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Issue No 107 MONDAY November 8, 2010
FOUR
(WELL, THREE ACTUALLY ...)

Will Vettel move over if necessary?

>> Preview: Wales Rally GB >> Jorge closes out in style
 The start set the trend – surprising, and stunning, pole-man Nico Hulkenberg
was always going to struggle to keep Sebastian Vettel at bay ...

>> GPWEEK OPENING Shot



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Informing motorsport
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ISSUE 107 NOVEMBER 8, 2010

EDITOR: ADAM HAY-NICHOLLS

adam@gpweek.com

Editorial Assistants
Naoise Holohan, James
Frankland

MotoGP Editor: Michael Scott

michael@gpweek.com

Rally Editor: Martin Holmes

martin@gpweek.com

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Cedric Dufour, Kieryn Hyde

Photography
Sutton Motorsport Images
www.sutton-images.com
Keith Sutton keith@gpweek.com
Emmerson Fittipaldi was reunited with his beloved Lotus 72 during the Brazilian GP weekend
Publisher
Chris Lambden
publisher@gpweek.com

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No team orders for Abu Dhabi cliff-hanger?
RED Bull team boss Christian Horner has
re-iterated that the team will not issue
orders to its drivers during next week’s
decider Abu-Dhabi Grand Prix, but will
rely on its drivers to manage the situation
and ‘do the right thing’.
“Nobody has a crystal ball, nobody can
foresee what will happen next weekend
and all along we have tried to do the
best to support them equally,” said team
principal Christian Horner in Sao Paolo.
“And of course if they find themselves in
a situation where one, because he cannot
win, needs to help the other then of course
I can only imagine that they will do that.
But it will have to be a driver decision.”
The championship maths presents
an intriguing formula which could see
either of the three primary contenders
take the crown (Lewis Hamilton has a
miniscule mathematical chance if all three

contenders DNF or take each other out!).
To be champion, current points leader
Fernando Alonso needs to finish second (if
Mark Webber wins) or fourth if Sebastian
Vettel takes the maximum.
The Red Bull duo are in a tantalizing
situation.
If, as weekend form suggests, Vettel were
to win from his team-mate, they would
tie on points and, if Alonso were to finish
outside the top four, the German would
win the championship on a count-back
from Webber. If however, Alonso did make
the top four – which form also suggests
is likely, barring mechanical failure – then
Vettel would, on the face of it, have the
title’s destiny in his hands: win and Alonso
is champion; let Webber past and his team-
mate takes the crown.
The latter quandary is entirely odds-on.
Would Red Bull really leave it to Sebastian
Vettel to, potentially, hand the title to
Ferrari’s man?. There are those – GPWEEK’s
F1 analyst Peter Windsor included – who
suggest that the German would rather
hand the title to Alonso than his team-
mate, with whom he has waged a year-long
psychological, as well as on-track, battle.
All leading teams, all of them, have pre-
prepared code words to convey messages
to drivers. Observers will thus, should the
situation arise, strain to hear and analyse
every radio word between the Red Bull pits
and Sebastian Vettel …
In the end, both Red Bull drivers
fundamentally have to go for the win.
Simple. And Alonso has to stay as close as
he can to the action. And a regaining of
form by McLaren could likely have a major
effect.
Stand by for a fascinating weekend in
Abu Dhabi …

‘Emotional’ the word of the week
WHILE confirming absolutely that
he had full technical support from
Red Bull, Mark Webber’s apparent
agreement with a media questioner
that the team’s ‘emotional’ support
appears to be for Sebastian Vettel
initiated another round of reaction
from both the team and Vettel.
“Of course when young, new
chargers come onto the block, that’s
where the emotion is. That’s the
way it is,” responded Webber.
“Which is absolutely fine, because I’ve
had a great opportunity and a great car
to go and do some great things this year,
and I have done that. I’ve got favourites
in life. I’ve got people I like to be with.
That’s how it is. It’s human nature.”
Team boss Christian Horner responded:
“I think the team would be greatly hurt
to see that Mark has said that, if he has
said that, and I can only think it’s been
taken out of context because he has a
great deal of support within the team.”
Overlooking the word ‘emotional’,
Vettel suggested that it was he, rather
than Webber who had suffered the most
this season and he didn’t understand
why Webber felt he lacked support:
“I think I had lots of ups and downs this
year. If something broke, then it tended
to break on my car,” said the German. “But
do I think there is any conspiracy in the
air? No, it’s the last thing I think about.
“Obviously there have been a lot of
things being said already. I don’t know
>> F1 NEWS
what he’s said now,” added Vettel. “The
team supplies us with a very good car
and that’s ultimately the situation that
you want to be in – having a car where
you can win races and fight for podiums.”
Webber denied he was unhappy at the
team and looking to move on next season:
“I have a very good relationship with
the right people to give me technically
a great chance to do a very good job,
and that is the most important thing.
As long as I am enjoying my driving and
performing reasonably well, and it went
okay today, so as long as I don’t forget
how to drive in the next few months
then of course I will be here next year.”
Webber has a contract with the
team through to the end of 2011.

Sutil to stick with Force India
FORCE India driver Adrian Sutil indicated during the
Brazilian Grand Prix weekend that he is about to sign
a new deal to remain with the team for a sixth season.
Despite apparent vacancies at Williams and Renault,
with which Sutil has been heavily linked, the 27-year old
German look set to continue at the Silverstone-based
squad:
“It looks good at the moment,” said Sutil. “I said already
many times that I am happy to stay here another year,
and I cannot say more at the moment. There is nothing
signed at the moment but the direction is Force India.”
Sutil’s consistent pace and points-scoring
performances have led some commentators to suggest
his career would be best served by moving teams, but
Adrian admitted he was happy to remain at the team
he first joined in 2006 – then known as Midland F1 –
as a test driver before taking a race seat the following
season.
“I feel good here. I was born here, let’s say,” he said.
“It’s my first team and I still feel good. For sure there is
a certain time where you think you may need another
challenge or to change teams, but I still feel good here
and I still feel we can improve our performance.”
Sutil expects an announcement to be made before
too long:
“Probably very early after the Abu Dhabi race, maybe
two or three weeks hopefully – but in F1 you never
know.”
On the face of it, Sutil remaining with the team could
spell the end of test driver Paul di Resta’s hopes of
graduating to F1 next season, as Vitantonio Liuzzi has
a contract for next season. However, di Resta’s long
standing relationship with Mercedes – who supply
engines to Force India – could see the Italian depart
in favour of di Resta. GPWEEK has been advised by di
Resta’s camp that a race seat is a 99 percent done deal …

Williams to supply HRT with gearboxes

WILLIAMS are set to follow the example
of McLaren and Red Bull by forging a
technical partnership with a smaller squad.
The deal will see Hispania dump
the problematic Xtrac gearbox and
use Williams’ own in-house system
mated to a Cosworth engine.
None of Williams’ six retirements this
season have been attributed to the gearbox,
whereas all of the new teams have suffered
from reliability problems related to the
Xtrac unit’s hydraulic system. Lotus Racing
have also moved to solve the problem
by using Red Bull gearboxes for 2011.
Williams CEO Alex Burns said: “This
is a logical partnership given Williams
and Hispania’s mutual relationship with
Cosworth. Our gearbox technology
has consistently proven itself as both
competitive and reliable, and hence
this agreement will be a positive
development for both organisations.”
Colin Kolles, team boss of
Hispania Racing, added:
“We are very happy to do this with an
engineering company and race team
like WilliamsF1 which has an impressive
track record and astonishing heritage.
This technical partnership is a significant
step forward for Hispania Racing HRT
F1 Team to improve its performance.”
Hispania’s prospects received a boost
on Saturday as it announced that ex-
Telefonica CEO Juan Villalonga was
joining the F1 debutants. Villalonga
was instrumental in bringing the
Spanish telecoms company into
F1, sponsoring the Minardi team
before moving to Renault in 2004.
“Formula 1 is always associated with
innovation, research and technology, and
Hispania Racing must be represented
on that level, with a stable leadership,”
he said. “The key is the quality and
not the quantity of sponsors.”
Someone of Villalonga’s fiscal
experience can only be of benefit to
the under-resourced Spanish team.



Button escapes armed robbery
THE trip back to his hotel on Saturday
evening was filled with action for
outgoing world champion Jenson
Button – and a reminder of the edgy
nature of Sao Paolo street life.
Jenson was travelling in a bullet-proof
Mercedes with a police-trained driver ( a
service offered to all drivers), his father
John, his manager Richard Goddard
and trainer Mike Collier. The car was
just a few minutes from the circuit,
when a gang of armed men came out
of an apartment block and approached
the car. Jenson takes up the story:
“We rocked up at the traffic lights,
about three rows back. Our driver, as
always, stops early and doesn’t pull
up right behind the car in front. We
looked to the right and saw a few guys
gathering at the side of the road.
“It looked a bit suspect but we
didn’t think anything of it and then
Richard noticed that one of them
had a baton hanging down from
his arm. Then I noticed that one guy
was playing around with something
in his trousers and it was a gun.
“As soon as I said that the driver looked
across, and when they saw him look
they started running towards the car.
>> F1 NEWS
“We angled the car and floored
it. It didn’t look like there was a big
enough space there, but we got
between six cars – and rammed
every single one to get past!
“We got through in the end and
got away, but looking behind there
were two guys with hand guns. One
was quite a simple looking hand
gun and one guy with something
that looked like a machine gun.”
While Button’s drama made headlines,
at least two other vehicles, containing
personnel from other teams, were held
up and robbed over the weekend …

 Short
Straights
n Following Nico
Hulkenberg’s maiden pole
position, Sir Jackie Stewart
says the 23-year-old’s F1
future is secure, and that the
biggest danger now is that
Williams ends up losing him.
“I would be very surprised if
he is not taken. The biggest
chance he has now is of being
grabbed by a more affluent
team, not the risk of not
having a drive. He is never
going to be without a job”. Sir
Jackie is an ambassador for
Williams sponsor RBS.
n Red Bull Racing’s chief
technical officer Adrian Newey
described the consructors’
championship crown as “not
bad for a little team. It was
obviously the aspiration [to
win the championship] but
I wasn’t so sure we could
actually achieve it [when I
joined]. Certainly the team
didn’t have the infrastructure
of the big ones. When I joined
Williams, and then McLaren, I
was very lucky the teams had
the infrastructure and you
could just go about designing
the car. Here it’s been a bigger
task, building everything
up, getting the operation
together and everybody in
Milton Keynes has risen to
that task fantastically.”
Renault confirms 1Malaysia deal
Fernandes adamant his team will be called Lotus
(whatever happens between Group Lotus and Renault)
INTRIGUE surrounded Lotus Racing’s
announcement over the weekend which
confirmed the team would be powered
by Renault engines next season.
While possibly one of the worst-kept
secrets in the paddock was at last confirmed,
it now seems that the ongoing naming
dispute between Lotus Racing, run by
Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, and
Group Lotus, has taken a further twist.
The team’s press release announcing the Renault
deal made almost no mention of the name
‘Lotus Racing’, save for the e-mail address of press
officer Tom Webb, and the team’s logo used for
this season. Throughout, references to ‘the Anglo-
Malaysian team,’‘this team’, or ‘our team’ were all
used to refer to the outfit which loudly proclaimed
its intention to run under the Team Lotus banner
for next season, having purchased the name from
David Hunt, at this year’s Singapore Grand Prix.
It now appears that Group Lotus, with whom
Fernandes has been in dispute over the Team
Lotus name, are making their own steps to enter
F1, buying into the Genii-owned Renault team.
Proton, owners of Group Lotus, are attempting
to re-establish the brand in the mould of
Ferrari and use F1 as a marketing platform
for their production car business. This is
perhaps unsurprising given that the company
is now headed up by ex-Ferrari brand chief
and Red Bull number two Dany Bahar.
Whether the potential buy-in would come as
a result of purchasing Renault or Genii’s shares is
not clear, but the former seems more likely with
Renault rumoured to be keen to return to the
status of engine supplier from 2011. That could
pave the way for Proton to use the Lotus brand
name as a title sponsor of the Renault cars, and
possibly even be renamed as Lotus-Renault.
Renault Sport president Bernard Rey also
contributed to the debate in his announcement
of the Lotus Racing deal, by failing to
mention the team at all, instead saying:
“Renault is delighted to announce an expanded
agreement with Red Bull Racing and the arrival
of a new customer, 1Malaysia Racing Team (UK)
Ltd.”While there is a High Court lawsuit pending
in London meant to resolve the dispute over the
rights to use the Team Lotus name, according to
reports from Malaysia that decision has already
been taken at the highest level and Lotus
Racing will not become Team Lotus in 2011.
Therefore, the team currently known as
Renault could therefore be known as Lotus-
Renault or even Team Lotus for next season, and
Lotus Racing may have to find a new identity.
Fernandes has already established Team Air
Asia to compete in GP2 next season, so maybe
Air Asia F1 is about to land on the grid?
However Fernandes, who was not in Brazil,
challenged such speculation on Twitter:
“Much said about our name. To [sic] many
people reading to [sic] much into it. We are Lotus
Racing this season. Next season we are still Lotus.”

n Eminem wowed F1 and

rap fans at Sao Paulo’s Jockey
Club on Friday, and he wasn’t
the only hip hop star in town.
His support act NERD were in
the paddock and front-man
Pharrell Williams, by now an
F1 regular, was in the Lotus
Racing pit. You would have
thought hearing was quite
important for a musician, but
Pharrell refused ear defenders.
When the car started up he
jumped out of his pants.
His bodyguard was not as
protective as he should have
been, knocking off Pharrell’s
hat in his haste to get out of
the way.
10

Senna set for worldwide
2011 release
SENNA, the new movie documentary
on the F1 legend’s life, is set for
worldwide release next year
after viewing figures in Japan
surpassed early expectations.
The movie premiered last month
over the Japanese Grand Prix and has
enjoyed a similarly strong response
this weekend in Brazil. If current
plans remain unchanged the film will
premiere in tandem with the 2011 F1
calendar, so UK viewers can expect to
see the film on the big screen in June.
Senna producer James
Gay-Rees said in Brazil:
“They (Universal Pictures) don’t
release this sort of thing very often so
if it does well in Japan and does well
here [in Brazil] then hopefully all the
other major territories, who are pretty
pumped up about it, will be tracked
with the grands prix because it seems
to be working following that strategy.
“The good news is that it is doing
very well in Japan, above and
beyond Universal’s estimates, which
is very heartening,” he added.
McLaren boss Ron Dennis and
>> F1 NEWS
Senna’s nephew Bruno were
among those to praise the film.
“Ayrton won all his world
championships and almost all his
grands prix for McLaren, so naturally
McLaren occupies a very significant
place in the Senna story,” said Dennis.
“The most important question is
this: is the film a faithful and fitting
tribute to the man? And in my
opinion the answer is: yes, it is.”
Bruno Senna, following in his
uncle’s footsteps by contesting
the Brazilian Grand Prix this
weekend, was equally pleased
with the finished result:
“It’s very special for me, I think
for anyone who’s a racing driver
it’s going to be quite special,
whoever was a fan of Ayrton,” said
the 27-year old Hispania driver.
“It’s not a movie about racing
itself but it’s a movie about the life
of Ayrton, the implications of what
he did in his life. It feels very special
and definitely brought back many
memories, good memories and some
sad memories as well, of course.”

Two more years for Red Bull-Renault deal

RED Bull Racing will continue to
be powered by Renault engines
next season after announcing an
extension of its engine contract with
the French manufacturer. Red Bull
and Renault first joined forces in
2007, with the team scoring 13 wins
and 20 podium finishes in that time.
A further two-year supply deal
will see the current Constructor’s
Championship-leading team
powered by the Renault RS27 V8
engine until at least 2012, after
which the engine regulations are
tipped to be radically modified.
As part of the deal, Renault logos “We’re pleased to announce this four seasons, contributing to our
will be more prominent on the Red extension,” said team boss Christian 13 grand prix victories so far.
Bull cars, with Mark Webber and Horner. “We have always enjoyed a “The relationship continues to evolve
Sebastian Vettel’s helmet visors and very straightforward relationship with and we look forward to working with
the nose of each RB6 carrying the Renault and they have supported them during our 2011 Formula One
distinctive black and yellow emblem. us extremely fairly during the past World Championship campaign.”
11
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 >> F1 NEWS

Technical Update: Brazilian GP

With most teams now flat-out on their 2011 cars, only the championship
contenders turn up with late-season refinements for what this year is a very
close championship. Paolo Filisetti explains
Not many significant changes on the
cars in Brazil, even though the top teams,
especially Ferrari and McLaren, who tried
to put some final refinements to their cars
for these final back-to-back races in Brazil
and next week Abu Dhabi.
Anyway Interlagos, is a circuit very
important in terms of aero efficiency. So
the main focus was to squeeze out every
possible hundredth of a second.

Ferrari diffuser
In Brazil Ferrari adopted their latest
evolution of the blown diffuser with the
airflow from the exhausts also blowing
inside the side channels.
This helps dramatically in terms of
improving the efficiency of this element in
each of its sections. The F10’s one differs
from the one of the Red Bulls as it features a
horizontal hole rather than the vertical one
of the RB6.
The central section used in Korea has
been modified with more rounded profiles
and the additional middle plate in the side
channels is no longer present.

McLaren front end aero

McLaren slightly modified the front and rear
wings of the MP4/25, but the main attention
was in the front assembly with a different
intermediate splitter under the nose cone.
This one in fact is subtly different in its
front edge, now slightly rounded and
featuring a slightly v-shaped entry profile.
This improves the efficiency around the
front suspension wishbones, in particular
diverting in a more efficient way the air flow,
divided in two portions – one directed to
the engine radiators, and the lower portion
underneath the car.

For your daily dose

of Formula 1 news ...
13
14
15
 HIGH
SIDES

n Jorge Lorenzo had a special

blingy helmet at Valencia. His X-
Lite helmet was hand-painted in
Stoner expects “noth
gold, and studded with almost
2,000 red and white Swarovski
crystals spelling out his logo. The
helmet was valued at 12,000 euros.
n Repsol will soon confirm
sponsorship for a three-rider
factory Honda team next year,
according to sponsorship
manager Arturo Suss. “There is
just some fine-tuning to make
to the concept,” he told GPWeek
at Valencia. It is expected that
Pedrosa and Dovizioso will run out
of the same pit, as this year, but
that Stoner will be in a separate
box.
n Casey Stoner confirmed at
Valencia that, like Rossi, his full

Suzuki confirms
Ducati pit crew including chief
Cristian Gabarrini will be moving
to Honda with him next year. “It’s
important to have people you

understand and trust,” he said,
adding: “I think the reason riders
can move their crews with them
nowadays is because they have
more negotiating power.”
n Valentino Rossi will have
surgery on his injured right
shoulder “on Monday or Tuesday
next week,” he said. He would take
a short break after testing the
Ducati, then go to Milan for the
operation, to repair tendon and
joint damage. “I expect to spend
one night in hospital.”
n New rules from the GP
Commission have tightened up
specification on racing numbers,
to the relief of TV and trackside
fans. In recent years numbers had
in several cases (especially in the
Aspar teams) become harder and
harder to pick out, as they were
incorporated into designs dictated
by sponsor livery.
The rules now demand a
number on the centre of the
front of the fairing, in a clearly
legible font, and surrounded by a
contrasting colour of sufficient size
to make it easily legible.#
one-rider plan
AS the team packed up at Valencia – almost half of them for the last
time – Suzuki was due to officially confirm the factory decision to
run only one rider in 2011.
This was yet another worst-kept secret in a year with a number of
them. But while there was little hope of any other outcome, official
confirmation will trigger the next stage in a scenario that might end in
the law courts.
Currently the least competitive of the factory teams, Suzuki will
concentrate its efforts next year of the improving Spanish rider Alvaro
Bautista, who took a fighting ninth at Valencia, his eighth time in the
top ten, far outranking his experienced team-mate Loris Capirossi.
The argument concerns the wording of the contract, which Suzuki
interprets as only requiring continuing to furnish a team, without
specifying two riders.
Dorna chief Carmelo Ezpeleta has said he interprets it differently,
and that with only one rider Suzuki will be in breach. He has earlier
suggested he will take legal action to enforce the contract or seek
compensation ... but that he was awaiting official word on Suzuki’s
decision.
This confirmation was due to be received on Monday (November 8),
and he will have to decide.
Pressing on with punitive legal action might be counter-productive,
moving Suzuki towards a complete withdrawal in 2012, when a new
contract falls due.
Ezpeleta was not available for comment at Valencia.

16
 >> Moto GP news

hing but abuse” from Rossi

LIKE everybody else, Casey Stoner is eagerly
awaiting Valentino Rossi’s verdict on the Ducati
Desmosedici MotoGP bike that the Italian was
due to ride for the first time on Tuesday.
But the Australian is already pretty sure what he
will hear:
“I expect nothing but abuse,” he told a small
group of journalists, with a happy grin.
“It’ll be interesting to see what Valentino thinks
of the Ducati after riding only Japanese MotoGP
bikes,” he continued.
“The Ducati has a different character. I expect
him to slag off my settings, and say that Casey
Stoner has a very strange style. But, each to his
own,” he smiled.

17
>> Moto GP news
Moto3 tech rules announced
Rev and cost limits paramount in 2012 ‘starter’ class
THE long-awaited detailed technical
regulations for the new four-stroke
Moto3 class that will replace 125cc two-
strokes in 2012 were finally announced
after a GP Commission meeting at
Valencia.
Previously little more was known
other than that the bikes would use
single-cylinder four-stroke engines with
a maximum bore size of 81 mm, which
matches that of the 1000cc MotoGP rules
that will come into force at the same time.
The new information fills in all the details.
Engines will have a rev limit of
14,000rpm, enforced by control ECUs
issued by the organisers. As in Moto2,
ECUs can be swapped at will by the
organisers.
Cam drive must be by chain rather
than gears, pneumatic or hydraulic valve
Mixed reception to ‘wider range’ tyre
BRIDGESTONE, supplier of control tyres
to the MotoGP class, made good on a
promise to have a bigger gap between
the two tyre options available for the
last three GPs – and at least one rider
welcomed the change in policy. But
others hardly noticed the change.
The Japanese company was reacting
to criticism, led by Casey Stoner, of
too narrow a gap between the harder
and softer options – just two different
compounds front and rear. The Australian
had slammed the fact that the softer tyre
was usually capable of full race distance;
while almost all were concerned about
the length of time taken to bring the tyres
up to temperature. This was blamed for
a number of crashes in the cool morning
sessions, including those that broke Rossi’s
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18
actuation is banned, with a maximum of
four valves. Variable valve timing or valve
lift are not allowed.
Fuelling can be by electronic injection,
but both direct injection and variable-
length inlet tracts are banned. Fly-by-wire
throttles are also against the rules, and
maximum fuel pressure is five bar.
Each rider can use a maximum of eight
engines per season, with a maximum cost
per engine of 12,000 euros, including
special parts or service contracts. Engine
suppliers must be prepared to supply a
minimum of 15 riders. Engine upgrades
or updates must be available to all
competitors at the same time.
There will be a maximum of six gears,
but each ratio may have one alternate,
while the primary drive can also have an
alternate ratio.
leg at Mugello and Aoyama’s back at
Silverstone.
“It’s crazy that the softer tyre is good for
the race ... and we haven’t even had any
cool weather yet,” said Stoner, earlier in the
season.
At Valencia, he was glad to set the
record straight.
“I couldn’t really be any more happy with
the changes,” he said, after qualifying on
pole. “We were struggling all season to get
temperature into the tyres.
“With the (cooler) conditions we’ve got at
the moment the softer tyre is not too soft
for the race ... but they’ve done the right
gap, a very good step.
“We have very good performance from
the side of the tyre we use the least –a
really good feeling and feedback from the
The 125cc two-strokes will be replaced in 2012
Chassis must be prototypes, with a
minimum total weight of motorcycle and
rider of 148 kg.
As in the 125 class, carbon brakes are
banned, along with active or semi-active
suspension systems (the suspension rule
already applies also to MotoGP).
tyre since they’ve made this step.”
The softer tyres had also been used in
cool conditions at Phillip Island, but the
rained-out Portuguese GP gave no chance
for further assessment.
Jorge Lorenzo, alongside on the
grid, said he hadn’t noticed such a
big difference, but that the softer tyre
definitely did offer better grip in the first
laps, but Nicky Hayden said:
“There’s not a lot in it. This morning
on a soft tire I think 23 laps and my last
two laps were my best, so the front tire
certainly is a race option. I wouldn’t say it’s
that big a step.”
Rossi however was far from convinced:
“The soft tyre here is better than last year,
which was too soft. But the hard tyre is
worse,” he said.
 Rossi's 'best and most
competitive' Yamaha
– 2005

Bike-by-bike … by Rossi
YAMAHA might have had more to worry about than to celebrate
with the departure of Rossi to rival Ducati – but they made the
most of it anyway.
The company’s annual technical briefing was devoted instead to
a year-by-year review by the departing rider, talking on film about
the seven different M1s he has ridden.
It made an interesting set, with the rider typically both
informative and concise:
• 2004 – “There were three engines, and I decided on this one,
with less power but a lot softer feeling: it was smoother and
easier to ride and the delivery was more sweet.” He won the
title.
• 2005 – “This was the best, the most competitive. The chassis
still had good turning, but the engine improved a lot, with a
lot more power. It was very precise in all areas. And we started
to work with more electronic controls. The secret was the
balance.” He won again.
• 2006 – “We tried to improve the bike, but made a big problem
that caused a lot of chattering. There was a high-frequency
vibration and it made you lose the front. Eventually we
understood that the front part of the chassis was not strong
enough, then in the second part of the season the Michelin
tyre problems began.” A crash at the last race gave the title to
Nicky Hayden’s Honda.
• 2007 – “This year we went from 1000cc to 800, and also less
fuel. I think it was a bad decision. We had a very difficult
season. The bike had less power and was more difficult to ride.
The Ducati was very fast, and Bridgestone had become better
than Michelin. The biggest problem was a lack of power, and
the Ducati had very good electronics. My best race was going
from 11th to first at Assen.” Casey Stoner and Ducati won the
championship.
• 2008 – “A big step – with nine wins and the championship.
The power and fuel consumption were better, and electronics
were very much improved. For the first time the control could
be modified corner by corner. We switched from Michelin to
Bridgestone, which was very difficult. We had to change the
weight distribution.” Title victory again.
• 2009 – “It did not change a lot but the bike became more
clever (electronically).” Another title win – his fourth and last
with Yamaha.

“I’ll take Rossi under my wing” – Hayden

SUPERSTAR Rossi’s new 2011 team-
mate Nicky Hayden showed a
strong sense of irony – and a good
sense of humour – when asked
yet again what he thought of the
prospect of rejoining him as team-
mate next season when Valentino
joins him at Ducati.
He’s been asked the same
question so many times that he
made a joke of it, which had the
Press conference and top-table
companion Rossi rocking with
laughter.
Hayden had joined Rossi in
the factory Honda team in 2003,
when he was a GP rookie fresh
from winning the AMA Superbike
championship, and Rossi already
had two top-class titles in the bag.
“Last time we were team-mates,
when I came from the States, I took
him under my wing a bit.
“I was really open. I didn’t mind
sharing my set-up information, so I
hope to do that again.”
Asked whether he had done more
for Rossi on or off the track, he
continued in the same vein.
“Both,” he replied. “A lot with his
race-craft, and I also taught him how
to deal with the fans.
“I think I contributed a lot, so I’m
quite proud of that,” he concluded.
The world of MoTorsporT
direcTly To your deskTo
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-22 2010

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19
 5 Minutes with ...
Casey Stoner won for a fourth successive time in Australia, but it’s been a year
more down than up for the 2007 World Champion. This week, after four years
with Ducati, he switches to a factory Honda. Michael Scott spoke to him at
Valencia, on the eve of his last race in red.
GPWEEK: Five race crashes this year. Have
you become a win-it or bin-it rider?
CASEY STONER: This year I’ve chosen
to be, to be, honest. Malaysia was a
rookie mistake with a cold tyre. This
last one in Portugal ... I wasn’t pushing
too hard, but at the same time I’m not
going out there to finish third. A long
time ago this season was gone for me.
So I want to get as many wins as I can.
Whether the bike’s capable of it or not.
Until you are out of the championship,
you have to go for position. You saw
me settle for seconds and thirds
quite a lot earlier in the year, until
we got this set-up working. But to
say I got third in the championship ...
it’s not such a great thing for me.
You’re obviously not scared of crashing.
The minute you get scared in this
game you’ve lost those few tenths
and there’s no way you can get to the
top line. The first thing you’ve got
to do is not be afraid. I think that’s
what sets me apart some days, why I
can go quicker earlier than others.
Most riders when they crash they
struggle to come back, especially in the
same session. I don’t have that problem.
You decided to move to Honda
early in the season. How long had
you been thinking about it?
Immediately after the last race I was
approached by both (Honda and Ducati),
so it was a long time in the discussion
period before it happened. To be honest,
for a long time it was definitely tilting
towards Ducati, but there were certain
things I wasn’t happy with, and it didn’t
seem like it was going to change.
Round about Jerez time
it did get settled.
What about after Honda. Do you want to
do a Rossi, and ride all the major bikes?
Not at all. If things had gone differently
20
CASEY STONER
I would have been very happy to
finish my career with Ducati. If I am
happy at Honda, there’s no reason
for me to change. I’m not out there
looking for results for the statistics. I’m
just out there to enjoy my racing.
You used to speak about
being uncomfortable with
fame. Is it better now?
I still don’t enjoy it. It’s not my
thing. But I’ve learned to kind
of ignore it, to be honest.
It seemed to be that everything
was just building up away from
the track. So I made a conscious
decision just to ignore it all.
I used to get criticised for a lot of
things I said, and now I’m quoted
on them. So people realise that I
don’t lie. I’m just straight out and tell
the truth. And people are starting
realise I’m not just full of crap.
Do you spend much time
in Australia now?
Definitely more time abroad. I spend
a lot of time in Switzerland – all year, to
be honest. We spend maybe a month
or two in Australia, visiting family,
Christmas and New Year, and things like
that. Other than that we’re in Europe.
I wish I could speak the lingo a bit
better. But I’ve never struggled to get
around the world and make contacts.
I’m pretty much Europeanised. I feel
very, very comfortable in Switzerland
– I’ve lived there since 2008.
Have you taken up winter sports?
I started skiing only in 2008 and
snowboarding last year, so altogether
I’ve done probably two-and-a-half
weeks of both combined, but we’re
actually going pretty good. I just
need to get my technique better.
It’s a new world for me, it’s
opened up a new jar. A lot of fun.
In the long term, I think I’ll go back to
Australia. But I love Switzerland, and I
also like the US, some parts of it. I’m not
really bothered about where I end up.
Would you describe yourself
as a nature boy?
I’m not a city person and I don’t like
crowds. I struggle more with that side
of my GP racing. I prefer to be out in
the middle of nature with a few friends
and family and no one else around.
That’s the best life could be for me.
Any future ideas after bike racing?
Would you like to race cars?
I’m thinking I’d like to try the V8s in
Australia. That’s definitely a plan. I’ve
had a couple of tests in karts, and as
far as I can tell I’m not doing too bad.
I think karts is the best thing you can
learn on. When you get in a car you
only have to learn the gears. We know
about horsepower from these bikes.
In some ways I think car drivers have
an easier job than us, but in other ways
theirs is a lot more technical. We can
move our body position to make the bike
turn a little easier. In a car you have to do
everything through that steering wheel,
through the gears, clutch and brakes. It’s
easier for more drivers to be fast, but
that last little bit is a huge challenge.
Finally then, what was the last
good movie you saw, and the
last good tune you bought?
The last good movie would be
Inception. A really good movie. I saw it
just once, and I understood it completely,
but everyone else I spoke to said: “I didn’t
understand it. We’ve got to go and watch
it again.” I like all of Leonardo’s films since
Blood Diamond. Every one of them.
Tune? ... I think I bought ... Alanis
Morissette would be the last album I
bought – can’t remember the name. And
Status Quo as well. I like the old stuff!
>> MOTO CHAT

21
 Email us
Something to say?
Motorsport rea
Email us at
mail@gpweek.com
Crunch time
So this is it. The team which professes to not use
team orders (well, not when it disadvantages
the boss's love-child) faces a massive moment of
truth next weekend.
opinion
The way I see the points, if anyone is going
to have to 'assist' his team-mate it's Vettel,
under some scenarios. Now that is going to be
interesting. I'd pay anything to be in the Red Bull
garage on Sunday!
Matthew Holderness
Springfield. Ill, USA
Moto2 – delivers in spades
I have just watched the final MotoGP event of
the year and want to say thanks to you guys for
your great coverage.
Sunday's Moto2 race was among the most
amazing races I've seen for a long time. Those
guys are amazing – and it's great to see the
category delivering so much more than the
doubters thought it would.
And now, Casey on a Honda, Vale on a Ducati.
Roll on 2011.
David Hargreaves
hargreavesclan@bigpond.net
Love u, but ...
Another great edition of GPWeek. In the 'off'
weeks between F1 races, it's great to get some
in-depth reading as well as lashings of quality
photography.
As someone who's never really 'got' MotoGP,
I'm pleased that you manage to pitch the
magazine at a level where I can get something
out of the bike pages too.
The only thing that puzzled me this week was
the article on new racetracks. Halfway through, I
turned the page and had a strange sense of déjà
vu. It took me a few seconds to work out that
you'd liked the first half of the article so much
you pasted it in twice. Reassuring to know you're
human after all!
Nick Kaijaks
Leamington Spa, UK
CL: Hey Nick, If I said graphic artist, long
weekend, party time, would you get what I'm
trying to say? ...
Wot's with Felipe?
Anyone know why Felipe Massa doesn't seem to
be the driver he once was? Lot of mistakes and
off-the-pace races this year. Even Brazil.
Mary Hamilton
Gloucester, UK
CL: 2009 accident hangover? Genuinely fast
team-mate? Depression? (hasn't been on top
form since, er, obliged to 'hand over' points to
Fernando mid-year ...)
22
ADAM
HAY-
NICHOLLS
GPWeek Editor
I decided not to go to Brazil. Why?
everyone cried. And there were
many good reasons to go. The
chance the title could be decided,
for one.
The fact that the Autodromo
Carlos Pace always seems to provide
HBO levels of drama, would be
another. Then there was the steak at
Fogo de Chao, the Eminem concert,
and the Senna premiere – though I’d
already seen that in Japan.
But whereas it’s easier to justify
other long haul races because you
can tackle several on one ticket –
Bahrain-Australia-Malaysia-China
and Singapore-Japan-Korea for
instance – Sao Paulo is way out on
its own, at least until Austin 2012.
An expensive ticket, therefore, and
an even more pricey trip when you
consider the exchange rate. You
That ‘end-of-te
opinion
Michael
Scott
MotoGP Editor
Everyone in the paddock loves the
Valencia GP. Not because of the track
– it’s tight and rather nasty, aimed at
using as little landscape as possible,
and giving the spectators several
views of the lap.
Not because of the venue: though
it’s a fine and fun-loving city in an
attractive area of a beautiful country.
Not even because of the weather,
need to pimp your daughter out just
to pay for a caipirinha. And, let’s face
it, many do.
That was not a reason to go, by the
way.
A further reason to avoid SP, and
a bit of a sissy one, is the crime.
Jenson Button (right) experienced
this first hand on Saturday. He was in
a bullet-proof car. Hertz don’t hand
those out to journalists. The set of
traffic lights at which he suffered an
attempted ambush, just a couple of
hundred metres from the circuit, is
the same place everyone gets hit.
I’ve been to the Brazilian Grand Prix
six times, and twice I’ve witnessed
similar deeds just a couple of car
lengths behind. Someday my luck
will run out.
It was therefore rather ironic that
I spent Sunday tooling around a
sodden Nurburgring in a Lotus Exige.
The Nordschleife is much more
dangerous than Sao Paulo. And
an Exige in the wet is like a Dutch
clinic – happy to kill you. Show me a
teenager toting a TEC-9 and I’ll show
though it was a big relief to see clear
skies at least for practice, after the
sodden misery of Estoril the weekend
before.
It’s because of the date. It’s the
last grand prix of the year. End of
term. Time to go home for a bit, and
even perhaps forget now and then
about tyres and lap times and back
protectors, and the basically (indeed,
gloriously) idiotic business of trying
to get back to where you started from
faster than anyone else.
The end-of-term feeling was
particularly acute this year, following
a punishing late-season run that was
the direct opposite of the desultory
 >> GPWEEK OPINION

lly is dangerous
you an Armco more threatening than any car
jacking.
If you hit the barrier, you pay for it. And then
you pay for the car. My insurance excess was
35,000 Euros. Were I to have crashed, I think it
would be in my best interests to have made it
fatal.
Yesterday one of the many crashed cars
caught alight. The circuit handed the driver a
20,000 Euro bill for tarmac damage. Forget the
sub-prime. If you want to go bankrupt fast (in
the most literal sense), you’ll love this place.
This weekend, of the 100-odd cars that
wealthy/fool-hardy owners took to the ‘Ring, 10
percent ended up smashed.
While Webber, Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton
were chewing their lips on the Interlagos grid,
I was gripping the Lotus steering wheel with
well-chewed fingers.
The adrenalin rush is not unlike driving while
being shot at. But unless you have 35 grand
in your wallet, you’ve probably less to lose in
Brazil.
Although sometimes there after other things
in South America. Word of advice: If you wake
up in a bath full of ice, don’t get out!
Though I doubt John Button’s liver would
fetch much on the black market.

erm’ feeling
start to a year that had the worst-
planned spread of the 18 races in living
memory.
It went like this. The first 10 races
were spread out over 18 weeks. That
is on average (though it obviously
doesn’t work like that) a race every 12.6
days. The next eight races were then
crammed into 10 weeks ... one every
8.75 days.
But the last five races spanned the
world – Japan, Malaysia, Australia then
two in Europe – all crammed into six
consecutive weekends.
And for most people, it was just too
much. By the time the paddock got
to Portugal last week, everyone was
feeling, and looking, more than a little
jaded. By the time they’d all made
the quick trip to the other side of the
Iberian peninsula for the Valencia race,
hollow eyes were staring out from
pretty much everywhere.
Nobody working in GP racing has
the right to feel sorry for himself: it’s a
dream job to millions of fans. But there
are other aspects.
One is safety. Jet lag and fatigue are
not comfortable companions when you
are on a racing motorcycle.
Another is the danger of causing
the same sort of ennui among the all-
important TV audiences. The last thing
you want is for them to be thinking: “Oh
no, not another MotoGP race.” Especially
when two out of three championships
were decided with some races still to go.
To be fair, one reason for the end-of-year
run was the Icelandic volcano that caused
postponement of the Japanese race.
Even so, it is a relief that the
provisional calendar for 2011 is a great
deal more user-friendly. It starts three
weeks earlier, for one thing. And there is
a break of a week between Malaysia and
Australia; while the back-to-back races
are mainly in the middle of the season,
when the championship battles are still
in the formative stages.
Let’s hope they don’t mess with it too
much between now and then.

23
A
captivating Brazilian Grand
Prix reached its apogee around
lap 50, with 11 to go. Seb Vettel
led Mark Webber … but only
by the oh-so-tense margin
of 1.5 sec. Behind, in third place, ran a
solid-looking Fernando Alonso. Mark was
pushing hard; no doubt about that. In
Sector Two, particularly – on the twisty
stuff - he was neat, fast and economical.
No real worries mate. Let’s see what we can
do about Seb …
Of course, if Fernando Alonso goes on to
win the 2010 Drivers’ World Championship
(the Constructors’ having been neatly sewn
up by Red Bull-Renault in Brazil) it will be
this moment in Brazil, seen up there in sharp
relief against Ferrari’s ‘team orders’ episode
at Hockenheim, that may prove to be the
ultimate decider.
In Germany, in clear breach of the FIA
Sporting Regulations, Ferrari ordered
Felipe Massa to give the win to Fernando
Alonso. Massa was then still in the running
for the Championship and could have
said “no”. He did not. Fernando gained a
five point advantage and Ferrari a small,
inconsequential fine (given the enormity of
the breach).
In Brazil, you didn’t have to have a
calculator on hand to see what a Webber-
Vettel finishing order would have done
24
for Mark Webber’s chances – and thus the
team’s chances – going in to Abu Dhabi.
Fernando Alonso – 246 pts; Mark Webber
- 245 pts. Red Bull Racing are not Ferrari,
however – so there was as much likelihood
last Sunday of Webber being gifted a win
by his team as there would be Australians
voluntarily giving up beer for the month
of November. Which is a good thing from
the point of view of sporting ethics, of
course, because Seb Vettel out-qualified
Mark in difficult conditions on Saturday
(just as Felipe Massa out-raced Fernando
Alonso into the first corner at Hockenheim!)
and therefore earned his fourth win of the
season fair and square.
Let’s look at it another way: if Felipe Massa
had won Hockenheim (as he should have
done), the points pre-AD would be: Alonso
239 pts, Webber 238 pts and Vettel 231
pts. You’re telling me that that wouldn’t be
better (a) for F1; (b) for the championship;
and (c) for sport in general (given the
crass way the Ferrari orders were enforced
anyway at Hockenheim)?
And I suspect that this very thought
occurred to Fernando, too, around lap
30 of the Brazilian Grand Prix when he
asked Stefano Domenicali on the radio for
confirmation that Seb was still leading Mark
(and not the other way round).
Could it be that Ferrari were in disbelief
 >> F1 INTERLAGOS
>> F1 KOREA

WE ARE THE
CHAMPIONS
Red Bull Racing secured their first constructors’ crown on
ANALYSIS

Peter Sunday in Sao Paulo, following a peerless one-two. But while

Windsor Sebastian Vettel thoroughly deserved his victory, could it have
F1 Columnist cost the team the Drivers’ World Championship?
25
 that Red Bull wouldn’t be giving the win to
Mark?
Still, this if F1 and you take what you can
get and you complain at your peril.
At Interlagos, Mark never got closer to Seb
than that 1.5 second gap. Shortly afterwards,
Tonio Liuzzi inelegantly hit the outside
barrier at Turn Two and so induced a Safety
Car. Race over.
Seb went purple upon release; Mark was
obliged to find a way past Nico Hulkenberg
and Robert Kubica at the re-start and
was then told that he had some sort of
“overheating” issue; and Fernando was
obliged to pass just about every taxi driver in
Sao Paulo before he could even think about
evaluating the real gap between him and the
two Red Bull aces.
Fernando pushed very hard over those
closing laps, bringing Seb’s nine-second lead
down to about six seconds, but it was a Red
Bull-Renault one-two; of that there was no
doubt.
I guess one also has to remember the
tangle in which Red Bull have enmeshed
themselves this year. Seb Vettel lost clear
wins due to engine problems in Bahrain and
Korea. On that basis – and even putting aside
Red Bull’s natural attraction to Vettel – there
was no way they could give him anything but
100 per cent support in Brazil.
On the other hand, Webber scored clear,
Vettel-beating victories in Spain, Monaco,
Hungary and Silverstone and was punted out
of a win in Turkey by said Seb Vettel. Just as
credibly, he is still the team’s best hope when
it comes to beating Fernando Alonso to the
title – and is probably the more deserving of
the two, given his support-role status.

As ever, this race came down to the closing

minutes of Q3 on Saturday when the track
was damp off line but dry enough over a
thin ribbon of tarmac for hottish Bridgestone
options to do their thing.
Seb was fractionally quicker than Mark.
And both of them were quicker than
Fernando Alonso, who was surprisingly
cautious, given his championship cushion.
All of them, however, were slower than a
German rookie named Niki Hulkenberg – a
Williams-Cosworth driver who has looked
very fast this year if inevitably a little erratic.
It was as much for his maiden pole that this
Brazilian Grand Prix will be remembered –
even if he was swallowed up in the opening
laps of the race by a bunch of sharks who
should never have been behind him in the
first place.

The rain fell hard on Saturday morning (when

Felipe Massa was quickest for a while in
26
 >> F1 INTERLAGOS

FORMULA 1 Round 18 BRAZIL

Pos # Driver Team Laps Time Grid

1 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 71 1:33:11.803 2

2 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 71 +4.2 secs 3
3 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 71 +6.8 secs 5
4 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 71 +14.6 secs 4
5 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 71 +15.5 secs 11
6 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 71 +35.3 secs 13
7 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 71 +43.4 secs 8
8 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 70 +1 Lap 1
9 11 Robert Kubica Renault 70 +1 Lap 7
10 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 12
11 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 14
12 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 22
13 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 19
14 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 70 +1 Lap 6
15 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 9
16 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 70 +1 Lap 10
17 22 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 15
18 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 69 +2 Lap 20
19 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 69 +2 Laps 18
20 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 69 +2 Laps 17
21 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 69 +2 Laps 24
22 20 Christian Klien HRT-Cosworth 65 +6 Laps 23
NC 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 62 +9 Laps 21
Ret 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 49 Accident 16

Points – Drivers: Alonso 246, Webber 238, Vettel 231, Hamilton 222, Button
199, Massa 143, Rosberg 130, Kubica 126, Schumacher 72, Barrichello 47,
Sutil 47, Kobayashi 32, Hulkenberg 22, Liuzzi 21, Petrov 19, Buemi 8 etc
Manufacturers: Red Bull 469, McLaren 421, Ferrari 389, Mercedes 202,
Renault 145, Williams 69, Force India 68, Sauber 44, Toro Rosso 11.
27
 I suspect that Seb-V would want Fernando to win
the title if he, Seb, can’t do it on points ...
front of his home crowd) but it eased as
qualifying unfolded.
Jenson Button continued his Brazil
tradition (he hasn’t qualified top ten at
Interlagos since 2005!) and Michael nudged
Nico out of a slot in Q3. Otherwise, it was
the usual suspects – “usual” including a
Williams team that (in the case of Rubens
Barrichello) has made Q3 now on six
successive occasions.
It was wet off-line, as I say, but there’s
no doubt that there was a dry groove
there, ready to be exploited. If this had
been Free Practice Three rather than Q3,
you can imagine that Nico’s pole-winning
lap of 1min 14.470sec would have quickly
dissolved into a 13.5 and then a 13.0 – and
so on. Everyone was on options as the
chequered flag waved – and the track was
getting faster by the second, even if a few
light drops were again beginning to fall.
This was Q3, however: and whilst for
some drivers in Championship contention
(Alonso, Webber, Vettel, Hamilton) there
was reason to leave perhaps a 10 percent
margin over that car’s width of dry-
road ribbon, for others – Kubica, Massa,
28
Barrichello, Schumacher, Petrov – there was
little to lose and everything to gain.
The bizarre thing is that only Nico
Hulkenberg actually gained, faced up to
the big point and played it to perfection.
For this, he not only deserved the pole
but also some sort of ‘Lap of the Year’
award; it was a stunning piece of driving
born of total confidence and perfect use
both of grip levels and of the heat cycle of
the tyres.
Big plaudits, too, to the AT&T Williams
team, for enabling Nico to maximize those
closing minutes.
If we take Q3 as a whole, the pattern
was clear: start on intermediates and then
switch to option (slicks) for the final run.
And if we take, say, Fernando Alonso as a
benchmark, his runs went as follows: two
flying laps on intermediates and then in.
Fastest lap so far: 1min 17.471sec.
Nico Hulkenberg mirrored that: two laps
on inters, the faster of which was a 1min
17.604sec – 0.2 sec slower than Fernando’s
– and then in for a switch to slicks. Nothing
particularly unusual there, although Nico
was clearly gaining confidence at this point:
Rubens Barrichello, who excels in these
conditions, managed only a 1min 18.349sec
on inters.
Now out on pre-heated options, Nico’s
first flying lap, with the tyres perhaps not
quite up to temperature, was a 1min 16.737
– a massive 0.8 sec quicker than anyone
else on the circuit. This was impressive not
only because of its intrinsic pace but also
because it gave him the space he needed
to record two more flying laps – something
that only Hamilton and Alonso achieved.
Nico’s next lap was a 1min 15.462 – good
enough for the pole. By comparison, Vettel
at this point lapped in 1min 15.519, Kubica
in 1min 16.552sec , Alonso in 1min 15.589,
Webber in 1min 15.637, Barrichello in 1min
16.203sec ,Hamilton in 1min 16.274sec,
and Michael in 1min 16.925sec. No-one, in
other words (apart from Petrov, who was
out there in the 1min 19s, not wanting to
hit another wall) actually had a bad lap,
as in making a huge mistake or ‘finding
traffic’. Everyone was out there, sensing the
grip – and no-one was doing it better than
Nicolas Hulkenberg, aged 23 years and 79
days.

Even so, there was no reason to suspect
even at this stage that we were in for the
biggest shock since Toro Rosso won at
Monza. This wasn’t the first time young
Nico had headed the times in changing
conditions; with the track getting quicker
and the tyres hotter, obviously the pole
was going to be in the 1min 14s – and it
looked as though it was going to be a spat
between Fernando and the Red Bull drivers,
with Nico-H and Robert-K in addition
perhaps having some fun.
Not at all. Everyone at this point – with
the exception of Nico H, seemed to back
away, daunted by the risk factor imposed
by today’s Q3, Parc Ferme regulations.
Lewis improved to 1min 15.747 but Alonso
went slower – 1min 16.359. Vettel and
Webber backed away, as did Robert and
Rubens. Only Nico – the other Nico – kept
slicing away, finding two or three tenths on
the first two sector and completing a lap
– a second pole lap – in 1min 14.470 sec.
It was if everyone else had decided to go
home early…
Williams declared later that they had
chosen full-dry settings for both their cars
but the evidence suggested otherwise:
>> F1 INTERLAGOS
Nico was only 15th quickest in Sector 3 –
the one with the long straight – but easily
fastest over the rest of the lap. That put Seb- that he didn’t subsequently close the gap
V on the dirty side of the road and Mark
on the clean side – a nice prelude to a left-
right first corner that is effectively Malaysia seemed not be amused – and who’s to say
in reverse.
The other significant result, of course,
was that Fernando now found himself back
in fifth place, in amongst the McLarens,
Robert K’s Renault and Rubens in the other
Williams. As much as he wanted to take the
race to the Red Bulls, Fernando was now
going to have to focus on that great motor
racing no-man’s land: staying out of trouble.
He did it very well, as Fernando always
does.
Seb got Hulk on the outside of the first
corner and Mark W flicked inside at Turn 3
on the next lap. Fernando, though, had to
curb his impatience and wait for a slot. By
the time he was up to third, pulling to the
inside on acceleration out of Turn 3, the RBs
were already in the middle-distance.
Fernando then went into a rather strange
theatrical mode, the script for which
involved telling his pit that his car felt
“beautiful” and that he was probably three-
tenths quicker than the RBs.
The only thing wrong with all this was
and therefore didn’t beat the ‘slower’ cars in
question. Down at Red Bull, Adrian Newey
how much faster Seb or Mark could have
driven had they been really troubled?
Fernando didn’t clinch it in Brazil, then.
Indeed, if Mark Webber leads a Red
Bull one-two in Abu Dhabi, he will be
Champion, regardless of where Fernando
finishes.
Having said that, I suspect that Seb-V
would want Fernando to win the title if he,
Seb, can’t do it on points ...
That’s fantasy stuff, however. The solid
fact from Brazil is that Red Bull-Renault has
won the Constructors’ World Championship.
This is Renault’s ninth as an engine supplier
– and so we may quickly confine that big
blow up in Korea to the history book in
which it will lie.
Rob White and the boys at Viry Chatillon,
let alone Adrian Newey and Co over in
England, can take a long and well-deserved
bow.
29
Surprise polesitter Hulkenberg helps Red Bull to 1-2
23-year-old German finishes eighth
Red Bull may have the impressive pace
of their RB6 conqueror to thank for their
Brazilian Grand Prix 1-2 at Interlagos, but
the team has Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg
to thank for making the early part of their
race all the more easy.
It had been precisely 100 races since
Williams took their last pole position at the
2005 European Grand Prix, but Hulkenberg
put an end to that drought on Saturday when
he made great use of the slippery conditions
to take a shock pole by over a second.
Although the pace of his FW32 was
not nearly as impressive on race day as
consistent dry conditions returned, he had
a pivotal role to play in the early part of the
race. After losing out to eventual winner
Sebastian Vettel on the run to turn 1, he
lost second place to Mark Webber next lap
at Turn 4, giving Red Bull the provisional 1-
2 they needed to secure the constructors’
championship.
Crucially however, Hulkenberg was not
dispatched as quickly by Red Bull’s main rivals,
allowing Vettel to open a 10-second lead
over Alonso by the time he finally overtook
Hulkenberg at turn 5 on lap 7.
Hamilton was not so lucky however, as grip
problems meant he was unable to overtake
the 2009 GP2 champion despite countless
attempts into turns 2 and 4. He was finally
relieved of the Williams when Nico pitted
on lap 14, but by then he had lost over 10
seconds to Alonso.
Hulkenberg said he was pleased with
eighth after the race, having extracted the
maximum possible from his car:
“I am happy with that result because I gave
it everything today; there wasn’t anything left
in me to give!” he said
“I was struggling quite a lot with the car, it
really wasn’t easy to drive, but I kept Kubica
behind me all the way. The team did a great
pitstop and chose the right strategy; we just
needed some more car pace.
“Even though we started on pole, my
expectations for the race were to finish
between fifth and tenth, so P8 is fine and it
means we are now sixth in the constructors’
championship.”

Alonso happy with Brazil result

8-point lead going to Abu Dhabi
Fernando Alonso was pleased to
have lost just three points of his
world championship lead after being
comprehensively outperformed by
Red Bull at Interlagos.
The Spaniard finished third in
Sunday’s race, just one place behind
main rival Mark Webber, meaning he
still holds an eight-point cushion going
to Abu Dhabi this weekend.
As a result, a second place finish for
Alonso will ensure the title returns to
Spain for the third time, even if Webber
wins, while a Webber victory and
Alonso in third would given Webber
the title by two points. Nevertheless,
the Spaniard was happy with Sunday’s
result:
“Overall it was a good race for us –
being on the podium, overtaking
Hamilton and Hulkenberg ... We knew
it was not an easy thing to do but in
terms of points we are extremely happy,”
said Alonso after the race
“I need second place if Mark wins to
be champion, a fifth if Seb wins so we
see what happens.
“We saw today very easily how things
can change, with safety cars, some
things change and others not. If you
make the wrong decision at the wrong
moment you can be eighth or ninth
and the title can be over.”
He admitted it was going to be a
challenging weekend in Abu Dhabi.
“It is going to be a stressful weekend
for all of us, but this is F1 and anything
can happen next weekend,” he
continued.
“We all start from zero and we’ll see
who does a better job in seven days’
time.”

30
 >> F1 INTERLAGOS
Massa languishes in 15th at home GP
Pitstop problem costs him points
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa endured a torrid
home race at Interlagos on Sunday, crossing
the line in a demoralising 15th place and
outside the points after a character-building
weekend.
The problems began for the Brazilian on
Saturday when he qualified only ninth in the
slippery conditions, but his fortunes took a
nosedive on Sunday when a loose right-front
wheel cost him a potential top six finish.
At the start of the race he gained one
position to eighth, a position he kept until
pitting on lap 12. Although he lost a place
to Button, who had pitted one lap earlier, his
switch to the harder tyre should have seen
him rally through the pack, but instead had to
take the hit of a second pitstop one lap later
to fix a malfunctioning right-front wheel.
Race engineer Rob Smedley’s frustration
was clear to see as he slammed his fist on the
pitwall workstation as he saw his driver slip
from points contention.
“When I went back out on track after the first
stop I immediately felt that something was
strange with the right front wheel and I had to
come back to the pits immediately to change
McLaren see title chances evaporate with poor Brazil pace
Hamilton still has slim mathematical hopes of championship
The maths say Lewis Hamilton remains
in contention for the 2010 World Drivers’
Championship, but the Briton will be
needing a miracle to secure his second
title next weekend in Abu Dhabi after
struggling to perform in Brazil on Sunday.
Despite starting fourth the 25-year-
old was on the back foot come lap 2
when Alonso scythed his way past and a
persistent lack of grip meant he was unable
to come close to challenging the Spaniard
for a podium position later in the race.
“I pushed as hard as I could on every lap
today, but this was a tough race for me. I
actually feel quite lucky to have finished
where I did,” said Hamilton after the race.
“The car just didn’t feel like it did in
practice. I was even struggling to overtake
the backmarkers in a straight line –
Fernando shot past me at the start, too
– and it almost felt like my F-duct wasn’t
working perfectly.”
With a 24-point gap to Alonso with
only 25 points left to score, Hamilton has
nothing to lose going to Abu Dhabi and
tyres again,” said Massa of the incident. “From “Everything happened to me today and it is
then on, my race was pretty much over.” a real shame that I was unable to obtain the
The problem effectively dropped him to result that was within my grasp, even after
last, although he was able to recover some yesterday’s qualifying and by that I mean a
dignity to finish 15th at the flag. He pitted good finish,” continued the Brazilian.
behind the safety car for a fresh set of rubber, “I would have liked to have been fighting it
and yo-yo’d his way to the end of the race. A out at the front here, but it wasn’t possible:
tangle with Sebastien Buemi on lap on lap I will try and make up for it in Abu Dhabi at
58 dropped him two places, before dropping the final race. We still have a very important
more positions when Barrichello made his target to reach and we will do our utmost to
way through on lap 68. succeed in that.”
says he will try his hardest to pull the title
out of the fire.
“I’m still in the hunt for the drivers’
championship, but I’m 24 points down, so
I have nothing to lose now. In Abu Dhabi
I’ll be doing everything I can to pull off the
win I need, and hoping the other guys hit
problems,” he continued.
“As always, we won’t give up and we’ll
keep on pushing.”
As for team-mate Button, his title defence
officially came to an end on Sunday
afternoon, having failed to get the desired
luck to keep his hopes alive. He came home
in fifth place behind the other four title
contenders, an admirable result having
started way back in 11th:
“I had a great race today and had a lot
of fun fighting my way through the field,”
Button told reporters. “From where I started,
I couldn’t have done any better, so it feels
good to have finished fifth.
“For me, I’m out of it now, so I’ll treat the
final race much as I treated this one: I’ll just
have fun and try to enjoy it.”
31
Team-By-Team: Brazilian Gran
McLaren saw their slim title hopes slip
further from grasp after a disappointing
Brazilian Grand Prix, with Red Bull’s
1-2 finish putting the constructors’
championship definitively beyond reach.
Hamilton did an admirable job to
finish fourth, despite struggling for grip
throughout the race. He pitted behind
Sixth and seventh was the best possible
result for Mercedes in Brazil on Sunday,
as they secured fourth place in the
constructors’ championship.
A long 26-lap first stint allowed Rosberg to
climb from 13th on the grid to seventh after
his first pitstop, before overtaking Kobayashi
for sixth later in the race.
A comfortable 1-2 victory was just what the
doctor ordered for Red Bull after seeing a
potential 1-2 in Korea slip through their
fingers through driver error and reliability
problems.
Both drivers were flawless this time out,
and once they had dispatched polesitter
Nico Hulkenberg at the start, never looked
Alonso was pleased to lose just three points
of his championship lead on a day when Red
Bull were significantly stronger, and heads
to Abu Dhabi in a positive frame of mind.
He had an uneventful race from fifth on
the grid, and had jumped to third by the
seventh lap after overtaking Hamilton and
Hulkenberg.
Williams enjoyed a bitter-sweet Brazilian
Grand Prix at the weekend, after coming
home with just an eighth place finish
despite taking a shock pole position on
Saturday.
Hulkenberg took the team’s first pole in
100 races in slippery conditions, but lost
out by running too long into the race on
Despite showing strong pace in practice,
Renault did well to come away with ninth in
Sunday’s race, after struggling to take the
fight to the top four teams.
Starting seventh, Kubica spent all of his
race in traffic and lost a place to Schumacher
by running behind team-mate Petrov after
his pitstop.
32
the safety car with 20 laps to go for fresh
rubber and more grip, but was still unable
to challenge for a podium place. Button is
out of the title fight after finishing fifth.
An early move to the harder tyre allowed
him to gain places, but couldn’t make
further progress.
He dropped behind team-mate
Schumacher after pitting for fresh rubber
behind the safety car, but was given the
place back by Schumacher when racing
resumed to help his persuit of Button.
Schumacher had made his first pitstop
earlier than Rosberg, having lost two places
on the opening lap.
troubled. Vettel led home Webber for an
easy win to boost his title hopes, although
Webber had been compromised late in the
race with an overheating engine and tyres.
He was therefore unable to challenge for
the lead and remains just 8 points behind in
the championship.
He stayed there to the finish. Massa
endured a torrid home race, after a front-
right wheel problem forced an unscheduled
pitstop just after his first scheduled stop.
He had been battling Button at the
time, and the Briton went on to finish fifth
suggesting a top six finish would have been
possible for Felipe.
his super-soft tyres, before coming home
a disappointing eighth. He was happy
with the result, having given all he had,
and it puts Williams into sixth place in the
constructors’ championship.
Barrichello ran seventh early in the race
before a botched pitstop dropped him down
the field to finish 14th.
He was unable to use his top speed
advantage on the straight due to him hitting
the rev limiter, meaning he had to stay
behind Hulkenberg to the end.
Petrov’s race was ruined at the start
when he fell to the back of the field, before
recovering to 16th.

nd Prix, Sao Paolo
Force India’s third non-score in five races saw
the Silverstone-based team drop to seventh
place in the constructors’ championship as
Williams leapfrogged them with just one
Grand Prix remaining.
The end result came as no surprise given
the VJM03’s pace in practice and qualifying,
but Adrian Sutil did a sterling job to get his
Spain’s Jaime Alguersuari was pleased to
climb as high as 11th place at the finish in
Brazil, although he just missing out on a
points finish.
He had started 14th and was amazed to
have done so well having lacked straightline
speed to his rivals.
Team-mate Buemi was displeased with
18th and 19th in the Brazilian Grand
Prix cemented Lotus’s status as the best
new team of 2010, after comfortably
outperforming Virgin Racing on Sunday.
Although Timo Glock managed to
outqualify Kovalainen and Trulli in the wet
on Saturday, Kovalainen shot from 20th on
the grid to 17th on the first lap, overtaking
HRT notched up their third consecutive
double car finish, after Bruno Senna and
Christian Klien finished 21st and 22nd in
Brazil.
Klien’s race got off to a bad start when his
car stopped on the way to the grid, but the
team got the car back in time for him to
rejoin after four laps.
BMW Sauber came away from Brazil with
an unlikely point, after looking well out of
contention for a top ten finish for much of
the weekend.
Kobayashi yet again provided the magic to
bring his car home in the points, benefitting
from the demise of local heroes Rubens
Barrichello and Felipe Massa.
It was yet another disappointing weekend
for Virgin, as they failed to convert their
promising grid position into a competitive
race result.
Glock beat all of the other new teams to
17th on the grid, but immediately fell behind
Kovalainen at turn 1 when he was trying to
avoid Petrov.
>> F1 INTERLAGOS
car up to 12th at the flag, having started a
lowly 22nd.
He made steady progress to 17th in the
opening laps and pitted late in the race
behind the safety car to finish 12th.
Liuzzi crashed from 16th after running
wide at turn 3.
13th, after being outshone by Alguersuari.
He took a five-place grid penalty after his
collision with Glock in Korea meaning he
started only 19th, but performed strongly to
finish inside the top 15 despite a late-race
tangle with Massa.
both Glock and Trulli to lead the new team
battle.
He stayed in the lead throughout the race,
except for the pitstops, and Trulli was able
to jump Glock during the stops to ensure a
Lotus 1-2.
Although he was a few laps down, he was
able to set similar laptimes to Virgin and
Lotus, ending the race only six laps down.
Senna finished just 1 second behind
Virgin’s Timo Glock, underlining yet another
impressive performance by the Spanish
team.
He started on the harder tyre and
wanted to go long into his first stint before
switching to the super-soft, but was
compromised by understeer as the rubber
aged.
After pitting he overtook both Toro Rossos
to finish 10th. Heidfeld languished in 17th at
the finish.
He then lost out to Trulli at the pitstops
and didn’t have the pace to keep with the
Lotuses.
He finished six seconds behind Trulli
and just one second clear of HRT’s Senna.
Di Grassi was unclassified in his home
after finishing nine laps down due to rear
suspension problems.
33
Greetings from Interlagos

34
>> F1 INTERLAGOS

35
36
 >> Moto GP VALENCIA

WINNER
TAKES
ALL
As a season-ending race, with the MotoGP crown
already won, Valencia provided a cliff-hanger.
Michael Scott was there

37
W
hat a finale … what a climax
… what a race! At a track where
close battles are not usually a
great feature, the last race of
2010 laid on a feast, for a crowd of 80,774
fans – some 14,000 less than last year.
The winner in the end was World
Champion Jorge Lorenzo, adding a ninth
victory to a record-breaking year. But the
issue took plenty of settling; while there
were battling groups through to the back.
Lorenzo, wearing a special gold-and-
diamante helmet, had to fight his way
through to the front, and when he got there
he not only had Fiat Yamaha team-mate
Valentino Rossi to deal with, but also fast-
starting Casey Stoner (Marlboro Ducati). The
battle was absorbing.
Pole qualifier Stoner had led away, with
team-mate Nicky Hayden seizing second
by the end of the first lap. At the start of
the third, however, the American folded
the front wheel under braking for the first
corner, and he was down and out.
38
Now Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) took up
the challenge, after a blazing start from the
third row; while Lorenzo had a hill to climb.
He’d been pushed back through the first
corners to finish lap one only sixth, but at
the end of the second he’d cut inside Marco
Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda), starting from
his first front row in the top class. Simoncelli
closed the door so firmly that Lorenzo
actually did fall off, miraculously regaining
control, but now eighth.
Up front Pedrosa was attacking Stoner for
the first nine laps.
By now, however, Rossi had found his
way past Simoncelli after finishing lap one
eighth, and on lap ten both Yamahas passed
Pedrosa on consecutive corners. He would
gradually fade, still weakened by his injury.
Lorenzo was soon ahead of Rossi, and by
half distance both of them were right on the
Ducati’s back wheel.
“At the start I’d thought I might get a gap,
but every time my pit board showed ‘Plus
Zero’.” He was struggling for pace.
“I braked as hard and as late as I could to
keep them behind me.”
He managed it until lap 26, when he ran
wide out of the first corner into a fearsome
wobble, giving Lorenzo his chance. Soon the
new champion was drawing steadily clear to
win by 4.5 seconds.
Rossi had already dropped back by a
second or so when the lead changed:
“When I caught Pedrosa I thought it was
possible to win,” he said. “But then arrived
Jorge, and his pace was faster. In the last laps
I was not at 100 percent: I am not fit, and I
had pain in my right arm, then my left, then
my leg. If you are not perfect it is impossible
at this level,” he said.
Fourth was another nine seconds down,
but bitterly disputed to the finish. Pedrosa
dropped back through the group, where
Simoncelli and second Repsol Honda rider
Andrea Dovizioso were going to and fro. All
the while Ben Spies had been closing, and
with four laps to go the Monster Tech 3
Yamaha rider managed to put both Hondas

behind him, by over a second over the line.
Dovizioso was fifth, Simoncelli sixth, and
Pedrosa by now another six seconds away in
seventh.
There was yet another battle behind, with
Hector Barbera (Paginas Amarillas Ducati)
leading a gang of six all the way, and Alvaro
Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) coming through from
the back of it to take ninth, from Randy de
Puniet (LCR Honda) and Aleix Espargaro
(Pramac Ducati). Eighth to tenth was
covered by half a second.
Colin Edwards (Monster Tech 3 Yamaha)
took 12th from erstwhile group member
Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda) on the
last lap. Hiro Aoyama (Interwetten Honda)
and Carlos Checa (Pramac Ducati) trailed in;
Loris Capirossi had retired from his last race
with Rizla Suzuki.
Lorenzo had already won, Pedrosa did
enough to hang on to second, 245 points
to Rossi’s 233. Stoner had 225, Dovizioso
206, while Spies outdistanced compatriot
Hayden 176 to 163.
>> Moto GP VALENCIA
Stoner leads the
opening lap scramble
while eventual winner
Lorenzo dukes it out
with rookie Simoncelli
– at one stage all but
falling from hsi Yamaha
...
MOTOGP | Round 18 Valencia
Pos No Rider Team Km/h Time
1 99 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 154.2 46'44.622
2 27 Casey STONER Ducati Team 154.0 +4.576
3 46 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 153.7 +8.998
4 11 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 153.3 +17.643
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 153.2 +19.160
6 58 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 153.1 +20.674
7 26 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 152.8 +26.797
8 40 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 152.6 +29.288
9 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 152.6 +29.451
10 14 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 152.6 +29.860
11 41 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 152.5 +31.761
12 5 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 152.4 +33.604
13 33 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 152.2 +36.622
14 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA Interwetten Honda MotoGP 152.1 +38.968
15 71 Carlos CHECA Pramac Racing Team 151.2 +56.169
Not Classified
Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 150.2 17 Laps
Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 149.1 28 Laps
39
 Record-
breaker
Jorge“I think I deserved this
championship.” Lorenzo was
answering a question that slyly
introduced the fact that two of his
major rivals – Rossi and Pedrosa
– had both missed races during
2010. As if it might have been
different otherwise.
“Perhaps I wouldn’t have had nine
race wins,” he acknowledged. “But I
am proud of what I have done, and
proud to have got a record number
of points.
“In the past I was known as a crazy
rider, with so many accidents. But I
have learned to stay calm. To have
this consistency has made me really
proud.”
He did indeed achieve a record
number of points (383, to Rossi’s
373 in 2008), and they were not
40
the only records that the 23-year-
old Mallorcan smashed during
an almost immaculate year, in
which he only crashed three
times, always only in practice ...
compared with 13 for Simoncelli,
12 for Stoner and Barbera, 11 for
Bautista and Espargaro, ten each
for Capirossi, Hayden and Kallio,
and five for Rossi.
So here are some other records.
He equalled Rossi’s 16 rostrums
in a season. He equalled the record
number of points-scoring finishes at
18 – Stoner and Rossi have achieved
the same. And nobody has scored as
many top four finishes in a season.
Jorge has 18 – every race. The
previous best was Rossi, with 16.
And nobody can take any of
that away.

Yamaha, Rossi
and the end of an era
Valencia marked the end of seven
remarkable years for Rossi and for
Yamaha. They celebrated it with a
general love-in after his last race.
He joined when the company had
just had its worst ever year in GP racing,
in 2003. He won his first race on the
reworked bike. And that was the start of
an amazing story.
Rossi spoke of the difficulty of
persuading his crew to move with him –
a crucial element.
“I had to battle with them. They said ‘You
>> Moto GP VALENCIA
are f***ing crazy to go to Yamaha. We
want to stay with Honda.’ But I persuaded
them, and one of the reasons for our
success was the atmosphere in the pit.”
He’d had to persuade himself.
“But if somebody had told me that I
would win four championships and 46
GPs with Yamaha, I would have signed in
blood.”
He picked that debut win at Welkom
as his best – that bike now lives in his
bedroom. “Sometimes I wake up and my
socks are hanging from it,” he grinned.
Then it was Yamaha’s executive officer
Masao Furusawa’s turn:
“In 2003, it was our worst ever year. I
was in hell,” he said.
“We knew that whatever we did to
improve the bike, we needed something
more than that. I did not believe we
could persuade Valentino to come,
because Yamaha was very bad at that
time, and Honda was very good.
“He came, and when he won the first
race in Welkom, I had gone from hell to
heaven.”
41
Moto2: Rich kid takes the pro
Czech son of a multi-millionaire Karel
Abrahams took his first GP victory at
Valencia, after a thrilling final race
of Moto2’s debut season, which still
had five potential winners as the
lead pack started the last lap.
The AB Cardion FTR rider, who
moves to MotoGP on a Ducati next
year, had been part of the action
throughout, with Andrea Iannone
(Speed Up FTR) doing most of the
leading, and his rival for second
overall, Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar
Suter) pushing past over and over
again.
Thomas Luthi (Interwetten
Moriwaki) was also in the close
mix, along with champion Toni Elias
(Gresini Moriwaki) – and it was the
latter who determined the outcome.
Iannone was leading on the last
lap from Simon, when Elias took a
125: Marquez stoops to conqu
Seventeen-year-old Marc Marquez
broke the habit of a season at
Valencia. Ten times this year he has
charged away to win. This time the
Red Bull Derbi rider tamely came
home fourth, even waving erstwhile
title rival Pol Espargaro (Tuenti
Derbi) past to join the battle ahead
of him.
The race was won by Briton Bradley
Smith (Bancaja Aspar Aprilia), his
first of the year and the first by a non-
Spanish rider for 26 races. He led
from start to finish, while the tension
mounted in his wake.
For the first ten laps, Nico Terol
(Bancaja Aspar Aprilia) – the last
potential rival to Marquez – held
second, with Marquez dogging his
wheeltracks, and even making one
half-hearted attempt to get past.
A couple of seconds behind
Espargaro broke away from a fierce
42
flying lunge past Simon, pushing him
wide in the process. But Elias, riding
a special silver-painted bike, was way
too fast into the corner, and ran into
the back of Iannone, who also got
shoved out.
Elias narrowly stayed on board but
ran out to the barrier before falling at
slow speed.
But Abraham was in the right place
to swoop through into the lead, and
stay there to the finish, consolidating
his improving reputation after
claiming his career-first rostrum in
Japan.
“This proves I can make a good result
and am a good rider,” he said. “But in
the end I was lucky.”
Iannone was second and Simon
third, resolving their battle for second
overall in favour of Simon; Luthi was
inches behind.
scrap, and by half distance he had
slotted in behind Marquez. The
tension increased and Marquez’s
position began to look a bit fraught.
He toughed it out for a while, but as
they started lap 16 he ran wide out of
the first corner and waved Espargaro
past.
He stayed close for a while, but by
the end had dropped five seconds
back for a safe and very sufficient
fourth place. The title was won
With Smith now a couple of seconds
clear, Terol and Espargaro battled to
the finish, changing places twice on
the last lap, with Espargaro ending up
fractionally ahead.
Smith was delighted with a win, the
day before embarking on his Moto2
career:
“That was the hardest race in a long
time. I thought I had a break, but the
gap didn’t grow very much for a long
Scott Redding (Marc VDS Suter)
had been with the group, dropping
away in fifth, with Alex de Angelis (JiR
Motobi) a second adrift in fifth.
Kenan Sofuoglu, in a second race on
the Technomag CIP Suter, made a big
impression once again, taking over
the lead of the group chasing fast-
starting Iannone from Stefan Bradl
(Viessman Kiefer Suter) on lap four.
But four laps later, defending the first
corner against a counter-attack from
the German, he ran on straight at the
first corner, and crashed in the gravel.
Bradl was also to crash out, four laps
later.
Elias’s final points tally was 271,
unchanged after crashing in the
last two races. Simon just held on to
second, 201 to Iannone’s 199. Luthi
was fourth on 156, with Corsi (seventh
today) on 138.
time.”
And Marquez was glowing:
“The championship was always like
a dream – and now it’s here. I’ll enjoy
the moment,” he beamed.
His team-mate Sandro Cortese
broke free from the next gang for
fourth, leaving Esteve Rabat (Blusens
Aprilia), Tomoyoshi Koyama (Team
Germany Aprilia) and Efren Vazquez
(Tuenti Derbi) locked in combat to
the flag. Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-
Molenaar Aprilia) narrowly won a race-
long battle for ninth from team-mate
Luis Salom.
Marquez beat Terol overall 310
points to 296; Espargaro (281) was
third. Smith has 223 points, and
Vazquez saved fifth from Rabat, 152 to
1Marquez beat Terol overall 310 points
to 296; Espargaro (281) was third.
Smith has 223 points, and Vazquez
saved fifth from Rabat, 152 to 147.
 >> Moto GP VALENCIA

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43
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W T
ales Rally GB heralds the
end of one of rallying’s
most memorable eras,
the 14 years of the
current World Rally Car rules.
This will be the 201st such rally to be run
since the formula was inaugurated into the
world series at Monte Carlo in 1997 and the
last before the world championship formula
will be based on Super 2000 cars fitted with
1.6 litre turbocharged direct-injection engine.
This year’s event will again be based
in South Wales, moving northwards
each day into central Wales before
returning to Cardiff each evening.
imes are changing – not the least
in that that Britain’s championship
rally has attracted almost the smallest
entry in its 66-year history.
63 cars have entered this year, compared
with 62 who started last year’s event.
A surprise however is that there will
only be 15 World Rally Car entrie for
the final occasion these cars can be
rallied in an FIA championship event.
Four of the five registered WRC
teams are present, however, with
only the Munchi’s team missing.
The event counts also for both the
Production Car and the Super 2000
championships, on both of which will the
FIA title be decided. Quality is assured,
however, with 42 of the 63 entries
being registered as FIA priority crews.
T he PCWRC series ends in a head-to-
head between the Mitsubishi Evo X
of reigning champion Armindo Araujo
and the Subaru driver Patrick Flodin.
Flodin’s retirement in Finland has
become a major championship handicap
as he comes to Britain 18 points behind
Araujo. Top PCWRC drivers now out
of contention include Toshi Arai and
fellow Subaru driver Anders Grondal,

44

m e …
both of whom will still take part.
The SWRC series has a three-way battle
for the title between Spanish driver Xavier
Pons, Finn Jari Ketomaa (both Fords) and
Swede Patrik Sandell in a Skoda. This
series is much more closely fought, only
9 points separate the three remaining
contenders, with Pons seven points
ahead of nearest challenger Ketomaa.
Other drivers who no longer have the
chance of the title have changed their
entries. The entry reserved for Martin
Prokop (Czech Ford National Team) is
being taken up on this occasion by
Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen,
while the entry for Nasser Al Attiyah
will be used by Irishman Craig Breen.
The WRC Cup for Teams, which is a
subsidiary challenge to the SWRC, is
even closer fought, with four teams in
contention – the Red Bull team (with
Sandell), the Nupel Global team (Pons), the
Shanghai FCACA team (Ketomaa) and the
Czech Team (Mikkelsen) all able to win.
Ten Super 2000s will take the
start, the same number as on the
recent IRC Rally of Scotland.
I n both the PCWRC and the SWRC the
Chinese FCACA team will be present, with
Wang Rui and Jari Ketomaa respectively
>> WRC PREVIEW
in action, but the central Chinese interest
on this rally will also focus on the first
rally for a Chinese driver in a WRC car.
This will be Liu Chao Dong who has
been entered by Stobart M-Sport.
Matthew Wilson is once again the
only British WRC team driver. In the
support championships are the two
Guest drivers in the PCWRC, 20 year-old
Scottish driver Dave Weston and 22 year-
old Jason Pritchard, from Builth Wells.
The top IRC drivers Kris Meeke and Guy
Wilks are missing, while none of the top
eight in the British national championship
drivers and no former or
45
 llying)
artin Holmes Ra
ourtesy M
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e o t- Co sworth ... quit
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The famous P

46

reigning British Open champions have entered.
Of the 12 or so British drivers on the list, half
are driving small two-wheel drive cars. One of these is
Harry Hunt, who clinched the FIA Rookie’s title at the
recent Catalunya Rally. He drives his Fiesta R2.
This will indeed be a rally for the foreign visitors to win.
I t is not only a world championship rally. There will be a
national rally run in conjunction with Wales Rally GB.
This will be run over stages 8 to 15 on Saturday then 17 and 18
on Sunday. Competitors will drive an eclectic mix of cars normally
seen in British club rallying, headed by a very popular special., the
‘Peugeot Cosworth’ driven by Andrew Burton. The car is based
on a 306 with space-frame chassis, into which has been installed
a 2.9 litre 24 valve Cosworth V6 engine and six speed sequential
Hewland gearbox. The sound of the engine and the speed of the
car traditionally draws fans from the country to see it in action.
>>>>WRC
WRCBULGARIA
PREVIEW
This event is based at Builth Wells and does not visit
Cardiff. For those in Cardiff there will be two special activities.
Throughout the event there will be a display of various historic
rally cars and before the superspecial on Saturday evening
there will be a parade of around 20 historic cars under the
presentation of Historic Rally Legends. There are also plans to
parade around six cars from the Richard Burns Foundation.
T his is also the last time that Pirelli Star Drivers will be seen
at the wheel of turbocharged four-wheel drive cars, before
next year’s class take to the wheel of front-drive Fiestas.
And there will be plenty of nostalgia. It was exactly 50
years ago, on the 1960 RAC Rally (the predecessor of Wales
Rally GB) that the first special stage was first run on British
territory. On that section, the Saab 850cc two-stoke three-
speed car of Erik Carlsson made fastest time and this gave him
victory on this event. The special stage involved was one of
four held in Scotland, the only one run on gravel as opposed
to asphalt, and was given the name Monument Hill. The
personality featured on that monument was a Gaelic poet.
This year one of the stage venues to be run on Day 2
on the Eppynt Ranges, in Wales, will start at a monument
erected to celebrate the construction of an access road.
This stage venue is being named Monument Hill.
T he recent occurrence of tree disease in Wales has had little
effect on the route of the rally but has meant that the
planned Thursday morning shakedown cannot be held at
the traditional location in Margam Forest, near Port Talbot.
Instead this will be on a short asphalt road called the
Barrage within Cardiff Docks, run at night on the Wednesday
before the rally. This road will use the first same stage route
to be used 24 hours later again at night. The Barrage stage
has a strange design, featuring a loop in mid-stage, which
means that only one car will be despatched at a time.
There is also one stage, used twice, which is substantially run
on mixed surface. This is Four Ways Crychan on Saturday.
The Service park arrangements in Cardiff have been altered. The
WRC teams will be located in front of the downtown HQ building,
while the support championships and privateers will be in the
positions used last year. There will be two, not one, mid-day remote
service parks, on Days 1 and 2, at Builth Wells in central Wales.
The traditional forests are much the same as recent years,
though the Rheola stage in south Wales is not being used. Instead
the rally will return after several years to Radnor Forest The use
of stages in mid-Wales means that once the event begins, the
first time the rally cars will see Cardiff in daylight will be at the
end of the rally. It also means that this is the second longest
rally in terms of total distance this year, after the Swedish.
Come and watch these special cars while you have the chance!
47
So long, farewell
Malcolm Wilson’s Ford team has been part of every WRC event of the
outgoing formula. He reminisces with Martin Holmes
W
ales Rally GB will be the end
of the regime in which the
current formula of World Rally
Cars have been allowed to
compete in the World Rally championship.
One manufacturer – Ford – has been
represented on every round of the
championship since the World Rally Car
formula went live at Monte Carlo in 1997.
For two years Ford campaigned Escort cars,
which were converted from their existing
Group A specification to take advantage of
the changes permitted under the new rules.
Then for the third year of the series, 1999,
they arrived on the scene with the Focus.
2010 therefore has been the 12th year in
which the Focus was the rally flagship of the
company, a model which during its lifetime
was reworked in two major upgrades, for the
2003 and the 2006 seasons.
The World Rally Car rules were conceived
from the outset to allow manufacturers who
produce cars with a less than ideal basic
specification for sport to compete on equal
terms with those whose production cars
were initially more suitable. The formula was
a great success. In the end no fewer than 10
manufacturers produced World Rally Cars
that the FIA homologated and, between
them, there were a total of 14 different
World Rally Car models seen in competition.
This initiative was coupled with a planned
expansion of the world championship
itself. The FIA demanded that only those
manufacturers who had entered the
world series, or undertook to do so, could
homologate a World Rally Car. This rule itself
was responsible for making it possible that
up to seven different manufacturers were
registered for the championship at any one
time during the 12-year period.
The man who came in at the start and
stayed the distance was Malcolm Wilson,
whose team M-Sport had already been
48
active at World Championship level in the
‘90s.
It was the result achieved by their private
team of Escorts of Harri Rovanpera and
Jarmo Kytolehto in the 1000 Lakes Rally in
1996 (both drivers headed the official works
Fords for a long time) which clinched the
deal that M-Sport would run the official
Ford world championship team in 1997.
Catalunya Rally 2010 was the 200th rally run
under World Rally Car rules, and therefore for
someone who had not missed any of them,
his 200th rally running cars at this level.
Malcolm Wilson reflects:
"I never imagined how well this new
formula would turn out. In 1997 we were
really using a kind of production car,
obviously with quite a few modifications but
it was still based on the existing Group A car.
“At the start of the formula it was only
Subaru that immediately introduced a
purpose-built car, but Carlos Sainz took
second place overall on our first official
entry, the 1997 Monte Carlo Rally. For us, the
Focus was the first real change brought in
by the new rules. The Focus was completely
different mechanically to the old Escort.
It involved changing from a north/south
(longitudinal) engine configuration of the
Escort into an east/west with a transverse
transmission, something then completely
new from a Ford point of view and a
major step for us at M-Sport. We started
development work on the future Focus rally
car in '98 and that has been our basic World
Rally Car model ever since.
“For us at M-Sport there have been some
very exciting periods in World Rally Car
work. Obviously the first was the launch of
the original Focus rally car in '99 which was
immediately competitive and won outright
on only its third entry, the Safari Rally.
“Then Christian Loriaux joined M-Sport as
Technical Director in 2002 to develop the '03
car, which was very different in its design to
earlier versions. Like the original Focus, this
car was again very quick right out of the box.
“The next major step was the launch of
the current car at the end of 2005, the
model we call the '06. This had a lot more
major changes in the design. As soon as this
radically new car was finished, we had just
one day testing in a forest in Cumbria and
then the two rally cars were put on a plane
and sent down to Rally Australia.
“Both cars (Toni Gardemeister and Roman
Kresta) set fastest stage times on that event
and of course on its next appearance, the
first event for Marcus Gronholm, he gave
us a win in Monte Carlo. Looking back on
those occasions, and especially how well the
cars went on their debut, those were really
great moments. When you've designed
and developed a car and take it to its first
event and you do fastest times … well,
that probably means more to me than the
outside world can understand.”
T
he basic World Rally Car formula was a
revolution in the way that rules about car
preparation were conceived. Do you think it
was a good formula?
“I really do. It got a lot of manufacturers
coming into the sport. In due course things
started to get a little bit out of hand design-
wise but, to be honest, I think that's where
Jacques Berger (FIA Head of Technical
Department) and the technical guys from
the teams together made necessary changes.
The things which have been done in the last
few years to bring down the cost have really
helped and been a big asset. Okay, some
manufacturers have now gone but many
were there for several years and I know that
in relative terms it is no more expensive now
to do a world championship event than it
was even before we got the Ford contract 15
years ago.”
T
he World Rally Car work was the impetus
behind the commercial basis of the M-
Sport facility at Dovenby in Cumbria:
“Our whole business model at M-Sport has
 >> WRC FEATURE

changed over the years. The target for

Ford, when we renewed our contract in
2004, was to start building a complete
ladder of opportunity in rallying and
get more Fords back on the world
championship events, like we used to
have in the heyday of the Escort RSs.
“The recent years have been a really
exciting period for us because the Fiesta
programmes meant we have got that
complete ladder.
“Obviously this year has been really
exciting because of the Fiesta Super 2000
programme as well. I think we're now up
to around number 40 of those, but
I never thought we'd build 97
Ford Focus World Rally
Cars, in addition to
the Escort WRCs.
It would have
been nice to
get to that
magic 100
Focuses
made but
with the

49
 in the
e d s e cond
h .
z finis lying)
a r l o s Sain olmes Ral
997. C artin
H
n te Carlo, 1 (image M
Mo WRC
scort M-Sport’s 200th W
Ford E RC event came in
Catalunya this ye

50
 >> WRC FEATURE
regulations changing
completely for next year
that's not going to be the case.
The current World Rally Car will
certainly go down as a great era in
motorsport in world rally terms.”
ear
W
Cars?
hat is going to be the future
of the existing World Rally
“That's a good question. I'm
actually planning to retain quite
a few of them myself because
some of the cars have got a very
special meaning for me. Jari-Matti
is the youngest driver ever to win
a world championship event, so
his Sweden car is one of the cars
I'm keeping. Mikko's first win in
Finland, that's another one. And,
as Jari mentioned to me the other
day, he's the youngest driver to
win Finland as well. So that is three
cars I'd like to put my name on! In
an ideal world I'd like to hold on
to them all. We've only got 10 in
total, but in real terms we will have
to sell some of them out into the
marketplace.”
P eople think that Ford has a
special place in rally sport,
rather like Ferrari has in Formula 1.
Have you ever thought about how
other people see you?
“Very much. I think Ford is the
only company which has been in
the world championship every
single year since it started. This
year we obviously topped the all-
time record number of victories for
the same manufacturer on world
championship rallies. People agree
there have been really exciting
times but I think there are also
a lot of exciting times lie ahead
and I am really looking forward to
working with the new Fiesta in the
world championship.
“Our drivers (Mikko Hirvonen
and Jari-Matti Latvala) have now
both driven it and given some
really positive feedback. The big
difference is that in one sense
there is a lot more pressure on
us. There is a lot more time to get
things right. The problem is that
we've still got three months before
Sweden! We have much more
time to get the car in a winning
condition. No more one day tests
before going off to Australia this
time!”
D o you think that the new
regulations for the 1.6-turbo
and everything that goes with that
are in fact the way to go forward,
that the FIA are looking to the
future and adjusting the sport for
the future?
“Yes, it's a really good concept. It
was a really positive point of view
to have Super 2000 as the base for
the new World Rally Car.
“We made a big push to develop
the Super 2000 as a competitively-
priced car for the future and of
course this is the base of our next
generation World Rally Car. The
new engine with direct injection
is going to be quite expensive but,
again working with the FIA, the
plan is that ultimately we'll only
have two engines to use for the
season so that brings down your
total costs.
“I remember the old days when
we were rebuilding engines after
every single rally. That involved a
lot of work, not just to rebuild the
engine but of course removing the
engine from the chassis, and then
were always deciding to replace
this part and that part.
“I think a lot of positive things
have been done from the FIA from
the technical side to try and find
ways to actually reduce the costs
and I know these are actually
working. I am looking forward to
the next generation of World Rally
Cars. I never realised we had done
200 rallies with the old World Rally
Cars. I can't imagine personally
doing another 200 world rallies
but put it this way I'm very excited
for the future.”
51
52
>> GPWEEK PArting Shot

Moto2 ended its season in style at Valencia.

53