Formula One 2012

[Lineker]

Felipe Massa has no doubts that Ferrari remains fully behind him in his quest to find a way out of his current difficulties.

The Brazilian is under pressure to turn around his campaign, after scoring just two points in the first five races of the season.

With Ferrari well aware that it needs both of its drivers to score good points if it is to fight for the constructors' championship, the team said earlier this week that it expected Massa to lift himself up a gear in Monaco next weekend.

Those comments prompted fresh speculation that he could be dropped if the situation does not change - but for now Massa says all he feels is support from his bosses.

"I feel the whole team stands by me," he said in a lengthy interview posted on the official Ferrari website. "Obviously, they are not happy with the results and neither am I: we all want to get out of this and return to normal. It's possible and for sure it's what I want and I know that with the team's help we will manage it."

Massa has not won a race since being injured in a qualifying crash at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix - which has prompted suggestions that he has never been as good as he was before the accident.

Speaking about that matter himself, Massa insisted that there had been no evidence his performances had suffered – either on track or in terms of mental approach.

When asked if he had any doubts as to whether he was no longer as quick as he was before the crash, Massa said: "I have asked myself that 45,000 times and don't think I haven't, and why wouldn't I?

"Having won so much over three years, 11 races, the question is obvious. And it's not as though I only stuck to asking myself: I went looking for the answer, asking a whole host of questions and undergoing as many medical examinations.

"All the doctors I consulted are prepared to swear hand on heart that there are absolutely no traces of the impact with the spring.

"As for myself, I don't feel in any way different to the way I was before that weekend. For example, if it was true that I no longer had the same will to win as before or the same courage, then how can one explain the fact that, at the race start, I am probably still one of the best drivers and I am not the sort to hold back when it comes to overtaking?"

Massa does admit, however, that he is struggling to get the best out of the F2012 – which explains his performances against team-mate Fernando Alonso.

"It's definitely not a very easy car to drive and it's hard to find a good balance. Many times I have found myself having to fight the car and, in these circumstances, it's easy to lose a tenth here and there: with my driving style maybe I struggle a bit more, because I don't manage to find a smooth way of driving.

"It's well known that we don't yet have enough aerodynamic downforce and we are lacking in traction at the exit to slow corners, which could be the biggest problem.

"In Spain, we made a significant improvement, which could clearly be seen from Fernando's performance in the race, but I too, when I had a clear track ahead of me, had a good pace. We also made a little progress in terms of top speed, another area where we have suffered right from the start of the season."

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery has hit back at suggestions that the 2012 Formula 1 season is now too unpredictable - and thinks the variety of winners is of huge benefit to everyone involved in the sport.

With five different winners from the first five races, there has been some criticism, including from Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, that the tyres are playing too big a role in the outcome of races and are turning F1 into a lottery, which could prove to be a turn-off for some fans.

Hembery has always insisted, however, that the tyres are not the dominant factor in deciding races, and that the best engineers, teams and drivers are coming out on top.

And he thinks that having more winners in F1 can only be a positive thing for both fans and teams.

"The vast majority of feedback we get is that people are enjoying the races," Hembery told AUTOSPORT. "At the start of the year, if we had said five different winners and five different cars then everyone would have suggested you had been smoking something - but we have got it.

"And I think the vast majority of fans will be pleased to see exciting races. Anyone who begrudges [Pastor] Maldonado's win in Spain with Williams is someone who needs to get out a bit more, because the whole paddock was delighted. I think for a lot of people's views, that is what they want to see."

Hembery thinks that F1 delivering race-winning opportunities to teams like Williams is great news, and can have positive commercial implications for the sport.

"There are a lot of teams here who have to find budgets, find sponsors and justify their presence in F1, and if they do get the profile then that is great. Spain was an excellent win for Williams, but we saw Sauber getting a great result in Malaysia and we saw Paul di Resta have a good race in Bahrain with Force India.

"These are all aspects that are important for all these teams. Over a season, you will still find the best drivers, the best cars and the best designers will win. There are 20 races, so that will happen.

"Just look at the championship. It has absolutely closed up, people have been asking for it for years. We have got it, and some people still are not happy."

Hembery reckons that some teams are finally getting a full understanding of how to get the best out of the tyres with the 2012 cars, and he expects the season to settle down more from now on.

"We don't want to be the major element of F1 racing. It needs to be down to the engineers and drivers and cars, so from that perspective we would not like it to get any more exciting.

"In time the engineers will master what they are doing and, give it is a few more races, things will settle down. We had some indications in Spain that three or four teams had made some progress. We felt that was borne out with some of the results we saw."

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner believes that consistency over the season is now 'critical' to winning this year's Formula 1 world championship.

With fluctuations in form delivering unpredictable race results, Horner thinks that success in the title chase is now dependent on the long game and ensuring teams score points at every opportunity.

"I think it is not by coincidence that we have had five races now and five different winners. It is also not coincidence that we have managed to emerge from race five and we find ourselves leading both drivers' and constructors' championships," explained Horner.

"These tyres are obviously the key to performance. I think there is a great deal of head scratching going on up and down the paddock, and it is a matter of whoever understands these tyre characteristics and manages to broaden the window of performance from track to track will ultimately prevail.

"I think where we have done a good job is on the days where we have not been able to win, we have managed to stage a respectable recovery. Consistency over the year is ultimately what is going to be critical."

Horner says teams are still getting to grips with understanding the tyres and that, although individual events may fall to different teams, it is performance over the whole campaign that is much more important.

"Who knows, we might have Caterham winning the next race!" he said. "I think for the time being, performance is going to fluctuate from team to team.

"But the most important thing is to be consistent. Arguably after five races we must have been the most consistent because we find ourselves leading both championships, so the days that don't go your way, you have still got to make sure that you optimise: that you have good strategy, good pit work and ultimately pretty reasonable pace in clear air in the race."

Formula 1 drivers will once again be banned from using DRS in the tunnel at the Monaco Grand Prix on safety grounds, AUTOSPORT can reveal.

Last season, drivers campaigned in the build-up to the race for DRS to be disabled through the Monaco tunnel because of concerns that it could put them in a dangerous situation if they were forced to use it there throughout practice and qualifying.

The right hand kink inside the tunnel is flat-out, and if anything did go wrong and a driver lost control after activating DRS, then there is very little run-off at the exit.

The decision to outlaw DRS in the tunnel was welcomed by drivers ahead of last year's race, and there was even more relief afterwards in the wake of Sergio Perez's horrifying qualifying crash.

The Mexican suffered concussion in his accident in Q3, after losing control of his Sauber under braking for the chicane on the exit of the tunnel. Had DRS been allowed then it is likely that Perez would have been travelling up to 10km/h faster when he crashed - which could have meant the consequences of his accident being more severe.

With the Perez accident highlighting the dangers of that section of track, sources have revealed that the FIA has again agreed to restrict use of DRS in the area that encompasses the exit of the Portier corner and all the way through to the chicane.

Last season, Jenson Button was one of many drivers backing the FIA decision to ban DRS use through there.

"It was necessary," said Button of the decision. "The tunnel is a very slippery place with a lot less grip than the rest of the track and marbles bouncing off the barriers and coming back onto the racing line.

"The first person that tried to use DRS in the tunnel was going to put it in the wall. It's a very good idea. It's not going to help overtaking through the tunnel and it's pointless having it. It's an unnecessary danger."

The FIA has also made no changes to the location of the DRS activation for this year – which will once again run along the start-finish straight.

Jenson Button is cautious about McLaren's chances of winning the Monaco Grand Prix, with the team's MP4-27 not particularly suited to the demands of the famous street circuit.

The 2012 McLaren has shown itself to excel in high-speed corners - something that is lacking in Monaco - which means Button and team-mate Lewis Hamilton will have to push extra hard if they want to triumph at Formula 1's blue riband event.

Looking ahead to the weekend, Button reckoned that there was still plenty to look forward to though.

"I remember last year having a fantastic car beneath me and feeling really confident that I could challenge for the win," he said. "As it happened, circumstances beyond our control worked to pull that opportunity away from us, but I go back to Monte-Carlo with a little bit of unfinished business.

"This year, we'll be running Pirelli's Supersoft compound for the first time – which should be interesting. And while our car isn't especially suited to the tighter confines of a track like Monaco, I'm optimistic of getting on top of the balance issues that have affected me for the past two races. It's going to be a fantastic weekend."

Hamilton is still chasing his first win of the season, but is equally aware that his consistency must be kept up if he wants to fight for the championship.

"It's important not to lose sight of the fact that, despite pushing for the win, consistency and scoring decent points is currently the most sensible way to tackle this world championship," he explained.

"I've scored points at every race, and I'm only eight points off the lead of the championship. That's a really encouraging statistic and it's reassuring to see my approach is paying off.

"Nevertheless, I'm coming off the back of two relatively disappointing results and there would be no better place for the cards to fall in my favour than at Monaco."

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg are confident that their Mercedes car will be well suited to the Monaco track as they aim for the team's second win of the year.

Although the outfit has only had one podium finish so far this year, both drivers believe that the low speed nature of the Monte Carlo track, allied to the demands on traction, should be good for their chances at Formula 1's blue riband event.

Rosberg said: "I have always been quick around the streets here, and I believe a good result is possible for us next weekend.

"The nature of the track should suit our car but as we have seen at every race so far this season, tyre management will be crucial. With five different winning teams so far this year, at least ten drivers have the chance to win in Monaco so this could be one of the most interesting races there for years."

Schumacher's chances of victory have been compromised by a five-place grid penalty that he has been handed as a result of his collision with Bruno Senna at the Spanish Grand Prix.

However, he is not seeing that as enough reason to simply give up hope - especially because good strategy calls could help him move up the order.

"Every time you go there, you just look forward to finally getting out and driving the track," he explained. "Of course, knowing that I will lose five positions on the grid does not add to this feeling but this just means that I will have to try even harder.

"I'm actually quite confident that we should look reasonably good in Monaco due to the hard work that everybody in the team is putting into the development of our car. So let's make the best out of the weekend."

Kimi Raikkonen is upbeat that Lotus will be able to deliver a race-winning weekend this season, but he is unsure if it can do that as soon as the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Finn has finished on the podium in the last two races, and knows that the team has the pace to be able to go for victory.

But although he is one of the favourites for success on the streets of Monte Carlo, Raikkonen thinks it too early to judge whether or not his team's E20 will have the pace to triumph.

"Monaco is a little bit different and it's hard to say how it will go there," he said. "The team has done a good job so far and we still have work to do and things to improve.

"So far it's going well and I'm happy with it. OK, we're not 100 per cent satisfied with it because we are not winning but that's a very normal thing and I'm pleased for the team."

He added: "To be on the podium twice already is good. Unfortunately you're not always going to get there. If you get the chance, you should take it because it's not every race that you will be able to fight for that position.

"Hopefully we can keep doing what we're doing now and at a certain point I'm sure that things will go exactly right and we'll get there. So far we've made good steps forward and the car has been strong everywhere."

Raikkonen's team boss Eric Boullier is being equally cautious about the prospects for Monaco; although he is in no doubt that the outfit is ready to win.

"Our strength has been that we have been there or thereabouts at every circuit. So far we haven't suffered the performance fluctuations that some of our rivals have seen," he said. "If we continue like this we will be very well placed for scoring good championship points. Of course, scoring points is one thing. They're very valuable and whoever has the most wins the championship. But we all really want to have a win.

"Historically Enstone teams have shown good pace in Monaco, but last year's car wasn't strong in slow speed corners so we may have some work to do. In terms of the team and our drivers, we're all ready for a win. We're looking at every aspect of the car and how we run it and we're all focused tremendously on achieving our goals. A win would be a fabulous thing."

Lotus will be introducing a high-downforce specification rear wing for Monaco, as well as updates to the sidepod and brake drums.

Sergio Perez says he returns to the Monaco Grand Prix a much stronger driver one year on from his horrifying crash in qualifying.

The Mexican made it through to Q3 in Monaco last season, but lost control of his Sauber as he hit the brakes on the section of track of track after the tunnel. His car hit the wall on the right hand side before spinning sideways into the barriers at the famous chicane.

Perez suffered concussion in the accident, which forced him to miss the Monaco race - and also put him out of the Canadian event a fortnight later as he had not fully recovered.

Reflecting on the events of that weekend, Perez said that he learned a great deal – which is why he is more confident about his chances in Monaco this time out.

"This grand prix is the most special one for me," he said on Friday. "I have been waiting to race in the Monaco GP all my life and, of course, after what happened last year I am looking forward to it even more.

"I strongly believe on this track the driver can make more of a difference than on any other track. As a team we are in good shape and I want to keep that momentum for Monaco. I also think our car can perform quite well on that unique city circuit.

"Of course I also think back to the accident I had in Q3 last year. To me it is like a watershed event in my career. There is a time before and a time after the accident. I learnt a lot from what I had to go through and I think it made me stronger. I really want to show what I can do in Monte Carlo."

Pedro de la Rosa says his HRT team should focus on itself rather than try to concentrate on closing the gap to rival Marussia.

The Spanish squad has been fighting at the back of the grid after getting its new car ready just before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Marussia has been HRT's closest rival since the start of the year, but rather than focusing on beating the British squad, de la Rosa reckons his team should try to continue to improve step by step.

The Spanish driver is now confident HRT has all the right ingredients to start making proper progress towards the front.

"The target is to improve race by race and forget a bit about Marussia," de la Rosa told reporters during the unveiling of the team's headquarters in Madrid.

"We have to think about ourselves and know where we are starting from, and improve from there without stopping, regardless of what the others are doing.

"The others will continue to move forward too, but I'm confident. We have a bigger team, we are going to grow, but we have the tools to fight. It's going to take time. It's not a matter of having a base and you can tell right away on track. But in the middle-term you can say that the Caja Magica will make us faster."

He added: "We are very far and we have to focus on ourselves. We have to forget about the others because nowadays in Formula 1 you can say there is no midfield, because anybody can win.

"And that puts us further away from our closest rivals, but it also makes us realise that we need to forget about them and focus on ourselves because we have enough on our plate. Then when we are more competitive we will aim for bigger things, which is why we are always calling for patience."

De la Rosa, however, reckons HRT has been meeting the targets set for the start of the season despite its struggles.

"I think we are on target. We are meeting our goals and we now depend on ourselves to keep this direction," he said. "We have to keep going forward, keep improving. Each tenth is going to be harder to get because you have to be smarter and spend more hours in the windtunnel, etc, to make the car faster."

The team introduced several updates at its home race in Spain last weekend and de la Rosa says it will have some new bits for the upcoming events too.

"Our policy is not to say we'll have an update for a specific race like other teams can have," he added. "We are trying to bring small things race by race. We have some updates for Monaco and for Canada too. The idea is to invent new things for the next grand prix."

And he feels the new headquarters, where the design team will start working in the upcoming weeks, will help HRT make its car faster eventually.

"It's a fundamental tool for any Formula 1 team, and we finally have it here. It was very important. We are starting and we still have a long way to go, but now we have the base for what a strong team needs.

"It will be a lot easier now we have everybody under the same roof. You have to keep in mind where we are coming from, and people have to understand we are a small team, because 75 people in Formula 1 means basically everybody is going to all the grands prix, and we are fighting against people with 600 or more people, so we have to start from there.

"We are new, but the ambition has no limits. We are going to grow and we have the base to grow properly, which is a basic thing."

[Katsuya]

The Pirelli guy pisses me off to no end.

Also, the "Senna's getting replaced!" rumour is bullshit too, he's had two brilliant drives so far this year and was unlucky in Catalunya. Up until the weekend he was easily beating Pastor in the points. I put some of the blame for this on Bottas who needs to learn to be patient, judging from some of his comments.

Sauber podium could be on the cards in Monaco I guess, but last year's race was fucked up majorly with tyres and safety car stuff, that's the only reason Kamui finished that high. But the car seems genuinely quick (quicker than Mercedes and McLaren in race trim at least). Shame we didn't get to see what Perez could have done in Barcelona, since in theory he'd have been up there with Kimi at the end of the first lap

[Lineker]

Sky Sports F1 HD has had highlights of past Monaco races on all day. Sorted. Perfect recovery after last night!

[Lineker]

HRT team boss Luis Perez-Sala reckons his squad has little chance of leapfrogging rival Marussia in Formula 1's backmarker battle in the short term.

The Spanish squad has kept Marussia in sight so far this season despite being in the middle of a major restructure that includes establishing a new headquarters in Madrid.

HRT driver Pedro de la Rosa suggested on Friday that his team would be better off focusing on its own improvement rather than making beating Marussia a specific target, and Perez-Sala believes John Booth's team is likely to remain a step ahead for now.

"Hope is the last thing to die, and I hope we can finish ahead of them in a race, but we have to be realistic," Perez-Sala told AUTOSPORT.

"They are more competitive than us. They have done a good job and I think short term we have many things to focus on in the building of the team.

"So I don't believe we can be consistently more competitive than them in the short term."

Perez-Sala believes that moving into the new Madrid base, which was unveiled this week, shows that HRT's transformation is making good progress.

"It's a big, important step for us," he said. "Being in Formula 1 is a luxury. We have changed a lot of things since last year. Eighty-five per cent of the team is new.

"The first step was to arrive with the car in Australia, something that I had doubts about during the pre-season, and we made it. We didn't qualify, but then the next step was to be within the 107 per cent and we have achieved that.

"Then another obstacle we overcame was getting the reliability to finish races. And the final one we just overcame is having a headquarters where we can all work under the same roof to optimise our resources. But it's still an obstacle race and we have only jumped the first ones.

"We have the racing team more or less done. We have to grow a bit in the financial, logistical and administrative areas. We are 75 people and I would like to be able to reach 110. Then we want to bring the design section, at least the chief designer, here [to Madrid]."

[LUKIE]

The Pirelli guy pisses me off to no end.

I agree with him. I love the tires if they are going to continually give us the racing they have had.

The past two seasons have been the best formula one seasons in years in terms of racing. Remember 2004? lol

[Lineker]

Williams engineering chief Mark Gillan has praised the efforts of his staff - and offers of help from other teams – in getting his outfit ready to run in Monaco this weekend after its garage fire in Spain.

The Grove-based team lost most of its garage infrastructure and IT equipment in the post-race fire at Barcelona that gutted its garage – less than two hours after Williams driver Pastor Maldonado had taken his maiden Formula 1 victory.

In the wake of the fire, a number of teams offered assistance to Williams with any equipment it needed, and chief operations engineer Gillan says he has been impressed by how everyone has rallied around to help his outfit.

"The team's preparations for Monaco have been somewhat hampered by last Sunday's garage fire, but the impact of the fire has been mitigated by what can only be described as a Herculean effort by the factory and our suppliers to restock both the damaged equipment and car parts," explained Gillan.

"We would also like to thank the generous offers of help from the other teams, highlighting once more the excellent sportsmanship that exists in Formula 1 and high levels of comradery throughout the pitlane."

Maldonado's victory in Spain has left Williams as a serious contender for another triumph this time out, and Gillan says hopes are high of another decent result this weekend.

"With further upgrades coming to this event we are hopeful that we can continue to make decent progress and look forward to a good weekend," he said.

Williams is not allowing itself to get too confident about its chances of another victory in the Monaco Grand Prix - despite Pastor Maldonado's impressive track record there and the boost delivered by its success in Spain.

The Grove-based outfit ended an eight-year win drought at Barcelona, and its strong showing there has left it as a serious contender for another triumph on the streets of Monte Carlo.

But Williams board member Toto Wolff insists the team is not getting too far ahead of itself, and will instead approach the weekend completely open-minded about its chances.

"Pastor has won in every category he raced in and also Bruno [senna] won in GP2, so we are very much looking forward to Monaco," Wolff told AUTOSPORT. "But I think we should not set our expectations too high at this stage, because I think if you do that then you find out that at the track where you expected to be the most competitive, you are not.

"So, let's not guess – instead let's see what happens there on Thursday and Saturday. But I am very much looking forward to going there."

Wolff is upbeat about the progress that Williams has made since the start of the season – and thinks the foundations are being laid for further success.

"What we have seen is that our performance has been going up since the beginning of the season," he said. "Pastor was a solid sixth running behind Fernando [Alonso] in the first race, and we have seen on the data that we have been OK on our long runs.

"Our race pace was always good, but we somehow did not quite manage to do the results. So while I would not say the win in Spain was out of nowhere, delivering the win was something special.

"But the guys are doing a proper job. We must not forget Mike [Coughlan, technical director] and the others, they have worked at Williams for nearly nine months and we didn't expect that things would progress so fast.

"We are working with our drivers, who are young and who have not got so much experience, and what we saw in Spain is that we have a fantastic team, a very good car, a tremendous race strategy, courageous race strategy and a driver who was faultless, fast and intelligent. This all makes me very proud.

"Normally I don't expect any miracles to happen in my life, but in Spain I saw it as a bit of a miracle, and it was well deserved for the team."

Paul di Resta is a contender for a Mercedes seat if Michael Schumacher does not continue in Formula 1 next year, team CEO Nick Fry has confirmed.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Fry insisted that no decision had been taken on Schumacher's future but said the Force India driver is an obvious candidate.

"Paul's on our radar," Fry said. "He has done a fantastic job, he's a nice guy, he's a great team player and he would be one of the drivers undoubtedly that, if Michael were to decide he didn't want to continue, we would look at.

"We haven't reached that time in our thinking yet, but we have all got a lot of admiration for Paul."

Former McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner di Resta has a long-term association with Mercedes. He won the F3 Euro Series title in 2006 with Mercedes and went on to win the DTM with the marque in 2010.

Nico Hulkenberg is hopeful the updates that Force India brought to the Spanish Grand Prix should help the outfit in its bid to deliver more points in Monaco this weekend.

The German finished 10th at Barcelona and thinks that with more speed to be extracted from the latest developments, the Silverstone-based team can enjoy another good showing on the streets of Monte Carlo.

"I think we have taken a good step forward with the developments we made for Spain and they will continue to help us in Monaco," said Hulkenberg.

"We still have work to do to understand and fine-tune them along with the set-up, so that is something the team is working on. When you see how close the teams around us are it can really make a difference to find even the smallest gain."

Force India is currently eighth in the constructors' championship and, with the midfield in Formula 1 so compact this year, he knows that small improvements in lap time can make big differences in terms of position.

"I would love to see us performing well this weekend and challenging for points once again," said Mallya about the Monaco GP. "We've certainly made progress with the car lately, but the whole grid remains very closely matched. Just a couple of tenths can separate 10 positions on the grid so nobody can afford to take anything for granted."

Ferrari must keep up its aggressive work rate for the remainder of the 2012 Formula 1 season if it is to have any hope of maintaining its world championship challenge.

That is the view of technical director Pat Fry, who reckons the team is on the right path thanks to recent updates - but knows that plenty more is needed if it is not to lose ground to its rivals.

"It was a good effort all around to get the parts delivered to Barcelona and I think most of them worked as expected," Fry said in a video posted on Ferrari's official website.

"There were a few things we are still looking at now trying to understand if they are working to the right level, but all the bits added performance – some just a little bit less than we were expecting.

"So, all in all, everyone was reasonably happy with the updates we made. But obviously we still have a long way to go, and we have to keep working at a similar rate."

Ferrari delivered a revamp of its F2012 at the Spanish Grand Prix, which helped Fernando Alonso finish in second place and take the joint lead of the points standings with Sebastian Vettel.

Looking ahead, Fry said that more developments were planned over the next few races – including new aerodynamic parts for Canada and a fresh push on exhaust designs.

"[For Monaco] we have a few more small updates that will bring some more downforce to the car, but the interesting thing [there] is how each car uses its tyres," said Fry.

"It is going to be a constant drive for updating, like everyone does these days. We have a different rear wing and front wing package for Canada, which is a slightly different downforce level.

"And then we are working on the exhaust system. There will be versions of that that we will test. We learned a lot at the start of the year in understanding the problems we had from that, and we had another go at Mugello.

"We have a good understanding, but the performance... we are just trying to put it on the car as quickly as we can. It will be a constant drive all the way through the season."

Formula 1's wild fluctuations in form this season could be the result of Pirelli's tyres being so sensitive to track temperatures, reckons Ferrari technical director Pat Fry.

Ahead of a Monaco Grand Prix that could deliver a sixth different winner in the first six races of the campaign for the first time in history, teams have been left in no doubt that extracting performance from the tyres in 2012 is the key to success.

And Fry suggests the situation is complicated for teams because the performance of the Pirelli tyres appears to be so linked to weather conditions.

"It is certainly unpredictable," Fry told Ferrari's official website about this year's tyre situation. "It varies, and small changes in track temperature have a large effect on tyre performance. I think it was China where that showed up the most."

Fry also thinks that the nature of the tyres, with their high degradation, is putting a premium on drivers looking after their rubber in the races.

"They are also quite sensitive to the way the drivers drive them," he said. "In a normal three-stop race, if you are very, very careful on the rear tyres then you might be able to get them to last for a two-stop race.

"But you cannot drive hard on the tyres otherwise they degrade. It is also a little bit that when you try and push the tyres, you tend to damage them a little bit. When you fight in traffic, you take more out of the tyres than if you are running in clear air."

Pirelli is predicting another mixed bag of strategies at the Monaco Grand Prix - with the tight track and opportunities offered by tyres likely to deliver another unpredictable race.

The more aggressive choice of compounds provided by Pirelli this season has contributed to Formula 1 producing five different winners from the first five races - which means this weekend's event is wide open.

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery thinks that F1 should prepare itself for another thriller, and that the choice of soft and super soft tyres means that teams will be able to execute varied tactics.

"You would have to guess it is going to be pretty exciting," Hembery told AUTOSPORT as he looked ahead to the Monaco GP. "It is a track that needs good traction, and we are going with soft and super soft – which are two very good compounds for those types of conditions.

"In Bahrain, we saw Lotus had good traction out of the slow corners, so you have to imagine Lotus will be strong. Plus Williams has made a good jump forward.

"So it has the recipe for being another exciting race. I am not sure we will have three cars with a one, two and three-stop strategy in the first three on the road, but having said that I do envisage a mix of strategies."

Last year, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were locked in a tight battle for victory with all three drivers on different tyre strategies.

However, their fight was interrupted by a late-race red flag, which allowed all of them to swap to fresh rubber on the grid before the restart.

Pirelli is to stick with the same tyre allocations for the Canadian, European and British Grands Prix that it used last year.

With much focus on the impact that tyres are having on the racing, Pirelli is keen to continue keeping strategic options open as much as possible for the teams.

For Canada it will take the super soft and soft compounds, in Valencia teams will have the soft and medium, while at Silverstone there will again be a double gap in the compounds with the hard and the soft being used.

Pedro de la Rosa thinks HRT will be closer to the rest of the field at the Monaco Grand Prix, and is confident that the demands of the Monte Carlo circuit will not be such a handicap for its car.

With the team still playing catch-up after a late debut for its F112, de la Rosa reckons that he and team-mate Narain Karthikeyan will not be at such a disadvantage as they were at the Spanish Grand Prix.

"Monaco is by far the most difficult and technical circuit in the entire championship," said the Spaniard. "The only trick to this track is to do miles and not change the car's set-up too much because you can find more time in the driver than in the car.

"We must try to do as many laps as possible on Thursday in order to build up some confidence for qualifying because it's the most important thing in Monaco."

He added: "We're all really looking forward to the race because it's a less aerodynamic track than Barcelona and, therefore, we expect to be closer to the leaders than in the last grand prix."

Team principal Luiz Perez-Sala said the outfit will be bringing a few minor updates for the weekend.

"It's a tough test for the car's reliability and even more so if it is hot," he said. "We have minor upgrades for this race which we hope will help us to close the gap to the front pack. The team is really looking forward to taking on a beautiful race as is Monaco."

[Lineker]

CVC Capital has sold a $1.6 billion stake in Formula 1 to investors ahead of the sport's planned $3 billion IPO.

Formula 1's stock market flotation is planned to go ahead in Singapore next month, and sources have told the Reuters news agency that CVC has sold a stake of around 20 per cent of the sport to three investors including BlackRock.

As a result of the pre-IPO deal, CVC's stake is believed to have been cut to around 40 per cent.

BlackRock is an American multinational investment corporation as well as the world's largest asset manager.

The move gives Formula 1 an enterprise value of about $9.1 billion.

"We view this (pre-IPO deal) as a validation of the company's valuation," a source told Reuters about the deal.

Pirelli's motorsport boss Paul Hembery says the Italian tyre manufacturer is ready to supply Formula 1 teams with Q3-only tyres.

He made it clear, however, that the teams believe the current format is fine and don't want it changed.

Current rules mean teams have to use the same tyres they qualify on in the race, something that has lead to drivers sitting out Q3 in order to limit their running and save sets for the race.

Although the current format often means the action is limited for the fans, Hembery says teams are reluctant to change it.

But he insists Pirelli could supply qualifying-specific tyres right away if needed.

"We could do it immediately," Hembery told Autosprint. "We could come up with a specific compound, or maintain the current ones.

"But the teams say that the format is fine as is, that the public enjoys tyre strategies.

"But if a fan on the grandstands doesn't see much running in Q3, then that fan casts the blame on Pirelli thinking that we don't want to spend any more money in order to supply more tyres."

Hembery also denied that Pirelli has intentionally attempted to create an impossible challenge for teams with its tyres for the 2012 season.

He reckons the design of this year's car means they are less stable, something that affects the way the tyres behave.

"I don't agree with whoever says that our tyres' scope of use is too narrow: the temperatures are in line with the estimated values," he said.

"What has changed, heavily, is the way these tyres are used this year. You can see that there's a lot more oversteering on the track. We also hear drivers' comments lamenting a lack of traction, but in my opinion that problem doesn't exist.

"Having changed the exhaust configuration through a rule has undoubtedly made the cars less stable. That causes wheelspin and the tread heats up, so it's normal you can't use the tyre.

"Another point is that nowadays the car performances are a lot closer. Last year there was a second between Red Bull and McLaren, while we've now seen in Spain 16 cars within the same second in Q2.

"It's not true we have intentionally tried to create an impossible challenge. In the next tests with the Renault test car we'll verify what the teams say."

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo believes the Italian squad's fate in the championship is now in its own hands after the step forward it took in the Spanish Grand Prix.

The updates introduced for the Barcelona race seemed to pay off for the Italian squad, with Fernando Alonso fighting for victory and finishing second to Williams driver Pastor Maldonado.

The result means Alonso is now tied in the lead of the championship after the first five races of the season.

Thanks to the form shown in Spain, di Montezemolo is optimistic winning this year's titles is exclusively up to his team now.

The Italian also said that Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa "must" achieve strong results in order to help his team following a poor start to the campaign.

"The championship is very open and so far, there has not been one dominant force," wrote di Montezemolo in a letter to his staff.

"A series of circumstances and the work done here to improve the car, as well as Alonso's great ability, has led to us leading the championship after five rounds.

"We must capitalise on that, with each one of us giving our very best at home and at the race track, including Massa, who must bring home the results we expect from him.

"I know from Domenicali, with whom I am in constant contact, how hard all of you are working. Of this I am sure, also because winning the championship depends only and exclusively on ourselves: on our ability, our creativity, our determination and our desire to show that we are the best."

[Lineker]

The Angry Birds logo will be on the Lotus front nose for this weekend!

[Adam]

I'd like to see Q3 specific tyres introduced, the fact that you get into the top ten shootout and then 3-4 cars don't bother running in the session to save tyres is crap. I want to see the top ten shootout actually be a top ten shootout, not a top six shootout.

[Lineker]

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is confident the team will not repeat the mistakes it has made in the early part of the season.

The Woking-based squad has lost valuable points in the first five races of the year due to errors in the pits and the mistake that cost Lewis Hamilton pole position in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Whitmarsh said ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix that McLaren has spent time discussing how to erase the mistakes, and insists he is confident they are now in the past.

He said however that it would be foolish to be complacent about it and believe that no errors will be made in the future.

"I'm confident that the issues we've had so far have been dealt with and are in the past," Whitmarsh told a Vodafone phone-in on Wednesday.

"I'm mindful that with the pressure of trying to win in Formula 1, there are always things, new things, that can come and bite you, so we have to be vigilant, careful and cautious.

"So I don't think we should ever be complacent and say we've solved everything and therefore I am super confident nothing will happen again this year. I think that will be foolish. I think we've made a range of changes within the team to deal with some issues that we've seen.

"But everyone in this company is mindful of the fact that a small human error on their part could cause some difficulty in any of the races that are left in this season. The criticality of that is not lost on anyone."

Whitmarsh also praised Hamilton's drive in Spain after the Briton had to start from the back of the grid and cope with a two-stop strategy in order to achieve the best possible result.

Hamilton, who had secured a dominant pole before he was disqualified for having run out of fuel, finished the Barcelona race in eighth position.

"In many ways the last race was disappointing for the team but I think Lewis should come away from that event - and I think he does - with a very strong feeling about what he has achieved this year," he said.

"Through no fault of his own I think he had a very severe [penalty] levelled against him and I think it is very easy at a circuit like Barcelona where overtaking is very difficult even with DRS to have some frustration.

"[He was] then asked by the team to run a two-stop strategy because of the difficulty in getting through the field, and ultimately [had] to complete a race with such controlled and measured tyre conservation, including 31 laps, more than any other driver.

"He should come away with one, the feeling that he has a car that is capable of being on pole, and two, that he has the speed and capability to be on pole – and he has been on the front row in every race, and his driving is showing greater levels of maturity, control and discipline than perhaps we've seen before.

"So I think it was a fantastic drive, and I think neither he, nor I, nor anyone else believe that he has lost his winning way. He is eight points away from the lead of a drivers' world championship that is wide open and he must consider himself as a very strong candidate to win in Monaco, many more races and to win this year's world championship."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh believes Pirelli should not be criticised for the unpredictable results produced in the first five races of the season after admitting that predicting form this year had so far proved the most challenging in his career.

Speaking during Vodafone's media phone-in, Whitmarsh said that things could have been worse for the sport's fans if Pirelli had produced a 'benign' tyre following the most wide open start to a campaign since 1983.

Asked by AUTOSPORT whether he agreed with the view, shared by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz that this year's Pirelli tyres had too much influence over the outcome of a grand prix, Whitmarsh replied: "A little bit yes," before adding that this was not the Italian manufacturers' fault.

"I don't want to be critical of Pirelli in that sense," he said. "If they had made a benign and easy to use tyre then in a sense, probably all of the teams, drivers, engineers would be much more comfortable in what they do each weekend, but the fans and the show will have been affected detrimentally.

"As a team principal, and a racer within this business, I can see some of the frustrations as to how significant tyre performance has been and how challenging that is, but standing back from it I think we have put on an extraordinary start to this season - we are 25 per cent of the way through with every single race having a different constructor and driver winning.

"It will be very tough on us if it carries on for another 15 races like this, but I think it is all there to play for."

Whitmarsh added that he could not remember a time during his stint with McLaren when it had been so difficult to know his team's level of performance going into a grand prix.

"Giving predictions in F1 is normally quite difficult but I have never known it quite as challenging in my 20 years in the sport – not knowing when you go to a new event whether you are going to be competitive or not, or even from day-to-day it seems.

"So it causes some internal frustration, but I think it is great for the sport overall."

Lewis Hamilton insists he is not frustrated at failing to produce a victory so far in 2012, despite having qualified fast enough to place on the front row at each of the first five races.

The McLaren driver was denied a potential win in the last race in Spain after his pole position was taken away for a rule infringement.

He was forced to start from the back of the grid after his team failed to put enough fuel in his car. Hamilton was also given a five-place grid penalty through no fault of his own in Bahrain following a gearbox change.

But the 2008 world champion said he remained positive ahead of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix and that it's all a matter of improving where and when it counts.

"I am not frustrated, this is the way racing goes sometimes," he said. "Looking at the qualifying results we have had, we would have loved to finish further up and we definitely need to improve if we want to stay where we are or move forward - but we are working very hard to making sure it can continue."

Hamilton's team principal Martin Whitmarsh admitted during the team's Vodafone media phone-in on Thursday that the Englishman had suffered from poor luck so far this season.

"He has been unlucky this year, in many ways the last race [spain] was disappointing for the team but I think Lewis should come away from that event – and I think he does – with a very strong feeling about what he has achieved this year," he said.

"Through no fault of his own he had a very severe penalty levelled against him and it is very easy at a circuit like Barcelona where overtaking is very difficult even with DRS to have some frustration.

"To then be asked by the team to run a two-stop strategy because of the difficulty in getting through the field, and ultimately have to complete a race with such controlled and measured tyre conservation, including 31 laps – more than any other driver – he should come away with the feeling that he has a car that is capable of being on pole.

"He has the speed and capability to be on pole – and he has been on the front row in every race, and his driving is showing greater levels of maturity, control and discipline than perhaps we've seen before."

Whitmarsh emphasised that in spite of his misfortune, Hamilton was very much in the title fight – in third position just eight points off co-leaders Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso: "He must consider himself as a very strong candidate to win in Monaco... win many more races and to win this year's world championship."

Hamilton added that he felt very confident heading into a race he loves and has won before – in 2008. "It is wide open, this track is where the driver can make a difference," said the 27-year-old. "I love it here.

"To be able to wake up in your own bed and drive just down the road and be at work is a fantastic feeling.

"I am sure it will make quite a big difference, I loved where I lived before [in Switzerland] but this is just a different place and I see to be enjoying it a bit more."

Sebastian Vettel says Red Bull is still struggling to understand the disparity in performance between his Bahrain victory and his sixth-place finish at Catalunya.

After a solitary podium in the opening three races, Vettel scored a clean sweep of pole, victory and fastest lap at Bahrain, indicating that the squad had rediscovered its 2011 winning touch.

He was therefore one of the pre-race favourites heading into Barcelona, a circuit Red Bull had dominated on in 2010 and '11, but suffered a difficult weekend, qualifying seventh and eventually salvaging sixth following a late charge on fresher rubber.

Vettel says the team is still trying to understand exactly where it lost performance.

"For the first time this year we had a clean weekend in Bahrain, a weekend where I was happy the balance of the car and we had a good result," Vettel said. "Coming to Barcelona we were hoping for a similar result but it looks like we are not that competitive and we have tried to understand why that was.

"It is not as if we had a clear answer. We have some ideas - I was pretty happy in practice on Friday and Saturday morning and coming into qualifying we just didn't seem to make the step that the majority of the grid made.

"It is difficult to draw a full conclusion because when you start further back you are likely to be in traffic for the first part of the race, but the gap to the front was too big - our maximum position was P5, it is not as if we could have argued over the first four places.

"At the moment and it is difficult for us to understand why sometimes we are quick and sometimes we are slow and why the pace changes, [but] it is not only us struggling a bit at the moment."

Asked about the influence Pirelli's 2012 compounds were having on the racing order, Vettel admitted they had clouded the picture but said he was still confident the best teams would come to the fore as the season progresses.

"If you look at an average of the first five races, I still believe that you have the drivers and the teams at the front which deserve to be [there]," said Vettel.

"We have seen different people winning, five different teams and five different drivers so I think on average through a season with 20 races it is not right to say that the winner will be lucky.

"It is still in some ways the beginning of the season and I think the tyres are extremely difficult to understand."

Williams has revised its safety procedures for handling fuel in the wake of its garage fire at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Although the Grove-based outfit still does not know for definite why fuel ignited in its garage on Sunday evening, the fact it suspects an issue when fuel was being moved is enough for it to opt to make modifications to the way it works.

"The procedures we have changed, and we've notified the other teams as well," said engineering chief Mark Gillan ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. "There is a long list of procedures that we have issued to the other teams and the FIA to ensure that something like that doesn't happen again."

Gillan explained that Williams had extensively briefed rival teams on its findings from an ongoing investigation to the fire - which it hoped to conclude soon.

"On the Friday after [the Spanish GP] I attended a TWG meeting, and as I say things are still coming up," he said.

"I spoke to all the technical directors and the FIA to explain what our understanding was, and the chain of events that led to the cause of the fire.

"It happened in the fuel handling area, so it was a fuel handling-related fire, but the exact cause we are still investigating – and we are liaising with the FIA to ensure that procedures, not just within the garage, but within the circuit, are improved to make sure that something like that doesn't happen again."

After losing 90 per cent of its garage infrastructure in the fire, Gillan said that Williams had managed to get itself fully operational for the Monaco GP thanks to a big effort from his team's staff as well as the loan of equipment from rival teams.

"We've been able to able to replace pretty much everything and certainly we are operational. There are a few things we don't have, such as an abundance of radios, but it doesn't stop us operationally and we have borrowed equipment from other teams as well.

"Not only did they help with the fire but they have come good with their promises there too. We are fully operational; if you go to the garage, you wouldn't know we had a fire. It is an unbelievable effort from everyone concerned."

The Williams team member who was most badly injured in the fire remains in hospital in England, and Gillan reckoned he would not be released for another two weeks.

"He is recovering well and obviously there are a lot of good wishes from across the pitlane," said Gillan. "Things are going well there, he should be out in about 10 days."

Pastor Maldonado has urged his Williams team to continue to push to fight on top regularly after his maiden Formula 1 victory at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan, who made his grand prix debut at the start of the 2011 season, put on a superb performance at Barcelona, starting from pole position and resisting pressure from Fernando Alonso to give Williams its first win in eight years.

Maldonado insisted, however, that the victory does not change anything for the team, and reckons it should continue to push to try and be as competitive as its rivals on a more consistent basis.

"After the victory it doesn't change anything," Maldonado told a news conference. "We need to keep working like that, keep pushing. We are not in the best position now against the other teams, still we need to keep improving.

"We have a lot of work to do, the car is getting more and more competitive, and me as well.

"The feeling is really good, the feeling in the team is getting higher and higher especially after the victory and now we need to continue like that and push and push and push."

Maldonado, the first Venezuelan winner in Formula 1, admitted repeating the feat will not be easy given how tight the battle in front is this year.

"It is really special to win especially the first one, but for sure it is going to be difficult now," he said. "The gaps between teams are now so small, everything can make a difference and we need to put everything together to make a step forward.

"Williams is doing a very good job at the moment, the people are very motivated, they are pushing so hard, it is a very good feeling here in the team. And we still need to improve our car. We are not at 100 per cent at the moment, we are not the best team but we are not that far. We are there, we need to try and improve every time and that is it."

Maldonado, who is seen as a Monaco specialist having won in GP2 and in Formula Renault 3.5, reckons Williams should be competitive this weekend too, although he admits it is hard to predict.

"I have always been so good here in GP2 and the World Series," he said. "Last year I was doing a good job, P6, but it is always difficult. This kind of track you never know due to the traffic and everything. You have to be ready for the track. I will do my best, I think it is still possible to be competitive here so we will see."

Bruno Senna says he is untroubled by speculation about his future at the Williams team following Pastor Maldonado's win in Spain.

While the Venezuelan went on to give the team its first victory since the 2004 season, Senna endured a difficult weekend, qualifying near the back and retiring from the race after a crash with Michael Schumacher for which the German was given a penalty.

Senna says the rumours about him being under pressure to perform are normal F1 gossip, and reckons they will be silenced once he achieves strong results.

"It's always important to have good results and consistency," said Senna in Monaco on Wednesday. "There's been a lot of talk that I was in trouble, but people forget very quickly that up until the last race I was ahead of Pastor in the championship.

"I had some good races, and then because I had a bad weekend and Pastor won the race people say 'Oh, he's out' and everything. It's typical F1 gossip and it's like a quick fire, but the only way to put it out is to shut people's mouths by having good results."

The Brazilian, who raced for the Renault team in the latter part of the 2011 season, is expecting things to be easier for him once Formula 1 competes at the tracks he raced on last year.

"If you think about it it's been a few years since I drove a Formula 1 at this track, and even then it wasn't particularly competitive," he added.

"For sure when I get to Spa I'm going to be much more comfortable with everything, but for this race and for Montreal I have P1 and then in Valencia, Silverstone, Nurburgring and Hungary is Valtteri [bottas] back in the car."

Senna is also optimistic he can make progress this weekend in Monte Carlo after having analysed the set-up used by Maldonado to win in Spain.

"We learned a lot from Pastor's car in Barcelona. There were a few differences in the set-up from his car to my car and I guess they were in the right direction. So we are going to try to get the car more to what his was like in Barcelona and he's going to start with the same sort of set-up, and then we'll see how it behaves.

"But it's very encouraging that the car was so competitive in the last sector like that. To be fair, Pastor did a great job keeping his tyres together all the way to the last sector. When he got to the third sector his tyres were still alive so there's a car factor but there's a Pastor factor as well. He did a very good job."

Ross Brawn has revealed he had to miss the Spanish Grand Prix because if an irregular heart beat.

But the Mercedes team boss says he is back to full fitness after the scare.

"I had an arrhythmia, which is an irregular heart beat," Brawn told reporters in Monte Carlo ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. "So I had to find out what had caused it, and when they understood what caused it they became a lot less worried - and certainly I became a lot less worried."

Brawn said he was fine now and that he had no long-lasting worries.

When asked what had caused the arrhythmia, he joked: "I think it was Manchester United that did it."

Ross Brawn thinks that the key to a successful flotation of Formula 1 still depends on the future role of the FIA.

F1 owners CVC have sold a $1.6 billion stake ahead of a planned $3 billion IPO, and Brawn believes the future path for the sport is not as clear cut as some are making out.

Brawn's own team Mercedes has yet to agree commercial terms with CVC and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone for a new Concorde Agreement - and there has been speculation the German car manufacturer could even go to court in protest at favourable terms being offered to other teams.

Speaking in Monaco on Wednesday about the future ownership situation of F1, in light of the CVC developments, Brawn said: "I think we have got a long way to go before we arrive at the final solutions. I think what has to be factored in to all of that is what role the FIA play in the future, and their involvement in the sport.

"They have been quite quiet so far but they will have an involvement, and I am reasonably confident that we will find sensible solutions in the future. I don't think things are closed yet."

Brawn suggests that F1 should look hard at what can be improved to make it even more successful in the future.

"The sport can only survive it is has the lifeblood," he said. "Whatever we have had so far, which has perhaps not been the perfect solution, has been enough to sustain and maintain F1 in reasonable shape.

"It can always be better; it could also be a lot worse. So, I think whatever the weaknesses of what we have had so far, it has worked. I think there will need to be solutions found that make it work, and I think we have still got quite a long way to go."

Brawn drew short, however, of speaking about the latest developments regarding Mercedes' own discussions with Ecclestone over a new Concorde Agreement.

"It is still something we cannot comment on, so I cannot really add anything to what was said previously I am afraid."

When asked if he felt Mercedes' own contribution to the sport was being undervalued: "We are very proud of our history and we are proud of our heritage, and we feel it is important to the sport. People have different opinions on it. But it is all part of the delicate discussions that are going on."

Ross Brawn has complete faith that Michael Schumacher will be able to deliver the frontrunning performances that have eluded him so far this season - despite his troubled start to the campaign.

Schumacher has scored just two points in the first five races, and has been given a five-place grid penalty for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix following a collision with Bruno Senna in Spain.

But despite his troubles, Brawn sees nothing but supreme motivation from his driver – and reckons that when circumstances click together then he will be able to produce much better results.

"I think he has actually been very good this year," said Brawn ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. "We have not achieved the results we wanted to but if you look under the surface, he has been pretty good this year.

"We need a few more things to fall in place, and then I think we can still have a lot of fun with Michael. I think rather like there has been a lot of attention on his incident in Spain, there will be massive attention if he does succeed and does well – which I am looking forward to."

Brawn said that he also was not surprised that Schumacher felt more motivated by the strong start to the season Mercedes has enjoyed, rather than downbeat about his own disappointments.

"That is Michael very much," explained Brawn. "Michael likes a challenge and that is what F1 is about. Michael likes that challenge and he does dig pretty deep when things are not perhaps going as well as they might.

"Collectively we have not achieved the results that perhaps we could have achieved this year, but what we see is the core performance is very good. So if we get everything aligned we can start to get some decent results – and that is typical of Michael."

Speaking about Schumacher's penalty for the Monaco GP, Brawn said: "It was a bit unfortunate for here, that is for sure.

"I kind of thought it [the incident with Senna] was one of those things where you are walking down the street, someone is coming towards you and you both go the same way at the same time - so you bump into each other. It was no more than that. It was a bit unfortunate but we will do our best to overcome it."

Michael Schumacher says he is not disappointed by his start to the 2012 season despite having failed to capitalise on the performance of his Mercedes car.

While team-mate Nico Rosberg has won a race and scored 41 points in five races, Schumacher counts a couple of tenth places as his best results and has just two points.

The seven-time champion says he is not downbeat about the situation though, and is pleased to have seen Mercedes take a big step towards the front this year.

"I think we have quite a good car honestly," said Schumacher ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. "From last year we have made a huge step forward and proven we are able to win races. I have been on the unlucky side.

"We are a team, one big family, and we win and lose together. I don't feel disappointed at all. If anything, the other way around: motivated because of how much progress we have made and I can see the future progress we can make and that is much more in our focus."

Schumacher's chances of a good result in Monaco have already been hit by a five-place grid penalty for having caused an accident with Bruno Senna in Spain.

The German is aware that things will be hard for him in the race, but he is looking forward to the excitement to fighting back.

"Basically I think we are going to be in a position to be competitive as a general track profile," he said. "It will suit us. Let's see from where I manage to qualify and start the race what can be done. It is certainly not ideal, it is what it is, but I will have some excitement certainly."

Kimi Raikkonen believes he will have no problems adapting to the Monte Carlo circuit in his return to the principality this weekend.

The Finn has not driven on the street circuit since he left Formula 1 in 2009, but he reckons his previous knowledge of the track will be enough this weekend despite the challenges of the tight course.

"I don't think it is any different to driving a rally in the middle of the trees," said Raikkonen. "It is a bit more tricky here but I know the circuit, so...

"Luck is important but you can't push your limit too much at the beginning because the circuit changes and it doesn't matter if I'm 15th or first in the practices. We need to understand how the circuit is changing to get the car right and we only need a few fast laps in qualifying, and in the race every lap, but in practice it doesn't count.

"You have to make your own luck and do things right and even if you are leading there might be an accident in front of you that you can't avoid - that is just Monaco. I don't think I am a very lucky guy and I never counted on that."

Raikkonen has his eyes set on his first victory of the season after strong races in Bahrain and Spain, but the Finn admits it will not be easy to be on top in Monaco.

"We always try but if we don't win, we don't win and we weren't fast enough," he said. "We will try again this weekend but this place is definitely not easy to win. We will keep trying though."

Raikkonen, who has finished on the podium in the previous two races, says it is hard to predict how strong his Lotus team can be this weekend given the nature of the circuit.

"I don't know because I haven't been with the team before at this type of circuit or low speed track and this time last year it was difficult because they went a different direction with their design. Last year it definitely didn't work in the low speed corners and then in 2010 they were pretty strong here so we have to see how it is tomorrow."

The former world champion will be racing Pirelli's super soft tyres for the first time this year, and he conceded their performance is an unknown to him.

"It is a different tyre here with the super softs and we haven't run them the whole year so like I said we will have to see how they are tomorrow and if we have some worries we will have to try to fix them and hopefully we'll have a good qualifying."

Fernando Alonso says it is impossible to predict who will be strong at the Monaco Grand Prix given how tight the field is this year.

"We'll see. Monaco is a unique circuit and you never know what car may dominate and this year even more so," said Alonso ahead of this weekend's event, the sixth round of the championship.

"We don't know which cars were quick at Barcelona, let alone at Monaco. But the most important thing here is on Saturday during qualifying. If you start from the first two rows you have a podium chance, otherwise it's almost impossible, or very complicated."

The Ferrari driver arrives in Monte Carlo after having fought for victory in his home race at Barcelona, where he finished in second behind the Williams of Pastor Maldonado.

Although one of his car's weakest points is traction in low-speed corners, the Spaniard says it is not a big worry for this weekend's race.

"With new tyres and over one lap you can sort of mask the traction problems, so it's not a big worry for us," he said.

"In the race we'll see. Degradation will be big, but the safety cars and anything that can happen in the race can help you or hurt you and there's no way to control that."

And he believes Williams will be strong once more around the streets of Monte Carlo following its first win in eight years in Spain.

"Williams has been strong in all races," Alonso added. "In Australia we were fighting with Maldonado for fourth before his accident. In China they had a small problem in qualifying and then in the race they were sixth and seventh. So Williams has had great races in all the grands prix.

"In Barcelona it was the icing on the cake because they won, but I think here they will be fast again. We'll see. We don't know who will be on top here and it's hard to name favourites."

Felipe Massa remains hopeful the Monaco Grand Prix can mark the start of a new chapter in his season, as he bids to turn around his disappointing campaign.

The Brazilian is under pressure to lift his performances - with Ferrari conceding that it needs Massa to lift his game if he is to deliver the points it needs for Constructors' Championship success.

Well aware himself that things need to improve, Massa said on Wednesday that he was confident that things could be different from this weekend.

"Definitely, this is my second home GP, I live here and it is a very special race so I hope this can be the beginning of a different championship," explained the Brazilian.

"It is not an easy time but if you look back at my career I have had many difficult times in my career and my life, so this is another one.

"Maybe it is the most difficult one, so we need to get out of the way of that to go back in the right direction as it was. It is always better to be in the good times than the bad times but that is life, so that is what we are looking for."

Massa was sure, however, that he was not cracking under pressure from team-mate Fernando Alonso, who is currently joint leader of the world championship.

"I don't think Fernando is the problem," he explained. "You always have great team-mates and difficult times with the team-mate, so they are strong guys together. I don't think that is the problem."

Chinese Ma Qing Hua will run with the HRT team during the young driver test at Silverstone, the Spanish squad has announced.

Qing Hua, 24, joined HRT's new driver development programme last month.

The team said the testing programme for the Shanghai-born racer, including the days he drives on, will be specified and confirmed further ahead.

The Silverstone outing will be the Chinese driver's maiden run in Formula 1 machinery.

"I'm very happy and fortunate to have the opportunity to drive a Formula 1 car at the young driver test and do it with HRT," Qing Hua said.

"I've dreamed of this all my life and am aware of the great responsibility that comes with it as I'll be the first Chinese driver ever to take part in the young driver test.

"I'm very grateful towards HRT for this opportunity and the faith they have shown in me and I won't let them down."

Team boss Luiz Perez-Sala added: "Over the last few weeks we've been working with Ma, as a part of our scheduled development programme, at the Valencia and Jerez circuits with different cars and we consider that he is ready to take part in the young driver test that will take place in Silverstone.

"We're pleased to be giving him this opportunity in Formula 1 and for the first member of our driver development programme to start accomplishing his targets."

Wednesday's press conference:

DRIVERS - Romain GROSJEAN (Lotus), Pastor MALDONADO (Williams), Charles PIC (Marussia), Mark WEBBER (Red Bull Racing), Michael SCHUMACHER (Mercedes), Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren).

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Romain, first of all, tell us about your experience of the Monaco circuit.

Romain GROSJEAN: Well, first of all, different feelings in Monaco: special track; special grand prix. For sure for us is a little bit home because we are close to France, so very happy to race in front of the fans, hopefully a lot of blue, white and red flags in the tribune. But Monaco is a special track, good experience that I won here in GP2 in 2009 and last year I did a really good race starting 26th and finishing P4 but then I've had some crashes as well. Let's see what it gives in a Formula One car – I'm sure even better and we're really looking forward to driving here.

Q. There have been some circuits where you have performed, perhaps, better than others. Is this one where you feel it is going to be good for you?

RG: I like the track, let's see what we can achieve. But you know, Monaco is a little bit different to the other ones: normally if you are good in a fast corner you know that more or less every fast corner you are going to be good – but here it's bumpy, it's in the street, the track is improving a lot during the weekend. There is a lot to learn and it goes really quickly in between the race, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. We are trying to set up the car as good as we can, achieve another strong result for the team and for myself as well and score some good points, and why not more.

Q. I'm sure there's huge support for you in France, and this is probably the best chance France has had of winning this race for many years.

RG: Ha-ha. The last French winner here was '96 with Olivier Panis. It would be nice to have La Marseillaise on Sunday but let's work before that and see what we can achieve. But for sure having a lot of fans is always good support and something quite special when you go around the track and do the drivers' parade.

Q. Pastor, first of all, after Barcelona, what have you been doing, what's happened, the reaction in Venezuela, have you been back to Venezuela? Have you been to Williams? Tell us.

Pastor MALDONADO: Yeah, I've been in the factory at Williams, working with the engineers, with the team, and I passed some very good days with them in the factory. It was a special one because after eight years without winning any races, you can imagine how they take this victory. For sure it's a great feeling to start winning some races. The team is pushing so hard, me too, we have a very good feeling and are looking forward for the next races.

Q. This circuit, again, has been a good one for you. Do you feel you're a bit of a Monaco specialist.

PM: I've been always so quick here, especially in GP2 and World Series as well. Last year I was doing a good job, I was P6 but it's always difficult. This kind of track, you never know for the traffic, for everything. The track is going to change a lot during the weekend and we need to follow the track and we need a very good balance in the car as well and be ready in the right time in the track. So, we'll see. I will do my best, again one more time and we'll see. I believe it is still possible to be competitive here, then we'll see.

Q. Do you feel there is a certain relief having won that first grand prix?

PM: It's really special to win, especially the first one. But for sure it is going to be difficult now. The gaps and the team levels are so close, so anything can make the difference, we need to put everything together to make a step forward, and I need to say that Williams are doing a very good job at the moment, I feel all the people are very motivated, they are pushing so hard – me too – it's a very good feeling in the team and you know, still we need to improve. We are not at 100 per cent at the moment, we are not the best team – but we are not that far, we are there and we need to try to improve every time.

Q. Charles, you've won in GP2 and in World Series here, can you imagine what it is going to be like in a Formula One car? Is it going to be a big difference?

Charles PIC: I think there will be some for sure – but the track stays the same. So it will be my first experience here in F1, this is a very nice track and a little bit special because it's not allowing any mistakes from the drivers, so I think it can be a really interesting weekend, especially for us. It's interesting to see our pace on a type of circuit like that, it is quite different to other circuits – so yeah, we'll have to see.

Q. You had a difficult start to the season: no pre-season testing – or virtually none – how do you think things have gone in the first quarter of the championship?

CP: Good. I think our main aim is trying to improve the car race by race. It's what we make, we still have to work very hard and continue to push like that to try to make it better. On my side I have many things to learn. It was not easy for the first few races without any testing but I made my best and I feel better prepared race after race. We have to continue like this.

Q. Mark, your first podium here, you always remember your first podium I'm sure. Is this a very special circuit for you?

Mark WEBBER: Yes, it has been. I think winning here in F3000, a couple of podiums, obviously the nice victory in 2010, so it's an amazing venue, it's an amazing weekend. It's quite stressful for the mechanics, all the teams, obviously you guys, everybody getting around, it's amazing how we still manage to hold an event here in such tight confines of the Principality. But it's a great sporting event and one that's very popular for all of us. And, yeah, I'm looking forward to driving the car. It's always great to drive here, so tomorrow we can get on with it.

Q. We've never known a season like this before and I think it's the same for all three of you, it just doesn't seem to be consistent. It's just up and down. Is that a bad thing or a good thing as far as you're concerned?

MW: It depends on who you are. I think for the purist, I think people are taking a little bit of time to get used to it. Obviously, no one's really got any momentum yet in terms of results in teams. But obviously there are a few people that follow the sport that love it like this. It depends who you ask. If you want to have lots and lots of different teams being competitive that's the way it is at the moment, which I don't think is too bad. But let's see. I think ultimately the main teams will still do well at the end of the season.

Q. Michael, sadly you have a five-place grid penalty here. But on the other hand you have been back there before, even further back, three or four years ago [2006]. And you saw what Lewis could do from there two weeks ago. What are your feelings about the race itself coming up?

Michael SCHUMACHER: Well, basically, I think we're going to be in a position to be competitive. As a general track profile I think it's going to suit ourselves. Indeed, I have been coming from the complete back and gone forward to fifth position I think. Let's see from where I finally manage to qualify and start the race and what can be done. It is certainly not ideal, but it is what it is and I look forward to it and I'm going to have some excitement pretty certainly.

Q. You've got a phenomenal record around this track, as you have around most current race tracks, and you have won here more often than anyone else in recent history. How do you get the ultimate performance around here?

MS: Well, I mean Monaco is certainly special and there's something about you and the car that you just have to get every detail together as you have at every track but here it just pays out more. To have the rhythm, the flow, the momentum here... if you've got that it just pays out a much bigger lap time than other tracks because everything is so critical and difficult here.

Q. I was going to ask – is it still the circuit where the driver makes more difference than any other circuit currently?

MS: At the end of the day, that's the case, absolutely.

Q. o you're looking forward to doing that on Sunday?

MS: Definitely.

Q. Lewis, certainly you had a tremendous drive two weeks ago. Did you enjoy it? You said you were going to.

Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly, good afternoon everyone. Yeah, absolutely I was very, very happy with the performance of the team but also my performance in the last race. I was always looking to improve and I felt it was a definite improvement from the grand prix weekend before that.

Q. You've banked at every single race and you're just eight points off the championship lead – if anyone is consistent, you're at least consistently in the points. But is it an inconsistent season?

LH: For us?

Q. Drivers as a whole.

LH: I don't know if it's an inconsistent season… well, potentially yeah, a little bit, because of the tyres. I think the tyres, you sometimes get them in the working range and sometimes you don't. I think a lot of teams are struggling to understand why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But that's the challenge we all are faced with. But I think people are enjoying it. I notice people are asking a lot of questions about how there's been five different winners and the fans I've met had said this is a fantastic season regardless, so I hope that continues.

Q. Is there a little frustration that you've been on pole, or fastest so many times and still haven't yet won?

LH: I'm not frustrated, no. This is the way racing goes sometimes. Of course, looking at the qualifying results we've had for the five races, we would have loved to have finished further up and we definitely need to improve to ensure that we stay where we are or we move forwards. Yeah, we've started high up finished a little bit further behind from where we started so we've gone backwards a little bit in most of the races but we're working very hard to make sure that doesn't continue.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Frederic Ferret– L'Equipe). Question for Pastor. How difficult has it been to deal with the fire and how difficult has it been to prepare for this grand prix for you and the team?

PM: After the fire we've been working so hard to rebuild everything. The guys did a pretty good job because we are ready to race, with everything we need to get the maximum. And I need to say that the guys have been working full days to have everything ready for this race, so great job for them.

Q. (Alex Popov – RTR TV) Question for all the drivers. Do you realistically think that on Sunday it will really be six different drivers, and to all except Pastor, do you think you will be the sixth?

MW: Yeah, I think there can be six different winners. Of course, why not? And it would be nice if it's me, yeah. I'm sure all of us are going to say that.

I want everyone except Pastor to rate his personal chance to be this sixth driver – if it's realistic or not.

MS: I'm pretty sure that are quite a few around us that would have the capacity to win this race and yet have not won a race and yes, naturally I think each of us here would be happy to be the one.

LH: I agree with Michael. As he was saying there are some other drivers who have the potential to win races but it's massively tight between quite a lot of teams, so I think it's wide open, so we'll see. Particularly at this race the driver can make more of a difference. A car that doesn't work so well at places like Barcelona could work a bit better here so…

Q. Romain, how do you rate your own personal chances of becoming the sixth driver?

RG: Difficult to say at the moment as we didn't drive on the track yet, but I wish I could be the sixth one.

Charles?

CP: I agree it's more tight this year but we are not yet in a position to fight for this. For us now we have to focus on improving step by step and that's it for the moment.

Q. (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Pastor, you mentioned that the team has been working flat out to compensate for the fire. Obviously a lot of teams came to Williams's aid with regards to equipment, infrastructure etc, but just how much of an impact will the fire have on the team this weekend, given the loss of all the equipment?

PM: Yeah, for sure it was a frustrating moment for all of us, because we were in the garage at that moment, at that time, and we saw everything. Personally, I was so scared, especially because we were all together, talking with Frank at that time and then yes, I need to thank all the teams who helped us, especially to extinguish the fire. For sure, as I mentioned before, the team has been working flat out to have everything ready for this race. The time wasn't all that big, you know, only one week, one and a half weeks to have everything ready was quite short and yes, I need to thank all the teams who have helped us, even offering extra stuff for this race.

Q. (Pierre van Vliet – F1i.com) Lewis, I understand that you moved to Monaco recently. How different is it to have a race at home, really close to your home? Maybe Michael can answer this as well, because he used to live here, and Pastor as well.

LH: I love it here. To be able to wake up in your own bed and drive just down the road and be at work is a fantastic feeling. Today is the first experience of that but I'm sure it will make quite a big difference. I loved where I lived before but this is a different place and I seem to be enjoying it a little bit more.

MS: Basically, not only do you feel at home, and as Lewis said, absolutely, but even seeing the build-up of the track, because when you live here you go through the roads and you see it building up, the whole story builds up in your own head and when it finally comes to the excitement to run it, then it's obviously even more special.

PM: I agree with Michael and Lewis. For sure it's really good to be here and to race at the same time. I can sleep a little bit more as well, so it's good.

Q. (Marco degli Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Michael, in a German newspaper today, Ross Brawn said that the team, Mercedes, is guilty of having put you in trouble – I don't know if I've translated it right from German into English – but I think the meaning is that they did not help you too much with the car, to give you a sufficiently good car. Do you agree with him, do you agree there is something or not?

MS: No. I don't agree with maybe your translation of it, because I think we have quite a good car, quite honestly, because if you think where we're coming from last year, we have made a huge step forward. We have proven that we are able to win races. Yes indeed, I have been a bit on the unlucky side but you see we're a team, we are one big family and we win together and we lose together, it's part of it. It's probably that that he wants to talk about. But no, I don't feel at all disappointed – if anything, the reverse: more motivated because of how much progress we have made and I can see the future progress that we can make and that's what is much more in my focus.

Q. (Alexandar Tabakovski – Vecer) Michael, first of all, I saw you in Le Mans last week for the MotoGP race and you witnessed that Casey Stoner announced that he was retiring from the sport, stating that he was not content with the rules in MotoGP and in the motorcycling world, how the sport has developed. Can you tell me your feelings about that move and draw a parallel with your feelings about how Formula One is evolving in the situation whereby you are not liking it too much?

MS: The first part I can certainly answer, as to what is my feeling, and my feeling is that most of those who have a little bit of involvement were surprised. So was I but then you have to respect that and I don't know his reasons or his detailed reason but he's young enough to have a sabbatical rather than a total stop and we'll see. There's definitely no parallel to me; it's just that each one is very individual, why and for what reason he decides on his retirement. Mine, at the time, had nothing to do with any other reason than I wanted it to because I felt like I was tired, three years ago. That's it.

Q. (Cedric Voisard – Le Figaro) Lewis and Mark – because Michael expressed himself about it – Mark, you said that the public did enjoy the first five races. Lewis, you said, regarding the rules and the tyre situation, we are facing the same challenge, but, apart from that, do you enjoy driving within those rules? Can you extract one hundred percent of the car and can you express your talents 100 percent?

MW: The way the races have run in the last few years is different to previous years. In the era where we had pit stops with refuelling, the races were extremely aggressive. Obviously qualifying for the whole race, basically, pushing to make optimum strategies work and make sure that you're hitting the lap times with the weight of the car, with the fuel that you have at the time, so whether you are on a two- or three-stop strategy or whatever. And then we went to no refuelling, so already the phase of the racing changed a little bit, in terms of a little bit of endurance aspect started to come into it, in terms of driving style and pacing yourself a little bit more, probably. And then we had the change with the Pirellis and that's probably been the biggest change in driver technique and style that I can remember, certainly in my career and I've done a few Grands Prix. There are certain races – a huge majority of races – that of course even when you've won – I've won one race on Pirellis - but even when the winners are winning of course they are not driving at 100 percent and that's just the way it is, because you can't. You need to get the car to the end and produce the best lap times that you can for the duration of the race. That's the way it is now. I still enjoy driving a Formula One car, I still love working with the engineers, driving the most amazing tracks against some great opposition. I enjoy that part of it but we always have to change, we always have to evolve as the technical side of the sport changes, and there's always going to be nicer ways to… Personally, I enjoyed the sprint races and the refuelling, probably all of the drivers did, but the racing was not super-exciting. It was more precise, you had to be more precise, you had to be more on the limit and really really feeling the car for the whole two hours, but that's not how it is now. We have a different set of challenges and that's what we've got to do.

LH: I don't really know what else I can say, really. Mark's said it all. I really enjoy the racing that we have now, as I've enjoyed it every year, and every year is a new challenge and I think that's what the rules are there to give us is challenges. It is a little bit different, where we're not pushing 100 percent in the race. There are some points in the race where you can really push but not for very long and perhaps it is more about endurance, as Mark said, to try and make these tyres last, but it is still a challenge to extract the most out of the tyres for a longer period. It still requires skill and technique and finesse to do that stuff so we're still all trying to – speaking for myself – I'm still trying to get that fine touch sorted. But nonetheless, it's still Formula One, it's still fun and there's more overtaking which is what people like to see.

Q. (Ignacio Naya - DPA) Two questions for Pastor: how does it feel, your new life as a Grand Prix winner? Have you experienced changes in the last two weeks? Do you attract more attention? And secondly, you won here in GP2; do you feel that this track adapts to you, do you dream of doing it again tomorrow in Formula One?

PM: OK, regarding the victory, it doesn't change a thing. I think we need to keep working like that, keep pushing. As I mentioned before, we are not in the best position now against the other teams. We still need to keep improving. We have a lot of work to do. The car is getting more and more competitive every time, me as well. The feeling is really good. The atmosphere in the team is getting higher and higher, especially after the victory and now we need to continue like that, to push and push. And yes, Monaco is a special track for me, it's my favourite one. I've always been very quick here. For sure I will do my best this weekend to get the maximum again. We will be competitive, I'm sure of that, but we will see. This is a typical track. You must put everything together to make the difference and I will try, together with the team, to do our best and then we will see.

Q. (Bob McKenzie – Daily Express) Michael it's not been the greatest start to the season, but I wonder if you've already cast your mind forward, if you've decided whether you might race next year, if you're thinking about it, if you've got the motivation or the energy and despite the seven titles, do you still need to sell yourself to Mercedes or is it only your decision as to whether or not you will drive again next year?

MS: No, the decision hasn't really changed. So far we're not focusing on what happens next year or in the future. It's more about what happens right now and the team and myself will get together, so there's no news for you yet, unfortunately.

I don't really want to get involved in deep discussion other than what I just said, so let's leave it at that.

Q. (Ian Parkes – Press Association) Lewis, you mentioned about being happier here in Monaco than you were in Switzerland. Can you give us the reasons why that is, what the differences between the two places are, and secondly, waking up in your own bed this weekend and being happier here, does that make a difference going into the race weekend itself? Could that boost your performance in any way?

LH: When I lived in Switzerland, it was one of the most beautiful countries I'd ever been to. The weather was a little bit like England but more often it was better weather, but just where I was living, I was living away from the city and it was very quiet. It took ages to go out to a restaurant. I couldn't jog down to a restaurant or walk to a restaurant. Here, it's sunny every day which makes a big difference, there are great restaurants a couple of minutes from where I live, there's a gym where I live, there's a pool where I live. Before I used to have to drive half an hour to get to the gym, so things were just less fun there. I'm still in my twenties so I feel like I need to make sure I continue to enjoy them more and since I've been here, I've been much happier. Every day I go running on the track, I run round the track almost every day and it's incredible to run around your favourite circuit every day. I go through the tunnel and I just cannot believe that I'm here. You have to pinch yourself every day, thinking wow, I'm running through the tunnel that the greats like Michael and Ayrton used to race around and now I'm one of those drivers but also living here. There's a lot to it, but it's spectacular.

And for the race weekend? I don't know if it's going to make any difference, but it definitely won't harm the weekend, being able to be comfortable in your own environment and surely that can account for something.

FP1 is underway.

Goddamn, Alonso's new helmet is fucking amazing!

[Adam]

I know it's always been the case, but I don't know why...why do they do practice in Monaco on the Thursday rather than the Friday?

[Katsuya]

I think it's something to do with more people needing to use the actual road on the Friday

[Lineker]

A bomb disposal expert has undertaken a controlled explosion of a suspect package in the paddock at the Monaco Grand Prix circuit.

A small white plastic box was found outside the entrance to the media centre, the Salle d'Exposition, near to La Rascasse on Thursday evening.

The area was then sealed off, before the bomb disposal expert decided the package was suspect.

The controlled explosion left shards of white plastic strewn across the floor.

It is the second time in successive years a bomb disposal unit has been summoned to the paddock ahead of the Monaco race.

Last year they had to examine a discarded bag before the race on Sunday, although the item was eventually declared safe.

[Lineker]

Fernando Alonso was fastest in first practice for the Monaco Grand Prix as the Ferrari driver ended the opening 90-minute session more than 0.3s faster than the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.

Sauber driver Sergio Perez, returning to the scene of his frightening accident last year, was an impressive third fastest ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Massa.

There was the customary slow start to the session as teams were cautious of wasting tyres on the 'green' street track, leaving Jean Eric-Vergne and Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo with the track mostly to themselves.

Vergne worked down to a 1m19.066s before some of the bigger names began to hit the track on the 40-minute mark. Those included Michael Schumacher's Mercedes and Romain Grosjean's Lotus.

It was the Frenchman who would leave a lasting impression on the times as he first recorded a 1m17.645s to go quickest for the next 20 minutes until he was outdone by Alonso who lapped in a 1m17.126s - just as his team-mate Massa scraped the barriers at Tabac.

The Ferrari ace's time stood for all of four minutes as the session passed through the hour mark and then Grosjean responded again with a 1m16.751s.

This time it was Hamilton who bumped the Frenchman, putting McLaren top, going four thousandths quicker as the circuit began to get busy.

Once again Grosjean had an answer as he lapped in 1m16.630s only for Alonso to re-emerge from the pits with 15 minutes to go and fire in two super-quick laps, the first a 1m16.4s and the second an impressive 1m16.265s. That would prove enough.

The double world champion had set an even faster first sector (19.8) as the session entered the final 10 minutes when Heikki Kovalainen's Renault engine failed through the tunnel stopping the session, the Caterham grinding to a halt on the exit and extinguishing all visibility from the area. The resultant oil on the track meant the session could not be restarted.

Behind the top six, Kamui Kobayashi was seventh for Sauber, ahead of Jenson Button's McLaren, world champion Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg.

Five-time Monaco winner Schumacher ended up 11th after damaging his front wing when he clattered the kerbs at the Swimming Pool, while 2010 winner Mark Webber was 13th in the second Red Bull.

Kimi Raikkonen completed just a single installation lap before deciding the Monaco-specific steering wasn't to his liking and decided to have it changed, wiping out the rest of his session.

FP1


Pos  Driver                Team                  Time                Laps

 1.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m16.265s            22

 2.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m16.630s  + 0.365   17

 3.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m16.711s  + 0.446   19

 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m16.747s  + 0.482   12

 5.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m16.760s  + 0.495   20

 6.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m16.843s  + 0.578   19

 7.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m17.038s  + 0.773   21

 8.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m17.190s  + 0.925   13

 9.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m17.222s  + 0.957   14

10.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m17.261s  + 0.996   18

11.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m17.413s  + 1.148   14

12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m17.631s  + 1.366   18

13.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m18.106s  + 1.841   14

14.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m18.209s  + 1.944   25

15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m18.252s  + 1.987   28

16.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m18.302s  + 2.037   16

17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m18.617s  + 2.352   20

18.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m19.039s  + 2.774   20

19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m19.341s  + 3.076   16

20.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m20.838s  + 4.573   26

21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m20.895s  + 4.630   18

22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m21.638s  + 5.373    9

23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m22.423s  + 6.158   15

24.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault                               1


All Timing Unofficial[/code]




Jenson Button was quickest in Thursday afternoon practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, as all the leading positions were set in 15 minutes of early dry running before showers intervened.



All the teams were expecting rain to feature in practice two, which meant a rush of early runs prior to the first precipitation arriving a quarter of an hour in.



By that time, Button's McLaren was on top with a lap in 1m15.746s, 0.392 seconds clear of second-placed Romain Grosjean's Lotus.



The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were next up, with Barcelona winner Pastor Maldonado completing the top five for Williams.



Championship leader Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull was back in 10th.



The rain did briefly ease around the half-hour mark, encouraging a few drivers to come back out on slicks, but conditions were far from good enough for quick times, and a second shower came soon after. Although the track dried out again towards the end, even with nearly the full field on the circuit at times, a truly dry line never emerged.



Despite the slippery conditions, everyone managed to avoid the barriers. There were plenty of trips down escape roads, with everyone managing to continue except Heikki Kovalainen, who could not get his Caterham's reverse gear to cooperate after sliding off at Mirabeau.





[code]FP2


Pos Driver                Team                  Time               Laps

 1. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m15.746s            14

 2. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m16.138s  + 0.392   17

 3. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m16.602s  + 0.856   19

 4. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m16.661s  + 0.915   21

 5. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m16.820s  + 1.074   18

 6. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m17.021s  + 1.275   13

 7. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m17.148s  + 1.402   21

 8. Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m17.153s  + 1.407   20

 9. Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m17.293s  + 1.547    9

10. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m17.303s  + 1.557   19

11. Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m17.375s  + 1.629   17

12. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m17.395s  + 1.649   19

13. Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m17.655s  + 1.909   18

14. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m17.800s  + 2.054   23

15. Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m18.251s  + 2.505   22

16. Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m18.440s  + 2.694   23

17. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m18.522s  + 2.776   20

18. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m18.808s  + 3.062   24

19. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m19.267s  + 3.521   23

20. Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m19.309s  + 3.563   27

21. Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m20.029s  + 4.283   13

22. Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m20.240s  + 4.494   19

23. Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m20.631s  + 4.885   12

24. Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m20.886s  + 5.140   10


All Timing Unofficial

Jenson Button is convinced that McLaren has a better car than its results so far indicate.

After starting the season as the pace-setters - having locked out the front row in both Australia and Malaysia - Button and team-mate Lewis Hamilton have scored just 10 points between them in the last two races.

But despite that run of form, Button thinks that McLaren's true pace is not being exploited yet – because it is struggling to understand the intricacies of Pirelli's 2012 tyres.

"I think we have a strong car, and aerodynamically it is strong, but I don't think we are able to show it sometimes," explained Button, ahead of the Monaco GP. "When we do, I think the car is very quick.

"If you look at Lewis' lap in qualifying [in Spain] and if you look at our race pace in China and Australia, it [the speed] is there, but it is extracting it which is quite difficult sometimes."

Button reckons that the biggest issue he and his team faced was trying to get to grips with why the speed of cars fluctuated so much in the first five races of the year.

"The thing we don't understand with the tyres is the difference of pace up and down the grid," he said. "Pastor [Maldonado] qualified 17th in Bahrain, then qualified second in Spain, which got turned into pole. That is what is difficult to understand.

"I don't think Williams had a massive upgrade compared to everyone else. Understanding why the car works sometimes and doesn't other times is very difficult. We can do as much set-up work as we like, but engineering-wise certain things are supposed to work and they don't work, which is quite difficult to understand."

Although the up-and-down season was not what Button had hoped for coming into the campaign, he did admit that the mixed up order this year meant it was not hurting his title challenge too much.

"When different people keep winning and the championship leader finishes fifth it is not such a problem," he said. "To be fair I've only finished three races in the points, and the last one wasn't really in the points.

"I've had a first, a second and a ninth, and that puts me 16 points off the lead, which is nothing. It is amazing how little points everyone is getting this year.

"I think there have been 125 points up for grabs and the leader has 61. So it shows you how mixed up this season is. Obviously we want to be as consistent as possible, but the people who understand the tyres and consistently score good points are going to be there at the end, and we have got to get that consistency.

"Of course we want to be consistently winning but I don't think anyone is going to be doing that for a while yet."

McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton reckon Lotus emerged from Thursday practice in Monaco in the best shape.

Although Kimi Raikkonen lost the morning with a steering issue and managed little dry running in the afternoon, his team-mate Romain Grosjean's second places in both practice sessions left rivals impressed with Lotus's pace.

"The cars that looked very fast for me were the Lotus," said Button. "Their runs whenever they are out look very competitive, so I'd say the Lotus is the car to beat so far this weekend."

Hamilton agreed that Lotus was a major threat, although he felt several teams had a chance to be near the front.

"The Lotus is massively quick," he said. "I'm not really quite sure what Red Bull is up to, but I have no doubts they'll be quick. The Ferrari is very quick.

"The same teams are quick this weekend. I think everyone's got the chance to fight for the front end, and it's all about making sure you get out there at the right time, you get the temperature into your tyres and your brakes, and you nail it on the lap that you get."

Button managed to set the day's quickest time before the rain arrived in the afternoon, but did not think his pace was particularly significant.

"From P1 to P2 the car has improved, as there was something that I didn't like in P1, so we've tried something different and it's worked," said Button.

"So I'm happy with the way the car feels, but we are still not there yet. We were quickest, but we were one of the only cars to do a timed lap on the super soft.

"I don't think it's massively quick, but the car feels OK and I think there's a lot of room for improvement. We know the direction that we can take."

With only a handful of laps completed by anyone on super soft tyres on Thursday, and rain predicted for Saturday, drivers face the prospect of going into Sunday's race with no experience of the super softs over a longer stint.

"The important thing on that tyre is to try to get a long run with it, which I don't think anyone did on high fuel and we don't really know what's going to happen," Button said.

Asked for his view on the tyre situation, Hamilton added: "Everyone's in the same boat, so it'll be fun, that's for sure."

Mark Webber fears Red Bull does not have the pace to be in the Monaco Grand Prix pole fight after the champion team struggled in Thursday practice in Monte Carlo.

The Australian was only 13th in the fully dry morning session, then seventh in the brief period of dry afternoon running before the showers.

Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel was ninth and 10th in the two sessions.

"It was not easy for us. We have got some work to do in the next 24 hours," said Webber. "There are clearly some very quick cars and we have to improve our car."

He acknowledged that the lack of dry track time would not help Red Bull get to the bottom of its issues.

"We didn't get to do as much running as we would like, clearly, same for everybody," Webber said. "That is the way it went today. Monaco is like that; it throws up some different challenges and we have a few at the moment."

Asked if he felt Red Bull had the pace to be on pole position, Webber replied: "It will be very difficult. We have work to do."

Paul di Resta has vowed not to let interest from major teams distract him from his efforts to deliver strong performances for Force India this season.

The Scotsman is on the radar of both Mercedes and Ferrari for next season, with both outfits potentially having a vacant seat depending on the futures of Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa.

But although he welcomes the interest, di Resta has said he will banish any thoughts of a move to a big team for now.

"I am just trying to do my own performance and drive, and not think about what anyone else thinks," explained di Resta ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. "It is for anyone above me to make their own mind up and I just have to keep on doing a good job.

"If it is true [they are interested] I am thankful they have said it. But we are only at race six, and there is a lot of work to be done to achieve all I can with this team."

Di Resta has a best finish of sixth place this season, which he delivered at the Bahrain GP, and he openly admits that he would relish the chance of getting his hands on race-winning machinery.

"It is nice to hear that people are watching and their eyes are open," he said. "It is no secret that I want to be in a car that is winning races and world championships, but the task is to stay committed to Force India because that is who my contract is with."

Ross Brawn believes Mercedes' hopes of victory in the Monaco Grand Prix rest on the team delivering an error free weekend in every session.

The W03's strength in slow and medium speed corners this season has left Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher as serious contenders for a win on the streets of Monte Carlo, but Brawn is aware that delivering that result will not be easy.

"We have two great drivers and we think the car is pretty good - but we have got to get everything right," explained the Mercedes team principal.

"We have to have a programme that flows from Thursday through to Saturday and Sunday. Last year we had Nico's accident [in FP3] and that was probably one of the factors that meant we missed some information when we got into the race. Then the tyres got too hot and fell apart.

"Everything here has a consequence. If you get one thing wrong, like a reliability problem or the driver making a mistake, you lose some running and that has a consequence. So you have to be out there from the beginning, you have to have a good programme and it has to flow.

"By keeping running you can keep on top of what the track is doing and how it is changing, so if we have a good weekend then I think we can be competitive."

Brawn thinks Monaco will be no different from other races, with tyres being a key factor in determining ultimate form, but says car characteristics should be important too.

"Tyres will seriously be the issue," he explained. "Barcelona was a bit of a blip for us in qualifying and probably the worst qualifying we have had this year.

"Our car has been generally better on the slow/medium parts of a track than the high speed stuff, but different teams have different compromises in setting up cars for high speed and low speed, and everybody is clearly trying to optimise their car around low/medium speed here. So the advantage we have may not be so significant with everyone else optimising their cars for slow/medium speed."

Nico Rosberg is positive about his prospects for the Monaco Grand Prix weekend despite the lack of running in Thursday practice.

The Mercedes driver managed just 13 laps in second practice, a session which was hit by rain.

Rosberg was sixth quickest in the afternoon, having posted the 10th fastest time in the morning, and the German said it had been a positive start to the weekend.

"It has been a good start. I'm quite happy with the car, I generally feel comfortable," said Rosberg. "It was a positive day and we are going in the right direction.

"We don't have a mess with the set-up or something so we are quite comfortable even though we didn't run much this afternoon.

"I was quite comfortable today with the car, which is a good start."

Rosberg is also confident his car is well-suited for the challenges of the Monte Carlo circuit, but he reckons a lot will depend on how the tyres behave.

"In general the corner speed could be beneficial to us," he said. "It depends also on how the car works the tyres. It remains to be seen if we are the car that can bring the tyres into the right operating window or it's someone else."

Team-mate Michael Schumacher finished down in ninth position.

Mercedes says discussions about it signing up to a new Concorde Agreement are edging forwards, despite continued speculation about its future in the sport.

The German car manufacturer is the only frontrunning outfit that has not agreed a deal that will commit it to F1 from the start of next year, amid rumours that it could quit the sport or take its owners CVC to the European court.

But in a statement issued in Monaco on Thursday, Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug hinted that progress was being made that could lead to an agreement.

He said: "Understandably, we have been asked frequently about the status of our Concorde Agreement negotiations in the past days. On this matter, I can confirm we are having constructive discussions that are heading in the right direction."

CVC is hoping to float Formula 1 on the Singapore stock market later this year, as moves are made to sell off some of its shares in the sport, and the success of that IPO would be boosted by Mercedes-Benz being committed to the future.

Sergio Perez is certain that the memory of his crash at the chicane during qualifying for last year's Monaco Grand Prix will not hold him back this year.

The Mexican suffered a concussion when he hit the barrier and was forced to miss both the race and the Canadian Grand Prix because of the after-effects.

But while he expects it to be tough when he returns to the scene of the accident at speed for the first time today during morning practice, he does not expect it to make any difference.

"My mind will be completely fresh," said Perez. "I will never forget the accident but I will try to go as quick as possible.

"After as big an accident as last year, it's not easy. But I'm looking forward to getting back on this track and to recover well and fight for position and for every single tenth."

The track has been modified since Perez's accident, with the barrier moved back by 14.6 metres and the bumps smoothed out.

The Mexican has inspected the changes and is pleased with the modifications that have been made as a result of his accident.

"I've seen it and I think they've done a good job," he said. "It's important we keep working on safety for all of us.

"It's important that we consider every accident we have to get more experience. It's a positive change."

Perez admitted that he does not feel completely safe at Monaco because of the proximity to the walls. Despite that, he is hopeful of being in the mix for a top three finish.

"You are very tight to the wall, which is not a very nice feeling," said Perez. "But it's Monaco and that's why this track is so special.

"Last year, I was in a great position [in qualifying]. I could have had a great race but I was unlucky with the accident. This year, with the car we have and being so close to the top, our target has to be to fight for the podium."

Sergio Perez says he would reject a mid-season switch to Ferrari, insisting that he will finish 2012 with his Sauber team.

Perez is a member of Ferrari's young driver programme and the Sauber driver has been linked with Felipe Massa's seat following the Brazilian's poor start to the campaign.

The Mexican, who made his grand prix debut with the Swiss squad last year, has enjoyed an impressive start to the season, fighting for victory with Fernando Alonso at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Perez has made it clear that he would turn down an offer to move to Ferrari mid-season, but he insisted talk about his switch is just speculation.

"Should that situation really come about I would reject it as I would not want to make a switch in the middle of a season," Perez told the official Formula 1 website. "I think all this hype about a possible switch is massively blown up by the media.

"I started the season with Sauber and will finish my season with Sauber - giving my 100 per cent to my team."

When asked if there was any truth about the talks of a move, he said: "Rumours - nothing more. I believe that Felipe will bounce back and do a good job. He is a strong driver and he has a great team behind him. Once he's bounced back all these stories will die at once.

"I think that people should not mix up engines and drivers. These sort of rumours have been around for quite a while and, of course, I have a connection to Ferrari, to their driver academy of Ferrari. But my position is clear: I am driving for Sauber and I will remain here."

Sauber drivers Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi are both confident of another strong weekend for the Swiss outfit after posting competitive times during the first day's practice for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Perez, returning to the streets of Monte Carlo for the first time since his concussion-inducing accident at the chicane during qualifying 12 months ago, was third fastest in the morning session - 0.4 seconds slower than Fernando Alonso's pacesetting Ferrari.

"The conditions were not ideal to do the work but we are looking good in the wet, so this is positive," said Perez, who was 15th fastest in the rain-affected second session. "In the dry there is some work to do, which we didn't manage in the morning.

"However, I am confident as this morning we were very quick, the car is performing well and I think we can be competitive in qualifying on Saturday."

Kobayashi meanwhile was seventh and eighth fastest in the two sessions and was delighted with the responsiveness of his car.

"Everything went smoothly today," said the Japanese. "The car has definitely improved in the slow corners compared to last year, and this is obviously crucial in Monaco.

"The balance of the car feels good and I'm pretty confident for the weekend. I just can't predict how the two tyre compounds will develop in the race because the weather prevented us from doing proper long runs."

Felipe Massa believes it is very hard to predict who is favourite for pole in the Monaco Grand Prix following Thursday practice.

With rain hitting the track early in the afternoon session, most teams were unable to test the super soft Pirelli tyres, used in a race for the first time this year.

Ferrari driver Massa completed 19 laps in the second session on his way to the third quickest time and the Brazilian said he was pleased with his day's work, but admitted the conditions made it very hard to predict the pecking order.

"I think it was a good Friday. But it was very difficult to say, especially in Monaco on Friday it is difficult, even for us it is not clear what the situation will be in qualifying," said Massa.

"It was a good Friday, the car was okay. It was good to drive in terms of balance and even degradation of the tyres - not just for us, everybody was improving the laptime at the end of the run with the soft tyres.

"We did not try the super soft so that is another point, we don't know what will be the difference between soft and super soft, but everything felt okay. Even in the rain, the feeling was not too bad. We'll see how it will be in qualifying."

Massa did concede his Ferrari was working better than expected in terms of traction, one of the weakest areas for the Italian squad.

"I think the traction was maybe a bit better than expected. So, I am not sure if it was just related to the feeling because the tyres are not degrading a lot, the tyres are working okay.

"Especially on the soft tyres so we need to see with the super soft how it is going to be with the grip and everything, but the feeling was maybe a bit better than expected with the traction. If you have no problem with traction, and on the track you don't feel anything because of the top speed, it can be very positive."

Kimi Raikkonen thinks his Lotus team is well placed for a strong result in Monaco this weekend, despite him losing track time because of a steering problem on Thursday.

The Finn completed just one installation lap in first free practice after being unhappy with a modification to the power steering that was introduced for the Monte Carlo street circuit.

His running in the afternoon was hampered by rain showers that blighted second free practice.

Despite the situation, Raikkonen feels his E20 is in good shape - as long as the team can get on top of the tyre situation.

Speaking about how much of a setback his limited running was, Raikkonen said: "Of course it is not helpful, but that is why we have practice sessions to see if we have some issues.

"Usually, when you have some problems and you don't get running in the first one, then you have weather like this in the second one. So it is a bit more painful.

"I didn't go many laps in the dry – but the car in the wet was okay and everyone did the same laptime. We just have to fix a few small things and I think the car is okay if we get the tyres working in the right way."

Although Raikkonen could have benefited from getting more experience of the Monaco track during FP1, and having the steering changed in the gap between sessions, he reckons he did the right thing in not running at all.

"There was no point to try it like it was," he said. "We made some new steering here, because usually it is a bit better if you have faster steering, but unfortunately it didn't work as planned. So we couldn't really try it and we had to change.

"There were too many things to change and then you have to take the whole front end off, and they did not have time enough.

"I didn't get many laps in the dry but if you compare what Romain [Grosjean] did, it seems to look pretty good. We are probably in a similar position compared to the others as we are at other circuits."

Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado says the signs are there that he can reproduce the form that took him to victory in Barcelona after ending the first day's practice at Monaco fifth fastest.

The Williams driver, who was also fifth quickest in the morning session on Thursday, reported that his car had given him reason to feel confident on a track he loves and excels on.

"The car is feeling really good this year and looks competitive in the running we have done today, so we're happy with that," said the Venezuelan. "It's a shame we didn't get to run as much during the afternoon, as we would have liked to have gathered a bit more data on the tyres but we still have P3 on Saturday.

"I love this circuit and think it's going to be a competitive grand prix."

Team-mate Bruno Senna was less convincing in terms of pace during the two sessions but admitted the intermittent weather had played havoc with his progress.

"It was great to be able to do both sessions today as it meant that we could learn bit by bit," he said. "It's been quite a few years since I drove something competitive here so it was good to have extra time to remember the track.

"We're chipping away and the afternoon session was hampered by the rain, but every little helps."

Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne admitted that he had feared he might struggle in Monaco, so was relieved to outpace team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in Thursday practice.

Vergne made his Monte Carlo debut in the Formula Renault 3.5 support race last year, but struggled to 12th place.

The Frenchman confessed that had left him nervous about his first Formula 1 performance at the famous venue, so edging Ricciardo - twice a Monaco winner in FR3.5 - in both sessions as he took 14th in the morning and 17th in the afternoon, was a confidence boost.

"This was my first time here in a Formula 1 car and I really enjoyed myself," said Vergne.

"Because I did not go particularly well round Monaco in the World Series last year, I was a bit apprehensive about today, although still looking forward to a new experience and not knowing what to expect.

"I think my performance today compared quite well to my team-mate, as Daniel won the last two World Series races he drove at this circuit and he had also had some practice time in the F1 car last year.

"From that perspective, I am quite happy and I feel the lap time was not important, especially as I had a bit of traffic and I finished my fastest lap in the pitlane."

Vergne believes there is more time to come from his confidence and circuit knowledge than from car improvements.

"I am relatively pleased with the balance of the car which we can fine tune a bit further, but I still need a bit more time to adapt myself to this circuit, even if I liked driving it when it was wet," he said.

Caterham's technical director Mark Smith downplayed the significance of Heikki Kovalainen's engine failure during first practice for the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Finn's session came to a halt some five minutes from the end when his Renault power unit blew up spectacularly while driving through the tunnel.

Smith said, however, that the engine was due to be replaced for Saturday and, with the problem happening at the end of the session, Kovalainen did not lose any track time.

"Even though Heikki's FP1 was cut short by the engine failure it was at the end of the session and we did not lose any track time as the session was red-flagged," said Smith.

"The new engine he ran in FP2 was due to go on his car tomorrow anyway, it had covered more than 2,000kms, so it really was not a big problem for us to see his morning session end that spectacularly!"

Kovalainen, 21st quickest in the afternoon, was pleased with the updates introduced by his team this weekend.

"This morning's session went pretty well," he said. "We tried a new suspension part early on that felt pretty good, and then we ran through a normal FP1 session on the primes until the engine let go as I was entering the tunnel towards the end of the session.

"As soon as I engaged neutral the rear axle locked up and that brought FP1 to a slightly early end."

he Monaco Grand Prix will give Formula 1's three minnow teams their best chance to break their points duck so far this year.

Caterham, HRT and Marussia have all failed to score since joining the grid at the start of the 2010 season, but given the great potential for driver errors and attrition at Monaco, they have a bigger chance of doing so here than at any other track.

Although Caterham driver Heikki Kovalainen stopped short of predicting points, he believes that if his team can get its cars to the finish there is hope.

"I'm not really thinking about points yet," said Kovalainen when asked by AUTOSPORT if he was optimistic. "This is an unusual race and something is more likely to happen here than on a normal race weekend. Making the finish is the priority for us.

"Because the track is shorter, the gaps between the cars might be shorter but I would still expect us to be in the same position as previously. I don't think we'll gain positions because of the nature of the circuit, but it's more about circumstances.

"It might be difficult for everyone to do the optimum and that gives us a better opportunity."

HRT's Pedro de la Rosa is optimistic that his team will be more competitive in Monaco because of the slow track configuration.

"It's a race of opportunities and that is why, when you are not in a competitive team, you look forward to coming to Monaco," de la Rosa told AUTOSPORT. "If you drive well and work on the suspension and achieve a good balance, you can be more competitive than elsewhere.

"After Barcelona, we know what type of corners are hurting us most [higher-speed ones]. And there are not so many of them in Monaco."

Charles Pic, whose Marussia outfit is the best-placed of the three teams in the constructors' championship, is also optimistic.

The Frenchman, a winner on the streets of Monaco in both Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2, is anticipating a more competitive showing as he continues to impress in his rookie campaign.

"Monaco is a little bit special because it doesn't allow any mistakes from the drivers, so I think it can be a really interesting weekend for us," said Pic.

"It's interesting to see our pace on a type of circuit like that. It is quite different to other circuits."

Thursday's press conference:

TEAM REPRESENTATIVES - Vijay MALLYA (Force India), Jean-Francois CAUBET (Renault Sport F1), Frank WILLIAMS (Williams), Monisha KALTENBORN (Sauber), Ross BRAWN (Mercedes).

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Vijay, first of all welcome, I think this is your first grand prix of the year and you love Monaco. But how do you keep in touch when you're a long way away?

Vijay MALLYA: Well you know, particularly at the start of the season there are too many conflicting obligations that I have. Parliament, for one, is in session in March and April and that makes it very difficult for me to leave India. I otherwise would have enjoyed going to flyaway races. But the budget, the union budget, was presented only in the middle of March this year as opposed to the end of February so I was obliged to stay back and attend parliament. Then, of course, in early April starts the IPL (India Premier League) cricket and you know we Indians are pretty passionate about the game of cricket. In fact, I remember I was telling Monisha, that three years ago my team reached the finals of the IPL and I actually had to regretfully abandon the Monaco Grand Prix and fly back on the Saturday night to make the Sunday final. But now it's all over, done and dusted and now I can enjoy Formula One particularly in the summer in Europe and in North America.

Q. How do you think Sahara Force India is doing at the moment? How do you see the performance so far this year?

VM: We've got 18 points from five races – it's the best start we've ever had. But if you look at our immediate competition, they're way ahead of us. Compliments to them, they've done exceedingly well. I think Sauber has had a second, the podium, and Williams have won the race, so congratulations to both of them. But if I study or try to analyse the various races and the performance of various cares there's a huge sense of unpredictability that has crept in this year. Just as an example: in Barcelona, Nico came tenth, scored one point but kept Webber behind him for more than 30 laps. Up until last year I would never have dreamt of keeping a Red Bull behind me. In Barcelona once again, Lewis actually got pole position before he was given the penalty but Jenson didn't even make Q3. So there's something going on there and the only thing we can put a finger on is the tyres and the performance of the tyres and we're obviously doing all we can to try and understand tyre management better. But I think we can look forward to our moment in the sun as well.

Q. If it's that unpredictable then everyone has got a chance.

VM: Absolutely. The results speak for themselves. There is a definite sense of unpredictability. The usual front-runners aren't front-runners anymore. The midfield teams have in fact outperformed the traditional front-runners. So there is something going on there which I think everybody is trying to understand better.

Q. Jean-Francois, can we first of all clear up the Caterham problem this morning? I believe it was quite an old engine.

Jean-Francois CAUBET: Yes, we blew up an engine this morning, with Heikki. There was a problem of reliability but it was quite an old engine. It was engine of more than 2,200km. It was an engine raced in the two first grands prix on the Friday. It was at the limit but sometime before the limit it is difficult to measure, so we know that we have a good engine today but some problem of reliability.

Q. I'm intrigued to learn that you do more work here than for any other grand prix, can you just explain where that's centred?

JFC: Yes, I think even if Monaco is a long grand it is a tough grand prix on the engine side you we must have the maximum job between 15-17,000rpm instead of 17-18,000, so the map is completely different and you need great feedback from the driver to set up the car.

Q. Is there more preparation involved than that?

JFC: Not. I think each grand prix is specific but Monaco is one that is no especially specific against the other.

Q. And now there is the possibility of more teams winning for you as we saw with Williams two weeks ago.

JFC: Yes, congratulations to Frank (Williams) because it was quite emotional in Renault to have this win in Barcelona. I think we found the same spirit with Frank and we're quite happy as we pushed a lot to have a good relationship and a good spirit with all the teams and with Frank we've found the same spirit as we had 20 years ago. It was quite funny because Frank visited us last week and he told us in French... I will try to translate: Une hirondelle ne fait pas printemps, I think it's one swallow doesn't make a summer in English or something like this. But I don't think it's right. I think the car is good and I think they'll probably have some more wins with Frank.

Q. Well, let's ask Frank. How much of a surprise was the performance in Barcelona, or does nothing surprise you any longer?

Frank WILLIAMS: That's partly right, but I was surprised. I've been racing long enough to know that you should approach any race with a considerable amount of pessimism and you get better after that. All grand prix teams are immensely professional and very few of them make any mistakes worth talking about during a season so it's hard to prise winners away from winning all the time. But whatever we did right, and I don't really know what that was, worked very fine and I'm just delighted to walk away with all those points and another number one on the scoreboard.

Q. What has it meant to you personally having that win, after so many years?

FW: Yeah, well I thought it was eight years actually but if it was seven that that sounds a little bit better but it's an embarrassing amount of time for a man with a big ego.

Q. Pastor told us there's been quite a bit of reorganisation within the team. How important has that been and how difficult was that reorganisation?

FW: It wasn't a major reorganisaiton, a few new people arrived, there was a bit of shuffling around. One or two people can make quite a difference and given that it's a complicated matter, as all these people here will tell you, to put the right group of people together and get them to fire on all cylinders. It comes together once in a while with the car and the driver and everything working very well. We took our chance and got it.

Q. We got the impression that methods within the factory had changed, even the means of building the car and that sort of thing. Is that the case?

FW: Nothing significant has changed. It's the same approach, the same reliability. If we've gone a bit quicker then it's because the car is quicker and that would have come, more than anything else, from the wind tunnel and from the drivers being particularly tuned in to a particular circuit.

Q. Monisha, first of all I wanted to ask you about Chelsea Football Club because I think there's quite a few people back here who don't quite understand that tie-up, how it works and how it happened?

Monisha KALTENBORN: Well, Chelsea approached us last year with this idea. It's very simple really, there's not much mystery to it. Here two teams have got together that belong to the two sports that are probably the most watched sports around the world. So like this we've created a joint platform, an enormous community to which we can reach out and we'll be doing this by doing marketing events together, looking at merchandising areas, so there's a lot of commercial activity that will start and it gives us a very potential to go to potential sponsors. So it's the commercial area that's involved here and if you give us a bit more time you'll what comes out.

Q. Also, of course, some of the ownership of the team has been transferred to you, which is, I suspect, a fantastic opportunity for you.

MK: That's a great opportunity for me – and a big honour. It shows to me the amount of trust Peter has put into me, that together with his son we can operate the company in the future according to the values that he as the founder of our company has actually set out. And at the same time it's a very big responsibility as we're talking about a company here that has been in motorsport for the last 40 years, so you have a big responsibility towards the people and towards Peter.

Q. And, in terms of the future of the team, the team has traditionally started very, very well but seems to have dropped off a bit mid-season. Have you got the budget to keep the development going for the rest of the season?

MK: We often get the question on our budget and that maybe we cannot develop the way that we want to. Now with the Barcelona package I think we showed everyone that we can develop quickly, efficiently and also bring a good and a big package to the track. So we will continue to do that. And it's valid for many other teams on the grid who are in a similar position, the more funding we have, the more we can develop, and you'll see that on track.

Q. Ross, we've seen the ups and downs of the Mercedes team this year, we've heard how unpredictable Formula One is. Is that what it's all about? You won obviously in China but since then the performance doesn't seem to have been there.

Ross BRAWN: I think teams… if we take a normal season, there's always some variability between the teams and if you overlay on that the difficulty in getting a good understanding of how to make these tyres work most effectively, then the two together can sometimes bring quite big discrepancies. Take some of our competitors in Barcelona, they were a second quicker than us, and we were a second quicker than them in the previous race. There's big differences sometimes when these tyres are working or not working properly. I think it's a combination of the two, which makes it quite difficult to always understand where you are in the car and what you have to focus on to improve it. But we've done some useful progress with the car I believe, and when we get to those circuits where it would naturally suit the car and we're in the working range of the tyres, then you'll see the performance come back again. But it's true the last couple of races have not been so great after we had such a wonderful weekend in China.

Q. Is there more strategy decided on the pit wall now than before? Is it becoming harder and harder to think on your feet as the goalposts move?

RB: It's true to say you don't always know what you're going to get in the race, even if you've done the work on a Friday and Saturday, you don't always know what you're going to get in the race and you have to be prepared to react from what you see in the race. Sometimes the tyres don't last as long as you anticipated; sometimes they're more consistent than you anticipated. So you need to have the capacity to evolve your strategy while you're on the pit wall. I think the signs you get are relatively clear in terms of lap times and degradation and so on and so forth. So, it has made strategy, I think, more interesting in many ways, more relevant so, yeah, it does make it more challenging on the pit wall but that's something we enjoy.

Q. Yesterday we had a question from a journalist which quoted you in a German paper – which meant there were about three translations involved – saying that you had said that the team had let down Michael Schumacher this year, so far. Did you say that? Or could you perhaps clarify what was said?

RB: When I talk about the team, I talk about the drivers as well, the drivers aren't outside the team, so when I say "the team hasn't done a good enough job with Michael", I mean collectively. We – and that includes Michael – have not done a good enough job collectively in the first five races because Michael's got two points and that's not good enough. So, my view is that we always look at these things collectively; it's not 'the driver's made a mistake', or 'the team's made a mistake' it's 'together we haven't done a good enough job.' And that's the situation with Michael. It's been a bit better with Nico. Certainly the race win was great and I think in the last three races actually Nico's scored the second or third highest points of any driver. So for Nico we're not doing too badly. But I think also the issue of Michael scoring only two points is not just down to Michael. It's down to some of the technical problems we've had with the car.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Sam Collins – Racecar Engineer) Question for Jean-Francois, can you update us on the progress of your new engine, and also with the ACO changing the Le Mans prototype regulations to allow complete Formula One powertrains from 2014, is that a new area you can use for testing, with the testing ban in Formula One?

JFC: I think today for the new engine, for '14 we are now on schedule. We need to respect also the budget from Renault. We will be on time. Is it very high technology so it is quite tough development. We have big help from Renault, I think more than 45 people coming from Renault to help us on the electrics side, the electronics and turbo side. I think we will be ready, in the same philosophy that we have for the future, around November or December next year, so we are not asking for testing before.

Q. (Sam Collins – Racecar Engineer) And for Le Mans? The ACO has announced they are going to accept a full Formula One powertrain, including gearbox, engine, everything from 2014 onwards for Le Mans prototypes – so is that another market you could move into and is it something you are looking to do?

JFC: I don't think so.

Q. (Ignacio Naya – DPA) A question for Monisha Kaltenborn, one year ago Sergio Pérez had here a very serious accident. I would like to know which memories do you have from this moment and how the team faced this situation and how Sergio Pérez is handling this situation, coming back to Monaco?

MK: Well the memories are, of course, very much there because it is just a year ago and it was a very bad accident. It's thanks to the safety rules in Formula One and, I guess, also luck, that the driver remained in the situation, so he wasn't really injured. You don't forget these kind of things but at the same time you have to get on and concentrate on the future and I think Sergio has done a great job there. He took it very well, we can see how mature he handled the situation, even at the next race when he himself said he was not really there 100 per cent to take part in the race. But it's not an issue anymore, we've ticked that off, and he's actually taken it quite well.

Q. (Ian Parkes – PA) Vijay, you talked about your passion for cricket earlier. Do you still retain the same passion as you once did for your Formula One team? And, in particular, given the financial difficulties we read about regarding Kingfisher, do you still have the same financial commitment to Force India? Will Force India continue for this season and beyond?

VM: I don't quite understand the correlation between sporting interests, which are personal in nature, and my business interests. I have several large public companies, most of which, with the exception of the airline, are doing very well. The airline is a victim of extraordinarily high oil prices and excessive taxation. Now, what you read and what you gather from what you read, is something that I don't care to comment on. I have sporting interests and I am passionately involved in all these sporting interests, I think I said it earlier. Sahara Force India is independent, fully funded. It's a joint venture between the Sahara Group and myself, there has been a significant capital infusion at the end of 2011, another significant capital infusion from the Sahara Group is due in 2012 and going beyond to 2013. So, Sahara Force India is extremely well taken care of and set. My other sporting interests, well, I was at every IPL cricket game, as any passionate Indian would be, and the team performed well. A little disappointing at the end because we've been semi-finalists for four years running, we were fifth this time and got knocked off the last game before the playoffs, but such things happen in sport. That's going fine. So, life carries on and passions carry on too.

Q. (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Vijay, on the same subject, if you had to make a choice between your airline and your Formula One team, which one would you chose?

VM: How can you even start to make such a comparison? One is a large, public utility per se. How would you call Formula One? A public utility or a public spectacle? An airline is not intended to be a spectacle and a Formula One team is not intended to be a public utility either. So where's the comparison?

Q. (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) I was asking purely because of the amount of money that needs to be invested in both, and if you had the money to invest in one only.

VM: Well, you know, Sahara Force India is private team. Kingfisher Airlines is a listed entity. The banks own 23 percent of the equity of the airline. It's a public company, limited by liability as all limited companies are, so it's a plc. So the two are incomparable.

Q. (Ralf Bach – R & B) Dr Mallya, in spite of this, you explain to us, everywhere in the world, especially in your home country about your problems with your airline and there are rumours as well that maybe you have problems with your team financially, that people are waiting for their salary for weeks, just rumours. But do you think it's a good idea in respect of all this, just to have a luxury party on this luxury boat this evening? How can you justify it?

VM: Justify what and to whom? As I said, I have twenty different businesses. I have six large publically listed companies, each one is completely independent with different shareholders. One does not cross-subsidise the other because that would violate all principles of corporate governance. If one business, for whatever reason, is not doing well, it doesn't mean that every other business has to shut down. Every business has to be continued within its own values, within its own corporate objectives and the party that I host in Monaco each year is a promotion for United Spirits Ltd which has nothing to do with the airline. So because the airline is a victim of – as I said – high fuel costs and excessive taxation doesn't meant that other public companies and their stakeholders should necessarily be compromised. So who should I justify what to?

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) If I may, I would like to ask a Formula One question: as far as the engines are concerned there are suggestions that just possibly the introduction of the new green engine – if I can call it that – will be postponed, and also have any efforts been made to try and cap the pricing similar to the V8 engines of the present? What will the costing situation be?

RB: I think it would be a mistake to delay the engines again. If you recall, we've already delayed them one year and we've had to re… in fact we've changed them from a four cylinder to a six cylinder and then we delayed them a year. Every change actually costs a lot of money for the people investing in new engines. We're committed to a new engine programme, it's progressing, we've been able to justify the budgets to our board and we don't want to see a deferment or a delay in that new engine. I think it sends a very bad message back in terms of Formula One to keep changing its direction on things that are so fundamental, which need so much investment to make work. I think the new engine is very exciting. I think today engines are not really a topic in Formula One; they used to be, and I think it used to add to the sport, that the engine was quite a large factor in the performance envelope or the performance cycle of the car. I think the engines are much more relevant. Our company is getting some real benefits from the technology of this engine. We are using expertise and resource within the company to develop and design this new engine. It's a much more relevant engine. We're going to be running around on two thirds of the fuel that we're running on now with, we think, comparable power outputs. We've got to change the engine at some stage. We will become irrelevant with the engine if we don't look to change. The world's changing and I think the new engine is a far more relevant engine for Formula One for the future. If we're going to get new manufacturers into Formula One, which I think is a good thing, then why will they come in to build an antique V8 engine? They won't. They will only come in with this new engine, so we want to attract manufacturers back into Formula One and this new engine is very important (in doing that).

J-FC: I think we are very clear. We have already delayed the engine once, from four cylinder to go to six cylinders. I think it cost us around ten or 15 million, probably the same for Mercedes and probably the same for Ferrari. So we have blown nearly 50 million for nothing. If you delay one year, we think it will be never (happen) because the delay will be '15 and then '16. For Renault, it is a strategic choice. I think the V8 was developed 25 years ago and I share the same advice with Ross. If we need to have some new car makers, only the new engine will open the door to new car makers. The last point is a key point: to have a Formula One in '14 with the old engine will close to the door to a lot of sponsors and new technologies. I think we have a clear strategy, I think it would be impossible to change our minds.

And for the cost: I think today you must add the cost of the engine and KERS. I think we will probably know in September the cost of the new engine. I don't think the cost of the new engine will be a drama.

VM: We are not engine manufacturers, we never will be, so we have to depend on those who will supply us engines. I guess you've heard from both Mercedes and Renault here. I'm focused, at least, vis-à-vis the FIA on the resource restriction bit, because I think the cost of Formula One should be reasonable for all and give a level playing field for all participating teams. A power train, of course, is a very very important component of that.

MK: As has just been said, we are also one of the non-engine manufacturer teams. We are first of all committed to cost cutting so from that perspective, we have to ensure that we don't go back to a point where engines were so much more expensive – if you look back ten years ago. I think that should always be kept in mind. We fully appreciate and understand that an engine manufacturer wants to showcase his technology in Formula One but they also have to consider that engines have to be affordable and become more affordable in due course.

FW: I've always been a competitor, like everybody else here, and my own position is that as long as we get the very best engine – whether it's a fair price or not – as long as we can find the money to pay for it, we'll go and buy that engine, and our present geography – I mean that bloke behind(J-FC), who we are with presently, we know that they will supply us - if we can afford it - with a very fine winning engine next year and that's what we intend to do, and if we have to find more money, we'll find the money.

Q. (Alberto Antonini – Autosprint) There has been some discomfort and some complaints, I gather, from the general public about the lack of show in the latter stages of qualifying, in Q3, due to the fact that some of the drivers and some teams play with strategy and try to save tyres. So among the suggestions to cure that has been the proposal of allocating an extra set of tyres – call it qualifiers or whatever – for the exclusive use in Q3, which they would have to give back anyway. I understand Pirelli has no objection regarding this, but I would like to know what your view is about this?

FW: I'll put my foot in it. I think it's probably a good idea from the point of view that it maybe gives all teams a better chance. If you're a really skilful team with a brilliant engineer to run and control things, and you've only got three sets of tyres, you'll always get the best. If you haven't got such a person, you're always going to be at a handicap. If there's a fourth set, it may help out one of the weaker members. If there's an extra bob or two involved in running those tyres, maybe you shouldn't be in F1.

MK: We've had many discussions, I think, amongst the teams last year about the tyre situation in qualifying. We think the rule we have now is OK. We also wouldn't be supporting extra tyres, and I think even if you look at the statistics that the amount - when teams do their strategies and don't go out in Q3 – as most of these teams have anyway been doing a lot more laps earlier, so I don't think it would really change much for the viewer. That's what the figures say, at least.

RB: I don't have a strong opinion, to be honest. I actually think there's some interest in teams which don't go out. Of course people are here to see cars run and even when there's some teams that don't go out, you've got six or seven cars still competing hard for pole position. The teams that don't go out generally have resigned themselves to the fact that they can't compete for those positions right at the front, and I think those teams, being able to save their tyres, is in some way a compensation for their performance in the first part of the race. So it does give an extra decision and extra opportunity for the teams perhaps in eighth to tenth to save a set of tyres and be stronger in the early part of the race. There are two sides to every coin and is the show spoilt by the fact that some of the cars at the back of Q1 don't run? I'm not sure it is. I think everyone's focused on what the guys fighting for pole are doing. But if there was genuine proof that the fans want ten cars running all the time in Q3 then we'd accept some extra tyres.

J-FC: I think for a car maker it's quite important not to change the regulations all the time. I think that if you make a comparison, it's like you change the size of the goals during the season.

Q. (Vanessa Ruiz – ESPN Radio) Just a quick question to Frank: in Barcelona, right before the fire started, a few seconds before the fire started, you had just gathered the team around you. They were all kneeling in the garage. What was it exactly that you intended to tell the team at that moment? And if you've had the chance to talk to them and finish that speech and if that speech changed after the fire?

FW: I believe like everybody else here, when you have a business or a large company – and mine's a small one – communication is fundamental. There was just a spot of communication going on, just happened to be in a rather public place but that was unavoidable. It wasn't about sex. Sorry. Sadly.

Q. (Gary Meenaghan – The National) Michael Schumacher spoke earlier this week about the irony that the sport is currently pushing to improve safety measures yet we come and race in Monaco every year. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on the safety of this circuit and whether the risk of racing here is justified?

RB: Well, it was our driver who made the comment so…I think Monaco is a unique race, but there have also been big efforts made here to make it as safe as possible. We all know that motor racing can't be 100 percent safe, there is always some risk, but I think the developments in the cars, the technology in the cars, the technology at the circuits is always progressing well. Each year, I believe, it gets safer. There is risk and that risk probably varies at different circuits, but I don't think it's a situation that means we shouldn't race there. I think it's a manageable risk as it is at most circuits or all circuits in Formula One.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Vijay, you said Force India has got two shareholders: the Sahara Group and yourself. Does that mean the Dutch are now right out of the picture?

VM: They have a tiny minority left.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) OK, so they are still there though, yeah? Fifteen percent, is that it?

VM: Yes.

Q. (Dieter Rencken – The Citizen) Monisha, given the recent history of Sauber, was it particular sweet for your associate football team to win in Munich?

MK: An interesting angle to look at it! We didn't think of that at the time. We really wanted Chelsea to win, and I will not get into any discussion as to whether they deserved to win or not because we would probably then be talking for a very long time. It was just a nice kick-off of the whole partnership. It was the first time that we really were together in public, being at such an event where you can just make more out of it in the future, so it was a very nice kick-off of the partnership.

Q. (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) One of the things that you guys have discussed today is cost-cutting. We're also given to understand that there were discussions on the same this morning. Could you please let us know what progress has been made in talks on cost-cutting and cost reduction in the sport?

RB: I think there's been some good progress in the last few months. I think the situation with FOTA where some of the teams left FOTA was unfortunate because I think that was one of the main initiatives of FOTA. But that's continued. The FIA are now becoming more and more involved in cost-cutting initiatives for the future. I think ultimately that's who we have to rely on to police the measures we need to take to control costs, because as the costs have become let's say more swingeing, as they've become harder to meet, then it's important that we all have the confidence that every team is complying to the cost restraint regulations, the resource restraint regulations and everyone's applying the criteria in the same way and they are all following the same rules. It's very frustrating if you believe – even incorrectly – that somebody is not following the rules. Within the system we had, it was very difficult to have the right level of confidence. I think the FIA have now, at the request of the teams, have become involved and there's a meeting next week which I think will be a very important meeting to set the objectives and agree the methodologies and philosophies that we want to control costs in the future. But it is an absolutely essential part for Formula One for the future. I think we've seen the situation with the new Concorde Agreement that's been discussed amongst all the teams and we need to make sure that a good majority of the teams have got enough money to meet the limits of the resource restriction, that a team that has a lot more money can't gain any technical advantage. I think the resource restriction, for me, is an essential part to safeguard the future of Formula One.

Caterham's Thursday in quotes

[Lineker]

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone thinks plans for a flotation of the sport on the Singapore stock market may have to be delayed amid continued trouble in the financial markets.

Grand Prix racing's owners CVC had hoped to push through an IPO of F1 within the next few months, and has already agreed to sell off some of its shares.

However, in the wake of the slump in the value of Facebook shares this week, Ecclestone reckons F1 may be unwise to push on with a flotation right now.

"The market doesn't look too bright after that little bit of a problem with Facebook," said Ecclestone in an interview with CNN. "So I think they are going to wait and see."

Although the flotation may be postponed, Ecclestone also said that he was close to a deal that will commit all teams - including Mercedes – to F1 until at least 2020.

"Well we've just got people now, all the current teams, to sign up until 2020 and then I hope another 10 years after that and then forever," he said. "Everybody has agreed with it."

When asked specifically about Mercedes – which has been unhappy with the terms of the deal offered to it – Ecclestone replied: "You'll have to wait to see if Mercedes have but I'm confident everything with Mercedes will be fine."

He added: "I appreciate and support Mercedes probably more than anyone in F1. But the way it was done was on results and we couldn't falsify the results because if we did other people would complain."

Peter Brabeck has been installed as Formula 1 chairman following a board meeting ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Austrian Brabeck, 67, chairs Swiss food group Nestle and had been linked with Bernie Ecclestone's position as CVC chief executive for a few years.

Brabeck confirmed to the Reuters news agency that he had been installed as F1 chairman after a meeting in Monaco on Friday.

Brabeck said no decision had been yet made on when the sport would be floated on the stock market, after Ecclestone suggested Facebook's slump when going public earlier this week may mean a delay to F1's IPO.

"It was the first time that the board had a report on the preparation, there was pre-valuation of the whole process," Brabeck told Reuters. "I think we made a step forwards but no decision has been taken.

"Within the board there is an IPO committee and the committee will come back to the full board when it feels that the next board meeting is necessary.

"We have not even fixed the next meeting. We left this thing open."

Formula 1 drivers and teams must change their mindset to think of the long game this season if they want to win the championship, because of the huge fluctuations in form being thrown up at individual races this season.

That is the view of leading team principals, who think it vital that those involved in the fight for title glory do not get frustrated by some of the shock results being delivered this year.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said: "We have got to see how the averages work out over a longer period. This season has turned things around a bit, and probably what it is teaching you is that you need to look over a longer period, more races, to draw a judgement.

"[Pastor] Maldonado did a fantastic job in the last race, and [sergio] Perez did a great job in Malaysia, and it is great for the sport that those guys are allowed to show their talents at the front, but I think you will see the averages work out over the year.

"You see Fernando [Alonso] who is at the front of the championship, and he has not had a great car this year, but because of what he is, he has managed to get there. Nico [Rosberg] in last three races has scored almost as many points as anyone - so you have to look at it over more races."

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner added: "It is very, very close, and we have seen a real random element with the unprecedented situation of five winners and five different constructors' - and the biggest contributing factor to that is understanding the current tyres.

"It is putting the emphasis on that at those races you can't win, you've got to be scoring points. The weekends that you are not able to take a victory, you need to be consistently scoring and the races you have the opportunity to win you need to take that opportunity.

"You have a lot of very good drivers out there and it is no coincidence that the top drivers are at the top end of the championship. Over a sample of 20 races, ultimately there will become a pattern of some sort."

Brawn too believes that as the bigger teams get a better understanding of the tyres, then there will not be such big fluctuations in form.

"I think it will move from the randomness that we have got now to it being refined," he said. "I think we will see later in the year that a pattern will emerge and those that understand what is going on will be on top of it.

"But it will still keep throwing up odd results I am sure. A trend will evolve which will be down to the teams whose engineers are getting a better understanding and increasing the average hit rate."

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner believes that the battle for victory in the Monaco Grand Prix is totally open, on the back of the unpredictable start to the Formula 1 season.

With five teams having won so far this campaign, and cars being so close to each other in competitive terms, Horner says that predictions for who can win F1's blue riband event will be impossible before Saturday.

"It is so open that we will only get a better idea I would say after P3, but probably not even then," explained Horner, whose driver Sebastian Vettel is joint leader of the world championship standings.

"It will probably be only after qualifying that we will get a clear indication of where we are, but the weather could be a factor as well this weekend. Throw that into the mix and you have a real cocktail for an entertaining weekend."

Although victory in the Monaco GP does carry some prestige, Horner thinks it important that his outfit does not lose sight of its title ambitions - which means it essential it delivers points for the championship.

"This is a fantastic race to win," he said. "We have been fortunate enough to win it the last couple of years, but it is one of 20 races, and it has the same amount of points available as the others.

"The prestige here is greater than other venues but counting towards the championship it carries the same weight in points. So the most important thing for us is to maximise the package we have here.

"Hopefully we can, but whether that package can compete for the win? Hopefully it can. If it cannot we have to make sure that we optimise the best result that we can, because ultimately they will all count at the end of the year."

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has praised Williams' response to its garage fire in Spain, and how the team has acted in helping rival teams learn lessons from what happened.

Williams is still unsure of what caused fuel to ignite in its garage after the Spanish GP, but has openly briefed other teams on what factors it believes contributed and what action it is taking to ensure that there is no repeat in the future.

That openness has impressed Horner, whose own outfit has made some procedural changes as well in light of the Williams fire.

"Williams have been tremendously good in being open with some of the lessons that they have learned," explained Horner. "It was quite scary how easy an incident like that can happen.

"What has been great is that they have been totally open and transparent in their findings and, as a result of that, the whole pit lane can learn something from that.

"We have made some slight amendments to our procedures, just tightening them up a little to be a bit more prudent, but the way the information has been shared has been very commendable."

Horner said that his team had been fortunate never to experience such a fire at an event - but said the very fact it happened to a rival shows that no outfit can be complacent on safety in the garages.

"We had a KERS battery go into a thermal runaway in the factory once, which was nowhere near as dramatic as that [Williams fire], but it demonstrates that it is a dangerous environment when you have fuel, fuel vapour and static electricity.

"It served as an important reminder to everybody that safety remains a crucial factor and thankfully nobody was seriously hurt. You cannot afford to be complacent with any of these things."

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn thinks it is pointless for drivers and teams to get frustrated by the tyre situation in Formula 1 - because the most important thing is dealing with it to achieve success.

With most outfits admitting that they not yet fully understand how to extract the best performance from Pirelli's 2012 tyres, there is a high chance that race results will remain mixed up for now.

And although the influence of the tyres has led to criticisms of Pirelli from some quarters – including Michael Schumacher – Brawn reckons that the only proper response for teams is to keep focused on making themselves better.

"You either can complain about it, or keep your head down and do a better job than anyone else," he explained. "That is what we are faced with, because the tyres will not change dramatically this year."

Speaking about how well his own outfit understands the tyres, Brawn said: "We know what is needed, we just don't know how to achieve it. Don't get them too hot and don't let them get too cold - and that is really it.

"The difficulty is you have four tyres on the car and you go to a circuit like Barcelona where the left one is getting too hot and the right one is getting too cold, and that is down to track configuration. You need to work out how to get the tyres to work well together, and look at how the tyres work around the track to get the best balance.

"What is fascinating is seeing cars for some of the race look very ordinary, and then suddenly they come into the window and become quite extraordinary. It is a very interesting challenge."

Although the high degrading tyres are proving difficult to get on top of, Brawn believes the situation is much better than what F1 had in 2010 when Bridgestone's rubber lasted too well.

"I think in 2010 there was an argument that it almost got too predictable, the tyres were too well understood and they were too consistent, so there was a certain predictability about how the tyres were going to behave," he said.

"It was relatively easy to get to know how they were going to work, and I remember there was a time there were comments about the predictability of the tyres and the need to shake it up a bit.

"Getting it exactly right for everybody is a pretty difficult task, but I think teams will get better as the season goes on. We have made progress in understanding how the tyres work, but we haven't completely got on top of it. Each race provides another piece of the jigsaw to get a better understanding."

Pirelli insists that there is no mystery to its 2012 tyres - and that teams fully understand exactly what they need to do to get the most out of the rubber.

However, the Italian company believes the big fluctuations in form, and various struggles that some teams are having, are the result of those outfits not knowing how to get their cars working with the rubber.

Amid an ongoing focus on the impact Pirelli is having on the racing this year, with five different winners in the first five races, its motorsport director Paul Hembery said: "I would say all the teams understand the tyres – what they don't understand is how to make the interaction between the car and the tyres do what they want. That is the real challenge.

"They know exactly what is going on with the tyre. You talk to some of the tyre experts at teams that, on the outside, appear to be suffering, and the tyre guys explains exactly what it is doing.

"It is not the tyre – it is the interaction between car and tyre to get the tyre in to the window that maximises the performance. I am not trying to shift responsibility: but it is that."

"The biggest issue teams have faced this year is getting their tyres into the right operating window – so they are not too hot that they overheat and degrade, and not too cold that they do not deliver the necessary grip."

Although that operating window is not any narrower this year than it was last year, the 2012 tyres do operate at higher temperatures. That factor, allied to the fact that tyres are having less energy put through them this year because of the move away from blown diffusers, could explain why there have been so many struggles.

"It has moved," said Hembery of the temperature range. "It isn't particularly higher, it has moved higher. But it varies, and it depends what tyre you are talking about.

"There is also the fact that we see the cars oversteering a lot more this year, and if you are oversteering you are sliding, and that can overheat your tyres. That wasn't evident last year because a lot of the cars were very stuck to the ground in simplistic terms, with very little movement on the rear."

Ferrari technical supremo Pat Fry is confident that his team has made big strides towards catching Formula 1's pacesetters, but is unsure if and when it will get on level terms at the front.

Ferrari ran a major update package at the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks ago. Despite Fernando Alonso finishing second at Barcelona and showing good pace during Thursday practice in Monaco, Fry warned that catching the frontrunners won't be easy.

"I don't think you can say that we are there based on Spain," said Fry when asked by AUTOSPORT when he expects Ferrari to be consistently at the front.

"We did make a reasonable improvement. If anything, we have closed the gap on the cars ahead of us but by no means are we the quickest one. Until we are the quickest, we are not going to be happy.

"We have got a few little updates here, some more for Canada and then it's just a relentless pace [and a question of] how quickly you can update your car. And that depends on what other people are doing as well."

Despite believing that Ferrari made a bigger step in Spain than the rest of the field, Fry warned that maintaining such a dramatic rate of improvement will be difficult as the car gets stronger.

He added that the Barcelona package did not work perfectly and that it won't be until the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks time that Ferrari is able to find out if subsequent tweaks have unleashed its full potential.

"Catching up in Spain was a little bit easier for us because we were starting from a bad starting point. But we did manage to put on more performance there than most of the other teams. We have just got to keep that up.

"Most of the things worked but were still some that weren't doing exactly what we were expecting. You can't really test anything here. Here, it's just about keeping the car the same and the drivers getting used to the track again.

"We'll answer the next set of questions when we get to Canada."

Williams engineering chief Mark Gillan says the outfit will not be happy until its regularly racing at the front of Formula 1 - despite its success in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Pastor Maldonado helped end an eight-year victory drought for Williams in Barcelona, and he is one of the contenders for more success in Monaco this weekend.

But even though that Spanish triumph has highlighted the rate of progress that Williams has made since its worst ever season in F1 last year, Gillan insists there is no feeling that the team has accomplished its targets yet.

"Things have generally become a bit more structured now, and coming to a race weekend everyone knows what they are supposed to do," he explained. "We don't deviate from the plan unless there is a good reason to do so.

"The whole team are working together with very close goals – and although the last weekend was very good, there is a long way to go for the team. And until we are doing it on a regular basis, it is obviously still not acceptable."

Although the strengths of the Williams-Renault car and Maldonado's prowess on the streets of Monaco do give the team high hopes for another strong performance this weekend, Gillan says that the target has not changed.

"From our side our goal is to finish in the points," he said. "For this weekend we want to get both cars home in the points. Anything better than that is a bonus. It is very tight – so from our side that is what we want to see. The gameplan hasn't changed.

"We come here on the back of a great result and both drivers are looking forward to it. We have done a lot of preparation – the car was strong in Barcelona and we are really, really looking forward to this weekend."

Dany Bahar, who spearheaded the relaunch of the ex-Renault Formula 1 team as Lotus, has been suspended from his role as chief executive officer of the automotive group.

A statement issued by Group Lotus parent company DRB Hicom confirmed the move today. Bahar had been due to attend the opening of a new Lotus Originals store in Monaco this afternoon, but cancelled at the last minute.

"Group Lotus plc ("Lotus") can today confirm that, following an operational review, chief executive Dany Bahar has been temporarily suspended from his role to facilitate an investigation into a complaint about his conduct made by Lotus' penultimate parent company, DRB-Hicom Berhad," said the statement.

A spokesperson for DRB Hicom confirmed to the Norwich Evening News that "it is business as usual at Lotus" following Bahar's suspension.

According to AUTOSPORT's sister publication Autocar, Dato' Lukman Ibrahim, Mohd Khalid Yusof and Aslam Farikulla have taken over the running of Lotus, with Rusman Zaihan assisting them.

The Lotus name first came back into F1 with the current Caterham team, which ran as first Lotus Racing and then Team Lotus in 2010 and 2011. Ahead of last season, Bahar agreed a deal for the car company to sponsor the ex-Renault team, which now competes as Lotus in F1.

Alain Prost believes Formula 1 may be too unpredictable at the moment - but he reckons that is a better situation for the sport than it being dominated by one driver.

Making his first appearance at an F1 race this season at the Monaco Grand Prix, Prost welcomed the increased popularity that the ultra competitive nature of this season was delivering – but thought that perhaps things were too variable with five different winners from five races.

"If I talk for myself I would say yes it is maybe a little bit too unpredictable," said Prost, speaking at the launch of a new Renault Alpina concept car in Monaco.

"You know F1, and you know you would like to understand a bit more about what is happening, but F1 has changed, and the public watching F1 has changed also at the same time.

"You cannot compare to what we had 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Now the public are quite pleased to see that it is not all the time the same driver or same car. That is the worst thing for F1 today – if one car or one driver is dominating too much.

"It [the unpredictable nature at the moment] is not what I would like to see, but I can understand that the audience is going up a little bit and people are more interested in that."

He added: "But if I think about the engineers in the teams it must be a nightmare, so it may be a little bit too much. But at least we have the show, we have the indecision and people are watching more and more F1, which is good."

Prost reckons that the way form is fluctuating so much means that those drivers involved need to change their approach – and that consistency is essential.

"If you have more potential winners you have to be more consistent, but if you have one rival you have to fight against them and that is a different approach," he said. "With this championship you need to be in the points all the time. Sometimes you must win, but you need to finish and be consistent."

When asked who was his favourite was for the title, Prost said: "At the beginning of the season, before the first race, I thought it would be a championship for Jenson Button. But today I don't know.

"Let's say again Jenson because he could be the more consistent driver during the year, but I am not sure."

[Katsuya]

I have a feeling it's going to be Lotus vs. Sauber this weekend.

[LUKIE]

I have a feeling Alonso is going to win.

[Lineker]

Lotus and Sauber ey? Just shows how wonderfully unpredictable F1 is this year!!

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in the final free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, which was brought to a halt prematurely following an accident for Pastor Maldonado at Casino Square.

The Spanish Grand Prix winner appeared to be involved in an incident with Sergio Perez's Sauber on the lap before at Portier and then lost control of his Williams on the entrance to Casino Square. He lost his left rear wheel as the car went out of control, before parking the FW34 at Mirabeau with three minutes of the session remaining.

An impressive Felipe Massa was second fastest ahead of a late-improving Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in the second Ferrari.

Unsurprisingly there was a little more urgency about getting on with the business of working through set-up programmes at the start of this session, and none was more in a hurry to get on with it than Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn did not even bother with an installation lap and was the first to record a time - that of 1m18.993s.

That mark did not last long at the top of the times as the two Mercedes joined him and Rosberg moved to the top, just six hundredths faster.

Force India's Paul di Resta had a brief moment in the sunshine just before quarter distance, but only until one of the stars of the weekend so far - Romain Grosjean - fired in a 1m16.812s.

The Frenchman, super confident in the switched on Lotus, worked that down to a 1m15.811s, and notably that remained the best time anyone did on the soft prime Pirelli tyre.

Just after half an hour Rosberg moved the mark forward with a super soft option lap of 1m15.751s. The Chinese Grand Prix winner then backed off for a lap before going even faster – the result a 1m15.159s. That would be enough to settle the argument.

Behind him Massa - looking much more secure in the cockpit of his Ferrari than of late - Alonso and Grosjean all also improved on the red-walled Pirellis.

It was only in the last 10 minutes that Vettel, who had a sideways moment on the exit of the Swimming Pool on a previous lap, finally moved into third place in a Red Bull that does not look easy to use on the Monaco streets.

Behind this quintet, Jenson Button's best super soft effort could only net him sixth fastest ahead of his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Perez (whose best lap was baulked by Nico Hulkenberg) and Mark Webber, who completed the top 10.

Raikkonen spent the session focusing on race set-up and was 12th quickest.

Maldonado's was not the only late session incident. Di Resta, who ended up 18th fastest, crashed into the barriers under braking for the chicane as the car snapped left over the bumps, but he was able to return to the pits under his own power with significant nose and front wing damage.

As for the Venezuelan, it remains to be seen whether he will be called to discuss his Perez incident with driver steward Nigel Mansell, which could cost him dearly on a track that is all about grid position.

FP3


Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps

 1.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m15.159s            25

 2.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m15.197s  + 0.038s  21

 3.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m15.209s  + 0.050s  20

 4.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m15.210s  + 0.051s  20

 5.  Romain Grosjean     Lotus-Renault         1m15.445s  + 0.286s  18

 6.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m15.471s  + 0.312s  19

 7.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      1m15.734s  + 0.575s  19

 8.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m15.893s  + 0.734s  23

 9.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m16.110s  + 0.951s  14

10.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m16.219s  + 1.060s  19

11.  Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m16.226s  + 1.067s  20

12.  Kimi Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault         1m16.301s  + 1.142s  21

13.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m16.311s  + 1.152s  19

14.  Daniel Ricciardo    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m16.479s  + 1.320s  20

15.  Nico Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes  1m17.027s  + 1.868s  20

16.  Bruno Senna         Williams-Renault      1m17.055s  + 1.896s  26

17.  Heikki Kovalainen   Caterham-Renault      1m17.276s  + 2.117s  25

18.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m17.390s  + 2.231s  19

19.  Vitaly Petrov       Caterham-Renault      1m17.404s  + 2.245s  22

20.  Timo Glock          Marussia-Cosworth     1m18.259s  + 3.100s  18

21.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Renault      1m18.488s  + 3.329s  22

22.  Charles Pic         Marussia-Cosworth     1m19.099s  + 3.940s  17

23.  Narain Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth          1m19.147s  + 3.988s  19

24.  Pedro de la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth          1m19.151s  + 3.992s  19


All timing unofficial[/code]


Ferrari could be a contender for pole position in Monaco because the characteristics of the circuit play into the strengths of the F2012, according to technical boss Pat Fry.


Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso set the third and fourth fastest times of the opening day of practice in Monaco and although Fry believes that it will be a close battle at the front, he is hopeful that the slow circuit will help his drivers.


"Here is a little bit of a different track," said Fry. "It's less about efficiency and more about CL [ultimate downforce]. Maybe things move in our favour a little bit.


"But it's hard to guess. Lotus are going to going to be very strong. And McLaren, ourselves... there are quite a few strong teams out there."


Fry admitted that the car's overall traction levels are lower than he wants, but that with short, sharp corners proliferating at Monaco, that will be less of a disadvantage.


"Our traction is not as good as we would like but we're not as bad as we have been relative to other tracks," he said.


"Here, it's more your classic point-and-squirt corners. There are very few where you are trying to accelerate out with a lot of lateral [load] on the car. We are working on improving the car in that area."


He also paid tribute to Alonso's performances in the first five races of the season, which leave the Spaniard level on points with Sebastian Vettel at the top of the championship.


But he did admit that it was partly down to good fortune that the team is in so strong a position.


"Fernando has driven some fantastic races, but it's an element of luck that we are here rather than good design," said Fry.


"It's a fortunate position to be in after five races from where we were in winter testing. It's a lot of hard work that has been digging us out of that [situation].


"Everyone in the whole company, drivers included, has knuckled down and accepted where we are. It has brought the best out of everyone."


Romain Grosjean says he is ready to make the most of any opportunity he has to win this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, after emerging as one of the main contenders for victory.


The Frenchman's Lotus team has been singled out by Jenson Button as the outfit to beat in Monaco, following some impressive speed in opening practice on Thursday.


And although the Enstone-based outfit has missed earlier chances to win this season, Grosjean knows he has to be prepared to do what it takes if there is a chance this time out.


"I think this year is good because we have seen that there may be opportunities that you may not be expecting," Grosjean told AUTOSPORT at the opening of a new Lotus Originals store in Monaco.


"So far we have been consistent at the front, so we know we can have good results. But this year you need to put everything together to have the perfect weekend. When it will happen, then I will try not to miss it."


Grosjean is confident about his prospects for Monaco - and that his E20 is delivering all that he had hoped for on the tight street circuits.


Speaking about Button's comments, he said: "That is good news! We are looking pretty good I have to say.


"It was our best 'Friday' on Thursday. The car is improving and we are working very well with the engineers, so I think we are getting there with our baseline set-up and the way we run our car.


"It looks like Monaco is suiting the E20 pretty well. I like the track and hopefully we can achieve something."


Grosjean's compatriot Alain Prost is one man who thinks that the Lotus driver should be considered seriously for the victory in Monaco.


"I think he has a chance," said Prost. "He is going quite well. His car is maybe one of the best, and it is probably one of the most consistent since the beginning of the year.


"He has always been quite good and in Monaco it could be his day. He looks very fast and is going well in his head. He has the confidence now; he has been supported a lot, both inside and outside of the team, which gives him confidence. So he should be okay."


Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery is pushing for formal discussions about a revision to the Q3 tyre rules at the next meeting of the Formula 1 commission.


Amid fresh concerns about teams electing to not run in final qualifying so that they save tyres, Hembery is eager for more talks about the idea of specific qualifying tyres.


"We need to get all 12 teams together and I will certainly ask to put it on the table at the next F1 Commission meeting," he said when asked about the situation regarding Q3-specific tyres.


"Bernie [Ecclestone] is keen on it. He does not feel [cars sitting out Q3] is good for TV and we have been on record saying that. But, equally, we appreciate the teams' point of view. And it was unanimous when we last spoke to them that they felt the tactical intrigue created by not running and having fresh tyres was something that was good for the sport. Where the real solution in that lies I don't know.


"We will offer what is needed and that can be anything from an extra set for those in Q3 to make them run, through to full qualifying for everybody. We are open to whatever solution the sport feels is best, but we feel running cars in Q3 is important."


Despite Pirelli's push, and Ecclestone's support of the idea, teams are not keen on the idea of changing the current Q3 rules, under which drivers must start races with the same tyres that they set their fastest qualifying time with.


However, some team principals have suggested that the ultimate decider should be the fans at home.


Mercedes boss Ross Brawn said: "There are two sides to every coin and is the show spoilt by the fact that some of the cars at the back of Q3 don't run? I'm not sure it is. I think everyone's focused on what the guys fighting for pole are doing. But if there was genuine proof that the fans want 10 cars running all the time in Q3 then we'd accept some extra tyres."


Alain Prost has admitted that he has been surprised by the strong form that Kimi Raikkonen has shown on his return to Formula 1 this year.


Raikkonen decided on an F1 comeback this season after two years with mixed results in the World Rally Championship - and has already produced two podium finishes.


But it is not just Raikkonen's speed that has left Prost impressed, because the Frenchman also likes the way the 2007 title winner approaches his job, and does not pretend to like aspects of being an F1 driver that he dislikes.


"It is a surprise a little bit when I see him," said Prost, who is attending the Monaco Grand Prix in his role as an ambassador for Renault. "His mentality, his attitude, it is very good. It is still Kimi, and I like him because at least he is not playing a game. We all know him, and if you accept him, his positive attitude and the way he drives is not bad.


"It is not that easy to come back after two years, even if he has done some rallying. It is quite impressive, and he could be quite a surprise this year."


While Raikkonen's comeback is going to plan, Michael Schumacher's return has not been such a success – and Prost admitted that he had reservations even before the seven-time champion got back in the cockpit.


"I was never 100 per cent positive because he has won so much and also because I suppose he really wanted to be world champion again, which was maybe a little bit too high a target," Prost said.

[Fry_4000]

Pastor Maldonado will have a 10 place grid penalty for hittin Perez

[LUKIE]

Okay... commentators are annoying. Perez front left legit was not moving which caused him to plow in the wall.