Heikki Kovalainen has admitted some disappointment about Caterham’s progress in 2012.

In its third season of formula one, and despite being clearly more impressive than its direct rivals Marussia and HRT, the Tony Fernandes-led team intended to take a step forwards this year.

Caterham took some upgrades to the Mugello test last week, but according to Finnish sources Turun Sanomat and MTV3, not all of them worked.

“The car has a pretty good balance, but the lap times are not good enough,” Finnish driver Kovalainen is quoted as saying.

“It’s good to drive but it’s just too slow,” he insisted.

“We did not get all the updates to work as we had hoped, so in Spain we have only some things that are new,” added Kovalainen.

The team is yet to score a point.

 Michael Schumacher will beat Nico Rosberg to the wheel of Mercedes’ 2012 car.
After the major teams unveiled and ran their new cars at Jerez last week, Mercedes’ W03 will be launched and debuted early next week at Barcelona, at the second of three pre-season tests.

The Brackley based team has announced that seven time world champion Schumacher, who last year finished 13 points behind his teammate Rosberg, will be at the wheel throughout the first day of testing on 21 February.

The 43-year-old said recently he doubts the W03 will be a title contender, despite strong pace with the 2011 car at Jerez last week.

And Rosberg said: “You can’t really compare the lap times with other teams, but it was interesting to learn a lot with our 2011 car.

“Now I’m really looking forward to the two Barcelona tests with our new silver arrow.”

Williams’ official launch took just five minutes in the Jerez pitlane on Tuesday, before the new Renault-powered FW34 had a difficult birth.
“Unfortunately testing was cut short with a couple of initial teething problems which we are currently investigating,” said engineer Mark Gillan.

Official testing action burst into life in 2012, with every team except Marussia – and nine all-new cars in action for the first time – kicking off their campaigns.

Returning 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen was fastest all day.

“The lap times don’t matter today,” Lotus’ Finn insisted.

“I do have a good feeling, and that was not always the case in my career after the first day of testing,” he told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

“But I would rather be P1 at the end of the first race than at the end of the first test day,” smiled Raikkonen.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber, with the team’s brand new title-defending car only the third quickest of the 2012 runners, agreed.

“If what we saw today happens in Melbourne, then we’ll talk again,” he laughed, explaining the missed morning of testing as due to a crucial part being held up at an airport shrouded in fog.

The Guardian also reports that a Red Bull truckie was stopped for speeding.

Lotus team boss Eric Boullier, however, is convinced Raikkonen’s speed is real – and his motivation intact – after two years away.

“Believe me, he is there.”

Agreed technical director James Allison: “You can tell Kimi is a class act.”

Like fellow top team Red Bull, the new McLaren also had a low-profile day, with Jenson Button just eighth quickest.

But he didn’t accuse Lotus and Raikkonen of showboating.

“Maybe he (Raikkonen) was running heavy,” said the 2009 world champion. “We maybe haven’t seen eye to eye a lot of the time when we’ve been racing, but he’s a very quick driver, a world champion.

“He’s obviously in a very competitive car, and whatever they did today – low fuel or whatever – it was still quick.”

Struggling on Tuesday was Caterham, whose new car could not be restarted following damage to the engine starter shaft, and Toro Rosso with an oil leak.

And Felipe Massa was just ninth in the new Ferrari.

“It is obviously too early to say if this year we will be able to win or not,” said designer Nikolas Tombazis.

Bernie Ecclestone has admitted disappointment with Michael Schumacher’s return to formula one.

After his disappointing performance season last year, there were high hopes an improved Mercedes car and the new Pirelli tyres would lead to a more successful campaign in 2011.

Asked about the seven time world champion’s return so far, Ecclestone told the Swiss newspaper Blick: “I am surprised and disappointed.

“I would like to see him in a Red Bull because you don’t know how good the Mercedes is. Compared to his teammate Rosberg, it (Schumacher’s performance) doesn’t look good.

“But Michael is a fighter and he can still win. I’ll be the first to cheer when he beats Vettel,” the Briton laughed.

Schumacher, 42, admitted after a fraught event in Turkey two weeks ago that he is currently missing “the big joy” of F1.

Some commentators are advising the German to return to retirement, moving 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell to admit: “If things haven’t improved by the end of the year, maybe what some people are saying he should take heed.”

The German tabloid Express has this week even quoted a doctor as speculating Schumacher might need glasses, but Mercedes’ Norbert Haug denies he is over the hill.

“I would not underestimate him or his ability. So far this year his true capabilities have been clear not in results, but in lap times — yes,” the German told Salzburger Nachrichten.

And team boss Ross Brawn is quoted as saying by Reuters: “I think he’s pretty resilient and I’m optimistic this weekend he’ll be back where we want him.”

Fernando Alonso was critical of Pirelli’s tyres after the first real test day of the 2011 season on Tuesday.

“They degrade quite a lot, especially the rears, and the lap times are not consistent,” the Spaniard, whose F150 Ferrari was almost a second off the pace of the chart-topping new Red Bull, said at Valencia.

Alonso is also quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport as saying exploring the car’s setup was difficult because there are not enough sets of Pirelli tyres at the test.

Pirelli’s 2011 tyres are currently only about one second off the pace of the sport’s existing supplier Bridgestone.

The Italian marque, arriving in F1 next year to replace the departing Bridgestone, is currently embarking on a track testing programme with a 2009 Toyota.

Anecdotal reports after the recent Monza outing, with Nick Heidfeld at the wheel, indicated that the white car was about 3 seconds slower than the lap times recorded during the Italian grand prix two weeks ago.

“So far our results are very encouraging,” said Pirelli chief executive Francesco Gori, according to motorline.cc.

“We have already done more than 4000 kilometres with very good results.

“If you consider that we are using a car from 2009 and therefore not as developed as the current cars, we are currently only a second off the lap times with the current tyres,” he added.

Heidfeld, now returning to racing with Sauber and replaced at Pirelli by Romain Grosjean and Pedro de la Rosa, said in Singapore: “I believe it will be a good tyre that we will see next year.

“So far they have been reliable, no technical problems whatsoever.  The grip level is within the range, so it looks positive for now,” added the German.

At Misano Valentino Rossi, while away from Pedrosa and Lorenzo, was able to return to the podium finish in third position, particularly showing signs of improvement in the final stages of the race where he managed to stand out the best lap times. An important figure in anticipation of the Grand Prix this weekend in Aragon, track where the 9 times world champion was able to turn last week with a Yamaha R1.

“I must say that I really like the track, “admitted Rossi. “ And’complicated, but fun and fast, I think will be a real test for everyone. The best part is definitely the entrance of curve 16, really can not wait to ride my M1 there. “

Leaving the podium to Misano has been a difficult weekend for the tragic death of Shoyo Tomizawa, and also hopes that a good race at Alcaniz to remind the young Japanese driver.

“Misano was a very sad weekend for our sport, but now we hope to get a good result in memory Tomizawa. I feel stronger and fit day after day, I am sure I can point to the podium on this occasion, “said Valentino.

Sunday at Valencia finally vindicated his decision to sign rookie Kamui Kobayashi, according to team boss Peter Sauber.

The Japanese impressed with his feisty debut drives at the end of last year, when Toyota was on the way out of formula one and Timo Glock was recovering from injury.

On the strength of those brilliant flashes, Sauber signed the 23-year-old to complement the veteran Pedro de la Rosa for 2010; the Swiss team’s first season in the wake of BMW’s departure as owner.

Kobayashi’s Valencia weekend did not get off to a great start when he was out-qualified by de la Rosa, but his name featured prominently throughout the race.

He leapt towards the front because he started on the harder tyres and didn’t pit with the bulk of the field, but when he was running prominently his laptimes were fully competitive and he comfortably held off the reigning world champion Jenson Button.

He made his mandatory pitstop with only four laps to run, famously overtaking first Fernando Alonso and then Sebastien Buemi within sight of the chequered flag.

“Kamui was absolutely amazing,” said founder Sauber before leaving Spain.

“The lap times which he put in while he was in third were stunning.”

And Sauber added on Wednesday: “Signing a rookie is always something of a risk; on Sunday Kamui delivered confirmation that we made the right decision.”

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)

The Canadian Grand Prix made good on its promise of providing the best race of the season so far, and Lotus Racing put in a great day’s work to see Heikki Kovalainen finish the race 16th, ahead of Petrov’s Renault, after a great battle on track in what proved to be punishing conditions for the tyres for the whole field. Jarno Trulli, who had been showing quick pace right from the start, pulled over on lap 42 after a vibration at the front end led to a problem with the braking system that put paid to his race.

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01) 16th, best lap 1.20.654 “It’s been a great weekend, and I’m really pleased for the whole team with the result today. We finished ahead of Petrov and lapped the other new guys, and although it was hard work managing the tyres, it’s still great to show what we can do. The race itself was tough, but it’s all about the result – I didn’t have any technical problems with the car, but the rear wasn’t working quite as I’d have liked, and I think that was down to the tyre wear.”

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03) DNF best lap 1.20.791 “It’s such a shame I had to pull over – I had a great start and then I was really flying during the race. We got the strategy right on the tyres, and my pace was good – I was keeping up with the boys in front, and I was overtaking our other rivals. But then I felt a vibration that caused a problem with the braking system and I had to pull over. Still – we have to move on. It’s another learning curve for the team and I think it’s great to see that in the race I could really push and was putting in some very good lap times.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “I think overall we can be very happy with the race, and the whole weekend. The one disappointment was obviously Jarno’s problem – we will have to look at it in more detail, but it looks as though the vibration put paid to his race. Before he pulled over he was absolutely flying and the strategy would have really paid out for him, so that’s a plus. Heikki drove a fantastic race, fighting all the way with the guys in front, and kept it up right to the end to keep Petrov behind him.

“I think this weekend has been a massive step forward for the whole team. Rather than being just one of the new teams, we actually got stuck in and raced the teams ahead, which is what we wanted to do, so congratulations and thank you to the whole team for getting us to this position. In the end we lapped both of the other new teams, so it was a great effort, and again, well done!”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “I’m very happy with the result today, and the whole weekend’s work. We got 42 laps from Jarno and Heikki drove an absolute cracker – beating a Renault was great, and Heikki did really well to hold him off, but the main aim for us is to get both cars home, and we’ll keep working on that back at the factory and at the track. Now we go to Valencia where we’ll be celebrating the 500th F1™ race Lotus has competed in, and the ninth for Lotus Racing.”

Source: Lotus

The Grand Prix of Canada is traditionally a race where there is a number of incidents. This year’s edition after a year break made no exception dar. a rare circumstance but then it was reported: There was no safety car phase. Otherwise, the fans were many – see, fortunately harmless incidents – and especially a lot of tire problems, which determined the race significantly.

In the end, as in Turkey two weeks ago, Lewis Hamilton in the lead – ahead of McLaren-Mercedes team-mate Jenson Button. After China and Turkey, the team was happy about the third double victory of the season and twice the championship lead.

Fernando Alonso on the podium there as a third party also succeeded in the Ferrari. There were points behind Sebastian Vettel for Red Bull, who had again to struggle with technical problems. Mark Webber came in fifth place.
Nico Rosberg was sixth at the Mercedes in front of Robert Kubica in a Renault, Sebastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso, Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India driver Adrian Sutil and team-mate.

At the start of the race was able to retain their top positions, while the back of the box were some collisions. Vitantonio Liuzzi in his Force India collided with Felipe Massa in a Ferrari. Even Pedro de la Rosa was in Sauber in a collision with Vitaly Petrov involved in the Renault and had in the pits to pick up a new front wing, as well as Massa. Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes was “only” 13 to the Rank returned.

De la Rosa’s team-mate Kamui Kobayashi crashed his Sauber into the “Wall of Champions” after one to overtake Nico Hulkenberg failed in the first chicane and he jumped over the curbs. The Japanese were forced to leave the car a short time later.

The order after the first three laps before Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Robert Kubica, Adrian Sutil, Michael Schumacher, Nico Hulkenberg, Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi in eleventh place. Nico Rosberg 13, Timo Glock 19th and Felipe Massa 23rd

In the fifth round, Webber was able to pass on button. In the sixth round Rosberg and Trulli were already on the pit stop. A lap later followed Button, Sutil and Hülkenberg – while Vettel was in front much faster than Hamilton and attacks launched. Now the soft tires began to significantly sacrificing performance.

In the seventh round of Hamilton and Alonso entered the pits – so that the two Red Bull took the lead. It started off a bit earlier and Alonso came alongside Hamilton in the pit lane, who was taken off later. That should look at the race closely, because who goes first in the pit lane has right of way actually.

Nico Hulkenberg experienced a setback in the eighth round, when he started up under braking for the hairpin curve on a front man and in so doing damaged the front wing. In the tenth round Kubica came into the pits, which, however, was already on the hard tires. The Pole had to bring up again the hard tires. The race management reported in the eleventh round of a drive-through for Vitaly Petrov. The Renault driver had made an early start.

The order after eleven laps before Vettel Webber, Schumacher, Buemi, Alonso, Hamilton, Button, Kubica, Sutil and Kovalainen in tenth place. Hülkenberg twelfth, thirteenth Rosberg, Glock ranked 16th and Massa on 22 Rank. Meanwhile, Barrichello tried the box on an unscheduled stop, and was the last to return to the track.

In the 13th Schumacher came round to the pits. The Mercedes driver was at eye level with Kubica back on the track. No one had the other go first, so the following two at the chicane drove through the grass. In the 14th Webber came round to the stop, one lap later, Vettel. Unlike Webber Vettel put on the soft tires! Meanwhile, Schumacher came into the pits again – unscheduled. May have been damaged during the battle with Kubica a tire.

The order for 25 of 70 laps: Hamilton 0.7 seconds ahead of Alonso, 2.5 ahead of Button, Vettel 3.5 before, 5.7 ahead of Webber, 16.6 before Kubica, Sutil 17.3 before, 18.0 before Buemi, 20.1 before Rosberg, Schumacher before 34.9. Hülkenberg with +48.3 seconds to rank twelve. Massa 18th Glock and 20th

In the 27th Hamilton and Kubica came round to the second stop, one lap later followed by Vettel and Button. Sutil was forced to a slow lap to the pits to come – the right rear tire had burst. In the 28th Round the stewards announced a drive-through penalty against Nico Hulkenberg – the Williams driver had been in the pit lane too fast. In the 29th Circulation also contributed Alonso into the pits.

In the 32th Round had to leave Pedro de la Rosa’s Sauber with a technical defect end of the start-finish straight. In the 34th Schumacher came round to his third stop and picked up the soft set of tires.
At the halfway point of the race shaped the distances as follows: Webber 11.6 seconds ahead of Hamilton, 13.1 ahead of Alonso, 15.6 ahead of Button, 16.4 ahead of Vettel, Kubica before 32.7, 36.4 before Rosberg, 40 , 1 before Buemi, 54.5 before Alguersuari, 62.3 before Schumacher. 66.6 before Hülkenberg in eleventh place, followed by Sutil (+68.9 seconds). Glock 21st (+2 Laps).

At the head of Webber began from the 39th to get round problems with the tires – in some cases he drove over a second slower than the second placed Hamilton. Vettel, meanwhile, turned in fifth place lying on the provisional fastest lap. In subsequent rounds the times Webber could stabilize somewhat. In the 48th Round Vettel radioed to the pits, “How am I to pass, when I slow down?”. What he radioed his team: “We are trying to solve a problem.” Even the Heppenheim had extremely fluctuating lap times.

In the 49th Webber his lead lap was going on and had Hamilton in the neck, while Vettel in this round, only one could drive 1:21.2 – one second faster than his teammate. A lap later, Webber was due – Hamilton, at the conclusion of the start-finish straight past the Australian. Webber came at the end of the round to the pits to switch on the soft tires. Timo Glock had his car in the 55th Round park in the pits.

The distances to the 55th Lap: Hamilton by 2.4 seconds ahead of Alonso, 3.6 ahead of Button, 8.4 ahead of Vettel, 19.7 ahead of Webber, Kubica before 47.1, 54.3 before Rosberg, one lap before Schumacher, Buemi, and Hulkenberg Massa and Sutil on the 12th Rank. In the 56th Alonso lost round one position and thus rank second to Button. While lapping him Chandhok stood in the way, which the Spaniards lost momentum.

In the 61 Lap Schumacher grabbed Buemi and thus came to the eighth rank forward. In the 64th Round Massa tried to get past Schumacher, the Ferrari driver while touching the rear of the Germans, so the front wing was damaged. Massa fell through the pit stop at 15 Square back. The race will investigate the incident after the race.

The order of four laps to go Hamilton ahead of Button, Alonso, Vettel, Webber, Rosberg, Kubica, Buemi, Schumacher, Liuzzi and tenth on the field. Eleventh Sutil, Hülkenberg 13th, 15th Massa In the last round, it still managed the two Force India drivers to get past Schumacher.

(Totalmotorsports)

Fernando Alonso surprised by yesterday’s free practice in Montreal with the second fastest time, just 0.086 seconds behind Sebastian Vettel. Ferrari has recently been completely in Istanbul of the role, but the quick stop-and-go course on Île Notre-Dame seems to the one equipped with F-bay system F10 meet.

Although the Ferraris were on the straights, the fastest ever in terms of the measured top speed, but Alonso still went fastest in the final sector, which contains the longest full throttle part of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. In winding the first sector he lost two tenths of a second to Vettel, but: “We have been preparing for the race and not taken on the lap times,” he attaches such number games no meaning.
The visor he had something else: “The brakes are very important because we know how much you can win at this track in the braking zones. We have been working all day on the brakes, tried different materials and cooling stages to the car be tuned for Sunday. Sometimes the car was too slow but easy, but I hope that tomorrow we have found the right settings, “said Alonso.

The Montreal-winner from 2006 was seen yesterday a few times off the track, had once even lucky that he does not turn four sliding into the wall. But it was more like the Bremstüfteleien than on the track, which is torn up in 2008 in part. Alonso: “The track is in good condition. There was now no problems, no bumps. I think it will remain so. There is certainly no negative signs.”
Also regarding the Bridgestone tires, which threatened on several other disintegrating almost want to sue the Ferrari driver does not: “The Supersoft is faster, graint but, but we know that on Sunday usually better if the track is catchy “presumed Alonso, who does not share the fears of some colleagues:” I do not think there will be problems on Sunday, even if today had some graining. ”

Ferrari for a successful event in Montreal would be important, because Alonso is currently missing 14 points on championship leader Mark Webber. Last ran the race not on track, but that is about to change thanks to new parts soon: “In Valencia we will be stronger and at Silverstone again,” announces the 28-year-old. “Between now and Abu Dhabi is also off the track a race to see who can develop the fastest.”

(TMS)

Michael Schumacher and Martin Whitmarsh have accused some team bosses of wanting “chaos” and “controversy” to reign on the streets of Monaco this weekend.

At a meeting last week in Barcelona, the bosses voted on a drivers’ proposal that ‘Q1′ qualifying be split into two parts for this weekend’s fabled street event.

With a busy grid in 2010 and six cars that are not up to speed, drivers fear not only that the traffic will impede their ability to set proper lap times, but that the situation could be dangerous.

But Lotus team boss Tony Fernandes admits to having vetoed the vote, arguing that he wants F1 “to be exciting … to be unpredictable”.

McLaren’s Whitmarsh expects the unpredictability to be in the form of a litany of stewards enquiries about blocking.

“There are those, and I’m not one of them, who feel that controversy and stewards’ hearings after the event are entertaining.  I don’t share that view,” he told reporters earlier this week.

Seven time world champion Schumacher also expressed disappointment with Fernandes’ line of reasoning.

“Some team bosses felt that they’d rather have the chaos and may take the profit from (that) than to have a reasonable, clean qualifying,” he said on Wednesday.

“Let’s see who has to suffer or not.”

Almost every driver, from either end of the grid, spoke on Wednesday about the traffic situation.

Spanish reports quote Fernando Alonso as neatly summarising: “It will definitely not be easy, but it’s the same for everyone.”

(GMM)