FORMULA 1 - 2012

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EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX - WHO WAS YOUR DRIVER OF THE DAY?

Fernando Alonso delighted his home crowd with a thrilling victory in the European Grand Prix in Valencia but there were impressive drives all the way down the field. Who was your driver of the day?

Fernando Alonso

Had a positive day on Friday finishing 7th fastest overall but made a mistake in Q2 by doing a medium tyre run and a soft tyre run rather than two soft tyre runs. Failed to make Q3 as a result and started 11th. Made up three places at the start and then passed Lewis Hamilton later in the race as the McLaren driver had a problem in the pits. Made a bold move around the outside of Romain Grosjean for second and then inherited the lead when Sebastian Vettel retired. Looked after his tyres in the final stint to secure his 29th career victory and reclaim the lead of the drivers’ standings.

Kimi Raikkonen

Looked solid in practice and put in a strong performance to qualify fifth, one place behind Lotus team-mate Grosjean. Made a good start, but was forced to lift before Turn Two in a tightly-packed field and dropped down as a result. Showed good race pace to rise up to third and then closed up to the back of Hamilton. Eventually made a move stick to rise up into second and then coasted home to secure his third podium of the season.

Michael Schumacher

Played down his chances of securing a good result in Valencia after a disappointing performance in Canada but showed encouraging pace in practice. An error in Q2 meant he didn’t make the top 10 shoot-out and started 12th between the two Ferraris. Made a clean start on the medium tyre but decided late on that a one-stop wasn’t possible and switched to a two. The decision proved inspired as fresher tyres late in the race helped him climb through the field, rising up to third courtesy of some good moves and retirements from others. Held off a chasing Mark Webber to secure his first podium since returning to the sport.

Mark Webber

Suffered a brake problem in final practice which meant he lost valuable running time. Though the team fixed the car to get him out in qualifying, the Australian was on the back foot and without DRS, which meant he was knocked out in Q1 and started 19th. Made slow progress in the early part of the race after starting on the medium tyre, but like Schumacher decided late on to switch from a one-stop to a two-stop which helped him scythe through the field. Finished fourth and rose up to second in the drivers’ standings.

Nico Hulkenberg

Outperformed Force India team-mate Paul di Resta to qualify a strong eighth after showing good pace in practice. Made a clean start, to make up a couple of places and then looked after his tyres. Used an early two-stop strategy, with a longer final stint to rise up through the pack and run as high as third. However, a Kers failure and worn tyres meant he lost two places to Schumacher and Webber before holding on to fifth place – the best result of his career.

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ECHOES OF A BYGONE ERA GIVE SPICE TO CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE:

We've grown so used to seeing almost perfect reliability from F1 cars that what happened on Sunday in Valencia with both Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean retiring from potential race winning positions, seems surprising.

Throw in Lewis Hamilton also retiring from a podium position after crashing out with Pastor Maldonado and it's a real throwback to the 1980s, when finishing a race was never a given, even for championship contenders.

Since the early 2000s the cars have become super-reliable because teams have imported quality control processes from industry. Last year's European Grand Prix was unique because it featured all 24 cars finishing the race, the highest number of finishers in Grand Prix history.

Both Vettel and Grosjean retired with electrical problems caused by an overheating alternator on the Renault engine.

The retirements this year were costly; for Grosjean the chance of a first Grand Prix win for him and for his Enstone based Lotus team, for Vettel and Hamilton the sight of Fernando Alonso scoring a maximum 25 points on a day when they go home empty handed.

Alonso now has some breathing space at the top of the points table; he has 111 points to Hamilton's 88 and Vettel's 85. With his record of scoring points in every round, this margin gives him something to work with.

Of all the F1 drivers I've known over the years, Alonso always seems to have points and permutations in his head at all times. When he comes into the unilateral TV interviews after the podium, he always wants to know championship positions to confirm what he's worked out in his head on the slowdown lap.

And going into events he is always thinking about what needs to be done numbers wise and who he needs to stay ahead of or close up to. Last year there wasn't much to be done with Vettel already certain to be champion at this stage of the season.

But this year, with things being much more open, he has every reason to believe that he can challenge for the title.

Valencia showed us that the Red Bull, with its significant rear end and blown diffuser upgrades is now clearly the fastest car in the field, but the multiple problems suffered by Webber's car on Saturday and then Vettel's retirement on Sunday will undermine confidence a little.

This is the Red Bull way, to push to the limits all the time, new parts arriving in boxes at all hours of the day and night.

In his short but stellar career, Vettel has lost a number of wins through reliability problems. One thinks of the start of 2010 when he lost certain wins in Bahrain and Australia through technical problems, then later that year there was the engine failure in Korea. With Sunday's disappointment that's four more victories that could have been added to the 22 wins he has from 89 starts.

Alonso has control for the moment then and the Ferrari will have an upgrade at Silverstone but they too cannot relax as the McLaren will be upgraded there and the fast corners on the track will really suit the Lotus. So the pressure is still firmly on Ferrari, as team boss Stefano Domenicali acknowledged last night,

"Our car is still not the quickest. In my view Red Bull, or the Red Bull that I have seen this weekend, is the quickest in terms of pure performance," he said. "In the race it was leading comfortably, the pace was very strong. That is something that we need to look at. They had problems with reliability, but we are not, in my view, at the level that we should be in terms of the performance."

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Ferrari president applauds Alonso

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has hailed Fernando Alonso as "extraordinary" following his victory in the European Grand Prix.

The Spaniard raced from 11th on the grid to take the chequered flag, becoming the first double winner of this season.

In doing so he also regained the lead in the Drivers' Championship with a 20-point margin over Red Bull's Mark Webber.

"This is Ferrari at its very best, the one everyone wants to see," said di Montezemolo.

"Fernando was extraordinary, and it's hard to find the words to describe his race which has shown the spirit of a team that never gives up."

Alonso's victory came a month after the Italian region of Emilia Romagna suffered two earthquakes which killed 26.

"The win also reflects the spirit of our homeland in Emilia Romagna where so many people are going through a particularly difficult time after the earthquake a few weeks back," the Ferrari President added.

"Let's hope this victory will at least have put a smile on their faces."

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'Vettel was in a class of his own'

Christian Horner is taking some "comfort" from Seb Vettel's early domination in Valencia even though he was left "frustrated" by how it ended.

Vettel was leading the European Grand Prix by more than 20 seconds over Romain Grosjean before the Safety Car came out.

And although the German led at the restart he broke down shortly after due to an alternator problem on his Renault engine.

"It was very, very frustrating, but the comfort we must take out of Seb's performance was that he was in a class of his own and he was in complete control," Horner told Autosport.

"He had tremendous pace, and we leave Valencia knowing that we have a quick car. Mark (Webber) very much demonstrated that, with his recovery from 19th on the grid to fourth on the road."

Vettel's retirement, though, cost the German in the Championship race as he is now down in fourth place, 26 points behind European race winner Fernando Alonso.

But while Vettel dropped down the order, Webber improved, taking second place in the standings, 20 adrift of the Ferrari driver.

And with McLaren not having a good Sunday, just four points, Red Bull did at least extend their lead in the Constructors' race to 39.

"It is a long Championship," said the Red Bull team boss.

"Fernando has done a tremendous job, he has scored in every single race but statistics say that he has to have one bad weekend in 20. It will hopefully balance itself out over the course of the season.

"Sure it was disappointing to retire from a lead like that, but others had difficult days as well. Lewis did not finish, and we have extended our lead in the Constructors' Championship by a further eight points.

"So we leave Valencia with a positive weekend on a whole despite not achieving the maximum points we deserved."

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Whitmarsh: Accidents happen

Martin Whitmarsh has refused to be drawn over whether Lewis Hamilton should let Pastor Maldonado pass rather than risk an accident, saying he's a "racer" and will always race.

Hamilton's European Grand Prix came to a crashing conclusion on the penultimate lap when he was slammed into the barriers by Maldonado while fighting over third place.

And although the accident was deemed to be Maldonado's fault, there were some suggestions in the hours after the race that Hamilton should have given up the position as his tyres were 'all-but shot'.

Asked the question by Sky Sports F1, Whitmarsh said: "He's a racer and he's going to race. Maldonado the same.

"I suspect they'll both rue what happened and they both were penalised by it.

"It's of course frustrating for everyone involved when that sort of thing happens but if you're in that sort of situation and you're fighting hard these things happen."

In light of the end result, Whitmarsh says McLaren's botched pit stop, which some argue set up the accident as it dropped Hamilton down the order, was the least of the team's worries.

"It was an equipment failure so the front jack failed and dropped the car, so they had to switch jacks," he said.

"So no fault of the individuals but still frustrating. Ultimately of course not the biggest crisis of our day."

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Schumi: Podium silences critics

Michael Schumacher says his podium finish in Valencia, the first since his return to the sport, was the "best way" to answer critics.

In what could yet be his final season in Formula One, Schumacher finally reached the podium when he claimed third in Sunday's European GP.

The seven-time World Champ made the most of a late stop and fresher rubber to slice his way through the field and take his first podium finish in 99 races.

"The point is that it is a beautiful feeling, not only being on the podium but the way it has happened. It was not at all expected," said the Mercedes driver.

"All weekend, I predicted this to be a difficult one for us and it started to be difficult in qualifying, mainly because of my own mistakes and to recover from where we are, getting to third position is just awesome.

"The team and myself have been criticised here and there, particularly lately, and this is the best way to answer criticism, to go back and deliver as we did, and therefore I'm proud, thankful and very excited."

However, as to be expected the question of Schumacher's future was raised.

'Michael, you said you will think about your future during the summer. Summer is beginning and you begin the summer with a podium. Does it change something for next year?' asked a journalist.

Schumacher, though, wasn't at all happy with the question and especially the mention of 'summer'.

"I don't think I ever said any kind of time, neither did I say summer and if you may apologise, I have no further news on that matter, so give me the time that I need and we will see," he said.

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Jenson Button adopts positive outlook for Silverstone despite never finishing on podium at home grand prix

Jenson Button is hoping he turned enough of a corner in Valencia over the weekend to lead to him breaking his podium hoodoo at Silverstone.

Qualifying ninth and finishing eighth in the European Grand Prix is a long way short of what Button knows he should be achieving.

However, it represented something of an improvement in comparison to previous races as Button found a more workable set-up he feels should be better suited to the British Grand Prix's circuit.

"In terms of the car I was much happier over the weekend," Button said. "Saturday I was very strong in qualifying, the car felt good, but the last run in Q3 didn't work out.

"The race was then not as good as on Saturday, in fact it was a mess, kickstarted by a problem with the clutch I had off the line.

"After that the race was such that I could have been 15th, I could have been on the podium. You never know. You luck into that sort of result.

"Who would have thought that after a safety car sticking on new tyres (a few laps later) would be the right thing to do, as Mark (Webber) and Michael (Schumacher) did.

"It was just a very strange race, one in which we stuck to our guns and strategy. We didn't do anything wrong, we just didn't do anything exciting.

"But I do take something away from the weekend in that I was much happier with the balance. I think we found something."

Whether that will be enough to propel Button into the top three remains to be seen, but he would like to think so.

It is a remarkable fact Button has never once finished on the podium in 12 attempts at Silverstone, something he would dearly love to end this time around.

Button said: "For us the next race is our home grand prix, with home support.

"A lot more importantly it's a high-speed circuit which should suit us better than these low-speed ones, so there's hope. I'll be going there positive."

The title picture, however, is fast becoming a concern, although one Button will be putting to the back of his mind in just under a fortnight's time given the gap he now faces to Fernando Alonso.

Collecting just six points from his last five races, Button said: "Sixty two points behind Fernando, wow! That's quite a lot.

"That's more points than I've scored (49), but at least I've another 12 races, so although I'm a long way behind, it is still possible.

"But I'm not thinking about that. I'm thinking about going to my home race and driving a fast, flowing circuit which hopefully our car should work well on."

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Team boss Eric Boullier says Lotus can't be disappointed about European GP form

Lotus boss Eric Boullier thinks there is no reason for his team to feel disappointed that its drivers did not have the pace to win the European Grand Prix - despite its high hopes before the race.

The Enstone-based outfit had gone in to the weekend as favourites to deliver an eighth different victor in F1 this season, and its best qualifying performance lifted hopes it could achieve that target.

But in the race, Romain Grosjean struggled to match the pace of leader Sebastian Vettel before both men retired, and later on Kimi Raikkonen lost time trying to get past the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton - leaving eventual winner Fernando Alonso clear at the front.

Raikkonen still managed to finish second though and Boullier said that ultimately he thinks the weekend was a positive one for his team.

"You cannot be disappointed with the pace," he told AUTOSPORT. "Everybody has improved their car, so everybody is improving their pace as well. I think it was a good outcome from the weekend.

"We were able to qualify better, and ignoring retirements we had the pace fast enough to have both our cars in the top five in the final result.

"It was disappointing that Romain could not finish the race, because he had a good start, a good qualifying and a good race - but all in all it is very positive."

Raikkonen's podium finish has helped Lotus hold on to its third place in the Constructors' Championship – albeit Ferrari has closed down its deficit - and Boullier thinks there remains plenty of opportunities for it to score victories this year.

"We need to keep pushing to do a very nice result because we can do it," he said. "It is good to be a regular podium finisher - and it is good for the team that we have recovered the ground we lost last year.

"I am disappointed for Romain and disappointed that there were some big points that we missed, but in the end McLaren and Red Bull did not score as much as they wanted. Okay now Ferrari is chasing us, but that is good."

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Formula 1 team bosses admit it's now pointless trying to predict 2012 form

Formula 1's incredibly tight fight at the head of the field has left its main contenders admitting that there is now no point in trying to make predictions about how the remainder of the season is going to pan out.

Fernando Alonso became F1's first double-winner of 2012 with a great victory in the European Grand Prix in Valencia on a weekend when many had expected Lotus to be the team to beat.

But with form appearing to be so variable, and a number of teams all making good of opportunities that have come their way, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says that everyone is now changing their approach to the campaign.

"It is very, very difficult," he explained. "Everyone has given up predicting this season, so we have to accept that you have to turn up at each event and do the best job you can. That is what we will seek to do at Silverstone."

Red Bull Racing says that even it cannot take for granted that the improvements to its car that helped Sebastian Vettel dominate the Valencia weekend before his retirement will allow it to repeat that form at any future races.

Vettel made full use of a heavily revised RB8 at the European Grand Prix to take pole position by four tenths and then run comfortably clear at the head of the field before he was forced out with an alternator failure.

But team principal Christian Horner says that with things impossible to predict, the outfit needs to be on its toes to ensure that it has done everything it can to improve performance.

"Silverstone is a completely different nature to this track, and it will probably be wet," he said.

"I think the car is pretty strong in most conditions now, so we just need to keep pushing and keep trying to put performance on the car.

"Hopefully we can be strong at Silverstone, but Fernando was quick there last year, particularly in the second half of the race. We are not halfway through this championship yet and it already feels that we have done an awful lot of racing up until this point."

MIKA: I'm willing to predict; Alonso will win the WDC in 2012 with or without a faster car.

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HOW THE SAFETY CAR CHANGED THE GAME IN VALENCIA: ANALYSIS:

Formula 1 finally got its first two time winner of the season in the eighth round, after a fascinating race, in which Fernando Alonso came from 11th on the grid to win.

His victory owned a lot to an excellent start, where he made up three places, to some fine pitwork from the Ferrari mechanics (Alonso’s first stop was two seconds faster than Raikkonen and allowed him to jump the Lotus) and to race strategy. He also rode his luck when the safety car was deployed on lap 28, one of the race’s defining moments.

He had several slices of luck in fact; Sebastian Vettel was running away with the race when his Red Bull car stopped with an alternator failure and a similar problem sidelined the second fastest car, the Lotus of Romain Grosjean. And another pit stop problem for McLaren, moved Lewis Hamilton out of Alonso’s way at the crucial second stop, under the safety car.

It had looked a very unlikely win after qualifying, where Ferrari made a tactical error in not sending the car out early enough in Q2 and then not using a second set of soft tyres to ensure that he made it into the top ten shootout. They were trying to ensure that they had two sets of new soft tyres for the Q3 session, but misjudged the competitiveness of the field and missed the cut.

So although his starting track position was poor, ironically this qualifying error also helped on race day as Alonso had one new set of medium tyres and two new sets of softs to play with. It meant that he could use new tyres for all three stints in the race and as everyone’s tyres were fading at the end of stints, ultimately it was the thing that kept his nose ahead.

By making a great start and taking all his opportunities to overtake and gain positions, Alonso gave himself the chance to win the race.

Pre-race expectations

Before the start, the feeling was that one stop was slower than a two by 16 seconds, which is almost an entire pit stop, but that the one stopper would be ahead after the final stops and that track position could prove significant. A new Medium tyre was expected to last 25 laps and the soft 20 laps.

Most teams looked at the tyre degradation figures from Friday practice and concluded that it would not be possible to do the race competitively on one stop.

What the teams are looking for is the point in the wear cycle where the degradation becomes so bad that the tyre performance drops off a cliff. What makes this so tricky is that it varies from circuit to circuit. At some venues it is when the tyre is 70% worn, at others it’s later in the tyre’s life. You don’t know until you get there. On hotter tracks it tends to be closer to the 70% level.

Some teams felt that one stop might be possible; Force India’s Paul di Resta and both Mercedes drivers considered it and started the race with that as the plan. But only Di Resta saw it through. Arguably he would have been better not to; had he opted to cover the late second stops of the Mercedes drivers and fitted a set of soft tyres as they did, he could have finished ahead of his team mate Hulkenberg.

A strange race tactically speaking

In the past at Valencia, overtaking was always very hard and therefore track position in the race was everything. But with this generation of Pirelli tyres and the DRS wing things have changed.

A perfect example of this was the way that Michael Schumacher, Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg’s races evolved in the final 20 laps.

Webber and Schumacher qualified outside the top ten; Webber had a technical problem and qualified 19th, while Schumacher was 12th. Both men started on the medium compound tyre, which made a one-stop strategy a possibility. Mercedes planned to do this with Schumacher, but once again the predictions based on the tyre performance in Friday practice turned out to be wrong on race day. The rear tyres were overheating on some cars within the first five or six laps, so one stop was a major challenge.

Rosberg was also planning on one stopping, but his pace was very slow and by the time Sebastian Vettel made his first stop, Rosberg was already 32 seconds behind him. But the safety car helped bring him back into the pack and he too made a late switch onto soft tyres and he ended up sixth. Di Resta was 2 seconds behind Hulkenberg and 27 seconds ahead of Rosberg after that late stop and should have covered it by pitting himself. He would have stayed ahead of Rosberg and, looking at the relative pace on new tyres, would easily have overhauled Hulkenberg for 5th place in the closing stages.

From lap 46 onwards Schumacher and Webber were a second a lap faster than the leaders and so could make progress through the field towards the podium, which Schumacher eventually got.

The front runners all made their second stops when the safety car was deployed on lap 28, meaning that they had 29 laps to go to the finish, of which five were at low speed behind the safety car. Webber and Schumacher had been helped by the safety car closing the field up and they were able to pit ten laps later and on new softs to cut through the points positions towards the podium. Nico Hulkenberg, for example, was 16 seconds ahead of Schumacher on lap 42, but he was passed by the Mercedes driver on lap 56.

The safety car always changes the game from a strategy point of view. In Valencia it did a number of things. First it put all the front runners on a lopsided strategy, whereby the middle stint had been shorter than planned; they intended to go to around lap 32 and the safety car obliged them to stop on lap 28. So they were committed to a long final stint on medium tyres. This provided an opportunity for Mercedes and Webber. It also provided an opportunity for Di Resta, but as we’ve seen, Force India didn’t take it.

Second it led to a shake up of the order at the front as another McLaren problem pit stop for Hamilton dropped him behind Alonso and into a pack of cars. Had that stop gone smoothly, Hamilton would have been ahead of Alonso in the final stint, would have avoided the collision with Maldonado and would have fought Alonso for the win, arguably having to settle for a podium as his tyre wear was clearly not as good as the Ferrari’s.

VALENCIA TYRE CHOICES

Alonso : SN, SN(15), MN(28)

Raikkonen: SU, SU(14), MN (28)

Schumacher: MN, SN(19), SU (41)

Webber: MN, SN(19) SN(38)

Hulkenberg (SU, MN (14), MN(28)

Rosberg: SU, MN (20), SU(46)

Di Resta: SU, MN(23)

Button: SU, MN (10), MN(26)

Perez: MN, SU (10), SN (25)

Senna: SU, MN (20) DT (24)

Ricciardo: SN, SN(14), MN (37)

Maldonado: SU, MN (14), MN (28)

Petrov: SN, SN(13), SU(25), MN (28), MN (47)

Kovalainen: SN, SN(12), MN(27)

Pic: MN, SN (11), MN (28)

Massa: SN, MN (11), SN (27), MU (34), SU(53)

De la Rosa: SN, SU(14), MN(28)

Kartikeyan SN, SU (15), MN(29) DT (39)

Hamilton SU, MN (13), MN(28)

Grosjean: SU, SU(16), MU(28)

Vettel: SU, SU(16), MN(29)

Kobayashi: SU, SU(14) MN(29)

Vergne: MN, SU (17)

RACE HISTORY GRAPH

Kindly provided by Williams F1 Team

Notice 1) How strongly Vettel was driving away from the field;

Notice 2)The speed of Webber and Schumacher on their new soft tyres in the final stint, relative to the other leading cars. Note also the drop off in pace of Hulkenberg and Di Resta.

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HEIKKI KOVALAINEN GETS ANGRY IN NEW GAME:

Finnish video game developer Rovio, creators of the best selling application Angry Birds, have released a Formula One version of their game called “Angry Birds Heikki”, dedicated to Caterham F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen.

The on-line format of the app allows players to enjoy the game set in the backdrop of 12 World famous Grand Prix circuits. Starting with Silverstone as Level One, a new level is unlocked at set dates for each of the forthcoming races until the end of the season.

Angry Birds has been prominent in Formula One this year with Kovalainen sporting a themed crash helmet and the Lotus F1 Team using an Angry Birds livery for the Monaco Grand Prix, dedicated to fellow Finn, Kimi Raikkonen.

The game has a twist on the original format. Players can access a code through Kovalainen’s official Facebook fan page which allows you to gain “Heikki Power” and use Kovalainen’s crash helmet as an extra Angry Bird.

The game can be found at heikki.angrybirds.com

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'McLaren set new pit stop record'

McLaren insist they have made big strides when it comes it pit stops, pointing out that one of their stops in Valencia was the "fastest stationary pit stop in motor racing history".

The Woking squad's pit crew are once again under pressure after a bungled second stop cost Lewis Hamilton the chance to challenge for the European Grand Prix race win on Sunday.

Hamilton dropped from third to sixth as he was forced to spend some extra seconds in the pit lane after the team's front wheel jack failed during his second stop.

McLaren fans have vented their anger over Twitter following the latest bungle and, according to The Telegraph, new Sporting Director Sam Michael bore the brunt of the criticism.

However, the team have been quick to point out that the pit crew were on form for most of the afternoon.

'They claim that data from the race shows that the 2008 world champion's first stop in Valencia was actually the "fastest stationary pit stop in motor racing history" at 2.6sec,' the paper said.

Adding: 'McLaren had the two fastest pit-lane times during Sunday's race - a 19.36sec for Hamilton and a 19.64sec for Jenson Button - while their average stationary pit-stop time, discounting the one which arguably cost Hamilton the chance to fight for victory, was a sprightly 2.95 seconds.

'Mercedes were the previous record holders of the fastest stationary pit stop, achieving a time similar to McLaren's 2.6secs in Korea last year. But the Woking team believe they were just quicker.'

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Construction racing ahead in Austin for USGP

Construction is racing ahead at the Circuit of the Americas for the return of the United States Grand Prix to the Formula 1 calendar in November this year.

The race in Austin, Texas, will be the first USGP since the 2007 Indianapolis GP won by Lewis Hamilton who finished ahead of his then team-mate Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's Felipe Massa in third.

Check out the latest construction images below from the circuit taken just this week:

[Above] The pit building and podium nearing completion externally, with the majority of work left to be completed internally.

[Above] The team garages are also nearing completion with just the pit markings to be completed as the teams kit the garages out themselves.

[Above] The pit complex as seen from the main grandstand which is also taking shape. The tarmac has been laid around most of the circuit with the start/finish straight left until last.

[Above] The main grandstand as seen from the pit-lane. It too is nearing completion with the canopy and seating just to be installed.

[Above] Turn two as seen from half way down the short straight between turns one and two. The pits and grandstand can be seen in the background, giving an insight in to how steep the run into turn one is before is drops into two - in fact the elevation change from the grid to turn one is similar to Eau Rouge.

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Are Red Bull about to dominate F1 again?

Fernando Alonso may have won the race in Valencia, but it was the pace of Sebastian Vettel in the upgraded Red Bull which sent a shiver down the spine of the F1 paddock.

There is now a feeling that Red Bull could go on to dominate the rest of the season. However statements like that are a bit premature particularly with the way 2012 has been panning out. It should also be remembered that Valencia is a circuit that has served Red Bull and Vettel extremely well in recent times.

The next couple of races will tell us whether Red Bull's upgrades have changed the complexion of the championship, or if it just happened to be a strong weekend for Red Bull (until Vettel's DNF anyway) regardless of the upgrades.

Seb's pace appeared to be pretty scary in Valencia. He produced a stunning lap in qualifying, setting a lap 0.324 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton. After nine laps in the race he was already more than ten seconds clear of the field.

Although we have seen Vettel dominate many races, we have hardly ever seen him stretch a lead that large. Normally he is satisfied to be four or five seconds clear and just maintain the gap. Before the second set of pit stops began to play out, he was a massive 20 seconds clear of Romain Grosjean in second.

Ferrari are very aware of how quick Red Bull were in the European GP. Stefano Domenicali said after the race: "The Red Bull that we have seen this weekend is for sure the quickest in terms of performance."

He added: "In the race it was able to keep the pace and be very strong so that is something we need to keep in mind. We know that our target [the championship] is at the end of November, but we also know that they did something very good this weekend. Yes, they had a problem with reliability, but we are not really at the level that we should be in terms of true performance."

It does have to be said though that there were a few factors that perhaps flattered Red Bull's performance. Firstly Valencia has always been a strong circuit for Red Bull, and suits their current strengths perfectly.

Key rival McLaren admit that they had tyre struggles so didn't perform to their full potential.

Martin Whitmarsh explained: "It was a bad day in the office and I think we really struggled with the tyres. The inherent pace was where you were on your tyres.

"Lewis struggled on the first set and was better on the prime in truth, but ultimately it went away – and that could have happened to Sebastian as well, I don't know."

It was clear that Hamilton was holding up Romain Grosjean quite badly in the opening stages of the race.

By the time Grosjean overtook Lewis for second, Vettel had already been able to scamper away into the distance. There was no point in Romain going gung ho to try and close that gap, as he would have trashed his tyres. You can't push flat out on these Pirelli tyres and keep them in good shape.

After the mid-race safety car came in we never got to see whether Vettel would have been able to hold off Alonso and Grosjean, now that Hamilton's McLaren wasn't in the way. Unfortunately that was when Vettel's alternator failed and ended his race. Lotus and Alonso were on great form in Valencia so it would have revealed the true story of the RB8's pace.

Looking back over the season so far the RB8 seems to be thriving on circuits with slow corners because the car has very strong traction. Track temperature has played a key part in the fluctuation in the form of all the teams this year. The RB8 has worked effectively in hot temperatures.

The two races Red Bull have won this year have seen a mix of these two features.

Bahrain has a number of slow corners which place a great importance on traction. We also saw warm track temperatures throughout that weekend.

Monaco is the ultimate track in terms of slow corners, and Red Bull were very strong throughout the weekend there. Webber got pole position (albeit inherited from Michael Schumacher's Spanish penalty) and despite raceday being cooler than qualifying, track position is all you generally need in Monte-Carlo. Although Vettel got his setup wrong for qualifying, his race pace was astonishingly quick.

Sebastian stormed to pole in Montreal which is basically just straights connected by slow corners. So again strong traction was very beneficial. Then of course it was hot in Valencia, and with 25 corners (many of which are slow) traction was important once again.

On the other hand at tracks with fast corners or cooler conditions Red Bull haven't looked particularly strong. This has been quite surprising, seeing as they have been strengths for the team in the very recent past.

In China, a track featuring fast corners and cool conditions, Vettel didn't make it to Q3 and had to rely on strategy to get anywhere in the race.

Red Bull also didn't make much of an impression in the wet conditions in Sepang. You would have normally expected them to shine in the circuit's fast corners but they only qualified fourth and fifth.

Catalunya is a track where Newey has excelled as a designer over the years, hence Red Bull have dominated the event for the last few years. It's the most aerodynamically demanding track on the calendar.

To the shock of many Red Bull didn't have a particularly strong weekend there this time. Vettel backed out of the battle for pole and didn't even set a lap in Q3. The team finished sixth and 11th in the race.

The next round at Silverstone is going to tell us a lot about the recent progress of Red Bull, and how impressive this latest upgrade is. In fact we could learn an awful lot about how the rest of the season could pan out, as the F1 circus heads to Northamptonshire.

It's also a race where Red Bull's rivals up and down the pit lane are planning to introduce major upgrades. McLaren are one of these teams.

Technically the features at Silverstone don't appear to suit the RB8, based on what we have seen of late. The track features a number of challenging high-speed corners including Copse, Maggotts, Becketts and Abbey. So far this car hasn't excelled in high speed corners like we may have expected pre-season.

Red Bull certainly isn't taking their newfound pace in Valencia for granted. Christian Horner says: "Silverstone is a completely different nature to this track, and it will probably be wet."

He added: "I think the car is pretty strong in most conditions now, so we just need to keep pushing and keep trying to put performance on the car."

Silverstone also suits some of Red Bull's rivals particularly well. McLaren have excelled in fast aerodynamic corners so far this year. They locked out the front row in Malaysia and Hamilton was on pole by over half a second in Catalunya. Had he not been sent to the back he would very likely have dominated that race.

Fast corners are also a strong point for the Lotus E20. If we see cool conditions at Silverstone then Sauber and Mercedes could feature very strongly too.

So if Red Bull doesn't win at Silverstone then it will show that nothing has really changed in terms of F1's pecking order. The order will continue to ebb and flow depending on the track configuration, weather and who makes the Pirelli tyres work best in a particular race.

You would back Red Bull to be very strong in places like Hungary and Singapore. You would expect Mercedes to be strong in Spa and Monza, and McLaren in Suzuka and indeed Silverstone just to name a few examples on current evidence.

Ferrari seems to be emerging as a strong all rounder against the odds. This is very good for Alonso's title challenge.

However if Red Bull absolutely dominate the British GP then it could well end up being a very ominous sign for the remainder of the championship. In that scenario Alonso will be grateful to have got a jump on Vettel and Mark Webber in the points table last weekend.

Overall it remains to be seen whether Red Bull's upgrades will make a huge difference to their season. Don't forget Red Bull introduced a heavily revised car in the middle of the last pre-season test, and it didn't turn out as dramatic as it was billed to be.

Many thought they turned a corner with a small tweak to the exhaust in Bahrain, but their form didn't carry over to Catalunya. Could this Valencia upgrade end up being a similar story or is it the real deal this time?

It's more likely this upgrade will ensure Red Bull is now a factor at every race from here on in. You sense though that this title race is destined to go down to the wire.

[MIKA27]

GERMAN BANKER IN F1 CORRUPTION SCANDAL GETS 8 YEAR JAIL TERM:

Gerhard Gribkowsky, the banker from Bayern LB who was once chairman of the F1 holding board, has been convicted of corruption and sentenced to eight and a half years in jail.

According to Reuters this evening, "Presiding judge Peter Noll convicted BayernLB's former chief risk officer Gerhard Gribkowsky of tax evasion, bribery and breach of fiduciary trust in a court in Munich.

"Noll described the billionaire (Bernie) Ecclestone as the "driving force" behind the payments but said Gribkowsky, in turn, had shown "high criminal energy" "

Prosector Christophe Rodler had summed up his case by saying that Ecclestone was "not the victim of extortion but the accomplice in an act of bribery."

Grobkowsky was charged with accepting $44 million in bribes, which revolved around the sale of F1 to CVC in 2005 and specifically to a payment made by Ecclestone. Prosecutors said that the payment related to the sale by Bayern LB to CVC of its 48% share in the F1 business in 2005, which Ecclestone wanted to happen.Ecclestone has not been charged by the German prosecutors and has denied any wrongdoing. He has always maintained that the payment was not bribery but instead was to stop Gribkowsky from following through on a threat to make allegations to UK tax inspectors about Ecclestone's tax affairs relating to the family trust.

It is not clear tonight where the verdict leaves Ecclestone from a legal point of view in Germany as he now waits to learn whether prosecutors will mount a case against him, but he maintains that his version of the story is the truth,

"They based their decisions on what he told them. I told them the truth," Ecclestone is quoted by Reuters as saying after the Gribkowsky verdict was announced. "I think Mr Gribkowsky told them what he thought he had to tell them. I don't think I should (face further action) but you don't know, do you?"

The development comes as CVC seeks to float the F1 business on the Singapore stock exchange. The floatation won't go ahead this summer, as intended due to market turmoil, but it is ready to go and there are plans to try to get it away later this year.

CVC has cut its stake in F1 from over 60% down to around 35% with disposals recently to major blue chip investment houses in the US and Norway.

Meanwhile the German financial newspaper Handelsblatt carried a story today that internal advice within Mercedes is that it should consider withdrawing its team from F1 over this bribery scandal as it runs against the company's statutes relating to involvement with corruption.

MIKA: If you ask me, I think Bernie is guilty as sin and should face charges and step down in his current role. He brings disgrace to the sport.

[MIKA27]

Pollock's Pure offers best price for 2014 engine

Customer engines will be much more expensive in 2014.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports that, for example, Sauber currently spends EUR 8 million on its Ferrari engine, and another million for KERS.

But for 2014, with F1 switching to 'green' turbo V6 power, the price is reportedly going up to between EUR 18-23 million.

Offering the best price is Craig Pollock's new venture Pure, who are asking EUR 14 million for the Gilles Simon-designed engine-plus-KERS package.

"Even that is too expensive," Sauber managing director Monisha Kaltenborn said.

[MIKA27]

Williams back in charge after Parr exit

Sir Frank Williams has revealed he is back at the helm at his famous British F1 team.

Although still the major shareholder and team principal, the now 70-year-old had taken a step back at the Oxfordshire based team, including stepping down from the board.

He had expressed great faith in the abilities of Adam Parr, but Williams' chairman surprised the F1 world by resigning early this season.

Williams told F1's official website on Wednesday that he is now back in charge.

"Well, I have to say that it is sad Adam Parr didn't achieve what we would have liked together, after all that he did," the team's founder and long-time chief said.

"So when he left it was left to me to step back into that position," added Williams, who had handed over the chairmanship to Parr in 2010.

The team suffered arguably its lowest low last year, but Williams has been back in the winner's circle in 2012, Pastor Maldonado winning from pole in Spain.

"Adam Parr - to his credit - played a significant role in his all too short time with the team," Frank Williams continued.

"I am very sad that he left as he is a terribly clever man who took on two or three key people, like Mike Coughlan for instance, and some key people in engineering, and that makes all the difference. We do see that," he said.

[MIKA27]

F1 success 'just didn't happen for me' - Piquet

Having left F1 in shame three years ago, Nelson Piquet jr hopes his time has finally arrived.

As the son of a triple world champion, the Brazilian entered formula one with high hopes: managed by Flavio Briatore and at Renault's title-winning works team.

But he got caught up in Renault and Briatore's demise, right at the centre of the 'crashgate' affair.

Since 2010, Piquet has been rebuilding his name in the lower tiers of American Nascar racing.

Last weekend, he finally broke through with victory in the second-tier Nationwide category, ensuring the Brazilian's name is back in the headlines for the right reasons.

In the wake of his Road America win, reporters asked the now 26-year-old to reflect on his disastrous F1 career, and the idea of what might have been.

"What could have happened (in F1)?" Piquet said. "I don't know. Anything could have happened.

"It's just timing, being in the right place at the right time. There is a lot of drivers that are there right now that have won races and championships that I raced with before that I've won championships on before.

"But it's just being the right place at the right time and it didn't happen for me, but maybe it's happening now (in Nascar)," Piquet added.

[MIKA27]

Frank Williams against cost control 'interference'

Williams team founder Sir Frank Williams says he opposes any method of 'invasive' cost controls in Formula 1, while pushing for restrictions on driver salaries.Amid ongoing discussions over the future of F1 spending control, Williams said he did not want to see teams' finances 'interfered' with.

"I am against any kind of interference. I don't want any third-party interference with one's business, to have people sneaking around wanting to check this and that. It's just like waiting for the taxman every day," he told the official F1 website.

"Williams is not pleading for more restrictions. But I have said many times that we have to control driver costs."

He feels people should accept that an element of financial inequality is inherent in F1.

"There are 12 teams and each operates in different circumstances," said Williams. "We have several manufacturer teams. One of them is Ferrari, who seem to have a great deal of money and who are in effect subsidised. But that is fine - they are Ferrari. They are the core of Formula 1 and that is how it should be.

"That is fine with me. Take me, there are so many men in the paddock who have more hair than me and it has always pissed me off, but I live with it! You learn to get on with it."

Williams added: "Well, I am not a unique person, but I know for sure that millions of men would almost kill to be in Formula 1. I am exaggerating, but Formula 1 is so attractive that just to be there and be part of it, people would accept far more disadvantages than being at the far end of the grid."

MIKA: Well said Sir Frank!

[MIKA27]

McLaren picks 2012 Formula 1 development race will be 'fiercest ever'

McLaren sporting director Sam Michael believes Formula 1's 2012 development war will be the fiercest ever as the incredible closeness of the field forces teams to push for tiny gains that might not have been considered worthwhile in less competitive seasons.

The 2012 F1 season has so far seen seven different winners from five different teams in its first eight races, and reached new heights of competitiveness in Valencia where just 0.3 seconds covered the top 13 cars in Q2.

Michael reckons that with the potential for an improvement worth just a few thousandths of a second to transform a team's qualifying result, the pressure on development will reach a new intensity.

"There's a lot of development still to come and that's going to be the story of the rest of the year," he said. "Every team is going to be bringing it, including us, more and more over the next few races.

"The development rate this year is going to be really fierce. Because in the past there have been things that maybe for half a tenth, you would have lumped it for something else. But 50 milliseconds is one place, so you are going to be bringing gains that are tinier and tinier.

"It would be interesting to look at what the top 10 to 15 is like from the start of the year because it feels like it is getting tighter and tighter."

He feels this is leading to a fundamental change to teams' development priorities.

"The funny thing is that it probably puts more onus on mechanical items because the aero stuff comes no matter what," Michael suggested. "Everyone's aero programmes are massive and they are developing the car aerodynamically.

"Normally the things that are compromised in the short term for aero are mechanical items because you look at something [mechanical] and it's only worth a tenth whereas you can get two and a half or three tenths from aero, but it won't be like that now. It puts the onus on mechanical items.

"Aero is still key, aero is first order, but it just means that you've got to find time to do the rest of it."

Michael added that this focus on time gains from fine detail was also influencing teams' approach to pitstop improvements.

"It's why things like pitstops get a lot of focus because they are differentiators now," he said. "If you dropped a second on a pitstop previously, it didn't matter did it because the gaps were so big you had covered them because car performance was dominant.

"So every tiny little thing is becoming important and it's becoming a very well-refined show. To make a mistake, and it's no different for McLaren, if we make a mistake we pay for it and I guess that's why we put a lot of focus on not making mistakes. The year is going to be about that."

[MIKA27]

Vijay Mallya says an agreed Resource Restriction Agreement is vital for F1's future

Force India team owner Vijay Mallya has called for Formula 1's teams to agree on the framework for a Resource Restriction Agreement in order to safeguard the future of the sport.

Discussions between the teams continued over the weekend to agree on cost-cutting measures with the FIA, with the sport currently going through a period of consultation aimed at keeping finances in check.

The sport's governing body announced after the recent World Motor Sport Council meeting that it hoped to finalise the implementation of cost-control measures for 2013 by the end of June - including an FIA-regulated RRA.

"I think that the RRA is something that everybody agrees to, in principal," Mallya said in an interview on the official F1 website. "The concept of the RRA is a must-have if F1 is to survive in the long term.

"Even when FOTA was together and active all the teams agreed with the concept of resource restriction," added the Indian billionaire. "In fact I would go one step further and say that the RRA was one of the reasons why FOTA was created.

"And then one by one, teams went in their own directions so we never had the chance to agree."

Mallya, whose team scored it's highest one-race points haul in Valencia (16) with Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta finishing fifth and seventh respectively, reckoned that as well as controlling costs, an RRA would go some way to ensuring that mid-budget teams would be able to continue challenge the big teams as has been the case for much of 2012.

"It also must provide a level playing field," he said. "Look at the amount of excitement this season. We have had seven winners and only one repeat victor, which is fantastic. The big four teams are dropping down and the midfield teams are getting on the podium.

"For fans across the world this is fantastic compared to a predictable season where one team or one driver is always winning. A level playing field will ensure this tendency stays. So resource restriction is important and the FIA has now taken it upon itself to create regulations aimed at restricting resources.

"At the last World Council meeting it was agreed that we will have a fax vote at the end of June. We at Force India are completely committed to the concept."

[MIKA27]

Screenshots from Codemasters F12012 game

Codemasters have released four screenshots from the latest instalment in their award winning Formula 1 series of games.

F1 2012, due for release in September, is currently in development, but to give fans a taste of what's to come, they've released the following images which show this years cars racing around the latest addition to the calendar; the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

MIKA; They look amazing, so much detail. almost real.

[MIKA27]

WILL THE LONDON GP HAPPEN?

A story in the Times today has sent echoes around the world, with the proposal from Bernie Ecclestone to stage a Grand Prix in London around the Capital’s most famous landmarks.

Ecclestone is reportedly willing to pay £35 million of his own money to stage the event, in the city in which he has lived for most of his adult life. It would evoke the magic of street races like Monaco and Singapore.

So what’s behind it?

Last week there was talk that an F1 venue could be built using the Olympic Stadium as its hub. But this idea today originated with Santander UK, who have been working with Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, as well as sports architects Populous to devise a London Grand Prix course, which passes Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament, Hyde Park Corner and other great landmarks.

They have made a CGI film together, which will be launched tonight at an event at the RAC Club in Pall Mall, which I’ll be attending. And you’ll be able to see it here on JA on F1 and elsewhere on the Internet and TV, all being well, later tonight or tomorrow morning.I’ve had a sneak preview of part of the film and it’s pretty stunning, certainly a very imaginative idea.

It ties in well with the Jubilee celebrations, for which London was the epicentre, and the Olympics and catches that mood of London being the ‘centre of the world’ this summer.

As to whether this race will ever happen, Siverstone has a 17 year contract to host the British Grand Prix, starting 2010, so it would be a second race in the UK.

Ecclestone is apparently sincere in his desire to see his sport hold such a prestigious event in the city he calls home and this exercise is to see what kind of interest there may be from the London Mayor.

Events in the law courts of Germany of course are going on in the background, as explained in another post here.

And promoters from the other F1 venues, which have now formed themselves into an association to fight their corner in a more co-ordinated way in future, might look on with interest at the idea of a race that Ecclestone pays to host, rather than the other way around.

[MIKA27]

Mayor flags 'air and noise' hurdles for London GP

London mayor Boris Johnson on Thursday could not guarantee the British capital will be able to host Bernie Ecclestone's race.

F1 chief executive Ecclestone has said he is prepared to put up the money and promote a London street race.

Some immediately wrote off the plans as either a classic Ecclestone diversion or a publicity stunt.

But London mayor Johnson told the UK newspaper Express he is "broadly positive" about the plans.

"I am always interested in projects that attract jobs and bring growth," he said, insisting it will be important to find out if there is "a really good economic case" for the event.

Johnson added: "The question of air quality and noise impact will have to be looked at. I am broadly positive providing we can satisfy the air quality and noise issues."

[ndtoronto]

  On 6/28/2012 at 2:42 AM, MIKA27 said:

Screenshots from Codemasters F12012 game

Codemasters have released four screenshots from the latest instalment in their award winning Formula 1 series of games.

F1 2012, due for release in September, is currently in development, but to give fans a taste of what's to come, they've released the following images which show this years cars racing around the latest addition to the calendar; the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

MIKA; They look amazing, so much detail. almost real.

Mika

Any idea as to why the game comes out near the end of the F1 season? Most sport video games come out just prior to the season. I recently picked up the 2011 version of the game and love it but I was already in my local game shop asking if they have 2012 in yet.

It does'nt make sense to me