Norbert Haug has played down the latest criticisms of Michael Schumacher’s performance in 2010.

Eddie Jordan, the seven time world champion’s first F1 employer back in 1991, this week described the German’s decision to return to the sport as a “huge personal error”.

“To pitch yourself against young men 20 years younger than you is simply against the laws of physics and medicine,” the Irishman told Germany’s Sport Bild.

Mercedes’ competition director Haug hit back: “He (Schumacher) deserves our support, he fits with our team, he still has the speed.

“We believe in him, and so do his fans,” he added.

Schumacher, 41, has written off his chances of winning the current championship, but he thinks his performance hasn’t been too bad in 2010.

“I’m pretty happy with myself,” said the German.

“We have made a few mistakes and there are some things we can improve, but all in all … I don’t think there are many who can return after a three year break at the age of 41,” added Schumacher.

Rumours continue to mount about Flavio Briatore and a major future role for the Italian in formula one.

At Silverstone last weekend, the former Renault boss – banned for life by the FIA amid the crash-gate scandal last year – was once again spotted in the paddock.

It was his third appearance in five races and less than eight weeks, including his famous visit to Monaco and then his stroll on the Valencia grid.

Briatore was wearing a VIP paddock pass, which can only be issued by his friend, business partner and F1′s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

British grand prix winner Mark Webber, still managed by Briatore, gave the flamboyant Italian a mention in the post-race press conference.

“I spoke to Flavio last night and he said ‘Mark, just make a good start’,” said the Australian.

A deal with the FIA means Briatore, 60, can resume a direct operational role in F1 in 2013, and speculation is hinting at a role alongside Ecclestone in the area of sponsorship.

Another bearer of a VIP paddock pass at Silverstone was McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, who is reportedly in trouble with the BBC for jokingly cutting the wire to Eddie Jordan’s earpiece live on television after the race.

Vitaly Petrov’s future with the Renault team “is in his hands”, according to team boss Eric Boullier.

The comments, made during a team podcast, indicate that recent reports linking Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil to the 2011 race seat alongside Robert Kubica were not wide of the mark.

Russian rookie Petrov brought substantial funding to the team in the wake of the Genii Capital takeover and the lost ‘crash-gate’ sponsors, but he has also performed solidly.

But as Renault eyes a return to championship contention, Boullier admitted he must find the best possible occupant for the second car.

“His future is in his hands,” he is quoted as saying on Wednesday.

“He did some very amazing jobs sometimes (but) he clearly is lacking some consistency to get the points he deserves. We definitely need to have both cars scoring points, so that’s obviously creating some rumours surrounding his race seat,” added Boullier.

Boullier also confirmed reports that Renault’s own version of the F-duct will debut at a forthcoming race.

There have been suggestions the R30 could be fitted with the downforce-stalling innovation as soon as the Germany-Hungary double header, but Boullier said the F-duct’s introduction is “depending on the production”.

“Maybe we will get it before (Hungary) but very likely right after,” he said.

Felipe Massa vowed to “talk” to his teammate Fernando Alonso about their first-lap collision at Silverstone.

Largely overlooked by the media amid the Red Bull controversy and Alonso’s penalty for overtaking Robert Kubica, Massa’s race was ruined in Britain after he touched the sister Ferrari in the Beckett’s complex.

The Brazilian sustained contact to his front wing, but more damagingly a punctured rear tyre that had to be replaced in the pits.

He is quoted by the Portuguese language aeiou.pt: “I’ll talk to Alonso to find out why he has touched my car.

“You really must not touch your teammate’s car,” added the 29-year-old.

The concept of Red Bull’s new front wing was pioneered by Force India, according to a report.

The wing sparked the Silverstone furore, when it was taken from Mark Webber’s RB6 before qualifying after the only other example broke on Sebastian Vettel’s car in morning practice.

The two distinguishing features of the old wing, compared with the older specification fitted to winner Webber’s car in qualifying and the race, was an extra flick on the endplates and the camera mountings.

Most cars this year have the mandatory front camera pods mounted on either side of the nose, but the new Red Bull wing featured the cameras just above the main front wing element, located between the wing supports under the nose.

But although Force India’s camera mountings appeared conventional in Britain last weekend, Italy’s authoritative Autosprint magazine claims the Red Bull wing was based on the Silverstone based team’s original concept.

Team boss Christian Horner insists the new wing was not necessarily faster, but offers “a new direction to look at”.

After the distinctive raised nose profile and the blown diffuser, the wing represents a rare example of Red Bull reportedly copying a concept from a rival team.

“As with all these things it’s very difficult to cherry pick items for cars,” Horner, referring to the RB6′s much-copied exhaust layout, was quoted by F1′s official website after Silverstone.

Fernando Alonso is still confident about his chances of winning the 2010 championship.

But in Spanish press reports, the Ferrari driver is apparently concerned the current regulations make it difficult for his Maranello based employer to improve the F10.

“The goal is always to win but it’s not so easy,” Alonso, 28, said.

“You cannot invent new things without testing. There is little room for creativity; our technicians have their hands tied,” he added.

Alonso is expecting a closely-bunched field at Hockenheim in just over a week.

“We want to be fighting for pole position in Germany and Hungary,” he said, referring to the back-to-back rounds before the August break.

“The German track has quite simple corners so I am expecting a grand prix with very close times.”

Only a “very, very lucky” situation will see Mercedes win a race this year, according to Michael Schumacher.

But after his podium at Silverstone, his teammate Nico Rosberg has a different view.

“We have made a giant step forwards,” the younger German is quoted by Bild newspaper. “I can promise more.”

Seven time world champion Schumacher, 54 points behind his younger teammate and ninth across the finish line in Britain, is less optimistic.

“We will have to be very, very lucky to get a victory,” he added.

Sebastian Vettel reportedly believes his teammate Mark Webber should have kept a lid on his unhappiness at Silverstone last weekend.

Although the controversial recipient of Webber’s front wing in Britain, and accused of being favoured by his Red Bull bosses, the 23-year-old German’s voice has been the quietest throughout the latest saga.

At Silverstone he hinted that Australian Webber had shown his “true face”, adding: “The most important thing is the atmosphere within the team. We have a really strong car and the only thing that can stop us is ourselves.”

The implication is that Webber should have saved his grievances about the front wing so that it could be handled internally.

Germany’s Bild newspaper now quotes him as saying: “I’m brought up to show respect for one another.”

Referring to the wing saga, he added: “Such things do not belong in the public, they should be handled internally by the team.”

Former driver David Coulthard, still a consultant for the energy drink owned team, agrees that Red Bull would have preferred if the matter had not gone public.

“Red Bull would doubtless prefer it if Mark aired his grievances in private,” he wrote in his Telegraph column.

Nick Fry, chief executive of the Mercedes team, warns that Red Bull must quickly make clear to its drivers that they are not in charge.

“Drivers are a vital part of the team but they’re not the team and that needs to be clear,” he is quoted by the Sun newspaper.

“As soon as the lunatics start running the asylum you have big problems,” he added.

Lotus will announce its 2011 driver lineup “pretty soon”, according to Mike Gascoyne.

Although there are rumblings the Malaysian-owned team could be considering its Kuala Lumpur born test driver Fairuz Fauzy for a race seat, the team’s technical boss said he is happy with Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli.

“I think the intention is to stick with the drivers we’ve got. I think they’re doing a great job,” said Gascoyne.

When asked when official confirmation might come, he answered: “I think we’d like to do that pretty soon.”

There have been questions about Italian veteran Trulli’s form so far this year, but Gascoyne insists he has had appalling luck and reliability.

Asked whether Trulli, who turns 36 on Tuesday, has done enough to keep his drive, Gascoyne answered: “I think he has.

“I think Heikki has gotten better and better, his confidence is back and there’s a spring in his step and he’s pushing him (Trulli) very hard.”

Gascoyne said Trulli has had appalling luck and reliability.

“That’s the thing with experienced guys, if we give them the car, they can perform with it.

“Jarno has shown he can still pull the big laps out when he has a trouble-free weekend,” he added.

Charlie Whiting has hit back at Ferrari’s latest criticisms about the timing of F1 officials’ in-race decisions.

After Valencia, the Italian team was furious that Lewis Hamilton’s penalty for overtaking the safety car arrived so late it had little effect on the McLaren driver’s race.

And at Silverstone, this time with Fernando Alonso penalised for overtaking Robert Kubica on the grass, Ferrari said the instruction to allow the Pole to re-pass his Spanish rival came so late he was far behind and already slowing with a technical problem.

In a website report on Monday, Ferrari repeated La Gazzetta dello Sport’s claim that F1 had become ‘Formula Lullaby’ because of the slow decision-making.

Ferrari’s controversial website writer described it as a “fact” that “decisions are taken slowly” by F1′s officials.

But Briton Whiting, the FIA’s F1 race director, said on Tuesday that in fact he advised Ferrari immediately after Alonso’s overtaking move that the position should be given back to the Renault.

“On the radio, I suggested to them that if they exchange position again, there would be no need for the stewards to intervene,” he is quoted by Italy’s Autosprint magazine.

“We told Ferrari three times that in my opinion they should give the position back to Kubica,” Whiting added.

“And we told them that immediately, right after the overtaking manoeuvre.  But they didn’t do that and on the third communication they said that Kubica was by then too far back to let him regain the position,” he revealed.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali was quoted on Monday as saying Ferrari needed to wait for the FIA’s final decision about whether Alonso should give back the place, “otherwise we would be accused of being not aggressive enough”.

An email mistakenly sent to his boss could have led to Bruno Senna sitting out the British grand prix.

In the absence of an adequate alternative explanation, it had been thought the Brazilian was replaced due to sponsorship issues, with Sakon Yamamoto reporting wielding $5m in funding.

But after a series of meetings at Silverstone, HRT announced that Senna will be back in the car at Hockenheim and beyond; an indication that there is more to the story.

Germany’s Auto Bild Motorsport suggests a simple email could be the reason.

The report said Senna, 26, composed an email that was highly critical of the struggling Spanish team’s boss Colin Kolles and his management style — and then accidentally sent it to the Romanian-born German.

The implication is that Senna was replaced for just a single race by Japanese Yamamoto as a disciplinary reaction to the insubordination.

Fascinatingly, Auto Bild suggested that it was originally Karun Chandhok who was closer to losing his race seat in Britain, due to late sponsor payments.

David Coulthard has revealed he said no to being a Ferrari driver.

Weighing in on the teammate histrionics at his former team Red Bull, the Scot said he believes the Milton Keynes based outfit treats its drivers as “an equal partnership”.

He said the other option is “the Ferrari/Schumacher route, with one driver openly backed over the other”.

“I once turned down the chance of a move to Ferrari as I would not accept being a signed-up number two to Michael,” Coulthard, 39, revealed in his latest column for the Daily Telegraph.

He acknowledged that the Schumacher method is “the most effective” in terms of winning championships, “but morally dubious”.

“The second (route) is the fairer system but incredibly volatile and difficult to put into practice,” added Coulthard.

Having driven for Red Bull until the end of 2008, including two seasons as Mark Webber’s teammate, Coulthard said he believes the team when it says Sebastian Vettel is not being favoured.

He is therefore not sure if Australian Webber is doing the right thing by being openly critical in the wake of the front wing saga at Silverstone.

“Mark clearly feels he can gain more leverage by going public and trying to shame the team whenever he feels hard done by,” said Coulthard.

“It is a risky strategy,” he added.  “If it goes wrong, the relationship with the team could sour irreparably.

“If it comes off, he could consolidate his position, attract public sympathy and be remembered as a steely champion who battled against the odds to win his title.”

Another bad race in the bag and now 47 points behind, Fernando Alonso still thinks he can win his first world championship with Ferrari in 2010.

It was rumoured before Silverstone that the Italian team would need to perform strongly in Britain, Germany and Hungary or its focus would switch to next year’s car.

Updates for the F10 showed promise in Valencia and Silverstone, but the actual results of both rounds were bad.

Alonso said on the radio after finishing fourteenth on Sunday: “Heads up guys, we can still win the championship.”

“Things are not going well and it will be difficult, but I am convinced of winning,” the Spaniard, who set the fastest lap of the race at Silverstone, is quoted by the AS newspaper.

“Half the championship is gone but the car is better now.

“With last year’s points system I would be 18 points behind and everyone would say it is possible.

“Before Silverstone we thought we might be able to fight for the championship but we had to check that the car was right after the evolution of Valencia.

“We have seen the car is fast and I see more chance of being champion now that I did on Friday,” added Alonso.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali confirmed to Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport that Ferrari will “continue to push on the development of the F10″.

“Clearly, the championship situation is looking complicated but we remain convinced we can still fight for the title,” he added.

Williams wants to remain an independent formula one team, new chairman Adam Parr has insisted.

Now into a sixth consecutive season without a win, and thirteen seasons on since Jacques Villeneuve’s title, the famous British outfit might be ruing life in the paddock.

But Parr says Williams is “not actively looking” for a partner.  “We are independent and we enjoy that independence,” he is quoted as saying by the Motorsport Aktuell website.

Lotus boss and owner Tony Fernandes, whose AirAsia brand sponsors both his own team as well as Williams, admitted last weekend that he did have talks “about buying into Williams but it never worked out”.

After the works relationship with BMW ended in 2005, Parr admits that the days with carmaker backing – also including Williams’ past tie-ups with Honda and Renault – were good for performance.

Sir Frank Williams admitted at Silverstone that his team’s lack of results recently is “embarrassing”, and rumours suggest the feelers are out for a future partnership with Volkswagen.

“In the long term, the best model for an independent team is to form a partnership with an automotive manufacturer who supply the engines and a bit of sponsorship and we go racing,” said Parr.

“I think that is ultimately what we want again one day,” he added.

Amid reports of civil war within Red Bull, boss Christian Horner phoned British newspaper reporters on Monday with a tale of team harmony.

Even though photographers captured Australian Webber, 33, unable to smile as he sternly shook his teammate Sebastian Vettel’s hand at Silverstone, Horner said the team then decamped to his nearby house in Oxfordshire on Sunday evening for a night of singing.

Mere hours after Niki Lauda described the atmosphere at Red Bull as “poisonous”, Briton Horner insisted that, with both the drivers on stage alongside himself and Adrian Newey, they sang a karaoke version of the 70s classic American Pie.

But while Webber had flagged a round of “decent chats” with Horner for Monday, the team principal said he will not sit down with the British grand prix winner until later this week.

Allaying the suspicion of bias within the media, though, Horner insisted points leader Webber is not the number two driver.

“If there were a recurrence at the next race then the component would go to Mark’s car on the same basis, of championship position,” he confirmed.

Horner admitted it was a mistake to remove the new front wing from Webber’s car without first explaining “the rationale” to the driver.

“There is no desire because of Sebastian’s nationality, age or looks to give preference to one car or the other,” he added.

BBC commentator Martin Brundle said after Silverstone that he feels “uncomfortable for Horner” because he suspects he is receiving orders from the team’s German-speaking owners.

Horner insisted: “Never, at any point, has pressure been placed on me to favour Sebastian because it’s better for selling cans of Red Bull.

“I didn’t have a conversation with Helmut (Marko) or anyone from Red Bull regarding the decision to give Sebastian the wing.  It was purely a technical decision, which I discussed with Adrian.”

He also slammed reports that Webber’s mechanics taunted Vettel’s side of the garage by waving the old front wing at them as the team packed up the garage.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said.  “Our mechanics are completely for each other, irrelevant of the car crew.

“I believe this is behind us.  If there was any ill-feeling, it is resolved and we move on as a team which has won five races, more than anyone else, this season,” he said.

American Pie or not, the Red Bull saga is music to the ears of the team’s main championship rivals at McLaren.

“People take the mick out of how well Lewis and I get on but it works well with our team and it means the guys back in the factory are not worrying about us and how we are with each other,” said Jenson Button.

“They can focus on making our car quicker,” he added.

Lewis Hamilton seems to have taken Webber’s side, commenting on the wing scenario: “If that was me? … Jeez.

“It’s not nice and I’m very, very, very happy for Mark.  But it seems that we have more harmony in our team and that’s why we’re leading both championships.”