A highly detailed ‘flow-test programme’, to establish the baseline boost pressure setting of all turbo engines in each type of car from the start of the season, is nearing completion.

The BTCC’s Engine Technical Review Panel – headed by internationally renowned automotive engine/powertrain consultant Clive Dopson and utilising the resources of Lotus Engineering – has carried out the programme, which started in November. It has received unanimous support from all competing teams and their engine builders, all of whom sit on the ETRP.

Dopson commented: “There is very definitely an underlying trust and confidence among all the engine builders that we’ve got this spot on. The feedback and support we’ve received while carrying out this programme has been highly positive and, in fact, some of our tests have been useful for them correlating their own data and testing.

“We’ve got massive amounts of data and our readings have been very consistent and accurate. Once those baseline values are set, then during the course of the season the mathematical methodology will automatically govern any further adjustments when and if needed – it’s a straightforward calculation exercise and not open to conjecture.”

BTCC Technical Director, Peter Riches, said: “It’s a two-stage programme; firstly, we’ve flow-tested all the engine heads used by all teams in order to establish the baseline engine values and their respective boost levels for the start of the year.

“Then after two rounds the defined mathematical calculation kicks in and will determine if – and by how much – any adjustments should be made to boost levels of any engines for the next event. It’s an automatic process and is almost exactly the same methodology and system used in the World Touring Car Championship, except they use weight adjustments and we use boost adjustments.

“The strength of the test programme and adoption of the on-going boost calculation is that everything has been done with the full support of all our teams and engine builders.

“The calculation figures are currently being finalised in conjunction with all the teams and once done it’s very much a ‘set it and forget it’ job… the numbers will simply and clearly provide the straightforward answer to any adjustments to be made during the season. It’s an entirely transparent process to ensure the performance levels of the relevant S2000-turbo and NGTC cars are equalised during the season and not open to any subjective opinion or debate – it just happens.”

BTCC Series Director Alan Gow added: “The BTCC prides itself on the great variety it provides in terms of so many different makes and models on the grid. Of course the best car/team/driver combination will always shine through but, with this performance equalisation programme applied to the relevant cars as well as, of course, our normal success ballast system, the BTCC is again shaping up for an even more enthralling season.

“Even though they are still eligible, we don’t foresee any teams competing with a naturally-aspirated car so have not needed to take those into consideration… thus simplifying this process even more.

“My thanks go to the Clive Dopson, Peter Riches and particularly all the teams and engine builders for getting so supportively behind this programme.”

The changes, announced following Peugeot’s withdrawal from the championship, mean that only the highest placed car from each team scores points for the manufacturers’ title, which goes some way to offsetting the advantage of running a large team (such as Audi’s four car assault at Le Mans this year).

Similarly, teams will only be able to put their six highest results (or technically, as the French classic has to be included in the total, their five best results plus Le Mans) towards the championship. Effectively, this means that teams which can’t attend early rounds of the championship still get a fair shot at the title from Le Mans onwards.

The announcement clearly benefits Toyota, which is only running two cars in the championship this year and is known to be sitting out the first round at Sebring. As a result, you might expect some resistance from the other teams (and indeed the more far-flung rounds of the championship, which manufacturers could now choose to miss out) but the decision is said to have been unanimous.

“The changes were requested following the withdrawal of Peugeot from the FIA World Endurance Championship last month and were agreed by all parties,” commented WEC cheif executive Gerard Neveu. “The changes will allow Toyota, who have brought forward their participation in the championship to round two in Spa, to fight with Audi for the inaugural World Endurance Championship Manufacturer's title.”

Despite these alterations to the LMP1 manufacturers’ rules, however, there will be no such changes to the drivers’ championship or the other classes within the WEC.

Ingolstadt/Munich – Audi R18 e-tron quattro is the name of the new Le Mans prototype that makes its race debut on 5 May in the 6-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps before going on to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours the following month. It combines next-generation four-wheel drive with electromobility – kinetic energy is recovered on the front axle during the braking phase and fed into a flywheel accumulator before being retrieved under acceleration again above a speed of 120 km/h. During this procedure only the front axle is integrated. The V6 TDI powerplant producing 375 kW (510 hp) continues to transmit its power to the rear wheels. Both systems complement each other to create the new drive principle e-tron quattro.

The system integrated into the front axle is comprised of two drive shafts, the Motor Generator Unit including planetary gears, an electronic flywheel accumulator alongside the driver, an insulation monitoring unit for high voltage safety and the control system.

The process of energy recuperation is explained relatively easily, the technical implementation is, in contrast, extremely challenging. In the permitted braking zones the recuperation of energy occurs during braking. In the process, the wheels drive the MGU..The Motor Generator Unit accelerates electrically a carbon fibre flywheel which runs in a high-vacuum. After the corner is taken and the driver accelerates again the system delivers the energy to the front axle. The regulations allow 500 kJ of energy to be transferred to the front wheels between two braking phases. The planetary gears adapt the transmission ratio during acceleration and braking. The two independently powered axles on the e-tron quattro are synchronised exclusively via electronic control strategies.

This control occurs automatically without driver intervention. The entire charging process (recuperation) is controlled by two parameters: the deceleration of the car, meaning the braking process, and subject to the accumulator’s state of charge. The energy emission process (boosis defined by the minimum speed of 120 km/h stipulated by the regulations, the race strategy selected, the throttle pedal movement and acceleration of the car.

Audi Sport has co-operated with external manufacturers during the manufacture of components for the hybrid system. Development partner for the accumulator is Williams WHP and with Bosch for the Motor Generator Unit (MGU). Audi has adopted a flywheel accumulator system since the requirements at Le Mans differ slightly to those in everyday life.

“A high-power density is crucial during energy recuperation,” said Christopher Reinke, Technical Project Leader LMP. “The accumulator must be capable of absorbing a lot of energy within a few seconds during the braking stage.”

 “Audi has always consciously selected championships and categories in racing that have a close relationship to production and therefore have technical relevance for the Audi customers,” said Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Motorsport. "quattro, TFSI and TDI are three excellent examples of how motorsport has stimulated production development. A similar tendency is apparent with the e-tron Quattro – we test a completely new technology on the race track before it’s introduced to the Audi production line.”
  
The e-tron quattro project for motorsport started in February 2010 with only 18 months passing from the initial conceptual ideas to the first test. “This is a relatively short cycle for a technology that has never been tested in motorsport and which still doesn’t even exist in production,” said Dr Martin Mühlmeier, Head of Technology at Audi Sport. “The challenge is correspondingly big.”

However, Audi is keeping its options open this year as it is also running the diesel-powered R18 ultra, the lightest Le Mans prototype that Audi Sport has ever built, in the World Endurance Championship that includes the Le Mans 24 hour race. To compensate for the additional weight of the hybrid system the subject of lightweight design and construction was the focus throughout development of the 2011 Le Mans race winning R18 TDI.

Almost every component in the V6 TDI engine was completely reworked and adapted to suit the new regulations, which targeted a reduction in engine power of around seven per cent, which was achieved in the form of a smaller engine air intake restrictor (45.8 instead of 47.4 mm diameter) and a reduction in the maximum the boost pressure from 3.0 to 2.8 bar. In addition, the fuel cell volume was reduced from 65 to 60 litres and even 58 litres for the diesel hybrid.

“The target was to compensate for this as best as possible, for example through the re-engineering of the combustion process and the optimisation of the gas exchange – and we are extremely satisfied with the result,” says Ulrich Baretzky, Head of Engine Development at Audi Sport. “We also succeeded in making a significant weight reduction so that our 3.7 litre V6 TDI is now lighter than the 3.6 litre V8 TFSI of ten years ago – and this for approximately the same engine power, substantially more torque and considerably less fuel consumption. This is remarkable progress when you consider that diesel engines are often regarded as being inherently heavier due to greater component load. This once again emphasizes Audi’s technical expertise.”

In addition to the many detail optimisations, there is also a genuine innovation in the transmission area with a new gearbox with a carbon fibre composite housing was developed for the R18 – a premiere for endurance racing.

“The new R18 ultra is a distinct evolution of last year’s Le Mans race winning car,” said Ullrich. “Our drivers’ impressions were very positive from the first moment. Without the weight optimised R18 ultra we would have not been capable of realizing the R18 e-tron quattro which is absolutely identical with the exception of the hybrid system.”
 
The Audi Sport Team Joest will field two R18 e-tron quattro and two R18 ultra prototypes in the Le Mans 24 Hours on June 16/17. The two hybrid cars are driven by last year’s winning trio Marcel Fässler (CH), André Lotterer (D) and Benoît Tréluyer (F) as well as Dindo Capello (I), Tom Kristensen (DK) and Allan McNish (GB) who boast a total of 13 Le Mans wins between them. New signing Loïc Duval (F) starts together with Timo Bernhard (D) and Romain Dumas (F) in an R18 ultra as do Marco Bonanomi (I), Oliver Jarvis (GB) and Mike Rockenfeller (D). 
 
Audi Sport Team Joest also contests the World Championship round at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) on 5 May in the same formation. At the same time the race doubles as a dress rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Only Mike Rockenfeller will miss this race due to a clashing date with the DTM. 
 
After the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Audi plans to enter an R18 e-tron quattro and an R18 ultra in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). André Lotterer and Allan McNish have been nominated as the drivers so far. 
 
At the World Championship opener at Sebring (USA) on March 17, Audi Sport Team Joest relies on the proven R18 TDI from last year.

Production of the Morgan LMP2 falls to seasoned LMP manufacturers OAK Racing, but the company was keen to emphasise that it is the beginning of genuine technical partnership, not just a badge-engineering exercise.

“Our partnership presents the opportunity for the next generation of Morgans to embrace new technological advances,” commented company chairman Charles Moragn, “particularly with the implementation of materials such as carbon fibre and top level aerodynamics – elements that are key to LMP2 cars. What’s more, we now have the chance to develop efficient, high-end performance machinery.” 

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Morgan’s famous class win at Le Mans in 1962 and it will be the first time the marque has returned to La Sarthe since its GT2 entry in 2004. 

No doubt the team will be hoping to emulate its 1960s triumph. And with OAK Racing’s pedigree behind it that goal could well be realistic. Judging by sound alone, they’re certainly on to something...

Click below to watch the video. 

Nissan was confirmed as the engine supplier to the radical DeltaWing that will be racing in “Garage 56” this year at Le Mans.

Renault UK and Renault Sport Technologies have taken the difficult decision to postpone running the CERTINA Formula Renault UK Championship this season due to the low number of entries. 

With six cars registered and just two weeks to go to the opening round supporting the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch, organisers have decided to suspend this year’s championship and divert all efforts towards returning  the championship to full health in 2013. 

“This is the most sensible decision for all concerned”, said Renault UK Managing Director Thierry Sybord upon hearing the news. “Initially there is a feeling of shock that this prestigious series will not take place this year but, upon reflection, trying to run the Formula Renault UK Championship in its current state is unacceptable for the drivers, teams, sponsors, suppliers and, of course, the spectators.” 

It is anticipated that the six drivers registered for the UK championship will have the opportunity to race their Formula Renault 2.0 cars across the English Channel in the Northern European Cup series. 

Formula Renault UK has run continuously since 1989 when it was introduced by the British Automobile Racing Club. Renault UK came on board in 1990 and the championship flourished producing a number of front-running Formula One drivers among them world champions Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton.  Multiple World Touring Car Champion, Andy Priaulx, and BTCC’s own Jason Plato are also Formula Renault “old boys”. 

Whilst Formula Renault UK will have a year’s sabbatical, the Air Asia Renault UK Clio Cup will continue to run according to its published calendar. The Clio Cup is looking strong this year with 24 registered drivers. 

LONDON, UK: On 21/03/2012, the High Court of Justice in London handed down its judgment concerning Aerolab/FondTech, 1Malaysia Racing Team (Lotus Racing at the time the dispute occurred and now Caterham F1 Team) and Mike Gascoyne in the case brought against them by Force India Formula 1 Limited alleging the misuse of confidential information and related intellectual property rights.

Force India’s allegations of “systematic copying” of their designs and misuse of confidential information for the initial Lotus T127 wind tunnel model in August-September 2009 by Aerolab/FondTech and of a conspiracy to copy between Managing Director, Jean-Claude Migeot, and Chief Technical Officer of the Caterham Group, Mike Gascoyne, were entirely rejected by the Court on the basis of the evidence put before it at trial. 

The Judge, Mr Justice Arnold, said, at paragraph 339 of his judgment: “In my view Force India has come nowhere near establishing that (systematic copying of the aerodynamically significant parts of the Force India car) was the case. On the contrary, such misuse as I have found to have occurred mainly consisted of opportunistic copying of CAD files by CAD designers in order to take a short cut.”

It was important to the overall outcome, Aerolab/FondTech believes, that Mr Justice Arnold fully understood the detailed evidence contained in the CAD files and the case’s multitude of other technical details, which proved particularly vital to him being able to decide the issues.

This ruling therefore also settles in Aerolab’s favour the original dispute between Aerolab and Force India over unpaid fees to the sum of €850K for services originally rendered by Aerolab to Force India until July 2009. 

Aerolab/FondTech accepts that the very small sum (€25k) of compensation awarded to Force India by the Court is reasonable and accurately covers the original savings in time and trouble this “short cut” provided in preparing the initial Lotus model for wind tunnel development. It is also considerably less than the £15m ‘windfall’ sum Force India had claimed prior to the trial commencing.

 “It has taken a long time but I am extremely happy and relieved to see 1Malaysia Racing Team and Mike Gascoyne cleared of any wrongdoing (other than the technical copyright infringement finding against 1MRT (UK) Limited for which no damages were claimed or awarded),” said managing director Jean-Claude Migeot, Aerolab/FondTech. “I have always felt that the case was only initiated by Force India as a means to delay payment for outstanding work. With the Court having now examined the often extremely technical aspects of the evidence and come to the decision it has, my viewpoint has not altered. 

“We have always been very open with the facts. I am personally very grateful that Mr Justice Arnold was able to fully understand the often subtle areas of technical detail involved, and am indebted to my highly-capable legal team of Counsel (Iain Purvis QC and Tom Alkin of 11 South Square) and Solicitors (Tim Bamford and Leslie Timms of Withers LLP), without whom this end result might not have been achieved. 

“After two years of legal dispute, I am looking forward to once again focusing all of my attention on current and future Aerolab/FondTech projects.”

With the DeltaWing’s experimental run at the Le Mans 24 Hours now just two months away the test provided valuable information about its wet weather performance. 

“The whole Nissan DeltaWing team is still on a massive learning curve,” commented Darren Cox, general manager for Nissan in Europe, which is now a major technical partner to the project. “Testing in the States was a stable, predictable way of doing the initial groundwork but this exciting car is going to be racing in the French countryside. Today, the whole team got a taste of the conditions they may well face on June 16th and 17th. It may not have been much fun in the Norfolk rain, but it's about the best thing that could have happened for a project and a car that will face an enormous challenge just to make the end of the race."

Franchitti conducted most of the morning running in highly changeable conditions. Having only previously conducted some brief wet track running on an artificially damp track at Sebring, with the help of a water truck, yesterday's on-track action was an important step in the development of the wet tyres for the car.

"Mother Nature really did us a favour today, because it was great to get another run in the wet,” he commented. “It’s really given us some important data and provided Michelin with some clear direction for future development. The engine and gearbox were really strong - it was a proper testing day when we were really able to get down to business doing damper work, brake work - all in all, it was a very positive test and we're now very much looking forward to the next run."

Michael Krumm climbed aboard for much of the afternoon running - enjoying drier conditions as the team worked on suspension adjustments, braking and gearbox improvements.

"The guys have done a great job with the car since the Sebring tests. Even though the conditions were quite damp today and we really didn't get a proper run in the dry, I am really pleased with how the car felt,” he summarised. "We've made some changes to the car including the steering which is now a lot better. Everyone was wondering before the car ran whether it would turn - in fact it probably turned too well and we have made some improvements in that area.”

With no lap times disclosed and talk of steep learning curves the DeltaWing team seems intent on keeping us guessing. The testing schedule resumes next week with a two–day test, after which there will be just seven weeks until Le Mans itself.

Force India’s Bob Fernley was one of the team principals present at the conference. With him were Stefano Domenicali of Ferrari, Eric Boullier of Lotus, Martin Whitmash of McLaren, Norbert Haugh of Mercedes and Christian Horner of Red Bull.

Gentlemen a subject we can’t escape, unfortunately: This grand prix is definitely one of the best organised, the drivers all say that. We’ve had a lot speculation from both angles, negative and positive, but I’d like to your views regarding the security situation. Are you comfortable with how things are evolving?

Martin WHITMARSH: There have undoubtedly been difficult times here but from a pure team perspective, we’ve been comfortable with the situation. Clearly we race as an international sport all over the world and we have security concerns and issues at a number or races and we take that very seriously, and we’re cautious, and we try to take the right precautions. But ultimately we’re a race team. We’re here to go motor racing and that’s our number one priority.

Norbert HAUG: Absolutely the same.

Christian HORNER: Martin’s summed it up perfectly, I think. Formula One is a sport at the end of the day and it’s wrong for it to be used politically. We’re here to race, we trust in the FIA, in the decisions that they made, and we’re comfortable with the decisions that they have made. For us, it’s about trying to extract the maximum from this weekend as a sporting team in a sporting championship. The calendar is obviously set by the FIA.

Eric BOULLIER: I think everything has been said by the first row, so, as far as we are concerned, as Lotus, and regarding the specific question, we are fine.

Stefano DOMENICALI: You are speaking about security and I would say that we have received all the guarantees from the organisers, the federation, the embassy, and it is pretty clear at the moment that it is like that. We don’t seem to be the target of anyone that is protesting. We are here for the event that is racing, the race of the F1 World Championship and we are here to make the best of it. From a political point of view, the only thing I can is that there are a lot of things going on and we really hope that all the dialogue that has started within the different parts will do the best thing in the shortest time possible for everyone. This is really the hope that we have, as sportsmen and as a man of the world.

Bob FERNLEY: I completely agree with the guys. Hopefully, the Formula One programme has brought the world’s media here, it gives a good platform for debate and hopefully it will help with the healing process for Bahrain, and that’s why we’re here.

We’ll go on to the sporting side. Martin, if I can start with you. You’re leading both world championships. How have things evolved today for you in terms of free practice? You’re not perhaps quite as competitive as we thought you would be.

MW: No, I think it’s been a tricky day. The wind changed direction. I think from about half way through that [afternoon] session there was a tailwind through turns four, five, six and seven, which made it quite tricky for the drivers. I think we weren’t happy with where we were in terms of grip, generally. But that’s what Friday is about. It’s about learning how to set the car up for this particular circuit and these particular conditions. I think the wind is going to be quite significant. It often is here. If you recall it is an island where the wind can change quite dramatically from 10 o’clock in the morning until midday and then drop off in the afternoon, so I think that makes it, with all the other challenges of selection of top gear for the race and for qualifying… wind direction is going to quite an interesting challenge and if you get that right I think you’ll be in good shape. So, overall, I think, we’ve got some reasonable data and the trick is to put that to good effect and make sure we can dial in and have a competitive car tomorrow.

Norbert, obviously a fantastic weekend for you last weekend and you still seem to be up there?

NH: Well, I think it’s quite difficult to judge. I would not really read too much into the quickest time on Friday, we saw that before. I think people run various programmes, different programmes, but I think we are heading in the right direction. We learned quite a lot. The challenge is how to use the tyres, how to set up your car and then do the necessary amount of laps for the race and decide on how many stops you will do. You get the first impression of that on Friday. I think the team learned quite a lot. I haven’t seen the analysis so far, we’ll probably know a bit more later. Currently, I really cannot judge where we are. We should not read into the fact that we are first today that we are the big favourites for tomorrow and Sunday.

Christian, so on the same basis should I not read too much into the fact you were up in the top four today?

CH: I think it’s been a sensible day for us, we’ve worked through a programme. I think this year the tyre has dominated performance and I think it’s crucial to try and understand how the tyres work, how to get on top of those tyres and I think we’ve learned a lot over those first three races. Each of the races has been at a different nature of circuit, different conditions. We’ve seen the form of all the teams moving around a lot and the midfield making a big step as well. And that’s produced some great racing, I think last weekend was a phenomenal race and that adds to the challenge. We’ve worked through our programme today, both the drivers seem reasonably happy with their cars and obviously a lot of information to look over tonight before we go into the final practice tomorrow.

Eric…

EB: We had a heavy Friday today with a lot of parts to evaluate. Parts of the upgrade from Shanghai, we had to use them back on the car. Also, a very heavy programme with the tyres. It’s clear that the key for performance is the tyres and also the degradation for the race, as we saw in Shanghai, so we had early runs in practice and obviously heavier fuel load runs as well.

Any change Stefano?

SD: No, I think we have already said what we have to say. For us hopefully this will be the last grand prix of the most difficult start that we’ve had. But that’s the way it is. At the track the only thing we have to do is try to maximise the package that we have and understand the tyres and prepare for the race. That will be crucial, as we already said, in this condition the only objective we have at the moment is to try to score the maximum points and considering that we have been third in the Championship it means a lot. It means that we have to stay focussed. Unfortunately it’s very painful for us but that’s the way it is. So heads up and work hard.

Bob, limited running, obviously…

BF: Well, we had a very busy morning and as you know we didn’t run in FP2, we slightly rescheduled our programmes, but we’re very comfortable. The data was collected this morning for what we need and we’re very comfortable for FP3 tomorrow.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

I have question for Norbert: Reuters reported yesterday that Aabar are considering a complete withdrawal of their Daimler stake, could you please comment on that, let us know what you know?

NH: I just hear the speculation and read the speculation. Nothing more.

…There’s no discussion in Stuttgart?

NH: Nothing more to say, no.

Probably a question for all of you gentlemen. The thing that seems to be said is that politics and sport don’t mix but even by some of your answers that you gave previously, it’s quite obvious that they do. Given that, wouldn’t it have been better to try to wait another year for Bahrain to progress a little further before coming back to have a race here?

...Martin, as the spokesman of FOTA?

MW: I didn’t know I was the spokesman. I think, again, the calendar has been set for some time, we are the competitors, it’s a race in the calendar, we are here to race. Period.

Does anyone have more to add to that? Christian? Norbert? No.

Since arriving I’ve been contacted by a number of Bahrainis who are actually supportive of the race, have you and any of your team members found similar contact from the citizens of Bahrain?

MW: I think there is a lot of support for the race from all parts of society here, so I think that’s positive. Clearly often the majority aren’t heard on these occasions but I think there’s a fair amount of support, you can feel it here. I understand they’ve sold out the grandstand so presumably that’s a tangible sign of support.

CH: I think the guys here have been very welcoming. They look after the teams very well and hopefully we can put on a good show on Sunday. I think at the end of the day it’s a sport, we’re a sporting team competing in a sport that competes at 20 venues around the world. We’ll do our best as we do in all of those other events to do the best job we can on Sunday.

Christian, Stefano and Martin, as the representatives of the top three teams last year, setting aside the safety of F1 personnel, if there is any bloodshed or injury or worse this weekend, among protestors, that are clearly aimed at having an anti-F1 element, should F1 be held responsible in any way, is F1’s presence here acting as a trigger?

MW: I don’t think we’re going to comment on that. We are here to take part in a race. I think we’ve made our position clear. So unless anyone else wants to add anything, I think we are here to race.

CH: I echo Martin’s comments.

SD: We need to be positive in life. It seems that we are looking for something to happen and this is what we don’t want, as I said. This is really the objective that all of us here in the paddock should have, to be honest.

The stock answer that keeps coming back when we ask about this race is that ‘it’s on the calendar.’  There is a sporting commission, there is a technical commission, there’s also a calendar commission. Now the first two actually go through the Formula One Commission and then onto the World Motor Sport Council. The calendar doesn’t. Do you people believe that there is a need for the teams – for the Formula One commission, certainly – to have some input and to ratify calendars?

CH: I think that’s a position for the promoter and the FIA at the end of the day. When we enter a championship at the beginning of the year a calendar is published and you have the choice whether to enter or not. It’s something that historically has always been the same and it’s down to the promoter and then the governing body that’s responsible for the safety of the drivers, the safety of the spectators and the teams to decide where those venues are.

The question was, would you like to have input into it, as opposed to the procedure – I know the procedure?

SD: Normally it’s not like that, to be honest. If we have to race over 17 Grands Prix, we need to have the organiser and the F1 has to have clearance from the teams so the discussion happens and this is related to the opportunity that they have. Then of course, the responsibility of other subjects is related to the national sporting authority, so the federation and the organiser, but that’s the way it is at the moment.

EB: And if I may add something, we still have the opportunity to discuss with the governing body and the promoters about some adjustment in the calendar, not the location but maybe sometimes for logistical reasons we have some input.

Effectively, what we’re then saying is that the teams are also responsible for the shape of the calendar the way it is at the moment, including the Bahrain race.

MW: Well, you’re saying it, we’re not. Sorry, I thought you said ‘effectively you’re saying it’ but I don’t think we’re saying that at all. The commercial rights holder and the FIA agree the calendar together. I think you know that and so do we, so I don’t know why we’re having this discussion really.

But if it goes beyond 17, you have input?

MW: In theory we do, but as you know, the commercial rights holder… he has to get the races into the calendar and typically we’re not consulted individually on each race.

The Sunni/Shi’a schism is a conflict that dates back over a millennia; how do you feel about being used as political tools in this game?

MW: Listen, I tell you, we’re at the start of a fantastic World Championship. There have been three outstanding races and there’s a great championship ahead of us. We’ve had three different winners, it’s been a fantastic start to the championship and I think we can have a fantastic race here on Sunday. I don’t think that going into what’s happened over the last millennia or the politics around the world is something that most of us here are equipped to comment on.

We’re all talking about politics, ethics etc. Do you agree that the main reason for having this race here and being here today is that there is so much money from the Emirates in Formula One and in some of the teams that you represent?

MW: Well, again, this isn’t part of the Emirates and I think the commercial model of races, I think there is a lot of places in the world, and fortunately most places which pay reasonable money to hold a Grand Prix, so I don’t think there’s any particular premia in this part of the world.

Excuse me, don’t you think that sometimes a race – even a fantastic race – becomes irrelevant if something more important happens somewhere?

SD: If I might say something about that, once again it seems really we (you) want to find something to make sure that this event is not happening and this is really what, hopefully, we, for sure, as a team, would like not to see and that’s our approach, as I said. I don’t think it’s correct for us to go into a political discussion on what is happening. Of course we need to make sure that what has hopefully been started as a process in this country will happen soon and this is what everyone is really looking for but more than that, I think they will want to pull the things from different stories, different angles. Let’s focus on our jobs and try, on our side, to speak about the sport. This is really our task, to be honest.

BF: If I could come in there as well, I think the Bahrain programme has been very very successful. As much as there is opposition to it, there is also a huge amount of people that are for this process, for the programme to bring through. As Force India, we are totally committed to this Grand Prix and to bringing this programme to reality for Bahrain, and hopefully, as we said earlier, it will form part of the healing process, and if we’re part of that, we should be proud, not looking at ourselves and being negative.

Bob, your decision not to take part in the second part of practice has been interpreted as many things and one of them is a sort of field protest because of what happened to the team on Wednesday evening. Is it to be taken as that or what?

BF: I don’t think it’s because of that at all. I think that what you have to accept is that on Wednesday evening there was a very unfortunate incident for members of Force India, and there is no question, it de-stabilised the emotional element of our team. Yesterday evening we put a programme together which addressed all the issues from the team, we sat down with them all, and that meant a slight re-structuring of the programme in order that we could make sure that there was comfort within the team and that we delivered a very strong qualifying and race programme, and I have to say that Sheikh Abdulla, Bernie, everybody has been enormously helpful in our process, but we have, as a team, to make sure that we gel that together properly and it’s nothing whatsoever to do with… It’s an internal matter that just needs stability, we provided that stability and we’ve stuck with the programme that we’ve had to put in place. It’s not a slight at all on the event, it’s just about an internal structure of Force India. We’ve had to do that, we’ve done it with pleasure and we’ve supported our team in that process and as a result of supporting the team, the whole of our programme is now secure for going forward for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

As always, tyres were very much on the agenda in the post-race press conference, but fuel was also an issue, with Vettel pulling in to the end of the pitlane immediately after the chequered flag and several other drivers barely making the end of the race.

Press conference transcription follows.

Congratulations Sebastian. As defending champion it's always nice to get your first win of the season, even if it is at the fourth time of asking.

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I think it was an incredible race. Extremely tough. Sometimes we had a decent gap but still even from the start we had a very good start, which was crucial. I was able to pull away immediately and pull away from the pack. That turned out to be a big advantage because we always had to go on a used set of tyres as we used nearly all of them yesterday in qualifying. We could see, Kimi was getting through, he was very quick and so was Romain. A difficult race but with the strategy everything seemed to work so I can only say a big thanks to the boys in the garage. I said it yesterday: incredible job they've done over the first four races. The amount of work they had and that we gave them in particular because we weren't happy with the car and we asked for little tweaks here and there and they came back with new parts, old parts, back with the new parts, back with the old parts, back and forth, so extremely tough and they spent a lot of hours in the garage trying to get the car to our liking and I think we got it this weekend together for the first time and I was very happy in qualifying and throughout the whole race to be fair. So given the fact that Kimi found a dealership somewhere where he got some new tyres from, which allowed him to start every new stint on new tyres, it was extremely tough to keep them behind us. Once he was very close and I thought he would get more than just one shot but it turned out to be enough and in the end I was even pulling away a little bit and I could control the last stint. All in all, very happy and very proud of the team.

But I have to ask though, had this race been one lap longer, what would have happened? You stopped fairly suddenly after the chequered flag.

SV: Yeah, a couple of cars did. I had some company down there! I think Nico stopped as well. We were probably surprised by the pace we went in the race. Obviously these guys [Lotus] were pushing us so we couldn't afford to lift but it was enough. We knew how many laps there were from the start so it was fine I guess.

Kimi, welcome back to the podium in Formula One. You had the tyres but was the race win there for you instead?

Kimi RAIKKONEN: I think we gave ourselves a chance at least. It's a bit disappointing that I didn't manage to do it. But I made a small mistake at the beginning and lost one place to Ferrari. I had to re-overtake him and it took a little time. I got past the people quite easily but if you look in the end I think we still took too long and we couldn't win the race. But at least we got the podium with both cars. After the last race we tried hard and failed and probably people thought we were a bit stupid. Even after yesterday what we did. But it turned out to be the right decision and I think the team deserves what we have achieved now. We have been working hard. We've not been 100 per cent happy with how the weekends have run so far but finally we've got some proper results for the team, so it's an important step. Had you been able to get past your team-mate Romain Grosjean in the middle part of the race, a little sooner, would that have made the victory a little easier for you? You certainly had the pace in that middle stint?

KR: Yeah but there are no team orders and we know the rules. I try to get past as quickly as I can but it's not easy with two similar cars. It's always easy to say afterwards 'if we had done that' but in the end we were not fast enough to win and we have to take the second. I got one chance on Sebastian but I chose the wrong side under braking, so that was it really. In the end I didn't have any other chances to try. It's disappointing to finish second but after the last race we have to take it and be pretty happy.

Turning to you, Romain, I'm sure no disappointment whatsoever at finishing third, your first podium in Formula One.

Romain GROSJEAN: For sure it's great. It's a strange feeling so far. I think I will be delighted tonight. But I'm very proud of the team, all we did in the race. We knew we had a good car but I think we were surprised at the beginning by how quick we were. And we chose a different strategy to Kimi. It turned out to be not too bad at the end. Our car is very competitive in what so far has been a very tight season. Every small detail makes a huge difference, so the team is working very hard bringing new pieces as well and then putting back the old and trying to see which one is the best - not always easy when you have so little running. But I think we can be very happy with what we did and personally I'm very, very happy to be on my first podium. It's quite a good feeling I have to say! I was saying first points, then top five, then podium but I jumped one step. The next step will be victory but well, that will take time and now I think we can be happy and now we can have a week off to enjoy the time and to work a little bit at the factory and to find the six or seven second gap there was to Sebastian.

Returning to you Sebastian. Four races, four different winners. What does that say about Formula One in 2012?

SV: I think as Romain touched on, it's a very tight season, cars are very close to each other and small things can make a huge difference on a Sunday. I think we started the season saying that the McLaren is the best car by far, by quite a bit, but we've seen that Sunday it can be a different picture. I think they still have one of the strongest packages but as I said you need to get everything right. You need to have the right tyres, you need to treat them right, you need to find the right set-up over the course of the weekend so a lot of things to look out for. I'm very happy we made it here. We were not quite sure how competitive we would be. China was a very good lesson for us to understand the weakness of the car a little but more, driving with two different packages. For here we focused on the new package, pushing that forward on a circuit where you need a lot of power as well. I think Renault did a fantastic job – one, two, three all powered by Renault, so congratulations to them as well. I'm just happy for now, I don't really care what happens in the next race, at least not today. I think we will have a good time now and then push harder so that we are there again next race.

Sebastian, well done, a little bit of relief to be back on the top step of the podium?

SV: Of course I'm happy, I mean, you know, I think we had to work extremely hard in the first couple of races, we were not where we wanted to be so therefore I'm extremely happy that we had a much better weekend here. Friday morning, the first time I went out, I felt much happier with the car balance, so I think we found a reasonable package that seemed to work on this circuit pretty well so all in all, I'm very pleased. As I said yesterday, I think I owe this one to the team, to the boys. As I touched on, they've been working so hard, giving them an extremely hard time here at the circuit, back in the factory, we all try to find the best configuration. I don't want you to look in the back of our garage, it's pretty busy and pretty messy: a lot of work, a lot of parts. So we try to get the best package together. As I said, very good yesterday in qualifying and today in the race obviously crucial to get a good start. Then I was able to pull away by three or four seconds immediately which turned out to be crucial. By the time Romain got past Lewis I think he had more or less had the same pace. At the end of the stints I think we were a little bit superior and then yeah, second stint pretty much the same. Kimi always had new tyres so we knew he would be a danger until the last lap. Again, obviously in the beginning trying not to lose too much. I think especially that second-last stint where we were on option tyres, Kimi was on a new prime tyre, so it was difficult. I thought he would make his way past pretty easily. I tried to defend, one time it was really close and after that it seemed that he was running into the same kind of problems with the tyres and we were able to... not pull away but we could open a bit of a gap. So yeah, a very, very tight and difficult race. Obviously not too busy in terms of overtaking and wheel to wheel racing for me, but I knew that every single corner would be crucial with no mistakes allowed. I kept the car on the track at all the time which was a help and yeah, great result and very, very happy.

You had a faster pitstop at the last pitstop but then you seemed to be held up by a Caterham in front of you.

SV: Yeah, a little bit, but it's the same story for all of us. You know, you get there first and depending on where you run into traffic you might get held up – but the guys did a very good job all race long, all the guys we lapped. You're never going to get past without losing a little bit but it's the same when Kimi or Romain faces the traffic. They run into the same problems. I have to say given the amount of marbles and dirt and sand and pickup off-line, they were very fair. You didn't explain why you had to pull off at the end.

SV: Well, I think I wasn't the only one…

But that was another thing altogether…

SV: I don't know.

You were just told to pull off?

SV: Yeah, I think it's not the first time you saw that. It was a very quick race, the pace was extremely high, we had no time at any stage to rest, so a lot of pressure always from behind. So pushing hard and yeah, I was too exhausted to do the in-lap! Except you had to run the whole pitlane…

SV: By then I'd found some extra KERS

Kimi, again a team that changed the car quite a lot during this weekend, especially after last weekend as well – but obviously it was a good car.

KR: My car was the same the whole weekend. We tried two cars with different floors but I mean in the end I don't think there's much difference between them but for sure it looks like we did the right thing. The car cannot be too bad because we finished second and third, we're still not happy in certain areas but that's a pretty normal thing. You're never really 100 per cent happy with things. You always try to find something new and improved. But, I mean, great thing for the team to finish second and third, so I'm happy for them but a bit disappointed to not have more, to not be able to challenge more for the win. I'm not winning but that's life. Was it difficult even with the DRS to get really, really close, close enough?

KR: I think like you saw on TV I got close enough once to have a chance to try but I chose the wrong side, so that's about it. After that my tyres dropped off a bit and I couldn't get close enough. Yep, next time we try, hopefully we can put ourselves in a

Similar position later on this season in the next coming races. It's not going to be easy but we will try. And that would be nice. Romain, congratulations to you on your first podium, tell us about the start. It must have been pretty good?

RG: Yeah, it was! I think we are doing some pretty good starts since the beginning, except Melbourne. Malaysia, China and here we have some very good starts. I think it was important for me to be straight up to the front. Then I have to say that I really enjoyed the first stint, the car was fantastic on the option and I could overtake Mark Webber and then Lewis Hamilton. I thought I would come back a little bit on Sebastian and then we choose to go for the prime on the second stint, and it appears that there were a little bit less grip, it was more difficult and Kimi was behind me. He passed me and then the tyres went away. I think the last two stints were pretty good, our car was feeling good, the team can be proud of what they did because with this season so tight between cars it's very difficult to be at the front and we have two cars on the podium which is extremely good. We're working very hard as well, trying some new pieces – the old and new and seeing what is the best – but it's always difficult. Tyres, as you know, are going away quite quickly and it doesn't give you much free practice time but our podium feels pretty good and I think it will feel even better when I'm on the plane home and take one or two days to relax before going to the factory and working and trying to get a better car for the next race.

Was the car better on primes from then on, after using the options from the start?

RG: Unfortunately not. It was pretty good on the two last stints with the new prime but I had a choice between scrubbed primes and scrubbed options for stint two because I did a mistake in Q2 run one where I went wide and used one extra set of options. If I had one new set of options I think I would have put it on and maybe got closer to Seb – but I have to be happy with third place, it's a first podium, we have two cars here and that's fantastic. QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Kimi, was it the right decision to come in for the last pit stop at the same time as Sebastian? Could you have waited one more lap?

KR: That was the plan. Even if we came in a lap later it would be more or less the same. That was our plan and we followed it. They came in at the same time.

Sebastian, Lotus already had about 11 kph more in top speed in practice and then on top of that Kimi had DRS and he was behind you. Did it surprise you that you could keep him behind?

SV: I thought exactly the same thing to be honest, when I saw that he was closing in, because we've seen that they are very quick on the straight all weekend. I was particularly aware that as soon as he got into the DRS zone then it would be difficult to keep him Page 6 of 7 behind. So yeah, I think we could see that one time he was fairly close, he got the DRS and he had more speed at the end of the straight than I had. Sure, I think that you pick your optimum for speed, downforce, top speed and you pick whatever you believe is best. I think that all in all it was the right decision to do what we did. I used DRS once in the race, so I didn't use it too often, but after that, I was happy that Kimi ran into the same problems with the tyres and I could get a little bit of a gap out of the last corner which was enough to survive the straight. I think we also had a bit of head wind down the straight, and that's also an advantage for the car behind. I would say it was just enough.

The question is for the three drivers: a comment from you about four races, four different winners from different teams, and what do you expect from the rest of the season?

SV: As we've said, I think it's obviously very good to watch. I think those four races have been extremely tight. We had one race where it was pretty chaotic, in Malaysia, with rain etc so up and down. Small things can make a big difference over the weekend – how much tyres you might have left, lap one, gear ratios you might pick, whether DRS is effective or not and you can come back. I think it was a different race here compared to the last race where we had people running in a chain and not being able to pass or not being able to pass too easily. All these things make a big difference and temperature-wise, all four races were very different. Track layouts were different so I'm not surprised that we have a different result every weekend.

RG: Who knows? Who is able to tell who will be World Champion? I think it's like it's never been before. Q2 in China was incredible: ten cars in three tenths or eleven cars. It's just amazing and it just depends who is bringing new updates, but I think the season will be how it is so far and you will have to get the last hundredths and the last tenths to get on the podium.

You're now going to have three days of testing in Mugello; do you think that some teams are going to bring big updates, like Ferrari who are struggling a lot? What are your plans for your cars, are you also having big updates? Do you more or less know the direction?

KR: I don't what the others are doing, you will have to ask them. I'm not aware of our plans regarding the test and we will see what happens there. I haven't talked about it. We first have to finish this race and then put the effort into the test and then go racing after that. I can't say what the other teams are going to do. We try to find more understanding of the car and improve it.

SV: First of all, I think it will be difficult to create a miracle. I think the regulations this year make it very difficult so sure I think every team has something on the list. We've seen that sometimes people bring parts and they don't work so it's not always given that a new parts push you in the right direction so of course it's very useful to have a test in Mugello, to have some more time than just in free practice on Friday, to evaluate first of all whether the package you are running is the best and whatever new parts you might have for the week after in Barcelona is the right way to go.

Kimi, a good result today, but do you think Lotus can keep up the momentum for the next races?

KR: We will try. It's the same story; I have no idea what's going to happen in the next races but the team's been pushing hard to try to improve the car, bringing new parts, but of course they haven't been working as well as we hoped, but anyhow, they are bringing new updates every time when they can. We try to keep pushing and stay up there, but I cannot Page 7 of 7 answer because they are not. That's our aim and that's what we're working for and hopefully it will happen, but who knows how well we can improve or what the others will do. The team is doing good work and we deserve to be here and hopefully we can stay up here in other races also.

Are you surprised, Kimi, that it took you only four races to return to the podium?

KR: It could have been in the first three races also, not putting ourselves in a bad position and some problems, being a bit smarter than certain teams but we know from the winter that we have a very good car, good baseline package and just have to make the right decisions and put ourselves where the car can be. This weekend it worked, last weekend it didn't. We know that the speed is there, we just need to try to get everything exactly right.

Marcel Fassler posted the fastest time in the number one Audi, but his time of 2:01.998 was just three tenths faster than the non-hybrid car of Marco Bonanomi.

With the debut of the Toyota TS030 now pushed back until Le Mans it gives Audi a vital head start in preparations for the French classic.

Fastest of the gasoline cars was Neel Jani’s Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota in fifth place, while Pecom Racing leads the charge in LMP2 thanks to Soheil Ayari's 2:09.17 lap in the Oreca 03 Nissan. 

The hybrid cars of André Lotterer and Tom Kristensen were in first and second place respectively as the first pit stops approached – Lotterer having built up an advantage of almost a minute over the fastest conventionally-powered R18 ultra driven by Marc Gené. 

However, an inspired decision to switch to slick tyres on the drying track saw Gené lapping some four seconds quicker than anyone else during the second stint. This closed the gap to the hybrids and eventually allowed co-driver Loïc Duval to take the lead on lap 63. 

Meanwhile the number two R18 e-tron was forced into the pits to correct a lighting fault, which cost Kristensen over a minute and dropped him to fourth place behind the other three Audis. And so it remained until the chequered flag, with the diesel-only cars finishing first and third, while the hybrids slotted in second and fourth. 

It’s perhaps not surprising that the four-wheel drive R18 e-trons would be faster than their two-wheel drive siblings in the wet, but it also implies they could be very real contenders for an outright win at next month’s Le Mans 24 Hours. To do so in a race which no hybrid has yet finished would be a massive PR coup for the German manufacturer.

"We learned a lot with the four cars and different tyre strategies. Audi’s decision to opt for two concepts proved to be right,” commented Ralf Jüttner, technical director of Audi Sport Team Joest. “The R18 e-tron quattro is a strong car but the R18 ultra has certain advantages. There’ll be quite a few more things coming with the R18 e-tron quattro in the future … [this] was a good dress rehearsal for Le Mans."

There was plenty of drama further down the field. The number 12 Rebellion Lola of Prost, Jani and Heidfeld eventually took the petrol honours in fifth place, despite strong opposition from the Pescarolo Dome of Sebastien Bourdais and Nicolas Minassian, which later ran into problems. At times the Strakka HPD of Nick Leventis, Jonny Kane and Danny Watts was also in contention for the unofficial ‘petrol class’ lead in what would turn out to be an action packed race.

The LMP2 win was eventually taken by the Nissan Jota of Sam Hancock and Simon Dolan, after Robbie Kerr in the ADR-Delta ORECA-Nissan was forced to pit for fuel in the closing stages.

Things were even hotter in the GTE Pro category, where the Felbermayr Porsche of Lieb and Lietz completed a photo finish less than a second ahead of Gianmaria Bruni's AF Corse Ferrari. Guest entrants from the European Le Mans series, Nicolas Armindo, Raymond Narac and Anthony Pons took the honours in GTE Am, finishing of the second Felbermayr Porsche.

It cited the latest economic downturn and the decision of HM Revenue and Customs not to pay ongoing R&D tax credits as the primary reasons for the announcement.

The statement reads: “It is with enormous regret that a decision has been taken to issue Notices of intention to appoint an Administrator to Lola Cars International Limited and Lola Composites Limited. This step allows the board to continue its discussions with possible investors and prospective purchasers with a view to securing the best outcome for the staff, creditors and customers of both businesses.”

The news comes after a period of substantial investment when the Lola Group has diversified into a number of new sectors such as defence, aerospace, renewable energy and communications.

The company has declined to make further comment until next week.