Mark Webber has revealed he had mixed feelings when he beat Fernando Alonso to third place in the 2011 constructors’ standings.
The pair, who are friends, lead similarly guarded private lives, so in the closing stages of the championship they considered the ‘prize’ that went along with pipping the other to the post for third place.

“Only the top three drivers have to go”, said Australian Webber, referring to the official FIA prize-giving gala, which was held recently in India.

“Jenson, Fernando and I had had a bit of a joke on the drivers’ parade before the final race of the season in Brazil last month.

“We were all keen to improve our championship positions, but none of us were that up for any extra travel,” he wrote in his last BBC column for the year.

“In the end, I won in Brazil, relegating Fernando to fourth. He’s an intense competitor but I don’t think he was that unhappy about losing out by one point,” said Webber.

“I got a text message from him the day before I was going to India, reminding me that I had to go. It was along the lines of ‘This is your captain speaking, your flight is ready for boarding’. It made me smile.”

Williams aims to have its 2012 car up and running for the first test of the official pre-season, technical director Mike Coughlan has revealed.
When Mercedes announced that its next single seater will only be ready for the second test – taking place two weeks after Jerez in early February – it triggered speculation other teams might tread a similar path.

But Ferrari and Red Bull have said they want to be ready for Jerez, and Oxfordshire based Williams has a similar plan.

“The car is slated to be delivered to the race shop in mid-January and we’ll be ready to go to the first test in early February,” Coughlan told Williams’ magazine.

He said one Renault-powered FW34 is already built “and we’ll shortly start our FIA crash test programme”.

Coughlan added that the car has already passed the FIA-standard tests “in private testing”.

Williams finished the 2011 season in a lowly ninth place.

Paul di Resta’s family was worried the Scot would race out of formula one after just a single season.
That is the claim of 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony, who after splitting with his son now handles di Resta’s F1 career.

The 25-year-old had a solid debut season with Force India and has retained that seat for 2012.

But the Vijay Mallya-led team repeatedly delayed the official announcement, despite long-running rumours that di Resta would race next year alongside a new teammate, Nico Hulkenberg.

Friday’s news was a relief, Hamilton admitted to the Telegraph.

“He really deserves it and I’m delighted for him and the rest of his family.

“I know they were worried as it took so long to announce.”

He described Force India as a “mid-ranking” team, hinting that some more powerful potential employers might pay attention to di Resta’s battle with the highly-rated Hulkenberg next season.

“I reckon it’s a level playing field but certainly if they drive well both will have other teams knocking at their door,” said Hamilton.

“The great thing is that they are both there (at Force India) on merit, which suggests the team is moving in the right direction.”

HRT is not rushing to fill one of the last seats on the 2012 grid.
The identity of Pedro de la Rosa’s teammate aside, the only other official vacancy for next season is at Williams.

The latest names linked with HRT are Narain Karthikeyan, Jaime Alguersuari, Vitaly Petrov and Dutchman Giedo van der Garde.

“We are in advanced talks with several drivers but we can’t anticipate anything yet,” the team’s new boss Luis Perez Sala, a former Minardi driver, said.

“It’s a decision we surely won’t make until the start of next year because, at this stage, who will be the team’s second driver for next season is perhaps the least urgent one right now.”

Having also changed ownership recently, HRT is busily making plans for a new headquarters whilst designing its own 2012 single seater.

“We will feel the effects of this transformation the team is going through and will have ‘pay’ for it at the start of the season,” Sala warned.

“We’re not going to be at the same level as when we finished this past season, where the same team had been running for two years, but we’re aware of that.

“We’re taking a step back so that we can take two forward.”

A US-based private equity company has expressed interest in formula one, the sport’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has revealed.
A report by F1 business expert Christian Sylt in the Express on Sunday newspaper said Hellman and Friedman, owners of Getty Images, have carried out research into the sport’s finances.

Ecclestone confirmed the fund, which owned 37.5 per cent of F1′s holding company SLEC for a short time more than a decade ago, is currently “scratching around talking to people”.

F1 is currently majority-owned by CVC, who paid $1.7 billion for the commercial rights in 2006.

Binding the owners with governing body the FIA and the 12 competing teams is the Concorde Agreement, which expires at the end of next year.

“Next year we will start looking at making offers to the teams,” said Ecclestone. “We are not doing anything at the moment because we are not free to do the things we want to do until next year.”

Narain Karthikeyan has not ruled out returning to formula one yet again.
Six years after his 2005 debut, the now 34-year-old returned to the grid at the beginning of last season with HRT before losing the seat to Daniel Ricciardo.

He then made a one-off comeback as his sponsors paid for a seat in India’s inaugural grand prix.

That Delhi event “has helped drivers like me connect to corporate India and we are now looking at a few options and trying to work out something although nothing seems finalised”, Indian Karthikeyan is quoted by the Times of India.

HRT has one of the two remaining vacant seats on the 2012 grid, but is not preparing to name Pedro de la Rosa’s teammate until next year.

“I’m not directly talking with other teams, as my management will handle that,” revealed Karthikeyan. “I am focusing on other things for now.”

Sauber on Friday revealed that its 2012 car will be ready for the first test of the pre-season.
The Swiss team announced in a statement that the Ferrari-powered C31 will be launched at Jerez on 6 February, the day before the start of the official group test at the southern Spanish circuit.

Hinwil based Sauber has retained 2011 drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez for next season.

With the C30, they secured seventh place in the constructors’ world championship in 2011, scoring more points than Toro Rosso, Williams and F1′s three newest teams Caterham (nee Lotus), HRT and Marussia (nee Virgin).

Sahara Force India Formula One Team today confirmed that Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg will form its line-up for the 2012 season.

Paul continues with the team for his second season in a race seat, while Nico steps up from his role as reserve driver. Together they form one of the most exciting pairings on the grid.

Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director: “I am delighted to present our line-up for the 2012 season. In Paul and Nico we have two extremely talented drivers with tremendous potential.

“I think Paul caught the eye of everybody in the pit lane during his rookie season. His speed, maturity and racecraft confirmed that we were right to believe in him and we look forward to working with him again next year.

“As for Nico, we identified him as a rising star at the end of 2010 and chose to evaluate him during the course of this season. Despite having only limited time in the car, he convinced us that he deserved a race seat for 2012.

“Our new line-up means we say ‘goodbye’ to Adrian Sutil, who has been with the team since we entered the sport. He has been an integral part of our success over the past four seasons and we wish him well for the future.”

Paul Di Resta: “I’m really looking forward to my second season of Formula One and continuing to grow and develop with Sahara Force India. I’ve said all along that I love being part of this team: they are ambitious, hungry for success and we work well together. I’m really excited about 2012 and there is a real sense of belief that we can continue to push the top teams and take another step forward. I’d also like to thank the team for all their hard work this year and for all the support they’ve given me. I’ll take some time out over the next few weeks to recharge my batteries and hopefully come back even stronger in 2012.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “I’m obviously delighted to be staying with Sahara Force India and to be given the chance to race next year. It wasn’t easy to watch from the sidelines this season, but I did my best to help the team and show what I was capable of. I’m extremely motivated for 2012 and would like to thank everyone for believing in me and giving me this chance. I’m keen to get down to work over the winter to develop our new car and help the team build on this year’s achievements. The first test in Jerez can’t come soon enough.”

 Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing are among the nominees to win prestigious 2012 Laureus World Sports awards following their successes this year.
In the running alongside German Vettel to be hailed Sportsman of the Year are sprinter Usain Bolt, tennis’ Novak Djokovic, Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, football’s Lionel Messi and basketballer Kirk Nowitzki.

And fighting it out with Red Bull for the team prize are New Zealand’s All Blacks, England’s cricket team, basketball’s Dallas Mavericks, FC Barcelona and Japan’s female football team.

The nominees are selected by the world’s media by ballot, and the winners by a jury made up of 47 of the greatest sportsmen and women of all time.

The winners will be crowned in London in February.

“This has been a great year for sport and the academy are going to find it extremely difficult to decide who to vote for as winners,” said chairman Edwin Moses.

Mark Webber has been overtaken as Australia’s highest-earning sportsman.
Business Review Weekly’s annual analysis of the country’s rich and powerful found that the Red Bull driver made $9 million this year.

But that was reportedly half a million short of Honda’s 2011 MotoGP champion Casey Stoner, the 26-year-old who – like 35-year-old Webber – is from New South Wales.

However, both Webber and Stoner have been left in the wheel tracks of Andrew Bogut, whose new Milwaukee Bucks contract saw him collect a cool $13.5 million by playing NBA basketball.

Motocross rider Chad Reed, meanwhile, reportedly made $8.5m, followed by Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, with $5m in 2011.

But for the country’s new F1 star Daniel Ricciardo, the road ahead to high earnings is long, as the online WA Today newspaper expects the 22-year-old to make less than $200,000 racing with Toro Rosso next season.

And until this week, he wasn’t sure he would even have that job.

“I can honestly say that I didn’t know it (the announcement) was coming and it had been playing on my mind a fair bit,” said Ricciardo.

“It was a fair bit of a relief actually,” he added.

Jaime Alguersuari is refusing to give anything away as he considers his future following Toro Rosso’s clean-sweep for 2012.
Asked if he has been in contact with any alternative employers after he was ousted by team owners Red Bull, the 21-year-old Spaniard told El Mundo Deportivo: “For the moment I can’t say anything.”

That may be because he is in the unusual situation of losing his seat but remaining under contract, with the energy drink company believed to have bound Alguersuari until 2013.

But according to Spain’s highest-ranking FIA official Carlos Gracia, HRT might now seize the opportunity to create an all-Spanish lineup, with Pedro de la Rosa already signed up for 2012.

“It was an unpleasant surprise,” Gracia is quoted by AS when asked about the Alguersuari news.

“Jaime has had a great season but the possibilities for him (for 2012) are complicated. HRT could be an option,” he said.

HRT founder Adrian Campos said: “It’s what you have to expect from (Helmut) Marko, a character who already destroyed the career of the big Spanish talent Antonio Garcia.”

Veteran engineer Joan Villadelprat agreed: “If HRT has the ability to sign him it would be great. Hopefully it works out for him.”

Ferrari test driver Marc Gene said: “I would not rule out HRT, because you can prove your worth with any team.”

According to Marca newspaper, new HRT boss Luis Perez Sala recently sounded impressed with Alguersuari’s season, insisting: “If he’s not with Toro Rosso (in 2012) then it will be because he is with a better team.”

Then came the bad news.

Said Spanish Indycar driver Oriol Servia: “I’m surprised but we know that in F1 these things happen.”

FIA steward Joaquin Verdegay, also a Spaniard, said: “I think he will stay with Red Bull, because he has been one of the five best drivers of the year.

“Marko knows that too and I’m sure they’re not going to drop him. Maybe he’s going to Red Bull as third driver? Or maybe to replace Webber?”

 Ferrari’s 2012 car will be ready to roll at the first official test of the winter pre-season.
A spokesman for the Italian team told Reuters as well as Autosprint (Italy) and SID news agency (Germany) that the new single seater will be revealed before its Jerez debut in early February.

A precise launch date was not specified.

“Definitely, the new project is a clean break with the past and a very different one,” Luca Colajanni is quoted as saying.

Spain’s AS newspaper reported that Fernando Alonso has visited Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters “on several occasions” since the 2011 season ended in Brazil.

“Now, he has travelled to Maranello to be at the controls of the simulator for several days until Monday,” said the report.

AS continued: “In fact, unlike normally, the Spaniard was unable to attend an event for Shell this week with journalists in Madrid.

“Instead he is in Italy trying different solutions for the 2012 car, which has been in the developing phase for some time as Ferrari hopes to return to winning ways.”

 Force India is expected to end months of speculation by finally announcing its 2012 driver lineup on Friday.
The news had been expected to come on Thursday, coinciding with the Silverstone based team’s Christmas party.

“My understanding is that it seems most likely that there will be no announcement (on Thursday),” Nico Hulkenberg’s manager Timo Gans warned en route, “but probably Friday.”

It is almost certain that German Hulkenberg, the team’s 2011 Friday driver, will be confirmed alongside Scot Paul di Resta, with Adrian Sutil in the running to switch to Williams.

London’s Times newspaper reported that di Resta has definitely secured one seat, with German Sutil indeed expected to lose out to 24-year-old Hulkenberg.

 Sebastien Buemi has joined his axed teammate Jaime Alguersuari in admitting this week’s news from Red Bull was a nasty shock.
Le Matin newspaper said Swiss Buemi, 23, missed the mobile phone calls from bosses Franz Tost and Dr Helmut Marko earlier this week because he was driving the Barcelona track in the Red Bull simulator, and visiting Toro Rosso’s UK wind tunnel.

“I was shocked,” he admitted. “I had been told a decision would be made before the end of the year, but I was under the impression that my contract would be extended.

“I was not expecting it at all.”

Buemi, 23, told Blick newspaper: “I have to accept it even if it is very hard to understand.”

His options appear limited, with interviewer Roger Benoit pointing out that the vacancies – at Williams and HRT – are likely to be filled by drivers with millions in sponsor backing.

“There are drivers that are signed not only for the money,” Buemi insisted.

Blick asked Buemi if a third driver role is also a possibility.

“Maybe there are options,” he admitted, “but it’s still too early to say anything.

“Fortunately in the past years I have built up many contacts with most of the teams. So this pays off now.”

Buemi was asked if he has called his Swiss compatriot, Peter Sauber.

“No, but I will. Just like that,” said the veteran of 55 races, who promptly asked the well-connected Blick journalist Roger Benoit for the phone number.