Sunday, April 19, 2009

Buemi delighted with another points scored

Formula 1 rookie Sebastien Buemi expressed delight at finishing in the points for the second time in his three-race career in China, despite crashing into eventual winner and stablemate Sebastian Vettel behind the safety car.

The Swiss driver eventually finished eighth, bringing his points tally to three following a seventh place in Melbourne, and battled confidently with world champions Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at various times during the race.

"I am very happy as the team did a super job so that we got another point to take away from here," he said afterwards. I am pleased that in three races, I have scored twice.

"Maybe I could have done a little bit better, but I'm happy all the same. We were very competitive in the early stages and I got past Raikkonen and Hamilton, but after that I struggled a bit.

"I think it was one of my hardest races ever. As for the incident with Vettel, it happened under safety car conditions: I didn't see him and I tried to swerve to the right, but it was not enough to avoid him.

"We changed the wing on my car and I'm glad I didn't spoil his race."

Toro Ross team-mate Sebastien Bourdais endured a difficult day, finishing 11th and spinning twice.

The Frenchman said afterwards that he felt the race should never have been run under such difficult conditions: "I've got mixed feelings, because I don't think we should have raced as there was so much aquaplaning.

"The fact the cars have a lot less downforce this year, aggravates the situation as it's hard to get the car down onto the track surface," he added. "I could have spun 15 or 20 times and Sutil's crash showed what could have happened."

Glock quite happy with 7th position

Timo Glock welcomed the two points scored at the Chinese Grand Prix following a difficult race for the Toyota driver.

Glock had taken the start from the pitlane following a penalty for changing the gearbox on Saturday, but the German worked his way through the field to finish in seventh, despite an incident that cost him the front wing when he made contact with Nick Heidfeld.

Glock is now in fourth place in the standings with 10 points from the first three races.

"In the end we picked up more points from the pitlane so we have to be happy with that," said Glock. "But it was a very hard race, especially at the beginning. I was quite surprised when we started the race. When you're at the back of the field there is no chance to see anything and it's like driving blind.

"I made up some ground but I damaged my front wing when I touched Nick. It was so difficult to see, I misjudged my braking point and hit him on the back.

"That meant we had to bring our pitstop forward by a few laps to fix the damage. Later when I had a clear run for five or six laps I was pretty quick and on the pace but as soon as I caught Kimi I was stuck behind him.

"I couldn't see the standing water so I had to back off, particularly in the areas where you could overtake. In the end I got past and we were able to bring it home 7th."

Team-mate Jarno Trulli retired from the race after being hit from behind by BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica on lap 17.

"That was not a good day for me," said Trulli. "The conditions were very difficult, there was a lot of standing water and lots of aquaplaning.

"When the safety car came in I made a solid start and my pace was okay in the early laps. But then I started struggling for grip, the pace just wasn't there and the longer it went on the more ground I lost.

"On lap 17 I just felt a big hit from behind and I lost my rear wing. I made it back to the pits but we couldn't continue. Still, my pace yesterday shows we're close the front so now we must hope for better fortunes in Bahrain next weekend."

Hamilton try to keep positive

Lewis Hamilton said the only positive from the Chinese Grand Prix was to finish the event and score some points after a difficult day for the world champion.

Hamilton finished in sixth position after spinning and going off the track several times at the wet Shanghai circuit.

The McLaren driver conceded it had not been a great day, but was satisfied to leave with some points.

"Just that we finished and obviously the reliability of the car is fantastic, so it was great job from the guys," Hamilton told the BBC about the positives from the race.

"Just continue to try and move forward and try and score some more points. Good points for the team."

Hamilton admitted the conditions were very hard, and said he struggled to keep the tyres in good shape.

"It was terrible," he said of the conditions. "It was a little bit fun at the beginning when I had some grip. But as always, I don't know if it is my driving style or my car, we seem to destroy my tyres very early on.

"Especially at the end, there was 20 laps left, and after five laps my front left tyre was finished. So it was just really tough - aquaplaning all over the pace.

"I'm sure it was the same for everyone - but I could only do my best."

The Briton finished behind team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who was pleased with the result and upbeat about the progress made by McLaren.k

"I didn't really expect anything from this race, because in these conditions anything can happen," said Kovalainen. "You can win the race and you can go off very easily. It was just important to try and stay on the track.

"The tyres were quite okay, the car worked pretty well and little-by-little we were able to work to the front and the strategy worked out quite okay. It was a pretty good end to the weekend, and in these difficult conditions to be able to score a few points.

"We have clearly gone forwards with the car, which is the most important thing, and now the next race we have a few more updates and we will try to do even better."

He added: "I think to finish the race is a big relief, a big bonus. To go through everything in a difficult race, to manage the race we can be happy about. The team has done a really good job with the strategy, and also we managed to improve the car during the pitstop.

"Everything is going fine and we just need an extra bit of performance, which we know is going to come, and then we will be fighting for the victories."

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh also welcomes the result, the best of the season so far.

"Very, very difficult for everyone out there," said Whitmarsh. "For us, solid points, which is worthwhile. Lewis was trying very hard and made it exciting. Obviously he had a few spins, but that's just his determination and perhaps his confidence to push so hard in these conditions.

"For Heikki, who hasn't had much running in the races this year, to get to the end without any mistakes at all was a fantastic drive by him.

"Overall we weren't going to live with either the Red Bulls or the Brawns today, so to have some solid points was a great effort by the team."

Brawn - Tyre temperature very crucial

Ross Brawn cited tyre temperature issues as the cause of his Brawn GP team's first defeat at Shanghai today.

After winning the first two grands prix of the season, Jenson Button had no answer to the pace of the Red Bull cars in China and finished third, ahead of his team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

The result kept Button and Brawn GP at the head of the championship standings.

"It's a good world championship position," Brawn told the BBC. "We weren't quite quick enough today, particularly when the water was very heavy, the drivers found it quite difficult. Red Bull did a great job."

He said his drivers had struggled to keep heat in their wet tyres as effectively as the Red Bulls had.

"We were struggling with tyre temperature after the safety car came in," Brawn explained. "That may have been a factor because when the cars came out after pitstops it didn't seem too bad, and when we could got temperature it was okay. Rubens actually had the fastest lap."

But he added that the team should still be extremely content with its start to the season despite its winning streak ending.

"The fact that we're disappointed with third and fourth says a lot," said Brawn.

Horner - Impossible is nothing now

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner says the 'sky is the limit' for his squad this season after it took its maiden victory with a dominant one-two in China.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were substantially faster than their rivals in the wet today, with third-placed Jenson Button's Brawn 40 seconds adrift at the end.

"It was frustrating in the first two races not to get a podium but now we're firmly on the scoreboard," Horner told the BBC.

"It's a breakthrough result for us. It's a long season ahead, and we can see that we're competitive with both drivers, so I think the sky's the limit."

Designer Adrian Newey and his team are already working on a revised car featuring a double diffuser, which Horner is confident will give the team another major boost.

"The car's been very good in the high-speed corners. It's got a great aero package," he said. "We've got a lot more development steps to come now with the clarity in the regulations, and we know there's more performance that we can see."

He insisted that he remained calm on the pitwall despite the treacherous conditions and the safety car interruptions.

"It was actually very calm," said Horner. "We had a clear strategy that at the earliest opportunity we were looking to close down the race.

"Sebastian put all of our hearts in our mouths by overtaking Jenson when he knew that he still had a stop to go. They were very confident in the car, they had great pace and balance, and the strategy worked very well today."

The team had taken first and third on the grid with Vettel and Webber in dry qualifying, and although that result was achieved on a low fuel load, Horner reckoned victory would have been possible even without the rain.

"If it had been dry it would have been a race against the stopwatch for us on three stops," he said.

"We had gone for a really aggressive strategy in the first stint, and we thought we could beat them by the last pitstop, so we thought we'd have the pace.

"We saw in Q2 yesterday, fuel load for fuel load, tyre for tyre, we were competitive with them. So we decided to roll the dice and have a go at it, and it paid off in both conditions."

Button - We couldn't challenge Red Bull in Shanghai

Jenson Button admitted he was powerless to stop Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber dominating the wet Chinese Grand Prix for Red Bull.

The world championship leader finished a distant third for Brawn GP, having only led the race during the two pitstop windows. This was in stark contrast to his commanding victories in the first two races of 2009.

"We couldn't challenge these people [Vettel and Webber] today, who were immensely quick, but it is great to score six points which is important for the consistency," said Button, who revealed that he had struggled to get heat into his wet tyres during the race and actually weaved down the back straight on occasion to try and warm them up.

"I wasn't weaving to block honestly! I just wanted to get heat into the tyres," he said.

"Rubens [Barrichello] and myself struggled quite a bit, I don't know what reason for that is, car working in a different way, we will solve those problems in the future."

Button, a renowned wet weather driver, added that the conditions had proved challenging and that he was relieved to have taken a podium from a difficult race.

"I think everyone was struggling with the aquaplaning out there, it was pretty crazy conditions into the last corner - it was a lake and I couldn't brake for the corner," he said. "A few other places were the same, the tyres shuddered as you couldn't get temperature in to them.

"It was difficult race and every lap you thought you were going to throw the car off, you really did. So to finish the race was an achievement and to come home on podium is also great."

Vettel was very delighted with his victory

Sebastian Vettel was a delighted man after clinching his second Formula 1 victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, the German giving Red Bull Racing its made victory.

The 21-year-old, who last year became the youngest ever winner when he took victory at the Italian Grand Prix with Toro Rosso, dominated the wet race from pole position and crossed the finish line 10 seconds ahead of team-mate Mark Webber, who completed a 1-2 for the Milton Keynes team.

Vettel praised his team following the overnight work to fix the problems that had hindered both him and Webber on Saturday.

"I am extremely happy," admitted Vettel, now fourth in the championship standings. "Second time now I've won a grand prix in the wet. The car was fantastic, it is definitely necessary to mention team did a really, really good job in preparing the car.

"We were struggling a bit with reliability, but we fixed it overnight. That speaks of the quality of our team, everybody was trying to fix it. Both cars finished the race. Having a double win for Red Bull is incredible."

The German admitted the race, which took place entirely in the wet, had been very hard given the conditions.

He also welcomed the decision to start behind the safety car.

"I think first of all it was the right decision to start behind the safety car as there was a lot of standing water," said Vettel. "It was okay at some corners but every lap there would be aquaplaning, sometimes less sometimes more.

"We knew we were on a short strategy so I had to push at the beginning to get away from the pack which we succeeded in doing.

"It was very difficult race, a lot of aquaplaning, you were just catching cars, keeping it on circuit. I think I had best conditions as no cars were running in front of me the whole race so it was quite comfortable but still difficult with the aquaplaning, especially in the last corner."

Vettel said he took it easy in the last part of the race, trying to avoid errors and bringing the car home.

"With some 10 laps to the end I was always trying to observe the gap to car behind and trying to adapt to his pace. I was trying to have everything in control but it is extremely difficult. I tried to bring the car home. I tried to really be focused corner by corner and not looking too far ahead.

"The last two laps I backed off, I didn't want to risk going off the track in the same way. Winning the second race, and having won here for Toro Rosso and Red Bull is fantastic."

Chinese GP - Sebastian Vettel scores Red Bull's first F1 Victory

The predicted rain arrived ahead of the start of the Chinese Grand Prix resulting in the race starting behind the safety car, very reminiscent to the Japanese Grand Prix of 2007. After claiming pole position yesterday in style, Sebastian Vettel took advantage of his position at the head of the field and went on to dominate the 56-lap race.

It was however a far from easy victory for Vettel, who led home team-mate Mark Webber to record Red Bull Renault’s first win, as the persistent rain ensured that the result was far from certain until the very second he took the chequered flag almost two hours after the race first got began.

After eight laps behind the safety car the race got underway properly on lap nine with Fernando Alonso having already relinquished his second position with a very early pit stop. The Red Bull duo of Vettel and Webber were quickly able to establish a gap over Jenson Button who passed his Brawn Mercedes team-mate Rubens Barrichello early in the race.

With an 11 second advantage at the head of the field Vettel pitted on lap 15 and Webber shortly repeated the procedure leaving Button at the head of the field. Further back down the order Jarno Trulli was really struggling in the conditions and heading to the final turn on lap 18 was hit hard from behind by Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber. Trulli’s Toyota was extensively damaged and he was out of the race and the safety car was deployed.

Jenson Button’s 14 second at the head of the pack was immediately negated to nothing as he headed to the pits for this first stop. From that point onwards, Vettel and Webber dominated at the front as they traded fastest laps and eased away to a comfortable victory from Button.

Webber finished 11 seconds behind Vettel and kept the pressure on his young team-mate and while he will be happy with the result for the team, having your team-mate record the team’s first victory will be tough to take.

Jenson Button took the chequered flag in third position, 34 seconds behind Vettel, while Rubens Barrichello had a low-key race in the second Brawn Mercedes and was never really on the pace of the front runners. The decision not to change his wet tyres in the second and final pit stop put him under pressure from those close behind but the Brazilian veteran held on to retain the position.

Button remains at the head of the drivers’ championship with 21 points with Barrichello on 15 and Vettel vaulting up to third with his ten point haul from today. Brawn Mercedes lead Red Bull Renault in the constructors’ championship by 16.5 points.

Behind the Red Bull/Brawn drivers the battle for fifth was completely open. In the end it was Heikki Kovalainen who drove an error free race to take the position in his McLaren Mercedes ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton who suffered several spins on his way to sixth.

Timo Glock started the race from the pit lane and despite a brush with Nick Heidfeld early in the race and then a later pitstop for a new front wing, the Toyota driver managed to battle on to finish in seventh position.

Sebastien Buemi is proving he really does deserve his place in the series as he capitalised on his fine qualifying form to finish eighth in the leading Toro Rosso Ferrari.

It was another dismal day for the Renault team following the qualifying boost received yesterday. Light on fuel, Alonso pitted whist still under safety car conditions early in the race and dropped to the field. The double world champion would battle back to fifth position before a high-speed spin exiting turn 13 sent him back down the order once again. Alonso finished ninth and out of the points.

Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari leave the third round of the championship without any points again. The Finn ran as high as fifth before pitting on lap 28 but the team opted to move to a one stop strategy. From here Raikkonen never had the pace to recover and he struggled around to finish tenth. Felipe Massa meanwhile ran in the points before his F60 coasted to a halt on the back straight with a mechanical problem. Strategy and reliability again the issues for the Italian team.

Sebastien Bourdais finished in 11th position in the second Toro Rosso Ferrari after an eventful day. The Frenchman got the better of Nick Heidfeld right at the end of the race to claim the position from the struggling BMW Sauber driver.

Following his high speed incident with Trulli early in the race and then another pit stop for a new front wing, Robert Kubica rounded off BMW Sauber’s dismal Chinese performance with a 13th place finish.

While Giancarlo Fisichella was classified 14th and Adrian Sutil 17th, it was a disappointing day for Force India Mercedes. Sutil ran in sixth position but with the rain coming down hard in the closing stages, lost control of his VJM02 and nosed the car heavily into the barriers at turn five. It was a real shame for Sutil and the hard-working Force India team.

Williams Toyota had a poor Grand Prix with Nico Rosberg slithering to 15th position following a gamble to switch to intermediate tyres failed, while Kazuki Nakajima spent much of his race running off track before parking the FW31.

Nelson Piquet had a predictably troubled race in the second Renault as he suffered numerous spins resulting in two stops for replacement wings. Piquet was classified two laps down in 16th ahead of the unfortunate Sutil. Quite where Piquet can go from here remains to be seen, but time is certainly running out.

The Formula One circus now packs up and head off to Sakhir for next Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Sam Michael - BMW's diffuser indecision 'a joke'

It is a ‘joke’ if BMW Sauber has not now decided to formally drop its protest against the legality of diffusers. That is the claim of Williams' Technical Director Sam Michael, several days after the Court of Appeal said controversial rear diffuser solutions are fully legal.

That appeal, however, related only to the protests lodged in Australia by Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault. BMW's appeal was made a week later in Malaysia.

"That's a joke isn't it?" Australian Michael said in Shanghai, when told that BMW's appeal is formally still outstanding.

Theoretically, the Court of Appeal could be reconvened if BMW - represented by a lawyer at Tuesday's Paris proceedings - presses its case, despite Renault and McLaren now also fitting 'double diffusers' to their cars.

Michael said BMW pressing its appeal might also anger F1's governing body.

"I would say that if they wanted to take that protest again they would run a very high of getting charged with being frivolous. The court would sit there and say 'we saw you last week'."

Raikkonen give up title chase

Kimi Raikkonen has stated that neither he nor team-mate Felipe Massa will be able to challenge for the 2009 world championship.

Ferrari this year kicked off its worst start to a season since 1992, but after just two races in 2009, Finn Raikkonen says it is not realistic to hope to recover and mount a title bid.

"We're never going to be in a position to win the championship (this year) but hopefully we can improve the car and try to win some races later on this season, that's the realistic aim," the 29-year-old told the BBC in Shanghai.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali agrees, arguing that with the diffuser row settled against Ferrari's favour, 'the championship is taking a very clear direction' with the original diffuser teams 'flying away.'

Ferrari's Italian boss also defended Raikkonen, amid suggestions his attitude is too complacent.

For example, when mechanics were readying his car amid the Malaysia downpour two weeks ago, the Finn was dressed in shorts, drinking a coke and eating ice-cream.

"No, we had a problem with KERS," Domenicali said. "Because we had time, we tried to understand the problem, but it was not possible to go (back) out."

Symonds not agreed with Briatore about Button

Pat Symonds has refused to back his boss Flavio Briatore over claims Jenson Button is too slow to be a worthy world champion.

In responding to Renault chief Briatore's assertion this week that Button can be likened to a concrete bollard, championship leader Button hit back by revealing that the French team tried to hire him for 2009.

Symonds, Renault's director of engineering, confirmed the Briton's claim in conversation with the BBC in Shanghai.

"We talked to a lot of people though the winter; anyone who's available, we'll assess them," he said.

Symonds, who like Briatore worked alongside Button at Benetton/Renault in 2001 and 2002, made clear he does not agree with Briatore's current assessment of the Brawn driver.

"I personally think he's a damn good driver and I think he's showing it at the moment," the 55-year-old said.

"He hasn't been in the best cars in the last couple of years but he's showing what he can do now and good luck to him,” he added.