The Monaco race may be one of the most glamorous and historic events on the Formula One calendar but that’s not why the drivers love it so. The real draw for them is in the challenge of the Monte Carlo circuit’s twists and turns, which rewards the brave and punishes the tiniest of mistakes. They and their teams explain why they can’t wait to get started on Thursday…

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2011 Qualifying – 1st, 2011 Race – 1st
“It’s something special to race in Monaco; it’s tight and there’s no room for error. It’s rough and, as it’s a street circuit, the road surface is uneven so you get shaken in the car and there is no room for mistakes. You have to push yourself and the car to the limit to be fast, you have to push as hard as on other tracks, but there’s no room. You can almost feel it when you are just missing the wall and just get through – but it’s a nice feeling. You need to be fully focused on track, it’s a special thing to win in Monaco.”

Mark Webber, Red Bull
2011 Qualifying – 3rd, 2011 Race – 4th
“Monaco is a really special track, it’s an old circuit in terms of when it was first designed and the layout hasn’t changed too much since. It’s got a bit easier from when I first joined Formula One ten years ago, but it’s still a test of man against the track and with the car. You’re racing other people, but it doesn’t always feel like it because the track is always asking you to give more. If you bite and try to give it more then you crash so it’s a very, very challenging circuit mentally. Physically it’s quite straightforward, but in the mind you need to be very disciplined and that’s the challenge around Monaco.”

Jenson Button, McLaren
2011 Qualifying – 2nd, 2011 Race – 3rd
“My win at Monaco in 2009 remains one of my favourite victories in Formula One. Monte-Carlo is a place where every driver wants to win, but achieving it is so satisfying because you know you’ve conquered one of the toughest circuits in motorsport. Winning the Monaco Grand Prix will always be really special.

“I remember last year having a fantastic car beneath me and feeling really confident that I could challenge for the win. As it happened, circumstances beyond our control worked to pull that opportunity away from us, but I go back to Monte-Carlo with a little bit of unfinished business. I’d love to win for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, the team has a great history around Monaco and I’d love to add my name to McLaren’s Monaco winners’ list.

“This year, we’ll be running Pirelli’s Supersoft compound for the first time – which should be interesting. And while our car isn’t especially suited to the tighter confines of a track like Monaco, I’m optimistic of getting on top of the balance issues that have affected me for the past two races. It’s going to be a fantastic weekend.”

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
2011 Qualifying – 9th, 2011 Race – 6th
“Monaco is a very special circuit. It’s up there with Silverstone as the place where I most want to do well at. Even though Monaco has the slowest average speed of all the circuits we visit in a season, it always feels incredibly quick. That’s because the acceleration is so rapid and the walls so close: there really is no room for error. Apart from the run-off at Ste Devote, and the tiny escape roads at Mirabeau and the harbour chicane, there’s no room to make a mistake. But when the stakes are at their highest, I just find it more exciting.

“Still, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that, despite pushing for the win, consistency and scoring decent points is currently the most sensible way to tackle this world championship. I’ve scored points at every race, and I’m only eight points off the lead of the championship. That’s a really encouraging statistic and it’s reassuring to see my approach is paying off. Nevertheless, I’m coming off the back of two relatively disappointing results and there would be no better place for the cards to fall in my favour than at Monaco.”

Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal
“I’m incredibly proud of the team’s record at Monte-Carlo. We’ve won the Monaco Grand Prix more than any other team, and it’s a race we all regard as incredibly special, and integral to the sporting image of Formula One. This is a unique event in so many ways – it places unique demands on the driver, the car and the team. Accordingly, winning in Monaco is considered a more significant victory than a win at other circuits.

“Both our drivers will arrive in the paddock feeling particularly determined this year: Jenson, because he will be determined to set the record straight after losing a victory in 2011 that many felt he rightfully deserved; Lewis, simply because he has been driving brilliantly all season and a victory at his favourite circuit would be just reward for all his speed and commitment.

“For the entire Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, too, we travel to the south of France feeling determined to string together a faultless weekend and to demonstrate our full potential. I have absolutely no doubts that the team is feeling very strong, and a win at Monaco would be the perfect fillip for their efforts.”

Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus
2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a
“Monaco is a little bit different and it’s hard to say how it will go there. It’s useless to put races in different categories, because all of them are as important to me. However, as a special race there is nothing like Monaco. There is no better feeling than to get things going well in there. To race in the streets of Monte Carlo is really different from everywhere else; a challenge I look forward to every year. It is very, very difficult, almost impossible, to have a clean weekend there.

“I’ve only managed to get it right once before, you really do get the greatest feeling by winning it. My win in 2005 ranks up there with my most memorable. So to win it again would be just as special. It’s such a twisty and narrow track. You have to be extra sharp and focussed in every single metre you go fast there. It gives such a good feeling a fast lap in Monaco. Overtaking has been almost impossible there in the past so to really enjoy racing there you have to be at the front.

“Monaco is always special. It’s an interesting place to go to, with a lot of fans and a lot of parties going on – or so I’m told. It’s a completely different atmosphere from anywhere else.

“We have to focus on qualifying. It’s a difficult place to race as it’s so narrow and passing is nearly impossible. I was stuck behind Rubens [Barrichello] in 2009 and we had KERS then, but you just couldn’t get past. We’ll have to see how the tyres perform and if there are any good strategies to be made, but the most important thing is qualifying well. It’s difficult to know how good the car will be in Monaco as you can’t simulate its characteristics, certainly not at any of the circuits we’ve visited so far this year. We can say the E20 has been fast everywhere else so let’s hope it’s also fast at Monaco.”

Romain Grosjean, Lotus
2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a
“I think Monaco is going to be a fantastic event and it is a special race for me for sure. There are certain to be a lot of French fans, and I’m looking forward to their support. It’s also a very special event in its own right, and the atmosphere is quite crazy! As a driver you have to stay calm and relaxed and try to do your job. It’s a track that doesn’t allow any mistakes. You have to respect it and that is the key there I think. Hopefully we can have another good result.

“I think Monaco is a specialist track and it’s very difficult to say if a car will suit there or not. It’s bumpy on the straights and it’s a very low-grip track surface. All these things mean that you never know what to expect. On a more normal racetrack you know more what you are going to have. I hope we will have a pleasant surprise and that the car will suit Monaco’s unique challenges. That would be nice.”

Eric Boullier, Lotus team principal
“We are celebrating our 500th Grand Prix in Monaco so what a story [winning] would be! Monaco is a unique event and it really is the jewel in the Formula One crown. Historically Enstone teams have shown good pace in Monaco, but last year’s car wasn’t strong in slow-speed corners so we may have some work to do. In terms of the team and our drivers, we’re all ready for a win. We’re looking at every aspect of the car and how we run it and we’re all focused tremendously on achieving our goals. A win would be a fabulous thing.”

James Allison, Lotus technical director
“We’ve got a bigger rear wing as you need more downforce at Monaco than you need anywhere else. If you look closer, or if you are a very keen fan of bodywork changes then you’ll see that the area around the side pods and the rear drums will be different too. We have to make modifications to the suspension to enable the necessary lock to get around Loews Hairpin and Rascasse. We have also made some changes, for Kimi in particular, to make the steering a little more reactive for Monaco.

“Perhaps if we look back, of the five races we’ve done so far, the race where we were least impressive was China and that’s a track with relatively few sweeping corners and lots of lower-speed traction events. So there is a train of thought that Monaco might not play to the strengths of our car.
However there are other things about Monaco that are different entirely, which are much harder to gauge. For starters the corners are so slow that the strength we’ve seen in very fast corners compared with moderate corners is not really any sort of form guide for competitiveness around Monaco’s twists and turns.

“Secondly, driver skill plays a relatively bigger part at Monaco than at most tracks, and we are fortunate to have a pair of decent peddlers. Finally, a large part of Monaco is confidence from the driver. Confidence that they can lean on the car and know that it’s not going to misbehave. So far, the E20 has proved to be a very predictable, straightforward car to drive – a quality it shares with the R30. So hopefully they will be able to lean on it to good effect. We’ll have to see.”

Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
2011 Qualifying – 12th, 2011 Race – 5th
“I have good memories of Monaco. I finished fifth there last year, which was really great. Monaco is a very special track for the drivers. Our car seems to be strong on most of the tracks. Now it will be interesting to see how competitive it will be on a street circuit, but I’m quite confident it will be strong there as well. In Monaco a lot of things can happen, therefore it’s important to stay out of trouble and make it to the end. If we do that then I’m sure we will be able to fight for points.”

Sergio Perez, Sauber
2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a
“This Grand Prix is the most special one for me. I have been waiting to race in the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix all my life and, of course, after what happened last year I am looking forward to it even more. I strongly believe on this track the driver can make more of a difference than on any other track. As a team we are in good shape and I want to keep that momentum for Monaco. I also think our car can perform quite well on that unique city circuit. Of course I also think back to the accident I had in Q3 last year. To me it is like a watershed event in my career. There is a time before and a time after the accident. I learnt a lot from what I had to go through and I think it made me stronger. I really want to show what I can do in Monte Carlo.”

Matt Morris, Sauber chief designer
“The Monaco track is probably the one where the driver has the most influence on the overall performance. Last year both our drivers were competitive – Sergio until his accident in Q3, and Kamui finished a strong fifth in the race. The main challenge for setting up the car will be to optimise the mechanical grip. I’m confident we will be able to handle this. The development package that we ran for the first time in Barcelona will also be used again in Monaco, so we will be able to carry over its performance gain. Pirelli will provide us with the soft and the super soft tyres. This is actually the first time this year that we will be using the super soft compound during a race weekend. We tested it briefly during winter testing in Barcelona, which is a track that’s not exactly suited to this tyre, but I don’t see us having any problems in managing this tyre compound. The track has been resurfaced in some areas, for example in the braking zone after the tunnel, so we have got rid of the bump there. That’s something the drivers have to get used to, but, if anything, it should be easier. One of the design considerations of the C31 was to improve it over the kerbs, so we should be stronger at kerbing compared to last year. We have been competitive so far this season, and I’m confident we can be very strong in Monaco as well.”

Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
2011 Qualifying – 5th, 2011 Race – DNF
“Monaco is just a circuit of its own very unique character. In a way, you could look at it with a big portion of irony with regards to the contradiction that, for so many years we have successfully campaigned for more track safety, and then we deliberately race in Monaco. But in my view this is justifiable once a year, especially as the circuit is really so much fun to drive. Every time you go there, you just look forward to finally getting out and driving the track. Of course, knowing that I will lose five positions on the grid does not add to this feeling but this just means that I will have to try even harder. I’m actually quite confident that we should look reasonably good in Monaco due to the hard work that everybody in the team is putting into the development of our car. So let’s make the best out of the weekend.”

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
2011 Qualifying – 7th, 2011 Race – 11th
“I love the Monaco Grand Prix weekend and it’s a great feeling to be driving at home, knowing that all my friends and family are watching. I have always been quick around the streets here, and I believe a good result is possible for us next weekend. The nature of the track should suit our car but as we have seen at every race so far this season, tyre management will be crucial. With five different winning teams so far this year, at least ten drivers have the chance to win in Monaco so this could be one of the most interesting races there for years.”

Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal
“The uniqueness of Monaco makes it one of those tracks where anything can happen, particularly in a season that has proved to be almost impossible to predict so far. Despite the logistical challenges of the weekend, Monaco is a race that everyone on the team and the drivers really enjoy, and the experience of winning in Monaco is something very special indeed. After Nico’s win in China, we have had two more difficult race weekends, but I am confident that we will start to see an improvement in Monaco as the developments that we have brought to the car recently take effect.”

Norbert Haug, Vice-President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“With five different winners from five different teams in five races, it has been an exciting and unexpected first quarter of the 2012 season. Now Formula One visits the most atypical circuit of all, Monaco. It makes unusual, one-off demands of the cars: there are fast and narrow sections, but also eight corners taken at under 100 km/h and over 4,500 gear changes during the race. It is also incredibly challenging and rewarding for the drivers. In Monaco, more than any other circuit, the driver can really make the difference, especially on a single qualifying lap. Both Nico and Michael have shown a great feeling for the circuit and the ability to master it in recent seasons. After all the talk of unpredictability of the teams’ performance levels this year, there are also clear facts: three of five races have been won from pole position, including Nico’s victory in China. What’s more, the five drivers who have completed every race lap are all in the top seven in the current championship standings. Strong qualifying speed has been rewarded at every race, and consistently finishing races appears to be even more important in 2012. In the last three races, Nico has scored a total of 41 points, the second highest total in the field after Sebastian Vettel with 43. Our focus in Monaco will be to extract the maximum from our further developed technical package. Giving the drivers a car they can trust and feel confident in is worth more here than at any other circuit on the calendar.”

Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham
2011 Qualifying – 17th, 2011 Race – 14th
“Monaco’s the race everyone in F1 wants to win, and it’s not just a famous F1 race, it’s one of the biggest annual events in the world. For drivers it’s a pretty hard-core race, in and out of the cars, but it’s a challenge I really enjoy and racing around the streets is one of the real highlights of being an F1 driver. On track it’s one of the races where the pack bunches up a bit and that might give us a chance to do something special. Last year I finished 14th, one of our higher finishes of the season, so hopefully we can improve on that this year. We have KERS this year and a car that has good race pace, and as our car is slightly easier on the tyres than some of the teams ahead, maybe that will help us achieve a high race finish.”

Vitaly Petrov, Caterham
2011 Qualifying – 10th, 2011 Race – DNF
“I’ve raced a lot in Monaco, not just in Formula One. I had a podium there in GP2 when I finished second in 2009, which was good. In F1 I’ve raced there twice. The first time wasn’t so great but last year was pretty good, right up until the point I crashed! That was so disappointing, but I couldn’t avoid it. We had a good strategy and I’d had a good race up to that point, but that’s how racing goes sometimes. Monaco is an unbelievable place though. Normally, between Barcelona and Monaco we have just one week and I’d leave Barcelona on Sunday night and drive to Monaco, because on the Tuesday of the race week we have the football match for the F1 drivers, which is always great. The track itself is always a little bit dirty at the start of the weekend and it’s quite difficult to get tyre temperatures up during the lap. It’s tricky because the walls are so close. If you make one mistake or have a little bit of oversteer, you don’t even get a chance to correct it – you’re in the wall. It takes quite a bit of mental preparation and you need to be totally focused for every single lap of every session. The race itself? The atmosphere in the race is incredible. It’s just an amazing place to drive a racing car and I really love it.”

Mark Smith, Caterham technical director
“Monaco is a unique challenge, for the drivers and the teams. The fact we are in very different garage conditions to normal, and in a cramped paddock, makes it a tough race for the truckies, the mechanics and the engineers, but it is a race we all look forward to and one that everyone wants to do well at. The short length of the lap and the limited high-speed sections means there is much less difference in lap times than at somewhere like Barcelona. We all use high downforce settings, and we have a specific aero configuration we will use in Monaco and probably Hungary, but the days of cars sprouting all sorts of special wings just for Monaco are behind us. The cars may not look hugely different to how they appeared in Spain, but we do have as much downforce as we can find for the whole weekend in Monte Carlo.

“The other challenges are managing the brake cooling and tyre wear. Even though it’s a stop – start lap, the brakes are not put under huge strain as the speeds never get as high as a normal track, but there is a real emphasis on making sure we cool the brakes as efficiently as possible, and that is something we worked on at the Mugello test, so we are happy we have a good solution for that. For the tyre wear we have planned as well as we can, but we have seen so far this season that until we are actually out on track it’s almost impossible to know which teams will be hard on the tyres and which teams will be able to manage the degradation levels well. We have the soft and the supersoft compounds in Monaco, and if the wear rates on the softs are anything like we saw in Spain, strategy will be critical.”

More to follow.

For tickets and travel to 2012 Formula One races, click here.
For Formula One and F1 team merchandise, click here.

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13361.html

The Monaco race may be one of the most glamorous and historic events on the Formula One calendar but that’s not why the drivers love it so. The real draw for them is in the challenge of the Monte Carlo circuit’s twists and turns, which rewards the brave and punishes the tiniest of mistakes. They and their teams explain why they can’t wait to get started on Thursday…

Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham
2011 Qualifying – 17th, 2011 Race – 14th
“Monaco’s the race everyone in F1 wants to win, and it’s not just a famous F1 race, it’s one of the biggest annual events in the world. For drivers it’s a pretty hard-core race, in and out of the cars, but it’s a challenge I really enjoy and racing around the streets is one of the real highlights of being an F1 driver. On track it’s one of the races where the pack bunches up a bit and that might give us a chance to do something special. Last year I finished 14th, one of our higher finishes of the season, so hopefully we can improve on that this year. We have KERS this year and a car that has good race pace, and as our car is slightly easier on the tyres than some of the teams ahead, maybe that will help us achieve a high race finish.”

Vitaly Petrov, Caterham
2011 Qualifying – 10th, 2011 Race – DNF
“I’ve raced a lot in Monaco, not just in Formula One. I had a podium there in GP2 when I finished second in 2009, which was good. In F1 I’ve raced there twice. The first time wasn’t so great but last year was pretty good, right up until the point I crashed! That was so disappointing, but I couldn’t avoid it. We had a good strategy and I’d had a good race up to that point, but that’s how racing goes sometimes. Monaco is an unbelievable place though. Normally, between Barcelona and Monaco we have just one week and I’d leave Barcelona on Sunday night and drive to Monaco, because on the Tuesday of the race week we have the football match for the F1 drivers, which is always great. The track itself is always a little bit dirty at the start of the weekend and it’s quite difficult to get tyre temperatures up during the lap. It’s tricky because the walls are so close. If you make one mistake or have a little bit of oversteer, you don’t even get a chance to correct it – you’re in the wall. It takes quite a bit of mental preparation and you need to be totally focused for every single lap of every session. The race itself? The atmosphere in the race is incredible. It’s just an amazing place to drive a racing car and I really love it.”

Mark Smith, Caterham technical director
“Monaco is a unique challenge, for the drivers and the teams. The fact we are in very different garage conditions to normal, and in a cramped paddock, makes it a tough race for the truckies, the mechanics and the engineers, but it is a race we all look forward to and one that everyone wants to do well at. The short length of the lap and the limited high-speed sections means there is much less difference in lap times than at somewhere like Barcelona. We all use high downforce settings, and we have a specific aero configuration we will use in Monaco and probably Hungary, but the days of cars sprouting all sorts of special wings just for Monaco are behind us. The cars may not look hugely different to how they appeared in Spain, but we do have as much downforce as we can find for the whole weekend in Monte Carlo.

“The other challenges are managing the brake cooling and tyre wear. Even though it’s a stop – start lap, the brakes are not put under huge strain as the speeds never get as high as a normal track, but there is a real emphasis on making sure we cool the brakes as efficiently as possible, and that is something we worked on at the Mugello test, so we are happy we have a good solution for that. For the tyre wear we have planned as well as we can, but we have seen so far this season that until we are actually out on track it’s almost impossible to know which teams will be hard on the tyres and which teams will be able to manage the degradation levels well. We have the soft and the supersoft compounds in Monaco, and if the wear rates on the softs are anything like we saw in Spain, strategy will be critical.”

More to follow.

For tickets and travel to 2012 Formula One races, click here.
For Formula One and F1 team merchandise, click here.

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13361.html

GP3 racer Conor Daly will enjoy his first taste of Formula One power this week courtesy of Force India. Daly will carry out an aero test for the Silverstone-based team at the wheel of the VJM05 in the UK on Thursday at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire.

The American, fresh from his win at GP3’s opening round in Barcelona last weekend, visited the Force India factory on Tuesday for a seat fitting and to familiarize himself with the systems on the car. He also got the chance to meet the engineering crew he will work with at the test and acquaint himself with a Formula One steering wheel.

The 20 year-old is the son of former Formula One driver Derek Daly and started karting back in 2002. After winning several amateur and professional karting awards, he moved to compete in the Skip Barber national championship and Ontario Formula Ford 1600 in 2008.

The following year he finished third in the Star Mazda championship presented by Goodyear. In 2010 he enjoyed a record-setting year in the series claiming seven wins, nine pole poles and 12 podium finishes. He joined GP3 in 2011, driving for Carlin, but swapped to the Lotus GP3 team for this season.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13357.html

Team principal and president of the board of directors Peter Sauber has transferred a third of the stake in the Sauber Group to CEO Monisha Kaltenborn. Sauber himself will retain the remaining two thirds.

“When BMW pulled out of Formula One in 2009, Monisha Kaltenborn was instrumental in the team’s survival and since then she has been doing outstanding work in her capacity as CEO,” he explained. “Transferring one third of the stake to her represents an important step for me in providing continuity.

“My desire is to ensure that the company continues to be led as I would want over the long term. Monisha Kaltenborn and my son Alex, who joined the company as Marketing Director in 2010 and has since also been a member of the Board of Management, both embrace this aim. It means we can offer our employees a positive outlook for the future.”

Kaltenborn added: “For me this step is a mark of the greatest possible trust, which I will do everything in my power to justify.”

The Austrian has been the team’s head of legal affairs since 1998 and has been a member of the board of management since 2001. She completed a law degree at the University of Vienna before graduating as a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics. Kaltenborn became the first woman to head up the business operation of an F1 team when she was promoted to CEO in 2010.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13358.html

Nico Rosberg has admitted he was just grateful to limit the damage to his title chances in Spain, after another difficult Grand Prix for the Mercedes team. Rosberg, a winner in China just two rounds previously, came home seventh as he again struggled to get the best from his tyres.

“A difficult weekend for us,” he said on his official website. “Just tyre management really, even in qualifying, just reading the tyres and that’s why we’re struggling more than some other teams, especially Williams I guess. And the same in the race.”

The consolation for Rosberg was that with some unexpected results further up the Barcelona order, notably Pastor Maldonado’s win, he lost hardly any ground on the championship lead, now shared by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

“The race for me was okay,” he said. “I only lost two points on the championship lead, which is good, and I’m still only 20 points away, so it’s still open as long as we can really now push on and improve.”

The German driver admitted that with five teams having won in the first five races of 2012, predicting form from one round to the next is tough, but insisted there’s no reason the forthcoming Grands Prix in Monte Carlo and Canada should not be better for Mercedes.

“Hopefully the conditions in Monaco and Montreal will favour us again – it’s possible,” he added. “It’s just very difficult at the moment to understand how the next race is going to be. We’ll have to wait and see.”

With Rosberg’s team mate Michael Schumacher having failed to score in Spain, Mercedes are now fifth in the constructors’ championship, level on 43 points with Williams.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13353.html

Following Sunday’s dramatic fire in the Williams garage after the Spanish Grand Prix, the team have confirmed that a further two team members have now been released from hospital and have returned home after receiving treatment for smoke inhalation.

One Williams staff member remains in hospital in Spain having suffered burns in the incident. He is stable and will return to the UK within the next 48 hours to receive further medical care. His family are in constant communication and he is in good spirits.

“I was pleased to welcome back to the factory the majority of our team this morning,” said team principal Sir Frank Williams. “One of our people remains in Spain for further medical assistance, but we are all looking forward to his imminent return.”

The team thanked everyone for their good wishes and support over the past 24 hours, as investigations into the cause of the fire continue in collaboration with the FIA and local authorities.

“Everyone at Williams F1 is extremely relieved that this event was contained as quickly as it was and the damage which occurred was, relatively speaking, limited in its nature,” added Williams.

“While the incident was unexpected and definitely most undesirable, it has demonstrated the genuine cohesiveness, camaraderie and spirit of co-operation that exists within the Formula One paddock. The astonishing response from the teams and other paddock personnel was immediate, unconditional and overwhelming.”

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13354.html

Pastor Maldonado was the hero of Barcelona on Sunday afternoon. The Venezuelan’s speed in his Williams FW34 came out of left field on Saturday, and in the race he became the fifth different winner this season and the seventh in seven races when he steered it to the British team’s first victory since Brazil 2004.

And Maldonado did it the hard way, fending off a hungry Fernando Alonso who burst through to the lead for Ferrari for the first 27 laps. At that stage it seemed a foregone conclusion, especially as the Lotus’s expected speed didn’t arrive until it was too late.

But Maldonado moved ahead after the second round of pit stops, and by then Alonso’s challenge seemed broken. After the third stops, however, the Spaniard got his second wind and the gap shrank steadily and by the 48th lap the race was back on, as Alonso never looked more dangerous.

On the 57th of the 66 laps he had a little look down the inside in Turn One but thought better of it, and like Lotus’s’ Kimi Raikkonen on Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain, that was all he got. Maldonado held his nerve and as the Ferrari’s tyres started to go away again, he pulled away to win by 3.1s.

Behind them, Raikkonen finally got going in the third stint and slashed an 18-second gap to Alonso to just over half a second by the chequered flag. The Spaniard said something went wrong with his car as it began to lose grip, while the Finn said he was disappointed that his car – one of the pre-race favourites – just wasn’t fast enough when it really mattered.

It was still a good day for Lotus as Romain Grosjean was an easy fourth. Behind him, Kamui Kobayashi survived a brush when overtaking McLaren’s Jenson Button to take an excellent fifth for Sauber, who lost Sergio Perez early on after the Mexican collided with Grosjean in the first corner and had to make a pit stop at the end of Lap One. Later after a mechanic fell over the right-rear wheel during a stop, Perez lasted only as long as it took him to figure out that the wheel was not properly secured.

Vettel fought tooth and nail for sixth, his race including a nose change as he struggled to make headway. On fresher tyres he caught and passed the McLarens and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes in the closing laps to snatch a useful eight points, which was not bad going since he received a drive-through penalty too for ignoring yellow flags.

Rosberg just held on to seventh by 0.2s as McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton launched a late attack. The Briton drove a brilliant fighting two-stop race from the back of the grid, jumping to 19th place by the end of the first lap and then steadily picking people off – including both Toro Rossos on Lap 39 – but he was always going to be on his back foot coming from such a long way behind. He was also lucky on the first lap to miss a wayward Perez as the Mexican veered back on to the track right in front of him in Turn Two. But still there was a pit-stop problem as he clipped a used tyre leaving the pit after his first stop. Luckily there was no serious damage.

Team mate Button was an unhappy ninth, struggling all day for grip and weathering that brush when Kobayashi caught him by surprise. Neither McLaren driver had the grip left to fend off Vettel by the end.

Nico Hulkenberg took the final point for Force India after a super battle which included keeping a delayed Mark Webber behind despite some side-by-side moments. The Australian, like his Red Bull team mate, had to have the nose changed during his first stop.

Jean-Eric Vergne was close behind him at the end after a great scrap with Toro Rosso team mate Daniel Ricciardo, while Force India’s Paul di Resta was an unhappy 14th after a big fight with all of the foregoing four drivers, and a lot of defensive driving at the end to keep Felipe Massa’s Ferrari in his mirrors. The Brazilian was another to get a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag infringement.

This time Heikki Kovalainen comprehensively beat Caterham team mate Vitaly Petrov, and Timo Glock was Marussia’s only finisher after first-lap spinner Charles Pic was further delayed by a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags and then retired with mechanical problems.

Pedro de la Rosa was the final finisher for HRT, after team mate Narain Karthikeyan fell prey to mechanical problems, and besides Pic and Perez the retirements included Bruno Senna and Michael Schumacher. The German ran into the back of the Brazilian in Turn One on the 12th lap. Schumacher later criticised Senna, but Senna said his tyres were shot and that knowing Schumacher’s to be fresher he was trying to move left out of his way when the misunderstanding occurred. Schumacher was later handed a five-place grid penalty for the next round in Monaco by the race stewards for causing the collision.

So a remarkable race with the fairy tale ending that Alonso denied Sauber in Malaysia provided a superb present for Sir Frank Williams only days after his 70th birthday.

It moves Alonso to joint first place in the drivers’ championship with Vettel, both with 61 points, but with the German stays ahead on count back. Hamilton’s great damage limitation run keeps him in play with 53 with Raikkonen on 49, Webber 48, Button 45, Rosberg 41, Grosjean 35, Maldonado 29 and Perez 22. In the constructors’ stakes Red Bull have 109 to McLaren’s 98, Lotus’s 84, Ferrari’s 63, Mercedes and Williams on 43 apiece and Sauber on 41.

It was a tremendous day for Maldonado, who has come in for criticism in the past for some of his driving, but he never put a wheel wrong and thoroughly deserved a racer’s win. Small wonder that on the podium Alonso and Raikkonen hoisted him on to their shoulders to help him celebrate a fantastic triumph.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13347.html

Williams’ celebrations of Pastor Maldonado’s Spanish Grand Prix victory were cut dramatically short on Sunday afternoon after a fire broke out in the team’s garage around 90 minutes after the end of the race, engulfing the Barcelona pit lane in thick smoke.

Staff from Williams, Force India and Caterham took immediate action to extinguish the flames and circuit fire services arrived soon after. Several members of those teams were taken to the Circuit de Catalunya medical centre, though no serious injuries have been confirmed.

“Four team personnel were injured in the incident and subsequently taken to the medical centre,” said Williams in a statement. “Three are now receiving treatment at local hospitals for their injuries, while the fourth has been released. The team will monitor their condition and ensure they receive the best possible care.”

Force India said one team member was being treated for smoke inhalation, while Caterham confirmed a number of their personnel were receiving medical attention.

“All the team’s employees have been accounted for and four people have been taken to the circuit medical centre for examination; one with a minor hand injury and three with respiratory issues,” said a Caterham statement.

The FIA later confirmed that a total of 31 people had been seen by the circuit medical centre. All were released bar seven, who have been transferred to local hospitals where they are receiving treatment.

Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas told UK F1 broadcasters Sky that there had been some kind of explosion in what is believed to have been the fuel area the garage while Sir Frank Williams was giving a victory speech to the team.

There was extensive damage to the garage, which contained Bruno Senna’s car at the time of the fire, the Brazilian having retired early from the race after a collision with Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher.

Williams, fire services and police are working together to determine the cause of the fire and the FIA is investigating the incident in collaboration with the Spanish authorities.

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13348.html

Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher has been punished by the Spanish stewards for his collision with Williams’ Bruno Senna during Sunday’s Barcelona race. Schumacher receives a five-place grid penalty for the next round in Monaco.

After investigating, the stewards decided the German driver was at fault for the accident, which occurred on Lap 12 at Turn One. Schumacher retired immediately after crashing into the back of the Williams and, although Senna was able to continue for a few more corners, the damage to his FW34 was similarly terminal.

The Monaco race takes place in Monte Carlo from May 24-27.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13349.html

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

Drivers: 1 – Pastor Maldonado (Williams), 2 – Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), 3 – Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)

Q: Pastor, your first victory, brilliantly judged – describe your emotions?
Pastor Maldonado: I think it’s a wonderful day, not just for me but for all the team. We have been pushing so hard since last year to try to improve race by race and here we are. Yesterday we were here after a great qualifying and today we did it again. It was a tough race because the strategy as well, it was tough especially because of the rear tyres – after a couple of laps we were struggling with [them]. I need to say I’m pretty happy because the car was so competitive since the first lap. Fernando did a better start than me but I was just following the pace and it was so great. It’s my first podium and my first victory and you can imagine what I feel.

Q: Fernando, second today and obviously a lot of progress for you and the team. And once again a blinding start.
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, it was a fantastic start again. The team prepared quite nice again the clutch and everything – the procedure to do a good start. It was close on the straight until Turn One with Pastor, and then we had the better side, the inside. We took the momentum there and we led the race for the first part but then William’s anticipated the stop and get in front and at the end it was close. We had a newer tyre than Pastor and we tried a couple of times but it was not possible out of the last corner. Then in the very last laps I felt the car was strange, we lost a lot of grip. Maybe we lost some aerodynamic part or something because we were very slow… (inaudible) …we were lucky at the end. Second place at home feels fantastic and thanks to the people that came here and the people at home and hopefully a step forward in terms of championship possibilities.

Q: Kimi, third today. You were a lot of people’s favourite going into this grand prix. Do you think you and the team made all the right choices this afternoon?
Kimi Raikkonen: We have to look. I’m a bit disappointed. I expected us to be a bit stronger in the race, especially at the beginning. At the end we were very good, but it was too late. We were not fast enough and quick enough to race and that’s why we couldn’t fight for a win. But we showed in the end that we have to speed but we just have to look at what we did. Maybe we took the wrong choice in the first pit stop. In the end, like I said we were not fast enough in the beginning and that cost us the race, so I was not so disappointed during the race because I saw that I couldn’t follow them at the beginning. But at the end when you catch them up almost 20 seconds then you get a bit of a disappointed feeling afterwards, when you just needed a few laps to be even able to fight for the first place. That’s racing and at least I scored some good points and we’re going in the right direction.

Q: Back to you Pastor and this is the first Williams win since 2004. They managed to get you to jump Fernando at the second round of pit stops but he gave you some real pressure at the end didn’t he?
PM: Yeah, it was so close. We were looking to manage the tyre degradation so I wasn’t pushing that hard, just to keep the tyres alive for the end of the race and Fernando got too close. There were some moments that he was so close, especially at the end of the straight. But I was managing the gap and controlling everything. I think our pace today was pretty strong and the car looks fantastic. Even the team. We did a small mistake at the last pit stop but it doesn’t affect our performance.

Q: Fernando, describe your feelings at the second stop when Pastor jumped you because you were caught up behind a backmarker in that critical lap weren’t you?
FA: Yeah, we were a little bit unlucky maybe. We had a Marussia but I think he got a penalty at the end. Obviously, it’s not a solution now but hopefully people start to understand that they need to respect the rules and today again they didn’t and they paid the penalty. It’s more of a penalty the penalty we paid – maybe the race win – but yeah a little bit disappointed. But they [Williams] did a great job and they had the pace, because in the last stint, if we were faster than the Williams we had the opportunity to overtake but they were quicker than us so thy deserve the victory.

Q: Kimi, it’s the second podium for you in a row. Do you feel a win is around the corner?
KR: Yeah, twice already. Unfortunately you’re not always going to get there. If you get the chance, you should take it because it’s not every race that you will be able to fight for that position or even try it. Hopefully we can keep doing what we’re doing now and at a certain point I’m sure that things will go exactly right and we can. But so far it’s been a good step and the car has been strong everywhere. The next race is a bit different – Monaco – it’s hard to say how it goes there. The team has done a good job and we have still work to do, things to improve. But so far it’s going in a good way and I’m happy with it. OK, we’re not 100% happy with it because we are not winning but that’s a very normal thing and I’m happy for the team.

Q: As Kimi says, we go to Monaco next Pastor. That’s one of your favourite tracks. What chance a back-to-back victory for you?
PM: I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for us to be strong again. For sure I will be doing my best on the driving. The team is looking after the car so we need to continue like that. Keep pushing with the car, to develop it as soon as possible and consistency will be the important thing in this championship.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: When did you think you could win, because obviously there have been changing emotions, obviously you were second on the grid and then first on the grid and then obviously the start etc., When did you think this was possible?
PM: After the qualifying. Y’know, it was so great to start from the head, from the front and for sure the team did a great job to give me a car and I did my job on the qualifying. And then starting from the pole it’s much easier, everything.

Q: And then obviously overtaken at the start…
PM: Yes, our start wasn’t that great, Fernando had one better than us but after the first lap the pace was very competitive, the car looks very good and we were looking at the strategy, that’s it.

Q: And what about the tyres at the end? Because obviously Fernando closed on you and then dropped back.
PM: When Fernando got close I was looking after the tyres, I didn’t push that much, just because the big tyre degradation. We did an extremely good strategy today, everything under control, even some moments when Fernando got too close but we had a little bit better traction than him, using KERS and everything. So it was managing the race, looking for the gaps and the pace.

Q: You must have thought that with KERS, him within a second, at any moment it was going to happen – but it never did.
PM: For sure it was difficult from this morning because the gaps are so close between the top teams at the moment. When I saw that I was second in the first corner, ‘OK’, I said, ‘the race is going to be long. We need to keep pushing, we need to prepare to change our strategy just to attack Ferrari and we did it. Everything was perfect, except the last pitstop. We had a big moment there but it doesn’t affect our final result.

Q: Fernando, you got so close, right up there, and then it just went away I guess, and then by the end it looked as though you really were struggling on the tyres.
FA: Yeah, it was close with ten laps to go, ten laps to the end. We were attacking Pastor when we were closing to within one second but then the last seven or eight laps we lost the grip, around Turn Seven I felt. I informed the team some corners after, in Turn Nine, to check if everything is OK because maybe we lost some aerodynamic part of the front wing or under the floor or something because we had no more grip at all. So, from that point the last seven laps, it was monitoring the distance and the gap with Kimi. We knew it was a very long last seven laps. At the end it was close. I think one lap more and Kimi overtake us. So we were lucky at the end and happy – happy with the weekend in general, not only with the race, because we had a very strong weekend, on Fridays with good practice, the car felt more or less competitive yesterday. I think we extract everything from the car again, maximise the potential of what we have in our hands and today the start was great, the race pace was good, at one point we were lapping one Red Bull in front of us with the blue flags, so… it’s very strange. We were 57 seconds behind Vettel in Bahrain, and we were lapping Webber here. No one understands probably. Not us either.

Q: It really was that sudden when you lost the grip? It was almost like a switch.
FA: Yeah, yeah, it was in turn seven, over the kerb maybe, something fall out of the car or something, we need to check. But it was difficult. As Pastor said, in the last corner, turn 16, it’s difficult to follow anyone after the chicane, so we knew that when you lose the position at the pitstop, you have to have a big pace advantage if you want to overtake someone. With the difference and with the pace that Williams had today, we knew it was difficult.

Q: I suppose everybody in Italy wants to know, has Ferrari turned the corner? Are you now back in front again?
FA: We’ll see. I think when we are first and second in one qualifying and first and second in one race, we have to say that we have the best car. Until that moment we are fighting. I think this year is very difficult to have a pace advantage or to be happy with the car you have in your hands, because everything is so close. Consistency and continuous development will be important in this championship because two-tenths can be six or seven positions in one qualifying this year. But what we can say is we have probably the most difficult start of the championship in these three years in Ferrari, with a car that was not competitive at all, and we finish the first quarter of the championship, so this is the fifth race out of 20, and we are leading the championship, or the same points as Vettel, so we have to be very, very proud and very happy with the points we achieved and with the position. Maybe we have not to be so proud about how competitive we are but we are working on that.

Q: Kimi, tell us about the start, because that pretty much established your race.
KR: Yeah, I had a pretty good start, nothing to complain about. I thought I would get the chance to overtake outside both of the first two but I didn’t have enough speed in a straight line – I actually hit the limiter I think in fifth gear which kind of stopped my acceleration a bit but after that I didn’t have the speed to hang on and hound them. I was pulling away from the guys behind me but I couldn’t stay. The first stint was pretty OK but the second, I chose the soft tyre and I didn’t have the speed to keep up with them. I’m a bit disappointed but I just tried to fight and then we changed the tyres and it seemed to turn out to be pretty good but we were just too far away. We need, like, ten more laps and then I think we could have been fighting for the win.

Q: Absolute charge at the end, your tyres were OK?
KR: Yes, it was OK. I had two new sets of Prime but unfortunately I didn’t have more sets of Prime anyhow to put in the first pitstop. The car was very good but just a bit too late for me. We fall off too much in the last stint to be able to fight for the win. But one more lap we could probably could have got Fernando – but it’s easy to say after.

Q: And what did you tell the Finnish viewers just now?
KR: It’s Mothers’ Day in Finland.

Q: So Happy Mothers’ Day?
KR: Yeah. I had nothing else to say to Finnish viewers.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) Kimi, second place in Bahrain, third place in Spain; is this the maximum for you or can you win?
KR: The fact is the reason why I’m disappointed is because in the end if we have done everything right, we could have put ourselves into first place. The car has been fast enough but we’ve been doing small things not correctly and I’ve done some mistakes on my side but if everything was 100 percent OK we could have won. There’s no issue with the speed of the car, but it’s so close between all the teams and drivers that if you have a small problem or a small issue during the weekend then it’s going to cost you a lot. If you’re three tenths behind then you’re suddenly not in the last qualifying. As you give yourself the chance to be fighting at the front, I think our car can do it but everything has to fall in the right place to be able to win.

Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) Pastor, you are now a national hero. Are you ready?
PM: For sure everyone is so happy in my country. I’m very lucky to have a country behind me, pushing so hard, to see me here in Formula One and especially to be here, between these guys. I’m pretty happy for Venezuela, I’m happy for Williams as well. They did a wonderful job to give me a great car for this race. We are getting better and better, race after race.

Q: (Adrian Huber – Agencia EFE) Fernando, after the first five races, and all the problems you’re supposed to have in your team, no one has scored more points than you have now. How much more confident are you today than you were on Thursday, or on the inside were you expecting this?
FA: No, I am a definitely surprised by the quantity of points that we have; I’m a bit surprised by today’s result, or the weekend’s results. We were confident of improving the car, we were hoping for some signs of improvement here in Barcelona. As I said, in Bahrain, we were nearly out of Q3 and then in the race, P9, one minute behind the leaders, so we arrived in Barcelona with some hope, some optimism about the upgrades but I think the result, the overall weekend pace has been a little bit better than expected, because we were quick in qualifying and quick in the race but this, in my opinion or how I feel after the weekend, I still don’t know where we are. I think we need to wait for more races, for the championship to stabilise a little bit because I think we maybe over-performed a little bit compared with the potential we have and maybe some other teams under-performed or they had some problems to get their tyres working or something, because, as I said, some of the results that we saw this weekend feel very strange.

Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, if we take a look at the race, maybe it was a bad decision to stop so late after Pastor after you’d had the problem with the Marussia because it’s so important in Formula One to stay in front from the aerodynamic point of view.
FA: Yeah, obviously you never know. After the race it’s always easier to review the strategy. The choice was always to stop on the same lap or one lap later than Pastor, always try to cover the position. When Williams decided to stop in the second pit stop, we had one Marussia in front of us for a lap and a half. When we saw that in the second sector, we were already exiting behind Pastor so at that point, we decided to keep going for a few more laps and try to get the opportunity at the end of the race, with a shorter stint. I think we didn’t lose the win because of the Marussia because if you had the pace in the last stint, you had to overtake Pastor and we didn’t because they were faster than us, but for sure, we went out of the plan because of the backmarker.

Q: (Jaime Rodriguez – El Mundo) Pastor, could you explain the start of the race, because you had a good fight with Fernando, and I want to know if you’ve received congratulations from your president in Venezuela?
PM: You know it wasn’t the best start ever from us. I think the clutch slipped quite a lot. Fernando had a better jump than us. It was so close, I tried to defend the position but he was already on the better part of the track, so I decided to back off and follow him. At that moment, I thought that the race was long and we changed our strategy, to attack Ferrari. I think from the second stop we did pretty good and I think we surprised them because we did it so early. And the call? No, not yet because I was on the podium before, so no time to even see my family, my people. Maybe he will call. I don’t know.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Fernando and Kimi, did you believe that Pastor could be your main rival today, and if not, how big a surprise is it?
FA: Yeah, I think so. We saw in general that during the weekend that Williams was good. Lewis was maybe the favourite for this race after the pace we saw from Ferrari on Friday and the pole position by half a second yesterday. With Lewis’s penalty, Pastor was the strongest at the front so no surprises.
KR: Williams have been quite fast for two races in certain points and I think, as we’ve said before, it’s very difficult to say who is really the quickest overall because at one race one team is there and then suddenly they are tenth in the next race, so it’s bit of an odd situation where we are this year, but it gives a lot of chances for all the teams who have the speed and when the tyres are working for them they are much better than the others. The tyres seem to be the key thing. If you get them working well you seem to be fast. Sometimes you just drop out of the window a little bit and you have a hard time.

Q: (Marco degli Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Pastor you are the fifth winner in five races, so the top of the field seems to be very close. Do you put Williams and yourself among the possible winners of the championship?
PM: For sure we are a little bit backwards compared with the leaders, with Fernando and Vettel, but we need to keep working. We are not the best team at the moment. The car looked pretty good today, but I think we need to keep pushing some particulars at Williams, especially in the car, but everything is possible. The gaps are so close at the moment, I’m driving well, I have a good feeling with the team, with the car, so everything is possible. For sure we are looking to do our best, looking forward to winning some races, to getting a couple more podiums and I’m really happy because the team hasn’t won many races for many years so this is a great moment for us. I hope to continue like that.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Pastor, you were in the same team last season. When you finished the season you were in front of only three teams: Marussia, Hispania and Caterham, and now you are in front of all of them; what has happened to explain such a change in performance from one season to another?
PM: We made big changes in the factory, we have new staff in some of the departments and completely changed the approach to building the car. I need to say that this year’s car has great performance, great potential to become even stronger than it is and for sure, this is great for motivation, to motivate the team, the factory, to keep pushing like that. I think this is the way. We are motivated and we need to keep pushing.

Q: (Adrian Huber – Agencia EFE) Pastor, it looks like this could be a very long Sunday in Venezuela. Do you have any information as to what’s going on now or can you imagine what might happen there?
PM: I can imagine that there will be a party everywhere but I don’t know at the moment. I need to see some of the fans, my family there. I think everybody who saw the race and for sure all the people are happy at the moment and this is great for Venezuela after nearly thirty years without any driver in Formula One, so I think it’s a great moment for our country.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Fernando, you have already said that at the moment everything is possible and not many things are explainable which is very strange for Formula One. I don’t think we ever had this situation before. Do you, as a driver, enjoy this uncertainty or would you like to have some more answers on open questions?
FA: I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer. We probably like the unknown situation that we have now, so you arrive in Monaco next Wednesday and you don’t know if you will be a winner or if you will be out of the points. That’s what we feel at the moment, not only for us. But in a way, after eleven years in Formula One and seeing Ferrari dominate most of them, now that I’m at Ferrari, I would like to have more stability and a dominant car.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13351.html

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in a very tight final practice session in Barcelona on Saturday morning, but it would have been a very close-run thing had McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton not been blocked at the end of a very fast lap by traffic.

Vettel lapped his Red Bull in 1m 23.168s to depose surprise fastest man Pastor Maldonado, whose 1m 23.336s for Willams had earlier upset a Sauber one-two. Kamui Kobayashi held on to third place for the Swiss team with 1m 23.350s but team mate Sergio Perez, the long-time pacesetter with 1m 23.742s, was pushed down to fifth late on by Mark Webber who recorded 1m 23.578s in the second Red Bull.

Vettel’s first two sector times on his quick lap were 23.0s and 31.3s; Hamilton had earlier recorded 22.9s and 31.3s, but where Vettel completed his lap with 28.7s, Hamilton was forced to abort after he encountered Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus and Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT going slowly in the final chicane. He thus remained 16th on 1m 24.778s.

Fernando Alonso was an encouraging sixth for Ferrari on 1m 23.807s, ahead of the impressive Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso on 1m 23.833s, Jenson Button’s McLaren on 1m 23.909s and Raikkonen’s Lotus on 1m 23.936s. Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes completed the top 10 with 1m 24.070s, putting 10 cars within a second of one another.

Felipe Massa was 11th in 1m 24.179s, complaining of a problem with the rear end of his Ferrari, while Nico Hulkenberg’s strong form for Force India continued with 12th place on 1m 24.323s. Daniel Ricciardo was 13th in the second Toro Rosso with 1m 24.331s from Williams’ Bruno Senna on 1m 24.409s, Force India’s Paul di Resta on 1m 24.599s, Hamilton and Michael Schumacher who also lost a good lap in the Mercedes and had to settle for 1m 24.825s.

Vitaly Petrov continued to please Caterham with 1m 25.911s for 18th ahead of team mate Heikki Kovalainen on 1m 26.587s, while Charles Pic was Marussia’s leader on 1m 27.469s as Timo Glock posted 1m 27.689s before stopping at the end of the pit lane. Karthikeyan was 22nd on 1m 28.207s, narrowly beating HRT team mate Pedro de la Rosa’s 1m 28.373s. Romain Grosjean was at the back without a time, after his Renault stopped on his out lap with suspected loss of fuel pressure.

The form for qualifying is far from clear still, and many teams believe they will have to use a set of option tyres just to break into Q2, and may limit their running in Q3 as a result if they get through. Whatever happens, it’s going to be close.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13334.html

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton grabbed a sensational pole position here in Barcelona on Saturday afternoon, pushing surprise frontrunner Pastor Maldonado one place down the Spanish grid.

Maldonado had been very quick for Williams in Q2 and had just snatched provisional pole from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and the Lotuses of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen with 1m 22.285s when Hamilton redefined the parameters with 1m 21.707s.

It remains to be seen, however, whether Hamilton has compromised his race chances by doing two fast runs on his soft tyres as his closest rivals did only one, and why he was told to stop his McLaren on his slowdown lap.

Alonso pleased the Spanish crowd hugely with 1m 22.302s, especially when they recalled his rocket start into the lead here last year, while Grosjean’s 1m 22.424s just aced Raikkonen’s 1m 22.487s.

Sergio Perez was sixth for Sauber with 1m 22.533s, while Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was the only other top-10 runner to post a time, with 1m 23.005s.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel will start eighth after voluntarily aborting two runs, while Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher similarly didn’t record a Q3 time and Kamui Kobayashi was hors de combat after his Sauber, ninth fastest in Q2, rolled to a halt on his slowdown lap. He’ll start tenth alongside Schumacher.

Maldonado had been the major surprise of Q2. Hamilton was super-quick with 1m 22.465s but right at the end the Williams driver aced everyone with 1m 22.105s. That was great news for Sir Frank Williams who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, but not so good for McLaren’s Jenson Button or Red Bull’s Mark Webber. They had lapped in 1m 22.944s and 1m 22.977s respectively, and found themselves bumped as eight-tenths covered the top 12.

Behind them, Paul di Resta finally got the better of Force India partner Nico Hulkenberg, 1m 23.125s to 1m 23.177s, with Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo getting bumped too in their Toro Rossos after strong laps of 1m 23.265s and 1m 23.442s. Felipe Massa’s woes continued as he was 17th for Ferrari on 1m 23.444s.

As Hamilton dominated with 1m 22.583s to Grosjean’s 1m 23.248s, Bruno Senna inadvertently saved Jean-Eric Vergne’s skin in Q1 by spinning his Williams in Turn 12 on his soft-tyre run. Thus the Brazilian was the first of those who failed to make Q2 with 1m 24.981s.

Vitaly Petrov was Caterham’s faster runner with 1m 25.277s to Heikki Kovalainen’s 1m 25.507s, Charles Pic shaded Timo Glock at Marussia with 1m 26.582s to 1m 27.032s, while Pedro de la Rosa is currently HRT’s only qualified runner. The Spaniard lapped in 1m 27.555s as further technical problems restricted Narain Karthikeyan to 1m 31.122s. Although well outside the 107 percent time of 1m 28.363s, the stewards have decided that the Indian will be allowed to start.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13336.html

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

Drivers: 1 – Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), 2 – Pastor Maldonado (Williams), 3 – Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)

Q: Lewis, McLaren’s 150th Formula One pole position today. You really had to manage to the process though, particularly with the tyres. You were in the groove from the start, but what happened at the end when you stopped out on the track?
Lewis Hamilton: Well, firstly it was a fantastic qualifying session for me. Really, I’m very happy with the way… I think it’s one of the best ones I’ve ever had. Amazing job by the guys in the garage. Huge thanks to the guys in the factory for bringing us the upgrades, which have worked fantastically. I stopped on the track. I was told to stop. I don’t really have any idea why. But the car was feeling great today. It’s a great day for the team, I think. I don’t know what happened with Jenson, but he’s got great strength and pace throughout the race, so I have no doubt that he will make his way up through the grid.

Q: Pastor, a sensational session for you and Williams. Where did you find the speed from?
Pastor Maldonado: I think we’ve been working so hard from the beginning of the year trying to understand these tyres and to develop our car around the tyres and I think we actually did a really good step forward for this race. We need to continue to like that, keep pushing. I think at the moment there is a great atmosphere in the factory, a great atmosphere here in the team, the car looks pretty consistent and fantastic, especially in the race pace, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’s a great feeling to be here, it’s my first time in the top three, so I’m really happy and hopefully we will continue like that and I would like to say thanks to the whole team.

Q: Fernando, a lot of updates also on the Ferrari. Are you heading in the right direction now?
Fernando Alonso: Yeah, I think so. Obviously for us it was impossible to even dream about being in the top three in the four races, we just had eyes on Q3 with no new set [of tyres] left or anything like that, so definitely it’s a step forward. The grid is so compact now that if you improve two or three tenths it makes a huge difference in terms of positions: five or six positions. So we did a step forward. I still doubt how much we did, because I think maybe P3 is a little bit over-performing what we can do at the moment. But I’m extremely happy with the lap; it was perfect. I don’t think there is much more to come. I think I could put 100 more sets of tyres on and I could only repeat the lap time probably. It is the way it is. I’m extremely happy for today and hopefully we maximise or capitalise on this good starting position tomorrow with a good result.

Q: Back to you Lewis. Obviously a lot of tyre tactics going on in qualifying today. What about the race tomorrow? What’s your read on how things are going to shape up and what kind of shape do you feel you’re in to become the fifth different race winner in five races?
LH: Well, we’ve looked after our prime tyres, which is generally the better tyre for the race, or so it seems at the moment – the longer lasting tyre. Also the option tyres are all in good condition so… I think it’s going to be a massively tough race tomorrow. Of course, I’ve got these two great drivers next to me. I’m really happy to see this guy [Pastor Maldonado] up here and to see Williams up here and also Fernando. It’s really great to see my old team-mate up here as well and I’m going to have a great battle with these guys and I really hope we’re going to put on a great show for all the fans.

Q: Lewis, congratulations. That was a great lap at the end. You must be so satisfied with it?
LH: I really am. I think every time you go out, every time you qualify you’re searching for that perfect lap. You’re searching to put the car in just the right sweet spot, where you’re gaining all the time you could possibly gain and you’re not losing anywhere and I really felt that throughout Q1, Q2 and Q3… after Q1 I was like ‘damn, that should have been my Q3 lap’ but I was really grateful that I was able to continue that throughout the session and yeah, fantastic feeling really – overwhelmed.

Q: Lewis, you’ve started third on the grid here for the last three years and you haven’t yet won this grand prix, you’ve been twice second. Do you really want to tick this box, win this grand prix, one of the ones you haven’t yet won?
LH: Well I’m very much aware that I have an incredibly tough race tomorrow with these guys who are massively quick – also on their long runs – and just how tricky it is in general. But it would mean a huge amount for me to win here in Spain. It’s always been a great place for me, it’s beautiful weather all the time and the people are just incredible and the support that I’ve had continues to grow year by year. And it’s become such a pleasure for me to come here. So, to win at one of the circuits where they have one of the biggest fan bases for Formula One in general, would be fantastic.

Q: Can you explain why there should be such changing fortune, even between team-mates? For example, your team-mate didn’t get through to Q3, his [Maldonado’s] team-mate didn’t get through into Q2 even and his [Alonso’s] team-mate starts 17th. It seems extraordinary the changing fortunes even for team-mates.
LH: I think it’s surprising all of us. We are all very surprised. Obviously we are very happy that we’re up here! It just fantastic to see how close it is. You lose a tenth or two, that means you have to use your next set of tyres which then has a knock-on effect for the next session if you do or don’t get through. And so it’s massively competitive and it’s great for… I’m sure the fans are loving it – maybe not enjoying Q3 so much, but we definitely did.

Q: Pastor, where did it come from? How much did you get sorted out in Mugello? Do you think it’s a knock-on effect after Mugello?
PM: I think all the guys in the factory did a wonderful job because the upgrades we have for this race, everything is working on the car. I was pretty happy yesterday in the free practice and the balance is there. Even though our strongest point has always been in the race, so I’m looking forward for tomorrow. Actually we improved – our worst thing was the qualifying pace so pretty happy for that, pretty happy for the team, for my country, for myself. It’s a great job today.

Q: Is this a favourite circuit, one of your best? I know Bruno [Senna] said it was one of his favourite circuits…
PM: I think all of us, we know very well this circuit, we enjoy this circuit because of the combination of corners we find here, even the teams know very well. I think we have been working so hard in the winter tests here and so we find a good balance in the car and a good compromise for quali and race.

Q: Did you feel yesterday ‘hey, we can really do something here’? Did you already feel that yesterday?
PM: Yes. I think yesterday we were thinking about top ten, it was possible. This morning I was quite surprised about our performance because the car was so quick with lower fuel. This morning it was possible.

Q: Fernando, I don’t think anyone was ever going to discount you here. I don’t know what it was, maybe the crowd, or Ferrari etc, etc, How much satisfaction, third on the grid?
FA: Really happy. No doubt that this is a special weekend for me. And as I said on Thursday, there is always some extra motivation, some over-performing a little bit of what you have on hand, and yeah, thanks to the updates we had here, definitely we did a step forward, in the right direction because we hardly get into Q3 in the first four races and now we arrive with a little bit more comfortable way and then in Q3 the lap was good. I said before in the other conference with another hundred new tyres I would repeat the same time – I don’t think there is any time left. But the points are given tomorrow, not today. We did as much as we could today and we are happy to start in a much better position that what we did in the previous grands prix. But we need the points tomorrow. Especially… the grid positions are mixed a little bit as you said, with some of the people that are in front of us in the championship, they start at the back tomorrow – so we need to take benefit of this good position today and score more points than them.

Q: We remember in particular your start last year. Are we going to see a repeat of that?
FA: I’ll tell you tomorrow. Definitely, a little bit like Pastor and Williams, our race pace is much better than qualifying pace – that is normally our weakest point and we suffer on Saturday some bad positions and then compromise a little bit our race pace. So tomorrow we have a privileged position to start, so the first corner will be important if we can gain some positions, but it’s important also not to lose. The race tomorrow is very long with the tyre degradation and, as I said, we must score points tomorrow, good points, with this position we have. So, aggressive start yes, crazy start not.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Adrian Huber – Agencia EFE) Fernando, will you be happy tomorrow repeating this position or will you be looking for something more?
FA: You never know in Formula One. I think a podium position, we tend to agree in the team, if someone tells us two or three days ago, before coming to Barcelona, or after the Mugello test, that in Barcelona you will be on the podium, I think we all agree, we all be happy with that position. Today, obviously with this position, that dream or that target is closer. But I think the race is very long tomorrow and we saw even in Bahrain, Kimi started ninth, (11th), he was P10 or P11 in lap one and he nearly won the race in the end, so the positions are not crucial anymore as previous years. I think it will be an extremely tough race tomorrow to take care of the tyres again. Degradation, DRS, KERS to overtake. Pitstop strategy, we will see probably a lot of pitstops for everybody. The more pitstops you have, the more risk you have to have a problem in the pits. There are a lot of factors tomorrow that we need to take account. It will be a difficult race. A podium, I think, will be a good result for us and happy.

Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) Lewis, are you happy? What are you feeling now? What do you think about tomorrow, this position?
LH: I really feel fantastic. I’m very, very happy. Normally you can always be happy with a pole position of course, but for some reason even more so this time than maybe any other qualifying that I’ve had, except for the first pole position I have had in Formula One. Just because, as I was just saying, you’re always looking for that perfect lap, and I really, really felt that I got everything just, just sweet there and got absolutely everything out of my car. I didn’t miss apexes or anything like that. It’s an incredibly feeling when you have that. It’s really just a very unique experience. But tomorrow’s going to be a tough race. As you were just saying, Fernando had a great start here last year and it’s such a long drive down to turn one – but he was also saying people are coming to win from quite far back, or to compete for wins from quite far back, so tomorrow’s just going to be about looking after your tyres, getting the right pitstops at the right times and really being patient, I think, at the most important times during the race.

Q: (Fulvio Solms – Corriere Dello Sport) To all three drivers; they have chosen new rules and tyres to have an unpredictable Formula One. Do you think this championship is just unpredictable, or technically less logical as well?
FA: I don’t think they choose the tyres for the championship to be unpredictable. We have the tyres that we have.
LH: I’m not sure that they were expecting it to be as it is, but I definitely think that it is a bit unpredictable at the moment, massively close. There have been several different winners in the races and you can make such a big difference, if you don’t finish one race but then you win the next race, it can still keep you in contention so it feels for me – out of all the championships that I’ve been in – it feels to me to be one of the most exciting ones. Regardless if I haven’t won yet, it just feels like one of the best, I imagine, for people to watch.
PM: I think that the tyres are the same for everybody so all the teams and all the drivers are working hard to adapt ourselves, even the cars to these tyres and to get the best performance we can.

Q: (Marco degli Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Pastor when you reached Williams, there were a lot of people, among journalists too, who expressed doubts about you and they said that you have got the seat because of your rich sponsors and so on. Now, are you convinced that you have proved that you are one of the top drivers, thanks to your qualities?
PM: I’m think that I’m lucky, I’m lucky to have not only a sponsor behind me but also a country behind me, pushing me so hard. Here I am, doing my job, doing my best, trying to improve every time. I have a mission, which is to be back with Williams to the top, so here we are. We still need to keep pushing, to keep improving and I think that is possible.

Q: (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Pastor, congratulations, I want to know about the start tomorrow. What do you think? Is it going to be easier to attack Lewis at the first corner, or defend from Fernando?
PM: I think it’s going to be a very tough race, because not only us three but even the other drivers have a very close pace. Our strongest point was always race pace so hopefully our car will be very consistent and pretty good in the race. I hope to continue like that, I hope to stay in the position, the podium is very important for us, the points, so it’s very important to keep calm and to do good race.

Q: (Laurentzi Garmendia – Berria) Lewis, we have such a close championship in terms of times in qualifying, but I think your gap was over half a second to Pastor. Does it surprise you? It looks like a dominant car.
LH: Yes, I’m definitely surprised to have such a big gap. I wasn’t surprised that it was a good lap because it felt that I switched the tyres on the right way and I feel that I extracted everything but yeah, considering that all the sessions are so close, all the teams are so close, I definitely wasn’t expecting to have such a big gap. That’s quite a big gap for us but we definitely can’t take it for granted. I think we’ll go to other races and it will be slower and in some races we will be faster but we really, really hope that with the continuous upgrades that we get we can try to maintain the pace that we have, especially through qualifying but most importantly to try and improve through the race.

Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Fernando and Lewis: I think we all agree that it’s a good thing when Williams is doing well in Formula One and both of you have had moments this year when you’ve been racing with Pastor or the other Williams driver. I wonder if either of you or both of you could tell me where the car has strong points that you’ve noticed while racing with it on the circuit.
LH: I can’t remember exactly what your strong points are but for me it’s fantastic to see Williams up here, really, really very happy for them. I know Sir Frank quite well since I’ve been here and I’m a huge admirer of him and his team and to see them up here again, I think Formula One’s just not been the same without Williams being at the front, competing. So it’s good, it’s great for them and for the whole team. I’ve always thought they had quite a good car, it always looked quite beautiful but I think this year it’s performing as well as looking good, so we’ll definitely be on our toes to try and make sure we’re ahead of them.
FA: Yeah, I don’t know. Obviously I fight a little bit more with them than Lewis probably in these four races. The car looks strong in race pace as Pastor said and basically taking care of the tyres. I remember in China they did like 32 laps with the same set of tyres that no one could adapt to. Apart from the car, they are doing a very good job, setting up the car with the engineers – I know some of them, very talented and a fantastic job from the drivers as well. Pastor has this year proved, not only today, but many times this year that he’s doing a fantastic job, also with Bruno but less lucky sometimes. In Australia, on the last lap, Pastor crashed behind me but I was already fighting in the top five so it’s not new that he’s fighting in these top positions so well done to all of them.

Q: (Jaime Rogriguez – El Mundo) Fernando, after the last free practice this morning, did you imagine that after qualifying could be fighting for pole? When did you feel the real change in the car?
FA: No, obviously this morning’s practice we didn’t think we could be in the top five or top six. I think P8 to P12 was more or less our position after practice, same as after yesterday’s practice as well, that we were fastest in the morning and P14 in the afternoon, so we were something in between those positions in practice as well. Yeah, I’m happy and a little bit surprised to be in front of one McLaren, both Red Bulls, both Lotuses, so definitely this is not what we were expecting but qualifying went like this, it went our way this time and as I said, today means nothing if we don’t finish the job tomorrow.

Q: (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta ) Fernando, are you worried that you might not to be able to finish the race in the same position you are in now, or are you worried the rhythm of the Renault – because they were very strong on Friday – and maybe some of the guys behind. I ask about Kimi because I think he could be a contender for the race.
FA: Yeah, yeah, definitely, the Lotus will be a threat tomorrow, starting fourth and fifth. They’ve been quick all weekend so tomorrow no surprises if they are fighting for the podium or even for a race win. Sebastian is P8 so he will be fighting for a top position later in the race. With Jenson and Mark having the possibility to chose which tyres to start on, I’m sure that they will prepare something good to recover position because they have the pace. They had the pace yesterday in FP2 and I’m sure that tomorrow they will be quick. The race will be tough to maintain positions because we believe that there are quicker cars behind us but let’s see what we can do. On the other hand, this is not an easy track to overtake on,

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) The forecast for tomorrow is significantly cooler, can that change the picture that some cars which hadn’t been up to speed today might fall into the operating window of the tyres tomorrow?
LH: I think it could be the opposite. If people are struggling today to switch their tyres on then potentially they would struggle even more if it was cooler but that is a real tricky situation to be in, that sometimes three tyres come in and one, your left front doesn’t work and then you just have understeer and you don’t get the time. If it is the case and it’s cooler tomorrow it will be tough for everyone, even the guys who did switch their tyres on today.
FA: Maybe rain.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) To all drivers: you approach the times that you registered in winter testing today, with the same tyres but 20 degrees hotter asphalt. Can you make an analysis about this?
LH: Did we do these times in the winter?
FA: Yes, 21.6s for Grosjean in winter I think. We did 22.2s, we did 22.5s today, something like that. I think the cars improved a lot between February and now but the temperature… we know that the hotter it is the slower you are. It happens in the winter as well. If you do your best time at 9 ‘o clock in the morning, then you cannot repeat those times in the afternoon. In a way that shows how much the cars improved for everybody from February to here. It’s good.
PM: I agree. I think today was a bit more windy, which is a penalty for everybody.

For tickets and travel to 2012 Formula One races, click here.
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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13338.html

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has lost his pole position for Sunday’s Spanish race after the stewards found his car did not have sufficient fuel onboard to comply with the rules on its return to parc ferme.

As a result of the decision, Williams’ Pastor Maldonado inherits pole for the Barcelona round, whilst Hamilton – excluded from the qualifying results – will start from the back of the grid.

The Briton stopped out on track at the end of Q3, after being told over his radio to pull over at the side of the circuit. There wasn’t enough fuel in his MP4-27 to enable it to return under its own power to the pits and for the team to provide a one-litre fuel sample in post-qualifying scrutineering, as required by the sport’s technical regulations.

After a lengthy discussion, the FIA stewards rejected McLaren’s case – put forward by team representative Sam Michael – that the car had stopped out on track due to reasons of ‘force majeure’.

“A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car, thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes,” explained the FIA in a statement. “As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the competitor, the stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.

“The Stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and the Competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the Qualifying Session. The Competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.”

Click here to see the revised grid for Sunday’s Spanish round, following Hamilton’s exclusion.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13340.html

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

Drivers – Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Pedro de la Rosa (HRT), Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull).

Q: Kamui, so far this season a couple of good races and a couple not so good. What’s been the difference between them?
Kamui Kobayashi: Of course it’s definitely the car. We had quite good performance at the start, quite a good start to the season. Unfortunately, we also some races where the strategy was not really going well. It’s not let’s a bad thing for my season. I had a great start but I think we have to work hard especially on the long runs.

Q: Yesterday, Fernando talked about drivers having more respect for one another. Do you think that’s the case? Should drivers leave more space for each other?
KK: Maybe. I don’t know. It’s always difficult to say.

Q: You’re quite an aggressive overtaker
KK: Yeah, but for me I’m doing something quite normal. It’s not special. I’m just doing my job. Maybe it looks aggressive but I never crash with anyone. I never crash and stop the car. There may be contact but it’s always quite OK. Maybe it looks aggressive but it’s not aggressive in fact.

Q: And of course, you’ve been on the receiving end as we remember from Spa last year.
KK: Spa last year? Where? Ah, with Lewis, you mean? That’s what I mean that was just an accident you know. I didn’t expect both cars to make contact because there was no point. I didn’t expect Lewis to come across and I just stayed on my line. It was just sudden, you know. There was no way to avoid that. That was something special though, it’s not really a racing accident and not aggressive stuff from me, so…

Q: Nico, on paper you’ve been beaten by your team-mate so far this year. How are you feeling about it?
Nico Hulkenberg: Well, the first four races have been quite tough to be honest. I would have liked to take more than two points out of the first four races. We have been quite unfortunate in some races, such as Melbourne, where we had a first-corner incident and there was very little I could do and then a clutch failure issues in Bahrain. These were two races where we potentially could have finished in the points. But I’m looking forward, I’m bedding in well with the team. I think the team is doing a good job in putting everything together and if we get a bit more luck then I think it will be good.

Q: How do you feel about team development? Are the developments coming at a reasonable rate as far as you’re concerned?
NH: Yes, definitely. We bring some new parts, probably like every other team, here and we have to wait and see where the new parts put us but obviously we’re hoping it’s a step forward. I think it is a step forward but just how big a step we’ll see over the next two days.

Q: Pedro, we see a new team that has recently moved to new premises and taken on a lot of new staff. What sort of role do you see yourself playing in the development of Hispania Racing Team?
Pedro de la Rosa: As you’ve said, everything is new. We’re establishing ourselves; restructuring the team; we are growing. But really I’m not playing any different role than any other race driver would do. I’m part of the team; I’m a race driver; I’m experienced. If they need my advice on anything, I am there. But I’m not playing any special role other than driving as fast as I can and giving good feedback about the car.

Q: You spent so long at McLaren are you not trying to put some of those influences on the team?
PDLR: Gradually I will. That’s the aim and that’s what I’m here for as well. But so far the team has been extremely busy trying to move into our new premises in Madrid, establish a structure, a ‘basement’ as I say, and after that we will grow gradually and that’s when I think my input will be, if possible, more beneficial. But so far the objective has been clear. We have to establish ourselves, we have to put he ground for building more floors on top of us but so far I’ve been very discreet and not in a very important position.

Q: And where do hope the team will be at the end of the year?
PDLR: I have no idea really. We are improving race by race. We have made the car a lot quicker. Don’t forget at the first grand prix we did not qualify and gradually we have been closing the gap to pole position. That’s what we have to aim for: race by race, closing the gap, making sure that our car is a little bit quicker than it was at the previous grand prix. After that, at the end of the year, we will see. We don’t have to set ourselves any targets other than making the team more competitive race by race.

Q: Kimi, you were plainly a little frustrated that you could have won at Bahrain but didn’t. Is that a true appraisal of your feelings about Bahrain?
Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, I think once you get so close, you’re not happy with second. If you’re 20 seconds behind then it doesn’t really matter but we had a chance but at least for the team it was a good weekend.

Q: You’re a two-time winner here, both from pole position. Do you think a win is possible here? You’ve said you team will be winners at some stage.
KR: Well, the rules are different, so you don’t have to be on pole now to win. We’ll try. I don’t know how it will go. It’s very difficult to say before the weekend starts. The teams are very close. So if everything goes smoothly then we can be up there. But small difficulties in some areas and you’re suddenly much further back. We try to do everything right and then see what happens.

Q: You didn’t test at Mugello as apparently the team hadn’t brought major modification, but for this race have you at least brought modifications that will at least see you maintain where you were at the opening rounds?
KR: We should have some new parts and we’ll see what happens.

Q: Fernando, another winner here in 2006. How did you feel the Ferrari was in testing? Did you feel it was a lot different?
Fernando Alonso: No, not really. We didn’t have any big improvements in the car, so what we tested were different set-ups and things we missed from winter testing. It’s been quite difficult for us with a lot of problems on the car and not many laps. The Mugello test was to complete what we had left from winter but in terms of improvements, we had minimum changes on the car so it felt the same?

Q: Did that set-up research, as it were, make you feel more comfortable with the car, more competitive?
FA: Well, we’ll see. Obviously we had some ideas in terms of setup and some different possibilities that we were not introducing in the first four races because we didn’t have the opportunity to test them. So, it was good in Mugello: some of them were positive; some of them were negative so it’s good to know. As much information as you have is better preparation for the next grand prix. Obviously we arrive more prepared now than how we arrived in Australia with only three tests in the winter. But to make the car faster I think in terms of setup you cannot find much. If you want to be running at the front it’s more aerodynamic parts and updates in the car. Hopefully they come but we need to wait.

Q: You know this circuit pretty well, you had a very good start to the race last year – do you think we’re going to see more overtaking on the circuit now, what with more KERS and a longer DRS as well?
FA: I think it will be similar to last year, to be honest. I saw some numbers of previous races here. On average like four or five overtaking manoeuvres in the last nine years and last year there were 57 – so it was a big change. The race this year will be similar to last year because of the degradation, the DRS and the KERS. With all the possibilities that we have now, as we had last year, for sure we will see some more overtaking. This changes also a little bit the philosophy of this circuit. As Kimi said, pole position was 60 per cent of the victories, now pole position is obviously the best starting position but it’s not crucial anymore because with this year’s tyres it’s less important.

Q: Sebastian, you broke the mould last year by winning from second on the grid, where you’ve started for the last three years but you won last year from there. This is such a performance track, is this a track where you’re really looking for an indicator for the rest of the first half of the season? If you’re competitive here you will be elsewhere?
Sebastian Vettel: Well, I think if you are competitive here I think it means that you have been previously. It’s a track that we usually know quite a lot from winter testing, we have some data to compare to, so it’s very familiar. But it doesn’t mean if you are competitive here you are competitive everywhere. Equally, if you are not competitive here it doesn’t mean you will never be competitive. I think it’s similar to other tracks. Really, if you think which sector you’re talking about, which speed range of the cars. I think you have sectors on every track where you could get an indication. As I said, I think it’s the fact that we know a lot about this track, we have a lot of data to compare against, to see if we did a step forward compared to the winter and how big the step was. Surely then you have to consider different temperatures: it’s a different time of year so it’s also difficult to compare black and white – but yeah as a rule of thumb probably this circuit does give you an idea because simply you have all the corners you find somewhere else, you have tight chicanes like in the last sector, hard braking for the hairpin, fast corners like in the first sector. You have a bit of everything.

Q: And yet everyone has been here, everyone knows exactly what sort of setup they would require. Is it perhaps one of the toughest races in that respect?
SV: Yeah it is. But as I said as well, you race here in May, it’s quite different if you look at the temperatures compared to February or March, so yeah, it does have a big change on the setup, so whatever you might have found out over the winter in testing, it might not work in the same way or the same style it did during testing. Also, you need to consider that the cars you launch are quite different to the cars you race at the first race, and then, you know, you race around May or June later in the season. So, yeah, it’s a bit wishy-washy because of that – but overall it’s a track we know fairly well from a driving point of view as we’ve done a lot of laps here. We should know our way around here.

Questions from the floor

Q: (Alex Popov – RTR TV) Question for Pedro and Fernando, about the Spanish Grand Prix in general because here and there we read about the difficult situation in Valencia, the difficult situation in Barcelona and now we have two grand prix but in the worst situation we will finish with no grand prix at all. Your thoughts about it.
PDLR: I’ve said a lot already since the first time we were told that Spain would have two grands prix, that it was a historical moment and a unique situation and we should be very, very proud of it. I still say the same answer: we still have two grands prix in Spain this year, and we should, all of us, be very proud, very happy and maximise this moment and then wait for the future to tell us what will happen – which is completely out of our hands, you know? This is all I can say. I’m very happy to be here, this is a Spanish Grand Prix, but also a Spanish Grand Prix with a Spanish driver in a Spanish team – so let’s forget about what might happen in the future because, as I said, I have absolutely no control over it.

Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Gentlemen, Michael Schumacher persistently criticises the Pirelli tyres, or at least the policy of Pirelli. To us and the fans it’s clear that Pirelli has been a major ingredient in the improvement of the quality of the racing this year and last year. Do any of you share Michael’s concerns about the tyres or do you think he’s just making excuses for not winning?
FA: I think Seb should answer, being German.
SV: Yeah? I think, y’know, we get a completely different impression inside the car than you might get outside the car. So, you’re always talking of two different worlds. I think for us quality of racing, if you compare racing today, you have to, I think, look after your tyres a lot more than probably you had to three, four, five years ago. For us, if you take, for instance, 2009 where we were allowed to refuel, we had new tyres and the tyres lasted longer, in that they didn’t see that much degradation. It’s a different quality inside the car because you can push nearly every lap similar to qualifying, whereas now I think the racing is different: we fuel the cars up, they are much heavier, and if you have a heavier car there’s more stress for the tyres, so it puts the whole thing in a different window. If you put a new set of tyres on with 20 laps to go, or 15 laps to go, which is, let’s say, the stint length, earlier, a couple of years ago, it’s a different world for the tyres. The tyres do see more degradation and then we start to slide and then one guy slides more than the other because he puts his tyres on two laps earlier. It creates a different type of racing, more overtaking, which I imagine is seen as better quality from the outside, simply because things happen. I think it depends what you really want. We have more overtaking. Fernando is good with numbers, so like Fernando said earlier. I think the races today – over the last two years since we have changed a couple of things – has become much better. Also for us. I had a race here where I was following – how many laps is the race, 66? – I think I was following Felipe [Massa] for 60 laps out of that and I couldn’t pass. Nowadays you know that your chance will come in the race and that’s changing the position inside the car as well.

Q: Fernando…
FA: I don’t know. I agree with Seb but I don’t agree that Michael has continually criticised Pirelli. Michael said one thing and what has been written in the press has maybe exaggerated what he said. I read what he said and I don’t see any big problem with that.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Fernando, you have a very different car from this race. Let’s suppose this car does not correspondent to that criteria…
FA: We’ll see, we’ll see after the race, because we don’t know what car we have. Obviously we have new parts, but everybody has new parts. Because it’s Ferrari, there are quite a lot of expectations every race we go to. It seems like only Ferrari is bringing new parts. We have a step forward, we believe, on what we had in Bahrain, but we also know that it’s not the last step we have to do. It’s a continuous work, that we need to start here in Barcelona, making a step forward and try to improve our qualifying position and our race pace, but in Monaco we have to bring new parts. In Canada (we have to) bring new parts. So we will not bring a new car to every race as it seems that we brought here in Barcelona.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) But just to finish the question: if the car does not correspond…
FA: I answer you on Sunday.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Yes, but just to finish: considering your car has completely new ideas, a revolutionary car, do you think this could be the end of the season for Ferrari and you will start thinking about next year’s car?
FA: I don’t think so. I don’t think so. We need to see how the car works here and if it works fine, it will be a good step, the first step of many that we have to do during the next couple of races. If the step is not good enough, because the others improved the same or more than us so we remain in the same position, we need to work harder, for Monaco and for Canada, and bring more new parts in a more aggressive approach or whatever, because the championship is long and we will never give up in May, after four races.

Q: (Livio Orricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Do you think the basis of this car could be used for next year’s car?
FA: I think so. Yes.

Q: (Gary Meenaghan – The National) For all of you: if you look at the drivers in 1992, there were only two non-European countries represented. If you look at the same field twenty years later, this year, there are seven non-European countries represented. Is there a chance that in a few more years, the majority of the drivers will come from outside Europe and how do you think that will impact the sport?
KK: It’s difficult to stay. For drivers I think it’s very difficult, everywhere, Asia especially. I don’t know for the future, but at the moment I don’t know how many Europeans there are now? 17. We have to see. It’s very important for a programme for the development of drivers. I think that this programme is quite weak everywhere. I think for the future, they definitely have to work a lot. It’s very difficult to find how young drivers come to Formula One. I don’t know how it can be changed for the future but I definitely think we have to work on programmes for driver development.

Q: A huge German presence on the grid at the moment, Nico. Can you see that being maintained by a young driver programme in Germany?
NH: Which young driver programme? Is there one? I don’t know. We don’t keep track of that statistic. I think it will always be a good mixture between European and non-European drivers in the future.

Q: (Andy Benson – BBC Sport) To anyone, but Fernando and Sebastian particularly: following the rulings in the two Nico Rosberg incidents in Bahrain – one of which Fernando was involved in – are you clear in terms of what’s allowed and what isn’t when it comes to defending your position?
FA: Yes.

Q: (Andy Benson – BBC Sport) Has your understanding changed between before Bahrain to now?
FA: No, maybe I did…
SV: Fernando made it pretty clear. He said ‘you have to leave the space. All the time you have to leave the space!’
FA: Yes. Yes.
SV: It was clear, no?
FA: As I did last year with Sebastian. In Monza.

Q: (Andy Benson – BBC Sport) That isn’t what happened in Bahrain.
SV: He just thought my car was slimmer.
FA: But you passed. You passed.
SV: I think the rule is clear. You can argue. I think there were two incidents with Nico in Bahrain, one with Fernando and I think Fernando made his point clear afterwards. And with Lewis, and I think Lewis got past, so I think you can talk for hours now, but if you saw the situation in Bahrain, it’s exceptional, because you have a kind of asphalt run-off. Yes, it’s pretty dirty but we always try to go on the limit, the one who is overtaking, the one who is defending. Surely sometimes you need to respect that the guy is there and you need to leave the space. I think if it would have been grass, it would have been a different story. You wouldn’t go there in the first place. In Fernando’s case I think he would have made the same point.

Q: (Carlos Miguel- La Gaceta) Fernando and Pedro, if a fan of Formula One in Spain is thinking about coming here on Sunday, what are your goals for the race? What can you offer to the people?
PDLR: Well, from our point of view, you know our goal is to fight and to improve from where we left it in Bahrain and that’s all we can offer, we can promise. We cannot promise victories – we leave that for Fernando – but we will promise, wherever we finish, we will do it with the pride of being here and doing a serious job, giving it all, and maximising what we have.
FA: Same thing. And giving 100 percent. We cannot promise anything. This is not a mathematical problem, it’s a sport, we all try to do our best so we will work hard, we will take care of every detail this weekend as we do normally, trying to do a serious job and hopefully finishing in the best position possible, but you cannot promise anything.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Leaving aside whether or not it’s a home race for you guys, how much of a difference does it actually make for you to be back in Europe again? Kimi, you don’t actually like the travelling very much out of Europe, do you?
KR: Yeah but I I arrived in China on the Thursday morning, so arriving for a European race on the Thursday morning is no different really.
PDLR: I’m biased answering this question because it’s back to Europe, but especially it’s back to Spain, so for us, it’s a Grand Prix that arrives a little bit too early in our development programme, as far as I’m concerned. We have been improving since Australia but we probably need more Grands Prix to offer a more competitive show to our fans. That’s the only downside, but nevertheless, we are here, we are in Spain. It’s our home ground and we are very happy to be here. I’m looking forward to it. I used to live ten minutes away from the track and this is something that – when you grow up – you can always listen to the engines, so the Formula One cars, when you wake up every morning during the weekends – for me it’s a very special event, absolutely.

Q: Kamui, not so easy commuting from Japan.
KK: For sure. I’m used to being here a lot of times. I came to Europe 17 years ago and I’ve been here to Barcelona a lot of times. After long trips being back in Europe in Formula One is always great and it’s always great to see the motorhomes in Barcelona. This is always great and it’s always good to be back in Europe for Formula One.
SV: I think for all of us we’re happy to race in Europe. Surely we have races overseas which we enjoy. For instance, we all love going to Australia. Yes, it’s a long trip but once we are there I think we all enjoy being there and it’s the same here. In the end, I don’t think it makes a difference how long you travel. Yes, it is more convenient if you are only an hour, an hour and a half or two hours on the plane rather than twelve and then another twelve. As I said, I think every country we go to, there is a strong culture for motor sport. We hope for a lot of excitement and for a lot of people to come. It makes us feel very special when we are on the grid, to see that the grandstand is packed and usually around here are a lot of fans, cheering, especially for Fernando and the Spanish drivers, but it’s the same when we go to Silverstone, they’re cheering for their drivers. I think we can be very happy everywhere we go, and hopefully put on a great show so that the people enjoy it as well and they come back next year.

Q: (Alex Popov – RTR TV) Gentlemen, after testing at Mugello, Vitaly Petrov criticised the circuit, because he expressed concern about its safety, so do you think he was wrong to express his concern like this? He was criticised by other drivers, because he expressed concern. Is he wrong?
FA: I think everyone will have his opinion. I’m not someone to say that Vitaly is right or wrong. It’s more maybe the safety commission’s job or whatever. Personally, everyone will have their opinion, as I said. I like Mugello, I like the layout, I like the feelings, the emotions that you have driving there. As I said after the test, driving one lap in Mugello is like driving one hundred at another circuit, for adrenalin and how much you enjoy the lap. We were in Italy, with a lot of Ferrari support. I enjoy those three days testing so much, but in terms of how safe the track was or not, I don’t have the information to give an answer.
NH: Personally I enjoyed Mugello very much. I think it’s a very different circuit to all the others that we go to. You always feel like you’re flying there, a lot of fourth, fifth, sixth gear action which is great to have. Like Fernando said, whether you feel safe or not is a very personal thing. I think it was OK.
KK: That’s a great circuit. There are a lot of very safe circuits like Abu Dhabi without gravel, but this circuit had gravel and if we made a mistake we ended up in the gravel which is good for drivers and good for training and testing. The test was something we had to try and in the race, of course we have to stay on the track and it’s difficult to take a lot of risks but during testing we can take more risks to improve our driving. It’s great for me.
SV: Well, the first time I heard that he was saying something about safety at Mugello. I think we all loved the track because it’s different – like Nico said, there’s a lot of high speed corners. Sure, if the speeds are high, there is higher risk. There is obviously quite a lot of run-off but surely here and there you would like to have more. As long as nothing happens, everything is fine; if something happens… it’s always easy to say something after there’s an incident and say this and that. I think it was not as if we felt we were scared. We left the garage feeling safe. I think if we would race there one day, potentially yes or no, then surely here or there you can argue to make improvements for safety, but I think they did everything they could on the day.

Q: (Vanessa Ruiz – Radio Estado ESPN) Nico mentioned that Mugello is different from every other track that you guys race on in the year so does this very fact make it less useful to have tested there instead of somewhere else?
KK: Difficult. I think maybe it’s not really useful for mechanical stuff but definitely useful for aero development at least, because we can test the aero on the straights. Difficult to see the stability in the corner. Basically I think this was a good test.
FA: I agree. I think it was good to test some parts of the car, not for some others, but like all the other circuits. When we test in Jerez, test in Barcelona, we try different things. I remember in the old days testing in Paul Ricard. Some days we test on the 50s lap circuit because we were testing for Monaco Grand Prix: different tyres and different parts, so every test is welcome for different areas of the car, but it’s good. For people who don’t like Mugello there is a very easy solution.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13323.html

Fernando Alonso set Spanish hearts racing here in Barcelona on Friday morning by taking his Ferrari to the fastest time in the first practice session, nearly fourth-tenths of a second clear of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull.

Alonso lapped in 1m 24.430s, Vettel in 1m 24.808s, but Kamui Kobayashi and Jenson Button were close, with 1m 24.912s and 1m 24.996s for Sauber and McLaren respectively. The latter spent a lot of time on track with both himself and team mate Hamilton trying the low and high noses for the MP4-27. Both drivers set their best times with the latter, Hamilton’s 1m 25.252s leaving him eighth.

Between them, Valtteri Bottas continued his excellent Friday morning work and was comfortably the best of the four men who substituted for regular drivers. The Finn lapped Bruno Senna’s Williams in 1m 25.120s for fifth, ahead of Michael Schumacher in the leading Mercedes on 1m 25.187s and Romain Grosjean in the leading Lotus on 1m 25.217s.

Behind Hamilton, the top 10 was completed by Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen with 1m 25.285s and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg with 1m 25.339s. Then came Jean-Eric Vergne with 1m 25.367s for Toro Rosso, Felipe Massa on 1m 25.433s in the second Ferrari, Red Bull’s Mark Webber on 1m 25.539s, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg on 1m 25.607s and Sauber’s Sergio Perez on 1m 25.918s.

Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo headed the next group with 1m 26.226s, with Pastor Maldonado leading the chase for Williams with 1m 26.297s from Jules Bianchi who was the next best Friday rookie with 1m 26.630s for Force India.

Vitaly Petrov took his Caterham round in 1m 27.475s for 19th, pursued by Timo Glock’s Marussia on 1m 28.267s, new team mate Alexander Rossi in the second Caterham, who took part in his first official practice session (in Heikki Kovalainen’s car) to lap in a best of 1m 28.448s, and Charles Pic in the other Marussia on 1m 28.633s.

At the back, Pedro de la Rosa posted 1m 29.107s in the lead HRT, with Dani Clos, the fourth rookie, taking part in his first Friday session in the Spanish team’s second car. Clos posted 1m 31.618s before a mechanical problem saw him roll to a halt at the top of the pit lane 15 minutes before the end.

For tickets and travel to 2012 Formula One races, click here.
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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13327.html

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

Team representatives – Pierre Wache (Sauber), Paul Hembery (Pirelli), Mark Smith (Caterham), Giorgio Ascanelli (Toro Rosso), Adrian Newey (Red Bull), Sam Michael (McLaren).

Q: Pierre, welcome, you’re Head of Vehicle Performance at Sauber. First of all, give us some indication of Mugello testing. Were your findings confirmed here? Were you satisfied with the test?
Pierre Wache: Thank you for the welcome. We evaluated a new package and we were happy to do this test for sure in the middle of the season to evaluate the new aero package. We did it again today and confirmed what we found in Mugello.

Q: Your drivers have seemed easier on the tyres in the first couple of grands prix this year. How did they extract that performance in the first couple of races but not in the next couple?
PW: All the races are different, all the layouts are different and the last circuit maybe suited our car less than the other ones.

Q: That’s the only reason?
PW: I think so, yes.

Q: And when it comes to this race?
PW: I hope it will be OK. We will see tomorrow.

Q: It’s an interesting new partnership with Chelsea Football Club. Does that include more resources. It there a possibility for expansion in terms of resources?
PW: I don’t know. I’m not really the right person to give this answer. I think you will have to ask Peter Sauber for that.

Q: Paul, a different range of tyres this year in terms of specification. How much has the game changed this year in terms of that specification change?
Paul Hembery: Predominantly the compound choices have been a little bit more aggressive. If I take the scaling, the Supersoft tyre stays the same, the Soft tyre this year is derived from the Supersoft, and the Medium tyre this year is actually a close relation in terms of compounding to the Soft tyre of last year. So, there are some similarities to last year but the Hard tyre in particular is very much different. If we think about last year when we were here, the harder tyre in particular created quite a few struggles for the teams to get working. There were probably only two drivers in that race that got it working. So, yes there have been some changes.

Q: We’ve heard a lot about tyre temperature recently – degradation, wear etc. Can you just explain to us, because I think the media need an explanation, about what the difference is and how they affect the cars?
PH: Degradation is a thermal performance loss – that’s from the tyres overheating essentially, taken to extremes in terms of lap time. Wear is the physical wear of the tyre which is probably easier for people to understand. The two are linked, though not necessarily in a parallel manner, but they are linked. The temperature, well, working range is something people hear a lot about. Last year we were finding that the Soft tyre, if we take that as a good example, had a working range from 20 degrees all the way through to the late 30s. This season we’ve seen that when the temperature dropped dramatically in Shanghai that caused quite a dramatic change in tyre performance when it went below 20 degrees. So there’s probably some sensitivity there, and depending on the cars we were looking at we could see that the actual temperature of the tyres was less, so we have to imagine there’s less energy going into the tyre. At the other end because we’ve taken a more aggressive approach to compounding you’ll find that when it gets to the other extremes of temperature, with abrasion or certainly wheel spin then we will go into an overheating mode. We’ve closed down the range of compounds and the cars have obviously changed as well, and you put that combination together and you have a start to the season pretty much as we saw last year – some question marks that tend to get ironed out as the season goes on and the teams get to understand better the cars, the tyres how to get the best out of them all. I think you’ll see over the next few races that that will be the case.

Q: How concerned are you about the drop in temperature we’re expecting on Sunday? We saw 44 degrees today but apparently it will be at least 10 less on Sunday.
PH: No. As I mentioned it’s more likely when you go below 20 degrees, when it’s cooler. It’ll probably be in Germany or at Silverstone where we’ll get more of an issue with that.

Q: No problem?
PH: No.

Q: Mark, welcome to you here. Maybe we were wrong but we perhaps expected more from Caterham this year. What can be done to improve it? What did you find in Mugello? Has it improved since Mugello?
Mark Smith: It’s perhaps not unreasonable to have expected more us as a team. I think we’re all a little bit disappointed with where we are. We want to perform better. I feel we’ve made progress since last year. You have to look and measure your performance relative to the teams you’re competitive with and I think we have made some progress but it’s clearly not enough, it’s not where we want to be. I think it’s part of being a relatively immature team, even though there are many people in the team with experience. To make the team gel and to provide the tools to actually take the team forward takes a little bit of time. I genuinely think we are on the road to putting those tools in place, whether it’s personnel or hardware or software, that’s what we’re working hard on at the moment. In terms of Mugello, it was useful for further developments that we’re making in the aero world. I think it’s fairly obvious that’s the area we need to make significant improvement in. In terms of what we took there and why it’s not here, in reality we had to commit to something because of the timing of the Mugello test that we hadn’t fully developed in CFD or the wind tunnel environment.

Q: What about the performance of the drivers? It’s interesting that Heikki has out-qualified his team-mate four to one, but Vitaly has out-raced his team-mate four to zero.
MS: I think that as a team we’re very happy with both drivers. Vitaly joining the team has been a breath of fresh air for all of us. We’ve got two drivers who are both very motivated and give of their best at all times and at all locations. We’re totally happy with them.

Q: Giorgio, welcome again. I mentioned the other day the pace of development. The factory as a whole has expanded – you have more space for development, more space for people. Is that the case? Is there more development coming from the team now?
Giorgio Ascanelli: It is the case indeed. The straight answer is: Do we get more bits? Yes, we do. Are they good bits? Sometimes.

Q: So what did you learn in Mugello?
GA: Half the things we brought to Mugello worked, half didn’t. We have to keep looking at it. We couldn’t react on the parts that weren’t working for here. I think we’ll have another stab at it Canada because Monaco is no place to do this kind of work.

Q: Interesting that the consistency hasn’t always been there. We saw a remarkable performance from Daniel [Ricciardo], who put in his best ever qualifying in Bahrain but it didn’t seem to continue in the race itself.
GA: I would say we have been consistently slow apart from the qualifying in Bahrain, which was really a flower. So, what do you make of it. Not much. First race – since I’m Toro Rosso we’ve always scored points [there]. No matter what. No matter whether we have the previous year’s car or we’ve made out own car, it means we are trying to come prepared to the first race and maybe someone else doesn’t. Second race was a rolling dice. Third race we were extremely happy… No, in China we had a technical problem that we fought for the whole weekend and in Bahrain we were extremely happy with qualifying and not so happy after the race.

Q: Adrian and Sam, interesting to see both your teams today seeming to do a lot more work on the car, seeming to do perhaps more than usual. Was this a continuation today of the Mugello test? Were you still working on test parts?
Adrian Newey: I wouldn’t say this weekend has been any different to the first four races from how we’ve approached the weekend and so forth.

Q: Sam?
Sam Michael: It’s pretty similar for us as well. We’ve had a pretty intensive Friday programme of bringing upgrades and taking lots of measurements throughout P1 and P2 and we had a few bits that we carried over from Mugello to finish off but we would have had a very similar programme whether we went to Mugello or not. All the teams are geared up to not have testing, to not having test teams and that means we’re equipped and do our planning to do all of that work on Friday. So, it wasn’t any different for us here.

Q: How important to both of you was that Mugello test? For instance, Sam, your race drivers didn’t take part in it, whereas Adrian, your race drivers did. How important was it?
SM: From our point of view it was interesting because we used it to get correlation. All of our testing is to do with correlation now. It’s not to dial in the last little bit of the setup. And by running our two test drivers there we get a straight back-to-back with the guys that do the majority of the running in our simulator. So, that’s quite important for us to verify all of our models. I think the test itself, personally, I think you could do without it. I think it’s a lot of energy and expense during the season that we probably don’t need. Of course McLaren will gain a lot out of that test but Formula One is all relative, so all we really did was spend a load of money. And did we really shift relative to Red Bull or Ferrari or Mercedes and the people who we’re competing against? I don’t think so.

Q: Adrian, do you feel the same way?
AN: I think we learnt the pasta in Italy is still the best in the world and that’s about it really. I’d agree with what Sam says. To me, yes you go to the test because it’s available. We didn’t learn anything… relatively speaking. I think Sam’s point is valid. We all spent money but the value of in-season testing has to be questionable.

Q: Adrian, in terms of driver performance this year, how much has changed do you think? Do you think anything has changed between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in the first four grands prix of this year?
AN: No, obviously Sebastian’s confidence is high and Mark is very talented and keeps working so I think y’know, generally Sebastian’s had slightly better results but it’s been close and I’m very happy with both of them.

Q: Sam, it’s a little bit of a mystery that when you were at Williams you were technical director there and now you’re sporting director – could you explain how your duties have changed?
SM: Sure. I work for the senior management group, which means that I work with all the engineering and technical directors at McLaren. My main responsibility is the race track and the drivers but I work within that group in the factory to make McLaren a faster car and a better place.

Q: Very often the sporting director is seen almost as a team manager.
SM: I think if you look in different teams, everyone has different titles, it doesn’t really mean… it doesn’t necessarily related to what they do within that team.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Question to Sam and Adrian. So many times since in-season testing was banned we’ve heard teams and drivers bemoan the fact there is no in-season testing, that they can’t test things, they can’t improve the car etc. So why are you two guys now bemoaning the fact that we’ve just had an in-season test and you learnt nothing from it? Sure that was the whole point of having an in-season test, that you do learn things from it and you move forward.
AN: Neither of us is saying that we haven’t learnt anything from it, it’s just, has it brought anything in particular of real value? And obviously because Formula One is a relative sport and in particular relative to your competition and, as Sam said, since those comments were made we’ve had three years, or whatever it is, of no in-season testing. We’ve all learnt how to use Fridays more effectively as test sessions, so the value of in-season testing has depleted because of that.
SM: same comments

Q: (Daniel Ortelli – AFP) Now that you’ve answered that question, do you think that in-season testing would be more useful later in the season?
AN: I guess if you wanted to use it as research for the following year’s car, possibly. But I think the fact is Formula One budget-wise is… things are tight for a lot of teams and the most expensive thing to do is run the car. That’s far more expensive than wind tunnel testing or CFD or simulators and whatever else you might like to name. If one of the major things is to save costs then I think in-season testing would be one of the relatively low-hanging fruit.

Q: Anyone else have any further comment on that, Giorgio?
GA: Well, things are extremely profitable when they are the same all the time. A team evolves itself to adapt to the conditions of operation which are offered. If you change something you need a different operation. I think that’s what these two gentlemen have tried to say. They are both structured team with a lot of infrastructure. For us it’s a blessing to be able to drive – because we don’t have the infrastructure. Although I agree with AdriAN: the most expensive way to make experience it going around a circuit. If you don’t, and you have a simulator and a good tunnel you make a good profit. If you haven’t got a simulator and haven’t got a good tunnel then you need some running to certify what you do.

Q: Mark, anything to add?
MS: Nothing particularly different to add.

Q: Pierre?
PW: Nothing to add, no.

Q: Paul, did it make a big difference as far as you were concerned or just expense?
PH: Just expense I guess. But, y’know, we have to follow what the desires of the teams are. I think if we were to get any use, it would be to go to one of the tracks where we actually run a Formula One race, [that] would have been more useful to us.

Q: (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Giorgio, you have worked with some of the true greats of our sport, you’re now with a smaller team. I wonder if you would tell us if you see any signs of potential greatness in your drivers and specifically, can you tell us about the moments in the season so far when you’ve been most impressed by each of the two drivers?
GA: I think I already said that I think the qualifying in Bahrain from Daniel has been quite extraordinary. It wasn’t just one lap, the last lap, it was the whole of Q1 – all runs in Q1, in Q2 and Q3 were extremely good. It was sort of what I’ve already said about Sebastian Vettel when he set the famous lap – which I’ve quoted many times – in Valencia when he was running on full tanks and on used tyres and the lap time was, to my eyes, quite exceptional. I think that Sebastian made a big step that day when he noticed that and he thought about it and he could repeat it. Unfortunately we cannot repeat it yet because the race was another story. It’s down to the drivers to find the answers in themselves and in us to help them finding answers. I would say that Daniel has done something that is quite extraordinary. Jev (Jean-Eric Vergne) has a big heart, he is one of the best fuel controllers that I have seen in my life but this is only his fifth event and I think we have to wait a little bit.

Q: (Gary Meenaghan – The National) This year, we have three teams registered to ASNs from outside of Europe: India, Malaysia and Russia. I’m just wondering if any of you guys can a point at any time in the future when a team can actually be based outside of Europe, working from outside of Europe. I know there were some rumours about Abu Dhabi in the past with Toro Rosso and you’ve obviously got Malaysia with Caterham as well.
SM: I think it’s possible but whether it can be competitive will depend on… Strong Formula One teams are made up of good people; whether they can attract enough good people, that will be the critical thing. It’s definitely possible from a manufacturing point of view and setting up equipment and designer, test facilities. That can be done anywhere within reason, but you need, to be competitive in Formula One, you have to attract good people, it’s whether they could cross that boundary.

Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Paul, Michael Schumacher, as I’m sure you’re aware, was particularly critical of Pirelli post-Bahrain. I just wondered if, as far as you know, he’s a lone voice in the wilderness, first of all? What did you make of his comments? Secondly, he mentioned yesterday that he held a meeting with Pirelli in Mugello. I just wondered if he came away from that with a better understanding of what you guys are trying to achieve this season?
PH: Yeah, he had a meeting with some of our engineers – to be honest, it was a little bit more general than just talking about Bahrain, it was trying to understand what we’re doing with testing, future development, the way we’re going forward and maybe hearing from ourselves of some of the constraints we have. Michael’s obviously a great champion, he’s been the most successful Formula One driver so of course we listen to the comments, but we also have lots of comments from other drivers and until they all say the same thing… We were given an input when we started our adventure in Formula One and we’re still following that, so while we obviously respect it, it’s one of a number and we carry on doing our work.

Q: (Daniel Ortelli – AFP) Question for McLaren: there were a lot of comments about the nose of the car at the beginning of the season. Now you’ve changed it. How much of a marketing tool was it and how much of a technical advantage can it be now?
SM: The change that we’ve made here for this weekend is part of the normal development of the car. Obviously we haven’t changed our chassis and we wouldn’t plan to do that during the season but you’re always exploring things like that, whether it’s the nose, bodywork or wings, all over the car, regardless of what other teams are doing. It’s definitely not a marketing tool. The only reason why we change the car is to improve the aerodynamic efficiency. Here we do have a new nose to evaluate but I would not call it a first order or barely even a second order factor in car performance.

Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) A question on the young driver test; you have the option of Silverstone or Abu Dhabi. There seems to have been some criticism of late about the plans to run in Silverstone, so I was wondering if the five team figures could let me know how they feel about Silverstone, and separately, Paul, for Pirelli, you’re going to have two costs now. How do you feel about that?
PH: I think it’s probably easier for me to start. To be honest, officially, we’ve only had indications from the teams testing in Abu Dhabi. Formally, we haven’t had any indication about Silverstone yet, although verbally we did have a conversation, so we would be keen to know if Silverstone is going to happen or not.
GA: We have budgeted our resources to support 15 days of testing and we were counting on the fact that eventually the young driver test would occur at the end of the year, so that we could sustain it with the engine mileage which was left over from the races, so a second test in the middle of the season which wasn’t planned, for us, is half a million? We don’t have it.
AN: To be honest, I think, if you go back to the essence of what the test is meant to be for, which is to develop young drivers, it’s down to: are you best off evaluating prospective new young drivers in the middle of the season or at the end of the season. Personally, I would have thought at the end of the season because they’re not at a junior formula they’ve been competing in, they’ve finished their championship, you can see how they’ve gone, they’ve got a bit more experience. To drop them into a Formula One car in the middle of the season and then hoof them out again and tell them to wait until another eight months before you drive it again – I’m not sure of the value of that.
SM: I’ve got exactly the same view as Giorgio and Adrian. Our plan at McLaren at the moment is to test in Abu Dhabi. We’re not testing at Silverstone for all those reasons. Engines is a significant factor, as Giorgio said. If you want to test at the end of the year, you have so many part-mileage engines with the race team that all have a little bit of mileage on them so you can effectively do it for free, in terms of your race engines. If you try and do that in the middle of the year, you can’t use your race engines so you have to prepare a special test engine. And also the point that Adrian made is very important, I think, because if you try and have it in the middle of the year, and run your young drivers, then you are running them in the middle of their championship year so you to be at the end, so that they have finished their Formula Three or Formula Two or whatever they’re doing and they have the capacity to concentrate on their Formula One test.
PW: For us it’s quite different. The better compromise in terms of cost would be to test at Silverstone for plenty of reasons: for logistics and costs. It would be better to test at Silverstone.
MS: It’s the same for us: logistically and cost-wise, Silverstone sits better for us.

Q: (Miran Alisic- RTV Slovenia) I have a question for the gentlemen in the front row; you’ve already been in Formula One for a long time. How would you compare or judge or comment on the role and significance of the tyres over three periods, maybe the tyre war, the Bridgestone control tyre and now in the Pirelli era tyre?
SM: The tyres have always been very sensitive, the racing tyres. At the moment, you have an extremely close grid because of the technical regulations and if you look now at the spread from the top 15 teams (drivers) is sometimes this year only one second, so if you have a small variation in your tyre grip, where normally if you have a five or six tenths advantage on the next team, it wouldn’t normally change your position by one or two places, normally you will drop ten positions if you fall out of that window. But there’s been plenty of years previously where we’ve had extremely sensitive tyres to temperature or anything else so I think they are sensitive, but it’s really magnified at the moment because of the closeness of the grid. You pay the penalty very badly if you fall out of that window.
AN: I agree with that. The grid is very tight. The tyres are clearly different to use compared to the Michelins and Bridgestones, just different, not to say better or worse, it’s different, a fresh set of challenges which is good in many ways, I think. If you compare them to let’s say the height of the tyre war between Michelin and Bridgestone, then you got to the point where the race was really a series of qualifying laps and the drivers would therefore push very hard, through the race without worrying too much about degradation, be it thermal or wear. That’s different now. I think that brings a different set of skills to the floor, it’s almost a bit like Prost in the eighties, when he got the reputation for being The Professor, thinking about how he did the race, and I think that’s coming back which I think gives some variety, it gives some change in the field both race-to-race, during the race, qualifying to race. I think that’s all good for the sport, good for spectating.
GA: The car is stuck to the ground because of four contact points and they are the tyres and I would say that after drivers, tyres have always been the most important element of competition, so it doesn’t matter very much if there is competition between tyre manufacturers or not. You’ve got to know them, you’ve got to try to understand them. I think that what has changed over these twenty years – nearly thirty now – is the understanding and of modelling which is available to us, which in reality wasn’t available to us thirty years ago when we had to rely on the feeling of the driver which is still important. There is so much the driver can feel. The nurturing of the grip level, the two temperatures that Paul was describing, how you find them and how you cultivate that, how you keep the tyres into it, is probably still one of the arts of a champion and I don’t think it’s pretty much in our hands.

Q: (Vanessa Ruiz – ESPN Radio) Paul, do you see Pirelli changing its approach to the compounds to the point of them playing as big a role as they do now? I mean lowering the degradation levels, really lowering them, and to the teams, because we heard a few drivers talking about it: would that be something that you want?
PH: We work on the input from the teams, so if the teams want us to take a different approach we can go back to an approach which is probably more akin to what you’d be doing in a tyre competition. As Adrian just mentioned, you could push harder with very minimal degradation. You then started getting into areas of tyre integrity because you start pushing the boundaries of performance of the tyre but it depends on what the challenge is. We’ll do whatever the sport wants us to do and at the moment, I think if you’re looking from the outside, at the start of the season of course the tyres are very important, but as I mentioned earlier on, that’s the teams getting used to what would be for them, maybe changes to the car, slightly different change from ourselves in terms of challenge. As the season progresses you will see that they will master that. They are very good, all these gentlemen around here, very very competent and very amazing teams of engineers working for them. If I took the first winter testing when we came back into the sport, you would have thought we would be doing 25 tyre changes for a race. On the same tyre at the end of the season, they were getting probably 25 to thirty laps out of the same tyre. Things change and the importance for everybody is that they have the same challenge. The engineers and the teams will find their solutions, and as the gentlemen have said, the drivers can also provide some solutions to that.
AN: I think first and foremost, the reason that we’re here is because people are watching it on television so for the good of the sport, it should not actually be our choice, it should be what do people enjoy watching?
MS: I think that’s a perfectly reasonable approach. In any case, I think a team only has so much energy to bring to bear on the task at hand and for us, as a small team, we’ve got bigger fish to fry than to try and influence the tyres. We’re perfectly happy with what we have. It’s a challenge and one that occupies us.
SM: From that point of view, I think the racing’s been very good. It makes our job extremely difficult but that’s what we’re here for, isn’t it? As long as you have the consistency of being able to put on a tyre that’s the same every time, which from our experience with Pirelli it is like that, so then you’re just limited by your ability to understand the tyre, then it’s how good a technical job you do with it. And you can’t really argue that it hasn’t made the racing very good this year. We’re happy with it.

For tickets and travel to 2012 Formula One races, click here.
For Formula One and F1 team merchandise, click here.

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13332.html

The grid’s two Spaniards, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and HRT’s Pedro de la Rosa, are among the six drivers facing the media on Thursday, whilst technical brains from Toro Rosso, Red Bull, McLaren, Caterham and Sauber join Pirelli’s Paul Hembery on stage on Friday. The line-up in full…

Thursday, May 10, 1500 hours local time (1300 GMT)
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Pedro de la Rosa (HRT), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull).

Friday, May 11, 1600 hours local time (1400 GMT)
Giorgio Ascanelli (Toro Rosso), Paul Hembery (Pirelli), Sam Michael (McLaren), Adrian Newey (Red Bull), Mark Smith (Caterham) and Pierre Wache (Sauber).

The qualifying and post-race conferences with the top three drivers will take place immediately after the respective sessions. Formula1.com will bring you full transcripts.

For tickets and travel to 2012 Formula One races, click here.
For Formula One and F1 team merchandise, click here.

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13320.html

The only official F1 Timing and Track Positioning App, from Soft Pauer, is now available for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Demonstrated at last week’s BlackBerry World event, the app includes an array of great features and over 130 hours of live racing action, making it a must-have for any Formula One fan.

It is more than just a timing screen; it provides access to the all the minutiae of a race weekend, from free practice on a Friday to the live race on a Sunday afternoon, and all for less than £1 per race weekend.

“We are pleased to introduce the BlackBerry PlayBook to the Formula One experience and give F1 fans another platform with which to enjoy the sport,” said Soft Pauer’s chief technical officer Alex Powell, speaking about the latest addition to the portfolio of devices that can run the app.

Each and every race in the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship is brought direct from the track to the tablet in less than two seconds and represented by both live 3D tracking maps and via a selection of live leaderboards and timing screens. Live Pause allows users to quickly replay action, while a vast database of information on the whole season can be accessed at any time.

Great features include up-to-date tyre information as choices are made, the inclusion of DRS zones and all the latest F1 news as well as real-time track positioning, live timing data and more.

For a full list of features and to purchase the BlackBerry, iOS or Android versions of the app, click here.

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13322.html

Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, venue for next weekend’s Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Santander 2012, is one of the most complete tests of a Formula One car and driver. But after their three-day, in-season test at Mugello, do the teams and drivers feel ready for the challenge?

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
2011 Qualifying – 4th, 2011 Race – 5th
“Here we are, on the eve of my home race, the Spanish Grand Prix. It’s always a special event for me, because racing in front of my fans has always been a unique feeling. In Montmelo, we will be counting on making a step forward, but we won’t know until Saturday if we have and if so, how big a step it is. We have updates on the F2012, some of which we tested in Mugello last week and others which we will try out on Friday in free practice. Clearly, having limited the damage in the first four races this year, we must turn things around. Having said that, it’s not the case that if we are not on pole in Barcelona, then it’s the end of the world. The important thing is to make progress, reducing the gap as much as possible, first this weekend, then again in Monaco and after that, in Montreal, Valencia, Silverstone…The season is very long, with sixteen races to go, the same number that constituted the entire calendar back in 2003. We must continue to work day and night. With the same spirit of wanting to win and being prepared to fight with all one’s strength to achieve that, which is the spirit that has driven me ever since I was a kid racing karts.”

Pastor Maldonado, Williams
2011 Qualifying – 9th, 2011 Race – 15th
“We have done a lot of running here pre-season so hopefully that experience will help this weekend. It is a very enjoyable circuit to drive, technical but still quick with turns three and nine a real test. It is also difficult to set the car up here because there are high, medium and slow speed corners. We have been working hard since the last race and hopefully the updates we bring will lead to some good points.”

Bruno Senna, Williams
2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a
“Barcelona is one of my favourite tracks and I get a lot of support there so I am really looking forward to the race. It is a very tough circuit physically and mentality, with plenty of high speed corners and a technical last sector which separates the drivers. Lots of cars will come to Barcelona with new parts so it will be interesting to see who has progressed.”

Mark Gillan, Williams chief operations engineer
“On the back of a busy Mugello test we are looking forward to the Barcelona race. As the first race back in Europe this is traditionally where teams bring large performance update packages so it will be interesting to gauge the relative qualifying and race performance deltas this weekend.

“Barcelona is obviously a track that all the teams know intimately and one where track conditions can change significantly throughout the event. The latest forecast predicts a warm dry Friday and Saturday, with potential for rain on Sunday. The track layout, with its high average speed and long corners, is particularly severe on the tyres so tyre handling will be paramount this weekend. Pirelli are bringing the hard and soft tyres to Barcelona which is the first time this season that this particular combination has been used.”

Remi Taffin, Renault track support to Williams
“We covered over 3,600km in winter testing at Barcelona, so we got plenty of data for how the engine-chassis package works round this track. This will help as there are a few challenges in Barcelona. The torque delivery has to be very accurate to deal with the slower corners in the third sector, including turn ten and the new chicane, but the engine also has to give response and drive through the upper end of the rev range to deal with the high and medium speed bends in the first half of the track. There are also several undulation changes so the gear shifts have to be correctly calibrated to give effective acceleration up the hills. The long pit straight gives an opportunity to release the KERS energy twice as the counter energy resets which should increase overtaking possibilities.”

Timo Glock, Marussia
2011 Qualifying – 20th, 2011 Race – 19th
“I am looking forward to the Spanish Grand Prix and the start of the European season. After racing overseas for the opening rounds it is great to be back in Europe. The logistics are much easier for the team and the journey is shorter for everyone, so we can get straight down to business. After the tests in Mugello I think we have a good baseline for Barcelona and now we need to see what the new parts we have will bring. I hope they make a difference and we can be a bit closer to the guys in front of us. I am looking forward to the race weekend again.”

Charles Pic, Marussia
2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a
“Our objective for Spain is to make a step forward and get a little bit closer to the competition. Based on what we have seen at Mugello, I think this is possible. We have a good update and the car feels positive, so if we can make it work at Barcelona, I think we can continue to be strong at the other circuits. As a team we have goals and also on a personal level I want to keep progressing. I feel settled and comfortable with the team and the car, so I now want to keep improving. The Circuit de Catalunya is a track I know well; I have raced here a few times now. I am feeling good about the direction we are heading in and I’m looking forward to the weekend.”

John Booth, Marussia team principal
“The Circuit de Catalunya is a bit like an old glove in that it is a track that we know so well and feel very comfortable with. If a package works well here, then it is a good barometer of how much of a step forward we have made, more so than Mugello, where we saw a clear step forward but at what is a less representative circuit. Barcelona has a bit of everything in terms of circuit characteristics, so it should showcase just how much of an improvement our improvements are, although we are only too aware that the rest of the field has not been standing still over the past few weeks. It feels good to be heading back to Europe. We enjoy all the race destinations but those that are pretty much on our doorstep certainly make life easier for the team in logistical terms. With the trucks and motorhome to hand, it feels like we could almost be back at the factory in Banbury when we’re racing. Our start to the season was certainly expeditious but we’ve caught up with ourselves a little now, have a far better understanding of the MR01, and we consolidated our learnings at the test last week. We seem to have developed a good rhythm now and we are on a good trajectory. For that reason I am confident that there is a lot more to come from the car and the drivers this season, so we head to Europe feeling excited and confident. It will also be the first race where we have our F1 team and our junior formulae teams racing on the same asphalt, so we will be keeping a close eye on their progression. Our test driver Maria De Villota is also joining us on what is home turf for her, so there is a lot going on this weekend.”

Paul di Resta, Force India
2011 Qualifying – 16th, 2011 Race – 12th
“[After the Mugello test] There’s still plenty of work to do in free practice to get on top of the car, but we’ve already done the basic checks. I probably know Barcelona better than any other track on the calendar. We did two tests there in the winter and I had four days in the car so I already feel quite well prepared, but it’s the same for everyone. I expect the field to be incredibly close once again.”

Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a
“It’s a track I enjoy and where I’ve been successful in the past. It’s high-speed, there are lots of right hand corners and it’s quite tough physically, especially on your neck. As a city I enjoy being in Barcelona because it’s a great place with a nice atmosphere. Also, the stands are always full on race day because the Spanish fans love Formula One.

“The first sector through turns one, two and three is tricky and you need to treat them as one corner. A mistake in one or two will hurt you through three and cost your lap time. It feels great when you get them just right. Also, the final sector is quite technical: it’s slow and twisty, especially the last chicane and it’s easy to drop time at the end of the lap.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
“Now that the European season is upon us, we should be able to bring through more updates to the car. That will start this weekend when we run with some of the new parts we evaluated in Mugello last week. However, we have to remember that most teams will make a development step for Barcelona so it remains to be seen how this will impact on our relative performance.

“As well as developments for the car we are pushing hard to maximise the strategies and the drivers are delivering excellent performances in the races. That’s so important this year with the margins between the teams so tight. If we can continue to deliver like we did in Bahrain then we should be able to remain in the hunt for points this weekend.”

Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus
2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a
“I have tested here very many times. It’s a challenging circuit – great fun with a good car, but not that great with a not so good car. Usually a car going well in Barcelona goes well everywhere. We had a good car there for the second pre-season test even if the car wasn’t quite together for the first one. The car has improved and I feel more comfortable in it.

“I expect Lotus to be very competitive at Barcelona. It’s going to be very, very close between the top teams. This is the only circuit where the teams have already tested with the new cars, and the set-up is crucial as the track changes with the wind and temperature. All the teams have updates for the first European race, which makes it even more interesting and even tighter at the top.

“I have won here twice, and there’s nothing better than winning in any Grand Prix. Those two wins are my only podiums in the event.”

Romain Grosjean, Lotus
2011 Qualifying – n/a, 2011 Race – n/a
“In Barcelona it will be important to qualify well, and it will be much harder to overtake than Bahrain. Qualifying is an area where we can still improve a little bit ourselves, we have some ideas of how to improve, and hopefully we’ll get on to the front row. We have a good understanding of the E20 after the Mugello test and we hope to bring some new parts to Spain too. Tyre management will be the key for a good performance in the race. Let’s see what the temperatures are like. If it’s as hot as Bahrain, the E20 should work well…”

Eric Boullier, Lotus team principal
“The first race in Europe is always the start of a new adventure. In this respect, yes, we’re all looking forward to this challenge. It also makes the life of the team easier in terms of logistics: we’re not that far away from home any more. This said, Barcelona is a special track because we always test there in the winter so it will be interesting to see the gaps between the teams; it might be even tighter than what we have already seen.

“We’ve been able to look after our tyres quite well during the races so far but the Barcelona track is very abrasive, especially for the front left tyre. Maybe we’ll do a better job than our rivals in this area. The only question mark is our performance relative to the temperature. A pattern started to emerge over the first four races, where we seemed to be more and more competitive in hot conditions. We’ll see.”

James Allison, Lotus technical director
“We will bring the first tranche of gains from our Windshear programme in addition to some parts from our conventional wind tunnel development. There will be modifications to the front and rear drums, to the front wing and to the floor.”

Pirelli
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director
“The Spanish Grand Prix weekend should present something of a contrast to the last pre-season test in Barcelona, where low ambient temperatures meant that it was difficult to get heat into the tyres! This time we’re expecting warmer weather, which only adds to the many challenges that the tyres will face here. We’ve nominated the soft and hard tyre in order to highlight performance differences that will create a different challenge for the teams, showcasing both the speed and durability of our products. There is a whole step in between our two nominations for the first time this year and this should allow the teams to come up with a number of different tyre strategies that could make a big difference to the final outcome. With many teams having expanded their knowledge of our tyre range and tested new components at Mugello, we’re expecting a closely-fought Spanish Grand Prix – and maybe even the fifth different winner in five races…”

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2011 Qualifying – 2nd, 2011 Race – 1st
“Of all the current GP tracks, Barcelona is the one that we know the most because we have done so much testing there in recent years. That said, the knowledge that you gain at the tests doesn’t always help due to the changing wind direction that occurs there, which can sometimes give you a nasty surprise, especially into Turn One. But in general, a car that functions well aerodynamically in Barcelona will work everywhere – so it will be an interesting weekend. We have been working on the package for Barcelona at this week’s test, but we will still have set-up work to do there on arrival.”

Mark Webber, Red Bull
2011 Qualifying – 1st, 2011 Race – 4th
“It’s the first European race of the season, so it will be all hands on deck after a successful Mugello test. It was a tricky start to the test, but it finished off well and we head to Barcelona with good miles on the car and an understanding of some new avenues. I like the Barcelona track, we do a lot of work there and it’s a track that’s been good to me in the past. I got pole there for the last two years and converted it to a win in 2010, so I’m looking for a strong weekend. It’s tight amongst the teams, so we’re mindful that we need to get everything right to get a good weekend.”

Alexander Rossi, Caterham test driver
“I am looking forward to getting back into the F1 car in Spain and I want to thank the team for the chance to run in FP1 in Barcelona. I have a clear goal for the session – make sure I run to the plan set by the engineers, not make any mistakes and learn as much as I can over the whole weekend. I know how much I will be able to take from my time with the team back to my Formula Renault 3.5 commitments and I know the team will do everything they can to help me maximise my performance on Friday.”

Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham
2011 Qualifying – 15th, 2011 Race – DNF
“Barcelona’s a good circuit where the main challenge is to nail everything absolutely perfectly. If you make a half a tenth of a mistake it can cost you a grid position and it’s a race weekend where you have to focus on the details to give yourself the best chance of success. It’s a track with a lot of high-speed corners, some where you have to be really on it to save time, and you have to be pretty committed going into the braking zone in T1 as that’s where there is an overtaking chance. For the fans it’s often a pretty quiet race because it’s a tough circuit to overtake on, but that makes qualifying even more crucial and means you have to get the plan on Saturday absolutely right.”

Vitaly Petrov, Caterham
2011 Qualifying – 6th, 2011 Race – 11th
“After a good test in Mugello we are all looking forward to getting back to racing in Spain. Barcelona is a track I know well and one I like racing on. I was on the podium there in GP2 in 2009 and while I know that’s out of reach for us at the moment, we will all be focusing on continuing to take the fight to the cars ahead and repeating the sort of performances we’ve put in so far this season, particularly on Sundays.”

Mark Smith, Caterham technical director
“The Circuit de Catalunya is a track every team knows extremely well. We have already tested there twice this year as the layout gives the cars a good test of most of the track conditions we see throughout the season – fast, high G corners, a long straight and a number of slower speed corners where good traction is key. It is also one of the more technically demanding tracks for the drivers and offers a bit of everything. Turns 3 and 9 are high-speed corners and finding a balance for both together is not easy. The final sector is also a good challenge – the car has to make big changes of direction so you need good mechanical grip to maximise your lap time.

“Barcelona is also a relatively open circuit and the wind can have a significant effect on car balance, particularly when it changes direction. However, while the wind can be an issue, another major factor in Barcelona is the way in which the track evolves over the race weekend and throughout each day due to air and track temperature changes, which can be fairly extreme. Although we understand these factors well, due to the amount of time we spend at the circuit, we do need to constantly monitor what is happening with the weather to ensure the car setup remains optimised and we are on top of the changing conditions.

“We will also be giving our test driver Alexander Rossi his first FP1 run with us in Barcelona and we are all looking forward to giving him the chance to work with us at a full race weekend. He did a good job in Abu Dhabi when we ran him in the young driver test in 2011 and I am sure he will perform well for us on Friday in Spain.”

Tony Fernandes, Caterham team principal
“We head back to Europe after what has been an encouraging first four races for the team. We may not have quite bridged the gap to the midfield pack yet, but we are clearly much closer than we were this time last year, particularly on race day when we have seen clear evidence of the progress we have made.

“Having been with us for four races now, I am very pleased with the job Vitaly has been doing for the team. He is obviously a fighter and he is pushing his team mate well, especially on Sundays, and that is good for the whole team. I think Heikki is due a run of better luck in the races as he has been pushing extremely hard in qualifying, particularly to get himself into Q2 in Bahrain, but he has not had the same luck when the lights go out on race day. Hopefully that will change in Barcelona and we will be able to see both cars fighting to the chequered flag on Sunday.”

Jenson Button, McLaren
2011 Qualifying – 5th, 2011 Race – 3rd
“Barcelona can be a funny circuit: we all test there so regularly that every driver knows it like the back of his hand, yet it can still be an extremely tricky place to get absolutely right. But, because every team is so dialled in to the track, even having a well-sorted car isn’t necessarily the answer because it’s sometimes the smallest differences that determine the order.

“You need to have absolutely every box ticked if you’re going to win at Barcelona. It’s a place that punishes poor balance like almost nowhere else – if your car is understeering around here, then you’re going to really struggle. There are no particularly stand-out corners, but the blast up the hill through Turns Seven and Eight and the fast right-hander at Turn Nine have a great flow and feel great when you nail it – especially in qualifying.”

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
2011 Qualifying – 3rd, 2011 Race – 2nd
“Our performance at Barcelona during winter testing looked promising – but the form of the season is still very hard to read, so it’s difficult to predict who’ll be at the front next weekend. Nonetheless, we had a great race there last year – I pushed Sebastian [Vettel] all the way to the finish. I think we have a comparatively stronger car this year, so I hope we can have another strong race.

“It’ll be interesting to see how straightforward overtaking will be this year. It’s always been a tough place for passing – as I found out last year – but I really hope DRS and KERS-Hybrid combined will make it a little easier. I think it’s going to be one of the toughest tracks of the year for overtaking, but I’ll be hoping for a strong performance in qualifying in order to make it as straightforward as possible in the race.”

Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal
“I think the drivers and the engineers enjoy the tricky technical challenge of Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. You really operate your set-up on fine limits around here: every team’s balance is so refined that even the slightest imperfections become highlighted. Get it right and you tend to have a serene afternoon, get it wrong and you’ll be hitting trouble, and traffic, throughout the race.

“As we’ve seen in the first four races, added to that mix will be the additional conundrum of managing the tyres – Barcelona should give all the teams a clearer understanding of how the tyres behave in what’s likely to be a ‘typical’ European race climate. But there will still be plenty to learn.

“I sometimes think of the Santander Spanish Grand Prix as a useful acid test as to the effectiveness of the year’s regulations: it’s a tough, technical circuit where passing is limited. If the racing is good here, then we’re normally set for an interesting year: for 2012, we’ve already seen that the combination of DRS and KERS-Hybrid can spice up proceedings, so I hope we’re in store for a fun and eventful race next weekend.”

Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
2011 Qualifying – 14th, 2011 Race – 10th
“At the Mugello test I definitely had the feeling our new update to the car is a step forward for us. This is good, of course, but only at the Barcelona circuit will we be able to tell how much of an improvement it really is. Not only because testing never allows for proper comparisons to the competition, but also because the Circuit de Catalunya is special. It has everything – fast corners, medium speed corners and slow corners. Although everybody knows that track so well, it is very difficult to get the set up right there. But, in turn, if you really manage to get it right there this normally means the car can be fast on other circuits as well. It will be a challenging weekend for us drivers as well as for the car and the engineers, and I am very much looking forward to going racing again.”

Sergio Perez, Sauber
2011 Qualifying – 12th, 2011 Race – 9th
“I am looking forward to the Spanish Grand Prix very much and also to the other forthcoming races in Europe. To me the race at the Circuit de Catalunya is one of the most special ones on the calendar. I obviously know the circuit very well from GP2, from last year’s Formula One race and, of course, from testing. It was there where I scored my first ever F1 points last year when I finished ninth. I hope to get some points again this year. Our recent race in Bahrain was very disappointing, so I really hope our new aero package will work well in Barcelona.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Sauber head of track engineering
“The Barcelona track is very complete. It has all kinds of features – low speed, medium speed and high speed corners as well as changes of direction. In some places the circuit is quite bumpy, and the tarmac is abrasive. Although we know this track well from testing it’s always a challenging one. Pirelli will provide us with the soft and the hard tyre. It’s the first time this year that there are two steps between the tyre compounds, which makes it interesting. We expect the soft one to be good in qualifying, while the hard compound should be strong in the race. The limiting factor is the wear on the front axle. However, at the same time the track characteristics stress the rear tyres, therefore the challenge will be to find the best compromise for the set-up of the car. We tested a major upgrade to the car in Mugello, consisting of a new front wing and new bodywork, including a different exhaust exit and a new diffuser. The results of the test were encouraging. However, all the teams had some upgrades, and only the next race weekend will give us confirmation whether we are able to strengthen our position compared to our competitors. Nevertheless I’m confident that we can have a strong performance in Barcelona.”

Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
2011 Qualifying – 10th, 2011 Race – 6th
“After completing our testing programme in Mugello, we are now heading to the start of the European season in Barcelona next week. The positive thing about the test was that we could really concentrate on the developments we were aiming to work on. This should give us a good basis for further developments, even if maybe not for the next race to come. Barcelona is a track we have driven extensively on, and this is why we know that its characteristics do not exactly play fully into our hands. But then, we will definitely go there and try our best and at the same time keep on working for the things to come.”

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
2011 Qualifying – 7th, 2011 Race – 7th
“I am really looking forward to next weekend and racing in Europe again. It’s quite unique to come to a track where we have done so many laps in winter testing, however the race weekend will be a completely different challenge. The test in Mugello this week was very positive for us, and I believe we will arrive in Barcelona with a much better understanding of the tyres and how we need to set our car up. Despite the familiarity of the track, there will still be a lot of work for us to do, and it should be a good challenge.”

Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal
“After a hectic start to the season with four races and the test in Mugello, we are all looking forward to the European season getting underway and the familiarity that brings. The team had a good week in Italy for the test this week where we were able to work both on challenges that affected us during the initial races of the season, and evaluate a number of new developments planned for the forthcoming races. Spain plays host to the first European race, and although the Circuit de Catalunya is a very familiar venue for the team and our drivers, the weekend will bring its own challenges. I feel confident that we are continuing to make progress, and we will of course be working hard to continue that trend.”

Norbert Haug, Vice-President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“The first four races of the 2012 season have offered great, thrilling sport for all fans of Formula One. Eight drivers from six teams on the podium in four races – one more driver than in the entire 2011 season – and four winners from four races for the first time in nearly 30 years; you couldn’t ask for more in terms of on-track excitement and unpredictability. No team has yet produced winning form at more than one event and achieving this consistency will be key. Our Mercedes AMG Petronas team has registered a positive trend: after two difficult races at the start of the season, we were competitive and won in China then, in Bahrain, we were the third-fastest team on race day. We have been hard at work since then to further improve the competitiveness, consistency and reliability of our car. The Circuit de Catalunya will present a very different challenge next weekend to the ones in the first four races with track temperatures likely to be very different and with new developments on the cars. We will approach the race weekend in a focused manner in order to maximise our team performance with both drivers.”

More to follow.

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Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13308.html