Jaime Alguersuari has told Spanish publications he is “absolute certain” he will be on the 2013 grid.

“This is the best year of my life,” he told Mundo Deportivo, referring to 2012, the year after his young F1 career stalled when he was dropped by backer Red Bull.

“I’m only 22,” said Spaniard Alguersuari, who is now Pirelli’s main test driver and a co-commentator for British radio. “I’m in the prime of my life.

“It is increasingly clear that what happened with Toro Rosso was not a sporting decision. It was an internal decision and I don’t want to go deeper.”

He sounded confident about the future.

“It is 100 per cent that I will return in 2013. After being with Pirelli I will have very important knowledge. I knew that this transitionary step was necessary and I’m very happy,” said Alguersuari.

“If I had gone (to be test driver) with a team, with all due respect, I’d have no options now.

“I am developing a product (Pirelli) that nobody understands but that is vital for formula one — to know the tyres and to understand them. I’m in the right place,” he is quoted by La Vanguardia newspaper.

“I chose to be with Pirelli because I knew it would be the most important (element) in formula one.

“I know where I am and I know where I’ll be next year,” he insisted.

Carlos Sainz jr is on course for a future in formula one.

The 17-year-old Spaniard is the son of Carlos Sainz, the former two-time world rally champion.

Sainz jr, however, has pursued a career in open wheelers, and – now that Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne have stepped up – he is the new cream of energy drink Red Bull’s junior driver programme.

And another direct link to the world of formula one for Sainz jr is his new sponsorship deal with Cepsa, the Spanish oil company that is also Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso’s main backer.

Sainz jr’s new Cepsa deal is for his participation this year in the British and Euroseries F3 categories, but “Our intention is to continue (beyond 2012),” Cepsa co-chairman Santiago Bergareche is quoted by Marca newspaper.

“Hopefully everything goes well and Carlos will be in that world (F1) one day,” added Cepsa chairman Alfonso Escamez.

He said the deal does not guarantee Sainz jr a future in f1.

“The sponsors have no say on the teams of the drivers. We can try to influence, to give our opinion, but we are not (able to decide) on that side.

“We hope that it does happen, but it will not necessarily.”

Sauber’s ‘teaser’ has done the trick, triggering paddock speculation about its forthcoming major backer.

Last weekend in China, off the back of Sergio Perez’s recent push for victory at Sepang, the small Swiss team ran mysterious ‘Out of the blue’ signage on the C31′s engine cover.

The Blick newspaper said it was a “teaser” for a “big sponsor” that will be “announced in a few weeks”.

So who is it?

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport relayed paddock rumours hinting that the deal could be with AT-T, the American multinational who last year pulled its title sponsorship of the then-struggling Williams team.

Another paddock whisper is that Sauber’s new deal could be with the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, to promote his English premier league club Chelsea.

 Williams will not rush into signing a new title sponsor, chairman Adam Parr insists.
The famous British team performed woefully in 2011 and lost its naming backer ATT, yet recently revealed improved turnover and profits.

And Parr told Reuters the Grove based team has more than $45 million in the bank.

“I am very satisfied with what we have done overall with the business,” he said.

“We don’t have a title sponsor at the moment and obviously that’s an important initiative for us. But it’s something that you have to get right because your title sponsor is the most visible of your partners,” Parr explained.

“In many ways, it sets the character of the team. You want a title partner who is very active in the way they promote and activate the partnership.

“This is not something we are going to rush into, this is something we want to get right.”

For the moment, Williams’ main source of income appears to be the controversial deal with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA, including Pastor Maldonado as driver.

“PDVSA is an important partner of the team in financial and other respects but it is by no means the only one,” insisted Parr.

Even amid the latest speed-bump, organisers insist they are still on schedule to host Austin’s inaugural US grand prix late this year.
Circuit of the Americas backer Bobby Epstein is being sued by race founder Tavo Hellmund, but he did not want to talk about it whilst giving the Culturemap Austin publication a tour of the construction site.

“I’m not going to do that,” he said.

What he was willing to do was insist that the circuit is pretty much “on schedule” for its mid November grand prix date.

“It’s not so much a question of whether the construction will be complete,” said Epstein. “It’s really a matter of deciding whether to add another shift of workers and get onto a 24 hour schedule.

“We’ll need to do that if we get a lot of rain. If it stays dry, we’ll be fine.”

In an official statement, Circuit of the Americas added: “Our focus remains positive.

“We are creating the most incredible entertainment and racing venue in the world, construction is on schedule and seat license and suite sales are very strong.”

 2012 US grand prix founder Tavo Hellmund is suing the Austin event’s backers.
The latest speed-bump in the Circuit of the Americas project is Hellmund’s lawsuit against Bobby Epstein and Red McCombs, claiming he would have made $500,000 per year as chairman for the next decade.

Hellmund also wants “access to the … books” and “declaration that he cannot be removed as a manager”, the lawsuit claims according to the local Austin American Statesman.

Hellmund did not immediately comment, while Epstein said the former promoter no longer works on the project.

“This is just a latest step in a pattern of behaviour,” said the Circuit of the Americas in a statement.

“Mr Hellmund uses negative press to try and create an advantage for himself at every turn.”

Sergio Perez’s backer has admitted a move for the Mexican driver to Ferrari is not out of the question for 2013.
Already a part of Ferrari’s driver programme, Perez is also strongly backed by Telmex, the telcom headed by the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim.

Slim’s son, Carlos Slim Domit, controls Telmex’s formula one programme, which is currently in the form of sponsorship of the Ferrari-powered Sauber team.

But Perez, 22, is tipped to replace Felipe Massa at Ferrari next year.

“His most important challenge is this season,” Slim Domit told Spain’s AS sports newspaper.

“A good championship in 2012 can put him into the frame with the best teams, but a bad year would have the opposite effect,” he admitted.

“It is true that there is a relationship with Ferrari on two levels — with them being the engine supplier of Sauber and the other because he (Perez) is in their young (driver) programme.

“It’s a tough sport where results matter and, as such, the future will be clearer,” added Slim.

He was also asked if Telmex has considered buying a F1 team, amid reports recently that the Slim family is interested in struggling HRT.

“I don’t know,” answered slim. “In our case, being not directly involved allows us to select the team we work with and we do not change our strategy.”

Dani Clos insists he is delighted with his new role as HRT tester, despite some seeing him as little more than a ‘pay driver’.
A reporter for Spain’s Diario AS newspaper admitted to the 23-year-old from Barcelona that when he read the news about his Clos’ new role, he surmised that the driver must have some lucrative backers.

“That’s definitely not why I’m here,” Clos insisted.

He admitted however that he is also “looking at some options” to split his time between HRT and another race series this season.

“There are offers but I’m happy with HRT. Some people would give their right arm to be here.”

Clos conceded, however, that if he had lots more money to spend on formula one, he might have been appointed as Pedro de la Rosa’s teammate in the place of Narain Karthikeyan.

“It’s obvious that if you contribute more then you have more options,” he said, “but for me this is my place now, and where I have to be right now.”

He revealed that the role will include running on Friday mornings at grands prix, rather than the symbolic role played by many ‘test drivers’ nowadays.

“Yes, yes, I’ll do Fridays,” said Clos. “I will not be one of those who are there just to be there.”

He also denied that his new deal could fall apart the way countryman Andy Soucek’s did at Virgin in 2010, when the Spaniard was promised track time that never materialised.

“I have no fear in that regard,” insisted Clos. “I trust the team.”

A month before the first Indian grand prix, F1′s complete driver lineup for the Delhi race is not yet clear.
At HRT, Narain Karthikeyan’s sponsors have paid to put the Indian back in a race car for the country’s inaugural F1 event, but who his teammate will be is not publicly known.

Karthikeyan began 2011 alongside Vitantonio Liuzzi, whose manager said recently the Italian has a solid contract for every grand prix this season.

In the other car now is Daniel Ricciardo, thanks to a collaboration deal between the struggling Spanish team and the Australian rookie’s backer Red Bull.

The 22-year-old will be in Delhi this weekend to demonstrate a Red Bull F1 car.

He confirmed to the Times of India that he will be returning in late October “for the race”.

“I will probably spend some time in the city and have a look around and then get down to business,” said Ricciardo.

HRT has been contacted for comment.

At Team Lotus, meanwhile, rumours are still swirling that team regular Jarno Trulli will sit it out so that India’s other F1 driver can race in Delhi.

“Hopefully when the time comes I will be sitting on the grid waiting for the lights to go green,” reserve driver Karun Chandhok told the Daily Pioneer on a visit to the Buddh circuit this week.

The names Adrian Sutil and Nico Hulkenberg are suddenly being linked with the F1 seat currently occupied by Rubens Barrichello.

With Williams happy with Pastor Maldonado and his links with important Venezuelan backer PDVSA, the Grove based team at present is refusing to say the 39-year-old veteran Barrichello will surely stay beyond 2011.

Increasingly, the Brazilian’s rhetoric is sounding impatient, and Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports he is calling a halt to the practice of using his car as a test mule for struggling Williams’ technical experiments.

“Never have I wanted to be a test driver,” he is quoted as saying.

The report said Barrichello, with a conventional setup, was finally back to his dominant self in comparison to Maldonado in Hungary.

But at the same time, rumours swirled in the paddock that Germans Sutil – the current Force India driver – and 2010 Williams rookie Hulkenberg are in the running to replace Barrichello next year.

And Barrichello, the most experienced driver in F1 history, sounds frustrated.

“Our car cooks the rear tyres,” he said. “The driveability of the engine is bad and in slippery conditions it’s even worse. No matter what we do, we can’t make the tyre problem go away.

“We are bringing too many new parts to the car and only confusing ourselves,” he added.

A consortium planning to bid for ownership of formula one has reportedly gained a powerful backer.
News Corp and the Fiat shareholder Exor had already confirmed they are considering making an offer to buy the multi-billion dollar commercial rights from CVC.

It was rumoured that others are considering joining the consortium, such as the major F1 teams whose shareholders are preparing to meet with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp in Stuttgart this weekend.

And the partly News-owned Sky News now reports that Raine Group is set to invest in the F1 buyout consortium.

Raine is a New York-based boutique merchant banking firm with $500 million to spend on media, sports and entertainment acquisitions, the Financial Times reported last month.

FT also reported that among Raine’s big financiers are former Google chief Eric Schmidt and former Facebook president Sean Parker, whilst heading the fund is former Goldman Sachs partner Joe Ravitch.

News Corp and Raine did not comment, but FIA president Jean Todt pointed out in Turkey last weekend that he has the power to veto any proposed buyout.

“It’s strange I must say for someone to want to buy something when it is not for sale,” said the Frenchman.

Bernie Ecclestone agreed: “Somebody might say that they want to do it, but that doesn’t mean the owner wants to sell. And CVC have made it very clear that they don’t want to sell.”

Narain Karthikeyan is confident he can get back up to speed in formula one within a few races of his 2011 return.

The Indian’s highly rated teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi was significantly faster in the limited testing he has done with the HRT team, but 34-year-old Karthikeyan has not raced in F1 since his debut season in 2005.

“I did two days in the rain and it went very well,” he is quoted as saying by Dutch website formule1.nl.

“On a dry track there is still a bit of searching for the limit, but in my new teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi, I have a good reference,” added Karthikeyan, whose backer Tata is one of HRT’s only sponsors.

“My first impression is that our driving styles are quite similar,” he continued, “and that can only be an advantage. Give me a few races and I have no doubt that I will find the limit.”

Karthikeyan also insisted that he is not too worried about travelling to Australia without having driven the new F111 car.

“Many smart people have designed it and I hope it’s good enough to be the best of the three new teams,” he said.

Karun Chandhok claims he has turned down the chance to return to the F1 grid in 2011 with the HRT team.
With his Indian countryman Narain Karthikeyan in one seat, there is still a vacancy with the Spanish team but 2010 rookie Chandhok told the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) that he “turned it down”.

“I had the offer from them but I turned it down because it would not have served my purpose in the long run,” he said on Friday.

“Racing for the team in the first year made sense, but now I am looking at a team that could fetch me points,” added Chandhok.

He said he is now focused on racing for one of “two teams” but doesn’t want to say more until a deal is finalised “in a couple of weeks”.

Karthikeyan’s signing is regarded as being based on his sponsorship, as upon announcing the news the 33-year-old thanked his long-time backer Tata.

But team boss Colin Kolles told Reuters a deal is not done yet.

“Of course we would like to have Tata as a partner, we would like to have more companies from India as a partner,” he said.

However, Kolles did not deny that Karthikeyan is bringing money to the seat but said that is widespread in F1.

“What is Sauber doing with Mr Perez? Williams with Mr Maldonado? Do you think we are running on air? The money has to come from somewhere,” he insisted.

Kolles confirmed that HRT’s new car will not be ready for the first test at Valencia and suggested it might also be missing at Jerez shortly afterwards.

“Maybe we will have the new one for the last two tests,” he said.

Organisers of a United States grand prix risk penalties if the race does not go ahead in 2012.

That is the warning of F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who more than a month ago announced a 10-year contract for a race in Austin, Texas.

The contract, with promoter Tavo Hellmund’s company, involves the construction of a purpose-built circuit.

But given a lack of details so far, and the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s failure to make the US GP a success, some pundits are sceptical about Austin’s bid.

For example, the source of the bulk of the funding is a mystery, with Ecclestone revealing only to the Austin daily American-Statesman that the backers are from the US.

It has also been suggested that 2012 is an overly optimistic race debut date, but Briton Ecclestone insists it will take place then.

“That’s what the contract says,” he said.  “It might turn out to be expensive for Tavo.  We’ve got some penalty clauses, although I wouldn’t want to use them.”

Ecclestone said he is confident Hellmund’s project will succeed.

“Until he doesn’t (succeed), we won’t know,” said the 79-year-old.  “You might say I couldn’t run the 100 metres in seven seconds, but until I try, you don’t know.”

(GMM)

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has added weight to recent reports that an American team could soon be a reality in formula one.

In the wake of the USF1 debacle, scepticism accompanied the recent news about a US-based outfit called Cypher Group submitting a “letter of interest” about obtaining the last spot on the 2011 grid.

But a few days later, USF1 backer and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley’s aide Parris Mullins admitted to Autosport that “I would be lying if I said that I haven’t been exploring other ways of entry into this sport”.

“I am part of a project right now that is trying to enter the sport,” he added, admitting that he sees a customer car as a viable initial route.

And Montezemolo, who has been pushing hard for a rule change to allow three-car team entries, told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport: “I dream of a third Ferrari managed by an American team, with the stars and stripes flag.”
(GMM)