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MICA (P) 171/02/2011 OCTOBER 2011

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ISSUE 7 AUTOSPORT ASIA

MICA (P) 171/02/2011 OCTOBER

2011

SinGAPORE GP

F1 RACE REPORtS

SebastianVettel

BELGIUMITALYSINGAPORE

CHASINGRECORDS

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PLUS SE ASiAAsian FestivalOf Speed

EdITOR -In-CHEIFAndrew van de Burgt

EdITOR AuTOSPORT.COMSimon Strang

EdITOR Charles Bradley

GROuP F1 EdITORJonathan noble

F1 EdITOR Edd Straw

dEPuTY F1 EdITOR Mark Glendenning

nEWS EdITOR Glenn Freeman

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GRAnd PRIX EdITOR Mark Hughes

ART EdITORAubrey Smith

RAllIES EdITOR david Evans

InTERnATIOnAl EdITOR-AT-lARGE Gary Watkins

PICTuRE EdITORPeter Mills

PHOTOGRAPHS lAT Photographic

PuBlISHER Rob Aherne

PuBlISHInG dIRECTOR Peter Higham

lICEnSInG dIRECTOR Tim Bulley

lICEnSInG MAnAGER ASIAEdward Marr +852 3175 1909

lICEnSInG ACCOunT MAnAGERIsla Friend

EdITORIAl dIRECTOR Mark Payton

ART dIRECTOR Paul Harpin

STRATEGY And PlAnnInG dIRECTOR Bob Mcdowell

MAnAGInG dIRECTOR david Prasher

CHIEF EXECuTIVE kevin Costello

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AUTOSPORT ASIA

Quest for Perfection

Bespoke Media Pte ltdlevel 8, Samsung Hub3 Church Street, Singapore 049483 Tel: +65 6408 3714Fax: +65 6408 0101 E-mail: [email protected]: www.autosport.com/asia

The fi rst Formula One Championship was won by Giuseppe Farina driving an Alfa Romeo in 1950, defeating his team mate Juan Manuel Fangio by a whisker. But it was the legendary Fangio who would go on to dominate the Formula One world, winning a total of fi ve Championships in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957. This record haul would remain unsurpassed until Michael Schumacher took his sixth title in 2003.

Alongside the “grand master” Fangio was Stirling Moss, regarded as the greatest driver never to win a World Championship. Imagine Fangio, Moss, Hill, Senna night racing under fl ood lights at the Singapore F1. The current crop of drivers, Vettel, Schumacher and Hamilton making their own way to circuits such as Aintree or Sebring and driving over 60 races per year with no sponsorship and a meager support team.

Vettel is at the top of his game and with the right team and car has the potential to dominate the sport for many years to come. But how would this current crop of drivers measure against the forefathers of modern racing. Whatever your view on the ‘best driver of all time’ may be, they all possess the same strain of DNA, the gene that drives them towards perfection, pushing man and machine to the limit.

The king is dead, long live the king?

Simon Winn-

autosport.com/asia 5

Schuey turnsback the years F1’s most successful ever driver proved he canstill turn it on after 20 years.

By MARK HUGHES

“I was doubtful (before the debut) whether my quality was good enough to compete with these guys in F1,” says Schumacher.

“You see them as untouchables, especially in those moments where you had Sennas, Prosts, Mansells and so on. I didn’t really think I could match them. Getting the first experience, coming over here

and driving the car, I sort of quickly picked up the confidence that it was possible... At the end of the day we are all humans, we all have

limits and you drive within those and there is no reason why it is impossible to beat those guys in the past and neither those guys that

are here right now.”

F1 REPORTGP Belgium

REAR-VIEW MIRRORRETRO Supplement 1986

REPORTWRC Australia

REPORTGT1 Beijing

AFOS - Asian Festival of Speed

MERdEkA MIllEnIuM EnduRAnCE RACE 2011

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Mark Webber has often talked about the difficulty of ascending the European racing ladder coming from Australia. As one of F1’s heavy-hitters, it’s perhaps no surprise that he’s got involved in the

career of fellow Antipodean Mitch Evans, a race winner in GP3 with the MW Arden team that Webber co-owns. The 17-year-old New Zealander lies seventh in the standings in his first year in Europe having won at Barcelona. Webber takes a keen interest in Evans’s progress, even sparing a few minutes during grand prix weekends.

“It’s tough coming to Europe,” says Webber.“There were one or two Australian drivers over here when I started

racing here, but I didn’t get much off them when I got here. The Europeans can go back to their parents all the time, but it’s different

for us. Those first 24 months are pretty difficult.”

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PHOTO OF THE MOnTHMarina Bay lights up Singapore night Sky

SInGAPORE GPVettel Trips The light Fantastically

AMBER lOunGE SInGAPOREultimate F1 VIP Experience

InTERVIEWMark Webber

Will Mark Webber ever shake off that Red Bull number twotag? He tells Edd STRAW that he won’t stop trying

F1 REPORTGP Italy

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SnAPSHOtPIT & PAddOCk

F1

Marina Bay lights up Singapore night sky downtown Singapore sparkles under the thousands of spotlights that line the 3.1-mile Marina Bay circuit for its fourth grand prix. note the infamous Turn 7 left-hander – scene of the lewis Hamilton/Felipe Massa spat – nestling bottom left of this aerial shot. Singapore Grand Prix report p28.

Pic: Gilham/Getty

THE AUTOSPORT APP-NOW ON ANDROID/iPHONE

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SINGAPORE GP Marina Bay, September 25

ROUND 14/19

LAPS 61

WINNERSebastian Vettel1h59m06.757s

POLE POSITION Sebastian Vettel1m44.381s

FASTEST LAP Jenson Button1m48.454s

RACE RATING★★★★★Some interesting stuff, but no touching Vettel at the front

DRIVERS STANDINGSVettel 309ptsButton 185ptsAlonso 184pts

MILESTONES● Red Bull becomes fourth constructor to win in Singapore in four races to date● Jarno Trulli is now fourth in list of F1 starts, on 247

REPORtSInGAPORE GP

VETTEl TRIPS THE lIGHT FAnTASTICAllY Red Bull’s runaway series leader had never won the night-time Singapore GP, but he put that right in emphatic style

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RACE CONDITIONSTrack temperature was 34 degrees at the start of the race. It stayed dry throughout, with 62 per cent humidity.

31C

t was, in many ways, a classic 2011 grand prix: lots of overtaking; high tyre degradation; a Lewis

Hamilton incident and resultant drive-through, followed by dramatic comeback; Michael Schumacher clashing with a Sauber; a beautifully-measured Jenson Button drive, with full attack in the late stages after carefully monitoring the tyres. And it also had the most typical aspect of all in 2011: a Sebastian Vettel victory.

Circumstance made Red Bull sweat from time to time, but Vettel had it all under control, from his devastating opening stint to a merciless sequence on the safety-car restart, and to fending off Button’s late-race challenge while managing a few tricky traffi c situations.

The overwhelming superiority of the RB7/Vettel package seems to be locking the front of the fi eld into a pattern. Red Bull and Seb now go into races absolutely expecting to be winning from the front, and all their strategic choices are based on that. The others start in hope – and at McLaren that means Lewis Hamilton striving for the impossible, Jenson Button trying for measured perfection, hoping it may be enough.

Hamilton’s hopes were dashed within a few seconds of the start when, trying for second, he ended

up eighth and with a whole world of pain ahead of him through the muggy night.

Mark Webber struggles around here, cannot live with Vettel through the sharp direction changes, and was hugely relieved to have ended up on the front row, 0.35s slower than Seb. If the McLarens were to have any hope of challenging Vettel, it was essential they clear Webber at the start. They would be helped in this by how little grip there was on his side of the grid. As Vettel launched perfectly, Webber’s wheels spun on the dusty surface. Hamilton swooped across behind and down the inside, Mark squeezing him up against the wall, forcing Lewis to back out of it, now slow and on an acute angle for Turns 1 and 2, while Button and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari sliced through between the two Red Bulls to take up second and third.

As Vettel, Button, Alonso, Webber, Felipe Massa’s Ferrari and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes sped down the kinking straight between Turns 5-7, Schumacher slipstreamed by Hamilton. From eighth place, the chances of an incident-free race for Lewis looked slight.

As we’ve seen so many times this year, Vettel and the RB7 were dynamite on the opening lap. Yes, he had qualifi ed half a second quicker than the McLarens, so why should he not be able to pull away from Button? But this was of a different order to that: 2.5s clear at the end of the lap, 3.5s next time through, then 5.5s, 7.0s. By the sixth lap he was 8.2s clear. He’s a terrifi c driver, the

Renault struggled on site of infamous ’08 victory

Vettel leads Button at start, as Hamilton fails move on Webber

I

PWith an impending title win not influencing his approach, Sebastian Vettel reeled off his

11th pole position of the year, pummelling the opposition. Yet there was an even better lap that got away. On his second run, he’d already knocked 0.1s off in sector one when he made just a slight overcommitment into the awkward Turn 10 chicane. “I could have still made the corner, but it was going to be marginal soI backed out of it,” he said. “The circuithad ramped up a bit from the first run and there was a better time there, but luckily my first run was enough.”

It wasn’t luck, but a measure of his performance. Team-mate Mark Webber was 0.35s adrift even after completing a second run. It’s not a track at which he ever feels comfortable. “Definitely not top of my list,” he said. “But this was definitely the best qualifying session I’ve ever done here.” Both cars were fitted with a new variation of the front wing, partly basedon one Vettel had tried briefly at Spa,but with enhanced flap (see p38).

Aside from Vettel’s personal performance, the key to Red Bull’s pace around here seemed to be tyre usage. Its downforce advantage was evident through the final corner – the only fast one of the lap – but generally it was the fact that it was hanging onto tyre performance for all three sectors of a long lap with lots of hard low-gear acceleration that was paying the biggest dividends.

Jenson Button, third quickest – less than a tenth off Webber – explained a dilemma that was exactly as faced by McLaren here last year: “We could either have the tyre not up to temperature and pressure in sector one, or have the rears overheated by sector three.” It was this that exaggerated the Red Bull’s advantage in the final sector.

Lewis Hamilton was just a few thousandths behind his team-mate, despite completing just one Q3 run after mechanic finger trouble led to fuel being pumped out of the car rather than in. By the time the problem was discovered there wasn’t enough time to get out for a second run. He’d suffered additional dramas too – he damaged the floor in Q1 at the Turn 7

Hamilton had trouble in the pits in Q3

Predictable pole for Vettel’s RB7

had been flattered by a significantly lower fuel load than either Red Bull or McLaren. After having his first Q3 run spoilt by being stuck behind the tyre-preparing Button on the out-lap, Fernando described his final effort – on the same tenth as the McLarens – as ‘near perfect’. It certainly looked dramatic, the rear tyres losing grip by the final corner, but it was a vital few hundredths adrift of the McLaren pair, leaving him fifth.

“That was a 120 per cent lap,” he said. “The best qually lap of my season. Had I done a normal lap I’d have been half a second away from the McLarens.” Felipe Massa was a full 1s away, but only a place behind. He was unable to get the rear tyres to last beyond the middle of the lap, most of his loss to Alonso coming in the latter half.

Nico Rosberg was the only Mercedes driver to make a run in Q3, this slotting him seventh on the grid just a couple of tenths off Massa, the team satisfied that it had maximised the car’s potential. Michael Schumacher, having used up his super-softs by the end of Q2 – one of them because he was mid-run when Kamui Kobayashi’s Turn 10 crash brought out the red flags – did just an out/in-lap in Q3,

which got him ahead of Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta, neither of whom did a Q3 lap, opting instead to save tyres.

Sergio Perez did a great lap to almost get the Sauber into Q3, this putting him 11th. This was very much an outliner lap, beyond any other that the car did all weekend. Four and six tenths further back respectively came Williams’s Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado, the Venezuelan not getting his tyre preparation quite right on the out-lap, in contrast to Rubens.

Vitaly Petrov fell at the Q1 hurdle in his Renault, pushed out by the Toro Rossos and his team-mate Bruno Senna, who was a whole 1s faster. The Renaults were performing poorly over the kerbs, in particular. Kobayashi’s shunt happened before he’d completed a Q2 lap, leaving him 17th.

chicane, this being repaired only for him to then suffer a right-rear puncture running over debris in Q2. Button was staying with his familiar Brembo brakes while Hamilton preferred the sharper feel of the Carbone Industries. There were also differences in their front-wing choices. The cars had proved heavy on their rear tyres during practice, and a lot of set-up changes had been made into qualifying.

Ferrari apparently lost a big chunk of speed overnight, with Fernando Alonso having been much quicker than the McLarens throughout Friday and actually threatening Vettel. But on Saturday it became clear that the Friday performance

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RB7 is a great car, but as a combination they are not intrinsically this much quicker than the Button/McLaren combo. Where is this early-lap advantage coming from? One rival engineer has a theory: “If you were to run lower tyre pressures, you’d get the heat in the tyre quicker and have a grip advantage for a few laps. As the pressures then came up, you’d have less grip than you would have done a few laps in, but by then you’d have built a lead. It’s the sort of thing that could only really work if you were sure you were going to be running at the front.” The sort of choice a team that had opted for a low top-gear ratio at Monza could make, perhaps.

Then there is how you may run your fuel strategy if you begin in the expectation of running fast early. The Singapore track, a combination of Monaco-like repeated low-gear accelerations with a full 305km distance (as opposed to Monaco’s 263km), makes for the highest fuel usage of the season at around 160kg. The cars are designed around

the fuel-tank size needed to complete this race, and as such they are marginal here, need to be run in an economy mode for at least part of the distance. This applies everywhere by dint of how much fuel is put in, but is imposed more strictly here – as there is simply no spare capacity. “Seb’s early pace was all about opening options for him later in the race,” said team boss Christian Horner later. “This race is all about saving tyres and fuel,” said McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh, “and we ran conservatively early on with the idea of having a go at Seb later.”

So there we have at least two reasons for how quickly Vettel was able to build the gap. But even Button’s economy pace was more than a match for Alonso’s Ferrari. “We were running out of rear tyre grip very early,” explained Alonso. “After six laps it was already very bad.” Indeed, he’d matched Button for those fi rst six laps, but thereafter fell away at a rapid rate.

Already it was looking as if Ferrari would be forced into a three-stop

QUALIFYINGNo-one can touch Vettel as he speeds to his 11th pole of the season

autosport.com/asia 1 3

DRIVER BY DRIVER by Edd Straw

SEBAStiAn vEttELRed Bull-Renault RB7-5Start: 1st. Finish: 1stCame to Singapore determined to crush the field, and did so in style. Flew in qualifying, on the opening lap of the race and at the restart, then managed the gap to Button throughout the race, taking one of his finest wins of the season – his ninth of the campaign.

10/10Event rating1

MARK WEBBERRed Bull-Renault RB7-4Start: 2nd. Finish: 3rdlooked to have the pace to challenge Vettel given a perfect qualifying lap, but that didn’t materialise. Inevitably, slipped to fourth at the start, passing Alonso late in the first stint and doing so again after the restart to bank another solid podium finish.

7/10Event rating2

LEWiS HAMiLtOnMclaren-Mercedes MP4-26-03Start: 4th. Finish: 5thnot at fault for Mclaren’s refuelling problem in qualifying that prevented a second run, and was unlucky to get boxed in at the start. Careless clash with Massa earned him a penalty and dropped him down the order, from where he recovered pretty well.

6/10Event rating3

JEnSOn BUttOnMclaren-Mercedes MP4-26-04Start: 3rd. Finish: 2ndCapitalised on Mclaren’s refuelling error, which prevented Hamilton getting a second run, to outqualify his team-mate. leaped Webber at the start and never looked back, closing to within a few seconds of Vettel late on in a great charge that was never likely to come off.

9/10Event rating4

FERnAnDO ALOnSOFerrari 150° Italia-291Start: 5th. Finish: 4thRated his qualifying lap as a 120 per cent effort as the Ferrari was resoundingly the third-best car in Singapore. Got ahead of Webber at the start and, after losing the place to him, undercut his way back past at the first stops. lost it again at restart when held up by Alguersuari.

9/10Event rating5

FELiPE MASSAFerrari 150° Italia-290 Start: 6th. Finish: 6thPoor on Friday and Saturday, but started the race well, keeping Alonso in sight and Hamilton behind in the first stint. Was hit by Hamilton after his first stop, losing 20 seconds more than the Mclaren man, and did a solid job of picking his way through the field.

6/10Event rating6

strategy. Two-stops is the quicker way here if you can make your tyres stand up, mainly on account of a very long pitlane time loss. It wasn’t that the Pirellis were wearing out, just that the performance degradation made them so slow when they got hot. Even at the 8pm start, thetrack temperature was still at 34C, and those repeated second-gear acceleration zones did the rest. But even within those limitations the Ferrari’s tyre usage was odd, for it’s usually the easiest car of all on its rubber. The team had reverted back to the newer rear suspension – the one that had been taken off for the low-downforce tracks of Spa and Monza, where it was not necessary to run the car with signifi cant rake – with its greater camber change under compression. This gets more heat into the tyre, which would normally be addressing a Ferrari weakness. But around Singapore it seemed to be too effective in this.

Even its normal trait of being less competitive on the harder tyre than the soft was reversed. There were sighs of relief among Button’s crew as it became apparent that the red car was not going to form its usual challenge on this day. There would be satisfaction later about the changes that Mclaren had made to

the set-up on Friday night after suffering serious rear-degradation problems during Friday practice.

Meanwhile, Hamilton was going about trying to rescue his day, scything past Schumacher in the dRS zone through Turns 5-7 on the third lap. Two laps later he was able to do the same to Rosberg for sixth, nico later lamenting certain electronic setting choices he’d made that would exacerbate the car’s already heavy rear-tyre degradation.

next in lewis’s sights: Massa, 3s up the road. They’d almost collided in Q3 the day before, Hamilton overanxious to get by the Ferrari on their out-laps, and now, just as Felipe’s rear tyres began giving out, lewis was catching fast, upon his gearbox by the 10th lap.

Ferrari would ideally have pitted Massa at this point, for the window for a three-stop was now open, but couldn’t – because Alonso was in, replacing his worn super-softs for a new set of softs. Massa and

“Questions were asked about Hamilton trying an impossible move. But in essence he wasn’t”

…and Felipe wasn’t happy after the race…

Alonso couldn’t stay ahead of Webber

REPORtSInGAPORE GP

MiCHAEL SCHUMACHERMercedes MGP W02-09Start: 8th. dnFdidn’t quite show Rosberg’s pace, but was having a decent race when he made a stupid misjudgement while battling with Perez. Failing to take into account the Sauber’s tyre wear, he was caught out by how early it braked and launched himself over the back of it.

5/10Event rating7

niCO ROSBERGMercedes MGP W02-07Start: 7th. Finish: 7thA decent weekend’s work from Rosberg, who admitted that he hadn’t got the set-up quite right and was left carrying too much tyre degradation. Safety car timing helped di Resta to jump him, so seventh was probably about as good as it was going to get.

7/10Event rating8

BRUnO SEnnARenault R31-04Start: 15th. Finish: 15thBeat his team-mate in qualifying, knocking him out of Q2, but had a difficult race. late-race crash while battling knackered tyres forced an extra pitstop, but still he at least finished ahead of Petrov, and was never going to score given the machinery.

5/10Event rating9

vitALY PEtROvRenault R31-06Start: 18th. Finish: 17thThe Renault was poor in Singapore, and Petrov struggled to get on top of it. Mistake in Q1 led to the Russian being bumped by Senna, and things got no better in the race, which he spent battling with far-slower cars. Worst weekend of the season on all levels.

3/10Event rating10

RUBEnS BARRiCHELLOWilliams-Cosworth FW33-04Start: 12th. Finish: 13thTurned in a very good qualifying lap to put the Williams as high up the grid as it was likely to get. Team opted to leave him out on his third set of tyres in the hope of a second safety car, which never appeared, so he faded from the top 10 on worn tyres with six laps to go.

8/10Event rating11

PAStOR MALDOnADOWilliams-Cosworth FW33-02Start: 13th. Finish: 11thThe Williams was a car almost good enough – but not quite – for the points, and by finishing 11th Maldonado got arguably the best possible result out of it. That said, but for Williams gambling on his team-mate’s strategy, he would have finished behind Barrichello.

7/10Event rating12

more on Massa… By the time the Merc drivers and

Alonso kicked off the second round of tyre stops, Vettel’s lead over Button was over 18 seconds.

Alonso was managing both fuel consumption and brake wear and was no threat to Button’s second, his focus now on trying to stay ahead of Webber. If, as looked likely, the Ferrari was doing three stops on account of its tyre degradation and the Red Bull two, he was fi ghting a losing battle. But all the various stop strategies were about to be dramatically revised for, on the 29th lap, the safety car was deployed after Schumacher suffered a heavy accident against the Turn 8 tyre barriers, having hit the back of Sergio Perez’s Sauber and briefl y taken off.

The incident had its roots in Rosberg running wide onto the marbles at the last corner of the previous lap, allowing Perez to pass. Rosberg retaliated into the fi rst turn, committing to the inside without being fully alongside. They touched, Perez took to the run-off and Rosberg was through. Schumacher was now looking to take advantage of the Sauber having dirt on its tyres, had a look into Turn 7, tucked back in and, on much newer tyres than the Sauber, got a far stronger exit and moved for the inside. Perez got on the brakes earlier than Michael was anticipating and in an instant the Mercedes was airborne and headed for the tyres. The Sauber continued unabated.

With the safety car deployed, everyone – other than those such as Alonso who had just pitted – was forced to come in for fresh tyres or risk being mugged on the restart. Vettel and Button had been approaching their stop windows anyway and were quickly underway again, both on primes, Vettel doubtless cursing that his half - minute lead had been wiped out. Alonso remained third, ahead of

Hamilton’s wing flies off as he hits Massa…

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By this time, Vettel’s lead over Button was up to 11.5s. They had each stopped on the previous lap, both fi tted with a set of the harder prime tyres and resuming still fi rst and second.

The Mercs were going through their rear tyres even faster than the Ferraris, and Rosberg and Schumacher had pitted as early as laps nine and 10 respectively, each fi tted with a fresh set of options.

The yet-to-stop Force India of Paul di Resta was running third, getting in a long opening stint courtesy of having started on the primes. He was being quickly caught by Alonso, with Webber (now on primes) a few seconds behind the Ferrari and ahead of Rosberg, Schumacher and Adrian Sutil. The Force India guys had adopted opposite tyre strategies, this having been decided after a long meeting the previous evening, giving the team a foot in both camps. Sutil, on the faster option tyre, had run ahead of di Resta through his fi rst stint but the Scot kept pace well, stayed out until lap 19, switched to the options and began closing down the now prime-tyred Sutil. They each had understood the requirements of the different strategies and Sutil would later move aside, working as a team against the others, on the assumption he’d be able to run longer and be faster later.

Massa and Hamilton were 17th and 19th respectively, and at one point lewis radioed in asking what his chances of getting points were. It seemed an odd question, and might have been interpreted as his asking whether he should throw in the towel. upon being assured he still had every chance of points, especially if there was a safety car, he responded to the tune of the fastest sector-one time to date, and soon enough was passing through the slower traffi c and closing once …as his tyre was ripped to shreds

Hamilton trailed in nose-to-tail at the end of the next lap. Ferrari’s stop was quicker, giving Massa a slightly increased lead as they exited. It was crucial for lewis as they scrabbled round the tight twists of Turns 2/3/4 that he get to within 1s of the Ferrari as they crossed the dRS detection point at T4, and he used a quick blast of kERS to ensure he was. They exited the right-handed Turn 5 onto the back straight, and 35 metres later Hamilton was able to open his dRS and kERS all in one hit. Massa was defenceless against the dRS but made sure he got smartly onto his kERS button. The Mclaren was catching fast initially, lewis moving to the Ferrari’s right through the kink of T6, but then his kERS – which had already been deployed before T4 – ran out, having reached its 6.7s limit. Massa’s, by contrast, was still delivering the extra 80bhp and it was this that allowed him to defend even against a car with its dRS activated.

As it became clear to lewis on the approach to the left-handed Turn 7 that he wasn’t going to make the move stick, he moved to tuck back behind the Ferrari as they turned in – but simply misjudged where the front of his car was. His wing was damaged and Massa’s left-rear punctured. That was the detail of the accident. In the broader picture, the incident was used as castigation for Hamilton’s over-aggressive approach, questions asked about why he was trying an impossible move. But in essence he wasn’t. He’d already got out of the move when he made his misjudgement.

Massa was in for a new nose next lap, while Hamilton stayed out with his damaged wing, Mclaren hoping in vain for a safety car to clear the debris, which would have made his stop less costly. He pitted the following lap. He was then served with a drive-through for the incident, served on lap 15.

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REPORtSInGAPORE GP

All went smoothly for second-placed Button

di Resta took a fine sixth in Force India

Rosberg fights back to smoke past Perez

“Force India stacked its cars to perfection in a beautifully well-drilled sequence, di Resta away without causing Sutil delay”

the pitted Webber, now on fresh primes. Force India had stacked its drivers to perfection in a beautifully well-drilled sequence, di Resta in and away without causing the following Sutil any delay. Only having to wait for an incoming car cost Sutil time, this allowing Rosberg to get between them. The safety car was great news for Hamilton who, having passed Massa successfully this time, was now lined up ninth, behind Perez, with much of his previous time defi cit wiped.

As the safety car came in, Vettel, aided by having a gaggle of lapped cars as a buffer to Button, sprinted away, 8.9s ahead of the Mclaren at the end of the next lap after Jenson had navigated his way past the assorted backmarkers.

Webber had caught Alonso napping and had pinned an outrageously-cheeky pass on him on the inside approach to Turn 10. Mark briefl y began closing the gap to Button, getting it down to around 3.5s over the next few laps. At which point Mclaren allowed Jenson off the leash, the safety car having got his fuel consumption well within target, and he pulled away again.

It was Webber who ran out of grip in his chase, and he was in for an unplanned third stop at the end of the 47th lap, fi tted this time with a set of options. Button responded the lap after – and Red Bull reacted to that. “It wasn’t that we needed to change tyres on Seb,” explained Horner. “It was just that we didn’t want to be vulnerable if there was another safety car.” The no-risk option almost ended in disaster, however, as Heikki kovalainen was released into Vettel’s path at the end of the pit lane. Heikki swerved out of the way in the nick of time, though Team Lotus was fi ned. Alonso had pitted on the same lap as Vettel, while Hamilton – who after the safety car had quickly picked off Perez – came in for a

fresh set of options, on which he then put moves in rapid succession on Sutil, Rosberg and di Resta to be up to fi fth. For a time he closed down Alonso, but the gap was too big and his options began running out of grip sooner than Alonso’s primes.

Button, meantime, was fl ying, fully off the leash now and setting fastest laps, completely in the zone as he chased down the lead Vettel had built up on that restart. With three laps to go he had the gap down to 3.7s after Seb was delayed lapping the battling Barrichello, Maldonado and Buemi. But next time through it was Jenson’s turn to be delayed by them as Maldonado put a locked-wheel move on Barrichello. Seb had it all under control and there was to be no last-lap repeat of Montreal.

Webber was almost half a minute down in third ahead of Alonso, Hamilton and the starring di Resta, who had performed fl awlessly. Rosberg – in dire tyre trouble by the end and struggling to hold off Sutil – was a lap down in seventh, while Massa put a great last-lap pass on Perez for ninth, some small consolation for having his race ruined by the Hamilton incident.

The argy-bargy between the pair was the news in the paddock afterwards. But the real story was Vettel’s and Red Bull’s. Just one point more before Button – the only theoretical remaining rival for the title – can no longer beat his score. The Suzuka party is surely already being prepared.


ADRiAn SUtiLForce India-Merc VJM04-04Start: 9th. Finish: 8thOpted to save tyres by not running in Q3, and from ninth on the grid turned in a characteristically solid race drive. The safety car timing and a first stint on options played a part in his slipping behind di Resta, and he had to play second fiddle to his team-mate in the race.

HEiKKi KOvALAinEnlotus-Renault T128-04Start: 19th. Finish: 16thAdmitted that he didn’t quite get the best out of the car in qualifying, but after undercutting Petrov at the first round of pitstops he held off the Russian in a straight fight. Couldn’t afford to make any mistakes if he was to beat the Renault, so it was a superb drive.

8/10Event rating

8/10Event rating20

PAUL Di REStAForce India-Merc VJM04-02Start: 10th. Finish: 6thHad only seven timed laps under his belt on Friday after braking problems, but still made Q3. Brilliant starting stint on primes – despite no high-fuel running – laid the foundations for a super sixth place, although the timing of the safety car did help him.

9/10Event rating1514

JARnO tRULLilotus-Renault T128-01Start: 20th. dnFQualifying only a tenth off kovalainen despite being pretty unhappy with the car and the track – a pleasant surprise. Excelled in race, running ahead of Petrov and Alguersuari before the Spaniard hit him and gave him a puncture. later retired with a gearbox failure.

7/10Event rating21

KAMUi KOBAYASHiSauber-Ferrari C30-04Start: 17th. Finish: 14thCrashed at chicane in qualifying. Opted for a two-stop strategy but, given the high chance of a safety car, it was a mistake not to switch him from primes to options at the second stop. Harsh penalty for ignoring blue flags at restart ruined his race before he made third stop.

4/10Event rating16

DAniEL RiCCiARDOHRT-Cosworth F111-03Start: 23rd. Finish: 19thBuilt confidence throughout weekend to the point where he outqualified liuzzi. undid the good work by hitting the rear of Glock on the opening lap and from then on was in recovery mode. Safety car, and team-mate pitting for a new wing, allowed him to end the race as lead HRT.

6/10Event rating22

SERGiO PEREZSauber-Ferrari C30-03Start: 11th. Finish: 10thCame close to Q3 with a superb qualifying lap and drove a sensible race on a two-stopper. lucky to survive being hit by Schumacher, with the resulting safety car mitigating time lost to a puncture. Can’t be blamed for Massa getting past late on.

8/10Event rating17

vitAntOniO LiUZZiHRT-Cosworth F111-02Start: 24th. Finish: 20thWith a five-place grid penalty hanging over him, prioritised race set-up in practice. Tyre wear was a little high as he tried to hang onto the Virgins and, after switching to a three-stopper, he clipped the wall and had to pit for a new nose, dropping him back behind Ricciardo.

5/10Event rating23

SEBAStiEn BUEMiToro Rosso-Ferrari STR6-03Start: 14th. Finish: 12thTurned in a solid weekend’s performance in a car ill-suited to the track although, given that he ended the race within 10 seconds of the points, he arguably might have been able to nab a point with a perfect weekend. But 12th was still a decent effort in the machinery.

7/10Event rating18

tiMO GLOCKVirgin-Cosworth MVR-02-02Start: 21st. dnFunhappy with the rear-end stability of his Virgin during qualifying. This wasn’t helped by Ricciardo hitting the right-rear corner on the opening lap. Glock plodded on, but chewed up his right - rear tyre in a car now handling as if on casters and spun into the wall on lap 10.

5/10Event rating24

JAiME ALGUERSUARiToro Rosso-Ferrari STR6-02Start: 16th. Finish: 21stWasn’t unusual to see him lagging behind Buemi given his focus on race set-up, but had a disastrous Sunday afternoon. Bad start left him behind Trulli, who he then hit, earning a penalty, and late in the race he whacked the wall while battling against worn tyres.

3/10Event rating19

JEROME D’AMBROSiOVirgin-Cosworth MVR-02-03Start: 22nd. Finish: 18thQualified only two tenths off track-specialist team-mate Glock and mixed it well in the race, at one stage keeping Petrov – in a far quicker car – behind him. nursed his tyres well on a two-stopper in what was arguably the best race of his grand prix career to date.

8/10Event rating25

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Schuey: another race, another Sauber shunt already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared. already being prepared.

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Ride-height rethink The kerbs lining Singapore’s Marina Bay trackplayed havoc with cars’ underfloors and led tomajor ride-height adjustments. By MARK HUGHES

Fernando Alonso scrapes his Ferrari’s diffuser along the ground in Friday practice. Teams up and down the pitlane were altering their cars overnight to accommodate the consequences of landing from the violent kerbs, particularly those of Turn 10. Williams technical director Sam Michael admitted: “We totally trashed four fl oors. We had to create a different diffuser geometry for Saturday. We had the factory putting a redesign of it through the windtunnel and once that was completed we actually fabricated the revised version here. We saw other teams making similar changes. It helped that the kerbs were made less severe overnight.”

REPORtSInGAPORE GP

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drawing boardGary Anderson, Mark Hughes and Giorgio Piola review some of the technical changes in the Singapore spotlight at Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Williams

FERRARI AND McLAREN EXHAUST OUTLETS

REPORtSInGAPORE GP

PBoth McLaren (left) and Ferrari revised their exhaust outlets last weekend. Ferrari’s were

angled slightly inwards; McLaren’s remaining straight but extended. GARY ANDERSON: You’d normally have your exhaust fairly straight with the tyre. Because the diffuser starts at the centreline of the wheel, the lowest pressure area is just forwards of that. Because of the tyre contact path rolling along it is displacing air that goes beneath the floor and disrupts the airflow. So you want the exhaust to encourage the airflow to go inside the tyre rather than under the floor, and to work the brake duct a bit harder. Ferrari’s angling is difficult to understand, while Mclaren’s extension is a balancing act between increasing the power of the exhaust jet itself and the impact its placement has on vortex-generation around the coke-bottle section of bodywork.

RED BULL KERS BATTERY

PRed Bull introduced a ‘KERS-lite’ in Singapore, with a tiny and very

tightly packaged battery pack between engine and gearbox. this has a lower storage and power capacity than the maximum allowed by the regulations and it’s believed it can usually only be used on alternate laps. GARY ANDERSON: Finding room for kERS is a bit of a nightmare with the cling film-style packaging we have now. This one is a smaller unit, with less power than conventional ones. I would be surprised if Red Bull did not revisit the thinking behind this on next year’s car because I would have thought with a rethink on the packaging you could get more benefit from the extra power than you’d lose aerodynamically.

RED BULL FRONT WING

PRed Bull came to Singapore with a composite of features seen on separate

front wings used at Spa and Monza. the enhanced radiusarc (1) in the transition from the neutral centre section to the outer element was briefly seen at Spa. the McLaren - like inner vane (2) was first seen at Monza. the rear flap had a gurney surrounding it (3 and 4).

GARY ANDERSON: The radius arc creates a vortex that increases airflow speed to the underfloor. The outer flaps, directly ahead of the tyre and not influencing flow to the underfloor, can be used very aggressively. They all do different jobs so it ends up looking rather bitty. The little flap around the outer edges is to help tidy up the flow and prevent spillage over to the part that influences the underfloor.

RED BULL REAR BRAKE DUCTS

PRed Bull has been running this multiple-flapped ‘brake duct’

for much of the season. the aero cover for the suspension leg is limited by regulation in its length. GARY ANDERSON: last year Red Bull changed its front upright and moved the calliper to allow the introduction of turning vanes on the front. now, at the back of the car comes this, but I guarantee not one of those vanes is about cooling the brakes; it’s just pure downforce-creation working directly on the tyre without the compromise of having to act through the suspension. The bottom one will align with the exhaust flow to create a very effective piece of kit that should be banned!

PA further revised Williams front wing featured an enhanced radius between the

endplate section and main plane (old one inset), as well as a revised, much slimmer shaped pillar. GARY ANDERSON: Because the flaps here are quite aggressively set and the vortex-generating radiused underside makes the flow over the top surfaces even more critical, there is a slot gap here to encourage the flow to stay attached and continue producing downforce.

WILLIAMS FRONT WING


PRACTICE 1 - FridayPOS dRIVER TIME1 HAMIlTOn 1m48.599s2 VETTEl 1m49.005s3 WEBBER 1m50.066s4 AlOnSO 1m50.596s5 BuTTOn 1m50.952s6 MASSA 1m52.043s7 SuTIl 1m52.251s8 SCHuMACHER 1m52.416s9 dI RESTA 1m52.435s10 ROSBERG 1m52.815s11 BARRICHEllO 1m52.991s12 AlGuERSuARI 1m53.050s13 MAldOnAdO 1m53.399s14 PEREZ 1m53.703s15 kOBAYASHI 1m53.749s16 SEnnA 1m53.765s17 BuEMI 1m53.785s18 PETROV 1m54.736s19 TRullI 1m54.821s20 kOVAlAInEn 1m56.198s21 d’AMBROSIO 1m57.798s22 GlOCk 1m58.792s23 RICCIARdO 1m59.169s24 kARTHIkEYAn 1m59.214sWeather: dry

PRACTICE 2 - FridayPOS dRIVER TIME1 VETTEl 1m46.374s2 AlOnSO 1m46.575s3 HAMIlTOn 1m47.115s4 MASSA 1m47.120s5 WEBBER 1m47.265s6 SCHuMACHER 1m48.418s7 SuTIl 1m48.866s8 PEREZ 1m49.578s9 kOBAYASHI 1m49.730s10 BuTTOn 1m49.751s11 AlGuERSuARI 1m49.792s12 SEnnA 1m50.241s13 dI RESTA 1m50.345s14 PETROV 1m50.399s15 ROSBERG 1m50.790s16 BARRICHEllO 1m50.897s17 MAldOnAdO 1m50.937s18 kOVAlAInEn 1m51.950s19 BuEMI 1m52.257s20 TRullI 1m52.489s21 GlOCk 1m53.579s22 d’AMBROSIO 1m54.649s23 RICCIARdO 1m54.754s24 lIuZZI 1m55.198sWeather: dry

PRACTICE 3 - SaturdayPOS dRIVER TIME1 WEBBER 1m46.081s2 BuTTOn 1m46.108s3 VETTEl 1m46.345s4 AlOnSO 1m46.396s5 HAMIlTOn 1m46.936s6 ROSBERG 1m47.831s7 SCHuMACHER 1m47.837s8 MASSA 1m48.711s9 kOBAYASHI 1m49.057s10 SuTIl 1m49.304s11 PEREZ 1m49.583s12 BuEMI 1m49.679s13 dI RESTA 1m49.816s14 MAldOnAdO 1m49.851s15 BARRICHEllO 1m50.189s16 PETROV 1m50.229s17 SEnnA 1m50.523s18 AlGuERSuARI 1m50.547s19 kOVAlAInEn 1m52.510s20 d’AMBROSIO 1m52.697s21 RICCIARdO 1m53.728s22 TRullI 1m53.823s23 GlOCk 1m53.829s24 lIuZZI 1m55.203sWeather: dry

QuAlIFYInGPOS dRIVER QuAlIFYInG 1 QuAlIFYInG 2 QuAlIFYInG 31 VETTEl 1m46.397s (1) 1m44.931s (1) 1m44.381s2 WEBBER 1m47.332s (5) 1m45.651s (3) 1m44.732s3 BuTTOn 1m46.956s (2) 1m45.472s (2) 1m44.804s4 HAMIlTOn 1m47.014s (3) 1m46.829s (8) 1m44.809s5 AlOnSO 1m47.054s (4) 1m45.779s (4) 1m44.874s6 MASSA 1m47.945s (8) 1m45.955s (5) 1m45.800s7 ROSBERG 1m47.688s (6) 1m46.405s (7) 1m46.013s8 SCHuMACHER 1m48.819s (14) 1m46.043s (6) no time9 SuTIl 1m47.952s (9) 1m47.093s (9) no time10 dI RESTA 1m48.022s (10) 1m47.486s (10) no time11 PEREZ 1m47.717s (7) 1m47.616s -12 BARRICHEllO 1m48.061s (12) 1m48.082s -13 MAldOnAdO 1m49.710s (17) 1m48.270s -14 BuEMI 1m48.753s (13) 1m48.634s -15 SEnnA 1m48.861s (15) 1m48.662s -16 AlGuERSuARI 1m49.588s (16) 1m49.862s -17 kOBAYASHI 1m48.054s (11) no time -18 PETROV 1m49.835s - -19 kOVAlAInEn 1m50.948s - -20 TRullI 1m51.012s - -21 GlOCk 1m52.154s - -22 d’AMBROSIO 1m52.363s - -23 RICCIARdO 1m52.404s - -24 lIuZZI 1m52.810s - -Weather: dry

QuAlIFYInG Head to head

VETTEl 11 3 WEBBERHAMIlTOn 10 4 BuTTOn

AlOnSO 12 2 MASSASCHuMACHER 2 12 ROSBERG

HEIdFEld/SEnnA 5 9 PETROVBARRICHEllO 9 5 MAldOnAdO

SuTIl 6 8 dI RESTA kOBAYASHI 5 9 PEREZ/dE lA ROSA

BuEMI 10 4 AlGuERSuARIkOVAlAInEn 12 2 TRullI/CHAndHOk

kAR’kEYAn/RICCIARdO 2 11 lIuZZIGlOCk 12 2 d’AMBROSIO

THE RACE: 61 lAPS, 192.209 MIlESPOS dRIVER TEAM lAPS TOTAl TIME FASTEST lAP PITSTOP TIME In PIT

1 VETTEl REd Bull-REnAulT 61 1h59m06.757s 1m48.688s 3 91.6s

2 BuTTOn MclAREn-MERCEdES 61 +1.737s 1m48.454s 3 90.4s

3 WEBBER REd Bull-REnAulT 61 +29.279s 1m50.088s 3 92.1s

4 AlOnSO FERRARI 61 +55.449s 1m50.891s 3 91.0s

5 HAMIlTOn MclAREn-MERCEdES 61 +1m07.766s 1m50.832s 4 148.5s

6 dI RESTA FORCE IndIA-MERCEdES 61 +1m41.067s 1m54.239s 2 60.5s

7 ROSBERG MERCEdES 60 -1 lap 1m54.383s 3 89.2s

8 SuTIl FORCE IndIA-MERCEdES 60 -1 lap 1m54.564s 2 64.1s

9 MASSA FERRARI 60 -1 lap 1m52.550s 4 124.1s

10 PEREZ SAuBER-FERRARI 60 -1 lap 1m54.615s 2 64.2s

11 MAldOnAdO WIllIAMS-COSWORTH 60 -1 lap 1m53.198s 3 91.6s

12 BuEMI TORO ROSSO-FERRARI 60 -1 lap 1m52.197s 3 97.0s

13 BARRICHEllO WIllIAMS-COSWORTH 60 -1 lap 1m55.235s 2 61.0s

14 kOBAYASHI SAuBER-FERRARI 59 -2 laps 1m51.329s 4 117.7s

15 SEnnA REnAulT 59 -2 laps 1m53.774s 4 134.1s

16 kOVAlAInEn lOTuS-REnAulT 59 -2 laps 1m54.063s 3 95.0s

17 PETROV REnAulT 59 -2 laps 1m54.204s 3 91.9s

18 d’AMBROSIO VIRGIn-COSWORTH 59 -2 laps 1m58.730s 2 63.4s

19 RICCIARdO HRT-COSWORTH 57 -4 laps 1m59.064s 3 112.0s

20 lIuZZI HRT-COSWORTH 57 -4 laps 1m58.283s 4 141.1s

21 AlGuERSuARI TORO ROSSO-FERRARI 56 accident 1m53.676s 3 87.1s

R TRullI lOTuS-REnAulT 47 gearbox 1m57.126s 3 95.5s

R SCHuMACHER MERCEdES 28 accident 1m53.096s 2 59.1s

R GlOCk VIRGIn-COSWORTH 9 accident 2m00.412s 0 -

TYRE CHOICESTInT 1 STInT 2 STInT 3 STInT 4 STInT 5 STInT 6

S-soft Soft Soft S-softS-soft Soft Soft S-softS-soft Soft Soft S-softS-soft Soft Soft SoftS-soft S-soft Soft S-soft SoftSoft S-soft SoftS-soft S-soft S-soft SoftS-soft Soft SoftS-soft Soft Soft S-soft SoftS-soft Soft SoftS-soft Soft S-soft SoftS-soft Soft Soft S-softS-soft Soft SoftSoft Soft S-soft S-softS-soft Soft Soft S-soft S-softS-soft Soft Soft SoftSoft Soft S-soft S-softSoft S-soft SoftS-soft S-soft S-soft SoftSoft S-soft S-soft S-soft SoftSoft Soft S-softS-soft Soft Soft SoftS-soft S-soft S-softSoft

SEASOn SO FAR - Points and positions

POS TEAM PTS AuS MAl PRC TR E MC Cdn Eu GB d H B I SGP J ROk Ind uAE BR

1 REd Bull 491 35 37 33 43 37 37 33 40 33 27 28 43 25 402 MclAREn 353 26 22 37 20 33 23 25 20 12 25 37 15 30 283 FERRARI 268 18 18 14 15 10 18 8 28 35 28 23 16 23 144 MERCEdES 114 0 2 14 10 14 0 12 6 10 10 2 18 10 65 REnAulT 70 15 15 2 10 4 4 10 1 4 1 0 2 2 07 SAuBER 36 0 6 1 1 3 10 6 0 6 2 0 0 0 16 FORCE IndIA 48 3 1 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 8 6 6 4 128 TORO ROSSO 29 4 0 0 2 0 1 5 4 1 0 5 0 7 09 WIllIAMS 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 010 lOTuS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 011 HRT 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 012 VIRGIn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Option tyre in bold; new set in red, used set in black

SEASOn SO FAR - Points and positions

POS dRIVER PTS AuS MAl PRC TR E MC Cdn Eu GB d H B I SGP J ROk Ind uAE BR1 VETTEl 309 1st 1st 2nd 1st 1st 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 4th 2nd 1st 1st 1st2 BuTTOn 185 6th 2nd 4th 6th 3rd 3rd 1st 6th ret ret 1st 3rd 2nd 2nd3 AlOnSO 184 4th 6th 7th 3rd 5th 2nd ret 2nd 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 3rd 4th4 WEBBER 182 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 4th 4th 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 5th 2nd ret 3rd5 HAMIlTOn 168 2nd 8th 1st 4th 2nd 6th ret 4th 4th 1st 4th ret 4th 5th6 MASSA 84 7th 5th 6th 11th ret ret 6th 5th 5th 5th 6th 8th 6th 9th7 ROSBERG 62 ret 12th 5th 5th 7th 11th 11th 7th 6th 7th 9th 6th ret 7th8 SCHuMACHER 52 ret 9th 8th 12th 6th ret 4th 17th 9th 8th ret 5th 5th ret9 PETROV 34 3rd 17th 9th 8th 11th ret 5th 15th 12th 10th 12th 9th ret 17th10 HEIdFEld 34 12th 3rd 12th 7th 8th 8th ret 10th 8th ret ret - - -11 SuTIl 28 9th 11th 15th 13th 13th 7th ret 9th 11th 6th 14th 7th ret 8th12 kOBAYASHI 27 dsq 7th 10th 10th 10th 5th 7th 16th ret 9th 11th 12th ret 14th13 dI RESTA 20 10th 10th 11th ret 12th 12th ret 14th 15th 13th 7th 11th 8th 6th14 AlGuERSuARI 16 11th 11th ret 16th 16th ret 8th 8th 10th 12th 10th ret 7th 21st15 BuEMI 13 8th 13th 14th 9th 14th 10th 10th 13th ret 15th 8th ret 10th 12th16 PEREZ 13 dsq ret 17th 14th 9th ns ns 11th 7th 11th 15th ret ret 10th17 BARRICHEllO 4 ret ret 13th 15th 17th 9th 9th 12th 13th ret 13th 16th 12th 13th18 SEnnA 2 – – – – – – – – – – – 13th 9th 15th19 MAldOnAdO 1 ret ret 18th 17th 15th 18th ret 18th 14th 14th 16th 10th 11th 11th20 dE lA ROSA 0 – – – – – – 12th - - - - - - -21 TRullI 0 13th ret 19th 18th 18th 13th 16th 20th ret - ret 14th 14th ret22 kOVAlAInEn 0 ret 15th 16th 19th ret 14th ret 19th ret 16th ret 15th 13th 16th23 lIuZZI 0 dnq ret 22nd 22nd ret 16th 13th 23rd 18th ret 20th 19th ret 20th24 d’AMBROSIO 0 14th ret 20th 20th 20th 15th 14th 22nd 17th 15th 19th 17th ret 18th25 GlOCk 0 nc 16th 21st dns 19th ret 15th 21st 16th 17th 17th 18th 15th ret26 kARTHIkEYAn 0 dnq ret 23rd 21st 21st 17th 17th 24th - - - - - -27 RICCIARdO 0 – – – – – – – – 19th 19th 18th ret nc 19th28 CHAndHOk 0 – – – – – – – – – 20th - - - -

Weather: dry. Fastest lap: Jenson BuTTOn 1m48.454s (104.379mph) on lap 54. lap leaders: 1-61 Vettel

REPORtSInGAPORE GPSinGAPORE GP RESulTS

THE GRID

P Soft, warm evening breeze off the marina, palm leaves gently swaying, a neon skyline, the contrast of black sky with high-intensity

floodlit-white of track. Turn 22 is the first part of a single leftward arc that encompasses also the final turn onto the pit straight. It’s quite tight in, down two gears to third, but as soon as it’s obvious the nose is going to make that first apex, so you can accelerate through the rest of the arc. It’s quite spectacular in these early low-grip laps, Sergio Perez is making twitchy progress through there, second one caught between the two turns just as he’s changing up to fourth. Pastor Maldonado takes too much of that first kerb, a spark shower, a bump, a wild-but-blink-brief slide. lewis Hamilton is greedily devouring the grip of his new tyres, big entry speed, beautiful oversteer slide between the upshifts. Bruno Senna – a long cough of hot-blowing exhaust as the mixture ignites in the pipes – gets a little wide on the exit, finds the bumps, the

lights catching a high arc of plank dust thrown from the diffuser. Walk back to the braking zone for 22, see the cars making that first turn from behind and it’s an illuminating study in Red Bull dynamics. Other cars need a while for those front wheels to load up – a tenth of a second, perhaps – while the RB7s simply turn in, the load transferred to the rear that happily accepts it all, and are gone all in one move, heading into the floodlit night.

TRACKSIDE VIEWMark HughesGrand prix editor

1 VETTELREd Bull 1m44.381sSuper-soft

3 BUTTONMclAREn1m44.804sSuper-soft

5 ALONSOFERRARI1m44.874sSuper-soft

7 ROSBERGMERCEdES 1m46.013sSuper-soft

9 SUTILFORCE IndIAno timeSuper-soft

11 PEREZSAuBER1m47.616sSuper-soft

13 MALDONADOWIllIAMS1m48.270sSuper-soft

15 SENNAREnAulT 1m48.662sSuper-soft

17 KOBAYASHISAuBERno timeSoft

19 KOVALAINENlOTuS1m50.948sSuper-soft

21 GLOCKVIRGIn 1m52.154sSoft

23 RICCIARDOHRT1m52.404sSuper-soft

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2 WEBBERREd Bull1m44.732sSuper-soft

4 HAMILTONMclAREn1m44.809sSuper-soft

6 MASSAFERRARI1m45.800sSuper-soft

8 SCHUMACHERMERCEdESno timeSuper-soft

10 DI RESTAFORCE IndIA no timeSoft

12 BARRICHELLOWIllIAMS1m48.082sSuper-soft

14 BUEMITORO ROSSO1m48.634sSuper-soft

16 ALGUERSUARITORO ROSSO 1m49.862sSoft

18 PETROVREnAulT1m49.835sSoft

20 TRULLIlOTuS 1m51.012sSuper-soft

22 D’AMBROSIOVIRGIn1m52.363sSoft

24 LIUZZIHRT1m52.810sSoft

“Hamilton is greedily devouring

the grip of his new tyres”

the final turn gives drivers a fun ride


Monaco had better watch out. The Singapore Grand Prix is fast becoming the ‘big one’ to be at if you are among the movers and shakers of Formula 1 teams and sponsors.

I t may not have its yachts in the harbour or such famous racing history, but the importance of the Asian markets, a night race spectacular that looks simply amazing, and being right on the doorstep of a great city, are all factors that are making it a no-brainer for the Singapore GP to be a must-attend event.

That’s why McLaren Group chief Ron Dennis opted

to unveil his bold vision for the future of his company in Singapore; it’s why FIA president Jean Todt chose to have a World Motor Sport Council meeting here; and why the likes of Richard Branson all ensure they leave the weekend free.

But Singapore organisers do not just put on the race to please the business world, because this is an event that is big for fans too. And that means great entertainment.

As well as the brilliant track action, the social programme was laid on thick and fast; with Rick Astley, Shakira, Boy George, Linkin Park and Shaggy all performing in concerts that took place over the weekend.

There was some high fashion on display as well, with the Amber Lounge Fashion Show once again proving a huge success. With Taio Cruz providing

the musical backdrop, F1’s test and reserve drivers including Karun Chandhok, Jules Bianchi and Sam Bird strutted their stuff on the catwalk.Formula 1 regulars have got well used to the sleeping tactic needed to get through the Singapore Grand Prix weekend – and it is one that involves zero jetlag.

The night race timetable take place pretty much when events would happen at a European GP – which means for those who fl y in, the easiest way is to simply stick to European time, if you can stomach going to bed at 6am and waking up after 2pm.

Over the year a few of the restaurants and bars have cottoned on to the fact that there are hundreds of F1 personnel wandering the streets late at night trying to get food, and a regular routine has set in.

Behind The Scenes In SingaporeMore tales from the paddock after the Singapore GP weekend

By Jonathan Noble, Autosport’s group F1 editor

However, the introduction of Formula 1’s curfew this weekend hugely complicated matters – and led to some unprecedented scenes outside the paddock as queues of F1 personnel were left waiting in long queues to get in once the gates were open.

As part of the move to drive down costs, a curfew has been imposed which effectively prohibits team personnel from being in the paddock for a six-hour period on Fridays and Saturday nights.

This normally runs from midnight to 6am on a Friday and 1am to 7am on a Saturday. However, with the night timetable things got hugely complicated as the curfews ran to 3pm and 4pm on the two practice days.

On Friday afternoon, as team personnel duly waited outside the paddock in the Singapore heat, Scuderia Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost could not understand why everyone was milling around while there was work to do – so he swiped into the gates and headed for his offi ce.

Unbeknown to him, it was before the curfew had been lifted – which meant the team used up one of the four ‘joker’ free exemptions it is allowed over the course of the year.

Of more signifi cance the next day was when the Red Bull Racing, Mercedes GP and Virgin Racing teams turned up to fi nd that marketing personnel – who had nothing to do with the cars – had entered the circuit early to look after guests, and broken the curfew! They too briefl y were told that the breaches would cost them one of their jokers.

Luckily for all three teams, a discussion with the FIA highlighted that the team representatives were not involved in the operation of the car, so the curfew punishments were lifted.

Only in F1 could you ever get told off for turning up early!

It was quite fi tting that at one of Formula 1’s most sweaty races, McLaren announced a sponsorship tie-up with that famous energy drink from all our childhood – Lucozade

Of course the ingredients and fl avours have come a long way since thatfamous Daley Thompson advert from the mid 1980s, and it was fascinating talking to Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton early in the weekend about the implications of a deal that got people all nostalgic.

Hamilton had a big smile because, in this brand dominated world, it meant he could now go out to the gym and not have to worry about taking labels off bottles of drinks.

“It is pretty neat for us because in the past we weren’t working with a drinks company and we had to disguise whatever drink we were having,” he said. “We couldn’t say if we were drinking Lucozade, and if were drinking Lucozade I couldn’t carry the bottle around, so it is quite neat. And now I don’t have to buy it – I can have a whole fridge full of it!”Lucozade reckoned the paddock managed to get through 1,800 bottles over the course of the weekend – although whether Lewis and Jenson were simply stockpiling their suitcases to load up their fridges at homes remains to be seen!

If you follow Formula 1 closely, you will know that the sport likes nothing more than a good acronym. Over the years there have been a host of organisations that have become buzzwords of their own in the paddock – including FOM (Formula One Management), FOCA (Formula One Constructors’ Association), FOTA (Formula One Teams’ Association), and KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems).Now though, although perhaps not so well known yet, another organisation has appeared – OTA.

HRT team principal Colin Kolles may be a pretty hard task master, but he is also someone who has a brilliant sense of humour too. So when his outfi t left FOTA last year, he decided that he would have a bit of fun and create his own organisation – the One Team Association – for his friends, colleagues and anyone else in the paddock that he deems suitable.Over the course of the season Kolles has quietly

Tiao Cruz

Jan Charouz Heikki Kovalen & Catherine Hyde Sam Bird & Jules Bianchi

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in association with

attracted some pretty high profi le members – whose identity cannot be revealed here – each of whom has had to apply to join, get their application approved and then receive the real benefi t of membership: a nice shiny membership card!

Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn revealed at a press briefi ng on Thursday that she was an OTA member, while I too joined the ranks and was presented with my card ahead of the Singapore race.

It’s the latest must-have item for any F1 paddock regular!


intERviEWMARk WEBBER

Will Mark Webber ever shake off that Red Bull number-two tag? He tells EDD StRAW that he won’t stop trying

Mark Webber’s words after winning last year’s British Grand Prix still resonate today, but not for the reasons of 14 months ago. “not bad for a number-two driver” has taken on a completely

different meaning for the Australian, who came within 12 points of winning last year’s world title.

After that near miss, he has not been anything like team-mate Sebastian Vettel’s equal in 2011, lagging a surely insurmountable 92 points behind. Webber certainly isn’t bad for a number two; in fact, he’s exceptional, shoring up Red Bull’s dominance of the constructors’ championship and holding, predictably, the number-two position in the drivers’ battle. no wonder Red Bull signed him up for another season.

Webber is no fool and knows full well that he is de facto support act at Red Bull right now. The winless wonder has had to watch as Vettel has racked up seven triumphs in 12 races. He hasn’t finished outside the top five all year, but relative to Vettel, his results have been mediocre. little wonder that comparisons are now being drawn between the 35-year-old and the likes of Riccardo Patrese, Gerhard Berger, Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine and david Coulthard – all drivers who know exactly what it’s like to find themselves in the shadow of champion team-mates. It might be reasonable to conclude that Webber has accepted his lot and is content to hang around for another year feeding on Vettel’s scraps, but that ignores the psyche of the topline racing driver, which rarely allows such defeatism. despite complaints about the team not supporting him in the past, Webber has laid responsibility for laggingbehind Vettel firmly at his own door. He still aspires to winning the world championship next year and he knows that he is the master of his own destiny as far as being a number two goes.

“You have got to take control of that situation yourself,” says Webber. “It’s inevitable with the start of the year I’ve had that people look at it that way. Is Jarno Trulli a number-two driver? Are you a number two just because you get beaten? Jenson Button was a clear number two last year and this year he is not. And when nick Heidfeld and Robert kubica were together at BMW Sauber, it changed around. Seb is a class act, we know that, but it’s up to me to keep working hard.”

This begs the question of why Webber is struggling to get near Vettel. When he was behind the German last year, it was often by a fraction of a second, and he was ahead regularly enough to have established himself as Red Bull’s lead title shot with a third of the year to go. But despite Webber being far closer to Vettel now than he was earlier in the year, the world champion still has the edge. You could just say that Webber simply isn’t as good. But that’s not a satisfactory explanation in so complex a sport as F1, particularly with a driver who, on occasion, has delivered some incredible performances.

Webber is happy to talk about the reasons behind his performance deficit, but his responses should not be misinterpreted as excuses or moaning. One of the primary skills required of a racing driver is to analyse what he is doing and that’s exactly what Webber does. He doesn’t even

claim that bad luck has denied him a victory.“Spa was probably the first race where I felt

very disappointed knowing that I could have won the race,” he says. “But I didn’t do a good enough job at the start, and things like that I need to improve on. I did a better job of certain things last year that, this year, haven’t been good enough. We had some reliability problems early in the season on my car in particular and it was pretty tough to bounce back from missing sessions and qualifying out of position. Then, not having a lot of kERS made it hard to race.

“But I still don’t think that there was a win there. At Spa there definitely was. My middle stint at Spa was probably one of the best I’ve done in a long while, in terms of doing 25 laps on those tyres. I need to just keep doing that.”

That seems a fair enough assessment, even though it’s important to note that Vettel himself has had his share of kERS problems and lost track time in both Turkey and Canada through practice mishaps. The bottom line is that there are two areas where Webber is really losing out – qualifying and starts. While he has claimed three pole positions (compared with Vettel’s nine) he has failed to lead the opening lap of a grand prix in 2011.

Qualifying has improved now that Webber has

got on top of the new Pirelli tyres and even though he has yet to prove conclusively that he has mastered the rubber over a full stint (despite impressing in this regard at Spa), he’s now at least in the same ballpark that Vettel has been in from the off. The fundamental problem was that Webber was generating more lateral load and, by being more aggressive on the throttle, taking life out of his Italian boots. It’s just another area where being a little bit behind is magnified into a huge points gap, such are the tiny margins that count at the front in F1.

“Strategy-wise and first-stint wise, he has always had the trump card [of first call] around the stops,” says Webber. “So I need to get on top of that. I did at the nurburgring, but had to handle other guys with lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso being quick on the day when Seb wasn’t quick enough to challenge for victory. We have to work on getting that track position, which isn’t easy because qualifying is a Seb strength.”

Then we come to the starts, an area where Webber has no excuse, given that he has identical machinery to Vettel. Again, the Australian does not attempt to shirk his responsibility for mediocre getaways. It’s clear the Red Bull isn’t great off the line, which is perhaps indicative of a very tight window for operating the clutch - most likely Adrian newey’s ultra-compact car packaging forcing a tiny clutch that overheats easily. Fast learner Vettel has mastered this, Webber less so.

“It’s a little bit more me than the car,” says Webber. “You don’t see Red Bulls diving through the middle of the row in front like you do some cars. We could be better in that area and I certainly good be. I’ve just got to do a better job – it’s as simple as that.”

These are all small differentiators that add up to a points chasm between Webber and Vettel. But at least Webber knows where to look to find the improvement. And with almost 10 seasons under his belt, the criticism doesn’t eat away at him, even though perhaps the points table magnifies the difference between him and Vettel.

“They are right to say that points are what it’s all about and you’ve got to get them,” admits Webber. “That’s how you measure performance. “But me being worried about what people think is long gone. Half the time we don’t understand what’s going on, let alone them [the critics]. Without bagging the fans out, it’s very difficult to understand this sport.”

Perhaps an easier aspect to understand is motivation. Having been beaten, no-one would have blamed Webber if he decided to walk away – especially after a period of soul-searching following last year’s championship disaster in Abu dhabi. Once competitors get to a certain age, it’s inevitable that retirement comes to mind, but Webber has not found himself feeling any different about life in F1 as he has in previous years. With Red Bull wanting to keep him, it was a straightforward decision to stay on – especially as he says he never gave serious thought to changing teams despite admitting that he had “a few phone calls”.

“Age is not super-important,” he says. “The desire, the motivation, is the barometer of whether you continue in whatever walk of life. If you’re committed to it and still enjoy testing yourself, you keep doing it. Age has never been the issue, it’s more about the things that come with the job and wear you down, whether it’s the travel or the media bits and bobs. But that’s part of it.

“I’ve learned to be more efficient with my time in the past few years, which is good, so I’m looking forward to next season. It’s also enjoyable to be involved in the process of putting together a new car for next year and that’s going to be a big hole to fill whenever that [retirement] does happen.”

Webber could be a big hole for Red Bull to fill as well, although with junior driver daniel Ricciardo potentially on the fast track to an A-team drive as early as 2013, the senior Australian on the grid probably needs to make good on his resolve to earn another one-year deal. But that’s no different to what’s happened before and Webber has constantly proved his worth even though he has yet to establish himself as quite the equal of the likes of Vettel and Alonso on a regular basis. He’s very close, and to call him a great number two, lagging a fraction behind a great-in-the-making such as Vettel, in this context is not damning with faint praise.

Webber knows he’s still got something to prove, he always has done. That’s part of the reason that a driver who probably never should have made it to F1 is still here a decade and six victories later.

“Me being worried about what people think is long gone. It’s very difficult to

understand this sport” Mark Webber


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ROUND 13/19

LAPS 53



FASTEST LAP Lewis Hamilton1m26.187s

RACE RATING★★★★★Had its moments early on, but not a patch on the 1971 thriller!

DRIVERS STANDINGSVettel 284ptsAlonso 172ptsButton 167pts

MILESTONESl Red Bull’s fi rst win at Monza – but Vettel’s secondl Toro Rosso’s biggest points haul of 2011 season – just like ’08!

REPORTITALIAN GP

VETTEL BREAKS THE PRANCING HORSES

For all the early-race efforts of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, nothing could stop Red Bull’s favourite son breaking the team’s Monza bogey. By MARK HUGHES

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RACE CONDITIONSSunny weather for the passionate tifosi, and a track temperature that peaked at 40C

28C

ne fast car – Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull – was in the right position when it mattered, able to

express its performance without interruption. The other two – the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button – were trapped by the team’s worst nightmare: a slow car that was super-fast on the straights and driven by a ruthless Michael Schumacher, determined not to let this rare opportunity to shine slip. That defi ned the shape of the race.

In this DRS era, the fastest Monza car carries plenty of downforce and a much shorter top gear than is traditional. Vettel and the McLaren drivers went for it, each assuming that they were racing only each other, watching each others’ speed-trap fi gures through practice, analysing the sonic readings, second-guessing their only apparent rivals.

It’s a policy that carries obvious risk: the slower cars cannot afford to do it and their teams will adopt the classic skinny-wing/long-ratio format, and if you slip down among them you’ll struggle to pass them, such is their end-of-straight speed advantage. Schumacher, even with his Mercedes’ DRS closed, could still pull away from Hamilton’s car – its DRS open – on the pit straight, the

McLaren’s engine stuttering on its limiter. By the time a McLaren driver – Button, at his fi rst attempt – cracked the code of the vault that was Schuey’s defence, Vettel was 15 seconds up the road and there was still a Ferrari between them.

It might not have worked out that way. It might have been a close contest, Vettel versus the two McLarens, leaving the rest far behind. “I think we had the pace, particularly at the end of the stints, to have fought for the win,” said team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

“I think we would have had them covered,” retorted Red Bull’s Christian Horner. “We didn’t see all the performance; Seb just did what he needed once he had a cushion.”

We’ll never know. For that race to have panned out, we needed Hamilton to make a better restart from behind the safety car, so that he wasn’t passed by Schumacher – or for the safety car not to have been needed in the fi rst place.

For that to have happened, we needed Kamui Kobayashi not to brake early into the fi rst corner just as Tonio Liuzzi was arriving fast, trying to make up places. The Sauber’s sudden deceleration was a nasty surprise for the Italian, sending the HRT tank-slapping across the grass to the right in a horribly inevitable arc with those driving through the fi rst chicane. He hit Vitaly Petrov side-on, spinning the Renault around hard into Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes, the three wrecked cars partly blocking the track. That’s why the complexion-changing safety car was triggered.

Up front Fernando Alonso had made a start from the second row arguably even better than that in Spain. “We’ve been working on the starts for a few races,” he explained, “but here with such a lot of space and a long run to the fi rst corner we were able to take full advantage of the potential.”

Alonso had initially looked to go

left of Hamilton but, with Vettel there, he switched to the McLaren’s right, the three of them side-by-side as the track funnelled down at the exit of the pitlane. Vettel was leaning right on Hamilton, not realising initially that there was another car to Lewis’s right. Hamilton went as far right as he dared, and even with the edge of the grass approaching Alonso refused to surrender his greater momentum, snatching the lead as the Ferrari’s right-rear kicked up a dust cloud from the corner of the grass. The crowd went into a frenzy. That move alone was surely worth the admission price for the tifosi. Ironically it was probably the dust from Alonso’s wheel that caused the unsighted Kobayashi to back off suddenly, triggering the whole Liuzzi sequence.

Button bogged down off the grid and was only sixth into the chicane, albeit still ahead of Mark Webber, who’d made another poor getaway in the Red Bull. By contrast,

Three-wide bravery: Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel

HRT runs higher than ever, as Liuzzi hits Petrov/Rosberg

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QUALIFYINGRed Bull gambled on a strategy that demanded perfection from Vettel. He provided it

P Sebastian Vettel’s choice of short top-gear ratio told you everything about his

aggressively confident approach: the mindset of a driver on the crest of a confidence wave with a great car beneath him and a formidable championship lead.

With a seventh ratio a whole size shorter than that of team-mate Mark Webber, he was ensuring that come race day his engine would be singing down the long straights without DRS enabled. Those configuring their ratios more conventionally around DRS usage would find themselves with their peaky engines bogged down below the optimum on Sunday – at least when their DRS was not triggered. In theory the choice gave Vettel an optimally fast raceday car, but one that would be very vulnerable if anyone got him within their DRS range. It was a strategy, therefore, that required a commitment to getting pole, with gearing that was disadvantageous in qualifying.

Treading this fine line almost cost him the pole – which would have meant the collapse of the whole gamble – but the very qualities that his confidence is built upon then pulled it back at the last gasp. By a whopping half a second.

Regardless of the race result the next day, this confidence confirmed the team had finally nailed Monza – that awkward, elongated anachronism that had always tripped previous Red Bulls up. Despite visibly lower rear-wing settings than the McLarens, the RB7 was still stunningly quick through the Lesmos, Ascari and Parabolica, the heart of its advantage over everything else. Regardless of skinny wings, the Red Bull was clearly still generating a lot of downforce, slow at the end of the straights but way quicker than anyone else onto them. Vettel’s choice of top-gear ratio left him slowest through the speed trap at the end of the pit straight (204mph versus 213 for the Ferraris).

Coming into qualifying, the choice was all about whether the Pirelli softs would give their best time on the first or second flying lap, and therefore about how many runs of how many laps you did. Vettel’s first Q3 run was for two flyers. Fairly quick on the first, his real flyer was set to be the second, even

Second and third for the McLaren duo

Vettel delivered with a stunning lap

of the Red Bulls. With their high wing settings, the MP4-26s were also relatively slow down the straights but fast through the turns, though getting the car balanced proved quite an intricate job, Jenson Button still changing torsion bars mid-way through Saturday morning practice before settling upon a set-up more like his team-mate’s. The pair were very evenly matched, ultimately separated by half a tenth, with Hamilton on the outside of the front row, Button on the inside of the second. Both had abandoned laps that might have brought them closer to Vettel’s time before errors, but as Hamilton said: “There’s no way I had another half-second in the bag.”

The Ferrari drivers also struggled to find a workable set-up as the track temperatures changed, their cars’ easy tyre usage bringing them progressively more into play as the heat increased. It was enough for Fernando Alonso to slot in fourth quickest, a tenth or so adrift of the McLarens, with Felipe Massa a further 0.347s back in sixth. Had he driven as well on this tow-enhanced lap as on his earlier one when towing Alonso, he’d have qualified third.

The Ferraris sandwiched Webber’s Red Bull, Mark suffering a disjointed session and opting to do a single multi-lap run. “In hindsight two runs was the way forward,” he said, “but ultimately I didn’t get enough out of the car on the tyres on one run only.

We were managing the KERS too, as we had some issues on the last lap.”

With their super-skinny rear-wing package, the Renaults were flying down the straights and Vitaly Petrov made good use of this to slot comfortably into Q3, where he proceeded to go seventh fastest. Helped by a Hamilton tow, Bruno Senna delivered a last-gasp, high-pressure lap to squeeze into the run-off, around 0.4s off Petrov. He opted then to sit out Q3, giving him the choice of tyres for the race.

There was a split tyre strategy at Mercedes too, with Michael Schumacher going eighth on softs, Nico Rosberg ninth on a set of the slower-but-more-durable mediums, Nico despairing of the degradation rate of the softs on this car. Force India’s Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil were 11th and 12th respectively, significantly faster than the Williams pair behind them, Rubens Barrichello nipping ahead of the KERS-compromised Pastor Maldonado. Chassis balance proved elusive for both Sauber and Toro Rosso, the Italian cars running off-throttle diffuser blowing for the first time.

after he’d dipped the left-rear into the Astroturf on the exit of Lesmo 2, but then a big crossed-up moment through Ascari – a little too greedy with the power but beautifully caught – thwarted it. Time was now of the essence and ideally he needed to pit now, but was then informed that wasn’t an option as the KERS needed a cooling lap. That completed, he had a new set of softs fitted and rejoined at the back of a queue with just enough time to get a single flyer in. It was a fantastic lap, his entry speed and outrageously early power application through Lesmo 2 quite breathtaking. Pole by half a second; crucial first part of his task complete.

The McLarens were very fast whenever the track temperature was down at 30-deg C or so in the mornings, but on the scorching 44-deg C track surface of qualifying their tyres were evidently suffering more heat degradation than those

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SEBASTIAN VETTELRed Bull-Renault RB7-3Start: 1st. Finish: 1stOne of Vettel’s finest wins of the season, founded upon a stunning qualifying lap and a passing move, which included taking to the grass at the exit of Curva Grande, that should put to bed the myth that he can’t overtake. A victory worthy of Ayrton Senna at his best.

10/10Event rating1

MARK WEBBERRed Bull-Renault RB7-5Start: 5th. DNFTook his share in the responsibility for qualifying fifth. Headed into the race with plenty of aggression, as his bold late-braking pass on Button after the safety car proved. Was at fault for hitting Massa at the first chicane and losing his wing, which led to his crash.

3/10Event rating2

LEWIS HAMILTONMcLaren-Mercedes MP4-26-01Start: 2nd. Finish: 4thMade an error on his second Q3 run, but was never going to bridge the gap to Vettel’s pole time. Was forced to back out at start due to Alonso, then slow restart dropped him behind Schumacher. Although he finally got by the German, his chances were finished.

6/10Event rating3

JENSON BUTTONMcLaren-Mercedes MP4-26-04Start: 3rd. Finish: 2ndAnother very strong weekend. Close to Hamilton in qualifying, Button comprehensively outraced him and once again made overtaking look effortless at times. Probably didn’t have the machinery to challenge Vettel, but would have been closer with a better start.

8/10Event rating4

FERNANDO ALONSOFerrari 150° Italia-290Start: 4th. Finish: 3rdMade the best of a bad job on a weekend when Ferrari, surprisingly, didn’t have the speed to beat the Red Bulls and McLarens. A brilliant start gave him the lead, but he was powerless to stop Vettel, then Button, breezing past. Had to be on it all race to get that final podium slot.

9/10Event rating5

FELIPE MASSAFerrari 150° Italia-291Start: 6th. Finish: 6thMassa is a very sixth-placed driver nowadays and was, as usual, three tenths off his team-mate in qualifying. Staged a good mini-recovery to climb from 10th back to sixth after being tipped into a spin by Webber, but was by now cast adrift in his favourite position.

5/10Event rating6

Alonso fights off Schumacher

Schumacher was slicing aggressively forward, fourth into the fi rst turn ahead of Felipe Massa’s Ferrari. Vettel’s short gearing got him out of the chicane and through Curva Grande noticeably faster than the Ferrari and, as they arrived at the braking zone for the Roggia chicane, Seb was trying to get down the inside. That battle was then postponed for three laps as the race went under the safety car.

Upon the restart, Alonso allowed the safety car to accelerate far ahead of the pack and began his sprint as they exited Ascari. Vettel reacted immediately. Hamilton admitted they had caught him napping. “I was looking in my mirrors keeping an eye on Michael, and when I looked up the guys ahead had gone.”

Schumacher, already with the advantage of momentum over the McLaren, slipstreamed easily past down the pit straight and into the chicane. That was to be the ruin of Hamilton’s race as he’d spend the next 24 laps stuck behind the slower car. Webber made a similarly easy move on Button for sixth.

Vettel, meanwhile, was taking up where he left off in his full-on attack of Alonso, anxious to take advantage also of the Ferrari’s relative slowness in generating optimum tyre temperature. Their wheels were almost touching as Vettel again tried to brave it down the inside into Roggia, but Fernando stayed ahead. It was just a matter of time though.

Webber was equally anxious to progress but, upon trying to pass Massa into the fi rst chicane on the fourth lap, he overcommitted. He tried to get out of the move by taking to the run-off apron between the right and left, but the Red Bull’s nose hit the back of the Ferrari, spinning Massa down to eighth and promoting Button to fi fth. Webber,

not realising his front wing was by now beneath the nose, locked up and slid through the gravel into the Parabolica tyre barrier.

Vettel’s car, smack-bang in its peak power band courtesy of that low gearing – particularly important in these early heavily-laden laps – was all over the longer-geared Ferrari, even before DRS usage had been enabled. Accelerating harder out of the fi rst chicane on the fi fth lap, he got a run going and was gaining fast as they approached the long Curva Grande. Seb opted for the outside and hung on, getting alongside. Alonso eased him out to the left as they exited, but still Vettel kept coming, two wheels on the grass now in seventh gear, right foot not easing. Even Fernando must’ve been impressed by that one. It made you wince just watching.

“ Classic Schumacher, the ruthless core very evident as he refused to give the McLaren an inch”

Button passes wrong-way Massa

REPORTITALIAN GP

MICHAEL SCHUMACHERMercedes MGP W02-09Start: 8th. Finish: 5thLooked strong all weekend and turned in his traditional good start to run fourth. Capitalised on Hamilton’s error at restart to take third and defended brilliantly – if at the upper limit of what is acceptable. Ultimately couldn’t keep McLarens back, but fifth was impressive.

9/10Event rating7

NICO ROSBERGMercedes MGP W02-07Start: 9th. DNFStarting on prime rubber – which explained the big gap to Schumacher in qualifying – was an interesting gamble, but the younger of Mercedes’ two German drivers never had the chance to see how it would pan out after being clattered into by Liuzzi at the first chicane.

6/10Event rating8

BRUNO SENNARenault R31-06Start: 10th. Finish: 9thQualifying, held in dry conditions, was a bigger test here than it was at Spa, and Senna passed it with flying colours, nicking a Q3 slot at the last gasp. Pitted on lap one after losing time in the first-chicane crash and lapped consistently to climb to ninth and his first points.

8/10Event rating9

VITALY PETROVRenault R31-05Start: 7th. DNFThe Russian really impressed everyone with his qualifying performance in a car that was reckoned to be a marginal Q3 runner, but his race was over within a few hundred metres of the start as he was another victim of Liuzzi’s error into the opening chicane.

8/10Event rating10

RUBENS BARRICHELLOWilliams-Cosworth FW33-04Start: 13th. Finish: 12thThat he was delighted with qualifying tells you everything you need to know about the Williams. He was less delighted to find the track blocked by Rosberg and Petrov at the first chicane. After dropping to the back, pitted and then recovered very well to 12th.

8/10Event rating11

PASTOR MALDONADOWilliams-Cosworth FW33-02Start: 14th. Finish: 11thWas extremely fortunate to escape his Q1 crash exiting the Parabolica with only superficial damage, and was within a tenth of Barrichello in Q2. Took the restart ninth, but became less competitive as the race went on and fuel loads declined, and faded from points contention.

6/10Event rating12

perhaps a dozen failed moves on the Merc when its tyres were healthier, and now Button had done it in one.

As Jenson took up third place and set off in chase of Alonso, who was 5s up the road, Schumacher peeled off into the pits and was fi tted with a brand new set of soft tyres. McLaren needed to pit Button in response, and Jenson needed to pull a big lap out of those worn tyres if the Merc was not to leapfrog back ahead. He turned it on beautifully, made the stop and exited still just in front. He was aided in this by Michael’s out-lap not being particularly quick.

In the interests of equality, McLaren operates a policy of whichever driver is ahead getting pitstop preference, meaning that Button had given himself that priority and Hamilton was further disadvantaged – he exited from his lap-18 stop still behind Schumacher. Their dice started all over again and Schumacher was, if anything, even more robust in his defence this time. At one point he made two very distinct moves – fi rst right then left – between Roggia and Lesmo 1 to block Hamilton, a clear breach of the regulations, and it was surprising that no action was taken at this point. Certainly Hamilton – penalised for much less in Malaysia this year – must have thought so.

Alonso was brought in at the end of the 19th lap from almost 11s behind the imperious Vettel. Red Bull responded by bringing Seb in the following lap. All the frontrunners had resumed on another set of softs, and the timing of the stops confi rmed they were all set for a two-stop strategy. The middle stint and the fi nal one lacked the heart-in-mouth thrill of the fi rst – and it was by now more than clear that Vettel was going to walk it. Red Bull told him to turn his engine down and still he was setting new fastest laps, making the team – to whom

Schumacher keeps Hamilton at bay…

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DRS – between Lesmo 2 and Ascari and down the pit straight – worth around 0.8s of lap time, it’s perfectly feasible to race on almost-level terms with a car that may be intrinsically 1s per lap faster, at least for as long as your tyres hold out.

The Pirelli rubber was taking a serious pasting with a track temperature in the low 40-deg Cs and those enormous rotation rates. In addition, the rears were subject to the repeated acceleration out of chicanes. By the 15th lap Schumacher was visibly running out of rear grip, and this is how his desperate defence of third place was ultimately broken. He was super-vulnerable now and Hamilton sensed it, Lewis getting better momentum out of the fi rst chicane and moving to the right as they approached Curva Grande. The response was classic Schumacher, the ruthless core very evident as he refused to give the McLaren an inch, and in staying over to the right on the approach forced Hamilton to take to the grass at around 200mph. Button would later say he thought Lewis was trying for a gap that wasn’t there, and maybe he did commit to the move a little early, giving Michael plenty of time to respond.

This early phase of the race, as well as being shape-forming, was also high-octane raw – and Michael was right in the middle of it. Hamilton’s slowed momentum allowed Button to ease past between there and the Roggia chicane and, just a few corners later, Jenson triggered his DRS out of Lesmo 2 and sucked himself up to the Merc. Jenson succeeded where Lewis had failed by opting to go for the outside approach to Ascari. “I’d watched Lewis trying repeatedly down the inside so I thought I’d try the other way,” he said. It was a classic Button move, done at the perfect moment – when Schumacher’s tyres were almost shot. Hamilton had put …and gets quite ruthless

Seb was now free to demonstrate his true pace, pulling away from the Ferrari at around 0.7s per lap and leaving Alonso to become briefl y busy fending off the opportunist Schumacher, as Hamilton continued in turn to hassle the Mercedes, but with not enough end-of-straight speed to make any move into the fi rst chicane stick. He would have to do it somewhere else.

Schumacher was totally uncompromising in defence and you wondered if Hamilton might not respond in frustration, but he never did. Lap after lap Lewis would use his DRS to look down the inside on the approach to Ascari and Michael would lean heavily on him. Ross Brawn even got on the radio a couple of times to remind his driver that he must allow the other car space after the race director had been in touch. All this was allowing Button to catch up to the back of their train and, with his team-mate looming large, Hamilton made a lunge inside the Merc at the end of the pit straight on lap 13. This put him on a compromised line of exit, allowing Schumacher to repass as they accelerated up to the Roggia chicane. With the double squirt of

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REPORTITALIAN GP

Kobayashi launches it in struggle with Senna

Button wormed his way past Hamilton

Crowd salutes the podium men

“Second for Button was fair reward for a mature, composed drive, beating his team-mate for the third straight race”

Alonso but failed to pull it off. Furthermore, even though McLaren called in Button fi rst for his second and fi nal stop – at the end of lap 33 – the requirement to switch to mediums meant he failed to leapfrog the Ferrari. Even brand new, these were slightly slower than worn softs, enabling Alonso to remain ahead after pitting one lap later. Button was, however, briefl y doubly advantaged in that with his extra lap and the Ferrari’s usual reluctance to generate tyre heat, he now had a useful grip advantage over Alonso. On the 37th lap he got a much better exit from the fi rst chicane, shorter gearing and better traction combining to fi nally take him past Fernando well before they even reached Curva Grande. Button was now second, albeit 15s behind the serene Vettel.

Hamilton had pitted on the same lap as Alonso, and came out 6s behind. For a few laps he was actually being left behind by the Ferrari, but after a gee-up over the radio he suddenly found almost a second from lap 39 onwards, by which time the defi cit had ballooned to 9s. This had him cutting into Alonso’s advantage by 0.5s each time through, setting the race’s fastest lap along the way, but ultimately he would run out of laps. He only got himself into DRS range out of Lesmo 2 on the last lap and wasn’t able to make a move into Ascari. Though he crossed the line fourth, just 0.5s behind the Ferrari, that earlier dip in performance had almost certainly lost him third. At Schumacher’s hands

earlier, it was as if he’d suffered from the racing equivalent of Muhammad Ali’s ‘rope-a-dope’, his energy spent in constant attack, leaving him depleted later on.

By comparison, Vettel’s day was beautifully straightforward. He’d thrilled the team by breaking its Monza bogey, even though it was Seb’s second win here. Second place for Button was fair reward for another mature, composed and fast drive, beating his team-mate for the third straight race. Alonso gave the tifosi some Ferrari respectability with third, and something for them to talk about for years in that start. Schumacher, the old warrior showed the inner steel and off-kilter ruthlessness of his great days, and the out-of-sequence Massa rescued sixth from a disappointing weekend. His fastest lap was 0.267s faster than Alonso’s and his theoretical best quallie lap would have been better too – yet at no stage did he look like putting it all together.

Jaime Alguersuari drove another good race from way down the grid, this time fi nishing seventh for Toro Rosso. Paul di Resta just hung onto eighth in his Force India from the closing and earlier-delayed Renault of Bruno Senna, fi fth in the fastest-lap list in his chase.

Several hours later, shy smile to the clambering fans from the back seat of the departing car, Vettel might have been heading off to thank his older buddy Schumacher for making his day easier. Maybe Seb would have been able to beat the McLarens regardless. But we’ll never know. It’s not his problem, and it was another perfect performance. And, after that 200mph, seventh-gear pass of Alonso with two wheels on the grass, don’t ever let’s hear any of that guff about him not being an overtaker.

breaking its Monza bogey was a big deal – nervous.

The middle stint was about Button chasing Alonso for second, and Hamilton’s continued struggle to make a pass on Schumacher stick. By the 25th lap Button was within 1.5s of the Ferrari and next time round beat even Vettel’s earlier fastest lap. Each time this happened, Vettel would respond with another, as if needing something to focus on in the absence of anyone to race. On the 28th lap Hamilton fi nally forced Schuey to yield – by repeating Button’s around-the-outside move into Ascari. He was by now 9s behind Button though. In clear air Lewis was lapping around 1s faster than he had behind Schumacher, but that was no faster than Button was running, stuck behind Alonso. There was a suggestion that perhaps Hamilton’s head had untypically dropped at this stage, reeling perhaps from the mentally taxing task of breeching Schuey’s defences while trying to stay alive.

Several times Button tried to repeat his Schumacher move on


ADRIAN SUTILForce India-Merc VJM04-04Start: 12th. DNFWas content with qualifying, despite missing Q3 and losing out to di Resta. Had to take to the grass and gravel at the first chicane and dropped to near the back of the pack. Was up to 14th after nine laps, without power-steering, when his gearbox packed up.

HEIKKI KOVALAINENLotus-Renault T128-04Start: 20th. Finish: 13thPoor in qualifying, during which he struggled with understeer and front-tyre temperatures, but drove a very accomplished race. Had no chance of staying with the pack, but kept it clean to take 13th place, consolidating Lotus’s 10th spot in the constructors’ standings.

5/10Event rating

7/10Event rating20

PAUL DI RESTAForce India-Merc VJM04-02Start: 11th. Finish: 8thA frustrated six thousandths off making Q3, di Resta was unsure of how strong the Force India would be in the race. But, after climbing to eighth at the start, he mixed it well for the lower points. Didn’t have the pace to beat Alguersuari, but held off the late charge of Senna.


JARNO TRULLILotus-Renault T128-03Start: 19th. Finish: 14thAppeared to do a better job than Kovalainen at getting the set-up right in practice, but slipped behind the Finn at the start. Was angry at Massa after a run-in on the fifth lap damaged the front wing of the Lotus, forcing a pitstop. Recovered to finish 30s behind Kovalainen.

6/10Event rating21

KAMUI KOBAYASHISauber-Ferrari C30-01Start: 17th. DNFWas disappointed with the Sauber’s pace in qualifying, and got beaten by Perez after flat-spotting a rear tyre by taking the first chicane “like a go-kart” during Q2. Delayed by the start shunt, he was 14th and in with a shout of points when his transmission failed.

5/10Event rating16

DANIEL RICCIARDOHRT-Cosworth F111-03Start: 23rd. DNFProblems for Ricciardo, who lost time with alternator failure on Friday and upright problem on Saturday morning. Outqualified Liuzzi, but was left stranded on the grid. After the team changed and bled the water, rejoined to plod around half an hour behind the field.

6/10Event rating22

SERGIO PEREZSauber-Ferrari C30-02Start: 15th. DNFAdmitted that he perhaps should have beaten the Williams cars in qualifying, but couldn’t have done more than that. After starting on primes, had yet to stop when his gearbox went on lap 33, which surely cost the Mexican at least a couple of points.

6/10Event rating17

VITANTONIO LIUZZIHRT-Cosworth F111-02Start: 24th. DNFBeaten by Ricciardo in qualifying after giving him a tow. Flying start, but caught out by Kobayashi checking on the run to the first corner and ended up in a tank-slapper that pitched him into a spin on the grass. A passenger from then on, he hit Rosberg and Petrov at the chicane.

2/10Event rating23

SEBASTIEN BUEMIToro Rosso-Ferrari STR6-03Start: 16th. Finish: 10thAnother victim of the first-corner car park after clipping Rosberg’s spun car with his left-rear wheel. Buemi reckoned he was carrying damage but he was still plenty quick enough to recover from 15th at the restart to finish 10th – and in the points.

7/10Event rating18

TIMO GLOCKVirgin-Cosworth MVR-02-02Start: 21st. Finish: 15thA DRS that didn’t want to shut in the early stages of braking wrecked qualifying, although he still beat d’Ambrosio. Complained of difficult handling in the race, but it made little difference to the result as the Virgin wasn’t quick enough to bother even a delayed Lotus.

6/10Event rating24

JAIME ALGUERSUARIToro Rosso-Ferrari STR6-02Start: 18th. Finish: 7thQualifying again not great, but had the first-chicane crash to thank for jumping to 10th on the first lap. From there he drove an excellent race, comfortably outpacing the Force India of di Resta to take a career-best seventh – surely the limit of what a Toro Rosso could achieve.

8/10Event rating19

JEROME D’AMBROSIOVirgin-Cosworth MVR-02-03Start: 22nd. DNFDidn’t get the new Virgin floor until Saturday, but did a solid job with it in qualifying. The race didn’t last long as a gearbox glitch manifested itself on the formation lap. The Belgian took the start, but he was fighting a losing battle and soon retired.

5/10Event rating25

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Plenty of fighting low down top 10

Lewis’s battle of the blisters Tyre blistering was very much on the radar again at Monza, with teams encountering the problem on both front and rear lefts when on the soft-option Pirelli. The beginning of a blister on the McLaren’s front-inner shoulder can be seen in the picture, as well as the fi rst signs of an impending blister on the left-rear. End-of-straight speeds of almost 220mph mean the front wheels are rotating at around 2900rpm. This was around 18-19mph (an extra 250rpm) faster than Pirelli was

expecting based on the testing it did here with the Toyota F1 test car. The cause of the blisters was rather different to that at Spa, as Williams’s Sam Michael explains: “At Spa it was about the standing energy wave repeatedly being created in the tyre’s structure putting heat into the construction which it couldn’t shed. Here it’s much more conventional in that the compound is a bit too soft for the loads and the tyre rolls too much and tucks in, overheating the shoulder.”

REPORTITALIAN GP

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The high-speed Monza circuit caused the Brit’sPirelli tyres to blister, writes MARK HUGHES


Drawing board Gary Anderson, Mark Hughes and Giorgio Piola explain car modifi cations made at the Italian GP by Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Renault and Toro Rosso

FERRARI REAR WING

PFerrari used a modified version of its Spa rear wing (inset) for Monza, identifiable

by twin rather than triple slats in the endplate. GARY ANDERSON: It’s easy to see the difference in the size and curvature of the main plane and this smaller main plane only leaves room for two louvres in the endplate so everything is compromised that little bit. The Spa version would have a greater drag reduction when the DRS is operated as the main-plane underside airflow would stall. But the Monza version would not work the main plane so hard, so the drag reduction will be less. The lower beam wing is also new, with more of a three-dimensional shape to it as it twists from the centre outwards. The angle of attack of this is set up to match the direction of the airflow coming under and over the diffuser.

REPORTITALIAN GP

MERCEDES REAR WING

PMercedes used what was essentially its Spa wing for Monza,

lowering the drag by changing the angle of attack of the main plane.GARY ANDERSON: Mercedes confuses me a little in that it is a big team backed by a huge car manufacturer that wants – and needs – to win races and championships. Yet it comes to Monza with a rear wing that is the same component as Spa but with just a reduced angle. This style of wing is fine if you have no simulation tools or no idea of what level of downforce you want to run, but with the tools the top teams have at their disposal these days this sort of thing should be sorted months before, with the correct and most efficient components developed in the windtunnel in preparation for the Monza weekend. Any wing profile has a sweet spot and as can be seen by what the other teams do, this is not how to do it. Having a fixed-position wing is also much lighter, with weight that far up and rearwards not helping at all.

TORO ROSSO FRONT WING

RED BULL DIFFUSER

RED BULL FRONT WING

RENAULT REAR WING

PToro Rosso’s new front wing arrived at the same time as the Ferrari software to run off-throttle exhaust blowing

of the diffuser, giving the team a difficult time as it tried to align and co-ordinate two new key elements. GARY ANDERSON: Toro Rosso, similar to Red Bull, added a horizontal turning vane to the inner end of the upper forward front-wing elements. The Toro Rosso version has a bit of negative camber that aims to reduce the angle of the airflow coming off the trailing edge of the front flap. As with Red Bull, this helps re-align the airflow going to the leading edge of the under floor, thereby improving the under-floor performance.

PFor Monza Red Bull extended the gurney flap at the trailing edge of its diffuser around the sides.

GARY ANDERSON: The detail of the gurney flap around the trailing edge of the diffuser is very circuit-specific. At Monza the majority of corners are actually quite low-speed, meaning that the ride height is relatively high. Extending this diffuser gurney around the outer corner and down the outer edge makes that part of the diffuser nearest the external airflow work harder to cope with the extra leakage of airflow under the sides of the outer diffuser foot. This in turn allows the inner part of the diffuser to work at its best to produce more downforce, allowing it to run less rear wing overall to improve top speed.

PRed Bull’s new front wing featuring an intricate, McLaren-like turning vane (1). The rear flap (2) was also increased in size and given a more twisted profile.

GARY ANDERSON: The small vertical/horizontal single-element inboard turning vane is very similar, but smaller, than the component McLaren uses. This turning vane will help control the airflow coming off the inner section of the front wing flap, and by helping to turn this flow earlier its passage to the leading edge of the under floor will be more consistent. Running a fairly low wing set-up like you do at Monza, anything you can do to make the under floor work more consistently will be extra effective.

PRenault ran a classic tiny Monza rear wing in stark contrast to McLaren. And the R31 was fastest through the speed trap.

GARY ANDERSON: The main plane and flap have about the same cord length so when the flap is in DRS mode there is basically nothing there as both components will be running more or less horizontal. In its normal trim this wing will also produce less drag but also less downforce. But Renault can get away with it because the centre of pressure is further rearward than on other cars. Total load and location of the centre of pressure are a bit of a trade-off and, as can be seen, Renault going one way and Ferrari the other. No-one is right or wrong – it’s just the direction the engineers took when they set about finding a Monza package.


PRACTICE 1 - FridayPOS DRIVER TIME1 HAMILTON 1m23.865s2 BUTTON 1m24.786s3 VETTEL 1m25.231s4 WEBBER 1m25.459s5 SUTIL 1m26.550s6 PETROV 1m26.625s7 ALONSO 1m26.647s8 MASSA 1m26.676s9 PEREZ 1m26.694s10 ALGUERSUARI 1m26.696s11 SCHUMACHER 1m26.699s12 HULKENBERG 1m26.826s13 BARRICHELLO 1m26.836s14 KOBAYASHI 1m26.996s15 MALDONADO 1m27.365s16 SENNA 1m27.385s17 BUEMI 1m27.433s18 ROSBERG 1m27.492s19 KOVALAINEN 1m29.539s20 CHANDHOK 1m30.148s21 RICCIARDO 1m30.609s22 LIUZZI 1m30.619s23 GLOCK 1m31.052s24 D’AMBROSIO 1m31.899sWeather: dry

PRACTICE 2 - FridayPOS DRIVER TIME1 VETTEL 1m24.010s2 HAMILTON 1m24.046s3 SCHUMACHER 1m24.347s4 MASSA 1m24.366s5 ALONSO 1m24.433s6 WEBBER 1m24.468s7 BUTTON 1m24.508s8 PEREZ 1m25.097s9 KOBAYASHI 1m25.182s10 SENNA 1m25.325s11 PETROV 1m25.450s12 SUTIL 1m25.496s13 DI RESTA 1m25.683s14 ALGUERSUARI 1m25.758s15 BARRICHELLO 1m26.202s16 MALDONADO 1m26.353s17 BUEMI 1m28.347s18 TRULLI 1m28.559s19 KOVALAINEN 1m28.605s20 GLOCK 1m28.804s21 LIUZZI 1m29.162s22 ROSBERG 1m29.184s23 D’AMBROSIO 1m29.622s24 RICCIARDO 1m29.841sWeather: dry

PRACTICE 3 - SaturdayPOS DRIVER TIME1 VETTEL 1m23.170s2 WEBBER 1m23.534s3 MASSA 1m23.668s4 HAMILTON 1m23.741s5 BUTTON 1m23.787s6 ROSBERG 1m23.875s7 SCHUMACHER 1m24.114s8 ALONSO 1m24.133s9 SUTIL 1m24.543s10 DI RESTA 1m24.581s11 SENNA 1m24.853s12 PETROV 1m24.889s13 PEREZ 1m24.948s14 KOBAYASHI 1m25.261s15 BARRICHELLO 1m25.319s16 ALGUERSUARI 1m25.426s17 BUEMI 1m25.439s18 MALDONADO 1m25.539s19 TRULLI 1m27.328s20 KOVALAINEN 1m27.491s21 D’AMBROSIO 1m28.186s22 LIUZZI 1m28.441s23 GLOCK 1m28.962s24 RICCIARDO 1m30.316sWeather: dry

QUALIFYINGPOS DRIVER QUALIFYING 1 QUALIFYING 2 QUALIFYING 31 VETTEL 1m24.002s (2) 1m22.914s (1) 1m22.275s2 HAMILTON 1m23.976s (1) 1m23.172s (3) 1m22.725s3 BUTTON 1m24.013s (3) 1m23.031s (2) 1m22.777s4 ALONSO 1m24.134s (4) 1m23.342s (5) 1m22.841s5 WEBBER 1m24.148s (5) 1m23.387s (6) 1m22.972s6 MASSA 1m24.523s (7) 1m23.681s (8) 1m23.188s7 PETROV 1m24.486s (6) 1m23.741s (9) 1m23.530s8 SCHUMACHER 1m25.108s (15) 1m23.671s (7) 1m23.777s9 ROSBERG 1m24.550s (8) 1m23.335s (4) 1m24.477s10 SENNA 1m24.914s (13) 1m24.157s (10) no time11 DI RESTA 1m24.574s (9) 1m24.163s -12 SUTIL 1m24.595s (10) 1m24.209s -13 BARRICHELLO 1m24.975s (14) 1m24.648s -14 MALDONADO 1m24.798s (11) 1m24.726s -15 PEREZ 1m25.113s (16) 1m24.845s -16 BUEMI 1m25.164s (17) 1m24.932s -17 KOBAYASHI 1m24.879s (12) 1m25.065s -18 ALGUERSUARI 1m25.334s - -19 TRULLI 1m26.647s - -20 KOVALAINEN 1m27.184s - -21 GLOCK 1m27.591s - -22 D’AMBROSIO 1m27.609s - -23 RICCIARDO 1m28.054s - -24 LIUZZI 1m28.231s - -Weather: dry

QUALIFYING

Head to headVETTEL 10 3 WEBBER

HAMILTON 10 3 BUTTON

ALONSO 11 2 MASSA

SCHUMACHER 2 11 ROSBERG

HEIDFELD/SENNA 4 9 PETROVBARRICHELLO 8 5 MALDONADO

SUTIL 5 8 DI RESTA

KOBAYASHI 5 8 PEREZ/DE LA ROSA BUEMI 9 4 ALGUERSUARI

KOVALAINEN 11 2 TRULLI/CHANDHOK KAR’KEYAN/RICCIARDO 1 11 LIUZZI

GLOCK 11 2 D’AMBROSIO

THE RACE: 53 LAPS, 190.596 MILESPOS DRIVER TEAM LAPS TOTAL TIME FASTEST LAP PITSTOP TIME IN PIT

1 VETTEL RED BULL-RENAULT 53 1h20m46.172s 1m26.557s 2 43.5s

2 BUTTON McLAREN-MERCEDES 53 +9.590s 1m26.207s 2 43.8s

3 ALONSO FERRARI 53 +16.909s 1m27.191s 2 44.5s

4 HAMILTON McLAREN-MERCEDES 53 +17.417s 1m26.187s 2 44.0s

5 SCHUMACHER MERCEDES 53 +32.677s 1m27.402s 2 44.7s

6 MASSA FERRARI 53 +42.993s 1m26.924s 2 44.0s

7 ALGUERSUARI TORO ROSSO-FERRARI 52 -1 lap 1m28.357s 2 44.3s

8 DI RESTA FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES 52 -1 lap 1m28.054s 2 44.9s

9 SENNA RENAULT 52 -1 lap 1m26.895s 3 68.0s

10 BUEMI TORO ROSSO-FERRARI 52 -1 lap 1m28.202s 2 48.3s

11 MALDONADO WILLIAMS-COSWORTH 52 -1 lap 1m28.934s 2 45.7s

12 BARRICHELLO WILLIAMS-COSWORTH 52 -1 lap 1m28.377s 2 52.3s

13 KOVALAINEN LOTUS-RENAULT 51 -2 laps 1m29.639s 2 45.9s

14 TRULLI LOTUS-RENAULT 51 -2 laps 1m29.825s 2 53.8s

15 GLOCK VIRGIN-COSWORTH 51 -2 laps 1m30.783s 2 47.9s

NC RICCIARDO HRT-COSWORTH 39 -14 laps 1m32.013s 2 1035s

R PEREZ SAUBER-FERRARI 32 gearbox 1m29.403s 0 -

R KOBAYASHI SAUBER-FERRARI 21 gearbox 1m30.000s 2 50.5s

R SUTIL FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES 9 gearbox 1m31.455s 0 -

R WEBBER RED BULL-RENAULT 4 accident 1m30.994s 0 -

R D’AMBROSIO VIRGIN-COSWORTH 1 gearbox - 0 -

R PETROV RENAULT 0 accident - 0 -

R ROSBERG MERCEDES 0 accident - 0 -

R LIUZZI HRT-COSWORTH 0 accident - 0 -

TYRE CHOICESTINT 1 STINT 2 STINT 3 STINT 4Soft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumMedium Soft Soft SoftSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Medium SoftSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumMedium Medium Soft SoftMediumSoftSoftSoftMediumSoft

SEASON SO FAR - Points and positions

POS TEAM PTS AUS MAL PRC TR E MC CDN EU GB D H B I SGP J ROK IND UAE BR1 RED BULL 451 35 37 33 43 37 37 33 40 33 27 28 43 252 McLAREN 325 26 22 37 20 33 23 25 20 12 25 37 15 303 FERRARI 254 18 18 14 15 10 18 8 28 35 28 23 16 234 MERCEDES 108 0 2 14 10 14 0 12 6 10 10 2 18 105 RENAULT 70 15 15 2 10 4 4 10 1 4 1 0 2 26 FORCE INDIA 36 3 1 0 0 0 6 0 2 0 8 6 6 47 SAUBER 35 0 6 1 1 3 10 6 0 6 2 0 0 08 TORO ROSSO 29 4 0 0 2 0 1 5 4 1 0 5 0 79 WILLIAMS 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 010 LOTUS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 011 HRT 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 012 VIRGIN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0


Weather: dry. Fastest lap: Lewis HAMILTON 1m26.187s (150.361mph) on lap 52. Lap leaders: 1-4 Alonso; 5-53 Vettel


POS DRIVER PTS AUS MAL PRC TR E MC CDN EU GB D H B I SGP J ROK IND UAE BR1 VETTEL 284 1st 1st 2nd 1st 1st 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 4th 2nd 1st 1st2 ALONSO 172 4th 6th 7th 3rd 5th 2nd ret 2nd 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 3rd3 BUTTON 167 6th 2nd 4th 6th 3rd 3rd 1st 6th ret ret 1st 3rd 2nd4 WEBBER 167 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 4th 4th 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 5th 2nd ret5 HAMILTON 158 2nd 8th 1st 4th 2nd 6th ret 4th 4th 1st 4th ret 4th6 MASSA 82 7th 5th 6th 11th ret ret 6th 5th 5th 5th 6th 8th 6th7 ROSBERG 56 ret 12th 5th 5th 7th 11th 11th 7th 6th 7th 9th 6th ret8 SCHUMACHER 52 ret 9th 8th 12th 6th ret 4th 17th 9th 8th ret 5th 5th9 PETROV 34 3rd 17th 9th 8th 11th ret 5th 15th 12th 10th 12th 9th ret10 HEIDFELD 34 12th 3rd 12th 7th 8th 8th ret 10th 8th ret ret - -11 KOBAYASHI 27 dsq 7th 10th 10th 10th 5th 7th 16th ret 9th 11th 12th ret12 SUTIL 24 9th 11th 15th 13th 13th 7th ret 9th 11th 6th 14th 7th ret13 ALGUERSUARI 16 11th 11th ret 16th 16th ret 8th 8th 10th 12th 10th ret 7th14 BUEMI 13 8th 13th 14th 9th 14th 10th 10th 13th ret 15th 8th ret 10th15 DI RESTA 12 10th 10th 11th ret 12th 12th ret 14th 15th 13th 7th 11th 8th16 PEREZ 8 dsq ret 17th 14th 9th ns ns 11th 7th 11th 15th ret ret17 BARRICHELLO 4 ret ret 13th 15th 17th 9th 9th 12th 13th ret 13th 16th 12th18 SENNA 2 - - – – – – – – - - 13th 9th19 MALDONADO 1 ret ret 18th 17th 15th 18th ret 18th 14th 14th 16th 10th 11th20 DE LA ROSA 0 – – – – – – 12th - - - - - -21 TRULLI 0 13th ret 19th 18th 18th 13th 16th 20th ret - ret 14th 14th22 KOVALAINEN 0 ret 15th 16th 19th ret 14th ret 19th ret 16th ret 15th 13th23 LIUZZI 0 dnq ret 22nd 22nd ret 16th 13th 23rd 18th ret 20th 19th ret24 D’AMBROSIO 0 14th ret 20th 20th 20th 15th 14th 22nd 17th 15th 19th 17th ret25 GLOCK 0 nc 16th 21st dns 19th ret 15th 21st 16th 17th 17th 18th 15th26 KARTHIKEYAN 0 dnq ret 23rd 21st 21st 17th 17th 24th - - - - -27 RICCIARDO 0 – – – – – – – – 19th 19th 18th ret nc28 CHANDHOK 0 – – – – – – – – – 20th - - -

REPORTITALIAN GPITALIAN GP RESULTS

THE GRID

P Blue, blue sky, hint of yellow smog in the distance at the Milan end, wind still, temperatures soaring, track dusty. From outside the first

chicane you look over the top of the old banking to see them approaching, engines straining in seventh gear against the squaring resistance of speed at over 210mph. In these early laps it’s all understeer and wheelspin for the early track cleaners – the Virgins, Lotuses – and Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, cheers and whistles as he edges out of pitlane. Gradually, steadily, the grip builds. Kamui Kobayashi is the first to give it a full-attack run, Sauber weaving slightly under the biggest brake of the season. He’s acrobatic, super-busy with steering and throttle here and clambering over kerbs, sun glinting off maroon-metallic helmet. He has a great feel for braking depth, something he demonstrates with a finely-judged pass of Sebastian Vettel, who has just emerged from the pits. Once into the groove, Seb is magic, a yin-and-yang combination of attack into the first apex, but all smoothed

and controlled by the second, giving him the perfect combination of fast direction change but good exit speed. Massa’s a blur of first-apex understeer on his first long run, this making his approach for the second apex slow and messy. Into his second run he’s much neater. Jenson Button’s in the mood, a mildly-locked inner-front wheel into the right-hander, dramatic direction change, the consequences caught and dealt with in the neutral middle part of the chicane, even leaving the opposite lock on for a fraction longer than normal, this spitting him across for a better approach into the left-hander, where he’s then neat and progressive and onwards up towards Curva Grande.


1 VETTELRED BULL 1m22.275sSoft

3 BUTTONMcLAREN1m22.777sSoft

5 WEBBERRED BULL1m22.972sSoft

7 PETROVRENAULT 1m23.530sSoft

9 ROSBERGMERCEDES1m24.477sMedium

11 DI RESTAFORCE INDIA 1m24.163sSoft

13 BARRICHELLOWILLIAMS1m24.648sSoft

15 PEREZSAUBER 1m24.845sMedium

17 KOBAYASHISAUBER1m25.065s Medium

19 TRULLILOTUS1m26.647sSoft

21 GLOCKVIRGIN 1m27.591sSoft

23 RICCIARDOHRT1m28.054sSoft

PICS

: TEE

/LAT

, HO

NE/

LAT,

CO

ATES

/LAT

, ETH

ERIN

GTO

N/L

AT, G

ILH

AM/G

ETTY

, TH

OM

PSO

N/G

ETTY

2 HAMILTONMcLAREN1m22.725sSoft

4 ALONSOFERRARI1m22.841sSoft

6 MASSAFERRARI1m23.188sSoft

8 SCHUMACHERMERCEDES1m23.777sSoft

10 SENNARENAULT no timeMedium

12 SUTILFORCE INDIA1m24.209sMedium

14 MALDONADO

16 BUEMITORO ROSSO 1m24.932sSoft


20 KOVALAINENLOTUS 1m27.184sSoft

22 D’AMBROSIOVIRGIN1m27.609sSoft

24 LIUZZIHRT1m28.231sSoft

“Kobayashi is acrobatic, super-

busy with steering and throttle”



RESULTS GP2 Series, Monza (I), September 9-11, round 9 of 9

THE FIVE-WAY FIGHT FOR second in the GP2 standings took centre stage at Monza last weekend, and the battle ebbed and fl owed so much during the two races that it left most thinking it a shame that it wasn’t for the overall crown.

Everybody was frantically scribbling down updated projected points tables every time a position changed or somebody set a new fastest lap until, in the end, it was the in-form Luca Filippi who capped his spellbinding second half of the season by trumping Charles Pic, Jules Bianchi, Giedo van der Garde and outside bet Sam Bird.

The Italian ended up taking the best-of-the-rest title behind champion

leading the points race for second after taking a low-key runner-up spot behind Filippi. But the Frenchman played down his hopes, pointing out that “we are missing some pace”.

Addax went to work on fi nding that pace overnight, but the results of that work were never revealed, as the Frenchman’s race lasted two corners on Sunday. As he battled with fellow fourth-row starter Filippi in the fi rst chicane, he was caught out by the fi eld backing up in

the second part of it and ran over the back of Grosjean. The impact damaged Pic’s steering, meaning he bounced into Filippi and then the wall on the run to Curva Grande.

“My steering was broken so there was nothing I could do to avoid Luca,” said Pic. “I wasn’t thinking about the championship, but anyway, Luca was faster than us.”

And then there were two. Polesitter Bianchi went into the sprint race three points behind Pic and two back

life, and I will never forget the atmosphere.”

While Filippi executed a “perfect” weekend, his rivals for the runner-up spot all hit problems at some stage. The fi rst to suffer were Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi. The Dutchman came into the weekend in that coveted second position, but qualifi ed down in 20th after failing to get a single lap clear of traffi c. He then got caught up in an incident at the start of race one, and later received a drive-through penalty for cutting the fi rst chicane. He worked his way up from 21st to 13th in race two, but had to settle for fi fth in the championship after fi nishing the season with two non-scoring weekends.

RACE RATING ★★★★★Championship implications made up for a lack of out-and-out excitement in both races

AT A GLANCEu Race 1 Luca Filippiu Race 2 Christian Vietorisu Pole position Charles Picu Fastest laps Filippi x2

MONZASeptember 9-11GP2 SeriesRound 9/9

ITALY

Romain Grosjean, and he did it in style by dominating the feature race. After facing a nine-point defi cit to second place going into the weekend, Filippi did just enough in the Sunday-morning sprint race to cement the position.

The fact that it was on his and Scuderia Coloni’s home turf made it even more special.

“I’ve never had a GP2 win at Monza, and it was really important for me to get one no matter what happened in the championship,” said Filippi, who was 13th in the standings when he moved from Super Nova to Coloni mid-season. “To be stood on the podium singing my national anthem was one of the biggest moments of my

Italian veteran wins, and claims runner-up in table

CHRISTIAN VIETORIS WENT ALMOST UNNOTICED AS HE TOOK a commanding second GP2 win of 2011 to round off the year.

The German made a fantastic getaway to jump from third to fi rst in Sunday’s sprint race, and confi dently kept Swiss Fabio Leimer at bay to take a lights-to-fl ag win.

“I couldn’t get away from Fabio, but I wasn’t worried,” said Vietoris, who bounced back from missing two rounds to injury earlier in the year to take seventh in the table. “The car was good to drive; it was easy not to make a mistake.”

Leimer had fought him hard early on, which briefl y allowed Jules Bianchi and Sam Bird to close up. Rapax driver Leimer then decided to bide his time, hoping that Vietoris would hit tyre trouble, as has so often been the case for Racing Engineering this year. But the Pirellis were durable this weekend, so another opportunity never materialised.

This year’s champion Romain Grosjean admitted it was hard to get into the swing of things for his fi nal weekend now that there was nothing at stake. He took a third place in race one, where he tried to stay out of trouble to not disturb the battle for second in the points. The champion’s fi nal race was effectively over after two corners when Charles Pic destroyed his rear wing, but his DAMS team sent him back out two laps later so he could take the chequered fl ag and wave goodbye to GP2 forever.

Vietoris escapes from Leimer

Vietoris vies for the victory

GLENN FREEMANreports

MILESTONEMonza is the only track Grosjean has not won at in his GP2 career. He was third in 2008 and ’11

…and was pretty happy with life

Bianchi took a podium, but lost out in points

REPORTGP2 MONZA

from Filippi, with a total of seven up for grabs including the fastest-lap bonus. But he struggled away when the lights went out, getting jumped by his old Formula 3 nemesis Christian Vietoris and Fabio Leimer.

Bianchi couldn’t live with the top two, and instead had to hold onto third in the hope that Filippi wouldn’t score enough points to stay ahead. He was given some hope when the Coloni car completed the fi rst lap out of the points in seventh, but Filippi made short work of Esteban Gutierrez and Adam Carroll to move up to fi fth. That left him tying with Bianchi on points, which would give second to Filippi on race-wins countback. Then, just to make sure, he set fastest lap to go a point clear of the ART driver. For two drivers who had such nightmare starts to the season, to fi nish the year scrapping over second was impressive, and Bianchi was gracious in defeat.

“I am disappointed because this was an important weekend,” said the Ferrari junior driver. “But we are in the right place; third is good for us. Luca was really quick and he deserves second.”

Van der Garde thinks of some choice Dutch words

Filippi broke his Monza GP2 duck…

“In Holland we have a word that sums up how I’m feeling, and obviously it’s a very bad word,” said Addax driver van der Garde. “We fought really hard all year, and we deserved the second place. If you look at it, I only needed six points from the last two weekends to be second. It’s hard to take.”

Bianchi shared the 10th row of the grid with van der Garde for race one, after his ART Grand Prix car had accidentally been fi lled with an extra 15kg of fuel for qualifying. But he fared much better in the race and made his way up to eighth, giving him a crucial point and pole position for race two. In the closing stages

he had slowed to cool his tyres and try to steal fastest lap from Filippi, and he missed it by just 0.031 seconds.

Up until Bianchi’s late attack, the fi ght for that golden fastest-lap point had been a ding-dong battle between Filippi and Grosjean. The importance of it to the Italian was illustrated by his team showing him the time he had to beat on his pit board, but he was unaware it was the 2011 champion who kept stealing it from him.

While Filippi, Bianchi and van der Garde were all in the thick of the action, Saturday ended with race- one polesitter Charles Pic

Filippi’s fillip to be best of second-best

Pic drives into Filippi with broken wing

Race 1 Winner’s average speed: 135.322mph. Fastest lap: Filippi, 1m33.367s, 138.791mph.Race 2 Winner’s average speed: 137.662mph. Fastest lap: Filippi, 1m32.567s, 139.991mph.

GRID1 PIC1:32.349

3 LEIMER

5 GROSJEAN1:32.630

7 VIETORIS1:32.727

9 BIRD1:32.801

11 PALMER1:32.848

13 HERCK1:32.865

15 ERICSSON1:33.121

17 HARTLEY1:33.183

19 BIANCHI1:33.293

21 FAUZY1:33.452

23 LEAL1:33.646

RACE 1 – 30 LAPS, 107.796 MILESPOS NAME TEAM TIME 1 Luca Filippi (I) Scuderia Coloni 47m47.704s 22 Charles Pic (F) Addax Team +5.627s 13 Romain Grosjean (F) DAMS +6.214s 54 Sam Bird (GB) iSport International +9.992s 95 Adam Carroll (GB) Super Nova Racing +14.904s 86 Christian Vietoris (D) Racing Engineering +16.710s 77 Fabio Leimer (CH) Rapax +18.058s 38 Jules Bianchi (F) ART Grand Prix +22.787s 199 Esteban Gutierrez (MEX) ART Grand Prix +28.444s 2510 Luiz Razia (BR) Team AirAsia +31.661s 1811 Pal Varhaug (N) DAMS +36.000s 2612 Alvaro Parente (P) Carlin +44.096s 413 Dani Clos (E) Racing Engineering +46.877s 614 Marcus Ericsson (S) iSport International +49.690s 1515 Stephane Richelmi (MC) Trident Racing +50.876s 2416 Julian Leal (CO) Rapax +58.003s 2317 Johnny Cecotto Jr (YV) Ocean Racing Technology +1m06.275s 2218 Fairuz Fauzy (MAL) Super Nova Racing +1m10.221s 2119 Rodolfo Gonzalez (YV) Trident Racing +1m20.119s 1620 Davide Valsecchi (I) Team AirAsia -1 lap 1421 Giedo van der Garde (NL) Addax Team -1 lap 2022 Brendon Hartley (NZ) Ocean Racing Technology -1 lap 17R Max Chilton (GB) Carlin 2 laps-accident damage 10R Josef Kral (CZ) Arden International 1 lap-accident 12R Jolyon Palmer (GB) Arden International 1 lap-accident 11R Michael Herck (RO) Scuderia Coloni 1 lap-accident 13

RACE 2 – 21 LAPS, 75.399 MILESPOS DRIVER TIME/REASON GRID1 Vietoris 32m51.770s 32 Leimer +0.730s 23 Bianchi +2.851s 14 Bird +3.566s 55 Filippi +4.010s 86 Gutierrez +10.957s 97 Clos +11.584s 138 Ericsson +16.079s 149 Razia +17.619s 1010 Varhaug +19.814s 1111 Carroll +22.136s 412 Parente +22.617s 1213 van der Garde +22.966s 2114 Richelmi +24.538s 1515 Cecotto +35.241s 1716 Gonzalez +35.408s 1917 Kral +35.681s 2418 Chilton +36.244s 2319 Palmer +37.728s 2520 Hartley +1m23.392s 2221 Grosjean -2 laps 6R Valsecchi 12 laps-accident 20R Pic 0 laps-accident 7R Leal 0 laps-accident 16R Fauzy 0 laps-accident 18NS Herck injured wrist 26

CHAMPIONSHIP TABLESPOS DRIVER PTS1 Grosjean 892 Filippi 543 Bianchi 534 Pic 525 van der Garde 496 Bird 457 Vietoris 358 Valsecchi 309 Clos 3010 Ericsson 25

TEAM PTS1 Addax Team2 DAMS 893 Racing Engineering 734 iSport 705 ART Grand Prix 686 Team AirAsia 47

2 FILIPPI1:32.460

4 PARENTE1:32.600

6 CLOS1:32.684

8 CARROLL1:32.761

10 CHILTON1:32.811

12 KRAL1:32.858

14 VALSECCHI1:33.019

16 GONZALEZ1:33.129

18 RAZIA1:33.206

20 V.D.GARDE1:33.297

22 CECOTTO1:33.571

24 RICHELMI1:34.150

25 GUTIERREZ1:35.228 26 VARHAUG

1:39.190*

GRID

POS101


…after taking one-two in opening race

newly-crowned champion ploughed into the back of Conor Daly. After pitting for repairs, he was then handed a drive-through penalty for good measure.

“I braked late, he braked early,” said Bottas. “Maybe if the championship was not secure I would have been more careful, but I’m not sure it would have made any difference.”

With the title not on the line for Calado, he set about fi nishing a fi ne season with a race victory. After starting seventh, he led for the fi rst time on lap three. Over the next seven laps he was only passed twice, and both times he stole the position back at the next turn. “I just wanted to make a point,” he said.

After that show of Calado force, Mitch Evans was the

THERE’S NO FAIRER WAYto win a title than by fi ghting your chief rival in a head-to-head battle for race victory.

The scrap between ART team-mates Valtteri Bottas and James Calado wasn’t a ‘winner-takes-all’ affair, because victory would only extend the Briton’s hopes to the fi nal race. Bottas would have been forgiven for taking the safer option – fi nishing second in the knowledge that the odds were against Calado making up enough points in race two. But racing in the junior categories is as much about making an impression as winning titles, and Bottas wanted to deliver under the most-intense pressure.

“This was my most diffi cult win,” he said after defending masterfully on the fi nal lap. There were no last-minute

changes of direction, just the correct placing of his car in every phase of the fi rst two chicanes to leave Calado running out of road at just the right moments: “The whole race was exciting, and it was tight on the last lap.”

Calado could have attacked but, with just three laps after a late safety car, he knew he then ran the risk of allowing the chasing pack to get involved in the fi ght. Bottas removed that risk by getting a good jump on the restart, and then pushing to the limit in spectacular style to try to build enough of a gap.

The Finn described that lap and a half as the deciding factor. Calado kept his head, and stayed close enough that he was perfectly placed to duck out from beneath his team-mate’s rear wing at the

start of the fi nal lap, but Bottas had him covered.

Getting to the front had been a remarkable achievement in itself for the title-chasing pair, as they had started from the third row and had to fi ght in a lead train that initially consisted of 10 cars, and was only down to seven when the safety car came out. There was more action after the restart, with Rio Haryanto and Nico Muller swapping places fi ve times in the fi nal three laps, while Simon Trummer thrived in the slipstream style of racing and earned a solid fi fth.

There was more of the same in race two, where Bottas’s determination to wrap things up on Saturday was justifi ed. As Calado attacked him for fourth into Ascari on the opening lap, the

fi rst to make a move stick for more than one straight, seizing the opportunity when Calado braked too late for Turn 1 and slid wide. The Kiwi, who had dropped back to eighth in race one when his engine overheated, led for three laps before he was ambushed by Calado.

Calado only just kept his car on the track into the fi rst chicane and, as Evans tried to get around the outside of him in the second part, the ART car hit the inside kerb hard enough to tag the MW Arden machine and send it into retirement. One lap later Antonio Felix da Costa stole the lead, which he would hold to the fl ag. Calado crossed the line second, but was handed a 20-second penalty after deciding against serving a drive-through penalty for the Evans clash.

Evans was surprisingly calm, simply judging it as a mistake by his rival. But Calado was adamant he’d done nothing wrong.

“As far as I’m concerned I fi nished second,” he said. “I was within the track limits; it was a racing incident. But the result doesn’t matter – I just wanted to have fun.”

RESULTSRace 1 1 Valtteri Bottas, 16 laps in 30m 03.123s; 2 James Calado, +0.378s; 3 Rio Haryanto; 4 Nico Muller; 5 Simon Trummer; 6 Conor Daly; 7 Antonio Felix da Costa; 8 Mitch Evans; 9 Nigel Melker; 10 Richie Stanaway.

Race 2 1 da Costa, 16 laps in 28m28.320s; 2 Haryanto, +0.720s; 3 Muller; 4 Trummer; 5 Callum Macleod; 6 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs; 7 Gabby Chaves; 8 Aaro Vainio; 9 Tom Dillmann; 10 Lewis Williamson.

Points 1 Bottas, 62; 2 Calado, 55; 3 Melker, 38; 4 Muller, 36; 5 Quaife-Hobbs, 36; 6 Alexander Sims, 34

Valtteri’s all-gold for the crown

Evans had a spell in front on Sunday

Antonio Felix da Costa won race two

Close stuff as Estre leads Rast


Bottas didn’t need to beat team-mate Calado to the race victory to win the title. But he did because he could

Estre looks quite happy with himself

“ This was my most diffi cult win. The whole race was exciting, and it was really tight on the last lap”Bottas breathes a sigh of relief after Saturday win

RACE RATING ★★★★★Title-deciding head-to-head, race leaders colliding on Sunday, and lots of Monza slipstreaming

AT A GLANCEu Race 1 Valtteri Bottasu Race 2 Antonio Felix da Costau Pole position Adrian Quaife-Hobbsu Fastest laps Rio Haryanto/Bottas

MILESTONE46-year-old Christophe Hurni smashed the record for GP3’s oldest starter last weekend

ART duo Bottas and Calado celebrate…

REPORTGP3 MONZA

PICS

: CO

ATES

/GP3

; GIB

SON

/GP3

…after taking one-two in opening race

Spectacular Estre denies RastPORSCHE SUPERCUP MONZA (I), SEPTEMBER 11, RD 9/10

Evans had a spell in front on Sunday

Antonio Felix da Costa won race two

Close stuff as Estre leads Rast

Estre looks quite happy with himself


MONZASeptember 9-11GP3 SeriesRound 8/8

ITALY

FRENCHMAN KEVIN Estre scored his maiden Porsche Supercup win in an eventful encounter on Sunday morning.

There was something of a surprise in qualifying when local-series star Alessandro Balzan took pole by the signifi cant margin of 0.4s.

Reigning Supercup champion Rene Rast shared the front row with the Italian, and lined up ahead of Estre, Sean Edwards, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Norbert Siedler.

Recent pacesetter Kuba Giermaziak was only seventh, while fellow title challenger Nick Tandy was a frustrated ninth.

There was excitement at the fi rst chicane when Balzan jumped over the kerbs. Rast went one side of him and Estre took a short cut on the other to leave the poleman down in third.

Estre was clearly keen to get in front and, at the same place at the end of the fi rst lap, he cut across the chicane to briefl y claim the lead, before moving over and handing it back to Rast.

Edwards was running

fourth and keeping close tabs on those ahead when things got a little tight at the fi rst Lesmo on lap four. A nudge from Siedler sent the Brit spinning hard into the tyres on the inside, fortunately without hurt to the driver. A safety car came out for fi ve laps as it proved hard to fi x the tyre barrier, and the race restarted with a yellow fl ag at the corner.

At the green Rast and Estre cleared off, leaving a sleeping Balzan far behind. Estre then pulled off a superb move around the outside of Parabolica to claim the lead. Rast held on to second despite Balzan catching up at the fl ag. Siedler took fourth and Tandy salvaged some useful points in fi fth, ahead of Giermaziak.

Rast now has a handy lead in the points, but fi ve others remain in mathematical contention with just the Abu Dhabi double-header to come.l Adam Cooper

RESULTS1 Kevin Estre, 14 laps in 29m21.986s; 2 Rene Rast, +1.364s; 3 Alessandro Balzan; 4 Norbert Siedler; 5 Nick Tandy; 6 Kuba Giermaziak; 7 Patrick Huisman; 8 Christian Passuti; 9 Stefan Rosina; 10 Marco Mapelli. Points 1 Rast, 141; 2 Giermaziak, 124; 3 Siedler, 122; 4 Sean Edwards, 116; 5 Tandy, 109; 6 Jeroen Bleekemolen, 108.

Valtteri’s all-gold for the crownBottas didn’t need to beat-mate Calado to the racevictory to win the title. But he did because he could


PIC:

DU

NAB

R/L

AT

BELGIAN GP Spa-Francorchamps, August 28

ROUND 12/19

LAPS 44



FASTEST LAP Mark Webber1m49.883s

RACE RATING★★★★★Button (P13 to third) & Schuey (P24 to fi fth) star – as well as stunning passes by Vettel and Webber

DRIVERS STANDINGSVettel 259ptsWebber 167ptsAlonso 157pts

MILESTONESl Webber in 2011 to date: fi ve fastest laps/no wins = record l Maldonado is fi rst Venezuelan to score since Johnny Cecotto at Long Beach in 1983

VETTEL BREAKS HIS RIVALS’ RESOLVE

The world champion came back from the summer break keen to end a three-race losing streak. At Spa last weekend, he did it, with his seventh win of 2011. By MARK HUGHES

REPORTBELGIAN GP

01234567890123456789


RACE CONDITIONSWeather was the warmest and driest it had been all weekend and conditions remained static throughout the 44-lapper.

17C

y defi nition, this is a sport in which margins are pushed for competitive advantage, be it

drivers or teams. But when that’s combined with a partner that isn’t competing, but solely supplying, a fault line can be exposed – and circumstances last weekend at Spa did exactly that. Behind the scenes of a brilliantly vivid race lay a tense animosity between Red Bull Racing and tyre supplier Pirelli.

All teams nudge those margins but Red Bull, imbued with Adrian Newey’s aggressive pursuit of every advantage, is invariably at the cutting edge. That’s a core reason for its success. Pirelli, a supplier doing a fi ne job in facilitating this year’s racing, is in the sport primarily for marketing reasons. The very different agendas of the two parties made the potential for confl ict.

Pirelli recommends running a maximum of four degrees camber on the front wheels; beyond that, especially at a track with long straights, the risk is that the outer shoulders of the tyres become too hot and blister. But camber helps with the turn-in, helps switch the tyres on – especially important on a cool, damp weekend. It’s a performance-enhancer, and from

a competitor’s perspective if some is good, then more is simply better and surely there’s a safety margin built into that recommendation. On any normal grand prix weekend, this confl ict resolves itself: everyone runs through their programmes in practice, teams setting up their cars for maximum performance then monitoring for signs of tyre problems. Too much outer-shoulder heat, they reduce the camber. Last weekend the fi ckle Ardennes climate ensured there was only a 25-minute window of dry practice running on Friday afternoon – probably not enough to expose with clarity any possible blistering risk.

The fi rst signs that Red Bull’s choice of a camber angle of 4.3 -degrees might be an issue came with the sight of serious blisters on the front tyres of both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber as they returned to the collecting area after qualifying. McLaren had been not quite so aggressive on set-up, but

there were signs of similar problems on Lewis Hamilton’s tyres. But others reckoned they had seen indications during that brief Friday dry running – and had reduced the camber to well under 4-deg.

Red Bull tried to convince the FIA’s Charlie Whiting this was a safety issue and that dispensation should be given to replace the ‘damaged’ tyres. Pirelli disagreed that it was a safety issue, insisted the blisters would limit only performance – so long as you didn’t try to run too long on them and thereby stress the tyres’ structure. Rival teams predictably felt there should be no dispensation and so – once the FIA had measured the Red Bulls’ camber angle to determine whether the tyres were damaged or ‘had been damaged’ by running beyond Pirelli’s recommended limit – did Whiting. Unless they wished to start from the pitlane – the only way the sporting regulations allow you to change tyres or set-up – the Red Bulls would have to start on the

blistered tyres and the pre-chosen camber angle and suffer the competitive consequences.

Crisis meetings were held at Red Bull. “We gave a lot of consideration to starting from the pitlane,” said Christian Horner, “because obviously it involved the safety of the drivers. After a lot of consultation with Pirelli we believed the information from the specialists that the risk of starting on the tyres was minimal. But it required that the drivers buy into that.” Predictably Vettel and Webber, fi rst and third on the grid, had no qualms about doing that. But the tenseness within the camp can be imagined as they waited for the start lights.

Tyres were not the Red Bulls’ problem off the grid though; clutches were. Both drivers came close to stalling as they released the fi rst clutch – Webber’s anti-stall actually kicking in and ensuring he crawled away. Vettel managed to just keep the engine’s momentum and was

Hamilton’s collision with Kobayashi ended his race

Was Vettel tense over the tyre-wear issues? You bet!

REPORTBELGIAN GP

B

QUALIFYINGVettel finds 0.4s on his final run to vanquish Hamilton and snare his ninth pole of 2011

Alguersuari took best-ever sixth on the grid

Vettel’s kept Red Bull’s 100 per cent tally intact

PP56 RESULTSCrucial datafrom Spa

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P Only the top-10 qualifiers got to use their slicks, the rain holding off long enough after the end of

Q2 for everyone to venture straight out on the Pirelli softs and fuelled up for a three- or four-lap run. But how hard did you push initially? This was a key decision as the track was drying and becoming faster by the lap, but with the potential for another rain storm at any time. You could either push to the maximum immediately, like Mark Webber or Lewis Hamilton, feeling that there might not be a next lap, or you could build it up, not over-stress the tyres, gamble that the track was going to continue drying and have your tyres in great shape by the final lap – like Sebastian Vettel. The rain held off just long enough for Vettel to snatch his ninth pole of the year. The heavens opened just as the cars completed their in-laps. Vettel’s luck had held and he’d maximised it with a typically brilliant lap, 0.4s clear of Hamilton, over 1s better than Webber whose tyres were past their best as the track was at its quickest.

“It was quite difficult in Q1 and Q2 with very tricky conditions,” said the world champion. “The circuit was surprisingly drying up very quickly but it is quite tricky on the inters, so the main target was to get through. I didn’t feel very comfortable with the car yesterday or right at the beginning of qualifying but then through Q2 we could make a big step forward. I rediscovered Spa in a way and found some better lines than all weekend, so that was an important step.” Rain through most of Friday and into FP3 had left only a half-hour period on Friday afternoon in which slicks had been feasible. Qualifying was actually the first time Vettel had even tried the soft tyre, hence everything coming together for him late in the day. The Red Bull’s rear wings were trimmed back further than McLaren’s or Ferrari’s, giving them higher speeds at the end of the back straight, but still with enough downforce to be very quick through the fast turns of the middle sector.

Hamilton ran the lower downforce of two versions of the new McLaren rear wing but that still left him 4.7mph down on the Red Bull through the speed trap, albeit quickest of all through the downhill bends of sector

him the full benefit of the drying track. A neat lap netted him P5, but things went less well in the other Mercedes garage; Michael Schumacher’s right-rear wheel parted company with the hub on the run to Rivage on the out-lap, an unfortunate way to mark his 20th F1 anniversary.

Toro Rosso’s extensive upgrades (see Drawing Board, page 38) had been conceived with the express purpose of improving the car’s qualifying pace. In this it seemed highly successful and, in addition, Jaime Alguersuari seemed very at home in the conditions of the weekend. With a wet set-up – plenty of wing and soft suspension – his last lap was within 0.2s of Rosberg’s, good enough to bring him his best-ever grid position of sixth.

Bruno Senna was an assured and confident seventh on the grid, over 1s and three places ahead of Renault team-mate Vitaly Petrov. His lack of running was hardly evident and he was aggressively ‘on it’ from the start, just an off on Friday morning blotting his copybook. Both Renaults ran with set-ups biased towards the wet, helping get both cars through to the run-off for the first time since Malaysia.

Sergio Perez was Q3’s sole Sauber representative, in ninth. Timing of the Q2 runs was crucial at this cut-off part of the grid. Sauber split its approach, sending out Perez early for a multi-lap run but keeping Kamui Kobayashi in the garage until quite late. The former strategy proved better, allowing Perez through, 0.1s faster than Kobayashi who lined up 12th.

Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso was set up for the dry, unlike his team-mate’s, and this left him 11th. Lining up behind Buemi and Kobayashi represented a disastrous outcome for McLaren’s Jenson Button. After being fastest by 1s in Q1, he’d just completed a Q2 lap that was second fastest at that time and then proceeded to do a cooling down lap (an indication of just how effectively the McLaren generates tyre temperature) without realising there was insufficient time left in the session to allow such a luxury. After completing sector one his engineer gave him the bad news that he wasn’t going to get to the finish line in time to start another lap.

There was similar confusion at Force India in Q1 where Paul di Resta was told to pit, in the belief he’d done enough to graduate, only to be knocked out by Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus. Adrian Sutil made it through to Q2 but proceeded to crash at Raidillon after taking too much wet kerb, leaving him 15th. At Williams Rubens Barrichello and Maldonado managed to get in each other’s way at the end of Q2, leaving them 14th and 16th respectively, with the latter then penalised five places for the Hamilton incident.

two. The McLaren was not reacting well to the bumps in the braking area for the chicane and Lewis locked up there on his final lap, but that alone wouldn’t account for the 0.43s by which he trailed Vettel. It was a brilliant effort, but shaded by the controversy of his contact with Pastor Maldonado at the end of Q2, for which he received a reprimand.

Webber rued having pushed hard early on, the penalty for which was over-heated tyres when the track was at its quickest and a third-place grid slot. Felipe Massa’s Ferrari was best of the rest in P4, though he was almost 2s adrift of pole. The damp conditions made things difficult for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso was in addition caught in traffic that made getting the heat into the rubber even more difficult, leaving him a disappointing eighth.

Mercedes timed Nico Rosberg’s run to perfection, finding him a big clear space of track and getting to him to cross the line for his final lap just before the flag fell, giving

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SEBASTIAN VETTELRed Bull-Renault RB7-3Start: 1st. Finish: 1stRemained an oasis of calm behind the wheel, keeping his head when others would have lost it. Nailed a ninth 2011 pole and executed his race strategy to perfection, making superb around-the-outside passes on Rosberg and Alonso to boot. The best driver in the best car – again.

10/10Event rating1

MARK WEBBERRed Bull-Renault RB7-4Start: 3rd. Finish: 2ndShowed race-winning speed during the weekend, but lost out in qualifying after going too hard, too soon. Again lost out at the start, this time after the anti-stall kicked in to combat rev drop, but he recovered beautifully despite miscommunication over pitting under safety car.

7/10Event rating2

LEWIS HAMILTONMcLaren-Mercedes MP4-26-03Start: 2nd. Finish: DNFHamilton’s race weekend template is as infuriating as Vettel’s is stunning. Qualy lap in a hobbled car was stunning, but he had a small part to play in the clash with Maldonado after the Q2 flag. Feisty in the race, he took the line into Les Combes as if Kobayashi wasn’t there…

3/10Event rating3

JENSON BUTTONMcLaren-Mercedes MP4-26-04Start: 13th. Finish: 3rdIt’s not clear what part he played in the Q2 confusion that led to him missing out on a serious lap, but from there he was superb. Picked up damage at the start but worked hard to climb the order in his typical hassle-free way. P3 was the best he could have hoped for.

9/10Event rating4

FERNANDO ALONSOFerrari 150°-290Start: 8th. Finish: 4thLow track temperatures made Q3 very difficult, the problem compounded by being mired in traffic. Was forceful in the early laps to climb into the top three, but the pace simply wasn’t there to hold off Webber or Button. That equalled P4 – probably the end of his title hopes.

7/10Event rating5

FELIPE MASSAFerrari 150°-288Start: 4th. Finish: 8thGood job in low-temperature conditions to take fourth in qualifying – which team-mate Alonso reckoned was the optimum for a Ferrari. Ran at the front early on, but didn’t have team-mate’s pace. Might have beaten the Mercs but for a puncture just after his first pitstop.

4/10Event rating6

Button made a superb charge to the podium…

helped by the fact that Hamilton alongside him had also failed to make a great start. Vettel somehow led into that fi rst turn, as Nico Rosberg sliced the Mercedes through from the third row to go round La Source side-by-side with Hamilton and emerge in second, Lewis busy trying to fend off Felipe Massa’s Ferrari too. It was Bruno Senna’s fi rst experience of a start from this far up an F1 grid and, like many before him, he misjudged the hairpin’s braking point. He locked up the Renault and slid hard into Jaime Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso which in turn hit Fernando Alonso, sending the Ferrari out wide on the run-off area, rejoining halfway down the hill in fi fth. Jaime’s front suspension was destroyed and he was doubtless hugely disappointed to pull off after such a great qualifying effort. Timo Glock made a similar faux pas to Senna further back, causing an accident that involved Paul di Resta’s Force India and both Lotuses. Both Senna and Glock would receive drive-throughs.

The chaos helped limit the damage of Webber’s awful start and he was eighth as they charged down to Eau Rouge, Sergio Perez’s Sauber and Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso directly ahead of him. Jenson Button’s McLaren, back in 13th, was hit by debris as he drove down the hill, damaging his front wing and removing his right-hand mirror. The downforce was signifi cantly reduced, di Resta having already taken a chunk out of the #4 McLaren’s rear wing endplate at the fi rst turn, but the team encouraged Button to stay out for a few laps.

The Mercedes was super-strong down the long straights and, with the aid of Vettel’s slipstream, Rosberg sliced into the lead as they approached Les Combes for the fi rst time. Massa did likewise to Hamilton to grab third, the McLaren

driver’s hands now full keeping Alonso at bay. Further back, Michael Schumacher was also making good use of the Merc’s straight-line performance, up to 15th by the end of the fi rst lap from 24th.

There followed over the next few laps a riot of passing and re-passing, especially once the DRS was enabled up to Les Combes. Alonso did Hamilton out of La Source on the second lap and quickly closed down on team-mate Massa who had failed to fi nd a way by Rosberg on account of a short seventh gear. Vettel retaliated on Rosberg and retook the lead into Les Combes on the third lap, blisters or no. This was brave stuff – and it wasn’t as if Vettel wasn’t thinking about it.

“You are driving into the unknown,” he said. “It’s pretty scary, not very comfortable, especially on

“There followed over the next few laps a riot of passing and re-passing, especially with DRS enabled”

… despite some early damage to bodywork

REPORTBELGIAN GP

MICHAEL SCHUMACHERMercedes MGP W02/09Start: 24th. Finish: 5thA cross-threaded wheelnut led to his right-rear falling off at the start of qualifying, but pace was there in practice. He made up plenty of places on the first lap on the prime tyre and had the speed to keep climbing. Passed Rosberg late on to take a well-deserved fifth.

9/10Event rating7

NICO ROSBERGMercedes MGP W02/07Start: 6th. Finish: 6thDid a good job in qualifying to take sixth, but probably surprised himself by taking the lead from Vettel on the run to Les Combes on lap one. Had no chance of staying there and soon descended to Merc’s natural level, losing to Schumacher on the faster tyre.

8/10Event rating8

BRUNO SENNARenault R31-04Start: 7th. Finish: 13thCrashed in FP1 but bounced back to take a stunning P7 in qualifying. Over-ambitious approach to Turn 1 in the race was another mistake, but it was a big one as he clattered into Alguersuari. After an pitstop for a nose and a drive-through, he drove pretty well for a comeback finish.

8/10Event rating9

VITALY PETROVRenault R31-05Start: 10th. Finish: 9thBeaten in qualifying by Senna, but still deserves credit for making it through to Q3 unscathed. Had a relatively quiet race during which he couldn’t quite take on the Mercedes, and was unfortunate to lose a place with a last-corner spin while nursing fading front brakes.

6/10Event rating10

RUBENS BARRICHELLOWilliams-Cosworth FW33-04Start: 14th. Finish: 16thDescribed qualifying as a missed opportunity after Kovalainen, who was on his flying lap, held him up at the end of Q2. Was in points contention, but lost time on his in-lap before second stop. Hit the back of Kobayashi in the closing stages, forcing a stop for a new front wing.

5/10Event rating11

PASTOR MALDONADOWilliams-Cosworth FW33-02Start: 21st. Finish: 10thLet himself down in qualifying by getting involved in some afters with Hamilton at the end of Q2, but redeemed himself on Sunday. Was able to extend tyre life to run two-stop race, partly thanks to the better Williams diffuser, and richly deserved his first F1 point.

7/10Event rating12

simply sail by to retake the place using the vast straight-line advantage of DRS up to Les Combes.

As Hamilton pitted from the lead at the end of the 10th lap so Vettel found himself at the front once more, but he was already feeling the dreaded blisters. Rosberg fi nally made his fi rst stop, putting Alonso up to second from Webber and the yet-to-stop Kobayashi. Hamilton rejoined just behind the Sauber and on the 13th lap used his superior speed through Eau Rouge to pass him even before the DRS zone. Lewis then made a catastrophic error in assuming he’d left the Sauber far behind, not realising that Kamui had slipstreamed him and was still right there as Lewis moved to take up his line for the approach to Les Combes. McLaren left-rear glanced Sauber right-front and Hamilton was pitched into the wall. Out came the safety car and the complexion of the race changed right then.

Red Bull took the opportunity of bringing in Vettel for a new set of softs before the pack had caught up to the safety car. It was at least six laps earlier than they would otherwise chosen to have done so, thereby lengthening his third stint – which carried tyre-associated risks given the blistering and the camber settings. But it meant he dropped only two places, and one of those was to his team-mate Webber. Mark, in fact, had been on the radio as soon as the safety car came out, asking if he should pit, but received no answer. “We intended to pit them both and stack Mark,” said Horner, “and were expecting him in but there was so much radio traffi c that our message confi rming the stop did not reach him. Which meant we had to change his strategy.”

Webber was switched from a three-stop to a two-stop, meaning he’d need to make the 13-lap old mediums last another 17-20 laps.

Glock pushes di Resta into Button at La Source

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pitted after just three laps. “They were in a terrible state and we had to get rid of them as soon as possible,” he explained. They were replaced by a set of new mediums. Perhaps helped by that troublesome camber angle, he was soon lapping very quickly on these and scything through the midfi eld traffi c. Vettel was in from the lead at the end of the fi fth lap – and he was fi tted with new softs, Red Bull splitting its tyre strategy. Seb rejoined just behind Kobayashi as Rosberg found himself back in the lead. But not for long, as Alonso ‘DRSed’ him up to Les Combes on the seventh lap, Hamilton repeating the move to take second from the Merc next time through there. Both Alonso and Hamilton noticed the dark stripe on their front tyres, signifying blisters. So it wasn’t just the Red Bulls.

Alonso pitted from the lead for a fresh set of softs at the end of lap eight, promoting Hamilton who stayed out for another three laps. Vettel, having passed Kobayashi, was quickly back with the yet-to-stop Rosberg, so much quicker was he. On the 10th lap he put a super-brave move on the Mercedes around the outside of Blanchimont. But even that wasn’t the most committed move of the race so far: that honour had just surely been claimed by Webber the lap before. Alonso had exited the pits just ahead, in seventh place, but with the advantage of momentum Webber chased him down the hill as they headed for Eau Rouge. As the moment of truth arrived, Webber fl icked left fl at in seventh, staking all on Alonso giving him survival space. Front wheels less than an inch apart at 180mph, Alonso grudgingly let him have the place. It was one of the most frightening, thrilling and astonishing pieces of action this sport has ever provided. A lap later it seemed almost unfair that Alonso was able to

The Alonso/Webber scrap was a classic

the way down to Eau Rouge and through Blanchimont when the tyre doesn’t look in great shape and you feel a lot of vibrations.”

There were no team orders as the two Ferraris squabbled hard and repeatedly, Alonso fi nally getting ahead on the fi fth lap on the short downhill stretch between Malmedy and Rivage, Fernando running wide there but hanging on, partly because Massa was now under attack from an opportunist Hamilton. As they headed down the hill between Liege and Pouhon, Massa was defending hard left, Hamilton with his left-hand wheels touching the grass in sixth gear to make the pass. In the fi ght with Alonso, Massa’s front-wing endplate was damaged, giving him understeer for the rest of the race. Perez tried a pass on Buemi’s sixth place, misjudged it and ran over the Toro Rosso’s rear wing, causing its retirement. Perez continued but would later fall out of contention with a drive-through penalty. The second Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi was the benefi ciary, moving up to sixth.

And what about those delicate blistered Red Bull tyres? Webber had

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REPORTBELGIAN GP

Maldonado missed Lotuses and scored first-ever point

Senna qualified superbly but made early-race gaffe

“Relieved mate?” Vettel led Webber to Red Bull 1-2

“It had been another brilliantly controlled effort from the world champion and his team, but with many added stresses”trying a move on the Ferrari into Rivage that didn’t quite come off, Button swept around the outside on the approach to the chicane on the 24th lap, then crowding him at the apex and going ahead into the second part, wisps of smoke from his front-wheel. It was a move both committed and exquisitely judged. Two laps later he was past Rosberg in the DRS zone and in chase of third-placed Webber. His soft tyres were standing up well and he was the fastest man on the track at this stage, despite the extensive damage to the car – and it made you wonder what might have been had it not been for that qualifying mishap.

“This weekend was the best the car has ever been. With the damage it lacked a bit of grip but the balance I’ve had all weekend wet or dry has been just sensational.” Those on the team looking at the traces are convinced Button could potentially have been a dominant winner had it not been for the Saturday cock-up.

Alonso was 6s behind Vettel when he stopped for his medium tyres on the 29th lap. Seb came in next time around for his mediums, Webber the lap after, Mark foregoing the available softs for another set of mediums, for the sake of keeping the blistering at bay. Button led briefl y before being passed by the rejoining Vettel and then making his fi nal stop, now the only one of the top four on a set of softs. With these he quickly began chasing down Webber – and both were catching Alonso who, as Ferrari had feared,

was struggling to make the harder-compound tyres work.

Further back, Massa fi nally nailed Rosberg out of La Source and pulled away, leaving Nico on his mediums being caught by the soft-tyred car of – Schumacher! On his 20th F1 anniversary Michael was on it. He’d passed Sutil and was now taking full advantage of the faster tyre to put his team-mate under big pressure. Massa’s efforts would soon be thwarted however by a left-rear puncture, the extra stop leaving him back in eighth at the end.

Webber ‘DRSed’ Alonso to take second with eight laps to go, Fernando powerless to put up any resistance and concentrating now on trying to stay ahead of the charging Button but Jenson caught up and passed the Ferrari with two laps left. Webber was just far enough clear of the McLaren to hang onto second. Schumacher made those soft tyres work to his advantage, though inevitably there were raised eyebrows when Rosberg’s radio crackled into life with the message that he should save fuel. Michael went ahead for fi fth placed into the DRS zone on the 42nd lap.

Vettel had completed his fi nal 14-lap stint on the softs just measuring out his lead – and he took the fl ag 3.7s ahead. It was perhaps the most unlikely Red Bull one-two yet. It had been another brilliantly controlled drive from the champion, but with many added stresses. “There was a lot more management needed than usual,” he said. “But I don’t want to complain. The car worked fantastically well. Not starting from the pitlane with new tyres was not an easy decision to make, and it was not an easy race.”

It was a brilliant performance from both team and driver, but one that left Pirelli downright angry.

The safety car was good news too for Button and Schumacher, bunching the fi eld up and wiping out much of their time defi cits. Button, having had his damaged front wing replaced on the third lap, had replaced the mediums on which he’d started for a set of softs. Under the safety car he came in from 11th for another set, without losing a place. Ahead of him were several slower cars, which he’d be able to slice past before the quick guys up front would be able to build much of a buffer from him. Michael was another to pit under the safety car, from a couple of places ahead of Button.

Losing out at this time was Alonso because even though he now led the race behind the safety car, his recent pitting meant it was too early to pit him again to replace his tyres, obliging him to run a two-stop. This wouldn’t have been a problem but for the fact that it would entail a much longer stint on the dreaded medium tyre. Ferrari knew from practice that its car was going to be slow on this tyre and that there would be pain to come. It would be the same for Massa.

As racing got underway Alonso led off, intent on trying to build a gap. Webber moved aside into La Source to let Vettel through in his chase of the Ferrari, Mark knowing he had a much longer stint to complete than Seb. Massa ran fourth but was soon victim of Rosberg’s straight-line speed. In sixth ran the Force India of Adrian Sutil who was soon being hunted down by Schumacher and Button, the Briton having just passed two cars in one move at La Source.

Vettel relieved Alonso of the lead in the DRS zone on the 18th lap and on his newer tyres quickly pulled out a useful gap. Button passed Schumacher and Sutil in the DRS zone on successive laps, quickly pulling away from them and catching the Rosberg/Massa scrap. After


ADRIAN SUTILForce India VJM04/04Start: 15th. Finish: 7thTook too much wet kerb at Raidillon during Q2 and speared into the barrier when on course to make Q3. Kept out of trouble during the first lap and held P6 after sharp pitstop under the safety car. Was powerless to keep Schumacher behind, but took strong seventh.

HEIKKI KOVALAINENLotus-Renault T128-04Start: 16th. Finish: 15thWhen the weather makes it possible for Lotus to reach Q2, Kovalainen usually delivers and his superb final Q1 lap bumped di Resta. The Finn was pushed into team-mate Trulli at the first corner by the Glock/Di Resta clash. From there, he recovered well to finish 15th.

8/10Event rating

8/10Event rating20

PAUL DI RESTAForce India VJM04/02Start: 17th. Finish: 11thCalled in while on his final Q1 lap by the team, which thought he’d made the cut, he was shocked to discover Kovalainen had bumped him. Assaulted by Glock at the start, he kept in the mid-pack for 11th, within a couple of seconds of the points. A good salvage job in that context.


JARNO TRULLILotus-Renault T128-01Start: 18th. Finish: 14thUnlike his team-mate, couldn’t capitalise on the wet conditions to make it to Q2 but at least beat the Virgins and HRTs. Survived Kovalainen being pushed into him at La Source, but did sustain damage to the floor that made his Lotus a little tricky to handle.

7/10Event rating21

KAMUI KOBAYASHISauber-Ferrari C30-01Start: 12th. Finish: 12thCrossed the line early in improving Q2 conditions, so missed the top 10. On a two stopper, was on course for solid points until Hamilton squeezed him at Les Combes. His car was intact, but not pitting as soon as the safety car was deployed left him mired in the midfield.

5/10Event rating16

DANIEL RICCIARDOHRT-Cosworth F111-03Start: 23rd. Finish: DNFDidn’t get it together in qualifying when he needed to and had to rely on special dispensation to be let in having missed the 107 per cent cut. Drove well early on before being forced to retire after a pitstop when it emerged that a rear wheel was not properly attached.

6/10Event rating22

SERGIO PEREZSauber-Ferrari C30-02Start: 9th. Finish: DNFReminded everyone why he is talked about as a future Ferrari driver by making Q3 for the third time this season and ran seventh early on. Was eager to pass Buemi, but hit the Swiss, a mistake that forced a pitstop and a drive-through. Later retired with rear axle damage.

5/10Event rating17

VITANTONIO LIUZZIHRT-Cosworth F111-02Start: 22nd. Finish: 19thWas looking forward to wet weather in qualifying, but couldn’t capitalise on it to beat the two Lotuses after deciding against taking a second set of Pirellis in Q1. From there, his HRT didn’t have the pace to make an impression so had to drive round at the back of the field.

5/10Event rating23

SEBASTIEN BUEMIToro Rosso-Ferrari STR6-04Start: 11th. Finish: DNFA scruffy lap cost him a place in Q3, but the Swiss made up for that with a great first lap that put him P6. Had to focus on defending against Perez but was unimpressed to be thumped by the Mexican. Tried to continue with deranged rear wing, but was called into the pits to retire.

6/10Event rating18

TIMO GLOCKVirgin-Cosworth MVR-02Start: 19th. Finish: 18thA very aggressive qualifying lap meant he was the only Virgin or HRT driver actually to make the 107 per cent qualifying cut off. Braked too late for la Source and hit di Resta, which earned him a drive-through. Then drove well to finish behind team-mate d’Ambrosio.

5/10Event rating24

JAIME ALGUERSUARIToro Rosso-Ferrari STR6-01Start: 6th. Finish: DNFGot it right in qualifying to line up a career-best sixth. Sadly, his race was very short lived as Senna braked too late for the first corner, pushing him into fellow Spaniard Alonso, with the resulting impact breaking the car’s front-left suspension.

9/10Event rating19

JEROME D’AMBROSIOVirgin-Cosworth MVR-03Start: 20th. Finish: 17thThe local hero was left out during qualifying, while team-mate Glock got another set of tyres to hedge strategic bets, which explains the gap. Turned in a solid, consistent drive, saving fuel for the final 20 laps and holding off Glock to become first Belgian to finish his home GP since ’92.

7/10Event rating25

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Gold-hatted Schuey flew from 24th to P5

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TORO ROSSO NOSE

FERRARI FRONT WING

RED BULL REAR BRAKE DUCTS

RED BULL FRONT WING

McLAREN REAR WING

PThe Red Bull RB7 featured a cut-out in the enclosing drum

of the rear brakes for a more efficient combination of brake cooling and the prevention of heat soak through to the tyres. GARY ANDERSON: This cut-out, or reduced-diameter section on the carbon barrel that’s more or less in line with the actual duct inlet, allows a small amount of airflow through between the

wheel and the barrel. This air flow, which is not enough to hurt the aerodynamic performance of the car, will help reduce the transfer of heat from the brakes themselves that would normally go into the wheel rims, keeping the rear tyre temperatures lower, especially over long runs. This in turn will improve the longevity of the tyres.

PSebastian Vettel briefly tried out a modified front wing during

Friday practice. It featured a raised section (arrowed) in the transition from the FIA-defined neutral central section to the outer section. GARY ANDERSON: The intersection of the FIA-defined central front-wing section and the team-defined outer downforce-producing part is an area that can give huge performance advantages to the overall car. Because

of the different air pressures and velocity in this area a huge vortex is set up, which helps with the performance of the underfloor. This fairly dramatic change of section is to try to increase this vortex and in turn improve underfloor performance. This style of concept is very circuit-critical and because of the weather at Spa it was not able to be properly back-to-backed but I’m sure we’ll see it in the future.

PMcLaren finally brought out its new rear wing with a more

aggressive loss of drag when the DRS is activated. There was a high- and low-downforce version of this available, as well as the old-style wing. Both drivers opted for the low-downforce version of the new wing. GARY ANDERSON: The McLaren rear wing for Spa had a very interesting design detail where the rear flap met the endplates. Renault started this style of flap mounting way back in 2006. This area is quite critical to the rear wing’s overall performance and with a very

complicated airflow regime it requires many hours of CFD analysis to grasp the minute detail required to improve its performance. By blending these two components, and with the horizontal louvres in the endplate above the wing’s upper surface, the difference in the air pressures and air speed from the inside to the outside of the endplate will be reduced. This in turn will reduce the huge vortex coming off the outer corner of the wing when the cars are running in moist conditions. Reducing this reduces drag and improves the efficiency of the complete assembly.

REPORTBELGIAN GP

PThe Toro Rosso benefitted from a major upgrade comprising this new slimmer, Mercedes-like, nose and

a new rear wing with more aggressive DRS activation. The upgrade appeared to work very effectively in qualifying. GARY ANDERSON: The nose profile is very similar to what Mercedes currently uses in that it’s around the same height but flatter and with the twin vertical turning vanes mounted at the nose-to-chassis interface. The amount of airflow that goes under the nose – or, more importantly, the front of the chassis just between the front wheels – is critical to the performance of the under floor. The height of the nose itself gives more opportunity to manage that airflow by mounting these large turning vanes in the correct position to improve the performance of the front wing while not disrupting the airflow to the under floor.

PFerrari ran both cars with the single-slot/twin-element front wing but with an extra extension to the inside

winglet on Fernando Alonso’s car. Felipe Massa stayed with the standard single-slot wing. GARY ANDERSON: Because of the low-downforce nature of the Spa circuit, Ferrari opted to use its two-element front wing assembly. This time it had a new shorter section, two-element outer upper-forward wing component and a new two-element inner upper-forward wing component. This area is critical in that the airflow coming off the outer part of this assembly goes over the top of the front tyre. But if the overall airflow of the inner section is too wide, it will disturb the airflow to the leading edge of the sidepod and underfloor. With any of these things it is a compromise. The driver needs a balanced car but if it’s possible to increase the downforce and keep the required balance he will go faster; increase the overall downforce but lose the balance and he will go slower.

FERRARI REAR BODYWORK

PFerrari turned up at Spa with this modification to the bodywork

ahead of the rear tyre. This replicated a similar development tried but discarded by Red Bull for the Spanish GP in Barcelona (inset).GARY ANDERSON: Small detail changes on the outlet position and the introduction of this vertical fin to help contain the high-energy exhaust flow just help the efficiency of the complete package that little bit. I doubt if it is even measurable on the stopwatch but if it is a positive step then it needs to be on the car.

Drawing boardGary Anderson, Mark Hughes and Giorgio Piola reveal the post-summer-break-modifi cations made at Spa by Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, and Toro Rosso


01234567890123456789

PRACTICE 1 - FridayPOS DRIVER TIME1 SCHUMACHER 1m54.355s2 ROSBERG 1m54.829s3 BUTTON 2m02.740s4 VETTEL 2m03.752s5 HAMILTON 2m04.301s6 SUTIL 2m04.663s7 MASSA 2m04.728s8 BARRICHELLO 2m05.391s9 ALGUERSUARI 2m06.583s10 KOBAYASHI 2m06.886s11 ALONSO 2m07.055s12 PEREZ 2m07.481s13 TRULLI 2m08.233s14 BUEMI 2m08.239s15 MALDONADO 2m08.918s16 WEBBER 2m09.792s17 GLOCK 2m12.278s18 LIUZZI 2m12.389s19 D’AMBROSIO 2m12.772s20 DI RESTA 2m13.058s21 CHANDHOK 2m13.090s22 PETROV 2m13.601s23 SENNA 2m14.340s24 RICCIARDO 2m14.933sWeather: dry then rain early on

PRACTICE 2 - FridayPOS DRIVER TIME1 WEBBER 1m50.321s2 ALONSO 1m50.461s3 BUTTON 1m50.770s4 HAMILTON 1m50.838s5 MASSA 1m51.218s6 ROSBERG 1m51.242s7 PEREZ 1m51.655s8 HULKENBERG 1m51.725s9 DI RESTA 1m51.751s10 VETTEL 1m51.790s11 SCHUMACHER 1m51.922s12 MALDONADO 1m52.750s13 KOBAYASHI 1m52.780s14 ALGUERSUARI 1m52.911s15 BUEMI 1m53.009s16 BARRICHELLO 1m53.156s17 SENNA 1m53.835s18 TRULLI 1m55.051s19 GLOCK 1m55.494s20 KOVALAINEN 1m56.202s21 D’AMBROSIO 1m56.816s22 LIUZZI 1m57.450s23 RICCIARDO 1m57.612s24 PETROV 2m02.234sWeather: damp, dry then wet

PRACTICE 3 - SaturdayPOS DRIVER TIME1 WEBBER 2m08.988s2 HAMILTON 2m09.046s3 ALGUERSUARI 2m09.931s4 BUTTON 2m10.257s5 VETTEL 2m10.402s6 BUEMI 2m10.580s7 ROSBERG 2m10.837s8 SUTIL 2m11.437s9 SENNA 2m11.664s10 SCHUMACHER 2m11.667s11 DI RESTA 2m11.874s12 KOVALAINEN 2m13.036s13 MALDONADO 2m13.074s14 KOBAYASHI 2m13.182s15 PETROV 2m13.290s16 BARRICHELLO 2m13.778s17 PEREZ 2m14.334s18 TRULLI 2m14.682s19 D’AMBROSIO 2m17.159s20 GLOCK 2m18.039s21 RICCIARDO 2m19.001s22 LIUZZI 2m19.597s23 MASSA 2m22.454s24 ALONSO no timeWeather: wet

QUALIFYINGPOS DRIVER QUALIFYING 1 QUALIFYING 2 QUALIFYING 31 VETTEL 2m03.029s 2m03.317s 1m48.298s2 HAMILTON 2m03.008s 2m02.823s 1m48.730s3 WEBBER 2m02.827s 2m03.302s 1m49.376s4 MASSA 2m05.834s 2m04.507s 1m50.256s5 ROSBERG 2m05.091s 2m03.723s 1m50.552s6 ALGUERSUARI 2m05.419s 2m04.561s 1m50.773s7 SENNA 2m04.047s 2m04.452s 1m51.121s8 ALONSO 2m04.450s 2m02.768s 1m51.251s9 PEREZ 2m06.284s 2m04.625s 1m51.374s10 PETROV 2m05.292s 2m03.466s 1m52.303s11 BUEMI 2m04.744s 2m04.692s -12 KOBAYASHI 2m07.194s 2m04.757s -13 BUTTON 2m01.813s 2m05.150s -14 BARRICHELLO 2m05.720s 2m07.349s -15 SUTIL 2m06.000s 2m07.777s -16 MALDONADO 2m05.621s 2m08.106s -17 KOVALAINEN 2m06.780s 2m08.354s -18 DI RESTA 2m07.758s - -19 TRULLI 2m08.773s - -20 GLOCK 2m09.566s - -21 D’AMBROSIO 2m11.601s - -22 LIUZZI 2m11.616s - -23 RICCIARDO 2m13.077s - -24 SCHUMACHER no time - -Weather: wet then drying

QUALIFYING Head to head

VETTEL 9 3 WEBBERHAMILTON 9 3 BUTTON

ALONSO 10 2 MASSASCHUMACHER 1 11 ROSBERG

HEIDFELD/SENNA 4 8 PETROVBARRICHELLO 7 5 MALDONADO

SUTIL 5 7 DI RESTA KOBAYASHI 5 7 PEREZ/DE LA ROSA

BUEMI 8 4 ALGUERSUARIKOVALAINEN 11 1 TRULLI/CHANDHOK

KAR’KEYAN/RICCIARDO 0 11 LIUZZIGLOCK 10 2 D’AMBROSIO

THE RACE: 44 LAPS, 191.420 MILESPOS DRIVER TEAM LAPS TOTAL TIME FASTEST LAP PITSTOP TIME IN PIT1 VETTEL RED BULL-RENAULT 44 1h26m44.893s 1m50.451s 3 63.1s2 WEBBER RED BULL-RENAULT 44 +3.741s 1m49.883s 2 41.9s3 BUTTON McLAREN-MERCEDES 44 +9.669s 1m50.062s 3 69.4s4 ALONSO FERRARI 44 +13.022s 1m51.107s 2 42.2s5 SCHUMACHER MERCEDES 44 +47.464s 1m51.137s 3 61.7s6 ROSBERG MERCEDES 44 +48.674s 1m52.263s 2 44.2s7 SUTIL FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES 44 +59.713s 1m52.591s 2 43.7s8 MASSA FERRARI 44 +1m06.076s 1m51.564s 3 65.6s9 PETROV RENAULT 44 +1m11.917s 1m52.432s 2 43.3s10 MALDONADO WILLIAMS-COSWORTH 44 +1m17.615s 1m53.362s 2 43.7s11 DI RESTA FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES 44 +1m23.994s 1m53.223s 2 42.7s12 KOBAYASHI SAUBER-FERRARI 44 +1m31.976s 1m53.871s 2 45.4s13 SENNA RENAULT 44 +1m32.985s 1m53.585s 3 65.5s14 TRULLI LOTUS-RENAULT 43 -1 lap 1m54.571s 2 43.6s15 KOVALAINEN LOTUS-RENAULT 43 -1 lap 1m54.051s 3 72.8s16 BARRICHELLO WILLIAMS-COSWORTH 43 -1 lap 1m50.424s 3 43.3s17 D’AMBROSIO VIRGIN-COSWORTH 43 -1 lap 1m56.319s 2 45.1s18 GLOCK VIRGIN-COSWORTH 43 -1 lap 1m56.540s 4 94.9s19 LIUZZI HRT-COSWORTH 43 -1 lap 1m58.061s 2 52.7sR PEREZ SAUBER-FERRARI 27 accident dam 1m54.244s 3 64.0sR RICCIARDO HRT-COSWORTH 13 rear end 1m59.831s 1 23.8sR HAMILTON McLAREN-MERCEDES 12 accident 1m55.647s 1 21.8sR BUEMI TORO ROSSO-FERRARI 6 rear wing 1m56.790s 0 –R ALGUERSUARI TORO ROSSO-FERRARI 0 accident dam – – –

TYRE CHOICESTINT 1 STINT 2 STINT 3 STINT 4Soft Soft Soft MediumSoft Medium MediumMedium Soft Soft SoftSoft Soft MediumMedium Soft Soft SoftSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft Medium MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft Soft MediumSoft Soft Medium SoftSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft Soft MediumSoft SoftSoft SoftSoftSoft


POS TEAM PTS AUS MAL PRC TR E MC CDN EU GB D H B I SGP J ROK IND UAE BR

1 RED BULL 426 35 37 33 43 37 37 33 40 33 27 28 432 McLAREN 295 26 22 37 20 33 23 25 20 12 25 37 153 FERRARI 231 18 18 14 15 10 18 8 28 35 28 23 164 MERCEDES 98 0 2 14 10 14 0 12 6 10 10 2 185 RENAULT 68 15 15 2 10 4 4 10 1 4 1 0 26 SAUBER 35 0 6 1 1 3 10 6 0 6 2 0 07 FORCE INDIA 32 3 1 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 8 6 68 TORO ROSSO 22 4 0 0 2 0 1 5 4 1 0 5 09 WILLIAMS 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 110 LOTUS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 011 HRT 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 012 VIRGIN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0



POS DRIVER PTS AUS MAL PRC TR E MC CDN EU GB D H B I SGP J ROK IND UAE BR1 VETTEL 259 1st 1st 2nd 1st 1st 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 4th 2nd 1st2 WEBBER 167 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 4th 4th 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 5th 2nd3 ALONSO 157 4th 6th 7th 3rd 5th 2nd ret 2nd 1st 2nd 3rd 4th4 BUTTON 149 6th 2nd 4th 6th 3rd 3rd 1st 6th ret ret 1st 3rd5 HAMILTON 146 2nd 8th 1st 4th 2nd 6th ret 4th 4th 1st 4th ret6 MASSA 74 7th 5th 6th 11th ret ret 6th 5th 5th 5th 6th 8th7 ROSBERG 56 ret 12th 5th 5th 7th 11th 11th 7th 6th 7th 9th 6th8 SCHUMACHER 42 ret 9th 8th 12th 6th ret 4th 17th 9th 8th ret 5th9 PETROV 34 3rd 17th 9th 8th 11th ret 5th 15th 12th 10th 12th 9th10 HEIDFELD 34 12th 3rd 12th 7th 8th 8th ret 10th 8th ret ret –11 KOBAYASHI 27 dsq 7th 10th 10th 10th 5th 7th 16th ret 9th 11th 12th12 SUTIL 24 9th 11th 15th 13th 13th 7th ret 9th 11th 6th 14th 7th13 BUEMI 12 8th 13th 14th 9th 14th 10th 10th 13th ret 15th 8th ret14 ALGUERSUARI 10 11th 11th ret 16th 16th ret 8th 8th 10th 12th 10th ret15 PEREZ 8 dsq ret 17th 14th 9th ns ns 11th 7th 11th 15th ret16 DI RESTA 8 10th 10th 11th ret 12th 12th ret 14th 15th 13th 7th 11th17 BARRICHELLO 4 ret ret 13th 15th 17th 9th 9th 12th 13th ret 13th 16th18 MALDONADO 1 ret ret 18th 17th 15th 18th ret 18th 14th 14th 16th 10th19 DE LA ROSA 0 – – – – – – 12th - - - - –20 TRULLI 0 13th ret 19th 18th 18th 13th 16th 20th ret - ret 14th21 LIUZZI 0 dnq ret 22nd 22nd ret 16th 13th 23rd 18th ret 20th 19th22 SENNA 0 – – – – – – – – – – – 13th23 D’AMBROSIO 0 14th ret 20th 20th 20th 15th 14th 22nd 17th 15th 19th 17th24 KOVALAINEN 0 ret 15th 16th 19th ret 14th ret 19th ret 16th ret 15th25 GLOCK 0 nc 16th 21st dns 19th ret 15th 21st 16th 17th 17th 18th26 KARTHIKEYAN 0 dnq ret 23rd 21st 21st 17th 17th 24th - - - –27 RICCIARDO 0 – – – – – – – – 19th 19th 18th ret28 CHANDHOK 0 – – – – – – – – – 20th - –

Weather: dry. Fastest lap: Mark WEBBER 1m49.883s (142.587mph) on lap 33. Lap leaders: 1-2 Rosberg; 3-5 Vettel; 6 Rosberg; 7 Alonso; 8-10 Hamilton; 11-13 Vettel; 14-17 Alonso; 18-30 Vettel; 31 Button; 32-44 Vettel

REPORTBELGIAN GPBELGIAN GP RESULTS

THE GRID

PTwenty years on from the thrusting young phenomenon’s arrival on this very scene, here among the valleys, for a brief 10-minute

window at the start of Friday’s session, before the rain arrives, it’s as if Michael Schumacher is still at the height of his powers. The two Mercs are running in formation, Michael ahead, and with the rain forecast to be imminent they are looking to maximise what looks set to be a very brief window of dry running. But for Michael, in his gold celebratory helmet, it seems about more than just that practicality, as if he’s doing a special marking of what is his territory, with a crowd-pleasing display of on-the-limit driving well beyond the necessities of the moment. In this place where he’s carved his legend as surely as these valleys were carved by the ice age, he’s hard and early on the power, finding the limit of grip on the exit by exceeding it. The track is cool, there is the first hint of drizzle but still he’s pulling ever-further clear of Rosberg. Every corner is being attacked full-on while everyone else is still doing

installation laps. At Rivage, the trickily tight downhill right-hander, he exits in a blur of wheelspin and 45 degrees of oversteer, a showman’s display. He’s earned the right to that after two decades and it’s as if the place is indulging him, as if these 10 minutes are set aside just for him, to celebrate his long and intimate relationship. No-one else is stealing his thunder, he’s visibly the quickest man and – right on cue – the heavens open, ensuring his name will stay at the top of the timesheets. Happy Spa birthday Michael.


1 VETTELRED BULL 1m48.298sSoft

3 WEBBERRED BULL1m49.376sSoft

5 ROSBERGMERCEDES1m50.552sSoft

7 SENNARENAULT 1m51.121sSoft

9 PEREZSAUBER1m51.374sSoft

11 BUEMITORO ROSSO 2m04.692sSoft

13 BUTTONMcLAREN 2m05.150sMedium

15 SUTILFORCE INDIA 2m07.777sSoft

17 DI RESTAFORCE INDIA2m07.758sSoft

19 GLOCKVIRGIN2m09.556sSoft

21 MALDONADOWILLIAMS 2m08.106s*Soft

23 RICCIARDOHRT2m13.077sSoft

* 5-place penalty

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2 HAMILTONMcLAREN1m48.730sSoft

4 MASSAFERRARI1m50.256sSoft


8 ALONSOFERRARI1m51.251sSoft

10 PETROVRENAULT 1m52.303sSoft

12 KOBAYASHISAUBER2m04.757sSoft

14 BARRICHELLOWILLIAMS2m07.349sSoft

16 KOVALAINENLOTUS 2m08.354sSoft

18 TRULLILOTUS 2m08.773sSoft

20 D’AMBROSIOVIRGIN 2m11.601sSoft

22 LIUZZIHRT 2m11.616sSoft

24 SCHUMACHERMERCEDESno timeMedium


“Schuey exists in a blur of wheel-spin and 45-degree obersteer”

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tHe Cognitive CapaBilitieS of dolphins is well-documented; their problem-solving ability proven. So, when Mikko Hirvonen spent time in the pool with fl ipper the night before the start of Rally australia last week, things were looking up. the bottlenosed one called it right and, when Citroen suffered its worst day of the season with both DS3 WRCs crashing on the opening leg, Ford and its Finns were in the clear. Hirvonen’s second win of the season – and third on the trot in australia – nudged him back into the championship chase after an intriguing return Down under. testament to that intrigue was the focus on the fi nal-day fi ght between Sebastien loeb and a ukranian in a group n car…

leg one (72.11 miles) oveRCaSt/Rain – aMBient teMpeRatuRe Range on StageS 12-20CHaving spent much of the build-up to this event discussing his future and whether he thought he had one with the Citroen team, Sebastien ogier was relieved to get into his DS3 WRC and drive. and he made the perfect start, fastest fi rst time through the Coffs superspecial on thursday night. loeb was quickest second time through, unwilling to give an inch even on a two-mile crowd-pleaser. Despite efforts to calm the waters prior to the event, the needle between the two Citroen drivers remained.

What didn’t remain was the warm spring sunshine

His good stage moved him into the lead after ogier’s time was 2.6s slower. Hirvonen was fastest Ford, almost 10s down on loeb. the Finn had suffered a major moment near the start of the stage and struggled to get his confi dence back after that.

Where Hirvonen had got away with his moment, his team-mate Jari-Matti latvala didn’t. latvala’s car ran wide at the exit of a fast right. He thought he’d got away with it… “then we hit something and it spun the car through 180 degrees and we went to the forest backwards. i thought i might get stuck, but in the end we got out and got going again. it was a bit stressful for my heart.”

the Fiesta driver had calmed down a little when he arrived at the start of the

next stage. opening his door, he peered up at the leaden skies: “i thought this was australia,” he said with a grimace, “not Wales.”

Further up the line, loeb launched his DS3 into Brooklana. it was markedly more twisty than the opener and would also be the undoing of his challenge for a second oz win.

a couple of minutes into the test, the Citroen team beamed the fi rst split time into loeb’s car. the news wasn’t the best, he was three tenths down on ogier. the situation was about to get considerably worse.

loeb saw the split time fl ash up on the dash as his co-driver Daniel elena was telling him about the fourth-gear right-hander that tightened into a second-gear corner 30 metres later.

the Citroen slid wide, smacked the bank with the left-rear and was pitched into a series of rolls. the car ended its accident on its side, going no further.

“i wanted to tell Daniel that i had seen the split time,” explained loeb afterwards. “So, i was waiting for him to fi nish calling the note before i said: “okay, i’ve seen the split.” Why did i do this? i don’t know. But it took away my concentration for a moment.”

loeb was out.ogier was in. in with a 10-second lead. and in with an incredible title shot. if he could stay ahead and win Sunday’s powerstage, he could be leading the championship when it arrived in loeb’s backyard later this month. privately, the irony of that situation wasn’t lost on him,

of rounding the globe in red seemed a sensible one. Sensible that was, until his phone rang for the second time on thursday night telling a tale of a DS3 in the trees.

ironically, Citroen hadn’t suffered such an incident-packed event since new Zealand this time last year, when Quesnel was also watching 908 prototypes.

it was easy to jump on ogier’s inexperience on Friday afternoon; easy to point to other instances where he had dropped it while leading, but when the rest of the fi eld reached the fi nish of SS6, you couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the former leader.

unbelievable, dangerous and crazy were all adjectives easily reached for. Hirvonen led, but admitted he was fortunate to be there.

“it was like ice,” he said. “every time you braked the car was everywhere and it’s so bloody fast in there, all the time fi fth and sixth gear. you go into a corner not knowing what the grip will be like or if you will come out the other side. it’s unbelievable.”

Second quickest and second overall, latvala added: “if you don’t have a four-wheel-drive car, it was, i would say, dangerous.”

third-placed petter Solberg’s view was predictably similar. “i’ve never seen conditions like that before. it was crazy.”

not even a monster spin just before lunch had prepared the norwegian for the road in the afternoon. lack of grip aside, Solberg was much happier than he had been for the previous

Hirvonen took his third straight Rally oz victory

but publicly, all he would talk about was the long way to go in this rally – and the exceptionally diffi cult and slippery conditions.

now more than ever, Ford had to fi nd an extra gear. Back in service, next to the Coffs horseracing track, Hirvonen and latvala weren’t about to look this gift horse in the mouth. Both had beaten ogier on the morning’s fi nal stage to eat into his advantage.

“i have more responsibility now,” said ogier, “i have to score points for the team, but we have seen that anything can happen. i didn’t think anything when i saw his [loeb’s] car, i was just trying to stay on the road.”

With the expectation of the team on his shoulders, ogier wound up the wipers a notch and went back to work. and back to Shipmans. predictably, the passing of the whole fi eld of cars allied to what looked like a Pacifi c’s-worth of rainfall hadn’t helped the level of grip available.

pushing on to try to build a lead over the Fords, ogier was caught out by a left-hander. the car nudged a bank and spun.

“When we were spinning, the front hit a tree and we destroyed the radiator,” said ogier. “it was so tricky out there, there was no grip. it’s a diffi cult day for the team.”

that was something of an understatement. With loeb 36 points ahead of the nearest Ford and Citroen 91 points ahead, team principal olivier Quesnel’s decision to put on his peugeot hat and take a one-hour fl ight to Silverstone for the autoSpoRt 6 Hours instead

DaviD evanSreports

that had greeted the crews’ arrival on the Pacifi c coast of australia. looking up at the dark clouds gathering in the mountains of the great Dividing Range, loeb had mixed feelings.

“i think it’s coming,” he said, referring to the rain.He was right. Squally conditions on thursday night gave way to fl at-out rain on Friday.

the problem with the rain was two-fold: Michelin had supplied what would be an entirely unsuitable hard-compound tyre for this event and the drivers had no idea what the grip levels would be like on roads on which they were competing for the fi rst time.

loeb looked mightily relieved when he arrived at the end of the Shipmans stage. at a little over 18

miles, this was an exceptionally tough way to return the WRC to gravel rallying in australia after a two-year break. loeb battled through the rain and brought the car home, despite ever-changing grip levels from the clay and mud surface.

the world champion found rhythm hard to come by in a stage that varied from wide, open and fl owing roads into much more technical sections.

“i was not allowed to make a mistake here, and i didn’t,” he smiled. “i drove a good stage.”

a new engine boosted Solberg – he took third

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latvala led the way until team orders

Hirvonen and latvala take a one-two after loeb and ogier drop the ball in treacherous conditions

Fords cash in asCitroens crash outRally auStRalia

Coffs Harbour, September 8-11

RounD 10/13

WinneR Mikko Hirvonen 3h35m59.0s

Rally Rating★★★★★astonishing Friday, steady Saturday and tactical Sunday lead to Hirvonen hat-trick in oz

DRiveRS’ StanDingS★★★★★loeb 196pts Hirvonen 181ptsogier 167pts

poWeRStage WinneR Sebastien loeb

MileStoneSl First WRC round run out of Coffs Harbourl Hayden paddon wins production Car World title

rePortWRC auStRalia

autosport.com/asia8 6

two rallies. A new engine had empowered him to fi ght again. But, 44s off the lead at the end of the day was going to make it a tall order, even if the weather stayed dry and day two was as clean as it was expected to.

Ahead of Solberg, Malcolm Wilson’s Ford team was in no doubt of its objectives until Sunday afternoon. Wilson deployed team orders over supper, with Latvala quick to offer his support to Hirvonen despite being just seven seconds down on him.

Of the 12 World Rally Cars that started the event 24 hours earlier, just half made it through what had been an exceptionally tough day– but all would return for day two.

Henning Solberg was fourth overnight, with Matthew Wilson and Khalid Al Qassimi making it fi ve Fiestas in the top six. Top PWRC runner Hayden Paddon held P7 in his Subaru Impreza, more than a minute up on Michal Kosciuszko’s Mitsubishi.

POSITIONS AFTER DAY ONE1 HIRVONEN/LEHTINEN 1h17m11.2s2 LATVALA/ANTTILA +7.0s3 P SOLBERG/PATTERSON +44.3s4 H SOLBERG/MINOR +2m26.9s5 WILSON/MARTIN +3m03.1s6 AL QASSIMI/ORR +4m47.3s

LEG TWO (91.05 miles) SUNNY – AMBIENT TEMPERATURE RANGE ON STAGES 14-22C

In the same way that Boxing Day struggles to follow Christmas Day, day one of Rally Australia 2011 was always going to be a tough – near-impossible – act to follow. The Citroens both returned in 16th (Ogier) and 23rd (Loeb), but were quiet through the morning.

The morning defi nitely belonged to Latvala. Second on the road in the sunshine, he blasted past Hirvonen on the opener and dominated the four stages before lunch.

“I found the rhythm,” he said with a smile. “I feel I’m driving well again. Defi nitely, Mikko will be losing time being fi rst on the road and all I am trying to do is drive in his tracks. I’m just being sensible and it’s working.”

Hirvonen was content to play his waiting game. He knew this rally would be coming his way and – having waited two years for a win on gravel – he wasn’t about to do anything that might jeopardise that.

There was defi nitely an element of surprise at Ford that there had been no attack from a DS3 of any fl avour. If the works cars had little to fi ght for, Solberg certainly did. Or it looked like he did before he discovered his car was set-up all wrong for the dry, but loose roads.

“Oversteer,” said Solberg, barely looking up from studying the times. “Way too much oversteer. We have managed to take some time from Mikko, but not

Jari – he’s very fast today.”While Solberg’s chances

of stepping up off the bottom step of the podium diminished as the day progressed, his brother’s day was even worse. Having survived a moment with a big cow (“It was almost a steak!”), Solberg Sr suffered an electrical failure on SS15, elevating Wilson to fourth. The Englishman endured a wild ride in his Fiesta through the morning.

“We were going from ditch to ditch,” said Wilson. “It probably looked quite quick, but it wasn’t.”

Adjustments to the preload in the differential got the back of the car more in line with the front for the afternoon, but with a monster gap over Al Qassimi, Wilson’s eyes were fi rmly fi xed on a fi nish.

Having halved the 11-minute gap between himself and a points-paying fi nish through the morning, Ogier woke up to the possibility of making his trip Down Under worthwhile and cranked up his pace in the afternoon. He was fastest on three of the longer stages before Loeb collected his fi rst scratch time on SS18.

Ogier would start the fi nal day agonisingly close to the points in 11th, but the near three-minute gap between himself and Russian star Evgeny Novikov would be a much tougher nut to crack than the crews Ogier had zipped past in the morning.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

STAGE TIMES SS1 COFFS 1 (2.34 MILES)Fastest: Ogier 2m46.1sLeader: Ogier SS2 COFFS 2 (2.34 MILES)Fastest: Loeb 2m41.1sLeader: Ogier SS3 SHIPMANS 1 (18.03 MILES)Fastest: Loeb 15m17.0sLeader: Loeb SS4 BROKLANA 1 (7.94 MILES)Fastest: P Solberg 10m01.9sLeader: Ogier SS5 ULONG 1 (7.73 MILES)Fastest: Latvala 6m37.9sLeader: Ogier SS6 SHIPMANS 2 (18.03 MILES)Fastest: Latvala 16m15.2sLeader: Hirvonen SSBROOKLANA 2 (7.94 MILES)Fastest: Hirvonen 10m23.1sLeader: Hirvonen SS8 ULONG 2 (7.73 MILES)Fastest: Latvala 6m55.1sLeader: Hirvonen SS9 COFFS 3 (2.34 MILES)Fastest: Latvala 2m51.0sLeader: Hirvonen SS10 COFFS 4 (2.34 MILES)Fastest: Hirvonen 2m49.9sLeader: Hirvonen SS11 WELSHES 1 (13.11 MILES)Fastest: Latvala 12m10.2sLeader: Latvala SS12 GRACE 1 (12.28 MILES)Fastest: Latvala 11m10.9sLeader: Latvala SS13 VALLA 1 (9.22 MILES)Fastest: Latvala 8m56.2sLeader: Latvala

SS14 URUNGA 1 (8.56 MILES)Fastest: Latvala 8m41.8sLeader: Latvala SS15 WELSHES 2 (13.11 MILES)Fastest: Ogier 11m55.2sLeader: Latvala SS16 GRACE 2 (12.28 MILES)Fastest: Ogier 10m56.0sLeader: Latvala SS17 VALLA 2 (9.22 MILES)Fastest: Ogier 8m39.7sLeader: Latvala SS18 URUNGA 2 (8.56 MILES)Fastest: Loeb 8m28.8sLeader: Latvala SS19 COFFS 5 (2.34 MILES)Fastest: Loeb 2m34.9sLeader: Latvala SS20 COFFS 6 (2.34 MILES)Fastest: Ogier 2m33.8sLeader: Latvala SS21 BUCCA 1 (9.21 MILES)Fastest: Hirvonen 7m18.3sLeader: Latvala SS22 PLUM UDDING 1 (18.64M) Fastest: Latvala 16m26.3sLeader: Latvala SS23 CLARENCE 1 (2.84 MILES)Fastest: Loeb 2m22.8sLeader: Latvala SS24 BUCCA 2 (9.21 MILES)Fastest: Hirvonen 7m10.6sLeader: Latvala S25 PLUM PUDDING 2 (18.64M)Fastest: Hirvonen 16m07.8sLeader: Hirvonen SS26 CLARENCE 2 (2.84 MILES)Fastest: Loeb 2m18.1sLeader: Hirvonen

Loeb tipped his DS3 out of contention…

Matt Wilson matched his best-ever result…

… after a pre-rally team dolphin love-in

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Rallye de FRance alsace Live on ESPN from 29 Sept - 02 Oct UPGRADE NOW • CALL 0844 324 0959 • ESPN.CO.UK/TV

POSITIONS AFTER DAY TWO1 LATVALA/ANTTILA 2h43m47.4s2 HIRVONEN/LEHTINEN +22.7s3 SOLBERG/PATTERSON +59.5s4 WILSON/MARTIN +5m53.7s5 AL QASSIMI/ORR +9m24.4s6 PADDON/KENNARD +13m29.2s

LEG THREE (61.40 miles) SUNNY – AMBIENT TEMPERATURE RANGE ON STAGES 15-23C

The fi nal day looked to be panning out in predictable fashion. Ford continued to control proceedings, with Solberg unable to do anything about the two Fiestas ahead. As expected, on the second run through the day’s longest test, Latvala’s 13.4s lead began to slowly slip away. By the end of the 18-miler, he was back in second spot with Hirvonen

leading. That much, we had expected.

What we hadn’t seen coming was what had come moments before on the road inland from Woolgoolga. Ogier had stopped. The sharp-eyed Citroen team noticed the gap between 12th placed Loeb and Valeriy Gorban ahead was down to two minutes with 21.5 miles left. The seven-time world champion backed himself to take the necessary six seconds per mile out ofthe Ukranian Group N Mitsubishi and left the team to do the rest. The French fi rm did just that. Ogier stopped for 10 minutes, sacrifi cing what would have been eighth place to allow the championship leader to grab a point for 10th. Loeb turned

one into four with victory on the Powerstage.

The top 10 was an emotional place, with Loeb’s relief at taking points matched by similar feelings from Hirvonen, who ended his win drought. The biggest cheer came for sixth-placed Paddon, who won the PWRC category to clinch this year’s title. Ahead of the Kiwi, Al Qassimi’s fi fth was his best ever and Wilson’s fourth matched his best result. Solberg was chuffed to be spraying champagne again after two rallies in the doldrums and the Ford men embraced as Hirvonen thanked Latvala for his sacrifi ce. The winner is back in the game.

Just as fl ipper predicted.

26 SPECIAL STAGES, 229.271 MILES

POS NO DRIVER/NAVIGATOR CAR TIME1 3 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Fiesta RS WRC 3h35m59.0s

2 4 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila Ford Fiesta RS WRC +14.7s3 11 Petter Solberg/Chris Patterson Citroen DS3 WRC +44.8s4 5 Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin Ford Fiesta RS WRC +8m45.2s5 10 Khalid Al Qassimi/Michael Orr Ford Fiesta RS WRC +12m33.3s6 38 Hayden Paddon/John Kennard Subaru Impreza WRX +17m29.3s7 22 Michael Kosciuszko/M Szczepaniak Mitsubishi Lancer EX +19m01.3s

8 30 Olexsandr Saliuk/Pavlo Cherepin Mitsubishi Lancer E9 +21m08.5s9 39 Benito Guerra/Borja Rozada Mitsubishi Lancer EX +22m48.9s10 1 Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Citroen DS3 WRC +30m02.9s

OTHERS11 2 Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia Citroen DS3 WRC 4h05m18.4s14 15 Hennning Solberg/Ilka Minor Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4h08m22.7s

CHAMPIONSHIP TABLEPOS DRIVER PTS1 Sebastien Loeb 1962 Mikko Hirvonen 1813 Sebastien Ogier 1674 Jari-Matti Latvala 1165 Petter Solberg 110

6 Mads Ostberg 567 Matthew Wilson 528 Kimi Raikkonen 349 Henning Solberg 3210 Dani Sordo 23MANUFACTURERS’ POINTS1 Citroen Total WRT 3472 Ford Abu Dhabi WRT 2853 Stobart Ford 117

RALLY SUMMARY Australia’s third venue in as many WRC rounds was based out of a central service at Coffs Harbour Airport. Two runs at a mixed-surface superspecial on the city’s Jetty Precinct started the event and concluded Friday’s and Saturday’s action. The mainstay of the competition ran around Coffs, the western town of Ulong and neighbouring counties of Nambucca and Bellingen.

CLASS WINNERS WRC: Hirvonen/Lehtinen; PWRC: Padden/Kennard. Starters /finishers: 29/24; Leaders: SS1-2 Ogier; SS3 Loeb; SS4-5 Ogier; SS6-10 Hirvonen; SS11- 24 Latvala; SS25-26 Hirvonen

RESULTS Rally Australia, September 8-11, round 10 of 13

PKiwi driver Hayden Paddon scored his fourth straight

Production Car WRC win to pick up his maiden worldtitle on Sunday.

The Subaru driver knew a win in Australia would be good enough to secure him the biggest prize of his career to date and he duly delivered. Like most of the other drivers in the field, Paddon had never seen the New South Wales stages before, but as soon as he got to the recce and found roads extremely similar to his own the other side of the Tasman, he knew things were looking good.

Paddon built a strong lead on the opening day, but saw it all slip away when the hose blew off the turbo on Saturday morning. Paddon affected repairs for the last two morning stages, but there was nothing like the blow there should have been from the unit. He slipped back behind Michal Kosciuszko’s Mitsubishi, but remained completely calm.

“I thought we would have lost more time with the turbo,” said Paddon on Saturday night, back in the lead – despite colliding with a kangaroo in SS16.

A day later and the dream was being lived. The New Zealand team was on top of the world with a rally title for the first time.

“This is just unreal,” he said shortly after his fourth consecutive PWRC success. “I just can’t believe it. A year ago, I was at home in New Zealand with no sponsors, no money and not much chance of getting to the PWRC and now we are champions!”

Kosciuszko’s rally hadn’t got off to the best of starts when he damaged his suspension on SS7 and suffered brake trouble four stages later. He then dropped more time when a gearbox change took longer than expected and cost a 10-second penalty on Friday night. In reality, however, the Polish driver had no answer for Paddon’s pace and admitted as much.

Paddon had feared the pace of the locals, but Brendan Reeves and Nathan Quinn both suffered difficult rallies and failed to feature at the front.

Mitsubishi man Olekandr Saliuk took his maiden PWRC podium with third, rebuilding his confidence after his Rally Finland shunt. Mexican Benito Guerra placed his Lancer fourth with Saliuk’s team-mate Valeriy Gorban fifth.

Such was the pace of PWRC runners on this one that the Group N cars invaded the top 10 overall with Paddon, Kosciuszko, Saliuk and Guerra finishing sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth.

PWRC

Perfect production for Paddon secures crown

… with team-mate Ogier soon to follow

Paddon celebrates his PWRC title success

PWRC – Round 5 of 7POS DRIVER/NAVIGATOR CAR TIME1 Hayden Paddon/John Kennard Subaru Impreza WRX 3h53m28.3s2 Michal Kosciuszko/M Szczepaniak Mitsubishi Lancer EX +1m32.0s3 Olexsandr Saliuk/Pavel Cherepin Mitsubishi Lancer E9 +3m39.2s

REPORTWRC AUSTRALIA


Harvick heads the chasing packNASCAR SPRINT CUP RICHMOND (USA), SEPTEMBER 10, RD 26/36

win would have been enough for him to make the Chase as Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr produced amazing comeback drives.

Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Toyota was badly damaged in an early brush with the wall. But despite 17 pitstops he never went more than a lap down, and the team played the strategy brilliantly as he came home ninth to take a

Chase spot.Earnhardt dropped off

the lead lap three times, but his Hendrick team kept patching up his wounded Chevy and 16th was enough to bag a title shot. In contrast, Tony Stewart kept well out of trouble in a quiet drive to seventh to keep him in the hunt for a third championship.l Connell Sanders Jr

RESULTS1 Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet Impala), 400 laps in 3h20m12s; 2 Carl Edwards (Ford Fusion),

+0.139s; 3 Jeff Gordon (Chevy); 4 David Ragan (Ford); 5 Kurt Busch (Dodge Charger); 6 Kyle Busch (Toyota Camry); 7 Tony Stewart (Chevy); 8 Ryan Newman (Chevy); 9 Denny Hamlin (Toyota); 10 Mark Martin (Chevy). Points 1 Kyle Busch, 2012; 2 Harvick, 2012; 3 Gordon, 2009; 4 Matt Kenseth, 2006; 5 Edwards, 2003; 6 Jimmie Johnson, 2003; 7 Kurt Busch, 2003; 8 Newman, 2003; 9 Stewart, 2000; 10 Dale Earnhardt Jr, 2000; 11 Brad Keselowski, 2000; 12 Denny Hamlin, 2000.

Rydell made series nicely balanced

THE CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT took centre stage at twisty and hilly Knutstorp, as Rickard Rydell and Tommy Rustad took a win apiece to close the gap on points leader Fredrik Ekblom.

Rydell (Chevrolet Cruze) won the fi rst race from pole, with Ekblom taking a tactical second in his VW Scirocco. WTCC ace Robert Dahlgren was drafted in by Volvo to assist Rustad’s title bid, but Rustad only started

sixth and opted to aim for eighth place in race one to gain pole for the reversed-grid race.

That paid off as he led race two from lights to fl ag, ahead of BMW star Colin Turkington. Ekblom’s hopes of fi nishingahead of Rydell were dashed, as Chevy guest driver Michel Nykjaer held him up, for which he was given a stop -and-go penalty.

Rydell is two points behind

with one round to go at Mantorp Park.l Tege Tornvall

RESULTSRace 1 1 Rickard Rydell (Chevrolet Cruze), 19 laps in 21m15.547s; 2 Fredrik Ekblom (Volkswagen Scirocco), +1.052s; 3 Robert Dahlgren (Volvo C30); 4 Michel Nykjaer (Chevy); 5 Johan Kristoffersson (VW); 6 Colin Turkington (BMW 320si). Race 2 1 Tommy Rustad (Volvo), 19 laps in 19m47.793s; 2 Turkington, +3.324s; 3 Kristoffersson; 4 Dahlgren; 5 Johan Stureson (BMW); 6 Rydell. Points 1 Ekblom, 194; 2 Rydell, 192; 3 Rustad, 168; 4 Stureson, 143; 5 Turkington, 122; 6 Richard Goransson, 113.

SUPER GT FUJI (J), SEPTEMBER 11, RD 6/8

YUJI TACHIKAWA AND KOHEI Hirate scored their fi rst victory of the year in Team Cerumo’s Lexus SC430 at Fuji Speedway.

They started from second behind the SARD Lexus of Hiroaki Ishiura and Takuto Iguchi. Ishiura led from the start and handed over the lead to Iguchi, chased by Tachikawa.

With two laps to go, and with Tachikawa right behind him, Iguchi was pushed out by a GT300-class car and spun down to eighth place. It was the fi rst win in the series for the Cerumo squad since 2008.

Tsugio Matsuda/Joao Paulo de Oliveira (Nissan GT-R) inherited second, ahead of Toshihiro Kaneishi/Kodai Tsukakoshi (Honda HSV).

Championship leaders Masataka Yanagida and Ronnie Quintarelli (Nissan) fi nished

Lasp-gasp win for Cerumoseventh, losing four points to the title-chasing Kogure/Duval, who are eight behind with two rounds remaining.l Jiro Takahashi

RESULTS1 Yuji Tachikawa/Kohei Hirate (Lexus SC430), 55 laps in 1h30m47.525s; 2 Tsugio Matsuda/Joao Paulo de Oliveira (Nissan GT-R), +25.468s; 3 Toshihiro Kaneishi/Kodai Tsukakoshi (Honda HSV); 4 Takashi Kogure/Loic Duval (Honda); 5 Takuya Izawa/Naoki Yamamoto (Honda); 6 Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer (Nissan). Points 1 Masataka Yanagida/Ronnie Quintarelli, 60; 2 Kogure/Duval, 52; 3 Matsuda/de Oliviera, 46; 4 Toshihiro Kaneishi/Kodai Tsukakoshi, 41; 5 Motoyama/Treluyer, 39; 6 Tachikawa/Hirate, 35.

Tin-top title fi ght heats up in SwedenSCANDINAVIAN TOURING CARS KNUTSTORP (S), SEPTEMBER 10, RD 8/9

REPORTSWORLD OF SPORT

RACE RATING ★★★★★

INTERNATIONALRACES & RESULTSNASCAR SPRINT CUPRichmond (USA), Rd 26/36

QUICK RESULTSu Winner Kevin Harvicku Pole David Reutimannu Most laps led Harvicku Points leader Kyle Busch

Harvick took his fifth win of the season

GORDON GOES THIRD IN THE ALL-TIME WINNERS’ LISTJeff Gordon (left) held off Jimmie Johnson in a thrilling finish to last Tuesday’s rain-delayed Sprint Cup race in Atlanta, recording win number 85 at the top level of NASCAR

THAT KEVIN HARVICK’S victory at Richmond last Saturday night equalled Kyle Busch’s tally of fi ve 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup wins was almost incidental, as the fi ght to secure the remaining places in the ‘Chase for the Championship’ provided the real entertainment.

Superb pitwork from Harvick’s RCR team during the last of a record-equalling 15 cautions

moved him back into the lead. It was a tough break for Hendrick’s Jeff Gordon, who’d run Harvick down to take the lead, but lacked pace on restarts.

Gordon was also jumped by the Roush Ford of Carl Edwards, who fi nished on the tail of Harvick, but was never close enough to threaten the lead. Edwards’ team-mate David Ragan took fourth, but only a

Action throughout the fi eld as Chase contenders dropped like fl ies

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Turner and Mucke win to take title to the wire

WORLD GT1 BEIJING (PRC), SEPTEMBER 10, RD 9/10 and faster.With about fi ve minutes

remaining, leader Piccini spun into the Turn 7 gravel – and, effectively, out of the title race too. It handed victory to Turner/Mucke as the race ended, as it began, under a safety car as a backmarker had gone off too.

Hexis team boss Philippe Dumas, whose other car had gone off at the fi rst corner, was pushed to Eric Cantona levels of philosophy: “I want to say one thing: We are the best team in the world this year. We are at the top.”

With Basseng/Winkelhock getting pushed off at the fi rst corner, and Krumm/Luhr fi nishing third, it means that the San Luis fi nale should be a straight title shootout between the leading Nissan and Aston crews.

“These results have been unbelievable for us, especially in such horrendous weather because you worry it’s going to be a lottery,” said Turner. “We’re going to have a very heavy car at San Luis but I hope we can keep pushing the Nissan boys all the way to the end.”

Rival Krumm said: “This was a fantastic weekend for the

Young Driver Astons took impressive 1-2

Krumm and Luhr fought back from qualifying crash

DARREN TURNER AND STEFAN Mucke arrived at Beijing’s Goldenport circuit in China as rank outsiders for the FIA World GT1 crown, but a near-perfect weekend has put them in pole position to challenge series leaders Lucas Luhr and Michael Krumm in the Argentinian fi nale in November.

The tight and twisty Chinese venue wasn’t regarded as an Aston Martin track, but both races were dominated by DB9s even if qualifying wasn’t. As at Ordos the previous weekend, Maxime Martin was unstoppable in his Marc VDS Ford GT and set another pole, but raceday dawned wet and miserable with team-mate Bertrand Baguette dumping the car into the gravel early on in the Qualifying Race when it unexpectedly downshifted to neutral on him.

That left Turner out in front, but when he handed over to Mucke the German stalled as he attempted to rejoin. This

promoted the second Young Driver-run Aston of Tomas Enge/Alex Muller into the lead.

The title battle swung massively in this race, as Krumm/Luhr (JRM Nissan)battled their way from 16th on the grid – after Luhr had crashed in qualifying – and closest points rivals Marc Basseng/Markus Winkelhock were running second when given a drive-through for a pitstop infringement. That dropped them to 12th, while Krumm/Luhr surged through the fi eld to fi nish fourth, behind an impressive Aston 1-2-3.

If race one had been a benefi t for the Young Driver team, its party looked like it was going to get crashed in the Championship Race by the rival Hexis Aston squad. Christian Hohenadel and Andrea Piccini, who fi nished third in the qualifi er, jumped ahead of both Enge/Muller and Turner/Mucke – who had swapped places during the pitstop cycle – by pitting later

AT A GLANCEu Championship race Stefan Mucke/

Darren Turneru Qual race Tomas Enge/Alex Mulleru Fastest qualifi er Maxime Martin

REPORTWORLD GT1 BEIJING

Astons; we just couldn’t match their pace. They were top notch, and they didn’t make one mistake – except for the Hexis car, which I’m quite grateful for. This is a dream podium for us.”

It could’ve been the drive that wins them the title.

RESULTSQualifi cation race 1 Tomas Enge/Alex Muller (Aston Martin DB9), 46 laps in 1h01m41.408s; 2 Darren Turner/Stefan Mucke (Aston), +1.089s; 3 Christian Hohenadel/Andrea Piccini (Aston); 4 Lucas Luhr/Michael Krumm (Nissan GT-R); 5 Stef Dusseldorp/Clivio Piccione

(Aston); 6 Jonathan Hirschi/ Christoffer Nygaard (Ford GT).Championship race 1 Mucke/Turner, 42 laps in 1h00m23.990s; 2 Enge /Muller, +0.972s; 3 Luhr/Krumm (Nissan GT-R); 4 Maxime Martin/Bertrand Baguette (Ford GT); 5 Michael Rossi/Nico Verdonck (Chevrolet Corvette); 6 Nicky Catsburg/Enrique Bernoldi (Nissan). Points 1 Luhr/Krumm, 131; 2 Turner /Mucke, 120; 3 Markus Winkelhock/Marc Basseng, 101; 4 Andrea Piccini/Christian Hohenadel, 101; 5 Muller/Enge, 100; 6 Martin, 98.

BEIJING

September 10World GT1Round 9/10

CHINA

Double wins

all aroundfor 4 drivers

There was a trio of double wins when Hamaguchi in the Audi R8 LMS and GTM class driver Hayashi in the Porsche 997 Cup 3.8 each claimed two wins each at the GT Asia Series Rounds 7 & 8 held at Suzuka Circuit, while Imperatori and Class B driver Rizzo both finished on the top step during the Carrera Cup Rounds 7 & 8 in Sepang.

RePoRTafos

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SINGAPORE

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Guangdong was set to host Rounds

11 to 14 of the JK Racing Asia series,

where lucas Auer still leads the points

table. The Austrian who drives for

eurointernational, was overshadowed

in indonesia by who claimed all

four race wins to bring him up the

Championship points ladder to second

from fourth. ikhwan (Meritus.GP)

pushed his Malaysian counterparts

and Petronas Mofaz Racing rivals,

nabil Jeffri and irfan ilyas down to

third and fourth respectively.

it would have been a three race weekend month

in August, had it not been for a typhoon. The ship

carrying the cargo for JK Racing Asia series was

forced to take shelter in the Philppines en route

from indonesia to China where four Rounds were

scheduled at the Guangdong Circuit.

INDONESIAINDONESIA

The JK Asia Racing Series will continue at the 2011 Formula 1 Singtel Singapore Grand Prixas planned but the Rounds will effectively change to 11 & 12 instead.

As usual Singapore will be an interesting outing and all the drivers and teams are looking forward to it. The JK Hospitality Suite will become a gathering place for everyone, with dining converted to Tea & Dinner instead of the usual breakfast and lunch to accommodate those who want to stay back to catch the excitement of Formula 1.

a replacement date for the remaining four rounds is yet to be announced at press time. There are quite a few rumours about the dates and replacement venue doing the rounds. A replacement has been identifi ed and seems only the formality of fi nal written confi rmation from the circuit before an offi cial announcement will be made.

after the weather interruption and subsequent cancellation of the China race, fl ights had to be rescheduled and hotels cancelled. There was not much time for anyone to take a breather as quite a number of people were scheduled to fl y out to Suzuka from Guangdong. For some of the Teams and the organiser involved in more than one championship, it became three-days-three-countries of travelling before landing in Japan.

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Japanese driver Hiroshi Hamaguchi took over driving duties in the audi r8 lMs from Kenji Kobayashi, and having the advantage of knowing the very technical circuit, Hamaguchi went on to claim wins in both rounds 7 & 8 over the weekend. He also made history when he claimed the 100th win for an audi r8 lMs despite the wet and soggy weather.

seven Japanese entries joined series regulars for the weekend with one audi, four Porsches and one aston Martin, while Malaysian driver Tunku Hammam sulong (arrows racing / lamborghini lP560), was unable to attend the race weekend.

Heading into the Suzuka weekend, Hammam was tied in second with sri lankan dilantha Malagamuwa (dilango racing / lamborghini

lP560) and Hong Kong native eddie Yau (asia Racing Team / Porsche 997 GT3 R) with 80 points, just one point behind Champion leader, singaporean driver Mok Weng sun (Clearwater Racing / Ferrari F458 GT3).

The week of the race started out hot, bright and sunny but the weather slowly changed and drivers were faced with changeable weather on saturday and a wet race on sunday.

saturday’s race started out as a downcast afternoon with all teams being cautious of the impending rain. as the pit-stop window closed and drivers had settled back into their race positions, it started to pour with just three laps to go causing GT4 Asia driver, Shuichi Hatakeyama to spin and hit the tyre barrier on the last lap. But the s&d Motorsports’ driver

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As usual, Japan proved to be a wonderful country in which to go motor racing, with the GT Asia Series

joining the Super GT for the second time this year. The event in Suzuka titled, Autobacs super GT

Round 5 in conjunction with the 40th international Pokka GT summer special, became an

outstanding race weekend where Hitotsuyama racing showed their dominance with the Audi R8 lMs.

Hiroshi Hamaguchi in the audi r8 lMs

100th win for an audi r8 lMs

recovered to maintain his position to the chequered fl ag and claimed third place in the GT4 class.

Hamaguchi, went on to set the fastest time of the day with 2:07.359, fi nishing the race a massive 54.803 seconds ahead of the second placed Porsche of eddie Yau.

Mok who ran in second for most of the race was relegated down to fourth when he was penalised with a stop-go penalty for a mis-timed pit stop and thereafter recovered one spot from Malagamuwa who was slowing down due to the sudden downpour.

The podium fi nishers remained the same for the second race with the weather changing to a wet race from the start. Yau’s double second placed fi nish propels him up the points ladder ahead of Mok. Yau has collected 112 points to place him three points ahead of Mok and a further eleven points ahead of Malagamuwa.

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Hiroshi Hamaguchi

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Nigel Farmer in Track Torque Racing’s Ginetta G50

Mark Williamson (aus) and simon Waters (sin)

In GT4 Asia class, Nigel Farmer claimed his fi rst win in his Track Torque

Racing’s Ginetta G50. The Hong Kong based driver fi nished the race ahead

of on track nemesis from Concord absolute racing. The pairing of Mark

Williamson (aus) and simon Waters (sin) took the second spot on the

podium ahead of the Japanese driver partners from s&d Motorsports,

shuichi Hatakeyama and Masahiko ida.

Sunday’s race was won by Ryan Marsden, who for the fi rst time claimed

a pole to fl ag win, and ahead of his more experienced Concord Absolute

racing teammates. The singapore based driver was elated with the

results citing it was to make up for how his race ended the day before.

Waters and Williamson pair once again took second ahead of farmer.

In the GTM class, Hisamori Hayashi of Direction Racing claimed the win

for both races in his Porsche 997 Cup 3.8. On Saturday, he crossed

the line ahead of Kenji Kobayashi of Hitotsuyama racing, also in a

997 while Wayne shen of Modena Motorsports, who was battling

with rising temperatures in his Ferrari F430 GT, fi nished in third.

Hong Kong’s shen took the second spot on the podium on sunday,

ahead of Japanese driver Kobayashi, who fi nished the race eighth overall.

JAPANJAPAN

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at the sepang Circuit for rounds 7 & 8 of the

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia,Alexandre Imperatori

continued to impress with a double win

weekend. The shanghai based-swiss driver

claimed both wins for Team starChase from

pole to fl ag and both times ahead of was LKM

racing Team’s Keita sawa of Japan, and team

mate darryl o’Young of Hong Kong in second

and third respectively.

imperatori currently leads the Championship

and is 12 points ahead of Team Jebsen’s

rodolfo avila, and a further seven ahead of

sawa.

In Class B, Davide Rizzo of WoYo Racing also

made double impact, winning both races over

the weekend. In Round 7, he fi nished ahead of

Taiwanese driver Jeffrey lee (Pauian archiland

Absolute Racing) who held fi rm under intense

pressure from third-placed category fi nisher

Wang Jian Wei of Team Betterlife. While in

Round 8, Rizzo crossed the line ahead of

Wang and Team Kangshun’s ringo Chong.

Despite his outstanding weekend, Rizzo

remains in fi fth on the points table after a slow

start to the Season. He is 63 points behind

current Championship points leader, Wang

with a total of 146 points. Chong collected 30

points to move up the table to second with 113

points while francis Tjia of openroad racing and

Wayne shen share third with 102 points.

September will be an exciting month for

Motorsport asia. The team will head over once

again to Bogor in West Java, indonesia to the

Sentul International Circuit for the fi nale of the

asian Touring Car series. The aTCs rounds 9 &

10 will join the indonesian series of Motorsport

alongside seven different race series over the

three day weekend from 9th to 11th september.

MALAYSIAone week later, the team will head

to singapore’s Marina Bay Circuit for

the 2011 formula 1 singtel singapore

Grand Prix, where the JK Racing Asia

series will continue with rounds 11

& 12 of the season and the Porsche

Carrera Cup asia series will hold

rounds 9 & 10.

The month will end at the autpolis

international Circuit in Japan with

Rounds 9 & 10 of the GT Asia Series

held during the 2011 autobacs super

GT Round 7 from 30th September to

2nd october 2011.

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he motorsport world is a money game and it is no secret that lots of private funding is required to stay on the racing line, until some big sponsor hooks you up. Many talented drivers have come andgone, unable to fi nd monetary sources to further fuel their dream.

Every driver dreams of making it to Formula 1 but the journey before F1 is a long one with many hurdles to overcome and levels to progress through. In Singapore, there hasn’t been anyone close to getting to F1 but dreams are free and there is a healthy pool of young and aspiring drivers hoping and wishing for their breakthrough.

With only a go-karting track in Singapore, the local motorsports scene has much to be worked on at the grassroots level, despite the Lion City hosting F1’s only night race every September. The Singapore Karting Championship (SKC) is the only national go-karting championship which allows drivers from as young as eight years old to as senior as over 50 years old to inject some need for speed into their lives.

The SKC’s title sponsor is AutoInc, an independent broker specialising in sports and luxury automobiles helmed by Singaporean Benjamin Tan. Along with the sponsorship of this series, AutoInc is also sponsoring four local drivers – karters Gabriella Teo and Kenny Yip, as well as GT racing drivers Yuey Tan and Gregory Teo – committing a sweet six-fi gure sum to the sport.

“Our objective is to start introducing the motorsport culture to the local Singaporean scene. We believe the best opportunity to do so is through the grassroots of motorsports in Singapore, particularly at go-karting with the Singapore Karting Championship. There is a need not only to increase the awareness of motorsports itself in Singapore, but also to increase the awareness of the commercial value of motorsports,” said Benjamin Tan, 39, managing director of AutoInc.

“The commercial value of motorsports is not something properly understood here; hence I want to bring it up so the rest of the

entities and big names will understand the huge commercial value behind it. Together, we can then build a stronger motorsports scene in Singapore,” he added.

Prior to starting AutoInc, Tan was a banker for 10 years before he decided to quit the highly-stressed work environment. The banker life was too much for him and he decided to quit his job and take a sabbatical. For the next six months, he took a break from work but a business opportunity landed on his lap.

He had a car dealer who helped him to sell his cars and they saw an opportunity to start a car matchmaking service. Instead of buying in used cars and waiting for owners to take them up, AutoInc plays the role of the middleman with a twist and just makes the introductions between sellers and buyers. Started in 2004, AutoInc has grown and expanded into a reputable automotive broker in the luxury car segment.

Born to a humble family background, Tan had to work his way up and only now can he start indulging in motorsports for himself and the

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community. “I was a naughty boy when I was younger and didn’t pursue higher education. My highest qualifi cation was only ‘O’ levels but I took an apprenticeship with SIMEX and worked my way up to a propriety banker in derivatives. It is only now that I can sit back and indulge in my love for motorsports. I started karting in the car parks of Kallang and I have my own kart at Kartright now too. I’m looking to race in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia next year too,” Tan shared.

What AutoInc is trying to achieve through its motorsports arm is more than just paying money for a sticker on the racing vehicle. Other than sponsoring a race series and drivers, AutoInc is also creating a driver

development programme to identify talent and groom them from a young age.

“The beauty of go-karting is that one can start at a very young age. Through our talent development programme, drivers can be assured of the right foundation and the SKC then serves as a platform to put all that training to good use,” Tan added.

On the corporate side, AutoInc has introduced karting as a customer experience for the business and as a result, all the staff members of AutoInc go karting once a week so that they can understand the sport and the company’s motorsports initiative better.

ASIASINGAPORE

Promoting Grassroots Motorsports with Benjamin Tan

INTERVIEW WITh BENJAMIN TAN

EVERY FORMULA 1 DRIVER HAD TO START SOMEWHERE IN THE

BASICS OF THE BOTTOM RUNGS OF MOTORSPORT. INSTEAD OF

GETTING HIS HEAD CAUGHT UP IN THE GLAMOUROUS WORLD

OF F1 AND ITS ELITE, SINGAPOREAN BENJAMIN TAN IS PUTTING

HIS MONEY WHERE HIS MOUTH IS AND SUPPORTING THE LOCAL

MOTORSPORTS SCENE.

Benjamin Tan, MD, Auto Inc

AutoInc is the title sponsor for the SKC

Benjamin Tan giving out prices at the SKC

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Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race 2011

Audi R8 LMS (#1) almost had victory

Pitstop - Audi

MMER 2011 Winning car from Team Petronas Syntium

Winners of the GT Class

Singaporean team ST Powered won the Touring Production classParc Femme


Starting at noon and ending at midnight, this year’s 12-hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race (MMER) was a little bit different from previous years. Regulations have tightened after last year’s fi re mishap in the pits caused some serious injuries and now anyone in the pit lane has to be in fi reproof suits including all mechanics and photographers.

Another signifi cant rule revision is to the pit stop itself, which has become longer due to the rule changes. The driver pitting in has to come out and run back behind the yellow line in the pit before the crew can start refueling the car. Only when the refueling is complete, then the next driver hops in and the rest of the crew can start their tyre changes or whatever necessary repairs.

Nonetheless, Team Petronas Syntium in their Mercedes SLS GT3 (Car #15) still managed to clock 321 laps in 12 hours, a record for the highest number of laps ever completed in the history of MMER.

It wasn’t that easy a battle though.

The other Mercedes SLS GT3

(Car #28) of Team Petronas Syntium was leading the race for a good 10 hours of the 12-hour race, until they ran into mechanical problems on lap 262 and needed a lengthy pit stop which cost them the lead.

This gave the Audi R8 LMS (Car #1) of Audi Sport Team WRT the lead and Team Petronas Syntium’s Mercedes SLS GT3 (Car #15) moved up to second place. The trio behind this Audi R8 LMS consists of former winners of the world’s most prestigious endurance race; the Le Mans 24 Hours, they being Frank Biela, Marco Werner and Marcel Fassler.

They were on their way to victory (after qualifying in third place) when disaster struck during the last 20 minutes of the race. A punctured left rear tyre forced them into the pits for a tyre change and this gave Team Petronas Syntium in the Mercedes SLS GT3 (Car #15) the win.

Having started from second place, Nobuteru Taniguchi, Masataka Yanagida and Dominic Ang in Team Petronas Syntium’s Mercedes SLS GT3 (Car #15) were overjoyed to have beaten

the favourites from the Audi team and upstaged their team-mates Tatsuya Kataoka, Fariqe Hairuman, Bernd Schneider who started from pole position.

There were three Audi R8 LMS cars on the grid of this year’s MMER – two fi elded by Audi Sport Team WRT submitted by the Belgian Audi Club as part of a factory-supported Audi customer sport programme and the third, an independent entry by Hong Kong-based Absolute Racing team. The other two Audi cars fi nished 6th and 12th out of the 46-car fi eld.

In the Sports Production category, Adrian D’ Silva, Mohd Fahrizal Hasan and Ian Ross Geekie of the Nexus Racing Team won their class with their Aston Martin Vantage, fi nishing seventh overall with 277 laps. As for the Touring Production category, it was Singaporean team ST Powered with drivers Teh Kian Boon, Aloysius Lek, Desmond Soh who took the victory with 274 laps after battling with Malaysian outfi t Type R Racing Team. The 17 Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup cars ran a separate category of their own too.

RESULTS - GT Class

1. Nobuteru Taniguchi/Masataka Yanagida/Dominic Ang (Mercedes SLS) – PETRONAS Syntium Team 2. Frank Biela/Marcel Fassler/Marco Werner (Audi R8) – Belgian Audi Club3.Tatsuya Kataoka/Fariqe Hairuman/Bernd Schneider (Mercedes SLS) – PETRONAS Syntium Team

TOURING PRODUCTION1. Teh Kian Boon/Aloysius Lek/Desmond Soh (Honda Civic FD2-R) – ST Powered2. Wong Yew Choong/Soh Kee Koon/Lai Wee Sing (Honda Civic FD2 Mugen) -Type R Racing Team3. Kenny Lee/Chris O’Shannessy/Wan Weng Yan (Toyota Altezza) - Wing Hin Motorsports

SPORTS PRODUCTION 1. Adrian D’ Silva/M.Fahrizal/Ian Ross Geekie (Aston Martin Vantage) – Nexus Racing Team2. Patrick Ng/Khoo Kay Hong/Chye Ao Anwar (Lotus 2-11)3. Shinichi Hyodo/Steven Chian/Kaziki Hiramane (Honda S2000) – Tracy Sports

About the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race A homegrown sporting event that the Sepang International Circuit proudly hosts each year is the 12-hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race (MMER), which started in 2000 as part of the Merdeka festivities in Malaysia. Into its 12th year now, the MMER attracts international driving talents from the esteemed 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race and has become one of the best endurance races in the region.

When it fi rst started, 55 teams competed in the MMER (across four different categories) and at one point entries swelled to nearly 80 teams. In 2009, it was decided that the Class B (production road cars with engine capacity exceeding 1600cc but below 2000cc) and Class C (production road cars with engine capacity below 1600cc) would be taken out of the MMER to form a separate race of its own – the Sepang 1000KM.

Race queen

Tyre change during pitstop

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP ASIA: Rounds 9 and 10

Defending champion Christian Menzel of Germany stood in for this season’s regular Team StarChase driver Alexandre Imperatori (who had racing commitments in Japan) and had a perfect weekend – taking pole position and winning both rounds.

In both races, a Safety Car interrupted the 12-lap run but Menzel remained unperturbed and kept his lead from pole to chequered flag. Coincidentally, the podium finishers for both races were the same, with Menzel in first followed by SC Global Racing’s Craig Baird and LKM Racing’s Keita Sawa.

Only two Singaporeans took part in the PCCA – veteran local racing driver Ringo Chong and Yuey Tan. In Round 9, Chong did well to finish seventh overall and second in Class B after qualifying fastest in his category but Tan unfortunately suf-fered a tyre puncture and was forced to retire early from the race.

As a result of the non-finish in Round 9, Tan started from the back of the grid for Round 10 in 22nd place. He steadily fought his way through the traffic and finished in 11th place overall. Chong was gunning for a win in his class, but a bad start cost him to lose four places on the go and he eventu-ally finished 10th overall.

The 2011 PCCA series headed to Shanghai after Singapore for the season finale.

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While the main attraction of any Grand Prix weekend is without a doubt the Formula 1 race,there is one more part to the weekend that deserves some of the limelight too – the support races.

It’s easy to get caught up in the fringe activities of the Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, especially with the superb line-up of entertainment acts like Linkin Park and Shakira.

So other than cheering on world-class drivers battling at ear-splitting speeds at the Marina Bay street circuit and ogling at world-class music performances by the various

singers at the Padang, the drivers of the two support race series at the Singapore Grand Prix were also stars of their own shows.

Support races to Formula 1 are other race series outside of the Formula 1 world that typically hold a round or two of the championship on the same weekend. This offers more race action to spectators and also allows fans to appreciate the other tiers of motorsports below Formula 1 and to see the drivers that aspire to Formula 1 in action.

At this year’s Singapore Grand Prix, the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) and open-wheel JK Racing Asia Series served as support races to the main Grand Prix.

The podium (L to R): Nabil Jeffri (MAL) Petronas Mofaz Racing, second; Afiq Ikhwan Yazid (MAL) www.Meritus.GP, race winner; Duvashen Padayachee (AUS) Eurasia Motorsport, third

Afiq Ikhwan Yazid (MAL) leads start of the JK Racing Asia race

The podium (L to R): Craig Baird (NZL) SC Global Racing, second; Christian Menzel (GER) Team Starchase, race winner; Keita Sawa (JPN) LKM Racing Team, third

JK RACING ASIA SERIES: Rounds 11 and 12

Formerly named the Formula BMW Pacific, the JK Racing Asia (JKRA) series is the region’s premier junior single-seater racing series. The JKRA man of the weekend was Malaysian Afiq Ikhwan, who won both rounds from pole position. These two back-to-back wins in Singapore make it a consecutive six-race winning streak for Ikhwan.

In Round 11 on Saturday, two incidents interrupted the race and two Safety Car periods were called, with the race eventually ending with a Safety Car leading the drivers across the finish line on lap 9. Lucas Auer of Eurointernational chased from tenth place to second, ahead of Malaysian driver Nabil Jeffri in third.

Round 12 on Sunday saw another two Safety Car periods that interrupted the race, but Ikhwan managed to keep his lead after starting from pole position again. This time, Auer had to retire from the race early due to a damaged front wing, giving Jeffri second place and Duvashen Padayachee third place. This is Duvashen’s first podium of the season, after claiming several fourth-place finishes.After Singapore, the series heads to India for another Formula 1 support race weekend.

F1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 3 DON’T FORGET ThE SuPPORT RAcES 3


ASIASINGAPORE

Christian Menzel (GER) Team Starchase celebrates in parc ferme

Christian Menzel Team Starchase leads at the start of the race

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