The nomadic European Grand Prix has settled for a while in Valencia, Spain. Every year the Mediterranean port city builds a street circuit around its America’s Cup harbour and converts a fish market into garage space. On paper it looks a fast, exciting, overtaking-friendly monster, but in the two previous runnings the lack of action had the stench of week-old haddock. Fortunately the 2010 race would prove a little fresher…
The race had three home drivers
“It is always good to drive in Spain. I am really excited.”
Jaime Alguersuari
“Hopefully we will put on a good show for all the people here. As Jaime said, with Barcelona and Valencia, we are lucky to have these two opportunities in front of our people.”
Fernando Alonso – Ferrari
“In Barcelona I didn't manage to finish and here I hope we will and hopefully fight for the points as well. So it’s a second opportunity and hopefully it won’t slip through my fingers.”
Pedro de la Rosa – Sauber
'I knew I was involved in a huge crash, but at that point I was a passenger' – Mark Webber
It was supposed to be another McLaren-friendly circuit
"This track theoretically should play to their strengths but we have a couple of updates to the car that we feel should help us, and we take comfort from the fact that we were as close to them [in practice] as we were in Montreal - which we absolutely didn't expect them to be.”
Christian Horner
Several teams were using Valencia to debut update packages
“So many teams, including Ferrari have brought new parts… we must bear in mind that, without the updates we would probably have struggled to make it into Q3!”
Fernando Alonso.
"Coming here I thought our momentum could be carried on, but looking at all the cars around the pitlane there's a lot of new bits. I think three new teams have this funny exhaust system, and if it gives as much as we think it might, they are going to be very competitive.”
Jenson Button – McLaren
The ‘funny exhaust systems’ in question are based on Red Bull Racing’s blown diffuser exhaust
"It is flattering when people copy you but, as with all these things, it is very difficult to cherry pick items if they are not designed into the architecture of the car. The exhausts are not the fundamental reason why our car is fast. It is a combination of factors, but it is inevitable when you have a competitive car that others will follow suit.”
Christian Horner
Meanwhile, having tested the system in Turkey, Red Bull Racing were going to race a McLaren-inspired F-Duct for the first time…
“We’ll see what they do with it. It’s a system that is not without challenge to get working, particular to work in a way where it’s a net positive. It’s not a huge concern for us; we expected teams to be playing catch up in that area, just as we’re emulating the exhaust aspect.”
Paddy Lowe, engineering director, McLaren
“We have the F-Duct on the car, so we believe it gives us an advantage. From other teams we see it can be worth around 0.4s, 0.5s per lap if you really manage to work well with it and get the wing settings right and so on. For us, at this stage, I think it is less than this, but it is an advantage.”
Sebastian Vettel
Meanwhile, rumours swarmed around suggesting Mercedes were chasing Robert Kubica to replace a retiring Michael Schumacher for 2011
"We haven't spoken with Robert Kubica. We are very happy with Michael. We have to sort the car out, that is the main issue, and we are confident when we get the technical package together our drivers are going to succeed."
Ross Brawn – team principal, Mercedes
“I am not the kind of person who thinks in three years' time, I am not the kind of person who is thinking in three weeks' time, to be honest.
Robert Kubica – Renault
Mercedes and Ferrari came out of the barn firing. Fastest respectively in Friday’s two practice sessions
“The team has done a good job on our upgrades and I'm sure that they have improved our competitiveness. We are on the right track, which is nice to see. We know that our race pace is better than our qualifying performance, so if we can get our qualifying right, we should make good progress this weekend."
Nico Rosberg – Mercedes
“I think we have made a step forward in performance terms and that we should be competitive this weekend.”
Fernando Alonso
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
…but Red Bull hit back on Saturday, fastest in FP3 and first (Vettel) and second (Webber) on the grid in qualifying
“People were talking about the last race and how this would be a difficult venue for us. I think we proved them wrong. I think our pace looks very good. We are a bit surprised McLaren are struggling, but as we have seen, things can change at the last minute; they are not far away and it will be a tough battle. But we can win the race and score a lot of points.”
Sebastian Vettel
“It’s not one of my best circuits. I’ve had a shit run here in the past, so in the end, I’m happy to be second. Seb was strong in the previous years here and also so far this weekend but I was surprised that I could be on a similar pace, so it was good for me, happy to be here and it’s very good for me to be starting from here tomorrow, sensational day for the team, really good for those guys.”
Mark Webber
McLaren’s expected pace didn’t show up
“We just weren’t fast enough, simple as that. I really didn’t feel we would be this high up, but through the session the car was feeling great, we made some good set-up changes. I was really very, very surprised and shocked when I came in and found I was third. I was very happy.”
Lewis Hamilton
Webber had a bad start and dropped to ninth, leaving Vettel to be chased by Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Seb was challenged into turn two by Hamilton. The pair touched, Vettel escaped unscathed, Hamilton picked up minor damage
“I saw that Lewis was quite late on the brakes on the inside, so I tried to give as much room as I could. It was getting quite close. I think there wasn’t much I could have done to go further on the left. I think we touched. I was quite lucky. It was closer than I expected, closer than I wanted.”
Sebastian Vettel
“We were pretty much steaming into the corner at the same pace but I was more or less half way up the inside. He tried to give me as much room as possible whilst trying to get around the corner. I cut the kerb which pushed me much closer to him and we touched for a moment. I broke my front wing.”
Lewis Hamilton
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
Webber decided to make his pitstop early. He came out at the back of the field, then had a massive accident approaching Turn 12. Travelling much faster than Heikki Kovalainen, he slammed into the back of the Lotus, flew up into the air, through an advertising hording, before landing upside down, rolling and slamming into the tyre wall
“I knew I was involved in a huge crash, but at that point I was a passenger. I couldn’t believe how early he braked – it was about 80m earlier than I had braked on the previous lap. After the impact I knew I was a long way up – I was a bit worried about hitting bridges and things like that. I’ve got some swelling here and there, but a couple of days rest and I’ll be fine for Silverstone.”
Mark Webber
“As far as I’m concerned we were racing; I was defending. I hit the brakes and I don’t think he knew which way to go. It can happen, it was a big accident and luckily Mark didn’t get hurt.”
Heikki Kovalainen – Lotus
“I think as we said already before and seeing the pictures of the race, the most important fact is that Mark is fine. For some people they miss a little bit the attraction sometimes of the cars and they say at this time in Formula One compared to 30 years back it is boring, nothing happens and so on but I think on days like this you get reminded that still the speeds are extremely high and if something goes wrong it can go terribly wrong, so I think the most important is that he is fine and there is not much more to say.”
Sebastian Vettel
The safety car came out for a prolonged period. It caused mayhem to the order. The Ferraris lost out quite badly, though Lewis Hamilton appeared to just get around in front of the safety car – and was subsequently punished for doing so after the white line
“When I came down the straight, I was accelerating, I didn’t see the safety car coming out and then as I came round turn one, we know that obviously the safety car was out but I was able to push until the safety car two line, I think, and at that point I saw the safety car alongside me and I thought I was passed, so when I noticed it, he was already behind and so I continued.”
Lewis Hamilton
…but the time taken for the Stewards to make a decision meant his drive through didn’t cost him any places. A result which caused Fernando Alonso to throw all of his toys out of the pram
"I don't know what the penalty should be. On the lap of the safety car I was one metre behind Hamilton. He finished second, I finished eighth. I respected the rules and he didn't. That is my opinion. It is the first time I have seen someone overtake a safety car…
“When you do the normal thing, which is respecting the rules, you finish [eighth], and the one who doesn't respect them finishes second."
"It's a shame, not for us because this is racing, but for all the fans who came here to watch a manipulated race."
Fernando Alonso
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
But Vettel had cruised serenely on to take victory, with Hamilton second and Button third
“We’re back on track!”
Sebastian Vettel
Heading for the British Grand Prix, McLaren has increased its lead in the Constructors’ Championship, while Vettel has closed the gap for the Drivers’ title
“I think it is amazing for our team and amazing for us two. Two Brits heading to the British Grand Prix first and second in the championship. We couldn’t really wish for anything more.”
Jenson Button
“We hope that the next couple of circuits are more in our direction but everyone is pushing hard, bringing updates, so we need to see what steps the other teams make. We know what we have in our hands, so I think naturally our car suits those kinds of tracks, but we still need to go out there and get the job done.”
Sebastian Vettel
For the latest news on Seb and Mark head to RedBullRacing.com.
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
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