Hamilton: Tyre wear not that dramatic

Lewis Hamilton says tyre wear around the Istanbul Park is not as bad as many drivers initially feared it would be

Prior to the Turkish GP, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembrey stated that it could be the worst race for the Italian manufacturer as they were expecting high wear.

However, Friday's cooler temperatures, which saw rain in opening practice and a maximum of just 22 degrees in the afternoon session, meant the wear was not nearly as bad as predicted.

And with temperatures expected to remain low with more rain forecast for Saturday and Sunday, Hamilton is predicting just three, or even as few as two, stops in Sunday's grand prix.

"Quite surprised that they felt very similar to the last race," the McLaren driver told Autosport.

"I thought they'd be a lot worse here, but the long run was probably one of the best practice long runs I've ever had, so it was really good.

"I expect something similar to Shanghai, definitely. Two or three stops, no more than that."

Source: Planet-F1

Lewis Hamilton says new tyres will slow F1 teams down

Formula One is on a go-slow, according to Lewis Hamilton, one of five world champions on the grid when the new season gets under way in Melbourne three weeks time.

The new season will herald a number of technical changes, including the introduction of an adjustable rear wing and the return of the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS), which will make life busier than ever for the drivers.

But it is another change, the arrival of Pirelli as the sole tyre provider, which has made the biggest difference. According to Hamilton it has made the cars slower. As McLaren prepare for their final testing session in Barcelona, Hamilton said: "There is more to think about in the car. But Formula One does seem to have slowed down

"The cars are slower on a race distance. Last year we had to make tyres last with heavier fuel load and now it's even slower. I did run the other day and it was painfully slow, it really was. Just not exciting, to be honest.

"The first run – I didn't think I was pushing very hard – and the tyres were finished after nine laps, down to the canvas. On the next run, I had to go easier. It was almost like doing an out lap and just about made it to 15 or 16 on a soft tyre."

McLaren already have their hands full as they try to close the gap between themselves and the pace-setting Red Bull and Ferrari cars, but all the teams will have to come to terms with the new, fast-wearing tyres, which is likely to result in more pit-stops and more changes in the running order.

"Over the years you have to change your style and adapt, while keeping the important part, which is the speed and aggression," Hamilton said. "Now the biggest step is how we are going to have to look after the tyres.

"You'll see it's going to be just as competitive this year, if not more. The regs are bringing the teams closer, making it more competitive, but not as hard-core competitive. In 2007 and 2008, the teams were so quick and pushing each other so fast at the front. They've now slowed down the cars a little, it's maybe a more even playing field."

Hamilton's team-mate, Jenson Button, has seen a very fast Ferrari in the early testing sessions. Fernando Alonso has been very quick in testing – both drivers have at Ferrari. "And they have been reliable," Button said. "They were doing 140 laps a day and a couple of days we did 55. Big difference.

"They are in a great position. I don't really know how quick they are. I know he [Fernando] did his quick lap on a supersoft tyre in Barcelona. We didn't have one. You can look at their long runs and say they are consistent and so they must have downforce. They look strong.

"Red Bulls are the same as last winter. They didn't look amazingly strong and got to first race and were massively quick. Then you have a gaggle of cars. The Toro Rossos look very competitive, they have done a great job, the Renault is a step behind that, even Force India … There are a lot of quick cars out there."

Source: The Guardian

Alonso: “Important data for understanding the tyres”

Once again a lot of kilometres for the F150th Italia. Today, chassis 287 made its track debut, having previously been used for the crash tests and for bench testing and it too showed a good level of reliability, covering around 470 kilometres without any problems. Once again today, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro’s main aim, along with that of Fernando Alonso who was driving, was to gather data on the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres, getting their first taste of the very demanding Catalunya circuit.

“Overall, it was a positive day,” said Fernando speaking to www.ferrari.com. “We did a lot of laps and brought home much valuable information. It seems that, on this track too, there is a certain level of tyre degradation, but it is only the first day and we have to see how the track evolves between now and Monday.”

Fernando will be at the wheel of car number 5 again tomorrow, before Felipe takes over for Sunday and Monday.

Source: Ferrari.com

Domenicali: “Let’s keep our feet on the ground”

There’s an air of great concentration in the corridors of Maranello, after the first three days of testing with the F150. The team pretty much got through the programme established prior to the test, which centred mainly on getting to grips with the behaviour of the new car and on understanding the new Pirelli tyres. On the reliability front, the first assessment can be seen as positive: the mishap that forced Felipe Massa to spend a long time in the garage yesterday is in no way the sign of some congenital defect in the car.

“As we already said at the launch, the important thing is to do many kilometres at the first test and in that we have succeeded, “ said Stefano Domenicali on www.ferrari.com. “The stopwatch revealed little and that will also be the case in the next test sessions. We are pleased with our debut, but we are perfectly aware that there is still a lot of work to do, both on track and in the factory. Over the next few weeks, we must keep our feet solidly on the ground and concentrate on our own job, without being distracted by what the others are up to. The first conclusions will only be drawn in Bahrain when things start getting serious.”

Fernando Alonso was also in Maranello today, spending a long time in the simulator. The team got back from Valencia late morning and by Monday the mechanics will already be on their way again, this time to Jerez de la Frontera where testing resumes on Thursday 10 February: this time Felipe will be the first on track for two days, with Fernando rounding off the last two days of Saturday and Sunday.

Source: Ferrari.com

Pirelli targets 2012 WRC return

Italian tyre firm Pirelli is targeting a return to the World Rally Championship in 2012.

Pirelli has a contract to compete for at least three years in Formula One, as well as in GP2 and GP3.

But the company’s motorsport director Paul Hembery has spoken of his desire to return to take on Michelin in the 2012 WRC.

“I want us to be back in the WRC in 2012,” said Hembery. “Once those regulations are out, we will study them carefully and begin - if the conditions are right - to prepare ourselves. We have a programme of continued development to maintain our knowledge in rallying through the season.”

Pirelli will remain in the WRC this season, continuing to supply rubber to the WRC Academy – which will incorporate the Pirelli Star Driver scheme.

“We have supported the WRC since its inception in 1973 and we still have a huge passion for the sport of rallying,” added Hembery. “Yes, we are back in Formula 1, but we’re certainly not about to forget about the WRC.”

As well as supplying the WRC Academy, Pirelli recently secured a deal to equip the Citroen Racing Trophy – a one-make series present in 10 countries this year – with tyres for the next three years.

Source: MaxRally
Courtesy: luieluv

Massa in make or break season with Ferrari

The 2011 Formula 1 season is going to be the most critical year of Felipe Massa’s career, but the introduction of Pirelli tyres could stop his career from sliding backwards

This season is make or break for Massa because it may decide the direction the rest of his F1 career takes.

If he delivers a considerably improved performance he will stay at the front of the grid, and still have the possibility to be a world champion. On the other hand a repeat of 2010 would probably see Massa being relegated to a midfield team and his career potentially fading away.

After a poor couple of seasons with McLaren in 2008 and 2009, Heikki Kovalainen dropped a long way down the pecking order to the new Lotus team. This is the same risk Massa faces. From there it’s very hard to make it a comeback to a front running team.

For Massa it would be particularly hard considering he turns 30 in April. Therefore it may be too late in his career to work his way back to the front, particularly as younger drivers are favoured these days.

There have never been so many high calibre drivers in Formula 1, and there isn’t enough room at the front for them all.

Last year Massa finished just sixth in the championship, having only scored 57% of the points that team mate Fernando Alonso managed to rack up.

Whilst Ferrari was competing for the driver’s championship courtesy of Alonso, Massa’s lack of form cost Ferrari dearly in the constructor’s championship.

Had Massa scored the same amount of points that Alonso did, Ferrari would have won the constructors championship six points ahead of Red Bull.

To be able to win the constructors championship both drivers have to be scoring big points. Another problem from Ferrari’s point of view is that Massa rarely took points off Alonso’s key championship rivals.

For Massa to have a chance of remaining with Ferrari he has to score a bigger percentage of the points that Alonso scores at the very least. He will of course hope that he can do more than that and challenge for the title.

On his day Massa is as fast as anybody on the grid. He delivered some fantastic drives during his 2008 title battle with Lewis Hamilton.

In 2009 when Ferrari failed to adapt to the new rules Massa regularly out-drove the car, and was a driver who was coming of age. On the weekend of his horrific accident his practice pace was a match to race winner Hamilton. We will never know whether he could have won that race or not.

Since the accident the same Felipe Massa from 2008 and 2009 hasn’t shown up at the race track.

The key reason for Massa’s lack of form was he simply couldn’t adapt to the 2010 spec Bridgestone tyres.

Massa says: “I was never comfortable with the tyres, in particular the front ones. I didn’t manage to adapt my driving style to those tyres, which were very different to the ones from 2009.”

He had to constantly change to a setup which was less optimal to compensate for this. So effectively you could say that Massa was racing with one hand tied behind his back.

Massa is pinning his hopes on the fact that the Pirelli tyres are more suited to him. Switching to a different tyre manufacturer can dramatically alter a driver’s fortunes. For example Kimi Raikkonen was never the same driver on Bridgestones as he was on Michelins

At the moment it’s looking like there is a strong chance of Felipe’s wish coming true, as Pirelli have been working on making their front tyres stronger than the 2010 Bridgestones which is key to Massa’s driving style.

Massa had already felt postive about the tyres after his first test on them in Abu Dhabi: “The first [test] that we did with the Pirelli’s was positive. The way of driving the car was better, in terms of the tyre’s front grip, which was different in 2010. I think it was positive to my driving style.”

Another positive for Massa is that Pirelli are making their tyres softer and more aggressive than Bridgestone. Last season we saw how Massa’s struggle deepened on race weekends, when Bridgestone brought the hardest tyres in their range.

His main issue was getting heat into them. This really hurt him in qualifying, where getting heat into the tyres on the out-lap is critical to a good flying lap.

In the past Massa’s qualifying speed was always his strength, and this put him in a good position in races where he was often able to waltz away into the distance and win.

In 2010 it became his weakness, which cost him dearly as overtaking is so tough in F1 these days, and with the re-fuelling ban you can’t rely on strategy to make up places.

Softer tyres from Pirelli should mean that Massa shouldn’t have the same problem with warming up the tyres as he did with Bridgestone.

In 2011 qualifying could become his strength again, and change his fortunes. If he can start more races from the sharp end he will surely have a much stronger season.

It’s also worth remembering that in low fuel qualifying he can compete evenly with Alonso. This unlike the days when drivers took race fuel into the qualifying session, and the teams could favour their number one driver by giving them less fuel.

The other aspect of Pirelli tyres which could help Massa is how well Alonso adapts to them. Back in 2007 when Alonso switched from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres he initially struggled. It took him half a season to fully adapt to them.

Fernando has already admitted that he will have to alter his driving style slightly to adapt to Pirelli tyres.

If Alonso is not quite adapted to Pirelli in the early stages of the season, then Massa has to ensure he is quick out of the blocks and capitalises.

It is critical Massa starts the season well, and doesn’t let Alonso quickly build up a gap over him.

Overall Massa should be in much better form in 2011 mainly due to the new Pirelli tyres. There’s a good chance he will feature at the front more, and generally have a better season than 2010.

Stefano Domenicali is confident that the Brazilian will bounce back: “Felipe had a difficult season, but I am totally convinced that he will know how to react in just the right way, as he is capable of doing.”

He added: “In fact, he has often been under pressure and in these situations, he has delivered in a way that surprised many people.”

We know that when Massa is happy with the car that he is a very quick driver. Whether this is enough for him to challenge Alonso is an entirely different matter.

Massa says: “In the past I’ve always had very strong teammates, like Michael (Schumacher) and Kimi (Räikkönen), but I’d never found myself in a situation of not being comfortable with the car, as I had in 2010.”

It’s never easy to rise against a driver who you were forced to concede a race win to, as David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello will testify. In Coulthard’s case though he was much closer in pace to Mika Hakkinen later on in their partnership.

When both Ferrari drivers are on top form it would be fair to say that Alonso has something extra over Massa. His ultimate peak performance is extremely high as the second half of last season demonstrated

Despite that there would be no shame in losing out to Alonso narrowly, and would show the F1 paddock that Massa can still perform at a very high level.

This would probably be enough to keep him in a race winning car, which has to be his realistic aim for 2011.

Source: YallaF1

Vettel: Alonso has yet to congratulate me

Although Fernando Alonso did say congrats in his post-Abu Dhabi press release, Seb Vettel has revealed that the Spaniard has yet to say it personally

Vettel beat Alonso to the 2010 World Championship at the final hurdle in Abu Dhabi, winning the grand prix to take the title by four points ahead of the Spaniard.

Since then it's been a wirlwind week for the 23-year-old, who has been to Austria, England, back to Abu Dhabi for a two-day Pirelli test and then on to his hometown of Heppenheim in Germany.
And although he spent the two-day Pirelli test in the same vacinity as Alonso, Vettel says the Ferrari driver never came over to congratulate him.

"He still has not congratulated me," Vettel told AFP when asked if the Alonso had contacted him.
But, Alonso's lack of personal greeting side, Vettel says this past week has been one of the most amazing of his life as he settles down to life as a Formula One World Champ.

However, he still can't quite believe that it's real even after being greeted by 15,000 screaming fans during a homecoming celebration in Heppenheim, Germany.

"I have been hoping all the time that I don't wake up from this," he said. "It's all a bit unreal for me, it seems my face was on the front page of every German newspaper.

"I find it all a bit hard to take in, because at the end of the day, I am just a normal boy."

Source: Planet-F1

In pictures: Pirelli tyre testing at Yas Marina Final Day

Test F1 - Abu Dhabi / Pirelli - 20/11

Source: NextgenAuto

Alonso ends Pirelli test on top

Fernando Alonso was the man to beat as the second and final day of the Pirelli test reached its conclusion in Abu Dhabi on Saturday

The Spaniard ventured to the top of the timesheets during the morning session with a 1:40.529, which proved to unbeatable. Alonso also amassed the most laps, 105, which is the equivalant of two race distances at the Yas Marina circuit.

Michael Schumacher put in a late charge to take second place with just 15 minutes remaining in the session. The Mercedes GP driver finished 0.156s adrift of Alonso.

Schumacher's rise saw Sebastian Vettel drop to third place, as like Alonso he failed to better his time from the morning. Vettel, the new F1 World Champ, completed just 66 laps.

Red Bull's head of race engineering Ian Morgan said: "It's been interesting to work with different tyres here and it was good to have the opportunity to get information using a car we know well - the RB6 - before starting to work with the new car next year.

"Overall we have done everything we planned to and we're looking forward to working with Pirelli in the future.

"It's sad that this is the last day of running for the RB6 - it's a car that we have enjoyed a great deal of success with this year - but we're looking forward to 2011."

Rubens Barrichello finished in fourth place ahead of Robert Kubica, Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey.

Paul di Resta, who was responsible for the first red flag when he broke down an hour before lunch, completed the top eight.

The only other stoppage on Saturday belonged to Pastor Maldonado, who was in action for Hispania Racing. He spun and stalled during the final hour of running.

Times
01. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:40.529 105 laps
02. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:40.685 74 laps
03. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:40.825 66 laps
04. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1:41.294 100 laps
05. Robert Kubica Renault 1:41.614 91 laps
06. Gary Paffett McLaren 1:41.622 46 laps
07. Oliver Turvey McLaren 1:41.740 30 laps
08. Paul di Resta Force India 1:41.869 35 laps
09. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:42.110 43 laps
10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1:42.145 97 laps
11. Tonio Liuzzi Force India 1:42.416 46 laps
12. Sergio Perez Sauber 1:42.777 46 laps
13. Jarno Trulli Lotus 1:44.521 83 laps
14. Pastor Maldonado Hispania 1:44.768 65 laps
15. Timo Glock Virgin 1:44.783 82 laps

Source: Planet-F1

Alonso tops the morning session

Fernando Alonso took over from Felipe Massa at the Yas Marina circuit on Saturday, topping the timesheets at lunch on Day Two of the Pirelli test

With the Formula One teams getting their first taste of the new Pirelli rubber in Abu Dhabi over a two-day period, Ferrari opted to run both Massa and Alonso, giving them each a day's working.

Massa was in action on Friday, setting the pace with a 1:40.170, before handing over to Alonso on Saturday morning. The Spaniard continued Ferrari's fun, clocking a 1:40.529 to beat Sebastian Vettel to the P1 slot by 0.296s.

However, Vettel's run was reportedly cut short when the new World Champ suffered another tyre failure, the cause of which is believed to be debris on the circuit. He completed just 13 laps.

Rubens Barrichello was next in line for Williams, finishing ahead of Paul di Restam, whose running was kept to just 13 laps as he broke down out on track an hour before the lunch break, bringing out the red flags.

McLaren test driver Oliver Turvey and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi were fifth and sixth while Michael Schumacher replaced Nico Rosberg, finishing 1.632s off the pace.

Robert Kubica, who covered 47 laps on Saturday morning, completed the top eight.

Times
01. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m40.529s 47 laps
02. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m40.825s 28 laps
03. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1m41.294s 52 laps
04. Paul di Resta Force India 1m41.869s 35 laps
05. Oliver Turvey McLaren 1m42.046s 29 laps
06. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m42.110s 43 laps
07. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m42.161s 30 laps
08. Robert Kubica Renault 1m42.178s 47 laps
09. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1m42.399s 46 laps
10. Jarno Trulli Lotus 1m44.839s 44 laps
11. Timo Glock Virgin 1m45.405s 37 laps
12. Pastor Maldonado Hispania 1m45.516s 27 laps

Source: Planet-F1

In pictures: Pirelli tyre testing at Yas Marina

Test F1 - Abu Dhabi / Pirelli - 19/11

Source: NextgenAuto

Massa ends first Pirelli outing on top

Felipe Massa had an impressive run in Pirelli's first official F1 test, beating his qualifying time from weekend's Abu Dhabi GP

The F1 teams were given special dispensation to hold a two-day test at the Yas Marina circuit as they prepare for the swap from Bridgestone to Pirelli tyres for next year's Championship.

The morning session saw newly-crowned F1 World Champ Sebastian Vettel set the pace ahead of Massa, but despite shaving tenths off his time during the afternoon session, the Red Bull racer was eventually pipped to the post by Massa.

The Ferrari driver clocked a 1:40.170 to set the pace on Friday. But perhaps more importantly was the fact that his Pirelli time was quicker than his qualifying time at the same circuit last Saturday on Bridgestone tyres.

Vettel finished the day in second place ahead of McLaren test driver Gary Paffett, who earlier stated that the Pirelli rubber was "not too different from Bridgestone."

Fourth place went to Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, who edged out Robert Kubica, who had a few problems that kept him down to 39 laps throughout the course of the day.

Renault's chief engineer Alan Permane said his first impression of the Pirelli rubber, having used both the medium and soft on Friday, was positve.

"We had our first taste of Pirelli tyres today and were able to run both the medium and soft compounds," said Permane.

"The morning went well and Robert was reasonably happy with the car balance, although we made a few changes during the day to improve it.

"Our initial impression of the tyres has been positive: they were working well with good grip and no warm-up issues.

"Unfortunately we had to stop early because we had a mechanical issue with the car and we preferred to save the tyres for tomorrow when we've rectified the problem."

Rubens Barrichello, Nico Rosberg and Jaime Alguersuari were next in line.

The only other major incident during the day belonged to Adrian Sutil. The Force India driver's VJM broke down out on track during the morning session, keeping him down to just 20 laps.

However, it also affected Force India test driver Paul di Resta, who spent the bulk of the afternoon session waiting for the team to get back out on track. The Scot completed only 15 laps and finished at the back of the timesheets.

Testing will continue at the Yas Marina circuit on Saturday.

Times
01. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m40.170s 94 laps
02. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m40.500s 77 laps
03. Gary Paffett McLaren 1m40.874s 94 laps
04. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m40.950s 83 laps
05. Robert Kubica Renault 1m41.032s 39 laps
06. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1m41.425s 91 laps
07. Paul di Resta Force India 1m41.615s 20 laps
08. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m41.778s 81 laps
09. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m42.019s 71 laps
10. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m42.859s 20 laps
11. Timo Glock Virgin 1m44.124s 78 laps
12. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1m44.686s 88 laps
13. Pastor Maldonado Hispania 1m45.728s 83 laps

Source: Planet-F1

Wales Rally GB driver blog: Kimi Räikkönen

For the last Pirelli driver blog of the season we've entrusted the wrc.com laptop to 2007 Formula 1 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen

Kimi sent this second update at the end of Saturday’s competition.

Blog two: Saturday 13 November, 2100hrs.

“Well, here we are. I never thought that I would be so pleased to see Cardiff again. But there are two reasons to be happy. Firstly, it’s stopped raining. Secondly, we’ve had a really good day.

The first day of the rally on Friday was a little bit of a shock, because while I expected it to be difficult, I didn’t expect it to be that difficult. I thought that it might be because of the rain but today was a lot drier and it was still slippery. So it must be just how these roads are.

I think the biggest difficulty is that the amount of grip that there is doesn’t really match up to the amount of grip that you think there is. So you might see a corner that you think looks OK, but in actual fact it’s like driving on a road made of banana skins. On the other hand, you might then see a corner that looks like a skating rink, but then when you get there the grip is actually OK.

So how do you tell the difference? If I knew that, I suppose I would be leading the rally...

But for me it was always going to be a question of learning step by step. We started the day 10th and ended it eighth, which is always good. Sure, some of that is because Ogier went off. But the fact is that he made a mistake and we didn’t, which shows that we are learning.

It wasn’t a completely perfect day. We had a broken front-left spring in the morning, which cost us a bit of time, and then in the evening our light pod wasn’t perfectly adjusted. But these were just small things, and in rallying you have to learn how to drive around problems. So that’s what we tried to do.

We can’t take anything for granted tomorrow, as we’ve still got the Resolfen stage to drive twice, which is sure to be very tricky. I’m discovering new things all the time, and I know that I’ve said this before, but Rally GB is definitely one of the most complicated rallies that I have faced all year.

I’d really like to finish my first season in a positive way, so tomorrow we’re determined to get to the end and score some points. If we can do that, it will be mission accomplished.”

Source: WRC - Pirelli