Mark Webber should never have revealed that he drove the last races of the 2010 world championship with a shoulder injury, his manager has admitted.
After his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel won the title, Australian Webber revealed in a book that he had contested the decisive final four races with a fractured shoulder caused by a cycling fall before Suzuka in October.

Webber, who did not even tell his team about the fall, insisted his injured shoulder did not affect his performance.

But Italian Briatore, who still heads Webber’s management in F1, said: “It would have been better to leave it with no excuses at all, or to have said it when it happened.

“The truth is that Mark lost the championship only because of the mistake in Korea. Otherwise, he would be champion,” Finland’s Turun Sanomat quotes Briatore as having told the Italian media.

The famous Italian also manages 2010 championship runner-up Fernando Alonso, and Briatore backed the Spaniard to be even stronger this year.

“Fernando is very motivated and Ferrari have promised to give him a car that he deserves which is in front of the others,” Briatore reportedly told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“In addition to that, the organisation changes made are a sign of Ferrari’s trust in their driver,” he added.

Sporting a new look for 2011, Nico Rosberg has declared he has no fear of F1′s world champions.
“Where (Sebastian) Vettel is now? I’ll get there,” the Mercedes driver, referring to his German countryman and F1′s new reigning champion, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Rosberg was speaking with a new short haircut and a stubble beard.

“No one recognises me!” enthused the 25-year-old, whose long blonde hair of previous seasons earned him the nickname ‘Britney’.

“The beard is just laziness,” laughed Rosberg, who has had to call off taking part in a triathlon event due to a slightly injured knee.

As for emulating Vettel’s success in 2011, Rosberg is determined. “He has a good team around him in Red Bull, but myself and the whole team at Mercedes are working like crazy to catch up,” he said at the Berlin Fashion Week.

In 2011, Rosberg saw off the challenge of F1′s returning seven time champion Michael Schumacher, and he insisted he still does not fear his famous teammate.

“It may be close between us, and maybe he will beat me, but there’s no way he’s going to put me in the shade,” he insisted.

“There is no reason why I would be worse than last year — on the contrary, I will be better!”

In an interview with DPA news agency, Rosberg scoffed at Fernando Alonso’s recent claim that Schumacher will be his biggest rival this year.

“It doesn’t really interest me, but I found it a little strange that you wouldn’t say Red Bull is your nearest rival. That seems pretty obvious,” he said.

Williams is considering a stock market floatation, the famous British team announced on Friday.
Sir Frank Williams said in a media statement that he has decided it is “prudent and necessary” to devise a new ownership structure so that the Grove based team can remain an “independent constructor”.

He said the option of selling shares to the public is therefore being examined “closely”.

“Regardless of whatever steps we take, I shall remain the majority and controlling shareholder and the team principal”, announced Williams.

The team’s chairman Adam Parr said the move would be “the best way to secure the future of the team” and its 450 employees.

He denied that Sir Frank is either retiring or in poor health.

“No. Frank’s health is absolutely fine,” insisted Parr.

New F2 champion Dean Stoneman has pulled out of racing for 2011.
The 20-year-old Briton, who tested with the F1 team Williams in Abu Dhabi last November, has been diagnosed with testicular cancer.

He had intended to progress to the Renault World Series this year but instead will “concentrate his complete attention on returning to full health”, a statement on his website said.

“Specialists have made the diagnosis early and are confident that he will make a full recovery, with treatment scheduled to begin with immediate effect,” added the statement.

Cycling legend Lance Armstrong is a famous survivor of testicular cancer.

Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno on Friday called off the Italian capital’s bid for a formula one race.
This week, the mayor said Rome was “taking a step back” with its plans for a street race in the EUR district, after Bernie Ecclestone said there was not room on the F1 calendar.

“Now I can formally and definitively renounce the project of the grand prix of Rome,” said Alemanno in a press conference, according to Italian press sources.

He said surveys had shown that the idea of a F1 race Rome was unpopular, adding that the historic city should instead focus on securing the 2020 Olympics.

Notwithstanding Fairuz Fauzy’s appointment as reserve driver, Romain Grosjean is still expected to take up a similar role with Renault in 2011.
A French commentator said last week that Swiss-born Grosjean will be with the Enstone based team this year, with boss Eric Boullier admitting he is “working very hard” to find a place for the 24-year-old.

After Malaysian Fauzy was revealed as a reserve driver for the Lotus-sponsored team in 2011, France’s F1 broadcaster TF1 this week said Grosjean will be the subject of the next announcement.

The report said the announcement about Frenchman Grosjean becoming Renault’s “third driver” will take place at Valencia on January 31, when the R31 car is unveiled ahead of the group test at the Ricardo Tormo track.

Daniel Ricciardo is not getting excited despite his boss Helmut Marko saying the Australian is scheduled to make his F1 debut by 2012 “at the latest”.
The 21-year-old is the cream of Red Bull’s current junior development programme, and will drive on the Friday morning of grands prix this year with Toro Rosso as well as racing in the Renault World Series.

And whether he is drafted in to replace the Red Bull-owned team’s regulars Sebastien Buemi or Jaime Alguersuari before the 2011 season is out, Marko told Motorsport-Total.com that it “depends on the parties involved”.

Ricciardo, in Perth with his family this week, told the West Australian newspaper that he had not read Red Bull advisor Dr Marko’s comments.

But he insisted: “I can’t really rest on that, that I’ll be in (F1) next year. If I have a bad year this year, I’m sure he’ll change his mind.”

Ricciardo confirmed that he will be driving on the Friday in Bahrain, and at three of the forthcoming pre-season tests.

“I’m not sure (exactly) what testing I’ll be doing,” he said.

“The Toro Rosso guys have told me that I’ll be in the car for testing before Bahrain,” added Ricciardo.

Gerhard Berger has for now ruled out returning to the F1 pitlane as a team owner.
After retiring as a veteran driver and winner of ten grands prix in 1997, the Austrian served as BMW’s joint motor sport director until 2003.

He came back to the pitwall once again in 2006, having bought half of Toro Rosso from his friend Dietrich Mateschitz, but he sold the share back to Red Bull at the end of 2008.

Asked if he is considering a return to team ownership any time soon, 51-year-old said: “With the conditions in formula one today, there is not the opportunity.

“I can’t afford it,” Berger told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

“The sport has become too expensive and you can’t find the money that you need to do a good job on the open market.”

Nico Rosberg is scheduled to give Mercedes’ new 2011 car, the W02, its debut outing on the first day of the Valencia test next month.
“I am going first,” said the 25-year-old German, who last year scored 70 points more than his famous teammate Michael Schumacher.

Speaking at the Fashion Week in Berlin, Rosberg added that the pre-season test schedule has been devised to be “fair” to both him and Schumacher, even though getting the first run is “something special”.

“It will be interesting to see how it (the W02) feels,” the German is quoted by DPA agency.

“You know pretty quickly how good it is going to be,” added Rosberg.

Schumacher, 42, will drive on day two.

Rosberg continued: “It is probably unrealistic to go into the season saying we will win the championship, but we will succeed sooner or later. We are on the right track.”

In Mercedes GP’s first season after the re-branding of 2009 champions Brawn GP, the Brackley based team finished fourth overall.

Niki Lauda will not be wearing his famous red cap in the formula one paddock this year.
The iconic Austrian racer, businessman and German TV commentator has worn the red cap – and sold the space on the front to a sponsor – ever since a near-fatal shunt in 1976 left him with head and facial scars.

A four year deal with Swiss machinery maker Oerlikon has now ended, and triple world champion Lauda has inked a new deal with Liechtenstein finance company Money Service Group.

Lauda’s new cap is dark blue, a company spokesperson confirmed, providing a photo of the 61-year-old wearing his new colours.

“We are very pleased to have Niki Lauda as an ambassasdor,” said founder and owner Michael Seidl, whose company Money Service Group also sponsors Toro Rosso.

Vitantonio Liuzzi’s manager has admitted he is not sure if the Italian will be on the 2011 grid.
Amid strong rumours that Force India has signed Paul di Resta to race alongside Adrian Sutil this year, 29-year-old Liuzzi has been staunchly insisting that he has a watertight contract for the 2011 season.

But the di Resta/Sutil stories have stepped up even more this week, after team boss Vijay Mallya said an imminent announcement is pending only “some legal loose ends”.

Liuzzi’s manager Peter Collins also hinted that negotiations about the contract are taking place with Force India.

Collins told BBC Sport: “Tonio will be in F1 this year. Will he be racing? I don’t know.”

A spokesperson for Force India declined to comment, and di Resta and his manager Anthony Hamilton were not available.

Collins continued: “I’ve no (further) comment to make at this stage and it would be wrong for me to do so.

“The position has been very clear for some time and it is best to let the team make any announcement,” Liuzzi’s manager added.

Red Bull has confirmed that its 2011 car, the RB7, will be revealed on 1 February.
The low-key unveiling will take place on the morning of the first day of pre-season group testing at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit in Spain.

“Please note 1 February will be a normal test day,” the championship winning team announced in an advisory to the press.

The RB7 will be among seven other 2011-specification cars to be running for the first time on 1 February, including the new Ferrari, Mercedes, Sauber, Renault, Toro Rosso, Williams and Lotus.

McLaren, Force India, Virgin and HRT will be testing at Valencia with their 2010 cars.

Marlboro is set to stay as Ferrari’s title sponsor until at least 2014, according to a report on Thursday.

The German-language Motorsport-Total.com said it learned about the likely contract extension at the team’s recent ‘Wrooom’ media event in the Italian Dolomites.

An official announcement could be made on January 28, when the famous team launches its 2011 car at its Maranello base.

Philip Morris brand Marlboro has remained in F1 long after the sport’s total ban on cigarette advertising.

The team’s so-called ‘barcode’ logo and livery was controversial in 2010, leading to the launch of a new logo for this year, which will be incorporated into the design of the 2011 car’s livery.

“We see no obstacles to an extension,” the report quotes a spokesman for Philip Morris International as saying.

Pirelli will use a colourful method to visibly differentiate its tyre compounds at grands prix this year.
A few years ago, the FIA said sole supplier Bridgestone must differentiate the appearance of the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ options at races.

With the grooved tyres, the Japanese marque painted a line in a middle groove of the soft options, and when slicks returned in 2009 the soft Bridgestones featured a green circle on the sidewall.

According to Italian sources, F1′s new sole supplier Pirelli has come up with a different approach to conform with the same rule in 2011.

A report in the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat claims that each compound with have the words ‘Pirelli P Zero’ painted in different colours on the sidewall.

The super-soft wording will reportedly be in red, the soft will be in white, the medium in blue and the hard in yellow.

Meanwhile, the sidewall colourings of the full wet tyre will be yellow, and the intermediates red.

After four floodlit nights in Abu Dhabi that concluded this week, Pirelli said it is now ready for the forthcoming group tests and the season.

But the marque’s research and development boss Maurizio Boiocci admitted that one unknown factor is how the tyres will be affected by the additional speed delivered by KERS and adjustable rear wings.

“If the speed came on gradually, for sure there would be no problems,” he said. “But it remains to be seen what happens when all the power comes on suddenly.”

Pirelli test driver Pedro de la Rosa told Spain’s Marca newspaper that he thinks Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton will adapt best to the new tyres in 2011.

“Changes like this always benefit the best ones, and the best ones are Hamilton and Alonso,” he said.

“But I don’t think the changing of tyres brands will be a big problem for anyone.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that – so that no drivers or teams are favoured – the FIA will distribute Pirelli’s tyres to the teams after randomly shuffling the code numbers at grands prix.

F1′s most famous driver manager has admitted he would like to add new world champion Sebastian Vettel to his stable.
Although now only handling some of Michael Schumacher’s merchandising and sponsors, Willi Weber became famous for taking 20 per cent of the lucrative earnings throughout the seven time world champion’s meteoric first career.

Multi millionaire Weber, 68, now handles young German Nico Hulkenberg, but in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport he singled out Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel as the best current drivers in F1.

Asked if he would like to manage one of the trio, he answered: “Vettel, of course.”

German Vettel, who won the 2010 title at the age of just 23, has never employed a full-time manager, relying instead on a lawyer to review contracts and some help from his father Norbert.

But Weber insists: “Now he needs a manager more than ever, because he needs to sell his success.

“It’s all about the money he can make outside of the cockpit now,” he added.