Ferrari’s rage at Formula One stewards and governing body showed no signs of abating on Monday after a European Grand Prix they denounced as a “false race“.
The Ferrari website (www.ferrari.com) reproduced a range of headlines from the international media to highlight.
Formula Chaos’ and how McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton had cashed in at their expense in a safety car incident.
Sunday's European Grand Prix produced a brilliant drive to victory from Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in Valencia. The German controlled the race at will after a hairy first couple of corners and it was a pivotal win. The German can taste a potential world championship again - "We're back on track," in his words.
Vettel delivered a slow and strategic formation lap, and then got off to a perfect start.But he was cautious into the braking zone of Turn Two and a fast-starting Lewis Hamilton tried to seize his main chance to take control of the race.They touched, Vettel was fortunate not to spin, and Hamilton damaged his front wing, which he would be lucky enough to change 'free of charge' under the safety car.
Jenson Button, the British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren Mercedes, and the reigning Formula One World Drivers' Champion, had to settle for second best in the last two races; first which he raced last month in Turkey and the other one in Canada on Sunday. Both the Grand Prix races were won by Button’s fellow McLaren driver, Lewis Hamilton.
The back to back one-two finishes between the two McLaren drivers means that there are just three points which are separating the both of them at the top of the drivers ranking. It is followed by Red Bulls driver, Mark Webber who is just 6 points behind Hamilton and 3 points behind Buttons.
In the constructors table, McLaren is 22 points ahead of Red Bull and at the moment, he is leading the way. No one could have imagined that previous to the race in Istanbul, just over a fortnight ago, Buttons was way behind in the ranking.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel headed Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in second practice at the Canadian Grand Prix as McLaren failed to repeat their early pace.
McLaren had lived up to their billing as pre-race favourites with an impressive showing in the first, morning, session.
But Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were seventh and 11th in the afternoon. Nico Rosberg was third for Mercedes ahead of Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber and Felipe Massa’s Ferrari.
Everyone in the team is really looking forward to going back to Montreal. Not only is it a great city which fully gets behind Formula One when we come to town, but the circuit always produces an exciting Grand Prix. Montreal is one of the few street circuits we race on.
But it is a completely different proposition to somewhere like Monaco because the track is dominated by long, high speed straights. As such, aero efficiency is always at a premium and we will be taking new wings to give us optimum performance.
The layout comprises 15 corners, a mix of low and medium speed, so we also have to find a good balance and grip level, while good traction out of the corners is also important. The stop-start nature of the track is heavy on the brakes so we will have new brake ducts for this race as well. Our target for Canada will be top ten grid slots in qualifying and points finishes for both cars.
McLaren's Formula One racing ace Lewis Hamilton has said that he would not barge team-mate Jenson Button on to the sidelines in his chase to recapture the world title. Hamilton and Button had come close to each other's car during the Turkish Grand Prix, but managed to steer clear of a collision.
The comment also comes after Red Bull team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber locked wheels and crashed out of the race. "Jenson and I both want to win, but not in an aggressive manner. The fighting won't happen with me and Jenson," The Daily Star quoted Button, as saying.
"We got a one-two in Turkey and it was a professional drive from two team-mates. You couldn't ask for more from a partnership. We are both world champions, we're both professionals and we both have a huge amount of respect for each other," he added.
Mark Webber claimed his third straight pole position of the Formula One season at the Turkish Grand Prix on Saturday as the Red Bull team maintained its perfect qualifying record. The Australian Webber edged British McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton while Sebastian Vettel had to settle for third after technical problems in the other Red Bull and championship contender Fernando Alonso had to settle for 12th in a Ferrari after a latest mishap.
Webber now appears poised to complete a perfect May treble on Sunday after winning the other two races this month in Spain and Monaco from the pole. The championship leader Webber struggled in practice on Friday, but on Saturday everything was once again perfect for the veteran.
Q: A question to you all about your Monaco experiences. Varying experiences for different people. Jarno, would you like to start? Jarno Trulli: My Monaco experience has not been very successful this year, probably the worst ever. I had a very bad weekend and I couldn’t turn it around at all. Then in the race also I was very unlucky as I had a bad pit stop where the team was unlucky because one gun didn’t work, so I found myself last after the pit stop.
Then I was following Karun and for more than half the race trying to find a spot to pass him as I was quicker. A few laps to go I saw that he was struggling then I tried and obviously the move was not very successful. We collided and I was glad that no-one was injured.
Other variations included Robert Kubica taking the second Ferrari seat alongside Fernando Alonso, while early season speculation suggested one of the Red Bull drivers could make way for former Ferrari man Kimi Raikkonen, who left F1 last season to try his hand in a rally car.
But like the scorching temperatures experienced across Britain earlier this month, the speculation has also been rained on with Ferrari this week confirming that Massa will remain alongside Alonso, while Webber has been rewarded for his consistency in the best car on the grid this season with a new deal all but signed.
The Texas state capital Austin will host Formula One’s return to the United States in 2012, the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone announced on Tuesday. "For the first time in the history of Formula One in the United States, a world-class facility will be purpose-built to host the event," the Briton told the official formula1.com website. The website said Austin would serve as host city until 2021.
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