FORMULA 1 - 2012

[MIKA27]

De Villota released from hospital in Spain

Maria de Villota has been released from hospital in La Paz, Madrid, following a transfer from Addenbrooke's Hospital in England where she underwent surgery following her testing crash with Marussia.

The Spaniard returned home on July 20th where she was admitted to La Paz Hospital to be in the company of her family and friends.

A statement confirms the 32-year-old will require regular checks to ensure her facial injuries heal correctly before she undergoes further corrective plastic surgery.

"The patient's general conditions are good, which allowed us to release her yesterday.

"In these six days, she has been treated by specialists of the plastic and neurological surgery services, and the ophthalmology department, who will continue to follow her, as she will need to undergo periodical checks and treatments.

"As communicated previously, the patient has lost her right eye, as a consequence of the serious trauma suffered, and she will be closely followed by the ophthalmology service. The specialists of the plastic surgery service will be responsible for following the serious injuries to her face and correcting the effects of those."

[MIKA27]

Massa talks title, team orders and his future

Felipe Massa has all but given up hope of winning the title this season, a feat which would require him to outscore his team-mate by some 13 points at each of the remaining ten races.

The Brazilian is now fully focused on helping out the current championship leader, Fernando Alonso, and his team to win the Drivers' and Constructors' championships.

"Me having a clean race is what counts [in Hungary] and that will help Fernando a lot, as well as helping myself and the team," said the Brazilian on Thursday.

"I am completely outside the fight for the title, but Fernando has a good margin out in front, even if there are a lot of races to go. I will do the best I can to be at the front end, to try to win but also to help Fernando the best I can for the championship."

Massa is aware and compliant that if he were to find himself in the lead with Alonso second, Ferrari would expect him to relinquish the chance of winning.

"If the situation ever arose that I was leading a race and Fernando was behind me, I would know what to do, because I am a professional driver. And that would be the situation in any team," he confirmed.

Finally he discussed his future, and whilst negotiations with Ferrari remain silent, the 31-year-old is adamant that a seat at a small team wouldn't be considered as an option.

"I want to stay in Formula 1, but it has to be in a situation where I am in Formula 1 to race, not just to participate," concluded Felipe.

"If for whatever reason, I don't have the chance to stay in Ferrari, then I will try and find a direction where I can race. But otherwise, small teams? I'm not interested."

[MIKA27]

On the front line: The invisible divide

In his latest exclusive column, former McLaren team member Marc Priestley takes a look at the invisible divide that exists within a team, something that was particularly noticeable during the 2007 season at McLaren.

When a team principal comes out after a race and announces to the world that "It was a great result for the whole team", rarely is the statement 100% true.

No matter what the result, a significant portion of any F1 team will be disappointed that their car's been less successful than the one sitting on the other side of the garage.

The reality of every team in pitlane is that there are actually three teams operating within each one.

Each car and driver have a crew of very dedicated people working solely and directly on that car and with that driver, who's sole objective and goal is to bring that car home in the best position possible at each event.

In each team, there's actually three 'teams'.

The third group encompasses everyone else associated with the team. Support crew, truckies, management, strategists, catering staff, marketing and of course the hundreds of people back at each factory. These guys work to support the team in general and other than any personal preferences, have no direct affiliation to one side of the garage or the other. For them a win is a win, a point is a point, and a DNF from one car can be somewhat counteracted and offset by a decent result for the other.

When I entered Formula One many years ago after learning my trade throughout motorsport's lower formulae, I was a little surprised at the concept of each car crew's workload being strictly limited to that of their own car. I was used to working in smaller teams where, despite having dedicated mechanics for each car, everyone helped each other and when one was done, everyone moved across to get the other one finished before anyone went home.

The reason F1's different is mainly due to the sheer size of the operation. Each car's fully staffed and kitted out with everything they need to do the job and the truth is that most of the time help's not needed, but even if it is, there's not much room around the car to fit anyone else in. The other, and perhaps most relevant reason in this instance, is the close knit, competitive and protective car crew mentality which exists throughout the whole paddock. More often than not, unless absolutely necessary, 'outside assistance' isn't particularly wanted.

Unlike most sports, the motor racing industry spawns this unique and fascinating dynamic through it's position of pitting team mates against each other as direct competitors in the World Drivers Championship, whilst also operating as a single team unit in the World Constructors Championship during the same season.

The truth is an F1 driver and his entourage of trainers, managers, advisors, personal sponsors, guests, family and friends attending GP's, have absolutely no interest whatsoever in what happens on the other side of the garage. For almost all of them, there is no team championship. Their vested interests, financial investments, professional success or simply associated kudos depends solely on the fortunes of one man and his race car, no more, no less. As a mechanic, engineer or other member of that driver's car crew, although perhaps not always so extreme, a similar sense of camaraderie normally builds amongst the guys as they put heart and soul into giving their guy the best shot at every race. For these guys in a leading team, a 1-2 finish is only a really great result if their car is first.

Of course there's generally no real animosity between mechanics etc. Any feelings of disappointment or bitterness when the other car does better than yours are kept well hidden. There's always congratulatory handshakes and the corporate smiles come out convincingly on demand for the cameras. With racing drivers, however, over inflated egos and uncontrollable self centeredness can often make it a little easier to tell if they really are happy for the team result, or thinking no further than their own disappointment.

I've been involved in F1 for a long time now and been a fan for even longer, not since the days of Prost and Senna has there been a more bitterly contested rivalry within a team than at McLaren in 2007.

I'd taken up a new, more central role that year, overseeing the build of both race cars and therefore formed part of that third team of people within the organisation I spoke of earlier. Both Lewis and Fernando were new to the team and I had no particular allegiance to either as the season began. Both drivers got on well together, Fernando confident of his unspoken number one position and Lewis, at that stage, in awe of his team-mate and keen to learn from him.

By the time we reached Monaco, Lewis' confidence had boomed, perhaps a little too much it could be said for someone with an F1 career consisting of four races. Fernando, I'm sure, was finding it a little 'frustrating' that the new boy wouldn't just stay behind him and when it came to that race and both cars were fast and out in front, radio traffic became a little heated from both drivers. Lewis was told to hold his second position to avoid risking a crash around the tight and unforgiving streets of Monte Carlo, but proceeded to push Fernando all the way, attempting numerous bold moves. Both were shouting and screaming over the radio and it became the beginning of the end of the partnership, but significantly the beginning of a huge split down the middle of the McLaren garage.

The drivers are hugely influential forces in any F1 setup, it's a responsibility that comes with the job. If the driver pairing works, together they can galvanise a team, boost moral and help drive everyone on, what happened in 2007 at McLaren was quite the opposite.

As the drivers began to publicly fall out, and particularly after the well documented Hungary qualifying incident, there was no secret that the two didn't like each other and the last thing they would be prepared to do would be to work together.

The unavoidable tension didn't take long to spread throughout the team. Fernando tried desperately to rally his own side of the garage with 'perks' for people associated with his car and Lewis played his best media games, notably a display of shaking hands with the entire team whenever the TV cameras came in pre-race.

The car crews, as ever got behind their men, but interestingly developed a quite intense distain for the driver on the other side of the invisible divide. A rivalry like I hadn't really seen before emerged between mechanics and engineers on either side and even they began to distance themselves from each other more and more.

With all this going on each week, coupled with our exclusion from the constructors' championship as part of the Spygate affair, McLaren was not a nice place to be working that year. As someone with no affiliation to either driver, I lost a lot of respect for both during the course of the season.

They were both incredibly fast and we had a very fast car. It was a year when our team should have cleaned up and yet the shameful truth is that when we got to Brazil, with both of them in contention for the WDC, but no WCC points to play for, in my heart I hoped Kimi would come away victorious.

Of course I still did the best job I could over the weekend and in pitstops etc, but to have those feelings shocked me and was a dramatic example of the influence of two bickering drivers within the same team over everyone else within it.

F1's a team sport and whilst healthy competition on the inside is great, it needs everyone within pulling in the same direction to be successful. One portion of the team is always likely to end up happier than the other, but at the end of the day, if the figureheads, the public faces of that team, are pulling each other apart, they pull the whole lot down with them very quickly.

When you hear a team principal come out after a race to announce to the world that "It was a great result for the whole team", it may not be strictly 100% true, but they're saying it for a very good reason.

[MIKA27]

Identical DRS zone for Hungarian GP

The 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix will feature an identical drag-reduction zone as at last years event, the FIA has confirmed.

The activation zone starts 70 metres after the apex of turn 14, which is the final corner on the circuit, therefore activation will be along the main start/finish straight, ending at the braking zone for turn one.

The detection zone is just prior to turn 14.

The circuit doesn't encourage overtaking, but the 2011 race saw 56 overtakes compared to eight in 2010 and seven in 2009.

[MIKA27]

TWO TOP F1 ENGINEERS ON THE MOVE:

As the F1 season reaches the mid way point there are a couple of significant moves of top level engineers among midfield teams.

Toro Rosso’s technical director Giorgio Ascanelli looks to be headed up the road to Maranello, where he will be reunited with former Benetton colleague Pat Fry, who is now technical director of Ferrari. It’s not known yet what Ascanelli’s role will be at the Scuderia, but he is very strong on both the project side and the operational side, showing some real flair on strategic calls last year in particular. Like most top teams, Ferrari makes its strategy calls from the factory, with head of strategy Neil Martin in charge.

Ascanelli is an old-school, very savvy and seasoned F1 engineer, who was once race engineer for Ayrton Senna at McLaren.

Meanwhile his replacement at Toro Rosso looks likely to be James Key, the Englishman who was technical director at Sauber until he left the team abruptly just before the start of the 2012 season. He has a good reputation for getting plenty of bang for buck in midfield teams and played a crucial role in rescuing Sauber from its post BMW slump.

It now has one of the most competitive cars in the F1 field.

[MIKA27]

HOW MUCH WILL RED BULL LOSE WITH ENGINE LOOPHOLE CLOSED?

Red Bull believes that its competitiveness will not be harmed by the FIA’s clarification on engine mapping rules, which closes the grey are that the Milton Keynes team was using in Germany.

Both the FIA technical staff and rival teams believed that Red Bull had an advantage both in traction and aerodynamics in Germany from an engine map which changed the amount of torque the engine produced at medium revs.

Although FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer flagged up his findings as a contravention of the rules, the stewards let Red Bull race on Sunday, but following meetings this week a clarification has been made, which is in force this weekend in Budapest.

It says: “Above 6,000rpm, the maximum engine torque may vary by no more than +/- 2% (from the reference map). And the ignition angle may vary by no more than 2.5%.”

We will find out tomorrow and Sunday how much this hurts them; if it wasn’t worth anything they would not have gone to the trouble of developing the ruse, along with engine partner Renault.

It certainly will have helped in the rain during qualifying with drivability but the aero gain is hard to judge.

World champion Sebastian Vettel, who also got a knock back after the Germany race when he was penalised for passing Jenson Button off the race track has said that he doesn’t think it will harm Red Bull’s competitiveness. “It’s not as if the car doesn’t work any more,” he said. “I’m quite confident nothing will change. There is probably more fuss outside the car than the difference is inside,” he said. “It is a little bit different for here. It is hard to give you, I don’t know, 0.2secs, 0.05secs, nothing. We can’t measure either.”

[MIKA27]

RENAULT BREAK COVER ON RED BULL ENGINE MAPPING INTRIGUE:

Renault Sport's Rob White has put out a document this evening which looks at the Red Bull engine mapping intrigue of the last week and explains Renault's side of the story.

Following intervention from the FIA technical staff in German and a subsequent clarification of the rules, Renault has been obliged to go back to pre-Germany torque maps on the Red Bull cars.

Here White explains what the fuss is all about:

What is a driver torque map?

The driver torque map represents the torque requested by the driver as a function of engine speed and accelerator pedal position.

What is an engine torque map?

The engine torque map represents the torque delivered by the engine as a function of engine speed and engine throttle position. In the SECU the engine torque map is used to position the engine throttles to match the drivers' torque demand.

Are there any regulations that govern how you may control engine torque?

Yes; this is covered by Articles 5.5 and 5.6 of the technical regulations. The main points are:

Except for some specific exceptions, the engine torque must be controlled by the driver. These exceptions include: downshifts, pit lane speed limiter, anti-stall function and the end of straight limiter strategy. Note that this list is not exhaustive.

The driver may only control the torque by means of a single accelerator pedal.

At zero per cent pedal (off throttle), the torque demand must be less than or equal to zero; at one hundred per cent pedal (full throttle), the torque demand must match or exceed the maximum torque output of the engine in its current state (Article 5.5.3).

There are limits on the shape of the torque demand as a function of pedal position and engine speed (to prevent engine characteristics that could be driver aids).

Respecting these restrictions, the torque demand is shaped against throttle position and engine speed to deliver the desired response for the driver and car.

Can maps change from race to race?

Yes. Driver pedal maps can change as a function of the circuit characteristics. For example, drivers might want more precision during initial pedal application at Monaco. Similarly, some drivers insist on a wet weather pedal map.

The engine torque maps are also adjusted to take account of the engine's power output according to the ambient conditions. The engines will all produce more torque on a cold day at Silverstone than at Interlagos (low pressure) or Malaysia (high specific humidity). This ensures that the drivers feel the same engine response at part load, regardless of weather.

Torque maps may also change as a consequence of changes to exhausts or air inlet (if teams introduce a new exhaust design or new air box).

This week's new technical directive from the FIA requires us to submit reference map from one of the first four races of 2012, from which we can only vary ± 2%.

What was the issue with maximum torque in Hockenheim?

The FIA questioned the magnitude of difference between the maps from Silverstone and Hockenheim, where the maximum engine torque in the mid-range (10000-14000 RPM) was lower.

Why would you want to generate less torque in the mid revs range?

The trade-offs concern driveability (the response of the engine to the driver requested torque), acceleration (less torque = less acceleration, except if grip limited) and fuel consumption. In general, reducing the torque is achieved by igniting the fuel later in the cycle by means of the ignition map. This may improve driveability smoothing out the torque curve which may help the driver manage his tyres. This is not in any way a forbidden driver aid or an attempt to mimic the behaviour of a forbidden system (eg closed loop traction control)

Reducing the maximum torque curve increases the amount of exhaust gas produced at lower torque levels very, very slightly, but does not change the exhaust gas flow at full throttle. Furthermore the scope to use the engine to generate exhaust gas is extremely limited by the specific mapping restrictions introduced for the 2012 season also by the performance trade-offs mentioned above

After two sessions today, has this made any difference?

Not significantly, but the workload for the trackside engineers has increased to ensure we maintain the same level of performance from the engine.

- Their rivals will be watching closely to see if this last line turns out to be accurate.

[MIKA27]

Kimi finds what he's looking for

Finn says he's happy with Lotus set-up at last

Kimi Raikkonen said on Friday that he has made a real step forward in terms of car set-up.

Speaking after opening practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Finn reckoned the improvement counted for more than the upgrades Lotus have introduced to their car so far this season.

When asked whether the upgrades have had an effect on the car he first drove in pre-season testing, Raikkonen said: "I don't know. I mean it's not really possible to compare. We have had some small improvements, small details, but nothing really major that has changed the car.

"I guess we learn always with the car and try to set it up as we like it and I think in the last few races we've been finding our way.

"We felt that there was something that was missing and then some reasons why we probably weren't so happy with it in the last races and it's been pretty much what I have been looking for.

"It means we've finally found the area where we want to be able to set up."

Raikkonen certainly showed a turn of pace in Friday's second practice session, ending it second fastest behind Lewis Hamilton.

However, he could not say whether a similarly strong showing in qualifying - an area where Lotus have struggled relative to their race performances - might earn him a shot at victory on Sunday.

"It will help but I don't know if we're going to be fast tomorrow like we were today. I've no idea what anyone else is doing but so far it wasn't too bad," Raikkonen said.

As he did at Hockenheim, the former World Champion spent the morning trying Lotus's new DRS system which appears set to make its race debut after the summer break.

However, Raikkonen refused to comment on its efficacy, adding: "You'll have to speak to the team."

[MatthewB]

Thanks Mika for the very informative and enjoyable articles...

Go Webber!!!

[MIKA27]

  On 7/28/2012 at 8:25 AM, Matt3000 said:

Thanks Mika for the very informative and enjoyable articles...

Go Webber!!!

You're more than welcome Matt. Thanks for reading!!

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON TAKES HUNGARIAN POLE WITH SOMETHING TO SPARE:

<br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">Lewis Hamilton dominated qualifying in Hungary, setting the pace in all three sessions with two laps fast enough for pole position. His margin over second place was more than four tenths, while he had six tenths in hand over his team mate Button in 4th place.

It was Hamilton’s 22nd career pole and the 150th for McLaren. He is joined on the front row by Lotus’ Romain Grosjean in his highest ever starting position after an entertaining session. Sebastian Vettel had to use up sets of soft tyres just to make it into Q3 and his challenge was blunted as a result.

Hamilton was the man to beat on Friday and although he lost out to Mark Webber in FP3, it was largely because he didn’t get the most on new soft tyres. His pace on mediums has been blistering throughout.

“It has been a really positive weekend so far, finally we see the upgrades working this weekend, being able to put car in places I previously wasn’t able to,” said Hamilton.

“I am always striving for the perfect lap, and to get that is intense and exciting and if you get it right it is incredibly empowering. This weekend we have obviously had pace, we knew it was possible but it was just a case of doing it.

“Considering we have had pace all weekend, [missing pole] would have been disappointing, so I am happy I have done it.”

But he will need to be on his mettle tomorrow, particularly with the threat from Grosjean. The Lotus has had race pace to match any team lately but has just lacked qualifying speed. From this front row platform, with potentially better tyre wear, Grosjean could win the race.

Hamilton has scored just four points in the last three races (while Alonso has scored 68) and he has to get a win tomorrow, ideally with Alonso off the podium, to start closing the gap. The McLaren is clearly much improved, but there are threats everywhere.

Hamilton proved his speed early on with a time set on the medium compound tyre that could not be matched by any of those on the soft. He was able to save an extra set of the soft tyres for the final phase of qualifying.

This weekend saw the first fully dry qualifying session in the last three races where McLaren had hoped to put their raft of upgrades to good use. The track temperatures were erratic today; the session started at 46 degrees then fell to 39 then rose to 45 again.

Alongside Button on the second row is Sebastian Vettel, who scraped his way through Q1 in 17th position. Vettel looked like he might be on for pole position earlier in the shoot out until a mistake in the final sector cost him that chance and allowed Grosjean to steal second at the flag.

Red Bull has been under scrutiny again, this time over a ride height control question, with the FIA asking them to remove an item on the suspension which they found on the car in Montreal. For qualifying today an FIA inspector conspicuously put FIA stickers on the side of the Red Bull chassis, underlining how the team is under the microscope at the moment.

The third row is filled by two former World Champions with Kimi Raikkonen having the bragging rights over championship leader Fernando Alonso. Raikkonen completed another strong showing for Lotus who are gaining more consistency and pushing towards their first GP victory.

Alonso had a relatively understated session compared to recent races; the warm conditions proving that his comments this week regarding their lack of pace to other top teams are true.

Felipe Massa will be more satisfied than his Ferrari team mate, ending the session in 7th place and just 0.05 slower than Alonso.

The Williams pairing of Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna are joined by Nico Hulkenberg to complete the top 10. Senna has shown impressive pace all weekend and this is the first time in 2012 that he has made it to the top 10 shoot out.

As qualifying began, the majority of cars headed out on the medium compound tyre as the track became very busy with all 24 runners trying to set an early lap. Hamilton set the initial benchmark in Q1 as he set a 1:21.794; half a second faster than anyone else could manage on the prime tyre.

When the remainder of the field used a set of the option tyres Hamilton’s time remained unbeaten with the softer compound bringing less of an advantage than the half a second that was previously suggested. The top 17 drivers were covered by 1.2 seconds and Vettel was the man under pressure as he just made the cut in to Q2 after aborting his soft tyre run.

Q2 saw every car take the option tyres and Hamilton proved that the option tyre was, in-fact, substantially faster than the prime, at least on his car as he went 9/10ths faster than his medium tyre run and over half a second ahead of team mate Jenson Button when they both used the soft compound.

As many other cars took an early run on their Q1 rubber Hamilton needed just one lap to set a blistering pace of 1:21.0 and 4/10ths of a second faster than Vettel in second place. Mark Webber was unable to match the pace of his Red Bull team mate and found himself in 11th position and out of qualifying, although only 3/10ths off Vettel. Webber was joined in the drop-zone by the two Mercedes who continued with their tyre warming struggles to leave Rosberg and Schumacher in 13th and 17th places respectively.

HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX, Hungaroring, Qualifying

1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m20.953s

2. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m21.366s + 0.413 secs

3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m21.416s + 0.463

4. Jenson Button McLaren 1m21.583s + 0.630

5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m21.730s + 0.777

6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m21.844s + 0.891

7. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m21.900s + 0.947

8. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m21.939s + 0.986

9. Bruno Senna Williams 1m22.343s + 1.390

10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1m22.847s + 1.894

11. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m21.715s + 0.655

12. Paul di Resta Force India 1m21.813s + 0.753

13. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m21.895s + 0.835

14. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m21.895s + 0.835

15. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m22.300s + 1.240

16. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m22.380s + 1.320

17. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.723s + 1.663

18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m23.250s + 1.456

19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1m23.576s + 1.782

20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1m24.167s + 2.373

21. Charles Pic Marussia 1m25.244s + 3.450

22. Timo Glock Marussia 1m25.476s + 3.682

23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1m25.916s + 4.122

24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1m26.178s + 4.384

[MIKA27]

'20 grands prix in 2013'

The 2013 Formula One calendar will continue to include 20 races, the sport's commercial ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone said on Saturday.

"It's 20 races," said Ecclestone. "All the same more or less."

It is expected the season will start in Australia on March 17 and end in Brazil.

The calendar may include races in the United States at Austin, Texas, and New Jersey, but Ecclestone was unable to confirm any dates for them.

He told Autosport.com that talks were continuing with the Nurburgring to try and resolve financial issues that have caused problems for the German circuit.

"We are talking to them, so will see. We need to keep the German race -so we have to do the best we can. We will try and save it, but I don't think the property is for sale," he said

When asked what would happen if the Nurburgring's difficulties meant the 2013 race could not go ahead, Ecclestone said: "We will be at Hockenheim."

[MIKA27]

Schumi: The gap is quite big

Michael Schumacher concedes Mercedes just didn't have the pace as the team slumped to their worst qualifying of the season in Hungary.

The seven-time World Champion will line-up P17 on the Hungaroring grid on Sunday after finishing a wopping 1.663s down on the pace-setter in Q2.

And although the German admits his grid position is the result of a lack of pace, he reckons he could have perhaps between a tad higher had his final flying lap - which he aborted - not been ruined by a cloud of dust thrown up onto the circuit by the wayward Pastor Maldonado.

"It was quite a tough and difficult day for us. We have to clearly see that we did not have the pace to be in the front," said Schumacher.

"I could have done a faster lap probably, without the dust having been brought to the track by Maldonado, but then I still do not think it would have brought me into Q3.

"I don't think we could have done much more.

"This morning we practised for long runs as yesterday we could not do that due to the rain but I don't think it compromised our performance. You have to accept the gap is quite big.

"We know the combination of track layout and temperature does not suit us too much, and we will try to make the best out of it tomorrow."

[MIKA27]

Alonso: Webber behind, Lotus in front

Starting sixth in the Hungarian GP, Championship leader Fernando Alonso says his goal on Sunday is to ensure Mark Webber stays behind him.

With several rivals looking quick in the dry around the Hungaroring, Ferrari struggled throughout the weekend to match the front running McLarens and Lotuses.

It was more of the same in qualifying where Alonso put his F2012 sixth on the timesheets, 0.891s off the pace set by pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton.

"It was better than I expected to be honest because we were a little bit worried about the Q3 possibilities with the two Lotuses, two Red Bulls, two McLarens and Force India also looked quite quick," he said.

"We made it into Q3 and then P6 is a reasonable position at the moment. Second in the Championship is Webber, and he starts 11th, so hopefully we can keep him behind the whole race."

However, it's not just keeping Webber behind that Alonso will be wanting come Sunday.

The Spaniard is also hoping that Romain Grosjean, who will be starting second, takes a few points away from his other title rivals, namely Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

"I hope so," he said when asked about the possibility of Lotus taking points off his main rivals.

"They are quick, they have been quick all weekend, they did a very good qualifying, and normally on race pace they are very strong. Staring up at the front, if we cannot win for sure for us the best thing is if Lotus wins.

[MIKA27]

Williams expecting wet Hungarian race

Williams are expecting Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix to be rain affected with predictions of a heavy thunderstorm toward the end of the event.

Forecasts also suggest rain showers will hit the Hungaroring for the start of the race and last until the late hours of the evening, quite a contrast to Saturday which enjoyed uninterrupted sunshine and highs of 33ºC.

Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillan believes the end of the race will suffer the worst of the rain.

"The forecast indicates that the race is likely to be wet and the rain could be heavy, especially towards the later stages of the race," he said

However, Gillan is looking forward to the race after they managed to get both cars into the final qualifying session for the first time this season.

"Both drivers did very well today in qualifying in what is an extremely tight and competitive grid. We are very pleased to get both cars into the final session of qualifying for the first time this season and look forward to the race tomorrow."

[MIKA27]

PURE halts 2014 engine development

PURE, a company set up by Craig Pollock to supply new 1.6 litre V6 turbo engines from 2014, has suspended operations after running in to financial difficulties.

The company had hoped to join Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari and Cosworth as an engine supplier when the new engine regulations come in to force in two years.

Pollock is hopeful that the funding issue will be resolved soon, but PURE technical director Gilles Simon admitted in an email to its suppliers that an exact date isn't yet known as to when development will resume.

"I would like to warn my colleagues working in Cologne that we are obliged to suspend our activities from August 1," said Simon.

"In effect, the funds that we were expecting from our investors are not available and that will not allow us to begin this project on the correct footing.

"We hope that this situation will be resolved quickly but I have no idea when that might be possible or when we might be able to get the project up and running again. I apologise for this situation which is out of our control."

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON HOLDS OFF HARD CHARGING LOTUS PAIR TO CLAIM IMPORTANT HUNGARY VICTORY:

Lewis Hamilton won his second Grand Prix of the season after a sustained challenge from the Lotus drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, who joined him on the podium.

It was his 19th career victory and one of the most important as it gets him back in the game in the championship, taking 15 points out of Alonso's lead over him and cutting it to 47 points. Webber remains second in the table with Vettel third after a mixed day for Red Bull with both cars forced to stop three times.

Hamilton dominated the qualifying session on Saturday and led most of the race today, but he had to soak up huge pressure from Raikkonen in the closing stages in particular, after the Lotus team played a blinder on strategy to get the Finn into clear air in the middle stint on soft tyres, which allowed him to jump Vettel and Grosjean for second place.

On fresher tyres but with an erratic KERS, he hounded Hamilton in the closing stages, but the British driver managed to hold on to his tyres without needed the extra stop taken by Button, Vettel and Webber.

It was brilliant from Raikkonen, but it was another great showing by Lotus, with both drivers on the podium; they have been saying for some time that they just needed a strong qualifying session to get their first win, as their race pace is so strong and today they almost got it. With their second double podium of the year they are now just one point behind 2nd place McLaren in the constructors' championship.

Grosjean and Raikkonen both went for soft tyres in the middle stint, which was an attacking strategy, while McLaren were touch and go on tyre wear with Jenson Button forced to adopt "Plan B" and stop three times.

McLaren sporting director Sam Michael made the call for Hamilton to stay out and try to win the race and the driver did the rest, a very impressive, measured performance by the 2008 champion.

"It's always good to come away with a win." said Hamilton. "I am 100% focussed and I've been on it all year. Hungary has been good to me. We always have such a great turn out here. There are a lot of Finns here and it's great to see Kimi up here. I used to play computer games as him.

"This weekend shows that the championship is all to play for still. but by but if we can continue with this ind of performance we can close up. We need consistency. Today I got the best start I've had all year. This is a good stepping stone for us after the tough races we've had."

The first half of the race saw Hamilton having to contain Grosjean as the Lotus driver opted for a second set of the option tyres following his first stop to try and ****** the lead from the Briton. However, Hamilton was able to keep him at bay on his prime tyres and maintain his lead after the second and final stops.

Jenson Button made a good start to ****** third place from Sebastian Vettel after the German was forced wide whilst attacking Grosjean. And he maintained the position during the middle period of the Grand Prix on the medium tyre as Vettel hassled him constantly on the soft compound. When Button pitted he exited from his stop behind Bruno Senna and was crucially held up enough to allow Vettel to take third place when he re-emerged from his stop.

Later in the race both Vettel and Button had to make a third stop as their tyres could not complete the final 30 laps and they finished in 4th and 6th respectively with the two-stopping Ferrari of Alonso in 5th.

Alonso had a fairly quite race, but kept ahead of his main title contender Mark Webber to increase his championship lead and make it 23 consecutive points scoring finishes. Webber finished in 8th, behind Bruno Senna who had another good Sunday after showing impressive pace all weekend.

Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg completed the top ten of an uneventful Grand Prix. Rosberg made a good start from 13th but today's result is another disappointing one for Mercedes, compounded by Michael Schumacher retiring for the sixth time in eleven races.

The majority of the grid began the race on the soft tyre compound with Webber the only car in the top 20 to opt for the medium tyre. And his quest for a two stop race was helped by a tremendous start which saw him move up to 7th from his 11th place qualifying position.

Hamilton pulled away from the line well and managed to open up a comfortable gap in the opening laps. Grosjean maintained his second place after holding off Vettel into Turn 1, with Vettel losing time and dropping to fourth place behind Button.

As the cars approached their first stops Hamilton led Grosjean by 2.5 seconds and the duo began to pull further ahead of the Button-Vettel battle.

Button was the first of the leaders to pit on lap 16 for the medium tyre and crucially exited the pits just ahead of a battle between Sergio Perez and Paul Di Resta. When Vettel pitted for another set of soft tyres he returned to the track just behind Button and went about setting the fastest laps of the race to close the Briton down.

As Hamilton pitted from the lead Grosjean briefly led the GP before pitting for a set of used soft tyres. He immediately began to claw Hamilton in during the second phase of the race as he consistently set fastest laps.

As the race neared the second pit stop phase Vettel began to hassle Button for third place, becoming very aggravated in the process. But as Button pitted the German was able to put in two very fast laps and take third place after being helped by Senna holding up Button.

Vettel now found himself on the tail of Grosjean who was held up by a longer running Alonso but it was Raikkonen that quickly became a candidate for the race win as he managed to make his scrubbed soft tyres last much longer than anyone else and put in fastest laps which were consistently around 1.5 seconds faster than the leading cars. He then made use of his much fresher tyres to to reel in Hamilton in the final 20 laps of the race.

The Sauber pairing of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi struggled to make any ground on their poor low qualifying performances. Kobayashi pitted early in the race to gain some clean air, however he didn't gain any time on his rivals and completed the race in 18th. Whilst Perez had a very long stint on the soft tyres but found himself stuck behind Ricciardo when he exited the pits on much fresher tyres. On a track that is notoriously difficult to pass he finished the race in 14th.

Ricciardo had an uneventful race but made up for qualifying 18th by keeping Perez behind and matching the pace of the Saubers. His team mate Jean-Eric Vergne followed the Australian home in 17th position after a poor race in which he spent the middles phase battling with the Caterham cars.

Williams had another mixed Sunday with Senna once again keeping his nose clean and gaining another points finish in 8th place, whilst Pastor Maldonado will find himself in front of the race stewards after making contact with paul Di Resta and receiving a drive-through penalty. Maldonado is still yet to score a Championship point since his race win at Spain in May.

HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX, Budapest, 70 laps

1. Hamilton McLaren 1h41:05.503

2. Raikkonen Lotus + 1.032

3. Grosjean Lotus + 10.518

4. Vettel Red Bull + 11.614

5. Alonso Ferrari + 26.653

6. Button McLaren + 30.243

7. Senna Williams + 33.899

8. Webber Red Bull + 34.458

9. Massa Ferrari + 38.300

10. Rosberg Mercedes + 51.200

11. Hulkenberg Force India + 57.200

12. Di Resta Force India + 1:02.800

13. Maldonado Williams + 1:03.600

14. Perez Sauber + 1:04.400

15. Ricciardo Toro Rosso + 1 lap

16. Vergne Toro Rosso + 1 lap

17. Kovalainen Caterham + 1 lap

18. Kobayashi Sauber + 2 laps

19. Petrov Caterham + 2 laps

20. Pic Marussia + 2 laps

21. Glock Marussia + 3 laps

22. De la Rosa HRT + 3 laps

Mika: Sorry about posting late all. Been a busy day in the office.

[MIKA27]

Lotus expect Raikkonen to stay

Lotus are confident Kimi Raikkonen will be on their books next season despite rumours linking the Finn to a return to Ferrari.

This weekend the Sunday Times claimed that Ferrari were keen on bringing their 2007 World Champion back to Maranello even after paying millions to break their contract with him at the end of the 2009 season.

"Kimi would be a very good solution. Fast, experienced, unpolitical and out of contract at the end of the year," a 'Ferrari insider' told the newspaper.

"Fernando would have no problem having Kimi as his team-mate. In many ways it would be a dream combination for us, but there is a problem to be overcome."

However, hours later another source told the BBC that the report was "rubbish" while Raikkonen played it close to his chest when asked about a possible return.

"You never know what happens in the future," he said in the wake of his podium finish in Hungary before adding that he is "happy where I am right now" and that "things going pretty nicely."

But while Raikkonen was coy, his team boss was rather blunt in his response when asked about the rumours.

"It is nice that Ferrari is in the newspapers, but I don't know that Kimi has plans to go back to Ferrari," Eric Boullier told Autosport.

Pressed as to whether he expected both Raikkonen and his team-mate Romain Grosjean to remain at Lotus next season, the team boss said: "Definitely. There is no reason for them to leave."

As for Ferrari, team boss Stefano Domenicali has once again insisted that there no decision has been made about whether or not to replace Felipe Massa for next year's Championship.

"Kimi was a World Champion with us and I saw the speculation in the media but nothing more than that," said the Italian.

"I can confirm what I said to you last week; basically we are not in a rush to make a decision or announce anything because we want to take our time.

"We are aligned with Felipe and we want to protect him, and it is important for this Championship. So there is nothing new to report."

[MIKA27]

Domenicali: Points increase very good

Stefano Domenicali was relieved that Fernando Alonso increased his lead in the Drivers' Championship despite a difficult afternoon in Hungary.

Heading to the Hungaroring for the final grand prix before the summer break, Alonso held a 34-point over Mark Webber.

But by the end of Sunday's 69-lap grand prix that advantage was up by an additional six points thanks to Alonso's fifth-placed finish on an afternoon where Ferrari found themselves well off the pace.

"Fernando did a great race," said his team boss.

"We knew that we were in a defensive mode and to be in front of two cars, (Jenson) Button and Webber, that were faster than us in pure performance, for us it's very important.

"Of course, these kinds of races on these kinds of track, where you are sitting behind, are not easy.

"Then you have backmarkers and certain situations that cause you to be in traffic. I think that in any case we maximised the points considering where we started."

He added: "I think that we came here knowing it was a difficult grand prix for us, not easy. Going home having increased the number of points on the second driver in the Drivers' Championship is very good."

[papatrips]

Wow nice articles! I will need to spend some time here reading. It is great to see Formula 1 fans here.

[MIKA27]

  On 7/30/2012 at 4:39 PM, PapaTrips said:

It is great to see Formula 1 fans here.

Welcome and thanks for reading!!

[MIKA27]

KIMI RAIKKONEN AND FERRARI:

Kimi Raikkonen was at the centre of attention on Sunday in Hungary; first as rumours went around that he was being considered for a return to Ferrari for 2013 and then for his stunning performance in the race, where he challenged Lewis Hamilton for victory despite ending the first lap in sixth place.

It was a great performance by Raikkonen at an opportune moment to remind Lotus and others of his value as an F1 driver. Considering that he spent two years on the sidelines and therefore had one year's less experience of Pirelli tyres than his rivals, he has been remarkably consistent this season. So too has his Lotus team. Although they've only recently seemed to be able to qualify well, they have consistently raced well all season, arguably the most constant team of the year in that respect.

And though Romain Grosjean has occasionally been able to use his undoubted speed to get ahead of Raikkonen, the "Iceman" has come through stronger in results and is challenging Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' championship, thanks to scoring an average of 10.5 points per race, including five podiums.

So where did the Raikkonen to Ferrari rumours come from? One Ferrari source was quoted by Mark Hughes in the Sunday Times saying that it would be a good move, although noting that the relationship between Raikkonen and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was strained at the time of his departure in 2009. Ferrari paid Raikkonen the best part of €20 million not to drive for them in 2010, which sits very oddly with a possible return in 2013.

The rumour has been dismissed by Ferrari, but Raikkonen seemed happy enough to address the rumour yesterday after the race, "I always said that I didn't have bad feelings against them," he answered, "I had a good time with the team. I won my championship there but things probably could have gone a nicer way in the end.

"Life goes on and you never know what happens in the future but I'm happy where I am now and things are going pretty nicely… I don't come up with the rumours, so perhaps you have to ask the people who write them."

The Ferrari seat for 2013 is a very complex situation and is being used by a number of people for gain, as it is so fluid, there are no certainties at the moment.

The main question facing all the candidates is, how long would the seat be for? It's not clear, the rumours around the possibility of Vettel going there in 2014 are supported by well placed sources, even though it's hard to see the sense of it.

For Raikkonen the thrill is racing and competing to win.

Raikkonen has every reason to feel good about where he is at the moment; the relationship with Lotus and the engineers has clearly bedded in now after half a season and he's been driving the fastest car on race day for a few races now. Wet qualifyings at Silverstone and Hockenheim have clouded the picture, but he would have won yesterday if the race had been on a place with a straight you can overtake on. Only 48 points behind Alonso in the championship with a car which should go well at all the upcoming tracks, if he can qualify in the top three more often he can mount a challenge.

As for the political situation with Montezemolo, last week the Ferrari president held a rally of his Italia Futura movement, which offers a new way forward for Italy. He stopped short of announcing it would become a party in its own right, which disappointed supporters, but crucially he did promise that Italia Futura would fight the next general election in Italy, so clearly the cogs are turning. He is supported in this by former FOTA secretary general Simone Perillo, who now works as a central co-ordinator of Italia Futura in Rome.

To what extent politics could take Montezemolo away from Ferrari and when, is not clear at this time.

[MIKA27]

HOW CLOSE LOTUS CAME TO WINNING AS HAMILTON HELD ON:

The Hungarian Grand Prix was far from being a thriller in terms of on track action with hardly any overtaking after the first laps.

But it was a very interesting tactical race which leaves a lot of questions to answer, like could Lotus have won the race if they’d done things differently? Why did Button and the Red Bulls make three stops? And how close did Hamilton come to not winning?

Pre-race expectations,

On Sunday morning most of the strategists were saying it would be a wet race. The forecast had not changed for five days and rain would fall between 1pm and 2pm local time. But as the day went on the bad weather moved away from Budapest and it was hot and sunny with the chance of rain receding. In the end a giant storm came in around 7pm local time which only succeeded in delaying teams’ flights out of the airport, but didn’t affect their race.

Rain on Friday afternoon during practice had reduced the amount of data teams had on long run performance so once again it was a bit of a stab in the dark as to how to approach race strategy and tyre choice.

Three stops looked to be faster than two stops over a race distance, but the problem was that a three stopper would be behind the two stoppers after his last stop and would have to overtake.

The feeling was that Hamilton would drive away from the rest, using his apparent pace advantage of around 4/10ths of a second per lap. The soft tyre was considered to be up to half a second per lap faster than the medium, based on Friday practice but after 10 laps the lap times on the medium were expected to be stronger than the soft. But could all the teams make it through 70 laps competitively on just three sets of tyres?

Once again the picture turned out to be slightly different from expectations.

The challenge for victory by Grosjean and Raikkonen

The opening 10 laps told the story; Lewis Hamilton had dominated qualifying but he wasn’t able to pull a gap on Grosjean’s Lotus. This was going to be a close fight.

Further back Raikkonen had let himself down in qualifying by not matching Grosjean’s pace and started fifth on the grid, which became sixth when Alonso passed him on the first lap. He lost around 4 seconds in that opening stint, sat behind the Ferrari. This didn’t cost him the race win, necessarily, but it meant that he wasn’t able to jump Vettel at the first stop, which he would have done otherwise. This would have set him up for a clearer track in his middle stint and then it would have been interesting to see how close he and Hamilton were after the final stop.

Grosjean in contrast, looked comfortable in second place. Lotus was of the view that the soft tyre was faster and they would do two stops with a soft/soft/medium strategy. They stuck to their plan.

Other teams were worried about getting through 70 laps on two stops and so favoured a soft/medium/medium strategy. This was a race tailor made for Lotus with its easy action on the tyres.

Lotus had two players in the game: Grosjean lost his chance of a win by taking too much out of the tyres at the start of the middle stint. This meant that at the end of the stint he didn’t have the pace to stay out longer and try to jump Hamilton at the second stops. By this stage Vettel had pitted on lap 38 and with a margin of just three seconds to play with on tyres which were spent, Lotus had no choice but to cover Vettel by stopping Grosjean.

Contrast this with Raikkonen’s execution of the strategy: He ran a 20 lap first stint and easily jumped Alonso at the first stop. This brought him out fifth, around 4.5 seconds behind Vettel, (where he would have been had he not lost a place to Alonso at the start). Facing a long middle stint on soft tyres (it was 25 laps in the end) he made no effort to close this gap, instead nursing his tyres for around 8-10 laps before then slowly reeling Vettel in before the German’s second stop on lap 38. At this point, in clear air he let rip; 1m 25.7 on lap 41, 1m 25.9 on lap 42. As Vettel and Grosjean got their medium tyres up to temperature, Raikkonen took almost two seconds a lap out of them. He would easily jump them at his second stop.

The strategy worked perfectly, the question now was whether he could get Hamilton too. The burst of speed had taken the edge off the tyres – he did a 1m 26.6 on lap 43. Meanwhile on lap 44 Hamilton on new mediums did a 1m 26.3. He’s just too quick, so Lotus pit Raikkonen to consolidate the gains over Vettel and Grosjean and then see what Raikkonen can do to Hamilton in the final stint with tyres that are five laps fresher.

He tries to pass, but cannot and has to settle for second place.

Had Grosjean matched Raikkonen’s technique of nursing the tyres for six or seven laps at the start of the second stint, sitting out of his dirty air and then attacked Hamilton at the end of the stint, he could have jumped him and won the race. Such is experience. I’m sure he’ll look at Raikkonen’s performance and learn from it.

Not a day to stop three times

Pre-race predictions about three stopping proved prophetic: it was faster on paper but required overtaking and despite the DRS system, overtaking at the Hungaroring proved elusive. Last season’s race was rain affected so we never really saw how little difference DRS would make on a track that has always been almost impossible to pass on.

Button did three stops, his tyre life not as good as Hamilton’s in the opening stint, his rear tyres going off more quickly. But what wrecked it was after his second stop, which was 19 laps into a stint on new mediums, he came out behind Bruno Senna, who had similar age medium tyres to the ones Button had taken off. He kept Button behind him until his stop on lap 42. However during this time, Button remained around 6 seconds behind Hamilton, the same margin as before Button’s second stop. But he had not had the opportunity to use the pace of the new medium tyre and this allowed Vettel to jump him at his second stop. Alonso then jumped him when Button made his third stop on lap 45.

He was the first front runner to pit at the first stop on lap 15, which was still within the two stop window and he reported that the second set of tyres was still fine when he made the early second stop. There wasn’t a possibility to undercut Grosjean at that stop as he was almost six seconds ahead of Button. It was just the wrong call to go for three stops, but clearly they felt that they couldn’t do the race in two, despite Hamilton holding on and doing just that in his McLaren.

Meanwhile Webber stopped three times because his differential had problems and this led to higher tyre wear, while Vettel switched to three stops near the end after losing time in the opening stint when he lost third place to Button, who was not on the same pace as Hamilton and Grosjean. Vettel went for a new set of softs for a final sprint to see if he could claim a podium, but he had to delay the stop in order to get enough of a gap over Alonso behind and this left him with not enough laps to catch Grosjean for third place.

HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX, TYRE CHOICES

Hamilton: SU MN (18) MN (40) 2 Stops

Räikkönen: SU SU (20) MU (45) 2

Grosjean: SU SU (19) MU (39) 2

Vettel: SU SU (17) MN (38) SU (58) 3

Alonso: SU MN (17) MN (43) 2

Button: SU MN (15) SU (34) MN (45) 3

Senna: SU MN (16) MN (42) 2

Webber: MN MN (20) SN (39) SU (55) 3

Massa: SU MN (18) MN (43) 2

Rosberg: SN MN (16) MN (40) 2

Hülkenberg: SU MN (15) MN (39) 2

Di Resta: SN MN (16) MN (38) 2

Maldonado: SU MN (15) MN (41) DT (52) 3

Perez: SN MN (21) MN (47) 2

Ricciardo: SN SN (14) SU (34) MN (47) 3

Vergne: SU SN (12) SU (30) MN (46) MN (64) 4

Kovalainen: SN MN (17) MN (36) SU (56) 3

Kobayashi: SU MN (8) SU (40) 2

Petrov: SN MN (18) MN (35) MN (51) 3

Pic: MN SN (20) MN (39) 2

Glock: MN SN (18) MN (40) 2

De La Rosa: MN MN (22) SN (41) 2

Kartikeyan: SN MN (18) SU (39) 2 NC

Schumacher: SN MN (1) DT (4) MN (32) 3 NC

S=Soft; M= Medium; U= Used; N = New; DT = Drive thru penalty

RACE HISTORY CHART

Kindly supplied by Williams F1 Team

Note Raikkonen’s pace in the middle stint relative to all the other cars in that phase of the race. Note also how his tyres start to drop off at the end of that stint and how close Grosjean and Vettel are after Raikkonen’s stop. Had he stayed out another lap he would have been behind them.

[MIKA27]

Di Resta & Hamilton Snr off to court

Paul di Resta's split with Anthony Hamilton has taken a turn for the worse after the latter filed a case for 'wrongful termination' and 'loss of earnings.'

The Scot and his manager, who is also the father of Lewis Hamilton, parted ways earlier this season although neither was willing at the time to give an explanation.

"I think everything's been said that had to be said. I'll confirm we're not working together," di Resta said in early July.

Asked to expand on that the Scot said: "I think it's been reported that we're no longer working together and that is the matter at the moment."

However, the dispute is now set to go public after Hamilton reportedly brought a case of "wrongful termination of contract and loss of earnings."

According to the Daily Telegraph, di Resta responded with defence papers in which he "alleges that he dismissed Hamilton after learning he had been misled over a multi-million pound deal with the Energy Drink company Go Fast, which never came to fruition."

The newspaper states that the Force India driver alleges that "he took the deal, set up by his friend Jordan Wise and worth €5.5 million (£4.3 million) less commission, to his former manager late last year."

"Hamilton allegedly said it would make sense to buy Di Resta's sports drink rights from Force India so that they could proceed with the deal, telling the 26-year-old they were worth €2 million (£1.56 million). After hearing nothing for some time, Di Resta allegedly went to his team at the Chinese Grand Prix earlier this year to ask them what the situation was.

"Force India allegedly told him that the rights were worth only €1 million (£800,000). At this point, Di Resta allegedly decided to terminate his contract with Hamilton."

[MIKA27]

Double-DRS to be outlawed in 2013

Formula 1 teams have agreed to ban the so-called double-DRS system currently in use by Mercedes and soon to be on the Lotus cars.

At a meeting of the Technical Working Group (TWG) - where the teams come together to discuss regulation changes - it was decided that such systems would be outlawed in 2013.

The decision was backed by a majority, thought it's believed both Mercedes and Lotus objected to the move.

The former's system, introduced at the start of the year in Australia, was the subject of a protest by Lotus as they believed it infringed the regulations, though the FIA later sided with Mercedes which led to Lotus developing their own version which is set to be introduced at the next event in Belgium.

Whilst both devices work differently, the regulation change will completely outlaw the practice of blowing the rear-wing.

The change will have to be ratified by the FIA before it's written in to the 2013 technical regulations, but this shouldn't pose an obstacle.