Jos the Boss Returning to F1?

A certain rumour was going arounf at the German Grand Prix that Jos Verstappen may be returning to F1 in a major role...

Red Bull Engine Remaps

F1 technicians are always in search of detailed innovations, which will give a competitive edge over their rivals, especially where the rules are not clearly worded.
At Hockenheim this weekend at the German Grand Prix, we saw an episode where an innovation from Red Bull and its engine partner Renault was allowed through because it was not covered by the rules, so even though the FIA’s own technical delegate Jo Bauer, felt he had found something in the engine mapping which was not allowed, when he referred it to the race stewards on Sunday they felt they had no choice but to let Red Bull race with it.
The Stewards’ statement said, “While the stewards do not accept all the arguments of the team, they however conclude that as the regulation is written, the map presented does not breach the text of Art 5.5.3 of the Formula 1 Technical Regulations and therefore decided to take no action.”
The F1 Technical Working group is meeting today in London and this will be on the agenda. In all probability the FIA will follow up this week with a rule clarification (known as a Technical Directive), which will outlaw the Red Bull/Renault idea before next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix, but it certainly served its purpose in Germany.
The idea was to use engine mapping to cut the torque at medium revs, which would certainly have helped with driveability in the wet conditions of practice and qualifying in Germany and would also have an aerodynamic benefit in slow corners; some of the fuel/air mixture finds its way into the exhausts to create post combustion – which blows hot exhaust gas under pressure down through the diffuser to create rear end downforce.
It’s very clever and shows the lengths teams will go to to find extra downforce. Bauer felt it was illegal because the rules say the connection between the opening of the throttle and the torque demand on the engine should be linear and in his view Red Bull was introducing a deviation in that process. Bauer had observed that the torque demand was less than at other recent races.
The rule that he felt Red Bull and Renault were trying to get around is new for this year and is designed to outlaw the practice of engines blowing exhaust gas into the diffuser even when the driver’s foot is off the throttle in a corner.
Engine maps are one of the dark arts of F1. Teams have various maps, controlled from the steering wheel by the driver; settings for fuel saving in the race, for example, for overtaking, or for setting the engine at the pit lane speed limit.

F1 2012 Driver Standings after German GP

Position	Driver		Team	Pts
Last updated: Sunday, 22 July 2012 19:31 UK
1	Spain	F Alonso	Ferrari	154
2	Australia	M Webber	Red Bull	120
3	Germany	S Vettel	Red Bull	110
4	Finland	K Raikkonen	Lotus	98
5	Great Britain	L Hamilton	McLaren	92
6	Germany	N Rosberg	Mercedes	76
7	Great Britain	J Button	McLaren	68
8	France	R Grosjean	Lotus	61
9	Mexico	S Perez	Sauber	47
10	Japan	K Kobayashi	Sauber	33
11	Venezuela	P Maldonado	Williams	29
12	Germany	M Schumacher	Mercedes	29
13	Great Britain	P Di Resta	Force India	27
14	Brazil	F Massa	Ferrari	23
15	Germany	N Hulkenberg	Force India	19
16	Brazil	B Senna	Williams	18
17	France	J Vergne	Toro Rosso	4
18	Australia	D Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	2
19	Finland	H Kovalainen	Caterham	0
20	Russian Federation	V Petrov	Caterham	0
21	Germany	T Glock	Marussia	0
22	France	C Pic	Marussia	0
23	India	N Karthikeyan	HRT	0
24	Spain	P de la Rosa	HRT	0

Mercedes admits that car is too slow

Mercedes leave Hockenheim braced for another tough weekend in Hungary, hoping to gain more speed for when Formula 1 regroups at Spa in September. Attempting a different strategy in Germany, Michael Schumacher managed only seventh position.
Schumacher’s race was a strong one, not least as he pulled a pass on Nico Hülkenberg in front of thousands of Mercedes employees, but the seven-time World Champion was unable to make any significant impression after running third in the early stages. Team-mate Nico Rosberg scored the final point from 21st on the starting grid.

“We ran the race as well as we could today, in the knowledge that we would have to make three pit-stops,” explained Team Principal Ross Brawn. “Some of our rivals on two-stop strategies faded towards the end but the drop-off was not sufficient for our drivers to be able to take advantage on fresher tyres.
“Michael and Nico put in consistent performances, pulled off good overtaking moves and we delivered six clean pit-stops. Our strategy enabled Nico to climb 11 positions from his starting place, while Michael finished in seventh place for the second time in two weeks.
“We made the right decisions this afternoon but, after 67 laps, Michael found himself 29 seconds behind the winner. That shows we need to find more pace from the car.”
At the halfway point of the 2012 Formula 1 season, the Mercedes factory squad sits fifth in the Constructors’ Championship and is trailing Red Bull by 125 points

Vettel docked 20 seconds, drops to fifth

Sebastian Vettel has been demoted to fifth place by the Hockenheim race stewards. This happens as a 20-second time penalty is applied after the German overtook Jenson Button for second position outside the confines of the race track.
The incident occurred on the penultimate lap of the race, with Vettel having previously been overhauled by Button after the lapped Lewis Hamilton held him up. The Red Bull passed on the outside line of the Turn 6 hairpin, but accelerated past Button while travelling in the run-off area which is outside the white line delineating the circuit.

During post-race interviews, Vettel denied that Button had expressed any dissatisfaction but television coverage had already revealed the pair discussing the moment. The demotion, which comes as a decision of adjudicators including ex driver Derek Warwick, was handed out after the FIA-appointed team heard the opinions of both drivers and viewed evidence.
This means Kimi Räikkönen picks up his fourth podium result of the season for Lotus, with Kamui Kobayashi celebrating a career-best result of fourth for Sauber. Vettel has effectively lost eight World Championship points, which leaves him 44 behind leader Fernando Alonso at the halfway point of the season. The aforementioned Räikkönen, despite being yet to win a race, has now jumped ahead of Lewis Hamilton and now sits fourth overall.

Vettel: The move showed respect for Button

Sebastian Vettel’s home Grand Prix was ultimately a disappointing one. The Red Bull driver was handed a time penalty of 20 seconds for illegally passing Jenson Button while outside the confines of the rack track on the penultimate lap. He dropped from second to fifth position and is now 44 points off Fernando Alonso’s championship lead.
Shortly after six o'clock local time (BST +1), Red Bull published Vettel’s official feelings in their post-race press release:

“We had a decent race today although there wasn’t enough pace when we got close to Fernando and we also lost a position to Jenson who had a good pit stop and came in earlier. A couple of laps before that, I lost some time with Lewis (Hamilton) as he unlapped himself.
“At the end of the race, Jenson’s tyres were gone and we were able to close the gap again. It was then a question of when, rather than where, and I tried to outbreak him. He opened the break again and then was up the inside; I wasn’t sure where he was, I couldn’t see him in that moment, so decided to give enough space and went off line on the slippery paint and I was able to stay ahead and get past him.
“The only intention was not to crash and to give him enough room. I have respect for him and I didn’t want to squeeze him. It was good to be on the podium at the home race, but I have to respect the stewards’ decision.”
The revised result sees Button claim second place as Kimi Räikkönen jumps up to third, with Kamui Kobayashi celebrating a best ever finish in fourth position.

Schumacher rejects six-week deadline for 2013 decision

Michael Schumacher appears to have rejected the new six-week deadline over his plans for 2013.
Earlier this week, Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn indicated that the issue of Nico Rosberg's teammate next year will be decided "this summer".
But it was then reported that, in fact, it is seven time world champion Schumacher who possesses a unilateral option to extend his three-year deal beyond the end of this season.

There is no deadline for when we need to make the decision, it just has to be the right decision.

Ross Brawn

And at Silverstone on Thursday, he scoffed at the reports all will be known within six weeks.
"There can certainly be no decision from my side before October," the 43-year-old is quoted by DPA news agency.
So is Brawn not backtracking?
"Our focus is on Michael," he is quoted by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.
"There is no deadline for when we need to make the decision, it just has to be the right decision."
Brawn speculated that Schumacher will be weighing up his chances of success in 2013.
"A good driver always looks first to see if the technical basis is correct," the Briton said. "The commercial side comes after that.
"Any sensible driver knows that he needs a good car to win."
Rosberg, Schumacher's teammate throughout the great German's three-year comeback since 2010, repeated his desire to see the 43-year-old go on.
"Yes, that would be very good," he is quoted by Die Welt newspaper.

Webber admits 2012 title challenge influenced Ferrari snub

Mark Webber has revealed that the fact he wants to charge for this year's title influenced his decision to stay at Red Bull in 2013.
Until Red Bull announced he is staying alongside Sebastian Vettel next season, the Australian was strongly linked with a move to Ferrari.

The contract is just for one year, but I'm looking to stay in F1 for longer than that.

Mark Webber

Even in the official media statement, Webber admitted there had been "discussions with Ferrari" about replacing Felipe Massa.
He then acknowledged to the Associated Press that it is "important the team knows you're 100 per cent with them, which, of course, I am."
But that might not have been the case if the rumoured switch to Ferrari had become fact.
Webber has already felt the sting of questionable equality, famously declaring on the radio after winning the 2010 British grand prix that it was a feat "Not bad for a number two driver".
Two years on and with his teammate Sebastian Vettel now the reigning back-to-back title winner, Webber is a win and 16 points up on the German in the drivers' standings.
He senses it could be his last chance to win a championship.
"The fact that I am trying to win the championship this year was a consideration," Webber admitted in a BBC column.
"It would have been that bit harder to keep the momentum going if I was moving to a rival team. That was a factor, but it was certainly not the biggest one."
Webber's new contract is for yet another one-year term, but he insists retirement is not looming just yet.
"I'm not thinking about that at all," said the Australian, who turns 36 in August.
"The contract is just for one year, but I'm looking to stay in F1 for longer than that."

Jenson: Williams and Sauber are faster

Jenson Button suggesting maybe even Williams and Sauber have more pace than McLaren at the moment let alone Red Bull Ferrari and Lotus

Sam Michael on McLaren Problems

Sam Michael of McLaren says that McLaren have to go home and do some homework and come back better.

Other teams are bringing development quicker than us. The strategy did not work in the middle stint with the Option Tyre.
We should not have been making covering moves. We should have been fighting.

Our focus is to be up there in Germany straight away.

Vettel Pissed about loosing to Webber

Vettel in the press conference was really miffed with loosing out to Mark Webber, Vettel went on to ask "What is the score at Wimbledon".

Red Bull Hunts down Ferrari

Mark Webber chose the perfect strategy and paced his race to perfection to catch and pass Fernando Alonso in the closing stages and clinch his second British Grand Prix victory.
It was the ninth win of Webber’s career and his second of 2012. It was also his second British Grand Prix win to go with his second Monaco victory earlier this year. Webber’s Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel completed the podium.
The result moved Webber to just 13 points behind Alonso in the drivers’ world championship and confirmed him as Alonso’s closest championship rival. The double podium finish extended Red Bull’s advantage at the top of the Constructors’ Championship.
After a weekend of heavy rain, Silverstone surprisingly remained dry throughout the race, which was run entirely on slick tyres. With track temperatures fluctuating between 34 degrees and 29 degrees,
There was a further surprise in the race as the hard compound tyre proved to be faster than the soft and ultimately it was the final stint that proves decisive as Webber, who had started the race on the softs, ended on the hards, while Alonso was the other way around.
The greater structural strength of the hard tyre was important through the lateral loads in the high speed corners of sector 2 in particular, while drivers found that the soft tyre understeered more in the race. Pre-race expectations that it was up to a second faster than the hard proved inaccurate.
Ferrari had started Massa on softs and had data from his runs which indicated that the softs would perform reasonably well at the end, but Webber’s pace on hards was too much for Alonso, who had not been able to build enough of a lead over Webber in the early part of the race to maintain his position at the end. Webber stayed in touch with Alonso throughout the first two stints of the race, never allowing him to get too far ahead and then was able to catch and pass him with one decisive move around the outside of Brooklands corner with there laps to go.
“I have a few wins now, but this one is taking a little bit to sink in,” Webber said. “I think it didn’t look like a spectacular race with Fernando initially but it was on. There was a little bit of strategy involved, particularly pacing stints on tyres.
“I knew he was running a different way, and I thought after first stint he was in very good shape to close the win out, but it came our way in the last stint and I am absolutely over the moon.”
Alonso had controlled the race throughout as he kept a steady gap ahead of the Red Bull duo. However, the superior speed and durability of the prime tyre turned the race in Mark Webber’s favour as he took the lead with just four laps remaining. Vettel came close to making it a Red Bull 1-2 after an early pit stop put the double World Champion in contention for the race win. He had earlier been in a train of cars stuck behind Michael Schumacher but opted for the early stop after seeing the performance of the prime tyres. In the clear air he was able to jump from fifth to third.
Lewis Hamilton was the only other driver in the top ten to start on the prime tyre. But he was not able to exploit the advantage of the tyres; being caught in a queue of traffic behind Schumacher. When the traffic did clear during the first phase of pit stops he was 18 seconds off Alonso. He shortly held the lead but Alonso quickly regained first on fresher tyres. Hamilton eventually finished the race in 8th position.
Felipe Massa put in arguably his best drive of the season and his highest finishing position since Korea in 2012 to hold off a fast-charging Kim Raikkonen and take fourth place. Massa looked racey throughout as he hassled Schumacher in the early stages, taking third place but losing that position to Vettel after the pit stops.
Raikkonen headed home Lotus team mate Romain Grosjean as the pair gained another good haul of points for the team after swapping fastest laps in the closing stages of the Grand prix. Grosjean in particular produced yet another very good performance to overcome an early front-wing change and pass Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.
Schumacher and Hamilton both had difficult races, starting from third and eighth and finishing seventh and eighth respectively, lacking pace throughout. Schumacher’s main struggles were on the prime tyre relative to other teams as he slipped down the field during the second half of the Grand Prix. Hamilton did a very short middle stint on the soft tyres, after running a long first stint on the hards which looked like it might have got him into contention for a strong points finish.
Bruno Senna and Jenson Button completed the top 10 of a lively race. Button made up four positions on the opening lap to make up for his poor qualifying but did not have the pace to progress in to the major points scoring positions.
In the early stages of the Grand Prix Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez were in amongst the points scoring positions. But a overtaking manoeuvre around the outside by Perez quickly ruined their days as Maldonado lost control and continued his run of assisting other drivers in early retirements. Maldonado managed to finish the race but in a lowly 16th. Perez described the Venezuelan as “stupid” and said that he and other drivers felt that he shouldn’t be in F1, with such driving.
Kamui Kobayashi compounded a bad day for Sauber when he locked up on the way into the pits and struck a member of his team. Kobayashi continued to 11th place, while the mechanic went to the medical centre for attention.
The three podium finishers all got trophies, but the fans deserved a medal for putting up with difficult conditions, muddy car parks and traffic problems all weekend. In the end the race provided a great end to the weekend, which had started off in such trying circumstances due to heavy rain.
[Additional reporting: Matt Meadows]
BRITISH GRAND PRIX, Silverstone, 52 Laps
1. Webber Red Bull 1h25:11.288
2. Alonso Ferrari + 3.060
3. Vettel Red Bull + 4.836
4. Massa Ferrari + 9.519
5. Raikkonen Lotus + 10.314
6. Grosjean Lotus + 17.101
7. Schumacher Mercedes + 29.153
8. Hamilton McLaren + 36.400
9. Senna Williams + 43.300
10. Button McLaren + 44.400
11. Kobayashi Sauber + 45.300
12. Hulkenberg Force India + 47.800
13. Vergne Toro Rosso + 51.200
14. Ricciardo Toro Rosso + 53.300
15. Rosberg Mercedes + 57.300
16. Maldonado Williams + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Caterham + 1 lap
18. Glock Marussia + 1 lap
19. Pic Marussia + 1 lap
20. De la Rosa HRT + 2 laps
21. Karthikeyan HRT + 2 laps

Webber: Win will take a while to sink in

Silverstone 2012 delivered Mark Webber’s ninth F1 victory, meaning he is the only driver other than Fernando Alonso to have celebrated two wins this year. Despite that, the Australian admits that he did not expect to be taking the chequered flag on Sunday.
Webber first won the British Grand Prix in 2010, famously quoting ‘not bad for a number two driver’ while on his victory lap. This afternoon, as Alonso’s pace dropped while running the less durable Soft compound tyre in the closing stages of the race, Webber was able to sweep around the outside of Brooklands Corner.

“I’ve got a few wins now, but this one is taking a little bit to sink in,” the Red Bull driver admitted in the post-race press conference. “Initially it might not have looked like a spectacular race with Fernando, but it was on because there was a bit of strategy involved there, particularly our pace during the individual stints on different tyres.”
He added that being patient was a crucial element.
“I thought he was in very good shape for the win after the opening stint, but in the final one it started to come our way and I knew he was running a different strategy. Sometimes I do have bad medicine and it can be hard to come back from it. You just have to grab what you can and I wasn’t going to let that chance slip today. I’m absolutely over the moon.”
Already the top two men in the Drivers’ Championship before Round 9, Alonso and Webber remain first and second but the leading margin is now only 13 points.

I’ll be happier in an hour, says Alonso

Fernando Alonso claimed to be ‘happy’ after finishing second to Mark Webber in Sunday’s British Grand Prix, but admits that his optimism is likely to be higher an hour after the race. The Spaniard, who was passed in the closing stages after controlling things from pole position, had led for most of the race.
Running a different strategy to Webber, the Ferrari driver was overtaken while using the less durable Soft compound tyres in the latter laps of the event.

The new-look F1 podium

“I’m happy with second, but ten minutes after the race there is a bit of a strange feeling because I did lose the victory,” Alonso described.
“I’m sure I will be much happier an hour from now. We still need to close that last step to Red Bull. Having that that, we did lose seven points to Mark today but at the same time we pulled further away from the other guys, so it was a good Sunday for the championship.”
Alonso has won twice at Silverstone – for Renault in 2006 and Ferrari last season.

Race results - 2012 British Formula 1 Grand Prix 08 July 2012

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time
1.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	1:25:11.288
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+3.060
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	+4.836
4.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+9.519
5.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	+10.314
6.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	+17.101
7.	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	+29.153
8.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	+36.463
9.	Bruno Senna	Williams	+43.347
10.	Jenson Button	McLaren	+44.444
11.	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	+45.370
12.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India	+47.856
13.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+51.241
14.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+53.313
15.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+57.394
16.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+1 Lap
17.	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	+1 Lap
18.	Timo Glock	Marussia	+1 Lap
19.	Charles Pic	Marussia	+1 Lap
20.	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	+2 Laps
21.	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	+2 Laps
Did not finish
22.	Sergio Perez	Sauber	+41 Laps
23.	Paul di Resta	Force India	+50 Laps
24.	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	+52 Laps