Renault on Thursday confirmed reports that its 2011 car will be launched on the eve of the forthcoming pre-season group test at Valencia.

Most teams are planning to reveal their new cars shortly before the major session beginning on 1 February at Cheste, on the outskirts of the Spanish port city.

“The Lotus Renault GP R31 will be officially unveiled on 31 January in Valencia. More info to follow,” Renault confirmed on Thursday.

On the same day – a Monday – Sauber has booked the same Ricardo Tormo circuit to present its 2011 car the C30, including some maiden demonstration laps.

Severe monsoonal weather has reportedly not put organisers of the inaugural Indian grand prix behind schedule.

The local Mail Today claims the first layer of the track outside New Delhi has already been laid and the main grandstands are in place, as 4000 workers continue construction ten months before the first race in late October.

“Everything is going as per schedule,” said chief operating officer Boris Lazaric.

Sebastien Buemi has a new chief mechanic and trainer, following his lacklustre second half of the 2010 season.
Although Toro Rosso insists it is retaining both the Swiss and his teammate Jaime Alguersuari for this year, the FIA is yet to confirm that news officially.

And team owner Red Bull’s driver coordinator Helmut Marko said recently that while Alguersuari is “on the correct path”, 22-year-old Buemi “struggled” towards the end of last season.

“I make no excuses,” Buemi told the Swiss newspaper Blick. “At the most there are explanations, but this analysis stay inside the team.

“But I know why it happened and there is a lot to talk about with the mechanics and the engineers. And now I have a new chief mechanic,” he revealed.

“It’s not the solution but just one of the things I had to fix. I will also change my physiotherapist,” added Buemi.

“My current trainer, an Italian, gave me too little mental support. Formula one is not just about fitness and driving and your physio needs to do more than hold your helmet and drink bottle.”

He said his new trainer is an Austrian who formerly worked with Nick Heidfeld at BMW-Sauber, with Blick confirming it is 45-year-old Helmut Fink.

But Buemi acknowledges that some of his mistakes in 2010 were purely his own.

“Oh, yes! I disappointed my team several teams when I was not aggressive enough or distracted, and there were some accidents. But 2010 is now checked off and I know that this season I will improve in every area.”

An extra motivation will be the presence in the 2011 Toro Rosso on Friday mornings of Daniel Ricciardo, who is pushing to enter F1 with Red Bull’s backing.

“Maybe that’s right,” answered Buemi when asked if Ricciardo’s new role puts pressure on him and Spaniard Alguersuari.

“But I’m not worried that I am slower than anybody and I have enough confidence in myself.”

But he is not entirely confident he will still be on the grid in 2012.

“You can never be certain,” insisted Buemi. “But since 2005 Red Bull have been giving me so much support and I hope to be part of the family for a long time and one day race with Red Bull (Racing),” added Buemi.

Dietrich Mateschitz has denied Red Bull could be set to lose more prominent members of the championship winning team.

Ferrari announced this week that Red Bull’s chief strategist Neil Martin, a 38-year-old Briton, has switched to the famous Maranello based team for 2011.

But Mateschitz, owner of the Red Bull brand and the Milton Keynes-based team, insists that Martin’s defection is not the start of a larger exodus of staff tempted by lucrative offers.

“No!” the Austrian billionaire emphatically told Germany’s Bild daily.

“We recently extended the contracts of our 50 most important people,” revealed Mateschitz.

Bild suggested that Martin’s switch might persuade 2010 world champion Sebastian Vettel to also consider moving to another team.

Mateschitz answered: “Sebastian knows very well what team he can count on for the future.”

Fernando Alonso will be doing the driving when Ferrari’s new car for 2011 makes its track debut early next month.

That is the claim of the Spanish sports newspaper Marca, adding that the single seater will be launched on a day between January 25 to 29 at the team’s Maranello headquarters.

When pre-season testing then kicks off at Valencia’s Cheste circuit a few days later, 2010 championship runner-up Alonso will be at the wheel on February 1 and 2, Spanish radio Cadena COPE also reported.

After Valencia, more F1 group tests are scheduled in February at the Jerez and Barcelona circuits, before the circus moves to Bahrain in March for the final test and the 2011 season opener.

25 August has been earmarked as the debut race date for the Rome grand prix in 2013.
That is the claim of organiser Maurizio Flammini, who insists that despite speculation to the contrary, everything is on schedule for the inaugural event in the EUR district.

“All the procedures are fully in line with the time needed to organise the grand prix,” he told the Rome daily Il Tempo.

Flammini said Italy’s sanctioning bodies have “expressed interest” in the event, and once Roman city authorities approve the project he will “formalise the request to the FIA”.

Ultimately, however, “the one who decides is Bernie Ecclestone”, he insisted.

“I have read that for nearly two years the name Formula 1 Gran Premio di Roma has been registered by (him),” Flammini added.

McLaren has denied speculation it is set to drop its traditional silver livery for the 2011 season.
Reports had linked the team’s launch of mainly black and red official clothing for this year with rumours McLaren may want to differentiate itself from former works partner Mercedes, who now compete with a similarly silver-liveried car.

“Black livery? Er, no,” McLaren said via its official Twitter feed TheFifthDriver.

The Woking based team, still powered by Mercedes engines, added that the 2011 livery will be “the same Rocket Red and chrome finish that you’ve grown to love since Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was born in 2007″.

“That’s official, btw (by the way),” McLaren confirmed.

Organisers of the Bahrain grand prix want the race to retain its current top spot on the sport’s annual calendar.
Dating back to 1996, Melbourne was the traditional host of the sport’s season opener, but the Sakhir venue in Bahrain took over at the head of the schedule in 2010.

The Middle Eastern race will also kick off the 2011 championship this March, despite fierce criticism of last year’s unexciting season opener in Bahrain.

“We have had fantastic races with great touches,” insisted the circuit’s chief executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa at the 2011 race’s launch this week.

“We’re very proud that we have the opening round,” he added.

“We worked very hard to secure the first race with Formula One Management. It is a challenge and I’d like to thank the support of the F1 management and Bernie Ecclestone.

“It’s very important to us and our sponsors to be the first race and it means people are talking about the race for three months instead of two weeks, which is what happens if we are the third,” Shaikh Salman added.

The banker accused of taking a $50 million bribe amid the sale of F1′s commercial rights five years ago has been arrested.
It emerged earlier this week that as the rights were passing from the controlling Bayerische Landesbank to CVC Capital Partners, the Munich bank’s F1 representative Gerhard Gribkowsky may have received the sum as an under the table ‘thankyou’.

The speculation emerged due to his formation of a charity foundation in Austria, with reports saying Gribkowsky had “no plausible explanation” about the source of the millions.

Munich prosecutors confirmed late on Wednesday that Gribkowsky was arrested and taken into custody on charges of corruption, tax fraud and breach of trust by selling the F1 rights “without evaluation of its current value” and taking the kickback.

The prosecutors did not say who paid the 52-year-old, and a spokesman for F1′s current rights owners CVC initially declined to comment.

But a spokeswoman for the prosecutors said Gribkowsky received the money “in payments disguised via two consultancy agreements”.

CVC then said in a statement that it has “no knowledge of, nor any involvement in, any payment to Mr Gribkowsky or anyone connected with him in relation to CVC’s acquisition of formula one”.

Vitantonio Liuzzi has denied he is discussing a financial settlement amid rumours Force India wants to replace him for the 2011 season.
Media reports this week said the Silverstone based team wants Paul di Resta to race alongside Adrian Sutil this season, despite Italian Liuzzi having an ongoing contract.

“My situation is clear,” the 29-year-old told Italian website 422race.com.

“Force India hasn’t informed me about any change and for me only the words of the team count.”

Liuzzi denied that settlements, including monetary payments or even a seat with Mercedes in the DTM championship, are being discussed.

“I wasn’t offered anything, as I said I haven’t spoken to Force India about anything like that,” he insisted.

He said his 2011 contract makes him confident, but refused to rule out a scenario where Force India might want to oust him.

“By now, nothing can surprise me any more in formula one,” said the veteran of more than 60 grands prix, also with Red Bull and Toro Rosso.

“But so far I wasn’t offered anything — neither money nor a seat in DTM, as I read elsewhere. They didn’t tell me such things, for sure,” insisted Liuzzi.

“I’m pretty calm, because I have a very clear deal with the team for the 2011 season and if they should decide to take other routes, they know what they are facing,” he said.

Vitaly Petrov has announced he will try to re-pay Russia’s support by being a formula one frontrunner in 2011.
The 26-year-old has a new two-year contract with Renault, but prime minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Petrov “needs financial support” whilst announcing state technology company Rostekhnologii as a new sponsor for the Vyborn-born driver.

“I will try to do everything in my hands to fight with the leaders Ferrari and McLaren,” said Petrov after his meeting with Putin and industry leaders, according to Spanish sports newspaper Marca.

“We will see how the team has prepared the new car,” added Petrov, who said the new black and gold Renault’s performance will depend heavily on the February tests.

Putin said: “Vitaly Petrov is becoming increasingly known by motor racing fans. He has signed a contract for two years and obviously needs help.

“Mainly financial support. So we met to discuss this issue,” he revealed.

According to speculation in F1 circles, McLaren could be set to drop most of the silver from its car livery for the 2011 season.
Last year, after the shareholding split with Mercedes was announced, it was rumoured then that Woking based McLaren might adopt a substantially new livery — given Mercedes GP’s plans for a similarly silver car.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh said then: “It (the silver) is a McLaren brand colour; it works for our partners and us.”

Mercedes, however, ramped up its ‘Silver Arrows’ rhetoric throughout 2010 and now remains only an engine supplier to McLaren, with the shareholding ever diluted.

Indeed, this year, Daimler’s stake is scheduled to have been entirely bought back by McLaren.

A hint about McLaren’s branding and livery plans for 2011 is in the new official merchandising range for the forthcoming season.

For example, gone are the silver team caps of 2010, replaced by mainly black ones for 2011. The team crew and management-style shirts and jackets are also black.

Plans for a formula one race on the Balearic Islands are still progressing.
Mid last year, it emerged that Llucmajor, a short drive from Mallorca’s major Palma airport, was the likely site for the project, which would replace the European grand prix at Valencia.

The German-language Mallorca Zeitung reports that organisers are now seeking investors to fund the first race in 2012, with the estimated cost at between 160-200 million euros.

“The project would help not only the local community but give the whole island a tremendous economic boost,” said Llucmajor mayor Joan Jaume.

The track’s local designer Gabriel Palmer has been criticised for his inexperience, but he said he has consulted with the Ferrari team.

“I have included their (Ferrari’s) corrections in my current draft,” said Palmer.

The head of the Balearic racing federation and mayor Jaume have already met with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, and F1 event guru Philippe Gurdjian has reportedly also been involved.

“Ecclestone was enthusiastic and encouraged us to pursue the project,” said federation president Agustin Arbex.

He also revealed that September 2012 has been earmarked for the inaugural race date.

As expected, Chris Dyer has lost his job in the wake of the bungled race strategy that cost Ferrari the drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi last year.

Italian reports were predicting within hours of the outcome of the season finale in November that the Australian’s head “will roll” for calling in Fernando Alonso for an early pitstop that left him stranded behind Vitaly Petrov.

Dyer remained in his role as Ferrari’s head of race track engineering until this week, when – also as expected – the new deputy technical director Pat Fry took over.

Dyer’s “role within the company will be redefined in the next few days”, Ferrari announced.

Also stepping forward with a prominent new role at Ferrari is Neil Martin, who until recently was chief strategist at Red Bull.

Fry and Martin both worked alongside Spaniard Alonso at McLaren in 2007.

Ferrari said Briton Martin, 38, will head the team’s new Operations Research department, and like Fry will “report directly to technical director Aldo Costa”.

Stefano Domenicali has admitted he considered quitting after Ferrari dramatically lost the 2010 title with a bungled race strategy in Abu Dhabi.
The Italian said during an interview with La Repubblica newspaper that if F1 was football, he would probably now be looking for a new job.

“I know that people see me as the coach of Ferrari,” he said. “But a team principal is something different. This is a business and I have to manage all the different aspects, not just the sporting ones.

“I take care of everything, so I delegate a lot, but saying that, you have to be ready for anything especially if there have not been the results you want for two years.

“But thank god it’s not football!” said the 45-year-old.

“To rebuild in F1 is takes months and years and from that point of view I have always felt a great support from the president and the shareholders,” continued Domenicali.

Although he did not fear Ferrari’s wrath after the ill-fated Abu Dhabi finale, the Italian admits he didn’t sleep for two days and spent that time contemplating resigning.

“After Abu Dhabi I raised the issue personally. I wondered if it was the right thing or not to stay.

“I take it as a duty and I am not attached to my chair. But I came to the conclusion that stopping would be a mistake. I know the team and I think I’m the right person to capitalise on all that we have sown in recent months.

“From a methodological point of view, we have changed almost everything at Maranello and I am sure we will soon see the results of our hard work.”

And he denied that severing other heads for the strategy mistake would be an appropriate response.

“The mistake had a devastating effect,” said Domenicali. “But in a normal race it was a normal error. So you can’t jettison everything – even the good things – because of it.”

It is rumoured that one major change for 2011 is a more prominent role for former McLaren designer Pat Fry.

“We will officially announce something in the coming hours and make sure that those who are making decisions in the crucial moments have all the tools to do not repeat the mistakes,” said Domenicali.

He also denied that Felipe Massa’s poor season was due to the Brazilian’s serious head injuries sustained in 2009.

“We made all the checks; as a driver and a man Felipe is perfectly intact,” he insisted, arguing that as well as the technical explanations, Massa struggled psychologically at times in 2010.

“I am sure we will see a great Massa in 2011. He knows that he can’t afford another season like that,” added Domenicali.

And as for the car at Massa and teammate Fernando Alonso’s disposal, he explained: “The car of 2010 we had to start from scratch (after 2009).

“Now we have a good starting point and a regulation change, so we have to make maximum use of our imagination for extreme solutions,” said the Italian.