Jerome D’Ambrosio Setting No Targets Ahead Of F1 Return

Jerome D’Ambrosio has set himself no major targets ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, in which the Belgian driver is set to make his return to the sport in place of the banned Romain Grosjean at Lotus. This will be D’Ambrosio’s first race since Brazil last year, after he was replaced at Virgin Racing (now Marussia) by Charles Pic.

Speaking ahead of his return this weekend, Jerome D’Ambrosio explained how he has not set himself any major targets. After being informed by the team he would be racing on Monday, the 26-year-old Belgian driver has had little time to prepare for his return to the sport. Unlike other teams up and down the grid, Lotus have not run Jerome D’Ambrosio during Friday practice this season. This means D’Ambrosio’s last taste of F1 machinery came at the Mugello mid-season test, on a treacherously wet track.

However, Jerome D’Ambrosio is net deterred by his lack of running in the Lotus E20, and is hopeful he can achieve a competitive result for his team this weekend. Lotus have finished on the podium in the last three races this season, and both Kimi Raikkonen and Jerome D’Ambrosio will undoubtedly be striving to continue this competitive streak as the Enstone-based outfit remain confident they can clinch the Drivers’ Championship this season.

“I don’t have much information to set myself a position target – or anything.” Explained Jerome D’Ambrosio, “I really want to stay focussed on what I’ve got to do, with the job, with the engineers, in the car. Stay focussed on that. Once that is done correctly we can hope for something good on Sunday – but only if I stay focussed on my job, so this is what I will try to do.”

Jerome D’Ambrosio’s maiden F1 season last year yielded no truly competitive results, however it is unquestionable that the Belgian driver has been offered a second chance to prove his worth this weekend in a car which is more than capable of finishing on the podium or better. With the possibility of vacancies at teams such as Sauber, Force India and Caterham next season, there is definitely a chance Jerome D’Ambrosio could find himself back in a full-time drive next season, especially if this weekend proves highly successful.

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Michael Schumacher Confident Ahead Of The Monaco GP

Five-time Monaco Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher is feeling confident heading into next weekends Monaco Grand Prix, even though the 7-time World Champion will suffer a five-place grid drop after qualifying. This is due to the incident he allegedly caused with Bruno Senna at the Spanish Grand Prix.

With Pirelli offering the teams the super-soft (red) tyres for the first time in 2012, tyres once again look set to be the talking point throughout the Monaco Grand Prix weekend. Due to this, Schumacher is optimistic that Mercedes will do well, with tyre management set to be a crucial aspect of the demanding 78 lap race.

“Monaco is just a circuit of its own very unique character. Every time you go there, you just look forward to finally getting out and driving the track. Of course, knowing that I will lose five positions on the grid does not add to this feeling but this just means that I will have to try even harder. I’m actually quite confident that we should look reasonably good in Monaco due to the hard work that everybody in the team is putting into the development of our car.”

Mercedes have already won a race in 2012, albeit at the hands of Schumacher’s team-mate Nico Rosberg. The 26-year-old believes there is as many as ten drivers’ who have a chance at winning the Monaco Grand Prix this year, a fact which could make the race one of the most intriguing and exciting around the Principality in many years.

The German Constructor hasn’t won a race around the Monte-Carlo street circuit since 1937, when Manfred von Brauchitsch took victory in a Mercedes 1-2-3 finish. Back then the race was 100 laps long, and took three hours to complete. However, Mercedes have won seven times at Monaco as engine suppliers, the last time being in 2009 when Jenson Button took his Mercedes powered Brawn to victory.

Picture Copyright © Mercedes AMG Petronas 

Safety Modifications Ahead Of The 70th Monaco Grand Prix

With only two races before the running of the most prestigious race of all, the Monaco Grand Prix, the Automobile Club de Monaco have completed various modifications to the Monte-Carlo circuit. These come after the FIA requested these alterations, which aim at safety after Sergio Perez’s huge incident last year.

During qualifying for last season’s Monaco Grand Prix, the Sauber of Sergio Perez lost control of his car whilst exiting the tunnel. This resulted in the car snapping violently to the right, sending the Mexican whirling to disaster in the barriers. Sergio Perez, who was competing in his first season in Formula 1, was subsequently retained in hospital overnight suffering from concussion and bruising to his thigh.

All work requested by the FIA was completed, as follows:

 

• The Pit Lane exit, leading to the track, was widened from 10m to 20m, by removing a planter. Cars will now be able to return to the track at a much greater speed.

• A laser study of the road surface was undertaken by a specialist company, leading to a planing of the road from the tunnel to the chicane by up to 20 cm at certain points. This removed a bump and corrected some banking.

• The impact point of the chicane was pushed back by 14.6m.

• The track surface at the exit of the escape lane and the Mirabeau escape lane was replaced with an abrasive braking surface, as used on the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit.

• Pit lane protection was completely refurbished by removing windows and replacing them with metal safety gratings.

• Tyre barriers previously placed on the St. Devote corner and around the Swimming Pool S-bend have been replaced with the latest generation of TecPro barriers.

• As every year, a third of the circuit was resurfaced, between the tunnel exit and the Rascasse.

The Monaco Grand Prix will take place between the 24th – 27th May, and will be supported by the GP2 and GP3 Series’. This weekend the F1 fraternity gathers in Bahrain under controversial circumstances. It will be a breath of fresh air once the sport returns to Europe in May for the Spanish Grand Prix, before it then focuses on Monaco for the 70th race around the legendary and demanding street circuit.

Picture Copyright © Mercedes AMG Petronas

FIA Adjust Rules Ahead Of Australian Grand Prix

The FIA have adjusted several rules ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, including slight adjustments to the DRS, personnel curfews and tyre allocations during the weekend during rain effected practice sessions.

The exact alterations to the rules and regulations are as follows:

• One set of dry-weather tyres may now be carried over to Saturday if both Friday sessions are declared wet; it is hoped that this will result in teams carrying out more laps on Saturday.
• Changes have been made to the personnel curfew to ensure the rest periods remain constant throughout the season, irrespective of the timing of practice sessions at particular events.
• The race director may no prohibit the use of the adjustable rear wing (DRS) if he feels visibility is too poor in wet conditions. This has been done as a result of safety concerns over large speed differentials between cars.

These alterations have been passed by the World Motor Sport Council, and join the other new rules for the 2012 season. 

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Michael Schumacher Cautious Ahead Of First Race

After enjoying a relatively successful winter testing programme, Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher has disclosed that he is still cautious ahead of the first race in Australia next weekend. The 7-time World Champion has had a less-than-successful return to the sport in the last two seasons, and believes victory in Melbourne is unlikely. 

Mercedes unveiled their car later than the rest of the field (with the exception of Marussia and HRT) with the aim of using the extra time to further develop and improve the car. Although pre-season testing went well for the team, Michael Schumacher still believes Red Bull are ahead of the opposition. 

“The car is reliable which is already good,” Michael Schumacher said on his official website. “The first impression was already quite positive. We were driving out of the box with the car and everything went well, so there is potential. We are heading into the season much better prepared than in the past two years, and we can fully concentrate onto the development of our car. The speed is promising. I hope we can show that in Melbourne. We were able to drive a lot during the tests and therefore learn a lot too, and we certainly have made a step forward. But I want to wait until after the first races to judge how big this step is and how much it is worth compared to our competitors.”

Both of the Mercedes drivers’ are searching for race victories in 2012, with Nico Rosberg searching for his maiden win and Michael Schumacher for his first since the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix with Ferrari. 

Picture Copyright © Mercedes GP 

Bernie Ecclestone Confident Bahrain GP Will Go Ahead

Formula 1 Supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, has spoken out about the recent concerns regarding April’s Bahrain Grand Prix, stating the teams have no concerns regarding the race. This comes after several peers from the UK House of Lords and the leader of the Green Party wrote to The Times voicing their concern.

However, speaking to The Daily Telegraph about the situation, Bernie Ecclestone seemed unconcerned by the continued violence in the Kingdom.

“We are planning to go. I’ve always said that if there was going to be any drama it would be on the Day of Rage. They would have to do something then. People there seem confident that a race two months away will be alright.” 

As the Day of Rage escalated, petrol bombs were thrown at police cars whereas the police retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets. With this in mind, people can be forgiven for believing this is no place for an international sporting event such as Formula 1 to take place. 

Last month 1996 World Champion, Damon Hill, returned from Bahrain with FIA President Jean Todt and was happy to see the race go ahead, contrary to last season when Hill was behind the agreement to cancel the event.

Last season the Bahrain Grand Prix was initially postponed, then canceled as Bernie tried his hardest to keep the race on the calendar. GP2 will also visit the nation in April, supporting the Bahrain Grand Prix as well as staging their own standalone race weekend the following weekend. 

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Kimi Raikkonen Calm Ahead Of F1 Return

After unveiling his new challenger, the Lotus Renault E20, Kimi Raikkonen seemed exceedingly calm ahead of his return to Formula 1. After completing two days of running in a 2010-spec Renault last month, the Finn is confident he can perform.

“I’m happy to be back.” He commented after pulling the covers off the new Lotus with team-mate Romain Grosjean, who also makes his return to F1 this season. When asked whether he was nervous about his comeback, especially after Schumacher’s slow return to form, he didn’t seem perturbed about the whole scenario.

“No not really, it will be something slightly different to what it used to be from when I was first in Formula One.” Said Raikkonen, comparing his return to that of Schumacher, “A different team, different regulations but everybody’s different and for some people it is more difficult to get used to new stuff. It depends a lot on the car as well. If you have a good car it makes it a lot easier than if you have an average car. I was pretty happy after the first test that we did a few weeks ago. It felt pretty normal already so I think it will be okay. I’m happy so far about how things have gone.”

Kimi Raikkonen left the sport after the 2009 season after suffering two dismal years with Ferrari. In 2008 and 2009 he was only able to win three races in comparison to team-mate Felipe Massa’s 6 in one season for Ferrari. 

After leaving the sport, he raced in the World Rally Championship as well as dabbling in Nascar, before eventually returning to Formula 1 with Lotus. Raikkonen is confident success can be found with the Enstone based squad, and expects decent results throughout 2012.