Karun Chandhok has admitted he is hoping to race at Team Lotus in 2012.
While his countryman Narain Karthikeyan will be in action for HRT at India’s inaugural F1 race in October, Chandhok admitted he is unsure if he will also be on the grid in New Delhi.

He told the Hindustan Times that his real priority is 2012.

Reserve driver Chandhok, 27, revealed that he will appear in the green T128 for Friday practice a couple more times this season.

“(And) for 2012, I am looking at a potential full time race seat,” he said.

Chandhok insists, however, that he was signed by Team Lotus this year on merit, and that his sponsors have not guaranteed him a race seat next year.

“There’s no deal,” he said. “It’s just another wrong perception like the belief that I paid to get into Lotus.”

He said he will only earn his place based on his speed on Friday mornings.

“That’s a big internal assessment for the team. I also want to be on the grid after earning the respect of the team engineers and not just because I am Indian,” said Chandhok.

Nick Heidfeld insists he is satisfied with his 2011 season despite criticism from within the Renault team.

Chiefs Gerard Lopez and Eric Boullier have admitted they are disappointed with the performance of the German veteran, who was drafted in to replace the injured Robert Kubica.

Pundit Eddie Jordan speculated to Germany’s Sport Bild that the “bullying” tactics could be to spur Heidfeld to quit and make room for Renault hopefuls Bruno Senna or Romain Grosjean.

34-year-old Heidfeld however is vowing to fight on.

“Under the circumstances I am satisfied with the season and with my services,” Sport Bild quotes him as saying.

“I am still fully committed to getting as many points for the team and helping them in whatever way I can,” added Heidfeld.

The black R31 will feature updates to the floor, exhaust and suspension at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.

But technical director James Allison is quoted by France’s autohebdo.fr: “At this time of year, the majority of the aerodynamic resources of the teams is transferred to the car for next season.”

Robert Kubica is inching closer to his return to formula one.
The currently injured Pole last week answered “we’ll see” amid expectations he might be fit enough to return to formula one in the coming months.

It had emerged that his rehabilitation from his horror February rally crash will speed up after an imminent elbow mobilisation operation.

“After the surgery Kubica will begin immediately with simulator tests,” said the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

Daniel Ricciardo has admitted he must do a “more than respectable” job if he wants to be promoted by Red Bull for the 2012 season.
The Australian is the current cream of the energy drink company’s young driver programme and since July has been placed with the small HRT team.

But in his three races so far, he has only once outqualified experienced teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi.

While most the F1 world slumbered in August, 22-year-old Ricciardo was in action at the weekend at Silverstone in the Renault World Series.

He has been linked with a move up to Red Bull’s secondary Toro Rosso team for 2012.

“I’ve got to do a more than respectable job at HRT this year and then we’ll see what opens up for next year,” Ricciardo is quoted as saying by the West Australian newspaper.

“I obviously have a link with Red Bull but nothing is really guaranteed for the long term.”

Felipe Massa is expecting a stronger end to the 2011 season, with Ferrari and McLaren fighting at the front with Red Bull.

After Sebastian Vettel pulled out a huge lead with his earlier dominance, the German failed to win a single grand prix in July as Red Bull’s main rivals closed the performance gap.

“I believe Ferrari and McLaren will be even more competitive in the coming races,” Brazilian Massa told O Estado de S.Paulo.

“I can not imagine that Red Bull can go back to having their advantage of the first races,” he added.

Massa, the lowest placed of all the Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari drivers so far in 2011, is a massive 164 points off Vettel’s championship lead.

“For me,” he continued, “I have suffered a bit with the harder tyres, so it is encouraging to know that they will no longer be used for the rest of the championship.”

Michael Schumacher should stay in formula one for as long as he wants to.
That is the claim of Franz Tost, the Austrian team boss of Red Bull’s second F1 team Toro Rosso.

According to Der Spiegel, Tost knows the 42-year-old German well, and so he was asked about widespread speculation that Schumacher should return to retirement rather than race on in 2012 and beyond.

“First of all,” replied Tost, “Michael Schumacher, the seven time world champion with nothing to prove, should not care whether his teammate Nico Rosberg is faster than him or not.

“What is crucial for him is whether it is still fun or whether the passion is still there. These are questions only he can answer.”

But figures like Eddie Jordan – Schumacher’s first ever F1 team boss 20 years ago – have said they would now dismiss the famous German due to a lack of performance.

Tost responded: “Michael brings so many other advantages that outweigh that. Do you think Mercedes would still be so much in the spotlight if Michael Schumacher left?

“This is a crucial factor. He continues to attract huge amounts of attention and so I see his comeback as anything but negative.”

Eddie Jordan however told Dutch website f1today.nl that Schumacher has “had his day”.

“This sport has had many champions and Michael Schumacher has had his day,” said the Irishman.

“He has had huge success and is a very good driver, but someone should talk to him and try to convince him to let his place be taken by another talented driver.”

The daughter of F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone insists she has no plans to follow in her father’s footsteps.

27-year-old Tamara Ecclestone, the eldest of Ecclestone’s two daughters, has worked as a F1 reporter for Sky Italia and earlier studied at the London School of Economics.

But she told the Mail on Sunday that she has no plans to replace her dad, the British billionaire who for decades has sat at the helm of formula one.

“Recently my father declared that he could envisage a female CEO at F1 in the next three years. I wouldn’t advise anyone putting a bet on that woman being me,” said Tamara Ecclestone.

“Those are big shoes to fill and my feet are completely the wrong size for that job. I would hate to be the person to undo his years of amazing work. I’d reduce the whole operation to chaos within hours,” she joked.

At any rate, Ecclestone said her diminutive father – who turns 81 in October – has no plans to step down.

“For my dad it’s not about making more money, it’s about the next successful deal,” she said.

“It’s not like he needs an extra few million. He doesn’t need to work and hasn’t needed to do so for years — but he’s got too much of an active mind to ever consider retirement.

“For him the financial rewards are secondary to the passion he feels for what he does,” she added.

Narain Karthikeyan will return to the cockpit of the HRT race car at his inaugural home grand prix in October.

Despite being recently replaced at the Spanish team by Red Bull sponsored Australian Daniel Ricciardo, Indian Karthikeyan said on Saturday that he will be driving at the new Buddh circuit in New Delhi.

“It was always a dream for me to race in formula one and race in front of my home crowd,” said the 34-year-old at a press conference in India.

“And now thanks to the Jaypee Group that dream is going to be a reality,” he said, referring to the developers and promoters of the Indian track and grand prix.

Karthikeyan’s countryman Karun Chandhok, however, is not so sure he will be racing in October.

“I’ve always maintained that racing in the German grand prix this year was a one-off,” the Team Lotus reserve driver is quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

“The team seem to be pleased with my performance at the event so we will see what happens.”

Eddie Jordan suspects Renault team management are guilty of “bullying”.
The former F1 team owner and boss, now a pundit for British television, is referring to Eric Boullier and Gerard Lopez’s outspoken criticism of Nick Heidfeld’s results and leadership qualities.

German veteran Heidfeld replaced injured regular Robert Kubica this season, but now Renault test drivers Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean are being linked with the seat.

Irishman Jordan told Sport Bild he has a theory about the pressure being put on Heidfeld.

“It could even be described as bullying,” he said.

“They probably want to wear him down so he throws in the towel voluntarily.”

Jordan, however, has a high opinion of 34-year-old Heidfeld.

“For me, he is Mr Consistency. I know this because Nick drove for me for a year. 2004 was a very difficult year for Jordan financially, and we could not give him the car that he deserved.

“The same is true also at the moment of the Lotus-Renault,” he added.

Bernie Ecclestone claims the BBC’s ongoing contract meant he could not keep formula one on free-to-air television in Britain.
The BBC has a lucrative deal to televise F1 through 2014 but, amid the need to cut costs, the public broadcaster has delegated half of next year’s live coverage to the pay channel Sky.

The move has enraged many British fans, particularly amid reports Channel 4 and ITV were open to negotiating to broadcast formula one live.

“They (BBC) got to grips with Sky themselves,” F1 chief executive Ecclestone told the Mirror.

“I spoke with ITV too, and came up with the same problem as Channel 4 had. We had a contract with the BBC which didn’t run out until 2014.”

Asked if the BBC “held all the cards” when it came to selecting a co-broadcaster, Ecclestone insisted: “Yes, absolutely.

“If they (Channel 4) had said they wanted to sign a contract today to start broadcasting for 45 million pounds a year, then we would have probably done it.

“But that’s the problem. We couldn’t deal with them, even if they had wanted to.”

Ecclestone denied that the loss of full free-to-air coverage for F1 in the crucial British market will affect the popularity of the sport.

“In the short-term, I think that collectively taking in the amount of broadcasting that’s going to be scheduled between the two of them next year, there will be more eyeballs watching than we have now.

“That’s good for us, good for the teams and good for the fans,” he said.

Robert Kubica has answered “we’ll see” amid expectations he might be fit enough to return to formula one in the coming months. It emerged this week that the injured Renault driver’s recovery from his horror February rally crash will speed up after another elbow operation this month. There have been varying reports that estimated a return to the grid could take place as soon as November’s Interlagos finale, while Italy’s Autosprint said it is “unlikely” the 26-year-old will be ready for the start of next season. “I always enjoy setting a goal, when circumstances allow,” the Pole is quoted as saying. “We’ll see how my rehabilitation goes over the next few months. “I’m satisfied with what’s been happening until now, there are no complications. There is no hurry. What is important is that Renault is keeping my place.” Renault doctor Riccardo Ceccarelli is quoted by the Sapa-AFP news agency as saying the forthcoming surgery is to improve the mobility of Kubica’s right elbow. “With his elbow blocked, we haven’t had the chance to work on a full recovery programme as we would do normally,” he said.

The value of Indian telcom Airtel’s three-year naming rights deal for the Indian grand prix is $8.5 million, according to the Times of India.
“The deal is … worth much less than Indian corporates pay for a slice of the cricket pie,” said the report.

Earlier this month, Airtel pulled its reported $40 million title sponsorship of the Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament.

Bernie Ecclestone said on Thursday he is hopeful F1′s new Indian date can ultimately rival the country’s love of cricket.

“It will take efforts to generate interest. We will never catch cricket, but we can get close to it, perhaps with some extra effort,” said the F1 chief executive.

“India is a major part of the world and we wanted a race here.”

Airtel official Sanjay Kapoor would not confirm the brand switched from cricket to F1 because it is cheaper, but Ecclestone sounded very happy with his latest sponsor.

Although reports said the Airtel deal is for three years, the 80-year-old smiled when he said he has been “sloppy” in leaving the contract wide open.

Ecclestone told reporters he would like the deal to continue “forever, until we stop”.

Gary Paffett insists he is not “bitter” despite sitting on the sidelines while his 2010 rival is now hot property in formula one.
The Briton, under long term contract to Mercedes in the German touring car series DTM, is also a test and reserve driver at top F1 team McLaren.

Last year in DTM, 30-year-old Paffett finished second to Paul di Resta, the rookie Scot who now drives for Force India and is tipped as a future driver for Mercedes’ works team.

“I find it hard to say that formula one is only the secondary thing for me, but it is a fact that I’m there, I’m a part of a big team and my job is to help them to win races,” he told Germany’s spox.com.

Paffett insists he has not given up on his F1 dream.

“No, definitely not,” he said. “The longer I’m there, the more experienced I am.

“I don’t see why a 30-year-old is no longer suitable for a regular seat in formula one. That’s still my goal and if an offer comes, I will definitely think seriously about it.”

At the same time, he insists he has been happy to see di Resta impress in 2011.

“I’m happy for him because he’s a good friend. If I was bitter about some of the opportunities my rivals have had that I have not then I would not survive.

“Motor sport is a difficult business that is not just about how fast you can drive.”

Maria de Villota’s management is in talks to secure the 31-year-old a test driver seat in formula one.

The Renault team on Thursday confirmed reports the daughter of former Spanish F1 driver Emilio de Villota recently made her F1 test debut in a 2009 car at Paul Ricard.

Spain’s AS newspaper said it was the “beginning of a journey that could take Maria to the grands prix”.

“The ultimate goal is to reach the grid and it’s a shorter term project than you might think,” added the report.

De Villota is quoted as saying: “I’ve always wanted to reach formula one and after this test I know more clearly than ever that I can do it, I can drive a F1 car.

“Physically and as a driver I’m at my best, so I have to use it. We are working on it already. It will not be overnight, but we have to do it soon,” she added.

Renault said di Villota completed 300 kilometres at a “very reasonable pace”, with team boss Eric Boullier adding that she did not “put a foot wrong all day”.

Kimi Raikkonen has tipped his friend Sebastian Vettel to pip F1′s class of 2011 to become world champion for the second time.
In 2007, former Ferrari driver Raikkonen came from a long way behind to beat the feuding McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso to the championship at the final race of the season.

Now as a F1 spectator and world rally driver, the Finn was asked by Turun Sanomat newspaper about German Vettel’s 85 point lead with just 8 races to go.

“Quite often the situation levels off by the end if someone has pulled out early in the season,” Raikkonen said.

“(But) Vettel probably doesn’t even have to win any more races in order to stay in front until the end.”

Raikkonen, meanwhile, will turn 32 in October but he is not yet making any plans for 2012 — nor ruling out a shock return to formula one.

“I don’t know,” he answered after a series of probing questions.

“Even if you ask the same thing a hundred different ways, the answer stays the same. If I don’t know then nobody else does either.”

Raikkonen, like his contemporary Jacques Villeneuve, admitted to being not so keen on the 2011 formula, including the DRS overtaking rear wing system.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with real overtaking,” he insisted. “All you do is move close and push a button and the guy in front can’t do anything about it.

“I guess they are trying to push it in the right direction, maybe it’s good for the TV, but for the drivers it’s not so good.”