Marussia intends to keep Charles Pic, the team’s new French rookie, for more than a single season.
When known as Virgin, the team ousted Timo Glock’s 2010 and 2011 teammates – Lucas di Grassi and Jerome d’Ambrosio respectively – after a single season each.

The latest in the pay-driver hotseat is GP2 driver Pic, 21.

“I think there is some long term potential for him,” said team chief executive Andy Webb.

“I’m looking really to see if he can go forward for more than one year,” he told the Daily Mail.

With its 2012 car not yet ready, Marussia is the only team sitting out this week’s Jerez test.

Although also without new single seaters launched yet, Mercedes and HRT are running this week with their 2011 cars.

“I think it is a setback,” admitted team boss John Booth.

“We’ve taken on a huge challenge following the exit of Nick Wirth and to build a new car from scratch is demanding, but we are certainly up for that challenge.

“We have decided that it is the best thing for us to reach Barcelona initially with the 2011 car, and then for the second Barcelona test with the 2012 car. That’s the plan.”

Three more new cars broke cover on Tuesday ahead of the opening day of pre-season testing at Valencia.

Williams’ FW33, featuring a KERS system designed by the famous team, is painted in interim navy-blue colours ahead of a livery launch at a later date.

It was debuted by Rubens Barrichello shortly after the pitlane opened at 10am. Pastor Maldonado, whose sponsor PDVSA is one of only a few decals on the pre-launch car, will follow on Wednesday.

“We’re optimistic. We think this is a good car,” said technical director Sam Michael.

Also launched early on Tuesday was the new Mercedes W02, painted in a striking new shinier silver and visibly very different to last year’s car.

“The new Silver Arrow has little in common with its immediate predecessor,” confirmed Norbert Haug, referring to the 2011 machine that will be debuted by Nico Rosberg.

Another car launched on Tuesday was Toro Rosso’s STR6, but it was Fernando Alonso in Ferrari’s new F150 with the fastest installation lap so far.

Pirelli and the F1 teams are looking into options so that the sport’s new tyre supplier can test with a fully up-to-date car.
In its development preparations for the 2011 season, the Italian marque has used a 2009-specification Toyota run by the departed F1 team.

But with the 2011-generation cars now set to be launched and tested, Pirelli has reportedly decided that its future testing work should not be done with an outdated two-year-old mule.

And Italy’s Autosprint reports that Pirelli has decided it needs to use a fully-modern F1 car rather than a “hybrid” solution.

Another option rejected on cost grounds is Toyota’s offer to update the TF109 in the wind tunnel so that it better reflects the behaviour of the 2011 cars.

And some teams are reportedly worried about giving away an advantage should Pirelli test a car built by any of the active F1 outfits.

Autosprint said two options are under review by the teams association FOTA. One of them is to use an external team to run a test car designed by an active competitor.

Another option is that, for example if Pirelli schedules seven private track outings, the cars of the seven highest-placed teams are alternatively used for the tyre testing.

Five teams are likely to have not yet launched their 2011 cars by the time of the opening pre-season group test beginning 1 February.
That is the claim of Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, contradicting other reports that said Williams and Lotus will be ready with their new single seaters at Cheste’s Ricardo Tormo circuit near Valencia early next month.

The report said Williams will likely have an “interim car” at the test rather than the new FW33, with a 2011 launch not expected until mid-February.

Force India has already announced that its new car will not be seen until the second test at Jerez, but it had been expected that Team Lotus’ 2011 machine would be in Valencia.

However, Auto Motor und Sport said the Malaysian team, as well as fellow new-in-2010 outfits Virgin and HRT, are likely to be ready with their respective new cars even later than Williams and Force India.

The earliest launch will be the reveal and rollout of the 2011 Ferrari at Maranello/Fiorano on 28 January, a few days before it is taken to Valencia.

On the last day of this month, Sauber and Renault will present their cars at Valencia, and on the following morning the Mercedes and Toro Rosso cars will be photographed for the first time in the pitlane.

Red Bull is also scheduling a Valencia debut for the RB6, but an official announcement of the precise launch date is only expected within the next few days.

McLaren’s MP4-26 will be launched after the Valencia test, on 4 February in Berlin at sponsor Vodafone’s behest.

Not even a week after securing the 2010 world championship, Sebastian Vettel is back at the wheel of his Red Bull in Abu Dhabi on Friday morning.

The German is among a multitude of his race driver colleagues testing Pirelli’s development 2011 tyres at the Yas Marina circuit.

Also running on Friday for their respective teams are Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, Rubens Barrichello and others.

“We will begin to understand the characteristics of the new tyres and what they mean for the suspension and the aerodynamic design,” Red Bull’s technical boss Adrian Newey told O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

“In short, this data will be used to finalise the 2011 cars,” added the Briton.  “There will be surprises.”

Each team has been supplied eight sets of medium and soft compound tyres in Abu Dhabi – four for Friday and four for Saturday – and a dedicated Pirelli engineer.

After Abu Dhabi, Pirelli will move to Bahrain in early December for more private testing.

Pirelli will supply four different dry tyre compounds to formula one teams in 2011, the Italian company has announced.

It was confirmed by the FIA on Wednesday that Milan based Pirelli will succeed the departing Bridgestone as F1′s new supplier until 2013.

It had been expected that – unlike at present with Bridgestone offering super-soft, soft, medium and hard compounds – Pirelli’s compounds would number just three.

But Pirelli has confirmed that on offer in 2011 will be four dry weather tyres, plus a full wet tyre and an intermediate.

“Following current formula one regulations laid down by .. the FIA, the new contract ensures that Pirelli will provide teams with six different types of tyre for the season,” read a statement.

It is believed the reason the “current” rules are remaining unchanged is due to the long delay in the appointment of Bridgestone’s successor.

The F1 teams recently agreed to commence the designs of their 2011 cars on the basis of Bridgestone’s 2010-specification tyre.

Also postponed is the touted move from the current 13-inch wheels to a much lower profile.

But Pirelli said “research into innovative new tyre developments is a vital part of this exciting programme”.

The company will also supply GP2 and GP3.
(GMM)

Because the decision about next year’s supplier is taking so long, F1 teams are designing their 2011 cars around the current specification of Bridgestone tyre.

The Japanese marque is departing the sport, and it had been expected that the Italian company Pirelli would be unveiled this weekend as successor.

But Michelin has thrown a spanner in the works, sending competition boss Nick Shorrock to Istanbul, where a 90 minute meeting on Sunday resulted in the teams still not deciding on an outcome for next year’s world championship.

“It’s going to take a little while longer,” Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn told Reuters in Turkey.

But the teams’ designers are out of time, and leading outfits are getting anxious.

“It’s already late and we cannot really waste more time on it,” said Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali.

Brawn said the teams are handling the situation by producing a “technical specification” of the tyre they want for 2011, and are therefore able to continue with plans for next year’s cars.

“Our cars are being designed around the current tyres because we have no other information,” he explained.

(GMM)