In the round-up: The organisers of the Indian Grand Prix believe they have settled the customs problems affecting the race.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Indian Grand Prix organisers deny custom issue (NDTV Sports)
“The organisers of the Indian Grand Prix on Wednesday said that they have “in-principal approval” for custom exemption and they are even ready to pay whatever duty is required to hold the October 30 F1 race.”
Ferrari turn focus to 2012 (BBC)
Stefano Domenicali: “We have stopped the development [of the car]. It is very, very, very, very, very difficult now.”
Bottas conducts Williams aero test (Autosport)
“Reserve driver Valtteri Bottas, who clinched the GP3 championship at Monza last Saturday, was on driving duty during the test, which was due to be held last week but had to be cancelled because of weather conditions.”
“I will not drive in FP1 in Singapore because the team wants to give Adrian [Sutil] and Paul [di Resta] more track time and I understand and accept the decision. […] Hope I can race with Force India but the team will decide it not before December so I must wait.”
Via the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app
Paul Di Resta: “We were fairly aggressive on strategy” (Force India)
“We struggled in general with the car’s performance over the weekend. You can see that our philosophy has changed, and we were benefiting in other races beforehand, at the higher downforce tracks. Monza was difficult and we were fighting all the way.”
Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.
Comment of the day
Rajdeep was at Monza last weekend and posted a huge comment describing his experiences, including this cracking anecdote:
When I was coming out of the Parabolica looking for an exit to get out, I saw a family cycle down in to the pit lane. So I decided to follow them.
However, just a few meters in, I saw all the cars in the parc ferme. There were a couple of marshals who were taking some photos.
I thought I’d take some photos too and went on to lean on the gate to do that. But the gate was unlocked and it opened up just as I leaned on it. The marshals told me to come in and take photos close up. A few other people joined in as well.
It was pure fun! I could’ve got into the cars if I wanted. But I guess that’d have been too much. It was almost ten minutes before someone from the FIA came and told us to get out. But those 10 mins were amazing!
Rajdeep
From the forum
Describe each driver in one word
Happy birthday!
No F1 Fanatic birthdays today. If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
In a poll conducted one year ago today, less than 5% of F1 Fanatic readers believed Sebastian Vettel was going to win the world championship that season.
Mark Webber was the favourite at that point, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.
Calum (@calum)
15th September 2011, 0:10
That’s an awesome experience Rajdeep, I don’t even want to think about the number of users you have made extremely jealous!!
ivz (@ivz)
15th September 2011, 0:15
Wow! A dream come true! Would love to see the photos!
Rajdeep
15th September 2011, 6:12
Here are a few of them
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6183/6147920171_058c6b636e_b.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6209/6147920273_5958a78fea_b.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6189/6147920083_d6de856084_b.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6175/6147920459_868d2a63e6_b.jpg
Christian
15th September 2011, 10:05
Those pictures really don’t do that old banking justice. It’s so incredibly steep!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
15th September 2011, 7:54
I was half torn between wanting to sprint up the start/finish straight or check out the old banking. I opted for the latter. I’m glad I did but damn, Rajdeep had a good 10 minutes there!
BasCB (@bascb)
15th September 2011, 10:16
Rajdeep, that must have really put a crown on your Monza weekend. Great to hear about being that fortunate!
ivz (@ivz)
15th September 2011, 0:11
5% were right about Vettel winning the WDC. What a crazy year, shame its so one sided this year.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
15th September 2011, 6:29
It’s entertaining reading some of the comments in that article. Especially the many comments about Webber’s “dominance” being slightly ahead of Vettel, when you compare it to this year, where Vettel has truly dominated Webber.
BasCB (@bascb)
15th September 2011, 10:17
Yeah, Vettels dominance started more or less at the race right after we had that poll last year, and never really relented!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
15th September 2011, 13:15
I put Alonso down. Oops!
Ishy
15th September 2011, 0:49
Wow I think Rajdeep’s full comment us well deserving of a guest article! Brilliant stuff!
Mark Hitchcock
15th September 2011, 1:06
Agreed. Fantastic comment and sounds like he had a great time!
Bogi
15th September 2011, 6:08
This comment that you are talking about was a cut paste job from the autosport forums.
The guy is yet to post photos that he promised, until that I’ll not believe a word of it.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th September 2011, 8:21
I’ve no objection to readers posting their comments on other sites if they choose to!
BasCB (@bascb)
15th September 2011, 11:08
Bogi, just have a good look at his posts again then http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=154113&view=findpost&p=5284192
Vickyy
15th September 2011, 15:54
Dude, seems like you have something for Rajdeep, I can see one more hilarious post over there
“Pics or it didn’t happen ”
And no prize for guessing for the writer of the post :)
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
15th September 2011, 2:28
Good to see things are doing OK in India.
Becken Lima (@becken-lima)
15th September 2011, 4:44
Post from Adam Cooper in his blog. His take on Hamilton is very interesting:
LINK: http://adamcooperf1.com/2011/09/11/lewis-hamilton-im-definitely-not-happy/
Some readers are not happy with Adam´s opinion on Lewis approach to the press:
I watched the interview, and Lewis avoids only the question about Schumacher’s driving:
http://youtu.be/kU8pRsKiPQk
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 5:02
That’s because a lot of Hamilton’s fans defend him relentlessly. Not just here – I’ve noticed it all across the internet. According to Hamilton’s fans, he’s driving as well as he ever has, there’s nothing wrong with his driving style, and everyone is just ganging up on him because he hasn’t been winning races.
beckenlima (@)
15th September 2011, 14:39
That’s because a lot of Hamilton’s haters are the most vitriolic and ferocious F1 Trolls in the internet. They had borne in the exact moment when Lewis overtaken Alonso and Kubica in the start of Australia 2007.
So, you should understand why the Hamilton fans are over defensive and over sensitive when they see their driver under attack.
Adam confessed in THIS comment that he didn’t see the interview, but heard it — what could have given him a different perspective.
I posted this video and suggested that he (Adam) should WATCH it first to get right conclusions, but he blocked my comment.
Incidentally, Martin Brundle wrote a long post about it and he tought Lewis “handled the post-race interviews very maturely.”
Besides that, Brundle added:
LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/14883755.stm
bosyber
15th September 2011, 8:34
Having read the column and some further comments, isn’t Cooper basically saying that Hamilton needs some media training?
Not sure I’d like that, if the only way a driver can avoid being criticized is to be smartly bland – personally, Button nowadays usually seems relaxed and gives nice answers, but they aren’t always very enlightening when he is unhappy.
Being nice to the journalists is of course fine, but I had rather hear what drivers think, from all of them. I don’t need to read all the old drivers saying how bad that is, nor all the press talking about it as if these guys aren’t also just humans.
In 2009 Button was built up, then halfway through he was called a slacker, then at the end a hero. Maybe the media should look at how they portray human beings, because the interviews with Button also got awkward during that, and understandably so. What do you expect him to say when he knows you are trying to find hooks to criticize him?
Schumacher in his days was just unfriendly and curt, not saying anything, now he laughs, enjoys the driving, and looks at the interviewer knowing where the questions are intending to lead him and shrugs it off. Seemingly nicer, but does he say more about what he feels/thinks? Not really.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th September 2011, 8:49
Reading between the lines of that post I’d summarise it as “journalists hoped Hamilton would put the boot in Schumacher and give them a better headline than ‘Vettel wins again’, but he didn’t”.
Which is just tough. It’s not Lewis Hamilton’s job to sell newspapers.
There are usually other interviews conducted away from the cameras, to give the newspapers some quotes that haven’t already appeared online or in the live television broadcast, so the post may be referring to other remarks from Hamilton.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
15th September 2011, 9:23
100% agree. It’s not like we didn’t know how he felt anyway! One of the many reasons I use this site alone for F1 news.
joey-poey
15th September 2011, 17:06
I agree as well. And honestly, I doubt it’s simply Schumacher’s driving. I can’t imagine a guy would be in the greatest of moods knowing he was held up behind a slower car for the majority of a race he had the pace to possibly claim second in. I know I would be in a pretty sour mood.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
15th September 2011, 9:32
I’m surprised he had enough to time to write about F1 in between talking about his visa problems on twitter. I’ve gradually unfollowed all the major journalists, all they seem to do is whine that they have a job many of us would love to have and then tell us how great the location for a GP is (well lucky you going to the parties, we can’t). Peter Windsor and Keith are the only ones I bother with now.
Given one or two of the responses in the blog criticising him anyway, Hamilton did the right thing by not saying anything. Like bosyber says, if they want insight, maybe they should stop abusing what they’re given.
BasCB (@bascb)
15th September 2011, 10:38
Exactly, althoug I think the Visa problems can be put in a bigger picture of real worries about getting Visa’s even for part of the team personell as well as officials!
(link via @grandprixdiary)
But I really do agree that Hamilton did exactly what we feared he would do after getting slacked for saying improper things at Monaco. He stopped saying things at all.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 5:39
They’re probably keen to avoid a repeat of an episode that happened at Melbourne – a fan somehow managed to infiltrate the Red Bull garage after qualifying and leaned against Webber’s car for a photo … only to crack the engine cover. The car was supposed to be under parc ferme conditions, but the FIA gave them special permission to change the bodywork before the race. It was a bit of a mess.
Mike the bike schumacher
15th September 2011, 5:55
How could an engine cover crack if you lean against it for a photograph? Or is it because Red bull, as I’ve suspected all along provided Mark with a sub-standard car?
I always knew that old Helmut Marko was a twisted old looney. He is a fiend and a sniveling coward. He always wears strangely mismatched clothing with oddly placed stains.
Helmut is a anti-Midas for Mark, for all that he touch becomes valueless and unusable.
Mark must keep a safe distance from this hairy-livered inbred trout-defiler Austrian.
Electric Bob
15th September 2011, 6:17
hahaha! Whats that supposed to mean lol?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 6:31
It means it’s easier to hate him if he’s a sinister and ugly man.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 6:30
Because the person put too much weight on it. They may have been leaning on it or sitting on the sidepod.
If you look a the design of the RB7, there’s a very thin piece of carbon fibre at the point where the engine cover slopes down at the back (look at the shoulder of the bull for that I’m talking about). While the airbox and rollhoop might need to be able to withstand the impact of a roll-over, there is no such requirment for this little tab. If someone gripped it and leaned into it with all their weight, it could fracture.
Electric Bob
15th September 2011, 6:39
Even Alonso was sat on Webber in nuremberg gp, it didn’t crack then, did it?
alonso sitting on webber.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 6:49
Well, the point is, someone got into the Red Bull garage and either sat or leaned on Webber’s car for a photo opportunity and accidentally broke part of the engine cover.
Aussie F1 Fan
15th September 2011, 6:56
No that’s a non-issue. The profile or the sculpturing of the sidepod is aerodynamically so sleek that its impossible to sit on it or even lean against it because you’d lose your balance and fall on the ground.
I suspect there was an attempt to sabotage webber’s car ahead of his home gp.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 7:05
It wasn’t sabotage.
Do you know why Formula 1 cars are so safe? It’s because when they crash, they shatter. We saw it with Lewis Hamilton at Spa. When a car shatters, each piece of carbon fibre that comes off carries some of the energy of the crash with it, taking it away from the driver. The bodywork is designed to crumple in very specific patterns to carry that energy away. So, theoretically, if you put precisely the wrong amount of weight or force on precisely the wrong part of the car, you could break it.
Besides, why would anyone want to sabotage Webber? The incident happened after quaifying, and anyone who saw qualifying knew that Webber was nearly a second slower than Vettel and thus was unlikely to win.
Aussie F1 Fan
15th September 2011, 7:50
They would sabotage Webber to dent his confidence. Red Bull are not new to employing these dirty tricks, no?
Dr(?) Helmut Marko does come across as a suspicious character.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 8:20
Do you know how parc ferme works? The cars are kept inside the garages with special video cameras that are controlled by race control. These cameras are low-resolution, but are equipped with motion sensors that switch the camera views to high-definition when they detect motion. Anyone who entered Webber’s garage would trip the motion sensor and be caught on camera. So if someone got into Webber’s garage, they would have been spotted – and since they had no access to race control, they had no way to alter the tapes. If they disconnected the cameras, the FIA would have been alerted to it. And it would have been headline news. It didn’t. Short of being George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven, they had no way to access and/or alter the video footage of Webber’s garage.
Besides, why would Red Bull sabotage Webber’s car and then report that it was damaged? If they wanted Webber to struggle, they woudn’t have reported it.
You’re intent on explaining away Webber’s poor performances by setting up this massive conspiracy against him. But if that was true, why hasn’t Webber noticed anything after thirteen races? And more to the point, why would he re-sign with them?
Chalky (@chalky)
15th September 2011, 8:52
That made me chuckle.
I have a vision of the F1 fan at Melbourne now being George Clooney with Brad Pitt taking the photo. No wonder the FIA didn’t want anyone to know :D
Aussie Formula 1 Fan
15th September 2011, 8:52
Sabotge need not have happened during parc ferme conditions. Sabotage could have started right in manufacturing at the Red Bull factory in the UK. It has happened before & even Alan Jones acknowledges the fact that mark is a victim of Helmut Marko’s vicious campaign.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th September 2011, 9:00
Sabotage is a very serious allegation, and not one that could be taken seriously for a split second with the proof you are offering, which amounts to less than nothing.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 10:01
Okay, this is the point where I stop taking you seriously. You seem intent on explaining away Webber’s poor performances this year as being the product of a conspiracy within the team against him. However, if you stop and take stock of this, you will see it is a ridiculous – and dangerous – accusation.
For one, Red Bull have absolutely no need to sabotage Webber by giving him inferior parts. The difference between Webber and Vettel can be measured in light years. Maybe Red Bull built the car around Vettel’s strengths instead of Webber’s, but they’re not so different that this would explain the defecit between them. Webber has been behind Vettel all season; sabotage would be completely pointless.
Secondly, you finger Helmut Marko as being responsible for this campaign against Webber. However, Marko’s position within the team is that of managing their young driver program. He has no ability to influence the design or construction of the car; nor can he ensure that compromised parts would always wind up on Webber’s car. Not without Christian Horner and Adrian Newey (at the very least) collaborating with him.
Thirdly, all cars must pass scruitineering four times during the course of a racing weekend: before Friday practice, after FP3, after qualifying and again after the race. The car spends most of the time in between sessions kept in parc ferme. It is impossible to access parc ferme without the FIA knowing about it. And if Red Bull tried to put inferior parts on Webber’s car, it would be discovered at scrutineering. So, tell me – how has one man, Helmut Marko, been able to sabotage Webber’s car for thirteen races this year without anyone noticing? The FIA haven’t picked up on this conspiracy. The stewards haven’t, despite all the scrutineering. And to hear Martin Brundle tell it, the drivers are so finely-tuned to their cars that they can detect even the slightest change in setup, so why hasn’t Mark Webber noticed that his car is compromised?
Finally, there has never been a reported case of a team intentionally sabotaging a car. There has been one case of actual sabotage, and one of negligence. Nigel Stepney was accused of sabotage at Monaco in 2007 when Ferrari found a suspicious white powder around the fuel ports of their cars (it possibly sugar, which would neutralise the fuel). The tampering was found almost immediately, and Stepney was stood down shortly thereafter. His actions were a part of a criminal case brought against him by the Italian courts.
As for the case of negligence, that was Andrea Sassetti at Spa in 1991 when he knowingly sent Perry McCarthy out onto the circuit with a bent steering arm. Sassetti was investigated by the FIA; he was eventually kicked out and Andrea Moda was banned from competition, though that was on an unrelated charge. The point is that the FIA take this sort of thing very seriously. If Red Bull were caught sabotaging a car, they would be susceptible to criminal liability and very likely kicked out of Formula 1 and banned from ever competing again. It would likely be one of the biggest scandals in sporting history. So why would Red Bull risk all of that for the sake of slowing Mark Webber down a little to allow Vettel to win?
So, to hear you tell it, there is this vast conspiracy whereby one man sabotages a competitior and repeatedly risks that competitior’s life all on his own when he has neither the power or position to do it, and without anyone noticing after over a dozen races despite the propensity for criminal charges to be levelled.
Could it be that Mark Webber has the same car as Vettel and is just natrually slower?
Aussie F1 Fan
15th September 2011, 6:44
Why would someone want to sit there lol? I mean they would just slide down and fall, wouldn’t they?
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
15th September 2011, 7:58
Crikey, you’re getting a hard time here PM! I remember this happening.
Security isn’t as tight as you would think. A little kid kept squeezing through the fencing on Thursday for the pit lane walk. He could have caused all sorts of damage given how relaxed everyone was! He only slipped back under of his own accord.
BasCB (@bascb)
15th September 2011, 10:44
I think at the time it was reported, this was a VIP guest at Red Bull actually, so that explains how they got in their in the first places.
But I guess what you write Andrew, and the COTD show that security might be tight, it does not mean there is now way through. As there is always.
Mike the bike Schumacher (@mike-the-bike-schumacher)
15th September 2011, 17:32
Oi you stole my user name mate!
Alianora La Canta
15th September 2011, 19:34
Because things made from carbon fibre are like eggs. Very strong in one direction, very weak in directions they’re not designed to be resiliant in. The engine cover is designed to take lots of energy head-on from airflow, not masses of inward energy from a human leaning on it.
I’ve heard of sidepods getting broken in previous years because some celebrity sat on the wrong part (fortunately after the car in question had been replaced by a newer model and while it was still possible to get replacement parts).
Robyn
15th September 2011, 8:52
What I read about that was that the fan was on a VIP garage tour at the time: here’s the article.
Sorry, I was barely able to type that, I was laughing so hard at the idea of Helmut Marko making sure Webber’s car’s bodywork is just a bit more brittle than Vettel’s, as some here are suggesting…hahahahahaha…
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 8:58
Allow me to just say this: HA!
Sush Meerkat
15th September 2011, 10:39
How did the Red Bull engine cover crack?, everyone knows it should have flexed….
badumtish!
KaIIe (@kaiie)
15th September 2011, 8:27
Nice to see Bottas getting some driving done in a F1, even if it’s just a straight line test. Hopefully Williams will keep their promise this year and he does a few days in the young drivers test after Abu Dhabi (last year he was supposed to drive, but it didn’t happen).
Oh, and the Finnish media is reporting that Kimi Räikkönen visited Grove (Williams factory) last week. So next year they’ll have two Finns :P
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th September 2011, 21:07
Interesting little titbit there, I wonder if anything will come of it.
BasCB (@bascb)
15th September 2011, 21:46
He might end up driving a Jaguar in endurance races!
HounslowBusGarage
15th September 2011, 9:28
That’s a fairly depressing article about Ferrari from the BBC site. I appreciate that they have to be realistic, look forward and develop for next year, but Domenicalli’s mood seems unnecessarily tragic.
“It is very, very, very, very, very difficult now.”
Maybe he just got a ********** from Luca.
BasCB (@bascb)
15th September 2011, 10:50
I don’t see it as that depressing. Sure its disappointing that Ferrari has found the update they had for Spa onward to be of little use, and that was the last big package planned for the year.
But on the other hand its good to see they will still be bringing parts to test ideas that might bring something this year when evolving from the 2012 car ideas they have. A lot better than really stopping development and focus no the next car, only to see that one disappoint as well, like they have been doing for the past 3 years now.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 13:18
Well, they didn’t win at Monza. I’m surprised the Italians didn’t declare three days of mourning.
HounslowBusGarage
15th September 2011, 20:42
Lol.
Funkyf1
15th September 2011, 11:29
I still bemused at how PM put so much effort into that response! Passion!
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
15th September 2011, 15:12
Thank you. I aim to please.
And there’s nothing that irritates me more than someone who refuses to accept reality.
Fixy (@)
15th September 2011, 15:39
Ferrari’s focus on 2012 will make them lose 2nd place with Alonso in the standings. They’ll remain the third team again, at the end of ’09 they focussed on ’10 and finished third. This year, third.
Cort X-6
15th September 2011, 15:44
Nico Rosberg & Hispania to miss Indian GP? This is getting beyond ridiculous..
LINK
Why particularly Rosberg? Because someone played the Britney joke again?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th September 2011, 15:56
Let’s not ignore the bit that says “according to the rumour mill and speculative stories online”.
K. Chandra Shekhar
15th September 2011, 15:57
I think the politicians didn’t receive any kick backs that why the fuss.
GameR_K (@gamer_k)
15th September 2011, 20:29
A politician better than Bernie? Nope, hence they didn’t get the cut. But you statement is so true
JohnBt
16th September 2011, 2:52
India has been labelled as one of the most corrupt country in the world. Sad though.
The common term used is ‘Baksheesh’.
JohnBt
16th September 2011, 2:46
Much better to have F1 cars then cows on the tracks. LOL.