It was a breakthrough for Mercedes and Nico Rosberg, but the Chinese grand prix was a “difficult day” for Michael Schumacher.

That is the admission of Shanghai winner Rosberg, whose first race win after more than 100 attempts also delivered German marque Mercedes’ first works victory for more than half a century.

“I felt he was very happy for me,” Rosberg told Auto Bild Motorsport, when asked what seven time world champion Schumacher’s reaction was.

Since returning to F1 more than two years ago, 43-year-old Schumacher – although stepping up his pace in 2012 – is yet to finish a single grand prix on the podium.

Nonetheless, he offered his congratulations “very, very warmly” after China, Rosberg revealed.

“At the same time I know that it was, of course, a difficult day (for him),” he admitted.

Norbert Haug, the team’s motor sport director, recently sounded inclined to keep Rosberg and Schumacher together beyond 2012, despite the fact the older and more famous German’s contract is ending.

He insisted there is “nothing negative” about their relationship.

As for ongoing rumours that Schumacher still enjoys number one status, Haug called that idea “absolute nonsense”.

“Do you know what Nico said to me, before Michael came? He said ‘If you can get Michael (on the team), then try everything for it’.”

Rosberg has not changed his tune.

“There was never a situation in which Michael got anything before I did,” he confirmed.

After Sebastian Vettel’s first win of the season in Bahrain recently, Red Bull could now maintain its grip on 2012.

That is the claim of the legendary triple world champion Niki Lauda.

Red Bull has been the dominant force since late 2009 and 2010, and Vettel was untouchable last year as he successfully defended his drivers’ championship breakthrough.

But four different teams have won so far in 2012, and only the last of them were Red Bull and Vettel, as the energy drink-owned team’s superiority appeared to have waned.

After Bahrain, however, Red Bull and Vettel are back, Lauda told Germany’s Auto Bild Motorsport.

“In Bahrain, they got the car and the tyres right for the first time, and they won,” said the Austrian.

“They will have improved the car further in Mugello, so I see enormous potential for another dominant season,” he added.

Lauda acknowledged that the blown diffusers of the past seasons was Red Bull’s “great strength”, and now that is gone.

“Nevertheless, Red Bull is the team to beat,” he insisted.

Nico Rosberg’s F1 breakthrough proves he is ready to fight even for the world championship.

That is the view of former grand prix winner, team boss and co-owner Gerhard Berger, following Rosberg’s first pole and win in China last weekend.

“It surprised not me, but all the others who had doubted him,” the Austrian told Auto Bild Motorsport.

“It was about time. I was worried,” Berger smiled, “because I have always said I thought Nico was faster than Michael (Schumacher).

“Now he is finally where he has belonged for a long time — in the same league as Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and Button,” he insisted.

“And when the (Mercedes) car is good enough, he is already ready for the world title.”

Berger, then as BMW motor sport director, said he was instrumental in 2002 in convincing Sir Frank Williams to give the then 17-year-old Rosberg his first F1 test.

Also welcoming Sunday’s breakthrough is Nelson Piquet junior, another son of a world champion who actually went to kindergarten with Rosberg in Monaco.

“It’s funny how in F1 things can take so long to happen,” the Brazilian told Globo.

“It took him more than six years to get his first victory, which for me is a long time considering how good a driver he is,” added Piquet, now in Nascar.

Felipe Massa’s Ferrari seat is a big talking point in the Sepang paddock on Thursday.
Following a dire performance in Australia for the Brazilian, the Italian press has named Sergio Perez, Adrian Sutil and even Jarno Trulli as possible candidates to immediately oust Massa.

Mexican Perez, the cream of Ferrari’s development programme and already at Ferrari-powered Sauber, said in Malaysia: “It’s very early to say that or speculate.”

Very keen for a chance like this, however, is Force India refugee Sutil, who has been left without a job in the wake of his criminal conviction.

“I am very motivated and I’m training hard to stay fit,” the German is quoted on Thursday by Auto Bild Motorsport.

All eyes will be on Massa this weekend, as Ferrari has agreed to build him up a new F2012 chassis in the wake of his lacklustre performance in Melbourne.

“I really don’t care,” he said in reaction to the rumours, “I have a job.”

 Red Bull has stepped up the technical row with Mercedes by accusing the German team of breaching a gentlemen’s agreement.
Red Bull and Lotus last weekend threatened to protest the results in Australia, due to Mercedes’ innovative new ‘F-duct’-like solution.

“They are not complying with the agreement of the technical working group,” said Christian Horner.

Adrian Newey also told Auto Bild Motorsport: “The FIA has allowed the system, but Mercedes has gone against the gentlemen’s agreement of the teams.”

He is apparently referring to a meeting last year in which teams informally agreed not to pursue certain technical directions.

Flavio Briatore has rubbished speculation he is eyeing a return to formula one management.

Recent rumours have linked the flamboyant former Renault boss, banned from F1 because of the 2009 ‘crashgate’ scandal, with a leading role at Ferrari.

But the Italian told Germany’s Auto Bild Motorsport: “I do not intend to return to formula one as a team manager.

“Italy is the land of rumours,” said the 61-year-old millionaire. “That’s why I am always brought back in connection with Ferrari, but it’s nonsense.”

In the same interview, Briatore rubbished suggestions Sebastian Vettel might be an ideal next teammate at the Maranello based team for Fernando Alonso.

“I would never want them together,” insisted Briatore, who is still involved in the management of Spaniard Alonso’s career. “It would weaken the team by splitting it into two parts.”

Briatore admitted that he has been impressed with German Vettel, 24, in 2011.

“He is super strong with the right attitude and reminds me of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso in that once they had their first title in the bag they then got stronger and more confident.”

On the topic of Schumacher, Briatore continued: “I’d rather reminisce about the Michael of Benetton and Ferrari. Now, he has been out for too long and is fighting to be among the top ten.

“That’s something I find quite sad,” he added.

Fernando Alonso has defended Sebastian Vettel amid reports the reigning world champion is “not a real racer”.

As the Red Bull driver runs away with his second consecutive title in 2011, former grand prix winner David Coulthard observed in his latest Telegraph column that doubts remain about the 24-year-old German’s quality.

“He (Vettel) continues to sweep all before him, and yet there are still those who question Seb’s driving,” wrote the Scot. “As if he is simply fortunate to have found himself in a Red Bull. As if he is an average racing driver because he wins races from pole.”

Coulthard however thinks Vettel could go on to be F1′s “best driver ever”, and Alonso – Ferrari’s lead driver and also a two-time champion – also rates the young German highly.

“I don’t understand the criticisms about him, that he is not a real racer,” Alonso told Germany’s Auto Bild Motorsport. “He is a great champion about to win his second title and has remarkable qualities; a lot of speed.

“Yes he has the best car that gets a good place on the grid, but you need to be able to get the most out of it at every race and Sebastian does that very well.

“Even in difficult moments or when he makes a mistake, he is always fighting for the win. It is proof of his great qualities,” added the Spaniard.

Alonso however also has great respect for Vettel’s team, including the famous designer of the Red Bull car, Adrian Newey.

“They have played to the regulations better than us and the others and this year they have a great car,” he said. “Adrian Newey is obviously the key person but behind him is a strong team.

“Ferrari attracts drivers but also technicians, so if Newey wants to come to us it would be a pleasure to drive his car,” smiled Alonso.

The 30-year-old, meanwhile, has indicated he will keep on signing Ferrari contracts at least until he has added a third world championship to his resume.

“It’s very important to me,” Alonso admitted.

“I will not stop my career until I am champion with Ferrari. If it doesn’t come by 2016 then I will stay in formula one until 2021 — for twenty years like Michael!”

Helmut Marko has kept firing amid the war of words between 2010 championship rivals Red Bull and Ferrari.

Marko recently likened Ferrari’s hiring of strategy boss Neil Martin as a move to poach Red Bull’s “spirit”, prompting Luca di Montezemolo’s retort that the Austrian team doesn’t “know how to behave as champions”.

“This was all blown up by a newspaper,” Red Bull consultant and driver programme manager Marko insisted, according to Auto Bild Motorsport.

The saga did, however, highlight the relationship between the two sides, with both Ferrari and Red Bull to use a Magneti Marelli KERS next year.

“We are both working with Magneti Marelli as the basis (of the system),” confirmed Marko, “but the real development will take place in the fine details.”

Another common ground between the two sides is sister team Toro Rosso’s Ferrari engine supply, but on this matter Marko poured fuel onto the fire.

“We stand to learn nothing from Toro Rosso’s customer engines, which – anyway – are not on the same level as the real Ferrari engines,” he said.

Toro Rosso will use Ferrari’s KERS system in 2011.

Help from Germany ensured that Korea’s new F1 circuit is able to host its inaugural grand prix this weekend.

That is the claim of Hermann Tilke, the architect of the circuit but retained only as an ‘advisor’ to the actual construction of the venue in Yeongam.

When it became clear that the Koreans were struggling to complete the facility, Tilke stepped in, reportedly providing workers and machinery, primarily to get the track surface in racing condition.

“In the end we sent workers over from Germany, otherwise it probably wouldn’t have worked,” he is quoted by Auto Bild Motorsport.

Tilke insists that fears the track surface will break up this weekend are unfounded.

“We have used a special formula — one that dries quickly and is ready immediately,” said the German, who said the only problem encountered by the drivers will be low levels of initial grip due to the bitumen sitting above the asphalt.

But Tilke admitted that, earlier, he did have “some doubts” that the circuit would be ready, according to France’s L’Equipe.

“It was necessary to analyse the problems and find solutions,” he said.  “We (Tilke GmbH) helped, but the construction companies in Korea worked hard.

“Overall, everything should be fine, but there might be some shortcomings here and there.”

Indeed, on Thursday as the F1 paddock filled up, many of the sport’s travellers moaned about plumbing and late media shuttles to the circuit, whilst highlighting the circuit’s imperfections.

“F1 has raced in a parking lot in Las Vegas, a desert in Bahrain and a swamp in Shanghai.

“But never on a building site in the middle of nowhere,” said Bild newspaper, as 1500 Korean soldiers hurriedly screwed in seats in the grandstands whilst workers painted dirt track verges green.

“We can hardly expect to be perfect from the outset,” said an event spokesman.

The good news is that organisers are expecting a healthy crowd – perhaps 90,000 on Sunday – for the track action, although it is understood this number of tickets has not yet been sold.

“We don’t expect too much on our first attempt at this event,” acknowledged the spokesman.  “We hope interest in F1 (in Korea) will increase after this.”

Martin Whitmarsh insists it would be a strange coincidence if Red Bull’s weakened dominance is not connected with the flexible bodywork saga.

Just two months ago in Hungary, the RB6 was utterly dominant, but at the subsequent Belgian, Italian and Singaporean rounds, it was Red Bull’s rivals that took the chequered flag first.

Lewis Hamilton said last week that Adrian Newey’s car was slowed by the FIA’s more stringent front wing and floor flexibility tests — a claim denied by Red Bull.

“It (the end of Red Bull’s dominance) may be a coincidence, but that would be quite strange,” McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh told Germany’s Auto Bild Motorsport.

He said that while the wings on the Red Bull and also the Ferrari cars were visibly bending, those two teams “had some very strong races while we were at a loss”.

Whitmarsh confirmed he was involved in the push to clamp down on the visible flexibility of Red Bull’s car.

“I asked (the FIA) whether we could design wing endplates that touch the ground, and the clear answer was no.

“So if we can’t do it, then the others can’t as well, because endplates that are 20 to 30 millimetres lower to the track equates to about one second per lap,” insisted the Briton.

He thinks that, without the latest flexible bodywork saga, McLaren’s championship situation might be very different with just four races now to run.

“Maybe we weren’t clever or bold enough,” said Whitmarsh.  “But if a system is not legal, then nobody should be allowed to use it.”

Mark Webber is not ruling out his chances of a good result this weekend, despite the fact Monza is not expected to particularly suit Red Bull’s RB6.

After proving the most consistently competitive car of the season, Red Bull’s dominance waned slightly on the long straights of Spa-Francorchamps, where Australian Webber finished second and lost his championship lead to Lewis Hamilton.

And with the team’s Renault engine set to struggle even more at ultra high-speed Monza, boss Christian Horner has predicted a “tough weekend” for Red Bull.

But Webber, 34, said: “I think we can do well again at Monza, although we might have a bit of competition.

“In addition to Ferrari and McLaren, Renault and Force India could be among the contenders for the top positions,” he is quoted by Spanish language EFE news agency.

German commentator and former grand prix driver Christian Danner told Auto Bild Motorsport that he expects Monza to be “(Lewis) Hamilton country” this weekend.

“Then comes Red Bull and Webber-country,” added Danner, referring to the bulk of the remaining five races after Monza.

But Webber achieved pole position two weeks ago at Spa, defying predictions that the RB6 does not have enough engine power for the highest speed circuits.

“We have the same engine as (Renault’s) Robert (Kubica) and he was very competitive (in Belgium),” the Australian said.

“We’re looking forward to Monza to see how we might go around there,” he added.

Timo Glock has admitted he is keeping his “eyes open” as the 2011 driver market unfolds.

The German revealed earlier this year that he opted to switch to Virgin even though Renault and Sauber were also options.

Glock, 27, said that at the time he made his choice, the futures of the aforementioned teams looked much dicier than Virgin’s, the struggling new British team.

“I’m keeping my eyes open,” he is quoted by Auto Bild Motorsport, in a report that also said Force India was an option for the former Toyota driver.

Glock admits life at the back of the grid has been “hard”.

“You can’t think to yourself, ‘oh, I could be sitting in that car now!’  The situation is what it is and you have to make the most of it, otherwise you can’t perform to your best.

“So I try to ignore the other 18 cars.  For me it’s a world championship with Lotus, and simply that is how I motivate myself,” he explained.

(GMM)

Mark Webber has admitted he might not be “hungry enough” to extend his career beyond 2011.

The Australian has signed on with Red Bull for another season, with some suggesting the short contract extension is a sign of slight tension between him and the Austrian-owned team.

But Webber, 33, insists he only wanted to commit for one more year.

“I am taking each year as it comes now,” he is quoted by Auto Bild Motorsport.

“In two years, perhaps I will not be hungry enough anymore,” said Webber.  “But that doesn’t mean I’ll end my career in 2011.

“If you had asked me in 2005 if I would still be in formula one in 2011, I would have said ‘no way!’

“People think I’m under pressure because I have to fight each year for a contract, but that’s not right.”

Webber admitted a future move from Red Bull to another team is “rather unlikely”.

He also confessed he is not sure why he is so competitive at the wheel of the RB6, having won two races and is still within sight of the championship lead despite his frightening Valencia crash.

“Why?  No idea,” said Webber, when asked about his consistency and speed in 2010.

“One thing; in 2009 I was not a big fan of qualifying with full tanks, while this year I’m back in my element with the light cars in Q3,” added Webber, who on early Friday morning stunned onlookers by completing a F1 pitstop in front of London’s Houses of Parliament.

(GMM)

Jun.18 (GMM)  Red Bull is bidding to return to dominance on the streets of Valencia next weekend by using an F-duct system.

With Red Bull earlier looking set to walk the 2010 title, McLaren crept onto the pace in Turkey and then leapt to the top of the championships with one-two victory in Canada last weekend.

Red Bull used its initial version of McLaren’s downforce-stalling F-duct concept in practice for the Turkish grand prix, but then decided to develop it further rather than take it to Canada.

Valencia, like the long straights and slow corners of Montreal, is another circuit that is expected to play into the hands of McLaren and the British team’s original F-duct.

Vettel was the highest placed Red Bull in Canada with just fourth place, but on Friday he said the North American round is now in the past so that the team can “fully concentrate” on Valencia.

“There, with the F-duct system we are getting an important part on the car,” he told Germany’s Auto Bild Motorsport.

“Our technical chief Adrian Newey did not come to Canada in order to put the finishing touches on the new system at the factory,” added the 22-year-old German.

Robert Kubica and Montreal – that’s a Hochschaubahn: 2007 pilot of the accident, the then BMW Sauber F1 Team at the hairpin difficult, but escaped miraculously with minor injuries. A year later he led a complete surprise double victory of his team ahead of Nick Heidfeld – it was the only win for the Bavarians in the premier class. Last year there was no race in Montreal – Kubica this year but returns to the Ile de Notre Dame. “The Grand Prix of Canada is something like my destiny race,” says the poles ‘Auto Bild motorsport’.

And so he feels: This year a sensation in the air – “with little luck.” Because: “The course our car will be. It’s fast on the straights and is as wonderfully out of slow corners. It is these properties are required in Montreal.” The strength in tight corners is based on the small wheel base of the Renault R30 – no current Formula 1 racing car can compete in this discipline with Kubica’s car. It showed the team had in Monaco, where the 25-year-old is the sharpest of the superior competitor Red Bull pilot was.

And although the Renault engine has a power deficit, Kubica and Vitaly Petrov scores are in the top speed is always at the front – reason is the low air resistance of the R30. Moreover, the French have for the Grand Prix of Canada, a secret weapon in the quiver: the first time is given to an in-house interpretation of the F-shaft system, which turned out on the long straights of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as a great advantage. Now the only question is whether the system works right away, or if you have it like Red Bull in Turkey to expand after the first test.

That will leave Robert Kubica after just one season, the team Renault is unlikely. After Felipe Massa contract extension with Ferrari in Maranello in 2012 the door is closed. Even if the pole for 2011 is not linked to Renault, there are few other enticing options. This Renault boss Eric Boullier had managed to retain its number-one pilots in 2011 and to his team. The Luxembourg wants to build the Renault racing team to head the Polish pilots around.

(MotorSportsTotal)