Pastor Maldonado has hinted that “important news” about his future could be forthcoming this week.

Last week, after testing with both the Williams and HRT teams, the new GP2 champion refused to confirm speculation he has already signed to make his F1 race debut in 2011.

Oxfordshire based Williams has cleared a race seat alongside Rubens Barrichello by ousting Nico Hulkenberg, whose manager Willi Weber said last Monday that the team has “probably already done a deal with Pastor Maldonado”.

25-year-old Maldonado wrote on Twitter: “This week could be very important and I hope to have news about the future.”

Maldonado, who is backed by the Venezuelan government and state-owned petroleum company PDVSA, told F1′s official website last week: “If you win the GP2 championship you definitely hope that formula one is the next logical step.”

Vijay Mallya’s son has admitted he will venture into the world of formula one team management in the future.

23-year-old Sidhartha Mallya, with a business degree obtained in London, is already a company director of his billionaire father’s United Breweries, and he runs the Indian cricket team Royal Challengers.

But his 54-year-old father owns and heads the F1 team Force India, sparking speculation Sidhartha Mallya’s future is on the pitwall.

He told the Deccan Chronicle: “It’s easier to manage a cricket team than F1.  (Cricket series) IPL is a short season, but the F1 calendar is spread across nine months.

“To get the team in shape is a lot of hard work and energy.  Due to my commitments within the UB group, I am unable to dedicate 100 per cent to racing at present,” said Sidhartha Mallya.

“The transition into F1 will happen in the future,” he conceded, while indicating that motor racing is not his foremost passion.

Said Mallya: “After seeing the big-hitting and thrill-a-minute twenty20 (cricket) matches, watching a car go around the circuit for about 65 laps is hopelessly boring.”

A month before Christmas, F1 teams and drivers have retired to consider the impact of the sport’s new sole tyre supplier.

The 2010 grid got its first taste of new partner Pirelli’s recent development efforts with a two-day test in Abu Dhabi.

Paying particular attention were drivers like Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher, who notably struggled with departed Bridgestone’s tyres this year.

Schumacher’s Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg raised alarm bells when, asked to compare Pirelli with Bridgestone after his running on Friday, he used words like “worse”, “weaker” and “slower”.

Massa, however, set Friday’s best time and said he was happy, while Schumacher was cautious.

“We were using the 2010 car,” he said on Saturday after almost matching pacesetter Fernando Alonso’s best time, “and it will be all about how these tyres suit our 2011 car.”

But Brazil’s Agencia Estado quoted him as sounding more positive.

“These are not the final tyres but the ones I used today seemed to suit my style a bit more, especially the fronts,” said Schumacher.

Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi also noticed some key differences compared with Bridgestone.

“We did our best start of the year!” the Swiss enthused to Auto Hebdo when talking about his first impression of the Pirellis.

“You can also brake very hard and very late. On acceleration, the traction is poor and you lose a lot of grip, and the wear also seems higher.

“And on a long run the soft tyres wore much less than the hard tyres. In my opinion, they (Pirelli) made a mistake and they’ve already said they’ll change it.

“The front tyres are good. They respond well,” added Buemi.

To Agencia Estado, Williams’ Rubens Barrichello concurred: “The front of the car grips a little more than the rear.”

Said Pirelli’s Paul Hembery: “According to what we have learned in Abu Dhabi, we will change the compounds, but not the construction.”

And he added: “The drivers especially enjoyed the performance of our front tyre, which is an area that we have worked on considerably.”

Organisers of the historic Italian grand prix are worried plans to take formula one to Rome will leave historic Monza without a race.

Both the Italian capital and Bernie Ecclestone insist the plans for a street race in the EUR district are no threat to Monza, but officials of the high speed Autodromo Nazionale are not so confident.

“Amid a globalisation of grands prix, each country will inevitably be allowed to stage only one” and “since Rome is the capital, I’m afraid we’d lose the grand prix forever,” Monza boss Enrico Ferrari told Bloomberg.

The Rome city council is due to meet this month to consider how to proceed with its F1 bid.

“Rome is known around the world for its history and landmarks, but we need an event that projects an image of Rome that’s not just about museums,” said city mayor Gianni Alemanno.

“We want to project a modern image and formula one would help us do that.”

F1 chief executive Ecclestone insists there is no deal yet.

“We haven’t got a contract yet for the event,” said the Briton.  “As soon as they get that, yes, yes, we can have a race, then let’s see if we can make it happen.”

Ecclestone said a deal with Rome would not necessarily be bad news for Monza.

“We have two events at the moment in Spain,” he explained.  “Let’s wait and see.  It’s still early days.”

Monza mayor Marco Mariani admitted he is worried.

“Politically speaking, Rome is far stronger than us,” he said.

Gary Paffett on Friday said F1′s new Pirelli tyre is “not too different” from the product supplied in 2010 by the now departed Bridgestone.

At Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit, the two-day Pirelli test began, with teams and race drivers including new world champion Sebastian Vettel getting their first taste of the sport’s new rubber.

At the end of the day, the best time was Felipe Massa’s 1.40.1 — a significant feat for the Brazilian after struggling with the Bridgestone tyre this year.

Indeed, Renault chief engineer Alan Permane reported that the Pirelli’s had suffered from “no warm-up issues”, which had been a significant problem for drivers including Massa in 2010.

Vettel was also in the 1.40s on Friday.

That is about 2 seconds slower than Daniel Ricciardo’s Bridgestone-shod time set in the Red Bull earlier this week, although it must be noted that most teams were also running with the new mandatory weight distribution setup for 2011.

“The tyres seem to be working well and not too different from Bridgestone, so a good start,” said Gary Paffett, who has tested the 2010 McLaren with both Pirelli and Bridgestone tyres this week.

‘Proton 1Malaysia’ has been touted as a possible new name for Tony Fernandes’ formula one team in 2011.

Currently, the team currently known as Lotus Racing is locked in a dispute with Group Lotus, who intend to separately enter F1 next year in collaboration with Enstone based Renault.

That raises the messy possibility of two teams being called ‘Lotus’; a situation that now involves the courts and also the Malaysian government, part-owner of the Group Lotus parent and carmaker Proton.

The proposed new name for Lotus Racing was published by The Advertiser, a regional UK newspaper close to the Norwich headquarters of both Fernandes’ team as well as Group Lotus.

It would be a tidy solution to the current dilemma, probably involving sponsorship for Fernandes’ small team to compensate for the lost FOM revenue due to a name change, and clearing the way for Renault F1 to be renamed Lotus-Renault in 2011.

And Fernandes’ team “will become a flagship Malaysian constructor hoping to build on tenth place in its first season”, said the report.

Last Sunday’s Abu Dhabi season finale was a significant moment in the history of the F1 safety car.

The first deployment of the sport’s permanent safety car was 250 grands prix ago, at Magny Cours in 1996.

“That was my company car,” recalled current safety car driver Bernd Maylander, referring to the C36 AMG used for that race in France.

According to Motorsport-Magazin.com, the car deployed for that debut race even featured Maylander’s personalised number plate ‘S-BM 300′.

Of the 250 races, the Mercedes safety car – spanning nine separate models and currently the gull-wing SLS AMG – was deployed 135 times.

The identity of the F1 team currently known as Lotus Racing moved further under a cloud on Thursday.

The team’s official naming license has been withdrawn by the Proton-owned Group Lotus, and Tony Fernandes’ alternative plan to be called Team Lotus by buying that separate name is now subject to court proceedings.

Meanwhile, Group Lotus is expected to enter F1 in collaboration with the Enstone based Renault team in 2011, and the sports car marque has now announced a project to supply engines and bodywork in the Indycar series from 2012.

“We want to compete with the big buys,” said CEO Dany Bahar.

A GP2 project for 2011 has already been put in place by Group Lotus, all of which leaves Fernandes with little option than to adopt an alternative identity for his privately-owned UK based Malaysian team.

“I do not want to comment on Proton’s move to enter F1 but their action certainly will have some bearing on the team name,” admitted Lotus Racing chief executive Riad Asmat.

“For now, we are preparing our team and we want to be ready for any eventualities.  We are definitely going to be there when the (2011) season starts,” he is quoted by the Malaysian newspaper The Star.

Fernando Alonso’s reaction to losing the 2010 world championship demonstrated his lack of education.

That is the claim of Vitaly Petrov, the driver whose Renault car proved impossible for Alonso to pass last Sunday in Abu Dhabi.

After the cars crossed the chequered flag, Spaniard Alonso pulled his Ferrari alongside Petrov and gesticulated angrily at the Russian.

“The gesturing only showed his bad education,” Petrov said in an interview with Spanish sports newspaper Marca.

“I always follow the rule that if you are sad or disappointed, keep it to yourself.  I did my race and he did his.  This is a job and I want to do my best,” he explained.

Pastor Maldonado has refused to confirm speculation he has already signed to make his F1 debut with the Williams team in 2011.

In Abu Dhabi this week, the new GP2 champion has been testing both with Williams as well as HRT, the Spanish team that will use a gearbox supplied by Oxfordshire based Williams next year.

Williams has cleared a 2011 race seat alongside Rubens Barrichello by ousting Nico Hulkenberg, whose manager Willi Weber said on Monday that the team has “probably already done a deal with Pastor Maldonado”.

It is assumed that Williams has signed Maldonado because it needs his financial backing provided by the Venezuelan government and the petroleum company PDVSA.

But Maldonado is quoted by F1′s official website: “At the moment, no comment on that.”

Not yet a week after winning the 2010 world championship, Sebastian Vettel has already scooped his first financial benefit.

German reports say the 23-year-old has signed a multi-million dollar sponsorship contract with American multinational Procter + Gamble to promote the ‘Head + Shoulders’ shampoo.

Bild newspaper said Vettel, who manages his own affairs, is being “advised by a lawyer and a financial expert” and is “in negotiations with other brands”.

On Friday, he is testing Pirelli tyres in Abu Dhabi, and on Sunday he will return for celebrations to Heppenheim, where “tens of thousands” are expected to welcome him back to his German hometown.

Team orders will be “regulated” rather than allowed in formula one, FIA president Jean Todt has revealed.

The issue came back onto the agenda in 2010, when Felipe Massa was ordered aside for Fernando Alonso at Hockenheim by a Ferrari engineer telling the Brazilian: “Fernando is faster than you”.

“Personally, I’m not against team orders, but I am against lying,” the Frenchman is quoted as saying in interviews this week.

He said covert team orders “deceive the audience and the media” and subsequently require teams and drivers to lie afterwards.

“Team orders have been banned since 2002, but I ask myself how many have been issued in a ‘soft’ way.  The difference with that and what Ferrari did (at Hockenheim) is that it was anything but soft.

“It was a provocation against the regulations,” Todt told Italy’s La Stampa.

But when asked if the FIA will react to the latest affair by simply abolishing the rule, he answered: “It will be regulated.

“F1 is a team sport and each team will have responsibility for their behaviour.  We will not tolerate lies or coded messages like ‘Save fuel’.”

Fascinatingly, former Ferrari team boss Todt blamed Rubens Barrichello for the original team orders controversy of 2002, when the Brazilian was explicitly ordered on the radio to ‘Let Michael (Schumacher) pass for the championship’.

“I shouldn’t have had to say anything,” Todt said this week.

“We had agreed beforehand that if he (Barrichello) is in front after the pitstop, he was to let Schumacher pass without making a fuss.

“It was agreed, and drivers are paid to accept certain decisions.

“But he made me call him 50 times and he moved at the last corner — the audience booed, Schumacher gave him first place on the podium and Ferrari was fined $500,000 for violating protocol,” he explained.

Asked if he regrets the affair, he admitted: “Yes, because with hindsight it could have been avoided.  Schumacher would have won the championship anyway.

“But I would have regretted even more if we had lost the title by a couple of points,” added Todt.

And in an interview with France’s L’Equipe, Todt said he thought the works Renault drivers “helped” Renault-powered Red Bull to win the 2010 championship by holding up key rivals in Abu Dhabi.

“They (Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov) helped Red Bull, even though this team often complain about the lack of competitiveness of the Renault engine,” he said.

Jean Todt has vowed to push hard to improve the spectacle of overtaking in formula one.

“We need to encourage more overtaking,” the FIA president said in an interview with La Stampa.  “In Abu Dhabi it was impossible.”

Pundits were critical after the 2010 finale at the spectacular Yas Marina circuit, because Fernando Alonso was unable to pass Vitaly Petrov, while another title contender – Lewis Hamilton – could not overtake Robert Kubica.

“I’m speaking as the president of the FIA,” said Frenchman Todt.  “Hamilton had fresh tyres and was 2 seconds faster than Kubica and yet he failed to pass.

“From now on, before a new circuit is approved, we will evaluate the potential for the spectacle as well as the safety,” he revealed.

And Autosprint quotes Todt as adding: “In this way we have already convened a meeting with technical experts such as Patrick Head and Rory Byrne.”

McLaren’s 2011 car will feature “quite a few” technical innovations, team boss Martin Whitmarsh has promised.

This season, the British team pioneered the F-duct innovation, but it – as well as double diffusers – has been banned for 2011.

Talking about next year, Whitmarsh told Auto Motor und Sport: “”We will definitely see new and surprising concepts such as the F-duct and double diffuser.

“We’ve got quite a few creative ideas already.  I hope it pays off.”

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed he still does not know what he will be doing in 2011.

The Australian, who was Red Bull’s reserve driver in 2010, this week stunned the F1 world with record-setting pace in the Abu Dhabi young driver test at the wheel of the championship winning RB6.

The energy drink company’s four F1 race seats are already occupied for 2011, but it has been rumoured a drive at Lotus – to use Red Bull gearboxes next year – is a possibility.

“I called Dr (Helmut) Marko to keep him informed of the developments in testing.

“I asked him if he had any news for next season, but he said nothing has been decided yet,” 21-year-old Ricciardo told Auto Hebdo.

“I am a member of the Red Bull junior team so my future is in their hands.  I have every confidence in them and I know they will decide what is best for me.”