.png "os2 trasparenza (1)")
Fresh from his victory in Silverstone and second place at Nurburgring, Fernando Alonso is preparing for the weekend that will see the Formula 1 circus on stage at the Hungaroring, the last round of the World Championship before the long break in August.
"We are in the final stages of this hectic month of July. I’m in Maranello, where I arrived on Sunday evening directly from the Nurburgring, and tomorrow morning, I’ll leave with the engineers for Budapest. During this short break in between races I have been working, as almost always happens when I’m at the factory, on the simulator to prepare for both this weekend's race and the following ones. Furthermore, I attended several meetings with the technicians and today I also had the opportunity to greet the Chairman Montezemolo and the members of Ferrari’s Board of Directors, who were gathered in Maranello. Montezemolo was as usual very friendly with me and wanted to know everything about how we are preparing for the Hungaroring race".
Ferrari’s growth is consistent:
“It has been a couple of months now that our car has grown in competitiveness and this allows us to constantly fight for a place on the podium. We've improved a lot compared to the very first part of the championship in terms of performance but we still need to make another step forward, I’ve already said it several times. Especially in qualifying we are still missing something: it’s true that in the race we manage to recover but you can't always gain two places compared to the grid position like it happened in Monaco, Valencia, Silverstone and Nurburgring".
The circus is getting ready for the Hungarian heat:
"At the Hungaroring we should have weather conditions more suited to the summer season: thank goodness, because we couldn't take any more of the damp and cold we had in England and Germany! And I'm not just saying this just for me but also for our car: surely temperatures higher than the 13 degrees we had last Sunday are more than welcome. Budapest means something special because it was at this race that I took my first Formula 1 victory in 2003. It was a very emotional day that will always remain in my memory. Just like last year, I will celebrate my birthday on track with Scuderia Ferrari also in 2011. Next Friday I will turn 30: who knows if someone will make me a surprise".
Also Felipe Massa looks forward to the next round.
"I think we can look forward to another good weekend, and also increasing our confidence is the fact that we will again have the Pirelli Soft and Supersoft tyres available, to which our car is normally better suited. In addition, I think we will have more seasonally appropriate temperatures, another factor that we would certainly not mind. The development programme of the car is going on and we should have a few more small changes in Hungary, which hopefully will make us go even faster. Usually at the Hungaroring you always see races with the cars lined up one after the other, but this year I think we will have a few more overtakes. Yes, the main straight is not very long, but I think the combination of the DRS and a high tyre degradation can make it easier when you are behind a slower car. I think the spectators will have a good time, also because we might see different strategic choices than usual".
On Thursday 28 July 2011, on the eve of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Sauber confirmed its current pair of drivers, Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez, for the next F1 season. Team Principal, Peter Sauber, states:
"We are very satisfied with our drivers, Kamui even though it is only his second year as a regular driver in Formula 1, is already taking on the responsibilities that a more experienced driver in the team naturally has. We are happy with him both as a sportsman and on a personal level. We will have the chance to work with him in 2012 and there was never any doubt that this would happen. Sergio has achieved more than can be expected of a rookie. From the first race he showed that he is capable of driving fast all the time. And after the accident in Monaco he showed that he can handle difficult situations. From the beginning we had already signed a contract with Sergio that went beyond 2011. With a rookie it always involves a certain risk, of course, but it has clearly paid off".
On his side, Sergio Perez says that having confirmation that he will be at Sauber for next year will give him an extra boost for the rest of this season.
"Of course it is very nice to have continuity and this way I can prepare intensively with my track engineer for what will be my second Formula 1 season. But for now I am concentrating on the second part of this season. The summer break will be very good for me because since my incident in Monaco it has been a very busy period".
Peter Sauber also confirms that he will keep Esteban Gutierrez as a reserve driver.
"Esteban's career is advancing in steady steps. After the victory in GP3 it was a logical step for him to move up to GP2, where he has now achieved his first victory. Esteban will enter Formula 1 when he is ready for it. We will continue to support him on his way to Formula 1".
On the same day, Gilles Simon resigned from his position as powertrain and electronics director at the FIA and joined PURE as technical director. Simon, who joined the FIA in 2009 after leaving Ferrari, will then work for Craig Pollock's company, which plans to make engines for F1 from the 2014 season. Simon was responsible for Ferrari's engine department from 2006 to October 2009 and will start working for PURE from August.
"Making F1 more environmentally friendly is a personal goal of mine. The engine rules for 2014 will mark the biggest change in this area of F1 in many years. This opportunity to develop engines for PURE is a fantastic challenge which brings me back to my passion, designing engines".
Lotus Team boss Tony Fernandes expects a good comeback from Jarno Trulli, as he will return to the wheel in the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Italian had handed over the wheel to Karun Chandhok in the last German Grand Prix. This year the Italian driver seems to have had problems with his pace and times, compared to his team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen, perhaps due to the lack of feeling he has with the car's steering. In Hungary, a new steering will be used and Fernandes is confident that this will bring out the best in Trulli:
"Jarno will be back in this race and it will be the first opportunity for him to try out the new steering that we have been trying and testing over the past few months. We don't expect miracles from it, but for Jarno it is crucial to give him the feeling he needs to be able to perform at his best. It will be great to see him on track and I'm sure he will give his best alongside Heikki, on a circuit that rewards the best drivers".
Friday, July 29, 2011, in practice 1, Lewis Hamilton topped the leaderboard with a time of 1'23"350 following on from his win at the Nürburgring the weekend before, Sebastian Vettel came second with a time of 1"23"564 and Fernando Alonso third with a time of 1'23"642.
In second practice, Hamilton once again clocked the best time of 1'21"018, Alonso improved on his previous lap with a 1'21"259, and Jenson Button was third fastest in 1'21"322. Both Mark Webber and Vettel failed to impress in second practice provoking Red Bull Racing to break the curfew on working hours in order to make drastic changes to the car. At the end of qualifying, Fernando Alonso stares at the object diffidently for a few minutes, then when he realises it is a gift for his birthday, he graciously thanks it and pretends to like it. The object - a varnished wooden disc, with a metal cylinder in the middle - is a bizarre portrait of him created by a Hungarian artist (Cecilia Andrea Szabò) using the anamorphosis technique: the driver's torso is drawn all distorted on the disc, but one only has to look at it reflected in the cylinder to see it in the correct proportions.
"Leonardo Da Vinci also used this technique a lot".
They explain to Alonso, who seems less and less convinced. After all, he was the one who said he had no particular expectations for his own birthday present.
"It is enough for me that everything stays as it is, I already have everything".
Therefore, he must not have been too surprised either when he saw that his teammate Felipe Massa had not given him a present:
"I wished him happy birthday, though".
Reassure Felipe. Who, on the track, unintentionally went along with Fernando Alonso's wishes, making sure that everything, at least between them, stayed as it was: he came in way behind him in Friday's free practice. During which, little has changed, in general, compared to what was seen at Nurburgring, as the McLaren that won in Germany also seemed to do well here: the best time was set by Lewis Hamilton, the third, behind Alonso, by Jenson Button. Behind, in fourth and fifth position, the two Red Bull Racing cars of Webber and Vettel, who seem to have suffered more than the outcome of the regulatory tussle over diffusers. Friday, however - as F1 rhetoric obsessively repeats - means nothing, since everyone is only doing aerodynamic tests and changing fuel loads.
"So there is no point in talking about it so much".
Smilingly says Fernando Alonso, convinced that his reborn Ferrari will be in the mix on both Saturday and Sunday. In the meantime, it is better to concentrate on the birthday celebrations, which began with Bernie Ecclestone's surprise irruption during the press conference in Spanish (the Englishman was thrilled to have signed the historic agreement with Sky, which from next year will broadcast F1 in England, with a paid service) and ended with a surprise party organised by the team:
"I will stay here with you at least another five years, then we will see".
On the night between Friday and Saturday, Red Bull will decide to take advantage of one of four possibilities to carry out night work on the car. As of this year, in fact, the regulations prohibit carrying out operations on the single-seaters during the night off hours, except to repair sudden failures or avoid reliability problems, granting for these reasons four exceptions during the season.
This extra time spent working on the cars worked for Vettel because he then topped the leaderboard with a lap of 1'21"168, Alonso's fastest lap was 1'21"468 and Button clocked a lap off 1'21"639, Lewis Hamilton who topped the timings in the first two practices could only manage a 1'22"667, the seventh fastest time. A few hours later, the Q1 saw the three newest teams fall out again - the two closely matched HRTs of Vitantonio Liuzzi and then Daniel Ricciardo sandwiched by the Virgin cars of Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Glock. Jarno Trulli returned to his Lotus car and praised the new power steering system, despite being out-qualified by teammate Heikki Kovalainen. Sébastien Buemi was the only man to qualify on the softer compound tyres and ended up in 18th on track, but would start 23rd due to his five-place grid penalty. Buemi decided to not use any of his three sets of super-soft tyres in qualifying to save them for the race. In the second qualifying session, every driver set a lap on the option tyres except two. Lewis Hamilton still managed to take his McLaren into Q3 with the sixth fastest Q2 time on the prime tyres, and Pastor Maldonado, who did not set a timed lap. It was notable that Red Bull Racing and Ferrari needed to use options when Hamilton could use primes. Jaime Alguersuari - a man who had come from far back to score points a few times in 2011, like his teammate did at this weekend set the slowest Q2 time and dropped out on the same row as Rubens Barrichello's Williams. Neither Renault made the top 10, Vitaly Petrov in 12th and Nick Heidfeld in 14th. One Force India and one Sauber failed to make the cut - Kamui Kobayashi (13th) joined Heidfeld on row 7, and similarly Paul di Resta just missed out with 11th. Sergio Pérez opted not to go out in the third part of qualifying, to save tyres and started tenth, alongside the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher, who was again beaten by teammate Nico Rosberg, who qualified seventh. Adrian Sutil continued his improved form to start eighth. Only the three big teams chose to do two timed runs and they occupied the top six places. Lewis Hamilton had a good lap, breaking the 1 minute, 20 seconds barrier for the first time that weekend. After they had all done their first stint, Hamilton was fastest with reigning world champion and championship leader Sebastian Vettel only slightly slower. Vettel improved his lap time on his second run, and took his eighth pole of the season. Hamilton joined him on the front row, ahead of Button, Massa, Alonso and Webber. Adrian Newey plays the wild card and Red Bull Racing regains its wings. Not that they had lost them - as Alonso caustically points out:
"Even a journalist understands that a car that makes ten poles in ten races cannot be called amazing if it also makes the eleventh".
But lately the Anglo-Austrian car had seemed to be struggling a bit. And so Newey, the designer of Red Bull Racing, the man who designs planes with wheels, as many say, decided to keep his men working on the front of Vettel's car overnight. Only since a couple of years, this can no longer be done in F1: if the FIA men see a light on in the garage after midnight, penalties are triggered. However, the regulations provide four possibilities to make an exception to the rule. And Red Bull Racing made use of one of these on the night between Friday and Saturday. The scene was similar to what was seen for a moment during qualifying. Newey's bald head and that of a swarm of mechanics and engineers bent over the back end of Vettel's car until dawn.
"The pole was my way of thanking them. It was a very good session after yesterday's problems, when the others lapped faster than me. We made the right choices. The mechanics worked all night to tune my single-seater. I am absolutely satisfied, now we look forward to tomorrow".
Whether this move is a sign of enviable technical awareness or a successful attempt to straighten out an otherwise difficult period will only be discovered on Sunday, when the race will tell whether Vettel will have dealt the final blow to the World Championship or whether it will be, as far as possible, reopened.
"Neither surprised nor disappointed".
Fernando Alonso lies, at the end of the day. Because the truth is that Ferrari in Hungary was convinced it could aim for the front row and instead found itself starting fourth and with the wrong driver (Massa, for the first time ahead of his teammate). While the right one, Alonso is only fifth. Of course, the men of the Maranello team knew it would be tough, that Red Bull Racing, eleven poles out of eleven races, and McLaren were both very competitive, but in their hearts they also knew that they had made up most of the ground. With a little luck and thanks to Alonso's talent, they were counting on making it. Surprised, then, no. But disappointed certainly. As you can tell by the excessive electricity in the tone chosen by the Spanish driver in his meeting with journalists.
"What do you want? I did the same time three times. Always the same, identical. Evidently that was the limit of the car. The others, on the other hand, waited until the finish to make the fastest lap, as it's right to do when you have the best car".
It is the Spaniard's first version, which turns after a barrage of targeted questions from reporters into:
"Since you want me to say that I made a mistake in Q3, I have no problem with that. I'll let you reflect upon one fact: even taking my three best times from all weekend on the sectors (the three fractions the track is divided into, ndr) and adding them up, I would still have set a higher time than Button, so it still wouldn't have been good enough. I think after the first set of tires being third was a good result: we were starting on the clean side and could attack the pole in the first corner, now that attack becomes more difficult and we have to recover in the first laps and then with the strategy. I lost in the third sector, it was like that all weekend and today as well".
Then, talking about the race he states that it will be the tires that will make the difference.
"We've seen that tyre degradation is important and so I think we won't have less than two or three stops tomorrow and thus as I said it will be a race with a lot of uncertainties".
The Hungaroring has always been a circuit where it is difficult to overtake and even on this occasion it will be like that, according to the Spanish driver.
"It's always a very difficult circuit to overtake, but if at the end you have tyres in better condition than the others it will be an advantage with or without the Drs".
An indisputable fact that crashes, however, with what one perceives when talking to the rest of the team. Stefano Domenicali explains:
"When you see your cars in first place in both Q1 and Q2 it's clear that you think you can get to pole, but we knew it would be very, very difficult to do so: Hamilton had been going very strong all weekend and Red Bull always has something in the bag for Q3”.
The concept of something in the pocket for Q3 is well explained by Alonso.
"They seem to have a magic button: as soon as they push it they start to go faster".
The good thing is that the magic button has a time-limited effect:
"In the race it doesn't work, or they don't push it".
Alonso jokes, strong in the knowledge that, at least so far, his Sunday pace has always been less incisive than his Saturday pace.
"I start on the clean side of the track, the race will be difficult, but let's see how things will be after the first corner".
The finale of the day is all about Felipe Massa. Until Saturday he was the only driver in the paddock who had not yet finished a qualifying session ahead of his team-mate. In Hungary he broke the taboo. By a notch, 0.015 seconds, but he broke it. He is also very good at hiding his satisfaction:
"I am pleased, also because it is important for Ferrari to have two competitive drivers, but the important thing is to finish in front of everyone, not in front of one. We could do a little better, but to lap in 1'19"0 was not so easy. I lost 0.2 seconds in the second sector, but I don't think it changed much, as third was 1'20"0 and I was 1'20"3. We are fourth and fifth, the race will be tough, we saw that Red Bull and McLaren are very fast".
For the race Felipe Massa is very afraid of tyre deterioration.
"The tyres wear out quite a bit here. We have to be smart about strategy and how to use the tyres during the race, surely this will make the race even more difficult".
On Sunday, July 31, 2011, after mixed conditions wreaked havoc in the support races, the Hungarian Grand Prix started with a wet surface. At the start of the race, the track was described as, not very wet, but slippery by Jenson Button; this meant that it would be much more difficult to get heat into the tyres at the start of the race. This also provided dilemmas for the team's engineers, as the conditions were not wet enough to use the full wet tyres, which would disintegrate very quickly if used, while the dry tyres were presumed to not give enough grip. This meant that all of the drivers started on intermediates. Vettel easily established a lead into the first corner, with Lewis Hamilton following in second after spending the first two corners successfully defending from Button in third. The Ferraris and Mark Webber struggled to get off the line on a damp track, the Mercedes cars of Rosberg and Michael Schumacher were fourth and fifth. Alonso and Webber dropped down to sixth and seventh, with Felipe Massa down in eighth followed by Paul di Resta and Kamui Kobayashi. Massa took seventh from Webber early on the first lap, while Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso battled throughout the rest of the lap for fifth, culminating with Alonso passing Schumacher at the last corner. The Ferraris continued their recovery, as Alonso quickly dealt with Rosberg and closed in on Button, but he ran wide at Turn 3, allowing Rosberg to reclaim the position. Massa passed Schumacher, with Webber also following him through. Lewis Hamilton made repeated attempts to pass Vettel around Turns 1 and 2. The World Champion was able to hold him off until the fifth lap when he made a mistake and went wide at Turn 3, handing the lead to Hamilton, and allowing Jenson Button to catch up. Hamilton, now on a clear track was released and started to pull away from the rest of the field and was 5.5 seconds clear after ten laps. Alonso had by then taken fourth from Rosberg again, whereas his teammate Massa spun off on the slippery conditions, rejoining down in 9th. Jarno Trulli become the first retirement with a water leak. As the track began to dry out, Webber was the first to pit for slick tyres and immediately set quick sector times. Button changed to slicks a lap later, but the leading duo of Hamilton and Vettel as well as Alonso stayed out a lap longer. Hamilton was unaffected due to the lead he had built, but Vettel and Alonso conceded places to Button and Webber who were able to pass them before they had fully heated up their slick tyres.
After the entire field had pitted for slicks, the order at the front was Hamilton leading Button, followed by the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber with Alonso, Rosberg, di Resta, Schumacher, Massa and Kamui Kobayashi completing the top ten. Jenson Button won on his 200th GP start, at the scene of his maiden victory in 2006, ahead of the championship leader Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso; Button's race engineer, Dave Robson, standing between Button and Vettel, collected the Constructors' Trophy. Hamilton continued to extend his lead, building up a 9-second gap to Button by lap 20 while Button seemed to be preoccupied in holding back Vettel. However, then Button steadily began to close in on Hamilton whilst simultaneously pulling away from Vettel. Hamilton went to the pits for a new set of tyres, and was still comfortably ahead after Button and Vettel had made their respective stops. While Webber and Alonso fought for fourth, Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa battled for eighth until Schumacher retired with a gearbox problem. Alonso made an extremely early third pitstop for a new set of super-softs in the hopes of emerging onto a clear circuit in an attempt to undercut Webber, but Webber responded by staying out longer and opting for the soft tyres during his stop. Even though this dropped him behind Alonso, it ensured that if the race stayed dry, he would not need to pit again, unlike Alonso. Button and Vettel also chose soft tyres, but Hamilton followed Alonso's suit and ran on the super-softs which meant that he, too, would need a further stop to make it to the finish. The race was interrupted by a brief shower a few laps later, making the circuit slippery again. Hamilton spun at Turn 8, forcing Paul di Resta off the circuit and allowing Button to catch up. Hamilton and Button traded places several times, with the leader being given the first choice for pit strategy. Hamilton prevailed, and elected to return to the intermediate tyre compound. However, the circuit started to dry out again within two laps, forcing Hamilton to make another stop for dry tyres. He was also given a drive-through penalty for forcing Paul di Resta off the circuit.
Elsewhere, Heikki Kovalainen become the fourth and final retirement for the same reason as his teammate, giving Lotus Racing another double failure to finish. This left Button leading from Vettel, as neither had pitted for the intermediates, while Hamilton dropped down to sixth behind Felipe Massa and Webber. Hamilton moved up to fifth when Massa made his final scheduled stop. Hamilton and Webber fought for fourth place, and as the two passed a massively congested midfield pack, Webber got stuck behind one of the backmarkers, allowing Hamilton the opportunity he needed to take fourth. Over half a minute in front of them, Alonso started closing in on Vettel at a rate that meant second place was a possibility by the end of the race, but then suffered another spin and he was forced to settle for third. Jenson Button went on to win the race, his 200th Grand Prix start and the scene of his maiden victory ahead of Vettel in second and Alonso. Hamilton was fourth from Webber, whilst Massa - who had out-qualified Alonso for the first time since the 2010 Belgian Grand Prix - was the final car classified on the lead lap in sixth place. It was the fifth race in a row the driver who started in eighteenth place had gone on to score points when Buemi finished eighth. Di Resta triumphed over a midfield battle for seventh, with Rosberg dropping down to ninth behind Sébastien Buemi, whose teammate Jaime Alguersuari took the final point, whereas Kamui Kobayashi's tyre-saving strategy failed to work and left him outside the points. Only six drivers with full laps, all the others lapped and 88 pit stops: the most complicated race (and incomprehensible for the public following without timing) was won in the end by Jenson Button, who managed to beat Sebastian Vettel and relegated a very competitive Ferrari, that of Fernando Alonso of course, to third place. The one who recriminates is Lewis Hamilton, only fourth ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull Racing and Felipe Massa's Ferrari. Reason? Not just because he dominated the race, but because the mistakes he made on race strategy forced him into five pit stops, which the race officials decided were not enough, forcing him back past the pits at reduced speed for a dangerous maneuver after a spin. In any case, those who think that Vettel, who started from pole and was then beaten, is damning himself, are sorely mistaken: the German in the Drivers' World Championship standings is increasing his lead: he now has 85 points more than Mark Webber, 88 points more than Lewis Hamilton and 89 points more than Fernando Alonso.
In short, the World Championship is practically closed in favour of the German driver. And Vettel is preparing to enjoy the summer break in the best possible way: three weeks of rest before the resumption, at the Belgian circuit of Spa. With this advantage the German could extend his holiday by a few months and still return as World Championship leader. When it rains, Jenson Button wins. It's a fixed rule in Formula 1 now. Because when the asphalt gets wet the wheels slip and the car doesn't stay on the road, then all the classic parameters change and you no longer have to be aggressive but just clever, you don't have to react to what happens but predict it, you don't have to use force but just kindness. In short, you have to be smarter than others.
"What a rain specialist”.
He shields himself with all-British elegance at the end of the race.
"I am just a very lucky guy. I won here for the first time in 2006, it's my 100th Grand Prix and it's a beautiful moment. Thanks to the great work by the team who chose the hard tyres at the right time. It's been a fantastic weekend, the engineers have worked hard to give me the car I have now, over the holidays we'll be thinking about getting ready for Spa in the best possible way".
In fact, the real lucky (as well as good) at the end of this fiery July of racing - three races in a month - was Sebastian Vettel who, despite having stopped winning, two second places and a fourth, still managed to increase the gap to his pursuer, team mate Mark Webber. Behind him, none of the rivals managed to find that bit of continuity needed to seriously consider declaring a checkmate to the king. Once Alonso won, once Hamilton, once Button. This was not exactly what Ferrari's Spaniard was referring to when he called for F1's holy alliance against Vettel, evidently. But the positive aspects of the German's second place at the Budapest circuit do not end there. Vettel also goes on holiday with the knowledge that he has rediscovered that bit of brilliance that he had been lacking recently and that helped give the driver-machine ticket that distinctive trait. Synthesizes Sebastian Vettel:
"I had the potential to win. I struggled in the first part, I had problems in turn two, I realised we had to widen the line. I was OK initially then it was tyre degradation but it was like that for everybody. It was a fun race with the McLarens up front. I had to let Button go, I had more speed, the car had problems with the brakes. Hard to know how it was going to turn out. To finish second today is an important step forward. You could have won but I couldn't. We have to work, the McLarens are strong in all conditions and they have taken a step forward".
Actually, as far as we could tell from the race - one of the most convulsive ever, with the absolute record number of pit stops in the history of Formula 1, 88 stops against Turkey's 82 this year - it doesn't look that way: McLaren's pace seemed superior to that of Red Bull Racing, but this, given the numbers in the standings, means little enough. As for Ferrari, Fernando Alonso's third place and Felipe Massa's sixth were the result of a Sunday of lights and shadows. The car suffered a little from the autumn cold in Budapest, exacerbating that characteristic slowness in getting the tyres up to temperature. The drivers both seemed a little too inaccurate, Alonso for aggressiveness Massa for that strange paralysing saudade from which he now seems chronically afflicted. The engineers got Alonso's early call right, but perhaps he could have done better in his choice of tyres and opted for the Softs instead of the Supersofts, a choice that the team, however, strongly claims even with hindsight. As for the rest of the season, it is Stefano Domenicali himself who explains what the plan is:
"We will push as hard as we can in the next two races, Spa and Monza, then we will see where we stand. Our goal is not to give up until the mathematics condemn us".
Which could happen at the Singapore Grand Prix, not before. The Hungarian Grand Prix, all in all, amidst small and big mistakes by the drivers and the team, confirms that the car is, in any case, up to the level of the two leading ones, or almost.
"During this month Alonso was the driver who scored the most points of all, and this despite the fact that we had the wettest July in history, which forced us to race in the worst conditions".
Domenicali is famously a devotee of the silver lining theory: July's champion Ferrari (copyright Fernando Alonso) did indeed make up ten points on Red Bull Racing, but had lost 99 in the previous three months.
"It was a very special race, with everything that happened at the start, of course we could have picked up a little more, but it was an intense race. We could have fallen into the trap of going in at a certain point in the race, but instead we stayed out and that was the key to recovering some places we lost at the start. In these conditions you try to give your best, I would say that in the end we bring home a satisfying result".
Fernando Alonso added, at the end of the race:
"One more race on the podium, the fourth in a row: we were competitive on four different tracks and, at least in this month of July, with weather conditions that were certainly not favourable to the characteristics of our car. This makes me confident for the continuation of the championship, even if now I can't wait to catch my breath: it has been a very intense and stressful July and I think everyone, especially the team, deserves a couple of weeks' holiday. At the restart I hope to finally have some warmth, even though it will certainly not be easy to have it at Spa. At the start I got off to a good start, but then at the first corner I had some trouble with traction and Michael managed to overtake me. Then there were a few episodes in the first part of the race that caused us to lose precious time, first behind the Mercedes and then behind Webber. At that point we decided to anticipate a stop and thus switch to four pit stops: the move paid off and, in this way, we managed to get on the podium. Of course, the others also had some bad episodes but we were good at staying on track with the dry tyres when it started to rain: at that moment we weren't very fast with the Super Softs but we didn't get carried away and then we switched to the Softs. It was a very interesting and exciting race and I want to congratulate Jenson who celebrated his 200th race in Formula 1 in the best way possible".
Instead, it was a difficult race for Felipe Massa:
"It was a difficult race, with the rain coming and going. My race was ruined by going off the track on lap eight. I slammed the rear into the crash barriers and I was afraid the car was too damaged to continue but my engineer told me I could continue. I lost a lot of time there, and even though I was able to make some good overtaking moves and make up positions, I am still bitter that I wasn't able to fight for the podium as I probably could have done. When it started raining after lap 40 - but also at the beginning - the conditions were very difficult: you absolutely had to avoid the white stripes because they were so slippery, it was like driving on ice. Now we have a bit of a holiday ahead of us: I will go back to Brazil to be with my family and it is always nice to spend time in my country. I am sure that, when I return to Europe, I will start a second half of the championship better than the first".
In that international fair of sporting hypocrisy that is the Formula 1 paddock, this also happens. And that is that the key moment of the season, the one in which Red Bull Racing's rivals - more McLaren than Ferrari, to be honest - will play out their very last chances to compete for the World Championship, is the so-called summer lockout.
Holidays, in other words. Holidays which, it is worth remembering, since testing was abolished for cost reasons, are a must. From Monday morning until the last weekend in August, when racing returns to Spa, the Circus stops. Twenty-eight days within which the teams will have to choose fifteen days in which not to work - Ferrari has chosen the second and third weeks - communicate them to the FIA and keep all equipment immobile. Everything (with the exception of the maintenance facilities) will have to remain switched off, unplugged, including the web connection, to understand each other. The funny thing is that, despite this, the teams have rather ambitious work plans, officially to be carried out in the remaining week and then over the Spa weekend. Ferrari, for example, is announcing a very intense period of work for the production department, the one that materially creates the aerodynamic parts to take to the Grand Prix, for the engine engineers, who will have to refine the use of exhaust gases, and for the aerodynamicists, who will have to study the package for the Italian Grand Prix and the one for the non-European races in the autumn. Red Bull Racing also announced a work plan that is suspicious to say the least: it is simply a matter of reworking the entire diffuser set-up, i.e. the central part of Adrian Newey's original design, which has begun to lose ground, if not ground, then at least confidence, compared to the competition. The same McLaren that has dominated the last two races will be doing a lot of work in Woking, its resurrection came at the end of a very complex work on the exhausts that will now have to be refined, also because as Jenson Button explained very clearly:
"The goal of winning all the next races has become realistic at this point".
All this activity, planned and announced, has annoyed some people. Because in reality the work stoppage in F1 is not the result of an FIA regulation but of an internal agreement within FOTA, the Formula One Teams Association. A sort of gentleman's agreement between the teams made in 2009 to try to limit the costs of a sport that was getting out of hand at the time. Given its nature, there is no kind of external control envisaged, and therefore, in theory, it would not be so difficult to circumvent it. Which, by the way, has in its own way already happened. Red Bull Racing in 2010 spent much more and used many more men than agreed within FOTA (usual gentleman's agreement) to complete the season. In short, it fooled everyone, infuriating all the competition (Michael Schumacher first).
"Honestly, the image of Adrian Newey, a guy who dreams up aerodynamic designs while he sleeps, telling his 250 employees: have a good holiday, get some rest. It's something incredible".