Räikkönen's qualification was already in that direction

Kimi Räikkönen had two new sets of Pirelli's soft tyres in the qualification. The advantage didn't however offer a full advantage to him.


– The first set was bad. Although it was a new tyre it pushed forward. At least the second set worked properly. The qualification was in that direction, but by improving with a tenth we would had been in the front row. Sebastian Vettel was ahead of the others but the rest of the gang was even, Räikkönen summed up.


– This was one of our best qualifications so far. We were 5th in Malaysia, but there we got higher due to a penalty. Now it feels good to be 5th in the grid.


The 5th grid is on the clean side of the track, which is a clear advantage in the starting grid.


Overtaking isn't easy in Valencia. The start is very important.


– When it's hot, someone ahead of us can get in trouble with the tyres and then we have a chance to overtake. Our car has been good in the tyre-department and hopefully it continues in the race also.


– We have to take the same soft tyres from the qualification to the start. On Friday they worked reasonably during long stints, Räikkönen reminded.


We can expect two-stop strategies, since the tyre consumption is tough in hot weather.


Räikkönen has been struggling with the Lotus-car's steering during the spring. Now the situation is better.


– Small things have made it a little better and more precise. Due to that it was easier in qualification. It has always been good enough in races.


Permane trusting


Alan Permane was smiling to the tasty scenery of getting both drivers on the podium.


– We have gone up much higher from behind 4th and 5th grid. We have a strong belief in the race. Overtaking is tricky even in the DRS-area and we are certainly not expecting any easy race for us.


– The hot weather will put a strain on the tyres, but we trust that we can cope under these circumstances. In strategy we have open one, two or three -stop strategies. Lets see what happens, Permane said.


Grosjean will strike from the 2nd row


Romain Grosjean beat his team mate for the 6th time in qualification. The difference was however only 0,008 seconds.


– I have been 8 times in qualification and this is my 2nd best result after Australia. We really have a great opportunity to succeed in this race. The strategy will be in the key role.


Grosjean knows that one can't crash in the start.


– I've started to know all the drivers around me and how they behave. It's going to be tough in the three first corners and if getting through the first corner without crashing, there's a good chance to do a top result, Grosjean planned.


Turun Sanomat


HEIKKI KULTA


Courtesy: Nevercrywolf

Hamilton stripped of pole, sent to back

Lewis Hamilton has been stripped of his Spanish GP pole after being excluded from qualifying for not returning to parc ferme

 The McLaren driver claimed a blisteringly quick pole position around the Circuit de Catalunya on Saturday but, five hours later, found himself at the very back of the grid.

Hamilton failed to return to parc ferme after qualifying when he stopped out on track with an undisclosed problem.

And although McLaren initially stated that everything would be okay, they were soon a very worried team after Hamilton was called into the stewards' office.

Under F1 regulations, drivers must return to parc ferme under their own power with a minimum of one-litre of fuel on board.

It is not acceptable for them to stop to save petrol for the sample as that would give them a competitive advantage, permitting them to run with less fuel, and hence less weight, in qualifying.

However, after qualifying it was found that Hamilton's car had ony 1.3 litres, which would not have been enough for him to return to the pits and give fuel for the test.

McLaren blamed the shortage on a fuel-rig fault, however, the stewards felt it was not a good enough excuse.

As a result, they have sent Hamilton to the back of the grid.

"The stewards received a report from the Race Director which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car 4, however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations," said the stewards in a statement.

"The Stewards heard from the team representative Mr Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes.

"As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the Competitor the Stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.

"The Stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and the Competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the Qualifying Session. The Competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid."

Pastor Maldonado will therefore start the race from pole position with Fernando Alonso on the front row.

Starting grid

1. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault Q3: 1:22.285s
2. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari Q3: 1:22.302s
3. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault Q3: 1:22.424s
4. Kimi Räikkönen Finland Lotus-Renault Q3: 1:22.487s
5. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari Q3: 1:22.533s
6. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes Q3: 1:23.005s
7. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault Q3: No time
8. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes Q3 No time
9. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari Q3: No time
10. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes Q2: 1:22.944s

11. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault Q2: 1:22.977s
12. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes Q2: 1:23.125s
13. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes Q2: 1:23.177s
14. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari Q2: 1:23.265s
15. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari Q2: 1:23.442s
16. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari Q2: 1:23.444s
17. Bruno Senna Brazil Williams-Renault Q1: 1:24.981s
18. Vitaly Petrov Russia Caterham-Renault Q1: 1:25.277s
19. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Caterham-Renault Q1: 1:25.507s
20. Charles Pic France Marussia -Cosworth Q1: 1:26.582s
21. Timo Glock Germany Marussia -Cosworth Q1: 1:27.032s
22. Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth Q1: 1:27.555s
23. Narain Karthikeyan India HRT-Cosworth Q1: 1:31.122s *
24. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes Times deleted **

Source: Planet-F1

FIA confirm provisional grid

The FIA have confirmed the provisional grid positions for Sunday's Indian GP after a number of driver's received penalties

Five drivers - Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez, Timo Glock, Narain Karthikeyan and Daniel Ricciardo - were handed penalties during the weekend for sporting or technical infringements while Vitaly Petrov carries a five-slot penalty over from the Korean GP.

The penalties suffered by Hamilton, Perez and Petrov were fairly straightforward in their influence on the grid but matters at the back of the field left the stewards searching the rule book to ensure the correct application.

It has been ruled that Timo Glock will remain in last place on the grid after he failed to set a lap within 107 per cent of the quickest time in Q1.

Beside him on the back row will be Narain Karthikeyan who was penalised two places for impeding Michael Schumacher during qualifying.

Despite receiving a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, Daniel Ricciardo drops just one place to 22nd.

Provisional grid:

1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
5. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes
8. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes
9. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari
10. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari
11. Michael Schumacher Mercedes

12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes
13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth
14. Bruno Senna Renault
15. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth
16. Vitaly Petrov Renault
17. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari
18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault
19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault
20. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari

21. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth
22. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth
24. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth

Source: Planet-F1

Alonso: Eighth on grid definitely not good

Fernando Alonso: I hardly ever managed to get a clean lap because on both my second and third laps I found [Sergio] Perez ahead of me and on the last one I had to slow at the entrance to the chicane to let [Mark] Webber pass, otherwise I might have been penalised. That's how it was, but definitely there is a sense of regret...

Fernando Alonso has blamed traffic after only qualifying eighth today for Sunday's F1 2011 Belgian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard admitted there was a real 'sense of regret' after not getting a better place on the grid, but he hasn't given up and is confident he will be able to fight back in his Ferrari.

Indeed he has vowed to give his all in a bid to get onto the Spa-Francorchamps podium.

“Eighth is definitely not a good result, but we have to accept it and try to make up for this bad qualifying in tomorrow's race. I am confident because I know the car's true potential is definitely better than this position,” Alonso said.

“We did a good job of managing Q1 and Q2, even if the red flag in the second part put us under a bit of pressure because there were only seven minutes left and at that time I was not through to Q3. In the dry I don't think I could have fought for pole position, but I could have been at least on the front two rows.

“Unfortunately, I hardly ever managed to get a clean lap because on both my second and third laps I found [Sergio] Perez ahead of me and on the last one I had to slow at the entrance to the chicane to let [Mark] Webber pass, otherwise I might have been penalised. That's how it was, but definitely there is a sense of regret, as I could have got a better place.

“No one is really sure what the relative strengths are down the field: all weekend long we have seen very big gaps of seconds not tenths, depending on when the cars were out on track and also, we don't have an idea about tyre degradation.

“We will see what happens: I am voting for a dry race and we will do all we can to get on the podium.”

Felipe Massa meanwhile had a much better day and out-qualified his team-mate for the second race in succession. He will start from fourth.

“At the start of the session, when the rain came down, if I had been offered a fourth place, I would have signed for it on the spot. My result isn't bad, even if the cars ahead of me have shown a much quicker pace,” he added.

“However, it's true that conditions in Q3 were the worst possible for us: we could not get the best grip level right from the start, because we struggled a lot to get the tyres up to temperature. I think that tomorrow, if we have a dry track, we could be more competitive and I hope to be fighting with the drivers who are ahead of me today.”

Source: Crash.net

Vettel tells di Resta - ’see you on 2011 grid’

Sebastian Vettel has told Paul di Resta he hopes to see his former F3 championship rival and teammate on the formula one grid next year.

Scottish driver di Resta, who is a year older than the new F1 champion, beat 23-year-old Vettel to the F3 Euro Series title by 11 points in 2006 when they were both with the French ASM team.
So when Mercedes-Benz hailed its new DTM champion in Stuttgart on Thursday, Vettel appeared by video link and according to motorsport-magazin.com told di Resta: "I hope to see you in formula one next year."

And the SID news agency quotes Vettel as adding: "Hopefully it will not be as tight as it was in F3!"

Di Resta, who won five F3 races compared to Vettel’s four in 2006, is now strongly linked with a Force India race cockpit for 2010 after serving as third driver this season.

He is reportedly in competition with Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nico Hulkenberg, with Adrian Sutil saying again this week that he has agreed a deal to stay with the Silverstone based team in 2011.

"We have reached an agreement. The signature is a mere formality, which will happen," DPA news agency quotes Sutil as having told the broadcaster Eurosport.

"The drivers who do not have a contract yet want to join the team because it is the best team with an open place," the German added.

Source: NextgenAuto

FIA investigating Massa grid error

Felipe Massa overshot his grid slot at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix

The FIA is investigating how Felipe Massa escaped a penalty after overshooting his grid slot at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Amateur footage posted on Youtube clearly showed Massa well ahead of his grid box as the cars assembled for the start of the race although stewards and rival teams apparently failed to notice or report Massa's error to race director Charlie Whiting.

It did not escape the attention of BBC commentator Martin Brundle, however, who commented that the Brazilian's Ferrari was at least "two metres" ahead of its starting box.

A report published in the Telegraph newspaper said the transponder on the floor of Massa's Ferrari did not send a signal to the tarmac sensor because he was too far out of position. Because the matter was not looked at in any further detail before the results became official, no further action will be taken.

"As no further information or complaints were received before the publication of the official result on Sunday night, the classification of the Belgian Grand Prix will now remain unchanged," said an FIA spokeswoman.

"The FIA are investigating the causes of the apparent failures in communication with race control in order to ensure a repetition is not possible."

Source: ESPNF1