Formula One 2011

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United States Grand Prix chief Tavo Hellmund has welcome the news that New Jersey will host a second Formula 1 race in the country.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie confirmed on Tuesday that a 3.2-mile street circuit will host its first Formula 1 event from the 2013 season.

The race will join Austin, which will be making its F1 debut on the calendar next year.

Hellmund said he was excited about the announcement.

"I want to extend my congratulations to Leo [Hindery] and his team, as I know how much work they have put into making this happen," said Hellmund. "When I walked the site a few years ago, the site's potential was obvious.

"I am excited for the East Coast and feel Tuesday's announcement is yet another acknowledgement of the viability, fan interest, economic benefits and prestige an F1 Grand Prix event brings to a region.

"New Jersey and Texas, nearly 2,000 miles apart, offer unique and very different fan experiences destined to not only raise the visibility of the sport in this country, but also increase the global attraction and US support of these world-class events.

"These two regions are going to be terrific backdrops for the world's most advanced form of racing."

The FIA has revealed the DRS zones for the upcoming Indian Grand Prix, which will see the return of a double area for use of the device.

The first detection zone will be placed 10 meters after Turn 15 of the new Buddh circuit, with the activation 36 meters after Turn 16, leaving drivers with a bit part of the shorter straight to try to overtake.

The second DRS zone will be placed 16m before Turn 3 (detection) and 510m after the same corner (activation), which will give drivers more than half of the longer straight to overtake rivals.

Force India boss Vijay Mallya says this weekend's inaugural Indian Grand Prix will be the biggest ever race for his team.

"Absolutely," said the Indian. "This is a very important weekend for Sahara Force India and we are all determined to be as competitive as possible.

"I want to savour every moment of what will surely be one of the most spectacular events of the season and the start of a great Formula 1 tradition in India."

The country, which has had two Formula 1 drivers in Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok, will host its first grand prix this weekend at the Buddh circuit.

Mallya admitted the race is a dream come true for him and the country.

He added: "I have been involved in motor racing for over 30 years and it's one of my greatest passions. I brought the first Formula 1 car over to India in the 1980s and it was always a dream of mine to one day see this great nation host a Grand Prix. So this weekend is a very significant moment and I'm extremely proud.

"It's a major step forward for Indian motorsport and for sport in general in our country. We are all looking forward to it immensely.

The team owner, who announced earlier this month a partnership with the Sahara Group, believes the new deal will only help make Force India stronger in the future.

"This is yet another great milestone in the history of this team. The Sahara Group brings fresh investment and Saharasri Subrata Roy Sahara shares my vision to push the development so that we continue to compete effectively with the teams ahead of us.

"The Sahara Group has played a very important role in the development of sport in India and is an ideal partner to help us achieve greater success in the future."

Ferrari's chief designer Nikolas Tombazis says the Italian squad is aiming to hit the ground running in the 2012 season, but he admits the team is not taking anything for granted.

"Our objective is to arrive in Australia absolutely competitive already," Tombazis told Autosprint magazine.

"We don't want to say 'we are still behind, but we will do...'.

"It's clear however that out rivals are neither naive nor idiots. Our objective is to win, we aren't sparing anything. But we don't take anything for granted."

The Maranello squad has been hurt by uncompetitive starts to the season in the past two years, and this season has been much less successful than expected, having taken just one win.

Ferrari is planning a more aggressive approach for its car for next year, but Tombazis says the new machine will not be another Red Bull-like car, despite the team's dominance during the past two seasons.

"You can't ignore your competitors: if Red Bull wins, you can't say 'I'll just mind my own business'," he added.

"But it's not just Red Bull having interesting solutions: there are also slower cars with solutions worthy of consideration. You can't hide behind excuses. I think, however, that next year's car will have many different solutions, all ours.

"And it would not be fair to say it's a Red Bull, absolutely. It will be a Ferrari, it will be different in various areas, with new solutions in other areas, maybe taken from other cars. It will be a mix."

Tombazis also said that Ferrari has understood why some of the developments introduced in the latter part of the season have not worked, even if it ran out of time to work on them.

"We have understood what didn't work, but we haven't been able to fix it completely because, in September, solving the problem would have needed more time with effects only on the final three races, taking away too much time from next year's car.

"This is why, from that point on, we've struggled to stay close to our rivals."

The Russian government will spend about $200 million to build the circuit that will host the country's first Formula 1 grand pix in 2014.

"The federal government has allocated 5.846 billion roubles ($195.4 million) for this project," Alaxander Ivanov, deputy governor of the Krasnodar region, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Russia secured a seven-year deal to host a grand prix on a new track in Sochi, which is also hosting that year's Winter Olympics.

That had raised fears that the first grand prix may be delayed for a year in order to not slow down preparations for the Olympics.

Despite that, officials had said earlier this year that the building of the circuit was on schedule.

[Lineker]

Did anybody else see Martin Brundle tweeting today? He put up a picture of the commentary position - a room with no windows, just a few monitors!! So he's apologised in advance for the commentary potentially being crap over the weekend!

Former world champion Jackie Stewart says Formula 1 cannot afford to relax over safety following the accident in which Dan Wheldon was killed.

Stewart believes Wheldon's crash showed the interlocking of wheels remains one of the sports' biggest problems, as also shown by Mark Webber's accident during last year's race at Valencia, where the Australian ran into the back of Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus and took off.

The Scot, a three-time world champion, reckons Formula 1 should look at the issue "very seriously" in order to avoid more tragedies.

"I think the fact that it is actually two weeks since that accident, may have just allowed the steam to settle," said Stewart in India ahead of the country's inaugural grand prix.

"There isn't the absolute reaction that there would have been had there been racing the next day, but nevertheless they have to look at it very seriously because it could happen at any time.

"The interlocking wheel situation is the biggest issue, so if we can find something that doesn't look too soft, in the sense of taking away the opportunity of the front left getting between the right front and rear of the car that is beside you - that is where the problem lies.

"If there is something like, they do in karting for the inexperienced drivers, the kids – and to be frank with you, we have seen more collisions and coming together in F1 in the last two years than I have seen probably ever.

"It is not just Webber's accident, I am thinking of. It is the situation we have seen – the collisions we have seen. It means people are taking things for granted. In our days we would never have collisions because the dynamics of the accident were so consistently obvious that everybody says you cannot do that.

"Now they are doing it and getting off with it, so they think it is okay to take that chance. That might wake then up. It is a huge risk, if you start getting close to another car and he moves over then it can be the kiss of death."

Stewart, who led a big push to improve safety as a driver, also believes Wheldon's accident will have "opened the eyes" of many drivers about the actual dangers of racing with open wheel cars.

"It will have opened their eyes that so many cars got into the air, and because of the speed, even though we have a fantastic fuel cells now, the explosion and the fire caused there – not just with one car – the force, the impact, the vapour was exploding – it can happen to everybody.

"So I think everyone has to stop the bus, and have a real careful look about what comes next and they need to have experts on it – from the sport as well as outside the sport. It was an aircraft accident."

He added: "The interlocking wheel situation we have, it is beginning to get to F1. There are too many drivers kissing wheels, and thinking that is okay, it is no big deal.

"Well, it is a big deal because you only need to be centimetres wrong, and the interlocking wheels can be like a gear because one wheel is going one way, the right hand wheel is going the other, and incidents like we saw with Mark Webber in Valencia last year, it only takes one wheel to come off and hit a drivers' head like happened to Henry Surtees.

"He was nothing to do with the original accident, he wasn't involved, but the debris is travelling at such speed, and it is only when you think of something like that and the freak accident, and there are one or two deaths that frankly anything is done about it, so we have to look at it very careful and not just say, oh well, with the law of averages we are due to have a big accident, and it really has to be really well analysed in terms of what we do next."

He also thinks drivers should have more input into safety decisions since it is them putting their lives at risk.

"I still believe that the drivers should have a bigger say with regards to safety with the governing body, the drivers are the ones out there, and one time I know several of the officials said, they don't know anything about the science or dynamic and we do, we measure it and so forth.

"But at the end of the day the driver is behind the wheel and he knows how far the car will go, when it starts to get in the air. They have been there, and whether it comes down in a barrier or over the barrier is just the luck of the draw."

Former world champion Jackie Stewart says the New Jersey Grand Prix is 'great' for Formula 1, and reckons the sport needs more races in America.

But the Scot admitted he was 'confused' by the situation in Austin, which is scheduled to host the United States Grand Prix on a new circuit next year.

"I think it [New Jersey GP] is great, but I am a little bit confused, there seems to be a sudden silence about Austin," said Stewart in India on Thursday.

"I haven't heard a world about Austin for months now. I am assuming that it is still very much on, but you would have thought with only 12 months to go there would be something going on.

"New Jersey is near New York, so therefore each state wants to have its own big deal. I have been to Pocono, and it is not the Garden State, but nevertheless it is near one of the biggest metropolis of the world.

"It is great. We needed more in the Americas and I think it is right to have more than one in America, I don't mean North America, because we have Canada, but the US. It is totally justified. Mercedes-Benz without the American market couldn't continue, and the same applies to Ferrari."

Stewart believes, however, that it is vital that the United States has a successful F1 driver in order for the sport to become popular.

"The thing in America is the culture is very domestic. NASCAR, IndyCar and sprint car racing are still the domestic motorsports of the US, and the country is extraordinarily domestic. They don't travel, Americans by nature, I think only 11 per cent of the nation has passport, and there are no American F1 drivers.

"The market is domestic, but as soon as Lance Armstrong did the Tour de France and won it, cycling was okay. When Mario [Andretti] was running, I was with ABC, that year I did 25 races, not only F1, I did a lot more because Mario Andretti was winning the world championship.

"So, it needs an American driver. That is something that we all recognise and there are good American drivers, but there is not kindergarten, primary school, secondary school not University the way there is in Europe for motorsport."

Daniel Ricciardo will be happy with his debut Formula 1 campaign if he can maintain his recent race form.

The Australian finished within four seconds of both Virgin drivers in Japan three weeks ago. He followed that up by passing Jerome d'Ambrosio to split the teams cars in the Korean Grand Prix seven days later.

This is despite the HRTs being unable to get within a second of the lead Virgin in either of the qualifying sessions for those races.

Ricciardo, who has only eight grand prix starts under his belt, has set continuing to trouble the Virgins during races as his priority in the final three races of his maiden season.

"The last two races have gone quite well and if I can continue like that then I will be pretty happy with the season," said Ricciardo when asked by AUTOSPORT about his recent strong race form.

"The Virgins generally have a bit more pace than us, so if we can mix it with them in the race, it's normally a sign of a good result.

"I was particularly happy with Korea, where we had only nine dry laps coming into the race but we still gave the Virgins a really good fight."

Despite being hopeful of continuing to battle with Virgin, Ricciardo fears that HRT will continue to lag behind in qualifying.

An HRT has not outpaced a Virgin in qualifying since the Hungarian Grand Prix in July and the 22-year-old believes that focusing on race pace is the correct strategy for the team rather than chasing single-lap speed.

"At Suzuka, I was more than a second off the Virgins," said Ricciardo. "If everything was perfect I would maybe have been another one or two tenths faster.

"For whatever reason, our qualifying pace is a fair way from their's and it's not down to us being too conservative. They seem to work the tyre harder for a lap.

"When I see them not getting away in the race, it puts a smile on my face! It would be nice to give them more of a fight in qualifying, but it's nicer having a stronger race."

Sauber faces a "tough" fight in the final three races of the season as it fights for sixth in the Constructors' Championship, according to Sergio Perez.

The Swiss team is currently seventh in the standings, nine points behind Force India and three ahead of Scuderia Toro Rosso and has scored only five points in the last six races.

But Perez is optimistic that Sauber will be points contenders in this weekend's Indian Grand Prix after enduring an uncompetitive weekend in Korea, where set-up problems held the team back.

"It will be very tough," Perez told AUTOSPORT. "The other teams have made an improvement towards the end of the season.

"But we will really see our potential here and where we are in terms of performance. The track should suit us better and I'm optimistic that we can fight for points.

"Hopefully, we can have a good final three races and finish sixth and that is our aim. Toro Rosso will be very strong in the last races, but we will see."

The Mexican is also keen to finish the season strongly on a personal level as despite an impressive maiden season, he has scored only 13 points and lies 16th in the drivers' standings.

He believes that a good end to the season will allow him to secure a championship position more representative of his performance level.

"What matters is only the points that you have at the end of the season," said Perez. "Hopefully I can score in the last three races to improve my position.

"I've been extremely unlucky as well with many failures when I was in a good position. But I'm optimistic for the last three races."

Michael Schumacher believes Mercedes could be strong in the Indian Grand Prix thanks to the nature of the circuit.

With the Buddh track expected to be one of fastest tracks of the calendar, the German squad has a good chance of shining this weekend, having shown its car is very fast over long straights.

Schumacher reckons the team may be able to aim for higher places this weekend.

"I guess it is more to do with nature of tracks that one suits us more than others and therefore we might have a chance to go a bit further forward than being seventh and eighth," said Schumacher on Thursday.

"This track honestly plays a bit in our hands and can be helpful. Qualifying can be difficult but race we look stronger recently.

Schumacher admits Mercedes has to accept the situation it is in, with the team having failed to be competitive enough this year, but concedes winning races soon is important.

"I think it is very important for all of us, that is what we are here for," added the German. "All of us involved in teams know the taste of winning races and the championship, and that is what we are here for.

"We know we are in the situation we face right now - only way is to keep focused. We are building future of Mercedes and we wants to take fruits of that sooner rather than later."

Team Lotus does not need a big jump to fight in the midfield next year, according to Jarno Trulli.

The team, which made its F1 debut last year, was aiming to fight in the midfield this season but has been unable to do so regularly, instead being the quickest of the bottom squads.

Trulli reckons, however, that Lotus just needs a "bit of a step" in order to be fighting with middle-of-the-field squads.

"If you look at certain results we don't need a jump, we just need a bit of a step," said Trulli on Thursday in India.

"The cars in front are slightly quicker than us and the cars behind us are slower than us. You need to take it step by step."

The Italian also defended his team's decision to not replace him with Karun Chandhok this weekend in India, as it aims to secure tenth place in the Constructors' Championship.

"The team is trying to get the best position for its future," he said. "Obviously there is a lot of investment made for the team for next year in order to make step and we don't want to lose opportunity to finish 10th in the championship, which is main reason for not giving Karun the chance. It is not up to me to talk about it."

Trulli said he was impressed with the Buddh circuit, but admitted he was worried about the dust on track.

"The circuit itself seems pretty good. They should be happy to have such a circuit in India especially for the future of this country in motorsport.

"The question mark is about dust. I have been around cycling and it was very dusty. I hope they can clean today and tomorrow morning and see how the circuit develops over the weekend."

Mark Webber insists that the all of the drivers in Formula 1 must contribute to improving safety in motorsport after the "reminder" provided by the accidents that cost the lives of IndyCar ace Dan Wheldon and MotoGP star Marco Simoncelli in the last two weeks.

The Australian was cited by three-time world champion Jackie Stewart as a driver who could take up the Scot's old mantle of leading the drive for safety.

But Webber believes that no driver needs to take up such a role as the imperative to constantly improve safety is now universally accepted.

"It has been accepted, thanks to Jackie's work all of those years ago," said Webber when asked about Stewart's suggestion. "Clearly, some huge changes were made and there are some key markers in F1's history where safety goes up another level again mentally. In Jackie's era and then Imola '94 was another clear step.

"We always need to keep learning and we are never arrogant enough to put our heads in the sand and say that the category is perfect," added the Red Bull driver.

"Yes, we would like it to be challenging and a little bit daring, but we should also never exclude having the element of risk lower if we can achieve that.

"For me to do that on my own is unlikely. I would like to have lots of guys from different age groups from my age down to someone who is very young like Jaime Alguersuari, who is from a different generation.

"There are lots of drivers who can help the sport take notice of what has happened because these are reminders to all of us to make sure that the socks are well and truly pulled up."

Webber is no stranger to large accidents, such as his collision with Heikki Kovalainen in Valencia last year where the Australian was launched into the air. And although Webber admits the events of the past two weeks have affected him deeply, he says he still expects to feel safe when he climbs in his car over the Indian Grand Prix weekend.

"In a way, motorbikes are even dearer to my heart than motor racing because motorbikes are where I started," he said. "I was watching the race live and it was one of those things where you hope that it's not real.

"At such a young age, he [simoncelli] was a phenomenal character who will be massively missed. I've had moments in my career where it has been close for me. When you step into the car, it's not always in your mind but you know that you are not doing something that is without risk.

"There is always going to be an element of risk there because of the speed because you are competing against other people. Errors of judgement, an error of judgement from a mechanic or conditions mean that one day you might get hurt. That's the way it is.

"When I'm driving the car tomorrow, I'll still feel incredibly safe and I'll feel comfortable to push the car as hard as I can."

Webber and Jenson Button, who both raced in the junior categories of the TOCA Package during the same period as Wheldon, intend to run tributes to the Indianpolis 500 winner on their helmets this weekend.

"I sent Jenson a text after Korea and said I wanted to get some stickers made up in Australia for our helmets," explained Webber. "I said are you keen, and he said he was very keen. That's about it, just a nice sticker on the helmets. We both knew him, obviously, so it's natural."

Jenson Button believes the layout of the Buddh International Circuit could play into McLaren's hands and boost its chances of victory at the weekend.

Button said the circuit's design was most akin to Spa-Francorchamps and Suzuka, high speed circuits on which McLaren has made big improvements. Button qualified 0.009s off pole and won at Suzuka earlier this month.

"In terms of the way you set the car up, I'd say it's more like Spa and Suzuka rather than Singapore or Korea," Button explained. "Our car seems to work well on this type of circuit, so I'm looking forward to getting out there.

"[in Korea] the Red Bulls did have the edge I would say, but the low speed exits and straight line traction is where they are very strong. The high speed circuits are where we have really improved.

"In Korea we also struggled with understeer, which for us was a big issue. I think Lewis had rubber affecting his front wing and I had a stone embeeded, which losy us a lot of downforce. It's happened before but it is very unusual, and the team is looking at ways to prevent it."

Button said that he was happy with the direction the team had taken following initial simulator laps of the circuit, and that touring the track for the first time left him excited about the weekend.

"I've driven about 80 laps on our simulator and I felt comfortable with the direction we took for set-up. I also liked [the track], but seeing it in reality it looks really good, so it should be a lot of fun.

"It might take a few hours to properly clean the track, but they have done a really good job on the layout. We will see properly tomorrow, but the entry to corners looks good for overtaking - the wide entry, tight apex and exit means you have to slow the car down a lot and means its all about braking.

"They've also worked really well on the high speed corners - they're very demanding but we love them and you need them on a circuit. When you walk round you feel the hills of the circuit more which is good. There are corners like Turn 3, a blind uphill entry, which makes it very exciting."

Formula 1 has done the right thing in coming to India for the first time this year, claims Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn, despite teething problems at the new Buddh circuit.

Although drivers are relishing the layout of the new track near Delhi, teams and media have been battling with power cuts, some crude infrastructure and even local wildlife - including bats and rats - in buildings.

But Brawn thinks that F1 is right to be in India and says that everyone in the sport is 'tolerant' of the practical issues that have been encountered so far.

"The track is fantastic," said Brawn. "You don't really know until cars start running around, what the track is like. But the track is fantastic. It has got an exciting combination of corners and straights. It has a very long straight and some very important corners, some combination of corners that will be quite tricky.

"The facilities are good. Clearly it has just been finished but we understand that and we are not criticising that. We know that next year there will be another step forward with the facilities because it has been a massive challenge for everybody to get it finished, so we are very tolerant and understanding of the situation."

Bernie Ecclestone was seen inspecting the facilities on Thursday, and said he was happy with the efforts that had been made to get the track as complete as possible.

"It's super. The track is super," he said. "They have done everything we wanted them to do, within two or three years of us reaching an agreement. It took Silverstone 25 years, so I think they have done well."

Although the glitz and glamour of the multi-million pound F1 industry is in stark contrast to some of the poverty in India, Brawn says it is vital that the sport races in places like India.

"India for us is a fascinating new place for us; people comment on the contrast of something like F1 within the communities of India, but if we don't come here how can we help?" he explained.

"How can we contribute to making things move forward if F1 stays away from India? What solution does that provide? It doesn't provide any solutions, and F1 coming to India maybe we can contribute in a small way to the development of India as a nation.

"What is fascinating for me is the knowledge that people have of F1, because it is not a country where F1 has existed before. Talking to the fans and talking to the media, it is astonishing how much knowledge and enthusiasm they have for the sport.

"I think because India as a nation is going forward in the area of technology, F1 appeals. It is an area of high technology and India is an area that is rapidly advancing, and it is a great fit. I hope we can provide a good show for the fans."

Brawn has also played down concerns about the dirty track surface at Buddh, with dusty conditions expected in early practice.

"It doesn't help, and it is always nicer if you have a lot of different lines that the drivers can take, but quite honestly during the race, a lot of the track becomes unusable because of the rubber.

"If you look at any track during the race, there are no-go zones because the rubber builds up because of marbles. I don't think it will be a big issue.

"Everyone is very understanding. We are really pleased to be here, really excited to be here – we understand that there are things that for next year need a gentle improvement, but it is a fantastic facility."

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has cast doubt on the future of the Korean Grand Prix, after ruling out talks to renegotiate its contract.

The promoter of the Yeongam event, Won-Hwa Park, told AUTOSPORT earlier this month that he wanted to seek a cut in the race hosting fee because of the huge losses the event is facing.

Ecclestone has said that such an outcome is unlikely, however, after conceding that he has 'no idea' if the event would remain a part of the calendar.

"There are lots of things in life you can't afford, and you don't have to have them," he told reporters at Buddh, ahead of the Indian Grand Prix. International Circuit. "And it took us long enough to negotiate with them in the first place."

He added: "It was strange. They didn't really get behind it. That was a disappointment because it was a big enough effort to get it on in the first place."

When asked if the matter would be finished if the Koreans were unable to afford the race, Ecclestone said: "Yeah".

Formula 1's leading drivers say that the deaths of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli will not diminish their love of motor racing, even though they admit the past few weeks have been a 'sad' time for the sport.

The tragic events in Las Vegas and Malaysia have put a fresh spotlight on the dangers of racing, but world champions Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher all say that accepting risk is part of an F1's driver role.

"It has been a horrible last two weeks for motorsport," said Vettel. "The moment I came back from Korea I heard about the accident of Dan Wheldon in America. Last week I sat upon the sofa, watched TV, watched the MotoGP, and saw the crash of Marco.

"I wasn't a very close friend, but I knew him. I met him this year and it is horrible to wait and wait and wait, because you know yourself that it is not normally a good sign if you have to wait so long to get an answer on what has happened.

"We all take a certain risk when we jump into a car or get on a bike. But we love motorsport, we love the thrill. At the same time, we always hope that nothing will happen.

"We love what we do, and we are happy to take certain risks, but it is really shocking to see how quickly things can change. I think we should always try to make things safer and we will get criticised for the cars being too far away, the run offs being too big and so on, but on the other hand we never want to put ourselves in a situation like all the MotoGP riders are going through now, or the IndyCar series is going through now.

"So we keep the fingers crossed, and hope for nothing to happen. But, it is not impossible. We know that. So, at the moment, I think the only thing we can do is respect and give the families enough space and enough room. Give them the time they need."

Alonso reckons that although the deaths of Wheldon and Simoncelli had acted as a reminder of the dangers, they would not play on his mind once he was in the cockpit.

"It doesn't affect when you are driving, it affects you during the week," explained the Ferrari driver. "They were very sad days. Being at home, watching television. With the Dan accident I saw it on the replay on the news and I was shocked for two or three days, for sure.

"Then with Marco, I saw it live. I was watching the race, and I could not believe it on Sunday, on Monday, but these things still happen. So very sad days for motorsport and very sad days for us in general.

"But when you are driving and close the visor you don't think about the risk. We love motor racing, we love the competition, and the love of the adrenaline that we have back from driving, it blinds you from the risk.

"We love racing, and we know that it is dangerous. When we are at 320 km/h, which will be more or less the maximum speed here in this track, if something happens with the car there is the risk that you probably have a big accident. But it is impossible to think about that with emotion, and the feeling that you have, driving at that speed. So even if we know the risk, we love our sport."

Hamilton said that the recent deaths had amplified feelings he had experienced following the loss of karting mentor Martin Hines earlier this year.

"They have been seriously tragic the last few months," he said. "Seeing Christian Bakkerud go, who was another great driver, now these two other drivers, and you have Martin Hines who was a big part of the sport and someone who helped me get to where I am.

"I think what it does is it makes you really think about what is most important because I don't remember since I have been in F1 that I had the chance to say thank you to Martin. I think it puts things in perspective. Make sure you have said everything you need to say to people you care about the most."

Michael Schumacher reckons that F1 could never be made totally safe, and said that fate had a big part to play in events.

"I don't think that while we drive, we think that we put ourselves in danger," he said. "First of all, when we take the cars to the limit, that's what we feel comfortable with and therefore our ambition is always to take the cars to the limit and it will be the same here this weekend.

"To have total safety I think is absolutely impossible to call, in any part of life. Yes, there is more risk involved in race car sport and yes, Formula 1 is probably the quickest motor racing sport that you have around the world.

"But at the same time, safety has been hugely improved. If you look at a new project such as this track, there's lots of huge run-off areas and it certainly has a very high standard of safety. If on top, something happens, then that's what I would call fate and fate is something that we all have to face sooner or later.

"I'm certainly very much touched by what has happened for both of the drivers that we have lost but unfortunately you have to say that that's life."

Red Bull has not ruled out the possibility of using team orders to help Mark Webber finish second in the drivers' world championship this year, but says that for now both its drivers will remain free to race.

Having wrapped up the drivers' and constructors' championships already, the team has openly admitted that its priority in the final three races of the campaign is to get Webber into the runner-up position behind Sebastian Vettel.

That target has prompted talk that Vettel could find himself needing to sacrifice a win if Webber was behind him on the road and needed the extra points that he would get for a victory.

Speaking about the prospect ahead of the Indian Grand Prix, team principal Christian Horner said that the outfit would prefer Webber to earn the runner-up position himself – but says that switching places was not totally out of the question.

"I think that from a team perspective we will do everything we can tohelp Mark," said Horner. "It is a conversation we would need to have with the drivers, but I am sure Mark would want to achieve it under his own merit. I am not sure he would like to be given something, but I am quite sure if asked the question, Sebastian would be willing to do that."

Horner reckons that finishing second in the title chase is of value to Webber – which is why the team will do what it takes to achieve such a result.

"For Mark, it has importance," he explained. "More importantly it would be nice to see him win a race before the end of the year. Obviously Sebastian's target is a statistical one – that is his remaining challenge this year. We are just going to approach this weekend as any other and just go for it."

When asked if the achievement of finishing second would be lessened if Webber earned it through a gifted position, Horner added: "I am not sure Mark would like to achieve the result that way, so I think it is probably just a better approach to let the guys race and get on with it, and that is the approach that we are going to certainly adopt.

"If there was a situation at the last race where a position could make a difference then that's different. But for the time being we are going to let them race and get on with it, as we have done all year to be honest."

Vettel himself reckoned it was far too early to consider the possibility of giving up a place for Webber if required.

"Speaking of scenarios which we did in the past also, first of all it is a long race," said the German. "We have seen this year in particular that the races are long and a lot of things can happen at the beginning, but also in the end overtaking is definitely possibly.

"So the race order may not be clear five to 10 laps to the end. For sure it depends where you are, so we worry first of all to make sure that we are in a strong position and then the scenario situation comes last. That is probably the easiest one to manage."

Jenson Button says danger remains an inherent element of motorsport's make-up, as he paid tribute to his friend and past rival Dan Wheldon.

Button said that the shock of losing Wheldon had been hard to take, but accepted that an element of risk would always remain and therefore preferred to remember the positives from Wheldon's career.

"Motorsport is different to other sports," Button said. "All motorsport is dangerous, it doesn't matter what you are doing.

"There are different levels of danger. MotoGP is MotoGP; you can't get away from the fact you don't have anything around you. It's been the same for 50 years.

"There is danger involved when you look at IndyCar: they are flat out on ovals most of the time, it is such a high speed to be within a few centimetres of other cars. Again, that's what IndyCar is and what it's all about.

"When I saw the accident and heard the news about Dan it was a massive shock for me because I have known him since we were young.

"He was working very hard on improving the safety of IndyCar, he was working on the new car, so he was doing a lot of work. It's a terrible loss."

Button raced against Wheldon throughout the start of his career in karts and single seaters, and says he has fond memories of the battles they used to have.

"I'm not as close to Dan as I used to be, as I haven't raced against him since 1998. Last year was the last time I saw him, but we raced against each other since he was eight years old.

"He was always the man to beat, he always had a big Number 1 on his kart because he was British champion. He was the guy you got out of bed in the morning thinking 'I want to beat him'.

"More often than not you didn't. We had a lot of good fights in our career. He's the guy I followed into Europe in karting, and then we both ended up racing in Formula Ford together and we had some great battles.

"We had our comings together, didn't see eye-to-eye all the time but I think we had a mutual respect. I had a great race with him at the Festival, where I was lucky enough to come out on top.

"It's very difficult when the sport has lost someone as good as Dan, but you have to take the good memories from it and remember what he has given to the sport."

Thursday's press conference:

DRIVERS - Rubens BARRICHELLO (Williams), Narain KARTHIKEYAN (HRT), Felipe MASSA (Ferrari), Michael SCHUMACHER (Mercedes), Jarno TRULLI (Team Lotus), Adrian SUTIL (Force India)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. First of all your impressions of India. Adrian, I know you have been here a few times and you've been here probably a whole week now.

Adrian SUTIL: Yes, so I know this country. Quite good job on the circuit really. I went around the circuit this morning and it all looked finished. Looks very interesting lay-out wise. It was still very dusty I have to say, quite dirty, so we will have to see how it is for tomorrow morning. But hopefully it is going to be a great event. For us it is very special and now since a few years we are doing better and better so India knows about our team here and now I think it is time to introduce Formula One here in India. Great weekend for us, many people watching us, and I look forward to it.

Rubens BARRICHELLO: I have also felt that the track is quite good. They have done a super job in a short period of time. We are going to go out tomorrow but like any new circuit there should be some dirt on it and some dust, but that's fairly normal. I am enjoying what I have seen so far.

Jarno TRULLI: Well I have to say I arrived only last night but the circuit itself looks pretty good. They must be really proud about having such a nice circuit in India especially for the future of this country's motorsport. The layout of the circuit seems very interesting. Obviously the question mark is about how dirty and dusty it is. I have been around this morning cycling and it was very dusty. I hope they can clean today and tomorrow morning and see how the circuit develops over the weekend. But it is definitely something that looks pretty good.

Felipe MASSA: I think it is very nice, I am enjoying being here in India and also to see the circuit. It is pretty interesting even all these hairpins with very wide braking point which you can choose two different lines. I think that is a very interesting even for overtaking and everything so I think it will be a nice circuit.

Narain KARTHIKEYAN: First of all, as I have been saying, I did not think in my racing career that I would be racing in India and here we are just around the corner. With the circuit, again like everybody else, it is wide in some places, I am sure lots of different lines you are going to see, lots of overtaking. It is definitely a very challenging circuit, with lots of run off areas and so on, so they have done a very good job, no doubt.

Michael SCHUMACHER: Equally to the other guys I think they have done a very nice job here. It looks very interesting. Just seen the safety car running around and saw the elevation change, some blind spots, so quite a bit of a challenge for us with high and low speed corners, good overtaking, so a good mixture of all that we like to enjoy ourselves on so I look forward to drive the car. That's the real feeling. That's the only thing that really tells you how you feel about it.

Q. Interesting you mention the blind spot, particularly going up into..

MS: Turn three.

Q. Yes, into the hairpin. That's going to be interesting isn't it?

MS: Yeah, exactly. It is a new sort of philosophy with this overtaking with getting the circuits very wide at the entry as we have the one line defend mechanism so if you go that far certainly the other guy choosing the outside line can take a good run at you at the end of the straight. It offers a good tactical perspective for overtaking, for having a good show, and hopefully make the Indian fans enjoy Formula One after this weekend.

Q. Adrian, I guess you have been here for a few days doing promotions. Tell us about what you have been doing?

AS: Well I was in Delhi first day, then I went to Mumbai. Always press stuff, appearances, just normal events for us, kind of KIngfisher events and it was quite nice to see how many fans we have got and how excited the people are. During the years it has picked up. I have seen that every year I come back here and people were more aware of what we were doing on the circuit so I hope it is going to be another step after this weekend.

Q. What are your expectations from a competitive point of view as you have been particularly good in qualifying over the last couple of races, but not quite so good in the races?

AS: Yeah, I think in Korea the qualifying was quite good again but in the race I just didn't have the right balance. We had a lot of understeer and that's why I couldn't go into the points. I think we have to try to address that here for this race. We have some modifications so hopefully that will help. I am quite pleased with the speed of the car, we are always around this top 10 area, but probably at the moment a little bit better in qualifying than in the race so let's see what comes out. I am confident for this weekend though.

Q. Rubens, you have said you have tried this circuit on your home simulator, whatever that is, so what was it like to drive on the home simulator?

RB: I have actually built a small simulator at home as I am racing on the internet with different things which is great and I just adapt the circuit.

FM: He is racing for seven hours a day.

RB: He races for five-and-a-half. We meet each other on those games and he was the one that introduced it to me so that's why I am there. My wife is pissed off at him, not me.

FM: Mine too.

RB: We definitely won't end up being at the same house anyway without the wives. I try to adapt this Formula One game into India which was quite nice. I did 100 laps on it. You could see the elevation, turn three and the opening and so on, so it was quite nice. The team is looking forward to see as Pastor (Maldonado) has been on the Williams simulator with the track and there is a difference in time. The time that I set and the time that he sent and we want to see which one is better. He might go home to drive the Abu Dhabi one.

Q. What sort of lap time are you reckoning?

RB: It is on the 26's, high 26's, low 27's

Q. And Pastor reckons what?

RB: I think on the Williams simulator he was on the high 29's. It is not who is right or wrong, it is just the fun side. It was good to learn the lines and see what the car reaction is to the track and so on. It is going to be a little bit different as the track is dusty and the lines should be getting better all the time up until the end of the race really. Just such as Korea, for example, so I don't think we will have the full picture tomorrow.

Q. Jarno, I guess the locals were all hoping that Karun (Chandhok) might have been driving for the team, but it is very important for the team that the regular drivers are in the car?

JT: Yeah, I think so. I believe the team is trying to get the best position for the team's future. There is a lot of investment made by the team for the future, for next year, in order to make this step into the midfield and I think none of us wants to lose this opportunity to finish 10th in the championship. This, I believe, is the main reason for not giving Karun another chance. But it is not down to me, honestly, to talk about it. This race is the only thing I can think about.

Q. Lotus is a very active team. Is the focus very much on 2012? Are you looking for a different role, for example, for next year?

JT: No, not really. We are focussed already on next year's car as we have several new things coming in which should make us take a step forward in terms of performance. We really hope that we can do what we haven't done or what we were not able to do this year. We were expecting to be fighting the midfield and we were not quite there so for next year I think Tony (Fernandes) and everybody is determined to make this step and they are working very hard on next year's car and there are several deals in place in order to get a good package together for next year's car so we are very confident of making this step.

Q. So you are suggesting a step rather than a jump?

JT: It depends. If you look at certain results we don't really need that jump. We just need a little further step as we are in a situation that the car in front is slightly quicker than us and the car behind us are definitely slower than us so we just need a further step to be in the midfield. Obviously If you want to think about winning races it is different. You need a further jump but you need to take things step-by-step. Rome wasn't built in a day and the team was built just two years ago.

Q. Felipe, some good races recently from the team. What are your thoughts on the recent performances?

FM: Well I think it was okay. We didn't bring so many pieces in the last races so the car was more or less similar four races ago, for example. But it is true that in some tracks the car was a bit more competitive than at other tracks. I would say the last two tracks the car was a little bit more competitive compared to Spa, Monza so I think depends on the layout of the track. Maybe we can be a bit more competitive, depending on the track maybe it was a bit more difficult, so we will see how it is going to be here and how it is going to be in the next two races as well. I hope we can push hard to see better results.

Q. What tracks does it suit and is this one and the next two exactly those sort of tracks that suits?

FM: I think it is difficult to say as at some tracks we expected to be competitive and we were not so competitive and some other tracks where we expected to be in a difficult direction we were competitive, for example, in England, so we will see. It is difficult to say.

Q. Narain, the expectations of a huge nation are on your shoulders. How are they?

NK: Well I can say so many things, but the realistic thing with our car is to possibly finish the race and beat your team-mate. If you do that, I think at the moment, we can't expect much more. It is an historic and symbolic moment that an Indian driver is on the grid and, of course, there is a lot following Formula One for a long time. There will be a lot of fans here. It will be hard to explain but it is what it is. I want to enjoy the weekend, have a lot of fun, and try and do the best I can do.

Q. What are your inner feelings at the moment. Massive excitement? Anticipation?

NK: Yeah, lots of, thousands of requests for passes. I just need to relax and from tomorrow it is going to be different, you are in the car a lot. I just want to enjoy the whole atmosphere. My family, everyone is coming. All the sponsors and so on so it is a huge day for Indian motorsport and those first few laps tomorrow are going to be very special, yes.

Q. Just give us some indication of the support you have had from India and from the industry as well?

NK: Since I started in Formula Three in England I had the support of the Tata Group, India's largest group, and a few other sponsors. Once Formula One is here the exposure will create a big opportunity for the young drivers and for the whole motorsport infrastructure to grow. We are all looking forward to it. India is different to China. There has been a lot of interest in Formula One for a long time and and Michael probably has millions of sponsors here. It has been that long, since 1993, that it has been on TV live here and I think it is going to be very good for the sport and all the motorsport fraternity here is very, very excited.

Q. Michael, we have always slightly thought of you as the fourth team but more recently you have been getting up there almost into third place in terms of the team. Can we expect more in the last three races?

MS: I guess it is maybe more to do with nature of tracks that one suits us more than others so, therefore, we might have a chance indeed to go a little bit further forward than just being seventh or eighth. This track, honestly, probably plays a little bit in our hands and can be a little helpful. Qualifying usually is difficult but then the race we look a little bit stronger recently so let's find out.

Q. And the next two after that?

MS: Well, I have not really thought about it. Let's think about this one here.

Q. There was quite a lot of excitement about the front wing that you used at the last race. What was it like for the driver? Did you notice the difference?

MS: Perfect.

Q. Perfect? No improvement to be made?

MS: We didn't use a different front wing, quite honestly. It was as good as before.

Q. So no change?

MS: No.

Q. Have you been to India before? Narain just mentioned there are a lot of fans of you here. Have you seen a huge amount of interest?

MS: I only arrived yesterday so I haven't really been out in town and sort of got the social touch but certainly I want to go over the weekend and see a little bit more because when we have the opportunity and chance to travel to different countries I usually like to see a little bit more of the country. I have had a very warm welcome from all the people I have met so far. That is very nice. We had a press conference this morning, together with Mercedes, lots of interest and follow-up from the media side and I just look forward for the main fact. It is a new track for us and it is always a great challenge, but even more important is how are we received with the sport that we all love here in this new country. How do the Indian fans like what we are doing? We just hope we can enjoy them as much as we have an opportunity to do so.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Adil Jal Darukhanwala - Zigwheels Racer) Michael and Adrian, I don't think either of you has been present in Q3 in the last couple of races, even though you make it into the top ten. Is there any reason? Is it about the cars not being easy on the tyres, or is it taking much more of your soft tyres to get into Q3? What is the real reason?

MS: I guess it was only the last race that I haven't been in (Q3) and I guess (it was) having just selected a bad set of tyres, because I wasn't too long or just too... because you just pick up a tenth of time with soft tyres, which normally almost give you a second. And I had already experienced some problems on the 'out' lap, but I thought I had enough in hand to do so. But generally, our performance is around seventh and eighth, that's what our base point is for qualifying. In the race, when we get things right, we can occasionally do better and I expect similar, hopefully a little further forward here, this weekend.

AS: Well, for me qualifying has been a little bit better but also tyre life and everything is difficult for us in the race. But also in the last race, as I said before, the balance was just not good, so we have to try and make it better again. I think in Singapore we were very strong and competitive in the race, also in Suzuka, it could have been a little bit better, but the safety car caught me out, and that's the main reason why I lost the points, but I see our car quite consistent as well so in qualifying – in the race, sometimes a bit better than in qualifying, worse in the race, or the opposite way around but nothing to be concerned about.

Q. (Marco Degl'Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Felipe, what are your personal targets and what are the team's for the last three races? Are you more concentrated on scoring points and winning here or more concentrated on starting to develop the car for next year?

FM: I think both. We've concentrated on the last three races. The target is always to fight for the podium, to try to see if we have the possibility to even get to fight for the victory. That's always the target. It's not easy but that's always the direction we take. Already, we're working very hard for next year, already developing the car, trying to put all the ideas for the new car, trying to see everything that we were not so happy this year about, to try to make the car stronger next year, which I guess most of the team is already working very hard on next year. But now these are important moments to put all the good points for the next year's development.

Q. (Vinayak Punde – Hindustan Times) Narain, given how dusty the track is, and that there will probably be a line with grip and if you get off the racing line, it will be fairly dusty, is there concern about trying to overtake in circumstances like this, with the DRS wing open? NK: Well, off-line yes, it is going to be dirty for sure, so you just have to see where the best level of grip is and go for it. For us, the big problem is when you go off-line when you get lapped, that's the problem. We will try to see how it goes. The track is going to evolve a lot and we have to see where the level of grip is.

Q. (Talek Harris– Agence France Presse) Michael, given the championship is already finished and with the two incidents we've had over the last couple of weeks, do you think there will be a temptation for drivers to take it easy this weekend?

MS: I don't think that while we drive, we think that we put ourselves in danger. First of all, when we take the cars to the limit, that's what we feel comfortable with and therefore our ambition is always to take the cars to the limit and it will be the same here this weekend. To have total safety I think is absolutely impossible to call, in any part of life. Yes, there is more risk involved in race car sport and yes, Formula One is probably the quickest motor racing sport that you have around the world. At the same time, safety has been hugely improved. If you look at a new project such as this track, there's lots of huge run-off areas and it certainly has a very high standard of safety. If on top, something happens, then that's what I would call fate and fate is something that we all have to face sooner or later. I'm certainly very much touched by what has happened for both of the drivers that we have lost but unfortunately you have to say that that's life.

Q. (Chetan Narulla – planetF1.com) Michael, as Narain said, you have millions of fans here in India but also all over the world. How important is it for you to get on the top step of podium next year, how important is it for Mercedes to give you a good car?

MS: I think it is very important for all of us: that's what we're here for. All of us involved in the team know the taste of winning races and championships and that's what we're here for, to do exactly that. We know that we are in the situation that we have to face right now and there's only one way forward, that's to focus, we're concentrated and don't panic and that's what we're doing. We're building up the future of Mercedes and hope to take the fruits of that rather sooner than later. But then there are limits to what you can do and you have to accept those limits too, and that's what we're doing right now.

Q. (Gary Meenaghan – The National) This is obviously the first time we've been to India; we've been to a few new tracks in recent years but this is the first time that we've come to what is almost a new continent. Can you just give us an idea of if it feels different, some of the biggest differences that you've noticed and does it really feel as if Formula One is breaking new ground coming here?

RB: I would say so, I would say that it's great that Formula One is expanding and going to new places. Obviously in my long career, I never had the chance to get to India, for example, so it's great that with my sport and my job I'm able to visit a (new) country. It's been quite good to visit here. It's really been a good experience and a new one so I think that with Formula One trying to go back to United States and some other tracks, I think it's really really good. It's more travelling for all of us, but I think Formula One is a worldwide business and it needs to be like that.

JT: Definitely, every single new circuit and country that we visit is a breakthrough for Formula One. Formula One is not only a sport or motor sport, it's also business and it also brings a lot of messages to the countries that we visit, so it's definitely important that we expand and I think Formula One is spreading very well in the last five years and as we have heard, we are going to have two grands prix in the USA, which we all know is important. It's important for car manufacturers, it's important for Formula One, which has never been really highly rated in the US, but I think Formula One wants to be in every country, and I think every country wants to have a Formula One race. I think it's important for both sides.

Q. (Mridubha Kumar – ESPNStar.com) Michael, we have the soft and hard compound tyres here and given that it's a new track, and the hard compound is returning after Silverstone, what do you reckon in terms of tyre wear in this race?

MS: Well, that's going to be an interesting subject for all of us this weekend because new asphalt and new tracks have their own nature and character, and whether the tyres fit together with this is going to be an interesting one. Pirelli took a very safe option with the hard tyre that can maybe be rather entertaining to drive this tyre, as tyre temperatures need to be in the right window in order to make use of this tyre and you have to use it at least once in the race, and the one I guess is probably spot on but with the development over the weekend, again, to anticipate and look forward to how the track may change, how to use the tyres for strategy and so on and set-up, is going to be a big challenge for all of us. Nobody knows the track, nobody knows the answer, everybody's going out there to try and find that.

[Lineker]

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in first practice for the Indian Grand Prix, but was later given a three-place grid penalty for setting the time under waved yellow flags at Turn 16.

The Briton had waited until the last possible moment to lead the way in an eventful first free practice session for the Indian Grand Prix, but was caught out by the yellow flags - which were being waved for Pastor Maldonado's stationary Williams.

Red Bull looked to have made the perfect start to the weekend, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber having covered the first and second positions in the final moments, but that was until Hamilton's charging 1m26.836s lap put him top as the chequered flag fell.

The McLaren of Jenson Button was fourth fastest ahead of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg in the two Mercedes.

Perhaps appropriately it was Adrian Sutil's Force India that was the first Formula 1 car on track for the dry, sunny - and still dusty - opening session. He was followed out by the country's home-grown talent Karun Chandhok.

But no sooner had they got out on track than they were back in the pits again as the session was red-flagged to retrieve a stray dog that had wandered in to the action zone.

The track was made live again after five minutes and initially it was Chandhok, and his Indian rival Narian Karthekeyan who squabbled over the top spot. That was until Michael Schumacher came out and set a benchmark of 1m38.658s. A that mark was set to shrink by 12s before the end of the session.

Indeed Schumacher lopped four seconds off it himself just before the first half-hour was up.

Jaime Alguerusari moved to the top not long after Schumacher set that lap and would then spend the next 15 minutes improving his time as he fought off the attentions of Rosberg and his own Toro Rosso team-mate Sebastien Buemi.

Eventually Button emerged from the pit for a proper run at half distance moving the goalposts significantly with a 1m30.794s lap. This seemed to trigger a flurry of activity from the top men as Vettel also joined in. But the world champion's attempt was scuppered by a trip off-track at the Turn 5/Turn 6 section - something that would happen to several drivers as they learned the new layout.

Button remained top through the second half hour as several drivers joined the fray, but Fernando Alonso wasn't one of them. The Ferrari driver managing just four laps before he parked up off track, sidelined by an engine problem.

Hamilton moved to the top with 25 minutes to go lapping in 1m27.515s, as Vettel too moved ahead of Button. Webber's arrival in second then bumped the Englishman to fourth.

The last 15 minutes saw the Red Bulls move into familiar position as Webber kept his foot in to set a 1m27.428s, only to then watch the world champion steal his thunder with a 1m27.416s.

Things may have changed again, but a dramatic 10 minutes which saw Alguersuari thump the Turn 10 barrier with the rear of his Toro Rosso and engine problems for Pastor Maldonado render the circuit a yellow zone for much of it. Sergio Perez too made a run across the grass.

It was in the aftermath of all this, as the track finally cleared that Hamilton set his lap, with flags still apparently waving in the area of Maldonado's smoky Williams.

Behind the top six Felipe Massa was seventh fastest in the only operational Ferrari, sparking his way around the track with a new front wing. Sutil ended up eighth ahead of Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber.

Of the Indians in the field, Chandhok was 19th fastest for Lotus in the end, but was more than 1.6s off the pace of team-mate Jarno Trulli, while Karthikeyan was 22nd.

FP1


Pos  Driver                Team                   Time               Laps

01.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m26.836s    	       22

02.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m27.416s  + 0.580   23

03.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m27.428s  + 0.592   27

04.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m28.394s  + 1.558   23

05.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m28.531s  + 1.695   23

06.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m28.542s  + 1.706   29

07.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m28.644s  + 1.808   22

08.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1m28.705s  + 1.869   23

09.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m29.219s  + 2.383   24

10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m29.355s  + 2.519   29

11.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m29.700s  + 2.864   24

12.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault                1m29.705s  + 2.869   22

13.  Bruno Senna           Renault                1m29.799s  + 2.963   20

14.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m30.132s  + 3.296   25

15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1m30.367s  + 3.531   21

16.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m30.566s  + 3.730   19

17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth      1m30.699s  + 3.833   22

18.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault          1m30.818s  + 3.982   22

19.  Karun Chandhok        Lotus-Renault          1m32.487s  + 5.651   24

20.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth           1m32.771s  + 5.935   24

21.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m33.928s  + 7.092   27

22.  Jerome D-Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth        1m34.113s  + 7.277   30

23.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth        1m35.896s  + 8.960   19

24.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m35.899s  + 9.063    4


All Timing Unofficial[/code]




Felipe Massa put Ferrari on top as the Formula 1 teams continued to get to grips with India's Buddh International circuit in the second free practice session ahead of this weekend's inaugural grand prix in the nation.



While the Ferrari's new front wing continued to prompt distinctive showers of sparks as it vibrated again the track surface, the revised car showed promising pace, with Massa lapping the dusty track in 1m25.706s 18 minutes before the end of the session to claim the top spot.



His team-mate Fernando Alonso also showed well in third, 0.224 seconds off Massa's pace.



They were split by champion Sebastian Vettel, whose Red Bull had been quickest for the majority of the afternoon, until Massa's fast time saw the German pipped by 0.088s.



Morning pacesetter Lewis Hamilton, who will go into qualifying for a three-place grid penalty for disregarding yellow flags earlier today, was fourth quickest in the best of the McLarens, with his team-mate Jenson Button sixth behind Mark Webber's Red Bull.



Force India took 'best of the rest' honours in front of its effective home crowd thanks to Adrian Sutil's seventh place, two positions ahead of team-mate Paul di Resta, as they sandwiched Bruno Senna's Renault. Sebastien Buemi completed the top 10 for Toro Rosso.



The Mercedes were further back than usual in 19th (Nico Rosberg) and 21st (Michael Schumacher) - the seven-time champion having missed some of the session while an issue was resolved on his car.



There were plenty of small incidents as the drivers explored the track's limits, particularly at Turn 6, and one red flag after Jerome D'Ambrosio went off at Turn 11 and ended up backed his Virgin into the barriers, causing significant damage. He was unhurt and the session quickly resumed.



Petrov also had a spin in his Renault, while Pastor Maldonado dumped his Williams in the Turn 9 gravel early on but was retrieved in time to rejoin the session and complete 24 laps.





[code]FP2


Pos  Driver                Team                   Time              Laps

 1.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m25.706s   	      33

 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m25.794s  + 0.088  34

 3.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m25.930s  + 0.224  34

 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m26.454s  + 0.748  26

 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m26.500s  + 0.794  30

 6.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m26.714s  + 1.008  28

 7.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1m27.316s  + 1.610  34

 8.  Bruno Senna           Renault                1m27.498s  + 1.792  36

 9.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m27.853s  + 2.147  35

10.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m27.868s  + 2.162  35

11.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault                1m27.890s  + 2.184  37

12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m28.050s  + 2.344  34

13.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m28.289s  + 2.583  36

14.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m28.552s  + 2.846  31

15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1m28.691s  + 2.985  29

16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth      1m28.708s  + 3.002  24

17.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault          1m29.332s  + 3.626  39

18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault          1m30.241s  + 4.535  41

19.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m31.098s  + 5.392  38

20.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth        1m31.469s  + 5.763  32

21.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m31.804s  + 6.098  28

22.  Jerome D-Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth        1m32.593s  + 6.887  12

23.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth           1m32.768s  + 7.062  33

24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m32.824s  + 7.118  33


All Timing Unofficial

Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez have both received three-place grid penalties for Sunday's Indian Grand Prix after setting their fastest times under under waved yellow flags at the end of first practice.

According to a statement from the FIA, Hamilton was penalised for 'ignoring double waved yellow flags at Turn 16 whilst marshals were in close proximity to the track'.

The waved yellows were for Pastor Maldonado's stationary Williams, which had stopped with an apparent engine problem and was being attended to by track officials at the time that Hamilton and Perez set their best session times.

The penalty means that Hamilton can only hope to start from fourth position on the grid at best for the Indian Grand Prix.

Former Formula 1 driver Johnny Herbert is serving as one of the stewards of the meeting this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton said he fully accepted the three-place grid penalty he has been given for the Indian Grand Prix for ignoring yellow flags in opening practice.

The McLaren driver was quickest in the morning session at the new Buddh circuit, but was called up to see the stewards afterwards and awarded the penalty for having gone too quickly while marshals were recovering Pastor Maldonado's stranded Williams. Sauber's Sergio Perez received the same penalty for the same offence.

"I was engaging the DRS when the yellow flags were out and you're not allowed to," Hamilton admitted.

"I went in there and I put my hands up and said I accept whatever penalty they give, and that's what they gave me."

The former champion added that his annoyance over the incident was entirely directed at himself.

"It is what it is and I'm just frustrated with myself," said Hamilton. "It's my fault as usual so I just have to do what I can from wherever I qualify tomorrow.

"It was looking good for us to qualify on pole at one stage. But tomorrow could be a different day.

"I have no one else to blame, it was only me driving."

Hamilton admitted that he was not entirely confident in McLaren's pace in India at present, and that the penalty was an additional headache on a day when Red Bull and Ferrari appeared to be faster.

"It's not good for the weekend," he said. "It doesn't look like we're the quickest. Wherever we qualify, we'll be three places back from there, and that's going to make my race very, very difficult.

"It's not impossible, the race will be very long and we have DRS so overtaking is possible. We'll have to wait and see tomorrow how quick we are.

"Today was just practice, and tomorrow's the day when you have to really knuckle down and I'm already on the back foot and have put the team on the back foot with the penalty."

His team-mate Jenson Button said he was sure Hamilton would still be a threat for victory in the race even with the penalty.

"I've won from last before so the focus is still on both cars getting as far up as they possibly can," said Button. "If you start down in fifth or sixth, you can still win on a circuit like this."

Lewis Hamilton says winning is the only thing that matters to him right now, after admitting that problems in his personal life are make things 'tough' for him.

The McLaren driver recently split with long-time girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, and his downbeat mood at the recent Korean Grand Prix prompted questions about the effect it was having on him.

Hamilton insists, however, that his racing has not been hindered by what was going on behind the scenes - and that his return to a podium spot at Yeongam was not enough to bring a proper smile back to his face.

"I wouldn't say that I was in great spirits," said Hamilton about his feelings on the back of a return to form in Korea. "It has been a tough couple of weeks, but I don't think the last race did anything for me either.

"It was good to get back up on the podium, but it is only one race. It has been a whole year of ups and downs. I think it has been the worst year ever, you can imagine, with lots of people passing away.

"I've had some issues in racing but then in my personal life as well. I don't think it has been a great year, I am looking forward to next year that is for sure."

He added: "More important for me at the moment is getting my life together, and getting my head down and focusing on what I love doing the most.

"I am not particularly bothered if I come second, third, fourth, or fifth - it makes no difference: winning is everything. Other than that, you are second of the losers or third of the losers.

"It is about me picking things up, trying to find consistency, trying to pick up with a fine comb all the small issues there are, try and correct them, put the puzzles back in place and get some clean results."

When asked about the difficulties of having his personal life talked about in the media, Hamilton said: "I've not been reading it, but I've been dealing with it on my own, with great support from my family. I am sure you and everyone else knows what it is like, it is very tough."

And despite the troubled time he is having, Hamilton says he remains as focused as ever on doing the best he can for McLaren.

"I am so blessed in life. I have a great job and a fantastic family, it is just a mixture of things. I want to be winning and that is what I am working towards. I won't give up and will keep pushing."

Bruno Senna reckons he needs to be less tough on himself if he is to deliver the performances that will secure him a race seat for 2012.

After an impressive start to his spell at Renault, Senna has had a tougher time in the last few events - and had a particularly difficult weekend in Korea a fortnight ago.

But after kicking himself for what happened in Korea, Senna reckons that he needs to be more realistic about what he can do and the pressures he puts on himself.

"There is always more pressure the further you go into the season to have results, because in theory you should always be getting better and better and better," said Senna.

"But I need to be quite careful with that - even I had forgotten that last weekend was only my fifth race, and I am competing against guys who have done 17 races in the same space of time. So if I don't give myself a break sometimes when I have difficulties, and there will be difficulties all the time, then I might struggle with my head.

"The pressure is there. I want to go better and better every race, but sometimes like last weekend we had a difficult situation and it put me in a bad position, but there is no point dwelling too much on it. We try to learn from the mistakes.

"I want to do well for these last few races. It is going to be important for sure, but I have to make sure that I keep my mind in the right place considering I am not there with the other guys yet."

Senna says that he sat down with the team after Korea to work out what had gone wrong there – and thinks he has understood where mistakes were made.

"We hope we have a good solution," said Senna. "We have been looking at our previous races and I think we have understood what we have done wrong in the last race especially, and hopefully we will be back on good performance this weekend.

"It was because I had such short mileage and didn't have much reference from before, good reference from before, I went in the wrong route with the engineers.

"Plus every change we made was always made with a tyre change as well, so it was always going to feel better. So I think looking back if I did a few more miles I would have gone back on some changes and the car would have been more competitive for the race."

When asked about his feelings about 2012, Senna said: "Unfortunately if you don't have a contract signed there is no guarantee of having a place anywhere, but I think I have done a good few favours myself in terms of performance, qualifying performance lately, and it puts everything in a better position for the confidence the other people can give me.

"I would love to stay here. I like the guys here a lot. If I can stay here and get the right package and Robert [Kubica] cannot come back then hopefully I will be happy to."

Bruno Senna admits that he found it hard to believe that a dog was able to get onto the track during Friday morning's first free practice session at the new Buddh International circuit.

The Renault driver retired from the GP2 sprint race at Istanbul Park in 2008 after hitting a stray dog and damaging the front suspension. Senna promised to raise today's problem during the drivers' briefing.

"When I arrived at the track I saw that exact dog walking around the entrance of the paddock," said Senna when asked by AUTOSPORT about the problem. "It shows that no one really paid attention to it and the fact that it got into the track is difficult to believe.

"In the drivers' briefing I will be sure to raise the point."

Senna added that he was happy that the severity of the situation was taken seriously as the session was stopped as soon as the dog was spotted.

"It's clear that it's taken very seriously since my incident in GP2 in 2008 as they red-flagged the session," said Senna. "Let's hope that they pay more attention to uninvited animals on the track."

AUTOSPORT understands that the FIA has ensured that action has been taken to ensure that animals are not able to get onto the track again this weekend.

John Wickham, who was team manager at Renault, has decided to leave the Enstone-based outfit, AUTOSPORT has learned.

Wickham, who helped found the Spirit F1 outfit in the mid-1980s and was more recently technical and operations manager of A1 GP, was signed up by Renault from this year's European GP onwards.

The plan had been to share his responsibilities with newly promoted track operations director Alan Permane, who moved up from his old role as chief race engineer last month.

Wickham has elected to hand his notice in and has not travelled to this weekend's Indian GP with Renault. AUTOSPORT understand that he has already left the team to take up a role in sportscar racing.

Team principal Eric Boullier said recently that he had expected a recent staff reshuffle, which included the departure of sporting director Steve Nielsen, to be a positive for the team.

"Part of what were Steve's responsibilities will be taken over by Alan Permane, who is now track operations director," Boullier explained in September.

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

Williams has promoted Mike Coughlan to the role of technical director, following his appointment to the outfit as chief engineer earlier this year.

Coughlan originally joined the team while former technical director Sam Michael was still at the outfit, and the plan from the start was for him to take up full responsibility of the design of the Grove-based outfit's 2012 challenger.

Although there has been no official statement from the team about the change, Williams chairman Adam Parr announced on Friday in India during a press conference that Coughlan's job title had changed.

"The new technical team consists of Mike Coughlan, who we have just confirmed as our new technical director," said Parr. "Mike joined us in June."

Parr also refused to comment on mounting speculation that Kimi Raikkonen is closing in on a deal to join the outfit alongside Pastor Maldonado next year.

"I am afraid there is only one answer to that question, which is that our race drivers are Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello and if, and when, that changes we will make an appropriate announcement."

Formula 1 teams will be open-minded about adopting any safety improvements that can be made to the sport, if the investigation into Dan Wheldon's fatal crash highlights areas where steps forward can be made.

That is the view of Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn, who says that F1 teams are more than ready to listen if the Wheldon incident highlights areas of concern that are applicable for grand prix racing.

The FIA has stated that it is willing to offer any assistance it can in helping IndyCar with its analysis of the Las Vegas crash, and Brawn said he expected teams to be briefed over the next few weeks on the results of that work.

"The great thing about motor sport is that there is complete transparency on all of these matters between all the organisations, and we do always try and help each other," said Brawn.

"If we can learn anything or can contribute anything to events that happen, it is where motorsport always comes together. Certainly in my experience of F1, when there is an accident, every team contributes openly, constructively and objectively to try and find solutions - even if in some cases it may mean it compromises their competitive position. I've never known a team to not be willing to make the changes that have been needed even if it is a disadvantage for them.

"I know the FIA are talking to the IndyCar organisation and we will get reports back soon. If there are things we can help with as teams, or as an organisation, to learn what happened and improve our safety within F1, or indeed contribute to improving the safety of IndyCar, we will do it. It is the family of motorsport coming together."

Brawn said he was not qualified enough to comment on the circumstances of last weekend's Marco Simoncelli accident in MotoGP, but reckoned that it did not involve as many elements common to F1 as the Wheldon crash.

"In terms of the MotoGP accident, it is much more difficult for me to comment. They were much more extreme circumstances and you are probably looking at detailed safety in those instances rather than broad safety.

"I think with IndyCar you will be looking at the detailed safety and the broader topic of open wheeled cars launching, which of course can happen in any open wheel formula.

"There is a lot to be learned there, and I know everybody in motorsport will work hard to see if we can find better solutions. It will be an open book, about what any of us can learn from what happened."

Brawn reckoned it too early to say whether the design of catch fencing would become a major focus over the forthcoming weeks.

"I know we are due to get presented some reports in the next few meetings, so I would rather wait," said Brawn, when asked about the fencing situation.

"But we will learn whatever we need to learn from the IndyCar incident. If that [fencing] is a factor then for sure F1 will look at it and react, maybe with fence design and maybe with roll hoop design. I cannot comment because I haven't seen those facts yet."

Sebastian Vettel believes dust will be the 'story of the weekend' in India, although he is optimistic things will be better by race day.

The Buddh circuit, which is making its debut on the calendar this weekend, was extremely dusty during the opening practice sessions on Friday.

Vettel admitted the situation was very tricky, especially if a driver goes off the racing line.

"It is very dusty to start with, but the track layout seems fun - especially the wide entries," said Vettel. "It is tricky because it is so dusty off line in particular. It is very tricky and if a car in front comes off and comes back he carries all the sand off the line, so it is not easy.

"And it will be the story of the weekend so we have to make sure we stay on the line. We have to live with it but I think it will improve throughout the weekend so it should not be a big big problem in the race."

The German, who posted the second fastest time of the day, admitted he was pleased with his day's work.

"It is Friday. It doesn't really matter to top the ranking but all in all we can be happy. The car felt good straight from this morning and it was about to get into the rhythm of the circuit, get to know the car around here and that seemed to work quite well.

"The long run seemed good, it is still early – the circuit is quite challenging, quick tricky so it doesn't forgive a lot of mistake so we have to be very focused tomorrow."

Team-mate Mark Webber was fifth fastest, the Australian saying thing had been smoother for him in the morning.

"This morning was good, but this afternoon I didn't really.. She was a different girl and not really talking to me that well, so we will get it back tomorrow."

Jaime Alguersuari admitted that he was uncomfortable with his Toro Rosso's set-up in Indian Grand Prix free practice, having crashed in the morning session.

The Spaniard lost control at Turn 9 in the opening session, and was 14th fastest in his repaired car later on.

"We tried a set-up today that did not suit me and I found it quite difficult to keep the car in a straight line out there," said Alguersuari. "I did not feel comfortable and I felt I was on the edge.

"In the morning, I went over it, losing control and hitting the barrier with the rear of the car at Turn 9.

"The guys did a good job to get it all repaired for the start of the second session. I am sure we can have a better feeling for the car tomorrow and improve our position."

His team-mate Sebastien Buemi was 10th quickest and more upbeat.

"I think we have everything we need in terms of data and understanding to prepare ourselves for qualifying and the race," said the Swiss driver.

"Therefore I am happy with the way today went overall, the car ran reliably and the team did a good job. Now it's up to us to put everything together for qualifying.

"In terms of performance we hope we can continue the trend we saw in Korea a fortnight ago."

Jaime Alguersuari has escaped a penalty after being summoned to see the stewards for a yellow flag infringement after second free practice.

The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver was suspected of having not reacted to yellow flags that were being shown at Turn 9 during the afternoon session.

After he and a team representative spoke to the stewards, and presented telemetry evidence, it was found that that Spaniard had slowed down enough to escape a sanction.

A statement from the stewards said: "The Stewards noted that the telemetry indicated there had been significant reduction in speed by the driver."

Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez were both handed three-place grid penalties for the Indian Grand Prix after ignoring yellow flags at the end of first practice.

Michael Schumacher suspects that the dusty track surface at the Buddh International Circuit could make overtaking difficult in Sunday's Indian Grand Prix.

Formula 1 cars ran on the track for the first time today, with a total of three hours of practice. Even though this went a long way to cleaning up the track surface on the racing line, it remains very dusty off it.

This means that even though the track configuration should be conducive to overtaking, the lack of grip off-line could make it more of a challenge.

"It is a little issue because it will never properly clean up and off-line it remains very slippery," Schumacher told AUTOSPORT. "So overtaking is going to be very difficult.

"A lot of people will have to go through dusty areas, which also puts it [the dust] back on the main line so it becomes slippery again. It's tricky."

Overall, Schumacher was impressed with the new circuit despite enduring a difficult hour-and-a-half of running in the afternoon.

The Mercedes driver ended up 21st fastest, 6.098 seconds off pacesetter Felipe Massa's fastest time, and admitted that he struggled to find the right balance.

"It is a very interesting track and quite a good challenge," he said. "But it is very important to get a good balance for the car.

"This morning, it was okay, but in the afternoon it certainly wasn't."

Narain Karthikeyan admitted it was an emotional day for him as he drove a Formula 1 car in India for the first time.

The HRT driver is making his return to racing this weekend as he replaces Tonio Liuzzi for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

Although he was slower in the second practice session, Karthikeyan admitted it had been a special day for him.

"The first lap was very special; I felt so many emotions driving in India," said Karthikeyan. "I just couldn't believe it and there were so many things running through my head. In the first practice we were just trying to get into the swing of things and the second one went much better and we have a lot of things to try for tomorrow.

"Overall it was a good session for me, considering I haven't driven a full race distance since July, so the body needs to wake up a bit.

"The track evolved a lot and so times were improving too. We have a few things to try ahead of tomorrow so I'm quite excited to see how qualifying goes."

Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was 23rd quickest, the Australian rookie admitting he felt more comfortable in the morning session.

"It was our first day here and I can say that it is quite a fun circuit, I'm happy with the layout and I think that most drivers will enjoy it," he said. "This morning the track was cleaning all the time so we just did as many laps as we could which is the most important thing.

"This afternoon we started to work a bit with both compounds. I'm not as happy as in the morning since we made some changes which didn't work as well as we thought they could do. We'll analyse that and work on it for tomorrow. I think we can compete with our main competitors here and give them a good run for their money."

Karun Chandhok said he felt honoured to complete the first timed lap at the Buddh circuit in opening practice for the Indian Grand Prix.

The Indian replaced Heikki Kovalainen in this morning's session, finishing in 19th position, over 1.6 seconds behind team-mate Jarno Trulli, the man who was expected to make room for Chandhok to race at home.

Although Chandhok did not get the chance to race in the end, he was still delighted to be driving in front of his home crowd.

"It felt great to finally be able to drive an F1 car here at the Buddh International Circuit, and it was a real honour to be the first car to set a timed lap in front of the fans," said Chandhok.

"I want to thank the team for giving me that chance, and everyone at the Jaypee Group and all the people involved in helping create the first ever Indian Grand Prix for doing such a great job on the whole event. In the car I was pretty pleased with how it went today.

"We completed most of the morning programme and without the yellow flags at the end of the session I'm pretty sure there was another second in hand on my final lap time.

"The track itself is really enjoyable to drive, particularly the middle section which is very quick, and as it evolves and the times keep coming down I think we'll see some very good racing here all weekend."

Felipe Massa believes Ferrari can be competitive in this weekend's Indian Grand Prix after topping the times on Friday.

The Brazilian posted a best time of 1m25.706s to finish on top ahead of world champion Sebastian Vettel.

"For sure I think the car was good. I think the car was competitive," said Massa. "We will see tomorrow, how Red Bull and McLaren were running in terms of fuel and everything, but I think the car was good and I did good laps as well.

"When the car is good and you do a good lap you can be on the top."

The Ferrari driver admitted the dust on track - specially off the racing line - was making things very tricky.

"The track was very dirty off line. It was very difficult, a lot of sand outside of the line, but it is a nice track."

Massa also reckons Pirelli has chosen the wrong tyres for the weekend, as he feels the hard compound is too hard for the Buddh circuit.

"For sure I think maybe the hard tyre is too hard for this track. It was really possible to drive the same tyres as the last race here because the asphalt is so smooth and the degradation is much lower than expected.

"We saw that in Korea when we had soft and super soft there. Everyone was scared but it was fine as it was the right choice and here, looking at the asphalt, it is not so different so for me it was not the right direction to bring the hard."

Jenson Button is still confident that McLaren is quick enough to challenge for victory in India, despite admitting that Ferrari and Red Bull appeared to have an edge in Friday practice.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa led the way in the afternoon session at the Buddh circuit, ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull and the second Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, with the McLarens fourth and sixth - although Lewis Hamilton had been quickest for the Woking team in the morning.

Button said he was remaining upbeat even though the initial indications were not completely encouraging for McLaren.

"We're going to hopefully fight for a win this weekend," he said. "Whether we're quick enough or not, we'll hopefully find out on Sunday. But that's obviously what we're working towards now.

"And if we're sat here saying that we're going to finish third or fourth, that's a little bit negative, so we're going to be positive."

He acknowledged that Ferrari's speed looked impressive, but felt the one-second gap between his sixth place and Massa's time-topping 1m25.706s lap was not representative.

"I think the Ferrari is very fast. Whether they're that much quicker, I don't know," said Button.

"I don't know what Lewis did on his lap, but on my best lap I lost about three tenths with traffic in the last sector. And on my new tyre run I tried a set-up change that didn't work for me.

"We went back for the long run and on the long run the car felt great for me. I was very happy with the pace."

The Briton therefore expects a three-way fight this weekend.

"Red Bulls are always quick, even if they don't look good on a Friday or Saturday morning, they're quick over the weekend," said Button.

"Ferrari are surprisingly quick - they're going to be very competitive this weekend so it will be a big challenge to fight both Red Bulls and both Ferraris."

Button added that he had been extremely impressed with the Buddh track, which has received a generally positive welcome from the F1 fraternity this weekend.

"I don't know if I'd put it in the same bracket as Suzuka or Spa yet, but I've really enjoyed driving around here," he said.

"It's fast, it's flowing. Apart from there being a lot of dust everywhere, I think they've done a great job with the actual layout."

Friday's press conference:

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES - Jean Francois CAUBET (Renault F1 Sport), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Vijay MALLYA (Force India), Adam PARR (Williams), Franz TOST (Toro Rosso)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. A question to you all about your initial thoughts about India and the circuit. Franz, first of all?

Franz TOST: India, so far, I don't know very well, as I just arrived yesterday and my first impression is quite positive regarding here, the race track. I must say that the team around Sameer Gaur has done a fantastic job as the track itself is very interesting. Long straights, slow corners, fast corners, our drivers are really excited about the track. There are a couple of possibilities for overtaking. In general it is very important for Formula One that we are racing in India, that we go to these new markets that are interesting and important for the future, like India, like China, Russia, the Arabian area, South America. These are the markets for the future and this is important for our sponsors, to bring in more sponsors as Formula One is racing every second weekend. For Formula One itself this is very, very important and thanks also to Bernie [Ecclestone] for doing this, as in the end he is negotiating and coming up with this these new tracks.

Adam PARR: I would agree with everything that Franz has said. I would just add that India is a spectacular country and very colourful, very vibrant, and always has been. Being here is very exciting for us as a team and as a sport and being able to 'play' here is important if we are to be a global sport, so we are thrilled. I would just like to say thank you very much to the promoters here for putting on such a fantastic event and for publicising it so well in the country and making Formula One feel so welcome.

Jean Francois CAUBET: For Renault, India is a strategic market for the future. We have three strategic markets in the future, India, Russia and Brazil so to race here is very important. We are building a huge factory in the south, in Chennai, and it is a pleasure to race here and I hope that the engine will be, probably, winning.

Q. Monisha, you must be very excited to be here?

Monisha KALTENBORN: I am very excited, and to start, I fully agree with what Franz and Adam said about the place here, about the track. We received a very warm welcome here. What I am very surprised about, pleasantly surprised, is the way the Indian media have been covering the whole event so far. I mean the amount of in-depth information they give about the sport, the rules, what is important, technical aspects, it is very unique. I have never seen that before in this depth and from a personal point of view, of course, I am very excited to have this link now between the job and the country where I come from, so it is a very special race.

Q. Vijay, also you must be very excited and very proud of what you have seen today?

Vijay MALLYA: Well, my views are very, very partial. I have a huge vested interest. Over 30 years ago I drove my Ensign Formula One car here in India and I never thought I would ever see a Formula One car race around India in the future. As the chairman of the ASN responsible for motorsport here, we have been trying to promote motorsport in this country for over three decades and this is like a dream come true. When I acquired the then Spyker team, I re-named it Force India and there was a lot of strategy and meaning behind it, as it was meant to put India on the Formula One map. We have had an Indian team since 2008 on the Formula One grid and now a grand prix here in Delhi. This is unbelievably fantastic.

Q. A technical question for you all about engines. It is getting to the sharp end of the championship when the eight engines are perhaps getting a bit tired, when you are perhaps running out. We saw a couple of engine failures today. What is your engine situation in your particular team. Franz?

FT: So far I must say that Ferrari has done a fantastically good job. We have not had an engine failure. I hope this stays like it is until the end of the season. Also with KERS.

Q. Adam, you had an engine failure today. What's the situation with the AT&T Williams team?

AP: Well we have, I think, two fresh engines left for the remainder of the season, so we are on track in that sense. We have had some reliability issues actually in the last three weekends, which our partner is working very hard to fix as soon as possible and, obviously, that's critically important for us.

Q. Jean Francois, perhaps you can summarise three teams.

JFC: I think we have one engine free for all the teams and I think in terms of reliability I think we will be quite good this year. I don't think there will be a problem.

MK: Well compared to last year, we definitely have had a better year this year on engines. I hope it goes on like this and we don't suffer any problems.

Q. So you shouldn't have any problems for the end of the season?

MK: I hope so, no.

VM: Well Sahara Force India is committed to putting its best foot forward here on home soil, so we have saved two fresh engines for the race.

Q. And for the other two races?

VM: We are alright, we are alright.

Q. Franz, performance in the last few races has been really good. It must be very useful for next year, and is it a bit of an indication for next year?

FT: I hope so. Currently, I must say, the car performs quite well. The team has made a step forward. We brought some new modifications to Suzuka and as it looked today I think we can be close to qualifying three. That means both cars should be close to the 10th position and this should enable us to score some points in the race. So far, we are within our schedule and regarding for next year, of course, there is some development work which is going on. The main parts for next year we are testing at the young driver tests days in Abu Dhabi.

Q. Adam, you have put in place a new technical team. Can you just outline it and tell us how it's going.

AP: Well the new technical team consists of Mike Coughlan, who we have just confirmed as our new Technical Director. Mike joined us in June. The Head of Aerodynamics joined us in the middle of August, Jason Somerville, and thirdly, Mark Gillan, who is our chief operations engineer looking after the race team. In terms how they are going I think it has been a very positive step for us in a number of respects. First of all, they are all very experienced people. They have a strong aerodynamic interest, particularly amongst Jason and Mark, who worked together as head and deputy head of aero at Toyota, so there is a good understanding between the track and the tunnel. I think they have already had quite an impact on the team at the factory in the sense of people seeing some good direction forward and a good way of working, so that's all positive. They essentially view our existing facilities and resources as being good enough to do a much better job than we are doing today. There are some areas where we need to invest a little bit and we are doing that as fast as we can to really try and take a big step forward for next year.

Q. Jean Francois, we saw today a couple of engine failures, not yours I hasten to add. Tell us the challenges of this circuit, as it was interesting to have those engine failures. Is it the circuit?

JFC: No I don't think it is particularly the circuit. It is not too hard for the engine. I think it is a problem of the end of the season. People try on the engine side to be innovative next year and probably they are more looking to next year and 2014 at the end of this season.

Q. Is there a major or specific challenge at this circuit particularly?

JFC: No, I don't think we will have a specific challenge here. I think Spa and Monza are worse than here.

Q. Monisha, you have obviously got a major Indian sponsor for this race. How easy or difficult was it. How much did you target and look for a sponsor for this grand prix?

MK: Well, I think like everyone else we wanted to also attract Indian companies and it is surprising that there are not many, as yet, in Formula One, although from the financial potential they are very much capable of doing it. We did try hard and we succeeded in getting one of India's most known, prestigious owned brands with Amul. I think we will continue with that now. An event like this is the best platform, that's where we can present ourselves and show the companies here what Formula One is about.

Q. Vijay, a lot has been happening with the team. If you can outline some of the things that has been going on?

VM: Well we have been focusing on our performance, of course, and the big news is the fact that we have a new partner in the Sahara group. The Sahara group is one of the largest groups in India and a huge patron and sponsor of sport, sponsor of India's national cricket team amongst other sports in India. We started discussions and they came on board and are investing $100million into the team. They will hold 42.5 per cent equity stake. There is no change of control involved. The team will be Sahara Force India. The chassis name remains. I will continue to run the team but with these additional financial resources our research and development strengths get a significant shot in the arm. But what is more, I think this one big move by a major Indian group will encourage many more.

Q. Also, you announced the results of your search for 'One in a Billion'.

VM: The Indian press has constantly been asking me about an Indian driver in our car and I have said "fine, we will find one". A couple of years ago I said that amongst 1.2 billion people there must be a Lewis Hamilton somewhere, so we launched this nationwide hunt. We had karting events across the country and finally we chose 10 kids. We took them to Silverstone and to Milton Keynes in the UK and we announced the names of the three winners, well the winner, runner-up and second runner-up yesterday. We are going to send all three to Europe, pay for their education, their advanced driver training and everything. They are under 14-years-old and hopefully in five to six years we will produce an Indian Formula One driver.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Heikki Kulta - Turun Sanomat) Adam, there are five million of us Finns in Finland anxious to know if there is nay chance to see Kimi Raikkonen racing with Williams next year?

AP: I am afraid there is only one answer to that question, which is that our race drivers are Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello and if, and when, that changes we will make an appropriate announcement

Q. (Ubald Parkar – F1 Pulse.com) Jean Francois, you mentioned that India is a strategic market. Can you elaborate as to how Renault intends to tap this market, as Red Bull is badged with Infiniti, Lotus Renault is known more for the Lotus name and the other Lotus doesn't earn any points.

JFC: We are an engine provider and the name of the team is Red Bull Renault, Lotus Renault, Team Lotus Renault, so we are pushing the name of Renault and we share an affinity with the name in Red Bull. We are pushing on two grounds. We have a technical communication on the Renault side and more a marketing communication on the Infiniti side.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) To the four team representatives. Recently there has been an allegation that certain teams aren't respecting the terms and conditions of the Resource Restriction Agreement and there are suggestions that the entire agreement could fall apart. As you are middle-ranking teams, if I can term it that, what would be the affect be on your teams if the RRA did fall apart?

FT: First of all, we at Toro Rosso are far away from the figures in the RRA regarding employees as well as external expenditures and, therefore, it doesn't directly belong to us. But, generally, we should find a way in Formula One to save costs. We should come down with the costs and I think that the RRA was quite a good start for doing this and the big teams in the past years have reduced their costs and where we end up in the future, I don't know yet. We from Toro Rosso respect the Resource Restriction Agreement.

AP: First of all, I don't think there is any evidence that anybody is not respecting the RRA and I think that is very important. There may be rumours, but there is no evidence of that so I think from a team perspective we must trust our colleagues. The second point is that everybody that you talk to in Formula One wants cost controls. I met with Christian (Horner) yesterday, I met with Stefano (Domenicali), they are adamant that they want those controls. Now, the question is what is the best way to achieve that and I think that a number of teams would agree, whatever their perspective is, that we can do better than we are doing now in having a good process. Which is not very surprising because it is relatively new and it is relatively difficult and I think, therefore, what is essential now is to get the teams together, which we will do in Abu Dhabi, to work out how to strengthen and move things forward. But there is no disagreement about the need to do this or the desire to do it.

MK: I fully agree with what has been said so far. We also have never seen any evidence indicating that anybody has not stuck to the agreement. And, as mentioned, the RRA is a very important but fair step. We all knew at the time this has to go down this road and it will take a while until we do the next step. It is now time to go into that direction and if you have so many competing teams like in FOTA you have different opinions, you have a different starting point in discussions, so it is fairly normal that we have these discussions but I am quite confident that we will resolve it all.

VM: I think Adam has summed it up very well. I will go along with what he says. There's no evidence that anybody is busting the agreement and there's certainly no signs of cracks within FOTA that would leave the entire Resource Restriction plan to blow up. I think everyone – even from the biggest team owner down to the smallest team owner – everybody wants to spend money wisely and not waste money, so if there is any way in which all the teams participating in Formula One can be efficient, can reduce their costs and yet have fun competing and be competitive, I think that's the way forward. As far as we're concerned, Force India is fully in compliance.

Q. (Shridhar Potdar –Sakaal Media House) Dr Mallya, when you bought the Spyker team, you said that you didn't think of becoming the best of the rest. As you know, in Formula One there are two teams who vie for number one and there are other teams whose ranking starts from number three. Now, with the first season, if we look at the stats, this was the first year and it was a learning experience for you. Since then your team has gone places. Do you think the passion and the love for racing is the biggest asset and the biggest weapon of Force India?

VM: When I took over the team at the end of 2007 and our first season was 2008, we just waited and watched because the Spyker team, even though re-named Force India, sort of continued the way it was. And then we made several changes in the team and set out a three year road map from 2009 onwards and I think we're well on track. I think I owe it to all my colleagues in the team who've put their best foot forward and I'm glad we've been able to achieve what we set out to achieve.

Q. (Panagiotis Seitanidis – Alpha TV) Dr Mallya, you said that it was a dream come true for Formula One to come to India. How did you feel when not only you had this wonderful circuit but you received all the good comments from the drivers and the other teams?

VM: There has been a lot of speculation, a lot of people were sceptical as well, and I think we proved them all wrong, which is very, very nice. I drove around the track a couple of times yesterday, I spoke to several drivers. They simply love the track. It's complete, it's finished. As a member of the World Motor Sport Council I read Charlie Whiting's report – the FIA track inspection report – and I was amazed to see how complimentary he was on the technical facilities here at the Buddh International circuit, and of course, as we look around, it's all there, finished on time. The race is happening, it's real, it's a dream come true. Can't complain.

Q. (Matt Youson – Matt Youson & Assoc) Vijay, in addition to the race, we have an FIA General Assembly and the FIA end-of-season gala and prize-giving in India now. What do those add to Indian motor sport potential?

VM: There are two mega-events happening within a few months of each other. At the World Motor Sports Council meeting, I suggested that the FIA General Assembly be held in India and that the annual prize-giving also be held in India, and the World Motor Sport Council accepted it and so this is going to be a huge event as well, high profile. Our Indian Government's Ministry of Tourism has kindly got involved, giving us full support and so following this Indian Grand Prix and then having and hosting the FIA General Assembly and the annual prize-giving, where we will present the World Championship awards, including to Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel, it's an event that will obviously serve to boost motor sport even to a far greater extent in this country, and I think this is all great because this country has the potential. India is a modern, vibrant nation, we have a huge number of young people here and as you can see all around – Adam mentioned about the promotion through the media as other platforms promoting this race, this event – all this is great stuff and I think it puts India firmly on the Formula One map and helps build a huge fan base.

Q. (Kartikay Mehrota – Bloomberg News) Dr Mallya, do you expect the government to increase their involvement, perhaps financially down the line, to help cover the cost of bringing F1 to India, as you mentioned that the Ministry of Tourism is interested now?

VM: The Ministry of Tourism is supporting the FIA General Assembly and annual prize-giving in non-cash ways. In a country like India, with the profile of our people, with the number of under-privileged people we also have, it would be too much of an ask if we went to government and said 'subsidise motor sport.' So this initiative here at the Buddh International Circuit is a private initiative by the Jaypee Group - God bless them, they've done a wonderful job and invested a lot of money and they haven't depended on any sort of government grants.

Q. (Francois Tremblay – Pole Position, Canada) A lot of Formula One fans across the world complain that it's always the same teams fighting for the win, frustrating for a few of you guys also. Is there anything that has been proposed to help the poorer teams to get more competitive, like having some private testing – the lower you finish, the more private testing you get, something to help you guys to fight for the win?

FT: I don't think that if the teams which are running a little bit more behind or in the midfield get the possibility for more tests that it would increase their performance or put them in front of the current best teams. It's always a combination. If you look at Red Bull, they have a fantastic team with Adrian Newey who is a fantastically good designer, they have one of the best drivers in their car, and the team itself is also doing a very, very good job. That means that this combination has grown up in the last two years and it's not that you say now, for example, to any other team which is behind, 'OK, we give you more tests and then you will beat them.' It's that all the factors have to work together to build up a competitive team, and the reason why there are two or three teams in front, fighting for the championships, it's because they have got everything together and this takes time and there will always be some teams in front with another infrastructure, with better people, with better drivers and this is simply also in the history of the sport. If you remember before, there were the years when Ferrari was dominating, there was the Williams era, McLaren and that's always the case. I think that this year, especially this year, we have had fantastically good races with many position changes and although Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull have won the championship so early, the races themselves were very, very interesting and I think this is what the people want to see, with all the overtaking. Money was at the end.

AP: Just two thoughts: first of all we don't expect any favours on the track, and I think it would be inappropriate to ask or suggest that. Where I do think the sport needs to work together is off the track and that includes the economics, so while I don't think we should get any advantage, I think that as a sport, as we discussed earlier, having a sensible control over the total spending is logical, I think. J-FC: I think on the engine side – because you have a frozen engine and blowing is forbidden next year, reliability is not so bad, it's nearly the same for all the teams now – I think you must wait until 2014 because in '14 you will have new regulations, new chassis, new engine, probably a lot of creativity and things will be completely different in '14. I think it will be something like a new Formula One and the gap will be very big in comparison to now.

MK: I think any such measures would basically distort the championship and the sport, so looking at our team itself, we know our strengths and we can be more flexible than bigger teams can, so we have to focus on them, seeing where the resources restriction is going, these kind of measures. We need to wait for our chance and we need to be there then.

VM: I remember the time Toro Rosso won the race at Monza, beating everybody. We thought that Toro Rosso was one of us. It obviously proved itself quite differently so anything can happen in this sport, as you know, but I think I would agree with Franz in what he was saying, that we need to put everything together: the technical direction, the engineering, the research and development, the team, the drivers – everything's got to come together. It's not just a question of money. I don't believe that money alone can just buy performance. It's a lot more than that. If you look at the history of the various teams, where they started, where they are today, it shows you that there is an inbuilt, unpredictability here. As far as Sahara Force India is concerned, we're slowly moving up the ladder and we intend to continue to do that.

Q (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Vijay, in the last fortnight or so the team ownership has changed; 42.5% the Sahara Group, 42.5% yourself and 15% the Dutch interest. You've just referred to the team as Sahara Force India. This last week we've received an e-mail from your PR department requesting us to refer to it as Sahara Force India. Have you requested an official name change, because there's a Formula One Commission meeting coming up, or what is Sahara's status in the team title please?

VM: The name hasn't changed. The chassis name remains the same. It's like Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. So there's no change of control, there's no change in the chassis name, so I don't require any permissions. Out of courtesy, we informed the FOM and the FOM have acknowledged our communication in the affirmative.

Q. (Atul Pateriya – Dainik Jagran) Dr Mallya, the British newspaper The Independent quoted on the eve of the Indian Grand Prix, said in one sense India is a strange venue for a Formula One race. Around thirty percent of the Indian population live on less than one pound a day; what would you like to say about that?

VM: In every country there are the privileged and the under-privileged. We have under-privileged people in our country, but that doesn't mean that the country must be bogged down or weighed down. India is a progressive country, we have a strongly growing economy, a large economy. The government is doing all it can to address the needs of the poor or the under-privileged people but India must move on. Back in 1990, we consciously made a decision to integrate ourselves into the world economy, to open up from an era of total government control and so the country must move forward. The Commonwealth Games were held here in India, now it's Formula One. I'm sure there will be several more global events in our country, because this is a world class country in many ways. Sure we have our problems but those are being addressed.

AP: It's often suggested and maybe The Independent newspaper of England is perhaps guilty of this as well, of treating Formula One as if it was an elite sport. Obviously all international sport is elite in that athletes and teams have to perform at an extraordinarily high level of performance, but that is the only sense in which Formula One is an elite sport. If you look at the people who participate in the sport, drivers and the rest of us, everyone is from normal backgrounds, work hard and I think actually, if you compare us with – dare I say it, Vijay? – if you compare the amounts that people earn in our sport compared with an IPL (Indian Premier League cricket) or English Premier League (football), it's a much more democratic and much more spread out kind of sport. So I think it's very important, on the eve of our Indian Grand Prix, it's very important to make the point: this is not an elite sport, it's a sport for the whole world. Six hundred million people enjoy it and many, many thousands of people participate in it.

Q. (S. S. ShreeKuma – The New Indian Express, Bangalore) Dr Mallya, what are your expectations from this race?

VM: As far as I'm concerned, we want to put on as best a showing as we can at our home grand prix, and that's going to be our 100 per cent or 110 per cent effort.

Q. (S. S. ShreeKuma – The New Indian Express, Bangalore) With more Formula One races being added to the Formula One season, what do you think is the ideal number to have in a year?

AP: Franz will just say one a day.

FT: No, as we have 52 weeks, 26 races, every second weekend! No, I think 20 races are OK and that this is the number we should stick to.

[Lineker]

[LUKIE]

I predict Webber to crash out on the first corner, possibly taking Vettel with him.

[Sam]

Hamilton smashes into Massa again. Surprise.

[LUKIE]

That was a racing incident if there ever was one. I don't understand why Massa received a drive-through for that.

[Twist]

That was a racing incident if there ever was one. I don't understand why Massa received a drive-through for that.

BBC coverage showed Massa obviously look at Hamilton coming up the inside and immediately pull across into his line.

[Katsuya]

Yeah, but Brundle and Coulthard both made the point that there was nowhere else for Massa to go. Lewis wasn't ahead, there was still half of Massa's car ahead. Felipe was either going to get forced off the track or he was going to have to try and turn in for the corner. The fact Lewis was there was because he wasn't backing out of it. It probably was a bit of both and neither should have got the penalty, but I;d have put the blame more on Lewis than Felipe if you had to give it to anyone. But that might be a bit of my anti-Hamilton bias, I guess.

[Lineker]

I don't have an opinion on the incident yet as the Sky box fucked up and didn't record the race . The pre-race moment's silence for Wheldon & Simoncelli was a classy touch too, I thought.

Sebastian Vettel strolled to his 11th victory of the season at the Buddh International Circuit to become the winner of Formula 1's first ever Indian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver's latest triumph was one of his most straightforward of his ultra-successful year. As his front row partner and team-mate Mark Webber was attacked by Jenson Button's McLaren and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari at the start, Vettel was free to pull clear.

He sat on a four to five second lead for most of the distance, as he led every lap and completed a perfect performance with the fastest lap of the race as well.

Button got through to second on the first lap, as Alonso twitched under braking and ran wide, letting Webber keep third. The Australian mounted some vigorous attacks on Button over the opening laps, before the McLaren managed to escape and head off for an ultimately uncontested second.

Webber then lost third to Alonso at the final stops, when being the first of the frontrunners to change to the hard Pirellis cost him.

Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa's turbulent season continued with yet another collision between them. The Ferrari had got ahead of the McLaren on the first lap and was a safe distance ahead until an error just before half-distance left Massa vulnerable to attacks from Hamilton.

They eventually collided as Hamilton went down the inside at Turn 5 - with the stewards deciding Massa was at fault for leaving insufficient room and giving the Brazilian a drive-through penalty. Massa later retired when he smashed his suspension on a kerb, just as he had in qualifying, while Hamilton recovered from ninth to seventh after pitting for a new front wing.

He finished behind the two Mercedes, which were led by Michael Schumacher, who had moved onto Nico Rosberg's tail with a fast start then jumped him for fifth with a late final pitstop.

Toro Rosso looked set to get both cars in the points until Sebastien Buemi stopped with smoke pouring from his machine. Jaime Alguersuari went on to take eighth, ahead of Adrian Sutil in the leading Force India, and Sergio Perez, as the Sauber man proved the most successful of those who ran ultra-short opening stints on hard tyres then switched to softs for the duration.

Perez narrowly beat Renault's Vitaly Petrov, who followed the same strategy. Bruno Senna challenged for points in the second Renault but was hampered by KERS issues and finished 12th, followed by Paul di Resta (Force India) and Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus - which showed strong race pace to run as high as 10th.

The Buddh layout proved tricky for the field to safely navigate as one on the first lap. First a brush between the two Williams sent Rubens Barrichello into Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber, which then rejoined in the path of Timo Glock's Virgin. Among several other brushes of wheels around the lap, Jarno Trulli was left with a puncture after his Lotus was punted into a spin by an HRT.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS


The Indian Grand Prix

Buddh International, New Delhi, India;

60 laps; 307.249km;

Weather: Dusty.


Classified:


Pos  Driver        Team                       Time

 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h30:35.002

 2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     8.433

 3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    24.301

 4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    25.529

 5.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +  1:05.421

 6.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +  1:06.851

 7.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:24.183

 8.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap

 9.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap

10.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap

11.  Petrov        Renault                    +     1 lap

12.  Senna         Renault                    +     1 lap

13.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap

14.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps

15.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +    2 laps

16.  D-Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps

17.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps

18.  Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps

19.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +    4 laps


Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:27.457


Not classified/retirements:


Driver        Team                         On lap

Massa         Ferrari                      33

Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari           25

Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth            13

Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              3

Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               1



World Championship standings, round 17:                


Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Vettel       374        1.  Red Bull-Renault          595

 2.  Button       240        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          442

 3.  Alonso       227        3.  Ferrari                   325

 4.  Webber       221        4.  Mercedes                  145

 5.  Hamilton     202        5.  Renault                    72

 6.  Massa         98        6.  Force India-Mercedes       51

 7.  Rosberg       75        7.  Sauber-Ferrari             41

 8.  Schumacher    70        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         41

 9.  Petrov        36        9.  Williams-Cosworth           5

10.  Heidfeld      34       

11.  Sutil         30       

12.  Kobayashi     27       

13.  Alguersuari   26       

14.  Di Resta      21       

15.  Buemi         15       

16.  Perez         14       

17.  Barrichello    4       

18.  Senna          2       

19.  Maldonado      1       


All timing unofficial[/code]


The Indian Grand Prix has the potential to secure its position as one of the best events of the calendar on the back of a largely positive inaugural weekend, claim leading figures within Formula 1.


Although there have been teething problems at the Buddh International Circuit, which have included some incomplete buildings, a lacklustre finish to some of the infrastructure, plus electricity and sewage issues, teams have been generally positive about the first impressions.


But with drivers raving about the layout of the new circuit - which looks set to produce an exciting inaugural race - those who are familiar with the event are hugely excited about the future potential for the Indian GP.


When asked by AUTOSPORT whether or not the event could become one of the sport's favourites in the next few years, Force India team principal Vijay Mallya said: "It certainly should.


"This track has come out very well, all the drivers love it. They are surprised at how wide it is, how wide the run-off areas are, and with two DRS zones there are some real overtaking possibilities. So clearly it has to rate as one of the best tracks in the world.


"As far as the facilities are concerned, they are vast, expansive, and generous in terms of space. Okay, maybe a couple of weeks of more time may have led to the grass being a little greener or a few cobble stones not coming loose, but other than that it is a world class facility. And given time, by next year, it should be right up there.


"F1 is the pinnacle of motor racing, and is such a hugely watched sport all over the world, that I think it puts India on the map, not just in motor racing terms but as a vibrant modern country.


"This event will not only have a great impact on motorsports in general, and F1 in particular, but I think from the tourism perspective and all the other economic benefits that arise from such mega events, India will be the gainer."


Track designer Hermann Tilke told AUTOSPORT that the Buddh venue "absolutely" had the potential to become on the best facilities - as he promised teams that the facilities will be much better next year.


"Everything will be sorted," he explained. "If you were here three months ago, then you would never expect a race could take place here. A lot of these things are just because the time ran out. It was really done very, very fast at the end."


For drivers, there have been no doubts that the layout of the track – which includes long straights, wide corner entries and some high-speed sections – is one of the best of the new events that have been added to the calendar in recent years.


Lewis Hamilton said: "I love it. It is fantastic. It is really one of my favourite circuits now, and it is very rare I would say that for any circuit to be honest.


"It is just really nice to drive, it is very flowing. I like the speed of the corners, the mid-section is fantastic. If anything, it is very rare you have sector one, sector two, sector three – they are all good sectors in terms of how to drive.


"The guys have done a fantastic job. I am looking forward to the race, and will be sad to leave tomorrow night and having to wait another year to come back here."


Sebastian Vettel admitted he was left with mixed emotions following his win in the Indian Grand Prix after a tragic two weeks for the world of motorsport.


The Red Bull driver paid tribute to two-time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon and MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli, both killed in races over the past two weeks.


"To be honest with you, it is a little bit of a mixed emotion," said Vettel after scoring his 11th win of the season.


"On the one hand I am very happy, very proud to be the first winner, but on the other hand looking back at last weekend we lost two of our mates. I didn't know Dan but obviously he is a big name in motorsport.


"This year I got to know Marco Simoncelli and our thoughts are with them. We are ready to take certain risks when we get in the car, but sometimes things happen. As I said a bit of mixed emotions and our thoughts are with them at the moment."


He added: "Obviously it was a very good race for us. I enjoyed the time in the lead very much. I had a bit of a fight with Jenson in the distance as he was always four seconds behind and with the strategy he kept closing in during the pitstops."


Vettel won the race from pole position, leading every lap, and setting the fastest lap to continue with his dominant season.


The German broke Nigel Mansell's record for most laps led during a season, but said he was not focused on records like that and said he just wants to continue enjoying his season.


"I don't mind," he said. "I think we can continue. The car is fantastic and the team is enjoying it. We are on a run since the beginning of the season. We enjoy every race. The great thing is when you walk in the garage every morning, they are flat out and pushing very hard.


"It's really enjoyable to see that knowing what we have achieved, we are still hungry, not lacking motivation. The people come with questions but we come back with the right answers, so we don't want this to end."


Formula 1 chiefs are to discuss the future of technical co-operation deals between teams later this week, in a move that could open the way for full-blown customer car deals.


AUTOSPORT has learned that issues regarding the sharing of intellectual property between teams have been added to the agenda for a meeting of the Formula 1 Commission that will take place in Geneva next Thursday.


Sources have revealed that following a request from a team, two topics are now up for discussion at the November 3 meeting. These relate to a clarification of the definition of a constructor, plus a debate about whether the placement of staff at other teams could lead to an illegal sharing of 'confidential intellectual property.'


It is understood that the issue has come to light on the back of scrutiny about just how far teams are allowed to share information - especially with McLaren now having technical deals with both Force India and Virgin Racing for next year.


Team principals were informed about the IP debate by Bernie Ecclestone during a meeting in the Indian Grand Prix paddock on Friday.


It was made clear that amid pressure from different camps to clarify the situation - with bigger teams wanting to supply customer cars and smaller outfits wanting more help – it was felt important that the matter be discussed at length in the F1 Commission.


McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh insisted, however, that the scope of the partnerships between McLaren Applied Technologies and the Force India and Virgin Racing teams were totally within the terms of the Concorde Agreement.


"I am very comfortable that we comply," he said, when asked by AUTOSPORT about the situation.


"When we went into the first contract, the schedule of works and the contract was shared with the FIA and with FOM, and we also at that time wrote to the teams and explained what we were doing, and why it was compliant. And we have kept with what we said we were doing at that point.


"With Marussia [Virgin], we wrote to FOM and the FIA. Inevitably it is a competitive environment and I think we have seen Force India as a competitive team, so I suspect that raises people's concerns maybe. I didn't personally put it on the agenda [for the F1 Commission] so I cannot tell you the motivation behind it."


Force India team principal Vijay Mallya did not understand why the matter had come up now, because the deal with McLaren had been so long-running.


"Please understand that our relationship with McLaren Applied Technologies Ltd is a three-year-old one," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT. "If we were flouting any of the rules of the Concorde Agreement I can tell you, with a degree of certainty, that many people in this paddock would have complained a long while ago.


"Three years into our relationship what is the need to start complaining now? And I would also like to add, and I said this in zest [in the team principals' meeting], that every email that I exchange with Martin Whitmarsh has a comment from him that this has to be Concorde compliant, so that is how seriously McLaren take it and obviously we take it as well. I am not worried about it. We can discuss it at the F1 Commission meeting, but as far as I am concerned we are in compliance with Concorde."


Ferrari has made no secret of its desire to expand customer relationships to full-blown customer cars in the future, but Whitmarsh made it clear that McLaren was against such a move.


"This is where I guess we would be accused of being hypocrites, but we don't think customer cars are the right way to go," he said.


"If you allow customer cars, then there would be a customer Red Bull, a customer McLaren, a customer Ferrari, and maybe a customer Mercedes – and that is quite tough on some of the other teams."


He added: "We have 12 entrants at the moment and what we should be concentrating on is developing a viable business model of sustainable budgets for 12 teams. That is a healthier and better way to go, but that is my opinion. I respect others have a different view."


Adrian Sutil has welcomed team boss Vijay Mallya's decision to bring forward Force India's 2012 driver decision to the next few weeks.


Mallya had originally intended to wait until December to decide which of his team's three drivers - Sutil, Paul di Resta or Nico Hulkenberg – will be given race contracts for next year.


Amid mounting speculation that a decision has been taken and that it will be Hulkenberg and di Resta signed up by the team, Mallya moved to end the rumours by stating in India that he will make his decision imminently.


With an announcement expected before the next race in Abu Dhabi, Sutil has supported the fact that he will find out his future soon – which does at least give him time to find an alternative drive if he is not retained.


"I was hoping to hear this from Vijay because December is just too late, and I think it is not fair to the drivers," said Sutil, when asked by AUTOSPORT about Mallya's change of plans. "I am happy that he understood that and let's see what comes out."


Sutil refused to predict which way Mallya's decision would go, but reckoned that his strong performances for the team this year showed that he was worthy of being handed another contract by the team.


"I do the best job I can," he said. "I think it should be obvious for the people here and they have to decide."


Should Sutil not stay with Force India, then his best option for 2012 appears to be with Williams – but that situation depends on the outcome of the Grove-based team's talks with Kimi Raikkonen.


"I am looking around of course, but the priority is always to Force India," Sutil said. "I am loyal to this team. I am with this team for very long and I have a close relationship to Vijay.


"So let's see what he says in the next weeks, and then I will have plenty of time to decide what to do."


Lewis Hamilton felt Felipe Massa left him no space in their collision in the Indian Grand Prix, and admitted that the Brazilian was not currently speaking to him.


Massa was given a drive-through penalty for their clash, which occurred as Hamilton tried to overtake the Ferrari for fifth place at Turn 5. While Hamilton recovered to seventh after getting a new front wing, Massa retired after breaking his suspension on a kerb.


"There's not really much to say," said Hamilton. "It's a disappointing day. My team worked hard all weekend as they always do. I don't really know what else to say.


"We had the one minute silence before the start of the race and me and Felipe were standing next to each other. He hasn't spoken to me in a long, long time so I put my arm around him and just said 'good luck for the race'.


"But in the race I tried to overtake and I tried to come out of it because it didn't look like he was going to give me any space, and we collided. I'm really, really sorry for my team."


Hamilton felt his car had picked up damage in the incident.


"I had some vibrations, in right handers it felt like the floor was scraping on the floor, and I just had very, very poor performance and I was pushing as hard as I could just to have the pace of anyone," he said. "The car looks fine so maybe it's just me."


Felipe Massa says he cannot understand why the Indian Grand Prix stewards chose to give him a drive-through penalty for his collision with Lewis Hamilton.


The pair came together for the sixth time this year in today's race at the Buddh International Circuit, clashing as Hamilton tried to pass Massa on the inside into Turn 4. The McLaren sustained a broken front wing and finished seventh, while Massa was penalised then retired with broken suspension after clipping a kerb.


The Brazilian was adamant that he was not the one at fault.


"My view is that I was in front, I braked later than him and I was in front, I was on the grippy area as well and then I started to turn and I didn't see him on the left as he was behind," said Massa. "He touched my rear wheel. So, to be honest I don't understand why I have the penalty. It is not really understandable."


Asked if he felt he was now part of a 'feud', Massa replied: "Maybe for him. Because all the incidents are that he touched my car. So, I didn't do anything wrong."


He added: "If it is Lewis or not Lewis, whatever the driver is there, I would do the same."


Massa also denied that he had looked in his mirrors to see where the McLaren was and then deliberately turned in on his rival.


"I know he was on my side. But when I braked, this is the important place, not when you are on the straight, when I braked, he was not on my side," he said.


"So, I turned because I braked later than him. I cannot understand why I am supposed to back off and let him by, no? I braked later. He was on the dirty side.


"And then I turned and he touched me from behind. He did not touch on my side, or wheel-to-wheel. If it was wheel-to-wheel I would not try to close the door."


Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa's team bosses say they will not interfere in the ongoing situation between the two drivers, despite yet another collision in the Indian Grand Prix.


With the duo having already been involved in five incidents this year, Massa and Hamilton came to blows again at the Buddh International Circuit as they battled for position - with the Brazilian being handed a drive-through penalty for his part in the crash.


The history between the two drivers has prompted fears of the rivalry getting out of control, but McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh and Ferrari chief Stefano Domenicali have insisted that they do not need to get involved to stop matters escalating further.


Whitmarsh said: "They're young drivers but they're not that young. They're men They've got to figure it out for themselves. It would be nice if we got a situation where they're not drawn together magnetically on the circuit and we didn't have those incidents.


"I have discussed it with Ferrari but I think it's got to come from in them. This is not the time. If I arranged for the two of them to shake hands outside the garage to shake hands you would all take a picture and have a laugh about it.


"They have to sort that out between themselves. I think underneath it all they've got a certain amount of respect but it's one of those years where they've been coming together too frequently. I think Felipe is under enormous pressure within that team and that causes him to react.


"In truth Lewis will be feeling under pressure because of the great performance of Jenson at the moment. They are both young quick drivers and hopefully they will remain stars of Formula 1 for many years. They're going to be around racing each other for many years so they've got to sort it out themselves.


"But a staged handshake? A conciliatory gesture outside the garage at the next Grand Prix? You don't want that, unless it's to take the Mickey out of it. They've got to sort themselves out."


Domenicali added: "We can sit down together and play cards but it will not solve the issue. One thing that is crucial in my view is that we need to make sure there is a coherent approach from the stewards about things that happen on the track. There is a lot of discussion about that.


"We cannot avoid the fact there were a lot of kisses between them on the track. We cannot have these things being bigger than they are because they will be on the mind of the drivers which is not good. It will be solved by what I said before and a little bit of time."


When asked about Hamilton's attempt to settle matters with Massa before the race by putting him arm around him, which he claims was snubbed, Domenicali said: "You will recall that Felipe went to see him in Singapore, and Lewis decided to do other stuff.


"Felipe showed that he wanted to speak with him. That's a fact. But we need to overcome this issue and solve it because it is not good for anyone."


When asked about his view on the incident between Massa and Hamilton, Domenicali said: "As you know I always say that I respect the decision of the referee but I was surprised when I saw that decision.


"When I saw that Felipe was in front at the apex of the corner our reasoning was that he had the line to get the corner. I felt surprised. You may have a different opinion but it is what I feel."


Jenson Button admitted he did not have quite enough pace to threaten Sebastian Vettel in the Indian Grand Prix.


Vettel was able to make an early break while Button battled for second with Mark Webber, but although the McLaren stayed within a few seconds of Vettel for much of the race, Button felt the champion had enough in hand.


"The last race I really struggled on the first lap and lost a lot of places, so I wanted to redeem myself here, and then I was just trying to hang on to Seb," said Button.


"His pace was good, he didn't make many mistakes. The tyres when I came out of the box felt good and felt competitive, but as soon as Seb got into a rhythm I could not do anything about it.


"For the team we have done a perfect job today and could not have done anything else."


Button said he had enjoyed his first-lap dices with Webber and Fernando Alonso.


"The start off the line didn't feel that good but it's such low grip, then I was able to get Fernando in Turn 1 when he went a bit deep," said Button.


"I knew I had to get a good exit out of Turn 3, got a good exit and was in Mark's tow - he covered the inside but I had enough speed around the outside.


"It was an exciting part of the race, then I had Mark behind me for eight laps pushing me really, really hard. We both braked very, very late, I kept position and then was able to pull away.


"It was a fun race, bit frustrating that I couldn't catch up with Seb. The pace isn't quite there but hopefully in the next two races we can make that step."


He also joined Vettel and Alonso in paying tribute to the late Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli, who lost their lives in recent IndyCar and MotoGP races.


"As Seb said, it was a tough weekend for everyone in motorsport," said Button. "The last two weekends have been very difficult with two fatalities, very difficult.


"I knew Dan from an early age, he was the guy we always had to beat.


"We should dedicate this first Indian race to Dan and to Marco - a super-talented youngster who was the most amazing guy to watch on a bike."


Jamie Alguersuari is confident his Toro Rosso team will finish ahead of Sauber this year after having caught the Swiss squad after the Indian Grand Prix.


Alguersuari finished in the points for the second race in succession after coming home in eighth position following another strong display by the Faenza-based squad.


The Spanish driver was delighted with the result, which allowed Toro Rosso to match the amount of points of Sauber: 41.


With two races remaining, Alguersuari is optimistic his team can leap ahead of its rival and finish in seventh position.


"I am very happy with the performance of the team overall as this race was another good one for us, with a pace that was as quick as the one we had shown in Korea," said the Spaniard. "I managed to pass Senna and then Sutil because of this.


"I was also ahead of the Saubers and I think this result reflects where we should be in the order. It is encouraging that we could outperform the Renaults. Once again the team did a great job in preparation work, in the sessions and in the pitstops and it looks like we are on the right road.


"I am very happy to have scored four points which puts Toro Rosso on the same total as Sauber. I am looking forward very much to the next two races as I think that if we do a good job we can end the year ahead of them. It's a shame that Sebastien did not finish, both for him and for the team. But I am sure he will back in the points soon."


Team-mate Sebastien Buemi had a disappointing race after retiring with a technical failure when he looked set for a top-eight finish.


"I am very disappointed with what happened this afternoon, because I was having a very good race, after an excellent qualifying yesterday," he said. "When the car stopped, I had just passed Hamilton, I was lying eighth and I think we could have finished in the top eight.


"So when you go from that promising situation, to a non finish with no points, it's a bit difficult to take. However, if we look on the positive side, our pace all weekend has been good, confirming the step forward we showed in Korea. So now we have to work hard and keep going in this direction for the final two races when I hope to be back in the points again."


Michael Schumacher said he was extremely pleased to achieve the maximum result possible for Mercedes in India, as he came through from 11th on the grid to beat his team-mate Nico Rosberg to fifth place.


Schumacher made up several positions on the opening lap, then jumped his team-mate by staying out slightly longer at the final stops.


"I am obviously happy about the race today," he said. "We achieved the maximum that we could hope for, and as a team we maximised our potential. Fifth and sixth places are a great result for us. On top of that, my car was very nicely sorted for the race and very stable.


"At the start, everything worked out according to my strategy as I deliberately didn't want to use KERS in the first two corners and save it for the long straight where I knew that I could make up some positions.


"In the second stint, I managed to maintain my tyres so I could stay out longer and that was enough for fifth place."


He added that the most encouraging aspect was that the result proved Mercedes was continuing to make good progress.


"What's really important at the moment is that we keep pushing and trying to improve, and that is what we achieved today," said Schumacher.


Narain Karthikeyan believes he proved a point with his drive in the Indian Grand Prix after coming home in 17th position.


The Indian, making a one-off return to racing in place of regular HRT driver Tonio Liuzzi, crossed the finish line ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and also the Lotus of Jarno Trulli.


Karthikeyan admitted he was delighted with his performance and reckons he proved "a lot of points".


I had a great grand prix and I really enjoyed myself, it was an amazing experience," said Karthikeyan. "To finish 17th in my home grand prix is the best I could have wished for with the car we have and beating my team-mate and one Lotus on the way makes it all the more satisfying.


"It's a shame I faced the penalty and, perhaps, we could have had a much better race without it. But I made a good start and then suffered some damage to the front wing but afterwards I picked up a good rhythm and was able to complete a good race.


"It's an awesome feeling to have completed the first ever Indian Grand Prix and to have been competitive with our main rivals which proved a lot of points."


Ricciardo finished in 18th position, the Australian saying the handling of his car changed during the second part of the race, making it hard for him to keep his early pace.


"The first laps weren't great but then I managed to pass a few people," he said. "Some laps later I got past Narain and set a good rhythm; I was happy with the first stint as everything was going well, the balance was good and the tyres were performing well.


"In the second stint I felt a strange feeling in the front of the car after a couple of laps, the car was moving quite a bit from left to right, I still don't know the reason for this but it might have been a puncture.


"It's a shame because as a cause we had to do an extra pit stop and lost quite a bit of time with that. In the third stint, once we found our pace we were quite competitive. It ruined the rhythm of our race but hopefully we can avoid it from happening next time."


Fernando Alonso admits it will be very hard to take second place in the drivers' championship despite finishing on the podium in India.


The Ferrari driver secured third place behind Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button, the Briton increasing his gap over Alonso to 13 points with just two races left.


Although the gap is not that big, Alonso says he is aware Ferrari is currently slower than Red Bull and McLaren, which is why he reckons it will be hard to overtake Button.


The two-time champion was nonetheless delighted with today's result.


"It's nice to jump on the podium for India's debut in Formula 1 and I'm pleased to have a new trophy to take home," said Alonso.


"After this race, second place in the drivers' championship is still possible, but it will be very difficult because McLaren is on great form at the moment, even if the gap is only 13 points. We are aware that on paper, we are behind the two Red Bulls and two McLarens: then, if something unusual happens, we can make it to the podium.


"Today, the team was fantastic, managing to fix a problem on the front wing which was only identified twenty minutes before the start. At the start, I did not get away particularly well and so Button was able to pass me.


"Then I tried to stay close to Webber and when he slowed down a bit, I closed right up and, staying out on track a few laps longer than him, I was able to get ahead of him. Being patient paid off."


The Spanish driver admitted it had been a day of mixed emotions for him too following the deaths of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli.


"Today was a special day, full of contrasting emotions. In fact, the satisfaction at getting a podium finish cannot cancel out the sadness which has been with us for several days, because of the deaths of two of our colleagues, two special people - Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli."


Post-race press conference:

[spoiler]TV UNILATERALS


Q. Sebastian, pole, you led every lap and set the fastest lap. Was this your most perfect win of the season do you think?


Sebastian VETTEL: Obviously it was a very good race for us. I enjoyed the time in the lead very much. I had a little bit of a fight with Jenson. It was always around four seconds and strangely he kept closing in around the pit-stops. I don't know, I was pushing very hard into the box and out of the box but we seemed to lose a little bit there so we need to understand. But on the circuit it was crucial to manage the tyres, make sure that you have enough of them left in the end, so all in all it was a very smooth race. The car was very well balanced. I felt even a little bit more confident on the hard tyres at the end, but overall a fantastic performance. Thanks to the whole team. Thanks to Renault. I think exceptional job so far, the whole season without any problems but to be honest with you it is a little bit mixed emotions. On the one hand I am very, very happy. It is the first grand prix in India and I am very proud to be the first winner and I think we can be as a team but on the other hand looking back to last weekend we lost two of our mates. I didn't know Dan Wheldon but he was a big name in motorsport. I got to know this year Marco Simoncelli and out thoughts are with them. Yes, we are ready to take certain risks when we jump into the car but we obviously pray that every time nothing happens but sometimes you get reminded and it is the last thing that we want to see. So, as I said, it is a bit mixed emotions and our thoughts are with them at this moment.


Q. Jenson, your engineer said at one point 'we can race Vettel' but I guess it just proved a little bit too difficult today?


Jenson BUTTON: Yeah, it was. The last race I really struggled on the first lap and lost a lot of places so I wanted to redeem myself here. Got a good start and was able to get up to second by Turn Four and then it was basically trying to hang on to Sebastian. His pace was very good, he didn't seem to make any mistakes and every time through the pit stops we gained a little bit. I don't know if it was the stop itself or if it was after the stop, but on tyres when I came out of the box I felt very good. I felt very competitive and that was when I could really close the gap down. But as soon as Seb got into a rhythm I couldn't do anything about it really - but all in all for the team I think we have done a perfect job today. We couldn't have done anything else. Yesterday was a disaster for me in qualifying but I think we have put it right here so a good race but, as Seb said, it is a tough weekend for everyone in motorsport. The last two weekends have been very, very difficult. We have had two fatalities so it is very difficult especially with Dan. I knew Dan from a very early age, he was the guy we always had to beat in the early formulas so very sad also so I think we should dedicate this first Indian race to Dan and obviously Marco, another super talented youngster. He was the most amazing guy to watch on a bike so I think we should dedicate this to them.


Q. Fernando, your battle was with Mark Webber and you got him at the second round of pit-stops. Tell us about your race.


Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, we didn't make the perfect start today. To be on a very new circuit and starting on the clean side I think we didn't have the grip that we were expecting and the other side of the grid they started a little better than us and we lost a couple of positions there. Then we race with Mark until the second pit-stop where, a little bit surprisingly, he decided to stop and we did two extra laps so we were able to overtake him so extremely happy to win the podium in this first race here in India. To have this feeling and to taste the champagne is always nice in a first race in a new country. As Sebastian and Jenson said, mixed feelings this weekend with sad weeks for motorsport with the two accidents. I think we all raced for them today and try to go ahead but always remember these two fantastic people.


Q. Sebastian, you have set a new record today for the most laps led in a Formula One season, taking over from Nigel Mansell. I bet you just don't want this year to end?


SV: No, I don't mind. I think we can continue. The car is fantastic. The team is enjoying and we are on a run basically since the beginning of the season and it is great. We enjoy every race. The great thing is you walk into the garage every morning and you see the guys and they are flat out. They are pushing very hard and there is no sign of getting lazy and not paying attention to detail. It is really enjoyable to see that knowing that we have already achieved a lot this year, but we are still hungry so we are not lacking motivation at any stage. All the people come back with their questions but we seem to give them the right answers. I love what I do. I think we all do so it is great and in a way we don't want this to end.


Q. Jenson, tell us about your start briefly. You got past Fernando and Mark. Exciting times?


JB: It was. The start off the line didn't feel that good but I think there is such low grip off the start line. Then I was able to get Fernando into Turn One. I think he went a little bit deep and I knew I had to get a good exit out of Turn Three. It is such a long straight. Got a good exit, was in Mark's tow and when you are in that situation where there is a car behind you can't do anything about it. He covered the inside, did the right thing, but I had enough speed to go around the outside and carry the speed. It was an exciting part of the race. Then I had Mark behind me for about eight laps, pushing me really very hard. He tried to get down the outside of me into turn four, we both braked very, very late and both ran wide almost off the circuit but kept the position and then I was able to pull away. I think he damaged his tyres quite a bit. But it was a fun race. A little bit frustrating that I couldn't catch up with Seb, but we did a good job this weekend and that's the important thing. Pace isn't quite there, but hopefully in the last two races we can make that little step.


Q. Fernando, what is your side of the story of the battle at the start?


FA: Yeah, the start was not perfect so the first two or three seconds we lost too much ground there. Then I tried to recover in Turn One, braking a little bit late, but there was not the grip to brake that late and I lost a little bit more. It didn't compromise the race as I don't think we were able to fight with Sebastian at any point. Being second or third in the first lap it didn't change too much the full picture of the race. We are not that super competitive at this part of the year but we keep on having podiums thanks to the fantastic job here by people at the track. Today again we had a little problem with the front wing on the grid and the mechanics did a fantastic job in the last two or three minutes before we start on the green light so again thanks to the whole team for the fantastic effort with the things that we have in our hands. As everybody knows, next year is our main target and the same for everybody.


Q. Sebastian, just sum up the thoughts about this first ever Indian Grand Prix.


SV: It is great, I think, what the people did here in a short amount of time. We heard about it a couple of years ago but to put up this arena is incredible. Surely there are little bits here and there that are not 100 per cent finished but now the people know so they will fix that for next year I am quite sure. I think all in all it was fantastic. I am very proud, as I said, to be the first winner here in India. I think it is a very impressive country, very different to what we probably know from Europe, but very inspiring. If you keep you eyes and ears open I think you are able to learn a lot, the way the people handle things here. It is a big country, a lot of people, but sometimes it looks very different but they get along with it and they are very happy here. They enjoy life and in the end that's what it is all about. If your life comes to an end it is more the thoughts, the emotions, the friends, the friendships you take with you rather than whatever you have in your bank account. Even the people have so little here I think in a way they are much richer than a lot of people back in Europe so there is a lot we can learn and it is a great race, great event. The circuit is fantastic so all in all it is fantastic so thanks a lot to India and all the people here.?


PRESS CONFERENCE


Q. Sebastian, quite a few people were questioning your motivation earlier on this weekend. That should put an end to all that talk?


SV: Yes, I think so. I said everything yesterday, on Friday and Thursday regarding these comments. As I touched on the whole team is still very hungry and the best thing is we still have two races to go so we enjoy it a lot today so motivation is not an issue.


Q. You just seemed to set nothing but purple laps. You let Jenson have one or two, but not very many. You were just so quick.


SV: Yeah, it was a long race to be honest. A lot of laps. The circuit is quite challenging. It is one of the difficult ones throughout the season and very easy to do a mistake, very easy to go a little bit beyond the limit, a little bit over the limit, get a little bit off line and you end up in the dust and dirt and you have to fight your way back. Not only in that particular corner but also for a couple of corners afterwards. Not so easy with traffic. Quite a big chance to lose a lot of time and as I was racing Jenson in the distance always around three-and-a-half, four-and-a-half seconds. You want to get through and ideally maybe get a little bit of DRS here and there for the straights to get a little bit of extra free lap time. But the car was great. Start obviously was important. I was focussing a lot on Turn Three, the first lap, to make sure I had a bit of a cushion going on that long, long, long back straight. In the first lap you are vulnerable so it was crucial to have a clean exit which I had as we saw with Mark who lost position to Jenson at that stage. Afterwards I was able to pull away in the first couple of laps, maintain the gap, and in the end I was feeling very happy. End of the first stint I was able to pull away. Jenson pitted so we had to react but second stint then wasn't that straightforward as the first one with traffic et cetera. Bit more tricky to manage the tyres and Jenson was at some stages very strong. In the end I found the rhythm again and got quicker but, again, Jenson pitted in front of us and we reacted the lap after. Warm up on the hards wasn't too bad and actually I felt quite comfortable on the hard tyre so I was able to push throughout and also at the end with the strong laps. Got some calls from my engineer reminding me what is the target, there is not trophy for fastest lap. Fortunately we were able to get both. The car was great. All in all it was a fantastic event. The race was fantastic. We were in a comfortable position controlling the race from the front, but always to have Jenson in the mirrors and not willing to disappear doesn't make your life easy so we had to push throughout the whole race and it was enough. At the end we were a bit more comfortable but fantastic. I am very happy, but as I touched on in the press conference earlier obviously mixed emotions with two tragic past weekends. For everyone who is a fan of motorsport It was a hard time we had to go through. On the one hand I am very happy and very proud to be the first winner of this grand prix. There were a lot of people, a big event, great atmosphere, all the grandstand nearly sold out so great to be part of that. But on the other hand we have to pay a certain respect to those two guys who lost their lives. Our thoughts are with them, especially with their families. We should never forget those two young, very committed race drivers.


Q. Jenson, you said yesterday you lacked grip in qualifying. What was it like in the race itself?


JB: Well it wasn't too bad, I finished second. Yesterday I struggled in qualifying basically just getting a rhythm. Whatever could go wrong in qualy it seemed to and sometimes you have sessions like that. Sometimes everything goes in your way. The race was very different. I had a good start, got past Fernando into Turn One and then it was about judging where to put the car into Turn Three as I had Mark in front that I wanted to overtake but I also had Fernando behind me trying to overtake me. You have to be very careful where you put the car in the entry into Turn Three but judged it well, got a good run on Mark and was able to get him into Turn Four. Then Mark proceeded to push me for the next eight laps around the circuit, pushed me really hard actually. Had a go into Turn Four, we both braked very late, both ran wide, but kept the position and then I was able to kick in and pull a gap. Then it was about trying to set off after Sebastian. But it was very, very tricky. At the pit stops I think the guys did a tremendous job and we seemed to be good on new tyres or after we had put a new set on and the pace was good. But as soon as Sebastian got into a rhythm we couldn't touch them. But as far as races go I don't think we put a foot wrong and as a team we did a perfect job this weekend but we just didn't have the pace of the Red Bulls and Sebastian. I think we need to say a big congratulations to the Indian people for their efforts on building this circuit because the circuit itself is, I think in years to come, we are going to think of it as one of the greats. It is a very special circuit and I really, really enjoy driving around here. I hope we put on a good show and it is also great to see the excitement in the crowd. The people that are here, as there are quite a few people here, they are really getting into the mood and really getting into the action and it is good to see, really good to see, so a very special weekend and thank you to them.


Q. Fernando, interesting battle with Mark Webber but it seems Mark just doesn't have the straightline speed or DRS or whatever?


FA: Well I think if they have also the straightline speed it would maybe be too much.


Q. At least you jumped him at the pit-stop?


FA: Yeah, we know that with the hard tyres the first two laps maybe they are not as good as the soft and we were a little bit debating on the radio what to do in the second stop. Stop one lap before Mark or wait? The team did the right call, be a little bit calm, wait for Mark to stop and then try to take advantage of the extra lap or the extra two laps expecting some warm up issues with the hard tyre for them. It did happen. After Mark stopped the team told me that we were gaining time so to do an extra lap so we did two laps more than him and we jump Mark at the stop. Then in the last stint it was a question mark as last couple of races we put the hard tyre on and we struggle a lot and we have been overtaken by them quite easy so even if we were third at that point of the race we were not sure and we had to push for 20 laps maximum. Try to defend the position so at the end it was very close. I think Mark crossed the line 1.5 or one second behind me so with more laps I think the podium was getting more and more difficult so the finish arrived in the right moment.


Q. We heard a lot about how good the circuit was in practice et cetera. What was it like to race on for 60 laps?


FA: It was fantastic. I agree completely with Jenson and Sebastian. The circuit is very nice to drive. Okay, it was a very narrow line of normal grip and outside that line there was a lot of dust and low grip but this is normal for new circuits and I think with the years that will improve. The circuit has a little bit of everything. Long straights and very wide entries for the hairpins, which allowed us to try some overtaking manoeuvres and put on a good show on Sunday. Two DRS zones that, I think, worked okay today with more overtaking possibilities and then the second and third sector which is a combination of corners in fifth, sixth gear which we normally love to drive and overall it was a fantastic weekend. A lot of people came, very passionate about our sport, to be here the first time and the circuit was completely finished and in a very good condition in a very short period of time. I am sure that things will improve, but already the level is very high, so congratulations.


QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR


Q. (Sridhar Potdar – Sakaal Media House) Vettel, we have to say V for victory and V for Vettel. Speaking about India, you say that here people don't have money but they're happy, compared to Europe. Is this a very fond memory of the most memorable race of your life so far?


SV: Well, as I said, I think some things are very difficult to imagine for us. If you look where we come from, I think it's hard to imagine things if you haven't seen them. The really surprising bit for us... where sometimes you measure happiness in our lives, in our world, with what you have achieved, what you have etc. For the people here, it doesn't really matter, they're happy with what they have, even if you compare they have so little, but they are happy and friendly, helpful, respectful. Obviously I haven't spent a lot of time here, so I can't judge as well as people from India, but it was very inspiring when I had a bit of time to spend in the country. I went to see the Taj Mahal which is obviously a touristy thing to do but driving there by car, and not falling asleep because the roads were pretty… it was a good adventure, let's say. Keeping your eyes open, there are a lot of things which make you appreciate a lot of things much more than you probably do. Yeah, it opens your eyes, as long as you allow yourself to look at certain things, so I think it was an inspiration and something that you should never forget. All in all, it was great to be here, a great circuit, which obviously – speaking about our job, about racing, that's what we judge most, the circuit is fantastic to drive. I was surprised that the race went by pretty quickly. Obviously I was always trying to keep the gap to him (Button), trying to push but my engineer came on the radio and said 'twelve laps to go' and I was surprised because I thought, bloody hell, that went by quickly. It's a good sign, because you enjoy the circuit and there are some great corners as Fernando said, high speed corners which we usually enjoy a lot, because it allows us to put us on the limit, the cars on the limit so great to be here. Having had debuts in different places the last couple of years, this will be one of the races that settles in very quickly and we will all be happy to come back. Even though there has only been one race so far, I'm already looking forward to next year.


Q. (Sudhir Chandran - Chequered Flag,) When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, he said those famous words 'one small step by a human being and one giant leap for mankind.' Any famous first words?


JB: I think it should just be the winner who has these special words.


SV: Dhanyawaad… aapki aankhei bahut khoobsurat hai (thank you, your eyes are beautiful). Obviously that's for the ladies of India. You know the girls, to all the girls in India, you have beautiful women in this country. They have beautiful eyes.


JB: Beautiful smiles.


SV: Thank you very much. As I said we all enjoyed it, everyone is happy to be here and happy to come back which is a good sign.


Q. (Sudhir Chandran - Chequered Flag,) India has an advertising tag-line which says Incredible India. Would you guys like to endorse it or add to it after the weekend you've spent here?


SV: I think I answered that question before already. I agree, yes.


JB: Yeah, I agree with Sebastian.


FA: I agree with both.


Q. (Amanpreet Singh - PTI) Vettel, we appreciate you have said good things about India but twice you have mentioned that India is different from what you know in Europe. Would you like to elaborate what impression you had about this country before landing here and what differences you found eventually?


SV: Well, it's difficult to say. Expectations, you obviously only know from what people tell you. To be honest I didn't expect anything really. I heard a lot of good things, I heard a lot of bad things. I prefer to come here myself and take a look, so I took a little bit of time to have a look outside the circuit, as I said. Basically what I saw is very inspiring, it's very different. I think you will find the same if you go there. Sometimes it's difficult to imagine for us, which is why I think you really have to come here but it's a country that I think is very interesting to travel around, because I think there are a lot of things you can learn. Some things you have to get used to because they are so different, but it's not a drama, it's a different culture, the people are different but as I said, they are very helpful, very friendly and happy, so that's a good thing.


Q. (S.S. ShreeKumar – New Indian Express, Bangalore) Alonso, you said things will improve in future. What areas do you think need improvement?


FA: I think when you host the first race even in a new country, there are things that for sure you learn and you improve. I think the paddock, even if it's finished and it's working fine, I think next year it will be even better, in terms of how the teams will settle, how the electricity will work, after we had some problems on Thursday, which is very normal for a first time that we use an environment like this one. I think the circuit itself will improve as well. There was too much sand on the circuit on the first day and now the circuit is in a very good condition, on Sunday, after the race. I think the starting point next year will be a lot better than the starting point this year. We saw a couple of issues with kerbs with Felipe, yesterday breaking his suspension, today again another suspension, so I'm sure that they will find a better solution for this type of kerb, obviously stopping us cutting the corner but in a different way, to avoid any risk or any accident that it can cause at the moment. As I said, the starting point is already very high, from zero to ten maybe it's nine so it's very good but the ten will be reached very soon.


Q. (Flavio Vanetti - Il Corriere della Sera) Fernando, two races left and 13 points behind Jenson, do you still believe it's possible for you to cover the gap and get second place in the championship?


FA: Yes, perfectly possible, that's for sure, because there are 50 points available but as we said a couple of races ago, OK, finishing second is maybe better than finishing fifth. We are four drivers all together: Hamilton, Jenson, Mark and me but it's not a big priority for us. If I finish second it's OK, if I finish fourth it's OK. I will not remember the 2011 season if I finish second or third. I will probably remember the win in Silverstone and a couple of nice starts and a couple of nice races, but the position of the championship, once you are no longer in the hunt for the World Championship win, the other positions are less relevant. I think we will try to do two last good races, try to be on the podium if we can, which is always a good feeling, taste the champagne and take the trophy after a hard weekend, as it was this one. I think I have to congratulate the team, they did a fantastic job to maximise the potential we have in our hands now, we know that the car is not as competitive as it was a couple of months ago but we are still fighting for podiums. Today we had a problem on the front wing on the lap to the grid, twenty minutes before the start, and they worked until the last minute just to put it all together and they did it perfectly right and the car was very well balanced all through the races. Everyone is doing 100 percent of his job to maximise the potential and the podiums are very welcome. In the last two races, I think we will continue in this direction.


Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) Jenson, when you look at the lap times, sector one and sector two were pretty evenly matched, but you consistently lost to Sebastian in the last sector, three to four tenths. It's the shortest sector with just four corners; where are you losing?


JB: I haven't got a clue! That's the first I know about it. I don't know. I'm guessing turn 13, 14, 15 and 16 probably! I don't know why that's different to the other sectors. I'm surprised that I didn't lose more in the middle sector because that's been a little bit of a weakness throughout the weekend but we've obviously sorted that out, but yeah, there are two high speed corners in that sector and two low speed corners so it's strange why there's such a difference.


Q. (Sarah Holt – BBC Sport) Jenson, Sebastian's not going to be untouchable in the last couple of races is he? I know, when you get the chance, you can push him hard during the race, and just for Fernando, what is your priority then in the next two races? Have you got one?


JB: I don't have an answer for you really. Is he going to be untouchable? I don't know. I hope not, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that he doesn't win the next two races but he's obviously been very strong all year. It's very very difficult to challenge Red Bull and Sebastian, but we're doing everything we can and I think today we did everything right but we just weren't quick enough, so for the next two weeks, we've got to hope that we can make some improvements for Abu Dhabi, a circuit where they're generally very quick but then again, they were generally very quick in Japan, Suzuka, so… Hopefully we will work well there and we will get everything right and we can challenge Sebastian.


FA: Our priority will be 2012, car, team, me. I cannot tell you where I need to improve!


Q. (L. P Sahi – The Telegraph) Sebastian, I was just curious to know: new circuit, new track. In terms of strategy and tactics, how was this much more demanding for you and your team to get onto the circuit and to emerge the winner straight away?


SV: I think it's always… if you have a debut on a new track, the first time you're here there are a lot of questions to be answered. Obviously the tyre choice, with hindsight, was conservative compared to some of the other races, so we knew that the soft tyre will be the quicker compound, will be faster, just how long is it going to survive? We weren't sure if we would have to pit twice or three times. In the end we only came in twice. As I said, it's difficult to know what to expect. Obviously these days we get a little bit of an idea on the simulator about the track, about the kerbs, about the layout, about the speed of the corners, but it's different when we come here. The circuit was very dusty on Friday, improved pretty quickly on the racing line, once it was clear of dust it was very grippy, the grip level was very high and we could go very quickly and I think the lap times were very quick as well. Obviously for next year we have a lot of things we can take out of this year to improve, to learn, to understand about the car, the set-up. Yes, the cars will change but the circuit is not unknown, so it's always more difficult if you talk about something that you don't know for everything, strategy, set-up. Obviously throughout the weekend it was dry, the conditions were consistent, so we were able to get the information on the Friday which helped us a lot yesterday and today so that made our lives a bit easier but, as I said, if you race somewhere for the first time, there are always a lot of boxes to be ticked.


Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) There is an important meeting on Thursday in Geneva with the F1 Commission. One of the subjects to be discussed is the possibility of one team to supply another team with a car. What's your opinion about that, is that good or bad for Formula One?


JB: About the car, I think it's something we need to think about. It's not something we should jump straight into and give a comment. I think it's difficult for the teams that do build their own car. They put all the effort into designing a car and working on that car over a winter to suddenly be racing against a Red Bull re-badged or something or a McLaren re-badged or a Ferrari re-badged. It's a little bit unfair on teams that are in the middle of the pack and they build their own car, but I don't know the full extent of the conversations that are going to take place and when this is going to be for.


SV: It's the first time I heard about it as well. I think I agree a little bit with Jenson. Obviously you put a lot of effort in your car, the whole team is pushing. I know there are a lot of people behind us here on the track, it's not only the guys you see here changing the wheels during the race and working on the cars at the race track, there's a lot of people at the factory. They push hard to build these two cars and yeah, obviously if you have a good car… I don't know if the idea is to sell that to someone else. I don't know if it's the idea of Formula One. It's the first time I heard about it, so I don't know.


Q. (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Jenson, McLaren sealed second place in the Constructors' Championship today. How would rate second place in the Drivers' championship if you get it as well?


JB: First of all, yeah, congratulations to the team for second. It's sad always to say congratulations for second but it does make a big difference to the team, moving into the new season. Second in the Drivers' doesn't mean as much as second in the Constructors'. I think when you've won a World Championship, nothing else will do really except for first place. The important thing is that we're strong; for the next couple of races and every race I'm going into I'm fighting for a win. I'm not going to give up on that until it's the end of the season. I'm very excited about the challenge of Abu Dhabi and especially Brazil – I saw you (Sebastian) look over then! Yeah, that's exciting, very exciting. Second in the championship? You've beaten everyone except one person and it's that one person that you really want to beat.[/spoiler]

[LUKIE]

Massa is hilarious. He is my new favourite person.

[Lineker]

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has hailed the inaugural Indian Grand Prix a success.

With improvements to the infrastructure already in the pipeline for next year after a wide range of teething problems were experienced over the weekend, Ecclestone sees only a positive future for the event.

"I am very, very happy with it and I think everyone else is as well, there is nothing to complain about," he said.

"They only need to work on bits and pieces. But this is a prototype, as soon as they get down and have a good look they will find things to improve and I am sure they will improve them."

Ecclestone confessed to feeling anxious in the build-up to the event about the track not being ready in time, but says that organisers put in a huge effort to get things in place.

"I was only nervous, a little bit, before because I thought it wasn't going to get completed," he said. "I kept seeing photographs every day and they kept improving everything.

"Normally you get people complaining if there is something to complain about, but I haven't heard any complaints - nothing."

Ecclestone also believes that the large turn out for the first race, with 95,000 spectators attending on race day, bodes well.

"It is super. If you had said to these people three years ago, F1, they would not know what you are talking about. I thought it was great. A great crowd, a great atmosphere."

The positive feeling about the race has been echoed by team principals, who think that with a more bedded-in track and improved infrastructure, the Indian GP will more than justify its place on the calendar.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said: "It has been brilliant. The reaction that we have had from the Indian public and the fans, and the way they have been so excited about F1, is that they feel truly privileged to have a race here.

"Hats off to Jaypee for building the facility, for Bernie for getting them to put the event on, and for Vijay Mallya. The track is a real challenge.

"It is a great circuit, and next year's event will be even bigger now that people have understood what F1 is. It is a really interesting place to come to – just the drive to the circuit you feel you are in a grand prix. It is phenomenal and it makes F1 a true world championship coming to countries and markets like this."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh added: "Let's try and focus on the positive things. The circuit is fantastic. I think if it were cleaner it would have been even better.

"The circuit is flowing and every driver loves it, so that is a starting point. I think the response from the circuit people here has been great and I believe this will be a successful event because you sense it in Delhi, you sense it in the people, and there is a sporting passion here. We have to work with them to build it up."

Ferrari is keen to find answers as to why Felipe Massa's front wing experienced excessive flexing over the Indian Grand Prix weekend.

With the Maranello-based outfit experimenting with wing concepts for its 2012 design, eyebrows were raised when the front wing on Massa's car started flapping at the end of the long straight during practice at the Buddh circuit.

With a similar phenomenon experienced in the race, Massa had to have the nose changed during a pitstop, reverting to an older design, to avoid any potential problems.

Speaking about the wing situation, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said: "It was pretty clear that we had a little bit of strange behaviour of that specific wing in certain conditions. It was not every time, but it was pretty clear as you have seen it.

"For sure what we need to bring home is good data to understand what the problem is, or I would say not a problem - but a strange behaviour of that wing – because it was that specific wing."

Domenicali is adamant that the wing design used by Massa was identical in all respects to the one run by Fernando Alonso over the weekend - despite suspicions there may be differences in its structure, replying "absolutely, absolutely" when asked if the wings were the same.

He added that the team elected to change the wing at the pitstop because Massa was already coming in with a puncture.

"We were worried about also having other problems, so the most obvious thing was also to change the nose," Domenicali said.

Red Bull Racing has faith that Sebastian Vettel is not taking too many risks in his pursuit of fastest laps - even though the team admits it does not like the world champion pushing so hard for the accolade.

Vettel set the fastest lap of the Indian Grand Prix right at the very end of the race – just a fortnight after telling his bosses that he would not push for such a feat again.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said that the team was not in favour of the pursuit of fastest laps, but reckoned that Vettel was intelligent enough not to throw away a race result to chase them.

When asked if Vettel had asked for permission to set the fastest lap at the end of the GP, Horner said: "Of course not because he knows we don't like it.

"We had done our best to manage it, we had turned all the engine modes down, KERS off, and short of putting a cow on the circuit there was not a lot else we could do.

"At the end of the day we have complete trust in him. I am sure he still had the margin in there, and the main aim for him is to win the race. He knows there are no points for fastest laps, but he likes those little statistics to complete a perfect weekend."

Horner mentioned the fastest lap over the radio to Vettel after the chequered flag, having had talks about the matter in Korea.

"We spoke about it after the last race and he apologised and said, 'sorry, it won't happen again.' And two weeks later here we are.

"But he is a sensible boy, he knows. I am sure that he builds in a pretty big margin but I think he wanted to demonstrate what speed he was capable of here."

Lewis Hamilton is being too hard on himself and should stop apologising to his team for the ongoing troubles he is having on track.

That is the view of McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh, who says he has already made his views clear to Hamilton that the young Briton should stop feeling so responsible for everything that is happening to him right now.

When asked by AUTOSPORT if he felt Hamilton was being too self critical, Whitmarsh said: "Yes I do, frankly. I've told him that on several occasions. I have said: 'Don't apologise, you're a racing driver. If you've made a mistake accept it, learn from it and move on.'

"He's very analytical. He's very serious abut trying to do the best job he can. He's much too hard on himself. I've known Lewis for a long, long time and he's been like it since he was a karter and he beat up on himself. That's his way. That's his psychology. That's how he motivates himself."

Whitmarsh believes that Hamilton's outlook in India was more positive than it had been in Korea a fortnight ago - despite getting involved in another controversial collision with Felipe Massa.

"I think his body language this weekend has been much stronger than it has been in the last races," he explained. "I thought that a good race here was going to happen. But he still has all the skills. We saw him qualify and race fantastically in the last race and we saw him qualify fantastically here.

"So it could change. It hasn't changed quickly enough for him, or I, or any one of us, but it could change and he could do a brilliant drive in Abu Dhabi and we then move on to a different story."

Although there has been much focus on Hamilton's on-track efforts being influenced by factors in his personal life, Whitmarsh made it clear he did not want to get involved in those matters.

"I've got my own views on that," he said. "But he is a professional racing driver in this team and I will contain my comments to him as a professional racing driver.

"As a professional racing driver he drove brilliantly at the last race. He made a mistake on Friday but he was completely open about it. It's not for me to speculate on his personal life."

Renault's commitment to Formula 1 for the long-term future is stronger now than at any time in its recent history, claims its CEO Carlos Ghosn.

Although the French car manufacturer will officially cease to have its own team in 2012 with the Renault outfit set to be renamed Lotus, Ghosn believes that the push for the company to become just an engine supplier is a much better approach.

"When you have one team, and when the team wins, you are doing great, but when the team is not having a great performance then you are doing less great," said Ghosn, when asked by AUTOSPORT about the success of Renault's recent F1 programme.

"In a certain way you have ups and downs and you are putting all your eggs in one basket. You know it is not what we are looking for - we are not here to compete in F1. We are here to sustain our name, our brand, to sustain our technology, to sustain our image of a reliable car manufacturer.

"And because of this I feel much more comfortable with the strategy we have today where we are partners with, next year, four teams, providing engines and hopefully many of them are going to be very well positioned in the race. That is what I think."

Although Renault enjoyed great success with its own F1 team, winning back-to-back world championships in 2005 and 2006, Ghosn says that there is no interest for now in looking at opportunities for another team tie-up.

When asked if the days of Renault as a constructor are over, he said: "Yes. Every CEO will tell you that this is it; this is going to last for ever. But it won't, as you know. We change, and we adapt. It is a function of the circumstances, a function of the technology and a function of the competition, but for the moment and for the foreseeable horizon we feel very comfortable with this, so you can count on this for at least the next three to five years."

In the interview that took place with selected media at the Indian Grand Prix, Ghosn expressed some interest in expanding Renault's supply deals beyond the four teams planned for 2012 - Lotus, Caterham, Williams and Red Bull Racing – and has ruled out any chance of its power-units being rebranded as Infiniti.

"I don't think you can artificially give a name," he said. "If Renault is providing the technology, you cannot artificially say for marketing reasons I am going to name it 'Infiniti.' It doesn't work.

"Somehow the name has to translate some authenticity. For the moment, the technology is Renault technology, the team working on it is Renault, and it is going to continue like this for the foreseeable future. Infiniti, even though there can be an exchange of technology, but not on the engine, just other things – the engine is the domain of Renault and will remain the domain of Renault for the foreseeable future."

Ghosn also said he expected Williams to deliver a step forward in form next year as it renews its partnership with Renault.

"We trust the Williams team and obviously we provide engines to them because we believe they have much higher potential than what they are delivering today," he said.

"They have a strategy that they are sharing with us, and we think that by supplying them with engines it is going to help them reposition themselves in a much better place into the competition."

And whilst not F1 news, this was a feel-good piece off of the BBC News site:

A life spent behind the wheel of a car did not help Swedish rally driver Per-Gunnar Andersson when his son decided to make his entrance into the world.

The 31-year-old was forced to pull over on the hard shoulder when he and his wife Marie-Louise realised they were not going to make it to hospital.

They called an ambulance out to the roadside, and the baby - named Alvin - was born in their BMW.

Mr Andersson joked after that his son would probably be a rally driver too.

"He seems to have it in his genes," he told the Swedish newspaper Expressen.

His wife went into labour in the early hours of Saturday morning and they got in the car to drive to the hospital.

But half an hour into the journey, they realised they were not going to get there in time, so pulled over on to the hard shoulder of the highway near Karlstad, in west Sweden, Expressen reports.

"I was pretty calm but when the baby comes out you do want a little assistance," Mr Andersson said.

Within a minute of the ambulance arriving, Alvin was born "healthy and fine".

Mr Andersson was a junior world rally champion in 2004 and 2007, and was placed seventh in the 2011 Rally of Sweden.

[LUKIE]

I am a Renault boy, but this season has made me so sad. The start, with Heidfeld coming in, and he and Petrov getting podiums... to barely making the top 10, with no Heidfeld. I like Bruno Senna, but the only reason he has the drive over Heidfeld is because he gave up more money.

Can't wait for Kubica to be back!

[Lineker]

As you mentioned Kubica, we'll start off with him:

Renault remains in the dark about whether or not Robert Kubica will make a Formula 1 comeback next year - as it says it is still awaiting news on when the Polish driver will be able to drive a racing car again.

With team chiefs eager to formulate a plan for its 2012 driver line-up, Renault boss Eric Boullier says that plans to put Romain Grosjean in the car for Friday practice in Abu Dhabi and Brazil are part of an effort to look at other choices now.

"We have to assess options and we are still waiting for Robert to come back to us to say he can test," explained Boullier.

"The last information I have is that we will have to sit down and discuss how we can handle his [Kubica's] comeback, because I don't believe he can commit in the coming days. In the coming weeks maybe – but not coming days.

"So we have to make sure that we work together on a plan for him to come back. But I still need to have a proper plan to make sure that, which I don't wish, if he is not coming back how we go forward in a good way."

Although Boullier says Kubica's management team remains confident he will race in F1 again, no final decision can be taken until he has actually tested.

Boullier added: "We have everything ready. The 2009 cars are ready in the garage, ready to fire up. We are ready for him but we are waiting for him to tell us he is ready.

"I know they are very confident and I am happy about this, because I am the first one wishing to have Robert back in the car, but nobody knows.

"Nobody has a medical report and nobody has seen him driving a car and being at speed. Until we see him and have the confirmation then, we can not say anything. And we need to keep, unfortunately, the option of not having him back.

"I am in regular contact with his manager, but until he is driving the car we do not know."

Virgin Racing has become the third team to apply for a name change next season, after officially lodging a request to revise its chassis name to Marussia.

With Team Lotus and Renault both looking to change their titles next year, Virgin Racing has now lodged a request with the Formula One Commission to switch its name to its Russian sportscar partner.

Marussia joined the outfit as a sponsor last season, but for this year took on a much larger role with the outfit - as well as title sponsorship.

Keen to enhance its relationship further, Virgin Racing now wants to become known simply as Marussia. The change requires the support from 18 members of the 26-strong F1 Commission.

Despite the Virgin name no longer being part of the official team name, the company will still remain a partner for the foreseeable future.

AUTOSPORT understands that the Virgin logos will still feature prominently on the car, and Richard Branson's group of companies will continue to work with the outfit on future projects.

Team Lotus has applied to change its name to Caterham, while Renault plans to become known as Lotus.

Formula 1 chiefs are to consider a change to the tyres rules for qualifying, AUTOSPORT has learned, following controversy about cars not running in Q3 this year.

Sources have revealed that a plan to increase the allocation of tyres for the final round of qualifying has been added to the agenda for this week's Formula One Commission meeting that takes place in Geneva on Thursday.

It comes on the back of questions being raised about the spectacle of qualifying being ruined by teams deliberately not running in the final grid shoot-out session because they want to keep fresher tyres for the race.

Interestingly, the idea to add the Q3 tyre issue to the F1 Commission did not come from tyre supplier Pirelli, which held talks with team representatives in India last week to discuss the issue.

The outcome of that meeting was that Pirelli and the teams agreed that the current tyre regulations are fine as they are - with both parties understanding why Q3 tyre-saving had become common practice.

Speaking to AUTOSPORT about the outcome of those talks in India, Pirelli's director of motorsport Paul Hembery said: "We had a good collaborative meeting with the teams, and at the moment their opinion is that there is nothing wrong with Q3. They feel it adds a strategic element to Q3. Plus, with teams battling in that mid ground there, the margins are very fine and they feel that it is a new element of qualifying.

"If they are happy there is not a lot we can do, and we have to go along with their wishes. What we have said, however, is that if that view changes or the sport feels there has to be a change, then we will support any change as we need to.

"We will see what happens at the F1 Commission meeting. It has been raised by somebody else perhaps. We will see what everyone has to say when we have the opportunity to work together."

Hembery said that there were numerous ways that the Q3 situation could be resolved - but felt it better the matter was discussed properly at the F1 Commission.

"We have been through millions of permutations, which can include just substituting the sets of Q3 tyres overnight. There are all sorts of different ways of doing it, but at the moment we are not being asked to come up with any solutions as teams are happy with where it is."

When asked if Pirelli was happy for it to stay the same, Hembery said: "As long as teams explain why there is that tactical intrigue, so fans can understand it better. You can imagine a lot of people think we write the tyre rules, so we get caught up in that."

Formula 1 chiefs are to discuss the 2012 calendar later this year, amid concern about the status of some of the races that are on next year's schedule.

AUTOSPORT has learned that talks about the position of the 2012 Bahrain and Korean Grands Prix have been added to the agenda for Thursday's meeting of the F1 Commission in Geneva.

Furthermore, sources have revealed that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone informed team principals over the Indian Grand Prix weekend that there were also now minor question marks about the fate of the new Austin Grand Prix.

Bahrain's position on the calendar is dependent on the ongoing political situation within the Gulf state, with this year's event having been cancelled because of troubles.

The fate of the Korean Grand Prix rests on its financial situation, with race promoters having revealed that they want to reduce the hosting fee going forward - something Ecclestone has said he is reluctant to do.

It is understood that if either race is dropped then Turkey is the favourite to replace it, after losing its place on the calendar.

Speaking to AUTOSPORT, Ecclestone said that he was keen for both Bahrain and Korea to remain on the schedule.

"Yes, absolutely," he said. "But let's wait and see."

The situation in Austin appears more complicated, with Ecclestone suggesting that, while construction work is ongoing, there are issues inside the company that is putting the event together.

"I don't think they are struggling [with building the track] at all," he explained. "I think there has been a disagreement inside the company."

When asked if he was certain the race would take place in 2012, Ecclestone said: "If you had said to me a month ago, is this [the Indian GP] 100 per cent going to happen then I would have said, 'I don't know'. So ask me a month before the race is due to happen."

But with Ecclestone having already pulled off a deal for New Jersey to hold a grand prix in 2013, he said that it would not be too much a blow if Austin's arrival on the calendar was delayed.

"We can have it next year or the year after," he said. "It is not the end of the world."

Johny Herbert is adamant Felipe Massa deserved the penalty he got for his clash with Lewis Hamilton in the Indian Grand Prix.

Ferrari driver Massa was given a drive-through penalty for having made contact with Hamilton when the Briton was trying to overtake.

The Brazilian said after the race that he didn't understand why he had been penalised for that.

But Herbert, who acted as a steward in India, said Massa deserved the penalty, as he knew Hamilton was beside him but did not leave the Briton enough room.

"The decision to penalise Felipe Massa for his contact with Lewis Hamilton came down to one simple fact - it could have been avoided," Herbert wrote in his column for The National newspaper.

"I know Massa was upset by our decision, but I believe we made the right call. After looking at it from different camera angles and studying all the data available to us, it was clear that Massa knew where Hamilton was before he chose to turn across him.

"There was nothing Hamilton could have done to avoid it. He did try to get out of the move, but it was too late and the contact was made."

Herbert also said Hamilton was very upfront when he admitted he had made a mistake during practice on Friday, when he was given a three-place penalty for having ignore yellow flags.

"Hamilton was very upfront when he came to see us. He held his hands up and admitted that he had made a mistake," he added.

"Double yellow flags are a serious thing - they indicate danger ahead on track and are a warning for drivers to slow down.

"Neither Hamilton or Sergio Perez did that. Safety is paramount in motorsport and double yellow flags must be respected - there could be marshals on the track dealing with the problem, and their work is dangerous enough without having cars fly past them at top speed."

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has complete faith that Lewis Hamilton will bounce back from his current difficulties - and thinks too much is being read into his run of collisions with Felipe Massa.

On the back of another difficult weekend for Hamilton in India, where he was hit with a three-place grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags and then crashed in the race with Massa, yet more questions have been asked about his mindset.

However, Ecclestone thinks that Hamilton just needs a change of luck to get himself back on top form.

"In life you go through ups and downs, and I think he is just going through a bit of a rough period generally in his life," he said.

"When life is easy you get lucky and everything goes well. When things start going wrong they start piling up and going more wrong.

"He will get out of it. I spoke to him here in India. He is great. He will be okay."

Ecclestone has also played down talk of a 'feud' between Hamilton and Massa, despite the pair having been involved in six controversial incidents this year.

"It is not intentional, is it?" he explained. "These things happen. It is just really strange that it always happens between those two."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has suggested that Hamilton's difficulties at the moment may be as the result of the pressure he is feeling from being alongside a very strong Jenson Button.

"If you're honest, the first driver you want to beat is your team-mate," he said. "We don't hide from that and nor does Lewis or Jenson. They are there to beat each other and Jenson's been on a run.

"Lewis is the great exciting driver he is but he'll not like being beaten by anyone, least of all by Jenson. Even though outside the car they have a fantastic relationship.

"But Lewis will not like being beaten by his team-mate. I don't want him to enjoy being beaten by his team-mate. I want him to try and beat Jenson just as I want Jenson to beat Lewis."

Pastor Maldonado will lose ten places on the grid for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as he will be forced to use his ninth engine of the season.

His Williams team said on Tuesday that due to the damage his engine suffered in India because of a gearbox failure, Maldonado will be unable to use that power unit anymore.

Therefore Williams will forced to use a ninth engine for the Venezuelan in the following race in Abu Dhabi.

Teams are limited to eight engines per season, meaning Maldonado will be hit with a ten-place grid penalty in the Yas Marina event.

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello will be using his eighth engine of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Jean-Eric Vergne will drive the championship-winning Red Bull RB7 in the upcoming young driver test in Abu Dhabi, the team said on Tuesday.

The Red Bull protege, this year's runner-up in the Formula Renault 3.5 championship, drove for Toro Rosso during practice for the Korean Grand Prix.

He is scheduled to return to that role in Abu Dhabi and then again in Brazil.

The 2010 British Formula 3 champion will have three days to test Red Bull's car in the test that takes places in Abu Dhabi on 15-17 November.

"I'm really looking forward to driving the RB7 in Abu Dhabi," he said. "I know the track already and have had some track time in a Formula 1 car this year, which will help.

"I'm extremely happy that Red Bull Racing has given me this opportunity, it will be a massive experience for me and to be driving the best Formula One car is something quite amazing.

"I will make the best out of the three days, it will be an important three days and I'm looking forward to it."

Williams has announced the appointment of Nick Rose and Louise Evans to the company's board of directors.

Rose joins Toto Wolff, Mike O'Driscoll and Eddie Charlton as the company's fourth non-executive director and will chair the Audit Committee.

Evans steps up to finance director from her current position as the group's head of finance. They will both join with immediate effect.

"I am delighted to welcome Nick and Louise to our Board," said Williams chairman Adam Parr. "As a highly experienced finance professional, and a member of the Board of two of Britain's largest listed companies, Nick will chair our Audit Committee.

"As a businessman with experience in the automotive, consumer and luxury sectors, he will be an invaluable asset for Williams F1. Since joining Williams eight years ago, Louise has implemented the highest standards of financial control and reporting and she played a key role in enabling the company to achieve a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange earlier this year.

"The combination of our executive and non-executive directors means we now have a tremendous and balanced Board which can provide the Company and our shareholders with the highest standards of leadership and governance."

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Sam Michael will join McLaren for the final two races of the season after he was given permission to start work for the Woking-based outfit by former employers Williams, AUTOSPORT can reveal.

The Australian left Williams at the end of September after a lengthy spell as its technical director, having agreed a deal to join McLaren as its sporting director.

At the time it was unclear how long Michael would have to spend on 'gardening leave', while he served out the terms of his old contract.

His original deal meant he could have been forced to sit out until March next year, which would have left him with very little preparation time ahead of the 2012 season.

However, following discussions between Williams and McLaren, sources have confirmed that Michael was allowed to begin work officially at his new team from November 1, having been out of action for just one month.

He began duties at the factory on Tuesday and will now travel to the Abu Dhabi and Brazilian Grands Prix with the Woking-based outfit.

Speaking in September, Michael said that the chance to see McLaren in action at the track before the end of this season would be a great boost.

"If I can get to a race this year with McLaren, it lets me observe what they are up to," he told AUTOSPORT. "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."

Formula 1 will experience an uplift in interest from Indian sponsors and fans in the wake of the success of the country's inaugural grand prix last weekend.

That is the view of Team Lotus reserve driver Karun Chandhok, who thinks that F1 will stand to benefit from the triumph of the Buddh circuit's addition to the calendar.

"It is going to be massive now," said Chandhok about the impact the F1 race will have had on India. "I think people maybe somehow underestimated the power of the Indian market before this weekend. But things will be different from here on."

Chandhok believed that India had left a positive impression on F1, despite a few teething problems at its first race that should be ironed out by the time the sport returns next year.

"Before the weekend I think I said they needed to do three things: you have got to have backsides in the grandstand, you have got to have a circuit that the drivers enjoy and you have to have the support of the media. And I think we have had all three.

"The local media has been fantastic, and the international media, apart from a few initial hiccups, has been positive. Everyone has enjoyed it.

"Although facilities like those at Abu Dhabi may be five star, as an event and as a track, this is way better - and it is way better than Korea. Overall, it has been a highly successful event."

Chandhok also said that organisers were open to doing what F1 wants to ensure that issues teams faced last weekend would be sorted for next year.

"I have personally, on behalf of the organisers, spoken to two or three team managers and asked them to send me a list of recommendations and suggestions for next year. I am going to ask people in the media what should be better for next year.

"The organisers want constructive criticism, so as long as it is not public, that is fine. They want constructive criticism because there are things we can improve."

Stefano Coletti will test for Toro Rosso at Formula 1's young driver test at Yas Marina later this month.

The 22-year-old Monegasque won twice in GP2 for Trident this year, but had his season ended early after a big crash at Spa that left him with fractured vertebrae.

However, he recovered sufficiently to take part in the recent Barcelona GP2 test and will now drive the STR6 at Yas Marina in the days following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"I'm happy to finally announce that I'll be testing with Toro Rosso in Abu Dhabi," he wrote on his Twitter account. "I'm on my way to the Toro Rosso headquarters. Going to make my seat and meet all the guys."

After finishing fourth in the GP2 Asia Series, Coletti added 11th spot in the main series this year. Prior to that he was a race-winner in Formula BMW, Formula Renault and the F3 Euro Series, and also competed in GP3 last year.

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Formula 1 chiefs will decide on the name changes for the Team Lotus, Renault and Virgin Racing teams in Geneva today at a lengthy meeting that will also rule on the 2012 calendar and the shape of future technical collaboration between teams.

With the get-together of the Formula One Commission having originally been called to decide on the name change situation, the agenda has grown in recent weeks to encompass a number of issues that teams and stakeholders are interested in.

The key vote will be on allowing the three name changes for 2012 - with Team Lotus wanting to become Caterham, Renault switching to Lotus and Virgin Racing becoming Marussia.

For the changes to go ahead, they will need the support of 18 members of the 26-strong F1 Commission - which includes team principals, Bernie Ecclestone, FIA president Jean Todt, plus representatives of sponsors, engine manufacturers, circuit promoters and the tyre supplier.

One of the main discussion points at the meeting, however, is the future of technical collaboration between teams - such as that enjoyed between McLaren and the Force India and Virgin Racing teams.

Their collaboration has led to fears that they could be stretching the limits of the Concorde Agreement, which demands that each team designs and manufactures its own car.

Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn explained: "There is a very clear definition of what a constructor is, and to compete in F1 you have to be a constructor according to the schedule in the Concorde Agreement.

"You must own the IP and own the design of the car. Fundamentally you must design all of it apart from the engine and transmission, which is free.

"Everything else must be done with the team, so you cannot sell a wing design or a suspension design to another team. It is all very clear in the Concorde Agreement and I think the teams do comply with that – but obviously there are a few grey areas to any agreement."

The discussion about technical collaboration will also likely include talks about the possibility of third cars in F1 – a subject that divides opinion in the paddock.

Brawn believes it good that the matter be put into the open, but thinks such a move would be detrimental to the sport.

"I think it is sensible to explore solutions for the future, but I am not convinced that is the best solution because that starts to bring in a lot of other factors," he said.

"It sounds simple – make a third car and sell it to another team, but if that team can run a season with a very competitive car for a lot less cost than a manufacturer, you are going to start losing manufacturers because it doesn't make sense for teams to make their own car. And we don't want that.

"In F1 it is important we have the constructors and different manufacturers involved. It has been one of the most distinctive things about F1 for many years. I think we need to explore these ideas, but I would be very cautious about the concept of selling cars.

"If the most competitive car is sold to a number of teams and they flood the grid with that car then it is damaging for the rest of the teams. We need to be very, very careful about the solutions we find in the future."

The F1 Commission will also discuss the status of the 2012 Bahrain and Korean Grands Prix, plus debate the idea of allowing extra sets of tyres to be allocated in Q3.

There will also be votes on ratifying technical regulation changes put forward by the Technical Working Group, plus discussion about improving the promotion of F1 events in the future.

Romain Grosjean feels '100 per cent' more ready to grab his latest opportunity with Renault in Formula 1 than he did when he stepped up to a race seat with the team back in 2009.

The Frenchman will drive for Renault in Friday practice sessions in Abu Dhabi and Brazil, as the Enstone-based outfit evaluates its options for 2012 just in case Robert Kubica cannot return.

And with his last F1 chance in 2009 ending after just seven races for the team, Grosjean says he is returning a much better driver - and vastly more prepared for what he needs to do to secure himself a race seat.

"My last time [in 2009] was a strange chance, not a real one," he told AUTOSPORT. "It was an opportunity that I could not say no to, but it was not the best way to jump to F1.

"Now, we have rebuilt everything, been back to GP2 and won it. So doing two Friday sessions will be good mileage for the future.

"If you get through a tough time you learn a lot, and I think I am more prepared. It is always difficult to be 100 per cent ready for F1, it is really a big step compared to everything else, but compared to before, I am 100 per cent more ready than I was."

Grosjean believes that his enforced return to GP2 helped him work on areas of his driving where he felt lacking before - which should help him for his return to F1.

"The 2009 experience, first of all, it was fantastic. To do seven GPs with Fernando [Alonso] was so much experience, but the times were tough as well. When in March you do not have a drive and do not know what you are going to do, it was a tough time.

"But it helped me become stronger and different, and it helped me become what I am today. The GP2 season has been very good and shows I improved myself in some areas where I was maybe not as strong as I wanted. For sure, when I get back in an F1 car we will see things in a bit of a different way."

As well as feeling better in himself, Grosjean believes the atmosphere at Renault will be more positive too – with new management in charge compared to 2009.

"It is different for sure," he said. "I prefer this atmosphere; I prefer the way it is running at the moment. I feel better as well. You are spending 20 weekends with these guys, so it is better to have a good relation.

"I think I will get in the car with a big smile now, try to enjoy as much as I can the track time and give my best feedback and the best lap time I can get."

Grosjean is well aware that the two Friday outings are being used as an audition for his talents, as Renault weighs up driver options for 2012, but says he welcomes the pressure on him to perform.

"Every time you get in a car it is an audition – even when you are established. You have to do the best you can, and they [the team] will look deeply at what I am doing. But I like it; I like the pressure, so that is okay."

When asked about his feelings on the future, he said: "It is a bit early to say anything, but Robert is the key at the moment. We are all hoping he has a good recovery, but so far it is too early to say anything for next year.

"We have had a discussion with a few teams, and they are going on. Nothing is done yet, so everybody will have to be patient."

Mark Webber believes that Formula 1's race stewards should be less eager to hand out penalties for collisions - after another controversial coming-together between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa.

With stewards having been stricter this year in punishing contact on track, Webber thinks a more considered approach may be better for incidents that are not totally clear cut.

Opinions have been divided about exactly who was to blame in the Indian GP clash between Hamilton and Massa, with the stewards ruling that it was the Brazilian's fault because he could have prevented the crash.

Webber is not so convinced though, and thinks it would be better in such circumstances to let matters go.

"You could argue all day about the rights and wrongs of the latest crash involving Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa but it was a 50-50 incident in my opinion," he wrote in his latest column on the BBC F1 website.

"The corner they collided at is quite a quick one - fifth gear at about 135mph - so the brakes don't go on much. It's very difficult to pass there but Lewis got a good run off Turn Four and got down the inside of Felipe.

"It was the age-old thing. Lewis went for it, Felipe was still going to commit to the corner, then Lewis tried to back off and couldn't."

Speaking about the culture of handing out punishments for almost all crashes, Webber said: "F1 is getting into a bit of a road-car culture with penalties. The attitude seems to be that someone must be to blame when there is an incident.

"In this case, the stewards thought Felipe could have given Lewis a bit more room and therefore handed him a drive-through penalty.

"Yes, Felipe could have made space for Lewis but, in my view, it wasn't clear-cut. The drivers have always said that they want the stewards to be consistent - and, to be fair, that's what they are trying to be.

"If someone's had an absolute howler, then fine, give them a penalty but sometimes it might be better just to say it was one of those things - what we call in F1 "a racing incident" - and let it go."

The HRT team has announced it has extended it technical deal with Williams for the supply of gearboxes until the end of the 2012 season.

The Spanish squad said the new deal provides for a greater technical collaboration "that will contribute to improving the performance level."

Williams will also supply HRT with KERS and its related technology for the first time next year.

"In these past two years we have established a fruitful collaboration with Williams F1 and are pleased to continue having them play an important role in the development of our team," said HRT team principal Colin Kolles.

"Apart from the experience we have accumulated in these years together, they will not only provide us with the latest technology in gearboxes but we will also reap the benefits of having KERS for next year, this being an important step for our team.

"We have grown as a team with Williams F1's support and we are pleased to continue counting on them in the future, given their trajectory, prestige and renowned experience in Formula 1. This agreement strengthens the development of the 2012 car that is currently taking place at our technical office in Munich.

"At HRT we are working on thoroughly improving the performance of our cars and our target is still to finish in the top ten in 2012. This deal brings us one step closer to that objective."

HRT and Williams first joined forces at the end of the 2010, with the British squad having supplied its gearboxes to HRT this season.

Williams F1 CEO Alex Burns added: "I am delighted that we are extending our agreement with HRT, in both its scope and duration. We have enjoyed a good working relationship with HRT in 2011 and look forward to continuing this in 2012 and beyond.

"The fact that they have selected Williams F1's gearbox and KERS technology for their car is a credit to all of the Williams F1 people involved in our cost-effective engineering and manufacturing in these areas."

American driver Alexander Rossi will join Team Lotus for the young driver test at Abu Dhabi, the outfit has announced.

The American, who had made his F1 debut with BMW Sauber in 2009 during testing, will also be racing in the Abu Dhabi GP2 event with Team AirAsia.

Rossi took third place in this year's Formula Renault 3.5 series, also becoming the top rookie with two victories and six podiums.

"I am very excited to finally announce I will be competing in Abu Dhabi with Team AirAsia and will have the chance to put more F1 miles on my CV with Team Lotus," said Rossi.

"After the positive GP2 tests in Jerez and Barcelona I feel we have a good chance of a strong result in the GP2 races and I will definitely be going into the weekend fully focused and motivated for a race win - looking at the team's past results I see no reason why we can't achieve that.

"For the F1 test I will be looking to learn as much as possible, do the best job I can and soak up every minute, in and out of the car."

Formula 1 chiefs have approved the name change requests that were put forward at today's F1 Commission meeting in Geneva - bringing an end to the long-running row over the Lotus moniker.

Following a lengthy meeting in Geneva on Thursday, sources confirmed that Team Lotus, Renault and Virgin Racing all received the necessary support to be allowed to change their titles for the start of next season.

It means from 2012, Team Lotus will become known as Caterham, Renault will switch to Lotus and Virgin Racing will switch to Marussia.

The changes still need to go through the FIA's World Motor Sport Council before becoming official, but this is believed to be a formality - especially because FIA president Jean Todt is a member of the F1 Commission.

There is not expected to be any public statements about the matter from any of the teams involved until after the WMSC meeting - which takes place on 7 December.

The decision to approve the name changes means that confusion over the Lotus name in F1 will be brought to an end, following a long-running dispute between Team Lotus and the road car company Group Lotus.

In a bid to clean up the matter after lengthy court proceedings, an agreement was reached which means that the Enstone-based Renault team will now be the only outfit running the Lotus name.

Team Lotus will make full use of the Caterham brand, less than one year after the outfit's owner Tony Fernandes bought the sportscar manufacturer.

Renault has appointed stalwart Paul Seaby as its new team manager, following the recent departure of John Wickham.

Seaby, who had been the team's engineering coordinator, will work alongside trackside operations director Alan Permane at grands prix.

Writing on his Twitter feed, Seaby said: "My new job started! Team Manager of LRGP and very proud of it!"

Seaby is a long-serving member of the Enstone-based team, having originally joined as number two mechanic when the outfit was known as Benetton in 1992.

He was famously involved in the 1994 German Grand Prix pitstop fireball that engulfed Jos Verstappen's car.

He then enjoyed various number one mechanic roles on both the test and race team, before taking over the engineering coordinator role in January 2005.

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Auto GP champion Kevin Ceccon will join Stefano Coletti in testing for Toro Rosso during this winter's young driver sessions in Abu Dhabi.

Eighteen-year-old Ceccon won this year's Auto GP title at the first attempt while also contesting a partial GP2 campaign with Coloni.

Ceccon and Coletti will each get one and a half days of running during the 15-17 November test, with Coletti taking the car all day on the Tuesday and on the Thursday morning, and Ceccon having Wednesday all day and Thursday afternoon. The duo will also be team-mates at Coloni for the GP2 event in Abu Dhabi the previous weekend.

STR team boss Franz Tost said: "Scuderia Toro Rosso is well used to training young drivers and we are pleased to add Coletti and Ceccon to the list of students who have been through the Scuderia Toro Rosso school."

He said the team had looked outside the Red Bull driver development scheme for its Abu Dhabi test line-up as it did not feel any of the drivers on the programme were ready for a Formula 1 test.

"Neither of them is part of the Red Bull Young Driver Programme, which is down to the fact that those drivers currently on the programme are still too young and inexperienced to deal with a Formula 1 car," said Tost.

Toro Rosso ran its current third driver Jean-Eric Vergne in the sessions last year.

Formula 1 track designer Hermann Tilke says that construction work at the new Circuit of the Americas track in Texas is on schedule, as he dismissed any suggestion that building work was running late.

Speculation about the United States Grand Prix venue surfaced in India last weekend when sources revealed that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone had told teams there were some questions marks about it hosting the race in 2012.

Although Ecclestone later revealed that his fears were based more on issues inside the promotional company than on the track being ready in time, that did not stop questions about the building progress.

However, in the same week that the Austin venue got the go-ahead from local bodies to being construction work on the five major buildings - including the main grandstands and pit buildings - Tilke has also made it clear he is happy with progress.

"We are working on it," he told AUTOSPORT. "There are a couple of hundred workers on the site, a lot of machines, and everything is on schedule up to now."

Tilke is excited about the potential of the layout of the Austin track, which he believes will benefit from the kind of gradients that made the new Buddh track in India such a hit last weekend.

"In Austin we have had the advantage that we have some natural elevation and some hills which we could use," he explained. "It is going to be very fast."

As well as working on the new Austin track, which is due to hold its inaugural grand prix next November, Tilke is also helping out with the New Jersey GP venue that will be added to the schedule in 2013.

Although he is limited in design scope there, because it is in a city, he believes the track will be good for F1.

"It is a pure road track, a street circuit," he said. "We will have to take what is there, but it will be really fantastic."

Sauber believes its hopes of holding on to at least seventh place in the Constructors' Championship rest on it lifting its performance in qualifying for the final two grands prix of the year.

The outfit is locked in a three-way battle for positions in the standings - being tied on points with Scuderia Toro Rosso but with Force India just 10 points clear.

Having slipped back in form over recent races, however, the team is eager to turn its situation around - something technical director James Key believes will be helped by a different set-up approach to the weekend.

"The car will be the same specification we had in India," said Key. "We have, however, several new approaches to some of the mechanical set-up, coming off the back of a difficult qualifying in India, where we just couldn't get the tyres to work.

"We think Abu Dhabi will be better for this, but nevertheless we looked into this in detail and we will go with some fresh ideas to make sure we've got everything covered if tyres are the problem.

"In the race in India we got back to where we should be competition wise, and we clearly also need to be at that level in qualifying in Abu Dhabi."

Red Bull remains totally committed to a long-term future in Formula, 1 and would not contemplate walking away from the sport even when its current dominance comes to an end.

That is the claim of Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner, who has scotched suggestions that its parent energy drink company may choose to take its marketing budget elsewhere if it felt F1 was no longer delivering value for money.

F1 has a long history of manufacturers investing heavily in the sport to achieve success and then suddenly walking away when results are harder to get, or it no longer feels its funding is justified.

Horner though sees no circumstances under which Red Bull would turn its back on the sport - and cites its lengthy spell in F1 as proof of its devotion to grand prix racing.

"I don't think so," he said when asked about the possibility of Red Bull quitting F1 now it has achieved success. "I think Red Bull is committed to F1.

"Dietrich [Mateschitz] is passionate about the sport and, as a sponsor and a shareholder in another team, Sauber, Red Bull has been around F1 for over 15 years now.

"Our target is to build on the success into the future, and where you look in the standings, where Red Bull already sits, it is already quite an achievement. We are ahead of some illustrious names in a very short space of time."

Horner believes that the global scale of F1 provides the perfect platform for Red Bull's marketing strategy – and could probably only be beaten by the Olympic Games.

"The global audience that F1 represents is a huge platform for Red Bull to market its product," he said. "It is impossible to correlate can sales with F1 visibility but, when you look at the amount of coverage that Red Bull and Red Bull partners have enjoyed, not just this year but the last three to four years, it is absolutely incredible.

"For sure, from a brand awareness point of view, F1 is probably only second only to the Olympic Games, which is every four years."

Horner also sees no reason why Red Bull Racing cannot continue to improve on its current form – especially judging by the steps forward it is continuing to make.

"I think stability has been important. The team is still a young team and I think this year, the team has been stronger in all areas than any previous seasons.

"Operationally we have been very strong. Strategically we have been very strong. Our development rate has been very good, we have had a very quick car, our design team reliability has been fantastic and I think that it is a combination of all those factors coming together from lessons learned over previous years that we have applied very well this year,

"Sometimes when we haven't had the quickest car on a Sunday we have still managed to win with it, and that demonstrates the strength of a team that is in total harmony and working in unison. That is the level that we have achieved this year, and will be looking to build on in the future."

Lewis Hamilton believes his McLaren team can head to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix confident about its chances of a victory, as it bids to topple Sebastian Vettel once again.

Although Vettel has won the last two times out, Hamilton thinks the long straights and low-speed corners of the Yas Marina circuit should play to the strengths of McLaren.

"I think we've got every reason to be confident for Abu Dhabi," he said. "This circuit should really suit the characteristics of our car - we should be able to capitalise on the layout to maximise the benefit of DRS and KERS, both of which are very strong on our car.

"Red Bull and Sebastian [Vettel] may have clinched both championships, but I'm still determined to end the season on a winning high. I've won two grands prix this year, and I'd love to double that by the end of the year! It would also be a great reward for everybody at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes."

Team-mate Jenson Button is the last man to have beaten Vettel, having triumphed in last month's Japanese GP, and he is equally upbeat about the potential.

"Our car should suit this circuit so I'm very optimistic," he explained. "We saw at the last grand prix that even though we didn't have the ultimate speed to catch and pass Sebastian, we made him work hard for the win.

"Tactically, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ran a first-class race: I got all the right calls from the pit wall and the pit crew did a fantastic job. The championship may not be at stake any more but we're still aiming to win races and put on a tremendous show."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says the outfit is still pushing on with developments for its car, with new parts likely to be carried over on to its 2012 challenger.

"Even though we've secured second place in the Constructors' Championship, and Jenson has a very healthy margin in second place in the drivers' championship, the season isn't over for us by any means," Whitmarsh said.

"We're continuing to bring new developments to our car and we'll be fighting every bit as hard as we did at the first race in Australia back in March."

Luiz Razia will drive for Team Lotus during the young driver tests in Abu Dhabi following next weekend's grand prix.

The team has already announced that it will field Alexander Rossi during the 15-17 November sessions, and has now confirmed that Razia will get a day of running too. Rossi and Razia will also race for Team Lotus' GP2 arm AirAsia in the non-championship event in Abu Dhabi on the preceding grand prix weekend.

Razia raced for AirAsia in GP2 this year and took two podium finishes on the way to 12th in the standings. He drove for Virgin in last winter's young driver Formula 1 tests, and also ran for Lotus in Friday practice at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Team boss Riad Asmat felt Razia's latest F1 chance was well-earned.

"Luiz has been a key player in the 2011 season in helping grow our GP2 team from a starting point of an empty factory in late 2010 to finishing sixth in our first championship," said Asmat.

"Throughout the season he has also been involved in the F1 operation, both on track where he took part in FP1 for us in China and did a very solid job there, and in sitting in on briefings with the engineers at various races to grow his experience of the F1 environment and help increase his knowledge of the way we work so he can jump straight into the F1 seat when he has his chance.

"I am sure he will perform extremely well for us in both the GP2 event and in the F1 car and we are all looking forward to seeing him successfully complete this next stage of his development."

Razia said he was delighted that Lotus felt he deserved more F1 running.

"I believe this is confirmation of all the good progress we have made this year and I am very pleased to be working with the team again," he said. "We had a great relationship throughout our first season and it will be good to continue that in Abu Dhabi.

"The test in F1 is a very big deal for me - it is a full day behind the wheel so I will be able to get a lot from it and hopefully give the team some good feedback.

"They will have a lot to test ahead of 2012 and I am really looking forward to being involved in that."

Formula Renault 3.5 champion Robert Wickens will drive for Virgin Racing in Friday morning practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next weekend.

Wickens has been the team's reserve driver and is backed by its title sponsor Marussia. He narrowly beat Carlin team-mate and Toro Rosso third driver Jean-Eric Vergne to the FR3.5 title after a season-long battle, and made his debut for Virgin in an aero test at Vairano recently.

"I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to test with the team in a race weekend context and at a track like Abu Dhabi," said Wickens. "This year just keeps getting better and better and I can't thank Marussia enough for their continued support.

"The Vairano test was a good grounding for me but the opportunity to kick things up a gear in a free practice session is obviously the next big step in my career and I hope my feedback will have a positive benefit on the team's performance there."

Jerome D'Ambrosio will stand aside for the session in favour of Wickens.

Team boss John Booth said Wickens' practice run underlined Virgin's commitment to nurturing young drivers.

"Robert has had a fantastic season in Formula Renault 3.5 and was the deserving victor of a hard-fought championship," said Booth.

"One of the founding principles of our young driver programme was that we would reward success with important seat time to aid the progression of our rising stars through the ranks.

"Abu Dhabi is a track at which Jerome has good experience as he ran there in the same Friday morning practice session a year ago and then in the young driver test the following week. The Yas Marina circuit therefore presents a better opportunity to provide this reward to Robert as there will be less impact on our engineering programme."

Wickens is also set to run for Renault in the young driver tests as his prize for claiming the FR3.5 title.

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The FIA has officially confirmed that Renault, Team Lotus and Virgin will be allowed to change their chassis names for 2012.

Agreement was reached during Thursday's meeting of the Formula One Commission, and has now been formally announced by the governing body.

The decision means the end of the Lotus name spat, as the ex-works Renault team fully renames after its title sponsor Group Lotus, and Tony Fernandes' outfit switches from its current Team Lotus branding to Caterham, having bought the British sportscar constructor earlier this year.

Virgin Racing also switches identity to become Marussia, the Russian car-maker having become a major backer of the squad last year.

Renault team boss Eric Boullier has welcomed the official confirmation that his squad will change its name to Lotus for the 2012 season.

The long-awaiting announcement that title backer Group Lotus would be able to fully rebrand the former Renault factory squad came today, after being ratified by the Formula One Commission at a meeting in Geneva on Thursday.

The row between the Lotus car company and Tony Fernandes' Lotus Formula 1 team has therefore been brought to an end, resolving the confusion that arose from having both the Lotus Renault GP and Renault-powered Team Lotus outfits on the grid.

"We are very pleased that our chassis name change has been approved," said Boullier. "We have said all along that, in the interests of the sport, it is important that we remove any ambiguity on this matter.

"It is also important that there are clearly identifiable teams on the grid, and today's announcement goes some way towards ensuring that."

Boullier added that the confirmation of the name change marked the start of a new era, but not a total transformation, for his team, which previously operated as Toleman and Benetton before becoming Renault's works operation.

"It is the start of another chapter for Enstone, but not a whole new beginning," he said.

"The team's history and experience will allow us to take up this challenge with a controlled and swift process. We're very much looking forward to 2012."

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has warned that his team's continued presence in Formula 1 is dependent on major changes to the rules - as he declared it would not back down over technical regulations, testing rules and third cars.

Speaking at Ferrari's World Finals event at Mugello, and amid continued discussions over both F1's next Concord Agreement and the position of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) as questions about the Resource Restriction Agreement persist, di Montezemolo said Ferrari would stick to its guns over the issues - and underlined his belief that F1's rulemakers could not afford to squeeze Ferrari out.

"Formula 1 is still our life, but without Ferrari there is no Formula 1, just as without Formula 1 Ferrari would be different," said di Montezemolo.

"We can be very patient but there are precise conditions for us to continue with our work. We race not just for the publicity it brings us but above all to carry out advanced research aimed at all aspects of our road cars: engine, chassis, mechanical components, electronics, materials and aerodynamics, to such an extent that the technology transfer from track to road has grown exponentially over the past twenty years."

He stressed that what he saw as restrictive, overly-aero-dependent, rules, the testing ban and the limit of two cars per team were Ferrari's main concerns.

"What is not so good is that 90 per cent of performance is now based exclusively on aerodynamics and another negative is that ours is the only sport where no testing is allowed," said di Montezemolo.

"We are building cars, not helicopters, rockets or planes. Sure, we must not go back to the excesses of a few years ago, but neither should we be in a position where we can't provide opportunities for the youngsters we are bringing on in the Ferrari Driver Academy.

"Finally, there's the issue of the third car, which mark my words, we support not so much for our own interests but more for those of the sport in general. We believe the interest of the fans, media and sponsors could increase if there is a bigger number of competitive cars on track rather than cars that are two or three seconds off the pace, being lapped after just a few laps.

"As an example, remember in 1961 Giancarlo Baghetti won the French Grand Prix at Reims with a privately entered Ferrari. There you are, it would be nice one day in the future to see one of our cars running in American colours, or Chinese, or maybe those of Abu Dhabi."

He warned that F1 should not take Ferrari's continued participation for granted.

"We will support our views as we see fit, in the best way possible, but let's be clear, for those who agree, that is fine, but otherwise they will just have to accept it is our position," di Montezemolo said.

"If Formula 1 still wants Ferrari it must change and go back to being at the cutting edge of research, while always keeping an eye on costs.

"We are not in Formula 1 as sponsors, we are constructors."

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Ferrari has denied president Luca di Montezemolo suggested his team could quit Formula 1 if the Maranello squad is unhappy with the future rules of the sport.

"Formula 1 is still our life, but without Ferrari there is no Formula 1, just as without Formula 1 Ferrari would be different," said di Montezemolo during the Ferrari World Finals event at Mugello.

"If Formula 1 still wants Ferrari it must change and go back to being at the cutting edge of research, while always keeping an eye on costs. We are not in Formula 1 as sponsors, we are constructors."

But speaking through its 'Horse Whisperer' column on Monday, the team said di Montezemolo's comments were not to be interpreted as a threat, but rather as constructive talk to help make Formula 1 better.

"Montezemolo's observations were seen by some as a sort of ultimatum or even a threat to leave Formula 1, but the Whisperer can assure you that it was nothing of the kind," the 'Horse Whisperer' said on Ferrari's website.

"For starters, the words 'leave' or 'ultimatum' did not even feature in his pronouncement, but what really needs to be stressed is that Montezemolo spoke in a totally constructive fashion, which is usually the case with the President of a company that has always been in Formula 1 and who has the future well being of the greatest form of motorsport so close to his heart.

"Saying that 'Formula 1 is still our life, but without Ferrari there is no Formula 1, just as without Formula 1 Ferrari would be different' means that Maranello is working on the front line when it comes to drawing up plans for the immediate future of the sport.

"The criticisms and comments put forward yesterday are nothing new - Montezemolo has aired them before. But they must be seen as a stimulus: it's logical that a car constructor sees its involvement in Formula 1 as a test bench for technological research aimed at its products, while keeping in mind that keeping costs under control is a must and Maranello has always been at the forefront of this initiative.

"That's why the number of testing days needs to be revised: not only because we are the only sporting discipline where athletes are strictly forbidden from training on their 'pitch' but also because the current restrictions make it impossible for youngsters to progress and experience driving for real rather than just in the virtual world of the simulator.

"And to those who think that cutting back on aerodynamics was done purely for Ferrari's benefit, remember that taking into account Ferrari's historic role, clearly it is right to want to think of Formula 1's success as a sport: we don't want to see missiles or rockets on the track; what we want is competition between cars."

Felipe Massa faces a crunch year in 2012 to prove his place at Ferrari as he bids to put another disappointing campaign behind him.

Although Ferrari has reiterated that Massa will remain a part of the team next year, despite ongoing speculation that his place could be under threat, the outfit is eager for the Brazilian to rediscover the form that helped him fight for the title as recently as 2008.

Speaking at the Ferrari World Finals at Mugello last weekend, Domenicali told the official Ferrari website: "I am counting heavily on Felipe's will to fight back as he knows next year will be a key one in which, and I'm convinced of it, he will be able to show his true worth.

"As for the rumours regarding all the drivers who are due to arrive in Maranello to replace him, I can only repeat my words and indeed those only recently uttered by our President, in every possible way, Felipe will also be with us in 2012 and that should make you understand how much faith we have in him."

Domenicali also reckons that Fernando Alonso will be motivated to get himself back into title contention next year, as he returns to Abu Dhabi this weekend for the first time since missing out on the crown 12 months ago.

"I am sure that, in the next few days, going back to Abu Dhabi will have an effect on Fernando, given what happened there last year, but this negative emotion will be a further incentive for him to turn things around in 2012," he said.

Reflecting on the season just gone, Domenicali concedes that Ferrari did not do a good enough job - which makes it vital it fights from the front right from the beginning of 2012.

"We started very badly but then, coming into summer, we staged a good recovery which, among other things, saw us take the significant win at Silverstone," he said. "Then we had a programme of further development on the car, which should have brought us much closer to the front runners.

"Unfortunately, the updates introduced in Spa did not produce the results we hoped for and so we took a step backwards, partly because by then, we had interrupted the development of the 150 Italia to concentrate all our energies on next year's car. In the last few races we also tested a few ideas and parts which will be useful in the near future and we will continue to do that in Abu Dhabi and Brazil."

He added: "In the remaining two races, we want to try and get on the podium and try all we can to get Fernando to second place in the drivers' classification.

"Meanwhile, everyone at Maranello is working to produce a car that is competitive right from the start of next season, when, as we are well aware, we can have only one goal, which is victory."

Vijay Mallya insists he has not decided yet who his drivers will be in 2012, despite speculation suggesting Adrian Sutil will lose his race seat.

Mallya said over the Indian Grand Prix weekend that a decision would be made in the upcoming weeks, after his drivers urged him to announce his plans in order to now their fate early.

Although the team is widely expected to choose Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, Mallya insists no decision has been made yet.

"All the drivers have asked me to make an early decision, and I respect that," said Mallya. "I have a big decision to make! But it's not made yet - I'm not the type of guy who's going to make a decision and string people along.

"When I decide I will just tell them the way it is and that's it."

Mallya also said he is not taking sixth place in the standings for granted, despite Force India being 10 points in front of Toro Rosso with two races to go.

"Formula 1 becomes more and more competitive with each passing day. Toro Rosso has clearly made a huge step since Japan. We've also made a bit of a step with the upgrades we brought to India.

"But at the end of the day you never know until the last race is over. We found that out painfully last year when Williams pipped us by one point, but now I think we're comfortably in sixth position, ahead of Toro Rosso as well as Sauber. But it's never done until it's done."

Dani Clos will run with the HRT team during the young driver test in Abu Dhabi, the Spanish squad said on Monday.

The outing will be the second experience at the wheel of Formula 1 machinery for the Spaniard, who made his debut at the wheel of a Williams at Jerez in 2008.

Clos finished in ninth place in this year's GP2 championship.

The 23-year old driver from Barcelona will also be racing in GP2 in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

"I feel very lucky to be driving a Formula 1 car again, like I did in 2008," said Clos. "It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make it to an F1 test. I would like to thank the whole HRT team beforehand for putting their trust in me.

"I have worked very hard throughout my career and to see HRT F1 Team deposit its faith in me is a great way of proving my worth. I am sure that the work we will put in will be beneficial for both parties.

"I want to thank everyone that backs me and trusts in me, especially the people who are closest to me, for having helped me into making this a reality."

Renault boss Eric Boullier has urged his outfit to keep faith that it can hold on to fifth place in the Constructors' Championship - despite a recent run of disappointing results.

The Enstone-based outfit has a 21-point advantage over nearest challengers Force India in the standings, but has scored just six points since the German Grand Prix in July.

Although that run of form has let Force India and Scuderia Toro Rosso close down on it, Boullier thinks the results do not fully reflect the potential of Renault.

"For a few races now it has been clear that our pace is better than these competitors," he explained.

"At times we have even matched the competitiveness of Mercedes. We know where we are in terms of pace, which is between fourth and fifth place on the grid and we just want to ensure we get to the end of the race weekend with some points to our name.

"That alone will solidify our position as the fifth best team on this year's grid. It is our only target now that we get our car up amongst the points and show people that this team is ready to launch its assault on next year's championship. For now, it's heads down and all eyes focussed on giving this team a result to be proud of in the UAE."

Boullier claims that Renault was hugely frustrated that it did not score any points in India, because it felt the car had the pace to produce more.

"It was a frustrating weekend because we had some performance and, at times, the car was delivering," he said. "As a result, this was not the end product we were looking for or expecting. We went into the weekend optimistic that it might be a track that would suit our car.

"What was most frustrating about the whole experience was that there were glimpses of performance. We did not deliver when it mattered, however, and that's at the very heart of our slightly underwhelming weekend. We were looking to the Sunday as a real opportunity to get some points in the basket, but it was not to be."

Bruno Senna claims that total focus from all team members is required to ensure that it makes the most of the Abu Dhabi and Brazilian Grands Prix.

"We need to be realistic but also put in a massive effort to extract the maximum possible from the weekend," he said. "In terms of managing our expectations, fortunately we always wait until Friday to know what to expect in terms of results, and we believe that we can do a good job again in Abu Dhabi.

"It is a very tight group; we need to get everything 100% right to be in front of them. We are at the business end of the season now and, make no mistake; we will be putting in every ounce of effort to secure some pride for the team."

Renault has announced that Robert Wickens, Kevin Korjus and Jan Charouz will drive for the team in the forthcoming Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test.

The trio will get one day each in the R31, as the Enstone-based team keeps a close eye on rising talent.

Team principal Eric Boullier said: "The young driver test in Abu Dhabi in is a great opportunity for us to cast our eyes over potential future stars of the sport.

"With a plethora of young hopefuls out there, we hope to spot very strong contenders for future F1 seats. As the season draws to a close, this three day test will pit the wits of the three drivers against this challenging circuit. We look forward to seeing how they get on."

Wickens, who is also taking part in Friday practice for Virgin Racing at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, is the Formula Renault 3.5 champion.

"I'm really excited - I think it's every kid's dream to drive a Formula 1 car," he said. "I can't wait to drive the Lotus Renault on Tuesday; I have been waiting a long time.

"Obviously I'm confident having won the Formula Renault 3.5 Championship; that was a big achievement for me and it just proves to myself I'm capable of doing something like this. I feel like I'm ready for Formula 1 and I think driving the car in Abu Dhabi will be kind of a true test.

"All year, my goal in World Series was to win the championship and to get this drive, so hopefully I can make the most of the opportunity and put in some competitive lap times."

Korjus gets his first F1 experience after becoming the youngest driver to win a race in Formula Renault 3.5, while Charouz is one of Renault's third drivers.

Max Chilton will run with the Force India team in the upcoming Young Driver Test at the Abu Dhabi circuit.

The 20-year-old Briton, who had already carried out aero testing for the team earlier this year, will drive on Tuesday and Thursday.

Force India said the full line-up for the test will be announced in the coming days.

"I can't wait to get back in the car in Abu Dhabi," said Chilton, who competed in GP2 with the Carlin team in 2011. "I've spent time with the team already so I've got a feel for the way they work and I hope I can get up to speed quickly.

"Abu Dhabi is a track I've raced at a few times in GP2 so that will help. It's a big opportunity for me and I just want to enjoy the experience and take in as much as I can."

Team boss Vijay Mallya added: "We all know how difficult it is to break into Formula 1, so the young driver test is a great initiative allowing all the teams to evaluate young talent.

"It gives the drivers a chance to learn more about how a Formula 1 team operates away from the pressures of a race weekend and get valuable experience under their belt. I will keep a close eye on the progress of the test next week."

GP3 race winner Lewis Williamson tested for McLaren at Silverstone today as part of his prize for winning last year's McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award.

The 21-year-old Scot completed 15 laps of the Grand Prix circuit in damp conditions aboard the same MP4-23A chassis that Lewis Hamilton used to win the 2008 British Grand Prix.

"It was ridiculous - lots of power and pretty mind boggling," he said of his first taste of F1. "But every time I went out in the car I felt happier - I'd edge a little more on the brakes and realise there was more to come.

"It felt quite slidey to begin with but the closer you get to the limit the less of that there is. You have to be super-smooth because the car's just so responsive."

Williamson's run came on the first day of testing for this year's McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award. This year's six finalists - Emil Bernstorff, Tom Blomqvist, Alex Lynn, Scott Malvern, Oliver Rowland and Dino Zamparelli - are being assessed in six Formula 2 single seaters, Mercedes C-class DTM cars and McLaren MP4-12C GT3s.

Formula 1 teams will get to try out an experimental soft compound tyre during Friday practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Pirelli continues to make preparations for tweaks to its 2012 rubber.

Now that the world championships have been clinched, Pirelli has been evaluating its options for next year - and this will include the soft tyres being trialled at Yas Marina on Friday, plus a limited number of 2012-spec rubber being made available for the post-event young driver test.

Speaking about the plans for the weekend, Pirelli director of motorsport Paul Hembery said: "At this point in the season, our emphasis is obviously on refining our tyre choices for next year, which is why we are seeing some new tyres during free practice here and the young driver test.

"With very limited opportunities for testing during the season, this is important for us to collect information as we develop our strategy for 2012, which will feature tyres that are a bit different from this year's range.

"We're very familiar with the Yas Marina circuit as a testing venue so we're confident that the tyre choice we have made for the race should suit the characteristics of the track.

"Abu Dhabi is an absolutely fantastic facility with some good overtaking opportunities, so we're very pleased to be celebrating our first anniversary there."

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Team principals are adamant that the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) does have an important role to the play in the sport, ahead of crunch talks that could decide its future in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali warned last month that if consensus cannot be reached on FOTA's Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA) this weekend, then it would call into question the point of the organisation if its members could not trust each other.

Despite his comments pointing to the fact that FOTA could collapse if a deal over RRA is not signed off in Abu Dhabi, leading team principals believe that such a dramatic outcome is both unlikely and unwelcome.

And although there is no guarantee that an RRA deal can be thrashed out, leading team bosses to suggest that a better way forward may be to take the cost-control issues away from FOTA - and leave the teams' organisations focusing on areas of the sport where it can make a difference.

Possible solutions to the problem could be for the RRA to either become policed by the FIA, or by wholly independent auditors to ensure that all teams comply.

Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn reckons it would be a mistake if FOTA was allowed to fall apart over the RRA issue, but he does suggest a better definition of the body's aims and responsibilities would help matters.

"You can't forget why FOTA came into existence," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT about the situation. "Faced with those circumstances again, we need FOTA. And it some ways we are going to have that situation again, because we are about to negotiate a new Concorde Agreement.

"Perhaps FOTA needs to look at what it is best at, and perhaps when we get into debates about agreements that have an effect on the competitiveness of a team, it is a bit of a delicate area for FOTA to be getting involved in.

"If you are having a debate about resource, people, money and all the rest of it, it gets pretty highly charged and I wonder if that is the right arena for FOTA to be working on. I wonder if FOTA doesn't have a better role, and something like the RRA is kept out of that and it becomes just an inter-team agreement.

"I would hate to see FOTA suffer because of disagreements over RRA. We need to try and separate those things."

When asked about the possibility of the RRA collapsing at the Abu Dhabi meeting, Brawn said: "I hope not. I think if it fails in Abu Dhabi then it depends for what reason it fails.

"I am optimistic, but I think there will still be a strong desire for a large number of teams to find a solution. We want that solution to be supported by all the teams, but there is still scope to find solutions that are supported by the majority, even if they don't suit everybody."

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner, who has also questioned FOTA's future as well as famously saying in an interview recently that he did not spend 'much time' thinking about the organisation, does believe the body has a role to play - but it needs to be the right one.

"If its objectives are clearly defined, and it is looking to achieve a common goal and there is consensus among the teams then yes," he explained. "But I am sure there will be a lot of discussion over the next few weeks."

Speaking about the RRA, Horner said: "I think it is important that the teams find a consensus. Perhaps we are getting a bit too bogged down in the detail and it is important we find a workable solution that is transparent and fair, and move it forward.

"The future of FOTA needs to be discussed behind closed doors as to what its purpose and what its targets are."

Other team principals are adamant, however, that the current RRA situation should stay in place – because everyone signed up to it.

Renault team principal Eric Boullier, who is deputy chairman of FOTA, said: "My feeling is that the RRA should be applied because there is an agreement signed by all the teams, that is it.

"If it has to be audited by an independent company or the governing body it makes the life of FOTA difficult. Maybe it would help to have an external governing body to help and apply the reinforcing medium, but we should try and sort it ourselves."

Team Lotus has announced that Steve Nielsen will be joining it later this year as its new sporting director, following his departure from Renault earlier in the season.

Nielsen, who was worked at Arrows, Benetton/Renault, Tyrrell and the old Team Lotus, will join the Hingham-based outfit on December 12 as replacement for Dieter Gass, who is returning to Germany.

Team principal Tony Fernandes said: "I first met Steve in Singapore 2010 and offered him a job then which he turned down, so I am delighted he has finally taken up the chance to join us.

"It is a good mark of our team that we can attract people of Steve's calibre and I am thrilled that someone who is so well respected, and is coming from a team that is ahead of us in so many ways, shares our belief in our ability to grow and, in due course, challenge the midfield."

Nielsen's move to Team Lotus means he will renew his working relationship with technical chief Mike Gascoyne, with the pair having worked together at Tyrrell and Renault.

Gascoyne said: "It is excellent news for the team that Steve has accepted the offer to join us as Sporting Director. I have worked with him extensively in the past at both Tyrrell and Renault where we played our parts in helping to build championship winning teams, which is what we are aiming to do with Team Lotus.

"I am sure he will integrate very quickly into our operation and will be made very welcome by everyone in Hingham and Malaysia."

Team Lotus has also extended the contract of team manager Graham Watson, with the outfit promising more staff appointments over the next few weeks.

Fernandes added: "I am very pleased that we have been able to agree a new contract with Graham Watson as he has been one of the core pillars of our team, and has had a direct influence on our growth, both on and off track.

"There are more announcements to come over the next few weeks which will all help us achieve our long-term goals, and today's news about Steve and Graham is another step forward for the whole team."

Team Lotus has now laid the foundations to help it build a better future following its name change switch to Caterham for next year, reckons team principal Tony Fernandes.

The move, approved by the Formula 1 Commission last week, means that Fernandes' operation has use of a moniker and brand that it is completely in control of - so will be able to use it more effectively that it ever could Lotus.

Ahead of the final two races of the season, where Team Lotus is bidding to keep hold of its tenth place in the constructors' championship, Fernandes has said he is upbeat about all the elements of his operation coming together - which will also include an imminent switch to a factory in Leafield.

"Off track all the pieces are falling into place and we have now taken full control of our own destiny," he said. "I am absolutely certain that what we are putting in place gives us the very best platform to guarantee future success, both in our motor racing and broader automotive interests, and when you consider what we have already achieved, against the background of so many uncertainties, I think we can guarantee that we have a very bright future.

"We will be making full announcements about all the developments we are working on in due course, but for now the focus is on Abu Dhabi and Brazil and keeping up the momentum we have built up all season."

Team Lotus technical chief Mike Gascoyne believes that the outfit can target once again racing the established teams in the final two events – having battled with Williams, Sauber and Renault in recent grands prix.

"We are obviously having a very strong end to the season and it's good for the whole team to see us being able to fight the likes of Williams, Sauber and Renault when the lights go out on Sunday," he said.

"All season we have seen that when we get the tyres up to temperature we are in a position to push the cars ahead, and while we have not yet been able to do that in qualifying, we have given the race drivers a package that they can use on Sunday afternoons and give the fans something to get excited about."

Renault Sport F1, the company that oversees the Formula 1 operations of the French car manufacturer, has announced that Jean-Michel Jalinier will be its new president from the start of next year.

Jalinier will replace the departing Bernard Rey, who originally took over responsibility for the Renault F1 team in 2007 and became president of Renault Sport F1 when it was created in 2010.

Speaking about the appointment, Renault Sport F1 managing director Jean-Francois Caubet said: "All at Renault Sport F1 would like to thank Bernard for his valuable contribution to Renault's participation in Formula 1. He has represented the interests of the teams at Enstone and latterly at Viry to the very highest levels of Renault, ensuring the continued support of the board. We wish him well in his new ventures.

"We would like to extend a warm welcome to Jean-Michel. His knowledge of the Renault-Nissan group plus his keen interest in Formula 1 and motorsport will serve us well as we move forward to the next phase of Renault's participation in the sport; four teams from 2012 onwards and the change in engine regulations in 2014."

Jalinier joined Renault in 1985 and has held numerous positions within the company, including being general manager for Renault Russia in 2003 and president of Renault do Brasil in 2009.

Ferrari will bring a modified version of its Red Bull Racing-style front wing to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, on the back of the bizarre problems that Felipe Massa encountered in India recently.

Massa's front wing experienced extreme flapping at the end of the long straight at the Buddh International Circuit throughout the Indian GP weekend - prompting talk that Ferrari's experiment to get the wing legally flexing at high-speed had not been successful.

However, technical director Pat Fry revealed on Tuesday that Massa's wing problems had more to do with quality control issues than any design concept – which is why an updated version of the wing will be used by the Brazilian driver and team-mate Fernando Alonso at the Yas Marina circuit this weekend.

Ferrari has openly admitted that, with some of Red Bull Racing's form being attributed to its front wing concept, it too is focusing current efforts on perfecting this area of its car design.

Fry told the official Ferrari website: "I think the biggest addition we've made in performance terms in recent races is the new front wing which we first tried in Korea. We then ran it again on both cars in India.

"It is a very interesting development for us, as it does change the characteristics of the car and getting to understand how to get the most out of it is certainly an interesting challenge and in the short term it has helped our performance.

"We had some quality issue on one of the wings used in India but this solution will be in Abu Dhabi again, although after watching its behaviour at the last race, much work has been done to modify certain aspects of it before both drivers will try it this coming weekend."

Ferrari is returning to Abu Dhabi this weekend for the first time since it lost the world championship there last year.

Fry believes that the overtaking problems that cost Alonso his shot at the title in 2010 will not be an issue this time around, because of the use of two DRS zones.

"Last year, as we found to our cost, overtaking was very difficult at this circuit," he explained. "However, we have seen a big change this year thanks to several factors including the DRS.

"In some cases, it was found that the DRS zones were not long enough and this will no doubt be adjusted for next year, while at other tracks, it was relatively simple to overtake another car. So I'm sure that, with two DRS zone available, it will be easier this weekend than in 2010, but until we get to the track it is hard to say exactly how straightforward it will be.

"We will keep on pushing as hard as we can. In terms of what we can expect for this weekend, it will be similar to the last few races, which means that if we put everything together perfectly, as we did in India with Fernando we should have a reasonable chance of getting onto the podium."

Mark Webber thinks that a better performance in qualifying and a stronger opening stint to races are key to getting himself back to the front of the grid in Formula 1.

The Australian is still chasing his first win of the campaign, with just two grands prix remaining on the calendar, but believes he understands just where he is lacking compared to runaway world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Although the suspicion earlier this year was that Webber was struggling to get to grips with the new Pirelli rubber, the Red Bull Racing driver reckons that his overall situation is hurt more by being too far down the order in the early stages of the races.

In an interview with Italian magazine Autosprint talking about if his problems have been in adapting to tyres, Webber said: "It has a bit to do with that, with the difficulty in making the tyres work. But it's most of all down to the fact that I always leave too much to do for the final part of the race.

"Instead, the first stint from the race start to the first pit stop is still very important, almost as much as it was in previous years. With the difference that, when we had in-race refuelling, you could be flexible with strategies, going from one stop to two or the other way around.

"Nowadays it's practically all decided from the outset, especially if you race for the top four positions. Obviously you can do a catch-up race, like Jenson has done, as I've done too.

"But in general, the three at the front do the same things in the race, covering for the others' strategies. When your rivals pit, you pit too. If instead you get left behind and need to fight to catch up, the tyres degrade quickly. In practice, I've never done enough in the first part of the race."

Webber believes that his situation is in complete contrast to Vettel, who has been very strong in qualifying and controlled almost all grands prix from the front this year.

"At the beginning of the season I clearly had also some reliability problems that don't help. I'm happy with some things, but I've never reached last year's level, most of all because I couldn't position myself in the right place in the early laps. Also because I don't manage to be quick enough in qualifying.

"Seb is exactly the opposite from me: very strong in qualifying on Saturday, very strong in the first part of the race, when he gives his best. After that, there's not much else to do."

Although Webber is hoping that the ban on blown diffusers in 2011 will help him gain his confidence back, he says he is not going to hold out hope that things will definitely change next year.

"The cars are very different. That's why I hope, cross fingers, that next year, with the ban of exhausts in the diffusers.." he explained. "Sometimes I would tell myself: what the hell is going on, the tiniest thing makes the car go one way or the other.

"But I don't want to live in the hope, it doesn't lead you anywhere. I need to work hard to come back strong next year. In the first part of the season I had difficulties with pit stops, while now I don't, but I still can't find a good race pace. It's like a puzzle: the next move is to fix the early part of the race. Then we're back in business."

Red Bull Racing and Mercedes GP have proved to be the consistently quickest teams at pitstops this season.

According to data released by Mercedes GP on Tuesday, its calculations suggest that the fastest average times of the two outfits for every standard tyre change stop are equal ahead of this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Although Red Bull Racing has had the fastest individual stop at eight races, and the fastest average stop at nine events, the Milton Keynes-based outfit and Mercedes GP cannot be separated when it comes to the execution of every stop over the season.

The data, calculated by using only pitstop data from normal tyre changes - so excluding safety car stops or those where other car damage was repaired – show the two teams to be a few tenths of a second ahead of McLaren after the 885 standard stops so far this year.

Average cumulative total for pitstop times from 17 races held so far this year relative to fastest overall time:

1=      Red Bull Racing                 Best

1=      Mercedes GP                     Best

3       McLaren                         + 0.3s

4       Force India                     + 0.4s

5       Ferrari                         + 0.5s

6       Renault                         + 0.9s

7       Williams                        + 1.1s

8=      Lotus                           + 1.3s

8=      Sauber                          + 1.3s

8=      Toro Rosso                      + 1.3s

11      Virgin                          + 1.6s

12      HRT                             + 3.2s[/code]




The calculations for this are based on the overall pit lane time, as calculating the pure stop time for changing wheels is often only done in-house by each outfit.



The measurements for the pit lane time are officially recorded by the FIA and, for the basis of calculating proper pitstop time, the averages have been worked out to the nearest tenth of a second because of the variation in pit lane entry for each team – which can be as much as six hundredths of a second.



Mercedes GP's data also shows that itself and Red Bull Racing are well ahead of the opposition in terms of the number of fastest individual pitstops this year, and the fastest average pitstop times at each race.



[u][b]Fastest overall stops from 17 races:[/b][/u]



[code]Red Bull Racing   8

Mercedes GP       7

McLaren           1

Ferrari           1

Fastest average stops from 17 races:

Red Bull Racing   9

Mercedes GP       5

McLaren           2

Force India       1[/code]