McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is to step down as Fota chairman

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh will step down as chairman of the Formula One Teams' Association (Fota).

He took over from Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo in 2009, but will not stand for re-election.Ferrari, Red Bull and Sauber withdrew from the group in a dispute over teams' spending after the 2011 season."We have tried to be a galvanising, stabilising force, trying to understand the issues of all the players," said Whitmarsh in a statement.

"Whatever happens, we'll continue to try and do those things. But I think it would be quite neat for someone else to have a go at it.

"I care about Formula 1, whatever role I'm in. McLaren, I think, has been an extraordinarily good citizen, in my opinion, of the sport."

The future of Fota was thrown into doubt by the dispute late in 2011,but Whitmarsh feels that his not seeking re-election will present a chance for someone else to continue its work.

"At the moment we've got 10 races left and I'll concentrate on that and on other things.

"We'll see what happens, but my recommendation to them will be that someone else does it. It'll be a good opportunity for them."

Fota was formed in 2008 with the aim of representing the interests of the teams when dealing with the sport's governing body the FIA, the commercial rights holders and F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone.

Andrew Benson's Blog: Battle to catch Fernando Alonso

The 2012 Formula 1 season has already been an intoxicating mix of great racing and unpredictable results, but as the teams and drivers head off for their mid-season break it is clear that what it has served up so far has merely been an appetiser.

Had someone tried to set up the final nine races of the season, which are packed into three months starting from the Belgian Grand Prix on 2 September, they could not have scripted it better if they had tried.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso has a 40-point lead in the championship,deservedly so after producing one of the greatest half-seasons seen from any driver in a very long time.But the Spaniard, for all his innumerable qualities, does not have the best car and lined up behind him are four world-class drivers, all in faster cars, all but one a world champion, all aiming to haul him in.Let's look at the strengths and weaknesses of the leading teams.

Ferrari

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali has described the machinery in which Alonso started the season as "a car that was not a car".The F2012 was a second and a half off the pace in Melbourne in March. It has improved in leaps and bounds since then, but the Hungarian Grand Prix proved it is still far from the fastest car on a fully dry weekend.As Alonso puts it: "Lotus, McLaren and Red Bull have been ahead of us for the whole championship."

The reason Alonso is leading the championship by 40 points - a win and a third place - after 11 races is his ability to stay calm and get the most out of the car at all times.As ever, give him a sniff of victory and he just does not let go. And sometimes, as in the case of arguably his finest win in Valencia, he creates that chance himself.The Ferrari is arguably the fastest car in the field in the wet.That, and a fast and well-timed pit stop put him in a position from which he wrestled victory in Malaysia, and helped him to score the pole position from which he controlled the dry German Grand Prix.Elsewhere, he has relied on his own skill and determination to consistently notch up the results. Alonso has finished in the points for the last 23 consecutive races, which is only one shy of the all-time record, set by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari from 2001-3.

Ferrari also deserve a lot of credit, for consistently good pit stops, and solid strategy - although they have arguably let 27 points go begging through a lack of flexibility in Spain, Monaco and Canada.

Alonso has also benefited from the inconsistency of his rivals. But logic suggests that cannot go on and Ferrari's big task is to make the car significantly faster.As Alonso puts it: "Now we must try and make a good leap forward in terms of performance to allow us to keep the lead in the championship, because in the long term, what we have now will not be enough."

To be completely accurate, it would be better to say it "might not" be enough.Given the way he has been driving so far, Alonso might be able to hold on even if Ferrari don't improve their relative competitiveness. But it would be a whole lot easier if he had a faster car.

Red Bull

The serene canter to the title that was Sebastian Vettel's 2011 season is a thing of distant memory. How very different things look for the German prodigy this season.On balance, on race performance, the Red Bull has probably been the strongest car this season, albeit showing nothing like the dominant form it has for the last two years.But they have struggled to get a handle on the tyres and some atypical errors and problems have hindered their progress.Vettel and team-mate Mark Webber have been very evenly matched this season, neck and neck in qualifying and it is the Australian who is Alonso's closest pursuer in the championship, albeit by only two points from Vettel.Both men have had problems.

Vettel lost a certain fourth place - and possibly a third - when he crashed with backmarker Narain Karthikeyan in Malaysia. The Indian earned a penalty for it, but many felt it was Vettel's fault for pulling across him slightly.He lost a certain win in Valencia with an alternator failure, and his impatience and what some see as an arrogance in himself and his team meant a second place in Germany became fifth after a penalty for illegally overtaking Jenson Button.Webber, meanwhile, has been hit by what he referred to in Hungary as "friendly fire".A probable win escaped in Spain when the team erroneously failed to send him out for a second run in second qualifying and he was left down in 12th on the grid.And a strategy error cost him fifth place - and a finish ahead of Alonso - in Hungary.

The team have also earned themselves a bit of a reputation as 'bad boys' with a series of run-ins with the FIA for pushing the rules too far.The car, though, is easily good enough for either driver to overhaul Alonso.

The question is, will the intense intra-team battle between Vettel and Webber cost them both points?

McLaren

McLaren started the season with the out-and-out fastest car and, notwithstanding a mini-slump in late June and early July, have continued to have it for the vast majority of the season.Yet largely because of a series of operational errors, Lewis Hamilton finds himself 47 points behind Alonso in the championship.

Hamilton, by and large, has driven extremely well this season. Gone is the uncertain, haunted, error-prone figure of 2011, and in its place is a much calmer more serene driver. Only Alonso has driven better.

Be that as it may, Hamilton's biggest concerns surround whether McLaren can come to operate their car as effectively over a wide range of conditions as Ferrari do.The McLaren has proved very sensitive to tyre temperature, a problem that has only really been apparent on Jenson Button's car in the dry, but has left both drivers struggling in the wet.

If McLaren cannot fix that, Hamilton could find himself losing more big chunks of points to Alonso and other rivals when next there is a wet race.Bar a brilliant win in Australia and strong seconds in China and Germany, Button's season has been a disappointment for such a quality driver, and he is out of title contention.

Lotus

Lotus are yet to win a race but Kimi Raikkonen is a real championship threat.
Their problem has been qualifying at the front - the car is very fast in races, but they have often left themselves too much ground to make up.

Raikkonen's team-mate Romain Grosjean has been making too many errors and is too far behind to be considered a serious contender for the title, although a win is far from out of the question.But while the Frenchman had the edge on Raikkonen for much of the first half of the season, the Finn appears to have found his mojo again.Raikkonen was stunning in finishing second - and nearly winning - in Hungary.

And he is always brilliant at Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps - Raikkonen has either won or not finished every race he has competed in there since 2004.Lotus are expected to race their new straight-line speed boosting device there, a track where it could provide a decisive advantage.Raikkonen is only one point further adrift of Alonso than Hamilton is. A win at Spa and it really would be game on for him in the championship.

Hungarian GP: Lewis Hamilton says title within grasp after win

Lewis Hamilton says his victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix proves that he can still win the world title.

The McLaren driver is still 47 points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso, who finished fifth, but Hamilton says it shows he has the pace to close the gap.

"Game on - it's a long way to go. This shows it's all to play for," he said.

Continue reading the main story“”Lewis Hamilton

Game on - it's a long way to go. This shows it's all to play for

"Not enough points taken from Fernando, as he still got 10 points, but if we can continue this performance."

Hungary was the 11th race of the season and there are still nine remaining, starting with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on 2 September, following Formula 1's summer break.Hamilton took his victory, which came from pole position, following race-long pressure from the two Lotus cars of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean and he said their pace proved McLaren still had to improve their car.

"We need to improve the car still in many areas, and that, I'm sure, we will do," he said.

"Lotus are going to win at some stage. That car looks absolutely fantastic to drive; they are doing a great job.

"It's not unexpected - they've won world championships in the past, they are a fantastic team. And they're picking their pace up.

"They're that quick and yet they don't have the rear end [exhaust-influenced aerodynamics] Ferrari, Red Bull and us have. When they get that, the rest of us are going to be in trouble."

Despite Ferrari's lack of pace, Alonso actually extended his lead to 40 points over his closest rival in the championship, Red Bull's Mark Webber,who could only finish eighth.And the Spaniard lost only two points to the man in third place, Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who finished one place ahead of the Ferrari in fourth.Alonso said: "It was more or less what we could do and even better because, to be honest, finishing in front of Webber and one place behind Vettel is very good for us in terms of the championship.

"We were not competitive and we struggled a bit in the race, but thanks to the strategy and the consistency of the car we were able to finish in a good position."

Webber said: "Look, we've just got to stop the friendly fire. Yesterday was my fault in qually, but we have had some instances where we need to just keep doing better.

"That's how this team operates and I'm looking forward to the back part of the championship."

Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button said he felt the team's strategy had not worked for him - he complained that they brought him in for his second and third pit stops too early.

He said: "We decided to go to for a three-stop [strategy], but every time I pitted, even though the tyres were good, I pitted into traffic.

"I don't know why we pitted when we did. I said to the guys: 'Is this traffic quicker than the guys I'm racing?' And they said: 'No.' And I said: 'So why have we pitted into this traffic?

"I don't know, there must have been be a misunderstanding where I would come out of the pits. Hopefully we'll learn from this, because it happened twice.

"I'm not happy with the strategy, but happy where we've taken the car."

Hungarian GP: Kimi Raikkonen targets better qualifying

Lewis Hamilton expects Lotus to soon have the pace to win races, but Kimi Raikkonen says they need to improve in qualifying for that to happen.

Raikkonen finished second at the Hungarian Grand Prix, behind Hamilton, with his Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean third.

"It's a bit disappointing that we cannot win," said Raikkonen.

"We have not been so strong in qualifying and we keep making it very hard for ourselves on Sundays."

Lotus are still searching for a first victory in 2012, but Raikkonen has come close, finishing second on three occasions."We still keep putting ourselves in a good position to at least have a chance to win and get good results, good points for the team," added the 2007 world champion."If it comes it's great, if not, we keep trying. I've been in the business long enough that I don't really worry about things too much. We improved our position, our situation in the championship for myself and for the team."For a while, it had looked like Raikkonen's team-mate Grosjean would be Hamilton's main challenger, but traffic on the circuit saw his fight for first place ultimately fade away.

"The worst moment for me was with Michael Schumacher who wouldn't let me pass and cost me one-and-a-half seconds," said the Frenchman. "But we have to take the positive.

"I am pleased with the way we came back from nowhere in Germany to on the podium before the [summer] break."

Grosjean was being hunted down by Sebastian Vettel for much of the race. The German was determined to snatch a place on the podium, especially after missing out in Germany last week when he was demoted from second to fifth after being penalised for an illegal overtaking manoeuvre on Jenson Button.

"I think our overall speed was better than the actual result we got," said Vettel.

"I was stuck behind Jenson Button in the first stint; he was slower and we lost some time there, but of course you can't just pit and come out in clean air, there's traffic, so there's not much we could have done. The race pace was very good, so now it's up to us to do better in qualifying and at the start; then it's a different race."

Fernando Alonso saw in his 31st birthday by finishing fifth, a result that increases his lead over Mark Webber at the top of the championship to 40 points.It was the 23rd consecutive race that the Spaniard has finished in the points, and he was more than happy with the result.

"It was a good race in terms of the points and 23 consecutive races in the points is impressive," said Alonso.

"As was the case in qualifying and in Germany, the Red Bulls and McLarens are in front of us and we need to catch up. In Spa we need to be more competitive and quicker."

Webber had made a storming start to the race, quickly moving up from 11th to seventh before eventually crossing the line in eighth place.

"I am not doing much hunting at the moment," said the Australian.

"Fernando is still putting some good points together but let's see how the next few races go. We can talk about the championship when there are just a few races to go, but now we focus on the next race."

For Michael Schumacher , it was a race that he will want to quickly forget.

The seven-time world champion has won the Hungarian Grand Prix more than any other driver, with four wins, but this year's race was a hugely disappointing one for the German as he retired early following a series of problems.First, Schumacher caused the start of the race to be aborted when he stopped in the wrong grid slot, before switching off his engine when the lights flashed amber after becoming concerned it was overheating. He was subsequently wheeled back to the garage and started from the pit-lane.Then, he was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits, before eventually retiring with a telemetry problem.

"The race this weekend was done before it was started," said Schumacher. "Luckily Nico [Rosberg, who finished 10th] was able to grab a point and that shows in certain races and certain conditions we are competitive, and that is something we have to work on.

"Developments have probably kicked in better for other teams than they have for us in recent weeks. There are certain circumstances that at the moment means we are not competitive yet."

The season so far - Jaime Alguersuari

Formula 1 is just starting its summer break before it reconvenes in Belgium next month for what will be an intense final nine grands prix of the season.

It has been an incredible campaign so far - the field has been so close, with even the teams that have usually been in the midfield, such as Williams, Sauber and Force India, challenging at the front with the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull.Different races have suited different cars and drivers, and you never know arriving at a race - or even after qualifying - who is going to win.As the season has developed, the big teams have come to the top of the championship, as you would expect, even if they are not always at the front each race.It is the big teams who have the most resources to improve their cars, and none of them have been more impressive in doing so than Ferrari.They started the season at least a second-and-a-half off the pace, but they have made enormous strides both aerodynamically and mechanically, and Fernando Alonso has driven brilliantly to lead the championship by 40 points after Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.Even when things were looking bleak for himself and his team, Alonso has battled away.He has been consistently scoring points and not making mistakes. Even if he was not the fastest, he stayed cool, did the best he could. It has been very effective.Red Bull, meanwhile, are clearly still trying to unlock some potential they believe is left in the car.

I think that's why they have been having so many run-ins with the FIA over various technologies on the car, with the holes in the floor, engine mapping etc.They are struggling more than in the last two years but that car is still very good and a major threat, while McLaren remain arguably the fastest team in qualifying with Lewis Hamilton, and Lotus are getting closer and closer to a win.It's all so close, and it makes it much more interesting. It has been very enjoyable trying to commentate on it, never quite knowing what will happen.

A big reason for this is the fantastic job being done by the FIA to make F1 fairer for all the teams, especially the ones with smaller budgets.It has done this by banning the areas where you can develop a car just by pouring in loads of money - like the double diffuser in 2009, the F-duct in 2010 and the exhaust-blown diffusers last year.This year, there is still something to be gained from the exhausts, but generally it has been more about creating downforce in a more conventional way and getting the best out of the tyres. That has made it easier for the smaller teams and levelled the field.

But the big teams will always have an advantage, and I would expect them to stretch away more and more as the season goes on.Levelling the field has made the drivers more important and that is one of the reasons why Alonso is leading the championship.He has been helped by the amount Ferrari have developed their car.When they were so slow at the first race, I thought the season was already over for them in terms of the championship.At that stage I thought it was going to be a season between McLaren and Mercedes and maybe Red Bull.But Ferrari have made so much progress. They have improved their downforce, their traction and their top speed.They still don't have the best package, but it's in the general ballpark, and they have a really good driver.

I have never seen a season from Alonso like this. It has been hugely impressive. It's crazy to think that a guy whose car was so slow at the start of the season is leading the championship by 40 points - a win and a third place - with nine races to go.

The Ferrari did not look that good in Hungary, but it is a very particular track. Yet even there, where they were struggling, Alonso managed to finish fifth, when he could easily have been eighth or ninth.That's what his season has been like - a bad result for him is a fifth place. All the other drivers would love to be able to have that.

I think he will win the championship if he continues doing his job like this, and I don't see any reason why he won't.

I see him really relaxed and under control. He never looks in a rush or anxious, like Sebastian Vettel was in the last two races, especially in Germany.

Alonso never struggles to understand the tyres. He has full faith in the team and the car and in himself and that is exactly what you need to win titles.I've never done that in F1, but I know from winning in other categories that when you have this self-confidence, with everything in control, it is because you are completely sure in what you can do.You are completely patient and it's like nothing can stop you. It's difficult to explain, it's just a driver's feeling.

Hungarian GP: Lewis Hamilton takes dominant pole position

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was in a league of his own as he took pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Englishman set two laps fast enough for pole, an early benchmark that proved out of reach of his rivals and then an even faster lap to take pole by 0.413 seconds.
Lotus driver Romain Grosjean was second ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.
Jenson Button was fourth, Kimi Raikkonen fifth, Fernando Alonso sixth and Mark Webber only 11th.
The top 10 was rounded out by Alonso's Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, the Williams of Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna, and Nico Hulkenberg's Force India.
Red Bull's Webber, second in the championship behind Ferrari driver Alonso, was knocked out in the second session.
The Australian could manage only 11th fastest time, despite being only 0.308 secs slower than Vettel, who was second fastest in that session behind Hamilton.
Hamilton said: "It is great to finally see the upgrades working and I have been able to put the car where I want to this weekend. We are not saying we are relaxed.
"We know we have a lot of work to do, starting this weekend."
It was a hugely impressive performance by Hamilton, who has looked the man to beat all weekend, and Grosjean lived up to the potential Lotus had appeared to have.
The Frenchman and his team-mate Raikkonen are expected to be a serious threat in the race, where their impressive tyre preservation ensures they are nearly always a factor.
Grosjean said of his second place: "It is good to be back at the front. We had a difficult race in Germany but I am glad we have been able to improve here and I think tomorrow is going to be interesting."
Alonso's performance, meanwhile, proved Ferrari's point that they do not have the fastest car in terms of outright pace in the dry, and that the Spaniard's 34-point championship lead has been caused largely by his impressive consistency.
Although Alonso has been on pole for the last two races, both those qualifying sessions were in the wet.
Red Bull's performance, on a track on which they have dominated for the last two seasons in terms of pure pace, will confirm in many minds that they have been knocked backwards by a rule change before this race restricting the manner in which they were altering engine settings for improved cornering performance and tyre wear.
But Red Bull's Vettel said: "It has been more a case of it being difficult getting everything to work properly. The speed is there but it has been a struggle to get the balance. I think with the progress we have made we should be in a good position tomorrow."
It was a terrible day for Mercedes, the challenging layout of endless corners at the Hungaroring exposing the weakness in their car that has been apparent for some time.