As F1′s top men battled for pole position at Valencia, the spotlight was once again on an underperforming Michael Schumacher.

His Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg was also sitting out the decisive Q3 qualifying segment, but Schumacher was six tenths off the young German’s pace and a dismal 15th on the grid.

Criticism of the 41-year-old’s F1 return has already been intensifying, amid new rumours Mercedes might want to replace him for 2011 with Robert Kubica.

“If it was any other driver, other than the great Michael Schumacher, we’d be looking for his head, or most of the press would be looking for his head, because clearly this performance in the past couple of races has been very poor,” said BBC pundit Eddie Jordan on Saturday.

David Coulthard thinks his old rival is cutting corners on the kind of detail that, in his first career, made him the most successful driver ever.

“He’s running the (rev) limiter in some places — that’s just sloppy,” the Scot said in Valencia.

“In his first career, even when his car wasn’t performing he would deliver a lap time … even on a bad day.”

For the first time, Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn has admitted some disappointment with Schumacher’s situation.

“We’re a bit disappointed at the moment.  Michael would admit he’s not where he wants to be.

“We’re seeing signs of progress in some races but not in others, but we’ve not had a great car this year, which has not helped him,” added the Briton.

At the sharp end of the grid, Red Bull defied its own predictions by qualifying one-two at Valencia — with the F-duct now fully up and running.

“Valencia should not be our strongest circuit,” said delighted pole sitter Sebastian Vettel, ahead of his teammate Mark Webber and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.

The two Ferraris are fourth and fifth, followed by the consistent Robert Kubica.

Over the past four races had Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber from his teammates were beaten in qualifying at the European Grand Prix in Valencia could fight back the German. Accordingly, happily presented itself the Red Bull pilot.

“In the last few races we had a good run on Saturday, so it is a good result,” said Vettel, who was quicker to just 0.075 seconds as his Australian team-mate.

“These lines do not, Canada and here in Valencia are among those, usually our strongest. It is good for this reason that we have set the car on the pole. Our speed looks good.”
A hair of the driver from Heppenheim would have to hire again later: “Until the end it was a tight qualifying session. On the first attempt I had a huge shock moment in the first sector. I knew I was in the second test everything on must set a card, and it worked. ”

After the qualy for once again successfully ran Vettel now looks optimistic for the race: “To this day I’m happy. It was out there very difficult, especially since we installed the F-shaft, and many other things back to the car have. Some mechanics had only an hour of sleep. ”
In the first race with the F-bay system says Vettel, for the racers expect a benefit, even if this was enormous: “He’s probably not too big, but we feel the difference. We see how much so that McLaren rectified by. We get on each round and at every attempt. ”

“Yesterday we were not quite so happy, but overnight we have taken another step forward. We sat in front of the monitors to see how we can optimize and improve the system. Also, thanks to this circumstance we find ourselves for tomorrow’s race in a good position. “

The qualification of the Grand Prix of Europe in Valencia gave one or the other team a surprise – it was a good or bad. Because compared to the last free practice session this morning there was held under ideal weather conditions Zeitenfahren some major shifts.

The pole position could be after a long losing streak of four races Sebastian Vettel. The German realized a personal best of 1:37.587 minutes. Secured second place team mate Mark Webber. Lewis Hamilton was third in the McLaren-Mercedes.
In the fourth place followed by Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica (Renault), Jenson Button (Team McLaren Mercedes), the two Williams drivers Nicolette Hülkenberg and Rubens Barrichello – identical with time – and Vitaly Petrov (Renault)

After the first qualifying part of the seven slowest pilots were ruled out: Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock (both Virgin), Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna (both HRT).

After the second pass the Zeitenfahren for the following driver had run ahead of Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber) and Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso).

Red Bull still had the F-duct fitted to its RB6 on Saturday morning in Valencia.

According to the BBC, the Milton Keynes based team has confirmed the downforce-stalling device will also remain on the Renault-powered car for qualifying and the race.

Sebastian Vettel topped the final 60 minutes of practice at the sunny street circuit, with his teammate Mark Webber third, split by Renault’s Robert Kubica.

The two Force Indias were fourth and seventh, with the team having ironed out the problems with its F-duct version.

“(It) is working very well now and it makes a real difference,” said German Adrian Sutil.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fifth, while the McLarens were just ninth and tenth, and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg 11th.

“There are a lot of quick cars out there,” said Jenson Button.  “The Ferraris look very fast, so do the Red Bulls, Renaults and Mercedes.”

David Coulthard does not back Christian Horner’s view that Ferrari were “naughty” for testing at Fiorano last week.

Red Bull boss Horner has accused the Italian team of breaching the “spirit” of the in-season ban by trying a new exhaust layout at Fiorano under the guise of a filming and promotional run.

“I say fair play to them,” said former Red Bull driver and now team consultant Coulthard.  “The rules are the same for everyone,” he wrote in a column for the Telegraph.

Also running similar low exhaust layouts to good effect in Valencia this weekend are Renault and Mercedes — even though some of Renault’s new parts were delayed when a van en route from Enstone hit a deer.

Sauber is not running the layout, even though the C29 is featuring numerous improvements in Spain.

Pedro de la Rosa told EFE news agency: “We have taken a small step forward, while others have taken a giant one.”

(GMM)

Robert Kubica on Friday said he is no closer to making a decision about his future.

In the wake of Felipe Massa’s re-signing by Ferrari, it had been expected the Pole would stay with Renault in 2011.

But a specialist Italian website claims that, amid criticisms of Michael Schumacher’s recent performances, Mercedes has made an offer to accommodate the impressive 25-year-old next year.

Asked about his situation in Valencia, Kubica told the Guardian: “I don’t know.  I haven’t made my decision yet.  It’s not keeping flexible.

“I don’t think what I will be doing in three years’ time — I don’t think what I will be doing in three weeks’ time,” he said.

Renault team boss Eric Boullier said recently he would soon sit down with Kubica and discuss the future.

Boullier said on Friday: “We are optimistic.  It’s nearly done — there is a contract in my suitcase.”

(GMM)

Christian Horner on Friday accused a “naughty” Ferrari of breaching the “spirit” of the in-season testing ban.

The Italian team tested its new Red Bull-like low exhaust layout at its own Fiorano test circuit last week, under the guise of a “filming and promotional” day.

Indeed, Ferrari did distribute media photos of the event and even a video of Fernando Alonso driving the car with a camera mounted on his helmet.

“It was arguably within the letter of the laws but not within the spirit,” Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, told the Telegraph.

“You don’t just run these cars – there has to be a lot of planning – and it wasn’t by mistake that they happened to run on that day with the new exhaust system,” he added.

Horner suggested that if Ferrari was really just running the F10 for filming purposes, the car did not need to be fitted with its important Valencia update.

“They managed to have a look at it, and they’ve probably learned a bit.  I’m sure there will be a lively debate at the next team principals’ meeting,” he predicted.

“I think it’s something that needs to be tidied up, because it’s effectively a gentlemen’s agreement, and it’s important that that should be respected.”

But it is true that the Ferrari was running with Bridgestone’s ultra-hard promotional tyres, and Alonso said the runs had been of little competitive value.

“I was running behind a car with cameras at 60kph so it was very stable,” the Spaniard joked.

“We did some laps also with no car in front, and ten cameras on the car and on the helmet, so it was not very comfortable to drive, and it was also the first time driving a Ferrari F1 car at Fiorano,” insisted Alonso.

(GMM)

GP2 championship leader Pastor Maldonado claims Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez wants him to debut in formula one.

The well-sponsored 25-year-old has been linked with F1 seats several times, including when he was close to inking a deal with the hopeful Serbian outfit Stefan GP.

“We were nearly ready to sign … but at the end it didn’t get an entry,” he told Reuters at Valencia on Friday.

The news agency said Maldonado is backed by the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

“Venezuela is pushing very hard for me, to have me in formula one,” he confirmed.  “All my sponsors are from Venezuela so that’s a big support.

“He (Chavez) is pushing.  I know that,” Maldonado, also a contender for a Campos/HRT seat in 2010, added.

He said president Chavez is also interested in hosting a grand prix, possibly off the northeastern coast of the country on Margarita Island.

Lewis Hamilton on Friday admitted McLaren might struggle to keep up with rapidly-progressing rivals this weekend in Valencia.

While the British team will only run the innovation in two weeks at Silverstone, Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault have got Red Bull-style ‘blown diffuser’ exhaust layouts up and running on the streets of the Spanish port city.

Hamilton is the championship leader and has won the past two races, but on Friday afternoon was just fifth fastest, behind and surrounded by the ‘blown diffuser’ teams.

“It was always going to be interesting to see how quickly the blown diffuser cars could get up to speed — and they looked very competitive this afternoon, particularly over a single lap,” said the 2008 world champion.

“And the grip they appear to have through the high speed stuff could make them difficult for us to touch,” added Hamilton.

His teammate Jenson Button, just ninth quickest in the final session, commented: “We’ve just got to fight it out here and get the best out of what we’ve got.”

(GMM)

After Friday practice in Valencia, it was still not clear whether Red Bull will use its improved F-duct system for qualifying and the race.

The team used an initial version of the downforce-stalling concept in practice in Turkey, but then decided to leave Adrian Newey in the factory to develop it rather than take the famous Briton to Canada.

The RB6 was fitted with a developed F-duct on Friday in Valencia, where Sebastian Vettel came within mere thousandths of beating Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso to top spot.

“When the system is working, it is a big help,” German Vettel is quoted as saying after practice by the German news agency SID.

As for how it worked on Friday, he added: “In the morning it was still not so good, but in the afternoon better.”

In a post-session statement, the 22-year-old added: “We need to see if we keep the F-duct in the car, we need to confirm that, but all in all I think the pace was promising today considering this shouldn’t be our strongest track.”

(GMM)

In the sunny Valencia enjoyed Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa a smooth first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Europe. It was necessary to find the right balance for the car to optimize brake stability and to gain experience with the two compounds of Bridgestone tires on the street circuit. However, the residue on the top 10 but was again quite large.

“We now have a huge program processed and everything went very well,” said Kobayashi, the 14th with 1.623 seconds gap was. “The new aerodynamics package we need to work on the car balance. It is quite reasonable, but we have to analyze lots of data from today and I am sure there is in it even more. This morning I took the route less polluted than expected . faster tire wear was an issue in the first practice, but in the afternoon, no more. ”
Pedro de la Rosa was 15, was just fractions of a second slower than his teammate. “We have during the day made many changes to the car, to prepare us for tomorrow’s qualifying,” said the Spaniard. “Mainly we have focused on the braking stability. Both tire compounds have on the warm asphalt works pretty well and I did not expect to difficulties, as we have had in Canada. I am today for the first time went on this course. It took a few laps in order to familiarize myself with to catch properly especially the many break points, but I liked the track quickly. ”
“Today, we are no technical problems with the cars,” said technical director James Key had, “and that was good, because in both sessions we had much to do. Adapt We had the car set to the new aero package. This is the first step, to make the car lighter mobile. Basically, we have already found a direction that we can track for tomorrow, but today we must look at all the information evening and see what measures we can implement. ”

He continued: “We still have to work on consistency. If you look at the sector times look, they do not reflect truly reflect the lap times. We need to ensure that drivers can get out of a complete round of the best from the car. We have some areas have made progress and in others still to be done. ”

(TMS)

Heikki Kovalainen arrived in Valencia on Friday with just hours to spare before morning practice.

We reported on Thursday that the Finn had been absent in the paddock on Thursday, with his team Lotus staging a pitlane photoshoot for the marque’s 500th race without him.

Like many figures in the world of formula one, he was held up on the way to the Spanish port city by air traffic controller strikes in France.

Kovalainen had sat at Geneva airport for many hours waiting for his flight delay to end, before deciding to commence the 1,200km trip by road.

Before outpacing his teammate Jarno Trulli in both 90 minute practice sessions, he confirmed he had arrived in Valencia shortly after 5am.

And before donning his green overalls, his first duty was a “few hours sleep”, but still looked tired when he pulled on his balaclava at 10am.

“I feel fine,” he insisted.  “It’s just one night with a little less sleep than usual, so it’s no big deal.  My physio Petri and I shared the driving, so I feel absolutely fine.”

(GMM)

Sebastian Vettel for the weekend began on schedule in Valencia. Only around the blink of 56 thousandths of a second he landed in his Red Bull behind the acclaimed by the Spanish fans Fernando Alonso, Ferrari retreaded. “We were on a track that we really is not so, pretty good move. But it will be tight, as in Canada,” says the runner.

Vettel was another 88 thousandths of a second faster than his Australian team-mate Mark Webber, who was third place, that the “bull” quickly on the long straights of Valencia on the road. This could have lain on the “second air” for Red Bull set to an unsatisfactory trial in Istanbul for the first time back on their own version of the invented competitor McLaren duct system, which allows greater speed.

“In the morning it was still not as good in the afternoon then better,” said Vettel, who hopes to use one in the running. If the system working, “then it is a big help.”

(TMS)

Little more than half a second separated runners for five different teams as Friday’s practice running concluded at Valencia.

The only car inside the top six without a so-called ‘blown rear diffuser’ was Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren, as Fernando Alonso led the pace with the heavily revised Ferrari.

Close behind were the Red Bulls, followed by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, while the Renault of Robert Kubica was sixth quickest featuring an impressive emulation of the Red Bull-style rear exhaust layout.

“I can’t talk in high enough terms about it,” BBC pit reporter Ted Kravitz said on Friday, adding that the R30′s solution “is wonderful”.

After Red Bull earlier looked set to walk the 2010 title, before McLaren looked to have taken the upper hand more recently, victory in Valencia could be hotly contested.

“The cars are merging together, we’re not seeing one or two teams moving into the distance.  It’s very exciting,” said British commentator Martin Brundle.

(GMM)

Omnicorse.it claims that on Friday in the Valencia paddock, a member of the German team made an offer to accommodate Kubica, 25, in 2011.

Kubica currently drives for Renault, and it had been expected he would remain with the team after Ferrari re-signed Felipe Massa for next year.

But Omnicorse said it is possible Kubica will replace Michael Schumacher at Mercedes, even though the seven time world champion has a three year contract.

According to the rumour, Kubica is being offered a generous retainer for three years, including the option of a further two-year deal.

The report follows hot on the heels of stinging criticism of Schumacher’s lacklustre return to F1 this year after a three-year retirement.

“From inside the team we see things in a totally different perspective,” chief executive Nick Fry said in response to the criticism.

“We’re very comfortable with Michael’s performance and I can’t see any reason why he won’t come good.”

(GMM)