McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh, whose team has won only once in their last 12 visits to the Circuit de Catalunya, the group expects the puzzle that has haunted the team this season could go with the emergence of stable atmospheric conditions to clarify the season European Union.

“As we saw in the first four races, has added to this mix is added to the mystery of managing tires – Barcelona all the team a better understanding of how the tires behave, which is probably a” “typical breed for European climate” he said. “But it will be much to learn.

“Sometimes I think Santander’s Spanish Grand Prix as a useful litmus test of the effectiveness of the rules of this year. It ‘a tough, technical course along which it is limited when the race well here, we tend to some interesting years: in 2012 we have already seen that the combination of grass DRS and KERS hybrid method, so I hope we have of Serbia for a fun and exciting race this weekend. “

Hamilton, Vettel passed with the help of the DRS on the main road is not straight in the last year, hopes to Barcelona and not live up to its long standing reputation. “It will be interesting to see how easy it is to take in this year,” he said.

“It ‘s always a difficult place for the way – when I found out last year – but I really hope that the combination of DRS and KERS hybrid makes it a little’ easier I think one of the most difficult year, are for overtaking., but I am a strong performance in qualifying to make the simplest possible hope in the race. “

A further 500 kilometers to the F2012, the threshold of 250 laps, which equates more than 1,300 kilometer, over the last three days at Mugello. After the rain on Tuesday, the second issue of the proof came in the form of an off Fernando Alonso around noon. It was in turn 12, damage to the lower left corner of the car and the front wing, but more importantly, the cost of incidents two hours on the job. “First of all I want to, want to reassure my family and friends: I’m fine, nothing happens after the collision with the guardrail to seven miles per hour,” said Spanish with a touch of irony when he was late to reporters days . “We have lost this time tomorrow afternoon in terms of quantity, because the last few miles of what we had planned, but not in terms of quality, the route was changed today afternoon, especially as the wind.

“But I’m very happy with these three test days,” added Ferdinand. “The feeling I got after the test is positive. We have a few small, and I stress the word, the aerodynamic updates that the answer is that we expect to produce and that’s the good news I’m sure for the means future short and long term. This means that what we see in the factory in Maranello is also mounted on the rails. We have also worked in other areas, especially the tires, so that short and long runs on the Set-up and the outputs to examine in view of the fact that they also to a new connection.

“I can not say whether today at Mugello, we can say that they cede ground well done, but in Barcelona, ??we will give hope to important updates, and that we can begin to bridge the gap to us to bridge from existing equipment to the bridge above, “said Alonso. “We have decided to support the development of the time in a wind tunnel in place in advance of any new part of this promotion test. Of course it would be nice to be able to test all updates on the first track, but it is good that we have all sorts of development potential for each component. Barcelona is a very important moment of the season, but not decisive. not a case of a sudden we are back in pole position because there is no magic button. We have to fight not start by . closer to Q3 and reach the top six, and then continue with the development in the next race, a step forward in Monaco, Canada and Valencia That’s the only way we view the pursuit of these seven or nineteenth – it is difficult to see how far we are at the base of the first race – what separates us from the leaders Sure, if I do not deny, that next week is important: we can not afford to fight in Q3, because we are fighting for the title. . “

When asked about the configuration of the new exhaust system first tried to assess today, the first reaction was briefly Fernando: “There is no difference in terms of down time over the one I tried on Tuesday,” before you get closer, “The exhaust pipe is not critical field this year in fact, that is to be seen so far won the car with different configurations and won in Bahrain, for example, Red Bull with downward exhaust, but the fastest car on the track, the Lotus, the straight . condemn “

The return to the testing during the season, even if only one session, which was actually removed from the winter program, as a good thing to see was the driver of the Scuderia. “Is I prefer this schedule from last year that after the first race, much more the car and what you can do the changes that have to do means to them,” said Alonso. “In fact, for me, more tests during the season, I do say it was a pleasure to once again have to drive this route. Here in the neighborhood worth more than a hundred other places, regardless of one day here, a year’s worth worth working in the simulator, at least as far as I’m concerned. “

Fernando back on the ground Tuesday in Fiorano, but as a spectator on this occasion. The Oviedo drivers participating in the event that the 30th Anniversary of the death of Gilles Villeneuve, whose son Jacques is a run at the wheel of the 312 T4 reminds his father took part in 1979. He has a day to be found in the same color red that the time when Jacques Villeneuve, his teammate for the final Grand Prix of the 2004 season with Renault.

Red Bull won 12 of 19 races in 2011 and took 18 pole positions, as Vettel, and the team finished their World Cup title, as second in many seasons.

But in 2012, it was not until the fourth race in Bahrain this weekend for Red Bull in a race to win, thanks to Vettel.

“It’s close, and we are not as safe as before,” said Vettel.

“Such little things can make a difference in the qualifications and have a great impact on the race.”

This season has great variations in performance seen with four winners, racing four different manufacturers, for the first time since 1983 that has happened. Continue Reading

Sebastian Vettel will drive the newest version of the Red Bull 2012 car for the Bahrain Grand Prix – a week after deciding he preferred the old one.

The world champion reverted to an older car design for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix while team-mate Mark Webber continued with the newer one.

But Vettel said: “We believe it is the better solution.

“It was a good test in China. It gave us some good answers and it highlighted the weaknesses in the package.”

Vettel has been outqualified by Webber in all three races so far this year and has never been comfortable in the upgraded car that was introduced at the final pre-season test.

After poor performances in the opening two races of the season, he decided last weekend to revert back to the specification of the car he had first used in testing. But the move backfired as he missed out on a top-10 qualifying shoot-out in China for the first time since October 2009.

The team’s belief that the newer design was quicker was highlighted during the race, as Vettel was caught and passed for fourth place by Webber on the penultimate lap.

The two cars have different positions for their exhaust exits, which affect the aerodynamics of the car and its handling.

Chief technical officer Adrian Newey told BBC Sport the decision to put Vettel into the older car in China was to give the team a chance to compare the two cars as the newer one had not behaved entirely as they expected.

Vettel said in Bahrain that, in the first two races in Australia and Malaysia, he had felt the car was “a bit too nervous” and he “felt a bit happier in China”.

He added: “It was a very good confirmation and it highlighted the weaknesses of the package we introduced on the last days of testing.”

He said going back to the newer-spec car for Bahrain was “a big change for myself, so we will see how we get on”.

And the German said Webber was not entirely happy with the newer car either.

“It has been the same for both of us,” he said. “It’s not fair to say I was all over the place and Mark was perfectly happy.

“We sit there talking about what was going on. Both of us weren’t happy, especially myself in qualifying, I was little less confident and comfortable than last year.

“That’s one of the main things we need to work on and then we and I should be in a better place.”

Vettel cantered to last year’s world title, his second in a row, with 11 wins and 15 pole positions.

This year he is fifth in the championship after three races, behind McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Webber.

“We are quite a bit away,” he said, “but I believe the potential is there, the car is quick and once we start putting everything together we will feel a little more comfortable and we will be in a better position in qualifying and the race.”

Hamilton is leading the championship after finishing third in all the first three races.

He said: “The target every year I think is to have consistency and sometimes it just doesn’t go to plan but this year I think we’ve been quite fortunate.

“Finishing on the podium for the first three races has been fantastic for us.

“Obviously it’s very early in the season. In previous seasons you’ve seen championship leaders swapping and changing throughout the year so it doesn’t really mean too much at the moment.”