Jenson Button Plans a Long Career with McLaren

Although Jenson Button signed a three year deal with McLaren last year many remained sceptical about his future with the British team, mainly due to the negative dynamic that could have been caused between him and Lewis Hamilton. Thankfully the pair seemed to gel quickly and Jenson has pledged his allegiance to the team by announcing he wants to see out his career at McLaren.

After making a strong start to the 2011 season he is obviously in high spirits sitting third in the championship behind teammate Lewis Hamilton and World Champion Sebastian Vettel. He explained “I can’t see any reason to be anywhere else. I’m driving for one of the best teams in the world. I’m very happy here – I want to enjoy my racing and I’m really enjoying my time here.”

Unlike the frustrating times he faced at Honda Jenson seems pretty pleased with his team at McLaren, he said “It’s a position that most drivers would love to be in and I’ve worked very hard for it. I might be around for three years, five years, I don’t know.” So no certainties that he will stay at McLaren although he admitted he would happily sign another contract.

Would you like Jenson Button to remain at McLaren?

Japanese Grand Prix Winners and Results Table

The Japanese grand prix at Suzuka (Sunday 10th October 2010) was an eventful race with seven cars that did not finish the race. Below is the full results table from today’s race. The formula 1 drivers table has also been updated with it looking more like a three horse race, that said there are 75 points still available and anything can happen.

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	53	1:30:27.323	1	25
2	6	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	53	+0.9 secs	2	18
3	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	53	+2.7 secs	4	15
4	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+13.5 secs	5	12
5	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+39.5 secs	8	10
6	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	53	+59.9 secs	10	8
7	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	53	+64.0 secs	14	6
8	22	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	53	+69.6 secs	11	4
9	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	53	+70.8 secs	7	2
10	16	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	53	+72.8 secs	18	1
11	17	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	52	+1 Lap	16
12	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	52	+1 Lap	20
13	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	51	+2 Laps	19
14	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	51	+2 Laps	22
15	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	51	+2 Laps	23
16	20	Sakon Yamamoto	HRT-Cosworth	50	+3 Laps	24
17	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	47	+6 Laps	6
Ret	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	44	Oil leak	15
Ret	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	2	Mechanical	3
Ret	10	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	0	Accident	9
Ret	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	0	Accident	12
Ret	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	0	Accident	13
Ret	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	0	Accident	17
DNS	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	0	Accident	21

Force India Optimistic after Double DNF at Suzuka Grand Prix

An exceptional Japanese Grand Prix weekend was brought to a frustrating close today for the Force India F1 Team as it recorded its first double DNF of the 2010 season. Following yesterday’s qualifying washout the grid was formed by a one hour session this morning, with Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi putting their VJM03s in 15th and 17th positions respectively as they struggled with the tyre temperatures on a cooler and slicker than expected track.

The pair however made fantastic starts in the day’s later race – each gaining at least five positions off the line – however Tonio’s race was shortlived as he was hit by Felipe Massa going into the first corner. The impact knocked him into the wall and into instant retirement. Adrian Sutil was up to eleventh when the safety car was deployed as a result of the debris and maintained a top ten position until his pit stop on lap 18. The German had regained tenth and was chasing Rubens Barrichello for ninth when an oil leak called a halt to his race on lap 45.

Williams Italian Grand Prix Pre Race Quotes

Williams have released a statement from their technical driector on the run up to the Italian Grand Prix at Monza this weekend. We also have some exclusive quotes from Williams drivers Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenburg.

Sam Michael, Technical Director
Monza is the lowest drag level circuit on the F1 calendar, so the cars are running at very different aerodynamic efficiency levels compared to the normal high downforce tracks. This requires a special rear wing for this race only. Another important aspect of the historic Italian circuit is the kerb riding, something the FW32 will be set up to handle. For this track we have low drag front and rear wings.

Rubens Barrichello
Three wins and two podiums wins at the Autodromo Nazionale make it statistically my best rack, but never mind the numbers, it is a circuit I love and I always travel to Italy with affection and excitement. My positive record at the track and the work we have done to prepare for both the downforce and kerb requirements means that I am full of optimism. It was great to celebrate my 300th Grand Prix in Spa, but the race didn’t go to plan. We will pick up our momentum again in Monza.

Nico Hülkenberg
I have only raced once at Monza in last season’s GP2 Championship, but I immediately enjoyed the challenge of its high speed nature and one of the races ended for me in a podium. So I am approaching next weekend with a degree of respect that such a circuit demands, but equally I feel that it is time that both the car performance we are finding and my own work behind the wheel deserves to be reflected in better results more often, so my respect will be balanced with a really determined approach to the race weekend. Spa was frustrating as I worked hard to claim a good grid position and really want to ensure we convert our opportunities in Italy.

Sauber Post Race Spa Formula 1 in Belgium

Despite Kamui Kobayashi being 17^th and Pedro de la Rosa 24^th on the grid, the team managed to score four points in what was a very eventful Belgian Grand Prix in Spa with ever changing weather conditions. Kobayashi finished eighth, De la Rosa 12^th.

Kamui Kobayashi: 8^th C29.01 / Ferrari 056 “It was a very difficult race, but for me everything worked out fine. The team made very good decisions in choosing the right tyres at the right time, and the pit stops went well. For parts of the race the track conditions were changing every lap, and that was not easy. Especially after yesterday’s qualifying, I am very happy I made no mistakes, brought the car home and scored four more points after starting the race 17^th.“

Pedro de la Rosa: 12^th C29.03 / Ferrari 056 “It was a very interesting race. After I had to start last I should not complain about finishing 12^th, but two laps before the end I was tenth and just in the points. I was on full wet tyres, the rain was not heavy enough and there was not enough water on the track to stop destroying those tyres. They went off quite quickly and when I tried to catch Vitaly Petrov I made a mistake. I went into the gravel and lost two places. Nevertheless for me it was the right move to go for full wet tyres.

We had to take our chances today. It was more or less the same at my first pit stop when we fitted intermediates, but then had to change back to slicks. But, as I said, we had to take our chances.” Peter Sauber, Team Principal: “It was another strong and mature performance by Kamui in very difficult conditions after starting from way down the grid. Also compliments to the team for choosing the right tyre strategy and executing it very well during the pit stops.”

James Key, Technical Director: “I’m very pleased we scored some points today after a very difficult day yesterday. It was a race with a lot of changing weather conditions, and the right calls had to be made at the right time. We had three spells of rain all together. The team made the right decisions, and Kamui did an excellent job by controlling the car in these difficult conditions and bringing it home in eighth. He came from a long way behind and made up a lot of positions. With Pedro we tried a slightly different strategy at the end of the race with full wet tyres, because there was a chance of heavier rain. This seemed to work initially, but it looks as if the tyres went off quite quickly, and Pedro couldn’t hold on to tenth. All in all a reasonable recovery given the situation we faced yesterday.“

Updated News Force India Spa F1 Result

Some breaking news has come to our attention after the chequered flag waved at spa today. The Force India F1 Team’s Tonio Liuzzi has been moved up to tenth position in today’s Belgian Grand Prix following a post-race drivethrough penalty handed to Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari for cutting a chicane while overtaking Tonio at the end of lap 42. The penalty elevates Tonio ahead of Alguersuari and gives him the final point available.

The result makes it a double points finish for the team and gives it an 18 points advantage over Williams.

Tonio Liuzzi commented, ‘I’m really pleased to be back in the points again this race for the first time since Canada. We’ve always been pushing really hard so to get a point here, and to make it a double points scoring finish for the team, is a really good reward for all the hard work we’ve done over the past few weeks.’

Force India Post Race Spa Belgium

Adrian Sutil has finished a scintillating Belgian Grand Prix in fifth position, his first points scoring finish since the British Grand Prix and his best result of the season since the Malaysian Grand Prix. Tonio Liuzzi came home in 11th position, less than one second from tenth, despite having his front wing knocked off by Sebastian Vettel while in the hunt for points. The result moves Force India 17 points clear of Williams in the constructors’ championship and Adrian into ninth position in the drivers’ title race.

When rain fell just two laps into the race Adrian stayed clear of the ensuing chaos and remained out on dry tyres despite a safety car period. On the restart Adrian was able to jump ahead of the Williams of Hulkenberg into seventh and when Vettel and Button collided he was elevated to fifth. He pitted for hard tyres on lap 21 but was able to cruise past Kobayashi and then Schumacher to regain fifth. On lap 35 heavy rain started to fall and Adrian pitted for intermediate tyres. When Alonso spun on lap 38 another safety car period was called, allowing the German to move closer to the leaders. He finished the 44 lap race only nine seconds from eventual winner Lewis Hamilton.

Tonio made a great start from P12 on the grid and was running in ninth until his first stop on lap ten. He left the pits in 13th and gradually worked his way back up the field to close on the points. However on lap 25 Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who had earlier become embroiled in several on track accidents, knocked into the side of the Italian and clipped his front wing. Tonio returned to the pits for a nosechange and dropped down to 14th. When the rain arrived he pitted for extreme tyres and gave a spirited drive to move back up to 11th by the chequered flag.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
Another fifth place so I am very pleased as I started in P8. I think that was the best we could do. It was very tricky conditions out there and you never knew what would happen with the weather. When the rain came it was sometimes light in places and heavy in others and I had to really concentrate to drive it home safely. Of course I was racing closely so I had to keep pushing, particularly after the safety car periods when the field bunched up, so we had some great racing and overtaking. The upgrades worked well and we can still improve – it was just the start of the development, which looks good for the next race in Monza as well. 

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
It was a tough race and it was a shame we couldn’t get any points here today. We had a good start but I suffered a lot of front and rear graining on the soft compounds early on and also some damage to the front wing. We decided to pit earlier and do a long stint with the hard tyres and it was a pretty good decision as we had a good pace on this set and were in P11, not that far from getting into the points. But then Vettel tried to overtake me at the last corner and took my front wing off and that cost us points in this race. We lost more than 30secs changing the wing and without this I am pretty sure we could have finished in eighth or higher. But the race pace was still good, the car has been consistent and better than it has been all weekend so we could be proud of that. I’m now looking forward to my home race in 15 days time in Italy.

Otmar Szafnauer, chief operating officer
We’re obviously very pleased to be back in the points again today. Both drivers demonstrated a strong race pace and we worked well as a team monitoring the changeable weather conditions. Tonio was unlucky to miss out on the points due to losing his front wing when Vettel ran into him. The points are crucial for the championship at the moment and the pace also bodes well for Monza in a couple of weeks’ time.

Williams F1 Post Belgian Race Report

 

 

After demonstrating pace on track and confident weather management from the pitwall on Saturday, race day did not run so smoothly for the AT&T Williams team. Rubens was an early casualty on the opening lap; as the sole top ten runner starting the race on the harder prime tyre, he hit a wet patch of track under braking into turn 18, colliding with Alonso’s Ferrari and retired early with car damage from his 300

 

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race. Team-mate Nico Hulkenberg took up the mantle, but before the first pitstop window, lost full throttle control which triggered a series of difficult pitstops, challenging car control in changeable weather and constant revisions to tyre plans on the pitwall. Despite a number of considered gambles to retrieve position, he finished a difficult day in P14.

Nico Hulkenberg:

Pretty early on in the race I had a throttle control problem which made the car very difficult to handle, so we made an unscheduled stop, but the engine died in the box and had to be re-started. As a result I dropped position and then had to cope in the rain without the full engine control, which caused some spins. We took some tyre gambles at the end to try and recover something.

Rubens Barrichello:

Despite my experience, it was very difficult to know how wet the track was on the opening lap, but it was fully wet when I came into Blanchimont. I was closing the door on Rosberg and when I touched the brakes, even though it was quite early, it wasn’t sufficient to stop the car. The car went straight on into Alonso, for which I’m sorry. It’s also sad for the team. We’ve had such a positive weekend that a good result would have been a nice conclusion. Despite not having a good outcome in my 300th race, I’m confident we will go well in the 301

 

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!

Sam Michael, Technical Director:

Today was not a good day with Rubens out on the first lap and Nico had a control system problem that compromised the driveability and caused the engine to cut in his pitstop. So looking forward, our pace is improving and we will perform better in the forthcoming races.

Force India Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying

The Force India F1 Team will start tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix from eighth position with Adrian Sutil – his sixth Q3 entrance this year. Adrian negotiated the thrilling rain-punctuated qualifying session to secure his first top ten start since the Canadian Grand Prix. Tonio Liuzzi will start from P12.

The pitlane bristled nervously as all 24 cars took to the track early in Q1 to make the most of the conditions before a predicted rain shower. When it materialised half way through the session it lasted just a few minutes, giving a couple of minutes of drier running at the end. After a nail-biting lap both Adrian and Tonio passed into Q2 with the 12th and 15th quickest times.
Q2 remained dry and both drivers opted for the soft tyres for both runs. Adrian crossed the line with the fifth quickest time and Tonio the 14th, however he will start from 12th following penalties handed to both Mercedes drivers.

Having used two sets of option tyres in Q2, Adrian could only make one run in Q3 and timed his lap to coincide with the very last seconds of dry running before another rain shower arrived. He got in one lap, the eighth quickest of the session, and will line up alongside the Williams of Barrichello for tomorrow’s 44 lap Belgian Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil (car 14)
Getting into the top ten was my aim today so I’m really happy. It was a tough qualifying of course with the showers and we had to be quick in taking decisions on the pitwall and on the circuit we had to react quite quickly as you never knew what was going to happen. I was lucky to go through in Q1 as I did my quickest lap on the intermediate tyres and the track was drying. Then second qualifying went well and in Q3 I was quite happy with the one lap I did. We only had one set of option tyres left for Q3 and I just missed out on a second lap as at the end of the first lap it had started to rain. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow, I think there will be a lot of overtaking maneouvres, particularly up the hill and into Eau Rouge after the start, and you can really attack throughout the race.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
It wasn’t such an enjoyable qualifying as everything was very confusing and stressful with the rain in Q1. But overall we made an improvement to our car as we have had some problems with top speed from Friday practice until Q1. The car has a good balance into the corners and the blown diffuser is working well but although we improved in qualifying, it didn’t feel 100%. In FP3 this morning we also ran just four laps, also with a different wing setting, so we went into qualifying a bit blind. But we can be pretty happy, the forecast is changing every 10 minutes for the race tomorrow so we’ll keep on top of it and from P12 on the grid we’ve still got a good chance of scoring some points.
Otmar Szafnauer, chief operating officer
We’re obviously very pleased to be back in the top ten again after a couple of difficult races, and to get two cars starting in the top 12 is our best qualifying session since Canada. It wasn’t an easy session to call with the rain coming and going but we made the most of the conditions to give ourselves a good shot of a points finish, which is of course the ultimate aim. We know our race pace is strong, but as usual here in Spa you also have to be spot-on with the tyre calls if the weather is changeable. We look forward to a competitive race tomorrow.

Sam Michael On Malaysia F1 Practise Sessions

Sam Michael, Technical Director

We spent today’s practice sessions working on starts and evaluating a revised diffuser and front brake duct. The
tyres appear to be quite stable again, something we’ve come to expect from Bridgestone. Tonight we’ll be
focussing on extracting more speed out of the FW32 for qualifying. We had a mechanical problem on Nico’s car
in the afternoon session, but the mechanics were able to fix it quickly.

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