Boss Franz Tost as well as Jaime Alguersuari have denied that Toro Rosso’s new sponsorship deal has secured the future of the Spanish driver.
The fact that the logos of the Spanish oil company Cepsa have been added to the livery of the STR6 this weekend was interpreted by some as good news for Alguersuari.

The 21-year-old Spaniard, as well as his Swiss teammate Sebastien Buemi, are under pressure by Toro Rosso’s owner Red Bull to prove they should not be replaced for 2012 by Daniel Ricciardo.

“It’s good that they (Cepsa) have come along, because the team needs the money,” Spanish media reports quote Alguersuari as saying at Monza.

“But I don’t think they have come for me, they have come for Toro Rosso because we are a young team with huge potential,” he insisted.

And Tost told The National newspaper: “Jaime’s future with the team is exactly the same as it was before Cepsa came on board.”

Alguersuari also told Spanish reporters that Toro Rosso’s 2012 car has been in the wind tunnel now for “about a month and a half”.

Meanwhile, he said he quickly got over the Belgian grand prix two weeks ago, when Bruno Senna took him out at the first corner.

“I don’t stay angry for long,” said Alguersuari. “Bruno sent me a message and apologised, which I accept. We can all make mistakes, even big ones like that.

“I hope I never make one that destroys the race of another.”

Lewis Hamilton thinks he was knocked unconscious after crashing out of the recent Belgian grand prix.

Cockpit replays of the incident, where the McLaren driver actually dented the Spa-Francorchamps barriers after clashing with Kamui Kobayashi, showed Hamilton completely motionless for 15 seconds in the wake of the impact.

The 2008 world champion admits it is possible he was knocked out.

“I don’t really remember much from hitting the wall,” the Daily Star newspaper quotes him as saying at Monza.

“It’s possible I was out for a couple of seconds, I’m not really sure.”

The crash was the latest incident in a series for Hamilton this year, and he told the BBC 2011 might go down as the “worst” in his F1 career so far.

“I have got to find my way, learn from any mistakes and try to smooth out the creases through these last seven races,” he is quoted as saying by the Guardian.

Hamilton, 26, said he has managed to avoid all the media speculation about his aggressive driving style since Spa.

“I don’t read them, but I hear there are pretty bad stories written about me, so I am thinking it will be good to give you guys something good to write about me,” he told reporters ahead of the Italian grand prix.

“I guess I’m an easy target at the moment because I’m always in trouble.”

Some of his rivals defended Hamilton on Thursday, including Sauber’s Kobayashi, who insisted F1 drivers “need to be aggressive”.

Agreed Mark Webber: “He’s not that aggressive, he’s ok. He’s just had a tough run in the last few races.”

Hamilton’s own McLaren teammate Jenson Button, however, admitted he doesn’t always agree with his countryman’s methods.

“I personally feel it’s better to talk to the team than talk though the media, but we are built differently,” he said.

Gerhard Berger has scolded Mercedes for apparently imposing team orders during last weekend’s Belgian grand prix.

Shortly before Michael Schumacher passed his teammate Nico Rosberg at Spa-Francorchamps, the younger German was told by the pitwall to conserve fuel.

Former grand prix winner Berger told Servus TV that the position switch was conceived deliberately to give Schumacher a grandstand finish on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his debut.

“It should have been a race and not a commercial shoot,” the Austrian groaned.

Team orders are legal in 2011 but Berger believes that “in the circumstances it is totally wrong for Mercedes to do such strategies”.

“They should be putting more thought into making a winning car,” he said.

Berger also commented on McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who was involved in two crashes last weekend at Spa.

“He is extremely aggressive and the best overtaker in the field, but at times he overdoes it.

“If he was sitting in the Red Bull, he would not have to take so many risks and so he would get into a lot less mischief,” he said.

Red Bull will travel to high speed Monza next week with less-than-expected levels of trepidation.

The championship leading team was expecting its Renault engines to suffer on the long straights of Spa-Francorchamps, but Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber – with blistering tyres – delivered a one-two finish instead.

Italian grand prix venue Monza, meanwhile, is an even higher speed venue, and without many of the kinds of corners seen in Spa’s sector two that suited Adrian Newey’s RB7.

“In the last two years it (Monza) has not been a good track for us, so we’ll see,” Briton Newey is quoted as saying by Autosprint after accepting the constructors’ trophy on the Belgian grand prix podium.

Runaway points leader Vettel is happier with the prospect of racing at Monza after winning last Sunday.

“The car felt so fantastic (at Spa) and the balance was fabulous so it (Monza) should be manageable,” said the German.

Team boss Christian Horner admitted the Belgian result was a surprise.

“In many respects it was, yes, because power is a dominant factor and we thought it would perhaps favour some of our opponents more,” he said.

The RB7 was wearing a noticeably thin rear wing profile at Spa and the bespoke item will return to the car next weekend.

“I think that if we want to get close to certain engines on the straight we have to run a bit less wing,” confirmed Horner.

Jenson Button is pushing McLaren to trigger the one-year option the British team has on his services for 2012. The Daily Telegraph said the 2009 world champion would be happy with that solution for now, with the 2012 option expiring next month, “rather than hurrying into” a new longer-term deal. “All Martin (Whitmarsh) has got to do is say ‘yes’ and I will say ‘yes’ because I want to be here next year,” the Briton, who on Monday was demonstrating the Woking based team’s single seater in Manchester, said. Team boss Whitmarsh said after Sunday’s Belgian grand prix that Button’s was a performance “that marks out a true champion”. It is possible that Button, 31, is happy to stay at McLaren in 2012 whilst leaving his options open for a change of teams – maybe Ferrari – in 2013. Putting the pressure on McLaren amid other teams’ interest next year could also mean Button can “cut down the number of PR days and sponsorship activities he must perform” beyond 2012, according to Telegraph correspondent Tom Cary. Button edged ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the 2011 points standings at Spa-Francorchamps. But he told the Mirror: “Neither of us will remember where we finish if we don’t win the championship.”

France on Sunday made another clear step towards returning to the formula one calendar.
The L’Equipe sports daily said race-day at Spa-Francorchamps was a “great day for French motor sport”, after Bernie Ecclestone apparently agreed to reinstate a French date on the 2013 calendar.

The report said the plan is for France, probably with a race at the Ecclestone-linked Paul Ricard circuit, to alternate a single annual date with Spa.

“We have a contract until 2013,” said Belgian grand prix organiser Etienne Davignon, “and we feel that there is a strong tendency at present for an alternation (in future).

“So we went to see who might be interested and we found a public interest group,” he added, referring to French prime minister Francois Fillon’s delegation.

Davignon said on French TF1 television that the plan is “with the knowledge of the authorities”, and that Bernie Ecclestone “has agreed”.

“It looks like a concrete proposal,” he added.

Sebastian Vettel returned to the top step of the podium and extended his championship lead on Sunday by winning the Belgian grand prix.
But the German was sporting an angry face before the Spa-Francorchamps race, after rival teams refused to allow the Red Bulls to change their qualifying tyres due to blistering.

Pirelli had reacted to the situation by rushing spare tyres to the fabled circuit, but ultimately the likes of McLaren and Ferrari – and FIA chief Charlie Whiting – made Vettel and the sister RB7 start on their damaged tyres.

“We had a lot of concerns,” Vettel said after extending his points lead to 92 points over his teammate Mark Webber. “We didn’t feel too comfortable and we both had to stop pretty early.”

The Red Bulls finished one-two ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.

“No wonder Ferrari and Mclaren objected to them wanting to change them (the tyres) before the race,” said BBC commentator Martin Brundle.

Bernie Ecclestone will be trackside on Sunday for the Belgian grand prix.

So far this weekend, the F1 chief executive has been in Rome where he has bankrolled his daughter Petra’s $2 million wedding, which took place on Saturday.

Ecclestone, 80, said the event has actually taken place over three days, but he intends to skip the final lunch instalment in deference to his commitments at Spa-Francorchamps.

“As I said to (new son-in-law) James (Stunt), I shall be there for the practice on Friday and the qualifying on Saturday,” he joked to the Express newspaper.

Nick Heidfeld will not be racing this weekend in Belgium and is unlikely to return to the Renault cockpit.
That was the claim on Monday of the German’s 2004 team boss Eddie Jordan, who is now an expert pundit for British television the BBC’s television coverage.

Earlier this week, the Irishman said he considered the recent criticism of 34-year-old Heidfeld’s performances this year by Renault bosses as “bullying”.

He wrote in a BBC column on Monday that Heidfeld “has been dropped by the Renault team in favour of Brazilian Bruno Senna for this weekend’s Belgian grand prix”.

Jordan said the move will save Renault money because reserve driver Senna, who is also “expected to race for Renault in the eight remaining races this season, has “several million pounds of sponsorship”.

27-year-old Senna raced most recently in the Abu Dhabi finale last year, at the end of his rookie season with the struggling Hispania team.

He has been Renault’s reserve driver in 2011, and in Hungary last month replaced Heidfeld in Friday morning practice.

As Mark Webber prepares to commit to Red Bull for 2012, team consultant Dr Helmut Marko has given the strongest sign yet that his successor will be another Australian.
Marko reinvigorated the speculation about Webber’s future in Hungary by saying that the 34-year-old is likely to retire after racing one more season.

“Mark Webber will continue with us for another year, and then he will decide what to do in his career,” the outspoken Austrian is quoted by Italian publications including Tuttosport and Corriere dello Sport.

Marko reportedly added that “Red Bull will decide who takes his place, although it is likely it will be (Daniel) Ricciardo”.

He is referring to the 22-year-old Australian who recently made his grand prix debut at HRT with Red Bull backing.

“I thank the guys at Red Bull for the nice words, but it’s still too early to talk about the future,” said Ricciardo.

“I hope there is a chance to race with them, but first I need to beat my teammate Liuzzi, who is a few tenths ahead of me.”

As for Webber’s 2012 deal, he said he is on the verge of making his decision.

“I’ll decide about my future at Spa,” said Webber, referring to the forthcoming Belgian grand prix.

Asked if it is his decision alone, Webber simply answered “yes”, adding that the only thing he is weighing up is “purely my own motivation for racing”.

And as for Ricciardo, Webber told Austria’s laola1: “I think he has a great future ahead of him.”

The immediate future of the Belgian grand prix seemed secure on Thursday.

It was announced that Shell, the Dutch global oil giant and Ferrari sponsor, has inked a “multi-year” deal to be the title sponsor of the popular Spa-Francorchamps race.

The historic event in the Belgian Ardennes was said to have been endangered for financial reasons.

“The formula one Shell Belgian grand prix is a cornerstone of the world championship calendar,” said Shell Retail executive vice president John Bullock.

Shell also recently renewed its long-standing partnership with Ferrari until 2015.

The opening sector of the Yeongam circuit in Korea looks set to be a headache for Red Bull this weekend.

Although grounded for most of the opening session on Friday with mechanics working at the rear of his car, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton still managed to top the timing sheet.

The fastest Red Bull was Sebastian Vettel’s, half a second behind and fourth, with the now extremely-efficient F-duct on Renault propelling Robert Kubica to the second best time.

The problem for Red Bull in the first sector is the ultra-long straight, with Ferrari also proving faster there.

“Sector one doesn’t look like our home ground,” agreed Vettel, “but I think sector two and sector three should give us a possibility to catch up.”

His teammate Mark Webber, recalling August’s Belgian grand prix where Hamilton won, added: “It was the same at Spa. We knew that we were going to be quite vulnerable up the hill there.”

Indeed, in Korea, the MP4-25 reached 316kph on the long straight, nearly 10kph faster than Red Bull’s RB6.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has admitted he is still interested in securing the services of Sebastian Vettel.

Whitmarsh was highly critical of the 23-year-old German recently, describing him as a “crash kid” after punting Jenson Button out of the Belgian grand prix.

“Under pressure this year, Sebastian is making just too many mistakes,” the Briton said in an interview with Sport Bild.

“Also his collision with Mark Webber in Turkey, for me, was 95 per cent his fault.”

But when looking around for a replacement for Fernando Alonso at the end of 2007, McLaren offered then Toro Rosso rookie Vettel a deal that was vetoed by contract holders Red Bull.

Whitmarsh confirmed: “I am open and honest enough to admit it.

“Sebastian is one of the great and promising talents, and we at McLaren wanted to have him.

“We were not able to sign him at that time,” the Briton confirmed.

Vettel is now signed up with Red Bull Racing until 2012.

“If he continues to develop so fantastically, then at the end of his contract I will try once again to get him,” revealed Whitmarsh.

Felipe Massa on Thursday said he overshot his starting box on the Spa grid two weeks ago due to a visibility problem.

The FIA is currently investigating how it did not notice the Brazilian driver’s Ferrari get a head-start in the Belgian grand prix.

“I think I am one of the drivers who sits lowest in the cockpit and the front of our car is quite high, so I definitely did not see the line on the grid very well, which is why I was a bit over it,” Massa said at Monza.

“To be honest I was lucky that this was not noticed during the race!”

The 2008 championship runner-up also revealed that Ferrari, like many other teams including McLaren, Renault and Red Bull, have not decided whether or not to use an F-duct rear wing this weekend.

“We will try it tomorrow and then decide which way to go for the rest of the weekend,” said Massa.

Sebastian Vettel is adamant he is still on course for the 2010 title, despite being roundly criticised for making too many mistakes.
 
Fellow contender Jenson Button has revealed that the 23-year-old German apologised after crashing him out of last Sunday’s Belgian grand prix.
 
“Seb called after the race to apologise, which was good, but it doesn’t give me my points back,” the McLaren driver told Talksport.
 
The pair are now more than 30 points off the championship lead, but Red Bull’s Vettel remains remarkably upbeat.
 
“I know how good we are — I will take the title,” he confidently predicted in the pages of Germany’s latest Auto Bild Motorsport.
 
“Someone who has the most pole positions must think that way. These 13 races have not run completely smoothly, but I’m only 31 points behind.
 
“Assuming we maintain our speed, we can catch up quickly,” added Vettel.
 
He said he is “honest enough” to acknowledge the mistakes he has made in 2010.
 
“In the end, it makes you a better driver,” insisted Vettel, but he admitted that he is not a good loser.
 
“Why should I be? If I could lose well, I should not be in the sport,” he said.
 
“But I’m also someone who can put things in the past and look ahead when the next morning comes.”