As F1 celebrates the end of processional and predictable races, Pirelli has acknowledged that Turkey two weeks ago was one step too far.
The sport’s new official tyre partner is supplying a more durable hard compound to teams in Spain this weekend, after drivers had to make four pitstops on average at Istanbul Park.

Some commentators have applauded the spectacle of the new formula, whilst acknowledging that Turkey – as a motor race – was nearly impossible for spectators to follow.

“We have gone from one extreme to the other,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

Agreed Pirelli’s Paul Hembery: “We were caught by surprise in Turkey. Four pitstops is a lot. We are working on two or three.”

Even if the right balance is found, not everyone is a fan of today’s F1.

“I miss not being able to squeeze everything out of the car without having to look after the tyres,” admitted Mark Webber.

Mercedes boss Ross Brawn, however, said it is here to stay.

“Most teams are already working on their cars for next season based on what (regulations) we have today,” he revealed.

Istanbul Park moved closer to reaching a deal for a 2012 Turkish grand prix following a meeting with Bernie Ecclestone.
Earlier, officials ruled out paying a doubled race sanctioning fee for a new contract, leaving the F1 chief executive Ecclestone saying in Turkey: “We don’t want to leave here”.

“Both sides are trying to solve this issue. Comparing before the race and the current situation, there is a 50 per cent difference,” Turkey’s automobile federation chairman Mumtaz Tahincioglu told local media after the meeting.

The first deadline for the resolution of the situation is June 3, when the World Motor Sport Council will discuss the provisional grand prix calendar for 2012.

“Even if the issue is not resolved by that date, we must get into the draft,” said youth and sport general director Yunus Akgul.

Ecclestone said that will only happen if Turkey agrees to pay a representative annual fee.

“We will be happy to race here for exactly the same fees that we get from other European races, like Hungary,” he said.

Sebastien Buemi’s future looks brighter after a shining performance in Turkey.

The 22-year-old Swiss was earmarked as the most likely to move over at the end of the season so that Daniel Ricciardo can make his Toro Rosso debut in 2012.

But Buemi drove a brilliant race at Istanbul Park, running seventh near the end after starting 16th on the grid, and eventually crossing the line in ninth place.

“We have rarely seen so much fight from Sebastien,” team boss Franz Tost told the Swiss newspaper Blick.

Agreed Toro Rosso’s highly respected technical boss Giorgio Ascanelli: “Buemi has really matured. He has learned from his mistakes and with his new fitness coach is now focused on his job.

“He’s a driver with a future,” added the Italian.

Red Bull insists it is wary of other F1 teams after Sunday’s Turkish grand prix but those competitors are not quite as bullish.

“Ferrari are back,” team boss Christian Horner is quoted as saying by Tuttosport at Istanbul Park, where Fernando Alonso finally achieved the Italian squad’s first podium of 2011.

Runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel and his teammate Mark Webber, however, had only seemed to reinforce Red Bull’s superiority, with McLaren and Mercedes struggling in Turkey.

“McLaren were very strong in the last two races even if today we were better,” continued Horner.

“And we don’t forget that Mercedes looked very quick in qualifying. I think there’s still a long way to go in this championship and it’s important to capitalise on days like these.”

Some pundits believe the energy drink-owned team is playing down its position of clear dominance, such as Niki Lauda who thinks Vettel is “definitely” and “without question” on course for his second drivers’ crown.

“He needs now to proceed in a clever way at races that he does not necessarily have to win,” the Austrian told ORF, referring to Vettel’s 34 point lead.

But Lauda said the 2011 contest is still interesting.

“McLaren with Hamilton won the last race but today they were 40 seconds behind, while Ferrari was nowhere and here they’re the third party.

“But it’s always about number two or three, while Red Bull and Vettel first and foremost is always in front,” he added.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh said in Turkey that a problem at the Woking factory had delayed some scheduled new components.

“For Barcelona we have to make sure we get back in the mix because, at the moment, you have to say we are behind the Ferraris and battling with the Mercedes,” said Jenson Button.

Nico Rosberg had eyed a real podium challenge after starting third but after the race acknowledged that the W02 car is not there yet.

“Today proved that we are stronger in qualifying but in the race still missing a lot to Red Bull,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

Ferrari, meanwhile, is also expecting to improve again, with Stefano Domenicali hoping the upgrades will be complete for a victory challenge in Canada next month.

“This third place should not delude us; the road ahead is still long,” the team boss is quoted by Tuttosport. “At least we have shown that our path of development is now the right one.”

For the moment, on top of the F1 world is Vettel, with even Webber in the sister RB7 forced to acknowledge that.

“Yeah, Seb is on top of his game,” said the Australian after Sunday’s race.

Sebastian Vettel extended his championship lead from 21 to 34 points by running away with victory in the Turkish grand prix.
As his closest competitor Lewis Hamilton raced only to fourth place at Istanbul Park, Red Bull’s German returned to the top step of the podium over his teammate Mark Webber.

Also returning to form in Turkey was Fernando Alonso, who secured Ferrari’s first podium of the 2011 season.

“Finally we enjoy racing again,” said the Spaniard.

Read a report at Ferrari’s official website: “This is a reward for all the hard work the team has carried out, which gives hope for the next round in Spain.”

Jean Todt held a media briefing at Istanbul Park on Sunday so low-key most journalists were not aware it had taken place.
In a rare meeting for the Frenchman with the press at a grand prix, his minders reportedly posted a notice in the media centre that was not seen by most journalists after qualifying.

Snippets of the press conference have however emerged, including those posted by BBC pitlane correspondent Ted Kravitz saying Todt called the total in-season testing ban “stupid”.

Todt reportedly wants to allow teams to do a few tests next season, and if they do not agree he said the rule will definitely be introduced in 2013.

The Telegraph’s Tom Cary, who was one of many reporters to miss the briefing, described Todt’s media aproach as “poor”.

The Times’ Kevin Eason said the meeting had been “so low key, key media missed it, including top agency staff”.

F1 teams will test an evolution of Pirelli’s ‘hard’ tyre compound in Turkey on Friday.
The sport’s official supplier, worried in particular about Istanbul Park’s awesome Turn 8, tested an ultra-hard tyre at the circuit recently but ultimately decided to take its regular hard tyre to the race this weekend.

Tyre degradation has been high in 2011, and Turn 8 will be easily the toughest challenge faced by Pirelli so far.

“We will be interested to see if it (Turn throws up an anomaly,” admitted Virgin team boss John Booth.

Another tough challenge awaits two weeks later, where Circuit de Catalunya features an abrasive surface and the long sweeping right-hander near the start of the lap.

“If (in Turkey) we see the results that we expect from this life-sized test of the new tyre, our aim will be to use it in Barcelona,” confirmed Pirelli’s research and development director Maurizio Boiocchi.

“This tyre will provide less degradation and so we expect it to last longer, but the warm-up time will also be a little longer and there will be less grip,” he added.

The addition of Bulgaria to the F1 calendar could mean the end of the sport’s Hungarian and Turkish rounds.

That is the claim of organiser and Bulgarian motor racing official Bogdan Nikolov, who said this week that a contract for a debut race in 2012 could be signed as soon as next month.

The news follows a scandal earlier this year, when Abu Dhabi investors reportedly reacted furiously to funding claims about the Bulgarian event.

But Nikolov insists the Arab investors are still interested in the project, suggesting that the scandal was more due to “competitive” interests.

“If there is formula one grand prix in Sofia, there won’t be races on Istanbul Park (in Turkey) and (the) Hungaroring. We will be the only grand prix in eastern Europe,” he told the Sofia news agency Novinite.

Jun.12 (GMM)  Leading bosses have rejected David Coulthard’s suggestion that formula one overturn its ban on team orders.

In the wake of the Turkish grand prix two weeks ago, it was reported that the controversies may have been triggered by Red Bull and McLaren trying to circumvent the prohibition of race-altering team instructions.

In Red Bull’s case, Mark Webber’s engine had been turned down ostensibly to save fuel, amid continuing rumours that the chasing sister car driven by Sebastian Vettel was temporarily running higher revs in the moments before their crash.

And teammates Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton set hearts racing on the McLaren pitwall at Istanbul Park when they fought wheel-to-wheel despite being told to slow down and conserve fuel.

13-time GP winner and British commentator Coulthard said it is an “absurd situation whereby teams have to defend the indefensible”.

“Do they (team orders) happen in F1?  Yes, is the short answer,” the Scot wrote in his latest column for the Telegraph.

Coulthard, 39, argues not only that teams can easily steer around the team order ban, but that some sorts of instructions are legitimate.

Indeed, team orders were completely legal until 2002, when Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello was crudely ordered by then Ferrari team boss Jean Todt – who is now president of the governing FIA – to let Michael Schumacher win in Austria.

But while their lives may have been easier in Turkey if team orders were permitted, the bosses of Red Bull and McLaren said they would not support a push to overturn the ban.

“I think team orders are wrong,” Christian Horner said in Montreal.

“You employ professional drivers and we shouldn’t dictate how they drive the car.  I think it would be wrong to deny the public from what a grand prix should be about which is man and machine competing with each other,” said the Red Bull team principal.

His McLaren counterpart Martin Whitmarsh agrees.

“I think we’re happy with the regulations as they are.  I don’t mind if other teams want to (use team orders) and that’s up to them, but within our team, we’ve tried to treat all of our drivers with respect,” he said.

Jun.11 (GMM)  Sebastian Vettel has played down rumours that Red Bull is pushing to secure his services for the long term.

The 22-year-old is already under contract to the end of next season, amid reports the Austrian squad now wants him to re-commit through 2015.

His teammate Mark Webber, 33, has signed a contract extension keeping him at Red Bull Racing in 2011, and Vettel on Thursday denied that the move was some sort of reaction to their recent collision in Turkey.

“I’ve known this piece of information a little longer than the public,” he said.

“In regards to the (Vettel) rumours, I can say that we have not spoken as of yet about this topic, as 2015 is quite some time into the future,” added the German.

In light of their Istanbul Park crash and rumours they are now sharing a palpably tense relationship, it is an interesting side-note that on Sunday, Germany plays Australia in the FIFA World Cup.

“Germany will clearly win the match as Australia is the weakest team in our group, so winning should be imperative, even though Mark has a different opinion on that,” smiled Vettel.

“But as we know, the both of us have lately had some different opinions on things anyway.”

Jun.9 (GMM)  Jenson Button has played down claims that McLaren’s risky gamble with its fuel loads was the reason for the near-disaster during the Turkish grand prix.

It has emerged that because Lewis Hamilton and teammate Button chased the Red Bulls so hard at Istanbul Park, the drivers were instructed throughout the race to conserve fuel.

Button’s race engineer at one point described the situation as “critical”, shortly after Hamilton had slowed down too much and triggered their wheel-to-wheel battle for the lead.

Afterwards, Hamilton lamented the poor communication and Button was accused of ignoring veiled team orders, sparking the rejoinder that McLaren could have avoided the entire situation by simply running a less aggressive fuel strategy.

But speaking to the Toronto media on Tuesday, 30-year-old Button said the team is right to run the cars as light on fuel as possible.

“If you’re running with two and a half extra kilos in the car, that’s one tenth a lap, which over the course of the race is five seconds.  So you try to be as close on fuel as possible,” he insisted.

It is believed that Hamilton’s winning car had just one litre of fuel left in the tank after he pulled into parc ferme, while Button’s MP4-25 contained only slightly more.

Jun.9 (GMM)  As Ferrari bids to return to the pace, test driver Giancarlo Fisichella was at the wheel of the F10′s latest specification late last week.

On Thursday, the Roman conducted an aerodynamic test at Vairano, with the specific package to be raced at Montreal’s unique Circuit Gille Villeneuve this weekend.

However, the major upgrade is not due until the following Valencia round, with the Maranello based team confirming that in Canada the car will be in essentially “the same specification” as it was in Turkey two weeks ago.

At Istanbul Park, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were notably off the pace.

“It’s quite unusual,” McLaren’s Jenson Button told the Toronto media at an event on Tuesday.

“They (Ferrari) had the perfect winter.  They were very quick, very consistent and very reliable and we were thinking, ‘Wow, those guys are going to be untouchable’.

“But they can come back.  They’re a very strong team, Fernando and Felipe have the experience.  You can’t ever count them out.  We never forget them,” added the reigning world champion.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali said Ferrari must avoid becoming downbeat about its situation.

“That would be no use when there are still two thirds of the season yet ahead,” he is quoted by the French language Canadian newspaper La Presse.

“We put a lot of energy into developing our F-duct and that may have delayed slightly other areas,” added Domenicali.

“Many things can change from race to race and we are certainly not lowering our heads and becoming downcast — that is for those who do not reach their goals, and that is certainly not the case with Ferrari.”

Jun.8 (GMM)  Lewis Hamilton on Tuesday admitted he is wearing a smile while travelling to Canada for this weekend’s eighth round of the world championship.

It could be said that the 2008 world champion inherited the win in Turkey recently, but it was his pressure on the Red Bulls that preceded the now famous Mark Webber/Sebastian Vettel crash.

Until Istanbul Park, pundits were predicting a Red Bull-walkover for the balance of the 2010 calendar, but Turkey showed that McLaren are back on the pace.

And with a powerful Mercedes engine and the F-duct, the long straights of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve could see the British team out in front.

“It will be difficult not to be smiling during the whole flight to Montreal,” Hamilton said in an interview with Germany’s Speedweek.

“I am convinced that we are in a good position now.  The car is running reliability and fast, and the track is tailor-made for it,” the 25-year-old added.

During a media teleconference on Tuesday, boss Martin Whitmarsh also sounded bullish about McLaren’s chances.

“(Canada) ought to be where we are quick,” he told reporters, agreeing that Valencia should also suit the MP4-25.

“The Red Bull is still very strong in long high-speed corners.  Fortunately the next two grands prix don’t feature a lot of those, so we hope that we’ll be strong.”

Jun.8 (GMM)  An engineer was wrong to tell Lewis Hamilton that his teammate Jenson Button would not overtake during the recent Turkish grand prix.

A video edit of the Istanbul Park race released by F1′s official website revealed that Phil Prew, the British team’s principal engineer, answered ‘No Lewis, no” when Hamilton asked if Button would overtake him.

Conspiracy theorists interpreted the news as 2009 world champion Button having ignored a veiled team order.

But team boss Martin Whitmarsh explained on Tuesday: “Phil gave an opinion to Lewis, and as it turned out his opinion was wrong.  It’s as simple as that.

“They were being told to look after fuel, (and) as a consequence of that Phil Prew had the opinion that Jenson wouldn’t overtake,” he told reporters during a teleconference.

Jun.7 (GMM) One year ago, the boss of the country’s motor racing sanctioning body said it would not be “easy” to come to a new agreement with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

The track, actually operated by 79-year-old Ecclestone’s company, is liked by the drivers but always very poorly attended.  Attendance was better in 2010, but only because the price of tickets had been dramatically reduced.

It emerged earlier this year that Ecclestone was threatening to almost double the promoter’s sanctioning fee to $26 million per year after 2011.

The Briton played down the rumours at Istanbul Park last month, insisting he is in talks about a new ten-year deal.

But a report in the local Zaman newspaper said Ecclestone is still pushing for the heavily inflated sanctioning fee increase.

He reportedly met with officials on the Saturday of the recent Turkish GP, and is quoted as telling them: “I leave it up to you.  India and Arab countries are all ready to take your place.”

One Turkish official said the situation will be clearer in two months.

“Turkey is definitely fond of hosting these races, and all this haggling is taking place for this,” said youth and sports director Yunus Akgul.

“However, paying $26m for this organisation every year is a big burden.  The figure is very high.

“We’ve approached the deal from a different angle.  Our last offer was that he relinquish the operating rights to Istanbul Park, and we guaranteed that the track would be reserved for the organisation for three weeks before and during the races.

“In return, we wanted him to come up with a new offer,” he added, admitting that if Ecclestone does not propose a lower fee, Turkey will cease to appear on the F1 calendars.