Teams seek to equal engine performance

Behind-the-scenes efforts by teams to make Formula One engine performance more equal are set to be ramped up in the wake of Scuderia Toro Rosso's shock victory in the Italian Grand Prix, autosport.com has learned.

Sebastian Vettel caused a major surprise when he became F1's youngest ever winner at Monza, with a performance that highlighted the differences between his Ferrari-powered STR3 and the Renault-powered car of sister team Red Bull Racing.

The result has provided further evidence to those who believe that there is now a genuine performance gap between different engines on the grid. A number of manufacturers - especially Renault – have already spoken out in claiming that they have lost out by not developing their power-unit under F1's current engine freeze.

Although making improvements to the engines is not allowed, manufacturers can change parts as the FIA's discretion if it reduces costs or improves reliability. Such revisions can also have the added benefit of lifting performance. Further steps forward can be made from improved fuel and lubricants, and the airbox and exhaust design.

Sources have told autosport.com that a number of teams are so unhappy with the situation – which could leave them down on power until 2013 if the rules do not change – that they are now lobbying the FIA behind the scenes to try and level the playing field for next year.

"We just want to make things more equal between all the engines on the grid – as they were when the freeze first came in," said one source. "A number of teams share our feelings, and discussions are taking place with the FIA about resolving the situation."

It is understood that Fernando Alonso's decision about whether or not to stay at Renault next year will be influenced by if the French car manufacturer can address the engine situation to improve their performance.

Renault boss Flavio Briatore told Spanish newspaper AS at the weekend that the improvements made by Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and BMW was being discussed by teams.

"We have discussed with the other teams to find a solution," he said. "The mechanical side was frozen and three teams took advantage of their reliability problems to move forward. I have met with Max Mosley a few times and by the end of the season all this might be solved."

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said he was fully behind moves to equalize the engines – claiming that it was inconceivable for the situation to continue unchanged with some manufacturers enjoying what could be as much as a 30bhp advantage.

"Renault give us a very good service," Horner told autosport.com. "Last year we had a competitive engine and this year others appear to be ahead of us from our analysis. And obviously there is no bigger example than between the two Red Bull teams, so for us it is very important that Renault address it in the appropriate way.

"I know that they understand where the issues are. The problem is they took the ruling of the freeze absolutely literally, and others took advantage more than they did. And Renault have paid the penalty for that.

"The problem is, being stuck with that for five years is an untenable position for Renault or any other team that has that kind of disadvantage."

Horner said that idea of an equality was not to free up development, as that would simply drive up costs, but just in ensuring that differences in engines were minimized.

"The FIA has all the information," he said. "At the end of the day we need to keep costs down. We don't need an engine formula to completely open up, but there should be a parity as much as possible among the engine suppliers – otherwise we will all end up with one engine at the end of the day."

Horner felt the Monza result said more about the engine performance of the two Red Bull teams than their overall capabilities of the respective outfits.

When asked if he felt Toro Rosso's win increased the pressure on Red Bull Racing to lift their game, Horner said: " It is a Red Bull win. We can see that Sebastian is a complete star of the future.

"As teams we share information openly and have done for two and a half years now and the only difference in the package is the drivers and the engine."

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Bourdais: Hard to enjoy team victory

Scuderia Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais sais it was difficult for him to share in the joy of his team at claiming their first victory in Formula One because of his own disastrous race.

The Frenchman had qualified a career-best fourth on the grid, but lost a lap before the race had even properly got underway when the car stalled.

Teammate Sebastian Vettel, starting from pole position, went on to dominate the race to score his and Toro Rosso's maiden victory.

"It's very difficult to enjoy it with the team in these conditions," Bourdais told autosport.com. "I'm very happy for them but my race was a non-event.

"It looks like we were pretty much set for third place. I don't know if we could have set as good a pace as Sebastian, and I don't want to sound pretentious, but we would have been pretty close."

Bourdais said that he was puzzled by the problem which caused his car to stall and fail to join the queue behind the safety car as the race got underway.

"I couldn't put it in first gear, then when I dropped the clutch the car stalled," said Bourdais. "That never happens because of the anti-stall, but this time it did.

"So I pressed the release and the release button stayed down. So we couldn't put it back into gear and we went a lap down."

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Q and A with Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton had a far from easy time in Monza, but was thankful as he left the track on Sunday night that he still had the lead in the world championship.

Autosport.com heard from the Briton as he met the press after the race to find out about his charge through the field, the near-miss on victory and his thoughts on F1's newest winner.

Q. You were carving your way through the field. Was that easy?

LH: It was! Actually it wasn't easy. It was very difficult out there. There wasn't that much grip, but I managed to find it. I was told I was much quicker than everyone, and I was catching people and overtaking them when I needed to.

I got up to second at one point, so it's a shame I had to stop again. I didn't need more fuel; it was just because of track conditions. Unfortunately having changed tyres, perhaps today I needed the gamble I took yesterday."

Q. Were the weather problems frustrating?

LH: It's not really frustrating. It's just something you have to deal with. I showed I was quickest in the wet, showed that I had great pace, and I think a win was possible. Considering the position I was in if I'd chosen intermediates at the first stop, because I only needed the one, I would have been further up.

Q. How close was the call between intermediates and extremes?

LH: I was told it was going to rain, so I just went with what the team told me.

Q. Were the conditions driveable for intermediates at the stage you stopped?

LH: I wouldn't have had a problem.

Q. And there was no possibility of staying out there on the extremes?

LH: "No. They asked me to come in, but I wanted to wait until someone else on inters went quicker. As soon as Heikki (Kovalainen) went quicker, they pulled me in. I had a great race, but considering I overtook eight people and Kimi didn't do all that much. It's a bit of a shame, but I still came away with my lead intact.

Q. Felipe Massa was nine places ahead of you on the grid, but only one at the end of the race. Was it a big opportunity missed?

LH: I think we all missed an opportunity. With me being right at the back, they both missed an opportunity to take lots of points off me.

But the other way around, if I'd been in Q3, Massa would have been out of the top 10, and we would have got a lot more points than them. So it's not that bad."

Q. So it was a question of damage limitation then?

LH: Absolutely.

Q. What happened with the Mark Webber incident?

LH: He was quick and catching me at that time. I had to put up fight to stop him getting by. There was only one dry line and I covered the inside, but I didn't want to stay there on the wet patch because I wouldn't have made the corner.

I was able to stay on my dry line, and he clipped my front wheel and went straight on. The lucky thing is the car didn't break. Imagine if the car had broken. It would have been disastrous."

Q. Are you surprised you are still ahead in the championship?

LH: I'm more relieved than anything. I'm not surprised because I drove my arse off and you know what I can do in the wet. I had no doubts in my mind I could do a good job, catch up and win. I thought it was possible.

Q. What was going through your mind on the grid?

LH: I would have liked a standing start. It would have been better for me. But with the rain and being so far behind, with not many cars behind me, I just had to make sure I kept my nose clean, stayed out of trouble and brought the car home.

So I left a gap at the beginning because I couldn't see a thing. It was quite difficult to even go flat out down the straights. But once it began to clear up I began to reel the others in.

Q. How good a drive was that? It's probably right up there. Driving through the pack, then passing and leaving someone behind like Kimi, it was a great feeling.

LH: It was a great achievement passing eight cars, when others struggled to pass two or three, so I'm really happy with that.

Q.What are your feelings about Sebastian Vettel winning his first race?

LH: I think he's been fantastic all weekend. He's been getting stronger all year. Having won today, it shows how good he is. It's great for him. Being out front when you don't have all the spray, it is a lot different than being behind.

However, with all that pressure it is easier to make mistakes, and he obviously didn't, so congratulations to him. He did a good job.

Q. Is it your world championship to lose now?

LH: When you're in the lead, perhaps. But I'm not looking at it that way. Kimi is world champion so it's his championship to lose.

Q. Out of the last four races, are any of them key?

LH: Not particularly. In each race we're going to be attacking.

Q. At the end of the race you caught up with Felipe Massa but then dropped back. What happened?

LH: I overheated my front tyres and got a bit of understeer. I think graining was a problem for everyone. I was so much quicker at the beginning and was using more dry areas, and I that took a lot out of them. That's racing.

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Italy Sunday quotes: Ferrari

Felipe Massa - 6th: "It was a tough race: I had hoped to do better but I'm also aware it could have been worse. In fact, I've managed to make up a point on my nearest rival so this is absolutely not a negative result. In normal conditions, in other words in the dry, I think I could have made it to the podium.

"In the first part, I was struggling because there was not much grip. In the incident when I overtook Rosberg, I lost a few seconds when the team told me I had to give back the position: that was probably the decisive moment because after the first pit stop, I found myself in traffic.

"On top of that, when it was time to switch from the extreme rain tyres to the standard ones, those who had opted to do just one stop definitely had the advantage. In the second part, I knew Hamilton was closing on me fast, but I could not see him in my mirrors because they were too dirty.

"Luckily, Rob helped me, talking me through the situation in real time. Then he dropped back a bit. I tried to attack Heidfeld but then I thought it wasn't worth taking too many risks and I chose to just bring the car home."

Kimi Raikkonen: "This was a very difficult race for us. In the conditions at the start, as we have seen before in the past, we could not keep our tyres up to temperature and we totally lacked grip. I could do nothing but try to stay on the track hoping the conditions would change.

"When they did, unfortunately it was too late to aim for a points finish. The car worked well but without grip, you're not going anywhere. The situation in the Drivers' championship is now even more difficult, but I will continue to give it my best shot as usual."

Stefano Domenicali: "We're definitely not satisfied with this result, but considering the circumstances in which the race was run, it could have actually been much worse. Once again today, we had confirmation that, in certain track conditions and temperature range, our car is not quick enough. Then, it only needs a slight change for the performance to return to being very competitive.

"Clearly we must take countermeasures as quickly as possible because similar conditions could occur in the remaining four races. Having said that, we must not forget that we have taken a small step forward in the Drivers' classification although our lead in the Constructors' has reduced substantially.

"There are four races to go and everything is still possible. Finally I would like to congratulate Scuderia Toro Rosso, which uses our engines and Sebastian Vettel on their first Formula 1 win: they did a perfect job all weekend and they deserve this moment of great joy."

Luca Baldisserri: "Our race was conditioned in a very obvious way by the performance of the tyres. At the start, when it was still raining, we could not get them to the right operating temperature and we were too slow compared to our rivals. Then, all it took was for the track to dry a bit for the car to be pretty much transformed, as can be seen from Kimi's lap times in the final stages of the race. We must put some more effort into understanding how to improve our performance in these conditions, which could reoccur in the final stage of the championship.

"Felipe drove a good race and was slowed by traffic at a few key moments, otherwise he could have finished further up the order. Kimi suffered even more than his team-mate with the deficiency in tyre performance, especially in the early stages and then, when he did have the possibility, he showed the potential at his disposal."

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Ferrari sure Raikkonen will help Massa

Ferrari have no doubts that Kimi Raikkonen will do all he can to help Felipe Massa win this year's world championship, even though the Finn is publicly playing down the supporting role he now has to play.

Raikkonen has not admitted that he has to play number two to Massa in the remaining four races of the season, but team principal Stefano Domenicali is sure that the Finn knows what is expected of him for the remainder of the campaign.

"I've always said that our main interest is the team," explained Domenicali. "Of course, that's the most important thing and the drivers know it.

"At this moment, at this stage, you can see that we haven't, in our situation, taken away points from one or the other, and for sure, considering from now up to the end of the season, in the way that it's possible to do, of course Kimi will do his best to be as aggressive as possible but also consider the fact that Felipe is much closer to the leader, Lewis."

Massa, who is currently just one point behind Hamilton in the title battle, says his approach to the remaining races will not change in spite of Raikkonen's help.

"Well, for sure I am doing my job and it won't change anything on my ideas or the way I work," he said. "I am always getting to the race thinking of the win and getting the most points possible. That is the way it works.

"I am in a reasonably good position in the championship and hopefully we can think like that. Today I finished in front of Kimi, so it was a positive thing, and I finished in front of Hamilton and that was it. At the end of the day I had a positive result."

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Dennis: Ferrari relations better than ever

McLaren boss Ron Dennis says relations between his team and Ferrari are better than they have ever been in history - despite the recent Belgian Grand Prix controversy.

One year on from the peak of the 2007 spy affair, and just a few days after Lewis Hamilton was stripped of victory in Belgium for cutting a chicane in his fight with Kimi Raikkonen for the lead, Dennis insists that his dealings with Ferrari could not be better.

He claims that such a feeling came home to him on the eve of last weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza when he met with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo during a team principal's meeting.

"The events of 2007 are behind us; the matter has now been closed by both the FIA and Ferrari," said Dennis in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera.

"On the Thursday before the Italian Grand Prix, when I met Luca di Montezemolo, I smiled at the thought that he'd entered Formula One with Ferrari in 1973, while I've been involved since 1966, even if we had different types of jobs from each other in the old days.

"And now, 30 or 40 years on, we share the same passion. On track, our rivalry will always be intense - but co-operation between our two teams is now more well-established than at any time in the past."

He added: "Luca is an old friend. Granted, inevitably, our relationship has had its ups and downs as a result of the competitiveness of our respective organisations, but there's a deep and mutual respect between us.

"I also have a soft spot for Stefano Domenicali [Ferrari team principal]; he's worked his way up from the bottom to the top, and I like that: it adds incalculable added value. Stefano will do a great job, you'll see."

There had been some rumours that the Spa affair, and the fact that Ferrari and McLaren so differed in their opinions on the incident, could have an impact on the relationship between the two teams – especially because di Montezemolo is heading the new Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA).

But Dennis has rubbished any such idea, stating that what happens on track should be treated totally separate from relations off it.

"Political considerations should be, indeed must be, separate from sporting ones," he said.

"I'm FOTA's number one supporter: FOTA will represent the teams; it will set the rules, working with the FIA; it will establish commercial criteria. FOTA is very important to the future of Formula One, and I want to be part of that future.

"There will always be discussions and arguments in Formula One, but what we're doing with FOTA is focused on thinking and working together for the good of our sport."

And such have relations between McLaren and Ferrari moved on that Dennis is even planning a dinner with di Montezemolo later this year.

"Soon, very soon - maybe in Brazil, or post-season somewhere," he said when asked if it will happen. "Win or lose, we'll have a nice dinner together."

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Alonso still eyes future Ferrari chance

Fernando Alonso says he is not ruling out joining the Ferrari team in the future after the Italian squad confirmed both their drivers for 2010.

The two-time champion had been linked with a Ferrari seat for some time, with Kimi Raikkonen delaying an announcement about his plans after the 2009 season.

But the Finn extended his contract with Ferrari until the 2010 season, closing the door to Alonso at least until 2011.

Alonso said he was not too surprised by Ferrari's announcement.

"No, because there was talk that it would be like that, so in a way I knew that they would renew his contract," Alonso told Cadena Ser radio.

"And once you know it, you have to think of 2009. I was not too worried about 2010. The most important thing is too see what is the best place to be in 2009."

The Spaniard is yet to announce his plans for 2009, with Renault, BMW and Honda hoping to secure his services.

The Renault driver insisted the French squad are his first choice, but he made it clear his future could be at Ferrari if the chance comes up.

"As I always say, Renault is my first option because I know the people and I know things can be done right here, even though this year things haven't gone well," he added. "And if not, we'll see what we can do.

"I'm 27 now and life changes a lot and if I race in Formula One for another eight or ten years I might get the chance again to end up there (at Ferrari)."

The Spanish driver said he has not seen much of Renault's car for 2009, and he admitted he has to be cautious when judging the team's optimism for next season.

"I haven't seen much, because we are focused on the remaining races, but I'm sure it inspires confidence because at this point of the year every team is nearly completely sure that next year they will do well," he said. "They are all very optimistic and it's up to you to believe them or not.

"Normally I believe them, because they've given me a lot of joy and two cars to win titles with, so it's easier to believe them than others."

Alonso is currently in seventh place in the championship and is yet to climb onto the podium in 2008.

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