The news of the week

* FOTA has published the schedule of private testing of the 2012 offseason: the teams will go on 7th to 10th of February at Jerez and then from 21st to 24th of February and from 1st to 4th of March in Barcelona. Finally it will be the comeback of private testing during the season since a session will be held on the Mugello circuit, owned by Ferrari, just before the GP in Barcelona , more precisely on the may 1st .
* Charlie Whiting made a visit in late August to the organizers of GP from India and validated the circuit. However the license to host the Formula 1 Grand Prix will be issued one week prior to the GP when the project will be completed.
* Fia's plans to create a third free practice session on Friday of each GP reserved to 3rd pilots to make them more useful while allowing teams to test longer parts of their cars.

The news of the week

* FOTA has published the schedule of private testing of the 2012 offseason: the teams will go on 7th to 10th of February at Jerez and then from 21st to 24th of February and from 1st to 4th of March in Barcelona. Finally it will be the comeback of private testing during the season since a session will be held on the Mugello circuit, owned by Ferrari, just before the GP in Barcelona , more precisely on the may 1st . * Charlie Whiting made a visit in late August to the organizers of GP from India and validated the circuit. However the license to host the Formula 1 Grand Prix will be issued one week prior to the GP when the project will be completed. * Fia's plans to create a third free practice session on Friday of each GP reserved to 3rd pilots to make them more useful while allowing teams to test longer parts of their cars.

F1 2012 schedule

Here is the schedule that was retained by the FIA for the 2012 season of Formula 1. You can notice that the GP of Turkey is no longer in the program. In addition the new United States GP will take place in October and therefore will experience warmer temperatures compared to June where it was originally scheduled to occur. Bahrain is also back but will no longer be the opening GP , work that remains in the hands of Australia, since it will be the fourth round. Finally there will be five weeks of summer break, relegating the GP of Belgium in September. Date Circuit Country 1. March 18 Australia Albert Park 2. March 25 Malaysia Sepang3. April 15 China Shanghai 4. April 22Sakhir Bahrain 5. May 13 Spain Catalunya 6. May 27 Monaco 7. June 10 Canada Gilles Villeneuve 8. June 24 Europe (Valencia) Valencia 9. July 10 Great Britain Silverstone 10. July 22 Germany Hockenheim 11. 29 July Hungary Hungaroring 12. 2 September Belgium Spa-Francorchamps 13. September 9Italy Monza 14. September 23 Singapor Marina Bay 15. October 7 Japan Suzuka. 16. October 14 South Korea Yeongam 17. October 28 India Buddh 18. November 4Abu Dhabi Yas Marina 19. November 18 U.S. Circuit of the Americas 20. November 25 Brazil Interlagos

Belgium GP : Alonso & Massa Sunday quotes

* Fernando Alonso(4th) :
"It's hard or impossible to do better than fourth place today because we have suffered with the hard tires. In these circumstances we are a two second slower than the best. Honestly I did not have a chance to win, but a podium was within reach. The strategy has allowed us to lead in the opening laps but we knew that this limit would be more difficult. I liked the first part of the race, the start was good and there was good duels. It's a shame for the podium, which was our objective to reach in spite of our eighth place in qualifying yesterday. The situation was different today compared to yesterday but we know that with cool temperatures as we are in trouble. At present, we must congratulate our opponents who do a fantastic job, but we do not give up, as it will be possible from a mathematical, we will always be there to try to win and give the maximum pleasure in Monza, an event so special for Ferrari and his fans, we will do the same for the end of the season. " * Felipe Massa(8th) :
"It was a strange race. In the first few laps I was fighting for the top positions, but then I started having problems with the tires on the car, it had more balance. In tire drives the situation has improved, perhaps through changes of fortunes, but it was too late. And I had a puncture on the left rear tire which forced me to make an extra stop. When I found myself behind Rosberg, I have not managed to pass him against the DRS, as its top speed was very good. I struggled in the slow corners at the chicane and La Source, this prevented me from attacking the best ways. The next race is at home, for the team and for me it is very important, we would make a very good result at home. "

Belgium GP : the race

Belgium GP : Alonso & Massa Saturday quotes

* Fernando Alonso(8th) :
"The eighth is not a good result but we must accept it and try to remedy this with a good race tomorrow. I am confident because I know the potential of the car is much better than what we saw today. We were able to manage the Q1 and Q2 but the red flag in Q2 we put a little pressure because we were close to being eliminated. If the conditions were at the level of expectations I I would not think the pole position, but I managed to place me on the first two lines. Malheureusmeent nothing has been as expected, I did not turn me clean and Perez blocked then it was Webber's turn. I have some regrets because I could achieve a better result, no one knows exactly what will be the performance of each tomorrow, we have seen huge differences and it is played on very little . In addition, we have no idea how capable of running the race tomorrow and we will do everything to be on the podium. "
* Felipe Massa(4th) :
"At the beginning of the qualifications, if you had told me that I would be fourth, I would have signed. My result is not so bad, even if the cars in front of me had a much faster rate than ours. But it is true that in Q3 we had the worst possible conditions for us and we could not be better because we have a problem, compared to others, to raise our tires in temperature. I think that tomorrow, if the track is dry, we will be more competitive and I hope to fight with the drivers ahead of me. It is difficult to predict because we do not have much data on the degradation of tires, but I think there will be two or 3 stops. I'm still on the dirty side of the track? We'll see, but it's certainly not as detrimental to Budapest and I think I can make a good start. "

Belgium GP : the qualifying session