Adrian Sutil has admitted that discovering Lewis Hamilton was not a friend was one of life’s “disappointments”.

Since their F3 days as teammates, Sutil and Hamilton have been arguably the closest pair of friends in the formula one paddock.

That changed, however, when the German driver was charged with assaulting Lotus team executive Eric Lux, and Hamilton was summoned as a witness to the Shanghai nightclub incident.

But Briton Hamilton declined to appear and also changed his mobile phone number without informing Sutil.

Sutil and his father reacted by calling the McLaren driver “pathetic” and a “coward”.

When asked about his former close friend, Sutil told Die Welt newspaper: “Basically I only had a problem with one person, which was Mr Lux.

“He has offered me his hand and said that for him, the issue is finished.

“What Lewis Hamilton does is not decisive for my ambitions to get back to formula one. Just as with defeats, you have to deal with disappointments, it’s as simple as that.

“I think no one should expect to find any friends in the paddock — and I don’t look for them there either. I have enough friends outside of F1,” added Sutil.

The signs are growing stronger that Mercedes are turning their winning ambitions towards the 2012 season.
Although the German squad has not given up on the current W02 car, team boss Ross Brawn said recently Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg will need to wait until next season to have truly “excellent” machinery in their hands.

Rosberg confirmed to Auto Motor und Sport that the car’s problems are fundamental.

“It will be difficult to be on top this year,” the German is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport. “Our aim must therefore be to get closer.”

Schumacher added: “We’re working on it, and everything that we put in now could be very important for next year.

“We are losing time with the problems we have while the others make progress. So we have to solve it this year or we will drag them (the problems) into next season.”

It is not an abundant quality in the F1 world, but the seven time world champion is calling on those critical to be patient.

“We are in the process of building something new. I am sure that Ross and I know how things are built internally and the approach of this team is in the right direction,” said 42-year-old Schumacher.

“It takes time. Red Bull needed four or five years. With Ferrari that period lasted for five years. We can not play with some magic and do it in half a year.”

Sauber is setting its sights on loftier ambitions for 2011.
The Swiss team is currently a credible sixth in the constructors’ standings, behind Mercedes and Renault and leading grandees Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

“We keep our feet on the ground,” managing director Monisha Kaltenborn told the Swiss newspaper Blick when asked if more than sixth is the target.

The newspaper, however, said it has learned Sauber’s ‘secret plan’ for the rest of the 2011 season — all available resources, and perhaps even some new recruitments, will be pointed towards the development of the C30.

“So full steam ahead,” wrote veteran reporter Roger Benoit.

Red Bull on Monday confirmed reports world champion Sebastian Vettel has signed up with the team through 2014.

Also announced on Monday was that Lewis Hamilton will be managed by Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment company.

XIX also handles the famous British footballer David Beckham and his Spice Girl wife Victoria.

McLaren driver Hamilton sacked his former manager, father Anthony Hamilton, early last year.

In a statement, 26-year-old Hamilton said Fuller “shared my ambitions for the longer term”.

Joan Villadelprat on Monday insisted he has not given up on bringing his Spanish Le Mans team Epsilon Euskadi into formula one.

The Spaniard tried to acquire the thirteenth and final team entry for 2011, but the FIA ruled that none of the applicants had the financial resources to justify the go-ahead.

But Villadelprat told the Noticias de Gipuzkoa that the 13th entry is not the only route into F1.

“We have not thrown in the towel,” he confirmed.

“The most important thing in formula one is the funding that allows you develop for the long-term. We already have the infrastructure and human capacity.

“We are still working with a range of investors and we hope soon to have a final decision,” added Villadelprat. “If the decision is positive, we have a range of options.

“We can go for the 13th entry in 2012, or for 2011 buy an existing team.”

He ruled out buying the struggling HRT team.

“We are not in contact with them,” said Villadelprat, with decades of experience in F1 with Ferrari, McLaren, Benetton and Prost.

“But we are confident that there are licenses available, because there are several teams in a very delicate economic situation,” he added.

“If we secure the budget for the next four years to take over the project of one of these teams, we will — otherwise, no.”

Ross Brawn has admitted he has begun to think about retiring.

The Briton has played down rumours he is at loggerheads with Norbert Haug, but acknowledged that if the 2011 car is disappointing, his role as Mercedes team principal will be in danger.

As for next year, the 55-year-old told the Telegraph: “I will definitely be there next year. 100 per cent. I don’t have any ambitions to be anywhere else.”

But Brawn, who stepped down from Ferrari a few years ago before taking a sabbatical and returning with Brackley based Honda, also admitted that “I will retire one day”.

“For the next few years I will focus totally on getting this team to the front of the grid and then, almost like at Ferrari, I want to start working on a succession plan so that I can ease back a bit,” he added.

Brawn said he plan is to stay in F1 “but maybe not have to come to 20-odd races every year”.

Red Bull has pledged driver equality for the 2010 title fight, whilst openly admitting that Sebastian Vettel is regarded as the man of the future.

“The main thing now is that we become world champions,” said Helmut Marko, who was accused earlier this year of wanting Vettel to beat Australian Webber to the top spot.

But with Webber 14 points clear, and Vettel level-pegging with Ferrari’s chasing Fernando Alonso, the Austrian-owned team must give the 34-year-old an unimpeded run to the chequered flag.

For the future, however, Red Bull’s ambitions are well known.

“I repeat: we are building the team around Sebastian,” team boss Christian Horner is quoted by Auto Bild.

“Sebastian has a long career ahead of him and hopefully he will spend it with us,” said the Briton. “Mark is in the autumn of his career.

“He wants to retire while he’s at the top, not when he’s past his peak like some other drivers,” added Horner.

1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, however, thinks Red Bull are making a mistake by giving 23-year-old Vettel so much cover.

“Just look at the differing seasons Mark and Sebastian have had,” the French Canadian is quoted by the Telegraph.

“Vettel has shown he has an impetuous streak but if he makes a mistake and the team don’t tell him it was his fault, he won’t learn.

“It’s Red Bull’s fault for spoiling him,” insisted Villeneuve.

F1′s engine makers are banding together against the FIA’s plans to introduce a radically new engine formula in 2013.

It was previously believed the bulk of the teams backed the plans for turbocharged 1.6 litre 4-cylinder engines, in accordance with a ‘greener’ image.

But the sport’s engine makers Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Cosworth have now come to the conclusion that Jean Todt’s plans will cost EUR100 million to develop, and are lobbying to be able to base the new formula on the existing V8 engines.

Cosworth has reportedly warned that it can develop 4-cylinder engines for EUR20 million but that the costs must be passed on to its small customer teams.

So the engine maker group wants the plans to be delayed until 2015, according to a report in Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

They believe the FIA’s ambitions can be achieved with the current engines, such as by restricting fuel flow and developing the KERS regulations further.

They met after the Singapore race and agreed that efforts should be made to retain the basic V8 layout beyond 2012.

But also despite some F1 purists’ fears about the benign sound the smaller engines will make, FIA president Todt is reportedly adamant the new formula one will be imposed on time.

One marque happy with the FIA’s plans, including the possibility of the new engines being deployed outside of F1, is Porsche.

The German sports car maker’s research and development chief Wolfgang Durheimer said its interest in entering F1 is “based on the ‘world engine’”.

“Of course, the rules have to be right,” he added.

Misano was a great disappointment for Casey Stoner. Party with big ambitions found himself away from the podium, even on the fifth goal with great detachment not only against Pedrosa and Lorenzo, but also by Rossi and Dovizioso.

Motorland Aragon thus represents an important opportunity for redemption, in a circuit where completely unknown, unlike several of his colleagues, had no way of proving in recent weeks.

“I’m happy to go to Aragon. The last two races have been difficult for us and run on a new track is definitely challenging. We will tackle the weekend with optimistic spirit, hoping that the track is beautiful and suits the Ducati, but also trying to be realistic that we must strive to find something extra.

The team and all the technicians are doing a fantastic job we only have to dig deeper and think of something new to try to improve the feeling with the bike, bend it better and to find more grip. And above all we are to overcome these last two weekends. “

Jul.7 (GMM) Renault on Wednesday said Robert Kubica has extended his contract to include the 2011 and 2012 seasons.

The 25-year-old Pole moved to the team this year from BMW, and after an impressive start had been linked with a move either next year or in 2012.

But in a media statement, he said committing to Genii Capital-owned Renault for two more seasons was a “straightforward decision”.

“What’s important for me is to be in the right atmosphere, with a good group of people, where everybody is pulling in the same direction,” said Kubica.

The statement said Renault wants to challenge for the title “over the coming seasons”, and had “convinced Robert” that the team “can match his own high ambitions”.

“To do so (win the title), we need a driver of Robert’s calibre; somebody who is fast, totally committed and doesn’t make mistakes,” said team boss Eric Boullier.

Renault has proposed a deal that would see Robert Kubica stay at Renault in 2011, according to a French publication.

Auto Hebdo said the matter could be finalised shortly after this weekend’s British grand prix due to the imposition of a mid-July deadline.

And Italy’s Autosprint believes Kubica could even stay with Renault beyond 2012, but the 25-year-old reportedly “wants guarantees” about the Enstone based team’s funding.

“We are determined to have Robert with us,” team boss Eric Boullier is quoted as saying.  “He knows our ambitions and our potential.”

(GMM)

Renault boss Eric Boullier is confident Robert Kubica will not switch to a rival team at the end of 2010.

Amid rumours linking the Pole with a move for 2011 to Ferrari, and his standout performance in Monaco, Renault team owner Gerard Lopez said last weekend that the 25-year-old has an opportunity to have “a team built around him”.

And the Enstone based team’s principal Boullier is quoted by Auto Hebdo: “The ambitions we have and the changes we are making to the car should convince him to stay with us.”

However, it has been reported that Kubica has signed an “option” with Ferrari regarding the 2011 season.

Subsequent reports said he will be free to sign with the Maranello based team if Renault is not at least fourth in the constructors’ world championship by July 15.

Renault is currently fifth, 13 points behind Mercedes.

(GMM)

The first three official test days for the 2010 Formula One World Championship have concluded, and if we had to choose a short sentence to define them it would be, “Ferrari is a step above the rest.”

Even though, they’re just doing tests, the teams need to check-out and take the most advantage possible of the cars so to confirm the actual performance of the single-seaters and carry out the improvements and adjustments that are needed.  That’s what it’s all about.  It’s worth noting that since the first day, the Brazilian, Felipe Massa at the wheel of the Ferrari F10 evidenced the supremacy of the red racing car in the Valencia racetrack (right in these moment), during the second official tests.  We’ll see what happens.

Talking about single-seaters, several options have been seen.  Some quite innovative, as is the case of the Mercedes GP with its “double airbox”; the Toro Rosso’s union of the sharp fin with the rear wing, etc.  Different solutions to the problems that were brought forward to the engineers regarding the cars’ design.

Having said that, Ferrari returns to the leading positions forecasted by the experts.  The F10 looked solid with great rhythm in the long portions, with an exceptional performance of the red racing car driven by the Spaniard, Fernando Alonso, who made his debut today with Ferrari.  Alonso only needed one training session in the Comunidad Valenciana Ricardo Tormo Circuit to show that he was the fastest of all the pilots who have participated in these three days of collective tests.

The pilot from Asturias started out with the intention of making clear that he’s not just a Ferrari passer by, stopping the chronometer in 1:11.470, better time than his team-mate Felipe Massa, who marked the rhythm during the first two testing sessions.

Alonso won seven times Massa’s best time, and he made most of the more than one hundred racetrack’s laps in 1:12, a devastating rhythm.

However, the surprise of these tests has been in charge of the BMW-Sauber, in the hands of his pilots Pedro Martinez de la Rosa and the Japanese, Kamui Kaobayashi.  They have shown options to be on top.  The clear evolution of the BMW 2009 together with Ferrari engine’s performance has resulted in a machine with ambitions.

Both pilots have concluded in second position during the three testing days.  They have followed Ferrari’s wake in sessions that have helped Pedro to recover the feeling of a team’s official pilot.

As De la Rosa, the German, Michael Schumacher has recovered the control of an F1, the Mercedes GP, showing to be a step behind the Ferrari and the BMW-Sauber, during the first contact of the season.

The new and remodeled Toro Rosso has improved from last year, as well as the Spaniard, Jaime Alguersuari who complied with in his debut.  He has only driven one day in Cheste, but it has been helpful enough to show him he can finish among the best.  He got the best fourth time of the session, better than the time of his team-mate, Sebastien Buemi, and try to learn all that he can to continue progressing in the Formula 1.

The most noticeable note in a negative sense was given by the current world champion, Jenson Button who with his McLaren had to be pleased with the fifth best time, far from the Ferrari.  Together with Button, the Renault R30 still does not convince us.  In spite of the innovations and changes, the single-seater has not been able to find the solution.  Let’s hope Kubica can contribute with his experience to improve the car.