Kimi Raikkonen has revealed he actually broke his wrist just before Christmas.
The media made much of the returning Lotus driver’s apparently hurt arm, but he insisted at the time it was “the smallest and slowest crash I’ve ever had”.

But during his appearance on the popular British motoring programme Top Gear last week, 32-year-old Raikkonen confessed to having been more seriously injured.

He showed anchor Jeremy Clarkson a big scar on his left wrist, admitting: “I hurt it a little bit, but I had a good doctor to fix it.”

“That’s a big scar!” Clarkson exclaimed. “Did you break it (your arm)?” he enquired.

Raikkonen smiled: “A little bit.”

Marussia Racing’s new MR01 finally made its first on-track appearance during a promotional ‘filming’ day at Silverstone, just a few miles from is Banbury base.

The Anglo-Russian team endured a torrid time in its attempts to get the car ready for the third and final group test at Barcelona last week, having skipped the opening session in Jerez to prepare the MR01 for early March, only to fail the mandatory FIA crash tests. Although both Timo Glock and rookie Charles Pic got some miles under their belts in Barcelona last month, it was at the wheel of the 2011-spec car, leaving them preciously short of time in the new machine ahead of its race debut in Melbourne next weekend.

The Silverstone shakedown, part of a promotional event ahead of the car’s departure for the Australian Grand Prix, will provide both team and driver with vital information on the new machine, which has been conceived after a ground-up re-evaluation of the way Marussia designs its racing cars. As such, the car is almost entirely new, with very few carry-over components from last year’s Marussia Virgin MVR-02.

The desire to make a clean break from the previous CFD-only creations presented the design team, led by technical consultant Pat Symonds, with the challenge of going back to basics to produce a solid mechanical package, whilst maintaining an eye towards achieving the incremental performance steps required to move the team forward.

The starting point for the design programme was a consideration of the people and resources available to the Banbury-based team. The former three-base operation has been consolidated into one site, the Marussia Technical Centre in Banbury, bringing the various elements of the business together to form ‘one team’. In particular, the design department and practices now benefit from far greater integration and collaboration. Furthermore, the aerodynamic department has been completely restructured and the aero methodology reinforced, blurring the boundaries between CFD and experimental work in the wind tunnel, as well as enhancing the fidelity of the team’s aero approach.

The technical partnership forged with McLaren Applied Technologies in July of last year has also been influential in the design process and the relationship is starting to yield benefit as the advanced facilities that the Marussia team has access to have been used to prove the correlation process with the MVR-02. It is however early in the relationship and the MR01 will become a beneficiary of the relationship in due course.

The key design priorities were to address previous aerodynamic deficiencies and, mechanically, achieve greater weight saving. At the same time, a lot of the detail of the car has been refined and the design team have been a little more adventurous than before, stepping closer to the engineering boundaries. The car can best be described as a significant evolution of its predecessors. The relationship with McLaren is also evident, as the MR01 is only the second car launched this season, after the Woking giant’s MP4-27, to eschew the stepped nose concept favoured by the rest of the field.

“We are very pleased to be running the new MR01 for the first time this morning,” team principal John Booth admitted, “It has been a long and frustrating wait for everyone in the team, but we can now get back on track – literally – and start working towards the first race of the season in Australia next weekend.

“Today is the first of two promotional events, so while the drivers will be able to get a feel for the car, they won’t be able to draw any real conclusions until we start running in anger in Melbourne. Nevertheless, this is an important day for us and we’ll enjoy every minute on track with the new car.”

Glock turned the first laps with the MR01, beginning his third season with the team and providing the all-important element of continuity required to keep moving the package forward. He is joined in 2012 by Frenchman Pic, who embarks on his rookie year in F1, having made the step up from GP2 to replace Belgium’s Jerome d’Ambrosio. Both drivers will get track time with the new car over the next two days, albeit running on demonstration tyres as opposed to the Pirelli P-Zeros that they will use once competition starts in Melbourne.

The future of the German grand prix at the Nurburgring looks set to race into the courts.
The Rhineland-Palatinate state this week said it intends to cancel the circuit operator’s lease, arguing that a bright future is “not possible” with the existing tenants.

Minister Roger Lewentz said he wants to personally take over the negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone about the future of the F1 race.

But according to the SID news agency, the operator Nurburgring Automotive GmbH (NAG) has announced it will fight back, including demanding “substantial amounts” from the government for the wrongful action.

“There is no reason for this extraordinary step,” NAG’s lawyer is quoted as saying.

The company’s spokesman said the situation is crucial to Germany’s future on the F1 calendar.

“Already, there are many candidates waiting for a (race) date to be available,” NAG spokesman Karl-Heinz Steinkuehler said.

“Without the Nurburgring, formula one would make probably only a guest appearance every two years in Germany, at the Hockenheimring,” he warned.

The minister Lewentz, however, said the government is ready for a fight, despite hoping for “an amicable solution” to the dispute with the operator.

“If not, a lengthy legal dispute cannot be ruled out,” he said. “We consider ourselves well prepared.”

Indian race-goers showed an ugly side late on Friday after American heavy-metal band Metallica cancelled its appearance at the ‘F1 Rocks’ music concert.
The band, in New Delhi for the inaugural formula one event – as is Lady Gaga – called off the concert due to safety concerns relating to audience barriers.

“Our first and foremost concern is always for the safety of you, the fans,” Metallica said in a statement.

But the audience did not take the news well, smashing through barriers to mount the stage whilst ripping off their shirts, hurling chairs at security guards and the LED screens and damaging technical equipment.

“The crowd went berserk,” an audience member confirmed.

Johnny Herbert will make his third appearance in 2010 as a formula one steward this weekend.

The 46-year-old Briton, who won three grands prix during his career spanning 165 races until 2000, debuted in the role in Malaysia and then wore an FIA shirt again in Turkey.

A spokesman for the Brazilian grand prix confirmed to O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper that Herbert will be the driver representative on the stewards’ panel at Interlagos.

He raced in F1 for Benetton, Tyrrell, Ligier, Sauber, Stewart and Jaguar.

His best finish at Interlagos, an event he contested nine times, was fourth in 1993 at the wheel of a Lotus.

Fresh renewal (biennial) with Yamaha, Jorge Lorenzo took fourth time in official qualifying Grand Prix of Japan at Twin Ring Motegi and, for the first time this season, will start from the second row. The (almost) the 2010 World Champion has run into some more problems than expected in its turn from “pole”, however after having shown an enviable step over the free practice sessions.

“I am a little disappointed because this was not the result I expected, “said Jorge Lorenzo. “I would really like to get the front row in Japan in Yamaha’s home race, just after signing with them for another two years. Fortunately, the skills and appearance are just more important is that we are ready for the race, our pace was competitive and there are only two small issues still to be placed on my M1. “

Compared to yesterday Jorge Lorenzo has decided to use our engine as well as Valentino Rossi, with a view to obtaining positive impressions of a race which, according to the forecast, it should be wet from the rain.

“It is better, especially in higher gears, it’s definitely an advantage for us. In any case, scatter for the first time this year from the second row, but they are near the control and try to make the best possible start. Unfortunately the weather forecast is not the best, I hope the good weather, but must also be prepared for rain, “said the Fiat Yamaha rider.

A hundred F1 regulars should be expelled from formula one if the sport is serious about cutting costs.

That is the view of Flavio Briatore, the disgraced and banned former Renault chief who made another paddock appearance at Monza last weekend.

The 60-year-old is tipped to take up a role alongside F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone once his FIA ban runs out.

He said at Monza that F1 will only survive into the long-term if it is able to dramatically reduce costs.

“But you’d have to throw 100 people out of the paddock. With today’s decision-makers this is not possible.

“You can’t teach them how to save because they never have. It’s like sending an alcoholic to rehab in a bar,” said the flamboyant Italian.

On Austrian television ‘Servus’, Briatore also commented on the return this year of Michael Schumacher.

“The comeback was wrong,” Briatore, who was team boss at Benetton where Schumacher won his first two titles in the mid 90s, said.

“His car is not the best, but he isn’t competitive. Rosberg is usually better. Sometimes I just feel sorry for him,” he admitted.

Toro Rosso is back in action this week as the Italian team bids to get its blown exhaust and F-duct up and running as soon as possible.

At Monza on Friday morning, six grands prix from the end of the 2010 season, the Faenza based squad became the last of the established teams to run the technical innovations.

“We are just beginning to test it and it still requires a lot of work,” said Sebastien Buemi, who debuted the new parts during a straight line test at Vairano last week.

The Swiss said the F-duct was taken off the STR5 “after a few laps” at Monza. “It was never our intention to run it for the (whole) weekend,” confirmed chief engineer Laurent Mekies.

It now emerges that the F-duct will make another appearance at Vairano this Thursday, this time in the hands of Buemi’s teammate Jaime Alguersuari.

“Maybe we can have it on the car for Singapore,” said Buemi.

“If we continue like this I hope to be able to fight fair and square with the Williams and Mercedes in the final races,” he added.

For the first big adrenaline Sebastian Vettel had early on Sunday morning at 7:15 clock care as he rushed completely unannounced with his Formula 1 car on the old market square. It was the ultimate wake-up for “his” day in his home city of Heppenheim, scheduled in the afternoon quite the hag-fever. Some 120,000 fans celebrated the runner, which is spectacular mood for the home Grand Prix next Sunday at the Hockenheimring.

“Sensational, gigantic, towering,” Vettel said, given the Fanmassen and searched for the right words: “It was a complete success, the atmosphere was fantastic. The people are standing in several rows, and tear up his arms. I think that had fun I, in any case. ”
Heppenheim is to “Vettel home”

Because of massive interest had to be closed in both directions, police records, even the exit Heppenheim an der Autobahn A5. Some town signs adorned the name “Vettel home. ‘The streets of Monaco are forgotten. I need to talk with Bernie Ecclestone times, if we do not make the future here,’ smiled Vettel.

On the evening before, he had a little bit afraid that maybe would not get enough viewers admitted Vettel. His fans, however, instructed him one better, transforming the city mere hours before the official start in Germany’s largest paddock. Together with Mattias Ekström Vettel also turned in his DTM-Audi, Smudo Fantastic Four from their laps.
His first exit 14:44 clock lasted only a few minutes because the first course on strike. “Since you can not then the car rumwerfen correct. But do not worry, it was only a prelude,” Vettel promised his fans that were part of several hundred kilometers traveled.

While his mechanics changed the gearbox, Vettel bridged the time for the fans with additional autograph sessions at the track. He was still in the passenger seat of the Ekström DTM Audi chauffeur on the slopes.
Sign the guest book of the city

When his mechanics with the repair was finished, it was Vettel at 16:08 clock itself once again fly right past the station and the stadium. “As I have just tried to play football. They went well not so much, so I am racing then become,” said Vettel.
“I want to show people something,” said Red Bull driver, as he wrote on a piece autographs and caps tossed into the audience. “I’ve never eaten something!” At 10:00 clock, he also had an official appearance as it is in the presence of Hessian interior minister and future prime minister Volker Bouffier into the Golden Book of the City earned.

About a kilometer of road had turned the city into a racetrack Heppenheim. “The road I know so, usually because the speed is 50th, but today there are no speed cameras,” said Vettel, who was driving early Sunday morning for three shots with his Formula 1 car on the cobblestones at the old market square. “That was before secret,” he told and apologized for the unusual disturbance: “As has already stretched one or two head out the window.”

Christian Klien on Friday hinted he might appear on the formula one grid at the wheel of an HRT car in 2010.

At Silverstone, Bruno Senna was mysteriously dropped by the struggling Spanish team, replaced for the British event by test driver Sakon Yamamoto.

Austrian Klien, 27, is also a Hispania test driver.

When asked why Senna was sidelined at Silverstone, team boss Colin Kolles told the Australian broadcaster One-HD: “We have four drivers.”

For now, Klien said he is hoping to make another appearance in the F110 car during Friday practice.

“What is planned for Hockenheim, I don’t know,” he said in an interview with motorline.cc.

“Who will sit in the car, I think, will be a short-term decision.”

When asked if he might race at some point in 2010, as his Japanese test colleague did in Britain, Klien answered: “That, I don’t know.

“First I am thinking about the Friday testing — everything else is a team decision.

“Since the last race, it is the case that Hispania can nominate any of the four drivers for the race seat. And all four drivers are treated equally. After that, the decision rests with the team,” he added.

Klien also confirmed that, despite earlier uncertainty about the future of Geoff Willis, the Briton is working on HRT’s 2011 car.

Another grand prix will pass this weekend without Renault having an F-duct on its 2010 car.
It was rumoured two weeks ago that the Enstone based team was on the verge of debuting the downforce-stalling concept, and team boss Eric Boullier confirmed it will appear “very soon”.

Renault fell behind with the F-duct – pioneered by McLaren and now also run by Ferrari, Sauber, Red Bull, Williams, Force India and Mercedes – when it initially decided earlier this year that it would not waste resources on the innovation.

France’s Auto Hebdo reveals that the R30s are not fitted with F-ducts in the Silverstone garages.

Boullier confirmed the news, adding that the concept is still being worked on and should make its debut appearance “very soon”.

Paul di Resta has his “fingers crossed” for a formula one race debut with Force India in 2011.

He is currently the team’s reserve driver, and at Silverstone will make another track appearance during Friday morning practice.

Mercedes-backed di Resta, who also races with the German marque in the DTM series, is managed by Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony.

The 24-year-old is quoted by the PA news agency as remaining focused on his 2010 duties.

“It’s taking one step at a time because it is a big task this year, and hopefully I’m impressing the team enough that I can build a future,” said di Resta, whose cousin is the successful Indycar driver Dario Franchitti.

Although Force India’s current race drivers are Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi, di Resta admitted he would like a seat next season.

“It’s certainly a great team to be part of. I’d love to be driving one of their cars next year, so fingers crossed.”

Lotus reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy will make four more appearances during Friday practice sessions in 2010.

The team announced on Tuesday that the 27-year-old Malaysian, who practiced at the wheel of the T127 in Malaysia, will be back in the car this weekend at Silverstone.

Fauzy will also be driving in the Friday morning session in Hungary, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, Lotus said in a media statement.

“I did the shakedown of chassis 04 at Snetterton a couple of weeks ago, but obviously couldn’t really push there, so it’ll be great to get back out and add whatever I can to help the team keep moving towards the midfield,” he said.

(GMM)

For Timo Glock, the trip paid to Montreal in the past for ever. The 28 year-old made his debut in 2004 for Jordan as a substitute pilot for Giorgio Pantano. In the qualifying Glock was only one place behind team-mate Nick Heidfeld. In the race, he captured his seventh first championship points and thus belongs to a small group of riders, who succeeded, at the debut. In 2005 Glock would have won by a hair, the race of the Champ Car Series at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The last appearance in 2008 conquered the German his first points for Toyota.

The presence at the moment does not look rosy. The Virgin was too slow on Friday and was even beaten by HRT. Points lie outside the range, but with a crazy race and the happiness could Montréal for the weekend, Glock nor the conciliatory. “Every time I’ve driven in Canada, is something special happened in the race,” says Glock recalls in an interview with ‘Autosport’. “Hopefully it will be another crazy weekend and we can benefit from it.”
Ideally, the new team plays the fight for third place from 19th Nevertheless, it is difficult to motivate Glock not himself, “I just hide from the 20 cars ahead of me. I have never been so hard fought for a 19th place as recently in Turkey. The battle to win under new team is our only option get a sense of victory. If you’re not even a goal, you will lose power. The duel with Lotus is a way to motivate yourself. ”

Glock only twice in the seven races so far has seen the checkered flag. Despite the difficult season, he is convinced of Virgin: “I am very satisfied. It’s easy to say that I or anyone at Renault would have to wait still can, but you never know what happened, so I made the right decision. Virgin developed in the right direction. The problem is that you only see number 20 and nothing more. We have, however, improved a lot. ”
“The car is more difficult to drive than the Toyota is missing. Especially in medium and slow corners us contact pressure. Then we placed our focus.” It can also bring his experience from Glock recent years. “In discussions I am now a little more aggressive. The team can respond very well, but unfortunately we have not had the capacity as Toyota, where new parts were produced very quickly.”

Even with his former employers after two years, many ideas in the Glock-2010s construction of the model incorporated. The 28-year-old has seen the Toyota for the current season and is convinced of the merits: “The car would have been very fast. Everyone laughed when I said that we want to fight for the title. We were constantly in the top 5 been. But unfortunately the car is never driven on the track. It is a pity, but that was precisely the decision. There were few details on the car, where I could see my signature significantly. It would have been nice, the fruit of hard work to harvest. ”
(TotalMotorSport)