Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Alonso's blog : never give up !


It was definitely not the start of the season we were hoping for, for us and all our fans. Fifty points between the two of us is not much and we know our performance is not good enough at the moment, but we are aware that this can change very quickly. Formula 1 has always been like this: in one race you struggle to get into the top five and in the next, youre fighting for the win. This year has been no exception to that rule: after the final test in Barcelona, everyone reckoned the McLarens were nowhere and then they always got on the podium, ending up with a win in China. At the same time, others were saying Vettel was unbeatable and then in Shanghai, we all saw how things turned out in the end. Three races are not yet enough to give a definitive judgement.

But this does not mean to say I am underestimating the seriousness of our situation, far from it. We have to work very hard to improve on every front. Success only comes when every element is operating at its best: the car, strategy, pit stops, drivers and everyone else included. I’ve stayed in touch with the engineers these past few days and I know there is no let up in the development of the car at Maranello. We have to catch up and we cannot allow ourselves to lose too much time, especially as the others won’t be twiddling their thumbs over the coming weeks. I trust in the team: I know what it’s made of and I can feel the will to fight back from everyone at Maranello. In the past I have experienced, first as an opponent and then as an insider how capable the Scuderia is of staging a comeback. I well remember when I was at Renault in 2006, that in the first part of the season I had built up a big lead but then Ferrari made such a good job of developing its cars that Schumacher staged a great fight back, overtaking me with two races remaining. Then you only have to look at last year: first in Turkey and then in England, it was suggested we should already be looking to the following year, but we did not give up and we managed to be in the fight for the title right up to the final race. It sounds like a slogan, but it’s the absolute truth: never give up in Formula 1!
If the racing season has yet to make me very happy, at least on the football front there’s been one bit of good news. I was very happy that Real Madrid won against Barcelona in the final of the Copa del Rey, as it’s a title that has eluded them for such a long time and it came at the end of a very closely fought game. Next up comes the Champions League semi-final, again against Barca. Whatever the outcome, it will be a truly fascinating tussle and obviously I’m hoping for a win for Mourinho’s team!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The paddock podium of China


* The 4 in:
- Lewis Hamilton:
Lewis won on all tables in China and yet it was not a foregone conclusion given the state of his car just before the start! Many people thought that Lewis would not finish the race and yet he has mastered his subject both in the strategy and the mental level. And above all he showed that Vettel could be beaten this season !
- Sebastian Vettel:
despite a slightly lower performance than usual with such a poor start and a bad strategy that was not paid, Sebastian finished second anyway and win valuable points for the rest of the championship.
- Mark Webber :
Mark is the endorsement of this GP ! Mark has jumped 15 places in the standings thanks to some beautiful overtakings and good use of his tires. Mark Was thought lost but the Australian showed great strength of character on which will do him good morale.
- Nico Rosberg:
After two races not so good , Nico has shown very good ability on this particular GP thanks to very good qualies and an improved overall pace on his Mercedes. Mercedes has evolved and it's nice!

* The 3 out:
- Ferrari:
The only thing we can , for the moment, say about ferrari is the fracture toughness of their pilots who do not let go. But Ferrari really needs to improve in Turkey and back up to Red Bull and McLaren to continue to have any chance of world title. We have seen in the past that the Scuderia was able to return from the depths. They have the means and engineers. So gentlemen, REACT!
- Jenson Button:
This is not that the British driver had a bad race is far from it! but I found it a bit messy especially when he missed his pit stop , which caused him to lose valuable time, or by his strategy that was not good leaving him in trouble with his tires at the worst time in the final race. - Jaime Alguersuari:
Jaime was noted for being the only driver to have retired from the GP! Certainly it was not his fault because his retirement was caused by a nut of a wheel which was badly screwed but above all he has lost a round in his battle with teammate Sebastien Buemi in the fight for his retention in Toro Rosso. The team warned: Daniel Ricciardo threats !

* The unclassifiable :
- HRT:
While their race pace and qualifying is very far from the best but we must stand even report that they have finished the race without giving up and that's a victory for them even if that does not yet sufficient .

Sunday, April 17, 2011

China GP : Alonso & Massa Sunday quotes

Fernando Alonso 7th:
"I made a bad start. Felipe managed to pass me and Force India was close to do the same. Then it was a beautiful passage of arms in the opening round . After the first pit stop I lost too much time behind Michael [Schumacher], so I lost contact with the lead group. I found myself fighting with him again at the end of the race, but the places were reversed. Once again, it was a good battle, but I would rather fight for a podium finish rather than the seventh.
Unfortunately, our race pace was too slow and I do not think a different strategy would have changed anything. I've seen better Sundays in my career but I am not discouraged or I do not lose confidence. We know that we need to improve to reach the front:
McLaren and Mercedes are received and there is no reason to think that we can not do the same. Clearly, aerodynamics is our Achilles heel right now and that is the point we need the most work. Eight days ago in Malaysia, we have seen encouraging signs, but this was not the case here: the car has not changed while others have progressed."
Felipe Massa 6th:
"It's a real disappointment not to have finished this race to a better place. It really seems that the qualifications for the race, we find another car yesterday, we were not competitive then today we were fighting with the leaders at the end. Unfortunately, with the hard tires, we could not defend our position until the end. The strategy? Now it's easy to say that we were not good, but we are a team and we make our decisions together. Vettel made the same choices as us and we had a reasonably similar pace.
Probably we would have finished on the podium but we must look at all the details with the engineers. I am happy with my race. I think it was my best Grand Prix of the year and maybe even the best taking into account those of last year. We must find ways to improve the car, especially in qualifying."

China GP : the race

Pos
Drivers
Teams
Laps
Gap
Points
01
L. Hamilton
McLaren
56
Vainqueur
25
02
S. Vettel
RBR
56
+ 5.1 secs
18
03
M. Webber
RBR
56
+ 7.5 secs
15
04
J. Button
McLaren
56
+ 10.0 secs
12
05
N. Rosberg
Mercedes
56
+ 13.4 secs
10
06
F. Massa
Ferrari
56
+ 15.8 secs
8
07
F. Alonso
Ferrari
56
+ 30.6 secs
6
08
M. Schumacher
Mercedes
56
+ 31.0 secs
4
09
V. Petrov
Renault
56
+ 57.4 secs
2
10
K. Kobayashi
Sauber
56
+ 63.2 secs
1
11
P. di Resta
Force India
56
+ 68.7 secs
12
N. Heidfeld
Renault
56
+ 72.7 secs
13
R. Barrichello
Williams
56
+ 90.1 secs
14
S. Buemi
Toro Rosso
56
+ 90.6 secs
15
A. Sutil
Force India
55
+ 1 Tour
16
H. Kovalainen
Lotus
55
+ 1 Tour
17
S. Perez
Sauber
55
+ 1 Tour
18
P. Maldonado
Williams
55
+ 1 Tour
19
J. Trulli
Lotus
55
+ 1 Tour
20
J. d'Ambrosio
Virgin
54
+ 2 Tours
21
T. Glock
Virgin
54
+ 2 Tours
22
V. Liuzzi
HRT
54
+ 2 Tours
23
N. Karthikeyan
HRT
54
+ 2 Tours
Ret
J. Alguersuari
Toro Rosso
9
Abandon

Friday, April 15, 2011

China GP : Alonso & Massa Friday quotes

* Fernando Alonso, 12th and 14th:
"I lost valuable time due to a hydraulic problem, in both sessions, but above all in the first. Unfortunately, I failed to make any long runs in order to get an idea of the degradation of tires, but fortunately, Felipe managed to do with the two types of tires. We have at least a good basis from which to begin. Regarding the new aerodynamic components, it is early to say if top provide a real advantage. The engineers will now analyze the data carefully before drawing any definitive conclusion about whether or not we are moving in the right direction in terms of development. From what little I could see, there is no problem - or at least they are very light - in terms of warming up the hard tires, which could be an aid for us to raise our tire temperature in qualifying.
I do not expect much change from what we saw in Malaysia and Australia, McLaren and Red Bull are mostly faster than us and are the favorites. At present, we can not fight for victory, but that does not mean that we will not try."
* Felipe Massa, 6th and 6th: "As was the case during the first two races of the season, today we saw a Red Bull very fast. I'm reasonably happy with the handling of the car on the long runs, which gave us some interesting results. I hope I have better qualifications, but we know it will be very difficult, so that what we saw today, I think the situation could be similar in race that we saw in Malaysia.
Fernando has used new parts but it is too early to say whether they really represent progress: unfortunately, he had problems and he failed to do as much as expected. Soft tires seem much better than hard: not only because they provide more grip, which is normal, but also because the degradation is not as high as what we've seen before. Over the years, I think it becomes more and more enjoyable to come here in Shanghai at the beginning, everything was a bit chaotic but now the situation has improved .

China GP : FP 2

Pos
Drivers
Teams
Times
Gap
Laps
01
S. Vettel
RBR
1:37.688
34
02
L. Hamilton
McLaren
1:37.854
+ 0.166
22
03
J. Button
McLaren
1:37.935
+ 0.247
31
04
N. Rosberg
Mercedes
1:37.943
+ 0.255
34
05
M. Schumacher
Mercedes
1:38.105
+ 0.417
29
06
F. Massa
Ferrari
1:38.507
+ 0.819
36
07
A. Sutil
Force India
1:38.735
+ 1.047
35
08
N. Heidfeld
Renault
1:38.805
+ 1.117
26
09
V. Petrov
Renault
1:38.859
+ 1.171
31
10
M. Webber
RBR
1:39.327
+ 1.639
33
11
K. Kobayashi
Sauber
1:39.538
+ 1.850
33
12
P. Maldonado
Williams
1:39.667
+ 1.979
37
13
S. Buemi
Toro Rosso
1:39.771
+ 2.083
18
14
F. Alonso
Ferrari
1:39.779
+ 2.091
17
15
J. Alguersuari
Toro Rosso
1:39.828
+ 2.140
25
16
R. Barrichello
Williams
1:39.925
+ 2.237
32
17
S. Perez
Sauber
1:39.953
+ 2.265
30
18
H. Kovalainen
Lotus
1:40.476
+ 2.788
30
19
J. Trulli
Lotus
1:41.482
+ 3.794
32
20
N. Karthikeyan
HRT
1:42.902
+ 5.214
25
21
V. Liuzzi
HRT
1:43.850
+ 6.162
3
22
J. d'Ambrosio
Virgin
1:44.008
+ 6.320
35
23
T. Glock
Virgin
1:44.747
+ 7.059
12
24
P. di Resta
Force India
---
Note that Fernando Alonso has suffered a hydraulic problem on his car, thus preventing him from taking part in much of the session. When he took over the track 10 minutes before the end he was embarrassed in his lap, he was therefore unable to improve his time. But after this session Fernando said that improvements had allowed Ferrari to better use by making the tires heat up faster than the first two GP which can predict a good qualification.

China GP : FP 1

Pos
Drivers
Teams
Times
Gap
Laps
01
S. Vettel
RBR
1:38.739
23
02
M. Webber
RBR
1:39.354
+ 0.615
27
03
L. Hamilton
McLaren
1:40.845
+ 2.106
21
04
J. Button
McLaren
1:40.940
+ 2.201
22
05
N. Heidfeld
Renault
1:40.987
+ 2.248
5
06
F. Massa
Ferrari
1:41.046
+ 2.307
25
07
S. Perez
Sauber
1:41.189
+ 2.450
20
08
P. Maldonado
Williams
1:41.222
+ 2.483
20
09
V. Petrov
Renault
1:41.231
+ 2.492
16
10
S. Buemi
Toro Rosso
1:41.328
+ 2.589
21
11
N. Rosberg
Mercedes
1:41.361
+ 2.622
23
12
F. Alonso
Ferrari
1:41.434
+ 2.695
15
13
N. Hulkenberg
Force India
1:41.494
+ 2.755
20
14
H. Kovalainen
Lotus
1:41.579
+ 2.840
13
15
P. di Resta
Force India
1:41.610
+ 2.871
18
16
D. Ricciardo
Toro Rosso
1:41.752
+ 3.013
20
17
R. Barrichello
Williams
1:41.939
+ 3.200
25
18
M. Schumacher
Mercedes
1:42.301
+ 3.562
23
19
K. Kobayashi
Sauber
1:43.792
+ 5.053
20
20
J. d'Ambrosio
Virgin
1:44.089
+ 5.350
20
21
V. Liuzzi
HRT
1:44.359
+ 5.620
18
22
T. Glock
Virgin
1:44.438
+ 5.699
11
23
L. Razia
Lotus
1:44.542
+ 5.803
9
24
N. Karthikeyan
HRT
1:45.019
+ 6.280
23

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Alonso's blog : China GP part 1


I arrived in Shanghai this morning. Two days relaxing were much needed after what was a very tough weekend in Sepang and now Im ready for the second race in as many weekends, which also brings to an end the first run of Grands Prix outside Europe. I was disappointed not to get to the podium in Malaysia, as it was within my reach and it would have been a great result. It would also have been useful in terms of being a nice morale booster. Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we wanted and we paid a very heavy price for the failure on the system that runs the moveable rear wing. I know that the engineers, with whom Ive been in touch a lot over these past days, have discovered the problem and fixed it. If the system had worked, I could comfortably have got past Hamilton on the pit straight and I would not have found myself having to fight him wheel to wheel and taking risks. What happened is part of racing and you have to accept it: I was quicker than him and so I had to try and pass, otherwise I would have been caught by those behind us. As for the penalty I was given, I already said on Sunday night in Sepang, I dont want to talk about it because it changes nothing.

As we had already seen in Australia, once again in Malaysia, our race pace was much better than that in qualifying. In Sepang, both Felipe and I were running at a pace good enough to get to the podium and that was an important indication, even if we did not end up getting all we could have done. Clearly, I would like to always be fighting for the win but, at the moment, one car, Vettel’s Red Bull, seems to be out of reach.

In Maranello, the engineers are working a lot to try and improve the performance of the 150º Italia. In Shanghai, we are due to try a new front wing and a few other aero updates: let’s hope they bring us something, but we will have to evaluate them very carefully in Friday’s practice. Our aim in this Grand Prix will be similar to the one in Malaysia, which means to make the best of qualifying and try to exploit any opportunity that comes our way during the race. It should be much cooler this weekend than in Sepang, more like what we experienced in Melbourne. Starting on Friday, we will see how the tyres behave and once again we have the Hard as the Prime compound and the Soft as the Option. Malaysia produced a different situation to the first race but we still need to work out how much was down to the temperatures and how much to the nature of the circuits, in terms of their layout and surface.

I spoke to President Montezemolo after the Malaysian race: he was not happy and why would he be, as I was not either. We know we need to react quickly to make up the gap to the championship leader. It’s true that if you compare the situation after the first two races of 2010 with this year, we are a long way behind: back then, yours truly was in the lead and Vettel was quite a way off, but it’s also true that, if you take into consideration the individual races in Australia and Malaysia, I have got eight points more than was the case last year. It’s a bit of a game, but it’s also a way to understand that there are different ways of looking at things, even direct opposites. Also not to be taken seriously was the joke our President made about a hypothetical fantasy government made up of drivers: I thank him for having thought of me for the role of premier, but I’d rather stick to racing!

The news of Thursday

* Organizers of the Bahrain GP always looking to find a new date for organizing their GP now that peace has returned to the country. As a reminder they have until May 1 to communicate a new date to the FIA.
* The circuit, located in Austin, Texas, to house the future GP of the United States in 2012 has been called the "circuit of the Americas."
* The 3 leaders of Ferrari Stefano Domenicali, Pat Fry and Aldo Costa took a trip to Maranello of 48 hours to examine why the wind tunnel results are not the same as on the track and also to bring with them new parts for the GP of China. Besides Ferrari will have for this GP a new front wing and new aero pieces . More Aldo Costa said that Ferrari is working on a flexible front wing like the Red Bull one that will be implemented soon.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The paddock podium of the Malaysia GP


The 4 in :
* Sebastian Vettel:
In both races the 2010 world champion won two victories each time without really being concerned in the race and each time starting from the pole. A perfect start to the season but his opponents have not said their last word !
* Jenson Button: after a half tint Australian GP , Jenson was able to redress the balance by taking 2nd place in Malaysia after a good start and a good strategy. Now it is up to 1 everywhere in his duel with teammate Lewis Hamilton.
* Nick Heidfeld:
acting like an opportunist with a car that holds the road Nick gives his team a second consecutive podium and showed that the Lotus-Renault GP has progress since last year. Certainly he was not able to get second place and took advantage of the mishap between Alonso and Hamilton but he was there at the right place at the right time and that's what counts.
. * Kamui Kobayashi:
the new Sauber is well born and Kamui is still in the points after making a solid race. Bonus for him, he wins a rank after the penalty of lewis hamilton.


The 3 out:
* Mercedes:
while the German team has won two points with the 9th place of Michael Schumacher, but it remains very poor for a team of this caliber. Let's hope they will arrive to back up the hill before the European season.
* Ferrari:
Although the pace of 150 O is much better in the race but it is necessary that the Scuderia is improving very fast in qualifying. New parts are expected for china and I really hope it will bear fruits before a marked improvement in Turkey. But if I put Ferrari in the out of this GP this is mostly for two boondoggles that there has been against two drivers in the pits. Indeed, for his first pit Massa lost 10s and for his last run Alonso has lost 3s ! without these seconds lost both Ferrari drivers would have reached the podium and would not have needed to take risks !
I know that the mistake is human, so I hope that the next GP this does not happen again !
* Mark Webber :
Mark Webber , during the last two GP , started from third on the grid and has spleened his starts. What follows is a race for him to move up the pack rather successful this time but only because of the clash between Alonso and Hamilton. One may wonder if Webber has the same equipment as his teammate but one thing is sure he will have to back his level if he does not qualify as a second driver for Red Bull.
The Unclassifiable:
* Alonso-Hamilton:
you can not really say they have made a good or a bad race but in any case what is certain is that they made the show and we were entertained by trying to surpass each other! Although it did not work as they wished and they end far enough from the podium that held out the arms but it will probably be for next time.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Malaysia GP : Alonso & Massa Sunday quotes

* Fernando Alonso 6th :
"I am excited about this race. Not with the result but because we were finally able to compete and fight against wheels wheels for a place on the podium. This is an additional motivation for the upcoming race in China. We have not been lucky. If the adjustable rear wing had worked perfectly all the time, I could easily surpass Hamilton in a straight line, but instead we had a tough battle. He really defended his position, but unfortunately we touched. It broke my front wing and had to return to the pits to change it. That's what we have lost any chance of a podium. These things happen. That was bad happened to me today, but another day the luck will turn. Here, the car was able to save the tires, which means that we could fight with others.
With the package we had today, we could not fight for victory, but things change quickly.
In Shanghai, we realize that we can expect another difficult weekend. We'll have some news, but we do not know how we can improve. We'll see what we do. There is still a long way to go in the championship."
* Felipe Massa, 5th:
"We really need to improve the car, but it is also true that our race pace is different than in qualifying, which is positive. But we know that the grid position is very important, so we need to bring forward. On my race, it is unfortunate to have lost several seconds during my first stop. Without this, I could have fought for a podium finish. With the soft tires, my pace was very good. It was a little less with hard, so much so that Webber, who made a stop over, managed to pass me."

Malaysia GP : the race

Pos
Drivers
Teams
Laps
Gap
Points
01
S. Vettel
RBR
56
Vainqueur
25
02
J. Button
McLaren
56
+ 3.2 secs
18
03
N. Heidfeld
Renault
56
+ 25.0 secs
15
04
M. Webber
RBR
56
+ 26.3 secs
12
05
F. Massa
Ferrari
56
+ 36.9 secs
10
06
F. Alonso
Ferrari
56
+ 57.2 secs
8
07
K. Kobayashi
Sauber
56
+ 66.4 secs
6
08
L. Hamilton
McLaren
56
+ 69.9 secs
4
09
M. Schumacher
Mercedes
56
+ 84.8 secs
2
10
P. di Resta
Force India
56
+ 91.5 secs
1
11
A. Sutil
Force India
+ 1 Tour
12
N. Rosberg
Mercedes
+ 1 Tour
13
S. Buemi
Toro Rosso
+ 1 Tour
14
J. Alguersuari
Toro Rosso
+ 1 Tour
15
H. Kovalainen
Lotus
+ 1 Tour
16
T. Glock
Virgin
+ 2 Tours
17
V. Petrov
Renault
+ 4 Tours
Ret
V. Liuzzi
HRT
+ 10 Tours
Ret
J. d'Ambrosio
Virgin
+ 14 Tours
Ret
J. Trulli
Lotus
+ 25 Tours
Ret
S. Perez
Sauber
+ 33 Tours
Ret
R. Barrichello
Williams
+ 34 Tours
Ret
N. Karthikeyan
HRT
+ 42 Tours
Ret
P. Maldonado
Williams
+ 48 Tours
* to note :
Alonso and Hamilton have received , after the race , a 20s penalty . For Alonso because he has caused an accident and Hamilton because he has changed his trajectory many times to defend his position .
Despite his penalty Alonso doesn't loose any position but Hamilton loose one position and finishes 8th . Both drivers have accepted their penalty .

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Malaysian GP : Alonso & Massa Saturday quotes

Fernando Alonso 5th :
"We were not quick enough in Australia, and we're not here either. At least not enough to fight for pole. From what we saw during those two races, he Two teams that did better than us during the winter. We must make clear progress in terms of performance and there is no secret. We must make some steps forward, we need be aggressive in our development to make up lost ground.
At the same time, we must remain calm and focused, and during this interval, bringing as many points as possible by exploiting all the opportunities that lie before us. The championship is very long and last year we saw how the situation can change from one race to another. So I feel that this fifth place is a positive result, because many things could happen tomorrow, especially if it rains.
Overnight and this morning after the third practice session, we improved the car setup, and I feel more comfortable than yesterday. I'm going from the clean side of the runway, which is not a bad thing. It is difficult to make predictions for the race. We saw yesterday that the degradation of the tires was very high. We can expect three or four stops. Sunday in Melbourne, our pace was similar to that of the McLaren and was able to fight with Webber, but in qualifying [Melbourne], McLaren was closer to us than it is here ."
Felipe Massa 7th :
"It was not easy in qualifying, especially trying to target the Top 4. We fought with the others but it is clear that, against the best, we're in a defensive race tomorrow. On a of view of strategy, if it is dry, we can expect three or four stops. If it rains, then anything can happen and we must be prepared for any eventuality. Today, the best result we could hope for was fifth. I have not been able to do so, partly because I did not do a perfect lap, but at least I will leave the clean side of the runway.
We know that we lack of downforce. We're working on. Only when we have made progress that we will be able to fight for top positions."

Malaysian GP : the qualies

Pos
Drivers
Teams
Q1
Q2
Q3
Laps
01
S. Vettel
RBR
1:37.468
1:35.934
1:34.870
02
L. Hamilton
McLaren
1:36.861
1:35.852
1:34.974
03
M. Webber
RBR
1:37.924
1:36.080
1:35.179
04
J. Button
McLaren
1:37.033
1:35.569
1:35.200
05
F. Alonso
Ferrari
1:36.897
1:36.320
1:35.802
06
N. Heidfeld
Renault
1:37.224
1:36.811
1:36.124
07
F. Massa
Ferrari
1:36.744
1:36.557
1:36.251
08
V. Petrov
Renault
1:37.210
1:36.642
1:36.324
09
N. Rosberg
Mercedes
1:37.316
1:36.388
1:36.809
10
K. Kobayashi
Sauber
1:36.994
1:36.691
1:36.820
11
M. Schumacher
Mercedes
1:36.904
1:37.035
12
S. Buemi
Toro Rosso
1:37.693
1:37.160
13
J. Alguersuari
Toro Rosso
1:37.677
1:37.347
14
P. di Resta
Force India
1:38.045
1:37.370
15
R. Barrichello
Williams
1:38.163
1:37.496
16
S. Perez
Sauber
1:37.759
1:37.528
17
A. Sutil
Force India
1:37.693
1:37.593
18
P. Maldonado
Williams
1:38.276
19
H. Kovalainen
Lotus
1:38.645
20
J. Trulli
Lotus
1:38.791
21
T. Glock
Virgin
1:40.648
22
J. d'Ambrosio
Virgin
1:41.001
23
V. Liuzzi
HRT
1:41.549
24
N. Karthikeyan
HRT
1:42.574

Friday, April 8, 2011

Malaysian GP : Alonso & Massa Friday quotes

* Fernando Alonso :
"Given how things went today, it seems to be a tough weekend but we will do everything we can to get closer faster. Today, things do not go well past and we had trouble finding a good balance on the car, so tonight we will look at how we can improve.
On a track like this, with the weather so variable and degradation of tires being what it is, there will be many factors involved in the battle for the top places and just being the fastest is not enough . This morning we worked on aerodynamics to understand what had not worked as planned in Australia, but even if we were quick in Melbourne, there's always work to do. This is just the beginning of the season: we are not fast enough to fight for victory and pole position but this does not mean that we must throw ourselves into the void. No, instead we must redouble our efforts to quickly reduce the gap that separates us from those who have done a better job than us."
* Felipe Massa :
"It's logical that I expected and hoped to be faster, especially considering the two teams that are clearly ahead. We'll see what we can do here tonight and tomorrow to improve the car. There is not much grip and tire degradation is also very high and, as we have seen in the last part of the second meeting, when everyone was running with probably a lot of fuel on board, we were not the only ones with a problem.
If the race was on the dry, choose the right strategy would be very complicated. The soft tires work better, providing much more grip and they are much faster, although there is much more degradation. The drives appear slower and, at first glance seem a bit more durable, but they do not last much longer than soft. We must ensure we are ready for whatever happens this weekend. During the last two days We saw that at the start of qualifying and the race, it always rains. If this also happens during the next two days, anything canhappen."

Malaysian GP : FP2

Pos
Drivers
Teams
Times
Gap
Laps
01
M. Webber
RBR
1:36.876
24
02
J. Button
McLaren
1:36.881
+ 0.005
30
03
L. Hamilton
McLaren
1:37.010
+ 0.134
23
04
S. Vettel
RBR
1:37.090
+ 0.214
30
05
M. Schumacher
Mercedes
1:38.088
+ 1.212
26
06
F. Massa
Ferrari
1:38.089
+ 1.213
31
07
N. Rosberg
Mercedes
1:38.565
+ 1.689
25
08
N. Heidfeld
Renault
1:38.570
+ 1.694
16
09
F. Alonso
Ferrari
1:38.583
+ 1.707
27
10
J. Alguersuari
Toro Rosso
1:38.846
+ 1.970
31
11
P. Maldonado
Williams
1:38.968
+ 2.092
25
12
R. Barrichello
Williams
1:39.187
+ 2.311
30
13
V. Petrov
Renault
1:39.267
+ 2.391
17
14
K. Kobayashi
Sauber
1:39.398
+ 2.522
29
15
S. Perez
Sauber
1:39.603
+ 2.727
34
16
P. di Resta
Force India
1:39.625
+ 2.749
31
17
A. Sutil
Force India
1:39.809
+ 2.933
28
18
S. Buemi
Toro Rosso
1:40.115
+ 3.239
31
19
T. Glock
Virgin
1:40.866
+ 3.990
24
20
J. Trulli
Lotus
1:41.890
+ 5.014
19
21
N. Karthikeyan
HRT
1:43.197
+ 6.321
15
22
V. Liuzzi
HRT
1:43.991
+ 7.115
14
23
H. Kovalainen
Lotus
1:44.886
+ 8.010
4
24
J. d'Ambrosio
Virgin
---

Malaysian GP : EL1

Position
Drivers
Teams
Times
Gap
Laps
01
M. Webber
RBR
1:37.651
22
02
L. Hamilton
McLaren
1:39.316
+ 1.665
16
03
M. Schumacher
Mercedes
1:39.791
+ 2.140
29
04
N. Hulkenberg
Force India
1:40.377
+ 2.726
23
05
P. Maldonado
Williams
1:40.443
+ 2.792
31
06
F. Massa
Ferrari
1:40.453
+ 2.802
22
07
N. Heidfeld
Renault
1:40.525
+ 2.874
6
08
R. Barrichello
Williams
1:40.581
+ 2.930
21
09
F. Alonso
Ferrari
1:40.601
+ 2.950
23
10
N. Rosberg
Mercedes
1:40.646
+ 2.995
29
11
A. Sutil
Force India
1:40.734
+ 3.083
21
12
D. Ricciardo
Toro Rosso
1:40.748
+ 3.097
23
13
J. Alguersuari
Toro Rosso
1:40.770
+ 3.119
24
14
K. Kobayashi
Sauber
1:40.872
+ 3.221
27
15
J. Button
McLaren
1:40.927
+ 3.276
16
16
J. Trulli
Lotus
1:41.620
+ 3.969
21
17
S. Vettel
RBR
1:41.627
+ 3.976
18
18
S. Perez
Sauber
1:41.642
+ 3.991
24
19
T. Glock
Virgin
1:42.154
+ 4.503
18
20
J. d'Ambrosio
Virgin
1:42.540
+ 4.889
20
21
D. Valsecchi
Lotus
1:44.054
+ 6.403
18
22
V. Liuzzi
HRT
1:45.228
+ 7.577
20
23
N. Karthikeyan
HRT
1:46.267
+ 8.616
10
24
V. Petrov
Renault
1:47.932
+ 10.281
4

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Fernando Alonso on holiday on Hamilton island !

Fernando Alonso has spent a few days on the Hamilton Island off Australian coast last week to recharge the batteries before beginning the weekend of the Malaysian Grand Prix. Program : golf , relaxing and meeting with koalas !

Fernando's blog : Malaysia part 1


I arrived in Malaysia a few days ago, having stayed a while in Australia, on Hamilton Island. I decided to stay in this part of the world so as to be used to the local time zone, given we now take on two races in the Far East, first in Sepang and then in Shanghai. Its important to get used to the weather conditions, especially here where the temperatures are around the 30 OC mark and, much more significantly, its very humid. I have done some sport, because its essential to keep training: in this race you lose a lot of liquid and its very tough driving in these conditions, so you need to be on top form to tackle the weekend properly. Being 100% ready in this respect can make all the difference on Sunday afternoon as even on a mental level, this race is very special.

The fact that the weather can change so quickly here makes the preparation work for the various phases of work on track more stressful. Suddenly it can go from sunshine to a short sharp shower and you need to be prepared for every eventuality. Its not just a problem for us drivers, as its affects the whole team: in some cases you need to be ready with a plan B or C, or even maybe a D for all the various scenarios!

Luckily its not all been work, as I was able to have some fun too which is good as it helps you unwind at such a busy time: from the start of testing there hasnt been much of a break in this bit of the season.

I stayed in touch with the engineers, via email and phone. We re-examined the way the weekend had gone in Melbourne and we discussed our preparations for here in Sepang. We know we have to improve our performance level, but we are equally aware that in the end, the race result was not such a disaster. We will have a few minor updates on the car, but nothing very significant, or the sort of thing you could say would be the key to take a leap forward in performance terms. I believe we must stay concentrated on our own work and try to understand how to get all the potential out of the 150° Italia and I’m sure there’s plenty to come. Before we achieve that, it’s pointless standing here making predictions about how the weekend will turn out. We just have to tackle it one day at a time.

My happiest memory of Sepang circuit goes back to my first ever pole position, which I secured on 22 March 2003. Neither myself, nor my team, Renault, had expected that sort of result on Saturday morning, but come the end of qualifying, we found ourselves with both cars on the front row. It was a very happy moment and I can still clearly remember how the afternoon went, then the dinner and Sunday morning, when I was thinking about what would happen in the race. Every time I come back here, I think of that weekend, at the happiness of taking pole and the feeling of trepidation going into the race. I did not win, as later happened in 2005 and 2007, but I was still third and so managed to jump up on the podium for the first time. It was definitely a weekend to remember for a long time!
 (source : http://www.ferrari.com )

Sunday, April 3, 2011

The news of Sunday

* Sauber said they will not appeal against their exclusion from the Australian Grand Prix for a non conforming rear wing . They acknowledged they had erred in the audit of the rear wings at the manufacture . However the team has declared that the great race they have done was not due to these wings that gave them no advantage.
* Pirelli plans to review the marking of tires including white and gray colors are hardly noticeable to spectators.
* In May Kimi Raikkonen will start a new career in NASCAR in the U.S.! First in the Truck Series championship as Nelson Piquet Jr. and all this with his own team.

The paddock podium of Australia


The Australian GP now over it's time to tell who was in and who was out :
-The 5 in :
* Sebastian Vettel:
Vettel has first uses his number 1 by the pole and victory in Australia. Red Bull has shown herself stronger and faster than her opponents , but we'll see if the team will materialize or not at the next GP.
* Lewis Hamilton:
McLaren made a bluff this winter, claiming we should not count on them for the victory in Australia and yet Hamilton has signed the 2nd place in qualifying and racing. Lewis had never been able, during the GP, to be faster than Vettel and beyond as the Albert Park circuit is not really indicative of forces, it will take Malaysia to see truly where is the Mclaren.
* Vitaly Petrov:
the Russian pilote of Lotus-Renault had a solid weekend, starting sixth on the grid and finishing in 3rd place in the race thus giving Russia its first podium in F1! Australia does well at Renault since last year it's Robert Kubica who finished second.
* Fernando Alonso :
although having a weaker ferrari than expected in qualifying and after a poor start, Alonso was caught by finishing 4th with only 1.5 seconds late than Petrov and with making one more stop than his competitors. He gave us a great duel with Webber and managed to finish ahead of Webber and Button that same winning valuable points that will surely help for more. But Ferrari needs to improve and do better in Malaysia to move closer to Red Bull.
* Sauber:
even if the team has been disqualified after the race due to a non-conforming rear wing, both Sauber drivers have made a strong race by demonstrating strong abilities including rookie Sergio Perez who did only one stop for this GP !

-the 4 out:
* Mercedes:
we knew they were slower than the leaders but we thought they had improved their car at the last free practice . Well it is not! after a poor qualifying and an anonymous race for both drivers , Mercedes resumes from Melbourne with no point. For Mercedes it will correct this and fast !
* Webber - Button - Massa: they are teammates with 3 world champions but none has really shined this weekend. Webber finished fifth far from Vettel and unable to overtake Alonso, Button finished sixth and saw his race ruined by a penalty for overtaking Massa outside the limits of the track and Massa, despite a good start to the race with a good start and a great duel with Button, has been in trouble with his tires.
* Heidfeld :
Nick had a bad race marred by poor qualies . Big downside for him especially if we see that his teammate, though less experienced than him has finished on the podium.
* HRT:
though HRT did not participate to the race because of the 107% rule it was still hoped that the small Spanish team will run this weekend . But everything went wrong ! let's hope this bad start of season will give them a boost for the second race in Malaysia !