yallaf1 25.04.2012
Formula 1 magazine & news digest
SEBASTIAN VETTEL BACK ON TOP
IN THIS ISSUE
FIRST WORD
COVER: GETTY IMAGES
25 April 2012
FOUR RACES, FOUR WINNERS
Prior to the Bahrain Grand Prix world champion and Sebastian Vettel were being written off by m simply were not the dominant force of a year ea appeared that the Adrian Newey penned RB8 w successor to the very handy RB7 of last year. Well all the downfall theories went to shred bounced back to secure a hard fought for, but t deserved victory in the Sakhir desert. With th took command of the points standings, while rivals at McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes faltered Thus the F1 circus heads to Europe with fou winners out of four races, and the closest cont to enthrall fans. It was also great to see Kimi Raikkonen an Grosjean on the podium for Lotus - we now teams (if you count Ferrari and their F2012) lin the grid as potential winners on any given Sun In this issue we take a look back on an intri controversial Bahrain weekend. Enjoy!
BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX REPORT VETTEL INTERVIEW RAIKKONEN INTERVIEW GROSJEAN INTERVIEW ANOTHER PITSTOP FUMBLE BY MCLAREN ALONSO VS ROSBERG FERRARI TAKE STOCK DRIVERS REACTIONS FROM BAHRAIN FORMULA 1 AMID THE PROTESTS FREE PRACTICE 1-2-3 REPORTS QUALIFYING REPORT RED BULL FIND THEIR WINGS AGAIN AND MUCH, MUCH MORE... 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
Content & Credits • • • •
Editor: Peevee Sub Editor: Adrian Nel All content sourced from YallaF1.com Content providers: PVM, GMM, Reuters, FIA Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus, Mercedes, Force ind Toro Rosso, Williams, Marussia, Caterham, H Cosworth, Renault and other F1 related orga • Main Photography by Sutton Images • Additional photography provided by F1 team Getty Images, LAT, Hoch Zwei, Ercole Colom • Contact: info@yallaf1.com
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round 4, Bahrain grand prix for the record
VETTEL VICTORY IN BAH FOUR DIFFERENT WINNE
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our separate race winners, four different constructors on the championship lead for more than a grand prix weekend. As th phase of the championship in Asia and the Middle East with ple destination of both titles anyone’s guess.
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HRAIN MAKES IT ERS IN FOUR RACES
top of the podium and no single driver managing to hold the he F1 teams headed back to Europe after the opening long-haul enty to mull over and the next race winner, let alone the ultimate
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round 4, Bahrain grand prix for the record “It’s a much more interesting championship right now than I would like it to be, it really is,” observed McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh after Sunday’s controversial Bahrain Grand Prix. Last month, it had looked as if McLaren could be on for a year of Red Bull-like dominance. Lewis Hamilton started the first two races on pole with McLaren team mate Jenson Button completing the front-row sweep in Australia and Malaysia. Button won the opener in Melbourne but rain-hit Malaysia was a race against all the odds, won by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in a car that everyone thought was off the pace but that was good enough to make the Spaniard
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overall leader. Then, in China, Mercedes swept the front row, thanks to a grid penalty for Hamilton, and Nico Rosberg took the first win by a works Silver Arrows since 1955. Hamilton, still without a victory, was championship king for a day. In Bahrain, a race held against a backdrop of nightly clashes between police and anti-government protesters with tear gas and petrol bombs, world champion Sebastian Vettel won for Red Bull and toppled Hamilton. For the first time since 2003, no driver has managed to take a repeat victory in the opening four races while new faces have emerged.
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round 4, Bahrain grand prix for the record
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The sport has witnessed Rosberg’s first win in 111 starts, Sergio Perez taking the first podium finish by a Mexican in 41 years and Romain Grosjean putting France back in the top three for the first time since Jean Alesi in 1998. The one constant, apart from Red Bull’s Mark Webber racking up four fourth places in a row, has been the influence of the Pirelli tyres on proceedings. Mercedes managed to find the ‘sweet spot’ in Shanghai, and McLaren were completely unable to put their finger on it in Bahrain where they punished the rear tyres and Red Bull and Lotus suddenly looked very quick. “Clearly we did something wrong,” said Whitmarsh, whose team are now second behind Red Bull in the constructors’ standings. “You look at our [race] pace by comparison to the long runs on Friday and we were a second slower. A second slower is 30 or 40 points of downforce. Well, we didn’t lose 30 or 40 points of downforce. “These tyres are very challenging. If you get in the sweet spot then you are in great shape and if you are out of it you are in for a pretty tough time.” 11
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round 4, Bahrain grand prix for the record
The next race, the Spanish Grand Prix at the familiar Barcelona circuit on May 13, could see yet another different winner. Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 champion in his comeback season after two years out, came close to passing Vettel for victory on Sunday in his Lotus, while Hamilton has yet to win. Australian Mark Webber, in the second Red Bull, and Michael Schumacher for Mercedes both know they have winning cars and so too, for that matter, does Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. Even Sauber could spring a surprise. China showed how little separates the leading teams but the next three weeks, with teams testing at Mugello in Italy before Barcelona, could bring another shift in the paddock pecking order. “You can’t rest on your laurels in F1,” said Whitmarsh. “The four races now have all been very different in complexion. Who knows what’s going to happen in the next one? That lack of predictability is great for fans.” 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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round 4, bahrain grand prix race REPORT
VETTEL WINS BAHRAIN G RAIKKONEN MAKES RET
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GRAND PRIX AS URN TO THE PODIUM
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round 4, bahrain grand prix race REPORT The Formula 1 form book was torn to shreds this weekend as reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel bounced back from near oblivion to take his first win of the season for Red Bull, while Lotus made good on early season promise with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean finishing second and third respectively. Victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, round four of the 2012 Formula 1 world championship, catapults Vettel to the top of the points standings, and makes it four different winners in the first four races – drivers and cars – in what is panning out to be one of the tightest world championship contests in
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memory. The result also marked a podium plus fourth place, co the tables on the Mercedes p were the predominant force races of the season. Vettel stole pole position in the race got off to a strong a gap early on and appeared thereafter. Although he did c pressure from Raikkonen in t the world champion dug into craft repertoire and manage
an all Renault powered omprehensively turning powered brigade which e in the the first three
n 24 hours earlier, and g start. he opened d to control the race come under extreme the penultimate stint, to his impressive race ed to defend effectively
until the final stops. A slick pit stop by the Red Bull crew and keeping a cool head under duress he edged out around a three second lead which he managed to retain until he crossed the line for his 21st career F1 victory. Relieved would aptly describe Vettel’s post race demeanour as he gave account of his afternoon at the office: “I think it was an incredible race, extremely tough. We had a good start, I was able to pull away immediately which turned out to be a big advantage because we always had to go on a used set of tyres as we used nearly all of them in qualifying. Kimi was very quick, so was Romain.�
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round 4, bahrain grand prix race REPORT “The strategy, everything seemed to work. I can only say a big thank you to the team. They did an incredible job. The amount of work they had to do which we have given them because we were weren’t happy with the car. Little tweaks here and there. It was tough. We were trying to get the car to our liking. We got it right this weekend, I was very happy in qualifying and the race to be fair,” added Vettel. Lotus had been threatening a strong result since testing in February when it emerged that in the E20 they had a handy and ultra-quick car. Bad luck and weird circumstances conspired against them in the three opening races, but it
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all came good in the desert heat of Sakhir as both Raikkonen and Grosjean scored the results that had eluded them. Raikkonen’s second place was his 63rd podium finish, while Grosjean was making his first ever visit to a grand prix podium with third place. The Iceman reflected on his afternoon, “I think we gave ourselves a chance but I’m disappointed I didn’t manage to win it. I made a small mistake at the beginning, lost one place to Ferrari, and I had to get that place back. In the end we were not fast enough to win. I got one chance to get past Sebastian but I chose the wrong side. That was the only chance really.”
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round 4, bahrain grand prix race REPORT
“At least we got on the podium with both cars. In the last race we failed and probably people thought we were a bit stupid. But it turned out to be the right direction and the team deserves what it has achieved today,� concluded Raikkonen. Teammate Grosjean, the reigning GP2 champion, has turned around his season in the past two races. Early on it was he who was first of the Lotus pair 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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to mount a challenge and reveal the true pace of the black and gold car at the desert track, commented, “It was great. I’m very proud of the team. We knew we had a good car, we were little bit surprised at how quick we were. We tried a different strategy to Kimi and it turned out to be not too bad. I think our car is very competitive. It has been a tight season and every small detail makes a big difference. I’m very happy to get my first podium. The next target is victory.” 23
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round 4, bahrain grand prix race REPORT
Mark Webber made it four out four fourth place finishes as he again just missed on the podium for Red Bull, nevertheless it was a 1-2-3-4 finish for Renault F1 power. As surprising as the make up of the Bahrain podium was, the biggest surprise no doubt was the overnight demise of McLaren and Mercedes who arrived at the island kingdom as the form teams. Although Nico Rosberg salvaged fifth for Mercedes, he was on the back foot all day and a shadow of the driver who dominated so impressively in China a week earlier. 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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He was also involved in some highly questionable blocks, first on Lewis Hamilton and then on Fernando Alonso – you name it: desperate, cynical, unsporting, malicious and worst of all dangerous – unexpected from ‘nice guy’ Rosberg. Michael Schumacher’s race was compromised from the outset, technical ssues in qualifying coupled to an overnight gearbox change forced him to start the race from 22nd. The seven times world champion never really featured as he played catch up all afternoon on his way to tenth and a solitary point – perhaps not bad considering where he started from… 25
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round 4, bahrain grand prix race REPORT
‘Man of the match’ (if there was such a thing in F1) would without doubt go to P who literally nursed his Force India VJM05 to sixth place and the only driver to gamb strategy as all around him went for the safe three stop option. Di Resta said afterwards, “We had a difficult start to the season but we said if we any points at the fly-aways, that was job done. Given we’ve finished seventh in Malay here on performance, we can be very happy. Hopefully when we bolt on a bit more Barcelona, we can finish where we have in Bahrain.” Again in the thick of things with the cumbersome Ferrari F2012 was Alonso, who great start and thereafter spent his race defending for all he was worth on his way to This time around, and for the first time in a while, his team mate Felipe Massa wa thereabouts and in sight of the Spaniard for the entire race – a rarity these days – cro ninth place. McLaren were simply woeful at their ‘home’ race – a Bahraini sovereign fund own a chunk of the Woking squad. Lewis Hamilton was victim of two pit stop bungles and one very tardy stop which collectively cost him at least a dozen seconds (if not more) – a similar problem that emerged a week earlier in Shanghai cost Jenson Button dear at the time. Clearly the problem remains and this time around seriously hampered Hamilton’s afternoon. Eighth was his meagre reward. It was worse for Jenson Button who qualified fourth but in the race was never better than fifth. Average turned to bad when within sight of the finish the McLaren driver suffered a puncture while in seventh place. A lap later he parked the MP4-27 in the garage with a mechanical issue.
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Paul di Resta ble on a two stop
could pick up ysia and sixth downforce in
o managed a o seventh place. as there or ossing the line in
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round 4, bahrain grand prix race REPORT McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh commented, “We lost a lot of time and places for Lewis [during the stops]. More of a concern is generally we weren’t quick enough. The frustration gets compounded when you don’t perform in during the stops. Ultimately, we have got to look at technique and how we do it. These guys volunteer to put themselves in the spotlight. There is an enormous amount of stress on them. We change him for the last stop because he was stressed but it’s our job to protect them. Things go
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wrong and that’s life. We need to makes sure we pull together.” It was also big disappointment for Daniel Ricciardo who qualified he Toro Rosso sixth on the grid, but a dreadful start – which saw him drop down the order to 17th at the end of an incident packed first lap for him – ruined what should have been a strong race for the young Australian. nstead he finished 15th, behind his rookie team mate Jean Eric Vergne who started from 17th.
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round 4, bahrain grand prix race REPORT Although both Sauber drivers featured in most battles on the day, neither scored points with Sergio Perez (for whom Sepang must now be a distant memory) finishing 11th and Kamui Kobayashi 13th across the line. Also sinking to 2011 style depths were the Williams duo of Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna ending their respective races in the team’s pit garage. Formula 1 now returns to Europe for what many teams consider the season proper, and at this stage there is no dominant team and the championship is more open than it has been for decades. Race winner – double world champion – Vettel summed it up, “It’s a very tight season. The cars are very close to each other. Small things can make a huge difference. We started the season with McLaren as the best car by far but we have seen Sunday can be a different picture. I think they still have one of strongest packages. China was a very good lesson for us, driving two packages. For here we focused on our new package and pushing that forward. I’m just happy for now. I don’t care what happens in the next race, at least not today.” 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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round 4, bahrain grand prix race REPORT Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Ret Ret
No 1 9 10 2 8 11 5 4 6 7 15 12 14 17 16 21 20 3 24 22 23 19 18 25
Driver Sebastian Vettel Kimi RäikkÜnen Romain Grosjean Mark Webber Nico Rosberg Paul di Resta Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton Felipe Massa Michael Schumacher Sergio Perez Nico Hulkenberg Kamui Kobayashi Jean-Eric Vergne Daniel Ricciardo Vitaly Petrov Heikki Kovalainen Jenson Button Timo Glock Pedro de la Rosa Narain Karthikeyan Bruno Senna Pastor Maldonado Charles Pic
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Team Red Bull Racing-Renault Lotus-Renault Lotus-Renault Red Bull Racing-Renault Mercedes Force India-Mercedes Ferrari McLaren-Mercedes Ferrari Mercedes Sauber-Ferrari Force India-Mercedes Sauber-Ferrari STR-Ferrari STR-Ferrari Caterham-Renault Caterham-Renault McLaren-Mercedes Marussia-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth Williams-Renault Williams-Renault Marussia-Cosworth
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Laps 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 56 56 56 55 55 55 55 54 25 24
Time/Retired Winner +3.3 secs +10.1 secs +38.7 secs +55.4 secs +57.5 secs +57.8 secs +58.9 secs +64.9 secs +71.4 secs +72.7 secs +76.5 secs +90.3 secs +93.7 secs +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +2 Laps +2 Laps +2 Laps +2 Laps +3 Laps +32 Laps +33 Laps
Grid 1 11 7 3 5 10 9 2 14 22 8 13 12 17 6 18 16 4 23 20 24 15 21 19
Pts 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1
2012 F1 World Championship  Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Driver Sebastian Vettel Lewis Hamilton Mark Webber Jenson Button Fernando Alonso Nico Rosberg Kimi Raikkonen Romain Grosjean Sergio Perez Paul di Resta Bruno Senna Kamui Kobayashi Pastor Maldonado Jean Eric Vergne Nico Hulkenberg Michael Schumacher Felipe Massa Daniel Ricciardo Charles Pic Timo Glock Pedro de la Rosa Narain Karthikeyan Heikki Kovalainen Vitaly Petrov
Pts 53 49 48 43 43 35 34 23 22 15 14 9 4 4 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Team Red Bull Racing McLaren Lotus Ferrari Mercedes AMG Sauber Williams Force India Toro Rosso Marussia Caterham HRT
Pts 101 92 57 45 37 31 18 17 6 0 0 0
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round 4, bahrain grand prix vettel interview
SEBASTIAN VETTEL: I OWE THIS ONE TO THE
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TEAM, TO THE BOYS
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round 4, bahrain grand prix vettel interview
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fter the first three races of the season few would have wagered any money on Sebastian Vettel returning to the top step of the podium - in round four - at the Bahrain Grand Prix, but the reigning F1 world champion did exactly that, to open his account and become the fourth driver (out of four) to win a grand prix this year. With the victory Vettel also took command at the top of the championship standings, while eliminating any doubts about his race craft as he, in the Red Bull RB8 ,does not have the best car at his disposal. Yet he kept at bay the McLaren onslaught in qualifying and deftly out raced the Lotus pair in the race to claim maximum points at Sakhir. A champion performance by the double title holder. He spoke after the race. As defending champion it’s always nice to get your first win of the season, even if it is at the fourth time of asking. Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, I think it was an incredible race. Extremely tough. Sometimes we had a decent gap but still even from the start we had a very good start, which was crucial. I was able to pull away immediately and pull away from the pack. That turned out to be a big advantage because we always had to go on a used set of tyres as we used nearly all of them yesterday in qualifying. We could see, Kimi was getting through, he was very quick and so was Romain. A difficult race but with the strategy everything seemed to work so I can only say a big thanks to the boys in the garage. I said it yesterday: incredible job they’ve done over the first four races. The amount of work they had and that we gave them in particular because we weren’t happy with the car and we asked for little tweaks here and there and they came back with new parts, old parts, back with the new parts, back with the old parts, back and forth, so extremely tough and they spent a lot of hours in 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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round 4, bahrain grand prix vettel interview
the garage trying to get the car to our liking and I think we got it this weekend together for the first time and I was very happy in qualifying and throughout the whole race to be fair. So given the fact that Kimi found a dealership somewhere where he got some new tyres from, which allowed him to start every new stint on new tyres, it was extremely tough to keep them behind us. Once he 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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was very close and I though than just one shot but it tur and in the end I was even p and I could control the last happy and very proud of th
Had this race been one lap have happened? You stopp
ht he would get more rned out to be enough pulling away a little bit stint. All in all, very he team.
p longer, what would ped fairly suddenly
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after the chequered flag. SV: Yeah, a couple of cars did. I had some company down there! I think Nico stopped as well. We were probably surprised by the pace we went in the race. Obviously these guys [Lotus] were pushing us so we couldn’t afford to lift but it was enough. We knew how many laps there were from the start so it was fine I guess. 41
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round 4, bahrain grand prix vettel interview Four races, four different winners. What does that say about Formula One in 2012? SV: I think as Romain touched on, it’s a very tight season, cars are very close to each other and small things can make a huge difference on a Sunday. I think we started the season saying that the McLaren is the best car by far, by quite a bit, but we’ve seen that
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Sunday it can be a different have one of the strongest p need to get everything righ right tyres, you need to trea find the right set-up over th so a lot of things to look out made it here. We were not q
t picture. I think they still packages but as I said you ht. You need to have the at them right, you need to he course of the weekend t for. I’m very happy we quite sure how competitive
we would be. China was a very good lesson for us to understand the weakness of the car a little but more, driving with two different packages. For here we focused on the new package, pushing that forward on a circuit where you need a lot of power as well. I think Renault did a fantastic job – one, two, three all powered by Renault, so
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round 4, bahrain grand prix vettel interview congratulations to them as well. I’m just happy for now, I don’t really care what happens in the next race, at least not today. I think we will have a good time now and then push harder so that we are there again next race. A little bit of relief to be back on the top step of the podium? SV: Of course I’m happy, I mean, y’know, I think we had to work extremely hard in the first couple of races, we were not where we wanted to be so therefore I’m extremely happy that we had a much better weekend here. Friday morning, the first time I went out, I felt much happier with the car balance, so I think we found a reasonable package that seemed to work on this circuit pretty well so all in all, I’m very pleased. As I said yesterday, I think I owe this one to the team, to the boys. As I touched on, they’ve been working so hard, giving them an extremely hard time here at the circuit, back in the factory, we all try to find the best configuration. I don’t want you to look in the back of our garage, it’s pretty busy and pretty messy: a lot of work, a lot of parts. So we try to get the best package together. As I said, very good yesterday in qualifying and today in the race obviously crucial to get a good start. 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
Then I was able to pull away by three or four sec which turned out to be crucial. By the time Rom I think he had more or less had the same pace. A stints I think we were a little bit superior and the stint pretty much the same. Kimi always had ne knew he would be a danger until the last lap. A the beginning trying not to lose too much. I thi second-last stint where we were on option tyre new prime tyre, so it was difficult. I thought he 44
econds immediately main got past Lewis At the end of the en yeah, second ew tyres so we Again, obviously in ink especially that es, Kimi was on a would make his
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way past pretty easily. I tried to defend, one time it was really close and after that it seemed that he was running into the same kind of problems with the tyres and we were able to‌ not pull away but we could open a bit of a gap. So yeah, a very, very tight and difficult race. Obviously not too busy in terms of overtaking and wheel to wheel racing for me, but I knew that every single corner would be crucial with no mistakes allowed. I kept the car on the track at all the time which was a help and yeah, great result and very, very happy. 45
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round 4, bahrain grand prix vettel interview You had a faster pitstop at the last pitstop but then you seemed to be held up by a Caterham in front of you. SV: Yeah, a little bit, but it’s the same story for all of us. You know, you get there first and depending on where you run into traffic you might get held up – but the guys did a very good job all race long, all the guys we lapped. You’re never going to get past without losing a little bit but it’s the same when Kimi or Romain faces the traffic. They run into the same problems. I have to say given the amount of marbles and dirt and sand and pickup off-line, they were very fair.
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You didn’t explain why you had to pull off at the end. SV: Well, I think I wasn’t the only one…
You were just told to pull off? SV: Yeah, I think it’s not the first time you saw that. It was a very quick race, the pace was extremely high, we had no time at any stage to rest, so a lot of pressure always from behind. So pushing hard and yeah, I was too exhausted to do the in-lap!
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round 4, bahrain grand prix vettel interview Lotus already had about 11 kph more in top speed in practice and then on top of that Kimi had DRS and he was behind you. Did it surprise you that you could keep him behind? SV: I thought exactly the same thing to be honest, when I saw that he was closing in, because we’ve seen that they are very quick on the straight all weekend. I was particularly aware that as soon as he got into the DRS zone then it would be difficult to keep him behind. So yeah, I think we could see that one time he was fairly close, he got the DRS and he had more speed at the end of the straight than I had. Sure, I think that you pick your optimum for speed, downforce, top speed and you pick whatever you believe is best. I think that all in all it was the right decision to do what we did. I used DRS once in the race, so I didn’t use it too often, but after that, I was happy that Kimi ran into the same problems with the tyres and I could get a little bit of a gap out of the last corner which was enough to survive the straight. I think we also had a bit of head wind down the straight, and that’s also an advantage for the car behind. I would say it was just enough. You’re now going to have three days of testing in Mugello; do you think that some teams are going to bring big updates, like Ferrari who are struggling a lot? What are your plans for your cars, are you also having big updates? Do you more or less know the direction? SV: First of all, I think it will be difficult to create a miracle. I think the regulations this year make it very difficult so sure I think every team has something on the list. We’ve seen that sometimes people bring parts and they don’t work so it’s not always given that a new parts push you in the right direction so of course it’s very useful to have a test in Mugello, to have some more time than just in free practice on Friday, to evaluate first of all whether the package you are running is the best and whatever new parts you might have for the week after in Barcelona is the right way to go. 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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round 4, bahrain grand prix raikkonen interview
KIMI RAKKONEN: THE TE GOOD JOB AND WE DESE
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EAM IS DOING A ERVE TO BE HERE
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round 4, bahrain grand prix raikkonen interview
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he loudest cheer for the top three on the podium went to Kimi Raikkonen as his popularity, since returning to Formula 1, has taken on cult like status and his speed has hardly been diminuished by his two year absence – second place in the Bahrain Grand Prix signals that the Iceman is back with a vengeance. Raikkonen is smiling more these days, he attributes the cheery disposition and good nature to his Lotus team who are bending over backwards to ensure that their superstar wants for nothing. However the fact
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that James Allison and his team of engineers have delivered a very effective car to him is probably the single biggest smile inducing factor of the entire equation. With the E20 Raikkonen has constantly been at the sharp end of proceedings, after China he warned that he was overdue a big result. Well it came, with second place at the Bahrain Grand Prix where he challenged hard for the lead but had to settle for second. The 2007 world champion spoke about his afternoon in the deser. 55
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round 4, bahrain grand prix raikkonen interview Welcome back to the podium in Formula One. Tell ua bout your afternoon... Kimi Raikkonen: I think we gave ourselves a chance at least. It’s a bit disappointing that I didn’t manage to do it. But I made a small mistake at the beginning and lost one place to Ferrari. I had to re-overtake him and it took a little time. I got past the people quite easily but if you look in the end I think we still took too long and we couldn’t win the race. But at least we got the podium with both cars. After the last race we tried hard and failed and probably people thought we were a bit stupid. But it turned out to be the right decision and I think the team deserves what we have achieved now. We have been working hard. We’ve not been 100 per cent happy with how the weekends have run so far but finally we’ve got some proper results for the team, so it’s an important step.
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Had you been able to get past your team-mate Romain Grosjean in he middle part of the race, a little sooner, would that have made he victory a little easier for you? You certainly had the pace in that middle stint? KR: Yeah but there are no team orders and we know the rules. I try to get past as quickly as I can but it’s not easy with two similar cars. It’s always easy to ay afterwards ‘if we had done that’ but in the end we were not fast enough o win and we have to take the second. I got one chance on Sebastian but I chose the wrong side under braking, so that was it really. In the end I didn’t have any other chances to try. It’s disappointing to finish second but after he last race we have to take it and be pretty happy.
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round 4, bahrain grand prix raikkonen interview Your main rivals - Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes - changed their car during the course of the weekend to suit the characteristics, did you also make changes? KR: My car was the same the whole weekend. We tried two cars with different floors but I mean in the end I don’t think there’s much difference between them but for sure it looks like we did the right thing. The car cannot be too bad
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because we finished second and third, we’re still not happy in certain areas but that’s a pretty normal thing. You’re never really 100 per cent happy with things. You always try to find something new and improved. But, I mean, great thing for the team to finish second and third, so I’m happy for them but a bit disappointed to not have more, to not be able to challenge more for the win. ’m not winning but that’s life.
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round 4, bahrain grand prix raikkonen interview Was it difficult even with the DRS to get really, really close, close enough? KR: I think like you saw on TV I got close enough once to have a chance to try but I chose the wrong side, so that’s about it. After that my tyres dropped off a bit and I couldn’t get close enough. Yep, next time we try, hopefully we can put ourselves in a similar position later on this season in the next coming races. It’s not going to be easy but we’ll try. And that would be nice. Was it the right decision to come in for the last pit stop at the same time as Sebastian? Could you have waited one more lap? KR: That was the plan. Even if we came in a lap later it would be more or less the same. That was our plan and we followed it. They came in at the same time. You’re now going to have three days of testing in Mugello ; do you think that some teams are going to bring big updates, like Ferrari who are struggling a lot? What are your plans for your cars, are you also having big updates? Do you more or less know the direction? KR: I don’t what the others are doing, you will have to ask them. I’m not aware of our plans regarding the test and we will see what happens there. I haven’t talked about it. We first have to finish this race and then put the effort into the test and then go racing after that. I can’t say what the other teams are going to do. We try to find more understanding of the car and improve it. 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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Do you think Lotus can keep up the momentum for the next races? KR: We will try. It’s the same story; I have no idea what’s going to happen in the next races but the team’s been pushing hard to try to improve the car, bringing new parts, but of course they haven’t been working as well as we hoped, but anyhow, they are bringing new updates every time when they can. We try to keep pushing and stay up there, but I cannot answer because they are not. That’s our aim and that’s what we’re working for and hopefully it will happen, but who knows how well we can improve or what the others will do. The team is doing good work and we deserve to be here and hopefully we can stay up here in other races also. Are you surprised that it took you only four races to return to the podium? KR: It could have been in the first three races also, not putting ourselves in a bad position and some problems, being a bit smarter than certain teams but we know from the winter that we have a very good car, good baseline package and just have to make the right decisions and put ourselves where the car can be. This weekend it worked, last weekend it didn’t. We know that the speed is there, we just need to try to get everything exactly right.
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round 4, bahrain grand prix Grosjean interview
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: WE K CAR BUT WERE SURPRISE
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ost who have followed Romain Grosjean’s career in the lower leagues have known that the young Frenchman is superstar material, his dominance in GP2 stretches back a few years and it was just a matter of time before he announced himself on the world’s biggest stage he gave a glimpse of his potential as he powered to third place in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
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KNEW WE HAD A GOOD ED HOW QUICK IT WAS
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round 4, bahrain grand prix Grosjean interview Grosjean was fast tracked into Formula 1 back in 2009, during turbulent times at Renault, alongside Fernando Alonso, and he flopped famously despite being the pace setter in GP2 at the time. He retreated back to the feeder series and in a couple of years made his way - deservedly - back into Formula 1with Lotus who believed in him, and through Gravity Management engineered his return to the top tier of the sport. The belief has been vindicated as Grosjean has shown impressive pace and now the results are starting to happen. He spoke after celebrating his first F1 podium at Sakhir.
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Great drive to third and your first podium in Formula One. Romain Grosjean: For sure it’s great. It’s a strange feeling so far. I think I will be delighted tonight. But I’m very proud of the team, all we did in the race. We knew we had a good car but I think we were surprised at the beginning by how quick we were. And we chose a different strategy to Kimi. It turned out to be not too bad at the end. Our car is very competitive in what so far has been a very tight season. Every small detail makes a huge difference, so the team is working very hard bringing new pieces as well and then putting 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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back the old and trying to see which one is the best – not always easy when you have so little running. But I think we can be very happy with what we did and personally I’m very, very happy to be on my first podium. It’s quite a good feeling I have to say! I was saying first points, then top five, then podium but I jumped one step. The next step will be victory but well, that will take time and now I think we can be happy and now we can have a week off to enjoy the time and to work a little bit at the factory and to find the six or seven second gap there was to Sebastian. 71
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round 4, bahrain grand prix Grosjean interview
Tell us about the start. It must have been pretty good? RG: Yeah, it was! I think we are doing some pretty good starts since the beginning, except Melbourne. Malaysia, China and here we have some very good starts. I think it was important for me to be straight up to the front. Then I have to say that I really enjoyed the first stint, the car was fantastic on the option and I could overtake Mark Webber and then Lewis Hamilton. I thought I would come back a little bit on Sebastian and then we choose to go for the prime on the second stint, and it appears that there were a little bit less grip, it was more difficult and Kimi was behind me. He passed me and then the tyres went away. I think the last two 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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stints were pretty good, our car was feeling good, the team can be proud of what they did because with this season so tight between cars it’s very difficult to be at the front and we have two cars on the podium which is extremely good. We’re working very hard as well, trying some new pieces – the old and new and seeing what is the best – but it’s always difficult. Tyres, as you know, are going away quite quickly and it doesn’t give you much free practice time but our podium feels pretty good and I think it will feel even better when I’m on the plane home and take one or two days to relax before going to the factory and working and trying to get a better car for the next race. 73
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round 4, bahrain grand prix Grosjean interview Was the car better on primes, after using the options from the start? RG: Unfortunately not. It was pretty good on the two last stints with the new prime but I had a choice between scrubbed primes and scrubbed options for stint two because I did a mistake in Q2 run one where I went wide and used one extra set of options. If I had one new set of options I think I would have put it on and maybe got closer to Seb – but I have to be happy with third place, it’s a first podium, we have two cars here and that’s fantastic.
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A comment from you about four races, four different winners from different teams, and what do you expect from the rest of the season? RG: Who knows? Who is able to tell who will be World Champion? I think it’s ike it’s never been before. Q2 in China was incredible: ten cars in three tenths or eleven cars. It’s just amazing and it just depends who is bringing new updates, but I think the season will be how it is so far and you will have to get the last hundredths and the last tenths to get on the podium.
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FOR THE RECORD
THERE ARE NO TEAM ORD
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otus did not consider employing team orders in order to boost Kimi Raikkonen’s chances of winning the Bahrain Grand Prix, which saw the Enstone based team claim to podium spots at Sakhir.
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DERS AT LOTUS
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FOR THE RECORD The 2007 world champion ultimately finished second and even had a stab at overtaking winner Sebastian Vettel. And he might have had an ever better chance at challenging the Red Bull had his Lotus team chiefs ordered teammate Romain Grosjean aside at a crucial moment. “Yeah,” confirmed Finn Raikkonen, “but there are no team orders and we know the rules. I tried to get past as quickly as I can but it’s not easy with two similar cars.” “It’s always easy to say afterwards ‘if we had done that’ but in the end we were not fast enough to win and we have to take the second,” he added.
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Despite team orders being effectively legal in F1, team boss Eric Boullier confirmed that Lotus does not follow that policy. He told the Mirror, “We don’t want to play team orders, so we let them race normally and what happened, happened.” The most important thing, according to Spanish commentator and former veteran F1 engineer Joan Villadelprat, is that the former Renault team still know how to challenge for wins. “Maybe they don’t have the best car on the grid, because McLaren and Red Bull and Mercedes are probably better, but Lotus have made a car capable of competing with the best in the right circumstances,” he wrote in El Pais newspaper.
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FOR THE RECORD
MCLAREN TO REVIEW PIT AFTER ANOTHER COSTY
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cLaren will carry out a thorough investigation of their pitstop procedures, after suffering costly holdups during the Bahrain Grand Prix, for the third successive race.
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TSTOP PROCEDURES FUMBLE
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FOR THE RECORD Jenson Button’s hopes of victory in China last weekend were wrecked by a slow stop and it was team mate Lewis Hamilton’s turn on Sunday with two agonising delays. The 2008 champion, who also lost time in Malaysia in the pits, ended the race in eighth place and lost the lead in the overall standings to Red Bull’s winner and world champion Sebastian Vettel. McLaren were also overtaken in the constructors’ standings by Red Bull. McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh told reporters that the same left rear wheelgun man was involved in both incidents, was distraught about it and had been relieved of his duties during the race. Whitmarsh also said he had been to speak to him afterwards to tell him not to be too hard on himself. “These are guys who don’t get paid extra for doing it, they put themselves in the firing line, they put themselves under an enormous amount of pressure,” he said. “So naturally I am very protective of them, they deserve my protection.” 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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Whitmarsh said McLaren would look now at the equipment, procedures and approach to prevent such incidents happening again. He explained that Hamilton’s first pitstop was slowed by the wheel nut pegs not engaging properly and the second because the nuts cross-threaded – the same as in Shanghai. All were on the same side and axle. “We’ll review lots of things but I don’t think it’s a criticism of him as an individual,” said Whitmarsh. “He’s taken it very badly and it’s our job to support to him at the moment.” Button retired from the race, the fourth round of the season, after suffering a differential failure due to a cracked exhaust while chasing Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg for fifth place. Hamilton, who had started on the front row alongside Vettel and could have hoped for a top-four finish at least, said he would talk to the mechanic. “I don’t know who he is, but I will go and see the guy, try and lift him up,” he said. “That’s all I can do really, otherwise it’s about doing my best and trying to remain positive. There should be (an enquiry) because we gave away a lot of points today which championships are lost through. So we have to try and make sure we pick up on them for the next race because we can’t afford to lose points like we did today.” 87
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round 4, bahrain grand prix for the record
ALONSO: YOU HAVE TO
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errari’s Fernando Alonso accused Mercedes rival Nico Rosberg of dangerous driving and warned of future mayhem after stewards refused to punish the German for two controversial moves during the Bahrain Grand Prix.
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LEAVE A SPACE!
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The Spaniard shook his fist angrily from the cockpit after Rosberg forced him off the track and onto the runoff in a duel between the two at the Sakhir circuit. That move and a similar incident with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton saw Rosberg facing two stewards’ enquiries but they decided to take no further action in either case after examining video evidence. Rosberg finished the race fifth, with Alonso seventh and Hamilton eighth. “I think you are going to have fun in future races! You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy!,” commented Alonso sarcastically on his Twitter page after the stewards’ decision. Earlier he had criticised Rosberg, who last weekend took the first win of 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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his F1 career at the 111th attempt, “I can only say that if, instead of such a wide run-off area there had been a wall, I’m not sure I’d be here now to talk about it.” During the race Alonso furiously vented his frustration over the team radio: “Okay he pushed me off the track, you have to leave a space - all the time you have to leave a space.” Team principal Stefano Domenicali said, “What I can say is that what has been a very tough first run of races for us has now come to an end... we managed to limit the damage at least as far as the drivers’ championship is concerned.” Ferrari left Bahrain fourth in the constructors’ standings and with Alonso fifth overall in the drivers’ points table. 93
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round 4, bahrain grand prix ferrari feature
FERRARI TAKE STOCK A RACES WITH OFF THE PA
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fter last year’s major reshuffle of the technical side of the Ferrari F1 team, president Luca di Montezemolo demanded that the team produce a world beater out the box to tackle the 2012 season, and as a consequence the new technical gurus at Maranello HQ produced the Ferrari F2012 which has turned out to be a ‘tractor’ of a Formula 1 car.
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AFTER FIRST FOUR ACE F2012
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round 4, bahrain grand prix ferrari feature Nevertheless with this marginally effective piece of kit at his disposal Fernando Alonso has muscled his way around the first four races, taking one unexpected win [Sepang] and as the championship heads to Europe is fourth in the points standings – a mere ten points adrift of leader Sebastian Vettel – damage control very much achieved. Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali reflected, “A first cycle of four races came to an end and so we can make a very early first assessment. Clearly we cannot be happy with the way our season began but, after the winter tests, we knew the first four races would be very tough. We managed to limit the damage, especially in the Drivers’ championship, in which Fernando Alonso is fifth, just ten points off the leader. However, it is equally clear that now we must
Domenicali, who remains committed to Massa, explained, “Felipe has also reacted in a positive fashion to the initial difficulties and I am sure the fact [that] he has finally managed to end his scoreless run in terms of points will give him confidence for the forthcoming races.” The word is that, since March, the team has building an ‘F2012B’ version of their current car, which in truth is a totally new car starting from scratch – hence the lack of updates for recent races – and that the next couple of weeks – testing at Mugello and round five in Barcelona – will be crucial to the team’s title ambitions. If this hugely ‘updated’ F2012 is another failure, there will be 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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step up a gear, right from the next race. Our engineers are well aware of this and are working day and night to give our drivers a much more competitive car than we have seen on track in these first four races.” The team boss admits that based on their February testing form, where they stand right now is a bonus, “Honestly, if when setting out for Melbourne, it had been suggested we would be in this position with one of our drivers, I would have struggled to believe it.” Felipe Massa has been massively overshadowed by Alonso, in the first four races, and in fact, generally since the Spaniard arrived at the Scuderia, at the start of 2010. Ferrari’s patience (and loyalty) to the Brazilian has been commendable while being seen by some as counter productive to the team.
some serious questions asked from high up and Alonso, who has admirably towed the party line to date, will be forgiven a tantrum or two – the reds have yet to give him an optimum weapon to do his job. On their website, Ferrari acknowledge, “The coming days will be very mportant, during which the primary objective will be to push as hard as possible on the development of the car: next week we have three days of testing at Mugello, but it’s not definite that all the updates planned for Barcelona will be seen then. We must try and make the most of every minute available to us to increase the performance of the F2012.” 97
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round 4, bahrain grand prix ferrari feature Meanwhile there is a revolution going on behind closed doors at Maranello as Domenicali confirmed, “We are intensifying the process of changing our working procedures in all areas and, at the same time, we are strengthening our efforts in areas where we are weakest, such as aerodynamics. It’s a long term project and one that President Montezemolo is studying first hand and it is vital to the future of the Scuderia. F1 has changed so much these past few years and we have not always been up to speed with these changes. In this area too we need to step up a gear.” “The theme for the start of this championship is that everyone was very closely matched: the statistics show that it’s been nine years since there have been four different winners in the first four races, but more than that, you have to go back 29 years to find the last time four different cars won,” mused Domenicali. 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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“Tyres seem to be the most important factor: understanding their behaviour in order to settle on a strategy for the race and also for qualifying, as we saw in Bahrain, pinpointing the right moment for the pit stops, knowing how best to set a time on a single flying lap, based on the track evolution are all crucial elements in the fight for the top places. I expect that in Barcelona there will be many teams all bringing significant updates on 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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track and we will have to do a better job than the others,” added Domenicali. The team love their statistics and duly pointed out: “Statistics from the ast three years show that the ten point deficit is the smallest Alonso has had to the leader of the Drivers’ table at this point in the season: it was eleven in 2010 (60 for Button, 49 for Fernando) and no less than 52 last year (93 Vettel, 41 Alonso.)” 101
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
SEBASTIAN VETTEL - 1st
“It was an incredible race, extremely tough. A good start was crucial and I was able t which was a big advantage as we always had to go on scrubbed tyres due to the fac of them in qualifying yesterday. Kimi was very quick and so was Grosjean. But everyt today; strategy was good and I can only say a big thank you to the whole team and said it yesterday, but they have done an incredible job over the last four races, the am do was so much. We asked them for this and for that, for tweaks here and there and then old parts, then news parts again, back and forth and spent a lot of time in the g to our liking. But we got there. I was very happy with qualifying today and all throug fast today and it was close, but I am extremely happy and very proud of the team.� 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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to pull away from the pack, ct we had used almost all thing seemed to work well the guys in the garage. I mount of work they had to they came with new parts, garage trying to get the car ghout the race. Kimi was
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
MARK WEBBER - 4th
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“It wasn’t a bad start. I didn’t have KERS for the first lap, so it was difficult to put press those guys – the two Lotus’ and Seb – so I had to consolidate from there. Lotus has a job today and it shows how tight the Championship is; there have been four differen are doing well in the Championships. It wasn’t the most exciting race for me, but it’s racing in Europe.” 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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sure on Lewis, but then I got it back. In the first two stints, I couldn’t stay with a tidy car and when everything comes together, it works well – they did a good nt winners. I got some good points today and both drivers and Red Bull Racing s been a good start to the Championship. I’m looking forward to getting back to 107
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
JENSON BUTTON - 18th
“I didn’t have a very good balance today: I was struggling all afternoon with overstee However, my final stint was a long one, and, if I hadn’t struck trouble, I reckon things harder at the start of that stint, but I’d been looking after my tyres. Into the last five la [Rosberg]. But, just as I braked for the final corner [on lap 53], the right-front corner l the team, and pitted. In the last few laps, the car sounded really noisy. I think the init failure; so I had to retire. It’s been a pretty difficult weekend for the whole team.”
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eer. We were taking front wing out of the car all the way through the race, in fact. s would have got quite interesting in the final laps. Some drivers had pushed aps, I started pushing pretty hard, and I caught up with Paul [di Resta] and Nico lifted up in the air and I realised I had a [left-rear] puncture. So I quickly radioed tial problem was an exhaust failure, then my puncture, and then a differential
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
LEWIS HAMILTON - 8th
“There are good times and bad times in motor racing. I guess this was just one of tho but it didn’t work out like that in the end. The delays in the pits were a big part of tha you’re just waiting and there’s nothing you can do to help. We lost a bit of world cha world championship points, and every point you score is valuable in a season as clos that we’ve got to do two things: we’ve got to work on the pace of our car and we’ve 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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ose days. By rights we should have been fighting to finish in the top four today, at, of course. For the driver sitting in the car, that’s always frustrating, because ampionship momentum today – but, on the plus side, we still picked up four ose-fought as this one. Now we’ll head into the European season, and it’s clear e got to improve our pitstops.” 111
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
FERNANDO ALONSO - 7th “It went a bit better than we feared and we managed to limit the damage. We had arrived here eight points down on the championship leader and we leave only two more points adrift. To finish this run of four races in this situation is positive, even if there is no point in denying that we cannot be happy with it in general terms. Now, it’s clear we have to make a step forward, because we cannot always count on the failings of others. For example, we closed the points gap to McLaren, something which I certainly would not have believed possible if it had been suggested yesterday. At the same time, we finished the race almost a minute behind the winner, which had never happened so far this year. I expected Lotus to be very competitive because they have been all weekend. So far it’s been good that there hasn’t been just one driver picking up the maximum points, as happened for example last year. As for the race, I can’t say anything I didn’t say already a week ago in Shanghai: the car is practically the same. At some points we were strong, in others much less so, all dependent on tyre behaviour. We lack top speed and when you are in a tight duel, that is penalising. As for the incident with Rosberg, I can only say that if, instead of such a wide run-off area there had been a wall, I’m not sure I’d be here now to talk about it. A shame that I was missing one more straight to get past Di Resta in the end: we could have picked up a few more little points which would have been handy. I said it earlier, we have to improve the car as quickly as possible: in Barcelona, we will have some major updates but so will the others and how good a job we will have done we will only discover on track at Montmelo.” 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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FELIPE MASSA - 9th
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“It was definitely not a very easy race, but in the end, we managed to do a good job and, for the first time this year, finish in the points. It’s a nice result at this time, but we are well aware that it is not Ferrari’s style to be happy with a ninth place. Having said that, it is a performance that gives me confidence for the rest of the season. Clearly we have to improve the performance of the car as soon as possible to be able to fight for worthwhile positions. In Barcelona, everyone will bring major updates and we will have had to do have done a better job than the others because we have to make up the ground lost at the start of this championship. As for the race, I think the decision to save a set of new Softs yesterday was the right one. A shame I lost a place to Rosberg in the pit stop: if I had managed to stay ahead of him, maybe I could have got a better result. I suffered especially with the rears and, in the end, I was not going flat out because I did not want to end up in trouble with tyre degradation.”
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NICO ROSBERG - 5th
“I had a pretty bad first lap today, but after that I was able to recover and get the mo compared to the start of the season, although it was difficult to make progress as th weekend as fifth place gives me a few more points and I can see that we are making ready for the start of the European season. Before that, I’m looking forward to visitin return to Germany after two good weekends, particularly of course the win in China
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ost of our race. We had a good strategy and the pace of the car was pretty strong here were a lot of cars fighting for the same positions. Overall I’m happy with our g progress. Now we have a short break where we can work hard in the factory ng the DTM opening race in Hockenheim next Saturday. It’s my first chance to a, and I look forward to celebrating that together with our fans.”
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MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
“Considering where I started the race today, it’s a positive that I was able to fight up place, score a point and finish a dry race this season. The tyres obviously played a lar the race today, and in the conditions here, we had to adapt the driving style to keep together. It will be good to have the time now before Barcelona to sort out some iss prepare our updates for the test days in Mugello.”
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KIMI RAIKKONEN - 2nd
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“It’s a great result for the team and we deserve it as everyone has been working very hard. To be honest, I’m slightly disappointed we didn’t take the win because we had the pace. I only had one chance to overtake Sebastian (Vettel) and unfortunately I chose the wrong side to try and get past. If I hadn’t made a small mistake at the start and allowed Felipe (Massa) to get through then maybe it would have been a different story, as we spent quite a lot of time fighting with him. At the end of the day, it’s good to have both cars on the podium, especially after last race which didn’t go to plan, but I honestly think we could have taken the victory today.” 121
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ROMAIN GROSJEAN - 3rd
“It’s a great feeling to get my first podium, and I’m really proud of the whole team for doi with such a tight field any small mistakes can make a huge difference. Today I think we g Last week I was aiming for my first points, this week I was hoping for top five, but here w happy with what we’ve achieved today; hopefully we can now head to the Mugello test 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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ing an incredible job today. We’ve known all season how quick the car can be, but got everything right, and we’ve finally been able to prove how competitive we are. we are on the podium so who knows where we can go from here! We can be very t and find that last bit of to push us right to the top.” 123
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BRUNO SENNA - 22nd “We did everything right on the first lap but unfortunately I was struggling to keep the pace to the cars in front. I think we were quite aggressive with the set-up today but sometimes you don’t get it right. Towards the end I started feeling a lot of vibration in the brake pedal. The engineers were looking at it, so I kept pushing as you never know what will happen, but the vibration got worse and the decision was made to pit to avoid risking an accident. It’s disappointing after two points finishes, but it’s a long season.”
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PASTOR MALDONADO - D “I had a puncture in the exit of Turn 1 and then spun on the straight. I’m disappointed for the team as the performance was there. Starting from the back of the pack I was fighting every lap. The car was responding well and I was able to make up many positions. I feel today we could have scored more points but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”
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DNF
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
PAUL DI RESTA - 6th
“The result today is massive for us. The team did an amazing job all weekend, the strategy came together and the pitstops were perfect. We knew it would be a big ask to make only two stops and it was a close run thing at the end because my tyres completely went away on the final lap. I had Fernando of KERS coming out of the final corner and managed to stay ahead. Apart from that, here as a very happy team with a few weeks to reflect on things and determined to 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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[Alonso] very close behind me, but I saved a bit , the car has been awesome. So we go away from arrive in Barcelona in fighting form.� 129
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
NICO HULKENBERG - 12t “I think my race was decided at the very start when I had some clutch issues and the anti-stall kicked in, which really compromised my getaway and dropped me right to the back of the pack. From then on it was a long, hard fight back through the field, and it was hard work coming through the traffic. I made it to P12, but there wasn’t much more I could do. So a tough race for me, but great to see Paul pick up some points.”
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
KAMUI KOBAYASHI - 13th
“Well, for me the start was too slow. I had too much wheelspin and we will look into strategy but in the end it didn’t work out. The tyres degraded quicker than we hoped I can’t see anything that we could have actually done better in today’s race. Our prob 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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o that. I started on a set of new medium compound tyres and we tried a two stop ed and I had to do three stops as well with the last one seven laps before the end. blem was a general lack of speed and we will work hard to fix it.� 133
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
SERGIO PEREZ - 11th “We knew this circuit would not be an easy one for us and we were just too slow today. We tried both strategies and split them between the cars but today there was nothing that could have really helped us. I had a lot of tyre degradation and due to a problem at the pit stop we lost a place and a point to Michael (Schumacher). He was very fast on the straights. I had no chance to get him. Next time we’ll do better again.”
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
DANIEL RICCIARDO - 15t
“ o a a c m m
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“That was not what I was hoping for after starting from sixth on the grid. The opening lap changed my whole race. My initial launch off the line wasn’t great and after that I seemed to go backwards, which made for a very frustrating afternoon. The front wing damage also made matters worse. I had a good chance to have a strong race today, but losing all those places at the start cost me dear. I need to be hard on myself now and find out what I did wrong to make sure I don’t do it again. It was a race to forget.”
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
JEAN ERIC VERGNE - 14t
“It’s the same pattern as in China, in that I manage to have a good pace in the race, b further forward with the pace we have, then we should see a more positive result on have a bit of a break in terms of races, but we will have the test at Mugello where we even better car for the Spanish Grand Prix. As for myself, I need to analyse what is no Romain is on the podium and I am super happy for him. It would be nice if I can end
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th
but I’m slow in qualifying. We must find a solution to this, because if we can start n Sunday. I gave it my all today, even though I started from far back. Now we e must look carefully at what we can do, hoping to arrive in Barcelona with an ot working for me in qualifying. As a Frenchman, I have say I think it’s great that d up with a car as competitive as his and fight with him for a podium place!”
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN - 17
“I had a good start but then had contact with a car behind in turn 10 which caused a about putting in as strong a race as I could. I passed Glock quickly and pulled out a g a bit frustrating to have had the puncture on the first lap, but we can take a number qualifying and from the way we were able to look after the tyres, so overall it’s been 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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7th
LAT Photographic
a rear left puncture. We pitted immediately and from then on it was basically good gap to him and then went after my team mate and Ricciardo. It’s obviously r of positives from this weekend, particularly from the pace we showed in pretty good.� 141
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
VITALY PETROV - 16th
“That was a really interesting race, particularly at the start when there was a lot of ov some very good pitstops, quicker than in China and good enough to help me stay o was only towards the end when we had to let the leaders pass that we started losing Sundays. This has been a good weekend all round and a great way to end the first fo and we’ll head there feeling very positive about how we keep progressing.”
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vertaking and it was good to be right in the middle of the early battles. We made out ahead of Ricciardo who I had a good battle with for quite a lot of the race. It g a bit of time but today’s performance shows again how strong we can be on our flyaway races. We have a couple of weeks now until the next race in Spain
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
PEDRO DE LA ROSA - 20t
“It was a tough race, but we finished with both cars and that is positive for the team. speed per lap, more than anything because we want to be fighting our rivals on a co it’s true that we’ve taken a giant stride but we can’t be satisfied with just that. We’ve Australia. We’ve got very good individuals on board, a new workshop where we can back to work on the car and try new things out. We’re really looking forward to Euro
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m. The truth is that our rhythm wasn’t what we’d hoped for. We have to gain some onsistent basis. In today’s race we didn’t have sufficient rhythm. Looking back improved a lot but we’re at the starting blocks, where we should have been in n build on a solid base, and that is the most positive thing. Now we want to get ope.”
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN “The start today was good, but then the first few laps were quite tough because there was dust everywhere. I settled behind Pedro but I think I pushed too hard in the first stint because my tyres were dead very quickly. After my first pitstop, I improved a lot and from there my lap times were consistent. We did a four-stop strategy, which I think went very well, and in the end we were only half a second behind Pedro at the checkered flag. My race performance was extremely good, I’d say it was my best Grand Prix so far this season, so I’m very happy about that.”
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21st
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
TIMO GLOCK - 19th
“It was a very difficult race today. I had no balance in the car, no speed and no chanc every time I did try to push, the rears locked under braking and I had no braking sta quickly. We have had a complex journey from Friday to Sunday and we need to retra we can improve and apply the updated package from Spain.� 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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ce to push after the second or third la. The rear tyres dropped off massively and ability. Unfortunately this is a weekend to learn from then put behind us quite ace our steps and look at the set-up decisions we made in order to understand how
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round 4, bahrain grand prix driver reaction
CHARLES PIC - DNF
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“Naturally I am disappointed, as the race was tough but I was quite happy with the car and managing the tyre wear quite well. Despite the challenging track conditions I was still able to push and I think we were sitting quite well versus the pace of the Caterhams. Unfortunately on lap 24 I had a problem with the Air Valve System and I had no option but to retire the car, which is frustrating for me and the team as they have worked very hard to keep us moving forward here all weekend. As we head to Europe now I have to be pleased with the opening few races in general, but we need to be focused now on improvements for Spain.�
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round 4, Bahrain grand prix for the record
BAHRAIN WEEKEND GET PROTESTS AND TIGHT S
F
ormula One cars roared around the Bahrain circuit on Friday durin on with preparations despite tight security amid clashes between
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TS UNDERWAY AMID SECURITY
ng the first free practice, with teams pressing n police and anti-government protesters.
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round 4, Bahrain grand prix for the record
Scores of police cars were parked or circulating on the highway south, as the government hoped to use the Grand Prix as a way of showing that life is back to normal after a democracy movement launched an Arab Spring-inspired uprising last year. The protests were initially crushed, but were not stamped out; demonstrations and clashes are frequent. There were no immediate reports from teams of any trouble overnight after a petrol bomb exploded near a team van on Wednesday evening. Despite the best efforts of teams and drivers to focus on the race and ignore 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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debate about the political situation beyond the metal fences of the paddock, security was a major focus. “Everything’s fine for us, we are all in good shape,” Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley told Reuters as his cars, driven by Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg and Britain’s Paul Di Resta, were the first on track. “The guys are happy, no issues.” Two Force India staff, one a data engineer and the other sutton-images.com a contractor, left Bahrain on Thursday to return to Britain after a car that one of them was travelling 157
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round 4, Bahrain grand prix for the record in was stopped on the highway by the flaming petrol bomb. It was the first incident directly involving one of the 12 teams preparing for Sunday’s race, the fourth round of the championship, that local rights activists and anti-government demonstrators want cancelled. “We had a perfect trip back,” Fernley said of Thursday night’s drive back to the hotel. The race is the first in Bahrain since 2010. Last year’s was cancelled after a bloody crackdown on unrest in the tiny Gulf kingdom. The grandstands remained largely empty, although organisers say many local fans make the decision to attend on the spur of the moment. The circuit offers one day passes for Friday only, the start of the weekend in Bahrain which is also often a flashpoint for protests after prayers, since Sunday is a working day. One demonstration is scheduled to take place near the circuit later on Friday. The decision by Formula One’s governing body, the Paris-based FIA, and 81-year-old commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone to go ahead with this year’s has been heavily criticised both in Bahrain and abroad due to the country’s human rights record. Drivers, staying in luxury hotels and then busying themselves in the bubble of the paddock, have mostly avoided commenting on the situation. “I haven’t seen anyone throwing bombs. I don’t think it’s that bad,” Red Bull’s double world champion Sebastian Vettel told reporters after arriving at the circuit on Thursday. “I think it’s a lot of hype.” 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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round 4, ahrain grand prix FREE PRACTICE 1 REPORT
PRACTICE 1: HAMILTON TOPS OPENIN
F
ormula 1 engines were fired up for the first time in two years at the Bahrain International Circuit as the first free practice got underway, on schedule, on the opening day of the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton topping the timing screens at the end of the ninety minute session.
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NG SESSION
Hoch Zwei 163
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Despite a tense uneasiness permeating the island kingdom, the F1 world is intent on pretending that it’s ‘ business as usual’ with drivers and teams trying to keep their focus on track as opposed to on what is being reported around them. In so sticking to the business on track, Hamilton did what he has done in the two previous race weekends, ending the first session up on his rivals, again confirming the pace of the Mclaren MP4-27 in ‘out-the-box’ form everywhere they go – team mate Jenson Button was quickest in the first session in Australia too. But today, in the opening stanza of Bahrain, the 2009 world champion was fifth on the timing sheets and 0.705 seconds off his 2008 world champion teammate’s best. The younger Briton set his best time around the hour mark, and only did 11 laps, but in the end that was enough as he finished 0.305 faster than next best Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull RB8. The world champion has reverted to the ‘new’ version of the car which team mate Mark Webber used to much better effect in China. Webber was eighth in this session. Paul di Resta was third fastest in the Force India VJM05, up on his teammate Nico Hulkenberg who was sixth fastest. 165
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China winner Nico Rosberg was fourth in the Mercedes AMG w03, with Michael Schumacher claiming seventh in the sister car. Ominously for their rivals, Mercedes powered drivers hogged six of the top seven positions by the end of the morning. Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean were ninth and tenth respectively in the Lotus E20, the pair showing strong pace throughout the session and only dropping down the order when the Mercedes brigade turned up the wick late on in the session. 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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As is becoming the norm, so far this year, the best Ferrari powered car was not of Maranello origin, but rather of the Hinwill variety. Sergio Perez ending the session 11th. Best of the reds was 2010 Bahrain GP winner Fernando Alonso setting the 13th best time, with Felipe Massa 15th but a quarter second down on the Spaniard. On duty for Williams, in place of Bruno Senna, for the opening session was team reserve Valtteri Bottas who was 14th fastest, with Pastor Maldonado 12th. 167
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FREE PRACTICE 1 REPORT Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
No 4 1 11 8 3 12 7 2 9 10 15 18 5 19 6 14 17 20 21 16 25 24 22 23
Driver Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Paul di Resta Nico Rosberg Jenson Button Nico Hulkenberg Michael Schumacher Mark Webber Kimi RäikkÜnen Romain Grosjean Sergio Perez Pastor Maldonado Fernando Alonso Valtteri Bottas Felipe Massa Kamui Kobayashi Jean-Eric Vergne Heikki Kovalainen Vitaly Petrov Daniel Ricciardo Charles Pic Timo Glock Pedro de la Rosa Narain Karthikeyan
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Team McLaren-Mercedes Red Bull Racing-Renault Force India-Mercedes Mercedes McLaren-Mercedes Force India-Mercedes Mercedes Red Bull Racing-Renault Lotus-Renault Lotus-Renault Sauber-Ferrari Williams-Renault Ferrari Williams-Renault Ferrari Sauber-Ferrari STR-Ferrari Caterham-Renault Caterham-Renault STR-Ferrari Marussia-Cosworth Marussia-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth
168
Time 1:33.572 1:33.877 1:34.150 1:34.249 1:34.277 1:34.344 1:34.483 1:34.552 1:34.609 1:34.847 1:35.024 1:35.268 1:35.436 1:35.497 1:35.719 1:35.929 1:36.195 1:36.330 1:36.484 1:36.591 1:37.467 1:38.006 1:38.877 1:39.996
Gap
0.305 0.578 0.677 0.705 0.772 0.911 0.980 1.037 1.275 1.452 1.696 1.864 1.925 2.147 2.357 2.623 2.758 2.912 3.019 3.895 4.434 5.305 6.424
5 8 7 5 2 1 0 7 5 2 6 4 5 7 7 3 8 2 9 5 4 5 4
Laps 11 21 26 23 14 26 17 22 18 20 22 25 21 24 19 24 20 11 18 20 18 18 19 23
Hoch Zwei 169
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FREE PRACTICE 2 REPORT
PRACTICE 2: ROSBERG KEEPS HIS MO
N
ico Rosberg kept the momentum going and followed up his first Formula One win, in China a week earl with Mercedes by setting the fastest lap of the day in Frida two for a Bahrain Grand Prix overshadowed by protests elsewhere 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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OMENTUM GOING
lier, ay free practice e in the Gulf kingdom.
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FREE PRACTICE 2 REPORT The German, who took the first victory by a Mercedes works team since 1955 at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, lapped the desert Sakhir circuit in one minute 32.816 seconds in the afternoon session. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the morning, when Formula One cars took to the reconfigured track for the first time in more than two years after last year’s race was cancelled following a bloody crackdown on an anti-government uprising. Human rights activists and prodemocracy protesters have called on the glamour sport to cancel the event again this year. “That was a good start to the weekend,” said Rosberg, a winner after 110 unsuccessful attempts, while casting doubt on how meaningful the times were. “The most important thing still is to improve our race pace. “The conditions are really tough out there so the race will be quite demanding from the tyre perspective,” added the German, who was fourth before lunch. Australian Mark Webber was second fastest for Red Bull in the same session, ahead of team mate and double world champion Sebastian Vettel. The two drivers used different exhaust configurations in China, with Vettel reverting to one used in preseason testing after finding an update not to his liking. 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FREE PRACTICE 2 REPORT “Regarding set-up, I think we got the answers in China that we were looking for and that’s helped us here,” said the 24-year-old German, who was second on the morning timesheets. “I think others are the favourites this weekend but we are focusing on ourselves and pushing hard.” With tight security beyond the metal fences of the paddock, and few spectators in the stands, drivers got down to business on a circuit whose layout has been shortened since 2010 when fans witnessed a boring race with little overtaking.
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ic
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Hamilton, the 2008 champion who was leading the standings after three successive third places, said looking after the tyres was going to be the big challenge in the blazing conditions. “The temperatures keep on rising until it feels just like driving on an ce-rink,� he said, after finishing fourth in the afternoon. Neither Hamilton, who started the first two races on pole position, nor Vettel have won a race yet this season with three different winners in the opening rounds.
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FREE PRACTICE 2 REPORT The Ferraris of Spaniard Fernando Alonso and Brazilian Felipe Massa were 13th and 15th respectively in session one and eighth and 12th in the second. Force India’s British driver Paul Di Resta was third quickest in the morning but neither he nor his German team mate Nico Hulkenberg took part in the afternoon due to safety concerns. The British based team, who allowed two members to go home on Thursday after staff were caught in a petrol bomb incident as they were
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driving back to their hotel, clearly wanted to ensure staff were away from the track before nightfall. “It’s not necessarily a ‘get home before dark’ (situation),” said deputy principal Bob Fernley. “We’ve had issues, as you all know, with things and we have to make sure that the crew are comfortable in the environment and that’s what we’re working on. “But the crew are totally committed to delivering qualifying and the race.”
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FREE PRACTICE 2 REPORT Pos Pos 11 22 33 44 55 66 77 88 99 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 19 20 20 21 21 22 22 23 23 24 24
No No 88 22 11 44 77 33 14 14 55 10 10 15 15 16 16 66 99 17 17 18 18 21 21 20 20 19 19 24 24 25 25 22 22 23 23 11 11 12 12
Driver Driver Nico NicoRosberg Rosberg Mark MarkWebber Webber Sebastian SebastianVettel Vettel Lewis LewisHamilton Hamilton Michael MichaelSchumacher Schumacher Jenson JensonButton Button Kamui KamuiKobayashi Kobayashi Fernando FernandoAlonso Alonso Romain RomainGrosjean Grosjean Sergio SergioPerez Perez Daniel DanielRicciardo Ricciardo Felipe FelipeMassa Massa Kimi KimiRäikkönen Räikkönen Jean-Eric Jean-EricVergne Vergne Pastor PastorMaldonado Maldonado Vitaly VitalyPetrov Petrov Heikki HeikkiKovalainen Kovalainen Bruno BrunoSenna Senna Timo TimoGlock Glock Charles CharlesPic Pic Pedro Pedrode delalaRosa Rosa Narain NarainKarthikeyan Karthikeyan Paul Pauldi diResta Resta Nico NicoHulkenberg Hulkenberg
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Team Team Mercedes Mercedes Red RedBull BullRacing-Renault Racing-Renault Red RedBull BullRacing-Renault Racing-Renault McLaren-Mercedes McLaren-Mercedes Mercedes Mercedes McLaren-Mercedes McLaren-Mercedes Sauber-Ferrari Sauber-Ferrari Ferrari Ferrari Lotus-Renault Lotus-Renault Sauber-Ferrari Sauber-Ferrari STR-Ferrari STR-Ferrari Ferrari Ferrari Lotus-Renault Lotus-Renault STR-Ferrari STR-Ferrari Williams-Renault Williams-Renault Caterham-Renault Caterham-Renault Caterham-Renault Caterham-Renault Williams-Renault Williams-Renault Marussia-Cosworth Marussia-Cosworth Marussia-Cosworth Marussia-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth Force ForceIndia-Mercedes India-Mercedes Force ForceIndia-Mercedes India-Mercedes
180
Time Time 1:32.816 1:32.816 1:33.262 1:33.262 1:33.525 1:33.525 1:33.747 1:33.747 1:33.862 1:33.862 1:34.246 1:34.246 1:34.411 1:34.411 1:34.449 1:34.449 1:34.615 1:34.615 1:34.893 1:34.893 1:34.895 1:34.895 1:34.941 1:34.941 1:35.183 1:35.183 1:35.229 1:35.229 1:35.459 1:35.459 1:35.913 1:35.913 1:35.968 1:35.968 1:36.169 1:36.169 1:36.587 1:36.587 1:37.803 1:37.803 1:37.812 1:37.812 1:39.649 1:39.649 No Notime time No Notime time
Ga G
0.4 0. 0.7 0. 0.9 0. 1.0 1. 1.4 1. 1.5 1. 1.6 1. 1.7 1. 2.0 2. 2.0 2. 2.1 2. 2.3 2. 2.4 2. 2.6 2. 3.0 3. 3.1 3. 3.3 3. 3.7 3. 4.9 4. 4.9 4. 6.8 6.
Gap ap
446 .446 709 .709 931 .931 046 .046 430 .430 595 .595 633 .633 799 .799 077 .077 079 .079 125 .125 367 .367 413 .413 643 .643 097 .097 152 .152 353 .353 771 .771 987 .987 996 .996 833 .833
Laps Laps 35 35 26 26 28 28 26 26 32 32 28 28 34 34 31 31 32 32 34 34 29 29 30 30 33 33 26 26 38 38 33 33 35 35 30 30 33 33 33 33 28 28 27 27 00 00
Hoch Zwei 181
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FREE PRACTICE 3 REPORT
PRACTICE 3: ROSBERG O RED BULL DUO START TO
N
ico Rosberg had a spring in his step at Sakhir, a rejuvenated dri attempts, he is now a grand prix winner and at last having a ra Thus it was no surprise that he topped the timing screens a session of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend with a time of 1 m improving track at the wheel of the Mercedes AMG W03.
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ON TOP AGAIN AS O SHOW GOOD PACE
iver relishing the fact that, after 111 ace winning package at his disposal. at the end of the final free practice minute 33.254 seconds on an ever
185
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FREE PRACTICE 3 REPORT Behind the German it was all blue as the Red Bull pair found pace, which appears to have abandoned them so far this year, which already was evident on Friday. This time around Sebastian Vettel was second fastest, 0.147 seconds off the top time, with Mark Webber third quickest. Suggesting that the Milton Keynes squad is coming to terms with the hitherto quirky RB8. The top three bolting on soft Pirelli tyres late on to, no doubt, get
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t
H t M p o
them in the qualifying frame of mind. Up next were a trio of Mercedes powered drivers with Lewis Hamilton again fatser of the two McLaren’s with the fourth best time, fifth best Michael Schumacher over half a second down on his Mercedes teammate and Jenson Button sixth on the timing screens, perhaps not as comfortable with the MP4-27 as Hamilton at this stage of the weekend.
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Improving markedly from the first day were the Lotus pair with Kimi Raikkonen setting the seventh best time, in the E20, and Romain Grosjean ninth fastest but half a second down on his teammate. For a change a Sauber was not the fastest of the Ferrari powered brigade, neither was it a Maranello produced car, but rather Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso STR7. Setting the ninth best time, the last of the drivers within a second of Rosberg’s best. Next up – tenth on the timing screens – was Maranello’s finest 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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F p t b
F o t
Hoch Zwei
Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari F2012, albeit 1.641 seconds off the top pace. Meanwhile Felipe Massa’s plight appears no better has he ended he session 16th best but over two seconds down on where he wants to be and over half a second adrift of his teammate. Again showing strongly was Pastor Maldonado in the Williams FW34 who was 11th on the timing sheets, although Bruno Senna could only manage 17th, with a time over half a second off his Venezuelan eammate’s best. 189
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round 4, bahrain grand prix FREE PRACTICE 3 REPORT Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
No 8 2 1 4 7 3 14 5 10 15 16 6 9 17 18 21 20 19 24 25 22 23 11 12
Driver Nico Rosberg Mark Webber Sebastian Vettel Lewis Hamilton Michael Schumacher Jenson Button Kamui Kobayashi Fernando Alonso Romain Grosjean Sergio Perez Daniel Ricciardo Felipe Massa Kimi RäikkÜnen Jean-Eric Vergne Pastor Maldonado Vitaly Petrov Heikki Kovalainen Bruno Senna Timo Glock Charles Pic Pedro de la Rosa Narain Karthikeyan Paul di Resta Nico Hulkenberg
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Team Mercedes Red Bull Racing-Renault Red Bull Racing-Renault McLaren-Mercedes Mercedes McLaren-Mercedes Sauber-Ferrari Ferrari Lotus-Renault Sauber-Ferrari STR-Ferrari Ferrari Lotus-Renault STR-Ferrari Williams-Renault Caterham-Renault Caterham-Renault Williams-Renault Marussia-Cosworth Marussia-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth Force India-Mercedes Force India-Mercedes
190
Time 1:32.816 1:33.262 1:33.525 1:33.747 1:33.862 1:34.246 1:34.411 1:34.449 1:34.615 1:34.893 1:34.895 1:34.941 1:35.183 1:35.229 1:35.459 1:35.913 1:35.968 1:36.169 1:36.587 1:37.803 1:37.812 1:39.649 No time No time
Gap 0.446 0.709 0.931 1.046 1.430 1.595 1.633 1.799 2.077 2.079 2.125 2.367 2.413 2.643 3.097 3.152 3.353 3.771 4.987 4.996 6.833
L 3 2 2 2 3 2 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 0 0
Laps 35 26 28 26 32 28 34 31 32 34 29 30 33 26 38 33 35 30 33 33 28 27 0 0
Hoch Zwei 191
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round 4, bahrain grand prix qualifying report
QUALIFYING: VETTEL ST RED BULL BOUNCE BACK
A
fter three relatively barren races so far this season, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull finally came good to claim pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir, edging out McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton who ended second fastest and Mark Webber third in the other Red Bull – the world champions very much back in contention.
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TEALS POLE AS K
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round 4, bahrain grand prix qualifying report Although few would have predicted such a turnaround before the session began, as form didn’t seem to be on their side -it looked as though the momentum was very much with China winner Nico Rosberg and the McLaren duo who have been strong everywhere this year. In retrospect the signals had been there from the start of the weekend in Bahrain, with both the Red Bull drivers looking comfortable in the RB8 and also featuring at the right end of the timing screens, and impressive in the morning’s FP3. Vettel’s pole winning time was set on his last run on fresh Pirelli soft tyres, after completing a very quick run on an older pair with his first of two runs in Q3. Earlier the double world champion only narrowly progressed out of Q1 and Q2. But when the chips were down he dug deep to do the business when it really mattered. While Rosberg failed to deliver a Shanghai style ‘miracle’ lap, Vettel kept his cool – in the scorching desert heat to claim his 31st top spot start in F1 – with an error free lap which in the end was 0.098 seconds better than Hamilton, who will start alongside the German, from the front row of the grid. Inevitably Vettel popped his trademark ‘number one’ finger salute for photographers in parc ferme – it has been a while! 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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round 4, bahrain grand prix qualifying report
It was a relieved, and visibly pleased reigning world champion who spoke of his achievement afterwards, “This is always a tough race and a lot of things can happen. We are pretty aggressive. We should be better off in the race. Our race pace has proven to be consistent in the last couple of races. I’m happier with way car feels. We should be able to get the same kind of feeling and result on Sunday. I’m looking forward to the start and then I think it will be very tight. I think Nico [Rosberg] has been very strong all weekend and the Lotus guys can surprise. In terms of race pace, I think everyone will be much closer together.” 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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Webber was third quickest, beaten in qualifying for the first time this year by his teammate, and will share the second row with Jenson Button – shades of 2011 with McLaren and Red Bull squaring up for yet another duel. Under performing massively on the day were China winners Mercedes with pre-qualifying favourite Nico Rosberg fifth fastest, but biggest shock of all being Michael Schumacher who failed to make it out of Q3 after what seemed like a gross strategy blunder in the first qualifying session. The team put the mishap down to a rear wing fault which curtailed performance. Schumacher revealed afterwards, “The so called RFA [DRS] rear 199
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round 4, bahrain grand prix qualifying report wing failed on my last try. There was no need to go out again until it was fixed and then the time ran out.� Although the seven times world champion qualified 18th, he will start from 17th on the grid as Pastor Maldonado’s five place grid penalty promotes the Mercedes driver up the order. Ferrari’s woes continued, as expected, with Fernando Alonso pulling out all the stops to salvage ninth place on the grid, but the Maranello team suffer
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the huge embarrassment of starting behind their engine customers, Daniel Ricciardo doing his shares no harm by powering the Toro Rosso to sixth spot on the grid while Sergio Perez was eighth fastest in the Sauber. Alonso did not bother to do a lap in Q3 and saved an extra set of soft tyres for the race. His teammate Felipe Massa, who will start 14th, has been around half a second slower than Alonso all weekend.
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Romain Grosjean headed up the fourth row in the Lotus, while his team mate – comeback champion Kimi Raikkonen, failed to make it into Q3 and would start from 11th on the grid. Force India’s Paul di Resta surprised everyone by making it beyond Q2 for the first time this year, setting the seventh fastest lap in the middle part of qualifying. He opted not to set a time in Q3, thus bagging an extra set of Pirelli soft tyres for the race. Schumacher not making it beyond Q1 – knocked out by Heikki Kovalainen who set an impressive lap in the Caterham, to bump out the Mercedes driver, and Raikkonen stumbling in Q2, were the biggest surprises of the afternoon, although the lack of pace shown by Williams (compared to the first three races) was perplexing.
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round 4, bahrain grand prix qualifying report Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
No 1 4 2 3 8 16 10 15 5 11 9 14 12 6 19 20 18 7 17 21 25 22 24 23
Driver Team Q1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:34.308 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.813 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:34.015 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.792 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:34.588 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:33.988 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:34.041 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:33.814 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:34.760 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:34.624 Kimi RäikkÜnen Lotus-Renault 1:34.552 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:34.131 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:34.601 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:34.372 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:34.466 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:34.852 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:34.639 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:34.865 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:35.014 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:35.823 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:37.683 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:37.883 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:37.905 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:38.314 Q1 107% Time 1:40.380
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Q2 1:33.527 1:33.209 1:33.311 1:33.416 1:33.219 1:33.556 1:33.246 1:33.660 1:33.403 1:33.510 1:33.789 1:33.806 1:33.807 1:33.912 1:34.017 1:36.132
Q3 1:32.4 1:32.5 1:32.6 1:32.7 1:32.8 1:32.9 1:33.0 1:33.3 No tim No tim
422 520 637 711 821 912 008 394 me me
Laps 18 13 17 12 10 17 13 17 11 15 6 13 12 14 14 10 8 5 8 7 8 6 7 7
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round 4, bahrain grand prix qualifying feature
VETTEL LEADS FIGHT B FIND THEIR WINGS ONC
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fter qualifying struggles in the opening three rounds of th 1 world championship season, Red Bull Racing found their way back to the front of grid as Sebastian Vettel claimed hi year in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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round 4, bahrain grand prix qualifying feature Having landed a best grid spot of fourth so far this, the Austrian team went back to the drawing board at the Chinese Grand Prix and ran a comparison between two variants of the RB8. And the lessons learned are paying dividends in Bahrain as Vettel powered to pole, his second here, eclipsing McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by a tenth of a second. “It obviously feels great [to be back on pole] and I think this one I completely owe to the team,” Vettel said. “It wasn’t the easiest start to the season for us. Surely, a lot of expectations, but I think more than anything it’s
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what we expect from ourselves, and we didn’t match our expectations and we’ve been extremely busy working on the car, trimming here and here, finding the perfect solution and the right way to go, the way orward. “The car has felt much better all weekend. I was quite happy,” he added. “I didn’t have the smoothest qualifying, though. I was nearly out in Q1 and nearly out in Q2 but then I knew that when I get the lap in, then we should be in a better place. It’s great, obviously, to see that we’ve just beaten Lewis for pole.”
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round 4, bahrain grand prix qualifying feature Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber also claimed his best grid position of the season so far with third. “We’re satisfied with being towards the front,” he said. “There have been some big gaps to the opposition, on Saturday[s] in particular. I think we’re pretty surprised to be as competitive as we are on a track that is demanding on some [things that are not] our strengths. But we’re at the front and we can definitely race from there.” Webber will line up ahead of the second McLaren of Jenson Button and fifth-placed Nico Rosberg. Directly behind the Mercedes driver will be Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo, another driver making a big improvement on Chinese Grand Prix form. In Shanghai the young Australian has struggled to make updates to the car work, but in Bahrain he agreed that the team had found a way forward. “We had a below average week in China with the updates,” he said. “We persisted with them and we made them work significantly better here. I was happy with my driving and I got better and better in each of the sessions. It’s not always you have a day like this, so I can enjoy the moment, bearing in mind that it’s tomorrow that counts.” “It helps to go into a race feeling confidence and starting from sixth, I have to focus on scoring as many points 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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round 4, bahrain grand prix qualifying feature as possible, as this is the best chance we have had so far,” he said. “I hope I am still smiling tomorrow evening.” The top ten was rounded out by Lotus-Renault’s Romain Grosjean, Sauber’s Sergio Pérez, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Force India’s Paul Di Resta. Of his second ninthplace start in a row, Alonso said: “We were worth a place somewhere between eighth and twelfth, so ninth on the grid fits in with our current level.” The Spaniard, like Di Resta, opted not to run in Q3 and and said he hoped the strategy would prove beneficial in what he believes will be “a hard race, especially on tyres”. “To be in with a chance of making it to Q3, we had to use all three sets of soft tyres available, so we didn’t have any left for the final part of the session,” he said. “Doing a time on used tyres would have made no sense and would have forced us to start with tyres that already had a few laps on them. Now we are free to choose either compound for the start of a race that looks like being very hard, especially on tyres. “The aim? To finish in the points, around sixth or seventh place,” he concluded. “I know, it’s not brilliant, but that’s what we can do with the car we have today.” 25.04.2012 ISSUE 16
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