Drivers 'pleased' with lack of trauma
The Formula One teams wrapped up their first run on Pirelli tyres on Saturday, with drivers impressed with the new rubber.
New World Champion Sebastian Vettel said the tyres "were already better than expected" after testing at the Yas Marina circuit, where the 23-year-old Red Bull driver won the title last Sunday.
Fernando Alonso ran 105 laps for the quickest time of the session ahead of Vettel, who beat the Ferrari driver at the final race to take the Championship. Alonso's time was one minute, 40.529 seconds - nearly three-tenths faster than Vettel.
The double World Champion said he doesn't expect the switch from Bridgestone to Pirelli to be a "traumatic one."
"We had no particular problems ... (and) we are pleased with the way we worked and in how we were able to adapt the setup of the car to suit the new tyres, especially in terms of the work we can do on the new car in preparation for next season," said Alonso, who was upbeat despite returning to the circuit where he arrived as Championship leader but watched Vettel snatch the title.
"I would think it's the same thing the Dutch football players felt when they lost the World Cup final back in July. Then, after a few weeks, they realised they had achieved something, while so many others had not even got anywhere close.
"The same goes for us. The final victory eluded us, but in any case we had a great season, with a fantastic fight-back in the second part of the year."
Michael Schumacher, making his come-back this year, had blamed his poor performance throughout the season on the fact that tyre technology had changed so much since he last raced.
"We gathered a lot of data and insights, and have positive feedback. I am probably the only driver to have driven with Pirelli tyres before but it was 20 years ago and I didn't have any certain expectations before today," the 41-year-old Schumacher said.
"In terms of consistency, it looked quite good but we were using the 2010 car today and it will be all about how these tyres suit our 2011 car."
Schumacher's 2011 title hopes hinge on Mercedes being able to adapt to the Italian brand, which returns to F1 for this first time since 1991.
Schumacher's return was marked by a car that appeared unsuited to Bridgestones, who became F1's only tyre supplier when Michelin quit at the end of 2006.
Pirelli will hold a private test in Bahrain from 12-16 December, but the next scheduled tests involving all teams don't begin again until February.
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Petrov: It was easy and nothing special
Vitaly Petrov feels Ferrari and not himself should have been the target for Fernando Alonso's anger after the Spaniard missed out on becoming a three-time Formula One World Champion.
Petrov produced his best drive of the season in Abu Dhabi, one that may yet result in the Russian being retained by Renault for 2011.
Petrov managed to keep a frustrated Alonso behind him for the final 40 laps after Ferrari made a mess of their pit-stop strategy.
It resulted in Alonso finishing a wretched seventh, when all that was required was fourth behind winner and new Champion Sebastian Vettel.
When Alonso finally caught up with Petrov on the slow-down lap, the 29-year-old gesticulated furiously towards him as if to say 'what were you doing?'
Alonso later accused Petrov of being aggressive, a remark the Russian has vehemently dismissed.
"I did my race, the maximum that I could," he said. "I cannot let one car pass me because it is racing.
"Look at Sebastian in 2008. He was behind (Lewis) Hamilton, who was going for the title, in the final race in Brazil.
"But he passed Lewis, who almost lost the Championship. He was also not thinking about who he was battling with.
"So I didn't do anything other than I kept pushing. I like battles and things like this, but I wasn't aggressive.
"That was a normal race. I won't let anybody pass easily. I want to show I am not here to just drive around for fun.
"I am here to work, so I don't want to lose this opportunity. I was not aggressive. It was simple, easy and nothing special."
Despite Alonso's gesture which Petrov witnessed, he opted not to confront the double World Champion after the race.
"He was angry so there was no reason to talk to him," added Petrov.
"I would be angry if I was in his situation, but he should be angry with himself or his team because they maybe did the wrong strategy or something.
"If he had got close enough to attack then maybe I wouldn't have fought with him too much because I wouldn't have wanted to have touched him as he was fighting for the Championship.
"But only once was he close enough to attack. I closed my position and then I drove normally around the circuit.
"He did not have another opportunity to pass as this is a circuit that does not give you that chance."
Although Petrov has had an indifferent debut season, there may now be an opportunity to continue alongside Robert Kubica next year in light of such a fine performance.
Whether it was enough to save him remains to be seen, although he has admitted he is optimistic of staying on.
"Soon we will know what we are going to do," said Petrov.
"We have been going forwards, forwards, forwards, everything going in the right way. We have done a good job."
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'We don't manipulate things like Ferrari'
Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has remarkably revealed he would rather miss out on the Formula One Drivers' title than employ underhand tactics like Ferrari.
Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel go into the season-ending showdown in Abu Dhabi on Sunday trailing Championship leader Fernando Alonso by eight and 15 points respectively.
Either driver could yet clinch the crown, but it has also thrown up the intriguing scenario of Vettel potentially aiding Webber should the young German be in a position to do so in order to deny Alonso.
Team principal Christian Horner has already made it clear no team orders will be imposed, and instead a decision regarding assistance rests solely on Vettel's shoulders.
Mateschitz is also determined to see his team remain loyal to their sporting philosophy, as they have steadfastly done so this season.
That is in contrast to Ferrari's manipulation of the team orders rule for which they were found guilty after Felipe Massa allowed through Alonso to claim victory in the German Grand Prix in July.
Mateschitz is adamant his team will not sink to such depths as he said: "Let the two drivers race and whatever will be will be. If Alonso wins we will have been unlucky."
Speaking in Austrian newspaper Kliene Zeitung, the energy drinks magnate added: "I predict a Hollywood ending, with the worst case scenario we don't become Champion.
"We'll do it next year. But our philosophy stays the same because this is sport and it must remain sport.
"We don't manipulate things like Ferrari do. The whole world condemned them after what they did in Hockenheim.
"But we have turned out to look like idiots because we have not acted in this way.
"But we have never even thought about it as long as both our drivers remain in the hunt for the Championship.
"So a second place under correct circumstances might be better than a win on grounds of orders and confirmations."
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Vettel: Ideally I need to win the last two
After blowing his lead at the Korean Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel remains confident about his chances of winning the Formula One title.
Vettel dropped to third place in the standings after an engine failure in his Red Bull cost him victory with 10 laps to go in Korea, hurting his hopes of a first F1 title.
He trails team-mate Mark Webber by 10 points and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari by 21 points heading into Sunday's Brazilian GP.
"What happened in Korea was a big disappointment," Vettel said. "But we learned a lesson. Right at that point I was already thinking about the next race."
Vettel said he performed well despite the result, raising his hopes for a comeback in the final two races of the season.
"It was a very difficult race and I was very proud of the way that we handled it," the German driver said. "There was a lot of positives. Unfortunately we stopped because of the engine failure. It was not in our hands, so you have to move on."
Vettel needs to win Sunday's race at Interlagos to guarantee he will go to the season-finale in Abu Dhabi still in contention for the Drivers' Championship.
"Ideally [I] need to try to win both races and then see where [I am]," he said.
Vettel started from pole position nine times in 17 races this year, but won only three times - the Malaysian GP, the European GP and the Japanese GP.
The Red Bulls have been the dominant car all year but were not able to capitalise on their chances. Webber crashed at the Korean GP and also didn't score any points.
"It hasn't been an easy season, with lots of ups and downs," Vettel said. "Some things happened that we didn't want to happen, but that's how things go in Formula One."
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Hamilton eyeing title shot in Abu Dhabi
Lewis Hamilton says he is currently just aiming to be in the hunt for the championship in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
The Briton lies 21 points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso with just two races left.
Hamilton admits his situation is not the best, especially with McLaren looking unable to match the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari.
But the 2008 world champion says he will keep pushing to try to have a shot at the title in Abu Dhabi.
"It's going to be tough - we saw again in Korea that we've probably only got the third-fastest car, so we're probably not the favourites - but that's okay," said Hamilton on his website.
"We're bringing new parts to the car all the time, and I know we'll have some more upgrades in Brazil - whether that will be enough, we need to wait and see.
"But I'm going to enjoy pushing - I've had some good races in Brazil, it's a place where you can really make a charge work, so I go there feeling very optimistic and hopeful of another good showing.
"At this stage, the aim has to be to go to Abu Dhabi with a mathematical possibility of winning the title. As we've seen so many times before, anything can happen at the final race, so Brazil will be all about prolonging the challenge and then maximizing everything for Abu Dhabi.
"Of course, it would be nice to take a win at Interlagos, but we're taking it all one step at a time at the moment."
2010 AUTOSPORT.COM
Bernie: I knew Korea could get it done
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was all smiles following an inspection of the latest venue to join his sport's growing empire.
The Korea International Circuit was only granted a safety licence nine days ago, and cosmetic touches are today still being applied ahead of Sunday's inaugural Korean Grand Prix.
The Korean army have been drafted in to help with the completion of the erection of a number of grandstands that on Sunday will house a crowd between 90,000 and 100,000.
Ecclestone, though, always believed the organisers would deliver, and he is delighted with the end product.
"Considering what it was and what they've had to do, and this event has not been easy to do, I think they've done a good job," said Ecclestone.
"It's all there. If they hadn't have had their bad weather then it would have been done a long time ago.
"But I wasn't worried because I had some information they would get it done, and they've got it done.
"It would have been bad for Korea if it hadn't have happened, so they have made sure it happened.
"When you look at these facilities, and you look at some of the places we go to, and have been in the past, you can see what it took to build Formula One to what it is today."
One of the areas sorely lacking is accommodation with a number of less-than-salubrious motels being employed to house teams, media and fans.
That prompted an apology from Chung Yung-cho, the CEO of organisers Korea Auto Valley Operations.
"For the last couple of months we have worked hard, day and night," said Chung.
"If you are not 100 per cent satisfied please accept my apologies. I will do better for next year.
"We will prepare more hotels and facilities. I can guarantee we will work harder and you will have better."
As mentioned by Ecclestone, the weather wreaked havoc on plans as the circuit should have been completed by the end of July, in line with FIA regulations.
It is why, 24 hours ahead of Friday's opening practice sessions, there remain teething problems.
Up until late last night, a number of teams had no electricity in the garages.
Park Joon-yung, governor of the Jeollanam-do province, said: "We are finishing the cleaning of the circuit, and the infrastructure will be done by the end of the day.
"We were planning to finish this project in late July, however due to bad weather it delayed us.
"In April and throughout the whole of July we had a massive amount of rain, which is unusual for Korean weather, so that led to the delays in construction.
"Thankfully the weather was helpful in September and this month and we were able to work day and night to finish the construction."
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Yamamoto and Senna in action for HRT
The mystery surrounding Hispania's Japanese GP drivers was unveiled on Friday when Sakon Yamamoto and Bruno Senna took part in Practice One.
When Hispania Racing released their pre-Suzuka press release all the team included where quotes from team boss Colin Kolles while there was no mention of the drivers.
And with four having already climbed into the cockpit of Hispania's F1 cars this season, it was anyone's guess who the team would use this weekend.
But the names of the drivers were finally confirmed on Friday morning as Yamamoto, who attended Thursday's FIA press conference, and Senna took part in the first practice session.
2010 365 Media Group Ltd All Rights Reserved
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