From next year Mercedes will provide its engines to Williams. The confirmed news went out on Thursday, May 30, 2013, directly form the owner Frank Williams.
"I’m glad to announce our new collaboration with Mercedes-Benz for the 2014 formula 1 season and beyond. Mercedes is one of the most successful engine manufacturers in Formula 1. We are convinced that this collaboration will make us extremely competitive".
The details of the agreement are not known but people are talking about a long-term partnership. The British team is the one that has changed engine suppliers more than anyone else during the last decade: from 2000 to 2005 has worked together with BMW, in 2006 with Cosworth, from 2007 to 2009 with Toyota, then the return to Cosworth until 2011 and then from last year until the end of the current season the partnership with Renault. Toto Wolff, executive director of Mercedes, says:
"We are hoping to celebrate a lot of successes together in the next years".
The former Austrian driver is also Williams’ shareholder and his wife Susie is one of the test pilots of the British team. The German society has thus ensured the possibility of continuing to work with at least three F1 teams (the others being Mercedes itself and Force India) after the divorce from McLaren, who from 2015 will return to use the Honda engines. In the meantime, waiting for the trial (and the verdict) against Mercedes for the Barcelona tests, the tension rises between FIA and Pirelli, the only tires supplier for the F1 Championship. Everything starts in the formal request for information which the FIA sent to Pirelli on Tuesday , May 28, 2013, an attempt to understand what happened the week after the Spanish Grand Prix, when, according to what emerged until so far, Mercedes has performed 1000 kilometers of testing. This request greatly irritated the Pirelli men, already struggling in these hours with the difficult management of the 2013 product, and engaged in negotiations for the renewal of the contract for 2014. In Milan they say they are annoyed above all by the communication of the request, which effectively puts the company in the dock and exposes it critically further, at least in terms of image. The situation, moreover, is very delicate. Mercedes, one of the most important manufacturer on the world, the only that made important investments in Formula 1, risks quite a lot, even the disqualification from the World Championship (although a fine or a penalty is much more likely), given that testing is expressively prohibited by the regulation. And yet, apparently, there are a series of agreements, almost all protected by industrial secrecy, which provided for some exceptions, as long as they were authorized by the FIA.
Well, the point is: what did the FIA really know about those tests? Pirelli and Mercedes claim the FIA knew everything. The version of Jean Todt’s men is different: to a specific request from Pirelli, the FIA would have responded that the important thing was to give all teams the same opportunity. Stop. Which, apparently, was not done, if it is true that as soon as the news spread around the paddock, many teams seemed disconcerted, especially Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, the two teams that could now find themselves a new unexpected rival. And it is no coincidence that the request for clarification came from Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. The Maranello-Paris line is hot in these days dominated by the noisy silence of Luca Montezemolo: the Ferrari president, always at the forefront in the battle for the reintroduction of tests, may have found, in his trouble involving Mercedes, FIA and Pirelli, a very persuasive argument. Attacked from many quarters for the surprised test carried out with the 2013 Mercedes from 17 to 19 May, 2013, tire tests for a thousand kilometers with a car which during the World Championship by regulation should go on track only on race weekends, Pirelli , five days after the case that broke out in Monte-Carlo, defends itself fighting back. And it does so through a long press conference in which it rejects every accusation, as well as providing new details on the test carried out in Spain and the reason that pushed it to behave in a certain way in the next Canadian Grand Prix, with new tires available of the teams only on the Friday of free practice. Waiting to come into play officially in the following race, on June 30, 2013, at Silverstone. Pirelli, in the words of technical manager Maurizio Boiocchi and head of sporting activity Paul Hembery, states:
"The target of the test carried out with Mercedes was developing tires that will be used in 2014, provided that our agreement with the FIA is renewed, and which will never be seen in this season’s Grands Prix. Those were blindly tests, Mercedes did not know what they were trying, neither at the end of the three days received information on the results, data that is confidential, belongs to us and destined to remain secret. Mercedes has not gain any advantages from these kilometers on the track and those who, taking advantage of the result obtain in Monte-Carlo, have lavished suspicion and venom, forge that already in 2021 the German car had done very well on that circuit, which deteriorates little tires, and therefore what happened on Sunday in terms of performance can in no way be considered a surprise. The problem is that we, since March 12, 2013, made clear to the teams that we would like to do tests of a thousand kilometers with each of them, always blind tests, useful only for our development work, and which almost no one had given us availability. Now we are back on the task, because in 12 weeks we will have to provide the data for the 2014 cars, drastically different single-seaters, because they are subject to significant regulatory changes. We wanted a team, without necessarily asking for a 2013 car, but still a significant car, to try to have solid development bases for 2014 and Mercedes offered itself. We didn’t use our old Renault, because it was in the Philippines for a demonstration and in any case is four seconds slower that current cars, a more recent Mercedes could have helped us more. They told us that we would make the two starting drivers, Rosberg and Hamilton, available. And that, not being able to give us the 2011 car, they would provide us with the new one, after having informed and asked for permission from the FIA. They weren’t secret tests, because we put up our logos, we knew that someone in the audience could photograph the event, we rented the circuit and then in broad daylight we paid for it. It wouldn’t have made sense to convene all the teams and test every specification. Without revealing the results we have collected. When we can make them known, we will inform everyone in the same way, including Red Bull and Ferrari who have forwarded a protest to the FIA against these tests".
Rather, the problem is another one for Pirelli.
"We need tests to develop the tires during the season, we would like to do kilometers on track with all teams, tests with clear rules, shared by each teams. An even more pressing need if we think of the 2014, where with the FIA and the teams we already agree to have a less aggressive approach, with that last longer, leaving more room in the decision of the result of the cars, since already the cars, with the new turbo engine, will have to undergo a real revolution".
Another issue is the degradation that occurred in the first races of 2013, that worried Pirelli a lot. The company points out that the problem was not about the safety of the pilots:
"But our image, damaged by repeated cases. We had fourteen tires with cuts that reached the belt, they are not showy, they did not produce deflation of the tire, they did not reach the tire tread, but they still represent a problem and even the teams agree on the need to solve it. We think we have found a solution, but it has nothing to do with the Barcelona tests, we pulled it out in the laboratory, recreating the same defects found in the offending tires and working on it, and now we will test it in Canada".
Where the new tires will be tested on Friday, and then remain in stand-by until Silverstone.
"We will ask the teams their opinions after the free practice, we think that their indications are also very useful to eliminate the problem".
Without prejudice, Pirelli assumes, that the philosophy of the tires will not be changed.
"The only precaution is on the hardest tires, to try to stay within the three pit stops in each race. But we can’t change the nature of the tire without the unanimity of the teams and at the moment this is not here. Some teams have pointed out that, on the basis of the tires, they have carried out particular design developments and they don’t want to run the risk of a lowering of performance. So no radical change in the run. Although at the end we remain convinced of one thing: regardless our tires, the World Championship will be won by the best driver and by the best car".
Pirelli rejects every accusation.
"Mercedes did not get any advantages from the test with our tires on May 17-19 in Barcelona. The tires used were the 2014 ones, they will never be used this season. In addition, the data remained confidential, we did not give the data to the teams, they tested blindly without knowing the characteristics. As for the fact that the 2013 car was used and not the 2011 car, Mercedes said that they warned and agreed with the FIA. This is something that does not concern us".
The FIA itself lets everybody know that the trial remains and that soon Mercedes and Ferrari will be listened.
But Pirelli insists:
"For us is a need to carry out the development tests in function of 2014, when the cars will be drastically changed with the turbo engine and new regulations. We would be happy if they could be introduced and disciplined these tests with all the teams".
Pirelli points out that the solutions found on the frequent degradation are not the result of track work, but are the result of lab work.
"The tires that we are going to bring in Canada, tried only on Friday, and that will be used from the next Grand Prix, the British one, no one has ever saw them. They are going to solve the lack, but they will not have a new philosophy. For a radical change of the tire we need the unanimous yes from all teams, something that we don’t have".
Nevertheless. The Mercedes case doesn’t calm down. The FIA continues the investigation on the test that took place with the 2013 car and the 2014 Pirelli tires, and summons the men of the Anglo-German team, but also the Ferrari for one of its test. The Maranello team replies:
"One team violated the regulation. The art.22 does not allow the use of the 2013 car for some tests and we did not do that".
Sunday May 5, 2013, the Federation officially closes the investigation on the secret tests regarding the hypothetical involvement of Ferrari. The Maranello teams had been asked for information on 1.028 kilometers of tests carried out in Barcelona in the days following the Grand Prix. According to what the FIA understands, therefore, those kilometers were used by Ferrari and Pirelli only to perfect this season’s tires. In the same statement, the FIA announces that it has decided to take Mercedes together with its sole supplier Pirelli before the International Court on Paris. According to the accusation, Ross Brawn’s team would have carried out 1.000 kilometers of tire tests with the 2013 car, thus using the testing window reserved for tire development to make improvements to this season’s car. The Anglo-German team now risks a penalty or a heavy fine. In the meantime, Stefano Domenicali is looking carefully at the next Canadian Grand Prix, the seventh round of the Formula 1 World Championship:
"The only precaution is on the hardest tires, to try to stay within the three pit stops in each race. But we can’t change the nature of the tire without the unanimity of the teams and at the moment this is not here. Some teams have pointed out that, on the basis of the tires, they have carried out particular design developments and they don’t want to run the risk of a lowering of performance. So no radical change in the run. Although at the end we remain convinced of one thing: regardless our tires, the World Championship will be won by the best driver and by the best car".
Pirelli rejects every accusation.
"Mercedes did not get any advantages from the test with our tires on May 17-19 in Barcelona. The tires used were the 2014 ones, they will never be used this season. In addition, the data remained confidential, we did not give the data to the teams, they tested blindly without knowing the characteristics. As for the fact that the 2013 car was used and not the 2011 car, Mercedes said that they warned and agreed with the FIA. This is something that does not concern us".
The FIA itself lets everybody know that the trial remains and that soon Mercedes and Ferrari will be listened.
But Pirelli insists:
"For us is a need to carry out the development tests in function of 2014, when the cars will be drastically changed with the turbo engine and new regulations. We would be happy if they could be introduced and disciplined these tests with all the teams".
Pirelli points out that the solutions found on the frequent degradation are not the result of track work, but are the result of lab work.
"The tires that we are going to bring in Canada, tried only on Friday, and that will be used from the next Grand Prix, the British one, no one has ever saw them. They are going to solve the lack, but they will not have a new philosophy. For a radical change of the tire we need the unanimous yes from all teams, something that we don’t have".
Nevertheless. The Mercedes case doesn’t calm down. The FIA continues the investigation on the test that took place with the 2013 car and the 2014 Pirelli tires, and summons the men of the Anglo-German team, but also the Ferrari for one of its test. The Maranello team replies:
"One team violated the regulation. The art.22 does not allow the use of the 2013 car for some tests and we did not do that".
Sunday May 5, 2013, the Federation officially closes the investigation on the secret tests regarding the hypothetical involvement of Ferrari. The Maranello teams had been asked for information on 1.028 kilometers of tests carried out in Barcelona in the days following the Grand Prix. According to what the FIA understands, therefore, those kilometers were used by Ferrari and Pirelli only to perfect this season’s tires. In the same statement, the FIA announces that it has decided to take Mercedes together with its sole supplier Pirelli before the International Court on Paris. According to the accusation, Ross Brawn’s team would have carried out 1.000 kilometers of tire tests with the 2013 car, thus using the testing window reserved for tire development to make improvements to this season’s car. The Anglo-German team now risks a penalty or a heavy fine. In the meantime, Stefano Domenicali is looking carefully at the next Canadian Grand Prix, the seventh round of the Formula 1 World Championship:
"The neck pain was only a muscle problem. I’m okay, 100%. I hope to fight again for a new podium, I’m very confident".
Nico Rosberg replies after the triumph in Monte-Carlo:
"We will be at the front. Our Mercedes is the fastest car in qualifying".
Friday June 7, 2013, Fernando Alonso is the fastest driver during the second session of free practice. The Spaniard sets a lap time of 1'14"818, the best of the day, ahead of the British Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and the Lotus of the French Romain Grosjean. Fourth best time for the Red Bull of Mark Webber, followed by the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, the Ferrari of Felipe Massa and the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. Eighth best time for the Force India of Adrian Sutil, ninth best time for the McLaren of Jenson Button and tenth for the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo. Only eleventh best time for the lotus of Kimi Räikkönen. Fernando Alonso says, at the end of the first day of free practice:
"We need to stay calm, it was an atypical Friday, with a weather changing a lot. Let’s wait tomorrow and let’s see the evolution. We brought new features for the race, there are new tires that we should consider. We did not complete the whole program due to the wet track. We all need to keep an eye on the sky: if you take the right lap at the right time you can improve a lot. In this, tomorrow, we will have to perfect. It’s going to be difficult – he finishes - to interpret the track grip".
Paul Di Resta closed the first session of free practice ahead of everyone else, with a lap time of 1'21"010. Behind him, 0.088 seconds further back, Jenson Button with his McLaren, third Romain Grosjean on his Lotus. Forth the first Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, he climbed up to fourth place right on the last lap, 0.288 seconds behind Paul Di Resta. Fifth Kimi Räikkönen on the Lotus. The two Red Bulls did a different job, like they sometimes do during free practice sessions: Vettel ended up ninth and Mark Webber ended up tenth. Eleventh was the other Ferrari, of Felipe Massa. The free practice session was characterized by a track made wet by rain, which gradually dried only in the final minutes.
"To aim at the pole position you need to keep an eye on the sky".
But also at the stopwatch, like Fernando Alonso said, giving that he was the best one during the session, with a gap of 0.012 seconds with Hamilton’s Mercedes, and a gap even bigger with Grosjean’s Lotus, with Webber’s Red Bull, with the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, with his teammate Felipe Massa, and especially almost 0.5 seconds gap with his rival Sebastian Vettel, not really exciting with his Red Bull, but always fearsome when everyone starts to grab the flying lap. One eye on the stopwatch and the other, as Ferrari’s Spaniard said at the end of his effort, on the sky because this year Canada, in addition to testing brakes and accelerator, has also decided to drive people crazy about the weather, with low autumnal temperatures (practice ended with 17 °C in the air and 19 °C on the asphalt), but above all a lot of rain, although intermittent, that made the track slippery. Alonso has no doubt on the strategy:
"Ability and luck, choose the best moment to leave the pits, because even a little more of sun or a less wet track mean seconds".
The right lap at the right moment, and a Ferrari that would bring out the new features here in Montreal. On which the Spaniard prefers postponed his judgment:
"Because we have not looked at the data in depth yet".
However, it seems that the new front wing works and so do the new features made to the front, which were left in the pit box in monte-Carlo. The characteristics of the current Ferrari should take care of the rest, which excels in braking and acceleration, necessary weapons in Canada. A quality which, judging from the testing times, Mercedes also seems to have, which while awaiting the first hearing for the Pirelli case on June 20, 2013, is having fun on the track with an excellent Hamilton. Even Rosberg seems competitive, among the big names only Kimi Räikkönen is struggling, eleventh with more than 0.7 seconds disadvantage, but who in Montreal could equal a historic record set by Michael Schumacher on Ferrari, 24 consecutive races with points. As for Pirelli under accusation (Paul Hembery deserts a press conference, while Brawn of Mercedes and Domenicali of Ferrari do not speak about the tests), Tronchetti Provera’s comment is worth recording:
"They want to pull us in, but we have nothing to do with it. We always abide by the rules".
On one side there is the bother of being on the dock, subjected to a delicate trial that will take place in Paris on Thursday June 20, 2013; on the other side the bother due to the vague situation that awaits it in view of next year, when it will have to supply tires to cars completely changed by the 2014 regulations, without having even carried out a test that makes it clear in which technological direction we should go. These are difficult days for Pirelli, probably the worst since its return to Formula 1. The Italian factory tries to navigate, to avoid the pitfalls, and defend itself from the accusations, but recognizes that the moment is not at all happy for its image. Paul Hembery, the company’s sports manager and number one on the track, is taking stocks of the situation on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix, but with a particular behavior, certainly bizarre, and suggested by his lawyers. Hembery misses the official press conference, the one in which he should provide details on the now famous Barcelona test, sitting alongside Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, and Domenicali, team principal of Ferrari, the two teams against those tests, defined as secret, and also close to Ross Brawn, team principal of Mercedes, and Mercedes itself, which covered the 1.000 kilometers requested by Pirelli and which according to its rivals drew undoubted advantages from that test.
Hembery does not show up. Moreover, since he is not a competitor but only a monopoly supplier, he is not obliged. And the FIA makes it known that they did not like it at all. But then, an hour later, he speaks freely with great caution, in an organized meeting in his building, where he addresses the topic of the trial, but above all he launches a clear threat in view of next season. Everyone is wondering what could happen on June 20 in Paris, but the Pirelli diktat for 2014 should not be underestimated at all. Because it anticipates a possible exit from the scene.
"If they do not allow us to do some tests with the new tires before the new season, we cannot continue to work in the dark. We have to provide the characteristics for next season by September 1st and we don’t even know how the cars are made. We believe that the tires should be wider, but we don’t know by how much. We want to work with all the teams, we don’t care who wins, and let’s stop saying that we deliberately favored Mercedes, we would also like all the teams to work for us. This year, due to the few tests, we risks several bad results, just think of those cases of tire degradation which, not being able to count on the track, we had to remedy on the laboratory. We can’t afford another season like this, we don’t want to experience it. So either they make us understand what the cars will be like and therefore what the tires will have to be like or we are ready to step aside. Ours is a request, but it can be considered an order. Either we at least do a collective test, in a warm place, which can present the same condition that we will find during the season, before Melbourne, that is, the first race, and if there were more I don’t deny that it would be better, or we are ready to withdraw, considering that our sole supplier agreement is expiring. Formula 1 without the tires? I don’t know, but it’s none of our business. Who knows, they will find another supplier willing to work in the dark: this is no longer okay with us".
Once the threat has been cast on the future, the bitter present and the Paris trial still remains. Hembery continues:
"I didn’t go to the press conference on the advice of lawyers. There’s the inquest, there is going to be a trail, and we will wait the FIA’s decision and we believe that is the place to provide any details, not the means of information. We are happy that there is a legal action and a sentence, it will be an interesting way to clear our reasons and innocence. The hope is that the times will be short, because this matter is causing us quite some embarrassment. Our line is clear, we don’t favor anyone, we work with everyone; we are not competing, we win every single race or, if you prefer, lose every single one. My favorite driver is Button, but this means nothing. In the team we have many Italians and probably they support Ferrari or Toro Rosso, but this doesn’t influence their job. They pull us in, but we will come out great".
Meanwhile, through the words of the teams managers, Pirelli thinks it has gained two points in its favor. It always said he had offered the 1.000 kilometers tests to several teams, not just Mercedes, and Horner says:
"It’s true, we at Red Bull were consulted".
Then adding:
"We declined, because if we run with the 2013 car, like Mercedes did, we would have broken the rules".
The tires supplier keeps saying that the year of the car was not their problem, and Ross Brawn, Mercedes’ mind, says:
"If using the 2013 car is a violation, it’s our responsibility, not Pirelli’s".
Then adding a strange defensive thesis:
"It was not a secret test, but it was private".
As if those, the regulation is clear, were allowed. And if were not clearly established that no car participating in the World Championship can go on track outside of race weekends.
Saturday June 8, 2013, the third session of free practice is shortened to just 30 minutes, due to the organizers’ need to restore the barriers at turn 11, destroyed by an off-track accident that occurred in a side race of the weekend. The best time is set by Mark Webber, who took advantage of the last minutes of the session, when the track was drying from the rain that had fallen in the previous hours. In the first part of the session, when the drivers put intermediate tires, the fastest is Esteban Gutierrez. But he will be Sebastian Vettel starting from pole position in the Canadian Grand Prix. Third pole position for the German driver, that with his Red Bull Racing, on the Montreal track, is ahead by 0.087 seconds of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and the surprising Finn Valtteri Bottas, third with the Williams with the time of 1'25"897. Sixth place for Fernando Alonso: the Spaniard of Ferrari was preceded by the other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and of the Red Bull Racing of Mark Webber. Felipe Massa’s qualifying ended almost two minutes before the end of Q2, when he went off track, damaging his car against the barriers. The Brazilian came out immediately but he was unable to resume. At the time of the accident Massa was fifteenth, then he lost a position on the grid, where he will start sixteenth. In the two minutes remaining when the session was interrupted, the Brazilian lost a position to Adrian Sutil’s Force India. Out of the fight for pole, there are also the two McLarens.
Vettel managed to make the most of the intermediate tires, on a track that was not yet dry. But the great protagonist of the qualifying is Valtteri Bottas. The Finn rookie gives himself and Williams their first qualification in Q3, taking the third fastest time which will allow him to start from the second row. Valtteri Bottas was better than Nico Rosberg by just 0.011 seconds: the German, after three pole positions in a row, this time he will have to settle for the second row with the fourth best time. From the fourth row, behind Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso, will start Jean-Eric Vergne with Toro Rosso and Adrian Sutil with Force India. In the fifth row, Kimi Räikkönen, ninth with his lotus, and Daniel Ricciardo with the other Toro Rosso. The Finn Lotus driver and the Australian Toro Rosso driver will be penalized with the loss of two positions for having broken the regulations during the second part of qualifying. Other four drivers, among which the French Jean-Eric Vergne (Scuderia Toro Rosso) and the Mexican Sergio Perez (McLaren) are reprimanded for another accident in Q3, but they are not penalized.
"We will see tomorrow what will happen. Qualifying was not so bad, there were things that could have gone wrong in every corner, because it was raining and the track was tricky. Start from the sixth position is not bad, we will see what will happen. Weather conditions may change during the race tomorrow, but we have to be ready for everything: in the dry we can be a little more competitive, but we can do well also in the wet. Tomorrow we need to do better in any case. We encountered the worst conditions for us, those with a wet track that dries out, but remains wet. Those were not the best condition for us, in that context temperatures are not reached to have grip on the car. Tomorrow we expect good weather, there shouldn’t be any problems".
The black Saturday ends with a message of hope. It’s Fernando Alonso, usually cautious and superstitious, to shake the souls of the depressed Ferrari Fans.
"I’m disappointed for my sixth place, it doesn’t fit with the potential of the car, but nothing is lost. This position leaves room for basically everything, every possibility, for a podium and also for a victory. Just hope for some sun: because in the dry I would have taken the pole position, and with the dry track I have a great rhythm and I can overtake everybody during the race".
We hope, will say the crowd longing for the red cars. Because, besides the sudden optimism of the Spaniard, the Saturday remains black, and it cannot be erased. It talks about an uncatchable Vettel, with his 39th pole position, third in this season and third in a row in Montreal, on a friendly track. It talks about an Hamilton who has every right to curse, because he made a mistake in the last corners, he threw away six or seven tents and a pole position that, first two sectors in handy, looked secured, rather than the second position behind the Red Bull. It talks about a Finn, Bottas, that doesn’t believe his eyes, for the first time third on a Saturday with a little Williams. And in the end, this Saturday talks about a muddling Alonso, who made mistakes on his own and is plodding on his Ferrari that on the wet asphalt shows the usual difficulties in getting the tires up to temperature. Stefano Domenicali says, with delusion:
"These are the worst conditions, for us. We cannot get the tires up to temperature and we cannot push to the max".
To this, we add the mistake made by Alonso, recognized by him, who in the attempt that should have counted blocks his tires while braking, and loses precious tenths and in the end finds himself licking his burning wound of an anonymous sixth place. The Spaniard doesn’t hide himself:
"With a track like this, with a wet turn followed by a dry one, it was easy to make mistakes, just think about Massa who ended up against the wall. Despite that I should have done better, my lap was not great. But it could have been worse. In front of me I have a Williams and this doesn’t worry me, the fight is going to be with the two Red Bulls and the two Mercedes. Vettel did an amazing qualifying, it’s not going to be easy to beat him. But here the Ferrari is fast and we can keep dreaming".
Of course, Vettel is going to sleep more peacefully. He pulled off the usual feat from his hat, a great result, in really difficult climatic conditions.
"And now, thinking about the race and my rhythm, I am extremely confident".
He does not underestimate Hamilton.
"We are very closed, I expect a great battle with him".
Nor Alonso.
"Massa lost the car, I don’t know what happened to Alonso, but on Friday he impressed me and I think that he isn’t yet cut off".
For sure is the angry (with himself) Hamilton the one who scares the most.
"In the last corners I ruined it all. With one mistake I threw away half of a second. A pole threw away; let’s hope to get even during the race".
Who curses the fate most is Räikkönen, ninth in qualifying, but reprimanded with Perez, Maldonado, Ricciardo and Vergne. The second session, due to Massa’s accident, was interrupted: at the restart, the five drivers did not line up in a single line, but mistaken the pit lane for today’s grid. And the stewards, for having broken the second paragraph of the article 23.6, are ready to punish them.
"I feel like I’m living in a bad movie. An horror one".
Terrible, with images that are repeated and hurt, for his body, severely tested by three consecutive accidents, and for the hearts of Ferrari fans, who see the old hesitant Massa again and no longer the brilliant and revived driver from the beginning of the season.
"It’s just bad luck".
Defend himself the Brazilian, letting everybody know that nothing is changed from the amazing Barcelona podium, that he is not in crisis at all, that he’s just dealing with the bad luck. That may be, the fact remaining is that he is again against the wall with his Ferrari and he will live a Canadian Grand Prix, at least the start of it, very tormented, starting from the eighth row and, with the sixteenth time, on the dirty side.
"I braked on the white line, near the curb and I lost the rear. The car spun, it seemed crazy, impossible to control".
The car that gradually goes sideways and then, always on the left side, just like in the last session of free practice and race in Monte-Carlo, ends its run against the barrier. A bad hit, which makes one think of the worst after he had neck problems in the last race which seemed to jeopardize his presence in Montreal. There is fear of a relapse but instead:
"Physically I’m fine, no problems. Psychologically I’m angry, because they always happen to me. Three accidents more or less similar, it’s one of the most tormented moments of my life. But it’s not over, here in Canada the race is long and anything can happen. The car has a great potential and I’m ready to attack. I wish with a little more luck".
On Sunday June 9, 2013, at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel keeps his first position, followed by the two Mercedes and then Mark Webber, Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso: the Spaniard in the first lap overtakes the Finn driver. At the start of the sixth lap, Bottas is overtaken by Vergne. Later, also Adrian Sutil tries to overtake the Finn, but the two collide and the German spins. In the meantime Sebastian Vettel increases his advantage over Lewis Hamilton. On lap 13 Webber enters the pit for his first pit stop, followed by Rosberg on lap 14 and, on lap 16, by Vettel and Alonso. The last to stop is Hamilton, during lap 19. The standing remains the same, with Sebastian Vettel ahead of Hamilton, Rosberg (the only one that is still using the Supersoft tires), Webber, Alonso. Follows Kimi Räikkönen (that pits only on lap 22), then Vergne and Di Resta, who hasn’t changed his tires yet. During lap 30, Nico Rosberg is overtaken by Mark Webber, first, and the by Fernando Alonso. During lap 31 Rosberg pits a second time, and goes for the Medium tires. During lap 37, Mark Webber has a contact with the lapped Giedo Van Der Garde on the hairpin of the Casino. The Dutchman is penalized with a 10 seconds Stop&Go. During lap 41, Webber makes a small mistake that allows the Spaniard to close in and overtakes the Australian right after the finish line. Between lap 46 and lap 49 the first five drivers in the standing enter the pit to change their tires. On lap 57 Rosberg pits for a third time; while on lap 62 Adrian Sutil gets a drive-through penalty and loses two positions, in favor of Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa. With Vettel out of reach, so far ahead that he can allows himself even to go long in the first turn, the battle for second and third place turns on.
Eight seconds behind after the final pit stop, Fernando Alonso pushes hard and, with fast laps, reduced the gap separating him from Hamilton. During lap 63, the Spaniard gets the second position, overtaking Hamilton in the first turn. The British tries to overtake the Spaniard back, but he fails. With seven laps to go, Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber goes out in the initial S. A track marshal, who rushed to move the car, was hit by a caterpillar which had arrived on site to carry out the moving operation. The boy will lose his life during the night, in the hospital. During lap 68, Felipe Massa overtakes Kimi Räikkönen and gets the eighth position. Nothing else happens and Sebastian Vettel wins the Canadian Grand Prix, obtaining his twenty-ninth win in his career, while Fernando Alonso, second when the checkered flag fell, obtains his ninetieth podium in his career. Kimi Räikkönen scores his twenty-fourth consecutive points finish, equaling Michael Schumacher’s record streak achieved between Hungary 2001 and Malaysia 2003. However, after 64 races, the series of points results for McLaren is interrupted, a record streak in the history of the World Championship. From the sixth position onwards they were all lapped. And this humiliations arrived for Räikkönen halfway through the race: in these two figures there is the whole essence of Sebastian Vettel’s –absolute- domination at the Canadian Grand Prix. A truly record-breaking domination, in some ways crazy: already on the first lap Vettel had closed the gap to the two Mercedes by a full two seconds, establishing the hierarchy in the race in just a few corners. In the end, the image of Sebastian Vettel caressing his Red Bull in parc fermé speaks for itself: this car has once again become the uncatchable missile (were those modifications at the rear? Some other Newey magic? It’s a mystery). A missile that casts dismay because Domenicali himself, while celebrating Alonso’s second place, in the heat of the moment- allows himself to be a bit worried.
"The problem is that Vettel won, and I’m not happy with that".
Yet he would have plenty of reason to be happy because Fernando Alonso truly drove a race like a great champion with the final duel with Lewis Hamilton who had to settle for third place. Off the podium, fourth, was Mark Webber with the other Red Bull who took away the satisfaction of Alonso’s fastest lap in the penultimate lap. Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes finished In fifth place, last of the drivers with full laps, over a minute behind Vettel. The first of the lapped is Jean-Eric Vergne with the Toro Rosso ahead of Paul’s Force India who made just one stop after 56 of the 70 laps scheduled. A record. And Massa? A good eighth place given that, having started sixteenth, he gained eight positions by overtaking the Lotus of former teammate Kimi Räikkönen in the final laps. Last driver in the points is Adrian Sutil with the second Force India.
At the top of the World Championship standings, Sebastian Vettel now rises to 132 points, and with a car like this he really seems projected towards winning the world title. But Alonso brings himself in second place with 96 points. Third is Kimi Räikkönen with 88 points. Hamilton is fourth, with 77 points. In the Constructor Championship, Red Bull is at the top of the standing with 201 points against Ferrari’s 145. Mercedes is third, with 134 points. Fernando Alonso is very satisfied of his second place at the Canadian Grand Prix, after starting sixth:
"A second place that is as good as a victory, after the terrible weekend. Yesterday we didn’t do a great qualifying, but we knew that our pace in the dry was good. We are competing against top level drivers, but we were also extraordinary".
Disappointed is Felipe Massa, started P16 and in any case author of a great performance that gave him the final P8:
"A shame, only four points. During the race I overtook several cars, but there were a lot in front of me and this made me lose positions. Now we think about Silverstone, we think about the asphalt and not about the walls".
Sebastian Vettel is obviously in a completely different mood:
"It was a great race, I started well, which was important, and I managed to keep going with the Supersoft. I created an advantage which I kept, at the end it was easy to control the race. The work of the teams was amazing, and we finally managed to win also here in Canada. We did great races in the past, but we didn’t do everything right: two years ago I was winning and at the last lap I made a mistake, but I made up for it today. We managed to separate ourselves from the other by controlling the race until the end".
And lastly, Hamilton comments:
"With Fernando Alonso it was a great fight, we hope to be faster next time. The car is getting better, everybody is doing an amazing job".
When Sebastian Vettel touched the wall, called the Wall of Champions, where in the past the sentence ‘Welcome in Quebec’ was visible, a wall into which crashed people like Schumacher, Villeneuve and Häkkinen, or when Vettel went off in the grass with his Red Bull, somebody hoped that Alonso’s Sunday could be turned into extreme glory, a comeback success, starting from the sixth position. Perhaps, just like the Spaniard recognizes, it would have been too much.
"Because Vettel deserved his success, he did an extraordinary race, he proved to be very fast and unbeatable".
Him, in his view, kept his word. On Saturday Alonso said:
"I’m disappointed for the sixth place, but it doesn’t comprise nothing. Everything is still open, the doors to the podium or even something more can be opened wide".
He was right, even if a pole position would certainly have made his life less difficult and probably would have thrown him onto the top step. The Spaniard who doesn’t like chasing dreams and regrets, glosses over this:
"The verification doesn’t exist, we don’t know if starting at the front I would have won, if I would have been able to beat Vettel".
We can instead know that he was able, in the much-invoked dry conditions, to overtake Hamilton.
"An exciting fight, we touched, but I had more".
Webber and Rosberg, in addition to the rookie Bottas (revelation of the qualifying with the Williams) in the first lap. Four overtakes that light up his face and make him saying:
"This second place is as good as a victory, and keeps us in the running for the World Championship. If we consider every difficulty we had this weekend, the position is great".
It remains the heavy gap pf 36 points. Somebody could suppose that the World Championship is almost closed, but woe betide you telling that to the combative Spaniard:
"I’m good with math, 36 points are not a few, but in three races they can be recovered. There are 75 points available in the next three races, as longs as something happens to Vettel and I’m perfect every game is open again. Meanwhile, thanks to Kimi’s ninth position, I can enjoy my second place in the World Championship standings. It’s better to have just one in front of you".
His mood is clear, he still has a lot of desire to fight. It is better if with honest, worthy rivals that are at his level.
"They wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t found myself fighting with top level drivers, like Hamilton, Rosberg and Webber. All this heartens me and chases away some bad thoughts that came to me in Monte-Carlo, seeing other rivals at work who don’t behave like this".
The reference is always to Perez, who he just can’t stand. He is not in the fight for the title, so he doesn’t run the risk of having him often in his way. Perez is more a rival of Massa, that finishing his race eighth receives his team and Stefano Domenicali’s compliments. Who talks about a masterclass race by Alonso. But also about an amazing performance by Massa. Aggressive just the right amount. As all the Tifosi would like him to be. From Maranello, Luca Montezemolo draws up a balance sheet of Ferrari from the first seven races of the season:
"The car is competitive, it doesn’t give up, I’m sure we are going to be protagonists until the very end".
Then the warning:
"We need to improve during the qualifying on Saturday: I would like to start from the first two rows every time. Only in this way you can win races".
Montezemolo speaks just before the inauguration of new exhibition spaces at the Ferrari museum in Maranello:
"There is going to be an great focus on Formula 1 this week. On Wednesday I’ll have a meeting with Domenicali. We cannot be great in the race while being less great in the official practice: everyone knows what we need to improve".
Ferrari’s president comments on the Canadian Grand Prix, in which Alonso obtained an amazing second place:
"I saw the outstanding race of Fernando and a Ferrari that was the protagonist. Vettel had an easy time because he had no opposition after the start".
And finally Montezemolo doesn’t say too much on the Mercedes case:
"I have no comment to make other that have read what the Federation declared. I take note, gladly, that the Federation is following the case actively and I wish that they pursuit it and not only follow it: follow and pursuit. We hope that Formula 1 maintains its seriousness even when there is someone who tries to circumvent the rules".
If you start off badly you won't go anywhere, everything becomes useless. This is the clear and decisive message from Stefano Domenicali, who says:
"We need to put our drivers in a condition to fight for the first two row of the grid, because that’s the key that allows us to capitalize on the performance that our car has in the race. Now we have a longer period than usual ahead of us, before the next race in Silverstone".
The problem is that not only Ferrari has the three-week break before the British Grand Prix to further develop the F138, but also the other teams.
"Simultaneously we also need to keep pushing the development of our car, because our rivals did big steps forwards. Besides Red Bull, in Montreal we saw a very competitive Mercedes, not only in the qualifying laps, but also during the entire Grand Prix".
The agenda of the Maranello team’s technicians is full of commitments, starting with a substantial data analysis aimed at focusing on the differences in performance that emerged between qualifying and the race. The imperative is to fight for pole even on less abrasive tracks, typical of city and semi-permanent circuits, as well as cold and damp track conditions, as emerge in qualifying in Montreal. Canada has reserved atypical and difficult to predict conditions, but in a championship that takes place over nine months, every possible context must be analyzed.
"Both Fernando and Felipe completed a brilliant come-back, but the results of Saturday’s qualifying weigh heavily on the finale balance of this weekend, even if we confirmed our potential once again in the race. If we would have started in the first positions of the grid, we would have had everything to aim for the victory: the qualifying’s circumstances were not the best for our car’s characteristics and because of this we paid a really high price. We try to use this time in the best way ever to work on the car, and keep studying the tires, because on Sunday we saw cars that were able to do two thirds of the race with just one set and therefore at each circuit the understanding of the tires will have to be paid particular attention".
And finally a balance on the first part of the season.
"We completed the first seven races of the 2013 Championship and we are running both for the Constructor and Driver Championship. Now we enter a phase where it becomes crucial to recover lost ground by trying to obtain a series of consecutives useful result. The opponents are strong and numerous, but they too must be aware of our strength. It will be a close competition race after race, passing through different types of tracks and conditions. An exciting match, which I really don’t think will end before the last race of the season".
In the meantime, there is also a Canadian stamp on the twenty-nine victories achieved by Sebastian Vettel. He had never won in Montreal, and he achieved that now, with a perfect race, ahead from start to finish, an almost disarming ease in reaching the finish line, the result of a spot-on start, where he managed to hold back Hamilton’s attack, and the result of a car that never betrays him. Historically here in Canada, Red Bull had always seemed in difficulty: this time, however, the car born from Adrian Newey’s mind, never first at the checkered flag, showed a lot of rhythm and allowed Vettel to immediately run away and to go until the end with absolutely agility, even saving something - engine, fuel and energy. Vettel crushed everybody and his final screams on the radio rightly underline his challenge:
"It was amazing, a perfect race, I enjoyed that like crazy".
His rivals enjoyed that slightly less, even in Alonso managed, just like he promised, to recover and with four overtakes (to Bottas, Rosberg, Webber and Hamilton) he finished on the second place, redeeming the awful sixth position obtained during qualifying. The Spaniard defined this positioning as a half victory, the team, speaking of a masterful race, rightly gave him credit, but the points gap from Vettel increases further, now there are thirty-six, and the race for the World Championship, despite there still be twelve races, it seems damn complicated. The problem is that this Red bull, alongside Ferrari attacking Mercedes on the secret test in Barcelona (by the way, next year four more days of extra test will be allowed during the season, possible on Mondays after the races in European tracks), he never misses a step. It doesn’t have failures during the race, it seems to be a car born to win. Vettel was uncatchable, but also Webber went good, finishing fourth. Ferrari leaves Canada with a pretty big smile, because they showed they don’t have the less performing car they had in Monte-Carlo, but they showed that they can compete against everybody. The rain certainly disturbed his qualifying, but with the return of the sun to the pits and inside the team it was clear again, an absence of clouds which allowed Alonso to finish second and Massa to make several overtakes (a nice one was the one on Räikkönen on the penultimate lap) which allowed him to finish in eighth place. In terms of overtaking, Alonso’s move on Hamilton, which earned him the definitive second place, was universally considered the best maneuver of Sunday, complete with a collision between the two which, however, is said to have slightly damaged only the Mercedes driver. Vettel has made it clear that he has few doubts about winning his fourth world title. He feared the curse of Montreal:
"Two years ago I was very close to winning here, and then, due to a mistake on my part, I gave it to Button, I believed that this track, where I always get the pole but never finish the work the next day, represented a spell. But this time everything went well".
Happiness made bigger on the podium by these words:
"I love you, Canadians".
The saddest notes of a sunny Canada, are firstly Van Der Garde who managed, while being lapped, to hit Webber , only to then collide with Hülkenberg and retire. A danger for himself and for other. And secondly, the McLaren, that for the first time after 64 races in a row, doesn’t finish in the points. This 2013 is a disaster. Instead, they tell Räikkönen to celebrate: in twenty-four races he scores points, equaling Schumacher’s historic record. The day after the Canadian Grand Prix, Formula 1 woke up shocked by the tragedy that struck the organizers, with the death after the race of a track marshal who was only 38 years old. A classic white death, a death at work, the fatality that turns into an irreparable fate, a man of great experience, who has been working on the Montreal circuit for ten years, who participates in the recovery operations of Gutierrez’s Sauber, which remained stationary on the track a few laps from the end of the Grand Prix, he bends down to pick up his fallen transceiver and is crushed by the heavy crane that was reversing.
A drama that cannot be remedied, despite the rush to the city’s main hospital and desperate treatments, a terrible event that throws drivers and teams into despair and opens up disturbing questions about a world where since Senna’s tragedy one has no longer had to deal with distressing thing, but where one can still lose one’s life if one is an ordinary, passionate person, working on the sides, in charge of signaling on the track or carrying out maintenance work, clearing. Upon hearing the news, the chorus of condolences was unanimous. Alonso first express his pain via Twitter:
"My second place? Nothing to celebrate, the death of the track marshal is an awful news. I’m very sad. I hope he will rest in peace".
The Ferrari driver express his condolences for a man who lost his life in an absurd manner, just as he was trying to live as a protagonist. Without the work of people like him, the Grand Prix, his great passion, racing, would not be possible. Vettel, the winner of the race, can’t rest:
"The marshal’s work isn’t always highlighted, it’s precious work, essential work. The news of his death makes me sad".
Also Button is shocked and sad.
"Rest in peace, my friend".
For the organizers is difficult to recover from the pain. The circuit’s director, Dumontier, says:
"It’s terrible".
The pain is tangible. But also the question: is it possible in 2013 Formula 1 is forced to mourn the third death since 2000? In that year, in Monza, Paolo Ghislimberti was killed by a tire from the Jordan of Frentzen, fled over the protective fences. In 2001, in Australia, a tire came off due to a contact between Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher, and it was fatal for Graham Beveridge. People work, as in Canada or Brazil, in narrow places and in great haste, amid controversies over tires, tests or aerodynamics, perhaps it would be appropriate to reflect. The cars have become indestructible. The life of those who work in F1 must also be like this.