FORMULA 1 - 2010

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Hamilton in no rush to sign manager

Lewis Hamilton says he's in rush to sign a new manager despite reports linking him to former McLaren World Champ Mika Hakkinen.

Hamilton parted ways with his father, Anthony, earlier this season, leaving the McLaren driver without a manager.

And although McLaren have been helping him, reports suggested that it was only a matter of time before he opted to move under Hakkinen's wing.

The 2008 Champ, though, insists he's in no hurry.

"It might be a couple of months away, it might be six months. I'm not really putting too much energy into it at the moment," said Hamilton.

"I've no need to, because my PA is helping me. The team are giving me the support I need, so I'll take my time to narrow it down. I haven't spoken to anyone."

As to whether Hakkinen even features on his list of potential managers, Hamilton refused to drop a hint.

"I know what to look for when I'm looking for it, I'm just not looking for it at the moment," he told Autosport. "I know whereabouts I'm going and what kind of structure I want, and what I need from the individual, or whoever, I hire.

"But currently there's no rush. There's no importance at this time. I'm focusing on results and sorting other bits of my life out."

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Reigning Champ honoured at Barcelona

Jenson Button has been inducted into Champions Avenue at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.

The McLaren star unveiled a commemorative plaque in his honour to recognise his achievement of becoming World Champion last year.

Button's name now sits alongside other greats of the sport such as Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, as well as McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton who was honoured last year.

"It's a real honour to receive this award," said Button, who won last year's Spanish Grand Prix en route to the title.

"There are so many great drivers and riders on the list of people who have received this over the last few years.

"It does mean a lot to me, but also it reminds me of what I achieved last year in Formula One, and also what I achieved around this circuit last season.

"I had a great race here, some good memories, and I look forward to having another great race here, which is a special circuit for all of us.

"We spend a lot of time testing and racing in Spain, which is a very passionate country, and they're very passionate about their sport and motor sport."

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone could not resist a small jibe at Button's expense as he paid tribute to the 30-year-old.

"There's not a lot to say except he took too long to do it," said Ecclestone.

"But it was obvious he was going to be a good Champion, and I'm sure this year we're going to see the same sort of thing from him."

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Fri: Renault, FIndia, Sauber, Toro Rosso

Robert Kubica put his car into the top ten in Friday's practice while Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso were in the middle order.

Renault

Robert Kubica: "We had a couple of small issues on the car this morning, so we weren't able to collect much data. That meant we ran much more during the afternoon in order to evaluate the tyres and also try some set-up changes. At the moment, the balance is still a bit towards oversteer, so we will do some work overnight and try to improve things in the morning. But we have to see how the track evolves, too. Overall, from the times, it looked like a pretty normal Friday."

Vitalay Petrov:

"It was a normal day of practice for me and we worked through our usual programme of tyre evaluation and set-up work. In the afternoon, the weather changed and it was very windy, which had a big impact on the balance of the car and made it difficult to evaluate the set-up changes. I also suffered with quite a bit of oversteer in the second session. So there are still some things we need to work on tomorrow morning during the final practice session when I will concentrate on getting ready for qualifying."

Force India:

Adrian Sutil: "Today was a pretty good day. I sat out the earlier practice session but we got all the data we needed from the afternoon to be able to understand the tyre performance and how the new aero parts we have brought to the track affect our performance. Overall everything seems to be working well. We could do extended runs on both the hard and soft tyre compounds and I was quite happy with the balance on both. The soft tyres take a couple of laps to come in but when they do they seem to work quite well. I think we're in good shape for tomorrow's qualifying - I think we should be where we were in China or even higher."

Tonio Liuzzi: "Overall today was good. In the morning we had a bit of a problem as I got a flat spot on my front right tyre on my first run. As we only use one set of tyres in this session, it affected the second run as it changed the balance of the car and we couldn't really set a representative time or test too many things. In the afternoon though we did some good work on each of the runs with a few different settings with different fuel levels, so the way we need to go is quite clear. We are suffering a little with understeer so we have some changes to make for tomorrow but in general it's not too bad. I think we will perform well in qualifying tomorrow."

Sauber

Pedro de la Rosa: "I had a good second session today. The mechanics did a great job and we recovered from the gear box problem we had this morning. In the afternoon we went through our programme. It was only one session but still enough to confirm the wind tunnel results. We took a step forward with the new aero package and the F-Duct. It is all going in the right direction now."

Kamui Kobayashi: "Overall I'm quite happy. We had no troubles with my car today and I could see it improving over the course of the day. We have definitely found a new way to work over the last three weeks. Obviously we have to work on the set-up, but there is no big issue, nothing we can't solve."

Toro Rosso:

Sebastien Buemi: "We ran trouble-free all day, with no issues on the car, which meant I was able to complete a lot of laps which is a positive start to the weekend. However, I am not completely happy in terms of performance, as we seem to be a bit further back than where we were at the last race in China. We need to understand why, but on the plus side, we now have plenty of data to study from today's runs in both high and lower fuel configuration. The tyre comparison seemed straightforward with the Option being faster of course, although the situation was not quite so clear over the long run."

Jaime Alguersuari: "The day went quite well, but there is more potential to come from the car, which we will be trying to get out of it tomorrow. I am happy with the work done so far, as we tested a lot of things, including a good race simulation and we know where we can improve. Both tyres worked well with not much sign of degradation, but we will have to see how they go tomorrow as, at this track, things can change from one day to the next. In lower fuel configuration we were lacking a bit of speed, but I think we can make a step forward tomorrow. It was enjoyable to finally be at a track that I know well, which meant I was able to push hard right from the start of practice. At the moment, we have not identified the cause of the problem that stopped me on track a couple of minutes before the end of the session."

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Fri: Williams, Lotus, Virgin, Hispania

Williams joined F1's newcomers Lotus, Virgin and Hispania at the bottom of the timesheets in Friday's Barcelona practice.

Williams:

Rubens Barrichello: "We completed our Friday programme successfully spending the two sessions evaluating the items the team have brought here. Because of the way we run on Fridays, we don't look competitive, but I feel that we might be a little bit stronger here. I will keep my feet on the ground though. The goal is to get through to Q3 tomorrow."

Nico Hulkenberg: "This morning's session was fine and the car felt pretty good. We made some modifications for the second session but my accident halfway through meant we didn't get much running in. I ran wide in the corner and made too much contact with the kerb causing the car to bottom out. It's a shame because it obviously cost us a lot of important practice time. I'm still positive about the weekend though and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Lotus:

Jarno Trulli: "First day back in the car in Europe and I'm really happy with how we have progressed with the car. Obviously it's still too early to assess it properly, but as soon as I got out on track I could feel that we had taken a major step forward. We have solved a number of the issues we had and we're definitely in the right direction, so I'm really pleased for everyone in the team as they've put in a great effort to get us here. This afternoon we continued with the program and everything went really smoothly, on both the hard and the soft tyres. I must admit that I've been really pleased with the speed gain we've seen in the car and, again, that's down to the work the team have put in with the car - all I need now is a little bit of luck, and a trouble free weekend!"

Heikki Kovalainen: "I've been really looking forward to being back in Europe and particularly here in Barcelona. It's been great to see the grandstands already busy, and I've seen a load of Finnish flags out there. On track, this morning was a really good session and I'm very encouraged by the updates - they're immediately working like we'd hoped. The car feels better to drive, the high-speed stability especially is better, and that's what you get when the aerodynamics of the car improve. In the afternoon session it again went pretty well. There's a couple of things we need to have a look at, but it felt good on both tyres and I think the upgrades have worked so we can be very happy about where we are."

Virgin:

Lucas di Grassi: "Basically it was a good Friday. We had no mechanical problems and no hydraulic issues with my car. It was a good first session and a good second session and we were able to evaluate a lot of the upgrades we have on the car. I'm very happy with the work that has been done and I'm looking forward to carrying on the progress tomorrow."

Timo Glock: "Not a perfect start to the weekend as we had a few problems in both free practice sessions. In general I think we just have to understand a bit more about the new car with the longer wheelbase, so there are still things we need to resolve for tomorrow. Hopefully we will get it right in time for Qualifying."

Hispania:

Karun Chandhok: "I am quite pleased with the job I did this afternoon after not taking part in the first practice session. I managed to get up to speed quite quickly and ended up with a very competitive lap time. We had some issues with the brakes but I am sure we will be able to fix it in time for tomorrow morning's session. It was really good to hear Christian's comments and interesting to hear that they were similar to mine. All in all a good day as we managed to complete our planned program for the day and will now concentrate on getting the car prepared for qualifying tomorrow."

Bruno Senna: "The practice was okay and we fulfilled the testing program. There were no major problems and I am looking forward to improve car balance. We'll see what we can achieve at the end of the weekend. The air temperature here was not very warm today. A pity because it was difficult to get tire temperatures right. The second session was a good practice again. We fulfilled our program without any problems. We are looking forward to the qualifying tomorrow."

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Fri: Red Bull, Merc, Ferrari, McLaren

Sebastian Vettel was the man to beat in Barcelona practice, finishing ahead of Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher.

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel: "We've got a few changes on our car, but I don't think anything as significant perhaps some of the other teams have. There's a little bit everywhere on ours and I think we've proved today that our changes work. I think the lap times are irrelevant from a Friday. It's good to be fast, but I think the McLarens are quick here - I don't think they were pushing hard this afternoon and I think it will be much closer tomorrow."

Mark Webber: "That was a good day for us - we had a smooth run, a nice P1 and P2 with no interruption from the weather or things like that. The guys worked faultlessly in the garage, the driver did a little bit as well and it was a good day. Don't read too much into the times; McLaren probably weren't showing everything today. It was a very late night for the team last night, but a positive day today and hopefully we're well prepared for tomorrow."

Mercedes GP:

Michael Schumacher: "Today I felt much more comfortable in the car and feel that it is behaving more consistently. In my view, our upgrade is a step forward but we have to wait and see how big the step is as the other teams have obviously improved as well. Now we have to deeply analyse the data to get a better overview on the actual situation and as usual after the Friday practice sessions, it is difficult to estimate where you actually are in comparison to our competitors. We will only have the real picture after qualifying tomorrow."

Nico Rosberg: "It was a challenging day for me today and not where I usually end up after the Friday practice sessions. There are no obvious issues on the aero package but we went wrong on the set-up whilst trying something new. I am confident that we will make progress overnight and tomorrow we will be able to extract the full potential from the car."

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso: "It's always nice to race in Barcelona, in front of so many fans, even on a Friday morning: it is definitely a source of extra motivation for me to do well. We worked with different fuel loads, both for qualifying and the race. We are reasonably happy with how things went and with the performance of the updates we tried on track, but we will have to wait until tomorrow to really understand where we stand compared to the other leading teams. As for the new rear wing, we will decide this evening whether or not to also use it in qualifying and the race: the system worked well but obviously, despite the fact we have tested it on various occasions, we still lack a bit of experience before we can get the best out of it."

Felipe Massa: "The updates we brought here have definitely allowed us to make a step forward in terms of performance, but other teams haven't been sitting around twiddling their thumbs. We still have work to do to find the ideal balance on the car, because today it was not as good as on the last two days of the test we did here last February. Probably the track conditions are very different to what they were then, as is always the case on the first day's running, but clearly we have to study the data carefully to understand which direction to go in, in terms of setting up the car."

McLaren

Lewis Hamilton: "It was quite windy today, so, despite running right through our programme, we struggled a little bit, particularly at the end when we changed to the Option tyre and encountered a bit of traffic. The new parts have definitely given us a step forward, but we don't yet know how big that step is compared to our rivals. Generally, however, the car doesn't feel too bad. Hopefully, we'll be able to make some further set-up changes overnight, too. Tomorrow we'll just be focusing on our programme, pushing the envelope, and analysing everything we can to make sure we're as competitive as we can possibly be."

Jenson Button: "I think we've still got a little bit of work to do, to be honest. I didn't get as much running done this morning as I would have liked because I hit something coming out of the pits - probably a small part of a car, which damaged one of my car's bargeboards. This afternoon we embarked on some set-up changes that we thought were headed in the right direction, but I'm not sure if they were. So there's a lot of work still to be done on both tyres - some of it is possibly set-up, and some of it is getting the tyres in their correct working range. This afternoon was a very tricky session. A few teams were already getting their cars to work well, so we should be able to get there too. But there's a lot to be done this evening to figure out exactly why our car didn't feel as we expected it to. I don't think it's an issue of the new components working or not, I think it's more about not turning the tyres on properly, or not working them in the correct way. We've got a lot of data to go through, but I'm certain we can make some improvements and come back with a stronger car for tomorrow."

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Rain is Vettel's biggest concern

Sebastian Vettel believes his biggest worry this weekend is not his rivals, rather it's the threat of rain falling during the grand prix.

Red Bull have yet to claim a victory this season when it has been raining, losing both the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix to McLaren's Jenson Button.

In fact, Red Bull's only win, which was secured by Vettel, came in Malaysia, which was a race weekend that saw the rain cause havoc in qualifying but fail to materialise during the grand prix.

This weekend's Spanish GP could once again see rain hamper proceedings with a slight chance of showers during qualifying and Sunday's race.

And that is the one thing Vettel, who was quickest in Friday's practice ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber, does not want to see.

"The weather!" he told Autosport when asked what his biggest worry was for this weekend's grand prix.

"I think it was quite chaotic especially the last race, so we try to execute a clean Sunday and a clean race. It doesn't help when it starts to rain and stops raining every five minutes.

"Even then you have to do a good job, and last time we didn't succeed the way we wanted to. But here we will see what we can do."

Aside from the weather, though, there could be a few other concerns for Vettel as his rivals, like Red Bull, enter this weekend's race with major updates to their cars.

But whether that will negate Red Bull's qualifying supremacy remains to be seen, although the German is expecting a closely fought battle.

"McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, all three teams look very strong," he said. "It has been very close. In some races we were stronger than others, but in other races it was much closer, then sometimes McLaren was strongest and fastest.

"So it is tough, it is tight. We will make a step here, but it depends how big your step is compared to the others. If you find half a second then great, but if others find one second then it is rubbish."

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Klien: Hispania not up to F1 standards

Christian Klien has delivered a damning assessment of Hispania's F1 car, saying it is "not quite on an F1 standard."

Confirmed as Hispania's test and reserve driver, Klien had his first taste of the team's car in Friday's opening practice session at Barcelona.

The former BMW tester was immediately on the pace - by Hispania standards - finishing half a second up on team-mate Bruno Senna. However, he was still 22nd out of the 24 drivers.

The Austrian believes the fledgling F1 team has its work cut out for it as the car is, unfortunately, lacking in all quarters.

"Obviously this car is not quite on an F1 standard - there is just a lack of downforce big time that the car has," Klien said.

"Also the small details on the car are not as good as the top cars, so it is quite easy to get in the car and tell the engineers many things on where the other cars are better.

"For me it was quite clear after the first 20 laps what the major problems with the car were, and hopefully with more and more feedback we can improve the car.

"I think even without putting new stuff on the car there is still lap time in the car. I think half a second to one second, for sure, just by working more on set-up things.

"The electronics too, to help make the car more driveable because it is quite hard on track - it's difficult to be consistent."

MIKA: Someone has to say it the way it is on the standard of the HRT vehicle and for CK to also be half a second up, what does that tell you?

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Grid slot penalty for Virgin duo

Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi have both been handed five-grid slot penalties even before qualifying has taken place.

Under Formula One regulations, all teams need to notify the FIA of their gear ratios within two hours of Friday's practices concluding.

Virgin, though, failed to do this.

As such Glock and Di Grassi will be sent five places back on the grid, although given only Hispania were slower than them in final practice it will not mean too much of a drop.

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Upgrades removed from Barrichello's Williams

Rubens Barrichello has revealed that Williams have removed the updates from his car following his disastrous qualifying failure in Spain.

Due to a shortage of parts, Barrichello was expected to be the only Williams driver using the new aerodynamic features delivered by the team in Barcelona. However, his failure to progress from Qualy Three brought the dramatic revelation that "the updates didn't work so we have had to drop them and our cars are now the same."

Yet, according to Barrichello, he only failed to reach Qualy Two because he was held up by traffic.

"The updates didn't work. We had to drop it, but the fact is I couldn't get a clear run and I was thinking that we had a shot on Q3 to be honest with you.

"But, that's the problem - we have six cars that go so slow and if they don't get out of the way you catch them by three to four seconds a lap and that's too unfortunate. I'm just out."

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Penalties for Petrov and Chandhok

Vitaly Petrov and Karun Chandhok have both been handed five-grid slot penalties for the Spanish GP, both for gearbox changes.

Petrov crashed heavily in Saturday's final practice, causing major damage to his car when he thundered into the barriers. The impact meant major repairs, including the fitting of a new gearbox.

As a result, the Russian, who qualified P14 for Sunday's race, will start P19.

However, he wasn't the only driver handed a penalty for changing a gearbox.

Hispania revealed after qualifying that they would need to change Chandhok's gearbox, meaning the Indian driver, who qualified P23, will be sent to the back of the grid.

Petrov and Chandhok's penalties bring the number of grid slot demotions to four as already both Virgin drivers have been slapped with penalties.

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Ferrari fined, Alonso safe

Ferrari have been fined $20,000 over Fernando Alonso's near-miss with Nico Rosberg during qualifying ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

The four race stewards quickly deliberated over the incident that took place early in the final 10-minute shoot-out.

After pulling out of the Ferrari garage on his first run in Q3, Alonso cut Rosberg up as the Mercedes driver made his way down the pit lane.

The German was forced to brake sharply, prompting an immediate retort over the team radio as he snapped: "Alonso should get a penalty for that."

The stewards deemed Alonso's manoeuvre to be an unsafe release from the pits, and in accordance with the regulations, issued a heavy fine.

The Spaniard had earlier questioned the prospect of being penalised after witnessing what unfolded in the Chinese Grand Prix three weeks ago.

On that occasion Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were only reprimanded for their side-by-side joust down the pit lane, at one stage touching wheels.

Speaking before the announcement of the stewards' decision, Alonso said: "First of all I didn't see Nico, unfortunately.

"The angle is not the perfect one to see anybody coming from the pits, so you are relying on your mechanic.

"Then, if there is a penalty, we need to reconsider some of the grands prix we have had so far in terms of penalties in the pit lane.

"Third, if there is a penalty, it's a safety thing in the pit lane, which is normally a fine for the team.

"Hopefully we don't have any of these cases because, as I said, we need to reconsider some of the other races.

"Hopefully they take into consideration there was no accident, no touch, no performance gain from the move."

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Schumi starting to pull Mercedes' trigger

Michael Schumacher says his Merc W01 was not "as perfect" on Saturday but that didn't stop him from achieving his best grid slot of his comeback.

Mercedes GP entered this weekend's Spanish GP with a radically different car, which included a longer wheelbase, a revised engine cover and improvements to both the front and the rear wings.

Many in the press were billing the changes as do-or-die for Schumacher, who had failed to shine in the first four races of his return to Formula One.

The changes played to Schumacher's strengths with the German showing massive signs of improvement in Friday's practices, finishing P3 in both.

And although he wasn't able to match the pace on Saturday, conceding that the car was not behaving as it had the previous day, he still claimed his highest grid slot of 2010, a P6.

"Today's qualifying was straightforward in my view. We had a good car yesterday meaning that conditions were quite ideal for us in terms of balance and so on," he said.

"Today admittedly, the car was not as perfect. It is little things that can trigger that change one way or the other, and whatever happened today just triggered us to fall over the edge towards the downside a little.

"Nevertheless, I feel a lot more comfortable driving the car that I have in my hands now. But there is a maximum that you can get out of it and that is what we have achieved today."

But while Schumacher is feeling more at home in his W01, the same cannot be said of his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

For the first time this season, he lost out to the seven-time World Champ in qualifying, finishing a tenth down in P8.

"It's been a difficult weekend for me and we need to look into the reasons for this and understand why. The changes that we have made with the car are obviously good and we have made a step forward but I haven't really been able to use the improvements so far," said Rosberg.

"Considering that I have found the car difficult to drive and haven't had the best of set-ups, our performance today was acceptable but it's not where I wanted to be fighting this weekend."

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Rosberg: Stewards right to fine Ferrari

Nico Rosberg has applauded the stewards at the Spanish GP for punishing Ferrari following a pit-lane incident he felt was fortunate not to cause injury.

As Fernando Alonso exited the Ferrari garage to set off on his first hot lap in the final 10-minute qualifying session, he almost ran into Rosberg who was heading down the pit lane in his Mercedes.

The German was forced to brake sharply to avoid colliding with the Spaniard, following which he issued an immediate retort over the team radio as he snapped: "Alonso should get a penalty for that."

After swiftly reviewing the matter, the four stewards deemed the manoeuvre an unsafe release from the pits, and in accordance with the regulations, fined Ferrari US dollars 20,000 (£13,500).

Explaining the issue, Rosberg said: "There were some photographers standing there, who I've just spoken to now.

"For them, if we had collided - and it was very possible to collide in that situation - parts could have started flying and it would have been very dangerous for them.

"So it's a serious thing and I think it's correct they (Ferrari) got a fine.

"They really need to try and do better next time. That was not good."

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Webber: Nice to get one back on Vettel

Mark Webber is slowly but surely evening the qualifying score between himself and team-mate Sebastian Vettel after claiming pole in Spain.

This year's Championship has seen Red Bull Racing dominate qualifying, claiming all five pole positions, including three complete lock-outs of the front row.

However, three of those poles have gone to Vettel, who is also leading the battle of the Red Bull racers in the Drivers' standings.

Webber, though, has a solid chance of making ground up on his team-mate in the Championship after doing just that in the qualifying stats on Saturday.

The Aussie claimed the P1 slot with a blistering 1:19.995, which put him 09.106s ahead of Vettel and in prime position to claim the victory on Sunday as nine of the last ten races at Barcelona have been won by the driver starting first.

"It's a good battle between us. Seb has a good record against me but if you look at the numbers it's always very close," said Webber.

"Today I had two solid laps. It's nice to go into the second lap knowing you are already ahead and be able to build on that.

"This pole is for the team. Both sides of the garage have had about four hours sleep in the last two nights. The improvement in the car is now translating into lap time.

"It's a sensational qualifying for both Seb and myself.

"(Team boss) Christian (Horner) said to me beforehand, you probably won't get to drive a car this quick around here again, so go and enjoy yourself and I did."

Vettel, meanwhile, was magnanimous in defeat, conceding that Saturday's outing in Spain was won by the faster driver.

"Congratulations to Mark, he was unbeatable," said the German.

"I had good laps, but it was just not enough. It looks comfortable but we know how quickly things can change so we have to stay focused.

"Maybe there is some rain, but it is a long race, so we'll see."

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Button and Hamilton stunned by Red Bull's pace

World Championship leader Jenson Button has admitted that the Red Bulls should romp to victory in Spain after their "massive" triumph in qualifying.

With Mark Webber securing pole just ahead of team-mate Seb Vettel, the Bulls out-paced the third-placed Lewis Hamilton by almost a full second. In F1 terms, it amounted to a lifetime. McLaren might have delivered a series of improvements for Barcelona, but it would appear as if the Bulls have won the development war declared for the start of the European leg of the season.

"It's a massive gap," acknowledged Button. "It should be a walk in the park for them on Sunday. You never say never, and our race pace is generally better than our qualifying pace, but they're going to be very difficult to beat. "

Sitting alongside Webber and Vettel in the post-qualy press conference, Hamilton was equally stunned by the superiority of their pace.

"We thought they'd be faster but nobody expected them to be that fast."

At least Hamilton had the consolation of out-pacing his team-mate, though Button was far from disheartened by his result.

"Fifth place is not too bad. We were struggling yesterday and we didn't think we would be where we are now. I'd like to be a little further up but it's ok."

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Massa confused by lack of pace

Felipe Massa has promised not to panic as he tries to figure out the reason for his poor qualifying performance at Catalunya.

The Ferrari driver will start a lowly ninth, having lapped 0.6s slower than his team-mate Fernando Alonso in Q3 as the home hero grabbed fourth.

"In qualifying I had a lot of trouble finding the right grip level, especially in the second and third sectors, which contain the slowest corners on the track," said Massa.

"I felt as though I was rally driving, always understeering."

He admitted that he had been steeling himself for a tough time after being less than happy with the car in practice.

"Already yesterday, I realised this would not be an easy weekend and so I was not surprised at what happened today," said Massa.

"We worked on different set-ups for the car and chose the best one, but it was not enough.

"We have to work out why, but without panicking, but by calmly analysing the situation.

"Maybe I didn't put together the best possible lap, but even so I don't think I would have been in the fight for the top places."

Ferrari's Chris Dyer insinuated that Massa's result might just have been a better reflection of the team's pace, and that perhaps Alonso had over-achieved.

"Fernando produced an exceptional lap and getting the car at least onto the second row was down to his talent," said Dyer.

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Sauber thrilled with 'two steps forward'

The troubled Sauber team was delighted after Spanish Grand Prix qualifying as Kamui Kobayashi made it into the top ten and Pedro de la Rosa came close to emulating him.

After flying in winter testing, Sauber has lacked both speed and reliable in the races this year, but strenuous efforts since Shanghai appeared to have paid off given the team's improvement at Catalunya.

"If you want to move forward on the grid, you have to take two steps, because the competition is not standing still - and that's exactly what we achieved," said team boss Peter Sauber.

Kobayashi has only completed 11 laps in races this year due to a variety of accidents and glitches.

He is sure that if he reaches the finish tomorrow, it will be in a strong position.

"I already knew from the morning session that my pace here was good enough for Q3," said Kobayashi.

"The performance of the car is a lot better.

"We have aero updates and also an engine upgrade for reliability.

"I won't set myself targets for tomorrow.

"I just hope to finish the race and everything else, I believe, will be okay then."

But de la Rosa was frustrated, having only managed 12th at the end of Q2 after looking quicker earlier.

"I'm not happy," said the Spaniard.

"In Q2 I was sixth and it obviously was possible to get into Q3.

"I don't really understand what went wrong.

"I had a bit of understeer here and there and out of turn two I was sliding."

[MIKA27]

Spanish GP grid

AT A GLANCE:

1 WEBBER Red Bull

2 VETTEL Red Bull

3 HAMILTON McLaren

4 ALONSO Ferrari

5 BUTTON McLaren

6 SCHUMACHER Mercedes

7 KUBICA Renault

8 ROSBERG Mercedes

9 MASSA Ferrari

10 KOBAYASHI Sauber

11 SUTIL Force India

12 DE LA ROSA Sauber

13 HULKENBERG Williams

14 BUEMI Toro Rosso

15 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso

16 LIUZZI Force India

17 BARRICHELLO Williams

18 TRULLI Lotus

19 PETROV* Renault

20 KOVALAINEN Lotus

21 SENNA HRT

22 GLOCK* Virgin

23 DI GRASSI* Virgin

24 CHANDHOK* HRT

* penalised five grid places

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  magste said:

Ok. Wrong about the start... Nice one Mark. Hope you keep it all the way...

Congrats to Webber, you were right about Hamilton in a way though (Not the start) but he still managed to DNF.

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Vettel: Webber was in a class of his own

Sebastian Vettel might think his team-mate was in a league of his own in Spain, but Mark Webber is refusing to get too carried away following his win.

Webber put in a dominant display at the Circuit de Catalunya - starting on pole and finishing more than 24 seconds ahead of second-place driver Fernando Alonso. The Australian's victory, his first of the season, moves him up to fourth place in the Drivers' Championships.

Despite the dominant display in Barcelona, Webber insists you can't rule out the Ferraris and McLarens.

"It's special - I'm absolutely rapt, but it's still very early doors," he said. "We know there are some very competitive cars at the front, in particular Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, and with some pretty decent drivers as well.

"There's a long, long way to go, so we're waiting to see how cars perform at different venues - cars are pretty sensitive at different tracks. There's a lot of things to see how it all shakes out over the next few months. You need to have a quick car and one that is always there for you."

While Webber had a faultless afternoon, Vettel had a nightmare day as he had problems with his balance and brakes among other things.

"A lot of things went wrong today," said Vettel. "The start was okay, there was no chance to get past Mark and not worth taking the risk. It was quite slippery where he was so I didn't want to go around the outside.

"I was not quick enough. I struggled with the balance. Mark was in his own league today."

Team boss Christian Horner told BBC Sport they want more of the same at the next race in Monaco.

"Both drivers are treated equally," he said. "We're delighted to have both of them up on the podium. First and third is a brilliant team result. The guys in the garage are working so well at the moment. Today was a great day for the team. We want to do it again next weekend."

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Whitmarsh blames Hamilton puncture on debris

Martin Whitmarsh believes Lewis Hamilton's penultimate-lap blow-out during the Spanish GP was the consequence of debris rather than a tired tyre.

Hamilton had seemed poised to confound the pre-race expectation of a walkover by splitting the two Red Bulls by taking second when he crashed out with a front-left puncture with just two laps remaining.

Insult is likely to be added to injury by the suggestion that Hamilton was the architect of his own downfall. The Englishman is considered to be particularly demanding on his tyres because of his aggressive driving style and his tyre blew after almost fifty lap of pounding.

However, Whitmarsh's initial judgement was that Hamilton had simply been waylaid by bad luck.

"It's always difficult to say without a full examination but it was probably caused by debris in the rim causing a deflation. There were a lot of things going on today on the track.

"We were monitoring the tyres during the race and they were in good shape."

Hamilton himself was understandably disappointed after being denied an outstanding result that would have propelled him into second place in the standings.

"It was quite a good race for me. I had really good fun out there," he said.

"It's nice to take a step forward and split the Red Bulls, which would have been perfect for the team. But these things happen.

"I don't know what it was. I guess we'll find out, but there's many more races to go.

"I was just cruising to the finish line and it was great points for me, but then I blew a tyre. That's motor-racing."

MIKA: I think it all comes down to Hamiltons driving style, very fast and agressive. Its not such a bad thing, its what makes him great, but now he has to learn how to manage his tyres alot better.

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Schumi: I want to attack, not defend

Michael Schumacher may have achieved his best finish of the season but still the German was not particularly happy with his Spanish GP.

Starting sixth on the grid, Schumacher made up a position in the pit stops, leapfrogging Jenson Button, who then spent the next 49 laps trying to find a way get the position back.

Schumacher spent the better part of the race having to defend against Button, which he did so successfully, finishing ahead of the reigning World Champ.

An added bonus came on the penultimate lap when Lewis Hamilton retired from the grand prix, elevating Schumacher to fourth place, his best result of 2010.

However, the German wasn't exactly smiling.

"It was quite an entertaining race right from the start even if we knew from the beginning that there would not be a chance for us to compete for a podium place if everything goes as normal," he said.

"Still it was exciting for me to manage to keep the position that I gained but then, I am obviously not too happy as today we could only defend.

"All we could do was to hope for reliability problems of others in order to make up positions and that's not really what you want to do.

"It was an interesting fight with Jenson but all I could do is try to not give him a possibility to overtake. In the end the gap to the front is just too big to be really happy after this race.

"For Monaco, we hope that the characteristics of the track will suit our car better."

MIKA: Great to see MS doing the best job he could with the car he has. The Merc is reliable and it seems the upgrades/tweaks have paid off. All Merc need do now is giveboth MS and Nico a little more speed.

Great defensive driving by Schumi, this is where his experience shines best, didn't cave into pressure for 49 laps of Button trying to overtake at any opportunity.

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Button upset with Schumi's passing move

Jenson Button has hit out at Michael Schumacher, saying the German turned into to him, almost causing a crash in the Spanish GP.

Schumacher, who was behind Button at the time, pitted on lap 15 of the 66-lap Barcelona race with Button coming in two laps later.

The Brit, though, suffered a relatively slow stop due to a clutch problem which meant he exited the pits as Schumacher was coming down the straight.

And, according to Button, the German almost turned in on him, forcing the reigning Champ to take avoiding action.

"I didn't really know where Michael was on the outside of me," said Button. "He turned in and if I didn't back out of it we would have crashed.

"So he didn't really give me a lot of room there. There you go, you'd think with his experience he would know. It wasn't really the right move."

Once behind Schumacher, Button spent the remainder of the grand prix, some 49 laps, starring at the seven-time World Champ's rear wing as he was not able to find a way to pass him.

"It's tough to overtake here, and Michael's not silly. He knows where to put his car, so on a track like this you're not going to overtake him," said Button.

"He was putting it on the inside, and I couldn't pass on the outside because he just pushed me wide every time. He didn't make a mistake, so it was very frustrating.

"Fifth place is okay, but it's frustrating because the car was quick here. That's a positive and a negative, because I didn't get to use the speed."

MIKA: IMO, I think Buttons comments are a little 'Sulky' and wrong for a couple reasons;

1) "I didn't really know where Michael was on the outside of me," Perhaps JB should pay attention and know where someone is at when your racing them, it helps when your trying to defend.

2) "So he didn't really give me a lot of room there. There you go, you'd think with his experience he would know. It wasn't really the right move." I wouldnt give anyone any room, any experienced F1 driver is not supposed to make it easy, its F1. This is where 'all of Michaels experience' has paid off. His move was not illegal, JB just didn't have as much experience to know where to overtake MS. It was clear, Button was always trying to make his move on the wrong side (The outside) rather than the inside closest to the apex. As JB stated, his car is faster compared to MS's ..... Put Hamilton or Alonso in the same situation, they may have done a better job to overtake.

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'F-duct' to get the boot in 2011

The 'F-duct' system is set to be one-season wonder after teams opted to ban the controversial device from 2011.

McLaren's rivals have been up in arms ever since their use of the device, which stalls air flow to the rear wing and gives the MP4-25 an estimated 6mph speed advantage down the straights, came to light during the season opener in Bahrain.

Red Bull's technical guru Adrian Newey even claimed it was dangerous saying: "to force a driver to make a sudden movement to change normal load conditions has to do with safety".

Despite their protests, though, the FIA declared the aerodynamic device legal and that promoted a host of teams to copy the 'F-duct'.

However, the Formula One Teams Association decided to ban the system from next year during a meeting in Spain on Sunday.

According to BBC Sport, 'McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, the chairman of Fota, confirmed that the teams had voted to ban the systems.

'Before the meeting, McLaren had written a letter to all the teams saying that they felt banning the system was the wrong thing to do. But their plea was rejected.'

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Kobayashi: 'We could have scored points today'

It was a disappointing race for Sauber despite scoring their best result of the season.

The team looked set to score points in the Spanish GP after Kamui Kobayashi managed to qualify in the top ten. However a first lap collision with Robert Kubica dropped the Japanese driver down to P15. He eventually finished 12th.

"I had a good start but in turn three I was hit by Robert [Kubica]. I think I left him enough room but he said he had understeer. However, this was where I lost ground. I came back from the gravel in 15th," said Kobayashi.

"I'm convinced, given the progress we made with the car, without this incident I would have been able to score points today."

It was a similar story for Pedro de la Rosa who retired on lap 18 after a collision with a Toro Rosso.

"I can't explain how disappointed I am. I had a good start but I got hit by a Toro Rosso which caused a rear tyre puncture. I pitted for a tyre change but meanwhile the damage to the car, caused by the exploded tyre, was quite extensive," explained De la Rosa.

"We tried to continue but the car was undriveable. It just made no sense and we had to give up."

The team however remains positive after the Spanish weekend showed signs of improvement.

"Looking back to the race weekend, it was positive we improved the performance of the car which enabled Kamui to make it to the top ten in qualifying," said team principal Peter Sauber. "And finally he was able to finish his first race this season."

MIKA: The Sauber looked impressive this race weekend, hopefully better luck next race.