Horner - Malaysian GP will be tough for vettel

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner thinks Sebastian Vettel will have little problem bouncing back from his late-race heartbreak at the Australian Grand Prix.

Vettel looked on course for a podium finish in Melbourne, but got caught up in a collision with Robert Kubica near the end of the race.

His involvement in that incident has earned Vettel a 10-place grid penalty for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

Despite the disappointment, and the criticism thrown at Vettel's way from some quarters about getting caught up in the crash, Horner is sure his driver will not let what happened in Melbourne dent his confidence.

"He is a young guy, he drove fantastically well, and to me he had a racing accident with Kubica," explained Horner. "I think he can take a lot of confidence away that we have a car with a lot of potential.

"He is driving better than ever, and because of his confidence, albeit with a penalty going into this weekend, I expect to see a similar performance from him. We still have zero points on the board so we need to get on the scoreboard as quickly as possible."

Vettel had a meeting with the FIA on Thursday to explain why the governing body decided to hand him a 10-place penalty

Horner concedes that Vettel's grid penalty will make it difficult for the German to deliver a decent haul of points for Malaysia, although the prospects of showers in the race could throw up a surprise.

"As we have seen, overtaking a KERS powered car in a non KERS car will be difficult," said Horner. "But one of the big variables that can be a key factor this weekend is the weather. There is a late race start and when it rains here it is not just a light shower - it could have quite a sizeable impact on the race."

Malaysian GP Free Practice 1 - Rosberg fastest

Just as they did in first free practice for the Australian Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima stole the top spots in the dying seconds of the opening session in Malaysia.

The Williams drivers waited until the very last lap of the hot and humid 90 minutes to deny the Brawns of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello from continuing their dominance of Melbourne.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and sixth, but there was a late scare for the Finn when his cockpit extinguisher fired halfway down the back-straight - it is not known whether this was related to the car's KERS system or not.

As in Australia, there was a lull of 20 minutes before anyone bothered to start lapping sensibly.

But when they did, it was Raikkonen that got the ball rolling, running timed laps immediately after his installation lap.

The Finn's initial mark was almost immediately eclipsed by Nakajima's Williams, and the two traded times at the top until Massa beat them both with a 1:37.343 after 40 minutes.

Not wishing to miss out, Rosberg, the star of Melbourne free practice, immediately replaced Massa at the top, but by this stage Button was out on track and hunting down the German's time.

Button's first attempt was 0.16 seconds shy of Rosberg, but by the hour mark he was on top with a lap of 1:36.676. He improved that to a 1:36.430, which looked good enough to give him the top spot until Williams denied him late-on.

Behind the Brawns, Williams and Ferraris is Lewis Hamilton in seventh, having enjoyed a reasonably competitive session, less than half a second away from the ultimate pace - although both he and McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen ended the session in the pits with their cars being worked on.

The Finn in particular only completed seven laps and ended the session at the bottom of the timesheet.

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were eighth and ninth for Red Bull, followed by the Toyotas of Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli. Giancarlo Fisichella put in a feisty performance to go 12th.

There was plenty of incident as well. Other than Raikkonen's dramas, Nelson Piquet spun into the gravel at Turn 6 when something appeared to fall off the front of his Renault car.

Trulli, Fisichella, Robert Kubica, Glock, Sebastien Bourdais, Massa, Hamilton and Fernando Alonso all either had spins or off-track excursions.

Piquet - R29 needs a lot to improve

Nelson Piquet says there is a lot to be improved on the Renault R29 before it is able to fight for race wins.

Piquet, who ended last weekend's Australian Grand Prix in the gravel after an unexplained braking problem while battling with Williams's Nico Rosberg, says that his car was difficult to drive in Melbourne.

"It was really loose. Compared to the other cars, I think it looked quite bad. The car was everywhere, difficult to hold. There is a lot to be improved."

"I'm sure all of the other teams are doing the same, so it's not going to be an easy task to jump over the others. The teams is working as hard as it car, 24 hours a day, in the factory."

"But we have a limited budget and the team's not as big as some. We need to spend the money in the right areas."

Despite his disappointing start to the season, Piquet is hopeful that the Malaysian Grand Prix will offer a clearer indication of his and Renault's form.

"Let's see what happens here because it's a good track to judge," he said. "Australia is not my favourite track and I always struggle there. Malaysia should be better. There are less bumps and it is a slower track. That suits the car better."

"I want to qualify well to get up with Fernando or even ahead of him. It will be a good test for me."

Piquet is also hopeful that Renault being one of only four teams running with KERS could give them an edge when battling with other cars during the race.

"Overtaking here is going to be a little bit easier than Melbourne so we can get a bit more of an advantage," he said.

Virgin deal with Brawn's for 2010 sponsorship

Brawn GP has now agreed a major sponsorship deal with the Virgin Group for 2010, SportsPro magazine reported on Thursday. The arrangement for 2009 is set to stay the same, at $250,000 per race.

In Malaysia, the BGP 001 cars are featuring the same Virgin branding as in Melbourne a week ago, while team clothing and driver overalls remain unbranded.

In 2010, however, the sponsorship will ramp up to $30 million for the one-year contract, giving Virgin the right to sell space on the cars to additional sponsors.

The deal resembles Ferrari's Marlboro backing, where the brand has exclusive rights to the livery and the right to offset the contract price by selling space to additional sponsors.

An insider said: "If it (Virgin) gets $80 million, which it might, Virgin will keep $50 million, it's a good deal."

The team has yet to confirm any such deal.

FIA insist McLaren and Lewis Hamilton misled stewards

The FIA is insisting that McLaren and Lewis Hamilton 'misled' the governing body during a meeting with stewards following the Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was stripped of his third place in Melbourne on Thursday, while Toyota's Jarno Trulli was reinstated to third place, after the FIA stated that the Italian was 'unfairly penalised' for overtaking the McLaren behind the safety car.

Both Hamilton and Trulli were summoned by the stewards after the incident last Sunday. Trulli was penalised 25s, which dropped him out of the points.

On Thursday, McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh denied the team had lied to the stewards.

However, the FIA said on Thursday afternoon that both Hamilton and team manager David Ryan had not been completely honest about what happened during the race.

"During the hearing, held approximately one hour after the end of the race, the Stewards and the Race Director questioned Lewis Hamilton and his Team Manager David Ryan specifically about whether there had been an instruction given to Hamilton to allow Trulli to overtake," the FIA said in a statement.

"Both the driver and the team manager stated that no such instruction had been given.

"The race director specifically asked Hamilton whether he had consciously allowed Trulli to overtake. Hamilton insisted that he had not done so."

The FIA added that both in radio communications and in an interview after the race, it was clear that McLaren had instructed Hamilton to let Trulli through.

Transcript of the radio transmission between Lewis Hamilton and McLaren

Transcript of the radio transmission between Lewis Hamilton and McLaren during the Australian Grand Prix:

Team: OK Lewis, you should need to make sure your delta is positive over the safety car line. After the safety car line the delta doesn't matter but no overtaking. No overtaking.

Lewis Hamilton: The Toyota went off in a line at the second corner, ..., is this OK?

Team: Understood, Lewis. We'll confirm and get back to you.

LH: He was off the track. He went wide.

Team: Lewis, you need to allow the Toyota through. Allow the Toyota through now.

LH: OK.

LH: He's slowed right down in front of me.

Team: OK, Lewis. Stay ahead for the time being. Stay ahead. We will get back to you. We are talking to Charlie.

LH: I let him past already.

Team: OK, Lewis. That's fine. That's fine. Hold position. Hold position.

LH: Tell Charlie I already overtook him. I just let him past.

Team: I understand Lewis. We are checking. Now can we go to yellow G 5, yellow Golf 5.

LH: I don't have to let him past I should be able to take that position back, if he made a mistake.

Team: Yes, we understand Lewis. Let's just do it by the book. We are asking Charlie now. You are in P4. If you hold this position. Just keep it together.

Team: OK Lewis, your KERS is full, your KERS is full. Just be aware. You can go back to black F2, black Foxtrot 2.

LH: Any news from Charlie whether I can take it back or not.

Team: Still waiting on a response Lewis, still waiting.

Team: Lewis, work on your brakes please. Front brakes are cold.

Team: If we are able to use one KERS that would be good. If you deploy KERS please do so now.

Team: OK, Lewis, this is the last lap of the race. At the end of the lap the safety car will come in, you just proceed over the line without overtaking, without overtaking. We are looking into the Trulli thing, but just hold position.

FIA Steward full decision

At the first hearing following the Australian Grand Prix the Stewards did not have the benefit of the radio exchanges between driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and his Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes nor did they have access to the comments to the Media given by Lewis Hamilton immediately after the end of the race.

From the video recordings available to the Stewards during the hearing it appeared that Jarno Trulli's car left the track and car No 1 moved into third place. It then appeared that Trulli overtook Hamilton to regain third place, which at the time was prohibited as it was during the Safety Car period.

During the hearing, held approximately one hour after the end of the race, the Stewards and the Race Director questioned Lewis Hamilton and his Team Manager David Ryan specifically about whether there had been an instruction given to Hamilton to allow Trulli to overtake.

Both the driver and the Team Manager stated that no such instruction had been given. The Race Director specifically asked Hamilton whether he had consciously allowed Trulli to overtake. Hamilton insisted that he had not done so.

The new elements presented to the Stewards several days after the 2009 Australian Grand Prix which led to the reconvened Stewards Meeting clearly show that:

a. Immediately after the race and before Lewis Hamilton attended the Stewards Meeting he gave an interview to the Media where he clearly stated that the Team had told him to let Trulli pass.

b. Furthermore, the radio exchanges between the driver and the Team contain two explicit orders from the Team to let the Toyota pass.

The Stewards, having learned about the radio exchanges and the Media interview, felt strongly that they had been misled by the driver and his Team Manager which led to Jarno Trulli being unfairly penalised and Lewis Hamilton gaining third place.

Martin Whitmarsh - McLaren tell the truth

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is adamant that his team and Lewis Hamilton did not 'lie' to race stewards about their safety car incident with Jarno Trulli at the Australian Grand Prix - despite being punished for providing ‘deliberately misleading' information.

With Hamilton being stripped on Thursday of his third-placed finish in Melbourne for he and the team failing to provide a full account of what happened in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix, Whitmarsh says there should be no questions about his team's honesty.

"There was no lie in that hearing," said Whitmarsh, who claims the team's error at the hearing was in not providing full information about a radio conversation with Hamilton instructing him to let Trulli overtake him.

"We, the team, made a mistake. We did not provide a full account of a radio conversation which we believe was being listened to in any case, and we don't believe was material to the decisions being made by the stewards."

Whitmarsh confirmed comments made by Hamilton in the immediate aftermath of the race that the team instructed its driver to let Trulli pass him.

Explaining exactly what happened after Hamilton overtook Trulli, when the Toyota driver ran off the track at the final corner, Whitmarsh said McLaren had been trying to play it safe.

"As we see it, what happened here is that during the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix, under difficult conditions, there was a safety car incident whereby Jarno Trulli fell off the circuit and Lewis [Hamilton] could legitimately pass Trulli. I don't think that is in question," he explained.

"Once that had happened, of course, the team could not see it. Lewis informed the team that he had passed Trulli – and there was understandably concern within the team that he had passed Trulli under a safety car.

"At that time, we did not know that Trulli was right off the circuit and Lewis was asked to give back the place to Trulli. That was a team view, having not seen it, and we thought it was the safest thing to do.

"Once that instruction was given to Lewis, he did not agree. He said: ‘Look, the guy was off the circuit, I didn't need to do this.' A discussion was occurring and before that discussion was finished, Trulli had re-passed. If we look at the speed traces at that time, and compare it to other periods behind the safety car, then Lewis did not do anything abnormal. And I think it is also quite clear that Trulli should not have re-passed.

"As soon as that happened, we then spoke to Race Control, to explain that and ask if we could retake that place. At the time, understandably Race Control was busy and they were not able to give us an answer. We asked several times, but clearly they were very busy. So we had to then deal with it. We felt it would be resolved by the stewards after the race.

"At the stewards' meeting, we mistakenly believed that the stewards were aware, Charlie [Whiting] was there, and the FIA was there, of that radio conversation. The stewards now believe that we were not explicit enough about that radio conversation, and felt therefore that that was prejudicial to the decision that they reached. Obviously we regret that, and that was a mistake by the team, but we have got to accept the decision that has now been made."

McLaren has decided not to appeal the stewards' decision, which promoted Trulli to the third place that Hamilton originally had in Australia.

Whitmarsh added: "I think it is a regrettable day, and the fact is, the belief is, that we were not explicit. But I don't believe that that information would have made any difference to the decisions and the deliberations at the time.

"It certainly was not a deliberate attempt. It is quite clear that the radio conversations are listened to by the FIA, they are open, and the FIA was present during that hearing. So in the opinion of the team representative, there was a belief that it was known and there had been a conversation with the FIA."

Hamilton was unavailable for comment, having left the track shortly after the FIA decision was made.

The FIA said Hamilton and McLaren could face further sanctions for the breach of article 151C.

McLaren will not appeal Hamilton disqualifications

McLaren has decided not to appeal Lewis Hamilton's exclusion from the Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was disqualified from the race result on Thursday after the FIA stewards deemed the Briton and his McLaren team had "acted in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of the event by providing evidence deliberately misleading to the Stewards" following the Melbourne race, where Hamilton was elevated to third following a penalty to Toyota's Jarno Trulli.

Following the discovery of new evidence, believed to be radio transmissions, the stewards summoned both Trulli and Hamilton again today and decided to withdrawn the Italian's penalty while throwing the Briton out of the race.

McLaren said in a statement on Thursday that the team thought the FIA had already reviewed the radio transmissions after the race, and did not believe "it was necessary to discuss them with the stewards on that date."

The team said it will not appeal Hamilton's exclusion.

"The FIA Stewards have reviewed their decision of Sunday 29th March 2009, and have excluded Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton from the results of the 2009 Australian Grand Prix," said McLaren in a statement.

"Vodafone McLaren Mercedes understands that the Stewards made their decision on the basis of reviewing radio transmissions between the driver and the Team.

"The Team mistakenly believed that the radio transmissions had been reviewed by the FIA on Sunday 29th March 2009, and consequently did not believe it was necessary to discuss them with the Stewards on that date.

"Nonetheless, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team now regrets that it did not do so, accepts the Stewards' decision and will not appeal."

Déjà vu for Felipe Massa

Asked what had been the most worrying aspect about the Australian showing, Ferrari star Felipe Massa thought for a moment before providing a one word answer – “both!” Explaining in more detail, the Ferrari man added, “it was a concern that we were not the quickest car on the track and we didn’t finish the race so the reliability was also something to think about.”

As for this weekend, the weather and one other team would seem to present the most challenges. “It won’t be so easy to catch the Brawns,” admitted Massa, “but I hope we can do a good job and improve and to maybe be able to change a few things to close the gap between the Brawns and everyone else. I have no idea what effect the rain might have this weekend: it can be very good, it can be very bad, it can be a lottery, or maybe it can completely change the result of the race. Who knows?”

Failing to score points is always bad, but the Ferrari driver was keen to emphasise some positive elements from last weekend. “We didn’t finish the race for reliability reasons, which was the biggest problem on a weekend where, for most of the race I was in third place. We made a mistake in the strategy, which did not work out with the arrival of the Safety Car."

"But even allowing for that strategic matter, I was capable of staying with Lewis in the race and he ended up crossing the line in third, so who knows, I might have finished right behind him or maybe even ahead and score a good number of points. That would have been a great result, even without a win.
So, using the softer tyres at the start of the race might have worked out better than it looked. It’s just that I opted for three pit stops and circumstances in the race meant this was not the best choice.”

Massa is clear about what Ferrari needs to do next. “Now we need to recover and start scoring points and restart our championship campaign in a good way, right here in Malaysia. The start to the year is similar to the one I had last year so we need to tackle the situation with the same mentality we applied to it one year ago. We need to be clever in how we tackle the strategy here in terms of the possibility of rain, the arrival of darkness during the race and any other elements.”

As for the overall level of competitiveness this weekend, the Brazilian is cautiously optimistic that it could be better than last Sunday. “We know that Albert Park can produce a very unusual race. In winter testing, we were always competitive at more 'normal' circuits like Barcelona for instance and I so I hope that here in Sepang that will also be the case. So, I’m looking forward to the weekend.”