FORMULA 1 - 2013

[MIKA27]

Lotus money troubles not helped by Grosjean’s Monaco madness

Lotus has recorded the biggest financial loss in recorded motor racing history, according to Formula 1 business journalist Christian Sylt, while all is far from well with their two drivers.

A report in the Telegraph said the Enstone based team’s latest accounts show an almost $86 million loss for 2012, due to declining sponsorship.

“No other Formula 1 team filing publicly-available accounts has ever lost as much money,” said Sylt.

There could be more bad news around the corner for Lotus, amid continuing rumours top driver Kimi Raikkonen could jump ship to Red Bull at the end of the year.

“That would be a shame for Lotus,” Formula 1 legend Alain Prost told Welt am Sonntag newspaper, “because he has done a great job for them. But it’s his decision.”

At the same time, Raikkonen’s teammate Romain Grosjean is back in the wars, this time penalised ten places on the Montreal grid for crashing into Daniel Ricciardo on Sunday. Prior to that Grosjean crashed three times in two days of practice at the principality.

Double world champion Mika Hakkinen is not impressed.

“I think patting him on the head is not working anymore,” the Finn told MTV3 broadcaster. “Something is going to happen and I’m sure the team is thinking about what to do.”

Hakkinen’s former McLaren teammate David Coulthard agrees: “It just goes to show speed is not enough.”

“He’s done a lot of damage and I don’t think Lotus are flush with money,” he said on BBC television. “They don’t expect four crashes (in one weekend).”

Lotus, however, were also complaining about an erratic driver, following Sergio Perez’s feisty race in the McLaren. Raikkonen called the Mexican “stupid” and an “idiot” after their run-in at the chicane.

“Actually that (idiot) is a nice word compared with what he really said,” said team boss Eric Boullier.

[MIKA27]

Massa expected to recover in time for Canada

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa left hospital following checks on Sunday and should be fit for the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks.

Whilst already suffering from a sore neck from his practice crash, the Brazilian suffered a near-identical incident during the Monaco Grand Prix.

After initially recovering trackside in a neck brace, Massa was transferred to hospital for checks but later Tweeted a thumbs-up photo from his Monaco apartment.

“He is fine,” said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali, “and I believe that in the space of a few days he will back in perfect shape and ready to race in Montreal.”

Although Massa’s two Ste Devote crashes this weekend were almost identical, Ferrari believes the first was caused by hitting a bump.

And “It seems that (Sunday’s) incident can be attributed to a problem on the left front corner of the car,” said technical director Pat Fry.

Speaking later Massa said, “My race ended on lap twenty eight after an accident at the Ste. Devote corner, just as happened yesterday morning in the third free practice session.”

“I was taken to hospital for all the precautionary checks and luckily everything is in order. I’m alright, I’ve just got a slight pain in my neck, but nothing serious. Now I will look to get in shape and be back 100% for the Montreal race. All I want to do is put this bad weekend behind me and think about doing well in the rest of the season,” added the Brazilian

[MIKA27]

Webber: I was probably just saving my tyres a bit too much

Mark Webber has a sparkling history at the Monaco Grand Prix, and is pretty handy around one of the most challenging venues on the Formula 1 calendar. The straight talking Red Bull driver summed up his afternoon at the principality where he finished third.

Fourth in the opening stint but obviously the safety car at the first stop gave you and the team the opportunity to jump ahead of Hamilton. Important moment for you?

Mark Webber: Yes. First of all, congratulations to Nico. It’s a very special place to win at so, yeah, he had a seamless weekend and that’s what you need to do here. It’s never easy when you’re leading, you still have to pull it off. So, well done to Nico and Mercedes. For us, we knew it was a little against us starting on the second row but got an absolutely incredible start – and sod’s law it’s the shortest run to the first corner so, I think Seb and I had nowhere to go really so we were lifting. It’s looking like Nico and Lewis had pretty tricky ones, so we’ll try to save some of those starts for future reference. And then after that it was just basically saving tyres and making the one-stop work. It was completely predictable that if the race was going to stack up then the two-stop was not really an option to come back into traffic. So we had to go very long, all the drivers were nursing the cars very aggressively and as you say, it was nice to get Lewis. Obviously it’s never nice to lose positions around the stop so I’m sure he’s not too pleased with it but in the end we’ll take that position. It was difficult to get the restarts going on the primes but in general just really driving around, saving the tyres and waiting for the chequered flag.

There were quite a lot of incidents in the race, obviously a couple of safety cars, red flags. Some drivers were making passes today but did it feel very touch-and-go, very marginal out there to you?

MW: To make moves? Yeah, I think so. Especially when you’re with the guys I was with today, very experienced and they know what they need to do and where to put the car so, unless you had a big discrepancy in tyre performance, like I did after my pitstop – I had to clear Nico Hülkenberg pretty quick and try to make that undercut work a little bit – but in general after that, as the guys have touched upon, it was measured, controlled aggression, if you like, trying to nurse the tyres as best you can. It became very, very obvious early in the grand prix that the tyres were going pretty well. Obviously the pace wasn’t electric and, fair enough, that’s how… you can do that if you’re at the front of the race, as I did last year, so you can do that. And when the options were starting to go that far – the supersoft – the one-stop started to become viable for everybody and that’s why it probably wasn’t a super-exciting race today for the fans. But even if it was two-stops, it would probably have just been a bit more action around the pitstops and obviously not much on circuit because that’s the sort of track it is.

Before the red flag, Lewis got right up alongside you at Rascasse. What happened, did he maybe catch you by surprise there?

MW: No, I was probably just saving my tyres a bit too much and yeah, he was going for a little bit of a surge also, I think. They were probably a little bit more comfortable on the primes in certain performance areas of the circuit and also the car characteristics, so, yeah, he was a little bit more comfortable on that section of the track. I was also just… we knew we had a long way to go in the race and also I had four or five laps less on my tyres, because I did the undercut on these guys. I had to give him room. I think experience helps in those scenarios. I thought he might tap me… I could just see him in the mirror. I thought ‘mmm, he’s in there somewhere’ but I had to give him the room and then thank God we got round Rascasse together somehow. I think that was probably not that straightforward. Not possible for GP2 drivers but us boys managed to pull it off which we should be able to so it was a rewarding little battle.

Do you have an opinion on this secret tyre testing, whether it had any impact, and whether you think there was any advantage to Mercedes having done the testing?

MW: That’s a fair question. I think we were probably a little bit surprised that it happened. I don’t think it probably had a huge bearing on today’s result. I think their car was always going to perform pretty well round here, to be fair, but yeah, you can’t unlearn what went on at the test obviously, so we need to see how the test came about and whether it’s within the rules or not. I’m sure Mercedes thought it was OK, so that’s why they did it, so time will tell. But I don’t think it affected today’s result.

[MIKA27]

Pirelli look set to remain in F1 beyond 2013

Reports have emerged suggesting that Pirelli is closer to inking a deal to stay in Formula 1 beyond 2013, following a meeting in Monaco.

After Paul Hembery warned that Pirelli could quit Formula 1 due to the delayed negotiations, Spain’s AS sports newspaper reports that Pirelli president Marco Tronchetti Provera met with Bernie Ecclestone.

“We are approaching the conditions (to sign),” Provera said, “so we’ll see.

“The fact is that Bernie is happy with us and also our company is still interested in the Formula 1 project, so I hope we can get to an agreement soon and all will be well,” he added.

Tronchetti Provera said he is proud of Pirelli’s contribution to the sport so far.

“We were asked to add more ‘show’ to the races, and I think the races are better now than before our arrival, so I think in that sense we have succeeded,” he insisted.

As for the controversy caused by Pirelli’s heavily degrading compounds in 2013, he explained: “We have developed the tyres with a car several years old, and with not enough days of testing.”

Meanwhile, it seems Pirelli will introduce some changes to its tyre design for Canada in two weeks after all, despite the opposition of some teams, including Force India.

“I did it like the old days,” Bernie Ecclestone is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport. “I told the teams that they should be united.

“Pirelli will modify its tyres as planned,” the Formula 1 chief executive revealed.

[MIKA27]

Sergio Perez backed by McLaren after Kimi Raikkonen's "idiot" label

Sergio Perez has been given a vote of confidence by McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh, after he was labelled an "idiot" by Kimi Raikkonen.

The Mexican pulled off a number of aggressive overtaking moves during the Monaco Grand Prix before eventually coming together with Raikkonen and damaging his car.

Raikkonen was infuriated by Perez's driving, and reckoned the only way that his rival would be taught a lesson was by being punched in the face.

Whitmarsh has backed his man though and suggested that top-line drivers have to take risks if they are going to be successful.

"I don't think we should have too much to complain about there," said Whitmarsh about Perez.

"That is what happens in Monaco occasionally. I am happy with his spirit and his challenge.

"You can over push sometimes but I think he did some great overtakes. I have got to be pleased that he is there, he is committed and racing."

Whitmarsh reckoned that Raikkonen was not totally free of blame for the coming together with Perez.

"You can argue it different ways: Checo will feel he wasn't given the space and he was crowded by Kimi, which I can understand.

"Kimi will say that he can defend his line and Checo was coming perhaps a bit too aggressively.

"It was certainly a charging attempt, but in motor racing you have to take a little bit of risk sometimes. If it comes off you are a hero and if it doesn't you are disappointed.

"After that, Checo obviously damaged his front wing, which was difficult enough, but he also had debris in the brake ducts, so therefore they overheated and he lost his brakes."

MIKA: It's funny how there is no news on how Jenson Button feels about Perezs' driving seeing the last two races, Perez has almost taken out his own team mate.

[MIKA27]

Kamui Kobayashi gets first Ferrari F1 test in 2010 car at Fiorano

Kamui Kobayashi had his first test in a Ferrari Formula 1 car on Monday when he tried the Italian squad's 2010 machine at its Fiorano test track.

Former Toyota and Sauber F1 driver Kobayashi is now part of Ferrari's GT driver stable in the World Endurance Championship.

He tried the Ferrari F10 in preparation for driving it at a promotional event in Moscow on July 21.

Kobayashi said driving an F1 Ferrari for the first time had been a very special experience.

"The first feeling was one of great happiness," he said.

"I raced against this car and I knew how quick it was, so it was very important to get some experience of it.

"Last year's race in Brazil was the last time I drove a Formula 1 car and now I am racing in the WEC in a 458 GT and the impressions are completely different.

"But it wasn't hard to readapt, because in the past, I've driven all sorts of cars and I'm used to change.

"It will be very nice to drive an F1 car again at this event in Moscow and for me it will be a double debut: the first time at the wheel of a Ferrari F1 car in an event and my first visit to the city."

[MIKA27]

Force India: Adrian Sutil's fifth-place a needed confidence boost

Adrian Sutil needed his strong result in the Monaco Grand Prix to boost his confidence, according to Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley.

The German finished fifth from eighth on the grid, passing both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button at the hairpin.

This ended a run of four consecutive starts without a points finish, largely down to problems outside of Sutil's control.

"We all knew that the underlying [performance] has been there, but when you have three or four races where it keeps falling apart for you, from Adrian's point of view, he needed it for his confidence," Said Fernley.

"The team has never thought any less of him, but his luck needed to turn."

Fernley paid tribute to Sutil's mental strength and ability to bounce back from his bad run of results with a strong drive.

He said that this was one of the motivations behind re-signing Sutil, who spent the 2012 campaign on the sidelines after being dropped by Force India for Nico Hulkenberg.

"When you have had a year out and you have three or four [difficult] races early on, of course it's undermining," said Fernley.

"As a team, we have supported him, so he has not had to feel threatened by that and has responded well to it.

"Of course, it's got to get the nerves jangling and he has pulled through and delivered.

"That mental strength was the whole reason that we wanted to work with Adrian this year."

Fernley added that he was impressed with Sutil's overtaking moves during the race and suggested that it was only teams warning drivers over the radio that he was attacking in the radio prevented him making up more places.

"He sorted out where he wanted to make the move and managed to do it twice," said Fernley.

"That was before he was blocked off by teams informing the car in front that this was what he was doing."

[MIKA27]

Kimi Raikkonen: Maybe someone should punch Perez:

Sergio Perez’s style of driving was once again brought into question in the Monaco Grand Prix with the McLaren driver attempting a series of aggressive and late-braking overtaking moves, including one on Kimi Raikkonen which effectively ended his own race and damaged the Lotus driver’s title ambitions.

The Mexican, 23, tried to pass Raikkonen, 33, up the inside of the Nouvelle Chicane for fifth, but both ended up cutting the corner. Later in the race, Perez tried a similar move but this time the pair collided with Perez hitting the barriers and Raikkonen suffering a puncture.

Perez later retired while Raikkonen battled back from 13th on the penultimate lap to rescue 10th and one world championship point. The incident put a big dent in Raikkonen’s championship hopes as the Finn saw the deficit to leader Sebastian Vettel, who finished second, rise from four points to 21.

When asked if drivers should talk to Perez about his style, Raikkonen said: “That won’t help. Maybe someone should punch him in the face. It was a really disappointing day. Because of one stupid move from Sergio we’ve lost a lot of points to Sebastian in the championship and you can’t afford to lose ground like that.

“He hit me from behind and that’s about all there is to it. If he thinks it’s my fault that he came into the corner too fast then he obviously has no idea what he’s talking about.

“It’s not the first time he’s hit someone in the race; he seems to expect people to be always looking at what he might do, then move over or go straight on if he comes into the corner too quick and isn’t going to make it without running into someone.”

Earlier in the afternoon, Perez had put a bold move on McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, who finished sixth, at the same corner with the Briton saying the Mexican “made a good move when he overtook me, so fair play to him”.

Perez followed that up with a pass on Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, again at the same chicane, with the Spaniard cutting the corner to avoid contact and later being asked by the FIA to concede the position as a result of not making the corner.

Despite the criticism from Raikkonen, Perez insisted he was not to blame for the collision with the 2007 world champion. “If someone could have avoided the accident then it was Kimi and not myself,” said Perez. “It was risky, but there was nothing I could do to avoid the crash.

“I overtook Fernando and Jenson in the same place, so at the end of the day you have to give some space. If you look at the accident, I hit the wall on entry of the corner, so Kimi gave me no room at all and there was nothing I could do to avoid it.”

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier didn’t see it the same way, adding that this was not the first time Perez has been involved in a tangle this season, in reference to when the Mexican banged wheels with team-mate Button in Bahrain.

“He tried it once and if you look at the video he was attempting very, very late braking and misunderstanding the braking line of Kimi. I think that was a little bit too much,” said Boullier.

“He nearly crashed with his team-mate in Bahrain, here there was also a little bit of action. It looks like he’s trying to often to be too aggressive and attempt something which is most of the time impossible to do.”

Alonso also criticised Perez, who stopped out on track at the final corner when his brakes failed, saying: “Perez, he has the car parked there in the Rascasse and that is the only comment I can say. He was lucky this year with two or three incidents. In Bahrain, he nearly had contact with Jenson, and with me I was off the track to avoid a contact.

“Here I cut the chicane to avoid a contact again. Kimi was not lucky because he didn’t avoid the contact and at the end Perez retired. Only McLaren have to be happy with him, the others we just need to do our work.”

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh refused to criticise his driver. “With Checo, we want him to go out there, be fearless, and learn sometimes you have to play a bit of a percentage game,” he said. “But overall you need someone who is committed, just as he was, so I’m happy with the way he is going.

“You can look at that incident and say Kimi didn’t give space, but I’m not overly-criticising Kimi either. To overtake here takes a bit of a risk, and Sergio did a lot of over-taking, was passionate. If these other drivers are getting upset, that’s probably a good sign.”

[MIKA27]

Button: Alonso eyeing big prize

Jenson Button believes Fernando Alonso put his Championship ambitions before glory in Monaco over the weekend.

After winning the Spanish Grand Prix, Alonso found himself battling the midfield runners during Sunday's race around the streets of Monte Carlo and he eventually settled for seventh position.

Instead of risking all to move closer to the front, the Ferrari driver decided it was best to make sure he just finished in the top 10 and not crash out and lose valuable points.

Button, who was one of several drivers who passed Alonso on the track, believes the Spaniard is keeping his eye on the big prize: the Drivers' Championship.

"They always say at Monaco the cream rises to the top," the McLaren driver told Press Association Sport.

"If you put yourself in a good place in qualifying that is maybe the case, but in the race I'm not so sure.

"I think the brave will always do well around Monaco, but there's a fine line between bravery and something else.

"You can see that with Fernando, someone who is regarded as the best in F1, yet who went backwards.

"He made moves he felt were correct, but he was hurt by those. Other people were able to overtake him because he didn't push the boundaries.

"I overtook him because I had tried to overtake in one place and I dived down the inside at another.

"Fernando is obviously fighting for the Championship, and you could see that with the way he drove.

"You can see the difference between someone who wants to do well in one race and someone who is thinking about 19 races.

"Fernando is an intelligent driver, but that probably hurt his result in Monaco."

Button's McLaren team-mate Sergio Perez had another drama-filled race as he not only produced excellent overtaking moves on Button and Alonso, but also made contact with Kimi Raikkonen, which pushed the Lotus driver back to 10th.

"His move on me was good," added Button.

"He caught me unaware, it was unexpected, so that was fine, although from what other people have said he pushed a bit too much elsewhere.

"For me, the biggest issue was on the first lap when I made some good moves on him, they didn't come off, he turned in, gave me no room and went straight on at the chicanes.

"He did that because he knew he would have had to have let the place go, so he got penalised for that. It's all done."

[MIKA27]

Hamilton: Seb has had it easy

Lewis Hamilton has hit back at Sebastian Vettel after the Red Bull driver likened the Mercedes cars to "two buses going for a cruise".

Nico Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday with Vettel and his team-mate Mark Webber finishing second and third respectively and Hamilton, who started second on the grid, settling for fourth.

Rosberg controlled the race from the start and Vettel admitted afterwards that he was taken aback by the pace from the two Mercedes cars.

"I was surprised by the slow pace of the opening laps," he said. "You expect two Silver Arrows in front of you and we had two buses in front going for a cruise."

Hamilton, though, wasn't impressed by Vettel's comments.

"He has had the fastest car for the last four years, so it's easy for him to say that. He's got it easy," he said.

"We are making our way up, we are learning, growing, improving with a car that has great potential, so I don't agree with him."

[MIKA27]

Hamilton: I just have to focus on myself and try and get my **** together

Lewis Hamilton is calm about what could happen to Mercedes if they are hauled before a Formula 1 tribunal to explain their secret tyre test, but he is worried about his own form.

“I’m not concerned about it, that’s for the team to worry about,” the 2008 world champion said of his team’s apparent breaking of a ban on in-season testing by putting in 1,000 km with Pirelli in Spain.

“I just have to focus on myself and try and get my **** together,” he told reporters after Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Hamilton started on the front row and finished fourth behind team mate Nico Rosberg who won from pole. It was the second race in a row the Briton had started in second place and failed to make the podium.

In Spain – where he finished 12th – it was all about the tyres “dropping off” dramatically in performance, but in Monaco it was more about Hamilton.

With Mercedes deciding to pit both drivers once the safety car had been deployed for the first time, Hamilton was told to keep a six-second gap to ensure a smooth stop without losing places. But he slowed down too much and slipped behind Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Hamilton apologised to the team for the loss of what might have been a one-two finish and vowed to work harder.

“I don’t put it down to bad luck. I just wasn’t good enough over the weekend. The whole weekend has been a missed opportunity,” he said.

“I’ve got lots to sort out on my side of the garage, and within myself, and I’ll take time to do that. I’m not quick enough, not on it enough, so I need to get on it.”

After qualifying on what remains one of his favourite tracks, Hamilton had shed more light on the problems he is having in his first season at Mercedes after what seemed like a lifetime at McLaren.

While loving the freedom he has been given by his new team, and defending himself against critics questioning a lifestyle that includes bringing his pet bulldog Roscoe to races, Hamilton recognised he was still adjusting to his new surroundings.

Despite two podiums this season, the Briton said he had not felt fully comfortable in the car since the opening race in Australia.

“Actually, even in winter testing I was struggling,” he said. ”The setup they have on the car in terms of brake cylinders and all this kind of thing, the steering wheel, it’s a lot different to what I obviously experienced before, where I was very comfortable. I’d been there for years so I was used to it, it was always the same.”

“That’s been the slight weakness for me this year. Even in the first few races, but particularly in the last couple, I’ve been pretty poor,” he said.

Hamilton said the problem was less to do with the engineers and more for him to deal with. Although he had struggled to get heat into the tyres, it was a confidence thing.

“It’s just a general feeling with me,” he explained. “It’s difficult to really explain it. I’ve just not been on it all weekend.

“It’s not through not being focused, it’s not through not being centred. It’s just feeling comfortable in the car. At McLaren I had 100 percent confidence in the car … particularly on this track where you need 100 percent confidence in the car beneath you.

“It’s just that I’ve been struggling with getting that confidence.”

[MIKA27]

Ferrari get to the bottom of Massa crash

Ferrari have confirmed that a suspension failure was the cause of Felipe Massa's accident during the Monaco Grand Prix.

Massa didn't have the best of weekends on the streets of Monte Carlo through no fault of his own as he was involved in two near-identical shunts, the first coming during final practice on Saturday when his tyres locked and he crashed into the barriers.

The Brazilian once again found himself in the barriers at Ste Devote on Sunday after he lost control of the F138 on the main straight. He was taken to the medical centre during the race, but has been given the all clear to resume racing after taking it easy for a few days.

Although it was initially thought that driver error was to blame, Ferrari have now revealed that a part of the left front suspension broke after their engineers had a closer inspection of Massa's car.

'The findings validated the first impressions of the engineers, confirming that the accident was caused by an element of the front left suspension breaking,' the team said on their website.

'With all the required inspections completed to analyse what happened at the Monegasque circuit, the Car Assembly department can now start work in preparing the car for the Canadian Grand Prix.'

[Bartolomeo]

Great race on Sunday, surprised to the Mercs do so well, I was surprised on their performance based on previous races, Alonso didnt have the car.......heres to Canada!

Bart

[MIKA27]

Lauda: I’ve bet €50 with Marko we will escape penalty for secret test

With the furore over Mercedes’ secret Pirelli test mounting, as rival F1 teams claim they were not given advance warning by the tyre supplier that the test in Barcelona was taking place, Niki Lauda has made a wager with Red Bull’s Helmut Marko that the Silver Arrows will not be penalised

As it refused to rule out “penalties”, the FIA said Pirelli and Mercedes would have got the green light for the test “provided every team” was also offered the same opportunity.

It has emerged Ferrari did a secret test for Pirelli before Barcelona with a 2011 car, with Pedro de la Rosa at the wheel. And Red Bull confirmed it was asked about conducting a test for Pirelli, “but we very clearly said no,” Dr Helmut Marko told Austrian television Servus TV.

“In our opinion, such a test is not covered by the regulations. It is a clear violation.”

There are reports that Pirelli distributed an email about the possibility of tyre testing, but many teams reportedly deny ever receiving it.

“We feel cheated,” Sauber founder Peter Sauber is quoted by Swiss media.

According to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, Williams also denies knowing about the possibility of Pirelli tyre testing.

And asked if his team was consulted, Lotus boss Eric Boullier is quoted by Brazil’s Totalrace: “No.”

Force India’s Bob Fernley said the issue came up in a FOTA meeting, but it was not a formal invitation to test.

“I don’t remember getting a letter from Pirelli on the subject,” he insisted.

In fact, the Telegraph newspaper refers to an email to teams from the teams association FOTA, explicitly warning that in-season testing is not allowed unless there is “unanimous” consent by all teams. The matter is now in the FIA’s hands.

“I don’t expect there to be a judgement before Montreal,” Marko said. “I would say by Silverstone at the earliest.”

Red Bull and Ferrari are reportedly proposing that, if Mercedes was allowed to test, they should as well.

“There will certainly be a penalty, because Mercedes’ tyre advantage in Monaco was obvious,” Marko is quoted by Bild newspaper.

”There is also a question of cost, because such a test costs nearly a million euros.”

Another factor, said Marko, is the long-life engine rule, with Mercedes’ three race distances at the secret test supposedly now excluded from its allocation of eight engines per driver.

“There is a long list of things,” said the outspoken Austrian. ”We also want to have this test. Logistically, it can only happen at Silverstone, which means that we have lost two races until we have the same knowledge.”

Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda, meanwhile, is accusing Red Bull of sour grapes.

“Red Bull was also asked (about the test) but we were simply faster to accept,” he said. “So they are just sore losers.

“I have made a bet with Helmut Marko – 50 euros – that there will be no consequences for Mercedes,” the Austrian legend added.

Finally, Marko said Red Bull is not questioning the validity of Nico Rosberg’s Monaco win.

“We deliberately put in the protest before the race, because our protest is about the test, not Nico Rosberg’s victory. It was a great performance and we can live with second and third places,” he insisted.

[MIKA27]

Last minute front wing delivery boost Red Bull in Monaco

New front wings hand delivered by test driver Sebastien Buemi was the key to Red Bull’s turnaround on the streets of Monaco, it has emerged.

On Thursday in the Principality, the RB9 did not look like a competitive car.

“We were one second too slow,” Dr Helmut Marko told Servus TV.

But by Saturday, Sebastian Vettel was disappointed to have just missed pole position.

Marko said Buemi, Red Bull’s Swiss test driver, had turned no fewer than 400 laps in the simulator at Milton-Keynes, seeking a solution.

Buemi then headed to Monaco, and according to Auto Motor und Sport, he was spotted at Heathrow airport with two huge boxes of baggage – reportedly new front wings.

“On Saturday we were on the pace,” said Marko. ”After the initial problems, we are more than happy with the result — we have been able to extend our lead in both championships.”

[MIKA27]

Force India boss Mallya thinks 2014 rules may squeeze small teams

Formula 1's 2014 regulation changes risk squeezing smaller teams out of the sport because of the lack of any viable cost control, according to Force India team principal Vijay Mallya.

While next year's sporting rules have been left in limbo by the lack of a Concorde Agreement, the technical regulations have been set, with new 1.6-litre V6 engines being introduced.

Mallya fears the cost of such powertrains will increase the predicament of smaller teams already being squeezed by escalating costs, being driven by the self-interest of "one or two teams".

Asked by Formula 1's official website if he was concerned that costs would rise in 2014, Mallya replied: "Well, I fear that is for sure.

"Rather than reducing costs, one or two teams have decided winning at any cost is more important than the sustainability of the sport, so there is no resource restriction that is implemented, quite contrary to the fact that costs are going up.

"If you only want three or four teams in Formula 1 running three cars each you should proceed in the way it is now.

"But I think Formula 1 also needs the smaller independent teams as well, so everybody must also look at the common interests - not only the individual interests."

Mallya admitted past efforts to impose cost controls had broken down, but said it was imperative for the sport's current stakeholders to find a common solution.

"The FIA and FOTA - when it existed in full strength - had resolved that we need to reduce the costs of Formula 1," he said.

"Whether it is the commercial rights holder, the FIA, or the teams themselves, I think it is very necessary that all the important stakeholders sit across the table and find a viable solution."

[MIKA27]

Ferrari's strange weekend in Monaco:

Ferrari arrived in Monaco on the back of their strongest performance of the season in Spain, where Fernando Alonso took victory and Felipe Massa third, but they left the principality with just six points and a missed opportunity.

Along with Mercedes, the Italian team were one of the favourites for the win and on Friday, the car looked very impressive. Both Alonso and Massa were able to take more kerb on the left on the entry to the Swimming Pool section which opened the corner out.

In contrast, Red Bull and Mercedes were avoiding the kerb.

But the team dropped the ball in qualifying and on race day, with Alonso limping home to seventh – which would have been ninth had Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez not collided and dropped down the field – and Massa failing to finish after an accident which looked remarkably similar to the one he suffered in third practice. The second one was attributed to front left suspension failure.

Alonso said: “The main problem was the pace, we didn’t have the pace. Normally on Sunday we pick up the pace, this time we didn’t, and as part of that yes we did have different problems. The team informed me that we had a plastic bag on the front wing for ten laps which was taking aero performance from the front part.

“Then we had a piece of Sergio’s front wing underneath on the floor and we lost around 30 or 40 points of aero performance, and then it was off for the last three laps so it was some up and down in the performance of the car. But the first 30 laps until the red flag we didn’t have any problem and we were too slow.”

Alonso didn’t look himself on Saturday and Sunday. He has really struggled in qualifying all season and that was the case again in Monaco where he started sixth, behind title rivals Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel while Massa started 21st after the team failed to get the car fixed in time to take part in qualifying.

Unlike last year, Ferrari appear to have a very strong car but they’re not making the most of it and the mistakes are racking up.

They have now had three weekends in six where they have gone away with few or no points. In Malaysia, the team decided not to pit Alonso when he had a damaged wing while running second, but it broke off on the next lap and sent him off track and into retirement.

Then in Bahrain, Alonso was running second when his DRS jammed open. He pitted so the team could force it closed but on the next lap, the Spaniard made the mistake of opening it again and he had to pit for a second time, ruining his chances of victory.

In Monaco, despite looking good in practice, he never really looked like he had the pace to contend for a podium, let alone the win.

Alonso also appeared to have less freedom than his rivals with his steering, taking a very wide line into the hairpin and at Rascasse which effectively left him open to attack to his rivals. Force India’s Adrian Sutil took advantage at the hairpin, while Button made his move at Rascasse.

And Alonso was forced to give up a place after the cutting the chicane while defending against Sergio Perez. The Spaniard added that he was wary of getting involved in a collision with a driver who had little to lose while he had an eye on the championship.

Alonso hinted that Ferrari was struggling for traction – an issue that is magnified on the tight and twisty streets of Monte Carlo. He said: “We didn’t manage to have a good pace, as is usually the case on Sunday and I wasn’t pessimistic about not being competitive on Saturday, because so far, things have always improved in the race. That wasn’t the case on Sunday, maybe down to a lack of traction, a problem we had seen before in Bahrain.”

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali added: “It is important for us to understand why we were not as competitive as we were in previous races and try to react right away in Canada. Our aim is still to improve our qualifying and try to get back to the pace we had seen to date.”

While Ferrari struggle, their rivals Red Bull – who do not have the fastest car and have admitted that they are struggling to get the maximum out of their car with the current spec of tyres – are efficiently racking up the points with Sebastian Vettel.

Everybody was talking about Ferrari and Mercedes in Monaco and yet Red Bull left the principality with second and third. That enabled Vettel to extend his lead in the championship from to 21 over Raikkonen and a further eight over Alonso. In the constructors’ Red Bull now hold a 41-point lead over Ferrari.

And while Sebastian Vettel isn’t showing the kind of dominant form which saw him cruise to the 2011 title, he has finished fourth or higher – including two victories – in the six races so far this season. That is title winning form.

Alonso also has two wins together plus a second place, but he has a retirement, a seventh and an eighth place finish.

[MIKA27]

Why Monaco was more like a Cycle race than a Formula 1 race:

The Monaco Grand Prix was similar in many ways to last year’s event; a race of managed pace, but this year with interesting consequences.

It showed a wider strategy on the part of the championship contenders in particular. If you analyse the way they conducted their races, it appears that they were focussed on the championship rather than on challenging for the race victory.

Nico Rosberg was the dominant figure in Monaco across practice and qualifying, but he wasn’t well placed in the championship going into the event and he wasn’t challenged in the race as he might have expected to be, particularly given that his strategy was to slow the pace down from the outset, which meant that his rivals were never far behind.

Because he – and later Sebastian Vettel – backed the field up, there were plenty of passes and attempted passes and this led to a number of incidents. So it was a race punctuated by two safety cars and a red flag stoppage. The stoppage on lap 46 of 78 gave all the teams a chance to fit a new set of tyres before the restart and meant that no-one struggled for tyre life.

Pre-race expectations

In their strategy briefings before the Grand Prix, teams were confident that a one-stop race was possible. Two stops was shown as being 15 seconds faster than one stop but it was considered risky because of slow traffic and the high chance of a safety car (80%), which could negate the advantage accrued from running at a higher pace.

It was expected that Mercedes, given its tyre management problems in the previous races, would control the pace, but in the end it was slower than any of the strategists had imagined.

Controlled pace

Mercedes strategy was to control the pace and drive to a target lap time. Red Bull did a similar thing with Mark Webber the year before.

They did this in order to ensure that the tyres would reach at last lap 30, which was the window for a one-stop race. Although two stops was theoretically faster, they decided that attempting two stops might make them vulnerable to a one stopping Red Bull or Lotus, particularly if a safety car intervened.

The pace in the first stint was extremely slow – ten seconds a lap slower than qualifying. The degree to which the pace was controlled is demonstrated by several things; Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap near the end in a moment of exuberance, some two seconds faster than the next fastest lap!

Meanwhile Nico Rosberg’s pace on new soft tyres after the restart from the first safety car was five seconds slower than it had been on used supersofts when he pushed hard immediately before his pit stop under the safety car ten laps earlier.

This had two effects; first it stopped any of Rosberg’s rivals attempting to undercut him – ie making a stop a lap before and trying to pass when the Mercedes pitted afterwards – because there were few gaps without traffic to drop back into.

Secondly it meant that the field was bunched up and this led to drivers overtaking or attempting to overtake and colliding. The result was two safety cars and a red flag.

Safety car changes the game for Hamilton

The unintended consequence of this is that the first safety car spoiled the race of Rosberg’s team mate Lewis Hamilton and cost the team a 1-2 finish, although it was more the driver’s fault than the strategists’.

Hamilton was running second in the opening stint, but then the first safety car was deployed for Massa’s heavy accident which was always likely to trigger a safety car, but Mercedes were slow to react. Their cars were three corners away from the end of the lap when it happened.

But the Mercedes pair had crossed the line to start a new lap when the safety car was deployed.

So they had to drive around the lap at the approved speed (around 40% slower than normal), while the Red Bull drivers had pitted immediately. In itself this is not a problem, because everyone has to drive to a prescribed speed and in any case the Red Bull cars were picked up by the safety car. The problem was that Hamilton lost an additional eight seconds on his in-lap to the pits.

If he had maintained the same speed as Rosberg, a 1min 54s lap he would have arrived in the pits three seconds behind the German, as he had been the previous lap. The mechanics were ready with a second set of tyres for Hamilton long before he arrived in his pit box and when he went back out he had fallen behind the two Red Bulls.

Title contenders – trying to win?

In Tour de France cycling, when there is a breakaway of riders who are not in contention for the Yellow Jersey, the race leaders don’t generally react.

It was a bit like this with the Monaco Grand Prix. With Rosberg ninth in the table on just 22 points, it seemed that the title contenders were more focussed on getting points and moving on to the next race, rather than challenge him.

With Vettel now in second place, after Hamilton’s safety car error, with 47 laps to go and the Mercedes likely to be marginal on tyres in the closing stages if pushed hard, the surprising thing was that he did not seem to make any attempt to challenge Rosberg for the win. Like several of the championship contenders he was thinking of the points, rather than the glory. By staying in second he would extend his points lead over Raikkonen and Alonso and Rosberg would still be 62 points behind him.

Alonso too demonstrated risk-aversion all afternoon. Having started from an unpromising sixth on the grid, he yielded a place having tried to avoid an accident with Sergio Perez, then was caught napping by Adrian Sutil and by Jenson Button. The Ferrari looked better on the soft tyre than the supersoft, but they chose to put him on the latter for the final stint after the red flag, which was surprising; that is when he was caught by Sutil and Button. In mitigation, his car did pick up some debris, but it was still a below par performance.

Kimi Raikkonen had made an early stop for tyres on lap 26 hoping it would cause some of his rivals to react and cover him, thereby taking the risk of running out of tyres with a 50 lap second stint. No-one reacted and they all got a free pit stop under the safety car instead. Raikkonen had settled for fifth place until Perez forced the issue and Raikkonen resisted, damaging both cars. Raikkonen ended up 10th.

Force India surprise

As surpising as the poor performance of Ferrari was the strong result for Force India. Adrian Sutil finished fifth (thanks to the collision between Perez and Raikkonen) but had a very strong afternoon despite racing with a broken front wing for the first 45 laps.

It was changed when the race was red flagged and he was able to make passes on Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso. Force India are battling McLaren at the moment and the silver cars were a shade faster in Monaco, but Force India came away with 12 points to McLaren’s 8.

This was also partly due to Paul di Resta’s result. After a disaster on Saturday where he and the team got the tyre choice wrong at a critical moment and he qualified only 17th, he went for a different strategy by pitting early on lap 9. The team took advantage of the fact that the pace was being managed, to run as much as possible in clear air. At this point the team was playing it by ear, but well placed should there be a safety car or red flag. As it transpired we got both and di Resta gained significantly, moving from 17th to 9th at the flag.

RACE HISTORY GRAPH

Courtesy Williams F1 Team

The extent to which the pace was managed is very clear from the race history graph. In the first stint Mercedes controls it, in the second stint and third stint it is Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.

[MIKA27]

Horner insists 'issue is not with Pirelli'

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes the Mercedes in-season test debacle and the concerns over the current tyres shouldn't affect Pirelli's F1 future.

The Italian manufacturer's contract expires at the end of the season and, although they have indicated they want to sign a new deal, they are yet to put pen to paper.

Pirelli has also come under a lot of pressure in recent months over their 2013 rubber with Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz saying it is a "tyre management competition" and has "nothing to do with racing anymore".

To add insult to injury, Pirelli and Mercedes are now in hot water with the FIA after they conducted a secret test after the Spanish Grand Prix.

Horner, though, feels it shouldn't have an impact on their F1 future, and also insists his team are more concerned about Mercedes breaking the in-season testing ban.

"They are a capable company," said Horner is quoted as saying by Autosport.

"Yes, they have pushed the boundaries with the product and they know they need to pull that back a little bit, but the issue is not with Pirelli.

"The issue is with the way this whole thing has been handled and conducted, and that is the disappointing thing.

"It is the lack of transparency [about the test], which is why we have chosen to protest."

Under current regulations, teams are not allowed to conduct tests during the season and this has put Pirelli in a tight spot in terms of trying to come up with a solution over the high levels of tyre degradation.

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said: "We insist if we are going to go forward that we have a sensible professional structured testing plan in place.

"Otherwise we as a company are unable to deliver what the teams want.

"So unless there is a proper testing programme put in place then Pirelli cannot continue."

[MIKA27]

Force India to keep pressure on McLaren

Force India have warned McLaren that they have a real battle on their hands for fifth place in the Constructors' Championship.

The Silverstone team are currently seven points ahead of their more illustrious rivals in the standings after both Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta finished in the points at the Monaco Grand Prix.

McLaren, though, have also proved in recent races that they are making progress following their poor start so it promises to be an interesting battle for the rest of the campaign.

Deputy team principal Bob Fernley hopes the engine rule change in 2014 will give his side a boost in the race for fifth.

"There is obviously still a long way to go, but we're going to give it a go. We're not backing off anywhere," Fernley is quoted as saying by Press Association Sport.

"The one thing that may be in our favour this year is we all have to switch resources, if we've not already done so then in the very-near future, over to the 2014 car.

"McLaren will have to do that, and with all due respect to McLaren, racing Force India is not like racing for a Championship.

"So you might have to write something off at some point and say 'Let's go on to next year's programme'.

"If they do, then that gives us an opportunity, because apart from Malaysia where we had the wheel-nut issue, we've had a car or both cars in the points at every race.

"Hopefully that shows we're competitive in all conditions."

Sutil was one of the stars of the show on the streets of Monte Carlo as he moved from eighth on the grid to P5 while Di Resta came from 17th to finish ninth.

"Everything finally came together for Adrian, so we're thrilled and relieved for him. That drive will do his confidence the world of good," added Fernley.

"As for Paul, it was a great drive. In Monaco, to go from 17th to ninth, is quite remarkable.

"Overall, it was a great team effort. Fortune favours the brave and we had to take quite an aggressive decision with Paul.

"We called him in early to try and get track position, and then the red flag (for Pastor Maldonado's accident) dropped in perfectly for us.

"To get both cars in the points, and at Monaco and after what happened in qualifying, just goes to show the pace of the cars."

[MIKA27]

Pirelli continues with old tyres as Lotus refuses to accept tweaks

Pirelli have shelved plans for Formula 1 teams to race with new-specification tyres in Canada next week, a company spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

She said the modified rear tyres would now be used only in Friday practice in Montreal for evaluation purposes, with each team given two sets, with the hope that they could then be used in the race at the British Grand Prix at the end of June.

“The regulations allow us to bring a set of experimental tyres to Friday practice,” explained the spokeswoman. “We decided to do it that way which gives everyone a chance to test them and hopefully all agree.”

Pirelli want to restructure the tyres to incorporate a 2012-style inner belt made of kevlar, rather than steel, after a spate of failures caused by debris.

The supplier is keen to eliminate ‘delaminations’ – where the tread separates from the body of the tyre without it deflating.

However any change would have to be approved by all the teams, unless the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) orders it on safety grounds – which has not been the case.

Champions Red Bull have been vocal in calling for the 2013 tyres to be made more durable to reduce the number of pitstops and allow drivers to race harder.

Others such as Lotus, Ferrari and Force India are against the changes because they have got their cars working well with the compounds.

“We will not race tyres that we have not tested first,” Lotus team owner Gerard Lopez was quoted on Wednesday by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

“And we will not allow tyres that change the sporting hierarchy — that would be simply unfair,” he insisted.

“If there is suddenly a team winning that previously had problems with the tyres, then the people at home would feel fooled and turn off the TV.”

Lopez also said Lotus does not accept the changes on the grounds of safety, “A tyre that loses its tread is safer than a tyre that bursts. I don’t see it (the safety aspect) as such a big deal — it’s still all about money and politics. But the spectators are not fools.”

“If we are making decisions not on the race track but in offices and committees, then one day there will be no spectators left,” added Lopez.

He also said Pirelli should stand tall rather than be defensive.

“Actually, they should stand up and say ‘We built a good tyre, a tyre that was requested, so the teams will just have to adjust and build reasonable cars’,” said Lopez.

Pirelli have also come under fire for carrying out a ‘secret’ tyre test in Spain with Mercedes after this month’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The matter has been referred to the FIA, who could pass it on to their international tribunal, after protests by Ferrari and Red Bull at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Testing is banned during the season, although Pirelli have it written into their contract that they can carry out a number of 1,000-km tests with a representative car.

Red Bull principal Christian Horner said Mercedes, winners in Monaco, had acted in an ‘underhand’ manner by not telling others about the test. He suggested they had gained an advantage by running a current car on tyres to be used later in the season.

Pirelli have disputed that, saying Mercedes did not know what they were testing.

[MIKA27]

Ferrari priming Kobayashi to step in should Massa be unfit for Canada

With Felipe Massa recovering from two huge shunts he suffered during the Monaco GP weekend, it is no surprise that Ferrari appear to be priming Kamui Kokayashi to step into the F138 cockpit in Canada should the need arise.

On Monday the Fiorano track was the scene of Kamui Kobayashi’s first drive at the wheel of a Ferrari Formula 1 car, the F10 with which the Maranello team competed in the World Championship three years ago. Kobayashi has been part of the Ferrari family since March, flying the Prancing Horse flag in GT races.

Kobayashi didn’t take long to get to grips with the car in what was a preparatory test for when he will drive it in the Moscow City Racing event, which will see the F1 car shoot through the streets of the Russian capital over the weekend of 21 July.

“The first feeling was one of great happiness,” commented the Japanese driver after the short test. “I raced against this car and I knew how quick it was, so it was very important to get some experience of it. Last year’s race in Brazil was the last time I drove a Formula 1 car and now I am racing in WEC (World Endurance Championship) in a Ferrari 458 GT and the impressions are completely different. But it wasn’t hard to re-adapt, because in the past, I’ve driven all sorts of cars and I’m used to change.

“It will be very nice to drive an F1 car again at this event in Moscow and for me it will be a double debut: the first time at the wheel of a Ferrari F1 car in an event and my first visit to the city,” added Kobayashi.

Who knows he could be donning Ferrari overalls again in Montreal should Massa not be deemed fit to race. Watch this space.

[MIKA27]

Domenicali: This championship seems to be an emotional roller-coaster

Ferrari have returned home to Maranello after an anxious and below par weekend on the streets of Monte Carlo, where Fernando Alonso was seventh in the race and Felipe Massa suffered a big accident during the grand prix prompting team principal Stefano Domenicali to describe the season thus far as a roller-coaster of emotions for the reds.

Domenicali said, “The best news to come out of the Monaco weekend is that Felipe is fine. Two big accidents, just over twenty fours apart and all he has to show for it is a bit of muscle pain. Fortunately there were no other injuries.”

After an investigation of Massa’s wrecked F138 chassis, the team confirmed: “The findings validated the first impressions of the engineers, confirming that the accident was caused by an element of the front left suspension breaking.”

Domenicali continued, “This championship seems to be a real roller-coaster of emotions. Following on from a good weekend comes a bad one. That was the case in the first four races outside Europe and nothing has changed now we are back on the Old Continent. I can confirm that we didn’t get carried away when we won, nor did we beat ourselves up when things did not go as well as expected. But from now on, it will be important to establish a consistent level of performance.”

“The Championship standings are very close and the number of strong opponents is ever increasing. It’s a scenario in which each point is precious and each hundredth of performance becomes important and obviously we are well aware that one less reliability problem can be vey significant in terms of how the championship pans out. We have a lot of work to do in the coming days to be as well prepared as possible for Montreal. We have all rolled our sleeves up and are focussed on the tasks that lie ahead of us,” added the Italian team boss.

[MIKA27]

Marko: Mercedes secret test is like 2007 spy scandal

Formula 1 may soon be rocked by a massive penalty fine, in the wake of the Mercedes secret tyre test, on the scale of the spy-gate scandal of 2007.

The FIA is expected to convene a meeting of the international tribunal, to consider the matter of Mercedes’ ‘secret’ Pirelli tyre test.

Ferrari, along with Red Bull, filed the official protest in Monaco.

“You might expect a sporting penalty,” Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali told the Associated Press.

“But because it is not really clear what could be the effect on the race weekend, it may be bigger than that,” he added. ”Because there is no precedent, I have no idea what should happen.”

Red Bull’s Helmut Marko, however, believes there is a precedent.

“There will be a hearing,” he told Bild newspaper, “although I do not know when and where. It is in the direction of the spy scandal of 2007 between McLaren and Ferrari,” added Marko.

The outspoken Austrian is referring to 2007, when the FIA considered banning McLaren but ultimately excluded the British team from the constructors’ championship and issued a record $100 million fine.

Marko makes the ‘spygate’ comparison because he alleges Mercedes’ advantage from the exclusive 1000km test with its 2013 car and race drivers will be far-reaching.

“A test like that is even more of an advantage if it is immediately after a race, because you have all of the comparative data, so you can make very decisive improvements. Until now the tyres have had a steel (internal) belt but now it’s going to be kevlar, which is the tyres that were tested,” he is quoted by Swiss newspaper Blick.

“That is what we are going to have in Montreal, so Mercedes does not only have an advantage for Monaco,” added Marko.

[MIKA27]

Vettel: Drivers are not enjoying the races as much as they would like

World champion Sebastian Vettel has admitted he defied Red Bull team instructions in Monaco due to boredom, and revealed that drivers are not enjoying ‘racing’ in tyre conservation mode.

In the dying stages of the race, Vettel picked up his pace behind winner Nico Rosberg, earning a rebuke from his pit wall for smashing the fastest race lap.

“Just satisfaction instead of going slow for 77 laps,” replied the German.

“No satisfaction for us though,” added Vettel’s race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin.

On seeing just how much faster the Red Bull driver was capable of going in Monaco, having conserved Pirelli’s fragile tyres all race, BBC commentator David Coulthard called the current situation in Formula 1 “rubbish”.

Vettel added: “I’m not trying to do something silly, and I apologise for quarrelling with my engineer on the radio.”

“But it’s a reflection of how the racing is today, when you can be three seconds a lap faster,” he is quoted by Brazil’s Totalrace.

“I know that the drivers are not enjoying the races as much as they would like,” he added. ”The show is good up to a point, but if it’s a matter of following one another and waiting for the chequered flag, I’m not sure if that is what people want to see.”

Vettel said he hopes the changes being made by Pirelli for the next race in Canada and beyond will help the situation.