FORMULA 1 - 2012

[MIKA27]

Russian gov't no longer backing Petrov - manager

Vitaly Petrov's manager has admitted the Russian driver's F1 career is hanging in the balance.

Oksana Kosachenko, who has managed the 27-year-old's career at Renault and Caterham since 2010, told Russian news agency Ria Novosti that the government has pulled its financial backing.

The R-Sport website said Petrov has lost the government-linked sponsors Russian Helicopters and Lada.

"We have now lost government support," Kosachenko is quoted as saying.

"There's never been interest from sponsors. I've always said that it's impossible to find sponsors in Russia for a project like formula one.

"When there was support at the top level of government, this project worked commendably.

"I don't rule out a scenario in which we have to end this Russian driver's competition in formula one," she added.

[MIKA27]

Lewis Hamilton: 2013 McLaren deal will come down 'to business'

Lewis Hamilton says that he will be 'business-minded' when it comes to making a final decision on his Formula 1 future.

Although it is widely expected that the former world champion will remain at McLaren for 2013, a final contract is still far from sorted.

It is understood that one of the major sticking points between McLaren and Hamilton's management company, XIX Entertainment, is over the financial package for his next deal.

Hamilton made it clear at Spa-Francorchamps on Thursday that his eventual decision will not just be based on sporting considerations nor loyalty to the outfit he has raced for since he entered F1 in 2007.

"This is a business," said Hamilton. "I always wear my heart on my sleeve, but I also have to be business-minded as well."

He added: "I am pretty much in a similar position to what I was going into the season. There is work being done in the background now, and I am not really focusing on that.

"The guys that are paid to do that job are discussing that, and working on getting that resolved."

Even though his future is not settled, Hamilton insists that he is fully focused on doing his best for McLaren this year as they bid for world championship glory.

"I think it is important at the moment that the team know I am massively committed to them winning the championship," he said. "That is the most important thing."

[MIKA27]

Nico Rosberg: Mercedes learning from slump in form

Nico Rosberg is confident that Mercedes has learned the lessons of its drop in form this season, meaning that the team will be stronger in the long-term.

The German's maiden victory in China brought him into championship contention despite having failed to score in the first two races of the year.

But a run of just 18 points in the last five races means that Rosberg is no longer a title challenger.

"We understand some of the reasons why others have managed to get away from us a little bit," said Rosberg when asked about the team's form. "Some of them are not totally unexpected.

"It's just a matter of understanding it and improving the situation. A lot of the things that we've done are longer term and will improve things. We've just taken a bit of a hit now."

Rosberg admitted that it was disappointing after his strong run of six top-seven finishes from China through to the European Grand Prix to have struggled to repeat his podium form.

"It is [difficult to deal with]," he said. "I was really confident that I could be up towards the front of the championship.

"From there on, it really dipped. It's not a great experience."

Rosberg added that he was unsure how strong Mercedes would be in this weekend's Belgian GP.

The team has generally struggled at circuits with long corners this year and Spa's second sector in particular could cause it some difficulties.

"Quick corners haven't been our strength up until now so I'm not really sure what to expect here," said Rosberg.

"I'm sure we can have a decent weekend, but if it's enough to really do something good or not, I don't know."

[MIKA27]

Marussia's Symonds: I think our season has been one of continual improvement

Pat Symonds on 2012 - Part 1 & Marussia F1 Team’s half-century of GPs

A Q&A with Pat Symonds, Technical Consultant, Marussia F1 Team

Q: Talk us through the highlights of the 2012 season so far from the Marussia F1 Team point of view. "I think our season has been one of continual improvement. We can certainly say that the start of the season was very difficult for us and from that we have experienced a lot of new heights - getting our wind tunnel programme working, delivering performance to the car in a cost-effective way, improving our procedures. It is important to remember that we’re a very new team, and therefore there is an awful lot to be addressed. But I think rather than a single highlight there is just a continual improvement - a slow march forward towards the leaders and our direct competitors. Those are the things that give us some confidence in where we are heading."

Q: What about the season generally? One of the best ever perhaps? "I think in terms of the racing, the unpredictability we’ve seen this year has certainly provided an exciting season for the spectators. We’re 11 races down out of 20, and it is still difficult to say who is going to emerge at the end of the year as world champion. That’s a very unusual situation, and one that I think both the casual spectator and hardened fan are enjoying in equal measure. So yes, I think it has been an extremely good season so far."

Q: Are there any areas where the team has fallen short of expectation? "I don’t think so. We’re very realistic and therefore our expectations, while ambitious, are not set beyond what we feel we can achieve if we stretch ourselves. That said, our performance on the faster circuits has been a little bit disappointing. Our focus has been on trying to improve the performance of the car on the higher downforce circuits and our limited resources have not allowed us to do everything we wished to do. But we have no particular regrets at this stage."

Q: The latest upgrade was described as the Marussia F1 Team’s ‘first proper wind-tunnel generated upgrade of the season’. Tell us about the significance of that? "The wind tunnel programme commenced at the end of last year. It takes quite a long while to build the very sophisticated models that we use in a Formula One wind tunnel, and therefore the influence of that programme was not really felt in the first iterations of the MR01. As we progressed through the early part of the season, we were able to bring relatively small upgrades to the car as a result of the wind tunnel programme, but our first major upgrade was the one we introduced at Silverstone. Just to give some examples of that, we had a new nose, which had a preliminary release from aerodynamics towards the end of May, having been in the tunnel in the third week of May. The sidepods and the exhaust were developed at a similar time. The rear wing, which was totally new, began even earlier and we saw the preliminary aero release of that towards the end of April, the May wind tunnel session providing the opportunity to tune that. So really, by the end of May, we’d defined our Silverstone upgrade and we spent June on the detailed design and manufacturing the hardware that we needed for the race at Silverstone."

Q: Has the upgrade delivered everything you had hoped? "Yes, it certainly has. We’re very pleased with the correlation we’re seeing from the wind tunnel. We’re using the McLaren Applied Technologies wind tunnel as part of our technical partnership and, generally speaking, I think our predictions from that are being seen on the circuit, both in the measurements that we take on the Friday during free practice and indeed in the improved performance that we are seeing on the car."

Q: What additional upgrades do you plan to bring to the car during the balance of the season? "We still have a number of upgrades that we can bring to the car this season. We are fortunate in a way that the 2013 aerodynamics regulations are quite similar to the 2012 regulations and therefore components that we are developing now can be common to the end of this season and indeed the start of next season on the 2013 car. So while certainly our focus now is on 2013, we have improvements for Spa and more coming for Singapore and indeed I’m sure that won’t be the end of our developments."

Q: How is the 2012 driver line-up working out? Timo and Charles have proved to be a strong pairing. "I think they are. There’s a good blend there of youth and experience. I think we’re very lucky as a young team to have a driver with the experience Timo has. He certainly helps guide us in our development as well as really getting the most out of the car on every occasion. So I think that our driver pairing is everything we could have hoped for."

Q: Charles seems to be relishing his debut season so far. Have you been pleasantly surprised by his performance? "Yes, absolutely. Charles is only 22 years old. He’s had a couple of years in GP2 and a fourth place in that series last year, but some very impressive showings in Formula Renault 3.5 as well. I think this year he has matured in his approach in Formula 1. There is no doubt that he’s fast; he has proven that on a number of occasions, and I think race by race he learns more about the nuances of the tyres in Formula 1 and indeed the way one approaches a Grand Prix weekend.

Q: It has been 18 months since you joined the team. How much has the team grown in that space of time and are you where you expected to be? "18 months ago indeed, but it was very much on a part-time basis. It’s really only a year since it has become my major ‘pre-occupation’. In that time we’ve been trying to build the team up month by month as we go along. We wanted to achieve steady progress in terms of growth, but what I think is more important than the expansion is the improvement in the organisation, bringing everything under one roof and really building ourselves up into a credible team. We have been putting the team in a position where we can move up the grid over the course of the next few years."

Q: How is the MR02 programme progressing and what are the timescales for the rest of the year? "The MR02 is on schedule. As always, it’s a tight schedule, but that’s the way it should be if you want to bring maximum performance to the car. There are some reasonably significant changes, but in many ways it’s a progression of the MR01 - the lessons we have learnt from that car, from racing it now for half a season and some of the things that we wanted to do to that car that we simply didn’t have time to do last year. So everything is on schedule and we are looking forward to a productive winter of testing and a strong start to the 2013 season."

Q: What is your powertrain plan for 2013? "We will continue with the Cosworth engine. We are happy with the work we are doing with them and I think that we are working together to try and improve the areas that we are able to under the regulations. We are concentrating on improving the driveability of the engine and enhancing its performance as a unit with the car."

Q: We understand you are planning to implement KERS. Who will supply that and how readily will you be able to adapt the package? "Yes we will be using KERS next year. We plan to adopt the system that has been developed by Williams, which was used by them with the Cosworth engine last year and is currently with their Renault-engine car. Our 2013 unit is a development of this. We’ve been very impressed with the engineering, the efficiency and the weight. Williams are also a pleasure to work with both technically and commercially."

Q; What about the next 18 months? In which areas can the team improve over that period of time? "We need to improve in all areas. A team is only as good as its weakest part, so we need to bring everything on together. But in terms of performance our primary target is to improve the aerodynamics of the car. I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve made aerodynamically in the last few months and I have every reason to believe we can continue that. Our aim for 2013 is to build on this strong foundation as we expand our aero department to try and bring yet more performance to the car, while at the same time not neglecting the mechanical aspects. We are also faced with getting KERS working well and understanding all the nuances of that and how to go racing with it. There are therefore many areas where I think we can make substantial improvements through the course of 2013."

Q: How are you personally enjoying the challenge? "I’m thoroughly enjoying it! It’s difficult but also very challenging. It’s very different to what I was doing over the last few years but not that different to work I was doing a couple of decades ago. It really is a pleasure to see the team growing, and to work with them. There’s a great atmosphere and just bucketloads of enthusiasm. More exciting than that is what we can go on to achieve together."

Q: You’ve undertaken some restructuring/recruitment this season in order to put all the right people in place for the future. What have been the benefits of this to the team so far? "The team is all about people. Equipment is important, but you can go and buy equipment - it’s just a question of money. People you can’t buy. You have to have the right people and we want people who are very individualistic, who are creative but who will work together well as a team. We are building that now. We don’t want to build it too fast because we want the organisation to grow in a structured and controlled manner. We’ve got some very high quality people in the team now and it our intention to continue in that vein."

Q: Generally speaking, what are the benefits of working for a young ambitious team like Marussia F1 Team that is still in its infancy. What can you offer that is attracting such good candidates right now? "I think the main thing that we offer is involvement. In a small team like Marussia F1 Team one does get involved in all aspects of the business rather than being shut away in some small department in the corner and forgotten about. Our people learn as we learn, they will enjoy our successes as we achieve those successes and I think that everyone who works at Marussia F1 Team feels that they make a significant contribution, because they really do."

[MIKA27]

Alonso has "a points advantage, a performance disadvantage"

Francorchamps, 31 August Clearly the press had missed their chats with Fernando Alonso, as the Scuderia Ferrari motorhome was packed this afternoon in the Spa Francorchamps paddock, for the Spaniard's usual conference. The Ferrari man was asked first if he felt he was the title favourite going into the final rush of the season. "No, I don't think the summer break has changed anything," he began. "Obviously when you stop for a few weeks and look at the points and the classification, you can see there is a good advantage for us, but two or three bad races and you can lose everything. In terms of performance, of the guys that are up the front, we are clearly the slowest. We have a points advantage and a performance disadvantage, so we are in no way the favourites."

If the month long break seemed long, it's nothing compared to the intensity facing the drivers for the rest of 2012. "Nine races in thirteen weeks is challenging for everyone, from the team's side because most of the races, seven of them, will be outside Europe," said Fernando. "And that makes it a little bit more difficult to bring upgrades for the car. For the drivers and team members it will also not be easy as we have three races every month now, with time zone changes and a lot of travelling. From my own point of view, during this summer break, I tackled my physical preparation as though it was the winter, training very hard. It's as though we had one championship that ended in July with another one starting now in September. So I start from zero on full batteries and I think we can arrive in great shape at the end."

So where exactly does Alonso feel he and the team are currently in terms of the pit lane order, if they are not favourites. "It's difficult to know exactly where we are in the hierarchy as the performance has changed race by race, with the gap to pole position varying," reckoned the Spaniard. "The last time, it was around 8 tenths of a second, which is a bit too much, so we need to improve that situation. We will see what happens here and in Monza, which are special tracks as we run the cars with very low downforce, so anything can happen in these next two Grands Prix, when we need to score some really good points. Maybe the next true reference point will come in Singapore and Japan and by that point we really must close that 8 tenths gap down, if we want to fight with the others."

This weekend marks the three hundredth Grand Prix for a former Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher and Alonso was keen to add his own eulogy to mark the occasion. "Michael will always be the reference, because you need to respect someone who has won seven titles, so many races and had so many pole positions," he affirmed. "He is the "record man" in Formula 1 and as long as he is still on the grid with us, he will be the best and the one I respect most and the one I try to copy the most. We should all have maximum respect for him."

[MIKA27]

BUTON DOMINATES SPA AS GROSJEAN IS BANNED FOR START-LINE PILE UP:

Jenson Button drove a faultless race to secure his second victory of 2012 at Spa, as championship leader Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton retired after a nasty first lap pile up.

It was triggered by Romain Grosjean, who moved over on Lewis Hamilton and who was launched over Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez causing the retirement of all four cars. It was another in a seres of first lap incidents, which have stretched the patience of the stewards to breaking point. They handed him a one race ban for the Italian Grand Prix, leaving Lotus looking for a substitute driver for Monza. Pastor Maldonado was also punished for a jump start and an avoidable collision. He will move back 10 places on the grid in Monza.

It was a race full of incident and overtaking, but Button stayed clear of all of it, With a lights to flag victory ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Button avoided the carnage at La Source and made very good use of a one-stop strategy to put himself back in the hunt for the World Championship with his 14th career win.

Second place starter Kamui Kobayashi was also hampered by the crash as he lost his front wing and finished the race down in 13th.

Alonso’s first non-score of the season means that Vettel is now only 24 points off the championship leader after leap-frogging Mark Webber, who finished 6th.

Button was on good form in Spa, after a mixed season so far. He has recently found a good way to work with the Pirelli tyres, balancing the temperatures front to rear and getting the fronts to work as he wants them to. If he can stay consistent on them, he can easily claw back points on the others, given the raw pace of the McLaren now.

“I’m sorry to all the fans if it wasn’t very exciting at the front,” said Button.

“However, winning a grand prix is never easy: you’ve always got to look after the tyres and keep an eye on the gap behind. Today’s race was particularly tricky to read, in fact, because lots of cars were on different strategies so you never knew exactly where you stood.

“Turn One looked pretty crazy – in my mirrors, I could see cars all over the place. For me, it was all pretty straightforward though.

“It was unusual to be able to run a one-stop strategy. We got to lap 12 and the team asked me how the car was feeling; I told them that the balance was getting better and better, so we were able to get to lap 20 before pitting.”

As predicted, strategy was the crucial factor in this race with both Button and Vettel opting for a one-stop race. This was made They were able to make their option tyres last near half distance and then clear away from the field on the hard compound. It quickly became apparent that the prime was the right choice come Sunday as Nico Hulkenberg started on the tyre and found himself in third place following the first lap carnage. After overtaking Raikkonen for second many of the cars behind were prompted to make an early stop and switch to primes.

This opened the door for Vettel to gain some clear air and put himself in a position for a podium. He, arguably, produced his best drive of 2012 as he put to bed any claims that he cannot race through the pack by making numerous passes around the outside of the Bus Stop chicane.

Raikkonen was unlucky to be held up following both his pit stops and made a tremendous move past one-stopping Schumacher on the entrance to Eau Rouge. He had spent six laps tucked up behind Schumacher as he could not match the Mercedes engine and losing some of his KERS functionality early on did not make this any easier. Schumacher eventually had to switch to “Plan B” and make a second stop in the closing laps. Raikkonen was followed home by Hulkenberg who managed to match the leaders’ pace throughout the race to keep Massa and Webber behind in the closing stages.

The sole Ferrari of Massa had a strong race in fifth and kept the team within touching distance of Lotus in the Constructor Championship.

Schumacher was able to salvage seventh following his unplanned second stop but it could have been much more in his 300th GP after he had sat in third position before the first round of stops. Mercedes’ tyre woes continued and Nico Rosberg also had to make an unscheduled pit stop to make it to the end.

The two Toro Rosso cars of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo headed Paul Di Resta home to complete the top ten. The trio had made good progress in the first lap but slowly slipped down the order as faster cars made their way through the field. Di Resta was battling with a KERS problem.

BELGIAN GRAND PRIX, SPA, 44 laps

1. Button McLaren 1h29:08.530

2. Vettel Red Bull + 13.624

3. Raikkonen Lotus + 25.334

4. Hulkenberg Force India + 27.843

5. Massa Ferrari + 29.845

6. Webber Red Bull + 31.244

7. Schumacher Mercedes + 53.374

8. Vergne Toro Rosso + 58.865

9. Ricciardo Toro Rosso + 1:02.982

10. Di Resta Force India + 1:03.783

11. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:05.111

12. Senna Williams + 1:11.529

13. Kobayashi Sauber + 1:56.119

14. Petrov Caterham + 1 lap

15. Glock Marussia + 1 lap

16. Pic Marussia + 1 lap

17. Kovalainen Caterham + 1 lap

18. De la Rosa HRT + 1 lap

[MIKA27]

Grosjean handed one-race ban

Romain Grosjean will have to watch the Italian GP from the sidelines after he was hit with a ban and a fine for causing the first-lap carnage in Belgium.

Having started eighth on the grid, the Lotus driver put the squeeze on Lewis Hamilton's McLaren on the approach for La Source and that trigged a major pile-up on the first corner.

Both Grosjean and Hamilton were forced to retire along with Sergio Perez of Sauber and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who was lucky to escape serious injury after the airborne Lotus went flying just a few inches past his head.

Asked after the incident who was to blame for the accident, Grosjean said: "I do not know if I moved over too quickly."

He added: "I have not seen the image, but the main thing is we are all okay."

However, the race stewards found that he was responsible and dished out a race ban as well as a 50,000 euro fine.

"Extremely serious breach of the regulations which had the potential to cause injury to others," a statement read.

"It eliminated leading championship contenders from the race. The stewards note the team conceded the action of the driver was an extremely serious mistake and an error of judgement. Neither the team nor the driver made any submission in mitigation of penalty."

Although Grosjean will miss the Italian GP, Lotus can run another driver with reserve and test driver Jerome D'Ambrossio likely to take his place.

Meanwhile, Pastor Maldonado will drop 10 places on the grid at Monza next weekend after being hit with two five-place penalties for separate incidents.

The first one was for his jump start when the lights went out and the second was for causing an accident with Timo Glock at Turn 1.

Mika: Watch the below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AZpPJuiljQ

[MIKA27]

Alonso: A bit of back pain

Fernando Alonso reckons he was "lucky" to escape serious injury in the first corner carnage at Spa although does have a "bit" of back pain.

Arriving at Spa, the Championship leader was the only driver to have scored points in every race this season. His run, though, came to an end when he was taken out in a first lap accident through no fault of his own.

Starting fifth on the grid, Alonso was vying for track positions when he was hit from behind. Added to that, Romain Grosjean narrowly avoided hitting his head when his Lotus became airborne in the shunt.

Alonso, who was slow to get out of his stricken F2012 and was assisted by the marshals, later revealed that his back had been hurt in the crash.

"I have a little bit of pain on my back because of the hit," he said. "It is a shame I could not continue the race. I did not know what happened until I saw the TV.

"The cars behind me touched and lost control, and they were in front of us.

"It was a disappointment to see points lost but in five days I can be in the car in Monza.

"You can have an injury in your hand or your head with a crash like that, so I am lucky in that aspect.

"I felt a train coming with a big, big hit. I stayed in the car due to the hit. There was a bit of fire in the car and I could not breathe because of the smoke so I jumped out."

Alonso's DNF cost him a chunk of his Championship lead as Sebastian Vettel, who finished second, is now just 24 points behind with Mark Webber a further 12 off the pace.

[MIKA27]

Kimi: Car was not to our liking

Kimi Raikkonen admits he is happy to have picked up a good haul of points in Belgian following a difficult race.

The Lotus driver qualified fourth fastest on Saturday afternoon, but found himself up in P2 on lap one following a massive shunt involving four drivers.

However, he never quite managed to hold on and had several battles with the likes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Hulkenberg throughout to race as he struggled with straight-line speed.

In the end he managed to finish third place to take his points tally for the season to 116 points - 48 behind Championship leader Fernando Alonso, who was taken out on the opening lap.

The 32-year-old Finn conceded after the race that the E20 just wasn't up to the team's liking on Sunday.

"It is nice to be back here at Spa, but it was not very nice racing today for us," he said.

"It was not the easiest day for me as the car was not exactly to our liking. I was fighting to get the best out of it and we managed to get some key points, so that was the main thing. It was a difficult one and next week we will try to be better."

[MIKA27]

Vettel: Crazy and unbelievable

Sebastian Vettel has billed Sunday's Belgian GP as a "crazy race" after he avoided the first lap carnage and raced his way to second place.

Having struggled for pace in Saturday's qualifying, Vettel had hoped for better come Sunday's 44-lap grand prix at a circuit where he claimed the victory last season.

The German, though, was baulked at the start when the first corner carnage took out his title rivals Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, bringing out the Safety Car.

The race resumed on lap six when Vettel, using a one-stop strategy, begun to work his way through the field, overtaking several drivers including his own team-mate Mark Webber as well as seven-time World Champ Michael Schumacher.

"It was a crazy race from where I started," said the Red Bull racer, who finished runner-up, 13.6s behind race winner Jenson Button.

"The start was not so good and after the first corner when a lot of cars went off.

"It was pretty crazy, fortunately we came back with a fantastic strategy.

"It was the right call and the car was quite good in the race and we were able to pick up some places in the race.

"I had a lot of fun racing a lot of people, racing Michael.

"It's great to come here, great to come second and I'm looking forward already to coming back here next year. This circuit is unbelievable."

Vettel's second place finish has moved him up to second in the Drivers' Championship, now just 24 points behind Alonso.

[MIKA27]

Whitmarsh: Don't write Button off

Martin Whitmarsh believes Jenson Button's lights to flag Belgian GP victory has silenced all those who wrote him out of this year's title race.

Heading to Spa many were asking McLaren if it was time to ask Button to give up on his own title bid and support his team-mate's. The team, though, said no.

McLaren were vindicated in that decision on Sunday when Button stormed from pole position to the chequered flag, never once reliquishing the lead as he claimed his second win of the season.

"To be honest he was cruising for most of that, looking after the car and looking after the tyres. Absolutely faultless. Just a dominant, faultless display," Whitmarsh told Sky Sports News.

"He has just reminded all of those who were writing him off just a few races ago what a great driver he is. A fantastic result and a great job by the team."

[MIKA27]

Schumi denies Bernie's claims

Michael Schumacher has denied that he's leaving F1 at the end of this season, saying he has still not made his decision.

Ahead of Sunday's Belgian GP, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone hinted that Schumacher was on his way out, telling Eddie Jordan that he's " sorry that he's leaving us not being a winner, because he is a winner."

This prompted EJ to ask whether Schumacher was set to announce his retirement only for Ecclestone to back-peddle with an "I don't know, I don't know."

And if you're wondering why Bernie doesn't know it could be because even Schumacher doesn't.

Asked about Ecclestone's comments, the Mercedes driver said: "I guess he said: 'If I would leave?', as I told him yesterday I had not made a decision about my future and there is nothing new."

Schumacher also spoke about his Sunday afternoon at Spa, which saw him finish in seventh place despite running as high as second in the early stages.

The Mercedes driver, though, was forced to come in for a late pit stop shortly after he was overtaken by Kimi Raikkonen through Eau Rouge as it became apparent his tyres would not last the distance.

"We tried to gamble and try our luck with our race strategy, it looked reasonable from the start as we did reasonable lap times in my first stint," he said.

"I needed to push my tyres against Daniel Ricciardo and that decided we had to come in again.

"I think it was a good decision to come in and fight again in the last laps but that came to an end when I lose sixth gear."

He added: "I enjoyed my 300th grand prix, it is beautiful to fight for the top end positions and it is sad when you cannot take it home."

[ptrthgr8]

It was a fun face to watch. Not sure why Maldonado got the penalty for his start; the feed we watched showed all the lights being out before he moved. I thought he simply did a great job of anticipating the start, sorta like a dragster driver. Would have liked to have seen Vettel win, but he did a solid job. Watching Vettel and Schumi duke it out was fun, too. I'm sure they were both grinning ear to ear when Schumi waited until the last moment to pull into the pits. That was some good racing fun right there.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

[MIKA27]

A tough race for Caterham at Spa

Heikki Kovalainen, car 20, chassis CT01-#3: "I had a really good start, avoided all the debris from the start line crash and was up to tenth when the safety car came out. There were a couple of quicker cars behind me who got past when the safety car went back in and then I made a small mistake at the last chicane which put me back a couple of places but I made them up quickly and was into a good rhythm just behind Vitaly.

At my first stop we had a problem with the release from the box and unfortunately I clipped the HRT as I was heading out, bringing me back in for a new front wing. From that point all I could do was try and get back in front of the cars ahead but I had another spin with a couple of laps to go.

I still managed to pass one of the HRTS but with the issues we had today that was pretty much the end of my race. It's not been a good weekend but we'll regroup and come back fighting in Italy at the next race."

Vitaly Petrov, car 21, chassis CT01-#2: "I had a pretty good race and was pushing as hard as possible all afternoon and I think I finished about as high as we could have expected. At the start I managed to get through the accident without any problems and I was up to 13th, running well.

I pitted on lap 12 and had an issue with the release but I managed to stay ahead of the pack chasing us and kept up good pace until the second stop a couple of laps after halfway through the race. We went onto the hard tyres and the degradation rate was good on that set so I was able to push until the chequered flag."

Mark Smith, Technical Director: "Both cars started on the medium compound tyres and did well to pick their way through the damaged cars after the first corner accident. We had issues at both Vitaly and Heikki's first stops but both cars had clean second stops and the pitcrew did well to put the problems behind them and make sure we did not repeat the issues in the second round of stops.

Vitaly's final place of 14th was as much as we could have hoped for today as we have not had the pace in Spa to challenge the cars ahead, but we know what we have to do to improve. Now we have the next race in Monza to work hard to put us some way towards where we should be at this stage of the season."

Riad Asmat, Caterham Group Chief Executive: "This has been a tough race for the team and it is fair to say we have not helped ourselves with a number of avoidable errors costing us over the weekend. Both Heikki and Vitaly have given as much as they can and we need to make sure we give them the platform to reward the efforts they are making.

It is good that we have the next race back to back with Spa as it gives us the chance to regroup and sign off the European season on a positive note and that is the clear objective next weekend in Monza."

[MIKA27]

It was a fun face to watch. Not sure why Maldonado got the penalty for his start; the feed we watched showed all the lights being out before he moved. I thought he simply did a great job of anticipating the start, sorta like a dragster driver. Would have liked to have seen Vettel win, but he did a solid job. Watching Vettel and Schumi duke it out was fun, too. I'm sure they were both grinning ear to ear when Schumi waited until the last moment to pull into the pits. That was some good racing fun right there.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

Hi Greg.

Yes, it certainly was a fantastic race at Spa, typical "old school' racing IMO.

Even the duels between Schumacher and Raikkonen for third were brilliant.

I don't know about Maldonado, I thought it looked as though he jumped the start even Charlie Whiting was seen nodding his head but I am sure the stewards will look again. Seeing there is no news on this, I guess you are right and he must have executed the most brilliant start of the season!

[MIKA27]

Force India enjoyed a strong showing at Belgian GP

Sahara Force India enjoyed a strong showing in today's Belgian Grand Prix as Nico Hulkenberg scored the best result of his career with fourth place. Paul Di Resta raced to tenth to bring the team a total of 13 points and help move the team up to seventh place in the constructors' championship.

Nico Hulkenberg: "I'm delighted with the result today my best finish in Formula One. It's a result that the whole team has worked hard for and I want to say a huge 'thank you' to all the guys because everything went perfectly today. The start was eventful, but fortunately I avoided all the debris and was able to take advantage of the situation.

I was up a high as second and for a while I was even thinking we could finish on the podium. But the race was tough; I had some great fights with Kimi and Michael, and I was always on the limit. For us it was clear that we had to stop twice and we made the strategy work. So I've got a big smile on my face today because it's just the result we needed for our fight in the championship."

Paul Di Resta: "A tough race for me largely due to the KERS failure on the car just before the race, which really hurt my performance and speed on the straights. I couldn't really attack or defend, which is a shame because I was up to fourth place at the start, but we couldn't capitalise on it. I kept battling and tried my best to come away with the final point, but so much more was possible today."

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director: "Spa usually delivers drama and great racing, and today's Grand Prix was full of both. Nico drove a brilliant race to finish fourth on a day when it was important to capitalise on the first lap incident that befell some of our competitors. He stayed out of trouble and ran as high as second after the safety car and showed strong pace with a perfect two-stop strategy.

We've been waiting for a result like this for a while and it's a great reward for Nico and the entire team. We could have scored even more points had Paul's race not been compromised by the KERS failure, and he did well to pick up a point today. The result is important for our fight in the constructors' championship because we have now moved ahead of Williams. We will try and carry this momentum into Monza next weekend."

[MIKA27]

Glock and Pic provided some great racing spectacle on Belgian GP

Timo Glock and Charles Pic provided some great racing spectacle in today's Belgian Grand Prix, which demonstrated that the latest round of developments from the Marussia F1 Team have moved the team forward again.

Despite running to different strategies -Timo switched to a two-stop early in the race, while Charles remained on one - they ended the race neck and neck, notwithstanding Charles' tyre degradation. Timo eventually got the upper hand and led the team home in P15 from Charles in P16 but the great display of two natural born racers which seemed to capture the imagination of the viewing audience served to further underline the progress that will be borne out by today's timesheets.

Timo Glock: "Not only was it great to be back racing here after the break, but it was great to be really 'racing' again after some very positive steps forward for the team. Not only have we brought some strong updates to the car, the team have worked really hard to get on top of the problem I experienced in the last few races and here it looked positive.

This is in itself another demonstration of how we are working together to bring the right results. We didn't get off to the smoothest of starts on Friday, but by Saturday morning we were showing our potential. We knew we could be stronger in the race and we were; we could have been stronger still but for the problem with Maldonado which lost me time earlier in the race and created a bigger gap to Petrov at the end than might otherwise have been the case.

I am very proud that we have worked so hard together as a team to see the benefits we are now seeing and my thanks to everyone trackside and back at base. We are really taking the fight to the competition now and I enjoyed a great race today. Things can only get better for us and today I am very happy to be P15."

Charles Pic: "We didn't get the best start again and then I was stuck behind de la Rosa for quite a while, which lost me a lot of time. We chose a one-stop strategy which for the most part worked well for us, but I was really struggling with the degradation at the end and being on older tyres Timo not only got by but I also lost time to him.

I have been very pleased with the progress we have made for this race and my thanks to the team for their efforts. We still have to keep moving in this direction to get us to a point where we can finish ahead of all our nearest competitors, but we had some great racing in the team today and this at least showed that we are doing a very positive job as a team. I look forward to Monza now."

John Booth, Team Principal: "We predicted we would be stronger in the race versus qualifying and that was indeed the case today. For large portions of the race, the substantial upgrade we introduced here allowed our drivers to match the pace of our immediate competitors, so we can be pleased overall that the margins are reducing and also we only saw a few blue flags and quite late on in the race.

These incremental upgrades will bring the additional pace that will significantly aid our ability to race on the lead lap and minimise our blue flag time loss towards the end of the race.

"The extremely eventful opening lap made life a little difficult for us with both of our cars having to pick their way through the huge amount of debris in turn one, which had brought out the safety car. Then, the incident between Maldonado and Timo left him right at the back of the field behind the HRTs, which was less than ideal in terms of our objective of taking the fight to Caterham after the safety car restart.

We opted to switch Timo to a two-stop strategy to allow him the free air he needed to achieve our pace potential in the middle stint in order to close the gap. This worked well and Timo did a great job to respond to the switch. We put Charles on a more conservative one-stop strategy and this led to the two drivers being particularly close at the end of the race.

Charles was on older tyres and Timo was able to get past in the final few laps but by this stage, despite his pace, the gap created as a consequence of earlier incidents meant there was no hope of him catching up to Petrov.

We have shown another legitimate step with our upgrades, thanks to the hard work by the team back in Banbury and also our partners at Cosworth. I'm sure this will give everyone a huge boost going into Monza and with a full Friday of practice running to fine-tune our package I'm sure we can continue to see more of this steady progression forward."

[MIKA27]

HRT fought from start to finish at Spa

Just as expected, the legendary Belgian Grand Prix took place in summer-like conditions which tested drivers, cars and tyres alike. But, without a doubt, what marked today's race was the accident, involving various cars, on the first turn.

Pedro de la Rosa, who started from 21st, didn't get away unscathed and had to come in for a front wing change which forced the team to adapt its strategy and also change the tyres. From then on, Pedro completed a great race and put up a good fight which, although didn't end up going the Spaniard's way, left good sensations.

Narain Karthikeyan, who started in 24th and was in 14th at one stage, was also completing a splendid race when he spun off track on lap 32, as a result of a problem on his second pitstop, which prevented him from finishing the race.

With no time to lose the team heads to Monza where the Italian Grand Prix will get underway in only 4 days. This will be the thirteenth event of the season and the last one taking place on European soil.

Pedro de la Rosa: "It was an intense race from start to finish. I didn't completely avoid the accident on the first corner because, besides the pieces of front wing flying through the air, I was trapped between some cars with no space and I got hit a couple of times.

That's why I had to stop before planned to change the front wing. It went well after that; we were able to fight with the Marussias and Kovalainen until the end. We've still got a small way to go to be where we want but today was a fighter's race but also a fun one".

Narain Karthikeyan: "I got off to a very good start and the car was fantastic throughout the first stint, enabling me to keep up a good battle with Pic. But after the second pitstop I had some issues with the suspension and spun off track. It's a shame because I was having a good race ahead of a Caterham, but I'm happy with our performance and I hope to continue with this level in Monza next week".

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: "It was an exciting race for us because we battled with a few of our rivals for a large part of the race. Unfortunately, after Narain's last pitstop, we had a problem and he had to retire when he was in the middle of a sensational race.

The positive aspect is that Pedro was able to finish the event and that the performance of the cars was good so I'm happy because we're on the same positive line as before the summer break".

[MatthewB]

Great start!

Fantastic race, glad no injuries came out of it - apart from Grosjeans pride.

Whats your opinion on ol Maldonado. I feel he has enourmous talent but just so careless with the other drivers, does he have a future in F1...

Keep up the good work Mika

[MIKA27]

Schumacher enjoyed his 300th race and Rosberg has disappointing weekend at Spa

Michael Schumacher finished his 300th Grand Prix in the points today, making up sixth places to finish in seventh position. Nico Rosberg moved up from 23rd on the grid to finish in 11th place.

Michael ran a two-stop option/prime/option strategy, stopping on laps 19 and 35. He drove the final few laps of the race without sixth gear, having lost it shortly after his second stop. Nico also completed two stops, using prime/option/option tyres, and stopping on laps 20 and 36

Michael Schumacher: "I quite enjoyed my 300th race, and it was good fun out there with all the battles. In the end, you have to be realistic, and getting into the points from where I started is not too bad, even if you obviously hope for more when I was second at one stage. But then, it was more than we had expected.

It looked pretty reasonable at the start, and we were following our one-stop strategy. In the end though, it did not quite work out so we decided to go for fresh tyres and attack with them. If we had not done that, I might have ended up further back. But then I lost sixth gear and there was no way to attack. We will now have to do that next week in Monza."

Nico Rosberg: "It's been an eventful but disappointing weekend for us, and it's a shame to have finished just one place outside of the points today. Without the gearbox change and penalty, I probably could have scored some decent points this weekend. I had a good start today and moved up ten positions into the midfield.

We were running a one-stop-strategy because I needed to take the risk to move up but it didn't work out and we had to come in again quite late on. Now I'm looking forward to Monza and we will push hard for a better result there next weekend."

Ross Brawn: "It was a very exciting race for Michael, and a great demonstration of his skills in his 300th Grand Prix. Unfortunately we didn't quite have a quick enough car today to be pushing for the podium. Michael also had a problem with his gearbox towards the end which prevented him from challenging after his second stop.

Nico made a strong effort to get into the points and almost succeeded. However with a lack of dry running, and the car not quite set up as he wanted, that was always going to be tough. We will look ahead now to Monza and keep working hard to improve our performance."

Norbert Haug: "Two-thirds of the race looked quite promising for Michael who drove a great race on the occasion of his 300th Grand Prix. The plan was to do a one-stop strategy which we then switched to two stops. Michael was in third with 10 laps to go, however the trio behind him were able to go much quicker with fresh tyres than Michael could on his set of primes which were already 26 laps old.

He then lost sixth gear, so seventh was the result we could achieve today, and Michael showed some great manoeuvres throughout the race. Nico started 23rd and finished 11th - also for him more was not possible with our current technical package. We now are looking forward to the Italian Grand Prix next week at Monza."

[MIKA27]

Great start!

Fantastic race, glad no injuries came out of it - apart from Grosjeans pride.

Whats your opinion on ol Maldonado. I feel he has enourmous talent but just so careless with the other drivers, does he have a future in F1...

Keep up the good work Mika

Hi Matt.

It's funny you ask about Maldonado because I think the same way as yourself in that, Maldonado has HUGE amounts of natural raw talent, he is super fast (Reminds me of Juan Pablo Montoya) and yes, he has alot of potential for Formula 1 provided he somehow starts to finish clean races and in the points at a consistant level.

The same as Grosjean, I feel this guy is a star of the near future, loads of talent.

It seems to me there is a competition between Maldonado and Grosjean as to who can have the most shunts in a season!

If Maldonado can keep on track without any shunts, he will stay in F1 and he WILL be one of the greats provided he somehow manages to tone down his over agressive drinving and use that talent of speed to his advantage. As for Grosjean, I feel this guy is nervous and will over come this in a short period of time.

Thanks for reading and posting!

[MIKA27]

Belgian GP - A zero that hurts for Alonso. Massa a great fifth

Only ten points for Scuderia Ferrari at the end of the Belgian Grand Prix, thanks to a fifth place for Felipe Massa, who staged a great climb up the order, after securing fourteenth place on the grid in yesterday's qualifying. Fernando Alonso's race lasted just a handful of metres, 290 to be precise. The Spaniard was hit very hard, first by Grosjean and then by Hamilton.

After twelve Grands Prix, Fernando still leads the Drivers' classification, although his advantage has been reduced significantly to just 24, while Felipe has moved up to eleventh. The Scuderia is still fourth in the Constructors' ranking, but has lost ground to those in front.

Stefano Domenicali: "First, the good news: Fernando is fine. All of us and I think also all Ferrari fans went through a heart-stopping moment after the accident, especially as we could not communicate with him. Only when we saw him emerge from the cockpit could we let out a first sigh of relief and then we began to breathe normally when we saw him make it back to the garage.

Clearly, after that came the great disappointment at what had happened at the start, because it was within our ability to get the podium finish that was our target after yesterday. Today, the F2012 had a good pace, as Felipe demonstrated, driving a great race. We are happy for him, because a good result is just what was required at this point of the season.

As for the accident, I can only say that the judgement falls to the FIA: what is certain is that, it would be better if, starting with the junior formulae, rules relating to on-track behaviour were enforced in an inflexible manner, so as to have drivers as well prepared as possible when they reach this, the highest level of motor sport.

My duty, as head of the team is to ensure everyone focuses on their own tasks, especially at difficult times: therefore now we must quickly put this day behind us and look to the next Grand Prix, the one in Monza, a track that is particularly dear to us."

Felipe Massa: "It was a nice race and fifth place is a great result, if you think of where I started. At the start, I managed to pass both Red Bulls, but then I had to move right over to the left side to avoid the tangle of cars that included Fernando and I lost almost all the ground I had made up in the opening metres.

I am very sorry about what happened to my team-mate, because I think he could indeed have got a good result, given the race pace we had. It's true that also today, I was suffering a lot in the second sector but in the first and third I was very quick. The one stop option was not practicable for us, so we made the right choice, managing to be very quick when we really needed to be.

I don't know if this race changes anything regarding my future, but I am very satisfied, just as I was very disappointed yesterday afternoon, because on this track, I have always gone very well. Now we go to Monza, our home race: the track is different to all the others and so it is very difficult to predict what the hierarchy might be among the teams. Of course it would be wonderful to be competitive and get a great result in front of our fans who, I'm sure of it, will show us their passionate support."

Fernando Alonso: "I'm fine, except my left shoulder hurts a bit: I went to the medical centre immediately after the accident but everything is alright, the pain only comes from the whiplash. I had no idea what happened: I had overtaken the two Saubers when I felt as though I had been run into by a train! Immediately after the impact, I stayed in the cockpit for a few seconds, but then there was the start of a fire and the foam from the extinguishers meant I couldn't breathe.

I tried to tell the team on the radio that I was alright, but I couldn't. Now I can say that, given the misfortune of having had an accident like this, I am lucky to be able to get back in the car in just a few days. The level of safety of these cars is very high and today we saw further proof of that. I am not angry with Grosjean, he definitely didn't do it on purpose: it was a case of me being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Rather, I think that certain drivers should try and take fewer risks at the start: it's a bit of a tendency currently in the junior formulae, but it would be better, if right from the start of their career, they got used to respecting more strictly the rules relating to behaviour on track.

What happened is a shame, because I think a podium was indeed within my reach, especially when you see what Felipe demonstrated on track. Today we paid a high price through bad luck and luck owes us now: let's see what happens in the rest of the season.

We lost a bit of the advantage we had over Vettel, Webber and Raikkonen, but we have lost nothing to Hamilton who, given how the McLaren went, is possibly our most dangerous rival. Now we go to Monza, Ferrari's home race: traditionally the Reds are always strong there, so let's hope we can have a nice weekend and give our fans something to cheer about, making up some of the advantage we lost today."

Pat Fry: "Great regret, but equally or perhaps even more, a great relief: that would sum up our emotions at the end of this Grand Prix. The regret is down to the fact that today we could have brought home a great result in terms of the championship with Fernando, especially in the light of a great race from Felipe, who staged a strong climb up the order with some nice passing moves.

Unfortunately, incidents like the one that put Fernando out of the race are part of racing, even it's not nice to see a driver have to retire after a few metres, when both he and his team are totally blameless. The relief obviously stems from the fact Fernando is fine: it was a very risky situation and seeing one car fly over his, a few centimetres above his helmet left us with our hearts in our mouths for a few tenths of a second.

What is not looking so good is his car: there will be a lot of unexpected work to do for the guys in Maranello to get it prepared for Monza! From a technical point of view, the outcome of the race shows that the McLaren is very strong on very different circuits like Budapest and Spa, therefore we still have a lot of work to do to get to their level.

Red Bull too was competitive but I think that Fernando could have had the better of them if he'd raced. We now look forward to the special event that is Monza, both because it is the Scuderia's home race and also because it is held on a track that is now unique on the current calendar in terms of its characteristics. It's hard to say now if we will be competitive at the highest level, but clearly we will do all in our power to succeed."

[MIKA27]

Ruined race for Sauber after first corner incident at Spa

What looked like a promising Belgian Grand Prix on the challenging Spa-Francorchamps circuit for the Sauber F1 Team turned into a disappointing one, with both Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez involved in a first corner incident that was neither of their faults. While the Mexican retired immediately, the Japanese was able to carry on, although with a damaged Sauber C-31 Ferrari that meant the highest he could finish was 13th.

Kamui Kobayashi: 13th - Sauber C31-Ferrari (Chassis 04/Ferrari 056) "This is a terrible race result after we had been doing so well in qualifying. There was nothing I could do when a car came flying into mine after the start. I had to pit once for some repairs and then again after seven laps because of a slow puncture.

During the race I didn't really know how bad the damage to the car was, but I could see a tyre print on the cockpit all the time. Later in parc fermé I understood why I was so slow, as the side pod and some other bodywork had gone. Apparently before the start my car drew a lot of attention because of the smoke.

The brakes were too hot, but I was still able to finish the race with them. I don't know why I then also had more wheel spin than expected, so we are looking into that as well."

Sergio Pérez: DNF - Sauber C31-Ferrari (Chassis 03/Ferrari 056): "I am very disappointed for myself and the team as it was such a good opportunity for us to fight for a victory today. Pastor Maldonado had a jump start frist of all. I went on the inside of Fernando Alonso. I was going into turn one, braking and then suddenly the cars came from behind and hit me and it was a big mess. I am now looking forward to the next race in Monza."

Monisha Kaltenborn, CEO: "It is very disappointing that once again factors beyond our control have ruined another race of ours. We have to take the positive out of this weekend that if we don't make mistakes and get the right qualifying we can be right in front, and that has to be our target again for the next race."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "We lost the chance of a good result with both cars at the start because Checo had to stop and Kamui's car was damaged. On top of this we had to pit him at the end of lap seven because he had a puncture from the same debris. That was it. We lost pace, we lost a good strategy, we lost position we even lost the chance of recovery with the safety car because of the additional pit stop."

[MIKA27]

Disappointing race day for Williams on Belgian GP

Bruno Senna finished 12th in today's Belgian GP as Pastor Maldonado's race came to an early conclusion on lap four. After making a good start Bruno drove a clean race, but had to make an unscheduled second pitstop with just five laps remaining due to a slow right-rear puncture.

Pastor Maldonado had a difficult opening few laps after being caught in a multi-car incident at La Source which brought out the safety car. Pastor pitted for fresh tyres and rejoined the back of the field, but on the restart made contact with Timo Glock, forcing him to stop out on track with damage.

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: Pastor's race was over very quickly following contact with Glock which forced him to retire.

Bruno had a very good start from 17th on the grid and pushed hard on a one-stop strategy, but unfortunately we didn't have the pace today to make this work.

A few laps before the end of the race we noticed Bruno's rear-right tyre pressure dropping due to a puncture. The puncture forced us to pit, with Bruno eventually finishing out of the points in 12th.

Bruno Senna: "We went for an aggressive strategy and it looked like the safety car was going to help us, but in the end the pace difference between the cars with newer tyres was too big.

We then had a slow puncture which meant we needed to pit again before the end. Overall it's a day we want to move on from but we need to learn as many lessons as we can and make sure we're in the best position possible for Monza to score some points for the team."

Pastor Maldonado: "I made a slight mistake at the start because the clutch slipped out of my hands before the red light switched off. We then got caught up in the first corner incident and that compromised our race. I'm disappointed because we could have scored some good points here, but it's not long until the next race so we're looking forward now."

Laurent Debout, Renault Sport F1 team support leader: Today was very disappointing considering Pastor's starting position. Losing some points just at the end with Bruno was another tough pill to swallow, but we can take encouragement from the fact the car has shown signs of good pace this weekend, including setting the fastest lap of the race, which bodes well for Monza.

[MIKA27]

Toro Rosso score more points at Spa than the whole first half of the season

Jean-Eric Vergne (STR7-03 - Race finish: 8th): "I am really happy after what was a fantastic race. I had hoped to come here and score points on my favourite track and I managed it. I had a very good car and I was able to do some good overtaking moves. It was a shame I lost a lot of time behind Rosberg, but I'm not complaining on a day when I finally scored some points again.

I did not get a very good start, as I just touched the anti-stall. That meant quite a few cars passed me and that's when I saw there was a crash. I braked and took a line as near to the inside as possible and I came out of it without too much trouble. I enjoyed myself today and I think we are on the right track although it's hard to say exactly what was better about our car this weekend.

We will analyse everything that happened this afternoon with the intention of being even stronger in Monza next weekend. The team worked well and the pit stops were good so well done to them too and it's great that Daniel also scored points. I will leave Spa with a good souvenir of this weekend."

Daniel Ricciardo (STR7-04 - Race finish: 9th): "That was good fun! We managed to benefit from the incident immediately after the start, when I had got a good run off the line. Then I managed to move right to the inside going through the hairpin and came out sixth. My first stint was on the Medium tyre and I think I ran as high as fourth at one point.

However, I was not quite as quick in my last two stints which were on the Prime, so I dropped a couple of positions. You always want to do better, you always want more, but you can't complain with ninth, being back in the points for the first time since Melbourne. Hopefully, it will give us some momentum for the team's home Grand Prix next week."

Franz Tost: "In this the first race after the summer break, we have managed to score as many points as we did in the whole first half of the season! We benefited from the misfortune of others, with the crash at the first corner after the start, because Ricciardo and Vergne completed the opening lap in sixth and seventh places, from 16th and 15th respectively on the grid.

From then, both drivers did a good job to build on that, pulling off some decisive overtaking manoeuvres and our pit stops were also pretty good. The whole team performed well and this return to the points with both cars is a much needed boost for all the backroom staff in Bicester and Faenza.

Now I hope we can continue in this way in just a few days' time when many of our people will be making the short trip to Monza to see us tackle our home race."