Apr.21 (GMM)  Luca di Montezemolo has stepped down as chairman of the Italian carmaker Fiat.

He will, however, remain president of Ferrari, with 34-year-old John Elkann – a descendant of the founding Agnelli family – replacing him at Fiat because Montezemolo has “finished the task” he began in 2004.

Montezemolo, 62, denied the move is a precursor to moving into Italian politics or even founding his own party, insisting he is staying on the Fiat board and will not stop heading Ferrari.

On the same day, Montezemolo announced that he still wants “major teams” such as Ferrari “and McLaren” to be allowed to enter third cars in grands prix.

“We want a third car and I would do everything to have Valentino (Rossi),” he told reporters.

“When he wins this year’s MotoGP, enough is enough, he must also win in formula one,” the Ferrari chairman and president added.

Apr.21 (GMM)  It took them nearly 50 hours, but F1 drivers including Jaime Alguersuari and Mark Webber are now back home.

Toro Rosso’s Alguersuari, who travelled with Virgin test driver and countryman Andy Soucek, lost count of how many times they landed at airports to change plane and destination.

“We feel like we’ve been around the whole world,” the Spaniard told the EFE news agency.  Mark Webber’s return to his UK home took him 44 hours.

The F1 cars could soon begin their journey back to Europe, with McLaren confirming they are “likely to be freighted to Bilbao within the next 24 hours”.

Many of the sport’s personnel are not so lucky.  Williams’ PR Claire Williams, the daughter of Sir Frank Williams, has been told by British Airways in Hong Kong that there may be no flights until May 5.

“They have to be kidding,” she wrote on her Twitter.

Apr.20 (GMM) Avon has confirmed reports it is a potential supplier of tyres in formula one next year.

The name entered the frame as a potential replacement for F1′s departing sole supplier Bridgestone in China last weekend, amid suggestions the teams group FOTA had agreed an in-principle deal with Michelin.

But with the famous French marque wanting to be paid and pushing for regulations allowing much lower profile tyres, it was rumoured Avon was favoured by Bernie Ecclestone and the smaller teams as a non-branded and cheaper option.

UK based Avon, supplier to the defunct A1GP open wheeler series, was sold to Ohio based Cooper in 1997.

Its motor racing division said in a statement that it “has been approached” to supply tyres to F1 teams.

“The company is in discussion with the relevant parties and cannot comment further at this stage,” said Avon Cooper.

It is rumoured that Bridgestone could remain quietly involved beyond this year as the non-official supplier of technology and personnel to Avon.

F1 team bosses Martin Whitmarsh and Stefano Domenicali said they are confident the issue will be resolved by the next race in Barcelona.

“I think we will know something more, I would say 100 per cent, by Barcelona,” Ferrari’s Domenicali said before departing Shanghai.

Apr.20 (GMM)  The latest management reshuffle at McLaren has made team boss Martin Whitmarsh an even more powerful figure within the Woking based company.

Ron Dennis is still chairman of both the McLaren Group and the newly separate road car division McLaren Automotive.

But the British outfit revealed on Tuesday that 51-year-old Whitmarsh, already team principal of the Mercedes-powered F1 squad, has been appointed to two new roles.

With immediate effect, he is to be CEO of the McLaren Group and deputy chairman of McLaren Automotive, after Sir Richard Lapthorne resigned his non-executive chairmanship of both companies.

Whitmarsh is also a board member of the McLaren Group and McLaren Automotive.

Apr.20 (GMM) Norbert Haug on Tuesday is quoted as applauding the better environment in formula one this year.

After his long reign and the bitter political war of 2009, Max Mosley has been replaced as FIA president by Jean Todt.

There had been concerns about the Frenchman’s appointment due to his links with Ferrari and his often belligerent attitude in running the Italian team.

And it was believed that former candidate Ari Vatanen was supported by many of the teams because of his vocal opposition to Mosley, while Todt was viewed as the continuation of the Briton’s unpopular regime.

But Mercedes’ Haug told the German news agency DPA: “There is a constructive atmosphere now. I hope the cooperation goes on.”

For now, the scandals of the past years have quietened, but Haug is not expecting a perpetual peace. “There will be more hard fighting in the future,” he predicted.

Apr.20 (GMM) Ferrari on Tuesday continued to deny a reported rift between its F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.

The Italian team slammed “some news outlets” for trying to create “bad blood” between the Spanish and Brazilian pair, after it was suggested Massa had been unhappy with Alonso’s pit entry overtaking move during the Chinese GP.

“There is no dispute between Alonso and Massa, they know well what they have to do and will continue doing it, because they know that they are racing for Ferrari and not for themselves,” said Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo on a statement posted on the marque’s official website.

And in yet another posting on the website, Ferrari quoted Alonso and Massa as being “tired and surprised” when they learned of the media reports after landing in Nice from their flight from Shanghai.

“As it happens quite often, there’s always someone who wants to create some confusion,” said Massa.

“The situation between me and Fernando is the one it always has been and an overtaking manoeuvre won’t change it for sure.”

Asked if he has spoken with Alonso about the move, he answered: “Sure, just like we talk to each other every day when we’re on the track.

“We both know very well what Ferrari wants from us drivers and what we have to do on the track,” he added.

Alonso also said he was “surprise” to learn of the media controversy.

“If someone wants to make a fuss, it definitely won’t ruin the spirit of Ferrari,” said the Spaniard.

Apr.20 (GMM) Martin Brundle has revealed that he would push for harsher decisions and penalties if he was a formula one steward.

So far in 2010, to give additional credibility to the officials’ adjudications, experienced former drivers including Alain Prost, Johnny Herbert and Alex Wurz have acted as stewards at grands prix.

But although Brundle argues that the “brutal and sometimes unfathomable penalties” of the recent past have now been eradicated, he thinks the stewards are now being too lenient.

The former McLaren driver, a full-time commentator for British television since retiring in 1996, wrote in his BBC column that Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton should have been penalised for their pitlane stoush in China.

“They both received a reprimand, but what does that mean? How long does a reprimand last and how many are you allowed to collect before a real penalty?” said Brundle.

“They are lucky I wasn’t the resident driver steward for the weekend because I would have strongly recommended dropping them both some penalty places on the grid for the next race in Barcelona.

“The decision taken has set a very dangerous precedent,” he charged.

Brundle also said race winner Jenson Button deserved a penalty for unduly slowing behind the safety car prior to a race restart.

“I wouldn’t have been a popular steward with my former McLaren team but that job is not a popularity contest. Ask any referee,” said the Briton.

Apr.20 (GMM) The reaction prior to Sunday’s Chinese grand prix was already not positive, so Michael Schumacher is advised to avoid the media in the wake of the Shanghai race.

After finishing a minute behind Nico Rosberg at the chequered flag, and seven tenths off his teammate’s pace in qualifying, the specialist Auto Motor und Sport said China was probably “the worst weekend in the record winner’s whole career”.

The German magazine gave 41-year-old Schumacher just 3 out of 10 for his performance at the wheel of the grey Mercedes.

One of his former Ferrari teammates, who did not want to be named, told the Independent: “After the beating he got on Sunday, in conditions in which the old Michael Schumacher excelled, I don’t think he’ll ever come back to his old level.”

The Cologne publication Express published a photo-shopped image of a snail with the seven time world champion’s head and cap, while France’s Auto Hebdo observed that in China “the former rain king seemed lost”.

Bild newspaper’s headline read: “Rain God? Schumi got flooded!”, while Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport asked of Schumacher’s return: “Why did he do it?”

The sports newspaper Tuttosport said Schumacher “is only a shadow of himself”, while another sports daily Corriere dello Sport called him “an old lion attacked by a group of young and hungry animals”.

The broadsheet La Stampa said: “F1 without overtaking? Just ask Schumacher, who was passed constantly”, while the major La Repubblica said the German “is no longer in the league of the best formula one drivers”.

Hamburg’s Abendblatt called Schumacher a “learner driver”, while the Frankfurter Rundschau blasted his “horrible performance” and Austria’s Kleine Zeitung said he had been “humiliated” in China.

Britain’s The Guardian recalled the moment in the post-race press conference when Lewis Hamilton was asked how it had felt to race wheel-to-wheel with his childhood hero.

Jenson Button leaned over and demanded Hamilton “tell the truth” before the pair both laughed, and the Guardian said the exchange “may have been the unkindest cut of all” for Schumacher.

“The way things look, it would be no surprise to see him bowing out with as much dignity as he can salvage before the formula one season is very much older,” added the newspaper.

Apr.20 (GMM) Lotus is hoping to put in place plans for a Malaysian headquarters and wind tunnel later this year.

The Norfolk based team, headed by Malaysian airline tycoon Tony Fernandes, said at its inception that its longer plan was to call Malaysia home.

A report in the Malaysian newspaper The Star said Lotus is planning a facility with a wind tunnel and CFD centre at the Sepang circuit.

“We are already moving towards getting this project off the ground and we are hopeful that it could be completed by this year,” confirmed team principal Fernandes.

He also said Lotus needs to find more sponsors.

Apr.20 (GMM) Two days after the chequered flag in Shanghai, the world of formula one is still clamouring to leave the venue of the Chinese grand prix.

Although there are signs the volcanic ash cloud above Europe might soon clear for a few days to allow its hordes of absent residents to return home, multitudes of F1′s travelling personnel are currently embarking on elaborate journeys to reunite with team bases and families.

Mark Webber flew from China to Dubai, then to Rome, and woke up in Nice on Tuesday morning after five hours of sleep with a mission to return to the UK.

Others have tackled even more bizarre routes back to Europe, including Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari who headed to Madrid via Shanghai, Beijing and New York.

Some, like Indian rookie Karun Chandhok who flew to Madras, were essentially unaffected; Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg went on vacation to Thailand, while Lewis Hamilton had a sponsor date in South Africa.

Peter Sauber went on business to Dubai and Japan.

But Nico Hulkenberg, like hundreds of others involved in the sport, are simply holed up in Shanghai with an hopeful eye on the air timetables. Sebastian Vettel is hoping for a direct flight to Switzerland on Tuesday.

Michael Schumacher proved that in F1 it’s all about who you know, as he has hitched a ride on Bernie Ecclestone’s private plane, but at last word they were still awaiting a green light to fly to Europe.

There are reports that Norbert Haug and Timo Glock found seats on Lufthansa flights to Europe on Monday night, while Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali and Aldo Costa also somehow managed to head straight for Europe.

Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were aboard Ferrari’s first of several flights home, with subsequent flights also scheduled even though their destination is not entirely known.

A shared charter with fellow Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso and Sauber is plan-B.

Alonso’s friend Robert Kubica was also aboard Ferrari’s initial VIP flight, so as to be in Italy to drive a Renault Clio in this week’s Rally 1000 Miglia.

When asked by Spain’s AS correspondent if the Ferrari favour was the first sign that Alonso will have a new teammate in 2011, Kubica rolled his eyes and answered: “Sure, sure, sure.”

The Lotus team, owned by Malaysian aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes, was jetted to Kuala Lumpur to await an AirAsia charter back to Europe.

McLaren’s chartered jet, with buses waiting in Spain to then take team members on a long road trip back to the UK, is scheduled to leave Shanghai on Wednesday.

“We have said if it is a big enough plane, then anyone else can come on board,” said team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

Williams’ aviation partner Cloud9 is also looking into a private team charter, while bosses Sam Michael and Adam Parr flew from Shanghai to Dubai but then found themselves unexpectedly diverted to Beirut.

It is rumoured that some teams are looking into moving their cars back to Europe while the FOM planes are stuck in Europe, but the idea of putting the containers on boats has been ruled out.

“You need a plane,” said Mercedes’ Haug. “By boat, we will run out of time before Barcelona.”

Apr.20 (GMM) The first races of his McLaren career prove that F1 should not always leap to quick judgements, Jenson Button said before departing for a holiday in Thailand as the new championship leader.

The reigning world champion joined the British team in 2010 amid widespread claims he would be destroyed by McLaren’s much-loved incumbent Lewis Hamilton.

But after four races, 30-year-old Button has outqualified Hamilton on three occasions, while winning two races compared to his 25-year-old teammate’s none.

In comments published in the Guardian, Button suggested he had been hurt by the F1 world’s pre-season predictions.

“Sometimes we should sit back and watch and enjoy instead of speaking out aloud too much. It (the predictions) might be true in the future, you never know. I don’t know.

“But I feel happy with what’s happening now,” said the Melbourne and Shanghai winner.

Hamilton, however, is expecting the tide to turn soon, after his recent drives through the field were described by some pundits as among the best of his career.

“I feel I have had great races,” he agreed, “but he (Button) has taken the right decisions and taken the easier route. I have had the harder route and got good results but hopefully soon I will take the easier route.”

Hamilton said in the Telegraph that he is not surprised about Button doing well so far in 2010.

“There was a lot of stuff about him joining my team and I would be favoured … I am really happy for him. He did a better job and I am sure that when the tables turn, as they will, it will the same for me,” said the Briton.

He also played down suggestions that, while the first cracks appear in the relationship between Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, the same will happen at McLaren.

“I don’t think it will happen with us,” said Hamilton. “The good thing with me and Jenson is that we clearly want to beat each other, but Jenson is very smart and does not have that too-aggressive flair in him and neither have I.”

In the Daily Express, meanwhile, Button described Hamilton’s unyielding racing style as “like a pitbull”, adding that he loves “having a teammate who’s like that”.

(GMM) Ferrari has hit back at reports that said Felipe Massa was unhappy with Fernando Alonso’s pit entry overtaking move in China.

In a website entry headlined ‘False polemics’, the Maranello based team said the Brazilian driver’s comments were “taken out of context” in an attempt by “some news outlets” to “create bad blood” between him and Alonso.

On Monday, we reported 28-year-old Massa’s comments to the Brazilian media when he said he ran onto the grass to let the charging Spaniard through in order to avoid “an accident”.

But the Ferrari report said the incident “won’t change anything at all regarding the relationship” between the pair, with Massa and Alonso “travelling back to Europe on the same flight”.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali suggested after the clash that Massa might be upset.

“I have to say that Fernando, he is a racer, and I have to say that Felipe behaved very, very well,” said the Italian.

“It is not easy, and I can understand what could be his (Massa’s) feeling, but this episode has not changed our philosophy and for me that is the most important thing,” added Domenicali.

The veteran Italian reporter Pino Allievi said Spaniard Alonso’s aggression could have been a turning point in his relationship with Massa.

“(It was) an abrupt way of reclaiming the team leadership with an unexpected and chilling manoeuvre,” he wrote in La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Typical of someone who, behind the peaceful exterior, hides the killer instinct of a champion,” Allievi added.

Mercedes GP have also brought a new rear wing to try out the advantages of McLaren’s blown rear wing. Both drivers initially tested the new design, but only Nico Rosberg chose to use it during the race on Chinese GP, a move which Schumacher dubbed as ‘probably a better choice than my opinion’ after he found his teammate 0.6 tenths quicker during qualifying.

This new wing is still experimental and features a small channel in the middle of the wing. With two small openings in the low deck of the rear wing feed the channel that exits again on the rear end of the upper deck.

Apr.18 (GMM) There has been an interesting sighting in the Shanghai paddock this weekend.

Tony George was CEO of the former US grand prix venue Indianapolis Motor Speedway until he resigned last year.

He is credited with bringing F1 back to America in 200 on a novel road course inside the fabled Indy 500 oval, and until he stepped down was keen to pen a new race promotion deal with Bernie Ecclestone.

France’s Auto Hebdo reports that George, 50, met with the F1 chief executive in Shanghai.

Apr.19 (GMM) Felipe Massa was not happy with his Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso in the wake of Sunday’s Chinese grand prix.

With Alonso facing the prospect of queuing in the pitlane for service behind the sister Ferrari, he overtook the Brazilian on the pit entry road, forcing Massa to take avoiding action on the grass.

Stefano Domenicali said afterwards that he only saw the incident later in a video replay, but Italian reports say the team’s boss threw his hands into the air when he saw the pass on the pitwall live.

The Italian said it had been “just a racing incident”, and played down suggestions of “problems” between the Latin pair.

But Brazilian reports said Massa was visibly upset with Alonso as they emerged from their cars in parc ferme, and reportedly only raised his eyebrows before refusing to comment when asked if he thought the Spaniard’s move was rude.

And he told Brazil’s Globo: “Alonso put his car next to mine and, when I saw him, I knew that we could have an accident. So I thought about the team and it made me lose more than three places.

“Of course I’ll talk to him,” Massa, 28, added.

Alonso, now three places ahead of former title leader Massa in the drivers’ standings, played down the incident.

“If he was not my teammate, there wouldn’t be so much talk about it and for me it was a normal move and it definitely won’t compromise our relationship,” he said.