With Red Bull the latest to hold a trophy aloft this year, yet another potential 2012 champion has emerged.

In theory, back to back world champion Sebastian Vettel, the Bahrain grand prix winner, was always a contender for a third drivers’ crown this year.

But his RB8 was not a race winner until Sunday, after McLaren, Mercedes and even Ferrari had tasted the first victory spoils so far this season.

It was said that – amid the extraordinary field of 2012 – Adrian Newey’s latest creation was simply in the league of other midfielders including Lotus, Sauber, and perhaps even Williams and Toro Rosso.

But as Dr Helmut Marko remarked at the chequered flag: “Those pronounced dead live longest!”

“We never wrote them off,” McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh insisted to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, “because we knew that they had a good car and that they only needed to find the key.

“This season is really crazy; more exciting than we would like!” the Briton admitted. “And now we have to say Lotus are also contenders.”

German Vettel won in Bahrain from pole, but even he admitted that the weekend was a surprise.

“After Australia it seemed that McLaren had a supercar and it would be difficult to beat them, at least in the short term,” he is quoted by O Estado de S.Paulo.

So even the experts are at a loss after the initial ‘flyaway’ phase of the new world championship.

“We know that we know nothing,” beamed Vettel after his victory, referring to the oddly see-sawing balance of power in 2012, blamed mainly on the Pirelli tyres.

“It is almost impossible to predict in advance how the different tyre compounds are going to behave on race day,” he is quoted by Der Spiegel.

“You have an idea, but nothing more.”

Make no mistake, the era of Red Bull’s utter dominance is over.
After McLaren ruled over last weekend’s Malaysian grand prix, Friday in Malaysia indicated the British team will stay on top in the Sepang heat.

Over a single lap, world champion Sebastian Vettel admitted to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport: “McLaren is too strong for us.”

On long runs, Adrian Newey’s RB8 is closer.

“This is the positive aspect of the day,” said Dr Helmut Marko on Friday. “We have not managed to balance the car for one lap only.

“This applies to both tyre compounds — both drivers are having trouble setting up the car.

“Any setup change raises more questions, causing reactions that we do not expect. We are still answering the question of ‘what causes what?’”

Marko admitted plainly: “We have lost our supremacy in qualifying. McLaren is better for one lap, and even Mercedes thanks to its F-duct is very strong.

“The Mercedes is quick as a flash on the straight and also Alonso is eerily consistent and in the race could be a problem,” said the Austrian.

Red Bull also remains unhappy with Mercedes’ F-duct, but there should be no post-race protest in Malaysia — the FIA had instructed unhappy teams to file their protests before Friday practice, in the interests of the ‘show’.

Additionally, in Charlie Whiting’s words at Sepang: “There is nothing to complain about.”

 Tongues were wagging in the Barcelona paddock on Thursday when some drivers hit the Spanish circuit wearing odd-looking Pirelli tyres.
Some of the tyres, whose compounds are normally visibly differentiated with coloured branding, featured significantly different markings.

The big rumour was that, now just two weeks before the start of the season in Australia, teams had requested the blank tyres in order to hide their test programmes from their rivals.

According to France’s Auto Plus, motor sport director Paul Hembery cleared up the matter by explaining that the blank tyres were in fact “prototypes”.

They had been manufactured not at Pirelli’s usual F1 factory in Turkey, but elsewhere, in the event that a natural disaster forced the tyre supplier to change its plans at the last minute.

Hembery also answered the criticism that, after Pirelli’s initial 2011 tyres spiced up the racing early last year, the new generation might not be aggressive enough.

“We need data from the races to judge that,” he insisted. “It’s far too early.”

He also confirmed that Pirelli is close to announcing the identity of its 2010-specification test car, and a new test driver.

It is believed former Force India driver Adrian Sutil is a candidate.

 Pirelli is closer to finding a solution to its current lack of a F1 test car.
In the past two years, the sport’s Italian supplier has used the last car raced by defunct team Toyota to develop its tyres.

But Paul Hembery, Pirelli motor sport director, has said the 2009-spec TF109 is now too outdated and has been retired.

It is believed the marque initially intended to find an agreement to run a competitive 2011-spec car, but the new plan could be to acquire a single seater from the 2010 season.

“We do most of the work in the simulator,” Hembery told the El Pais newspaper, “but it’s more difficult to work on the compounds because it requires the interactivity with the asphalt.”

The Briton admitted that, so far, the teams have been unhelpful in terms of agreeing a solution for a new-specification car, because of the potential performance advantage that could be gained by the chosen team.

Hembery, however, used the example of the common electronic unit which is supplied to all teams by a McLaren subsidiary.

“They all have it and no one complains,” he said.

“But we have asked for help and they tell us that we should continue with the Toyota, and that’s nonsense,” added Hembery.

He said talks are still taking place.

“We have to find a car that was competitive in 2010, which was reliable and that allows us to incorporate all the systems that allow us to do our work.”

After step noses and clever exhausts, the latest buzzword in the Jerez paddock is ‘Lotus’.
The former Renault team is turning heads with its new black and gold E20 car, which has been consistently the quickest 2012 car throughout the opening test of the pre-season.

“I am one of the happiest guys in the world right now,” said Romain Grosjean on Thursday after easily outpacing Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.

The reigning GP2 champion was also quicker than the 2012 McLaren, steered for the first time on Thursday by Lewis Hamilton.

“The Lotus looks quite impressive,” said Briton Hamilton.

Drawing conclusions based on test results is an unreliable practice, but the body language in the Lotus garage so far is confident.

“At the moment they are quicker and more consistent.

“There are more question marks about us, Ferrari and McLaren,” said Vettel.

“For the first test it looks good,” team boss Eric Boullier admitted to Finnish broadcaster MTV3, “but still you can’t really speculate on anything.

“Between here and Melbourne, all the cars will change a lot.

“It is true that today we have a good car, we are able to drive a lot of laps and that is why we are at the front,” he added.

After watching the action trackside from a corner, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg told Auto Motor und Sport that the E20 is “a missile with an incredible amount of grip”.

“The Red Bull and the Lotus make the best impression,” agreed 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg, who is also at Jerez.

Hamilton described Grosjean’s best time – 1.18.4 – as “good”, while Red Bull’s Webber wanted to know what compound of Pirelli tyre was fitted to the Lotus.

Told it was the medium, the Australian admitted: “Then it was a very good lap.”

Grosjean smiled: “The car is easy to drive and predictable everywhere, especially in the fast corners, and when you go over the limit it is easy to get back.”

Said Webber: “If Grosjean can do those laptimes then we will all have to watch Kimi (Raikkonen).”

Bridgestone ready for Interlagos – The short but fast circuit with the winding inside the tires poses a special challenge
Interlagos is the penultimate disconnect for Bridgestone. For the route, which runs counter-clockwise to bring the Japanese with the mean and the super soft compound. The weather could also play a role, but the intermediates and the rain tires have recently done in South Korea a good job.

“Brazil is a beautiful country and South America is an important growth market. So it is important for Bridgestone to show presence in the form of the race,” said motorsport director Hiroshi Yasukawa. “. We have manufacturing facilities in Brazil and appreciate the support from our staff, we have worked in the past with many Brazilian drivers and enjoyed their feedback we are looking forward to the enthusiastic fans at the track.”
Interlagos is a short distance with a narrow core, but fast sections. The asphalt is very bumpy, leading to a compromise on the voting. “It is a beautiful but challenging course,” said Hirohide Hamashima, which is responsible for tire development. “Although it is the second shortest track on the calendar, it has an impressive line and exciting corners.”

“There are mainly medium-fast and slow corners. This means that the mechanical grip and stability are important on the rear axle. The weather can be a deciding factor because it can be very hot or very wet. To maximize performance, needs is a good balance through the turns before it goes uphill towards the finish. There is something reminiscent of an oval. ”
“The first corner is a good overtaking Elle, but you can barter for quick there a brake disks. Caution is called for,” says Hamashima. “In the last two races, we should show a strong performance, but mainly it comes to safe tires. Our engineers work closely with the teams so they can get the best.”

Paul di Resta will not be driving the Force India during Friday morning practice at Hockenheim.

The team announced that the decision to sit out its reserve driver in Germany is due to the extreme allocation of Bridgestone’s hardest and softest tyre compounds.

“It’s a shame but I completely understand the decision,” said the rookie Scot.

“It’s a decision that’s been taken relatively late but it’s better to err on the side of caution at such a crucial stage in the season,” added di Resta, 24.

Force India is currently sixth in the constructors’ world championship, 42 points behind Renault and just 16 points ahead of the improving Williams team.

“I’ll be back in the car in Hungary, replacing Tonio for free practice 1,” di Resta revealed.

In the sunny Valencia enjoyed Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa a smooth first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Europe. It was necessary to find the right balance for the car to optimize brake stability and to gain experience with the two compounds of Bridgestone tires on the street circuit. However, the residue on the top 10 but was again quite large.

“We now have a huge program processed and everything went very well,” said Kobayashi, the 14th with 1.623 seconds gap was. “The new aerodynamics package we need to work on the car balance. It is quite reasonable, but we have to analyze lots of data from today and I am sure there is in it even more. This morning I took the route less polluted than expected . faster tire wear was an issue in the first practice, but in the afternoon, no more. ”
Pedro de la Rosa was 15, was just fractions of a second slower than his teammate. “We have during the day made many changes to the car, to prepare us for tomorrow’s qualifying,” said the Spaniard. “Mainly we have focused on the braking stability. Both tire compounds have on the warm asphalt works pretty well and I did not expect to difficulties, as we have had in Canada. I am today for the first time went on this course. It took a few laps in order to familiarize myself with to catch properly especially the many break points, but I liked the track quickly. ”
“Today, we are no technical problems with the cars,” said technical director James Key had, “and that was good, because in both sessions we had much to do. Adapt We had the car set to the new aero package. This is the first step, to make the car lighter mobile. Basically, we have already found a direction that we can track for tomorrow, but today we must look at all the information evening and see what measures we can implement. ”

He continued: “We still have to work on consistency. If you look at the sector times look, they do not reflect truly reflect the lap times. We need to ensure that drivers can get out of a complete round of the best from the car. We have some areas have made progress and in others still to be done. ”

(TMS)

Pirelli will supply four different dry tyre compounds to formula one teams in 2011, the Italian company has announced.

It was confirmed by the FIA on Wednesday that Milan based Pirelli will succeed the departing Bridgestone as F1′s new supplier until 2013.

It had been expected that – unlike at present with Bridgestone offering super-soft, soft, medium and hard compounds – Pirelli’s compounds would number just three.

But Pirelli has confirmed that on offer in 2011 will be four dry weather tyres, plus a full wet tyre and an intermediate.

“Following current formula one regulations laid down by .. the FIA, the new contract ensures that Pirelli will provide teams with six different types of tyre for the season,” read a statement.

It is believed the reason the “current” rules are remaining unchanged is due to the long delay in the appointment of Bridgestone’s successor.

The F1 teams recently agreed to commence the designs of their 2011 cars on the basis of Bridgestone’s 2010-specification tyre.

Also postponed is the touted move from the current 13-inch wheels to a much lower profile.

But Pirelli said “research into innovative new tyre developments is a vital part of this exciting programme”.

The company will also supply GP2 and GP3.
(GMM)

Formula one drivers remain unimpressed with the design of Bridgestone’s 2010 tyre.

Up and down pitlane, ‘getting these tyres to work’ is the enigmatic and universal question, which for some teams and drivers is more of a problem than elsewhere.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, for example, needs warm weather, a soft tyre compound and an abrasive track surface to be as quick as his teammate Fernando Alonso.

“It has little to do with racing when you are so dependent on the tyres,” the Brazilian is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

He is frustrated that some of his rivals, like McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, have the Bridgestone’s working “on the first flying lap”.

Nico Rosberg said in Canada that his problem was getting the car to work with the tyres, and even teammate Michael Schumacher’s vast experience of 256 grands prix is not providing the answer.

“These tires are a puzzle that is very difficult to work out,” said the Mercedes driver.

Schumacher added: “Often it changes from day to day, due to one or two factors.”

It is believed the issue is the design of the tyre carcass, much stiffer than in the past in order to prevent the type of problem experienced by Michelin at Indianapolis in 2005.

But it means some drivers have trouble getting the tyre up to temperature.

“You can see quite clearly that Hamilton’s aggressive driving style means he can get the tyres working more easily than Button can,” said Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn.
(GMM)

Bridgestone is taking a radical approach to next month’s German grand prix.

After extreme degradation and graining was credited for spicing up the recent Canadian grand prix, many paddock regulars suggested that it is the sport’s approach to tyres that that should be targeted for producing more exciting races.

F1′s sole tyre supplier announced on Monday that for the Hockenheim round late next month, the compounds on offer will be vastly different.

Both supplied compounds must be used at least once during grands prix, and in Germany, they will be the Montreal-spec ‘super soft’ as well as Bridgestone’s hardest tyre.

It is the first time there have been two hardness steps between the supplied compounds.

“The characteristics of the Hockenheim circuit allow us to bring the compounds from the extremes of our softness range,” confirmed head of development Hirohide Hamashima.

“This will give us very good data for evaluation and will be interesting for those who have called for a bigger difference between the allocated tyres.”

He explained that a similar approach was not possible for the subsequent Hungarian, Belgian, Italian and Singapore rounds.

“The Hungaroring requires a softer allocation as finding grip is always a target there.  Spa and Monza are high speed tests for cars and tyres, needing a harder allocation because of the heat durability requirements.

“Singapore is a high-speed street course where the softer allocation is suited,” said Hamashima.

Bridgestone said the compound allocation for the final five rounds of 2010 will be made later in the year.

(GMM)

Jun.18 (GMM)  Before departing F1, Bridgestone is considering equipping teams with its ‘super soft’ compound at more races in 2010.

The compound is credited with spicing up the recent Canadian grand prix by graining and degrading on the track’s slippery and smooth surface in cool conditions, thereby opening up a range of pitstop strategies.

And according to a report on Autosprint magazine’s Italian-language auto.it website, although harder tyres are necessary at Silverstone, the softest compound is tipped to re-appear for the subsequent Hockenheim round.

The report said Bridgestone will be happy to supply the super-soft to spice up further races, if as in Canada the tyres are still deemed to be adequate from a safety standpoint.

“Safety is our priority, so if we can avoid the phenomenon of blistering then we can supply the super soft at other races this season,” director of motor sport Hirohide Hamashima is quoted as saying.

With Tonio Liuzzi claiming ninth position and Adrian Sutil tenth. But it was a case of what might have been as Tonio was pushed wide at the first corner after the start and forced to pit for a new front wing, while Adrian picked up a puncture while fighting with Robert Kubica on lap 27. Both incidents relegated them to the rear of the field, however the pair refused to give up and fought to the end to give Force India a further three constructors’ points.

Adrian had a good start from ninth on the grid and made an early pit stop to change to the medium tyre compound on lap six when his soft tyres grained excessively. He recovered to enjoy a tight battle with Kubica for sixth but the pair touched wheels, with Adrian picking up a rear right puncture that necessitated a further pit stop. He dropped back to 13th however was able to reclaim tenth after hard battles with Hulkenberg, Massa, and ultimately his team-mate Tonio. He finally moved into the points when he overtook Michael Schumacher on the final lap.

Tonio was desperately unfortunate not to be able to convert his fifth place starting position after he was squeezed onto the grass in the first corner. He fell to last after the stop for a new front wing, but was able to make in-roads into the field with a series of qualifying-style laps while the rest of the field pitted. By a third distance he was 13th and involved in the tight battle with Alguersuari, Massa, Adrian and Hulkenberg. Sensing points were still possible Tonio then closed to seconds from tenth, which he claimed when Massa pitted. He then put in some banzai laps to close on a slowing Schumacher and secured ninth position on the final lap.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
Like Tonio, it was a pretty hard race. At the start I was racing Kubica and it seemed we could have got into the top five again, but then we touched and I got a puncture. Unfortunately it was at the first corner so I had to drive the whole lap back to the pits. I lost a lot of time like this and dropped out of the top ten, and then had to fight my way past Hulkenberg and then Schumacher to get back in the points. At the end of the race we knew Michael had some problems with his tyres so I really pushed to close the gap and I just got past him on the last corner to get the final point. Of course I’m disappointed as I think we could have got some serious points here today but I think I drove well, the car was good and we were fast the whole race.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
It was a tough race and I drove every lap pushing so hard. The team deserved to get a good result after the hard work they have done this weekend and in the past weeks on the developments. We should ultimately have had more points than we got in the end, but it’s always OK to get another few points on board, particularly after the last race when they seemed so far away. Unfortunately we lost a big part of the race as the door was closed on me in the first corner by Felipe [Massa]. It was a race accident as Jenson was on the other side and there wasn’t anything I could do – I was on the inside and holding my line. We lost the front wing and had to change the strategy then and there, but in the end we still got some points. The team is pushing like hell and we want to confirm the progress we’ve made with more results. Today showed we’re strongly in the top 10 and – more importantly – we will never give up.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
Another double points finish for the team is a very positive result, but given our outstanding qualifying performance yesterday I think in my heart of hearts I would have hoped for more. Both drivers got caught in unfortunate accidents and dropped back but they drove excellently to salvage three points, which, given the circumstances of the race, is very good. We also picked up significant damage on both cars in the incidents and to still show that level of performance is very encouraging. What we have learnt this weekend is that we’ve got a very strong car that’s capable of fighting with the top four teams entirely on merit and we have two top line drivers who are functioning at their best. We’re really looking forward to Valencia now.

Source: Force India

Before the race on the Ile Notre Dame in Montreal to face the teams on two main questions: Is it early in the race to a safety car period? Which tires should start the race? Sam Michael, Technical Director of the Williams team, explains his thoughts, which he makes in this regard before the clock start at 18 GMT.

“We have not yet decided whether we will start on the hard or soft compound,” said Michael. “There are two different approaches. If one assumes that there will be in the early stages of the race a Safety Car period, take the soft tires, to have used them and they runterzubekommen again.”
“If one does not believe that it is not the safety car comes out, you might want to be on the hard compound to be able to drive around for two long stints,” said Michael further. The Grand Prix of Canada would be one way or another for at least a two-stop race, because you could not possibly survive due to high tire wear, with only one tire change the distance of 70 laps.

Williams is with Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg the two best-placed driver who may choose their tires before the race, free. Michael would therefore not exclude that we could possibly send its pilots with different strategies in the race to be prepared for all eventualities.
But a look into the past leaving Michael to assume that safety car driver Bernd will turn out Mayländer with high probability during the race. “The likelihood of a safety car deployment is very high. It was always like that. We had been in 19 races Safety Car periods, sometimes up to four per race.”

There are many indications that this in this year’s race will hardly be otherwise. “Now we have six more cars on the grid and to two types of tires that will be hard to drive due to the strong graining – all of which increases the probability of safety car interventions,” said Michael concludes.