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.

BMW Sauber Malaysia F1 Friday Practise

Press release Malaysian GP ? 1st/2nd Free Practice ? Friday, 02.04.2010 Weather: Sunny and dry, 27-32°C air, 30-50°C track It was a trouble free start to the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend for Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa. Besides the usual set-up work and race preparation, the team found time to test the new rear wing system again in both free practice sessions.

Kamui Kobayashi: C29.01 / Ferrari 056 1st Practice: 12th / 1:36.503 min (28 laps) / 2nd Practice: 11th / 1:36.018 min (38 laps) ?The car seems to be better than last week in Melbourne, but obviously we need to keep working hard to find a better pace. For me it is good that I know the track here so well, that makes it easy. While driving the heat isn?t an issue, but if you sit in the car in the garage waiting for the next outing you almost get grilled. In the afternoon session the asphalt was really, really hot when it reached 50 degrees, and this certainly is hard on the tyres. But perhaps it is a useful experience as the qualifying and the race are also in the afternoon.?

Pedro de la Rosa: C29.03 / Ferrari 056 1st Practice: 16th / 1:36.899 min (24 laps) / 2nd Practice: 13th / 1:36.325 min (33 laps) ?It was a really positive Friday as we were able to do a lot of testing and tried different things including our new rear wing system. Balance wise, I am happier with the car now than I was in Australia and I enjoy the high speed corners of the Sepang circuit quite a lot. However, we need to find some more pace.?

Willy Rampf, Technical Director: ?We used both sessions to test different configurations of our new rear wing. We will analyse the data here at the track and in the factory in Hinwil to decide on the next steps. In preparation for the race we did long runs with the option tyres to get an understanding of their behaviour when we have a heavy car and a very high track temperature. Overall it was a productive day without any technical problems. We were able to complete our planned programme

Force India Post Practise Sepang Malasia Grand Prix

Hot and humid Sepang was the venue for the opening day of practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend. Teams and drivers sizzled in the searing heat during the two 90 minute sessions, the curtain raiser to the third event of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta were back in action for Force India in FP1, with regular race driver Tonio Liuzzi returning for FP2 as test and reserve driver Paul got more time in the VJM03 as part of his scheduled programme.
The trio ploughed through the standard Friday workload of tyre and set-up evaluation and - in Paul’s case - circuit familiarisation. Adrian was a promising seventh quickest while Paul was 15th in FP1. Tonio returned for the second session, setting the 12th quickest time while Adrian posted the 10th best lap.
Adrian Sutil (car 14)
Today was very much following our normal Friday programme. I had to be a little bit patient as the track was dusty at the beginning of the morning so it was just driving and learning the circuit again. In the afternoon we then went to do a little set-up work. It was difficult with the hot track temperatures we experience here as the tyres overheated very quickly and it was challenging to get it under control. We have a few things to look at set-up wise but we should be fine for tomorrow. We are in the top 10 still, just behind the top four teams. I think it will be an interesting day, probably with some rain thrown in as well!
Tonio Liuzzi (car 15)
Today was a good opening day of practice for the team. I missed the morning session but we did the most important job of understanding the tyres and following our programme targets. We are quite happy, and although the car suffered a little understeer in the high speed corners, it is responding well and we understand the behaviour of the tyres over the longer runs. It looks like qualifying here will be interesting as the rain started at 4pm but we can deal with the conditions I am sure.
Paul di Resta
I’m feeling a lot more comfortable and I think that was why I was able to get up to speed relatively quickly. It ran more smoothly today and even though I didn’t have any prior experience of the circuit I got into a relatively comfortable zone quite soon. The programme was exactly the same as if Tonio had been in the car, running through baselines and then understanding the tyres. Here the tyres don’t last very long with the heat and we missed the peak with them and didn’t quite set the optimum time, but I think ultimately you can’t pay too much attention to that as it’s not always going to be relative to what we are doing and where we are. It’s just getting myself in the environment, getting the track time and learning the circuits.
Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer
We didn’t encounter any major problems today as we established the relative performance and degradation characteristics of the two tyres available for this race. The high track and air temperatures are, as usual here, dominating the behaviour of the car. Today’s sessions have been at the normal times of day, but as we head into the weekend they become later again, and that will be a factor in the decisions we make overnight. We’ve more work to do, but are looking forward to the challenges of the weekend ahead.

BMW Sauber Post Race From Australia Melbourne Grand Prix

Following Kamui Kobayashi’s retirement after a crash on lap one, it looked good for Pedro de la Rosa to score the team’s first points. But in the end his tyres degraded too much and he had nothing left for defending.

Pedro de la Rosa: 12th place
C29.03 / Ferrari 056
“For a while the race went okay, I managed to stay out of trouble and there was a good chance to get our first points. But, I’m afraid, we underestimated the tyre degradation. In the end I really had no rear tyres left. For the last 15 laps it was just a question of how to keep the car on the track. I was absolutely helpless when Michael and Jaime came in the end to overtake me“

Kamui Kobayashi: accident on lap 1
C29.02 / Ferrari 056
“It looks as if I touched a kerb or another car in turn three. Everything was very close and I don’t really remember anything major, but on the data it looks like there was something. I had no worries about the front wing, but a few corners later it went off and got stuck under the car. At first I had no idea what had happened. I had no control anymore.”

Peter Sauber, Team Principal:
“Looking at how the race evolved, it’s a disappointing result. For a third of the race Pedro was able to defend ninth against Rubens Barrichello, but then he lost out, and in the penultimate lap he was also passed by Michael Schumacher and Jaime Alguersuari. Kamui’s race didn’t even last one lap. Following contact with another car his front wing broke, and he went off, unfortunately hitting other competitors.”

Willy Rampf, Technical Director:
“It was a race start under difficult conditions. Kamui most probably had contact with another car and damaged his front wing. As a result the front wing broke in the braking zone of corner 6, and Kamui went off. Pedro won positions after the start, and we made the change from intermediates to slicks at the right moment. Our strategy was to finish the race with this set of tyres, which - looking at the overall result - was the right decision. However, the tyres degraded too much, and the lap times were not consistent enough, therefore we lost our chance to finish the race in ninth.”

AT&T Australia Post Race Press Release

Aided by the forecasted rain, Melbourne’s Albert Park delivered a thrilling afternoon of racing today.
Starting on the fourth row of the grid, Rubens Barrichello again scored points for the team in his second
race for AT&T Williams, finishing in eighth place. Nico Hulkenberg’s debut Australian Grand Prix ended
before it began as he fell victim to Kobayashi’s turn six incident on the first lap. The team now pack up and
travel straight to Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian Grand Prix next Sunday.

Rubens Barrichello:
It was a good race, but we should have finished in seventh really. We took the chance to change tyres
when we did and go for it. I thought everyone else would also come in, which is why I went for that route.
More points for the team today is positive though. The car is good enough; we will just be picking up more
points before we get podiums.

Nico Hulkenberg:
Today was obviously pretty disappointing. I was already in the corner when I was suddenly hit from behind by
Kamui Kobayashi. It was quite a big impact. I’m not sure what caused it, but it’s frustrating because I was looking
forward to my first race here.

Sam Michael, Technical Director:
It was good to get some more points, but we need to bring more performance to the car and to the
engine. Doing both is the major part of our development programme over the next few races. Rubens
drove well through all the conditions he faced today. Unfortunately, Nico was knocked out of the race
by another car.

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