It is possible formula one teams will be limited to a budget cap in 2013, according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

The budget cap idea saw the sport almost implode amid the bitter political war of 2009, when proposed by controversial former FIA president Max Mosley.

But it is back on the agenda in 2012, and according to new rules – where a majority of teams can now push through a change – it could be imposed next season.

“Ten of the 12 teams are in favour,” Auto Motor und Sport said, referring to the push to have cost-cutting moved from the FOTA gentleman’s agreement to the actual sporting regulations.

It means that the two dissenting teams, the Red Bull-owned Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso, will have no say.

“The cost to be competitive in formula one at present is too high,” the boss of the energy drink company’s premier team, Christian Horner, said recently. “I don’t think anybody will dispute that.

“The debate is how we achieve it.”

Not only that, the German report said nine teams are in favour of Mosley’s old budget cap idea, with annual expenditure limited initially to EUR 170 million and then diminishing to 100 million over a few seasons.

Mark Webber has backed his rival Lewis Hamilton to bounce back in 2012.
McLaren’s 2008 world champion had a tumultuous season on and off the circuit last year, but has returned having reunited with his girlfriend and with extra support in the form of Mika Hakkinen’s former manager Didier Coton.

“It’s normal for a sportsman or woman to go through some headwinds in their career — particularly someone like him who had so much success so early, and he’s black, and he’s got interest, and he’s got a girlfriend of profile,” Red Bull driver Webber is quoted by the Sun newspaper.

“Let’s hope he’s strong but not too strong. As a competitor you hope he can realise his potential but clearly we still want to beat him,” added the plain-talking Australian.

Despite winning the season ending Brazilian grand prix last year, Webber also had a less than ideal 2011 as his teammate Sebastian Vettel utterly dominated.

The 35-year-old, however, has lost a couple of kilos over the winter and insists he is ready for 2012.

F1 chief executive Ecclestone backs Webber to succeed.

“I think Mark will be the guy who will threaten him (Vettel) if anybody,” the 81-year-old told The Australian newspaper.

“The last time I spoke to him about it, he was really motivated.”

 Gerard Lopez has revealed that he doubted Kimi Raikkonen was ready to return to formula one last year.
Then called Renault, Lotus had talks with the Finn during the 2010 season that ultimately failed.

Almost two years on, the 2007 world champion will return to the grid with the Enstone based team next month.

So what went wrong in 2010?

“We felt that he was not 100 per cent ready to let go of rallying. If he had come to us under those circumstances, it would have been because of money,” Lopez told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

A year on, Lotus resumed talks with the 32-year-old ‘iceman’.

“I called Kimi directly. Without management, without anybody knowing anything. And I got the feeling very quickly that formula one was again at the front of his mind,” added Lopez.

Raikkonen won 18 grands prix with McLaren and Ferrari.

The Italian press has pointed the finger at Vitaly Petrov’s “rubles” as Jarno Trulli races out of formula one.
With Vitantonio Liuzzi replaced at HRT by Narain Karthikeyan, and veteran Trulli ousted at Caterham by Petrov, F1 history enters a new phase as Italy no longer has a single driver on the grid.

“If you look,” said former grand prix winner Riccardo Patrese to La Stampa, “the drivers coming in now are from central America and the East.”

The unsponsored Trulli, 37, said he still wants to race but also has his wine and hotel businesses to keep him busy.

“More than anything else, apart from the results, I am proud to have been able to fulfil my dream of racing in F1 for many years and stay on the grid on my own power, without anybody’s help,” he is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Switzerland’s Blick newspaper points out that no fewer than 81 Italian drivers have raced in the modern F1 championship.

And Brazilian correspondent Livio Oricchio reminded that in 1989, no fewer than 16 drivers in the field were Italian.

Some Italian fans are pointing the finger at Ferrari, annoyed that the famous marque has not signed a full-time Italian race driver for many years.

And why Felipe Massa? “Because we believe in him,” an official of the Maranello based team is quoted by Spain’s Marca newspaper.

“It’s not enough to have an Italian passport to drive for Ferrari,” he added.

 Mercedes’ highly-anticipated 2012 car made its track debut this week during a secret test day at Silverstone.
“Lots of questions about Silverstone and shakedowns,” admitted the Northamptonshire based team on Twitter on Thursday.

Youtube video footage, captured by a trackside observer, showed the ‘step’ nose W03 turning laps at the British grand prix venue, which is located just a 15-minute drive from the German team’s Brackley headquarters.

Mercedes said the test was for “filming” purposes, with Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher’s equally sharing the allowed 100 kilometres of running.

Italy’s Autosprint website said the car appeared “fairly conventional”, despite speculation the late test debut is due to the team keeping an explosive technical innovation close to its chest.

Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s car designer, admitted he and Mercedes’ rivals might have a very close look at the W03 if the rumours about the technical secret are true.

“If it comes out and goes three seconds quicker than anybody else, yes of course,” he is quoted by Reuters.

“Other than that, simply because its later doesn’t mean to say you are going to suddenly show more attention at that than anybody else’s.”

Meanwhile, after the struggling Spanish team’s 2012 car recently failed two mandatory FIA crash tests, HRT will sit out next week’s Barcelona test.

Last week at Jerez, Pedro de la Rosa ran at the wheel of the 2011 car.

McLaren has developed this season with the F-bay system with a simple but effective innovation that brings more top speed on the straights, without cost pressure in the turns. Almost all the teams now move to and also develop such systems, but from 2011 these will be banned.

Martin Whitmarsh could not prevent, because the veto has been abolished for individual teams to accelerate decision-making. “Would the F-shaft Vetocarte play one if I had one? Yes, I would. I’m disappointed that the situation is now so? Is yes, I am, I personally,” said the McLaren team boss. The right of veto was abolished, but in the interest of the sport makes sense, because then no one can block improvements from self-interest.
The F-bay system keeps Whitmarsh for “great. It cost no money, is a neat technology, it is clever. We have all the means to build shafts and carbon fiber wing, because it has no complex electronics, no fancy materials, no complicated systems. Anybody can build it – and will continue to do so, of course. And if we want to talk about ‘green’: The F-shaft reduces the air resistance, so is the positive. ”

“But there are inevitably people, particularly in the small teams that say, ‘We are focusing rather on the basics, want this additional challenge not. So must we accept that there is a compromise. That is the nature of the situation, that we have to find compromises that are in the best interest of the sport, “said the Briton. That was not before the veto was the case.

(TMS)

Jun.10 (GMM)  Mark Webber on Thursday insisted he can still work at Red Bull alongside Dr Helmut Marko.

Two weeks ago, it was the team’s Austrian consultant Marko who began blaming Australian Webber for the crash with his teammate Sebastian Vettel in Turkey.

It raised the suspicion that the team’s powerful German-speaking faction favours youngster Vettel over Webber, but all parties sat down for a clear-the-air meeting at Milton-Keynes last week.

“I had a good chat with Helmut at the factory.  He’s fine,” Webber, 33, told reporters at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

He was asked what he thought about Marko immediately blaming him for the crash, while many pundits within the paddock believe it was Vettel’s fault.

“Helmut wasn’t fully up to speed with all the facts at the time.  He went pretty quick with his comments, which he’s learned from and will move on,” said Webber.

Also revealing that he had a “very positive” phone conversation with team owner Dietrich Mateschitz since the incident, Webber said he understands Marko’s tilt towards 22-year-old Vettel’s side of the garage.

“He brought Seb along, he speaks the language, so you can expect a bit of emotional support that way.  But I’m fine with that.

“Helmut has been … there are a lot of things that have happened with this team through his support, and I’ve been off the back of that as well,” added Webber.

Vettel’s media scrum on Thursday was an uncomfortable one for the 22-year-old, with some reporters pushing the German hard to issue an apology.

When it became clear that no apology would be forthcoming, one questioner asked him if, like his countryman Michael Schumacher, he finds it difficult to admit his mistakes.

“The way that I grew up and the way that I am, honesty is something that is very important to me.  You can ask anybody in the garage, if I make a mistake in qualifying then I am the first to raise my hand and blame myself.

“I am open for self-criticism and I try to improve myself.  I’m not jumping out of the car and saying this is a shit car if I couldn’t do better,” said Vettel.

“If from my side something isn’t right I raise my hand and stand up.  I have no problem with that and it’s one important thing in life otherwise it will always come back to you,” he added.

Vijay Mallya and Bernie Ecclestone on Thursday indicated they do not believe Karun Chandhok is a first-class formula one driver.

In a joint interview published by F1′s official website, the pair admitted the desire to see a top Indian driver on the grid.

Mallya, the Indian billionaire owner and boss of the Force India team, currently fields a German-Italian driver combination, with Scot Paul di Resta as the Friday test driver.

Asked if it is important to eventually have an Indian at the wheel, he answered: “It is very important.  I would love it.  I’m not a fool and can see the enormous publicity potential which would come from it.

“The downside at the moment is that there is not one Indian pilot who has the potential to battle the best on the track,” added Mallya.

26-year-old Chennai-born Chandhok debuted in 2010 for the struggling new Spanish team HRT, and on Thursday he toured the site of next year’s F1 race in Delhi.

The Indian GP project is strongly backed by Ecclestone, who is openly pushing to tap the impressive new markets like India’s.

But although Chandhok was strongly supported by family friend Ecclestone for the seat, the F1 chief executive also seemed to indicate that an Indian is not yet ready to be on the pace.

And the 79-year-old said a struggling Indian at Force India “would be extremely negative”.

“In this case Vijay would have achieved the exact opposite of what he wanted to.  To choose an Indian driver who just runs after all the others is no use to anybody.  It would be counterproductive,” added the Briton.

(GMM)

Nico Hulkenberg on Saturday said he doubted any of Red Bull’s rivals will catch the team that dominated qualifying at Barcelona.

Pole sitter Mark Webber and his teammate Sebastian Vettel destroyed their competition for the Spanish GP grid.

“I don’t believe anybody will catch them this year,” said German rookie Hulkenberg, who outqualified his teammate Rubens Barrichello on Saturday but lamented a backwards step for his British team.

Referring to Red Bull’s clearly superior pace over its nearest competitors, he added: “The gap may not always be nine tenths, but at least half a second.

“It is not a simple task to find that much time in the wind tunnel, and you must remember that they will develop as well,” the 22-year-old told Motorsport-Magazin.com.

(GMM)

Apr.21 (GMM)  Bernie Ecclestone has defended Michael Schumacher amid criticism of the seven time world champion’s lacklustre return to formula one.

The 41-year-old German’s comeback with a three-year deal at Mercedes was the talk of the pre-season.

But his new form hit a low in China last weekend, when he was trounced by his teammate Nico Rosberg in qualifying before finishing a minute down at the finish in the sort of slippery conditions in which previously he would have thrived.

F1 chief executive Ecclestone said the criticism of his performance so far is not justified.

“Anybody who criticises Michael is wrong.  He deserves better,” the Briton said in a joint interview with Mercedes’ Norbert Haug.

Haug agreed: “No, for sure he doesn’t deserve that.”

The German told F1′s official website that Schumacher’s effect at the Brackley based team is being tangibly felt behind the scenes.

“He stimulates everybody, including Nico.”

Ecclestone said he is not surprised that 24-year-old Rosberg currently has the upper hand, and tips Schumacher to be back on top soon.

“Nico is very talented and Michael was on holiday for three years.  Ask me the same question after another two races,” said the 79-year-old.

There have been theories that Schumacher will – or should – make a quick retreat in order to cease the humiliation and safeguard his legacy.

It has also been suggested that his form reflects the fact that he has only returned to beat the boredom of retirement.

“We all know that Michael would be his first and foremost critic if he realised that this job is not for him anymore.  But that’s not the case,” said Haug.

“Within the team, Michael is extremely constructive.  This enthusiasm is firing up the whole team.”

Ecclestone agreed: “Michael would have never returned had he not been convinced that he can do the job.  He is not a tourist in the paddock — he’s here to win.  And he will win again.”

Mar.24 (GMM – YF1) Lewis Hamilton has revealed he received “a lot” of applications to become his new manager.

It emerged before the 2010 season opener that the McLaren driver will no longer be handled professionally by his father Anthony.

Martin Brundle and Mika Hakkinen were both touted as potential replacements.

“Honestly, I have received a lot of applications but I’m not in a hurry to decide,” the 25-year-old Briton said on Wednesday in a joint interview with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

“I am with a fantastic team, with many competent people, so at the moment I have no need for a manager,” Hamilton told F1’s official website.

Ecclestone, 79, advised Hamilton to remain unrepresented.

“A driver doesn’t need a manager,” said the sport’s ’supremo’, who joked that he has offered to manage Hamilton.

“Gerhard Berger is the prime example of that. He managed himself and was making more money than anybody else at the time he was racing,” Ecclestone added.

Jamie McMurray held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the Daytona 500 on Sunday, a finish so thrilling it just about made up for a pothole that nearly derailed the Super Bowl of  NASCAR.

NASCAR needed two stoppages of well over two hours total to patch a pesky pothole between turns 1 and 2 of Daytona International Speedway. The setback brought the biggest race of the season to a frustrating halt and had NASCAR executives fretting over the potential fallout.

Hoping for a spectacular season-opener to re-energize the industry, the delays instead sent NASCAR chairman Brian France into the broadcast booth to calm an agitated audience.

In the end, though, the hole inadvertently improved the racing.

The action picked up tremendously after the second patch was applied, partly because drivers had to race as if the hole could rip open again and end the event on any lap. And did they ever.

They beat and banged their way through the field in a white-knuckle final 32 laps. Then a flurry of late-race accidents put NASCAR’s ”green-white-checker” policy — an overtime of sorts — to the test.

McMurray, using a boost from former teammate Greg Biffle, powered into the lead on the second and final green-white-checkered attempt. But Earnhardt, who restarted the final sprint in 10th place, was slicing his way through the field.

He weaved in and out of traffic, shoving his Chevrolet into three-wide lines, eventually darting his way to McMurray’s bumper. It was vintage Earnhardt — he’s a 12-time Daytona winner spanning NASCAR’s top two series — and McMurray was terrified to see him growing in his rearview mirror.

”When I saw the 88 behind me, I thought, ‘Oh no.’ He had a good car and I just thought — Earnhardt and Daytona, they win all the time it just seems like,” McMurray said. ”You never know what to expect.”

But with just two laps to make up so much ground, Earnhardt ran out of time and had to settle for second as McMurray sailed to his first career Daytona 500 victory.

”I didn’t know where I was, you know, ’til I really kind of got done almost wrecking down the back straightaway,” Earnhardt said of his charge. ”Then I looked up — there’s just one car in front of me, ‘Jamie’s gonna win this damn race!’

”I was happy for him. He deserves it. They’ve been through a lot. It’s a great team.”

McMurray climbed from his car and ran to the Daytona 500 logo in the infield, dropping to his knees and pounding on the painted grass. Overcome with emotion, he sobbed in Victory Lane as he celebrated with his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team.

It was McMurray’s first race back with Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates, who gave him his Sprint Cup Series shot in 2002. But McMurray left and spent four frustrating seasons with Roush Fenway Racing, only to lose that ride at the end of last season when NASCAR forced Roush to drop a team to meet its four-car limit.

McMurray had to fight to get a seat back with Ganassi, and it included convincing sponsor Bass Pro Shops’ owner Johnny Morris to take a chance on him.

The risk was well rewarded Sunday with the biggest win of McMurray’s career.

”It’s unreal,” McMurray sobbed. ”You know, to be where I was last year and for Johnny Morris and Chip and Felix. What a way to pay them back. It’s just very emotional.”

Biffle, a close friend of McMurray’s, was disappointed in finishing third because he was the leader when the caution came out after the first green-white-checkered attempt. But he was able to give McMurray the push that got his buddy into Victory Lane.

”I just made my move too soon, a mistake on my part probably,” Biffle said. ”This is a big, big win for anybody’s career. You got to be happy for anybody that ever wins this race. I was especially happy, the guys I was up there beating and banging with, you know, I would rather see Jamie win than those guys.”

Clint Bowyer finished fourth and was followed by David Reutimann and Martin Truex Jr. — teammates for Michael Waltrip, who finished 18th in what’s expected to be his final Daytona 500.

Kevin Harvick was seventh and was followed by Matt Kenseth, last year’s race winner, Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya, McMurray’s teammate.

After the race, DIS president Robin Braig apologized for the hole and the delays that caused many fans to head to the exits long before the finish.

”We’re the World Center of Racing. This is the Daytona 500. This is not supposed to happen, and I take full responsibility,” Braig said. ”We can come back from this. We know how to fix it. This is hallowed ground. We understand that. We accept the responsibility.”

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Last summer, Formula One standout Juan Pablo Montoya announced that he will be competing on the NASCAR races. During his announcement he said that he was excited to bring his aggressive style of driving to the motorsport.

In Formula One, Montoya cemented his reputation as one of the most aggressive professional race car drivers today. While his skills combined with his unique style made him one of the most talented drivers today, he seems to be having trouble making friends in NASCAR as his aggressive style of driving seems to be rubbing his fellow NASCAR drivers the wrong way.

While NASCAR racing is more aggressive than Formula One, there is a limit to one’s aggressiveness on the tracks. And that is what Montoya is still trying to find out. Currently, the Colombian driver has already wreaked havoc on his fellow drivers with the season just starting. In Mexico, Montoya accidentally forced his teammate, Scott Pruett, off the road at the road race in the Busch Series. The road race saw Montoya securing his first win in the new field that he has entered. He has also reportedly “annoyed” Jeff Gordon in Atlanta. Montoya also ran into Ryan Newman and Tony Raines at Martinsville. Aside from those incidents, Juan Pablo Montoya also managed to annoy two-time Nextel Cup Champion Tony Stewart as he tangles with him at the recently concluded Samsung 500 which happened in Texas.

In response to the criticism that he receives over his aggressive driving, Montoya has this to say: “I don’t think Chip (Ganassi) hired me to run 20th every weekend, and I didn’t come here to run 20th every weekend. Is (contact) going to happen? Yeah, it’s going to happen a lot of weekends, but our aim is to run up front.” He added that: “I think anybody that’s seen me race knows that I’m not going to back down.”

In the recent incident involving Montoya and a fellow driver, it seems that the “rookie” will be having a hard time adjusting to the sport. Stewart, the latest victim of Montoya’s aggressive driving style, has this to say: “If you race people with respect, you get respect. You might want to be just a little bit more patient just long enough to learn how everything’s done over here.” NASCAR aficionados have even compared Montoya’s aggressive driving to the skills of NASCAR legends like the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.

The common thinking is that aggressive drivers can have good success in the sport but they have to make sure that their aggressiveness is channeled so that it comes as not to be counter-productive.

Montoya’s start tote season is quite respectable. Being from Formula One, it is expected of him to eventually win in the NASACR races. Currently, the aggressive driving Colombian posted a win at the Busch Series and has already managed to get a couple of top ten finishes in the Nextel Cup. In Texas, the former CART champion managed an eighth place finish. He is driving a Dodge which is yet to win a race at the Nextel Cup. Currently, Dodge, Ford, and Toyota, are being dominated by Chevy at the Nextel Cup series. Equipped with for-race engineered engines which leaves far behind the performance of on-road Chevy vehicles equipped with the Chevy cold air intake system.

While Montoya is yet to show his true worth in NASCAR, drivers in the sport agrees that Montoya has got the talent to be come successful in the motorsport. Even Stewart said that Montoya is the most talented driver in his team. Although admitting Montoya’s flair for the game, Stewart added that: “He didn’t make friends with me [at Texas], so he won’t get any help from me in the future.”