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Formula 1 Lotus McLaren

2012 Canadian GP: Post-race press conference

2012 Caandian Grand Prix

If you took the wise move to enjoy your public holiday and sleep in, missing this morning’s Canadian Grand Prix, then well done to you. We hope you enjoyed your rest, because it wasn’t the most exciting race we’ve seen this year.

Even though both Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez have been on the podium before in 2012, they would have been surprised as any to be sharing the champagne with Lewis Hamilton. Mostly, this was due to Ferrari (Alonso) and Red Bull (Vettel) gambling on a one-stop tyre strategy and losing.

All three took their chance to celebrate their moment in the Montreal sun and you can read their post-race thoughts from the official press conference after the break, with thanks to the FIA.

[Pic: Sauber Motorsport AG]

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Formula 1 McLaren

Lewis Hamilton wins 2012 Canadian GP

Lewis Hamilton wins 2012 Canadian Grand Prix

A combination of outright pace and tyre strategy has handed Lewis Hamilton victory for McLaren at the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix. Of course, that makes it seven different race winners from seven races so far this season.

At the start of the race pole sitter Sebastian Vettel made a clean get away in his Red Bull. He was able to build relatively comfortable lead on Hamilton and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. But by the time the first round of pit stops came the top three had bunched up again.

Vettel made the first move, followed the next lap by Hamilton. McLaren has been poor in the pits this year, by F1 standards, but they did enough to get him back out ahead of Vettel. However, it was Fernando Alonso who emerged in the lead after being the last of the leading trio to pit.

Hamilton was soon able to take the race lead away from his former teammate and the race appeared to settle into a predictable pattern; a two-stop strategy was the expected way forward.

Speaking on the radio Hamilton asked for confirmation if his rivals were definitely going to stop again for tyres. He received a positive reply and subsequently came in for new rubber. Immediately Hamilton was quick, but the signs from Alonso, now in the lead, and Vettel indicated they were trying to run to the flag without a further stop.

A few moments of frustration for Hamilton would have fast disappeared when it emerged he had the pace to catch and pass the leaders. The tyre drop off for Vettel meant he had no hope of defending the Briton and as soon as he lost P2 to Hamilton he came in for a belated tyre change.

It wasn’t long before Hamilton repeated the dose on Alonso; the Ferrari man had left it too late and had to stay out until the end of the race. His tyres were now virtually useless and not only did Alonso lose out to eventual surprise podium winners Romain Grosjean (Lotus, P2) and Sergio Perez (Sauber, P3), but Vettel also had the pace to overtake the Ferrari on the second last lap.

It’s worth noting that both Grosjean and Perez did manage to complete the race using a one-stop tyre strategy.

Mark Webber (Red Bull, P7) was unable to make the most of his two-stop strategy and would be disappointed to finish where he did after maintaining touching distance with the leaders in the first stint.

Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso, P14) finished ahead of his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne (P15).

Special mention to Michael Schumacher (Mercedes AMG) for adding his name once again to the F1 history books. We believe he is the first man forced to retire from a race due to his DRS wing staying open.

And so it was Hamilton who won the tyre battle and took the chequered flag for the third time in Montreal. Despite cutting a forlorn figure in the McLaren garage at times this year, Hamilton now leads the drivers’ championship.

The amazing run of individual winners continues and who would bet against it becoming eight from eight when the teams head to Valencia for the European Grand Prix in a couple of weeks.

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Ferrari Formula 1 McLaren Red Bull Racing

2012 Canadian GP: Qualifying report

2012 Canadian Grand Prix, qualifying

“Catch me if you can!”

That’s the feeling you get from Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) after he smashed his rivals in qualifying for the Candian Grand Prix early this morning. Never far from the top of the timesheets during practice, Vettel saved his best for Q3 where his two flying laps were enough to land him his 32nd career pole position, now equal fifth on the all-time list.

Vettel’s best time (1:13.7840) was a comfortable three tenths faster than Lewis Hamilton (McLaren, 1:14.087) who just did enough to edge out Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, 1:14.151).

Mark Webber (1:14.346) is close behind the leading trio and will start from P4. Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo (P14) once again out qualified his teammate, Jean-Eric Verge (P20), and will be hoping he can put together a good race.

We’re set for a cracking race, Lewis Hamilton has shown good speed throughout the weekend and could very well be the season’s seventh winner from seven races. To do so he’ll have to beat a supremely confident Sebastian Vettel, who is keen for redemption after throwing away last year’s epic race on the final lap.

Read what the first three qualifiers had to say in the post-quali press conference after the break, with thanks to the FIA.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, Ferrari]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Webber pissed off at Monaco GP cheat claims

Mark Webber

Leading into the Canadian Grand Prix it’s no surprise Mark Webber was asked about the holey floor on his Red Bull RB8. In the time since Mark won the Monaco Grand Prix, the FIA has judged the ‘tyre squirt slots’ on the RB8 to be illegal, which has led to claims that Red Bull cheated their way to victory.

Until their latest ruling the FIA had previously approved the holes in the floor of the RB8; indeed that configuration of floor had been used in the previous three races, including Monaco.

According to Webber, Red Bull was planning to move away from the slots in any case. “We had some changes for Valencia anyway which included no hole, irrespective of the rule change,” he said.

But when asked if it was fair he won in Monaco with an illegal car Mark fired up. “In relation to winning races with an illegal car, I’m happy to be called lots of things and I’m happy to have criticism about my driving and lots of stuff, but I will not take criticism in that respect,” exclaimed Webber.

“It completely pisses me off to be honest, because the car has passed every single, every single technical regulation after the race. All of the teams that were against it did not make any protest after Monaco,” he added.

“The car passed the test after Bahrain, the car passed the test after Monaco and now there has been a clarification on the rule, and the rule now is different and we had a car that was legal for the first part of the season and now the rule has been changed and we will start again.”

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Infiniti

Vettel first to drive New Jersey F1 circuit

Sebastian Vettel

Next Monday Sebastian Vettel will be the first of the current F1 drivers to get a taste for the new Grand Prix of America street circuit. The dual world champ will be dropping by the New Jersey site on his way to home from the Canadian Grand Prix.

In the presence of race promoter Leo Hindery, Vettel will drive a lap of the 5.14km layout before holding a press conference with Infiniti representatives, as well as Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner and West New York Mayor Felix Roque.

The race is due to debut in June next year and construction plans are right on schedule. However, F1 supremo Bernie Eccelstone has raised concerns over late payments from race organisers.

“I don’t know if it is going to happen,” Eccelstone said. “I hope everything will be okay. They are sorting things out internally with some of their funds. If they are ready for 2013 we will have them.”

[Source: Planet F1 & The Telegraph]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Red Bull asked to end holey floors

Red Bull Racing RB8 tyre squirt slot

As always nothing is ever certain in F1 and the floor used on the Red Bull RB8 at the Monaco Grand Prix, previously signed off by the FIA, has now been deemed illegal. Specifically, Red Bull had, for the last three races, incorporated small rectangular holes towards the rear of the floor designed to reduce ‘tyre squirt’ (shown in picture above).

What on earth is tyre squirt, we hear you ask. It’s explained quite well on the Scarbs F1 website; put simply the airflow around the rear tyres creates dirty air which disrupts the effectiveness of the rear diffuser. The holes used by Red Bull, referred to as tyre squirt slots, are designed to offset this effect and improve the quality of airflow to the diffuser and hence increase downforce.

Despite Red Bull introducing their fancy slots in Bahrain, three teams—Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes—spoke of a possible protest during the Monaco weekend. Eventually, they chose to keep quiet but the FIA Technical Working Group was asked for further clarification.

Having considered the Red Bull approach once again the FIA has now said the floor will have to be changed before the cars take to the track at next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix. Red Bull’s results from the previous three races will stand.

For their part, Red Bull say, via Helmut Marko, that the change won’t disrupt their preparatons. “We had not planned to use this floor in Montreal anyway,” Marko said. “We had prepared a different configuration using a flat version of the floor. Therefore we do not need to modify the cars in Canada.”

[Source: Autosport & Adam Cooper | Pic: XPBImages]

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Formula 1 Video

VIDEO: 1955 Monaco Grand Prix highlights

1955 Monaco Grand Prix

If you ever needed a reminder of how far the sport of Formula One has come since its inception this highlights video from the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix would be a pretty good place to start.

The race was won by the unheralded Ferrari driver Maurice Trintignant. It’s also notable for being the last race for F1 legend Alberto Ascari; he was killed a few days later in a testing accident at Monza.

In the 1950s the Monaco street circuit was a bit different to the course Mark Webber won on last weekend. La Rascasse didn’t exist, for example, and the tunnel was much shorter, to name two of the changes.

Check out the video after the break, we’re sure you’ll get a kick out of it.

[via Motor Sport Retro]

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Formula 1

Bernie blames KERS for Williams fire

Williams F1 garage, 2012 Spanish GP

The official investigation into the cause of the fire that engulfed the Williams garage after the Spanish Grand Prix is still ongoing, but that hasn’t stopped the forthright F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone from speaking his mind.

“I think the fire was a lot to do with that kinetic energy thing which sparked,” Bernie said. “It should never have been introduced. It’s an expensive secret because nobody knows anything about it. The public don’t know and don’t care.”

So Bernie doesn’t like KERS, then. No, really, he doesn’t.

“You could get rid of KERS and it wouldn’t change the racing,” he told CityAM.

“Mercedes has got I think 22 trucks so if they reduced two of those you wouldn’t need to use electric motors in the pit lane. The trucks are bigger polluters than the cars.

“I’m happy that the teams want to preserve all of that for their sponsors and brand image but they shouldn’t talk rubbish.”

[Source: PlanetF1]

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Formula 1 Video

VIDEO: Sauber’s cutaway F1 car explained

Sauber F1 cutaway

This is probably the coolest behind the scenes F1 video you will see all year. Sauber’s chief designer, Matt Morris, explains how a modern day Formula One car is put together using this very cool full size cutaway racecar. Everything is pretty tightly packaged, including the driver, which you will see when Sergio Perez is placed inside the cutaway.

It’s taken Sauber two years to put this display together and they deserve our thanks and admiration. Great job guys!

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Formula 1

Button says unpredictable F1 is bad for fans

2012 Monaco Grand Prix

Jenson Button, who has struggled with the McLaren MP4-27 since winning the Australian Grand Prix, says the unpredictable nature of Formula One could drive fans away from the sport. Is he mad?

For the first time in the sport’s history there have been six different winners from the opening six races. Those wins have been shared among five different manufacturers, with only Red Bull collecting a pair of wins.

“Clearly everyone is excited about so many different winners, which initially was great for the fans and great for the sport. But there will come a time when the fans will say, ‘So anyone can win a grand prix, everyone can lose a grand prix like that?’ (snaps his fingers),” claims Button.

Sorry, but isn’t it a good thing if “anyone can win a grand prix”? At the same point in the season last year Sebastian Vettel had five wins, Hamilton one. Two different winners, two different teams.

Moreover, the opportunity of winning the championship last year was limited to former residents of Heppenheim, but only if they drove a Red Bull. Indeed, Vettel ended up winning 11 out of 19 races, the remaining eight were shared between only four others.

How is that any better than what we’re seeing this year?

Button added, “I think they’re (fans) finding it a little bit strange now. I don’t know, but hopefully a pattern will emerge after the next couple of races and we’ll understand the teams and drivers we need to beat to win the championship.”

We can’t speak for all F1 fans, of course, but here at AUSmotive HQ we reckon the fact that the title race is so open is a damn good thing. We’d not complain if Mark Webber won all the remaining races, but with the likelihood that that won’t happen, give us a situation where we don’t really know what to expect in any given race over a predictable procession any time.

[Source: The Press Association]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2012 Monaco GP: Post-race press conference

2012 Monaco Grand Prix

The sun has come up this morning, just like any other day, but starting the working week after an Australian has won the Monaco Grand Prix makes things a little easier. Well done to Mark Webber, we can barely wipe the smile off our faces here at AUSmotive HQ, so can only imagine the Webber clan just down the road are even happier.

Making the start to the day even better is word that no protest has been lodged against Red Bull. Earlier in the week Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes had expressed doubts that some holes in the floor of the RB8 may not be legal. However, the race results were confirmed last night after the time for protests had passed.

Red Bull’s Team Principal, Christian Horner said: “We are totally happy that our car fully complies with the regulations. We have obviously consulted with the FIA over it—we have had their opinion in writing confirming the interpretation, so it would be disappointing if there was a protest. But we are entirely happy that the car completely complies.”

So, make yourself a cup of coffee, get yourself a seat in the sun and read what Webber and his fellow drivers had to say after the race, with the full post-race press conference transcript we have for you after the break.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber wins 2012 Monaco GP

Mark Webber wins 2012 Monaco Grand Prix

Mark Webber has driven a masterful race and hung on to record a hard fought win at the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix.

Starting from pole position Webber got his Red Bull off the line cleanly and then pretty much led from start to finish. However, the race was anything but a procession with an ongoing threat of rain messing with tyre strategies and keeping drivers and fans on edge.

By not setting a time in the third period of qualifying Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) was able to start the race on the soft tyres, while those ahead of him were on the super softs used to qualify. This allowed Vettel to run much longer for his first stint during the race and gave him the lead after those ahead had stopped earlier.

As the teams kept an eye on the approaching rain it was thought Vettel’s lead would come in handy and push him right up the leaderboard if the drivers needed to come in for wet weather tyres. In the end the expected heavy rain failed to arrive and Vettel had to yield, but did well to resume in P4 where he remained for the rest of the race.

A light sprinkling of rain did fall with around 10 laps to go and Webber drove with great maturity to ultimately hold off Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG) by just 0.6 seconds, with Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) finishing third.

Webber becomes the first Australian to win the Monaco Grand Prix twice, following his win in 2010, and this is his eighth victory in F1. Keeping the category interesting, he’s also the sixth different race winner from six races in 2012.

It is worth noting there is a chance that some teams may protest the Red Bull victory after concerns were raised about the legality of the floor on the RB8 after qualifying. Let’s hope politics doesn’t strip Webber of a truly excellent result.

The final finishing order is listed below, along with updates to the drivers’ and constructors’ championship.

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