Reports this week suggest Monaco is likely to make changes to the run-off at the end of the tunnel ahead of the 2012 race.
Nico Rosberg and Sergio Perez both had high speed crashes after losing control under braking for the corner, raising serious concerns about the barrier that in the past also injured Jenson Button (2003) and Karl Wendlinger (1994).

Asked why the situation seemed worse this year, British commentator Eddie Jordan told the German newspaper Welt: “It’s probably a combination of things.

“The new aerodynamics, the tyres, the asphalt. It’s always been a tricky place.

“The FIA is required to protect the driver to the best of their ability. It has done a lot since then (1994) and it’s doing its best: after Rosberg’s crash they took away the kerbs.

“The place where Perez crashed is protected with special cushioning, but it needs to be considered now what more can be done,” added Jordan.

Agreed his BBC colleague Martin Brundle: “I’m sure they will need to make changes yet again to the tunnel exit chicane run off area, but Monaco will remain one of the greatest sporting challenges.

“And that means it will remain dangerous too,” he said.

It is believed the reaction for 2012 will be the further moving back of the barrier.

“It’s a tricky corner and it’s an area where it’s very difficult to do anything about in terms of safety because it is what it is,” said Button.

“It’s Monaco, a street circuit, but I still think we need to look further as to what we can do with the run off there.”

Jordan said the danger at Monaco needs to be weighed against its unique place on the calendar.

“I know a lot of cynics in the paddock,” he said. “Monte Carlo is one of the old tracks but that myth is part of our show.

“As long as there isn’t a catastrophe, it will keep going.”

Amid suggestions Renault is disappointed with Nick Heidfeld’s recent form, the name Roman Grosjean has returned to the F1 rumour mill.
The Swiss-born Frenchman had a poor start to his F1 career amid the ‘crashgate’ scandal with Renault in 2009, but is once again associated with the team under the management of Eric Boullier.

25-year-old Grosjean is currently leading the GP2 championship and was mentioned by Italy’s Autosprint in an article about Robert Kubica and Heidfeld.

The report said the spat between Renault co-owner Gerard Lopez and Kubica’s manager Daniele Morelli indicates not all is well in that relationship behind the scenes.

“One senses that the cooperation between driver and team is compromised,” said the sport.

At the same time, Boullier is reportedly not happy with the performance so far of Kubica’s 2011 stand-in, German Heidfeld.

All those are good signs for Grosjean’s F1 return.

“It’s my condition, my target,” he told motorsport-magazin.com.

Asked if it will happen with Renault, the Frenchman answered: “That’s too hard to say. Renault is well implanted in F1, and that’s good to be with them.”

Ferrari could be looking to reunite with a recently departed team member.
Amid the Italian team’s poor 2009 season, head of aerodynamics John Iley left Ferrari and switched to McLaren last year.

Ferrari is now in the midst of a new restructuring, parting with technical director Aldo Costa who is expected to be replaced in that role by current chassis boss Pat Fry.

But the Maranello based team has acknowledged its shortcomings in the area of aerodynamics, and according to Autosprint wants Nikolas Tombazis to concentrate fully on the car design rather than head the aero department as at present.

The report mentioned Iley in connection with his old aerodynamics job at Ferrari.

It is also rumoured that a member of Force India’s aerodynamics department has signed to join Ferrari.

Nico Rosberg could be the next top formula one driver under long-term contract.
Hot on the heels of Sebastian Vettel’s new 2014 deal, and Fernando Alonso’s tying to Ferrari through 2016, it is reported that German Rosberg could be set to sign on for five more years with Mercedes.

Sport Bild magazine said the deal is worth almost EUR 80 million in total, representing a 3 million euro pay-rise increasing by 10 per cent per season.

“I am counting on him being with us in 2012, and if it is up to me, a lot longer as well,” said the German marque’s motor racing vice-president Norbert Haug.

Rosberg, 25, did not deny the story.

“What I can say is that I’m really happy where I am. It remains my dream to succeed with the Silver Arrows,” he said.

Sport Bild said Rosberg, if he does sign the deal, would become the highest paid driver of all time who has not won a single grand prix.

He has contested 95 grands prix to date, and if he does go on to win he will join the likes of Mika Hakkinen (96 races), Giancarlo Fisichella (110), Jenson Button (113), Jarno Trulli (118), Rubens Barrichello (123) and Mark Webber (130) as the drivers who took longest to join the ranks of F1 victors.

A key FIA official has admitted the opinions of the formula one teams will be considered when the fate of the 2011 Bahrain grand prix is discussed this week.

It is during Barcelona’s World Motor Sport Council meeting on Friday that the FIA body will either rubber-stamp a new date for the postponed event or cancel it completely for this year.

Martial law in the troubled island Kingdom expires on Wednesday, but the teams are expressing concerns about the fact a 2011 race rescheduling would push out their calendars to an unprecedentedly late December finale.

Some team bosses have made their feelings clear, including Mercedes principal Ross Brawn who said a December finale is “totally unacceptable”.

“On Friday, we will need to determine whether teams are against (Bahrain), who is against it, why they are against it — we have some very strong decisions to make,” FIA vice president and United Arab Emirates automobile federation president Mohammed ben Sulayem told The National.