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].”

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “Monaco’s the race everyone in F1 wants to win, and it’s not just a famous F1 race, it’s one of the biggest annual events in the world. For drivers it’s a pretty hardcore race, in and out of the cars, but it’s a challenge I really enjoy and racing around the streets is one of the real highlights of being an F1 driver.

“On track it’s one of the races where the pack bunches up a bit and that might give us a chance to do something special. Last year I finished 14th, one of our higher finishes of the season, so hopefully we can improve on that this year. We have KERS this year and a car that has good race pace, and as our car is slightly easier on the tyres than some of the teams ahead, maybe that will help us achieve a high race finish.”

Vitaly Petrov: “I’ve raced a lot in Monaco, not just in Formula One. I had a podium there in GP2 when I finished second in 2009, which was good. In F1 I’ve raced there twice. The first time wasn’t so great but last year was pretty good, right up until the point I crashed! That was so disappointing, but I couldn’t avoid it. We had a good strategy and I’d had a good race up to that point, but that’s how racing goes sometimes. Monaco is an unbelievable place though. Normally, between Barcelona and Monaco we have just one week and I’d leave Barcelona on Sunday night and drive to Monaco, because on the Tuesday of the race week we have the football match for the F1 drivers, which is always great.

“The track itself is always a little bit dirty at the start of the weekend and it’s quite difficult to get tyre temperatures up during the lap. It’s tricky because the walls are so close. If you make one mistake or have a little bit of oversteer, you don’t even get a chance to correct it – you’re in the wall. It takes quite a bit of mental preparation and you need to be totally focused for every single lap of every session. The race itself? The atmosphere in the race is incredible. It’s just an amazing place to drive a racing car and I really love it.”

Mark Smith, Caterham F1 Team Technical Director: “Monaco is a unique challenge, for the drivers and the teams. The fact we are in very different garage conditions to normal, and in a cramped paddock, makes it a tough race for the truckies, the mechanics and the engineers, but it is a race we all look forward to and one that everyone wants to do well at.

“The short length of the lap and the limited high-speed sections means there is much less difference in lap times than at somewhere like Barcelona. We all use high downforce settings, and we have a specific aero configuration we will use in Monaco and probably Hungary, but the days of cars sprouting all sorts of special wings just for Monaco are behind us. The cars may not look hugely different to how they appeared in Spain, but we do have as much downforce as we can find for the whole weekend in Monte Carlo.

“The other challenges are managing the brake cooling and tyre wear. Even though it’s a stop – start lap, the brakes are not put under huge strain as the speeds never get as high as a normal track, but there is a real emphasis on making sure we cool the brakes as efficiently as possible, and that is something we worked on at the Mugello test, so we are happy we have a good solution for that.

“For the tyre wear we have planned as well as we can, but we have seen so far this season that until we are actually out on track it’s almost impossible to know which teams will be hard on the tyres and which teams will be able to manage the degradation levels well. We have the soft and the supersoft compounds in Monaco, and if the wear rates on the softs are anything like we saw in Spain, strategy will be critical.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal, Caterham F1 Team: “Before looking ahead to Monaco I want to talk about what happened after the race in Spain. We performed well in the race itself – both cars ran faultlessly and Heikki and Vitaly put in strong drives, managing their tyres well and getting as much performance as they could from the cars that afternoon.

“After the race I was absolutely delighted for Sir Frank and the whole Williams F1 Team that they won their first race in eight years. Williams is one of the cornerstones of F1 today and Sir Frank and Patrick have served as mentors for me in F1 so I owe them a great deal. When I saw what then happened in their garage I was obviously concerned for the safety of my team and all the people from teams up and down the grid who showed incredible bravery, putting themselves in the middle of a very dangerous situation to help a fellow team.

“Since the team returned to base I have received a very gracious communication from Jean Todt, thanking our boys for helping put the fire out on Sunday. The actions of the Williams team, people from our team and everyone else who helped out, stopped the situation escalating and it makes me incredibly proud to be part of a sport that shows such bravery and spirit. For us, teams like Williams set the standards we must reach on track, but we showed on Sunday that when faced we adversity we behave like a championship winning team. That spirit is at the heart of our team and it is what we will call on to keep progressing and keep fighting to emulate the teams ahead.”

Williams’s shock victory in the Spanish Grand Prix was a result of major changes made to the team over the past year, according to Pastor Maldonado.

The Venezuelan, who is in his second season with Williams, believes that the team has transformed its approach since last season under new technical director Mike Coughlan and chief operations engineer Mark Gillan.

“We took a great step forward because we changed a lot of things in the factory,” Maldonado said on Thursday.

“Part of that is that the approach when we get to the track is completely different. We put a lot of things together to make a real step forward so it’s difficult to say there is a single thing [making the difference]. We changed everything and I am really happy to be part of that.”

Maldonado admitted that the fire that engulfed the Williams pit garage around 90 minutes after the race had dampened spirits.

But despite that, the prevailing feeling was happiness about ending a Williams victory drought that stretched back to the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix.

“It was a difficult moment for all of the team,” said Maldonado of the fire. “But we have been so happy even after that because it has been nearly eight years that Williams has not got to the top of the podium. The win is a big motivation for everyone.”

For an in-depth analysis of how Williams rebuilt itself into a winning grand prix team, check out this week’s AUTOSPORT magazine

Williams has quashed speculation that Bruno Senna’s place at the team is under threat if the Brazilian does not lift his game over the next few races.

While Senna’s team-mate Pastor Maldonado delivered a brilliant victory from pole position in Spain, Senna endured a tougher weekend – spinning out of Q1 and then crashing out of the race after a collision with Michael Schumacher.

That performance prompted rumours that Williams could make a push for test driver Valtteri Bottas to make the step up, with his speed in Friday practice sessions this year having impressed his bosses.

However, Williams board member Toto Wolff says that the outfit remains totally committed to Senna – and that there is no desire to fast track Bottas in to a race seat before he is ready.

“We are not replacing anybody,” Wolff told AUTOSPORT. “We have contracts with two drivers, and we are supporting our drivers as much as we can and as well as we can.

“The decision to take on Bruno and Pastor was a very carefully taken one and we will push on – not do some knee-jerk exercise.

“With Valtteri, we are going through a development school and the decision to run him on Fridays was very carefully decided. We are not going to burn him up either by putting him in a situation that we think is not appropriate. So the rumours are rubbish.”

Pastor Maldonado believes that the driver plays a bigger part in the competitive equation under Formula 1′s current regulations.

The Spanish Grand Prix winner, speaking at the Williams factory on Thursday, likened the current situation to the GP2 series, with more drivers and cars able to be competitive and nobody having a decisive advantage.

“It has become like a GP2 championship,” said Maldonado. “The drivers can make the difference and the teams can still work on the strategy and the car.

“It’s a bit boring when you see one car winning. The season is more competitive.”

Maldonado added that despite criticism by the likes of Michael Schumacher and Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz about the tyres, it is still satisfying to win races under the current rules.

“The tyre degradation is quite big and it is true that you need to manage them,” said Maldonado.

“This is part of the race and it’s the same for everybody. There are no easy races. We need to adapt to the tyres, to the rules, to the car.”

The Venezuelan added that the Williams team’s understanding of the tyres played a key part in its success in Spain.

The way that he managed the rubber in the final stint in particular while under pressure from Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was a decisive factor in his victory.

“The Pirellis are working quite well on our car at the moment,” he said. “We have degradation, but it’s the same for everybody.

“We’ve been working on the tyres. We built the car around the tyres and developed it around them.

“We understand very well how to do it [manage the tyres] especially on the driving [style] and the engineers managing the setup of the car.”

Maldonado is confident that Williams could fight for further wins this season. He underlined that the team is getting stronger as the season goes on, although it’s difficult to predict anything because of how rapidly the competitive order is changing.

“We will do our best,” said Maldonado when asked if he could win again. “All of the teams are so close, the championship is so close and the gaps are close as well.

“But we are getting better every time. At the moment, we don’t have the quickest car on the track but we are doing our best.

“Why not [win again]? But Formula 1 is changing all of the time. It’s going to be difficult.”

McLaren says it will be ultra-hard on itself to iron out the kind of mistakes that are costing it valuable points in its battle for the world championship.

After some frustrating races where the team’s form was hit by a number of pit stop errors, plus the fuel problem that cost Lewis Hamilton pole position in Spain, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh insists the outfit is not taking the situation lightly.

“One mistake can do it, and we have made some,” he explained. “It is painful, frustrating and difficult in the team, and we get a fair amount of external scrutiny and criticisms.

“But believe me, we are much harder on ourselves and it is reasonable to be criticised if you are not getting it right.”

When asked what the team could do to limit the mistakes – especially with such a premium now on delivering error-free weekends – Whitmarsh said: “It is the obvious thing.

“We have complex processes, and lots of challenges, but we must concentrate and focus to not make mistakes. It is not magic. It is doing our job and doing it correctly.”

Whitmarsh thinks the bigger challenge for the team is not in ironing out the mistakes but in increasing its understanding of how to extract the most performance from the tyres over the remainder of the campaign.

“There is no magic in F1,” he said. “You have to work hard, look at the data, understand and study it, and then try and effect control once you have got the data.

“Once you have got the understanding, then delivering what you want to ensure you get the best out of those tyres is the next part of that challenge – and we have got some views and ideas. But with every race that goes by, perhaps we are left with a few more questions than we thought we had at the beginning of the weekend.

“We are learning something, but I don’t think there is anyone here who convinces me that they understand these tyres and knows comfortably and confidently how to exploit them on a regular basis.

“It has become an incredible feature of this championship and, inadvertently or otherwise, it is creating the extraordinary season that we are seeing.”

And with five different winners from the first five races, Whitmarsh says it is not for definite that things will become more predictable over the remainder of the campaign.

“I would like to see it settle down in our favour, but I don’t think we can rely on it,” he said.

“I think this is going to run and run – and this is going to be a great season. There will be moments of extreme agony and frustration for us, but it is great for everyone out there and that is how it should be.”

Kimi Raikkonen says that too much has been made of the impact of tyres on the racing this year – and thinks that it is the ban on refuelling that is playing a huge factor in shuffling up the order as well.

The competitiveness of the F1 field this year has meant elements like tyres are playing a bigger role in the outcome of races, with Pirelli having faced criticism that its products have now become too important in defining results.

However, Raikkonen is not convinced that Pirelli should have been singled out as the key element – because he reckons that the ban on refuelling is a big contributing factor too.

“I don’t think the nature [of F1] is different because of that,” Raikkonen told Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat about the impact of Pirelli.

“It’s because of the amount of the fuel on board. I don’t think there would be that much problem with these tyres, if we would race with 50 or 60 kilos, when we start.

“Previously the pitstops were made usually after every 20 laps, while we had less fuel. I think it would have been the same situation with Michelins and Bridgestones if we would have this much fuel as we have now.

“These tyres are good in qualifying: they have a good grip and all in all they are good tyres.”

Refuelling was banned at the start of the 2010 season that witnessed four different winners in the first five races, and produced a four-way championship finale in Abu Dhabi.

Kamui Kobayashi thinks Sauber could be in the hunt for a podium finish at the Monaco Grand Prix with the team having delivered a good step forward in pace with its latest update.

The Japanese driver bounced back from a hydraulic issue in qualifying for Spain, which left him ninth on the grid, to finish fifth – and he reckons the team can expect even more on the streets of Monte Carlo.

“I think our car will be better in Monaco than it was last year because it has improved in slow corners,” said Kobayashi. “In 2011 I finished fifth, so the target should be to finish higher up this year.

“However, even if you are given the best car in Monaco, in the end a lot is down to the driver to get the ultimate tenths of a second out of it.”

Kobayashi thinks the nature of the current season – which has seen five different teams winning the first five races – points to the fact that Sauber too can fight for good results if it delivers a perfect weekend.

“We have seen five different winners in five races. So you could say almost everything is possible this year,” he explained. “I believe we have a good car and good chances for good results.

“The final outcome always depends on a lot of factors. But what you have to do for success is to get every small thing perfectly right over the entire weekend. And this is what I’m aiming at.”

Speaking about the improvements to his C31 that were delivered in Spain, Kobayashi said: “I think we have improved in the areas we wanted to. The car is better balanced through the corners now. In terms of stability I would say it is about the same, but stability always depends a lot on the track conditions.”

Peter Sauber has announced he is transferring a third of the stake in the Sauber Group to CEO Monisha Kaltenborn.

Sauber, the founder, team principal and president of the board, will retain the other two thirds.

India-born Kaltenborn, 41, was appointed CEO of the Swiss squad in 2010, following BMW’s exit from Formula 1.

“When BMW pulled out of Formula 1 in 2009, Monisha was instrumental in the team’s survival and since then she has been doing outstanding work in her capacity as CEO,” said Sauber. “Transferring one third of the stake to her represents an important step for me in providing continuity.

“My desire is to ensure that the company continues to be led as I would want over the long term. Monisha Kaltenborn and my son Alex, who joined the company as Marketing Director in 2010 and has since also been a member of the Board of Management, both embrace this aim. It means we can offer our employees a positive outlook for the future.”

Kaltenborn added: “For me this step is a mark of the greatest possible trust, which I will do everything in my power to justify.”

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz believes Formula 1′s thrilling start the season may be great news for fans, but he feels it has turned the sport into a lottery for teams.

Five different drivers from five different teams have won the first five races of the season in one of the most open championship starts in the sport in recent times.

While Mateschitz acknowledges the unpredictability is great for the fans, he feels this year’s tyres are making the racing a lottery, as he thinks no team has managed to understand how they work so far.

“F1 is more exciting and more unpredictable than ever before,” Mateschitz told AUTOSPORT. “Obviously, caused by the rule changes before the season, the top teams moved closer together. I always had confidence in the potential of our RB8 and I still have, no doubt.

“But everyone has to learn F1 again. It has become a kind of lottery to find out the window in which a tyre works.

“And I do not believe this just happens on purpose to create more overtaking and tension in the races. I suppose no-one really understands these tyres.”

Mateschitz also admitted he has been surprised by the pace of the Lotus team this year, but he reckons the squad’s success across the season will depend on it being capable of staying on par with its rivals in terms of development.

“Lotus has been the biggest surprise of all. I think Kimi indeed had the pace to win in Bahrain. The question is how long Lotus will be capable to keep the pace of development work the other major outfits will show. If they can keep up with them they will be a force to be reckoned with.”

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh believes winning the Monaco Grand Prix would be a deserved reward for Lewis Hamilton.

The British driver has started from pole position twice this year, and he would have been first on the grid in Spain had he not being sent to the back of the grid for not having enough fuel onboard at the end of qualifying.

Hamilton, however, is yet to finish higher than third this season and Whitmarsh says he would like his driver to be the sixth winner in 2012 in next week’s race in Monte Carlo.

“He is in that frame of mind, he deserves it – there is absolutely no doubt about it,” said Whitmarsh. “We have to work hard, make sure he has got a good car, make sure we don’t make any mistakes, and make sure he is in a position to fulfil his potential at a circuit where he has won in F3, GP2 and F1.

“He has won it in every category – so he would like to win it again.”

Although Whitmarsh believes his team will be in good shape for fight for victory in the principality, he is aware that it is impossible to make predictions this season.

“We have won more Monacos than anyone else, we go there with the belief that we can win, but anyone who makes predictions in this sport at the moment would be nuts,” he said.

“It really is virtually impossible to make these predictions – five races in, five winners, five different constructors – and it could be after Monaco six races and six different winners. I hope not six constructors, I hope we can win that.”

The Williams mechanic badly burned in the fire in the team’s pits after the Spanish Grand Prix has returned back to Britain to receive further medical care.

Having spent the last two days in a hospital in Barcelona as the result of the injuries he suffered when fuel caught alight at the back of the garage, the mechanic was flown to a British hospital to continue his recovery.

Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillan said that the mechanic was in a stable condition despite the burns he suffered.

“There were a number of people who attended the circuit medical centre, mostly as the result of smoke inhalation,” said Gillan about the injuries members of his team suffered.

“One team member remains in hospital having suffered burns, but he is in a stable condition and in good spirits and has returned to England today for further medical care.”

Williams is still conducting a full investigation into the incident, which is believed to have happened as fuel was being prepared for transportation in the garage.

Gillan added: “Investigations into the actual cause of the fire are ongoing and are being performed in collaboration with the local authorities and the FIA.

“The extent of the damage is still being accessed and will not become fully clear until both the cars and equipment have returned to the factory. What is clear is that our garage IT equipment and infrastructure have been badly damaged.”

Other teams have offered assistance in any way they can to help Williams prepare for the Monaco Grand Prix, but Gillan admits that it faces a tough challenge ahead of the event.

“On the back of a win [in Spain] we go to Monaco with high hopes but there is a prodigious amount of work to be done prior to the event to recover from the fire,” he said.

Lotus boss Eric Boullier says he is not frustrated by the failure of his team to win the Spanish Grand Prix, because he thinks a victory is just around the corner.

Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean had gone in to Sunday’s race as many people’s favourites for the win on the back of impressive long-run form in practice.

However, neither was able to match the pace of runaway leaders Pastor Maldonado and Fernando Alonso in the opening stages, and Raikkonen’s late-race charge came too late to allow him to finish better than third.

Although Raikkonen was disappointed about the end result after crossing the line within four seconds of the winner, Boullier has said he was not disheartened at all by the near miss.

“No I don’t share the sentiment,” Boullier told AUTOSPORT about Raikkonen’s post-race reaction. “We are all here to win, but the pace of the cars is very tight.

“It didn’t work out with the first two sets of tyres and we didn’t have the pace that we expected. So from that point it is difficult to win.

“It is true that, when you see the pace at the end of the race, when we were closing on the leaders, with three more laps maybe we could win.

“But this is racing. To win we need to keep working and we have to use the next opportunity to do it.”

Lotus has shown itself to be strong on all types of tracks this season, and Boullier thinks that if the team can keep up its current form then a win should come soon.

“It is good to have drivers who want to win, and are pulling the team forwards,” he said. “I think if we can keep this consistency like we are doing now, definitely it [a win] is on the cards.”

Pastor Maldonado did more than enough with his victory at the Spanish Grand Prix to be able to tell his critics to ‘shut up’, says Williams board member Toto Wolff.

The Venezuelan driver delivered a stunning performance at Barcelona to produce the maiden victory of his Formula 1 career, and prove that his value to the team is more than just the millions of pounds of sponsorship he brings.

Wolff knows that Maldonado has faced criticisms in the past for being a ‘pay driver’, but now he thinks those who were against him can no longer complain.

“I think silencing his critics is being diplomatic with language,” Wolff told AUTOSPORT. “I think he has shut them up with his performance in Spain.

“I have said it many times before that the economic environment [in motor racing] has changed. If you want to run in GP2 you need one and a half million pounds, so the drivers there are not only quick and talented but these guys have been able to attract partners too.

“Pastor has been very successful in attracting partners and many others have been too. So let’s forget about this phrase ‘pay driver’, as we have to get used to this situation in the future.”

Wolff believes that Maldonado has made big progress with his driving this year, and thinks that the lessons of his final-lap crash in Australia were valuable in helping him improve.

“It is a lot about learning, and Pastor learned a very hard lesson in Melbourne,” Wolff explained. “He thought about it a lot and before the race, when we discussed the strategy, he said: ‘I am OK coming out of lap one in a position that is not in the lead. I am out there to score points.’

“He wasn’t putting himself under pressure, which I think is very important. In the race, he was faultless and he was very well managed from his race engineer about conserving the tyres.”

Frank Williams says Pastor Maldonado is worthy of a place at his team even without the considerable backing he brings, judging by his performance at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Maldonado delivered a surprise victory at Barcelona on Sunday, as he withstood race-long pressure from Fernando Alonso to end Williams’ eight-year victory drought.

And although it is no secret that Maldonado owes his place at the Grove-based outfit to the backing that Venezuelan oil company PDVSA brings – this year it is paying £29.4 million – Williams says that his driver is the real deal.

When asked if Maldonado was only at Williams in the first place because of money, Williams said: “Yeah, he was to some extent. I’m not denying that. But if we thought he’d been a wanker, he wouldn’t have got in the team no matter how much money he had.

“He did a very sensible job in GP2 and he fully deserves to be in the team with or without the dosh. The truth is that if you haven’t got the dosh, you can’t go Formula 1 racing.

“But we’ve got a real racing driver as well. I am just astonished by the way he just controlled himself, and didn’t make a mistake at all.”

Williams is well aware that there was plenty of opportunity for Maldonado to have slipped up on Sunday, especially because it was the first time he had been in a position to win.

“When a driver who has not led before and is out in front, he tends to make a mistake,” explained Williams. “But from what I saw, he didn’t come near it. He was calm on the radio the entire time. Given what we have seen in GP2 and F1 qualifying, he’s very skilful

“It’s the first race he’s led and led and led and, as the race goes on, you become under more pressure to not think about the podium, not think about what your mother’s going to say, and not think how much the prize money is going to be.

“So you think don’t crash, don’t make mistakes, brake a little bit earlier, and look after it. That’s what you’ve got to do and that’s what he did.”

Williams believes that Maldonado could go on to deliver more success in the future, especially because he thinks the driver is outperforming the machinery at the moment.

Speaking about Maldonado’s potential, Williams said: “It could be very considerable indeed. We certainly couldn’t say we’ve got a winning car. We’ve got a very good car, and we’d be sad to lose him.”

Lewis Hamilton produced an ‘extraordinary’ performance in the Spanish Grand Prix to charge from the back of the grid to finish eighth, reckons his team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

The Briton was excluded from qualifying after a mistake in the garage meant he did not have enough fuel to complete an in-lap and provide a petrol sample after taking pole position.

Despite the setback, Hamilton executed a well-judged two-stop strategy that Whitmarsh thinks will silence those who suggest the former world champion is too aggressive.

“Lewis was extraordinary,” said Whitmarsh. “After a fantastic qualifying effort, and the undoubted frustration and shock at what happened after that, I am so proud of him.

“We knew we had to do something like a two-stop, but we knew how difficult that would be. So, from the get go, Lewis had to look after the tyres. And this is someone who is often criticised and called the racer who cannot think it through and cannot look after his tyres.

“He did an extraordinary job. To do 31 laps on a set of tyres, and give it another 100 metres and he would have got past Nico [Rosberg] as well, he had to race, hussle, overtake and be assertive and aggressive at the right moments. He proved he could operate and he got himself in the points.”

Despite praising Hamilton’s charging drive, Whitmarsh did concede that McLaren had to learn lessons from what happened over the weekend, as it squandered a real opportunity to win.

“Clearly there are some negatives and disappointments that we take away from this weekend,” he said. “To have to race from the back of the grid is tough, really, really tough – so we have to learn, we have to improve and we have to be better.

“But equally there are some positives. The car is quick, Lewis has demonstrated levels of maturity, resolve, and control, to add to the speed and talent that we knew he had.

“We leave here eight points off the drivers’ championship [lead], and 11 off in the constructors’. In two weeks’ time, hopefully we will be leading both. It is that sort of a championship.”

Ferrari has said it expects Felipe Massa to lift his performance at the Monaco Grand Prix, amid the first signs that the team is losing patience with his lack of results.

At the start of what was viewed as a vital campaign for the Brazilian driver, he has scored just two points so far, with team-mate Fernando Alonso jointly leading the world championship on 61.

Massa’s lack of results means that Ferrari is currently lying fourth in the constructors’ championships behind Red Bull, McLaren and Lotus.

In a statement issued on its website after the Spanish GP, Ferrari highlighted Massa’s poor form this year compared to previous seasons, and said it was clear what was expected of him.

“In Montmelo, Felipe was very unlucky, both in the race and in qualifying, but everyone, he more than anyone, is expecting a change of gear starting right away with the Monaco Grand Prix,” said Ferrari.

Although Ferrari remains committed to Massa for now, AUTOSPORT understands that the outfit is now seriously evaluating options for the future – both short and long-term – if the situation does not change.

While Sauber driver Sergio Perez remains a prospect for the longer term, Ferrari is also understood to be evaluating Force India duo Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg as well as Lotus test driver Jerome d’Ambrosio.

Although the latter’s inclusion as a candidate is a surprise, the Belgian does have the advantage of being available immediately, and would be happy to take a half-year deal which would allow Ferrari to spend longer thinking about its options for a new team-mate for Alonso in 2013.

Adrian Sutil is confident that he will have the opportunity to return to Formula 1 despite being without a seat for 2012.

The German, who raced for Spyker/Force India from 2007-2011 before losing his seat for this year, returned to the F1 paddock at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

While there are no opportunities currently available, he believes that if he is patient there will be chances to make a comeback.

“I’m always looking, but I have nothing at the moment,” Sutil told AUTOSPORT. “I chose this grand prix to come back because it’s the first in Europe. It feels good to be back in the paddock and to see some people.

“That is the key to getting a drive and hopefully very soon. At the moment, there are no seats available and I have to wait. But people know that I am ready and on hold. I have to wait for the call.

“I talk to many different teams, but they can’t say anything right now. They say that they are maybe interested, but you can’t get more. They tell me to hold on, keep fit and then maybe there is an opportunity. I have to believe in it and it will come.”

Sutil emphasised that he is determined to return to the sport in a professional capacity, not as a pay driver.

The German turned in some impressive performances as Force India climbed the grid during his time there and he believes that proves that he merits his place on the grid.

“We are not offering money,” said Sutil. “After five years, people know that I’m good and I don’t need to bring sponsors.

“I want a normal salary for my driving and that’s it. I want to get treated like a race driver and it’s important for the whole sport that the real talents are in the seats and not the drivers with the biggest money behind them.”

Sutil is certain that the suspended sentence he was hit with in January for causing bodily harm will not damage his chances of landing a drive or prevent him from visiting any countries that host races.

“It’s over and there are no restrictions for me, I can travel and I can do everything that I did before,” he said. “We had time to check all of that out.”

Pastor Maldonado reached a new high in the Castrol EDGE Rankings following his surprise maiden victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.

The 27-year-old became the first Venezuelan to win in Formula 1, and in the process delivered Williams its first grand prix win since 2004, after holding off a late charge from the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.

The spoils of victory were reflected in the Rankings, with Maldonado rocketing 30 places to an all-time high of 56th – putting him 12th in the F1 standings.

Also boosted by rostrum success was Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen, who finished just half a second behind Alonso after a ferocious late charge.

Third was still enough for the Lotus driver to gain 26 places and move to 109th, the closest he has been to breaking the top 100 since late 2010.

In contrast to his fellow podium men, Fernando Alonso’s second place was enough to gain him points, but not ground, in the Rankings and he stayed fifth.

He did however move closer to Lewis Hamilton in fourth and indeed the outright Rankings lead, as the top four drivers all suffered slides.

Of the quarter, current leader Sebastian Vettel’s fall was the most severe – the German effectively counting the cost of his 2011 dominance.

Force to pit for a new nose and delayed by a drive-through, only a late charge allowed Vettel to finish sixth.

That was a far cry from the dominant pole position-victory combination in last year’s Turkish Grand Prix however, the round to be dropped under the rollover system. The result was a slide of 1,000 points, leaving Vettel on his lowest points total since mid-2011.

The same phenomenon accounted for Webber’s slide too. Also forced to pit for a new nose, the Australian finished 11th – opposed to his second in Istanbul – and slipped back into the clutches of Jenson Button in third.

Button, for his part, never got going on a weekend in which he struggled with both understeer and oversteer.

An afternoon in traffic resulted in a ninth-place finish, and his own mini-slide – although he effectively closed on Webber in second given the Australian’s more pronounced loss.

Lewis Hamilton also suffered a Rankings fall and is now in danger of being overhauled by Alonso – although he at least had a caveat for his eighth-place finish following a disastrous qualifying mistake.

Starting therefore from the back of the grid, rather than pole, Hamilton executed a two-stop strategy with an intelligent and measured drive to eighth, a decent damage limitation.

In the Rankings, he limited the damage caused by Saturday’s woes and scored enough points to keep himself fourth, just ahead of Alonso.

To see the full Rankings, visit www.castroledgerankings.com.

The Williams F1 team has confirmed that a further two team members have been released from hospital and have returned home after being treated for smoke inhalation following its pit garage fire at the Spanish Grand Prix.

One member of the team, who suffered burns in the incident, remains in hospital in Spain but is expected to return to the UK for further treatment within the next 48 hours.

A statement from Williams reported that investigations into the cause of the fire are still on-going.

Team principal Sir Frank Williams said he was pleased to have been able to welcome the majority of the team back to the factory on Monday.

“I was pleased to welcome back to the factory the majority of our team this morning. One of our people remains in Spain for further medical assistance, but we are all looking forward to his imminent return,” Williams said.

“Everyone at Williams F1 is extremely relieved that this event was contained as quickly as it was and the damage which occurred was, relatively speaking, limited in its nature.

“While the incident was unexpected and definitely most undesirable, it has demonstrated the genuine cohesiveness, camaraderie and spirit of co-operation that exists within the Formula One paddock.

“The astonishing response from the teams and other paddock personnel was immediate, unconditional and overwhelming.”

Nico Rosberg believes Mercedes can still be a serious contender in the world championship fight this year, despite a disappointing Spanish Grand Prix.

The German struggled with tyres throughout the Barcelona weekend, and finished seventh after losing positions in the closing stages of the race.

However, having not lost much ground to the championship lead (currently shared by Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso), Rosberg believes that the next races on the calendar will be better suited to the Mercedes package.

“I only lost two points on the championship lead, which was good, and I am still only 20 points away which is good, as long as we can push on and improve,” explained Rosberg on his own video blog.

“Hopefully the conditions in Monaco and Montreal will favour us again. It is possible. But it is difficult to understand how the next race is going to be: let’s wait and see. For us onwards and upwards as Ross [Brawn, team principal] would say.”

Rosberg said that the Mercedes form over the Spanish weekend was simply a consequence of it failing to get on top of the tyre situation.

“It was a difficult weekend for us,” he said. “It is really unbelievable in F1 at the moment – the ups and downs of everybody. That Williams win is fantastic for them and I am very happy for Frank [Williams], his 70th birthday and the win is fantastic stuff.

“For us, it was a much more difficult weekend. It was just tyre management. In qualifying we were eating the tyres and that was why we were struggling more than some other teams like Williams. It was the same in the race.”

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has admitted that he should have told Lewis Hamilton to abandon his Spanish Grand Prix qualifying lap as soon as the team realised it had not put enough fuel in his car.

A mistake in the garage prior to Hamilton’s final run in Q3 meant that the British driver did not have enough fuel to be able to complete an in-lap and provide a mandatory sample for the FIA.

But rather than give up on the challenge for pole, McLaren let Hamilton complete his lap before ordering him to stop.

That decision ultimately led to the 2008 world champion being excluded from qualifying and moved to the back of the grid, which was a more severe penalty than the team was expecting.

Speaking about the matter after the race, Whitmarsh said that he should have acted differently.

“With hindsight I was wrong, but I don’t think I or very many people anticipated that, as a consequence, we would be starting from the back of the grid,” said Whitmarsh.

“With hindsight I could have called it a different way, and he could have just come in at the end of the out lap. But frankly I did not expect the penalty that he received.”

Whitmarsh revealed that the team only became aware of the fuel situation once Hamilton was on his qualifying lap.

“Part way through that last qualifying lap, the data indicated that there was not as much fuel on board as we thought,” he said.

“We knew there is a black and white regulation that says you have to be able to give a litre [sample] at the end, so I took a call which was: right, that is a black and white regulation, there is no negotiation, let’s make sure we can comply.

“We stopped the car and pumped out 1.3 litres as it turned out, but we didn’t know that until several hours later. It could have been three litres and I would have been moderately embarrassed. Whatever the outcome I was going to be embarrassed.”

Renault Sport F1 managing director Jean-Francois Caubet has admitted that he didn’t expect the revived partnership with Williams to yield wins so quickly.

Pastor Maldonado’s surprise victory in the Spanish Grand Prix came in only the fifth race since the Williams-Renault link-up was renewed and although Caubet was always confident that wins would come, he saw it as a longer-term project.

“We thought we needed three years to win and after five races we did,” Caubet told AUTOSPORT. “It’s a fantastic feeling.

“The last win was in 1997 with Jacques Villeneuve [at the Nurburgring]. It is emotional for Renault. When we signed Williams it was huge news in Renault because we have been in Formula 1 for 45 years and Williams is part of our history.”

Caubet is hopeful that there could be further victories this year.

He paid tribute to the quality of the car that the team has produced and credited the team’s fighting spirit for it delivering top results so quickly.

“Yes, I think so,” he said when asked if the win is repeatable. “In Australia, straight away the Williams was a good, competitive car. We have a good engine and fantastic drivers.

“We thought we could be about fifth or sixth in the championship and it would take two or three years to win but because of the fighting spirit, we did it now.

“Williams never give up. This is key. We were sure that they would be back and it was clear that the had the budget and the technical people to do so.

“They have the right people. In Formula 1, you must have the right balance between people with experience and [new] people with creativity.”

Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillan has offered his thanks to rival teams who reacted so quickly to the fire in its pit garage after the Spanish Grand Prix.

A major fire broke out in the garage shortly after a team photo was taken in celebration of the first Williams victory since 2004.

But prompt action from crew members from nearby teams, including Force India and Caterham, ensured that the damage was limited.

“On behalf of Williams, I’d like to thank all of the team members from other teams for their helped during the fire,” Gillan told AUTOSPORT. “We were overwhelmed by the support. It was really impressive.

“Williams would like to say thanks to the teams, the FIA, FOM and all of those who came to help. It was a serious issue and I am very grateful indeed.

“What happened after a great result is very disappointing, but things were limited by the fast response of our team and everyone who helped.”

Gillan confirmed that Williams has lost a large amount of equipment in the fire. But despite this he has no doubts that the team will be fully operational in time for next week’s Monaco Grand Prix both in terms of equipment and crew.

“We had a lot of damage and we have lost a lot of equipment, including IT equipment,” said Gillan. “Over the next couple of days we will be looking at where we are parts-wise.

“We will have everything we need to run operationally at Monaco, but we may be missing a few of the extras because obviously we don’t carry a complete set of spares for everything.”

Initial inspections of Bruno Senna’s car, which was in the garage when the fire erupted as it had not finished the race, suggest that the chassis is undamaged.

However, Williams will not be certain of that until it has examined the car more closely back at its Grove base.

Ferrari still needs to make a ‘massive’ step forward with its car if it is to win the world championship this year, despite Fernando Alonso’s second place in Spain moving him back to the head of the standings.

That is the view of its team principal Stefano Domenicali who thinks that, although updates introduced at Barcelona have delivered as expected, much more progress is needed over the remainder of the campaign.

“This has to be a push for all the engineers at home to make sure that we improve the car,” Domenicali said about Alonso now being joint leader of the title chase with Sebastian Vettel.

“That is the only thing we can do if we want to win this championship. We need to make a massive step and keep improving the downforce.

“But with all the problems we had since the beginning of the season, at least we are there [at the head of the title race]. Still, there is a lot of improvement that we need to bring because our target has not changed.”

Ferrari had gone in to the Spanish GP weekend well aware that the updates needed to deliver a sign of clear improvement. But its front row start and battle for victory was more than even it expected, with Alonso admitting that he was “surprised by the weekend result”.

However, Domenicali believes it was important to show that efforts back at Maranello are paying off.

“At least I am happy for the team at home who are pushing and working hard, to see the sign of their work,” he said. “In a difficult condition with a lot of pressure, it is not a problem for me; it is a problem for the people who have to manage the engineering of it, to deliver the job.

“I am happy because I saw the job of the last weeks delivered the right sign in terms of trend. But we know it is not enough.”

Williams has promised not to get carried away and believe it can challenge for wins at every track now, despite Pastor Maldonado’s dominant performance at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Grove-based outfit ended an eight-year victory drought at the Circuit de Catalunya, with Maldonado brilliantly holding off Fernando Alonso for his maiden F1 triumph.

But despite strong performances at the Barcelona track often being an indicator that a car will be good for the remainder of the campaign, Williams thinks the unpredictable nature of this season means there is no guarantee or more success in the future.

Williams board member Toto Wolff told AUTOSPORT: “I can get used to this kind of stuff, I like it. But I think we cannot expect results like this to happen on every occasion, or that we will be there now as a top contender.

“We have seen Sauber run very competitively in Malaysia, and we have seen [Nico] Rosberg having a tremendous race [in China], while here it was us. So it is a tricky situation which the engineers need to understand.

“But it definitely gives the team a boost of confidence and a boost of motivation. It is going to boost Pastor and it will boost Bruno [Senna]. So let’s live with the euphoria now before we go back to work.”

Wolff, who is playing a more active role at the team following the departure of chairman Adam Parr recently, says the team never expected to be so strong when it arrived at the Spanish GP.

“If you are realistic you cannot dream of the victory,” he said. “We have seen that various teams won various races, and you see the Mercedes has gone up and down.

“Whether it is about finding the right window for the tyres to work, or if it is a combination of other things, it is still to be analysed.

“But I didn’t dream about the win, and I didn’t dream about it after qualifying either. Our aim was to keep it calm and score solid points. This is what Pastor’s target was in the morning, so he was not going flat out and crazy for the win.”

The Williams team is working with the fire services and the police to determine the root cause of the fire that broke out after the Spanish Grand Prix.

Williams said the fire, which erupted some 90 minutes after the team had won its first race since 2004, had originated from the fuel area.

The Grove squad confirmed four members of the team were injured in the incident. One has already been released while the other three are now receiving treatment at local hospitals.

“The Williams F1 Team would like to thank all of the teams and the FIA for their support in today’s incident,” said the team in a statement.

It is so far confirmed only nine members were from F1 teams but other team personnel were understood to be involved.

Caterham said four of its members had been taken to the medical centre for examination, while another Force India mechanic had also suffered from smoke inhalation and was under observation.

Formula 1′s ruling body, the FIA, said a total of 31 people were seen by medical staff from the circuit. Seven had been transferred to local hospitals.

“The FIA is collaborating closely with the Spanish authorities investigating this incident and will be providing a further update as soon as more information becomes available,” said the FIA.

Charles Pic – DNF: “I didn’t get a very good start today. From then on I was working well on my pace and got the right side of the HRTs again. Things were going well for me then on lap 26 I suddenly lost drive and came back into the pits, where unfortunately I had to retire. We could see then that we have experienced a problem with the drive shaft, so we need to understand why that happened. There’s a lot of work for all of us in the next two weeks to improve for Monaco as we have not had the weekend we hoped for. After going to Sir Frank’s 70th birthday event last night I am pleased for him that he had this result today for Pastor and his team. For our side we look ahead to the next race and some more progress.”

Timo Glock – 18th: “I had a pretty good start. The first lap was good and I had a bit of a fight with Lewis for that lap. In general after that when positions were settled I just tried to keep the tyres alive as long as possible and we struggled with rear end instability again. From my side I can only push around 80% at the moment. It’s still not perfect and we’re missing pace, so we have to analyse and get on top of the problem before Monaco. On a lighter note, congratulations to Pastor Maldonado and the Williams F1 Team. They’ve done a great race result today.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “It is obviously very disappointing that we were unable to bring both cars home today. We have suffered two drive shaft issues this weekend – one of those was in the race – so we’re sorry for Charles to suffer a DNF after his efforts all weekend. With Timo’s car we have not made the progress with the car balance that we wanted to and this is preventing him from being as quick as he can be. There have been times when we have got on top of the problem and we are good, and times when we are not quite getting what we need to out of the car, as was the case in today’s race. A disappointing result for us but a brilliant win for Pastor and our congratulations to the Williams F1 Team on that. A busy week ahead for us now, but we look forward to the next race in Monaco.”

Lewis Hamilton believes that he has proved his doubters wrong after making only two stops during the race at Barcelona.

Hamilton started at the back of the field after being penalised for running short of fuel at the end of qualifying and was forced to try a different strategy than the rest of the drivers, eventually climbing to eighth, one place ahead of team-mate Jenson Button.

Despite his reputation for aggressive driving, the 27-year-old was able to conserve his tyres far better than Button, who is normally associated with exceptional tyre management.

“People are always saying how aggressive my driving style is so hopefully this will prove a few people wrong that I can nurse my tyres,” he said.

“It is very easy just to go 100 per cent and ruin your tyres and kill you race by making silly mistakes so today was about being controlled, calm and collected.

“I was the only one to do a two stopper, despite everyone always telling me how aggressive my driving style is and how much better my team-mate is on tyres than me. I think today is a good demonstration that they are perhaps wrong.”

The British driver was pleased with how competitive the McLaren has been and says that the team can bounce back from a difficult weekend with a strong result in Monaco.

“I think our car will continue to be competitive. Our team has done a great job improving our car and things will come together for us and when they do we will get the results we deserve,” he said.

“Monaco is a track that I love and I hope that we will have a much better weekend there and it is now my home circuit. The team needs a little bit of a boost, they have been working very hard and they deserve better.”

Felipe Massa is confident that he would have finished in the top 10 at Barcelona had it not been for what he believes was an unnecessary drive-through penalty.

The Ferrari driver was forced to take an unscheduled tour through the pitlane on lap 28, a penalty for ignoring yellow flags.

The delay meant that 15th place was the best he could manage, with Massa later admitting that he was unsure why he was penalised.

“Honestly, I don’t think I did anything wrong and I believe it is better to look into the detail of what happened, because I was in the middle of a group of cars and I definitely did not try to overtake anyone,” said the Brazilian.

“It’s a real shame, because up until then, the race was going well for me and a place in the top 10 was comfortably within my reach. I was in the group with the Red Bulls and the McLarens and I could match their pace.”

With his team-mate Fernando Alonso finishing second, Massa is confident that Ferrari is now getting to grips with its 2012 challenger.

“I am happy that Fernando was able to fight for the win all the way to the end, as it shows our car’s potential has definitely improved. We still don’t have the quickest car, but it seems we are going down the right road.”

A number of Formula 1 personnel are being treated by medical staff at the Circuit de Catalunya for burns and smoke inhalation following a major fire in the Williams garage after the Spanish Grand Prix.

Shortly after a team photo was taken to celebrate Pastor Maldonado’s victory, around 90 minutes after the end of the race, it is believed that fuel exploded while it was being prepared for transportation as part of the post-race procedure.

The explosion filled the garage with black smoke, which poured into the pits and paddock, and personnel from a number of teams as well as track officials moved quickly to put the blaze out.

A number of team members were caught up in the incident, with those suffering from burns and smoke inhalation being taken to the medical centre.

While there has been no official confirmation of the number of F1 personnel involved in the incident or the extent of their injuries, Williams, Force India and Caterham have confirmed that their staff members are being treated.

Williams has said that four of its crew are being looked at in the medical centre, although the extent of the injuries is unknown.

Force India has confirmed that one of its team members was being treated for smoke inhalation, while Caterham has issued a statement confirming that four of its crew are being attended to too.

“Caterham F1 Team was involved in a fire that started in the Williams F1 Team’s garage after the end of the Spanish Grand Prix,” it said in a statement.

“All the team’s employees have been accounted for and four people have been taken to the circuit medical centre for examination; one with a minor hand injury and three with respiratory issues.

“A further statement will be issued when more details about the incident are confirmed.”

Michael Schumacher will lose five places on the starting grid for the Monaco Grand Prix following his crash with Bruno Senna in Spain.

The Mercedes driver crashed into the back of the Williams when fighting for position at the end of the straight on lap 13, with both drivers retiring.

The stewards deemed the seven-time champion was to blame for having caused the collision and he will be dropped five places on the starting grid at Monaco.

Schumacher believed the accident had been Senna’s fault.

“I just took a minute to watch the video and if you look at the overhead shot you can see that he moves right to defend his inside position, but in the braking phase he moves back left right in front of me,” said Schumacher.

“Then I tried to avoid to the inside again, but too late. Then it’s done because that’s in the braking phase. Very frustrating. Very much annoyed about that.”

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were confused as to why they needed to have their front wings replaced during the Spanish Grand Prix.

Both Red Bull Racing drivers had their races compromised by front wing changes, despite their being no visible sign of damage on either occasion.

The mysterious problem was particularly costly for Webber, with the Australian eventually finishing outside the points in 11th.

Vettel was still able to finish sixth and retain his lead in the championship, albeit now shared with Fernando Alonso.

“I don’t know [what the problem was], to be honest,” said Vettel. “I didn’t think I had any damage on the nose.

“I came on the radio and said it felt like damage or something stuck. We know that there is a lot of rubber on the track and it’s likely that maybe a big piece of rubber gets stuck and then it ruins the aerodynamics.

“I wasn’t sure and I tried another lap, but it wasn’t the right thing to do so we decided to come in and change the nose just to make sure. That cost us quite some time but ultimately it was the right thing because I was told that something on the front left of the wing was actually broken. I don’t know why. I didn’t hit anybody or anything.”

Webber, meanwhile, blamed the delay for leaving him stuck in traffic and unable to fight for a point-paying position.

“I don’t know where I got damage on my front wing but I had to pit for a new nose,” Webber added.

“I lost a lot of time with that obviously, not only that lap but the two or three before when it started playing up.

“Then when you’re out of position round here, you have to do the longest range stop possible and look after your tyres, and then when you catch people, the tyres just get killed. It’s chicken and egg. If you push past them, you’ve got to pit earlier and commit to another stop.

“I was out of position because of whatever happened with the nose. I was stuck behind the Force India and you could see the McLarens doing nothing, Seb was just chipping away doing nothing special. It’s amazing. The tables have turned.”

Jenson Button says his problems with the McLaren will not be solved overnight after finishing ninth at Barcelona.

Button started in tenth position, but finished behind Lewis Hamilton, who started from the back of the grid after being penalised for not having enough fuel during his final qualifying run.

The Englishman was unable to match the speed of his team-mate and has complained of a lack of balance and ultimate pace throughout the weekend.

“The last few races the pace has been very good in the race but I really struggled with the car itself. It is not just one end, I felt that I just had very low grip,” he said.

“I am normally good at looking after tyres and having a good consistency, it is something I always work on but I can’t do that at the moment and I don’t know why. I am really struggling with the car at the moment. It is not an overnight fix.”

Button was initially confident that he could get a good result in Spain after working on his long run pace, but was unable to get the McLaren to work in traffic.

“It is surprising with long run pace because that is something I always work very hard on so we need to look at the consistency for next race and try and work out why I can’t work with these tyres,” he said.

“I thought we were on for a better result than that. I am alright in clear air but then as soon as I am in traffic I can’t keep any heat in the tyres. I don’t know why that is, I turn the steering wheel like everyone else does but it doesn’t seem like that at the moment.”

The Circuit de Catalunya pitlane had to be evacuated following the Spanish Grand Prix after a big fire broke out in the Williams garage.

The fire is initially believed to have been caused by an explosion in the area behind where the cars are worked on.

The pitlane was evacuated and firefighters and ambulances arrived at the scene. It is currently unclear whether there are any injuries.

Williams was still celebrating its first victory since the 2004 season, achieved by Pastor Maldonado moments earlier.

Force India’s Otmar Szafnauer told Sky that one of his team’s mechanics had been taken to the medical centre for smoking inhalation.

Williams said one of its mechanics was also in the medical centre, but was unsure about the injuries if any.

Heikki Kovalainen – 16th: “I think we got as much out of the car as we could this afternoon. I had a good start, passed Senna and was hanging on to the pack ahead up until the second stops. The first stint on the options was good, and we stayed on the soft tyres right up until the last pitstop but maybe the last stint on the hards was a couple of laps too long. Still, it was a decent race and we showed we have decent pace on Sundays, more than enough to easily pull away from the teams behind, but not quite enough to be able to fight throughout the whole race with the cars ahead. We knew this track was going to be one of the tougher ones for us, but now we go to Monaco which will give us a chance of fighting higher up, so we’ll keep pushing to close the gap and aim to take another step forwards at the next race.”

Vitaly Petrov – 17th: “I’m pleased with how I drove this afternoon and, like Heikki, I don’t think we could have got much more performance from the car today. Yesterday we found a good KERS map for qualifying but this afternoon it wasn’t working as well in the first and second stints, and I think that’s where we lost some time to Heikki. The tyre degradation was higher than we’d seen in the long runs in practice, so we need to look again at why that happened and how we can fix it for future races. Apart from that it was one of those afternoons when we got as much out of the race as we could so now we’ll move on to Monaco where the circuit layout and the difficulty of passing should give us a better chance of pushing the cars ahead throughout the weekend.”

Mark Smith, Technical Director: “I am pleased with the performance from both drivers today. They kept pushing throughout the whole race and made sure they didn’t make any mistakes, particularly at the start of the race. Our early pace was good and we used the tyre strategy well to keep ourselves within touching distance of the midfield pack, but again we saw the issue with blue flags, having to let the cars ahead pass articifially lengthened the gap to the cars we had been fighting with, but we have to deal with that on tracks like this where we knew we would be lapped at some point. We now have a busy couple of weeks before the next race, with an aero test in the UK, part of the program that is helping us keep edging closer to the midfield, and we will go to Monaco, hopefully aiming to repeat the sort of performance we saw last year when we finished 13th and 14th.”

Mercedes believes a problem with Nico Rosberg’s car caused his severe tyre management issues during the Spanish Grand Prix.

The German fell from fifth to seventh late on as his tyres wilted and Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber and Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull overtaken him, with McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton doing likewise.

Mercedes technical chief Bob Bell, who was heading the team this weekend in the absence of the unwell Ross Brawn, said a potential technical problem cost Rosberg downforce and made it even harder for him to look after the Pirellis.

“We didn’t have the basic pace we needed this afternoon, and we were hampered further with an issue on Nico’s car,” Bell said.

“There was a clear loss of downforce measurable on the data, which made it even more difficult for Nico to look after the tyres properly, but whether this was down to damage or another factor is something we will have to investigate this evening.”

Rosberg admitted that he had been baffled by his tyre situation during the race – while also praising his long-time employer Williams for its return to the top step of the podium with Pastor Maldonado.

“I had no more rubber left on the tyres and I could just see people going by,” said Rosberg. “Fifth place would have been an OK result. It’s not that good.

“It’s been a strange whole weekend. Fantastic for Williams and for Frank and for Maldonado. All well deserved and it’s great. For us, just strange. Tyre management is an issue and the way our car handles the tyres.”

Although Rosberg’s team-mate Michael Schumacher has been highly critical of the 2012 Pirellis and the style of racing they demand, Rosberg said he had no complaints and was simply confused about how to get the best out of the tyres.

“I’m enjoying it but scratching my head at the same time. It’s very strange,” he said.

Kimi Raikkonen is confident that he will break through for a grand prix win for Lotus in 2012, after finishing on the podium at the last two races.

After following Sebastian Vettel home in Bahrain, Raikkonen was amongst the frontrunners again in Spain, eventually finishing third behind Pastor Maldonado and Fernando Alonso.

While he was slightly disappointed with the result, the 2007 world champion said that he is now confident that the car is capable of winning races this year.

“I am a bit disappointed because if we had done everything right in the first part of the race, we could have put ourselves in first place,” he said.

“There is no issue with the speed of the car, but it is so close between all the teams that if you have a small problem or a small issue it can cost you a lost. Our car can do it, but everything has to fall in the right place to be able to win.

“If you get the chance you should take it. Hopefully we can keep doing what we are doing now. We will see when we can win but so far it is a good step and the car feels strong everywhere.”

Raikkonen added that if the Spanish Grand Prix had been 10 laps longer, he would have been capable of fighting Maldonado for the win.

“I had a very good start and had chance to overtake on the outside, but we did not have enough speed and I hit the limiter in fifth position,” he said.

“The first stint was okay, but I didn’t have the speed to stay with [the leaders]. It was a bit disappointing. We changed the tyres and it seemed to be pretty good, but we were too far away. We needed 10 more laps and we could have fought for the win.”

Fernando Alonso believes Charles Pic could potentially have cost him a shot at victory in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix after ignoring blue flags during the race.

The Marussia driver was given a penalty for having not let Alonso through quickly enough, the Spaniard losing valuable time in his fight for the lead with Pastor Maldonado.

Alonso finished the race three seconds behind the Williams driver and admitted he was unimpressed with Pic. Although he acknowledged that Maldonado and Williams were ultimately faster, he hoped Pic’s penalty would act as a warning to backmarkers.

“We were a little bit unlucky,” said Alonso. “We had a Marussia that got a penalty, which is obviously not a solution now, but hopefully people will start to understand that they need to respect the rules and today they didn’t and they got a penalty, but maybe not enough for the penalty which could have cost us a victory.”

The Ferrari driver, whose team had big hopes of taking a step forward in Spain thanks to the upgrades introduced, admitted he was surprised to be so strong all weekend.

Alonso now shares the championship lead with Sebastian Vettel, and believes that he has flattered his car so far.

“Definitely we are a little bit surprised by the quantity of the points we have and surprised by the weekend result,” Alonso said. “We were confident to improve the car, we were hoping for some signs of improvement here in Barcelona and in Bahrain we were out of Q3 and in race, P9 one minute behind the leaders.

“So we arrived here with optimism about the upgrades but the overall weekend pace has been better than expected because we were quick in qualifying and quick in the race.

“But this, how I feel after the weekend, I still don’t know where we are. We need to wait for more races for the championship to stabilise a bit. I think we overperform for the car we have and maybe other cars underperform a little. It is very strange, as we saw this weekend.”

Despite the strong showing, the two-time champion is refusing to believe Ferrari has a car capable of winning everywhere yet.

“We’ll see,” he said when asked if Ferrari had turned the corner. “When we are first and second in one qualifying and first and second in the championship then we will have the best car. Consistency and ability to develop is important because two tenths can be six or seven positions.

“But what we can say is we had the most difficult start to the championship with a car that was not competitive at all, and after one quarter of the championship we are leading with Vettel, so we have to be proud of our position. Maybe not so proud of the competitive package we have but we are working on that.”

Michael Schumacher reckons Bruno Senna’s defensive driving caused their collision early in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Both drivers had to retire as a result of the incident, in which Schumacher’s Mercedes ran into the back of Senna’s Williams at Turn 1. Senna had not yet made his first pitstop, while Schumacher was on fresh tyres.

“I just took a minute to watch the video and if you look at the overhead shot you can see that he moves right to defend his inside position, but in the braking phase he moves back left right in front of me,” said Schumacher.

“Then I tried to avoid to the inside again, but too late. Then it’s done because that’s in the braking phase. Very frustrating. Very much annoyed about that.

“We’ve had already a strange manoeuvre from him in Brazil last year and a lap before he had a get together with [Romain] Grosjean, I don’t know what exactly happened there.

“I hope they [the stewards] understand the video pictures good enough to clarify that.”

But Senna was adamant that he had done nothing wrong and that Schumacher only had himself to blame.

“Of course he’s not going to say it’s his own fault, but at the end of the day he had much newer tyres than me, I was on very old rubber by then, so I guess our braking points were uneven for Turn 1,” said Senna.

“I’d already seen Grosjean braking very late and hitting me into Turn 1, and I didn’t want Michael to do the same.

“When I went to brake, he probably just tried to cross and he hit me, so what can you do?”

Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado said he always felt like he had the race under control even as Fernando Alonso closed in after the final pitstops.

Maldonado gave Williams its first Formula 1 victory since the 2004 Brazilian GP as he resisted pressure from Ferrari driver Alonso at various stages to win at Catalunya.

“It was so close. We were looking to manage the tyre degradation so I couldn’t push that hard, just to keep the tyres alive for the end of the race and Fernando got very close,” said Maldonado.

“There were some moments where he was so close especially at end of the straight, but I was managing the gap and controlling everything.

“Our pace today was very strong, the car was fantastic, so was the team. We did a small mistake at the last pitstop but it did not affect our performance.”

Maldonado said the car underlined how much progress had made since last season, when it endured its worst ever campaign and scored a mere five points.

“I think it’s a wonderful day, unbelievable for me and all the team,” he said. “We have been pushing so hard since last year to improve race by race and here we are.

“It was a tough race because of the strategy as well, it was hard especially because of rear tyres, after a couple of laps we were struggling with them, but I need to say I am pretty happy because car was so competitive since the first lap.”

The Venezuelan has been strong in Monte Carlo – venue for the next grand prix in a fortnight – throughout his career, and acknowledged that expectations for the next race would now be high.

“It will be a great opportunity for us to be strong again,” said Maldonado. “We need to keep continuing like that to develop it as soon as possible. Consistency will be the most important thing in this championship.”

Pastor Maldonado scored his maiden Formula 1 win and ended a Williams victory drought dating back to the end of the 2004 season as the Venezuelan defeated local hero Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari in an absorbing Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona’s Catalunya track.

The Williams and Ferrari were absolutely together going into the final laps, but the superbly composed Maldonado was able to edge away and secure victory, leaving Alonso to fend off Kimi Raikkonen’s flying Lotus for second.

Alonso had taken the lead at the start by beating Maldonado into the first corner, and then inched into a three-second lead during the first stint, as they pulled clear of the rest of the field.

But the combination of a stunning out-lap by Maldonado and Alonso getting stuck behind Charles Pic’s Marussia on his in-lap saw the Williams leapfrog the Ferrari at the second pitstops, and then storm away for a few laps until 7s clear.

Alonso then started coming back at Maldonado, getting the gap down to 4.2s before the Williams had a slightly slow final pitstop with a left-rear issue. A few laps behind Raikkonen, who was running much further before his final pitstop, meant the leaders were absolutely nose to tail going into the closing laps as both tried to keep their tyres intact.

For a while it looked inevitable that Maldonado would succumb to Alonso’s pressure, but it was the Ferrari that started to lose pace in the final stages, and the lead gap began to increase again – allowing Maldonado to take a very unexpected victory by 3.1 seconds.

Raikkonen’s fresher tyres allowed him to gain on the leaders at a ferocious rate as the race neared its end, but he ran out of time to catch Alonso, finishing six tenths of a second adrift.

Romain Grosjean finished fourth in the other Lotus, with Kamui Kobayashi pulling off some characteristically bold passes on the way to fifth for Sauber.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel produced a late charge to take sixth after losing ground with a drive-through penalty for failing to heed yellow flags and requiring a new front wing at his final pitstop.

Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and both McLarens fell victim to Vettel’s surge up the order, with Rosberg then fending off last-place starter Lewis Hamilton for seventh as the Briton managed to make a two-stop strategy work against expectations. His team-mate Jenson Button struggled for pace all day and finished ninth.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg resisted huge pressure from Mark Webber, who lost ground on lap one and needed an out-of-sequence pitstop for a new front wing.

Behind the Toro Rossos and the second Force India of Paul di Resta, Felipe Massa had another bad race for Ferrari. Penalised for a yellow flag infringement, he finished only 15th.

Retirements included Michael Schumacher and Bruno Senna, who tangled at Turn 1 when the fresh-tyre-shod Mercedes ran into the back of the yet-to-pit Williams, and Sergio Perez. The Sauber picked up a puncture while trying to attack the Lotus pair at the first corner, and later parked just after a messy pitstop.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Spanish Grand Prix

Catalunya, Turkey;

66 laps; 307.104km;

Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos  Driver        Team                       Time

 1.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           1h39:09.145

 2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     3.195

 3.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +     3.884

 4.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +    14.799

 5.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:14.641

 6.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +  1:17.576

 7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +  1:27.919

 8.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:28.100

 9.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:25.200

10.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap

11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +     1 lap

12.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap

13.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap

14.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap

15.  Massa         Ferrari                    +     1 lap

16.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap

17.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap

18.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +    2 laps

19.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps
Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:26.250
Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap

Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               38

Pic           Marussia-Cosworth            36

Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 23

Senna         Williams-Renault             13

Schumacher    Mercedes                     13
World Championship standings, round 5:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Vettel        61        1.  Red Bull-Renault          109

 2.  Alonso        61        2.  McLaren-Mercedes           98

 3.  Hamilton      53        3.  Lotus-Renault              84

 4.  Raikkonen     49        4.  Ferrari                    63

 5.  Webber        48        5.  Williams-Renault           43

 6.  Button        45        6.  Mercedes                   43

 7.  Rosberg       41        7.  Sauber-Ferrari             41

 8.  Grosjean      35        8.  Force India-Mercedes       18

 9.  Maldonado     29        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

10.  Perez         22

11.  Kobayashi     19

12.  Di Resta      15

13.  Senna         14

14.  Vergne         4

15.  Hulkenberg     3

16.  Schumacher     2

17.  Massa          2

18.  Ricciardo      2       
All timing unofficial

Jenson Button believes he still has the chance of a decent haul of points in the Spanish Grand Prix, despite his struggles over the Barcelona weekend.

The McLaren driver was eliminated in Q2 in Spain, after failing to find a good balance on his car, but will start 10th on the grid following Lewis Hamilton’s demotion to the back of the field.

But although conceding that his difficulties make it unlikely he can repeat the kind of charge that Kimi Raikkonen delivered in Bahrain, Button still thinks progress is possible.

“It is not the easiest as we have seen in the past,” explained Button. “We saw a lot more overtaking last year than previous years with KERS and the DRS, and I overtook Fernando [Alonso] and Mark [Webber] within one lap, so it is possible to overtake here.

“If we have a good car, and it is in the right place and working, we will have a really good race. Starting P10, there are a lot of points up for grabs – and as you saw with Kimi, he qualified in P11 in Bahrain and he almost won the race – so there are a lot of opportunities still.”

Button says he has not really found the answer for his balance struggles over the Spanish weekend.

“I’ve had a lot of understeer in high speed, but a very unstable rear end in low speed,” he said. “So it has been difficult to try and understand the balance and try to improve it.

“We have tried many different things to try and get temperature into the tyre. Some have worked but basically I don’t feel I had the car in qualifying that I had in practice.

“I know the pace is there, as Lewis did a fantastic job all the way through qualifying – and it shows the pace is there. But being one second off, you know something is not right and you are not turning something on.”

Lotus duo Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean will know within a few laps of the start of the Spanish Grand Prix if they have a car capable of delivering victory.

That is the view of third place starter Grosjean, who says that the team will be in pretty good shape if it has delivered a balance as good as the two drivers had in Bahrain a fortnight ago.

With many labelling Lotus as favourite for the win on the back of its very strong race pace in Friday practice, Grosjean sees no reason to dismiss the team’s chances – but says the pair will only know for definite early in the race.

“If we have the same surprise as we had in Bahrain, by starting the race and having a car that is fantastic, then we will look at a good result again,” said Grosjean.

“We will see after the start, and how the car is in the first few laps. If I have the same feeling as I had in the first few laps in Bahrain, then I will think about it.”

Raikkonen too feels positive about the fact that Lotus has often proved to be quicker in race pace this season than in single-lap qualifying trim.

“The result is one of the best this year in qualifying but we had a chance to do better,” he said. “I had some mistake in corner nine so we lost two tenths, but it is good.

“The race is going to be different again, but usually our car is better in the race than qualifying.”

Charles Pic is confident that there is a lot more to come from him this season despite an impressive start to his rookie Formula 1 campaign.

The Frenchman outqualified Marussia team-mate Timo Glock for the second race in a row in Spain. He has also shown strong race pace, impressing the team with his speed on high fuel-loads in particular, despite having no significant experience of the 2012 Marussia before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

“It’s only my fifth race so I still have many things to learn,” Pic told AUTOSPORT. “But even though I feel better and better with each race, I still have many areas to work on and improve on.

“I think that we can be better in qualifying. Our race pace has been good, especially in Bahrain, so we will have to see how we will be [in Spain].”

Despite the fact that Marussia’s lack of competitiveness means that his performances largely go unnoticed, Pic is confident that the team has recognised his progress.

The Frenchman has won races in every category he has competed regularly in prior to F1 but despite being used to victories in GP2, Formula Renault 3.5, Formula Renault and Formula Campus he is not struggling to adapt to live at the back of the grid.

“You try to optimise the car you have and give your best,” said Pic. “This is no different to other categories in that regard.

“The difference is that there is a much bigger gap between the cars in Formula 1 so even if on some weekends you are doing a very good job, it maybe isn’t shown by the result. But the team can see it, which is the most important thing for me.

“I know that my engineer is pretty happy and team is happy, even though I still need to improve. But overall what I’ve done in the first races is positive.”

Sebastian Vettel remains hopeful that Red Bull Racing did the right thing in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix by deliberately saving tyres.

With the German realising early on that he did not have the pace to fight for pole position, Vettel elected to conserve rubber in the final qualifying segment by not completing a flying lap.

And although that decision means that Vettel starts down in seventh on the grid – having gained one place from Lewis Hamilton’s demotion to the back of the grid – he sees positives from the situation.

“I think it is never easy to come back to the front when you start behind, but we thought we were smarter to try to save some tyres,” explained the world champion.

“I think a new set of tyres does give you some flexibility in the race and it will give you a bit of speed, so we will see if we can use that in the race.”

The speed differential between the soft and hard compound rubber, allied to different degradation scales, means that strategy choices remain quite open for the race.

Vettel thinks that the tyre call is not straightforward, and that changeable weather conditions on Sunday could turn the formbook on its head too.

“I think everyone has a lot of homework to do,” he said. “But I am pretty happy with the car. This has been our best weekend so far with consistency, but going into qualifying we didn’t have the grip to get the maximum out of the tyre.”

Williams believes it has the pace to genuinely fight at the front of the Spanish Grand Prix – even though it concedes victory will be hard.

Pastor Maldonado will start from pole position at the Circuit de Catalunya following Lewis Hamilton’s exclusion from qualifying.

And with the Venezuelan having been strong throughout the Spanish weekend, chief operations engineer Mark Gillan believes that the team has the potential to keep up its good form in the race.

“A win would be tough, but based on our race pace in practice, we’re definitely in the race,” explained Gillan, who is confident that the team’s progress in qualifying pace has not come at the expense of its race pace.

“We’ve improved the car just generally. We’re not just going for qualifying performance. If you get the better qualifying, you’ll get the better race pace as well. To be honest, our Friday running was good. We used to be pretty confident of the Sunday pace.”

Gillan thinks the progress that Williams has made with its FW34 is simply the result of small improvements to the car – but because the field is so tightly packed it has made a noticeable difference.

“We brought a number of bits here, and I’d say a majority found their way onto the car,” he said. “Things are so tight, that small differences can make large differences in terms of where you finish in qualifying.”

He also believed that the step forward in Q3 form was helped by it being able to save a new set of options for Q3.

“Tyre usage is really the important thing,” he said. “For us, saving the new set of options for Q3 made a big difference. We haven’t had the pace in Q1 to be able to do that [so far this year], or the confidence to do that, and a lot of teams obviously run two tyres. Friday was a good step forward for us.”

Lewis Hamilton vowed to ‘race his heart out’ to try and come through from the back of the grid after being stripped of pole position for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver had taken pole by half a second, but did not have sufficient fuel in his car to get back to the pits and provide a fuel sample, as required by the regulations. He had to stop on his slowing-down lap and was later disqualified from the session, putting him to the back of the 24-car field.

“This is such a disappointment,” said Hamilton. “Today’s qualifying session was one of the best I’ve ever driven – the whole car was just rolling so smoothly – it felt fantastic.

“But, on my slowing-down lap, my engineers told me to stop on the track, and I didn’t know why. Later, to hear that I’d been excluded from qualifying, was of course extremely disappointing.

“But, now, looking ahead to tomorrow, I think it’s clear that it’s going to be an incredibly tough race for us. Even so, as always, I’ll never give up and I’ll give it everything I’ve got. It would mean so much to me to get a good result here in Spain: it’s such a pleasure to come here and the support I get is amazing.

“As I always say, and as I always do, whatever grid position I start a grand prix from, I’ll always race my heart out.”

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh said McLaren could take some solace from the fact that it clearly had a quick enough car to make good progress in the race.

“You won’t be surprised to hear me saying that today was a very disappointing day for all at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes,” he said.

“But, if I may start by stressing the positives, both today and yesterday our car has shown itself to be both fast and stable at this most testing of circuits, and as a result Jenson [Button] was extremely quick yesterday and Lewis extremely quick today.”

McLaren says its focus now is on scoring as many points as possible in the Spanish Grand Prix, after accepting the stewards’ decision to demote Lewis Hamilton to the back of the grid.

Hamilton was stripped of his pole position after the FIA ruled that he had breached the rules in not returning to the pits after completing his qualifying lap.

The stewards who discussed the matter did not accept that a team error, which meant not enough fuel went in to Hamilton’s car prior to his final run in Q3, was grounds for force majeure.

When asked by AUTOSPORT for a reaction to the stewards’ decision, a McLaren spokesman said: “We accept that the stewards did not agree with our interpretation of force majeure. Our aim is now to maximise the points we can score tomorrow.”

Pastor Maldonado will start from pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying for not returning to the pits after setting his best lap.

Hamilton’s McLaren was found to not have had enough fuel on board to comply with the rules that demand a car returns to the pits under its own power after qualifying with enough petrol for a one-litre sample to be provided to the FIA.

Only under circumstances of ‘force majeure’ are drivers allowed to stop on that slowing down lap – and stopping deliberately because there is not enough fuel to finish the tour and supply that sample is not acceptable.

Following a meeting with the stewards at the Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren was informed that the ‘technical’ problem that it suggested was the reason for Hamilton being told to stop was not enough grounds to justify its action.

The team explained that not enough fuel had been put into the car ahead of the final qualifying lap – which the FIA did not agree was enough reason for ‘force majeure’

As a result, the stewards ruled that Hamilton be excluded from qualifying, but would be allowed to start from the back of the grid.

“The stewards received a report from the Race Director which stated that during post-qualifying scrutineering a sample of fuel was required from car 4, however, the car failed to return to the pits under its own power as required under Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations,” said the stewards in a statement.

“The Stewards heard from the team representative Mr Sam Michael who stated that the car stopped on the circuit for reasons of force majeure. A team member had put an insufficient quantity of fuel into the car thereby resulting in the car having to be stopped on the circuit in order to be able to provide the required amount for sampling purposes.

“As the amount of fuel put into the car is under the complete control of the Competitor the Stewards cannot accept this as a case of force majeure.

“The Stewards determine that this is a breach of Article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations and the Competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the Qualifying Session. The Competitor is however allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.”

The result means that Maldonado will start ahead of Fernando Alonso for Sunday’s race.

Speaking before being informed of the penalty, Hamilton reckoned that in the event of a penalty he could still deliver good race pace.

“Looking at our long runs, I think our long runs were not too bad,” he said. “The option tyre was not spectacular with the set-up we had, but we have made some changes so it should be better in that sense.

“The long run on the prime was very good, but then again so was it with the guys just behind me. Overtaking here is very, very tough as it has showed in previous years, but we do have DRS.

“I would hope we can overtake but I would doubt it – but I would do everything I could to move forwards.

“Definitely the guy in front, the top two or three, generally have an easier job because they have a lot clearer air. But we will give it our all and we hope with improved pit stops as well we hope we can make steps forward.”

Revised Spanish GP grid:

 1.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault

 2.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari

 3.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault

 4.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault

 5.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari

 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes

 7.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault

 8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes

 9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari

10.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes

11.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault

12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes

13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes

14.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari

15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari

16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari

17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault

18.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault

19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault

20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth

21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth

22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth

23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth

24.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has all but admitted that Lewis Hamilton’s pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix hangs in the balance, ahead of a stewards’ meeting to discuss the circumstances that forced the British driver to stop on track after his qualifying lap.

Hamilton secured McLaren’s 150th pole position at the Circuit de Catalunya on Saturday, but shortly after taking the chequered flag he was ordered to stop by the team because of an unidentified problem.

Under the rules, drivers are supposed to return to parc ferme under their own power and with a minimum of one-litre of fuel on board to be able to supply a sample to the FIA.

It is not acceptable for drivers to stop early simply to save petrol for the sample – because that would give them a competitive advantage as they could run with less fuel, and therefore less weight, during their qualifying lap.

Following a directive issued at the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix, after Lewis Hamilton and McLaren were given a reprimand and a $10,000 fine for stopping deliberately on a slowing down lap after qualifying to save fuel, the FIA has made it clear that only genuine technical problems would be acceptable.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting said in a note issued on race morning in Canada: “Any team whose car stops on the slowing down lap after the race will be asked by the stewards to explain why this happened.

“If they are not satisfied that the reasons were beyond the control of the driver or team, and feel that this has been done deliberately to gain a competitive advantage, appropriate action will be taken.”

Whitmarsh would not expand on the reasons for Hamilton being told to stop, but said that the FIA had been able to take its sample.

“There was enough fuel to take a fuel sample, but we stopped the car – and we are now talking to the stewards about that,” he explained. “There was 1.3-litres of fuel taken out of the car.”

Rules state that cars must have one litre of fuel onboard.

“Competitors must ensure that a one litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time during the Event.

“Except in cases of force majeure (accepted as such by the stewards of the meeting), if a sample of fuel is required after a practice session the car concerned must have first been driven back to the pits under its own power.”

When asked if he was confident about Hamilton’s pole position standing, he said: “I don’t know. But I hope so – Lewis did a fantastic job throughout that session and we have all seen how difficult it is at the moment to be consistent, to switch everything on at the right time.

“Lewis and his team did a great job, so it was a massive margin by the situation within F1 at the moment so undoubtedly he deserves to be there.”

Whitmarsh refused to be drawn on offering any insight into the reasons behind Hamilton being given the order to stop.

But a suggestion that the problem was in the pits rather than on the car could point to a problem in the pits meaning not enough fuel went into the car ahead of his final run.

“It is a technical problem that happened in the garage that didn’t impede the performance of the car in anyway, and we stopped the car when it had 1.3-litres of fuel in the car,” said Whitmarsh.

He added: “There was a technical problem that led to that situation. I think it is not for me to decide; but I would believe that to be a force majeure but it is up to the stewards to decide.”

Whitmarsh was adamant, however, that Hamilton had enough fuel in the car to be able to complete his in-lap and supply the one litre sample.

Felipe Massa blamed traffic in Q2 for his disappointing 17th place on the Spanish Grand Prix grid.

While the Brazilian’s Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso fought for pole and qualified third in the upgraded car, Massa brought up the rear of the Q2 field – but said the result did not reflect his pace at all.

“I had traffic. I was on my lap and there were many cars going slow on their out-laps,” he said. “I had to completely change the braking positions, so I lost four tenths or half a second for sure because of this. It’s a shame. Looking at how competitive qualifying was, it’s a lot of positions.”

Asked if he was certain he would be fully competitive in the race, Massa replied: “I definitely expect a much stronger race tomorrow.”

Although Ferrari introduced several new parts for Barcelona, Massa hinted that Alonso might have gone beyond the car’s natural potential to get as high as third.

“I think our step was like we expected, to be honest. It was not more than we expected, it was like we expected. Fernando did a great job, definitely, in qualifying,” said Massa.

“But what we see in the evolution of the car and how it improved, it was not more or less than we expected in terms of numbers and everything. It’s not really a huge step forward. It’s a little step.”

Mark Webber believes that a front row grid position was possible despite failing to make it through to Q3 at Barcelona.

Webber stayed in the pits at the end of Q2 after posting a time that put him in second position behind Lewis Hamilton early in the session.

The Australian had planned to save a set of soft tyres for Q3, but ultimately the plan backfired on him as the track conditions improved and he was knocked out.

Initially Webber was confident that his lap was good enough to take him through to Q3.

“I think in Q2 just how much the track was improving caught us out. My first lap in Q2 was competitive, P2 to Lewis, but one tenth of a second was enough to cost us a front row.

“As soon as I got back they said ‘Mark perfect lap, get ready for Q3′, but with 60 seconds to go I started to shit myself and that was it,” he said.

“I think I was in a position definitely to go through to Q3 having used one set but we used them at the wrong time because we got exposed by the track positions. In China and Malaysia the track conditions haven’t changed that much and that is what bit us in the arse.”

However, the policy did allow Webber to save four sets of tyres for tomorrow’s race, and he is confident that he will be able to make the most of his predicament after setting competitive times throughout the weekend.

“I was still very encouraged by the times we did in relation to other people, but then ultimately the track manipulated itself into a position where my first run wasn’t enough,” he said.

“I have a lot of options tomorrow, three sets of primes and a new set of options.”

TV UNILATERAL

Q. Lewis, McLaren’s 150th Formula One pole position today. You really had to manage to the process though, particularly with the tyres. You were in the groove from the start, but what happened at the end when you stopped out on the track?

Lewis HAMILTON: Well, firstly it was a fantastic qualifying session for me. Really, I’m very happy with the way… I think it’s one of the best ones I’ve ever had. Amazing job by the guys in the garage. Huge thanks to the guys in the factory for bringing us the upgrades, which have worked fantastically. I stopped on the track. I was told to stop. I don’t really have any idea why. But the car was feeling great today. It’s a great day for the team, I think. I don’t know what happened with Jenson, but he’s got great strength and pace throughout the race, so I have no doubt that he will make his way up through the grid.

Q. Pastor, a sensational session for you and Williams. Where did you find the speed from?

Pastor MALDONADO: I think we’ve been working so hard from the beginning of the year trying to understand these tyres and to develop our car around the tyres and I think we actually did a really good step forward for this race. We need to continue to like that, keep pushing. I think at the moment there is a great atmosphere in the factory, a great atmosphere here in the team, the car looks pretty consistent and fantastic, especially in the race pace, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’s a great feeling to be here, it’s my first time in the top three, so I’m really happy and hopefully we will continue like that and I would like to say thanks to the whole team.

Q. Fernando, a lot of updates also on the Ferrari. Are you heading in the right direction now?

Fernando ALONSO: Yeah, I think so. Obviously for us it was impossible to even dream about being in the top three in the four races, we just had eyes on Q3 with no new set [of tyres] left or anything like that, so definitely it’s a step forward. The grid is so compact now that if you improve two or three tenths it makes a huge difference in terms of positions: five or six positions. So we did a step forward. I still doubt how much we did, because I think maybe P3 is a little bit over-performing what we can do at the moment. But I’m extremely happy with the lap; it was perfect. I don’t think there is much more to come. I think I could put 100 more sets of tyres on and I could only repeat the lap time probably. It is the way it is. I’m extremely happy for today and hopefully we maximise or capitalise on this good starting position tomorrow with a good result.

Q. Back to you Lewis. Obviously a lot of tyre tactics going on in qualifying today. What about the race tomorrow? What’s your read on how things are going to shape up and what kind of shape do you feel you’re in to become the fifth different race winner in five races?

LH: Well, we’ve looked after our prime tyres, which is generally the better tyre for the race, or so it seems at the moment – the longer lasting tyre. Also the option tyres are all in good condition so… I think it’s going to be a massively tough race tomorrow. Of course, I’ve got these two great drivers next to me. I’m really happy to see this guy [Pastor Maldonado] up here and to see Williams up here and also Fernando. It’s really great to see my old team-mate up here as well and I’m going to have a great battle with these guys and I really hope we’re going to put on a great show for all the fans.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q. Lewis, congratulations. That was a great lap at the end. You must be so satisfied with it?

LH: I really am. I think every time you go out, every time you qualify you’re searching for that perfect lap. You’re searching to put the car in just the right sweet spot, where you’re gaining all the time you could possibly gain and you’re not losing anywhere and I really felt that throughout Q1, Q2 and Q3… after Q1 I was like ‘damn, that should have been my Q3 lap’ but I was really grateful that I was able to continue that throughout the session and yeah, fantastic feeling really – overwhelmed.

Q. Lewis, you’ve started third on the grid here for the last three years and you haven’t yet won this grand prix, you’ve been twice second. Do you really want to tick this box, win this grand prix, one of the ones you haven’t yet won?

LH: Well I’m very much aware that I have an incredibly tough race tomorrow with these guys who are massively quick – also on their long runs – and just how tricky it is in general. But it would mean a huge amount for me to win here in Spain. It’s always been a great place for me, it’s beautiful weather all the time and the people are just incredible and the support that I’ve had continues to grow year by year. And it’s become such a pleasure for me to come here. So, to win at one of the circuits where they have one of the biggest fan bases for Formula One in general, would be fantastic.

Q. Can you explain why there should be such changing fortune, even between team-mates? For example, your team-mate didn’t get through to Q3, his [Maldonado's] team-mate didn’t get through into Q2 even and his [Alonso's] team-mate starts 17th. It seems extraordinary the changing fortunes even for team-mates.

LH: I think it’s surprising all of us. We are all very surprised. Obviously we are very happy that we’re up here! It just fantastic to see how close it is. You lose a tenth or two, that means you have to use your next set of tyres which then has a knock-on effect for the next session if you do or don’t get through. And so it’s massively competitive and it’s great for… I’m sure the fans are loving it – maybe not enjoying Q3 so much, but we definitely did.

Q. Pastor, where did it come from? How much did you get sorted out in Mugello? Do you think it’s a knock-on effect after Mugello?

PM: I think all the guys in the factory did a wonderful job because the upgrades we have for this race, everything is working on the car. I was pretty happy yesterday in the free practice and the balance is there. Even though our strongest point has always been in the race, so I’m looking forward for tomorrow. Actually we improved – our worst thing was the qualifying pace so pretty happy for that, pretty happy for the team, for my country, for myself. It’s a great job today.

Q. Is this a favourite circuit, one of your best? I know Bruno [Senna] said it was one of his favourite circuits…

PM: I think all of us, we know very well this circuit, we enjoy this circuit because of the combination of corners we find here, even the teams know very well. I think we have been working so hard in the winter tests here and so we find a good balance in the car and a good compromise for quali and race.

Q. Did you feel yesterday ‘hey, we can really do something here’? Did you already feel that yesterday?

PM: Yes. I think yesterday we were thinking about top ten, it was possible. This morning I was quite surprised about our performance because the car was so quick with lower fuel. This morning it was possible.

Q. Fernando, I don’t think anyone was ever going to discount you here. I don’t know what it was, maybe the crowd, or Ferrari etc, etc, How much satisfaction, third on the grid?

FA: Really happy. No doubt that this is a special weekend for me. And as I said on Thursday, there is always some extra motivation, some over-performing a little bit of what you have on hand, and yeah, thanks to the updates we had here, definitely we did a step forward, in the right direction because we hardly get into Q3 in the first four races and now we arrive with a little bit more comfortable way and then in Q3 the lap was good. I said before in the other conference with another hundred new tyres I would repeat the same time – I don’t think there is any time left. But the points are given tomorrow, not today. We did as much as we could today and we are happy to start in a much better position that what we did in the previous grands prix. But we need the points tomorrow. Especially… the grid positions are mixed a little bit as you said, with some of the people that are in front of us in the championship, they start at the back tomorrow – so we need to take benefit of this good position today and score more points than them.

Q. We remember in particular your start last year. Are we going to see a repeat of that?

FA: I’ll tell you tomorrow. Definitely, a little bit like Pastor and Williams, our race pace is much better than qualifying pace – that is normally our weakest point and we suffer on Saturday some bad positions and then compromise a little bit our race pace. So tomorrow we have a privileged position to start, so the first corner will be important if we can gain some positions, but it’s important also not to lose. The race tomorrow is very long with the tyre degradation and, as I said, we must score points tomorrow, good points, with this position we have. So, aggressive start yes, crazy start not.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Adrian Huber – Agencia EFE) Fernando, will you be happy tomorrow repeating this position or will you be looking for something more?

FA: You never know in Formula One. I think a podium position, we tend to agree in the team, if someone tells us two or three days ago, before coming to Barcelona, or after the Mugello test, that in Barcelona you will be on the podium, I think we all agree, we all be happy with that position. Today, obviously with this position, that dream or that target is closer. But I think the race is very long tomorrow and we saw even in Bahrain, Kimi started ninth, (11th), he was P10 or P11 in lap one and he nearly won the race in the end, so the positions are not crucial anymore as previous years. I think it will be an extremely tough race tomorrow to take care of the tyres again. Degradation, DRS, KERS to overtake. Pitstop strategy, we will see probably a lot of pitstops for everybody. The more pitstops you have, the more risk you have to have a problem in the pits. There are a lot of factors tomorrow that we need to take account. It will be a difficult race. A podium, I think, will be a good result for us and happy.

Q. (Leonid Novozhilov – F1 Life) Lewis, are you happy? What are you feeling now? What do you think about tomorrow, this position?

LH: I really feel fantastic. I’m very, very happy. Normally you can always be happy with a pole position of course, but for some reason even more so this time than maybe any other qualifying that I’ve had, except for the first pole position I have had in Formula One. Just because, as I was just saying, you’re always looking for that perfect lap, and I really, really felt that I got everything just, just sweet there and got absolutely everything out of my car. I didn’t miss apexes or anything like that. It’s an incredibly feeling when you have that. It’s really just a very unique experience. But tomorrow’s going to be a tough race. As you were just saying, Fernando had a great start here last year and it’s such a long drive down to turn one – but he was also saying people are coming to win from quite far back, or to compete for wins from quite far back, so tomorrow’s just going to be about looking after your tyres, getting the right pitstops at the right times and really being patient, I think, at the most important times during the race.

Q. (Fulvio Solms – Corriere Dello Sport) To all three drivers; they have chosen new rules and tyres to have an unpredictable Formula One. Do you think this championship is just unpredictable, or technically less logical as well?

FA: I don’t think they choose the tyres for the championship to be unpredictable. We have the tyres that we have.

LH: I’m not sure that they were expecting it to be as it is, but I definitely think that it is a bit unpredictable at the moment, massively close. There have been several different winners in the races and you can make such a big difference, if you don’t finish one race but then you win the next race, it can still keep you in contention so it feels for me – out of all the championships that I’ve been in – it feels to me to be one of the most exciting ones. Regardless if I haven’t won yet, it just feels like one of the best, I imagine, for people to watch.

PM: I think that the tyres are the same for everybody so all the teams and all the drivers are working hard to adapt ourselves, even the cars to these tyres and to get the best performance we can.

Q. (Marco degli Innocenti – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Pastor when you reached Williams, there were a lot of people, among journalists too, who expressed doubts about you and they said that you have got the seat because of your rich sponsors and so on. Now, are you convinced that you have proved that you are one of the top drivers, thanks to your qualities?

PM: I’m think that I’m lucky, I’m lucky to have not only a sponsor behind me but also a country behind me, pushing me so hard. Here I am, doing my job, doing my best, trying to improve every time. I have a mission, which is to be back with Williams to the top, so here we are. We still need to keep pushing, to keep improving and I think that is possible.

Q. (Silvia Arias – Parabrisas) Pastor, congratulations, I want to know about the start tomorrow. What do you think? Is it going to be easier to attack Lewis at the first corner, or defend from Fernando?

PM: I think it’s going to be a very tough race, because not only us three but even the other drivers have a very close pace. Our strongest point was always race pace so hopefully our car will be very consistent and pretty good in the race. I hope to continue like that, I hope to stay in the position, the podium is very important for us, the points, so it’s very important to keep calm and to do good race.

Q. (Laurentzi Garmendia – Berria) Lewis, we have such a close championship in terms of times in qualifying, but I think your gap was over half a second to Pastor. Does it surprise you? It looks like a dominant car.

LH: Yes, I’m definitely surprised to have such a big gap. I wasn’t surprised that it was a good lap because it felt that I switched the tyres on the right way and I feel that I extracted everything but yeah, considering that all the sessions are so close, all the teams are so close, I definitely wasn’t expecting to have such a big gap. That’s quite a big gap for us but we definitely can’t take it for granted. I think we’ll go to other races and it will be slower and in some races we will be faster but we really, really hope that with the continuous upgrades that we get we can try to maintain the pace that we have, especially through qualifying but most importantly to try and improve through the race.

Q. (Mike Doodson – Honorary) Fernando and Lewis: I think we all agree that it’s a good thing when Williams is doing well in Formula One and both of you have had moments this year when you’ve been racing with Pastor or the other Williams driver. I wonder if either of you or both of you could tell me where the car has strong points that you’ve noticed while racing with it on the circuit.

LH: I can’t remember exactly what your strong points are but for me it’s fantastic to see Williams up here, really, really very happy for them. I know Sir Frank quite well since I’ve been here and I’m a huge admirer of him and his team and to see them up here again, I think Formula One’s just not been the same without Williams being at the front, competing. So it’s good, it’s great for them and for the whole team. I’ve always thought they had quite a good car, it always looked quite beautiful but I think this year it’s performing as well as looking good, so we’ll definitely be on our toes to try and make sure we’re ahead of them.

FA: Yeah, I don’t know. Obviously I fight a little bit more with them than Lewis probably in these four races. The car looks strong in race pace as Pastor said and basically taking care of the tyres. I remember in China they did like 32 laps with the same set of tyres that no one could adapt to. Apart from the car, they are doing a very good job, setting up the car with the engineers – I know some of them, very talented and a fantastic job from the drivers as well. Pastor has this year proved, not only today, but many times this year that he’s doing a fantastic job, also with Bruno but less lucky sometimes. In Australia, on the last lap, Pastor crashed behind me but I was already fighting in the top five so it’s not new that he’s fighting in these top positions so well done to all of them.

Q. (Jaime Rogriguez – El Mundo) Fernando, after the last free practice this morning, did you imagine that after qualifying could be fighting for pole? When did you feel the real change in the car?

FA: No, obviously this morning’s practice we didn’t think we could be in the top five or top six. I think P8 to P12 was more or less our position after practice, same as after yesterday’s practice as well, that we were fastest in the morning and P14 in the afternoon, so we were something in between those positions in practice as well. Yeah, I’m happy and a little bit surprised to be in front of one McLaren, both Red Bulls, both Lotuses, so definitely this is not what we were expecting but qualifying went like this, it went our way this time and as I said, today means nothing if we don’t finish the job tomorrow.

Q. (Carlos Miguel – La Gaceta ) Fernando, are you worried that you might not to be able to finish the race in the same position you are in now, or are you worried the rhythm of the Renault – because they were very strong on Friday – and maybe some of the guys behind. I ask about Kimi because I think he could be a contender for the race.

FA: Yeah, yeah, definitely, the Lotus will be a threat tomorrow, starting fourth and fifth. They’ve been quick all weekend so tomorrow no surprises if they are fighting for the podium or even for a race win. Sebastian is P8 so he will be fighting for a top position later in the race. With Jenson and Mark having the possibility to chose which tyres to start on, I’m sure that they will prepare something good to recover position because they have the pace. They had the pace yesterday in FP2 and I’m sure that tomorrow they will be quick. The race will be tough to maintain positions because we believe that there are quicker cars behind us but let’s see what we can do. On the other hand, this is not an easy track to overtake on,

Q. (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) The forecast for tomorrow is significantly cooler, can that change the picture that some cars which hadn’t been up to speed today might fall into the operating window of the tyres tomorrow?

LH: I think it could be the opposite. If people are struggling today to switch their tyres on then potentially they would struggle even more if it was cooler but that is a real tricky situation to be in, that sometimes three tyres come in and one, your left front doesn’t work and then you just have understeer and you don’t get the time. If it is the case and it’s cooler tomorrow it will be tough for everyone, even the guys who did switch their tyres on today.

FA: Maybe rain.

Q. (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) To all drivers: you approach the times that you registered in winter testing today, with the same tyres but 20 degrees hotter asphalt. Can you make an analysis about this?

LH: Did we do these times in the winter?

FA: Yes, 21.6s for Grosjean in winter I think. We did 22.2s, we did 22.5s today, something like that. I think the cars improved a lot between February and now but the temperature… we know that the hotter it is the slower you are. It happens in the winter as well. If you do your best time at 9 ‘o clock in the morning, then you cannot repeat those times in the afternoon. In a way that shows how much the cars improved for everybody from February to here. It’s good.

PM: I agree. I think today was a bit more windy, which is a penalty for everybody.

Narain Karthikeyan will be allowed to take part in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday despite having failed to set a time within the 107 per cent in qualifying.

The Indian finished 8.5 seconds off the pace in Q1 after having to stop his car before he could complete a second run.

But the HRT driver will race in Spain after the stewards deemed his time in final practice was fast enough to prove what he could have done.

“We were going to go on the second set of tyres but we discovered some problems and due to safety concerns, not only for myself but the others, we decided that the best thing was to not go back out,” explained Karthikeyan, who failed to set a time on Friday.

“It seems like my bad luck continues to follow me this weekend and, although I’m disappointed about that, there’s nothing else I can do but keep giving it my best shot.”

Jenson Button is unsure where the speed he showed in Friday practice has gone after failing to reach the last segment of qualifying at Barcelona.

The Englishman had complained about a lack of balance on the faster soft tyre through qualifying and this morning’s practice session, but the team was unable to make the changes needed to solve the issue despite adding more front wing during Q2.

“To be out in Q2, not by a mistake but by not being quick enough is really surprising. It is going to be a tough afternoon tomorrow,” said Button, who had been quickest on Friday.

“I didn’t get anywhere near the balance I had yesterday in practice. I had a very loose rear end for most of qualifying and then we added more front wing at the end because we had some understeer in the high speed, we did that and that added to my problems.”

It is the first time since Spa 2011 that Button has failed to get into Q3. He will line up next to Mark Webber, who qualified in 12th position, but has saved four sets of new tyres, which Button thinks could be decisive in tomorrow’s race.

“I’m out in Q2, and it doesn’t really help because we don’t have any new tyres left. It is very close around me, not many people have new tyres, but Webber does,” he said.

“If the balance is like this I am going to struggle [in the race], but hopefully we can work out why that is.”

Sebastian Vettel believes he would not have been able to qualify in the top five even if he had set a time in Q3 at Barcelona.

The German decided not to complete a timed lap in the final qualifying segment in order to save tyres for tomorrow’s race, a decision he believes will be crucial.

Vettel will start from eighth position.

The world champion said, however, that Red Bull did not have the pace to be in the top five today.

“A pretty different session today; it was extremely tight,” said Vettel. “From Q1 onwards we decided to go on the soft tyres. The first run in Q2 wasn’t good enough, so I had to go again and it was clear then that if we made it to Q3, we wouldn’t have any new soft tyres left.

“I think we got the maximum at the end there in Q3, we saved some sets of tyres, which we thought going into qualifying would be crucial, but we didn’t have the pace of the top five cars today. Tyres will be important tomorrow, so let’s see what we can do.”

Team-mate Mark Webber completed a disappointed day for Red Bull after being knocked out in Q2.

The Australian did just one run in the session, thinking it would be enough to make it into Q3, but ended up dropping down to 12th position.

“I’m pretty surprised by that; the guys did a good job with the car and were pushing hard all weekend,” he said. “We were quick, but the track kept getting faster and we got caught out. My first timed lap in Q2 wasn’t fast enough. I was P2 after the first lap and we thought we had done enough, but in the end it wasn’t.

“I didn’t use two sets of tyres in Q2, which it turns out wasn’t the right thing to do. I was told not to go out again, but the way that the track improved was a surprise to all of us. We were very strong in the first part of Q2 and I was happy with how I drove my lap. It’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Romain Grosjean is pleased to have qualified on the second row for the Spanish Grand Prix despite having missed free practice three because of a problem with his Lotus.

Grosjean will start tomorrow’s race fourth, one place head of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

GrWhile the Franco-Swiss driver admitted his Q3 lap wasn’t perfect, he said that fourth was a good result considering the practice running he missed out on.

“It was a good performance from the team, especially as I didn’t run in FP3 because of a fuel pressure problem,” he said.

“For the set-up we went from what we’d found out yesterday, and it worked pretty well. Everyone did a good job to get the car ready for qualifying after the problems of the morning.

“We can be happy with what we have achieved – of course you always want more but this is the result for today. I think that I could have been a little bit quicker, not too much more.

“Tomorrow is going to be long; our race pace did not look too bad but, of course, we’ll have to manage tyre degradation.”

Raikkonen agreed that Lotus’ race pace looks promising ahead of the race.

“We’ll see how it goes tomorrow in the race; the car has usually been better on Sunday than it has been on Saturday, so if that’s the case tomorrow we’ll be pretty happy,” said the Finn.

“A lot of small details will decide the race, and the tyres are one aspect. Our long runs were promising [on Friday], so we’re not looking too bad.

“Hopefully we get a reasonable start and we can be up at the right end and go for it. I think we’ve got a good car and that’s the main thing.”

Charles Pic – 21st: “I am quite happy to be honest. I think for me all round it is quite a good qualifying. We managed to improve the package for this weekend, but the gap to the cars in front today did not reflect that. I don’t think we really know where we are yet because the car was not 100%. I feel there is more to come for sure. We always seem to be better in the race versus our competitors and I hope that will be true for tomorrow. For now though I am happy with my position and I look forward to the race.”

Timo Glock – 22nd: “A much better day today than yesterday. I think we got on top of the problems a little bit and in Free Practice 3 this morning I had a good feeling. Unfortunately qualifying wasn’t great for me. I made a mistake on my first flying lap, which was then not quick enough, and on the second flying lap on the first set of tyres I ran into yellow flags at turn 3 where one of the HRTs spun, so I couldn’t do much on first set of tyres. On the second set of tyres I just couldn’t get the lap together. The first sector was good; in the second sector I got a bit of traffic; and for some reason I dropped tyre performance in the last sector. It just didn’t come together today and I will have to sit and analyse it and hope for better things in the race tomorrow.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “We approached Free Practice 3 this morning somewhat hesitantly. For the last two race weekends we have found, on Timo’s car in particular, that a good balance on Friday has somehow translated into a car that is not behaving as it should have done for the rest of the weekend. A lot of analysis has taken place over the past week – and at the Mugello test prior to that – and some new parts that we brought to both cars seem to have solved these problems. Timo reported a much improved balance on the car today, even with respect to Friday. Given this, our confidence built in FP3 but was then knocked slightly by a mechanical issue on Timo’s car at the end of the session. We quickly diagnosed the fault on what was a new part and were able to apply a fix to both cars in readiness for qualifying. Unfortunately for Timo, he never really found his rhythm in the qualifying session, so I’m sure there’s a lot more to come from him tomorrow. Charles on the other hand performed brilliantly, as was the case last week, and he is certainly exceeding all the expectations that we had of him for this stage of his debut season. The guys in front still have a little margin on us if we put our best laps together, so tomorrow we will perhaps not be able to enjoy the fight we had hoped for. However, by setting the clear goal of trying to be as close to them as we possibly can, we will at least be able to learn more about where our car development needs to go from here.”

Michael Schumacher has backed his decision not to complete a timed lap in the third part of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The German was one of three drivers to not complete a flying lap in Q3, opting instead to save a set of tyres for the race.

As a result, Schumacher will start from ninth position, two spots behind his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

“We wanted to save tyres this afternoon, which dictated how we managed Q3,” he said.

“I did not complete a timed lap, and now I still have the choice of what tyres to start on tomorrow. Equally, I thought it was better to start from ninth on the grid than eighth, and be on the clean side.”

According to Schumacher, the decision to not run could well be crucial in what is shaping up to be a tight race.

“It’s clear that some teams have taken a step forward after the three-week break, and I would also say that the field is now even closer together.

“It’s going to be a tight race tomorrow, although the forecast says it should be cooler, and it will be interesting to see if our choices today pay off at the end of the race.”

Sergio Perez says he could have achieved a better result in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, even if he admitted the session had gone better than expected.

The Sauber driver continued to show the potential of the Swiss squad’s car by qualifying in sixth position at Barcelona.

But after finishing less than two tenths away from third, the Mexican admitted he was frustrated to not have extracted something extra from his car.

“After the free practice sessions hadn’t been so easy for me, in qualifying the car really felt good,” said Perez. “I think the result is what we were hoping for and perhaps a little bit better than expected.

“The competition is so close that a tenth of a second can really make a big difference, and you always think you could go a bit faster. In this regard it is almost frustrating having finished sixth, because a slightly better position was within reach.

“However, I think we can have a strong race performance. A lot will be down to tyre degradation tomorrow, which is quite high here. I want to do a perfect race and get the maximum possible points, or even come home with a nice surprise.”

Team-mate Kamui Kobayashi will start from tenth position after having to stop his car at the end of the Q2 because of a hydraulic problem.

The Japanese believes a place in the top five would have been possible if he had been able to run in Q3.

“We really had a good performance in qualifying, and I could feel I had not extracted the maximum potential out of the car yet,” he said. “In Q1 I had a bit of traffic and also on my fastest lap in Q2 there was still room for improvement from me.

“I believe I could have been fighting for a top five position, and this was what I was looking forward to.”

Qualifying third for the Spanish Grand Prix is proof that Ferrari is heading in the right direction, according to Fernando Alonso.

Having already stated that the Spanish race was a crucial one for the squad, Alonso made the qualifying session count, comfortably making it into Q3 before locking down a second row start for tomorrow’s race.

“Thanks to the updates we took a step forward in right direction,” said Alonso.

“Now we arrive to Q3 in a more comfortable way, and in Q3 the level is good. If I had 100 more tyres I would do same time, so [there is no] more time left.

“For us it was impossible even to dream about being in the top three in the first four races. We were arriving in Q3 with no new sets [of tyres] left, so that is a step forward.

“I think P3 is over performing what we can do at the moment, but I am happy. There is much more to come.”

Alonso also said that tomorrow’s race will be a golden opportunity for Ferrari to steal some points from the likes of Red Bull Racing, which struggled in qualifying.

“The points are given tomorrow, not today,” he added.

“We did as much as we could today we are happy to start in much better position than we did in the previous grand prix. But we need the points tomorrow. These positions are mixed a little bit, with some of the people in front [of us in] the championship starting at the back tomorrow.

“So we need to take [advantage] of this good position today and score more points than them.”

Team-mate Felipe Massa qualified in 17th position.

Pastor Maldonado is not surprised to have been so fast during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan was fast in all three segments of qualifying, culminating in Williams’s first front row start in the dry since Mark Webber started the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix from second position.

“[On Friday] we thought the top ten was possible, and this morning I was quite surprised by our performance, because our car was so quick lower fuel,” he said.

“So this morning we thought it was possible.”

With the Williams already having shown consistent race pace in the first four grands prix of the season, Maldonado is also confident that he can turn the grid position into a solid results in tomorrow’s race.

“I think we have been working so hard since the beginning of the year, trying to understand these tyres and develop our cars around the tyres,” he added.

“And we actually made a good step forward for this race. The car looks consistent, especially in race pace, so it’s a great feeling to be here, [my] first time in top three.

“We improved our worst thing, which was qualifying pace. So I am happy for the team, for my country and for myself.”

Lewis Hamilton says qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix was one of the best he has ever had after securing his third pole position of the year.

The McLaren driver stormed to the top spot in the dying seconds of the session with a lap of 1m21.707s, the Briton the only driver to lap the Spanish track in less than 82 seconds.

Hamilton, who beat Williams’s Pastor Maldonado to pole, was elated with the performance.

“It was a fantastic qualifying session for me, very very happy with it – one of the best I ever had,” said Hamilton. “Amazing job by the guys in the garage and thanks to guys in factory who have brought upgrades.

“The car feels great. It is a great day for the team I think. I really feel fantastic. I feel very, very happy.

“You can normally be happy with a position but for some reason this feels better than other pole positions because you are looking for a perfect position. It is an incredible feeling you have.”

Hamilton, who is yet to win a grand prix this year, is under no illusions that the race will be easy, however.

“I am very much aware that I have incredibly tough race tomorrow with these guys who are massively quick and how tricky it is in general,” he said. “It will mean a lot to me to win in Spain.

“It has always been a good place for me, beautiful weather and people are incredible and the support I have continues to grow year by year and it has become such a pleasure. To win where you have such a big fan base will be fantastic.”

Hamilton failed to return to the pits after his final qualifying lap, a move that is likely to be investigated by the stewards as drivers are required to make their way back to the pitlane.

“I stopped on track, I don’t have any idea why,” he said.

Vitaly Petrov – 19th: “I am very happy with today’s performance. It feels great to have it all come together in qualifying today and I want to thank the team for doing a great job and helping me put together a final lap like that. There was even more time to come as I made a small mistake in sector two that maybe cost me two or three tenths, but between FP3 and qualifying we found a good balance on the softs and a KERS map that I could really get everything out of, so it’s great to see it pay off with that sort of performance.

“Tomorrow’s going to be an interesting race. I think a lot of it will come down to who uses the rear tyres best and as we’ve already seen earlier this season, we can fight with the cars ahead on Sundays, so hopefully we can carry through this afternoon’s performance to tomorrow, and who knows what could happen.”

Heikki Kovalainen – 20th: “I’m not unhappy with today’s performance but we could have definitely got more out of the car this afternoon. I made a mistake in turn three that cost me some time but overall I’ve not really been able to find a setup I’m happy with all weekend. We’ve tried a few different things to find a decent balance but for some reason we just couldn’t find a compromise for qualifying today. We’ll put that behind us now and move on to tomorrow where we’ll aim to maintain the sort of race pace we’ve shown in the first four Grands Prix this season. If we can look after the tyres I think we’ll be ok.”

Mark Smith, Technical Director: “I think we probably got close to extracting as much performance out of the cars as we could this afternoon. Both drivers may have been able to find a couple more tenths but I am pleased with the performances they put in and now the focus moves to tomorrow’s race. Tyres will be the defining factor in the race. We have already shown that we can fight with several cars ahead on Sundays and I think that careful management of the tyres and good pitstop strategy should give us a chance of putting in a good performance.”

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix by a commanding margin over shock front row man Pastor Maldonado’s Williams.

In a session full of surprises, Hamilton was half a second quicker than Maldonado, who had been rapid in final practice, topped Q2, and then held provisional pole for a while.

Hamilton was the only frontrunner to do two runs in Q3, and his initial benchmark stood until first local hero Fernando Alonso in the much improved Ferrari, then the incredible Maldonado beat him.

But there was still more to come from Hamilton, who produced a 1m21.707s to give McLaren its 150th Formula 1 pole. The Briton then stopped on track on his slowing-down lap.

Just behind Maldonado, Alonso held second ahead of Lotus team-mates Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, who again proved extremely competitive.

Both Saubers made it into Q3, with Sergio Perez going on to take sixth, but Kamui Kobayashi consigned to 10th as his car expired on the way back to the pits at the end of Q2.

Nico Rosberg was seventh after just one early run in Q3, while both Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Rosberg’s Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher chose to save tyres and not doing any flying laps in Q3, so qualified eighth and ninth.

The presence of the underdogs in the top 10 inevitably meant some big names were squeezed out in Q2, and it was Jenson Button – who had been uncomfortable with the McLaren’s handling all day – and Mark Webber who found themselves on the wrong side of the cut-off. The McLaren and Red Bull will share row six, double Catalunya polesitter Webber having been sat in the pits at the end of the session as others improved and pushed him backwards.

It was a bad day for Felipe Massa as well, the Ferrari driver registering his worst grid position so far in this already-disappointing season as he qualified behind the Force Indias and Toro Rossos in 17th.

While Maldonado stormed towards the front, his Williams team-mate Bruno Senna pushed too hard in his efforts to keep up – spinning into the gravel at the end of Q1 and ensuring an instant exit.

Vitaly Petrov outqualified Caterham team-mate Heikki Kovalainen for the first time as the back-of-the-grid teams lined up in the usual order. Charles Pic was quicker than fellow Marussia man Timo Glock, and HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan will needs stewards’ permission to race as apparent mechanical issues left him a long way from the 107 per cent margin.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time            Gap   

 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m21.707s   
 2.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m22.285s   + 0.578 
 3.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m22.302s   + 0.595 
 4.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m22.424s   + 0.717 
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m22.487s   + 0.780 
 6.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m22.533s   + 0.826 
 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m23.005s   + 1.298 
 8.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     No time
 9.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             No time
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       No time

Q2 cut-off time: 1m22.904s                                    Gap **

11.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m22.944s   +  0.839

12.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m22.977s   +  0.872

13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m23.125s   +  1.020

14.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m23.177s   +  1.072

15.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.265s   +  1.160

16.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.442s   +  1.337

17.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m23.444s   +  1.339

Q1 cut-off time: 1m24.362s                                    Gap *

18.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m24.981s   + 2.398

19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m25.277s   + 2.694

20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m25.507s   + 2.924

21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m26.582s   + 3.999

22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.032s   + 4.449

23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m27.555s   + 4.972

24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m31.122s   + 8.539

107% time: 1m28.363s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

Sebastian Vettel denied Pastor Maldonado a shock timesheet-topping performance in the final seconds of the third practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.

Most of the hour had seen a variety of surprise underdog names taking turns on top, before reigning champions Vettel and Red Bull re-established the expecting order with the German’s final lap.

It was Sauber’s Sergio Perez who led the way for most of the morning, setting the quickest time of the first half hour on the harder tyres, then being swiftly usurped by first Nico Rosberg, then Jean-Eric Vergne as the Mercedes and Toro Rosso tried softs.

Once Perez was on softs too, he was swiftly back in front, lapping in 1m23.742s.

That held until the final two minutes, when his team-mate Kamui Kobayashi jumped to the top, followed by Red Bull’s Mark Webber.

But before this pair could get to the pits, they were being usurped as Maldonado came through to put his Williams on top with a 1m23.336s.

The Venezuelan would not stay there, as with seconds left on the clock, Vettel edged him out by 0.168 seconds.

Maldonado, Kobayashi, Webber and Perez found themselves pushed back to second through fifth places, ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, Vergne, and fastest McLaren driver Jenson Button. The sister McLaren of Lewis Hamilton looked poised to grab first place on the Briton’s soft tyre run, only to encounter heavy traffic in the middle of the chicane, leaving Hamilton an unrepresentative 16th.

Romain Grosjean did not complete any flying laps after a fuel pressure issue stranded his Lotus at Turn 10 early on, while Timo Glock was the other man to park trackside following an apparent issue at the final chicane in the closing minutes. The German stopped his Marussia just past the pit exit.

Pos  Driver                Team                   Time               Laps

 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m23.168             13

 2.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m23.336s  + 0.168   19

 3.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m23.350s  + 0.182   19

 4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m23.578s  + 0.410   16

 5.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m23.742s  + 0.574   22

 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m23.807s  + 0.639   15

 7.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m23.833s  + 0.665   14

 8.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m23.909s  + 0.741   13

 9.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m23.936s  + 0.768   16

10.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m24.070s  + 0.902   23

11.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m24.179s  + 1.011   16

12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m24.323s  + 1.155   17

13.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m24.331s  + 1.163   15

14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m24.409s  + 1.241   18

15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m24.599s  + 1.431   15

16.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m24.778s  + 1.610   15

17.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m24.825s  + 1.657   17

18.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m25.911s  + 2.743   20

19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m26.587s  + 3.419   20

20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m27.469s  + 4.301   18

21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m27.689s  + 4.521   16

22.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m28.207s  + 5.039   24

23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m28.373s  + 5.205   13

24.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          no time               2 

All Timing Unofficial

Frank Williams thinks his team has all the ingredients it needs to move itself back to the front of the field in Formula 1, having begun a recovery from its worst ever season.

A technical reshuffle has helped deliver a car that is much improved on last year’s disappointing FW33, and the Grove-based outfit has scored more than three times as many points so far this season than it managed in the whole of 2011.

But although it still has some distance to go before it can rediscover its winning ways, team principal Williams is upbeat about the state of the outfit right now.

“We seem to have lost the knack of making poignant cars, but it’s not so easy to find it [in F1] because it’s very competitive now,” he told AUTOSPORT.

“On the face of it, the regulations aren’t a myriad of high class mathematical problems; they are quite straightforward engineering problems. We’ve done it before and we just have to be more clever and more organised, maybe get one or two people in. We can make better cars than we have done. My job is to find the money; the engineers’ job is to make racing cars.”

The arrival of engineering chief Mark Gillan and technical director Mike Coughlan to oversee the technical aspect of Williams appears to be paying off, and Williams says there are no excuses for the outfit not continuing to improve.

“Do we have the right people? Well, the proof of the pudding is the proof of the pudding. I don’t think we lack very much. We have people with strong ambitions and good, strong optimism too. We’re proud of what we do.

“We make good racing cars, coupled with a good engine. We have the same engine as three or four other teams. We have the same tyres as all the other teams. It’s a bunch of human beings. The trick is to get the best group.”

Jean-Eric Vergne believes that it is only a matter of time before he puts his qualifying struggles behind him after missing the cut in Q1 in the previous three Formula 1 races.

The Frenchman has turned in some impressive race drives this year and qualified a strong 11th in Australia. But he accepts that he needs to find the right balance between aggression and caution in qualifying to get the best out of himself.

“It’s just experience,” he said when asked by AUTOSPORT what he needs to do to improve in qualifying. “One time you do not push enough, one time you push too hard. How do you find the right middle? Hopefully it will be soon.

“I will find it and I’m not stressed about it. I take it not as a problem but as something that I need to improve.

“[Qualifying is] the first time I drive with low fuel, which makes the car a little bit different to drive. It’s easy to miss out in qualifying.”

Despite his qualifying difficulties, Vergne is happy with the start he has made to the season.

In Malaysia, he claimed his first points for eighth place after climbing the order during the first stint of the race while running on intermediates when most switched to full wets.

Vergne has no doubts that he can achieve such results consistently as his experience builds.

“There have been a lot of good things from the first race that encourage me and the team. It’s just a question of time and everything will be right.

“We can have some strong results. I’m not worried and the team is not worried, we will just keep working and it will pay off.”

Scuderia Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost has backed the Frenchman to improve in qualifying.

“Jean-Eric is a little bit too aggressive in qualifying,” Tost told this week’s AUTOSPORT magazine. “But I am convinced he will change this.”

Valtteri Bottas says he is not getting impatient with his ambitions to move up to a Formula 1 race seat, despite continuing to impress during his Friday testing duties for Williams.

The Finn is scheduled to take part in 15 Friday practice sessions this season to help prepare him for F1, and so far he has shone in comparison to team-mate Pastor Maldonado.

But although his obvious speed – allied to the fact that he has now been able to deliver some sponsorship – makes him an obvious candidate to step up to a race seat as soon as possible, Bottas is happy to wait for now.

“Of course as a racer, I want to be a racing driver in this class as soon as possible but in the end, this is now how things are for me this season,” Bottas told AUTOSPORT.

“For me it’s the Fridays, and for me this season is really great for learning a lot about F1 and also proving myself. If I could get the race seat then I think the preparation I have got from testing on Fridays will have been really valuable.”

Bottas says that he is making good progress in learning about the intricacies of F1, and feels he can develop much more over the remainder of this campaign.

“I’m learning more and more all the time,” he said. “The main thing that I needed to learn was the tyres. Of course there’s a lot of other stuff that you need to learn in F1, and I’m still learning more and more every Friday, especially from the tyres and how they behave, and how to squeeze time out of them.

“I think there are small bits everywhere really where I can do more. I’ve never done a proper long run – really long runs, like 20 laps. I still don’t have a perfect idea of how the tyre really lasts from lap 15 to 25, so that’s maybe something to experience at some point.”

Pirelli will not change its approach to producing challenging tyres in Formula 1, despite the controversy caused by Michael Schumacher’s recent criticisms of its products.

Schumacher has twice been critical of Pirelli’s high-degrading tyres – and even suggested last week that racing on them was like driving on ‘raw eggs’.

Speaking about the matter at the Circuit de Catalunya on Friday, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said that there were no plans to make any changes to the tyres – and the only way his company would alter its approach would be if the teams asked it too because the sport was losing popularity among fans.

“The last thing we want to do is do what one or two individuals want. It will take all 12 teams to sit down and ask us to change, but that isn’t going to happen,” explained Hembery.

“There has been one particular comment made in the last few races. But at the end of last season the number of people who came to see us and say they were unhappy was zero. And the number of people who have come to see us this season is one. So you have to be reasonably pragmatic.

“We fully understand Michael’s point of view, and what he wants to see, and if the fans ultimately want that, then I guess the teams and ourselves probably are more interested in what the fans say.

“But even then you have to have a balanced viewpoint based more on viewing figures. You cannot go on forums, because the vast majority are unfortunately slightly misinformed. It is down to everyone to inform them a bit better. Some people thought we were on our own going off and doing these things, but we were not.”

Hembery said the alternative to its current tyres would be to have ones that did not degrade – but that would ultimately produce processional races.

“We will do what the sport wants. If they want a tyre that lasts all the race with no degradation then we will do that. If they want what we have got now we will do that, if they want something in the middle we will do that, but it is not something you want to be changing every five minutes.

“The teams invest a lot of energy and a lot of money trying to maximise the package, and they want to know what the challenge is and that is what they are working on now. If you make a knee-jerk reaction and you go in a different direction you can maybe throw things out the window that you don’t want.”

Hembery said that he was not upset at Schumacher’s comments – but was slightly baffled because it was Mercedes boss Ross Brawn who pushed so hard for the tyres to be so challenging.

“I don’t really have any feeling about it,” he said when asked for his reaction about Schumacher’s stance. “We understand he is a great champion, and he has every right to say how he feels and what is his opinion, but it is one opinion and we have to try and take into account what we were given.

“We were not told to replicate a tyre that runs for a whole race with no degradation and create a procession. We were told by his team principal to replicate Canada 2010.”

Hembery said that Pirelli was actually more surprised by the criticisms it faced after India last year than by Schumacher’s recent complaints.

“If we have been shocked since we got back into F1, it wasn’t now it was actually after India where we had very dramatic negative reaction to the race in the eyes of the public,” he said.

“That we did get a lot of reaction to – we were heavily criticised as to why now we are being so conservative. That really did make us go home and think.”

Kimi Raikkonen sees no reason why his Lotus team should not be fighting at the front in the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend.

The Finn, who finished in second position in the previous race in Bahrain, was fifth in Friday’s free practice at Barcelona.

Although Raikkonen was half a second off the pace set by Jenson Button, the Lotus driver suggested his team was stronger than on previous Fridays this year.

“We’ve been fast everywhere else so far and there’s nothing to suggest we won’t be fast here again,” said Raikkonen.

“Our car is better now than the winter, and it feels that this Friday was a bit more easier than the others, so we are maybe ahead than where we were at other races. In Bahrain we didn’t have so easy a Friday, so we will see tomorrow.”

The Finn posted his fastest time of the day on the second lap on his soft tyres after making a mistake on the opening one, where the rubber was at its best.

“I did my lap on the second lap because I went wide on the first sector so I mean it was not a very good lap from myself,” he said. “There are more things that we have to improve but Button was a bit ahead of everybody. For sure we had the chance to have a good car.”

Raikkonen said the strong result in Bahrain has not meant a change of approach for Lotus, and says the team will face the weekend with the same frame of mind as before.

“We do the same thing every race. We just need to do the whole race weekend as well as we can. We haven’t changed anything and I haven’t experienced any change because we had a good race. We didn’t have a bad atmosphere before, so we are doing the same thing before and things are going normally.”

Fernando Alonso is optimistic that he can improve in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday after finishing practice two in 14th position at Barcelona, 1.201 seconds behind Jenson Button, who was fastest.

The Spaniard was quickest in first practice but was unable to capitalise in the second session after failing to get a clear lap on soft tyres. He had been hoping to demonstrate the revised Ferrari’s pace after a positive test at Mugello where he set the third fastest time over the three days.

“We didn’t improve as much as some other cars, some improved by between one and 1.5 seconds [on soft tyres] and I was not able to push them,” Alonso said.

“I was unable to get a clean lap and [on] my third lap I had traffic as well so I think I can improve a bit tomorrow with a clean lap and hopefully I can see this advantage that everyone seems to find on the soft.”

Alonso said he cannot be certain if Ferrari has made enough of a step forward until after the race on Sunday, but he says the car is behaving as he had expected and he is more confident of getting into the final part of qualifying.

“I am confident that we will do the job and with the updates the first signs are positive, we need to look more at the data but it looks as we suspected,” he said.

“Tomorrow hopefully we can see some positive signs and we can get into Q3 a little bit more relaxed this time.”

Jenson Button said he was struggling to get the harder tyres working properly during practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver set the pace in the afternoon session, posting the quickest time thanks to a run on the soft Pirelli compound.

When running on the hards, however, Button admitted he was finding it impossible to get them working properly despite the high track temperatures.

“It was a good afternoon, but a tough one, trying to understand the tyres,” said Button. “And we still don’t quite understand them, but the car seems to be work well on the soft tyres.

“On the hard tyre I just can’t get it working. I just can’t get the temperature into the tyres. I don’t know why it is but it’s something we need to sort out for Sunday.”

Button admitted the gap between the two compounds brought to Spain was huge for him.

“For me it felt massive, but for other people… For Lewis [Hamilton], he seemed quicker on the prime than he was on the option, and I was the other way around, so it’s a strange one,” he said.

“It’s normally the other way around for me, so the prime would normally be a good tyre for me. Hopefully we can figure it out.”

Hamilton, meanwhile, said he had not enjoyed a great day after struggling with the set-up of his car, which made the balance very inconsistent.

The Briton was fourth quickest.

“I still smile, but it’s not been a great day,” said Hamilton. “We struggled a little bit with the set-up, but the upgrades have worked pretty well. We have good pace, in particular in the longer runs.

“We are in the fight, at least, but we didn’t really show it because we had a bit of an inconsistent set-up today, which means it’s very difficult to pinpoint exactly what I need to do to change the set-up to make it better. We need to look at the data and try to find where the most serious issues are and try to correct that for tomorrow.

“The balance is very inconsistent so it’s very difficult to pinpoint exactly what we need to change to make it better.”

Hamilton said, however, that the upgrades introduced by McLaren were already making the car stronger.

“The car already feels better than it did in the last race and we are still trying to work on managing our tyres,” he said.

Alexander Rossi – 21st: “I am very pleased with how this morning’s session went. We completed the program the team had set and I acclimatised quickly to the step up to F1. This isn’t my first time working with the team, I already have a day at the Abu Dhbai young driver test last year under my belt, but coming into a full race weekend is a very different proposition to the young driver test. Today wasn’t about setting the quickest lap I could – there may have been another seven or eight tenths to be found but the main thing today was to learn as much as I could, contribute by following the plan, give the engineers clear, concise feedback, and not make any mistakes. That’s what we did so I think it’s been pretty much as good as it could have been.”

Heikki Kovalainen – 19th: “A pretty standard Friday for us. We made a couple of set-up changes early on in FP2 that improved the balance and I think we’ve ended up closer to where we want to be today. As it’s been all season, tyre management is going to be vital here, especially on Sunday, and from what we’ve seen from the tyre degradation patterns on both tyre choices I think we need to do more work on managing wear rates, but if we can do that I think we’ll be ok tomorrow, and on Sunday.”

Vitaly Petrov – 20th: “I’m relatively pleased with today but it was a bit of an odd couple of sessions for us. This morning we did all the runs on the hard tyres and couldn’t really find a balance I could push with, and then this afternoon we managed to dial out the understeer we had on both the hard and soft tyres, but suddenly found we had oversteer that hadn’t been there before. I think this is something that’s affecting quite a few of the teams, and it’s not what we were expecting after the Bahrain race and the Mugello test, but we’ll work on it tonight and I’m sure we’ll find a solution for FP3 and qualifying.”

Thierry Salvi, Renault Sport F1 Support Leader: “Despite the fact that Barcelona is probably the track everyone in F1 knows better than any other, it’s still a good challenge for us to come back here for the race. We tested here for two weeks in February but the weather conditions were obviously cooler then which means we have to run different engine maps to account for the increase in temperature. Those maps have worked well today and we’ve seen the sort of results we expected from the overall engine performance. This is also the first time we can compare KERS data with information generated at the same track back in February, and with the experience we have now of using KERS in the first four races we can see we’re much closer to optimising its performance over the whole weekend. These are a couple of the areas we’ve been concentrating on in the lead-up to this weekend, and for both sessions today, and from the drivers’ initial feedback on the engine performance I think we can be pleased with what we have achieved today.”

Mark Smith, Technical Director: “I think we have made good use of both sessions today. Alexander Rossi took part in his first FP1 session for us this morning and did a very good job, working through a programme that was looking at a number of rear wing options that gives us more information to work on in addition to the data we generated in Mugello last week. This afternoon Heikki was back in his normal car and he and Vitaly concentrated on tyre work, looking at degradation levels on the soft and hard compounds we have available to us this weekend. There is quite a big time difference between the two types of tyre which will make strategy in qualifying tomorrow very interesting, and will put the onus on Sunday on the drivers looking after the wear rates as much as possible.”

Timo Glock – 21st: “To be honest we’ve had two pretty difficult sessions today as we’ve struggled with the balance of the car. It’s been very nervous on both sets of tyres so a little disappointing that we seem to still have this problem. We’ll just have to take a good look at the data and see what we can find to improve the situation for tomorrow.”

Charles Pic – 22nd: “I am quite happy with the way today has been. We made good progress across the two sessions and I feel the benefit of the new update. I think there is more we can find overnight to prepare us for qualifying, but generally it feels like we can have a good rest of the weekend. A good start I think.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “We always said that whilst we were pleased with our test in Mugello, a better barometer of how much our updates would improve our car’s performance would be once we got to a more representative circuit such as this one. We don’t feel that we have made the best start today and there is a slight air of disappointment as a result, however we must stay focused as it will only be after qualifying tomorrow that we will be able to make a full assessment of our the step. Overall we can be pleased that the reliability of the car has been good and allowed us to complete our set-up and aero programmes today. The results of our aerodynamic tests in FP1 can now be applied across both cars for FP3 tomorrow. Neither driver is 100% happy with the balance so far, however I’m sure that time spent looking at the data tonight will allow for improved set-ups in the morning.”

Mark Webber expects several top 10 qualifiers to sit out Q3 in Saturday’s Spanish Grand Prix qualifying session amid suggestions that having as many fresh set of tyres for the race as possible will again be key to victory.

Webber’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel won the last grand prix in Bahrain from pole, but was pushed hard by Kimi Raikkonen, as the Lotus driver conserved tyres in qualifying then charged up from 11th on the grid to finish a close second.

After setting the seventh fastest time in Friday afternoon practice, Webber reckoned this would be a weekend when many drivers prioritised race pace over qualifying position.

“It is always nice to finish qualifying with a few sets of tyres,” said the Australian. “You always want to try and get through all three sessions with minimal damage on your tyres, and there will be no exception this weekend – we will see.

“We could see people sit out Q3, those that just get into Q3, and they will do that to save tyres.”

Asked after practice in Spain if he felt qualifying or the race was the more important this weekend, Vettel replied: “Most important is points and points you get on Sunday.

“Surely I know the reason we go out on Saturday is to qualify as high as we can, ideally to get pole, so nothing has changed but we have seen that during the race there is a lot of things happening with the tyres. Where you start on Sunday does not automatically mean that is the position you will finish.”

Webber added that it was relatively difficult to get a perfect flying lap together on the softer tyres, and felt that was the key to the big gaps between first and second-placed Jenson Button and Vettel, and their fourth and seventh-placed team-mates.

“I still think we saw at the end there that when people put new options on, the lap-time that everyone sees is one timed lap on the options basically, so I think if you get that right you are not looking that bad,” said Webber.

“To see six/seven tenths between team-mates… JB is a big step ahead of Lewis, so if you get everything together then the lap time will come, so that is the challenge on the tyres.”

Nico Rosberg has admitted that tyre degradation is worse today than it was during pre-season testing after what he and team-mate Michael Schumacher both described as a “challenging” day for Mercedes.

Rosberg ended the day third fastest, 0.372 seconds off pacesetter Jenson Button, but underlined that tyre management will be the deciding factor in Sunday’s race.

“It was very different to winter testing and a lot tougher on the tyres,” said Rosberg after practice. “It has been a very challenging day first of all to see how to get the car right for qualifying and especially how to get it right for the race.

“I don’t know where we are on tyre wear. We will have to look through the data now. Tyre management is going to be crucial here.”

Schumacher has criticised the Pirelli rubber in recent week and sees tyres as the main challenge faced by the team.

He ended the day eighth fastest, setting a best time 0.681s off the pace but emphasised that his main focus was on race pace rather than qualifying speed.

“That’s a challenge,” he said of tyre degradation. “We have to find out more and analyse it too see what we did compared to the other guys.

“We have four of them [tyres] each time we go out and it’s the same for everybody.”

Jenson Button overcame understeer issues with his McLaren to post the quickest time of the day in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver used Pirelli’s soft tyres to set a best time of 1m23.399s – enough to beat world champion Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull by 0.164 seconds.

Nico Rosberg put Mercedes in third position, with Button’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton in fourth and Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen completing the top five, albeit over half a second off the pace.

Raikkonen’s team-mate Romain Grosjean was sixth ahead of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, with Michael Schumacher, Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Hulkenberg completing the top 10.

This morning’s pacesetter Fernando Alonso had to settle for 14th position in the Ferrari.

With the track temperatures rising to 43 degrees Celsius, Sergio Perez was the early pacesetter for Sauber with a lap of 1m25.532s, but the Mexican was demoted around eight minutes into the session, when Vettel stopped the clock at 1m25.000s.

Schumacher was the first man to lap in the 1m24s in the afternoon session just moments later, the German jumping to the top with a 1m24.859s, still some four tenths of a second off Alonso’s best from the morning.

The Spaniard returned to first position at the 18-minute mark with a lap that was still around three tenths off his best, but 0.120s faster than Schumacher. Jean-Eric Vergne relegated the local hero to second three minutes later with a fastest lap just 0.006s better than Alonso’s.

A few minutes later, Vettel flew to the top of the times in his first run on Pirelli’s softs, the world champion’s 1m23.563s the best time of the weekend until that point. Sauber’s Kobayashi moved into second position, albeit over six tenths off Vettel’s best, by also running with the softer compound.

Hamilton first and Webber later also completed runs on the soft tyres to move to second and third behind Vettel.

With 35 minutes gone it was Button’s turn to go out with softs, and the Briton made good use of them to spring to the top of the times with a 1m23.399 despite having complained of severe understeer earlier on.

Alonso went out on softs with some 41 minutes to go, but the Spaniard aborted his first flying lap after a first split that was slower than his rivals. He completed the lap in the next attempt, but was only 13th quickest.

Webber was the protagonist of the first incident of the session when he went off the track at Turn 4, the Australian leaving a lot of stones on the circuit as he made his way back to the asphalt.

Webber’s move was mirrored by Perez later on, the Sauber driver also having a trip across the gravel at the same corner.

As teams worked on longer runs, the times at the top stayed mostly unchanged for the last 30 minutes of the session.

HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan, whose car was driven by Dani Clos in the opening session, failed to set a time in the afternoon, the Indian stopping on track with a problem. He had spent nearly an hour in the garage waiting for his mechanics to solve an electrical issue.

Pos  Driver                Team                  Time               Laps

 1.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.399            38

 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m23.563s  + 0.164  38

 3.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m23.771s  + 0.372  41

 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.909s  + 0.510  32

 5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m23.918s  + 0.519  32

 6.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m23.964s  + 0.565  37

 7.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m24.065s  + 0.666  34

 8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m24.080s  + 0.681  36

 9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.214s  + 0.815  41

10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m24.365s  + 0.966  22

11.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m24.418s  + 1.019  35

12.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.422s  + 1.023  32

13.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m24.468s  + 1.069  40

14.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m24.600s  + 1.201  33

15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m24.688s  + 1.289  30

16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.733s  + 1.334  34

17.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.769s  + 1.370  37

18.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m25.047s  + 1.648  42

19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m26.296s  + 2.897  36

20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m26.740s  + 3.341  35

21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.314s  + 3.915  27

22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.664s  + 4.265  30

23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m28.235s  + 4.836  26

24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          no time              2 

All Timing Unofficial

Force India will not give up in its bid to try and increase the damages it was awarded from Aerolab in its recent copyright case – even if a judge rejects an appeal when he decides in the next few weeks.

The Silverstone-based team was awarded £21,000 recently after a court ruled that Aerolab had used some of Force Indias parts in the design process for a car it helped prepare for Lotus Racing – now Caterham – in 2010.

Force India believes that the level of damages that was awarded was not high enough, which is why it has asked the judge to reconsider.

A hearing last week, where Force India was ordered to pay costs to now Caterham technical chief Mike Gascoyne and the Hingham-based team, ran out of time to discuss the damages issue – which is why another hearing will take place soon.

When asked whether Force India would pursue the matter further through legal channels if more damages were not awarded, Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley said: “Yes, we will then take it onwards.”

Fernley also said that the £650,000 costs awarded against it was no surprise – as the money for that had already been lodged.

“The Lotus and Mike Gascoyne costs are the ones we already knew about from the hearing so that is accepted and done,” he explained. “The appeal [decision] could be not heard, as there was not enough time in court. But that will go ahead in the next few weeks.”

Chelsea has no doubts that its tie-up with Sauber will create new followers for both teams – even though attempts to achieve such fan crossover in the past have failed.

With the Superleague Formula having not attracted as many football fans to motor racing as it had originally hoped for, there have been questions about the true benefits of Chelsea getting involved with Sauber.

But the football club’s chief executive Ron Gourlay believes that fans are now more ready for such synergies than they were even a few years ago.

“The world has changed,” he explained during a visit to the Spanish Grand Prix. “Chelsea concentrates hugely on its international fan base and, through its social media and how we communicate with them, the base has expanded hugely.

“It is very important to communicate with people around the world and that is our base for social responsibility. We really believe that Sauber will help us enhance that around the world and not just in the UK. This is a global partnership and we are two partners who can move this forward.”

Gourlay says that the partnership with Sauber is not just about getting a Chelsea sticker on the car and selling more shirts.

“It’s not about just finance. It is about engagement, because at the end of the day the whole commercial world has changed. It is about engagement of that fan base.

“There is no point having 250-300 million supporters around the world if we can’t engage with that. So from my point of view we are just happy to have involvement with Peter Sauber, who carries so much weight within the sport. We have never and would never consider going into this with anyone but Sauber.”

Gourlay believes that Chelsea’s partnership with Sauber will start a trend – and that other football clubs will likely make moves to find ways to get involved in F1 too.

“I think they will follow, but the key is the lead here and it is ground breaking for us,” he said. “There will be a huge amount of global interest around how this will evolve and we are engaged with that

“This is about bringing two of the biggest sports in the world from an awareness point of view together, and using both of our experience to drive both our businesses forward. I think you will see over the next few months that there has been a lot of thought that has gone into this and it is not just financial, it is about giving back as well.”

Red Bull Racing has backed the job that Pirelli is doing in Formula 1 this year – saying it would be impossible for the company to make tyres that made everyone happy.

Amid much debate in F1 about the impact tyres are having on the racing after Michael Schumacher’s criticisms about their current characteristics, Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner said he has no concerns about the situation.

“The problem is that they [Pirelli] have 12 teams asking for 12 different things, and you will never have a product that satisfies everyone’s request,” Horner said when asked about his feelings on the Pirelli situation.

“Ultimately as a tyre supplier for F1, the product is the same for everybody.”

Horner admits that understanding tyres is proving to be a key factor in achieving success this year, but he does not think that is a bad thing for F1.

“It is the same for everybody and it is ultimately healthy for F1 to have a single tyre supplier,” he explained. “In years gone by, when there were two tyre suppliers in some instances teams would sometimes not have access to tyres that were the preferred ones.

“It is an added challenge and certainly from the fans’ point of view it has produced some very exciting races this year.”

Horner also reckons that the importance of tyres – and how big an influence they can have on performance – is meaning teams are not putting so much effort into bringing aggressive car developments.

“I think that teams have been looking for development avenues and trying to understand the complexity and characteristics of the cars without blown diffusers. And certainly the characteristics of how the tyres are behaving is driving teams in their development directions.”

Fernando Alonso gave the upgraded Ferrari an encouraging grand prix weekend debut as he went fastest in the first Friday practice session at Barcelona.

Although the home favourite did not go for a flying lap until over an hour into the morning, Alonso was immediately quick when he finished his data-gathering runs – knocking Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull off the top spot with a 1m24.754s lap 21 minutes from the end of the session.

Alonso then improved again on his next run and lapped in 1m24.430s, giving him a 0.378-second cushion over Vettel, who remained second to the finish.

Before Alonso started setting the pace, Vettel had enjoyed a 15-minute spell at the head of the order, having usurped long-time first-place man Kamui Kobayashi. The Sauber stayed near the front, though, holding third place at the end of the session.

McLaren’s practice activities included evaluating its new nose and checking sight lines with a bar across the top of the chassis. Jenson Button was fourth quickest, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton eighth.

Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas spent a while in second before ending up fifth in Bruno Senna’s regular car. Michael Schumacher and Romain Grosjean were next up in the best Mercedes and Lotus respectively, with the latter’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg completing the top 10 behind Hamilton.

Bottas was one of four reserve drivers in action during the morning. Jules Bianchi was 18th in Paul di Resta’s Force India, and there were debuts for Caterham’s Alexander Rossi and HRT’s Dani Clos, who were 21st and 24th respectively. Clos’ car developed a problem near the end but he was able to crawl back into the pitlane before coming to a halt at the end of the pit entry.

Pos  Driver                Team                   Time               Laps

 1.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m24.430             20

 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m24.808s  + 0.378   18

 3.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m24.912s  + 0.482   28

 4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m24.996s  + 0.566   24

 5.  Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault       1m25.120s  + 0.690   24

 6.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m25.187s  + 0.757   15

 7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m25.217s  + 0.787   16

 8.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m25.252s  + 0.822   20

 9.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m25.285s  + 0.855   29

10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m25.339s  + 0.909   24

11.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m25.367s  + 0.937   22

12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m25.433s  + 1.003   21

13.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m25.539s  + 1.109   23

14.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m25.607s  + 1.177   20

15.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m25.918s  + 1.488   19

16.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m26.226s  + 1.796   24

17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m26.297s  + 1.867   18

18.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m26.630s  + 2.200   21

19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m27.475s  + 3.045   20

20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m28.267s  + 3.837   21

21.  Alexander Rossi       Caterham-Renault       1m28.448s  + 4.018   25

22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m28.633s  + 4.203   22

23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m29.107s  + 4.677   19

24.  Dani Clos             HRT-Cosworth           1m31.618s  + 7.188   19

All Timing Unofficial

Mercedes CEO Nick Fry says he will be disappointed if the Brackley-based team does not win again this season.

With Nico Rosberg having delivered the first victory of the modern Mercedes works team in China last month, Fry says there is reason to feel optimistic about the team repeating that triumph.

“I am very confident that we have got a fast car, and I think we have had a fast car from the beginning of this year for reasons we understand,” Fry told AUTOSPORT. “When you do have a fast car you are always in with a good chance.

“It is going to be very closely fought but I would be extremely disappointed if there was not another win before the end of the year.”

Fry says the victory in China has helped lift spirits in the team, and act as a spur to help it deliver better results in the future.

“Winning in China was very positive for us,” he explained. “From an internal point of view, clearly after two years of under performance to get a win back under our belt raises the spirit in the factory and we have got a bit more of a bounce in our step.

“But, you also have to temper that by saying, the majority of people who are there in Brackley are the ‘idiots’ who did not do very well in 2008, and the ‘geniuses’ that won the championship in 2009 – so one should not get too excited by a single win.

“My view is that we have got the most talented technical team in F1, and the combination of Ross Brawn’s guiding hand with Bob [Bell], Geoff [Willis], Aldo [Costa] and John Owen and the rest of the team is very strong.

“You have to look at the substance and the overall abilities of teams, and we have put ourselves in the position where I believe we can be consistently successful going forward.”

Mark Webber says he cannot rely on just delivering consistent results this season – and that he must win races if he is to fight for the championship.

The Red Bull Racing driver is one of only three drivers who have scored points in every race this season, with his four fourth-place finishes currently helping him to third spot in the drivers’ championship standings.

But with the season being so tight, Webber knows that he will need to start racking up better results if he is to overhaul his rivals.

“It was frustrating to finish in Lewis’ [Hamilton] gearbox in Melbourne, in Malaysia and in China as well,” said Webber ahead of the Spanish GP.

“It is always nice to get points at each race, and you could not have thought that would have been the case because it has been so up and down.

“I’ve been consistent, and I realise I need to keep doing that – but I also need to win as well. When the opportunity isn’t there to do that you need to finish, but 25 points makes a big difference – although if you are in the fence that makes a big difference as well.”

Webber also thinks that the shape of F1 is very different this year, because it is so unpredictable.

“I think it is a new situation right now,” he said. “Who is going to be on pole this weekend? It could be McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes, Renault [Lotus] – it could be Ferrari. So it is very unusual in that sense.

“It is probably less so as we get a bit of information in P2, but before the weekend we are not really sure who is going to do what – and Monaco is going to be unknown again. We don’t know until we get there.”

Jenson Button insists that he and Lewis Hamilton did the right thing in missing the Mugello test.

Although some of McLaren’s rivals were baffled by the team’s decision to use testers Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey for the three days of testing, Button says that there was little to gain by him being there.

“The real reason [for missing the test] was the correlation between the simulator and the car, and most of our testing is in the simulator,” he explained.

“To get a correlation with the test drivers is so important; to make sure we are going on the right path with the simulator and the parts that we test.

“When we put them on the computer and the simulator they work fine, because you are putting in the right numbers for it to work, although sometimes when you get on to the circuit that part might not work correctly.

“We have to make sure the wind tunnel, simulator and circuit all correlate, so it was a very important test form that point of view.”

Button thinks that as well as not losing anything by not being there, the team will ultimately benefit from having the test drivers do it because it will help advance its simulation work.

“From Lewis and my point of view, we wouldn’t have learned anything driving around Mugello,” he said. “It will not help us this year.

“We know how to drive a racing car and we feel that the new parts can be tested by the test drivers.

“I don’t think we have lost out: in fact we have actually gained for later in the season because it is important that our test drivers who do most of the testing in the simulator do really understand where the car is. So I think everyone else is wrong!!”

Alexander Rossi hopes to use his Friday outings for Caterham to prove his potential as a Formula 1 race driver.

The 20-year-old will make his grand prix weekend during Friday morning’s first free practice session.

While the American’s priority will be to do a good job for the team, he expects to be able to make a good impression with his on-track performance.

“That’s always the case whenever you get into a car,” said Rossi when asked by AUTOSPORT whether he is hoping to use his Friday outings to put him in the frame for a race drive in the future.

“I’m looking to deliver and do the maximum out there, but this is a race weekend for Caterham. They have a job to do and I need to be willing and open to helping them in any way possible.

“You don’t get many opportunities in an F1 car to show what you can do, so it’s about helping the team as much as possible but at the same time putting in a good performance.”

Rossi has some F1 experience, testing for BMW Sauber in 2009 and also driving Caterham’s 2011 machine during last November’s young driver test in Abu Dhabi.

But despite that, he expects the feeling of driving on a grand prix weekend to be different to what he has done before.

“This is an official session with the official drivers,” said Rossi. “All of the team personnel are here and they are looking to me for some input and feedback on what the car’s doing.

“I know this track quite well from testing in GP2 and GP3 and this car isn’t so different from last year’s. The big difference is going to be KERS, which is quite simple as they tell you how to use it, but you need to be wary about how the brake balance shifts. That’s going to be new to me.

“But I’m quite confident that I’ll be able to settle in from the beginning.”

Rossi is expected to have further Friday outings for Caterham this year, although the team has yet to finalise its schedule.

Mercedes has urged Formula 1′s owners CVC to accelerate efforts to conclude a Concorde Agreement deal with the team if it wants to maximise the benefit of a stock market flotation.

The Brackley-based team is the only frontrunning outfit not to have yet agreed a deal with Formula 1′s bosses to commit it to the sport beyond this year.

Should the situation not get resolved soon, sources have revealed that the outfit may be ready to challenge the terms on offer to it under EU anti-competition law – and there has even been speculation that Mercedes-Benz could walk away from F1 completely.

Either of those options would cast doubts on a successful flotation of F1 that is currently being planned for the Singapore stock exchange later this year.

Mercedes CEO Nick Fry made it clear in Spain on Thursday, however, that there was no desire from his outfit to walk away from F1 – but he reckons that it would be in CVC’s interests for the matter to get resolved sooner rather than later if it was not going to hurt the stock market plans.

“If CVC wish to float F1, I think they need this resolved fairly quickly – possibly more than we need it resolved,” Fry told AUTOSPORT. “Discussions continue, but progress is not as strong as I would like.”

Mercedes this week showed that it is currently totally focused on its long-term future after concluding deals that run into 2013 with Starwood Hotels and watchmaker IWC.

Fry said that he had no doubts that Mercedes was wholly committed to F1 – and that he felt grand prix racing actually needed the German car manufacturer to remain a part of it.

“The mindset is absolutely in capital letters: Mercedes-Benz wishes to be in F1,” said Fry. “I would also say that F1 also needs Mercedes-Benz.

“It is one of the top 20 brands globally and is one of the few car manufacturers in F1; it is an engine supplier to three teams. It can attract brands like Starwood Hotels, a huge American company that takes these decisions very seriously, and I think Mercedes wants to be in F1.

“F1 definitely would be much the poorer if Mercedes was not a participant, and I am completely convinced in my mind that if CVC wish to sell some or all of F1, the value they can derive from that would be severely diminished if Mercedes was not a participant.”

Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug reiterated recent comments that the German car maker was not pondering a withdrawal.

“I do not want to make a big story out of it – it is not the right approach if somebody rolls a ball and you say, no, no, no,” he said at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“You know that there are some negotiations in place that I will not comment on, but this is where the rumours are coming from and you have to accept it. But our basic plan is not to have a works team in 2010 and then not have one in 2013. It [Mercedes pulling out] is just pure speculation and we should not make a big fuss out of it.”

Michael Schumacher says he is happy he has made Formula 1 tyres a talking point after criticising them for having too big an effect.

The German was critical of Pirelli’s rubber, saying it was impossible for drivers to be flat out during races, instead having to be careful not to damage the tyres too much.

Pirelli responded to Schumacher, saying it was providing the tyres it was asked for.

Schumacher said ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix on Thursday that he was happy a debate had been open, as he still reckons the tyres have too big an effect on racing.

“Obviously we have touched on something that you guys have kept on talking about – and that is the principle of how Formula 1 should be,” said Schumacher.

“And I am quite happy that we have initiated a discussion on how much influence one or another part should have in F1.

“I stated myself and I felt one part has too much and it should be a bit more equalised for everybody and the majority – rather than a smaller minority.”

Schumacher denied, however, that his comments came as a result of him being frustrated for not having managed to extract the best from the tyres.

“It is certainly nothing to do with me being frustrated because I haven’t really been frustrated,” he said. “I started 22nd and finished 10th [in Bahrain], which I think was a positive result and all the rest that happened before was out of my control.

“It is not to do with me, it is a general discussion that I wanted to start to happen and it is not only up to me to decide what is the direction that we have to go, but certainly I am very happy to develop things together with our partners and Pirelli being an important partner.”

Jenson Button says he is finding it hard to understand why his McLaren team struggled to match the pace of the leading teams in Bahrain after having started the season so strongly.

Button won the season-opening race in Australia, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton secured three pole positions in a row in the first three races.

The duo were never in contention in Bahrain, however, with Hamilton finishing in eighth and Button retiring with a mechanical problem.

The Briton admitted ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix it was hard to find a reason for McLaren’s struggles.

“I think we have a very good car, we proved that in the first race and also in Shanghai we were very quick but I wouldn’t say it is the quickest car,” said Button. “If you look at the last race, it wasn’t the perfect weekend for us but we basically weren’t fast.

“The Lotus and the Red Bulls were a second quicker than us so I don’t understand why and no one else in F1 understands knows why it is such a change around but I don’t think they have a car that is a second quicker than us.

“I think it is circuit dependent and I also think that the conditions make quite a big difference, I know we always talk about tyres but the conditions make quite a big difference as to whether you can get the tyres working on a particular car.”

Button also conceded it was very difficult to judge who is favourite for each race given how tight the fight in front is at the moment.

“It is very difficult to understand at the moment who is quick. You would say at Melbourne and China it was us and Mercedes and at the last race it was Lotus and Red Bull,” Button said.

“I have never been in a situation where there are so many teams fighting for victories at different circuits so I wouldn’t say that our car stands out compared to the competitors and we say that you are only as good as your last race and you would say now that the Lotus and the Red Bull are the cars to beat.

“But we haven’t had the luckiest season either through mistakes form myself and the team.”

He added: “It is tough to try an understand but it is great for the sport and great for the fans but for us as a team it is really difficult to understand why one why one weekend it is there and one weekend it is not.

“I think our car aerodynamically is strong and mechanically it’s not too bad either but sometimes it doesn’t seem to click and that must be the four things that are touching the circuit.”

Nico Rosberg says he is happy for his robust defensive driving tactics in the Bahrain Grand Prix to be discussed this weekend to help clarify what is considered acceptable on-track behaviour in the future.

The Mercedes driver came under fire after aggressively blocking Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton during the Bahrain GP.

The subject is expected to be a major topic of discussion between drivers and officials this weekend, and Rosberg told reporters in the Barcelona paddock on Thursday that he had no problem with that.

“Two of the drivers raised their concerns about it so we need to discuss it,” he said. “If there was a danger which I didn’t cause on purpose then we need to implement rules so that it doesn’t arise again.

“It is driver safety and we need to do the best we can so that we can move forward. We could look at implementing more rules in that situation because it is not very clear, but it can be looked at.

“Rules such as a car width [when a driver is moving back towards the racing line after making a block] is very good because we need that clear situation to penalise drivers when there is a need to.”

The German added that if he was put in the same situation again he would not behave any differently. But he did concede that asphalt run-off around the Sakhir circuit played a part in his actions.

“Of course if there had been the barriers at Monaco it would have been a different story, yes,” he said. “Then again the guys behind would have backed off a lot earlier.

“In that situation I judged it to be harsh but fair so it was harsh but within the rules. And I didn’t judge that I was putting my competitors in danger.”