807

16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m15.878s + 0.967

17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m16.885s + 1.974

18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1m16.538s + 1.120

19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1m17.404s + 1.986

20. Timo Glock Marussia 1m17.947s + 2.529

21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1m18.096s + 2.678

22. Charles Pic Marussia 1m18.476s + 3.058

23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1m19.310s + 3.892

24. Sergio Perez Sauber no time

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Schumi: P1 confirms what I always felt:

Michael Schumacher says his P1 in qualifying for the Monaco GP only "confirms" what he has felt for a long time, he just needed the right moment.

Schumacher rolled back the years on Saturday as he stormed through the streets of Monte Carlo - where he has claimed no fewer than five victories - to post a 1:14.301.

That time proved to be the quickest of the day, putting Schumacher up into pole position for the first time since returning to Formula One in 2010 with Mercedes.

It also went a long way towards silencing the German's critics who had once again begun to question whether he deserves his place on the F1 grid.

"I leave it up to others what it means or does not means, to me I am obviously excited and very happy and confirms what I have felt for a long time," Schumacher said.

"It is just sometimes you have to put everything together at the right moment.

"I have to say a great thanks to all the team, particularly some of the guys who work very closely with me - we had a special session earlier this week that unified and united us even further.

"This is the result that comes together from that. I am grateful to the trust that Mercedes and the team had in me, they supported me. I am happy to give it back and want to give more back tomorrow."

And although the German will lose his pole position and drop to sixth after incurring a five-place grid-penalty at the previous race in Spain for crashing into Bruno Senna, Schumacher is adamant he will fight for the win on Sunday.

"I am more than thrilled and excited about making a pole here in Monaco.

"Monaco to all of us is the track of the year that has a very prestigious position, and to manage pole position here after what I have gone through in the last two and a half years is just fabulous. And that is what sticks into my mind.

"I told you guys in the press conference that I would get pole, start sixth and win it - and that is what I am going to aim for. That's all I have in my mind and the past doesn't matter.

Speaking about his final flying lap, the one that put him at the top of the timesheets by 0.080s, Schumacher said: "Obviously I saw my time on the dashboard (I thought) it should not be too bad, but you don't know as being one of the early ones out on track you don't know what will come behind.

"Seeing the monitors and at one point I saw number one and then I started to believe and got confirmation on the radio, it is just beautiful.

"Monaco being so special, we call it in terms of percentage a bit more of a driver track than other tracks, and because of the prestigious atmosphere and what it means for us, it is super fantastic if you manage to do such a lap. I knew I was on the lap, but you are never sure as we have seen how tight qualifying has been.

"It is very tricky in these days and not always possible to get all these together. Here and now we did and hopefully we learned more and more in order to do it more often. Reminding me I am still around is a good point."

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Webber: Fair play to Schu but P1 is nice

Mark Webber is relishing his starting position for Sunday's Monaco GP having been elevate to pole position by Michael Schumacher's penalty.

The Mercedes driver claimed the coveted grid slot with a 1:14.301 around the streets of Monte Carlo with Webber 0.080s back.

However, Schumacher arrived in Monaco with a grid penalty for his Spanish GP crash with Bruno Senna, which means he drops to sixth and Webber is up to first.

And the Red Bull driver believes that starting at the front will stand him in good stead as his bids for his first victory of the season.

"It was an amazing session wasn't it? It was very, very close," Webber said.

"Q3 was tight between the first few rows obviously there were some different tyre strategies with different people getting to the difficult part of qualifying with different sets of tyres and in the end it was a good little battle.

"Michael did a good lap - fair play to him - but it's nice to move up a position, of all places it's good starting towards the front here and I'm really looking forward to the race tomorrow."

Looking ahead to Sunday's grand prix, the Aussie believes it will be a "chess match" as track position and strategy are vital on a circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult.

"We know track position round here is important so you need to keep that as much as you can and you also have the chess match.

"Off the front here is a little bit easier for the guys in terms of strategy for them to look for a place for you to drop in to in terms of stops. We know overtaking here is notorious. Then there's obviously a long grand prix.

"Concentration for the drivers; we're going to have phases of the grand prix where the tyres will be fresh, the tyres will be very tired, so you have to be ready for that."

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Sauber analysing Perez crash

Sauber are investigating the cause of Sergio Perez's qualifying accident, which put the Mexican down in 24th place on the Monaco grid.

On his first flying lap of the afternoon, Perez appeared to get it very wrong in the Swimming Pool section resulting in the Mexican driver hitting the barriers, causing damage to the left side of his Sauber.

Perez, who also lost his rear left wheel, was not able to continue and will start Sunday's 78-lap grand prix from the very back of the field.

"We are analysing what happened," Perez, who crashed heavily in last year's Monaco GP qualifying, told the BBC.

"In the Tunnel I had a lot of understeer, which doesn't normally happen.

"When I got to Turn 13 and I went into Turn 14 the car went straight.

"It's a big shame because we were so competitive. It was a big opportunity for us today."

He added: "If it's a normal race tomorrow, it will be over for us."

The team's head of track engineering Giampaolo Dall'Ara was left to lament his drivers' lack of pace as Kamui Kobayashi could only manage P12.

"The car is definitely quicker than we showed today," Dall'Ara said.

"We are very disappointed and we don't know what happened to Sergio.

"We are looking right now to see if there was a problem with the car."

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Maldonado slapped with grid penalty

Pastor Maldonado has been hit with a ten-place grid penalty for the Monaco GP for causing a collision with Sergio Perez in final practice.

Maldonado clashed with Perez as they went through Portier, the corner before the entry to the tunnel, and appeared to deliberately cut across the nose of the Mexican's Sauber.

Perez reported the incident to his team over the in-car radio, claiming: "Maldonado is crazy."

Maldonado blamed cold tyres and understeer for the incident.

"I had a lot of oversteer, on cold tyres, and was trying to recover the car when I touched Perez" he told Sky Sports. "It was a small touch.

"The stewards just directly said it was ten-place penalty. I was just trying to do my best."

Maldonado's woes, though, did not stop with the Perez incident as on the very next lap he hit the barrier on entry into Casino Square and brought out the red flags.

His team worked furiously to fix the car and the Spanish GP winner was back out on track for qualifying where he posted the ninth best time. However, in light of his penalty will drop to P19.

"Tomorrow will be a tough one," the 26-year-old said. "I think we need to attack from the beginning.

"This is not the Monaco from many years ago; now, with DRS and KERS, you can attack. It's going to be very difficult but we do have good pace for tomorrow."

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Brawn: A little tear from my eye

Ross Brawn admits he was a bit emotional as Michael Schumacher claimed pole position in Monaco only to be left frustrated by the Merc driver's penalty.

Brawn and Schumacher have shared many highs and lows over the years most notably the German's seven of his Drivers' Championships.

And although a World title and pole position cannot be compared, Brawn admits Saturday's achievement still left him feeling emotional.

"I have to confess it took a little tear from my eye," the Mercedes team boss told the BBC.

"He's faced some tough times since he's come back and that was an exceptional performance.

"He's been in good shape all weekend; we've done the preparation and race work, but it all seemed to come together in qualifying."

But even though Schumacher was quickest, the 43-year-old won't start from pole position as he was hit with a five-grid slot penalty when he crashed into Bruno Senna at the previous race in Spain.

"The penalty is frustrating but that's the way it is," Brawn admitted, adding that "making the best of the tyres is going to be the critical thing" come Sunday afternoon.

"That's going to be the next challenge."

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Fan hospitalised after grandstand gives way

A fan in Monaco has been hospitalised after a railing at the Tabac grandstand gave way, which resulted in him falling almost 30 feet on to the concrete below.

The man, a McLaren fan from Kent, England, reportedly broke his leg and back in the fall on Thursday during practice and was rushed to a Monaco hospital.

McLaren's official Twitter feed confirmed the news, revealing that both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have written personal letters to Lawrence, and the team have invited him to next years Monaco GP.

"Our hearts and hopes are with Lawrence Relph - big McLaren fan from Margate, Kent. He's in hospital after a grandstand gave way on Thursday," read McLaren's (@TheFifthDriver) Twitter feed.

"Lawrence is a massive Jenson and Lewis fan - and they each wrote him a personal letter giving him their support.

"It's at difficult times like these that sport can make a difference to people's lives," it added.

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Ecclestone surprises terminally-ill children with trip to Monaco GP

Bernie Ecclestone has teamed up with the Starlight Children's Foundation to grant four terminally-ill children a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The 81-year-old flew the four children, Charlie, 17, Jack, 11, Ciaran, nine and Finn, five, out to Monaco on his 14-seater private jet for the race weekend.

The trip had been kept a secret from the children and was only revealed when they arrived at Farnborough airport.

With access-all-area passes for the event, the children have met several drivers and team bosses over the past three days and will watch the race from an exclusive area in the Monaco harbour.

Charlie, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2011 but is recovering after undergoing treatment and surgery, described the trip as a "dream come true."

It's not the first kind gesture by Ecclestone. In 2011 he donated 3,000 tickets to victims of the earthquake and tsunami.

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WEBBER DOUBLES UP IN MONACO TO BECOME SIXTH WINNER IN 6 RACES:

Mark Webber made history today becoming the sixth different winner in the first six races of the season; something that has never happened before in F1.

In an extremely close finish, the Australian polesitter won by a margin of 0.6 seconds over Nico Rosberg, his fellow front row starter, with Fernando Alonso moving from 5th on the grid to 3rd at the finish. He takes sole control of the drivers' world championship table. Sebastian Vettel who went from 9th to 4th.

Improved qualifying has been a key to Webber's improved performance this season and his pole here, while unexpected, was crucial to his success here. He inherited it from Schumacher after he took his five place penalty, but had been quick enough to challenge and take the opportunity.

"I'm very happy it's good to win here fair and square from the pole position," he said. "Consistency is noce but wins are what wins championship. If you get a chance, as I did today, you need to grab it with both arms and anything else. This is the weakest car we've had in the last three years here but it was enough to win."

Webber said it was only on the last lap that he believed he would win for the second time.

It was a race that had a surprising twist on what we have come to expect this year, with the new Pirelli tyres holding out longer than expected to allow the drivers to make just one stop. The leading drivers had expected to make another stop further on in the race, however Sebastian Vettel proved in the first stint that the harder prime tyre could withstand the final fourty laps and he was able to leap-frog Lewis Hamilton during his stop to take fourth position.

The winding characteristics of the circuit meant that overtaking was scarce, and up until the final ten laps the race was uneventful with the threat of heavy rain never coming to fruition. In that final part of the Grand Prix the top three cars were joined by Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa to make for an exciting climax as the cars made their way through traffic, but the cars finished in that order.

Webber made a perfect start and controlled the race throughout, only losing the lead to his late stopping team mate. Behind him there was chaos at the first corner as Romain Grosjean was forced into the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and spun across the track at the first turn. The remainder of the grid managed to take avoiding action, except for Kamui Kobayashi who hit the Lotus and they both retired from the Grand Prix.

Behind Webber and Rosberg, Hamilton initially led the chasers and sat comfortably in third, but a very quick in-lap from Alonso allowed him to exit the pits ahead of the Briton after staying out an extra lap. Hamilton dropped back further when Vettel eventually stopped and the two came very close on the pit-exit, with Vettel coming out on top. Vettel's pace on worn soft tyres was astonishing and as the leaders struggled to warm up their new soft tyres after the stops, he was able to get himself into the game.

Ironically, the warm up issue also meant that had he known, Alonso could have won the race by staying out a few laps longer before stopping. This would have got him ahead of Webber and Rosberg. But no-one would have predicted it or gambled on it.

Felipe Massa had his strongest showing of the season, matching the pace of those in front and pressuring his team mate early in the race. He ended the race only five seconds behind Webber making for one of the closest finishes in Grand Prix history.

The second group of the race was led by Paul Di Resta, the Force India driver getting the better of his team mate to collect a decent haul of points for the Silverstone squad, albeit thirty-five seconds behind Massa.

Bruno Senna completed the points scorers and made up for a poor qualifying, he was one of the main gainers during the first lap incident. Further back Heikki Kovalainen had a race long battle with Jenson Button and they came very close on more then one occasion as Button became frustrated and spun trying to overtake the Caterham driver. Button soon retired and will be happy to see the end of a miserable weekend. For Kovalainen however he will have given his team a lot of confidence, showing a lot of competitiveness throughout the weekend.

Button was one of many non-finishers, after Grosjean, Pastor Maldonado, Pedro De La Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi retired on the opening lap Michael Schumacher also failed to make the finish due to a fuel pump issue. The fastest qualifier yesterday still has only two points this season and has been extremely unfortunate with reliability.

Rosberg was magnanimous after the race; "Mark drove a very good race, in control of the race and of me and there wasn't much I could do," he said.

MONACO GRAND PRIX, Monte Carlo, 78 laps

1. Webber Red Bull 1h46:06.557

2. Rosberg Mercedes + 0.643

3. Alonso Ferrari + 0.947

4. Vettel Red Bull + 1.343

5. Hamilton McLaren + 4.101

6. Massa Ferrari + 6.195

7. Di Resta Force India + 41.500

8. Hulkenberg Force India + 42.500

9. Raikkonen Lotus + 44.000

10. Senna Williams + 44.500

11. Perez Sauber + 1 lap

12. Vergne Toro Rosso + 1 lap

13. Kovalainen Caterham + 1 lap

14. Glock Marussia + 1 lap

15. Karthikeyan HRT + 2 laps

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Alonso: Mission accomplished

Fernando Alonso says he achieved his goal in Monaco with his third-placed finish as it put him ahead of Championship rivals Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

Alonso went into Sunday's grand prix with 61 points to his name, the same amount as Vettel although the Red Bull racer leading by virtue of a P6 finish. Hamilton was Alonso's next closest rival in third place.

But, 78 laps later, it is Mark Webber who is challenging Alonso as the Aussie claimed the victory and the 25 points on Sunday.

Alonso was third, finishing ahead of Vettel and Hamilton, which saw him bag 15 points and take the lead in the Championship.

"Our target was to finish in front of Sebastian and Lewis - they were with us in the World Championship and if you go race-by-race you concentrate on different drivers," the Ferrari driver said.

"The next one will be Mark, who is now second in the Championship.

"It will be interesting this season with the see constant development of the car and the constant surprises that we are having every race. You never know which one is for pole or race win."

Speaking about his Sunday afternoon in Monaco, Alonso reckons he was "lucky" to survive the first lap accident that put Romain Grosjean out of the grand prix as he had been squeezed between the Lotus and Hamilton's McLaren.

"I had a fantastic start, so in the first ten metres I was side by side with Romain and I was passing Lewis as well who was third.

"They went close to each other and I put the car in the middle and I think I touched with Romain with my rear left and his right front.

"After that touch he spun, so were lucky that nothing was damaged in the car. After that spin of Romain I think the positions mixed a little bit because I saw Vettel like position five or six - so people were helped and some people gained advantage."

But, once the start was over, it was plain sailing for the double World Champion who was up into fourth place and used his pit stop to take third off Hamilton.

"Everything went smooth after the start - at that point I thought maybe the car was damaged or something - but it was fine. I felt good, I felt competitive, but obviously in Monaco it is difficult to manage the traffic.

"We overtook Hamilton at the stop with perfect time and perfect stop again, so thanks to team we are in a privileged position."

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Seb pleased with Monaco efforts

He may not have finished on the podium, but Sebastian Vettel was "quite happy" with his performance at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The defending World Champion started ninth on the grid after deciding to sit out Q3 to save his tyres and it worked like a charm as an excellent start on the softs saw him move up to P6 on the opening lap.

He then opted for a 45-lap stint and at one stage he opened a 16-second lead over team-mate Mark Webber. After eventually pitting, he came out P4 behind Webber, Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso and maintained that position until the chequered flag.

The German was naturally happy to have made up so much ground on the front-runners during his opening stint.

"Mark raced his race, I raced my race. In the end we had opposite strategies - same strategies, but obviously he started on the supersoft and I started on the soft and then the other way round in the end," Vettel told Sky Sports F1.

"As I said, I think he was pushing his race, I was pushing my race. For me it was important to use the couple of laps I was in the lead and in the end we were able to gain about eight seconds so I can be quite happy with that.

"But obviously in the end [it was] difficult to pass and gain some more places."

The 24-year-old admits it was a "challenge" to go so long on the softs.

"Especially in my case I stayed out quite long in the first stint - longer than the all the rest - but we had some good laps," he said.

"So it wasn't disastrous and in the end obviously you can't judge because we couldn't go [at] the speed that was maybe in the car."

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HOW IS ALONSO LEADING THE CHAMPIONSHIP WITH THAT CAR AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Fernando Alonso sits on top of the drivers’ standings after his third place finish in the Monaco Grand Prix.

But it is more than surprising that Alonso is in this position, given how poor the Ferrari car was in pre-season testing and the early season races. So how has it happened? Consistency has certainly been the key for Alonso who, along with Hamilton is the only driver to have scored points in every race so far. But there’s more to it than that. The tyres play their part in this story, inevitably, the misfortunes of others have their part to play too.

Alonso’s lowest scoring race was China, where he finished only 9th, but he’s been on the podium three times, one of them a win in Malaysia and where no better result has been possible, he’s managed to pick up a fifth and a seventh place.

In contrast his rivals have been more erratic: Webber and Vettel have both had a non points finish, Button has had three non finishes. Hamilton has scored in every race, with three third places early on, but then pit stop and operational issues hit him in the last three races as well as a lack of pace on race day.

Key factors in their favour are that Ferrari has consistently the best starts and the best pit stops of any team at the moment. Alonso has made up many places at the start: 13 places in the first five races and another one on Sunday in Monaco, Massa has made up 23 in total. They’ve had to do this because the Ferrari hasn’t qualified very well; going into the Monaco GP on Sunday Alonso was averaging only 8th on the supergrid, which aggregates all the drivers’ qualifying times – behind the Red Bulls, McLarens, Mercedes and Grosjean.

This is the key area where Ferrari need to improve in the second half of the season, as the leading teams will get on top of the tyre issues and we’ll start to see a more consistent picture in races. To consolidate his position Ferrari need to give Alonso a car that will qualify more strongly.

“If you are fighting for pole position, and even on pole position, then the race is totally different,” said team boss Stefano Domenicali after the race. “This is something we need to keep focusing on to make sure things are going in the right direction. In terms of the pure performance of the car, we had a very difficult start. We have a situation where we are not happy and where we want to improve the car because we have seen other cars at the moment have pole positions, and we do not. So that has to be a target for the team.”

Alonso revealed how he has been approaching each weekend, “We wanted to be ahead of Hamilton and Vettel this weekend and we did it,” he said post race. “In this championship, at every race you have to concentrate on different drivers and next time we’ll need to keep ahead of Webber. We’re on top of the table; if you’d said that to me after Melbourne, I’d never have believed it. We have to keep improving the car because we are not yet the fastest. The next two weeks will be very important.”

Ferrari has clearly improved the car a lot in traction out of low speed corners, which helped in Barcelona and Monaco and will help out of the chicanes and hairpins of Montreal. However another key weak point is straight line speed and this is not straight forward to fix.

Ferrari has a major update coming for Montreal, and their history in recent years shows that they’ve often taken a significant upturn around June. The 2010 campaign, for example, started slowly but from Canada onwards Alonso won races and was in the championship hunt.

This time round he’s already ahead on points and, if Ferrari repeat their progress of 2010, he must be considered the favourite for the title.

While the other top teams are putting on updates to find more speed and then having to take them off again because the priority is to set the car up first to extract the best from the tyres, Ferrari seems to have a good way with the tyres, particularly at the end of the stints; Alonso again made up a place, on Hamilton, in Monaco thanks to pace at the end of the stint.

It was noticeable also that of the front runners, who were struggling to get the new soft tyres warmed up after the pit stop on Sunday, Alonso’s tyres were working several laps earlier than Webber and Rosberg. He acknowledged this after the race.

Expert observers at the weekend noted that Alonso had the right technique for driving the Pirelli supersofts, which can get easily damaged by spinning the wheels on corner exit. Alonso seemed to have appreciated that and was getting the cars straight before hitting the throttle, thus looking after them better.

Hindsight shows that he could have jumped Webber and Rosberg at the pit stop by staying out a couple of laps longer on his supersofts. And then with his superior tyre warm up, he would have driven away from them in the lead in the second part of the race for what would have been a dominant win.

But as he said afterwards, no-one would have predicted those tyre warm up issues, so Ferrari cannot consider it a mistake or a win that got away.

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HOW VETTEL AND ALONSO CAME CLOSE TO WINNING IN MONACO:

History will show that Mark Webber was the winner of this race, ahead of Nico Rosberg with Fernando Alonso third. Rosberg tried a strategy gamble, to get the lead, by pitting first on lap 27, but it didn’t work out as Webber reacted to it. Sebastian Vettel surprised everyone with his strategy and from 9th on the grid came within five seconds of a winning position.

Fernando Alonso made a gain of two places to score a podium and he was happy with that. But with the benefit of hindsight, Alonso could also have won. However to do so he would have to have taken a gamble, which there was no obvious reason to take. Such is racing and the finely balanced world of race strategy.

In many ways the most important observation to make about this race is that for the fourth time in six races, the car leading on the first lap has gone on to win the race. Although some have described the 2012 season as a “lottery” due to the unpredictable behaviour of the Pirelli tyres from track to track and from day to day, this pattern shows that getting the basics right in qualifying and the start is still the foundation of a winning result.

It’s a significant point for several reasons; it highlights the importance of qualifying and starting well, but it also shows how much better the Pirelli tyres perform when they are able to run in clear air, rather than in the wake of another car.

On a circuit like Monaco where overtaking is hard, good race strategy is the only way to make up places as we will see by studying the strategies of Ferrari and Red Bull on Sunday. As last year, the tyres lasted longer than expected and the race turned out to be quite different to what was predicted by strategists, who forecast two stops for the top six cars. Vettel’s performance in the opening stint forced many to rethink.

Overview

Pre-race strategy plans were that the leading cars would stop twice around laps 26 and 52, starting the race on supersoft tyres, then taking new softs at each of the pit stops. But this was based on limited running on the supersoft tyre in practice due to poor weather. In the race they lasted much longer than expected.

Several things happened in the race which disrupted this plan and moved everyone to a one stop plan: first there was a forecast of rain around 28 laps into the race, which forced most teams to leave their cars out, as they would not want to have to stop again for rain tyres having made an initial pit stop. Second, Sebastian Vettel ran a long first stint on soft tyres, which showed that the softs were still very fast even after over 40 laps of running.

Once everyone saw this, there was no question of the leaders making a second stop, as this would give the win to Vettel. So they lapped very slowly in the second stint, preserving the tyres to the finish. Rosberg ended up doing 51 laps on his set of soft tyres.

How Alonso went from fifth to third

Understanding that the tyres needed clear air to run in, Fernando Alonso dropped back from Lewis Hamilton in the opening stint of Sunday’s race, in order to preserve the tyres. He was also practising a technique on the supersoft tyre which gave him better tyre life on a stint: the super soft doesn’t like wheelspin out of slow corners (longitudinal slide) and it doesn’t like it combined with lateral sliding. Alonso was straightening the wheels before applying the throttle, taking a little less out of his tyres at every corner than some of the others. This paid dividends at the end of the opening stint.

Alonso had started well, survived a tangle with Romain Grosjean in the run to turn one and almost passed Lewis Hamilton. He tucked in behind him in fourth place on the first lap. But he then dropped back to around three or four seconds behind the McLaren, focussing on preserving the super soft tyres.

However by the time Hamilton pitted on lap 29, Alonso had moved back up close to him. As soon as Hamilton went in, Alonso pushed hard and took advantage of the problems Hamilton was having with warming up the soft tyres, to jump him for third place when he made his own stop a lap later.

However with hindsight, Alonso could have won the race by staying out another lap or two on the supersoft as it was faster than the new soft tyre which Webber and Rosberg were struggling with. Webber did a 1m 24.518 on lap 30, which was 3 seconds slower than Alonso’s last lap on supersofts.

What probably stopped Ferrari from taking that gamble and going for gold, was Rosberg’s sector times on his first flying lap on new softs on lap 29, which was 1m 19.181s.

Seeing this and thinking quickly, Ferrari would reason that Rosberg was straight on the pace on new tyres and therefore Hamilton would likely be the same, so it was time to bring Alonso in.

But Rosberg, Webber and Hamilton all then struggled on the soft on laps 30 and 31 and the window of opportunity was there to jump them after all.

The downside of the gamble not paying off is that Alonso would have slipped to fifth place. So on balance it would have been an unreasonable gamble on Ferrari’s part and as consistency is the name of the game in 2012, the 15 points Alonso gained on Sunday took him to the lead of the championship.

Vettel changes the game

By this point another driver was bringing himself into contention: Sebastian Vettel. The world champion started the race in 9th place after a poor qualifying session. However he had two cards to play and he played them both brilliantly.

By not running in Q3, he had given himself a choice of starting tyre and went for the soft, planning a long first stint.

The prediction of rain around lap 28 laps into the race also played into his hands. The front runners were slow on the worn supersofts by the time they pitted and the gap back to him was not as large as it would have been if they were two-stopping.

By lap 31 he was leading and his pace on worn soft tyres was far better than that of the leaders on new softs. There is a strong feeling also that Webber held up the pack during this phase to bring Vettel into play. Whether it was discussed that he would hold them up until Vettel was n a position to jump all of them is not clear, but Webber did refer on the radio after the race to being grateful to the team for letting him win.

The quirk of the Pirelli tyres is that they operate in a very narrow temperature range and if you can’t get the tyres into that range they don’t perform. For lap after lap Vettel pulled away from Webber; by lap 37 the gap was 16 seconds. If Vettel could get the gap up to 21 seconds, he would be able to pit and rejoin ahead of Webber and go on to win the race.

But this was the high point of Vettel’s charge; on lap 38 Webber began reducing the gap. Now Vettel and the Red Bull strategists were focussed on when to bring him in and who he would slot back in front of.

Vettel stayed out longer, still getting good performance from the soft tyres. It was clear that Hamilton was the one they could beat and as he fell back from Alonso and was 21.4 seconds behind Vettel on lap 45, they picked that moment to bring Vettel in. He rejoined ahead of Hamilton in fourth place. Hamilton complained to the team about not warning him of Vettel’s threat. He was now down to fifth place, having started the race in third.

No wonder he was frustrated that Alonso and Vettel had beaten him through superior strategy and tyre management.

Di Resta also had a very strong result by starting on the soft tyre, pitting for the supersoft on lap 35. He did extremely well to keep them alive for 43 laps and went from 14th on the grid to 7th at the finish.

New tyres available at the start of the race

Webber 2x Soft

Rosberg 1x Soft

Hamilton 1x Soft

Grosjean 1x Soft

Alonso 2x Soft

Schumacher 1x Soft

Massa 2x Soft

Raikkonen 1x Soft

Vettel 1x Soft, 1 x S/Soft

Hulkenberg 1x Soft, 2 x S/Soft

Kobayashi 1x Soft, 2x S/ Soft

Button 1x Soft, 1x S/ Soft

Senna 1 x Soft, 1 x S/ Soft

Di Resta 1 x Soft, 1 x S/Soft

Ricciardo 2 x Soft,

Vergne 2 x Soft, 1 x S/Soft

Kovalainen 3 x Soft, 1 x S/Soft

Petrov 3 x Soft

Glock 3 x Soft, 1 x S/Soft

De La Rosa 3 x Soft

Pic 3 x Soft, 1 x S/ Soft

Karthikeyan 3 x Soft, 1 x S/ Soft

Perez 2 x Soft, 3 x S/ Soft

Maldonado 1 x Soft

Tyre Strategies used in Monaco

Tyre Choice at pit stop

Webber: S/Soft used at start – Soft New on L29

Rosberg: S/Soft used at start – Soft New L27

Alonso: S/Soft used at start – Soft New L30

Vettel: Soft New at start – S/Soft New L46

Hamilton:S/S used at start – Soft New L29

Massa: S/S used at start – Soft New L31

Di Resta: Soft new at start – S/Soft New L35

Hülkenberg: S/Soft New – Soft New L29

Räikkönen: S/Soft Used – Soft New L29

Senna: S/soft New – Soft New L29

Perez: S/Soft New – Soft New L34 – Drive thru penalty L39

Vergne: S/Soft New – Soft New L17 – Intermediates L70

Kovalainen: S/Soft New – Soft New L30 – S/Soft Used L73

Glock: S/soft New – Soft New L30 – Soft New L54

Kartikeyan: S/Soft New – S/Soft Used L29 – Soft New L74

Button: Soft New – S/Soft New L38 – DNF

RACE HISTORY GRAPH

Courtesy of Williams F1 Team

[MIKA27]

Hamilton: Alonso is the dark horse

Lewis Hamilton believes Fernando Alonso could be the one to take this year's title, which shouldn't come as a surprise given his past success.

Alonso took the final podium position in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, his second successive top-three finish, as Ferrari continued their climb back to the front of the field.

His P3 ensured the Spaniard is now the sole leader in the Drivers' Championship as he holds a three-point advantage over Sebastian Vettel and Monaco winner Mark Webber.

And although there is still a long way to go in this year's title race, Hamilton reckons Alonso could be the one to beat.

"He is the dark horse and he's driving for the dark horse," the McLaren driver told The Telegraph.

"I'm not surprised.

"He is a two-time World Champion and probably the best driver here."

Hamilton's comments come on the wake of Alonso's own praise of the McLaren driver, who he believes is the favourite to take this year's title.

"We are looking to November and it is Hamilton we want to be close to," the Spaniard told the BBC.

"It is impossible to predict how the season will evolve, but I would hardly believe it will stay like this.

"Still, if I can tip one driver, I would pick him because he's the only one who can make a difference even with a car that is not a winner."

[MIKA27]

'Monaco a turning point for Massa'

Ferrari are hoping Sunday's sixth-place finish in Monaco will prove to be a turning point for their under-fire driver Felipe Massa.

Heading into the Monte Carlo weekend, the Brazilian has on the back foot, dogged by rumours of his pending sacking.

With just two points to his tally and not a single appearance in Q3, Massa was in desperate need to a solid result.

That's exactly what he achieved.

The 31-year-old finally made it into Q3, qualifying in seventh place, and went on to finish the grand prix P6, just 6.195s behind race winner Mark Webber.

"I think he did a great weekend. It was the weekend he deserved after a lot of big pressures," Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali told Reuters.

"I think he did a great qualifying, you always can say he could have been a little bit better in Q3 but we need to look for a wider picture, from a wider angle. He did a great race.

"He was there in the first six cars which were very close. He was there, so that's for me the best thing and I'm sure that this will be a turning of his season because he needs that."

Massa's sixth-place finish earned the Brazilian and his Ferrari team a much-need eight World Championship points.

"It was a great boost for him because at the end of the day everyone is unhappy when he is performing in a difficult moment," added Domenicali.

"It's something that we need for the Constructors Championship. I am expecting really a good Felipe up to the end (of the season)."

[MIKA27]

Horner: Why would Webber leave?

Christian Horner has downplayed renewed speculation that Mark Webber could be off to Ferrari next year, questioning why he would want to leave Red Bull.

On Sunday, two British newspapers reported that Sebastian Vettel is heading to Ferrari in 2014 having signed a pre-contract with the Italian stable.

That, though, leaves Ferrari - desperate to replace Felipe Massa - a driver short for next year's Championship. Enter Webber.

"It is not known whether the Vettel option is binding on either side, but if there is a one-year Ferrari vacancy for 2013, it strengthens the case for Webber being the man to fill it," claimed The Sunday Times.

However, Horner has poured cold water over the Webber part of the rumour, saying he sees no reason why the Aussie would want to leave Red Bull Racing.

"Why would he want to leave? I think he is a comfortable in the team," Horner toldAutosport.

"The team knows Mark very well and Mark knows the team very well.

"We are only at race six, and obviously a lot depends on his desire and motivation which, at the moment, looks very clear.

"He is doing a great job and we are really happy with him, and he really deserved this result."

The team boss was also full of praise for his driver after his victory in Monaco on Sunday, which was his second triumph in three years.

"Mark has had a great day in Monaco. He is driving really well," he said.

"He is in great shape and you can see on a day like this that he is absolutely on top of his game.

"We have a very open and straightforward relationship with Mark and (the Monaco win) certainly does not change that.

"It is the same situation that we have had the last couple of years. Let's focus on now and the future will take care of itself."

MIKA: IMO - Why wouldn't Webber want to join Ferrari and close off his career at a prestigious team like Ferrari? I don't see RBR being any more competative than Ferrari this season and if vettel is always going to be treated as driver 1, maybe Webber will seal his career along side Alonso.

[MIKA27]

Ferrari halt work after earthquake

Ferrari have suspended work at their Maranello headquarters after an earthquake struck northern Italy on Tuesday.

The quake, which measured 5.8 on the Richter scale, was the second one to hit the Emilia-Romagna region in just over a week and reportedly resulted in nine fatalities.

Although the epicentre was 40km north of Bologna, Ferrari have decided to halt work and send their staff home.

"After the earthquake, working activity has been suspended for today. All the workers and employees have been allowed to join their families," the team said via Twitter.

Fernando Alonso added: "After the earthquake, the team has decided to stop the activities at the factory. We are all going back to home."

[MIKA27]

Boullier jumps to Grosjean's defence

Eric Boullier admits "there is no excuse" for Romain Grosjean's accident in Monaco, but he believes it is important to cut the rookie some slack.

Grosjean started P4 on the grid in Monaco, but he made it three DNFs for the season after crashing out on the first lap following a collision with Michael Schumacher.

It has been the story of his season so far as he has showed plenty of promise during qualifying but mistakes here and there cost him during the races.

"With Romain, there is no excuse, but just one thing: all the drivers around him, they have done millions of miles of testing and many races before. He is still in his first year, so he has the right to do so [make mistakes]," Boullier is quoted as saying by Autosport.

"I think he is doing a pretty amazing job for a rookie driver and nobody on the grid today who started his career with no F1 testing and stepped into F1 has done as well as he is doing."

[MIKA27]

Button fears unpredictability overkill

Jenson Button has warned that fans could lose their interest in Formula One if the random results continue.

Six different drivers have now stood on the top step of the podium in the first six races of the season, the first time that it has happened in the sport's 62-year history.

Mark Webber won Sunday's Monaco GP while Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Pastor Maldonado also have race wins under the belt.

While a lot of fans have welcomed the unpredictability of the current season, Button warns that it might not be good for the sport in the long term.

"Fernando is leading because he has been more consistent than other people," he said.

"Whether he is in the best car or not no-one is ever going to know, but the consistency is there.

"He is obviously doing a great job - the car is working well - whereas there aren't many other drivers that have had that consistency.

"Clearly everyone is excited about so many different winners, which initially was great for the fans and great for the sport.

"But there will come a time when the fans will say, 'So anyone can win a grand prix, everyone can lose a grand prix like that?' (snaps his fingers).

"I think they're finding it a little bit strange now.

"I don't know, but hopefully a pattern will emerge after the next couple of races and we'll understand the teams and drivers we need to beat to win the Championship."

[MIKA27]

Jones urges Webber to consider Ferrari move

Alan Jones, 1980 Formula 1 world champion, has urged Mark Webber to consider a move to Ferrari in 2013, believing it will inject a 'breath of fresh air' into his career.

Webber has been linked with a move to the Italian outfit on numerous occasions, and it's expected that they are looking to replace Felipe Massa at the end of the current season.

Australian Jones says it's one more item to tick of a drivers wish list.

"Mark has already done one of the two things that most Formula One drivers would like to do, and that's win Monaco - the other one is to drive for Ferrari," he told the Australian GP website.

"I'm sure he'd have a look at it."

The 65-year-old says such a move would make sense, given Webber is good friends with Fernando Alonso and driving for Ferrari would be a good way to end any drivers career.

"If he goes to Ferrari, it could be a breath of fresh air," he added.

"It's very prestigious and something really good to have on your CV. He gets on extremely well with Alonso, so maybe that could be a good way for him to go.

"Personally, I think that Mark is with a good team [but] having said that, if he signed on with Red Bull next year he's still going to have Vettel as his teammate, which is a pretty hard task."

[MIKA27]

Teams to discuss RBR 'hole' during meeting

Formula 1 teams will gather on Monday at a Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting to discuss the legality of Red Bull's floor.

The floor, which features an opening ahead of the rear wheels, is believed to contravene the regulations which stipulate any holes in that area must meet the floor edge.

In the case of the RB8, it doesn't.

Three teams, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, threatened to protest the result of the Monaco Grand Prix in which Mark Webber won, with team-mate Sebastian Vettel in fourth. The protest never went ahead.

Instead, the teams will convene on Monday to agree whether or not Red Bull should be forced to change their design prior to the Canadian GP in two weeks time.

The FIA are also involved, and told Autosport that they hope to resolve the matter soon.

"Red Bull have not been asked to change anything yet," said a governing body spokesperson. "However, there is a difference of opinion over interpretation of a regulation, which we intend to clarify our position on during the next days.

"We think there are arguments on both sides so a position will have to be taken."

If Red Bull are found to be outside of the technical regulations, their previous results will remain in place.

[Bartolomeo]

Let me know where I can pick one of those Pirelli podium caps, I cant find them

Thanks in advance!

Bart

[MIKA27]

Speculation starts early over Hamilton's future

Lewis Hamilton's future was the subject of fevered discussion at the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend as the driver market 'silly season' began in earnest.

Hamilton is out of contract with McLaren at the end of this season and, at 27, his career is at a crossroads, with arguably the most important decision of his life looming.

Hamilton is heading into his prime as a grand prix driver. With good reason, he regards himself as the fastest in the world and it pains him that he has won only one world title so far.

That came in 2008 and it has not escaped Hamilton's attention that since then, at least until the start of this year, McLaren had not provided him with a car that was truly competitive enough.

This season started promisingly, with McLaren locking out the front row at the first two races and Hamilton on pole in both. But since then their form has dipped, particularly in the last three races.

Hamilton is still very much in the title race, but he left no-one under any illusions about his feelings after his fifth place in Monaco on Sunday.

It used to be the case that discussions about drivers' futures did not start until July and August. No longer. Teams and drivers will say publicly that it is far too early to discuss it. What they mean is that it is too early to talk about it to the media; behind the scenes a lot is going on.

Hamilton's future is tied up with that of Red Bull's Mark Webber and Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher and also, to some extent, Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

It is widely believed that all four top teams are interested in Hamilton - at least to the point of holding talks with his management.

McLaren definitely want to keep him and have made that clear to both Hamilton himself and his management team - but no substantive negotiations have taken place and no financial offers made yet, despite reports to the contrary. Mercedes are known to have him seriously on their radar as a potential replacement for Schumacher. The picture at Ferrari and Red Bull is slightly less clear.

There was a rumour going around in Monaco that Ferrari were keen on signing Hamilton for next season in place of Felipe Massa, whose time at the team is expected to end this season.

That seems unlikely for one obvious reason - Fernando Alonso is contracted to Ferrari until the end of 2016. There is huge mutual respect between the two - each regards the other as their biggest rival - but that's very different from wanting to be team-mates again.

When they were at McLaren in Hamilton's debut year in 2007, it did not go well, to put it mildly, and Alonso ended up leaving at the end of the season - just one year into what had been a three-year contract.

Alonso's problem was far more with McLaren boss Ron Dennis than it was with Hamilton. Nevertheless, it is unlikely he would want Hamilton to be his team-mate again - and Ferrari is very much his team these days.

Equally, Hamilton would have to think carefully about moving to a team where he does not speak the language - even if the debriefs are conducted in English and there is an English ex-McLaren technical director - and where a man as clever, cunning and political as Alonso has been ensconced for three years.

Nevertheless, Hamilton would be highly attractive to Ferrari's main sponsors, the cigarette company Philip Morris and Spanish bank Santander, who could drop McLaren if they had an English driver at Ferrari. Together, they could basically afford to pay him whatever he wanted.

The problem with this is that a normally impeccable source close to Ferrari says the team only want a one-year driver in 2013, as they have a pre-contract with Vettel for 2014.

This pre-contract, the source says, is two-way - ie, either party can exercise it - and is performance-related. Ferrari need to be at least third in the constructors' championship at a specific stage of next season to bring it into effect.

However, a senior Red Bull insider says this is "nonsense", that they have Vettel under contract to the end of 2014.

The favourite for the expected vacancy at Ferrari is Webber, who is coming towards the end of his career and may well be interested in a year or two at Ferrari to finish it off.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner asked rhetorically in Monaco: "Why would he want to leave?" But there are several potential reasons.

It would vastly increase Webber's post-F1 earnings potential and he would relish the chance to test himself against Alonso, a friend whom Webber regards as the best driver in the world.

Webber would not expect to beat him - in fact, he would almost certainly have to go to Ferrari on the understanding that Alonso was number one - but he would enjoy ruffling the Spaniard's feathers from time to time, as he almost certainly would.

If Webber were to leave Red Bull, that would leave a vacancy Hamilton could potentially fill.

Horner has always sounded lukewarm about taking on Hamilton, pointing out that it would raise the tension in the team as he and Vettel went toe to toe.

But ultimately it's not his decision - it's that of Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz, and the marketing value of pitting Hamilton against Vettel would be enormous.

And if Webber did leave, who else would Red Bull get? Even if Vettel is under a firm contract to the end of 2014, that's still only two years away - at which point they would still need a guaranteed top-line driver if he left.

Theoretically, Red Bull are committed to progressing their junior drivers, but Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne do not look ready for that sort of promotion yet.

Then there is Mercedes, whose decision is complicated by Schumacher.

Team boss Ross Brawn said in Monaco that he would like the seven-time champion to stay on as long as he is competitive, but there have been internal questions about whether - and how long - he will remain so.

Schumacher's commercial value to Mercedes is huge. But they have to ask themselves whether they are potentially harming their competitive position with their driver line-up - few in F1 would argue they would not improve it by recruiting Hamilton, Alonso or Vettel, who is also of long-term interest to the team.

Hamilton's decision is not just about driving, either. Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes would all almost certainly be able to pay him more than McLaren can afford to offer. And McLaren's portfolio of sponsors makes it almost impossible for Hamilton's team at Simon Fuller's XIX Management to raise money from private deals.

Ultimately, though, Hamilton will surely base his decision on competitiveness.

The best way to guarantee that in the last 20 years has been to drive wherever Adrian Newey is designer, which is Red Bull. Or does Hamilton bank on Mercedes continuing to raise their competitiveness (and, for that matter, staying in F1, which is far from a foregone conclusion at the moment)? Or take a risk on joining Alonso at Ferrari, should a seat be available?

Or does he stick with what he knows and trust the team with which he has been associated since he was 11-years-old to finally get it right, but potentially reduce his earnings potential?

Hamilton has some tough decisions to make in the next few weeks.

[MIKA27]

Let me know where I can pick one of those Pirelli podium caps, I cant find them

Thanks in advance!

Bart™

Hi Bart,

This will prove hard to find but I think your best bet would be to contact Pirelli International.

http://www.pirelli.com/tyre/ww/en/f1.html

There's a truck load on eBay but can not vouch for authenticity.

[riazp]

Hmmm...webber in a ferrari...would not mind seeing that. I'd like to see lewis in a scuderia car but that wont happen as long as alonso is on the team and lewis cant be the no.1 driver. personally though i dont think it will be either. I think they will try to find the next young talent and groom him...hopefully an Italian driver LOL