BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX DE-BRIEF - MARTIN WHITMARSH
Following the Bahrain Grand Prix, Martin Whitmarsh, CEO Formula
1, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, discusses the race and Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes plans for the three week gap before the next
race in Spain
Lewis usually makes excellent race starts, but that
wasn’t the case in Bahrain. What happened?
"It was a procedural error - his engine was on the incorrect
setting and that led to the anti-stall procedure kicking in,
so he was swamped by everyone else as he tried to get away."
He has admitted that he forgot to push the correct
button…
"Yes, but as a team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes doesn’t
habitually blame its drivers in public. Is the procedure clear?
Is it simple enough? We have to look at all the details."
People are accustomed to celebrating Lewis’s
successes, but this just didn’t seem to be his weekend.
His demeanour remains very upbeat, though.
"I think he’s disappointed, but he’s very
strong-minded. He had a reasonable qualifying run, but a practice
accident meant Friday wasn’t his greatest day, and nor
was Sunday. He won’t lose confidence, though. He believes
in himself and knows he can get the job done. He’ll
go away, rebuild and come back stronger in Spain."
Lewis switched to a one-stop strategy after he ran
into the back of Fernando Alonso on lap two. Have you determined
the cause of the accident?
"It’s an interesting situation for those of us
on the pit wall, because you see an incident such as that
and have to respond in terms of pulling him in, getting the
car repaired, looking at fuel load options that might help
him recover and so on. At the time we didn’t actually
know how it all unfolded, however. People come up immediately
after the race and ask, "So, was he brake-tested?"
and you can’t answer. It is assumed that you are being
evasive, but in truth you simply don’t know. It was
only when I went into the engineers’ room and started
looking at the details that I realised Lewis’s upper
front wing had disappeared about two seconds before the accident,
so he suddenly lost downforce. We haven’t analysed why
that happened but we suspect the structure had been weakened
by previous contact. To be fair to Lewis it could have broken
of its own accord, but that has never happened before so contact
is the most likely cause. There’s certainly no evidence
that Fernando did anything wrong. The impact damaged other
elements of Lewis’s car apart from the wing - he just
had to cope as best he could."
Heikki drove very well again, but his afternoon wasn’t
entirely without problems.
"No. For a reasonable proportion of the race his car
was wounded by a very bad flat spot, after he locked up on
the opening lap. By the time he pitted his front right tyre
was worn down to the canvas. For his second stint, with hindsight,
we were maybe on the wrong type of tyre, but we went long
and heavy just to try something different. It didn’t
benefit us, but there was no harm done either.
"Heikki set the fastest lap, which added a positive sheen
but also underlined that we didn’t unleash the car’s
full potential throughout the race. It’s a further illustration
that you have to get every element of the weekend absolutely
right."
Heikki has been with you for three races and has
scored a hat trick of strong points finishes. How do you assess
progress so far?
"In all he has been with us for 11 weeks and he’s
just getting stronger and stronger. The feeling within the
team is that we still haven’t seen the best of him.
Lewis thinks as much, too, and that’s good because he
knows he’ll have to raise his game. Both Heikki and
Lewis have learned a lot in the 20 grands prix they’ve
done. They are deeply ambitious - and I know teams always
claim their drivers love each other - but everyone at Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes can sense the mutual admiration that exists
between them. They want to beat each other but they are open
and fair, so there are lots of positives."
There has been a tendency for people to view the
world championship as a two-way fight between Vodafone McLaren
Mercedes and Ferrari, but BMW Sauber is emerging as an ever
more consistent force.
"You have to congratulate BMW Sauber. I know we underperformed
a little bit, but their cars were very strong. It’s
clear that this is going to be a tight, exciting championship
- and that’s good for the Formula 1 audience. You have
to go to each race with a strong car, you have to set it up
and operate it properly and the drivers have to race it well.
If you fall short in any of those areas, you’re going
to slip back into the pack."
The series now heads to Europe after three flyaway
races. What’s next on the schedule for Vodafone McLaren
Mercedes?
"We’ve got an aero test coming up in a few days
and then we’re back on track next week in Barcelona,
which will be our first proper test for five weeks. It’s
unusual for teams to make great progress during a period of
no testing, but I’m confident we are about to make a
big step forward. That said, we recognise and respect the
strong job Ferrari and BMW are doing and don’t suppose
they’ll be standing still."
We’ve had three different winners from as many
races. When do you think we might see an established pattern
emerge?
"I’m not sure we will - and I know there will be
other winners during the campaign. I’m convinced Heikki
will reach the top step of the podium this year and the BMW
drivers look strong, too - we just need to respond and make
sure we beat them in Spain. We have slightly underperformed
for two races, but both championships are still very close.
Three teams and six drivers are all within a handful of points
of each other - I don’t think anybody is going to run
away with either of the titles this year."
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