Team Lotus did announce a tie-up with specialist British sports car maker Caterham Cars on Wednesday, but not the expected change of name.
Caterham managing director Ansar Ali said Wednesday’s news was the “first step”, with a “full branding and platform” to be laid out “in due course”.

“I think it will excite all the staff at Caterham, and all the fans of Caterham Cars,” he added.

Team Lotus boss and new Caterham owner Tony Fernandes said the move is to give his formula one team a “commercial arm” in the sports car world.

It has been said the tie-up could be a neat move for Fernandes away from his bitter F1 naming dispute with Group Lotus, who as Renault title sponsor now want to be the only ‘Lotus’ in F1.

“This isn’t being done just in case we lose the case,” he insisted to Reuters.

“I and the shareholders want to wait and see what happens with the court case and then we’ll make plans from there,” added Fernandes, referring to the High Court verdict that is due in the coming weeks.

John Booth sounds downbeat despite Virgin expecting to take a major step forward in Turkey early next month.
After the team’s new car only narrowly staved off the struggling HRTs recently, media reports said an upgrade package for Istanbul includes a higher nose, new floor, Red Bull-like exhaust, modified rear suspension and new wings.

Germany’s Speed Week is calling the upgraded version a ‘B’ model of the MVR-02, but team boss Booth is quoted as worrying about the development of the team in its second season.

“We have stagnated,” the German-language report quotes the Briton as saying.

“The new developments for the Turkish grand prix will eliminate many of our problems, but we will only then be where we wanted to be in Australia,” added Booth.

There is a place in formula one for teams like HRT, the struggling team’s Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan has insisted.
Lures to potential new backers like ‘This could be you’ aside, Karthikeyan’s sponsor Tata is the only significant logo on the livery of the F111.

Hispania had an horror start to its 2011 campaign and is still at the back of the grid, but team figures now believe they can soon be troubling the next target, Virgin.

And despite Bernie Ecclestone suggesting the sport would be better off without them, Karthikeyan insists that F1′s minor spat also brings value.

“The fact is we are never in contention for the title,” he told the Hindustan Times. “But teams like these are equally important for F1.

“We are all a part of the show.

“(Those teams) provide the platform for younger drivers and for drivers like me who are coming back. There’s this hierarchy in every sport, but it only makes it more interesting,” added Karthikeyan.

Months may pass until Lewis Hamilton signs a new deal to race in formula one beyond 2012, according to Martin Whitmarsh.

Whitmarsh is the team principal for McLaren, where the 2008 world champion has spent his entire F1 career to date.

The Woking based team has made clear its desire to hang onto the 26-year-old but Hamilton has also been linked elsewhere, notably to Red Bull.

Whitmarsh is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying the British driver “is intelligent enough” to realise that McLaren is the best place for him.

“Lewis has made it clear to me he wants to stay in the team and I’ve made it clear to him I want him to stay,” he said.

“At some point, we need to get a contractual agreement that reflects that, of course. But I don’t think – despite the media interest – that either of us thinks we have to get to a contract in three months or six months.

“I trust him and I think he trusts me,” added Whitmarsh.

Amid the Red Bull rumours, Hamilton said recently that the outfit is “just a drinks company” and Whitmarsh has now repeated the arguably disparaging remark.

“We are focused on winning the championship this year, next year, in five years and 10 years’ time, as motor racing is our core business,” he said.

“A lot of other teams are selling consumer goods, cars or high-caffeine drinks. I’m not criticising them. But can they say, consequently, that they are in formula one for the long run?”

A Canadian is at the front of the queue to become the next reserve driver for the Virgin team.
The role is vacant at present following Sakon Yamamoto’s contract that covered only the first three grands prix of 2011.

The Toronto based Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail said Robert Wickens, 22, is linked with the role given his new backing in the Formula Renault 3.5 series by Virgin’s Russian sponsor and shareholder Marussia.

In the series, he uses a car and overalls coloured in the exact designs of the formula one team.

The newspaper said the former F2 and GP3 driver’s Virgin deal could be in place for the Canadian grand prix in June, and possibly much sooner.

The last Canadian in formula one was 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who lost his BMW seat in 2006.

Bernie Ecclestone is reportedly no longer denying he paid millions to jailed German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky.

The German weekly newsmagazine Focus claims the F1 chief executive, accused by Munich prosecutors of aiding and abetting a breach of trust, has alleged Gribkowsky blackmailed him to the tune of $40 million as he oversaw the sale of the sport to current owner CVC.

The report said Ecclestone made the accusation of extortion, which if proved could result in the return of the payment to the 80-year-old, in the form of official testimony.

It is believed Gribkowsky threatened Ecclestone with the divulgence of sensitive information regarding the structure of his businesses.

Austria’s Salzburger Nachrichten said Ecclestone may be electing to cooperate with authorities now in the hope of receiving a lighter penalty in the event any wrongdoing is found.

Fascinatingly, the development coincides with reports that Rupert Murdoch and Carlos Slim are moving to buy F1, and a rare admission by Ecclestone that he might retire if he thinks he cannot work with them.

“I’m old enough to get a pension, so I don’t have to get a job,” he told the Sunday Times.

F1′s governing body is considering banning the ‘DRS’ moveable wing systems for Monaco.

Italy’s Autosprint magazine said the reason for the ban would be the danger of the system’s deployment on the famously tight and twisty street layout.

Moreover, DRS would probably be of limited benefit in the Principality, given the lack of a proper straight.

Autosprint said the main fear regarding DRS and Monaco is the free usage of the system in practice and qualifying, and the fact that the curving high-speed tunnel is the most logical place for deployment of the system in the race.

“The final decision will be taken by the FIA after a meeting with the teams and drivers at the Turkish grand prix,” the report said.

Ferrari’s F1 drivers are the highest-earning sportsmen in their respective countries, a new report has found.

The full analysis by ESPN The Magazine, showing 182 countries and their top-earning athletes, will be published on May 2.

Felipe Massa is Brazil’s representative, with his annual retainer excluding sponsorships and bonuses listed as US $17,052,632.

Listed for Spain, Fernando Alonso reportedly earns $22,736,842.

Lewis Hamilton is reportedly England’s highest sports earner with $18,473,684, and the injured Robert Kubica is listed for Poland with $10,657,895.

Elsewhere representing motor sport, Kimi Raikkonen appears for Finland with his earnings from the world rally championship listed as a whopping $26,333,333.

Juan Pablo Montoya appears for Colombia with his $5,088,410 from NASCAR, while MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi reportedly made $20,800,000 last season and represents Italy on the list.

Pirelli will colour the entire sidewall of its ‘option’ tyres in Turkey.

The move follows complaints that the original coloration of the ‘Pirelli P Zero’ branding – and even the subsequent addition of thin lines on the outer tread – made it hard for spectators to visibly differentiate the compound types at the first three races of 2011.

Pirelli motor sport director Paul Hembery said the soft ‘option’ compounds will be “far more visible” from Istanbul onwards.

“The colours will be full colours on the sidewall and it will look much more significant the amount of colour we put in so the black can’t get in the way when it’s spinning,” he said.

A Team Lotus spokesman would not comment on reports of a likely tie-up with specialist British sports car marque Caterham.

News of the speculation was broken by Sky News City editor Mark Kleinman, who wrote that team boss Tony Fernandes could announce the purchase of the Kent-based company next week.

Caterham’s current owner Corven Ventures also declined to comment.

Earlier, Team Lotus invited the media to Duxford next Wednesday “for an incredibly exciting announcement about the future of our team”.

“We cannot tell you just yet what the announcement will be, but we can tell you it is definitely worth coming along to see us,” read the invitation, adding that the news is the “next exciting step in the life of Team Lotus”.

At the same event, Lotus will be straight-line testing the T128 car on the runway.

Caterham’s only current model is the Caterham 7, a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by legendary Colin Chapman in 1968.

The tie-up could be a neat way for Fernandes to emerge independently from the bitter F1 naming dispute with Group Lotus

Team Lotus could be set to tie up with Caterham Cars, a famous British specialist sports car marque.

Sky News City’s business editor Mark Kleinman, who broke the News Corp/Slim takeover reports, said the F1 team’s boss Tony Fernandes is likely to confirm next week that he has bought the Lotus-linked manufacturer.

Caterham’s only current model is the Caterham 7, a direct evolution of the Series 3 Lotus Seven designed by legendary Colin Chapman in 1968.

The Team Lotus/Caterham tie-up could be a neat way for Fernandes to emerge independently from the bitter F1 naming dispute with Group Lotus.

Kleinman said he understands Malaysian entrepreneur and AirAsia owner Fernandes “is paying several million pounds for the (Caterham) business”.

Current Caterham owner Corven Ventures declined to comment, while Fernandes could not be reached for comment.

The period between February and March was the “worst I’ve experienced in 20 years at McLaren”, the British team’s technical director has admitted.
Briton Paddy Lowe was referring to McLaren’s recent winter campaign, when the new MP4-26 was proving not only slow but also terminally unreliable as the team persevered with an exhaust concept so complex it was dubbed ‘the octopus’.

Following Lewis Hamilton’s Shanghai win last weekend, he confided to Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport that 2009 was also a bad start.

“But this was even worse, because then the problem was merely performance. At the final (2011 Barcelona) test the new items didn’t work and the car was unreliable,” said Lowe.

At the urging of team boss Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren decided to scrap the ‘octopus’ and revert to a Red Bull-style solution.

“After the first practice session in Australia I was hugely relieved,” admitted Lowe.

Two races on, Hamilton sensationally beat the dominant Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull in Shanghai.

“That (McLaren) car, if you really knew how bad it was behaving … we were being quite cool about it but it was worrying for sure,” said the 2008 world champion, reflecting upon the recent winter.

Team Lotus is aiming to climb the formula one grid, but Mike Gascoyne has admitted mixed feelings at the thought of vanquishing the next target.
Asked by The Sun to name Lotus’ likely next scalp, he nominated the famous British marque Williams; winner of 16 world championships but not a single race since 2004.

In 2011, the Grove based team has fallen to a slump not suffered by Williams since 1979, ignominiously joining Virgin and HRT as non-points scorers after three races.

“Unfortunately, (the next target is) probably Williams.

“I say unfortunately because it’s a great team and a great name, and you’d like to see them nearer the front,” said Lotus’ technical chief Gascoyne.

“So maybe I’m a bit of an old git and there’s a bit of nostalgia there. But we’re Team Lotus now and if we’re racing Williams then that’s good for us.”

Luca di Montezemolo has made clear his opposition to the 2013 engine rules.
With Bernie Ecclestone staunchly opposed to the end of the V8 era in exchange for small low-revving turbos, Williams chairman Adam Parr this week insisted that formula one must keep moving in the ‘greener’ direction.

“The (V8) technology is dated, it’s not what’s going on out in the real world and I think it’s a major, major barrier to bringing in new partners and growing the sport,” Parr told Reuters.

He sounded excited about the new direction for 2013, including much more powerful hybrid elements and the fact that the cars will run “on pure electric” when moving down the pitlane.

Parr also said Ferrari president Montezemolo was once in favour of the new rules, but the Italian is now fiercely on F1 chief executive Ecclestone’s side of the argument.

“We must not lose the DNA of formula one,” Italian Montezemolo told Auto Motor und Sport, scoffing at the fact F1 is moving to four-cylinders.

“What’s next is one cylinder — we’re not building motorcycles. The real challenge is to make an eight or 12-cylinder engine economical,” he added.

Sebastian Vettel is in Ayrton Senna’s league, but Michael Schumacher is not.

That is the sensational claim of Giorgio Ascanelli, the highly talented engineer who worked closely not only with Vettel at Toro Rosso, but also with the great Senna at McLaren.

“I am very lucky,” the Italian told Sport Bild. “Twice in my life I have experienced perfection; once with Senna, again with Vettel.”

But Ascanelli also worked with Schumacher, the most successful F1 driver of all time, at Ferrari.

“In one respect Michael was different because he had to work harder for his success than did Senna and Vettel. With those two it was something else,” he insisted.

Added Gerhard Berger: “Before the season began I thought Alonso was the best driver, but maybe now it’s Sebastian.”