Source: formula1hd
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Kamis, 14 Oktober 2010
Selasa, 12 Oktober 2010
Hamilton admits title 'doesn't look good' after 'weekend to forget'
Whilst he just about avoided another costly retirement in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka last weekend, McLaren-Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton has acknowledged that his F1 2010 title chances are currently receding by the race...
In the wake of what he described as 'one of the worst weekends [he] can remember', Lewis Hamilton has conceded that his chances of clinching his second drivers' crown in F1 2010 have sunk to a new low, as he ruefully reflected that his title shot 'doesn't look good'.
It was, indeed, something of a nightmare weekend for Hamilton at Suzuka, with a heavy 'off' during practice on Friday morning leading to an almost complete lack of set-up time given the FP3 wash-out the following day, and a five-place penalty for a gearbox change leaving the McLaren-Mercedes star just eighth on the grid, behind all four of his world championship rivals.
A bright start, however, hinted at a change in fortunes – an overdue one, it has to be said, off the back of three failures to finish and therefore to score from the four previous grands prix – only for his replacement gearbox to similarly malfunction and restrict Hamilton to a distant fifth place at the chequered flag, needing to drive the latter stages with no third gear and able to use only fourth to seventh.
The 25-year-old confessed that having initially feared the worst – a fourth DNF from five races – he was grateful merely to make it to the finish line and pick up ten points for his troubles, but with Sebastian Vettel tallying 25 for victory, world championship leader Mark Webber 18 for second place, Fernando Alonso 15 for third and his own team-mate Jenson Button twelve for fourth, he is all-too-aware that the crown is slipping increasingly from his grasp.
“I'd definitely say it's been a weekend to forget” the erstwhile title favourite is quoted as having said by Reuters, revealing that to add insult to injury over his Japanese Grand Prix weekend, he was suffering from an ear infection and had to endure the ignominy of being driven around the circuit in a 'ridiculous', 1950s open-topped three-wheeled Messerschmitt 'Bubble Car' during the pre-race drivers' parade. “It's probably been one of the worst weekends that I can remember.
“Not finishing the race in the previous ones was perhaps a little bit worse, but in terms of bad luck overall – the collective amount of bad luck – it's a bit unfortunate, this one. I can't imagine a weekend with more problems, to be honest.”
“I have no idea,” he continued, when asked about the championship now, sitting as he is some 28 points adrift of Webber. “[It] doesn't look good. I'm just thankful and so happy that I at least saw the end of the race – it's the first finish for a long time. You have to try and remain optimistic, but I didn't think it was going to make it, to be honest. The car was making a lot of noise, so I just kept my fingers crossed and tried not to make too many shifts and look after it.
“There are still three races to go and still 75 points available, but you know these guys (Webber, Vettel and Alonso) just continue to pick up points consistently, non stop. It will be very difficult, but we will keep pushing.”
The one tiny glimmer of light at the end of a miserable few days for Hamilton, was the confirmation from McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh that the successive gearbox issues would not lead to a further grid penalty in Korea next weekend, with the Englishman explaining: “It's not a problem for the next race. We've taken the penalty for this weekend, so we have a free gearbox change for the next race.”
Source: Crash.net
In the wake of what he described as 'one of the worst weekends [he] can remember', Lewis Hamilton has conceded that his chances of clinching his second drivers' crown in F1 2010 have sunk to a new low, as he ruefully reflected that his title shot 'doesn't look good'.It was, indeed, something of a nightmare weekend for Hamilton at Suzuka, with a heavy 'off' during practice on Friday morning leading to an almost complete lack of set-up time given the FP3 wash-out the following day, and a five-place penalty for a gearbox change leaving the McLaren-Mercedes star just eighth on the grid, behind all four of his world championship rivals.
A bright start, however, hinted at a change in fortunes – an overdue one, it has to be said, off the back of three failures to finish and therefore to score from the four previous grands prix – only for his replacement gearbox to similarly malfunction and restrict Hamilton to a distant fifth place at the chequered flag, needing to drive the latter stages with no third gear and able to use only fourth to seventh.
The 25-year-old confessed that having initially feared the worst – a fourth DNF from five races – he was grateful merely to make it to the finish line and pick up ten points for his troubles, but with Sebastian Vettel tallying 25 for victory, world championship leader Mark Webber 18 for second place, Fernando Alonso 15 for third and his own team-mate Jenson Button twelve for fourth, he is all-too-aware that the crown is slipping increasingly from his grasp.
“I'd definitely say it's been a weekend to forget” the erstwhile title favourite is quoted as having said by Reuters, revealing that to add insult to injury over his Japanese Grand Prix weekend, he was suffering from an ear infection and had to endure the ignominy of being driven around the circuit in a 'ridiculous', 1950s open-topped three-wheeled Messerschmitt 'Bubble Car' during the pre-race drivers' parade. “It's probably been one of the worst weekends that I can remember.
“Not finishing the race in the previous ones was perhaps a little bit worse, but in terms of bad luck overall – the collective amount of bad luck – it's a bit unfortunate, this one. I can't imagine a weekend with more problems, to be honest.”
“I have no idea,” he continued, when asked about the championship now, sitting as he is some 28 points adrift of Webber. “[It] doesn't look good. I'm just thankful and so happy that I at least saw the end of the race – it's the first finish for a long time. You have to try and remain optimistic, but I didn't think it was going to make it, to be honest. The car was making a lot of noise, so I just kept my fingers crossed and tried not to make too many shifts and look after it.
“There are still three races to go and still 75 points available, but you know these guys (Webber, Vettel and Alonso) just continue to pick up points consistently, non stop. It will be very difficult, but we will keep pushing.”
The one tiny glimmer of light at the end of a miserable few days for Hamilton, was the confirmation from McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh that the successive gearbox issues would not lead to a further grid penalty in Korea next weekend, with the Englishman explaining: “It's not a problem for the next race. We've taken the penalty for this weekend, so we have a free gearbox change for the next race.”
Source: Crash.net
Alonso's Blog: Still five fighting for the title
I’m in Tokyo for a few days of relaxation in the middle of this long trip to the Far East. It’s a city I really like – always new and interesting – and it’s a pleasure to be able to spend a bit of time here. The outcome of the Japanese Grand Prix remains positive, even now in the cold light of day. We are in a phase of the season where one negative weekend can cost us dear and to come away with a good third place from a race that we expected to be difficult was important. We were certainly hoping that perhaps the situation would have been different in Suzuka but we must not forget that it’s a track that seems to have been designed to show off the qualities of the Red Bull. As early as Friday we understood that it would be difficult and, even if we knew what was coming, there remains a bit of regret that we couldn’t fight for the win. But now we must put the weekend behind us and concentrate on the next race, where we know that we must try to raise our level of performance: another 5th place in qualifying would certainly not help us.
In Korea we will have to attack because now we must close the gap to Webber. To lose any more ground would make the situation more complicated. We’ve been working on the new track for a few days on the simulator: the first two sectors are very quick with long straights while the last sector reminds me of the last part of the circuit at Abu Dhabi. The tarmac is wide, which should make it possible to try overtaking moves. I’m always curious to discover a new circuit, both from a personal and professional point of view. From next Wednesday onwards I will try to discover if the simulations have been accurate enough. Then we will have a few more kilometres of running available on Friday compared to usual so we can find the right feeling on the track.
I still think that the fight for the title is open for five drivers. Too many times this year we’ve seen someone come back into the game after they’d seemed out of it – and that could easily happen again. Having said that, perhaps the only one who can afford a bad weekend is Webber: for all the others it would perhaps mean giving up any chance, especially the ones who are a bit behind today. The Korean Grand Prix could therefore start to be decisive for some – and for me it will be important also to be able to count on my team-mate Felipe. I know that he will be really hoping to make up for two negative results and he has all the capacities required to return to the podium. What’s more, it will be very useful to work together to discover all the secrets of the new track so we can prepare our cars in the best way. In a moment like this every detail matters to achieve our goals.
Source: Alonso's Blog - Ferrari.com
Why Robert Kubica is arguably the best driver in F1
Although Robert Kubica's Japanese Grand Prix lasted only a couple of laps behind the safety car, his qualifying performance emphasised again the Renault driver's claim to being a future world champion
By Mark Hughes
BBC F1 commentary box producer in Suzuka
On the Formula 1 calendar there are only three outstanding driver's tracks - where there is scope for a great driver to transcend the level of his car. They are Monaco, Spa and Suzuka.
The remainder are 'technical tracks', where the lap-time potential is defined almost totally by the car, the difference between a great and a good driver on the stopwatch relatively small.
At each of those three special tracks this year, Kubica has qualified what is otherwise a lower-top-10-level car on the front or second row.
It is confirmation of a very special talent but one that is still under-appreciated by the wider world.
It is the sort of anomaly that occurs only with very special prospects, such as: Michael Schumacher qualifying the Jordan seventh at Spa on his F1 debut in 1991; Mika Hakkinen out-qualifying Ayrton Senna the first time they were paired together at McLaren in Portugal in 1993; Senna terrorising the field at Monaco in 1984 with a car from the unfancied Toleman team; in 2001 Fernando Alonso qualifying the outclassed Minardi in places it had no right being in.
When taking into consideration the machinery at their disposal, how much they have squeezed from what they have, how few errors have been made, there is a very real case to be made for putting Kubica ahead of all the other drivers this year.
But for such status to be taken seriously, the 25-year-old Pole desperately needs a front-running car from Renault next year, something the team have not delivered since the Alonso glory days of 2005-06.
That is a long time ago now and technical director James Allison is acutely aware of the responsibility that Kubica's presence brings with it.
"If we can give him a car that's even half capable of getting a championship he'll get one," Allison said. "Not everyone in the pit lane can say that about their drivers.
"He's properly committed to being a world champion, no doubt about that. He is one of those very, very top guys where you know that if the car is not running at the front it's because of the car, not him.
"He's not only incredibly fast but you just know you can rely on him to do a fast lap when that's what's needed.
"You know he will not make mistakes when the pressure is on him and he'll plough out lap after lap after lap at a really good pace.
"He expects a lot from everyone all the time; he's positive, demanding and pushing but puts the work in himself too.
"Having a really top-flight driver like that gives you a fantastic baseline to work from.
"In that regard he's similar to Fernando [Kubica's predecessor at Renault] but the area where he's different is he is more intense about it, seems more fully immersed in racing and wanting to be a champion.
"I guess Fernando had already done that but Robert is just brilliantly committed to making this team and relationship a success and helping us to drag ourselves back to where we need to be."
The Renault guys love Kubica and not only because he is fast and almost error-free but also because there is nothing he would rather be doing than sitting in the garage talking about how to make the car faster.
And if it is not that it will be regaling the mechanics with stories from his karting days or talking about the rally car he competes in as a hobby between races.
When Kubica was a BMW driver he was asked what he would like as a company car and they did not know quite how to react when he replied: "A Mitsubishi Evo 7."
Allison is quietly confident that the team can give Kubica something more worthy of the driver's ability for next year. He puts the shortfall of this year's R30 down to key personnel losses in the aerodynamics department that have now been fully recovered.
"We also have much better tools in conceiving next year's car," he stated. "Our CFD department is now a very powerful tool and we now have a tunnel that gives us a much better and more realistic simulation to what happens on the track.
"There's a bunch of other things very helpful, such as how much quicker it speeds up and slows down than the old road.
"Although it's only two or three minutes per run, when you do as many runs as we do that stacks up to an awful lot of time and throughput is a very important thing in a tunnel.
"Our old road used to take about 30 seconds from one yaw angle to our other yaw angle, whereas this one does it in a couple of seconds and that productivity improvement is actually quite substantial.
"I see no reason why we can't be competing at the front in 2011."
That's the technical man talking. So long as the commercial side is resolved to allow that potential to be accessed, there is reason for optimism about Kubica's prospects.
The team's new ownership regime - it is effectively leased from Renault by investment group Genii Capital - has had its rocky moments this year as it adapts to life in the F1 paddock at a time of global economic restraint.
The bald fact is that Renault need a car somewhere close to as good as the Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari have been this year if Kubica is to excel at anywhere other than Monaco, Spa, and Suzuka next year.
If they fail to provide that, Kubica may reluctantly be forced to seek confirmation of his stature elsewhere.
Source: BBC Sport
By Mark HughesBBC F1 commentary box producer in Suzuka
On the Formula 1 calendar there are only three outstanding driver's tracks - where there is scope for a great driver to transcend the level of his car. They are Monaco, Spa and Suzuka.
The remainder are 'technical tracks', where the lap-time potential is defined almost totally by the car, the difference between a great and a good driver on the stopwatch relatively small.
At each of those three special tracks this year, Kubica has qualified what is otherwise a lower-top-10-level car on the front or second row.
It is confirmation of a very special talent but one that is still under-appreciated by the wider world.
It is the sort of anomaly that occurs only with very special prospects, such as: Michael Schumacher qualifying the Jordan seventh at Spa on his F1 debut in 1991; Mika Hakkinen out-qualifying Ayrton Senna the first time they were paired together at McLaren in Portugal in 1993; Senna terrorising the field at Monaco in 1984 with a car from the unfancied Toleman team; in 2001 Fernando Alonso qualifying the outclassed Minardi in places it had no right being in.
When taking into consideration the machinery at their disposal, how much they have squeezed from what they have, how few errors have been made, there is a very real case to be made for putting Kubica ahead of all the other drivers this year.
But for such status to be taken seriously, the 25-year-old Pole desperately needs a front-running car from Renault next year, something the team have not delivered since the Alonso glory days of 2005-06.
That is a long time ago now and technical director James Allison is acutely aware of the responsibility that Kubica's presence brings with it.
"If we can give him a car that's even half capable of getting a championship he'll get one," Allison said. "Not everyone in the pit lane can say that about their drivers.
"He's properly committed to being a world champion, no doubt about that. He is one of those very, very top guys where you know that if the car is not running at the front it's because of the car, not him.
"He's not only incredibly fast but you just know you can rely on him to do a fast lap when that's what's needed.
"You know he will not make mistakes when the pressure is on him and he'll plough out lap after lap after lap at a really good pace.
"He expects a lot from everyone all the time; he's positive, demanding and pushing but puts the work in himself too.
"Having a really top-flight driver like that gives you a fantastic baseline to work from.
"In that regard he's similar to Fernando [Kubica's predecessor at Renault] but the area where he's different is he is more intense about it, seems more fully immersed in racing and wanting to be a champion.
"I guess Fernando had already done that but Robert is just brilliantly committed to making this team and relationship a success and helping us to drag ourselves back to where we need to be."
The Renault guys love Kubica and not only because he is fast and almost error-free but also because there is nothing he would rather be doing than sitting in the garage talking about how to make the car faster.
And if it is not that it will be regaling the mechanics with stories from his karting days or talking about the rally car he competes in as a hobby between races.
When Kubica was a BMW driver he was asked what he would like as a company car and they did not know quite how to react when he replied: "A Mitsubishi Evo 7."
Allison is quietly confident that the team can give Kubica something more worthy of the driver's ability for next year. He puts the shortfall of this year's R30 down to key personnel losses in the aerodynamics department that have now been fully recovered.
"We also have much better tools in conceiving next year's car," he stated. "Our CFD department is now a very powerful tool and we now have a tunnel that gives us a much better and more realistic simulation to what happens on the track.
"There's a bunch of other things very helpful, such as how much quicker it speeds up and slows down than the old road.
"Although it's only two or three minutes per run, when you do as many runs as we do that stacks up to an awful lot of time and throughput is a very important thing in a tunnel.
"Our old road used to take about 30 seconds from one yaw angle to our other yaw angle, whereas this one does it in a couple of seconds and that productivity improvement is actually quite substantial.
"I see no reason why we can't be competing at the front in 2011."
That's the technical man talking. So long as the commercial side is resolved to allow that potential to be accessed, there is reason for optimism about Kubica's prospects.
The team's new ownership regime - it is effectively leased from Renault by investment group Genii Capital - has had its rocky moments this year as it adapts to life in the F1 paddock at a time of global economic restraint.
The bald fact is that Renault need a car somewhere close to as good as the Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari have been this year if Kubica is to excel at anywhere other than Monaco, Spa, and Suzuka next year.
If they fail to provide that, Kubica may reluctantly be forced to seek confirmation of his stature elsewhere.
Source: BBC Sport
Senin, 11 Oktober 2010
Petrov penalised after taking out Hulkenberg
Vitaly Petrov will lose five-places on the grid at the next event in Korea.
Renault's Vitaly Petrov has been punished by the stewards following the F1 2010 Japanese Grand Prix today.
The stewards ruled post-race that he had breach the regulations by causing a collision with the Williams of Nico Hulkenberg at the start of the race. As a result he picks up a five-place grid penalty for the next event in Korea.
Speaking after the race, Petrov maintained that he had to move over because of Nick Heidfeld.
“I made a good start and managed to overtake [Felipe] Massa,” Petrov explained. “I was then going passed Hulkenberg with [Nick] Heidfeld on my right when he started to move left and so I also had to move left to avoid him. Unfortunately I hit the side of Hulkenberg's car and this is why I crashed.”
Hulkenberg, who was the innocent victim, added: “I had a bad start and I didn't get off the line at all. I then saw Petrov coming up behind me. He touched my front right wheel and that was it.
"You never want to finish a race that early, but today it happened and it was unfortunate for us both. The team are doing a really good job developing the car and that showed in our qualifying performance so it was a shame to finish that early.”
Source: Crash
Renault's Vitaly Petrov has been punished by the stewards following the F1 2010 Japanese Grand Prix today.The stewards ruled post-race that he had breach the regulations by causing a collision with the Williams of Nico Hulkenberg at the start of the race. As a result he picks up a five-place grid penalty for the next event in Korea.
Speaking after the race, Petrov maintained that he had to move over because of Nick Heidfeld.
“I made a good start and managed to overtake [Felipe] Massa,” Petrov explained. “I was then going passed Hulkenberg with [Nick] Heidfeld on my right when he started to move left and so I also had to move left to avoid him. Unfortunately I hit the side of Hulkenberg's car and this is why I crashed.”
Hulkenberg, who was the innocent victim, added: “I had a bad start and I didn't get off the line at all. I then saw Petrov coming up behind me. He touched my front right wheel and that was it.
"You never want to finish a race that early, but today it happened and it was unfortunate for us both. The team are doing a really good job developing the car and that showed in our qualifying performance so it was a shame to finish that early.”
Source: Crash
'Super' Kobayashi thrilled TV-watching Kubica
Kamui Kobayashi was the hero of Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, enhancing his growing reputation as the launcher of kamikaze overtaking moves.To the delight of his Japanese fans, the Sauber rookie scythed through the field from fourteenth on the grid to seventh at the finish.
"The way he overtook several competitors was absolutely spectacular," said team CEO Monisha Kaltenborn, standing in as team boss in Japan for the absent Peter Sauber.
The 24-year-old launched audacious moves on Adrian Sutil, Rubens Barrichello and Jaime Alguersuari, but teammate Nick Heidfeld was dispensed rather more easily.
"The team asked me not to make any problems for him," the German is quoted by Swiss newspaper Blick.
The paper's veteran correspondent Roger Benoit asked Kobayashi precisely how many overtaking moves he attempted at Suzuka on Sunday.
"I can't remember," he answered. "I only know that there were crashes all around me at the start, and later I made some contacts with my opponents.
"My car is rather damaged!" he revealed.
Team manager Beat Zehnder explained: "Some deflectors are missing from the car, and the sidepod has a big hole in it. Also a part of the front wing isn't there any more."
Renault's Robert Kubica retired from the race after five minutes with a missing wheel.
Said the Pole: "What Kamui did with his car was super. Because I had to watch on television, he saved my day."
Source: Motorsport
Button was a 'sacrificial lamb' - Horner
Red Bull suspects McLaren was trying to use Jenson Button as a "sacrificial lamb" at the Japanese Grand Prix to boost Lewis Hamilton's chances, until a gearbox problem put a halt to the strategy.Button started the race on hard tyres, allowing him to run longer than his rivals and take the lead of the race, ahead of the Red Bulls, midway through the race. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes Button's alternative strategy was a deliberate attempt by McLaren to back the faster Red Bulls into Fernando Alonso and Hamilton behind, to give the second McLaren driver a chance to catch up.
"We were a bit concerned by Jenson's race strategy, as we knew we would come out behind him and then he started to back everybody up towards Hamilton," Horner told the Daily Telegraph. "It was sort of like being in a McLaren sandwich. But then it looked like Hamilton developed a problem and they aborted that strategy for Jenson. It looked a little bit like he was a sacrificial lamb. I don't know. It just seemed strange."
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh admitted that it was possible to use Button as a blocker, but insisted the strategy was optimised to give Button the best possible opportunity to make up time when he changed to the softer tyre.
"Yes there was [the possibility to do that]," Whitmarsh said. "But at that point we also had to consider Jenson. We wanted to give him enough time on the option tyre, to have a go. If we had left him out there longer... it is not how we play our game. Maybe others would but that is not how we go motor racing."
He added: "Ultimately, that strategy didn't come off as best we'd have liked because the others' option tyres didn't fall away as quickly as we'd anticipated. Still, we feel it was a strategic choice worth taking. After switching to options, Jenson showed excellent pace, and I think we had the second fastest car today."
Source: ESPNF1
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