Colin Kolles has confirmed reports that Bernie Ecclestone is helping the struggling HRT team with its plans for the future.

F1 chief executive Ecclestone was quoted in Monaco as suggesting he is helping the new Spanish outfit to get out of financial trouble.

But subsequent reports have clarified that the 79-year-old’s assistance may in fact be in the form of HRT’s technical plans.

The team’s contract with its car designer Dallara has lapsed, and boss Kolles has been working on securing a deal with a wind tunnel in view of designing an all-new car for 2011.

“Obviously we are still not competitive enough, even for our expectations as a new team, and we are seeking solutions for the future,” the Romanian-born German is quoted by Spain’s AS.

“We are optimistic and Bernie is helping us to ensure a better 2011,” he added.

Kolles insists the speculation about HRT collapsing is wide of the mark, amid suggestions the team could run out of spare parts by June’s race in Montreal.

“The team will complete the season and we are already planning for the next one,” he said.

“We hope to make an announcement next month – certainly before the Canadian grand prix – about our plans to build our own chassis,” said Kolles.

It is also reported that Geoff Willis, currently just a consultant to HRT, is set to stay with the team because of its ambitious technical plans for 2011.

(GMM)

Ferrari might modify its F-duct system so that it is easier for the drivers to use.

Team figures defended the ease of use and safety of its solution when it debuted in Barcelona, after video footage showed Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa using their hand to block the cockpit air inlet.

McLaren’s drivers block the air inlet with their knee.

Maranello based Ferrari has already vowed to modify the system for Turkey, after analysis of its use in Spain showed that downforce was being shed even when the F-duct was not being activated.

And Stefano Domenicali told Spain’s AS newspaper: “We are working on different solutions that will be more comfortable for our drivers than the first version.

“We have not yet decided what will be the position (of the cockpit air inlet),” the Italian added.

(GMM)

Stefano Domenicali has raised the possibility that the ban on spare cars may be overturned.

Fernando Alonso had to sit out qualifying for last weekend’s Monaco grand prix because his chassis was written off in a practice crash.

It meant he started the race from last place in the pitlane.

The availability of complete spare cars was banned a few years ago as a cost-saving measure.

Now, teams may transport spare monocoques to races and build up a new car in the event that one is damaged.  But in Alonso’s situation, there simply was not enough time.

Ferrari team boss Domenicali said he agrees with cutting costs, but argues that in the case of banning spare cars, “you lose value in other ways”.

“You cannot leave the spectators without the possibility of enjoying one of the biggest stars in qualifying,” he is quoted by Spain’s Diario AS newspaper.

“We will discuss it with the other teams to see if we can change it (the rule),” said the Italian

Quoted by Italy’s Tuttosport, Domenicali added: “Nothing has been decided, but I hope it happens soon.”

(GMM)

Mercedes has not decided whether to proceed with its appeal against the Monaco stewards’ decision to penalise Michael Schumacher.

With the German team believing Schumacher was free to pass Fernando Alonso on Sunday, it immediately lodged notification of its intention to appeal the decision to demote him out of the points at the FIA’s Court of Appeal.

The penalty itself, a 20-second time penalty in lieu of a drive-through, is not appealable, but the decision is.

Following the notification, Mercedes has 48 hours to formalise the application to appeal.

“No decision has been taken as yet,” a spokeswoman for the Brackley based team said on Monday.

(GMM)

Rubens Barrichello has denied claims he recklessly endangered his F1 rivals after crashing out of Sunday’s Monaco grand prix.

The Brazilian veteran threw his steering wheel onto the racing line after shunting due to a technical problem whilst climbing Beau Rivage at high speed.

The impacts dented the Armco barriers on both sides of the Monaco layout, and in apparent frustration Barrichello, who turns 38 this Sunday, threw his $50,000 steering wheel onto the track.

It was promptly run over by Karun Chandhok, who dragged the expensive debris all the way to the tunnel before it came loose and was run over again by Bruno Senna.

It was a spring from Barrichello’s Brawn that last year struck the hapless Felipe Massa on the helmet.

It is also a fundamental rule breach not to re-connect the steering wheel after abandoning a stricken car.

“What was he doing?,” Chandhok said of Barrichello.  “Charlie (Whiting) actually asked me about it.  You see on the video that he just throws it.”

But the Williams driver insists: “I threw the steering wheel because I wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible.

“After the shunt I was facing the wrong side of the track and the car was on fire,” he argued.

Williams co-owner Patrick Head also defended his driver.

“If you are standing in the middle of a 120mph corner, you tend to think ‘let’s get out of here as quickly as you can’.”

(GMM)

Cosworth’s business manager has scolded reports that HRT will struggle financially to make it through the 2010 season.

The speculation was triggered by Bernie Ecclestone, when the F1 chief executive was quoted as suggesting the new Spanish team is in difficulties.

But Cosworth’s Mark Gallagher said the general attitude about the sport’s new teams is wrong.

“There has been something of a tendency to find fault or criticism with the new teams wherever possible and I think this criticism is quite unjust,” he said on Monday.

Cosworth powers all of the three new teams in 2010, as well as Williams.

“From a Cosworth perspective all three new teams work hard and are good commercial as well as technical partners,” Gallagher added.

“I think we are in a better position than most to comment on their condition and what we see is nothing but positive.”

He also addressed reports that Williams, the only established team on Cosworth’s books in 2010, has been disappointed with aspects of the engine so far.

“The engine has achieved or exceeded its targets but we have also seen some issues which we are working hard to resolve,” said Gallagher.

(GMM)

Mark Webber is sure Monaco could have been his third win of 2010.

Actually, the Australian pulled into the lead of the world championship with his second win of the season in Monaco.

But he had also been on pole in Malaysia, where his teammate Sebastian Vettel passed him at the start and drove to victory.

Sepang was just one race before a new rule requiring the distant outboard rearview mirrors to be attached to the cockpit sides in the interest of visibility.

After Red Bull’s motor home pool party and Webber’s leap into the Monaco harbour on Sunday night, the 33-year-old told Martin Brundle that he was still ruing Vettel’s Sepang pass.

BBC commentator Brundle quoted Webber as saying “in the early hours of Monday morning”: “Mate, if I had had these mirrors in Malaysia I would have dominated that race too.”

(GMM)

Note from the Editor: There were two titles for this piece, “Schumacher’s Karma catches up with him” or “Have FIA bungled with Schumacher penalty?” Either would have been appropriate, we chose the one we did because in the end it is perhaps more apt…

Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix was overshadowed by an incident involving old sparring partners Michael Schumacher, and Fernando Alonso.

Due to the spectacular crash between Karun Chandhok and Jarno Trulli at Rascasse corner, the Safety Car was called upon 3 laps from the end. The flash point came when the German veteran slid up the inside of Alonso at the final Anthony Noghes corner after the Safety Car had peeled into the pitlane for the last time.

The Formula One paddock now finds itself in the situation where Schumacher has been given a retrospective 20 second penalty and dropped to 12th position in the final classification. Fernando Alonso was reinstated to his 6th position, and we head to Turkey with the Spaniard still in touch with the seemingly untouchable Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

However, the justification for this penalisation is hard to distinguish. It is true that Article 40.13 states: “If the race ends while the Safety Car is deployed, it will enter the pitlane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking”. The clarity of this rule is not in question.

There have been previous examples of this rule being enforced. The Australian Grand Prix of 2009 being one such example, where the Brawn cars of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello led the field across the line after the Safety Car had pitted following an accident between Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica. In this case, the job of the trackside marshals was to signal to the drivers that there was to be no overtaking and that they were to stay in formation. This was signified by the continued use of yellow flags and Safety Car boards at each marshal post until the Start/Finish line.

Fast forward a year and five races, and we find ourselves in a similar situation. What seems incomprehensible is that following the end of the Safety Car period, green flags were waved and a green light was shown on the overhead light gantry of the last corner. Such a contradiction in actions seems confusing to say the least.

Under FIA Sporting Regulations, a green flag signifies “that any previous danger has been attended to. The track is now clear, and drivers may proceed at racing speed and may again overtake”. Why was this signal given? The green flag completely contradicted Article 40.13, and Schumacher acted accordingly.

Based on principle alone, a driver that sees a green flag or a green light is perfectly entitled to proceed at racing speed and make an attempt at an overtaking manoevre. It is worth noting that the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg also attempted an overtake after Alonso slid on the kerbs of the final corner, but was unable to.

Such a baffling decision decreases the credibility of the FIA stewarding panel, which had proved itself to be more than capable with a string of sound decisions so far in 2010. The accusation that Damon Hill was central to the decision-making procedure does not work, as his responsibility was to ensure a fair conclusion to any racing incidents. This was a decision based on the law of the FIA.

Neither is the common misconception that the stewards could have put Schumacher back into 7th position, as under Article 16.3 of the Sporting Regulations, only three possible sanctions are legally allowed; a drive-through penalty, a grid drop for the following race, or a ten-second stop and go penalty.

It appears that Schumacher has been penalised for a communication mix-up, which is why Mercedes have attempted to appeal the decision.
Based on the precedent set by the Lewis Hamilton decision at Spa in 2008, time penalties cannot be appealed. The only conceivable outcome for Mercedes is that they can lodge a protest of the result to the FIA. A 2,000 Euro fee is attached to this and is the only option that resembles an appeal procedure in this instance.

The two underlying themes are that the large reaction to this incident reflects more on the bland nature of the race itself, and that the nonsensical decisions taken by those working in this arm of the FIA are still commonplace. Perhaps if there was no need to interpret so widely the rules that are put forth by the FIA, decisions like this would not cause such debate. With the spectacle provided by the racing being put on the backburner, the spectacle of events off track have reared their ugly head once again.

Those who believe in Karma, your time has come.

(James Rossi)

The McLaren mechanic who cost Jenson Button his championship lead has kept his job but is “devastated”, according to team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

On the Monaco grid, the mechanic forgot to remove a cooling bung from the sidepod of Briton Button’s MP4-25 and the engine overheated.

“When you are trying to do your best and you make a mistake it is devastating,” said Whitmarsh.

Button, 30, was initially angry but he later acknowledged that mistakes happen.

“I’m sure the guy who did not pull it out is gutted.  I feel sorry for the guy.  We all make mistakes,” he said.

It also emerged that, on Saturday, Button had to throw a remote control for his garage monitor out of the cockpit at the Rascasse chicane.

“This one (the cooling bung) was a race stopper,” said Button, who is now fourth in the championship and 8 points behind the new leader Mark Webber.

(GMM)

Red Bull would like to keep Mark Webber on board for the 2011 season.

After the Australian driver commandingly won the past two grands prix from pole position and took the lead of the world championship, it is being reported that Red Bull would like to extend his expiring contract.

Already under contract for next year is 33-year-old Webber’s younger and highly rated teammate Sebastian Vettel.

“It is our desire to continue with Vettel and Webber,” team owner Dietrich Mateschitz’s motor sport adviser Dr Helmut Marko is quoted on Monday by Austria’s APA news agency.

Marko indicated that Webber’s run of top form has motivated Red Bull to keep him.

“It is important that both drivers are at a high level of performance, with each one pushing the other to excellence.

“They must be going to the limit, for themselves but subsequently for the car,” added the Austrian former grand prix driver.

Marko acknowledged that the sort of form being shown by Webber could drive up his contract price.

“Of course, the management uses it for salary negotiations.  But we know what he is worth to us.”

(GMM)

Sauber removed the F-duct from its C29 for Monaco for safety reasons, the Swiss team’s boss has revealed.

Ferrari also decided not to run the downforce-spoiling concept in the Principality, but the Italian team argued that the device simply was not effective on the twisty streets.

But Peter Sauber said his team’s decision was for a different reason.

“I wanted my drivers to have both their hands on the steering wheel through the tunnel,” he is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

“Ever since Karl Wendlinger had his accident there in 1994, I have respect for this place,” added Sauber.

Like Ferrari, Sauber’s system involves blocking an air inlet with the drivers’ hand.

The McLaren system is activated by the knee, but Lewis Hamilton acknowledged that the time advantage was just a few hundredths per lap in Monaco.

Ferrari’s system will be back on the F10 car in Turkey in two weeks.

“Our system did not work as desired in Barcelona,” confirmed team boss Stefano Domenicali.  “We are still fine-tuning it.”

The red cars were very fast in a straight line in Spain, but the system was also shedding downforce in the corners “when the system was not being activated”, the Italian admitted.

Red Bull will also begin experimenting with the concept in Turkey.

“We are doing the research and for sure at the next couple of races we will have a look at it, but we will only introduce it when it earns a place on the car,” Christian Horner told F1′s official website.

(GMM)

Sir Frank Williams admits that letting Mark Webber switch to Red Bull at the end of 2006 was a “mistake”.

After two disappointing seasons with the British team in 2005 and 2006, the Australian moved to Red Bull, where in the past week he has won two grands prix from pole position.

“You could say we made a mistake,” Williams is quoted by Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung.

“Our car was a disappointment, and we thought he was a part of that problem.  Therefore, he was not our first choice (for 2007),” added the Grove based team’s eponymous chief.

It is now expected that Webber, 33, will sign an extension to his current contract for the 2011 season.

Williams co-owner Patrick Head confirmed that he and Sir Frank were reluctant to pay Webber a high salary to stay on board in 2007.

“It wasn’t that we thought he wasn’t worth a decent salary, but we’d lost a major sponsor and we were going through some very tough times commercially,” he is quoted by the Guardian.

“For the amount Flavio was asking, we didn’t think we could build a car that would justify keeping him on,” added Head.

The Briton also thinks Webber, the first Australian world championship leader since Alan Jones in 1981, has improved since leaving the Williams team.

Said Head: “He was very quick over a single lap but in our view he had an occasional tendency to make mistakes in the race and suddenly go off.

“In his first year with Red Bull he was pretty much the same.  But in his second year with them we noticed that those in-race mistakes disappeared.”

(GMM)

The penalty itself is set in stone, but Mercedes has nonetheless decided to appeal the Monaco stewards’ decision late on Sunday to drop Michael Schumacher out of the points.

The seven time world champion’s 20-second time penalty was actually in lieu of a drive-through penalty, which is not subject to appeal.

But the decision itself, with Mercedes believing Schumacher’s last-lap pass on Fernando Alonso was legal, can be challenged at the FIA’s Court of Appeal.

A hearing date has not been set.

(GMM)

Stefano Domenicali on Sunday indicated that Avon-Cooper and Bridgestone are no longer in the running to supply formula one tyres next year.

The Ferrari boss was discussing with the media Sunday’s series of meetings at Monaco, where a decision about the departing Bridgestone’s 2011 replacement was again deferred.

“It will probably take another week,” the Italian is quoted by Germany’s Motorsport-Magazin.com.  “Perhaps next weekend.”

Avon was among those who have submitted formal proposals, and in recent days the teams have been pushing Bridgestone to reconsider its decision not to seek a new contract as the sport’s official sole supplier.

But Domenicali revealed: “There are only two possibilities; Michelin and Pirelli.”

(GMM)

Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes teammates have sided with the seven time world champion over his controversial last-corner pass on Fernando Alonso.

After deliberating for four hours in Monaco, the stewards on Sunday evening decided to drop the German out of the points, even though team boss Ross Brawn insists the safety car period had officially ended.

Nico Rosberg thought Schumacher’s pass had been a good one.

“From my perspective it was a really cool manoeuvre,” he told German television RTL, “but apparently it’s not allowed.”

Interestingly, Rosberg revealed that he was also told by the Mercedes pitwall that overtaking between the safety car line and the chequered flag was allowed.

And Mercedes reserve driver Nick Heidfeld told Sky television: “The move was very clean.

“The rules are different this year.  In the past you could only overtake from the start/finish line, now it is from the safety car line.  Alonso was a little bit asleep,” added the German.

(GMM)