Formula One 2012

[Fry_4000]

and vettel throws a hissy fit

[Starvinho]

Get in there Hamilton! Well deserved after the last race.

Good race from Jenson too.

Edited November 18, 2012 by Starvinho

[Fry_4000]

great race from start to finish and deserved win fof Lewis. On to Brazil to decide the title.

Loving the hats.

Edited November 18, 2012 by Fry_4000

[Sam]

I wonder if Hamilton is still happy about his decision to move, Mercedes seem to have fallen behind every team bar the newbies now :/

[Adam]

When do we think those three teams will stop being the "new" teams and start being the "ridiculously shit" teams? They've been here for 3 years now unbelievably.

[Lineker]

Lewis Hamilton beat Sebastian Vettel to victory in an absorbing United States Grand Prix, as Fernando Alonso's third place kept the Formula 1 championship battle alive.

Despite his defeat at Austin, Vettel remains title favourite, as he takes a 13-point lead over Alonso into next weekend's finale at Interlagos. The constructors' championship is settled though, with Red Bull beating it beyond its rivals' reach.

Hamilton's relentless pursuit of Vettel kept tension building throughout the race. The McLaren lost second to Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber at the start, but soon re-passed the Australian. Webber retired with alternator failure soon afterwards, no doubt prompting nerves in the Red Bull garage.

Vettel's car was still running smoothly, but it did not have the pace to escape from Hamilton.

The champion pulled out a little breathing space just before the first pitstops, only for Hamilton to come back with a vengeance once they were both on fresh hard tyres.

Hamilton spent most of the middle of the race tantalisingly close to Vettel, but was frustrated time and time again by the Red Bull's superior traction. The McLaren would close in through the fast first sector, then struggle to get near enough on the DRS zone straight.

Finally on lap 42 out of 57 Hamilton managed to pull the move off after Vettel lost time in traffic before the DRS area. Vettel moved to the inside, but the McLaren's straightline pace advantage was so great that McLaren was comfortably ahead before the next corner - prompting angry radio messages from Vettel about backmarker Narain Karthikeyan's HRT.

The race was far from over, as Hamilton never quite escaped from Vettel. The Red Bull did not manage to get within striking range and Hamilton was able to win in America for the second time in his career, crossing the line a mere six tenths ahead of Vettel, who at least wrapped up another teams' title for his employer.

Alonso's progress to third was mostly achieved via a superb start from his controversial grid slot. He then swept around the outside at the first corner to secure fourth, which became third after Webber's exit.

His Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa recovered from his generously-accepted 11th place on the grid to fourth, showing great race pace throughout.

Massa came under slight threat from Jenson Button late on. The McLaren had fallen right back to 16th on lap one, before flying through the field as its tyres came to life. Button ran to lap 35 before pitting, and then battled past the two Lotuses to secure fifth.

Kimi Raikkonen looked like he might challenge Alonso at one stage. Both lost a few seconds at their pitstops, with Raikkonen falling back into traffic and then being overtaken by Massa and Button in the second stint.

Raikkonen finished just ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean, who recovered well from spinning on lap five then requiring a lap-nine pitstop. He fell right back to 22nd, but flew thereafter.

Nico Hulkenberg claimed eighth for Force India by fending off battling Williams duo Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna. The pair banged wheels at Turn 1 in the closing laps as Maldonado passed his team-mate.

Daniel Ricciardo starred in the first stint, rising from 18th on the grid to fifth by staying out until lap 30. But that tactic did not pay off for Toro Rosso as Ricciardo was only 12th in the end.

Mercedes had a terrible race. Michael Schumacher was overtaken by rival after rival in the opening stint, falling from fifth on the grid to 14th before his first pitstop. He would require more tyres later on too, leaving him 16th, three places behind team-mate Nico Rosberg.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS


The USA Grand Prix

Circuit of the Americas, USA;

56 laps; 308.896km;

Weather: Sunny.


Classified:


Pos  Driver        Team                       Time

 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h35:55.269

 2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +     0.675

 3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    39.229

 4.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    46.013

 5.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    56.432

 6.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +  1:04.425

 7.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +  1:10.313

 8.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +  1:13.792

 9.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +  1:14.525

10.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +  1:15.133

11.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:24.341

12.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:24.871

13.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +  1:25.510

14.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap

15.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap

16.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +     1 lap

17.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap

18.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap

19.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +     1 lap

20.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +    2 laps

21.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps

22.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps


Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:39.347


Not classified/retirements:


Driver        Team                         On lap

Webber        Red Bull-Renault             17

Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari           15


World Championship standings, round 19:                


Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Vettel       273        1.  Red Bull-Renault          440

 2.  Alonso       260        2.  Ferrari                   367

 3.  Raikkonen    206        3.  McLaren-Mercedes          353

 4.  Hamilton     190        4.  Lotus-Renault             302

 5.  Webber       167        5.  Mercedes                  136

 6.  Button       163        6.  Sauber-Ferrari            124

 7.  Massa        107        7.  Force India-Mercedes       99

 8.  Grosjean      96        8.  Williams-Renault           76

 9.  Rosberg       93        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         22

10.  Perez         66       

11.  Kobayashi     58       

12.  Hulkenberg    53       

13.  Di Resta      46       

14.  Maldonado     45       

15.  Schumacher    43       

16.  Senna         31       

17.  Vergne        12       

18.  Ricciardo     10       


All timing unofficial[/code]

Post-race press conference:


[spoiler]PODIUM INTERVIEWS


(Conducted by Mario Andretti)


Q. Lewis, I know you really tormented Sebastian for most of the race but you have the resolve and did a fabulous race. What I'm interested in, give me some reaction, your reaction to the circuit. Obviously everything's new, first winner, first time winner and all of that.


Lewis HAMILTON: First time winner, yeah, I'm so happy. The fans have been amazing this weekend, so thank you so much. The warm welcome we've had has been fantastic and I think this is probably one of the best, if not the best grand prix we've had all year. Especially for me and my team, this is so special. It's been a long, long time since I had a win and I'm just so proud, so proud of the work the guys did, so grateful for the support we've had.


Q. Sebastian, obviously you did everything you needed to do to protect your lead in the championship and as usual you were fantastic with your qualifying and so forth. The obvious question again is your reaction to the circuit.


Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I mean first of all thank you very much. As Lewis said, it was incredible. Actually I did my first race five years ago, the last time we were racing in the United States, so it's a very nice comeback today, it was my 100th grand prix, and amazing y'know, the amount of people we had all weekend. It's great for us to have so much support, very happy today for the team in particular. We won the Constructors' Championship so, yeah, thanks to all of you, it's been a great year, now we've got another station coming up in Brazil and as you said, in terms of the Championship it's looking a bit better after the race today. Obviously it was a close fight with Lewis, he had one chance and he took it. After that I tried to stay with him and maybe pass him again but he was probably as quick as I was and there wasn't much in between us. All in all, a great race and a great result for us.


Q. Fernando, as usual, you've been brilliant the entire season, fantastic start, as usual again, you've always done your very maximum and here again you've kept this championship fight alive, fighting to the end obviously. The same question to you, how about this circuit? You like it? You enjoy the ride? What's your reaction?


Fernando ALONSO: Yes, as Sebastian said, the circuit was fantastic but the fans were fantastic all weekend. We really enjoyed and we really have to say big thanks to all the fans coming here, all the Americans, the Mexicans and all the South Americans that came also to support us. So the circuit... basically the layout is challenging for us, challenging for the engine as well. As I said we enjoyed racing here thanks to the fans, thanks to the fantastic facilities and I hope we put on a good show for everybody and people will enjoy even more next year.


PRESS CONFERENCE


Q. Lewis, an absolutely fantastic drive and victory in a straight fight with Red Bull Racing and with Sebastian. How much satisfaction does that give you?


LH: A huge amount. It's been a great weekend, to be able to beat Red Bull and Sebastian is definitely a tough challenge but we managed to do it today. I don't know, we weren't so bad in the first stint but it was very difficult to follow and to get past. In trying to do so I locked… my tyres went off. We pitted maybe two laps before Sebastian, so then he came out quite far ahead but traffic really worked out quite well for once. Traffic usually catches me out, so I was glad that it worked slightly in my favour at some points. But yeah, what a great feeling to win the first grand prix here, back in the States, I won the last one here as well, so I'm massively proud.


Q. Where was the Red Bull so strong? Because it did take quite a few DRS efforts before you managed to make it.


LH: It was everywhere, they're pretty strong everywhere. I think it was more so… the first sector is very difficult to follow through Four, Five, Six, Seven, such high speed it's quite difficult to follow through there. The place where he really extended his gap was the exit of Nine. That was really where, in the most important part, where he made over a second gap, so I was struggling to really get… to remain close. As I said with traffic it all worked out really well. He kind of… I knew that lap would be the lap that I would have a chance, so I turned the engine up and got close.


Q. Sebastian you did all you could and you've extended your championship lead. What are your feelings after second place?


SV: I think, as Lewis said, obviously it was close between us, there wasn't much between. I think very quickly we noticed that Lewis is the one we are racing. Obviously, for the rest, I don't know what happened to Mark - he was quite a while in third place. After that, obviously, there was a big gap down to the Ferraris, so yeah, it was clear that we were racing Lewis. Everything seemed to be in control. As Lewis touched on, with traffic it's quite difficult depending where you get it on the track. Surely it didn't work in my favour. Lewis was then close enough, after he tried many times before, to open his rear wing and then down the back straight, it was a bit of an invitation really. It didn't matter which side I would have picked, they were quick enough on the straight and he took the lead fair enough. After that I tried to be as close as I could but, as he said, it was difficult to follow, difficult to get in range. So, bit of a shame to lose first place but as you said I think we did everything we could. Fantastic job for the team today to seal the Constructors' Championship against Ferrari who are now in second. I'm very happy with that and the guys can be, for sure, very proud of themselves. I think we will have a drink tonight, enjoy the time here. All weekend has been incredible, I think, for all of us, for the whole Formula One paddock here. The last race [in the US] obviously, as Lewis said, he won it. It was my first race in Formula One here in the United States and to come back and get so much support, so may fans… The signing session yesterday was absolutely crazy and full grandstands, so full house. It was really, really nice to race today in front of the crowd.


Q. Fernando, really a fantastic start and then it was just a matter of holding station.


FA: Yes, we know our championship keeps alive maybe thanks to the first laps. We always qualify around seventh or eighth and we finish the first lap in the first three or four positions normally and then after that the race becomes a little easier when that happens, when you are in the leading group, and today we knew that was a good chance, try to overtake people at the first corner, and then the pace on Sunday normally improves so we knew that if we are in the leading group we can more or less keep the pace. Today not possible to keep the pace with these two guys, that they were too far ahead but enough to keep for the guys behind. And then I think this podium, after all the difficulties we went through this weekend is like a victory for us. Losing three points maybe was in no-one's thoughts I think yesterday night or Friday night after seeing the practice, so we are really happy again to have a very good Sunday and score again good points.


QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR


Q. (Michael Schmidt - Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, your teammate stopped with another alternator problem, you probably heard that over the radio. To what extent is that a concern? It seems to be an unsolved problem.


SV: I don't know what happened to him, so I need to check, obviously. The first info I only get now, so it's hard to comment but in case it was the alternator, it's not good news but I think we've managed the last couple of races pretty well so I'm sure it should be easy to explain, to find the problem. After Monza, I think we learned the lesson and we should be prepared enough for next week.


Q. (Leonid Novozhilov - F1 Live) To all three of you: with what feelings will you go to the last race in Brazil?


LH: For me, it's excitement that we have a good car and hopefully we can try to compete again with these guys. I'm obviously not fighting for the championship. It's maybe more exciting for these guys but for me, I'm just having fun.


SV: I think pretty much the same as Lewis: excited because the car seems to work very well, good enough to fight for a win. We've been very quick in Brazil the last couple of years so plenty to look forward to. On top of that, we increased our lead in the championship today so I think we are in the best possible position.


FA: We will try to go to Brazil with the possibility to fight for the World Championship which is something that we fight for all through the year and we arrived in that fantastic position. Only Sebastian is in a better position than us but we should be proud of ourselves so try to enjoy the Brazil race and do our best, fight all the race and see what is the outcome at the end.


Q. (Adam Hay–Nicholls - Metro) Seb, what were you complaining about when Lewis overtook you?


SV: I think you misunderstood. I wasn't complaining about Lewis, obviously. I wasn't too happy send a nice big invitation to Lewis when I obviously had to go through Karthikeyan and he was basically right behind at the DRS zone; to do a big difference within one corner is hardly possible and then he took that opportunity - fair enough - down the straight and passed me. I tried to defend, I moved to the inside but I knew that he would have so much more speed that he can pick either side, so it didn't really matter what I was doing and after that, I was obviously not too happy, because on all the laps before I tried to manage the gap to him, tried to manage the tyres until the end of the race, to be able to attack towards the last couple of laps. We had, I think, something like 20 laps, 15 laps to go at the time. It was not targeted at Lewis, it was more targeted at the backmarker which, as I said, gave a nice big envelope with an invitation to Lewis.


Q. (Sarah Holt - CNN.com world sport) It was a similar question, actually, but we don't often see you, Sebastian, being very emotional but we heard you being emotional on the radio there. A question about the pressures you're feeling. You've been in this position twice before, is it harder third time around?


SV: I don't think it had anything to do with that in that moment. I was really thinking about the points that could make a difference today or next week or the championship. I wanted to win today. I had a fantastic race, I was very happy, enjoyed the fight with Lewis a lot and obviously through that lost the lead. Equally knew that we can get it back but as it turned out it was extremely difficult. We had the same pace so I think I was probably in the same boat as Lewis, the first half of the race where I was just trying to get close enough to try and get the move done but that didn't happen until the end. I think many times it's difficult for you to judge what's going on because not all the messages get broadcast so we do communicate quite a bit during the race - sometimes calmer, sometimes not so calm so at that moment, obviously, I wasn't too happy to lose the lead.


Q. (David Estrada – Port Arthur News) Lewis, welcome to the United States; you had celebration champagne. Are you going to have a celebration barbecue tonight?


LH: I had a few burgers last night so I was nice and heavy today! I tell you what, I'm so happy to be here. We've had such a great weekend. I actually don't really drink. I had a little bit of champagne, it doesn't really taste that good. Fernando said it was 7-Up or Sprite at the last race, it wasn't the same this time. Tonight, hopefully I can get together with the team tonight. We already did last night but I'm sure we will celebrate tonight.


SV: He said earlier he... and I saw him exchanging phone numbers with the girls on the podium. He said earlier we'll have a good time tonight!


LH: I think it was the other way around actually! He stayed behind. That's why we were late here.


SV: He was first, you know, not just in the race but also picking up the girls.[/spoiler]


German carmaker Daimler is now in full control of the Mercedes Formula 1 team after buying the stake owned by Aabar Investments.


Aabar owned a 40 per cent stake after first buying into the Brawn GP team in 2009 before the company and Daimler became the sole owners in 2011, having acquired the stakes owned by team management including Ross Brawn and Nick Fry.


The team was renamed Mercedes for the start of the 2010 season.


On Monday, Daimler confirmed it is now the only owner of the Brackley-based squad after completing the purchase of the final stake for an undisclosed figure.

[Lineker]

Renault will switch Red Bull on to its newest specification of alternator for the championship decider in Brazil following Mark Webber's failure in the United States Grand Prix.

Webber suffered Red Bull's third alternator failure in a race this year at Austin, dropping him out of third position.

That problem prompted concerns from the team about that area of the car, which has left engine partner Renault in no doubt that Red Bull must switch to the newer spec for this weekend's Interlagos showdown.

Renault's head of trackside operations Remi Taffin told AUTOSPORT about the plans for Brazil: "It is very simple. We go for the new spec. It has passed all the tests."

Red Bull elected not to use the newer specification, which was raced by other Renault teams, because it felt safer using the older specification that had so far proved trouble-free.

When asked why that decision had been made if the newer units had passed all reliability tests, Taffin said: "Because they are human beings and at some point as humans they have some feelings.

"It was a common decision, so we put everything on the table and we decided altogether we should go that way. We had everything to fit either the old or new design.

"But the feeling was generally that there is some sense to keep on using something that we have known for years with low mileage and stuff like that, even if we had a new solution that we knew had gone through all the tests.

"Maybe it is a bit more difficult to understand, but put yourself in the situation where you have to make a decision.

"Sometimes you go into a shop and there are two different things and your head says you should buy this one but your heart says you should buy the other one."

Taffin added that the fact that Renault's other teams had successfully used the revised newer specification of alternator last weekend meant that Red Bull should have no concerns about its reliability for Brazil.

"This is the first Sunday it has been used, but now we are up to 2000km on a few items with track and dyno testing, so there is nothing we would do more on this item before we fit it on the car."

[Adam]

Is the last race gonna be live on BBC at least?

[Lineker]

Yes.

[Adam]

Good, means I have something to do on Sunday! Depending what time it is I guess.

[Lineker]

5pm start.

[Adam]

Oh. Nevermind then.

[Katsuya]

Lotus have signed a multi-year deal with Coca-Cola, which is a pretty big deal I'd say.

[Lineker]

Lotus have signed a multi-year deal with Coca-Cola, which is a pretty big deal I'd say.

Yup, you're right. Here's the full story:

The Coca-Cola company will enter Formula 1 next year, AUTOSPORT has learned, with the soft drinks company understood to have a signed a sponsorship deal with a leading team.

The deal will be announced on Thursday afternoon at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Although it is not clear which outfit has secured the contract, AUTOSPORT understands that the high-profile tie-up is with a team that has won a race this season.

Recent speculation that the team is McLaren, is believed to be wide of the mark however, especially with the team already having ties with the soft-drinks industry through Lucozade owner GlaxoSmithKline.

Several teams have been chasing tie-ups with Coca-Cola, which is set to promote one of its other brands rather than its most famous drink.

Coca-Cola brands include Fanta, Sprite, Vitaminwater, Powerade and Burn. One of the latter energy drinks is understood to be the most likely brand to be used in F1.

That would put it in direct competition with Red Bull - which has achieved huge promotion through its ownership of the championship-winning F1 team.

Coca-Cola branding previously appeared on Tomas Enge's car in F3000 over a decade ago and the company also sponsors the annual 600-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte.

The Coca-Cola Company has confirmed it will sponsor the Lotus Formula 1 team through its Burn brand, as reported earlier by AUTOSPORT.

Burn will join an F1 grid that features increasing amounts of energy drink sponsorship by companies such as Red Bull, TNT and Monster.

"We are proud that The Coca-Cola Company [via Burn] has chosen Lotus F1 Team as the best vehicle to represent the burn brand in its most high profile partnership," said team boss Eric Boullier.

"We are excited to partner with burn to build a new and innovative model for sponsorships that will combine experiences, content creation and social media."

Burn said in a statement that it plans to incorporate "art and music in a way that will break the conventions of traditional F1 sponsorship".

The team said details of the sponsorship will be revealed in 2013 when the partnership officially launches.

Elsewhere: lots of 2013 driver news and HRT's future + more!!

Pedro de la Rosa has admitted the whole HRT team remains in the dark about its future as it continues to seek a buyer.

Owner Thesan Capital put the squad up for sale earlier this month. Thesen had taken HRT over from Jose Ramon Carabante in July last year.

It now faces a race against time to secure a buyer ahead of the November 30 deadline to pay the entry fee for the Formula 1 2013 season.

De la Rosa said the lack of information made the situation even worse for HRT employees.

"It's not easy for anybody, especially for the mechanics and engineers who from now on have to fight for their future because we don't know what will happen," de la Rosa told reporters in Brazil.

"None of us know what will happen, but we have to assume that the team will continue and that we still have to do the best possible job and forget about all this. It's easy to say but difficult to do, but people are being very professional.

"All I know is that we are here and everyone that is here has not received anything. We are here and we are working until the end. What happens afterwards is unknown, but unknown to everyone. It's not that I know more, or that someone knows about it. I don't think anyone knows at the moment."

Reports in the Spanish media over the week said HRT's Madrid factory has no employees now, and AUTOSPORT understands that as of November 26, the race team employees are out of work as well.

De la Rosa, who signed a two-year contract with HRT, said he would still be interested in staying on if the team continues, but he made it clear that it would depend on the new situation.

"I hope the team continues, but at this moment in time I can't say anymore," added de la Rosa.

"I'm not a short-term personality. I always think long-term and when I decided to come here I said two years minimum because that's what you need to make progress and I haven't changed my view. But obviously I would need to know if the team will continue and how and under which conditions and with whom we are going to continue."

The Spaniard reckons the economic situation in his country has also affected HRT.

"The backing from Spain has been smaller than expected, mainly because we have inherited a very difficult economic situation back home. We cannot ask for more support given the situation when people are losing their jobs, etc."

Nonetheless, de la Rosa said he was very proud of what his team had achieved during the 2012 season, especially given its lack of resources.

"It's been a very good season given our limitations and the budget that we had and the development we have been able to achieve. I think it's quite outstanding. I'm very proud of it, even though the limitations we had have been enormous.

"We should not forget we started with 70-75 people and ended up with 83, and this is our whole operation. When you at teams like Marussia and Caterham they are more than double in numbers, well over. There are no secret in Formula 1 and we've done well with that we had."

Esteban Gutierrez looks all but certain to be announced as Sauber's second driver for the 2013 Formula 1 season after McLaren-bound Sergio Perez said his fellow Mexican would race for the Swiss team.

The inadvertent admission by Perez at Interlagos came following Sauber's announcement that it would reveal its 2013 driver line-up by the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.

It has already signed current Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg for one of its seats.

Incumbent Kamui Kobayashi's position has been in doubt for several months as he hunted for more funding. At Interlagos on Thursday the Japanese driver conceded he might not be on the 2013 grid.

Gutierrez and Perez share the same Mexican backers, including Telmex, as part of the country's efforts to establish itself as an F1 force.

Asked by Spanish-speaking journalists how competitive he expected Sauber to be in 2013, Perez cited a Hulkenberg/Gutierrez driver line-up as one of its key assets.

"The car will be strong because the rules don't change much, and the team have a good experienced driver in Nico and he will have a strong team-mate in Esteban," said Perez.

Pushed to confirm that meant Gutierrez's Sauber race deal was finalised, Perez laughed and said "we are waiting for the announcement."

Gutierrez made his grand prix weekend debut in Friday practice in India when Perez was unwell.

A former GP3 and Formula BMW Europe champion, he has been in the Sauber fold for several years, having first tested for the team in 2009 as his reward for his FBMW success.

His past two seasons in GP2 with the ART/Lotus team did not live up to expectations, but the 21-year-old took three wins on his way to third in this year's standings.

Kamui Kobayashi fears his chances of securing a drive for the 2013 Formula 1 season are narrowing as he continues to search for a sponsor.

The Japanese driver was asked for financial backing in order to stay at Sauber, which is set to announce Mexican Esteban Gutierrez as Nico Hulkenberg's team-mate for next year.

Sauber said it will name its second driver during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.

With Kobayashi still seeking sponsorship, he reckons he has a better chance of being on the grid in 2014 than next year.

"My future? Well, if I could win it would be fantastic," the Japanese driver joked at Interlagos on Thursday.

"This is Formula 1. I need to work it out. Overall I think there is a bigger chance of a top team in 2014. We'll see. I'm working very hard to get a sponsor."

Kobayashi was coy when asked about Sauber's planned announcement this weekend.

"At the moment I think it's very difficult to say anything about the future," he added. "If I say too much there is no point for them to announce anything. Someone said Monisha [Kaltenborn] will announce it this weekend but I don't know. At the moment I can't say anything about it.

"I don't know what they want to announce."

Heikki Kovalainen is increasingly pessimistic about his chances of being on the Formula 1 grid next year.

The Finn has been driving for the Caterham team - previously Lotus - for the past three seasons and admitted he wanted to stay on for 2013.

But with Caterham delaying its decision on drivers, a sanguine Kovalainen reckons his chances are now slim, especially as he is not interested in trying to find a sponsor to secure the drive.

"I'm not too stressed about it. It is what it is. If it's the last race it's a shame, but the situation is quite tricky for me and there is not much more that I can do," said Kovalainen.

"If that's what it's going to be that's what it's going to be. I'm just fully focused on this weekend and on trying to achieve the best result for the team.

"Who knows what's going to happen, but from my experience it's never good when it's this late in the season and things have not been decided. But that's how it is.

"I know I'm on the list. I still have a very good relationship with Tony [Fernandes] and the team and it could well be that I stay here, but just from my experience I know how things are in Formula 1. And when it gets late it's never a good sign."

Kovalainen admitted he is looking for other options in F1 and beyond, but says he has been asked for money to stay in grand prix racing and dislikes that approach.

"It won't be the end, whatever happens. I have a life. I'm not going to go and kill myself," he said. "Of course we are looking at the options, outside F1 as well, but also in F1.

"But even the other options require some money, and I don't want to go that route. I told my manager not to actively find money. I don't think it leads to anything.

"If you have a big backer like Santander that went with you to a team it's a different thing. But to collect the money for one season doesn't do anything. It's not what it's all about.

"I just don't think there is a structure for it. I think there needs to be a clear plan to go and find money to race in the middle of the grid. It doesn't appeal to me."

Caterham has dropped behind rival Marussia in the crucial battle for 10th place in the championship. Kovalainen reckons recovering that lucrative spot "probably would help" his 2013 chances.

The Finn reckons he has been driving very well at Caterham, but feels that the lack of results has made it hard for other teams to notice him.

"I've reached a good level. I very rarely have bad races anymore. Most of time I get the best out of the car.

"I have a lot to offer but the situation in Formula 1 as it is might not fit me. It might not have room for me.

"There is nothing I can do about it. I can't get any better results to show other teams, and if the results here are not enough to go forward or to stay here then so be it."

Bruno Senna believes he is still in his Formula 1 learning curve and would be much more competitive with a second full season with a competitive team in 2012.

The Brazilian has been overshadowed by his Spanish Grand Prix-winning team-mate Pastor Maldonado at Williams this year.

Qualifying has been a particular issue for Senna, who now faces an uncertain future, particularly given Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas's strong Friday form. The Finn has taken Senna's car for Friday morning practice at most 2012 races.

Senna started his F1 career with HRT in 2010, contesting 18 of the 19 races with the backmarker team. He then replaced Nick Heidfeld at Renault for the final eight rounds of the 2011 season before signing for Williams this year.

"It's been a challenging season with lots of learning, some results and some tough races as well," he said.

"Considering it's my first year in F1 with the small handicap of not doing Friday, in the end most of my races were very strong but starting from a different position to where I should be starting has made me score less points.

"At the end of the day it is learning. You do better at the second attempt so for sure there will be a lot of improvement to be done next year."

He added that he currently had no doubt whether he would retain his Williams seat.

"It is undecided," Senna admitted.

"I think we have to wait until after the season to see what is going to happen, so let's see if it comes in the right way and we can be in a competitive car next year."

Renault has switched all its Formula 1 teams onto its newest specification alternators for this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix, following Mark Webber's failure in the United States.

With post-race analysis of Webber's broken alternator from last weekend showing a repeat of the problem that put Sebastian Vettel out of the European and Italian Grands Prix, Renault believes the safest solution is to make partner teams Red Bull, Lotus, Williams and Caterham all use the latest version.

Although the change of alternators comes at a crucial time for Red Bull, which is fighting for the world championship against Ferrari in Brazil, Renault is confident that the latest specification is the best solution.

Renault's head of trackside operations Remi Taffin said dyno testing and a detailed analysis of the new alternator that Romain Grosjean raced for the first time at Austin has given it confidence about reliability.

"We have had no issues at all," he told AUTOSPORT about the new alternators. "We sent the one from Grosjean's car back to France to strip it and make sure that everything is fine. We wanted to make sure we did everything we could do, and that was all fine."

When asked if he was as relaxed as he could be about the alternator situation ahead of such a key weekend, Taffin said: "Yes. I can bet you anyone in the pitlane will tell you they are 100 per cent confident for the race, but maybe you will find some say 99 per cent, and I will say I am 99 per cent for here.

"There is no reason [to worry]. We have plenty of other reasons to have a problem - but not this one."

Grosjean and the two Caterhams were the first to race with the new alternators at Austin and, with them encountering no problems while Webber retired with an unusual early failure with an older version, Taffin said there was no other option but to change over for this weekend.

"We sent back the parts [of Webber's alternator] to our headquarters in France and we actually stripped it and we could clearly see that the problem is the same as we experienced in Monza and Valencia. It was exactly the same failure.

"It is very early in terms of mileage and also early in terms of batch, chronologically speaking, so we have no other choice but to go for the next specification."

Mercedes is set to abandon its Coanda-effect exhaust for the final race of the season in a bid to try and get a better understanding of its tyre situation.

After Nico Rosberg reverted to the non-Coanda design in Austin to assist the team's 2013 development programme, the team has elected to switch both its drivers to the old version for the final weekend of the season.

Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug explained that the team felt its testing of Pirelli's 2013 rubber, which is being undertaken on Friday, would be aided if the team was running the standard exhausts.

"We are definitely starting without [the Coanda exhausts]," said Haug when asked by AUTOSPORT about the plans for this weekend.

"We want to start the tyre tests without any influence. We have proper data that we can compare with what we had at the start of the year, and then we will probably leave it like that."

Haug added that the way the Coanda exhausts were impacting on tyre temperatures left the team feeling that it would gain more running without them.

"We think it still has an influence on heating the tyres," he said. "There is also a little bit of a lack of aero downforce which we could not improve compared to the others.

"We think we will have a more realistic base to what we had at the beginning of the season and we work from there. But it is very clear that you have to have Coanda next year, because it gives you a benefit."

When asked if there were any plans for the team to switch back to the Coanda exhausts for Saturday, Haug said: "Not currently, no."

Thursday's press conference:

DRIVERS - Felipe MASSA (Ferrari), Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren), Bruno SENNA (Williams), Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull Racing), Michael SCHUMACHER (Mercedes), Fernando ALONSO (Ferrari)

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. A very important weekend for everybody, the final weekend of the championship and lots of pressure all round, apart, perhaps, from Michael Schumacher. You've been here before Michael, you have an extraordinary record at this race and you're finally ending your championship bid after many, many years, after many seasons. What are your feelings coming into this weekend?

Michael SCHUMACHER: I guess I have some experience and that's why, probably, I'm rather relaxed about the happenings. On top [of that] we are not in any championship fight compared to last time that happened to me, obviously. Well, I'll just take the best out of it and enjoy it as much as I can.

Q. Is there a certain sadness?

MS: Probably not, no.

Q. Quite happy to leave it.

MS: Yeah, I have tried that mission to end successful. It didn't work this time but I'm quite happy to finish from here and go for a different life again.

Q. Felipe, if we can come to you. You've won here twice before, what can you do to help Fernando win the championship.

Felipe MASSA: Well, first of all I'll try to win a third time. That's always the right direction to think about racing – always thinking about victory. Here is a very special place for me and I'm going to try to win and hopefully Fernando can finish second without any problems to win the championship.

Q. Just give us a bit of a summary of your season so far. What are your thoughts on the season?

FM: I think it was a very difficult season until August. So, struggling... in some of the races I was not struggling but I could not put together the result. Always happened something in the race that I couldn't finish in the right position. I would say after August everything was better and we were able to put together the right… almost the right result at every race. It was a very good second part of the season and very good preparation for next year.

Q. Lewis, we saw what you can do in this championship last weekend, a fantastic race, and of course you won the championship here; you know what it's all about this final race of the series. For you, you've been with McLaren for many years, it's your final race for McLaren. How do you approach this weekend?

Lewis HAMILTON: Good morning everyone. It's quite a unique experience for me. I've obviously never been in the situation I'm in this weekend, where it's my last race for the team I grew up in. It's going to be a tough one. Nonetheless, we're going to push as hard as we can, as we did in the last race, and try to win. I've never won here before. So I'm going to have to try and beat Felipe, as he wants to win it. It's such a beautiful race here so hopefully the weather will hold up for us.

Q. After so many years with McLaren what are your feelings leaving the team?

LH: I only have good memories. I leave with just the greatest memories, the best experiences and hopefully a lot of good friends I will continue to be friends with throughout the future. I was just saying to them that even though I'll be with Mercedes, I'll probably keep coming back to have lunch and dinner back at the hospitality because the food's great there. So, I hope Mercedes' hospitality lives up to the one we have.

Q. Bruno, a summary of your season so far.

Bruno SENNA: It's been a very challenging season, lots of learning. We got some very good results and some tough races as well. Considering it was my first full year in Formula One, and with the small handicap of not doing free practice on Fridays, I think it's been a pretty good year. In the end most of my races have been very strong. Just starting from a different position from where I should be starting has made me score less points than I could have had. In the end of the day it's learning and you normally do much better on the second attempt at the same thing, so for sure there will be a lot of improvement to be done for next year.

Q. Are you confident there will be a next year? The future seems to be undecided at the moment.

BS: Yeah it's undecided and I think we will have to wait until after the season to see what's going to happen. Let's hope it comes in a good way and we can be in a competitive car for next season.

Q. Sebastian to some extent we look at an unpredictable weekend, in that the weather seems to be unpredictable and there's a little bit of a question mark over the reliability. To what extent are you nervous about this weekend?

Sebastian VETTEL: In terms of general preparation we do what we can. Weather-wise, it's Sao Paulo. It's the same as if you go to Spa, you know, things can happen quickly and the weather can change a lot here, so… yeah, I spoke to some locals and I think there was a big rain two days ago which wasn't expected. Probably for Saturday, Sunday there's some rain on the way, but then again you don't know how much and when so I think I asked Pirelli yesterday if they have all the containers here with the rain tyres, and that's the case, so I don't think we have to be concerned.

Q. At the same time you can be confident: 13-point lead in the championship, you've had excellent results here, Red Bull have had excellent results here.

SV: Yeah, I think the circuit seemed to suit our car in previous years. I think we need to confirm it. So all eyes on Friday, to start the weekend, to get into the groove, but I think we can be as confident as we could in this stage. Obviously we know there is a lot ahead but we are in a great position.

Q. Michael, we'll come back to you again. It's been 20 years of grand prix racing. How can you sum it up?

MS: Well, I don't think we have long enough here to sum it up, but let's put it that way: It was mostly 20 good years and lots of fun and lots of excitement.

Q. You'd recommend it to Sebastian would you?

MS: Well, I just remember when I was in the early days, I said if you're going to do this four or five years that's going to be probably most of it, and then I will be tired and I can't see myself longer than this. Obviously it became almost 21 years. I'm pretty sure it's difficult for those guys to imagine that longer time ahead, but let's see.

Q. Fernando, it's quite difficult for you from where you are, 13 points behind in the championship. What are the chances this weekend?

FA: Well, I think we need to try to do a normal weekend, try to score as many points as we can, obvious it will be good to be in the podium and score a minimum 15 points and then when we cross the line we see where Sebastian is and we try to do some numbers after that. The first priority for us is to be in the podium, let's say, which give us the possible to score more than 13 points and then we need to wait obviously for the results from Red Bull because we have not… it is not in our hands, we have not much to lose, we have only the possibility to win something and we will try to do our best.

Q. Regardless of what happens this weekend, what do Ferrari need to do to be in a better position for next year?

FA: Well, we are working hard, it was a tough season for us, the first couple of months were not as we expected. When we put the car on the circuit the first time in Jerez we were two seconds off the pace and we didn't understand how was the car working so we changed many things. There was a lot of work going on in the wind tunnel in Maranello, in the car itself and after some understanding of the car we were a little bit more in the pace and we were able to fight for podiums more or less constantly all the season and that gave the possibility to be right now fighting for the World Championship. But we are not totally happy with the performance of the car all through the season and many changes will be for next year and hopefully we can recover a little bit of the gap we have now. In winter we will have to do an extra job compared to the other teams to recover this gap.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Kate Walker – Girl Racer) Seb, despite your enviable record in this sport, quite often people say… or they may not give you the credit that you might feel you deserve because you've always had such a strong car. How does it feel for you hearing people say 'oh, I'd like to see him in a different car, I'd like to see him in a worse car'? Does that demotivate you or motivate you to just prove everybody wrong?

SV: Well I think if you look back, I don't know how far, but as far as I can look back, I think there was never people, y'know, really, really successful in a really bad car. I think you always… I think it's a natural thing to happen that one day you have strong drivers in a strong team so you end up with a strong combination and then obviously that is difficult to beat. I think it's natural to start in a weaker car, I think we have all been in that situation. Michael started in a Jordan which wasn't competitive but he set some highlights, Fernando I think started in a Minardi, set some highlights. Obviously in my case I started with the BMW, replacing Robert for one race, which was a great chance and then afterwards I got the seat in Toro Rosso, which at the time was not a very competitive car but I think we did a very good job and even won a race. Obviously with the circumstances allowing us to close the gap back then but… yeah, nevertheless I think we had a great season, finishing in the points a couple of times and obviously after that to step up to Red Bull Racing and 2009 was a great and fantastic season for myself, for the team, for the first time to be competitive, finishing on the podiums, win races, so I think it was a fairly normal way that I went.

Q. (Simon Cass – Daily Mail) Another one for Seb, would you like to have a team-mate like Felipe Massa? And you were very cool about the situation last weekend: will you be just as cool about the situation last weekend if you're not World Champion on Sunday?

SV: Well what they do is not in our hands. I didn't follow up if Felipe had a real trouble with the gearbox or not but as I said it's not our job to focus on these things. After seeing Felipe on Sunday night in Austin I'm not sure whether he would be a good team-mate! No, I'm joking. I think obviously it is a different approach compared to my team but that's how life is. I think everyone handles certain situations in a different way.

Q. (Frederic Ferret – L'Equipe) Michael, you know both of the contenders for a long time, what kind of memory will you give us for Seb and for Fernando? And question for Seb and Fernando, what kind of memory will you keep from Michael?

MS: Well, I mean obviously with Fernando I have had quite a few more years together competing and fighting championships. Obviously that is slightly different in this respect, it was tough moments. I mean, he was unfortunately in quite a few moments looking very strong and doing too good a job honestly – should have taken it easy and looked after the old man! But on Seb's side, we've been friends for a long time and I sort of follow his career into Formula One and seeing him doing so well, obviously makes me proud. We've both grown up on my home track in Kerpen and to see from where he started to end up and kind of being dominant for quite a while recently, that's quite an achievement.

Q. And you two on Michael.

FA: I think we will always remember the privilege to race and compete with someone like Michael that will be record in history of Formula One, maybe for a very long time and we've been there, we've been in the grid close to him. As Michael said, some good fights and great respect on the circuit and always constantly learning with someone that changed a little bit this sport.

SV: I think it's a little bit different for Fernando than it is for me because obviously I had the privilege to meet Michael when I was a small kid. He was my childhood hero. Maybe he can close his ears or shut his ears now, but he was a true inspiration back then, for me and for many other kids, as he mentioned, in Kerpen. He was our hero. Obviously we had the honour to meet him. He was taking care of the championship held in Kerpen and came to the last race, gave all the trophies to everyone, every child, more than 100 at the time, so he was very patient and now, obviously, we understand that the busy schedule that he had, taking that extra time for the fans but especially for us, for the kids who were racing, was something very special, a very special memory. When I met him the first time, obviously I didn't know what to say because I didn't want to ask something stupid but for sure, I remember these moments and then later on. Today I think it's a little bit different because you are more grown up, you have a normal relationship so when I talk to him now, it doesn't feel like talking to my childhood hero, it feels like talking to Michael so I see the person rather than what he has achieved but obviously, if you remind yourself of that and the fact that I was racing against him for the last couple of years, unfortunately not as close as he probably shared with Fernando, but still that thought or that image was very very far away when I was a small kid, because obviously he was already in Formula One but for me it was a dream so very far away but very special for the last couple of years, very special the relationship we share and I think he will always be an inspiration for myself.

Q. (Marco dell'Innocenti - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Sebastian, Bernie Ecclestone said to the German Bild Zeitung that despite you already having won two titles and maybe now a third, you miss out on charisma, compared to former drivers such as Hunt, Senna, Lauda. And he also said that not only you but all the drivers of your generation are more or less in the same situation, because, he said, teams pampered you too much and the FIA put muscle to you, so you are not free to explain yourselves. What do you think about that? Maybe this is also a general question; if somebody else would like to answer, I would appreciate it.

SV: Well, I think it's a difficult question. I don't know exactly what he said but maybe he was just taking the piss out of... sorry, maybe he was just taking the mickey out of the newspaper which is very possible with Bernie, but given what he said what you just said, I think generally it's difficult. Hopefully I have a little bit left in the sport so I can make up a little bit but also I think these days are very different to the previous days in terms of the freedom that we have. To give you an example, imagine that you find all of us, sitting here on Saturday night having a beer, even if it's just one beer, it would be a massive scene on Sunday. Yeah, unfortunately it's not that easy as maybe it used to be in the past. Last race we were in Austin, in Texas. The last winner in Texas was Keke Rosberg in 1984, I think, and he was having a smoke on the podium. I'm not sure whether people would be too happy with that when they already get excited when sometimes the language is not appropriate after just getting out of the car.

Q. (Paul Weaver - The Guardian) Fernando, if win the championship, people will recalls some great driving from you, but do you think your achievement will be damaged by the memory of what Ferrari did to your teammate's gearbox in the last race in Texas?

FA: Funny. I think we've seen so many scenes coming from the teams, not only this year but in the past in Formula One; we don't need to go too far this year with some of the races that we had some doubts - even Saturday night - of which teams and from which position they will start, depending on some decisions or some limits that they were finding in the regulations which we saw this year from many teams. I'm proud of my team, it was a strategic decision, to start on the clean side with both cars, also fighting for the Constructors championship that is one of the targets that we have, beating McLaren and it worked quite well. Because it worked quite well, maybe the people were not very happy but I'm proud of my team, more than anything it's because they said the truth when we changed the gearbox. Not many teams are able to say the truth when they make a strategic decision.

Q. (Andy Benson - BBC Sport) Fernando, Lewis is moving teams next year. You've been his teammate, what can Nico expect? What's it like having Lewis as a teammate?

FA: I think it will be fine for him, it will be a good challenge at Mercedes, and as a teammate, I think he will be very strong, so Nico will have some extra work to do. After three years with Michael, I think Nico keeps learning many things and another tough challenge with Lewis will arrive. I think they will be very strong. I think Nico and Lewis together, with the Mercedes, they can be serious contenders for next year. In the future, who knows, but I have a lot of respect for Lewis. I always said that he's probably the best or one of the best here. I shared a year with him, it didn't work too well because maybe we were not sharing the same philosophy but without McLaren, why not?

Q. (Ian Parkes - Press Association) Fernando and Sebastian; two years ago in Abu Dhabi, Fernando you had a 15 point lead over Sebastian going into the very last race. Sebastian went and won the title. Does what happened then - although the track and circumstances are a bit different - does that give you belief as to what can be achieved? And Sebastian, does that make you fearful as to what could happen?

FA: I think these are different circumstances from Abu Dhabi. Now we have DRS, KERS so it (was) a little bit more difficult to pass (then) and maybe the rule was also introduced because of that race. I think even if you find yourself at the back of the grid, you're still able to recover positions as we saw in Abu Dhabi this year. Even if Seb started last, he finished on the podium, so we will see what we have in mind, that this is Formula One. This is a sport and anything can happen until the chequered flag so we will try to do the best race we can and, as I said, cross the line on the podium which gives us more than 13 points and see where Sebastian crosses the line. If we win, we will be very happy but we know that we need some strange combination of results; if we don't win, we will congratulate him and we will try next year. Nothing really surprising.

SV: I think we're very happy in the position that we are in. I think two years back we would have loved to have been in Fernando's position. If you could chose, I think it's clear but as Fernando said, in sport anything can happen so we need look after ourselves. The weekend starts tomorrow morning and not on Sunday, so really we have to go step by step, trying to do everything to ensure that we get the maximum result. Historically we've been very quick here, historically we know also it's quite a place where a lot of things can happen so we need to be sharp in the moment and see what we can get.

Q. (Ian Parkes - Press Association) Lewis, what memories will you be taking away from McLaren? I presume here, four years ago, will be your greatest one.

LH: I think I'll take away only the positive memories of our journey together. Obviously winning the World Championship, winning my first Grand Prix, starting out together and I guess this weekend.

Q. (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Sebastian, is there extra pressure that a lot of people think that you must win this championship?

SV: Yeah, I think it's obviously normal if you're in that position. I think we fight all year, some ups, some downs. I think everyone had the same to be in that position so now there's no reason to complain or not to be happy. Obviously there's one thing that the people expect, but another thing what we expect. All year we've been trying to push very hard and trying to put ourselves in a very strong position, to fight for the championship, ideally until the last race and be in the best possible place. Now we arrive in the last race, we are in a strong position so I think we can be happy with that but nevertheless, there's one more race to go, and as I said, we have to make sure that we focus on every single step to get the job done here.

Q. (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta) Fernando, is there less pressure in that you have nothing to lose?

FA: Well, I think in Formula One there's always pressure but definitely we have less than on some other occasions and maybe less than probably if we were leading the championship, because as you said, we have nothing really to lose. We are arriving in second position, we are arriving after two qualifyings dominated by Red Bull - well not two qualifyings, five or six - and then we were around positions seventh, eighth in the last couple of Grands Prix so recovered 13 points, it looks like a very difficult achievement and I think, as I said, if everything goes normally, we should finish second. If something happens, maybe we will win the championship so, because it's probably not in our hands, the pressure is much less.

Q. (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Fernando, do you think you will have another possibility in future, if not this year?

FA: I hope so. I think I'm 31 and I still feel that I will have some more possibilities. I'm at Ferrari for the next four or five years, minimum, so I think that will always give you the possibility to fight for World Championships. In three years at Ferrari, I arrive two times already fighting for the championship at the last race: 2010 in Abu Dhabi and now in Brazil, even with so many difficulties and chaotic years, let's say, for us, in terms of performance, in terms of problems and we were not dominant in any part of those championships, so even with those problems we are fighting for two or three years at Ferrari, so I have no doubts that in the next four or five years there will be more fights and more championships, but let's concentrate on this one.

Q. (Rodrigo Gini – Estados de Minas) Fernando, you said about the qualifying position, as you said in Austin, you said you would start in sixth, seventh. Do you think it will be the same, the gap will remain in Brazil?

SV: Yeah, I think so. I think there's no magic part that you can put on the car in five days. We were seventh in Abu Dhabi, we were ninth in Austin so I think around those positions should be the normal for here but hopefully we can do a better job.

Q. (Rodrigo Gini – Estado de Minas) Sebastian, in 2010 you needed to attack to win the championship and last year it was so easy, perhaps one can say. This year, you have an advantage to defend. Does it change your mental approach to the race, or will you take it as any other?

SV: I think the secret is to take it as any other. If you look in the calendar, Brazil is a race like every other one. You get the same amount of points and I think we are here to attack. Obviously we know that we are in a good position. Obviously, as I said, it's something we know but still we have to be - as I said before - sharp and ready to attack.

Q. (Manuel Franco Pernal – Diario AS) Fernando and Seb, if you finally win this title, will it be the most simple for you?

FA: Not really. I think winning the championship is always winning the championship. They all feel different, they all can feel special but I don't think there is one that becomes more important for you, or more special so I think it will be nice but nothing bigger than the other two.

SV: I think the man to ask sits in the middle. He has won more than two times. For us, for Fernando and me, it's the same with two championships and maybe a third, so we will see after this weekend but I don't think it makes sense to talk about it now and therefore, as I said, maybe Michael is the one to ask. He can chose from a variation of titles.

MS: I think the question was slightly different: whether this is the important one? Whichever one you win the latest one is the most sweet one.

Q. (Toni Lopez Jorda - La Vanguardia) One question for Sebastian and Fernando: at this point of the championship, looking at the whole season, do you feel that you had good luck or bad luck to arrive in this situation, with a gap of ten points?

SV: Well I think we have so many races this year, 20 races, some of them you might have a bit of luck; others you might have bad luck but I think it's the same probably for all of us, if you look over the course of 20 races. Sometimes it might feel this way or that way, but I think it evens out until the end.

FA: Yeah, it's up and downs for everyone. We have more or less two or three retirements for each of us, fighting for the championship until the end and those retirements were sometimes for mechanical problems, sometimes for accidents, sometimes they were bad luck but at the end of the day this is normal and we see what happens here.

[EddieG]

Wait, Burn still exists? I used to drink nothing but that.

[Katsuya]

Gutierrez takes the Sauber seat and Pic moves to Caterham.

[EddieG]

And a Dutch guy takes Gutierrez spot as test driver at Sauber.

[Gazz]

Kamui

[Katsuya]

The stupid thing is that Sauber have already shown how little faith they have in Gutierrez last year when they didn't even bring him to Canada, despite knowing Perez might not be 100%.

[Gazz]

Money talks