Formula One 2011

[LUKIE]

And it was Massa!!

The engine sounded to me like Massa didn't get on the power quick enough out of the corner and that caused the accident with Hamilton. But Lewis did cut across too early and therefore probably did deserve his drive-thru penalty.

It was difficult, Hamilton deserved the penalty for the amount that it hindered Massa, but I saw it as very much as a racing incident.

If it didn't cause a puncture to Massa, he wouldn't have been given the penalty. It was a racing incident, and as Coulthard was saying, the drivers sit so low, they can't see their own front wing.

[Lineker]

Team Lotus' plan to be renamed as Caterham next year has moved a step closer, after the outfit was told ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix that its efforts would not be blocked by rival outfits.

With team principal Tony Fernandes openly looking at renaming the outfit for 2012 to move away from its Team Lotus moniker, sources have revealed that a request was lodged with members of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) to sound out their support for the move ahead of it going to the Formula One Commission.

For the name change to happen, Fernandes will need support from 18 members of the 26-strong F1 Commission - which is made up of teams, Bernie Ecclestone, Jean Todt and representatives of race promoters, engine manufacturers and sponsors.

With high-level sources confirming that FOTA's members, which are all the F1 teams other than HRT, indicated they would support the move, the path is now clear for Fernandes to lodge an official request with the F1 Commission.

This could happen in the next few weeks, so that the name change to Caterham is formally ratified prior to the issuing of the 2012 entry list, which normally happens at the end of November.

The key factor in getting the support of 18 members will be in securing the approval of Bernie Ecclestone, who has shown himself in the past to be reluctant to allow teams to change name without good reason.

However, with the Team Lotus change opening the way for Renault to get more support and a possible rebranding and renaming by title sponsor Group Lotus, Ecclestone may be willing to support the move as it would clear up confusion over the famous sportscar name in F1.

Speaking to AUTOSPORT earlier this month, Fernandes said that his motivation for a change was in using a brand name - like Caterham – that he had complete control over.

"I always had a problem with 'am I really Team Lotus?'," he said. "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."

Team Lotus has announced that it has extended its Renault engine deal through to the end of 2013, with a view to the partnership continuing beyond that date.

The Hingham-based squad will also continue to use gearboxes supplied by Red Bull Technology, and will use KERS for the first time next season.

The original agreement between Lotus, Renault and Red Bull expired at the end of next year.

Lotus boss Tony Fernandes said: "Having established an incredibly good working partnership since the first days of our agreement we are absolutely delighted that Renault Sport F1 and Red Bull Technology will be playing such an integral role in the ongoing development of our team until at least 2013, and then we are aiming to keep working together when the new rules are introduced.

"They are both passionate, dedicated teams of people with whom we have a growing relationship that is creating a number of exciting opportunities for us for the future. They share our vision for where we want to take our team, and we are very proud to have their power pushing us forward."

Fernandes sees the addition of KERS next year as a particularly valuable part of the new deal.

"Not only will we be able to build on everything we have learnt through working with Renault and Red Bull Technology in 2011, but we will now have the added benefit of KERS for next year, which really is a major step forward for our team," he said.

"We have done the very best job we can this year but without that extra power we are always competing on a different level to the teams ahead, so to give our drivers that boost is a key element of helping us catch the cars ahead, and compete with them when we do so."

Renault Sport F1's managing director Jean-Francois Caubet is confident that Lotus will make strides up the field during the coming years.

"This year we have established solid foundations with Team Lotus and this latest agreement consolidates the relationship that we look forward to continuing for many seasons to come," said Caubet.

"Renault is in F1 to display the quality of its product, so we need to be associated with teams that clearly have potential. The steps Team Lotus has made on and off track with its technical structure and facilities have given us a confidence they will achieve their aims.

"KERS is now an essential part to a competitive performance in F1 today and we hope this supply will help the team continue its evolution. Furthermore a wider experience of using the KERS system at this point in time will help in the development of the powerful energy recovery systems that will be introduced under the future engine regulations."

The deal was also welcomed by Red Bull chief Christian Horner, who said the joint arrangement with Lotus underlined the collaboration between his organisation and Renault.

"This endorses the joint venture between Renault Sport F1 and Red Bull Technology, which will continue to develop in the coming months," Horner said. "Hopefully this will enable Team Lotus to build on the significant progress they have already made this season."

Lotus had hoped that the Renault/Red Bull package would be a key ingredient in its progress up the field in 2011, as it aimed to score points in its second year in Formula 1. But so far, although the gap to the cars ahead has narrowed slightly and it has remained clear of fellow 2010 arrivals Virgin and HRT, Lotus has not threatened to break into the top 10 and 13th places are its best results of the season. However it is on course to finish 10th in the constructors' championship for a second straight year.

In addition to Lotus, Renault also supplies engines to champion team Red Bull and its former works operation, which presently still runs under the Renault name. From next season, Williams will also use Renault power again for the first time since its title-winning days in the 1990s.

Formula 1 teams are to seek clarification from Bernie Ecclestone about the state of the 2012 calendar, because they insist that it was ratified without their support.

As part of the Concorde Agreement, the document that binds F1 together, teams have to give approval to a calendar if there are more than 17 races and if more than half the races take place outside of Europe and the United States.

Under the version of the 2012 calendar that was published recently by the FIA, 11 of the 20 races are classified as these so-called 'flyaways'.

The Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) has written to both Ecclestone and FIA president Jean Todt to explain that it believes the calendar was implemented without the Concorde Agreement procedure having been followed.

AUTOSPORT understands that Todt has replied to FOTA stating that it is purely a matter for them and the sport's commercial rights' holder to sort out, as the FIA simply rubber stamps the schedule that is put forward to it by Ecclestone.

FOTA vice chairman Eric Boullier told AUTOSPORT that discussions with Ecclestone were now likely to resolve the matter - amid some concerns about the logistics and costs of the final sequence of races.

"There is a process for the validation of the calendar, especially with more flyaways, and we will be involved in this because there is a cost issue," he explained. "There are different proposals at the moment, but it is not so easy to move one date."

Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn said that the issue was more related to the Concorde Agreement procedures than any push to get dates changed.

"We do have certain provisions in the Concorde Agreement, which regulate team consent when it is required," she told AUTOSPORT. "The procedure was, strictly speaking, not adhered to, but we should keep in mind what the outcome is. If something is not adhered to, we should rectify it quickly and be happy with the outcome.

"What matters here is that there are 20 races, in regions that we want to go to, so let's sort this issue out and get on with more important things."

Ecclestone himself brushed off the issue – and said that if the teams were not happy with the calendar then they had the option of not taking part.

"They don't have to go if they don't want to," he said.

When asked about the teams being unhappy that the procedures were not followed, Ecclestone replied: "Then they should go to the police. They are lucky we have got races. Otherwise they would all go out of business."

Red Bull Racing has managed to get one of its four curfew extensions back after successfully proving that the staff member who arrived at the track early on Saturday was not associated with the operation of its car.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit was one of three teams that was deemed to have breached Formula 1's curfew regulations when marketing staff were found to have entered the track before the 4pm cut-off point on qualifying day.

The issue was of biggest concern to Red Bull Racing, because the curfew breach would have been the third of the four that it is allowed to have over the course of the season.

The team was unhappy because the unidentified staff member, believed to be a marketing member from sponsor Infiniti, had nothing to do with the race team.

After complaining to the FIA, Red Bull Racing successfully proved that there had been no breach of the curfew regulations - which means it is now deemed to have only used two curfew extensions so far.

A statement issued by the FIA said: "Having questioned the person causing the breach of curfew in the Red Bull Racing team case and heard his explanations, it is now clear, that this person is not a team member of the Red Bull Racing team and is not in any way associated with the operation of the car.

"Therefore the Red Bull Racing team did not break Article 30.9 of the 2011 Formula One Sporting Regulation."

Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn, whose outfit was also involved in the curfew matter, said that the rules needed clarifying about which personnel were deemed to be included in the curfew.

"In our case, a couple of our marketing commercial girls came to meet some guests at 3.30pm rather than 4pm and broke the curfew, so that is something that we need to discuss with the FIA to tidy up," he said. "I cannot quite see an objective in having a curfew for marketing staff. It is something that does need tidying up; I think it is just a misunderstanding."

Mercedes GP and Virgin Racing have also won back one of their four allowed curfew exemptions, after the FIA decided that the staff who entered the track early on Saturday were not involved directly with the car.

Marketing staff from the two teams, plus Red Bull Racing, were found to have entered the track before the 4pm cut-off point - which is a breach of the new-for-2011 curfew restrictions.

The decision had left the teams unhappy because they all believed that the marketing staff in question had no direct involvement with the cars.

Now, after discussions with both teams about who the staff were who entered the track, the FIA has decided that Mercedes GP and Virgin Racing can also get back one of their curfews.

A statement issued by the FIA said: "Having spoken to the Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team and Marussia Virgin Racing team in more details, it is apparent that the team personnel concerned with the breach of the curfew were not involved in the operation of the car."

[Lineker]

Sebastian Vettel moved to the brink of a second title by winning the Singapore Grand Prix, but Jenson Button's runner-up finish meant the German was one point shy of the championship lead he required to wrap things up for 2011.

Vettel utterly dominated the majority of the race. The Red Bull man was a second per lap faster than his pursuers at first, and though the pack closed up with a mid-race safety car after Michael Schumacher clipped Sergio Perez and was launched into a violent accident - from which he emerged unhurt - Vettel had a cushion of backmarkers behind him at the restart and was eight seconds clear again after just one lap.

McLaren driver Button started closing in with some very rapid late laps, but Vettel always appeared to have everything under control as he clinched his ninth win of the season.

Button had claimed second with a quick start, while Vettel's front row partner team-mate Mark Webber got away slowly. Lewis Hamilton challenged Webber down the inside in the second McLaren but ran out of space and fell as low as eighth, while Fernando Alonso took his Ferrari around the outside of everyone to grab third from fifth on the grid.

Webber twice passed Alonso on the road, having to get back ahead after the Ferrari reclaimed third in the first pitstops following an on-track exchange. But a bold dive into the Turn 10 chicane amid traffic on the restart lap secured Webber's third place and he pulled away thereafter.

Hamilton had a highly eventful run to fifth. He quickly recovered from being wrong-footed on the first lap but then clipped Felipe Massa while racing with the Ferrari immediately after the first stops. The McLaren picked up both wing damage and a penalty, while Massa was left with a puncture.

A fightback charge from Hamilton took him from a post-drive-through 15th to fifth in the end, helped by the safety car closing him onto the lead pack again. A string of DRS passes got him back into the top five, though having to pit for another set of tyres while those behind him did not meant Hamilton had to make a lot of his moves twice before his top five finish was secure.

Paul di Resta secured the best result of his Formula 1 career so far in sixth for Force India. A very long first stint and the ability to make his second and final stop just as the safety car came out got him ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and the second Force India of Adrian Sutil.

Massa fell to 20th following the clash with Hamilton, before clawing his way back through to salvage some points in ninth.

Perez's Sauber was undamaged in the incident with Schumacher, which happened when the Mercedes was coming back through after a pitstop, and he finished 10th.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS


The Singapore Grand Prix

Singapore, Singapore;

61 laps; 309.087km;

Weather: Dry.


Classified:


Pos  Driver        Team                       Time

 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h59:06.537

 2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     1.737

 3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    29.279

 4.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    55.449

 5.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:07.766

 6.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +  1:51.067

 7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +     1 lap

 8.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap

 9.  Massa         Ferrari                    +     1 lap

10.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap

11.  Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap

12.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap

13.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap

14.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +    2 laps

15.  Senna         Renault                    +    2 laps

16.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps

17.  Petrov        Renault                    +    2 laps

18.  D-Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps

19.  Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth               +    4 laps

20.  Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth               +    4 laps

21.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    5 laps


Fastest lap: Button, 1:48.454


Not classified/retirements:


Driver        Team                         On lap

Trulli        Lotus-Renault                48

Schumacher    Mercedes                     29

Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              10



World Championship standings, round 14:                


Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Vettel       309        1.  Red Bull-Renault          491

 2.  Button       185        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          353

 3.  Alonso       184        3.  Ferrari                   268

 4.  Webber       182        4.  Mercedes                  114

 5.  Hamilton     168        5.  Renault                    70

 6.  Massa         84        6.  Force India-Mercedes       48

 7.  Rosberg       62        7.  Sauber-Ferrari             36

 8.  Schumacher    52        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         29

 9.  Heidfeld      34        9.  Williams-Cosworth           5

10.  Petrov        34       

11.  Sutil         28       

12.  Kobayashi     27       

13.  Di Resta      20       

14.  Alguersuari   16       

15.  Buemi         13       

16.  Perez          9       

17.  Barrichello    4       

18.  Senna          2       

19.  Maldonado      1       


All timing unofficial[/code]


A furious Felipe Massa strongly criticised Lewis Hamilton's driving after they clashed in the Singapore Grand Prix.


Yesterday Massa had slammed Hamilton following a near-miss in Q3, and today they made contact immediately after the first pitstops, with the Ferrari given a puncture when the McLaren clipped it during an abortive passing move.


Hamilton had to pit for a replacement wing and was given a drive-through penalty for the incident. While he recovered to fifth, Massa could only get back to ninth.


"My thoughts are that, again, I told you yesterday that he cannot use his mind," said Massa.


"Even in qualifying, so you can imagine in the race. He could have caused a big accident. He is paying for that, that's the problem. He doesn't understand, even paying for a problem.


"The problem was that I was in the middle so I had a puncture in my tyres and I pay a lot."


Massa felt Hamilton's penalty was fully deserved.


"It is important that FIA is looking and penalising him all the time he is going in the car because he cannot think about it," said Massa.


The Brazilian was also frustrated that the timing of the safety car had not worked out well for his comeback drive.


"I was not even lucky on the safety car," Massa admitted. "I stopped for the super soft in that moment to gain lap-time, but then after five laps the safety car came and I had the wrong tyres to finish the race.


"So I was not very lucky as well with the strategy and also - again - something has happened with a guy [Hamilton] who did [that] how many times with me this year? So many times."


Sebastian Vettel said he was in control of the situation in the final part of the Singapore Grand Prix, despite Jenson Button reducing the gap dramatically.


The world champion dominated the race from start to finish, but saw McLaren rival Button finish just 1.7 seconds behind after closing in quickly during the final stages of the race.


Vettel, who scored his ninth win of the season, said it was not easy with the backmarkers, but claimed he had the situation under control.


"First of all, I am very, very pleased with the result," said Vettel. "The car was fantastic all the way through. When we could push we could pull away easily.


"Towards the end I faced five cars with lots of groups, so it was not that big a margin but I was in control. A fantastic result. I really love the track, I love the challenge, I think it is the longest race.


"The car was fantastic. Engine wise everything was fantastic, we were in a comfortable position for most of the race, which is handy around here.


"For the championship it looks like we have another chance at the next race."


His victory in Singapore means Vettel needs to score a single point in the remaining five races to secure his second title.


Button is the only other driver with a mathematical possibility to clinch the title, but the Briton would need to win all races with Vettel not scoring at all.


The German insisted he still needs to score that point.


"I feel capable but I still have to do it," he said. "With the races we had so far, it should not be a problem. But it is over when it is over, and this one has to wait to be closed first."


He added: "The team is doing a great job. I am feeling very comfortable with the team, with the car, and we are on top of our game.


"There is no secret, but it is just everyone is able to rely on the other one and together we are pulling in the same direction, one direction. I think it is very enjoyable at the moment. The car is fantastic and most of the time I have good Sunday afternoons or Sunday evenings."


Jenson Button said he was frustrated by backmarkers as he tried to chase down Sebastian Vettel at the end of the Singapore Grand Prix.


The McLaren driver was caught behind traffic when the race restarted after the safety car, then encountered a battling group in the closing stages as well while gaining on Vettel.


"I can understand that it is difficult to move over here, and most people were fighting out there, but they have to respect that the cars that are lapping them are lapping them for a reason - because they are faster and battling for position," said Button.


"I got stuck behind [Kamui] Kobayashi and lost a lap [of chasing], and the Williams were fighting among themselves."


Button cut Vettel's lead - which had got up to 13 seconds - down to 1.7s by the flag, and said he had been able to unleash the McLaren's full pace in the final stint after saving fuel earlier in the race.


"In the last stint I was able to drive as fast as I could and put 12 qualifying laps together, took a lot of risks, enjoyed it," said Button.


"I said coming here the aim was to win the race so we had to have a go, but had to settle for second in the end.


"Overall our pace was good today - but we cannot challenge Seb and Red Bull.


"Second best we could be, this is something to build on. We know we are not as quick at the moment, we know we need to improve if we want to fight for wins in the next five races."


Mark Webber is adamant he will improve his starts after seeing another race compromised by a poor getaway in Singapore.


The Red Bull driver has lost positions in the starts of the last six races, and he was forced to charge through the field again on Sunday after dropping down the order from second on the grid.


Webber, who finished in third behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel and McLaren's Jenson Button, has vowed to get to the bottom of the situation to try to improve.


"Unfortunately I find myself having to come through too often this season," said Webber. "I can't make the starts I did last year for some reason. We will look at them and definitely improve. It is risky to come back through and try to regain positions on track especially when the DRS is not working.


"I probably lost a position today. Seb clearly deserved the victory. If you come here and get podium, you would love a win. This is a very challenging venue.


"The guys have done a great job all weekend. It's not easiest track for me, it's challenging for a few of us."


Webber, yet to win a race this season, admitted he is eager to end his drought.


"I am looking forward to getting on the middle step sooner rather than later," he said. "There are still some positives to draw on, that is what we can do.


"I can be quickest at times, but that's not going to improve the feeling - in the end that is what we got today. So I am pretty happy."


Heikki Kovalainen and Team Lotus were delighted to beat Vitaly Petrov's Renault in the Singapore Grand Prix, as the Finn came home 16th.


Although the result was not Lotus's highest finish of the season, the team was pleased to have finished ahead of one of the more established squads on merit - with Kovalainen suggesting that updates brought in for Singapore had played a crucial role.


"I'm really pleased with the performance today and we should all be happy as it was a great race from the whole team," said Kovalainen.


"The pitstop strategy worked out well for us and the boys worked brilliantly to get me out quickly each time, helping me make sure I could stay ahead of Petrov at each stop. The car felt balanced throughout the whole race and the tyres worked well so I was able to pull away from Petrov and ended up finishing strongly in 16th.


"It's also good that the upgrade we've brought here has helped us take a small step forward and I think we'll see more from that in Suzuka where it will come more into its own."


Kovalainen's team-mate Jarno Trulli had got among the Renaults and Toro Rossos at the start, but picked up a puncture in a collision with Jaime Alguersuari and later stopped with gearbox failure.


"I had another really good start and was ahead of both Renaults and the Toro Rosso," Trulli said.


"They were pushing me but the car felt great and I was able to keep ahead of them pretty comfortably, coming out of the first stop still ahead and feeling good on the second set of tyres. Then Jaime hit my left rear and I had to come which was pretty disappointing - it's just bad luck really, but that meant I had to try and fight back which I did my best to do until the gearbox problem meant I had to pull over."


Alguersuari was given a drive-through penalty for the incident - to his surprise.


"I am not really sure why I got it, as I only made very light contact with Trulli," said the Toro Rosso driver, who eventually crashed out.


Lotus boss Tony Fernandes said the Singapore performance proved the team was now in a position to battle with those ahead for the rest of the year.


"For me that is probably the best race we have had in our short life in Formula 1 so far," he said.


"Heikki drove an outstanding race and was able to keep pace with a lot of the cars around him, and pull away from the cars behind, and he made the most of the new package we brought here to finish very well. Jarno again suffered from bad luck and maybe the strategy we gave him was not the best, but we called it as we saw it and I am sure we will learn from how his race worked out.


"I am delighted for everyone back at the factory to see their hard work on the upgrade work out well on track, and I think we can look forward to a strong end to the season, knowing we can fight with established teams around us when the opportunities arise."


Team Lotus was fined 10,000 euros for the unsafe release of Kovalainen during his final pitstop, when the Finn nearly made contact with race leader Sebastian Vettel.


Michael Schumacher blamed a misunderstanding for his race-ending crash with Sergio Perez during the Singapore Grand Prix.


The seven-time world champion made contact with Perez's Sauber when trying to pass the Mexican on lap 28 of the race.


Schumacher clipped the left rear tyre of Perez's car, crashing into the wall as a result. The Sauber driver managed to continued in the race and finish in the points.


Mercedes driver Schumacher said the incident was simply a misunderstanding.


"It was a very unfortunate ending to my race in Singapore tonight and obviously I am a bit disappointed," said Schumacher. "What happened was what I would call a misunderstanding between Sergio Perez and myself.


"He was about to go inside and lifted, and I was not expecting him to do that so early, and therefore hit him. It's probably one of those race incidents which look more impressive from outside than from inside, as I am totally OK and my impact in the end was not too heavy.


"It was a pity because my car and the tyres worked well, and therefore the pace was very good. I will look ahead to the next races and hope to have better endings there."


Michael Schumacher has been given a reprimand for his accident with Sergio Perez during the Singapore Grand Prix.


The Mercedes driver clipped the back of Perez's Sauber when trying to pass the Mexican rookie on lap 28 of the race.


Although Perez could continue in the race, he was forced to come into the pits to replace a punctured tyre.


Schumacher said the accident, which forced him to retire, had been a misunderstanding with Perez, but the FIA stewards gave the German a reprimand for the incident.


"I think Michael was too optimistic with what he tried," said Perez. "It is a shame to have lost a place to Felipe (Massa) in the end, but the tyres were finished and I couldn't defend anymore."


The FIA has also fined Team Lotus 10,000 euros for the unsafe release of Heikki Kovalainen into the path of race leader Sebastian Vettel during his final pitstop.


Fernando Alonso says he is aiming to finish as runner-up in this year's championship, claiming it would be 'very valuable' for him.


The Spaniard dropped down to third place in the standings after finishing in fourth position in the Singapore Grand Prix.


He is just one point behind McLaren's Jenson Button, but with Red Bull's Mark Webber only two behind with five races to go.


Although Button has said he is not interested in second place, Alonso says the runner-up spot would mean a lot to him, especially given Ferrari's position in the constructors' championship.


"Of course there's motivation [to finish second]," said Alonso. "It's hard but it's something you want, to be runner-up in the championship.


"Also, the gap in the constructors' to Red Bull and McLaren - Red Bull is over 100 points away and McLaren nearly 100 - is huge so if I can finish in second in the drivers' championship it would be a very valuable thing for me."


The Spaniard, who has been unable to fight near the top in recent races, downplayed the significance of tyre usage, even if Ferrari is believed to treat its tyres better than its rivals.


"I think it's all in the aerodynamics. If you make the car a second quicker with the aerodynamics then your tyres are going to work, and you get a pole position one after the other, and you win races one after the other."


Outgoing Williams technical director Sam Michael is hoping to be granted permission to join new employers McLaren in time to attend at least one race with the team before the end of the season.


Michael will join McLaren as sporting director ahead of the next campaign, but is close to securing an early release from Williams to start work with the team after one month off.


His current contract prevents him from working for a team other than Williams until March 1, but as he has now completed his final day of work for it, it appears likely that the request will be granted provided final agreement can be struck with McLaren.


"I'm hoping it's only going to be a month off," he said when asked about his plans by AUTOSPORT. "I'm waiting for the letter [giving permission] from Williams. McLaren are pushing pretty hard for that.


"If I can get to a race this year with McLaren, it lets me observe what they are up to. It's much better to do that and have the winter to think about things rather than going straight in at Melbourne and reacting to what I see."


Williams drivers Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello finished 11th and 13th in Michael's final race after over a decade at Williams.


Barrichello ran in the points until fading in the closing stages after a gamble on a two-stop strategy. Maldonado's 11th place appeared to be the best result that a Williams was capable of in the race.


However, Michael believes that had the safety car timing been a little different and race winner Sebastian Vettel had completed an extra lap before pitting, the result could have been better.


"We weren't really quick enough, to be honest," he said. "That safety car was critical. If Sebastian Vettel had continued for that extra lap, that would have been great because all of the other guys wouldn't have stopped. That was a game-changer.


"Rubens stayed out for two laps because we were hoping Vettel would stay out. But we did everything we could on the strategy and that was where we were [on pace].


"We could have finished higher with Rubens, but we split the strategy with him going for two stops and Pastor three, so his tyres were knackered at the end. We were chasing a point so split them, thinking something might happen. But that's the way it goes."


Paul di Resta celebrated what he labelled as his best race of the season so far in Singapore on Sunday.


The Force India driver secured his best result in Formula 1 at the Marina Bay circuit after a strong drive to sixth position in the Force India.


It was the Scot's fifth points finish of 2011.


"My first Singapore Grand Prix was a lot of fun and I'm very happy with the outcome," said di Resta, who has managed 20 points so far in his rookie season.


"I don't think the safety car really helped us because I still had a lot of life left in the supersoft tyres in the middle of the race, but it didn't really hurt us either.


"After that it was a case of managing my pace to Rosberg, looking after the tyres and bringing the car home. I was in free air for the final part of the race, which helped, and the pace was strong.


"It's probably my best race of the season, but it's the result of all the hard work behind the scenes. We came here with an upgrade package that has allowed us to gain performance in the race, gain tyre life, and we saw the benefits of that today."


Team-mate Adrian Sutil also finished in the points - in eighth position - to help Force India consolidate its sixth place in the standings.


With five races to go, the team is 12 points ahead of Sauber.


"We have been aiming to get both cars in the points for a while now, so we can be very happy with where we finished," Sutil said. "The points we scored give us some breathing space over Sauber in the championship.


"It was quite a normal race for me, although I lost some track position under the safety car as Rosberg got ahead of me and stayed there until the end of the race.


"The final stint was quite difficult because I had to do about 30 laps on the soft tyres. I had Perez close behind me and then Massa was closing in fast on the final lap. Fortunately I had enough to hold on to eighth."


McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has jumped to the defence of under-fire Lewis Hamilton in the wake of another controversial coming together for the British driver.


Hamilton's hopes of a podium finish in the Singapore Grand Prix were wrecked when he collided with Felipe Massa as they fought for position - breaking his front wing and earning himself a drive-through penalty in the process.


The incident, coming on the back of a spate of mistakes this year, has led to fresh questions about Hamilton's temperament – and whether he needs to change his approach to racing.


But Whitmarsh has said that he has no concerns about Hamilton's attitude and he expects his driver to learn lessons from what is going on now to help make him stronger over the rest of the campaign.


"Various things have happened," said Whitmarsh. "The team can take some blame and Lewis can take some blame.


"I think sometimes in motor racing other things just don't go your way and you have those runs. I think it has been a tough season, but we still are going to go out there and try and win five races, and Lewis will be trying to do that I am sure.


"When you are told you are back in 18th/19th place on a race like this on a circuit like that, it is deeply, deeply frustrating, so to deal with that and perform as well as he did was extraordinary – so he should have some credit for that.


"But none of us are perfect, the team has made some mistakes and we will make more mistakes. We don't want to, but that is life. We are pretty open and honest about these things, we don't conceal them, and that allows people to take a view on it and amplify it.


"As a team we have got to try and get better, Lewis has got to try and get better as a race driver but I think he drove from very difficult circumstances, five times through the pit lane to score valuable points, and get a strong fifth place like that, it was a great drive."


Hamilton's driving in Singapore – which comes on the back of errors in Monaco, Canada, Hungary and Belgium this year – left Massa hugely unimpressed.


"I was on the straight and he touched me, not even when he was on my side," said the Brazilian, who confronted Hamilton in front of the television cameras after the race. "He touched me when he was behind me.


"Then, when I got to the end of the braking, my tyre was already punctured. For sure it was a big, big problem for my race. And he paid for that as well, so what can I say?


"How many races this year he did this? He went in the wrong direction and he paid and he never learned. The FIA is looking for sure for that, because he is doing that so many times."


He added: "I think he is not learning. I tried to speak to him after we wait, but he didn't listen to me. I called him two times, but he didn't listen to me, he [walked] past me. He didn't even look to me.


"I called him to speak, but when I show him, I said, 'very good job, well done'. Like that you will win many championships!"


When asked about Massa's view that Hamilton will not win another championship unless he changes his driving, Whitmarsh said: "I think it is wrong. Lewis is still a young guy, he is learning and he will learn from all of this. He will win races and I am sure he is going to win more championships.


"He is an aggressive and assertive driver but he will win many more races than you or I and I am sure he will win many championships."


Renault's misery in the Singapore Grand Prix was compounded on Sunday when the team was fined 7,500 Euros for giving Bruno Senna wrong instructions at a safety car restart.


The team endured its worst race weekend of the year, with Senna and Vitaly Petrov finishing in 15th and 17th position's respectively - and afterwards team principal Eric Boullier labelled its performance 'embarrassing'.


To add to the disappointment, Renault was also fined for having failed to inform Senna of his correct race position at the safety car restart following Michael Schumacher's accident.


Renault told Senna that he was battling with Sergio Perez ahead of him on the road, even though the Mexican was a lap ahead.


That resulted in Senna trying to overtake his Sauber rival, with a move that resulted in the pair colliding.


A statement issued by the FIA said: "The team failed to inform the driver of his correct race position which led to an avoidable collision with car #17 Sergio Perez."


Post-race press conference:

[spoiler]TV UNILATERALS


Q. Sebastian, no World Championship celebrations here but another pole, another victory but not by the large margin that at one stage looked likely?


Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, first of all I am very, very pleased with the result. The car was fantastic all the way through. I think when we had to push we could pull away quite easily and pull a gap, which helped us. The safety car came out. It didn't really fit to our plan as we had a big gap. I think about 30 seconds and 30 laps to go but, nevertheless, I had a very good restart. I was a bit lucky there were some backmarkers between me and Jenson and I was able to get back into the rhythm straight away, pull a huge gap and I was quite happy as towards the end with the traffic it is quite busy around here. There isn't much space and if you catch the traffic on the wrong place on the circuit you lose quite some time. In the last lap I faced five cars, quite a large group, but there was plenty of room. Not that big margin when I crossed the line but I was in control when Jenson was going into the last lap. All in all fantastic result. I really love the track. I love the challenge. It is one of the longest races, I think it is the longest so great. The car was fantastic. Engine-wise everything was great. Renault, again, did a very good job so we were in a comfortable position for most of the race which is pretty handy around here as it is quite a big challenge to put the sectors together, not only in qualifying but also the race so, as I said, the pace was good and I am very pleased. For the Championship, it looks like we have another chance at the next race.


Q. Jenson, for you a fourth podium in a row but tell us about the backmarkers, not just at the restart but also the two Williams drivers who stalled your progress as you were catching Sebastian towards the end.


Jenson BUTTON: Yeah, I can understand it is difficult to move over here. Most people were fighting out there but a bit of respect to the cars that are lapping them. They are lapping them for a reason because they are quicker and they fighting for a higher position. There were some frustrating moments in the race. One was Kamui (Kobayashi). I sat behind him for a lap. Couldn't get past and he finally moved over and the two Williams were fighting between themselves. The thing is when it gets to the last lap and people see they are being lapped so they are pushing hard and they race each other but forget there are other cars trying to overtake. Forgetting that it was the best we could have done today. I feel that I got everything out of the car especially towards the end of the race when I was able to push on the tyres and really see what the car had. But we weren't quick enough to win today. But a good finish all the same and something we can hopefully build on for the next race.


Q. Mark, before the race Jenson mentioned that he might have a chance off the line giving your record at the start recently and he did get past you going into the first turn. But from then on some great battles for yourself with Fernando Alonso.


Mark WEBBER: Yeah, unfortunately I find myself having to come back through too often this season. I can't make the starts I made last year at the moment. I need to work on those. We will look at them and definitely improve. I have just got to keep working hard as it makes it quite frustrating and it is more risky to come back through and try to regain the positions on the track particularly when the DRS isn't working. In the end probably lost a position today out of that but JB put a good last stint together so I would have been in a good battle with him if I did have track position. Seb fully deserved the victory but overall if you come here and say you have a podium, though of course you would love a win, and that is what we are all striving for. But this is a very, very challenging venue so it is nice to have the car in one piece and the guys have done a great job all weekend. For me in particular it has not been the easiest track. It is challenging for quite a few of us, but I don't seem to be super quick around here. In the end I want to thank all my guys. They have done a great job for me all weekend and the team, Renault, again 100 per cent reliability. Great job from them and well done to JB, a good second place for him.


Q. Seb, I think there might have been a few tears on the podium. Was that for your first win here, was that a sigh of relief that two hours had finally finished or was it the emotion of another victory that was as special as the first this season.


SV: I think it was a bit of all that and I had something in my eye. As I said I really like this track especially after last year where it was a tough fight to the end with Fernando. It was all the way from start to finish shadowing him last year. I felt I could have gone a little bit quicker. It was a nice battle and I finished second so this year it was great to come back and get the job done. We all agree that this is one of the toughest challenges we face all year. It is getting quite hot inside the car. The race is quite long. The humidity makes us sweat a lot and work hard which is good so it is nice when you cross the line knowing you have done your best and achieved your optimum. I think we can be very proud of ourselves again. A fantastic race from start to finish. Smooth pit-stops and in the heat we once again kept our heads cool. A perfect day at the office I would say.


PRESS CONFERENCE


Q. Sebastian, a phenomenal start and you already had two-and-a-half seconds at the end of the first lap. It was just extraordinary.


SV: Yeah, the car was amazing. The start was good. We were on the clean side and that's why Mark lost out. I saw immediately that Jenson got away a bit better than me but I knew it should be fine down to turn one. Then I was just trying to push as hard as I could in the beginning, trying to open a gap. Trying to use the momentum. Trying to find the rhythm as quickly as I can to use this advantage that I have with the clear track ahead. I was surprised myself that I was able to pull away that much. I think after a couple of laps I already had a 10-seconds gap. Then it puts us in a very comfortable position as we can control the stint from there, control the tyres. Same into the second stint and quite a big gap again. Safety car didn't make our lives easier especially at the end. All in all the car was great from start to finish and I was able to pull away. Had a little bit of help from the backmarkers. But had nice smooth race at the front. I didn't have to face any cars. I used DRS only if I had to pass the lapped cars. We were in a luxury position today. The speed was phenomenal. The car I had, every time I had to push and I wanted to push there was so much more lap time in it. I think we were going at stages more than a second quicker than the cars behind which makes it a lot of fun. You want to push harder and harder as once you really get sucked into this rhythm on this track, yeah. It is hard to pace yourself. You know that you have to look after the tyres et cetera so the stop in the end we didn't have to pit but decided to do so in case of another safety car where we would be more vulnerable on a used or scrubbed set in the end. We did the right calls. At the end with quite a lot of traffic, if you take some time and wait until there really opens a gap to avoid any misunderstanding you might sacrifice a couple of second easily. That allowed Jenson to come closer plus the fact that he felt quite comfortable at the end of the race but as I said not much we could have done better tonight so all in all it is great. It means a lot to me as I really like this track. It is one of the hardest challenges we face all year so to come out of that a winner is a great result for us.


Q. Jenson, for you a good start as well.


JB: Yes, it was a good start. I got a good launch and then I had a little bit of wheel spin and a dilemma also which direction to go as Seb was in front and I felt that I had better traction. I thought that maybe I could get Seb into Turn One but later on he had a very good start and I wasn't able to pull alongside. Pretty happy to be second. Initially I really couldn't find the grip with the car. Also I knew it was going to be a very long race and I would have to look after the tyres. I didn't know how long the stint was going to be as we get a lot of overheating here and I hadn't driven the car on full tanks all weekend. I needed to find a rhythm, find a pace that I was comfortable with and without damaging the tyres at all. I felt pretty good and after about 10 laps I could really start pushing and the pace was pretty good. But there was no catching Seb for most of the race. His pace was very, very good and it was impossible really to close for much of the race. After the safety car I thought I might have a go but sat behind Kobayashi for a lap. I think I lost about three or four seconds. Finally got past but again the pace wasn't quick enough. I was told to look after the tyres. I also was always a little bit careful with fuel around here so the last stint I was able to drive as fast as I could. It was putting 10-12 qualifying laps together. I could not have gone any quicker. That was it: that was all I could get out of the car. Took a lot of risks, enjoyed it. I said coming here that I wanted to win the race so we had to have a go. But had to settle for second. I think overall our pace has been good today but we cannot challenge Seb and the Red Bulls. Second is as good as we can be. I just want to thank the team for everything they have done this weekend coming back from where we were. This is something to build on. We know we are not as quick at the moment. We know we have got to work and we know we have got to improve of we want to fight for wins in the next five races.


Q. What were the track conditions right as we could see bits of car all over the place. There was masses of rubber, there were marbles everywhere?


JB: It was pretty messy. The problem is as soon as you have one lock up, you run wide, you either pick up loads of debris or rubber or you are in the wall. When you are pushing hard you are taking more risks than you would do on a normal track. But this circuit and road circuits in general are very tough because as soon as you push you are very close to the barriers, you are very close to the walls on exits. If you have a little step out of oversteer you tap barriers. It is a fun place to drive and the adrenalin is pumping through your veins the whole time. Ending on a high I suppose with good pace at the end.


Q. Mark, perhaps you can talk about your battles with Fernando.


MW: Yeah, they are enjoyable but I am not keen to sign up for them all the time as it means I am with him when I probably should not be. But, again, difficult start for me trying to get away. We need to continue to work on this. Clearly it makes my race more difficult. I think it ultimately cost me a place today but having said that Jenson put a very good last stint together. That would have been a good battle with us if I'd have had track position with him if we had went away in grid position. But, ultimately, we all got pretty much what we deserved today. It was pretty clear that I had to clear Fernando at some stage in the race as Ferrari kept covering me at the stops. The DRS wasn't really working so we needed to do it around the stops. Fernando is not in his first grand prix so he knows where to put the car and it was a good battle, but by the time I got past Seb and Jenson were gone. I enjoyed the restart a bit or before on the harder tyre, the prime, and then we went for the softs. Then he had traffic. I think everyone had a little bit of that and the momentum went out of that last set. In the end a third here is not too bad to be honest. I am looking forward to getting on the middle step sooner rather than later but in the end it is still a very challenging venue. The team have done a great job and we got a very good result for the Constructors' and still some positives to draw on. That's what we can do.


Q. After that last stop I thought you might have actually gained on Jenson. Admittedly he was flying, but it didn't happen.


MW: No I think again we have seen at this end of the compound range for me I am not super quick on them at the back part of stints at the moment. We weren't too bad on other compounds but still work to do. I can be quickish at time but in the end that's what we could get today so pretty happy.


Q. (Heikki Kulta - Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, that was the first time that you led from start to finish this season. Does that give you some kind of perfection when you lead every lap. Also, it didn't take long to beat Kimi (Raikkonen) in terms of victories; will you overtake Mika (Hakkinen) as quickly? He's the next one.


SV: I don't know how many wins Kimi has and Mika?


Q. (Heikki Kulta - Turun Sanomat) Eighteen for Kimi and 20 for Mika.


MW: Hopefully he has a few races to get him. He's not retiring at the end of the year. Mika's in trouble.


SV: I didn't know that other races we had... obviously it depends on when you pit, when the others pit but good to hear (that's it's the first time that I had led from lights to flag.) At the end of the race, I'm always a bit tempted to go for fastest lap. I get told off, 'don't even dare to think about it.' Jenson said I had no chance, I'm not sure, but yeah, I think the main thing is to win the race. It doesn't matter where you start or where you have been in between or on your journey. As you finish first, there are a lot of reasons to be happy. Most of the time, it's confirmation that you did a better job than the rest so I'm very pleased with that. For the Finns, it's not really my objective but it's incredible news in a way, because obviously everyone knows drivers like Kimi and Mika, especially in Finland I guess. Within the German drivers, the German record is far, far away. Still a long way to go but I'm very happy at the moment. The team is doing a great job, I'm feeling very comfortable with the team, with the car. Everything seems to work and we are on top of our game. I think there is no secret. It's just that everyone is able to rely on the other one and together we are pulling in the same direction, in one direction. I think it's very enjoyable at the moment. The car is obviously fantastic and most of the time we have a good Sunday afternoon or Sunday evenings.


Q. (Joris Fioriti – Agency France Presse) Sebastian, do you feel capable of scoring one point in the next five races, because if you do so you will be champion?


SV: I feel capable but I still have to do it. Obviously with the races that we've had so far, it should not be a big problem but it's over when it's over and not before. Statistically the chances are on our side but generally in sports there have been a lot of stories written, and this one also has to wait to be closed first.


Q. (Federic Ferret – L'Equipe) Sebastian, two hours of racing and you were leading from start to finish. Did you think of anything else during the race, maybe the championship?


SV: Not really. I did make it quite clear before the race that it's not important to know where the other people were. Obviously I was given the gaps to Jenson who was in second and then the race order at the end, so crossing the line, I didn't know whether it might be enough or not. A little bit similar to Abu Dhabi. I didn't know in which position people had to finish. For the next one, I'm obviously smart enough to work it out myself. We will see. To us, today, it didn't really matter. Our target was to win. We felt like we had it in ourselves, in the car so it's good to achieve that and for the rest, we had enough time once we crossed the line.


Q. (Ian de Cotta – Today) Sebastian, do you think your season so far and your drive tonight has been a magical one?


SV: As I said earlier, I don't think there are any secrets so magic, I don't know, maybe for some people. It has been an incredible year for us, an incredible record for both of us, in terms of reliability. We had no problems with the car, the engine was perfect from start to finish so touch wood, nothing has gone wrong so far this year and as I said, it does need a lot of small things coming together to make sure that you have an incredible season like we have had so far. It has been very enjoyable and everyone has been extremely disciplined in a way, target-orientated and we've all enjoyed it. I think those three things sum it up pretty well and we hope to carry on like that, carry the momentum into the next races and into the next season probably as well.


Q. (Flavio Vanetti – Il Corriere della Sera) Jenson, no chance for you even with the time lost behind Kobayashi?


JB: I can say yes, but I really don't know what Seb was doing at the end of the race, whether they were pushing or not. It was such a big lead, you never really know what the guy in front is doing. All I know is that I couldn't get anything else out of our car. If you look at the time at the end of the race, I was 1.7s behind Sebastian. I lost more than that behind Kobayashi but I'm sure Seb would have been driving at a different pace if he knew I was four seconds closer. That traffic that we had today is disappointing, I would say and it's something that we need to concentrate on for the next race because I spent over a lap behind Kobayashi. There was no reason for him not to let me past, he had a clear circuit in front and I was lapping him, so very, very frustrating and something that we need to resolve for the future. I know this is a difficult place to overtake but none of us is stupid, we know if we're being lapped or not.


Q. (Seong Sook Choi – Korean Broadcasting System) Sebastian, Asia is now attracted to F1 racing. As the winner of the Singapore Grand Prix, can you please tell the potential Asian fans out there the attraction and excitement of Grand Prix from your own perspective?


SV: I think it's incredible. I think we all love coming here. Obviously we seem to race more and more in Asia over the last couple of years, but I think the excitement is great over here, the people really get hooked up to Formula One. I think this weekend, here, in particularly, is very special for people to come and visit, even people from Europe. As a fan, I think not only the cars on the track are spectacular, seeing them so closely, seeing them racing at night, seeing them right in front of you in the middle of the city, but also around the event, around the race itself there are obviously a lot of concerts. I think Shakira was there last night and Linkin Park is on tonight. Things like that make it all in all very spectacular for people to come and the attraction is huge. I think we all enjoy events like that and for us, I think the pleasure is huge. Once we are racing, we can't really see how many people there are and the engines are quite loud so you can't really hear, but before the race, on the drivers' parade, to see the people cheering for all of us is great. On the lap after the chequered flag, to come back, seeing the people standing up, cheering for us – in a way, I think we are quite privileged to be part of that and see that, feel those emotions. It makes our job, if you want, very enjoyable.


Q. (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) Mark, looking ahead to Suzuka, what do you feel your prospects are there?


MW: Better than here. I enjoy Suzuka, it's a great track. Korea was pretty good for me until it rained. There are some good venues coming up. All the drivers like driving at Suzuka, so looking forward to going there, mate, it's a great track, as is India. I've had a good look (at it) on the simulator as well. We've got some challenging venues coming up and some that I hope I can get my teeth into and continue in this way, but slightly further down the road on Sunday afternoon, pulling everything together and having a slightly better finish to the year if possible. We're placed to do it, we've just got to execute it.


Q. (Mark Fogarty – Auto Action) Jenson, looking ahead to the next few races, any one of those venues give you a hope of actually taking the fight to Seb?


JB: For the last couple of races we thought we were on a par and we could really race them well, especially this race. We've been off the pace compared to the Red Bulls. I think this circuit really shows a good car, not just the Red Bull but also our car. The McLaren showed our pace compared to the rest of the field. We were lapping cars after seven laps or something, it's unbelievable, the difference down the field in terms of pace. This is one of those quite unusual circuits, so I'm hoping that at the next five we will be a lot closer in pace or even on the pace of the Red Bulls. Suzuka is always a tough one. Red Bull's always quick in high speed corners, but then again, we were pretty good in Spa so we're going to hope that we're going to have a good car. Our car in high speed corners is much better than it used to be. We've really improved that. Braking is very good with this car. Our straightline speed is much better than it used to be, so we're moving in the right direction and I think we can give these guys a challenge. I hope so.


Q. (Stephane Barbe – L'Equipe) Sebastian, how close was it when the Lotus came out of the pits at the same time?


SV: It was close, I had to lift. We went into the pits together, I think it was Heikki. Obviously I did my pit stop and then depending on how quick the Lotus boys would be, he would be coming out ahead or behind so I watched the lights – they have a system with lights, I think, so I watched their lollipop and saw them going off when I was just approaching. I was aware of the situation. I think initially that Heikki didn't see me, it's a difficult angle so I had to lift but I think it was more of a misunderstanding, obviously not Heikki's fault. The team has to be aware of that. Did he get a penalty for that? As I said, I was some time on the way down the pit lane, I was aware but obviously if I hadn't backed off, it would have been too tight for my front wing.


Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, Jenson was catching up massively at the end. How much of it was voluntarily from your side? You had a 3.7s lead three laps from the end and you were heading into heavy traffic. Normally you would want to have a cushion rather than the other guy being close to you.


SV: I think it was under control, in a way. Obviously when we come up on traffic, I get it first. I have to slow down, have to take my time, it depends where you catch the traffic and how much time you lose. And then Jenson has to face the same problem once I'm through the traffic. I found myself going into the last lap with five seconds, which was more or less the gap we had before so I think there was enough room. Obviously I took it easy with the traffic because you never know how these guys are going to react. They are fighting for position themselves, here and there a blue flag could have helped out there which wasn't there all the time, but I think you just need to be aware. Coming around the last corner on the last lap, I probably lifted off a bit too early so 1.7 seconds was obviously still enough, but I think we had it fairly under control and turned the engine down, the car down towards the end of the race, felt reasonably comfortable. Obviously it's difficult to know if Jenson... it looked like he was flat out but in his position he has nothing to lose so he might as well go for it, but with the laps we had, I think we were in control.[/spoiler]

[Lineker]

Lewis Hamilton needs to put more time into sorting out his mind management if he is going to turn around his Formula 1 troubles, reckons former world champion Jackie Stewart.

Amid a fresh focus on Hamilton's driving, following two separate incidents with Felipe Massa over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, Stewart has said he does not understand why the British driver is not delivering his full potential at the moment.

"I am a bit confused because he certainly knows how to drive and has a very large amount of natural talent," Stewart told AUTOSPORT. "But if he is going to be a great driver he cannot have serial incidents. And none of the great drivers ever drove in that fashion.

"He has all the skills but somehow or other, he jumps out of gear mentally - like in Singapore] qualifying, leaving the pits. I cannot believe he nearly had an incident that would have taken him out of qualifying.

"The race incident was again uncalled for, so I think he needs to think about his mind-management. He has the skills, and he has the abilities, but unfortunately he is having too many incidents.

"Michael [schumacher] has had the same problem, but all the great drivers, the Fangios, Jim Clarks, Niki Lauda, myself - we didn't have many accidents."

Hamilton was on the receiving end of a hefty criticism from Massa after the Singapore GP, and the pair had an angry exchange in front of the television cameras - which prompted the McLaren driver to cut short speaking to the press.

His father Anthony Hamilton believes that management issues may be the key factor in the current troubles, as he thinks XIX Management should be giving him more support.

"His management need to do more," Hamilton's father told the BBC. "What I will say is look up the paddock; every driver that's got a driver manager, the manager is here [in Singapore] and in the driver's life."

Lewis Hamilton needs more support from his management team, according to the McLaren star's father Anthony.

The 2008 world champion clashed with Ferrari's Felipe Massa during a frustrating weekend in Singapore in the latest of a number of high-profile incidents this season.

Hamilton had been managed by his father since childhood before taking on Simon Fuller's XIX Entertainment this year.

"His management need to do more," Hamilton's father told BBC Sport.

Asked whether Hamilton needed another manager, his father replied: "What I will say is look up the paddock; every driver that's got a driver manager, the manager is here [in Singapore] and in the driver's life."

BBC Sport understands that Hamilton makes race-by-race decisions on whether he needs his management team to attend the grands prix.

There was no member of Hamilton's management team in Singapore but Hamilton is understood to be happy with the relationship he has built with the company, which also looks after footballer David Beckham and tennis player Andy Murray.

Hamilton's father was instrumental in guiding Hamilton into Formula 1 but the two split in March after a rocky period.

The two are now on good terms but Hamilton announced in March that he would join Fuller's stable of clients.

When asked whether the McLaren team needed to offer more support to their de facto number one driver, team principal Martin Whitmarsh told BBC Sport: "Lewis is having plenty of love from the team. I've known him since he was 11 and there's affection between us and many other members of the team.

Hamilton's incidents in 2011

*Malaysian GP - Picks up drive-through penalty for making more than one change of direction to defend position

*Monaco GP - Given two drive-through penalties for clashes with Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Massa

*Canadian GP - Collides with Mark Webber and team-mate Jenson Button, the latter incident forcing him to retire from race

*Belgian GP - Bangs wheels with Maldonado in qualifying and then hits Kamui Kobayashi in the race, sending his McLaren flying into the barrier

*Singapore GP - Has minor brush with Massa in qualifying before colliding with the Brazilian in the race

"Undeniably this has not been a good year for Lewis Hamilton. He'll regroup as there are five more races and he'll try to win them and try to win the championship next year."

Hamilton clashed with Massa in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix as he tried a move around the outside of Turn Seven on lap 10.

The McLaren driver turned into Massa, breaking part of his front wing, while Massa was forced to limp back to the pits with a right rear puncture.

"It was a genuine mistake," said Hamilton's father. "I don't think there was any premeditation or any other issue with it.

"He was pushing hard, trying to catch up to where he was. I think this one just caught him out.

"I think it's unfortunate that he got a drive-through for it, which is typical - he would get a drive-through wouldn't he?

"If you look at the replay, he locked up a brake as he turns in and just catches Massa's car.

"He didn't turn the steering wheel [and think] I'm going to hit your back wheel and give you a puncture. That wasn't what he did.

"I just think a little bit of common sense needs to prevail."

McLaren is still holding out hope that it can delay Red Bull Racing's world championship party celebrations even longer, as Sebastian Vettel targets clinching his world championship title in Japan.

Vettel's triumph in the Singapore Grand Prix was not enough to secure him the crown, thanks to Jenson Button's second place finish.

And although it is highly unlikely that Button will win every remaining race, with Vettel outside of the points, as is required for Button to win the championship, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says he will take satisfaction in simply delaying Red Bull Racing's crowning moment.

"I think it is a tough one," he said after the Singapore Grand Prix. "But it is mathematically possible.

"Adrian [Newey], Red Bull and Sebastian are doing a fantastic job, but in a way I am a little bit happy they are not having a party here in Singapore. I am happy for the fans and everything else, and we will keep fighting on.

"Who knows? It would be nice if they could not have that party in Japan, but they are looking pretty strong."

Whitmarsh has said his team will keep pushing to improve its car over the remainder of the campaign, and he believes it should be well suited to the Suzuka track.

"I think they [Red Bull Racing] will be strong, but we will be working hard," he said. "We will continue to develop the car and we will try and be as strong as we can there.

"We know the weather can play a part there, it can be fairly torrid. All sorts of things can happen, but we will try and be as quick as we can and we will try and win that race."

Whitmarsh also said that his team does not take any heart from the fact it is the only one that can still beat Vettel to the crown.

"At the moment you have to say Sebastian and Red Bull are doing a fantastic job," he said. "They are the ones you have to beat. Jenson is now in second place in the championship and deservedly so, but we can do all the self analysis we like - what we have to do is make the quickest racing car we can, not make any mistakes, perform as well as we can, and we can win some races.

"We have won four this year, some fantastic ones, and we would quite like to win some more. And there are five more that are possible to win."

Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull Racing team want to clinch the world title in style with victory in Japan, rather than playing it safe to deliver the single point needed to wrap up the championship.

Vettel's victory in the Singapore Grand Prix has left him on the verge of his second crown, and he only needs to finish in the top ten in Suzuka in a fortnight's time to succeed.

And although achieving just a single point should be a fairly simple task considering how dominant he has been all year, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner says the team will be out to deliver a headline performance rather than take it easy.

"I would like to think we have to try quite hard to lose it," said Horner, when asked by AUTOSPORT about the chances of Vettel scoring just a single point in the final five races of the campaign.

"There are only two of them left now [fighting for the championship], and theoretically it is one point, but it is not over until it is done.

"We will go to Japan with exactly the same approach we came here to Singapore with, and at every race this year: to try and do our best in Japan and ensure we do get that one point. But we will also go for the race win as well.

"It would be great to finish the job off in style - and that is Sebastian's ninth GP this year. It has been a phenomenal season to date with five races to go."

The high-speed swoops of Suzuka should be perfect territory for the RB7, and Horner sees no evidence from his team that it will back off from trying to win all the remaining races, even if the title is in the bag.

"Suzuka is a track that Seb certainly has thrived at in recent years," he said. "It is a track that the car has performed well at, and it would be great to finish the job off there.

"But there are still five races to go and we are going to push to the end of the championship as hard as we can.

"I only asked in the last 10 laps of the Singapore race what the mathematics were, because the focus is on races not the championship. We have got ourselves into a great position there though, and hopefully it will take care of itself."

Ferrari has conceded that it now only has the third quickest car in Formula 1, after failing to build on the momentum it had gained in the middle of the season.

Fernando Alonso's victory at the British Grand Prix in July lifted hopes that a strong second half of the campaign could lift him in to title contention, but the team has failed to make the steps forward with the car that it had hoped.

And after a troubled Singapore Grand Prix, where the team was unable to match Red Bull or McLaren and also suffered high tyre degradation, the outfit is bracing itself for a tough end to the campaign.

Technical director Pat Fry said: "You have to say that at the moment we have got the third best car. We are working hard to try and understand it, and there are a few details that we are going to have to tidy up and improve for Japan and then we have some other bits that are turning up for Korea.

"We are keeping up the learning process, and there are still new bits coming through - but at the moment we have the third quickest car."

Ferrari has made good aerodynamic gains with its car this year, and its success at Silverstone should give it some hope of a decent finish at the similarly high-speed Suzuka circuit. However, Fry is more cautious – and thinks not too much should be read into what happened at the British GP because the race was influenced by the weather.

"I think Silverstone was interesting," he added. "I still think if we had to put the harder tyre on at Silverstone we would have struggled, but the wets and starting on inters helped us out there.

"I think Suzuka will be a struggle for us again, but it is similar conditions to Silverstone. Sometimes it is normally quite cool there, so one tyre we will get working well and the other we need to understand how to get the speed out of the medium."

Fry also said that the high tyre degradation Ferrari suffered in Singapore was not unexpected, even though the team has been relatively good on its rubber so far this year.

"I think that was down to the nature of the different tracks," he said. "If you go to a circuit with long, high-speed corners where you load the tyres very hard, our car is quite easy on the tyres and we don't blister the tyres or create the temperature inside the tyre to make it blister.

"In Singapore the tyre issues are not blistering or anything like that, the bulk temperature of the tyre is quite cold. But the surface temperature is very high, so the nature of this track does not suit us, whereas you have seen us look better in the past."

Paul di Resta says his Force India team can now set its sights on overhauling Renault in the championship this year, after he delivered his best result of the season in Singapore.

Di Resta was one of the stars of the Singapore Grand Prix, as he made the most of car updates and a good tyre strategy to finish sixth overall.

That result, allied to team-mate Adrian Sutil's eighth place finish, has lifted their Force India outfit to within 22 points of Renault, which is currently fifth in the constructors' championship.

When asked about the prospects of beating Renault, di Resta said: "It would be a difficult task but it is not unreachable if you base it on this weekend. If you based it on Monza, not, but here, yes.

"Spa would have been a good one had we not made the qualifying error, but we got a double points finish here, and we pulled away more from Sauber. It is crucial for our championship, and hopefully we can keep the form we have got and Renault can struggle a little bit more, and we can certainly put a fight to them until the end of the year."

Di Resta added that the latest updates introduced for Singapore worked well, and that has left him confident about the team's prospects for the remaining races.

"We were in the dark where our performance was going to be in the race, we came here with a new package and some stuff that would enable our race pace to be improved and it was," he said.

"This will suit us more for the rest of the year with the high downforce tracks; the stuff for tyre wear has helped too. So we have to be fairly optimistic that it will carry on - and on the back of this result there might be another push in terms of performance to push us on a little bit more. It was kind of taken that it was our last update, but you can never say never."

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Lewis Hamilton believes McLaren team-mate Jenson Button has done a better job than him during this year's world championship.

Hamilton has endured a season full of ups and downs, having won two races but also having been involved in several accidents that have ruled him out of the championship fight.

Button, in his second season with McLaren, has also won two races but is 17 points ahead and remains the only other driver than Sebastian Vettel with a mathematical chance of winning the title.

Hamilton praised Button's job this season as "incredible", and conceded he has done a better job this year.

"I think for me now it's just to find my ground and improve on the results that we've had in the last four races," Hamilton was quoted as saying by Reuters in Bangalore on Tuesday.

"Jenson's done an incredible job...I feel he's done a better job all season, really. So even if I did a better job in the next five races it doesn't mean a lot to me. I mean, it's through a whole year," added the Briton.

The McLaren driver also said he has already moved on from his on- and off-track clashes with Ferrari's Felipe Massa at the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend.

"I was able to just ignore it and move on," he said.

Formula 1 teams and drivers have still not resolved all the issues relating to tax at the Indian Grand Prix, despite recent assurances that the matter was being sorted.

Talks have taken place over the past few weeks to allay fears that the sport's competitors could be hit by large tax bills for racing in India - and there was even talk that the situation could go as far as forcing a boycott of the event.

Earlier this month, race organisers Jaypee Sports International (JPSI) offered to pay any customs duties and taxes if required - although this has still not sorted the situation.

There also remain questions about whether individual teams and drivers will also be taxed on their annual income, as India has a claim of 70 per cent corporation tax on 1/19th of every team's turnover.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) recently rejected a tax waiver request.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, who is chairman of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA), said he was sure the race would go ahead, but admitted that problems still need sorting out.

"There are some concerns for drivers as well as teams, because it is quite a tough tax regime," he explained.

"I am certainly not competent to tell you where we are at, but there are negotiations and discussions going on. I am sure we will race in India but we need to resolve these issues."

Red Bull Racing believes that Formula 1's curfew regulations still need tweaking after the controversy at last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.

Several F1 personnel were caught out by the timetable in Singapore and broke F1's curfew - with Red Bull Racing, Mercedes GP and Virgin Racing all initially being told that they had used up one of their 'jokers' in the process.

After complaining to the FIA and proving that the marketing personnel who had entered the track had nothing to do with the operation of the car, it was agreed that the outfits had not breached the rules.

However, despite clearing the matter up, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner thinks that the regulations do need looking at to ensure that both the FIA and the teams have the same interpretation of the curfew restrictions.

"I was surprised more than annoyed," Horner told AUTOSPORT. "At the end of the day common sense prevailed, the stewards understood that the temporary pass used was under no control, or not being used by a member, of the team so that joker was handed back.

"It is something that needs tidying up under the sporting regulations. It is clear what the regulations are trying to achieve, but it is impossible to be responsible for everybody that has a pass."

The idea of a curfew was put forward by the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) to ensure that staff were not overworked thanks to the 47-personnel limit that outfits operate to.

The FIA was then asked to add the rule to the sporting regulations so it could be policed.

Horner added: "I think the objective is clear and well-intended and it has worked well, but combined with odd working hours in Singapore, what sponsors or marketing or ad agency guys do, we cannot control."

Force India boss Vijay Mallya says he remains happy to wait on sorting out his 2012 driver line-up, despite Paul di Resta's continued strong form making it a no-brainer for him to be retained.

Di Resta was one of the stars of the Singapore Grand Prix, as he made the most of a good tyre strategy to deliver the best result of his F1 career and help boost Force India's chances of overhauling Renault in the constructors' championship.

But although it is now almost certain that di Resta will be retained in 2012, with the battle between Nico Hulkenberg and Adrian Sutil for the second seat, Mallya has said he will stick with his plan to only sort out his drivers after the season has finished.

"I have told them, please don't bother me about driver choices right now," Mallya told AUTOSPORT. "We will focus on getting a good position in the constructors' and we will talk about everything else later.

"Just leave it to me: I will think about it, but right now I am just enjoying the moment."

Mallya has said that di Resta has fully justified his promotion to a race seat this year, though, and that he was making him 'proud' with what he was delivering on track.

"We have full confidence in him, and that is why he is in the race seat," explained Mallya. "We always thought he was very talented. We had him as our third driver last year, and said we were going to put him in the race seat. Since then he is doing me proud."

Di Resta has said he hopes he has done enough to justify a contract extension at Force India, but knows nothing can ever be guaranteed in F1.

"I hope so, but I can only keep doing what I am doing," he said when asked if he felt he was now assured of a seat for next year. "I am thankful they gave me the opportunity this year.

"I would like to continue on, but it is up Vijay. I hope I am ticking the boxes for what they wanted and bringing the results back. I enjoy this team - they have good ambitions, working their way up and getting stronger."

Bruno Senna will start showing exactly what he is capable of as a Formula 1 driver over the remaining races of the season, despite having already impressed the Renault team, according to Eric Boullier.

The Brazilian was drafted in as replacement for Nick Heidfeld from the Belgian GP and, having outqualified his team-mate Vitaly Petrov twice and scored his maiden points in Monza, Boullier is eyeing even better things.

"His learning curve is good and every race he is gaining something," Boullier told AUTOSPORT about Senna's progress. "I am actually planning to be fair with you, we know in Spa that it was very difficult with the weather, Monza is a very specific track and Singapore as well is very specific - plus we don't have the best car to do well.

"From Japan he will start to put the puzzle together and from Japan he should start delivering more."

Boullier has said he is not concerned that Petrov has not stamped his authority over Senna, and reckons that the biggest issue for the Russian is in dealing with the way his team-mate has integrated himself in the team rather than anything he can do on track.

"I think Vitaly is doing well, but he is maybe more concerned by the fact that Bruno is fitting in very well with the team and basically taking some more attention, rather than the speed," he said. "On track there is plenty of room for them to match each other."

Senna's strong performances will boost his chances of remaining at the team next year if Robert Kubica is not fit enough, but Boullier insists he will make no decision about what to do until the knows the status of his injured star driver.

"I made the commitment to wait after Robert's statement so we will see later," said Boullier, who wants an answer on Kubica's fitness by the end of next month.

"I have to force myself to put a deadline. If you keep delaying and delaying and delaying then you put the interests of this team in danger. So I have to stick to one deadline. I have to stick around this date to at least understand if there is a chance for Robert to be back."

Kamui Kobayashi has labelled his second full season in Formula 1 as "mixed" following the ups and downs his Sauber team has experienced.

The Swiss squad was very competitive in some races - especially in the early part of the season - but has scored just three points since the British Grand Prix.

Sauber, currently seventh in the championship, has dropped behind Force India in the standings and has Toro Rosso just seven points behind with five races left.

Kobayashi admitted the team's progress has not been as strong as expected during parts of the season.

"We are certainly more competitive than last year," said Kobayashi. "We had an amazing start to the season in Melbourne, and also since then have had some other good races in which we have been quite competitive. My highlights were Monaco and Montreal.

"But we have also had our struggles. In Melbourne we lost ten points when we were disqualified, then I had punctures in Turkey and Barcelona, and then gearbox problems in Silverstone and most recently in Monza.

"You can add to that the fact not all our technical developments during the season brought the progress we expected. So far it has been a mixed season with ups and downs, but it isn't over yet."

Kobayashi, the only Japanese driver in F1, said he is looking forward to racing in his country next week, and he feels the grand prix will be positive for the nation following the tsunami disaster.

"Yes, this is definitely the case. The Grand Prix is a very big event in Japan, it is something very positive for the people and for the country, and also because of the international awareness the race brings.

"It makes people happy, and they do enjoy Formula 1 a lot. So we are going racing there, as we have done in previous years, despite the tragedy that has hit the country."

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Mercedes GP thinks it can head to the final events of the season confident about a good showing on the back of its latest car update.

Although the team was beaten by Force India's Paul di Resta in Singapore, the low speed nature of the Marina Bay circuit did not play to the strengths of the Mercedes GP car.

That is why team principal Ross Brawn is optimistic that high-speed venues coming up on the calendar, including Japan and Korea, should allow the W02 to stretch its legs with the latest aerodynamic upgrades appearing to have delivered a step forward in form.

"I don't think we advertised it as a big upgrade, but it was an upgrade. It seemed okay," said Brawn, whose team looks set to finish fourth overall in the constructors' championship this year.

"It may not look as though our relative position has changed, but if you think back to Hungary, which was the last high downforce track, we struggled.

"So far the numbers look like we have moved forward and I think we will see the benefit in the next couple of races in particular, so it looks okay.

"We are reasonably happy with it, but it is a very difficult track to assess these things on. When we get to the next couple of tracks it should be better."

Although the updates did not include any radical, they did feature updates and improvements to a wide-racing number of parts.

"There were several detailed aerodynamic improvements - with bodywork and tuning," said Brawn. "It was nothing radical – just going through the loop of floor and bodywork, those sorts of things."

Renault technical director James Allison says Renault's radical forward-facing exhaust concept has hurt the squad in 2011, with the design proving troublesome on slow-speed circuits and also to develop.

Allison said the concept had 'entombed' the Enstone-based team, as it had not proved as successful as first hoped at the start of the season.

Amid such concerns Renault trialled a more traditional rearward facing exhaust layout in Germany and Hungary, but the switch caused problems of its own and forced a return to the original, radical design which Allison says still hurts the team's performance.

"At the point when I made the decision about the forward exhaust system, it was a very exciting concept and one which was outperforming our rearward blown system," Allison said.

"It looked like it had a lot of potential to deliver really race winning performances. I think that two or three things have held us back since then.

"The first is that it has proved really difficult to develop it. We came out of the box reasonably well, but it has been much harder to add performance than we might have liked.

"The second is that it's quite tricky - it all has to be ever so nicely looked after in order to generate the downforce that it is supposed to generate and at several circuits we see a shortfall of downforce compared to what we would expect."

Allison explained that the exhaust woes were amplified on slow circuits like Singapore, and said that detracted from a number of upgrades they had brought to the car in recent races.

"We came [to Singapore] with a mixture... we had a bit of trepidation, but also a small amount of cautious optimism because there is no doubt that we have put a lot of performance on our car in the last few races.

"We hoped that that would take the edge off what has been utterly apparent this year at Monaco, Hungary and now Singapore that at any track where we have a preponderance of low-speed traction events we struggle.

"We honestly didn't forsee the difficulty that we get in the 60-100km/h corner ranges. That's quite a slow corner and what you get in those corners, we are not actually able to mimic in the windtunnel."

Allison predicted that the remaining fives races would suit Renault better, but said the team would have to wait until next year to finally correct the exhaust design.

"The majority of the circuits that are remaining, we should be okay at. We will hopefully be a bit more credible in the remaining circuits, and ought to be able to get the car back into the points. We need to - Force India is starting to breathe down our neck and we need a few good results to stay ahead.

"We have been working on next year's car back in January and we have had a lot of people working on it for quite a long time and we're pretty much all working on it now. There is a lot of work being put in.

"Next year is reset to a more conventional setup and we'll go from there."

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Robert Kubica will be ready to inform Renault about his chances of being fit to race in 2012 within the next six weeks, says his manager Daniele Morelli.

Renault boss Eric Boullier has laid an early November deadline for an answer on whether it needs to start looking for a replacement driver in 2012, as the outfit cannot afford to wait beyond then if it is going to find a top-line racer.

And although that means Kubica will need to give an answer within weeks of hopefully getting back behind the wheel, Morelli is upbeat about the situation going forward.

"Robert is exercising the right elbow by flexing and tensing it; soon he will start twisting it," Morelli told Gazzetta dello Sport. "The hand is progressing: the movements are there and that's the most important thing. Strength is lacking but it's just a matter of time.

"I often talk to Boullier: he'll have an answer - whether positive or negative - by early November, when we'll all have a clearer idea. I'm optimistic."

Boullier has indicated several times that he is willing to wait as long as possible to try and get Kubica back in the car, but is equally aware that he cannot risk damaging the interests of his team.

"Kubica would have been vital this season and we are waiting for him for next season," he said.

"We want him to return, we want him with us. There are no certainties over his state, however: we need to have more or less certain indications on him by early November, because the interests of the team are also at stake."

Sebastian Vettel has not yet reached the peak of his abilities and is set to become an even better driver in the future, reckons Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Although Vettel has dominated this year's world championship, and is set to clinch the title in the next race in Japan, Ecclestone thinks the German still has room for improvement.

In an interview between the sport's commercial rights holder and Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner on the official F1 website, Ecclestone said: "There is no end in sight to that curve. There is still a lot to come from him."

He added: "Sebastian has an absolute will to succeed but has stayed very grounded. No win, however big, will stop him being grounded. That is immensely important in this business. Seb is relaxed and will always remain true to himself - that is why things come easy."

Ecclestone also believes that one of the key factors in Vettel's success is the fact that the staff at Red Bull Racing have such a hunger to keep on winning.

"With Adrian Newey they obviously have a design whiz, but it also has something to do with the mentality of the whole team," he said. "Everybody there desperately wants to win - and win more. They are true to the motto 'show me a happy loser and I'll show you a loser'."

Ecclestone also laughed off suggestions that Vettel should follow his dream and make a move to Ferrari in the future.

"Well, seeing the situation as it is now it would be an appropriate means to slow him down..." he said.

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has taken a fresh swipe at the Formula One Teams' Association - saying its members would be better off focusing on making quicker racing cars.

Ecclestone has always been sceptical about FOTA since it was formed in 2008 and, ahead of looming discussions to try and frame a fresh Concorde Agreement, he has once again questioned the benefit of the teams' body.

In an interview feature on the official F1 website with Red Bull Racing's Christian Horner, Ecclestone said about FOTA: "I try not to think of them."

Horner, whose outfit is a member of FOTA, added: "I also don't spend too much time thinking in that direction."

Ecclestone reckons that teams should worry little about the financial aspects of the sport, because it was his job to go out there and exploit the commercial opportunities F1 has.

"It is an unnecessary association of people who should put their sole emphasis on getting competitive cars on the grid," he explained. "It's just more of what they don't have to think of. I look after that so there are enough financial resources."

Mercedes GP has called for a more hard line approach to ensure that all Formula 1 teams are abiding by the Resource Restriction Agreement, amid renewed controversy about potential overspending.

All F1 outfits have signed up to abide by the RRA, which puts limit on the number of personnel they can have and how much they can spend over the course of a season.

A recent benchmark study of teams' activities by Dutch consultants Capgemini prompted fresh reports that Red Bull Racing had breached the agreement - but this was strongly denied by the team and there was no evidence to support such claims.

However, Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn believes that investigations into teams need to go much further than simply defining their activities – and that a full audit of spending must be undertaken.

"What we need with RRA is an independent audit of both the methodology and the numbers so we can all be comfortable," explained Brawn, whose team downsized dramatically when Honda pulled out of F1 at the end of 2008.

"We achieved that with the aero testing. We have a university in Switzerland that comes to look at all the teams, looks at their CFD work, looks at their wind tunnel work and checks they are achieving the figures that they say they are. And we must achieve that with RRA - as it is the only way we can stop these accusations and innuendo.

"What has been done so far is a benchmarking of the methodology and not benchmarking of the numbers. The process done so far is to check that all teams are interpreting the regulations in the same way, and it has been successful. But we believe it has to go deeper than that, and we need auditing of the numbers because it is such a competitive element of what we do.

"Our cars are measured, they are weighed, and checked intermittently. The amount of money spent is a very strong influence for your competitiveness, and you need to have good control of it."

Brawn believes that the situation surrounding RRA is similar to that which F1 underwent several years with traction control – where teams were rumoured to be running illegal driver aids but it was never proved.

"I think there is still work we need to do with RRA to get everybody comfortable," he said. "It is a great initiative and teams are working very well together, but this is a very competitive business so naturally the focus goes on the teams that are successful. I have had that experience myself.

"We have to take an objective view. I think where we have to end up with the RRA is the ability to fully audit all the requirements of the RRA and when we reach that stage, everybody is going to be comfortable, then some of the innuendo and accusations can stop, which is what we want to do.

"If you recall the days of traction control, people not knowing whether people did or did not have it, there were all sorts of accusations going around. And because we could not disprove it, somebody could come along and say 'you have traction control' and we could not disprove it until we got standard ECUs. Then the problem went away and nobody talked about it anymore."

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Sauber will introduce a major update package to its car at next weekend's Japanese Grand Prix as it bids to get itself back into a regular points-scoring position.

The Hinwil-based outfit has slipped behind Force India in recent races, having scored just one point since the German Grand Prix.

But keen to see if it can respond to Force India's resurgence, as well as fight off Scuderia Toro Rosso behind it, Sauber is pushing ahead with bringing improvements for the Suzuka event.

Technical director James Key said: "We will bring a wide ranging aero package for the car, which includes a completely new front wing, new rear wings, new turning vanes and side pod deflectors, new brake ducts and modifications to the floor.

"This was always planned for Suzuka and, if it all works well, it should give us a reasonable step forward. Obviously we want to bounce back from some recent bad luck.

"Going into the final quarter of the season there will be tracks which should suit our car better. It would definitely be great to get a positive result for all our supporters in Japan in what has been a very challenging year for the people there."

Although the focus of home fans will be on Kamui Kobayashi's efforts, his team-mate Sergio Perez is confident about his own chances for the Japanese GP.

"I think Suzuka will be one of the most special races of the season," said the Mexican. "For me it will the first time I go to Japan, but I have driven the circuit on the simulator and it is obviously an exciting one. I am very much looking forward to driving through the high speed corners in reality, and I also think those corners will suit our car quite well.

"Personally I want to keep up the momentum I think I have, and I can feel I'm getting on top of things. I want to improve and finish the season on a high. I also expect the team will get a lot of support from the Japanese fans because of Kamui, and this will be a nice experience as well."

Jenson Button has told Red Bull Racing not to under-estimate McLaren's potential for the Japanese Grand Prix, even though the circuit will play to the strengths of the reigning champion's cars.

F1 is heading to Suzuka fully expecting Sebastian Vettel to secure the single point he needs to clinch the world championship.

But, although that means Button's title hopes will be officially over, the Briton still thinks he and his team can put on a fight in Suzuka.

"In the last few races, I think we've shown that we have extremely good pace and that we've been the team most able to take the fight to Red Bull," said Button.

"On paper, I think it's a circuit that will suit the Red Bulls, particularly in the high-speed sweeps that make up the first sector of the track, but I certainly don't think people should under-estimate our package.

"We showed at Spa that we have a car that's very effective in high-speed corners. We've also improved our straight-line speed and we have a more efficient rear-wing for qualifying, so I think we're feeling positive about the weekend."

Team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who is keen to bounce back from recent disappointment, hopes that his aggressive style that has caused him trouble this year could actually be a benefit this time out.

"I think Suzuka will play to my strengths: it's a track that really requires you to drive in an attacking way to be able to get a good lap time," he said. "It's an uncompromising place. But that's when the thrill of driving a Formula 1 car is at its highest; when you know you can't afford a single mistake and where driving on the absolute limit is the only way to get the best time. In that sense, it's a lot like Monaco, and maybe that's why I like the place so much - it's unique.

"I think we're headed there in pretty good shape: we know that the Red Bulls will be strong – but we also have a very quick car, and we can make it work on different kinds of circuit."

Narain Karthikeyan will drive for HRT in Friday practice at the Japanese Grand Prix, as he continues his preparations for an F1 race return in India.

Regular driver Vitantonio Liuzzi will give up his car for Karthikeyan, who will be taking Daniel Ricciardo's place in the HRT line-up for his home race in Delhi next month.

Liuzzi will be wearing a special helmet in Japan to pay respects for the victims of the earthquake that struck the country earlier this year.

"For this grand prix I've wanted to pay my respects to the victims of the earthquake that struck Japan earlier this year by wearing a special edition helmet named 'Embracing Japan', designed by Kaos Design," explained the Italian.

"The helmet will later be put up for auction with the benefits going towards charity."

Vijay Mallya wants his team to knuckle down and focus on trying to beat Renault to fifth place in the constructors' championship, on the back of an encouraging run of results.

The Silverstone-based outfit is 22 points behind Renault in the standings with five grands prix remaining, but has taken 24 points out of its Enstone rivals in the last four races.

In Singapore last weekend, the team delivered its best performance of the season, as Paul di Resta finished sixth and Adrian Sutil eighth.

With television rights money at stake for each constructors' championship position, Mallya senses a real opportunity for his outfit - as he thinks it is capable of delivering at all types of tracks now.

"We are a team that has great spirit," Mallya told AUTOSPORT. "We have worked very well together and I have worked very hard on motivating everyone in the team.

"I speak the truth. I told them I cannot afford a big manufacturer team budget, we have to do the best we can on limited resources.

"We were always known as a team that would perform well on low downforce tracks. I have often been asked in Spa/Monza, 'oh this is a track that suits your car so you should do well', and I said,' look, if we want to be anywhere in the constructors' championship and score points then we need to build a car that is capable of racing and being competitive everywhere'.

"I think we proved our point in Singapore. On a high downforce track, we scored a fantastic sixth and eighth top ten result, beating some of the big teams, and that shows the commitment of all the people involved. Congratulations to all of them, I am so proud, and we are now close enough to Renault.

"Before Monza I said we had to get ahead of Sauber and secure P6 in the constructors' championship. After Singapore I have set my sights and say we should secure P5. There are still a few races to go, and I am sure this team is going to give its best."

Although Force India does not have the financial might of many of its rivals, Mallya thinks that the attitude of its workforce has been key in allowing it to deliver.

"It is not that we have no development or facilities, but it is just the sheer commitment, and creative thinking and passion that our guys have that really deserves credit," he said.

Former Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa will join the Mercedes GP team alongside Geoff Willis, the German manufacturer confirmed on Friday.

Costa left Ferrari in May after a disappointing start to the season for the Italian squad, and, as reported by AUTOSPORT earlier this month, he will work again alongside Ross Brawn at Mercedes.

The duo worked together at Ferrari during Brawn's spell at the team. Costa will join Mercedes as engineering director on 1 December.

Willis joins Mercedes after having left the HRT squad recently, and he will work as technology director starting 17 October.

"I am delighted to announce that Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis will be joining the team," said Brawn. "Geoff is a highly respected engineer with over twenty years of Formula 1 experience, and we look forward to his arrival next month.

"Having worked closely with Aldo for many years, I know that he will bring dedication and championship-winning expertise to the team when he joins in December.

"Building a winning team is an exciting challenge for us all as we work towards the competitiveness and standards that we aspire to as the Mercedes-Benz works team. With a strong technical structure led by Bob Bell, we are moving ourselves into the best possible position to achieve our ambitions."

Brawn said recently that Mercedes GP needed to ramp up its infrastructure if it was going to take on big-money teams like Red Bull Racing, McLaren and Ferrari.

His outfit had cut back its staffing numbers considerably following Honda's withdrawal, and he suggested that once it was happy with its structure it would look to expand its head count so it moved up to the limit of F1's Resource Restriction Agreement.

"To add people you have to have the structure you need, and obviously one of the big things for the team is Bob Bell joining us," Brawn said. "The infrastructure has to be in place before you can start adding numbers. And I think we've strengthened the structure.

"It's always nice to do well with the smallest number possible, and there is the RRA limit, and we are looking to move to that absolute limit.

"At the same time the other teams are coming down to it because they are still on the glide path down to the RRA limit, so in 2011 the teams who are bigger still have the benefit of that glide path down to the RRA targets."

Renault has announced that Alan Permane will step up to the role of Track Operations Director, following the departure of sporting director Steve Nielsen after the Singapore Grand Prix.

Nielsen, who has been linked with a switch to Team Lotus, resigned from his position earlier this year but was contracted to work up until last weekend's event.

Permane, a Renault stalwart, was its trackside operations director, but will take on his new role with immediate effect. He will work alongside John Wickham.

Speaking about the reshuffle, team principal Eric Boullier said: "It's very simple. Part of what were Steve's responsibilities will be taken over by Alan Permane, who is now Track Operations Director.

"In addition, John Wickham is part of our team and further changes will be announced shortly. I expect this transition to be very smooth."

[Lineker]

Bruno Senna says he still feels he is far from fully up to speed despite his promising pace in his first three appearances with Renault.

Since being called up to replace Nick Heidfeld at Spa, Senna has twice outqualified his team-mate Vitaly Petrov and came through the field after a first-corner delay to finish ninth at Monza, despite having had little track time since leaving HRT at the end of the previous season.

But asked in a team preview interview whether he felt he was now on a more even keel with the other drivers, Senna replied: "Not yet. Undoubtedly they still have the upper hand because they have completed more races than me.

"So far, I've driven at three very different circuits so far in very different conditions, and Suzuka will be another of the traditional races where I have limited experience.

"I'm learning and catching-up with the other drivers on the grid, but they have a considerable amount more experience than I do, and greater knowledge about the tyres too."

Renault had a terrible Singapore Grand Prix, with the car's inherent discomfort on slow corners leaving both Senna and Petrov in the midfield all weekend. The team is adamant that Suzuka next weekend will bring better form, and Senna agreed.

"Yes, I'm convinced that will be the case," he said. "The low-speed nature of Singapore made it the worst circuit for us in terms of performance.

"That hurt us a little bit, but with the updates we have planned for Suzuka we should be strong there, and hopefully will be able to get both cars in the points again - that's where we belong."

Senna added that while Renault expected to be faster at the remaining races, realistically it had to be looking at protecting its 22-point cushion over the improving Force India in the constructors' championship more than closing the 44-point gap to Mercedes in fourth.

"If we can still add to the car a little bit here and there, that will help," he said.

"We need to stay ahead of the teams behind us, in particular Force India.

"If we can close the gap to Mercedes GP in fourth, that would be a real boost for the team but primarily we must hold on to fifth position and keep the opposition at bay."

Tony Fernandes has urged his Lotus team to 'maintain standards' and to properly get on top of the reliability problems that continue to cost it finishes.

Jarno Trulli had to park his car with a gearbox problem during last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix - an event that saw the Italian racing with the Toro Rossos and Renaults before being hit by Jaime Alguersuari, and Heikki Kovalainen beat Vitaly Petrov's Renault in the straight fight.

But Fernandes said that while he was overjoyed with Lotus's performance in Singapore, Trulli's mechanical failure showed that there will still areas where the team had to raise its game.

"I said after Singapore that that grand prix was just about our strongest ever race performance, and having been through the post-race reports it is very pleasing to see that our pace has definitely improved as a direct result of the upgrade package we brought out there," said Fernandes.

"Jarno suffered again with bad luck, but the reliability issue that ended his race is still something we need to improve on - we may be small and we may not have the facilities of the teams ahead of us, but that does not mean our standards should be any lower than them, so we have to make sure in Japan, and at the remaining races, that we are a two car team that can help us guarantee 10th place this year.

"That is a reasonable aim and one everyone in the team is working very hard to achieve."

Trulli said he was simply hoping for better fortune in Japan.

"I'd just like to have a race without some of the bad luck that struck again in Singapore," he said.

"I'd had such a good start and was holding off the Toro Rosso and both Renaults well, even running 11th at one point as we went into the first round of stops, but the puncture I suffered when Alguersuari hit me was just another one of those things. Hopefully in Suzuka I can make up for that and get as much out of the car as I did on Sunday around Marina Bay."

[Lineker]

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was told to "hold up" Lewis Hamilton and "destroy" his race prior to their collision in last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix. The instruction, which appears in the official video edit of the race on Formula1.com, came from Massa's engineer Rob Smedley in the build-up to the incident on lap 12.

The controversy over Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton's collision in the Singapore Grand Prix has taken a fresh twist with the release of new footage from the race.

The official highlights video posted on Formula 1's own website includes a radio message from Massa's engineer Rob Smedley which was not included in the live television broadcast.

In the clip, Smedley is heard to say to Massa: "Hold Hamilton as much as we can. Destroy his race as much as we can. Come on, boy..."

It is not clear from the footage when the message was sent. Hamilton came up behind Massa, who was running fifth, while recovering from a messy first lap, catching him on lap eight. He stayed close behind the Ferrari until they pitted together on lap 11. They then collided on their out-lap, with Hamilton clipping the Ferrari, giving it a puncture and breaking his McLaren's front wing. Hamilton also received a drive-through penalty for the incident.

After the race, Massa confronted Hamilton in the television interview area - sarcastically congratulating him on his race before walking away. The Brazilian was highly critical of Hamilton, who has not commented on the incident in public, and the race day collision followed another row between them that had been prompted by a near-miss in qualifying.

"My thoughts are that, again, I told you yesterday that he cannot use his mind," said Massa after the race.

"Even in qualifying, so you can imagine in the race. He could have caused a big accident. He is paying for that, that's the problem. He doesn't understand, even paying for a problem."

Those guys really hate each other :/

[Lineker]

New Mercedes recruit Aldo Costa says the opportunity of renewing his relationship with Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher to challenge their old team Ferrari was more than enough to tempt him back into Formula 1.

Former Ferrari technical director Costa lost his position with the Italian team earlier this season after the disappointing start to its campaign. Mercedes announced on Friday that it had recruited Costa, who had worked with team boss Brawn at Ferrari during the Schumacher era, as its new engineering director.

His appointment came at the same time that ex-Williams, Honda and Red Bull man Geoff Willis was announced as Mercedes' new technology director, and follows the signing of former Renault man Bob Bell as Mercedes GP's technical director.

"I'm enthusiastic. Mercedes is pushing to be successful and that philosophy matches my ambitions and my character," Costa told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Once it was over with Ferrari in early July, I spoke with Brawn and Bob Bell. Just a few words with Ross were enough to find ourselves on the same wavelength as ever.

"Once out of Ferrari for many weeks I didn't want to think of anything, I just took care of my personal stuff.

"Yes, I considered the possibility of doing something outside racing. But then the possibility of returning with a big team like Mercedes drew me back in.

"I will be engineering director, leading the team that will take care of designing and developing the car. I will also follow young technicians. It's an exclusively designing job, I won't go to the track, a bit like I used to do in Ferrari before becoming technical director."

Costa added that he was thrilled to be working with Schumacher again.

"I haven't heard from Schumacher yet, but I will do soon," he said. "No one is as good as him in interpreting a car and its development. He will be fundamental, and I strongly believe in him as a driver too."

The Italian said that though there had been criticisms of his efforts from Ferrari after his departure, he still had fond memories of his time there.

"I don't agree with the accusations made against me," said Costa.

"However I have great memories of Ferrari and all its men, after winning eight constructors' championships and six drivers'.

"Schumacher's first title after a long draught was exhilarating as was [Kimi] Raikkonen's. The biggest regret is the title lost by [Felipe] Massa in 2008 after the finish line at Interlagos. He would have deserved it."

Costa said he would still think of Ferrari as "friends" even as he pushed to ensure Mercedes was ahead on the track.

"These things happen in sport and in life," he said of his departure from Ferrari. "Afterwards enthusiasm returns.

"The idea of challenging Ferrari with a group of former Ferrari men excites me, even though on the other side there will be friends instead of enemies."

Williams has made a breakthrough with understanding its troubled 2011 car, and hopes it can deliver an improved performance in Japan, says its new chief operations engineer Mark Gillan.

Gillan joined the team for the first time in Singapore to shadow departing technical chief Sam Michael, who announced his decision to leave Williams earlier this season and will become McLaren's sporting director in 2012.

Williams has had a tough season so far, with drivers Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado invariably qualifying and finishing just outside the top 10.

Driveability issues have been cited as one of Williams's major issues in 2011, but Gillan said real progress had been made in understanding the problems since the last race.

"Our levels of understanding regarding the driveability issues of the FW33 have increased significantly since Singapore and we are currently working hard to optimise the set-up and improve the car going into the Japanese GP," he said.

"We obviously need to ensure that the car operates in the optimal aerodynamic window - this is fundamental to maximising our performance and we aim to be fighting for a points finish with both cars."

Williams has only taken three points finishes so far this year and has yet to finish a race higher than ninth.

At present, it is ninth in the constructors' championship, 24 points adrift of nearest rival Toro Rosso.

Sauber say its current position behind Force India in the constructors' championship is down to its own mistakes, although it also feels it was adversely affected by the mid-season uncertainty over exhaust regulations.

With five races to go, Sauber is seventh in the standings, 12 points adrift of nearest rival Force India, which is having a strong second half of 2011 and got both cars in the points at the most recent event in Signapore.

Team boss Peter Sauber said this has left him ruing the exclusion of both cars from the Australian Grand Prix, where rear wing infringements cost Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi the seventh and eighth places they had scored on the road, and the double gearbox failure at Monza, where the team was very competitive in race trim.

"It was Australia and now the gearbox problems, otherwise we would be in front of Force India," said Sauber.

The team's managing director Monisha Kaltenborn added: "We're actually paying now for the mistakes we've made."

Kaltenborn also pointed out that Sauber had changed its development plans when it was decided that the blown-exhaust rules would be changed from Silverstone onwards, and could not recover when the regulations ultimately stayed the same.

"To be fair, we're convinced that the car is relatively good and the steps we've made are also good," said Kaltenborn.

"Our problem is that the exhaust doesn't work the way we want it to. And the FIA indicated that they would stop first the engine mapping, and then from Silverstone on, the entire system, we stopped the development. That's hitting us now."

Sauber says it does not expect Sergio Perez to test for Ferrari again in the immediate future, amid continuing speculation about the Mexican's chances of a future Ferrari race seat.

Formula 1 rookie Perez was added to Ferrari's Driver Academy system this season, and tested a 2009 Ferrari at Fiorano between the Italian and Singapore Grands Prix.

Comparisons have been drawn with current Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, who spent his initial seasons in F1 with Sauber, while also testing for Ferrari.

But Sauber chief Peter Sauber said Perez's situation was very different.

"We can't make a comparison with Felipe because Felipe had a contract with Ferrari when he came to us," he said.

Sauber's managing director Monisha Kaltenborn said Perez's Ferrari test was "an integrated part of the [FDA] activities, so we knew at some point it would come up", and played down the chances of Perez becoming a bigger part of Ferrari's programme.

"There's no such situation, he's really just part of their academy," she said. "It's just running in parallel, basically. The academy is meant for drivers who should go into Formula 1, and he is already in Formula 1, so I think you have to put that in the right perspective.

"There are no further arrangements regarding that. As we understand it, there is one test. The programme is not developed with us. We make sure that none of these activities conflict with any of our activities, and Ferrari respects that. We found a time when we could do his test and that's it."

Perez is currently 16th in the world championship, with seventh place at Silverstone his best result in F1 so far. He has received plaudits for regular outpacing his highly-regarded - and more experienced - Sauber team-mate Kamui Kobayashi.

[Lineker]

Ferrari says there was no malicious intent in Rob Smedley's comments to Felipe Massa at the Singapore Grand Prix, where the race engineer told the Brazilian to "destroy" Lewis Hamilton's race.

The two drivers made contact at the Marina Bay race, and the controversy was fuelled further when the official highlights video posted on Formula 1's official website included Smedley's radio message to Massa.

"Hold Hamilton as much as we can. Destroy his race as much as we can. Come on, boy...," Smedley told Massa.

But Ferrari, speaking through its 'Horse Whisperer' column, said on Tuesday that Smedley's message had been simply blown out of proportion.

The Italian squad admitted the comments were not the "most politically correct", but insisted they had absolutely nothing to do with the collision that took place between the drivers moments later.

"Words, words, words...Reading some of the English daily papers, it seems the Horse Whisperer is not alone in having his thoughts turn to William Shakespeare when he stumbled across the polemical mountain made out of the molehill that was the phrase delivered by Rob Smedley during the Singapore Grand Prix," wrote the The Horse Whisperer on Ferrari's website.

"It's true that Felipe Massa's race engineer was caught up in the heat of the moment and chose to use the verb "destroy" at some point.

"It might not have been the most politically correct choice of word, but it definitely carried no malicious intent, especially when you take into account that Rob is a Middlesbrough lad, born and bred!

"It is also true that this exhortation to Felipe came at the exit to Turn 5 on lap 11 of the race, at the end of which both the Ferrari man and Hamilton were due to come in to the pits together. In other words, it had nothing to do with the collision between Felipe and Lewis that happened on the following lap.

"It would not have taken much to avoid this misunderstanding, but that's what happens in the frenetic world of Formula 1. When all is said done, as the Bard of Avon himself might have put it, it was all much ado about nothing."

Felipe Massa says he has already moved on from his clash with Lewis Hamilton, and has downplayed the comments from his race engineer Rob Smedley in Singapore.

The Brazilian driver was very critical of Hamilton in Singapore, first after an incident in qualifying and then after making contact with the Briton after the race.

The controversy was further fuelled when the official Formula 1 website revealed Smedley had told Massa to "destroy" Hamilton's race, a message that has already been played down by Ferrari.

Massa also said on Tuesday that his crash with Hamilton and Smedley comments were totally unrelated and admitted he had already moved on from it.

"Like I said last week, the Singapore Grand Prix is already yesterday's news and there are no more reasons to talk about a weekend that was far from positive for me," wrote Massa on Ferrari's website.

"It's better to concentrate on the next race weekend, Japan, hoping that it starts well and ends without any unpleasant surprises. Just one more thing before I finally turn the page: I've been told that there was a bit of a storm over a phrase that my race engineer said during the race.

"Apart from the fact that I don't recall what Rob said, I don't think there's any value in stirring up trouble now and trying to link this with the subsequent contact with Hamilton: they are two separate moments and they have nothing to do with each other.

"I'm sure that Lewis and I will find a way to clear this up and put a lid on this story, as is only correct between two drivers. What happens on the track should remain on the track."

Ferrari's chief designer Nikolas Tombazis is hopeful a much more aggressive approach to the design of next year's car will pay off and help the team start the season strongly.

"I hope the results will speak for themselves when we launch the car and more importantly, as we tackle the first few races on the calendar," Tombazis said on Ferrari's website.

"A more aggressive approach has come about as the result of the analysis we carried out of the defeats we suffered over the past few years.

"We realised we had been a bit too conservative and had closed our minds to some strands of development. So for next year's car, we have sanctioned a much more aggressive approach on the aero front, which has required a much closer working relationship with those developing the structure of the car.

"It might make it harder when considering other aspects of the car, but it allows more room for aerodynamic development.

"The other element of the new approach is in how we make use of the wind tunnel: it involves not just developing and optimising what we have, but also introducing to every wind tunnel session some new concepts, which sometimes might not work, but sometimes can produce interesting results," he added.

Ferrari has endured a disappointing season, having won just one race on the way to third place in the constructors' championship.

Tombazis said all of the team's focus is already on 2012, with the new car already in production.

"We are currently at the stage of finalising the main components, the larger parts with a requirement for the longest production time. That means the chassis, the general layout of the car, the suspension and gearbox.

"Some of these components are now at the production stage, while others are at the final part of the design process. We are right in the middle of development for the aerodynamic elements and it's fair to say we are now totally concentrated on the new car."

He admitted Ferrari may experiment with different elements aimed at 2012 in the remaining five races of the season.

He added: "Having accepted for a while now that this year's championship titles are beyond our grasp, our main effort is aimed at next year. The technical rules have not changed that much, with general stability prevailing, apart from the area involving the exhaust system. Therefore there are areas on the 150º Italia that are relevant for next year. That means in the remaining races, we will be experimenting with this in mind.

"For example, we could try a new front wing that represents a different approach in terms of how it works. We can therefore try and learn as much as possible right away. Clearly, we also hope it will be beneficial for this year's car too in the races that are left.

"Even on the exhaust side there are lessons to be learned from what we have done so far, because any in depth study also brings benefits. Our rivals were ahead of us in developing this area and that gave them a big advantage. The lessons we have learned from this and other similar situations in the past, always have a benefit for us in the end."

Tombazis said Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali was surprised by the car design when he first saw the model, which he says is quite different from the current machine.

"I think that visually, the new car is fairly different to its predecessor but if it has a wow factor, as our team principal Stefano Domenicali thought, when he first saw the model, then I hope the wow factor will also be evident from the results.

"We have set ourselves ambitious targets, which we intend to maintain and so, on this front, I am quite optimistic."

[MJB]

Jenson Button has committed his future to McLaren by signing what the team say is a "multi-year contract".

The Englishman's contract was due to expire at the end of next year but the two parties had been discussing a new long-term deal.

Button, 31, said: "I've never felt more at home at a team than I do at McLaren.

"I've won four of the greatest races of my life here, I'm currently lying second in the drivers' championship and I feel I'm driving better than ever."

Heading into this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, Button is the only driver with a mathematical chance of depriving Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel of a second consecutive world title.

However, it is a long shot in the extreme - Button would have to win all five remaining races with the German not scoring a single point for the McLaren driver to win a second title.

Button has attracted interest from other teams - Ferrari are among the outfits known to be considering him - but he has preferred to stick with McLaren.

"I truly believe that the passion and determination to win are stronger here at McLaren than anywhere else," he said.

"As a grand prix driver, those are incredibly powerful feelings to share and be part of, and they've only reinforced my desire to commit my long-term future to this team.

"I've made no secret of my ambition to continue winning races and world championships, and I fully believe this is the place where I can achieve those aims.

"We know how to win, and we're busy refining an organisation that will enable us to keep on doing that for years to come."

Jenson Button has scored 76 points in the last four races - a total which has only been bettered by championship leader Sebastian Vettel, who has picked up 93.

Button is 17 points ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the championship after an impressive run since winning the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July.

Hamilton, who is contracted to McLaren until the end of next season, has welcomed Button's decision to stay on.

"It's great news that Jenson has chosen to stay," Hamilton said in a team statement.

"Jenson has been a great person to work with, and a genuine team-player, from the moment we welcomed him on board.

"Jenson and I are as hungry and as ambitious as ever to win races and world championships in the future."

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh added: "Jenson is a great driver and a great guy.

"In fact, I can safely say that he's one of the most capable and respected drivers we've ever had, and I'm therefore absolutely delighted that he'll continue to work with us into the future.

"I feel sure that he'll now build on the considerable success he's already achieved with us, and will be even more successful with us in years to come."

McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe said Button's presence in the team would be "crucial" to their success in the next few years.

"Having a good driver with good feedback is essential in F1," Lowe said.

"Even though these days we have more simulations, we're still very reliant on the driver's feedback and his responses to the changes we make, and indeed his suggestions for changes.

"So having Jenson on board for years to come is a great step for us because it gives us a very solid base in terms of a driver we can rely on for feedback."

Good news for all parties.

Edited October 5, 2011 by MJB

[GA!]

It's fantastic news for McLaren. In terms of pure skill, Jenson Button has been the best for years. It's just been unfortunate he was at Honda when they were a joke, and then he joined McLaren exactly when Red Bull became unbeatable or else he'd be more than a 1 time world champion.

[Lineker]

Fantastic news for both JB and McLaren. Possibly my absolute favourite driver in F1 right now. Full stories are here (the contract is signed) and here (reaction from McLaren themselves).

Elsewhere...

McLaren's technical director Paddy Lowe insists the team does not want Lewis Hamilton to change his approach to racing, although he concedes he would like to see the Briton make less mistakes.

Hamilton has endured a difficult season, with some on-track incidents costing him valuable points and making him the subject of criticism from rivals.

Lowe has backed Hamilton's aggressive style, however, and says McLaren will not do anything to try and change that.

"Clearly he has made mistakes, all drivers do," said Lowe during a Vodafone phone-in on Wednesday. "Equally we want Lewis to make less mistakes, I guess, but we don't want to stop him driving in the way he does.

"I think he is the most entertaining driver we have out there; very, very fast, very good at pressing through the race even if he doesn't start from the front and that has allowed him to win 16 races and a world championship and we don't want to erode that spirit.

"That's what makes him what he is and that's what makes him the driver that everybody enjoys. Of course he will be thinking how do I make less mistakes but I think that's just a local blip personally."

Lowe conceded McLaren has also made mistakes during the year, and admits it did not give Hamilton a fast enough car to begin with.

"There are quite a few aspects to that. The first thing is we haven't delivered a car that's been quick enough generally and particularly in qualifying. Sebastian [Vettel] has done a fantastic job to get all the pole positions and we've tried very hard but unfortunately not been able to compete with that.

"That means even though in the race we had some of the fastest race paces, often faster than the Red Bulls, it's been more difficult to show that and deliver from it because we are not starting at the front. And it is easier to stay out of trouble if you start from the front so that is certainly a factor.

"But I don't think we should take away from what Red Bull have achieved and particularly what Sebastian has achieved. Their reliability rate both mechanically and operationally and driver-wise in terms of incidents has been extraordinary actually."

He added: "We've had good years, better years than this year. If you look back even look to 2007 Lewis had an extraordinary run of reliability both operationally and mechanical, and unfortunately we have not matched that level since then, but we work hard.

"It's about a lot of detail, a lot of stuff that isn't all the interesting getting in right. Bringing Sam Michael into the team as sporting director certainly will be a great help to some of the operational aspects. It involves across the board and I don't think it is just a matter of 'Lewis, don't make so many mistakes'.

"Everything in this world is complex, every incident has more to it. We have got to on the assistance side to make sure we are robust.

Fernando Alonso says the runner-up spot in this year's championship is not a lot cause, even though he admits it will be very hard to secure the position.

Ferrari driver Alonso dropped to third place in the standings after the Singapore Grand Prix, but he is just one point away from McLaren's Jenson Button.

With Ferrari already fully focused on next year's car, Alonso is likely to face an uphill battle to secure second place, but the Spaniard, who reckons the result would be 'great', says it is not out of reach.

"Even if it's true we are no longer even mathematically in the hunt for the drivers' title, there are still plenty of reasons to retain our motivation to tackle these last five races with the right attitude," wrote Alonso on Ferrari's website.

"First of all there's second place in the drivers' table. Given how the season has gone so far, with Vettel totally dominant, failing to get on the podium only once, being runner-up would really be a great result for me and for the team.

"There are four of us in the running, as I am up against Webber and the two McLaren guys and I reckon we will have to wait until Interlagos to find out who it will go to.

"Clearly, if one looks at the way recent races have gone, it will definitely not be easy, as my closest rivals seem to have that little bit extra in terms of car performance, but that does not mean it's a lost cause.

"We know we have to do everything perfectly if we want to reach our goal and we will be trying right to the very end."

The Spaniard believes second position in the constructors' championship is not impossible either, even if Ferrari is 85 points behind McLaren with five races to go.

"There's still second place in the constructors' championship, but this is a much harder target, because there's a significant gap to McLaren, but it's not impossible.

"In the end, myself and all the team just want to end a season that did not go the way we wanted in the best way possible. Taking at least one win would be the maximum, while the important thing is to always be in the fight for the podium places."

Mark Webber has promised he will be a much stronger competitor next year, but concedes that his best chance of winning the world championship has already passed him by.

The Australian has been unable to match the stunning form of team-mate Sebastian Vettel this year, and believes this year's battle was lost on the back of a poor start to the campaign.

In an interview with Yahoo in Singapore, Webber speaks positively about his chances for 2012, but is also mindful of the opportunity that went missing 12 months ago.

"You can expect a stronger me next season and I hope to get a smooth start like we did in 2010," said Webber. "For now, I just want to finish it as strong as I can and get some good results."

When asked if he felt 2010 was his last shot at the world championship, Webber replied: "Yes, of course, I do think that last year was my last chance at being world champion. But I've pushed very, very hard and done many, many things that other people could not have achieved so I'm very proud of what I did."

Reflecting on being team-mate to a driver as strong as Sebastian Vettel, he added: "To win the championship you need 100 per cent from the team. I think it's difficult for the team to give 100% to both drivers as we are both demanding. Looking at the start we actually got, it's clear where the support needs to go and I respect that in some way.

"The team has given me a great opportunity to do well. I ask for a reliable and strong car every weekend and I will give my best. The team knows I always give my best."

Webber also made it clear that when he decides to retire from driving, he will likely turn his back on F1 completely because he is tired of the politics.

"It's a new chapter after you're done driving in F1. I haven't thought so much of what I would do after F1, but it's definitely not here. Now I enjoy the driving but when the day comes and I'm not driving I'll go and do something different.

"Why? Because of the politics — I really don't like it."

Formula 1 teams are set to be asked once again to approve a tweak to next year's tyre regulations, so Pirelli do not have to take wasted sets of rubber to every race.

Pirelli has made a push to change the tyre allocation numbers for 2012, because after every race weekend each driver is left with an unused set of the harder compound rubber.

With these tyres already having been mounted on hubs pre-event, once they have been removed on Sunday night they have to be destroyed.

As previously reported, teams have been reluctant to accept that change so far - but Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery has vowed to make another effort to convince teams of the need to alter the rules.

"They would like us to take 2,500 tyres around the world all year and not use them..." said Hembery about the teams, when asked by AUTOSPORT on the status of the 2012 rule change push.

"There is no movement on it yet, and I will have a go with the teams again. We need to go with the team principals and give them all the facts from the season so far, and say; maybe we can use them on Friday, so teams have an extra set on Friday morning.

"They do a lot of development work on a Friday so maybe that is a way of doing it. I am sure common sense will prevail."

Pirelli is devoting a lot of effort to thinking about next year's tyre situation and, with the title fight set to be finished after this weekend's Japanese GP, Hembery has suggested his company may go ultra aggressive with its tyre choice for the rest of the campaign to see what impact it has on the racing.

Already he thinks Pirelli has opted for a radical choice for Korea – to see if that will force teams to racing on the harder compound choice – which will be the 'soft' there.

"We want to push people to running on the soft, and try and see what happens," he said. "It might be a four stop, but we have said all along that we are aiming for two or three. We have had quite a few twos, we had one or two fours in a season, and it averages out.

"We don't have testing so sometimes we are going to push things, and it will make it easier if the championship is decided. We need to understand that for next season to make our choice aggressive again."

Former world champion Alan Jones will be the FIA driver steward during this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

Jones, the world champion in 1980 and winner of 12 grands prix, had already been a driver steward during last year's Korean Grand Prix.

The Australian will be joined in the stewards' panel by Garry Connelly and Jose Abed.

Indian farmers have threatened to disrupt the country's inaugural Formula 1 race as they claim they deserve a bigger compensation for their land having been used to build the circuit.

The new Buddh International Circuit is being built on the outskirts of New Delhi, and farmers claim their livelihood has been compromised by the loss of the lands.

"We are not against the race, but we feel we have been short-changed in the deal," farmer leader Virender Dhada was quoted as saying by AFP.

"We will stage protest marches and sit-ins next to the track starting October 23 to ensure our voice is heard.

"We are only demanding what is our right. The authorities have been turning a deaf ear to our legitimate demands. If they are willing to talk to us even now, we will stop the planned agitation."

An executive from race promoters JP Sports labelled the farmers' claims as a joke.

"This whole thing is a big joke," the executive was quoted as saying by the Bangkok Post.

"People should not be taking these threats seriously. There is so much riding on the race for the company and the country, do you think we will allow a handful of farmers to spoil it?

"We have spent $400 million dollars on the race and we will spend a few millions more if needed to have adequate security in place. We will do whatever it takes to have a wonderful event."

The Indian Grand Prix takes places on 30 October.

[Lineker]

If there's anyone out there who much like myself cannot sleep, FP1 & FP2 are on the red button as we speak. Lots of drivers are wearing various personalized gear to pay tribute to the victims of the Japanese natural disasters earlier this year - Hamilton, Button, Rosberg, etc - see the press conference in the spoiler tag at the end of this post.

Complete timesheets to come in the morning!

The FIA has announced that there will be a single DRS zone at the Suzuka circuit for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

The zone will be on the start-finish straight, running from the exit of the final corner down to the first corner.

The detection point will be 70 metres after Turn 15, with the activation point 30 metres after Turn 18.

Although the DRS zone is relatively short, Vitantonio Liuzzi believed that the layout of the track should be enough to allow overtaking.

"I think we have seen races where there were not as many overtaking moves as we expected, but in the end the DRS helped at all the grands prix for more show and more overtaking," he told AUTOSPORT.

"So I think 130R and the back straight will be a good place to catch, before then overtaking on the main straight. I think it will be really useful to have a better race."

When asked whether he believed DRS could be used through 130R in qualifying, Liuzzi said: "That is a good question. I am planning to make the weekend more challenging by trying it! But it is not going to be easy. For us with the weakness of downforce we have, it will be tough - but more fun and exciting."

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone insists he is not worried about a ruling by the European Court of Justice that could have an impact on television rights income for sport in the future.

An advisory decision relating to Premier League coverage stated that decoders for foreign satellite channels should be permitted - although the matter still needs to be defined by the British courts.

The green light for foreign decoders could leave the way open for British fans to follow F1 via foreign channels in the future – rather than paying for a subscription to Sky, which has secured the rights to show the sport until 2018.

But Ecclestone has said he is not worried by the possible commercial implications – and played down the idea that fans could watch the sport on foreign channels and listen to live coverage on Radio 5 Live.

"We'll wait and see what happens," Ecclestone told The Daily Telegraph. "It's not been signed off by the High Court yet. But we were ahead of the game a long time ago when we broke away from the European Broadcasting Union in the 1980s and started dealing with TV companies individually and we'll try to stay ahead in the future and find a way of maximising our revenues.

"As far as we're concerned the most important thing is to get the largest number of viewers possible to watch F1. We'll adapt."

Speaking about the idea of fans listening to Radio 5 coverage while watching on a foreign channel, Ecclestone said: "That's if 5Live still have the rights.

"We could stop that. Ultimately I think people want something they can see and listen to live with the commentary in sync. As for pubs, maybe what will happen is we'll give it to pubs for free in the future if that's what's needed."

HRT driver Daniel Ricciardo is hoping that the Japanese Grand Prix will be the first weekend when he combines a perfect qualifying and race performance.

The Australian has made a good start to his grand prix career, but believes that he has yet to realise his full potential after being thrown into the Spanish team with no experience of the car at Silverstone in July.

The last two races have also proved difficult for Ricciardo. He was unclassified in the Italian Grand Prix after starting the race late when his car didn't get off the line and then finished 19th in Singapore after hitting Timo Glock's Virgin on the opening lap.

"It's definitely important," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT how vital it is that he has a clean weekend. "I'm still looking for that one weekend for everything, qualifying and the race, to go well.

"I've still got to put it all together. We've managed to do a good race at some points and a good qualifying at some points, so I know that the capability is there to do it. I've just got to make Saturday and Sunday good days.

"I'll try and make that happen here. If I can get the hang of the circuit, it will hopefully be one that suits me. I like the layout."

The 22-year-old has never driven at Suzuka, so the key to him realising his ambitions for the weekend depends on how quickly he gets to grips with a track rated by many drivers as the biggest challenge in F1.

Although Ricciardo drove the circuit on Red Bull's simulator ahead of the 2010 race, his schedule has prevented him trying it again in the build up to this year's grand prix.

"I just finished walking the track and it looks amazing," he said. "Every corner seems to have a little detail to it that seems challenging, so I expect it not to be easy.

"I'll make the most of tomorrow's sessions and try to learn as much as I can and try out new lines. A lot of the corners are cambered and banked, so you have to observe others a lot here to see what the best line is."

Ricciardo will benefit from driving in both sessions during Friday free practice, as it will be team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi who has to step aside for Narain Karthikeyan for the first 90 minutes of running.

Rubens Barrichello insists that Kimi Raikkonen would not be able to do a better job for Williams than he has if the Finn were to replace him next season.

The 2007 world champion has held talks with the team about a possible Formula 1 comeback next year, but Barrichello is determined to remain in the sport with Williams.

Barrichello also warned that it would be a false economy for the team to take a less experienced pay driver in his place as they would be more prone to errors.

"I don't believe that anybody else, including Kimi, can offer anything more than I do," said Barrichello. "They already know what I can offer.

"Young drivers can have more money, but they can also have bad things happen on the first lap and all of that money goes away with crashes. In the end, Williams know how much enthusiasm I still have for this even though we are driving a car that is not competitive.

"They know how much I have put into this team and how much I want to get into next year. We just need to wait and see what they have to say at some point, which I hope is soon."

The 39-year-old admitted that he would be willing to look into the possibility of raising some sponsorship if that was what was required to keep his drive.

However, he stressed that Williams has not discussed this with him and that, as far as he is concerned, it is not a condition of him staying on.

"If the team said that is a requirement, then I would work on it," said Barrichello. "But I did not understand from the team that this is what is required."

Barrichello confirmed that he is also looking into opportunities at other teams, with Renault believed to be among those considering him as a potential signing should Robert Kubica not be fit to start the 2012 season.

But the Brazilian stressed that he is only willing to drive for a competitive team and that he will not take any seat to remain in F1 at any cost.

"Sure, some other teams," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT if he had spoken with other outfits.

"I would love to drive a quick car and there are certain teams that would have that next year."

Sergio Perez is confident that Sauber will return to form in this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

The Swiss team will run a major aerodynamic upgrade package for the first time during Friday practice. This will include new front and rear wings, turning vanes, sidepod deflectors and new brake ducts, as well as modifications to the floor.

Sauber has scored only three points in the last five races, slipping to seventh behind Force India in the constructors' championship, and Perez expects the car to be more competitive on his first visit to Suzuka.

"I'm very confident about this weekend," said the Mexican, who finished 10th in the Singapore Grand Prix two weeks ago. "We are bringing a big update here so hopefully it works and we can move ahead.

"Singapore was a very good weekend for Force India, so we want to score very big points here to try to catch them up."

Team-mate Kamui Kobayashi believes that, if the update works well, it will be a big step forward for Sauber.

The Japanese is chasing a return to form after scoring only two points in the last seven races.

"We have a reasonable update," said Kobayashi. "It will be the last big update for us. Aerodynamics are important at this circuit, so if it works well, we will see a clear result. That's what we want for this weekend."

Felipe Massa has no plans to raise Lewis Hamilton's driving standards with FIA race director Charlie Whiting despite being hit by the McLaren driver during Singapore Grand Prix.

Reports last week suggested that a group of drivers planned to question the number of on-track incidents Hamilton has had recently in the drivers' briefing.

But Massa insists that he considers the matter closed as the collision was dealt with by a drive-through penalty and this punishment is enough to make the McLaren driver think about his driving standards.

"I have nothing to say because everything he does, he pays for," said Massa when asked by AUTOSPORT if he plans to take up the issue with Whiting.

"The FIA is doing what is inside the regulations. If you cause an accident, or if you drive not in the right way, you are going to have a drive-through. And he had a drive-through. It's time enough for him to learn, to be honest."

GPDA chairman Rubens Barrichello confirmed that he also has no concerns Hamilton's driving and that he does not expect the topic to be discussed in the drivers' briefing.

"I don't think that's happening," said the Brazilian. "I think someone has made that up. We talk during the briefings about everything and then in the GPDA we get together and talk a bit further.

"But a lot has been said about what Michael Schumacher did to Lewis at Monza and that it was unfair. Then, when it got to the briefing, nobody actually said anything. It's just talk. I don't think that there will be anything regarding what happened in Singapore."

Massa added that he does not plan to discuss the issue with Hamilton personally, although he would do so if approached by the 2008 world champion.

He said that if the roles were reversed, he would have apologised, and that Hamilton's refusal to speak to him immediately after the race in Singapore added to his frustration.

"I tried to speak to him, but he didn't want to speak to me," said Massa. "That's why I was disappointed because if I was in his position, I would say sorry. I was disappointed and tried to speak to him without the media. Then when I saw him there [doing TV interviews] I did what I did because I expected a different reaction.

"I will not go to him to speak to him. I didn't do anything, to be honest, I just had a tyre punctured in my race so I have nothing to speak to him about. If he comes to speak to me, it's fine."

The 30-year old also derided reports suggesting that a motivational message given over the radio by race engineer Rob Smedley before the clash with Hamilton, telling him to "destroy his race as much as we can", carried any malicious intent.

"If you open the radio from everybody, you will hear strange things," he said. "Rob was saying that to push me, not to destroy the race of anybody. Also, I would not do it if he asked."

Adrian Sutil believes Force India has a good chance of overtaking Renault in the standings this year following a run of strong races.

The Silverstone-based squad is still 22 points behind Renault - fifth in the championship - but has scored 36 points in the last five races compared to its rival's five.

That has left Sutil upbeat about his team's chances of outscoring Renault in the end.

"Chances are good, I think," said Sutil. "We have to work on it of course, to stay concentrated and stay calm, but it is always good to be in a stronger position at the end of a season.

"And scoring points and catching up, that is probably harder to defend in the end. You get nervous and we have seen it last year it was hard to defend our position and we lost it by one point so hopefully this year we win it by one point to Renault or something. It is still possible."

He admitted Force India's form in recent races has been very encouraging for the whole team, especially with both him and team-mate Paul di Resta scoring points in the previous race in Singapore.

"You can see it in the results, it was very important to finally score with two cars," he said. "It was the first race in a long time, and so we were quite happy and now of course we want to continue like that. Hopefully we will do.

"It may be a little bit different here in Suzuka, because maybe Renault is back here better than Singapore, but we always have a chance and we have to maximise it at the moment. We can do it, it was nice to show it again but it feels very good just to be there the whole time and fight against the big teams."

The German, who is yet to announce his future plans, says he feels good about how he has performed this season, where he reckons he has taken another step forward.

"I think so. Every year I have got better and better, but I think last year was already a very good season, depending on the car. Last year was a little bit more difficult in the end but from my own performance I was already happy.

"This year I didn't do many mistakes, I was consistent and scored as many points as possible so I am quite happy. There is always some space to improve yourself. I never think that I have learned enough or something. Even after 15 years you can still learn something in such a quick business. But I feel good and feel I am in the right direction."

Jenson Button says the race to beat Sebastian Vettel to the world championship title is over, even if the reigning world champion refuses to accept it yet.

Button is now the only driver who can prevent the German from retaining his crown, with Vettel needing just one point from this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest person ever to clinch back-to-back world championships.

But Button says that while everyone else knows that Vettel has the world title wrapped up, the Red Bull man is just trying to focus on the weekend in front of him, rather than get caught up in premature celebration.

"I am happy that he is still talking about it being possible for me to win the title!" said Button, who would need to win with Vettel not scoring at Suzuka just to remain in contention beyond the Japanese GP. "He is probably the only person saying so, it is all but over. I think Sebastian probably doesn't want to think about it until after the race, it is a big buzz to cross the finish line and win the championship.

"I am sure it is something he is looking forward to but doesn't want to discuss right now and especially not in front of us now."

Button added that while the championship may be a forlorn hope, he is satisfied with his own performances in 2011 and believes that he is driving better now then when he won the world championship with Brawn two years ago.

"I thought I had driven pretty well during my championship-winning season... especially the first part," he said. "I am definitely a better driver now with the experience I've been through [which has been] good and bad since then.

"It's pretty traumatic when you're fighting for a championship and struggling for pace, but the difficulties I've been through and the confidence of the team I am working with definitely helps my performances."

The Englishman says that confidence, and the knowledge that he is with McLaren for the longterm can allow him to help lift the team into title contention next season.

"We are so close to fighting with Red Bull, yet so far, and I think it is good to have the continuity going forward for the next couple of years," he said. "It will help us take the fight to them next year we hope, that is what we are working towards. It has been a good couple of weeks, I've been enjoying racing and it's nice to sign on the dotted line and get a deal in place for the future."

Button hasn't ruled out victory at Suzuka - a track recognised to play to Red Bull's strengths – and believes that McLaren can put up a fight against Vettel and Mark Webber this weekend.

"I would love to win here, this is a circuit along with Spa and Monaco that is such a challenge," he said. "Whether we are quick or not we will have to wait and see, but we are in the hunt and I am looking forward to a fun weekend and hopefully we can get up there.

"I think on occasions we have been on a par with RBR, sometimes I felt maybe we had a little bit more performance but we didn't get the best out of what we had. In the last race we were not quick enough to win, RBR and Seb did a great job.

"Here is like Spa, probably with higher downforce, but it's a flowing medium/high speed circuit. The car worked well in Spa and hopefully it will be the same case here."

Jarno Trulli will have switch to the old power steering system that he blamed for his struggles in the first half of the season for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

The Italian is unable to use the new system, which was introduced at July's Hungarian Grand Prix, because it cannot stand up to the steering load created at the Suzuka circuit.

"Unfortunately, here I have to use the old specification of power steering, which I don't like," Trulli told AUTOSPORT. "It's because the new one cannot take all of the force that you have on the track.

"So I am concerned. I would be more comfortable going in with something that I know works. But we have made some changes that might be better. We won't know until we test it, so I am cautious."

The Italian credited the change of power steering system with turning around his season. Since using it for the first time, his form has improved and in Singapore two weeks ago he was set to beat team-mate Heikki Kovalainen until he picked up a puncture after being hit by Jaime Alguersuari.

He admitted that only since Hungary has he been able to enjoy racing in F1 again.

"Since I had the new power steering, everything was different," he said. "I could enjoy driving and drive the car better.

"I could also work on the setup, something I'd never done before Hungary. So all in all, it made it a more positive season."

Bruno Senna is hopeful Renault will be back to its "normal" level of performance in Japan following a difficult race in Singapore.

Both Senna and team-mate Vitaly Petrov struggled during the Marina Bay event last week, with Senna finishing in 15th and Petrov in 17th.

The Brazilian, however, believes Renault can expect to be back on form thanks to nature of the Suzuka circuit.

"We should be back to our normal levels of performance here, like Spa and Monza," Senna told reporters at Suzuka.

"Hopefully more like Monza. But yeah, Singapore was not the greatest, but now we are looking forward to this one."

The Brazilian admitted Renault's poor form in Singapore came a surprise for the team.

"I don't think anyone expected to be so uncompetitive as we were in Singapore, but it's in the past now. So we look forward to this one," he added.

"We have a bit of an upgrade for the car for this race and hopefully we will get a bit more out of the car as well."

Senna also said he is getting more comfortable working with the car with every race that goes by, having returned to racing at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

"I think I'm getting everything together now. I think I have a good idea of the direction that I can take with the car to make it suit my driving style."

Sebastian Vettel has admitted he is trying hard not to think about winning the 2011 world championship title at Suzuka, as the Red Bull driver embarks on a potentially historic Japanese Grand Prix weekend.

The 24-year-old is likely to become the sport's youngest ever double world champion in Suzuka, and needs only a point from the last five races to retain his title. Vettel's only remaining challenger for the world crown, Jenson Button, must win the race with the German not scoring just to keep the title battle open beyond the weekend.

But Vettel says he is taking nothing for granted and refuses to accept what most observers and all of his rivals now believe is imminently achievable.

"At the moment I am not trying to think about the championship," he said. "I want to focus on this race and then soon enough we will find out if we are in a good position or not. Surely it is a lot different to last year where we knew we had to deliver to keep the chances alive.

"This year we are in a strong position and looking forward to it in a way, but even if it is very close, it is still important to be aware that you need to do that final step. Whether it is 10 points or one point, we still have to go out and do it.

"[Most people are saying] it is all over - but even if it is only one point, even if people would like to hear something else, we need to make sure we get it."

Vettel said he will not change his approach to the weekend and intends to focus on fighting for victory and let everything else happen around him.

"If someone wants to do [me] a favour and push Jenson down the stairs later on that would help, but that is not the way we should think about it," he said. "We have a good position, I am looking forward to the race more than anything else, it is a special track, very challenging, the first sector – life doesn't get much better. It's great to be here, we had a tremendous run the last two years and we'll try to do similar to that and hopefully we have a great weekend.

"I don't think there is any reason why I should approach it differently. The target is to get the best out of the car and the best out of ourselves, as I said I really like the circuit."

With five races still to run this season, Vettel in on the verge of completing a record-breaking campaign and is still within sight of Michael Schumacher's 13-wins-in-a-season target. But even if the younger German sets new standards by the end of 2011, he says that he will never truly eclipse his countryman's achievements.

"Regarding Michael whatever we try to do, he did much more," said Vettel. "As I said, we really try to approach it race-by-race, I think the moment you start to think about too many other things, say things in your control, usually other things you are facing at the present time slip out of your hands. That would be wrong.

"We had occasions maybe not in the same style, and lessons to learn, so far we learned our lessons and it would be wrong to allow yourselves to forget those and do the same mistakes again, we try to get the best out of ourselves, and enjoy."

Fernando Alonso has prioritised winning at least one of the season's final five races over finishing second in the drivers' world championship.

The Spaniard has claimed only one victory so far this year, at Silverstone, and despite being knocked out of title contention by Sebastian Vettel's victory in the Singapore Grand Prix, he insists that he remains fully motivated.

"In two months, you completely forget the positions, so I would prefer to win one of the remaining five races to be second in the world championship," said Alonso.

"Even though this is the first race that mathematically we cannot fight for the championship, it's not that three or four races ago we had high hopes of it. So it's not a dramatic approach this weekend.

"It's no different to previous races. I want to win and I want to be on pole position. I know that this may not be possible with the performance that we have now, but you always have the hope to do it.

"In the remaining five races we will try to do our best. I don't like to be second or third so we will try to be in the best position possible. In terms of the championship, the most important thing is to try to get second place from McLaren in the constructors'. It's an extremely difficult target, but we will try to push for that."

Ferrari is currently 85 points behind McLaren with 215 left to play for, and Alonso admitted that the team might have to try some risky strategies to make gains.

He added that the final races can also be used to to glean as much information about its current machine that could be of use with its 2012 challenger.

"The first thing is to try to learn something for next year in terms of different parts in the car," said Alonso. "There are some experimental things that we have in the car that can be introduced next year.

"There can also be races with changeable weather conditions, maybe not this weekend but Korea or Brazil, so we can try different things at different parts of the races to see if that works.

"Everyone in the team is completely focused as if we were in the last race of the championship fighting for the title. We want to do well and that's the very simple motivation we will find in the next races."

Lewis Hamilton believes the most important thing for him right now is finding a way to bounce back from his current trials in Formula 1, rather than wasting time trying to explain why his 2011 season has been the most difficult of his career.

On the back of fresh scrutiny about his approach to F1 this year, following his clash with Felipe Massa in Singapore, Hamilton reckons there is no single reason to explain why he has struggled to maintain strong form throughout the campaign.

But he says there is little point wasting time dwelling on the reasons for what has happened. Instead, he thinks the key factor for him is ensuring he takes the steps he needs to get back to the front.

When asked by AUTOSPORT whether his current difficulties were just part and parcel of a normal sportsman's career, or evidence that he needed to change his approach, Hamilton said: "I don't have an answer for it. I don't see anyone else having the problems I am having, and also I don't see many people who have achieved what I have achieved.

"Up until 2008 I've won a championship every second year of my career since I was eight years old, so I've done pretty well until now. But I've had a couple of tough years and they are the most trying years - and this has probably been the most trying year, the most testing year, of my career so far.

"It is not about how or what I've done this year, it is about how I rise out of it, and how I rise above it, and how I come out on top at some stage."

He added: "I am not doing anything wrong. It is not my management like everyone is talking about. I am very, very happy with my management. It is one of the best decisions I've made.

"And, I think I have just been unfortunate, I've made some mistakes, and that is it. Jenson has done a good job, but people forget that I am only 17 points away from second, people also forget that all the people behind Sebastian are 100 plus points behind."

The focus on Hamilton's management came after comments from his father Anthony suggesting that XIX Management could be more supportive of his son.

When asked about his father's belief, he said: "I honestly don't know what the situation was. When I spoke to my dad he just said he wanted me to be happy, so I told him I am happy - and he said as long as you are happy I am happy. I think he is just a concerned father, which is normal."

Talking about the negative press around him, Hamilton said: "I don't read any criticisms, but I know everyone here and around the rest of the world is writing stories, or I hear about them... I just live my life. I am happy. I've got great people in my life, I have great management, I have great family and friends, and people that I enjoy being around.

"I have an amazing job, so I cannot really complain. Regardless of people writing shit about me, I will just keep my head focused on the main thing, which is to try and win races."

Hamilton also believes that criticisms he had not learned from his errors this year were misplaced.

"I think they [critics] have the right to have that opinion, but what people need to understand is that there is not one second you drive around that is the same as the last. There is not one corner that is the same the next lap. As time moves on and you go through the race, you are in different position, one lap slightly ahead and one lap slightly behind.

"There are so many things happening, you are juggling them, and particularly when you are overtaking sometimes you drop one of them and there is nothing you can do about it.

"You could drop that ball, lock up a wheel go straight and continue. Or you could drop the ball and it gives you a penalty. I seem to be dropping that particular ball quite often, but it is not always in the same place. It is easy to say you can learn from that one mistake but it is happening in other places, so I have to try my hardest."

Hamilton also said he had no intention of clearing the air with Massa over what happened in the Singapore GP and about their confrontation afterwards.

"I don't really have anything to say about it. I am focusing on this weekend and it is a shame that we are still talking about the previous race, but that is the way it goes. For me, I am focusing on having a good weekend. I am over it, it is in the past. I had my penalty so I don't feel I owe anyone.

"I don't think we have anything to say. I had my penalty. I don't think we have anything else to discuss. I don't have any problems with him. I am sure I will see him throughout the weekend and hopefully speak about normal things."

Mercedes GP duo Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher believe the signing of Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis is proof that the team is prepared to do whatever it takes to get to the top of Formula 1.

Costa and Willis will strengthen Mercedes GP's technical line-up later this year, as the Brackley-based outfit moves to improve the areas where it believes it is weak compared to frontrunners like Red Bull Racing and McLaren.

And the move has been backed by both drivers - who think it is not only great news that the pair are joining, but also that it is a statement of intent about Mercedes GP's ambitions.

When asked by AUTOSPORT about his reaction to the new appointments, Schumacher said: "Naturally I am happy for all the new guys who have arrived and will arrive.

"We know if we want to beat and fight the guys up front we need to strengthen ourselves and become stronger as a group. We need more potential and more capacity, and that is what is happening with Geoff and Aldo.

"Aldo I know very well from my days [at Ferrari]. With Geoff, it is going to be the first time I work with him, but he has been in the team before and he knows the structure in general. So I guess, the implementation of those guys should go rather quick. Ross [brawn] knows Aldo rather well, he knows how to put him in a position to get the best out of those guys."

Rosberg added: "It is a hell of an announcement. The message is very clear; Mercedes is going to do whatever it takes to win the championship. It is very obvious. And they are two top guys. Aldo has worked with Ross, and Ross is very, very complimentary about him - he must be because Ross has employed him. And Geoff has been with the team before and they are all very, very happy that he is coming back."

On the back of a season that has fallen slightly short of his expectations, Rosberg said that one of the positives that can be taken out of the year – which is proven by the Costa/Willis signings – is that Mercedes GP has realised it needs to change its approach if it is going to triumph.

"The team has understood that the way it was we couldn't win the championship, so everything is now being done to make this team the best team out there," he said. "It is positive. A bit late, but there you go."

Mark Webber says he is still striving to win in 2011 and remains hopeful of challenging Sebastian Vettel in 2012, despite conceding the German has been phenomenal so far this season.

While Webber was a genuine match for Vettel last year, winning four times to remain in contention for the title heading into the final round, he has been frustrated in his efforts to match his team-mate this year and is currently 127 points adrift in third.

Webber conceded that wins had been thin on the ground for the entire field given Vettel's dominance, but said problems with tyre longevity and more recently his starts had hindered his own chances of ascending the top step.

"There's no question one guy has done too much winning this year," Webber said. "Seb [Vettel] has done a phenomenal job, and I've only led a little bit - nowhere near as much as I did last year.

"It would be good [to win], it would be nice before the end of the year. If you have one win and four DNFs it's not that good, so we still need to be consistent and do well, but when the opportunity comes, when I have a good start and a good clean first stint, that makes the race a bit more achievable.

"[The starts] are area we've continued to look at of course, it makes the race very difficult when I'm on the back foot on the first lap. My starts were better last year, this year I haven't had as good a run but it's possible to get that improved before the end of the year.

"It's beautiful to win and always satisfying to put a good weekend together and know that you've done a better job than everyone else, that's what each driver is striving for.

"The podiums are still nice, the champagne is a mini celebration and it's still not easy to get on the step, but there's a big difference between first and second."

Asked whether his 2010 charge was his last chance to win an F1 world championship, Webber said he and his crew still had work to do to catch Vettel, but were still optimistic of a title tilt in 2012.

"Last year was exceptional. It's not every year you fight for the title," Webber explained. "It is back to normal for now, but we're trying to get it to happen in the future.

"It's a bit disappointing that's what has happened this year but that's the way it has been, Seb amassed the points very quickly. We know the wins are big for the points, and if you can consistently win you do a lot of damage.

"Maybe there is a good chance [2010] might have been my last chance, but you never know. Next year we're going in and thinking positively.

"We've got some changes coming, not massive but there are some changes. It will be pretty brutal if it's the same as this year, so we have got to be optimistic and push bloody hard to make sure its not a repeat of how straight forward it was for him this year."

Thursday's press conference:

DRIVERS - Jerome D'AMBROSIO (Virgin), Jenson BUTTON (McLaren), Paul DI RESTA (Force India), Kamui KOBAYASHI (Sauber), Heikki KOVALAINEN (Team Lotus), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Jerome, this is quite a challenging circuit but at least you have some experience of it.

Jerome D'AMBROSIO: Yeah, definitely. It is a challenging circuit. For me it is probably I'd say as nice as Spa, which, being a Belgian comparing it to Spa... For me, it is even a bit better than Spa. It is something exceptional to drive around here. I enjoyed doing so last year, about 15 laps in Friday Free Practice, so should be very good and cannot wait to be in the car.

Q. Just give us some idea of your future with the team. Where are you in terms of discussions for next year?

JD'A: Well, at the moment it is really the same as I said in Spa. There are obviously talks going on and management speaking with the team, speaking for my future about next year in Formula One. Now my job is to focus on the current season. There are still five grands prix to go. I think I had my best grand prix so far in Singapore and throughout these races I need to focus on the present and not what will happen next year. I'll keep busy and working on what I do in the car and I'll let the management sort out the rest.

Q. But you were pleased with the Singapore race anyway?

JD'A: Definitely, yes.

Q. Paul, similar situation in a funny sort of way, except you haven't driven the circuit I don't think?

Paul Di RESTA: No, it is obviously the first experience being here and seeing this track. It looks very special. Having walked it this morning it is obviously very narrow but very fast. I have done what I can in the simulator to try to prepare myself. I think the main thing is hopefully the weather should be stable and we can continue progressing through the weekend.

Q. Some really good performances in the last few races. Do you believe that they can continue?

PDR: Yeah, I don't see why not. Certainly the last four grands prix have been very good for us as a team. I think Singapore, definitely on pace, we got the result that we [deserved]. Really coming here we need to try and focus on doing the same job. We have a small update here as well. Hopefully, we can continue and just really stay where we are and certainly put a fight up with Renault as they are within sights for the Constructors' Championship.

Q. Does that make it more difficult not knowing this particular circuit, with it being a technical circuit?

PDR: It is definitely not easier. But it has been like a lot of the tracks this year. I think I have only raced on Spa before we had gone to any grand prix this year, so really just trying to take it step-by-step. I am in the car for both sessions, which is important tomorrow, and really [i will] just try to reference myself as much as possible off Adrian [sutil] who has done quite a lot here in the past having done Japanese Formula Three here for a year.

Q. So he will help out with settings?

PDR: Yeah, he has shown to be very strong here in the past so you can only really look and hopefully get a feeling quicker than normal.

Q. Heikki, again it is a good circuit for you. You've had some good results here both in qualifying and the race. And very pleased with the Singapore performance as well, so what are your hopes for here?

Heikki KOVALAINEN: Hopefully, we can do another solid race. Obviously, we are defending the 10th position in the championship. For the team that is very important, so that's our primary goal and, of course myself, trying to stay ahead of the new cars at the back if you like. So far the season has been very positive for me so just carrying on doing that trend.

Q. Is that the most important thing or is the more important thing to get in among the established teams ahead, which you managed to do in Singapore?

HK: Well, ultimately the most important thing is to beat Sebastian Vettel, but you have got to be realistic. For myself the gap to the car ahead of us at most of the circuits is still too big so we need to work on our car to make it quicker. At the moment the best we can do, and the best we can realistically hope for, is to be ahead of them and maintain the 10th in the championship and then look forward to the future. Singapore, unusual race, circumstances worked well for us so we were able to beat one Renault. If that happens again this weekend: why not. But it might not be realistic.

Q. And still bringing the car forward as well technically?

HK: The update that we brought to Singapore I think was working. It was successful, so we closed the gap slightly and at least we didn't lose out to any other teams, which is encouraging. We are working on next year's car to improve overall performance so that's a work in progress and just keep the heads down and keep working.

Q. Jenson, some good news overnight that you had signed a multi-year deal. Can you give any more details?

Jenson BUTTON: You always want more. No, I can't. But all I can say is that I am very happy. I think this is a great opportunity over the next couple of years to really work closely with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. We are so close to fighting with Red Bull, but yet so far. I think it is good to have the continuity going forward for the next couple of years. It is going to help us take the fight to them next season, I hope. That's what we are working towards. It's been a good couple of weeks. I have been enjoying racing and it is nice to finally sign on the dotted line and get a deal in place for the near future.

Q. I got the impression there were maybe one or two other teams in the frame though?

JB: I think it is all speculation.

Q. We saw you do a little shopping earlier on this morning. The motorcycle shop down the road. Did you buy anything?

JB: No, I was checking out some bikes, but it wasn't for me, it was for someone else. Have you been following me?

Q. We were just talking about you, myself and a colleague, and there you were.

JB: I do do other things except race Formula One cars.

Q. You have got a pretty remarkable record here. I think I surprised you last year when telling you that you'd finished all 10 of your Japanese Grands Prix. And as you finished last year it is now all 11. Is it a circuit that you enjoy and obviously a circuit where you would love to win?

JB: Yeah, I would love to win here. It is a circuit along with Spa and Monaco, they mean a lot to all of us. It is such a challenge driving around here for one lap in qualifying, but putting every single lap together is a real challenge and doing it quicker than anybody else is a real challenge. Yes, it would mean a lot to me to win here at Suzuka. That's our aim this weekend. Whether we are quick enough or not we will have to wait and see but we are in the hunt and I am looking forward to a fun weekend. Hopefully, we can get up there.

Q. Do you think on occasions over the last few grands prix that you have had the quicker car? Do you think you still could have the quicker car but it is dependent on which part of the weekend, what they have brought?

JB: Yeah, I think on occasions we have been on a par with the Red Bull. Sometimes I have felt that maybe we have had a little bit more performance but I don't think we got the best out of what we had. The last race we weren't quick enough to win. Sebastian and Red Bull did a great job. Even if you are a few seconds behind it doesn't mean you had a chance of winning. Here it is a little bit more like Spa. Obviously it is probably higher downforce than around Spa but it is a flowing medium high-speed circuit. Our car worked well in Spa and hopefully it will be the same case here. This circuit is normally reasonably difficult to overtake on but with the goodies that we have, with the Pirelli tyres, with the KERS, the DRS, we should see some really good racing around here.

Q. Kamui, a major race weekend for you. Just describe your feelings as you come into it?

Kamui KOBAYASHI: Always great to come back to Japan as I am Japanese and so many fans always waiting. I am very proud of Suzuka, as this is one of the really great circuits. It is always really enjoyable to drive here as well. Racing here is always great and really thanks to the many fans as they are always waiting for Formula One.

Q. It is surprising that you haven't done many races here?

KK: Exactly. I have only had something like three races. This is my third race. Last year was second one.

Q. The first one was when you were 17?

KK: Yeah, I was 17. I drove only one race here then I went to Europe. I am Japanese but in fact so many other guys know more than me.

Q. You have got a lot of modifications on the car this weekend. The fact that it is going to be dry will be a great relief to you?

KK: Yeah, we have reasonable update. For us it will be like last update. We had a couple of small updates but this is biggest step for this year. This circuit, the aerodynamics are quite important, so I think if it works well we can see a good result and this is what we want for this week.

Q. The focus is going to be on you from your compatriots. Does that make it easier or more difficult for racing?

KK: Well it is easier I hope, but if the car is good it is always easier. But Suzuka is quite a tough track. When you only have one lap to get it together it is quite tricky. For the race a small mistakes means you are always missing a lot of lap time. This circuit is not easy, but if the car is good it is not so difficult driving here.

Q. Sebastian, sorry to keep you waiting, World Champion. But in a way you are keeping yourself waiting. What was it like this last week being within one point of another title?

Sebastian VETTEL: Well, that is what most of the people talk about and for them it is over, but even if it's one point, I said it straight after the race and I still say the same thing even if people would like to hear something else. Even if it is one point we need to make sure we get it. If someone feels to do me a favour he can push Jenson down the stairs later on. That would help [laughs]. I don't think that is the way we should think about it. We are in a very good position. I am looking forward to the race here more so than anything else as this is a special track, very challenging. I think you just need to look at the first sector and life for us doesn't get much better. It is great to be here. We have had a tremendous run the last two years so we try to do similar to that and hopefully we will have a good weekend.

Q. As you say, you've won the last two years from pole position. Is that going to be different this year, as a lot of people have won from pole, something like 75 per cent of the last 10 years.

SV: Yeah, that's statistics, but I think this year it has been on some circuits more different than it used to be. I think it is the same here. As Jenson mentioned we have got some tools to work with that we didn't have the last couple of years. DRS, the tyres. I think we will see more than one stop. Last year it was a pretty straightforward, one-stop race. I think there is a high chance to see good racing. Whether it is possible to win from second, third or fifth there is always a chance but the target is to put the car on pole and see what we can do in the race. It is within the race we will find out what is happening. In qualy it is about one lap, but in the race you need to put together more than one lap.

Q. Do you approach this weekend any differently?

SV: I am trying not to. I don't think there is any reason why I should approach it differently. The target we have going into this weekend is to get the best out of our car, the best out of ourselves. I really like the circuit. Generally, we all love coming here. This year it is special for us to come here, because of the earthquake at the beginning of the year, for the country for the whole of Japan. I think it also makes it a little bit more special to us to show support. We try to do as much as we can. It might just be a little bit to put a smile back on people's faces. In some regards the people here are very passionate about Formula One. It is only Thursday and the grandstands are sometimes full of people. It is great to see the support we get so we try to put on a good show and hopefully we will have a good race and try to give a little bit back.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

(Bianca Leppert – Auto Motor und Sport) – Sebastian, can you tell us something about your new helmet design and about the different feeling as last year you won the championship in the last race and now you can be champion before the season will end?

SV: Well, regarding the helmet, you will see it tomorrow. Last year we had a special design for the Japanese Grand Prix and we will have again this year. As I touched on earlier, we have one sign on the top of the helmet, which means 'kizuna'. It means bond of friendship and it was putting people together when they had the earthquake and weeks after. Just trying to make people stick together and support each other. For the championship, at the moment I am not trying to think about the championship. I want to focus on this race and then soon enough we will find out whether we are in a good position or not. It is quite a lot different to last year. Last year, we knew that we had to deliver to keep the chances alive where as this year I think we are in a very strong position and we are looking forward to it in a way. But even if it is very close I think it is still very important to be aware that you still need to do that final step whether it is 10 points or one point it doesn't really matter so we still have to go out and do it.

Q. (Federic Ferret - L'Equipe) – What would it mean to you to win the title in Suzuka, a track that you like and where Michael Schumacher, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna won their title.

SV: Yeah, unfortunately they took the log cabin down at the hotel, so there is no more signing. Fortunately and unfortunately. Some people you don't want to hear when they sing! We are focused on the race first of all, which is what we enjoy more than anything else and then we will see. I remember the years when Michael was very close, I think in 1998 to win the championship, and then he had an engine blow up. Before that I wasn't following, but I have seen enough footage and read a lot, especially about Senna and (Alain) Prost. I don't think I need to touch on it. Everyone knows. It is a special circuit. Not just because it is a challenging circuit, but the history around here. It is one of the grands prix with real tradition and real history. In a way you feel it every lap but also it was very special to me two years ago to win here for the first time so we try to do it again.

Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Jenson you're the last man who has a mathematical chance of stopping Sebastian from winning the title. You've also secured your future. I was wondering if you thought you were more content and driving better than even in your championship-winning season.

JB: I thought I drove pretty well through my championship-winning season, especially the first part of the season but I'm definitely a better driver now: the experiences that I've been through - good and bad – since then; it's pretty traumatic when you're fighting for a championship and you're struggling for pace, so the experiences I've been through and the confidence that I have now and the team that I'm working with – they definitely help my performances. Am I more content? I don't know. I've been pretty content over the last few years, in terms of racing and in terms of private life, so that's not making a difference.

Q. (Minioki Yoneya – La Vie Creative) Sebastian, you walk around the track on the first day every weekend, every year. How important is it for you and did you find anything new here today?

SV: Nothing new, so the circuit is still as much as I remember. Obviously I use the opportunity not only to look at the circuit but also to get the latest updates, what's happening in the factory and just to have a chat with the engineers, what's the approach for the weekend, what's the plan, what is the target etc, so apart from looking at the circuit, specifically at kerbs, which sometimes change etc, corners, weaknesses. In previous years, as I said, I used the opportunity just to also have a chat. Sometimes we talk about some not really relevant stuff but it's kind of a tradition and it's a good way to start the weekend.

Q. (Fulvio Solms – Corriere dello Sport) Seb, are you superstitious; what do you do if I say to you you're winning the title on Sunday, congratulations?

SV: I think it's easy. Obviously there's still a chance for Jenson to win the title and for me not to win the title. As I said, even if it's only one point – I said it straight after Singapore – we tried all year and we always try to keep our feet on the ground and approach this race by race, and try to do the best. The moment you decide to fly, sooner or later there's a moment when you will come down as well. You have to, nothing flies for ever. I think it would be wrong to think like that at this stage and as I said, the target going into this weekend is not to get one point, in a way it's not to win the championship, the target is to do our best. If our best, for some reason, is tenth, then we try to get a tenth but if our best is possibly to win the race then we have to go for it and try to win the race. We want to do it in the right way, so I think if you have the ability, the package overall, to do well around here, you have to enjoy it and you have to make sure that if the chance is there to finish on the podium you finish on the podium. Yes, there would be reason to celebrate, even if we finish tenth, but it wouldn't be the same so we try to race as usual and we try to get the best out of ourselves.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) To all of you, which kind of circuit do you prefer, Suzuka where the run-off areas are so short, where there is the pleasure of risk, as you all say, or Istanbul where you can make mistakes, run wide onto a different asphalt area and come back?

JB: I don't think it's the case here that the barriers are close to the circuit. I don't think it's an unsafe circuit to race on. I think that you can't make a mistake because it's not asphalt in a lot of places, so you touch grass or you're into the gravel, you can end your day early. It's very unforgiving in terms of stopping the car. It's not unforgiving in terms of having a big accident, so the safety is not an issue here but I think we find it exciting knowing that if we do make a mistake then we get punished for it and that's why a lot of drivers really enjoy racing around here and a lot of new drivers find it quite difficult in their first season when they come here, in terms of pace, or find themselves off the circuit in a gravel trap somewhere.

JD'A: Obviously last year I didn't want to try to be brave or anything in ten laps in free practice one. But I think what Jenson described is quite right: you don't feel like you're in danger – actually I've never felt that in Formula One, or in motor racing since I started. I think it's a safe track. Now Degner One, for example, is a corner where you're not going to go there and try to nail it within two or three laps, because you know that if you make a mistake you will probably end up in the wall. Well, obviously it is sometimes a different approach but I think all the time you're in the car you don't focus on what's outside the white lines, you just try to stay in the middle and that's what you focus on. It is making it different, it will probably take a bit more time to feel at ease on the track but you eventually do so.

HK: I personally prefer Suzuka to Istanbul but like Jenson said, it has nothing to do with the run-off area, it's got to do with the shape of the circuit, shape of the tarmac, how we are actually running. I think it's a great layout, high speed, change of direction, it's where a Formula One car is at its best and we wouldn't race here if it was too risky and if the circuit hadn't passed the tests. I don't think we have any more concern (about here) than we do at other places.

Q. (Jens Wolters – ARD Radio) Jenson, Sebastian always mentions the tiny chance that you still have of winning the championship; what do you think about it?

JB: I think it's great, going into this race, Sebastian thinking that I have a chance of winning the title. He's probably the only person here… or the only person that's saying so. It's all but over. I think for Sebastian, he probably doesn't want to think about it until after the race because after the race, when the championship's actually done it's a big buzz to cross the finish line and win the championship and I'm sure that's something that he's looking forward to but he doesn't want to think about right now, and especially to discuss with us lot here. For me, this is a circuit I'd love to win on, I think we all would. It's all about the challenge and to come away with a victory here would be very special. I'm sure it would be overshadowed by a certain person winning the championship but it would still be very enjoyable for myself.

Q. (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, you're not only running for the Championship but you're also running for statistics; this could be one of the most successful seasons in Formula One, what with pole positions and everything. Is it something that you're trying to achieve or are you also looking at what Michael did in the past? Is it something that gives you extra motivation?

SV: Not really. Regarding Michael, I think whatever we try to do, he did much more. As I said, we really try to approach every race and really go race by race. I think the moment you start to think about too many other things is the moment that things that are really in your control which are usually the things that you are facing at the present time, are slipping out of your hands. That would be wrong. I think we had occasions – maybe not in the same style but in the past – and lessons to learn, and I think so far we learned our lessons and it would be wrong to allow yourself to forget those and do the same mistakes again, so it wouldn't be very smart. So we try really to get the best out of ourselves, obviously enjoy the package we have, the car is competitive this year, the team is working fantastically well and we are on a good run. There's no guarantee that it will be good again in the next race or the race after that will be as competitive as the previous race so we will really have to take every chance we get. As I said earlier, if the chance is there to win and we feel that we can go for it, we have to go for it. If the chance is not there, then we try to finish second. If the chance for second is not there, then we try to finish third, so it's pretty simple to say, sometimes not so easy to stick to that but as I said, it's not our first race.

Q. (Koji Taguchi – Grand Prix Special) A question for Kamui and Sebastian : you two guys were teammates when you were younger. When you look back at each other, what has changed from that time to now, in terms of personality, driving style, communication with the team and maybe weekend strategy and understanding engineering? And if there is any situation in the future when you might be teammates again, what would the teammate relationship be like?

SV: I have a lot of good memories. I remember that it was Kamui's first year in Formula Three, so he came in as a rookie, but you can ask Paul as well. We were all in the same team at the same time and I remember in some corners Kamui was – I don't know – 10kph or even more quicker than all of us. We didn't understand. And he was quicker the whole weekend. In other corners, obviously, we were a little bit quicker than him, but it's always give and take and I don't think he's lost his craziness that you sometimes see. I remember the race that we had here and he overtook I don't know how many cars. It seems that sometimes he sees gaps or he finds a different line on the track that other people don't find. I think it makes him a very good driver; you never know for the future. Obviously the situation has changed a little bit, there are a lot more cameras around now and we don't get to see (one another) or chat as much as we did in the past but I think – or I know – he's still the same kind of guy. I wouldn't mind racing with him again – as long as I make sure he's not 10kph quicker in some corners.

KK: For me, at the moment, we're in different cars, so much different cars, so I cannot say… he was always good in Formula Three, he is always working really hard. He communicates really well with the engineers. I can see that from TV, he has really good communication with the team and I think that was something he's had for a long time. He was really good at communicating in Formula Three with the team guys. I think that's everything, that's why he can make a really good car and he has the fastest car on the track.

Q. (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Now Sebastian Vettel is going to finish an outstanding job; in this situation, which are the three best drivers in Formula One, according to you?

HK: If I excuse myself from the list, so all the guys are behind myself – that's what you meant, yes? So it's obviously Sebastian, Jenson and whoever is third in the championship at the moment, Fernando? Lewis? That's the order this year, that's what you've got to stick with, I think.

SV: What do you want us to say? Obviously we have to have a certain self-belief otherwise we would sit and say – I don't know – five drivers before we think we might or I might stand a chance, then obviously we are in the wrong job. It has to be like that. If Kamui didn't believe in himself and thought he could only be fifth best on the grid… If I thought that way, it would be a waste of time. I respect the other drivers a lot and I think that all drivers in Formula One deserve to be there and if you look at every single one, there's a reason why they are in Formula One. It's not just because they got lucky and all of a sudden called up to Formula One. Obviously they've been very successful in previous years, in junior categories and didn't end up here without reason. I think you have to be aware of that. Obviously you respect some of them more than others and you feel it on the track as well, when you race against them, how much room they sometimes give you. To give you an example, I enjoy racing against Fernando a lot because you know you can count on him, you know that most of the time he sees you and he knows that you are there. He doesn't give you a lot of room, for sure, but just enough. It's the same with Michael or if you race with Jenson, you know that these guys are always very fair, they're not making your life easy but they are very fair and I think it's the respect that you have for each other that really matters in those circumstances.

Q. (Gary Meenaghan – The National) Jenson, can you just talk a little bit about your relationship with Japan, what kind of things do you do when you stay here? Do you ride the metro, for instance? And how has your impression changed since the first time you visited the country to now?

JB: I obviously don't have as many connections to Japan as Kamui does. I came here for the first time in '96, I was racing karts and it was a real shock to the system, as a 16-year old, coming to Japan, it's such a different culture. At that point in time, where I was, I didn't understand anything, the road signs, street names, anything, because everything was in Japanese. It was very difficult as a 16-year old but I really enjoyed coming here because it was something very difficult and I also loved racing here in Suzuka, because I raced here in '96 and '97 around the go-kart circuit which is just before 130R. I don't know if you've ever got out there to see it but it's just like the Grand Prix circuit, it's phenomenal. For me, it's the best circuit I've driven on in karting. I had some good times then, but obviously a lot has changed from '96 to now: my experiences of being in Japan and obviously spending five or six years with a Japanese team, working with a lot of Japanese people and now being with a Japanese girlfriend. So I have a lot of very good connections. I spend quite a bit of time here training, relaxing, eating good food. For me, it really does feel like home even though I don't really speak too much of the language, a few words, the words you need to know. Anyway, I'm going to stop there! Yeah, the Japanese people are very strong. Obviously we've seen a couple of big disasters this year in Japan, and we've seen how strong the Japanese people are, and how they've really pulled together when they are in difficulty, so I think we can all learn something from them, and we should, and try to help out as much as we can and Kamui is doing a lot this weekend, and I'm sure quite a few of the drivers are. We are always going to try our best. Is it enough? I don't know. My crash helmet is very similar to what I had in Monaco, so it's all in Japanese, and I will be auctioning it off after the race, which will go to a Japanese charity which will help the people that have been affected by the tsunami and the earthquake.

[Lineker]

Jenson Button led a McLaren one-two as the Woking team dominated the times in first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, while world-champion-in-waiting Sebastian Vettel ended his session in the barriers at Degner Two.

The German, who was third fastest in the session, ran wide on his final attempt at Degner One, which meant he didn't have enough braking potential to stop his Red Bull hitting the barriers gently at the following corner. The most damage done was probably to the German's pride however.

The recently re-signed Button was quickest for much of the session and emphasised it by setting his best lap on his final attempt with a 1m33.634s.

He outpaced his team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.091s to establish the team at the head of the pack in front of Vettel, with Fernando Alonso fourth and Mark Webber fifth quickest, in what was, until the final moments at least, a relatively uneventful session.

Timo Glock led the cars out on to the very dusty Suzuka asphalt at the beginning of the 90 minute practice, but it was Narian Karthikeyan who set the first timed lap of the day with a 1m49.408s, some 25 minutes into the running. That effort lasted seconds at the top of the times though as HRT team-mate Daniel Ricciardo shaved six seconds off the Indian's mark. The pair then began trading times for a while, until home hero Kamui Kobayashi joined the fray.

The Japanese Sauber driver then very quickly established himself at the top, to the delight of the crowd, with a sequence of laps that resulted in a 1m37.760s with the Swiss team's heavily updated car.

It was forty minutes before the big players emerged from the pits and Alonso was the first to fire in a fast time - 1m35.181s. That was quickly eclipsed by Hamilton's 1m34.937s, but the Ferrari man was back on top again the next time around with a 1m34.372s.

Not to be outdone, Hamilton then posted a 1m33.725s to go six tenths clear at the top.

Emphasising McLaren's pace, Button then posted a 1m33.648s to lower the mark further and bump his team-mate to second.

It was around this time that Pastor Maldonado ran wide toward the end of the Esses sequence of corners before thumping across the grass at high speed and re-emerging on the track right in front of Red Bull's Mark Webber. The Williams man pulled off the track not long after.

Vettel emerged from the pits just after the halfway mark for an eight-lap run. But his fastest effort - at the end of that sequence of laps - was scuppered by a huge bite of opposite lock while on the power out of the chicane. Still the Red Bull man's efforts were good enough for fourth at this stage, behind the McLarens and Alonso, and ahead of Webber in the sister RB7.

With half an hour of the session to go, Button emerged from the pits once more - the McLarens still holding sway at the top of the times – and looked all set to improve his time further before locking up at the hairpin.

Vettel had another crack at it with 20 minutes to go, but could only manage a lap good enough for third, jumping ahead of Alonso who was also on track at the time doing an evaluation run.

The German was back out again in the final ten minutes, as were most of the field, but by this stage their prime tyres were well used and Button remained unchallenged at the top, and the scene looked well set until that final flurry of activity.

Behind the top five, Jaime Alguersuari made a good account of himself once again in sixth position for Toro Rosso, ahead of Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari, Sebastien Buemi in the sister Toro Rosso, Michael Schumacher and Vitaly Petrov who completed the top ten.

FP1


Pos  Driver                Team                    Time                Laps

 1.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1m33.634s            20

 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes        1m33.725s  + 0.091   18

 3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m34.090s  + 0.456   22

 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1m34.372s  + 0.738   24

 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m34.426s  + 0.792   25

 6.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m34.937s  + 1.303   23

 7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m35.585s  + 1.951   27

 8.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m35.590s  + 1.956   25

 9.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes                1m36.033s  + 2.399   22

10.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault                 1m36.370s  + 2.736   18

11.  Bruno Senna           Renault                 1m36.487s  + 2.853   18

12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes    1m36.700s  + 3.066   21

13.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari          1m36.948s  + 3.314   24

14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1m36.949s  + 3.315   22

15.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari          1m37.103s  + 3.469   29

16.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m38.197s  + 4.563   18

17.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1m38.331s  + 4.697   11

18.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth       1m38.446s  + 4.812    8

19.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault           1m39.168s  + 5.534   10

20.  Karun Chandhok        Lotus-Renault           1m39.946s  + 6.312   22

21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth         1m40.872s  + 7.238   13

22.  Jerome D-Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth         1m41.019s  + 7.385   24

23.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth            1m41.106s  + 7.472   25

24.  Narian Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth            1m41.775s  + 8.141   25


All Timing Unofficial[/code]




Jenson Button once again set the pace in the second free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on Friday.



The McLaren man's best time of 1m31.901s was 0.174s quicker than Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were only third and fourth fastest, but the duo's long-run pace on the softer option Pirelli tyres suggested that they may have an advantage when things get serious later in the weekend.



McLaren's drivers set the initial pace in the 90-minute session, following on from the team's strong showing in FP1, Button and Hamilton trading times at the top of the order. That dispute was settled in favour of Hamilton who set a 1m34.529s.



But that mark was only good until Alonso eclipsed it with a 1m33.848s lap, which itself got bumped when Webber set a new pace of 1m33.782s. Alonso then responded swiftly with a 1m33.503s.



That remained the benchmark for quite a while, with Red Bull's Webber 0.155s behind, as all the teams continued to work through their prime tyre programmes.



During this period Kamui Kobayashi had more than one small moment; Bruno Senna had a lucky moment when a spin resulted in no damage at Turn One; and Rubens Barrichello had more than a mere moment - instead thumping the barriers heavily at Degner One after getting on the grass on entry. The Brazilian climbed from his broken car unscathed.



Just before the hour mark, Barrichello's Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado also parked his car at Degner One - but this time with a technical issue. That resultant yellow flag period scuppered several drivers' first soft tyre runs.



By that stage though Alonso had already improved his best to 1m32.075s. Webber had also gone quicker to keep the Ferrari man honest - just 0.072s between them - and also Jenson Button had got a lap in on the softs...



In fact not only had he done that, but his 1m31.901s was the fastest anyone would manage on those tyres as he once again went fastest.



No sooner had the yellows dispersed from Maldonado's problems and Jarno Trulli's trundling Lotus, than Kobayashi had yet another scare. This time it was a big one when he got completely sideways in the middle of 130R. The Japanese saved it, but it was close.



Back up to speed again and with 20 minutes to go Vettel improved to third ahead of team-mate Webber, making it four drivers covered by 0.25s at the time.



The front-runners all stuck on those tyres as they begun their soft tyre evaluations and it became clear that while McLaren and Ferrari were quick on the one-laps, the Red Bulls were cruising along in the high 1m37s often a second faster than the opposition. Ominous.



Behind the top four Felipe Massa was half a second off the pace ahead of Michael Schumacher in the quicker Mercedes. The seven-time champion was the last man within a second of Button.



Nico Rosberg in the other Mercedes was seventh with Hamilton, Vitaly Petrov and Sebastien Buemi completing the top ten.





[code]FP2


Pos  Driver                Team                  Time              Laps

 1.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m31.901s    	     32

 2.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m32.075s  + 0.174  33

 3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m32.095s  + 0.194  35

 4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m32.147s  + 0.246  28

 5.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m32.448s  + 0.547  34

 6.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m32.710s  + 0.809  26

 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m32.982s  + 1.081  27

 8.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m33.245s  + 1.344  26

 9.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault               1m33.446s  + 1.545  36

10.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.681s  + 1.780  33

11.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.705s  + 1.804  25

12.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m33.790s  + 1.889  36

13.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m34.393s  + 2.492  35

14.  Bruno Senna           Renault               1m34.557s  + 2.656  27

15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m34.601s  + 2.700  33

16.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m36.038s  + 4.137  33

17.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault         1m36.225s  + 4.324  35

18.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1m37.123s  + 5.222  14

19.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth       1m37.440s  + 5.539  30

20.  Jerome D-Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth       1m38.093s  + 6.192  30

21.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth     1m38.387s  + 6.486  16

22.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth          1m38.763s  + 6.862  36

23.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault         1m39.800s  + 7.899  24

24.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth          1m42.480s  + 10.579  4


All Timing Unofficial

Sauber is keeping its fingers crossed that the update package it is introducing at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix brings it a 'significant' step to help boost its constructors' championship position.

The Swiss outfit has slipped behind Force India in recent races, and is now under pressure from Scuderia Toro Rosso in a fight for seventh place in the constructors' championship.

And having scored just one point in the last four races, new aerodynamic developments have been added to its car in Suzuka to help lift its performance.

Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn said the hope was for a decent step forward in performance - which was vital to its campaign.

"There is an expectation of a significant step," she said when asked by AUTOSPORT about the expectations from the new parts.

"We had always intended to have a major step in Suzuka, like we had last year, but it has gained in importance seeing how our direct competitors have been doing.

"Now we have to fight for the position we have, and make sure the others stay behind us."

Team principal Peter Sauber conceded in Singapore that the outfit was paying the price for the points it lost at the start of the season with a wing irregularity in Australia, and Kaltenborn admitted that the team's position was not ideal.

"Had we not had the opening of the season and the gearbox issue we had in Monza, it could have looked a bit different," she explained.

Sebastian Vettel will take as much pleasure from winning the championship well before the end of the season as he did from clinching it at the finale last year.

That is the view of Michael Schumacher, who believes that there is very little difference in how it feels to become champion whichever stage of the season it is done.

Vettel needs to score just one point at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix to secure his second title, and will also win if his only remaining rival Jenson Button fails to take victory.

"The moment you win the championship it is a very particular moment," said Schumacher, who has experience of winning titles both at final races and well before the end of campaigns.

"It is maybe slightly different if you go to a race and you may not anticipate you win the championship there but you do. Or, if you come to a race and it is basically clear after it that you be champion.

"But in this respect it differs a very small amount. At the end of the day once you have done it, at least in my experience, you go out and have fun with the team - and then you get focused on the next race onwards."

Schumacher does believe, however, that clinching the title at Suzuka is a unique experience - because of the history at the venue.

"It means something special because Suzuka is one of the favourite tracks for most drivers and certainly me," he explained.

"The layout is very particular and very challenging. It is very special in the fact that the most important championship, in the year 2000, we celebrated here, after a very tough year and a tough fight in the race itself. And that makes it special.

"Probably the after parties in the Log Cabin here too were special, but it doesn't exist any more."

Nico Rosberg says his future plans have not been changed despite him emerging as a major player in the driver market thanks to Jenson Button committing himself to McLaren.

With Button, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel now all tied up with their teams for the foreseeable future, Rosberg is one of the leading drivers who are free agents for 2013 - when there could be vacant seats at both Red Bull Racing and Ferrari.

But despite the good position he finds himself in, Rosberg says that he is still focusing at the moment on building a stronger future at Mercedes GP.

"I don't really want to speak about the long term," he said, when asked by AUTOSPORT about the implications of Button committing himself to McLaren for the next few years.

"All I can say is that I am very, very happy here, and it is great to see the direction this team has taken. I believe this team is going to make it, so that is all for now."

Rosberg is hugely encouraged by the restructuring that has gone on at Mercedes GP this year, allied to the signing of Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis to boost its technical strength.

And he dropped a firm hint that although there may be good options elsewhere to consider for 2013 – with Ferrari and Red Bull Racing believed to consider the German a possibility – that a future at Mercedes GP could be right option for him anyway.

"It might still take a while, but eventually it is the best position to be in," he said.

Drivers will have access to six sets of soft tyres during the inaugural Indian Grand Prix after Pirelli announced that it is taking the unusual step of making the yellow-labelled compound the prime selection for the event.

Pirelli has defined the tyre compounds it will provide to the teams for the final three races of 2011, with the Italian manufacturer opting to take a cautious approach to the new Buddh circuit later this month.

Teams are given 11 sets of tyres per grand prix weekend - normally five softer option sets and six harder primes. But they often then return a set of hard tyres unused after the event. Pirelli has been campaigning to switch the allocation around for a while, with support from the GPDA, so as to reduce waste.

Pirelli's decision means that drivers will be able to make better use of their tyre allocation to learn the new Buddh circuit.

The fact that it has also brought the hard tyre back in to service – a compound it had previously indicated it would not use again this season – is an indication of its conservative approach to the event.

Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery said: "India is a big unknown for all the teams and ourselves, so we will also be taking the most durable hard tyre in order to cover every base."

For the final two races at Abu Dhabi and Brazil Pirelli will provide soft option tyres and medium primes.

"Abu Dhabi is much more familiar territory for us, where we know that the medium and the soft tyre will suit the circuit well. As for Interlagos, we're aiming to end the season on a high," said Hembrey. "The combination of medium and soft rubber has given us some close racing in the past, lots of overtaking and provided some good opportunities for interesting pit stop strategies."

Team Lotus and Renault are set to be forced to wait for a Formula 1 Commission meeting to find out if their plans to change their names for 2012 will be approved, AUTOSPORT has learned, after Ferrari, Sauber and HRT requested the matter be debated formally.

Team Lotus hopes to be renamed as Caterham for next year, with the Renault team wanting to take the Lotus moniker as part of an increased involvement in the Enstone-based outfit from the British sportscar manufacturer.

For the changes to be approved they need to win support from 18 members of the 26-strong Formula 1 Commission - which is made up of teams, Bernie Ecclestone, FIA president Jean Todt and representatives of race promoters, engine manufacturers and sponsors.

In theory, the approval could have been given swiftly with a fax vote of the F1 Commission - especially with members of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) having indicated recently that they would not block the move.

However, sources have revealed that Ferrari, Sauber and HRT have now asked for clarification on the situation and a proper discussion in the F1 Commission about the implications of the name changes.

It is understood there is concern about the consequences of allowing teams to change names easily - because of the damage it could cause to F1's brand image if outfits are regularly being called something different.

Should the discussion result in the F1 Commission not approving the name changes, then Team Lotus and Renault would have to decide if they stick with their current titles or if they opt to change names but lose television rights income.

Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn believed that it was only right that the matter be discussed when the F1 Commission next gets together.

"The name change is within the competence of the F1 Commission and I think we will deliberate it there," she said, when asked by AUTOSPORT about the situation. "We don't want to comment any more on that matter."

Sebastian Vettel says his crash in this morning's opening practice session at Suzuka was a reminder that he must not lose his focus despite being on the verge of celebrating his second title.

The Red Bull driver hit the barriers at the Degner Two corner near the end of the morning session, although the damage to his car was minimal.

Vettel said, however, that the crash showed he must not starting thinking about celebrating his title, but rather about doing the best job possible.

"I had a good reminder this morning in practice not to start thinking about something else," said Vettel of his crash.

"I think it was not really a big mistake. It was maybe at that moment I was not 100 per cent awake, and mistakes around here can be quite costly. I went off and tried to come back, tried to slow the car down as much as possible but didn't make it and hit the wall slightly.

"It was not a big impact but it did some damage the car. It's not perfect and it did affect our run plan a little bit, but I think we had a solid afternoon.

"It is pretty tricky this year on this tyres, the cars generally are a bit more alive, so when I stopped I had the opportunity to watch some of the cars and for Suzuka you can see they are much more alive than they used to be. On Sunday, it will be quite interesting."

Vettel finished the afternoon session as third quickest, but his long-race pace suggests the German is still favourite for pole and for the race.

Team-mate Mark Webber was fourth quickest after enjoying a trouble-free day, the Australian hoping for a strong result this weekend even though he knows it will be impossible to delay Vettel's title celebrations.

"I will be racing as I want to. I want to get the best result possible for myself and the guys, and we are still here to race," he said.

"Obviously it is a big weekend for Seb closing up the championship, which is virtually inevitable, but in the end we still have some good races to come. But McLaren and Ferrari are not slow so we need to work hard and there is a battle to be closed and other battles still going on of course."

Mercedes said it made up ground during Japanese Grand Prix practice at Suzuka today after a challenging start, although Michael Schumacher feels the circuit may show up some of the car's weaknesses.

Schumacher and team-mate Nico Rosberg ended today's sessions in sixth and seventh places respectively.

"We were working on set-up issues as usual and achieved much of what we wanted, however we are aware that the character of our car and the character of this track are not a perfect match and there are areas still to work on," said Schumacher.

"From what I have seen so far, I would guess we will find ourselves qualifying in the region we have been lately, but obviously we will make our best efforts to improve our position further."

Rosberg said the day had been "challenging" but ultimately productive.

"We had two challenging sessions today as we worked to get the balance of the car right on high and low fuel loads," he said. "However at the end of P2, I'm happy with what we learnt, and I think all is going in the right direction for tomorrow."

Team boss Ross Brawn agreed with Rosberg's assessment that things were now moving in the right direction.

"Suzuka is a very challenging track and we had a slightly tricky balance to start with this morning," he said.

"By the end of the second session this afternoon, we had largely got on top of that, with the engineers and drivers doing a good job to find better solutions."

Felipe Massa has suggested Red Bull Racing may be out of reach this weekend given the team's practice pace on Friday at Suzuka.

Although championship leader Sebastian Vettel finished down in third position, the German's long-race pace was impressive, lapping in the 1m37s, a time Massa labelled as "too quick".

"That's quick, isn't it? 37 was a little bit too quick," said Massa. "We need to see for sure if you go to the long run with 20 kilos less or 20 kilos more, or 30 kilos - maybe some were running with 100kg and some with 140kg you can see a big difference.

"We will wait and see in the race, which is the right time to have a clear picture."

Massa admitted he was unable to go through the fast 130R corner with his DRS open like rival Red Bull.

"It is not easy for our car. Maybe tomorrow there will be a bit more grip and we can see if it is going to be better."

The Ferrari driver, fifth quickest today, said he was pleased with his session, but admitted the real gap to the front will only be seen tomorrow.

"I think it was okay. We only need to wait until tomorrow to see the real gap between the cars but I think it was a good Friday anyway, the car feels good, and I hope better than the last races.

"So for sure the race here will not be easy in terms of tyre degradation. It is a track that uses a lot of tyres as well, so it is something that we need to be aware of with the right strategy as well."

Tonio Liuzzi is predicting a very tough weekend for him after failing to complete any significant running in Friday practice.

The HRT driver managed just four laps in the afternoon session before his car suffered a water pressure problem.

Liuzzi had been replaced by Narain Karthikeyan in the morning, so the Italian completed nearly no running today, and he believes he will pay the price during the weekend.

"Unfortunately today was too short to have any information on the car," said Liuzzi. "After three laps we had an issue with the water pressure so we had to stop the car on the track.

"Two laps aren't enough to judge how the car is but the good thing is that in those two laps we were up to pace. It's a shame because this is a circuit where you need to do kilometres to get some rhythm going so it won't be an easy weekend after this short practice session but we'll see where we are tomorrow morning."

Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed a better session, the Australian finishing in 22nd position after over 60 laps today.

"My day went pretty well; luckily it went better than Tonio's who unfortunately had to retire early on. So I'm happy to have completed both sessions. The car doesn't feel too bad but we're still quite a bit off the pace of our closest rivals so we need to make a big step to close the gap on them.

"I'm not sure where we'll find this lost time; some of it could be in my driving. But we all need to work together on this to close that gap and hopefully we can achieve it to have a competitive race."

Toro Rosso ended Friday at Suzuka very upbeat after its cars showed top-10 pace in Japanese Grand Prix practice.

Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi were sixth and eighth in the morning, and 10th and 11th - Buemi ahead this time - later on.

"This was a good day's work and I feel we have made a step forward, which I hope we can confirm tomorrow with a good qualifying performance which would give us the sort of grid position from which to have a strong race," said Alguersuari.

"Our car definitely feels better at this type of track than the high downforce type like our last race in Singapore. We have found more pace and there is still more to come, so it looks quite promising at the moment."

Buemi said getting through the day in trouble-free fashion had been a big help, as well as agreeing that the car was at its best at Suzuka.

"I think this is the first very nice, very smooth Friday we have had for a long time, maybe since Hungary, with no issues, no crashes, no rain," he said. "This meant we were able to get plenty done and have a good feeling for what the car could do and how the few new parts we brought here are working.

"It's a bit early to talk about car performance, but if you compare today to Singapore, where we were at the back of our group, today we seem to be ahead of all of them with the exception of [Vitaly] Petrov.

"The car is better suited to this type of track, but we still need to wait and see how qualifying goes tomorrow, as it will be a tight fight. However, I am confident we can have a good weekend."

Toro Rosso's chief engineer Laurent Mekies said as well as the car being well-suited to Suzuka, the new front wing, floor and revised rear wing introduced this weekend were paying off already.

"We have picked up some pace thanks to the all the efforts that went into introducing our updates," he said. "For the moment, they appear to have helped us close the gap to some of our closest rivals and now it is up to us to put everything together tonight in order to confirm that tomorrow."

Sauber technical director James Key is pleased with the way that his team's major upgrade package performed during Friday practice at Suzuka.

The package includes new front and rear wings, as well as brake ducts, turning vanes, sidepod deflectors and floor modifications. There are also mechanical changes to the car.

Key admitted that progress still needs to be made on the car setup, but that fundamentally the car lived up to expectations after Kamui Kobayashi ended this afternoon's session 13th overall, 3.314 seconds off the pace.

"The balance of the car needs improving, but the numbers that we are seeing and the data stacks up to what we expected, which is the most important thing," said Key. "It's so far, so good, but there's certainly work to do this evening to get more out of it.

"We were pretty methodical this morning going through everything to check the effects of what we brought to make sure that there were no hidden issues, but that seemed okay. This afternoon was about working with the package that we have."

Key stressed that the plan had always been to bring this upgrade to Suzuka and that it was not rushed through in response to the team losing sixth place in the constructors' championship to Force India.

"It was always planned to have an update for Suzuka," he said. "We have pushed fairly hard recently because of Force India's good form, but this time last year we set out when the major packages we wanted to introduce would be targeted for and Suzuka was the last major package of the year."

Sergio Perez, who ended the day 15th, just 0.155s off his team-mate, admitted that there was more time to come both from the aero package and himself.

"There is definitely room for improvement from me, and we also have to get the most out of our new aero package," said the Mexicxan. "The tyre degradation on the front was quite big, and we have to improve the balance to cope with that in the race."

Williams drivers Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello were left lamenting their lack of running in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The duo endured a difficult start to the weekend on Friday, with Barrichello managing just 11 laps in the morning and 14 in the afternoon.

Maldonado stopped early in second practice because of an engine problem.

"I had limited running today which was unfortunate," said Barrichello, 18th quickest. "In this morning's session, a puncture cut my session short and then an off this afternoon also put me out early.

"The car felt quite loose before the incident and so we have a lot of things to look into now."

Maldonado, who finished down in 21st place, added: "An engine problem caused me to stop early in P2. It's my first time at Suzuka so I really need some more laps. We'll have our work cut out in tomorrow's final session."

Williams said that, due to the lack of running, it will revise its programme for final practice on Saturday.

Jarno Trulli believes that the tweaks to the old specification power steering system that he has had to switch to for the Japanese Grand Prix weekend mean that it is an improvement on the last time he used it.

The Italian has switched from the system introduced for the Hungarian Grand Prix to the system that he used previously. He also used the old specification unit at Spa which, like Suzuka, produces to heavy a steering load for the new system.

The team has tweaked the unit, which has improved its consistency. This is despite Trulli not being completely happy after he ended the day 7.899 seconds off the pace after gearbox trouble in the morning and an alternator problem in the afternoon.

"It feels more consistent in terms of reaction," Trulli told AUTOSPORT. "But I am missing a little bit of feeling. it's the one I used at Spa updated, which isn't the optimum, but it's still better than the very old one.

"This morning, first of all we tested the two kinds of power steering [the Spa specification one and the pre-Hungary version]. Then, I had a gearbox problem and in the afternoon I had a power issue, so I couldn't complete much of the day. We tried to recover it, changing the battery, but it was in fact an alternator.

"I am at the bottom of the results because I didn't use new tyres and I couldn't really complete any of the programme that was put in place."

Team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was able to set a more representative pace, ending up 17th overall, 4.324 seconds off the pace.

Trulli believes that, with a trouble-free run tomorrow, it is possible to qualify well and perhaps take the fight to the midfield pack in the race.

"We will be closer tomorrow," he said. "How close to the guys in front, it's difficult to say.

"What I normally see is that we are closer in qualifying but in the race our pace is much better. If we can stay close in qualifying, we might be able to race part of the race with the guys in front, this is my target."

Vijay Mallya has denied he plans to sell his Force India Formula 1 team, on the back of his decision to shut down the low-cost arm of his airline.

Mallya announced earlier this month that he is to close the low-cost part of his Kingfisher airline in order to focus on the premium model and reduce debt.

Indian media reported Mallya could also be considering selling his Formula 1 team, but he has rubbished the speculation.

"I was shocked to read a media report that I am selling the Force India Formula 1 team," said Mallya in a statement.

"This is completely untrue and without any basis whatsoever. I take great pride in having been able to put an Indian team on the Formula 1 world championship grid and have worked very hard to greatly improve the performance of the team.

"Now that India is finally on the Formula 1 World Championship calendar, my commitment to Force India becomes even stronger. As team principal, I will continue to run the team and I have no plans whatsoever to exit."

The inaugural Indian Grand Prix takes places on 30 October.

Fernando Alonso still believes the podium is the best Ferrari can hope for in the Japanese Grand Prix as he expects Red Bull will run away with the race.

Alonso's Ferrari was second to Jenson Button's McLaren in Friday practice at Suzuka, but the Spaniard anticipates a big step from Red Bull tomorrow.

"Our target, our aim, is to fight for the podium in the races that are now to the end," said Alonso.

"But we know that Red Bull tomorrow will be very strong, as normally they are on Saturday. On this type of circuit, the normal result is Red Bull first and second so we need to fight with McLaren for the third position."

Alonso thinks he can find a little more time in himself for tomorrow.

"There is always something to gain in qualifying, and I am sure all drivers will try and find something more, even if you say Suzuka is a track that if you push a little bit over the limit you probably go off the track, so you need to balance, that but in my case I am sure that tomorrow hopefully I can find some more tenths, especially in the first sector," he said.

"The Esses, when you go through there, you think you can push a little bit more in the next lap, but with this year's tyres there is not any more the next lap - you have only one chance, so tomorrow in Q3 I am sure that we will find the perfect lap."

With no upgrades on the Ferrari this weekend, Alonso said the focus today had been on tyre work, and he expects a high number of pitstops in the race.

"There were not new parts in the car so we tried to concentrate on the tyres, giving the possibility in a short run to see what is the performance like and then in the long run with both cars different tyres, try to see the performance in the long run as well," he explained.

"We had some good conclusions but it is true that the degradation seems quite important here, as we knew already with the characteristics of the track, so I expect in the race we need to take care of the tyres for sure and the number of pitstops will be quite high."

Bruno Senna is hopeful that Renault will be able to stick with the car updates it has introduced at the Japanese Grand Prix after an encouraging opening day of practice in Suzuka.

The Brazilian ran with the tweaked aero parts, which included re-profiled bodywork, and the team encountered none of the cooling issues that had prevented some bits being raced in Singapore.

And with the early data suggesting an improvement in car performance, even though Senna ended up behind team-mate Vitaly Petrov, there is a chance both cars will be fitted with the parts for Saturday if the overnight analysis of data shows there has been a step forward.

"The car feels a bit different from how it felt before," Senna told AUTOSPORT. "It is hard to know if it is the circuit or if it is the updates, so we are looking into it.

"Hopefully it will be the right way. So far the numbers look good, but we need to see if it is the right thing to continue or not."

Senna felt that there was more time to come from the Renault with a better set-up, and was hopeful that the team was back in the hunt for points after its difficult Singapore GP.

"I think we still need to work to find a more driveable car from my side. I am sure we can make the car a bit easier to drive, on the edge, and we know Suzuka is a very tough track to get a lap together.

"There are many corners and all of them are pretty fast, but today was a good day for us to understand the car and the track, and hopefully tomorrow with a different wind we will be better.

"We are happy to be back in the top ten with Vitaly, and I am sure we can get there as well. It gives you good hope to be there and score some points in the race."

Jenson Button believes McLaren needs to improve a lot in order to feel confident of challenging Red Bull this weekend in the Japanese Grand Prix.

Although Button set the pace in both the morning and the afternoon sessions of practice on Friday, Red Bull's pace over long runs suggests the team is still favourite for victory this weekend.

Button was happy with his day's work, but conceded McLaren will need more speed to be able to match Red Bull.

"It's only Friday, but the car feels good around here," said Button. "I'm pretty happy with today but we need to improve a lot more to really feel confident that we can really challenge the Red Bulls.

"There are a few areas where we are still a little bit weak. We need to improve in terms of balance and hopefully we can find that overnight for tomorrow morning."

He added: "We don't [know what the real picture is]. I mean, they are extremely quick, but I don't think we are that slow. You never know what people are doing with fuel loads. Ferrari are possibly running with more fuel than they normally do because they had a shocking race in Singapore.

"We don't know what fuel people are running, so we just get on with our own work. We've made some good progress, but I think there are areas where we can improve."

Button admitted he is not thinking too much about delaying Sebastian Vettel's title celebrations, but rather about challenging for victory on Sunday.

The Briton is the only other driver with a mathematical chance in the championship, but he needs to win the race.

"He still has to not finish or finish outside the top ten, and he hasn't done that yet this year," said Button of Vettel.

"The important thing for us is to get our car sorted for the weekend and hopefully we will be quick enough to challenge for victory."

Michael Schumacher has been fined 5,000 Euros for making a late entry into the pits during second practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Schumacher dived into the pits after a bollard that marks the official start of the pitlane, which is a breach of F1's sporting regulations.

After investigation by the stewards, it was decided that because the incident took place in practice that there would not be more serious action taken against him - so he was fined 5,000 Euros.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, Bruno Senna, Sebastien Buemi and Heikki Kovalainen all escaped without punishment following investigations into yellow flag infringements during practice.

All four drivers were called to the stewards on Friday afternoon for having set their best sector times while yellow flags were out for Vitantonio Liuzzi's stranded car in second practice.

The yellow flag section was 278 metres of a sector that measured 2557 metres in total.

After analysis of data from each drivers' car, the stewards discovered that all the drivers had slowed down for the incident – which is why they decided to take no action.

Friday's press conference:

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES - Giorgio ASCANELLI (Toro Rosso), Pat FRY (Ferrari), James KEY (Sauber), Paddy LOWE (McLaren), Adrian NEWEY (Red Bull), Naoki TOKUNAGA (Renault)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Naoki, do you regard this as a home race?

Naoki TOKUNAGA: Yes of course. Coming back to Suzuka is always quite a good feeling. Not only because the circuit is very challenging both for the driver and the engineer but also it is my home grand prix. Also the fans, they are fantastic. They are always respectful with us and very happy and they know how to enjoy their race weekend. This year I came here with a little bit extra emotion obviously after the tragedy, so I am quite happy that the fans and the teams all got together again here in Suzuka for this great sporting event.

Q. When Honda and Toyota were involved there were a lot of Japanese people in Formula One, but not so many these days. What is your background and how did you get into Formula One?

NT: I studied in Japan and since then I have always wanted to work in motorsport and in particular Formula One. My career started in an automotive company in Japan, but I always wanted to seek an opportunity in England to get a job and luckily I think it was in 2000 I got the job as a vehicle dynamics engineer at Enstone. It is how my career started and I enjoy the life there. It looks like it is a bit stuck in England but, nonetheless, it is not at all a bad country and I am quite happy being there.

Q. This weekend so far, are you happy to be back on this circuit rather than the slower corners of Singapore.

NT: Yes, this circuit is quite hard on tyres because the tyre energy as a biproduct of the tyre forces are quite high. Especially the front tyres. It is one of the highest circuits of all grand prix tracks. Coupled with this is the abrasive surface of the tarmac. Those combined can make the tyre degradation quite high so I think it is important you set the car balance right to avoid understeer in the high speed corner. We focussed today on getting a good balance and we worked on ride height and spring rates to get an easy to drive car. In P1 the balance is a little bit loose on the rear and poor traction. The good thing is the front of the car was quite strong in mid-corner so we try to keep it and we worked on the rear to get it a little bit better. Also we try a little bit new differential mapping to help traction so in P2 the drivers were generally much happier so I think it was good sessions.

Q. Giorgio, we heard basically the expansion plans of the team at the Italian Grand Prix. Tell us how those are going and in comparison to the RRA, the Resource Restriction Agreement.

Giorgio ASCANELLI: Well, we have developed a plan. We will increase our capacity in aerodynamics, of course, and then in more or less every other part of the company. The accent is on aerodynamics and simulation. As per the RRA they are not a consideration yet. I don't think we are going to hit the limits anyway. A good selection of people is ongoing and we will have to try to make the best of it.

Q. Looking forward, when it comes to next year the rules are pretty much the same. But with the exhaust, how big a change is that?

GA: It is a very large change. I think this morning our car was quite better than this afternoon just because we had an evolution of the exhaust which unfortunately broke on us. I don't quite see this happening next year.

Q. Which, you don't see such breakages happening next year?

GA: I think there is going to be more limited space for development.

Q. So there is more work than perhaps would appear to be apparent?

GA: Yes.

Q. James, you have brought a lot of stuff this race. It's an important race for one of your drivers. How has the testing gone during the session?

James KEY: It has been okay. We had a lot of new bits. It wasn't just pure aero parts, there were mechanical parts involved in the bits we brought so we were pretty methodical this morning going through everything to check the affects of what we brought to make sure there were no hidden issues. That seemed to be okay. This afternoon we have been working more with the package that we have. The balance of the car needs improving at the moment, but the numbers we are seeing, the data all stacks up to what we expected, which is the most important thing. So I think so far so good but there is certainly some work to do this evening to get more out of it at the moment.

Q. Was that an effect from Force India pushing you or was it already planned?

JK: It was always planned to have an update for Suzuka. We have pushed it fairly hard recently because of Force India's good form of late but this time last year we set out when the major packages we wanted to introduce would be targeted for and Suzuka was the last major package of the year so we always had a plan to come here with some new parts.

Q. Paddy, interesting that both your drivers spoke about better straightline speed now and also a better rear wing for qualifying. How has that happened?

Paddy LOWE: Well we have a new rear wing which is better for qualifying! The principal difference between qualifying and the race is the DRS so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that that is the reason. We have a wing and we have made a step on the difference between DRS on and off. That was the wing, actually, that we had in Singapore. Originally intended for this race but we managed to bring it early to Singapore.

Q. In terms of the rules talking about DRS, what changes for 2012? How have you been able to develop for 2012?

PL: This was the first year using it obviously so for all the teams it was a big learning curve. A big area, a big opportunity to make a difference against your competitors. The rules next year are exactly the same with the DRS so we will see the technology will mature more. Probably we will see less differences between the teams in terms of DRS effect. But we will still find more bit by bit.

Q. Just going back to DRS it was slightly more complicated than just opening and closing the flap?

PL: Do you mean in terms of how it works through the race and though the event?

Q. Yes.

PL: I think it has been a fascinating area for this year not just for the actually race and the entertainment it has given with easier overtaking which I think has transformed the nature of races. Technically it has been fascinating. It has added a whole new dimension to the process of selecting the best wing for an event. It used to be quite a one dimensional task, run a wing, have a little look at what your competitors were doing as well iterate through the weekend to the right wing level. Now you have an extra dimension which is what is your qualifying pace, what's your race pace with the DRS, without it, and even with the complication that if it is raining in qualifying then you cannot use the DRS. You might have to factor that in if it's a weekend with potential rain. Lots of complicated sums for the guys to do in the office with the computers to work out what's the best plan.

Q. Adrian, Kamui Kobayashi said yesterday that one of the great strengths of Sebastian Vettel's was his ability to communicate to the engineers. Tell us about that and his other strengths.

Adrian NEWEY: He is a very bright young lad who thinks a lot about what he does. Takes a lot of time to try and understand the car, understand his own performance. Like most good drivers he has a good feeling for the car. He is very strong in some areas. He has a very good feeling for the tyres, what can I say.

Q. Is that communication though something that stands out as you have worked with many drivers over the years?

AN: I think Sebastian is very gifted naturally but he works hard at it and that is always the hallmark of a great driver.

Q. Some of the drivers you've worked with, have they worked as hard or can you just see an extra dimension from him?

AN: Pass.

Q. In terms of today, how are your feelings about today? It is interesting three manufacturers in the first three places.

AN: It's Friday, what can I say. It's the usual thing on a Friday. We don't know exactly what fuel loads people are running and everybody is trying to understand what suits their car on the day. I think Friday, get on and do your own job and then Saturday and Sunday you start to find out where you are.

Q. A lot of teams say this circuit suits their car better. They weren't so happy with the slower circuits such as the slower corners of Singapore, but your car seems to work everywhere. is that the case?

AN: I will be able to tell you on Sunday evening.

Q. But you're happy with the performance so far?

AN: So far, yeah.

Q. Pat, the tyres this year were obviously very new. What sort of changes do you see for next year?

Pat FRY: Well the rear construction is changing. Compounds are changing so exactly what that is, I don't think it is going to be a big step or as big a step in terms of how the degradation of the tyres is affected. I don't think we will actually know until we actually run them.

Q. That is something you have had a problem with in terms of temperature. Is that something you can see a little bit the goalpost moving and is that going to be a problem aiming at those goalposts next year?

PF: I don't think so. I think the goalposts are going to be in a similar position. We have just got to move our car so we are working closer to the right area and that's what we are working on now and over the winter.

Q. At what point is the car at the moment? We have heard talk about how it is going to be a much more aggressive, revolutionary car next year.

PF: Things are progressing as you would expect this time of year really. It's the same bunch of guys. They are motivated and doing a great job. We will never know if it is good enough really until the first race.

Q. is it more revolutionary?

PF: It's different. It looks a little bit different but I think there are exhaust rules changing. There are lots of little bits that will end up with the cars looking slightly different but I wouldn't class it as a revolution as such.

Q. Are there such things as revolutions in Formula One now?

PF: Not really, no. It is just hard work isn't it?

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Sarah Holt - BBC Sport) Adrian, we've seen that you've built cars for lots of former champions who have been crowned here in Japan, from Senna to Prost to Hakkinen. How would you rate Vettel amongst those former champions?

AN: Unfortunately I wasn't involved with Ayrton when he was crowned champion here, so I can't comment on that one. It's a bit along the lines of the question earlier. I think Sebastian is obviously supremely talented but I kind of feel it's unfair to start comparing one driver I've worked with against another.

Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Do you think he might have the potential to go on and be a multiple World Champion even beyond this season?

AN: I think undoubtedly yes, there's no doubt Sebastian can do it. It's up to us to try and deliver the car that allows him to do it.

Q. (Will Buxton – Speed TV) Not a technical question but one for everybody. We move on to Korea next, which was a new track last year, and then on to India, which is a new track for this year. How important do you see the constant expansion of the Formula One calendar, and for you, and your teams, how much are looking forward to India? How much can we learn from India? How much can they learn from Formula One?

AN: I think it's great to be going to new places. India is obviously a country we've never been to before so in that sense it's very good, we enjoy going to new circuits. The only caveat I would put on that is that it's important that we don't forget our long-standing traditional circuits. Coming to Suzuka or Monza, Spa, all the great classic circuits that we have and still do go to – I think it would be an awful shame if they dropped of the calendar because, at the end of the day, it's those that are there year-in, year-out and if Formula One lost them, it might be difficult to ever get them back again.

PL: It is a World Championship, so I think bringing the race to more parts of the world... India is a very major population centre in the world, so I think it's great to be going there. We need to go to more places. Going to the States next year is also a really great step.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) It looks as though fighter pilot-like canopies are going to be inevitable in Formula One. What are the technical challenges and do you feel that a closed cockpit runs counter to the spirit of Formula One?

AN: I don't think they are inevitable, actually.

PL: I don't think it's inevitable. It's something that's being studied. A lot of discussion has occurred at council meetings in the FIA as to whether such a thing is right for the sport. An essential feature of Formula One is that it's open-wheeled and open-cockpit. I think the decision, if ever it was taken, to close the cockpit would be very, very fundamental and I think those councillors have already expressed reservations about that, so I think there would have to be a very, very compelling case made that that was an essential feature for safety. Some work is being done to research into it and so far I don't think that a compelling case is emerging, even though there is a risk… I think the biggest risk still present in Formula One, to a driver, is in that area, as we saw with Felipe the other year, but it's not necessarily proven that a canopy is the right solution to that.

Q. (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) Mercedes, next year, has five former technical directors employed, a new Formula One record; how can you survive against them with all this human brain-power?

PL: I hadn't realised it was five. Yeah, that is a lot. Yeah, all is lost. I think we should just all go home! No, they're all good guys. We know them all. I think it's a strong team. We look forward to competing against them.

AN: Similarly, I'm going to worry about what we do in Milton Keynes, not what's happening in Brackley, to be perfectly honest.

PF: Same. I'm not really thinking about it, to be honest. I've got my own issues and things to sort out. It's a strong team, as Paddy says. Time will tell, won't it?

NT: Each team has its own approach and I think we have a different approach. To tell the truth, I am concentrating on our team, the structure and strategy, how to distribute our resources. We have a different approach.

GA: Or all six of us could go to Mercedes as well and make it 11! Mercedes could manage enough, they pay well, I'm sure we could agree on something!

JK: It's always difficult to comment on what other teams are doing, because you never really know how they are structured and how they work. As Paddy said, it's a pretty strong line-up of people, all with good experience. Personally, I've only really worked for relatively small teams and I guess the one thing I could say from a small team's perspective is that efficiency is certainly better when you're small and I guess with more people, particularly good experienced people, maybe that takes a bit more managing, to make sure it all fits in together – but it's not really for me to say.

Q. (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Adrian, Ferrari is promising a very aggressive new car for next season. McLaren's drivers, also, were complaining somehow, because the car this year was not as powerful and as competitive and they have put a lot of pressure [on their team]. What is the Red Bull going to be next year? Will it be an evolution of what we have now? Do you think that the advantage that you have is enough or are you going to explore new roads and surprise everybody again?

AN: I think that fundamentally there's no point in doing something new if it's not better, so our approach is certainly not complacency, so we're not thinking: 'we don't have to do anything, we'll still be quick enough next year.' That would be enormous folly. We're working away trying to deal with the regulation changes. I think, as mentioned, the restriction on the exhaust exit position is actually a very big change; it goes through the car. Other than that, the regulation changes are significant but not huge. So, in that sense, the car will be an evolution, it will bear a family resemblance to the RB5, RB6, RB7 lineage. It's just a matter of pushing on, as always. As Pat mentioned earlier, the fact is that you don't know how much performance your competitors are going to find over the winter, so it's get your heads down and get on with it, and you find out where you are come the first race.

Q. (Joris Fioriti – Agence France Presse) To Paddy and Adrian, what do Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel have that their team-mates don't have, whether it's positive or negative? What extra thing do they bring to the team?

AN: One's English, one's German, I guess. I don't know, how you can answer that? I can't answer for Paddy, obviously, but I think for Sebastian, this year, he's obviously driving with great confidence on the back of his championship from last year. I think importantly, the change to Pirelli tyres has taken Mark longer than Sebastian to understand; how best to use those tyres. In truth, you can have this perception that the difference is big; it doesn't take much of a swing for things to change, so while Sebastian has clearly had a much stronger run than Mark this year, quite often the difference in the race has been quite small but the results have been different enough that the points standing is where it is.

PL: Between our two drivers, they are very different personalities, they have different styles in the car, but they are both great champions and both driving very well and at similar pace. I think that's great for us; they both give good feedback but complimentary, so it works well.

Q. (Joris Fioriti – Agence France Presse) If one is deeper in his analysis of the car, there must be differences in some ways.

PL: I think it's a bit like you see in races. Lewis has a very aggressive style, he can go straight out there and find the limit immediately. Jenson will work up to that point more subtly to that point but I think that what's great is that you come to qualifying and both guys will go out and deliver the lap. It's just a slightly different way that they do their homework.

Q. (Gary Meenaghan – The National) Adrian, in two years of racing in Abu Dhabi, Sebastian is the only person to have won there. What is it about the Yas Marina circuit that suits Red Bull and Sebastian?

AN: Crikey, I don't know is the honest answer to that. We have had a good run there for the last two years but I'm not sure there's any particular feature of the circuit that makes it well-suited to Sebastian and the car. Can't answer that I'm afraid.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Paddy, following on your DRS comments earlier on, would you like to see DRS use being totally free throughout the weekend, including the race?

PL: I think not, no. The whole point of it was to improve the overtaking in the race. I don't think we want to make overtaking trivial. It's a fine balance, I think it's one that's set at the moment by the FIA in their selection of the zone length and the number of zones, and I think that works well. They need to keep tuning it but if you just made it completely free in the race, I really think that you would make it far too easy and that would go the other extreme in terms of detracting from the spectacle.

[Katsuya]

Epic, Kobayashi jumps from 10th to 7th because he actually started a lap and then aborted it while Michael and the Renault cars didn't. Looking good for Sauber there at least.

[GA!]

Epic, Kobayashi jumps from 10th to 7th because he actually started a lap and then aborted it while Michael and the Renault cars didn't. Looking good for Sauber there at least.

It goes against the spirit of the sport but if it's in the rules then fuck it. I really hope Kobayashi gets a lion's share of points tomorrow, he has potential to be a future championship contender and he really needs to keep the good results rolling in so a bigger team give him a chance.

[Lineker]

Marked out for Kamui. Hope he does well tomorrow.

Jenson Button completed a clean sweep of fastest practice times as he led the way in the final session before qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Friday pacesetter Button (McLaren) was quickest from the opening half of the session, commencing his morning with a 1m33.493s to go straight to the head of the order, then immediately improving to a 1m33.044s.

That stood until the Mercedes became the first frontrunners to try soft tyres going into the final third of the hour, with first Nico Rosberg then Michael Schumacher leading the way as a consequence.

But when Button put softs on, he blasted back to first position with a 1m31.255s - knocking Schumacher off the top spot by nearly 1.5s.

None of Button's rivals could match that pace. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton ended up second quickest, half a second adrift.

World champion Sebastian Vettel was a low-key - by his standards - third for Red Bull, 0.8s down on Button.

Fernando Alonso was the quickest Ferrari driver in fourth, ahead of the second Red Bull of Mark Webber and Ferrari's second driver Felipe Massa.

The Mercedes fell to seventh and eighth, followed by Vitaly Petrov (Renault) and Adrian Sutil (Force India).

Toro Rosso could not quite repeat its strong Friday performancce, with its two cars ending the hour just outside the top 10.

After yesterday's litany of problems and incidents, Williams had a trouble-free session but was off the pace, with Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello down in 16th and 18th.

The session was interrupted by an eight-minute red flag when Bruno Senna crashed on the way out of Spoon 25 minutes in. The Renault ran wide on the exit and spun into the opposite barrier, hopping over its own left front wheel before coming to rest as the tethers prevented the wheel from detaching as the suspension smashed.

Tonio Liuzzi's problems were less dramatic - a drop in hydraulic pressure forced the HRT to stop on the circuit.

FP3


Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap

 1.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m31.255s

 2.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m31.762s  + 0.507s

 3.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m32.122s  + 0.867s

 4.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m32.279s  + 1.024s

 5.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m32.401s  + 1.146s

 6.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m32.429s  + 1.174s

 7.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m32.725s  + 1.470s

 8.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m32.878s  + 1.623s

 9.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault               1m33.058s  + 1.803s

10.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1m33.424s  + 2.169s

11.  Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.469s  + 2.214s

12.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.545s  + 2.290s

13.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m33.818s  + 2.563s

14.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m33.836s  + 2.581s

15.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m33.990s  + 2.735s

16.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth     1m34.321s  + 3.066s

17.  Bruno Senna         Renault               1m35.389s  + 4.134s

18.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     1m35.651s  + 4.396s

19.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus-Renault         1m36.327s  + 5.072s

20.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault         1m36.912s  + 5.657s

21.  Jerome D-Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth       1m37.938s  + 6.683s

22.  Timo Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1m38.011s  + 6.756s

23.  Daniel Ricciardo    HRT-Cosworth          1m38.355s  + 7.100s

24.  Tonio Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth          1m41.097s  + 9.842s


All timing unofficial[/code]




Sebastian Vettel took his 12th pole position of the season at Suzuka, denying Jenson Button the top spot by just 0.009 seconds.



After McLaren and Button had topped all three practice sessions, and Lewis Hamilton led Q2 and the initial Q3 laps, it looked like Red Bull might finally be beaten to a pole for the first time in 2011.



But Hamilton got out slightly too late to complete his final Q3 run - losing time when caught up with Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher at the chicane - and found his 1m30.617s beaten by Vettel's 1m30.466s.



That left it up to Button to try and interrupt Red Bull's pole run, but the Friday pacesetter fell agonisingly short. Vettel can claim the world championship tomorrow by just scoring a single point, or if Button fails to win.



Hamilton ended up third, while the Ferraris were fourth and fifth, with Felipe Massa ahead of Fernando Alonso by 0.062 seconds. Alonso had to abandon his first Q3 shot after going off the road at Spoon.



Webber could only manage sixth in the other Red Bull, despite setting the fastest sector one time.



Schumacher was one of several drivers not to set a Q3 time as he saved tyres. His team-mate Nico Rosberg was not able to run at all on qualifying. A hydraulic issue kept his Mercedes in the garage and he will start 23rd.



Kamui Kobayashi delighted his home crowd by using soft tyres to set the outright pace in Q1, then made it through to Q3, where he chose to save tyres and did not set a flying lap.



Renault took the same strategy, having got over its Singapore dip and got both cars into Q3 again, with Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov starting eighth and ninth.



The Force Indias did not quite make Q3 and will share row six, ahead of the Williams.



Having shown some top 10 potential in practice, Toro Rosso looked like it might reach Q3 after the initial Q2 runs. But the team chose not to run again and the end of the session, so Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari found themselves pushed down to the eighth row.



Sergio Perez will start 17th, a hydraulic problem striking his Sauber before he could set a Q2 time.



At the back, Lotus kept a one-second cushion over Virgin, were Jerome D'Ambrosio outqualified Timo Glock. Tonio Liuzzi's gremlin-strewn weekend continued as his HRT developed further problems early in Q1 and stopped him setting a time.



[code]Qualifying


Pos  Driver                Team                 Time         Gap   

 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m30.466s           

 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m30.475s  + 0.009  

 3.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m30.617s  + 0.151  

 4.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m30.804s  + 0.338  

 5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m30.886s  + 0.420  

 6.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m31.156s  + 0.690  

 7.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             no time                

 8.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              no time                

 9.  Bruno Senna           Renault              no time                

10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       no time                

Q2 cut-off time: 1m32.380s                                   Gap **

11.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m32.463s  + 1.997

12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m32.746s  + 2.280

13.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m33.079s  + 2.613

14.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m33.224s  + 2.758

15.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m33.227s  + 2.761

16.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m33.427s  + 2.961

17.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       no time           

Q1 cut-off time: 1m35.111s                                   Gap *

18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m35.454s   + 4.988     

19.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        1m35.514s   + 5.048     

20.  Jerome D-Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m36.439s   + 5.973     

21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m36.507s   + 6.041     

22.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth         1m37.846s   + 7.380     

23.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             no time                 

24.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth         no time                 


107% time: 1m39.109s


* Gap to quickest in Q1


** Gap to quickest in Q2

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is hoping to get teams together early next month to try and sort out the naming issue relating to Team Lotus and Renault.

As AUTOSPORT revealed yesterday, a bid to try and get approval for the two outfits to change names from the Formula 1 Commission via a fax vote has been scuppered after Ferrari, Sauber and HRT requested that the matter be debated properly in a formal meeting.

It is understood that the three outfits want a proper discussion about the implications of the name change and how the F1 brand will be affected by Team Lotus switching to Caterham and Renault switching to Lotus.

For the name changes to be approved, there must be support from 18 of the 26 members of the F1 Commission - which is made up of the teams, Ecclestone, FIA president Jean Todt plus representatives of sponsors, engine manufacturers and circuits.

With the FIA regulations stating that the list of cars and drivers for the 2012 world championship must be published on or before November 30, the F1 Commission must therefore meet before that date to make its decision.

On the back of that time pressure, sources have revealed that Ecclestone has written to the teams and the other F1 Commission members to ask them to consider meeting on November 3 - the week after the Indian Grand Prix.

Article 13.5 of F1's Sporting Regulations states: "All applications will be studied by the FIA and accepted or rejected, subject to the provisions of The 2009 Concorde Agreement. The FIA will publish the list of cars and drivers accepted together with their race numbers on or before 30 November of the year prior to the year to which the applications relate, having first notified unsuccessful applicants as set out in Article 13.1."

Sauber has used up one of its four curfew exceptions at the Japanese Grand Prix after staff stayed at the track late on Friday to work on the latest car updates.

The Swiss team introduced a big development upgrade to its car for the Suzuka event as it bids to hold on to seventh place in the constructors' championship.

And in a bid to make the most of the potential at Kamui Kobayashi's home event, Sauber elected to use one of its four curfews - with only four races remaining after this weekend's GP.

Jenson Button admitted he felt his fastest lap in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix would be enough for pole, the Briton claiming he got everything out of his car.

The McLaren driver came very close to ending Sebastian Vettel's run of pole positions at Suzuka, the German beating him with a superb final lap by just 0.009 seconds.

The British driver, who will start from second ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, said there was nothing else to extract from his car.

Button also admitted he was delighted to see such a small gap to Vettel on a track that was supposed to favour Red Bull.

"It has been a pretty good weekend," said Button. "As always I love driving around here, Suzuka is a phenomenal circuit, and when the car working around here it is ideal.

"I was building up to Q3 and thought that last lap would be enough - but it was nine thousandths, so not good enough.

"I felt like I got everything out of the car. I had a bit of oversteer on the last run but maybe I was pushing too hard. It's great from team to be close to Red Bull on a circuit where they have been dominant in the past."

Sebastian Vettel described his 12th pole position of the 2011 season as his toughest of the year so far, saying he was delighted to deliver the result despite a tough build-up at Suzuka.

Vettel had a minor accident in Friday morning practice that cost him a lot of track time, and had then been concerned that he could not match pacesetter Jenson Button's McLaren in the remaining sessions.

But in qualifying he managed to find more pace and edged out Button by 0.009 seconds.

"What a qualifying," said Vettel. "Yesterday I went off in free practice and damaged the wing, so it wasn't ideal in the afternoon to prepare the car for today.

"We suffered a bit this morning in particular where we were kind of coming back regarding car balance but we were too slow.

"We sat down after the practice session this morning and fortunately got everything together and were able to get every single bit out of the car in qualifying.

"It was crucial, there's not much between Jenson Button and myself. It was a tough qualifying but I enjoyed it a lot. It is a long lap, you have a mega first sector, every time it is a challenge, it's hard to get it right. I had a bit of a wobble in the first sector but got it right in the second sector."

If Vettel scores a single point in tomorrow's race, he will clinch the world championship for a second straight year. But he said he would banish that thought from his mind until the race was over.

"Regarding the point or no point, I am not really focusing on that," he said.

"I had a lesson yesterday where I didn't do a big mistake, but for a little moment I was not 100 per cent focused and lost the car.

"Tomorrow is a long race and a very challenging race. We start from pole position and it will be very special tomorrow. Lot of things can happen and DRS can open a couple of chances so we'll see where we are.

"We had a good racecar yesterday in preparation so it should be alright. I am looking forward to the race, not the point."

Lewis Hamilton was left frustrated after he was unable to complete his final run in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, labelling his incident with Michael Schumacher as dangerous.

The Briton did not cross the finish line in time to start another run after he was overtaken by Mark Webber and Schumacher during his warm-up lap.

Hamilton admitted he was surprised by the situation, as he believes Webber's and Schumacher's moves were dangerous.

"You could see on TV. I would have to watch replay," said Hamilton. "Jenson was in front of me, he slowed down to get his gap and I was coming to the last corner trying to make sure I had a gap between him and me.

"It wasn't that big and then just was I was coming into the chicane, I looked in the mirror and saw Mark diving inside me. And then I didn't see Michael but he came past me and we nearly crashed with me to the left. It was quite dangerous."

Hamilton had looked like one of the favourites for pole, but his failure to complete the final run left him down in third, which he labelled as good enough.

"It is what it is. But we are still on second row so that is good enough," he said.

Schumacher, meanwhile, said Hamilton had pushed him onto the grass.

"I had Webber in front because Hamilton slowed down. I don't know what was in front of him, if he really had to slow down that much, but it was tight for all three of us so we all had to push somehow to make it through and do another lap.

"At that moment I was set to do a lap because I didn't know whether Kobayashi, or somebody, may go out [to set a time]. I tried my best and Lewis pushed me a little bit wide onto the grass. I made it through, but a bit of an awkward start of a qualifying lap."

The Mercedes driver said he final lap had not been compromised too much by the incident, but he still believes Hamilton was driving too slowly.

"Not really [compromised], luckily nobody else - or at least Kobayashi - didn't go out again to set another lap, because that would have meant I would have been shy by probably a second. Which was a bit stupid - at the last chicane everybody was driving so slow.

"I saw my time, so I knew I had to go through somehow otherwise I wouldn't make it. I just missed it [the flag] by a second. Bit of a shame, but it didn't make a problem in the end."

Toro Rosso says it deliberately prioritised its race plans over qualifying at Suzuka - but still had regrets over its handling of the session after seeing its cars consigned to the eighth row of the Japanese Grand Prix grid.

Although Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari had shown promising speed in practice, they will start only 15th and 16th. Alguersuari went into qualifying intending to be conservative and save tyres for the race, but Buemi had hoped to do better had he not made a mistake on his first run.

"I got a super lap in Q1, but I cannot be happy with Q2, because I made a mistake on the exit of Turn 9, hitting the kerb a bit too hard which sent me off into the grass, costing me around half a second," he said.

"I am disappointed about that because I've ended up behind the Williams, when we could easily have been ahead of them.

"They don't give out any points for qualifying, so we took the decision to save tyres for the race and we will see if that was the right choice tomorrow. Tyre degradation is quite heavy, which means that having new tyres will be important in the race."

Toro Rosso's technical chief Giorgio Ascanelli rued not sending Buemi out again - and also admitted that the team had been forced to remove some development parts which had been critical to its Friday speed.

"We looked good in Friday's FP1, but then we had to back-pedal on performance as we had concerns over reliability with some of the new elements we were running here," he said.

"But today, we did not get it right and it was not a good performance, neither in how we engineered the session, nor in our capacity to produce a good lap time.

"With hindsight, possibly we should have given Sebastien another set of tyres and sent him out again at the end of Q2. There would not have been much point doing that with Jaime because he had too much understeer and we could not fix it, which was not quite the same picture we had seen this morning. Actually, this should work in his favour for the race, because according to our numbers, the rear tyres will be very difficult to manage tomorrow, which explains the amount of understeer Jaime had this afternoon. Sebastien was happier with the car, but he made a mistake on track.

"As usual, I tried to privilege the race rather than qualifying, which is why we did not send him out again and inevitably, some people moved ahead of us."

Having come through from lowly grid positions to score points on five occasions so far this year, Alguersuari said he had no concerns about being 16th.

"We could have had a much better qualifying in performance terms, but we had concentrated on the race in terms of our set-up and aero balance," he said.

"Therefore, even if the grid position is not so good, I am quite happy because I feel that tomorrow I will have a car strong enough to score some points. I could have gone quicker this afternoon, but we decided to save tyres as well as run with a race set-up. I expect we can see a situation similar to Valencia and Monza, being very quick in the race.

"We have tried to focus a lot on the race in terms of getting consistency from the tyres, even if that was going to penalise us this afternoon."

Tonio Liuzzi has labelled his Japanese Grand Prix weekend so far as 'terrible' after hitting more problems on Saturday.

The Italian managed just four laps on Friday after he was replaced by Narain Karthikeyan in first practice and then stopped with problems in the afternoon.

On Saturday, the Italian completed just eight laps in final practice before an engine issue sidelined him.

In qualifying, the HRT driver failed to set a time after being hit by more problems.

Since he hasn't set a time within the 107 per cent all weekend, Liuzzi will need the stewards to give him the green light to race on Sunday.

"It's been a terrible start to the weekend," said Liuzzi. "Yesterday I could only do four laps, eight this morning after an engine issue and this afternoon again problems so in the end I've hardly done any laps in two days.

"We'll start from last position, which isn't very positive, and it's a shame because the few laps we did weren't too bad. But this is one of the best races of the season with a great atmosphere so I'm hoping to put this behind me and have a good race tomorrow."

Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed a better day once more, the Australian qualifying in 22nd position.

"From my point of view it was not a bad session," he said. "I approached it well and did what I had to do. In qualifying you have to push 100% and I definitely did that. I went a little bit wide in some areas from pushing too much but I'd say I only lost about a tenth which isn't enough to get in front of our rivals.

"I am satisfied because the balance of the car was the best it's been all weekend but the others have also improved and we have to keep on working. Anyways it's time to focus on the race where I'm keen to put in a good performance."

Mark Webber described the Suzuka Q3 traffic jam involving his Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton's McLaren and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes as an unfortunate accident of timing, but nobody's fault.

All three cars were trying to make it across the line to start final Q3 runs before the chequered flag fell in Japan.

Webber and Schumacher came upon Hamilton as the McLaren - which was not far behind team-mate Jenson Button's car - slowed at the chicane, and went either side to pass it, with Schumacher slithering across the grass.

As a result, neither Hamilton nor Schumacher made it to the line in time, and Webber's lap was compromised having gone off-line.

Hamilton's first lap had been good enough for third still, while Webber had to settle for sixth and Schumacher did not set a Q3 time in the end.

"I didn't want to pass [Hamilton] at all. I didn't want to get involved in any of that," said Webber.

"But the team are saying 'come on, come on, get on with it, we're not going to be able to start the lap, you've got to push through the last chicane...'

"Lewis was obviously waiting for JB. Michael was coming. I thought 'it can't be that bad because Michael's not all over me, so the guys are obviously leaving a bit of a margin' but then when we got to the chicane Lewis was sort of stopped.

"We all wanted to be the one car starting that lap, but with three of us it wasn't going to go. So that was a bit of a mess."

Webber added: "Lewis tried to block, then kept going, because he obviously didn't want me to pass. I got through, but very low.

"It was s**t for all of us. We all just wanted to open up a lap, but 10 minutes is the session time and we all got backed up."

The Australian underlined that he did not think Hamilton had been doing anything particularly wrong.

"He was looking for his three seconds to JB, I was looking for my three seconds to Lewis," said Webber.

He said the compromised start to his lap was just one of several issues that left him on row three.

"I'd started the lap with quite a bit of dirt on the tyres and we saw the reflection of that in sector one," Webber said. "I made a little mistake in the hairpin and didn't open the DRS from the hairpin to Spoon [because the system will not activate without the throttle 100 per cent open]. I don't know how much time I lost with that. It didn't help."

Webber's Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel took his 12th pole of the year at Suzuka, just ahead of Jenson Button's McLaren. But Webber is not sure that the qualifying results are an accurate indication of the race form.

"We saw Fernando [Alonso] in Singapore - a pretty strong qualifying and you would expect him to have a really good race. But he had a poor race. And JB's last stint [in Singapore] was in a different category," said Webber.

"There's no real trend to Saturday and Sunday even at this point in the championship.

"I think generally if you have done a pretty good job in qualifying, you're still going to be okay in the race. But it's still pretty hard to predict.

"Tyres are going to be the key. We'll see what happens with the DRS but I don't think it's going to be like Turkey. Tyres will play a role. A lot of people were pretty keen to save a set."

Fernando Alonso admitted he was not surprised by his result in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, despite finishing in fifth position.

The Ferrari driver was nearly half a second off the pace of pace-setter Sebastian Vettel, also being outqualified by team-mate Felipe Massa for the second time this season.

Alonso said he expected to be unable to match the Red Bulls and McLaren, and was at least pleased to have outpaced Mark Webber.

"I am not very surprised by this result: at the end of the day, McLaren and Red Bull have been quicker than us all weekend long and at least we have managed to get ahead of Webber," said Alonso.

"I seem to have a season ticket for fifth place this year and at least it means I start from the clean side of the track.

"Tomorrow I expect significant tyre degradation to be a key feature of the race, with the possibility of several pit stops, which means strategy will play a very important role. We hope we won't have the same problems as in Singapore two weeks ago.

"We will try and make the best choices and fight for a podium finish, which is a realistic target. The win is certainly less so: as we saw in qualifying, McLaren seem very close to Red Bull here."

Team-mate Massa qualified in fourth position in what he labelled as a tough qualifying.

The Brazilian was also happy to have outqualified a Red Bull, and downplayed the significance of starting alongside Lewis Hamilton, with whom he clashed at the Singapore Grand Prix.

"It was a difficult qualifying session but at least we managed to keep one of the four best cars behind us," he said. "It's never easy here to put together the perfect lap and my last run was very good, even if I lost a little bit in the final sector. Tomorrow, it will be important to get a good start.

"Hamilton alongside me on the grid? It makes no difference to me if it's him or anyone else. The race looks like being a complicated one, with a lot of stops to change tyres that show significant degradation here, so it follows that strategy will play a key role.

"It will be vital to find the right pace, so as to be quick, but at the same time, save the tyres. Overtaking will not be easy, despite KERS and DRS: maybe tyre wear will count for more, given that you come onto the main straight off a very slow chicane. Our aim is the podium: we're starting one place off it, so it's a realistic expectation."

Nico Rosberg and Tonio Liuzzi have been given the green light to race in the Japanese Grand Prix despite failing to set a time in qualifying.

Mercedes driver Rosberg was unable to complete a lap after being hit by a hydraulic problem early on. He will start from 23rd position.

"On my first lap out in Q1, the team advised that I had a problem and asked me to come back into the pits," explained Rosberg.

"We tried to fix it in time for me to complete a lap, however the hydraulic systems are quite complicated and there just wasn't enough time. So for the race, I have a promising strategy with all the new tyres that I have! But seriously, I will push and try to get into the top ten. That will be my aim tomorrow."

HRT driver Liuzzi also suffered technical issues that prevented him from running in Q1.

Although the Italian has not set a time a time within the 107 per cent all weekend, stewards have allowed him to race on Sunday.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has revealed that the new front wing parts that helped Sebastian Vettel claim a sensational pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix only arrived at the track 30 minutes before qualifying.

Vettel broke his only version of the front wing with an off during first practice on Friday, so the team had to push ahead with work at the Milton Keynes factory to prepare new endplates.

These were then put on a commercial plane from London to Nagoya overnight, before being couriered by helicopter to the Suzuka track shortly before qualifying got under way.

With the team believing the wing was worth a few tenths, having the new parts on the car almost certainly helped Vettel maintain Red Bull Racing's lock-out of pole positions so far this season.

Speaking about the wing situation, Horner said: "It was the epitome of team work. We were short of a component on Friday, which is why Sebastian looked a little bit distressed with himself because the one bit of the car that he didn't want to damage was the front wing on Friday.

"But the guys back at base made a Herculean effort to bring forward the production of another component, get it onto a flight and get it to the circuit only half an hour before qualifying itself. It was phenomenal.

"The part came out here with a carrier, then to Nagoya and helicopter from there. It was a fantastic effort. The main thing was that wing, we were not due to see it before Korea, so the effort that went in overnight back in Milton Keynes was just phenomenal and hats off to the boys and girls for doing that."

And although Vettel is aiming to clinch his second world title at Suzuka this weekend, Horner said no thought was given to taking the new wing off Mark Webber's car - bearing in mind the controversy that happened at Silverstone last year when the team did exactly that.

"No, because it was a different situation," he said. "The failure at Silverstone was a component failure, and the situation yesterday was quite clearly a driver error, so there was never any question of taking the wing off Mark's car. So Sebastian ran an older specification prior to that."

Horner praised Vettel's effort in the closing stages of qualifying as he edged out Jenson Button by just nine thousandths of a second.

"It definitely required something a bit special from him on that last run and he duly delivered it," he said. "It was a phenomenal lap to get the pole. He should be very pleased with that one; I think it was one of his best laps of the year."

When asked if he thought McLaren's strong single-lap pace this weekend had put pole position out of Red Bull Racing's grasp before qualifying, Horner said: "I thought the McLarens particularly were going to be very hard to beat today.

"They have looked pretty quick over one lap all weekend, and it is a matter of trying to find that balance between race pace and qualifying, trying not to abuse the tyre too much. And that is what we have focused on, but we will see tomorrow. Hopefully we can have a very strong race pace tomorrow."

Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery believes the fans are being robbed of a show in qualifying with the current Formula 1 regulations.

With the softer tyres dropping off dramatically around Suzuka, several teams decided to limit their running in qualifying on Saturday in order to save sets that could be vital for the race.

Only six drivers posted a time in the final qualifying segment, while many others did just one run during the session.

Hembery believes something needs to be done to stop teams from not running during qualifying.

"I think it's up to us to work with the teams to come up with a solution," said Hembery. "We are robbing the fans of a show. They paid good money to come here today.

"I'm not criticising the teams because I know why they've done it, because they are using the rules to obtain the best result, so it's not a case of that. But I think we have to look at the wider picture and all of us work together to find a solution.

"It's something we discussed with a few of the teams over the last few days and I hope that we can set up something in Korea and start working on some solutions. We are open to any suggestions from the teams. I think we all recognise that something needs to be done."

He also reckons there are plenty of possible solutions to the problem, and it's up to the them to find one that suits all the teams.

"I think we need to get more tyres, find another solution, get qualifying tyres, force teams to use the Q2 tyres in Q3.... There's a multitude of ideas that we can discuss.

"They all have positives and negatives, of course. There's never the perfect solution, but I think sitting on a table and being sensible there has to be a way of finding something that suits everyone."

Hembery reckons, however, that any change to the rules is unlikely to happen before next season.

"I think it needs to be done for next year, being realistic. It's a complex area, because it falls in two categories: sporting and technical. It's not particularly clear."

Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn also reckons the situation needs to be looked at for the good of the sport.

"I suspect we have probably got to have a look at it. Having the back four cars in qualifying not running properly to conserve tyres for the race is not really where we want to be in Formula 1.

"Over the winter we will have a look at how we improve the situation to remove the incentive for cars to save tyres in the final part of qualifying.

"I don't think any of us really want it, so that's how it has evolved. We will work hard to find a solution with the FIA and Pirelli over the winter to avoid it happening because I don't generally think it's a good thing. We should all be out there trying to set a time."

When asked how to solve the issue, Brawn said: "I don't know. We don't want to start introducing more sets of tyres and having a situation where you have to start the race on the tyres you qualify on is not a bad situation, but perhaps that's something we need to look at.

"The simple way to resolve it is more sets of tyres, but there might be a more efficient way of solving the problem."

Meanwhile, Hembery has said the likelihood was for a three-stop race, although some teams could try and eke out just two tyre swaps.

"The race, if you ask me know how to do it, I would say you will be focusing on the medium tyre," he said. "You are on a certain three-stop, potentially two-stop if you want to focus on a medium tyre strategy. Looking at data tonight you would think three-stop strategy for most of the teams."

Kamui Kobayashi will start the Japanese Grand Prix from seventh position after the FIA revealed the official grid for tomorrow's race.

The Sauber driver, who did not set a time in Q3, had originally qualified in 10th, but with the three drivers in front of him having failed to set a time too, the Japanese will actually start from seventh.

Formula 1 rules state that if a driver fails to set a time, the grid will be determined in the following order:

1. Any driver who attempted to set a qualifying time by starting a flying lap;

2. Any driver who failed to start a flying lap;

3. Any driver who failed to leave the pits during the period.

Even though he did not set a time, Kobayashi had started a flying lap, unlike the three drivers in front of him.

Mercedes's Michael Schumacher will start from eighth ahead of the Renaults of Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov.

Mercedes boss Ross Brawn said the team attempted to get Schumacher to start a flying lap, but the German ran out of time because of traffic in front of him.

"Once we saw some of the times in Q3, we thought it was doubtful that we would be able to beat those times. So we wanted to remain at the front of that group and once it became clear that the other cars were not going to attempt a time, then we had to start the lap.

"Unfortunately, we sent Michael out and a lot of cars in front then started stacking up. Michael knew that he had to start the lap so was trying to get through so he could. It's under discussion with the FIA what's going to happen. That's why we were pushing to try and start the lap."

The Renault Formula 1 team is poised to forge much closer ties with Group Lotus, AUTOSPORT has learned, with sources suggesting the outfit's owner Gerard Lopez is to take a financial stake in the sportscar manufacturer.

With moves underway to rebrand and rename the Enstone-based outfit as Lotus in 2012, a full integration of the F1 team and the Norfolk-based car maker appears to be on the cards.

High level sources have revealed that Lopez and his Genii Capital company has held advanced talks with Group Lotus' Malaysian owners about taking a management and financial interest in the company - which could even go as far as him taking a majority shareholding.

Such a move could result in Lopez and Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar working together closely to push the Lotus brand in both F1 and the road car business.

Bahar has openly talked of a five-year scheme to turn Group Lotus into a profit-making car company, and part of that effort has been a ramp-up of marketing - which has included an expanded motorsport programme.

For this season, Group Lotus took title sponsorship of the Renault team, as the first step towards the company taking a stake in the outfit if it could be renamed as well.

Such a scenario is currently on the cards, with AUTOSPORT revealing earlier that a request to change the Renault name to Lotus for 2012 is to be discussed at a planned meeting of the Formula 1 Commission on November 3.

Interestingly, both Renault team boss Eric Boullier and Bahar hinted that a move for closer ties between the F1's outfit owners and Group Lotus was on the cards.

Boullier said about the possibility of Genii Capital taking over Group Lotus: "It is another rumour. I like this one."

Speaking to AUTOSPORT's sister publication Autocar Bahar said: "I can only say this: When we made the announcement about our involvement in Lotus Renault GP we made it clear that this was the start of a close relationship and this journey continues."

Post-qualifying press conference:

TV UNILATERALS

Q. Sebastian, your 15th consecutive front-row start of 2011 and continuing your 100 per cent pole record here. What a lap!

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, what a qualifying! To be honest, yesterday I went off in the free practice and damaged the wing, so it wasn't ideal in the afternoon to prepare the car for today. I think we suffered a little bit from that this morning. In particular, where we were kind of coming back regarding the car balance but we were too slow. We sat down after the practice session this morning and fortunately got everything together and we were able to get everything, every single bit out of the car, which was crucial. There isn't much between Jenson and myself. It was a tough qualifying but I enjoyed it a lot. It's a long lap. You start off with this mega first sector. We come here, not for the first time, but still, every time is a challenge, especially in qualifying to really get it as good as you can. I had a bit of a wobble in sector one but then I made up for it in the second sector and we have been strong in the third sector, so, all in all, fantastic. Special thanks to the team, who just in time brought the front wing. Many regards also to the factory. I think without them I would not be sitting on pole position today, so I am very happy and very proud. We were able to extract everything we had today, which was just enough, so very happy.

Q. Jenson, second today and your first front-row start since Monaco. Championship contenders in P1 and P2. Well done.

Jenson BUTTON: Thank you. It has been a pretty good weekend. As always, we all love driving around here. Suzuka is a phenomenal circuit. When you have got a car working around here it is a great feeling. Basically, I was just building up until Q3 and thought the last lap would have been enough but it was nine thousandths not good enough. There you go. I felt like I got everything out of the car. I got a little bit of oversteer on that last run but I think it was just because I was pushing that little bit more. Fair play to the whole team. To really fight the Red Bulls around here, on a circuit they have dominated at for the past couple of years is, I think, a great job by everyone. It is not P1, it is not perfect, but second is still pretty good and I think we can race well from there.

Q. Lewis, P3 today and it looked so good for pole all the way through that session but you just missed the cut on the chequered flag. How disappointed are you to have missed that cut? Do you think pole was in there for you?

Lewis HAMILTON: I have to second what Jenson just said. The team have done a fantastic job to get us here and to be able to compete with the Red Bulls on this kind of circuit is pretty impressive. The car was feeling great. I felt I had a couple of tenths at least left. I had time. There were a couple of corners where I lost a bit of time on my first runs. I felt I was in a position to at least fight with these guys but it was a bit dangerous at the last corner where I had Mark (Webber) attacking me and I had Michael (Schumacher) down the outside. It was very, very strange and that's really where we lost the lap.

Q. Sebastian, only Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost have more poles than you in a season now. Just one point left in it for you this season, how much are you looking forward to the race tomorrow?

SV: Well, regarding the point or no point, I am not really focusing on that. I had a lesson yesterday where I didn't do a big mistake but for maybe just a little moment I wasn't a 100 per cent focused and lost the car. It is a long race. It is a very challenging track around here, so I am looking forward to the race. We really love to come here. It is a special atmosphere. The Japanese fans are so passionate and so crazy and when we leave the hotel in the morning it is full of people and they are all screaming. It is generally a nice feeling to be part of that. As Jenson said, it is a long race. There are a lot of things that can happen. DRS this year can open chances to the whole grid so we will see where we are. But I am definitely looking forward to it. I think we had a good race car yesterday in the preparation so far, so it should be alright, but I am looking forward to the race and not for the point.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Sebastian, fantastic. How much satisfaction do you get from that after the weekend you have had so far?

SV: A lot. It was a great qualifying for us, no doubt, especially as these guys looked so quick right from yesterday morning onwards. We were struggling a bit yesterday to set-up the car. I did a mistake in P1, which did not help. Lost the front wing, but the team did everything to bring it back and just in time it arrived and we got it for qualifying. It is the best way to say thank you in a way. Everyone did a very good job and without the team I would not be able to extract that today. Once you are in the car, you have got a new set of tyres on, you think you have got everything set up and you find yourself in Q3 - then you know it is between you, the car and the track. To be honest I enjoyed it a lot. I knew that after the first run of Q3 it was possible. The time Lewis set straight away was very strong and I knew that I should be able to be around 30.5, to do a lap around 30.5, if everything goes well. The start of the lap wasn't that fantastic as in the first sector I lost a little bit, tried a bit too much. But then I was quite confident in sector two that I could make up for it. But first you have to do it. Then when I crossed the line it was very close. I saw on the screens around the track Lewis crossing the line and Mark crossing the line. Then you know, and then I got the radio call that we had just done it by nine thousandths-of-a-second, so I am very happy. It has been a great pleasure this afternoon, so I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. You give the impression that the team sent the front wing back to the UK?

SV: No, the nose that I had on the car yesterday morning you couldn't really use it anymore. It was crashed. I shunted the car at the exit of turn eight and went straight into the barrier, so it wasn't really helpful from my side. We got a new front wing out just in time. It wasn't easy, but fortunately we did.

Q. You also talked about how, on these tyres, the car seems much more alive around this circuit. Does that make them more skittish, more difficult to control?

SV: I would say there is a fair difference to last year. I think everyone can feel that. We are faster overall, if you look only at the lap time, but we are making a lot of time up on the straights with the DRS system around here, which is quite powerful in qualifying. In cornering I think we are a little less strong than last year. One, because of the car and second, probably because of the tyres. But it should be an interesting race tomorrow as it is not that straightforward. Last year it was a one-stop race and once everyone has done their stop we race to the chequered flag, but this year it could be quite entertaining. I don't think it is yet 100 per cent sure what the right strategy will be exactly. I think we will definitely see more than one stop that's for sure.

Q. Jenson, very encouraging to see the team as competitive as they are, given that nine thousandths, but a little disappointed not to be on pole?

JB: Yeah, I think you have always got to be a little disappointed when it is that close. The weekend as a whole has been good. I think we turned up here with a good package and think we have honed it pretty well. I am happy that I have got a car underneath me that feels good. As Sebastian says, it does feel quite alive around here especially in Q3 when you are pushing it to the limit. I felt like it was a good lap. Possibly a little bit too much oversteer but I think I got everything out of the car, so to be nine thousandths off is disappointing but also a front-row start is not such a bad thing. I think we can have a good race tomorrow. There is a pretty long drag down to turn one so hopefully our KERS and starts will be working well.

Q. So you are very encouraged for tomorrow but what about the tyre situation? We saw a lot of tyre conservation?

JB: I really don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Yesterday, people were running lots of different fuel loads when they were running longer runs. I hope they were anyway, and tyres don't seem to last that long but hopefully it will be a different story tomorrow.

Q. Lewis, how disappointing was it to miss that last lap, as the team has been looking really good the whole weekend?

LH: Yeah, well it is what it is. We are third but we are still on the second row at least, so it is good enough.

Q. How about the long runs yesterday? How encouraged were you with that?

LH: Not massively. Same as always, but the car is competitive this weekend, clearly, which is great. But it is a shame we weren't able to get our first pole position but that was an interesting situation at the end of my run.

Q. What about the degradation? Have you managed to lessen that?

LH: Yeah, the degradation here... it is a very fast circuit and the first sector, particularly, is quite tough on the tyres. But I think everyone is in the same boat and making the tyres last is going to be interesting. I think there is going to be a similar kind of strategy to what we have seen in the past.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Frederic Ferret – L'Equipe) Lewis and Jenson, is there an explanation, something that you have been missing, which hasn't allowed you to compete with Sebastian and Red Bull for the championship this year?

JB: Is there an explanation? He's done a better job and Red Bull have done a better job than we have, basically. That's it.

LH: We've not had the car – for the whole season – that we have now. We would have been able to compete a bit more if we had.

Q. (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Qualifying has become a declining spectacle this season, I think we all admit that. I would like to know your opinions on having extra tyres allocated just for qualifying from 2012 onwards, so that we actually get all ten people running for a change. It's been a declining spectacle.

JB: Has it?

Q. (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) We had three people sitting out last weekend, four people sitting it out this weekend, the number of people running has reduced all year.

JB: It's different from where we are sitting, I think. When you're fighting for pole, and it's that close I think it's a massive spectacle, having two different makes of car and engine, and two different drivers fighting it out and being that close in qualifying is phenomenal. To have that is great, I think it's exciting.

Q. (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) But the tyres? How do you feel about increasing the allocation and having qualifying-only tyres for next year?

JB: Well, I think that's the case, isn't it?

SV: I think the bottom line is that even if we had more tyres… where do you get the points? You get them in the race, so even if you had more tyres, then the situation arises where tyre degradation is high, you will still – no matter how many sets…

Q. (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) If they were just for qualifying, or just for Q3…

SV: Yeah, obviously… I think the cars that didn't go out twice or didn't go out at all – I didn't see it – obviously they used up their tyres beforehand, to make it to Q2 and then to Q3. For us it's a bit different because we are in a lucky situation whereby the car is good enough, especially in first qualifying, on hard tyres, to usually get through. I don't think we need a different type of tyre, I think we have enough stops in the race.

Q. (Dan Knutsen – National Speed Sport News) Lewis, you talked briefly about what happened up there with Mark and Michael; could you elaborate a bit on what happened?

LH: I prefer not to really. I think you could see it on the TV. I would have to watch the replay, but Jenson was in front of me. He slowed down to get his gap and I was coming up to the last corner, trying to make sure that I had a gap between me and him. It wasn't that big and just as I was coming into the chicane I looked in my mirror and I saw Mark diving up the inside of me, and then I saw… I didn't even see Michael but as I gave Mark room, Michael nearly crashed me on the left, so it was… quite dangerous.

Q. (Chihiro Hoshiba - Grand Prix Special Japan ) Sebastian, you have your official website in English and German. At this Grand Prix, you have a very special translation in Japanese of the English version. When did you decide to make this special edition for Japanese fans at the Japanese Grand Prix, and would you give me the beginning part of what you're going to write in your diary today for Japanese fans?

SV: Well, it's pretty easy to answer. You could look at their overalls, at my helmet and a couple of other things. Obviously there isn't much we can do, but if there is a little bit, then things like that, we are all ready to try to give something back, try to help. I think it's exceptional, the fans around here, the passion they have. I saw just before practice this morning three guys in the grandstand with cameras like we have on the rollhoops of our cars on their heads. The special thing about Japan and the Japanese fans is that it's always different. I think most of us like that a lot and to see a disaster happening like at the beginning of the year is dreadful, and as I said, we try to give a little bit back and if we can put on a good show… today it was very close between Jenson and myself. For us, at least – maybe not for everyone – a good qualifying session and it's some entertainment that we can give back and maybe put a smile on the people's faces. That's pretty simple to answer.

Q. (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Jenson, we are used to seeing Seb sitting in the middle here at the pole position press conference, but you seem shocked. Was it a day that you thought you had your first pole of the year?

JB: You never go into qualifying thinking that it's a done deal, and also, you never really know what's happening in practice. I feel that I did a good job in practice, but you don't know what fuel loads people are running or engine modes or what have you. You never get too carried away, but yeah, I was confident going into qualifying, that we could fight for pole at least and we did, but we just didn't get it.

Q. (Joe Saward – Grand Prix Special) Lewis, can you talk us through how you missed out at the end there, because that was very close?

LH: I just explained to… you can see it, I don't see the reason to explain it again.

JB: He arrived late.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Jenson and Lewis, do you think it will be hard to try to overtake Sebastian because he has very high speed here, he's able to take the 130R using the DRS, but he has very high top speed, different to other circuits?

JB: I didn't really notice that there was a big difference, but yes, it doesn't help us, but then we have the DRS so that's a big advantage and obviously us with DRS is more powerful than their top speed, even though they have a higher top speed without DRS. If we're close enough and we're quick enough, we will be able to overtake, I think, but it's whether we are or not. I think we're all excited about the race, I think it's going to be a tough race for all of us with the tyres but we will do our best and I don't think the top speed will be the biggest issue.

Q. (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, this is the last night before your second championship – it looks like. How are you gonna…

SV: I don't see it like this. I'm happy if I wake up – like every morning – and then we have a very nice race tomorrow, which I'm looking forward to. We start from pole position so to achieve whatever you think we will or will not achieve tomorrow, we need to do our best and make sure we get that. It's not to focus on that which you mentioned, it's trying to focus on having a good race, trying to do (everything) as usual, in a way and be as excited, as aggressive, as alert as we usually have to be to finish the best or the highest up as we can in the race. So I'm looking forward to that.

Q. (Joris Fioriti – Agence France Presse) Jenson, you were first in the free practice sessions, you were really, really close to getting pole position. From what you know of the practice sessions, do you think you're going to be faster than Sebastian tomorrow?

JB: If you look at our one lap pace in practice it was very good but if you look at our long runs, I think we were about 1.5s slower than these guys. Either they were running a different fuel load than us – yeah, I wish we had 200 kilos in the car – or we are seriously in trouble. Hopefully they were running less fuel than us, but as I said, however much fuel you ran yesterday, the consistency is very difficult with these tyres, especially with the softer of the two and it's going to be a hard race tomorrow. I really haven't got a clue at this point in time on how many pit stops it's going to be: definitely more than one and probably definitely more than two so you are working towards three and four pit stops I think. So it's going to be interesting to see how that goes. Hopefully our pit crew is strong at the moment. I think they are, they've looked good in the last couple of races and hopefully we're better on the tyres tomorrow than we were yesterday.

Q. (Ted Kravitz – BBC Sport) Sebastian, your team boss didn't expect you to be on pole today. Can you tell us why that was, whether you tailored the car specifically to look after the tyres in the race and how you turned it around?

SV: I think it's pretty simple: we were not quick enough, we were not quick enough on one lap yesterday, in particular myself. I wasn't quick enough this morning on one lap on lower fuel so yeah, we definitely weren't taking it for granted to fight for pole and we weren't sure whether we stood a chance because McLaren, in particular, looked very competitive. The focus was to make sure that we got everything out of ourselves, whether that's pole position or not didn't really matter that much. It was key to get everything out of the car, out of myself this afternoon which I think we did and we just got pole, so obviously it's a nice reward – as I said, a lot of hard work put into it. As I said, the wing arrived just in time etc so everyone was giving 100 per cent and it's a nice way to say thank you, but it's not even half of the job, the race is coming tomorrow but for sure it gives us a big boost because we know… yesterday afternoon we have been pretty competitive on high fuel so we're looking forward to the race, but as Jenson says, it's going to be tricky. There will probably be three or four stops. It's a long race, a lot of things can happen, your pace might be good at the beginning or it could be bad at the beginning and then turn around so we will see. We have to go with the tyres and see what we can do, but we are very happy for today.