PaddockSpy-Grand Prix Blog

Jenson Button had no peer in Monte Carlo on Sunday afternoon. The world championship points leader snatched another full score as he grabbed the lead at the start, eased quickly away from Brawn team mate Rubens Barrichello, and romped home to a comfortable and totally convincing victory.

"Great job! Fantastic job!" his engineers cried over the radio at the end, as the 29 year-old Englishman whooped and hollered with delight.

There was not a single moment when he ever looked like losing this one, as he stretched his points score to 51, and his lead to 16 over Barrichello. His only error came following the chequered flag when, in his jubilation, he parked his car in the wrong parc ferme area and had to jog all the way to the podium like the triathlon runner he is. It was a pluperfect performance.

Barrichello kept his end up and reduced Buttons 12s lead to 7.6s in the closing stages, and he in turn was well clear of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen which he had beaten off the start line and stayed ahead of apart from during the pit stops. Felipe Massa made it a good day for the Scuderia by keeping his F60 ahead of hard-charging Mark Webber in the sole surviving Red Bull as they battled for fourth place a couple of seconds behind the Finn.

Nico Rosberg had a feisty run to sixth for Williams, ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso. Sebastien Bourdais took the final point for eighth place for Toro Rosso, just ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India after a race-long fight.

In Button's wake it was not a classic race. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel held fourth place early on until getting outfoxed by Massa and Rosberg, and after an early pit stop the German crashed at Ste Devote on Lap 15.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi blotted his copybook by running into the rear of Nelson Piquet's Renault there on Lap 11, both retiring. Heikki Kovalainen also crashed, dropping his McLaren in the Swimming Pool, in a very similar fashion to Massa in qualifying - only harder. It lost him seventh place on Lap 52. Late in the race Kazuki Nakajima lost tenth after nosing into the tyres at Mirabeau.

Timo Glock was thus tenth for Toyota, after a very long first stint which took him through to Lap 57 before he refuelled. He was followed by BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, who was hounded to the flag by an unhappy Lewis Hamilton, who had earlier damaged his McLaren in a brush with the German at Ste Devote on the tenth lap. Nothing could have been a greater contrast for Hamilton with the 2008 race, and likewise for Button.

Behind the McLaren came Toyota's Jarno Trulli, whom Hamilton passed on Lap 75, and Adrian Sutil's Force India. BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica made a poor start, and was the first pit stopper before later retiring with mechanical gremlins.

source: www.formula1.com

Brawn may still have had a decisive edge in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, but it was encouraging to see Ferrari take another step forward. Their improved form from Spain continued, this time with complete reliability. It gave them their best result - and first podium - of 2009. There was some scratching of heads at Red Bull, who dropped to third in the pecking order, despite the arrival of a double diffuser. And there was total frustration at Toyota and BMW Sauber, both former frontrunners left trailing. We take a team-by-team look at the Monte Carlo race…

Brawn
Jenson Button, P1
Rubens Barrichello, P2
This was yet another brilliant one-two for Brawn, their third of the season and, incidentally, the third win for the same Mercedes-Benz engine in Button’s car. They sprung a surprise on their rivals when they started the race on Bridgestone’s super-soft option tyre, a route pursued only by Vettel, Hamilton and Sutil. Where others struggled on them, the Brawns loved them. When Button’s began to go off very slightly, creating oversteer, he was called in early for his first pit stop on lap 17. Barrichello had overworked his rubber sliding about as he ran too close to Button, and that decided the gap between them. An early stop for him kept him ahead of Raikkonen. It was hardly a race-threatening development. By the flag Barrichello had cut a 12s gap to 7.5s as Button backed off, and had shaken off the Ferrari challenge. Brawn now have 86 points in the constructors’ championship compared to Red Bull’s 42.5, and Button is 16 points ahead of Barrichello and looking increasingly strong in the drivers’ table.

Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen, P3
Felipe Massa, P4
This was Ferrari’s most convincing showing since Brazil last year. Raikkonen gave them their first front-row start of the season, and their first podium, and at one stage in the middle of the race the pair of them were flying on Bridgestone’s soft rubber. Crucially, they couldn’t use the super softs at the start, which Brawn could. That was what cost them their chance. That, and Raikkonen starting on the dirty side of the grid and not really being able to capitalise on his KERS, and Massa outfoxing himself in the chicane early on when fighting for fourth with Vettel, then having Rosberg muscle past for a while as he handed the place back to the Red Bull driver. 11 points were very welcome here.

Red Bull
Mark Webber, P5
Sebastian Vettel, Retired lap 15, accident
Vettel started on the super-soft option tyres, with his lightest of all fuel load - and soon became a mobile road block. He soon switched to softs, but dumped it at Ste devote on the 15th lap after braking too late. Webber did a great job in qualifying, made a strong start, and Red Bull’s strategy kept him in play, ahead of Rosberg, to the flag. In the closing stages he was right with Massa.

Williams
Nico Rosberg, P6
Kazuki Nakajima, Retired lap 77, accident
Rosberg looked strong and opportunistic all weekend and deserved better than his sixth place. But a late fuel stop dropped him back to seventh until Renault did the same with Alonso and restored the status quo. Nakajima kept his nose clean all weekend, until dumping his FW31 head-first into the tyre wall at Mirabeau with a lap to run. He said he was pushing too hard on the option tyre.

Renault
Fernando Alonso, P7
Nelson Piquet, Retired lap 11, accident with Buemi
Alonso said his R29 kept improving throughout the race, and that after starting ninth scoring two points for seventh was satisfying. Piquet was really disappointed to be bundled off at Ste Devote, especially as he was on a long first stint and felt confident of scoring some points.

Toro Rosso
Sebastien Bourdais, P8
Sebastien Buemi, Retired lap 10, accident with Piquet
Bourdais was chuffed with a point in what he considers his home race. He nursed his STR4 on both the prime and option tyres, until he was in a position to have a clear run home. Buemi ran ahead of him until his incident with Piquet, to whom he had lost a position at the start. He said was he was so close to Piquet, planning an attack, that he couldn’t duck round him when the Brazilian braked for the first corner. He apologised to Piquet later.

Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella, P9
Adrian Sutil, P14
Fisichella was very pleased with his ninth place, especially as he was close to Bourdais at the finish and in contention for the final point. Sutil started on a one-stop strategy, which made it all the more curious why Force India ran him on the super-soft Bridgestones. These rapidly grained, dropping him down as he had to stop early, and ruining his chances of emulating his team mate.

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, P12
Heikki Kovalainen, Retired lap 52, accident
What a contrast this race was to the last two years’ for McLaren! Hamilton’s qualifying problem was exacerbated when he was given a five-place grid penalty as the impact with the wall at Mirabeau damaged the gearbox, so he had to start at the back. He made some progress early on, but had to pit after a brush when Heidfeld squeezed him at Ste Devote on lap 10. That damaged his front wing and generated understeer, and even a change of nose at his next stop did not effect a real cure. He drove hard, but had to be content with 12th. Kovalainen ran strongly early on, faded to seventh, then spun out and took his nose off in the Swimming Pool after 51 laps.

Toyota
Timo Glock, P10
Jarno Trulli, P13
Tenth and 13th were probably better results than Toyota expected. Glock started with so much fuel he was able to run to lap 57 on the soft Bridgestones. Trulli did a two-stopper, going soft, soft, super soft, and was unable to keep Hamilton at bay in the closing stages. Assuredly, this was a disaster for Toyota in which they threw all manner of set-ups at the TF109 during the weekend yet never seemed to make the slightest progress.

BMW Sauber
Nick Heidfeld, P11
Robert Kubica, Retired lap 29, brakes
For Toyota, read BMW Sauber. They were in the same boat as their Japanese-German rival, which amounted to all at sea. Heidfeld ran soft and super soft to claim 11th place, and said his car was simply too slow. Kubica made a poor start, then suffered a right rear puncture. He was lapping well with a fuel-heavy car, but was forced to retire with brake problems. Like Toyota, BMW Sauber need to have a major rethink before Turkey.

source: www.formula1.com

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

1st Jenson Button (Brawn GP), 1h40m44.282s; 2nd Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP), 1h40m51.948s; 3rd Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), 1h40m57.724s.

Q: Jenson, you didn’t even wait for the car to the podium ceremony. You just sprinted to the ceremony.
Jenson Button: Yeah, I mean the race was pretty tough but with the helmet on when you run you realise how long the pit lane is. I got off the line clean with Rubens behind and Rubens had problems with his rear tyres and I got a gap and it really didn’t change from there. I had the normal Monaco thing when the walls seem to get closer and closer the further you get into the race. But, yeah, an outstanding weekend and I think we have proven this weekend that our package works. I think we are looking very strong for the next few races. This victory is massive for us, I think, at this point of the season.

Q: When the tyre covers came off on the grid the Brawn cars were on the soft tyre unlike some of your major competitors. In some ways that is where you won the race with everybody else having trouble.
JB: Well, yeah I was surprised when the covers came off and most people were on the prime tyres, the harder of the two. We never thought twice really about running the option tyre and at the end of the stint I did start struggling with a little bit of oversteer but not quite as bad as Rubens did. But I started struggling and my times were not quite good enough and that is why they called me in and I stuck the prime tyres on. The prime tyres worked really well here. But the prime tyre was the race tyre.

Q: Those last 15 laps in Monaco when you are so near victory but things can go wrong. Talk us through your mindset at that point.
JB: Yeah, it is a very strange feeling because you start backing off a little bit and in reality, as has been said many times before, that is the worst thing to do as you start thinking about if I get this to the end I am going to win Monaco. That is the worst thing to do. I started backing off and there was so much going through my mind. It is not that you are not thinking about driving but there is a part of your mind that is thinking about something else. I had to really concentrate and the last two laps were very enjoyable as I had a big enough gap and you know nothing can go wrong with the car. I could drive at my steady pace and just enjoy the moment as it is a very special moment winning here in Monaco.

Q: Rubens, a great start which defined your race. But you had a problem with the seat belt in stint two.
Rubens Barrichello: Yeah, once again just like Barcelona I had a great start and I was able to have a run on Kimi. I was running at tremendous pace. But possibly I was just too close to Jenson as losing that little bit of aerodynamic I was struggling a little bit more without the air in front and I grained the rear tyres. From 16s I started to do 20s and then Jenson was gaining like three or four seconds a lap and that defined the race pretty much. If you look back the race was defined yesterday as it is a great momentum going when you start from the front. I had a great weekend. The car was perfect the whole way through. It was a shame we had the graining. On the second stint my seat belts started to get looser and looser and I could hear them going clank, clank. I was just getting loose, so I had to start driving differently. I had to send brakes to the front as when you brake you are just moving and you get to the pedal and you lock rear wheels more. I had a great time, really. It was not as easy as it looks from the outside, so I am proud of what we achieved today.

Q: Kimi, a great return to form for Ferrari. Talk about being beaten off the line by Rubens and then your day thereafter.
Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, it is not the first time when I have been in second place and always lose one position. The start seems to be very slippery on that side plus they were on the softer tyres, so it definitely helped at the start. It was not nice to see as we were faster than Rubens but there was no way past him. We lost a lot of time at the beginning and that was the only chance to try and stay behind Jenson. Then I had a little bit longer second stint. I don’t know what happened at the pit stop but we lost a lot of time and Rubens was still a long way ahead of me when I came out. We still have work to do to be where we want to be and fight for the first place. But many small things changed this weekend as yesterday being first place probably would have given us a better chance. We need to be happy after a very difficult start to the season. The people have been working very hard at the factory and here at the circuit, so we improved the car very quickly once we realised we can do something different with the rules. We need to be very happy with what we achieved today. Third and fourth is not bad. We should get some new package again for next race and it should help. I am disappointed, definitely, but in this situation we need to be a bit happier. I am not happy with third place but for the team it is still a good result.

Q: Jenson, some final thoughts on winning the Monaco Grand Prix. It is the Blue Riband race event of the FIA Formula One World Championship and it must have been a long held ambition of yours. Talk us through that and your immediate thoughts as you crossed the line and the emotions you felt.
JB: Well, before the weekend I said that this grand prix doesn’t mean anything different to any other grand prix. I think that was more to stop the pressure on myself but we all know the truth. To win here was fantastic. This circuit is very different to anything else. I struggled at the start of the week and for me that makes it even better to come away with the victory. As I crossed the line I shouted on the radio to my engineers, ‘we have got Monaco, baby.’ We have got the victory in Monaco and that means a lot and a one-two finish for Brawn is exceptional. It is definitely going to go down in history, the performance of the team this year. It has been staggering. It is a great moment and I can’t wait to see all the boys. It is nice to get off the podium and see them but both of us, I am sure Rubens feels the same, to go and see the boys they are all going to be very emotional at the moment, so well done to them.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Jenson, where does Monaco rate in your all-time wins?
JB: As I said before, I said this weekend that this win doesn’t mean anything else to me than any other. It wouldn’t if it happened. Bit of a lie really but I was just trying to take a bit of pressure off myself. It is very special winning here. It is a completely different circuit to any that we race on. If you are quick in Barcelona you are quick on many circuits. This is just different and to win here is a great feeling. The last 15 laps were tough as when you lose a little bit of concentration anything can happen. But the last two laps were the most enjoyable laps of my career, I would say. I could just enjoy the moment. I had a big enough lead and I could just enjoy winning Monaco. It is something you always dream about as a kid. You watch it on television and you think it is an amazing spectacle. But actually driving in it and winning it is just fantastic. I am very happy.

Q: The car seemed to be perfect and the tyres perfect as well.
JB: As perfect as a car can be around Monaco for sure. The problem with this circuit is the further you go into the race, as it is mentally very tough and you are focusing so much, the barriers seem to get narrower and narrower. The car was great. We started off with a car this weekend that I was not happy in. I actually did not want to drive here at one point. I was just not happy at all but we have worked with it. The engineers have done a great job and the car has performed very well in qualifying and the race. It was an exceptional weekend, I think, for myself and also for Brawn and Rubens. This will definitely go down in history, for sure, a new team winning in Monaco.

Q: We are a third of the way through the championship and people are saying you cannot lose this championship.
JB: Yeah, I don’t know how you can say that after six races; I have won five. You are sort of putting a bit of negative energy in there and saying it is mine to lose. I wouldn’t put it like that. I am 16 points in the lead and I have more of an advantage than others to win the championship. But it is all to play for. It is not mine to lose for sure. I am doing the best I can and at the moment that is good enough. We will see what happens over the next few races. I am just enjoying this moment as the whole team should be. Every win is great but I think for the whole team, and I think everyone in Formula One, you want to win in Monaco and you want to win your home grand prix. In a way this is both for me.

Q: Rubens, you mentioned the problem with your rear tyres, what was that?
RB: Well, I was just mentioning it to Jenson. We had a different reading from many of the others. We had the option tyre and we thought the option was going to be the tyre to use for three quarters of the race really. Then, all of a sudden, we saw some of the others using the other tyre. As you could see it was the tyre to have to begin with; we pulled away, it was great. I was comfortably running behind Jenson but probably by running that close it just affected my tyre a little bit more because you lose a bit of aerodynamics and you start to slide. I had the graining on the rear, but graining badly, because I started saying that the pressure must have gone up and I couldn’t keep up the pace. They said we can see on the TV that the graining has started. With the graining I lost four seconds myself, so it was great strategy to recover from that when Kimi stopped. I came in a lap later, much earlier than I was expected and after that it was fine but by then Jenson was 16s ahead. We had very similar pace; sometimes I was better, sometimes he was but basically the race was lost during that graining phase.

Q: How close did Kimi get to you?
RB: Well, I was very lucky that it is just impossible to overtake at this place, even though he had the KERS. If you brake in the middle of the line, Monaco is really impossible. There’s 101 percent of a chance of not overtaking, so it was lucky that it was this place where I had the graining.

Q: Your fourth second place here; is that a little frustrating?
RB: I think it’s something like that, yeah. I wish I had won some races here but I’m looking at it differently this time. Of course Jenson is 16 points ahead but I have to cover as many points as possible while I’m not winning, so if I do start winning then it’s a different matter. It’s the championship that matters right now and as I said, Jenson is on a flier. He’s not making any mistakes which is really good for him, it’s really good for the team. I’m pushing him as hard as I can. I wanted to win for myself and for the team and this couldn’t be any better for the team, to be honest, because we’re pushing each other, we’re fair to each other and we’re having a wonderful time. He’s having a bit more fun than I am because he takes the trophy home but I am pushing hard, I won’t stop until the very final race.

Q: Kimi, you spoke about the start to Peter Windsor; did you use KERS at the start?
KR: Yeah, but there’s not much use for it if you start spinning your wheels straight away, so that’s where we lost the start. At any other place I could have kept second place. You gain a lot with KERS on long straights but it doesn’t really make much difference here. It’s more the first jump off the line. They had soft tyres, we had harder ones. The right hand side is probably a little bit better for the start anyhow. We just lost it there. It was all fighting after that. We were faster when Rubens had his problems with the tyres at the beginning but then after that, it all played out with very similar pace. We went a little bit longer in the second stint but they seem to be faster in the pit stops. I don’t know what they did but we were still a long way behind when I came out of the pits. That’s how it went. Without being third at the start, we could probably have taken second place but it’s still not what we wanted really. I think, overall, we’re not fast enough really yet to fight for first place. We need to be happy; we’ve still got good results for the team compared to what we had in previous races this year. It’s disappointing to finish third but good for the team and for sure we’re happier now as a team and we’re scoring points. We’ll probably get a little more peace now from everyone as a team. We’re coming back but it will take a while before we’re exactly where we want to be but we definitely made big steps in recent months. We need to be positive. People have done a really good job at the factory and at the circuit to push hard, so we’re starting to get results and that always helps people to push harder.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Bob McKenzie – The Daily Express) Well done Jenson, the run at the end, what inspired that, where did you get the energy, and can you explain what it was like on those two last laps when you were able to cruise? What could you see, what could you hear, could you appreciate the crowds?
JB: Yes, it was the first time I’ve actually looked around Monaco during a race, even though somebody said I was doing that back in 2001. This was the first time I had a couple of laps to let it soak in. I was doing a pace during the last two laps when it was pretty impossible to make a mistake. It was such a nice feeling, especially going past the pits and seeing the boys and seeing my pit board being shaken by Mikey Muscles, my physio. So it was a very emotional couple of laps. The run at the end was… it’s been a long time since I’ve been on the podium in Monaco. I thought they were directing me in (to parc ferme), so I went in with all the other cars, got out and had to make a spectacle of it, so I ran around and ran down the circuit. There was no other way to go, all the other ways were full of people, so I ran round the circuit. It’s amazing how much energy you’ve got when you cross the line first but it was a bit embarrassing.

Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Jenson, I don’t know how you are on your Formula One history but only six drivers have ever won five of the first six races and they are some of the greats: Ascari, Fangio, Clark, Stewart, Mansell and Schumacher. I just wondered what you thought about that, whether you’ve got any feelings being listed in that kind of company?
JB: It’s a great feeling, for sure. Facts obviously don’t excite me too much, especially after the last couple of years that I’ve had but winning does and winning here is very special. I’m not thinking about the last few races, it’s this race I’m feeling at the moment, and I’m sure tomorrow I will start thinking about the next race in Turkey but at the moment I’m thinking that I won in Monaco. That’s a special feeling that will last for quite a while, I think.

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, did Felipe make it difficult to keep third place?
KR: It wasn’t easy for me. I needed to push all the time. We tried to push anyhow, to jump Rubens in the pit stops but we couldn’t. I didn’t know how many more laps Felipe had than me but I knew that it was going to be close but in the end it was not very close. I was pushing all the time anyhow. We knew it was going to be pretty tight but in the end it turned out to be pretty easy. After that we could slow down and just save the brakes and tyres and speed up a little bit at the end because there was one of the Red Bulls catching us up, so we just had to pick up the pace a bit. But apart from that, after the last pit stop it was great.

Q: (Tom Cary – The Daily Telegraph) Jenson, you’re now guaranteed to be leading the championship when we get to Silverstone. What’s that going to feel like?
JB: Is Silverstone after Turkey? OK. Yeah, that’s a great feeling. I always love the British Grand Prix. It is obviously my proper home Grand Prix. Even when you’re not competitive and things are going tough you still get a lot of support there, being British, which is a great feeling. But also going there having won five races will be a nice feeling and hopefully there will be lots of Brawn caps out there. I think they’ve only just gone on sale but it would be nice to see a couple out there. It’s a special race, whether you’re in a good car or a not so good car. But turning up there winning the championship, yeah, it’s going to be a nice feeling and hopefully I’ll put on a good show in front of the home crowd. This guy (Barrichello) is going to be tough to beat there. I think he’s beaten me every year he’s been my team-mate but I will give it a good go.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Jenson, how was your graining on the option tyre at the beginning?
JB: I got a tiny bit, I think, but it didn’t cost me a lot of lap time. We stopped earlier than expected but in the first couple of laps I wasn’t pushing the tyre too hard because I thought it might grain and that might have been reason for it, it might also be because Rubens… I didn’t grain and Rubens did because he was the following car and obviously you lose downforce but I was able to pull out a big enough gap. And I thought Rubens was maybe saving fuel initially but then the team said he was graining. It was a nice gap to have, very nice gap, when you’re leading Monaco and you’ve got a 16s lead before the first stop. And then I really had to try and control the pace. Rubens seemed quicker at the start of the stints and I was quicker at the end which was more important for me to be quicker at the end, especially if he was stopping a lap or two later. In a way, you’d say that out of my wins this year, you could say that this one is the easiest but I also had a good gap but mentally this circuit is very tough. Every lap you have a chance of hitting a wall and that’s game over and with the new big front wings, I’m sitting lower in the car as well. It’s so easy to scrape a barrier with your front wing and that’s game over, so you’ve got to be very precise. The thing is if you try and back off around here you lose a second and a half, so you’ve got to be pushing.

Q: (Peter Nugent – Riviera Radio) Jenson, you were very focused all weekend. How difficult was it to shut out all the distractions that Monaco always brings? And the second part of the question: you live here, your father John lives here, a family celebration tonight? What have you got planned?
JB: Well, I will be going to see Prince Albert later. I’ve got a suit and I’m looking forward to that. My mum’s here, my dad’s here and one of my sisters is here plus my girlfriend, so I’ve brought the full clan along and yeah, I’m sure we will have a good night as I’m sure most of us will. Monaco is a special race and Sunday night is a special night. Monaco puts on a good show.

Q: (Laurentzi Garmendia – Berria) Rubens, do you think the car suits Jenson more than you and is there a particular track where you think you can have the edge over him?
RB: At the beginning of the season I think the car suited him a little bit more, especially given the problems that I’ve been having with the rear brakes being too hot. I had to run without the wheel covers and he could run with them. But since the upgrade in Barcelona, it came a little bit my way and it has helped me very much. I’m in the game pretty much. I think the car will suit me in Turkey, Silverstone… no, it can suit me anywhere. I don’t think that a good driver can say I’m not doing well because the car is not suitable for me. If you’re good enough, you just have to adapt to the car and that’s it. It could come your way a little bit and could go away from you a little bit but at the end of the day you have to adapt to it and that’s it.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Kimi, you made your second pit stop before Massa like the first one. Do think that if Jenson Button left the pits after the second pit stop behind Massa, do you think your place would have been at risk?
KR: I’m not interested in even thinking about it. Why should I? I was third in the end, that’s the end result. I came in early because at the first stop we tried to jump Rubens because he was so slow with the tyres. We were forced to stop a bit because the people behind us were catching us quickly, so that’s why we were earlier than him but in the end we were third and it doesn’t matter what they did, that’s where we ended up.

Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Jenson, you talked about maintaining your concentration around here for the last few laps. What’s it like maintaining your concentration going forward now, not allowing yourself to get too far ahead of yourself and think of the bigger picture?
JB: Well, if you stop asking me the same questions over and over again about winning the World Championship I might be able to concentrate on the next race. I’m taking it as it comes. Nothing’s changed. I don’t know what would change if I did think about the World Championship to be fair. But I’m enjoying myself, as you can imagine and I’m just looking forward to the next weekend in Turkey but before that we’ve got a bit of enjoyment to do this evening.

source: www.formula1.com

The gap between pole position and last on the grid is closer than ever this season. That should mean a massive boost for the backmarkers, but with an in-season testing ban, finding those vital few last tenths of a second seems to be an impossible mission. Force India are the only team yet to score in 2009. However, with recent upgrades to the VJM02 - and KERS hopefully on the way for the German Grand Prix - Giancarlo Fisichella is cautiously optimistic the situation could change soon…

Q: Giancarlo, how satisfied are you with your season so far? How satisfied are you with the car?
Giancarlo Fisichella: So far it’s been a tough season again. Actually we expected to be much more competitive - even looking for points - but unfortunately it is not like that, mainly because the car was ready quite late and then we found some problems with the downforce. In fact we’ve not got enough downforce. We’ve taken a few good steps through the season, especially with the double diffuser in Bahrain. This really meant a good step forward and I have to say that the team did a good job, but it was not enough. We need another big step forward like that. Otherwise it will remain tough.

Q: Bahrain and Barcelona saw upgrades to the VJM02, and this weekend some more new parts have been announced. Can you tell us in what areas? And what do they deliver in terms of performance?
GF: Well, here we have very small updates. A few elements but in fact it will be small, unfortunately. We are waiting for the new front wing, which will probably be ready for Turkey hopefully. That’s all. Here it will be a difficult race weekend because here you need a lot downforce, which is what we lack right now. But here in Monaco you never know. It is a very demanding circuit and anything can happen here. Although a good grid position would be very helpful this track can turn everything upside down. In fact I have a very good feeling with this circuit - so let’s wait and see what happens.

Q: In Barcelona, KERS seemed to be a helpful tool for slower cars to stay in front, as Ferrari’s Felipe Massa demonstrated. Monaco is not a KERS track, but when and where do Force India plan to implement KERS, to compensate for your lack of speed?
GF: Hopefully we will have it for the German Grand Prix. I expect to gain two to three-tenths per lap so I am very much looking forward to it. We will see if that is achievable in reality.

Q: This year the field is closer together than ever before. Force India have improved a lot from last season, but how difficult is it to find those missing tenths to close the gap further?
GF: It is very difficult. The team is really working very hard, they are pushing very hard, but it is not easy to find the right direction and to find tenths at every race. The gap between us and the other teams, even with the leaders in the championship, is closer. But it is still not enough to move forward on the grid.

Q: At the moment Force India are the only team not to have scored points. It seems to have been a mixture of bad luck and lacking that little bit of extra pace. When do you realistically think that points can come your way?
GF: Hopefully on Sunday. But realistically it is difficult - almost impossible. But then you never know. We need another big step, I would say in the half-second range, to move forward on the grid and have a better pace in the race.

Q: Ahead of this weekend’s race, team principal Vijay Mallya said that qualifying is the team’s Achilles heel at the moment. What will you do to raise the bar on Saturday afternoon?
GF: It’s true that the qualifying session is very important here, as it’s a track that does not allow easy overtaking. One of our major problems is getting the tyres warm enough during the qualifying session and that makes it very difficult for us. Our race pace is much better, so we can probably deliver a surprise. Anyway we will try our best.

Q: Last year’s Monaco Grand Prix was a highlight for the team with Adrian Sutil almost finishing fourth. Do you think something similar could happen on Sunday, considering the characteristics of this track?
GF: You are right, in Monaco you never know. If it’s wet, and the weather forecast says there is a chance of rainy conditions, then you need a good strategy to deliver a good race result.

Q: How do you see your future in Formula One racing? Force India test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi reportedly said that he has been assured of a race drive with the team next year…
GF: Ah, that’s good for him! Obviously I want to see an improvement with the car and I can assure you that I am still motivated, I still enjoy racing. Let’s see what the future brings. For now, I am fully concentrated on this season.

source: www.formula1.com

The tasks for Monaco’s opening day of practice were, as usual, chassis set-up work and tyre evaluation, the latter again being critical with the need to run both Bridgestone’s soft and super-soft tyre compounds. The times were close right from the start, and the afternoon saw a fabulous battle as Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello, Kazuki Nakajima and Felipe Massa took turns to set the pace. Since conditions change quickly here, however, Thursday’s individual performances need not be representative of what can be expected on Saturday…

Williams
Nico Rosberg, 1m 18.024s, P7/1m 15.243,s P1
Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 18.000s, P6/1m 16.260s, P9
Rosberg reported that he did not immediately feel comfortable in his FW31, but became happier as the grip levels rose. Then he felt he could have gone faster still but for traffic in the afternoon. Nakajima felt his car was difficult in the second session.

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 17.578s, P3/1m 15.445s, P2
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 17.686s, P4/1m 15.984s, P7
Hamilton said that he was very encouraged by the performance of his MP4-24, and that he’ll be shooting for a top five qualifying slot on Saturday. Kovalainen was also quick all day, and seemed quietly optimistic.

Brawn
Rubens Barrichello, 1m 17.189s, P1/1m 15.590s, P3
Jenson Button, 1m 18.080s, P8/1m 15.774s, P4
Barrichello was happy with the way his first day in Monaco went and hopes for good things as a birthday present in qualifying on Saturday. He said he evaluated lots of things with positive outcomes, and that the oversteer he experienced was controllable and the balance good. Button found his BGP001 a challenge in the morning with locking rear wheels in low-speed corners and understeer in the high-speed sections. Some good set-up changes helped tame it for the afternoon and he felt they were moving in the direction of the decent balance that will be crucial for qualifying.

Ferrari
Felipe Massa, 1m 17.499s, P2/1m 15.832s, P5
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 17.839s, P5/1m 15.985s, P8
Ferrari enjoyed a trouble-free day with both drivers amassing 73 laps. Massa was happy to be among the front runners, and that his F60 was quick and consistent. Raikkonen said his car was handling reasonably well but that there was room for improvement.

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 19.233s, P13/1m 15.847s, P6
Mark Webber, 1m 18.348s, P10/1m 16.579s, P12
Vettel lost some track time with his morning engine failure, but the team did a great job to turn it round for the afternoon despite the late arrival of parts. Webber had a mixed bag of a day, suffering a vibration at the rear of the car in the morning, and then hitting lots of yellow flags in the afternoon. Both cars have a new double diffuser here.

Renault
Nelson Piquet, 1m 19.204s, P12/1m 16.286s, P10
Fernando Alonso, 1m 18.283s, P9/1m 16.552s, P11
Piquet held himself back around Monte Carlo initially, and soon found the groove. He liked the behaviour of his R29 in general. Alonso said that Thursday was more about the drivers settling in than the cars, and that he was happy with the way things went.

Force India
Adrian Sutil, 1m 19.600s, P18/1m 16.675s, P13
Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 19.534s, P15/1m 17.504s, P19
Sutil liked his VJM02’s balance but suffered rear tyre graining with both the soft and super-soft compounds. Fisichella had the same problem.

Toyota
Jarno Trulli, 1m 19.831s, P20/1m 16.915s, P14
Timo Glock, 1m 19.698s, P19/1m 17.207s, P18
Trulli reported a normal first day of practice, gathering data. But he had some tyre degradation problems in the afternoon. Glock tried several aero and mechanical set-ups and did a lot of tyre work in the afternoon, and left feeling unsure where Toyota were in the overall scheme of things for the day.

Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi, 1m 18.695s, P11/1m 16.983s, P15
Sebastien Bourdais, 1m 19.255s, P14/1m 17.052s, P16
Buemi reported a positive day with the pace steadily improving. Bourdais said his STR4 was good on short runs, less good on longer stints.

BMW Sauber
Nick Heidfeld, 1m 19.579s, P17/1m 17.109s, P17
Robert Kubica, 1m 19.560s, P16/No time
Not a good day here, though BMW Sauber traditionally do race work on the first day. Heidfeld had brake problems in the morning, and traffic in the afternoon, but concluded that Monaco does not suit the F1.09. Kubica was disappointed with the lack of performance, and even more with his afternoon engine failure.

source: www.formula1.com

Sunday, 17 May 2009

In a hectic French MotoGP race, which started on a wet surface and was completed on slicks, Jorge Lorenzo judged conditions perfectly to take his second win of the year.

Spanish star Jorge Lorenzo found the perfect remedy for his Jerez frustrations at Le Mans, bouncing straight back from his DNF in Spain with a brilliant win at the Grand Prix de France in highly difficult conditions - to return to the top of the standings.

Lorenzo took the lead on the first lap and shot away at the front, building up a big advantage on wet tyres as the track dried quickly, eventually being the last rider to change onto slicks in his first ever ‘flag-to-flag’ contest and riding superbly on both sets of tyres to win by a 17 second margin.

Another brilliant effort by Hayate Racing’s Marco Melandri saw him cross the line second for his first podium since 2007, having been unsure of his MotoGP future over the winter.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa hunted down his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso on the final lap for third place to secure his third consecutive podium result.

A nightmare for Valentino Rossi saw him slip from first to joint second in the standings after a chaotic race. The World Champion swapped bikes three times, suffered a crash and was given a ride through for speeding in pit lane before eventually finishing last.

Australians Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro) and Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) were fifth and sixth respectively, with Stoner drawing level with Rossi in second place in the championship.

Veterans Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who mounted a comeback from sixteenth early in the race, and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) would have ultimately hoped for better than their seventh and eighth places.

A solid performance for James Toseland (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) saw the Englishman take a step in the right direction in ninth and Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) completed the top ten.

Lorenzo's advantage at the top of the standings is just one point, ahead of title favourites Rossi and Stoner who sit jointly in second position with 65 points each. Mugello, one of Rossi's favourite venues and his home circuit, will host the next round, the Gran Premio d'Italia Alice, the fifth date on the 2009 MotoGP World Championship calenda

source: www.motogp.com

Sunday, 17 May 2009

Back on the podium for the first time since 2007 Marco Melandri was a happy man after the MotoGP race at Le Mans.

Brawn GP’s Jenson Button drove a pluperfect two-stop race to take his fourth victory in five races in Sunday afternoon’s Spanish Grand Prix, leading home early leader and three-stopping partner Rubens Barrichello by 13 seconds.

It was a resounding success for Brawn, but Barrichello had Mark Webber right on his tail at the finish as the Australian headed a Red Bull 3-4. His team mate Sebastian Vettel had been trapped behind Felipe Massa’s fast-starting Ferrari from the outset, but finally slipped ahead in the closing stages as the Brazilian was ordered to back off to conserve fuel. On the final lap the red car fell victim to Fernando Alonso’s Renault, as poor Massa was obliged to slow down even further.

The result gives Button 41 points to Barrichello’s 27, Vettel’s 23 and Webber’s 15.5. In the constructors’ stakes, Brawn have 68 to Red Bull’s 38.5.

Nick Heidfeld drove a tough and defensive race to net two points for BMW Sauber with seventh place, and Nico Rosberg completed the points scorers with eighth for Williams.

An accident at the first corner influenced the race. Rosberg eased slow-starting Jarno Trulli off in the second, left-handed corner, and as the Italian’s Toyota spun out of the gravel and back on to the track it collected Adrian Sutil, who had just short-cut the corner over on the left-hand side. In the confusion the two Toro Rosso’s collided, resulting in retirement for all four and a five-lap safety car period.

Barrichello resumed the lead he had taken from Button off the grid when the racing restarted on lap six, but later fell behind his team mate as his three-stop strategy proved inferior.

Lewis Hamilton had a frustrating afternoon for McLaren, finishing ninth ahead of Toyota’s Timo Glock, who ran well initially but fell back with an early refuelling stop. BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica led Renault’s Nelson Piquet home for 11th, with Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella rounding out the finishers.

The other retirements were Kimi Raikkonen, whose Ferrari ground to a halt with suspected electrical problems on lap 18, and fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen who fell victim to gearbox gremlins on his McLaren.

source: www.formula1.com

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

1st Jenson Button (Brawn GP), 1h37m19.202s; 2nd Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP), 1h37m32.258s; 3rd Mark Webber (Red Bull), 1h37m33.126s.

Q: Jenson, another brilliant day for you and your team. A switch for your team-mate to a three stop strategy relatively early in the race and then just a great day for you.
Jenson Button: Well, it was the other way around. We were both going that direction but they switched me to a two stop just to cover all our bases. Three stop was the quicker strategy we thought and I wasn’t sure about going to a two stop. When we put the fuel on board it felt very, very heavy and I didn’t think I would come out in front of (Felipe) Massa and (Sebastian) Vettel but I did. From then on I could get my head down and concentrate on putting the laps in and being as consistent as possible. So to come away with a win, they all mean a lot obviously but coming back to Europe and winning in Barcelona, a circuit that I’ve always found a little bit tough, it’s a good feeling and gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.

Q: Rubens, a great team performance as well. Tell us about the race from your point of view.
Rubens Barrichello: The race evolved quite well. I had a great start, went to the lead. I was running a tiny bit quicker than Jenson to begin with and I had two more laps of fuel. It was running quite well and then I heard they changed Jenson’s strategy and I had to keep on pushing. My third set of tyres was not good. I don’t know if there was something broken on the car or anything. I could not keep my pace up as well as the last set, so I guess it wasn’t the tyre, it must be something to do with the car and from there on it was a struggle. I had a big struggle to keep the car on the track and a relief to come second and a big thank you to the whole group as it is still first and second back in Europe. Disappointed that I haven’t won the race as I thought I had it in the bag today but it is still a good effort from the whole team.

Q: Mark, a strong result for you and the team. Your team-mate Sebastian Vettel obviously spent most of the race behind Felipe Massa’s Ferrari. But a great ending to your second stint to make up that time.
Mark Webber: Yeah, exactly. It was a tough first stint in terms of we knew that it was in qualifying that it was going to be difficult to get track position on those guys, particularly Felipe round this place as you can’t do much on the circuit. We did our best to hang in there in the first stint as best as we could. I knew I was one lap shorter which is never ideal but that’s the way it was because of qualifying. The car went incredibly neutral in the high speed in the last few laps of the first stint, so we made a balance correction for the second stint and the second stint went very well for me. It was very long, we knew we had to go extremely long to try and jump and give us very good field position if you like with the people around us. That worked well for the majority of the stint, a good 25 laps or so, and again at the end I came up to Rubens a little bit. I would have tried to stay close and the guys were encouraging me to stay as close as possible as we thought Rubens might have been one lap shorter but he stopped on the same lap. The primes worked okay at the end. I was stuck behind Rubens again for most of the last stint. But it is a good day for the team. We would like a few more points but I think, what is it 10 or 11 for Sebastian and I so that’s another good chunk for us. These guys are a still going away but we are going away from the rest of the field, so a great day for us. And the team have buried themselves this week to get the car ready, a lot of all-nighters and a fantastic thank you to Renault as the engines have been great.

Q: Jenson, let’s have a look at the start. Your start with Rubens taking the lead and the first corner accident and weaving through the debris afterwards behind the safety car.
JB: Yeah, the start I felt was okay but Rubens got a flier of a start. I moved to the inside to try and hold the line but when he has got that much of an overlap at the start you can’t really do much about it into turn one. Rubens did a great start and I wasn’t able to stay with him on that and as soon as he was in front I knew it was going to be very difficult to beat him.

Q: And the mayhem behind you?
JB: We obviously didn’t see any of that. The only thing we saw was the debris. When we got to it the debris was all over the circuit, so it’s a surprise that there were no tyre issues afterwards as there were massive amounts of debris.

Q: When you come into that situation behind the safety car what are you looking for? What can you do to try and avoid issues with the tyres, etc?
JB: Well, you are very limited. If there is carbon fibre all over the circuit you are limited to what you can do. You have got your spotter, you have got your engineer who has been looking at the accident, he knows where the worst bits are. But look at the pick up on the tyre, it’s massive. And a great thing that there were no issues with the debris, so it is positive really.

Q: Rubens, as Jenson just said, a great start for you.
RB: I had a great reflex and I did have a little better start than Jenson and I used his slipstream and was able to carry that momentum into the first corner.

Q: And then coming in for this earlier pit stop for your scheduled strategy?
RB: I was on a lap or two longer. Obviously I think Jenson caught me up a little bit on the strategy because of the safety car. I was quite happy as having a lap longer and being in front I was delighted. I had the race in my hands, so I was actually quite surprised when they told me they had switched Jenson to two. From then on I had to go flat out. The only minor thing was that I came in a lap or two earlier on my final pit stop as there were lots of cars and blue flags and I was losing time.

Q: Mark, your team-mate was in front of you. But the KERS certainly did well for Massa off the line. But by your second pit stop you had made that ground back by running six laps longer.
MW: Yeah, we knew what we had to do. It wasn’t rocket science. Go long when I knew they would have bolted the primes on.

Q: And Mark today is the 50th anniversary of Sir Jack Brabham’s first ever win in Formula One, so a nice day for you to be on the podium.
MW: Yeah, exactly. I saw a great photo of Jack earlier today. He did a huge amount for Formula One. He is a legend in our country, so it is great to get a podium on the same day as he had a great day as well. So, a special day.

Q: Jenson, we won’t mention what lies ahead other than the immediate future which is the Monaco Grand Prix and what a momentum you now have.
JB: Yeah, it is a dream come true so far this season. Even when times are tough we seem to be able to get the wins. When it is going well, it goes well, doesn’t it. And it was the same last year. When it was going bad, it went really bad. I do feel like I am on top of the world at the moment as I am sure the whole team do also. They have done a magnificent job and with this new package you can see we have got a bit of an advantage again. I am very proud of all the guys back at the factory. I don’t think they get enough of a mention, the guys at Brackley, so thank you very much and also thanks to Mercedes Benz as we can’t do it without you.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Jenson, I mentioned earlier on today about that statistic about starting from pole. The last eight winners. Now it makes nine winners. But you were on the clean side of the circuit in theory and yet you got a worse start than Rubens who was on the dirty side.
JB: No, Rubens started right behind me.

Q: Yes, that’s right. You had Sebastian right behind you.
JB: Yes, thanks for that statistic. I was thinking about that when I came out of turn one second. It wasn’t the best start. It was a good start but this guy just got an amazing start and as soon as he was in front I couldn’t do anything about him on the first stint. Basically I was hoping I could get a big enough gap with Massa as I knew he was stopping a few laps longer. I thought if he gets in front of me then that’s it, I’m screwed. I was pushing him as much as I could and we both pulled away. Rubens pulled a little bit of a gap on me and I was able to get the gap to Massa. They realized I had enough of a gap to pit and exit in front of Massa even though he was stopping later, so they tried to cover both bases. We were both on a three stop initially and they put me to a two. The three was a quicker race we thought but obviously the two worked. As soon as I came out of the pits in front of Massa then it was just trying to put the laps in. It was difficult as I had a lot of fuel on board on that second stint. I had to push so hard on a heavy fuel load and I damaged the tyres quite a bit but I could get the lap time out of the car being aggressive with it. And that’s the good thing about this car. You can be aggressive and it doesn’t seem to eat up the tyres. It is not normally my style but it is a style I had to take for this race and it made the difference and Rubens had his problems with understeer on his third set of tyres. When I got onto the prime I could get a reasonable lap time out of them which most people couldn’t. There were lots of little factors which all came together and I crossed the finish line first. This is a race which I didn’t really think I was going to, so yeah, I am very happy and this means a lot going into the next couple of races.

Q: It sounds like you learned a little bit during this race as well?
JB: Yeah, I mean different circuits you have got to drive these cars with a different style. Bahrain is a circuit where a smooth style sort of helps and here I have found over the last couple of days that you can’t get the lap time by driving smoothly. You have to come out of the corner and plant the throttle. As you see from the on-board cameras there is a lot of nervousness and if you don’t have that you don’t have the lap time. It is something I have learnt and it definitely paid off learning from watching people but also learning from watching Rubens. Rubens has been very fast this weekend. I have obviously watched him out on the circuit and looked at his data, so he has helped me quite a bit.

Q: What about Monaco? Will that be a bit of a wild card as a race?
JB: It is very different and it is ‘chuck all the downforce on’ and don’t worry about the drag and see what happens. It is a circuit which I think is very similar to this. I think I have always been a little bit too cautious around circuits like this, so I have to change my style a bit to make it work on different circuits and Monaco is a circuit where I need to get the best out of the car and maybe change my style a bit from the first four races as it’s a bit more like here, so I am looking forward to it and this guy is going to be a big challenge there and that is what we look forward to, the challenge.

Q: It is going to be his birthday in Monaco. He is going to be expecting a birthday present.
RB: Absolutely.
JB: We will see about that. I don’t think I can help out. I think that is down to you, fella?

Q: Rubens, your thoughts on today? How much was Massa a threat with his KERS?
RB: He was always a threat before the race but I was very confident that we could have a good start. I was very determined to be very precise with everything and my race was like that. My race was very precise. From the first corner I thought leading the race and having a lap more than Jenson I would have won the race. I pushed from the very beginning as much as I could. There was never any time that I dropped any time as I just had to go flat out as soon as they told me that Jenson had switched to a two I thought there was some danger in there because when you have three and the guys are behind, he will be much faster but you can control the visibility and see where he is fast and where he is not and control the pace. But when I saw that he changed I was on my own and had to go flat out and I did. I couldn’t have done any better. On my third set I didn’t have the pace that I had on the first and second set. I don’t know why. It was just not there. I was locking wheels all over the place and the same thing happened to the final set, so I hope that the guys come back to me and say there was a small problem somewhere. But again, I go home happy with myself. I gave everything I could but unfortunately I missed by a little bit the victory.

Q: It is a big disappointment with the difference in strategies?
RB: Well, it was a disappointment yesterday to have lost the pole position. But, you know you find energy, you put yourself up to the cage. I love the challenge as well and after I had the start I told myself everything is coming up again, so use your best knowledge and experience and speed. Everything was coming alive, so it is a disappointment not to have won the race today of course.

Q: And what was the tyre strategy and was there a big difference between the tyres?
RB: No, I left the hards to the very end, so I think everyone must have struggled a touch more with that. The first three sets they had a common, maybe my third set had three or four laps more if they did but not that it would have meant a problem. Otherwise we would not have gone for three stops. As Jenson said we were both on three stops and they changed the strategy for him. Good for him, good for the team as we both covered one and two but I would like to understand why we changed that.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Mark, as you said, a long 31 lap second stint.
MW: Yeah, we knew it was going to be massive. We spoke about it this morning, if I was - not out of position, but we knew that I was one lap shorter than most of the people we were trying to race, i.e. Felipe was the main person we were trying to jump, it was going to be difficult to race these guys today in terms of track position and also stopping on a similar lap, so Felipe was our main target. Obviously that became true with Sebastian being stuck in his diffuser for most of the race. So switching to the mega, mega long middle stint was a crucial part of the race for us, to be able to get a little bit closer to Rubens and also jump a few guys, so it was a challenge. The car felt like it had a caravan on the back to start with but we got through that and then you’ve just got to keep knocking the laps in, even though it doesn’t feel that quick. But I had Lewis and one of the BMWs were obviously light finishing their stints in front. I felt ‘I can’t even stay with these guys’ but you know how heavy you are, you’re just trying to do your best and it worked out well for us. The pit stops were clean and all those little things that you obviously need to get results like this, so it worked out well for us.

Q: And then you were behind Rubens at the end but no chance of getting any closer.
MW: It’s still quite tricky to follow cars in the quick stuff here. I was pretty keen to get as close as I could but on the other hand I just knew that the closer you get the risk just gets higher and higher and I wasn’t that keen to drop it either, so we had a good result there and I just knew that you can get within 1.5s and then forget it, really. Around here it’s so tough.

Q: So third’s not too much of a boring afternoon for you!
MW: I have to say that of course I did say it was going to be a boring race when it’s dry but it looks like you had a bit of a spectacle in turn one with a few people having some problems down there but it turned out that with some different strategies and things like that, it looks like the race wasn’t too bad. It’s always a worry here, sometimes a Barcelona race can be incredibly boring but it looks like it was quite a good race, so it’s good for the people watching it. And it looks like a lot of journos enjoyed it today as well, lots of guys are here!

Q: They’ll all be listening to you next door.
MW: Ah, OK, well they can get their ar** in here. It’s only a two minute walk, isn’t it? Hi guys out there, wherever you are…

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Jenson, well done again. At what stage in the race did you get the call that you were switching to two stops? Who do you have to thank for that call and what were your thoughts initially?
JB: Well, it was about a lap before I stopped. It was very, very late and I think they were judging the distance between me and Massa. And initially I didn’t think it was a great idea because I wasn’t sure who I was racing at that point. Rubens was obviously in front and I had Massa and Vettel behind and initially I thought maybe they were worried that I was not going to get out in front of Massa and Vettel, so they were going to send me long, so I could get them at the next stop but obviously that isn’t what they were thinking and it was a very different situation to that. But when I first drove the car with a lot of fuel on board it was moving around quite a bit at the back and it took a while to find my feet but when I did – well, I had to, as soon as possible. Shov (Andrew Shovlin, race engineer) was on the radio, my engineer, shouting at me ‘you’ve got to put the laps in now, you’ve got to put the laps in now.’ And then closer and closer to Rubens’s second stop they were telling me ‘Rubens has got a three second advantage over you, you’ve got to keep pushing.’ Every lap was flat out, I’ve never driven in that style before and I’m sure when you watch it back on replay it looks pretty messy but it was the best way to get the lap time out of the car. I got every tenth and everything out of that car that I could do today.

Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Who made that decision?
JB: I didn’t ask.

Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) It was basically the same question to you also; who does the strategy in the team? Is it Ross or is it your race engineer?
RB: It’s a group. Ross is involved. A group, we are together and this morning we decided that three stops was the way to go. We came straight here (after the race) but after this evening we are going to have a meeting again and then we have some answers.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Mark, what happened at the restart? (Fernando) Alonso almost jumped you.
MW: Yeah, I had a big moment out of the chicane at the restart and I lost the rear under power, so the momentum wasn’t great onto the start/finish straight and Fernando got a good run on me. I waited for him to arrive and then I tried to send him to the outside but the pit lane arrived at the same time, so he went in there and then I gave him just enough room to get down the inside. Then I thought that I still need to get back past him, so immediately I tacked again down the inside and got the move done. If that didn’t happen my race was destroyed, so I needed to risk quite a bit to do it and it happened.

Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) Mark, you’ve always been fast around Monaco and this year you go there with a very quick car. What are your thoughts on that race?
MW: I think Monte Carlo is a very special track for all the drivers. It’s obviously definitely on its own now. We have some other street circuits on the calendar like Valencia but they’re not exactly in the same boat in terms of the precision that’s required. It’s bumpy, there’s obviously barriers everywhere, the track changes a lot over the course of the weekend, so it’s a real challenge for the drivers in the cockpit to nail and tame that circuit if you like, so that’s one… We have to enjoy all circuits. It’s like a golfer, you can’t like some courses and not others. We have to do our best at every track. Monaco has been reasonable to me in the past. I’m looking forward to going there again in a few weeks. These guys got a few more points out of us again today, so we need to very, very quickly in the next three or four races, try to swing the momentum, otherwise the constructors will start to eke away from us.

Q: (Ed Gorman – The Times) Congratulations Jenson. You’ve now won four out of five races. How hard is it for you to not start thinking about the championship because it looks to many of us that this could be a runaway season?
JB: I think it would be good if I believed that, in a way, but also I think that at this point of the season, as I’ve said, you need to be aggressive and you need to fight for every single point. There’s no point hanging back and expecting it to happen. We need to be very aggressive and we need to get everything out of this car at every race we go to, as I keep saying. It might be getting boring for you guys but it’s just the way it is. This was an important victory for me, for sure, first victory back in Europe, five races in and a reasonably good lead now. It’s a good feeling but I’m not getting comfortable. Rubens is very quick and he’s proved that this weekend, and also the Red Bulls, when they get it together they’ve got good pace and obviously Mark and Sebastian are doing a great job. Sebastian’s been ahead of us twice now in the last two races, so if he gets a free shot, like Mark, he’ll be close to Mark. It’s not easy and we’ve got to take every race as it comes and we are obviously going to look for a victory in every race that comes, so we need to be aggressive and have that style of racing, I think.

Q: (Ed Gorman – The Times) Jenson, you mentioned in the earlier press conference that you felt that the car is still ahead after this round of upgrades. Is that the case?
JB: If you look at the result you would say so but obviously Mark and Sebastian were both held up behind Massa and if they had free runs we don’t know what would have happened. I’m very surprised that Mark was able to sit on the back of Rubens. I think we’ve had very good weekends and this weekend you can say that our strategy was good, which it was – probably Rubens will say more on one car than the other – but I think when Red Bull have a clear shot at it and they do everything right, they are going to be competitive and we can’t forget that and they are going to be on us in Monaco for sure.

Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Rubens, I remember the Austrian race a few years with Michael (Schumacher), early in the season, and you were stopped to allow him to win. Are you afraid that this could happen again, seeing that Jenson is winning so much and you are trying to score points and probably looking for a championship, that this might happen again with the team pushing more for Jenson and you covering his shoulders?
RB: Well, I’m very experienced with that, and if that happens, I won’t follow any team orders any more. I’m making it clear now, so everybody knows.
JB: I’m going to answer this a bit as well because this affects me. Our strategy said that a three stop was quicker, full stop.
RB: It’s true, it’s much more different than it used to be at Ferrari. We have a much more friendly situation, so I’m not sitting down on the side blaming this or that. The race was finished half an hour ago and that’s the way it went. There’s no way I’m going to be crying here and saying I should have done this or that. It’s in the best interests of myself to learn what went wrong today because I had the ability to win the race but I didn’t and this is a full stop. Jenson is on a flyer and he’s doing very well. I think this weekend was really good for me because I worked quite hard on all the set-up and everything. We both learned to get better, we’re pushing each other very well. There’s a bit more pressure on my side, obviously, because he’s won four races and I’ve won nothing but I’m there, I’m working and I won’t stop working. I’m definitely raising my hands to the sky to give thanks because this is a great car. It was not long ago that people were putting flowers on my grave and saying ‘thank you very much for your job’ and so on. So I’m here, very much alive and happy and I’m going to make it work. It’s as it was some years ago but with a much more friendly atmosphere.

Q: (Druv Behl – Auto Exchange, India) Jenson, you mentioned that you need to be aggressive and it looks messy with this year’s car to be quick. Ordinarily, messy, aggressive and Monaco wouldn’t go very well together, so how will you approach the next race relative to years past?
JB: Well, I think you do need to be a bit more aggressive in Monaco. Obviously you’ve got the barriers as your limiting factor. As long as you stay off them you’re fine but you can’t pussyfoot round Monaco and that’s why I think Rubens has always been pretty spectacular around Monaco, Mark also, so it’s going to be a tough weekend in Monaco, for sure, for myself, but I go there full of confidence that I can have a good weekend, but for sure it’s not going to be a boring Monaco Grand Prix. I think there’s going to be a lot of very competitive people and I think you will see a very exciting qualifying, for sure, and I think the race could be interesting also.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Do you still see a challenge from Ferrari, McLaren and BMW – the big teams – or is it too late for a turnaround in terms of the championship?
JB: Well, it’s quite strange because BMW at the first race were competitive. You can say some of it is down to the strategy with the tyres but they did a good job. McLaren at the last race were surprisingly quick, the same with Ferrari here, in qualifying. They’ve had good races but they just haven’t had the consistency and I think that when you’ve started so far back compared to the competition, you’re throwing things at the car and I’m sure they’re putting lots of new parts on the car to improve it. Some might not work, some probably do work. It’s a much easier position for us, obviously, at the front. We can really test the parts and make sure they really are an improvement before we put them on whereas Ferrari and McLaren need to put as much performance on the car as possible. But they’re both great teams and they’ve both achieved so much in the past, as we all know. They’ve had tough years before, maybe not quite as tough but they will definitely bounce back. They’re very strong teams. We’ll see them being competitive throughout the year, I think.

Q: (Byron Young – The Daily Mirror) Does that question from the front there, that you’re winning races because you’re somehow being given better machinery or some advantage frustrate you? Does Rubens believe that?
JB: We both work very closely together within the team and it’s a very good atmosphere within the team. We’re all here to win; it went my way today and it might go Rubens’s way in Monaco and that’s just the way it is. He had a problem in his stint and I didn’t. I made it work and I won the race today but you know that can swing around at the next race and that’s the way we go racing and that’s the way racing should be and I think it has been, within most teams in Formula One. I don’t ever want to go down that avenue of talking about that because it’s so far from the situation within our team.

source:www.formula1.com

Friday, 08 May 2009

After each Grand Prix, with MotoGP Rewind, motogp.com brings you an exclusive video featuring the best footage of each race weekend.

Kimi Raikkonen will race a lighter Ferrari chassis in this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in a bid to increase the benefit he gains from KERS. Raikkonen’s heavier physique, relative to team mate Felipe Massa, means accommodating KERS has proven more of a challenge than on the Brazilian’s car, hence the new lightweight F60.

The new chassis (number 279) is part of a planned development programme which began at the end of 2008. Ferrari insist the reduced weight will in no way compromise the safety of Raikkonen’s car and the revised chassis has already passed the mandatory FIA crash test. The team are also confident of improved KERS reliability following extensive work on the system since the last round in Bahrain.

Like most of their rivals, Ferrari will be bringing a revised aero package to Spain, including some elements originally scheduled for introduction later in the year. The champions will race a new diffuser, which they describe as ‘only a first attempt at designing a part that was not part of the initial design’.

Accommodating the new diffuser has been a complex task, with engineers having to redesign much of the F60’s electronics and hydraulics systems in order to relocate components at the rear of the car. The revised design was tested at Vairano last week as part of the allowed aero test days, with Marc Gene at the wheel.

source: www.formula1.com