Formula One 2012

[Katsuya]

I love how the BBC race report is pretty much "PEREZ!" with a forethought about Alonso.

It's up there with Panis, I think. Hell, I'd say with the rate he was catching Alonso, I'd compare it with Senna-Prost at Monaco.

Also, I <3 Monisha Kaltemborn. She's so straight talking compared with the others.

[Lineker]

Dunno what she was doing out of catering though :/

[Gazz]

Hill in an Arrows at Hungary was just as good.

[Katsuya]

Oh yeah, also, god damn do I love this circuit. It's always a good race.

[Lineker]

Sergio Perez is convinced that victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix was possible, although the Mexican admitted that his second placed finish was still a great result.

The Mexican put on a sensational drive in mixed conditions to challenge Ferrari's Fernando Alonso for victory at Sepang. In the end, the Sauber driver had to settle for second position after making a mistake when he was right behind Alonso with a few laps left.

The result is Sauber's best result as a non-manufacturer squad since Heinz-Harald Frentzen claimed third at the 2003 United States Grand Prix.

Perez, who himself became the first Mexican to finish on the podium in a world championship event since Pedro Rodriguez at Zandvoort in 1971, said winning was possible, and hailed the team for its great job during a difficult event.

"I think the win today was really possible," said Perez, who is fifth in the championship with 22 points. "Obviously the team did very good work to call me in at the right time. We lost just [time] at the end a lot of second pitstop, which did not go well with the clutch, but then I managed to catch him [Alonso] lap by lap.

"I lost control of the car and lost the fight for the victory. Even so, it has been a great day for the team. They called me at the right time. The conditions were difficult to keep the car on track, and it has been incredible. They were focused as well, calling me at the right time, which was crucial."

Perez caught up with Alonso after a slow second pitstop, but slid wide when he looked set to attempt a pass on the Spaniard.

"I knew I had to be quick to overtake him as I had a lot of degradation in the tyres," he said. "I was looking for a way to get him and then I ran a bit wide and touched the wet kerb and was lucky to not go off.

"In the end second place is a great result for the team. It's many points. It's only the second the race, but hopefully we can keep improving to fight."

Fernando Alonso said his shock Malaysian Grand Prix victory "changes nothing" and that Ferrari still faces a huge amount of work to be fully competitive in normal circumstances.

Alonso came through from eighth on the grid to beat Sauber's Sergio Perez to victory in the rain-affected Sepang race.

While delighted with the result, Alonso underlined that it did not mean Ferrari had conquered its problems.

"A big surprise today," he said. "I think we were not competitive in Australia and not competitive here, and the goal was to score as many points as possible, and today it was 25 - so an unbelievable result.

"A great result for the team – good result in Q3, and today keeping calm in extreme conditions. Congratulations to team, who deserve this victory.

"This is a tough time at the moment, but for sure we will remember this Sunday."

Asked if the win would give Ferrari fresh motivation for its fightback, Alonso replied: "It changes nothing, to be honest.

"We are in a position that we don't want to be: fighting to get into Q3 and fighting to score some points. We want to fight for poles and victories so definitely in these first two races we found ourselves off the pace.

"The aim was to not lose too many points, and we didn't lose any points. This is positive news about these first two races, but coming to China, Bahrain and Barcelona there is a lot of stuff coming, the team is putting in a lot of effort.

"We trust each other and this win will make us very happy in the next two days in the factory but does not change determination to keep on winning."

Perez closed rapidly on Alonso in the dry closing laps, and looked set to pass the Ferrari until making a small error. Alonso admitted that Ferrari was still too slow in normal circumstances.

"On consistency we were comfortable but we were not quick enough," he said. "We were lucky enough to maintain the position."

Peter Sauber has denied any suggestions that Sergio Perez was ordered to not attack Fernando Alonso for victory in Malaysia - because it would prevented engine partner Ferrari taking an important win.

Perez was closing in on Alonso for the lead of the race in Sepang when a call came on the radio late on for him to take care.

His engineer told him: "Checo, be careful, we need this position, we need this position"

Shortly after that order was made, Perez ran off the track and lost valuable time – which cost him any chance of overhauling Alonso for a shock win.

That radio message prompted wild conspiracy theories that Ferrari may have requested Perez to back off to protect Alonso's chances – but Sauber has rubbished such talk.

"We told him, be careful – we need the result – because behind us, all of our competitors scored points," Sauber said when asked by AUTOSPORT about the situation.

"[it was because] we needed the result, not the position, so there is some misunderstanding. Behind us our competitors, all the midfield teams, scored points and it was so important that we kept the result not the position."

When asked if there had been any discussion with Ferrari about the situation, Sauber said: "One hundred per cent nothing. We had no discussion about Checo and we had no discussion about the position."

Felipe Massa said that he does not feel under any more pressure at Ferrari as a result of Sergio Perez's second-placed finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Sauber driver Perez, who is part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, put race-long pressure on the Italian squad's lead driver Fernando Alonso and eventually finished 2.3 seconds behind to claim the first podium finish of his Formula 1 career.

The Mexican finished over 1.5 minutes ahead of the Brazilian.

Massa, whose Ferrari deal expires at the end of the year, has not taken a podium finish for 23 races while in the same period Alonso has made the top three on 12 occasions and won twice.

But the Brazilian said after the Malaysian race - in which he finished only 15th - that Perez's performance did not change his situation within Ferrari.

"I'm happy for him and for his team, but [how] disturbing [is it for me]? Zero. I'm looking more for myself, my driving, my work," Massa said.

"I'm never looking for the others and whether them doing well is a problem for me or the opposite. I'm not like that. I'm happy for him because he did a great job."

When asked by AUTOSPORT if Massa felt his performances over the past 12 months had been of the level expected by a Ferrari driver, he replied: "We need to fight the problems and everything that happens and improve the situation. That is the work we need to do and it's what I'm going to do."

Team boss Stefano Domenicali rubbished suggestions that Massa could be replaced as early as the next race in China.

"Not true, not true. Let's enjoy this moment," he said.

Lewis Hamilton declared himself satisfied with his second third place in a row despite failing to convert his pole position into a race victory in Malaysia.

The McLaren driver has started from pole in the first two races of the season, but has finished third in both.

On Sunday, Hamilton was unable to challenge Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez for victory after a very tricky race, but the Briton was still pleased to be on the podium again.

"I won't complain. I think the car has been good all weekend and the team did a good job and I'm on the podium again, which is my target, to have consistency," said Hamilton.

Hamilton admitted he it had been a very tough race to read given the changing conditions.

"It was an interesting race. Obviously we would have been much happier if we had finished where we started, but the other two drivers did a fantastic job," he said.

"I tried my hardest to catch them. It was just a very eventful race, really. Trying to find the right time to change from the extreme tyres to mediums. We were probably a bit late with that, and then to slicks.

"Making the call is down to whether you take the risk or not, and the others went a little bit earlier. We lost a bit of times in our pitstops, so I lost a bit of time there. Trying to close a 12-second gap was pretty tough."

The British driver is now second in the championship, five points behind Alonso.

Jenson Button accepted complete blame for the collision with Narain Karthikeyan that cost him a shot at Malaysian Grand Prix victory.

The Melbourne winner looked set to emerge in the race lead, ahead of Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, after timing his change to intermediate tyres perfectly at the restart following the red flag.

But while trying to fight back through the cars that had not pitted yet, Button slid into Karthikeyan's HRT and damaged his McLaren's front wing, forcing an extra pitstop.

"I was struggling to keep the tyres up temperature and it was totally my fault," Button admitted.

"I hit the brakes, I lost the rear. I was struggling to get the car slowed down. I tried to get around the corner but I couldn't do anything but hit him really."

Although Button was the fastest man on the track by some distance for a while later in the race, an additional pitstop as he struggled with his tyres helped consign him to 14th place at the flag.

"A tough, tough afternoon, and then it just spiralled out of control," he said. "Everything that could go wrong, did. All I could do was laugh really. It was so bad today. Sorry for the guys, who obviously expected a lot more today. I couldn't deliver today.

"But, chin up. I won't be looking at any of the footage from this race. I'll be moving forward and looking forward to China, because I really think it was one of those [bad] races that sometimes happen. We'll put that behind us and move on in China."

Narain Karthikeyan has apologised to Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel for getting involved in incidents with them during the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The HRT driver tangled with Button at Turn 9 shortly after the race restart as they battled for position, and then later on tagged Vettel's left rear as he was being lapped in the closing stages.

Although he said he was not to blame for either collision - and Button later took responsibility for his incident - Karthikeyan has expressed regret at what happened.

"The first stage of the race was brilliant," Karthikeyan told AUTOSPORT. "It was a new place for us, and we had never experienced anything like this. Obviously when the race restarted we knew we were going to go backwards, because the car is not so good anyway.

"Then I was turning in, there was a bang and I am sorry for Jenson. I didn't think he would pass there, because you really don't want to get in their way, and if I had seen him coming I would have moved over. But I didn't in the chaos, and I kept continuing.

"Then there was the incident with Vettel. I was letting everyone through on blue flags because I was being told on the radio. I got on the white line, which was still damp, and I was on slicks obviously so I had a lot of wheelspin. I then had to come back on the track from the kerb, and he was there unfortunately and I could not do anything."

Karthikeyan said he spoke to both men to say sorry after the race and, although aware of how costly the tangles could be, he believes backmarkers are sometimes not given enough respect.

"Some of these guys when they lap you, they take the Mickey out of you," he said. "They come and try to push you out of the way to get back on the racing line.

"For me, the conditions were bad, the kerbs were wet and unfortunately this guy was there, so I could not help much."

The Indian was penalised with a post-race drive-through penalty for his collision with Vettel, dropping him behind team-mate Pedro de la Rosa in 22nd place.

"It's harsh," he said of the penalty. "The kerb was wet. I had wheelspin so I had to move right."

Mark Webber admitted that he took too long to get up to speed on intermediate tyres after only finishing fourth in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Red Bull was unable to fight for victory at Sepang, with Webber only moving up to fourth when his team-mate Sebastian Vettel relinquished the position late on having sustained a puncture in contact with Narain Karthikeyan's HRT.

Webber said he did not think that the result meant Red Bull was fundamentally off the pace, more that its set-up had not been quite right to instil confidence in the drivers on the slippery track.

"I think when it's mixed like that, on intermediates especially, it's down to how you have the balance, how the pressures are, the feeling and the confidence of the driver in those conditions," he said.

"I felt more confident before the red flag, and then after, on the restart, we went to the inters pretty quickly. Everyone decided to do that and it was the right thing to do.

"But it took me too long to get comfortable with the car on the intermediates, and that a very, very long stint - it was not very Formula 1 driving around with that little grip.

"But all of us had to get on with it, and when the track started to get dry, I felt much happier and we were going along alright."

After dominating the 2011 season, Red Bull has yet to win in 2012, but Webber insisted there was no hint of crisis - and felt the Sepang result was decided more by tyre tactics and wet race incidents than actual car performance.

"Still plenty of positives for us out of this weekend," he said. "We would've liked a slightly better result, but there were some inspired calls, we saw that with some strategy up the front, and hats off to those guys.

"When you're in a position to roll the dice a little bit, you might get a double six, and those guys did today."

Kimi Raikkonen says he is eager to have a 'normal' grand prix weekend to figure out where Lotus stands, after adding a fifth place at Sepang to his seventh-place finish in Melbourne.

The Formula 1 returnee started 17th in Australia after a mistake and a timing misjudgement, then had to take a gearbox change grid penalty at Sepang which put him 10th on the grid, before recovering for a top five finish in the wet/dry race.

"Hopefully we can get a normal race next time," said Raikkonen. "All the time there is something going wrong or the weather changes a lot.

"It would be nice to just have a normal weekend and just see where we are. Right now, nobody really knows where anybody is. But we seem to have a pretty strong package everywhere."

Raikkonen felt he could have done better in Malaysia if he had managed more wet running in winter testing.

"I didn't have any experience on the inter tyres or the wet tyres," he said. "We'd only done one installation lap and it was a bit of an odd feeling to go directly into the race with tyres we hadn't run.

"I just tried to stay with the others and stay on the circuit, and then pushed harder and harder. It took a few laps for me to pick up speed when I changed to dries, but after that it was OK."

Jean-Eric Vergne praised the improvements made by Toro Rosso during the early part of the season after scoring his first Formula 1 World Championship points by finishing eighth at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

After starting 18th, Vergne made a strong start and found himself seventh when the race was stopped early on after electing to eschew a stop to change from intermediate tyres to full wets when the rain was at its heaviest.

With race control mandating that all cars used wets upon the restart for safety reasons, the Frenchman did not lose any further time making an extra stop compared to the drivers he was racing.

"To go from 18th on the grid to eighth and in the points at the end is great," the former British F3 champion said. "I stayed out for a long time on the intermediates after the start and then the red flag came along to help me so I was able to switch to extreme wets on the grid. If I'd had to resume behind the safety car on the intermediates it would have been very hard to stay on track!"

Vergne did switch back to intermediates and eventually to slicks as track conditions improved, but abandoned his chase of seventh-placed Paul di Resta with 10 laps to go in order to focus on maintaining his position.

"As soon as the track was dry enough I came in again for intermediates, but I lost a bit of time before I made the switch to slicks. After that I was catching di Resta, but with the backmarkers in between us I could not get close enough to pass, so I just managed the situation, concentrating on bringing the car home," he added.

"I am happy to settle for this eighth place and I plan to keep improving step-by-step. After these two opening races, the overall performance has been quite good and I feel we can make progress in China starting from this good base line."

Marussia has asked the FIA to investigate whether or not the former Team Lotus outfit breached the Concorde Agreement by using parts that rival outfit Force India owned the copyright to.

In the wake of a British Court ruling that Lotus - now competing as Caterham - had misused a small number of parts in its 2010 car, Marussia has notified the FIA that it would like the governing body to look into the matter.

This comes after Force India made it clear last week that it too plans to approach the FIA about the situation.

In the court ruling that related to the dispute between Force India and Lotus/Aerolab, the judge stated: "In my judgment the Aerolab/FondTech CAD files do reproduce a substantial part of the corresponding Force India CAD files for the following parts: the vortex generator, rear brake duct lower element and rear view mirror. It follows that the copyright claim succeeds to that extent, but not otherwise."

Under Schedule 3 of the Concorde Agreement, the document by which Formula 1 is run, teams are not allowed to use certain parts of the cars that they do not own the Intellectual Property rights to.

Although it is not clear whether the parts at the centre of the dispute were actually raced, Marussia sporting director Graeme Lowdon has revealed that his team is in discussions with the FIA over the matter.

"We are in communication with the FIA, and wish to make no further comment on that at the moment," he said. "But we are happy that the suitable processes are being followed."

AUTOSPORT understands that the FIA is aware of the situation, but is planning to await the outcome of legal action that is underway between Force India and Aerolab/Lotus in Italy before deciding whether a breach of the regulations has taken place.

Post-race press conference:

TV UNILATERALS

Q. Fernando, Congratulations on a victory that you probably didn't expect at the start of the week but what about in the latter stages as the young Mexican was catching you?

Fernando ALONSO: Yeah definitely, a big surprise today with the win. We were not competitive in Australia, we were not competitive here and our goal for this first race is to score as many points as possible. But today we did 25 so it's an unbelievable result, so great job from the team and trackside I think we maximised the potential we have in our hands at the moment. Good qualifying yesterday going into Q3 and then today keeping calm in some extreme conditions I think, at the beginning with the Inters with a lot of water and then switching to the Inters and then switching to the dry tyres in the perfect moment with perfect pitstops. Congratulations to the team because I think they deserve this victory. It's a tough time for us at the moment but this Sunday we will remember.

Q. I'm sure Sergio it's a Sunday that you'll remember for the rest of your life as well. A phenomenal effort from yourself and the team but do you think this was a win that could have been yours?

Sergio PÉREZ: I think so, I definitely think so. I mean, I was catching Fernando toward the end of the race, I knew I had to get him soon because all the sectors with the high speed I was losing already my front tyres with a lot of degradation going behind Fernando, so it wasn't easy. Then I ran wide in the quick corner, I touched a kerb and I went to the dirty side. It was completely wet and that was the end of the win, probably. It was very difficult obviously to get Fernando but I think today the win was possible. I have to say the team has done an incredible job. They called me always on the right time, especially the first pitstop we did, it was really at the right moment. Unfortunately Fernando pitted one lap earlier than us, towards the end of the race when the track was already dry and he opened some gap there, and even then we managed to get him, the pace was fantastic, I was really quick. I have to say many thanks to the team, they have done a great job and I'm very happy for them.

Q. Lewis, turning to you, a crazy race, so much going on but the upshot was from pole you finished third for the second week running. Can you be happy with that? Can you be satisfied today?

Lewis HAMILTON: I think we can be satisfied, definitely. First of all congratulations to Fernando and also to Sergio who both drove fantastically well. It was very tough to catch them. Yeah, of course we would have liked to have more points this weekend but yeah, I guess I can't really complain. I'm on the podium for second week in a row so I'm pretty happy. I feel pretty fortunate that I was able to stay out of trouble with the conditions changing constantly. I think we did a great job.

Q. Fernando, what does this do to a Ferrari team? So many questions asked about the performance of the car in Australia, does this give fresh motivation and can we see it again in the near future?

FA: I think it changes nothing, to be honest. We are in a position that we don't want, to be fighting to go into Q3 and then fighting to score some points. We want to fight for pole positions, for victories, so definitely in the first two races of the Championship that we find ourselves off the pace. As I said before, the goal was not to lose many points with the leaders. I think we did a job in the trackside, as I said, and we didn't lose maybe any point to the leaders, so this is the positive news about these first two races but coming to China, Bahrain, Barcelona, there is a lot of stuff coming to improve the car and this is the real job we have to do. I know the team is putting in a lot of effort. We trust each other a lot in the team, we are very united at the moment and this win will make us very happy today and maybe the next two days in the factory but it doesn't change our determination to improve the car and to keep winning.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Fernando you've got quite a history at this circuit. It's quite a good track for you. You've won twice before and had all sorts milestones here.

FA: Yeah, I heard on the radio now that it's the third victory for me with three different cars and three different teams, so it's good to keep winning at circuits you love to race. As I said on Thursday here, it's a fantastic circuit, very technical and with a lot of type of corners and very difficult conditions as we had today. So to win third time here with three different cars is good news, but obviously the most important thing, as we've said many times, is championship points and to get some consistency over the 20 races, not making too many mistakes, not making too many DNFs. Today, was one of the races that easily you can make a DNF because the conditions were quite difficult. So we stay calm, we try to do the best job we can and I think the team did, again, a fantastic job, not only preparing the race but the weekend in general, on Friday testing some new parts, in qualifying doing our maximum and then in the race a perfect start, perfect pit stops, at the right time. So we cannot ask any more of today's race. Now back home we have some work to do ahead, because we need to recover a couple of tenths to be more competitive and also fight for victory on a dry, sunny day and not only these conditions.

Q. As you say, the pit stop timing was crucial today. That was what got you ahead of Lewis in the first pit stop after the stoppage.

FA: Yeah, I think it was perfect. We started with inters, which I think was the main choice for everyone. We switched to extreme tyres because the aquaplaning was very bad and we overtook Vettel in that pit stop because we anticipated (it by) one lap. Then as you said, we came with Lewis, to change for inters after the restart. I think I came in behind Lewis but I exited in front, so it was just the pit stop itself that was quicker. Maybe Lewis had some kind of problems. I was making positions little by little with perfect calls from the team, so this victory is definitely for them.

Q. Was the dry tyre choice at the end the correct one?

FA: Yeah. We were not sure about the Medium or the Hard tyre. We put the Medium on because it was the majority put the Medium on. We were leading the race, you don't need to invent anything, you just to copy what they are doing and with that maybe it's enough. We put on the Medium. With the consistency we were comfortable but obviously not quick enough compared to Sergio, he was putting a lot of pressure. Once before the dry tyres so at the end of the stint with the Inters and then with the Inters. They were quicker than us, no doubt about that but we were lucky enough to maintain the position in the last laps.

Q. Sergio, so close, so close! Is that what you're thinking?

SP: Really! I think the win today was really possible. Obviously the team did very good work to call me in at the right times. We lost one lap just at the end to Fernando on the dry tyres, so we lost about two seconds, and then my pit stop didn't go so well with the clutch. And then I managed to catch him, lap by lap. Towards the end I had some understeer into a left-hand corner, the quick one, and I ran wide enough to go into the wet and then I just lost control of the car and went straight and lost the fight for the victory. But even though, I think it's been a great effort for the team. They called me at the right times. The conditions were very difficult to keep the car on the track and they have been incredible. They were quite focused as well, so they always called me at the right time, which was crucial here and obviously we had a great pace. In my second stint, when we changed to intermediates, we changed a bit late and Fernando was already with warm tyres, so it took me some laps to warm up tyres and at that point it was very difficult to get Fernando, but towards the end of the stint I was very close to him. So again he pitted and he pulled away, he pitted on the right lap and it took me a few laps to catch him. When I caught him I knew it would have to be quick to overtake him because I was having a lot of degradation in my front tyres, especially going behind him. So I went looking for the way to get him and then I just ran a bit wide and touched the wet kerb - I was lucky not to go off. In the end, second it's a great result for the team. Many points and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. It's only the second race of the season and hopefully we can keep improving our car to fight the big guys.

Q. You were on the hard tyres for the last stint. That was perfect for you?

SP: Yeah it was OK – quite OK.

Q. You mentioned the pit stop. Was there a problem there?

SP: Yeah I had a problem with two pit stops with the clutch. Something was wrong with the clutch and we lost some time there. But anyway, the team has done a fantastic job.

Q. Lewis, again, the pit timing was when you lost out to Fernando but were there other problems today?

LH: No. It was a pretty straightforward day. The guys next door (to me here) did a fantastic job. Fernando and Sergio did a fantastic job, so congratulations to them. We just weren't very quick today. We were a little bit unfortunate with the calls. I think we didn't make the right calls at the right time and lost a bit of ground there. We lost quite a lot of time through a couple of the pit stops. I don't know what problems we had but I seemed to be sitting there for quite some time. Otherwise I was just trying to hunt them down but they were both massively quick.

Q. So, there are positives to be taken from today?

LH: Oh yeah. I feel very fortunate, with the weather conditions and the way the track was today that I managed to finish in third today. It's good points and good points for the team and yeah I just have to look forward to the next one.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, if they had told you after the first two races, with the car you have, that you would come home as the leader of the championship, what would you have thought. And also do you think, considering the car you have, that this is one of the best victories of your career?

FA: I don't know. I think after Barcelona if someone tell us you are becoming the leader of the championship after two races you don't have a clear answer. Maybe it's possible, maybe not. In Australia we were not competitive, here not competitive, especially in qualifying. Then in the race it seems we pick up the pace a little bit and there is no secrets. I think there is no secret. We are not having the easiest start to the championship with some problems in the car and some lack of pace but we are working on that, working day and night. I think Ferrari (has) proved over 60 years what they are able to do. In a way it's not a surprise but as I said in the press conference, this win changes nothing in the approach in the next coming weeks. In the next coming races we need to have a very aggressive approach in terms of the development of the car. We need ot bring uopdatyes to every race because we are a little bit too far behind or more than what we want or what we expect. Yeah, we start with inters, then we fit extremes, red flag, inters again, dry tyres, nearly night now. I remember the victory in Korea in 2010, it was also some kind of extreme conditions, as we had today. Every time there is a red flag there is stressful moments on the grid. It's very difficult to keep the concentration, to keep focus. We had other problems in the car. We lost telemetry, so I had to read the fuel every lap when we crossed the start-finish line. So there were a lot of things to do inside the car to keep under control the KERS etc. I was the only one knowing the charge. Without telemetry it's quite difficult for them. I think it was quite demanding but very happy obviously.

Q. (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) Fernando, yesterday you pointed that there were only four people happier than you and now there's none. How important is this victory in terms of the psychological aspect – for you, the team and the fans?

FA: Obviously yesterday, and the days before, as I said before, we are not in the position we wanted, we are not quick enough but it was not a dramatic situation as some voices outside he team said. We just clarified that in Australia we finished fifth and there were only four guys happier than us. Now that we are leading the championship we should be quite proud of the job but as I said we need to work. From a psychology point of view, the win will make more motivation to the guys in Maranello. They don't need motivation because they work for Ferrari and they need to do the maximum for this red car and they know that, but after one win they will go tomorrow at eight o'clock to work with a smile and that maybe will give us some ideas.

Q. (Frederic Ferret – L'Equipe) Sergio, what were you thinking of; each lap, you were doing fastest lap?

SP: Yes, I was thinking of Fernando, waiting for him, as soon as possible, getting closer and closer. I was keeping my head down, also I had to save some tyres, trying not to degrade them a lot, because it was so easy in those conditions, especially towards the end of the stint on inters. I knew it was crucial to have good tyres towards the end of the stint, so I was catching him with quite good tyres but then he pitted and he pitted on the right lap. Again, I had to catch him again and I was catching him big time and then I just ran a little bit wide, I was obviously on the limit, trying to catch him and I touched the wet side of the kerb and I went straight on.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Lewis, when the track became dry, the gap was not so big to first and second and we thought that in those conditions McLaren could be very very fast and maybe you could fight with them. Then suddenly you weren't catching them. What exactly happened in race conditions?

LH: They were just very quick, equally as quick as me if not quicker. I was losing quite a lot of time in the mid sector. I'm not really sure exactly where I was losing the time and why but I had the option tyre on, I was pushing as hard as I could in the conditions. I probably could have gone from extremes to inters and inters to slicks - on both the stops I probably could have come in a lap earlier. These two probably did a better job there. In one of the pit stops I lost a good four or five seconds, just sitting there with some problem with the front right. After that I was trying to catch them, but we had 15 laps or something like that so I had to alter the car for the tyres as best as I could. I was being chased by the guys behind, so a little bit of lack of pace today from me, but I'm still fortunate to be here.

Q. (Kate Walker – GirlRacer) Sergio, that was absolutely wonderful to watch, really exciting. Shortly before you went off, we heard the team on the radio telling you not to throw away any points. Was that a distracting call?

SP: No, not at all. Obviously the team was worried. Obviously for us, second place means a lot so they were quite worried, I was going quite fast in difficult conditions. To keep the car on the track during the early stages of the race was quite a challenge, so we did quite well so it was a long race for the team, and I fully understand them. But no, it was not a distraction at all. I think they wanted the points as much as I did. I wanted the win because I saw it was possible. Unfortunately it didn't happen, but I'm still very happy and very proud of this second place.

Q. (Naoise Holohan – ManipeF1) Checo, there's a lot of speculation at the moment that you might become Fernando's teammate later this year. Did you have a chat with Stefano about it when you were on the podium?

SP: No, no, I only congratulated him. As a team they did a great job. And for me, my full commitment is with my team, with Sauber F1 team. It's only the second race of the season and there's still a long way to go so we have to keep improving, especially because we are a small team, so for us, it's getting closer to development, the others can improve more so it's important we remain focused. Obviously it's only rumours but no, I will stay with Sauber for the whole season.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sergio, you said before that you were struggling with the front tyres; at the end, was it the wrong decision to go for the hard and not the medium in the last stint?

SP: No, I think it was the right call. The degradation was not so bad, so I think it was the right call for us. Obviously I didn't have any new option tyres. The option wasn't working so well for us.

Q. (Manuel Franco - Diario AS) Fernando, is this your best victory?

FA: I don't know. I think every victory tastes different. I think the conditions were more difficult than in some other victories. As I said, only at Korea do I remember these type of conditions, especially at the beginning when we had inters, the visibility was zero behind Webber and there was a crash in turn four between Grosjean and Michael and I think I passed just one centimetre from Michael's front wing. There were many factors in the race, especially in the first ten laps, which could put you out of the race very easily. I had two or three big moments in turn three and under braking for turn one. You arrive at 280 or 290 kilometers per hour with aquaplaning for 20 meters on the inters and then the car recovers thanks to God, so there were big moments throughout the race, so when you get a victory, it tastes better, for sure, but it's difficult. I'm very happy.

Q. (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Lewis, last week you were seriously annoyed with third place. You bemoaned the fact that you'd gone backwards, as you put it. Why is third different this weekend when you've declared yourself satisfied?

LH: I wouldn't say I was happy with third – I can never be happy with going backwards, but it's really just due to the conditions. Those two guys in front did a better job and today was just really trying to keep the car on the track and bring home some points and I did. The goal is always to try and be on the podium and stay consistent and so far I'm doing that, but of course I would like to be a little bit higher up so I'm going to try and focus on my race pace for the next race and see if I can convert a good position to a better result.

Q. (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, yesterday you said that your goal was to stay in front of Sauber, yesterday in qualifying. Would you have expected to be in front of him, to fight for victory? Is Sauber a big surprise to you?

FA: Obviously, yesterday ninth and tenth for me and for Sergio – neither of us probably ever thought we would fight for victory but we said yesterday... here the weather conditions are quite changeable so with the rain coming, everything changed and now we've found good pace in the car and good pace in wet conditions and it was a good fight. I think Sauber is doing a fantastic job this year. We saw in winter testing they made very good progress, they showed good potential in Australia, they showed super potential here, today, with a very good drive from Sergio. I think it's the tendency of this year. There is no big domination as we maybe had last year or the last two years and everything remains more open, so we need to take advantage of this.

Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Fernando, how difficult was the call to slick tyres, because at that time, some drivers in the midfield had some very fast laps on slick tyres, but on the other hand some teams were reporting that there might be more showers, so any decision could have been the wrong one?

FA: Yes, it was a very difficult decision because, as I said before, we just wanted to do the same as other people behind us. It was not the time for us to take risks because we were leading the race so it was difficult conditions because as you said, the track was ready for dry tyres, they were doing quick times but the forecast said rain in the next five minutes, so if you put on dry tyres and then it rains you lose everything. I think Button or someone close to us or Vettel put on dries so it was time to make the decision so we pitted and then once Lewis and Sergio pitted as well, we were happy because if the rain came at that moment we were all in the same condition again. We only had doubts for one lap.

Q. (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Fernando, Sergio has already talked about the possibility of driving for Ferrari and says he's committed to Sauber this season. But given that he's a member of the Ferrari Young Driver academy, do you see him talented enough to make the step up sometime soon?

FA: At the moment, as Sergio said, he is concentrated on Sauber, which is the obligation on the contract side. Ferrari's Driver Academy is doing a great job with young talents and I think if Sergio is in the Academy it's because Ferrari saw big talent in this guy. Today, the victory was not possible, but I think a win will come sooner rather than later for Sergio. At the moment, with Felipe, we are a very strong team, a very united team and I don't see any possibility not to race alongside Felipe, because I think we are a strong team. I think Felipe had some problems in the race in Australia but here, changing a couple of things in the car, he was competitive. Yesterday he was P12 and when it was red flagged he was already eighth, so I think with a normal race and hopefully when the car improves, Felipe and I need to be on the podium together. That's the goal for the remainder of the season.

Q. (Adrian Huber – Agencia EFE) Sergio, you told me in an interview in Melbourne that you expected to be fighting for podiums, hopefully sooner rather than later, but did you expect it to be one week after that interview?

SP: Not really. I knew that the car had the potential to fight in these kind of conditions because we were not so far off, so in this type of condition, maybe the driver can make a little bit more difference and if you get the right conditions and you make the right calls then you can be up there fighting as we were today. The victory was quite close, but I think all in all, it's a great day for me.

Q. Sergio, as we know in motor racing, catching somebody is one thing, getting past them is another. Did you have a plan?

SP: Yes, I was just starting to plan because I knew Fernando was struggling, especially with the rears and I was struggling with the fronts and I was getting quite close to him in the fast section, but then I had a lot of understeer and the fronts were already degrading. I was just thinking where I was going to save some KERS and then I just touched the kerb and ran wide and it was over.

[Lineker]

Adam Parr has resigned from Williams! Didn't see that one coming.

The Williams team has announced that chairman Adam Parr will leave the outfit at the end of this week.

Parr, who was seen by team founder Frank Williams as his natural successor, had joined the British outfit in 2006 as chief executive officer.

He was promoted to chairman during the 2010 season. On Monday morning, however, Williams announced that Parr will leave the team on March 30.

He will be replaced by Nick Rose, ex-CFO of Diageo and currently a Non-Executive Director of WGPH.

Frank Williams will continue to oversee the company.

"I asked Adam to join Williams at the end of 2006 to support me in the running of our team," said Frank Williams. "Over five years, Adam's achievements have surpassed my expectations and I must thank him for his service.

"Not least for the decisive role he played in the technical changes made last year which are beginning to show through in the team's improved competitiveness this season, and for leading this company to a successful IPO.

"Adam leaves us on good terms to pursue a better balance in his life for which I wish him and his family well. He has left us in good shape and I have every confidence that the Board and senior management team at Williams will continue to drive the business forward into a promising future."

The team did not specify what Parr's next plans were.

Parr added: "I am very grateful to Frank for giving me the opportunity to work for Williams over the past five years - a period that has been both challenging and rewarding.

"Williams is a unique team with over 500 great-hearted and talented people and many superb partners in and out of Formula 1. Williams is now set up to move forward and I wish everyone at Grove well."

Also, this backs up Gazz's point that Vettel = cock.

[Katsuya]

It seemed very much a 50/50 thing to me, but to be honest, Karthikeyan is pretty damn awful. He was blocking people in qualifying in Australia and while he's not an "idiot", he's definitely not deserving of being in F1.

[Adam]

This is the thing that's annoying me at the moment, there is increased risk of this happening as the season goes on...HRT being this far behind and to be honest Marussia as well is just downright dangerous at times. And what progress are these teams making? It doesn't seem to be worth it.

[Gazz]

That collision was completely Karthikeyan's fault, Vettel was 90% past him and him cut back across far too early.

The HRT car is an absolute piece of shit, they were 6 seconds off pole in qualifying, 1.7 back from the Marussia's. When the race restarted with Karthi in 10th, it looked like he was in reverse, nothing more than a barely moving chicane.

[Lineker]

Don't get me wrong, Narain is not a good enough driver for F1, bless him. But he's not an idiot and Vettel is just being a cunt for the sake of being a cunt.

[Lineker]

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali hopes that Fernando Alonso's surprise victory in Malaysia acts as a spur for his team to do even more to develop its car.

Although Alonso drove brilliantly to deliver a win at Sepang, the outfit is under no illusions that its F2012 needs to be improved a lot before it is a genuine match for title favourites McLaren and Red Bull.

The team is expected to bring some updates to the next race in China. But its major focus will be on big upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix, with the car set to feature a new sidepod, exhaust and rear bodywork solution.

Domenicali insists that there will be no easing off now that Ferrari has won a race, and if anything it should actually result in an even bigger push from the team.

"As you can imagine I'm very happy about the result of today, because considering that we have not been at all happy about the level of our performance, you look at the numbers and we're leading the championship with Fernando, which is really great news," explained Domenicali.

"But the result doesn't change what we're doing at home, because we need to improve the performance of this car. And what I urged to my people is to make sure this happens as soon as possible.

"This is an emotional moment; a breath inside a lot of pressure and I hope it can be a boost for the people at home to bring more development in the areas that I told to you as soon as possible."

Domenicali revealed after the race that he was not sure Alonso would win it until he actually approached the line.

"To be honest, [it was] at the last corner," he said. "If you put everything on the table, the weather conditions, that if you're looking at the forecast every 10 minutes, there may be another shower, maybe not.

"The second thing was if you take the chance to change the tyres or not. If it's going to rain again you need to change for new intermediates because the tyres are destroyed. We were on the limit of this because we were down to the canvas.

"We had to put the dry tyres on, and in those conditions I saw Perez getting closer and closer. Then he did a mistake and we had a gap with a few laps to go, but we still had a forecast of more rain to come. So it was honestly at the last corner."

Ferrari needs to rally around Felipe Massa in order to lift his performances in future grands prix, according to team principal Stefano Domenicali.

Massa finished only 15th in Malaysia on Sunday, more than 95 seconds adrift of his winning team-mate Fernando Alonso.

The result extended his streak without a Formula 1 podium to 23 races.

With Ferrari Academy driver Sergio Perez - who has already been linked with a race seat with the Italian team in 2013 - finishing second, the speculation surrounding Massa's future has continued to grow.

But Domenicali refused to condemn his driver, instead insisting that it was up to the team to help re-establish the Brazilian's confidence behind the wheel and to improve the F2012 car that he has to drive.

'We need to stay close to Felipe in this moment," he said. "It's a difficult moment and we need to find a way for him to get confident in his car.

"We saw, for example, one step that was in the right direction in qualifying because we saw there was an improvement compared to last weekend. Now we need to understand what happened today in terms of his race pace and in terms of his performance.

"In my view the problem is that this car is quite difficult, not easy. It can be very good and it can also be quite difficult. We showed this today that in certain conditions you have to have a certain driving style and you can be very, very good, and in other conditions you can destroy the tyres.

"The priority for me and what I need to make sure is that Felipe has around him the protection of the team that tries to work hard with him.

"And on our side we need to make sure he's confident to drive the car on the limit, without overdriving it, where the situation could be as bad as not being able to reach the limit."

Massa's result means that he is yet to score a point this season and leaves him 19th in the championship - behind both Marussia drivers - based on best results so far.

Ferrari's shock victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix has blown open the fight for the Formula 1 world championship, reckons McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

Ferrari has openly admitted that it is in damage limitation mode until a heavily updated car is unleashed for the Spanish Grand Prix, but Alonso's brilliant performance to win at Sepang has now left him at the head of the title chase.

And that has significantly increased the chances of Ferrari being able to join a championship battle that had appeared to be boiling down to a straight head-to-head between McLaren and Red Bull.

Speaking on the back of the surprise in Malaysia, Whitmarsh said: "The championship is wide open. We are in a reasonable position to win more races and the championship, but that requires us to perform well, not make mistakes and continue to develop car at a decent rate."

Ferrari is expected to test an updated F2012 - with revised sidepods and rear bodywork packaging – at the Mugello test in May, prior to it being raced for the first time in Spain.

When asked if he was worried that allied to Ferrari's better than expected start to 2012, the team could have a dramatically improved car by Spain, Whitmarsh said: "You always do. When trying to win the championship you are always worried, and you hope you can deliver a little bit more performance.

"If you are honest about it, at the back of your mind you worry that someone may turn up having had a Eureka moment and might overhaul you.

"But it is a long, long championship ahead. We are not in bad shape but certainly nothing is taken for granted. No one can say with confidence the outcome of this year's world championship, and that is just how it should be."

Sauber says it has no reason to feel unhappy about missing out on a possible victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix, despite a late race excursion costing Sergio Perez a chance to overhaul Fernando Alonso.

Perez was the star of the Sepang race as he drove strongly throughout the rain-affected event, hunting down eventual race winner Alonso for much of the afternoon.

But although he managed to close right in on Alonso near the end, a small error as he ran wide over the kerbs handed his Ferrari rival enough of a buffer to deliver a surprise victory for the Italian team.

Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn was not upset though, claiming that second place - the team's best result as a non-manufacturer entry - was enough to be delighted with.

"I am happy with what we have achieved," she explained. "It is a very big achievement for the team, and gives us the confidence and certainty that the way we are going means we are going upwards slowly and steadily.

"I think in such a moment, you don't want to think about what you could have had or what you could have got. We are happy with what we have, and let's see what else will come."

Speaking about her reaction to seeing a Sauber battling for the victory, she added: "It is a fantastic moment. We started off into the race weekend with a few issues, and the team worked extremely hard because we are still confident about our car.

"Sergio gave us excellent performance in the race, the team prepared everything well and this was a fantastic race."

McLaren believes the wet weather that struck the Malaysian Grand Prix cost it the chance of a 1-2 finish to cement its place at the top of the world championship standings.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button had locked out the front row of the grid, but were unable to keep those places in the rain-hit race as it was left to Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez to fight it out for victory.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh thinks that if conditions had stayed dry then there was no reason to think his drivers could not have come out on top.

"In the dry, if nothing had gone wrong, then we had the pace to be 1-2 and we should have been," he explained. "I think we take away from this weekend that we are leading the Constructors' Championship, and we are second and third in the drivers' championship.

"We have a quick car and we can hopefully do a good performance in China and get this championship rolling for us."

Whitmarsh says the key moments that cost his men were Button's mistake in colliding with Narain Karthikeyan, and Hamilton getting held up on his way out of his first pit stop after Ferrari double-stopped Alonso and Massa.

"Lewis was held," he said. "I don't think it was overly conservative, but had he been released there was a reasonable chance that he would have got T-boned by Massa coming in. I think the guy made the right decision.

"I have looked at it again, thinking were we too conservative. It was that holding of him that put Fernando in front, otherwise it might have been a different outcome."

Although McLaren could not match the speed of the Ferrari or Sauber in the wet, Whitmarsh said he was not too concerned by the potential shown by his team.

"Overall we did not have the pace, but we were not dramatically slow either," he said.

"The real [title] contenders did not score too many points either, and I have told Lewis that it is days like this, where you have damage limitation and score some valuable points, where you win world championships. I think he will reflect on that at some point and realise that is the right thing."

Red Bull believes that getting a better understanding of Pirelli's tyres will be just as important to its title hopes as improving its car.

On the back of Ferrari and Sauber delivering a shock result in the Malaysian Grand Prix, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says that his squad needs to be able to extract more from the 2012 tyres if it is to deliver the consistent results that will ensure the championship.

"Consistency will be important all the way through," explained Horner. "HRT have played their role today [with Narain Karthikeyan colliding with Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel], but I don't think anybody could have predicted that Sergio [Perez] would be harrying Fernando [Alonso] for a victory.

"We are just going to be focused on our own performance, and stick to our own plan. We have an additional week before China, rather than the usual two-week period, and it will be about consistency and understanding the tyres.

"The tyres seem to be the biggest variant. They seem to have changed the most from last year and, as you can see, different cars at different points are quick. Suddenly Kimi [Raikkonen] came alive at the end of the race and started setting purple sectors, so the tyres appear to be a key factor."

Horner believes that the evidence of the first two races of the campaign shows that performance swings are likely to be quite dramatic throughout 2012.

"Looking at Sunday's performance, one would have to say that Sergio Perez is currently the hot favourite," he joked. "But hats off to him. He drove a great race, and I don't think anyone would have predicted a Ferrari victory [with Alonso].

"I think the only good thing is that the fans are in for a good year. The pace has moved around an awful lot, and here was quite peculiar because, if you look at it, Sergio was the quickest man on track.

"He was catching a Ferrari and pulling away from a McLaren, so it is difficult to draw too much out of the first couple of races. We know we have got things that we can improve on, and that is what we will be focused on for China. But it is fairly unpredictable at the moment."

When asked if he felt that Sauber could actually be a genuine threat to the front-runners for the remainder of the season, Horner said: "Based on this performance they were the car to beat in the race.

"They were the quickest driver/car combination, so hats off to them for that. It is not one that you would perhaps have expected."

Nico Rosberg has admitted that he is baffled by the tyre problems suffered by Mercedes in the Malaysian Grand Prix, as the team failed again to capitalise on its strong qualifying pace.

Rosberg and team-mate Michael Schumacher had been McLaren's main rivals in the battle for pole position, but their form dropped off dramatically in the race for the second event in succession.

But rather than its performance in Malaysia being the result of excessive degradation, as happened in Australia, Rosberg says that its tyre issues in Sepang had a totally different nature that he does not understand.

"It is strange we are so strong in qualifying but then struggling in the race," Rosberg said on his official video blog after the Malaysian GP. "In qualifying with the car we have we can fight for the front row, but in the race [we cannot match that].

"This time strategy-wise, everything was going well. I was P4 after the red flag and pitstop, and from then on I thought I could do something good this time. But then I started going backwards - and big time.

"[With] the first inters I had to come into the pits because I thought my rear tyre was game over completely. So I come into the pits, put a new set of inters on and the pit crew said to me that my inters were brand new still, so I thought, what is going on? They felt completely destroyed. It was strange.

"From then on, it was getting worse and worse, and then going on the slicks it was a bit of a highlight that I managed to beat Jenson which was nice, but fighting for 13th place is not worth mentioning."

Mercedes chiefs now face an intense effort over the next few weeks to try and get an understanding of why their car is so strong on single lap pace but cannot repeat that form over long runs.

Rosberg added: "There is a lot of work ahead of us as we are still struggling in the race, and it is going to take some thorough analysis. We have enough time before China [on April 15], so I hope we can improve.

"I am looking forward to China to finally getting a better result, and my season starts there more or less."

[Lineker]

Force India is set to appeal the recent High Court ruling on its dispute with Aerolab/Team Lotus, as it urges the FIA once again to investigate the matter.

The Silverstone-based team was awarded 25,000 Euros in damages last week after it was ruled that Aerolab and Team Lotus had used some components in its 2010 car design process to which Force India own the Intellectual Property rights.

Force India believes that the level of damages awarded was not high enough, which is why its legal team is to request the judge looks into the matter once again.

Deputy team principal Robert Fernley told AUTOSPORT: "We will ask the judge for appeal on a number of things, and our legal team has not determined that [yet]. Of course damages will be one and some of the conduct will be the other.

"What cannot be appealed is the decision - because that is admitted in affidavit and on oath. The guilt side stays; what we are saying is we want more damages. If we get it, or if we even get the appeal, is a completely different thing."

With rival team Marussia having written to the FIA to express its concern about the situation – and whether or not Team Lotus breached the Concorde Agreement in running copyrighted parts – Force India says it too is planning a further request for the governing body to step in.

"What we will do now is refer it to the FIA in its totality and it is up to the FIA to decide if there is anything that needs to be taken further," continued Fernley.

The FIA wants to wait until after the conclusion of an Italian criminal case before deciding if it will look into the matter, but Fernley does not see any reason why there is not already enough evidence to warrant an investigation now.

"The FIA has to make its own decision," he said. "I am not sure why a criminal case needs to be proved, when it has already been proved in a UK High Court. Surely if Marussia has written to them, then surely there is an obligation to make sure that is heard.

"We will submit our findings to the FIA. To them it doesn't matter if we go back to court and gain extra money or not. What they have to worry about is, has an offence been committed? Does it breach Schedule 3? And all the points we are talking about are Schedule 3 components."

Caterham, as Team Lotus is now called, has not made any public statements about the matter since the trial, but Aerolab chief Jean-Claude Migeot said last week that he welcomed the fact that 'systematic' copying of the Force India had not been found.

"It's a very fine line between using your knowledge and using someone else's IP, which we don't do," he said. "We have contractors and consultants – and people come to us because we have the know-how and experience."

Force India was also ordered to pay 850,000 Euros in unpaid fees to Aerolab, with that money having already been lodged in escrow.

Ferrari technical chief Pat Fry says the pressure on his team to deliver much-needed improvements to its car has not eased, despite Fernando Alonso's victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Alonso's success at Sepang on Sunday has lifted him to the head of the world championship standings after the opening two races of the campaign.

But despite the encouragement that comes from the situation the team is in now, Fry says there is no escaping the reality that the outfit must deliver big gains in performance if is to launch a serious world championship bid with its troublesome F2012.

"I think the pressure is on the team to try and get the car performing," said Fry, who is working on a raft of updates to the car that should be ready for the Spanish Grand Prix.

"Here [in Malaysia], if anything, we had to do the best we could to make the most of the situation. In these situations our car is quite reasonable. But if it had been a completely dry race it would have been a totally different story."

Ferrari's rivals know that the weather did play a major part in allowing Alonso to overcome the current deficiencies in his car, but they concede that tyre factors do appear to be helping Ferrari as well.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: "These tyres are slightly more benign than last year, but they are not easy and we are still learning. This is the second race on these new tyres, and we haven't much experience.

"If it was a dry race we were strong, but in these wet/slippery conditions other people can fall into the sweet spot and that builds confidence.

"But [having Ferrari win] is good for the championship, good for the sport, and good for the audience. It wasn't so great for us, but it could have been worse.

"We don't underestimate Ferrari. But it was a bit of a turn up for the books that they did win."

Sergio Perez is not get carried away with his brilliant performance in the Malaysian Grand Prix, but still thinks his maiden victory could be just around the corner.

The Sauber driver challenged Fernando Alonso hard for a race win in Sepang, but lost his chance when he ran wide near the end of the race - handing his Ferrari rival enough of a buffer at the front to hold on until the chequered flag.

But although he was the quickest man on track in Sepang, Perez does not believes this marks the start of a regular push for victory at forthcoming races.

"The target is to keep improving our overall performance and the car," he explained. "We have to push hard and, of course, we have to stay realistic.

"Although the pace in the race was good we should not forget that this result came after a very special race in extraordinary conditions.

"Ultimately I always wanted to win races and I strongly believe my first win in Formula 1 will come sooner or later - in an ideal world it will happen this year."

Perez is returning home to Mexico before the next race of the season in China, and although expressing some disappointment at losing out on the chance to win he is more than satisfied with what he achieved.

"For sure it was a great race and in a way a great feeling," he said. "But initially I was a bit disappointed because I thought maybe I could have won it, although nobody knows what in the end would have happened if I had managed to attack Fernando (Alonso) and whether I would have got by him or not.

"Meanwhile, of course, I realised that having come second is also a great result for us and is a perfect boost for the entire team, which is working very hard. I am happy for everybody in the Sauber F1 Team."

Sauber chiefs are upbeat that the team's best ever result in the Malaysian Grand Prix will help it boost its financial situation.

The Swiss outfit is one of several teams on the grid that is facing a tough time on the money front, with sponsorship currently hard to come by and costs in F1 still very high.

But with talks having taken place with a number of potential partners over the past few months, team owner Peter Sauber and CEO Monisha Kaltenborn hope that Sergio Perez's near miss on victory will increase their chances of securing a much-needed deal.

"There are a lot of teams here that have financial problems," explained Sauber. "That is normal in this business. For sure good results, like the last one [in Australia] and this one, helps to find new partners."

When asked by AUTOSPORT if the second placed finish will help the team commercially, Kaltenborn said: "Of course it does. The best answer you can give about its capabilities is the performance on track, because that speaks for itself.

"We hope people see that now, and we hope it gives us a certain boost. But we have to take it race-by-race."

Kaltenborn added that it was one thing showing promise in winter testing, but another actually proving that its pace was real with a performance like Perez delivered in Sepang.

"This is extremely important because we are confident in ourselves," she explained. "We know what we have and we know our capabilities, but if you are still not bringing home the results, still not bringing home the points, then the efficiency is not right, and it can be disturbing in the team.

"You need that confidence; you need that stability. So to get this kind of result gives you the confidence and gives the team the confidence that what we are doing is the right way. It shows the world that we know what we are doing and we believe in this way."

Bruno Senna says his run to sixth place in the Malaysian Grand Prix has helped ease the pressure on both himself and the Williams team, as they target even better results in the future.

The Brazilian bounced back from an opening lap collision with team-mate Pastor Maldonado to deliver the best result of his career, and help ensure Williams has now scored more points than it did all of last season.

"Having a good result in a good position takes some of the weight off your shoulders," he explained. "I wanted to do well for these guys and I think everyone is happy because all the work from this last year to this year is paying off.

"It will keep them motivated to keep pushing for the car to improve and I can improve myself."

Senna also believes that having shown he can deliver in tricky race conditions will silence the critics who have claimed he only secured the drive at Williams because of his sponsorship backing.

"There will always be critics and I know that there were people criticising us," he explained. "You are never going to please everybody and for sure, having a strong result will take some wind out of the critics' sails.

"And hopefully we can make sure we keep on having strong results and show that I deserve my place here."

Formula 1 teams are weighing up the idea of running this year's young driver test at Silverstone in the week after the British Grand Prix, AUTOSPORT has learned.

The annual three-day run has taken place for the past two years, and is a chance for teams to try out young talent that would not otherwise get the opportunity to drive F1 machinery.

Although the original idea was for the test to take place at the end of the season, as it did in 2010, last year it happened after the penultimate event in Abu Dhabi because teams did not want to stay on in Brazil after the finale.

A repeat of that this year has met some resistance, however, because of concerns about staffing fatigue at the end of year run-in.

The structure of the calendar this year means that Abu Dhabi takes place a fortnight before the United States Grand Prix, which would effectively mean team members would have to work for five consecutive weeks.

One idea that has received some support is to try and shift the young driver test to take place at Silverstone immediately after the British GP. However not all teams are in favour because of the difficulty of sorting out drivers at that stage of the campaign.

Force India deputy team principal Robert Fernley said: "Everybody wants to have the young driver test. But if we do it in Abu Dhabi we are putting the pressure on the crew because it will be five weeks away with no stop. If we do it at Silverstone, then the argument could be: have we seen who we want to test from the other series?

"We need a bit more discussion with the team managers to see what we do now."

Silverstone last held an official Formula 1 test in June 2008, with Lewis Hamilton setting the pace for McLaren over three days.

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Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says Felipe Massa's performance during the 2008 season should act as a reminder that the Brazilian's poor start to 2012 can be overcome.

Massa failed to score a point in the first two races of 2008, but then went on to fight for the title until the final grand prix of the season, where he lost out to Lewis Hamilton by just one point.

The Ferrari driver has not been on the podium since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix, and he has endured a tough start to the season, having not scored any points yet to his team-mate Fernando Alonso's 35.

Massa has decided to cancel a trip home after the Malaysian Grand Prix in order to travel to Ferrari's factory in Maranello to try to get to the bottom of his problems.

Domenicali said the Brazilian needs the support of the team, as is convinced Massa is still capable of much more.

"I well remember that, four years ago, in fact right after a Malaysian Grand Prix, which was won for us by Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe was more or less in the same situation as today," said Domenicali on Ferrari's website.

"The papers were demanding his immediate replacement and he managed to react in the best way possible, thanks to support from the team, which saw him win two of the next three races.

"We remember how that particular season ended, with the Brazilian actually world champion, even if it was just for a few seconds, while we took our 16th constructors' title.

"Felipe has changed his plans and, instead of heading home to see his family in Brazil, he will be in Maranello tomorrow to work alongside the engineers to calmly analyse everything that happened in these past two races, trying to identify why he was not able to deliver what he is capable of.

"That's the right spirit and we are here, ready to help him."

[GA!]

I completely didn't realise Bruno Senna finished 6th at the weekend. >_<

Great result for him and Williams. Just a shame Maldonado fucked up at Australia or else they'd be in a great position now.

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Narain hits back!! Get in.

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Irritating news about Belgium this. Still, at least Paul Ricard is a decent circuit, s'pose...

The French Grand Prix's return to the Formula 1 calendar is expected to move a step closer on Friday, with the country's Prime Minister Francois Fillon planning to make an announcement at Paul Ricard about the event.

On the back of months of talks about a return of the French GP, which has been absent from the F1 schedule since 2008, media have been invited to the circuit in the south of France for a press conference to talk about the future of the race.

Fillon will be joined by Hubert Falco, president of the local Toulon province.

Although it is not clear how far advanced the negotiations are, there is mounting speculation that Fillon will announce that France is now ready to host an F1 race again as soon as next season.

Any deal that may have been agreed with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone would need ratification by the FIA later this year when the 2013 calendar is announced, but this would likely be a formality.

Paul Ricard last hosted an F1 race in 1990, before the French GP moved to Magny-Cours. Financial problems in funding the race fee meant that the event dropped off the calendar in 2009.

France's bid to get its race back on the schedule has been boosted by the presence of three French drivers in F1 this year - Romain Grosjean, Jean-Eric Vergne and Charles Pic.

Felipe Massa has admitted that his difficult start to the season has 'hurt', but he has full faith that he will turn his situation around.

The Brazilian cancelled plans to return home after the Malaysian Grand Prix so he could spend time this week at Ferrari's factory, to undertake a detailed analysis of the first two races.

And after running through matters with race engineer Rob Smedley plus technical director Pat Fry, he wrote on Ferrari's official website on Thursday that he believed there was cause to feel positive about the future.

"I am disappointed, there is no denying it: not scoring any points in two races hurts, but now it's time to turn the page," he said.

"It's the not the first time I've gone through a difficult moment like this and I know well that things can change quickly, but now is the moment to do my utmost because I want this negative period to come to an end.

"I want things to return to normal, to a situation in which I can show my talent as I have always done and as the team knows I can do."

Massa says he has also been boosted thanks to the support of his Ferrari bosses, who have spoken in public about their support for him.

"I was very happy to read and hear what was said by President Montezemolo, our boss Stefano Domenicali and my team-mate Fernando," he explained.

"Their words did not come as a surprise, because I know I can count on the support of what is a real second family for me, which is what Ferrari has been to me for all these years.

"I feel there is confidence around me, that the team is united in its support for me and that is very important. Now I want to transform that into results to pay back all this support."

Massa will spend the weekend at his apartment in Monaco before returning to Maranello next week for further engineering meetings and to spend time in the simulator.

Felipe has now joined the world of Twitter now, by the way, if anybody wants to follow him.

Force India is targeting a major step forward with the upgrade package that it will introduce at the Mugello test on May 1-3 ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Silverstone-based squad has scored nine points so far this season but its outright pace has been disappointing.

Deputy team principal Bob Fernley believes that the team's slow start is down to pushing on with development late into the 2011 season in its successful pursuit of sixth in the championship, but is confident of catching up this year.

"I am hoping that Mugello puts us where we would have liked to have been for the start of the season," Fernley told AUTOSPORT. "We are a little bit behind because our focus was trying to secure sixth last season and we are about four or five races behind schedule.

"The plan is to come out of the first four races and not be to far away. Then we can bring the performance in through the season, so we are pretty much on target. We just need to get through China and Bahrain and then see where we go."

Fernley paid tribute to the efforts of drivers Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, who have both had strong starts to the season.

Di Resta scored points in both Australia and Malaysia, while Hulkenberg followed up a superb qualifying performance in Melbourne with his first points since the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix.

"We haven't given either driver the best of cars, yet," said Fernley. "They are showing their mettle to get us through and what we need to do is respond and give them the car that can challenge from Mugello onwards.

"Both of them did well [in Malaysia], especially when you consider that it was Nico's first race for over year and it couldn't have been tougher for him. Given where we are in the development programme, it was a sterling effort from everybody."

Fernley is not worried about being able to catch up teams that Force India is expecting to be ahead of in the championship, such as Sauber, which has scored heavily in the first two grands prix.

He has no doubts that the team can still deliver on its target of fighting for a place in the top five in the Constructors' Championships.

"Absolutely," he said when asked if fifth was still on. "Don't forget that we were 26 points behind Sauber midway through last season.

"I'm just hoping that our rate of development can be stronger. If we can come out of the first few races not too far adrift, then we can come back."

Abu Dhabi circuit bosses remain hopeful that Formula 1 teams will agree to continue holding the annual Young Driver Test at their Yas Marina circuit, despite serious consideration being given to switching it to Silverstone.

As AUTOSPORT revealed earlier this week, F1 teams are thinking about a post-British Grand Prix test because they are worried about burning out staff if it is held in Abu Dhabi near the end of the season.

With the way the current calendar is scheduled, if the test takes place after the Abu Dhabi GP then team personnel will likely have to work for five consecutive weeks with no break.

No decision had been made yet about what teams will do, but Yas Marina's chief executive Richard Cregan has said that the venue is keeping circuit availability open for F1 in the week after its November race.

"Whether they have the tests here in Abu Dhabi is a decision the teams themselves would need to make," Cregan told The National newspaper. "We have made provisions and blocked out the week after our race, but they have the freedom to change that.

"We would obviously be disappointed if Abu Dhabi didn't host the Young Drivers' Test because it has become a part of our season, but I can understand the teams' concerns.

"It's a long season as it is and there are a lot of back-to-back races this year, so it's tough for them."

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Mercedes Formula One Team Said to Reject CVC Offer of New Terms

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France is closing in on a deal to hold a Formula 1 race again, the country's prime minister said on Friday, but work still needs to be done before a contract can be finalised.

During a visit to the Paul Ricard circuit, Francois Fillon said attempts to resurrect the race, which was last held at Magny-Cours in 2008, were progressing but there was still further negotiations needed in terms of finalising financial terms as well as a venue to share the event with.

"It is not possible to organise a grand prix every year [in France]," he was quoted as saying by the local media. "We are working on the idea of organising a grand prix every other year at Castellet [Paul Ricard] and every other year in another country."

Fillon said that a provisional deal had been agreed with Bernie Ecclestone, but there was still a gap in the finances of approximately two million Euros between what F1's commercial boss wanted and what race organisers were willing to pay.

"The organisers [Formula One Management] have approved F1, but without saying what the other country will be," explained Fillon, amid ongoing speculation that the French GP could alternate with the race in Belgium. "The proposals are quite reasonable, but it is not done yet."

Until the deal is finalised, Fillon explained that no date could be given for when the French GP could be slotted into the calendar - which means the race may not even happen until 2014.

He also made it clear that any French GP plan would not receive financial backing from the government – so must support itself.

"The state will give its support, because it must do that, but we will not go any further," he said.

Jaime Alguersuari will join Pirelli as one of its test drivers from this year alongside Lucas di Grassi, the Italian company has announced.

The Spanish racer was left without a drive for this season after being dropped by Toro Rosso, with which he was expecting to race this year in Formula 1.

Alguersuari will join di Grassi at Pirelli's test team, the Italian manufacturer having two permanent test drivers for the first time.

Pirelli will be using a 2010 Renault R30 for its testing programme, which includes four tests at Jerez, Spa, Monza and Barcelona.

The tests will be aimed at defining the 2013 range of Pirelli tyres.

"I'm very happy indeed to have this fantastic opportunity," said Alguersuari, who has joined the BBC as a commentator for this year. "A week ago it was my birthday, when I turned 22, and now Pirelli has given me the best possible present.

"I can't wait to get started with this very important and challenging job of developing the new tyres for the future, which I'm looking forward to a lot. I have a huge desire to get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car again and return to competition, so this is a brilliant chance for me."

Alguersuari had told AUTOSPORT at the Australian Grand Prix that his desire was to return to the wheel of a Formula 1 car as soon as possible.

"I think I deserve a seat in F1 and that's what I'm looking for," Alguersuari told AUTOSPORT. "At the moment, I'm with the BBC, which is good because it keeps me in F1 and gives me another perspective, but my objective is to be back here racing and to show what I can do.

"I demonstrated last year that I'm a talented driver and did the maximum with the car that I had. I don't know if I'm going to get back into F1, but I have two-and-a-half years of experience, I know how the cars work and I'm here to take any chance that I can get.

"The best thing for me is to find a way to keep me in an F1 car."

Lucas di Grassi believes that continuing in his Pirelli test role will keep his driving sharp so that he is ready for a racing return in F1 if the chance arises.

The ex-Virgin driver was set to join Peugeot's sportscar programme this year, but was left without a seat when the French marque pulled the plug on its programme.

As well as hoping for an F1 shot, he also expects the Pirelli mileage to keep him in the frame for a drive in another category.

"Just driving a car for so much mileage per year is good preparation in case there is an opportunity in F1," di Grassi told AUTOSPORT.

"But even if there isn't an F1 chance, I saw when I tested for Peugeot last year that driving an F1 car keeps you in a good condition if there is a chance to race elsewhere in Le Mans cars, IndyCar or wherever.

"My original plan this year was to race for Peugeot and to continue the development work with Pirelli that I enjoyed last year. It's good to get mileage in an F1 car and it's crucial to keep you in shape. I also learned some more technical skills that I didn't have when racing."

Di Grassi is evaluating programmes in other categories as well as in F1, admitting that a return to grand prix racing would likely depend on raising a budget.

If he races elsewhere, he is determined to ensure that it is in potentially race-winning machinery.

"Last year, I had two good F1 offers but it required sponsors," said di Grassi. "There are many drivers in F1 who have to bring money and they are talented, but it shows you need the commercial side as well.

"F1 is a great series and I would go to F1 to race, but if there was an opportunity to go into the WEC, DTM or IndyCar and win races, that would also be good. My main concern is to come back in a position to win or compete for the championship."

Di Grassi has already started work for Pirelli this year, conducting a GP2 test at Jerez and believes that the company will benefit from having both him and ex-Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari on its books.

"The programme is going to be a lot more intense this year as we also get to work on the GP2 car and with the simulator. With two drivers, you get two sets of feedback, which is good for Pirelli."

Narain Karthikeyan thinks it is now time to move on from his public spat with Sebastian Vettel over their collision in Malaysia - as he is keen to put the matter to bed.

The Indian and his German rival have dominated headlines since Sunday's race at Sepang after criticising each other in the wake of their incident, where Vettel suffered a puncture after clipping his rival's front wing as he was lapping him.

Vettel labelled Karthikeyan an 'idiot' and a 'cucumber' for the way he drove, while the HRT driver later hit back and accused the world champion of being a 'cry baby' over his comments.

The Malaysian Grand Prix stewards penalised Karthikeyan for having caused the collision.

With the soap opera between the pair dominating headlines around the world, Karthikeyan has now called for the matter to be closed - as he thinks his time will be better spent focusing on the next race.

"I am amazed by the reaction in the media, but I think everyone has to calm down now," Karthikeyan told AUTOSPORT. "I think we have to deal with it in a mature way and forget about it."

Although Karthikeyan remains unimpressed at the way in which Vettel accused him over their clash - which a number of rivals believe was simply a racing incident – he stands firm that he did nothing wrong in their coming together.

"At the end of the day, you don't want to get in the way of other drivers – and when you are driving a slow car and being a backmarker you cannot afford to do these things.

"But these were exceptional circumstances and no one could do anything to avoid what happened. Jenson [button] collided with me, came out afterwards and said that he had locked up and it was a racing incident. Nobody does these things on purpose.

"I have a lot of respect for Seb's driving abilities and that is it. I want to put this all behind me now, and just focus on me."

Karthikeyan said he had no plans to go and seek out Vettel at the next race in China, and thinks it would be better if the pair just simply got on with their own jobs.

"What's the point?" he said when asked if would speak to Vettel. "He has done his bit, and I have done my bit. We just have to respect each other. He will be running at the front, and we are not going to run at the front. Both of us have to get on with our job."

Despite wishing to draw a line under the matter, Karthikeyan has still expressed some surprise at the level of criticism he received from Vettel.

"There are five other world champions on the grid who have been through a lot, and been through bad times, but none of them reacted like that," he said. "In my opinion it was a racing incident."

Fabrice Lom, the former chief engineer of Renault's customer programme in Formula 1, is now working for the FIA, AUTOSPORT has learned.

The Frenchman, who most recently assisted Red Bull Racing during its back-to-back championship success, took up a role as Head of Power Train at motor racing's governing body at the end of last year, but his appointment has only now been confirmed.

As part of a restructured engine department, following the departure of its former chief Gilles Simon, Lom is working with Bernard Niclot, who heads up the division.

Simon left the FIA last summer to take up a role with the PURE engine company that has been set up by former BAR team principal Craig Pollock.

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Red Bull Racing is still pushing the FIA for further clarification about the legality of the DRS system on the Mercedes-Benz, as it continues to question whether the concept complies with the regulations.

Although motor racing's governing body has twice ruled that the DRS-activated F-duct - which helps stalls the front and rear wings for a straight-line speed boost – is fully legal, that has not stopped attempts by Red Bull Racing and Lotus to get it outlawed.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Sky's 'F1 Show' that he expected further progress on the matter to take place ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, when a ruling from the head of F1's technical department Charlie Whiting is expected.

"Charlie Whiting, the technical delegate, has been taking it all into consideration and there were several discussions with him over the [Malaysia] weekend," explained Horner. "I think he wanted to have a think about it and of we'll of course respect his position when he makes that clear to us in China.

"Then the teams are faced with alternatives. Either accept it and get on it and maybe look at your own solution if that fits your car. You've got the opportunity to protest if we were to feel, or any other team were to feel, that we didn't agree with Charlie's interpretation."

Although Red Bull's attempts for clarification over the matter have not yet resulted in a change of stance from the FIA, Horner says it is continuing its push because it does not want to embark on an expensive development programme only for the concept to be outlawed in a few race's time.

"As with all devices like this, it's how it interacts with the rest of the car," he said. "Of course I'm sure all the designers certainly at the front end of the grid have been looking at how the device works, how you would incorporate it into your own design.

"But before we pursue constructing parts and expense to it, for us it's quite important to know that, yes, it's going to be permissible for the rest of the year. And quite often we see technical clarifications come out that deem things to be not in compliance with the regulations."

Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean are ready to emerge as McLaren and Red Bull Racing's main threat for victory, reckon their Lotus team, if the duo can finally enjoy a trouble-free weekend.

The Lotus E20 has shown promising potential in the first two races of the year - especially in qualifying – but it has not been able to prove just how good it is in the races yet.

Grosjean retired early on in Australia and Malaysia following crashes, while Raikkonen's form has been hindered by getting knocked out in Q1 at Albert Park and then suffering a gearbox penalty at Sepang.

Those circumstances mean that Lotus does not yet know for definite how quick it is, but trackside operations director Alan Permane has reason to believe that the potential is there for the team to be best of the rest behind the leading two teams.

"It would be nice to have a straightforward race with no penalties, and no crashes from Romain after the first couple of corners," Permane told AUTOSPORT.

"I think it is McLaren and Red Bull Racing at the front, and then I think we are there. I know Mercedes were third on the grid in Malaysia, but their race pace is nothing special.

"We saw [Nico] Rosberg pit for some new inters in Malaysia when we were racing him, and I thought we were going to be in trouble there. But his pace was then the same, if not worse than ours. Mercedes will get on top of it, but at the moment their race pace isn't a threat.

"And although Ferrari did a great job in the race in Malaysia, if they are going to be qualifying 10th or 12th, while we are third and fifth and a second ahead of them in qualifying, it is going to make a difference.

"It will not take them long to improve, and they will throw everything that have got at it, but we have got stuff coming as well.

"It's going to be a good battle. To be in a development race with them, Red Bull Racing and McLaren – who are proper big boys – means it will take everything we've got to stay with them."

While some teams – like Sauber and Ferrari – appear to have better race pace compared to their qualifying form, Permane reckons that Lotus is strong enough to be as good on a single lap as it is in the race.

"In qualifying trim we've shown our car is good," he said. "We could have been on the front row, or even right at the front, with Kimi in Malaysia.

"On race pace it is more difficult to say, because we haven't seen it, but there is no reason to think it won't be good. All through testing the car has looked easy on the tyres, and if you have the raw pace then you just need to put the fuel in and go.

"We won't see that though until we get a normal race. So we just want to qualify both cars in the top ten, have no penalties, no gearbox problems, no crashes at the first few corners and then have a good dry race. Hopefully in China we can do that."

Permane thinks that having a car like Sauber, that appears exceptionally good on Sundays, may not be ideal if the speed is not there in qualifying.

"When you get to the front and can race at the front, you have a clear track and you get dragged along and the confidence builds," he said on the back of Sergio Perez's stunning drive in Malaysia. "There is no doubt that they have a quick car in race trim, that is for sure.

"But they are not so good in qualifying. Maybe it is that easy on tyres that they cannot turn them on for the first lap in qualifying, and then by the second lap the shine has gone off them so they are not working properly.

"Those characteristics will help them in the race – because they will have lower wear and lower temperatures than others, so it may well be that. But on a more normal situation, when you qualify at the front, and have that pace, you will go away from them and they will get caught up in the midfield.

"Ultimately I would rather have the car we have now, even though the Sauber does look strong in race trim."

The Silverstone circuit has added two new grandstands to increase the capacity for this year's British Grand Prix.

The two new grandstands - the 'Luffield Complex Grandstand' and 'Silverstone Grandstand' – will be located in Luffield Complex and on National Pits Straight respectively, adding over 3,500 seats.

Organisers said ticket sales are up 10 per cent compared to last year.

"We had fantastic crowds on all three days of last year's British Grand Prix and interest in this year's event has been even higher," said managing director Richard Phillips. "Increasing our capacity will enable even more fans to experience the spectacle, excitement and drama of Formula One at Silverstone.

"We pride ourselves on striving to provide the best experience for fans – with grandstands and General Admission areas offering exceptional views of the track, first class spectator facilities and a host of exhilarating off-track entertainment, the fans can expect another fantastic three days at this year's British Grand Prix."

HRT has announced Toni Cuquerella as its new technical director. The position had not been occupied since Geoff Willis left the Spanish squad in September of 2011.

Cuquerella, who has been with the team since the 2010 season, will also continue to work as head of engineering on track.

"The role of technical director implies a great amount of responsibility in terms of coordination and decision making," said Cuquerella.

"That's why I'm very proud that the management considers me to be the most adequate person to carry it out. Until now there was a lot of dispersion from within the technical team and that had its repercussions in the concept and quality of the F112.

"My priority is to solve the current car's problems to then develop it to its maximum potential, whilst also unifying and expanding the technical department, but I'm confident that we have a good work base and a clear direction to advance and have a good project for the future."

HRT said Cuquerella's appointment 'is a new step in the new management's desire to centralize and take control of all the activities related to the design and development of the car'.

Team boss Luis Perez-Sala added: "Toni Cuquerella has been a key figure in the team since its inception and, above all, in this new stage. The transition from the previous project to this one hasn't been easy and a lot of work has been carried out that without vital figures such as him wouldn't have been possible.

"The position of Technical Director was vacant and the development of the F112 was carried out at the technical office in Munich. But now, with the car already on the track, it was important to take control and count on someone influential at the head of the technical office. And because of his experience, judgment and knowledge, Toni's profile fitted in perfectly".

Sauber has added its support to renewed calls for a budget cap in Formula 1, with the team hoping that one can be in place as early as next season.

F1's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone suggested last month that the future of the sport would be more secure if teams were given a strict limit on what they could spend.

Now Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn has revealed that her team is supportive of such a move - and hopes that action is taken immediately to make sure it happens.

"We started it with the Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA), and that in itself was already an important step, but of course it is far from the only one you need," she said in an interview with the official Formula 1 website about cost control in F1.

"We now have to evolve it to the next step, and in my view the future should indeed lie in some kind of budget cap under which each and every team could do what they want to, because we all have different strengths.

"Looking at our team, for example, we have a good infrastructure and a good wind tunnel, so it would allow us to benefit from that. Others have other assets.

"Overall I think it would make Formula 1 more interesting as it would also mean that we would all use different strategies and take different approaches to the business and the sport."

With Ecclestone closing is on finalising a new Concorde Agreement from the start of next season, Kaltenborn sees the perfect opportunity to introduce a budget cap in 2013.

When asked what timeframe she envisaged it being enforced, she said: "I think very soon. I think that we should have the next step already in place for next season and take it from there. Next season for me should already see a major step forward in the financial feasibility of a team.

"When the current Concorde Agreement comes to an end at the end of this season, I think it would be a good time to set some kind of rules."

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Pirelli has announced its tyre compound choices for three more grands prix, revealing the rubber it will bring to the Bahrain, Spanish and Monaco races.

Bahrain will see the same medium/soft selection made for Australia and China, before the hard and soft compounds are used for Catalunya - in an effort to both handle the track's high lateral tyre loadings and promote strategic variety.

For Monte Carlo, Pirelli will bring its super soft for the first time in 2012, alongside the soft compound.

The firm's motorsport director Paul Hembery said: "Our nominations this year are designed to push the envelope of performance, as can be seen from our latest choices.

"Only the super soft tyre is the same compound as last year: the other compounds are softer and therefore faster, designed to encourage closer racing as well as a wider variety of strategies."

Kimi Raikkonen believes Lotus has what it takes to race at the front this year, even though it has not been able to show that form in the first two grands prix.

The new Lotus E20 has shown good flashes of speed in qualifying and the races, but incidents have meant neither Raikkonen nor team-mate Romain Grosjean have yet shown what the car is fully capable of.

Raikkonen though has faith that the potential is there - and that a weekend of no penalties or misfortune will finally allow him to deliver.

"I think we've got off to an encouraging start," Raikkonen told the Lotus website about the first two races. "It's been frustrating sometimes with the chassis issues in testing, the qualifying mix-up in Australia and the gearbox change in Malaysia, but we've shown we can deal with any problems and come back stronger.

"It feels like I've never been away; the team has done a good job and I'm working well with them which makes things easier. The car feels good and we clearly have the pace to be at the front; we just need some better luck."

Raikkonen also says he already feels fully at home at Lotus – and that the atmosphere at the Enstone-based team is helping him shine.

"Maybe people see me as more relaxed, which I think is down to the team," he said. "It's a different atmosphere to what I've experienced before; everyone is very open and laid back but at the same time they work extremely hard and pay a lot of attention to detail.

"I feel comfortable here which helps me to focus on racing; I guess that's why people seem to think I'm a different person, but I'm just as focused and motivated as before."

Felipe Massa will get himself back to his best in Formula 1 if he learns to relax and rediscovers the joy of being a racing driver.

That is the view of his friend and compatriot Rubens Barrichello, who believes that the key to Massa lifting himself out of the difficult situation he is in at the moment is in sorting out his mental attitude.

In an exclusive interview with Brazilian sports website Globoesporte.com, F1 driver turned IndyCar racer Barrichello says that getting in the right frame of mind was key to helping him out of problems in the past too.

"It isn't a speed problem, it's something that he has to solve himself," explained Barrichello. "He has to close his eyes, enjoy himself and remember that he is doing this because he likes it.

"All of the times when I lost myself a little bit, I had forgotten that and reminded myself that I am doing this because I like it too. So [as drivers], we have to relax - and then we can improve. It's just a moment, and every moment in Formula 1 is a cycle of life."

Barrichello concedes, however, that Massa's plight is not helped by the fact that team-mate Fernando Alonso is so adored at Ferrari - especially now that he has taken a surprise lead in the world championship after his victory in Malaysia.

"Certainly, Ferrari has a love for Alonso, because he is one of the best, if not the best, in F1," said Barrichello. "So, Felipe has a tough hurdle to overcome."

Sauber is targeting a much-needed improvement to its qualifying pace for the Chinese Grand Prix, so it can capitalise on the kind of race form that helped Sergio Perez challenge for victory in Malaysia.

The Swiss outfit is confident that its C31 has the speed to deliver more podium finishes this year, but it feels its chances of doing that will be compromised if it cannot get its drivers nearer the front of the grid.

Sauber's chief designer Matt Morris thinks the team has made gains in qualifying pace since last year, but reckons there is still room for improvement - which is why changes will come for the next race at Shanghai.

"I think we have a better balance between qualifying and the race, but we still need to find more performance in qualifying because we are not qualifying where the pace of the car is," he told AUTOSPORT. "That is something that we accept and are concentrating on now."

Morris said the team was working hard on both set-up tweaks that will help bring its tyres into a better performance window, as well as car upgrades.

"There are lots of things you can do in terms of set-up," he said. "There are also some parts that we will bring to Shanghai to test, as it will be a lot cooler there than it was in Malaysia.

"Clearly we have a competitive car, and we have to keep the momentum up now. We need to push on and score some more points – because to have what we have already got after the first two races is a dream start for us."

And with Morris believing that the Malaysia circuit with its long straights did not play to the strengths of the C31, he reckons there are grounds to feel confident about what can be achieved at venues that will be better for his car.

"It is very circuit dependent and, with our car, the layout of Malaysia was not best suited to it," he said. "So to come away from there with what we came away with was great. To be competitive there bodes well.

"It was a great effort from the team, and the guys back at the factory. We knew in Melbourne that we have a competitive car this year, and we can build on this. We need to put more performance on the car and continue to score more points and podiums."

Sauber is planning a big development upgrade for its car for the Spanish Grand Prix, as well as further tweaks to its DRS to help its overtaking potential.