FORMULA 1 - 2013

[MIKA27]

Kimi at redbull would make sense...He drove WRC for Red Bull...He is by far my favorite driver, swears on national tv during that post race interview...Give Kimi the same equipment at Seb, and i'M willing to bet he takes the drivers championship...look what hes doing with that lotus renault!

Haha! Well do I have something for you!! Classic Kimi!

[MIKA27]

Ricciardo 'pleased' with points

Daniel Ricciardo says it was "very good" to score his first points of the season in China, bringing his STR home in seventh place.

Having failed to reach the chequered flag in the opening two races, Ricciardo put in a massive display to qualify seventh around the Shanghai circuit on Saturday.

And although Ricciardo's race could have been seriously hurt by an early incident with Nico Rosberg that necessitated a pitstop for a new nose, the Aussie bounced back to finish seventh.

"It's good, very good," the 23-year-old told Sky Sports F1.

"I realised in Bahrain last year you can get a good qualifying but doesn't mean anything if you can't get a result in the race.

"I was quite calm after Saturday's performance and kept cool and relaxed because I knew the job was still ahead and I'm really pleased I pulled it off.

"Not only for myself but for the team, I think it's really good momentum for us and after two weekends we forgot this is the best result we could have asked."

Added to that, Ricciardo was also not far off from Felipe Massa, crossing the line less than two seconds after the Ferrari driver.

"The Ferrari was definitely getting bigger [into view].

"I was hoping for a couple more [places] to be honest, I don't think Massa was too far away, but I'll take seventh to be honest. We can't complain with that."

[MIKA27]

Mika, thanks again for putting all this info here. It's great being able to get caught up on everything by viewing only this thread. You deserve a raise!

You are all most welcome!! Thanks for reading and contributing.

[MIKA27]

Lotus not worried Red bull can lure Kimi Raikkonen away

Lotus insists it is not worried that Red Bull may try to lure Kimi Raikkonen away next year.

Amid the fallout from the Red Bull 'Multi 21'team orders controversy, there has been increased speculation that the outfit may need a new team-mate for Sebastian Vettel in 2014.

With question marks still surrounding the potential of Toro Rosso juniors Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz recently admitted that Raikkonen was an obvious candidate if the outfit elects to make a change.

Lotus owner Gerard Lopez says he is not unduly concerned about Red Bull's expression of interest, and he thinks that Raikkonen has enough reasons to stay at Lotus for another year.

When asked by AUTOSPORT if he believed Lotus would have a fight on its hands with Red Bull for Raikkonen's services, Lopez said: "Kimi's position is going to be based on a bunch of things and not on what Red Bull say - I think they have their hands full right now.

"As far as we are concerned, the relationship with Kimi is excellent.

"We are where we want to be, he is where he wants to be, and I can guarantee you that Kimi is not the sort of guy who is going to sign any sort of pre-contract. Not with anybody.

"If we keep giving him what he wants then I don't see there is any reason for him to go anywhere.

"We are happy, so we don't see any reason to replace him."

Lopez suspects that Red Bull's mentioning of Raikkonen may have been a political move to try to calm the situation down at its own team following the Malaysia controversy.

"I think it [future drivers] is far off the whole game right now," he said. "They have their own issues and maybe saying something like that, they are thinking it may be able to help them but I don't see how.

"We are well where we are and I think Kimi will stay."

[MIKA27]

McLaren urges Sergio Perez to up his game and be tougher on track

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh says Sergio Perez knows he needs to up his game this season, and he has urged the Mexican to be tougher on track.

Perez was criticised by rivals Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton in China for some aggressive defensive moves, on a weekend when he struggled against team-mate Jenson Button.

Whitmarsh says neither Perez nor the team are shying away from the situation, but he sees no reason to panic just yet.

"Sergio is not satisfied with his performance this weekend," said Whitmarsh. "He is a young driver and he had a difficult weekend.

"We haven't given him a great car so far, and he is up against someone like Jenson who has done a fantastic job with the car we have given him.

"We, as a team, have to step up and support a young driver who has an enormous amount of talent.

"And with these tyres that are very fragile, with a car that is not quite there and with tricky racing, he did a reasonable job.

"But he is not satisfied with himself and nor should he be."

Whitmarsh did not concur with views that Perez had been too hard on his rivals in defending on track, saying that he wants him to be even more aggressive.

"I think he has been very polite so far, and he needs to toughen up," said Whitmarsh.

"He has been generous in allowing people past him and I think he was a bit more robust in China.

"Inevitably, he is still a very young guy in a big team with lots of expectations. There is a lot more scrutiny and he has a team-mate who is doing a great job.

"There is some pressure there and this will not go down as his best weekend of the year."

[MatthewB]

Kimi and vettel in the same team - Ha!

2 of the best 3 drivers in the same team cannot work in the modern competition.

Besides, having the best drivers in seperate teams only adds more spice to the comp.

[MIKA27]

Kimi and vettel in the same team - Ha!

2 of the best 3 drivers in the same team cannot work in the modern competition.

Besides, having the best drivers in seperate teams only adds more spice to the comp.

I agree and whos to say Kimi should leave Lotus.

IMO Lotus are up there in the front running, have been strong in recent years and compare them to Mercedes who have a pedigree in racing, I think lotus beat them hands down in consistency.

I think Kimi should stay and build the team around him. They seem extremely keen to allow him to venture about and do as he likes whereas other teams, even RBR wouldn't allow to avoid risk with their asset, the driver.

[CanuckSARTech]

MIKA: this will put me in the kennel but I kind of agree. Maria De Villota was the closest to an F1 driver and she had great success in Karting etc but really when the pressure was on just in testing, she had that major shunt which almost killed her. I don't truly know, but F1 is a different world to driving in something like Indycar. That's no pun intended to Indycar fans (Keith)

I'm never apposed to women driving, but comparing drivers to Monisha or Williams, they are team principles not drivers.

INDY?!!??!!!!?

Why I outta......!!!!! It's you "OPEN WHEEL" guys that ruin it for the rest of us!!!!

LOL.

[MIKA27]

INDY?!!??!!!!?

Why I outta......!!!!! It's you "OPEN WHEEL" guys that ruin it for the rest of us!!!!

LOL.

[MIKA27]

Horner: China woes a one-off

Red Bull have downplayed their struggles at the Chinese Grand Prix with team principal Christian Horner insisting it was due to the nature of the track.

The team claimed a 1-2 finish in Malaysia three weeks ago while Sebastian Vettel also secured pole at Sepang as well as the season-opener in Melbourne.

However, the team were off the pace of Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes in qualifying at Shanghai as Vettel decided not to set a time in Q3 while Mark Webber failed to make into to the final qualifying session.

Although things went slightly better on the Sunday with Vettel finishing P4, the team didn't really have the pace to challenge the front-runners.

Horner, though, refused to be too downbeat after the race as the Shanghai International Circuit hasn't been a good one for Red Bull in recent years with the team winning there only once.

"Over the last couple of years this track has not been our strongest," he said.

"It has a heavy emphasis on front [tyre] wear and degradation, so you tend to be front limited here rather than rear.

"We will see next weekend whether things move around in Bahrain."

Vettel opted against setting a time in Q3 on Saturday so that he could start on the medium tyres as Red Bull decided to use a different strategy.

Horner admits the high tyre degradation are forcing them to change their thinking.

"We are seeing that qualifying is less of a premium than trying to preserve the tyres," he said.

"Our car performs very, very well. It is a quick car, but a quick car abuses its tyres and the tyres cannot cope with that.

"So then we have to adapt our approach and set-up and the way we operate the car to ensure that we get more out of the tyres.

"It is the same for everybody though - it is just a different way of going around things."

[MIKA27]

Hamilton: I made the right choice

Many people raised eyebrows when Lewis Hamilton decided to quit McLaren for Mercedes at the end of last year, but the 2008 World Champion believes he is slowly but surely showing he made the right choice.

Although he is yet to win with his new team, the 28-year-old claimed his maiden pole position for Merc at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday while he also has a couple of third-place finishes to his name.

His P3 in China has left him 12 points behind Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull in the Championship chase, which is not bad as everyone played down his title challenge before the season got underway.

Hamilton, though, is happy that things are falling into place at Brackley so shortly after joining the team.

"I have a different outlook on this year," he said. "Everyone was saying at the start it was the worst decision I could have possibly made in my life.

"But definitely, bit by bit, the more and more we impress and improve they have to stand to be corrected.

"Of course, people have an opinion, but I'm just really grateful I'm here and in the fight.

"It was such a big change for me, a big step for me. I think I made the right choice."

Hamilton finished third behind Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen in China and, although Vettel is leading the Championship, the Brit believes the Spaniard is the man to beat this season.

"I think Ferrari are the quickest," he said. "They showed in China [where Alonso won] they are the quickest overall. The best driver has got the quickest car at the moment, so that is going to be tough to beat. Fernando didn't have the quickest car last year, but he did a solid job by scoring points all the time."

[MIKA27]

Mercedes look to improve reliability

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg endured mixed fortunes in China and Mercedes are determined not to repeat their mistakes in Bahrain this weekend.

While Hamilton claimed his maiden pole for the Brackley squad and went on to finish third in Shanghai, Rosberg qualified P4 before finishing empty handed after suffering his second retirement of the season.

Team principal Ross Brawn admits they have done a lot better than they initially expected, but says they have to improve if they want to keep up in the race for the Championship.

"The performances so far have been pleasing and perhaps even beyond our pre-season expectations however there is work to be done," he said. "We have two main areas to focus on; we must improve the reliability and we have to lift our performance to find that extra couple of tenths to our fastest competitors. And of course, that's a moving target to make the challenge even tougher.

"A strong two car finish will be our target this weekend, and we want to see both Nico and Lewis in a position to score not only points but podiums regularly. We've had a taste of success already this season and the slight feeling of disappointment with third place in China is our motivation."

It has been a frustrating season so far for Rosberg as a P4 finish in Malaysia was sandwiched by two retirements.

"The first three races haven't quite worked out as we had hoped on my side but the positive is that we have a car that we can really work with," he said.

"So I'm looking forward to getting on with this weekend and the circuit at Sakhir is one that I like very much. It's going to be very tough on the rear tyres and our biggest challenge will be to make the most out of the situation. We're better prepared than we were last year and we have shown that the car is much stronger so I really hope that we can achieve a great result in Bahrain."

Hamilton, meanwhile, is just 12 points behind Championship leader Sebastian Vettel in the standings after two podiums, but he is determined to look for that extra pace at Sakhir.

"With each race, I am becoming more settled in the team and more comfortable in my car, and we were very happy with the pole and podium finish," he said.

"There are some areas where we need to improve to close that gap to the fastest cars and we're working hard to identify and develop those. There's a limit to what we can do before Bahrain but I'll be talking to my engineers before we arrive at the circuit and seeing where we can improve in the short term."

[MIKA27]

Pirelli scrap soft tyres for Bahrain

Pirelli won't be using their controversial soft compound at this weekend's Bahrain GP.

The manufacturer revealed its tyre allocation for the first four grands prix before the start of the season and their new 2013-spec soft and hard tyres were pencilled in for the Sakhir circuit.

However, the soft rubber was criticised quite heavily by several teams in China this weekend as they believe the degradation levels are too high and it spoiled racing.

The Italian firm confirmed on Tuesday that the medium tyre will replace the softs for the race in Bahrain.

A Pirelli spokesperson, though, told Sky Sports Online that 'the decision to bring the medium tyre to Bahrain had already been made prior to Shanghai, with the decision communicated to the teams two weeks ago'.

He added 'the decision to go one step harder on the option tyre had been made in light of Pirelli's initial experiences with their 2013 rubber prior to China and also related to the high ambient temperatures in Bahrain and the sandy nature of the stop-start track'.

Meanwhile, Pirelli are not ruling out modifying their rubbers for the European leg of the 2013 season.

Pirelli motorsport chief Paul Hembery says any modifications for Barcelona are part of a routine procedure, and not bowing to pressure.

"In 2011 we made some changes to our compounds, last year we did not," he told German new agency dpa. "The decision whether or not we will make changes to our current compounds will be announced after Bahrain and would then be applied from Barcelona onwards. The changes would not be structural but minor changes to the compounds."

Several drivers and teams have criticised this year's tyres, but Hembery insists no one has asked them to change the compound.

"There has not been one team so far this year that has come to us directly to ask us to change the tyres. Quite on the contrary actually. A lot of the team principals and engineers have told us expressively not to change anything," he added.

[MIKA27]

2013 season finale could be Interlagos’ last F1 race

Formula 1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has revived threats to axe the Brazilian GP if organisers fail to urgently upgrade the ageing Interlagos circuit and facilities.

Ecclestone told O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper that the city’s November finale for the 2013 season could be its very last Grand Prix.

“Interlagos’ promises to upgrade have not been met,” said Ecclestone. “And the relationships and feelings that I have for the race are no longer enough.”

The 82-year-old said he cannot keep pushing other circuits to improve their facilities whilst letting Brazil get away with having the worst venue on the calendar.

“The track is one of the best in the world, for sure,” said Ecclestone.

“Yet the facilities for the public and for the teams are the worst on the calendar. It doesn’t have to be like here (Shanghai), but it must meet our operational needs,” he added.

“We can’t keep pushing the other tracks while Interlagos remains as it is year after year.”

Ecclestone said the facilities are so bad at Interlagos that teams have to have meetings in the pit garages. “You don’t even see that at street tracks, like Monaco, Melbourne and Montreal,” he insisted.

He said the Sao Paulo mayor’s office must honour its promise to upgrade the venue.

“I don’t expect changes for this year,” said Ecclestone. “But if the circuit is not in shape, then we will not go to Sao Paulo in 2014.

“We have to know before if we’ll be in Sao Paulo or another city in Brazil.”

Indeed, Ecclestone travelled to Santa Catarina late last year, to hear about plans for a new Hermann Tilke-designed Formula 1 track.

He admitted: “I confess to having been impressed by the willingness of these people to carry out their project.

“I believe that if we give them the green light, they will start work immediately.

Asked if the threat to dump Interlagos is genuine, Ecclestone insisted: “We would not even use the old asterisk that (the race could take place) subject to improvements.

“I’m tired of the promises. I’m told the city will not have the football competition before the world cup because the stadium isn’t ready.

“It’ll be the same for Formula 1; no more Sao Paulo and, who knows, maybe no more Brazil because they don’t have a circuit,” he added.

[MIKA27]

Kovalainen back with Caterham starting with FP1 duty in Bahrain

Caterham F1 Team has announced that it is restructuring its driver line-up with Heikki Kovalainen rejoining the team as one of the two Reserve Drivers, alongside current reserve driver Alexander Rossi who moves to Caterham Racing to compete in the 2013 GP2 Championship in the car raced by Ma Qing Hua at the season opening GP2 race in Malaysia.Ma Qing Hua, who recently made history by becoming the first Chinese racing driver to take part in an F1 race weekend in China, remains a core member of Caterham F1 Team’s driver roster and an announcement about his revised race plans in 2013 will be made in due course.

Heikki’s first duties will be to take part in FP1 at the forthcoming Grands Prix in Bahrain and Spain. The Finnish driver will take part in the sessions as part of a formal technical development role he is taking up with Caterham F1 Team, helping support the introduction of the first performance updates to the 2013 car, an important milestone in the strategy the team are working to in the current season.

Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal, Caterham F1 Team: “Heikki returns to track work with us and we are delighted to welcome him back into the team. He has six years of F1 experience behind him so he is perfectly placed to provide us objective feedback on the various types of configurations we will run and to give us an objective view of the 2013 tyres against his experience with the 2012 compounds. Having invested in Heikki for our first three years of competition it would be a waste not to leverage the valuable expertise he brings. As F1 is a team sport, he will also provide support to Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde, who are both doing a good job in their first months with the team.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “It’s obviously great news that I’ll be on track in Bahrain and Spain and I’m really looking forward to getting back to work and helping the team as much as I can. I’ll be taking part in the two FP1 sessions in Bahrain and Barcelona to give the team my input on the new parts we’re bringing to those races, and I’ll be working closely with the race drivers and the engineers on track and back at Leafield to help everyone get the most out of the new package.

“Tony, Cyril and I have been talking about me taking up this role for quite a while, so it’s good to finally be able to announce how I’ll be helping the team in 2013. I’m physically ready to get back into the car and I know my experience can help give the team new ideas and options for directions to take on setup and strategy. I’m looking forward to getting back to work!”

Earlier this month Rossi told ESPN that he would be on duty in FP1 during the Bahrain GP weekend, this has now changed as it is believed that experienced Kovalainen has been brought in to sort out the team’s 2013 car which is struggling at the back of the field.

[MIKA27]

Nurburgring rescue deal for one race only

The future of the German GP at the Nurburgring beyond this season is unclear.

Earlier, even the circuit’s 2013 Grand Prix was in doubt, as the Nurburgring grappled with financial problems.

Ultimately, a solution was found when the Automobilclub von Deutschland (AVD) – usually affiliated only with Germany’s other venue, Hockenheim – stepped in.

“Yes, we will host the Grand Prix,” a spokeswoman confirmed. “It was finalised in the past week.”

But Speed Week reports that the AVD’s contract to host Formula 1 at the Nurburgring in 2013 is for one year only.

The AVD spokeswoman confirmed: “The contract is valid for this year, just because we don’t know how it will proceed with the Nurburgring (beyond that).”

[MIKA27]

Man who discovered Schumi says Alonso is best

Fernando Alonso is the best driver in the current era of Formula 1, claims of Willi Weber, the early mentor and former manager of Michael Schumacher, the seven time world champion and winner of a record 91 grands prix.

Sebastian Vettel might be the reigning triple world champion, but two-time title winner and Spaniard Alonso is better, Weber told sportradio360.de.

“He’s consistent, he’s a driver who doesn’t talk much, he’s always on the pace and makes the best of everything, in every situation, whether inside or outside of the car.

“For me at the moment he’s just the best,” added Weber.

Once nicknamed ‘Mr 20 Percent’, Weber said he also rates Vettel but advises the German to resist the temptation to follow Schumacher and Alonso to Ferrari.

“Right where he is he has the best team, the best car. I don’t know where he wants to go but I could not advise him to do anything other than extend his contract by ten years,” he added.

[OZCUBAN]

Formula 1: Red Bull concerns grow after Chinese Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso was pretty chirpy all through the Chinese Grand Prix weekend and he clearly had a good feeling about the Ferrari in Shanghai.

In the race, we found out why.

Ferrari had some new parts on the car in China, including a revised front-wing endplate, which may have helped the car a little bit.

He qualified well in third place and the car looked good as far as tyre management was concerned, and whenever you give Alonso an opportunity he tends to take it. He digs deep to get a result out of it.

The race he drove was exactly what I expected. In fact, I predicted on Saturday that he would win because you know that instead of just looking after the tyres, he drives them to the maximum they can take, without over-driving the car. And that is very important.

Alonso reminds me of Alain Prost in the mid-1980s. If Prost was anywhere near the front of the grid, you kind of knew he was going to win because he had the tools underneath him to do it.

It's the same with Alonso. You can never count him out wherever he is on the grid, but when he's close to the front and the car looks good, you know he is going to be difficult to beat.

At the start, the 'soft' tyres went off that bit quicker on Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes than they did on Alonso's Ferrari. Alonso got into the lead and that gave him the momentum.

Good strategy, good calls from the team. Everything worked for him.

There was a lot of talk about Alonso having been out-qualified by Massa in the previous four races but there are two things about that.

First of all, the first two qualifying sessions in Australia and Malaysia were both affected by rain; secondly, Felipe Massa has always been quick in a good car. But, if the car is not quite there he makes mistakes because he is always driving a little bit out of control.

Massa complained about tyre graining in the race in China. But he'll be a good back-up for Alonso, and he's quick enough to keep him looking at the timesheets and on his toes.

Red Bull off the ball

It was very unusual to see Red Bull taking a cutting tool to the barge boards on Sebastian Vettel's car in the garage during Friday practice.

Red Bull driver Mark Webber gets a lift back to the pits after losing his right-rear wheel

That is an indication of a mild panic. They knew the pace was not quite there and they needed to work on it a bit harder to get more downforce out of the car, which is what they were trying to do.

But when you do that, you're working blind. I spoke to Mark Webber a couple of times over the weekend and he said: "The car feels good. It's just not quick enough."

China is quite an unusual circuit. It has a lot of long corners and it is what they call front-end-limited - in that the front tyres wear out quicker than the rears.

On that kind of circuit, the Coanda exhaust systems that all the top teams use to boost rear downforce are not as big an advantage.

It is more of an advantage on a track where the car has more rear-end problems, and the team want to work the rear tyres less by getting more load into them - such as in Bahrain where F1 is racing this coming weekend.

So the teams such as Red Bull that have better Coanda systems will not benefit from them as much. That's why China alters the competitive order.

Red Bull are obviously still immensely strong. But with all the stuff that's going on - including the team orders row in Malaysia and the various problems that hit Webber in China - they do look like a team that is imploding a little.

The problem that led to Webber not having enough fuel in the car in qualifying was exactly the same as the one that hit Vettel in Abu Dhabi last year. A top team should not have those sorts of problems twice. It's easy enough to prevent.

Then his rear wheel fell off in the race. Now, we all make mistakes but somewhere along the line you have to pull that sort of stuff back in again or it gets a bit of momentum going.

So Red Bull really need a nice tidy weekend in Bahrain and a solid result for both cars to get themselves back on the road again.

Still work to do at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton's pole lap for Mercedes was very impressive, but the team again struggled for race pace.

They seem to be on the wrong side of the balance between getting the tyres to work well over one lap or over a race distance.

The car is quick in qualifying but it does fall off a bit more in the race - the opposite of the Ferrari.

You have to have a compromise somewhere, and they don't seem to have the compromise biased enough towards longer runs.

If they adjusted it, would they lose out in qualifying? Probably, but it would give them a better average performance.

Hamilton finished on the podium, which is a good result, but he was still struggling with the tyres in the race. And that has been a problem for them for three years now. They need to find a way to make the tyres last a bit better in the race.

Rocket Ricciardo

We always said when we watched the Toro Rosso in testing that it looked like the rear end would give up first - just as on the Ferrari, actually. So it's not a huge surprise that they would have a good result in China given the nature of the track, which helps the car.

Daniel Ricciardo took it with open arms and did a very good job, qualifying and finishing seventh.

The big tyre debate

There is a bit of navel-gazing in F1 at the moment about whether the Pirelli tyres are preventing proper racing because the drivers have to drive within themselves to manage their performance.

But at the end of the day, the fastest three drivers in qualifying were on the podium, albeit in a different order.

Points from the China Grand Prix

1. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari - 1:36:26.945 - 25 points

2. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus - 1:36:37.113 - 18 points

3. Lewis Hamilto n - Mercedes - 1:36:39.267 - 15 points

4. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - 1:36:39.470 12 points

5. Jenson Button - McLaren - 1:37:02.230 - 10 points

6. Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 1:37:07.772 - 8 points

7. Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso - 1:37:09.636 - 6 points

8. Paul di Resta - Force India - 1:37:18.029 - 4 points

9. Romain Grosjean - Lotus - 1:37:20.368 - 2 points

10. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber - 1:37:23.543 - 1 point

There are ways you could tweak the tyre rules to ensure people run in qualifying, which some did not in China and which definitely harms the show.

But in terms of the tyres themselves, I think they make teams think harder. Some make it work and some don't. There's nothing wrong with that.

You have to drive the car within its limits and the tyres are part of the car.

If Pirelli had gone to China with the medium tyre and the hard rather than the medium and soft, the most critical tyre would have done 25 laps. So it would have been a one-stop race. Is that what people want?

I ran three teams during the tyre-war era of the late 1990s and early 2000s, which some are saying was a time when drivers could push right to the limit all the time. But that's a fallacy. They could never go 100% all the time.

That was the era of refuelling, when the cars were never as heavy as they are in the first half of the race now, so they always looked after the tyres better.

The fastest way was a multi-stop race abusing the tyres. But if there was a one-stop race - such as was often case at Monza - you could not abuse the tyres, they would blister and fall off the rims.

F1 has never been any different in the 40 years I have known it. The only difference is the tyre-management aspect is more visible now and the complaints have developed a bit of momentum.

Whether F1 needs the DRS overtaking aid as well as the current tyres is a different issue - I would like to get rid of it and make the drivers fight more to overtake.

But F1 is a sport and, for the show, what we have now is very good.

And I guarantee that if we still had the Bridgestone tyres that were last used in 2010 and had become so good that the teams rarely needed to consider them, the viewing figures would be half what they are now.

Gary Anderson, BBC F1's technical analyst, is the former technical director of the Jordan, Stewart and Jaguar teams. He was talking to BBC Sport's Andrew Benson

[MIKA27]

F1 teams will be 'vigilant' in Bahrain

Several Formula One teams insist they won't be taking any additional security measures for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Protests in the Middle Eastern country have once again flared up ahead of this weekend's race and there have been calls from British MPs to cancel the race.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Bahrain has written a letter to Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone stating: "We request you cancel the Grand Prix.

"It is likely to attract as much negative publicity as last year."

Andy Slaughter, chairman of the Group, wrote: "Since April 2012, many more people including children have lost their lives and the whole country exists in fear and intimidation.

"Last year's race was held under conditions of martial law. Three hundred protesters were arrested, some spending months in jail.

"I think most democratic-minded people would be appalled if you allowed the Bahrain leg of the Formula 1 championship to go ahead amidst the most atrocious human rights violations."

The race, though, is set to go ahead and many teams are already en route to the Gulf country for the fourth race of the 2013 calendar.

According to BBC Sport, most teams won't be taking extra security measures despite the ongoing protests.

"The team will be vigilant and take sensible precautions, but otherwise we are approaching this race in the same way we do all races," Red Bull told the public broadcaster.

McLaren stated: "The team will be staying very near the circuit, at a hotel that has very good security, and we feel that no extra security measures are therefore necessary for us."

Williams added: "We are adhering to our normal security measures in Bahrain and just using usual common sense, nothing more."

Mercedes said: "The safety of our employees is our highest priority and we will follow the guidance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) concerning travel to the region.

"We have taken similar measures to those we used last year but would ask for your understanding that we do not wish to go into specific details."

[MIKA27]

Heikki: I'm here to help the team

Heikki Kovalainen says he's not out to secure a Caterham race-seat despite signing with the team for two Friday sessions.

With Caterham losing out to Marussia season and battling with a lack of experience in their line-up, the 31-year-old Finn was recalled earlier this week.

Kovalainenn will be back in action for his former team in the first Friday practice in Bahrain this weekend and will follow that up with another run in Spain.

"I'm here to help the race drivers right now," he said. "My role is different to what it was before.

"I'm working 100 per cent now for the team, and I'll give all I can to help the race drivers and help the team. Naturally if I'm pushing them, hopefully that makes them even quicker, that's what you always what in a team.

'But I think the guys have done a good job already this year. The car is not easy to drive. The car is fundamentally the same as last year, and other teams have made new cars, and it's fallen a little bit behind.

"It's going to be a tough task the race drivers are facing this year. They haven't made any big mistakes. Charles had a pretty good race in China, so that's really good."

Pressed by F1 journalist Adam Cooper as to whether he was angling for a return to Caterham or to replace another driver should a team opt to swap during this season, Kovalainen said: "Right now of course I work with Caterham, and I don't really look at the moment anywhere else.

"Before that yes I was at least hoping to be in that position. But no one's called me yet!"

[MIKA27]

Button: F1 is great at the moment

Jenson Button has gone against the grain, saying he reckons Formula One is "great at the moment" thanks to the Pirelli tyres.

Last time out in China many teams and drivers were unhappy with the Pirelli tyres especially as the soft rubber only gave them five good laps before it needed to be changed.

That, coupled with high degradation on all the compounds, resulted in several complaints and ultimately in Pirelli deciding to bring the medium instead of the soft compound to this weekend's Bahrain GP.

However, in the midst of negativity, there is at least one driver who is enjoying the show, Button.

"We are not going to be happy with everything in this sport, or in any sport, but I think the racing has been good fun," the McLaren driver said during Thursday's press conference at the Sakhir circuit.

"I was on the receiving end of it in the last race because I was doing less stops and running old tyres most of the race, but if you were doing a three-stop it seemed like it was a pretty fun race and they were able to push pretty hard.

"In the past, we had tyres that would last the whole race and there wasn't any overtaking. It's very difficult to get the balance right, but we are having two or three stops, which I think is what the idea was for racing in 2013, and there are a lot of teams fighting at the front.

"I think Formula 1 is great at the moment."

[MIKA27]

Perez: I have definitely felt the pressure at McLaren everyone is watching

Sergio Perez is not afraid to admit he is feeling the pressure at McLaren, as he has yet to settle into the team since he was signed from Sauber.

The 23-year-old Mexican, who took over from Lewis Hamilton after the 2008 Formula One world champion left for Mercedes at the end of last season, assured reporters at the Bahrain Grand Prix that he could handle it, however.

“I have definitely felt the pressure. At McLaren everyone is watching your performance – in every single practice session, every single race,” he said.

“I find it quite amazing that…after one bad weekend I received so many criticisms.

“If I am totally honest, I am not bothered about it. I am here to do my job and I will try my best this weekend and the next 16 weekends.”

Perez has scored points in only one of his three races for McLaren so far, a ninth place in Malaysia, but much of that is down to the car which has been far less competitive than the team had hoped.

Team mate Jenson Button, the 2009 champion, was fifth at the last race in China and ninth in the Australian season-opener. But he is in his fourth season with the team and is the most experienced driver on the starting grid.

In Shanghai, Perez tangled with Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen and was criticised by some rivals for weaving on the track when they tried to overtake.

After China, team principal Martin Whitmarsh supported the driver and told reporters that he had asked the Mexican to ‘use his elbows’ and be tougher on the track.

“We had a word about it, and it’s difficult to judge when you can be aggressive and when not,” said Perez, when asked about the comments.

“When you are on a different strategy and mainly looking after the tyres, the worst thing you can do is fight someone next to you who is on a different strategy, who is two or three seconds faster than you.

“So you are not fighting that guy, you are fighting someone who is behind you. It is a difficult balance to judge.”

Hamilton said he had watched Raikkonen and Perez battling in China and felt it had been a robust defence, although the Mexican had made his car “as wide as he could” at other times.

He knew also what Perez, who spent his first two years at Sauber, must be going through at McLaren although he felt it was less pressure than he had experienced on his debut in 2007.

“I would say it was easier for him because he’s been racing already in Formula One so he knows what it’s all about. He knows what it’s like with the first corner. I had no understanding what it was going to be like until I got here,” he said.

“But there is a lot of pressure when you are in such a strong and powerful team like that. It’s not easy. Just as it is here. The team relies heavily on you, on just those two drivers to pull those results out and if you don’t you feel it.

“He looks like an individual who feels it.”

[riazp]

Kimi fastest in Friday Practice...intresting...looking foward to seeing how they will qualify. I think I'll be rooting for Kimi this year, i just love that guys personality and his driving style

[MIKA27]

Kimi fastest in Friday Practice...intresting...looking foward to seeing how they will qualify. I think I'll be rooting for Kimi this year, i just love that guys personality and his driving style

Well... two of my guys reached the podium, Kimi and Romain. Great to see Romain Grosjean finally get a deserved podium.

[MIKA27]

Vettel: A beautiful race where you could push every single lap

Second victory of the year, 28th Formula 1 career win, back-to-back triumphs at Sakhir, Sebastian Vettel did not put a foot wrong on his way to dominating the Bahrain Grand Prix. The reigning champion returns to Europe, from a tough four race flyaway stanza, leading the championship standings by ten points. He spoke about his maximum big points haul in the desert.

Fantastic victory…

Sebastian Vettel: First of all, thank you very much, fantastic race. Big, big thank you to the team. A flawless, seamless race from start to finish. I knew it was crucial straight away after the start to get into the lead if I could and then go from there and look after the tyres. The pace was phenomenal. The car was very quick and it just started to get better and better towards the end. Really, a beautiful race where you could push every single lap. We took care of the tyres, so overall very happy. Also to have a woman on the podium [is good], I think it’s not happening every day. Gill Jones, she takes care of our electronics in the team, she looks after the boys, so great to have her up here as well.

There certainly was great wheel-to-wheel action on those early laps. Can you recall much of it? Was that just instinctive racing or can you give us a standout point from those early laps before you went on to your dominant victory?

SV: There’s no alcohol in this, so I can recall, yes. It was obviously very tight already in the first corner with Fernando on the outside. Unfortunately I had to give way. I wanted to line it up to get Nico probably on the next straight but then Fernando squeezed in. But then I got him back which was crucial. I saved some KERS and could out-accelerate him into Turn 6. And then Nico was a tough one. I really had to think for a while because he was quite quick down the straights. Obviously the headwind today helped all the cars behind but still it wasn’t as straightforward as I was hoping for and then again quite tight and out of Turn 4 I again managed to save a little bit of KERS up and got him on the inside and the track was clear and we could unfold the true pace of the car. Again, very, very straightforward race and incredible the pace we have today. We surely did not expect that. In the end it was quite controlled. We managed the gaps and we still had enough tyres to push towards the end. The other thing I would finally point out is congratulations to Renault. It’s the same order as last year so basically the first three cars on Renault engines. The guys back in Viry in France are pushing very, very hard and sometimes get criticised for not having the strongest engine but in the end we stand up here, three Renault-powered cars, so merci beaucoup, well done to them and looking forward to the next races.

Was that the sort of race you expected? Long periods when you just seemed out on your own, driving against a delta – or did you just expect it to be much more closely competitive than that?

SV: Surely I did not expect that. I think, yeah, was pretty dominant today, as I said, certainly not the expectation. Yeah, in the beginning, obviously quite tight, wheel-to-wheel racing. I knew it would be crucial to get in the lead if I can because then you have a little bit of an advantage, looking after your tyres and managing the race from there. I could feel that I was able to pull away and the medium compound felt pretty strong but then obviously we had three sets of new hards and for us the car seemed to work very well on those tyres. Obviously I realised in the second stint that I was able to open a gap so I thought, ‘right, I’ll take my chance as much as I can to pull away.’ Because you know it can only help at the end of the race, you don’t know what is going to happen. It probably buys us some flexibility. Fortunately we never got into a pressure situation again. But a very strong race. We were able to look after the tyres and really manage every stint the best way we could. I have to say, big compliments to the guys at home, to the guys here, on the strategy side. Yesterday wasn’t probably that straight forward but we decided to save the tyres that I mentioned and they seemed to work very good today and we had a very strong race, it all worked in our direction, so very pleased.

How crucial was it to get that place back from Fernando early on and do you think you would have been able to win with the advantage you eventually you had without getting him back at the start?

SV: Well, certainly we had more pace than we expected today, which I think is related to the way that we worked with the tyres. We know that the car is quick, we saw that yesterday that we were able to pull a strong qualifying lap together. Sure, it was crucial because another car in front and especially once you start to settle into a rhythm it’s difficult to overtake. I think today it was probably helped a little bit by the fact that there was quite a strong headwind down the main straight, so the advantage for DRS or for overtake was probably a little bit bigger than usual. At the beginning, I thought that if there was a small chance to get into the lead I have to take it because then I can take care of the tyres the way I like and hopefully divert the race the way that we planned beforehand, whereas if you sit behind someone and get stuck then you struggle, you lose grip, you start to slide and the tyres start to go off and you might have a different race, but surely with the pace that we had, I think we could have had a strong race, even not being in the lead immediately but I preferred it that way for sure.

We’ve heard quite a few negative comments about Pirelli’s rubber so far this year but the loudest voices that have complained have come from your team. Now you’re actually leading the Drivers’, leading the Constructors’ (championships); we’re seeing you do very well. Does this mean that we’re going to see an end to the complaints from Milton Keynes about the Pirelli tyres?

SV: Well, I think that certainly the fact that we won the Constructors’ championship the last three years makes people listen so probably more than other people. At least, from my point of view, I did talk about the tyres, I did complain but I always said that as long as there are other people doing a better job then we have no right to complain, we need to catch up. I don’t think you have to be a genius to see that from race to race some people suffer with the tyres – maybe someone more and some people less – and cannot go the true pace of their cars. It’s obviously very strategic these days but then again, it’s the same for all of us. Out of four races, I think we’ve had two good ones and two maybe average ones but then if you look at the results, the average is not really disastrous either. To come third and fourth is a very strong result and I’m sure not complaining about the results. Comparing Formula One to a couple of years ago, you probably have to ask Kimi more than me but it’s surely different, the fact that you can’t push as hard as you like every lap, you have to work with the tyres and sit at a certain pace and go from there. So I think that’s what we – at least the drivers that I have talked to – that’s what we think is very different and to some extent less enjoyable than in the past.

How different is this win to Malaysia, where there was a lot of criticism, and do you think that without Fernando’s DRS problem it might have been a little bit harder today?

SV: Regarding the second question, I don’t know or I can’t judge the Ferrari’s pace. I think the last couple of races they have been very strong, so everything else but a strong performance today would have been a surprise to be honest. But how strong, I don’t know. I think we felt pretty happy today and in very good shape. I don’t know where Felipe finished but we can’t really judge Fernando’s race with the problem that he had with the DRS that I was told, so difficult to say. The first question was? Ah yes, if you race for victory, you try to pass whoever is in front of you so I think Malaysia is a long time ago now, I think we’ve moved on and I think that in terms of crossing the line first there’s no difference. But obviously we were in a better position at the beginning of the race already, so a very very different race in that regard.

With these tyres, who would you rate as your strongest competitor for the championship?

SV: Well, I don’t know. It’s a long long championship. I think if you look at the first four races Lotus is very quick, they manage the tyres pretty well in the race. Ferrari is very quick, the cars haven’t changed too much compared to last year. If you look, pure performance is very tight. On a Sunday it can be different because of the way you take care of the tyres; sometimes you’re in a better shape, sometimes not. But I think the Ferrari is an all-round car as in they’re always quick and they’ve been very competitive in the race. Mercedes is surely very quick over a lap but probably a little bit too aggressive with the tyres. Yeah, a little bit surprised by McLaren but I think they will come back at some stage this year, probably already in Barcelona and that’s how it is but to point out the main rivals, I think we need to look after ourselves, make sure we score points and everything else is difficult to predict.

We know that Christian Horner is pushing Pirelli for harder tyres and we saw that it looks like today your car behaves a bit better on hard tyres. You had three sets of new hard tyres. Can you comment on that?

SV: Well, I’m not sure I understood everything but I think on the tyre strategy we were more or less committed to that yesterday, using all the softs in qualifying and able to position ourselves on the front row nicely for the race, and then trying to make the first stint as long as possible and go from there with three sets of new hard tyres. In the end, I think there was not that much difference between the medium and the hard, we already saw that yesterday on high fuel performance. We felt a little bit happier on long runs, probably on the hard, that’s why we decided to go that way and it seemed to work. It’s difficult to say how good or bad the medium would have been because we didn’t have a new set of medium tyres. I didn’t see what other people did but I think that the fact that we sit here is pointing out that we did a good job today on that front.