Formula One 2011

[LUKIE]

DRS worked so well at SPA. You can tell they are getting to grips with how it is working.

[Sam]

I thought it worked a bit too well, people were just cruising past others.

[Lineker]

I think that as a concept DRS has worked very well. It has semmed a little too artificial in a couple of races but they'll get there.

[Lineker]

Jenson Button says he is now just waiting for McLaren to take up his option for next year, with him fully expecting to be at the team next year.

The 31-year-old Briton has yet to confirm his drive for next year, but the team is understood to be working on a new, more expansive longterm contract that ties Button to McLaren beyond 2012 - rather than simply picking up its one-year option that it holds on his services.

Asked during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend what his chances of staying with McLaren were, Button replied: "Well, hopefully good. I want to stay here next year, so hopefully I'll be here next year.

"I'm just waiting for the team to pick up the option," he added.

Button refused to talk about specifics, or when the option deadline expired - believed to be within the next month - but indicated that he would have an input in any future deal agreed with McLaren.

Speaking at McLaren's demo run in Manchester on Monday, Button insisted: "If Martin Whitmarsh takes up the option... All he has to do is say 'yes' and I will say 'yes' because I want to be here next year.

"It's up to the team as to when they approach me, but for me I'm the happiest I've been with the car. The car I really like and the direction we've taken with the car."

Button's career already spans eleven and a half seasons, but the Briton - who has won twice this season already and lies fourth in the drivers' standings, three points ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton – has not put a limit on how long he expects to keep racing at the highest level.

"I don't know," he said, when asked how long he thought he would race for. "I mean, I'm sure Michael [schumacher] and Rubens [barrichello] 10 years ago would probably have said 'no chance'. But they've done it, so it's a strange one. We're very lucky in what we do.

"There are negatives with positives, but it's difficult to find something else that really you get that excited about. I have things I wanna do after racing...

"It is tough. I was speaking to Jessie my girlfirend about [the travel]," he added. "Basically it's very difficult to find somewhere that you call home because you're always travelling. So that's probably the most difficult thing of the job, you know, you never feel you're in one place for a long time.

"So that's why it's nice when we go to Japan, we''ve got a bit of home there because it does feel like home, live in one place. For the whole time we rent an apartment. Yeah I think that's one thing that you miss, but then there are so many positives to go with it as well. You know, we travel to so many great countries, so many different cultures, we're very lucky to be doing what we do. Positives and negatives there always are."

Button also hinted that when he has finished racing in F1, he would like to compete in other forms of motorsport.

"I want to race in other formulas, possibly," he said. "I'd like to race at Le Mans. I'd like to be part of a team that win, as in a team of drivers, not just a team of people.

"I don't think rallying, [but] I also want to do triathlons. I want to qualify for the world championships. That's gonna be almost impossible to do, but I'll give it a go.

"I can't do it now while I'm racing, so it will have to be after racing."

Renault has got back itself back in the 'positive' mood that it needs to make progress up the grid, reckons team boss Eric Boullier, on the back of Bruno Senna's morale boosting performance in Belgium last weekend.

Although Senna's race hopes were effectively dashed by an error at the first corner, the way the Brazilian dealt with the pressure of the weekend and put himself seventh on the grid has left Boullier convinced he did the right thing in shaking up his driver line-up.

"I was more than happy to see all my people in the garage applauding at the end of Q2 and Q3 with a smile on their face," said Boullier. "It was the first time that had happened since Malaysia.

"It is important to have your people, who work all day and all night, be happy. This is for me very important; this is the way I can get the best out of our guys."

Senna's mistake at the first corner, where he braked slightly too late and slid into Jaime Alguersuari, has highlighted how he still needs more track time to fully get used to race driving again - but there were other aspects of his approach that delighted Boullier.

"His obvious weakness was the limited track time since January, so he needs more time to get his confidence back in exploiting the car," he said.

"His strength was his quietness and building up his speed, and working very well with the engineers. You could sense he felt at ease with the engineers and the environment, and he just took it step by step.

"It was also hard for him. With the late confirmation it was not the ideal scenario, and obviously the weather conditions at the first of the weekend were tough – especially on a very challenging track.

"The next races will be challenging for him, especially in Monza with no downforce, which makes the car difficult to drive. But definitely his confidence is back to the maximum – so I am sure he can do it."

Boullier said the pressure was not just on Senna, either, because the boss himself had to shoulder the responsibility for the Brazilian delivering in the wake of the controversial dropping of Nick Heidfeld.

"You have to question a lot of people before you take a decision like that," he said. "You obviously make some people unhappy and it is always challenging for my job – because if I fail....

"Once you push the button and choose to go for a different scenario you have to take the responsibility."

And on the back of an incredibly hard year, which has included a fall from form and the loss of Robert Kubica, Boullier says he was never under any illusion that things would get easier after an encouraging first season in charge in 2010.

"It is tougher and tougher as obviously people expect more," he said. "The first year is easy, you step in – here is the car and driver, go ahead. So you go ahead – the machine is already working.

"In the second year we have started to restructure and influence change, and people are waiting for you to deliver. We are obviously not delivering exactly as we expect, so it is a little bit tougher. But people need to understand that you cannot change enough and make sure you can win in F1 within a year or two.

"I am not chasing excuses. It takes time to rebuild confidence, have a group of people working together and getting the sponsors and the drivers in place to have this positive loop, to make your team win again. It is more challenging."

Pastor Maldonado says he is determined to keep fighting as hard as he has all season for results in Formula 1, after scoring his first championship points in Belgium last weekend.

The Venezuelan bounced back from a grid penalty handed to him for a collision with Lewis Hamilton in qualifying to deliver the best finish of his rookie campaign at Spa.

And although that result takes a monkey off his back, having failed to make it home in the top ten previously, he says his approach is not going to change at all over the remainder of the campaign now that he is finally a points scorer.

"I'm not going to relax, I am a fighter," Maldonado said about the impact of his result. "All through the championship I have been fighting and pushing so hard with the team, to improve the car to do every race better and better.

"Unfortunately we did not have a strong car, especially in the beginning of the championship, which cost me a lot of experience. But I think I feel more confident in the team, the mechanics, engineers, the car, the tracks, and even myself.

"I am really happy because the mood in the team is quite positive, even if the results up to now are not the best. But the only thing now is we are still fighting, everything can happen in F1 and I hope to improve until the end of the season and to work hard for next season."

Maldonado also says that he never had any doubts he could deliver good results in F1, which is why he was never fussed at critics who said he only got his seat because of the sponsorship his presence in the outfit brings.

"I don't care about the people saying things," he said. "My team know who I am. I think everybody knows in F1 who I am. I won last year in GP2, I dominated the championship.

"Even this year I have a very strong team-mate which is helping me quite a bit. He is experienced and I am getting better and better quite quickly. I have to do my job and my best, and that is what I am doing."

Maldonado also said that he had cleared the air with Hamilton after their qualifying incident, and that the situation between them was now sorted.

"We were talking about what happened and it is all clear now, so I am looking forward," he said. "I think he is a great talented driver and a very good friend of mine. We need to respect each other and look forward."

[LUKIE]

Obviously I missed why Senna was given a shot in the Renault...

Recap?

[Lineker]

Despite having scored more points than Petrov, Boullier and Renault were not happy with Heidfeld's leadership of the team or his qualifying (IIRC). Heidfeld is now pursuing legal action against Renault as realistically, where else is he going to get a seat next year?

The Turkish Grand Prix has been officially dropped from next year's Formula 1 calendar, after the FIA announced the definitive 20-race schedule on Wednesday.

As AUTOSPORT revealed last month, the Turkish event was taken off the provisional calendar issued by the FIA earlier this year as part of a revised version submitted by Bernie Ecclestone.

Despite discussions between Turkish organisers and Ecclestone no deal could be reached, which means the event will now not be part of the schedule for the first time since 2005.

As part of changes approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council in a fax vote, the Bahrain Grand Prix has been moved from its season-opening slot to take place on April 22 - much earlier in the schedule than the teams had expected in the calendar version they were shown recently.

It has been swapped with the Indian GP, which will now move to October 28. Race organisers in Delhi had wanted the event moved back because of the hot weather in April.

The season will start in Australia on March 18, and the final two races will be back-to-back events in the United States and Brazil on November 18 and 25.

2012 Formula 1 calendar


18 March            Australian GP

25 March            Malaysian GP

15 April            Chinese GP

22 April            Bahrain GP

13 May              Spanish GP

27 May              Monaco GP

10 June             Canada GP

24 June             European GP

8 July              British GP

22 July             German GP

29 July             Hungarian GP

2 September         Belgian GP

9 September         Italian GP

23 September        Singapore GP

7 October           Japanese GP

14 October          Korean GP

28 October          Indian GP

4 November          Abu Dhabi GP

18 November         US GP

25 November         Brazilian GP[/code]


Mark Webber says it would have been wrong for him to turn his back on Formula 1 this year, because he still feels that he has what it takes to fight for the world championship.


Following the extension of his contract with Red Bull at last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, Webber feels that in the end there was only ever one option for him in 2012 - to carry on where he is.


Writing in his BBC column, Webber said: "It might look as if it took a long time to sort out, and I was weighing up various possibilities. But in the end the contract talks were done very quickly.


"I've been an integral part of Red Bull since the start and I still enjoy it there. It would have been a mistake to stop racing."


Webber is currently second in the drivers' championship, but being 92 points behind his team-mate Sebastian Vettel with seven races remaining he only has a slim chance of ending the year on top.


However, Webber is refusing to give up on his chances - and feels that there remains the possibility of a surprise end to the campaign.


"I'm still driving well. I had a bit of a slow start to this year because it took me a little while to get on top of the new tyres. I'm looking forward to taking on Seb - and everyone else - again next year.


"But this year isn't over yet. There are still seven races to go, starting with Monza next weekend, and anything can still happen."


Webber also commented on the tyre blistering controversy that surrounded his team after Spa – and insisted his outfit was not the only one running extreme camber settings.


"It's public knowledge that we were running the camber of our front wheels - the amount they lean away from vertical - on the upper limit of tyre supplier Pirelli's recommendations," he said.


"But I know we're not the only team doing that. In any case, although we could have reduced the camber, it was not absolutely clear that would fix it. We push the cars to the limit and this was just something that happened."


Rubens Barrichello believes Williams will be making a mistake if it elects to slot in a younger pay driver as his replacement for 2012.


The Brazilian is hoping to secure a fresh deal at the outfit for next season, but sources suggest that Williams is weighing up the commercial benefits of taking a driver who has sponsorship funds behind him instead.


Speculation suggests that three of the contenders on Williams' list for 2012, who each have backers, are Adrian Sutil, Bruno Senna and Giedo van der Garde.


Barrichello has said that there have been no recent developments in terms of his future, and that he has been looking at other options in case Williams elects not to stick with him.


"I have other things going on in F1, and I have talked to other people too," said Barrichello about his future situation.


"My feeling right now is unless Williams have money problems, they should stick with what they have right now: a very experienced and very motivated driver with a young driver developing himself.


"To have two kids for next year is the wrong thing to have. I am just waiting on my side. I cannot offer any more."


Barrichello's team-mate Pastor Maldonado is virtually guaranteed a seat at Williams, thanks to the lucrative sponsorship deal that the team has with Venezuelan oil company PDVSA.


AUTOSPORT understands that next year's deal could be worth between £21 million and £29.4 million depending on the level of logo exposure PDVSA has on the car.


Despite having such a healthy sponsor behind the team, however, the outfit will need to further bolster its finances thanks to the potential drop in television rights earnings that it could suffer if it does not improve on its current ninth place in the constructors' championship.


Barrichello believes that he still has plenty to offer in F1, and that he is not looking at continuing in grand prix simply to make up the numbers.


"You are there because you enjoy it, because you love what you do," he said. "You feel competitive because you beat your team-mate and you do well. If I have the chance of grabbing a nice car I know I can win.


"To be here 20 years for the sake of being here, I would rather stay home. I have had enough of the politics and so on, but I still want to drive the fastest car, which is an F1 car."


The Indian Grand Prix circuit has been given the thumbs up by Formula 1 race inspector Charlie Whiting, following the latest track inspection that took place on Thursday.


Whiting has kept close tabs on the ongoing construction of the Buddh circuit near Delhi, and has declared he is happy that the venue is on course for its inaugural grand prix on October 30.


In a statement issued by Vicky Chandhok, head of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, Whiting was said to be delighted that progress was more advanced that he had expected.


"He [Whiting] stated that the progress was more than satisfactory and exceeded expectations from when he last visited the site," said Chandhok. "He also expressed confidence that the inaugural Indian Grand Prix will be a huge success."


The final track licence that is mandatory for all F1 venues will take place in the week before the race, when the facility is complete.


Virgin Racing is planning to introduce a major update to the rear end of its car for next weekend's Italian Grand Prix, on the back of a ramping up of efforts to improve its technical operation.


The revisions to the car, which had originally been pencilled in for the British Grand Prix but were dropped in the wake of its operational reshuffle, have been rescheduled for Monza because technical consultant Pat Symonds believes they will deliver a good step forward in pace.


Team principal John Booth told AUTOSPORT: "We had an update in the pipeline for Silverstone, and we sidelined it because we did not think it was worth the effort at the time.


"But as Pat got to grips with the CFD evaluation of it, and looked into it a bit deeper, he thought it was well worth doing, so he pressed the button on that. We will have it, all being well, for Monza."


Speaking about the extent of the revisions, Booth said: "It is engine cover, sidepods, exhaust, and rear floor. Obviously there will be a Monza wing as well, but this bodywork package will be on for the rest of the year. It will pull the whole back of the car in much tighter.


"That has not really interrupted our 2012 progress because much of the design work was done; it was just a question of tidying it up and accommodating it."


Virgin Racing has spent recent months focusing on an overhaul of its operation, with plans for a factory move from its current Dinnington base in Yorkshire to its new Banbury facility now pencilled in for late November.


"Things have been pretty hectic," explained Booth. "As you can imagine, first of all we had to make a decision about where we were going to base ourselves. We took the decision for it to be Banbury for the forthcoming years.


"It was not up to spec as a Formula 1 facility, so we had to get the architects in and get ready to accept the race team, and update our new facility.


"But it was the obvious thing to do as we could keep our design team running without any interruption. The design team have got a nice new office down there; all the CAD stations are there, so it has been good to keep them running totally uninterrupted at a critical time. So we have designed the rest of the factory around them.


"The commercial team office is now finished, and they are moving this week. Then the race team will move in on the return from the Brazilian Grand Prix, so that makes it nice and clean - going straight to the new place."


Esteban Gutierrez is to take part in a straightline test for Sauber at Vairano in Italy this weekend.


The young Mexican, who is Sauber's reserve driver, has been called up to help with some aerodynamic evaluation that the outfit wants to conduct on its C30 car.


Speaking about the opportunity, Gutierrez said: "I'm very grateful to be able to do this kind of test for the team. Although it is not a regular test with many laps and normal set-up work it will give me some new experience of further work with the team, and I will be able to learn a bit more for my future."

[Lineker]

BBC chiefs are to face questioning from MPs about the controversial move to share Formula 1 coverage with Sky from 2012, following a furious backlash from fans about the broadcast plans.

Ahead of a meeting of the Commons' Culture, Media and Sport select committee next month, where it is understood the subject of F1 will be discussed with seniors BBC figures, the corporation's director general Mark Thompson has now been asked by a senior MP to come clean about the background to the deal.

Don Foster MP, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Culture, Media and Sport, has written to Thompson to seek answers about how the BBC/Sky contract came together - and especially if the BBC acted in the best interests of the fans.

In particular, Foster is concerned that there appear to be contradictory views about the background to what he thinks is a 'very poor' deal for F1 fans.

One version of the story is that the BBC brought Sky along in a bid to prevent coverage going to a rival terrestrial channel, while another version, suggested by BBC Sport's chief adviser and business manager Neil Land in a leaked document, was that it was Ecclestone who chose the Sky option.

In the letter to Thompson, which has been seen by AUTOSPORT, Foster says he is worried that the new deal is not good for licence fee payers or those who follow F1 - and thinks the BBC owes an explanation to clear up the situation.

"I do not believe this result promotes the best interest of license fee payers and motor racing fans," he wrote in the letter. "I believe the best result would have been for the rights to remain with a free to air broadcaster, even if this was not the BBC."

He added: "In particular I am concerned about the apparently divergent views of FI and the BBC about the sequence of events and the desired outcome.

"Bernie Ecclestone made clear that, 'We want Formula One to stay free to viewers [...] That is 100%' (quoted in The Times, 20 June).

"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.' (quoted in The Mirror, 19 August).

"In fact, Bernie Ecclestone seems to claim that it was the BBC who forced Sky's involvement. The BBC apparently 'held all the cards' as there was still time left on the existing contract. He says that Sky were brought to the table by the BBC in the first place. He says the BBC 'got to grips with Sky themselves. I spoke with ITV too, 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.' He has gone as far as saying, 'My hands were tied'.

"By his account, the rights ended up with Sky and the BBC because 'The BBC brought Sky to us with the idea of a joint contract [...] It was not us who made that decision.'

"This is in marked contrast to the argument put forward by the BBC and Neil Land who said, 'Ultimately, it is the responsibility of FOM [Formula One Management] to decide which broadcasters cover the sport. FOM must decide what is in the best interests of the sport, its employees, manufacturers, sponsors and viewers - when choosing its broadcast partners. On this occasion, FOM decided that a broadcast partnership between the BBC and Sky was in the best interests of the sport.'

"This gulf between the two versions has led to disappointment and anger among fans and now they have to sift through completely contradictory accounts of who decided what. The least fans deserve is a clear explanation of what happened. I urge you to give it."

In the letter, Foster adds that he believes the fact the BBC is still showing half the races is of no real benefit to hardcore fans, because if they want to watch the entire season they will still need to pay a full subscription to Sky.

He wrote: "The BBC may broadcast half the races, but this means nothing to fans who want to watch the whole season live. They cannot buy half a Sky package. For them, all of the rights may as well have gone to BSkyB, as it will cost them exactly the same.

"But this would have violated the Concorde Agreement and the many public statements that FOM have made about the importance of free to air, meaning that the BBC have legitimised the otherwise indefensible situation of fans paying the full price for access to F1."

Foster also wrote to Ecclestone to discuss the matter.

Speaking about his motivation for writing the letter, Foster told AUTOSPORT: "I'm really deeply worried about the divergence of accounts being made, comparing what Bernie Ecclestone said and what Neil Lamp said. They are basically poles apart in what they are saying has happened.

"I also have to question whether it is a good deal for licence fee payers. They are getting half of what they got before, although the BBC argue at a third of the cost. But if you are an F1 fan and want to see all F1, you have no choice but to get the whole of Sky - so you are not benefitting at all. It is a very, very poor deal."

The BBC's decision to share coverage of F1 with Sky has prompted a wave of unhappiness from fans, who face being forced to pay out for a subscription to Sky if they want to continue watching the sport.

The BBC is hoping to show tape-delayed full reruns of races on the same day as the grands prix in a bid to appease fans who feel they have lost out in the deal.

Nick Heidfeld has officially parted company with the Renault team, it was announced on Friday, after a settlement was reached to bring an end to the dispute over his position in the team.

The German was dropped by the Enstone-based outfit for last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, and had been set to take the matter to court later this month to try and prove that his contract was still valid so he could win his seat back.

However, following discussions between Heidfeld and Renault's legal representatives since Spa, a deal has been reached to bring the matter to an end.

Speaking about the situation, Heidfeld said: "Obviously I'm disappointed to be leaving Lotus Renault GP in the middle of the season. I thought I could still make a big contribution to the team, but I have to see things as they are and I want to turn my attention to the future.

"We have taken the right decision by choosing to end our collaboration today. I would like to wish all the friends I made at Enstone a successful end to the season. One thing is for sure - I'll be back racing at the highest level soon."

Renault team principal Eric Boullier added: "Our disagreement with Nick has been the subject of much media coverage lately, and we are pleased to have reached a swift and reasonable solution. Our separation process was already a painful one, and neither of us wanted to go through another legal hearing.

"We're very grateful to Nick for the highly valuable contribution he's made to the team. We certainly had good times together, in particular remembering our podium finish in Malaysia. He is a very strong and determined racer and we wish him every success in the future."

Heidfeld was drafted in to the team as replacement for the injured Robert Kubica. But despite scoring a podium finish in his second race in Malaysia, the German failed to repeat that form over the remainder of the campaign and often struggled to match team-mate Vitaly Petrov in qualifying.

Boullier decided that the team needed a shake-up after the summer break, so drafted in Senna as Petrov's new team-mate for Belgium.

The news of the Heidfeld settlement means that Senna will finish the season. The team had always said that its intention was to keep the Brazilian in the car for the remainder of the campaign, and this has now been officially confirmed.

This week's AUTOSPORT magazine revealed that Heidfeld is in talks to join his former F1 employer BMW for its new DTM programme next year.

Newly-crowned GP2 champion Romain Grosjean returned to official driving duties with the Renault Formula 1 team in a straightline test at Duxford yesterday.

AUTOSPORT understands that the Franco-Swiss drove throughout the test, which was used for aerodynamic evaluations as well as allowing the team's reserve driver to familiarise himself with the Renault R31.

"Yesterday was the third of four Aero test days which the FIA permit to carry out in-season," a team spokesperson told AUTOSPORT. "Following Bruno becoming one of our race drivers, we took the opportunity to acquaint Romain with the R31 as he is now our reserve race driver.

"The day was spent evaluating present and future aerodynamic settings of this year's R31."

Although Grosjean has been officially designated as one of the team's 'third drivers' since the start of the season, he has become official first reserve now that Bruno Senna has been promoted to a race seat. This means that he will attend the season-ending fly-away races and work closely with the team once the GP2 season has finished.

It is the first time that he has been on driving duty for the team in anything other than a demonstration run since his part-season with the team in 2009 came to an end at the Abu Dhabi season finale.

Scuderia Toro Rosso is set for a double boost to its plans to move forward in Formula 1 - with work on a factory expansion due to begin in the next few weeks and the team poised to finalise a sponsorship deal with Spanish oil giant Cepsa.

Toro Rosso has spent the last few years focusing on ramping up its operations as part of the need to design and build its own car - having previously enjoyed a customer relationship with sister team Red Bull Racing.

As well as increasing its workforce from just 85 staff several years ago to a total of more than 280 now, efforts have been made on expanding its Faenza facility – with work on new buildings starting soon.

Speaking to AUTOSPORT about Toro Rosso's plans, team principal Franz Tost said: "We brought last year a property with around 10,000 square metres, and we will start work with the first building at the end of September or the beginning of October this year.

"Next year we will then work on the machine shop, and then the third step is to make a new building for offices. This should take three years.

"We are growing slowly, and the cooperation between the different departments is becoming better and better. It is helping us to make progress and we are increasing our performance race by race."

As well as making progress with its infrastructure, Toro Rosso is enjoying an improved financial situation this year too - as part of a tie-up with Swiss bank Falcon Investments, which is owned by Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments.

As part of that developing relationship, which could lead to Aabar taking a major equity stake in the future, AUTOSPORT understands that the outfit is ready to announce before the Italian GP a new sponsorship deal with Spanish oil company Cepsa, which has links with Aabar through the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

Tost would not comment on specifics, but says the team's financial situation is being helped by more investment from sponsors.

"To build up the team, to bring in more people and to increase the performance, you also need a little bit more money," he explained. "We are fortunately in the position that some new sponsors are on board and, along with Red Bull, I am quite happy to have these companies on our side.

"With a better position in the constructors' championship too we will also have more money coming in, but at the same time we will also spend it."

Despite the good news of extra buildings and fresh sponsors, Tost still thinks it will take the outfit a few years to reach its maximum strength.

"To build up a Formula 1 team is not an easy job, because you have to bring in the right people; people that can work together. We fortunately brought in some very good, highly skilled engineers and therefore we have made good progress. This has been done deliberately, but on the other hand we have been pushing for this.

"I think that it will take a minimum of another two or three years until we will really have a stabilised team."

Although the Cepsa sponsorship will provide a good tie-up with Jaime Alguersuari, sources suggest that the oil company's support does not guarantee the youngster will remain a part of the team in 2012 – with the outfit set to make a decision on its driver plans only after the end of this season.

Nico Rosberg is confident that Mercedes GP can produce another strong performance in next week's Italian Grand Prix, after delivering its best team result of the season in Belgium.

Last weekend at Spa, Rosberg and team-mate Michael Schumacher both finished in the top six for the first time this year and, with their W02 well-suited to the high-speed nature of Monza, they are upbeat about their prospects for the next race.

Rosberg said: "I'm really looking forward to the weekend in Monza. We learned at the last race in Spa that our car can be competitive at high-speed tracks, and we definitely took a step forward there.

"I am confident that we can do that again in Italy next weekend. I visited the factory this week and I'm quite happy with how things are working out there."

Schumacher added: "We achieved a good team result in Spa last weekend, and I especially enjoyed the overtaking battles and the challenge of making up so many places during the race. This gives us a boost going into the final part of the season, and we will continue pushing hard to get the best possible results."

Team principal Ross Brawn said that the team had reason to be optimistic heading to Monza, as it bids to further cement its fourth place position in the constructors' championship.

"Coming off the back of our best result of the season in Spa, we are looking forward to the weekend and to finishing the European season on a high," he said. "With the emphasis jointly on engine power and aerodynamic efficiency, we have the benefit of our Mercedes-Benz engine and, as always for Monza, we will run a special low-downforce aerodynamic package to minimise drag on the long straights."

Kamui Kobayashi thinks Sauber is in for a 'challenging' time at the Italian Grand Prix, as it bids to get itself back in the points for the first time since Germany.

Sauber is currently sixth place in the constructors' championship but is facing an increasing threat from rival Force India, which is just three points behind after a recent run of good form.

And with the high-speed nature of Monza expected to once again play into the hands of Force India, Kobayashi is being realistic about Sauber's chances.

"Monza will be challenging, we have to find the best possible set-up for the car and see how fast we can go on the long straights," he said.

"Last year we qualified 12th, which wasn't too bad, because we expected difficulties there. Hopefully the race this year can be better.

"Last year I didn't manage to do the race because I had a technical problem, and I retired on my first lap after starting from the pitlane. But this year I am quite confident of doing a good race."

Like every team on the grid, Sauber will be running a Monza-specific low downforce front and rear wing specification next weekend.

Technical director James Key said: "Technically it's by far the lowest drag level circuit of the season. To get the drag down to levels which are optimum you have to reduce downforce, which is why we call it a low downforce track, although fundamentally it's a low drag track."

Jenson Button is predicting some 'spectacular' racing action at the Italian Grand Prix thanks to the use of a double DRS zone at the famous Monza track.

For the first time this year, the FIA is trialling two independent DRS zones at a race - with one running along Monza's start-finish straight and the other between the second Lesmo and the Ascari chicane.

Although it is not clear yet just how effective DRS will be at Monza, because of its unique low-downforce nature, Button still thinks it will play enough of a role to deliver an exciting race.

"I think things will be a little more mixed-up this year," said Button. "For the second time this season, we'll have two distinct DRS zones, with two potential passing opportunities.

"The first zone's going to be interesting because it's always been very tough to challenge for position under braking for Ascari – the track's pretty narrow and it's a fast entry – so I'll be really interested to see how well DRS will work into that corner. We might see some pretty spectacular moves!

"I think the more conventional passing opportunity will come from the second DRS zone, getting as close as possible into Parabolica, holding on through the corner – which won't be straightforward – and then deploying DRS down the start/finish straight before, hopefully, passing into Turn One.

"The DRS is going to be a pretty major asset for a following car, and it might shape the race in some really interesting ways."

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh has even talked about the possibility of Monza delivering the kind of action witnessed in the historic 'slipstreamer' races of the past.

"Perhaps it's a bit premature to be discussing the return of the epic 'Monza slipstreamer', but I think the whole team is going to Italy keen to see if DRS will create the sort of exciting and unpredictable grands prix that we either watched or read about when we were younger," he said.

For Lewis Hamilton, the most important thing this weekend is getting back on the top step of the podium after some recently frustrating races.

"Last year, I won at Spa and failed to finish at Monza. For this year, I guess I'm looking to reverse that sequence! I've already moved on from my non-finish in Belgium and I'm really looking forward to returning to Italy, a place where I spent a lot of time racing karts: it's a country I really love.

"I think we go into the weekend feeling pretty optimistic. I've never won at Monza and I'd love to get a good result this year. I'm particularly looking forward to qualifying, because I think DRS will make a huge difference to our lap times, and I really want to get the maximum out of the car in qualifying – and then look forward to a strong race, of course.

"I think things are set for another very closely matched race – I'm really looking forward to it."

Team Lotus boss Tony Fernandes says the target for his team at next weekend's Italian Grand Prix is simply to get both cars to the chequered flag - as he does not think the nature of the Monza track will allow it challenge the established teams ahead.

While the Hingham-based outfit continues to chase its first points in Formula 1, Fernandes believes that Monza will be about keeping its ambitions realistic – while it continues to prepare for better things in the future.

"Monza gives us another chance to keep edging towards the teams ahead before we go back to the Far East and what is really our third home race in Singapore," said Fernandes, who has missed the last few races because of other business commitments.

"This weekend we are not going to be challenging the teams ahead quite yet in outright pace, but clever use of strategy and very strong drives from both Heikki [Kovalainen] and Jarno [Trulli] give us a chance to hold our own in the race, so the target for Monza has to be to maintain the reliability record established in Spa and look for another two car finish at the chequered flag, as high as we can reasonably hope.

"That is a realistic target, and that is the approach we bring to everything related to our team. The plans for the future development of the team, and the group it sits in, are taking shape exactly as we want them to and we are setting ourselves reasonable goals that can be achieved through hard work, innovation and a little bit of luck."

Kovalainen, who managed to make it through to Q2 in last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, thinks that an aggressive approach to the Italian event could also pay dividends.

"Monza is another different challenge for us and it'll be good going there on the back of such a strong weekend in Spa," he said. "It has different downforce requirements to most of the rest of the tracks we race on, but we'll go there with the same sort of aggressive strategy we used well in Spa to put us into Q2."

Trulli is in a positive frame of mind too, especially as he is set to resume using the power steering system that so delighted him at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

"The car felt really good in Spa, and I know we have the revised power steering system I used in Hungary back for this race, so I think we'll be ok," he explained. "We had very strong race pace in Belgium, and if we can carry on like that in Italy we'll be just fine."

[Lineker]

Bahrain Grand Prix organisers have confirmed that their 2012 event's move to an April date took place to allow the Indian GP to switch to later in the season.

The Sakhir race was originally listed as the 2012 season opener on 11 March, before a revised schedule was mooted in which Bahrain moved to the penultimate calendar slot - giving the country's political situation further time to settle after the issues that forced the cancellation of the 2011 grand prix.

This version of the calendar saw India's second Formula 1 race scheduled for April - but the Indian organisers were concerned that the weather would be too hot at this time of year.

The final calendar, released on Wednesday, therefore sees India return to a late-October slot similar to its 2011 date, and Bahrain become round four on 22 April - a change that the Sakhir authorities said they were happy to accept.

"Following a request from the Indian Grand Prix organisers to FOM on a date change, the Bahrain International Circuit announced today that it welcomes the date switch with India to host the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on the 22nd of April 2012," said a statement from the Bahrain organisers.

"The announcement was declared after officials from the Indian Grand Prix organiser raised some concern to FOM in hosting the race in April.

"The Bahrain International Circuit has always worked in supporting the Formula 1 family and to do what is best for the sport. We look forward to welcoming back all the teams, drivers, organisers, and fans in 2012."

The BBC is still evaluating its plans for highlights coverage of the Formula 1 races that it does not broadcast live next year - with sources suggesting that full re-runs of grands prix have not been totally ruled out yet.

Although Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone suggested to The Independent that the BBC will be limited to highlights of just "75 minutes of every race", which appeared to dash hopes of full re-runs online or on its red button interactive service, high level sources at the television company have revealed that a final plan has yet to be agreed.

As part of the deal put in place with Ecclestone for 2012, the BBC will show half of the races live - with coverage of those that are broadcast only on Sky being shown later in the day.

As well as a dedicated highlights package on one of the main BBC channels, plans are still being looked at for full length re-runs of the grands prix being made available for some or all the races on either the BBC's online platforms or its Red Button interactive channel.

It is not clear, however, when these full race re-runs could be broadcast – because if they were too soon after the F1 event itself then it could lessen the attraction of viewers purchasing a Sky subscription.

The BBC will not comment on the plans until a final decision has been made.

Narain Karthikeyan's return to the HRT cockpit for the Indian Grand Prix has been all but confirmed after he sealed a sponsorship deal with Hero Motors for the event.

Karthikeyan was dropped from the HRT race line-up in favour of Red Bull protege Daniel Ricciardo from the British Grand Prix onwards, although it was always anticipated that he might be brought back in for the inaugural Indian GP on 30 October. He has continued to work with the team as a Friday driver even after losing his race seat.

Indian manufacturing business conglomerate Hero Motors has now announced that it will back Karthikeyan and HRT in the Indian race - a move that Karthikeyan hopes will help to further spur interest in Formula 1 in his nation.

"Today is a very important step in the right direction for motorsports in the country," he said. "The sport has come a long way since the day I started racing. Viewership has gone up a lot, and corporate support is now more forthcoming.

"Formula 1 is in its nascent stage in India with great potential waiting to be explored. I hope with the support from Hero Motors we will be able to scale new milestones in the times to come."

Renault boss Eric Boullier believes this weekend's Italian Grand Prix will show whether his team's step forward in form at Spa was the result of improvements to its car or the shake-up in its driver line-up.

The Enstone-based team delivered a morale-boosting performance in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix - with it getting both its drivers through to Q3 for the first time since the Canadian Grand Prix in June.

Although it endured a more disappointing time in the race, after Bruno Senna made a mistake at the first corner and collided with Jaime Alguersuari, the team is hoping that its good form will be carried through to Monza - as recent car upgrades start to deliver better speed.

"It's difficult to draw too much from one race alone, whether that's in terms of who is in the race seat or the effect of the upgrade package," he told Renault's official website on Monday. "But Monza should give us a clearer indication as to how things are going.

"Monza is always a difficult track because it requires a low downforce set-up; it has high speed corners and high speed straights. After the steps we made in Spa, I'm confident we will have a progressive weekend in Italy too."

Although the Belgian GP did not deliver the points on Sunday that Renault had hoped for, as it lost further ground to rival Mercedes GP in the constructors' championship, Boullier added that there were other elements of the weekend that were hugely positive for his team.

"Sportingly, it could have been a better weekend because we had one car in the low points and the other not scoring any which is not sufficient," he said. "However, all in all it was a good weekend; we had a very respectable qualifying session and Bruno stepped into the cockpit successfully. These aspects were quite promising; it was encouraging for the team to be able to see the cars delivering and their work bearing fruit."

He added: "I think the positive energy really came about after qualifying because everyone knows it is extremely challenging for a new driver to step in. Seeing the team applauding the drivers after Q2 and Q3 was a good sign; I was very happy to see that, and it was pleasing to see smiles back on everyone's faces."

Sauber is confident that it has the infrastructure and staffing levels it needs to keep making progress in Formula 1, amid suggestions it still has the best windtunnel in grand prix racing.

With the Hinwil-based outfit having made encouraging steps since BMW's withdrawal at the end of 2009, team principal Peter Sauber is satisfied that there is no need for it to undertake a factory expansion to help it move forward.

"We have a good infrastructure which is at a very high level, and we don't need to ramp anything up," Sauber told AUTOSPORT. "In personnel we did cut back [in line with the Resource Restriction Agreement], and I sincerely hope we manage with this existing staffing level."

The team's Swiss factory did benefit from good investment from BMW during its partnership with the German car manufacturer - which included a ramping up of windtunnel and CFD facilities.

Sauber himself is confident that his team remains at the cutting edge of technology on that front - which is why he sees no need to follow Ferrari and Renault's recent moves in upgrading windtunnels.

"I don't want to be indiscreet but I believe Ferrari and Renault would actually have to ramp up substantially to reach the level of our tunnel," he said.

When asked if he felt Sauber's tunnel was the best in F1, he said: "That I don't want to say. However, I believe only Toyota had a comparable tunnel. It is not only the dimensions that are important, but also the quality of the windtunnel."

One area where the team will continue to rely on outside assistance, however, is in transmission – with this department of its factory having been wound down during the period where BMW did everything on this front in-house in Munich.

Sauber currently uses customer transmission units from Ferrari alongside its engines, and Sauber expects that situation to continue for the foreseeable future.

"In the past we did develop our own transmission, which made sense. However, after the transmissions were built in Munich for the last three years and we no longer had our transmission facility in Hinwil, it didn't make sense to build that up again.

"From a cost perspective it is better to source it from Ferrari – and that will remain the same for next year, as it will for KERS."

Pirelli is ready to approach the FIA to seek a change in Formula 1's tyre regulations for next year in a bid to cut down on wasted sets of hard compound rubber, after so far failing to secure the support of teams for such a move.

One of the main areas of concern for Pirelli about its F1 programme this year has been the way that the tyre rules - and the way teams have ended up using the rubber - mean that after the race the Italian company is being forced to scrap hard tyres that never get used.

Currently, each driver has five sets of option tyres and six sets of hard tyres for the weekend – and at every grand prix so far this year Pirelli has found that the final set of hard rubber has remained unused.

Pirelli believes this is a waste of resources for both itself and the teams – so wants the tyre rules tweaked for next year.

A push to switch the tyre allocations, so teams have six sets of option and five sets of prime – failed to receive unanimous support from the teams, which is why Pirelli is now considering contacting the FIA.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli's director of motorsport, said: "At the moment, if the teams want to keep the same regulations then we will have to go to the FIA and tell them there is no point in having six sets of one and five sets of the other – we may as well have five and five and we save money.

"We have to take these extra [hard] tyres to every race, so if they don't want to change the sporting regulations then we can give them the stats that it is 100 per cent certain they are not going to use them, change the regulations and save us all money.

"The FIA does have a role to play in terms of regulations, and we need to have stimulation from them, because it is a cost that has no benefit to the teams, the sport or Pirelli. It is nonsense."

Hembery said the tyre situation came to light when Pirelli had looked into why teams were not running in Q3 in a bid to save rubber – yet had spare tyres available at the end of the race.

"We fitted the tyres, brought them to races and then we destroy them – so it is very hard for us hearing that teams haven't got enough tyres when they actually have plenty of tyres. They are just not using them.

"We went to the teams to look into lightly changing the regulations. The simple way we thought we could get rid of the top teams avoiding running in Q3 would be to invert the allocation. So you had six of the soft set and five of the hard.

"Then, after FP1, you took away one of the hard sets, so five becomes four. Follow the same regulations through; you will end up doing qualifying and the race with four sets of the soft tyre and then two of the hard.

"So, in that scenario, the top teams would use one hard for first qualifying, two soft and then have two sets of soft tyres for the race. That would have eliminated the problem. But that was not unanimously accepted."

He added: "At the end of the day it is for their benefit. We are just saying it seems bizarre to be in this situation of having new sets of tyres at the end of the race, when during the weekend there have been some occasions when teams are reluctant to run.

"We want to sit down and find a way to eliminate that need. It doesn't cost anyone in the sport any more money, the only thing it will cost us is time in a meeting room to come up with something that works for everybody.

"At the moment I wouldn't say there is an impasse but they have decided they want to stick with the current regulations but we need to return to that because in many ways it is nonsense."

[Lineker]

Gerhard Berger thinks it is time that Mercedes GP starts delivering on its promises in Formula 1 - after failing to win a race since its takeover of the Brawn outfit at the start of 2010.

The former grand prix driver says he is 'tired' of the explanations that Mercedes-Benz has given for its failure to produce the victories or title challenges that it had predicted when it embarked on its latest adventure.

"In Belgium it was frustrating to watch [Nico] Rosberg having a hell of a start and a perfect showing, but after a couple of laps losing place after place like an apprentice driver," Berger told AUTOSPORT.

"All the explanations and excuses from Mercedes make me tired. It is high time that a premium manufacturer provides its drivers with a premium F1 car. The engine is widely regarded as the class of the field. Now it's their turn to deliver the rest."

Berger also thinks that critics should back off Mercedes GP driver Michael Schumacher, as he reckons the seven-time champion is getting all he wants from his F1 return – even if the results have not been as good as some had hoped.

"First of all I have to say that I am bored by the advice from experts that he should retire," explained Berger. "He has so much fun in racing and, with all his qualities, why shouldn't he go racing and have fun? He just combines professionalism and fun.

"After all his success he deserves this. The market has its own rules. As long as somebody gives him a car, he can do this."

Berger also thinks that Lewis Hamilton remains one of the sport's very best drivers – despite a difficult year that has seen the Briton involved in a number of controversial on-track incidents.

"Let me put this straight: I would love to have him as number one in my team if I had one," he explained. "Together with Seb [Vettel] – although maybe not, because that would not work but cause havoc!

"In my view, [seb] Vettel, [Fernando] Alonso and Hamilton are the three best drivers out there. Vettel performs perfectly. Alonso suffers from minor mistakes, but he has not got a car on par with Seb's.

"Lewis is the best in overtaking, but with a huge amount of risk. Therefore, it's usually 50-50 if it works or if he collides. Surely, Lewis is not to blame for every collision, but he is often involved. And it does not create a nice picture if you are always there when something goes wrong."

Gerhard Berger has ruled out returning to a job in Formula 1 in the near future - despite being approached by FIA president Jean Todt this year about a possible role in the sport.

The Austrian, who won 10 grands prix during his F1 career, was most recently involved as co-owner of Scuderia Toro Rosso after an earlier spell as motorsport director at BMW.

Berger has made the occasional visit to the paddock since selling his interest in Toro Rosso back in 2008, and a meeting with Todt earlier this year prompted speculation that he could be handed a job within the governing body.

However, speaking to AUTOSPORT, Berger has said the only way he would return would be in a competitive environment - although he no longer wants the hassle of travelling to every race.

"There is nothing foreseeable," he said. "I just don't want to travel all the time."

When asked about the job offer from Todt, Berger said: "It was the same as with Max [Mosley]. But it was a 'no thanks'. I love to proceed with my experiences, and I would rather be interested in running a team, preparing a car and going racing on Sundays. But that is not happening."

Todt told AUTOSPORT earlier this year in an exclusive interview that he felt Berger had plenty to offer F1 still.

"Gerhard is a good friend of mine and it's true, he was one of the people mentioned in connection with this topic; I addressed him today," he said. "He could still make a very good contribution to the sport.

"At the moment he has other things he is dealing with, but I really hope that sooner or later he could have a role to play. Not specifically in the FIA – I think Gerhard is more interested to have his team, to have his business, and he is a very good businessman."

Scuderia Toro Rosso has announced a major sponsorship deal with Spanish oil company Cepsa, as AUTOSPORT predicted last week.

On the back of a developing relationship with Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments, which has links with Cepsa and other sponsor Swiss bank Falcon Investments that arrived earlier this year, the team is enjoying a lift in its financial situation.

Cepsa logos will appear on the drivers' overalls, plus the nose, rear wing and rear endplates of the car from this weekend's Italian GP.

Team principal Franz Tost told AUTOSPORT last week that the improved sponsorship situation at Toro Rosso was good news for its hopes of moving forward.

"To build up the team, to bring in more people and to increase the performance, you also need a little bit more money," he explained. "We are fortunately in the position that some new sponsors are on board and, along with Red Bull, I am quite happy to have these companies on our side.

"With a better position in the Constructors' Championship too we will also have more money coming in, but at the same time we will also spend it."

Formula 1 teams have been issued with a more conservative camber recommendation by Pirelli for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, AUTOSPORT can reveal, to prevent a repeat of the tyre controversy that erupted in Belgium.

With the build-up to the Spa event being overshadowed by a tyre blistering issue suffered chiefly by Red Bull Racing, as a result of it going beyond the camber limit laid down before the event, Pirelli has reacted swiftly for the high-speed Monza venue.

AUTOSPORT understands that teams have been told by Pirelli that the maximum limit it wants to see used at Monza is 3.75 degrees - which is a level that it feels will ensure no overheating problems on the straights but will also not hinder teams through the high-speed corners or chicanes.

At Spa, teams were asked not go beyond a 4-degree limit – but Red Bull Racing was understood to have pushed the limit to as far as 4.3 degrees. It was this that contributed to the tyres overheating on the straights – producing the blisters that proved so worrying ahead of the race.

Pirelli's director of motorsport Paul Hembery said that lessons had been learned on both sides from the Spa affair. He was confident there would not be any repeat of the situation at Monza – which is a venue where blistering has been a problem for teams in the past.

"We've given slightly reduced limits to be slight more cautious," he told AUTOSPORT. "From the data we've seen, Monza is likely to be in some regards similar in severity to Spa. However, we will obviously have some dry running for once judging by the forecast – and with more cautious limits we will be fine.

"We couldn't go any more conservative than the limit we have set, because then you could have a problem in the curves with the camber not recovering. We have to be careful with these things, but we believe we've set a reasonable level for the teams to be at."

Hembery said that Pirelli's policy of offering advice on the camber limits had not changed in the aftermath of Spa, as he recognised that the circumstances in Belgium – with almost no dry running prior to qualifying – had contributed a great deal to what happened.

"We send out a pre-race recommendation and it hasn't changed," he said. "Being pragmatic, if we had had some dry running in practice then things would have turned out different. I think we all live and learn from that.

"Teams pushing the limits probably occurs at a lot of races, it is part of normal procedures, but what you end up doing when you find problems [like blisters] is you end up modifying the set-up and sorting it. Nobody could see it in Belgium because it rained throughout practice, so a lot of circumstances were involved there.

"That didn't help us and it didn't help Red Bull Racing, but we are not having an argument with them and they are not having an argument with us."

Hembery also made it clear that although much of the focus post-Spa had been on what Red Bull Racing did, the issue of following guidelines was a matter for every competitor.

"It is an all-team issue in reality," he said. "We ask all the teams to follow our guidelines, and because Red Bull Racing was at the front and won the race maybe the focus was more directed to them. But there were a couple of other issues we wanted to solve with other teams. We've tidied those matters up now and spoken to those involved."

There were some suggestions that in the aftermath of the Spa event, Pirelli and the FIA could react by making the camber limit mandatory on safety grounds – which would prevent any team going beyond its limits.

Hembery said that such a course of action was not needed now, but did not rule out the possibility if he felt it was required.

"I've not seen any communication about it, but that is always an option because this relates to the sort of areas where you want to be sure about what is happening, and be sure about the data that you are having to deal with. It's fundamental."

Renault's technical director James Allison says the team has been very encouraged by the pace shown during the Belgian Grand Prix, although he concedes it will take some races to see if the squad has turned the corner.

Renault put on one its strongest performances in months at Spa, with both its drivers qualifying in the top ten as the updates introduced by the team in recent events began to work better.

Allison admitted the showing has left the team bullish about its chances for the upcoming races.

"We looked much more on the pace in Spa than in the previous four grands prix," said Allison. "Neither driver had an unimpeded race, but the underlying pace of the car was capable of earning P5-P6 given a freer run to the flag.

"We will know for sure whether we have turned the corner once we have a couple more GPs under our belt, however I am taking some heart from the fact that our competitiveness looked fair throughout the weekend whether on wet, dry or intermediate rubber.

"We have been plagued with extremely poor wet performance in recent races, and to have seemingly put this behind us gives me faith that the upgrades brought to Spa will continue to deliver at other circuits."

Despite leaving Belgium with just two points from ninth place, Allison was adamant the weekend had been one of the strongest for the team in quite a while.

He added: "The team performed extremely well on Saturday in very challenging conditions. Our race engineers gave us every opportunity to maximise our performance by ensuring we were always out on a clear track when the circuit conditions were at their best.

"Our drivers did a fair job of turning that opportunity into good grid slots. The race was less satisfactory in terms of points garnered, but in terms of competitiveness this was our strongest race for some time."

Allison also praised the performance of Bruno Senna during his first race weekend with the team after having replaced Nick Heidfeld.

"I don't think anyone needs insider information from the team to know that Bruno had a remarkable weekend," he said. "The current regulations place a very high hurdle in the path of any driver coming in mid-season, as there is no opportunity to get up-to-speed in the relatively unpressured environment of the test track.

"On top of that Bruno had to make his debut for us at Spa, a circuit which definitely separates the men from the boys. Finally, he had to manage qualifying in exceptionally difficult track conditions. To face all these challenges and to place the car P7 on the grid is a fantastic achievement on any scale.

"I know Bruno was kicking himself for the incident at the first corner in the race, but my view is that it was a completely understandable error; it was the first time that he had ever felt the R31 on full fuel and he was surrounded by competitors already 11 races into their season.

"His subsequent race was run at a very respectable pace and I'm looking forward to seeing him in the car again."

Former grand prix driver Derek Daly will join the stewards' panel for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

The 58-year-old Irishman competed in grand prix racing from 1978 to 1982 with the Ensign, Theodore, March, Tyrrell and Williams teams.

He last competed in a race car 21 years ago in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

"I was a little skeptical at first when I heard that former F1 drivers were to be used in a stewards role as they have always had such varying opinions on the issues," said Daly.

"However, I have to say that using former drivers appears to have been a positive and I'm very much looking forward to it."

[Lineker]

The Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) has written to Pirelli saying it backs the tyre manufacturers' push to change compound allocations next year, in a bid to end unused rubber getting wasted.

As reported by AUTOSPORT earlier this week, Pirelli is prepared to ask the FIA to change the allocation regulations for 2012 because it thinks it is 'nonsense' that under the current rules drivers are being left with at least one set of unused tyres at the end of a race.

Because of the way that teams are favouring using the softer compound option at each weekend, Pirelli has discovered that one result of this is that a set of the harder rubber for each driver never gets used - and then has to be destroyed.

Efforts to get the teams to change the allocation, either through offering an extra set of soft rubber instead or by having qualifying tyres, has so far failed to gain unanimous support.

And after Pirelli's director of motorsport Paul Hembery said his company was prepared to go to the FIA to force through a change, the GPDA has now got involved.

Speaking to AUTOSPORT at the FOTA Fans' Forum in Italy on Wednesday, Hembery said the drivers had reacted after reading about Pirelli's concerns.

"The GPDA had read the story on AUTOSPORT, were informed about the situation, and wanted to know what was going on," he explained.

"They said they thought it was silly that we have all these unused tyres and they felt that if we were not going to use them, then we don't want to take them to races."

Hembery said he had welcomed the GPDA's involvement in the matter, and hoped that the drivers could now put pressure on the teams to change the situation.

"The drivers said they agreed with what had been suggested, and they said why don't we find a way to use them on Friday or in qualifying," he said.

"I had to reply that say that I agree totally, and have asked them to try and speak to their teams to see if they can help us.

"We feel it is a matter of, 'come on, let's have some common sense here.' Let's find a way of either assisting the qualifying process, although we've had some teams not want that, or give the teams more running on a Friday – which would be of interest to the smaller teams.

"The drivers are suggesting exactly what we are, so we will have to have another go with the teams and see if we can find a solution that they are comfortable with.

"Clearly if we do nothing it is slightly absurd, if I am perfectly honest, to go ahead another year and just carry tyres around the world we know we are not going to use."

He added: "We are not trying to favour anyone or give any sporting advantage to anyone. We are just trying to point out we have an anomaly in this system and it would be better for everyone involved if we found a way of using everything better."

Jarno Trulli says he will be in Formula 1 next year, the Italian veteran suggesting he will stay at Team Lotus for another season.

Although there were doubts about Trulli's future at the team after he was replaced by Karun Chandhok at the German Grand Prix, the Italian insists he is close to securing a new deal for next season.

"I am pretty comfortable for next year," Trulli told Reuters during the FOTA fan forum in Milan.

"Obviously it is not down to me to say where we are but, yes I am pretty happy with the way we are working with the team and the relationship for the future. I would say that we are settled."

When asked if he will be in F1, he said: "Yes".

The 37-year-old insisted Lotus's new power steering system had turned his fortunes around after struggling in the first half of the season.

He was unable to run it in the previous race at Spa because of a technical issue, but it will be back for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

"There was a big step forward for me with the power steering and it definitely made a huge difference for me," he said. "It will be back here and from now on we can start developing it."

Williams Grand Prix Holdings has announced the interim finacial results for the first six months of 2011.

The team, which made its debut on the Frankfurt stock exchange in March, has announced its turnover is up five per cent to £47.3 million, with a core profit before tax up to £2.9 million.

Its earnings per share have gone up 49% to 19.31.

Williams said full year results are expected to show revenue growth of around 12% to 20% over 2010.

"The first half of 2011 shows momentum in our diversified growth, building on the foundations we laid in 2010," said Frank Williams.

"We have upgraded and extended existing partners Randstad and Oris, and added Interbrand as a new partner. Our new partnership with Jaguar Land Rover was followed by an exciting alliance announced with Renault, which will further strengthen our medium term performance both on and off the track."

Chairman Adam Parr added: "We are pleased to report interim results that demonstrate further progress of our Group strategy. Our core business has performed in line with expectations, with greater costs incurred in the first half.

"We have made several senior new appointments in engineering and aerodynamics, bolstering both our team devoted to improving track-side performance, and supporting our Jaguar Land Rover partnership.

"The June 2011 results benefit from full period ownership of Williams Hybrid Power, which has reported its first significant revenues, where we are ramping up commercial flywheel production following success with motorsport OEMs. We have also accelerated the development of Williams Technology Centre Qatar, where efforts to secure our first customer are progressing."

The Renault team has announced it has signed deals with four new partners until the end of the 2011 season.

The deals with telecommunications giant Embratel, personal care product brand Gillette, Brazilian oil and natural gas company OGX, and pharmaceutical company Auden McKenzie will begin with immediate effect.

"We are delighted to welcome no fewer than four new partners to our commercial portfolio, and to what is proving to be a very exciting season of Formula 1," said team boss Eric Boullier.

"Lotus Renault GP share a common ethos with all the brands, in that we want to achieve at the very highest level through world-class professional practices. We are looking forward to prosperous relationships with all four partners in the coming months."

McLaren says it will not ask Lewis Hamilton to change his aggressive approach to racing despite the Briton's up and down 2011 season.

Hamilton saw his slim chances of fighting for the championship vanish after crashing out of the Belgian Grand Prix last week.

The McLaren driver is now 113 points behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel with seven races to go.

The Spa crash followed on from a disappointing race in Hungary, where he finished in fourth after spinning while leading. He had scored a superb win in the previous race in Germany.

McLaren, however, insists Hamilton's aggressive style is what has secured him so many successes in F1, and will not try to change the Briton's driving style.

"Lewis has had an up and down season and is a great driver who has won races this year and every year that he's driven for McLaren, and he's always pushing very hard," McLaren principal engineer Philip Prew told a Vodafone phone-in on Wednesday.

"He obviously came into the season with great hopes of winning the championship and obviously it's going to be very difficult to achieve that from here. He's pushing hard, which brings its consequences of high risk and I think that's what we're seeing.

"We will not ask him to change because Lewis has a very charging and aggressive approach and we fully support that. It's won him championships and that's our intention.

"Lewis is a very clever guy and he's a very good racing driver, and he will reflect on the difficulties that he's had this year and he will come back stronger."

Prew said McLaren is set to shift its focus to the 2012 car, but he is still expecting some improvements that will help its pace this season.

"There's always been a balance, but as we approach the tail end of this season the emphasis will move towards the MP-27," he said, "but there's still much learning that we can have with the MP-26 so with the development plans that we have at the moment.

"We should be looking at components that will give lap time benefit that we can hopefully carry over to next year, such as with front wings and rear wings for example that are directly transferable with the changes in the regulations, so hopefully we can benefit from both seasons."

Felipe Massa is hoping higher track temperatures will help Ferrari enjoy a strong home race following a difficult Belgian Grand Prix.

The Italian squad endured a disappointing race at Spa as it struggled to get the best out of its tyres due to the low temperatures during the weekend.

Although the same tyre compounds will be used at Monza this weekend, Massa is hoping the warmer weather will make Ferrari much more competitive.

"Of course this is a very important weekend for us," Massa wrote on Ferrari's website.

"Not in the sense of it being a last chance for us this year or anything like that, but because we really want to produce a great result for ourselves, for the team and most of all for the fans.

"Spa was not fantastic for us and the cold weather accentuated our tyre problems, but this weekend, we have the same tyre compounds but hopefully much hotter weather. We will need a car with good top speed.

"Like all the teams, we will have a low downforce set-up unique to Monza, with small wings and in free practice you need to make sure the car is well balanced with good traction to pull out of the slow chicanes and that it is able to deal with jumping the kerbs, which is vital for a quick lap time, especially in qualifying."

He added: "Monza is our last weekend of racing in Europe this year and, because this season has not gone so well for us, it will be even more important to do our job perfectly and try and get the result that we and all the tifosi want and deserve."

The Brazilian is also predicting plenty of passing during this weekend's race due to the nature of the very fast Monza circuit.

"I think we will see a lot of overtaking, because of the high speed nature of the track and the fact we will have two zones where we can use the DRS," Massa said.

"I'm not saying it will be an advantage to be lying second coming into Parabolica on the last lap to overtake the car in front, because if you have a good car, it's probably a better strategy to pass before then and pull out a gap that is bigger than one second.

"However, if you are fighting right down to the last lap, that could be the case, which would make for a very exciting race. At this point of the season, it is not difficult to predict that Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren and of course Red Bull Racing will be the main contenders.

"However, Mercedes have shown they have possibly the best top speed on the straight out of all of us and as that is so important at this circuit, they could also have some influence on the final result."

Bruno Senna says he is facing the Italian Grand Prix with much more confidence following a promising start to life as a Renault racing driver at Spa.

The Brazilian, who had not raced in Formula 1 since last year, returned to competitive action in Belgium, where he replaced Nick Heidfeld at Renault.

Senna had a very good qualifying, finishing in seventh, but a mistake at the start of the race compromised his chances and he went on to finish in 13th.

Having a race under his belt, the Renault driver is heading to Italy confident of a stronger showing.

"Of course in Spa I didn't know what to expect in terms of the competitiveness, but it was extremely encouraging that I managed to develop my pace quickly, and work with the team well," said Senna.

"I have a strong working relationship with the engineers, and I am eager to get into the cockpit in Monza because I feel more confident heading into this race. As with any sport, miles on the clock and experience instil confidence in oneself."

He added: "I know the car much better now. I'm more familiar with the tendencies the car has, and I understand the direction we can take it. I'm looking forward to working closely with the engineers to devise solutions on where we can strengthen our approach."

Team boss Eric Boullier believes Monza will offer a clearer picture of Renault's actual form following a promising showing at Spa.

"It's difficult to draw too much from one race alone (Spa), whether that's in terms of who is in the race seat or the effect of the upgrade package, but Monza should give us a clearer indication as to how things are going.

"Monza is always a difficult track because it requires a low downforce set-up; it has high speed corners and high speed straights. After the steps we made in Spa, I'm confident we will have a progressive weekend in Italy too."

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali is adamant 2011 will be the "last disappointing season" for the Maranello squad, the Italian confident the team is building "an unbeatable structure".

"We are convinced this is the last disappointing season," Domenicali told Repubblica newspaper in an interview.

"[Jean] Todt won a lot, but he had time to build a winning team with extraordinary balance. I aim to do the same and am optimistic about the future.

"With this Red Bull... I may sound crazy, but I'm convinced we are building the basis to have an unbeatable structure. With a warning though: no lone men at the helm, like Red Bull with Newey, but a team.

"Alonso believes in it [the project]. He's signed until 2016, he is in the middle of his career. A winner like him wouldn't throw it down the drain, if he was not more than convinced about the project."

He added: "Ferrari is condemned to win: in our history we'll never be allowed to smile for a second place."

Ferrari has won just one race this year, and its drivers are all but out of contention for the title, with Fernando Alonso over 100 points behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

Despite its title chances nearly gone, Domenicali says Ferrari will not make the mistake of shifting focus to 2012 early again.

"It's a mistake we've already done in the past and we must not repeat it. Some of the current developments can be an important basis for next year," he added.

"The crucial point is to learn how to make full use of the tyres in every condition. From here to November we can experiment with peculiar set-ups and go forward with the work. Keep an aggressive approach, even though the championship is gone.

The Italian, whose team enjoyed a strong winter of testing, conceded seeing the huge gap to the front in the season-opening race was "shocking".

"Arriving at the first race in Australia and realizing we were 1.4 seconds off the pace," he said when asked what was the hardest part to accept about the season.

"Unacceptable and shocking. Hearing during the February test that everything was alright and then finding out in March that it wasn't. We were superficial about the exhausts, it was a tool for a jump forward and we underestimated it.

"The areas that can make a difference must be identified, if possible, even before our rivals do. While Alonso has scored 41 points more than last year in the first 12 races, it's not his fault if Vettel has killed the championship. We have made our mistakes, but he's been phenomenal."

[Lineker]

Daniel Ricciardo is confident of a strong performance in this weekend's Italian Grand Prix off the back of his Formula Renault 3.5 victory at Monza in May.

The Australian, who is heading into his fifth grand prix as an HRT driver, believes that both he and team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi will be boosted by racing at the track.

"Racing here does give me a bit more confidence," said Ricciardo when asked by AUTOSPORT about whether having won here earlier in the season is a help.

"Coming to a track where you have been successful always makes you enjoy it more. I'm ready for this weekend and it's Tonio's home race as well. If we can both push each other on and get close to or in front of the Virgins, and close the gap to Lotus, that would be a good weekend."

Ricciardo is confident that the low-downforce characteristics of the track will allow HRT to be more competitive.

The team has as Monza-specification rear wing for this weekend and the Australian believes that this will allow him to take the fight to Virgin.

"The nature of the circuit should bring everyone a bit closer," he said. "It won't be a disadvantage for us and, if anything, it should be an advantage.

"I'm hoping that this is one of the races where we can really challenge our rivals."

With two independent DRS activation zones for Sunday's race, one located on the start/finish straight and one on the run between Lesmo 2 and the Ascari chicane, Ricciardo expects it to be possible to stay close to potentially quicker cars.

"The two zones will help," said Ricciardo. "As long as we can get in range because if everyone else is in them and we're not in range, then we're going to fall away quite quickly.

"If we can hang in there for the first few laps, it could definitely close things up."

Rubens Barrichello is convinced he will be in Formula 1 next season, despite the delay to secure a new deal with the Williams team.

Barrichello is still in talks with Williams over a deal for next year, but speculation suggests other contenders for the seat are Adrian Sutil, Bruno Senna and Giedo van der Garde, who would arrived at the team with financial backing.

The Brazilian suggested he would only stay at Williams to have a more competitive season than in 2011, but he is sure to be in F1 next year.

"No, it is not going to happen," said Barrichello when asked if he was worried about not being in F1 next year. "I feel that in a way that I have to put everything into contest as well. I have to see how competitive everything is.

"A year like this, to be working for another year like this on my 20th year, I need something better. I feel the team is doing better with the engine change and the personnel change and everything, so I can see a good light at the end of the tunnel but I just want to continue because people want me to and they know I can win.

"Other than that, I will stay home and take care of the kids and winning my internet games. I already won this weekend my first virtual race, which is great!"

The veteran racer admitted he would have liked to have a deal for next year already, and says he is working hard to finalise something.

He added: "We are talking day by day. We just need to see. I wish we had done a deal already but it is taking a little longer, but so far there is nothing else to add, I am just working very hard to see what we can do as soon as possible.

"It is very flat in a way. I think that the team is taking everything into perspective, they know what I can offer. There is nothing else I can report, really. I am still waiting."

The Williams driver, who has scored just four points this year, is staying cautious about his chances for this weekend's race at Monza.

"It depends on what we have made as a team for here - the rear wing is that, and if it doesn't work it is the wing, but if it works that is the wing too, so we are very hopeful we made it quite well but we will wait and see for tomorrow. If you walk down the pit lane you see wings that are this big and wings that are small – it is very difficult to know."

Pastor Maldonado says he is feeling more confident about his own ability after securing his first Formula 1 point at the Belgian Grand Prix.

"For sure I feel more confident in the team, with the car, with everything," said Maldonado at Monza on Thursday.

"As a rookie you know you need a bit of time to adapt yourself to the different level in Formula 1, coming from GP2. But at the moment I feel at home, the team is great, especially because of the spirit.

"They are always pushing so hard and they always want more. In the factory, here in the track also. I spend a lot of time in the factory and in the simulator. So I think apart from the results were are doing well and I hope to improve myself race after race and even the car."

The Venezuelan, last year's GP2 champion, is also adamant that he is getting better with every race that goes by.

He added: "I'm improving. My only mission here is to improve race after race you know. I think that drivers never stop [learning].

"You can continually improve and I have done that so far this year. Every race I have been learning more from Rubens [barrichello] and learning more from the team. Also about the tracks and the different things that I have experienced in the past."

Despite his first point of the year, Maldonado is aware that Williams has to keep pushing following a difficult season.

"I am pleased especially for the team. For the country, for me. It's important but it's not everything. We need more, we need to keep pushing.

"The season is not over and we need to keep pushing. I think the team is doing good and they are still pushing on some new things. The car is improving race after race. I'm more experienced as well you know, so I am more confident with the team and the car."

He also admitted he would like Williams to keep Rubens Barrichello as his team-mate for next year.

"For sure Rubens and me we are working so hard and I feel very good with him in the team. I think him as well. We do have one of the most, in my opinion, strongest driver line-ups in Formula 1 and for sure I would like to have him in the team next year. But for both of us there is nothing at the moment."

Mark Webber says both he and Red Bull were given a confidence boost for Monza after a strong showing at Spa-Francorchamps.

Both Spa and Monza have been tipped as circuits Red Bull may struggle on, but they answered such concerns with an emphatic one-two finish last time out in Belgium.

After a poor start, Webber fought back to finish second at Spa, a drive which included a 'sensationally rewarding' pass on the outside of Fernando Alonso heading into Eau Rouge.

The Australian says such the strong showing in Belgium has boosted the team's confidence ahead of Monza, a circuit on which Red Bull are yet to taste victory.

"Spa has given us a little bit of confidence," Webber explained. "We were a bit more competitive in the first and last sector, when traditionally we haven't been.

"This place is different to Spa so we're not coming here thinking we'll be in amazing shape, but Spa gives us confidence - if it was the other way around and Spa was last, we might be more nervous.

"We got beaten on tracks on which we should have won, like Silverstone, so it's been different. Let's hope we are quick here this weekend."

Asked about the pass on Alonso at Spa, Webber said it looked closer on TV than in the car, but admitted it had been incredibly gratifying.

"I had some momentum and I don't know, most people were comfortable on their outlap but I didn't know how Fernando would be," he said.

"I thought we had a chance and had a go. It looked closer on TV than it did in the car.

"We have had sensational battles in the past and that is what it is all about – it was sensationally rewarding."

The Australian also defended Lewis Hamilton, after the Briton came in for criticism following his collision with Kamui Kobayashi during the race.

"He is not that aggressive, he is okay," Webber added. "He has just had a tough run in the last few races."

Vitaly Petrov says his position is not under threat despite the presence of Bruno Senna at the Renault team.

Senna has replaced Nick Heidfeld from the Belgian Grand Prix, and the Brazilian is aiming to secure a deal to race with the team next year too.

One seat is expected to go to Robert Kubica if the Pole manages to make a comeback following his accident.

Despite that and Senna's target, Petrov is adamant his contract guarantees him a seat in 2012.

"My contract is safe for next year," said Petrov. "I think if he beat me it would be all good, but to me it doesn't matter. I'll just drive like normal and we'll see."

Petrov, who turned 27 today, says nothing has changed at Renault following Heidfeld's exit.

"I think that everything is fine at the moment. I think we don't miss anything. Last year when we had Robert here it was more important but now I understand everything we need to do.

"Like you saw last week in qualifying there were some problems but we had a good race apart from the problem with the failed brake, but I didn't change anything."

The Russian says Renault has not been happy with its performance during the middle part of the season, and reckons the construction of a wind tunnel has hurt its chances.

"I think we've already stopped (development). We lost it at the start of the middle of the season because of the construction of our wind tunnel, which is why we lost the performance from the start of the season.

"Normally nobody is happy because we want to be the best and we want to fight with Mercedes, and if you look back at the beginning of the season Mercedes was nowhere compared to us but then we started to lose our performance and Mercedes grew up.

"The last three/four races were very difficult to get into the top 10 so this is why the team is very disappointed. When the team are happy it brings better results."

Fernando Alonso says Ferrari cannot take it for granted that it will be fast in 2012 even after taking the decision to switch its main focus to the design of next year's challenger.

AUTOSPORT revealed in August that Ferrari's main effort would go on delivering a more aggressive car design for next year, having realised the team was too conservative this season.

Alonso said Ferrari had the potential to be competitive from the outset, but insisted there could be no guarantees given the complex nature of Formula 1.

"It is impossible to be confident or be sure in Formula 1," Alonso declared.

"It is a very complex sport and next year even if you are confident and work 24 hours a day, when you put the car on the track you still have some nice surprises and some bad surprises.

"For next year, we are definitely working very hard to be competitive right from the beginning: that is the aim and the hard job we have to do.

"We have the potential, the right people, the facilities to be competitive right from the beginning."

Alonso's title hopes all but ended in Spa, with the Spaniard now 102 points behind Vettel in the championship. He says that Ferrari still want to win - particularly at their home grand prix - but remain realistic.

"We want to win races no doubt," he said, "but we are also very realistic. We know we were not very competitive in the last two or three grands prix and the updates in the car will be minimum now, so we remain more or less similar.

"Monza is very unique though - we do 100 per cent in every weekend, but here there is an extra care. I think there is a special atmosphere and special motivation, starting from the mechanics and engineers.

"Obviously winning for Ferrari last year was an amazing feeling, with all the passion in Italy that people feel for Ferrari. That is the aim this weekend, to do well and to enjoy the race."

Karun Chandhok will drive for Lotus again in opening free practice at Monza.

The team's reserve driver has appeared in five Friday sessions so far this year, as well as racing Jarno Trulli's usual car in the German Grand Prix, where he finished 20th.

"I love coming to Monza as this circuit has so much history and character. It is the fastest track on the calendar with speeds over 350km/h which is a great feeling for us drivers," said Chandhok.

"I have run most of my practice sessions in changeable conditions so am hoping for a dry run tomorrow."

Bruno Senna has asked Renault to be 'tough' on him as he seeks to bring himself up to speed quickly in the team.

The Brazilian, who was promoted to a race seat within the team from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards, said he needs the squad to give him as much feedback as possible so that he can make the most of his opportunity.

"When I'm working I'm a perfectionist I try to get everything right. I work very, very hard and I try to give 100% every time I'm in the car," he said at Monza on Thursday. "So if I am not doing well I get grumpy.

"If the team makes a mistake I'm sure to point it out to them, the same way that if I am not performing I have already told them: 'You have to give me a hard time' because I want to be pushed into doing the best.

"The working environment is very harsh - not in a bad way – but it is a very 'let's push up all the way to the limit all the time', and that's how I am happy to work."

Senna admitted that he is still on a steep learning curve, having only had one race distance under his belt and that one of the uncertainties he has is how much impact he can make on car development in terms of set-up.

"The biggest challenge is that young drivers do not necessarily have the right path in our mind in where to take the development of the car," said Senna. "But this is relative, sometimes a driver can have this naturally and sometimes he learns it.

"This is the experience I am about to have, to know if my way of thinking and my way of working with the team will be automatically good for the development of the car or not. But I have a few races to try to that."

Senna added that completing a race distance last time at Spa means that he can approach the Italian Grand Prix from a different perspective.

"First I already have a weekend under my belt so I am not going into a complete unknown," he said. "And also there is the fact that I am going to be racing until the end of the season which is great. It means that the team is happy to give me the opportunity to stay in the car.

"It's going to be a great chance for me to prove myself. But I will have a very different approach from Spa."

Michael Schumacher doubts whether Mercedes will be any more competitive than usual at Monza despite the circuit's long straights potentially playing into its hands.

Mercedes had one of its most competitive showings of recent months at Spa a fortnight ago, when Nico Rosberg led the opening laps and Schumacher came from the back of the grid to fifth.

The car's straightline speed was a key element in that performance, but despite Monza's layout featuring mostly long straights and few fast corners, Schumacher expects his team to be in its usual position behind Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

"Look at our ranking and at the moment it's pretty consistent in seventh or eighth - we are the fourth-strongest team and that's what is the optimum," he said.

"At Monza straightline speed is good for us. Circuits with less corners seem to be beneficial.

"But honestly I don't think it's really enough to change our general position because the gap is too big."

The seven-time world champion took five victories at Monza in his Ferrari days, but sees no chance of repeating that feat with Mercedes in 2011.

"Certainly winning Monza is one of the sensational moments, and particularly being up on the podium - I think it's a unique atmosphere on the podium, there's nowhere else quite so intense," Schumacher said.

"But I don't think we have a reason to talk about victories in my position, at the moment. We'll have to postpone this for next year."

He also denied that his charge from the rear of the field in the Belgian Grand Prix had given him a boost for this weekend, saying it was more the case that the media had paid greater attention to his Spa drive rather than it marking a step forward in his performance.

"It definitely gave me satisfaction but it only confirmed what I've been telling you guys and what I know that I'm able to do," said Schumacher. "I've not always been able to show this for various reasons.

"I didn't feel I have a reason to lose that confidence - the ability is still there. At most of the races this year I've been there or even quicker, although the results didn't show that."

Jenson Button has defended his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the wake of the younger Briton's chaotic Belgian Grand Prix weekend, and denied that Hamilton's performances are any more wayward than in past seasons.

Hamilton has been involved in a number of incidents this year, getting embroiled in several clashes during the Monaco GP, colliding with Button in Canada, and banging wheels with Pastor Maldonado in qualifying at Spa before tangling with Kamui Kobayashi in the race.

But Button sees no reason to suggest that Hamilton has become more erratic in 2011.

"I think Lewis is Lewis. I don't think he's changed this year from last year," said Button.

"He's a very fast, extremely fast, driver that loves overtaking. I don't really know what else to say about Lewis."

While acknowledging that he had remained calmer than his team-mate this year, Button also backed Hamilton's handling of his difficulties.

"We've very different people. Lewis is more outspoken, but is that wrong? I don't know," he said.

"It's sometimes good to get your points across. If you have an issue with something, you have to let people know. We're just different people in that respect.

"I personally feel that it's better to talk through the team than through the media. But it's just how we're built. We're built differently. We're both very passionate about racing but maybe it comes across in different ways."

Button and Hamilton are currently fourth and fifth in the world championship respectively, three points apart.

Jenson Button says that 'learning from mistakes' will be key for McLaren as it finalises its 2012 car design, after last winter's exhaust debacle.

McLaren's 2011 contender started out with a radical exhaust layout, but it proved uncompetitive and unreliable in winter testing, and after a troubled build-up the system was shelved prior to the opening race. Lewis Hamilton then qualified and finished second in the season opener despite the new, simplified, exhaust having not been tested prior to the Melbourne weekend.

Although McLaren has won four races this season, it has been unable to challenge Red Bull's domination of the championship, and Button believes that had his team managed to use winter testing more productively, this might not have been the case.

"Next year I really don't know how good we're going to be at this moment in time," he said.

"Everyone starts building their cars earlier and earlier for the next season, and for us to say we're going to do a better job than anyone else - how can we judge that? Ferrari are saying they're going to rule Formula 1 for the next 300 years or something, but I don't know how quick we're going to be next year.

"I hope that we're competitive and I think we've learned a lot this season in terms of trying new things over the winter and being ready for the first test and not wasting time over the testing period - because basically all the testing for us over the winter was pointless in a way.

"We put on the exhaust system at the first race and it was great. But maybe if we started with that exhaust system and we'd spent three weeks of testing with it we could have improved it even further and we could've come to the first race and won it.

"It's definitely taking calculated risks over the winter when it comes to new parts like the exhaust, which was become such a big part of the car this year."

Button added that while McLaren's 2011 car has not turned out to be a title contender, he feels extremely comfortable driving it and is confident of a very strong end to the season following his win in Hungary and charge from 13th to third at Spa.

"I'm very happy with the car and confident in the direction we've taken with it," he said.

"The balance of the car's nice and I feel that it suits my style, which is good. Sometimes you don't get the balance you want on a grand prix weekend, but you just have to get it right more often than not.

"I feel it's going to continue this weekend. I have the confidence in the car to really throw it around, which is maybe the biggest thing which is different from previous seasons, and I think that will show in qualifying over the next few races.

"I'm very happy with what I'm doing with the car, and I think with the tools I have available to me, I'm doing the best job I can. I'm really enjoying it as well, which is massively important."

Sebastian Vettel is not assuming he is on the verge of the 2011 Formula 1 world drivers' title despite his rivals admitting the German has all but beaten them this season.

The Red Bull driver is 92 points ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber and 102 in front of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Vettel can afford not to finish the next three races and still maintain his lead in the championship with just seven races (or 175 points) left up for grabs.

Yet in spite of this advantage - which could net him the title as early as Singapore - Vettel remained cautious when quizzed at Monza about retaining his world crown.

"I know that we are in a good position but the championship is still open and we need to keep the focus and keep the attention to every small detail and make sure we always get the best out of ourselves and out of the car for every single race," he said.

"It's the same again for here, it's a circuit that maybe doesn't fit to our car as much as others but then again we don't know, so tomorrow will be important and then maybe there is a chance to win. I think we have to go for it.

"If it is out of reach then it would be stupid to do so, it always depends the situation to judge what you can do on a weekend. But from a championship point of view we are in a strong position and we have been working very hard and made few mistakes so far and I think we deserve to be in that position but this doesn't guarantee that it will all be fine at the next races.

"I think the example of last year is a very good one because we saw how quickly things could change.

"Fernando won here and then in Singapore, and before here people had said that he was out of the championship and then going into the last race he was the championship leader so... Obviously it looks a little bit different this year but I think you have to be aware of how quickly things can change."

Vettel was the one who snatched the title from Alonso's grasp in the 2010 finale in Abu Dhabi and admits that he has preferred to control the championship campaign from the front, rather than having to chase his rivals down as he did last year.

"I prefer the position I am in now for sure," he said. "Obviously you know that when you are doing the hunting then you have to deliver the results otherwise there is the threat that the guys ahead will edge away from you so it's a bit different this year.

"But the most important race to be leading the championship is the last one which we did last year and that's really what we are after."

Vettel added that he believed becoming world champion had had a positive effect on him and his team, and that knowledge gained from winning titles had blended extra confidence into the package's competitiveness.

"Obviously in this championship this year the car is different from last year but I think for myself especially as a team we have learned a lot," he said. "Things that you see like our pitstops are very good on average, but most of the things you don't really see on TV, small things.

"We really improved a lot of small things, we have come together, more consistent, and deliver the results with fewer mistakes. I think there are still areas where we can improve, but from an attitude point-of-view the whole team is calmer and we know what we can do. We are not panicking as easily and I think we have become much stronger.

"You can see this in races even where we struggled against ourselves and did not get the optimum where others simply were quicker than us but we still managed to finish on the podium – or fourth in Germany – all in all I think we are going in the right direction."

Lewis Hamilton has no plans to alter his approach to racing in Formula 1 - and thinks a change of luck is all he needs to start making positive headlines again.

The Briton has been under the spotlight on the back of a number of incidents this year, including a clash with Jenson Button in Canada, spinning in Hungary and collisions with Pastor Maldonado and Kamui Kobayashi over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

But despite criticism of his aggressive style, Hamilton believes that a fresh approach is not required to turn his situation around.

"I will continue to drive the way I do," said Hamilton ahead of the Italian GP. "I will just try my hardest to stay out of trouble. I will give people extra room when I overtake them!"

After his crash with Kobayashi in Belgium, which lost him further ground to Sebastian Vettel in the championship battle, Hamilton has said the focus for now is delivering a good result not for his title prospects but because he wants to be back in the headlines for all the right reasons.

"I'm trying to get back to having some good results, so I can stop negative stories being written about me," he said. "I don't read them, but I hear there are pretty bad stories that are written about me, so I am thinking it will be good to give you guys something good to write about me."

Hamilton does not feel that he is doing anything different this year to previous seasons – but thinks his driving is being looked at more closely because he is not in a position to fight for the title.

"I have had two DNFs or three DNFs, so have had similar DNFs to other people but I feel I have had worse races," he explained. "Monaco was a poor race, but it wasn't entirely my fault, although in the race I did have incidents.

"I guess I am an easy target at the moment because I am always in trouble, so hopefully at some stage I will move away from that spotlight and get into a good light, and people will only have good things to say.

"It feels like it's been a worse year than I have had previously. In 2007 and 2008, there were some incidents there as well, but because I won the championship they were forgotten. I guess as I am not competing for the championship right now it is different."

He added: "I honestly think in the last race I was driving as well as I always drive. I think I qualified well, I performed well all weekend.

"There was a little bit of frustration with the situation I was in on Saturday, as it was unnecessary, but we tried to move on from that. I was in a good position in the race to compete for at least second, and it was just a mistake. It wasn't because I was being aggressive, I just didn't know he [Kobayashi] was there. It wasn't because I was being aggressive. People blame it on aggressive driving style but it had nothing to do with that."

Hamilton believes that he has a good chance of getting back onto the podium in Monza, with much effort being made on trying to work out the ideal wing settings to use this weekend.

"I'm feeling good, but I don't know what to expect," he said. "We will find out tomorrow if we are competitive on the straights.

"If you look in the garages there are people with very, very thin wings and people with similar wings to what they had in the last race. We have a similar wing to what we had in the last race, but I am hopeful it will work and we will be competitive."

Aldo Costa looks set to make a return to Formula 1 with Mercedes GP, having left Ferrari earlier this year as part of a staffing reshuffle.

The Italian was dropped as technical director of Ferrari in May on the back of a disappointing start to the season, and it was announced in July that rather than move to another position in the company he would be leaving the team.

Speculation has now suggested that Costa could renew his links with Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn, with the pair having worked closely together at Ferrari in the past.

And the suggestions of a tie-up grew at Monza on Thursday when Brawn did not deny that Costa could be on his way to the team.

When asked by AUTOSPORT about Costa joining the team, Brawn paused before saying: "We don't comment on our structure, as you know."

When pushed about whether someone like Costa would be a good addition to the outfit as it bids to get back to winning ways, Brawn said: "We don't comment on our organisation."

Cosworth has appointed Kim Spearman as its new head of Formula 1 operations, AUTOSPORT can reveal, following the surprise departure of Mark Gallagher ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

Gallagher has resigned from his role as General Manager F1 Business Unit of Cosworth after two successful years at the Northampton-based engine supplier to pursue other interests in motor sport.

He previously worked at Pacific, Jordan, Lola and Red Bull Racing, and joined Cosworth in 2009 to help develop its Formula 1 business.

During that time he has maintained an involvement in the successful Status Grand Prix team, which won the A1GP Series title in 2009, and is currently fighting for the championship in the GP3 Series title chase with Alexander Sims.

Speaking about his decision, Gallagher told AUTOSPORT: "It has been a great privilege to run Cosworth's F1 business for over two years and to work with such talented people. The company produces world class products, and that applies particularly to the CA F1 engine, which is truly competitive.

"Next year will be my 30th in professional motorsport and I have a number of ambitions for the future, hence my decision to move on. This will include helping my team, Status Grand Prix, and my partners Teddy Yip and David Kennedy to achieve their objectives in GP3 and beyond.

"Meantime it has been very rewarding to play my part in Cosworth's return to F1 as an engine supplier, and I wish the company, its management and staff every success for the future."

Spearman, who has worked at a senior position within Cosworth for many years, has taken over Gallagher's responsibilities at the company with immediate effect and is at this weekend's Italian GP.

A Cosworth spokesman told AUTOSPORT: "Cosworth would like to thank Mark for his efforts over the last 18 months in helping to re-establish the Cosworth name back in F1, and the company wishes him all the very best of success in the future.

"Cosworth is fortunate to have strength in depth and has already appointed Kim Spearman to take over the company's F1 Business Unit, effective from this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

"Kim has been at Cosworth for 24 years and has been involved in various motorsport championships around the globe over the years. He has great technical and operational knowledge which we are sure will benefit our F1 unit and its customers.

"For Cosworth, it is business as usual with our immediate focus on this weekend's Italian Grand Prix in Monza."

Thursday's press conference:

DRIVERS - Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari), Kamui KOBAYASHI (Sauber) Vitantonio LIUZZI (HRT), Felipe MASSA (Ferrari), Jarno TRULLI (Team Lotus), Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing).

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Jarno, good person to start with because you've said your home race doesn't mean that much to you...

Jarno TRULLI: Yeah, it's true. It's always been like that. It's nice to be in Italy but I actually don't live in the north of Italy, I actually live, I come from the centre of Italy, so from Abruzzo, so I don't have a special, special feeling. Obviously, it's important, it's nice to be in Monza, also because Monza is special, the atmosphere is special for every driver not only for an Italian one because we've got the Italian supporters, the Ferrari supporters – the tifosi – so that makes this event special. For myself it's nothing different compared to any other race.

Q. What has changed for you is the power steering. First of all, can you tell us why you didn't have it in Spa but also why has it made so much of a difference?

JT: For me it makes a lot of difference because I can actually feel the car and get the exact car behaviour, which I didn't have with the old one. I was pretty much a passenger before rather than a driver. With the new one it's normal power steering. It works as it should but unfortunately in Spa we couldn't use it for technical reasons. It's back here and I just hope I can keep it for the rest of the season.

Q. Are those technical reasons likely to prevent you from using it again?

JT: We might have to probably jump another race but at the moment I just want to concentrate and focus on this one.

Q. Kamui, first of all I think you mentioned in your preview that you raced here a lot in Formula Renault Italia when you were racing in that championship? Kamui KOBAYASHI: I had quite a lot of experience in Italy, I think I lived here for two years as well, so I have always good memories of Italy and the greatest feelings here as well.

Q. You're also expecting quite a difficult race here, why is that?

KK: Well, I mean it's Monza, it's always a low-downforce track but I mean for us, even last year we had no competitiveness here. OK, like we had Monza spec wing but usually we struggle a lot over the kerbs, we struggle a lot usually, more that at other tracks. In Monza it is very important about kerb-riding. We mentioned a little bit of a difficult week but last year we [qualified] like P12, which was not too bad, so hopefully this year we can have a race, because last year before the start I had technical problems with gearbox or whatever and I couldn't start, so we'll see this year.

Q. So, once we get this race over with do you expect to bounce back a little bit to where you feel you should be?

KK: Well, I mean this week, I'm quite competitive and not so negative because we have, I believe, our package in Monza is not too bad and from last year our experience was OK. We have a few updates, so, we'll see.

Q. Tonio, first of all, I believe you have a special helmet this weekend; can you tell us about it?

Vitantonio LIUZZI: Yes, in a way it is a little surprise for our fans for the Italian Grand Prix. For me, it's always a wonderful feeling to be at a home Grand Prix. Before, I started my Formula One career in Imola at another Italian Grand Prix but it is always a great feeling to be here in Monza: it's an historic circuit; it's a great race and that's why for every Italian GP I try to make something different to thank my fans and to remember especially this year that it is the 150th anniversary of Italy, so we did a little new design with my designer, Kaos Design, that always is the inventor of these ideas, and I hope the fans will like it.

Q. How important do you think it is that the Italian Grand Prix is in Monza rather than… following the stories about it being in Firenze or Rome or Pescara or somewhere?

VL: Monza is the only really historical circuit that Italy has left, one of the few at least, and because of the long history I would especially keep this circuit because it is quite different to all the other circuits in F1, this season especially. It makes everything different. And I think every driver likes it because it is the only circuit with such a top speed and low downforce, so at the end of the day it is good to have the grand prix here, even though we have circuits like Imola and others that could be competitive – but I like this circuit because it is different. But at the end of the day that's how it is. I'm sure Mr Ecclestone will keep on going with the Italian Grand Prix as long as possible and hopefully it will be here in Monza.

Q. And finally, the team seems to be on a much more stable basis, how has that affected it from your point of view?

VL: I have to say that the team has made a good step forward in terms of stability – as you said that we improved. At the beginning everybody wasn't sure, there were a lot of talks about the rest of the season, continuity, things like that. The Carabantes did a really great job before but now with the new owners, Thesan Capital, there seems to be a big future for the team, they are planning to make a big step forward from next year on. At the moment, also because of this change of owners, we had a bit of a slowing down in terms of development this season, because all the upgrades we were planning didn't arrive in time and we are maybe one or two months behind the schedule but the big project is for the future, for 2012 and I have to say the new owner Thesan are planning big things for the team. I hope we will move forward as soon as possible but we are planning highly for 2012.

Q. Mark, even this morning people were still talking about your overtaking manoeuvre with Fernando at Spa. Now you've had a look at it from a different angle, what did you think of it?

Mark WEBBER: Ah, it looked closer on TV than it did in the car, to be honest. Yeah, as I said at the time, I had some momentum and I didn't know… I mean most people were comfortable on the out lap through Eau Rouge but I didn't know how comfortable Fernando would be so I probably would have had to wait and see how it went but I thought 'well, I have a chance, I'm up to speed, let's see how it goes'. So yeah, it worked out OK. Fernando fought hard and fair and as we've had many sensational battles in the past together and that's what it's about. Extremely rewarding. That day it went my way; there's been many days it hasn't gone my way and Fernando's had it, so it was good that it turned out OK.

Q. What about this circuit? The team was quite nervous before the start in Belgium, what about this circuit?

MW: Spa's given us a little bit of confidence. We were a bit more competitive in the first sector and the last sector in Spa where traditionally we haven't been. The track here, yes it's quick but it does have some different demands to Spa in terms of the way the profile of the corners are and obviously there's some kerbing as well. So we have some confidence after Spa but we're not coming here thinking we're going to be in amazing shape. We're going to be competitive. Ferrari and McLaren will be quick again so Spa just gave us a bit of confidence to come to this venue and maybe do a bit better than we probably would have been able to if it was the other way around – if Monza was first we might be more nervous.

Q. Does it surprise you when you actually overcome circuits where you're not meant to be doing well? We've had one or two this year and yet you always seen to have done extremely well as a team.

MW: Yeah, but we got beaten on the tracks where we should have won. Fernando dominated Silverstone, so it's been a bit different this year, that's the way it's been. Let's hope it's the same here again and we're quick and competitive but then can pick our performance up on the tracks where we should be better.

Q. Fernando, obviously a previous winner here, you've been talking about your memories of a year ago, particularly about what it's like to be a Ferrari winner at Monza. Fernando ALONSO: It's very special obviously, as Jarno said before, I think racing at Monza is special with any team because Monza is a very unique track – the highest speed we will reach in the Championship again this year and it remains a very special track for us. Not only for the layout, for the proper speeds that we reach here and the atmosphere and the fans and the place the circuit is in. It's a good place and obviously winning for Ferrari last year was an amazing feeling. We call them tifosi for all the passion people in Italy feel for Ferrari and it was great and obviously the aim, the target for this weekend, is again to do well, to enjoy the race and make the grandstand also enjoy the show.

Q. Stefano said that the team will do everything they possibly can to win and while I'm sure they do that every weekend, what does it mean from your point of view?

FA: I think there is a special atmosphere, a special motivation this weekend for all of us, starting from the mechanics and the engineers, they have their families in the grandstands, they have people they know in the paddock and it is a race…. We all do 100 per cent every weekend we go, but here in Monza there is this extra care in everything we do and we want everything perfect, from tomorrow's practice to Sunday. So I'm sure that all of us will make an extra effort to do everything perfect this weekend.

Q. How important are the track temperatures? We've heard a lot about track temperatures, and I'll ask Felipe the same question, but obviously you must happy that it's meant to be warmer here?

FA: Yeah, it should be OK. It should be better for us. For different reasons it seems that our car struggles a little bit with cold track temperatures and we had quite a difficult summer with four or five consecutive races that it was damp, it was raining, it was very cold and we took a little bit of time after the pit stops and in qualifying especially to get the performance out of the car, so it's good to know that here it will be a little bit warmer, but we don't know exactly the performance change. As Mark said before, I don't think there will be anyone in a dominant position this weekend. It will be a very close battle as it has been in the last couple of race, with McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari. Mercedes, I guess, will be also very quick here with all the long straights, so it's going to be an interesting weekend and we have to do everything perfectly if we want to be at the front. If not you can be seventh or eighth very quickly.

Q. Felipe, where do you see the hierarchy? How do you see it?

Felipe MASSA: As Fernando said, it's a different circuit, so here, you know, it's important to have a good direction: a good top speed, but also a good car over the kerbs. I hope we can put everything together, even the temperature in the middle can help us to be a little bit stronger and fight as we did last year.

Q. And how much does all that support mean from the tifosi? What does that mean to the drivers?

FM: It does a lot, for sure. Being at the home grand prix is always special. We have an extra power from the people. I won two races in Brazil and the power from the people helps. It gives a lot of support, a lot of confidence as well. And here it's the same. By being here and looking at everyone in red pushing us to the front is very, very special and I hope we have another good weekend like it was last year.

Q. Stefano has mentioned that you've had a problem with the tyre temperatures for maybe a decade he even said. I don't know if you agree. You've been there quite a long time.

FM: I agree. For sure, we're struggling on the core temperature. This year we had many races… even in Hungary it was 15 degrees and even wet. So we're working very hard on that. But anyway, let's think about this weekend and I hope the temperature helps us and it is on the direction we wants as well.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Alex Popov – RTR) Gentlemen, a question for all of you. It's about Monza, but from a different point of view. We all know the stories, the atmosphere, the high speed. But purely from a driver's point of view, is it interesting to drive, like Spa or Suzuka?

VL: It's quite different of course. It's not like Spa, that I think every one of us loves. But, from my point of view, it could be much more interesting than a lot of new different circuits that have a different shape, but Monza is beautiful because even though there are just five or six corners, not many, but all the corners are crucial for the lap time. Even if it's a simple chicane, it has such a long straight after the chicane that you really need to be precise and sharp to have the best exit out of it. So, at the end of the day it's different. It might seem less interesting than other races but for the driver it's really difficult to achieve the 100 per cent lap every time in qualifying and in the race. That's why it makes it really hard in that even if you do have a lot longer time between the corner to think about it or relax.

JT: I do agree. It's still an interesting circuit. It's very different from Spa. Spa is the best in the world. It's a challenging and technical. Here it's not the most technical even though it has some technical. But still, you've got to know where to put your tyres in order to get a lap time around this long circuit. There are some crucial corners or corner exits, which are really important in order to get it right.

FM: Monza is definitely different to the other tracks, not just because of the long straights, but from a driving point of view you have low downforce. By having the low downforce to be quick on the straight, it's also true that you have very strong braking. With low downforce the grip is not normal like at other tracks where you have higher downforce and very strong grip and braking. Here you have a little bit less. But you also need a good car over the kerbs. For sure you have less corners than a normal track but it's also not easy. You need to put everything together. You need to have a good car in terms of speed and braking and over the kerbs. This is a part of that. It's very special to race here because of the history we have on this track. The people – the love of motor racing is completely inside.

Q. You've reminded me of another question I wanted to ask. You're going to be running minimal wing here, so how important is DRS going to be? Is it going to have much of an effect?

MW: It'll still reduce the drag of the rear wing, so the speed will increase. Obviously less than a full wing, like maybe Silverstone or places like that. But, it's going to work. We don't know how effective it will be against the opposition because we don't how quick they will be. So it'll work but probably a bit less. But it's all relative. All of us will have less, it's not like it's not going to be as powerful potentially so… as with most times this year we only learn after Sunday night if the DRS was set to conservative, like in Barcelona, or too aggressive, like in maybe Turkey and Spa and places like that. But it's very difficult to get it right, for the organisers or for the loops to understand how powerful it will be.

Q. (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) Fernando, you've won here twice. Once for McLaren in 2007, which wasn't maybe your happiest year and last year with Ferrari, a team you've declared yourself in love with. How different were those two wins here?

FA: They were very different. Much more emotions last year because it's not only the Sunday race, it's the whole weekend. When you arrive and you drive for Ferrari there is the support from the fans, therefore in the hotels here and in the paddock. There a lot of activities in this week for our team. We are a little busier here than on some other races. When you win and you see all the start-finish line full of the tifosi on the race track, really being so happy that one red car won that race. An Italian car won the Italian Grand Prix once more. It's a very special feeling. In 2007 it was like winning a normal race at another circuit. The reaction from the tifosi was not the same.

Q. (James Allen – Financial Times) Yesterday at Pirelli, there was an interesting discussion about whether maybe next year teams could chose which two compounds Pirelli would bring for them, rather than Pirelli saying 'we're going to bring this and this'. You could actually chose, say a month ahead: 'we'd quite like this one and this one.' I would like to ask Mark and Fernando, as two front runners, whether you think a) it would change the racing very much, b) would most of you probably go for the same thing in the end? What's your initial feeling about that? Could it be a good thing?

MW: It obviously throws a little bit more into the mix. It would not be easy to pick (the tyres) a month before, in terms of allocation and what specific venues might need, but there's enough data to float around so that you could probably get quite accurate with what your car would need. Obviously, that's what the teams would be targeting. Clearly Ferrari, at some venues this year, would probably take a different type if they could but they don't have that luxury at the moment. It's the first I've heard of it, not easy for you guys to explain in terms of commentary… I suppose different people having different problems with tyres. But, yeah, not a stupid idea but obviously it needs a bit more thought to see how it would work over the course of a full season, and obviously for the lead teams to make the decision… it's another part of our week in that we would have to make a decision, as we have to do with lots of other components on the car. The compounds would be another part of that mix.

Q. (Julien Febreau – L'Equipe) What do you think about Lewis Hamilton's driving style, in terms of aggression, and do you consider that he's too aggressive?

MW: No, he's not that aggressive, he's OK. He's just had a tough run in the last few races.

FA: Good.

FM: Yes.

KK: I think he's OK as well. Maybe I think you need to be aggressive when you're racing.

Q. (Anthony Rowlinson – Red Bulletin) Fernando, obviously this year we may get a double World Champion in Sebastian. I would like to ask you what it was like to win two titles, back-to-back in '05 and '06, how difficult that was, and also how you felt when you'd done it the second time?

FA: Well, the feeling is fantastic, no doubt. I think that when you win your first one, it's something that it's difficult to believe. You need some time to realise that you are World Champion, and maybe you enjoy the second one more because you race each weekend leading the championship with a big advantage as Sebastian has now, and you probably enjoy every race more and every win and every podium tastes differently. You are no longer so focused on being World Champion in Formula One. Now you are much more open, much more relaxed and you enjoy it more. So the feeling is nice. Obviously for me, both championships were fantastic, very different comparing 2005, 2006 with a little bit more advantage in 2006. Three races to the end, it was OK and then in the last one it was very tight with Michael; until the last race we were on equal points so it was different feelings and I'm sure that for him (Sebastian) it's the same. Last year he arrived third (at the last race) and the first time he led the championship was after Abu Dhabi. This year, he's leading the championship from the beginning to the end. I'm sure that it's also very different for him.

Q. (Gary Meenaghan - The National) Jarno, you mentioned yesterday that you think Ferrari can sometimes be a constraint to the development of Italian drivers. I was hoping that you could maybe expand on that a little, and to Tonio, if you agree with that.

JT: I think only an Italian driver can understand this feeling because Ferrari is a unique team. It's a myth and as an Italian in a way, we all have to be proud about that because there is nothing close to what Ferrari is around the world. But unfortunately for any Italian driver, it makes life a little bit hard – I'm saying in motor sport, not only for a Formula One driver but in motor sport because obviously mainly when you're born, you don't know about Formula One or what you do know about Formula One you know about a red car. That's what Formula One means for any Italian family and young guns and drivers. And this takes a lot of attention away from the motor sport and growing young drivers. So on one side, it's very good because, as I said, we have to be proud about that, because there is nothing and no one close to compare with Ferrari around the world. On the other hand, it makes our life a little bit hard, but honestly, I'm lucky in a way, because I made it to Formula One and I have never really suffered from that, because I've dealt with it pretty well. I actually get on well… I've always had a very good relationship with Ferrari even though I've never driven for them, but I don't have any feeling of what… it's just a matter of understanding what is motor sport and Formula One in Italy.

VL: I agree completely with Jarno. It's more difficult, for sure, because you are a bit more in the shadow, but he covered all areas, you could say, so I completely agree with him.

Q. (Silvia Arias – Diario Libre) Mark, you're in second position in the championship this year but you haven't won a race yet. What are your feelings about that, and your chances for this weekend?

MW: Yeah, it's disappointing that I haven't won a race yet this year but I'm sure it will happen before the year's out. I'm confident of that. I've been very, very strong and consistent which is also not always easy. You have many opportunities to make errors and mistakes but I've also done things that I've been very proud of this year but the victory hasn't yet happened. I'm sure it will come. I'm not getting too fired up about that to be honest. Like Nurburgring, you know. It comes when you least expect it. If it's this weekend, no better place to start than in Monza.

Q. (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Next year's calendar has come out since the last race and there is no Turkish Grand Prix and Bahrain is back on again in April. I just wondered about some thoughts on that, what you feel about ostensibly Turkey not being back on the calendar. Is that a loss to Formula One?

FM: I think there's one more race. We were supposed to do 20 races this year already, we didn't for different reasons. It will be a little tighter, more races, more races on successive weekend. It's OK. We are here to race so let's go and do one more race without any problems. We're no longer going to Turkey any more; it's a place where I won three times, so it's especially a nice track for me, but unfortunately we're not going. But we're going back to Bahrain; it's a place I also enjoy to race and we're going to the US again, so I hope we have a very nice track to race on in America. Nothing more to say.

Q. (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) Fernando, are you as comfortable now as Stefano Domenicali is about next season and given that this season the title is almost impossible, how many victories would make you happy from here to the finish of the season?

FA: For next year, definitely we are working very hard to be competitive right from the beginning and the aim and hard job that we have to do now in this next couple of months, in the winter testing and all the time we have available from now to the first race next year but it's impossible to be confident or to be sure in Formula One. It's a very complex sport and next year, even if you are confident, even if you work 24 hours a day, when you put the car on the track in February, you can always have some nice surprises but also some bad surprises. Let's hope that with the effort from all of us, we can be competitive from the beginning and it should be like that because I think we have the potential, the right people, we have the talented people in the team and all the facilities available to be competitive right from the beginning. As for this year, obviously with six races to go, seven with this one, we want to win races, no doubt, but we are also very realistic. We know the situation, we know that we were not very competitive in the last two or three Grands Prix and the updates in the car will be minimal from other teams now so we will all remain more or less similar, so it will depend track to track and how you adapt yourself or how much luck you have that weekend, so let's concentrate here in Monza, try to win this one and after that we will see.

[Lineker]

McLaren enjoyed a perfect start to the Italian Grand Prix weekend, with Lewis Hamilton topping the times in the opening practice session on Friday.

The Briton's best time of 1m23.865s put him nearly a second clear of team-mate Jenson Button, second today in the other McLaren.

Championship leader Red Bull, which has never won at this track, had a low-key session, with Sebastian Vettel finishing in third place but over a full second behind Hamilton.

Team-mate Mark Webber was fourth.

Adrian Sutil completed the top five in the Force India car.

Fan favourites Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa also had a slow start to the weekend in the Ferraris, the Spaniard finishing down in seventh with the Brazilian right behind.

On a sunny and hot day at the Italian circuit, Jerome D'Ambrosio was the first man to set a time with some 15 minutes gone, as the rest of the drivers spent the initial part of the session completing installation laps, with very little action on track in the first half hour.

Only at the 30-minute mark D'Ambrosio's time was bettered, by some nine seconds, after HRT's Daniel Ricciardo completed his first timed lap, the Australian then going some three seconds quicker on the following lap. He stayed on top until he was outpaced by Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari at the 33-minute mark.

The Spanish driver improved his time to a 1m27.224s moments later, leaving him over half a second clear of the field as more drivers began to set times.

World champion Vettel shot to the top of the times with 40 minutes of the session gone, the Red Bull driver stopping the clock at 1m26.381s and then at a 1m25.914s, with team-mate Webber moving into second place at the same time.

Hamilton then took the top spot with some 40 minutes of the session left, the Briton the first man to lap in the 1m24s in the McLaren.

The Briton's time stayed as the best until the final three minutes of the session, when Hamilton himself went quicker, posting a 1m24.127s and then a 1m23.865s to end on top.

Michael Schumacher was the protagonist of one of the few incidents of the session when he went off at Parabolica nearing the one-hour mark, the German lucky to avoid contact with the wall.

Nearly at the same time, Lotus's Heikki Kovalainen's session came to an end after the Finn was forced to park his car due to a technical problem. Kovalainen managed just 10 laps before his stoppage.

D'Ambrosio also stopped on track with some sort of problem with around 15 minutes left, the Belgian having to leave his Virgin parked on track.

Team-mate Timo Glock did not have a very productive session either, the German managing few laps as the team carried out a lot of checks to the new parts introduced.

FP1


Pos  Driver                Team                  Time               Laps

 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.865s            18

 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.786s  + 0.921   19

 3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m25.231s  + 1.366   25

 4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m25.459s  + 1.594   24

 5.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m26.550s  + 2.685   23

 6.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault               1m26.625s  + 2.760   20

 7.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m26.647s  + 2.782   20

 8.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m26.676s  + 2.811   24

 9.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.694s  + 2.829   28

10.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.696s  + 2.831   15

11.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m26.699s  + 2.834   21

12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m26.826s  + 2.961   21

13.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1m26.836s  + 2.971   25

14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.996s  + 3.131   29

15.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth     1m27.365s  + 3.500   25

16.  Bruno Senna           Renault               1m27.385s  + 3.520   23

17.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m27.433s  + 3.568   25

18.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m27.492s  + 3.627   24

19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault         1m29.539s  + 5.674   10

20.  Karun Chandhok        Lotus-Renault         1m30.148s  + 6.283   19

21.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth          1m30.609s  + 6.744   27

22.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth          1m30.619s  + 6.754   24

23.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth       1m31.052s  + 7.187   12

24.  Jerome D-Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth       1m31.899s  + 8.034   22


All Timing Unofficial[/code]




Championship leader Sebastian Vettel posted the fastest time in the second Friday practice session for the Italian Grand Prix, just beating McLaren rival Lewis Hamilton.



Vettel, who had a low-key morning session after finishing over 1.3 seconds off Hamilton, could not match the time set by the Briton in the opening session, however, finishing with a 1m24.010s.



The Red Bull driver outpaced Hamilton by 0.036s, but the Briton looked set to go quicker than that before he was hit by traffic during his run of soft tyres.



Michael Schumacher had a promising afternoon with the third quickest time in the Mercedes.



Ferrari's drivers Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso had a stronger session than in the morning, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.



Mark Webber was sixth quickest in the second Red Bull.



The afternoon session saw a much busier start than the morning one, with several driver posting a time right away.



Sauber's Sergio Perez was the early pace-setter, before he was demoted to second before the ten-minute mark by Hamilton, who posted a 1m26.507s on his first run with the medium tyres.



The first incident of the session also took place before ten minutes had passed, when Sebastien Buemi went wide at Parabolica, the Toro Rosso driver crashing against the barriers. Although he was unhurt, the Swiss driver's car was heavily damaged and could not return to action.



After that, Button shot to the top of the times with a lap in the 1m25s, with Webber moving to second less than two tenths behind the Briton.



Webber improved on the following lap to outpace Button, but it was team-mate Vettel who took the top spot after 15 minutes when he stopped the clock at 1m25.635s, improving by over a second on the following laps as he completed a longer run.



It took until the 45-minute mark for Vettel to be demoted from first place, when Schumacher completed a run with the soft tyres to set a 1m24.816s, improving to a 1m24.347s on the following lap.



Schumacher's time was closely matched by Massa, the Brazilian completing his first run on softs to finish just 0.019s behind the Mercedes driver.



As more drivers began to use the softer Pirelli compound, the times continued to tumble, with Hamilton going quickest with 30 minutes left.



Vettel's first lap on the soft tyre was hindered by traffic, but the German still managed to move up to second behind the McLaren driver, who looked set to go even quicker on his second lap but nearly made contact at Parabolica with a very slow Jamie Alguersuari.



Vettel did manage to go quicker on his second lap of the run and jumped to the top with a 1m24.010s.



Daniel Ricciardo endured a difficult session after spending most of the 90 minutes in the garage as his HRT mechanics worked on the car. He managed just seven laps.





[code]FP2


Pos  Driver                Team                  Time              Laps

 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m24.010s           37

 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.046s  + 0.036  21

 3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m24.347s  + 0.337  39

 4.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m24.366s  + 0.356  33

 5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m24.433s  + 0.423  31

 6.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m24.468s  + 0.458  32

 7.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.508s  + 0.498  30

 8.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m25.097s  + 1.087  39

 9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m25.182s  + 1.172  37

10.  Bruno Senna           Renault               1m25.325s  + 1.315  38

11.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault               1m25.450s  + 1.440  31

12.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m25.496s  + 1.486  39

13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m25.683s  + 1.673  37

14.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m25.758s  + 1.748  29

15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1m26.202s  + 2.192  36

16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth     1m26.353s  + 2.343  40

17.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m28.347s  + 4.337   5

18.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault         1m28.559s  + 4.549  32

19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault         1m28.605s  + 4.595  32

20.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth       1m28.804s  + 4.794  25

21.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth          1m29.162s  + 5.152  34

22.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m29.184s  + 5.174  29

23.  Jerome D-Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth       1m29.622s  + 5.612  34

24.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth          1m29.841s  + 5.831   7


All Timing Unofficial

Red Bull Racing has extended its engine partnership deal with Renault for a further five years, as AUTOSPORT predicted, meaning the two companies will continue working together until 2016.

Having originally begun their tie-up in 2007, the Red Bull Racing-Renault alliance helped deliver the world championship last year and is on course to add more titles this campaign.

The current Red Bull Racing deal ended in 2012, and the team had been close to extending it earlier this year before there was a late change in plans for when a new engine formula was being introduced in Formula 1.

The new deal will see more technical collaboration between Red Bull Racing and Renault, which will include KERS. Work will also be done together on developing innovative technical solutions for the new V6 engines that are coming into F1 in 2014.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said: "We're obviously thrilled to announce this significantly enhanced agreement with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, who we have enjoyed a close working relationship with since 2007.

"Renault Sport F1 has always been very straight-forward to work with, which has been a contributing factor to the on-going success of the Red Bull Racing Renault partnership

Jean-Francois Caubet, Managing Director of Renault Sport F1, added: "The V6 power units due to be introduced from 2014 represent a huge undertaking and to have the input, resources and vast inhouse F1 car expertise of Red Bull Technology will help the team at Renault Sport F1 in Viry-Châtillon specify, design and develop a competitive unit from the start of the new regulations and optimize its structural integration into the chassis.

"Having this particular support will of course be to the advantage of our other team partners, who will indirectly benefit from the joint expertise of the Red Bull Racing and Renault Sport F1."

Renault will also power the Renault team, Williams and Team Lotus in F1 next year.

Red Bull Racing owner Dietrich Mateschitz said earlier this year that Renault was always its preferred option in terms of a long-term engine partner.

"We always tried to be associated with a big manufacturer," he told AUTOSPORT. "Renault will remain our first approach for a deal for 2013 and beyond."

Robert Kubica is set to get back behind the wheel of either a high-performance car or a simulator within the next month, amid growing confidence from those close to him that he will be able to make a comeback in Formula 1.

The Polish driver is still recovering from serious injuries he suffered in a rally crash in February, and had a final operation on his elbow just two weeks ago.

And with positive news coming about Kubica's rehabilitation, his manager Daniele Morelli said at Monza on Friday that he expected a test in either a car or simulator soon.

"In October we consider that Robert can put a helmet on his head just to give a message of what he will be capable to do," Morelli told reporters inside the Renault motorhome.

"We are not talking of course of Formula 1 right away, but it is important that Robert can start to drive. Whether it is a simulator or a road car on a race track this is not really important - the important thing is the final step is achieved from a certain point of view."

Morelli said that the news after his operation, which took place on the Sunday of the Belgian Grand Prix, was very encouraging.

"Two weeks ago we had the very last operation which was for us a kind of little threat," he explained.

"There were several question marks over the outcome, but fortunately the operation went well and Robert, the day after the operation, could right away move his elbow with I would say almost a normal movement. That is a fundamental act for the recovery of all the functions of his right arm.

"Having said that, it was a very important step because now Robert has started I would say, the final part of his recovery because he can now move his right arm in an active way, that means all the muscles that haven't been working for several months and were in a very bad situation and have a lack of strength.

"Now the recovery is focussed on the strength and day-after-day Robert is increasing the strength of his right arm, wrist, fingers and all the parts that were affected."

Morelli said that such had been the progress that he now was convinced that Kubica will be fit enough to return to F1 – with Renault having reassured him that a place will be made available when the Pole is ready.

"We don't have now anymore concern about the final outcome of the recovery of Robert in general. Of course we must be positive and it is important to be positive in this kind of situation – but Robert is working really, really hard. You know him, he is a hound!

"The doctors and the physiotherapists must tell him to slow down sometimes because he is doing too much. But it is better to slow him down rather than the opposite way around. So am I here to say that we have good news.

"We still need nature to do its work because we have the nerves that still must complete their recovery, but we do not have any concrete obstacle. It is just a question of time."

He added: "Robert is a Formula 1 driver so if he can drive a Formula Renault car, he can drive an F1 car. F1 cars nowadays are not physically demanding, so I would say it is probably more complicated to drive a GP2 than an F1 car."

Pirelli is ready to ask the FIA to enforce its new camber restrictions for the Italian Grand Prix if there is evidence of any blistering on its rubber after practice

On the back of the tyre controversy at the Belgian GP, where Red Bull Racing in particular suffered blistering issues after exceeding Pirelli's camber recommendation, the Italian tyre manufacturer has imposed more conservative limits for Monza.

The planned 3.5-degree limit on front camber was pulled back to 3.25-degrees ahead of the event - and the possibility of the FIA being asked to step in to enforce that maximum is now being considered.

Pirelli director of motorsport Paul Hembery told AUTOSPORT: "We will look into it after FP3.

"The problem we have is it is a recommendation we have, and you need to have running time to see if we have been too cautious or too aggressive. We don't know yet. And it is not just camber it is all the parameters we advise on.

"We feel it would be better to review how things are following practice. If we don't have problems them fine, but if we do then we can reserve judgement."

When asked if the FIA could be requested to make the camber limit mandatory if there was the evidence of a blistering threat, Hembery said: "We would ask them to control it. We might control it anyway but without penalty.

"It is just a case of understanding where we are with certain limits. We have seen a number of teams maybe trying to stretch things a little bit in all directions, and it means we have got to understand why things are happening."

Hembery said that the evidence from FP1 was that the tyres were operating well at Monza, although more running on softer rubber in FP2 and FP3 would provide a better idea of the situation.

"Obviously everyone ran with the medium tyres [in FP1] and we saw nothing wrong with the Red Bull, so we know the medium compound has no issues.

"We saw some very light issues on Lewis' [Hamilton] car. [sebastien] Buemi had some issues but we think that might be due to some moments he had on track, as he locked up quite heavily. But it looks like situation normal."

Pirelli plans to discuss the idea of mandatory camber limits with the FIA ahead of qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, in a bid to ensure there is no chance of teams encountering excessive blistering problems in the Monza race.

With several teams experiencing some degree of blistering in Friday practice at Monza, Pirelli's director of motorsport Paul Hembery thinks that it may be best to give serious thought to enforcing the 3.25-degree limit that his company has recommended for this weekend.

And his determination has been increased by the fact that some teams were running in Friday practice with camber levels that exceeded Pirelli's guideline - an action that contributed to the Red Bull Racing blistering controversy at Spa.

When asked by AUTOSPORT whether Pirelli will now force teams to stick to the 3.25-degrees front camber limit, Hembery said: "I think in a race like Monza, because of the high speed, it can create issues with blistering. So we would be prudent to ask for it to be maintained and enforced. That is something we will have to talk to the FIA about tonight."

Hembery said that the blisters experienced in Friday practice were not of major concern, but did highlight the unique demands of the Monza circuit.

"I would be surprised if on long runs you would not find some evidence of blistering," explained Hembery. "It was quite varied. Some people were struggling more than others; some people did not get any at all, so we have a full spectrum of things.

"But there was nothing that we have not seen in a number of other events, nothing that we would call a dramatic concern. The medium tyre was performing very well and this morning we had a number of cars doing 24 laps, and this afternoon we had people doing 15 laps on the softer tyre as well. That is a little bit more than we expected.

"We tend to be here rear tyre limited in terms of consumption so the front tyre is having an easier time than maybe it would have done at Spa."

Hembery said he expected Pirelli to inform the teams tonight that it would be sticking to the conservative 3.25-degree limit that it proposed ahead of the event - despite there having been some consideration to reducing it even more.

"We will keep our pre-race prescription really," he said. "We wanted to have a run this morning. There was some concern that maybe it was a bit too conservative and might generate other problems, but the reality is it hasn't done so we are very happy to maintain our advice to the teams."

And when asked if all teams had respected the new limit, Hembery said: "Um... I think there was some exploratory work done. But we are going to keep to that limit."

The Formula One Teams' Association has announced that Oliver Weingarten, the former in-house lawyer at the English Premier League, is to replace Simone Perillo as its secretary general.

Perillo was appointed to the role after the formation of FOTA in 2008, and helped guide the teams' body through the difficult Concorde Agreement negotiations the following year.

The Italian is leaving FOTA after this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, however, to pursue interests in politics back in his native Italy. There has been speculation this could even include a tie-up with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who has long been surrounded by rumours that he could consider running for prime minister in Italy in the future.

Weingarten will begin his official duties at FOTA next week, but is at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix to meet the teams.

FOTA Chairman, Martin Whitmarsh, said: "I'm delighted to welcome Oliver to FOTA, where his experience of Premier League football, together with his commercial, legal and public policy expertise, will be extremely valuable to all member teams.

"The next few years will be a crucial time for the sport of Formula 1 - and, working in close collaboration with the FIA and FOM, FOTA will play a very important role in shaping the future of our great sport. Oliver will play a significant part in that process.

"Finally, I want to pay tribute to Simone, Oliver's predecessor as Secretary General, who is leaving FOTA in order to pursue an exciting career in a very different field. Simone's wise counsel, political savvy and phenomenal work-rate have impressed Formula 1 stakeholders across a wide range of disciplines, and on behalf of all of FOTA I wish him well for the future."

Formula 1's tyre regulations should be given more time to bed down rather than be changed for next year, reckons Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn.

On the back of a push by Pirelli to change the tyre allocation rules for next year, to prevent unused hard compound sets getting wasted, Brawn has said that he is sceptical the tweak will be good for the sport.

When asked by AUTOSPORT about Pirelli's request, Brawn said: "It is impossible to end every race with no tyres left. If you did that, then there would be races where because of events you would run out of tyres. You would have people running around with tyres they would rather not be on because they wanted to put a fresh set on.

"Could you tune it by one set? Maybe, I don't know. But I think it has been pretty good this year and we should be very careful before we make any fundamental changes in how we operate with the tyres, because that has been one of the strengths of the season - having the two compounds and the gap we have got between the two compounds.

"The fact that some of the tyres purposefully have reasonable levels of degradation has livened things up quite a lot, so quite honestly we are reluctant to see any changes.

He added: "I think if there was concern about wastage of tyres then we could look at systems to carry tyres over to the next race so they stay in the system, as long as they are not dismounted then certainly a lot of races we could carry tyres over to increase efficiency. But I would not advocate changing the quantity of tyres we have at the moment or changing the system because I think it has been quite good."

Despite Brawn's comments about the situation, and the fact that Pirelli has failed to find support among teams for its efforts to tweak the allocation regulations, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) is eager for something to happen.

The GPDA wrote to Pirelli earlier this week backing the company's plans, and expressing a desire for drivers to play a key role in future discussions.

"We just want to be more involved," said Rubens Barrichello, chairman of the GPDA. "We want to be taking the costs down but want to be on the safe side as well. That is why we put a letter to them as GPDA.

"Amongst ourselves we were talking and felt the more they put the drivers in to the meetings, the more options they have. We are driving. Sometimes we say this is because they haven't driven the car, so with the drivers input it is going to be a lot better and a lot safer, that is how we are taking our approach."

Brawn thinks, however, that any tweaks to the tyre regulations should only come after another year of seeing how the current rules work.

"I think what we have got now has worked really well, so I am not sure we want to play around with it. That could create some interesting variety or it could create a lot of confusion for the public.

"My view is we have barely settled for what we have got now, why change? There is nothing wrong with it. I cannot see what is wrong with what we have now.

"The racing is exciting; tyres don't last forever which is what we want. They are good enough to have fun with the driving and racing, so why change it? That would be my vote. Leave things alone.

"Let's see how we get on for another year and, if we see because people are refining their approach and philosophy that we need to liven it up, then we might look at it again."

Formula 1 drivers and teams are set to face a major headache this weekend working out the best approach for downforce levels at Monza, thanks to the use of a double DRS zone at the Italian track.

In the past Monza has simply been about running with the least amount of downforce and drag that you can get away with.

That situation changed last year when the use of F-ducts allowed some drivers, notably Jenson Button, to run with higher downforce levels because they could reduce the drag on the straights.

For this year, thanks to DRS, there is even more temptation to opt for higher downforce levels because the wings can be opened for qualifying - minimising drag down the straights.

However, the fact that DRS is limited to two areas of the track in the race, and even then can only be used when the driver is just one second behind the car in front him, means having a high downforce level could hurt race pace.

Teams are currently evaluating whether it is best to have the wing settings better for qualifying or the race - but there already appears to be big variations among teams on the size of their rear wings.

Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn expects differences in performance between those opting for the better qualifying route and those choosing to be better prepared for the race.

"Interestingly because of the use of DRS constantly in qualifying, the optimum wing setting is probably different in qualifying than it is for the race," he explained.

"So it is a question of, do you run more wing and because of the DRS you are okay in qualifying, but then in the race, because you don't have DRS you are going to suffer a bit?

"It is quite a complex judgement call, so probably we will see bigger variances this year than we might have seen in previous years when everyone hones in on a small area. Because of this variation of what is optimum for qualifying and what is optimum for the race we will see quite a lot of variation. We are not certain which way we will go yet."

Lewis Hamilton believes that it would be tough working out how best to set the car up for the lap - and that it would not be easy getting the most out of DRS.

"Generally, there is obviously a limit as to how low you can go," he said. "We are trying to find downforce, but there is a certain point we can go without designing a completely new rear wing – we will see.

"But there will be a point where the DRS doesn't make much difference, but there is a balance being quick enough in the middle sector – and being fast in the right gears. It's not an easy balance but we will do better than we did at the last race."

Drivers are also eager to see just what impact the double DRS zones, which are independent of each other, will have on the racing.

World championship leader Sebastian Vettel predicts there will be a changed approach to racing at Monza because of the way that overtaking should now be much easier.

"I think the zones are fine, I think probably down to Ascari...it is probably a bit tricky," he said. "It's quite narrow there, especially on the first laps of the grands prix when you are looking at the other cars. We will see how big the effect is of the DRS.

"We have had races where you just open the wing and drive past no problem and others where it doesn't really help you to overtake. I think with the DRS regards we have to take this year as a learning year – we are much better already than the beginning of the season.

"But still every circuit is different and for next year we will know after this Sunday whether the zones are correct and the length especially if it is right."

Sebastian Vettel believes that McLaren is the team to beat at Monza in spite of the world champion setting the fastest time in second practice for the Italian Grand Prix on Friday.

Vettel's time of 1m24.010s was 0.15s slower than Lewis Hamilton's best from the morning session, and the German admitted he thought that the Woking team had the edge in pace after Friday's running - perhaps due to the 'higher downforce' Monza-spec rear wings the team was using compared to its rivals.

"The car feels good and it looks like McLaren are the ones to beat," said Vettel. "Obviously everyone's [rear wing] is more-or-less the same except McLaren's but we'll have to take a deeper a look and see how quick they are and then make a decision."

Vettel admitted he had been happy with the competitiveness of the RB7 on a track he expected would be more difficult for Red Bull to be dominant on.

"It was an interesting day on a track that usually doesn't suit us but today I think we were pretty happy with the car," he said. "It's difficult to judge because Friday is always a bit of a mess here with traffic so hard to judge.

"The raw laptime you see at the end of the day on a piece of paper. But the car felt good and we have had no problems so I am quite satisfied."

Team-mate Mark Webber agreed adding that he'd had a 'pretty good' day.

"A lot of information to go through - obviously downforce levels, gear ratios, it's a pretty tricky venue in that regard," said the Australian. "The two compounds are behaving pretty well at the moment, we did most of our work in the more important session (P2) on the option, so yeah pretty good day.

"Going okay so we'll see. Did a bit of work today and hopefully that will pay off for us."

Both drivers reported that they had not encountered anywhere near the blistering on its option tyres that the team suffered in Spa, but Webber admitted he had been forced to compromise on set-up to accommodate the new camber limit.

"The tyres look pretty happy around here," he said. "It's not a normal Pirelli situation I would say. It's still hurting a bit but not as much as normal. We will see on Sunday."

Asked if he'd had to compromise on the camber limit, Webber replied: "Yeah. You always have to readjust other things but it's not night and day.

"Obviously Seb and I ran different programmes today, so we will put all the information together tonight and go from there."

Renault used up the first of its four allowed curfew exceptions on Thursday night at Monza so it could add a raft of latest updates to its two cars in Italy.

Teams are allowed four curfew exceptions during the year, in case they are forced to work late for unexpected repairs.

The updates for Monza only arrived at the track on Thursday, so the team elected to work late into the night to get them ready for Thursday practice, rather than getting up early on Friday.

A statement from the FIA read: "Last night team personnel of the Lotus Renault GP team, who are associated with the operation of the car, were within the confines of the circuit during the six hour period which commenced at 01:00 on 09 September, nine hours before the scheduled start time of P1.

"This was the first of the four individual exceptions permitted for the Lotus Renault GP team during the 2011 Formula 1 Championship and therefore no action should be taken."

The team's new driver Bruno Senna, on his second race weekend of the year, notched up a fine of 8,800 Euros in the second practice session for twice breaking the pitlane speed limit.

Williams has been fined 5000 Euros for a breach of the tyre regulations during Friday practice at the Italian Grand Prix.

Rubens Barrichello was found to have used a set of option tyres that had not been allocated for use on Friday during second free practice.

Article 25.4 of Formula 1 Sporting Regulations state that three sets of dry-weather tyres will be allocated by the FIA technical delegate for each driver for use during P1 and P2 - made up of two 'prime' sets and 'one' option.

Drivers cannot use any other tyres from the other sets that have been allocated for the remainder of the weekend.

Lewis Hamilton is bullish about McLaren's chances for the Italian Grand Prix after a strong showing in Friday practice.

The McLaren driver topped the morning session and then finished second to Sebastian Vettel in the afternoon, although he believes the Red Bull driver was running less fuel than him.

After his strong performance, Hamilton was left optimistic he has enough pace to challenge Red Bull for pole position tomorrow.

"I think we are set pretty good. I'm not too worried about Red Bull," said Hamilton. "We were very strong in P1 and in P2 again. Both me and Jenson are very happy with the car. I think we are in a strong position.

"The Red Bulls looked very quick in the end, but I'm pretty sure that they are not on the same fuel levels as we are. I feel optimistic about tomorrow. We'll make some small changes overnight, but I think we can challenge Red Bull."

The Briton, however, admitted he is under no illusions about how hard the race will be, but he insisted beating Red Bull is very much on the cards.

"The car was really, really great.The car was feeling great. Our long-run pace doesn't look bad at all, so I think we are going to be competitive, but it's going to be a very hard race in this conditions.

"I think we are strong and in a good position, but I don't know what the Red Bulls are doing. They were very fast in the last session, so to beat them is going to be tough, but I don't think it's impossible."

Adrian Sutil fears that overtaking will not be as easy as some expect it to be during Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

The Force India driver found it difficult to pass other cars during today's two free practice sessions, and suspects that passing will be more difficult than it was during the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks ago.

"It's difficult to overtake," said Sutil. "It's good that we have two DRS zones, but it's still hard work to pass another car because there are so many high-speed corners before the long straights, so it's not possible to follow closely.

"You have a bad exit and all of your advantage is lost; it's not enough at the end of the straight.

"It's not going to be impossible, but it will not be as easy as it was at Spa."

Sutil added that he was able to attempt to simulate a DRS pass by running behind other cars that did not have their rear wings open in the activation zones. But he found that even then it was tough to pass.

He added that if overtaking proves to be this difficult in the race, it would have strategic and set-up implications. While running a little extra downforce could give a lap-time boost in qualifying, it could also make drivers sitting ducks to be passed during the races. But if passing is as difficult as Sutil suspects, it opens up the possibility of running some more wing without that disadvantage.

"Being in a position to pass other cars was not easy," said the German. "I knew where the DRS activation was so I pressed it at that time, but it was still not possible sometimes.

"It's still possible to hold people up here so that could be important for strategy. The DRS switch is quite big if you go to higher downforce, so it's good for qualifying but maybe not so good for the race."

Sutil admitted that he was disappointed with the performance of the car during practice and that he is hoping that the team can boost its top speed, something that could also make it easier for him to overtake during the race.

He ended the day 12th fastest, 1.486 seconds off pacesetter Sebastian Vettel.

"We're just not as competitive as we thought," he said. "It's just a Friday so it can change tomorrow.

"We just have to make sure we are 100 per cent on it in qualifying. It's a tricky one because we still need some top speed but we need to find the right compromise for the race."

Fernando Alonso says Ferrari will need to find something extra in order to be a match for Red Bull and McLaren in this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

The Spanish driver and team-mate Felipe Massa seemed unable to be as competitive as its rivals during practice on Friday, and Alonso conceded his car was not as strong as the team had expected.

Alonso was fifth fastest in second practice, nearly half a second off the pace.

"For sure how competitive we are we have to wait until tomorrow, but it seems that Red Bull and McLaren and also Mercedes are quite competitive as we expected probably and tomorrow we will need to find something more in the car to be fighting with them," Alonso told reporters after practice.

He added: "We have to wait for tomorrow. I think so far in Belgium we were not as quick as we expected and here so far we are struggling a little bit with the pace and maybe we are not as quick as we wanted, so we have to find something extra for tomorrow."

Alonso admitted that if Ferrari cannot find that extra speed on Saturday, the team will need to wait until F1 is back to high-downforce tracks in order to return to fighting on top.

The double champion finished a distant fourth in the previous race in Belgium as his car also struggled to match the pace of his rivals.

"If tomorrow we are still slow, maybe we need to wait for the high-downforce circuits," he said. "It is strange how things change this year or how the characteristics of the car change.

Circuits we were okay at last year we struggle a little bit this year and circuits like Silverstone that we very difficult for us in the past this year was the best circuit so we need to wait, but for sure we need to find some more pace for tomorrow."

Friday's press conference:

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES - Giorgio ASCANELLI (Toro Rosso), Eric BOULLIER (Renault), Stefano DOMENICALI (Ferrari), Tim GOSS (McLaren), Peter SAUBER (Sauber)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Eric, first of all, Bruno Senna had a fantastic start in Spa with a great qualifying performance. What has he brought to the team and we will come to the commercial side of that in a moment?

Eric BOULLIER: Nothing.

Q. But in terms of his presence?

EB: I don't know. I think his eagerness and freshness is clearly a good asset, a good new value for the team, which we didn't have during the summer and were struggling a little bit with the development of the car. Now it looks like we are back a little bit and are in a good shape and clearly Bruno brought with him his enthusiasm. He knows the team very well as he was working very closely with the team since January.

Q. Presumably, that presence since January had made him popular and that is why people are pleased to see him in the car?

EB: Yeah, exactly. He has spent a lot of time in the back of the garage, in the trucks, with the engineers and the mechanics and he was very helpful as well for the race drivers as he was clearly committed and dedicated to help and pushing for the team so the team knew him and was pleased to see him doing well in qualifying.

Q. You have four new commercial partnerships, two of which have Brazilian connections. Just talk about those.

EB: Everybody thinks Bruno came with a bunch of money, which is wrong, obviously. The only link was Embratel. Yes, Embratel was a personal sponsor of Bruno and this is clearly linked to Bruno. This is clear, nothing to hide. The two others, or the three others actually, are not related to Bruno. We were talking to them for a long time and the opportunity when we told them Bruno would be racing they just decided to do an 'mediatic shot' and use the opportunity to have this 'mediatisation' and just go for it.

Q. What are your plans for Romain Grosjean, as there were thoughtshe might be in the car, though may be not from you?

EB: Some people were thinking for me, which is good. I appreciate sometimes, sometimes not. Romain had a job to do to be a GP2 Champion. He is now officially the third driver and we will see what happens to him but there is no plan for him.

Q. So he will come to all the remaining races?

EB: Yep, definitely. As the third driver.

Q. Peter, looking at your team which direction would you like it to go in from now? Is it a financial direction? Where would you like improvement? Financial, technical, resources, where do you see the effort being applied now?

Peter SAUBER: Forward.

Q. Just forward?

PS: Just forward. I think the infrastructure is excellent and, of course, with more money we can be faster. In our case it is very easy.

Q. Do you want more staff?

PS: Yes, it is possible to have more. We have about 280 and it is an advantage to have more staff.

Q. Just tell us about the performance today. We saw Kamui Kobayashi pull off right at the end of practice, but up until then the performance was possibly better than you thought it was going to be?

PS: It is better than we expected, yes. Kamui, I think was a transmission problem. But the speed was good today, especially the long runs.

Q. Why did you think you were not going to be particularly good here?

PS: I think our problem is the hot-blowing diffuser, the hot-blowing exhaust. That's our problem. The system doesn't work very well and then we stopped the whole development around Barcelona as in this time, not only us, we had the opinion that it will be forbidden from Silverstone onwards.

Q. Talk about the Mexican connection you have with Sergio Pérez and Esteban Gutierrez. How is that coming along?

PS: The relationship with Telmex is excellent. We are very happy with Pérez. Don't forget he is a rookie and he is a part of the Telmex family. We are also happy with Telmex as they opened the door to different and other companies in this region.

Q. Do you see that going a bit further next year?

PS: Sure.

Q. Further, as in my first question, so you will have the few more staff that you require?

PS: We hope so. Believe me, it's not easy.

Q. Tim, looking back at the last race, at Spa, what sort of indicators did you get from Spa in terms of the set-up of the car and the specification of the car for this race?.

Tim GOSS: The pace of the car has been very good over recent races and we have been pushing Red Bull quite hard. Clearly going to Spa it was a lower downforce and we brought a sort of new breed of rear wing. We have abandoned the concept we were working on. Well not necessarily abandoned it but we have switched to a different concept for the lower downforce wings and we are quite pleased with our pace. Obviously we would have liked to come out of Spa with a better result in the race. We felt that we were very strong during the race and could have challenged for a win. Certainly we were looking good for a podium. Car pace was very good. Had we avoided the mistakes we made in qualifying then Jenson (Button) should have been up there rather than having to do the 20-30 overtakes to get to third place. We have discovered a bit of a sweet spot with the car. Those themes that we know work well with our car we are pushing now and looking forward to taking those further similar developments on this season.

Q. In terms of Spa to here was there much change?

TG: Yeah, I mean it is a lower downforce circuit again so we have brought further developments to this circuit as well as just the Monza specific package so today's pace looked very good and we are confident that the changes we've made have actually brought us that little performance step that we are after.

Q. The actual challenge of this circuit seems remarkable. Obviously, you have got to go for low drag, low drag, low drag and yet at the same time you have got the kerbs and everything else. Then at the same time you have now got this business of DRS, which you can use for something like 74 per cent of the circuit but during the race itself you have only got two DRS zones. How do you tune the car?

TG: Yeah, it is a very complex optimisation exercise. Clearly you have got DRS all the time in qualifying but then in the race you have only got it when you are behind another car. We are looking for the best compromise of both raw speed in terms of lap time and tactical advantage to either defend or overtake other cars. I think you will see out there that there are a variety of solutions. We have put an awful lot of simulation effort into trying to pitch ours about right and I think we have got it right. Sunday will tell us whether we have or not but it is more than just chasing end of straight speed these days. It is about other things. As I said, tactical advantage, protecting tyres and qualifying pace, so it is a difficult job. We think we have got it right but Sunday will tell us one way or another.

Q. Stefano, it is a very important race for you. Tell us about how the cars went today and the performance of the cars. Were you happy with them today?

Stefano DOMENICALI: Well, when we come to Monza you know that for us that this is a very important race, but I don't want to really put more pressure on top of the normal one as that is part of the game. In terms of performance this morning we were struggling. We did a lot of different tests, also in the afternoon, of different components but we were struggling to find the right grip and to find the right balance with the car. The situation improved this afternoon. There are a lot of things still to do and I am sure the night will be a long night for the engineers to make sure that all what Tim was saying before about the right balance between the speed and downforce will be considered appropriately. One thing is the qualifying but the most important thing is the race. We may have two different scenario where you really need to make sure that you fine tune to make sure to be fast in qualifying but much stronger during the race.

Q. There was a difference of 22 degrees track temperature between the start of FP1 and FP2 when it was 41 degrees; did that manifest itself in the performance of the car, because you've had so many problems with track temperatures?

SD: I think that yes, it's a factor that helped us to improve at least at the beginning of the first run; we were the only ones to improve our lap time. For sure it's a factor. I don't think that's the only one but for sure an important one.

Q. If you had a magic wand what would you change at Ferrari?

SD: Let's keep that for other stuff. There are more important things around the world.

Q. Is there one particular thing that you would like to change though?

SD: Yes, but I will keep it for myself.

Q. Giorgio, sorry to keep you waiting...

Giorgio ASCANELLI: "dulcis in fundo"

Q. Sorry?

GA: Its Latin, it means: The sweetest at the last moment!

Q. We've heard that the team has invested quite a lot over the year and there is a three year development plan now. How has that manifested itself for you; a huge rise in staff it would seem?

GA: Yeah, I have to say that since the new Concorde Agreement, that imposed on us to become manufacturers and adjusted the rules, we had a nice riddle which was how to find a wind tunnel, how to calibrate it, how to buy a cfd cluster, how to hire sixty engineers in four months. I think we've been lucky because something has happened. Now we are learning to use our tools and I have to say we are a happy team.

Q. Now Spa was your best qualifying - not the best race of course – but you could see that there had been a lot of progress for that…

GA: Ah, it's overrated. I think Spa was a good result but at the end of the day, I have to be objective and recognise that Fernando, Jenson, Adrian, Paul, Michael would have been ahead of us if they didn't have a sort of misunderstanding either within their teams or within the circuit, so at the end of the day we were sixth and eleventh. I think that we would have been happy to be eleventh and twelfth and that's probably our value, which is much better than seventeenth and eighteenth as we had been in the past and it's probably better than how we're going to end up here.

Q. So could you see that progress continuing for the rest of the season, or are you now winding… what's the balance now?

GA: We have now stopped the development of the concept of the STR6 and we are focusing on STR7 but as we are a small team, we will introduce something new in the next Grands Prix because there's something in the pipeline. I would say the strongest part of a Formula One team nowadays is the time to market, and the strongest guys have got a very small, a very short time to market. We're not that clever yet but we're trying. This has the consequences that probably we will feed something in the latter part of the season, because we have not been able to do as much as to translate into facts the concepts and ideas of our studies.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Stefano, yesterday Fernando and Felipe talked a lot about the extra motivation for the team to be here in Monza in front of your tifosi. Could you explain to us exactly how the situation is and if you can give us some more ideas how you approach this race?

SD: From my side, I always keep people with their feet on the ground to make sure that they work hard and stay concentrated, but for sure it's great to see the enthusiasm that is around the track for our cars, for our drivers so that's the feeling that everyone is enjoying when they are here but this is giving you extra pressure that has to be managed, as I said before. This is why I never said anything over the lines because I know that by saying something like that it gives more expectation that is already high. I know that when you are here… I remember last year when it was a fantastic emotion to share with all the tifosi when we won the race and that would really be a fantastic opportunity if this would happen again, but as I said, no more than that.

Q. (Giorgio Pasini – Tuttosport) Stefano, it seems that there is a battle on the track with Red Bull but also in the media over the last days between you and Christian Horner.

SD: Me?

Q. (Giorgio Pasini – Tuttosport) Yeah, he's not very happy about your interview today.

SD: That's the first time that I hear that.

Q. (Giorgio Pasini – Tuttosport) Because today he said that it's…

SD: That's a new one. I will speak with him, without speaking to journalists. I want to see what he's saying. I don't know, honestly. I don't have to verify anything. If he has a quarrel with me, he has to verify, I have nothing to verify.

Q. (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport) There was an interview in Germany where you said that Vettel is not a leader as Michael or as Fernando, that's what…

SD: I said that in my view… well, I know what I said so... I said that speaking about the drivers, to be a leader you need to have experience, points, championships, leadership and a relationship with the people and so on. So I said that in my view at the moment, the ones that I said – Fernando and Michael – were already doing it and Sebastian is on the right route to do it. With this year's win, he will be there very very soon so I don't think that I've said something strange. I think that's a fact, but it's interesting to see Christian's reaction. Maybe he will have something to say to me. He knows my telephone number.

Q. (Giorgio Pasini – Tuttosport) And the question to Mr Ascanelli: can you say something about the rumours of the movement of your team to Abu Dhabi?

GA: Germans. The movement of my team to Abu Dhabi? Do they make good pasta in Abu Dhabi?

Q. (Giorgio Pasini – Tuttosport) And in Italy, is there space in Formula One in Italy in motor sport that is not Ferrari?

GA: Well, first of all, we have three sponsors - we have acquired three new sponsors this season in the last few days, they arrived in the last moment, it appears on the rear wing, it doesn't appear yet on my shirt although my shirt is very wide and probably would guarantee more exposure than the rear wing! They are three different sponsors which we deal with separately. I don't think there is any discussion about the fact that the ownership pertains and remains in the hands of Mr Mateschitz so far. I have never been bothered about what's going to happen in the future in any team I have occurred to work with in the last 28 years. I've always tried to do my best; sometimes my best has not been enough and sometimes it has been enough. I'm relaxed about the matter. It is good to have a little bit more money to do some more things. Mr Sauber just highlighted just how large an issue that might be. What I can say is that Mr Mateschitz and Red Bull since two years have promoted the expansion of Toro Rosso in Faenza and a new facility will be ready in the next two years. Then, if we have to move everything to Abu Dhabi, well, we will see. If there is space in Italy for another team like Ferrari? I think one of the difficulties which I experienced personally when I worked at Ferrari and one of the experiences which I am experiencing here in Toro Rosso is the fact that the market is not as alive as it is in England. Now if our wind tunnel is in Bicester, it is a deliberate choice although it is more difficult than most people think to make a car by fax. Nowadays it's easier because you've got satellite transmission and connection but having a melting pot of technicians in 150 miles is a large advantage, so I think there is more space for Formula One in Italy, and I would be welcome to see it.

Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Hallo. A question to Stefano: I don't know what Ferrari's chances of victory are on Sunday after what Sebastian has somewhat surprisingly done today, but would a win here in Monza be enough to appease you after now seeing the championship become almost impossible for you?

SD: I don't think so. Sorry. I think that for sure if you win in Monza, it's an important result for the team and for everyone that is feeling that Monza is a particular race but that's it. For sure, this championship is not really the best one, even if I think we could have won more races this year, to be honest, and the situation would have been different in terms of the championship, in terms of the situation. I can easily remember a couple of them. So we need to take the situation as it is without crying and be sure that the extra races that are from here to the end are very important, because, as I said to all the guys, we need to maximise the points because we are fighting for something, in any case, positions and other stuff and use that to also make sure that we can anticipate some work that can be used for the 2012 project. So, that's what I feel.

Q. (Fabrizio Corniati – 422Race.com) Mr Domenicali, correct me if I'm wrong but it seems that in this race you are again using the old suspension which you were using again in Spa and not the new one which you used at Silverstone for example and which seemed to reduce the problems of getting tyres up to temperature, which had been a problem for you throughout the season. Could you explain the reasons for this choice?

SD: It's true, we are also not using that new… well, that different suspension but the reason is different. For sure our engineers believed that with these track conditions, that kind of suspension is not helping to improve the car otherwise we would be stupid not to use it, so that's the reason why we chose the other solution.

[Lineker]

Sebastian Vettel proved that Red Bull will be a contender for its 13th pole position of the season by topping the times during the final free practice session ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

The world championship leader banged in a lap of 1m23.170s on the third lap of a run on options to knock team-mate Mark Webber off the top of the timesheets by 0.364s.

Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton showed that Ferrari and McLaren have some work to do if they are to challenge for pole after ending up 0.498s and 0.571s off Vettel following their qualifying simulations, although with Alonso down in eighth place, almost one second off, there is a suspicion that there is more to come from Ferrari.

Virgin driver Jerome d'Ambrosio, running Virgin's major upgrade package, which features a modified diffuser/floor for the first time, was first to head onto the track ahead of HRT driver Tonio Liuzzi.

Everyone except Sebastian Vettel and McLaren pairing Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button hit the track during the first five minutes of the session, with all but Williams driver Pastor Maldonado, who ran for two laps, completing a single installation lap.

Vettel, Hamilton and Button then also completed installation laps during a quiet start to the session.

With the track temperature at 29 degrees, cooler than yesterday when problems with blistering became apparent, d'Ambrosio, running medium (prime) compound Pirellis, became the first to complete a flying lap, briefly topping the timesheets with a time of 1m32.578s - just under three seconds off his best mark of yesterday afternoon.

He was quickly bumped off the top slot by the two Lotuses of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli despite improving his time by 2.5s on his second lap.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was the first front-runner to post a time, albeit one slower than the Lotuses and he outbraked himself on his second flying lap, forcing the Mercedes to straightline the chicane - a mistake he would make again later in the session. But team-mate Michael Schumacher did go fastest for Mercedes after 16 minutes with a lap of 1m26.943s. This was despite a very wide moment at the exit of the Ascari chicane.

Schumacher then repeated Rosberg's trick with a mistake at the first chicane, spinning mid-corner after losing the rear at turn in, at much the same time as Rosberg topped the times with a lap of 1m24.956s.

By this time, everyone except the Ferraris - who remained in the pits after two installation runs - Vettel and Hamilton had started setting times.

Most teams concentrated on running prime tyre in the first part of the session. With fears that the option tyres will not last long in the race, exploiting the full potential of the medium compound over a stint could be the key to the race.

After 21 minutes, Button went fastest, two-tenths quicker than Rosberg, on the fifth and final lap of his run on prime tyres. He was deposed three minutes later by Mark Webber, who showed sustained pace on prime rubber during his long run.

Team-mate Sebastian Vettel, then also on the seventh lap of a run, beat his time by 0.468s to go fastest after 28 minutes.

Outside of the top teams, Williams showed well in the early stages, with Pastor Madlonado sixth, 1.656ssecs off the pace, and Rubens Barrichello eighth, just under three-tenths of a second further back, after everyone except the Ferraris had completed their first runs on prime rubber.

At the halfway mark of the session, Alonso became the first Ferrari driver to set a time. Also running on prime rubber, he went 11th fastest on his first flying lap, two seconds off Vettel, improving by a quarter-of-a-second on his second lap to climb to seventh, just ahead of Massa. He improved to sixth overall, 1.247s off the pace, by the end of his run, almost two-tenths off Massa.

Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari was the first to attempt a run on the soft-compound option rubber. He didn't improve on his first lap, but found half-a-second on his first lap to climb to eighth, 1.8s off Vettel's time.

With 23 minutes remaining, Rosberg used option tyres to set the fastest time after two warm-up laps, blitzing the first and third sectors to knock Vettel off the top spot by 0.125s with a lap of 1m23.875s. Sauber driver Sergio Perez was the next to improve, using options to go ninth fastest, 1.630s off the pace.

Others opted to continue on prime tyres, with Renault driver Bruno Senna improving his time despite taking a bite of the gravel at the exit of Lesmo 2. Despite this, he remained down in 17th place as Renault concentrated on higher fuel work but did further improve to 15th overall with 15 minutes left.

By this time, Schumacher was on his option tyre run, setting a 1m24.114s after a couple of cool-off laps to go third fastest, 0.239s off Rosberg. But the option runners remained in the minority until the closing stages, setting up a dramatic series of qualifying simulations in the final 10 minutes.

Alonso was the first of the big three teams to launch his run on options. He went fourth fastest, 0.258s off Rosberg, with his first flying lap before backing off to cool off the tyres. Massa followed shortly after, climbing to sixth after benefitting from a two from Alonso on the run from Lesmo 2 to Ascari.

Button was next to improve at the front on options, climbing to second, just 21 thousandths off Rosberg, with five-and-a-half minutes remaining. But soon it was business as usual, with Webber setting fastest times in sectors two and three to go fastest, followed a few seconds later by Massa jumping to second, one-tenth behind him.

Vettel then slotted into third place, 0.189s off his team-mate, beating Webber's fastest time in the middle sector - but then straightlined the second chicane on his next lap.

With McLaren struggling to match the leaders, Hamilton climbed to third with one minute to go, two-tenths off Webber, but on the third lap of a run it was Vettel who took his traditional position at the top of the timesheets. At the same time, Button jumped to fifth ahead of Rosberg, but was still over six-tenths off.

Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes locked out the top eight on the timesheets, and it was Force India that ended up their closest challengers, with Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta putting in late fliers to take ninth and tenth ahead of the Renaults of Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov.

A number of drivers also had off-track moments during the session. Sebastien Buemi and Sergio Perez both straightlined the second chicane, while Virgin driver Timo Glock rattled over the speed bumps at Ascari. Rosberg had a third moment at the first chicane late on and was again forced to straightline it. Kovalainen also cut the second chicane during his final run.

FP3


Pos   Driver                Team                  Time              Laps

 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m23.170s           18

 2.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m23.534s  + 0.364  19

 3.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m23.668s  + 0.498  14

 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.741s  + 0.571  17

 5.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.787s  + 0.617  16

 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m23.875s  + 0.705  22

 7.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m24.114s  + 0.944  20

 8.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m24.133s  + 0.963  14

 9.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m24.543s  + 1.373  21

10.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m24.581s  + 1.411  22

11.  Bruno Senna           Renault               1m24.853s  + 1.683  20

12.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault               1m24.889s  + 1.719  19

13.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.948s  + 1.778  22

14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m25.261s  + 2.091  21

15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1m24.319s  + 2.149  19

16.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m25.426s  + 2.256  19

17.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m25.439s  + 2.269  22

18.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth     1m25.539s  + 2.369  19

19.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault         1m27.328s  + 4.158  19

20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault         1m27.491s  + 4.321  21

21.  Jerome D-Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth       1m28.186s  + 5.016  23

22.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth          1m28.441s  + 5.271  22

23.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth       1m28.962s  + 5.792  17

24.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth          1m30.316s  + 7.146  16



All Timing Unofficial[/code]




Sebastian Vettel maintained Red Bull's 100 per cent record of securing pole position in 2011 by topping the times in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.



The runaway world championship leader breezed through the first two segments of qualifying, comfortably setting the best time in Q2, and ended Q3 0.450s ahead of Lewis Hamilton.



The German immediately asserted his dominance in Q3, bumping McLaren driver Jenson Button from the top of the times with his first flying lap. But when on course to improve on his second flier of that run, he was forced to abort after a lurid slide in the Ascari chicane.



With Lewis Hamilton only 0.112s behind him after the first runs, Vettel had no choice but to go back out for another attempt. But both McLaren drivers had to abort their final runs, with Hamilton locking up his front-left heading into the second chicane and Button losing time in the final sector, leaving German to knock another 0.338s off his fastest time unchallenged.



Fernando Alonso qualified fourth, within one-tenth of a second of Button, after improving on his final run. He knocked Mark Webber down to fifth place, with positions second through to fifth covered by only three-and-a-half tenths.



Felipe Massa qualified sixth, with Vitaly Petrov causing an upset by beating Mercedes pairing Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg to best of the rest honours after putting in a lap of 1m23.530s late in the session. Unusually, Schumacher was the better of the two Mercedes drivers, comfortably outpacing Rosberg, largely thanks to his speed advantage in the second sector. They both ended up ahead of the second Renault of Bruno Senna, the Brazilian opting not to run after using all of his option rubber after making Q3 for the second consecutive race.



Force India pairing Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta looked on course to make the top 10 shoot-out having ended Q1 ninth and 10th, only to lose out to the Renaults in the next session.



Petrov set his time, which proved good enough to make Q3, on his sole run, but Senna had to rely on a last-gasp effort to bump di Resta by just six-thousandths of a second.



Behind them, Rubens Barrichello pipped Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado by less than a tenth. That said, the Venezuelan was perhaps fortunate even to be in Q2 after losing control exiting the Parabolica and spinning into the barrier on the inside of the track during the first segment of qualifying.



The only significant damage he suffered was to the front wing, meaning that he could limp back to the pits and return to the track a few minutes later.



Behind them, Sauber pairing Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, never looked like credible threats to make Q3.



The other Toro Rosso driver, Jaime Alguersuari, was the main casualty in Q1, joining regular drop-outs Team Lotus, Virgin and HRT.



The Spaniard was bumped into 18th place in the dying moments of the session by team-mate Sebastien Buemi and Rubens Barrichello. He ended up 0.170s off the Swiss.



Jarno Trulli was best of the 'new team' group, outpacing Lotus team-mate Heikki Kovalainen by half-a-second, with all cars comfortably within the 107 per cent qualifying cutoff.



[code]Qualifying


Pos  Driver                Team                 Time            Gap   

 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m22.275s

 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m22.725s   + 0.450

 3.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m22.777s   + 0.502

 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m22.841s   + 0.566

 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m22.972s   + 0.697

 6.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m23.188s   + 0.913

 7.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              1m23.530s   + 1.255

 8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m23.777s   + 1.502

 9.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m24.477s   + 2.202

10.  Bruno Senna           Renault              No time

Q2 cut-off time: 1m24.157s                                   Gap **

11.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m24.163s   + 1.249

12.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m24.209s   + 1.295

13.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m24.648s   + 1.734

14.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m24.726s   + 1.812

15.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m24.845s   + 1.931

16.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m24.932s   + 2.018

17.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m25.065s   + 2.151

Q1 cut-off time: 1m25.164s                                    Gap *

18.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m25.334s   + 1.358

19.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        1m26.647s   + 2.671

20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m27.184s   + 3.208

21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m27.591s   + 3.615

22.  Jerome D-Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m27.609s   + 3.633

23.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth         1m28.054s   + 4.078

24.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth         1m28.231s   + 4.255


107% time: 1m29.854s


* Gap to quickest in Q1


** Gap to quickest in Q2

Formula 1 teams will be forced to stick to Pirelli's camber limit for the Italian Grand Prix after the FIA intervened in the matter on Saturday morning.

Following talks with Pirelli on Friday evening to discuss the camber issue, on the back of the Red Bull Racing tyre saga in Belgium, it has been decided that the camber of all cars will now be measured after qualifying.

A statement issued by the FIA ahead of final free practice at Monza said: "Further to the discussion in the team managers meeting on Thursday I can confirm that we will be checking camber settings after qualifying in order to ensure that the recommendations made by Pirelli are adhered to.

"Any car found to be outside of these recommendations will be reported to the stewards as being in breach of Article 2.3 of the F1 Technical Regulations (Dangerous Construction).

"In order to assist with the procedure, and for use as a reference should you wish to disassemble any suspension components during parc ferme, we ask that you provide Jo Bauer with a qualifying set-up sheet in a sealed envelope prior to the start of qualifying practice."

Article 2.3 of the F1 Technical Regulations states that cars can be thrown out of an event if the stewards deem that they are not safe.

It reads: "The stewards of the meeting may exclude a vehicle whose construction is deemed to be dangerous."

Pirelli issued a more conservative 3.25-degree front camber limit for Monza, after finding out that blistering issues in Belgium were caused by Red Bull Racing going beyond a 4-degree camber limit imposed at Spa.

Director of motorsport Paul Hembery had said after Friday practice at Monza that the 3.25-degree limit had worked well to prevent any dramas, which is why he wanted that limit to be stuck to for the remainder of the weekend.

"I would be surprised if on long runs you would not find some evidence of blistering," said Hembery. "It was quite varied. Some people were struggling more than others; some people did not get any at all, so we have a full spectrum of things.

"But there was nothing that we have not seen in a number of other events, nothing that we would call a dramatic concern. The medium tyre was performing very well and this morning we had a number of cars doing 24 laps, and this afternoon we had people doing 15 laps on the softer tyre as well. That is a little bit more than we expected.

"We tend to be here rear tyre limited in terms of consumption so the front tyre is having an easier time than maybe it would have done at Spa."

Italian Grand Prix organisers have made alterations to the speed bumps at Monza's second chicane, following complaints from drivers about their design.

The FIA has long struggled to find a satisfactory deterrent for drivers cutting the chicanes that does not risk safety.

For this year, much longer strips of speed bumps have been used - but there were problems for some drivers in practice after they bounced over them following off-track excursions.

To try and improve matters, the speed bumps at the Roggia chicane have now been altered ahead of final practice – with the first kerb moved back from the apex of Turn 5 (the right-hand part of the chicane) by five metres, while also being extended by a further five metres.

This change should allow drivers to safely go around the speed bumps without being forced to bounce over them. Drivers have been advised that if they run off the track then they should go right around the speed bumps and rejoin at the far corner of the run-off area.

Vitaly Petrov is to race with a black helmet for the rest of the Italian Grand Prix weekend as a mark of respect for the victims of the Russian plane crash earlier this week.

Almost the entire Lokomotiv ice hockey team were killed when the Yak-42 plane they were travelling in from Yaroslavl crashed shortly after take-off on Wednesday.

To show his respect for the 43 people who died, Petrov will compete with an all-black helmet for practice, qualifying and the race.

"I want to offer my greatest condolences to all the families and friends of victims of this awful catastrophe", said Petrov.

"It doesn't matter which team you support, the whole of Russia is shocked by what has happened. I don't understand how things like that could have happened because after recent catastrophes aviation control was doubled".

Former Ferrari head of race track engineering Chris Dyer is weighing up a return to Formula 1, following his departure from the Italian team earlier this year.

Dyer was moved away from his F1 trackside role onto its GT project in the wake of the Abu Dhabi title defeat last year, as Ferrari looked at a restructuring to help improve its fortunes.

But Dyer was not happy with what he was offered by Ferrari so decided to leave. He is currently on gardening leave while he sees out his contractual term, and speculation is already linking him with a possible switch to Mercedes GP, where he could renew his working partnership with Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher, who he engineered for a long time.

Dyer, who returned to the F1 paddock at Monza this weekend for the first time since the end of last year, says he has enjoyed spending the last 10 months with his family, and that the decision to leave Ferrari came because he did not think he would be happy working in GTs.

"I was offered a position that I didn't consider interesting, so I replied 'no, thanks'," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "I still live in Spezzano, near Maranello. At the moment I can't work for other teams anyway, and after all Italy has become my home. I've lived here for ten years."

Speaking about the Mercedes GP rumours, Dyer said: "There are many offers, but at the moment I don't want to talk about the future."

Dyer also suggested that he did not think Abu Dhabi was the huge disaster that some had suggested - even though the outcome cost Alonso his chance of the championship.

"I think I had taken worse decisions in other races," he said. "I've lived a difficult time, but these things happen in F1."

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo believes his team does not need Adrian Newey's technical talents to return to the top of Formula 1 - even though he would be interested in capturing the design genius.

With Ferrari having high hopes that an innovative approach to next year's car design can help it end Red Bull Racing's dominance, di Montezemolo is confident that its approach and infrastructure is enough already for it to be successful.

When asked if Ferrari was interested in luring Newey away from Red Bull Racing, di Montezemolo said: "Of course yes. But this is the same it has been for 20 years - to have the best technicians, and the best drivers.

"I respect all that he did. It is more or less the same with the drivers, but I am also absolutely confident that, with all respect to Adrian Newey, we can have a very competitive car next year because I know my people and don't underestimate that from 2000 until now, how many championships we have won in the last 11 years.

"I have a big opinion of Adrian Newey, but I am pleased and happy with my technicians and pleased to have the best driver in the world that is Fernando and also pleased to see, particularly in the second half of this season, a good reaction from Felipe."

Di Montezemolo believes the fact that Ferrari has fought for the championship regularly over the last decade means he sees every reason why it can be successful again in 2011.

Laying out his targets for next year, he said: "To win. I am unhappy because this year we have not got since the beginning a competitive car. I am tired to lose the championship at the last race; it has happened too many times in the last years.

"You remember what happened to Felipe in 2008, not 20 years ago, what happened to Fernando last year in Abu Dhabi. So for next year I expect a competitive car with clear rules, and with clear interpretation of the rules that was not the same in 2009. So I hope that we can have clear rules and to make a condition to win again the championship now."

Di Montezemolo also declined to comment about increasing speculation he may look at running for Italian Prime Minister in the next few years.

When asked about how strong his commitment to Ferrari was, he said: "Very much. More than ever. Look at this weekend, before yesterday we presented to 400 clients the new 458 Spyder. Today we have the weekend of passion which is always the same.

"On Monday I will fly to Frankfurt for the motorshow. I am very, very busy with Ferrari. I am [also] happy because being part-time chairman of Fiat I can give all my time to Ferrari, first of all to come back to the championship next year."

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo thinks it would be wrong for Formula 1 to head down an all-electric route - as he believes the sport must remain at the cutting edge of technology and speed.

Although electric racing activities look set to increase over the next few years, di Montezemolo reckons there are elements of F1 that means it would not be the show it is now if it should also go down that route.

"For me F1 is extreme performance, sport, and innovative technology in terms of performance," he told reporters at the Italian Grand Prix.

"I am in favour of hybrid, which is different. KERS can present, not only for Ferrari but other manufacturers, something interesting, but please do not go too far.

"For F1, I don't think it is a problem for me if we race one hour and a half with extreme performance. Of course taking care of the consumption, of course taking care of the environment, of course taking care of the new technology group of road cars.

"I race in F1 because it is for me one of the most important advance research centres. If you look at the successful road cars in the last 15 years, fly-by-wire, KERS, F1 gearbox, flow aerodynamics, this is something extremely important to transfer to my road cars.

"If F1 will become something the same for everybody, then there is no reason to be in F1."

Di Montezemolo also hit out at the way in which the FIA's former engine advisor Gilles Simon, who had worked closely with the current F1 manufacturers, was able to leave the governing body and take his knowledge to the PURE company.

"What I don't like today in F1, I don't like to give all the numbers of my engine to the federation, and the guy in charge at the federation of controlling the engines is now leaving and going to a private company with all my numbers. This I don't like very much. I don't like it at all and I want to talk about it."

Di Montezemolo also reiterated that he would like to see the return of customer cars in Formula 1 – with him set to make a fresh push for Ferrari to be allowed to run third cars.

"I will do my best to convince for three simple reasons, not only Ferrari. First of all, the gap between the best teams and the others is very, very big. Second to race today for a small team is very expensive when you have to develop a new car. Third I am looking forward to having new drivers in F1.

"In the past – I remember Giancarlo Baghetti won a fantastic race in F1, the first victory with a Ferrari in Reims (1961), with a private Ferrari and not one run by the team. I would like to see a McLaren, a Red Bull, [or] a Williams for a small team.

"It means the small team will be more competitive, it means we will spend less money, it means finally we can give room to new drivers in the future. I have young drivers in the Ferrari academy but I have to deliver the possibility to race in F1, and today it is not possible to do tests. I will do my best to convince in this direction."

Formula 1 should not be afraid of looking at further pay TV opportunities in the future, even if it means that fans are not able to watch every race live without paying for it.

That is the view of Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who believes that shared broadcasting deals, like that agreed between the BBC and Sky, are not of too much concern for him as long as the sport never switches exclusively to subscription-only networks.

Instead, he thinks more effort should be put into expanding opportunities offered by the Internet.

"It is crucial, the new media in F1," he explained. "iPad, I think Internet, these can represent a huge environment for the future, in parallel with an F1 that is becoming a worldwide sport. So I think there is a big room to be improved with the new media and this is important for us, and it is a big challenge for F1.

"Regarding pay and live [TV], I think that a mix is good. I think that this could represent a good mix in the future. For me it is crucial to have more people in the circuit and this is why we have to promote, we have to look very carefully at the price, look very carefully at the logistics. But I think a mix between pay TV and live TV will be the future - but a mix."

Di Montezemolo also thinks that some efforts should be made into ensuring that there are more spectators at race, and that they are not priced out of F1.

"This year we have races that some times have gone too far, but are more unpredictable and with more possibility to overtake - this was a weak point in the past.

"I think it is good to find something in the middle because sometimes the spectators are confused, they don't understand that a car comes out of the pits in certain positions. Having said that, we did do a step forward.

"The problem is that in my opinion you want a right balance for the people in front of the television and the people at the circuit. For me, for Ferrari, the circuits are crucial - I want to see spectators, I want to see passion, I want to see flags. So it is question to find a good balance in terms of price.

"I said a few years ago we have to be careful because with the low fares on airplanes, you can do a tour of the world with less money than a weekend at the circuit. This is something that we have to have very clear in front of us. Having said that, you will see on Sunday a lot of people here."

Sebastian Vettel admitted he was surprised by his advantage in qualifying at Monza, the Red Bull driver conceding he never expected to grab pole by such a margin.

The championship leader, whose Red Bull team has never been too strong at Monza, secured his 10th pole position of the year to keep the squad's perfect record of top spots this season.

Vettel finished nearly half a second ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, second today, and admitted he never expected to be so far ahead.

"We thought it would be much closer than that," admitted Vettel. "I had a bit of an improvement in the first run for my second lap. We weren't sure whether the tyres worked best in the first or second lap, but I did a bit of a mistake but we stayed out and focused on the last run only.

"I know we had a bit more time in the car, I had one or two cars down the road, which always helps at Monza but surely we would not think of going for pole by that big margin today on a track that did not suit us.

"This year the car is very good here, the balance is perfect even though for most of the people we don't carry much wing around, so it is very slippery. We are quick in all three sectors, so I am happy today. We think we have quite a racy approach so very pleased."

The German said he was not concerned about trying to keep a perfect pole position record all year, but rather about securing points on Sunday.

"I don't know. We had a similar question going into this weekend or last race, I don't know. I don't care as well, I think we have to go step by step. This weekend we know it is not easy for us, but so far it has been excellent, the main task is coming tomorrow.

"So far we haven't scored a single point but we have put ourselves in the strongest position. After tomorrow's race we focus on the next one, then we focus on the next one. If we have 100 per cent going into last race then we still have the chance to keep that up, but that is not our target, our target is to maximise the points tomorrow."

Vettel is confident he will be able to stay ahead of his McLaren rivals in the race, despite the strong pace shown by the team over long runs.

"I think we have a fair chance. Yesterday I was happy with the car, today is more about qualifying preparations and long runs. I felt very competitive, very good, the balance was right."

Lewis Hamilton does not think he could have beaten Sebastian Vettel to Italian Grand Prix pole even if his final qualifying lap at Monza had been perfect.

Vettel claimed his 10th pole position of the year with a half-second cushion despite Monza having been a weak track for Red Bull in recent years.

Although Hamilton made some errors on his final pole shot, he described Vettel's time as 'untouchable'.

"I didn't have another half a second in the bag," said Hamilton. "We had a couple of tenths up on the car. The guys did a fantastic job to bring new components to the circuit, and we were very competitive.

"Seb was quicker today. We looked like we would be quite competitive through the weekend but today on the last lap he was untouchable."

Hamilton had been fastest in Q1 and both McLarens had been within a couple of tenths of Vettel in Q2, so the Briton admitted he was surprised by how much performance the championship leader was able to unleash in the final segment.

"In Q1 and Q2 it was relatively close and they pull out half a second [in Q3]," said Hamilton.

Despite his disappointment at Vettel's qualifying superiority, Hamilton added that he was pleased to at least be in contention at the front of the field as he tries to make up for his Spa crash, and that he was confident in McLaren's race pace.

"It is a long race tomorrow. The target is to finish. In the race I think we will be able to finish up quite high," he said.

"I am pretty happy to be back up there getting another opportunity to have another good race tomorrow and hopefully things turn out better than the last race."

Jenson Button conceded it was hard to understand why Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was so quick in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.

The German driver grabbed a dominant pole position, beating the McLarens by around half a second despite the Monza circuit not expected to suit the Red Bull.

Button, third today behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton, admitted he was mystified by the speed of the Red Bull.

"I agree with Lewis that even if we got a bit more, we couldn't have challenged Seb," said Button.

"The strange thing is these guys don't look like they are carrying much wing and they are quite a bit quicker than us in last sector with high-speed corners, so it's difficult to understand.

"We have to concentrate on the race and score some good points. It's not so important to be on pole position as in previous years."

Button is confident, however, that McLaren will be able to challenge Vettel in tomorrow's race, and he is predicting a fun event.

"Seb says they are racy for tomorrow. I know what he means and I think we have also gone the same direction so I think it is going to be a fun race.

"Their lap times yesterday were very good on the long run, or whatever fuel loads they were running. I think we are going to have a lot of fun tomorrow, I don't think Red Bull will have it all their way. It should be a fun race."

Michael Schumacher is hopeful he will enjoy a stronger Italian Grand Prix on Sunday after qualifying on the fourth row of the grid.

The Mercedes driver will start from eighth position and, having saved a set of soft tyres for the race, he is optimistic he will be able to enjoy a strong event.

Schumacher admitted he could not have extracted much more from the car today, although he conceded his flying lap in Q3 was not ideal.

"Qualifying today went mostly according to plan," said Schumacher.

"I don't think we could have taken much more; maybe I could have ended up one place higher. I didn't have an ideal fast lap as I tried to use the slip stream from Lewis but then he locked up in the second chicane which made me lock up too.

"However I will be on soft tyres tomorrow which should be better for my race. As our race pace looked quite good yesterday, I was more focusing on the race and trying to use the tyres in the right way. For tomorrow, I will try to get a good start and take it from there."

Team-mate Nico Rosberg, who also completed just one run in Q3, was happy to have saved tyres for the race too, having qualified in ninth position.

"I'm happy with today's qualifying and the compromise that we made to be strong in the race tomorrow," he said . "The performance in Q2 shows that the car is working well here, and we saved two sets of options which is good.

"I'm the only driver who took part in Q3 who will be starting on the hard tyre, so it will be interesting and should help me a lot at the start of the race. I think it will be a really good race tomorrow."

Fernando Alonso is confident he will be in the fight for a place on the podium at Monza after a stronger-than-expected showing in qualifying.

The Ferrari driver will start the race from fourth position, a result he admitted was better than he had hoped for after struggling for pace ahead of qualifying.

"I'm happy with the result as it gives us a good chance for the race, to fight for the podium, to be in the fight at the first corner if we get a good start," said Alonso. "The weekend has been complicated, and we have never been fast enough.

"We have changed a lot of things in the car and so it's been a weekend with a lot of work. And in the end, finding ourselves on the second row is the best news of all."

The Spaniard is also hopeful Ferrari will be stronger in race trim than in qualifying, but he admitted it is unlikely he will have the pace to fight for victory.

"We will see. Obviously there is this question mark for tomorrow regarding the degradation and tyres, the pace in the race, which normally it was in our favour and we are usually better on Sunday, so we will see tomorrow if we can repeat this thing.

"I am confident that we can have a good pace in the race even if the weekend so far we were not extremely competitive. We struggled yesterday and we struggled this morning and in qualifying.

"The best thing is the result, and fourth gives you the possibility of fighting for the podium, fighting at the first corner etc.., but being realistic we do not have the pace so far."

He added: "I think we will see tomorrow. It is true that here you can set the car a little bit for qualifying or you can set it for the race. You can put more or less downforce regarding what you think for the race is best, and in qualifying because you open the wing on every straight it is not a problem.

"In the race, when you cannot open that wing on the straight, it is necessary to have the right downforce on the car. We see tomorrow. Sebastian did well today with a big margin for pole position, so tomorrow basically at the start we need to stop him."

Mark Webber said he and his Red Bull crew must share the blame for his disappointing fifth place on the Italian Grand Prix grid.

The Australian had KERS issues at the start of the session, and felt going for just one run in Q3 had been the wrong choice.

"It wasn't the smoothest session at all," Webber admitted.

"We were late out managing some KERS stuff. The guys got that in eventually and it didn't effect Q1 too much.

"Then Q2 wasn't too bad, but I could've done a better job in preparing what type of run plan we were going to do for Q3.

"I was too much in doubt whether to do one run or two runs. In the end two runs was the thing to do.

"From a KERS perspective, we got in an absolute mess with KERS on the other run as well. So in the end all the things we could've done, driver heavily influenced, we didn't do the best planning."

Although Webber has not been an absolute frontrunner this weekend, he was confident that he was capable of joining team-mate Sebastian Vettel on the front row given a smooth qualifying.

"Yesterday practice two was a very good lap, but I didn't have KERS for that lap, so that was very good pace. This morning was not too bad," Webber insisted.

"Seb's been quick here, for sure. But the McLarens were certainly doable, no question about it.

"We just didn't get it all together, the plan wasn't organised enough on my side of the garage, and I didn't help that situation. We got what we deserved in the end."

Sebastian Vettel's hopes of winning the Italian Grand Prix will almost certainly depend on him being able to make a clean break at the front of the field in the early stages of the race, reckon his main rivals.

Although Vettel caused a surprise by qualifying on pole position by almost half a second, his rivals are optimistic that the fight for victory is far from over because of the gear ratio choice that the German has taken.

Onboard footage and straight-line speed figures from qualifying suggest that Vettel has almost certainly opted for a shorter gear ratio than his main opposition - which could leave him exposed if he comes under threat from rivals in the DRS zones.

Vettel was slowest of all through the Monza speed trap before the first corner – with his 327.7 km/h figure comparing to Fernando Alonso's 342.2 km/h, Mark Webber's 336.1 km/h, Jenson Button's 333.1 km/h and Lewis Hamilton's 332.7 km/h

The maximum speed that is measured just before the finish line, shows Vettel is already slower than his rivals there – with him recording 316.6 km/h in qualifying, compared to Michael Schumacher's 323.5 km/h, Alonso's 321.3 km/h, Button's 319.4 km/h and Hamilton's 318.4 km/h.

Those figures have delivered encouragement for his rivals, who believe that Vettel will not only face a hard time defending the lead if he does not build up more than a one-second cushion at the DRS zone, but also that he will be unable to make the best use of DRS to overtake his rivals if he is behind.

Ferrari technical chief Pat Fry said: "Vettel is running on the limiter for 400-500 metres. So he has a very short gear, and if you look at the overlays, he is a match to us before he hits the limiter.

"That is the choice you make. When you are not using the DRS you will have a better gear ratio choice, and by the look of it Mark has got a longer gear in the car."

Button said: "I think if you look at the two cars of Mark and Sebastian, I think you see the one who was confident going into qualifying.

"I think Seb expects to lead from the front and not have the issue of trying to overtake anyone. If he is in the DRS zone then he will be on the limiter for the whole straight because he is at 327 km/h the whole straight.

"It is a gamble, especially as we are behind him, and I think he will be quick in the race. But if we can get the jump on him, then I think it will be tough for him."

Hamilton is even more encouraged by the situation, reckoning that McLaren has the chance of scoring a 1-2 finish in the race if they can put some pressure on Vettel.

When asked why he felt like that, Hamilton said: "It is just optimism. It is because clearly we have been strong all weekend, we have clearly had quite good long run pace and Jenson is in P3 and I am in P2, and there is only one step for both of us to do.

"I think starting here from pole isn't the best place to start from, I think we are in the best position because it is such a long run down to Turn 1, and we have a strong team behind us and we are quick. There is no reason why tomorrow we cannot compete with the Red Bulls."

Hamilton insisted, however, that he would not be taking any big risks in the race – because he felt he was still in contention for the title.

"We are still fighting for the championship," he said. "I don't want to take any chances. Hopefully we will get a good start, we are in the best position to still fight but again Jenson started quite far back in the last race and showed it is a long, long race and lots can happen.

"Regardless of whether we get the best start of not, we will still be in a fight until the end, so that is the plan."

Jarno Trulli will remain at Team Lotus for 2012, after the Hingham-based outfit announced on Sunday that the Italian had extended his contract.

The Italian joined Team Lotus for its inaugural campaign in 2010 and has played a major role in helping develop the outfit over the past two seasons.

Speaking about his new deal, Trulli said: "I am very pleased that we have been able to confirm today that my contract with Team Lotus has been extended into 2012. The challenge I first accepted when I joined the team is becoming more exciting every day, and I am very proud that I can keep helping the team take steps forward for at least another year."

Team principal Tony Fernandes, who made a big push during the formation of his outfit in going for experienced drivers like Trulli, said: "We are all delighted that we have been able to reach an agreement to keep Jarno on board for at least one more year with our team.

"He has shown in qualifying in Monza just how much pace he has and how he can wring every last drop of performance out of his car and since day one with us he has brought a level of professionalism, insight and raw speed to our team that has helped accelerate our development on and off track.

"Today's announcement will give us the benefit of his experience and knowledge into 2012, another very important year in the growth of our team."

Post-qualifying press conference:

TV UNILATERALS

Q. Sebastian, pole number 10 this year but by half-a-second in the end after it had looked like it might be a little closer than that.

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, we thought it would be much closer than that. I had a bit of an improvement in the first run for my second lap. We weren't sure whether the tyres worked best in the first lap or second lap, but then I did a bit of a mistake and we stayed out and focussed only on the last run we had. I knew I had a bit more time in the car. The first lap I did on my own without anybody and on the second run I think I had one or two cars ahead down the road, which always helps you in Monza. But we would not have thought of going on pole by that big margin today on a track which, to be fair, the last two years did not suit us. This year I have to say the car is very good here. The balance is perfect even though for most of the people except these two [the McLarens] we don't carry a lot of wing around and on low downforce it is very slippery, but still we are quite quick in all three sectors and I was able to put it together. I am very happy today also considering that we have quite a racy approach so I am very pleased with today.

Q. Lewis, the final run didn't work out for you after it had seemed very close up until then. Was this the one that got away today?

Lewis HAMILTON: I don't think so. I didn't have another half-a-second in the bag. I think we perhaps could have got another couple of tenths out of the car. Firstly, the guys did a fantastic job to bring the new components to the circuit and clearly we are very competitive. Both me and Jenson were able to be up here so that's a great step, but no, Sebastian was mega quick today. It looked like we would be quite competitive throughout the weekend but today in that last lap, that was untouchable for me.

Q. Jenson, strong result here last year. How do you see tomorrow's race shaping up from the position you are starting in?

Jenson BUTTON: Well third is normally a pretty good place to start. But here you just can't get past the front two if they are side by side so it is tricky. But looking at today I totally agree with Lewis. Even if we had got a little bit more out of the car we were never going to challenge Seb. They were very fast today. The strange thing is that these guys don't look like they were carrying a lot of wing but they are sort of half-a-second quicker than us in the last sector which is the high speed corner so difficult to understand. That is something we will have to look at, but not at the moment. I think we have got to concentrate on tomorrow now and look forward to a good race. We are both in a great position and I think we can both score some good points here. It is not so important to be on pole here like previous years as you have the DRS so we will see.

Q. So Sebastian, what are you doing. Where are you getting all this downforce?

SV: It is not just wings. We know we have a good car. The last two years here we weren't that competitive even though we had very little wing on the car. But this year I think the most important thing apart from the wing level which always helps you go around corners is to have the balance and we are very good on that this year. I felt very comfortable gong into qualifying and then throughout I could feel the track getting quicker and just simply went with the track so that is the secret if there is any.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Sebastian, pole of nearly half-a-second and everyone is asking where does it come from?

SV: I think there is no secret. I think we just got everything out of ourselves and even though carrying around quite a little wing I think the balance is very good this year and the car is behaving great. I think we have been working hard knowing that this is usually not our best circuit if it is dry so it is nice to be back. I like this track. There are a lot of straights but carrying that little downforce around and still managing to get the car into the corners is not always that easy so all in all I am very pleased with the result. As I said the gap, I don't know whether Lewis and Jenson's lap was entirely perfect. I saw one of them aborting their second run so not sure, haven't seen what happened but for us we can be very happy and I felt I got everything out of the car today.

Q. The team had a late night last night. Was there a lot of work on your car?

SV: No, I think Mark [Webber] had a problem. They were able to fix it and I don't think it affected him today. I don't know why he only did one run in Q3. With only 10 minutes in Q3 there is not a lot of time we spend in the garage. Usually we just change tyres and go out again.

Q. You had a couple of moments on your first set of tyres?

SV: Yeah, a little bit out of Lesmo 2 but it was still okay but then I lost it in Ascari on the second lap. The first lap was fine, but then the second lap I think the tyres started to go off a little bit and I was getting closer to another car, but I knew I had a little bit left for the last run and it turned out to be a couple of tenths so I was very pleased. As I said I had the feeling I got everything together which isn't always easy here when you arrive at such high speed to hit the braking point perfectly and to get the car through the chicanes, not asking too much, but on the other hand not too little. Don't leave lap time on the ground, so very happy.

Q. When you have mentioned the car hasn't suited the circuit you haven't felt confident for the car itself. Just two weeks ago the car wasn't supposedly suited for Spa and you weren't very confident for the race for perhaps a different reason. What about your confidence for the race this time?

SV: It is quite high. I am looking forward to the race as, for one, we carry little wing, which helps. In qualifying the DRS can help you so that's a good thing. On top of that I think our approach has been quite racy and today we weren't 100 per cent sure whether that was the right decision. As it turned out it was so, for tomorrow, now it should be the better choice so I am very happy. I like the track. It has been a while since I was sitting here. I remember when it was the last time but hopefully I am back on the podium tomorrow.

Q. Lewis, you thought you could take the challenge to the Red Bulls. The margin of half-a-second is fairly major so can you do it tomorrow do you feel?

LH: It is a long race tomorrow. The target is to finish. I am sure if we are in the race then I am sure we will be able to finish quite high.

Q. You said you thought that qualifying was going to be intense and fascinating with the DRS so how was it?

LH: It wasn't. It was pretty straightforward really. Obviously Q1 and Q2 I think were relatively close then as always they pull out another half-a-second in Q3, so whatever happens there happened. But I am very happy to be back up here again and another opportunity to have a good race tomorrow. I really hope that things turn out better than they did in the last race.

Q. You had a little lock-up. Is that why you aborted that lap?

LH: Yes.

Q. A little lock-up at the second chicane I think, but otherwise were the laps perfect?

LH: I think my first one was pretty much perfect, I mean almost perfect, so yes.

Q. Jenson, third on the grid and also again you didn't do a final run?

JB: Yeah, I mean the first run in Q3 was pretty good. I was pretty happy with it. But I felt I could go a little bit more, maybe a tenth or so, but I didn't get a great first sector and I just carried that all the way through the lap so I was a tenth-and-a-half down. I knew through the last corner, the previous lap was perfect through there, so I looked down at the speed and just pulled into the pits knowing that I was a tenth-and-a-half off my best. It's not so bad. When you look at the time difference from first to third in qualifying it's way more than you'd hope for, but we've seen it before. As Seb said they are racy for tomorrow. I pretty much think I know what he means and I think we have also gone the same direction so I think it is going to be a fun race. Their lap times yesterday were very good on the long run, but you never really know what fuel loads people were running or what have you, but I think we are going to have a lot of fun tomorrow. I don't think Red Bull and Seb are going to have it all their own way, which is exactly what everyone wants so it should be a fun race.

Q. Yesterday you said not all the adjustments you made were good. Was there a lot of fine tuning overnight.

JB: Yeah, I struggled in P1 as we had some test items. A few of them to drop drag and I was struggling really to get them working correctly so we didn't continue working with them in FP2. Then this morning again we had some good improvements so I feel that we have chipped away at it and in the end in qualifying it is not a bad result. I think it is pretty close to where we could have been. I don't think we had a chance of getting P1 here but tomorrow is a different story, hopefully, and we are near the front. It is always nice racing from the front, not having to fight your way through, and we will see what we can do from P3.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

(Heikki Kulta - Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, after this pole is it possible to get all the poles of the season for Red Bull?

SV: I don't know. We had a similar question I think going into this weekend or the last race. I don't know. I don't care as well as I think we have to go step-by-step. This weekend we knew it is not easy for us. So far it has been excellent but it is not over. The main task is coming tomorrow. So far we haven't scored a single point. We have put ourselves in as strong as possible a position but that's it so far for this weekend. After tomorrow's race we focus on the next one and then we go step-by-step. If you ask the same question going into the last race and we still have the chance to keep that record up we will see. I don't know, but it is not our target. Obviously, our target is to maximise the points tomorrow.

Q. (Dan Knutson - National Speedsport News ) For all three drivers. We are going to India next month. What do you think about racing in the Indian Grand Prix from your own point of view and also from all those sponsors' names on your driver uniforms?

SV: I am looking forward to it. I haven't seen much of the circuit yet. But I heard it should be quite spectacular. A lot of uphill and downhill as well, more than we expect. I have never been to India so am looking forward to it. I hope that all of us we manage to spend most of the time on the track doing what we usually do and not in the restrooms as I heard some funny stories. I hope we put the circuit on fire, nothing else.

JB: I don't really think there is anything else to say, is there? I am looking forward to it. It's a new experience for me anyway. I have never been to India. It is a new culture but it is something to look forward to. I think they are going to love motor racing when we get over there. I think they are going to be into it. I think if we can get a good crowd I think that is the key to a good grand prix. It makes such a difference to us if there is a good crowd and there is a lot of support for the grand prix so hopefully that will be the case. I have seen the lay-out of the circuit and it look a lot of fun, but we won't know until we get there. But, yeah, it is a new experience.

Q. (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Sebastian, do records mean anything to you? You're actually now four shy of equalling Nigel Mansell's 1992 record of 14 poles. You've got six races left after this one, would you like to equal or better that?

SV: I don't know. We still have some races to go. So far we've had a fantastic run on Saturdays and Sundays, to be fair. It's not always as smooth as you would like it to be, but I have to say this year we have put everything together and most of the time we've got it right. It's not really the target. If you come back to me and say that I've got a big amount of poles, I think it's nice to hear but I think the most impressive one on pole positions on Saturdays, and it will probably always be, is Ayrton Senna. The amount of poles he got during a year and then for three or four years in a row, I think that's the real benchmark.

Q. (Yoneya Mineoki – La Vie Creative) Sebastian, can I ask you your thoughts about going to Japan this year after such a huge disaster?

SV: I'm looking forward to it. I think most of us do. I love Suzuka, I love the track, the fans. It's a good sign for us to go there and I hope that we will bring some laughter and joy to the people. Obviously it was quite a big disaster that happened at the beginning of the year. As I said, I'm looking forward to it. The atmosphere is always special, the people are very funny and enthusiastic so I'm really looking forward to going there.

Q. (Joris Fioriti – Agence France Presse) To all three of you, but especially to Sebastian, because you were young at that time, do you remember 9/11, 2001? What you were doing, what were your thoughts and what do you think about it right now?

SV: I think of all us – it would normal – remember pretty well what we were doing on that day. I remember I was going mountain biking, and just before I left, I saw on TV a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I couldn't really believe it but I had to make it – I don't know what time I was supposed to be there, but to be perfectly on time, German efficiency... So I left and went mountain biking because I thought 'it's not true, something is wrong' whatever. When you are 14, you don't think about these things too much. Then I went biking, then two hours later I came back and obviously we saw the pictures again and I think, as I said, it's something we will never forget. I also remember the race taking place here in Monza, I think a week after, where the Ferraris had a black nose. Things like this you surely don't forget. It's 10 years now, and I hope nothing like that will ever happen again. As I said, we all remember pretty well what we did.

LH: I do remember, yeah. I'm only a couple of years older than you [Vettel]. I was at home and it was quite a tragic time, obviously. Probably one of the most devastating things that has happened in my lifetime, a huge moment for everyone in the world and as Sebastian said, I hope that never happens again.

JB: I don't think any of us can really forget it. I think we all remember it like it was yesterday. It's amazing to think that it was a decade ago that it actually happened. I think we remember all the details so this is a time to remember and also a time to move on as well, a very important moment, I think.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado do Sao Paulo) Sebastian, you have had many references of long runs, yesterday and this morning, and McLaren looked very strong in these conditions. Do you think it's realistic for you in race conditions to beat them?

SV: I think we have a fair chance. Yesterday we were very happy with the car. This morning, for all us, I think it was more about qualifying preparations. The long runs we had, the one we had yesterday, I felt very competitive, I felt very good, the balance was right and it seemed to be very competitive. As Lewis touched on, you don't know how much fuel the others have. You know what you're carrying yourself but obviously it's difficult to know about the rest of the field, but I think that judging from other events that we had a very good Friday and similar to today, we're positively surprised how competitive we are and I think we should be in good shape for tomorrow as well. Sure it's a long race and the most important thing will be the chequered flag; even if you want to win you still have to see the chequered flag, that's for sure and we will see what we can do. It will be tight and we will go from there.

Q. (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing) Jenson, Ferrari, in qualifying, had a bad middle sector but a very strong high-speed first and third sectors. Is it going to be crucial to keep position at the start because you have a Ferrari beside you or do you think that with two DRS zones it's going to make it easier for you or have less of an advantage to have good straightline speed?

JB: Don't really know, it's difficult to know really. I think that at the start, it's not long enough to make too much of a difference whether you're carrying the wing or not, as we saw last year when I was carrying an unbelievable amount of wing and I actually passed a Ferrari at the start and led into the first corner. Running high or low downforce I don't think is going to make a massive difference into turn one. During the race, yeah, I think the cars, including myself… you've got to get close enough to the car in front. I think the DRS zones, even though there are two and you would think it would be easy to overtake, it's still going to be quite tough I think, especially into Ascari. But I think we've chosen our downforce level correctly, and our drag level and our gearing, so I'm happy with what we've done and I think we can have a very good race from there. I think all in all it's not been a perfect day for the team but it's been a good day and I think we should be happy with the choices that we've made for the race tomorrow.

Q. (Ted Kravitz – BBC Sport) Sebastian, talking of gearing, with the gearing that you have on your car, is it a big problem if you get overtaken at the start? Can you use the DRS or do you really have to make that more than a one second gap so as not to be vulnerable for DRS?

SV: No, I think we have a good chance. It's a long straight but tomorrow, I think the conditions will be a bit different. As I said, our approach might be racy but the race is obviously most of the time without DRS but with DRS, which we did consider, it should be fine. As Jenson touched on, it will still be difficult to use both of the zones, especially the second one down to Ascari. It looks very tight and I think if the guy defends well on the inside then you need a lot of speed around the outside to pass him but all these answers we will get tomorrow.

Q. (Mathias Brunner – Speedweek) Seb, at the end of the first run, you seemed to lift off coming out of the Parabolica and then you went back on the throttle. It looked like a misunderstanding with the pits; what went on there?

SV: Not really a misunderstanding but we decided… obviously I saw that I was losing a bit through Ascari, as I said earlier and I was not really able to beat the time that I set on the first lap. I wanted to come in but I was told to stay out so there was a bit of a misunderstanding but it didn't cost us anything, also because it was pretty clear that the first timed lap would be the important one, which we weren't quite sure about going into Q3, but then after the first run it was pretty obvious that the lap time should be there on the first lap.

Q. (Rodrigo Franca – VIP Magazine) Sebastian, in 2008 you took what was the first pole in your career. What big changes have occurred from that time to nowadays and what things are pretty much the same for you as a person and as a driver?

SV: Obviously a lot of things changed. I think I've driven a lot of races and had a lot of chances to learn, learn in Formula One. Obviously back then it was an incredible weekend and something I will never forget. It's always nice coming back here, it's one of the real special places. When I walk the track, you get all the pictures again and the radio calls that I received after crossing the line etc. It is a special place for me and that's why I'm very happy with the result today but I think that since then I have hopefully made some progress as a driver. Obviously it's a completely different situation with the team that I'm in now. We are in a completely different position as well so all in all things have developed in a good way. As a person, I don't know. Everyone changes but I think from the person point of view, I am same the guy I used to be.

Q. (Ralf Bach – Autobild Motorsport) Sebastian, can we say that Monza is a kind of living room for you now?

SV: It's been three years that I haven't been (sitting) here, on this very spot so I hope to be back tomorrow but as I just said, of course it's a special place for me and I have good memories so yeah, the target is also to win in the dry tomorrow, so let's see what we can do.

[Lineker]

What a start! Three-way duel for the lead which Alonso comes out on top of, plus a huge crash in the midfield! The crowd are loving it.

[LUKIE]

I love Mark Webber. Because he does the most dumb shit, and it's hilarious.

What an idiot.

Great race though. Too bad Alonso couldn't take it.

[Lineker]

Sebastian Vettel cruised to his eighth victory of the 2011 Formula 1 season as he proved that Red Bull had firmly conquered its Monza weak spot by dominating the Italian Grand Prix.

Jenson Button won a battle with Fernando Alonso for second, with Lewis Hamilton having to settle for fourth after spending much of the race trapped behind Michael Schumacher. Mark Webber - Vettel's closest challenger in the points prior to the weekend - crashed out early.

Alonso had briefly raised the Italian crowd's hopes by surging his Ferrari to the front in a spectacular start from fourth on the grid. Poleman Vettel was slow away and was attacked first by Hamilton's McLaren before Alonso appeared down the inside, briefly took to the grass and slipped ahead, with Hamilton running out of space and falling to third behind Vettel.

Carnage further back would prompt an immediate safety car. Tonio Liuzzi lost control of his HRT under braking and spun down the inside grass before slamming into Nico Rosberg's Mercedes and Vitaly Petrov's Renault in the middle of the Rettifilio. Rubens Barrichello's Williams and Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber picked up damage in the consequent traffic jam, while Bruno Senna (Renault), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) and Adrian Sutil (Force India) all had to trundle through the gravel in avoidance.

At the lap four restart Hamilton was caught unaware by Schumacher, who had thrust his Mercedes to fourth at the start and then grabbed third from the McLaren.

Webber was taking sixth from Button at the same time, both having lost ground at the start. But when the Red Bull attacked Felipe Massa into the first chicane a lap later, Webber ended up tagging the Ferrari into a spin and smashing his front wing, which then folded under the car and caused him to crash at the Parabolica.

The other Red Bull was faring better. Vettel was all over Alonso as soon as racing resumed, and on lap five he managed to get through into the Roggia chicane despite having put two wheels on the Curva Grande grass moments earlier as the Ferrari defended. After that, Vettel was unstoppable, storming away and holding a 15-second cushion for most of the rest of the race as he notched up yet another victory.

Alonso then came under attack from Schumacher and Hamilton for a while, but soon the latter pair were too busy with each other. The Mercedes' incredible straightline speed and some firm defending from Schumacher kept Hamilton at bay despite the Briton trying move after move.

Button caught them too, and was able to pass both in quick succession on lap 16 - taking Hamilton when he had to abruptly back off as Schumacher slammed the door shut at the Curva Grande, and then slicing down the outside of the Mercedes into Ascari.

That left Button free to chase down Alonso, who he overtook shortly after the second pitstops when the Ferrari got a poor exit from the first chicane.

Hamilton finally overtook Schumacher using the pre-Ascari DRS zone on lap 27, and then mounted his own pursuit of Alonso - catching the Ferrari on the final lap and just running out of time to try a pass.

Massa recovered from the Webber incident to take sixth behind Schumacher.

Sergio Perez looked assured of seventh on a one-stop strategy until his Sauber's gearbox failed, which meant Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) could take the place after a strong drive from 18th on the grid.

Di Resta, Senna and Buemi recovered from their first-corner delays to complete the points-scorers.

A fine start and a safe passage through the first-lap mess saw Pastor Maldonado run as high as sixth for Williams. But he did not have the pace to stay there and slipped to 11th by the finish.

Behind the delayed Barrichello, the high attrition rate allowed Lotus duo Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, and Virgin's Timo Glock, to take potentially useful finishes in 13th through 15th places.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS


The Italian Grand Prix

Autodromo di Monza, Italy;

53 laps; 306.720km;

Weather: Sunny.


Classified:


Pos  Driver        Team                       Time

 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h20:46.172

 2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     9.590

 3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    16.909

 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    17.471

 5.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +    32.677

 6.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    42.993

 7.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap

 8.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap

 9.  Senna         Renault                    +     1 lap

10.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap

11.  Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap

12.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap

13.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap

14.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps

15.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps


Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:26.187


Not classified/retirements:


Driver        Team                         On lap

Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth                 40

Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               34

Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               23

Sutil         Force India-Mercedes         11

Webber        Red Bull-Renault             6

D-Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth              3

Petrov        Renault                      1

Rosberg       Mercedes                     1

Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth                 1



World Championship standings, round 13:                


Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Vettel       284        1.  Red Bull-Renault          451

 2.  Alonso       172        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          325

 3.  Webber       167        3.  Ferrari                   254

 4.  Button       167        4.  Mercedes                  108

 5.  Hamilton     158        5.  Renault                    70

 6.  Massa         82        6.  Force India-Mercedes       36

 7.  Rosberg       56        7.  Sauber-Ferrari             35

 8.  Schumacher    52        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         29

 9.  Petrov        34        9.  Williams-Cosworth           5

10.  Heidfeld      34       

11.  Kobayashi     27       

12.  Sutil         24       

13.  Alguersuari   16       

14.  Buemi         13       

15.  Di Resta      12       

16.  Perez          8       

17.  Barrichello    4       

18.  Senna          2       

19.  Maldonado      1       


All timing unofficial[/code]


Tonio Liuzzi will lose five places on the grid for the Singapore Grand Prix following his accident at the start of the Monza race.


The HRT driver lost control of his car under braking for the first corner, going onto the grass and hitting the cars going through the chicane at the time when he rejoined the track.


Liuzzi, as well as Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov retired on the spot, with other drivers like Sebastien Buemi or Rubens Barrichello damaging their cars.


The stewards decided after the race to impose a five-place grid penalty for Liuzzi for the next race.


The Italian had started from last position at Monza.


Red Bull Racing has dedicated its victory in the Italian Grand Prix to former staff member Erin Pezzella, who lost her battle against cancer earlier in the week.


Sebastian Vettel moved a major step closer winning the world title with a dominant victory at Monza on Sunday - and the result means he can now clinch the title in the next race at Singapore.


Team principal Christian Horner was delighted with the result, especially as it came on a track that was not expected to play to Red Bull Racing's strengths, and afterwards paid tribute to Pezzella.


"Earlier this week we lost a young girl who worked for the team for five years in accounts," said Horner.


"She was 31 years of age and she lost a very brave fight against cancer, so as a team we would like to dedicate this to her today. It puts everything into perspective."


Although there had been much focus ahead of the race about the gear ratio choice opted for by Red Bull Racing, Horner said the outfit was more confident about its pace in the GP that it had been for qualifying.


"We felt that the hit was potentially in qualifying when you can use the DRS all the time, whereas for the race we thought we were better placed," said Horner. "That ultimately proved to be the case, even dropping behind Fernando, who we knew was pretty quick on the straight, Seb still managed to make it work. I think it was absolutely the right thing to do in the end."


He added: "It was an unbelievable day. Fernando [Alonso] had an awesome start and looked like he was only ever going to be the leader out of the first chicane. Sebastian was already pressuring him before the safety car and for anybody that doubted if he could overtake or not, I think he demonstrated it very clearly today with a very brave move, with two wheels on the grass. He made it stick – got his head down and had tremendous pace.


"It was a very, very well executed race strategy wise, pit-stop wise and from Seb himself. It is phenomenal for the team for the team and Red Bull to win in Monza."


Renault has set a mid-October deadline for keeping a seat open for Robert Kubica next year, with the team keen to know its 2012 driver line-up as soon as possible.


The Enstone-based outfit is eager to get Kubica back racing, but knows it cannot wait until the eve of the next campaign to sort out its plans - because then it will be too late to find the kind of high-quality replacement it will need.


Team principal Eric Boullier said that a decision would be taken next month about whether Kubica will definitely be back, or if the team needs to sort out finding a full-time replacement.


"My issue is I cannot miss the opportunity to have Robert back, but at the same time I have to protect the interests of this team," Boullier said, when asked by AUTOSPORT about the driver situation for next year. "I need to define the best driver line-up, or the best one I can afford.


"I will be flexible because I really like Robert and it is worth for him to be back, but by the middle of October or the end of October I need to have clear confirmation, even if we have some work to go through.


"I am not expecting him to be as fast as last year, because when you have been away from racing for one year it is tough to be back, and on top of this you have a bad accident like he had, then it is not easy. But I need to understand if he can do it."


Kubica is set to get back behind the wheel of either a road car or an F1 simulator in one month's time - which should provide the first indication on whether or not the Pole will be able to race again.


As well as sorting out simulator time for Kubica, Renault will also make available a 2009-spec car for testing if it is required over the winter.


Pirelli thinks the controversy over camber settings in Formula 1 is now at an end, with the tyre company confident that a clampdown on the matter at Monza means there should be no issues in the Italian GP.


With there having been a big focus on the issue after the Belgian GP, following the blistering issues that Red Bull Racing encountered, Pirelli issued a more conservative camber guideline for the high-speed Monza track.


And eager to ensure that no team was tempted to go beyond that limit, the FIA stepped in to make that limit mandatory - with the possibility of exclusion from the race if any car was found to be beyond the limit.


Pirelli director of motorsport Paul Hembery told AUTOSPORT that the situation in Monza this weekend was normal, and he was happy with how the matter had been dealt with.


"One of our worries was that maybe we had been a little bit too cautious, and sometimes people have designed their car in a certain way that it could move some issues to another part of the tyre, or another tyre on the chassis," he said.


"So we just wanted to at least have Friday to review the situation, get a good picture and in the end we believed the correct level was the ones we gave, although perhaps the rear was too generous. We just wanted to make sure that it was confirmed.


"But we felt that if we had a situation where somebody was going to exaggerate [the camber] too far, then you could feel uncomfortable – so we asked the FIA to have the potential to make it mandatory. It was their prerogative.


"The matter was a one-off though. We haven't had any issues before and probably if we had been to Spa and run in the dry then we would probably not have asked for it here. We were left in a situation that made everyone's life more difficult than it needed to be."


Hembery says the soft compound at Monza is lasting longer than Pirelli had predicted ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, with him expecting a two-stop strategy this afternoon.


"The soft is lasting about 15 laps," he said. "There is some difference between teams though, and some teams might get a little more out of them as they have been lighter on them. So the strategy will be interesting.


"We saw in Spa when Mark Webber did a double-stint on the medium tyre and got a great result, and then having a new set of softs at the end with a light fuel load and a fast car, that he was carving through the field. I am quite sure they will want to do something similar to that again."


Formula 1 teams have now officially signed off next year's testing plans, AUTOSPORT has learned, confirming that Mugello will host the single 2012 in-season test next May.


Over the course of the Italian Grand Prix weekend, every team principal has given his approval to a 2012 Testing Agreement, which commits teams to three pre-season tests and one that will take place at Mugello after the first flyaway events


Under the terms of the agreement, 2012 testing will commence at Jerez in Spain on February 7-9, with two further tests taking place in Barcelona from February 21-24 and March 1-4.


Then, following a push by FIA president Jean Todt to get in-season testing back, teams have agreed that a fourth test will take place in the gap between the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 22 and the Spanish GP on May 13.


The Mugello test, which is being hosted at the Ferrari-owned venue, will then take place from May 1 - giving teams a good opportunity to evaluate car developments following the first four races.


Mugello last hosted a Formula 1 test in January 2009 when Felipe Massa conducted the first test of Ferrari's new car.


Sebastian Vettel said the combination of Red Bull's previously poor Monza form and the fact that his first career win had come at the same track three years ago with Toro Rosso made his Italian Grand Prix one of the most emotional of his incredible season.


The world champion was able to dominate the race once he had overtaken fast starter Fernando Alonso's Ferrari early on.


"Very emotional," said Vettel. "This circuit means a lot to me and has been very special - my first win was here so when I crossed the line I remembered every single bit.


"It's unbelievable. A circuit that has been tough for us to be competitive and we came back this year and the car was amazing."


Although Vettel was racing by himself for most of the distance, he had a busy first few laps with a three-abreast moment into the first corner with Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, and then a close call with Alonso through Curva Grande as the Ferrari defended just before Vettel's successful pass.


"The start was not that good," Vettel admitted. "It took me a while to see we were three alongside going into Turn 1. Then after the restart I was able to pass [Alonso]. He didn't give me much room so I don't know if he knew I was on that side."


Red Bull had run a short top gear on Vettel's car for better acceleration out of corners at the expense of top speed - a decision that paid off as he took pole, but was felt by his rivals to be a potential weak point in the race, though Vettel said his win proved it had always been the right call.


"I don't think we took any gamble today, we took the gamble yesterday in qualifying," he said. "People saw our top speed was not very high so gears were slightly shorter, so I couldn't use the speed on the straight, but for the race we were comfortable.


"I was able to pass Fernando without DRS but even with DRS it may have been a bit comfortable. All in all we did the right thing, had a great race car and great speed all the way through."


Vettel can now clinch his second title in Singapore in a fortnight if he outscores Alonso by 13 points and Jenson Button and Mark Webber by eight points - though this came as a surprise to the champion.


"Wow! I don't know. It has been an incredible year so far to be honest, we have progressed so much as a team, got so much stronger," said Vettel.


"We'll just do Singapore as we used to do all the other races - go there and go step by step.


"I am looking forward and we'll see what happens there."


Fernando Alonso admitted he was particularly hard on Sebastian Vettel when the runaway points leader was attacking him in the opening stages of the Italian Grand Prix as he felt Vettel would not want to risk too much given his position in the standings.


Alonso had taken the race lead at the start, but was only able to hang on for just over a lap following the early restart before Vettel got through. The Red Bull ended up partially on the grass at Curva Grande at one point as Alonso tried to maintain his place.


"We have nothing to lose in the battles with Sebastian," said Alonso, who ultimately finished third. "He is leading the championship by 100 points so when we have to defend we will be a little bit harder with him."


The start had seen Alonso move from fourth to first, taking to the grass as he went three-abreast with Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.


"We have been doing some good starts in last couple of grands prix but when starting fifth or sixth there was not enough room to overtake," Alonso said. "Here in Monza we knew if the car was in the same feeling of good starts then we have enough space and enough of a run to the first corner to overtake people."


He admitted that there was no way he could have stayed ahead all the way to the finish, and having also lost second to Jenson Button later in the race, Alonso suspected that he might have been pushed off the podium by Hamilton had the race been longer or the McLaren spent less time trapped behind Michael Schumacher's Mercedes.


"It was close, I think one or two more laps and probably we'd lose the podium," Alonso conceded. "We were a little bit lucky with Michael and his battles because Lewis lost 20-30 seconds in the first laps, so we managed that gap."


Jenson Button was left lamenting his poor start to the Italian Grand Prix, as he felt he could have been more of a challenge to Sebastian Vettel.


Button, starting from third position, dropped down to seventh at the start, and had to charge back during the race, passing Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher in the process.


The Briton went on to finish in second place, some ten seconds behind Vettel.


Button admitted he enjoyed the race, but rued his poor start, as he felt he could have been closer to Vettel.


"It was a really fun race," said Button. "Fighting with Lewis, with Michael, and with Fernando. It was a good race, it wasn't for the lead, which was a shame but it's always very difficult when you are down in seventh.


"I had a tough start to the race but it was a lot of fun, and the atmosphere here is electric. We have to get things together on race weekends and then hopefully we can be challenging Seb."


He added: "I don't know if we could have challenged Seb today. It's a pity we had such a poor start. It is a little issue but it can cost you a lot of time.


"We did a great job with the pitstops. It is great to get a second but you always want a lot more."


Button said passing Alonso for second was a "tense" moment, as he was unable to overtake the Spaniard with the DRS and KERS on the straight.


"It's a weird thing with the DRS. We get to a point on the straight where we don't go anywhere, we sit on the limiter. I made a mistake at Ascari, and Fernando got a gap and I couldn't get any closer, but on the hard tyre Fernando was struggling for grip.


"That is the good thing about KERS: you can catch people out if they make a mistake. It was a tense moment but I eventually pulled a gap and easy to settle into the race."


Michael Schumacher declared himself very happy with his performance in the Italian Grand Prix after coming home in fifth place.


The Mercedes driver was one of the protagonists of the early part of the event, when he was embroiled in a close battle with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton for third position.


In the end Schumacher dropped down the order to fifth, but the seven-time champion felt he had extract everything from his car and was pleased with the result.


"It was an exciting race today, both for me and I think for all of our fans, and that is why I am happy," said Schumacher. "The fighting against Lewis was big fun, and my mirrors seemed to be very small at times.


"We are both known for driving on the limit, and that is what we did. I had to make my car as wide as a truck, and had to stretch the possible as much as I could, but in the end, as expected, he was still faster.


"The start was ideal, I held back on purpose at first in order to use the grip perfectly afterwards, and then the left side was all free.


"To make the most of your possibilities is the maximum possible at times, and that is why I had fun today, especially knowing that there is more to come in the future, with all the support we have from Mercedes."


Team-mate Nico Rosberg's race lasted just one corner, after which he was taken out by the HRT of Tonio Liuzzi, who had lost control of his car on the grass.


"It was a disappointing race for me today in Monza," he said. "I had a difficult start on my prime tyres but still managed to gain a place at the first corner, so it was quite good.


"Then Liuzzi flew like a torpedo over the grass and put me out of the race. It's a pity because I had a strong strategy and, as Michael's good result showed, our car was very strong this afternoon."


Jaime Alguersuari admitted he was surprised with the performance of his Toro Rosso car during the Italian Grand Prix after a superb charge from the back.


The Spanish driver had qualified in 18th position on Saturday but, as he had done often this year, charged into the points in the race, finishing in career-best seventh position.


Alguersuari joked that he would be looking to start from even further back in the next race.


"I am very happy with my race today," said Alguersuari. "I think I would like to start even further back on the grid for the next one, because it seems that whenever I have a poor grid position, I finish in the points! I am also very pleased for the team, as they got both cars home in the points.


"I am a bit surprised at the way the car performance came good on Sunday in the race, because I did not expect to be quicker than Force India and Sauber.


"Getting this great result at our home race, also makes it extra special. We need to keep on working like this and try and improve our qualifying performance on Saturday. If we do that, I think we can finish in the points on a regular basis."


Team-mate Sebastien Buemi also finished in the points - in tenth - but was left disappointed after his car was damaged in the first-corner accident.


"I am bit disappointed with the way the race panned out," Buemi said. "I made a very good start, but then when an HRT triggered a big accident, I took a knock at the back of my car and it was definitely damaged in some way, as it did not work at its maximum potential from then on.


"If that had not happened, maybe I could have finished ninth or eighth. But while tenth is therefore a bit disappointing, losing out to Senna right at the end, when he was on the Soft tyre and I was on the Medium, it's time to look ahead and think about doing better in two weeks time in Singapore."


Bruno Senna said he was very encouraged to see he is capable of fighting for F1 points after the Italian Grand Prix.


The Brazilian, in his second grand prix with the Renault team after having replaced Nick Heidfeld, drove a solid race to grab his first points in Formula 1 with ninth position.


Senna had started from tenth, but lost places at the start due to the accident at the first chicane.


"I'm happy to score my first F1 points today, especially as it was only my second race for the team," said Senna. "Although I started 10th, it was not been an easy job to finish ninth.


"We suffered some bad luck in the first corner; everybody was cutting the chicane which forced me to drive on the outside, and in the process I lost all the places I had fought so hard for in qualifying.


"It makes me very happy to know that I am able to put myself in the position of scoring points, and also to fight with the guys who have been doing this for a long time.


"The pace of the car was clear for all to see, but I wish the race was just one lap longer because I may have been able to pass Paul (Di Resta) for eighth.


"The team chose a great strategy, the tyre was fast enough where I needed it to be and I am very happy to get my name on the points board. The team did a great job and I am really looking forward to Singapore."


Team-mate Vitaly Petrov was hit by Tonio Liuzzi's car at the first corner, the Russian feeling lucky he was not injured.


"Naturally I am very disappointed with what happened today," he said. "I had a reasonable start and, as I was heading into the first chicane, Vitantonio's HRT came from nowhere and hit me big time, which brought my race to an end. There's nothing I could have done to avoid this.


"First of all, I'm happy not to be injured, as the impact was quite strong and it could have been a nasty accident. We have put in so much effort since Spa, at the track, Enstone and Viry, so I'm sorry that wasn't translated into points today. This is part of racing, but I can't help thinking that we could have secured a good result."


Tonio Liuzzi said he was "just a passenger" in the first-corner carnage at Monza - for which the HRT driver was judged responsible and given a five-place grid penalty for the next race in Singapore.


Liuzzi's HRT collected Vitaly Petrov's Renault and Nico Rosberg's Mercedes at the first chicane after spinning down the grass, causing a traffic jam that delayed many other drivers.


But though the stewards decided that Liuzzi was to blame, he said he had been squeezed onto the grass by Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen.


"It was a shame and I apologise to Rosberg and Petrov but it wasn't my fault because I got squeezed into the grass by Kovalainen," Liuzzi told AUTOSPORT.


"Once I was on the grass I lost completely the control of the car and that is why it happened and everything."


He added: "I went on the right side of Kovalainen and then he squeezed on to the grass and once I was on there it was already the braking point. I tried to brake but obviously we had no grip and that's why we lost the car."


Liuzzi explained that he felt he had regained control once, only to lose it again further down the run-off area.


Asked what he was thinking as the accident unfolded, he replied: "Basically it was 'oh s**t'. That it's a shame because I was sure I was going to hit somebody.


"First time when I drifted I controlled the car even on the grass but then the second time I lost it and it was then.


"I was sure I would hit somebody but at the end of the day I couldn't do much because Kovalainen pushed me completely on the grass and that's why it happened. I was just a passenger.


"It was a shame because we had a really amazing start. I passed Daniel [Ricciardo] and both Virgins and I was also passing a Lotus but it didn't happen."


Liuzzi acknowledged that even though he felt Kovalainen was at fault, he was not sure of the Lotus' situation at the time of the incident.


"I think of Kovalainen had not closed the door we would have escaped because I think there was space enough," said Liuzzi.


"But I want to watch the videos because somebody told me he got closed down as well, but for sure he closed on me and the put me on the grass.


"For sure there was the possibility to the avoid it."


Lewis Hamilton said he could not be happy with his fourth place at the Italian Grand Prix, having started from the front row of the grid.


The McLaren driver lost two places at the start of the race and was stuck behind Michael Schumacher for several laps, unable to pass the German, who has much faster on the straight with the Mercedes.


Hamilton was pleased to get some points in the end, but admitted dropping to fourth was far from ideal.


"It was not a great result. I started second and I fell back two places," said Hamilton. "I'm definitely not happy, but that is motor racing.


"I'm happy that I finished and got some points for the team so that's a good step. I'm okay. We got some points and I finished the race so I can't complain really."


The Briton claimed he was slower than Schumacher even when he had his DRS open on the main straight.


"I was too slow on the straights. I was just stuck behind him. He was very fast on the straight. He was as fast if not faster than me when I had my DRS engaged on the straight."


Mark Webber conceded that the world championship fight was all but over after he crashed out of the Italian Grand Prix and his Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel notched up his eighth win of the year.


Despite having not won a race so far in 2011, Webber was second in the standings heading to Monza - 92 points adrift of Vettel. Today's results leave him fourth, 117 points down, and part of a four-way battle for second in the championship in which Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Webber and Lewis Hamilton are covered by just 14 points.


"I think we're all battling for second now," Webber told television reporters.


"I think Seb needs to have a very, very incredibly disappointing finish to the season for anyone to take the championship off him at this point.


"He's in a great position. He's done a great job. And clearly the car was good today, so it was a missed opportunity for me."


Webber's accident came after he collided with Felipe Massa while trying to overtake the Ferrari for fifth early in the race. The Red Bull's damaged front wing then folded under the car and caused it to plough straight on at the Parabolica.


"I got a good run down the straight, braking down the outside and then obviously trying to go around the outside," Webber explained.


"Felipe started to come across and then I thought 'okay, maybe I need to get out of here'. I didn't know if he was going to come that far across and that's what I had to work out when we got there.


"I started to bail out of the move but those kerbs are so high on the inside that if you clip the inside it just launches the car and I think I made contact with him.


"Then I was trying to get back to the pits obviously. I knew there was some damage of course but I didn't know that the front wing was jammed under the front of the car, and then I lost the steering."


Post-race press conference:

[spoiler]TV UNILATERALS


Q. Sebastian, a great win made possible by that overtake on Fernando early on, and then some tears from you on the podium as well?


Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, very emotional. I mean this circuit means a lot to me and has been very special. Obviously, I got my first win here, so when I crossed the line I remembered every single bit and the podium is unbelievable. When you stand up there you feel so blessed. It doesn't happen to many people. So many people underneath and coming all the way, even from Curva Grande, all the way. It is filled with people. It is just unbelievable. A circuit that has been tough for us to be competitive at the last two years and [we] come back this year and, really, the car was amazing. In qualifying yesterday and in the race even better. It was crucial. The start wasn't that good. Fernando [Alonso], I don't know where he was coming from but it took me a while to actually understand we were three alongside going into turn one. I kept second then after the restart I was able to pass him. He didn't give me much room there. I don't know if he still believed I was on that side. I was half-way on the grass but it was just enough. So very enjoyable and after that the car was fantastic. A great race for us and a very special win, 150 years of Italy makes it special for all the people here as well, so thanks for all the fans. Last time all the Italian people were cheering a bit more but still it is very special for me to be at that place here again.


Q. Jenson, you reprised your battle with Fernando from last year but this time you came out in front.


JENSON BUTTON: Yeah, it was a really fun race fighting with Lewis [Hamilton], with Michael [schumacher] and with Fernando. It was a good race. It wasn't for the lead, which was a shame but it was always to be difficult when we were down in seventh at one point and sixth after the start. A tough start to the race but a lot of fun and the atmosphere here is fantastic, just electric. Another good race. I think we have got to get everything together on race weekends and hopefully we will be challenging Red Bull and Seb. So great job by the whole team. It is just little things we need to work on.


Q. Fernando, you said before the race that the start was going to be crucial. Have you ever done a better start than that?


Fernando ALONSO: Well, we have been doing something with the starts in the last couple of grands prix, but always starting fifth or sixth it is not enough room to overtake. But here in Monza we knew that if the car was in the same feeling of the good starts you have enough space and enough run into the first corner to overtake people, so we maximised the potential in our start and were leading the race for a couple of laps. But obviously we were not competitive enough to fight for the victory, so we tried to manage the podium possibility. It was very close with Lewis at the end but it was a fantastic race, fantastic feeling on the podium. As Sebastian mentioned I think here in Monza it is very, very passionate what the fans at the podium are giving you. Big emotions. Well done to the whole team. It was a stressful weekend, with a lot of pressure here in Italy for them and we managed the race in the best situation possible. No mistakes and I think being on the podium with Mark [Webber] retiring from the race and Lewis behind us, so one Red Bull and one McLaren behind us, I think it is a great achievement.


Q. Sebastian, I think before the race all the talk was of the gamble that you'd taken on the gearing. You must have been a little concerned when you found yourself behind Fernando.


SV: Not really. I don't think we took any gamble today. I think we took the gamble yesterday in qualifying. All the people saw our top speed wasn't very high, so gears were probably shorter than the rest of the field, so we were not that optimistic in qualifying as we can't use the speed with the wing open. But for the race we were pretty confident and we were not afraid of the DRS zones if we had to battle other people. I think it worked fantastically well. I was able to pass Fernando without DRS, but with DRS it would have been maybe a bit more comfortable a lap later, but all in all I think we did the right thing. Great race car, great speed all the way through and I think the gearing was just right.


Q. Jenson, tell us about that decisive pass on your team-mate and also Michael Schumacher on lap 17.


JB: I think Lewis got a bad run out of turn two and I used the KERS. I think I passed him on turn two. Used the KERS to my advantage, then got a good run on Michael down into Ascari. I saw Lewis tried a few times on the outside but it didn't work but gave it a go and braked a late as I could and the pass came off. Pretty good pass. Probably one of my best so very happy with that. And again with Fernando I think he made a bit of a mistake out of turn two and now we have KERS as soon as someone makes a mistake you can pounce and make the pass.


Q. Fernando, Sebastian said a minute ago you didn't give him very much room. What's your analysis of the situation" Hard but fair? Lot of pride to defend here in Italy I guess?


FA: Yeah, we have nothing to lose in the battles with Sebastian. He is leading the championship by 100 points I think, so when we have to defend we will be a little bit harder with him. Sorry.


Q. Sebastian, you only need, I believe, a podium in Singapore to be crowned a two-time World Champion at the age of 24. Thoughts on that?


SV: No thoughts. Wow. I don't know. It has been an incredible year so far to be honest. We have progressed so much as a team and have become so much stronger in the last two years and again from last year to this year made such an incredible step. I think we have put ourselves in a very good position. But I love racing. We enjoy racing as a team altogether every weekend, unpacking the car, you can see the passion and it is great. You can feel the challenge. We want to make sure that we have a very good weekend and we squeeze everything out of ourselves. Of course, it is very nice to win but if we have a good Sunday and we finish third or fifth still you feel that we are very good in optimising the result so I don't know really. I think we just do Singapore as we did all the other races this year. Go there and take it step-by-step and see what we can do. I love the circuit. It is very interesting. I remember I had a nice race there with Fernando, obviously to his advantage, as he finished first but it was great. I think we had a tough race there. It is a long circuit so I am looking forward and we will see what happens then.


PRESS CONFERENCE


Q. Sebastian, three years between your first ever win here and this one and yet the emotion is just as great.


SV: Yeah, obviously the first one was very special. Incredible. To be back here, especially on this circuit, given the memories I have for 2008 and the last two years, where we had a great car but not here. Not disastrous but not competitive enough to be back on the podium, so this year has been phenomenal. Friday already I had a very good feeling. Everyone is carrying quite a little wing around here to optimise the speed on the straight and I think this year the balance was fantastic so I really had a very good race car. Fantastic day today. Great race. The start wasn't that ideal. I don't know where Fernando came from and it took me a while to understand it was three cars going side-by-side down to turn one. After that, a great pass. Not that much room but very enjoyable. very hard but fair so great to be back in the lead and from then onwards the car was fantastic. I was able to pull a big gap and benefit from that for the whole rest of the race. Incredible. It is the best podium in the world. The only thing that could make it better is probably wearing a red suit but all in all great to be back on the podium here.


Q. The car performance was good, but tyre performance. Was there much difference between the two types. Did you feel there was any loss of pace?


SV: No, I preferred the soft tyre to be fair. I think it was a little bit quicker. Not just initially but all the way through but we have to use both compounds. The medium worked similar to Spa. Quite good. I think the pace was not that much slower, so for all of us we had no big problems. The pace seemed to be... seemed to have the usual progression when you burned down the fuel, so no problems from that side. Last race in Spa we were struggling big time with blistering and all sorts of tyre issues and this race it seemed to be very good for us whereas others had some problems I was told but for us, as I said, tyre-wise very smooth race.


Q. Jenson, just talk a little bit more when you were behind Lewis and Michael as that was a great battle and you had the best seat in the house?


JB: Yeah, it wasn't too bad. At the start of the race I knew I had to catch them. The problem was Lewis is in the DRS one behind Michael so they just pull away massively on the straight and I have to close on them at the corners. It was tricky to catch them but when I did all hell broke loose really. There were cars everywhere. It was a lot of fun. I think Lewis went for a gap with Michael that wasn't there on the exit of turn two and I got the run on him and then set about getting past Michael. I got a really good run out of the second Lesmo and I was able to get him down the outside down into Ascari which I am going to say was pretty brave as Michael doesn't give much room. I don't know how close we were. I didn't look at the mirrors. I pretty much closed my eyes after I turned in but it ended up good and the pace was good. I could chase down Fernando. But I would rather form now on not race from a long way back. It makes it fun. I don't know if we could have challenged Sebastian today, but you are that far down, sixth, seventh position, you haven't got a chance really. A pity we had such a poor start but we will look at that for the next race. It is a little issue but it can cost you a lot of time. Apart from that I think we did a great job at the pit stops and strategy and it is great to get a second but you always want a bit more.


Q. You caught Fernando before the tyre stop and then seemed to drop back away from him. Tell us about that?


JB: It is this weird thing with the DRS. Our car here is not very quick in a straight line. Just the strategy we have taken as Lewis found out as well. We get to a point on the straight and we just don't go anywhere. We sit on the limiter so it is very, very tough. Then I made a mistake through Ascari, Fernando pulled a gap, and then I just couldn't get any closer after that. On the hard tyre I think Fernando was struggling for grip after the pit-stop, made a little mistake out of two, and I was able to get the run on him and that's the good thing about KERS. You can really catch people out if they make a mistake. Made the move and then it was about trying to break the DRS. that's the biggest thing. Even if you are quicker, the guys tows up to you and you can't get away so it was a tense moment but I eventually pulled the gap and then it was easy to settle into a pace.


Q. Fernando, have to say you fought for everything today. You seemed to fight harder than ever before. What sort of fight would Lewis have had at the end if he'd caught you as he got very close.


FA: Yeah, I think it was close. One or two more laps and probably we lose the podium position as he was much quicker than us in the last couple of laps. We were a little bit lucky with Michael and Lewis's battle in the race as Lewis lost maybe 10 or 15 seconds in those battles during the first 30 laps and we managed that gap. Definitely it was an interesting race, especially the start. It was again very good and here in Monza we exploit the potential as turn one is a long way and we knew the potential. I think the race was quite smooth for us with no big problems and in the last stint, as we are unfortunately used to, with the medium tyres we were less competitive, and Jenson overtook us and as I said Hamilton was getting very close.


Q. Just tell us a little bit more about that start as we have seen people make great starts but then have then usually gone across the kerbs and it has all gone wrong, but you seemed to manage it very well.


FA: Well I think we had quite a good start in the last couple of races, but, for example, in Spa there is only 300 metres to turn one and I was starting eighth, so a lot of traffic in front and you have to lift. Here, with clean air in front of us, you exploit the potential as I said. I don't know. The start felt okay, but I think we can do better for next time. It was close with Lewis. At the first moment he was concentrating on Sebastian moving to the left and then when he saw me on the right he put me close to the pit-lane exit and a little bit on the grass but in turn one it was not a problem.


QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR


Q. (Joris Fioriti - Agence France Presse) Sebastian, you are 112 points in advance. You have got eight wins in the championship. No driver winning eight races in the championship ever lost the championship. When will you allow yourself to say that you are in a great position to win the title?


SV: I think I allow myself to say we are in a great position. I think if you ask Fernando or Lewis or Jenson or anybody, Mark, I think they would like to change, swap positions so no doubt about that. But it's over when it's over, not before. I think look at last year as the best proof. You don't know until the last lap of the last race. Obviously, this year it might be a bit different, but there are still a lot of races to go. We go into every race trying to optimise our result as we did here. We knew it might not be the easiest race for us especially after the last two years. This year we can back very competitive so it was great for us. We were in a great position and we optimised our result today I would say so couldn't have done much better. Great race. Great pit-stop. The start was not so good so we need to look into that for the next race. Then we go from there.


Q. (Vincent Marre - SportZeitung) Sebastian, at what stage did you think you had the race won today?


SV: Really only when I came out of the Parabolica on the last lap because you never know here. Obviously I knew I would be in a very good position, with the laps going. Some 15 laps from the end I saw that I was 15 seconds in the lead, so in theory, if I'm just under a second slower per lap I would still be ahead going into the last lap but you never know, it's a long lap here and there are a lot of kerbs. You have to be careful not to do something silly: always get the braking right, for the cars it's a tough race. You're often above 300 kph and then you have to stop the car again. I knew that if nothing unforeseen happens, we should be in a great position, but you never know. We've had races where we had something happening at the end, so you always hope that nothing breaks and the car survives. At the end, it was about nursing the car to the chequered flag.


Q. (Matthias Brunner – Speedweek) Seb, you told us in Belgium about the problems at the start. Are we talking about a similar problem here?


SV: I would say it's difficult. In Spa I think many people were surprised at the grip level being very high and then they suffered. Mark had a bad start in Spa, he went into the anti-stall, but I think other people as well had a bad start except maybe Nico. Here it was different. I think the grip level was much lower and I had a bit too much wheelspin off the line and lost a bit too much in the beginning, whereas I think Fernando had a great start and was just able to get the traction at the beginning of the start and we were side-by-side so yeah, he had the best start, as far as I could judge.


Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Sebastian, you said your team made a great step forward from last year to this year. What about the car, how can you explain exactly such a good performance today in comparison to last year?


SV: I think last year we had a great car, very competitive. This year, obviously, the rules have changed again and it's a different approach. I think the real strength this year is maybe not the raw speed that we have because at some races maybe we shouldn't have won and it was very tight at others. So I think this year – in comparison to last year – we've made big progress. Just that everyone is very disciplined and we allow very few mistakes to happen, so even if we have a problem or the car is not a hundred percent, we're still able to get a very, very good performance out of it. Nobody starts shaking in the garage as I said. In the end, it's full of individuals, the driver, the mechanics, the engineers but we act as a team and as I said, even if the boat starts shaking, I think we all remain calm and we know what to do. I think that's it, if there is a secret to this year.


Q. (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, is it true what Jenson said, that you lost second position because of the problem with the medium tyre temperatures? Also can you describe, yourself, your fantastic start, please?


FA: With the medium… I think we cannot make a big thing about the medium tyre or our performance with different types of tyres. It's just something that we need to improve and we need to be competitive with all types of tyres in all conditions. That's not a particular problem but we were less competitive than Red Bull and McLaren. If we made a good start and found ourselves first, leading the race, that was not our real position, so sooner or later, with one tyre, with another tyre, on lap 15 or lap 45, they should overtake us, as they did and that's the reality. It's not a problem with one tyre or one pit stop or whatever. If I had to describe the start, it was as usual a big moment in the race, as we know the start and the first couple of laps can change your race because you can be in traffic as we saw today with Michael and Hamilton. So if we concentrate on the start, the car was moving quite OK with no wheelspin and then you have to chose left or right to overtake Hamilton. I was thinking of the left but I saw Sebastian moving a little bit towards Hamilton as well so I thought maybe they were too close, so I went into the pit lane exit and Hamilton saw me and tried to move to the right. At the end, I think I had two wheels on the grass, two wheels on the asphalt for a moment, but I gave full throttle. Braking for turn one, which is always difficult because we arrived three or four cars [abreast] and there is only one that can go through turn one and two and we had the inside part so we were lucky there. It was a fantastic start, very, very similar or a replica of what we did in Barcelona, exactly the same. I started fourth.


Q. (Fabrizio Corgnati – 422race.com) Sebastian, you explained to us how the win was very emotional for you, even if you have beaten the red car which is probably the crowd's favourite. What do you think about the response of the Italian fans to your victory?


SV: I think all the people who had a Red Bull shirt or Red Bull flag were very happy but the majority came here this morning dressed in red. Fair enough, it's Ferrari's home grand prix. It's an atmosphere that all the other teams are allowed to enjoy as well, because so many fans... you know, before the race, down on the grid, I thought - looking at the grandstands, seeing so many people, ignoring the colour of their shirt, seeing the crowd - life doesn't get much better than this. So many people cheering what we are doing, and being one of the drivers allowed to race; as I said earlier, the only thing that could make it a little bit better on the podium is if you are wearing a red suit, so I guess it was a very special for Fernando here last year. Obviously I know how it feels to listen to the Italian anthem from three years ago. This year it was a bit different, but still, it's very special, it means a lot to me. I remember a lot. Always when I come down here, since I've been a little boy, since we came here for go-karting - I don't know how many kilometres we drove in total coming here – a couple of times every year to race in Italy and therefore it is and was very special, three years ago and today as well.


Q. (Adrian Rodriguez Huber – Agencia EFE) Fernando, there are six races here. Realistically you should go for victories in races because the championship is really almost impossible. Which circuits do you believe suit you the best? Is there one or maybe more than one on which to win?


FA: Yeah, six races to go so obviously the championship is impossible, not mathematically but we are no longer in contention so we try to enjoy every race, we try to go for individual victories, also fighting for second place in the championship. It's always better to finish second than fifth. I think I'm second today after Mark's retirement so I will try to get second place as I did last year. Yeah, of the races remaining I think Singapore is probably the best one for our car characteristics. In Monaco we were fine, we were second. The car was maybe not very competitive in that part of the year so now that the car is a little bit better, on a street circuit we should maybe perform well. I love the Singapore circuit so the next race will probably be it.


Q. (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Sebastian, you could go on holiday from now until Abu Dhabi and still come out of that leading by a fair chunk of points. Any chance of you doing that so we can have an exciting end to the season?


SV: I'm contracted to do all the races, so maybe you need a word with Christian. No, I love coming here, I love racing. Obviously we will see what happens during the next races but yeah, we have to go step by step really. I don't know. No plans. I think it's wrong to plan before something happens. It would be wrong for you to plan what you would do with a million dollars if you won the lottery tomorrow. First you have to win, then you worry about what you do with your winnings.


JB: I think you have to plan a bit more if you win the lottery. You don't want to waste it.


SV: We will see.


Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, when you overtook Fernando, you had two wheels on the grass in the Curva Grande. Didn't you lose momentum there?


SV: Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing it on TV, how much space there actually was, but when I came obviously I had a very good exit so I knew that I had a fair chance down to turn four, to the second chicane. And then going through Curva Grande, I wasn't really sure which way to go, left or right. I thought if I go to the right then I'm sitting on the outside, maybe I might be a bit ahead before we start braking, but then I know that Fernando is an animal so he will brake as late as he can and then manage somehow to take the corner. I decided spontaneously to go left and then I thought, I just hope he has seen me because he kept going left, left, left. There wasn't much space. I stayed on full throttle but fortunately the corner opened up, I had two wheels on the grass, and then once I was side-by-side he was obviously aware that I was still there and then there was another battle getting onto the brakes, who hit the brakes first. I hit first and then he was quite late but I had the inside so I was quite relieved after I was ahead.


Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Fernando, your car was much faster in top speed in qualifying; was there no chance to defend or did you have the wrong gear ratios for the heavy car at the beginning?


FA: Yeah, the top speed is related to the DRS as well. When you activate the DRS, you can reach a certain speed that in the race is not possible. Yesterday, our top speeds were thanks to the DRS, how it works and today, when you put on the normal wing down, we were not so quick on the straight any more.


Q. (Silvia Arias – Diario Libre) Sebastian, you have twice said how nice it would be to win here wearing a red suit. Is this a dream for you, do you expect to win one day wearing a Ferrari suit?


SV: Just speaking to Jenson as well, also on the podium, of course there were people who were very happy with our result but I think the majority, after a while, didn't enjoy the fact that we were enjoying ourselves. You could also hear that. Jenson said to me that's normal here.


JB: I've had it for the last two years.


SV: I think I had that experience last year as well. I think that the only thing that makes it really special – better than today here – is wearing a red suit, to really be appreciated by all the fans. We will see what happens in the future, but for now I am very, very happy. I think the story has been unbelievable so far. I owe a lot to Red Bull. Without them I wouldn't be here. They gave me the chance when I was just a little kid, 12 years old. It goes back a long way so it's very special for me to race for that team and being able to win races is fantastic, but of course, one day you don't know what's happening. We will see. [/spoiler]

[LUKIE]

Poor Liuzzi, having to start from 29th on the grid next race

[Lineker]

Har!

RIP Team Lotus

Team Lotus and Renault chiefs have dropped firm hints that the Lotus naming row could be resolved at the end of this year - leaving the way clear for both outfits to be renamed.

After a long fight over the use of the 'Team Lotus' name in F1, speculation is mounting that the Hingham-based outfit could be set to use a new name from 2012, with Renault adopting the Lotus moniker.

Although the matter would still need to go through official channels for the team and chassis names to be changed, the team bosses of both outfits have suggested the situation is moving forward to ensure there will only be one Lotus team in 2012.

Renault boss Eric Boullier said: "I just saw in the paddock that [Group Lotus CEO] Dany Bahar was talking nicely with [Team Lotus boss] Tony Fernandes, so I guess there is a settlement that has been done.

"We will see. Changing the name of the team/chassis can have some complications with sponsorship and obviously with TV money, so it is a matter we have to raise when we have all the elements in our hands."

Group Lotus sponsors the Renault team and has made no secret of the fact it wants to rebrand the team and rename it as soon as it can.

For Fernandes, who won the right to use the Team Lotus name after the matter went to court, he believes his outfit may be better off using one of the brands that he owns - with it possible the outfit could adopt the Caterham Team AirAsia name that its GP2 outfit has.

Speaking to AUTOSPORT, Fernandes said: "I always had a problem with 'am I really Team Lotus?' I always said that era was theirs, we were just bringing it back under new ownership. It was up to the fans whether they liked us or not.

"But there was a business behind it as well. You can't have a name and not monetise it. Effectively we are marketing someone else. I don't think this is healthy for anyone – Lotus Renault, Team Lotus, whomever.

"I've always said that protecting the brand is paramount and it's not me that started all this. I didn't have a claim, they (Group Lotus) had a claim. And they lost that case. But I've always had the door open and it may be a win-win for everybody and we walk away.

"I also always said we wanted to be in the car business and I never hid that fact. And now we have Caterham."

And as well as the likely name change, Team Lotus is also set to move factories next year – with it evaluating a switch to either Silverstone or the former Arrows and Super Aguri facility at Leafield.

Fernandes added: "I think the best scenario is that the cars leave for Australia next year and come back to a new home. There's no two ways about it. But Hingham will always be there, because we've got composites and we're developing a technology and engineering division."

Red Bull has vowed to keep on the attack for the rest of the season, even though Sebastian Vettel is now on the verge of clinching his second world championship title.

Vettel's victory at Monza means he takes a 112-point lead in the standings to the Singapore Grand Prix, where a good result could be enough for him to win the crown.

But despite now being so close to wrapping up another title, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says there will be no change in attitude from the outfit.

"Our approach to Singapore will be exactly the same as every grand prix this year, we will go there to try and win it," he said. "We came close last year, and it would be great to win that race, and the championship will take care of itself at the end of the day.

"I think that our philosophy has been to attack each grand prix weekend and not cruise and collect points, and I think that is the

right philosophy. We continue to learn very valuable lessons for next year, so our approach will be exactly the same."

Horner also believes that, with the technical regulations staying pretty similar for next year, it is important that the team keeps pushing on with its development programme.

"Our philosophy is that you can always learn, and we will keep pushing all the way to Brazil. What we learn this year, because there is relative stability in the rules for next year, you can only benefit because you can carry that through.

"Of course all the teams will be starting to shift focus to their 2012 car, and we are no different, but there are still valuable lessons that can be incorporated."

Horner also believes that Mark Webber will return to form in Singapore, after a difficult Italian GP weekend.

"I think he will bounce back," he said. "He was obviously going for it, and with Felipe [Massa] it was 50/50, it was a racing accident. It relied on Felipe being generous at the second part of the chicane, but contact was made and it was one of those things.

"It was our first DNF all year. They are costly, and he knows that. So, he will be focused on coming back strong in Singapore."

McLaren has vowed to keep pushing on with trying to improve its car so that it can win more races this year, even though the championship appears to be all but over.

Sebastian Vettel's triumph at the Italian Grand Prix has left the Red Bull driver on the verge of the title - and means he could clinch the crown in Singapore in a fortnight's time.

But even though it would take a bizarre sequence of events for either Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button to get back in the title hunt, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh will not give up on the campaign and wants an aggressive push for updates for the next race in Singapore.

"There is a good chance of winning it," Whitmarsh said about preparations for Singapore. "Winning grands prix is what we are here to do, and we will be trying pretty hard in Singapore, you can be pretty sure."

When asked if he thought the title was all but over, Whitmarsh said: "No, not yet. But we think we want to try and win some races. It is definitely possible, but they [Red Bull Racing] are doing a good job and Sebastian is not making enough mistakes for my liking at the moment, but we will see."

Although Red Bull won again in Monza, Whitmarsh believed that there positives that could be taken out of the Italian GP weekend.

"We had the pace in the car, but we had poor starts and that is frustrating. If the race was one lap longer then we would have two cars on the podium. We scored more points than any other team, and we set fastest and second fastest laps of the race with the two guys, so we are disappointed with not winning. But we have got six races left that we are able to win, and we will keep pushing on so we can."

Felipe Massa thinks the time has come to congratulate Sebastian Vettel on his second world championship title, after the German further extended his points advantage in the Italian Grand Prix.

Vettel's victory at Monza has left the Red Bull Racing driver 112 points clear of Fernando Alonso in the title chase - and a good result in Singapore could be enough to wrap up the championship.

But although some of Vettel's rivals are refusing to throw the towel in on the season, Massa thinks the title battle is now over.

"I think so, to be honest," he said when asked if he believed it was time to congratulate Vettel.

"I think he will just lose the championship if he stops racing now, and spends months at home – only then maybe he could lose the championship. But racing, I think it is very, very difficult for him to lose."

Massa's hopes in the Italian Grand Prix were wrecked by an early-race collision with Mark Webber, which spun him around and left him near the back of the field.

Speaking about the incident, Massa said: "He touched me. He pushed me out so I spun. He stopped after, but I am sure if he did not stop after he would have had a drive through because he just hit me, and he really destroyed my race.

"I think it would have been possible to be fighting with these three guys – Fernando, Jenson and Lewis. I managed to pass many cars, and managed to finish sixth, but for sure I could have fought in the top four."

Ferrari has praised the supreme efforts of Fernando Alonso this year - saying his second place in the drivers' standing is amazing considering the struggles his team has faced with its car this year.

Alonso's third place finish in Monza has lifted him into the position of Sebastian Vettel's nearest challenger – albeit 112 points behind the Red Bull Racing driver.

Nevertheless, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali thinks Alonso has done a brilliant job to get ahead of quality opposition like Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Mark Webber.

"I think Fernando did a fantastic race," said Domenicali. "It was an incredible start. I have heard people say that that moment was worth the price of the ticket. To see how he was aggressive, in terms of procedure and attacking, it was really fantastic.

"And then I think Fernando did a fantastic race. He was really good, always attacking, and unfortunately now we are paying the price of the fact that we don't have the best performing car.

"It is clear that Red Bull Racing is incredibly strong, and McLaren is really strong too. So to see him now he is second in the drivers' championship classification means a lot, considering where we are at the moment, in terms of performance and the problems we had since the beginning. I think Fernando is doing a fantastic championship."

Although Alonso still has a mathematical chance of winning the championship, Ferrari says that the main focus now is on trying to win races and get itself better prepared for 2012.

"I think that for sure it is very, very, very, very, very, very, difficult," said Domenicali about the championship. "The only thing we can do is to not focus on it. We must try to maximise what we can do, but now it is clear for Sebastian I would say that he has the chance in his hands.

"We want to go to Singapore in different conditions. We hope to be more competitive but we need to see.

"We are bringing some new bits that were already planned and in production, and it is another situation where we try to maximise the points, because we have the classification we need to fight for.

"And we need to make sure of the job we do not only in Singapore, but in other races, so we can work on some things that we can already anticipate for the project for next year. That will be very important no doubt."

Karun Chandhok looks set to return to racing at the Indian Grand Prix, with Team Lotus boss Tony Fernandes says he would like to see him back at the wheel.

"I'd like him to. It's up to the team to see [whether he will race]," Fernandes was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Indian Chandhok replaced Italian Jarno Trulli at the German Grand Prix, making his first racing appearance since last year.

Fernandes said that if Chandhok races in India, he will replace Trulli again.

"Yes, I think Heikki [Kovalainen] is our number one driver," said Fernandez at Monza. "Although Jarno's outqualified him here."

The inaugural Indian Grand Prix takes place on 30 October.

Michael Schumacher has been accused of 'pretty harsh' driving in his robust defences against Lewis Hamilton during the Italian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes GP driver battled hard with Hamilton over much of the Monza race, and at one point forced the British driver on to the grass at the Curva Grande so as to avoid a collision.

Hamilton complained about Schumacher's driving on the team radio many times, and his team boss Martin Whitmarsh has said that he too was not happy with what he saw.

Asked for his verdict on Schumacher's driving, Whitmarsh said: "Pretty harsh. I am not the least impartial but the fact is, I think he was warned twice by the stewards during the event so they presumably saw it was a bit tough. I think the one where he had Lewis on the grass was a scary as hell."

Whitmarsh believes that Hamilton handled the situation brilliantly - and tempered his frustration well.

"He had a fair amount of provocation and frustration in that race, and I think someone drove him off the circuit pretty aggressively at one stage.

"He could, at the first corner, have stuck it out for second and lost a wing, but he was calmer than I was throughout that phase, so congratulations to him.

"He is growing and developing. He is going to win some races this year and set some of those [recent] issues behind him."

Renault boss Eric Boullier expects even more from Bruno Senna over the remainder of the season, after the Brazilian delivered his maiden Formula 1 points in Italy.

Senna finished ninth at Monza, in only his second outing for Renault, and scored the first points for his family since his uncle Ayrton triumphed at the 1993 Australian Grand Prix.

Boullier believes that the result will be a boost to Senna's confidence, which should allow him to lift his game over the remainder of the campaign.

"He is doing well and steadily progressing, so it is the best way I could have dreamed, to be honest," said Boullier about Senna's performance. "He didn't race since last year, and he doesn't have great experience: starting in Spa with rainy conditions and here is not the easiest track to race in F1.

"On the first lap he was 18th, so his consistency was good enough, not

perfect, but good enough. And clearly he pushed at the right time. Thestrategy was not bad and we had some help with some retirements. But

it is good for him, for his confidence; for the team and it also shows

that the latest upgrades we had on the car are definitely working."

When asked by AUTOSPORT what he expected from Senna over the rest of the season, Boullier said: "I expect him to keep progressing like this. I believe the more he will deliver like he is doing, the more confidence he will get and the more he will be able to deliver.

"He still has a lot of potential because you could feel during the weekend that what he is doing or what he is saying, is definitely fitting well. He wants to do well. I expect him to challenge Vitaly."

Senna's improved performance could help him secure a seat at Renault in 2012 if Robert Kubica does not return from injury, but Boullier has made it clear that thoughts on the future are far from his mind at the moment.

"It is too early," he added. "One problem at a time."

[LUKIE]

I wonder what spurred on the way Schumacher was driving. He was always a dick before he originally retired, but he was never this full on aggressive since his return. I wonder if he just hates Hamilton. Button got around him easy

[Lineker]

Clearly he's going senile

McLaren has announced that Williams technical director Sam Michael will join the team as sporting director from 2012.

Michael announced earlier this year that he would leave Williams following a dismal season for the Grove-based team, which has scored just five points after having endured its worst start to a season in Formula 1.

He was expected to work for Williams until the Korean Grand Prix before stepping down from his post, but Williams said he will leave after Singapore next week.

McLaren said Michael "will join the senior management team in addition to taking specific responsibility for the development and management of the team's trackside operations."

"I'm extremely excited to be joining Vodafone McLaren Mercedes," said Michael. "Being a racer my whole life, I know that McLaren is one of the all-time greats of Formula 1.

"I already know and respect many of the team's senior technical management figures, and becoming a member of that excellent working unit was one of the prime attractions of this new position.

"Equally, for some time I've closely observed and greatly admired both Lewis and Jenson as grade-one drivers, and therefore regard it as an enormous privilege to be able to work with both of them.

"I've spent 11 seasons with Williams, have many fond memories, and truly wish them all the best. In the near future, however, I will become 100 per cent focused on Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, and will be aiming to ensure that the team's famous rocket-red victory T-shirts will be seen many times over the coming years."

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh added: "Speaking on behalf of everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, I'm very pleased to welcome Sam as an important senior addition to our race team.

"He'll bring a very valuable blend of experience and expertise to our pitwall, and will also enrich the technical management we provide for our drivers.

"I'm certain he'll work extremely well with our senior technical management team, which I firmly believe will now become the strongest in all of Formula 1."

Frank Williams said he was happy for Michael to have found another role to continue in Formula 1.

"I am delighted that Sam has found a new role that will enable him to continue to apply his energy, passion and experience to Formula 1," he said. "On behalf of everyone at Williams I wish him a successful move to his new team.

"I would also like to thank Sam for his help in enabling a swift and smooth transition to our new technical leadership. Mike Coughlan and Jason Somerville are settling in very well and the restructuring will be complete when Mark Gillan joins us as Chief Operations Engineer on 19 September."

Jenson Button has told Formula 1 fans that there will still be plenty of excitement, and some great racing, over the remainder of 2011 - even though Sebastian Vettel has all but secured his second championship.

Vettel's triumph in the Italian Grand Prix has lifted him 112 points clear of his nearest challenger, and a good result in the next race in Singapore would be enough for him to clinch the title.

For his pursuers, they know it will take a miracle for Vettel's gap to be closed down – but Button does not see that as a reason for drivers or fans to switch off.

Speaking to the Press Association about if the title was now a lost cause, Button said: "Yeah, there's no chance. We've known that for a little while, but as drivers you want a bit of hope. It won't change anything though.

"We're still going to have amazing racing, like it has been in the last few races. Whatever we do, because we are racers, competitive, be it driving in F1, karting or triathlons, you want to win.

"That doesn't suddenly change because there's no championship to win. You still want to win every race. The emotion when you cross the line to win a grand prix is...it's very different to winning a world championship.

"You build up to win a world championship, whereas a race is just there. Suddenly you've won and it's such an amazing experience. So the racing is still going to be great, and that's what we love."

For Vettel's rivals, the biggest interest now is in finishing as runner-up in the championship, with just 14 points separating Fernando Alonso who is second overall and Lewis Hamilton who is fifth in the standings.

Sebastian Vettel says there is still "a long way to go" in the championship despite his huge gap in the standings.

The Red Bull driver scored his eighth win of the season at Monza last weekend to increase his lead in the standings to 112 points over Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Vettel could seal the title in the next race in Singapore if the results favour him.

Despite that, the German insists he is not thinking about the points or the gap, but just about doing a good job there.

"Looking at the championship obviously there is still some way to go," said Vettel. "We are in a very strong position, which I think we deserve to be in because we've been working very hard with very few mistakes. We'll see.

"I don't really think about the points and the gaps and the possibilities in the next race. As long as we come out with a bigger lead after the next race I think we have done a good job."

Team boss Christian Horner, whose team dominated the race at Monza, believes Singapore will be a very tough challenge for the team despite its current form.

"Maybe we should run with no downforce, because it worked at Monza," joked Horner. "It's a completely different challenge, it's the bumpiest, toughest track on the calendar coming up, physically demanding, hot, more corners than any circuit so its going to be a big challenge.

"It's high downforce. We finished a very close second to Fernando Alonso last year. It's a race we haven't won and one we would dearly love to.

"The weather can be inclement there, we haven't had a wet race there which has been remarkable. Ideally we would achieve the same result as Monza, but we will go there and attack the race."

He added: "The RB7 was so effective at Monza I think because of the amount of effort that was put into the low downforce configuration.

"It's a track that, when we were planning for the year, we decided 'right lets put an awful lot of effort into Monza, come up with something bespoke for the venue. The aerodynamic group have done a phenomenal job. Of course we went highly aggressive in our set-up and our choice of gear ratios for the race itself."

Mike Gascoyne is not concerned for his long-term future at Team Lotus after the outfit's owner Tony Fernandes said during the Italian Grand Prix weekend that it must deliver improved results in 2012.

Fernandes wants to see his team progress into the midfield next year after one and a half seasons where it has led the cluster of three new teams since 2010, and suggested at Monza that he is likely to make changes to the team if it fails to meet this target.

"I think Mike [Gascoyne] would be the first one to say it if he doesn't produce a car that's in the middle of the pack next year having been given all the tools," said Fernandes.

"I think he's done a fantastic job to get us to where we are, but next year is the year that everyone's head is on the block."

But Gascoyne reckons Fernandes is simply applying necessary pressure on the team to achieve targets both believe should be in range in its third year of competition.

"I think Tony is quite right to sort of not put pressure on us, but to set targets, and I think my answer is that Tony couldn't put any more pressure than we put on ourselves," Gascoyne told AUTOSPORT.

"I think that's very much the target of the whole team. Year three... we've been building the team up and I think there are reasons why we will do better than this year.

"If you look at who we are trying to race, maybe Toro Rosso and Williams. They have got the same resources. For the first time we are not putting a new engine and gearbox in the car, we have got a stable team and a much bigger design team than we had last year - obviously led by Mark [smith], who wasn't with us last year.

"We have got the Williams wind tunnel programme so we have doubled the time in the wind tunnel than we had this time last year. So actually there are real reasons why physically we will be better."

Gascoyne added that there was an expectation within the team to move forward, after a year of continued development on its infrastructure and resource.

"We are not just saying 'Try harder guys'," he said. "We have got a lot of reasons why we are going to move forward. You don't do it all in one step but you know very clearly we want to be racing for points and racing with Williams and Toro Rosso.

"They are probably the targets at the moment. They are directly in front of us and they have to be what we are aiming for.

"All Tony really said was making the point that we all feel that pressure within the team. I think people have interpreted that people's necks are on the line but he doesn't mean it physically, he just means we are all under pressure.

"Also you will hear in the coming weeks and days even again a lot of things that are happening in the team that are very positive."

Renault is open to supplying even more teams in Formula 1 in the future, as it edges closer to extending partnership deals with Williams, Renault and Team Lotus to add to the long-term tie-up it agreed with Red Bull Racing last weekend.

After concluding a lengthy technical collaboration with Red Bull Racing that means the team and engine partner will work together until the end of 2016 at least, the French car manufacturer is believed to be close to agreeing long-term customer deals with the three other teams it will work with next year.

And on the back of speculation that a fifth team could even be a possibility, with rumours at Monza linking HRT with a future deal, Renault's COO Carlos Tavares has confirmed that he would not be against adding more teams to its roster.

"Our strategy hasn't changed," Tavares told the Renault Sport website. "We have refocused our operations to supplying engines. I am very happy with this as something I am trying to achieve with the teams within Renault is that we concentrate on the essentials and not spread ourselves too thinly.

"The heart of a car is its engine so I am very happy that we are focusing on this element. I think we are doing very well in this area and the results speak for themselves.

"That four teams are coming to us to supply their engines and we have the ability to satisfy them is very positive. If we have to supply more partners I would not be opposed to it. As we have more partners we dilute our costs."

Tavares has said he expects the tie-up with Red Bull Racing in particular to help drive forward the performance of the car and the engine in future years.

"We believe that the engine isn't simply a power unit or a means of producing torque, it can also have characteristics that can allow for formidable aerodynamic packaging. So this collaboration has the dual aim of wanting to stay as the best engine in the field, but also to make sure its characteristics allow the chassis team to optimise the chassis aerodynamics."

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said he expected the true benefit of the Renault partnership to become clear once the 2014 regulations were under way - as team and engine supplier could work together to deliver the perfect package.

"The partnership with Renault/Nissan alliance is an important one for the team," he told the Red Bull website after the Italian Grand Prix. "It guarantees stability, it makes us the premier, factory team of Renault Sport, so our colleagues where the engines are produced will be working hand in hand with the engineers and designers at Red Bull.

"We will be entering into a joint venture to supply drive-train solutions, KERS solutions as well, so it's, especially with the new 2014 engine regulations, important to have the right partner. It was entirely logical to extend and commit to the alliance, there was a strong desire from both sides and it was easy to reach an agreement."