Formula One 2013

[Adam]

I know, I'm just not a fan of it. To be honest I wish team orders weren't a thing and everyone raced each other, but like Gary Anderson said they are a widely accepted part of the sport now so we have this big controversy over yesterday.

[Rainiac]

There's nothing wrong with a team having a #1 driver though, Ferrari favour Alonso over Massa quite clearly, for example.

And that really worked out great for Ferrari yesterday didn't it?

Having a set No. 1 driver at this early stage in the season is stupid. If you back just the one driver from the start and then his team-mate starts outperforming him but you favour the No. 1 driver anyway, all you're gonna do is have more situations like this and hurt team morale. At least wait a few races before you designate a 'No. 1' & 'No. 2' driver

[Lineker]

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12475/8598743/Footage-released-of-Mark-Webber-cutitng-across-Sebastian-Vettel-at-end-of-Malaysian-GP

[Lineker]

Naturually, Flavio has had his say, rather scathingly!

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull partnership cannot continue into 2014, reckons ex-Formula 1 team boss Flavio Briatore, who has been part of Webber's management throughout his F1 career.

Vettel's current contract runs to the end of 2014, while Webber's deal is for this year only at present.

Briatore believes Vettel's decision to pass Webber for Malaysian Grand Prix victory despite Red Bull ordering them to hold station with the Australian ahead destroys the relationship between the team-mates and could cost them the championship.

"I think there's no relationship anymore," Briatore told RAI Radio.

"It was already very formal beforehand between the two Red Bull drivers, that was very clear last year.

"Now Vettel says he will help Mark, but Mark doesn't need any help. He should have won the race, and it's possible that Vettel will win every other race.

"I don't think this relationship can be fixed. They are two professionals, they will win races and so on, but it's unthinkable that Mark may help Vettel in the future and I don't think Vettel will help Mark.

"So we'll have two enemies inside a single team, and this will hopefully advantage Ferrari."

Asked if he now expected Webber or Vettel to leave Red Bull after 2013, Briatore replied: "That's for sure. Last year, already, there were problems.

"Their car is very competitive so drivers want to stay there, but [sepang] was proof that no one is in charge at Red Bull.

"Vettel is the boss there. You can't have a team manager also doing the driving."

Briatore accused Red Bull team boss Christian Horner of weakness, alleging that the power balance between Horner, technical director Adrian Newey, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko and company chief Dietrich Mateschitz is flawed.

"If there was a manager with balls, he would have had them switch positions again," said Briatore.

"The problem is that there are two people with different ideas on the pit wall, with Helmut behind them doing the talking with Mateschitz, so you understand they are all scared."

He also criticised the fact that Newey was on the podium rather than Horner.

"Normally the team principal goes on the podium at the first race win of the season," said Briatore.

"Christian didn't even have the strength to get on the podium - because they're terrified with a driver in charge instead of the team manager. You'd first go yourself if you win the championship or the first race, and after that you'd send race engineers or your technical director.

"The fact that Christian didn't go on the podium after scoring a one-two says a lot about his weakness compared to the others."

Translation by Michele Lostia

Also, Claire Williams has been promoted to deputy team principal of the Williams Formula 1 team, working alongside her team-founding father Frank. So (in all likelihood) she takes over as team principal from her dad, we'll have two female TP's in her and Monisha at Sauber.

[Lineker]

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Bernie has given his backing to Vettel over his actions at Sepang. Hilarious.

Also to the surprise of nobody, Force India has extended its agreement with Mercedes-Benz to use the German firm's engines from the 2014 Formula 1 season onwards.

[Katsuya]

For anyone interested, I've done an article about the first two races and various things that have come up about it: http://www.yuppee.com/2013/03/30/have-we-learnt-anything-about-the-2013-f1-season/

[Lineker]

This week's F1 Show is set to be a good one - Jules Bianchi is the guest and there's a feature looking back on and analyzing Fangio's 1954 championship winning car.

Formula 1 teams are set to hold an extra pre-season test in 2014 to allow more track running for the new 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engines.

Teams have been lobbying for an early first test, but although it is impossible to bring forward the first test significantly, a proposal is on the table for a fourth pre-season test to be added.

"There is what looks like quite a mature proposal to have an additional test session [pre-season] which we are completely in favour of," Renault Sport F1 deputy managing director Rob White told AUTOSPORT.

"I don't know what the format would be or where it would be, but we're of the assumption that it will be an additional session for all teams and it's not optional as everyone will want and need it."

There had been suggestions of a V6 engine test being held this year, but according to White it would be too late to schedule such an early debut.

This is because of the lead times required for the finalising of the design specifications and the manufacturing of engines.

"It's a debate that has now more or less timed out because the timing now is that the cars will run for the first time in the new year," said White.

"Let's take October as an example just to work out what the consequences would be.

"If you were going to test in October, then you would need to build the engines in September.

"The difficulty is that the pieces necessary to build those engines will have had to be put into manufacture, say, three months before then and because you would want them to be race-intent type pieces, by May we'd needed to have decided exactly what spec they would be.

"Presumably, we would have wanted to gather some experience on the test beds of those pieces before going to the track, so they'd need to exist now or very shortly.

"We're still designing pieces and some pieces that we're designing are not yet made.

"On the current project timing, it's just not possible to put a representative engine in the car by October."

White admitted that there is an element of risk in the engines not running until the build-up to the 2014 season.

But with Renault set to have at least four teams running its power units, there will be the chance to maximise track running.

During this period, validating the engines rather than attempting to find changes to make will be the key, although all three engine manufacturers will have done vast amounts of dyno testing before this.

"Even if it was safe to assume that there would be no significant engine or power unit work to do, which is probably not the case, then all of the teams would be busy in characterising and confirming the design assumptions or gathering data to amend.

"It's going to be a very intense pre-season in 2014."

[Lineker]

Force India boss Vijay Mallya is confident his team has rectified the issues with its wheelnut system that marred its Malaysian Grand Prix last month.

Both Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil were forced to retire from the second race of the 2013 Formula 1 season because of problems with the captive wheelnut system the team is using this year.

Mallya says the squad has had time to understand and correct the problem, and is confident Force India will be able enjoy a strong Chinese GP this weekend.

"Even though the last race in Malaysia was very disappointing, I know we have the potential to bounce back quickly and get a good result in Shanghai," said Mallya.

"Throughout the Sepang weekend, we had a quick car and the drivers felt good about their chances.

"We were confident of bringing both cars home in the points until the wheelnut issue let us down. We've had three weeks to understand what went wrong and have worked hard to fix the root cause of the problem."

The Indian reckons the upcoming races will show Force India's true potential after a promising start to the campaign in Australia.

"The next two weekends, with races in China and Bahrain, will put us in a position to see where we really stand in comparison with our rivals," he said.

"Everyone in the team is looking forward to this challenge and I am confident we will put the disappointment of Malaysia behind us and bring home some big points."

Formula 1's best chance of effectively controlling costs is to ensure the stability of future regulations, according to Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

Horner has often been an outspoken critic of financial controls, telling AUTOSPORT that F1 'should not be run by accountants' in response to plans for the FIA to get involved in policing the Resource Restriction Agreement.

Red Bull withdrew from the Formula One Teams' Association at the end of 2011 amid a general impasse over the feasibility and reach of the RRA.

Horner reckons the RRA is too restrictive and not the best way forward.

"We have been talking about a budget cap for about five years now. The hardest thing in the world is to police what a company spends," Horner told reporters at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

"A resource restriction is an agreement that is fundamentally flawed because of the structures of different companies: Ferrari operates in a completely different way to McLaren or Mercedes or Red Bull.

"The best way to control costs is through stable regulations.

"For example the biggest impact on Sauber's costs next year will be a change of regulations with the drive train, so really the most sensible way to contain costs are stable, clear and concise regulations - both sporting and technical."

Horner said a stable set of regulations would also have the benefit of falling under the jurisdiction of governing body the FIA, which would therefore "be the policeman."

While advocating the need for a cost control method, Horner insisted F1 remains one of the strongest sporting brands in the world, particularly given its increasing blend of terrestrial and pay-TV audiences.

"The value of F1 is the global audience that F1 reaches – outside of the Olympic Games, F1 is the biggest global sport on a season basis," he said.

"The way Bernie is structuring it is that he will only take pay TV if there is terrestrial TV alongside it.

"He is covering both bases: you have your specialised coverage and more in-depth coverage through pay TV, and you get casual viewers and en masse viewers on terrestrial TV."

Williams is pinning its hopes of turning its fortunes around early in the season with a big upgrade package that will be introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Williams, which returned to winning ways last year thanks to Pastor Maldonado's victory at Barcelona, has struggled with an uncompetitive car in the first two races of 2013.

The team has failed to score a point so far and has an 11th place finish as its best result so far.

Technical director Mike Coughlan said ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix that the team has a better understanding of its problems now, and is hopeful it can take a step forward.

"After a difficult two races we've been back at the factory going through the data to try to understand where we need to improve," Coughlan said.

"We feel we have a better understanding of where we are and the whole team has been working hard to improve our competitiveness going into the next few races.

"Ultimately we are looking at a significant upgrade for the Spanish Grand Prix."

Maldonado, who qualified in 17th and 16th places in the first two races, admitted Williams needs to raise its game quickly in order to score points consistently.

"We haven't had the best start to the season and we need some time to improve our car to be solid in the points, but the whole team is working very hard so let's wait and see how we can adapt the car for this race," Maldonado said.

McLaren believes it has identified the major areas in which it needs to improve ahead of this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

While the team acknowledges there is no 'magic bullet' which will suddenly restore it to the front of the Formula 1 grid, it believes it has now pinpointed what has gone wrong with its 2013 car.

As a consequence it will bring a raft of upgrades to China in a bid to start this year's campaign afresh at Shanghai.

"I believe we do know where the problems are on the car," managing director Jonathan Neale said during a Vodafone phone-in.

"We managed to improve the car between Australia and Malaysia, and we were closer on the pace there.

"Taking the learning from that weekend, we're taking a number of upgrades to China. Some are routine, some are a response to the moment.

"We need to run the package we have in China in order to be absolutely sure [about progress], so Friday is a very key element.

"I certainly believe we are on the right track now; we have an idea where the problems are.

"After the Chinese Grand Prix I think we will have more [answers]."

Neale insisted McLaren can still feature in the 2013 F1 title fight, in part because of its conviction that the MP4-28 is a potential race-winner.

"We believe that we have underlying a very good package. Clearly it is not a performance we expected, but it's a long season as everyone knows," he said.

"We've seen in previous years the car that wasn't on pole [at the start] can fight it out right to the end, and everything we are doing here is designed first of all to make us back into winning form.

"If we can get on that quickly - and there is no reason why we can't - we can fight for the championship.

"We are not under any illusions about the amount of work we need to do to get the pace back into the car.

"There is no one thing, no magic bullet; there are a number of things that will restore the performance of the car.

"Obviously it's not an ideal start, we can't shy away from that, but I believe in this team and this car."

Ferrari has promised it will not neglect its qualifying pace deficit despite long-run performance having become even more important with Formula 1's 2013 tyres.

Although the Italian squad qualified second and third in Malaysia, it was a second away from polesitter Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull also dominated qualifying in Australia.

Lotus's victory with Kimi Raikkonen in Melbourne underlined that maintaining tyre life in race trim could be more important than single-lap pace, but Ferrari's design chief Pat Fry says that is no reason to ignore his team's qualifying shortcomings relative to Red Bull.

"We've shown reasonable race pace and on all the tyre types we have used so far we have performed well," said Fry

"However we still have a way to go to be quickest in qualifying and we are working very hard on that at the moment.

"We've been concentrating on the longer runs, even if they are not as long as in the past, because this year we expect more pitstops during a race.

"However, we have not ignored our qualifying pace. I am sure there is more to come on this front, as we learn more about our car and start getting the best out of it."

Fry believes the fruits of the development war will be particularly apparent in the qualifying battles.

He is sure that Ferrari's changes give it a better chance of adding speed during the campaign than in recent years.

"The key will be to try and move our car development programme forward quicker than the other teams do," said Fry.

"It's a tough cycle that will last all year and we need to at least match our 2012 development pace if we are to perform better in qualifying.

"So far we have worked well, all the way through from design to manufacture, improving on how we did things last year in terms of actually getting new bits onto the car. Also, our aero correlation is better."

Ferrari have had just 4 poles since 2010. Red Bull have had 43.

Antonio Felix da Costa will stand in for Sebastien Buemi as Red Bull's Formula 1 reserve driver at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

The Red Bull junior, who won a Formula Renault 3.5 race at Monza last weekend, will fill in for Buemi, who is racing with Toyota in the World Endurance Championship season opener at Silverstone.

Buemi has attended grands prix in the role since he lost his Toro Rosso drive at the end of the 2011 season.

He has an expanded sportscar racing programme with Toyota this year, but the Silverstone round round is the only WEC event that clashes with a grand prix.

Da Costa was recruited by Red Bull last summer as a replacement for Lewis Williamson on its junior scheme.

The 21-year-old narrowly missed out on the GP3 title at the end of 2012, but he did win four of the last five FR3.5 races and take victory in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix Formula 3 race.

He sits third in the FR3.5 standings after last weekend's opening round, trailing McLaren juniors Stoffel Vandoorne and Kevin Magnussen in the points.

[Lineker]

Formula 1 heads to China this weekend for the resumption of a fascinating on-track battle, but all eyes will instead be on the off-circuit relationship between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

The controversy over Vettel ignoring the 'Multi 21' team order in Malaysia to steal the win from Webber may have died down in recent days, but it is certain to get reignited when the pair appear in public for the first time at Shanghai on Thursday.

Interestingly, both of them will not face the media together as only Webber has been asked to appear in the regular Thursday FIA press conference.

While that means there will be little chance of the media stoking up tensions between the pair under the watching gaze of the television cameras, it does equally allow Webber a better chance to vent his own feelings.

Red Bull has obviously been eager to play down the matter since events in Malaysia, with its motorsport advisor Helmut Marko even claiming that the situation between Vettel and Webber was sorted out as soon as the debrief after the race when the pair shook hands.

Team principal Christian Horner also made efforts in the days after Malaysia to insist that he believed a line could be drawn under the controversy, after Vettel apologised to the team for what he did.

However, being sorry for a wrong in the private of your factory is one thing - it will be another matter completely when it comes to seeing how Webber and Vettel react in the heat of the battle when a team orders call is made again.

Both Vettel and Webber may be justified in feeling that neither can fully trust the other now, while the team will not want another embarrassing situation of having its orders ignored on the pit wall.

The likely focus on the Red Bull row will be welcome at rivals Mercedes, whose own use of team orders in Malaysia caused some controversy when Nico Rosberg was instructed to stay behind Lewis Hamilton despite believing he was much quicker.

That Rosberg understood and accepted the situation afterwards was clear, but equally he made it clear that the team needed to 'remember' what he had done, in case there is a payback opportunity later in the campaign.

Boss Ross Brawn has successfully dealt with the thorny internal politics of team orders before, both at Ferrari and at Brawn GP when Rubens Barrichello was upset several times at being told to hold position.

At Red Bull, the situation is not as straightforward to sort out, and it's one that will not only be probed in Shanghai but will also be tested to the limit with Webber and Vettel poised to fight it out for more wins over the remainder of the campaign.

A bullish Sebastian Vettel says he is unhappy that the 'multi 21' team orders row overshadowed Red Bull's Malaysian Grand Prix one-two, and believes it is time to move on from the controversy.

Vettel attracted widespread censure and enraged team-mate Mark Webber when he overtook the Australian to win at Sepang.

The pair had been ordered to hold station with Webber ahead after the final pitstops, but Vettel mounted an aggressive attack and snatched the win.

In a video interview for Red Bull title sponsor Infiniti, Vettel said he fully acknowledged that he had been wrong to disregard instructions, but that he made no apology for winning.

"I apologised to the team straight afterwards for putting myself above the team, which I didn't mean to do," he said. "There's not really much more to say.

"I don't apologise for winning, I think that's why people employed me in the first place and why I'm here. I love racing and that's what I do."

Vettel expressed frustration that Red Bull's on-track performance in Malaysia had not attracted more praise.

"Unfortunately people didn't see that we performed well as a team on the day. We did a very good job. We got a fantastic result," he said.

"I think we already had a very strong weekend in Australia but we maybe didn't quite get the result we wanted. But in Malaysia we were racing at the top and I think we worked excellently well with the tyres and everything.

"I think that's what people forgot. Obviously what stuck in their heads was the way the race ended, but I think there's not much more to add than what happened."

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn has played down talk that development of new ultra-sophisticated suspension systems could lead to a spending war in Formula 1.

Brawn's squad and Lotus are believed to be the first F1 teams to get fully get to grips with the latest must-have technical development: front and rear interconnected suspension (FRIC).

The concept, which both teams have worked on for several seasons, uses hydraulics to connect the front and rear suspension so that the car's ride height is kept constant through braking, acceleration and cornering.

With a number of other outfits already believed to be testing their own FRIC suspension, there has been talk that the quest to fast-track its introduction could prove expensive at a time when teams are already juggling the switch to the 2014 regulations.

But Brawn is adamant that there is no danger of teams being priced out of the development.

Asked if a spending war was on the cards, Brawn replied: "I don't think so. Ever since F1 cars have been invented and aerodynamics were understood, the compromise between suspension and aerodynamics has always been that - a compromise.

"You want a nice softly sprung car, but you cannot do that because you compromise the aerodynamics too much.

"So every year I have been in F1 I have always tried to seek that ideal balance between suspension performance and aerodynamic performance, and it is no different today to how it has been for many years."

Although the early 1990s method of overcoming that compromise through active suspension was banned, the FRIC concept is allowed because the hydraulic system is completely passive as no on-board computers are reacting to what the car is doing.

Alongside its aerodynamic benefits, more pliable suspension should make FRIC cars better at tyre conservation.

After 2012's often wide-open competition, this year the frontrunning teams have jumped clear of the midfield pack, despite regulation stability.

Brawn does not think that the leaders' pursuit of FRIC suspension is a major factor in that change.

"I think it is too early to draw any conclusions," he said. "I don't know if the pecking order has been established yet and I don't know what the other teams are doing.

"I feel we have made good progress with the car compared to what we had last year but it is very difficult to judge what other people are doing, why they are doing and whether it is contributing to their performance.

"We have improved in lots of areas and that has at least given us a step forward this year. It is not enough but it is a step forward."

[Lineker]

So yeah, Vettel is 'being a colossul cock' shocker:

Mark Webber says he is eager to move on from the Red Bull 'multi 21' team orders controversy, and that it will not cloud decisions about his Formula 1 future.

He dismissed any suggestion he was thinking of quitting F1 now, and made it clear he would stick to his traditional timetable of discussing a new Red Bull contract over the summer.

"Definitely I am keen to finish the season," he said. "A lot of people were questioning it, but it was not something on my mind.

"I am keen to race this year, and put together a strong campaign. Year by year, I come to the summer and I will speak to Dietrich [Mateschitz] and we will go from there.

"I have never made decisions in my career at this point of the season and I don't see why I should make any decisions now about the future."

Despite the huge media interest in the row between Webber and Sebastian Vettel in Malaysia three weeks ago, the Australian says that he is not wasting time worrying about the implications of what happened.

"Yeah I am fine," said Webber. "I was always going to Australia after that race, so people put two and three together. The break was good for all of us. It was good to get a bit of relaxation after winter testing and the first few races.

"But I am now looking forward to getting back in the car and getting on with the racing."

Webber also reckoned that it was no surprise his emotions ran high in Malaysia, where he confronted Vettel prior to the podium ceremony.

"I think it is normal for a driver to have a lot of emotions," he said.

"You want to keep the emotions down, as it is part of the job, like when you are leading Monte Carlo, but there are different emotions that go up and down."

Sebastian Vettel says he would probably disregard team orders and pass Mark Webber again if the Malaysian Grand Prix situation was repeated, as he does not believe the Australian deserved victory.

Despite apologising to the Red Bull team for his decision to contravene its 'multi 21' hold position request and overtake Webber in a fierce late-race battle, Vettel told reporters including AUTOSPORT in China on Thursday that Webber had not assisted him in the past and was not entitled to the Sepang win.

Vettel argued that he had misunderstood the team's message, yet admitted that even if he had comprehended, his actions would likely not have changed.

Asked if he would do the same again, Vettel replied: "I am not sure I can give you a proper answer because in the moment it might be different, but I would probably do the same.

"Had I understood the message and had I thought about it, reflected on it, thought what the team wanted to do, to leave Mark in first place and me finishing second... I think I would have thought about it and I would probably have done the same thing.

"He didn't deserve it.

"There is quite a conflict, because on the one hand I am the kind of guy who respects team decisions and the other hand, probably Mark is not the one who deserved it at the time."

Vettel and Webber have long had a fractious relationship, and the reigning world champion intimated that their history impacted on his Malaysian GP actions.

"I never had support from his side," Vettel said. "I have a lot of support from the team, and the team has supported both of us the same way.

"But in terms of the relationship to Mark, I respect him a lot as a racing driver, but I think there was more than one occasion in the past where he could have helped the team and he didn't."

Despite not regretting his actions, Vettel said he stood by his decision to apologise to Red Bull.

"I was racing, and as a racing driver I was solely focused on winning the race and I got a call on the radio, which I heard, but I didn't understand at the time," he said.

"I should have understood, that is why I apologised to the team - because in my action I put myself above the team. Whether you believe me or not is up to you.

But he shrugged off suggestions that he should have received a formal punishment from Red Bull.

"Maybe it is a little bit of a dreamland that you all live in, but what do you expect to happen?" said Vettel. "Make a suggestion!"

Plus, here Thursday's press conference, which included MW:

DRIVERS - Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing), Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes), Sergio PEREZ (McLaren), Nico HULKENBERG (Sauber), Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus), Adrian SUTIL (Force India)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Mark, I'm afraid we're coming to you first. Very smart new haircut, fairly drastic, but I guess that's the summer haircut is it?
Mark WEBBER: Well, I went to the hairdresser's and he wanted to talk a lot and I said... I could see that I wanted to get in and out quite quick, so I said just shave it off. When he was half way through before I thought shit, that's a bit short now... but anyway it doesn't matter. It's practical, all good and yeah like you saw a few months too early but back to the old school haircuts. I used to get these when I was younger. Apparently I look younger now too so that's a good sign.
When we last saw you, you left with quite a few questions being asked within yourself and also of the team as well. Are you quite happy with the way things are now within the team and in your own head?
MW: I'm fine. I was always going to Australia after that race. Obviously it was mentioned after the race in the press conference and people put two and three together and get more information I suppose. It was a little bit of a break for all of us - three weeks, it was Easter as well – so good to go down there for a bit of relaxation after the back of winter testing and the first few races. But you get pretty anxious pretty quickly. I'm really looking forward to getting back in the car here and getting on with the racing again. This track always provides good racing actually. We've seen a few (good races) over the last few seasons here, apart from Nico last year obviously when he was very strong off the front, but generally we've had some good grands prix here. Looking forward to getting back in the car. Procedurally, the team, everything is fine. Obviously it was a bit of an interesting weekend in Malaysia but, yeah, looking forward to getting racing here.
Let's move on to this race. How good is the car because obviously you had excellent result, a 1-2, in Malaysia, and also good in Australia? So, how good is the car and what are the chances here?
MW: Yeah, I think we proved the car is pretty competitive at the first two races, not dominating by any means – no one is doing that yet. We know we've got work to do. As you say, Melbourne was a pretty competitive outing but the long and short of it is we didn't have a car good enough to win there but in Malaysia we did – two different situations in terms of track layouts and temperatures and all sorts of things. Here, probably a little bit more back towards the Melbourne window let's say. So let's see how the track and the cars, the temperatures, how everything evolves around that great word – the tyres. So that's going to be important again this weekend. We've put a lot of effort in, the guys have been working hard and I've been doing a lot of work in the simulator, so ready to go.
Nico you left Malaysia a little frustrated as well. Do you understand the reasons for what happened there and are you happy with them?
Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, we've definitely discussed it and it's all sorted for the future, which is important, so yes.
Well, you had a fantastic race here last year – your first ever pole and your first ever win as well. Testing's been good, in the two races so far you've been competitive, so what chances here?
NR: Yeah really looking forward to this weekend. Massively motivated because I led the race here the last years and finally winning it last year. So this track works really well for me, for the car and I'm convinced I can do a really good result here.
You know what you did right last year and that went on to win you the race, so I guess the thing to do is choose the same set of regulations, the same set-up as last year?
NR: Unfortunately, it's not quite that easy. Thing evolve so quickly – the different tyres we have this year bring us into a whole new situation. So you can't really compare, you need to take it as it comes and adapt to what you have this weekend. And so, that will be crucial, working through Friday and Saturday morning to try to optimise everything in order to have a great weekend.
Romain, you won your first points here last year with sixth place. What are your feelings after the first two races of this season and looking ahead to this race as well. How do you see the current Lotus?
Romain GROSJEAN: It's difficult to say before the weekend. We've seen that Kimi won in Australia, which was good for the team. It means that the car was able to do it. Then in Malaysia we had a good race from the point where it was dry. We know that when it's wet it's not our biggest strength. But here it seems to be dry for the whole weekend, which is a good point. We have a few updates on the car, plus on my side the new exhaust that Kimi ran in KL. So it's going to be good and looking forward to it. And as you said, it's good memories here, as I scored my first every point in F1 last year and hopefully some more this year.
You've mentioned that the car is very sensitive and sometimes it gives you what you want and sometimes it doesn't. Are you getting on top of that?
RG: It's difficult when you're not in the car to know. I think we have a few ideas of what we need to make sure is right and what can not get right and from there we have a more deep look into it and double check a few things. The tyres don't make it easier, as they are very, very sensitive to the performance of the car, sometimes a bit too much. But on the other hand it's the same for everybody, so we do our best. Hopefully updates help us to get on top of it and from there do every good session and see where we are Sunday evening.
Is that the main concentration at the moment?
RG: Yeah. To do the best you can in every single moment of the weekend, starting in Free Practice 1 and finishing after the 55^th or 56^th lap of the race. You know then you can see where you are. We need to put everything right – tyre window, set-ups, everything together, and see where we finish.
Q: Adrian, you have made an absolutely dream comeback to Formula One. How difficult has it been?
Adrian Sutil: No, not too difficult. I was just driving as fast as I could. I was happy to be back in the car and it worked very well. The car, for my opinion, is very good. It's the best car I've driven. Very neutral balance, quite good on the tyres and the race pace is very competitive. It was just a good start in Melbourne, disappointing in Malaysia because the pace was very, very good again but in qualifying caught out a little bit again with the rain and in the race, well, we saw the problems with the pit stops. But we solved those and we're confident. I'm confident and go on for the next mission here in China.
Q: The team does seem to have hit the ground running, what do you think is possible with that car?
AS: It's everything possible. It's in my hands, I think, so I have targets and try to do my best to reach those. Of course we want to be absolutely on the top, that's why we're here and we want to make that happening. But it's a hard way. We showed it's possible here and there to make a good result. I think in Australia that was a good start, to lead a race with this car. It's never easy. Nico did it last year; next race was Australia so two times in a row a Force India led quite a lot of laps in the race. It's just a sign that with this car there's definitely much more possible.
Q: Podiums?
AS: Podium is my goal, yes.
Q: Nico, you've changed teams from Force India to Sauber but also you have a new inexperienced team-mate as well. How difficult has it been for you moving to a new team and not really having somebody who's been there for a while?
Nico HULKENBERG: Well, I'm not too sure. In every team every driver looks and works for himself. Both drivers obviously work for the team but having Esteban there and he's a rookie, not long ago I was a rookie, so it's not a big penalty or big deal. I don't think it compromises my performance or the team's performance to be honest.
Q: What have been the positive points of joining Sauber? What's different, for example, to your previous team?
NH: I can speak my mother language a lot! It's a new situation: you're missing quite a few words sometimes, you know, technical words in English but otherwise the teams all work in a very similar way.
Q: Sergio, you obviously made a little bit of progress from Australia to Malaysia. Does that give you a little bit of confidence that you're going to make more to here as well?
Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, we are positive. We expect to do progress every single race. I think we can make here make a little bit of progress but the most important is that we can learn a lot this week about the car which will help us for the big update that we are having for Europe. Once we go back to Europe.
Q: Now, obviously there was a lot of pressure on you right from the start of the season, a lot of interesting in you moving to McLaren. Does the fact you've had the problems with the car slightly relieve that pressure off you?
SP: I think the pressure is always there. It doesn't matter in which team you are, you have to deliver results. I want to deliver, I want to take the maximum out of the car and I know that the car will come back and we will be competitive quite soon, so I am confident in that respect. About the pressure, there will be always pressure when you drive for McLaren. Even if you are at the back of the grid you have the pressure to deliver and to try to make the most out of the car that you have.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Bianca Leppert - Auto, Motor und Sport) Nico Rosberg, did you have the thought in any moment at the end of the race in Malaysia to ignore Ross's words and overtake?
Nico ROSBERG: At the end of the race, I didn't have that thought, no. I had decided well before to fully respect the instructions that Ross had given me.
Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Nico, as a follow-up to that question, if you find yourself in a similar situation at this race or any future races are you going to obey team orders, or are you going to rebel and fight for the win?
NR: The difficulty was that we hadn't really discussed them beforehand, y'know? And so that was the mistake that we did. So, important going forward is that everything is discussed and then whichever way it goes, if I'm in front and Lewis is behind then he will respect it and vice versa. Then it's OK. As long as one is prepared for it and it's discussed well and understood, that's the important thing and that's the main mistake we did as a team.
Q: (Qian Jun Pro Car) Mark, you are one of four drivers who have attended every one of the ten Chinese Grands Prix. Compared to the first Grand Prix in 2004, can you feel the difference? The atmosphere, races and yourself?
MW: I don't think the race has changed a huge amount, I think we've seen a few more spectators coming over the years. The track itself has always been well-maintained, looked after. It's a good track for racing, as we say. It has been for quite a few years now. It's a challenging circuit, it has quite a few different combinations that you've got to get right – obviously with a long straight, things like that. It's a big surprise that we've been coming here for ten years, to be honest, it goes very quickly, as usual. It feels like about five but anyway if it's ten years, it's ten years but it really doesn't feel like a huge amount has changed. It was a very good event from the first year and it's still quite a good event now - obviously apart from the crowds getting better, which is good.
Q: Worth pointing out, Mark, that you've finished all nine of them as well.
MW: Hmm, OK, keep going, touch wood and finish the tenth one.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Mark, can you describe to us how was the period after your experience in the last race, and what do you think about what Sebastian said yesterday in the Infiniti press conference, the interview that he did for Infiniti?
MW: The second part of your question... I don't know, I don't know what Sebastian said in the press conference at Infiniti. The other part is yeah... the last part of the Grand Prix is... it's normal that there's a lot of emotions going through you because we put a lot of effort in, everybody does, there's never any guarantees for any Grand Prix victories so if the race is going quite well... still had a good result, obviously, but not the result that I would have liked but in the end, we know what happened. But Malaysia is not just one event in this scenario. We know we've had many scenarios in the past, so there's a lot of things which then come into your mind – positive, negative, whatever – how you can make things better in the future, so for me... yeah, and you've still got to drive the car, that's my job, so I still got the car home, good result and yeah, looking forward to this race. I think it's normal for a driver to have a lot of emotions in the car generally. You've got to try and get the emotions down, but it's part of our job, whether you're leading Monte Carlo and finishing the race there with different emotions and different disappointments, ups and downs, it's completely normal that in the cockpit we have emotions in the cockpit.
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Mark, when I asked you in Malaysia about your future with the team, bearing in mind what you've just spoken about... the emotions going through your head, you said over those closing laps you thought about many many things. I was wondering what you thought about during these past two weeks, what you thought your future might be now; if Red Bull offered you a new contract, would you accept it going forward?
MW: Well, first of all, I'm definitely keen to finish the season off. Obviously a lot of people were even questioning that one which was certainly not something that was in my mind. I'm definitely keen to race this year and put together a very strong campaign and challenge for more wins, and you do enough of that and some more things can happen. So that's the first goal. The next part is yeah, year by year, that's how it's always been for me, so come the summer, I will talk to Dietrich (Mateschitz, Red Bull boss) and then go from there. If I'm driving well, performances are good, then we'll make some decisions in the future but at the moment, it's the second or third race and I've never ever made decisions on my career at this point in the season and don't see... obviously it's a bit of a topic at the moment for different reasons, but I don't see why I should make any decisions at the moment for the future.
Q: (Trent Price – Richland F1) Question for Nico Hulkenberg: at the end of Sepang, you said on the radio that you had quite a long list of things on which to improve with the Sauber. Three weeks have gone by; have you come up with any solutions since then?
NH: Yeah, well, sure both the team and I aren't very happy with the recent performance of the car. We know we have to improve and we understand the issue, we know... we've identified it but fixing it is now the challenge and it's up to us. We have some new parts here, some developments which hopefully are going to put us in the right direction but we have work in front of us for sure, yeah. But in the three weeks we have made some progress, for sure.
Q: (Abhishek Takle – Midday) Adrian, obviously you know the car looked very strong in the dry in Australia and Malaysia. Is it the way you are using your tyres? What do you put that down to? And secondly, how important do you think it is right now to maximise the potential of the car, given that you might at some point have to switch your focus to 2014?
AS: Well, we've only done two races so we are focused on now. We can improve the car of course; as always, there's space to improve, I think, even when you're absolutely at the front. You have to work on, so at the moment the car feels good but here and there we are always bringing some updates to this circuit, to just get more downforce on the car. It's always the same things that you're looking at. Why are we competitive at the moment? Probably it's a combination, it's a package with the tyres. I just didn't have as many problems as some others have with these tyres, that's probably our advantage, so working on the car – every race we are working on it, to maximise the package which is normal in this sport, it's a performance sport, everyone tries that at every race. Now we've just had two races so of course we will concentrate on this car for a long time. I don't know when we decide to concentrate on the 2014 car. I think it depends on our general performance. If we're really good in the championship we have to push on until the last race. If not, then maybe it's more clever to concentrate on next year's car but it's too early to say; focus now on the next few races.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Mark, apparently Mr Mateschitz has said that he doesn't want to hear anything any more about team orders. Knowing that beforehand, does it make life in the cockpit easier or more difficult?
MW: Probably easier, yep.
Q: (Tony Dodgins – Motorsport News) Mark, looking back at that last race, just before the last pit stop, I think you were leading the race by about four and a half seconds if I'm right, and yet Seb had the first stop and that obviously created the situation. Are you free to call your own last stops, was it a team decision and did that surprise you? How did that arise?
MW: Yeah, it was a little bit of a surprise. I think that the gaps were quite awkward, they were trying to manage the gap to Lewis as well which was three seconds. I think Lewis had pitted the previous lap, I'm not exactly sure, but Sebastian was exposed again to going behind Lewis which the team were obviously keen not to have that scenario happen. Four seconds is quite a decent lead but I was already in trouble at the back part of that lap, a little bit with the tyres. Sebastian then obviously had some fresh tyres ready to go and the out lap was strong and my in lap was quick as I could go with what I had so as I said, it dropped him straight back into a tighter situation than had probably been envisaged. Yeah, I asked for that lap, I wanted that lap but I couldn't have that lap so because of the situation I think if I asked for that lap and got it and Lewis was not there I would have got that lap. So I think it was just a frustrating margin as I think between the three of us it was making it quite tricky in terms of managing that last stop window. But a good question mate, anyway.
Q: (Ben Edwards – BBC) Just to follow up on that one Mark, the decision to change onto slicks in the early part of that race, was that purely your decision as to when to go onto slicks? Was the team involved in that decision at all?
MW: Yeah, I was not keen, I was a little bit surprised when Seb went. The first sector was late in terms of moisture compared to the rest of the circuit. I was definitely keen on the next lap, that they could work and I think we then got some information that it wasn't quite right. I think lap seven was super conservative but we could, also you could come out in traffic if you pitted like Seb did. And also Nico was quite late and this helps with your slick management of the race as well, so if you're not losing too much and there's a bit of a... so there are so many scenarios that you've got to look at to say OK, yeah, you've got the crossover right but you've got more range to do in the race on your dry tyres, so you've got to try and factor a lot of that in which is not easy when you're in the car, obviously, to try and think of all that. I was surprised the slicks didn't work as well in the first sector as I probably thought they would. Lap seven was OK, yeah.
Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Adrian, last time you were in China you left in – shall we say – unfortunate circumstances. How do you feel about coming back here and did you have any worries about them letting you in?
AS: No worries, no emotions. The past, for me, is done and I'm concentrating on my future.
Q: (Jonathan Legard – BBC Radio Five Live) Mark, how much have you resolved everything in your own mind over what happened at the last race and how to go forward and I suppose linked in there, is the haircut part of the new mean look?
MW: No, definitely not mate, the haircut's not... it was a little bit of a screw up. Once he'd started he was on his way. Haircut is not part of the new look or new feel. Going forward, mate, I think we know everything that happened; obviously in Malaysia there was plenty of interest from everyone, other teams, media etc, but for me myself mate, it's not an unusual situation and I'm looking forward to racing here this weekend and getting on with it. When you're at the front in Formula One there's always stuff going down so it just depends on how much is going down that you've got to manage. In the end, for me, I'm looking forward to driving the car here, putting in first gear and driving out of the garage and getting down there to feel what the car's like on the circuit. That's what I'm looking forward to, mate.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Mark, coming back to the previous questions about what was said yesterday. Vettel said yesterday 'I can't apologise for winning because I am paid for that' so I would like to have your reply about these words and if you've already talked about it, I would like to know if before the podium or afterwards at some moment, you thought 'OK, I want to stop now with this team, I want to leave Formula One to do something very surprising for everybody?'
MW: No. I think the rawest emotion for me was probably the first few laps after we had the race on track. After the podium and on the podium and around there I wasn't thinking about anything... reacting in a harsh way mentally for myself to think about 'now I will think about doing something different.' I wasn't thinking like that at all. And Seb's comments? If that's what he thinks then that's what he thinks, that's his position on what happened in Malaysia...
Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Question for Nico Rosberg: I was wondering if, coming away from Malaysia, you were confident in your own mind that there was genuine equality within Mercedes, there was no number one, number two, because it has been suggested now after what happened in Malaysia that Lewis perhaps has number one status?
NR: Very confident, yup. No number one, no number two. Extremely confident. Plus you can also add to that yourself in a few weeks time or months time a question.

[Lineker]

Elsewhere...

Quote

Kimi Raikkonen says he is open-minded about his plans for the 2014 Formula 1 season, amid new speculation linking him to a Red Bull future.

With renewed focus on Red Bull's driver line-up following Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber's team orders furore in Malaysia, Red Bull chief Dietrich Mateschitz was quoted in the German media as saying Raikkonen was "always a candidate" for a seat in his squad.

But Raikkonen said he was still far from entering into any talks over 2014 deals.

"There are always a lot of rumours in F1, that is a normal thing," he said. "I don't have a contract for next year and I have no plans.

"You guys make the rumours. The season is only two races old so I'll try to do this year well and we will see what happens."

Asked if he expected to still be in F1, Raikkonen replied: "I don't have a contract so I don't really have a plan, but of course I probably will be. But you never know. It is a funny place. So far, I have no contract."

Although Lotus has regularly stated its belief that it provides an ideal atmosphere for the free-spirited Finn, Raikkonen said he never really been uncomfortable in an F1 team.

"Like I've always said all the teams have been different, and I have had a pretty good time in all the teams," he said.

"They all have a different way of being run and I try to achieve the same result.

"I wouldn't say that this is much better than other places, because I never had any problems [elsewhere] or anything like that. It is just a different place."

Quote

Nico Rosberg wants Mercedes to ensure it fully discusses all team orders in advance in the future after his frustration in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Rosberg was catching third-placed team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the race but was asked by team boss Ross Brawn to hold position.

The German questioned the decision repeatedly on team radio, but obeyed the order and came home fourth.

Rosberg said his main gripe had been that the instructions came out of the blue.

"The difficulty was that we hadn't really discussed them beforehand. That was the mistake that we did," he said.

"So going forward the important thing is that really everything is discussed.

"Whichever way it goes, if I'm in front and Lewis is behind, then he will respect it, and vice versa, then it's all OK.

"As long as one is prepared for it and it's discussed and understood, that's the important thing."

The Mercedes team controversy was overshadowed by the 'multi 21' row unfolding between the Red Bull team-mates at the head of the field, as Sebastian Vettel ignored instructions and snatched the win from Mark Webber.

Rosberg underlined that he would never have considered disobeying a team order even if he did not agree with it.

"I'd decided well before to fully respect the instructions that Ross had given me," he said.

Hamilton has cancelled his media engagements for Thursday in China and returned to his hotel due to illness.

Quote

Fernando Alonso claims he would have respected a team order to hold position had he been in Sebastian Vettel's situation in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggested in an interview with Sky Sports News that "if Fernando Alonso or Lewis [Hamilton] were in that position, they would do the same" as Vettel did when he disregarded team instructions and overtook Mark Webber to win at Sepang.

But Alonso believes that the driver should be required to do what he is told by his team.

"I don't think I've ever been in that position, I guess I would hold position," said Alonso.

"At the end of the day, your team is paying you and you have to do more or less what they ask you.

"You are a journalist, so you don't go to your newspaper and start painting the walls because you are not a painter and a goalkeeper can't play as a forward.

"We all have our duties and I guess you have to respect them all the time."

Felipe Massa, who infamously had to hand victory to Alonso in the 2010 German Grand Prix (pictured), believes that team orders are acceptable provided the circumstances are right, even though what happened in Malaysia has led to criticism of such measures.

The Brazilian has had to cede position to Alonso several times, as well as handing Kimi Raikkonen the victory required to win the world championship in Brazil 2007 by deliberately running slowly on his in- and out-laps during the second pitstops.

But Massa has also benefited from team orders, with Raikkonen handing him second place in the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix.

"I'm not against team orders if it is an intelligent team order, at the right moment," said Massa.

"I have helped many drivers, even Kimi to help him win the championship and Fernando in important races last year when he was fighting for the championship.

"When it is an intelligent time for a team order, I have no problem, but sometimes it is not really so intelligent so I don't like it."

Quote

Jenson Button has expressed surprise at Sebastian Vettel's declaration that he would think nothing of disregarding team orders again.

McLaren driver Button believes Red Bull was unwise to ask Mark Webber and Vettel to hold station as early as round two of the 2013 Formula 1 season.

But the 2009 world champion admitted Vettel's assertion that he would "probably do the same again" if he felt Webber did not deserve the win had showed an unexpected side of Vettel's character.

"Lots of people have won world championships without being like that," said Button.

"I'm surprised he said that, personally.

"He's such a talented driver and he seems like a driver that the team love. And they should, he's very successful.

"And he seems like an easygoing character. It's surprising for him to say that."

Button reckons that if Red Bull had been clear about its intentions pre-race, Vettel had no grounds for complaint.

"Obviously he's done it once. He knew what he was doing," said Button.

"We all want to win, but if you're told to hold station and you know that's the rule before the race, kick off about it before the race.

"Don't just do the opposite in the race. I think that's the biggest issue.

"If we had that issue here, first of all I wouldn't have agreed before we went racing. In the race, you have to do as you're supposed to do."

He underlined that he did not approve of team orders and felt they had been unnecessary in Malaysia, but that Vettel should still have complied if Webber was cruising.

"I do not like team orders and I've said that before," Button said. "But they're legal and we're allowed to have team orders.

"I would understand if I couldn't win the championship anymore and the team said to me 'if you're leading this race and your team-mate's second and he can win the championship, let him go past'.

"I wouldn't even need to be told that, I'd do it myself. It's the right thing to do.

"I think when one or both drivers are told to turn the engine down, it's for a reason - to save the engine or because they have a fuel strategy.

"If one guy does it and the other guy doesn't, it's unfair, they're going to push each other, and they might both run out of fuel.

"That's the way the system is at the moment with fuel and tyre saving.

"There's definitely the possibility of making a mistake [with an instruction], and if that was the case with Sebastian, it's fair enough. Maybe that was the case.

"But it just doesn't sound that way from what he was saying afterwards."

Quote

Valtteri Bottas is confident that the Williams team understands the car problems that it must solve to return to competitiveness this year.

Williams will try some car tweaks during Friday's free practice session in China, with a major upgrade planned for next month's Spanish Grand Prix.

Bottas, who like team-mate Pastor Maldonado visited the Williams factory twice during the break between the Malaysian and Chinese Grands Prix for simulator sessions and meetings with engineers, also paid tribute to the troubleshooting effort put in by the team.

"That's the most important thing, to understand what the problem is," said Bottas when asked by AUTOSPORT whether the team has a good understanding of its issues.

"Now, we really clearly see it, much better than in the first two weekends as we have had more time now to look at things.

"For nearly three weeks, everyone was working as hard as possible to understand the problems and to fix the problems.

"It will not be an overnight fix, it will take some time, but it's nice to see we already have some new bits for this weekend."

The upgrade package for China will include a modified front wing.

But the team is sticking with the launch-specification exhaust even though technical director Mike Coughlan admitted in Malaysia that reverting to a late-2012 exhaust was an option.

Asked by AUTOSPORT which exhaust specification Williams would run, Maldonado replied: "We will have something similar to what we have in the previous races.

"There is a step on the aero side, we have a couple of new bits and we need to see if there is a clear improvement, even if it is small, just to keep that direction and to develop the car as soon as we can.

"The new parts we have got here are not mega-revolutionary for the car.

"It's the front wing and some other stuff.

"Hopefully the car should work a bit better but we still are far away from where we need and want to be.

"But the good thing is that we are working very hard in the factory."

Quote

Toro Rosso will introduce a modified exhaust at the Chinese Grand Prix to prevent a repeat of the overheating problems that forced Daniel Ricciardo to retire from the opening two races of the season.

Ricciardo stopped in both Australia and Malaysia because the exhaust was burning parts of the car, a problem that also afflicted team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne's machine to a lesser degree.

The Australian believes that the three-week gap since Malaysia has given the team enough time to solve its problem.

"The break came at a good time, giving the guys some time to work because after Australia it was always going to be difficult to find a real solution in a few days," said Ricciardo.

"The team has changed a few things with the form of the exhaust, the structure, and hopefully that will hold up.

"[The changes] are mainly focused on reliability for now.

"When it was burning stuff in the car, we were losing performance, but when the exhaust is working as it should I don't think we'll get [extra] performance at the moment."

Team-mate Jean Eric Vergne is more hopeful that even though the exhaust tweak is relatively minor, there will also be a performance gain.

He expects improvements in both downforce and consistency of the rear end of the car.

"We had an exhaust in the first two races that was not working as we were expecting so we found better solutions for this weekend to make it work as we want it to.

"It's nothing special, a little [change] but one that makes a bigger difference than what you see with your eyes.

"With the exhaust you are always trying to get more downforce from it but also to get it more consistent, you don't want it to be peaky."

Quote

Ma Qing Hua will return to Formula 1 action on Friday when he takes part in first practice for the Chinese Grand Prix with Caterham.

It will be the fifth practice outing for the Chinese driver, who had already driven for the HRT team in Italy, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and USA last year, but his debut in the Caterham F1 car.

Ma will become the first Chinese driver to take part in his home grand prix weekend when he replaces Charles Pic for the session.

The 25-year-old is currently competing with Caterham in GP2. He finished in 21st position in the opening race of the season in Malaysia before withdrawing from the event due to illness.

AUTOSPORT understands that Caterham protege Alexander Rossi will be in Friday action for the team in Bahrain next weekend.

Quote

Michael Schumacher has announced a new ambassadorial role with Mercedes following his second retirement from Formula 1.

The seven-time world champion preferred not to continue racing elsewhere after stepping away from the sport at the end of 2012.

Schumacher hinted at the time that he was likely to remain in the Mercedes fold.

The manufacturer has now confirmed that Schumacher will work on developing Mercedes' safety and comfort systems for its road cars, as well as joining its road safety projects as he becomes an official ambassador.

"The future interests me much more than the present and past," said Schumacher.

"During my Formula 1 time I always believed that you must not allow yourself to rest on your laurels, but that you must continuously try to improve.

"In so doing I was very often able to rely on the help of all the technologies available to me in the car and use them to my advantage.

"That is why I am a declared supporter of driving assistance systems both in the racing car and in the road-going car."

[Lineker]

Nico Rosberg led team-mate Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes one-two in opening Chinese Grand Prix practice, as the squad returned to the scene of its first modern-era Formula 1 victory one year ago.

Warring Red Bull duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were next up, but a second off the Mercedes' pace.

Mercedes took charge on the last lighter-fuel runs going into the final half-hour of the session.

Rosberg initially put in a 1m37.872s to knock Felipe Massa's Ferrari off the top spot.

This mark was then pipped by Webber, who went 0.2s faster just a minute later.

But Rosberg had more speed to come. Despite signs of tyre graining and being eight laps into a stint, he unleashed a 1m36.904s, backed off for a lap, then delivered the best lap of the morning with a 1m36.717s.

Mercedes then appeared to have superior pace on the race stint simulations in the final half-hour, although fuel load variations inevitably skew this picture.

Hamilton was ultimately 0.454s down on his team-mate, but 0.487s clear of Webber. Three tenths of a second split the two Red Bulls in third and fourth.

Jenson Button had been among the first to set a flying lap, albeit over half an hour into the session, and kept his McLaren near the top for a long while.

He ended up sixth, between the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Massa.

Button's team-mate Sergio Perez provided a bizarre end to the session when he crashed in the pitlane entry gravel trap, replicating the infamous incident that ended McLaren predecessor Hamilton's 2007 Chinese GP.

Adrian Sutil also had a stint in first place before ending up eighth, two places in front of Force India team-mate Paul di Resta. Romain Grosjean's Lotus split them.

The Frenchman's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen provided the session's other main incident when he ran wide at Turn 9 and spun back across the track. Raikkonen resumed without damage.

Sauber rookie Esteban Gutierrez also had an excursion, exploring the gravel at Turn 1.

Ex-HRT third driver Ma Qing Hua made his Caterham debut in Charles Pic's car at his home event. The GP2 racer was last, 1.5s off team-mate Giedo van der Garde.

Felipe Massa put Ferrari on top in the second free practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai.

Runaway morning pacesetter Nico Rosberg had to settle for fourth this time, as Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso took second and third places.

Initially Rosberg and Mercedes resumed their commanding morning form by setting the initial pace, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton was next up.

The soft tyre runs started early, with Mark Webber switching from the medium rubber just 20 minutes in.

He used his new Pirellis to outpace Rosberg by 0.6s and claim first place, although the German soon retaliated with his own soft-tyre dash and got back in front.

But the second half of the afternoon was all about Ferrari and Massa.

A 1m35.340s from Massa on the soft tyres put him in front, and that was where he stayed.

More impressively, he maintained his speed better than most on his subsequent long run with medium tyres, on a day when radio complaints about graining were perhaps even more prevalent than usual.

Rosberg was eventually pushed down to fourth place as Raikkonen emerged as Massa's closest rival, getting within 0.152s.

Fernando Alonso increased Ferrari's satisfaction with third place, albeit 0.4s off his team-mate.

Rosberg and Webber completed the top five, while Jenson Button showed encouraging form for McLaren again in sixth, ahead of Hamilton.

Sebastian Vettel was only 10th, behind Force India duo Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta.

Sutil's session included a half-spin at Turn 8 in which his car arrived at the corner already broadside.

The German managed to stop the Force India on the asphalt run-off, unlike Sergio Perez in a near-identical incident minutes earlier. In that case the McLaren made it all the way over the gravel trap and lightly nudged the barriers before crawling back to the pits.

Perez, who had crashed in the pit entry at the end of practice one, later made it back out and was 11th.

His team-mate Button did not have a trouble-free afternoon either, pitting with a delaminated left-front tyre following a huge lock-up into the hairpin.

In the backmarker pack, Jules Bianchi impressed again as an early soft tyre run temporarily got him as high as 11th. He still ended up back in his habitual 19th place.

His Marussia team-mate Max Chilton had a horrible afternoon. The Briton stopped on track with oil pressure problems during the first runs, later rejoined and then had to park out on the circuit again.

Caterham's Giedo van der Garde was the other man to have adventures, catching a high-speed spin into Turn 1 before it could become a full rotation.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner denies his leadership has been undermined by Sebastian Vettel's decision to ignore team orders during the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The world champion contravened the 'multi 21' request to hold position in the Sepang race, overtaking team-mate Mark Webber to take victory.

Vettel later apologised to the team, but on Thursday said he would probably do the same thing again.

Horner insisted, however, that his successes as Red Bull team boss show that there are no doubts about who is leading the squad.

He also reckons Vettel has learned a lesson from the controversy.

"In that race he didn't do as I asked," said Horner during Friday's press conference in China. "Was I happy? No. Did he apologise? Yes. Has he learned? Yes. Would he do it again? He explained yesterday - but there is history between those two drivers.

"It is not something new, it has been there for four/five years. They are one of the most successful partnerships in F1 history.

"Is my leadership undermined? I don't think so.

"I have led the team from the time Red Bull entered to the sport to those three titles, there have been lumps and bumps along the way, but they drive the team forward."

He added: "I don't think Seb for a moment thinks he runs the team. He knows we employ him - and he knows why we employ him."

The Briton said the relationship between Vettel and Webber had not changed much after Malaysia, acknowledging the duo had never been too close.

"To be perfectly honest, it's not that different to the relationship they had before Malaysia in many respects. They're both professional guys, very driven, very talented," Horner said.

The team boss believes it is now time for Red Bull to leave the row behind and focus on its championship challenge.

"What has happened has happened, we cannot change it, we cannot go back," he added. "It is question of looking forward, at this event, and the next 16 events.

"Seb has not achieved the success he has in his career by being submissive, he saw an opportunity, he had saved a set of tyres and he wanted that victory more than anything else."

Horner said he had spoken at length about the situation with Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, and clarified suggestions that the team will ditch team orders altogether.

"It depends what you define as a team order. What Dietrich is keen not to see is a situation where drivers aren't allowed to race each other," he said.

"Our concern in Malaysia wasn't drivers racing each other, it was the consequences there would potentially be on tyre wear and the one-two position we'd got ourselves into.

"From a Red Bull perspective, of course we want to see drivers race and compete equally."

Sebastian Vettel believes Red Bull is too far from the pace for his liking at the end of Friday practice for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The three-time world champion was 10th fastest in the afternoon session, 1.4 seconds away from fastest man Felipe Massa's Ferrari.

Vettel emphasised that Red Bull was not in huge trouble, but neither was he content with its speed.

"I think it was a tricky day for us," he told reporters in the Shanghai paddock.

"I seemed to struggle a little more this afternoon, with the gap to the guys at the top being a bit bigger than I would like to see.

"But I think we have two or three things that we need to work on and we should be in better shape tomorrow.

"It is not a disaster. It is not as if we are in the dark, we know a little bit about what we need to do.

"I don't have the answer right now, but we'll look into the stuff that we did because once you run, you try to follow your programme, get as many laps and results as you can, so there's not much time to analyse during the session. That is what we do after the session."

Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber was fifth quickest, 0.7s ahead of the sister car, and felt there was little to worry about beyond tyre wear.

"Today was a good day for us, we had a good amount of mileage which is one thing," said Webber.

"There are still some pretty quick cars out there, so nothing unusual from what we have seen earlier in the championship.

"I think we have a little bit of work to do but the car doesn't feel too bad, we just have to work on the tyres."

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton believe it is too early to start thinking of fighting victory in the Chinese Grand Prix despite Mercedes' strong start to the weekend.

The duo were comfortably quickest in the opening practice session before finishing fourth and seventh in the afternoon.

Rosberg dominated the Shanghai event last year from pole position, but the German insists he is not getting carried away.

"I don't know, it's still early," said Rosberg when asked if victory was possible.

"I'm comfortable in the car and feel quite confident [in it], it's just a matter of making the most of practice and getting qualifying right and getting the set-up for the race.

"Everything needs to be perfect, otherwise it's not going to work out. The aim is to be on the podium."

The German was also cautious when making predictions for Saturday's qualifying.

"I have to wait and see what the calculations say. We are looking OK, but we encountered a few difficulties today," he added.

Hamilton, slower than Rosberg in both sessions, said the car was handling well, but also claimed it was too early to talk about victory chances.

"Not just yet, we're working on it. The car definitely doesn't feel bad," he said. "For me, I'm still finding myself a little bit uncomfortable in the car.

"We just made a change going into this session on the brakes and it made a massive difference, a positive step, so I'm hoping to make some more steps like that just to make me more comfortable in the car."

Pirelli has rejected Lewis Hamilton's accusation that its soft tyre is an inappropriate choice for the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

Second practice for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix was littered with radio complaints about tyre graining, with the soft option particularly lambasted.

Hamilton was one of several drivers to criticise the tyres in the aftermath of the session.

"The life of the [soft] tyre, it's the worst I've ever experienced with bits flying off all over the place," Hamilton said.

"The soft is hardcore. It doesn't feel like the right tyre for this circuit. I did a couple of laps and the tyres just disintegrated."

Hamilton's former McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, who had to pit with a delaminated left-front tyre following a lock-up into the hairpin, was similarly critical.

"I think there was a lot of complaining about the tyres at the last race, but it is even more extreme here," Button said.

"The option tyre just transforms the car completely; on one lap there is just so much more grip. So it feels really good for one lap, and then it grains front and rear and you lose one second every lap.

"It's very tricky and I don't think you will see many quick laps in the race; I think we're all going to be given a time to go to and that's it."

But Pirelli motorsport chief Paul Hembery said the soft tyre was doing exactly what it was supposed to.

"If the medium did the same then I'd be concerned, but it doesn't," he said.

"It's a qualifying tyre. It'll be a bit like Melbourne I guess where the top teams are going to be forced to qualify on the softer tyre because it's such a performance advantage and within the first 10 laps they are going to have to pit.

"Some of the Q2 teams might opt to start on the medium tyre and try and gain some track position whilst the first 10 cars drop in.

"It's looking like some can be looking at a two-stop race and worst case three so pretty much in line with what we are looking for."

Ferrari feels that it still needs a big lift in its qualifying pace before it can be satisfied with its form, despite Felipe Massa's fastest time in Chinese Grand Prix practice.

Massa edged out Lotus rival Kimi Raikkonen and his Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso on soft tyres, but technical director Pat Fry says the team is still not convinced about its F138's single-lap speed.

"I think pace-wise, exactly where we are in qualifying, we are still not sure yet," he explained. "It looks like we are a reasonable amount off still, and have a lot of work to do.

"Race pace for the last two races has looked quite encouraging. We have got some more developments here, so we are trying to close the gap that we think we have got to the leading teams. I suppose we will find out tomorrow."

Mark Hughes' Friday form guide: Three teams in the hunt

Massa himself admitted that he was slightly surprised by his strong showing on the timesheets but said that it was an encouraging performance considering how the car looks on long-run pace.

"I was not really happy at the beginning with the medium tyres and we were not even so quick compared to the other cars," he said. "But looking at how much we improved with soft tyres, I think that was very amazing. I didn't expect to improve so much like that.

"When I did the race in Malaysia the pace was very competitive, but for sure the biggest problem is always the qualifying. I think I did a good lap on the soft, and degradation on the soft was not bad.

"I am confident for the weekend, and hopefully we can do everything we did today, [both] tomorrow and Sunday."

With the soft tyre showing signs of extreme degradation, Fry thinks the challenge will be in dealing with the characteristics of that compound.

"I think the medium compound tyre here seems quite reasonable," he said. "This morning it was a normal issue you get, but here the track is quite dirty.

"The left front was giving up quite early on and in the afternoon, compared to the soft, the car balance was a lot better.

"Felipe's long run looked quite reasonable, but everyone is struggling to get the most out of the soft tyre."

Romain Grosjean claims to have been hit with a recurrence of the mystery car problem which held him back during the Australian and Malaysian Grand Prix weekends.

The Lotus driver battled the problem of a lack of the expected downforce during the race in Australia, Friday practice in Malaysia and again today.

Grosjean first hit the problem during Friday morning practice when running the new exhaust design used by team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in Malaysia and, despite reverting to the previous specification in the afternoon, continued to struggle.

This is despite the problem initially appearing to be solved ahead of Saturday practice in Malaysia.

"It's the third Friday of the season and the third time the same story," said Grosjean.

"We went to the updates this morning and it was terrible then we went back to the last race specification and it was worse - from bad to very bad.

"All we can see is a lack of performance in downforce.

"We need to see now what we can understand. We cannot run the same set-up as Kimi because it doesn't work."

Previously, Grosjean did not believe that the problem could be related to the monocoque itself.

But as the team has now changed many parts, he believes that a switch of chassis is possible in the future.

Lotus does have a spare chassis in China, so if a problem was found it is possible the team could rebuild his car around that - although currently this is not something it plans to do.

"Maybe, we will see," he said when asked if the chassis might be at the root of the problem.

"We need to see now deeply the detail and that [a change of chassis] will be an option."

McLaren believes the updates it has brought to the Chinese Grand Prix have delivered the step forward it was hoping for.

The team is working flat out to recover from a troubled start to its 2013 Formula 1 campaign, but believes it is getting to the bottom of what has gone wrong with the MP4-28.

Having tried out a raft of developments at Shanghai, including new exhausts and sidepod configurations, sporting director Sam Michael said on Friday that McLaren's progress was encouraging.

"The signs are positive but we still have a lot of data to go through," he said. "From the driver comments and lap times it looked good, but we are controlled by data - and it always takes a bit of number crunching to work out what is what."

Michael hopes a major step planned for the Spanish GP can deliver the leap forward McLaren hopes for.

When asked by AUTOSPORT how far advanced the team's recovery was, Michael said: "Pretty far, but like everything it takes time.

"I think it will take the next two races, and by Barcelona we will have the next stage of that.

"There are lots of intermediate steps, some of them planned and some of them as a reaction to last couple of races."

Michael echoed remarks from Jenson Button that the team was still sure it could turn its 2013 challenger into title-winning machinery.

"We didn't go to Melbourne planning to come ninth, even with all those changes, but we are looking at it positively with this car," he said.

"The fact it is responding quite well to where we think we need to improve, hopefully we can show it is the right choice. Only time will tell."

Sergio Perez admits his two Chinese Grand Prix practice crashes, coupled with the inconsistency of McLaren's MP4-28, have upset his confidence in the car.

The Mexican provided a bizarre end to first practice when he locked up and slid into the barriers at the pitlane entry, while he spun across the gravel trap and nudged the Turn 8 barriers in the second session.

Perez said both mistakes had been caused in part by the unpredictability of McLaren's 2013 challenger.

"It was a very difficult day for myself with the crash in FP1 and the off in FP2," Perez said.

"We don't really understand what happened: I had a lot of wear, the front tyres were losing temperature and as soon as I hit the brakes I locked the tyres, [but I was] not pushing at that point.

"I'm not very confident with the car and that makes things difficult.

"We have so many question marks, we have to analyse everything that we have done because we don't know which direction we are going. The car is so inconsistent for us."

Perez did insist however that there had been positives from the first day, particularly given the amount of data he and team-mate Jenson Button were able to accumulate.

"There's no magic; we're still learning, and today was very important," he said.

"I will start from zero tomorrow, with a completely new set-up. This [doesn't] make things easy but I think we are able to learn and go in right direction for future.

"I'm confident we can make Q3."

Kevin Magnussen is to fulfil third driver duties for McLaren throughout 2013 alongside Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey.

The Formula Renault 3.5 driver is taking on the reserve role at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

Magnussen is the son of former McLaren driver Jan and part of the outfit's young driver programme.

Paffett has not travelled to Shanghai as he has had DTM testing commitments at Hockenheim.

Turvey is racing at Silverstone in the European Le Mans Series.

McLaren has confirmed that Magnussen, Paffett and Turvey will share the third driver role for the remainder of the year.

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES - John Booth (Marussia), Ross Brawn (Mercedes), Christian Horner (Red Bull Racing), Franz Tost (Toro Rosso), Claire Williams (Williams).

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Claire, how have your duties changed within the team?

Claire WILLIAMS: First, thank you very much for having me here today, I feel privileged to be sitting among such amazing company. They haven't changed hugely. My primary focus has always been the commercial side of the team – to get the budget in, to keep us going racing. That won’t change, that will remain my primary concern. Obviously with the Deputy Team Principal title comes some responsibility for the technical side of what we do, so I’m going to be working with our technical director Mike Coughlan to ensure we have the resources we need to get us back up to the top. And then inevitably there’s the governance side of the role as well, so working with FIA/FOM issues.

Q: So how does the team structure work now?

CW: It hasn’t changed hugely, as I said. We have a board at Williams made up of an executive committee that runs the team and the wider business on a day-to-day basis. That doesn’t change but personally I suppose I will be going to every grand prix, so that’s a slight change. I used to before. Frank is still our main leader and that doesn’t change.

Q: Christian, you might have hoped that Malaysia was dead and buried and we could moved on but your driver has reignited the subject by saying that he doesn’t apologise for winning and that he would do the same again. Where does management stand on this?

Christian HORNER: You don’t want to talk about Malaysia the race, or the pitstops or anything like that? In Formula One you’re always going to have a conflict between a drivers’ interest and a drivers’ championship and a constructors’ world championship and I think unlike other sports you don’t have those two elements going on at any point in time. Of course from a driver’s perspective, the drivers’ championship is everything to them. Sebastian made clear his position yesterday, some of the rationale behind that. As we’ve always known, the position between our two drivers, there’s never been too much love lost between the two of them and it’s a situation that’s been clear for probably the last four to five years. It’s something that we’ve managed and during that time we’ve still go on to score over 2000 points, 35 grand prix victories, six world championships. So within the team it’s nothing new. Obviously it’s a bit more public, it’s a bit more interest for you guys in terms of what’s going on but as far as we’re concerned it’s business as usual. I think, as far as team orders goes, what’s happened, happened. Sebastian’s explained himself, he’s explained himself to me. He’s apologised to myself and every individual in the factory and the issues been dealt with. We move on and focus on the challenges of this weekend.

Q: Has he basically been given the green light by the fact the team owner and his advisor have said that there are no team orders?

CH: Well just to be clear, I sat down with Dietrich (Mateschitz) after the race and discussed at length with him what happened in Malaysia and Dietrich is a purist, he’s a fan of the sport, he’s a... through Red Bull I think, y’know, Red Bull is clear in its intent that it wants to support competition and Red Bull athletes across all different categories of sport. Of course in Red Bull Racing we also have a team. So there exists that conflict of what the drivers want and what the team wants. The purist obviously wants to see the drivers race and race wheel to wheel and in fact as the drivers have done on many, many occasions. Sometimes you get instances that you have to deal with. Our primary concern in Malaysia wasn’t the two drivers racing each other, it was the fact we were concerned about tyre degradation from all the information that we’d seen prior… during that weekend in terms of managing the race to the end of the race with the least risk possible. Of course the call that we made at that point in time didn’t suit what Sebastian’s intent was and therefore you end up in this conflict between driver desire and the team’s position and it’s something we’ve discussed, it’s something we’re clear on going forward where of course we will trust the drivers. We will allow them to continue to race each other, they will have the information, they will know what they need to do with that information.

Q: John, you seem to have a decent car and a decent driver pairing. How much does that contribute to your security in F1, the team’s security in F1?

John BOOTH: It does play a part. Our shareholders want to see us going forward and we have to show that progression. We’re very pleased with what we’ve produced this year. We’re 170 people in total in Marussia and we’re very proud of what we’ve produced – but we have to keep working and keep pushing forward. Our shareholders expect us to go forward.

Q: Tell us about Pat Symonds’ contribution to this year’s car and also his influence at the circuits?

JB: Pat’s only been coming back to the circuit this year, made a couple of appearances and very welcome too – but I rather hope he stays at home more and makes the car go quicker that attending circuits. He’s a massive influence in our drawing office: brings a lot of discipline, a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience, particularly with the wind tunnel programme that we’ve been pushing on with for the last 18 months. It’s made a massive difference to us.

Q: Franz, a new technical structure headed by James Key, tell us about the changes.

Franz TOST: There were a lot of changes from the technical side, from the personnel side. James reshuffled the team, he bought in much more people in the aerodynamic department – in the wind tunnel as well as in CFD. He also brought in some more people in the design office and the way, the method of working has changed as well. I’m quite positive and convinced we are on a correct way and I also expect a successful season because James has built up quite a strong team around him and as you can imagine it takes a little bit of time. But I think from the middle of the season onwards all the positions should be fixed and people will work concentrated and so far I must say the performance increases and I think we are on a correct way.

Q: And that goes hand-in-hand with the physical expansion at the factory as well?

FT: Yes. We built up the new composite building, which is finished now. That means we’ve bought in much more people in the composite department. We are producing now in-house the monocoque, the front wing, rear wing, nose, bodywork, the engine cover as well as the brake ducts as well as the floor and diffuser. That means we are much more flexible. The reaction times are much shorter and from this point of view, the team has really increased.

Ross, your imposition of what might be seen to be a team order has also been perceived to be establishing a hierarchy within the team. What do you have to say about that?

Ross BRAWN: There is no hierarchy in the team. Both drivers have exactly the same status. Inevitably in a hard racing season on driver may start to get the upper hand and that may become a factor to take into account towards the end of the season. We would expect a driver who perhaps didn’t have a great chance to win the Drivers’ Championship towards the end to help one who perhaps does. I think that’s our expectation of the drivers. Certainly we don’t have any different status between the two drivers. In terms of our situation in Malaysia, I think there are some similarities with Christian’s situation. We had… certainly Lewis was very tight on fuel and Nico was low as well. Not as bad as Lewis but still not in great shape. So it seemed that it could lead to a problem where we had both drivers racing each other, because one gets past and then you can slipstream and use the DRS and start saving fuel when you get past and I could foresee a situation where it could get very delicate at the end and for me there wasn’t a great deal to gain, because we were third and fourth and no threat and no real opportunity to catch the cars in front. Fortuitously our driver, because it mainly affected Nico, respected the request and did what he was asked to do. But it’s a very emotional situation when you tell a driver he has to back off. He has the bit between his teeth, he’s charging and he feels he has an opportunity, that’s what they’re there for. As I think I said afterwards I would have been disappointed if he hadn’t been upset, because they’re very, very competitive individuals and that’s what we pay them for. But it’s a very delicate situation and I’ve been there several times. I think what we mustn’t do is push it underground. I think if we have clandestine team orders then that makes us look far worse than accepting the situation we have, which is that it’s both a team sport and an individual drivers’ sport and the teams will try to find the balance between those two objectives. And they don’t always marry easily. We want our drivers to race. The rule is don’t hit each other and that’s all we ask of them and we want them to race. We have demonstrated many times that we’re happy to let our two drivers race. But there will be occasional circumstances where the risk is very high and for the good of team we’ll make a team decision about what we need to do.

One more question. There is a new management structure at Mercedes, how is it working?

RB: OK. I think we all know Niki, he’s quite a colourful character and I’m not talking about his hat. He has a lot of input, often a lateral view on different things, which is worth listening to. He doesn’t have an active day-to-day role. Toto is now based in Brackley, taking over a lot of what Nick Fry did, thus getting more involved in the sport and politics as Nick did in the latter few years. I think we have our areas to look after and on that basis I’m happy.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Christian, coming to you first. Obviously Sebastian has apologized, as you’ve mentioned, but yesterday his remarks were basically as if that apology never existed. As Bob has mentioned he said he would probably do the same again under the circumstances, that he’d effectively undermined you as team principal and that it was indirectly, quote-unquote, payback for what Mark had done previously in not helping either himself or the team. On that basis, has your authority been shattered and do you have a driver who, when he sticks two fingers up to you and the team, is uncontrollable?

CH: First of all, the drivers need the team. They’re an essential part of the team and one element of 500 or 600 people. Has my authority been undermined? In that race he didn’t do what I asked. Was I happy about it? Of course I wasn’t. Did we discuss it? Yes, we did. Did he apologise? Yes. Has he learned from it? I’m sure he has. Would he do it again? I think he’d think twice but I think as he explained yesterday there is an awful of history between those drivers. It’s something that isn’t new. It’s something that’s been there between the two of them for the past four or five years. Let’s not forget they are one of the most successful pairings that the sport has ever seen. They have won three successive Constructors’ World Championships for the team and Sebastian, of course, has become the youngest ever triple world champion. Is my leadership undermined? I don’t think so. I’ve led the team from the time that Red Bull entered the sport to those 35 victories, to those world championships. Of course there have been lumps and bumps along the way, there have been incidents between the two drivers. But we retain them because they are both fiercely competitive individuals, they drive each other forward and they bring the best out of each other and at some points of course it’s uncomfortable for the team. But I think it’s a healthy rivalry, even though they took things into their own hands. They gave each other just enough room and whilst it was uncomfortable for us on the pit wall to watch, it was spectacular driving, just giving each other room to work with, as they’ve done on numerous occasions. What’s happened has happened. We can’t change it, we can’t go back and it’s a question of looking forward and focusing on this event and obviously the next 16 events after this. As a team we’re working as closely as we’ve ever done, as in both drivers to work closely together, to continue to improve, to continue to give their feedback to the team to keep moving forward because our competitors aren’t far away. Sebastian hasn’t achieved the success that he has in his career by being submissive. He saw and opportunity, he took it into his own hands, he’d saved a set of tyres from the previous day and he wanted that victory more than anything else. I think he justified to himself that previous events that had taken was part of his judgement on what he chose to do that day.

Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action/National Speedsport News) John, Jules has been doing a good job; what has impressed you most about him and what do you think his potential is?

JB: His calmness has impressed me immensely. Very likeable guy, we thought he may have been disappointed to lose out on the Force India drive, but he’s just been positive from day one. As for his ultimate potential, it’s very early to say. I’ve worked with him for two races and one and a half test days so it’s a bit too early to see, but the potential certainly looks very good.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) I believe the president of the Federation circulated a letter last week to all team principals regarding its role in the cost-cutting process or cost control process and that it no longer intends playing a regulatory role in the process. This seems to be an about face after last year having called various meetings about this issue. How do you feel about this?

CH: I think it would be inappropriate to comment because it’s a letter between the teams and the FIA. It’s a private letter, I don’t see there’s any reason to comment in public about it.

RB: Well, we support the RRA (Resource Restriction Agreement) for instance, or we support a means of controlling costs in Formula One and we have to find a way forward, so we support whatever can be done to try and control costs or contribute towards controlling costs in the future.

JB: I’m not sure that Formula One is sustainable, the way it’s heading, so the Resource Restriction is very important and we fully support it going forward. But I wouldn’t want to discuss it, it’s a private letter.

FT: The Resource Restriction Agreement – there were numerous meetings. We have the Resource Restriction Agreement for the chassis which is not so important because we more or less have the chassis costs under control. We didn’t manage to come up with a power train Resource Restriction Agreement which would have been much much more important because next year the costs will increase by eight to one hundred percent regarding the power train, and there we should have worked and should have come up with something but the manufacturers, as usual, had some meetings, pushed a little bit but brought nothing to paper because everybody is doing his development and is thinking of getting an advantage over the others. The teams, the customers have to pay, they bill them at the end. This is reality and as I mentioned just before, next year will become very very expensive.

RB: I obviously can’t comment on whoever Franz’s supplier is but in our case, taken over a reasonable number of years, the costs will be no higher than existing costs so of course there will be a peak at the beginning because there’s going to be a lot of activity but with the homologation procedures which are in place and it’s our objective to bring the costs down, so I don’t accept that the costs are going to be eighty to a hundred percent higher, not in our case anyway. We’re doing the whole package with the drive train. It is a new project, I think Formula One needs a new engine, I think we’ve all heard the stories that Honda are coming in and there are other people looking at joining Formula One. I think it’s regenerated that area, which it needed. That’s our position.

CW: With respect to Dieter’s question, Williams is an independent team so we’re always in favour of cost controls in Formula One but with regards to that letter, no, we don’t have a comment. It’s not appropriate to discuss that.

Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Christian, today we saw Vettel didn’t go so well, so brilliantly as the last two weekends. Do you think that’s a factor of what happened recently? The second question, which is also for Ross, is about the soft tyre; Ferrari was very fast today on the soft tyre, do you think that they are serious candidates for pole and then starting in front, for leading the race?

CH: First of all, your question regarding Sebastian. Both drivers were working to different programmes today. It’s an opportunity for us on a Friday to explore different set-ups and developments so obviously the information will be looked at this evening and set-ups will either converge or diverge over this evening into tomorrow but it’s certainly been a productive day.

As far as your question on the tyres; it looks like the softer of the two tyres is certainly quicker but not particularly durable and obviously it’s a question of finding that balance between what’s right for Saturday and grid position and what’s right for the race on Sunday. Felipe Massa certainly looked quick today on the soft tyre, but again, we’ve seen so many times that Friday times are meaningless in many respects unless you understand the programmes that each of the teams has been running to.

RB: I’m presuming pole position will be set on the soft tyre, because it’s over a second faster than the medium tyre but it has quite a short life, so you’ve got to work out your strategy over the whole weekend, from qualifying onwards and there may well be people who chose, in Q3, to conserve tyres or plan to start on the more durable tyre. But I think pole position will be set on the soft tyre because it’s so much faster.

Q: (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Christian, you’ve spoken extensively about the history between your two drivers and the successes that you’ve had as a team. However, with his comments yesterday, what Sebastian appeared to make clear was that he feels that he trumps the team. Formula One being both a team and a driver’s sport, the drivers are still team employees; how do you intend to make him understand that his position is as your employee, not as somebody who has the right to decide whether or not to follow your orders?

CH: Well, I don’t think Sebastian for one moment thinks he runs the team, he knows what his job is, he knows what we employ him to do, he knows why we employ him to do it and he’s been with Red Bull for a long time now, as a junior driver and as a Formula One driver and now as a multiple World Champion. He recognises, more than anybody, the value that the team has behind the success that he’s achieved in the car, and he knows that he can’t operate without the team. So he doesn’t put himself above the team or think that he’s running the team for one moment. He’s made a decision in a race as a hungry driver and obviously based that decision on all kinds of emotions at that point in time. I think that he’s made his position clear, that he’s apologised to the team, he’s apologised to myself. It’s happened and we move on but it doesn’t change anything.

Q: (Chris Lines – AP) We move on from here to Bahrain; there are still ongoing political and human rights issues there. Are you concerned at all about how this reflects upon Formula One and how it reflects upon your sponsors?

CH: I’ve got enough problems with my drivers, let alone Bahrain. We’ve got our own issues.

FT: I don’t see any problems going to Bahrain, like it was last year. I’m looking forward to going there. I think that it’s very important to race over there. Formula One is entertainment. We should not be involved in politics. We should go there, we should do our race, we should be concentrated there and the political side and political topics should be solved by someone else.

Q: (Trent Price – Richland F1) John, Jules was able to settle down to a very quick pace, early on in that session and had quite a handy margin over his direct competitors. Was the programme that he was on a reflection of that pace?

JB: Yes, you have to allow so much time for tyre evaluation in P2 now that the schedule tends to be changed around from previous years so we were on a qualifying simulation quite early.

Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Christian, Mr Mateschitz said that he doesn’t want to see team orders any more in his team. Are you afraid that a situation might come up where it’s necessary to have a team order, possibly a situation like Ross just described where the two drivers are down on fuel or let’s say that one driver has a better chance at the end of the season to win the championship over the other?

CH: Of course. It depends what you define as a team order, at the end of the day. During a race, you have a hundred different things that you have to manage, whether it be fuel, whether it be tyres, whether it be reliability, whether it be KERS – so many parameters that you have to manage and that takes very close interaction between the pit wall and the car. Of course, the drivers have to follow those instructions. What Dietrich is keen not to see is a situation where the drivers aren’t allowed to race each other. As I said, our concern in Malaysia was not the fact that the drivers were racing each other, it’s what the consequence would potentially be on tyre wear and the outcome of the one-two position on circuit that we managed to get ourselves into. From a Red Bull perspective, of course we want to see the drivers race and compete fairly and equally but at the same time, the drivers equally know that they need to respect the requirements from the team, whether it involves any of the elements I just discussed. Team orders are something that aren’t new to Formula One, they’ve existed in different guises through pretty much every year that the sport has existed, and while you have a team and a drivers’ championship, there will be that conflict on occasions between the two championships and the aspirations of a team and an individual driver.

Q: (Peter Stebbings – AFP) Christian, you said how there was no love lost between the drivers in the past. How would you describe their relationship now, in light of everything? Are they even talking to each other, for example?

CH: To be perfectly honest, it’s no different to the relationship before Malaysia in many respects. They’re both professional guys, they’re both very driven, they’re both very talented race drivers. Right now, they’re sitting in a meeting, debriefing, across from each other about what the car is doing and how they, as a pairing, can improve the car with their team of engineers. Of course they will continue to work professionally, to benefit the team and ultimately obviously themselves. But I doubt very much they will be spending the summer break together or Christmas, but that’s not what we pay them for. Why we pay them and employ them is because we believe that they’re the best and strongest pairing in Formula One, as they’ve demonstrated consistently over the last three or four years.

Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Christian, following on from that, we’ve seen many times in the past when a driver pairing basically cannot stand the sight of one another – Prost and Senna, Piquet and Mansell – that it just doesn’t work. At the end of the day, something has to give. Do you have any confidence whatsoever that your driver pairing this season, will be your driver pairing next season, or are you already casting your net for a potential replacement of either of your two drivers for next year?

CH: Well, first of all, Sebastian is on a long term contract so he’s committed to the team. Mark’s contract has been renewed on an annual basis over the last three or four years and that’s something that we tend to address just in the same way again this year. Of course emotions are still fairly raw from the events in Malaysia, but they’re still a very effective pairing and we won’t make any decisions until later in the summer when Mark and the team will sit down and discuss the future. But after two races, it’s far too early to even be contemplating what our driver line-up will be for 2014.

Q: (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Ross, you have a fairly controversial suspension set-up. It was a couple of years ago here that you had double-decker diffusers etc. At that stage, there was a proper governance procedure in place to look at the matter, investigate it and decide whether it was legal or illegal. How would the procedure work now in the absence of a Concorde Agreement, technical working group etc?

RB: Well, first of all, there’s speculation but nobody knows what our suspension system is and from what I know, it’s not uncommon throughout Formula One. The old days of simple rollbars, springs and dampers are long gone, and they’ve been long gone for several years and I don’t think it’s controversial, I don’t think there are any issues. On the separate matter of what would we do in the case of a dispute, then I think the situation would be exactly as it has been before: somebody would go to the stewards, complain, they’d look into the matter, it would be resolved one way or another. If people weren’t happy with that, then it would be appealed and go to an appeal court. The sporting and working groups are continuing as they did before, in the absence of a Concorde Agreement, which I think is showing good spirit from both the Formula One teams and the FIA. I know our technical director attends technical working groups, our sporting director attends the sporting working groups and they are following the same voting procedures and approaches which they did before, which, as I say, I think is showing good spirit from the teams and the FIA, and the FIA have advised the teams that’s how they intend to continue until the Concorde Agreement is concluded.

Q: (Ian Parkes – Press Association) John, we spoke to Max yesterday and he informed us that to fund himself for this season in Formula One, he’s basically giving away part of his future earnings. Could I just get your thoughts on that first of all as team principal and whether you feel that that’s a good idea going forward for a young driver to boost himself up the ladder, rather than a driver who perhaps would bring in sponsorship for a team?

JB: It’s nothing new. There are lots of schemes that have been tried over the years. I think Justin Wilson was the last one that I know that had a similar scheme; and sometimes it’s required to find a way into Formula One. If it becomes self-funding then it’s a great idea.

[Lineker]

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa kept Ferrari on top of the times in the final practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Spaniard's best lap of 1m35.391s was still slower than the benchmark set by Massa in second practice on Friday. The Brazilian was second quickest on Saturday morning, over six tenths behind his team-mate.

Lewis Hamilton finished third for Mercedes as team-mate Nico Rosberg had to settle for 14th position after being unable to set a time with the soft Pirelli tyres.

World champion Sebastian Vettel outpaced Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber for the first time this weekend to finish in fourth position, right ahead of the Australian, who completed the top five.

Force India's Adrian Sutil was sixth ahead of the first Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren's Jenson Button and Sergio Perez and the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg, who rounded up the top 10.

Caterham's Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde were the first men to appear in the timesheets, the duo the only men to post a timed lap in the first 10 minutes of the session.

Perez jumped to the top of the times nearly 20 minutes in, becoming the first driver from a top team to set a time. He was promptly outpaced by Romain Grosjean in the Lotus, the Frenchman relegated by team-mate Raikkonen just moments later.

With a quarter of final practice gone, it was FP1 pacesetter Rosberg who moved to the top with the first 1m37s lap of the hour-long session. Team-mate Hamilton bettered his time three minutes later as Vettel went second quickest behind the Briton, both men still far from the leading times from Friday.

Hamilton was first to move into the 1m36s at the half-hour mark, while Rosberg put the other Mercedes in second position ahead of Vettel.

Ferrari drivers Alonso and Massa waited until the second half of the session to complete their first timed laps, the Spaniard moving to fifth spot 28 minutes in with used medium tyres. Friday pacesetter Massa went sixth quickest with his first attempt seconds later.

The soft tyres made their appearance with less than 20 minutes left, with Rosberg and Raikkonen the first of the frontrunners to try the yellow-marked rubber.

The German, however, aborted his first attempt and complained about excessive bottoming, returning to the pits without setting a time. His mechanics started working on the car immediately and he would not return to the track.

Team-mate Hamilton also slowed down right after posting the quickest time in the first sector, also using soft tyres, but the Briton continued for another run.

Although his first sector was not as strong as before, Hamilton posted the best time of the session with a lap of 1m36.065s which put him over a second clear of the rest of the field at the time.

With most teams eager to save their soft tyres, the action was sparse as the session reached the final 10 minutes. Raikkonen jumped to second with eight minutes to go, but the Finn was still over half a second off Hamilton's pace. He was soon outpaced by Sutil, but the Mercedes driver's time was still out of reach.

Most drivers finally jumped onto the circuit with five minutes left, Alonso setting the fastest time of the day with a 1m35.391s, still slower than Massa's best from Friday. The Brazilian moved to second ahead of Hamilton.

[Katsuya]

Webber moved to the back of the grid as he was unable to provide a fuel sample.

[Troy Maskell]

Webber getting screwed over by his teams screwups....What a shock

[LUKIE]

Webber getting screwed over by his teams screwups....What a shock

MAYBE THEY DID IT DELIBERATELY BECAUSE HE WAS ALL ANGRY ABOUT VETTEL BEATING HIM. FUCK THAT MARK WEBBER GUY.

[Rich]

I may not like Hamilton, but him beating Vettel to third put a big smile on my face, fuck you Seb, fuck you and fuck off.

[Katsuya]

That was a ridiculously close finish. Kimi probably could have been closer to Alonso if it weren't for a few things in that race.

[Rich]

Loved the race, couldn't tell who was going to finish where until after the last rounds of pit stops, a pity that the next race is Bahrain, which tends to be a bit of a snorer

[LUKIE]

Great race.

Fucking Webber. What a cock.