Charlie Whiting has defended the decision in Spain to move Lewis Hamilton from pole to the very rear of the grid.

Although McLaren was widely criticised for making a grave error, the stewards’ penalty was at the same time described by the world’s press as “draconian”.

“Quite frankly I did not expect the penalty that we received,” said McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

Indeed, given that McLaren’s fuel indiscretion occurred only in the decisive Q3, why not simply delete Hamilton’s Q3 laptimes, thereby putting the Briton mid-grid for the race?

“We had no room to move,” Whiting, the FIA’s race director, responded to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport when told that Hamilton’s penalty seemed too severe.

“If there is a violation, it applies to the whole session, not just part of it,” he insisted. “Qualifying begins with Q1.”

Whiting explained that if Hamilton had only lost his Q3 time, a precedent would have been set tempting teams to risk not being checked for the mandatory 1 litre fuel sample in post-qualifying scrutineering.

Auto Motor und Sport said only one or two fuel samples are actually checked after qualifying at grands prix.

Competitors could, therefore, genuinely “run the risk” of using less fuel than is allowed in Q3, if the penalty for being caught is relatively light, Whiting argued.

He recalled last year’s German grand prix, when Sebastien Buemi was sent to the back of the grid because his fuel sample showed irregularities.

As it was not possible to check if the illegal fuel had also been used in Q1 and Q2, the Toro Rosso driver had to be disqualified from qualifying, Whiting argued.

Pirelli stands ready to supply special ‘qualifying tyres’ to formula one teams next year.

With the emphasis of the sport’s spectacle now relying on the complex and heavily degrading control tyres, it was the qualifying session that suffered last weekend in Barcelona.

Arguably to the detriment of Saturday’s spectacle, teams took an exceedingly strategic view of the fight for pole position, with some drivers sitting out the decisive ‘Q3′ runout altogether.

One solution, according to Pirelli’s chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera, is the return of ‘qualifying tyres’.

The proposal has been made following recent criticism, notably by seven time world champion Michael Schumacher, of Pirelli’s 2012 product.

Tronchetti defended his marque’s approach.

“What we have is many competitive cars, which is what the teams wanted — opprtunity for everyone who is able to win,” he told Italian radio Rai GR Parlamento.

“So it’s fine if someone complains. We are available to the teams. We are ready to make qualifying tyres tomorrow.

“But they are choices that are not ours.”

F1′s season of confusion looks set to continue, with an uncertain weather forecast only adding to the uncertainty ahead of the Spanish grand prix.

The bizarre 2012 contest stepped into yet another gear on Saturday, with events unfolding to put the previously-derided pay driver Pastor Maldonado on pole, alongside the crisis-ridden Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

And the Pirelli tyre predicament, worsened on the challenging Circuit de Catalunya layout and under hot Spanish skies, will continue to confound teams on Sunday, with temperatures set to drop and rain clouds predicted to gather.

“I am telling you now, honestly,” said Red Bull’s Mark Webber. “We don’t have even the slightest idea who will benefit when it gets colder.”

The German magazine Auto Motor und Sport laid out the fascinating if bewildering situation as of Saturday in Spain: “Sebastian Vettel doesn’t know why his car suddenly lost grip in qualifying.

“Jenson Button has no idea why he couldn’t generate any tyre temperature on the 40 degrees track. Williams don’t know why Pastor Maldonado clocked the second fastest lap.

“Mercedes’ engineers had to admit they still don’t understand the Pirelli rubber.”

Acting team principal Bob Bell smiled tortuously: “If we did understand, we’d be on pole. But even Pirelli don’t know all the answers.”

Writing in O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, Livio Oricchio estimated there are up to 12 candidates for victory.

“A grid of madness!” said former F1 driver Patrick Tambay on France’s RMC Sport. “And it’s not over yet.”

So, is Michael Schumacher – having sat out Q3 in order to save tyres for the race – now even more critical of Pirelli?

“I’ll leave it with what has already been said,” he insisted late on Saturday.

The penalty might be harsh, but the loss of Lewis Hamilton’s pole in Spain is just the latest calamitous mistake by McLaren.

That was the tone of the paddock’s reaction to the news late on Saturday that a McLaren gaffe saw the FIA send Hamilton from first to last on the Spanish grand prix grid.

The Sun newspaper called it a draconian “24-place grid penalty” imposed by the FIA after an “astonishing cock-up” by McLaren.

Hamilton was told on the radio to pull over after his pole lap due to a “technical problem”.

Sporting director Sam Michael argued ‘force majeure’, but the stewards ruled that it had been entirely McLaren’s fault that not enough fuel was put into Hamilton’s car to ensure a scrutineering fuel sample.

Writing in the Telegraph, Tom Cary said the severity of the disqualification “raised eyebrows”, but agreed that “McLaren’s mistake was horrendous”.

He said it has been “a season of errors” by the famous British team, who are yet to get Hamilton’s signature on a new contract beyond 2012.

“Hamilton must be seething,” read an article in the Daily Mail newspaper, while The Times laid out McLaren’s “catalogue of errors”.

27-year-old Hamilton’s “raw talent is being thwarted by mishap and cock-up,” said journalist Kevin Eason.

“McLaren are lovely people but how the hell do they get themselves in this position?” wrote the Mirror’s Byron Young on Twitter.

Even the non-English language media agreed.

“It was another great mistake by McLaren that could eventually cost Hamilton the championship,” wrote Livio Oricchio in O Estado de S.Paulo.

Italy’s La Stampa called McLaren’s fuel gaffe a case of “harakiri”.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport added: “It was error number 13 for McLaren since last year”.

While highly critical of McLaren’s own-goal, however, the feeling in the paddock is that the stewards’ penalty – although accepted by McLaren – was overly harsh.

“Back of the grid? Way, way too harsh”, said the Mirror’s Young on Twitter.

“Draconian penalty in my view,” agreed PA Sport’s Ian Parkes. “Dropping Q3 time would have sufficed.”

Sky commentator Martin Brundle added: “(I) feel they should have deleted that (Q3) laptime only which would have put him sixth”.

And excluding Hamilton from Q3 altogether would have put him 11th. Now, he will be “lucky to score a point”, Auto Motor und Sport predicted.

In the Independent, however, David Tremayne noted: “Welcome to the draconian world of F1.”

David Croft, the lead Sky commentator, said the FIA stewards had acted correctly.

“A good rule should be one that covers all eventualities with a penalty that acts as a deterrent which in this case is what happened.

“Too little fuel can’t be tolerated,” he added. “It seems harsh but had Lewis taken pole by one thousandth of a second, would it be harsh then?”

The Spanish fans – not Hamilton’s biggest supporters dating back to his spats with Fernando Alonso in 2007 – were happy.

Asked on the El Mundo website whether the penalty was fair, 76 per cent answered yes.

He may be in Bahrain, but Fernando Alonso’s mind is thinking firmly ahead to Europe as the Spaniard prepares to struggle on Sunday yet again.

Ferrari’s number one driver squeezed into Q3 with the struggling F2012 on Saturday, and is targeting some minor points on Sunday.

“The two McLarens and the two Red Bulls are at the front, and there’s (also) Rosberg,” Alonso is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport, predicting how Sunday’s race will unfold.

“We’re not going to go past them. For us, we are racing behind the top five.”

He is hoping it will be his latest and last experience of life as a midfielder in 2012.

For Barcelona, the first European race of the season mid next month, Ferrari – so disappointed with its start to the season – is planning a major upgrade for the F2012.

An added bonus is that it can be tested at Mugello in early May.

“Despite our problems I am in third place in the championship, and tomorrow (Sunday) I have a chance to score well. That’s more than we expected.

“Next is Barcelona, a most important race for us. I hope the season starts again for me (there),” said Alonso.

Fernando Alonso is F1′s shock world championship leader, after Malaysian rain shook up the order at Sepang.

“It’s a tough time for us at the moment, but we will remember this day,” said the Ferrari driver, who finished ahead of another surprise podium-sitter, Sauber’s Sergio Perez.

The young Mexican was catching Alonso at a rate of knots when he made a mistake.

“I think the win was possible,” Perez, who has been linked with Felipe Massa’s works Ferrari seat, said after beating the back-to-back 2012 polesitter Lewis Hamilton.

Former Toro Rosso driver and BBC radio commentator Jaime Alguersuari, however, was not overly impressed.

“The team did a fantastic strategy to put Perez on the right tyres at the right moment. For me, that’s it,” said the Spaniard.

Back-to-back world champion Sebastian Vettel had an horror Sunday, cutting a tyre whilst passing an HRT and eventually retiring with what Red Bull described on the radio as an “emergency” technical problem.

The German lies sixth in the drivers’ world championship, four points behind Perez and 17 off the lead.

Title leader Alonso, meanwhile, is not overly happy with the rain-soaked win.

“I think it changes nothing,” he said. “We are in a position that we do not want, fighting to get into Q3.”

Team boss Stefano Domenicali agreed: “I hope this helps the people at home to push, but we were not stupid yesterday and we are not phenomenal today.”

The Italian also denied that Perez’s debut podium is the ideal time to immediately pluck the Mexican from Sauber and put him in struggling Felipe Massa’s red car.

“Not true, not true,” Domenicali told British Sky television.

Aldo Costa has revealed he is unhappy with Ferrari’s comments in the wake of his departure last year.

The Italian was stepped down as the famous team’s technical director, and he switched to Mercedes before the German marque made a significant step forwards with its 2012 car.

He has remained quiet about his treatment by Ferrari until now, telling Autosprint magazine that the Maranello marque lacked “style and professionalism” as it handled its restructuring.

Asked for more information, he said Ferrari explained “things that not only myself but also the whole world of formula one knows is not the truth”.

Costa confirmed that he was referring to Ferrari’s suggestion that he lacked “creativity”.

Still, he said he is not happy to see his old team struggling to make it into Q3 with the aggressive F2012.

“I still have so many friends in Maranello, but now I want to be 100 per cent engaged on succeeding with Mercedes.”

He said the Ross Brawn-led team has a “different” approach to Ferrari’s “that makes it easier to do things”.

 Despite not collecting a single point in Melbourne, the Williams team will travel from Australia to Malaysia in upbeat mood.
The famous British outfit’s slide from its race and title-winning days hit rock bottom in 2011, scoring just five points all season and only finishing ahead of the three struggling new teams in the constructors’ championship.

But Oxfordshire based Williams has restructured for the 2012 season and is now led technically by former McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan, and in Australia the newly Renault-powered FW34 qualified comfortably in Q3.

In the race, Pastor Maldonado was pushing Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso for fifth place when he crashed heavily on the very last lap.

If he had made it round to the chequered flag, Williams would have scored more points in one hit than it managed all last season.

“The car was considerably better than anything I have seen in recent years,” said team chairman Adam Parr.

Referring to Maldonado’s crash, the team’s new driver mentor Alex Wurz told Austrian ORF television: “Of course nobody is happy.

“The bad news is that we have to leave with no points, but the team has made a huge leap forwards.”

Jaime Alguersuari, the former Toro Rosso driver turned radio co-commentator, called Williams’ step compared to 2011 “giant”.

“No doubt about it, Williams are the big surprise,” the Spaniard told Mundo Deportivo when asked about the new field of 2012.

“Last year their car was really, really, really bad, and so they have taken an exceptional leap.”

Ferrari has made a “devastating start” to the 2012 season, the Italian sports newspaper Corriere dello Sport has blasted.

“The new season could barely have begun worse,” said the report.

Felipe Massa qualified sixteenth for Sunday’s Australian grand prix, while Fernando Alonso also failed to make the ‘Q3′ cut when he spun into the gravel.

“There are deficiencies with the aerodynamics, with the tyres and the speed,” the Spaniard is quoted as saying.

Added Massa: “I have the impression that the car has deteriorated compared to winter testing.”

Looking on the bright side, however, Alonso said Ferrari’s situation is actually better than it was a year ago.

“In 2011 we started with a deficit of 1.4 seconds, so we have recovered four tenths. Last year our first victory was in July, so this year we need to do it before.”

La Stampa, a major Italian daily, sees it differently.

“A year ago there was one car (Red Bull) clearly stronger than Ferrari, now there is McLaren in front, Mercedes and Lotus as well, and Toro Rosso and Force India improving …”

Massa agrees: “We were more competitive in 2011.”

Alonso, however, is staying positive for now.

“The tests in Barcelona were worse (than Australia), so it means that we have chosen the right path. We must improve and we must do it quickly,” he said.

The McLaren drivers and beaming returnee Romain Grosjean on Saturday looked to have knocked Red Bull from its dominant perch.
“McLaren had an upgrade at the last test and it’s performed here at Albert Park,” said former team driver and BBC commentator David Coulthard.

Lewis Hamilton beat his teammate Jenson Button to pole in Melbourne, but just a few tenths behind is the reigning GP2 champion Grosjean.

Frenchman Grosjean’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen had a dire return qualifying performance by missing the Q1 cut, describing the session as “shit” according to the German press.

In total contrast, Grosjean was beaming: “A few people believed in me through the toughest time and I’m back — almost at the top!”

The surprises continued beyond the top three: Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher is fourth, and reigning champion Sebastian Vettel sixth.

“We are aware we need to improve,” said Mark Webber, who qualified the sister Red Bull in fifth as both RB8 cars had KERS issues.

In much bigger strife is fabled Ferrari, with neither F2012 making it through to Q3.

Fernando Alonso threw his red car into the gravel and Felipe Massa is a disastrous 16th, with Sky analyst Martin Brundle described the handling of the F2012 as “horrible”.

“Forget the reds,” the summary report at Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport website, written by correspondent Andrea Cremonesi, said.

Said Spaniard Alonso: “We need to change the direction quickly if we’re to challenge for the championship. We have to react.”

Meanwhile, Lotus boss Eric Boullier answered “maybe” when asked on Sky UK television if the team will lodge an official protest against Mercedes’ qualifying result, based on the belief the W03′s F-duct solutions are illegal.

 A general consensus has emerged about the likely pecking-order this weekend in Australia.
Based on winter testing, this year’s longest-ever F1 season looks set to be very closely contested, but experts, pundits and insiders fairly agree about the rough shape of Saturday’s Melbourne grid.

“From what I saw in the tests, Red Bull and McLaren seem to be at a similar pace,” Francesco Nenci, Kamui Kobayashi’s race engineer at Sauber, told O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

“Then comes Mercedes and then our team along with Lotus and Ferrari. But we’ll only really find out here,” he told Brazilian correspondent Livio Oricchio in Melbourne.

Steve Nielsen, Caterham’s sporting director, roughly agrees.

“Red Bull and McLaren are the best, Mercedes is a little bit behind and then it’s Lotus, Ferrari, Sauber and Force India,” he said.

And given that the top three teams will presumably dominate the first six positions in Q3, the last part of qualifying “should be exciting”, Nielsen smiled.

But so will the fight at the front, with McLaren’s Jenson Button desperate to end Red Bull’s two-year run of dominance.

“With quite a big change in the regulations in terms of the blown diffuser, now is the interesting time to see whether Red Bull can hang onto the advantage they have had,” said the Briton.

“If they can, it is going to be very difficult to beat them over the next few years.”

Nico Rosberg – 7th: “I’m pleased that we made a step forward today but we could perhaps have finished higher. In Q1, I hit a kerb quite heavily and damaged the floor which lost some of the car’s downforce for the rest of qualifying. I was on my quickest lap at the end of Q3 but unfortunately I had to slow down for the yellow flag after Felipe’s incident so that cost me some time. I will push hard to gain places tomorrow and have a good race on this fantastic track. I’m guessing it will be an exciting race and the Indian people should be proud to have one of the best tracks in the world of motorsport now!”

Michael Schumacher – 12th: “Qualifying today was not really very good for us. At first I hit some traffic, and then on my final run in Q2, there was again vibrations on the set of tyres which I used which was not helpful. Saying that, this certainly does not explain the time gap to Nico so we need to understand what the reason was for that and get on top of it. As for the race tomorrow, this should work out better for me, and my aim undoubtedly is to score some points. I’m not really sure which side of the grid will be the better one, so I will just take it from there and try to gain as much as possible.”

Ross Brawn: “It was an exciting and tense qualifying session today. We got caught out a little in traffic on occasions which didn’t help as it was particularly close out there. It’s a shame that we didn’t get through to Q3 with Michael, and he was unhappy with his final set of tyres. Nico did a great job, especially considering that he was struggling a little with the car yesterday, so all credit to him and his team for getting the car in good shape for qualifying. Our runs on high fuel this weekend have been encouraging so we are looking forward to the race tomorrow at this impressive new track.”

Norbert Haug: “A good job from Nico today and a good qualifying strategy from our team with just one run in Q3 to save tyres for the race. Michael missed getting into the top ten by 0.018s and the gap to P8 was less than two-tenths which shows how intense the battle is. Our target tomorrow is to achieve the best possible result behind the top three teams and hopefully finish in the top six rankings which we achieved three times in the last five races. The new circuit and facilities here in Greater Noida are very impressive and it is very positive for Formula One to be present in such a vibrant country full of passion and friendliness.”

Sebastian Vettel – 1st: “It was an interesting qualifying session; a new circuit and a new challenge – obviously I’m very happy to be on the front row. I don’t know if being on the left or the right side of the track (we are on the left), is really an advantage or not; there’s not one side that seems to be the clean side, as we tend to run down the middle. It was a good battle and after the first run it was very close, so I knew I had to do a little bit better on the second. We decided to only do one timed lap each time, it was still a bit slippery, but overall I’m very happy. Tomorrow it going to be a long race, we start starting the best possible position, so we’ll see what happens.”

Mark Webber – 3rd: “This new venue has been a good challenge for us. It was tricky to work out the right strategy for qualifying. The tyres weren’t easy for one timed lap, so we had to work out how to do the right strategy – lots of teams tried different styles to get the best lap time out of the car. The first sector was tricky to get right on one timed lap. I could have done better in the first sector on my first lap in Q3; I couldn’t complete my second, as there were yellow flags after Massa’s incident. Overall it’s a good job for the team, we’ve come to a new venue, prepared well and we’ve laid a good foundation for a very good race tomorrow.”

Christian Horner: “A great qualifying for the team to have established our 16th pole and a new record for the most poles secured by a team within a season. Also to have achieved a front row lock out after Lewis’ penalty of yesterday has put us in the best position to start tomorrow’s race. The dilemma was whether to do one or two laps, but in the end Sebastian managed to make two laps which were effectively good enough for pole. Mark running two laps on his first set of tyres in Q3 was the right strategy, so first and second on the grid is a great place to be starting the inaugural Indian Grand Prix at a circuit that has been a real challenge for the drivers and is a really exciting venue.”

(Renault) Cyril Dumont: “A wonderful pole position again for Sebastian at this first Indian Grand Prix; I’m pleased for him. I think we had the pace today to lock out the front row – but anyway, we will start first and second on the grid tomorrow. That’s the best place to start the race – we’ve clearly got the pace on low and high fuel, so it could be interesting tomorrow.”

Adrian Sutil – 8th: “We’ve been saying all week that this is a special race for us so I’m very happy with today’s qualifying performance. We are so determined to do well here and today’s result is the first step towards that. P8 is one of my best qualifying results of the season and I think it was the maximum we could achieve from the session. The balance of the car was excellent and I really enjoy this circuit, which seems to suit my driving style. But tomorrow is the important day and now we have to think hard about the strategy we will run. I feel very comfortable with the car and I think we will be more competitive than we were in Korea.”

Paul Di Resta – 13th: “Starting P12 is a bit disappointing really, because we looked quite strong this morning. But I struggled with a bit of understeer in the high-speed corners and we couldn’t fix it during the session. I think the conditions cooled a little bit, which maybe didn’t help us because I couldn’t get the balance quite where I wanted it. I feel that points are still achievable tomorrow and we seem quite strong on the longer runs. There’s a hard task ahead, but I will stay focussed and try to do the best job possible in the team’s home race.”

Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: “Another excellent day of track action at Buddh International Circuit and I’m delighted to see a Sahara Force India starting the very first Indian Grand Prix from the fourth row of the grid. The whole team has worked very hard to bring our final upgrade package here this weekend and I think that showed in our performance today. Adrian clearly loves this circuit and was on top form this afternoon. Paul has also been very strong, but unfortunately he lost the sweet spot he had with the car this morning and missed out on making Q3. Still, we know we have a strong car for tomorrow and I’m hopeful both drivers can be in the hunt for points. It’s our home race and I hope all the fans will get behind Sahara Force India in what will be a spetacular and historic moment for India.”