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.”

Martin Whitmarsh is sure McLaren’s recent errors will not affect contract negotiations with Lewis Hamilton.

The British team’s latest mistake not only cost Lewis Hamilton pole in Spain, it put the 2008 world champion to the very back of the grid.

Asked if he worries that the now seemingly constant flow of team gaffes will damage McLaren’s efforts to re-sign Hamilton, Whitmarsh insisted: “No, I don’t.

“He has got to build the support of the team, he has got to feel comfortable doing it, he has got to want to drive and he is in good shape,” British newspapers quote the McLaren team principal as saying.

“I look forward to working with him for a long time to come.”

But Whitmarsh admitted that, given Hamilton’s tumultuous 2011 season, he was worried the British driver might have despaired last Saturday when the team’s refuelling mistake cost the 27-year-old pole.

“I was concerned,” he said, “because it is a pretty tough thing to happen to a driver.

“But I have to say he showed some greatness I had not seen before. By the end of our chat he was consoling me.

“The relationship between Lewis and the team is stronger and better and hopefully we will work together for a long time,” added Whitmarsh.

F1′s astonishing season continues to live up to the hype, as a fifth driver and constructor on Sunday won the fifth grand prix of 2012.

Not only is the victory Pastor Maldonado’s first, his walk up the steps at the Circuit de Catalunya was the first taste of the podium in his two-season F1 career.

It’s also the first Venezuelan triumph in the sport’s history, and a hugely popular victory for Williams, the once-great British team headed by Sir Frank Williams, whose 70th birthday was warmly celebrated in the paddock on Saturday.

“Boy did we need that,” said Williams on BBC television.

And asked how he feels on Sky television, he smiled: “Relief.”

“Some said Maldonado was a pay driver and he didn’t deserve his place in formula one but they’ll be eating their words now,” commented former team driver David Coulthard.

“That was a fantastic drive,” added Coulthard, referring to Williams’ first win since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2004.

Williams enthused: “I didn’t see him (Maldonado) make one single mistake.”

“You can’t really fault him,” agreed Williams’ 1996 world champion Damon Hill.

Amazingly, however, away from the champagne, Sebastian Vettel’s sixth place leaves him at the top of the drivers’ championship, and he is now neck-and-neck with Fernando Alonso, who finished second on Sunday in the improving Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton, who finished dead last on Sunday and finished eighth, is third in the points classification, ahead of Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen.

Finn Raikkonen finished third on Sunday, and is the favourite to become F1′s sixth different winner of 2012 in Monaco in a fortnight.

“We showed we still have the speed,” the Lotus driver said after the Spanish grand prix. “If we had a few more laps, we could have fought for a victory.”

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.

Valencia will not be on next year’s F1 calendar, Bernie Ecclestone said on Saturday.

He confirmed that, starting in 2013, an annually alternating deal between the Spanish port city and Barcelona will begin.

Barcelona, the scene of this weekend’s Spanish grand prix, will host the race in 2013, before Valencia returns to the schedule in 2014, the F1 chief executive told Reuters.

Less secure, meanwhile, is France’s touted spot on the 2013 calendar, particularly with the country’s new anti-F1 president Francois Hollande now taking power.

Until recently, the F1 chief executive was saying Paul Ricard was set to join the 2013 calendar, annually alternating a race date with Belgium’s Spa Francorchamps.

As for the state of the deal now, the 81-year-old admitted: “I have no idea. No idea what they (France) are doing.

“It’s a funny arrangement they were making anyway. So I just don’t know.”

Ecclestone is also working on a new deal for the popular Canadian grand prix, having told promoter Francois Dumontier that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve needs to be upgraded.

“There are two ways of looking at it,” Dumontier, in the paddock of the Circuit de Catalunya, is quoted by La Presse newspaper.

“Either Bernie requires an annual fee windfall, or he will charge a reasonable fee and ask in return for investment in the infrastructure.”

He said the contract on the table is for 10 more years, taking Montreal’s existing deal through 2024.

Ecclestone said on Saturday that he is sure an agreement will be reached, because Canada is one of F1′s most loved destinations.

“I remember saying to Bernie, ‘New York, Austin, I don’t know why you want to go there. Your sure bet is Montreal’. He knows that.

“He’s been in Montreal for 34 years. And in the 22 years of the grands prix in the United States, they’ve had eight different cities.

“He said ‘You’re right’,” added Dumontier.

Another rumour, repeated by The Times’ Kevin Eason on Saturday, is that the planned 2014 Russian grand prix in Sochi “is doomed”.

Despite not topping a Friday timesheet in Barcelona, one specialist publication sees Lotus as the favourite for Spanish grand prix victory.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said the ‘long run’ pace of the black and gold E20 was studied carefully after Barcelona practice.

“Kimi Raikkonen made a great impression on the critical soft tyres,” the report read.

“First, it (the field) is incredibly close. Second, Lotus could win its first grand prix here.”

If true, the former Renault team would become the fifth different winning constructor in the opening five races of the extraordinary 2012 season.

“Our biggest opponent for Sunday is not Red Bull,” an unnamed McLaren engineer is quoted as saying. “It’s Lotus.”

And another surprise pacesetter is Sauber. “Over 15 laps we were better than Red Bull,” team manager Beat Zehnder enthused.

“If everything goes right, we can be on the podium,” he is quoted by the Swiss newspaper Blick.

Agreed McLaren’s Jenson Button: “The Lotus, Sauber and Williams look very strong.”

But in reality, in F1′s new guise of 2012, no one knows what is going to happen on Saturday and Sunday.

“Lord knows what will happen here tomorrow,” wrote The Times’ Kevin Eason. “Well, perhaps He is the only one who does know what is going on — F1 hasn’t a clue.”

Getting the setup right is a challenge teams are grappling with in 2012.

So far this season, four different cars have won the four grands prix, with Pirelli’s difficult tyres credited or blamed for the unbalance of power.

The key, according to Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn, is car setup.

“We can’t modify the setup between qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday,” he is quoted by Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper. “And they are very different challenges, especially with this year’s tyres.

“It’s one thing to get the car to be fast on one lap and quite another to make it fast and consistent over 70.

“Whoever can anticipate what will be required for the race and come to a compromise – maybe to the detriment of grid position – should have a decisive advantage in the race.

“But it’s not easy to anticipate what happens on Sunday,” insisted Brawn.

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.

There remains a chance Lewis Hamilton will not have to move back five places on Sunday’s Chinese grand prix grid.

It emerged on Thursday that McLaren had discovered a problem with his Malaysia gearbox, requiring an out-of-sequence change and penalty in Shanghai.

“Of course it’s not the nicest thing to hear that we’ve got a problem, but you just have to take it on the chin,” the 2008 world champion told reporters.

“We’re still here, we’ve still got a great chance to win.

“It just means I have a steeper hill to climb this weekend,” Hamilton is quoted by the Times.

Indeed, Hamilton set the pace in the initial practice session.

And it then emerged that he had comfortably outpaced his rivals with the very gearbox that is bearing a worrying crack.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh confirmed to the British broadcaster Sky there is a “very, very small chance” Hamilton can keep the damaged gearbox throughout the weekend, thereby avoiding the penalty.

However, he also confessed that the chance it will be replaced by a fresh gearbox on Saturday morning is “99 per cent”.

Either way, defending Chinese grand prix winner Hamilton – who has started the first two races in 2012 from pole – insists he is not overly fussed.

“When I was a kid I always used to like coming from the back of the grid,” he smiled.

Many F1 insiders are now expecting next weekend’s Bahrain grand prix to be called off.

“We’re not going to Bahrain, the decision will be announced soon,” wrote Livio Oricchio, the correspondent for Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

In the wake of the latest reports about the ongoing political situation inside the island Kingdom, Oricchio said he expects the news about the race to be known “today or tomorrow”.

He referred to the direct threat made by the protest organising group February 14th Youth Coalition, who said it could not “ensure the safety” of the sport’s travelling members.

A spokesman for the international group Human Rights Watch admitted it is worried.

“On the ground we see an increasing number of deaths, and serious injuries from tear gas and beatings,” he is quoted as saying by the BBC.

And the latest fears have been intensified by the explosion of a bomb that injured seven policemen on Monday, and news that a jailed activist on hunger strike is now close to death.

An unnamed team boss admitted he is worried about his employees “and their families”, but an advisor to Bahrain’s interior ministry tried to play down those fears.

“People can be assured that if problems arise, then there will be a plan to deal with that as there would be with any public event in the world,” former London police assistant commissioner John Yates told the Associated Press.

But even Bernie Ecclestone, who will be in China this weekend, could now be stepping back from the controversy.

“If the teams don’t want to go, then we cannot make them,” the F1 chief executive told the Times.

All the FIA has said is that it is “monitoring” the situation, with it believed that contingency plans are in place so that F1 can cope with a cancellation decision made as late as this Saturday or Sunday.

The Bahrainis, meanwhile, are confident.

“We anticipate formula one will continue and hope it will be a success,” said government spokesman Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak al-Khalifa.

The Bahrain circuit’s Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa added: “The race is going ahead — there is no doubt about that.

“There are several reports doing the rounds that are saying a lot of things which are baseless,” he told the Gulf Daily News.

“We are ready and there is a plan in place to ensure the safety of the teams, officials and fans.”

Amid speculation regarding Felipe Massa’s immediate future, Sergio Perez’s father has revealed that Ferrari approached Sauber.

Earlier, Sauber driver Perez played down the rumours about Massa’s future, including the suggestion he was at the very top of Ferrari’s replacement list.

“Sergio is focused one hundred per cent on (performing in) Malaysia,” the 22-year-old Mexican’s father Antonio is quoted by the Spanish-language Medio Tiempo.

Perez snr’s son is the cream of Ferrari’s development driver ‘academy’ programme.

“Since last year, Ferrari has had three drivers: Alonso, Massa and Perez,” he said.

“‘Checo’ has a great relationship with the team but I can say today that Perez is signed only with Peter Sauber.”

Nonetheless, it has been suggested Ferrari made an approach to Sauber recently, amid Massa’s performance slump.

“Yes, Monisha (Kaltenborn), who is the chief executive of Sauber, confirmed that Ferrari people approached her to talk about Sergio,” said his father Antonio.

At the very least, Perez is a candidate for Massa’s seat next year.

“That would be a good package,” the Mexican answered when asked about the potential pairing of his son with Fernando Alonso.

“I see it only as a matter of time. We have to wait and be patient rather than distract Checo from what he is doing now.

“Sergio was not even aware of the statements made by Ferrari: he was training and focused on his fitness,” added Perez snr.

Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari’s president, urged calm over the famous team’s current situation, including the calls for Massa’s scalp.

“I understand that the fans are disappointed,” he is quoted by Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper, “but I ask them to remain calm.

“We must remain calm and focused.”

Still, the rumour mill waits for nobody, and even Ferrari’s official ‘Tweet’ about the “reasonable job” done by Massa on Saturday did not go unnoticed.

“I take that to mean, ‘You’re useless!’ German RTL commentator Christian Danner joked.

Mercedes could quit formula one or challenge Bernie Ecclestone in court, after it emerged top rivals Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have agreed new commercial deals.

With the FOTA alliance crumbling, F1 chief executive Ecclestone announced on Saturday that he has agreed terms with the “majority” of teams.

In addition to the three top teams, it is believed Lotus, Toro Rosso, Sauber and Force India have also signed up.

That leaves Mercedes and Williams apparently yet to agree, while it is believed the three bottom teams Caterham, Marussia and HRT have not even seen a copy of the new Concorde Agreement.

Mercedes would not comment publicly.

“We would like to ask for your understanding that our team currently has nothing to say on this matter,” said a spokesman.

Behind the scenes, however, high-level sources close to the Brackley based team admitted they are unhappy that the terms of the deal heavily favour the top three teams.

One bonus, for example, is for teams who have not changed their name.

Media outlets including PA Sport and London’s Telegraph were told by the sources that the Stuttgart marque could challenge Ecclestone’s methods against European Union competition law.

Or the carmaker and engine supplier could simply quit F1.

“It is understood the carmaker and parent company Daimler are prepared to play hardball”, wrote Tom Cary in the Telegraph, referring specifically to European laws involving the abuse of a dominant position.

Other authoritative publications, also apparently briefed behind the scenes by Mercedes, referred specifically to the same laws.

On the record, Mercedes’ competition vice-president Norbert Haug said in Malaysia: “I’m not sure who has signed. We’ve nothing currently to say.”

As ever in the high-intrigue world of formula one politics, what is not said always has more value that what is freedly revealed.
That is doubly true if the shrewd Bernie Ecclestone is at the steering wheel.

Firstly, while some interpreted Saturday’s news as a 2013 Concorde Agreement being done and dusted, the F1 chief executive’s short statement in fact merely said “the terms” of the next contract have been agreed.

And the major keyword was that “the majority” of the teams – including Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull – are on board.

“Bernie’s used the word majority,” McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh is quoted by the Mirror. “If there are 12 teams, that’s seven or more.

“I don’t know any more.”

The big missing domino is Mercedes, who according to multiple media sources are holding out for now.

Another is the famous British outfit Williams.

“All agreements between FOM and the teams are normally subject to confidentiality clauses,” Red Bull’s Christian Horner is quoted in German reports.

“So I can’t comment.”

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reported that, in addition to the aforementioned top teams, also set to sign up for 2013 are Red Bull sister team Toro Rosso and Ferrari-powered Sauber.

Lotus and Force India are reportedly also part of that group.

That leaves just the three slowest teams Caterham, Marussia and HRT as the other teams remaining in the cold.

Michael Schumacher finally returned to the top three’s inner sanctum on Saturday.
“Who would have thought it last year?” the seven time world champion smiled in Malaysia after beating the formerly dominant Red Bulls with his Mercedes.

But the fact he was only beaten by the dominant McLarens in Sepang qualifying does not mean Mercedes is now ready to take on F1′s very best, boss Norbert Haug insisted.

Last weekend in Australia, the German team also performed well on Saturday before the tyres degraded heavily in the race — and in Malaysia, very high temperatures are an added factor.

“We are not equipped yet to take over from the likes of McLaren and Red Bull,” Haug is quoted by Sky Deutschland.

“To be the third force is definitely on the timetable.

“In Australia and also now in Malaysia we were the second force in the qualifying lineup, but the race is what counts,” added the German.