Lewis Hamilton on Friday was told he was lucky to escape penalty in Bahrain.

Nico Rosberg’s defensive driving got the lion’s share of the media attention three weeks ago, but in fact it was Hamilton’s pass on the Mercedes that was a more contentious topic during Friday’s drivers’ briefing in Barcelona.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reported that the topic was discussed between the drivers and the FIA’s Charlie Whiting for no less than fifty minutes.

“In the end, it was resolved that Rosberg did nothing wrong. Lewis Hamilton was (unofficially) reprimanded.

“Charlie Whiting said the McLaren driver was lucky not to have been punished.”

The report said Whiting warned the drivers that similar cases, in which passes are made with four wheels off the circuit, will be penalised.

Whilst admitting the RB8 has “very nervous” handling, Sebastian Vettel insists there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the 2012 Red Bull.

The German looks likely to struggle to add a third consecutive drivers’ title to his tally this season, after slumping to just sixth in the points standings after the first two races.

In China, he has reverted to a launch specification of the Adrian Newey-penned car’s exhaust layout, whilst Mark Webber is plugging ahead with a further development of the Australia-Malaysia solution.

“There is no question of something (being) wrong,” Vettel is quoted in Spanish media reports as saying in Shanghai, “just a few things that are probably just not working in an ideal manner.

“The problem we have is that the balance of the car is not as good as we had last year. It’s not a question of downforce, but of ensuring that all the parts are behaving as a whole.

“That is what we are trying to achieve.”

Vettel dismissed the suggestion that because Red Bull’s cars are in two different specifications this weekend, it means the team has “lost” its way.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “I firmly believe we have a very competitive car, at the moment we are just not able to take its full potential out.”

Meanwhile, the 24-year-old said he has spoken with Narain Karthikeyan, following their collision in Malaysia.

Vettel twice showed his Indian rival the middle finger, and described Karthikeyan – who was penalised by the stewards – as an “idiot”.

“I spoke with him and he apologised,” Vettel is quoted by Germany’s spox.com.

But when told that he was once a backmarker like Karthikeyan, the German insisted: “I was never as far behind as the HRT.

“Of course you have to drive your own race. But you still have to know what is going on around you.”

Dr Helmut Marko has denied reports Sebastian Vettel was summoned to Red Bull’s headquarters this week to explain his behaviour at the recent Malaysian grand prix.

The Narain Karthikeyan-saga aside, reports suggested the German deliberately ignored his bosses’ instruction that he retire his RB8 – ostensibly due to a brake issue – so that he could fit a new gearbox without penalty in China.

The reports suggested Vettel had confessed immediately after the race that he heard the instruction but chose to ignore it.

“That is all nonsense,” Red Bull’s motor racing consultant Marko told Sport Bild.

“Sebastian did nothing – absolutely nothing – that was against our wishes.”

Marko said Vettel’s visit to Milton Keynes this week was scheduled long ago, adding that he will be working inside the driver simulator amongst other things.

He also hit back at claims the 24-year-old could be penalised by the FIA for breaching the code of conduct when he showed the ‘middle finger’ to Karthikeyan.

“The matter was resolved during the meeting with the stewards (in Malaysia). For me, the case is closed.”

Speaking to Kolner Express newspaper, however, an FIA spokesman confirmed that the code of conduct forbids superlicense holders from insulting their rivals.

But he added: “I imagine the application of this paragraph was considered by the stewards in Malaysia.”

And Sebastian Vettel’s spokeswoman said: “We know of no investigation.”

F1′s governing body has played down claims Sebastian Vettel faces a penalty for his behaviour during the Malaysian grand prix.

After the race, the reigning world champion dismissed HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan as an “idiot” following their on-track collision.

On-board footage subsequently proved that Red Bull driver Vettel, 24, twice showed his Indian driver a ‘middle finger’ salute.

Reports in Germany suggested the behaviour was a breach of the stricter code of conduct under FIA president Jean Todt, with the German theoretically facing anything from a warning to the revocation of his superlicense.

“My understanding is these matters are dealt with by stewards at each grand prix,” an FIA spokesman told us. “I am not aware of any other action being contemplated.”

Karthikeyan, who was penalised after the clash, told the Hindustan Times newspaper that the stewards favoured world champion Vettel’s explanation.

“They (the stewards) didn’t care about what I had to say because Mr Vettel told them god knows what when he went and talked to them,” he said.

But Red Bull team boss Christian Horner defended Vettel, telling the Mirror that it is “Karthikeyan’s responsibility to get out of the way for the leaders”.

Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg, meanwhile, partly excused Vettel’s outbursts.

“I think Vettel was just emotional at that point of time. At the end of the day, he is just human and sometimes you get emotional,” the German is quoted by the Times of India.

Former driver Adrian Sutil goes even further.

“I can understand him (Vettel),” he told Die Welt newspaper in Germany. “I was often angry when I was lapping people, when they make no room for you while they are fighting for places that have almost no significance.

“Karthikeyan ended up influencing not only Vettel’s race, but also Jenson Button’s. They (backmarkers) have to understand that as well.”

 Red Bull has been isolated from F1′s other teams, as the FIA is asked to step in and police their cost-cutting efforts.
Last year, there remained suspicions the energy drink owned team – the winner of the past two world championships – flouted the ‘resource restriction agreement’ (RRA).

But the agreement was only an initiative of the teams’ trade union FOTA, which has now essentially collapsed.

Moreover, the agreement includes only financial sanctions for breaches, and Red Bull was never penalised anyway — Ferrari’s Luca di Montezemolo said recently he didn’t push the issue “Because I didn’t want it to be an excuse for our performance”.

A letter has now been addressed to FIA president Jean Todt requesting that the governing body step in and make the RRA an official sporting regulation.

Breaches would therefore carry a sporting sanction, such as the loss of points, or race bans.

“Yes, it (the letter) was unanimous. Most of the teams have signed it,” said Lotus team boss Eric Boullier.

He would not, however, confirm the identity of the teams that did not sign.

But a report in the Kolner Express newspaper claims “only two teams did not sign: Red Bull and the sister team Toro Rosso”.

Lewis Hamilton will not be taking a five-place grid penalty in Korea next weekend, his team boss Martin Whitmarsh has confirmed.

The McLaren driver moved five places down the Suzuka grid due to an unscheduled gearbox change before qualifying, and he then finished the Japanese race without third gear that further dented his fading championship hopes.

It is believed a dog-ring failed in Hamilton’s replaced gearbox, but Whitmarsh said in Japan that he was “confident” it could be fixed without incurring another five-place penalty for Korea.

But he also told reporters at Suzuka that the second issue would not be a problem for Korea, despite the new gearbox potentially not lasting the mandatory four races.

“We’ve taken the penalty for this weekend so we have a free gearbox change for the next race,” said Whitmarsh.

On Friday in a team statement, the Briton moved to clarify the issue.

“Lewis will not face a second successive five-place grid penalty” in Korea, said Whitmarsh.

“The gearbox regulations were framed to ensure teams weren’t penalised twice for the same gearbox issue, so Lewis will go into the weekend without risk of further penalty,” he added.

Vitaly Petrov will move five places down the inaugural Korean GP grid in two weeks.

FIA stewards decided to penalise the Russian rookie for crashing into Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg before the first corner of Sunday’s Japanese race at Suzuka.

Hulkenberg had a bad start and was passed by the Renault, who hit the German’s front wheel by turning back onto the racing line too soon.

Petrov argued that he moved too soon to avoid Nick Heidfeld, but the stewards announced that he had “caused a collision”.

Also investigated by the stewards at Suzuka was Felipe Massa’s first corner crash, when he lost control on the inside grass and took out the Force India of Vitantonio Liuzzi.

“He seemed to come into my side like a bullet,” said Liuzzi.

The FIA officials, however, took no action.

F1′s safety car rules have been tweaked in the wake of the Valencia controversy.

The 12 teams met at Silverstone ahead of the British grand prix to discuss the incidents that so enraged Ferrari and its supporters.

The rule tweak, agreed between the teams and race director Charlie Whiting, addresses Ferrari’s complaint that Fernando Alonso was disadvantaged by following the rules and not overtaking the safety car on the Spanish street circuit.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, received a drive-through penalty for overtaking the safety car that was applied so late he was still able to finish the race in second place.

The result of the Silverstone meeting is that the safety car rules remain effectively the same, despite some pressure to see the pits closed when the safety car is circulating.

Instead, it has been agreed that drivers who are not being slowed by the safety car will have to drive on track at the same speed as the Bernd Maylander-driven Mercedes gullwing.

Previously, drivers not being immediately slowed by the safety car during the safety car period only had to keep within 120 per cent of a flying laptime.

In Valencia, the rule tweak would have meant Hamilton would not only have been penalised for overtaking the safety car, but also not able to negate the drive-through by driving around the track any faster than Maylander.

In the meeting, Whiting also promised the teams that efforts will be made to issue penalties like Hamilton’s faster in the future.

In Valencia, Hamilton’s penalty was delayed because the race director did not request the steward investigation until after the Mark Webber crash was dealt with.

But in future, potential penalties will be passed immediately to the attention of the stewards, while the race director can continue to focus on a Webber-like incident.

Moreover, because the arrival of crucial evidence about the Hamilton incident also slowed down the in-race investigation, there will now be cameras constantly monitoring the safety car lines 1 and 2.

There will also be trackside markings that show the location of the safety car lines, so that a driver cannot argue he did not notice the lines from his driving position.

Jul.7 (GMM) McLaren has urged formula one against making a knee-jerk reaction to the safety car rules.

Although Ferrari cried foul after Lewis Hamilton’s drive-through penalty in Valencia – where multiple drivers were also penalised for transgressions – Mark Webber said this week that Red Bull saw the events of the race as “normal”.

And although the Sporting Working Group is looking at the rules as a response to the Ferrari-powered controversy, McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale said on Wednesday: “I would be wary of knee-jerking.

“There wasn’t a lot wrong with last weekend (Valencia) and I don’t think we should be doing instant rule-making,” he told reporters during a teleconference.

Meanwhile, after Williams said it will test a blown rear exhaust for its car early this weekend, Neale confirmed that a similar approach will be taken by McLaren at Silverstone.

“If the drivers think it’s good it will stay on and we’ll run it,” he said, after the upgrade for the MP4-25 was tested during a straightline session.

“If not, we’ll continue to develop it.”

Neale also backed Red Bull boss Christian Horner’s view that the effect of the exhaust concept has been overstated.

“I would tend to agree that it’s not a case of bolt on your blown diffuser and then blow everybody into the weeds,” he said.

A new war of words is threatening to break out between former sparring partners Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

Alonso was furious after Sunday’s European grand prix, when Hamilton overtook the safety car but still managed to finish second after serving a drive-through penalty.

“Even a child knows you cannot overtake the safety car, especially after an accident as serious as Webber’s,” the Spaniard fumed, according to the El Pais newspaper.

His 2007 McLaren teammate Hamilton, however, accused Alonso of “sour grapes”, suggesting his bad mood was made worse by being overtaken by the Sauber of Japanese rookie Kamui Kobayashi.

“It’s just sour grapes,” Briton Hamilton is quoted by the Sun newspaper.

“It is very unlike him to be overtaken by a Sauber so he must have been completely in another world.”

Alonso, accusing the governing body of manipulating the race, and Ferrari are furious at the delayed decision to meekly penalise Hamilton, saying the outcome threatens the sport’s credibility.

But Hamilton said: “The FIA are doing an incredible job because they are allowing us to race this year.

“I don’t understand why I affected his race so much.

“Everyone has a right to their opinions.  He must just be disappointed with his own result but I didn’t do anything to him,” added the 2008 world champion.

Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne also defended the FIA.

“I think it is just one of those things,” he is quoted by PA Sport.

“(Race director) Charlie (Whiting) is trying to do the job as he sees it, calls it as he sees it, and he has as difficult a job as anyone.”

The results of Sunday’s European grand prix are largely unchanged after a post-race stewards enquiry.

Nine drivers were summoned to the FIA officials in Valencia, accused of driving too quickly under safety car conditions.

Less than three hours after the chequered flag, all of them were found guilty and handed 5 second time penalties.

Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil finished in third through sixth, but their penalties did not affect those placings.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, however, moves past the penalised Sebastien Buemi for eighth place, while Nico Rosberg – 12th at the flag – moves ahead of both Pedro de la Rosa and Vitaly Petrov.

The German therefore takes the final point from Sauber’s de la Rosa, while Vitantonio Liuzzi drops from the non-scoring 13th to 16th.

(GMM)

A furious Fernando Alonso has accused FIA stewards of manipulating Sunday’s European grand prix.

The Ferrari driver was running behind Lewis Hamilton at Valencia when the safety car was pulling onto the track to attend to Mark Webber’s crash.

The McLaren passed the FIA vehicle and was penalised with a drive-through penalty but finished the race in second place.

“One who respects the rules is ninth, and the one who does not respect them is second,” Alonso is quoted by the Spanish sports website as.com.

He was also critical of the time it took the stewards, this weekend including former grand prix winner Heinz-Harald Frentzen, to reach the decision to penalise Hamilton.

“It seems it was very difficult to watch a replay; it takes many laps,” said Alonso sarcastically.

“Everything is against us.  They allow everything and it’s a shame the public has today seen a race that is not quite real.”

(GMM)

Sebastian Vettel declared on the radio he is “back on track” after winning Sunday’s European grand prix.

“Germany one, England nil,” grinned third-placed Jenson Button, before leaving the FIA press conference to watch Germany score the first goal for real as the countries battle for World Cup survival in South Africa.

With his win, pole sitter Vettel snatches third place in the world championship – behind both McLarens – from his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, who escaped unhurt from a frightening backflip crash.

Caused by the Australian striking the rear of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus, the crash mirrored one during the earlier GP2 race, in which Josef Kral was hospitalised.

Some figures, including David Coulthard, slammed Kovalainen’s decision to race Webber’s much faster car, but Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne said on Twitter that the Finn was “pissed off with Webber”.

“For all those saying we should not have defended from Webber, when it is for position on track we race,” Gascoyne insisted.  “Always.”

The race was also controversial for other reasons.  Hamilton finished second after a drive-through penalty for overtaking the safety car, while Fernando Alonso did not make the illegal pass and finished just ninth.

“It is really unfair, it is like no penalty,” Alonso’s race engineer Andrea Stella told the angry Spaniard by radio during the race.

And nine drivers – Button, both Williams, both Renaults, both Force Indias, Sebastien Buemi and Pedro de la Rosa – are under investigation by the stewards for driving too fast on their pitstop in-lap while the safety car was out.

If penalised, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi – finishing behind four of the investigated drivers – could be the big winner, after finishing seventh with an unique race strategy that saw him make a very late single pitstop.

By performing impressive late-race passes on Fernando Alonso and Buemi, meanwhile, the Japanese also rekindled memories of his stirring late debut for Toyota last year.

Provisional Race Result -  27 June 2010

F1 drivers must follow even the rules of the road, the FIA declared on Wednesday.

In the wake of Lewis Hamilton’s arrest and summons for dangerous driving in his hire car whilst in Melbourne earlier this year, Jean Todt suggested drivers might in future be penalised by the governing body for such offenses.

“We are … trying to see whether to do something, and how,” the FIA president recently told a French newspaper.

After a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Geneva, the first step in Todt’s new plan was unveiled.

“Competitors … must act as ambassadors for the sport, be aware their conduct on the road must be exemplary and respect road safety rules,” a media statement read.

The FIA also said changes to the international sporting code are possible to ensure the Paris body’s “overall objectives and, in particular, its commitment to road safety, are upheld”.

(GMM)

Christian Horner is not ruling out a five-place grid penalty for Sebastian Vettel in Valencia.

Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber lost his front-row starting place in Canada due to needing a precautionary gearbox change prior to the race.

And Vettel finished the Montreal race with a different gearbox problem, meaning that if it needs to be changed at Valencia during its four-race life, the German will also be penalised.

According to a report in the Cologne publication Express, there is a possibility the Montreal gearbox is damaged.

Horner is quoted as saying Vettel’s problem in Canada was “an oil leakage”.

But as for whether the gearbox will be changed, the team’s British boss added: “We must look into that.”
(GMM)