Bernie Ecclestone has slammed suggestions the F1 teams will negotiate changes to the 2012 grand prix calendar.
A revised version of the provisional schedule for next year shows seven ‘flyaway’ races within a ten week period on four separate continents, causing figures including deputy FOTA chairman Eric Boullier to call for “a rethink”.

“We have a thought between us (the teams) already and we would like to suggest a couple of ideas,” added the Renault boss.

F1 chief executive Ecclestone, however, baulked at the suggestion he will re-jig the order of the races at the teams’ behest.

“It is not the teams who make the calendar, it’s me,” the Briton is quoted by German-language reports including SID news agency and sport1.de.

“They cannot come to me now with their proposals, it’s my decision. If someone’s going to do something, it’s going to be me,” added Ecclestone.

Mark Webber’s plans for 2012 could be decided this week, but it might not be public knowledge for “months”, the Australian driver suggested on Tuesday.
Dr Helmut Marko stirred the pot in Hungary by suggesting that the 34-year-old will “probably” retire after racing one more season with Red Bull in 2012.

Team boss Christian Horner played down the Austrian’s comments by suggesting Webber might decide to stay in F1 for a few more years, agreeing that a new deal for 2012 is likely.

“I am having fun,” Webber said on Austrian television Servus TV on Tuesday, “and on Thursday will have a good conversation with Dietrich Mateschitz.

“During the summer break we will discuss it one way or the other, then we will know in the next few months.”

Webber has had a less than satisfying 2011 campaign so far, while his teammate Sebastian Vettel ran away with an arguably unassailable title lead.

But the Australian thinks he is improving.

“The next victory will come when I least expect it. Just as with my first one,” he said.

“I have the feeling that I am getting stronger all the time. It’s going in the right direction.”

Webber insisted that he has not decided what to do in 2012.

“Whether I’m here depends ultimately on my motivation and whether I can race at the top level. At the moment it looks as though I will keep going.

“Naturally I’m speaking to the people who are close to me and who have supported me and I will make my decision when I need to. Soon,” he said.

Flavio Briatore has refused to simply rule out speculation linking him with a role at Ferrari.
Recent rumours have suggested the former Renault team boss could be signed shortly by the Maranello based as a consultant, in view of possibly replacing Stefano Domenicali when the ‘crashgate’ ban lifts in 2013.

The flamboyant Italian was asked about the speculation by Onda Cero radio in the wake of last weekend’s Hungarian grand prix.

“I am a Ferrari tifoso (supporter), but in life you never know — anything can happen,” said Briatore, who is still involved in the management of Fernando Alonso’s career.

In 2005 and 2006, Alonso won his two world championships at Renault under Briatore rule.

Briatore insisted: “I think Fernando Alonso can win the championship at Ferrari without Flavio Briatore.

“Fernando deserves to be the best driver in history. He has decided to be with Ferrari until the end of his career and I hope he can get the cars to win more titles than (Michael) Schumacher,” he added.

Briatore said he rates the newly 30-year-old Spaniard higher than any of his current rivals.

“If he had that car,” he said, referring to the Red Bull RB7, “Fernando would be winning by a huge margin. He is one of the few great drivers with Senna, Prost and Schumacher.”

As for the comparison with seven time world champion Schumacher, Briatore said: “They are two totally different drivers.

“Fernando is a little better, because when Michael becomes depressed, he falls back, while in the same situation Fernando’s concentration sharpens.”

After failing to win a race in July, Sebastian Vettel had a keen look around parc ferme at the Hungaroring.
“I can see some very familiar things on the other cars,” the Red Bull driver is quoted by Der Spiegel.

The Adrian Newey-inked blown exhaust has been the most obvious example of F1 rival copy-catting in 2011, but journalist Ralf Bach wrote that the RB7′s so-called ‘rake’ is also being emulated.

The aggressive ‘rake’ – the car’s attitude from front to rear – is the most likely reason the Red Bull has generated additional downforce amid the mystery previously attributed to flexing front wings.

Der Spiegel said Force India and Ferrari are the latest examples of teams emulating Red Bull’s high rear end, with the result that the front of the cars is lower.

“You can see clearly that the Red Bull sits higher at the rear,” an unnamed FIA official is quoted as saying.

Mercedes’ Ross Brawn, however, doubts that simply copying Red Bull is the answer: “A copy is never as good as the original,” he said.

Sebastian Vettel should not be worried about his 2011 championship running off track.
That is the view of the Red Bull driver’s rivals as well as pundits and journalists despite a third consecutive defeat for Vettel in Hungary last weekend.

German newsmagazine Focus observed that while Budapest winner Jenson Button “laughed” on the podium, it was the sullen Vettel who had “scored” by actually pulling out his championship lead to a huge 85 points.

“It is really beginning to look like it is a case of when, and not if, he will seal his second world title,” former driver Johnny Herbert wrote in his latest column for The National.

Some pundits believe Vettel needs to worry, however, given that McLaren and also Ferrari look to have caught up with his previously-dominant RB7 car.

“But,” Herbert insisted, “Vettel’s lead is so vast that just finishing in the top four or five regularly should be enough to see him home.”

Also pessimistic is Marc Gene, Ferrari’s test driver who writes a column for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

“Our resurgence has been outstanding,” he said, “but unfortunately the championship situation is not changing much.”

Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport said the remaining races this season will be closely contested by Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari, but likened the actual championship battle to a runaway leader in the Giro d’Italia bike race.

“It’s too late for the championship as the pink jersey is far ahead,” said the sports newspaper.

“Vettel no longer has a performance advantage but now he can use his head more than his foot, while behind him the protagonists take points off each other.”

Former Renault boss Flavio Briatore told Onda Cero radio on Monday that the world championship “is over” unless “something tragic happens”.

Agreed Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, who called the Hungarian grand prix with German Sky television: “That (Vettel’s second place) is how he will become world champion.”

For instance, Button – then with Brawn GP – won the title in 2009 with a smaller mid-season points advantage, a smaller and less financially-powerful team, and more pressure given that he was charging for his first title.

“If I had the lead he’s got, I wouldn’t be feeling any pressure at all,” the Briton told The Independent.

Button headed to Hawaii this week to begin F1′s summer break, and Bild newspaper reports that Vettel is Mallorca-bound.

“I need a bit of energy from the sun,” the 24-year-old German is quoted by Die Welt.

Said Italy’s Tuttosport: “Vettel can enjoy his holiday in peace.”

Heikki Kovalainen says he is happy his teammate Jarno Trulli is back up to speed.
Italian veteran Trulli struggled with Team Lotus’ power steering system in the first half of the season and actually sat out the Nurburgring before updated technology was added to the green T128 in Hungary.

Trulli was duly delighted with the new system at the Hungaroring, and his Finnish teammate Kovalainen admits it was also a relief for him after sharing the garage with Indian Karun Chandhok a week earlier.

“The fact that the new steering is better for him is positive for the whole team, and me as well,” he told motorline.cc.

“When you’re on your own, you don’t know if you’re doing your job well or not. You need a good comparison.

“Karun did a respectable performance (in Germany) but Jarno has much more experience and that’s exactly what we need in our team at the moment.

“I can say that the stronger my teammate is and the better he feels in the car, the better it is for me, because I am driven so much more to the limit,” added Kovalainen.

It is Red Bull’s “intention” to promote Daniel Ricciardo through the energy drink company’s F1 ranks.

That is the claim of Dr Helmut Marko, the outfit’s driver manager who in Hungary revealed that Mark Webber will “probably” retire and be replaced by “one of our juniors” beyond 2012.

The other candidates are Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, amid reports Ricciardo travelled recently to Faenza for a seat fitting.

Asked by Australian broadcaster One if HRT newcomer Ricciardo is a candidate for one of the seats next year, Marko admitted: “If he is doing well, the intention is there, yes.”

Budapest was 22-year-old Ricciardo’s third grand prix, and he was closer to the pace of his teammate, the formerly Red Bull-backed Vitantonio Liuzzi.

“I hope there is a bit more to come because I’m close to Tonio on raw pace in qualifying but still not close enough, and definitely not a bit ahead, which of course is where I’d like to be,” he said.

Team boss Christian Horner has played down reports Red Bull’s Mark Webber could be set to retire next year.
Team consultant Helmut Marko in Hungary told the Australian broadcaster One that 2012 will “probably” be 35-year-old Webber’s last in formula one.

He said Red Bull is therefore looking at “one of our juniors” to replace the Australian for 2013.

Horner however insists Austrian Marko was quoted out of context as he was being interviewed about Webber’s countryman, the Red Bull junior and HRT driver Daniel Ricciardo.

“I think Helmut was probably focusing more on Ricciardo, and these things can obviously get lost in translation,” he is quoted by the Daily Mail.

“Mark could have another two, three or four years in F1. That’s down to him because he is still very competitive, very hungry.”

Reports prior to Hungary had indicated that a new contract for Webber in 2012 was now a mere formality.

“We’re talking about Mark for next year, and I’m expecting him to be here,” confirmed Horner.

“Both sides are keen to continue, so during the next few weeks we will take the opportunity to sit down, and with this break in the championship look at next year.”

The sidepod of Nick Heidfeld’s Renault exploded as the German retired from the Hungarian grand prix.
A fan’s video posted on Youtube showed a marshal being struck by the debris and limping away, and Swiss newspaper Blick said it is “unclear whether the man was injured” badly.

Veteran Heidfeld admitted he has “never seen anything like that before” and that he was scared.

“I had a fire in Barcelona, but I wasn’t worried there at all -– but this one got quite close. This time I felt the heat, so I had to get out quickly,” said the German.

As for whether he is hurt, Heidfeld confirmed to Auto Motor und Sport: “No, nothing happened to me.”

And he joked to Bild newspaper: “I’m not burned — my suit was black even before I got in (the car)!”

Renault team boss Eric Boullier however appeared to blame Heidfeld for the incident, insisting that the car is “not designed to stay running (during a pitstop) on high revs for so long”.

A long-awaited summer break, including mandatory factory shutdowns, lies ahead for F1 team members.
But the previously dominant Red Bull, beaten by Ferrari and McLaren at the last three grands prix, is planning a significant upgrade for the RB7 to debut at Spa-Francorchamps later this month.

“McLaren have made the biggest leap in the blown diffuser (area),” team boss Christian Horner told Der Spiegel in Hungary, adding that there is still developmental “potential” in Red Bull’s car.

The report said a new floor and diffuser, to be tested in Friday practice in Belgium, should make the Red Bull three tenths per lap faster.

Brazilian journalist Livio Oricchio said it is a myth that F1′s smartest chiefs will simply lie on beaches in the next few weeks.

“Who really believes that, as McLaren and Ferrari move ahead, Adrian Newey for example says to his guys tomorrow at Milton Keynes: ‘Ok guys, see you in two weeks!’”

Actually, more than 100 points ahead in the constructors’ and 88 points clear of the first non-Red Bull in the drivers’ chase, Red Bull are not panicking.

“We are on a par with McLaren. And we have a head start,” consultant Dr Helmut Marko told Kleine Zeitung with eight races left to run in 2011.

He also confirmed that development of the RB7 is moving ahead.

“We will continue to make the car better,” said the Austrian.

Die Welt headlined after Sunday’s result that second place was “The perfect defeat” for German Sebastian Vettel, whose championship lead actually extended due to Jenson Button winning.

“I definitely can live with P2,” he said.

“Perhaps we don’t have the strongest car at the moment, but we can still achieve good points.”

A 2012 F1 contract will “probably” be Mark Webber’s last.
That is the claim of Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s driver manager and consultant to team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

The Austrian is known to be closer to fellow German-speaker Sebastian Vettel’s side of the garage, and he stunned F1′s Australian contingent on Sunday by effectively announcing 34-year-old Webber’s impending retirement.

Marko told broadcaster One’s coverage of the Hungarian grand prix that Webber is “probably going to retire” next year.

He said Red Bull therefore “would need to find one of our juniors who can replace Mark Webber”.

Ironically, a leading candidate is Webber’s countryman Daniel Ricciardo, who has been slotted in at HRT alongside Italian veteran Vitantonio Liuzzi.

“First of all, he has to beat his teammate, and he has to progress,” said Marko.

“He (Ricciardo) is losing too much in the pitstops, and losing too much when he is being lapped so he must get the feeling. And we want him to fight with the people who are around him.”

Banned former F1 chief Flavio Briatore has been named as being also involved in the Gerhard Gribkowsky bribery affair.
The Italian, a friend and business partner of Bernie Ecclestone, was reportedly involved in the F1 chief executive’s payment of millions to jailed German banker Gribkowsky.

The Seddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said Briatore, as well as a Swiss lawyer, helped Ecclestone get the money to Gribkowsky via a web of shell companies and fake consultancy contracts.

And the report said four of Ecclestone’s lawyers – three in Geneva and one in London – have been subject to searches by prosecutors.

The 80-year-old has said he was effectively blackmailed by Gribkowsky and argued that the amount paid to the former BayernLB risk manager was much less than $44m.

APA news agency said the prosecutors have declined to comment on the latest reports.

Sunday in Hungary proved McLaren does not use team orders, according to Jenson Button.

Prior to winning his 200th grand prix, the 31-year-old engaged in a wheel-to-wheel, place-swapping duel with his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Button said a few days ago that McLaren “does not have team orders”.

“Other teams will use them, but not us,” he added, apparently referring to Red Bull’s order that Mark Webber hold position behind Sebastian Vettel at Silverstone.

After Sunday’s race, Button said it was no surprise the McLaren pitwall kept out of the battle.

“No, I wasn’t surprised they let us fight,” he said. “We wouldn’t have listened anyway. If they had said ‘back off and sit behind your teammate’, it wouldn’t have happened.”

McLaren’s managing director Jonathan Neale confirmed the desire to sometimes protect a good team result.

But he insisted: “You have to let them go sometimes. We can get it wrong but when you have a race like that, you know you are right.”

Christian Horner could not hide his smile despite a Red Bull not winning Sunday’s Hungarian grand prix.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel finished the Budapest race second, but because the fifth-placed Jenson Button won, the German’s vast gap grew from 77 points to 85 over teammate Mark Webber.

And Vettel’s gap to the closest non-Red Bull runner – Lewis Hamilton – is now a whopping 88 points with just 8 races to run.

“Excluding the Red Bull drivers, Jenson was the one we wanted as the winner,” Red Bull team boss Horner is quoted as saying by German media.

“Congratulations to him,” said the Briton.

“We are not disappointed. In situations like that it’s always a lottery.”

Formula one figures are now looking forward to an almost one-month break before Spa-Francorchamps, including a mandatory two-week factory shutdown.

“We will be working at full speed for another week until we close the factory and re-charge our batteries — just like KERS,” joked Horner.