Vettel back in front with Bahrain pole

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel returned to the front with his first pole position of the season at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Vettel’s lap of one minute, 32.422 seconds earned the Red Bull Racing driver his thirty-first pole in Formula One. The German edged out championship leader Lewis Hamilton by a margin of under a tenth of a second.

Mark Webber lines up in third ahead of Jenson Button, while Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg had to settle for fifth.

Despite setting the practice pace, Mercedes had a disappointing qualifying session. Rosberg elated to do a single Q3 run that was only good enough for fifth fastest. As for Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion was eliminated in Q1 with an issue with the DRS.

Daniel Ricciardo gave Toro Rosso huge encouragement with his career-best sixth on the grid, in front of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus and Sergio Perez’s Sauber.

As for Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard choosing not to do a Q3 flying lap in the Ferrari, saving a set of Pirellis for the race.

Paul di Resta was likewise and even though Force India missed out on Friday afternoon practice session, di Resta was able to deliver the result needed in qualifying.

The pair will share row five, with Alonso five positions ahead of his Scuderia team-mate Felipe Massa.

Schumacher’s exit in Q1 was the biggest shock in qualifying. It came down to an issue with the Mercedes adjustable rear wing and a supreme lap from Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen.

With track conditions rapidly improving, early Q1 times did not prove sufficient. Both Red Bulls were on the edge of elimination, as did Sergio Perez, but in the end it was Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne – for a third straight race – and Schumacher who ended up on the wrong side of the cut-off.

Vergne may face further trouble after the qualifying as television replays suggested he missed a call to the weighbridge in Q1.

Schumacher was not the only world champion making an early departure from qualifying, as Grosjean’s progress into Q3 came at the expense of Lotus team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who will start in P11.

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India could not match their team-mates’ form and will line up in P12 and P13 respectively.

It was a tough session for Williams too, with Bruno Senna only P15 while a KERS issue preventing Pastor Maldonado – who was already facing a five-place gearbox change penalty – from running in Q2.

While at the back, Marussia was nearly three seconds off Kovalainen’s pace, as Charles Pic outqualified team-mate Timo Glock for the first time – the German ending up behind Pedro de la Rosa’s HRT as well in P23.

Qualifying times from Bahrain:

1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m32.422s
2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m32.520s
3.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m32.637s
4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m32.711s
5.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m32.821s
6.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m32.912s
7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m33.008s
8.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m33.394s
9.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                No time
10.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   No time
11.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m33.789s
12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m33.806s
13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m33.807s
14.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m33.912s
15.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m34.017s
16.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m36.132s
17.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m34.865s
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m35.014s
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m35.823s
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.683s
21.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m37.883s
22.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       No time*
23.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.905s
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m38.314s

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

107 per cent time: 1m40.380s

15 thoughts to “Vettel back in front with Bahrain pole”

  1. After a difficult start to the 2012 season, Sebastian Vettel is back at the front after taking pole position in Bahrain. Sebastian Vettel has commented that this result was a tribute to the team’s progress. Autosport.com has the story.

    Sebastian Vettel said his first pole position of the 2012 Formula 1 season was a tribute to his Red Bull team’s efforts to get back on the pace after a tough start to the season.

    Red Bull and Vettel dominated the 2011 campaign, but had struggled to match McLaren – and at times, Mercedes as well – in the opening three rounds this year.

    The team had looked more competitive all weekend in Bahrain, and Vettel underlined this by returning to pole position, while his team-mate Mark Webber secured third.

    “Obviously it feels great and this one I will give to the team and the guys,” said Vettel.

    “It wasn’t an easy start to the season for us – surely a lot of expectations but more than anything it was what we expect from ourselves. It did not match our expectation.

    “We worked hard on the car, trimming here and there to find the right way forward. The boys did not have much sleep the last few races – a tough race in China and here a serious lack of sleep, so I’m happy to be on pole.

    “Both of us owe the result to the team. The car felt better all weekend. I did not have the best early part of qualifying in Q1 and Q2, but knew when I got lap in we could nail it – so I am very happy.”

    Vettel had reverted to an older specification exhaust package as a one-off experiment in China, which he said had been a valuable element in getting back on the pace this weekend.

    “The balance I had in particular in the first two races, I was not happy [with], so we decided in China to go back and see where we were, and Mark wanted to carry on [with the newer package],” said Vettel.

    “It was good to get a straight comparison. We found the new car and new package, and old package has its advantages. We ended up with the new car. I think it helped us going into this weekend, trying to set up the car, working with the tyres – which seems to be tricky this year.

    “So we have felt a bit happier all around.”

    The reigning champion added that he expects Red Bull to be stronger still in the race.

    “I think it is always tough, the race here is long and a lot of things can happen,” said Vettel. “We are pretty aggressive and we should be better off in the race.

    “Race pace has proven to be pretty consistent in the last couple of races. At this one I am definitely happier with how the car feels.”

  2. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton was content with qualifying despite missing out on the top spot to reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel. Autosport.com has the details.

    Lewis Hamilton said he was delighted with his front-row slot in qualifying in Bahrain, despite missing out on pole position.

    The McLaren driver, who has started from the top spot twice this year, qualified less than a tenth behind Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.

    Hamilton felt he had extracted the best from his car and was pleased with his performance.

    “I am happy with the performance of the car and performance of the team and I am happy with the laps we are doing, eking out everything I can from the car,” Hamilton said.

    “Today I was not able to get pole but being on front row is a great feeling – at the last race we were not able to start on the front row. It will be a tough race. We will do everything we can to be right up there.”

    The Briton said the strong wind had made the conditions very tricky during the session.

    “The wind is like I don’t remember from any circuit other than Barcelona, it is tricky – with positives and negatives on certain corners. It is not easy to get it right, but some of us do and some of us don’t.”

    And Hamilton conceded tomorrow’s race will be extremely tough, with tyre degradation expected to have a big impact.

    “It is going to be massively hard tomorrow. We had good races here. I think we have a better chance this year to fight the Red Bulls in the race, the race pace has been a bit quicker in the last couple of races, but we have made some improvements.”

  3. Red Bull’s Mark Webber was surprised by the pace of the RB8 in the qualifying session at Bahrain. Autosport.com has the story.

    Mark Webber has admitted his surprise at the pace of the Red Bull RB8 after qualifying third for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

    Webber, who currently lies fourth in the drivers’ world championship standings, was in the hunt for pole position for the first time this season.

    And with team-mate Sebastian Vettel claiming the top spot for tomorrow’s race, the defending champion enjoyed its strongest qualifying showing of 2012.

    “I’m pretty surprised to be as competitive as we are at a track that is demanding at what are not our strengths, but it is good for the guys,” Webber said.

    “It is pretty tough on the tyres here, there were a few surprises yesterday, so let’s see how it unfolds tomorrow. I have been quite all weekend and feel confident for tomorrow.”

    Webber felt that he lost out by running ahead of Vettel on track. The Sakhir circuit is famously dusty and appeared to get quicker the longer the session lasted.

    “I think it is always beneficial if you go a bit latter,” he added. “This track was sensitive all weekend, Seb did a good lap and a good pole.

    “It was a pretty good session, qualifying wasn’t easy for us, the guys did a great job and pretty happy with P3, right up there at the front.”

  4. Despite setting the initial pace in practice, Nico Rosberg could manage fifth fastest in qualifying. And yet the Chinese Grand Prix winner is focused on race pace. Autosport.com has the details.

    Nico Rosberg said he compromised his qualifying performance in order to have a stronger Bahrain Grand Prix race pace on Sunday.

    The Chinese Grand Prix winner looked like one of the favourites for pole position at Sakhir, but in the end had to settle for fifth position, four tenths of a second behind polesitter Sebastian Vettel.

    Rosberg said his Mercedes felt better in race trim, which is why he decided to compromise his qualifying chances, hoping it will pay off on race day.

    “Of course it’s very nice to be disappointed about fifth place – that shows how far we’ve come,” said Rosberg after qualifying.

    “In general we’ve been working towards the race, we just compromised qualifying a little bit to make it possible to do a good race tomorrow.

    “We’ve been improving things all through the weekend and I feel more comfortable in the race than qualifying at the moment.”

    He insisted the key to the race will be to takes care of the tyres.

    “It’s just tyre management. Driving carefully,” he said.

    Rosberg’s Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher was knocked out in Q1 after suffering a problem with his DRS.

  5. Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen is counting on race tyre gamble after missing Q3 in Bahrain. Autosport.com has the story.

    Kimi Raikkonen is hopeful his qualifying gamble will pay off in the Bahrain Grand Prix after deciding to save tyres for the race.

    The Lotus driver opted to do just one run during the second qualifying segment in order to have more fresh sets of tyres for tomorrow. He qualified in 11th position.

    Raikkonen said he could have made it to Q3 easily had he used another set of tyres, but he is optimistic the decision will prove to be the right one on Sunday.

    “We took the risk to try to save one set of tyres and didn’t go out afterwards when we could easily get in [to Q3],” said Raikkonen.

    “We thought it was worth it to save the tyres, so we’ll see what happens.”

    The Finn admitted the tyre situation in Bahrain will be hard to handle in the race.

    “It will be more difficult [with tyres] here than it was in China, but I think everybody has the same issues.

    “That’s one of the reasons why we didn’t go through [to Q3], but hopefully it will pay off tomorrow.”

  6. FIA president Jean Todt does not believe Formula 1’s image will be damaged by the widespread critical media coverage the Bahrain Grand Prix has received this weekend.

    Speaking on the back of the events in Bahrain becoming headline news throughout the world, Todt said he was ‘saddened’ by the way some sections of the media were portraying what was happening in the Gulf State.

    However, he believes that F1’s brand is so strong that it will not be affected by the negative perception that many people have been left with.

    “I am sorry about what has been reported,” he said. “I am not sure that all that has been reported corresponds to the reality of what is happening in this country.

    “I feel F1 is very strong. I think it is a very strong brand, and I think all the people among the teams to whom I have been speaking are very happy. I was even told it would have been a mistake not to come. Again, you speak to those people. That is what I have been told by most of the team principals here.

    “Unfortunately I did not see so many of those quotes in the media. But I respect the media, I respect what they write, but it is not what I have seen and what I was told by a lot of people to whom I have been talking.”

    Todt thought it important that the FIA dealt only with the facts of the ongoing situation – as he drew short of commenting on the death of a protestor last night.

    “I cannot comment on something where I do not have all the details, and I do not have all the details. So it would be completely [wrong] on my side.”

    However, he said that it was only correct that protests were allowed to take place – as they were part of a country’s democratic process.

    “In any democratic country, protests are allowed. It allows people who want to protest to give their voice – and it happens all over the world. There are some protests in our county where we live, and sometimes we don’t feel comfortable to go – because there can be some protests.

    “What I have seen so far, is a good security control on the roads. And you know, very often, protest does mean damaging and hurting people – it is one possibility of expressing yourself.

    “What is important is to be accurate and to assess properly what is happening. Yesterday, if you look at the media, some are talking about 4,000 people [at the protest], some had 10,000 people. So again, what I was told. I was not there, I did not count the people and I was told by official sources that it was 4,000 people protesting quite quietly, and only three people were slightly hurt out of that. And that is something you can avoid.”

    He added: “If you go to any football field, if you have a protest you will have a minimum of three people who can be hurt. I don’t want to take any kind of example – but it has happened in Britain, in Germany, in France, all over the world. It is something that can happen, but it does not mean we have to stop sport moving along.

    “When you talk to people about the sport, they are very happy and very excited about what is happening. Again talking to people who facilitate that – the marshals: they are delighted and very happy. And for me it is a very good message from the sport.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  7. Despite the off track drama surrounding the events of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the president of the sport’s governing body says majority of Bahrainis are in favour of Formula One race. Autosport.com has the story.

    FIA president Jean Todt remains adamant it was the right decision for the Bahrain Grand Prix to go ahead – and thinks it would be wrong to call off the event because a minority are protesting against it.

    Despite widespread international media coverage questioning the merits of Formula 1 going ahead this weekend amid safety concerns, Todt said on Saturday that the protests that have taken place are not justification for considering its cancellation.

    “I would be very annoyed if it was a majority of people,” he told selected media during a briefing about the ongoing protests. “But, at the most, it would be 10 per cent of the people who would be anti. So do we have to penalise 80 or 90 per cent of the population because 10 per cent are against? My answer is no. My answer is that it is a strong majority of people [who want the race].

    “Unfortunately there is much more media attention, again rightly or wrongly it is not for me to judge, on emphasising this minority. I am sure in your community it is the same: you have a lot of people who think some people are fed up, so they say let’s go and concentrate on the sport. That is democracy, but most of the people are in favour of having life moving on, the sport moving on, and they enjoy the sport.”

    Despite Force India withdrawing from practice two because of safety concerns about getting back from the track after dark, and some F1 personnel getting caught up in clashes between police and protestors, Todt says he had had no indication that competitors are generally worried about the situation – which he likened to football violence.

    “To say that there has not been some controversy around the happening of Bahrain would be the wrong allegation around my side,” he said.

    He added: “I sympathise with people who have some emotions but we have to deal with facts. I spoke with Peter Sauber this morning and I don’t want to betray his words, but he said he felt as comfortable here as he would at any other place in Europe. So, that is where we asses our judgement to be at the moment.”

    Todt also dismissed any suggestion that the Bahrain authorities had politicised the event by promoting it under the slogan ‘UniF1ed’.

    “I really want to be away from any political consideration – because I said it is not the job of the FIA nor any international federation,” he said. “You saw that with the Olympic games in 2008 in Beijing. It has happened in FIFA, with the football games.

    “We have to be out of that, and everybody should be out of that. It is a sporting event. Then, if the sporting event is helping to heal the situation it is very good for the sport. I saw some fantastic quotes from Nelson Mandela talking about how good is the sport to cure problems around the world. And if we do that, I would be honoured and proud that F1 may have contributed to that.”

  8. Jenson Button believes there will be a silver lining to his disappointing Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying performance as he was able to save a set of tyres for the race.

    The McLaren driver abandoned his final Q3 lap when it became clear the handling was not to his liking and he would not be able to improve. That left Button fourth on the grid.

    “Fourth place is not all I’d hoped for, but it’s always a horrible feeling on that last lap in Q3 when the balance isn’t quite where you want it,” he said.

    “I couldn’t get the best out of it and I pitted early, which isn’t a bad thing.

    “Less laps on all tyres, I think is a positive. And P4 is not a bad position.”

    Button will start behind the resurgent Red Bulls and his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The 2009 champion said he felt it was good for Formula 1 to have Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber back at the front – the Red Bull duo having qualified first and third, sandwiching Hamilton.

    “It makes the race a lot more fun,” said Button. “I’m looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.”

    He added that he had been anticipating Red Bull to be a contender in Bahrain after practice, but was surprised to outqualify Chinese GP winner Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes, which will start one place behind the McLaren.

    “We were expecting the Red Bulls to be very quick in qualifying, and we’re close to them,” said Button.

    “And the one surprise is that we’re ahead of Nico. That’s quite nice.

    “It’s weird, isn’t it, F1 at the moment? It’s exciting, but difficult to understand.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  9. Heikki Kovalainen says Caterham’s Q2 appearance in Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying was a vindication for the team. Autosport.com has the story.

    Heikki Kovalainen said Caterham always believed it could get into Q2 in Bahrain, after claiming the team’s best qualifying result of the 2012 season so far with 16th on the Sakhir grid.

    It was the first time Caterham had progressed beyond the first part of qualifying since the team rebranded itself from its former Team Lotus identity this year. The squad’s last Q2 appearance came at Spa in 2011.

    “We thought that with the conditions today, being hot and pretty windy, we might be able to use the option tyres to get us into Q2, and it worked out,” said Kovalainen.

    “We’ve also saved a set of tyres for tomorrow, and with the degradation rates we’ve seen yesterday and today it’s clear tyre management is going to play a big role tomorrow.”

    The Finn described the result as a vindication for Caterham after it had appeared to fall short of its goals for 2012 in the opening grands prix.

    “We’ve worked really hard to put ourselves in a position where we can fight and today we showed that we are close enough to record results like we did today,” said Kovalainen.

    “We made progress over the winter, and even though we haven’t really shown it yet this season, today’s the sort of result we knew we could put in, so it’s a great day, for everyone in Caterham F1 Team back at the factory and here on track.”

    Caterham technical director Mark Smith said the performance represented clear steps forward.

    “This morning we had a very good FP3 and the work we have done overnight has paid off with Heikki’s result today,” he said.

    “Everything on his car worked as we had planned and this is a clear sign that the whole team is making progress.”

    Kovalainen’s team-mate Vitaly Petrov was 20th after struggling to make the most of his soft tyres, but will gain a place from Pastor Maldonado’s grid penalty.

  10. A problem with Schumacher’s DRS left the seven-time world champion down in a disappointing P18. But Mercedes remain optimistic that he will have a good race on Sunday despite a low grid position. Autosport.com has the details.

    Mercedes remains confident that Michael Schumacher can still have a good Bahrain Grand Prix despite a disastrous qualifying session leaving him 18th on the grid.

    The seven-time champion suffered a DRS problem in Q1, then found his early time insufficient to keep him inside the cut-off for the second part of qualifying. Schumacher had returned to the pits so that the issue could be fixed for Q2.

    Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug said that with the pace Schumacher had shown so far this year, and as the problems had allowed him to save plenty of tyres, he would be well-placed to make progress through the field on Sunday.

    “I feel sorry for Michael, who had the pace for a good starting position, as he has proven with a fourth place and two third places in Q3 at the previous races,” said Haug.

    “A problem with the rear wing mechanism prevented him from getting a good result – but he can achieve this tomorrow.

    “Michael showed good pace during our long runs and he will be well equipped with fresh tyres.”

    Schumacher defended the team’s handling of the Q1 issue, saying pitting to get the DRS fixed made more sense than trying to do another lap without it operating properly.

    “Trying for a lap without DRS on different tyres would not have made sense,” he insisted. “We now have to try to see what we can do from here and push as much as possible.”

    Nico Rosberg qualified fifth in the other Mercedes.

  11. Pedro de la Rosa hailed his HRT team’s progress after putting on his strongest qualifying performance of the season so far in Bahrain.

    The Spaniard, who had failed to qualify for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, managed to finish ahead of the Marussia of Timo Glock and will start the race from 21st position.

    De la Rosa was also just two tenths of a second off Glock’s team-mate Charles Pic, and the HRT driver was delighted with the progress made.

    “I’m very happy, to be honest,” said de la Rosa. “We come from not qualifying in Australia not long ago, so when I saw the times we posted I was glad.

    “For us it’s an important jump and, sincerely, at such a complicated track for us as this one, we didn’t expect to finish ahead of one Marussia, so that’s satisfying.”

    De la Rosa, however, conceded the race will be very tough because of the tyre degradation.

    “Tyre degradation is high and tomorrow I will have to find the compromise in the first part of the sector in order to have enough rubber for the last one to maintain some grip.

    “We know that the race will be a three-stop or four-stop one and that we’re going to struggle, but so will everyone else so we have to go for it and do the best we can.”

    Team-mate Narain Karthikeyan qualified at the bottom of the grid, but the Indian was also delighted with the improved form of his team.

    “Yesterday was a big struggle for me. We had a tough morning but later improved. Today we made some good progress and in qualifying the car was quite good. In sector two I had a misfire on my fastest lap, at Turn 12, which cost me a bit of time.

    “The amazing thing is that we haven’t done much to the car but we’re quite close to the group ahead of us and that’s very positive.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  12. Toro Rosso driver Daniel Ricciardo has commented the car’s new updates has definitely made it more competitive. Autosport.com has the details.

    Daniel Ricciardo said the updates that Toro Rosso brought to China worked a lot better in Bahrain, having qualified in sixth position.

    The result represents a significant improvement after Ricciardo struggled in China, qualifying and finishing 17th.

    “We had a below average week in China with some updates we brought. We persisted with them and made them work significantly better here,” he said.

    The Australian is now focusing on the race and on trying to score as many points as possible.

    “Tonight we will be looking at all our strategy options regarding tyres. I have to focus on scoring as many points as possible. I hope I am still smiling tomorrow evening.”

    Chief engineer Laurent Mekies said the team has now understood the problems that it suffered from in China.

    “We seem to have understood the reasons why we were quite slow last week in China.

    “Daniel has secured a fantastic result after driving very well all weekend. Daniel will have a very tough fight up there, but whatever happens it is important to put last week behind us,” he said.

    Ricciardo’s team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne did not progress beyond Q1.

    “I do not understand why I was slow this afternoon. I am keen to get back to the engineers to look at the data and find out why I could not deliver the performance.”

  13. Jean-Eric Vergne has been given a reprimand for not stopping at the weighbridge after his qualifying effort at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

    The Frenchman, who was knocked out in Q1, missed the signal to stop, so his car could be weighed as he returned to the garage.

    After speaking to the stewards, it was decided that he would receive a simple warning for his behaviour rather than being moved down the grid or excluded.

    The FIA said that the reason for the reprimand was that “upon realising the error, the team, under supervision of a scrutineer, brought the car back to the FIA garage.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  14. Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn urges Formula One to reflect on the controversial decision to race in Bahrain. Autosport.com has the story.

    Ross Brawn has urged Formula 1 to make time for quiet reflection about the decision to go ahead with the Bahrain Grand Prix, on the back of the troubles experienced this weekend.

    With F1 teams now fully focused on Sunday’s race, Brawn suggested that with team personnel having been caught up in clashes, criticism of the sport in the worldwide media and violent protests that have led to a death, it was important the sport asked itself if it did the right thing in racing here.

    “I think we are here now, and after this event we need to sit down and discuss it,” he said when asked by AUTOSPORT if there was a risk the negative headlines this weekend had damaged F1’s image.

    “We are committed to this race, we are having a race, and after the race with proper judgement of what happened and what we saw, we need to come to a conclusion.”

    Brawn did speak out, however, about comments made by British Labour politicians in recent days calling for the race to be called off – and dragging drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button into the row.

    “I find it very frustrating that politicians in the UK were saying that we should withdraw once we got here,” said Brawn. “Why didn’t they say that beforehand?

    “For somebody to try and make Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton determine the foreign policy of a country, is wrong. We know there is a lot of that stuff goes on, but with calm collective analysis after the event we will have a look at it and see.”

    McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh echoed Brawn’s comments that Labour leader Ed Milliband and shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s calls to cancel the Bahrain GP were ill-timed.

    “I don’t think it is helpful to wake up this morning to hear we shouldn’t be here when we are already here, so I endorse what Ross says,” he said.

    Speaking about the battering F1’s image may have taken this weekend, Whitmarsh said that teams only had a responsibility to try and do the best job they could on track.

    “I think F1 is pretty good at being critical of itself,” he said. “I think we have had two great championships in the last two years. The last few years have had some fantastic races, and you think of the races we have had this year – they have been fantastic and that is what we can deliver.

    “The sport is a great sport, and that is what we focus on. We are an international sport, we will go around the world, we will race in different places and people will express opinions about where we race and how we race, and why we race.

    “But ultimately we are competitors in the F1 world championship. We turn up and we do our best to try and win races. Certainly last week [in China] was incredible – and those are the things we should be celebrating.

    “There are lots of other things going on in the world that are tragic. But they are not in our control. Our control is making sure that we race well on the circuit.”

  15. Force India has refused to comment on claims that its television exposure during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix was deliberately kept to a minimum because of the team’s decision to skip Friday afternoon’s second free practice session.

    The Silverstone-based team’s screen time during qualifying appeared to be very limited in Q1 and Q2 despite Paul di Resta qualifying in the top 10 in what one team member described to AUTOSPORT as “payback” for the refusal to run.

    Di Resta did not attempt a lap in Q3, but did complete an in- and an out-lap.

    Di Resta himself admitted that he was aware of the comments about what happened, but declined to make any further comment on the situation when pressed.

    “I have seen some stuff on Twitter but I was sat in the car driving,” said the Scot. “So I saw my car.”

    Bernie Ecclestone, whose FOM company is responsible for producing the live coverage, scotched the suggestions that Force India was deliberately ignored.

    He insisted that fans are interested only in frontrunners, hence the lack of Force India screen time.

    “Nobody cares if someone is ninth or 11th,” Ecclestone told Reuters. “Only the people that are watching a particular team.

    “I spoke to our people and they were more or less concentrating on who was going to be on pole, rather than somebody going to be 10th.”

    Source: Autosport.com

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