F1 & WRC: July 2011

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Latvala started to push too late

Ford ace Jari-Matti Latvala has revealed how his push for victory on Neste Oil Rally Finland yesterday came just too late.

The Finn, who won the world championship qualifier for the first time last year, started the final morning 2.6s behind leader Sebastien Loeb’s Citroen. But the combination of a damp road surface - which helped Loeb and hindered Latvala - plus a lack of satisfaction with the handling of his factory Ford Fiesta RS WRC, meant the gap to Loeb increased to 20 seconds until a set-up change at penultimate service transformed his fortunes.
“The humidity was so high [on Friday] night that all the roads were damp,” explained Latvala. “The moisture bound together the loose gravel and the cars ahead didn’t have to sweep the dirt off the surface as we expected. Our road position wasn’t the advantage we thought it would be. First in the order turned out to be the best because that’s the position that offered the most traction.”
He continued: “I had tried different things with the damper, but finally I saw there was too much pre-load in the rear differential. I changed that and got rid of the understeer and got the confidence. I was closing on the lead all the time but I ran out of kilometres. Just two more stages would have been enough. I drove badly this morning when the car didn’t perform as I would have liked and I didn’t know what to do. I finally realised that I needed to make a change in the differential, and when I made that everything came together. Unfortunately it was too late.”
Latvala eventually settled for second place after demoting Sebastien Ogier to third on the second Surkee stage. His gap to Loeb at the finish was 8.1s.

Mark Webber laments wrong tyre choice

Mark Webber was left lamenting a wrong tyre call during the Hungarian Grand Prix, after finishing a distant fifth in the race.
The Australian decided to switch to intermediates when it started to rain again late in the race.
The decision, however, backfired, as the rain stopped quickly and Webber was forced to pit again for slicks.
Webber, who crossed the finish line nearly 50 seconds off winner Jenson Button, admitted it had been his call.
"It was quite an enjoyable grand prix up until when you make the wrong decisions from the cockpit," said Webber. "I made the right one to go to the slicks when I did, which worked out well, but you look completely stupid when you are only on the intermediates for two laps.
"If it rains heavier, for another three or four minutes, then that's the right decision. So that's the roll of the dice you've got to make. Obviously the difference between the slicks and intermediates when it was wet was a lot.
"It was my call. I decided to roll the dice and, if it worked, obviously you win big. If you lose - I lost some positions. That's the way it was today."
Webber said he was also hurt by the rain at the start of the race, having to start from the dirty and wetter side of the track.
"It was pretty slippery on that side of the grid I think. I got away reasonable. I saw the Mercedes and those guys got a very good start - better than me for sure. That was the first part of the race, but you knew it was going to be some more decisions late in the race. I got some right, some wrong."