McLaren has made changes to its pit crew and processes, following recurring problems at recent grands prix.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh launched a full internal investigation after Bahrain, where problems with the fitting of wheels during crucial stops resurfaced.

“We have to try and make sure we pick up on them (the problems) for the next race because we can’t afford to lose points like we did,” said Lewis Hamilton.

One wheel-gun operator got the lion’s share of the blame, but Whitmarsh insisted that McLaren would also “look at the equipment, the process, the approach”.

He told reporters on Wednesday: “We have looked at what we are doing and have made some changes to the team and the process and we’ll see them on Sunday in Barcelona.”

Despite the heat felt by the deposed wheel-gun operator, Whitmarsh reveals he was “astounded” by the number of McLaren mechanics who put their hands up to replace him.

“It reflects well on the spirit of the team. There’s been a reasonable amount of practice and we’ll see at the weekend. I believe we’ll have good stops,” he concluded.

McLaren tested a higher front nose at the Mugello test last week.

Backmarker Marussia aside, the famous British team is the only team in 2012 to have resisted the temptation of running a high ‘step’ nose, in the wake of new safety regulations.

McLaren was the early frontrunner this season with its MP4-27 car, but Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton struggled notably last time out in Bahrain.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said the team quietly tested the significant nose development on the final day of Mugello testing last Thursday, with test driver Oliver Turvey at the wheel.

The report also speculated that McLaren experimented with an adjustable brake duct system at Mugello, which might be used to regulate tyre temperature for the finicky 2012 Pirellis.

The system would have to be adjusted by the mechanics during a pitstop.

Sauber has become the second formula one team to reveal a brush with Bahrain’s civil unrest.

Force India was involved in a Molotov cocktail attack earlier this week, resulting in two team members returning to the UK and Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta sitting out the second practice session on Friday.

Now, the Swiss team Sauber has revealed it saw masked protesters throwing petrol bombs whilst returning from the circuit to their Manama hotel late on Thursday.

“At 20.50 the 12 mechanics, being on that minibus to the Novotel, noticed fire on the medial strip of the highway,” said spokesman Hanspeter Brack.

“On the opposite lane there was no traffic. The team members saw a few masked people running from there over to their lane where a bottle was burning as well.”

No one was hurt.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone on Friday played down the latest drama, accusing reporters of “wanting a story” and offering to ride in the cars with the frightened Force India team members if they are afraid of Bahrain’s night.

Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Sunday, 25th of March 2012

Weather: Rainy – Air 26ºC, Track 28ºC
Race: 56 laps
Track distance: 5.543 km

Pedro de la RosaF112-02 #2221st
Narain KarthikeyanF112-01 #2322nd

Mission accomplished for HRT Formula 1 Team today as Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan crossed the finish line in the 56-lap race that took place at the Sepang International Circuit. It was an eventful race from the beginning with De la Rosa’s car having to start from the pit lane, but a correct tyre strategy gave its rewards when it started raining heavily and the HRT’s were two of a few cars who were running on extreme wet tyres. The event came to a halt only 9 laps in with Karthikeyan and De la Rosa in 10th and 17th place respectively .The cars were on the grid for almost an hour before the restart and Pedro was penalized with a drive-through penalty but, despite all of this, both drivers put in a fantastic shift at the wheel of the F112 that needs as much running time as possible to be at the level it should be. The team also did a good job with the strategy and the mechanics completed their first pit stops.

Overall it was a satisfying result for the team who now has two weeks ahead to prepare for the Chinese Grand Prix in better conditions.

Pedro de la Rosa: “I must say I really enjoyed myself in that race. It really was the best race to make my debut with HRT. I don’t think anyone could imagine we would finish after starting from the pit lane due to an issue with the fuel pressure that we were dragging over from yesterday, I was penalized with a drive-through penalty, we completed our first real pitstop… to sum up, a lot of things happened but, in the end, the car held out really well given where we were at the beginning. We have to improve many things but this was a perfect test. My teammate also finished so that’s doubly satisfying. I’m very happy for the team, we accomplished our objective. Now we have to go a little bit further”.

Narain Karthikeyan: “It was a very interesting race in really wet conditions. We were running in 10th at one point, which I think is the best position we’ve ever been in but unfortunately the rain stopped and the track dried out and it was impossible to keep ahead of the rest. I made a mistake, locking up the front, and went off on turn 9 but apart from that it all went pretty well. We finished the race, did some mileage and made up two positions from 23rd so that’s something to smile about. Everyone did a great job and we’re all really happy with the result, now we have to go on from here and try to progress in China”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: “Yesterday after qualifying we were satisfied and today, thankfully, we are again. We met another target which was to finish the race with both cars. There are aspects that need improving, without a doubt, such as reliability and the speed of the car, but by completing the race we have accumulated a lot of data which will be of great use to continue progressing. We also need to improve pit stops and team coordination but it was the first time they did it and from the first stop to the second you could already tell the difference. Today I want to highlight the work everyone did and thank them for their effort these past weeks and today’s result is a small reward for that enormous amount of work that is taking place”.

HRT has survived a close call in Melbourne, after crucial parts of Pedro de la Rosa’s chassis did not arrive in time for scrutineering.
The back-of-the-grid Spanish team had to apply to the FIA for an exemption to Thursday’s scrutineering deadline, because pieces of the suspension for the second car had yet to arrive from Europe.

And even when de la Rosa’s car was ultimately cleared to enter the Albert Park circuit shortly before first practice, the mechanics were still hard at work ‘dressing’ it for action.

Ultimately the late start was of little consequence, when the sporadic rain around the Victorian capital made a wet deposit just before practice, ensuring that early action was scarce.

But de la Rosa did not even appear later in the session.

More showers are possible later in the day and also on Saturday, but Sunday’s season-opening race should be dry.

All the hard work has finally paid off today as the F112, the car with which HRT Formula 1 Team will compete this season, completed its first laps at the Circuit de Catalunya, in Barcelona.

Since the car passed the last crash test and was homologated, the team has carried out work shifts to cover 24 hours a day to make sure it could make it, for the first time in its history, to the first Grand Prix of the season having run previously.

The car was able to run after the team took advantage of one of the filming days available during the season.

The car made it to the circuit from Munich, Germany, just after one in the afternoon and the mechanics and engineers got straight down to business, working on relevant adjustments. It was a combined team effort, working against the clock, which saw its rewards four hours later when Narain Karthikeyan led the car out onto the track. Pedro de la Rosa, Dani Clos and Tonio Liuzzi were also present, as were Carlos Gracia, President of the Spanish Motorsports Federation and Salvador Servià, General Director of the Circuit de Catalunya.

The tests were carried out without any setbacks and the car carried out over ten laps. The team was able to check that the car functioned properly both from a mechanical and aerodynamic point of view as from a systems standpoint.

The team will prepare the necessary material in the upcoming days and head down under for the first Grand Prix of the season which will take place at Melbourne, Australia, in just two weeks.

Narain Karthikeyan: “Today was a shakedown of the F112 and I have had the honour to be the first driver to test it. The first impressions are quite good; it’s definitely a step up from last year. We couldn’t do any set-up work or stuff like that but everything seems to be working fine and there are no major problems so we can look forward to the season now. Everyone has worked hard and the new team management has put everything together in a very short period of time. They’ve done a proper job with the car and I’m sure that it’s a big step forward from last year, so hopefully we can take the competition to the teams we were fighting last year”.

Pedro de la Rosa: “Today has been a very special day because the car saw the light for the first time; Narain did some installation laps and then various times laps without any issues. This is very important, it might not seem like it, but any sort of mileage before Australia is vital to see that the car is in good conditions. From here it is our job to try and improve it and make it progress”.

Luis Péres-Sala, Team Principal: “I’m very satisfied today as it is a very important day for us because we were able to test some things out with the new car during this filming day. I’m very proud of each and every member of this team because everyone has contributed their little bit for this to be possible. Now we have to focus on Australia because we still have a lot ahead”.

Kimi Raikkonen ended the 2012 pre-season with this year’s fastest Barcelona laptime, but the Finn is not yet predicting a win in Melbourne at the end of next weekend.
“No one will know how fast any of the cars are until we get to qualifying at Albert Park,” said the returning 2007 world champion.

Lotus – fast at Jerez and also at the Circuit de Catalunya – is expected to trail pacesetters Red Bull and McLaren this season.

Yet in reality, the situation is deliberately clouded: Red Bull had a bad final day of testing on Sunday, but when he was running, rivals expected Sebastian Vettel’s RB8 was brimmed with fuel.

And when he came into the pits, there was the odd sight of team mechanics using large umbrellas to hide the car’s newly-added secrets, including the sidepod exhaust.

“I think that’s a question for Charlie Whiting,” said Ferrari’s technical director Pat Fry when asked about the legality of the solution.

Even so, Red Bull’s position of dominance seems to have been somewhat eroded for 2012, with Mercedes chief Ross Brawn suggesting the RB8 is closely matched by its rivals unless the team has been “running a huge amount of fuel”.

Sebastian Vettel told DPA news agency: “McLaren are strong. Mercedes are definitely stronger than last year and Lotus and perhaps some other teams should not be forgotten — Sauber, Force India.

“Ferrari seem to be having some difficulties,” added the reigning world champion.

World champion Vettel’s final comment appears undoubtedly true, with the famous Italian team’s drivers oddly banned from speaking with the media while technical boss Fry confessed that all is not well.

“I’m always pessimistic,” said the Briton, who said a podium for Ferrari in Melbourne is not likely. “I’m disappointed with our performance at the moment.”

Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, ignored his media muzzle and told Spanish television at a football game: “In the first races we will suffer — we are not yet at 100 per cent.

“We’re not in as good shape as (Barcelona players) Messi and Iniesta,” he is quoted by Barca TV.

But for now, it’s all talk, and so the reticent Raikkonen summed it up well: “Like I said, I don’t know, probably no one does,” he is quoted by Germany’s Sport1.

“In two weeks, we’ll know.”

 The recently revealed ‘W-duct’ aside, another technical secret has been discovered aboard Mercedes’ newly launched W03.
Rumours insist the German squad was the last to reveal and test its 2012 car because it boasts a few highly innovative ideas that could drive Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg to the middle of the podium.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that mechanics working for the Brackley based team are making more efforts than usual to hide the front and rear of the car, and erecting huge screens in front of the pits between test runs in Barcelona.

But a big secret is now out of the bag, and it’s located beneath the rear rain light and being described by insiders as “like a double diffuser”.

Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport said the feature is believed to produce an effect similar to the one pioneered by Mercedes’ predecessor Brawn GP in 2009, which resulted in the championship for Jenson Button.

And according to Auto Motor und Sport, the concept differs to the banned double diffuser because the air is channelled through holes at the rear of the engine cover.

The concept, despite complying with the FIA’s blown diffuser clampdown, also reportedly involves the clever redirection of exhaust gases.

And yet another innovation on the Mercedes could be a passive ‘F-duct’-style addition to the car’s new rear wing, working alongside the ‘DRS’ system.

When asked about the ‘ducts’, Rosberg and Schumacher played it coy: “What’s that?” Rosberg answered, while Schumacher joked that it sounds like something that should go “quack!”

“They are a good team,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky when asked about Mercedes.

“They have some good people so it would be foolish to underestimate them.”

Meanwhile, TZ newspaper in Germany reports that the FIA could be set to clamp down even harder in the area of exhaust blowing.

There are rumours Renault and Mercedes-powered teams are still using clever engine mapping techniques for aerodynamic effect.

There is an increasing feeling in the F1 paddock that Jenson Button is taking up the mantle as McLaren’s team leader.

When the 2009 world champion joined the famous British team last year, many observers likened becoming Lewis Hamilton’s new teammate to stepping into the “lion’s den”.

But Hamilton has had a troubled 2011, with Button nine points ahead of his countryman in the points standings.

Button is quoted by the Telegraph as claiming he is driving better now than he did when he won the title at Brawn in 2009.

“It is to do with confidence after winning the world championship,” said the 31-year-old, “feeling the team around me and being in a good place off the circuit.

“I took my engineers and mechanics out for dinner on Saturday night in Italy. It is not for a competitive edge over Lewis’s side of the garage, it was to pay them back for all the hard work they have done,” he added.

Button also said he is playing a solid role in the development of McLaren’s 2012 car, “and they are really listening to what I have to say”.

“Every time I drive the simulator we test something that I specifically want.

“I don’t think I am having more of a say but I think they are listening more, which is nice,” he added.

Fernando Alonso has blamed the British media for his image as a spoilt number 1 driver.

O Estado de S.Paulo correspondent Livio Oricchio asked the Spaniard if it is true that all is well inside his team so long as he does not share equal status with his teammate.

“That is a belief that was created in 2007,” said the Ferrari driver, referring to his ill-fated single season alongside Lewis Hamilton at McLaren.

“The reason was the contamination of the media, particularly the British.

“I have been in formula one for 11 years. For ten, I was the consummate professional,” he explained. “Engineers, mechanics and my teammates could not say a word against my professionalism.

“But in 2007, McLaren, the English press, week after week, contaminated our relationship, which was not bad. That is what led to this general impression about me.

“But nothing changes for me, my values stay the same. When I went onto the market, the offers I received were as great before and after 2007,” added Alonso.

Another perception is that Alonso, 30, is enjoying a position of privilege at Ferrari due to his links with main sponsor Santander, a Spanish bank.

“Good, no?” he laughed. “Everyone can talk and think what they like, it’s part of the sport — the media too, especially with the internet.”

F1′s next stop is Singapore, where Alonso won not only last year but also in 2008, when his Renault teammate Nelson Piquet deliberately crashed to bring out the safety car.

The Spaniard insists he still counts the victory among his best.

“There is something about the track that suits my driving style,” said Alonso. “I know it’s strange to you, but the victory of 2008 is just as special as the one of last year.”

The Bahrain International Circuit and the FIA have confirmed reports the troubled island Kingdom’s postponed race date has been rescheduled for 2011.
Although the governing body is yet to issue a statement to the wider media, sources said the FIA is now confirming October 30 for the Bahrain grand prix.

That means India will need to move its inaugural race, but the precise date is yet to be decided, with teams most unhappy at the prospect of prolonging mechanics’ holidays until mid December.

“On behalf of Bahrain, I would like to thank Bernie Ecclestone, Jean Todt and the FIA and the rest of the motor sport community for the support and understanding they have extended to us this year,” said Bahrain circuit head Zayed R Alzayani.

Earlier, former FIA president Max Mosley said there was no way he would reschedule Bahrain this year if he was in Todt’s shoes.

“Formula one would go to Bahrain over my dead body,” he is quoted by Arabian Business. “It cannot happen.”

Norbert Haug has laughed off a joke made by Mercedes mechanics about Michael Schumacher’s advancing years.
A Dutch website this week revealed that the mechanics had pasted a ‘photoshopped’ photograph of the 42-year-old German to the garage toilet at Monaco depicting Schumacher as wrinkled, grey and bald.

“On the wall there are many funny photos,” Mercedes’ motor racing vice president Haug explained to Bild newspaper.

“Even those who love each other must never forget how to laugh at themselves,” he insisted.

Haug defended the right of the team’s hard-working mechanics to have a laugh.

“If our boys did not have a sense of humour, they wouldn’t have been able to repair a badly crashed car in half an hour,” he said.

Red Bull has changed its procedures after claiming Ferrari spied prior to crucial pitstops in Spain last weekend.
Team boss Christian Horner backed away from Helmut Marko’s allegations of “espionage”, but he does agree that Ferrari was somehow able to emulate the timing of Red Bull’s pitstops.

“We’ve just changed our procedure to be less transparent,” said the Briton in Monaco.

“There were some comments (by Marko) about Ferrari spying on us which I think have been misinterpreted,” said Horner.

“I don’t know whether mechanics were putting their hands in their pockets at the wrong time or somebody was picking a tyre up,” he added, speculating about how Ferrari managed to know about the timing of the stops.

“I think that is probably (the) most likely (explanation), which is absolutely allowed.”

He acknowledged that “hacking” into a rival team’s radio system “would be very difficult”.

Said Ferrari’s Felipe Massa: “For sure, we cannot intercept the communications of other teams.”

McLaren was testing a Renault-like forward-exiting exhaust concept on its newly launched MP4-26 car at Jerez on Thursday.

The car debuted by Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish circuit therefore differed fundamentally from the version launched in Berlin recently, according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

There had been speculation that the 2011 McLaren was set to race with an unique exhaust layout this season, after Robert Kubica drove the similarly innovative Renault R31 to the fastest time in Valencia last week before injuring himself in a rally crash.

Auto Motor und Sport’s Jerez correspondent said McLaren’s rear-exiting conventional exhaust layout had mysteriously vanished when Hamilton exited the pits at Jerez on Thursday morning.

Instead, the exhausts are now exiting at the front of the sidepods, with the innovation only spotted by reporters when mechanics had to pause on one occasion whilst pushing Hamilton back into the garage after a run on Thursday.

“As with the Renault the detail is very difficult to photograph,” confirmed the German report.

Williams’ stock market floatation is close to being realised, according to an authoritative newspaper.
The British team announced recently that the option is being examined because it is the “best way to secure” its future.

A report in the Wall Street Journal this week said up to 28 per cent of the Oxfordshire based team will be floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange later this month.

Williams’ new car for 2011, the FW33, features radically low rear packaging and a small gearbox, but it has failed to impress the Valencia test timesheets so far.

And the car’s plain interim livery, and the fact that the race trucks and team uniforms are bare, have also raised concerns about Williams’ financial health.

“We have a full budget for 2011,” insisted technical director Sam Michael.

“The mechanics are wearing a basic uniform because we aren’t launching the race livery until the end of February and don’t want to ruin the surprise!” he said.