Bernie Ecclestone has played down widespread reports that media magnate Rupert Murdoch as well as Carlos Slim, the Sauber backer and richest man in the world, could be preparing a bid to take over formula one.
The initial report was carried exclusively by Sky News, part of Murdoch’s News Corporation empire, but F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone told the Telegraph it is “rubbish”.

Sky said the talks, also including a car manufacturer involved in F1, are “in the early stages” and might in fact involve News Corporation bidding for television broadcast rights.

The latter detail could be significant for F1 fans, given Murdoch’s notorious attitude about the pricing of media content.

“The company is kicking the tyres, as you would expect, given that there may be a serious business opportunity to examine in relation to F1,” said a source.

Another added: “It is at a very, very early point and could lead to nothing or could lead to many different permutations.”

And yet another source told the Guardian: “They (News Corp) are thinking about F1 and options they could take but that is all it is at this stage.”

F1′s current owner CVC declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Mexican Slim’s group of companies, while a spokesman for News Corporation said: “(We do) not comment on speculation.”

Ecclestone said: “The sport is not for sale.”

He told the UK Express newspaper: “I suppose anything you or I own is available to buy. But the offer would not have to be right — it would have to be ridiculous.”

A source said: “Unless any bidder – be it News Corp, its partners or a rival – is welcomed by Bernie, nothing is happening.”

Williams shareholder Christian ‘Toto’ Wolff has not ruled out taking a more hands-on role at the struggling British team.
The famous outfit’s chairman Adam Parr said in China that after Williams’ worst start to a new season since 1979, changes are definitely on the table.

Media reports have focused on the possibility Sam Michael could lose his job as technical director.

But a less-reported fact was that Austrian Wolff – whose 10 per cent stake could reportedly increase over time – made a rare visit to the F1 paddock in China last weekend.

Asked by laola1.at if he is pushing for an actual managerial role, he answered: “In Adam Parr we have a strong man who runs the show while I look in mainly from the outside.”

Pressed further, he added: “I have put my foot in the door, and whether this is good or not, we will see.”

Robert Kubica is now well enough to leave hospital, according to reports from the injured Renault driver’s native Poland.
The news agency Polska Agencja Prasowa (PAP) said the Italian hospital has declared that Kubica, who suffered an horrific crash during a minor rally in early February, is no longer at high risk of infection in the wake of four serious surgeries.

The reports, also carried by Polish television TVN24, said Kubica will decide when to leave hospital but that it could happen “soon” — even in time for Easter.

A spokesman for the Santa Corona hospital in Pietra Ligure confirmed the reports, while Kubica’s manager Daniele Morelli said the Pole could leave by the end of April.

The reports also said Kubica has been able to stand and walk with assistance, and will continue his rehabilitation with regular visits to clinics.

Renault team owner Gerard Lopez said last week that it is too early to be speculating upon a possible return to F1 for the 26-year-old.

“Robert at the moment must keep his focus only on his recovery,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Sauber has earmarked May’s Spanish grand prix for the introduction of a Red Bull-style exhaust layout.
“We will have the new exhaust system in Barcelona,” confirmed team boss Peter Sauber to Blick newspaper.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said Kamui Kobayashi will test the system, tipped to add at least five tenths per lap to the pace of the C30 car, on Friday at Istanbul.

“It will not come to the car until it has been properly tested,” Sauber confirmed.

Teams are cautious about blown-exhaust upgrades, with the latest lesson taught by struggling Williams in China, when its Red Bull-style system burned holes through the floor of Rubens Barrichello’s FW33 in practice.

Like Sauber, the British team will attempt to run the exhaust again in Spain.

“Let’s wait until Spain before we rejoice,” insisted Sauber, “although until now, every innovation has brought us a step forward.”

The latest admiration of rookie Paul di Resta’s stirring early form in formula one is sparking headlines and speculation.
Norbert Haug hailed the Scot as “exceptional” after he outqualified his experienced Force India teammate Adrian Sutil at the first three races of his career.

Haug is the motor sport boss for Mercedes-Benz, the German marque that still retains links to di Resta after his recent DTM career, including the highly respected German touring car series title last year.

But Mercedes also has its own formula one team, and it is believed that di Resta’s placement at Force India this year is connected with the Silverstone based team’s F1 engine and KERS supply.

“We always knew he was good but his start has been exceptional,” Haug is quoted as saying by the Sun newspaper.

It should also be noted that, to Blick newspaper, Swiss F1 chief Peter Sauber hailed the 25-year-old as “the amazing rookie”.

But it is the Mercedes link that is sparking the headlines, including correspondent Bob McKenzie’s in the UK Express when he said di Resta could “fill Michael Schumacher’s boots”.

“If Schumacher’s nightmare F1 return continues any longer there is a possibility that he or Mercedes could decide to terminate their arrangement at the end of the season,” wrote McKenzie.

“And di Resta would be an obvious choice to step in.”

Lewis Hamilton pulled back Sebastian Vettel’s runaway lead in the world championship to 21 points by winning the thrilling Chinese grand prix.

McLaren’s Hamilton passed the previously-dominant RB7 in the closing stages in Shanghai, with Red Bull boss Christian Horner revealing Vettel had KERS problems.

“At the end, Lewis was so much quicker it wasn’t worth fighting so hard,” he told the BBC.

German Vettel also struggled with a two-stop strategy compared to Hamilton’s three, while Mark Webber in the sister Red Bull was smiling after a sensational run from 18th on the grid to finish third.

“Maybe the best thing to do is not even take part in qualifying and go from there,” the Australian joked.

Hamilton’s victory came less than two hours after his MP4-26 initially refused to start in the McLaren garage, and he came within seconds of having to start the race from the pitlane.

“It was not the greatest way to start out the afternoon but once it did start it went well,” said boss Martin Whitmarsh.

Jenson Button, ultimately fourth at the flag, featured early but lost ground, also when he accidentally drove into the Red Bull pit area for a new set of tyres.

“I was looking down and when I looked back up I could see I was in the wrong place,” he said.

“It was one of those races where there was a lot of overtaking and action, but I wasn’t quick enough.”

Hamilton’s victory ended a four-race winning streak for Vettel.

“I think we tried too hard staying on two stops,” said the German. “We did a couple of mistakes but still finished second so I’m very happy with that.”

Williams chairman Adam Parr on Sunday refused to deny speculation the struggling team might oust its technical director Sam Michael.
The famous Grove-based squad has had a difficult start to the 2011 championship and Parr told Reuters the main problems are in the technical areas.

“If Sam thought that the right thing for the team is for him to stop, he’d stop tomorrow. He wouldn’t even quibble. He will do whatever is necessary for the team,” he said.

Parr admitted that Williams “will be changing things” in the near future and said only organisational restructuring is not enough.

“You can’t change what we are doing without changing people,” he said, admitting that some of the decisions will be “tough”.

Rubens Barrichello’s FW33 was fitted with a Red Bull-style exhaust earlier in Shanghai but it was removed for qualifying.

“There are other areas (too) where we’ve just not been smart enough,” said Parr. “We’re not lacking in creativity or ambition but it’s not enough.

“There are other people who are being more creative and more ambitious,” he added.

Munich prosecutors may suspect Bernie Ecclestone got involved in the Gribkowsky corruption affair in order to safeguard his top job in F1, according to a newspaper report.

Having apparently skipped the Chinese grand prix, the F1 chief executive issued a statement this weekend confirming he was recently in Germany to answer suspicions of his involvement in the mysterious $50m payment to a banker.

Dr Gerhard Gribkowsky was intricately involved in BayernLB’s decision to sell its stake in F1′s commercial rights to the sport’s current owner CVC.

“It is unclear why Ecclestone would have to do that (pay a bribe),” wrote Hans Leyendecker, Klaus Ott and Nicolas Richter in a detailed report in the Sueddeutsche newspaper.

“Perhaps it was to stay in charge of the (F1) series,” they speculate.

Nico Rosberg on Thursday played down rumours he is destined to be Sebastian Vettel’s next teammate at Red Bull.

The energy drink-owned team’s driver manager Helmut Marko told the widely-circulated German newspaper Bild this week that Rosberg “is a strong driver”.

Mark Webber’s Red Bull contract ends this year, and the highly rated German Rosberg – who outpaced Michael Schumacher at Mercedes throughout 2010 – will reportedly also be in a position to move on at the end of the current season.

But Rosberg told Auto Motor und Sport: “I feel comfortable here with Mercedes.

“The Silberfeil (Silver Arrow) is my dream car. There are brilliant people here like Ross Brawn and Norbert Haug, who know how to win a lot in formula one and who have done it before,” he added.

Mark Webber was reduced to an expletive on Thursday as he faced the world’s press who tried to sum up his start to the 2011 season.
One reporter in Shanghai dared to suggest the Red Bull driver is to Sebastian Vettel, the reigning champion and two-time winner from pole in 2011, what Eddie Irvine was to Michael Schumacher all those years ago.

“Absolutely f***ing ludicrous question, mate,” he snarled.

34-year-old Webber, his contract running out, had an awful weekend in Australia and a KERS failure a week ago, but he vowed to fight back in China.

“He’s not just beating me, he’s beating everyone,” he insisted when asked about Vettel. “No one will turn up then, might as well stay at home.

“People always make the natural comparison between you and your teammate, and Seb is driving really, really well and is on top of a lot of things at the moment.

“It could be a lot worse than it is at the moment,” he added. “I am still performing pretty well, I believe, and also we’re learning a lot.”

As for his mental state two races down and 28 points behind, the Australian answered: “I’m fine mate. I think if you were much, much younger then obviously you’d be panicking.

“But I’ve been around the block.”

The 107 per cent rule could be a problem for the Virgin cars in China, according to frustrated driver Timo Glock.
The German has been widely quoted recently admitting his disappointment with the MVR-02 car, and he told Auto Motor und Sport that it might be so slow in Shanghai it is excluded from the grid.

Glock revealed that the car is unchanged compared to a week ago in Malaysia, and that the specific characteristics of the Chinese layout might draw out the distance from the front.

“If the big teams in Q1 use soft tyres because they were upset with us at the last race and want us out of the race, this (qualifying) could be really tight,” he said.

Glock has already publicly questioned Virgin’s policy of keeping costs low by using only computer technology rather than a wind tunnel to design and develop its F1 cars.

“The success has been okay,” he said, “but maybe we would develop even faster with computer simulation as well as a wind tunnel.”

Also missing at Virgin, he insisted, are truly experienced engineers.

“That would bring us faster progress in aerodynamics,” said Glock. “But it’s hard to get good people to come to a small team. And it costs money.”

Hans-Joachim Stuck doubts Mercedes can turn its 2011 car into a winner.

“Maybe we need to rethink the concept of the car,” team boss Ross Brawn, referring to the W02 that was off the pace in Melbourne and Malaysia, is quoted by TZ newspaper.

The Briton, however, admitted the limitations of such an approach.

“We need to consider how we can engage in the battle for the lead,” said Brawn. “But there is a limit; the monocoque, for example, is a basic thing that is already set.”

Stuck, a German commentator and former F1 driver, thinks simply changing direction with the development of the W02 would not work for Mercedes.

“I doubt they can solve the problems with the current car,” he said. “They took a risk with – by far – the car with the shortest wheelbase. This seems to maybe have not been the best idea,” he said.

“It could well be that their season can only be saved with a new concept — that is, a new chassis,” added Stuck.

Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg has denied ridiculing the W02, with Cologne tabloid Express claiming he said: “It was planned that we start the (test) season with a cucumber, but not that we end up with a cucumber.”

Pedro de la Rosa believes Pirelli should be “applauded” for spicing up F1′s spectacle with its tyres for 2011.

The sport’s new official supplier has been criticised following the opening two races of the season, for the high degradation of its tyres which cause drivers to serve multiple pitstops whilst dealing with flying rubber ‘marbles’.

But McLaren reserve driver de la Rosa, who was Pirelli’s main tyre development tester, told EFE news agency: “You have to applaud the risk Pirelli has taken with the high degradation, which is good for the show.”

Fernando Alonso, however, has become the latest F1 driver to complain about rubber marbles that not only flick up into their cockpits but lie on the racing line and cause them to slide.

It is believed Vitaly Petrov’s scary airborne moment in Malaysia last Sunday was caused by the Renault driver sliding on the marbles.

“Sepang is a big circuit with great escape areas but it’s a worry for narrow tracks like Monaco, Montreal and Singapore,” Alonso is quoted by La Stampa newspaper.

Pirelli, however, played down the potential danger to spectators, an official insisting that “Even on city tracks the marbles do not fly as far as to the spectators”.

But the tyre supplier reportedly vowed to “Listen to all the comments from the teams”.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were quiet when asked about Red Bull’s only apparent achilles heel.
The otherwise-dominant team did not use the energy recovery technology at all in Melbourne, while in Malaysia Webber encountered two failures while Vettel won in Sepang despite turning off his KERS as a precaution.

“For safety reasons we did not run it for part of the race on Sebastian’s car,” confirmed team consultant Helmut Marko to F1′s official website.

Earlier, Vettel had to fiddle regularly with the brake balance aboard his RB7 as KERS was turned on and off, as the system stores energy under braking.

“It was a bit annoying because I was constantly pressing buttons,” the German told Auto Motor und Sport.

What exactly was wrong, he was not saying. “I’m not allowed to,” said Vettel.

Australian Webber, who had a tough run to fourth on Sunday after a KERS failure on the formation lap, added: “Sorry, you’ll have to ask the engineers.”

Rubens Barrichello has denounced a “horrible” start to his 18th consecutive season in formula one.
Williams was buoyed by a positive winter season, but the veteran Brazilian Barrichello said Melbourne and Malaysia have left him disappointed.

“It’s sad, but after two trials, that is the right word. We expected a stronger start to the season,” the 38-year-old told Brazilian television Rede Globo.

“I think there is potential to discover in this car, but the first two races have been horrible,” he added.

Barrichello said the main problems are a lack of straightline speed and “the lack of reliability to finish the races”.