According to one F1 correspondent, Sebastian Vettel’s slippery slide into the wall on Friday revealed a hidden secret of his dominant Red Bull car.
The team’s rivals are yet to uncover the mystery of how the RB7 passes the ever-stricter flexibility tests whilst the front wing still so obviously bends towards the track.

It is believed teams including Ferrari and Mercedes are getting closer to the mystery, but the damage to Vettel’s wing incurred by his Istanbul practice crash might have provided yet another clue.

El Pais correspondent Oriol Puigdemont wrote from Turkey that unidentified wires or cables were seen dangling from the upright supports after the main element of the front wing broke off following Vettel’s crash.

The cables were “the beginning of much speculation”, claimed Puigdemont, acknowledging that the wires could simply be for observation cameras placed around the car by the team.

A Woking based team member has been dispatched on a 9,000 kilometre race from Britain to Suzuka.

He must reach the Japanese circuit in about 21 hours, in order to beat the parc ferme deadline so that Lewis Hamilton can be back up and running with the MP5-25′s new rear wing for qualifying and the race.

The Briton broke the new wing’s left endfence in his morning practice crash, and the only other version in Japan is fitted to Jenson Button’s sister car.

When Hamilton returned to the track with 9 minutes of the afternoon session remaining, his car was fitted with the old wing as he drove to the 13th quickest time.

At the same time, a team member had been dispatched from the UK to bring new endplates to Suzuka in his hand-luggage.

“We can repair the wing with the new end plates,” team boss Martin Whitmarsh is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

At the track, Hamilton’s mechanics are also facing a long night.  The 25-year-old’s chassis has also been damaged, and – after a patch-up job for the few afternoon practice laps – a new car will be built up overnight.

Mercifully, Jenson Button’s similar Degner spin did not result in contact with the tyre barrier, and Michael Schumacher and others also had moments in the same section.

“The bumps in the first part are worse than last year,” said Sebastian Vettel, despite the organisers having modified the kerbs after last year’s multiple crashes there.

Lewis Hamilton kicked off his weekend at Suzuka with a crash.

With big rain clouds reportedly on the horizon, the McLaren driver lost valuable dry track time at the Japanese circuit on Friday morning.

Repeating a common error by F1 drivers at Suzuka, Briton Hamilton ran wide at Degner and hit the barriers at the other side of the notoriously small gravel trap.

It caused big damage to the left side of his MP4-25, but arguably bigger damage in the eyes of the media, after promising reporters on Thursday that he would be pushing hard after crashing out of the last two grands prix.

The Daily Express headline read “Hamilton will not go easy”, the Guardian said the 2008 champion had vowed “to go hell for leather” at Suzuka, and the Daily Mail said he pledged to “go over the edge” this weekend.

Indeed, the 25-year-old had insisted he would maintain his aggressive style even though two consecutive crashes at Monza and Singapore have dented his championship chances.

“If you are walking down the street and you keep tripping over the sole of your shoe because it keeps flapping, then you change your shoe,” said Hamilton on Thursday.

“I haven’t got anything that is flapping off.”

Former F1 driver BBC radio commentator Anthony Davidson said Hamilton’s practice crash is a setback that he will recover from.

“It’s not a great position to be in,” he said.  “Lewis has to get himself out of this downward spiral.  As a racing driver you can get yourself worked up and it can become a vicious circle.

“But he’s made mistakes like this before and he’s picked himself up.  I am sure he will do that again.”

McLaren reserve driver Gary Paffett added: “It’s not the best thing to do because obviously you lose dry testing time but Lewis looked pretty fast before he crashed and he’ll be encouraged by that.”

Ferrari has cooled speculation that Valentino Rossi might be ready to push for a switch to formula one.

When the Italian recently broke his leg in a MotoGP practice crash, the rumour mill suggested the timing might be right for Rossi to turn his attention to four wheels.

But with the 31-year-old now back to racing fitness and tipped to sign a deal with Ducati, Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali has indicated that Rossi is still focused on bikes.

“It (Rossi switching to F1) would be great, but he has many more years on two wheels,” the Italian said in an interview with La Stampa.

Jun.9 (GMM)  F1 is unlikely to consider three-car team entries while the grid is already healthily subscribed.

That is the insistence of FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh, amid Ferrari’s continuing enthusiasm about entering a third Maranello built car for a driver like Valentino Rossi.

Rossi, however, broke his leg in a MotoGP practice crash last Saturday, and now Whitmarsh has revealed that the issue of three cars has not recently been discussed by the F1 teams association.

“It’s really an idea if you get a reduced number of teams,” said the McLaren boss.

Ferrari is a staunch critic of F1′s struggling new teams, but Whitmarsh insists that FOTA wants the entire current grid to “develop and flourish”.

“McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes would all probably be happy to have a third car, but I think in fairness to the smaller teams it would only disadvantage them further,” he explained.

However, if the big teams were able to enter third cars, Whitmarsh acknowledges that it would be an opportunity for celebrity drivers like Rossi, Sebastien Loeb and NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson.

“So in the event that the number of teams drops below 10 – and at the moment we’re hoping it is 13 next year – it would be a fantastic opportunity,” added Whitmarsh.

Stefano Domenicali has raised the possibility that the ban on spare cars may be overturned.

Fernando Alonso had to sit out qualifying for last weekend’s Monaco grand prix because his chassis was written off in a practice crash.

It meant he started the race from last place in the pitlane.

The availability of complete spare cars was banned a few years ago as a cost-saving measure.

Now, teams may transport spare monocoques to races and build up a new car in the event that one is damaged.  But in Alonso’s situation, there simply was not enough time.

Ferrari team boss Domenicali said he agrees with cutting costs, but argues that in the case of banning spare cars, “you lose value in other ways”.

“You cannot leave the spectators without the possibility of enjoying one of the biggest stars in qualifying,” he is quoted by Spain’s Diario AS newspaper.

“We will discuss it with the other teams to see if we can change it (the rule),” said the Italian

Quoted by Italy’s Tuttosport, Domenicali added: “Nothing has been decided, but I hope it happens soon.”

(GMM)

Jenson Button was critical of Felipe Massa after qualifying for the Monaco grand prix.

With Fernando Alonso already out of the session due to his practice crash, the other Ferrari could also now be penalised by the stewards for the incident that occurred in the final ‘Q3′ shootout for the top ten grid placings.

McLaren’s Button, the world championship leader, had to abandon his first timed lap when he encountered a slow-moving Massa in the final Anthony Noghes corner.

“I don’t know what he was doing,” the Briton told the BBC.

“There were only ten drivers on the track so it should have been easy (to get out of the way),” said Button, adding that the Brazilian “blatantly slowed me down”.

During qualifying, former grand prix driver Anthony Davidson spotted Button also being held up by Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa.

“I would be furious if I was Jenson Button — he totally held him up,” said the British radio commentator.

(GMM)

They have issued five-place penalties to both Virgin drivers due to failing to notify them about the VR-01 cars’ gear ratios.

Renault’s Vitaly Petrov will also start five places down in Barcelona after damaging his gearbox in his morning practice crash. HRT’s Karun Chandhok suffers the same penalty, also for an unscheduled gearbox change.

It was feared that the reason for Adrian Sutil’s morning breakdown was also the gearbox, but in fact the Force India has been repaired with a new electrical hardware component.

The stewards also summoned five drivers after practice, including Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, for supposedly ignoring yellow flags.

The other drivers investigated were Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg and both Toro Rosso cars, but it is believed there will be no penalties.

HRT rookie Bruno Senna, meanwhile, must pay 1400 euros to the FIA for speeding in the pitlane.
(GMM)