2010 SPANISH GP

Official Press Releases, Communications and Classification of the 2010 FORMULA 1 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

  

Spanish GP – Race – May 9, 2010

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Points
1	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	25
2	8	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	18
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	15
4	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP Petronas	12
5	1	Jenson Button	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	10
6	7	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	8
7	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team	6
8	11	Robert Kubica	Renault F1 Team	4
9	9	Rubens Barrichello	AT&T Williams	2
10	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1
11	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault F1 Team	0
12	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber F1 Team	0
13	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP Petronas	0
14	2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	0
15	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India F1 Team	0
16	10	Nico Hulkenberg	AT&T Williams	0
17	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Racing	0
18	24	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing	0
19	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Racing	0
20	16	Sébastien Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	0
21	20	Karun Chandhok	HRT F1 Team	0
22	22	Pedro De la Rosa	BMW Sauber F1 Team	0
23	21	Bruno Senna	HRT F1 Team	0
24	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Racing	0

Spanish GP – Race – May 9, 2010

  

BMW Sauber F1

Spanish GP – Race

After a clear improvement in qualifying, the race result was less than the team expected. At least Kamui Kobayashi finished his first race this year. Both drivers were hit by other cars on lap one. While Kobayashi lost some places, for De la Rosa it led to another retirement.

Weather: sunny and dry , 20-21°C air, 34-37°C track

Kamui Kobayashi: 12th

C29.01 / Ferrari 056

“I had a good start but in turn three I was hit by Robert (Kubica). I think I left him enough room but he said he had understeer. However, this was where I lost ground. I came back from the gravel in 15th. I’m convinced, given the progress we made with the car, without this incident I would have been able to score points today. Later I got stuck behind Vitaly (Petrov) in the other Renault. It is really not easy to overtake on the Circuit de Catalunya. I tried hard but it didn’t work out. At least I finished my first Grand Prix this year.“

Pedro de la Rosa: DNF

C29.03 / Ferrari 056

“I can’t explain how disappointed I am. I had a good start but I got hit by a Toro Rosso which caused a rear tyre puncture. I pitted for a tyre change but meanwhile the damage to the car, caused by the exploded tyre, was quite extensive. We tried to continue but the car was undriveable. It just made no sense and we had to give up.”

Peter Sauber, Team Principal:

“Looking back to the race weekend, it was positive we improved the performance of the car which enabled Kamui to make it to the top ten in qualifying. And finally he was able to finish his first race this season. Unfortunately it was compromised on lap one when he was hit from behind. The same applies to Pedro, who was touched also from behind by another competitor, destroying not only the tyre but, as a result, also the floor of the car and this forced him to retire.”

James Key, Technical Director:

“Obviously it is disappointing not to score some points today, because this was clearly possible. Both drivers got away at the start but Pedro’s car was hit from behind which gave him a puncture. He came into the pits and changed his tyres. But out on the track again he reported a lot of oversteer. We looked into the data and decided to call him in, because there was too much damage to the floor. Kamui made a good start, but was also tapped from behind in turn three and lost several positions. From then on it was about recovering as much as possible, but he was held up by the drivers in front of him. It’s difficult to overtake in Barcelona. He drove an excellent race and got a finish for the car which was important for us. The car was very reliable throughout the race. Unfortunately he could have finished higher, as the pace was definitely good enough to be in the top ten.”

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Force India F1

2010 Spanish Grand Prix Report

Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03): 7th

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/04): 15th

9 May 2010 – The Force India F1 Team picked up its fourth points-scoring position of the 2010 season in today’s Spanish Grand Prix. Adrian Sutil crossed the line in seventh position after a hard-fought race to score a further six points and bring Force India’s points tally to 24. Adrian moved up four places from his starting position thanks to a great start off the line and then kept the Renault of Robert Kubica behind despite a strong challenge throughout the race.

Tonio Liuzzi claimed 15th position, one place up on his grid slot, however was unlucky to stop on the final lap of the race when his VJM03 lost power through the middle sector.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
A very good race for the team, with a good pace that showed again we are up there in the midfield really fighting for position and points. I had a great start, moving from 11th to 8th, and was not that far behind the Ferrari of Massa for most of the race. I had to push quite a lot throughout as for about 40 laps Robert [Kubica] was quite close behind and there was no time to relax. In the end seventh position is a great success for the team. It’s more points and keeps that momentum going. I can’t wait to get to Monaco now, one of my favourite tracks.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
It was a difficult race starting from so far behind. We had a decent start but we struggled with understeer and then snap oversteer on the first stint with the softer tyres. I lost a little time getting away from the pit stop but then the balance with the hard tyres was getting better. By that point though we had got caught in the traffic because of the faster cars coming by. Once they had all gone and we got some clean laps we could show a decent pace so we can be quite happy at this aspect. Ultimately the points were too far away as we had already lost so much time at the beginning, but that’s racing and we have to sit and understand what happened to the whole weekend as it’s been quite difficult all round. I’m now looking forward to Monaco in just a few days’ time.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
It’s been a positive race for Force India as we’ve added to our total and made it points from four out of five races so far this year. This was one of our aims; to be consistent and score in as many races as possible. Adrian had a faultless race and kept calm under a lot of pressure from our closest rivals, Renault, and he thoroughly deserved those points. For Tonio the weekend has been difficult from the start, but he did as much as he could from his starting position. He’ll move onto Monaco, where he has a great record, hungry to get back into the points. There’s only a week to go now and everything to look forward to.

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HRT F1

HRT F1 Team aiming for better weekend in Monaco

Circuit Montmelo – Spain – Sunday, May 09, 2010
Weather – Sunny – air 20°C, track 36°C

Race 66 laps
Track lenghth 4.655 km

Karun Chandhok F110-01 #20 dnf
Bruno Senna F110-02 #21 dnf

Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna both had strong starts but different fortunes in HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing’s home Grand Prix. Bruno Senna ran wide into the gravel at turn 4 on the opening lap and Karun Chandhok, who started with a five-place grid penalty for gearbox replacement had a strong race but could not avoid a collision with Alguersuari during lapping. The nose of Karun’s car was damaged and the Indian driver had to pit on lap 27 with a nose and tyres change. He had to park due to more heavy damages caused by this incident and Alguersuari got a drive-through penalty for causing a collision.

Dr. Colin Kolles, Team Principal, commented: “I am disappointed that we didn’t finish our home race. It’s a real pity because both drivers had good starts. Bruno Senna had to stop on the opening lap despite a very strong start which moved him up to 17th from 21st on the grid. Karun Chandhok was similarly strong and had a very good pace but retired mid-race after contact with Alguersuari. At least, the performance was much better than in Qualifying yesterday. Now, we look ahead to next weekend and are determined to have a good result in Monaco.”

Karun Chandhok commented: “I am very disappointed with the outcome of the race. It’s a real shame what happened with Jaime. I stayed out of his way, kept the car completely straight and he just turned left into me. I was really pleased with my race until then. ‎I had a good first lap and was trying to be sensible with the option tyre and get them to last. My pace relative to the other new cars was good and I was pulling away from Di Grassi quite comfortably. In the end, although we changed the front wing, the damage to the front right suspension was too much and I had to stop. It is a disappointing end to a good day for the team.”

Bruno Senna commented: “I made a great start and was able to pass a good number of drivers and make up a few places. I was in 17th it was a good opportunity to show what I am able to do in F1. At Turn 4 the car just caught me out and unfortunately my race ended there. I am very disappointed not to finish our home race and had to retire in front of our fans on a track that I like very much. Let’s look at the Monaco Grand Prix where I feel at home”.

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Lotus Racing F1

MOVING FORWARD IN SPAIN

Barcelona, Spain 9th May 2010

After a very strong showing all weekend, race day in Barcelona saw Lotus Racing continue to move ahead, with Jarno Trulli finishing 17th and first of the new teams, whilst Heikki Kovalainen suffered a gearbox failure on the grid and had to be retired before the race had started. Despite the best efforts of his pit-crew Heikki was unable to join the race, but the team’s mood after the race was good, with Jarno achieving his first full race finish.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03: 17th, fastest lap 1.29.564): “I’m pleased we finished comfortably ahead of Virgin even though the car felt a bit difficult to drive today. I don’t really know why but it didn’t feel the same as it did on Friday – despite that we achieved what we set out to today, showed good race pace and finished well.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01: Retired): “We had a gearbox problem while we were firing up on the grid. The gearbox selected two gears at once – there was some sort of software issue which caused it to fail. It’s unfortunate, because we have had such a good weekend, but these things happen. Next up it’s Monaco, and I know we’ll be stronger again there, so we can focus on the next race and hope the luck returns.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “It was a bit of a disappointing afternoon because we had a difficult race where we weren’t really able to show our true pace. We had a gearbox problem on the grid with Heikki, which was caused by a procedural issue, not a reliability problem. That’s frustrating as I think he would have had a strong race. Jarno made a great start, he had some contact going down into the first corner and throughout the race was struggling with the rear of the car. It was difficult for him in traffic, but he did a good job to bring the car home and get his first real race finish. Now we’ll just have to go to Monaco next week and show what we know we can do.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “It was a good day at the office today – disappointing for Heikki but on the positive side the reliability looks good and we had no hydraulic issues at all. We continue to have at least one car finish ahead of all the other new teams which has always been one of the goals and we learnt a lot again today. It’s a shame Heikki wasn’t there as it makes a big difference when we only have one car on track – both of them can help push us further ahead. We’re all now looking forward to Monte Carlo and Turkey where we’ll have all our upgrades together on both cars and build on the performance we put in during qualifying here.”

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Mercedes GP Petronas

2010 SPANISH GRAND PRIX – BARCELONA – 9 MAY

RACE

MERCEDES GP PETRONAS experienced mixed fortunes at the Spanish Grand Prix today with Michael Schumacher achieving his best result of the season in fourth place however Nico Rosberg’s race was compromised by two incidents which left him battling through the field to finish in 13th position.

Michael retained his starting position into the first corner whilst Nico was pushed wide onto the grass and dropped to eleventh place by the end of lap one. Both drivers pitted on lap 14 to switch from option to prime tyres but a problem with the right front wheel led to a lengthy stop for Nico who rejoined in 17th place.

Michael jumped up to fifth position after the first round of pit stops and had an entertaining battle with Jenson Button to retain that place before taking advantage of Lewis Hamilton’s retirement to cross the line in fourth position. Nico pitted again on lap 35 for a further set of options and continued his fight through the field to finish in 13th place.

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Race Result / Fastest Lap
Michael Schumacher 3 MGP W01 / 01 P4 1:25.529
Nico Rosberg 4 MGP W01 / 02 P13 1:25.455

Weather Sunny and warm
Temperatures Air: 20-21°C Track: 35-39°C

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
“It was quite an entertaining race right from the start even if we knew from the beginning that there would not be a chance for us to compete for a podium place if everything goes as normal. Still it was exciting for me to manage to keep the position that I gained but then, I am obviously not too happy as today we could only defend. All we could do was to hope for reliability problems of others in order to make up positions and that’s not really what you want to do. It was an interesting fight with Jenson but all I could do is try to not give him a possibility to overtake. In the end the gap to the front is just too big to be really happy after this race. For Monaco, we hope that the characteristics of the track will suit our car better.”

NICO ROSBERG
“The race didn’t go my way today and, of course, it is frustrating to have finished outside of the points for the first time this season. We have a good upgrade on the car here which should be improving our performance but it just hasn’t worked out for me here. In qualifying, I did the best that I could but starting from eighth position isn’t where we wanted to be this weekend. In the race, I had the situation with Robert at the start when I tried for the gap but he didn’t see me so I was pushed wide and then we had a problem at my first stop which dropped me back again. So it’s been a disappointing weekend and we need to look into the reason why we have been off our usual pace.”

ROSS BRAWN
“Well done to Michael and the team for their hard work today. Michael has driven extremely well all weekend to continue the progress that he made over the first three races of the season and achieve his best finish with our team. Nico has had a more difficult time and we will look closely into the reasons why he has struggled this weekend. Although we have made a step forward with the performance of our car, the evidence shows that our competitors have also improved and our step is not enough to enable us to compete where we would like to be. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us and I remain confident that we have the ability and resources to close the gap, but it will be a tough fight.”

NORBERT HAUG
“Michael’s fourth place is the best result that we could have achieved today. He posted a remarkable drive with very committed overtaking and then keeping the reigning World Champion and current points leader Jenson Button behind him. Our speed was not good enough however to compete at the front in qualifying or the race. Nico was compromised on lap one by the manoeuvres of a competitor which lost him four places. We will work hard to improve our speed and I am sure that we will achieve this step-by-step but certainly not overnight. I am happy for Michael and the team today and in five races, our best results per race have been P5, P5, P3, P3 and now P4. These results have been more or less the maximum we could have achieved which is pleasing but we are aware that winning is our target and not bringing home respectable places.”
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Red Bull F1

 

Webber reigns in Spain! – double podium for Red Bull

Car 6 MARK WEBBER, Finish Position: WINNER! Start Position: 1st

“Today was a special day, no doubt about it and I’m very happy to capitalise on the pole position. It’s an aggressive run in to turn one with the slip stream and the big head wind and I knew the guys would be arriving in the braking zone, so I needed to be very precise with everything into there. I had that covered and then settled into the race. I was very happy with how the first stint went and I had a nice clean pit stop. Everything went my way today, it was very good. It felt like the longest Grand Prix I’ve ever done though! With the other victories there has been a bit more going on as I wasn’t always in the lead, but today was all about watching the lap board go down and my god, it just takes forever! It was so good to get the victory, I’m just stoked, absolutely over the moon. We had a good set up and the car felt good. It’s a credit to all the guys, they worked like hell both in the garage and in the factory, they buried themselves in the last two weeks. This is what you have to do to be successful and take on the likes of Ferrari and McLaren. It’s not a tea party, we need to work hard and today’s result is a credit to Red Bull Racing and to Renault.”

Car 5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Finish Position: 3rd, Start Position: 2nd

“A lot of things didn’t go my way today. The start was okay; there was no chance to get past Mark, but also it wasn’t worth taking the risk. It was quite slippery, so I didn’t want to take a run down the outside. I was not quick enough today. I struggled a lot with the balance of the car. The car’s fast – Mark was in his own league today, but for some reason I found it difficult. There were a few problems. I was unlucky as I had a slow stop and had to wait in the pit box for the Ferrari to drive past and then Jenson was coming in, so it felt very long! We lost ground and the position. It was close when Lewis came out, but then he was impossible to pass. I felt the car was getting better, but as soon as you got close there was no chance to pass. Fifteen laps to the end, I lost the front left brakes and had to back off. I was lucky as there was a gap to Michael (Schumacher) behind me. I don’t know how to feel as third is not a bad position, but I think

we had a difficult race today with some things happening that we didn’t want. It’s good to take some points, the car is fast, but it was difficult.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal: “It was a fantastic race from Mark and a very

commanding performance from him today. He has been sensationally quick all weekend and this was a fitting result. Sebastian had a much more eventful race. We had a right front wheel issue at the first stop that cost him a bit of time and unfortunately allowed Lewis to sneak past. Thereafter he was comfortable, but stuck in dirty air until a brake issue appeared with about fifteen laps to go. We made a pit stop for a precautionary look at the brake disc – we could see it was still there, but it was a bit damaged and then it was a question of managing the pace of the car until the end of the race. Sebastian did a good job of building in a big enough safety margin in the braking areas for it not to be an issue. Ultimately first and third is a great team result – one place off a maximum score. We’ve enjoyed a good step forward in our performance this weekend, which is credit to the effort put in by the whole team.”

FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: “A perfect weekend for Mark –

he got pole position, was first to the first corner and then kept the lead, it was a very, very good race for him. He had no engine problems during the weekend, so we are proud of our achievement. It was a perfect weekend on his side of the garage. For Sebastian it was a bit more difficult, he lost out to Hamilton at the first pit stop, but was able to stay with him. Then unfortunately at one point he had a problem, but we managed it well and deserve the double podium. In terms of the Championship it is a very good result today. We’re happy and are ready to attack in Monaco, which starts in two days time.”

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Renault F1 Team

2010 Spanish Grand Prix, Sunday

Robert Kubica, P8
Fastest lap: 1:25.466
Started race on option tyres
Pit stop: Lap 16, time in pits: 20.450s, (prime)

Robert: I didn’t have a good first lap and that compromised the rest of my race. I actually made a good start and was fighting with Massa through turn one but unfortunately the car snapped sideways when I got on the power. Then, in turn three, I touched Kobayashi which damaged the front wing and cost me some places. I was struggling with quite a lot of understeer because of the damage, but the field was so tight that we didn’t have time to change the wing during the pit stop without losing a position. After that, I was able to attack Sutil and the car felt quite competitive in spite of the damage. But everybody knows how difficult it is to overtake here so there was no chance to pass him. Even so, the pace has been good this weekend and that’s been a nice surprise. Now we need to look forward to Monaco.

Vitaly Petrov, P11
Fastest lap: 1.25.470
Started race on option tyres
Pit stop: Lap 13, time in pits: 21.017s (prime)

Vitaly: I’m pleased to finish a race in dry conditions, although it was a shame to miss out on points. At the start of the race I decided it was better to be cautious because the first corner was very busy with a lot of cars all around me. I didn’t gain any places but I knew I needed to stay out of trouble and avoid damaging the car. The rest of the race was quite straightforward: the team did a good job today, the balance was consistent and I had a nice battle with Kobayashi. Monaco’s next and I’m really looking forward to driving an F1 car there for the first time. But, more than ever, it will be important to have a weekend without mistakes if we want to score points.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
It was a tough afternoon for us and today’s race shows us once again that the key this year is to qualify well and have a good start: if you don’t, it’s very difficult to score points. Robert delivered another strong performance, although he was unlucky to touch Kobayashi on the opening lap. Without that, we think he could have gained a couple of positions compared to qualifying. As for Vitaly, I’m pleased that he has finished his first race in the dry and he now has some more valuable experience. He showed good pace which is encouraging for the future. He finished the day as the strongest rookie, but he’s aiming much higher than that. We know that if he can qualify strongly, he will do a very good job.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer
We have come away with four points, but today’s result is still disappointing. Robert lost three places on the opening lap and, although we managed to get one back at the pit stop, he spent the rest of the race stuck in traffic. However he pushed hard all afternoon and the car showed good pace. Vitaly also had a solid race and did a strong job to finish 11th after starting 19th. It’s some more valuable experience for him in dry conditions, but it was always going to be difficult to finish in the points at a track where overtaking is so difficult.

Rémi Taffin, Head of Engine Operations
It was a straightforward race without any problems, but unfortunately both Robert and Vitaly suffered at the start and were stuck behind slower drivers today. That made their races difficult because it’s almost impossible to overtake on this circuit. Overall we were quite pleased with our race pace, which was better than Mercedes, even though we finished behind one of them. It’s now up to us to make sure we perform well at the start of the race and in the opening laps.

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Scuderia Toro Rosso

2010 SPANISH GRAND PRIX – SUNDAY 09/05/10

Car 17: Up 6 places at the start, Wheel change problem, Collision, Drive-through, 1 point

Car 16: Collision after start, Nose Change, Drive-through, Hydraulic problem, Retirement

An action packed day for us: for further information read on.

Jaime Alguersuari (STR5-03) Pos. 10th
“I’ve got to be happy with scoring a point, even if my race was a bit of a mess, with the problem at the pit stop with the front left wheel nut and then the penalty after my collision with Chandok, but mistakes are part of racing. I was pleased that I got a very good start as it was important to get past other cars immediately, if I was going to have a good race. The backmarkers were very tough to overtake as they don’t move out of the way that much and they are really slow. I am pleased with tenth place, even if I am upset a bit, because it could have been so much better, especially as our race pace was very strong. Now we go to Monaco where I know there is more potential to come from me, as I am still learning a lot and there is more to come from the team and the car. It will be another new track for me, which I will need to learn well if I want to score points again. I feel very motivated about the next race.”

Sebastien Buemi (STR5-02) Retired
“When the lights went out, initially I got off the line well and had a good start. A bit later, I was trying to pass De La Rosa going down the left side and he suddenly moved over towards me. We were very close and the impact broke my front wing, so I had to come in and change the nose. After that, my pace was not too bad, but then I got a drive-through for a pit lane infringement, but I’m not really sure why and finally I had to retire in the garage with a hydraulic problem. At least there are just a few days to Monaco when I can try again to get my first worthwhile result of the season.”

Franz Tost: “I am glad that, on their F1 debut with our team, we were able to give our new sponsor, Money Service Group their first point in the sport, although clearly, in the early stages we looked like bringing home more than that. Once again, Jaime did a fantastic job, moving up to ninth after the start. Unfortunately, there was an error at his pit stop when the front left wheel nut got stuck. This meant he dropped a couple of places. Then he was given a drive-through penalty after he collided with Chandok as he was lapping the Hispania car. He put in some really good lap times and was one of the fastest in the closing stages and it was good to get another point. As for Sebastien, once again he was involved in a collision, this time with De La Rosa. He had to come in for a nose change and later, he too got a drive-through penalty for dangerous driving out of the pit and finally he had to retire with a hydraulic problem, which we must now investigate. However, I am convinced he will get a good race result soon.”

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AT&T Williams F1

SPANISH GRAND PRIX RACE

SUNDAY 9 MAY, 2010

The AT&T Williams team conclude the Spanish Grand Prix weekend with two points courtesy of Rubens Barrichello’s ninth place finish at the Circuit de Catalunya today. After a strong start and opening lap which saw him climb from 17th to 12th, Rubens drove a clean race to a points-scoring finish, his third this season.

Nico Hulkenberg’s afternoon was less rewarding finishing in P15, his pace compromised by damage sustained on the FW32 after his initial pitstop.

Rubens Barrichello:

After Saturday’s disappointment this is a good result. We had a great start today, which allowed me to overtake five cars, and our pace was strong enough to stay with the Renaults and the Force Indias. We need to analyse it, but I think we were on the verge of a tyre issue in the last five laps. If it weren’t for that, we would have finished closer to the guys just ahead of me. I am really happy considering where we were yesterday.

Nico Hulkenberg:

I had quite a good start. I don’t understand why yet, but I always felt like I was in the wrong place at the wrong time going into the corners in the first lap. After the first stop, I went offline and damaged the car which resulted in a lot less downforce. From there, it became a very difficult race for me.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:

That was a good recovery after yesterday’s qualifying. Both cars had great starts and Rubens put in an awesome first lap to make up more places. Rubens’ race pace was strong up until the final few laps for which we had to slow him down to ensure we didn’t have a problem with the tyres. We’ll be looking into that for the next race. Nico drove a good first stint, but unfortunately damaged the car after his pitstop which caused a loss of downforce. Our focus now moves on to Monaco.

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Bridgestone Motorsport

Bridgestone Motorsport’s Spanish Grand Prix Report

Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) has scored his first win of the season after finishing first in the Spanish Grand Prix by 24 seconds from home hero, Fernando Alonso (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro).

Webber led from start to finish using a soft-hard Bridgestone tyre strategy, the same as Alonso. Vettel made two pit stops, using a soft-hard-soft to finish third. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton set the race’s fastest lap, a 1min 24.357secs, using the hard tyre on lap 59.

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, says

“Congratulations to Mark Webber for his first win of the year to open the European season in front of a superb crowd here in Spain. For Fernando Alonso this was also a great day, to be on the podium in his first Spanish Grand Prix driving for Ferrari. From Bridgestone’s perspective this has been a very strong weekend. We hosted guests from the USA and Brazil as well as many from our European markets which has illustrated the importance of Formula One as a business tool. Our sales companies continue to support our Formula One activities, showing the significance of this to our business. We are proud to have the support of all of the teams in this fantastic sport and now look forward to heading straight to Monaco for what is likely to be another fabulous race meeting.”

Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says

“Today was an interesting race where pit stop timing was crucial. This was illustrated by both Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher gaining positions through their choices. Mark Webber’s performance was exceptional and Red Bull had a very good set-up with both compounds of tyre here. The hard and the soft compounds worked well today and the track condition continued to improve as there was no rain last night, unlike on Friday night. The hard compound was very consistent once it was warmed up and was used for the race’s fastest lap, on low fuel loads near the end of the race. The soft compound gave a good lap time straight away and was capable of longer first stints than we generally saw today. We are working closely with McLaren to understand what happened to Lewis Hamilton, but initial impressions are that this was not caused by a tyre issue.”

 

 

 

Spanish GP – Qualifying – May 8, 2010

Pos	No	Driver	Team
1	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing
3	2	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
4	8	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
5	1	Jenson Button	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
6	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP Petronas
7	11	Robert Kubica	Renault F1 Team
8	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP Petronas
9	7	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
10	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber F1 Team
11	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team
12	22	Pedro De la Rosa	BMW Sauber F1 Team
13	10	Nico Hulkenberg	AT&T Williams
14	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault F1 Team
15	16	Sébastien Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso
16	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Scuderia Toro Rosso
17	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India F1 Team
18	9	Rubens Barrichello	AT&T Williams
19	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Racing
20	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Racing
21	24	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing
22	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Racing
23	20	Karun Chandhok	HRT F1 Team
24	21	Bruno Senna	HRT F1 Team

 

Spanish GP – Qualifying Session – May 8, 2010

  

BMW Sauber F1

Spanish GP – Qualifying
For the second time this year Kamui Kobayashi made it into the top ten qualifying. In the end he qualified tenth for the Spanish Grand Prix. Team mate Pedro de la Rosa was sixth fastest in the first qualifying session, but in Q2 the local hero had to make do with 12th. Both drivers are happy with the improvements made to the car.

Weather: Partly cloudy and dry, 17-20°C air, 14-39°C track

Kamui Kobayashi:
C29.01 / Ferrari 056
Qualifying: 10th / 1.21.984 min (in Q3) / 3rd Practice: 12th / 1:22.412 min (11 laps)
“I already knew from the morning session that my pace here was good enough for Q3. The team did a really good job – not only in qualifying, but also over the last three weeks. We have changed the direction for the car’s development and as a reward we made it for the second time this season to Q3. The performance of the car is a lot better. We have aero updates and also an engine upgrade for reliability. I won’t set myself targets for tomorrow. I just hope to finish the race and everything else, I believe, will be okay then.”

Pedro de la Rosa:
C29.03 / Ferrari 056
Qualifying: 12th / 1.22.026 min (in Q2) / 3rd Practice: 13th / 1:22.527 min (20 laps)
“I’m not happy. In Q2 I was sixth and it obviously was possible to get into Q3. I don’t really understand what went wrong. I had a bit of understeer here and there and out of turn two I was sliding. However, the positive thing is we have made a big step forward since the Chinese Grand Prix, and we are a lot more competitive.”

Peter Sauber, Team Principal
“If you want to move forward on the grid, you have to take two steps, because the competition is not standing still. And that’s exactly what we achieved. A great compliment and thank you to the whole team. We can be happy with what we achieved today.”

James Key, Technical Director:
“That was an excellent qualifying result for our team, along with a genuine pace from both drivers, which was very encouraging. We weren’t sure how far we could push forward in qualifying, but I think after Q1 we realised we had a good chance of doing well, and I think in Q2 that proved to be the case. Pedro was just a few tenths of a second shy of Q3, but Kamui put an excellent single lap together to get through. We didn’t have any new tyres for Q3, but we decided nevertheless to give it a go. A great performance from both drivers, and a well deserved result for the team. The updates worked, which was very much a team effort, and we can be proud of the step we made. Now we have to keep it going.”

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Force India F1

2010 Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying and Final Free Practice Report

 

Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03):
FP3: 10th 1:22.377 (12 laps)
Q1: 13th 1:22.211 (9 laps)
Q2: 11th 1:21.985 (7 laps)

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/04):
FP3: 17th 1:23.597 (12 laps)
Q1: 17th 1:23.084 (9 laps)
Q2: 17th 1:22.854 (9 laps)
8 May 2010 – The Force India F1 Team will start tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix from 11th and 16th positions with Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi respectively after an incredibly tight and tense qualifying session. Adrian just missed out on a Q3 slot by one tenth of a second in the dying seconds of Q2, however Tonio had a tougher day after a throttle issue in the morning practice hampered his final preparations for qualifying. He qualified in 17th position however a penalty handed to Renault’s Petrov for changing a gearbox moves Tonio to 16th on the grid.
Adrian Sutil (car 14)
It was still a good qualifying for us. Force India has done a great job all year, we have brought some updates to this circuit that work really well and we’re very consistent. I believe we have a top 10 car and I think we could have got through to Q3 again today, but you need to have a perfect lap and I got a bit of traffic with a Renault in the last sector and lost a couple of tenths, which was all we needed for Q3. I’m not really disappointed but obviously it could have been better. Eleventh is good for the start though as from there we can still have a good race tomorrow.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
For me it was a really difficult day as we lost 90% of the earlier free practice session with a throttle problem so we couldn’t improve our set-up. Then we jumped straight into qualifying with a lot of expectations, but we couldn’t get the right balance and struggled a bit with overall grip, which is why we are where we are. It was a shame as we expected a lot from Barcelona, it’s an important race at the start of the European season. There’s still a lot we can do from where we are though and if we get a wet race, which we could do, there’s still everything to aim for.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
I think the positions we are in today don’t really represent our true form and pace here. The updates we have brought to the track are performing as expected and we have been consistent over the longer runs in practice. Tonio has had a hard day in the office and couldn’t get the most out of the session after he struggled to find a balance following his earlier practice problems. Adrian was unlucky to get caught in traffic on his fastest lap, which would have given us enough to make Q3 for the fifth consecutive race. From where we are points are definitely still possible and we’ll look to make the most of every opportunity that comes our way to get them.

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HRT F1

HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing, prepared for another two car finish at the 2010 Formula 1

Spanish Grand Prix

Third Free Practice Session

Karun Chandhok F110-01 #20 1.26.611 18 laps 23rd

Bruno Senna F110-02 #21 1.30.246 6 laps 24th

Qualifying Session

Karun Chandhok F110-01 #20 1.26.750 8 laps

Bruno Senna F110-02 #21 1.27.122 9 laps

Saturday 8th May 2010, Spain: HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing, completed their fifth qualifying session in the team’s history at the 2010 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix. Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna clocked 1:26.750 and 1:27.122 respectively. A penalty for changing the gearbox puts back Karun Chandhok behind Bruno Senna for tomorrow‘s start.

The qualifying session was preceded by the third practice session of the 2010 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, where Chandhok’s F110-01 #20 completed 18 laps before calling it a day to allow the team to work on some vibration issues. These vibrations were okay then in qualifying. Similarly, Brazilian Bruno Senna also stopped prior to the end of the session due to hydraulic issues which were hampering his performance. However, hard and dedicated work by the HRT F1 Team, Hispania Racing, mechanics and engineers resulted in both cars ready to compete by the qualifying session, held later in the day.

Dr Colin Kolles, Team Principle and Managing Director, commented: “We are currently investigating how we can produce a more satisfactory set-up for the race. This morning the red flag interruption hampered our work and we generally suffered from a lack of grip from overnight rain. What we need tomorrow is another two cars finish.”

Bruno Senna added: “The qualifying today was not as good as planned. In the morning we could not finalize our preparation as much as we would have liked as we had some hydraulic problems. So, we only had a little test this morning session. The gap to Karun’s car was big today in qualifying. We hope to understand what problem it is for a better race tomorrow and try to improve it. We want to finish the race again and of course finish well at our home Grand Prix. We will push for it.”

Karun Chandhok commented:” Qualifying went as expected so we are quite happy. Our deficit to the other two new teams was what I thought it would be after FP3. For me personally, I’m pleased with the job I did and I think there was potential to be a bit quicker. I really have to thank the mechanics and engineers on my car who worked till 5am to get us out on track today. However we have a penalty for changing the gearbox which will put me back behind Bruno but I look forward to another strong race like the one we had in Sepang tomorrow.” 

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Lotus Racing F1

A GOOD DAY IN THE SUN

Barcelona, Spain 8th May 2010

Saturday’s Spanish Grand Prix qualifying session started with bright sunshine, and Lotus Racing enjoyed an excellent session, closing the gap to the midfield they’ve now set their sights on, and moving further away from the new teams they’ve led throughout the 2010 Championship. The team’s in their performance was reflected in the comments made by all the key team figures.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03: Qualified 19th, 1.24.674, 10 laps)

“A pretty good qualifying session today. The result itself hasn’t changed, but we have significantly reduced the gap to the cars in front. Yesterday I had better pace, so I’m not that happy with my performance today, but we now have a good gap to our direct competitors, and can start thinking about taking on those in front, which is thanks to the guys in the team. We still have a lot of work to do, and I think there’s even more to come from the car, so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01: Qualified 20th, 1.24.748, 10 laps)

“I think it was a good session today and I’m happy. We achieved all the targets we set ourselves and we can see the gaps growing in the right direction – nearer those in front, and further away from the other new teams. We won’t have these kind of upgrades every weekend, but I think the car will get quicker and quicker and we’ll keep improving all the time. For the race tomorrow I think we can do well and I’m looking forward to being out there and seeing what we’re like on a long run.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “It was an excellent session for the team today, and a very good job by both drivers. Jarno has been a bit less happy with the balance of his car today than in practice yesterday, but still put in a great performance, whereas Heikki felt the balance had improved. Overall, our times today show how the package we’ve brought to Barcelona has helped us move ahead, so we can all be very pleased. Now we’re all looking to close the gap to the teams ahead, and take the race to them.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “I’m really very happy. We’ve talked a lot about Barcelona, so turning that talk into results has been important and we have clearly made a big step forward. I think we’re about a second and a half away from the established teams, and obviously pulling away from the other new boys, so hopefully that speed, with consistent reliability, will see us able to challenge higher up the grid. It’s obviously good to see the results of the efforts that have been put in, and when you think where we’ve come from, about nine seconds off the pace when we first went out on track in testing in Jerez, it’s a huge accomplishment to the whole Lotus Racing team.

“It’s also great to see our profile continuing to rise across the world. We’ve launched our first range of merchandise here, and it’s good to see flags in the stands, and shirts in the crowd, so we’ll do our best to give the fans something to cheer for tomorrow.”

—————-

Mercedes GP Petronas

2010 SPANISH GRAND PRIX – BARCELONA – 8 MAY

QUALIFYING

Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona saw the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS pair of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg qualify in sixth and eighth positions respectively for Sunday’s race.

Michael and Nico progressed easily through Q1 with each driver using the prime tyres for two runs. Michael completed just one run on the options in Q2 for sixth place with Nico completing two runs and going through in tenth position.

Q3 saw both drivers complete two three-lap runs on the options to end the session with Michael in sixth place on the third row of the grid, and Nico in eighth position which will see him start directly behind his team-mate on row four.

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Practice 3 Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Qualifying 3
Michael Schumacher 3 MGP W01 / 01 P5 P9 1:22.528 P6 1:21.557 P6 1:21.294
Nico Rosberg 4 MGP W01 / 02 P7 P7 1:22.419 P10 1:21.867 P8 1:21.408

Weather Sunny
Temperatures Air: 19-20°C Track: 34-39°C

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
“Today’s qualifying was straightforward in my view. We had a good car yesterday meaning that conditions were quite ideal for us in terms of balance and so on. Today admittedly, the car was not as perfect. It is little things that can trigger that change one way or the other, and whatever happened today just triggered us to fall over the edge towards the downside a little. Nevertheless, I feel a lot more comfortable driving the car that I have in my hands now. But there is a maximum that you can get out of it and that is what we have achieved today.”

NICO ROSBERG
“It’s been a difficult weekend for me and we need to look into the reasons for this and understand why. The changes that we have made with the car are obviously good and we have made a step forward but I haven’t really been able to use the improvements so far. Considering that I have found the car difficult to drive and haven’t had the best of set-ups, our performance today was acceptable but it’s not where I wanted to be fighting this weekend.”

ROSS BRAWN
“I am pleased with the performance of our drivers today with Michael and Nico doing a good job. Michael has continued the progress that we saw in the first three races whilst Nico hasn’t been completely happy with the car this weekend and that reflects in his position. I am comfortable that we have made progress but other teams have also moved forward so we have further work to do. I’m not happy with the overall performance, but I am confident that if we hadn’t done all of the work that we have, we would have been much further back. It’s evident that this has happened to the teams who have not made progress since the last race. There are some positive signs but we need to be faster.”

NORBERT HAUG
“We have certainly improved our car considerably since the beginning of the season but other teams have improved as well and the third and fourth rows are not where we hoped to start this important first race of the European season. Michael has done a very good job since the first lap here in Barcelona with Nico closing the gap to his team-mate from half a second yesterday to just over a tenth today. But of course sixth and eight places are not where we want to start a race from and we will be working very hard to improve that position as soon as possible.”

—————

Red Bull F1

 

POLE, POLE, POLE, POLE, POLE!

 

Car 6 MARK WEBBER, Position: POLE POSITION

“It’s always tight between Seb and I, it’s a good battle. Seb’s had a solid run recently, but today was my turn. The car is performing really well, but we’re taking nothing for granted. We know McLaren and Ferrari are strong opponents and will continue to be until the end of the season. It’s still early days in the Championship, but a lot can happen over the next two back to back races. I’m pleased that we’ve laid the foundations to make good all the hard work that has gone on at the factory over the last three weeks. This pole is for the team – there was a massive effort from the guys before the race and then at the track this weekend. They have worked so hard, you really can’t believe how much work can go into two cars! It’s a great effort and I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.”

Car 5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Position: 2nd

“Congratulations to Mark, he was unbeatable today. It was close; I had good laps throughout qualifying, especially at the end, but it was not enough. A tenth is not that much, but unfortunately it was too much for me today. Still, it was a good qualifying session from us and I think starting on the first row is a good result. We know there are no points from today, that all comes tomorrow. At the moment it looks comfortable, but we know how quickly things can change, so we have to stay focused. There might be some rain. The team has made such a huge effort to bring the updates here – the factory has been flat out over the last few weeks, so congratulations to them.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER: “A fantastic team result. It was a brilliant lap by Mark, the drivers have been closely matched all weekend and there’s literally just been hundredths of a second between them. It was a dominant Red Bull display, which is testimony to a superb team effort. The amount of work that’s gone into the components that have been bought out here has been immense, with members of the team giving up their bank holiday weekend and time at home. Our performance today is very much due to that.”

(Renault) FABRICE LOM: “Wow, what a great result again. It was another very good qualifying, our fifth pole position in a row and our third front row start. We proved that the work we have done since China has paid off and we are still in front, which is really good. Sunday is the most important time, so we need to focus on that. Congratulations to Mark, he has done a very good job; everything is now in our hands”

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Renault F1 Team

2010 Spanish Grand Prix, Saturday

FREE PRACTICE 3

Robert Kubica, R30-03, P9, 1:22.242, 20 laps
Vitaly Petrov, R30-02, P18, 1:23.896, 5 laps

QUALIFYING

Robert Kubica, R30-03, P7, 1:21.353

Robert: Overall it was a good qualifying session for me. Seventh is a strong place to start and I think I got the maximum from the car. We don’t have a big package of updates for this race so it’s encouraging to be ahead of one Ferrari and one Mercedes, which is not what I was expecting. I know that it will be a tough race tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how the soft tyres cope with the heavy fuel load in the opening laps. I think our race pace will be similar to our qualifying pace so I’m hopeful of a strong race and scoring some good points tomorrow.

Vitaly Petrov, R30-02, P14 (starts P19) 1:22.139

Vitaly: It was a very close session today and I only missed out on Q3 by three tenths, which shows that we have improved again this weekend – both myself and the team. To begin with it wasn’t certain that I would make qualifying after my accident this morning when I ran wide onto the kerb and hit some standing water on the approach to turn four. So I have to say a big thank you to my mechanics because they did an excellent job to repair the car in time. I know the race tomorrow will be difficult because it’s not easy to overtake here, but anything can happen in the race and I will try my best to move forward.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal
Robert did an excellent job to qualify in seventh and if somebody had told us before the weekend that we would qualify ahead of a Ferrari and a Mercedes, we would have been very happy. Obviously our expectations are changing with every race and we are now aiming even higher up the grid compared to the start of the season. Vitaly was unlucky to get caught out with his accident this morning, which affected this preparation for qualifying. Even so he only missed out on Q3 by three tenths and without losing the track time I’m sure he could have made it into the top ten. So it’s encouraging to know that both cars have the potential to make it into Q3. Again I want to say a big thanks to the team for their hard work to get Vitaly’s car ready in time for the start of Q1.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer
A lot of the teams have brought updates to this race, but overall our relative position remains similar to the first four races. Robert is in seventh, ahead of one of the Mercedes, which is good to see because we thought they might move away from us this weekend. Vitaly had an accident in final practice this morning, but the crew put in a tremendous effort to get the car ready for the start of qualifying and Vitaly was very close on pace with cars around him in Q2. For the race tomorrow we don’t have any particular concerns with the car in terms of tyres or brake wear, so we’re looking forward to a strong performance and hopefully scoring another good haul of points.

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Scuderia Toro Rosso

QUALIFYING & DANCING

The master learns from the pupil: when it comes to car set-up, Seb hangs on Giorgio’s every word, but with five days to go to Red Bull’s Monaco Media Party, our technical director was keen to pick up the latest disco dance moves from the younger generation.

Sebastien Buemi: “I expected to get a better grid position than this, as we could have got more out of the car, but I had a lot of traffic, including one incident with Rosberg on my very last lap. It was very close with myself and the three cars that qualified ahead of me all in about one tenth of a second. So, in general, I am not very satisfied with my performance. However, now we must just focus on tomorrow, when we can expect a long tough race. My first aim is to finish the race without any crashes, as has happened to me so often this season and then my next goal is to bring home some points.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “We have to be happy with this position, as we knew some of the other teams would have upgrades for this race and we had to be realistic in terms of what we could achieve. This is a long season and we know we too will get upgrades at some point. I did my best and at the end of Q2 I tried for just a single lap run and got a good time, maybe good enough to get me into the points tomorrow as our race simulation in free practice on Friday went well. So I am confident for tomorrow and hope the weather stays dry.”

Giorgio Ascanelli: “We can be quite happy with this result. It was to be expected that we would struggle a bit here, as we have not brought a major update, because we currently do not have the capacity to do so. However, in some ways, we did better than expected, even if it’s a shame that Sebastien was unable to produce a clean lap in Q2 as both of them were affected by traffic: while with Rosberg it was simply unfortunate, with Petrov it seemed to me to be deliberate on the part of his team. Having said that, traffic is the same problem for everybody. As for Jaime, he did a good job.”

Sebastien Buemi(STR5-02)	FP3:	Best lap 1.22.400, pos. 11th, 18 laps
	Qualifying:	Best lap 1.22.191, pos. 15th
Jaime Alguersuari(STR5-03)	FP3:	Best lap 1.22.926, pos. 15th, 20 laps
	Qualifying:	Best lap 1.22.207, pos. 16th

 

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AT&T Williams F1

SPANISH GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING

SATURDAY 8 MAY, 2010

Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya delivered an unrewarding qualifying result for AT&T Williams today.

The team were unable to capitalise on Nico Hulkenberg’s competitive Q1 pace, falling short of a place in the top ten and leaving Nico in P13 on the grid for tomorrow’s race. For the first time this season, Rubens Barrichello was unable to make it past Q1 and will start the Spanish Grand Prix on the ninth row in P18.

 

Nico Hulkenberg:

Personally, I’m happy with my qualifying laps. We are of course aiming higher than P13, but that is where our performance is at the moment. I went off in Q1 which caused some minor damage to the car but the mechanics fixed it really quickly, and thanks to everyone at the factory who worked so hard to get the updates out in time for my qualifying session.

 

Rubens Barrichello:

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a clear run during any of my outings; I just kept getting caught out by

traffic. It’s going to happen to everyone at some stage this season; it was obviously just my turn

today. It’s disappointing because I thought we had a shot at Q3 this afternoon. I was also carrying

some car damage from stones thrown up by other cars which we will have to fix tonight.

 

Sam Michael, Technical Director:

Overall, that wasn’t a good qualifying performance for the team. Rubens failed to make it out of Q3 after issues with traffic, while we were unable to convert Nico’s pace in Q1 to take him through Q2 and into the top ten. We’ll look at the data to understand why and work on further improvements.

Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona 4.655kms / 2.892 miles				Weather: Warm Air: 19 – 20°C Track: 34 – 39°C
POS	DRIVER		TEAM	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	M Webber	Red Bull Racing		–	–	1:19.995
2	S Vettel	Red Bull Racing		–	–	1:20.101
3	L Hamilton	McLaren		–	–	1:20.829
13	N Hulkenberg FW32 03 – CA123	AT&T Williams		1:22.857 (15th)	1:22.131	–
18	R Barrichello FW32 04 – CA125	AT&T Williams		1:23.125	–	–

 

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Bridgestone Motorsport

Bridgestone Motorsport’s Saturday Update

Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber used Bridgestone’s soft compound tyre to blast to a record pole position with a time of 1min 19.995secs for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Webber edged out team-mate Sebastian Vettel with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton qualifying in third. Vettel went fastest in the morning practice session, using the soft compound for a time of 1min 20.528secs.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about today’s running? “There was significant rain last night and also stronger wind today at the circuit so there wasn’t as much improvement in lap times from yesterday as we would often see. The rain washed away a lot of the rubber laid on track and the wind affects the cars so it was a challenging day for teams and drivers in that respect.”

What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow’s race?

“Every driver in the top ten will start on the soft compound so managing this tyre with heavy fuel loads will be a challenge. Initially, drivers will have to be mindful of graining on the front left tyre, then as the race goes on they will have to be careful about rear traction. It will be rear tyre degradation which is the primary consideration for pit stop strategy so it will be interesting to see the different approaches to tomorrow’s race. Even today some drivers were finding rear traction was deteriorating in the rear sector when they pushed too hard.”

Courtesy: HRT F1, Lotus Racing, AT&T Williams F1, Renault F1, Red Bull F1, Mercedes GP Petronas, BMW Sauber F1 Team, Force India F1, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Bridgestone Motorsport © RIF