FORMULA 1 - 2013

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Grosjean: It wasn’t easy to find out what was missing

Up until the Bahrain Grand Prix Romain Grosjean had been completely overshadowed by teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus, but at Sakhir on a hot dusty afternoon the Frenchman stepped out of the shadows to kick start his season. Although he did not beat his illustrious teammate, at least Grosjean was in the same league for a change. He spoke at the post race functions.

Romain great race. You must feel a little bit of pressure off the shoulders because although this is only race four, the first three races didn’t really give you the results you were looking for. How do you feel?

Romain Grosjean: Yeah, that’s completely true. The first three races have been consistent but not what where we wanted. We worked hard, the whole team. It wasn’t easy to find out what was missing to get the feeling back into the car but basically we got it. Started the race with a strategy a bit different from everybody. We started on the hard tyre, thinking that we go long on the first stint, but got the debris on the car, so the race was a bit harder and we had to do some good fights on track but this is why we’re racing and what we enjoy. So, very pleased to be here, same as last year. Now just keep this consistency and get the results.

At the end you seemed awfully pleased with that third place, congratulations to be back on the podium. You say ‘this is where we should be’. Do you also believe this is where you should be?

RG: We’ve got a difficult start to the season. I think we’ve put in a lot of work and effort to understand what was exactly going on – I think we came back where we should be. Yesterday qualifying was a bit disappointing but never mind, we had a lot of new sets of tyres for today, which was good. At the start of the race… well after the first few laps there wasn’t optimism because we have a lot of big debris coming into the radiator and the rear brakes and we had to pit it very early because the temperature was going up. So I knew that the two first stints would be normally quite long on hard tyres and then do short on mediums but we had to pit and change the tyres. But then the car was good. And I think it was one of the races where I had the most overtaking manoeuvres and fights on track. Easy, not so easy, and the last ten laps was pretty good because I had a Force India in front of me. I knew I was much quicker but for how many laps is the medium because they start to lose pace? So I was trying to take care of them but at the same time pushing hard and finally back on the podium. The same podium as last year, so it’s pretty good to be here.

We read that Alain Prost said that your problem at the beginning of the season was self-confidence. Do you think that a result like this – if that is the problem – can help you?

RG: I think that the fact that you’re able to come back from a very difficult situation proves that I think he was wrong. I haven’t seen him this year, I have a deep respect for what he did but I think it’s easy to speak when you are not here.

Did the new chassis help at all?

RG: No. It was different matters. We got a bit lost last year. Our struggle mid-season – Hockenheim, Budapest and Spa-Francorchamps – and then we came back. There is so much technology with those cars and it’s true that Pirelli tyres are not easy to drive and every time we have a small problem somewhere it makes it worst but when you manage to get it right then it’s OK. It was just something with the feeling of the car; when you’re not confident with your car it’s not self-confidence, it confidence in your car, there’s nothing you can do.

Was it possible to do a two stop strategy like Kimi today? And do you expect the same kind of performances in the next races?

RG: Well, it would have been possible if we hadn’t had to stop on lap six or seven, due to the temperature problem and the front wing from a McLaren that flew and completely blocked the radiators. We had to stop because we were having water issues and the rear brake drum was completely closed, the brakes were not working any more. Kimi was in front of me, so it was better to stop rather than losing the brakes. Then tyre management was OK, I think it’s getting better and I don’t see any point where shouldn’t be able to repeat the performance.

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Kimi: We haven’t won and that’s what we try to do

Kimi Raikkonen finished in the points for the 21st time in succession when he powered to second place in the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Iceman is emerging a serious title contender, while Lotus continue to impress with formidable race pace and consistency. Raikkonen spoke after the race.

Another podium. Tell us about your strategy today. On reflection do you think that was the right one? Was second place the best you could hope for?

Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, I think yesterday wasn’t ideal. We planned to… I wanted to already, Friday, try to do a two-stop because it felt OK and today it worked well so we gained a lot of places. I didn’t have a very strong first or second lap, so I lost two places. After that the car started to come to me and I could start pushing more and more, and in the end it was OK.

You said you wanted to make a two-stop strategy work. You felt that was the right way forward. But did you need to be five, six places further up on the grid? Was it qualifying that cost you a chance of the win today?

KR: I think it didn’t help but I think overall we would not have had the speed for beating Red Bull in here this weekend. And even if yesterday we could have been a few places better but still we couldn’t have challenged on speed whatever we would have done to the front. So, I mean, I don’t think on the speedwise we could really have challenged for the win. But I would say then second was the best that we could achieve and also third for the team so a good result.

You have been on the podium six times here in Bahrain; which has been the best of these six races?

KR: I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter. Second is obviously better than third place but we haven’t won and that’s what we try to do. Today we got good points, we didn’t lose too many to Sebastian but obviously it doesn’t help to finish second if he’s winning all the time. So we try to find something but all of them have been improved, in a way.

How much different is the tyre situation to how it was seven, maybe eight years ago?

KR: First of all, I don’t think Pirelli could please everybody, whatever they would do. There’s always somebody who will complain, even if they changed and made them happy then I’m sure there will be people who want something different and not happy so I don’t think it’s their job to try to always change things if somebody’s complaining or doesn’t like it. Even in the past, if we would have put the same amount of fuel in the cars, we couldn’t have run at full speed all the time, because the tyres would have gone off so I don’t really think it’s all that different now. We just made more stops and ran less fuel in those days. I would say that’s really the biggest difference. I’m sure the tyres wouldn’t have lasted long in those days.

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Ferrari: A very complicated Sunday for both drivers

Team and drivers report from the Bahrain Grand Prix, Round 4 of the 2013 Formula 1 world championship, at Sakhir.

Stefano Domenicali: “This is definitely not the outcome we expected after showing all weekend long that we were capable of fighting for the top places. Today’s result needs to be put behind us in a hurry, although there is a feeling of great disappointment that we were unable to bring home the hoped for result. Despite his problem with the DRS, Fernando produced a blistering drive, pulling off overtaking moves and setting lap times that were absolutely incredible. Felipe’s race was also very complicated: first of all he was involved in a collision at the start of the race, which damaged the front wing on his F138, then he had tyre problems which compromised his race still further. An initial analysis after the first four races indicates that we did not pick up as many points as we should have done. In just over three weeks, we will be back on track in Europe and it will be important to turn this trend around immediately. Until then, we will knuckle down and continue with the development of a car that still has plenty of potential to offer”.

Fernando Alonso: “We definitely didn’t have much luck today and that’s a real shame, at the end of what had been such a positive weekend for me and Felipe up until this afternoon. We had been competitive in free practice and qualifying and we were both expecting to have a good race. After the opening laps, when I thought the rear tyres had gone off, the pit wall informed that the DRS was stuck. It wasn’t fixed properly at the first stop and so I had to come in for another one. From then on, the clear instruction from the pit wall not to use it affected my race. I tried to recover but it was really difficult finding places to overtake without DRS. When you are far back, in the middle of a group, tyre degradation is even harder to manage. I am sure that without the problems me and Felipe had, we would have finished higher up, because the car responds very well and it is definitely our best of the last four years.

But having a good race involves a lot of factors, including a bit of luck. Let’s hope it balances out very soon, maybe even starting in Barcelona, my home race. There, it will be even more important to have a good qualifying, because it’s not easy to overtake on that track and so starting from the front is vital”.

Felipe Massa: “I was really unlucky in this race and even if it’s true that many things can happen in this sport, I can’t find an explanation for why so many of them have to be negative. At the start, I lost ground after the collision with Sutil and then I lost even more time coming back to the pits to change tyres and that wiped out any chance of having a good race. At the start, I suffered a bit with understeer, but I don’t believe that was the cause of my problems, while we still need to check what happened to my tyres that failed in this way. In the first instance it was probably delamination on the right rear and in the second it might have been due to a puncture. Now we must try and understand exactly what happened and immediately turn our attention to the next race”.

Pat Fry: “This was a very complicated Sunday for both drivers. On lap 6, a problem occurred with the DRS on Fernando’s car which forced us to bring forward his first stop to try and fix the rear wing which literally turned upside down. The first attempt from the mechanics was not enough to fix the problem and a second stop to try and fix it further cost valuable time. It’s a real shame because even with a damaged car, his race pace was among the best and it should have been enough to see us finish second or even fight for the win. Massa didn’t have an easy time either and after the collision immediately after the start came problems with his tyres: it’s not yet clear what provoked the first incident, while the second was almost certainly a puncture. It’s very probable that in part, this can be attributed to debris on the track. Even though we missed out on a good result we leave Bahrain in the knowledge that we can fight at the front and so we are even more motivated to keep improving”.

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Red Bull: There is a lot to be happy about

Team and drivers report from the Bahrain Grand Prix, Round 4 of the 2013 Formula 1 world championship, at Sakhir.

Sebastian Vettel, Finish Position: WINNER! Start Position: 2nd

“It was good fun at the beginning with some very tight wheel to wheel racing. At the start you don’t know if you will be quick or not, as everyone is a bit all over the place, including yourself! It’s important to get to the front; we saw at the last race that if you get stuck behind someone then it does have an impact on tyre wear and today it was important to make use of the tyres we had saved from qualifying yesterday. I love to be in clean air, so I was pushing hard to get into the lead and, with the speed we had mid-race, it was quite comfortable today. Well done to the whole team, to everyone here, to the factory in the background and especially to those who were working on the strategy today; it worked just as we expected, so we obviously got the numbers right.”

Mark Webber, Start Position: 7th, Finish Position: 7th

“The beginning wasn’t too bad, but we lost quite a bit of time in the second stint trying to clear people. We went aggressive on the first few out laps, which meant we jumped people, but the tyres didn’t like it. That meant the second stint was a disaster really in terms of pace at the end and that loaded the other two stints up. In the middle of the race I thought I could get on the podium, but then it was about pace management and it’s a fine line between racing and saving tyres. Others pitted a bit before me at the end, but it wasn’t enough for me to get home. If you race people hard then you run out of tyres, but if you don’t then they come through. In the end it was a pretty good battle with Lewis for both of us; neither of us had any tyres left, but we were trying to race as best we could.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal: “An absolutely impeccable drive from Sebastian today. He executed two brilliant overtakes, one on Fernando and the other on Nico Rosberg. After that he dominated the race until the finish and managed his tyres brilliantly. The strategy worked perfectly with the tyres that we conserved in qualifying, which ended with a dominant win on a three-stop strategy.

For Mark, after racing very well in the first stint and making progress through the first round of pit stops, in the second stint he pushed very hard on the first few laps which effectively elevated him into second position. Unfortunately he couldn’t achieve the longevity in that stint, which put him under pressure for the final two. His last stop put him in the range of those on two-stops, and then it was a matter of making it to the end. Despite fighting fantastically well and racing very hard with Lewis, he ran out of rear tyres before the end of the race, but still got some valuable points.”

Thierry Salvi, Renault: “Today Seb and the team called a perfect race. All the same it wasn’t easy; racing here is tough, with a lack of grip, high temperatures and the humidity was more than expected. Delivering the right engine settings for these conditions and fuel consumption rate while maintaining stability is a careful balance but everything seemed to work well today, although it was a shame Mark lost a couple of positions on the last lap. It’s the 36th win for the Red Bull Racing-Renault partnership, and the 154th for a Renault engine, plus a clean sweep of the podium for the RS27, so there is a lot to be happy about today.

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McLaren: We always allow our drivers to race

Team and drivers report from the Bahrain Grand Prix, Round 4 of the 2013 Formula 1 world championship, at Sakhir.

Sergio Perez: MP4-28A-02

“That was an incredible race – really enjoyable. I have to thank the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team first of all – we’ve been through some difficult times recently, but they kept on supporting me. All in all, it’s been a solid weekend – we got pretty much the maximum from the car, ran a great strategy, looked after the tyres, and scored some very useful points. I guess I was a little aggressive on track today; banging wheels with Jenson was perhaps a little too risky, a little too hard, but the team never came on the radio to tell us to stop racing. There were no team orders. There was a lot of adrenaline from both of us, and Jenson is always a very strong racer, but hopefully we’ll help each other a little more in the future. He was calm and friendly after the race, though, which was great; but that isn’t surprising because he’s a great guy as well as a great driver.”

Jenson Button: MP4-28A-03

“Today wasn’t brilliant for me. Okay, the race was a lot of fun, but I didn’t get the result I wanted because I used up my tyres fending off Checo. There was a lot of action out there, and as I say I wasn’t really able to conserve my tyres as a result. That was partly because I had to work my way back through after my second pitstop, when I’d been fighting with Romain [Grosjean]. But there was a lot of clean racing out there too – although as I say Checo was a bit tough, which was a little unusual. He did a good job overall though: he had good pace, and he looked after his tyres well. So, congratulations to him, because together we scored some very useful points for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team today.”

Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“The 2013 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix was a fantastic motor race, and I’m sure it was hugely entertaining for the tens of millions of viewers who watched it at home as well as for those lucky enough to be here at Sakhir to see it for real. Checo drove his best race for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes so far, passing both Fernando [Alonso] and Mark [Webber] in the closing stages, to finish a fighting sixth at the flag. It was a very good drive, especially when you consider that he was able to maintain such strong race pace despite having sustained damage to his rear wing and one of his front-wing endplates. Jenson would have finished right up there, too, had he not had to make an extra tyre stop with just 10 laps to go. Nonetheless, he, too, finished in a solid points-scoring position. The two of them spent much of the afternoon in close proximity to each other – sometimes in nail-bitingly close proximity actually – but that’s motor racing. Both Jenson and Checo are fast, forceful and hungry for success – and that’s exactly how it should be. It’s called racing, and we at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes always allow our drivers to race. It’s what this sport is all about. Having said that, it’s probably fair to say that Checo was a little too combative with Jenson this afternoon, and I think he knows that. From here we travel back to Woking [surrey, UK], where we’ll work hard on our upgrade package for Spain, where in three weeks’ time we hope to continue the process of demonstrating the fruits of our steady development of MP4-28 into the competitive machine we need it to be.”

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Force India: A tremendous job by the team

It was a successful day for Sahara Force India in Bahrain as Paul Di Resta raced to a strong fourth place. Teammate Adrian Sutil’s hopes of points ended with a first lap puncture.

P4. Paul Di Resta: VJM06-04

“It’s great to round off the fly-away races with a fourth place and a race that was probably my strongest Grand Prix. The podium was very close, but with our strategy we were always going to be vulnerable at the end of the race – especially to Grosjean who had two new sets of medium tyres. I had a good start to the race, a strong opening stint and we showed our true speed today, but ultimately fourth place was the maximum that was possible. We will get on the podium one day, hopefully soon, but for now we can be very happy with the points we’ve scored today. A big thanks to the whole team because it’s been an excellent weekend and I feel we managed to get 100% out of the car.”

P13. Adrian Sutil: VJM06-03

“It’s disappointing to get a puncture in a race that looked so promising. My start was clean and I was racing Massa going into turn four. I was on the outside; I gave him a lot of space but he was off-line and made contact with my front right tyre. I don’t know what he did exactly but I had a puncture immediately. I had to pit and lost a lot of time, which ended my chance of scoring points. I had amazing pace in the race and I just kept my head down to try and recover something from the race, but I had lost too much with the puncture. But I’m happy for the team and fourth place for Paul gives us more points. There are many more races to come so we will keep focused and next time score points with both cars.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director

“A tremendous job by the team and a wonderful drive by Paul saw us come within a whisker of the podium today. Although we missed out on third, the twelve points scored keep us up in fifth place in the Championship and give us every reason to be optimistic for the coming races. Of course, we could have achieved so much more had Adrian not picked up a puncture on lap one. The contact with Massa proved very costly because Adrian’s race pace was on a par with Paul’s and we should have brought both cars home in the points. We will focus on the positives and enjoy this fourth place, which has confirmed the pace of the car and shown once again that we can race up at the front and beat some of the top teams.”

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Sauber: We can’t be satisfied with this race

It was a disappointing Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix for the Sauber F1 Team. In a race that had plenty of pit stop action and exciting duels, Nico Hülkenberg finished 12th and Esteban Gutiérrez, who started last, finished in 18th. After just one lap, the Mexican had to pit because of a broken front wing. The find of the weekend was that the car is simply not competitive on this track and an improvement is expected in Barcelona.

Nico Hülkenberg: 12th

“It was a difficult and frustrating weekend. It was clear from the beginning that we were not fast enough and that it would be challenging. We are lacking speed and eat up the rear tyres too much so it simply wasn’t enough this weekend. We pitted a bit too late, because we expected to have more problems on low fuel, which in the end we didn’t have. That cost us at least one position. This weekend clearly showed we need to bring some new parts to Barcelona in order to improve our speed and fight for points.”

Esteban Gutiérrez: 18th

“I expected a difficult race and this is what I got. We need to find more speed. On the first lap I had contact down into turn 10, which was really hard to avoid. Apart from that, things were quite ok, but, of course, finishing a race like this is definitely not enough and we need to improve. We have to analyse the strategy and hopefully we will bring some good updates to Barcelona.”

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal:

“We can’t be satisfied with this race. We knew this track would be difficult for our car, but this cannot be an excuse. It’s important that we gathered a lot of information over the last two races, which we will use as a basis for the development of the car. Nico drove a good race, so it is now our job to provide him with a quicker car. This race was a good example of how exciting Formula One can be.”

Tom McCullough, Head of Track Engineering:

“It was clear it would be difficult for Esteban starting at the back of the grid. Unfortunately, we had to change the front wing after the first lap. It was then impossible for him to recover from there. Nico’s race went as planned, but we were just not quick enough to score points, so we have to have a good look at our data, regroup and prepare for Barcelona.”

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Mercedes: High track temperatures were clearly not good for you

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finished the Bahrain Grand Prix in fifth and ninth places today after battling drives, however both cars struggled badly when temperatures were at their highest in the early stages of the race.

• Lewis completed a three-stop strategy to finish in fifth place after starting ninth
  
• He stopped on laps 10, 22 and 38, running option/option/prime/prime
  
• After starting from pole, Nico was forced to convert to a four-stop strategy at the end of his third stint
  
• He stopped on laps 9, 20, 33 and 44, running option/prime/prime/option/option
  

Lewis Hamilton

I’m really happy with our result today. It’s been a tough weekend for us but we got through it and finishing in fifth place was some good damage limitation. My race didn’t start well at all. I was looking after the tyres but I really struggled on the first two stints and was falling back. But as the temperatures dropped, the car picked up and then I had the grip that I needed to push and close the gap. I had so much fun fighting with Mark at the end. We really needed that point and I was so determined to get by. It was good, clean wheel-to-wheel racing. I’m very proud of what we have achieved over the first four races and to be third in the Drivers’ Championship is beyond any of our expectations. But we’ve got to keep pushing and find more performance. We’re hanging on by the skin of our teeth at the moment and, if we can make that next step, then we can close the gap.

Nico Rosberg

A tough day for me. As nice as it was to start from pole this afternoon, it was just as hard to finish in ninth place. I didn’t feel comfortable in the car today and it wasn’t much fun out there really. We switched to a four-stop strategy at the end of my third stint but it wasn’t enough. We were using the rear tyres too much and at the end, I was really struggling and wasn’t able to push hard enough. There is a lot of work ahead and we need to focus on why our race performance isn’t matching the pace that we can show in qualifying. Hopefully we can make some steps here before the European season starts.

Ross Brawn

We struggled badly in the early part of the race when the track temperatures were at their highest. This is an issue we have to address and we will continue working on solutions to improve our performance in this area. In the second half of the race, as the track temperatures cooled somewhat, our pace was not bad – particularly with Lewis. We got two cars home in the points, both drivers enjoyed some exciting wheel-to-wheel racing and the pit crew delivered some great stops. Lewis and Nico did as good a job as possible with the car we had this afternoon but it was a case of damage limitation for both of them. However we must make it a priority to cope better with elevated temperatures: the tyres are the same for everybody and we are not performing as well as our competitors in these conditions.

Toto Wolff

We knew it would be a tough day and the high track temperatures were clearly not good for us. That’s not an excuse but a priority area to improve. We need to analyse carefully why we suffered so much, particularly in the early stages, and why we were not on the pace. Both drivers were tough but fair in defending their positions and delivered some good racing, particularly Lewis in the closing stages. But from a team perspective we must see this as a disappointing result. We learned a lot this afternoon but it is clear that we still have a lot to learn.

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Caterham: It’s been a good weekend for the team

Team and drivers report from the Bahrain Grand Prix, Round 4 of the 2013 Formula 1 world championship, at Sakhir.

Charles Pic, car 20, chassis CT03-#6: “That’s our best race of the year so far and one the whole team should be pleased with. I quickly passed both the Marussia cars after starting on the medium tyres which held up for the first stint pretty well, allowing me to pit for the first time on lap 11. By that point the car felt good, well balanced and I was pulling away from the cars behind without any issues. We stayed on the hard tyres for the second stint and again the deg levels were good. I passed Gutierrez and was running comfortably in 16th until Sutil got past about two thirds of the way through the race.

“As the fuel levels dropped the deg levels increased a little but it wasn’t an issue. I was keeping pace with Ricciardo just ahead, and keeping Gutierrez behind me and we decided to stay out after the third stop so I did a very long stint on the hard tyres, 21 laps, and brought it home in 17th. I’m really pleased with how close we finished to the Toro Rosso ahead, and the fact we kept a Sauber behind – maybe if I’d been slightly further up the road after the start we could have beaten Ricciardo, but we can take this performance as a good step and look forward to what’s coming next in Spain.”

Giedo van der Garde, car 21, chassis CT03-#5: “I didn’t have a great start but I was up to about 16th with a couple of other cars going into turn four and saw that Vergne had spun and was moving off the line. I tried to miss him but couldn’t and we made contact which destroyed my front wing and basically ended my race on the first lap. I couldn’t really do anything from that point so I just got my head down and pushed but after losing so much time with the unplanned stop on lap one, and having a delaminated right front after my fourth stop, there really wasn’t anyone to race with. From that point I just made sure I brought the car home and used this as another step in my learning curve. Despite today it’s been a good weekend for the team. The developments we put on my teammate’s car have worked well and there’s another step to come in Spain when I’ll have the same package as Charles. From that point I think my season will look different. We’ll be on tracks I know really well, from GP2, World Series and from F1, and with the updates we have coming we have reasons to be positive. The first four races have been exactly what I thought they would – pretty tough, but I’m learning all the time and the whole team’s right behind me. I’m feeling really good physically and mentally and I can’t wait to get started again in Barcelona.”

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Williams: We can be positive that we are fighting with the midfield

Team and drivers report from the Bahrain Grand Prix, Round 4 of the 2013 Formula 1 world championship, at Sakhir.

Race Notes

• Pastor Maldonado finished 11th with Valtteri Bottas 14th in today’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
  
• The team split strategies once again with both cars running a three-stop race but with Pastor starting on the medium option tyre while Valtteri started on the hard prime tyre.
  
• Both drivers had solid races getting the most they could out of the FW35 today.
  

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: Having seen our pace on Friday, we were expecting a better race performance than what we showed in qualifying, and that is what happened today. We planned three pitstops with both cars and our strategy worked as we had hoped. We nearly got into the points, and although some cars ahead had problems, we were still pushing to the chequered flag. Both cars would likely have been fighting each other again at the end, but Valtteri lost some time due to a problem during his pitstops. We now need to continue improving the car performance for the next races.

Pastor Maldonado: Considering the problems we have been having, I think we got 100% out of the car today. We put everything together today, working well as a team and managing the tyres, and 11th was the maximum we could have achieved. We are really looking forward to the next race where we should see a step forward. We must stay together and positive. It’s a difficult time, but we still have many races to go.

Valtteri Bottas: The race was really dominated by the rear tyres today. In the first two stints I was fighting with a lot of cars so it was difficult to look after the tyres and manage the pace. The last two stints were better as I had more clean air and managed to make up some ground on the cars ahead. We now need to keep on working to get some updates to help us in coming races.

Laurent Debout, Renault Sport F1 team support leader: Whilst finishing outside the points cannot be an entirely satisfactory result, we can be positive that we are fighting with the midfield to get in the top 10. Pastor drove a controlled race and was just outside the points so we need to keep this momentum going for the coming races. With time we can get back to where we want to, and should be, racing.

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Bahrain GP tech briefing: how DRS works and how it can go wrong

Ferrari suffered an unusual problem with Fernando Alonso's car in the Bahrain Grand Prix, when the rear wing flap became stuck open when the Drag Reduction System (DRS) was used early in the race.

This problem could not be fixed and Alonso was without DRS until the finish.

DRS is usually reliable. The only notable failure of it before was the Mercedes system on Michael Schumacher's car being stuck open and forcing his retirement in Canada last year.

DRS was introduced to the sport in 2011 as an overtaking aid and concession for the F-duct which had been banned. Under certain conditions the driver is allowed to lift the rear flap open, to create a 50mm gap between the flap and the wing's main plane. This boosts top speed, allowing for easier overtaking on the nominated straights.

Teams use the car's hydraulic system to open the flap. This requires pipework leading up from the gearbox to an actuator on the wing.

Over the years the position of the actuator and how it opens the flap have changed.

Initially most teams had the actuator in the rear wing support pylon and it simply pushed upwards to open the flap. This was soon discarded and the actuator mounted inside a pod mounted above the wing. This kept the negative aerodynamic effect of the hydraulic actuator well clear of the wing.

Inside this pod the actuator will either pull the wing open directly or with a small rocker. This will be arranged to ensure the wing opens at no more than the 50mm gap stipulated in the rules.

When the hydraulic pressure is applied to the actuator the piston inside moves forwards in a few milliseconds, pulling open the wing in the process.

When the hydraulic pressure is released, the air pressure on the flap allows the wing to close without any hydraulic assistance.

In Alonso's case the actuator pulls the wing open with a simple link, much like the Lotus solution pictured above. However the mechanism allowed the flap to open too far, the airflow caught under the flap and flipped it over-centre to prevent the flap closing as it would usually do.

It was clear at the first stop that the flap easily pushed back into position, but on its first use on the out-lap the same problem occurred.

Unable to change the mechanism, Alonso was left without the system for the remainder of the race.

It appears that the mechanism failed to prevent the wing opening too far.

This 'end stop' might either be in the linkage or the hydraulic actuator itself.

Although this was a unique failure, Ferrari will need to review this problem ahead of the next race in Spain.

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Fernando Alonso sure his rivals' luck will turn

Fernando Alonso is sure his Formula 1 title rivals will also have to deal with the kind of misfortunes that have blighted his start to the 2013 season.

The Spaniard's DRS flap jammed open in the early stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix, while he was in the hunt for the lead.

He was forced to make successive emergency stops before the problem was rectified, meaning that by lap nine he was 19th and no longer had the use of the DRS to make his way back through the field.

Despite that Alonso eventually came home eighth, although he had been running seventh, and on the tail of the fight for fifth, until the final lap.

Having also retired from the Malaysian Grand Prix when his damaged front wing collapsed, Alonso acknowledged that it had been a messy start to his season.

But he is sure his luck - and his opposition's - will turn around.

"We were very, unlucky," Alonso said.

"In four races we've had two very unlucky moments.

"But it will come for the others and in that moment we will take our opportunity."

Alonso, who has won and finished runner-up in his two clean races of 2013, said his DRS woes massively compromised his race.

"It was very difficult," he added.

"I stopped two times in two laps so was at the back of the group, with no DRS to pass.

"The race became very, very difficult."

[MIKA27]

Jenson Button says Sergio Perez was too aggressive in Bahrain duel

Jenson Button believes his McLaren team-mate Sergio Perez was too aggressive in battling with him during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The two McLarens made contact on more than one occasion as they battled for points.

One of the incidents left Perez with a damaged front wing, as he clipped the rear of Button's car on the exit of Turn 4.

Button urged the team to make Perez 'calm down' over the radio, but the battle continued and more contact followed.

"I was very vocal on the radio, emotions were running high, but I would say exactly the same again," Button said.

"The racing was great out there. The only person that wasn't was Checo [Perez].

"He was too aggressive, I would say. At 300 km/h, you don't expect your team-mate to come alongside you and bang wheels with you.

"It was a bit of a surprise, and I'm probably not the only one that feels like that.

"That's something you do in karting, and normally you grow out of it."

Perez felt Button had been just as uncompromising with him.

"I think I was as aggressive as he was with me," said the Mexican.

"It was probably too much. We could both have ended our races."

Perez ultimately finished sixth after his best performance for McLaren so far.

Button had to make a fourth pitstop and ended up 10th.

[MIKA27]

ALONSO AND WEBBER: THE JOINT 200TH GP CHAT:

There has been something of a phoney war going on this week with Fernando Alonso mischievously tweeting a photo of himself having dinner with Red Bull’s Mark Webber in Dubai. In the light of the climate of antagonism between Webber and team mate Sebastian Vettel after the team orders debacle in Malaysia, the photo assumed a different significance and that was exacerbated when it was mysteriously taken down.

There is nothing unusual about them having dinner together; they do it regularly. However, both drivers are celebrating 200 Grands Prix and on Thursday and ahead of yesterdays Bahrain Grand Prix, the BBC got Webber and Alonso to sit down together to talk through their shared experiences. Some of the chat was broadcast last night on BBC Radio 5 Live the whole chat was shown during BBC TV’s Live Spanish Grand Prix coverage. There is some terrific banter, which shows how well the pair get along.

“What are your memories of your first race?” Webber asked.

“It was quite scary,” said Alonso. “I arrived at the first race and I hadn’t had any testing. I jumped in the car and I didn’t know all the buttons on the steering wheel, especially the neutral. I went down the pit lane and went down the gears, down, down looking for neutral, but I couldn’t find it! At the last moment I got it and missed hitting the car in front of me! That was a good start!”

Webber made his debut, also with Minardi, a year later and recalled, “I wasn’t comfortable in the car’ you’d been there, a short arse and so I had my knees on top of the chassis, the elbows in the side.”

“Was it strange making your debut in your home race,” interjected Alonso.

“It is strange yes,” said Webber, referring to the Australian GP 2002, where he finished fifth and scored points on debut.

“Fortunately for you, you’ve won your home race. I was speaking to Jenson; he’s never won his home race, I’ve never won mine. I enjoy Melbourne, but I think I used up all my coins in that first race!”

“What was your favourite race?” Alonso asked.

“Probably one of the Monaco wins, the 2010 race, I think,” said Webber. “I was fortunate that you crashed in Practice 3, which helped me a bit, because you were quick, along with Robert (Kubica) and Seb. The win was between us. Yours?”

“Probably Malaysia 2012,” said Alonso. “It was completely unexpected. I started 9th and then the red flag. When you stop for an hour it’s really challenging for the drivers, to see how the grip has changed.”

Webber and Alonso have had some terrific battles over the years, not least their classic scrap at Spa in 2011, where Webber passed Alonso on the outside on the way into the Eau Rouge corner and you can sense the respect and cameraderie between them whenever you see them together, such as in the cool down room or off camera in the Unitateral TV studio after a race,

“We’ve had some really good times on the track (over their 200 races together),” said Webber. “There’s a few guys out there; you, Jenson, the racing can be really hard and fair and looking a bit more at the bigger picture.”

“It’s good to battle with someone you respect and the battle can be fair. I think we met in many starts at the first corner,” said Alonso.

“The last three or four years we have been fighting for the first three or four positions.

“Some of the rookies that arrive in F1 with a GP2 mentality, it’s very risky,” said Alonso, possibly reflecting on last year’s Belgian GP start, where he was taken out by Romain Grosjean.

They also spoke about life after F1, Alonso said that he is interested in driving other cars because F1 is so restrictive in terms of testing bans and opportunities to have fun. They agreed that Fridays at Grands Prix do not satisfy them. Although they are compelled to drive in F1 by the challenge of racing at the highest level and competing against the best drivers in the world, they are conscious of there being more to life.

“We enjoy this category (of racing), but there are others and more fun cars to drive, ” said Alonso. There is a lot of pressure and the enjoyable moments are less and less. Sometimes we go in a kart and enjoy more.”

“There is life outside F1.”

You can read between the lines.

As my colleague Gary Anderson observed, in F1 you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

If the Dubai photo was designed to upset Vettel, he refused to take the bait,

“We all need dinner at some point and it’s quite boring to always have it on your own.”

It’s a classic piece of F1 gamesmanship by Alonso and Webber. Vettel accused the Australian of doing nothing to help him in their years as team mates. He knows now, if he had been in any doubt before, that his arch rival Alonso has an ally within his own camp.

[MIKA27]

Button accuses Perez of 'dirty' driving

Jenson Button says Sergio Perez needs to "calm down" before his "dirty" driving results in "something serious" happening.

In the wake of the Chinese GP, Perez was lambasted by his team boss and told to use his "elbows" and "toughen up."

The Mexican driver took Martin Whitmarsh's words to heart.

Battling with Button on more then one occasion in Bahrain on Sunday, the former Sauber driver gave it his all and then some.

Breaking his front end-plate when he hit the back of Button, Perez's next tussle saw him edged off the track by the British driver.

That, though, did not stop him and he came back for more eventually finishing sixth to Button's tenth.

And although Button rates his new team-mate very highly, the 2009 champ was not impressed with Sunday's showing.

"I was so angry and you have to be careful," Button told the Telegraph. "Being in Formula One for so long, you learn how to control your anger, but you still get close to your limit and it was one of those days.

"I'm not used to driving along a straight and having a team-mate coming alongside me and wiggling his wheels at me, and banging wheels at 300 kilometres an hour.

"That isn't normally the way I go racing. Maybe it's the way we go racing now, but it's not the way I want to. He touched me from behind and he touched me on the side going in a straight line at 300 kilometres an hour. That's dangerous.

"I've had some tough fights in F1, but not quite as dirty as that. Something serious will happen soon, so he has to calm down."

[MIKA27]

Bulls still unhappy with Pirelli

Despite claiming a dominant victory in Bahrain, Christian Horner says his Red Bull outfit still wants Pirelli to change their tyres.

Sebastian Vettel became the first double winner of 2013 when he took the chequered flag in Bahrain to add his Malaysian triumph.

His victory, though, has done little to quiet Red Bull's calls for Pirelli to change their tyres, which suffer from high degradation.

Asked by Autosport whether Red Bull were 'happy' with the Pirellis after their Bahrain win, Horner said: "No, I think the tyres are still too on an edge.

"Needing to four-stop in a race is I think a bit too extreme.

"There are other teams that look like they have bigger issues than Red Bull with their tyres, but you need to speak to them to ask their opinion.

"But I do feel the tyres are on an edge and just need to come back a little bit."

The team boss said that Red Bull had yet to get a handle on the Pirelli tyres, adding that Vettel's dominance was only because the team had managed to find the sweet spot for one race.

"These tyres are very complex and we got it just right here.

"The strategy worked, the strategy from qualifying worked in conserving tyres for the race, and Seb had plenty in hand.

"When you're in the window with the balance with these tyres, then you can have a dominant display.

"But that window is very, very fine and if you're outside of it then you can be four or five-stopping."

[MIKA27]

Lloyds sell Marussia stake

Lloyds Banking Group has sold its 25.3 per cent stake in the Marussia Formula One team.

The decision to sell comes after Formula One not only failed to perform on the track but also made huge financial losses.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the backmarker outfit, who has yet to get off the mark in F1, made a "net loss of £46.3m on revenue which dropped 5pc to £28.6m" in the year ending December 31 2011.

As such Lloyds Development Capital (LDC), the private equity division of the bank, sold their shares in the team.

A spokesman told the British newspaper: "LDC has sold its minority shareholding in the Marussia F1 team to Marussia.

"While the details will remain undisclosed, the terms of the transaction will enable LDC to recoup the full value of its investment in the business."

[MIKA27]

Gill Jones makes Formula 1 history on Bahrain podium

Champions Red Bull claimed a Formula One first on Sunday by sending a female team member up to the podium to collect their constructors’ trophy after Sebastian Vettel won the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Gill Jones, the team’s head of trackside electronics with responsibility for all the electronics in the racing cars and garage, joined world champion Vettel for the ceremony at the Sakhir circuit.

“It was great to send an important member of our team up today, Gill Jones, who has done an awful lot,” team principal Christian Horner told reporters.

“I think she’s probably the first woman to go and collect a constructors’ trophy. It was great to see her up there representing the team as well today.”

Formula One has no female drivers and the only women on the podium usually are the grid girls and hostesses standing by as the drivers celebrate.

Sauber have a female team principal in Monisha Kaltenborn, but the Swiss team have not won a race in her time in charge. Williams have Claire Williams as deputy team boss to her father Frank.

[MIKA27]

Massa bewildered by Bahrain tyre failures

In the wake of the Bahrain GP weekend, a new problem could be emerging for Pirelli, as the mere safety of its already controversial 2013 Formula 1 tyres is now called into question.

The occurrence of tyre failures – or delaminations – appears to be on the rise this season, amid already widespread criticism of the heavily-degrading Pirellis.

“I’ve never had two problems (failures) with tyres in one race. I don’t know what it is, but it’s too much,” Ferrari’s Felipe Massa is quoted as saying by Sky Italia after the Bahrain race.

“Maybe there was debris on the track, but I didn’t feel any contact,” he added.

Pirelli chief Paul Hembery said the Italian marque’s engineers had identified “cuts” on the failed tyre, “and we’re currently trying to find out what caused those cuts”.

But Massa told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport that his first problem was caused “probably by delamination of the tread, like (Lewis) Hamilton in practice”.

One theory doing the rounds is that Pirelli’s extreme, show approach to degradation in 2013 has compromised the basic safety of the tyres.

“It’s hard to say,” Massa responded, “it hasn’t happened to me before, and we’ve already had a few races this year, so no.But we do need to understand what happened and then make sure we are putting any complaining in the right direction.”

[MIKA27]

Rosberg plays down Brawn latest departure reports

Nico Rosberg has played down suggestions that team principal Ross Brawn is on the road to the exit door at Mercedes.

Earlier, it was believed Paddy Lowe’s McLaren ‘gardening leave’ was because he was shaping up to replace Brawn as Mercedes’ team boss, probably in 2014.

But in the wake of better results for the Brackley based team, and strong backing by new driver Lewis Hamilton, it has been rumoured 58-year-old Briton Brawn’s job now appears safer.

Nico Rosberg had a tough race in Bahrain, finishing just ninth, but 24 hours earlier he was grinning ear-to-ear after qualifying on pole.

A week earlier, it was Hamilton on pole and the podium in China.

Asked if the atmosphere in the team is strained now that Brawn appears destined to leave, German Rosberg told Die Welt newspaper: “That’s what you say.

“I know nothing about that,” added the German, who was also asked about Lowe’s certain appointment.

“So why should I assume that he (Brawn) will not be here anymore after the season?” said Rosberg.

The 27-year-old did admit, however, that “the joy of the pole is gone” after a race struggling with Pirelli tyre wear in Bahrain.

“On our own power, we are, I believe, not yet capable of winning,” said Rosberg. “But all of us believe that we will get there.”

[MIKA27]

Allergy almost sidelined Raikkonen in Bahrain

In the end he finished second, but Kimi Raikkonen was almost not well enough to start Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Finnish sources MTV3 and Turun Sanomat report that the Lotus driver was late for the pre-race driver parade because he was suffering from an allergic reaction.

“He gets it 3 or 4 times a year,” the 2007 world champion’s trainer Mark Arnall admitted.

“We have no idea where it came from just before the race, but it affects mainly his skin, and not so much his eyes.”

Arnall said Raikkonen was treated with antihistamines.

Lotus engineer Alan Permane said: “Considering he (Raikkonen) was suffering before he started the race, it was a very impressive performance indeed.”

[MIKA27]

Bahrain GP: Lotus insists it is not kicking itself over defeat

Lotus boss Eric Boullier says his team has no reason to be disappointed at missing out on victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean's chances of victory were effectively dashed by a poor performance in qualifying, which left them unable to threaten eventual winner Sebastian Vettel in the key early stages of the race.

With the pair coming through to finish second and third, there was every chance they could have challenged for the win if they had started near the front.

But Boullier says his outfit should not be downbeat that it missed a good opportunity to win.

"I have to be happy obviously," Boullier told AUTOSPORT. "It is a great result for the team.

"We worked very hard, and everybody back in Enstone built up very well, so we had a nice weekend.

"We had a little bit of a blow in qualifying, but it was a good recovery from the positions on the grid.

"It is clearly good, and an even better point as well is that Romain is clearly now back on track."

Boullier also believed his team had done the right thing in bringing forward Raikkonen's final stop of the race, even though the Finn questioned the move over the radio.

"We could have gone longer, but we wanted to protect our position and make an easy move on Paul di Resta," said Boullier.

"We knew we would be comfortably second, so there was no risk to be taken at this stage.

"It would have been difficult to push on for the win, and anyway the original strategy was only to stop one or two laps later."

[CanuckSARTech]

WOW.

I just got done watching the biography film "Senna". Amazing stuff there. Very well done, it didn't shy away from any of the controversies about Ayrton himself, FIA, Williams, or whatnot. Very well done, and well edited too - the narration was where it needed to be, but other times it was just about the emotions felt during the race video itself.

Just amazing.

[Bartolomeo]

Alonso had a great drive w no DRS and hoping he has better luck next race

[MIKA27]

'Kubica testing in Merc simulator'

Robert Kubica is testing with Mercedes on the team's race simulator as the Polish driver attempts a return to Formula One, according to a report.

The 28-year-old, who raced for BMW and Renault in F1, has been testing on the simulator at the team's works in Brackley, England, sources told German news agency dpa.

There was no official confirmation from Mercedes with whom Kubica carried out tests in the winter in the Germany-based DTM series.

Kubica's Formula One career was put on hold when he suffered life-threatening injuries during a rally crash in Italy in 2010.

Although it remains to be seen if he will return to F1, he has taken part in the second-tier World Rally Championship this season.