Button: Vettel's pace is phenomenal

Although he stopped short of saying Sebastian Vettel is unbeatable, Jenson Button reckons his only chance of winning in China is if he beats the Red Bull off the line

But even then Button's chances aren't looking that good given that Vettel qualified a massive 0.715s ahead of the McLaren driver on Saturday afternoon.

And the last time the German was over seven-tenths up in qualifying, which was in Australia, he cruised to victory, completely unchallenged by second-place finisher Lewis Hamilton.

But, despite the odds being in Vettel's favour, Button was delighted with his qualifying performance.

"This is my best grid slot of the year and from where we were on Friday we've improved the car a lot," he said. "We should be happy with what we've achieved."

Looking ahead to Sunday's race, the 2009 World Champ reckons his "best chance of winning the race is to challenge Seb into Turn One."

But, then again, he had been hoping to challenge the German in qualifying. "I thought we could fight for pole, but the pace of Sebastian in Q3 was phenomenal."

Even Vettel was "surprised" by the gap between himself and second-placed Button.

"The gap surprised us as well," said the reigning World Champ.

"Obviously we did it again but I try to remind myself and the team that every time is tough. It wasn't straightforward, in Q2 I had a bit of a mistake but in Q3 we improved.

"It all starts from zero again on Sunday. All it is is eight metres (in front of Button). We are as happy as we can be with the car, we had good long runs on Friday so have reason to feel good."

Source: Planet-F1

Alonso laments lack of Friday running

Fernando Alonso and Ferrari have lamented their lack of track time during practice at Shanghai on Friday

While his team-mate Felipe Massa completed a total of 63 laps, Alonso managed only 15 laps in Practice One and a further 17 laps in the second 90-minute session as he found himself in the pits more often than not with hydraulic problems.

"I lost valuable time because of a hydraulic problem, in both sessions, but most of all in the second one," he said. "Unfortunately, I did not manage to do any long run testing to get an idea of the tyre degradation, but fortunately, Felipe managed to do that on both types, so at least we have a good basis to start from."

After disappointing performances in the first two races in Australia and Malaysia, Ferrari decided to add new aerodynamic components to Alonso's car but the lack of mileage means they still don't have a clear idea about how well the upgrades work.

"As for the new aerodynamic components, it is too early to say if they really produce an advantage," Alonso said.

"The engineers will now have to study the data carefully, before drawing any definite conclusions as to whether or not we are moving in the right direction in terms of development. From the little I could see, there are no problems - or at least they are very slight - in terms of warm up on the hard tyres, which could be an improvement for managing the tyres in qualifying.

Assistant technical director Pat Fry, who along with team boss Stefano Domenicali and technical director Aldo Costa headed back to Maranello after the Malaysian GP, says a defective component was behind Alonso's hydraulic woes.

"I think we had more problems today in three hours than we had in the whole fifteen days of winter testing," he said.

"A shame, because we needed to cover some distance, especially with Fernando, who was experimenting with the latest aerodynamic solutions that they have come up with in Maranello. We will try and make a virtue of necessity and carry out the job of analysing the data with the data we managed to gather.

"The hydraulic problems on car number 5 stem from the same fault, a defective component and we will take action to fix it for the rest of the weekend."

Source: Planet-F1

Video: Sebastian Vettel focused on Shanghai victory

World Champion Sebastian Vettel says he is not looking back at his victories in the first two races of the 2011 season and remains focused on preparations for this weekends Chinese Grand Prix



Source: FiftyBuckss

Massa's Blog: Everyone is pushing hard to improve the car

So far we have had two Grands Prix this season, producing the same winner and the same three teams on the podium, while Ferrari has not been part of that. If you are not winning, then of course you are not happy and you try and change the situation but the facts show that our situation is not as bad as some might say.

It’s true that in qualifying in both races so far, we were not quick enough and in Melbourne, even our race pace was not that impressive. However, in Malaysia our car had the performance on Sunday in the race. That is something we must keep up but in addition, even if this sounds like what we said last year, we need to push hard to improve our car’s performance over a single lap in qualifying. Over the winter, there was speculation that qualifying would be less important this year because of an expected increase in overtaking, but so far, we have seen that if you do not start at the front, life is more difficult for you, even if you have good pace.

Everyone in the team, back in the factory is pushing particularly hard to improve the car as soon as possible. But it’s hard to say how long a job that will be and of course I hope it will happen very quickly. In China we will have some updates and something new to be tested on Friday, whereas Turkey in a month’s time is when we can realistically expect to bring some significant updates for the car.

My race was spoilt by a problem at the first pit stop. The fact that we are definitely going to see more pit stops per race throughout the season means this is an area of teamwork, driver’s role included, that we have to be sure functions perfectly. Also, in Sepang, my problem occurred the first time I came in to change tyres which is the worst possible situation as it is in the early stages of a race that a delay can cost you the most track position and places, because all the cars are much closer to each other. If it happens late on in the race when positions have stabilised and maybe you have five seconds over the car behind, then you can get away with this sort of problem at a stop. It highlights the fact that this is a team sport and while the driver is a very important part of that, so too are the engineers and also the mechanics, this year even more so than before.

Another trend we are seeing is that there can be many changes of position in the closing stages of the race, as drivers perhaps try to get to the race finish without making a further stop for new tyres, despite suffering high degradation. That was clearly the case in Malaysia with a lot of overtaking in the final laps. That is why the strategy is even more important now, in order to get the tyre change sequence just right, so that you can avoid finding yourself fighting for position in the last few laps, while dealing with tyres that are no longer at their best. This is not just down to the engineers to chose the best moment, because now the driver really has to think about managing the tyre situation himself, to avoid destroying them too soon.

I arrive in Shanghai on Wednesday, having stayed on in Malaysia for a couple of days. I have finished twice on the podium in China, with a second and third place, but last year I was only ninth in that wet race. It’s a nice circuit to drive even if the weather can be unpredictable. In the past, even with the long straight, overtaking was quite difficult but the combination of the long straight and the moveable rear wing should make passing easier.

There is no panic at Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, because we know panic does not achieve anything. Everyone has to work together and push hard to solve these problems we currently have and move in the direction that will see us secure better results as soon as possible.

Source: Ferrari.com

Vettel diaries, Friday: making tracks to Spain

In this weekend’s Friday diary, Sebastian talks travel, aerodynamics and the Spanish circuit…

"We’ll start with the good stuff: the journey to Barcelona was way easier than the ones to Melbourne or Shanghai. The lack of volcanic ash obviously helped.

I’m really looking forward to the race at the Circuit de Catalunya, the track should be perfect for our cars, which are great wherever we race, but high aerodynamic tracks like Barcelona make them even better.

The conclusion after the first four races is pretty simple: three out of four possible pole positions for me prove that we definitely have got speed. Of course, the races weren't without errors and we could have won more than just the one in Sepang, but at the same time I'm glad I’ve only had one retirement so far. All in all it could have been a lot worse.

At the moment we need to focus on what's ahead and make up the 15 point gap. And if you bear in mind that each win is worth 25 points, it really doesn't sound impossible anymore.

As for every race, we’ve also made some modifications to our aerodynamics. On Sunday we have to show that we’re able to transform these changes into victory.

It was great to be fastest in practice this afternoon and reward for everyone who had put in so much effort to updating the car. We managed to get all the parts on and adapt everything in time: in the end it all came together and the car's just great.

All in all we had two really good sessions, though I would have loved to have driven a few more laps, especially towards the end. But we can definitely be pleased with the day's results. Tomorrow won't be as easy and I think McLaren will improve.

But we’ll just have to wait and see…”

Source: Red Bull

[Photos] FP3 and Qualifying in Shanghai!

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[Photos] Thursday in Shanghai...

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Vettel loses in Shanghai... at Ping Pong + Seb's diary

Seb’s first contest of the weekend was at table tennis, but he didn’t do very well.

Sebastian was comprehensively beaten by Li Qiang, a student at Shanghai’s sports university. The match was filmed by UK broadcaster the BBC and Seb only managed to take a single point.

He said afterwards: “I played at school when I was young, but here, in China this is like the national sport, so it’s no surprise I didn’t do too well.”

It’s not known if Li Qiang was prepared to take on Sebastian in a straight-line race.


Vettel's Diary Thursday: My Chinese Charm

In his first diary entry from Shanghai, China, Sebastian Vettel writes about his problematic journey, his first words in Chinese and his of-track sporting activities...

The weather here is - just like previous years - always changing. It's really cold and everyone I come across is wearing at least one jacket. I hope it’ll be warmer on Sunday, but I guess we'll have to wait and.

The first problem of the weekend wasn’t at the track, but on my journey to China: 20 seconds before our plane took off, the pilots discovered a problem with one engine. We had to return to the terminal and get into another plane. But there you go: it's better to discover a problem 20 seconds before take-off, than 20 seconds after it…

We really like the track in Shanghai. After all, this is where we won our first race. The country seems to be a bit of a lucky charm. My Chinese isn't fluent, but I can say 'Good morning', 'Thank you' and 'Goodbye'. Hopefully, I'll learn the word for 'Victory' pretty soon too.

I’ve already done some sports off-track. The BBC invited me to play table tennis against a pro. I didn't do great, but I was able to score one point. That one ball was just too fast for my opponent!

Sebastian

Source: Red Bull

[Video] A lap of Shanghai with Sebastian Vettel

Source: Red Bull

The Chinese GP timetable

The Chinese GP, which takes place around the Shanghai circuit, marks the fourth round of the 2010 F1 World Championship.

All times are local (China is GMT +8)

Thursday 15 April
15:00: FIA press conference

Friday 16 April
10:00 - 11:30: First free practice
14:00 - 15:30: Second free practice
16:00: FIA press conference

Saturday 17 April
11:00 - 12:00: Third free practice
14:00 - 15:00: Qualifying
15h00: FIA post qualifying press conference

Sunday 18 April
15:00 - 17:00: Chinese GP
17:00: FIA post race press conference

Chinese GP Info
No of Laps: 56
Race Distance: 305.066 km
Lap Record: 1:32.238 - M Schumacher (2004)
2009 Winner: S Vettel (Red Bull)

Source: Planet F1