A meeting of the Technical Working Group did not result in a decision about F1′s tyre supplier for 2011.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, however, reports that Pirelli has moved into pole position for the contract, even though recent rumours suggested both the Italian marque and Michelin were offering to supply tyres for 1.5m euros per team.

Earlier this week, representatives of Pirelli met with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the technical directors’ meeting, it emerges that the new tyre supplier and the ban on double diffusers will not be the only technical changes for 2011.

The magazine said the main area of attention, apart from the return of KERS, is aerodynamics. Pending the approval of the FIA, the bodywork ahead of the sidepods, and the flow aids under the chassis, are to disappear.

It is also expected that the front wings will be smaller, while the front wing adjustors could be replaced by adjustable rear wings.

It is this year’s generation of Bridgestone tyres that is helping Mark Webber to be so competitive at the wheel of the Red Bull.

The Australian commandingly won the past two grands prix from pole position, causing experts to wonder how his highly rated teammate Sebastian Vettel is being momentarily put in the shade.

The latest issue of Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport magazine quotes Webber, 33, as admitting that he is enjoying the narrower and more durable 2010 tyres provided by sole supplier Bridgestone.

“The new generation of tyres better suit my driving style,” he confirmed.

“The fronts do not bite as extremely and the rears have better lateral stability. Sebastian prefers it the other way around,” added Webber.

Vettel said: “You can’t get as much out of these tyres than before. They have a lower limit.”

Like Vettel, Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher have been struggling with the 2010 tyres.

Only with the softest compounds, as were used in Bahrain and Monaco, can Massa cope with the pace of his Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso.

“I have been having trouble getting the harder tyres to work,” the Brazilian said. “With the softer ones I have the grip that I need from the first lap.”

(GMM)

Williams and the FIA suspect that a loose drain cover caused Rubens Barrichello’s high speed crash during the Monaco grand prix.

The team’s technical director initially diagnosed a rear suspension failure.

“We have a good idea which part is suspect, but to be completely sure, we need to await the results of materials tests back at the factory,” Sam Michael said earlier this week.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport now reports that FIA experts conducted an investigation and now think a loose drain cover damaged the left rear wheel.

Another loose drain cover in the first sector of the famous street circuit last Sunday caused a short safety car period.

Barrichello’s chassis and engine were not damaged, but the magazine said the Cosworth unit will as a precaution only now be used during Friday practice sessions this year.

The gearbox was also not substantially damaged, but Grove based Williams has decided to replace it anyway.

The sister FW32 of Nico Hulkenberg also crashed heavily in Monaco, meaning that both cars will have to use an older specification front wing in Turkey next weekend.

“It might have been possible (to replace the damaged wings), but then we would have compromised the next developments for Montreal,” explained Michael.
(GMM)

A week after the banned former Renault boss hosted Bernie Ecclestone on the 60-metre Force Blue on the Monaco harbour, police boarded it on Thursday.

They had followed the yacht with high speed boats to the port of La Spezia, near the northern city of Genoa, with the 60-year-old Italian, his wife Elisabetta and new son Falco all on board.

Local prosecutor Walter Cotugno ordered the boat be impounded on the suspicion it is improperly registered as a charter.

Investigators suspect Briatore has registered it in the Cayman Islands, with a hire price of 275,000 euros a week, in order to obtain a tax break and to avoid paying sales tax when anchoring in European harbours.

They suspect the yacht is not chartered at all and in fact is used only by Briatore’s family.
(GMM)

Williams has emerged as a third possible recipient of Renault engines for the 2011 season.

After the French marque said it has the capacity to add more teams to its current F1 roster, it was rumoured that the hopeful newcomers ART could be eyeing Renault power.

Reports then emerged that the new Cosworth-powered Lotus team might be contemplating a change of engine supplier.

Now, Italy’s Autosprint reports that Williams – openly not entirely happy with its current Cosworth engines – is already in talks with Renault.

There may also be a link between the Williams/Renault talks, and rumours that Renault’s former long-time engineering director Pat Symonds could soon be a consultant to the design of Williams’ forthcoming FW33 car.

Renault currently supplies the team that bears its name, as well as the dominant Red Bull Racing, and Renault’s head of engine operations Remi Taffin said: “We still do not know how it will be in 2011.

“But we do know that we have the ability to assist more than two teams.”

(GMM)

Luca di Montezemolo has once again repeated his disapproval of F1′s new teams.

In the wake of the carmaker exodus, the Ferrari president expressed his desire to see the big teams be allowed to field third cars.

Instead, new teams including Virgin, HRT and a relaunched Lotus debuted with the support of the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone.

But earlier this year Maranello based Ferrari ridiculed the new entry list as being more deserving of the name ‘Formula GP3′.

And Montezemolo is now quoted by Tuttosport: “In the 60th year of formula one, Ferrari is celebrating its 800th grand prix.

“Let me say with pride that no one will be able to match this record.

“For us it is a source of great satisfaction and pride because is represents that Ferrari has been here even in difficult times, while other teams have come and have gone.

“I repeat that formula one without Ferrari is not formula one, and this year there are many teams that should be racing in GP2,” added Montezemolo.

(GMM)

Mercedes is winning the race as the team with the fastest pitstops in 2010.

An analysis by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport shows the Brackley based team has performed the fastest race pitstop at the last four grands prix of the season.

Interestingly, Michael Schumacher was turned around the fastest of the entire F1 field in China, Spain and Monaco, while his teammate Nico Rosberg only received the quickest service in Malaysia.

The Red Bull pit crew, meanwhile, did the fastest pitstops at the opening Bahrain and Australian grands prix, with both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber benefitting equally from the quick service.

The speed of the tyre-changing pit crews is more significant this year than in the recent past due to the ban on refuelling.

(GMM)

Another possible venue for a future United States grand prix has emerged.

After talks for a race in Jersey City reportedly collapsed, it is now suggested that Monticello Motor Club, about two hours from New York City, has been earmarked as a possible alternative.

Autoweek published a letter from the club’s president Ari Strauss to members revealing that the club – located in the Town of Thompson in Sullivan County – is in talks with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

The letter also said Strauss met with Ecclestone a few months ago, and that F1 track designer Hermann Tilke has already visited the venue.

Strauss said Tilke “confirmed that our track and surrounding properties, with some expansion and minor track modifications, is an excellent location for a grand prix”.

He explained that he is working on securing the “backing and support of local, state, and federal politicians and organisations” and warned that “securing F1 is like winning the Olympics, competition is fierce, and this is not a done deal”.

(GMM)

ART is not expecting a free ticket onto the 2011 grid, even though the French team’s boss is the son of FIA president Jean Todt.

Nicolas Todt, 32, responded to rumours his Burgundy-based outfit is favourite to win F1′s 13th place in formula one due to the family link to the ruling body.

“My father is anything but stupid,” Todt said in the latest edition of France’s Auto Hebdo magazine.

“For us, we need to do things even better than the best in order to not be open to criticism,” he added.

“Our dossier needs to be better than any others, because I do not expect any gifts from the FIA, quite the contrary,” said Todt.

ART already races in the formative F3 Euroseries, GP2 and GP3 categories.

Todt manages not only Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, but also the French 20-year-old Jules Bianchi, who currently races for ART’s GP2 team and is a part of Ferrari’s driver development programme.

As recently as this week, Bianchi was at the wheel of a 2008 Ferrari at Vallelunga.

Nicolas Todt admitted he would like to see ART enter formula one as a French team with a French driver at the wheel.

“That would be even more enjoyable,” he conceded.

“And even better with French technical partners as well.  France has an enormous reservoir of human talent and enterprise at a very high level.

“There is certainly enough to show the English what we are capable of,” added Todt.

(GMM)

Luca di Montezemolo on Thursday revealed he resisted the urge to invite Michael Schumacher to play at a football game.

The seven time world champion is Ferrari’s most successful ever driver, winning five world championships during his 1996-2006 tenure.

But after retiring four years ago, the 41-year-old returned to the grid this year with Mercedes, and the tension between the German and his former camp has been obvious.

“We had beautiful years together and I gave him back his desire to race,” said Ferrari president Montezemolo, referring to the offer of a temporary seat last year to replace the injured Massa, which subsequently became a full return with a rival team.

“At times I miss Schumacher, he gave so much to Ferrari, but he also received a lot,” the Italian told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

He then referred to the forthcoming Partita Del Cuore charity football match, to be played in Modena early next week and featuring current Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Said Montezemolo: “A few days ago I was tempted to call him (Schumacher) to ask him to play for us.  But as the team carries the Ferrari name, I avoided it.”

(GMM)

Red Bull may have identified the reason for Sebastian Vettel’s recent struggle to keep up with his on-form teammate Mark Webber.

33-year-old Australian Webber has commandingly won the last two grands prix from pole at the wheel of the dominant RB6.

But according to Germany’s Auto Bild Motorsport, after returning to Milton Keynes from the Barcelona/Monaco double header, the Austrian team has identified damage to Vettel’s chassis.

“We have found a defect in Sebastian’s chassis,” Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner confirmed, referring to the car superstitiously nicknamed ‘Lucious Liz’ by the highly rated 2009 championship runner-up.

Horner added: “For the next race in Turkey, he will have a new chassis.”

Vettel, initially the stronger of Red Bull’s driver lineup this year, is now equal on points with Webber at the head of the 2010 standings.

Briton Horner said he is confident Vettel can impress again at the wheel of a new chassis.

“Sebastian began the season in great shape and I am sure he will bounce back at the next race.

“In Barcelona and Monaco, Mark was simply stronger, he had more confidence and felt more comfortable in the car.  In contrast, Sebastian complained several times about the balance of the car,” added Horner.

(GMM)

Mercedes is working on an F-duct system that does not need to be controlled by the drivers.

Germany’s Auto Bild Motorsport reports that the German team’s downforce-stalling solution could be ready to debut on the W01 car in Istanbul in just over a week.

McLaren pioneered the technology this year, where the blockage of an air inlet inside the cockpit with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button’s knee allows air to flow through the engine cover and out a slot in the rear wing.

Ferrari and Sauber’s subsequent systems involve the air inlet being blocked by a driver’s hand.

Until now, Mercedes has had a passive F-duct solution, where air is diverted at increasingly high speeds through a rear wing slot.

But its full system could be truly innovative and function without needing the drivers’ input, although Norbert Haug said that “right now it is still in the experimental phase”.

“Our solution is different from the other teams,” the German confirmed.

(GMM)

Vijay Mallya and Bernie Ecclestone on Thursday indicated they do not believe Karun Chandhok is a first-class formula one driver.

In a joint interview published by F1′s official website, the pair admitted the desire to see a top Indian driver on the grid.

Mallya, the Indian billionaire owner and boss of the Force India team, currently fields a German-Italian driver combination, with Scot Paul di Resta as the Friday test driver.

Asked if it is important to eventually have an Indian at the wheel, he answered: “It is very important.  I would love it.  I’m not a fool and can see the enormous publicity potential which would come from it.

“The downside at the moment is that there is not one Indian pilot who has the potential to battle the best on the track,” added Mallya.

26-year-old Chennai-born Chandhok debuted in 2010 for the struggling new Spanish team HRT, and on Thursday he toured the site of next year’s F1 race in Delhi.

The Indian GP project is strongly backed by Ecclestone, who is openly pushing to tap the impressive new markets like India’s.

But although Chandhok was strongly supported by family friend Ecclestone for the seat, the F1 chief executive also seemed to indicate that an Indian is not yet ready to be on the pace.

And the 79-year-old said a struggling Indian at Force India “would be extremely negative”.

“In this case Vijay would have achieved the exact opposite of what he wanted to.  To choose an Indian driver who just runs after all the others is no use to anybody.  It would be counterproductive,” added the Briton.

(GMM)

F1′s governing body on Thursday admitted a “lack of clarity” in the rules led to the last-lap Monaco controversy.

When the safety car returned to the pits on the final lap of Sunday’s famous street race, Michael Schumacher passed Fernando Alonso and was subsequently handed a 20-second penalty by the stewards.

Mercedes vowed to appeal the decision but ultimately decided not to proceed, with the FIA now admitting the incident “showed a lack of clarity in the application of the rule prohibiting overtaking behind the safety car”.

“Adjustments to the regulations are necessary”, the Paris body explained in a statement.

The problem of the flashing green lights and waving of green flags is also to be addressed, with the FIA vowing to ensure “that the signalling for teams and drivers is made more clear”.

(GMM)

Karun Chandhok has tersely insisted he is “not worried” about the future of the struggling HRT team.

Recent reports quoted Bernie Ecclestone as suggesting the new Spanish outfit was in financial trouble, amid reports it will run out of spare parts by next month’s Canadian grand prix.

In fact, team officials insist the F1 chief executive is simply helping Hispania with its technical plans for 2011, including the use of a wind tunnel and facilities to design its own car.

Asked about the negative rumours by the Times of India, Chandhok said this week: “That’s a matter between Bernie, Colin (Kolles) and (Jose Ramon) Carabantes.

“It has nothing to do with me,” added the 26-year-old Indian rookie.  “I know what the truth is and I am not worried.”

Although friends with his teammate Bruno Senna, Chandhok insists he has been the quickest HRT driver in 2010 but is keen for a car upgrade in order to ensure he has a seat next year.

“I’ve generally been faster than Bruno,” he said, adding that the Cosworth powered F110 “really needs” a new aerodynamic package.

“But as of now, my objective is to keep pushing as much as I can and secure a good position for 2011.  The rest isn’t up to me,” added Chandhok.

(GMM)