Jaime Alguersuari has admitted he is hoping the grey weather at the Nurburgring so far stays around until Sunday.

“We’re expecting a wet race,” the Toro Rosso driver told El Mundo Deportivo newspaper.

“We have more to gain than to lose if it is (wet),” Spaniard Alguersuari, 21, added.

“If you can’t activate the DRS system (on a wet track) that benefits us more than the others. But points are possible in the wet or in the dry.”

Williams abandoned a straightline aerodynamic test this week due to bad weather. The British team’s Finnish test driver Valtteri Bottas and the FW33 were ready to roll at the Kemble airfield when the British skies opened, according to Turun Sanomat newspaper. “With direct tests so limited, we don’t want to waste our days in the rain,” said Bottas, 21. “As soon as you put a wheel on the track, you have one test date less. So I didn’t drive,” he explained. “I went there (to Kemble) and I came back.”

A third grand prix on the trot looks set to be disrupted by rain.

Bad weather affected the consecutive Japanese and Korean events recently, and rain is already disturbing the teams as they set up early this week at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil.

F1′s first sign of rain came at the weekend, when a golf tournament contested by Rubens Barrichello in Sao Carlos – a city of the Sao Paulo state – was cut short due to heavy rain.

And as the big teams including Ferrari set up at Interlagos on Monday, workers took cover inside the pit garages when a rain storm struck.

For the weekend, the initial forecasts predict possible showers across Friday and Saturday, with a reduced chance of rain for Sunday.

Last year’s Brazilian grand prix, held in mid October, was badly affected by rain, with delays protracting qualifying to an excruciating 160 minutes.

“There’s always a chance of rain,” said local Barrichello this week.

After Sunday’s condensed action in Japan, the idea of reducing a grand prix weekend to just two days is back on the agenda.

It is believed the proposal is once again being discussed by team bosses, after Sebastian Vettel earned pole position just hours before winning the Suzuka race.

Qualifying in Japan had to be rescheduled due to Saturday’s torrential rain, highlighting the sport’s ability to cope with all its practice and qualifying sessions without needing a full three-day schedule as at present.

“From the team’s perspective it is quite intense, a lot of adrenaline, a lot of pressure,” said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali when asked whether a two-day schedule makes more sense for today’s F1.

“And then if you have a problem with the car or a crash, then it is very difficult to make sure that you are able to start the race.

“(But) it would be interesting how you (the media) and the public will think about it,” he added.

Red Bull’s Christian Horner also commented on the concept of a two-day weekend.

“I think the format worked well in two days (in Japan) because of the bad weather,” he is quoted by France’s L’Equipe.  “What we could possibly do is condense what happens on a Friday.

“Personally, I would prefer to keep qualifying on a Saturday and the racing on Sunday, but there are certainly things we could do with Friday.

“One example would be with the young drivers.  (And) everybody arriving at the circuit on a Wednesday makes no sense.

“We need to discuss it with the FIA and FOM,” added Horner.

It has been a glum day in Singapore, where in the city’s Marina Bay area the fifteenth round of the 2010 world championship will be held this weekend.

The paddock of the street circuit is currently wet, and there have been black clouds overhead, amid reports bad weather is forecast for most days of the grand prix event.

That will be a concern for the teams and drivers, who are worried that rain could produce reflections from puddles and glimmering water droplets under the bright trackside lights.

“I think rain would be really challenging,” said Nico Rosberg, who arrived in Singapore at the weekend.

But the majority of Singapore’s rain at this time of year is reportedly falling during daylight hours, while the track action is scheduled either in the evening or after sunset to suit the bulk European television audience.

Another concern is the city’s high humidity conditions.

“Even though the race is at night it’s still very humid, which makes it difficult for the drivers to stay cool,” explains Formula Medicine doctor Riccardo Ceccarelli.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Jason Cho was asked if – mere days ahead of the crucial inspection by the governing FIA – he is feeling stressed.

“Just look at my face,” he smiled.

Organisers KAVO had already been given an inspection deadline extension from July to September 21, and the latest rumour is that the FIA has granted yet another extension to 28 September.

That is just over three weeks before the inaugural race on October 24.

“It will be ready, it’s a must,” said Cho. “If we don’t finish then we don’t have an event so it will be done in ten days.”

Officials say the delays have been caused by bad weather, and KAVO’s deputy marketing manager peter Baek is also confident the track can be completed in time.

“Europeans have a set schedule and want to keep to the schedule as actively as possible but Koreans always get things done,” he said.

The reason for the delay of inaugural races at Korea’s new formula one circuit has become clear.

Late August at the new venue was originally scheduled to host the Asian Festival of Speed, with Asian GT and junior single seaters on the bill.

That event has now been rescheduled for late September, with the stated reason for the delay being construction holdups “caused by bad weather”.

The grand prix organisers said the 5.62 kilometre circuit will now open officially on September 5, with the F1 race still scheduled for late October.

The September opening is the end of next week, but photographs doing the rounds in the Spanish press indicate that it might be an ambitious target.

A photograph published by the sports newspaper AS’s website purportedly depicts the circuit one week ago.

The track surface is not asphalted, nor delineated with barriers or fences and some structures are apparently only in the formative stages of construction.

Korea’s new formula one circuit is scheduled to host its first motor races at the end of next month.

The scheduling is the latest rebuttal to constant rumours that the track in South Jeolla province will not be ready for its inaugural grand prix in late October.

The Asian Festival of Speed, with Asian GT and junior single seaters on the bill, was originally set to take place at the South Korean venue at the end of this month.

Event organisers said in a statement that the rescheduling was due to construction delays “caused by bad weather”.

“This delay has caused many rumours about whether the event will ever take place,” said Motorsport Asia’s chief executive David Sonenscher.

“I have personally visited the site several times and I feel very sorry for them that despite all their hard work, they missed the deadline by only a couple of weeks.

“I can assure you that it was not through lack of effort or commitment,” he added.

The grand prix organisers said the 5.62 kilometre circuit will open officially on September 5.

A warm weekend of weather might be expected at Silverstone for the forthcoming British grand prix.

The weather has been nice in England so far this week, with the mid-twenties temperatures forecast to persist through to the formula one event on July 9-11.

But there has also been some cloud in the skies, and more possibilities of light rain are predicted for next weekend and an event that is so often blighted by bad weather.

“I’m sure when we go racing the clouds will come in like every year, and it will start to rain,” laughed German driver Adrian Sutil, who drives for the locally-based Force India.

Briton Lewis Hamilton won his home race in 2008 but last year, like the rest of the field, was annihilated by the dominant Red Bulls.

And despite leading the world championship, the 25-year-old is expecting Red Bull to again lead from the front.

Hamilton, whose British countryman Jenson Button also drives for the British team McLaren, said: “It’s going to be tough.  We can’t go into it thinking we’re the favourites because the Red Bull, as it stands, is definitely the fastest car.”

In the hours before Thursday practice, there is no sign of rain that is still forecast to fall this weekend in Monaco.

Sunshine has been bouncing off the buildings all morning in the Principality, underneath clear blue skies, amid reports that grey cloud-cover could be set to move overhead in the afternoon.

But some teams on Thursday morning are saying that, despite rain earlier this week and continuing reports of bad weather this weekend, round six of the world championship will in fact be a dry one.

(GMM)

A week of bad weather could lead into a wet 2010 Monaco grand prix.

Weather forecasts said rain in the Principality is expected to persist intermittently throughout the entire race weekend.

Lewis Hamilton said on Monday that McLaren’s forecast is also for “extremely unpredictable” weather and likely “heavy rain”.

The 2008 world champion is also quoted widely as worrying about the effect slow backmarkers will have this weekend on the twisty Armco-barrier lined circuit.

One calculation has shown that if the entire field was evenly spread around the famous street layout, there would be less than 140 metres between each car.

“Even if it doesn’t rain on the Sunday, the possibility of heavily disrupted practice and qualifying sessions means that we’ll probably go into the race with a chance of one of the most exciting and unpredictable Monaco grands prix for many years,” said Hamilton.

(GMM)

(GMM)  Bad weather on Tuesday prevented Jean Todt from visiting the headquarters of hopeful 2011 formula one team Epsilon Euskadi.

The FIA president was in Spain for meetings with government and motor racing officials, and had been due to fly to Azkoitia in the Basque Country to inspect the team’s facilities after it expressed interest in racing next year.

But local reports said strong winds at Madrid’s Torrejon de Ardoz airport halted the flight, and the Frenchman’s itinerary was too tight for a rescheduling.

However, Spain’s Diario Sport newspaper insists that Todt already supports Epsilon Euskadi’s F1 project, after many years of knowing its principal and F1 veteran Joan Villadelprat.

“Todt knows very well that Epsilon has first class facilities,” read the report.

The newspaper added that Todt will attempt to inspect the facility at a later date.

“First of all I want to thank Mr Todt and Mr (Carlos) Gracia … for their interest and their willingness to organise this visit and the efforts until the last minute that the meeting take place,” said Villadelprat.

“It was important to present the project to the president of the FIA, both as regards to the possibility of entering formula one and for other projects in the automotive field we are working on,” he added.

Under a sunshine that the ‘scuderias’ in the racetrack were thankful for, the second session of unveiling began in the Jerez circuit.  With the absence of Virgin Racing in the tracks, because there were no spare parts to repair the single-seater, most of the pilots ran for long periods of time.

Today restarted the work that could not be done yesterday due to bad weather.  The teams have collected more data and have been playing the cat and the mouse.  Buemi’s Toro Rosso stopped the chronometer at 1:20.026, getting the best time of the day.

Many tests and many data, would be the balance of the day, where the expected Valencia time duel did not happen.  The media were left with the feeling that the duo reserved for later on.  However, tomorrow if the climate allows it, there will be new unveiling with other pilots.

Time classification

1. Sebastian Buemi (Toro Rosso) 1:20.026 (121 laps)
2. Jenson Button (McLaren) 1:20.618 (83)
3. Nico Hulkenberg (Williams) 1:21.565 (67)
4. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) 1:20.754 (80)
5. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) 1:21.083 (122)
6. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) 1:21.377 (100)
7. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 1:21.424 (129)
8. Robert Kubica (Renault) 1:22.003 (101)
9. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1:22.043 (29)
10. Timo Glock (Virgin) 1:29.964 (11)

The Pons Racing ‘Scuderia’ has been testing the new Moto2 Kalex in the Comunidad Valenciana ‘Ricardo Tormo‘ circuit.

Rain has prevented the Moto2 teams located in Valencia to carry out three days of training.  The first day at Cheste was awful because they could not turn.  However, yesterday, when everybody expected the weather to improve, it happened again, the rain demanded a change of plans.

Sito Pons, declared that in spite of the bad weather conditions, “it has been possible to advance quite a lot.”  With regards to the motorcycle’s development, “the essential goal of these trainings:. “I think we have a good base for the next test that we’ll have in Montmeló,” he assured.

In the official Ferrari’s Web Site we have been able to see the presentation of the new 2010 F281 Ferrari. The grip of the front aileron is very high, resembling last year’s Red Bull, so Ferrari has opted for lengthening the engine’s air intake down to the back aileron.

Ferrari placed Fernando Alonso at the front of the presentation and the pilot from Asturias had some words for the ‘tifosi’: “I hope that all the ‘tifosi’ are again proud to be Ferrari’s fans and that it’s a winning team again,” he said, looking content and very happy, and as he made complicity gestures to the single-seated.

Luca Di Montezemolo, Ferrari Chairman, likewise pronounced some words and said it’s time to leave the past behind and looking forward to the closure of cycles (Schumacher) and opening of new ones (Alonso), ” [..] wishing to be at the height marked by our experience with Alonso and Massa,” he declared.

The bad weather has prevented the F10 from giving its first laps; Maranello

is snowcapped. There’s nothing to do but to wait until next week