Sauber on Monday became the next team to reveal its 2011 car.

Photographers captured the new C30 in the chilly Valencia pitlane, where group testing will begin 24 hours later.

The Ferrari-powered car is outwardly similar to the 2010 model and features the familiar white and grey livery, punctuated by some new sponsors brought mainly by new Mexican driver Sergio Perez.

“We have managed to secure our business foundation for the 2011 season. In these economically straitened times that is something we can be proud of,” said team owner and boss Peter Sauber.

Sergio Perez insists he is not getting carried away with thoughts about one day racing in F1 for Ferrari.
As well as being Sauber’s new rookie for 2011, the 21-year-old Mexican is also a part of Ferrari’s young driver programme.

In Valencia on Monday as Ferrari-powered Sauber pulled the wraps off the C30, Perez insisted his main focus “is only Sauber”.

“Obviously the dream is one day to drive for Ferrari (but) my main job is in Sauber and Ferrari knows this very well,” Perez, who has taken a raft of Mexican sponsors to Sauber, is quoted by The Associated Press.

He finished last year’s GP2 championship in second place.

Bruno Senna has resurfaced at Lotus Renault GP.
The Brazilian, whose late uncle Ayrton is the subject of a new award-winning documentary, had a difficult debut in 2010 with the struggling HRT team.

He has not been retained for 2011, instead resurfacing in the Valencia pitlane on Monday morning as Renault launched its new black and gold R31 car.

“It’s a great leap of faith from them to give me this shot, so I’m very happy,” 27-year-old Senna, who like Frenchman Romain Grosjean was introduced as a ‘third’ driver, said whilst wearing his new black overalls.

Among Renault’s other non-race drivers for 2011 are reserves Fairuz Fauzy, Jan Charouz and Ho-Ping Tung.

Team Lotus has confirmed reports that the 2011 car does not feature a KERS system.
We reported recently that HRT and Virgin will also be starting the forthcoming season without the energy-recovery technology.

“The decision made the design job slightly easier, because packaging it in the car is always a bit more of a headache,” chief designer Lewis Butler said in the Team Lotus Notes magazine.

Confirmed head of aerodynamics Marianne Hinson: “It’s the same for us in aerodynamics — no KERS is actually easier because packaging all the bits you need for it is actually quite limiting for some of the aero shapes you need in some areas.”

Lotus is not ruling out installing KERS at a later date, but chief operating officer Keith Saunt suggested it is not necessary for the team to take its next step.

“If KERS was going to get us from eighth to sixth then we’d have it,” he said. “But when you look at the weight of it and some of the engineering challenges, I think it’s a good decision not to start with it.

“We might end up with it, who knows?” added Saunt. “But if we did we’ve got a lot of experienced people who could turn their hands to it.”

FIA president Jean Todt has revealed a “great admiration” for Red Bull’s Dietrich Mateschitz.
Although with a relatively hands-off role personally, Austrian billionaire Mateschitz’s main F1 team secured the drivers’ and constructors’ titles last season, just six years after taking over struggling Jaguar.

At the pinnacle of motor racing and against industry stalwarts including Ferrari and McLaren, and after carmaker giants including BMW and Toyota gave up on the road to success, energy drink Red Bull’s 2010 achievement was unique.

“I have great admiration for him,” Todt said when asked about Mateschitz on a visit to Vienna.

“He is a sports fanatic, especially motor sports,” the Frenchman told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper.

“When he started (in F1), many didn’t think he could be so successful, but he has shown what can be done with enthusiasm, energy and dedication,” added Todt.

When asked about the forthcoming 2011 season, the FIA president summarised: “We will have the longest ever season with new rules and tyres and a grand prix in India.

“It is all very open and interesting, but I won’t talk about the favourites,” smiled Todt.

Pirelli boss Marco Tronchetti Provera has dismissed claims the Italian tyre marque might favour Ferrari this year.

With Ferrari naming its 2011 car F150 in tribute of Italian unification and painting a tri-colour on the rear wing, the national link between the Maranello marque and Milan-based Pirelli had raised some fears among Ferrari’s rivals.

But Tronchetti is quoted by Spain’s Diario AS newspaper: “We are a company, not a flag.”

He also said he is proud of Pirelli’s efforts so far as the marque returns to F1 in 2011.

“In a very short time, the drivers have said we (the tyres) have a great performance,” said Tronchetti.

Two teams have recently utilised the facilities of the departed formula one team Toyota, it has emerged.
The German-language Speed Week said Cologne based Toyota Motorsport GmbH, whose impressive facility including two wind tunnels is available for external parties to hire, has counted Williams and Toyota among its latest clients.

The report said Ferrari has confirmed that some of the development of Ferrari’s new F150 car was done after booking time in the Toyota tunnels.

Technical director Aldo Costa has reportedly confirmed that Ferrari turned to Toyota due to the cost-cutting limitations placed on staff and wind tunnel time.

Williams, meanwhile, has two wind tunnels of its own at its Grove headquarters, but Speed Week said the British team “has developed parts for its new car at Toyota”.

The report said as many as six other teams will also use the Toyota facilities.

Michael Schumacher insists he is not the only driver who suffers from motion sickness at the wheel of simulators.
A major story broke last week suggesting that Schumacher’s limited time in Mercedes’ Brackley simulator could explain his struggle to keep up with Nico Rosberg after returning to F1.

But little coverage was given to former drivers including Martin Brundle and Alex Wurz who said they also feel sick when using simulators.

“I think almost all the drivers that I know have had it (motion sickness),” agreed Schumacher, in conversation with Telegraph Sport.

“When we had our first simulator at Ferrari I had exactly this feeling already so it’s nothing to do with age. People get used to it by going through certain processes,” he added.

Schumacher revealed that Rosberg also had problems with the Mercedes simulator in 2010, and played down the usefulness of the technology.

“As far as I understand there are some other top teams that have a simulator but make very little use of it,” said the German.

“For us drivers the main benefit of them would be to get used to a track. But for me personally that has never been an issue. I don’t see the big advantage of them,” added Schumacher.

Mercedes’ new state-of-the-art simulator is not expected to be up and running until next year.

Fernando Alonso has vowed to shave off his beard before the 2011 season begins officially in Bahrain.
The Spaniard has been wearing a ‘three musketeers’-style goatee at Ferrari’s ‘Wrooom’ media event and also for the launch and track debut of the team’s new 2011 car.

Asked if it will still be there when the racing begins in March, Alonso told Reuters: “I don’t think so. My mother doesn’t want it.”

A more important issue for the 29-year-old is the seating position of the new F150 car due to the higher nose.

Both Alonso and his shorter teammate Felipe Massa appeared to be straining over the cockpit to see the corners when they tried the car for the first time at Fiorano.

“We’ve had to change it (the seating position) as visibility could be a problem,” said Alonso before the maiden test.

Romain Grosjean is Renault’s third driver for the 2011 season.
French reports said the appointment is despite the Proton-linked Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy being recently signed as the Lotus-sponsored team’s reserve driver.

24-year-old Grosjean made his F1 race debut with the same team in 2009 after Nelson Piquet was dropped, but he was not retained for last year.

He will also return full-time to GP2 in 2011.

“2011 will be my comeback year with a third driver spot at Lotus Renault and a whole season in GP2 and GP2 Asia with the DAMS team,” announced the Swiss-born Frenchman.

“To be third pilot … allows me to gain a huge amount of experience, to be in the paddock, to see people, and to understand what I was lacking in my first formula one experience,” added Grosjean.

“Now my idea is to be a race driver in 2012,” he told French broadcaster TF1′s Auto Moto.

The report said Grosjean will race this season if regulars Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov are unable.

Regarding his abortive initial career in F1, Grosjean said: “In motor sport you always need to be in the right place at the right time. When I got to Renault, this was certainly not the case.

“From a performance side, I was never ashamed of what I was able to do compared to (then teammate) Alonso.

“It is true that we were far apart on the grid, but when you’re 2 or 3 tenths behind him in qualifying and the race, you can’t say it was so bad,” he added.

Michael Schumacher believes it was “logical” for Fernando Alonso to recently nominate him as the major challenger for the 2011 title.
Some insiders and pundits have played down the seven time world champion’s chances of success on his return to F1, particularly after a mixed performance in the wake of his three-year retirement in 2010.

But Schumacher told Bild newspaper that Alonso’s prediction was not empty flattery.

“Fernando knows how to count and that things are going better and better, with the curve clearly on the up at the end of last season.

“He also knows that we have been working on our new car for a long time, so I think it’s realistic for him to put Mercedes on the bill,” said the 42-year-old.

Schumacher was also asked about the latest rumours surrounding Sebastian Vettel, including claims he is eyeing a future tie-up with either Ferrari or Mercedes.

“Purely hypothetically,” answered the German, “it would be unreasonable if Mercedes didn’t try to figure out if Sebastian wants to be with us in the future.”

Team Lotus on Monday revealed its 2011 car.
In an edition of its online magazine Team Lotus Notes, the team published the first photographs of the new green and gold TL11 featuring a Mercedes-style unconventional airbox shape.

The new livery features more yellow and prominent Renault signage, reflecting its new engine partnership with the French marque.

The car itself, with a rear end supplied by Red Bull, has a high and straight nose similar to the other designs seen so far including the Ferrari and Mercedes.

“It is a much more contemporary design. The car really will be a midfield runner. It’s a modern F1 car,” technical boss Mike Gascoyne is quoted as saying.

“There’s been almost no carry-over of parts for the 2011 car — it looks substantially different from last year’s car. It’s the basis of our cars for the future,” he added.

This year’s Team Lotus car is called T128, not TL11 as was previously announced.
“Why the change of name?” wrote team boss Tony Fernandes on Twitter. “Because we are continuing with history. We are a new dynasty but tradition contiunes.”

Last year, the team – then called Lotus Racing under official license from the Proton-owned carmaker Group Lotus – raced its 2010 car with the T127 designation.

T127 was the continuation of the original Lotus team’s traditional vehicle designation system, and it was thought that the reversion to TL11 for this year was to avoid yet another clash with Group Lotus amid the naming dispute.

Indicating that the designation of the 2011 car was an issue right until the T128′s reveal very early on Monday morning, the launch magazine made no mention of the two variations.

Chris Dyer’s redefined role at Ferrari is factory-based and on “the production side”, according to a specialist report.

Following the race strategy gaffe that cost Fernando Alonso the 2010 title, Australian Dyer was stepped down as head of track engineering.

Ferrari said he would get a “redefined” role for 2011.

An article by veteran correspondent Heikki Kulta in Finland’s Turun Sanomat claims that role is relating to production, with 42-year-old Dyer – formerly race engineer to Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen – to be stationed at Maranello.

The report also said Schumacher would be happy to reunite with Dyer at Mercedes.

Ferrari’s post-Dyer engineering structure features ex McLaren and Red Bull men Pat Fry and Neil Martin in newly prominent roles.

Sebastian Vettel on Sunday appeared to agree that rumours of a Ferrari switch some time soon can be put to rest.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said earlier that there was “nothing” to the speculation that new world champion Vettel could be Maranello’s next driver.

At a sponsor event in Austria, the 23-year-old indicated he is happy at Red Bull, where if he finishes in the top three in 2011, he is contractually bound also for next year.

“I feel very good, both contractually as well as in my mind for the next few years,” he is quoted by the German news agency SID.

“At the moment there is not much to discuss, but I’m still young,” added Vettel when addressing his immediate future in F1.