2 MAY 23 2012 motorsport-news.co.uk

IN THIS ISSUE

THE VOICE OF BRITISH MOTORSPORT ISSUE JA2822

“ The cards must fall my way in Monaco”

P4 Lewis Hamilton is confident of Monte Carlo glory

PAFFETT NOT THINKING ABOUT DTM CROWN

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Former champ hails tyre firm for adding

PIRELLI HILL:

P6

Mercedes star is staying cautious despite home win

LATVALA IS DETERMINED TO PUSH AS HARD AS EVER

P14

Recovered Finn says he will go for glory in Greece

P24

KIMI: “I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I’LL BE DOING NEXT YEAR”

Räikkönen is back and talks to MNabout his lifestyle

P20

SUBSCRIBETOMOTORSPORTNEWS 12 Historic race and rally news 13 Insight:The Rat Pack reunited 20 DTM report:Brands Hatch 22 Interview:Kimi Räikkönen 24 British GT report:Nürburgring 26 Racing reports 27 Rally reports 29 Plains Rally report 30 Karting round-up 33 Sporting Scene round-up 34 Letters/Comment/What’s On 36 Wanted:John Barnes,Gary Lineker and ChrisWaddle to emulate the‘Rat Pack’and form their own non-league football team

FORMOTORSPORT NEWS STAFF CONTACT DETAILS PLEASE SEE P37

1: RACE 1: RACE

2: RACE 2: RACE

ByMatt James Former world champion Damon Hill says Formula One has never been so exciting and dismissed drivers’ claims that difficult Pirelli tyres are ruining the sport. Hill says that the unpredictable season, which has produced five different winners from the opening five races in 2012, has been a huge hit with the fans.

The Sky Sports F1 pundit said: “The results this year have made the sport more engaging for the fans. It has made it muchmore interesting. There are loads more drivers now who fancy their chances of winning a race. In the past, realistically, most drivers would turn up and say ‘we are aiming for points’ or ‘we want to beat this team or that team’. But actually some of those drivers are turning up now and thinking ‘I could get pole position’. That is great for the sport.”

street the of demands The past.

Formula One is heading toMonaco this weekend, a venue that has produced unusual results in the past. The demands of the street track and the unpredictability of the racing so far this year means it could be one of the most exciting GPs of the season.

unpredictability the and track year this far so racing the of one be could it means

GPs exciting most the of season. the of is Schuey wrong have drivers Some the about complained this wear tyre critical

Schuey is wrong Some drivers have complained about the critical tyre wear this season, andMercedes’ Michael Schumacher has been the most vocal on the issue. In an interview earlier this season, he said that the

Mercedes’ and season,

Schumacher Michael vocal most the been has an In issue. the on this earlier interview the that said he season,

Hill:open F1 engages fans

F1 open Hill: engages fans

Michael Schumacher is frustrated that he can’t drive flat-out in races rubber was ruining his enjoyment of the racing.

“I just think that they’re playing a much too big effect because they are so peaky and so special that they don’t put our cars or ourselves to the limit,” he said before the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks ago. “We drive like [we’re] on raw eggs and I don’t want to stress the tyres at all.

all. at tyres the stress to want

Otherwise you just overdo it and and it overdo just you Otherwise you go nowhere.”

nowhere.” go you were compounds The at season this changed sport’s the of behest the compounds The bosses.

a down shifted been have rubber softer to level

The compounds were changed this season at the behest of the sport’s bosses. The compounds have been shifted down a level to softer rubber and that means there is a higher level of degradation. That has left some teams struggling to perfect the set-ups on their cars and some established outfits there means that and of level higher a is has That degradation.

teams some left the perfect to struggling and cars their on set-ups outfits established some are floundering.

floundering. are

Conversely,

Conversely,

other other teams can teams can perform strongly when they hit the sweet spot. Many insiders believe that was the key to Williams’ surprise victory with Pastor Maldonado in Barcelona. Hill said that managing the tyre wear over the course of the race was the job of the individual drivers and teams, and he said that longerlasting rubber could take F1 back to an era of little or no overtaking.

“The alternative to what we have now is to have a tyre that is very durable and then everyone can go at their maximumall the time,” said Hill, the 1996 world-beater. “Then you will get people finishing where they started. That is what happened when you had refuelling. You were only running at a low level of fuel and the tyre degradation was not so bad, so the overtaking was done in the pits.

“I think for us fans, the tyre management is the job of the driver. They need to be able to work out what the difficulty is and the best drivers, I presume, should be able to get the most out of them. You still get the top drivers in the championship Classified advertising: 0208 267 5355

motorsport-news.co.uk MAY 23 2012 3

HEADLINE NEWS

extra spice to thrilling F1 season

IS GREAT FOR F1 ACTION

Photos: LAT

3: RACE 3: RACE

4: RACE 4: RACE

5: RACE 5: RACE

Hembery backed unpredictable F1

leading the way in the points and that goes to show what it is all about. It is not completely random. It is not like Arrows leading a grand prix, for example – although, of course, it did have a good driver at the time…

“I can understand it is difficult but the drivers’ job with the engineers is to work out how the car works best as much as it is to just drive a car.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says the teams are struggling to understand the characteristics of the rubber, but banking early points while everyone tries to get over the problems created by the softer compounds would be the key to the title.

“These tyres are obviously the key to performance,” he said. “I think there is a great deal of head-scratching going on up and down the paddock, and whoever understands these tyre characteristics andmanages to broaden the window of performance from track to track will ultimately prevail. I think where we have done a good job is that on the days where we have not been able to win, we have managed to stage a respectable recovery. Consistency over the year is ultimately going to be critical.”

HOW MIXED UP IS F1 2012?

* AFTER FIVE OF 20 ROUNDS

Just a quarter of the way through the 2012 season, and F1 has already featured more drivers and teams on the podium than in the whole of last year

8

7

INNERS

NUMBER OF RACE W

6

5

4

3

2

1

7

RACE WINNERS

6

5

5

5 *

0

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012*

YEAR

NUMBER OF DRIVERS

15 14 13 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

14

13

DRIVERS ON PODIUM

8

9 *

7

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012*

YEAR

6

NUMBER OF MANUFAC TURERS

5

4

3

2

1

CONSTRUCTOR RACEWINNERS

5 *

4

3

3

3

0

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012*

YEAR

8

NUMBER OF MANUFAC TURERS

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

CONSTRUCTORS ON PODIUM

7 *

6

5

5

4

0

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012*

YEAR

Schumacher’s Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, whowonhis first grand prix in China last month, said that he was a fan of the tougher tyres. “I find it a big challenge for us drivers and an interesting challenge. It’s different but very interesting.

“This tyre management, getting the most out of it, understanding when to push, when to take it easy is so on a knife edge that it’s good and it’s great for racing. It’s mixed everything up, lots of overtaking, lots of things happening, fantastic for everybody.”

Pirelli happy with 2012 Despite attacks from drivers, Pirelli says it is pleased with the way the 2012 tyres are performing.

The firm’s motorsport boss Paul Hembery told Motorsport News’ sister publication F1 Racing that he dismissed

Schumacher’s claims and said that the sport was proving a hit with the public.

“If you are involved in motorsport you know that at any race, there is only one happy driver. You understand that drivers say things in frustration because they want to be winning, so you have to be slightly pragmatic,” said Hembery. “But we are only doing what the sport asked us to do – and the vast majority of the public seem to be enjoying it.

“By Silverstone, teams will have worked out how to maximise their package and won’t be talking about the tyres like they are now.”

Some of the drivers are reacting sarcastically to the situation. Ahead of this weekend’s GP in Monaco, reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel said: “Maybe wewill see anHRTor a Marussia on pole in Monaco.” His team-mate MarkWebber added: “I

don’t know if they [the fans] will get sick of seeing so many different winners.” Hill said he agreed that F1 needed to be careful not to go too far in terms of surprising results and he said that too little predictability could damage the credibility of the sport and undermine the winners. Hill explained: “I do understand the concern if nothing seems to make much sense in terms of results. You have got teams with a lot of experience not understanding what is happening. The tendency is to put a question mark over every victory and that is something that you don’t want to do. You want to think that victories are well-earned and perfect, rather than just down to a fluky temperature change in someone’s favour. I understand that might be what people are worried about, but I still prefer it the way it is.”

Pir elli tyr es ha ve spiced up F1

TV TIMES FOR THE MONACO GRAND PRIX PAGE 37