Formula One 2013

[Lineker]

19 years.

[MJB]

Fantastic article and lots of it sent chills up my spine and brought tears to my eyes.

However, this is the one bit that really made me sit up and take notice.

When Adriane finally arrived at Quinta do Lago, after nearly 24 hours of travelling, she made straight for the shower. As she got out the phone rang – it was Senna. He told her he had decided to race after all and when he won he would uncoil an Austrian flag and fly it on his victory lap in honour of Roland Ratzenberger.

When he won. Not if, but when. Amazing stuff.

[Lineker]

Plans to encourage Formula 1 teams to run rookie drivers during free practice in exchange for extra tyres have been abandoned for now, with all outfits getting another set for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Force India had tabled an idea for teams to be given a more durable set of rubber that they could run in free practice if they ran a rookie driver.

The idea did not get the unanimous support it needed though, with there being further complications over the exact definition of a rookie driver because some outfits have experienced testers who have never actually raced in F1.

With F1 tyre supplier Pirelli still keen to deliver the extra rubber in a bid to encourage more running in first free practice, all teams will now be allowed to run the more durable prototype compound on Friday.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli's motorsport director, said: "As permitted by the current regulations, we'll be supplying an extra set of prototype hard compound tyres for free practice, which will hopefully ensure that all the cars run throughout these sessions.

"It's something we wanted to do to encourage all the teams to run as much as possible right from the start, especially with the rookie drivers, to give fans the spectacle they deserve to see."

The Spanish GP will also give teams the first opportunity to try out the revised hard compound tyre, which has been made closer to last year's specification in a bid to help teams.

Hembery believes that the change will open up strategy options for teams - which should make the racing better.

"This new tyre gives us a wider working temperature window – although it delivers a little bit less in terms of pure performance – but it should allow the teams to envisage an even wider variety of race strategies than before in combination with the other compounds, which remain unchanged this year," he said.

"This is a decision that we've come to having looked at the data from the first four races, with the aim of further improving the spectacle of Formula 1."

[Lineker]

Lotus has suffered a shock early-season loss with technical director James Allison electing to leave the outfit, AUTOSPORT has learned.

Allison, one of the most highly rated designers in the Formula 1 paddock, was viewed as a key asset for Lotus as it pushed to challenge Red Bull for title glory this year.

But just months after initial speculation that other outfits were trying to lure him away, high level sources at the outfit have revealed that Allison has handed in his notice at the Enstone-based team.

Although Lotus was unavailable for comment when contacted, it is understood that an official announcement confirming the news - and the appointment of Nick Chester as the team's replacement technical director - is imminent.

It is not known where Allison is heading, but the most obvious destinations would be McLaren, Mercedes or Ferrari.

However, McLaren has ruled out the possibility, and Mercedes already has a wealth of technical directors. That leaves Ferrari - which has been on a recruitment drive over recent seasons - as clear favourite.

Sources suggest that Allison has signed a contract forbidding him from revealing his new employer until it makes the announcement.

Earlier this year, amid earlier rumours about Allison's future, team principal Eric Boullier warned against spending war among teams for top technical staff like Allison.

"I think it's insane to create a money war, when you start to pay your people crazy money," Boullier told AUTOSPORT.

"Formula 1 is very risky, it's very demanding, it's very exposed. There are big salaries in Formula 1 and most of the time, in every field actually, higher salaries than in any other industry. But what for?

"For me the company comes first, not fighting for a couple of hundred thousand pounds to keep an employee."

It is too early to suggest what impact his departure will have on Lotus's season, but team owner Gerard Lopez told AUTOSPORT recently that only shock events - which Allison's departure certainly is - could scupper the team's chances of finishing in the championship top three.

"Honestly, bar any surprises, I always said that the aim is for the team to finish in the top three this year. People thought that I might be joking or exaggerating but that is where I think this team can go, and that is where we are right now," he said.

"We finished last year on the up, and we were pretty certain that we had a better car to start off with this year, with two drivers that have benefited from a full year of experience.

"The package was supposed to perform more at the beginning of the season, and it turned out it did.

"We are coming out with a fairly big package for Barcelona, which we hope is going to continue the trend and not unsettle the car."

Allison is a stalwart of the Enstone-based operation, having originally joined the outfit in the aero department when it was known as Benetton in 1991.

His sojourn was broken up by spells at Larrousse and Ferrari, but he was back at Benetton in between. His current stint began during the Renault years in 2005, and he became technical director four years later.

Lotus has announced that Nick Chester will become its new technical director, as it confirmed James Allison's departure.

AUTOSPORT revealed earlier on Wednesday morning that Allison had decided to leave the squad, and that Chester would be promoted to fill the vacancy.

Team boss Eric Boullier said promoting Chester from his current role as engineering director would minimise the ripples caused by Allison's exit.

"Nick is well known to everyone at Enstone having been with the team for over 12 years," said Boullier.

"He is already directly involved with this and next year's cars, ensuring a smooth transition which has been underway for some time.

"It's an illustration of the strength and breadth of talent at Enstone that we can draw on personnel of the calibre of Nick and it's something of an Enstone tradition for new technical directors to be promoted from within.

"He assumes his new position at a tremendously exciting time for the sport. The 2014 technical regulation changes present many challenges, while our current position of second place in both the constructors' and drivers' world championships mean we cannot lose sight of this year's development battle.

"Nick really has his work cut out, but we know he is more than capable of handling the tasks ahead."

Boullier also paid tribute to Allison's contribution to the team.

"As a team and individually, we would all like to thank James Allison for his efforts during his three stints at Enstone and wish him all the best in his future endeavours," he said.

[Lineker]

James Allison is closing in on a move to join Ferrari in a senior technical position, AUTOSPORT has learned, but a deal is not done yet.

After intense speculation about the future of Allison, whose exit as technical director at Lotus was confirmed on Wednesday, AUTOSPORT understands that he and Ferrari are working towards an agreement.

If the talks come off, then Allison will return to the team where he spent five years from 2000 during its most successful recent spell.

It is not clear exactly what position Allison is being lined up for, but it is likely that he will work alongside its current technical director Pat Fry as the outfit bids to bolster its structure.

However, no deal is yet in place, which means there remains the remote possibility that a move may not come off if final terms cannot be agreed.

With no contract yet finalised, and non-disclosure agreements in place over the discussions, Ferrari has played down talk about Allison rejoining the team.

When asked whether Allison was joining the team, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said at an event in Maranello on Wednesday: "I don't know any truth in that. I must deny it."

However, when speaking about the wider Allison situation, di Montezemolo later said: "We will communicate when there is news to say, but not where there are rumours."

Allison, who is one of the most highly-rated design engineers in F1, has been the target of several teams in recent months with his contract at Lotus coming to an end later this year.

McLaren made an approach in the wake of Paddy Lowe's switch to Mercedes, but was declined, while Williams is also understood to have sounded Allison out about a senior team role.

Of other teams that would be logical contenders, Mercedes already has a wealth of senior technical figures, while Red Bull still remains fully focused on the structure that revolves around Adrian Newey.

Lotus has replaced Allison with Nick Chester with immediate effect.

Jenson Button has revealed the McLaren MP4-28 will look very different when the upgraded car hits the track during practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.

After struggling in the first four races of the year, McLaren will trial the first phase of a major series of upgrades in free practice at Barcelona, with further packages scheduled for introduction in the following races.

The 2009 world champion said that the changes will be obvious to the naked eye, although does not expect the new parts to transform the McLaren into a race-winning machine yet.

"There is a lot that is different, you will be able to see [the changes to] the aerodynamics of the car and you will understand the difference in airflow of the car," said Button.

"It is still the same colour, but the edges have changed.

"There are some really cool-looking little bits on the car but I don't think it is going to be enough to fight right at the front.

"We will see an improvement and hopefully that will help us understand the airflow of the car a little bit better."

Button stressed that the key for the team is to ensure that the new parts perform as expected, showing that McLaren has got on top of the windtunnel-to-track correlation problems that have contributed to its 2013 struggles.

But he does expect the car to be quicker at the Spanish GP, admitting that a satisfactory step would be for the McLaren to be able to make it to Q3 comfortably.

"We should be happy with that," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT whether just getting into the top 10 easily would suffice.

"We have got into Q3 in every qualifying session but we were helped a lot in Australia by it being wet.

"I have been in Q3 every race, which is a surprise but a car that can get into Q3 and not be right on the edge of falling out in Q2, that's a good step forward.

"But the more important thing is understanding the correlation with the windtunnel."

McLaren has run the upgraded car in a constant radius aero test, with Button confirming that this did suggest correlation had improved.

Plans for Formula 1 to introduce a licence penalty points system for drivers have been approved by the teams.

The matter now only needs to be rubber-stamped by a meeting of the FIA's World Council Meeting in June before being implemented in the 2014 regulations.

Following a meeting of team managers in Barcelona to discuss the matter, as first revealed by AUTOSPORT, the proposal of having a licence points system was approved by seven of the current 11 teams.

AUTOSPORT understands that the four outfits that were not in favour were Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Williams and Lotus.

The system will give stewards the right to impose points on top of more regular punishments for a host of driving infringements.

Stewards will be free to choose the level of points doled out for rules breaches, but will be given an advisory level for numerous infractions - such as three points for causing a dangerous collision and one point for failing to maintain the correct distance from the safety car.

Any driver that tots up 12 points over a 12-month calendar period will be handed a one-race ban.

Points will stay on a driver's licence for 12 months, but will drop off once that time period is up.

F1 drivers have generally been in favour of the idea of penalty points, although the resistance from teams like Lotus and Williams may well stem from the fact that their respective drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado have a history with race stewards.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa said about the idea: "From what I saw, I don't think it will be so different to what we saw until now.

"Drivers who are creating problems will suffer more than the others. What I did all my career was not be involved in this, so it is OK."

The proposal for the penalty points system will now go to the FIA World Council, rather than the previous route of requiring approval from the F1 Commission first, because the absence of a Concorde Agreement means that that rules process no longer exists.

The new Concorde Agreement has plans for a revised F1 Commission but until it is signed it does not officially exist.

F1 teams also discussed the idea of introducing 'penalty laps' in Formula 1 as an alternative option to be given drive-through punishments in races.

They would have been used for offences where it was felt a drive-through was too much - and would require a driver to complete a lap five-seconds slower than his previous tour.

However, the matter did not receive the necessary majority support from the teams and has been dropped.

Formula 1 teams remain divided on how to plan pre-season testing next year, but have rejected a proposal for extra in-season running.

Teams have been edging towards revising the current 12-day limit to pre-season testing as a one-off for 2014, when there will be new engine and car regulations.

Although there is widespread support for an extra test in January, which now looks set to happen, there is split opinion about how the rest of pre-season testing should shape up.

AUTOSPORT understands that during a meeting of the F1's 'Sporting Committee' - which is made up of team managers - there was no firm consensus about how to structure pre-season testing.

Five teams wanted there to be 12 days of testing across both January and February, five teams wanted there to be 15 days of testing in January and February, while one team wanted there to just be 12 days of testing in February.

While the total number of testing days remains divisive, the voting does at least show that 10 teams do want a January test, and that limited running to three four-day tests has support from six teams.

With the matter needing to go to the FIA World Council in June, and there being no clear cut vote beforehand, there is a chance that a final decision on the outcome will be left for the governing body.

It is almost certain, however, that the rules that ban testing in January will be tweaked for 2014 to allow a test to take place then.

A proposal put forward by Ferrari to allow a return of in-season testing did not get the necessary support.

Ferrari had wanted there to be a total of nine days in-season testing to be allowed from 2014, but only five teams voted in favour of it.

F1 teams have also agreed that there will be a single young driver test this year, rather than the split option that occurred last season.

The current plan is for there to be a test at Silverstone in the gap between the German Grand Prix on July 7 and the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 28.

Formula 1 teams will be handed an extra set of tyres for the first 30 minutes of practice from the start of next year - but plans to limit them only to rookie drivers have been dropped completely.

A proposal initiated by Force India for teams to be given extra sets of tyres for the first part of FP1 from this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix if they ran rookies was abandoned after failing to get the necessary support.

Pirelli has pushed on with making extra sets of more durable tyres available, however, with all teams getting access to them during Friday's first session at Barcelona.

If the plan succeeds in making people run more on Friday morning, then AUTOSPORT understands it could be repeated at other races.

The concept of extra FP1 tyres was discussed further in a meeting of F1's 'Sporting Committee' this week, with teams voting on whether the idea of having tyres that could only be used in the first 30 minutes should be introduced for 2014.

Introducing that rule would encourage teams to run early in the first session, which is something that does not happen frequently at the moment.

The idea of having tyres that teams could only use for the first 30 minutes of FP1 was supported by 10 teams, with only Force India voting against it because it only wanted the rule introduced if there was a rookie element.

The matter will now go to the FIA World Motor Sport Council for ratification in June.

There were further discussions about improving practice sessions, including splitting up P1 into two 45-minute sessions, but this did not receive much support.

* F1 teams also discussed the idea of bigger sporting changes, which included a proposal to hand out a world championship point for pole position. This was rejected wholeheartedly.

McLaren has used one of its two 'jokers' for breaking Formula 1's curfew regulations ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Woking-based outfit is introducing a major update to its car for this weekend's race at the Circuit de Catalunya as it bids to get its season back on track.

With the team working late to ensure the car was ready in time, personnel from McLaren were inside the confines of the circuit between the curfew hours of 11pm on Thursday night and 7am on Friday morning.

Each team is allowed two curfew 'jokers' during the season, before any sanction is handed down for a rules infringement.

[Lineker]

Thursday's press conference:

DRIVERS - Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams), Daniel RICCIARDO (Toro Rosso), Esteban GUTIERREZ (Sauber), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing), Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari), Sergio PEREZ (McLaren)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Sergio, sixth in Bahrain, was that a breakthrough result for you with McLaren?

Sergio PEREZ: Considering where we started from, I think it was pretty much the maximum we could get. We came very close at the end, [fighting] with Lewis [Hamilton] for fifth place. We did a good strategy, good race pace – better than expected – so it was definitely a very positive race, especially after all the tough start to the season we had.

And what's happened in terms of discussions between you and Jenson [button] after the disagreements over your battle in Bahrain. Where do you stand going into this race?

SP: It’s very clear between us, between the team. We had a very good chat, Jenson and myself, but also with Martin [Whitmarsh] and Sam [Michael]. We sat down after the race and, yeah, I think we were a bit too aggressive, both of us, between us, and we risked quite a lot to the team... to damage to the result of the weekend. Especially, we needed so much those points. We both apologized to the team and it was cleared. It was a nice chat to have.

Thanks very much. Esteban, Monisha Kaltenborn said after Bahrain 'he’s struggling at the moment’. Can you put your finger on why and what positives have you drawn from your experiences so far?

Esteban GUTIERREZ: Well, generally it has not been the ideal start to the season. Especially for myself, I would have liked to have a more consistent four races. When you’re competing you’re taking risks. Especially at the beginning it’s important to find the right equilibrium between being conservative and taking risks. I have made some mistakes and definitely it has not been very positive but I’m determined and focused to work, myself and also as a team. It [bahrain] was not a great track for us and hopefully it will be better for Barcelona.

Obviously qualifying seems to be the particular problem, you’re a few slots behind your team-mate on average this season. What are you experiencing now on Saturday afternoons?

EG: Of course on Saturday morning, in Bahrain for example, we decided to do a race simulation and this is not an ideal preparation for qualifying. We thought we could get some information for race performance. And of course also my driving, there are some little bits I need to improve, be more confident in the corners with the car that I have and get the most of the car.

Fernando, you challenged for the win here last year and you’ve won twice on home soil. After all these years of racing in Spain, does the emotion that you feel help you, or is it something that you have to master first and keep under control in order to do well?

Fernando ALONSO: I think it motivates you to race at home and you give an extra 10 per cent on what you normally do, to take care of every detail of the weekend, starting from tomorrow’s practice, qualifying, race. You try to do everything well because you know that a nice result here, a nice podium finish or whatever will make you happy, will make the team happy, make many people in the grandstand happy. So, it’s a special weekend but after all those years I think you’re OK with that extra motivation and it’s not anymore a pressure or the emotions you maybe felt in the first year, that you really worry to do well here, for everybody that comes to support you. Now you’ve proved for many years that there’s not a pressure or anything that will stop you doing well. After doing very good results at home, so now you want to keep doing like that to really make everyone enjoy Sunday afternoon.

From 22 Grand Prix here only two have been won from outside the front row, the stats say it all. Have Ferrari prioritised that in the approach to this weekend?

FA: Not really. I think this year we see how important are the races, the race pace. The tyres are a key factor, more than previous. Obviously it’s good to start at the front and if you start on the first row you know that your chances are high and the podium, you can really touch with your hands if you start on the first row.

But I think we need to have a very, very normal weekend like we did in the first four races and try to find the right balance between qualifying and the race. Maybe the first really important qualifying will arrive in two weeks’ time in Monaco, when we know that qualifying is extremely important. I think here is still more or less a normal circuit and you need to find a compromise.

Sebastian, championship leader with 77 points, three front-row starts, three podiums out of four starts, including obviously two wins, and yet one senses that you and the team have not been completely happy with the level of competitiveness so far?

Sebastian VETTEL: Disagree. I think if you look at the results that we got, we can be extremely happy in terms of how competitive we were. I think we can be equally as happy because we had a car that was good enough to finish on the podium and fight for victory, not in all four races, but yeah we won two out of four so it’s not that bad and even the third place in Australia was very strong and the fourth place in China. Obviously we didn’t have that many races yet but I think from a result point of view we can be happy but surely you’re not looking at the raw result and you’re looking at the way you achieved the result and here and there I think we had some room for improvements and that’s what we are targeting. But I wouldn’t say that we are unhappy with what we got so far.

Pirelli has obviously changed the harder compound tyre to something more like last years. As a team that was calling for changes, how do you feel about what’s happened?

SV: Who did we call? I think there was more talk than action from our side – as in I think we said what happened to us as a team, what we felt happened to us as drivers, just like everybody else. But surely there’s a lot of attention and then people try to make their own stories but I think you could for the whole grid that people were struggling with the tyres, it’s not a secret, it’s not just us. I think we also learned to deal with the tyres, with the situation. Sometimes you succeed a little bit more, sometimes less, but then again it’s the same for other people, so yeah, up to a certain point where you feel, as a driver, it’s obviously different racing. It’s the same for everyone but you know, I don’t know, for example in the race in China where we struggled with tyres. I had the occasion that Fernando approaches from behind. I was on a different strategy to him and so on, so I was on different tyres. But there was no point fighting with him because in the end I only slow down my own race. So, I don’t wave him past but I’m not really resisting and it’s a different style of racing and I think that’s what we, if anything, criticised in the past.

Q: Valtteri, you got your big break this year but I’m sure you didn’t expect it to be quite the struggle it’s been. What has held Williams back so far, would you say?

Valtteri BOTTAS: Yeah, it’s not been a start we wanted – that’s for sure – but I think we all the time understand more and more the problems we’ve had. It’s just some of the paths in the development of the car we took in the winter proved to be a bit of a dead end and we understand it much better. We had a good aero test last week and I really feel we are on the right path now.

Q: And what about your own performances against your team-mate? It’s 2-2 in qualifying, you both have a best result of 11^th, does that satisfy you?

VB: I think from my side it’s not been a bad start. It’s still my first season racing F1 and there’s a lot to learn. It’s been quite a smooth start, of course there’s always things you could do better and willing to improve a lot during the next few races and during the whole season.

Q: Daniel, a breakthrough result for you personally in China, qualifying and finishing seventh. Is that the limit though for Toro Rosso at the moment, or can you do more?

Daniel RICCIARDO: I’d like to be able to do more. I think seventh was the best we could have done in China. Obviously the week after wasn’t anywhere near what we showed a week earlier in China but I think yeah, that’s probably where we were at that time. We brought some updates this weekend – along with probably every other team – so we have to see now which direction it favours. Hopefully it can push us further up the front. We’ll have to see but I think for us to just try to get some more top tens more consistently. It was great to have a one-off good result but we want to finish in the points more often. So, we’ll see what we’ve got this weekend, really. We’re all excited to see how much of a gain we make and hopefully the others haven’t made any big gains.

Q: What has the Red Bull management said it expects from you – and do you and they feel you’re on target at the moment?

DR: I was waiting for one of these questions! For them what they expect is, I think, what they’ve always expected from us juniors since I started in the junior team a few years ago now. Just to maximise our equipment, to show some signs of being a potential winner, a potential champion and just to make the most out of what we’ve got really. I definitely felt China, that was achieved, but doing it once isn’t really going to stick for 19 races. It’s got to happen more often. I think it’s along those lines really, just to maximise it and get some good results like I did there. Want more now, that definitely… not only for them but for me, that’s what I want.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Kate Walker – GP Week) Valterri and Esteban, you’re both rookie drivers; Valterri you came with a number of Friday drives under your belt whereas Esteban you had GP2 experience. What have you both learned in the first four races which has been different from your previous roles last year, and how are you going to take that on to improve further over the course of the rest of the season?

EG: Well, basically one of the biggest differences from GP2 is the complexity of your work with the team. There’s a lot more development, there’s a lot more communication and you have to be more precise as a driver on that side. Also, from the atmosphere, there’s media attention, there’s more followers and everyone is looking more into detail and into everything so it’s quite an interesting experience and something that is inclusive of being a Formula One driver.

VB: I think Formula One racing is something different to anything I’ve ever experienced before. The longest races I did before was F3 in thirty minutes or something and now it’s one hour 30 minutes minimum, so it’s a different style of driving, different style of adjusting the car’s set-up and you really need to focus throughout the weekend to maximise the car both for qualifying and for the race to find a compromise. There’s so much more other technical stuff; you can adjust the car and you need to be very focused on every single little detail if you want to improve your driving and make the car better. I’ve really learned a lot; I can’t say just one thing but I’m sure I will be learning more and more all the time and at every race I feel I’m getting better and better.

Q: (Alex Popov – RTR) It’s about the back straight, between turns nine and ten. It’s quite short so can you really overtake into turn ten (with DRS)?

SV: It definitely helps. I think in the race it will be possible to overtake, not only on the straights, and not only on the two straights where we have DRS, especially when, similar to the last races, when we’re in trouble with tyres etc, I think you will find more than one or two places on the track to pass. It can only help if you have DRS available there. But surely, if you look for one lap on fresh tyres it’s not going to be easy because turn nine is quite fast, so it’s difficult to follow, as usual.

FA: Same.

SP: Same.

Q: (Alex Popov – RTR) Sebastian, would you comment on the rumours of you and Mercedes? What’s the story?

SV: I was surprised when I read it as well. I don’t read that much, usually just the headlines. It’s pretty funny.

Q: (Luis Vasconcelos – Formula Press) To the three in the front row, because they are the most experienced: what effect can it have on a team when it loses its technical director in the middle of the season and what do you expect this to do to Kimi Raikkonen’s challenge for the championship?

SP: Well, I think they (his neighbours) are fighting for the championship, they should be the ones to answer this one. I think it depends on certain teams. It isn’t the same in every team. In some other teams the technical director is more important than in the others. Obviously he’s a very key person in that team, so I don’t really know what effect it’s going to have on Kimi’s team to lose the technical director. But I don’t think it’s a big thing if they have very capable people who can do a good job.

FA: I don’t know really.

SV: I heard it yesterday. I think there’s always a reason and probably reasons that we don’t know, so it’s difficult for us to judge. I don’t think it’s our business. It can be negative, but it can also be positive. As I said, I don’t know the background.

Q: (Toni Lopez – La Vanguardia) Fernando, one year ago I think you were ten points behind the leader. Now I think the gap is thirty but you look more confident, more optimistic. Can you explain your different feelings now?

FA: Well, last year we were one to one-point-five seconds behind the top cars. Whether we might have won the Malaysian race with luck this year but this year we have finished two races without problems. We finished second in Australia and we won in China so it’s a very different feeling and a very different package that we have this year which brings us optimism and some confidence that we can have a good championship. We need to deliver, we need to do some consistent results now and gain some consistent points for the next Sundays but we are more optimistic now that we have some points behind us, but the championship is long and there are many many examples, as we said many times last year - I think the most recent was Sebastian’s recovery last year. He was 43 points behind us after the summer break and was leading at Austin in Texas, so in five or six races you can recover 45-50 points if you get some consistent results. Same with us in 2006 when I was 33 points in front of Michael, which means 75 or 80 points with the current points system, and he was leading the championship in Suzuka with two races to the end. Until we are 75 or 80 points behind, we should be optimistic, until that point.

Q: (Valenti Fradera – Il Nuovo Sportivo) To both Sebastian and Fernando: how do you think the new hard compound tyre will suit your car?

SV: I’ve no idea. We will see tomorrow. I think we know what to expect a little bit, given the information we received from Pirelli so after all, I don’t expect a miracle. I think we will still have to work a lot around the tyre and make the tyre last so whether it helps us or not and whether this is the compound that we carry on using – talking about the hard tyre – I think we will know a little bit more after Sunday.

FA: Yeah, same, more or less. A learning Friday for us tomorrow, we will put that tyre on the car and try to have as much information tomorrow in practice, to analyse data and to have some good points, good information for the race and then after Sunday afternoon’s race we will have more information on the hard tyre that we will use in the future and we will see. I don’t think it will have a big impact on the car’s performance. It’s just up to the teams, up to each of us to make the most of the tyre and I think to get the benefit you need to work around them. We know how important the tyres are this year and we need to find the most information we can tomorrow.

Q: (Felix Gorner– RTL TV) Sebastian and Fernando, have you watched the champion’s league games and who is your favourite for the final?

SV: I’m not going to start.

FA: I’ve watched (the games) and it was sad for the two Spanish teams – especially for Real which is my team – but they didn’t play so well in Germany and in Madrid they played better but the gap was too much in the first game, unfortunately, and now in the final, who knows? I think it will be close. They’ve played in the national league and they were close so I’m expecting a close final as well.

SV: So, I’m Sebastian from Red Bull Racing. Yeah, I think it was obviously, from a German point of view, very successful. Quite surprised to have two German teams in the final now. I think, on paper, Bayern Munich should win, they have an extremely strong team this year but I cross my fingers for Dortmund. Let’s see what happens in the final. Nevertheless, I think it will be decided on the day and not on paper so depending on how well they play on that day.

Q: (Jens Walther – ARD Radio) Fernando, with football and Formula One in mind, how would you describe the sports relationship between Spain and Germany?

FA: Good. I think we don’t have too many games together. It was this semi-final this week that was Germany – Spain for two games but in some other sports we don’t play much together, because the sports that are good for Spain like basketball or tennis, the Germans are not so good. The sports that the Germans are very good at on snow, in skiing, where there aren’t Spaniards, so we don’t play much and in Formula One, I think we are in the minority because there are always four or five Germans in Formula One and one team or two, I don’t know how many German teams: Mercedes and... I think Mercedes only. I’m happy for Germans to keep winning in football.

Q: (Jerome Pugmire– AP) Sergio, you said it was important to have a talk with Jenson and with your management and you said it was a nice talk. Can you talk a bit more about what was said in that talk?

SP: Jenson and myself talked firstly to apologise to the team because we were quite aggressive, we were close to having an accident. The chat was mainly to clear the air, to say everything that we thought between us and to clear the relationship, because at the moment, especially, we need to be together to come out of the position that we are in where we are not quick enough at the moment, and we have to keep working very closely, Jenson and myself, and I think the chat that we had with Sam (Michael) and Martin (Whitmarsh) helped to keep the relationship strong and to keep the team together and get out of the difficult moment. The chat was mainly for that.

Q: If you had the same situation again, what would you do differently?

SP: The same, but risk less with your teammate. We were far too aggressive with each other, we lost time and I think that has to be a little bit different between us. Don’t waste too much tyre, especially as this stage of the season where the tyre is so critical. We are wasting too much tyre if we fight that hard, so I think we have to be more flexible in the fight. We are thankful that we are in a team like McLaren which lets you fight as teammates, so in that respect we have to respect each other a bit more.

Q: (Livio Orrichio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) All teams brought components, new parts for this race. Do you think that we will now see a different picture than what we saw in the first four races this season?

DR: Yeah, normally once the European seasons starts, it’s the start of the F1 calendar. It normally creates a bit of a picture, the top teams are normally established here so I think now, for a few races probably, you will see the top teams and they’ll stay there for a bit of time. Then maybe around Silverstone, there’ll be a second set of updates from a lot of teams, but normally what happens this weekend will draw a picture for the next couple of months, let’s say. Hopefully we’re in that picture, from my point of view, but I think that’s more or less the situation and as it has been the last few years.

VB: I really hope that we can really fight for better positions that we did at the beginning of the season. I really hope places will change and it will be better for us but as for everyone else, it’s just unknown. We will see how it goes. I’m sure we’re moving forward step by step, but it’s in a week or something so we’re bringing updates to every race now.

SP: I think it’s the same. It’s important for us to keep improving. I think we have improved quite a lot since the first race, so I think we’re going in the right direction. We don’t expect a big gain here. I think when you are so far away from everybody in front you have to bridge the gap and to start closing the gap is a priority. I think this race will be very important for us to learn a lot more about the car as well.

FA: I don’t think the picture at the front will change much this weekend.

SV: I don’t think there will be a big surprise. I think ideally everybody makes a step forward and they’re in the same boat.

Q: (Paulo Ianieri – La Gazetta dello Sport) Fernando, do you feel that for the first time since driving for Ferrari that you come to this race as one of the favourites and ready to attack rather than being the underdog and trying to profit from the misfortunes of the others?

FA: Yes. Maybe yes, first time that we arrive with a competitive car but that doesn’t mean that you will fight for top places, even if you do everything right and if you don’t put together a good weekend. It’s also true that we need to check how the car responds with some new parts that we brought here. Same with the other teams. Our competitors make the biggest step that they do and after that we see. As I said, in the first four races we felt competitive, we felt that we were able to fight for the top places if the race was without problems and what we will try here is to have a clean race with no problems Friday, Saturday, Sunday and if that will be enough to put us in contention for victory it will be nice. If it’s not possible, we will try to be as high as possible, but it’s a weekend that we approach with a positive mentality and maybe not as a defensive mentality as my first three years with Ferraris.

Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports) Fernando, you worked very closely with James Allison when you were at Renault. He was deputy then technical director. How highly do you rate him? Is he the sort of man you would like to work with again and could you tempt him to come to Ferrari?

FA: I don’t really have an opinion on that. He will chose what he prefers. He may chose to stay at home. I don’t know. We just know the news from yesterday and we don’t have any more news. For sure, I worked very closely with him and was World Champion with him two times. Then I came back to Renault in 2008/9; in 2009 he was already technical director and we were not so successful with that car, but we saw the Lotus car in the last two years and no secret that he’s one of the top men here and we will see what future he has.

Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports) Would you like to work with him?

FA: I would like to work with all the technical directors. It would be nice to have all of them in our team and see how our competitors create their cars because this is impossible. We are working well and this year things are going much better so we are happy with what we have but it’s always welcome, any extra help.

Fernando Alonso grabbed the fastest time in a Ferrari one-two as wet weather frustrated the Formula 1 field's attempts to get an early understanding of the Spanish Grand Prix upgrade packages in opening practice at Barcelona.

It was only coming into the final quarter of an hour that slicks were viable, and even then there were sufficient slippery patches to limit the relevance of the laps that drivers managed.

But with so many developments to try, teams were less reticent about coming out early than is often the case in wet sessions.

The Spanish crowd therefore had a decent amount of track activity to enjoy all morning, and would also have appreciated seeing home hero Alonso on top of the times for much of the session.

Alonso spent a while as the fastest man during the wet running, though he tumbled down the order as conditions improved.

Going into the closing seconds, his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa was the latest to burst to the top of a constantly fluctuating timing screen as everyone got up to speed on slicks.

But Alonso finished the morning with a flourish, setting a 1m25.252s lap to beat his team-mate by 0.203 seconds.

Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne had starred by being the first man to get slicks to work, and he remained consistently up front for the rest of the session, ending up third.

Romain Grosjean had an early spin into the hairpin at the end of the back straight, before finishing the session fourth for Lotus.

Adrian Sutil's Force India, Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes and Valtteri Bottas's Williams were next up in an inevitably shuffled order, with Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg and Paul di Resta completing the top 10.

Jenson Button was the only driver not to attempt a flying lap, though he did six exploratory tours in the updated McLaren.

Red Bull also hung back when the track dried, with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber at the foot of the top 20.

Sebastian Vettel narrowly edged out home favourite Fernando Alonso to set the fastest time in second free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Just 0.083 seconds covered the top three at Barcelona, as Alonso's Ferrari split the Red Bulls of Vettel and Mark Webber.

After an early all-Mercedes battle for the top spot, it was Alonso and the Red Bulls that dominated the lead order through the low-fuel runs.

Webber kicked off the dice with a 1m23.112s after 22 minutes, but was deposed by Alonso on a 1m23.030s five minutes later.

When they switched to the softer medium tyres shortly afterwards, Webber reclaimed first place by 0.2s over Alonso, before Vettel jumped ahead of them both.

Alonso's retaliation managed to get him back in front of Webber, but Vettel remained just out of reach.

Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus and Felipe Massa's Ferrari completed the top five.

Lewis Hamilton spun his Mercedes at Turn 11 during the early runs, swiftly rejoining without problems and ultimately taking sixth ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Tyre wear was again high and there was a scare at Force India when Paul di Resta's left rear delaminated on the main straight, forcing the Scot to park on the grass. He was still 10th quickest, two places behind team-mate Adrian Sutil.

Jean-Eric Vergne split them, in a strong performance for Toro Rosso, which also had Daniel Ricciardo in 11th.

McLaren was only 12th and 13th with Jenson Button and Sergio Perez as it began to evaluate its major upgrade package, including a new front wing.

[Starvinho]

Rosberg pole, Hamilton second. Very nice.

[Lineker]

FP3:

Qualifying:

Felipe Massa will receive a three-place grid penalty for the Spanish Grand Prix for impeding Mark Webber in Q2.

Esteban Gutierrez gets the same punishment for blocking Kimi Raikkonen earlier in the session.

Ferrari driver Massa had qualified alongside team-mate Fernando Alonso in sixth place.

He had been on a slow lap in Q2 when Webber came up behind him in the final sector.

Massa felt he had done enough to stay out of the way by clinging to the inside line.

"I was pushing on the inside of the corner and trying not to create a battle with him," he said.

Webber had suspected that Massa had not been informed of his presence.

"It's disappointing. Felipe doesn't do that on purpose, maybe the radio communication wasn't good for his car," said Webber.

"It is a frustrating thing for any of us top guys because we're always generally very good with each other."

The Red Bull driver was only eighth fastest in Q3, saying his rear tyres were worn out before the end of his flying lap.

"I lost the rears, had no rear tyre left. We didn't expect that to happen, but it did," Webber said.

"I bled a lot of lap time from Turn 9 to the start/finish, and then you're losing rows on the grid unfortunately as it's that type of qualifying."

The Gutierrez/Raikkonen incident occurred in the final corners during Q2.

Gutierrez had originally been 16th on the grid.

Blocking penalties for Felipe Massa and Esteban Gutierrez mean slight changes to the starting order for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg gave Mercedes its third straight pole position, and this time the team took a front-row sweep with Lewis Hamilton alongside him.

The remaining top five positions went to Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.

Felipe Massa had qualified the second Ferrari on row three alongside Alonso, but was judged to have impeded Mark Webber during Q2.

Massa therefore drops to ninth, elevating Romain Grosjean, Webber and Sergio Perez.

Also penalised for Esteban Gutierrez, in his case for blocking Raikkonen.

The Sauber falls from 16th to 19th, behind the two Williams and Giedo van der Garde's Caterham.

Jenson Button had accused Pastor Maldonado of blocking him in Q1, but the incident was not pursued by the stewards.

Final grid:

Martin Whitmarsh insists he has not considered resigning as McLaren team principal despite the team's disappointing start to the 2013 Formula 1 season - he is also certain that the possibility of him being removed has not been looked at at board level. McLaren opted not to run its latest-specification front wing in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix because it did not have the chance to check it would pass the FIA's bodywork flexibility tests. Jenson Button admitted McLaren's upgrades are "nowhere near enough" to get the team back towards the front after only qualifying 14th race.

Elsewhere, Ferrari technical supremo Pat Fry will miss the rest of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend after being diagnosed with appendicitis.

Post-qualifying press conference:

TV UNILATERAL

Nico, two in a row. Just looking at the lap there on the monitors, it looked like a very clean lap. Tell us about where you found the speed today?

Nico ROSBERG: It's just been... things just worked really well the whole weekend, just optimised everything. Of course, after Bahrain thinking about the race a lot, also, so surprised that we could be that quick today. But it all went perfectly in qualifying and I had a really good lap in the end. I’m really, really happy with that. It’s always a good motivation boost and everything, especially for the team - front row, fantastic. But of course I have to be a bit cautious because of what happened in Bahrain, so for sure, nice but to be enjoyed with caution.

Lewis, as Nico said a one-two for Mercedes and for you just a couple of tenths off Nico. Where did it get away from you?

Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly, congratulations to Nico, he did a great job, so very happy, but also really happy for the team because it’s down to the great work that everyone is doing back at the factory, so I’m very proud to be able to get a front row for the team. But, as Nico said, we’ve got to approach it with caution because tomorrow is going to be tough but today I didn’t have two option sets at the end, which would have helped a little bit but I think was just quicker today.

Well done and Sebastian – final sector it would appear where Mercedes had it over you today, just two or three tenths of a second, I think, on the final laps. Is that where it got away from you today?

Sebastian VETTEL: To be honest, no. I was pretty happy with the last sector because historically it has been a bit weak for me. After a couple of years now I finally understood a little bit better the last couple of corners. I’m quite happy to be honest because yesterday and this morning I wasn’t really happy, particularly in the last sector. I think we improved the car. Things calmed down and we had a pretty smooth qualifying session. Again a little bit different approach than the majority of people – using option tyres only. Whether that helps us tomorrow we’ll have to wait and see. But for sure it will be an interesting race. It will be all about tyre degradation. I think we’ve seen this in the winter. We didn’t really get very far, all of us. So now I think with the conditions it’s helping a little bit but still it’s a tough challenge and the tyres don’t last as well as we’d probably all like but that’s the challenge we have to face tomorrow. I’m happy with today’s result. It’s good historically to start this grand prix a little bit further up, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

Nico, let’s talk a little bit about the race tomorrow. You mentioned that you don’t want to get too overconfident after what happened in Bahrain, but tell us a bit about the work done behind the scenes to avoid a repeat of what happened to you in Bahrain?

NR: Yeah, for sure, everyone has been working really, really hard back in the factory to understand even better our problems. You know it’s really an ongoing process, understanding how to get the most out of these tyres. It’s really, really complex, for us drivers, for the engineers, for everybody and we’re just a bit behind at the moment. I’m sure we’ve caught up now. But then you come here and there’s different issues again because here it’s more the graining of the tyres that’s the main issue. And so then again here we were trying to catch up and make the most of that situation. I think we’ve improved things. This morning things were looking at little bit better, so I’m a little bit more confident for tomorrow but still the race is going to a whole different thing, with the tyres it’s a big challenge.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Nico, pole position has been vital here in the past. Do you feel that’s still the case? I guess you’re hoping it is?

NR: For sure it’s a benefit to start first. Yeah, definitely. Clean air – hopefully – after the start, starting on the better side of the grid, so that’s all great but the race is very long. To win it’s not good enough to start from pole, you need to have the fastest race car. As we’ve seen, there’s so many differences in speeds through the race and strategy and everything. And if you don’t have a very, very quick car there’s no chance. So, just really need to wait and see.

Lewis, give us your thoughts on how you feel the race will evolve tomorrow. Obviously you starting on the front row of the grid, historically it’s the place to be.

LH: It is, but my side of the grid isn’t really the place to be. These two have a good position on the cleaner side but we’ll do the best job we can from the start but I think more the concern is tyre degradation. Looking after those tyres is going to be an interesting one. I really hope that we can try and get into turn one first, in a 1-2, that’d be really good for the team.

Sebastian, still no pole for you in Barcelona. What is it about this place?

SV: I think today we can be very happy. Mercedes was too quick, both Lewis and Nico. So, I think we can be happy with the result, as I said. Historically, I didn’t really like the last sector and the new corners they implemented a couple of years ago. This year it seems to be that, for the first time, I found a better way around, after trying so many times – which is quite funny if you think that we come here more than once a year. So, I’m happy with that. And for tomorrow hopefully I can prove statistics wrong. I know it’s very important to start from the front row. We just missed it – but I’m confident for the race. I think this year will be a lot about tyres. Nico touched on it earlier. I think generally everybody is suffering quite a lot, so let’s see if we can make our strategy work and have a fast race from where we are.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Nico, congratulations for the pole. Did you practice to take it already during pre-season testing?

NR: Did I practice the pole position? No. But I mean of course. We practiced with lower fuel during the winter to simulator pole position – well, not pole position, to simulate qualifying. Just as for the car, us drivers, y’know it’s also good to practice a little bit – so I was quite confident coming here because I know that I feel comfortable with the car on this track and things went really well today, definitely.

Q: (Livio Orrichio - O Estado de São Paulo) Both Mercedes drivers, your team said many times that you must better the car in race conditions – and all the improvements you try to do for this race was in this direction, and the free practice yesterday and today morning. Do you think the car can be in race condition better than the previous race?

NR: Better for sure, yeah. Because in Bahrain the temperatures and the circuit and everything exposed our small weaknesses in a very extreme way. So a) we’re in a different track and everything so naturally it’s going to be a bit better, and b) we also really tried to understand what went wrong in Bahrain, and we do understand better what’s going on there and have improved things. But still, for sure, I’m not going to sit here and say I’m very confident that I can go for the win tomorrow. No, the target needs to be a little bit less than that I think – maybe a podium – but there are so many unknowns for tomorrow because the situation is completely different again, with graining. And so, we just have to see how it goes.

And Lewis, your thoughts on that and whether you’ve had to adapt anything in terms of the way you drive, in terms of looking after the rear tyres on the Mercedes?

LH: Not really, it’s the same as the last race for me.

Q: (Barna Zsoldos – Nemzeti Sport) Nico, in the past few years, Lewis’ team-mates were just blown away by him in the qualifyings and now you’re beating him on a regular basis. How does it feel?

NR: Of course I’m pleased, yeah, to be ahead of Lewis, very happy with that because I know that he’s very, very high level in terms of his driving. He’s one of the best out there. When I can be in front of him I’m extremely happy.

Q: (Adrian R. Huber – Agencia EFE) Question for both Nico and Lewis. Did you guys expect in the pre-season this beginning of the season – or is this working out much better than you expected? Less?

LH: I don’t think we expected it, definitely not. Especially for Nico, in the last couple of years have had a really difficult time in the team with the cars, and me coming to the team I definitely didn’t expect to have such a competitive car. But obviously massively pleased that we do and it’s great to be able to put on performances like we have today for encouraging the team and the guys back at the factory to keep pushing to improve and bring more developments. We’re not there yet but this is a good starting point for us.

Q: (Pierre Van Vliet – F1i.com) Sebastian, you had only one run in Q3. What’s the point of saving tyres and how to you expect that to play a role tomorrow in race pace?

SV: What’s the point? I think it’s pretty easy: the tyres don’t last so the fresher the tyres are, the longer they last. Ideally they are new. That’s why we decided to save as many sets as we can. Obviously a bit different to other people but that’s the idea behind. Whether it works or not we’ll know tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the big challenge – as both of them touched on – to look after the tyres and make them last, try to suffer as little graining as possible, which I think we all do suffer, some people more, some people less.

Q: (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Live) Lewis, do you have a problem with your car today? When will we see you win in a Mercedes?

LH: Generally this weekend I haven’t had the best of weekends up until now. Obviously this is still great for us today, to be one and two on the grid but I’ve just been struggling all weekend generally. Even my long runs have been pretty poor but on one lap pace, the car doesn’t seem to be too bad but I’ve just been a little bit lost generally, not really knowing what things to change and which direction to go, so I kind of didn’t really make many changes into P3 and into qualifying, I just left the car the same. I didn’t really make any changes to it, I wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable but I knew that it was good enough to do what we did today. As for the win, we’ve got improve our race pace but obviously we have very good qualifying pace. I hope in the near future we will get our win, but we’ll work for it tomorrow.

Q: Nico, you used the word confidence before. Did you use a used set of tyres in Q2 to get through?

NR: I used a used set...

Q: Yeah, because Lewis was tearing it up in Q2 and you came in Q3 with a new set of tyres, so you obviously felt very confident then?

NR: Confident, yeah, in general, confident, yeah. It was more a question of Lewis didn’t quite manage to get his lap right with the used set in Q2 and I managed to get it right so it was enough to go into Q3. That was the difference.

Q: (Jerome Pugmire - Associated Press) There’s some talk about this penalty points system being discussed; something could be implemented in the future. I just wanted to get each of your opinions on what you think of this proposal if it happens.

SV: I don’t like it. I don’t know, maybe I’m a little bit too old fashioned, I don’t want to make this too long but I think we had a lot of penalties in the past. I think from a drivers’ point of view we’ve been pushing for penalties and right now we are probably in a situation where we have more penalties than we would like so it’s a little bit of a vicious circle . I think the catalogue is not released entirely. I’ve seen some sketch of it but I think you have the potential of scoring points for some things that are not entirely in our hands and small things and at the end of the day the consequence could be very big. I don’t know if that’s the idea. Surely, if you want to adapt a system that everybody uses on the road, which is the idea, there might be some logic behind it, but at the end of the day we are not driving on the road, we are racing.

LH: I’m not really bothered by it. I don’t really have much of an opinion about it.

NR: I don’t know enough about it so it’s not worth commenting on.

Q: (Rosanna Tennant – Pole Position) A light-hearted question: Lewis, how’s Roscoe finding his race?

LH: Go and ask Roscoe! He’s much better. He was a bit ill – not ill, but he was injured earlier in the week but he’s recovered so I might bring him down later on or tomorrow, with his new team coat, yeah, race suit.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, taking account that maybe the other two guys have a problem with long pace, the long race distance, who do you think could be your main challenger tomorrow, Kimi or Fernando?

SV: Well, I think first of all them (the two Mercedes drivers), they are in front of us right now so to be honest, I think they had some long runs and they didn’t look too bad. Historically the Mercedes is pretty aggressive when it comes to looking after the tyres. How that turns out tomorrow we will have to wait and see. Other than that, eye-balling the long runs yesterday, I think Ferrari and Lotus were pretty competitive, so I think we can expect them to be very strong in the race as well.

Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) Nico and Lewis, what kind of help do you really expect from your new development driver Daniel Juncadella?

NR: For sure he’s been doing a good job in the simulator from what I hear but why he is here this weekend is mainly as a gesture from Mercedes DTM to give him race experience and to see what it’s like at the pinnacle of motor sport. For sure, in DTM, there are a lot of things they can learn from where we are in F1.

LH: I think that’s a good answer really. It’s good fun to be here to experience... (interrupted, inaudible)

Q: (Valenti Fradera – El 9 Esportiu) Following on the question about Nico beating you in qualifying, Lewis do you feel somehow disappointed to having been pipped by Nico again?

LH: No. Sometimes you get beat, sometimes you get ahead. It’s the name of the game and at the end of the day he was quicker today and it just means for me that I have to work harder. Simple.

Q: (Sarah Holt – CNN.com) Hallo everyone: Lewis, you in particular seemed to be fastest in the final sector, as did you, Nico as well, that’s where the Mercedes seemed to find its time which is interesting because it’s the slower part of the track. So that might bode well for Monaco, perhaps, but what about this track tomorrow, which might suit the Red Bulls more which are faster in the first two sectors? Talk about tomorrow and Monaco if you like.

NR: I don’t think you can understand something from that for how it’s going to go in tomorrow’s race in terms of degradation and race speed. Of course it is an interesting thing to have a look at and OK, it’s definitely not a bad thing for Monaco to be quick in that last sector with all the tight corners and last year we had a very good car in Monaco, I think the fastest of everybody, so I’m looking forward to Monaco, but in general we have to really play it low because it’s always great to be in front on Saturday but then if you’re not able to win on Sunday – which has been our issue and our weakness, has been our race pace, so we need to be very careful and just try and do better than the last race. Last race, I think Lewis managed to finish fifth and the target is to be a bit better than that.

[Fry_4000]

I have a bad feeling that Vettel will be leading by the end of lap 1 and that will race over.

[Rich]

YAY FERNANDOOOOOO!

[Katsuya]

LOLCEDES.

[MJB]

Their tyres didn't seem to be that bad. It seemed to me to be their brakes more than anything. Neither Lewis or Nico seemed confident braking at the end of the first DRS zone.

[Rainiac]

LOLCEDES.

Yeah, this race was pretty damn terrible for Mercedes; Rosberg could only manage 6th after starting on pole, while Hamilton dropped 10 places from the grid and didn't even place in the points. They're very good in qualifying but for some reason they drop off when it comes to the actual race. Monaco might work in their favour though, given that there's not many opportunities for overtaking.

Pretty good race overall. Alonso finally winning the Spanish GP was a great moment, as was him going up to the fans prior to the race. Happy to see Kimi up there in 2nd again too, it really makes things interesting at the top of the championship.

[Katsuya]

Kimi's tied with Heidfeld for consecutive finishes now. With this current form it'd be hard to bet against him beating his most points scoring finish record...

[Lineker]

Pirelli will make changes to its tyres from the Canadian Grand Prix in a bid to rein back the excessive degradation that has affected Formula 1 this year.

After admitting that having four-stop races like the Spanish Grand Prix was too much, Pirelli is to change the tyre structures so they incorporate some of the characteristics from 2011 and '12.

Further meetings are also taking place at its Milan headquarters this week to evaluate whether or not further compound tweaks will be needed.

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery told AUTOSPORT: "We never intended for there to be four-stop races, so we are going to make construction changes to the tyres.

"We will be taking some of the design of the 2013 tyres, but also some of the elements of the 2011 and 2012 products that served us so well during that period.

"We want to go back to having two or three stop races."

Hembery said that Pirelli's move to more aggressive tyres for this season had not taken into account the kind the performance steps that leading teams found over the winter, which had put the tyres under too much stress.

"They have basically been stressing everything far too much, and probably we underestimated the performance," he said.

"We cannot test with the current cars, and all we have access to is a 2010 Renault that laps four or five seconds slower than the current F1 cars do on a Sunday.

"So it was a combination of factors that have come together. We didn't want to make too many dramatic changes, and we do not want to penalise those teams that have taken a design direction to look after the tyres.

"Equally, we had to do something to improve the situation."

As well as making the changes to help limit the number of pit stops needed, Pirelli is making the revisions to prevent a repeat of the type of failures that hit Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain and Paul di Resta in Spain - where a cut in the tyre resulted in the tread coming away rather than there being a puncture.

"The failures were visually spectacular, even though the tyre stayed inflated," said Hembery.

"It was a type of failure not seen in F1 before, and it was something we don't like.

"It also helped stoke up opinions in the media, which influenced what the fans thought."

[Sam]

Obviously the main team to benefit from that will be Mercedes, what will be their excuse when they still drop down the grid? If Lotus and Ferrari can get it right, why can't the rest of them?

[Lineker]

Honda has confirmed that it will return to Formula 1 in 2015 as engine supplier to McLaren.

The Japanese manufacturer has not competed in F1 since shutting its works team at the end of 2008, but has decided to return as a result of the change to 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engines.

Honda president Takanobu Ito said it was a "joint project with McLaren" and that the team will be renamed McLaren-Honda.

Honda has been known to have been in talks with McLaren for some time and has already made significant progress with its all-new 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 Formula 1 engine, working out of its R&D facility in Tochigi, Japan.

It previously supplied McLaren with engines from 1988-1992, winning both the drivers' and constructors' championship four times.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh hailed the new deal, saying: "Together Honda and McLaren have a great legacy; we formed a uniquely successful partnership that took on and beat the world.

"Together, we created some of the greatest, most iconic Formula 1 moments of all time which are still being talked about today all around the world.

"McLaren and Honda are about to embark on a new and extremely exciting adventure together, so on behalf of everyone at McLaren and also everyone that loves F1, I am delighted to welcome Honda back to sport."

Whitmarsh admitted that the previous success of McLaren-Honda creates huge weight of expectation.

But he believes the Japanese manufacturer is the ideal partner for the team to ensure it is successful in the future.

"For everyone that works for the company, the weight of our past achievements lies heavily on our shoulders," he said.

"It's a partnership synonymous with success.

"Together, during the 80s and the 90s, McLaren and Honda won 44 grands prix and eight world championships.

"Together, in 1988, we created the most successful Formula 1 car of all time, the all-conquering McLaren-Honda MP4/4 which was driven to victory 15 times out of 16 by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

"Honda has an unrivalled pedigree as a manufacturer of turbocharged engines, making it the perfect engine partner for McLaren as we strive to deliver future success in F1.

"As we look to the future, Honda and McLaren are utterly committed to maintaining that legacy and to being successful once more."

Honda's decision to return to Formula 1 was motivated by the potential for technology transfer to road cars offered by the switch to 1.6-litre turbocharged engines.

The new engine formula will be introduced next year, with Honda taking over from Mercedes as McLaren's engine supplier from 2015.

Honda president Takanobu Ito confirmed that the 'green' technologies being adopted by F1 were key to its comeback.

"Formula 1 is about to introduce new regulations that require a downsized engine with a turbocharger and energy recover systems, which fits better with environmental technologies for mass-production vehicles," said Ito at a press conference announcing Honda's return.

"As we started to see a better match between the new direction of F1 and the direction of Honda's product development, our young engineers who will shape the future of Honda began expressing their passion to take on the new challenge of Formula 1 racing."

Ito added that the F1 return is important for Honda's image worldwide.

He believes that motor-racing has played a key role in Honda's road car sales.

"Ever since its establishment, Honda has been a company which grows by participating and winning in racing," said Ito.

"We must re-acknowledge the fact that so many fans and customers around the world supported us precisely because they were inspired by a Honda that challenges and wins in racing."

Ito added that he hopes Honda will start winning "as soon as possible" and admitted that the failure of Honda's previous F1 foray first as an engine supplier and then as a full works team from 2000-2008.

"Personally, it was very frustrating that we had to withdraw from Formula 1 the last time without accomplishing satisfactory results," he said.

"I regret that we could not meet the expectations of our fans."

Jenson Button is "thrilled" by Honda's decision to return to Formula 1 as McLaren's engine supplier.

The McLaren driver raced for the works Honda team from 2006-2009, and with the Japanese manufacturer's engines for three seasons before that.

Button believes that the revival of the McLaren-Honda partnership is also positive for the sport.

"McLaren Honda: I know how much passion, success and pride are encapsulated within just those two words," said Button.

"That's why I'm so thrilled and excited about what is not only a fantastic opportunity for the team but also a great development for Formula 1 fans and the sport as a whole.

"I grew up watching McLaren-Honda Formula 1 cars racing and winning around the world - they wrote their own glorious chapter of F1 history.

Button, who claimed Honda's first win as a full works operation for 39 years in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix, paid tribute to Honda's passion for motorsport.

He believes that the Japanese manufacturer is ideally suited to the challenge of the new 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engines.

"I've already enjoyed a long and successful working relationship with Honda," he said.

"I know exactly how passionate Honda is a about motorsport, and Formula 1 in particular.

"The challenge set by Formula 1's new technical regulations provides Honda with the perfect opportunity to return to the pinnacle of motorsport."

[MJB]

McLaren could find 2014 a bit difficult when Mercedes give them duff engines

[Lineker]

Nico Rosberg is fastest in first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix, with Fernando Alonso second, Romain Grosjean third and Felipe Massa fourth. The top four are separated by only 0.2 seconds. Lewis Hamilton is fifth, 0.3 seconds behind the leader.

[Katsuya]

Bloody hell, Giedo was 15th and could have been higher, had he got out maybe five seconds earlier.