F1′s season of confusion looks set to continue, with an uncertain weather forecast only adding to the uncertainty ahead of the Spanish grand prix.

The bizarre 2012 contest stepped into yet another gear on Saturday, with events unfolding to put the previously-derided pay driver Pastor Maldonado on pole, alongside the crisis-ridden Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

And the Pirelli tyre predicament, worsened on the challenging Circuit de Catalunya layout and under hot Spanish skies, will continue to confound teams on Sunday, with temperatures set to drop and rain clouds predicted to gather.

“I am telling you now, honestly,” said Red Bull’s Mark Webber. “We don’t have even the slightest idea who will benefit when it gets colder.”

The German magazine Auto Motor und Sport laid out the fascinating if bewildering situation as of Saturday in Spain: “Sebastian Vettel doesn’t know why his car suddenly lost grip in qualifying.

“Jenson Button has no idea why he couldn’t generate any tyre temperature on the 40 degrees track. Williams don’t know why Pastor Maldonado clocked the second fastest lap.

“Mercedes’ engineers had to admit they still don’t understand the Pirelli rubber.”

Acting team principal Bob Bell smiled tortuously: “If we did understand, we’d be on pole. But even Pirelli don’t know all the answers.”

Writing in O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, Livio Oricchio estimated there are up to 12 candidates for victory.

“A grid of madness!” said former F1 driver Patrick Tambay on France’s RMC Sport. “And it’s not over yet.”

So, is Michael Schumacher – having sat out Q3 in order to save tyres for the race – now even more critical of Pirelli?

“I’ll leave it with what has already been said,” he insisted late on Saturday.

Official track action in 2012 has now begun, but the pecking order is still totally unclear.
“The tea-leaf reading will go on until after the third practice session (on Saturday),” Peter Sauber told Switzerland’s Blick.

Only after that one-hour session will Melbourne qualifying be looming, but many paddock insiders believe Malaysia – a more ‘normal’ circuit – will be a better barometer.

The confusion is greater in 2012 because the field is apparently so tightly packed.

“I’ve never known it as open as this,” said McLaren’s Jenson Button, who set Friday’s fastest laptime. “Never.”

Lewis Hamilton agreed: “I’m convinced that Red Bull, Mercedes and us are equal.”

Red Bull, however, is widely believed to be the frontrunner, but Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber said they were unhappy with the balance of the RB8 on Friday.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Webber.

Also unclear is just how good the new Mercedes is, after Michael Schumacher in second practice returned to the ‘P1′ position he had become so familiar with in his first career pre-2010.

“When I saw the (W03) car on track I immediately sent a text to Norbert (Haug),” Alex Wurz revealed to Sport1, “(saying) ‘looks very good’.

“I honestly have to say they are not yet on Red Bull’s level, but they are not too far away,” the former F1 driver, who is in Melbourne as Williams’ new driver mentor, added.

It seems clear that Ferrari ranks somewhere beneath the top trio, and Spain’s Marca newspaper reports that a substantially-redesigned chassis will not get up and running until the European season begins in mid-May.

“We definitely haven’t seen the real picture yet,” Fernando Alonso is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, after going fourth quickest in both of Friday’s sessions.

“Vettel is not as bad as tenth,” he insisted, “and Kovalainen is not as good as eighth.”

Red Bull’s Christian Horner admitted: “Qualifying will be the first time we have driven with empty tanks.”

Team advisor Dr Helmut Marko added: “We are satisfied, it looks quite good. But McLaren is very strong, and the Mercedes (cars) will be in the top five.”

Triple world champion Niki Lauda told Germany’s Speed Week: “I am sure the championship this year will be decided later that it was in 2011.

“The top cars and the whole field appears to be closer together — it could be a great season.”

Bruno Senna has calmed a wave of fears about his health by declaring “I’m fine”.
Rumours buzzed around the internet that the Williams driver had been injured less than a month before the 2012 season.

In fact, the injured driver is Japanese karter Sakaguchi Sena.

“Guys, I’m fine,” Senna wrote on Twitter. “There’s been a confusion about me hurting myself.

“Whoever it is that actually got hurt, I wish him a speedy recovery.”

Confusion surrounding the blown exhaust saga is set to continue, with conflicting reports throughout Sunday about a teams agreement.

Bernie Ecclestone told the BBC on the Silverstone grid that an unanimous agreement to revert to the Valencia regulations is “all done. It’s been agreed”.

Earlier, it was the case that Ferrari-powered Sauber was yet to sign the letter to the FIA confirming unamimity so that the clampdown could be repealed.

After teams meetings on Sunday morning, Red Bull’s Christian Horner said: “There’s no agreement.”

It is rumoured Ferrari, whose Fernando Alonso won the British grand prix with the clampdown regulations now in place, has also not signed the document to go back to the older rules.

“I think that we have the right direction,” said an evasive Stefano Domenicali after the race.

German reports quote Horner as adding: “There is a commitment to talk about this again before Germany.”

Italy’s motor racing sanctioning body has backed Ferrari’s raging complaint about the outcome of the European grand prix.

Maranello based Ferrari has argued loudly that the credibility of the sport is at risk after Lewis Hamilton overtook the safety car in Valencia but still managed to finish the race on the podium.

The Italian team is also critical that penalties against 9 drivers for speeding during the safety car period did not promote Fernando Alonso higher than just eighth place.

“The success of a sport is measured by its ability to be credible and above all understandable to the general public,” said CSAI (Commissione Sportiva Automobilistica Italiana) president Angelo Sticchi Damiani in an Italian-language statement.

“What happened on Sunday … damages the credibility of the category; I don’t think anyone, whether in the grandstands or in front of televisions around the world understand what has happened,” he added.

“Drivers who pass the safety car came to the podium.  Others, taking advantage of the same situation, also had an advantage over their rivals.

“But others – those who respected the rules – were the victims.

“Perhaps some of the regulations about behaviour in formula one must be investigated and evolved so that they do not create more uncertainty and confusion.”

Italian reports also quoted Sticchi Damiani as saying CSAI’s support of Ferrari is not “to be controversial, but (to be) constructive”.

“We would like clarification about the penalties … and on what criteria they were given,” he added, suspecting that a “degree of subjectivity” was applied.

(GMM)

Even three full weeks and a grand prix after the Red Bull teammates’ crash, details of the Turkish incident are still leaking out.

With controversy and intrigue having surrounded their crash whilst leading May’s Istanbul race, the latest tidbit is revealed by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

The report claims that although Sebastian Vettel was roundly criticised for jinking to the right before contacting the sister RB6, Mark Webber could have followed the advice of his race engineer and perhaps avoided the incident altogether.

It recently emerged that engineer Ciaron Pilbeam radioed Webber on the lap of the crash to tell the Australian that, although his engine was turned down, he could “use your overtake button for a boost on the straight” to repel an attack from Vettel.

Even when in a fuel-saving engine mode, the button temporarily delivers the full 18,000rpm of power.

But Auto Motor und Sport reports that Webber did not know whether he should press the button just once, or for the duration of the power boost, with the “confusion in the cockpit certainly not helping the situation (with Vettel) at 310kph”.

(GMM)

The tires are putting confusion in Formula 1 It is still unclear which tire manufacturers in 2011 awarded the contract – Bridgestone stretches back even with the end of this season from the “king class” of motorsports. While Pirelli has already claimed that the deal should be confirmed with the FIA between the races in Montreal and Valencia, is how the French competition is still not out of the race.

Michelin motorsport director Nick Shorrock, who negotiated in Istanbul with the teams expected to ‘Autosport’ soon a decision, “urges the time to develop a product that is reliable, has good power and above all things is secure. Michelin has an enormous competitive experience in Formula 1 and this gives us a strong base in the development of each tire. The sooner the better, because then we can seriously start working. ”

According to Shorrock, the teams have to rely on an early decision, because “you start at this time to work on next year’s car. When one around June or July is not your turn, you will have problems.”
(TotalMotorsports)

Michael Schumacher admits he does not believe Fernando Alonso when the Spaniard says he knew overtaking was not allowed at the last corner of the recent Monaco grand prix.

Due to the safety car rules confusion in the wake of the recent controversy, the FIA has vowed to clear up the regulations.

But when asked in Turkey if he still thinks Schumacher should have been demoted out of the points for the pass in Monaco, Alonso said: “Yes.

“Because it’s in the rules.  For me it’s clear.  When the safety car is on the last lap it’s not possible to overtake.”

But former Ferrari driver Schumacher, who now drives for Mercedes, suggested in Istanbul that Alonso might not be telling the truth.

“He almost hit the wall in attempting to defend his position!” the German is quoted as saying by Auto Hebdo.

The Monaco stewards, including driver representative Damon Hill, have imposed a penalty that drops Michael Schumacher out of the points placings.

The seven time world champion passed Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso at the last corner of Sunday’s race, after the safety car that had been deployed for the Jarno Trulli/Karun Chandhok crash pulled into the pits.

There is a new rule in 2010 that allows overtaking between the safety car line and the finish line.

Where the confusion arises is that if a race finishes under the safety car, there is no overtaking allowed even though the safety car itself pulls into the pits.

Ferrari and Mercedes disagreed fundamentally in the stewards’ room, and ultimately the officials declared that Schumacher had breached article 40.13 of the sporting regulations.

The rule states that if the race ends under the safety car, “the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking”.

In lieu of a drive-through penalty, 20 seconds has been added to Schumacher’s time, meaning he drops from sixth place to twelfth.

But Mercedes’ Ross Brawn believes that because the cars raced at full speed to the chequered flag rather than in slow formation behind Webber, all the teams acknowledged that the safety car period had ended.

“I think you saw the reaction of all the other drivers,” said the Briton.

“If what Stefano (Domenicali) has said was true, they would just cruise to the start/finish line because they knew they couldn’t be overtaken, but everyone went for it and I’m afraid Fernando was a little asleep and we took advantage.”

(GMM)

Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn are confident there will no post-race penalty applied by the stewards in the wake of a controversial last-lap incident.

The seven time world champion passed Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso at the last corner of Sunday’s Monaco grand prix, after the safety car that had been deployed for the Jarno Trulli/Karun Chandhok crash pulled into the pits.

There is a new rule in 2010 that allows overtaking between the safety car line and the finish line.

Where the confusion arises is that if a race finishes under the safety car, there is no overtaking allowed even though the safety car itself pulls into the pits.

“We were advised before the end of the race that the safety car was coming in,” Brawn told the BBC.  “There was no instruction that the race was going to finish under the safety car.”

Schumacher told German television RTL: “We saw the message ‘Track Clear’ officially on screen two.  So that means the safety car goes in and the race is back on.”

The 41-year-old laughed that it is “interesting” that his former nemesis Damon Hill is the driver-steward this weekend.

(GMM)

Apr.20 (GMM) Ferrari on Tuesday continued to deny a reported rift between its F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

The Italian team slammed “some news outlets” for trying to create “bad blood” between the Spanish and Brazilian pair, after it was suggested Massa had been unhappy with Alonso’s pit entry overtaking move during the Chinese GP.

“There is no dispute between Alonso and Massa, they know well what they have to do and will continue doing it, because they know that they are racing for Ferrari and not for themselves,” said Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo on a statement posted on the marque’s official website.

And in yet another posting on the website, Ferrari quoted Alonso and Massa as being “tired and surprised” when they learned of the media reports after landing in Nice from their flight from Shanghai.

“As it happens quite often, there’s always someone who wants to create some confusion,” said Massa.

“The situation between me and Fernando is the one it always has been and an overtaking manoeuvre won’t change it for sure.”

Asked if he has spoken with Alonso about the move, he answered: “Sure, just like we talk to each other every day when we’re on the track.

“We both know very well what Ferrari wants from us drivers and what we have to do on the track,” he added.

Alonso also said he was “surprise” to learn of the media controversy.

“If someone wants to make a fuss, it definitely won’t ruin the spirit of Ferrari,” said the Spaniard.