Formula One 2011

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Bernie Ecclestone has been quick to deflect flak from the decision to award Sky co-rights to F1 in the future, after the public complained about the reduction in viewing on terrestial TV.

BBC and ITV have shown the whole season in recent years with the former taking over from the ad-funded channel in 2009, however a drain on resources at the BBC prompted them to seek out Sky to share the cost from next season onwards.

Ecclestone is no stranger to controversy down the years, but wanted to set the record straight with many feeling that it was his decision to reduce the amount of races shown free on the BBC.

He revealed to the Daily Mirror, "They (the BBC) had a contract in force already, from 2012 all the way through to 2014. They got to grips with Sky themselves.

"I spoke with ITV and came up with the same problem as Channel 4 had. We had a contract with the BBC which didn't run out until 2014.

"We couldn't very well do a deal with other people for them to start doing something next year, because we had that contract. Other broadcasters wouldn't want to wait until 2014 to decide what they wanted to pay."

Under the terms of the new 2012 deal that stretches until 2018, Sky will screen every race live in the UK while the BBC will screen half the races including traditional favourites like the British GP at Silverstone and the Monaco Grand Prix.

The BBC faced losing the right to show F1 altogether when their current deal ran out, if the likes of Channel 4 or ITV had come up with the £45m that Sky put on the table to secure their rights.

He added, "If they (Channel 4) had said they wanted to sign a contract today to start broadcasting for £45m a year, then we would have probably done it. But that's the problem. We couldn't deal with them, even if they had wanted to.

"I think the two of them will eventually do a good job. Sky aren't going to get the live viewing figures that we had with the BBC, but I think with the combination of the two across all the F1 that is broadcast there will be a lot more viewers.

"In the short-term, I think that collectively taking in the amount of broadcasting that's going to be scheduled between the two of them next year, there will be more eyeballs watching than we have now."

F1 fans are notoriously enthusiastic about their sport and, even if their loyalty has been tested by this latest episode, Ecclestone believes that they will be the winners in the end.

He claimed, "That's good for us, good for the teams and good for the fans."

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Pirelli believes the lap time difference between the two tyre compounds it is bringing for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa will be one of the biggest of the season so far.

The tyre firm is using its medium and soft rubber for Spa, and said in a statement that the pace disparity was "likely to be more than one second per lap" due to the circuit's 4.3-mile length.

Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery said Spa would be an unknown quantity to an extent, but was confident in the tyre choice his company had made for Belgium.

"In many ways Spa is one of the most unpredictable tracks of the season, and since we have never tested here, we have very little data to go on," he said. "From what we have seen in the past though, in Valencia and at the Nurburgring especially, we are confident that this combination of the medium and the soft tyre strikes the correct balance between performance and durability, equipping the drivers to display every aspect of their talents.

"It's a race that rewards brave overtaking manoeuvres, which is exactly in keeping with our own tyre philosophy as well."

Williams is pinning its hopes of scoring its first points since the Canadian Grand Prix on a new aerodynamic package that it is introducing in Belgium this weekend.

Neither Rubens Barrichello nor Pastor Maldonado have finished in the top 10 since the Montreal event in June, with the outfit currently ninth place in the constructors' championship.

Despite the disappointing results, Barrichello is hopeful that improvements coming for Spa-Francorchamps could give Williams a chance of turning its fortunes around.

"I love Spa-Francorchamps; the track is very special," said the Brazilian. "We are going to have a new aero package for this race that I hope will give us a better chance to fight for points. It is a real drivers' circuit with no time to breathe during a lap."

Speaking about the planned updates, which will include low-drag aerodynamic configurations because of the Spa layout, Williams technical director Sam Michael said: "We will bring new rear wings which feature a different drag level and some diffuser modifications to evaluate during practice."

Mercedes GP is hoping that the high-speed nature of Spa-Francorchamps will help Michael Schumacher celebrate in style on the 20th anniversary of his Formula 1 debut in Belgium this weekend.

The Brackley-based team's 2011 challenger should be well-suited to the long straights and high speed corners of Spa, having faced difficulties in recent outings at tight and twisty venues like the Hungaroring.

Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug reckons that the Spa characteristics and a team refreshed after the summer break could help deliver a good result on a big weekend for Schumacher.

"Our team members have been able to recharge their batteries during the mandatory shutdown period, and we will head to Spa fully motivated for the final part of the season," said Haug.

"It will be a special weekend for Michael, who will mark the 20th anniversary of his Formula 1 debut this weekend, which is an outstanding and remarkable achievement. The races at Spa have historically been full of surprises and the weather has mostly played a major role.

"The layout of the circuit should suit our current technical package a little bit better than was the case at the previous two races."

Schumacher, who made his debut at Spa in 1991 and won his maiden race at the venue the following year, said that he was heading into the weekend eager to mark his special occasion in a good way.

"The race in Spa will certainly have a special touch to it this time, as this is where I drove my first ever Formula 1 race 20 years ago," he said. "It's hard to believe that this was such a long time ago.

"A lot has changed in those 20 years, but one thing has not: the track is still sensational. I just love the great nature of the location and the resulting layout with all the ups and downs.

"To me, Spa remains my 'living room', because it has been the stage for so many things which have been remarkable for my sporting career. This is why this time I would like to specifically send a big thank you to all my fans for their loyalty and support, which I was happy to receive during those 20 years and also since my comeback.

"Talking about the sporting side prior to Spa, we are all returning from the summer break with fresh motivation and energy, and will try to set an exclamation mark at the Belgian Grand Prix."

The FIA is weighing up whether or not to ban the use of DRS through Eau Rouge at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, on the back of safety concerns voiced by drivers.

In the wake of the restrictions imposed through the Monaco tunnel earlier this year, the famous Eau Rouge sequence at Spa-Francorchamps has been singled out as another area of worry by some drivers.

It is feared that there could be an increased risk of accidents if drivers are tempted to take the 180mph turn with DRS fully open in practice or qualifying - when DRS use is totally free.

AUTOSPORT understands that the Grand Prix Drivers' Association has already voiced its concerns about the matter, with the situation almost certain to be discussed ahead of the Belgian GP weekend.

Although the FIA has acknowledged that the Eau Rouge issue does need looking it - and reacted to similar worries voiced by drivers about the Monaco tunnel by banning its use there - high level sources at motorsport's governing body have said that no final decision has been made about whether a restriction will be imposed this time out.

Despite the safety issues at Eau Rouge, HRT's Vitantonio Liuzzi believes that the situation is not as critical as it was in the Monaco tunnel.

"For us it will be on the edge with the DRS, but the tunnel situation was a bit different," he told AUTOSPORT. "The reason I was asking to ban it there was because of a crash, wheel-to-wheel in the tunnel, which could be a really critical situation.

"In Eau Rouge it is different. It is open air there, there is no roof, with no pylons – so it could be a normal racing accident as at any normal place. It is an easier decision for the FIA, because Monaco was a bit more risky. But I will take it as it comes, I like a challenge."

The issue of DRS at Eau Rouge will not matter for the race; the FIA confirming that the single DRS zone at Spa will be located from the exit of Raidillon and will run until the Les Combes chicane.

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Formula 1 drivers will be banned from using DRS through Eau Rouge at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, after the FIA accepted safety concerns about its use.

After deliberation over recent weeks about whether or not to outlaw the use of DRS through the 180mph corner, the FIA decided on Monday that the best way forward was to not allow drivers to open their wings there.

Several drivers had expressed concern that it could be dangerous for them to risk trying to run through Eau Rouge with their wings fully open in qualifying in a bid to gain valuable time.

Another issue influencing the decision was the fact that some drivers had confessed to being unsure at times on the entry to corners as to whether or not their DRS remained open - something which could be dangerous at a corner like Eau Rouge.

A failsafe system on the cars, which closes the DRS wing on the cars when the driver hits the brakes, would not work at Eau Rouge because of its high-speed nature.

Having listened to the drivers' concerns, and looked in detail at the safety risks, the FIA wrote to the teams on Monday afternoon to tell them that DRS use will be outlawed through Eau Rouge for both practice and qualifying.

In the race it is not an issue because the single DRS activation zone only starts after Eau Rouge – on the straight from Raidillon to the Les Combes chicane.

The FIA's decision to act on the Eau Rouge concerns comes after a similar request to outlaw DRS in the Monaco tunnel was accepted earlier this year.

Speaking ahead of the FIA's decision, HRT's Vitantonio Liuzzi reckoned that Eau Rouge was not as critical a situation as the Monaco tunnel had been.

"For us it will be on the edge with the DRS, but the tunnel situation was a bit different," he told AUTOSPORT. "The reason I was asking to ban it there was because of a crash, wheel-to-wheel in the tunnel, which could be a really critical situation.

"In Eau Rouge it is different. It is open air there, there is no roof, with no pylons – so it could be a normal racing accident as at any normal place. It is an easier decision for the FIA, because Monaco was a bit more risky. But I will take it as it comes, I like a challenge."

[MJB]

Senna replaces Heidfeld in the Renault for Spa onwards.

[Lineker]

Senna replaces Heidfeld in the Renault for Spa onwards.

Is it confirmed yet? All I've found on it is this:

Nick Heidfeld's future with the Renault team is in doubt, amid speculation that the outfit is looking at slotting in Bruno Senna from this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

On the back of a campaign that has not lived up to pre-season expectations, and with the team having admitted that it expected more from Heidfeld, it is believed that moves have been underway over the last few days to shake up the driver line-up.

Although Renault declined to comment on the Heidfeld/Senna situation when contacted on Monday night, it is understood that the team has actively been looking at promoting Senna to a race seat from this weekend's event at Spa-Francorchamps, having given him a Friday run in Hungary.

BBC pundit Eddie Jordan, who has close links to Heidfeld after he drove for his team in F1, reported on Monday night that the deal was in place for Senna to take Heidfeld’s seat for the remainder of the season.

However, AUTOSPORT understands that the plans are complicated by the fact that Heidfeld is not willing to simply walk away - with the German aware that there are few opportunities elsewhere for him in F1 if he leaves Renault now.

Heidfeld will also know that the Belgian GP gives him a good chance of delivering the kind of result that he and the team have been looking for, with new aerodynamic updates set to be introduced.

The German told AUTOSPORT after the Hungarian GP that the Belgian package was a key one for the season.

"I feel it finally has to work because we have been saying for some races now that we understand the problem, and that we have moved forward," he said. "This will be the first time that we really have something big."

It is not clear if Heidfeld’s contract with the team gives it the option to drop him at this point of the campaign - especially as he is currently eighth in the drivers’ championship on 34 points, one place and two points ahead of his team-mate Vitaly Petrov.

It is understood that negotiations are ongoing between Heidfeld and Renault about the situation, with the matter possibly only being resolved on the eve of the Belgian event itself.

Heidfeld was drafted in to Renault on the eve of the campaign as replacement for the injured Robert Kubica, and he delivered a podium finish as early as the second race in Malaysia.

However, he has not stamped his authority on the team as much as it had hoped and, although his form in the races has been good, he has often struggled to deliver speed in qualifying.

Speaking about Heidfeld’s form earlier this year, Renault boss Eric Boullier said: "Let's say good, but not good enough.

"Sunday is okay. Sunday's pace is good, it is very good, but obviously the higher we qualify on the grid, the better the chance we have to score more points."

[MJB]

Got this from BBC Sport

German Nick Heidfeld has been dropped by the Renault team in favour of Brazilian Bruno Senna for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

Renault made a promising start to the 2011 season but their form has slipped amid rumours of funding shortages, which the team have denied.

While Heidfeld is on a salary, Senna, Renault's reserve driver, comes with several million pounds of sponsorship.

It will be Senna's first race since last season, when he drove for HRT.

The 27-year-old nephew of the late Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna is expected to race for Renault in the eight remaining races this season alongside Russian Vitaly Petrov.

Senna made his debut for HRT last season but left the team after a trying year with the struggling outfit.

He joined Renault this season in the hope that he would eventually be promoted to a race drive.

Heidfeld was drafted in by Renault before the start of the season as a replacement for the team's number one driver, Robert Kubica, who was seriously injured in a rallying crash in February.

The Pole suffered a partially severed hand and leg and arm fractures and is still recuperating and it remains unclear when - or if - he will be able to return to F1.

Kubica's doctors told Autosport magazine last week that he hoped to be fit enough to drive in an F1 simulator by the end of September.

Heidfeld, a veteran of 10 years in F1, was chosen as his substitute because of the 34-year-old's proven points scoring record.

But after a podium in the second race of the season in Malaysia, he and the team have not been able to reach the same heights again.

Nevertheless, Heidfeld has scored points in five further races, and lies eighth in the championship two points clear of Petrov, who is in his second season in F1.

Kubica finished last season eighth in the championship, scoring 136 points to Petrov's 27.

Edited August 22, 2011 by MJB

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Ferrari is now working flat-out on the development of what it claims is a 'very innovative' 2012 car, even though it still holds out some hope that it can haul itself back into this year's championship fight.

Fernando Alonso's recent run of good form, which included victory in the British Grand Prix, has put him 89 points behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel - and his only realistic hope of closing that gap down dramatically is if his Red Bull rival hits some trouble.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali says his team's approach right now is on simply trying to win each grand prix, and then in a few race's time the outfit can take a better look to see if there is still a chance of the title.

Meanwhile, he openly admits that the real effort at Maranello is on delivering a much more aggressive car design for next year, having realised the team was too conservative this season.

"Our realistic goal for the remaining eight grands prix is to win races, to score as many points as possible," Domenicali told the official Ferrari website. "I am sure we can achieve good results, but we should avoid looking at the classification, because we know the championship will be very difficult given the current gap, but let's see where it is in a few races. We have the potential to do well and we have to believe in ourselves.

"In terms of the development of the 150º Italia, we are almost at the end of the road but this does not mean that work on this year's car has come to a complete halt, but as of now, we are working full throttle on the 2012 car.

"As far as next year's regulations are concerned, apart from rules regarding the exhaust system, there are not many changes; therefore the new cars can be described as a development of the 2011 car. However, what I can say, having seen the model in the wind tunnel and the work going on in the drawing office, is that it will be a very innovative machine.

"In fact, this is to be expected, this is necessary given that our first goal is that, in 2012, we must be competitive right from the very start of the season."

Renault is set to stick with its innovative forward-facing exhaust system for the rest of the season.

The team ran an experimental rear-facing exhaust in both straightline tests and on Nick Heidfeld's car during free practice for the German Grand Prix in July.

But team principal Eric Boullier is confident that there is still more performance to come from its regular design, meaning that the team is likely to continue to use it rather than switching to a more orthodox concept.

"We believe that we still have potential on the forward exhaust even though we have made some wrong developments sometimes," Boullier told AUTOSPORT. "There are some good performance packages coming.

"So we will continue with it and it's likely that we will use it to the end of the season."

The rear-facing exhaust was developed because of the ban on off-throttle blowing of diffusers, which was introduced for Silverstone but then abandoned.

The team opted to try the rear-facing system on track to evaluate its potential, but has continued to work on its forward-facing design throughout this process.

"We spent a lot of time during the engine mapping discussions developing the rearward exhaust," said Boullier. "But at the same time we finished our windtunnel upgrade and kept developing our front exhaust."

Renault has struggled in recent races, but the team is confident that forthcoming upgrade packages will allow it to climb back up the grid.

Renault believes the success of the upgrade package it brings to this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix will be key to the remainder of its season, while it remains tight-lipped about its future driver line-up.

As negotiations continue behind the scenes to decide whether Nick Heidfeld or Bruno Senna races for the team at Spa, amid suggestions the matter could now go to court, the engineering staff are focusing on delivering a major update to the R31.

The developments, which have delivered positive figures from the wind tunnel, include a new floor, revised forward-facing exhausts, modified rear suspension and other aerodynamic updates.

Team principal Eric Boullier said that the team's chances of overcoming Mercedes for fourth place in the constructors' championship would rest on how good the upgrades are.

"We need to catch up with Mercedes, who have replaced us in fourth position," he said in a team preview that failed to mention its driver line-up. "In Spa we will see if the upgrades are enough to do this, but I hope they will be.

"We are now at a point where we switch a lot of our resources to next year's car, which of course adds new challenges. Crucially, we need to see what impact our upgrades have at the forthcoming races in Spa, Monza and Singapore.

"It is this, above all else, that will be the key indicator in how fruitful the remainder of our season is. We're back and we're looking forward to finding out."

Despite the tricky driver situation that the outfit is refusing to comment on, Boullier says the team is revitalised after the summer break and eager to recover the ground it has lost in recent races.

"It's good to be refreshed, to recharge the batteries for what lies ahead and to come back and finish the business," he said.

Michael Schumacher remains 'a credit' to Formula 1 despite his comeback having not delivered the success he had hoped for, according to man who helped him enter the sport 20 years ago this week.

As Schumacher heads to the Belgian Grand Prix on the 20th anniversary of his debut, team principal Peter Sauber says that the seven-time world champion is handling the difficult circumstances of his return well.

He has also revealed that Schumacher only found out the truth behind his entry - that Sauber's own team paid Jordan £150,000 for his race appearance – as he prepared to leave the sport in 2006.

In a wide-ranging interview with German news agency SID about Schumacher, Sauber said that he was surprised about his return to F1, but thinks it has been ultimately positive for the sport.

"The reasons for his comeback are none of our business. But still today I say Michael is a credit to F1 even if he does not fight for victories," said Sauber.

"I still find him as a balanced and relaxed individual. My impression is that at the moment he is handling a not easy situation very well."

Sauber also believes that Schumacher will see out his contract at Mercedes, despite rumours that he could walk away from F1 at the end of the year.

"Those are speculations that I don't want to comment on," he added. "Next year I am sure he will still be driving, I am convinced that naturally he will fulfil his contractual commitments. What happens after cannot be predicted. However, I had never thought back then that he would make a comeback."

Looking back at Schumacher's entry to the sport 20 years ago, Sauber said he did not wish to take too much credit for funding his entry – because the idea had been that of Mercedes.

"Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan," said Sauber. "But naturally I am regularly asked about the race in Spa, exactly how Michael's first race for Jordan came to pass. Michael himself did not know the circumstances until his retirement.

"Michael, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger were our junior team for Sauber Mercedes in the Sportscar World Championship.

"The plan then was that Sauber would enter F1 in 1993 together with Mercedes. So it was quite normal that we would have facilitated Michael's first race by paying Eddie Jordan the required sum of money."

Sauber says he only told Schumacher about what had happened at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, which was supposed to be the German's final race in F1.

"He was clearly surprised when he discovered the full circumstances during his retirement race in 2006 in Brazil," said Sauber. "He thereafter sent me a helmet. I do not expect any more [gratitude]. Michael made his own way through his career by being fast."

Sauber believes that one of the keys to Schumacher's success in F1 has been his hard-working nature.

"Speed alone is not enough," he said. "Frentzen, for example, had an equal amount of talent, possibly a bit more. But Michael was a very hard worker, was very ambitious, mentally strong and physically always perfectly prepared. That is why it was noticeable from early on that he was a special talent."

Force India may be unlikely to repeat its starring Belgian Grand Prix pole position performance at Spa this weekend, but team principal Vijay Mallya has no doubts the outfit has a much stronger car on its hands right now.

Giancarlo Fisichella caused a major upset in 2009 when he delivered pole position and battled Kimi Raikkonen for victory, at a time when Force India's car was optimised for low-drag circuits.

Since then the team has worked hard on ensuring its challengers are suited to all types of tracks. And although that means it will not be perfect for Spa, Mallya believes the outfit is in much better position overall.

"I always enjoy coming to Spa. Not only is it an evocative and historic venue, it's also the scene of our greatest success to date and I have many happy memories of our podium two years ago," Mallya said.

"The big difference this year is that we arrive at the Belgian Grand Prix with a car that is much more complete. In the past our great strength was straightline speed, but the car is now strong in all areas. The proof of that can be seen in our recent results with one car in Q3 at the last four races and 14 points from the last two.

"So we enter the second half of the season in high spirits. The drivers are pushing each other hard and are extremely motivated. The car is delivering good performance and we are taking the fight to the big teams. It was hard to imagine we would be in this position after our slow start to the year, but I never stopped believing. When you consider how competitive Formula 1 is, everyone in the team can be proud of where we are.

"We're well aware there is much hard work ahead to maintain this and we still have a big task facing us in the constructors' championship. But following the August break we come back refreshed and ready to deliver again this weekend."

Force India is just nine points behind Sauber in the constructors' championship, and Adrian Sutil believes its recent step forward in form can help it close the gap further.

"I think we can have another competitive weekend because the last couple of races have shown what we are capable of. We seem to have a car that is working well everywhere and our qualifying and race pace has been strong. We just need to keep up the momentum and keep picking up the points," he said.

Paul di Resta added: "Spa is a track that has historically been strong for us. And our recent form gives us every reason to believe we can carry on where we left off in Hungary. We know our competitors won't have stood still, but we're still pushing hard with development and determined to get as much performance from the car before the focus shifts to next year."

[Lineker]

Senna confirmed.

Bruno Senna will return to Formula 1 at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix as the replacement for Nick Heidfeld at the Renault team.

As AUTOSPORT reported on Monday, Renault had decided over the summer break that it wanted to shake up its driver line-up - and hoped to move Senna into a race seat alongside Vitaly Petrov instead of Heidfeld.

The matter was complicated, however, by the fact that Heidfeld was not willing to simply walk away from his deal at the team - especially because there seemed little reason to dismiss him on performance grounds as he was ahead of Petrov in the points' standings.

Following intense discussions between representatives of both Renault and Heidfeld over the past 48 hours, however, an interim settlement was reached on Wednesday night – leaving the way open for Senna to be given the green light to race in Belgium.

A statement issued by Renault said that it was only confirming Senna for this weekend's race in Spa – with the team's plans for the rest of the season expected to be announced on Thursday.

"Bruno will attend the Official FIA Press Conference tomorrow at 15.00. A press release with further details on the matter will be issued tomorrow morning," said Renault.

Senna's chances of keeping hold of the seat for the rest of the campaign will likely depend on his level of competitiveness, because Renault has made no secret of the fact that it is looking at handing GP2 Series leader Romain Grosjean another F1 chance.

Speculation has already suggested that Grosjean could be drafted in at the team after the GP2 campaign finishes at Monza – which means he could do some of the final flyaway races of this year.

Although Heidfeld is likely to have agreed financial compensation with Renault for the severance of his contract, it will provide little consolation as there appear to be few opportunities for him to continue in F1 - which means his grand prix career could be at an end.

The German was drafted in as replacement for the injured Robert Kubica on the eve of the campaign. But despite finishing on the podium in Malaysia, he failed to live up to Renault's expectations, and particularly struggled in qualifying.

Senna last raced in F1 at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, during his final outing for HRT. He moved to Renault this year as test driver, and completed a Friday practice session for the team in Hungary.

The FIA's decision to ban the use of DRS through Eau Rouge at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix has been backed by Felipe Massa.

With FIA race director Charlie Whiting having decided on Monday that it would have been too dangerous to allow drivers to use DRS through Eau Rouge in practice and qualifying, Massa thinks that F1's race director has made the right call.

"I have been following the discussion regarding the use of DRS at the Eau Rouge corner and I think banning its use there for the whole weekend is the right decision," wrote Massa on Ferrari's website.

"As racing drivers, we would always try and use DRS there and that could lead to an accident, because of the particular nature of the corner. So, just as was the case in the tunnel in Monaco, I think this is the best solution."

Whiting said on Wednesday that one of the key factors behind his decision was the fact that there was a risk of drivers thinking their wing was fully down, when in fact it was still 'open' for DRS.

"We're not going to allow DRS to be used through Eau Rouge during practice," he said. "We want to avoid drivers going through thinking that their wing is in the right position, when it might not be. We think this is the correct safety measure to have taken at such a fast, demanding corner."

FFelipe Massa, Ferrari, 2011elipe Massa says there is every reason for Ferrari to keep pushing as hard as it can in the final eight races of the season - even though it only has an outside chance of the world championship.

Although the team has high hopes that updates which include new wings introduced to its car for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix can help it secure another victory, Fernando Alonso and Massa are still well adrift of points leader Sebastian Vettel.

Massa however has backed team principal Stefano Domenicali's view that the outfit should simply focus on each weekend as it comes - and then only think about the title situation nearer the end of the year.

Writing on Ferrari's official website, Massa said: "So now we come to the final eight races of the season, which means there is still a lot of racing ahead of us and I agree with Domenicali that, as a team, we should simply try and win as many races as possible and score plenty of points, without looking too closely at the championship situation.

"Certainly from a personal point of view, my most immediate aim is to try and record my first victory of this year. It's not going to be an easy few months, but we are certainly not going to give up."

The high-speed nature of Spa, and the length of its lap, should help Ferrari's chances this weekend – and Massa is eager to get back into action after the summer break.

"We will be bringing some aero updates to Spa, including new wings to try out. Everything seems to be going in the direction we expected, so I hope we can have a good weekend.

"Like most drivers, I love driving at Spa and I have some good memories of winning there in 2008, finishing second the year before that, while last year I was just off the podium in fourth spot. I will be aiming for a repeat of 2008!"

McLaren's approach to the second part of the 2011 Formula 1 season will remain uncompromising with its stated aim to keep on winning races while both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will be free to keep an 'attacking' mentality and race each other for victory.

McLaren's managing director Jonathan Neale, speaking in the pre-Belgian Grand Prix Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in, says the team has no plans to make its drivers work together strategically in an effort to close the large gap to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull in the drivers' and constructors' tables.

Hamilton and Button, winners of the last two grands prix before the summer break, are 88 and 100 points respectively behind Vettel.

McLaren meanwhile, trails Red Bull by nearly three entire one-two finishes in the constructors' table - that's assuming that neither Vettel or Mark Webber finished the next three races.

Neale said that McLaren is in no position to 'play safe' and that the team's only option now is to fight for wins until the end of the season.

"We certainly haven't given our drivers any change of brief," he said. "We still intend to give both drivers equal opportunity in terms of all of the upgrades that we bring to the circuit and they should both attack at all opportunities.

"So we are not in a position where we want to play any kind of safe game here.

"The most important thing for us is to continue to win races and the only way we are able to do that when the competition is as tight as it is, is to keep our drivers focussed on taking every opportunity that they can and for us in the team to get behind them and say we will work on the reliability and give them confidence in the systems.

"But also that we give the drivers the confidence by bringing a series of upgrades to the car where they can materially feel a difference from race-to-race.

"There has been no change of mission for the drivers, and it is still very much two number one drivers, both are out to win races."

Though McLaren came into the summer break with two consecutive wins, Neale says he does not believe the team enjoys a dominant performance advantage, and to maintain its level of form over the next three races at Spa, Monza and Singapore represents a significant challenge.

"The next few races are going to be hard fought," he said. "I think that certainly Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren all have cars that are capable of winning races and we have to keep our focus and our momentum as we go to the next two low-downforce races.

"As we look towards Singapore when we start to see more changes in the circuit characteristics, there is lots of work to do.

"I don't regard us as having the upper hand," he added. "We scored two well deserved victories, and I'd argue that we should have been able to convert Lewis and Jenson's positions in Hungary in to a one-two, so there was some disappointment there.

"I don't think we have a dominant or a comfortable position by any means and we are certainly not treating it as such. We are still pushing very hard on our development programmes."

Asked if any work has been done to sharpen up on strategy and to eradicate missed opportunities like those suffered by Hamilton in Hungary or Button at Silverstone, Neale replied: "When you are pushing that hard to try and close the gap you can see how easy it is to make a mistake, either in reliability or operationally - we are not the only team to have some issues around the pitstops.

"We've had some notable ones with Jenson – such as at the British GP – and they are always very painful. We are not able to work on pretty much anything during the shutdown period so we haven't been doing anything special over that two weeks but we are constantly trying to split the resource between making sure that quality of what we are doing is right and the pace of improvement is balanced.

"You are always on a knife-edge with performance. If you play it safe you make the car reliable, but you're not quick, when you're playing catch-up you have to take risks and occasionally you stretch the systems to the point where something breaks.

"We are working very hard on the car's hydraulics, on mechanical reliability, engine reliability – in particular around some of the exhaust programmes. These put a huge strain on the system. And then just a long system and very tight races with two drivers who are often on the same piece of track space and time – that also keeps life interesting. Under those kind of pressures you have to keep your head cool."

McLaren is confident that new updates for the MP4-26 will help the team improve its qualifying performance at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend and the following race at Monza.

While the team's race pace has often been at least a match for Red Bull during races, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button's starting positions have often compromised their race plans, and subsequent potential results this season.

McLaren's managing director Jonathan Neale insists that McLaren's qualifying form has been improving however, and predicts further progress at the Belgian Grand Prix as the team aim to maintain the pressure on Red Bull.

"In terms of closing the gap to red Bull, we have had a competitive race car for some time now," Neale told a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in on Wednesday. "The qualifying pace is where we have been falling short.

"I'm pleased to say that - except for the slight blip at the British Grand Prix – the trend has been good and we have been closing in.

"We haven't got the cars in the right part of the grid, but we are developing at a better rate and there are a series of upgrades planned for these next two races."

Neale said part of the disparity between McLaren's relative pace in qualifying and races could be explained by the design concept of the DRS wing, which can be optimised either for race balance or for one-lap speed.

"To make the optimum rear wing you wouldn't make a DRS-enabled rear wing – it's not as aero efficient," he explained.

"You have a choice to make: do you want to the get the downforce and aero efficiency from the car, or are you after the greater drag reduction?

"Now that we have got ourselves into a situation where we believe we are competitive, we have been able to devote time to the DRS system and my expectations are that our DRS system will be competitive at the next few races.

"However, what we try to do is add performance to the car in a variety of ways – there is no one way of doing it and there is certainly no magic bullet.

"Our workforce, our drivers, our sponsors and our fans expect us to fight through to the last race. That's what McLaren is here to do – to run deep into the season and to win races."

Team Lotus' Chief Executive Officer Riad Asmat has been promoted to Group CEO of the F1 team, Caterham Cars, Caterham Team Air Asia and all related interests following a vote by Tony Fernandes and his fellow shareholders.

Asmat played a key role in the formation and development of Team Lotus in 2009, joining the team after being General Manager at Proton Holdings. He has previously worked at Nike and been involved in the Sepang circuit and A1GP.

Asmat is also credited with the establishing of the Team AirAsia GP2 squad - which recorded its first win at Monaco in May - and the acquisition of Caterham Cars and a number of related businesses.

His promotion comes just five days after team owner Tony Fernandes announced he was buying the QPR football team from F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and fellow shareholder Flavio Briatore.

"I am very honoured," Asmat said, "to be given the chance to help lead such an exciting group of companies and to be able to play my part in helping lead us on the future successes that will come our way.

"Big challenges lie ahead of us, but with the inspiration and passion of Tony [Fernandes], Kamarudin [Meranun] and [sM] Nasarudin to call on I am excited about what lies ahead.

"In F1 the goal remains the same – grow over the long-term and achieve our goals in realistic timeframes. Next year we need to take another step up and we have the building blocks in place to enable us to do that."

Tony Fernandes commented: "We are absolutely delighted Riad has taken on the role of Group CEO and could not have placed our faith in a better person to lead our businesses forward.

"Riad is not alone in having a unique attitude to wanting to achieve great things - the same can be said for each and every person we have working across the group and that foundation gives us the best possible chance of achieving our long-term goals, whichever industry we are involved in."

It is not clear whether Asmat's promotion will result in changes to the Team Lotus structure.

[Lineker]

Vitantonio Liuzzi has set his sights on securing a fresh contract with HRT for 2012 in the next few weeks, with the Italian determined to see the fruits of his efforts at the team.

Liuzzi joined the Spanish-owned outfit at the start of this season, after being dropped by Force India, and believes that the groundwork has been put in place for a good step forward heading into next year.

When asked by AUTOSPORT about his status for 2012, he said: "We had some talk in the last few weeks, but everybody was on holiday.

"For sure from now on we will start talking, but I have to say that with the team we have a good relationship and we don't face any big issue. We have to think about the future and think positive on both sides."

Liuzzi believes that the efforts made by technical chief Geoff Willis should put the outfit in good stead for the future - which is why he is determined to stay.

"I said since the beginning that this was an adventure," he explained. "I took it and was really motivated, as there were good points to improve and good people to work with.

"I would be happy [to stay] because I want to see the development of next year. Colin Kolles and Geoff Willis and a lot of people work really hard for this team and we show we can make big progress. I am looking forward. I think a good job could be made so I am happy to stay."

Although optimistic about the progress that can be made for next year, Liuzzi thinks the outfit cannot afford to ease off this year - as he thinks it still has a chance of snatching 10th place in the constructors' championship from Team Lotus.

"For sure we need to keep fighting to develop the car," he said ahead of the Belgian GP. "We had time where we didn't develop as much as we wanted in the period where we had the change of owners, and I think we had a bit of a handbrake on in the period because there were some changes in the top management.

"We have a few little upgrades for here, but for Monza on we should get some more, and we need to push because we need to achieve the target we were focusing on in the beginning of the championship.

"For sure maybe beating Lotus is not easy, but we should try and show that we can close the gap and that we are still motivated to push until the end of the season. Then we have to work on the 2012 car because it is an important season for us."

Ferrari has paid tribute to Michael Schumacher 20 years to the day after the seven-time world champion made his Formula 1 debut at Spa in 1991.

The Italian manufacturer's president Luca di Montezemolo described the German, who enjoyed unprecedented success with Ferrari - winning five consecutive world drivers' titles between 2000 and 2004 –as one of the most important figures in the history of the team.

"Michael will always be in the hearts of all the men and women who work in Maranello and of all fans of the Prancing Horse," di Montezemolo said on Ferrari's official website. "A large part of those twenty years of Formula 1 were spent with us. Together, we achieved results that will be difficult to repeat.

"His passion for racing is incredible, as is the effort he puts into it, along with the courage and determination he has always demonstrated, which won him the affection of us all.

"On behalf of everyone at Ferrari I wish to thank him for everything he did for us and I send him all our best wishes for this, his twentieth anniversary in the greatest sport in the world."

Ferrari's team principal Stefano Domencali added: "We have prepared a little something to mark this occasion."

"Even if today, he is our rival on the race track, Michael is still a friend and there is no way it could be any different, given everything we have shared over all these years, growing together," said Domencali. "When I look at his career statistics, especially those established during his long time spent at Ferrari, I realise just how extraordinary they are. In fact I imagine they will never be repeated.

"I have so many personal memories linked to him, some of them actually to do with this circuit, as well as other particularly enjoyable ones, which makes it very difficult for me to single out any one in particular.

"I prefer to think of the future, which I am sure will also produce some very satisfying moments."

Sergio Perez is certain that he is now back at 100 per cent fitness after being forced to miss two grands prix earlier in the season following his Monaco qualifying crash.

The Mexican suffered concussion in the shunt at the chicane, and although he was fit enough to race from the European Grand Prix onwards, he now believes that he was not quite in peak condition and that he needed time out of the car to recover fully.

"After my accident, it didn't take me a lot of time to get back into racing," said Perez when asked by AUTOSPORT about his condition. "But it took me a while to be back in the car feeling comfortable and being 100 per cent.

"It took me quite a while to get back to my optimum level and I really needed this break for my head to get properly better.

"I'm 100 per cent now and I'm looking forward to the next part of the reason."

Perez cited Force India, which has made up 12 points during the last two races and is now only nine points behind sixth-placed Sauber in the constructors' championship, as the team's main rival during the final eight races of the season.

The Mexican expects that the advantage will ebb and flow between the two outfits, depending on track configuration and weather conditions.

"There are so many tracks on the calendar that some suit us and some suit Force India, who are our main competition now," said Perez.

"The team is working very hard. I was at Hinwil working last week with my engineers and we are in good shape for the second half of the season."

Sauber has brought a low downforce aero package to Belgium, as is normal for every team, but the next major non-track specific upgrade package is not expected until next month's Singapore Grand Prix.

Adrian Sutil believes that it is not inconceivable for Force India to finish fifth in this year's constructors' championship, ahead of Renault.

The German, speaking ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa this weekend, pointed to recent performances at the Nurburgring and the Hungororing, where both he and his team-mate Paul di Resta were able to vie with Mercedes for fourth best team behind Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

Should Force India achieve this, it would be the second highest position for the team after 1999, when the outfit - then known as Jordan - came in third behind Ferrari and McLaren.

"The last two races, maybe the last three, were quite strong performance wise," said Sutil. "And I think we are going to go well now in the second half of the season. That is the plan.

"I think we are strong everywhere, consistent. We have seen that on many different circuits at the moment, from the Nurburgring to Hungary, it was the same thing to be honest, the same position, and with very different characteristics of the circuit. Maybe this one suits me as a driver even better, but also maybe the car is a bit better too. We will see tomorrow but I don't think it will be like two years ago.

"I think Renault we can still beat," he added. "They are not too far ahead and they are struggling at the moment, let's see how their development curve is going to be.

"We were aiming P5 at the beginning of the season and it looked a little bit difficult after a few races, but now it can change quite quickly."

Sutil thinks that Force India will be able to compete with Mercedes again at Spa - a circuit that has been traditionally strong for his team – in spite of the fact that it is not bringing a new update package to the car until Singapore next month.

"I think at the moment in the race we are already in front of Mercedes, in qualifying we are a little bit behind them so let's see if we can carry it on like this, but the last two races actually one of us was always in front of both Mercedes so that is a good sign," he said. "We have one more development coming for Singapore, and that will be it.

"There will be nothing special on the car, new parts, so it will be a similar car from the last race but hopefully we will be in this area for the rest of the season, I don't expect us to be with the Ferraris or McLarens consistently, that is a little bit too far ahead, but we have to take our chances and finish hopefully sixth, seventh, eighth, in this area as much as possible.

"Maybe sometimes a little better, it depends on the race, but the chances are there."

[Lineker]

Bruno Senna says his future with Renault is only guaranteed for the next two races, while the team sorts out legal issues relating to it dropping Nick Heidfeld on the eve of the Belgian Grand Prix.

With the dispute between Heidfeld and Renault having gone to court, it is understood that the issue has only been resolved temporarily - with uncertainty remaining about the contractual situation of driver and team from the Singapore GP.

Renault had planned to release a statement on Thursday morning explaining its plans for the rest of 2011, but that did not happen.

However, speaking in the official FIA press conference in Belgium on Thursday, Senna revealed that he was only guaranteed for the next two events – although he hoped to be in the car for the rest of the season.

"Right now I am confirmed to do this race and the next race, but there are some legal issues to be resolved," he said. "I cannot confirm if I am doing rest of the year or not. The intention is I am going to do it, but it still cannot be confirmed."

With his participation in the Belgian GP having only been confirmed on Wednesday, Senna admitted that he faced an uphill battle to get up to speed this weekend – and reckoned that the best he could hope for was to get close to team-mate Vitaly Petrov.

"It is going to be a big challenge to come back into the middle of the season, a bit later than the middle of the season, to go racing," said Senna, who drove in Friday practice in Hungary.

"But I have been participating in all the meetings with the engineers, and am up-to-date with all that is going on at team. Hungary was useful to know how the car could go, but it will be an uphill battle to get on the form of these guys here [other drivers in the press conference] who have been racing for 11 races now. But I am really looking forward to it, hoping to progress fast and repay the faith the team has given me.

"Friday was very tough in Hungary, it was really difficult. I know I have to learn how to deal with the tyres from the first set to qualifying, and learn how to deal with tyres in the race. All this experience I don't have, so it will be the first time. If I can be anywhere near Petrov, that will be a good reference."

Nick Heidfeld expects his Renault future to be resolved in three weeks after confirming that he has launched legal action against the team.

The German, whose case is expected to be heard on September 19, insists that he has a contract to race with for Renault and he wants to get back into the car after being replaced by reserve driver Bruno Senna for this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

"The main hearing will be in about three weeks and we will have a decision then," Heidfeld told Reuters. "My position is that I have a valid contract and I want to drive."

Heidfeld was at Spa today in order to honour the terms of his contract, but he insists that his deal means that he must be a "main driver" for the team.

"I have a contract with them as a main driver and that's why I am here," he said.

Senna has confirmed that he will also be in the car for the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks, which comes before Heidfeld's court hearing. This means that the German could return to action for the Singapore Grand Prix if he is successful in his bid.

Nick Heidfeld's manager Andre Theuerzeit remains hopeful that the German will be back in a Renault cockpit in time to race in Singapore, as he intends to bring his legal fight to force the team to honour the driver's contract before the London High Court next month.

Heidfeld was replaced by the Renault's test and reserve driver Bruno Senna for the Belgian Grand Prix on Wednesday.

But in a statement released on Thursday evening, Heidfeld's management made it clear that they believe the German has a legal and binding contract with Renault which they intend to enforce through a trial that is set to take place after the Italian Grand Prix.

"I am disappointed that the team is allowed to let another driver take Nick's seat for the next weekends," said Theuerzeit. "However, I certainly am confident that we will be able to enforce a fair solution for Nick in the further proceedings.

"We all hope that Nick will be back in the cockpit in Singapore."

In the meantime Renault has been temporarily granted the right to run Senna in the car for the next races at Monza and Spa.

Heidfeld's legal representative Dr. Stefan Seitz said: "The interlocutory decision of the court does not infringe on the fact that Nick has a valid contract to be one of the two main drivers of the team.

"This position is disputed by the team for apparently purely financial reasons. We do not intend to rest before Nick's legal position has been fully restored."

Heidfeld commented: "I was surprised by the team's intention to replace me and regret that things have developed this way.

"I just wanted to be in the cockpit to get the best result for the team and me. I still have a clear contract and I want to drive."

Autosport Q&A with Bruno Senna.

Force India rookie Paul di Resta has admitted he is intrigued by the prospect of attacking Spa's famous Eau Rouge in a Formula 1 car.

The challenging compression that has symbolised the nature of the Belgian Grand Prix venue over decades has lost some of its fascination for modern Formula 1 drivers with the advancement of car aerodynamics making it 'easy flat', and no longer a talent differentiator, in recent years. And with the FIA announcing this week that drivers will be banned from using DRS through the sweeping section at the weekend, this looks likely to remain the case in 2011.

Nevertheless di Resta says he is looking forward to his first taste of driving through it in an F1 car.

"I've only ever driven it in a Formula 3 car, so I'm sure it will be a bit more of a challenge in a Formula 1 car," he said.

Asked if he will approach it with a sense of fear, di Resta replied: "I suppose you do. All the people up and down the paddock say it is easy flat, but you can only judge it when you do it.

"I've done it on the simulator, which gives you as good a feeling as anything else before you drive it.

"Having walked it this morning it is a steep hill with a blind corner. It's what everybody talks about.

"The FIA have taken the decision to disable the DRS through there, so I suppose in that sense it makes it more straightforward if it is in doubt, and if the weather conditions are tricky it makes it a bit harder again."

The 25-year-old Scot, who lies 16th in the drivers; standings following his seventh place in Hungary, says he is well rested and raring to go after the summer break.

"I had a good break, and it was quite an important time of the year to get it," he said. "Everything shut down, so I managed to spend quality time with my family, doing what we want to do.

"With the year so long, we're coming into a heavy spell, probably the busiest part of it.

"I went straight home and stayed there for the full term. Weather was good, and I trained probably harder than I've ever done in my life, to build my fitness back up again because you lose it through the year.

"To be somewhere for that long was nice. I can't remember sleeping in the same bed for that long."

"It was important because it gave me time to analyse the beginning of the year, how that went and what I'd like to carry on going into the remainder of the year.

"The season does run quite late, so it was nice to catch up with some people because the rest of the season will be spent travelling, and once that is over it's then about the development of next year's car and looking to see what will happen in the future."

Karun Chandhok will drive for Team Lotus in the first practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Indian driver took part in the German Grand Prix in place of Jarno Trulli and has completed Friday free practice sessions for the team at several other races this season - including Melbourne and Silverstone.

"After the summer break I am looking forward to being back in the car," said Chandhok, who scored his first GP2 Series race victory at the circuit in 2007. "Spa is one of the greatest circuits on the calendar and I love driving here.

"The weather here is unpredictable as always but this is still a good chance to gain some more experience with the team and get more comfortable with the car."

Heikki Kovalainen believes that Team Lotus must focus on improving its reliability record in the final eight races of the season, not only for success this year but also to ensure that it's ready to take a step forward next year.

Lotus has suffered eight retirements in 11 races this season, including a double DNF in the last race in Hungary, and wants to ensure that all such problems are troubleshooted so that they don't affect next year's car and its development.

"Our reliability has been poor this season, so to get the car more reliable towards the end of the season has got to be one of the main targets," Kovalainen told AUTOSPORT. "I think we had the worst reliability in the whole of the paddock so that's something that needs to be fixed for next season.

"In a way, it was expected because we had a new engine, a new gearbox, a new rear end and the failures that we have had has been to do with [adapting to] that. But we are getting through the problems now and I don't expect those small issues to be there next year.

"Off the shelf, it has to be more reliable and there's a good opportunity to do this because of all of our work this year. It takes time, but next year we will not have this excuse and we should be more reliable."

Kovalainen has not ruled out the possibility of the team climbing into contention in the midfield in the coming races, although admitted that it is difficult to close the gap once you fall behind.

"We have got to set our targets high and we are working all of the time to move closer," he said. "In testing, we looked closer, but when people brought updates to Melbourne, we dropped back a bit.

"We are still growing and it's difficult to catch up once you are behind, especially for a new team. But we should be able to gain relative to other people because we are coming from further behind.

"We targeted the midfield, but it remains to be seen if it will work like that."

Jenson Button believes McLaren will be the team to beat at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

Following victories for Lewis Hamilton and himself in Germany and Hungary, Button thinks that the British team - which trails Red Bull by 103 points in the constructors' championship – has every chance of making it three grand prix wins in a row for the first time in three years.

When asked whether he believed McLaren was the pre-race favourite, the 2009 world champion said: "You'd think so.

"They're [Nurburgring and Hungaroring] very different kinds of circuits, with very different conditions and we won both. You could say that it was cool and the Red Bulls don't like cool conditions, but I think it should be cool here too.

"We're in good shape. I don't think we'll have an advantage over the Red Bulls – they'll still be very strong - but if we call our strategy right then we've got a good chance of winning here, and we have to. Red Bull don't need to win. We do."

Button's Hungarian victory kept him fifth in the championship, but reduced his personal deficit to series leader Sebastian Vettel to 100 points.

While he admits that taking the title would be a long shot with only 200 points available across the remaining eight races, the Briton said that neither he, nor Hamilton, will give up the fight easily.

He does, however, believe that Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, fourth in the championship and 89 points behind Vettel, is best-placed of the chasing pack due to his undisputed number one status in the team.

"We have to beat Seb in every race we go into if we're going to win the championship. It's a long shot, we know that, but we're going to hang on and fight to the end. We're in a reasonably good position." he added.

"It will be really difficult for any one of us [himself, Hamilton, Alonso or Red Bull's Mark Webber] to catch Sebastian. For Mark it will be most difficult because whenever his car is quick, so will Sebastian's car.

"For us it's a bit easier, but its easiest for Fernando. If his car is quickest, he's going to win."

Mark Webber expects his contract extension with Red Bull Racing to be sorted out in the very near future, even though he admits his new deal is not yet a 'formality'.

The Australian met with Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz over the summer break to discuss his future plans, and also held further talks with team principal Christian Horner to talk about 2012.

But despite matters moving in the right direction, Webber has said that nothing is finalised yet - although he thinks it only now a matter of time.

"Not far away, mate," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT about his future contractual situation. "Decisions will be made shortly so it should be pretty close to doing something."

Questioned about whether he believed it to be a formality, Webber said: "It will be cheeky for me to say yes. My decision has to be taken into account although the team's decision is pretty clear. Obviously Dietrich has been great, as have all the boys and everyone at the team. All will become clear shortly."

Webber has been expanding his motor racing interests in recent years, with work on a GP3 team alongside Horner, and helping looking after the career of rising New Zealand driver Mitch Evans.

Webber said that he has enjoyed these other activities, but does not see himself rushing to spend all his time on efforts outside of F1.

"It has been interesting doing a little bit of stuff with Mitch [Evans] this year, from an arm's distance," he said. "I have had my own things on, but I realise that if I am going to go down that path I need to keep my finger on the pulse a little bit with what is going through the middle and late ranks of motorsport to help those youngsters, and that would require a little element of interest and motivation into the politics side of things still.

"But I still enjoy it. I particularly have enjoyed watching Mitch this year. He has had a roller coaster year this year, but generally has been a very, very strong talent and that is something that is rewarding to go through.

"The GP3 operation is going well, so it is enjoyable - but I will not be immersing myself whenever that day comes. I still really enjoy the car, and there is a huge chance I will be racing in F1 next year... so that decision will come in a few years."

Sebastian Vettel's single-handed dominance of Formula 1, which saw him win five of the opening six races of the year, has now come to an end as the season enters its final phase, reckons his Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber.

Vettel opened up a solid lead in the world championship thanks to a brilliant start to the campaign, where only Lewis Hamilton's triumph in China prevented him taking a clean-sweep of wins from Australia to Canada.

But with Vettel now having not won since the European Grand Prix in June, and rivals McLaren and Ferrari having triumphed in the last three races, Webber is convinced that the fight for victory is now going to be super-tight for the remainder of the campaign.

When asked in Belgium if he could see Vettel re-establishing the level of dominance he had at the start of the year, Webber said: "No, that's over. I think that's over, in terms of having five, six or seven victories on the bounce. I think that is not going to happen. I think it will be more spread out.

"It will be the same customers. Then you will have the normal suspects, the normal guys winning, and I am looking at getting involved as well."

Although Vettel has an 85-point lead over Webber in the title chase with eight races remaining, Webber does not think the championship is in the bag yet - and reckons that it would only take a few on-track slip-ups to turn the battle on its head.

"No, not if Seb doesn't finish two races. I wouldn't just rely on someone not dominating. There are eight races to go, Seb is in a great position but it is not completely comfortable yet."

With the competitive order already so tight at the front, Red Bull Racing also faces the prospect of facing what could arguably be viewed as it two toughest races of the season in Spa and Monza.

Webber is under no illusions that things are going to be hard, but thinks that his outfit should still be able to fight it out near the front.

"I see the weekend being tight to be honest," he said. "Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull, there will be no clear advantage I don't think. It is going to be a very tight grand prix as we've seen in the last three or four races.

"The form card this year has been tighter everywhere. If you look at Budapest and Silverstone, they were two tracks in the past that we were very strong at. And Barcelona too, Seb got pushed over the line by Lewis.

"So the tracks have tightened up a lot for us in terms of the advantage we had at some of our better tracks. So let's see at some of the tracks where in the past they have been a bit more challenging for us to challenge for the win. Let's see how they unfold in the next three weeks.

"One here and then the next one in Monza. In Canada the car wasn't too bad, we were pretty competitive there and we learned a lot in that situation with the low downforce."

Vettel himself agrees that things will be hard this weekend, but he believes the outfit has learned lessons from its recent form.

"It is not our favourite circuit, because there are a lot of straights here, more than most of the other circuits," he said. "The last couple of races we may not have been on top of our game, but we have understood and we will see where we are this weekend."

Those lessons are likely to revolve around the use of tyres - with Red Bull Racing having faced difficulties in warming its tyres up for qualifying yet also suffering high degradation on race stints in recent events where temperatures have been cooler.

Speaking about the effort in that area, Webber said: "We are doing everything we can to understand all that. You obviously are fully aware that I am not going to sit here and tell you how we are going to do that, that is obviously car racing and the game we are in.

"McLaren has done what it is doing, we are doing what we are doing, and we have had an incredibly successful recipe for a long, long time the last few years. Adrian [Newey] is the guy who is not looking at the results, he is looking at performance, how to make it better, irrespective of the guys closing in on us.

"It is not a reaction of 'we must try this or we must try that'. It is let's keep improving, but when you get nailed fair and square it might narrow the focus a bit to look at how they are doing it. It is not that you are going to turn the world upside down. There are a lot of things to look at these days and the cars are very, very technical."

Lewis Hamilton has backed Mark Webber's belief that Sebastian Vettel's era of dominance in Formula 1 is over for now - but fears the German could be back on top at the start of next season again.

While Vettel looks set to have a major fight on his hands to keep delivering victories until the end of the season, with Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and McLaren now all neck and neck, Hamilton thinks the championship leader can expect to enjoy another advantage by the time the 2012 season kicks off.

When asked by AUTOSPORT if he agreed with Webber's view that Vettel can no longer expect to deliver wins on the bounce with his dominant era over, Hamilton said: "I agree on that in the sense that any of the top six can win.

"In terms of an era, I think it could still be that case for the next year or so - that they [Red Bull] dominate from early on and then we start to catch them up.

"But I definitely feel that all the teams have caught up now. You have got Ferrari, you've got us and Mercedes are slowly picking up some pace but we are able to compete with them. Red Bull has not won a grand prix since Valencia so they are not unstoppable."

Pushed to expand on his rather downbeat assessment of McLaren's chances of getting next season off to the kind of start it would need to wrestle control of the championship battle, Hamilton said that stable regulations ensured Red Bull Racing would be able to evolve the strengths of its current contender.

"They have had a car since 2009 that is almost the same car, it has just evolved," he explained. "That same design has just got better and better. We had a terrible car in 2009, we scrapped that car. We built a new car in 2010, scrapped that car. We built a new car in 2011, and I think we will have a similar car in 2012 so we should be closer. Whether other teams will do that [i don't know].

"But their [Red Bull] car will probably be another evolution of this year's car again. Until the rules change drastically again, and who knows when that will happen, we can definitely at least halve the gap. And then instead of it being half a season it could be a quarter, or a couple of races."

He added: "I may be wrong, but I have no doubts that they will be very, very strong at the beginning of next season. But we have shown that we have got the strengths to power through and beat them at certain points of the year. We just want to bring that closer to the start of it."

Hamilton reckoned that although the current McLaren was able to fight for wins, he thinks that much of its speed has come from exhaust blown diffusers – a concept that is effectively banned from 2012.

"If you look back at Silverstone and see how much downforce we lost with the exhaust situation," he said. "I think we would see the Red Bull rise to the top, or remain there. I think you would see others lose a lot more.

"Talking about the fundamentals of the car, it's not that I am massively happy with it. I think we, as a team, know that we need to improve it and that's what we are working on. Working on the basic downforce, rather than what's coming next."

Michael Schumacher doubted whether he had the quality to match rivals Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell when he entered the sport in 1991, the seven-time champion admitted in a press conference on the 20th anniversary of his Formula 1 debut.

The 42-year-old German, is now the most successful driver ever to have entered the sport - with 91 victories, 154 podium finishes and 68 pole positions to his name.

But Schumacher says that he was daunted by the prospect of going up against the giants of the era he entered the sport in when he made his debut for Jordan at Spa 20 years ago.

"...If you are not a Formula 1 driver, at least myself, I was doubtful whether my quality was good enough to compete with these guys," the Mercedes driver said on Thursday. "You see them as untouchables, especially in those moments where you had (Ayrton) Sennas, (Alain) Prosts, (Nigel) Mansells and so on. I didn't really think I could match.

"Getting the first experience, coming over here and driving the car, I sort of quickly picked up the confidence that it was possible and from there on we all know.

"At the end of the day we are all humans, we all have limits and you drive within those and there is no reason why it is impossible to beat those guys in the past and neither these guys that are here right now. That's the good thing about Formula 1. It is always a challenge and it is always a motivating challenge that is great fun."

Schumacher revealed that he never imagined he would still be racing in Formula 1 so many years down the line: "Well it is an unusual situation and certainly not something to be expected from the beginning but proud to be here and glad.

"As I often call it, it's my living room and a very particular place that lots of things, great things and special things, have happened. It is obviously a perfect scenario to celebrate this moment."

Asked if he had any regrets or whether he would have done things differently had he been given the chance, Schumacher replied: "Certainly I guess in every person's career, you look at it and you think well, what has happened, you take a summary, you almost make an account and I have to say in my case, taking the 20 years, taking everything that I've been doing.... certainly, going backwards, I would do certain things differently.

"But then in life you have to make some mistakes in order to understand it is a mistake and to sort of set your guidelines and, all in all, I guess the vest that I'm wearing, that I'm wearing inside me, is pretty white, and I'm pretty happy about this.

"I don't have many regrets and overall, I certainly feel very excited and proud of what has happened."

World champion Sebastian Vettel was four years old when Michael Schumacher qualified seventh on the grid for the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver said on Thursday that he first became aware of Schumacher by playing with toy cars in kindergarten.

"I remember the first time I went to Hockenheim with my father to see free practice," he said. "We went all the way down to the first chicane. It was raining like crazy and Michael had this yellow Benetton at the time.

"To see a Formula 1 car and then to see Michael passing… he was probably just on an install lap, nothing spectacular but it was really very special. Unfortunately, nobody else went out because it was raining so hard.

"There was only a couple of cars but that was the first time that I remember. Obviously, after that there were a lot of races… when I was go-karting, Michael was sort of all the kids' hero.

"When we had this race in Kerpen at the end of the season, he handed over the trophies and it was very special to see him, to meet him, to shake his hand and to get our trophies presented by him," added Vettel. "Still there are some pictures from that time and to imagine now, to know what happened in the past and to see today that we are racing against each other in Formula 1 is quite crazy.

"Obviously, I have a lot of respect. It's very special to me. As I said, he was the hero of my childhood. I can't give you too much credit now, but I think he's an OK driver."

Fernando Alonso has defended old rival Michael Schumacher's decision to return to Formula 1 despite the Mercedes driver's lack of results during the past 18 months.

The Spaniard developed a keen rivalry with Schumacher last decade, in particular in 2006 when they fought for the world championship and Alonso prevailed in a last-race title shoot-out.

On the 20th anniversary of Schumacher's F1 debut, Alonso insisted that he is not among the seven-times world champion's critics.

"There are some critics of his return and his results, but I don't agree with those," said Alonso. "Three years ago, Michael was watching F1 at home and now he is maybe finishing seventh or ninth, but I am sure that he is happy every morning because he is racing in F1 again and that's what he wants to do.

"Twenty years is a long time. If I think of myself, it will be 2021 if I am in F1 for 20 years. I don't think that I could do that. I want to congratulate him for these 20 years and tell him that it's a pleasure to race against him."

Alonso added that he believes Schumacher's record of seven world championships and 91 grand prix victories might never be eclipsed, and that he understands the reasons for the Mercedes driver deciding to return.

"I have great respect for Michael," said Alonso. "He is one of the greatest of the greatest in the history of the sport; the numbers are maybe impossible to repeat for any one of us.

"I will always remember all of the battles with him and it was a privilege to drive against Michael. It will always be a good thing to remember.

"I'm sure that he missed the adrenaline, he missed the F1 show and he decided to come back because watching a TV is probably not easy when you are Michael.

"Now, in the second part of his career, obviously the car is not competitive enough to win races, but I'm sure that he's still enjoying it."

Thursday's press conference:

DRIVERS - Sebastien BUEMI (Toro Rosso), Jerome D'AMBROSIO (Virgin), Vitaly PETROV (Renault), Michael SCHUMACHER (Mercedes), Bruno SENNA (Renault), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Bruno, how ready are you for your return and what about coming back here at this particular circuit?

Bruno Senna: Well, it is going to be a big challenge to come back into the middle of the season - or a bit later than the middle of the season – into racing but I have been participating in all the meetings with the engineers so I have been very much up to date with what is going on in the team. The Friday in Hungary was very useful for me to get a feel for the car and get a feel for how the car can go. But, of course, it is going to be a big uphill battle to get up to the level of these guys who have been racing for 11 races now. The fact that it is here, in Spa, is very special. It is my favourite circuit and a circuit that historically I have done very well on so I am really looking forward to it. I hope I can progress fast and hopefully do a good job for these guys because it is the best way to appreciate the opportunity that they are giving me.

Q. And, of course, you've driven a Formula One car around here quite recently in May. There is, I believe, photographic evidence of that.

BS: Yes, it was also good too. Every time you can drive the car recently it makes it easier for you to learn. It was for a demonstration, only a few laps, but still great to have a better reference than from my previous references and hopefully this time it will be a more serious run.

Q. What can you expect from yourself really this weekend?

BS: It is hard to say. Friday was very tough, Friday in Hungary was really, really difficult but again I only had one set of tyres. I know I will be having to learn how to deal with the tyres from the first set all the way to the sets in qualifying and then again learning how to deal with the tyres for the race as that will be my first experience with the Pirelli tyres on high fuel going to low fuel. All this experience I don't have so if I can be anywhere near Petrov that would be a good reference.

Q. Jerome, your local race. What are your expectations?

Jerome D'Ambrosio: Well it is something special to be here definitely. For 17 years there were no Belgian drivers in F1 and Spa so coming back here is special. I felt it. It has been busy days for me with the first press conference for the grand prix back on the 10th of August. There is a lot of enthusiasm about me being here. Now on the other side I just have to keep on doing my job, stay focussed. I will just try to do the best. There is not much more we can do. I will just focus on getting the maximum out of the car. Hopefully the weather can play for us a little bit and then we will see.

Q. So what are your hopes for the Belgian weather?

JD: Well, a bit of drizzle in the race would not be a bad thing for us.

Q. What are your thoughts about the second half of the season and perhaps your thoughts on staying on with the team for next year?

JD: Well, first of all the break was something good. I think that as a rookie you take a lot of information in within a very short period of time and it is nice to have a break not thinking about Formula One. Then it is kind of a natural processing of all the information you have taken in during a couple of months. That is something good before the last eight races so I am looking forward to these eight races. I really wish to make another step and really put into application what I have learnt over the last 11. Now with the team I am really happy. I think they are happy about me as well so definitely at the moment we are speaking and hopefully we will be able to work together again next year.

Q. Sebastien, I believe you had a pleasant break in the United States during August. Tell us about that?

Sebastien Buemi: Yes, I went to Orlando and then to Miami for a few days. I came back on the 14th to go back into training for at least a week to prepare as well as possible for Spa. The rest of the season as we know, Singapore and all the next races, are going to be very hot and you have got to be fit. It was a good break and I could enjoy myself a bit but it is very good to be back here as Spa is a fantastic circuit.

Q. Things seem to be going a little bit better over the last two or three races. Perhaps you can just explain that. Obviously you have qualified 16th here for the last two years, well that's where you have started, and you have also finished 12th here so presumably you are hoping for better. But tell us about the improvement in the car.

SB: We have been working really hard with the team to try and improve the car as much as possible. I would say the last race in Budapest was really good for us as we finished eighth and tenth so we scored a lot of points for the team. Hopefully now we can have a good weekend as well. We know in Spa everything is possible with the weather and also that can change really quickly. I think we have got some new stuff on the car which will help us as well so hopefully we will be able to use the maximum out of it and score points again.

Q. So quite hopeful of improving on that 16th in qualifying and 12th in the race?

SB: Yes. I mean we know that qualifying is important but not as much as in the past so even if we qualify there the race is really long and everything is possible. I am really looking forward to the race and score points at the end so even if I have to start at the back of the grid or not the best position I will not think too much about it. But it is really important to have a good base and if you have got it then you can finish well.

Q. Vitaly, a new team-mate. How is that going to affect you? Will it affect you at all?

Vitaly Petrov: First of all, congratulations Bruno. I know he has signed for the next two races. For me I think it doesn't matter now who is my team-mate. I know what I need to do. I know how I need to improve the car so I will just do my job.

Q. And your feelings about this circuit as, for example, Renault was third on the grid here last year. You went from 23rd to ninth here last year. What are your feelings about this track?

VP: I like this track. I had very good battle with Mercedes with Michael and Nico (Rosberg) last year. Now it is very difficult to say where we will be right now. We bring some new good parts here. We bring some upgrades. We hope these upgrades will work here and we know our car likes this track so we will try our best.

Q. Michael, a big weekend for you. A 20th anniversary. Can you imagine, could you have imagined 20 years ago that you would still be here?

Michael Schumacher: Could you? You've been here 20 years ago, haven't you?

Q. I'm afraid so, yes. But I don't have to be as fit as you.

MS: Well it is an unusual situation and certainly not something to be expected from the beginning but proud to be here and glad. As I often call it, it's my living room and a very particular place that lots of things, great things and special things, have happened. It is obviously a perfect scenario to celebrate this moment.

Q. Just looking back at the six wins plus one, but interesting that only one pole position. Is there a reason for that or just circumstance?

MS: In the end of the day there is no reason for this. Neither there is for other race tracks where I had more pole positions. I don't think it is anything to do other than with having certain characteristics of cars that maybe suit some tracks and other tracks less. In terms of statistics if you look at the number of pole positions or race wins I don't think it is up on the driver that you are particularly strong or weak in one or the other it is more adapting and having the package available for doing one or the other.

Q. And obviously it worked well with wins, particularly with the six wins.

MS: Yep.

Q. Looking forward to this weekend, the team has said they feel the car is well suited to the track. What are your thoughts on that?

MS: Well I mean we always feel this and indeed it is what it is. We have to face the reality and the reality is that at the moment we are sort of the fourth strongest team and the gaps to the front are unfortunately too big to battle with those guys unless there are unusual circumstances. Maybe this track potentially suits us a little bit more but the gaps are too big to really make an impression to the guys up front so seventh and eighth that's our possible target that we can achieve and that's what we are going to aim for.

Q. Sebastian, a good break? Can we ask how you recharged your batteries?

Sebastian Vettel: I think I did what most people do in their holidays. I didn't work. I had a good time off trying to forget a little bit about Formula One. Just doing the usual things, enjoying the sun, enjoying the weather, good food, moving a lot, so yes enjoyed the fresh air, enjoyed the summer. After I think Hungary, which was unusual, and Nurburgring especially and England I think it was a good call.

Q. Is this a circuit that will return Red Bull to winning form?

SV: We will see. It is not our favourite circuit as there are a lot of straights here, more than on most of the other tracks. There are some corners but they are all in sector two, so sector one and three is quite difficult. We have seen that in the past but I think generally we had a very good car around here, the last two years especially so I am looking forward. It is a very nice track all in all and looking forward to the weekend. The last couple of races we know we might not have been on the top of our game but I think we have understood, learnt quite a lot so we will see where we are this weekend.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) Michael, congratulations first of all. I would like to know how big the step was between what you thought Formula One was in Spa 1991 and what you already know in Spa 2011. Can you explain?


MS: You are talking about the development from the beginning to now mainly?

Q. Whatever you thought Formula One was before that race and whatever you know already?

MS: Well the main point is if you are not a Formula One driver, at least myself, I was doubtful whether my quality was good enough to compete with these guys. You see them as untouchables, especially in those moments where you had (Ayrton) Sennas, (Alain) Prosts, (Nigel) Mansells and so on. I didn't really think I could match. Getting the first experience, coming over here and driving the car, I sort of quickly picked up the confidence that it was possible and from there on we all know. At the end of the day we are all humans, we all have limits and you drive within those and there is no reason why it is impossible to beat those guys in the past and neither these guys that are here right now. That's the good thing about Formula One. It is always a challenge and it is always a motivating challenge that is great fun.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) The question is to both Renault drivers. You have a completely different car here. The exhaust goes to the back now more than to the side. It is a different concept than the car was projected and you didn't test it. But can you imagine it can happen?

VP: Who said we have different car. We have quite similar.

Q. (Inaudible question)

VP: No, no. It is first time here. We have some planning maybe to try rear exhaust, but both cars will be absolutely similar.

Q: (Pierre Van Vliet – F1 Magazine) Just one general question about the circuit. Is it a different challenge to cope with the longest race track of the championship. I mean, in qualifying, how difficult is it to put the three sectors together and to take care of the tyres.

SV: I was disturbed by Michael.

Q. Do you want to ask it again?

Q. (Pierre Van Vliet – F1 Magazine) I was talking about the fact that we are the longest race track of the season. How difficult is it to cope with the fact that it is a long lap, especially in qualifying. How do you put three sectors together and take care of the tyres in those conditions?

VP: I think it is a good time for thinking as it is a long lap and you can think when you want to come in and change your tyres. But, actually, or maybe me, I like it very much this track. I think it has a lot of interesting corners, high speed corners, and Eau Rouge you need to do flat. Last year it was with F-Duct, this year you need to hold with two hands, but I like it very much. And sometimes it is very interesting. In one place it is raining, in one place it is dry so it is always interesting to race here.

Q. So is it an issue the fact that it is seven kilometres, a very long circuit. Is that a bid deal or is it just normal? Sebastian?

SV: I like it. It is a long track. It could be even longer. I think that's why in a way if it would be possible we would be delighted to race at the Nurburgring in the old circuit. The fact that the lap is longer here doesn't make a big difference. We have a lot of straights, long straights, so enough time to recover. But sector two is the one that is most enjoyable as you have got all the corners there. As I said sector one and three there is only one corner really so it is one of the best tracks all year so I think we all love coming here.

MS: I think the basic is that we sort of manage to concentrate for a whole race, that is 300km, so we manage whether a track is five km or seven km is the same. It is not a big deal for us.

Q. (Julien Febreau – L'Equipe) Question for Bruno: could you tell us what the boss of Renault GP told you about the rest of the season, and will you keep the seat until the end of the season?

BS: Well, right now, I'm confirmed for this race and the next race but, for some legal issues still to be resolved, they can't confirm the rest of the year or not. The intentions are that I do it but it still cannot be confirmed.

Q. (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Michael, it's been 20 years; what chance of you still being involved in Formula One in some capacity whether it be management or something in ten year's time as well?

MS: Honestly, I'm not really intending, right now, because I'm fully focused and happy in what I'm doing. I have, in the past, never really expressed a wish to be in an operational area in terms of management or something, that's not really the area which I like. That might change in the far future but I can't look far enough ahead to tell when that would be and if that would be.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian, you said that you had time to understand what happened in the last three races; what was the conclusion?

SV: Well, I think it's no secret. I can understand that you're quite curious now to find out what it was, but it was nothing, no secrets to reveal. Obviously, the last three races were pretty different in terms of conditions, especially Nurburgring was a bit of a surprise with very cold temperatures, whereas in the past, I think we have always been very competitive, but it was cold. It seemed that we were struggling more than others this year so it's basic homework, nothing wrong that went on the car or nothing wrong with the car itself. So it's just trying to get everything up to temperature quick enough where we seemed to struggle a little bit so, as I said, I think already for Hungary we made a step forward and now we go from there. Obviously, we've had no time to test in between so we can only analyse and think about those things which make more sense but we need to confirm them on the track.

Q. (Alexey Popov - VGTRK) Question to all five drivers – except Michael. It's just about you! Can you remember, gentlemen, your first race with Michael, when you first saw him on TV or maybe as a spectator? And secondly, will you try to be more respectful than usual with him on Sunday?

BS: Well, the first time I saw Michael racing was Spa in 1991, on his debut in Formula One. I remember it pretty clearly when he had a really...

MS: How old were you??

BS: Um, eight?

Jd'A: How old are you?

BS: 27. Not that young any more. So I saw a great performance in qualifying but unfortunately he had a bit of a failure on his car up Eau Rouge, which denied him a good result but obviously he showed that he had great potential to fulfil in the following steps of his career.

Q: And will you show him respect?

BS: We're racing aren't we, so if it's close racing or more distant, we will have to see, but we are fighting for every inch of the track and it's a great privilege for me to be racing with him and hopefully he will be in a good position to be fighting for points.

Jd'A: Well, it wasn't the best weekend actually. I was in the paddock at Imola in '94 on Saturday and that was my first weekend in Formula One. Obviously, Michael was driving there.

BS: Will you show him any respect?

Jd'A: Well, I will really make sure he doesn't lose… try not to lose a tenth when there's a blue flag situation. I will really try hard on this weekend for him.

SB: For me, '91 is a long time ago. I was a bit small, so I can't really remember. I think the first races I really remember were '94, '95 when he was driving for Benetton.

VP: As you know, I started to watch Formula One very, very late because I was in my town to be honest, I never saw racing – I was racing myself but I never even knew what Formula One was, so I think I started to watch when Michael was battling with Alonso, at this time. And when I heard that he would stop racing, I was a little bit, you know… I said why? Because I wanted to race with him.

SV: I think Michael asked me to have some respect, so I'm not sure. I think the first time I was in touch with Michael was 1991 or 1992, probably as a toy car in kindergarten. I remember the first time I went to Hockenheim with my father to see free practice. We went all the way down to the first chicane. It was raining like crazy and Michael had this yellow Benetton at the time. To see a Formula One car and then to see Michael passing… he was probably just on an install lap, nothing spectacular but it was really very special. Unfortunately, nobody else went out because it was raining so hard. There was only a couple of cars but that was the first time that I remember. Obviously, after that there were a lot of races… when I was go-karting, Michael was sort of all the kids' hero. When we had this race in Kerpen at the end of the season, he handed over the trophies and it was very special to see him, to meet him, to shake his hand and to get our trophies presented by him. Still there are some pictures from that time and to imagine now, to know what happened in the past and to see today that we are racing against each other in Formula One is quite crazy. Obviously, I have a lot of respect. It's very special to me. As I said, he was the hero of my childhood. I can't give you too much credit now, but I think he's an OK driver.

Q. (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Michael, in an interview with F1 Racing, you talk about pushing limits, occasionally going beyond the limits, during your early days, such as your battles with Damon Hill. Are you still able to find those limits and go beyond those limits these days, or are there different limitations physically, mentally etc?

MS: There are different limitations, yeah, by the rulebook, physically, because the rulebook always leaves you certain grey zones and leaves you clear guidelines at some moments. You have always to adapt to those guidelines and to those changes and that's obviously the limits that you search for and occasionally you may overstep (those limits) and you may take the penalty for it.

Q. (Sven Haidinger – SportWoche) Sebastian, Force India and McLaren hired some Bridgestone tyre experts. Do you think that you're missing something in that area with Red Bull?

SV: Well, no doubt tyres are very important but as I found out, we are on Pirelli tyres this year. Obviously, there are some people around who have quite a good understanding about tyres in general. We have some people on board and I'm happy with the people that we have in that area. There will always be some transfers. If it's not drivers, then it will be engineers. That's normal.

Q. (Gary Meenaghan – The National) To all of you, when we were in Istanbul earlier in the year, drivers spoke about their love for the track, yet it's not going to be on the calendar next year. This week, lots of drivers have spoken about their love for Spa yet there are doubts about the future of this track. I just wonder if you find it disappointing that the quality of a track doesn't seem to matter as much as how much a track or circuit can pay for a race?

SV: I think it would be a shame (if we lost this circuit), because there's a lot of history here. Michael is the best example; Formula One has been here for a long, long time and I think it would be a shame to lose a circuit like that. Spa has made massive improvements for safety in the last few years. It fully deserves, from a driver's point of view, to remain in the calendar for a longer time than all of us may be racing in Formula One.

Jd'A: I can follow what Sebastian just said there. I'm biased here, but it's the best circuit in the world. The only circuit that I can compare it with is Suzuka really. They are the two circuits in the world that stand up above the others. The pleasure you get to drive a qualifying lap here and during the race… I can't remember any race at Spa being boring, because of the lack of overtaking or anything. The fight with Mika and Michael at the end of the straight and then last year's rain – there's always something nice happening here so I wish that the circuit remains on the calendar for a long long time. As long as I'm in F1, I wish that every year I can drive on the track as it's my home circuit so it's also nice from that point of view.

SB: I think Sebastian and Jerome spoke well about it. It would be a shame if we lose a circuit because this is one of the best. At the end of the day we race where we have to race and we just concentrate on our job, but it's definitely a pleasure to be here and there are always a lot of things happening and it's definitely one of the best circuits and it would really be a shame…

MS: The fact of the matter is that if you go along the paddock, everybody wants to come back here. It has so much tradition, so much atmosphere and we all love this track. We would all love to be here, but unfortunately it's not up to us to take this decision. If our word counts, you're going to have it.

Q: (Walter Koster – Saabrucker Zeitung) Quite another question: Sebastian, do you remember my question last year; it's the same time here. I can tell you; it was a question concerning the gift for the birthday of your friendly team-mate. You intended to give him hair shampoo from the hotel. What will be the surprise on Saturday when it's his 35th birthday?

SV: I don't know. Maybe body lotion!

Q. (Bob McKenzie – Daily Express) There has been plenty to rejoice in the career, but when you look back, are there any regrets among the rejoicings and is there a high spot and a low spot?

MS: Certainly I guess in every person's career, you look at it and you think well, what has happened, you take a summary, you almost make an account and I have to say in my case, taking the 20 years, taking everything that I've been doing…. certainly, going backwards, I would do certain things differently, but then in life you have to make some mistakes in order to understand it is a mistake and to sort of set your guidelines and, all in all, I guess the vest that I'm wearing, that I'm wearing inside me, is pretty white, and I'm pretty happy about this. I don't have many regrets and overall, I certainly feel very excited and proud of what has happened.

[Lineker]

Michael Schumacher started his 20th anniversary celebration weekend in appropriate style by leading the opening practice session at Spa, as Formula 1 resumed after its summer break, but the position was somewhat deceptive as only the Mercedes managed laps in the dry.

A heavy shower hit the Belgian venue just 10 minutes into the session, and track conditions never improved enough to allow further running on slicks.

Mercedes duo Schumacher and Nico Rosberg had set flying laps by that time, and their respective 1m54.355s and 1m54.829s would stand as the morning's fastest times by a vast margin - a suitable, if unusual, way to Schumacher to kick off the weekend that marks 20 years since his F1 debut for Jordan.

The track was completely empty for 25 minutes after the shower, before championship leader Sebastian Vettel set off for an exploratory lap. He was soon joined by Lewis Hamilton, although a violent twitch for the McLaren at Blanchimont showed that the Briton's choice of intermediate tyres was optimistic at the time.

Force India's Adrian Sutil was first to try a flying lap on wets, lapping 21s off the Mercedes' earlier pace. By the end it was Jenson Button who managed the fastest rain time for McLaren, with a lap of 2m02.740s - 8.3s away from Schumacher's mark - on intermediates in the closing minutes.

Vettel (Red Bull) grabbed fourth with a similar last-gasp run, followed by Hamilton. Sutil remained a frontrunner and was sixth, ahead of Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari, Felipe Massa's Ferrari and Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)

Bruno Senna's return to a race seat with Renault did not begin well, as he spun into the tyres at the nameless Turn 9 left-hander with half an hour to go. Paul di Resta would later crash his Force India at the same place, and although the Scot's accident was less damaging, it required a seven-minute red flag stoppage as the crane needed to clear the car away was already engaged with Senna's Renault.

FP1


Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap        Laps

 1.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m54.355s             13

 2.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m54.829s  + 0.474s   15

 3.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      2m02.740s  + 8.385s   8

 4.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      2m03.752s  + 9.397s   10

 5.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      2m04.301s  + 9.946s   7

 6.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  2m04.663s  + 10.308s  18

 7.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               2m04.728s  + 10.373s  10

 8.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     2m05.391s  + 11.036s  12

 9.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    2m06.583s  + 12.228s  16

10.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        2m06.886s  + 12.531s  15

11.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               2m07.055s  + 12.700s  12

12.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        2m07.481s  + 13.126s  15

13.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus-Renault         2m08.233s  + 13.878s  14

14.  Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    2m08.239s  + 13.884s  14

15.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth     2m08.918s  + 14.563s  10

16.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      2m09.792s  + 15.437s  8

17.  Timo Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       2m12.278s  + 17.923s  13

18.  Tonio Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth          2m12.389s  + 18.034s  10

19.  Jerome D-Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth       2m12.772s  + 18.417s  13

20.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  2m13.058s  + 18.703s  8

21.  Karun Chandhok      Lotus-Renault         2m13.090s  + 18.735s  11

22.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault               2m13.601s  + 19.246s  10

23.  Bruno Senna         Renault               2m14.340s  + 19.985s  7

24.  Daniel Ricciardo    HRT-Cosworth          2m14.933s  + 20.578s  11[/code]


Red Bull's Mark Webber hit the front as the Formula 1 field managed a few minutes of dry running in the second free practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.



Only the two Mercedes had been able to squeeze in flying laps on slicks in first practice before the rain arrived, and the track was damp again when the afternoon session got underway.



Conditions steadily improved, with the two Red Bulls, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button all taking turns at the front before Webber set the 2m00.964s that would stand at the best intermediate tyre lap of the session.



Alonso then became the first to explore the circuit on slicks, and the Ferrari man immediately beat Webber's time by four seconds, before getting down to a 1m53s on the next lap.



Both Mercedes and both Red Bulls would have moments in first position during the frantic quarter of an hour that followed as everyone tried to make the most of what would prove to be the only dry segment of the session.



It was Webber who was on top on a 1m50.321s when the clouds opened once more with just under 40 minutes left, and although most drivers did eventually come back out to get some wet practice, there was no way anyone was going to improve their pace on what was soon a sodden circuit.



Alonso ended up second, ahead of McLaren pair Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, and the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa.



Behind Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and Sergio Perez (Sauber), Nico Hulkenberg was eighth in a rare Friday afternoon appearance for a reserve driver - Force India having hoped the morning would see the best of the weather. It was Adrian Sutil who stood aside for Hulkenberg, with Paul di Resta ninth in the repaired sister car, ahead of Vettel.



Morning pacesetter Michael Schumacher was 11th for Mercedes, while a steering problem left Renault's Vitaly Petrov at the back of the field.



[code]FP2


Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps

 1.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m50.321s            22

 2.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m50.461s  + 0.140s  18

 3.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m50.770s  + 0.449s  9

 4.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m50.838s  + 0.517s  9

 5.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m51.218s  + 0.897s  14

 6.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m51.242s  + 0.921s  22

 7.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m51.655s  + 1.334s  20

 8.  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes  1m51.725s  + 1.404s  17

 9.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m51.751s  + 1.430s  8

10.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m51.790s  + 1.469s  13

11.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m51.922s  + 1.601s  22

12.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth     1m52.750s  + 2.429s  20

13.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m52.780s  + 2.459s  25

14.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m52.911s  + 2.59 s  24

15.  Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m53.009s  + 2.688s  24

16.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     1m53.156s  + 2.835s  17

17.  Bruno Senna         Renault               1m53.835s  + 3.514s  20

18.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus-Renault         1m55.051s  + 4.730s  20

19.  Timo Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1m55.494s  + 5.173s  22

20.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault         1m56.202s  + 5.881s  15

21.  Jerome D-Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth       1m56.816s  + 6.495s  20

22.  Tonio Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth          1m57.450s  + 7.129s  19

23.  Daniel Ricciardo    HRT-Cosworth          1m57.612s  + 7.291s  24

24.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault               2m02.234s  + 11.913s 12


All timing unofficial

Michael Schumacher is ready to silence his critics and surprise onlookers soon with his form, reckons Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug.

On the 20th anniversary of Schumacher's debut in Formula 1, back at Spa in 1991, Haug thinks that the seven-time champion is making good progress now with his form and will soon deliver the kind of headline-grabbing result that had been hoped for ever since he announced his comeback.

"If you look through the data and look through the lap times, and if you make the effort to look at it, there have been quite a few races where he has had similar or better speed in the race as Nico [Rosberg] has," Haug told AUTOSPORT. "It was much more balanced than the qualifying results were suggesting.

"His opening laps are just excellent, and you need to be a strong racer to do that on a regular basis. It is not a one-off, as nobody has overtaken more cars during lap one, although you must say it is easier if you start eighth or tenth than if you start on pole position. I also think we saw some great moves from him, so the spirit/feeling is there.

"And it may be strange to say, but Michael can surprise people, even after this period of time. When some people write him off, we will definitely not make that mistake to write him off. You need to smell it, you need to have the right ingredients and you see a race like Canada and I think it was excellent."

Although a recent comment from Haug regarding a possible future DTM test for Schumacher has prompted talk about a post-F1 career for the German, such speculation has been dismissed.

"The guys [schumacher and Rosberg] probably during winter time, if there is a possibility, they may test the car, but this is not a big matter," said Haug.

"There is nothing, just to stress, or a background like he is going to do DTM after F1. We never, ever discussed that. He has a lot of respect in front of these guys, but he is not really a big fan of driving these [DTM] cars himself.

"He did that in the past for a couple of races, but he is a monoposto guy. We never discussed it. I am sure if we have the opportunity at one stage, it would be good fun, they all enjoyed it. Ask David (Coulthard), ask Mika (Hakkinen), ask Ralf (Schumacher), ask all these guys. At one stage there could be an outing in the car, but even that is not confirmed."

Michael Schumacher's race engineer at Mercedes has changed, with his former assistant race engineer Peter Bonnington taking over the role from Mark Slade.

Slade was formerly Kimi Raikkonen's race engineer at McLaren, and was recruited from Renault, where he worked with Vitaly Petrov, for this season. He has taken up what a team spokesperson described as "a factory-based role within race engineering" because he has "decided to stop travelling".

Bonnington assumes the role with immediate effect having worked with Schumacher since the seven-time world champion came back to Formula 1 at the start of last year.

Jock Clear, who was Nico Rosberg's race engineer last year and for the first three races of of this season before new recruit Tony Ross joined from Williams, has stepped in as Schumacher's performance engineer for the final eight races of the season while a permanent replacement is found.

The team said that the move had been made with immediate effect in order for Bonnington and Schumacher to develop their relationship ahead of the 2012 season.

Michael Schumacher said being on track at Spa-Francorchamps 20 years on from his debut weekend in Formula 1 was still a special experience even though Friday practice for this year's Belgian Grand Prix was largely a wash-out.

Persistent rain meant there were only a few minutes of dry running in each of today's sessions, although Schumacher and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg made the most of one such period to go quickest in the morning.

The weekend marks 20 years since Schumacher's F1 debut with Jordan at the 1991 Spa event, when he qualified a shock seventh before retiring on the first lap with a clutch failure.

"It was a special feeling to be out on track today for the first practice sessions of this anniversary weekend in Spa," said Schumacher. "A lot of things have changed here in the past 20 years, but the weather certainly hasn't!

"Today was another typical Spa day, with mixed conditions and very little dry running. The conditions meant that we couldn't do much work on the set-up, although we made the most of the limited time when the circuit was dry.

"Even so, it will be tricky to find the right set-up compromise for Sunday, because the weather here is always so unpredictable."

Team boss Ross Brawn admitted that with the weather looking changeable for the whole weekend, Saturday was going to be a gamble as Mercedes tried to second-guess what the rain might do on race day.

"The challenge for Sunday will be whether to favour a wet or dry set-up, so we will need to see how the weather develops tomorrow," said Brawn.

"We will then focus on what we expect to experience in the race, rather than the qualifying conditions. This is a track which responds very strongly to high downforce in the wet but it can be quite a disadvantage in the dry."

Adrian Sutil thinks it is still too early to start thinking about his plans for next year, despite Force India's ever-improving form making the outfit an attractive option for 2012.

The German's contract runs out at the end of this season, and the team has no shortage of options with Paul di Resta impressing during his debut season and the highly-rated Nico Hulkenberg sitting on the sidelines as reserve driver.

Sutil did consider other options last year, and was most strongly linked with Renault, but there appear to be less opportunities elsewhere heading into 2012.

And although Force India's recent upturn in form, which has seen the team emerge as the highest-scoring squad outside the top three in the last two races, could have left Sutil keen to sort out a fresh deal, he says he is no rush to sort things out.

"Last year we had progress at the beginning of the season and then it tailed off a bit," said Sutil, when asked by AUTOSPORT if Force India's current strong form was making him eager to stay.

"This year has probably been the opposite, but it doesn't change my view on the team. I think it is still impressive that we are always able again to recover in a way and to beat big factory teams, because our budget is still small and it is really nice to see.

"We just need to be a little bit more consistent, and we are working on that."

He added: "We are looking to the team about next year, but for me it is too early! But it is good to have a good car at the end of the season and be able to show what you can do, because the last races are the most important."

Force India team principal Vijay Mallya said recently that he expected the team's 2012 driver line-up to be announced in the middle of December, most likely at the outfit's Christmas party.

Kamui Kobayashi believes Sauber will need to lift its game over the remainder of the season if it is to stave off the threat of the ever-improving Force India outfit.

Sauber is now just nine points ahead of Force India in the constructors' championship, having given away 12 points in the last two races alone.

Speaking about the threat now posed to Sauber's sixth place position, Kobayashi said: "They [Force India] have made good progress in the last couple of races. Still we are ahead of them, but definitely we have to improve to defend our position.

"It is important that we score points with both cars, and also in the last few races I couldn't score points as well. So it has been a difficult time.

"But I believe that we have a couple of updates and, if everything goes well, we can be in the points again. We were not too far away from the points, but we always miss a few things.

"We try to get everything together again, and if we can score points again very consistently then it will be good for us. Then we have a really good chance to stay ahead."

Sauber's car this year is very easy on its tyres. That has left it struggling to generate sufficient heat into its rubber during qualifying but has been useful in terms of degradation over race distances.

This characteristic has hurt the team in recent races, though, because the cold weather in Britain, Germany and Hungary has had a big impact on tyre performance.

Kobayashi said he was looking forward to warmer weather in the future - and thinks it has been 'bad luck' that recent events have been blighted by bad weather.

"At a few races we had a dry track to wet, or a wet track to dry or whatever," he said. "The track conditions were unstable and that was a big problem. We have to get somewhere where there is heat in the track situation.

"The weather has definitely been something strange. It was the first time in Hungary that it felt not too hot, even a little bit cold, and we have a really strong car when there is heat in dry conditions. So far we have only had a few races like that so we are a little bit surprised – it's been a bit of bad luck."

Sebastian Vettel says he is not worried by the fact that he has not won since the European Grand Prix - as his main rivals predict that the fight at the front of the grid is going to be ultra-close until the end of the campaign.

The German won five of the opening six races this year, but has seen Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button win the last three events.

That form has already led to predictions that Vettel's dominance of F1 is over for now, but the man himself insists he is relaxed about the situation.

When asked by reporters if he was worried that he had not won since Valencia, Vettel said: "Not at all. It always depends on how you want to turn things. Obviously you are the ones who are starting to get worried. We had races where we were struggling a bit, but it worked out okay. I don't think it is a drama, which is why I am not really worried."

Vettel believes that Red Bull Racing has learned the lessons from the last few races - and is upbeat that the outfit still has good enough speed even though its car may not be ideal for the high-speed Spa layout.

"We need to see this weekend where we are," he said. "The weather can be tricky, so we will see. I am quite confident. I think we have learned from previous races, and we think we have understood a lot. We will see this weekend how much."

When asked if McLaren's back-to-back victories owed much to the recent cooler conditions, Vettel said: "No, they won because they finished ahead of the others and did a better job than the rest.

"Maybe we have not been at the very top of our game. We have struggled a little bit here and there, and they did a very good job, had straightforward races and won both of them.

"We have to accept that. I don't like it, we have to turn it around, but we respect the other teams as well. I respect the other drivers, and there are some very good drivers and teams in F1, so I don't think anybody is unbeatable."

World championship leader Sebastian Vettel admitted there was little to be learned during Friday practice at Spa, with only a few minutes of dry running across the two sessions.

Repeated showers meant only the opening minutes of practice one and a 15-minute spell in the middle of practice two were dry enough for slick tyres. Vettel's Red Bull was fourth in practice one and 10th in the second session.

"I think I learned as much as you today, I don't know. Maybe a bit more," Vettel told reporters.

"It was quite tricky because the weather changed all the time and it is a shame in wet conditions that we only have one free set of inters.

"For the rest of the weekend you can imagine the weather forecast and the rain is absolutely possible, the question is how much. We try to save as much as we can, so we don't want to ruin the tyres we have for Saturday and Sunday."

Vettel said he only managed one full run on a dry track.

"We had a little bit of running in the dry, on the front wing we got a decent result on that, but that was the only run we had in dry conditions," he said. "Lap times are difficult to judge today, and difficult to know where we are, but the car feels okay. Let's see what we can do."

Lewis Hamilton said he was lucky to avoid a huge accident during practice for the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday.

The McLaren driver suffered a major twitch approaching the high-speed Blanchimont left-hander during the morning session in conditions that did not seem suited to the intermediate Pirelli tyres he was using at the time.

"There was a huge river right the way across the track," the 2008 world champion said. "I must have been doing 150mph and had a huge tank-slapper.

"I'm lucky I was awake to correct it or it would have been all four wheels the front wing and the rear wing [off the car]. I'm glad I was on form."

With teams not allowed to change the set-up of their cars significantly between qualifying and the race, and changeable weather conditions expected for the rest of the weekend, Hamilton said that choosing the right downforce and gearing levels will be crucial to any chance of victory.

"Even before the weekend we knew it was going to be difficult because the DRS makes such a difference [to the way the car's downforce levels are set]," he added.

"You get past sixth gear and into seventh and in some cases, when DRS isn't engaged, you don't then get out of sixth. Also, with the fuel loads much heavier [at the start of the race] then it's going to make a massive difference.

"Setting up the car for qualifying is one thing, but making sure you don't lose too much time in race conditions without DRS is a big thing."

Hamilton was fifth quickest in the morning session before improving to fourth during the afternoon.

Karun Chandhok was again frustrated by the rain after wet conditions heavily restricted his running during Friday morning practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The 27-year-old Indian was able to complete only 11 laps during the 90-minute session, and only five of those were flying laps after rain struck early. He ended up 21st fastest, almost 19 seconds off the pace of Michael Schumacher - one of only two drivers to complete a flying lap at speed in the dry.

Aside from his outing as a race driver at last month's German GP, the Chandhok has appeared five times as a Friday driver, with three of those sessions ruined by rain.

"I'm fed up of the weather this season, it's getting ridiculous now," he told AUTOSPORT.

"I had three laps in the first run and I was two seconds up before we lost out because of the red flag. Then, on the last run, I was massively up on the last lap and I hit traffic so had to back off.

"That's another Friday that has been a write-off."

While Chandhok enjoyed his outing, he admitted that little could be achieved during his running because of the conditions.

"It's always nice to drive around Spa, but it was a waste of time in terms of being a productive session," he said. "Five timed laps isn't very much when two of them are wasted, one with traffic and one with the red flag."

Wet weather at Istanbul Park, Silverstone and Spa, a gearbox problem at the European GP at Valencia and a crash in Melbourne have all contributed to heavily-restricted track time for Chandhok during his outings as a Friday driver so far this year.

Fernando Alonso does not agree with Lewis Hamilton's assessment that Red Bull will have a performance advantage over the field at the beginning of 2012, and said that he expects Ferrari to be on the pace from the start.

The Briton said on Thursday that it was likely Red Bull would start next year faster than its rivals, just as it has done for the past two years, and that he hoped McLaren would be able to close the gap quicker than it managed to in 2011.

But Alonso, who like McLaren's Hamilton and Jenson Button, has spent much of this season chasing the dominant Red Bulls - and in particular Sebastian Vettel - reckons there is no reason why Ferrari can't begin next year on a level footing.

"I think Red Bull has been very dominant from the middle of 2009 until now and I think no one doubts next year they will again start as one of the favourites for the third consecutive year," he said. "But with the stability of the rules, either Ferrari or McLaren, with the cars that we have now, I don't think we will too far off Red Bull or hopefully be in front so I think it will be pretty close at the start of next year anyway."

Alonso was second fastest in Friday's free practice in Belgium, but said it was difficult to read anything into form with the weather having been so unpredictable. Rain typically affected both 90-minute sessions at Spa.

"I think this is the fifth consecutive Friday that we have changeable weather conditions and we had rain in the practice again so not much information for us from a tyre point of view," he said. "But for the team it is always important, there are new parts coming at each grand prix so we try to make some laps with all of these.

"And now the engineers have enough data to check this afternoon, tonight and tomorrow to decide which new parts will be on the car on tomorrow and which will wait for more races."

Alonso added that while the weather forecast appears to be dry for Sunday's race, he welcomed the potential for rain because it offered Red Bull's pursuers in the championship the chance to take a gamble and put some pressure on Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

"We are ready to take whatever comes tomorrow in qualifying; the race it seems there is more a chance of a dry race - but the weather for quali is 50/50 so we will prepare to be there," he said. "For sure changeable conditions is a gamble sometimes and for the people behind the championship if we take a risk and everything goes wrong we don't lose so much because we are already behind.

"In the case of Red Bull, in these changeable conditions, to make a wrong decision the price a higher. So maybe we can take advantage by taking more risks."

Vitaly Petrov was forced to sit out much of this afternoon second free practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix after his steering wheel locked in position while cornering.

The Russian admitted that he was unable to either apply more lock or release the steering while on the power in Turn 16, forcing him to sit out the rest of the session after completing 12 laps.

The team has no doubts that the problem will be fixed, although Petrov admitted that he feared he might crash after his steering locked.

"We had a steering column problem - on the data we could clearly see some problems," he said when asked about his troubles by AUTOSPORT. "In the wet, it was not too bad but it was still a bit of a problem and I had already complained about this.

"Then I did Turn 16 flat when it was getting dry and my steering wheel was stuck. You couldn't turn it left or right, and I thought I was going to be in the wall. It wasn't moving, but then I lifted and it moved. It was strange."

Despite the steering problem and the wet weather that afflicted much of today's running, Petrov is upbeat about the minor developments that the team is trying out.

"We don't have any huge upgrades like people think," he said. "We have some little upgrades, but it's difficult to feel them. But I could feel that the floor is working, which is important.

"We tried to find a good basic setup, we changed a lot of things and it was much better compared to Silverstone."

Renault boss Eric Boullier says the decision to replace Nick Heidfeld was made because the German had failed to gel with the team - and not delivered the leadership or speed that the Enstone-based outfit had hoped for.

Strongly dismissing any suggestions that Bruno Senna was drafted in because of any sponsorship possibilities his appointment could bring, Boullier said that he felt Renault's troubled 2011 campaign needed a 'shake-up' - and changing drivers would help achieve that.

"We reviewed our performance and our level of motivation, a lot of things through the summertime, and I had to take some decision to clearly show some new direction," said Boullier when asked by AUTOSPORT to explain the driver change.

"There was an opportunity as well to assess Bruno as a driver, and this is why we moved on."

He added: "Nick is a nice guy, but I think something did not work. His leadership didn't work in the team and when you are sometimes slower than Vitaly, in fact most of the time slower than Vitaly, it is difficult for him to push the team and to settle himself as the team leader.

"In the end if you talk about management, not just speed, when you have the negative spin starting, the negative loop, it is complicated to stop it.

"I don't say the performance of the team was because of Nick. The car is not good enough, we have not developed the car well enough, we made mistakes as well – but the loop is negative. So I had to change something in the team and I had to change some things with the drivers as well to shake up and wake up everybody. I need to bring this motivation back to make sure that we can shake up everything, and it is not easy."

Boullier confirmed that the plan is for Senna to see out the season at Renault, but that cannot be confirmed prior to a court hearing that will rule on Heidfeld's claim of a breach of contract, which is due to be heard in London on September 19.

He also expressed some surprise that Heidfeld had chosen to appear at the Belgian GP, where he was dressed in Renault team clothing and spent time in the team's garages and motorhome.

"Yes, a little bit," said Boullier. "Obviously I guess he does not want to put himself in a breach situation, this is why. So as long as he keeps putting himself in a position to promote the team, and not telling anything else, then I am fine."

Read the full interview with Eric Boullier here.

Bruno Senna is hoping the rain continues for qualifying at Spa tomorrow as he fears his lack of dry running for Renault will otherwise be a major handicap as he makes his race debut with the team.

The Brazilian has been drafted in to replace Nick Heidfeld after Renault grew disappointed with the German, who had been hired at the start of the season as a substitute for the seriously injured Robert Kubica.

Rain affected all bar 15 minutes of today's two practice sessions at Spa, leaving Senna short of experience in the car in normal conditions.

"I'm sure that if it's dry it's going to be a real big challenge in qualifying," he said. "Today I had very tough dry running with some traffic and some KERS issues, so I couldn't really focus on pushing the car.

"Of course I had to be very careful about not putting a wheel on the wet kerb or the wet line and going off again, as that would have set me back massively. I don't think I was driving anywhere near 100 per cent. So if it is dry qualifying, it's going to be tough.

"But of course in a race situation it's very different. With the fuel load, everybody's going to be a bit more careful. I know that every run will be important again in the race but it's a learning curve and there's no better way than driving around to learn.

"Nobody has done very many laps on the dry tyres, so I think if the race is dry it becomes a bit more of a gamble. For sure if qualifying tomorrow is wet and stable, it will be better for me. If qualifying is wet and the race is dry, we're going to have a nice big challenge."

Senna crashed in the morning after putting a wheel on the white marker line at Turn 9, but said he had been delighted by the way Renault rallied behind him following the incident.

"When I made my mistake this morning, instead of beating me up, they gave me great support," he said. "They told me to clear my head and do a great job in the afternoon and they'd all be behind me. I think I have great support behind me and that's a very nice feeling."

He also dismissed rumours that he had only been given the race seat for sponsorship reasons.

"If you look at the team right now, there are no new stickers on the car or on myself," Senna said. "That's not why I'm in the car. The team trust that I can do a good job and are probably looking to the future. Of course there's a great commercial potential for the team with myself in it and hopefully they can exploit that. But I'm confident that the team is not giving me the opportunity just because of that, but because they believe that I can do the job."

At present Senna is only guaranteed the Renault race seat for Spa and Monza as Heidfeld is mounting a legal challenge to the team's decision to drop him. Senna denied that potentially only having two chances to impress put him under a lot of pressure.

"To be honest I'm not thinking about that. The pressure would be the same if I was guaranteed to do the next three years," he insisted. "What I want to do is sit in the car and deliver. My [self-imposed] pressure is bigger than the pressure than comes from outside and that's how I work. I've been able to deal with this pressure before and I can deal with it now. I just need to sit in the car and drive a little bit."

The wet weather - and some steering issues for Vitaly Petrov - meant there was little chance to directly compare the two Renault drivers' pace, although Senna acknowledged that he had probably not been on a pair with his team-mate today.

"Vitaly unfortunately had some issues with his car today in the afternoon so the comparison wasn't really meaningful. He didn't do dry running," said Senna. "We could look at some things and it was alright, but there are still loads of things to do. There was no way I could jump in the car and switch it on like this."

[Lineker]

Jesus, Maldonado just tried to take Lewis off the road. Expect the stewards to throw the book at him.

[Gazz]

If that was intentional, he should never race again.

[Gazz]

BRUNO!

[Lineker]

Mark Webber was fastest in the final free practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, which took place in wet conditions throughout.

The Red Bull driver set a 2m08.988s lap time to top the list ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Jaime Alguersuari in the Toro Rosso. Jenson Button was fourth, Sebastian Vettel fifth and Sebastien Buemi in the sister Toro Rosso sixth.

No change in the weather then at Spa on Saturday morning, as in fact track conditions were perhaps worse than at any point when the Formula 1 cars have been running on it this weekend.

Jerome D'Ambrosio initially led a trail of 14 pioneers out on to the waterlogged asphalt and, very sensibly, immediately led them all back in again.

Lewis Hamilton ventured out seven minutes in to the session and twice the 2008 world champion had to catch some rear snap as his McLaren ran over puddles on the straights. "There is plenty of aquaplaning out here," he calmly reported back on the radio. "It's massively wet."

It was just before the halfway mark when the two Toro Rossos braved it, as the rain began to abate slightly. Alguersuari and Buemi worked down into the 2m14s - which convinced others to return to the track - including world champion Vettel and his Red Bull team-mate Webber. The Australian quickly established himself at the top of the times with a 2m14.143s. Not for long though.

With just 20 minutes to go Alguersuari moved back to the top with a 2m13.357s. Seconds later, Buemi bumped him to second...

Meanwhile several cars were not coping so well with the weather. Bruno Senna ran wide in the Renault at Turn 5 and continued, Paul di Resta had a huge moment through Eau Rouge before spinning his Force India at Pouhon. Elsewhere both a Williams and a Mercedes ran wide...

Di Resta's acrobatics aside, the Scot was impressively fast, and moved to the top of the times with 15 minutes to go - his lap of 2m12.955s forcing team-mate Adrian Sutil - who had just shot to the top - down to second.

Around the same time, Michael Schumacher became the first of the front-runners to risk the intermediate tyres. His first lap, fairly wild as it was, was good enough to split the Force Indias and go second.

Once again the Toro Rossos responded with ten minutes to go, with first Alguersuari and then Buemi moving back to the front - the Swiss setting a 2m10.580s. The Spaniard then took another chunk off that mark with a 2m09.931s.

The Toro Rossos continued to look robust in the conditions, as more fancied runners proved unable to beat them, or perhaps more concerned about maintaining their four sets of inters and three sets of wets.

But the track by this time was giving more adhesion and it was only a matter of time before one of the big guns established himself and so it was that Webber moved to the top with six minutes to go – 2m08.988s.

That remained the standard as several drivers had a crack at beating it, Hamilton coming closest with a purple first sector on his final lap, which eventually was good enough for second.

FP3


Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap        Laps

 1.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      2m08.988s             7

 2.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      2m09.046s  + 0.058s   8

 3.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    2m09.931s  + 0.943s   16

 4.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      2m10.257s  + 1.269s   7

 5.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      2m10.402s  + 1.414s   9

 6.  Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    2m10.580s  + 1.592s   15

 7.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m10.837s  + 1.849s   12

 8.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  2m11.437s  + 2.449s   13

 9.  Bruno Senna         Renault               2m11.664s  + 2.676s   14

10.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m11.667s  + 2.679s   10

11.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  2m11.874s  + 2.886s   13

12.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault         2m13.036s  + 4.048s   15

13.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth     2m13.074s  + 4.086s   12

14.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        2m13.182s  + 4.194s   12

15.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault               2m13.290s  + 4.302s   15

16.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     2m13.778s  + 4.790s   12

17.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        2m14.334s  + 5.346s   14

18.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus-Renault         2m14.682s  + 5.694s   11

19.  Jerome D-Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth       2m17.159s  + 8.171s   12

20.  Timo Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       2m18.039s  + 9.051s   10

21.  Daniel Ricciardo    HRT-Cosworth          2m19.001s  + 10.013s  12

22.  Tonio Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth          2m19.001s  + 10.609s  14

23.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               2m19.597s  + 13.466s  7

24.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               no time               5[/code]


Sebastian Vettel secured his eighth pole position of the 2011 season as he came out on top in a frantic wet/dry qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps.



The Red Bull driver's 1m48.298s lap right at the end denied Lewis Hamilton pole by just under half a second. Mark Webber was third in the second Red Bull, with Felipe Massa fourth in the leading Ferrari.



Hamilton was able to compete in Q3 despite a bizarre incident with Williams's Pastor Maldonado in the previous segment.



As track conditions rapidly improved and the times turned inside out, Hamilton banged wheels with Maldonado going through the Bus Stop chicane as the McLaren completed a flying lap. It was still quick enough to make Hamilton fastest at the time, but Maldonado appeared to retaliate for the contact on the run out of La Source on their slowing-down laps, sideswiping the McLaren, which then needed minor impromptu repairs for Q3.



The second McLaren of Jenson Button was one of those out of luck in the late-Q2 scramble, leaving the winner of the last race back in 13th on the grid.



The end of Q3 was similarly topsy-turvy as the track became ever more dry. Massa outqualified Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso for only the second time this season as they took fourth and eighth respectively.



Nico Rosberg put his Mercedes in fifth, while Jaime Alguersuari starred with an outstanding sixth for Toro Rosso.



But the real hero of qualifying was Bruno Senna, who was rapid throughout and marked his debut for Renault with seventh on the grid - three places ahead of team-mate Vitaly Petrov, who shares row five with Sergio Perez's Sauber.



Rosberg's was the only Mercedes in the top 10. Twenty years after he stunned Formula 1 by qualifying seventh on his debut with Jordan at Spa, Michael Schumacher's anniversary weekend went dramatically downhill when his Mercedes shed a rear wheel on its out-lap at the start of Q1 and crashed heavily on the approach to Rivage, leaving him at the tail of the field.



Although Sebastien Buemi was regularly in the top 10 at times, when it counted in Q2 the Toro Rosso driver found himself back in 11th, ahead of Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi.



Neither Williams made it beyond Q2, with Rubens Barrichello 14th and Maldonado 16th - any penalty for the Hamilton incident permitting. Adrian Sutil ended up between them after crashing his Force India on the way out of Eau Rouge while holding fifth in Q2. A red flag was required while the debris was cleared up.



That completed a miserable session for Force India as a spin and then an early call to return to the pits had left Paul di Resta down in 18th. With Schumacher and di Resta both missing the cut, Heikki Kovalainen made it to Q2 for Lotus and took 17th.



At the back, Virgin's Jerome D'Ambrosio and the two HRTs were both outside the 107 per cent time in Q1 but will have a good argument for gaining dispensation to race given the weather conditions.



[code]Qualifying


Pos  Driver                Team                 Time          Gap   

 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m48.298s

 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m48.730s   + 0.432

 3.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m49.376s   + 1.078

 4.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m50.256s   + 1.958

 5.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m50.552s   + 2.254

 6.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m50.773s   + 2.475 

 7.  Bruno Senna           Renault              1m51.121s   + 2.823

 8.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m51.251s   + 2.953

 9.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m51.374s   + 3.076

10.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              1m52.303s   + 4.005

Q2 cut-off time: 2m04.625s                                    Gap **

11.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   2m04.692s   + 1.924

12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       2m04.757s   + 1.989

13.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     2m05.150s   + 2.382

14.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    2m07.349s   + 4.581

15.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 2m07.777s   + 5.009

16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    2m08.106s   + 5.338

17.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        2m08.354s   + 5.586

Q1 cut-off time: 2m07.194s                                    Gap *

18.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 2m07.758s   + 5.945

19.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        2m07.773s   + 5.960

20.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      2m09.566s   + 7.753

21.  Jerome D-Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      2m11.601s   + 9.788

22.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth         2m11.616s   + 9.803

23.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth         2m13.077s  + 11.264

24.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             no time



107% time: 2m10.339s


* Gap to quickest in Q1


** Gap to quickest in Q2

Mark Webber will remain with Red Bull Racing for 2012 after signing a one-year extension to his contract.

The 35-year-old Australian has been with the team since 2007, having also driven for it during its Jaguar days in '03 and '04. All six of Webber's grand prix wins, his nine pole positions and 25 of his 26 podium finishes have come with Red Bull.

There had been speculation that he might consider changing teams or retiring after this year, particularly following suggestions of favouritism towards his team-mate Sebastian Vettel during last year's title battle and again at this season's British Grand Prix. But Webber said remaining at RBR was an obvious choice to make.

"I want to continue racing at the top in Formula 1 so it's a no-brainer to remain at Red Bull Racing for another year," he said. "My motivation to achieve the best results possible both for myself and the team is still very high.

"Over the past five years, we have worked hard and proved that we can design and build a competitive and championship-winning car, and I'm looking forward to putting the car and myself on the limit again each and every race weekend in 2012."

Team boss Christian Horner added that Red Bull had no doubts about retaining Webber either.

"When we sat down and started talking about 2012, it was immediately obvious that Mark and the team wanted to continue our successful relationship," said Horner.

"This meant agreeing an extension for 2012 was very straightforward. Mark knows the team well, having been with us since 2007, and his motivation, fitness and commitment is as high as it has ever been.

"The pairing of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel is a very strong one, they push each other hard and we are extremely happy the pairing will remain unchanged for a fourth season."

Webber is currently second in the 2011 championship, 85 points behind Vettel.

Formula 1 teams are to meet on race morning at the Belgian Grand Prix to try and finalise plans for the return of in-season testing in 2012.

As AUTOSPORT previously reported, outfits have agreed to change the testing schedule for next year, with the aim of three pre-season tests and one during the campaign itself. Efforts are now being focused on getting agreement for a firm schedule.

The matter is understood to be high on the agenda for a meeting of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) that is planned for Sunday morning.

Sources have revealed that teams have already agreed the timetable for the pre-season tests, with the first run of 2012 set to take place at Jerez on February 7, followed by tests at Barcelona a fortnight later and another test there the following week.

The main issue now is sorting out the location of timing of the in-season test, with teams preferring to slot it in before the start of the European phase of the 2012 season, which is currently the Spanish Grand Prix on May 13.

Possible locations for the test include Mugello, Silverstone and Jerez - although no venue has yet emerged as a clear favourite.

Teams are also likely to have further discussions about the 2012 calendar proposal put to them by Bernie Ecclestone recently. It is understood that one possibility being looked at now is for the teams to ask for the Chinese GP (April 8) and Indian GP (April 22) dates to be switched for logistical reasons.

Lewis Hamilton reckons it was only good fortune that prevented his clash with Pastor Maldonado in Belgian Grand Prix from being a major accident.

The McLaren and Williams had made contact at the Bus Stop chicane as Hamilton pushed to complete his final flying lap of Q2 in ever-improving conditions. Maldonado then appeared to retaliate between La Source and Eau Rouge as the two cars returned to the pits.

"I think it was quite serious and just fortunate that neither of us, particularly him, was flipped into a big crash," sad Hamilton.

The Briton said his car was carrying damage in Q3 as a consequence, although he still qualified second.

"I have to look at it afterwards," said Hamilton. "At the end of Q2, I got to the end of the lap, the Williams was sitting there going very slow, and I had to try and get past.

"Then I lost quite a lot of time and as I was coming down the exit of Turn 1 I saw Maldonado approaching quite quickly.

"He came around me, I didn't move anywhere, and he tried to swipe across me. I don't know if it was intentional."

McLaren was able to carry out rapid repairs to get Hamilton out for Q3, where he took second on the grid. But the Briton said the car was still bearing the scars of the incident during his pole bid.

"The front wing was quite badly damaged, the sidepod and I think front suspension was damaged, front toe-in was a little bit out," he said.

"I think once the flag is out and the red lights are on there is no need to be racing - there should never ever be an incident."

Pastor Maldonado has been given a five-place grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix after his incident with Lewis Hamilton at the end of Q2.

The pair had clashed once at the Bus Stop chicane as Hamilton hurried to complete a flying lap, and Maldonado then appeared to jink towards the McLaren on their following laps as they came out of La Source, with light contact made between them.

Maldonado was adjudged to have been more at fault in the incident and will be moved back from 16th to 21st on the grid.

When asked by AUTOSPORT whether the second move had been deliberate retaliation, the Williams driver said: "No. It was a big moment.

"I tried to overtake him because he slowed down quite a lot. It's like a straight, but there's a turn and maybe at that moment he was turning and I was a bit straight. It's difficult to say.

"There was not any reason for both drivers to do anything after the chequered flag. It's clear that there was a mistake on both sides.

Maldonado added that he had not spoken to Hamilton about either incident and that he was comfortable with what had happened initially at the chicane as there was "no contact".

Hamilton was given a reprimand but receives no penalty. The stewards said both drivers were guilty of "causing a collision" and were punished under article 16.1 of the regulations.

Jenson Button believes that the Formula 1 title battle could be turned on its head if Sebastian Vettel's rivals can knock the German off the front row of the grid.

With several drivers, including Red Bull Racing's own Mark Webber, believing that Vettel's period of early-season dominance is now over, Button sees reasons to keep the belief that the title is not yet in the German's hands.

And he thinks the situation could change dramatically if Vettel's record of front row starts this season is brought to an end - because that will then signal that Red Bull Racing no longer has a pure pace advantage. The only time Vettel did not start on the front row this year, in Germany, was the only time this season he did not finish on the podium.

"You know, I think when we see Vettel off the front row, that's a big turning point in the season," explained Button.

"We haven't seen it yet and if we see it here I'll be very impressed, very surprised as well. But in the wet it might be a very different story.

"So, I think as soon as we start beating them in qualifying, I think everything changes, probably. It's a bit harder when you're starting from the second row as we've found out, even when your race pace is very good.

"But Sunday is the most important race and that's where we are definitely better than Saturday, but our pace compared to Red Bull was also very good in the rain."

Although Vettel is 85 points clear of his nearest rival, Webber, in the points standings, Button also reckons that the gap will start closing dramatically as soon as the German starts thinking about the title situation in races.

Speaking about his own title ambitions, being 100 points behind Vettel, Button said: "It's bloody difficult, but it's also possible. If you look at Abu Dhabi last year Vettel was 15 points behind [Fernando] Alonso and Alonso lost 15 points and lost the championship, so it is possible, definitely. If he starts thinking about the championship now, I think we can start taking a lot of points off him."

And although Vettel says that he is not worried by the fact that he has not won for three races, Button thinks the situation is a bit different in reality.

"He hasn't won for three races, which is quite a long time and when you win so many races to suddenly not win for three, it's going to hurt," he explained. "I know what it feels like, so if he doesn't win here, again, it's like 'Wow, I've got a big lead but I want to win a race'. It's quite a tough situation, and hopefully it will be tough for him."

Looking at the title contenders, Button believes that McLaren has a good opportunity because it has two competitive drivers able to take decent points off Vettel if their car is good enough.

"I think at Red Bull, Mark's not going to move over for Sebastian even if they tell him to and we've seen if he's told to stay behind him he won't, he'll try and overtake him, which is good," he said.

"It's the most difficult championship for Mark, because he's quite a long way behind Sebastian. And if the car's quick, Mark's quick but also Sebastian is going to be quite quick.

"We have a much bigger advantage because if our car's quick, we're quick and it doesn't necessarily mean that Vettel's going to be quick. And there are two of us, which helps us in one way because we can take more points off of Vettel.

"But it also hinders us in another way because if we keep switching first and second position, which we are at the moment, it hurts us. But that's racing. The championship's not between 12 drivers, it's between 24."

Sebastian Vettel said his eighth pole position of the season did not come easy after unpredictable weather made timing his best lap critical.

The German admitted that he had been initially uncomfortable with his Red Bull in Q1 but changed his approach for Q2, which enabled him to contend for pole.

"It was a difficult session all in all," he said. "Q1 and Q2 with the tricky conditions, and the circuit drying up very quickly and it being tricky on inters - the main target was to get through.

"I didn't feel comfortable right in the beginning, but in Q2 we made a big step forward. I rediscovered Spa in a way and found some better lines than all weekend and in Q3 we were quite sure it was dry [enough for dry] tyres but also quite sure if it didn't rain it would be down to the last lap."

Vettel added that the lack of dry running this weekend meant he went into qualifying still learning about the car.

"I wasn't really happy yesterday or this morning, but we did the right steps to come back and especially when it was drying up. If you would put your money on that around here, all in all we got the timing right, especially in the last qualifying session it was feeling good and we got it together all the time.

"I was trying to make my way around in the last two laps [in Q3], trying to get temperature in the tyres, trying to push as hard as I could.

"Lewis [Hamilton] was right in front of me a couple of seconds ahead and I saw him locking up, last thing. I was happy with the car towards the end in the dry and it seemed to get quicker and quicker. Not an easy session with conditions changing and right after it finished it started to change again, but here, as we saw today, anything is possible.

The world champion said it would be impossible to predict tomorrow's race and that he hadn't ruled out more uncertain weather conditions to play a part in it.

"It is one of those races, anything can happen from start-to-finish, we will see," he said. "The best forecast around here is to look up and see what is happening!

"We had a good balance in the end in the dry, the beginning of qualifying I didn't really feel comfortable. Even in the wet we found direction and it should be ready for tomorrow, it is a long race so I am looking forward to it."

Mark Webber is confident he will be in the hunt for victory in the Belgian Grand Prix despite not converting his practice pace into a pole position.

The Australian had been quickest in two out of the three practice sessions at Spa, although all three had been rain-affected to some extent, but ended up third after qualifying.

Webber felt he had been too aggressive at the end of the session, which took place in drying conditions.

"It was a close session, I think probably went a bit too hard," said Webber. "I felt comfortable. You never know if the lap you are on is going to be 'the' lap, and as soon as we finished qualifying it started to rain again."

The Red Bull driver said he could not be disappointed with third when other drivers had fared much worse, including Hungary winner Jenson Button, who was way back in 13th.

"Let's see how it goes, we have had a very smooth weekend, and it's easy to end up like Jenson Button, to be out of position," said Webber. "We are in a position, it would be nice to be a bit further up but the guys did a good job and we are in the hunt tomorrow for a good race."

Paul di Resta blamed a Force India team mistake for his Q1 exit in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying.

His 18th place in Spa qualifying marked the first time that di Resta had been eliminated in Q1 in his Formula 1 career, and the Scot was adamant he had been quick enough to make the cut had the team not called him in early in the drying session.

"I made a small mistake on the lap before, and during that lap we were quite a bit quicker and the team chose to bring me in," di Resta told BBC television.

"They told me we should 'box' and when I got back to the pits they said 'hate to tell you this, but somebody's gone quicker'. So they called me back to the pits. I'm not aware of the situation going on around me, I just do as I'm ordered.

"We chose to sit out the middle part of the session and go out when the conditions were going to be best at the end."

Di Resta said the Force India was capable of a far better result. His team-mate Adrian Sutil was 15th after crashing in Q2.

We should be much further up and that's not happened," di Resta said. "There's much more [performance in the car], it's just the wrong call. Definitely the wrong call."

Jenson Button has blamed a misunderstanding between himself and his McLaren team for his failure to make it into Q3 during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

The Briton will start 13th on the grid after he was bumped in the final stages of Q2, having slowed to cool his intermediate tyres before going for a final run - not realising that he didn't have enough time to complete another lap.

"Misunderstanding," he said. "I obviously did my first lap and then I cooled the tyres not knowing that I didn't have any more laps left and obviously the track was getting drier and drier every lap.

"There were so many cars out there so... I think I was second or third quickest when I did my lap. I didn't get the opportunity to do another lap so... wow. That's massively disappointing and a big shock because obviously in Q1 I was a second quicker than anyone. So a misunderstanding and a mistake on our part."

Button dismissed suggestions that moving over to free up his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was on a hot lap, had any impact on his failure to make it around the circuit in time to complete another lap.

"I did it because that was my cool down lap," he said. "I didn't realise that was it otherwise obviously I would have kept pushing. I didn't realise I didn't have another lap.

Button said his disappointment had been compounded by the apparent competitiveness of the McLaren MP4-12 in race conditions, adding that he believed he would have had a shot at a front row start on Sunday.

"I had a completely dry set-up," he said. "But our car is very quick around here and every practice session we have been in the top three so it has been very competitive. So it's tough being back in 13th. But we have got to deal with it now.

"To try and win the race from where we are is pretty much very, very difficult so we will see. It would be a lot easier from the front row. I didn't expect to be 13th on the grid and we wouldn't have been for this misunderstanding.

"Massive surprise. Going to go back to the motorhome and have a cup of tea. No point thinking about it anymore, we made a mistake and that's it. Got to move forward now. But starting 13th and we have the quickest car out there basically. It's tough."

Heikki Kovalainen does not believe he could have coaxed any more speed out of his Lotus during Belgian Grand Prix qualifying, after making it into the second part of qualifying for the fourth time this year.

The Finn was helped by Michael Schumacher crashing before setting a time in Q1, and by the changeable weather conditions during the session, but still went quicker than Paul di Resta's Force India and Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber in the initial section of qualifying to make it through in 16th.

He then fell back to 17th in Q2, but was only 0.2s slower than Pastor Maldonado's Williams, and was a satisfied man afterwards.

"I think we can be very pleased with the performance today," Kovalainen said. "That last lap in Q1 was as much as I could get out of the car and to get back into Q2 is obviously a great result for the whole team.

"We had the right plan for the conditions, put it into action on track and it paid off. I don't think I could have got any more out of the package today, so finishing where we did goes down as objective achieved for today.

Kovalainen, who has not finished higher than 14th this year, is less optimistic of carrying his qualifying form into the race, especially as dry weather is predicted for Sunday.

"It looks like it'll be a dry race tomorrow, and I think the key for us is to make sure both cars finish," he added.

"If we can do that, be there to take advantage of anything that happens, and leave Spa having got into Q2 and had a solid race, this will go down as a good weekend for us."

Michael Schumacher said he would remain positive about his chances in the Belgian Grand Prix despite the lost wheel in qualifying that left him at the back of the grid.

The Mercedes' right rear wheel became detached between Malmedy and Rivage on Schumacher's out-lap in Q1, causing him to crash.

"Well, obviously I would have wished for a different end to today's qualifying, but it is difficult to drive on three wheels - even if I should have the experience to do so in Spa," he said, making a light-hearted reference to his incident with David Coulthard in the 1998 Belgian GP.

"Seriously, this is certainly something that should not occur, but then this is also Formula 1; we are working at the highest level but still things can happen.

"At first, I wasn't sure what had happened, as I just felt myself lose the back end suddenly which is why I instantly apologised to the team. But then I saw the wheel off the car and understood the reason why I had lost control.

"Trying to find the good in the bad, I'd probably say that I still have some fresh sets of tyres left, and that there is only one direction to go tomorrow: forward."

Team boss Ross Brawn said it was not immediately obvious exactly why Schumacher had lost the wheel.

"We need to look at exactly what happened, but it would appear there was something amiss with the right rear wheel attachment, and we need to go through it carefully tonight to ensure there can be no repeat," said Brawn.

Schumacher's team-mate Nico Rosberg qualified fifth in the sister car, and was delighted with Mercedes' handling of the changing weather.

"It was quite difficult," said Rosberg. "The situation was that conditions were always changing - dry to wet to dry again, and then wet tyres, intermediates, slicks... there was everything.

"But it was interesting and we made the best of it today. The team helped me a lot with the strategy - I was the last guy to cross the line, which was good as it meant I had the driest track and it all worked out well.

"I'm set up for the dry tomorrow so it's probably going to be pouring down. But it doesn't matter, in any conditions we're okay."

Toro Rosso technical director Giorgio Ascanelli said the team's qualifying performance at Spa was evidence of a genuine stride forward, as Jaime Alguersuari claimed the best starting position of his Formula 1 career in sixth and Sebastien Buemi narrowly missed out on joining him in the top 10.

Ascanelli acknowledged that issues for the Force Indias and Michael Schumacher might have eased Toro Rosso's path towards the top half of the grid, but was still delighted with his team's performance.

"Our good result with both cars is down to the work we have done so far this weekend, although we have to accept that both Force Indias and Schumacher might have been expected to be ahead of us," said Ascanelli.

"However, it is also true to say our drivers did not make any major mistakes so the result is well deserved. I am sorry for Sebastien whose only error up until now came on the lap that mattered in Q2: otherwise he could have been tenth and been able to fight in Q3.

"The clearest indication that our car has improved, through various updates we have introduced here, is the fact we have been slightly better than Sauber in both the dry and the wet. For the first time this season, we have seen progress with our DRS and that is down to the work of the aero team on developing this aspect of the car."

Alguersuari was similarly thrilled with his result.

"This was my best ever performance and the best for the team this year," he said. "I think I have to be very happy with this and also because my team-mate came very close to Q3, which shows we have done a good job, not just on the car but in the way we managed the session, being the first out of the pits to get a clear track.

"The weather helped, because the car worked very well on the intermediates and the extreme wets, but we have also been quick in dry conditions. We knew we had a better car here than in Hungary and we have learned a lot about it so far this weekend. Certainly the DRS is now working better than ever before."

Buemi had been in the top 10 for much of Q2, before a slight mistake on his crucial final lap.

"It was not easy this afternoon, because the track dried very quickly after the rain actually stopped falling," he said. "Therefore you had to get a good lap at just the right time. I managed to do that right up until the end, when I made a small mistake.

"I am a bit angry with myself for that, but 11th is still a good place to start the race tomorrow."

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali said his squad was mainly hampered by its pre-existing tyre temperature issues in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Although Felipe Massa qualified fourth, usual team leader Fernando Alonso was back in eighth place. Ferrari has had difficulty getting the Pirellis up to temperature in cool or damp conditions all year.

"We are definitely disappointed with a result that does not match our expectations," said Domenicali. "We managed to get through the first two sessions in the wet in one piece but then, once we switched to the dry tyres, the chronic problem that has characterised our season was clear to see, even more so here than elsewhere, namely the difficult in getting the tyres to work well in low temperatures and on a damp track."

Alonso said traffic had also been a factor in his qualifying frustrations, but was upbeat about his chances of making progress in the grand prix.

"Eighth is definitely not a good result, but we have to accept it and try to make up for this bad qualifying in tomorrow's race," he said. "I am confident because I know the car's true potential is definitely better than this position.

"We did a good job of managing Q1 and Q2, even if the red flag in the second part put us under a bit of pressure because there were only seven minutes left and at that time I was not through to Q3. In the dry I don't think I could have fought for pole position, but I could have been at least on the front two rows.

"Unfortunately, I hardly ever managed to get a clean lap because on both my second and third laps I found [sergio] Perez ahead of me and on the last one I had to slow at the entrance to the chicane to let [Mark] Webber pass, otherwise I might have been penalised. That's how it was, but definitely there is a sense of regret, as I could have got a better place."

But while Alonso was disappointed, his team-mate Massa was very content with fourth.

"At the start of the session, when the rain came down, if I had been offered a fourth place, I would have signed for it on the spot," he said. "My result isn't bad, even if the cars ahead of me have shown a much quicker pace.

"However, it's true that conditions in Q3 were the worst possible for us: we could not get the best grip level right from the start, because we struggled a lot to get the tyres up to temperature. I think that tomorrow, if we have a dry track, we could be more competitive and I hope to be fighting with the drivers who are ahead of me today."

Bruno Senna says he knows he must build on his outstanding qualifying performance in Spa if he is to have a lasting career in Formula 1.

The Brazilian, who will start seventh on the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix, was called upon to replace Nick Heidfeld by team boss Eric Boullier for this race and the next one at Monza in Italy next month. And Senna says he knows he needs to perform consistently at this level now or risk losing the momentum that his strong initial form has generated.

"It was obviously a good start but these were very tricky conditions and some drivers that are faster in dry conditions," he said after qualifying. "I seemed to be very fast in these conditions fortunately, but there is still lots to prove.

"I want to be consistently good and if I can be that then I can make my career."

Senna, who has sat on the sidelines for much of 2011, having struggled at the back of the grid with HRT last season, added that getting into Q3 on his first attempt with Renault was an unexpected boost to his debut with the team.

"It's a lot better [than I had hoped for], but I did not know what to expect to be honest," he said. "This morning after being P9 in the wet and it was straightforward conditions in terms of everybody going out and doing laps - I was confident that in the wet I could do a good job.

"When the conditions were changing for qualifying and the forecast was going maybe for dry I got a bit more nervous – because of course I hadn't... I knew that yesterday it was very, very difficult for me in the drier conditions.

"But just getting to Q3 was a massive victory for me. I knew that I could push, especially on the last few laps because I had not much to lose to be honest in that situation. I didn't want to make a mistake, go off and crash, so in that sense I wasn't pushing 100%. But I was pushing where I knew I could push and get away with outbraking myself a little bit.

"And I think where I other people mistakes I didn't and the result is there."

Asked whether he thought this performance would silence those who suggested he was only in the seat because he brought money to the team, Senna replied: "The only way to answer those things is to drive well. I think that I have done a good job today so it takes some of the question marks away. But every time I drive the car I have to continue doing that until I'm a professional Formula 1 driver.

"Eric [boullier] was with me in GP2 and he knows that I can be competitive so he gave me a great vote of confidence when he put me in the car," he added. "First when he selected me as third driver this year and then when he put me in the car this weekend and the last one in Hungary and I hope that I can make him proud.

"Because these opportunities aren't showing up everywhere all the time so I am hanging on to it very much."

[Lineker]

Pretty amazing that Hamilton got a reprimand. But anyway, rounding off Saturday...

All four drivers who failed to set times within 107 per cent of the fastest lap in Q1 at Spa have been given dispensation to start the Belgian Grand Prix.

Virgin's Jerome D'Ambrosio and HRT duo Tonio Liuzzi and Daniel Ricciardo were all outside the 2m10.339s cut-off with their best times, while Michael Schumacher did not manage a single flying lap after his Mercedes shed its right rear wheel and crashed on his out-lap.

But the stewards ruled that all four could take part in the grand prix, giving dispensation on the grounds that they had been quick enough both in free practice at Spa and consistently so during the season, and because of the changeable weather conditions.

D'Ambrosio will actually be elevated to 20th on the grid due to Williams driver Pastor Maldonado's five-place grid penalty for his clash with Lewis Hamilton in Q2.

Lewis Hamilton is still adamant that his collision with Pastor Maldonado during Belgian Grand Prix qualifying was anything but a racing incident, following a decision by race stewards to penalise the Venezuelan driver.

Hamilton and Maldonado made contact at the Bus Stop chicane while the McLaren driver was completing a flying lap, and the pair then collided again after exiting La Source with Maldonado moving across on the 2008 world champion and pushing him off the circuit.

After Maldonado was given a five-place grid penalty for 'causing an avoidable incident,' Hamilton said: "It was not a racing incident.

"I thought through the last corner that I had to get past the guys and we perhaps touched a little bit, I don't know. I perhaps thought that he was upset about that or not, or wanted to make a point to me. I really don't know.

"I haven't spoken to him so I don't know from his point of view what happened, but it is clear from the footage that we are going down a straight which curves to the right and he is far on the right and I am far on the left and I cannot go any more to the left, and somehow the car ends up hitting me right in front, so it is up to everyone else to come up with their own opinions about it, but I didn't drive into anyone."

Hamilton, who received a reprimand for his part in the incident, said that there had been no truth in suggestions that he had caused Maldonado to retaliate against him after appearing to jink slightly to the right immediately before the Williams driver came across on him.

He added: "I think at the time it had begun to rain a little bit more towards the end of the session and I had gone around that, had some water on my tyres and had a little bit of wheelspin, but I think I was just continuing my line, went a bit right then saw that he had come out so I moved back.

"Then he was in the blind spot for me, I continued driving straight and thought he was coming past, and then somehow he ended up right alongside me, I was lucky that his rear wheel did not hit my front wheel and I didn't get any more damage."

Maldonado's penalty dropped him from 16th to 21st on the grid.

Mark Webber knew before the summer break that he would be racing for Red Bull again in 2012, having signed the deal in Hungary.

It was announced on Saturday morning at Spa that the 35-year-old Australian had concluded another one-year extension with the team he has raced for since 2007, dispelling speculation that he was considering retirement or switching outfits.

Having qualified third for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, Webber revealed in the press conference that he came into the weekend already certain of his future.

"Signed not long ago, I think it was the last race, actually, on the Sunday," he said when asked whether it was he or Red Bull that wanted a single year extension. "Little bit of both, I think [regarding team or self reluctant to commit]. The one-year extensions are not too bad for me, and also I think it suits them as well. Bit of 50-50."

Webber has scored all six of his wins with Red Bull as well as his nine podiums. The Australian also raced for the team under its previous guise of Jaguar Racing between 2003 and '04.

Fernando Alonso believes he can still fight for victory in the Belgian Grand Prix, so long as the forecasted dry weather holds true for Sunday.

The Ferrari driver qualified in an uncharacteristically low eighth position, which he blamed partly on traffic and difficulties getting heat into his Pirelli tyres. But the Spaniard says his car has the pace to fight his way to the front if conditions are warmer at Spa for the race.

"I expect a good recovery tomorrow," he said. "If it is dry in the race as the forecast says, I think we can recover some good positions, fight with the top teams. Why not? Because while in damp and cold conditions they have maybe an advantage, and can get heat in to the tyres for one timed lap, they have the disadvantage of degrading the tyres a lot.

"So tomorrow the race is very open for us, if we do a good start and a good recovery in the first couple of laps.

"In terms of strategy and race pace compared with recently maybe we are better than the others so it is still very open and we will try to get the maximum points."

Alonso added that the cold conditions are what scuppered his chances of being competitive in qualifying but that traffic was a key reason why he was four positions behind his team-mate Felipe Massa on the grid.

"Traffic was one of the factors because I did not complete a clean lap in Q3, but apart from that traffic we were not competitive to fight for the pole," he said. "In a normal Q3 with everything perfect maybe we were fourth or fifth, so never at the level of the top three.

"We are still missing some performance at these temperatures - we are running at 14 degrees on a damp track - fourth was what was possible for Ferrari.

"Without the cold conditions we could perform even better. It is no secret that we are not very happy with the cold conditions and that we are very happy with the hot conditions. Here for the fourth consecutive race we have damp and cold conditions and we are still waiting for the better temperatures.

"Dry is better for us. These weather conditions anything can happen – maybe we can recover more positions or whatever. If it is dry I think the car is competitive enough to be fighting at the front on a normal dry race."

Saturday's press conference:

TV UNILATERALS

Q. Sebastian, a fascinating qualifying session: tricky and changeable conditions for you all and, for you, great timing to arrive at the line after Mark and Lewis and snatch another pole.

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, it was a difficult session, all in all, Q1 and Q2 with very tricky conditions. The circuit was surprisingly drying up very quickly but it is quite tricky on the inters, so the main target was to get through. I didn't feel very comfortable right at the beginning but then through Q2 we could make a big step forward. I rediscovered Spa in a way and found some better lines than all weekend, so that was an important step. Then, in Q3, we were quite sure it is dry tyres but again if it doesn't start to rain it will be all down to the last lap as the circuit would just improve. I was trying to make my way around in the first two, trying to get the temperature into the tyres, then the last two laps, the last one particular, I tried to push as hard as I can. Arrived at the last corner... I think Lewis was right in front of me, a couple of seconds, and I saw him locking up. The last thing you then want is to lock up as well but all was fine. It was a very good lap. I was very happy with the car towards the end, in the dry. It seemed to get quicker and quicker every lap, so, all in all, I am very happy. Not an easy session, as you said, with the conditions changing all the time, and right after we finished it started to rain again. Tomorrow they said it is dry but here, as you've seen today, anything is possible.

Q. Lewis, drama for you, not just in the final part of qualifying, but in the final moments of the second session as well. Exactly what happened between yourself and Pastor Maldonado?

Lewis HAMILTON: I will have to look at it afterwards. I was at the end of my Q2 lap and I got to the chicane as I was just finishing and there were two Williams just sitting there, going very, very slow. I think they were probably preparing for the start of another lap but it was already a red light. I had to try and get past, which I did. I lost quite a lot of time there but as I was coming through the exit of turn one I saw Maldonado approaching quite quickly. He came around me and I didn't move anywhere but he happened to swipe across me. I don't know whether it was intentional or not. I guess we will see shortly. I just said I am just going to sit here and wait for the stewards to call me up rather than go back down to the [McLaren] Brand Centre.

Q. Was there any concern that you wouldn't be able to go out in the final part of qualifying after that collision? How severely damaged was the car?

LH: The front wing was quite badly damaged - my sidepod, and I thought my front suspension was damaged. I think the front toe-in is probably a little bit out, but fortunately the guys did a great job to put it back together. I just think once the flag is out and the red lights are on there is no need to be racing and there should never ever be an incident and unfortunately there was.

Q. Mark, happy birthday. Very nearly the best birthday present you could have wished for today but nearly, sadly, not good enough for you today.

Mark WEBBER: Yeah, it was a close session. Probably went a bit too hard on the slicks initially, as I felt comfortable. You never know if the lap you are on is the lap that is going to be the lap around here, obviously with the sprinkling here and there. And as we finished quali it started raining again. Yeah, probably could have built up a little bit slower, to have a better condition, a slightly better run-in to the back part of the third and fourth lap but that's how it goes. We have had a very good, smooth weekend and it's very easy to end up like JB (Jenson Button) or whatever. In those sessions it is very easy for us to be out of position. We are in position. It would have been nice to be a sniff further up but the guys did a good job in front. We are in the hunt tomorrow for sure. Could be a good race.

Q. Sebastian, Mark says it has been an easy, smooth weekend but none of you have had as much running as you would like. How confident can you be going into a race that we might have changeable conditions once again?

SV: Well, I think it is one of those races you don't know, anything can happen, from start to finish. We will see. The best forecast around here is to look up and see what is happening. It is likely to be dry. I think we had a very good balance in the end in the dry and I was quite happy as at the beginning of qualifying I didn't really feel comfortable but then later on, even when it was wet, I was starting to feel much better. I think we found direction and we should be ready for tomorrow. It's a long race so I am looking forward to it.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Sebastian, we heard from the team that this was meant to be one of the most difficult races for Red Bull Racing and here you are on pole. Perhaps you can explain that?

SV: The race is tomorrow as far as I know, so we will see. But going into this race we have a lot of corners that we seem to like but we have a lot of straights that we seem to dislike, so we will see. All weekend there wasn't much running but we have been quite happy and quite competitive in all conditions. Mark more than myself. I wasn't really happy yesterday, or this morning, but I think we did the right steps to come back, especially when it was drying up as I was feeling more and more comfortable. Tomorrow, I don't know what is the forecast. They say dry, but I don't know how much. What are the odds? I don't know if you would put your money on that around here. We got the timing right, especially in the last qualifying session where I was feeling good and we got it all together at the right time.

Q. It sounds as though you are happier with the car in dry conditions. Have you actually set it up for the dry? Is it more for dry than it is for wet?

SV: Not really. To be totally frank these days there is not really a wet set-up anymore. It is difficult, as from Saturday to Sunday you are not allowed to change anything. There are a couple of things that yes, if you could guarantee 100 per cent wet running, you would go for it, but it is not a massive change anyway. As I said yesterday and this morning, I wasn't really happy but in qualifying, and then especially Q2, we seemed to pick up the pace, also in the wet. Yes, it was drying but also in those places where it was still damp I think for the first time this weekend we were very competitive. All in all, a bit last-minute. It is not easy when you don't run that much but we got it back.

Q. Everyone seems to have been on intermediates for about three days! Have you got any left and are you going to put them on eBay to see what you can get for them?

SV: We should have, I think. It is the same for everyone. It is a shame these days to be honest, that on Fridays we only run only one set of inters, as that one is free. The rest of the tyres, we don't want to touch if the weather forecast is likely to rain, which it did today and maybe tomorrow again, so you try to save tyres, which is a shame for the people and for all of us, as it is boring when you sit in the garage waiting doing nothing instead of having practice. It is not that we don't like running here, even if it rains, it is just we want to save the tyres for the reasons we saw in qualifying. You might need any set and also for tomorrow. It is the same for everyone.

Q. Lewis, great effort to get on the front row again. McLaren winners of the last two races, how confident are you for tomorrow?

LH: I think that clearly we're quite strong. We didn't really know where we expected to be today but the team has done a fantastic job to come here with some new components which has been fantastic to see and they seem to have worked quite well. I don't know what happened to Jenson but unfortunately he wasn't able to get through to Q3. But as he's shown in the past, anything really can happen from quite far back. It was very close. I was just saying to Sebastian, he obviously did a fantastic lap. I had it for a second and then I lost it. I think that's the longest I've had pole this year. I will continue to work on that.

Q. Yesterday you talked about wing testing, is that what it's all about, is it a huge amount about how quick you can be up the hill?

LH: It's just about trying to find the correct balance. You can take off all your downforce and have good end-of-straight speed, but then you struggle in the middle sector. It's just about making the compromise. It was still wet – we don't know what the weather's going to do tomorrow even though it says it's dry, so we didn't fully go for the optimal downforce level for the dry but I think tomorrow will still be dry.

Q. So it's still a bit of a compromise, neither one thing nor the other.

LH: Yeah, absolutely.

Q. Mark, a major day, what with the birthday and the announcement of the extension of the contract. You didn't quite get the trifecta.

MW: Yeah, would have been special, obviously, to get the trio but we certainly put up a good fight. We were competitive for a big chunk of qualifying, not competitive enough in the last three sectors when it quite counted. Yeah, the guys ahead of me did a good job, that's why their stopwatch stopped before mine did. I'm still happy to be up here. It's easy with Q1 and Q2 sessions like we had, when you have a situation like us, to potentially be here, you can still make a mistake, so the team's done a good job today. Seb came back at the end of Q3 there but we're certainly in the hunt for a good Grand Prix tomorrow – I'm looking forward to it – and yeah, it was a tricky day for all of us, but that's Spa.

Q. And on pole last year as well…

MW: Yeah, it's a beautiful track. We all love driving here, wish there was more of them. Obviously the tracks they design these days are obviously trying for more TV and set up for the grandstands, second and third gear stuff which is not really that exciting, but you could drive round here every day of the week. It's a beautiful track and one that, whether you're a journo, a photographer, a driver, whatever, fan, you love coming here.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Naoise Holohan – Manipe F1) Mark, by my count, it's four years in a row that you've signed a one-year extension at Red Bull. Is it the team or yourself that's reluctant to commit to a multi-year deal and as well, could you tell us when you put pen to paper for 2012?

MW: Signed not long ago, I think it was the last race, actually, on the Sunday. Little bit of both, I think [regarding team or self reluctant to commit]. The one-year extensions are not too bad for me, and also I think it suits them as well. Bit of 50-50.

Q. (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Lewis, at the end of Q2, in one of the snatches we got of you on TV, your car was bouncing quite a lot and producing sparks. Is that something to worry about, is the car perhaps set up more for the wet than the dry?

LH: No, again, I think - just to repeat what Sebastian said - nowadays there's not really a big difference between dry and wet set-up. I think in the past and in other categories you softened the car a lot more. As you go into qualifying nowadays, you can't change between qualifying and the race and so you have to try and… the set-up is generally very, very similar from dry to wet. But I have no idea why it would be sparking. It's either just too low or something's hanging off, but I haven't seen that.

Q. To describe it, the car was behaving a bit like it was under braking at the end of the straight in Turkey, the same sort of thing.

LH: Yeah, that's why Sebastian was saying on the last lap that I had a lock-up, because my car was jumping around quite a lot over the bumps into the last corner.

Q. Is that something that you've been trying to cure over the last couple of days or is it the first time that it's actually manifested itself?

LH: It's something that we've been trying to cure for the last three or so years.

Q. (Bob McKenzie – Daily Express) Lewis, from what we saw, Maldonado's move looked pretty brutal, he slammed in pretty hard. What did it feel like in the car? Were you taken by surprise?

LH: When you're in the car you have to really get out and have a look. I can't really recollect absolutely everything that went on but it did feel quite a hard thump. I thought that my tracking was broken so I thought the front wheel and suspension was broken. It went very, very light for the rest of the lap, and I felt a big shove in the side of the car from the wheel, and I think the front wing was gone. I think it was quite serious and quite fortunate that neither of us and particularly him was flipped or had a bi,g big crash, so I think we were quite lucky there.

Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) None of you were able to do much dry running during practice, so have you any idea how the degradation of the tyres is and with this uncertainty, how difficult is it to plan for the race?

SV: Yes, it will be very important tomorrow, unknown tyre degradation. Obviously you get an impression after a couple of laps. Yesterday, in my case, I didn't run the soft tyre, I ran a little bit longer on the hard compound. Today, I had a couple of laps on the soft compound. It's very hard to draw conclusions so I think we will find out tomorrow. It's not a secret, I think that's why most of the people were using the soft tyres in qualifying, because they are the faster tyre so we will try to use that as much as we can, similar to the last couple of races.

Q. (Sven Haidinger – SportWoche) How difficult is it with these conditions here, the cool and rainy conditions, to get the tyres up to temperature?

LH: Well, we never struggle to get tyre temperature.

SV: To be honest, I think today was quite cool, similar, probably, to where we were at Nurburgring – maybe not that cold but similar. I think we struggled less, so I think we can be very happy with the step we have made. Obviously we have seen that we lost a little bit of performance or lost performance, especially compared to McLaren in these conditions and I think we wouldn't be there today if we were in a similar shape or same shape as Nurburgring, so hard to say. It's a different track but I think it affects us less today and here than in the last races.

Q. (John Bannon – Australian Auto Action) Mark, your chances of a late birthday present tomorrow?

MW: I would say pretty good. We're right towards the front, we know this place can throw up anything on Sunday afternoon, as we saw last year. It's a very challenging Grand Prix for all of us. Lewis won the race but he arrived in parc ferme after a great drive with his car with plenty of gravel in it so he had an interesting day. That's what can happen around here. I've had a good feeling on the track all weekend. You need to get everything right – but in reasonable shape, mate, so looking forward to it.

[Lineker]

What a start from Rosberg! Incredibly messy start further down the grid.

Non-race/pre-race news including a mid-season test session being all but confirmed:

Sebastian Vettel's pole position performance at the Belgian Grand Prix may have shown that Red Bull Racing remains the team to beat, but his rivals are optimistic that the German can still be toppled at Spa.

As Vettel bids to secure his first victory since the European GP in June, his main opposition believe that their true potential was not revealed in qualifying - and that a long DRS zone and intriguing tyre strategy could turn this afternoon's event into a thriller.

Lewis Hamilton, who starts alongside Vettel on the front row of the grid, said: "I think whatever happens, I am just going to race as hard as I can.

"I have come here this weekend quite solid and I think we have the pace here this weekend to challenge everyone."

Jenson Button, who won last time out in Hungary but starts 13th after a qualifying strategy blunder, said: "It is a bit of a shock being down in 13th, especially after being quickest in Q1.

"The car has been working great all weekend. I have been happy with the car and, as a team we did a great job, working with engineers really work. I am probably the most confident I've been all year with the situation, so that is why it is a bit of a shock.

"It was a miscommunication. It shouldn't happen, but it did. We have to move forward now. From 13th the win is very difficult, but that is exactly what I am out to do, to win. I don't care about anything else."

Although there has been limited dry running so far this weekend, Button thinks McLaren has found a good set-up and will be sorted in terms of gear ratios.

"I did about three laps in the dry on Friday and the car seemed to be running very well," he said. "Speaking for myself, we haven't set the car up for wet conditions.

"The car seems to work very well in every condition out there, and the ratios are very difficult. But I think we have got the best compromise not using DRS, which we won't be unless we are overtaking. Hopefully I will be using it a lot, either way – with DRS or without, I think we will be good for ratios."

Hamilton added that he believed the nature of the DRS zone, which should make it very effective as it is a high-speed area of the track, would ensure overtaking will be fairly straightforward.

"I am certain there will be overtaking and there is only a certain amount of times that a driver can move to defend, so it will be quite easy to overtake," he said. "It will be a bit like Turkey. If someone is close enough, it will be quite easy to use the DRS, and they will be long gone past by the time they get to Turn 4."

The other intriguing aspect of the Belgian GP is the tyre situation, with drivers having had very limited running in the dry – which means strategies are going to be very hard to predict.

Ferrari technical chief Pat Fry thinks all teams are stepping into the unknown – especially because he has already seen evidence of tyres blistering after qualifying.

"I don't think anyone has done enough dry running to know at all what the strategy is going to be," he explained. "It was interesting yesterday seeing everyone's tyres, and again in parc ferme, some cars are blistering their front tyres already – on light fuel and a damp track. So I think everyone is going to be in guessing a little bit. Let's wait and see."

Formula 1's leading drivers will be forced to start the Belgian Grand Prix on the same set of tyres that they qualified on, despite lobbying from some teams ahead of the race to try and get replacement front sets.

A number of drivers are understood to have suffered blistering to their front tyres in qualifying - and with all those who reach Q3 having to start the race on the same tyres they used for the pole shoot-out, some could be exposed to trouble in the race and require an early stop for new rubber.

There was lobbying of both Pirelli and the FIA from some teams to try and be allowed to replace the blistered sets - claiming that they were damaged enough to be allowed fresh ones for the start.

However, the FIA has stood by its stance that tyres can only be replaced if damage to them – which can include blistering – has been caused accidentally. If a set-up choice resulted in teams blistering their tyres, then that is not sufficient reason to be allowed replacement sets.

As a precautionary measure, Pirelli flew in 17 new front tyres overnight – to add to the three spare tyres that were already in the Spa paddock.

This would ensure that if the FIA agreed teams could use new tyres there were enough sets for the top 10 drivers who have to start on their qualifying rubber. Such approval was not forthcoming, though.

The issue is believed to particularly affect the Red Bull Racing drivers, with both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber understood to have suffered blistering to both their front tyres.

However, Lewis Hamilton is also believed to have suffered blistering on one of his front tyres, as did Scuderia Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari.

Tyre blistering is normally a result of excessive tyre temperature, and one of the contributing factors to it rearing its head at Spa is believed to be the camber settings that a number of teams have been using – which may have gone outside the recommended parameters laid down by Pirelli.

Formula 1 testing will return to Mugello next year after teams provisionally agreed for their in-season run to take place at the Italian track, AUTOSPORT can reveal.

The Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) met on Sunday morning to discuss the venue for the single in-season test that outfits have been looking at slotting in.

Silverstone, Barcelona and Jerez were all discussed as possibilities, but high level sources have revealed that in the end it was decided that Mugello would be the best option. It is understood that some of the smaller teams are still lobbying to try and have the test at the UK venue, though the decision is thought to have been made.

The current plan is for the Mugello test to take place in the first week of May, between the final flyaway race at the start of the 2012 campaign and the first event in Europe, which is scheduled to take place in Spain on May 13.

It is understood that Mugello became the preferred option because as well as providing good quality facilities and a venue that is valuable for aerodynamic performance, Ferrari (which owns the circuit) was willing to help host the test - so it would not become too expensive for the teams.

The agreement of the Mugello test plan means that teams are now settled on their pre-season testing plans too - with 2012 running commencing at Jerez on February 7. Two further pre-season tests will take place at Barcelona from February 21-24 and March 1-4.

F1 teams are also seeking a slight tweak to the 2012 schedule, requesting that the Indian and Chinese GPs swap places on the calendar to help with the travel of freight for the opening four races of the campaign.

Scuderia Toro Rosso will wait until the end of the season to decide on its 2012 driver line-up, with the outfit poised to give Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne some Friday outings this year ahead of a possible third driver role next season.

Although sister team Red Bull Racing's decision to extend Mark Webber's contract for next year has left Toro Rosso with the decision of choosing between Sebastien Buemi, Jaime Alguersuari and Daniel Ricciardo for next year, team boss Franz Tost says he is happy to wait some more before deciding.

"Regarding next season, it is difficult to say something nowadays because we have to wait to the end of the season, and then it is a decision that is usually taken from the Red Bull side," Tost told AUTOSPORT.

"So we will sit together and discuss the performance of the different drivers, and then the driver line-up will be decided for next year.

"Our current drivers are doing a good job. Buemi started very well into the season, he scored many points in the first races, but afterwards he was a little bit unlucky with some races where he could not score points.

"Alguersuari had some difficulties at the beginning of the season with the tyres, and could not use them in the proper way. But now, from Valencia onwards, he understands the tyres better and better and his performance is dramatically increasing fortunately."

When asked about Ricciardo's performance, Tost said: "Daniel Ricciardo is a highly skilled driver. He started running with us on a Friday morning for one and a half hours, and when he was together with us we were quite satisfied with his performance.

"He came up with a good technical feedback with the team, and he was quite positive on the marketing work. And also on the press side he does a good job.

"Now he is driving for HRT, which is quite important because he can do races, and there you can learn and increase the performance and the experience. So far I think what I can see from the outside is he is doing a good job."

Tost said that the team was considering giving Vergne, who is fighting for the championship in Formula Renault 3.5, outings later this year on Friday mornings - but much would depend on how he performed in the final two events of his campaign.

"Jean-Eric first should finish the Renault season, where he is driving. Then, at the end of the season in the last race, there is maybe the possibility that he will go out for us on Friday mornings, like we did the beginning of the season with Ricciardo. But we finally have not decided this. We will see how it fits into the programme."

When asked about the possibility of Vergne becoming Toro Rosso's third driver in 2012, Tost said: "Could be, but first we must see how he will finish this year's championship, in the World Series. Then we will see what Red Bull wants to do with him in 2012."

AUTOSPORT understand that as well as the Toro Rosso outings later this year, Vergne is also set to drive for Red Bull Racing in the rookie test at Abu Dhabi.

Newly-crowned GP2 champion Romain Grosjean says he is not focusing on trying to race for Renault in Formula 1 before the end of the season.

The Frenchman, who is managed by Renault F1 team boss Eric Boullier's Gravity Sport programme, has been linked to a drive alongside Vitaly Petrov before the end of the season.

Bruno Senna has replaced Nick Heidfeld as Petrov's team-mate this weekend, and the team has said that it hopes to keep the Brazilian in the car for the remainder of the season.

And Grosjean, who was thrown into a similar situation at Renault in 2009 alongside Fernando Alonso, says he is more interested in securing a long-term future at the top level than getting a chance this year.

"To get back to Formula 1 is what I want, but my main focus is to find a good contract for 2012 before anything else," said Grosjean. "Hopefully I can get a good seat, in good conditions, and get what I call a real chance in Formula 1.

"[Driving this year] depends on the conditions. If it is just for five races and there is nothing else behind the deal, then that is not the best way to do it."

Grosjean added that Boullier has tried to keep him away from the F1 paddock to avoid a repeat of the difficulties he faced in 2009.

"We know from 2009 that my mind was on F1 and my body was in GP2," he admitted. "We didn't want that to happen again, so I kept focused on GP2 and I have been over to the F1 paddock as little as I could.

"Now we are champions, maybe I will have a look at what is going on upstairs. Winning this title was important, and it has been seen by the big boss, hopefully!"

[EddieG]

Amazing race from Button, Schumi and Maldonado there.

[Lineker]

World championship leader Sebastian Vettel claimed his first victory since Valencia in June as he triumphed in a hard-fought Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Vettel led Mark Webber in a Red Bull one-two, while Jenson Button tore through from 13th on the grid to third for McLaren. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton's day ended in a clash with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi. Fernando Alonso was a victory threat until falling to fourth in the final stint on harder tyres.

A chaotic start had seen Webber stutter off the grid and fall from third to eighth, as Nico Rosberg burst through to second and then slipstream past Vettel to take a shock lead for Mercedes by Les Combes, with Felipe Massa, Hamilton and the fast-starting Alonso next up.

Rosberg's lead lasted until lap three, when Vettel triggered his DRS and eased ahead on the Kemmel Straight. But the tyre issues that had been feared prior to the race started early for the Red Bulls, with Webber pitting after just three laps, and Vettel coming in from the lead next time around.

That put Rosberg back in front, though he had Alonso on his tail as the Spaniard had swiftly passed Hamilton, then outbraked team-mate Massa when the sister Ferrari lost momentum in a failed move on Rosberg. Hamilton also capitalised to further demote Massa as the shuffle unfolded.

By lap seven Alonso was sweeping past Rosberg on the Kemmel Straight to move into the lead, with Hamilton doing likewise on the following lap.

The Ferrari and McLaren managed to keep their initial tyres intact until laps eight and 11 respectively, but the Red Bulls' earlier stops had worked out better for them - and as Hamilton pitted from the lead, Vettel was sweeping around the outside of Rosberg in an epic pass into Blanchimont ready to move to the head of the field again. Shortly beforehand, Webber had produced a similarly spectacular move on Alonso into Eau Rouge as the Ferrari emerged from its pitstop, though Alonso would repass the Red Bull next time around.

Hamilton's challenge then ended on lap 13, when a brush of wheels with the yet-to-pit Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber on the run into Les Combes spat the McLaren violently into the barriers, prompting a safety car period.

Vettel immediately pitted for more tyres, which meant that although Alonso was able to lead again from the restart, the champion was soon easing ahead once more with a DRS pass.

From then onwards Vettel was effectively untouchable, inching away from Alonso through the next stint and clinching his first win in two months. When the Ferrari switched to the harder tyres for the final run to the flag, Alonso's pace tailed off dramatically and he found himself being passed by first Webber, then Button. The Hungarian GP winner had driven another epic race, getting the harder tyre out of the way early, then overtaking car after car in the middle of the race to move himself into podium contention. He secured his place on the rostrum by passing the troubled Alonso with two laps to go.

Michael Schumacher took a superb fifth place from the back of the grid - like Button using the harder tyre in the first stint then charging spectacularly. His Mercedes team-mate Rosberg drifted back to sixth as the race progressed, ahead of Adrian Sutil (Force India).

An additional stop to replace a deflating tyre left Massa eighth, gaining a place when Vitaly Petrov's Renault was delayed on the final lap, while Pastor Maldonado put Saturday's controversy behind him to score the final point for Williams - the first time that the 2010 GP2 champion had scored in Formula 1.

Bruno Senna's return to a race seat brought only a 13th place in the second Renault, as his outstanding qualifying result was wasted in a first-corner tangle with Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso, which earned the Brazilian a drivethrough penalty (and almost took Alonso out too, the Ferrari lucky to continue as Alguersuari smashed his suspension against it). Virgin's Timo Glock was also given a drivethrough after being adjudged to have triggered further multi-car mayhem at the tail of the pack.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS


The Belgian Grand Prix

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium;

44 laps; 308.052km;

Weather: Dry conditions.


Classified:


Pos  Driver        Team                       Time

 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h26.44.893

 2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +     3.741

 3.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     9.669

 4.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    13.022

 5.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +    47.464

 6.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    48.674

 7.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +    59.713

 8.  Massa         Ferrari                    +  1m06.076

 9.  Petrov        Renault                    +  1m11.917

10.  Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth          +  1m17.615

11.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +  1m23.994

12.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1m31.976

13.  Senna         Renault                    +  1m32.985

14.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap

15.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap

16.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap

17.  D-Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +     1 lap

18.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +     1 lap

19.  Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth               +     1 lap


Fastest lap: Massa, 1:23.415


Not classified/retirements:


Driver        Team                         On lap

Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               27

Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth                 13 

Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             12

Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari           6     

Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari           1




World Championship standings, round 11:                


Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Vettel       259        1.  Red Bull-Renault          426

 2.  Webber       167        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          295

 3.  Alonso       157        3.  Ferrari                   231

 4.  Button       149        4.  Mercedes                   88

 5.  Hamilton     146        5.  Renault                    68

 6.  Massa         74        6.  Sauber-Ferrari             35

 7.  Rosberg       56        7.  Force India-Mercedes       32

 8.  Schumacher    42        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         22

 9.  Petrov        34        9.  Williams-Cosworth           5

10.  Heidfeld      34       

11.  Kobayashi     27       

12.  Sutil         24       

13.  Buemi         12       

14.  Alguersuari   10       

15.  Di Resta       8       

16.  Perez          8       

17.  Barrichello    4

18.  Maldonado      1       


All timing unofficial[/code]


Lewis Hamilton believes he lost the opportunity for a podium finish when he crashed out of the Belgian Grand Prix on lap 12.


The McLaren driver came into contact with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi into the braking zone for Les Combes, having just passed the Japanese up the hill for fourth position.


The collision made Hamilton's car snap left and hit the barrier hard before careering up the run-off area.


"I'm not really quite sure [what happened] to be honest." Hamilton told the BBC. "I just remember hitting in the wall - I hit the wall pretty hard.


"A bit unfortunate for the team – we were in a good position and as far as I was concerned I was ahead of whoever it was I was racing and then I just got hit by them and that was my race over. That's motor racing. There has been a lot of races where we haven't finished this year, so that's just another one of them."


Hamilton added that he thought it would have been difficult to contend for the win and said that he was struggling to follow the two Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari ahead of him.


"I think we were struggling," he said. "For whatever reason we were massively slow on the straight, massively, massively slow and I guess that's really what got us in the position really.


"Everyone was just pulling away from me on the straights and I was only able to keep up on the infield. I think we probably had a little bit too much downforce on. Nonetheless we were in a good position still – we were still able to challenge and I got past one of the Ferraris. We maybe have been able to have at least got a podium."


Jenson Button believes he could have challenged for victory had he not been caught up in the first-corner carnage at Spa-Francorchamps.


The McLaren driver made it through to third place despite having only qualified 13th.


But Button was convinced he had the pace to battle Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, regardless of his starting position, had he not needed to make an early pitstop to attend to damage from the multi-car contact at La Source.


"I think if I had stayed in 13th after the start it would have been a lot easier to challenge these guys [the Red Bulls]," said Button.


"Turn 1 was mayhem caused by the guys up front. [Paul] di Resta hit my rear wing, damaged my rear wing, half the endplate was gone and driving to Eau Rouge someone's rear wing came off and went through my front wing and took the mirror off.


"It was a bit scary. The guys said keep going until lap five, we did - then put options on and did rest of race with them.


"It was a enjoyable race. You're always going to say what could have been, but it's a good finish to get on the podium after Seb drove into me last year!"


Button believes the McLaren was even more competitive at Spa than it had been when winning at the Nurburgring and Hungaroring.


"All weekend the car felt great," said Button. "For me the balance has been phenomenal, it felt like we had made a step forward from Hungary so to come away with third is disappointing but you have to take third into account.


"Who knows what would have happened if we had qualified third - hopefully in two weeks we can turn it all around."


Mark Webber described Red Bull's Belgian Grand Prix one-two as one of its best ever team achievements, particularly given the pre-race concern over tyre blistering.


Leading teams had asked if they could be given dispensation to take on fresh Pirellis for the first stint following blistering problems in qualifying, but the request was denied as the officials felt the high wear was due to set-up choices rather than an inherent tyre issue.


Red Bull was one of those worst affected by the situation, with both its cars pitting within the first four laps of the race, but Sebastian Vettel and Webber still had the pace to come back through to first and second.


"The team result today was probably one of our best results ever as a team," said Webber. "It was stressful last night, and a stressful morning, handled very well - putting drivers right in the discussions to understand how we can get through the grand prix as safely as possible, us giving them feedback on how tyres looked."


Webber's strategy then went awry in the race, as communications issues meant he stayed out much longer than intended on his second set of tyres.


"I was supposed to pit when Seb did, but had a completely blocked radio," he explained. "I asked if I was wanted to stop, but heard nothing."


The Australian had already been delayed at the start when his anti-stall system kicked in and he slumped from third to eighth.


"The start was shocking, I dropped the lever and anti-stall came on immediately," said Webber. "Seb had a close call too. That was a disappointing way to start."


His recovery drive included one of the most bold overtaking moves of the season, as he went wheel to wheel with Fernando Alonso into Eau Rouge as the Ferrari rejoined after a pitstop.


"Most of the race was charged with frustration from the start," Webber admitted. "We were obviously very, very close through Eau Rouge, I used some KERS, got a tow and thought I might have a chance.


"We didn't give much easy, it was a good battle. It was rewarding that it worked okay, but it takes two guys to get it right. You can do it with Fernando - he is a world class guy and knows when enough is enough."


Sebastian Vettel said that the only real concern he had in winning his seventh grand prix victory of the season was starting the race on blistered tyres.


The world champion, who pulled off an accomplished victory in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, was forced to pit on lap four for new tyres and admitted afterwards that starting on the soft tyres he'd used to qualify on pole had been a risk.


"We had a lot of concerns going into the race after the damage to the tyres in qualifying and we took quite a lot of risk," said Vettel. "We had reason to feel confident we should be fine, but if no one in the paddock is giving you guarantees... We didn't feel comfortable, so we both stopped early in the race.


"The main target was to see how tyres feel after a couple of laps, and go from there."


Vettel paid tribute to the Red Bull - which he said had vastly superior pace at Spa to previous years, which allowed him to re-establish himself at the front after his stop and then manage the race through the safety car period when Lewis Hamilton crashed.


"The pace was very good in the race, I was feeling comfortable and without too much effort I was able to keep up with the guys [in front], after the safety car it was crucial to jump Fernando [Alonso] and get past him, then build a gap," he said. "That made it more comfortable.


"After that the race needed more management than usual. I have to say the car worked brilliantly and compared to previous years we were very competitive, I am very happy with the result and happy with the race - how we managed the race and the tyres. We need to learn from that and head down for the next race."


Vettel added that he thoroughly enjoyed winning at Spa and that it was in stark contrast to last year, when he crashed out of the race after colliding with Jenson Button.


"It's good to finish the race and not crash this year!" he said. "When I got close to him I thought overtake him on straight rather than chicane. The car was fantastic, the pace was there and that is why we are sitting up here now.


"[Winning here means] a lot. It is a nice circuit, I enjoyed every lap today. The car was fantastic to drive, the car does what you want it to do, it is nice to have these fast corners and if you feel confident in the car it is even more fun. Every lap was enjoyable and a pretty enjoyable race to come in early, there were a lot of passes that I had to make. But I don't want to complain, it worked fantastically well, the pace was great so good for both of us to finish like that."


Jaime Alguersuari blamed Bruno Senna for costing him a points finish at the Belgian Grand Prix.


The Renault driver braked too late for La Source on the opening lap, careering into the side of Alguersuari and pushing him into Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in an incident that broke the front-left suspension of the Toro Rosso.


Afterwards the Spaniard, who had started from a career-best sixth position, said he felt that a points finish would have been easily achievable.


"I don't want to speak badly about any other driver as it's not my style, but I think the situation was quite clear to everyone," Alguersuari said.


"Going into the hairpin after the start, I was in the middle with [bruno] Senna on my inside and Fernando [Alonso] on my outside and Senna completely missed his braking point and hit me which pushed me into the path of the Ferrari."


Alguersuari believes that the progress made by Toro Rosso in recent races has made points finishes a reasonable target to aim for over the next few grands prix.


"There are many positive things we can take out of this weekend, as we clearly had a car capable of scoring many points today, which is a tribute to all the hard work of the team," he added.


“I feel sorry for the guys, because starting sixth on the grid is not an everyday occurrence for us. Now I am looking forward to the next race in Monza, as I see no reason why we cannot be competitive there and score more points."


Alguersuari's team-mate Sebastien Buemi was another driver left frustrated by the actions of others and slammed Sergio Perez for running into the back of him during the first half of the race and breaking his rear wing.


"[sergio] Perez tried to pass me and simply drove into the back of me, which completed destroyed my rear wing and I had no option but to bring the car back to the pits to retire," the Swiss driver said.


"I really can't understand what he was doing, as I was clearly ahead of him: it was as though he forgot to brake."


Bruno Senna admitted that it was his lack of experience starting a race on full fuel that contributed to him causing a first corner melee in the Belgian Grand Prix.


The Brazilian driver, who stole headlines after qualifying at Spa on Saturday when he placed his Renault seventh on the grid, hit Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso under braking for La Source and caused several drivers behind to take avoiding action.


Senna was then forced to return to the pits for a new front wing before returning to the race to finish 13th, the last man on the lead lap.


"I didn't do the first corner with high fuel, ever, and unfortunately I misjudged the braking area," Senna told the BBC. "There was no way for me to avoid Jaime [Alguersuari] and I am really sorry about his race. Fortunately for me there was no damage to the suspension and I could continue racing.


"I got a lot of laps under the belt though and fortunately I have got another race in Monza to look forward to.


"I think it was just misjudgement and a lack of experience of not doing it for 11 races. I should have maybe been a bit more careful but it's racing. I'm here to race and race for position so let's see what happens in the next race."


Senna drew positives from his debut race with the Renault team however and said he expected more from himself at the next grand prix in Italy.


"I think the pace was actually pretty good and I have some great experience with both types of tyre so now I know what to do with the team," he said. "I am looking forward to driving in Monza and hopefully in better conditions than this."


Team Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne felt his squad's 14th and 15th places at Spa - achieved despite a first-corner accident that damaged both cars - marked one of the outfit's strongest performances since joining Formula 1.


Jarno Trulli had to struggle with floor damage and Heikki Kovalainen required a new front wing after they were pushed into each other at Spa as the aftermath of a clash between Timo Glock and Paul di Resta unfolded.


But they recovered very strongly to finish ahead of the other 'new' teams and Rubens Barrichello's Williams.


"That is a very good result for the whole team today and goes down as one of our strongest performances since we came into the sport," said Gascoyne. "We had a poor start where both cars were last after making contact in the first corner but we recovered very well, and to have finished in 14th and 15th after that is very pleasing.


"Both drivers were excellent today, but the pit crew deserve special praise for having taken a massive step forward in their performance. All our stops were exactly what we needed so congratulations to them for a job very well done today."


Trulli said it had been one of his most fulfilling races of the season, as he had a chance to battle with Bruno Senna's Renault during the course of the grand prix.


"I had a great start, passing a few other cars away from the line but then the accident in T1 [La Source] meant both Heikki and I suffered damage - him to his nosecone, me to the floor and I had to run the whole race with that damage, so to finish 14th after that is just fantastic," he enthused.


"Apart from the start I enjoyed the whole race – I passed a number of cars and when the safety car came out I was able to close the gap to the cars ahead. That gave me the chance to fight with the Renault and I passed him and was then able to keep pace with the other guys ahead.


"Racing like this, with no problems and with a car I can fight with all afternoon is very satisfying, so now I can't wait to get back in when we get to Italy and keep up the momentum we've built up here."


McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh believes that Jenson Button would have been in contention for victory in the Belgian Grand Prix, had he not been forced to start from 13th on the grid after a problematic qualifying session.


The 2009 world champion stormed from the back of the field having had to pit on the opening lap to change his front wing, and eventually finished third after hunting down Fernando Alonso's Ferrari late on.


But Whitmarsh reckons that Button could have achieved even more if he had not been bumped out of Q3 on Saturday at Spa, following a communication error between the Briton and his team as to how much time he had left to post a lap.


"Jenson's was the drive of the day," Whitmarsh told the BBC. "Poor qualifying, if we could have got him up the front of the grid where he could and should have been he would have been a contender today.


"A fantastic drive, losing a front wing and then dropping back to 19th, coming back through at the end and hunting down drivers like Fernando.


"And he was doing it in the dry, and people who say he can't do it in the dry, he did it today. Always a tinge of disappointment of what might have been, but we should really enjoy that drive."


Whitmarsh admitted that Red Bull's one-two finish had emboldened its positions in both the drivers' and constructors' championships, but added that McLaren would not give up until the titles were completely out of reach.


"There is plenty of racing left in this season, and congratulations to Red Bull, they did a good job here and got a one-two that makes the championship all that much tougher - but mathematically it's still possible and we have got to fight on. At least with Jenson we were able to demonstrate our pace, Lewis [Hamilton] was incredibly unlucky today but we are going to keep on pushing, as we always do.


"We struggled to get the tyres in there initially, but the track came to us today and we were very strong. Jenson on his second two sets of tyres was very quick and he was reeling in everyone."


Pastor Maldonado has criticised Lewis Hamilton's driving after the McLaren driver crashed out of the Belgian Grand Prix while fighting for fourth position with Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber.


Hamilton had executed a pass on the Japanese when the pair made contact under braking for Les Combes at the top of the hill, as Hamilton moved back across to the left to take the racing line. This led to a large accident for the 2008 world champion.


Maldonado, who was punished by the stewards after crashing into Hamilton on the slow down lap during qualifying at Spa on Saturday, told the BBC that he believed the incident had similarities to his own experiences with the Briton.


Hamilton had robustly passed Maldonado at the end of Q2 in the dash to post a lap and it was moments later that the pair made contact in what appeared initially to be retaliatory action by the Venezualen on the run down to Eau Rouge. The stewards deemed it necessary to give Maldonado a five place grid penalty over the incident.


"I think maybe we both made a mistake yesterday, and I am a bit disappointed that only I got a penalty and not him," said Maldonado. "But anyway that's racing, we need to look forward. That's past. The only bad thing is that he did the same today, so I think he needs to be more focussed on his race and not to do that movement."


Asked if he meant that the two incidents had similarities he replied: "A bit similar yes.


"For sure I think we should have slowed down after Turn 1," Maldonado added. "But in the end I think we lost our concentration you know and we were fighting. It was a bad thing. That's racing, that's Formula 1, we need to look forward.


"I think Lewis is a really talented driver, a really good friend, so we need to be more focussed and respect each other more."


Maldonado became only the second Venezuelan to score a point in Formula 1, buy finishing tenth in the race


"For sure it was a bit more difficult [starting from 21st place], and especially at the first corner it was so close to breaking my front wing, so I think I did a consistent and intelligent race," he said. "Even the strategy, the Williams guys did a very good job. It's the first time I've felt the car be really consistent during the race, so I am really happy for that. I think we are improving, we are getting stronger. I am happy for my country."


Kamui Kobayashi insists that Lewis Hamilton caused the collision between the pair that put the McLaren driver out of the race.


Hamilton passed Kobayashi for fourth place, but on the approach to the Les Combes left-hander the Sauber appeared to have stronger top speed and came back at him. The Japanese was on the outside line when Hamilton moved over to take the ideal line into the corner, hitting the front-right of the Sauber and pitching himself into the barrier.


"I knew that I could not fight because he was much quicker than me," said Kobayashi. "He overtook me and was using the DRS rear wing, which I didn't. I was just using KERS, but we were running very low downforce and that's why I caught him up again.


"At the end of the straight, I was on the left and he was in the middle of the track. He came back and we had contact."


Kobayashi admitted that he was surprised to see Hamilton make that move and that the only way to avoid him would have been to drive off the track himself.


"Yes," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT if he was surprised. "If you look at the replay, I was always following the white line. I didn't change my line at all.


"I don't know what I needed to do. Maybe I needed to go into the gravel for him? He just had to stay in the middle of the track and not come back."


Although the stewards did briefly look at the incident, it was decided that there would be no action taken against either driver.


Kobayashi believes that it was the correct decision because he was able to continue without any damage.


"Let's say it was a racing incident," he said.


Hamilton agreed with Kobayashi's assessment after reviewing the incident.


"After watching the replay, I realise it was my fault today 100 per cent," said Hamilton via his Twitter feed. "I didn't give Kobayashi enough room though, I thought I was past."


Sergio Perez said his collision with Sebastien Buemi in the Belgian Grand Prix was caused by the Toro Rosso changing its line in front of him.


The contact between the two cars led to Buemi retiring with rear-end damage, and Perez receiving a drive-through penalty.


Buemi was adamant that Perez was at fault for the collision.


"Perez tried to pass me and simply drove into the back of me, which completed destroyed my rear wing and I had no option but to bring the car back to the pits to retire," said Buemi. "I really can't understand what he was doing, as I was clearly ahead of him: it was as though he forgot to brake."


But Perez reckoned Buemi had put him in an impossible position.


"On lap five I was in seventh when Sebastien Buemi changed his line in front of me under braking, I tried to avoid hitting him but couldn't as I had lost downforce," said the Mexican.


With Perez's team-mate Kamui Kobayashi finishing only 12th after a collision with Lewis Hamilton and some pit strategy issues, team boss Peter Sauber was frustrated with how the weekend had ended.


"For us it was a race of missed opportunities," he said. "After a good qualifying I was very much looking forward to the race, but, except for the weather, everything was against us."


Paul di Resta believes he would have been able to score points in the Belgian Grand Prix even with a damaged Force India, had he not been caught out by the safety car.


The Scot's car was hit by Timo Glock in an incident that caused damage to several other cars further down the order, and led to Glock being given a drivethrough penalty.


Di Resta reckons the after-effects of the clash hampered the rest of his afternoon, but that he could still have beaten eventual 10th-place finisher Pastor Maldonado.


"I got off the line very well and everything seemed to be going quite smoothly," said di Resta. "But there was an incident ahead of me and I thought I had managed to get through the corner when I got hit hard by Timo. That put a big whole in the floor, damaged my front wing and gave me a lot of understeer.


"Other than that the pace of the car was quite strong, but I was a bit unlucky with the safety car because the priority had to go to the leading car [in the team] and I dropped behind the Williams. Without that I could have probably been ahead of Maldonado."


Di Resta's team-mate Adrian Sutil came through from 15th on the grid to seventh.


"It was an exciting race with lots of action, but we had a good strategy and made the right calls at the right time," said the German.


"When the safety car came out I pitted straight away, which helped me because I made up a couple of places. I came out in sixth and after that I only lost one position to [Michael] Schumacher, who was on the soft tyre and faster than me.


"Overall I think that this result is a fair reflection of the pace we have had this weekend and it's nice to have recovered from the problems we had yesterday to leave here with these important points."


Nico Rosberg said that while he was pleased to have the experience of leading the Belgian Grand Prix for Mercedes, his struggle to hang on to first place underlined that the team still has to find more pace to fight for victories.


The German made a rapid start to move from fifth to second by the exit of the first corner, then passed Sebastian Vettel on the Kemmel Straight to take the lead.


He managed to fend off the Ferraris, Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren for a while, but ultimately faded to sixth by the flag.


"I had a great start today and it was a special feeling to be leading the race in a Silver Arrow at this amazing circuit," Rosberg said. "It was great to see the traffic jam behind me with the Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari cars, but it was hard to realise that we just don't have the pace to stay at the top.


"However we have made progress this weekend and today was a good result for the team."


Rosberg was passed by his Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher in the closing stint, having had to back off to save fuel after his earlier efforts.


"I had to push quite hard at the start and in the middle which cost me a little towards the end, which combined with Michael being on the faster soft tyres, meant that I wasn't able to keep him behind me," Rosberg explained. "Now I'm looking forward to Monza and I'm confident that we can improve further."


Michael Schumacher said his decision to begin the race on hard tyres was a contributing factor to his fight back through the field from the back of the grid to an eventual fifth position in the Belgian Grand Prix.


The Mercedes driver came out top of a close duel with his team-mate Nico Rosberg late in the race at Spa, taking advantage of soft new tyres as opposed to his rival's harder rubber.


"It was a nice battle," said Schumacher, who had been forced to start at the back after he crashed in Q1 on Saturday. "Obviously I was on the softer tyres compared to him being on the harder tyres. That gave me the edge and the possibliy to overtake because on equal tyres that wouldn't have been possible.


"But we took the risk to take the hard tyres in the beginning and that paid off."


Schumacher was able to navigate his way through the carnage of the opening lap to be running 15th by the end of it - which also assisted his climb through the field on what he admitted was a special day for him in his 20th anniversary grand prix.


"It was an exciting race with lots of bits and pieces flying right after the start. So I was lucky I wasn't in the middle of that one and I was able to avoid this and from there on we had a great strategy.


"The boys did a fantastic job and so well I am happy about the result.


"Certainly I am feeling happy because it is a special weekend for me. It didn't start too well yesterday with the qualifying but luckily it finished great in the race. I had a good feeling already this morning, I have to say, with my wife being here and supporting me. She had said to me already that it was going to be a good race, and, well it turned out to be."


Pirelli has accused Red Bull of putting it in an 'unfair' position over the Belgian Grand Prix tyre situation, because of the way the team's set-up choices were the cause of the controversial blistering to the option tyres it begun the race with.


The build-up to the Spa race was engulfed in intrigue as Red Bull pushed to be allowed to replace the rubber it had run in qualifying, after witnessing blistering on the outside shoulder of its front tyres.


Its calls received no support from the FIA, and rival teams did not back the move - suggesting the damage to the tyres was not accidental and had been caused by set-up choices that Red Bull had made itself.


That left the team with the option of taking a risk and pushing on with its current configuration, or making set-up modifications to its cars in parc ferme, which could have included changing tyres.


Either move to alter the car would have forced the team's cars to start from the pitlane.


Although Red Bull overcame the difficulties to deliver a one-two finish at Spa, Pirelli is unhappy about the difficult situation it found itself in - claiming the main contributing factor to the blistering was the fact that the reigning champion team was running camber outside of a recommended four-degree limit laid down by the Italian company.


Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery believes the situation could have been avoided if its camber recommendations had been heeded – and feels that risks in the race could have been reduced if Red Bull had elected to make the camber changes and switch tyres before the start, even if it had cost the team its places on the grid.


"We don't appreciate being put in that position," said Hembery after the race. "It is a slightly unfair position to be put in. Of course it could have been avoided.


"Teams have the ability to start from the pitlane with a different set-up and a new set of tyres. That was an option that they [Red Bull] decided not to follow – but that is obviously the perogative of the people making the decisions. The problem we have, of course, is that our name is on the side of the tyres and we have to live with that."


When asked by AUTOSPORT about how the tyre situation had developed from Saturday, Hembery said: "Post-qualifying we were approached by one team that had some ideas and concerns. We then analysed the situation with all the cars that we were running.


"Overnight we had some tyres sent over to give ourselves the option of changing front tyres if we felt there was an underlying issue with all the teams. But following investigations on Sunday morning that was found to not be the case, and we spoke to all of the teams that were in Q3, and the majority consensus was that the rules should be adhered to. That was also the rule point of the FIA."


Another contributing factor was that rain throughout practice didn't allow for either Pirelli or Red Bull to measure the implications of the set-up choices made.


"We were in a little bit of a rock and a hard place, because if we had run with some dry conditions on Friday and Saturday, ordinarily it is a situation that would have been minimised. So we were left in a situation where one team in particular was stretching the limits of our recommendations and we felt that that, in a race situation, would create difficulties and blistering."


He added: "In the end, what do you do? Do you make a change and end up creating a precedent? Do you make a change that would be seen to assisting one team and, particularly with the result we had at the end – I think today you would not be asking me about this, you would be asking me why we helped Red Bull win the race?"


Hembery also said that he believed the issue to be one of performance, rather than safety: "We were confident that if you came to me and asked if it was a safety issue I would have said no, absolutely not. Is it a performance issue? Ultimately yes."


When asked if Red Bull was the only team going beyond the camber recommendation, Hembery said: "There was quite a good correlation between camber and the level of blistering with the teams."


Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey admitted that his outfit had been worried about the tyre situation in the build-up to the race.


Speaking to the BBC about how he felt, he commented: "I have to say, it is one of the scariest races I have been involved in ever. It is heart-in-the-mouth stuff, because first and foremost our duty of care is to the drivers' safety, and you are trying to make that call or making sure the car is safe while not excessively handicapping ourselves from a performance point of view.


"I found it quite a difficult judgement to make, and at the end of the race I was very relieved that both our drivers were safe."


"Around 5pm yesterday evening Pirelli came to us and said that having looked at our tyres from qualifying they were concerned about the safety of the tyres and that they could be suffering structural damage in the junction between the sidewall and the tread, and felt that failure of the tyre could be imminent on both cars," he added. "It was very concerning... We then entered into a lot of debate with Pirelli about what we should do. They recommended that higher front pressures would make the tyre safer, as would reduced camber – but without permission from the FIA, reducing the front camber would be in breach of parc ferme regulations, so we would have to start from the pitlane."


Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery insists his company will be more cautious with its recommended camber guidelines for future races following the Belgian Grand Prix tyre controversy.


The Italian firm's rubber was at the centre of discussions during the build-up to Sunday's race over concerns about the Red Bulls blistering tyres in qualifying.


Pirelli and the FIA stood firm following requests from the world championship-leading team to allow it to change its tyres before the start of the race.


Red Bull went on to take a one-two with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in the race at Spa, but its chief technical officer Adrian Newey described the race as one of the scariest he has ever been involved in.


"Well we will be more conservative [with our recommendations], particularly for somewhere like Monza," he said. "You would have to look back at it and say we were confident with the structure of the tyre, to be honest. We knew that the structure of the tyre was extremely strong, and that was proven to be. There weren't any issues at all.


"Graining and blistering are aspects of compound performance in motor racing. It is not exactly a new phenomenon, but there are limits. And ordinarily in free practice, when you see something like this, teams would change their geometry and you would not go into a race in that situation, so it was a combination of circumstance in reality."


Hembery admitted some surprise that teams struggling with blistering opted to continue running the soft tyre, rather than go for the more durable - albeit less competitive - medium compound tyre.


"If you look at the medium tyre, you don't get any blistering, it has higher heat resistance," he said. "What we had hoped here, if somebody was in difficulty, that they would have run the race on the prime tyre that would have run without any issues whatsoever. However, everybody went for performance and that was disappointing."


He added: "I guess what you ultimately hope would happen was that people would see such a phenomenon, you would switch to a product that is not demonstrating such a thing. That is something we need to think about. Performance counts a lot in F1 and it appears people are willing to compromise in order to get that performance."


Fernando Alonso believes that the four laps spent behind the safety car during the Belgian Grand Prix turned the race in favour of Sebastian Vettel.


The Red Bull driver had already made two pitstops by the time the safety car was deployed following the accident between Lewis Hamilton and Kamui Kobayashi, whereas the then leader Alonso had made only one stop and was forced to give away some of his advantage by running at slow speeds.


Ferrari driver Alonso still thinks, however, that his team's decision not to call him in for a stop at the time was the right one - even if he did fall to fourth place by the finish.


"The safety car came when we had done four laps on the tyres," said Alonso. "The tyres were in very good shape, so we decided to stay out. I think the choice was good for us. It opened up the possibility to win the race for us.


"Unfortunately Vettel only lost one place [at his stop] with Webber and beat - by very little - Rosberg. And then in the restart he overtook Webber in Turn 1 so [there was] not much traffic for Vettel. So I think the decision was good, but the factors around the safety car were very good for Sebastian."


Alonso said that he was lucky to be in the race at all by the time the safety car came out on lap 13, following a heavy Bruno Senna-induced hit from Jaime Alguersuari at the first corner.


Senna hit Alguersuari at La Source, pushing the Toro Rosso into Alonso's rear wheel. While Alguersuari's front suspension was broken in the impact, Alonso's Ferrari was unharmed and allowed him to finish the race.


"I braked on the outside and I felt someone hit me on the rear tyre," he added. "I thought I damaged the car at that point, but I kept going with no problems.


"It kept handling well and the pits told me there was no problem to keep going. So that was a lucky situation for me to keep running with no problems.


"It was a strange qualifying with strange conditions with people just on wet set-ups. And there were people who are not used to being in Q3 and the start was a difficult moment for us. So it's very important to always qualifying in the top three or four to avoid this."

Post-race press conference:

[spoiler]TV UNILATERAL


Q. Sebastian, congratulations on your first Belgian Grand Prix victory. A comfortable victory, but how comfortable was it given the concern before and in the early stages of the race as to how long you could make the soft tyre last?

Sebastian Vettel: Yeah, I mean we had a lot of concerns going into the race after the damage we had on the tyres from qualifying, so we weren't quite sure. We took quite a lot of risk. We had reason to be confident that it should be fine, but if you never really know and there is no-one walking up and down in the paddock giving you a guarantee. We didn't feel too comfortable and both of us stopped fairly early, I think right at the beginning of the race. The main target was to see how the tyres were after a couple of laps and to go from there really. Not thinking too much about the outcome, but surprisingly the pace was very, very good in the race. I was feeling very comfortable in the car and without too much effort in the beginning I was able to keep up with the guys and get back into the lead. So half-way through the race, after the safety car, it was crucial to get back into the lead, jump Fernando (Alonso), pass him and build a gap that made it more comfortable towards the end of the race. But it was more management than usual, but I have to say the car worked brilliantly and I think compared to previous years we were very competitive so I am very, very happy with the result and very happy with the race. How we managed the tyres in particular so we need to learn from that and yeah, head down to the next race.


Q. Mark, a great recovery after a slow getaway at the start.

Mark WEBBER: Yeah, the start was shocking. Dropped the lever and had anti-stall immediately. I think Seb also had a very close call as well through the anti-stall, so that was a very disappointing way to start the grand prix. On the back foot from there knowing, as Seb said, that we were going to stop pretty early, as our tyres were badly damaged after qualifying, so we needed to get rid of that set quite early. When I was back in the pack I saw (Bruno) Senna and a few guys in turn one smashing each other up, so it was important to get away from that scene with everything still intact and that was the case. We made the first stop, had a bit of a fight with Fernando. He had very good grip on the option initially on his stint and then I could stay with him for a very, very long stint on the prime tyre. The tyre was completely finished at the end but that gave us track position back. We had a bit of a stuff-up on the radio. I was supposed to pit when Seb did with the safety car but we had a completely blocked radio. I was asking three times in the Bus Stop, 'do you want me to stop, do you want me to stop' and gave them the radio back but I heard nothing. Stayed out, saw Fernando stayed out, so a little bit of confusion but all in all the way the team handled all the problems we had yesterday, overnight and this morning credit to Adrian (Newey) and all his crew - all the guys on the floor, Christian (Horner) as well. It was not an easy grand prix for those guys on the pit wall today watching the two drivers out there. It was reasonably sensitive for them so in the end we got a good result. I would have loved to have had a normal grand prix but still an enjoyable race and got a good result.


Q. Jenson, has to be an enjoyable race to go from 13th to third. Talk us through a dramatic start and a dramatic end.

Jenson BUTTON: Yeah, I think if I'd stayed in 13th after the start it would have been a lot easier to challenge these guys but it was mayhem. Turn one I think it was caused by the cars at the front getting a poor start. Turn one I think (Paul) di Resta hit my rear wing or we made contact and damaged the rear wing, so half the rear-wing end plate was gone. Then, driving after turn one to Eau Rouge, somebody's front wing blew off and went through my front wing and took the wing mirror off, which was a bit scary. Then I was really struggling for grip. The front wing was damaged and the guys said ‘we know it is but keep going until we get to lap five'. We did. We came in and changed the front wing, put option tyres on and did the rest of the race on options. A fun race, lots of good overtaking, really enjoyed it out there today, but you are always going to say ‘what could have been'. But all in all, a good finish to get on the podium. It is good to finish here after Seb drove into me last year and we didn't finish.


Q. Sebastian, no problems driving into anyone this year. Mark touched on what a difficult race it was to make the strategy calls but Red Bull got it right for yourself there. Did the safety car come out at the right time for you and allow you to pit at that moment?

SV: Well I would say yes and no. Obviously, we could get the stop and not lose too much. But on the other hand I think I was six or seven seconds in the lead at the time, so we lost the lead and lost that gap that we had. I don't think it made a big difference at the end. Fortunately, with the new regulations we have there are very few possibilities that someone gains a big advantage, but all in all, I agree with Jenson: it is good to finish the race and not to crash this year. When I came close to him I was going to target to pass him at the long straight, not into the chicane so just to make sure, but it was a really fun race with plenty of overtaking due to the strategy we both had to go through. A lot of cars we had to overtake, but the car was fantastic, the pace was there and that's why we are sitting up here now.


Q. Mark, you mentioned the problems with the radio. Did that compromise your race from a victory point of view. Had you been able to come in when you wanted to, was the win on?

MW: It is hard to say. If I could have obviously had a fight with Seb through the middle part of that race I would have. I don't even know how it would have come out, how close I was behind him or whatever. I probably would have been behind Nico (Rosberg) or whatever. I don't even know how it would have rolled out after that safety car. But it was probably the better way for us to finish the race by pitting at that safety car but we didn't know how good the prime tyre was going to be. I need to look at it. It was a problem we had with the safety car. They wanted me to pit but we didn't so we had to make it work by staying out and going very, very long and in the end it wasn't a disaster either. That's what happened.


Q. Jenson, not a disaster for you this race but for your team not the best weekend given the strides you've made in the development race before Spa. To see a Red Bull one-two must be disappointing?

JB: Yeah, very. All weekend the car has felt great. For me the balance here has been phenomenal in wet, dry, intermediate conditions. It felt like we'd made a step forward since Hungary, so to just come away with a third is disappointing but then you have got to take everything else into account. The misunderstanding yesterday in qualifying, and also these guys were very fast and they did a very good job. Who knows what would have happened if we had qualified well, but all we do know is that these guys got more points than us today, so hopefully in two weeks we can turn it around.


PRESS CONFERENCE


Q. Sebastian, just having a look at your previous best results here. It hasn't been the best circuit for you, so what does it mean for you to win here?

SV: A lot. It is a very nice circuit. I enjoyed every lap today. We had a bit on from a management point of view, managing the tyres in particular, it wasn't easy in that regard, but the car was fantastic to drive. If the car does what you want it to do then this place is really fun. It is nice to have these fast corners and if you feel confident in the car it is even more fun. Every lap was enjoyable. Pretty entertaining race and with the strategy to come in very early a lot of passes that I had to make. Don't want to complain. It all worked fantastically well and the pace was great so it was good for both of us to finish like that.


Q. Mark touched on your start. Did you have a problem?

SV: Yeah, big time. I think Mark nearly stalled or had to pull the clutch again and I was just about to pull it. Released the clutch and the revs went really low and I thought the engine nearly died. For a moment it was quite, quite critical. I then seemed to recover, caught a lot of wheel slip. I was waiting for Lewis (Hamilton) to get past but I think his start wasn't very good either. Then there was a bit of trouble into turn one. Nico was very close. I was taking a very aggressive approach down to Eau Rouge but still it was enough. The tow, today, in general was very powerful so we saw a lot of manoeuvres after Eau Rouge and he was able to take the lead. Yeah, quite busy initially.


Q. You held the lead on four separate occasions during the race. That's how much it swung to and fro.

SV: Yeah, it was pretty busy in the beginning. We knew that the main concern was the tyres straight away. We knew that we wouldn't stay out for a very long time. I think Mark pitted before I did. I was in the front so could control the pace a little bit more. Then was fighting my way back to the same group. It was a bit funny as I had just pitted and then caught them up again so I had to pass Nico one more time before he went in. That manoeuvre was quite good fun. The outside of Blanchimont. I think it was very fair from both of us and he gave me enough room so it was nice. In the beginning it was quite entertaining with a lot of cars to go through and you don;t want to lose a lot of time.


Q. Were you worried about the tyres blistering again?

SV: Yes, for sure. As I said, it was our main concern going into the race. We had reason to be confident. The alternative would have been to change the set-up and start from the pit-lane. Maybe it would have been a completely different race. We took that risk. We had as much confidence as we could get before the race. We had some long discussions straight after qualifying, yesterday night and this morning. Now we are sitting here it all went well and we finished one-two but it wasn't an easy decision to make and not an easy race especially at the beginning to manage. You are driving into the unknown. No-one has really had a lot of laps around here, in particular on Friday with the conditions so everyone was a bit in the same boat. Those 10 cars in qualifying got a little bit of an idea. For some it turned out to be a problem, for others not, but I think with the race now happy no-one suffered any further damage on the tyre. I saw basically that the cars I passed and also people who thought they might not run into any problems they had the same problems as we did so we need to learn from that and see for the next races.


Q. Mark, you must have been worried with that long stint you did but presumably the tyres held out?

MW: Yeah, I think it is a team result today. Probably one of our best results ever as a team. Pretty stressful last night, pretty stressful this morning. We are not just talking about blisters, we are talking about unknown characteristics of what the tyre might do, so it was handled well from our team's perspective. Putting the drivers right in the discussions to understand how we could get through grand prix as safe as possible. I was giving them feedback on how the tyres looked. It was a long stint given the misunderstanding with the pit-stop around the safety car, so we had to commit to going very, very long on that set of tyres. I had a very, very big vibration on them, which is not unusual but that cleared up when I put the fresh set on. The main thing we were interested in was looking at the fronts on the inside shoulder. My set after qualifying were in a very bad way so we had to get rid of those very quickly, but my race was pretty heavily compromised after I got rid of the first clutch at the start and got the anti-stall instantaneously. I thought I'd got passed by about 30 cars but got to turn one and most of them had hit each other, which was good and I came out the other side. I thought some of them would have been a bit more patient given they are in a good position and they haven't qualified there before but it turned out no so that was god for me. The car was very, very good after that. Had a reasonable fight with Fernando. Then at the end we just brought the car home. Once I'd caught Fernando it was clear I had a pace advantage over him and got the car to the end.


Q. You were bringing it pretty quickly to the end?

MW: Well it is an enjoyable track. You always love driving here. The car was performing well. I was keeping an eye on the tyres myself and they looked fine. It is always enjoyable to drive here. It would have been nice to keep driving. That's the way it is around here, it is a beautiful track so, anyway, second was a good result considering what we had to go through.


Q. Jenson, this track actually hasn't been very kind to you in the past, this is your fourth finish here, but a very good finish, I would say

SV: One (non-finish) is down to me!

JB: Yeah, I think third is my best result here. For me, the race was a lot of fun. The first lap was pretty messy, as Mark said, a lot of guys in fifth, sixth, seventh got together and then it was just mayhem for all of us behind, because there were just bits flying everywhere. At turn one, I think Paul [di Resta] or [Adrian] Sutil hit my rear wing so I had half my rear wing endplate missing on one side which isn't good for downforce. And then as I exited the corner, there were bits flying everywhere. Someone's front wing went through my front wing and ripped one of the mirrors off as well, so it was a pretty messy first lap. I was radioing to the team saying ‘I've got a lot of damage, I need to come in.' They said ‘you can't because you will be in so much traffic, just keep pushing.' I did so for five laps and they said ‘pit and we'll go to options.' We ran the option for the rest of the race. The balance was pretty good but there was low grip out there because of the rear wing damage that I had. It was tough but also a lot of fun. Passing people into the last chicane round the outside was very enjoyable but we can always say what could have been if we didn't have a misunderstanding yesterday – without swearing. Yeah, we've had very good pace all weekend; the car's working very well and I think that, as a team, if we had got everything together, we probably would have had a much better result but this is the way it is. These guys did a better job and we've got to look forward to Monza, because we have a very strong package. For me, this is the best the car has felt all year but we didn't get the best out of it.


Q. Third in 2005, incidentally.

JB: Yeah, I started 13th that year or something like that, I think[qualified ninth, started eighth]. It would be nice to qualify at the front and we had the pace to do that but it didn't happen. I had a fun race, it will be one of those races that I will look back on and say that it was enjoyable, I had a lot of overtaking. It's not very often you overtake two cars round the outside into turn one and at the same time, so it was enjoyable.


Q. How did you get by Alonso at the end?

JB: At that point of the race, it was reasonably easy. I could tow up to him on the straight, there was no one in front of him and I could do him with DRS, as I did with a couple of cars, but it wasn't easy at the beginning of the race because everybody had DRS open so you had to overtake normally which was more fun, overtaking normally into the last chicane and into turn one. There was the time that I passed one of the Renaults and a Sauber. I went down the outside of both of them and overtook them both, but the problem was, heading down the hill to Eau Rouge, they both used DRS, so coming out of Eau Rouge, I had a car either side of me and into Les Combes was a lot of fun, but I stayed in front.


QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR


Q. (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Congratulations for providing a really thrilling race today and I think you all had some very exciting passes, but the one that I think got our imagination going was Mark going down the hill, no DRS and taking it straight to Alonso. Could you tell us about that and whether it was just a moment's inspiration or had you calculated it all?

MW: Well, you don't have much time to get the calculator out at that point, mate, so I think most of the race I was still charged with frustration from the start, so when I came out behind Fernando, obviously we were very, very close going down into Eau Rouge and I knew Fernando would have been using some KERS so I was using some KERS as well. I got a tow, obviously, and then I thought if I can get to the inside then I might have the line but obviously both of us are very experienced, we both don't give much too easily, so it was a good battle and very, very rewarding that it worked out OK, but it takes two guys doing a good job to get all that right obviously, so it's more rewarding when you can do it with someone like Fernando because he's a world-class driver and he knows when enough is enough. Obviously my attitude might have been a bit different with someone else, let's say, but in the end, it worked out for me today but in Monza, maybe it's his turn to do it to me. I was breathing in at the bottom, I got in and I looked in the mirror at the top and I saw he was still in... well, he had no choice, obviously in the end he had to… one of us had to lift and I had a slightly better line and it was he who had to lift.


Q. (Vincent Marre – Sports Zeitung) Sebastian, it's your first win here at Spa. According to great champions, winning here and at tracks like Suzuka is memorable. How do you feel about that today?

SV: Yeah, definitely. I'm very proud. I think all drivers love coming here, it's a fantastic circuit and as I said, even driving on your own it is fun. Racing each other it's even more fun and I think it was a very exciting race for us. Obviously you had to manage the tyres, going into the race wasn't easy, but then it turned out the pace was very good and we went through some people, so it was crucial and a fun race, so I think it was one of the best we have had this year. I definitely enjoyed every single lap and obviously, in the end, we found ourselves in quite a comfortable position, not needing to push a hundred percent every lap any more, so all in all, it was a great race for us.


Q. (James Allen – Financial Times) Mark, you were saying this was a great team effort. Obviously you spent most of the race on the medium tyre which is not what one would have thought, going into the weekend. How much were you feeding the information back, because it's basically a research exercise for both of you during the course of the race?

MW: First of all, I think the reason the communication was probably higher than it needed to be at other venues was because there was no running on Friday, obviously, so we were in a new situation in this Grand Prix putting the tyres on the limit for lap after lap after lap which we didn't get to do on Friday. When I was sitting behind the safety car I was really pissed off, I was on the wrong tyre and out of position. I thought that the options were going to be much much stronger. I still don't think they were a disaster but the prime, the medium worked very well. All I could do was give the information, keep pushing, for sure those tyres weren't going to go anywhere for me and that's generally the case when we make a pit stop, one's tyres are pretty tired. So, as you say, it was a bit on an experiment, more so than at most grands prix this year because it's pretty rare you get such limited running into the grand prix, so that was the case why there was a lot of nerves going in on many fronts.


Q. (James Allen – Financial Times) Sebastian, you'd had two stops by lap 15 already, you were obviously trying to save a stop with that third set, why did it behave so differently do you think?

SV: We obviously decided to pit for the second time when the safety car came out. I think at that stage there was a bit of science going on. Obviously we were all very keen to find out the shape of the tyres, even after only a couple of laps, so we decided to pit. At that stage, I think the safety car didn't necessarily help us, but it gave us a window to pit but as I said, earlier, we were in the lead by six or seven seconds so I lost that but got another idea about the tyres and then it was clear that… in an ideal world, we split the rest of the race more or less in two. The soft tyre was the quicker tyre so we tried to get as many laps as we could out of it, before we changed to a medium. From there onwards, we just controlled the pace and brought the car to the chequered flag, but that was the reason why we did so many laps on the third set of tyres.


Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian and Mark, is the fantastic performance of your car here related to the nature of the track, which probably suits your car, or the upgrade you did during the break, that you faced McLaren and Ferrari again in the same conditions?

SV: Difficult question. I think in the past we were always quick here in sector two where there are no straights and a lot of corners. The thing that stands out this year is that we were quite competitive in sector one and sector three, where we have more straights. Also in the race, I think our straightline speed was quite good and made it possible to attack and overtake people easier than in previous years. Obviously we tried to improve the car race by race, as much as we can. Now we've had a bit of a break, which I think was good for us to go through a couple of things. Generally this weekend I think it was considerably cooler than at the beginning of the season, so all in all, it seems that we made a good step and we were very competitive here which I think is mostly down to the fact that we were competitive in sector one and sector three, unlike the previous years.

MW: Seb's completely right but there was a bit of nerves for us coming here, to be honest, because of like you say, a little bit of history and also on the tracks where we were very strong in previous years we were not as comfortable this year: Silverstone, for example and maybe a little bit of Budapest and places like that. The guys have been working incredibly hard over the break when they could, understood the car very well and brought a lot of upgrades. As you know in this game, talk is cheap and results are better, so we've done a good job. The team keeps pushing very, very hard. We have brilliant rivals and that's why we have to respond all the time. It's why I said it's a pretty special result for our team today considering what we went through, and also the venue we're at.


Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, is it possible that the safety car helped you in a way because you could bring in the tyre a little bit smoother and by doing so could delay the blistering process and then how was it to drive with blisters? Is there anything you can do about it, can you ease up the life of the tyre?

SV: I think that in that regard it helped us as much as it helped other people – Fernando, who was in the lead to give his tyres a break, which allowed him to make his set last longer. I think it was the same, in a way. Obviously I was able to conserve the peak of the tyre and use it a bit longer afterwards but as I say, others gained some advantage and could cool down the tyres a bit as well. Yes, pretty scary to go around with blistering issues. Obviously, after a while… in qualifying we couldn't really see it from the inside of the car but in the race we definitely could. It's not very comfortable, especially on the way down to Eau Rouge and then through Blanchimont, when you really look at the tyre and it doesn't look like being in great shape. You feel quite a lot of vibrations. If you ask anybody on the grid, we all suffered the same kind of problems. As I said, I followed Nico at some stage at the end of his first stint and he had the same problem on the front left. Science, but it's not really the idea, because it's driving into the unknown and it's not comfortable for us, because in the end we sit in the car. That's one of the main things we were thinking about before going into the race.


Q. (Marco dell'Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, I imagine that you will answer that there is still a long way to go and there are still a lot of races, but, nevertheless…

SV: Then don't ask!


Q. (Marco dell'Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Because that's the answer? At this stage, are you more confident of taking the title or not?

SV: I've got more points than after the last race, as Jenson just said. Of course I'm very happy with today's result and I know that it's very important to finish ahead of those guys and anybody else, so it brought us closer to our final target, but it's still a long way and if you just look at last year, yes, by this time it might have been looking different but if you look at how quickly things can change, if you are out in two races and someone else is having a good couple of races, it could change so all we do is try to get the optimum every time, like today. It was tricky race, as I said, for tyre management but when the chance is there to win, we go for it. When I was driving around, passing people around the outside here and there, then I don't think about the Championship. If I think there's room to overtake, I go for it. If the risk is too high, then naturally I think you shouldn't do it. I think I've done it in the past when it didn't work, as Jenson can tell you, so it's not necessary to take that risk.


Q. (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, you have now won on all the world's greatest circuits; which win is the most rewarding after the chequered flag, and which one was the most difficult to achieve?

SV: It's difficult to say. I think Germany is still missing. Every year I go there and we are quite confident, but so far it hasn't worked, so we will see in the next couple of years. For now, I'm very proud of the races I have won. Obviously this one is a very important one. I also remember from a Finnish point of view this one meant a lot to Kimi in the past. It's nice to join those guys and it's one of the nicest tracks we have, with some of the best corners, alongside Suzuka which I like a lot. Yeah, it's hard to say, but I think I'm very happy I got a nice trophy today and a good chunk of points, so I can't complain.[/spoiler]

[Lineker]

Robert Kubica can now begin the next phase of his rehabilitation from his injuries after a final operation on his damaged right elbow was successfully completed on Sunday.

A Renault press release confirmed that its driver underwent 'one last scheduled operation' to recover the full mobility of his right elbow, damaged when Kubica who suffered life-threatening injuries in a crash during the Ronde di Andora Rally on February 6.

Surgeons said they had encountered no complications and that the operation had been a 'total success'

Speaking to Italian television broadcaster RAI, Kubica's manager Daniele Morelli said: "Robert has left the surgery room just a few minutes ago. Luckily I can confirm that the operation was completely successful, so the whole elbow joint has been restored and functionality is now fine.

"Certainly this one will be the final surgery, so we can say that tomorrow starts the final phase with full recovery of the arm movement functionality, and Robert will be able to start training specifically to regain full control of his functionality."

Morelli added that it was still far too soon to know when Kubica might return to the cockpit of a Formula 1 car, but that the 26-year-old Pole's future might become clearer by mid-October.

"It's useless to think too far ahead at the moment," he said. "The fundamental thing is that we are certain Robert has found again his full capability to return to racing. Let's now let nature take its course and allow Robert to regain the physical strength that was obviously lost after so many months of hospitalisation and surgeries. However today is certainly very positive and the final phase starts tomorrow.

"With it we'll be able to know, within a month or a month and a half at most, when Robert will be able to get back on the track."

Speaking of the seven months recovery that Kubica has been through since the crash which partially severed the Pole's right arm, Morelli said: "He's had many different phases. The first three months were the emergency phase, when Robert perhaps wouldn't even realise how serious his case was and how complex were the consequences.

"When he fully realised he surely reacted in the best possible way, constructively. He's obviously had highs and lows, with a bit more sadness during racing weekends because he obviously couldn't participate, but as for the rest I'd say he's focused on his return.

"Not just Robert, but we all want to start putting behind all these feelings, and start thinking about what we can do as soon as possible."

[Lineker]

Ferrari says its priority in the future must be to ensure its car can use its tyres better - after again seeing its form slump on harder compound rubber during the Belgian Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso had been a close match for Red Bull Racing duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber on the soft tyre at Spa, but he fell away dramatically in the closing stages after his switch to the medium tyre.

Ferrari had experienced similar issues earlier in the campaign but appeared to have overcome them. Domenicali feels that the problem's reappearance means the team must now really try and understand what is happening.

"We saw Vettel performing very, very well on the hard tyres, so that is why we were focusing on seeing where we were matching them," explained Domenicali.

"It is a shame because I think that Fernando did really a great race, always attacking. I think that unfortunately we are not happy about the result and the classification, and the other thing that for sure we cannot be happy about is the fact that when the tyres were not working at the proper [temperature] range we are not able to match the pace that we should be able to do. That is the biggest task that we need to work on the project for next year."

Ferrari reverted to an older specification rear suspension layout for the Belgian GP, which could have been a factor in explaining why Alonso was not able to use the medium compound as well as he had in most recent races.

However, Domenicali was not so sure that the suspension change was a big factor in what happened.

"Honestly I don't know," he said. "For sure we came here with a clear idea that there was not really a problem. I cannot say if that was the problem, because the real problem is that when we have tyres working outside the working range of conditions, then we are suffering. This is the problem.

"It is not only related to that. It is related to a lot of factors, and it would be great to have a clear vision of all of that because it would mean we have solved that issue. That is something we need to work on flat out, to be honest."

McLaren is not ready to write off the 2011 campaign as a lost cause, despite Sebastian Vettel's Belgian Grand Prix victory having appeared to all but kill off the world title battle.

Vettel's latest triumph has left him 92 points ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber in the championship standings, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso 102 points adrift and Jenson Button 110 off.

But despite that situation making it highly unlikely that Vettel can be beaten, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says fans will expect Red Bull Racing's rivals to keep up the charge.

Speaking about whether the championship situation means McLaren will now switch all of its efforts onto its 2012 car, Whitmarsh said: "We are working on next year's car, but probably a weakness of McLaren, and my own personal weakness, is that I don't like not winning, so I cannot help myself.

"I am always going to ask the guys, 'how are we making the car quicker next week?' And we have to keep pushing for the time being. There are some races we can win and that has to be the goal at the moment.

"The championship looks pretty ambitious but at the moment we have to be positive, and the fans expect it. If Ferrari and McLaren say we are going to free-wheel now, I don't think that is the right message. I think the fans deserve a stronger battle than that."

Whitmarsh believes that gains can still be made with the 2011 car, even from work that is being done with the intention of ensuring its 2012 challenger is a good step forward.

"Interestingly here this week, we had six performance modifications on the car. One of those came out of the development programme for next year's car, so you always are going to try and steal things from next year's car.

"There is not a line you draw and say, this is purely this year, on the other side of the line, that is purely next year. You are learning and gaining this year, and that helps for next year. And occasionally you learn things from next year's development programme that you can use this year."

He added: "I want the car to be quicker at the next race, and the race after that and we will keep pushing for the time being.

"From a championship perspective it is disappointing. But it is what it is, and we will keep working. There are still some more races to go. We will try and make our car quicker and see if we can win them."

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has rejected suggestions that the DRS made overtaking at Spa too easy, and believes it created just the right level of entertainment in the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Kemmel Straight after Eau Rouge was chosen as the DRS zone for the race, and saw plenty of passing throughout the field - with drivers ahead finding it hard to successfully defend against their pursuers.

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali suggested that because drivers were already close behind rivals through Eau Rouge, the DRS effect was multiplied and made overtaking a foregone conclusion.

"What we have seen with DRS was not expected to be honest because I saw a lot of people behind that were able to catch the tow of the front car already at Eau Rouge, so they were able to close up at Eau Rouge and arrive at [the] DRS [zone] very, very close to that, so I think they were not expecting a recovery like that in Eau Rouge, so today it seems to be quite easy to use DRS while some other times it was too difficult," said Domenicali.

But Whitmarsh remains convinced that the level of overtaking prompted by the DRS at Spa was in line with what Formula 1 fans wanted.

"I think overall people want it and go back - FOTA did the most extensive fan survey and whether I believe it or want to believe it, the fans wanted more overtaking and if you have done the survey and the fans tell you that is what they want, then I think you are fairly arrogant if you ignore it. So we responded," he said.

Whitmarsh also pointed out that there were still plenty of spectacular passes even though the DRS made slipstreaming moves very straightforward, highlighting his driver Jenson Button's charge from 13th on the grid to third.

"Jenson did some mighty overtaking around the outside and from a long way back and for the fans it was fairly spectacular," said Whitmarsh.

He added: "People talk wondrously of 35 years ago, slipsteaming at Monza, before my time, and people seemed to like that so DRS worked well."

The McLaren chief also feels that it is 2011 additions like DRS that are keeping the season interesting in spite of Sebastian Vettel's championship domination.

"Anyone who wonders about DRS and KERS and criticises it, I think [the devices] undoubtedly contributed to the show," said Whitmarsh.

"So first and foremost, the championship is interesting to a lot but actually we have to put on a spectacular show. Sample the last five races, they were all gripping races and this one must have been fantastic, the cars looked great, there was plenty of overtaking.

"We are immersed as full time professionals in F1 and obsessed by championships, but I think the punter that watches on television wants a great show and we are doing that. I would rather it was a great show with some silver and red cars at the front buit we are working on that."

Martin Whitmarsh says his McLaren team decided there was no need for a camber change and that it could safely complete a stint on the blistered Pirelli tyres that Lewis Hamilton had to start the Belgian Grand Prix on.

Several leading drivers - including both Red Bull men and Hamilton - picked up blisters on the soft Pirellis in Q3 on Saturday, and there were concerns over whether it would be safe to start the race on them. But with Pirelli certain that the issue was being caused by teams running set-ups with cambers outside its recommendations, the FIA decided that the rules should be followed and the top 10 drivers use their qualifying rubber for the opening stint in the race.

Whitmarsh said that despite Hamilton's tyres clearly developing blisters in qualifying, McLaren did not feel any need to adjust its set-up.

"We discussed it and our chassis and tyre engineers reviewed it, and we believed that a camber change in our situation was not going to assist the situation and we believed that it was going to be safe," he said.

"We believe Red Bull had a bigger dilemma than that because their analysis led them to believe that a camber change would have been a safer thing to do. And they were put in a very uncomfortable situation I think. I will talk to Adrian [Newey] about it.

"I think other teams were quite adamant that we should not be allowed to replace the damaged tyres and we should not be allowed to have a camber change without undergoing the penalty of starting from the pitlane."

Asked if McLaren had gone beyond Pirelli's set-up recommendations, Whitmarsh replied: "No. We didn't and we don't. Ultimately we are responsible for the safety of these drivers and they reduced the camber coming here, as you may know. That was giving away some performance but it was the right thing to do as it turned out."

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali declined to comment on the Spa issue beyond underlining that his team followed Pirelli's recommendations.

"What I can say is that from our side we absolutely follow the instructions of Pirelli," he said. "If you follow the instructions of Pirelli, they are there to ensure the tyre is used in the best and the safest way possible. I heard a lot of discussion about this problem of blisters, but if you run, and this is something I don't know [about in the case of other teams], but if you run in a proper way then I think it is absolutely correct to follow what Pirelli's instructions are."

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has confessed that he did not feel totally 'comfortable' in the build-up to the Belgian Grand Prix because of the tyre blistering issues suffered by his drivers in qualifying.

With the tyre matter the major talking point at Spa, and Pirelli angry that the situation was exacerbated by Red Bull Racing using a camber set-up outside of a recommended guideline, Horner says the issue was taken hugely seriously during preparations for the race.

And although discussions with Pirelli had left his team sure that there would be no safety problems in pushing on with the blistered tyres on the high-speed Spa track, he has admitted that he was not completely happy before the start.

"I don't think any of us felt truly comfortable, but we had to believe in the information that we had and the feedback we had from the specialists," Horner said. "We had great support in that respect."

He added: "Adrian [Newey, technical chief] was pretty stressed about the tyre, and he takes that responsibility incredibly seriously. None of us wanted to be putting our drivers in any way at any risk."

Despite the focus on the issue revolving around Red Bull Racing's aggressive camber set-up, Horner thinks that the freak weather experienced in Belgium was actually a larger contributing factor.

"I think that it is a unique problem here, and one that if we had had proper dry running on Friday you would have tuned out of the car potentially," explained Horner.

"On the prime tyre there was no issue at all and the tyre was very clean. You could see, particularly on the frontrunning cars, that all the teams were affected by blistering. Fernando's looked pretty bad at one stage, Lewis was having issues, as was Jenson.

"So I think all the frontrunning cars seemed to be having issues and it was a consequence of having no dry running in P1, P2 or P3. Then, obviously, the forces put into the tyre here are somewhat different to some of the other circuits."

When asked how much consideration the team gave to swapping tyres and tweaking its set-up pre-race, which would have meant starting from the pitlane, Horner said: "A lot. You have to take into consideration safety at the end of the day. We had great support from Pirelli, working with their engineers and with the information they provided to us, we were able to make a decision."

The FIA is to use two independent DRS zones for the first time at the forthcoming Italian Grand Prix.

At most venues this year there has been only one zone in which the overtaking device can be deployed during races, but in Montreal and Valencia two areas were set up.

At those events the two DRS zones were on consecutive straights, but with a single detection point allowing drivers to trigger their wing flap for both.

For Monza, DRS can be deployed both on the start/finish straight and between the second Lesmo and the Ascari chicane. The detection point for the first zone will be on the exit of the Parabolica, with the other between the Lesmos.