Lotus is the “biggest surprise” of the 2012 season so far, Red Bull’s team owner Dietrich Mateschitz has admitted.

In an interview with Austria’s Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper, the billionaire mogul was mildly critical of the “lottery” that is this year’s championship, with Pirelli’s unpredictable tyres setting the scene.

“That is going to continue,” Mateschitz said.

“Then it will gradually turn into a duel between McLaren and Red Bull Racing,” he predicted.

“Mercedes are still not able to keep doing in the race what they are doing in qualifying. So we are not convinced of their F-duct (double DRS) system and we won’t try to copy it.

“Ferrari needs to try the hardest to catch up. And Lotus are the big surprise for me,” he insisted.

Mark Webber appears headed for a new contract with Red Bull, after receiving a clear vote of confidence from the energy drink company’s chief.

Following speculation the 35-year-old Australian could be headed to Ferrari in 2013, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insisted Webber “is happy to be here, and we are happy to have him with us”.

And the Swiss newspaper Blick has revealed that team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, the billionaire mogul, is also happy with Webber.

“I hope that he keeps driving with us for a long time,” the 68-year-old is quoted as saying.

Rumours that a top English premier league football club is entering formula one as a sponsor have proved correct.

Ever since Sauber has been running teaser ‘Out of the blue’ and ‘True blue’ graphics on its engine cover livery in China and Bahrain, speculation about the identity of the forthcoming sponsor have been swirling in the F1 paddock.

We reported the rumour that the deal could be with the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, to promote his football club Chelsea.

Swiss F1 team Sauber confirmed the “new and innovative partnership” on Monday.

“The C31 sporting the blue logo of Chelsea FC will be seen for the first time at the Spanish grand prix,” the Hinwil based team announced in a media statement.

“A partnership like this between formula one and football has never existed before in this form, yet there are numerous commonalities and possible synergies,” said Sauber chief executive Monisha Kaltenborn.

The statement said Chelsea will in turn display Sauber’s logo on its advertising boards and interview walls, ensuring one another “a significant market presence outside their original sport”.

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.

 Force India has been ordered by a British court to pay over a million dollars.
With team boss Vijay Mallya already in financial strife over his collapsing airline Kingfisher, his Silverstone based team must now pay Italian wind tunnel Aerolab.

The high court judge on Wednesday said the amount, which according to the Daily Telegraph will skyrocket to over $6 million once legal costs are added, is for unpaid fees following a copyright dispute with Aerolab and Caterham.

The newspaper said the bill could be the final straw for struggling Mallya, who may now cede control of Force India to 42.5 per cent shareholder Subrata Roy, another Indian billionaire.

But Force India hit back in a media statement on Wednesday by revealing that Aerolab and its client Caterham were found “liable for copyright infringement”.

“Some parts created using Force India confidential information were used on the Team Lotus race cars in the early part of the 2010 season,” it read.

Force India said it has referred the court’s ruling to the FIA.

 Nico Hulkenberg has played down the link between Vijay Mallya’s struggling Indian airline Kingfisher and the billionaire’s formula one team Force India.
According to mainstream media reports, debt-ridden and loss-making Kingfisher is on the brink of collapse.

And new speculation swirling in the Melbourne paddock this weekend suggests the situation could affect Silverstone based Force India.

“The rumours are nothing new,” the team’s new race driver Nico Hulkenberg told Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.

“The problems (with Kingfisher) have been there for over a year. But it’s nothing to do with us, it’s another business — this is formula one, not an airline,” said the German.

“I can’t judge what is happening to his business. I just know that he (Mallya) is still motivated and for sure will be here for many races,” added Hulkenberg, who qualified ninth for Sunday’s Australian grand prix.

India’s Economic Times this week reported that Mallya has pumped an extra $32 million into Force India via his personal investment company Watson and the sponsorship of Kingfisher’s beer and spirit arm.

The original creator of the Red Bull energy drink has died.
Chaleo Yoovidhya formulated the drink – Krathing Daeng, which translates to ‘Red Bull’ in English – in the 70s, before co-founding a company with Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz in 1984.

Thai state media MCOT on Saturday said billionaire Yoovidhya, 89, died of natural causes.

Billionaire Mateschitz owns the Red Bull and Toro Rosso formula one teams.

 Bernie Ecclestone has played down the controversy over the future of Australia’s grand prix by daring organisers to walk away from the sport.
“When the contract comes up, they don’t have to renew,” the F1 chief executive, speaking from London, told local Fairfax Radio ahead of the 2012 Melbourne race.

“That is the nice thing. We are not going to force anyone into doing anything because we can’t.”

The current contract expires in 2015, and Ecclestone has offered to ease the taxpayers’ burden if race organisers agree to host the race at night, to better service Europe’s live television audience.

But the 81-year-old Briton is also furious, after a federal politician for the ruling Labor Party scorned the millions paid to Ecclestone in order to bankroll the billionaire’s flamboyant “bogan” daughter Tamara.

“Who was the halfwit that said these things?” Ecclestone told 3AW radio.

“You’re not a communist state there, are you? Any money that my children have got, they didn’t steal.

“I’d like him to say what he said to me face to face.”

The latest spat is yet another threat to the highly popular Albert Park race, with Ecclestone surmising: “From all the things I read that the government say, I don’t think that they want to continue.”

Australian driver Mark Webber hopes the race has a future.

“I don’t think it’s a gain to lose it, put it that way,” he said.

“It was successful in Adelaide and in Melbourne as well and it would be brilliant to keep it here for a long time yet.”

 An Australian federal politician has argued Melbourne’s grand prix should be axed because it bankrolls “Bernie’s billionaire bogan”.
Kelvin Thomson told parliament that much of the fee paid by the Victorian state government to formula one ends up in the deep pockets of F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone’s eldest daughter Tamara.

After watching a documentary about 27-year-old Ms Ecclestone, he said she uses a million-dollar bathtub, an elevator for her Ferrari road car, crystal balls for her bowling alley, and a massage parlour for her dogs.

“One thing I am absolutely sure of,” said Thomson, “there are better ways to spend $50 million, year in and year out, than bankrolling Bernie’s billionaire bogan.”

‘Bogan’ is an Australian slang term for someone who demonstrates their lower-class background through their speech, clothing and behaviour.

This weekend’s Australian grand prix is seventeenth at Albert Park.

Spain will host only one formula one race per season beginning in 2013, F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has announced.
The country’s current two hosts, Barcelona and Valencia, had already admitted the impact of the European crisis and said alternating a single annual race date was a possibility.

And there were rumours Valencia had not yet paid the race fee for this year’s June street race.

“All is well and everything is paid,” Ecclestone told Radio Valencia-Cadena Ser.

“There is no doubt there will be formula one at Valencia on June 24,” said the Briton.

And Ecclestone said that from next year, there will be only one Spanish grand prix per season.

“Both Valencia and Barcelona have agreed that it is best to alternate, so now we are trying to choose the dates,” he said.

As for whether the economic crisis is affecting him personally, the billionaire answered: “No, because I don’t need or spend much money anyway.”

Lotus team owner Gerard Lopez backed the news about Spain.

“It’s better than having no races, which would be a pity,” he told DPA news agency.

Spanish driver Pedro de la Rosa said it is “normal” for each country to have one race per season.

“Having two is what is not normal,” he insisted.

Dietrich Mateschitz has left open the door to Mark Webber receiving a new contract to keep racing with Red Bull beyond 2012.
The Australian is the only significant member of the championship-winning team who is not yet already signed up for the 2013 season.

But billionaire team owner Mateschitz this week backed Webber, 35, to return to Sebastian Vettel’s pace this year, insisting the pair will receive no more or less than equality in 2012.

At the same time, however, Webber was utterly dominated by Vettel last season, causing some experts to predict that Red Bull will replace him for 2013.

Indeed, Mateschitz said at the Jerez test last week that “Our primary goal is to put one of our juniors in the car”.

He told the German-language Speed Week magazine: “That’s one reason why we changed the drivers at Toro Rosso.

“Both (Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne) are highly talented and have great potential, but the question will only arise if, for example, Webber stops at the end of 2012.”

 Dietrich Mateschitz is giving Mark Webber at least an equal chance to get back on terms with his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel in 2012.
After his 2010 title challenge, Webber was utterly dominated by back to back world champion Vettel last year.

But team owner Mateschitz told Kleine Zeitung newspaper that the pair will continue to have equal status this season.

“Our attitude has not changed — there are no team orders,” the Austrian billionaire said. “It starts at zero again, for both of them.”

As for which Red Bull driver will get the upper hand in 2012, Mateschitz is open minded.

“From today’s point of view it is difficult to say. But why not (Webber)? I’m curious to know how hard or difficult or impossible it will be for Vettel to defend his dominance,” he added.

Beyond 2012, however, Webber has no contract, and Mateschitz confessed that “our primary goal is to put one of our juniors in the car”.

He also admitted that rule changes could play against Red Bull for 2012, but still expects Adrian Newey’s car to be on the pace.

“The competition copied from us so much last year that at the end our advantages were no longer the same. But at the last race we still had quite a bit of an edge.

“Of course you take that into the new year.”

Based on the initial Jerez test, however, he said it is too early to say the RB8 is the best car.

“These tests are not to scale,” said Mateschitz. “Everyone drives with their own goals and plans or to meet certain criteria.

“But I do think the balance of power has stayed about the same.”

He may share a garage with the reigning double world champion, but Mark Webber will still have an equal chance to win in 2012.
That is the news of Red Bull’s low-profile mogul Dietrich Mateschitz, who made a rare visit to a formula one paddock this week at Jerez.

Asked if Sebastian Vettel’s Australian teammate will have equal status this season, the Austrian billionaire insisted: “Absolutely.

“Both get the same equipment,” he told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper.

“The only change is that Mark has a new chief mechanic.”

Mateschitz, 67, said the obvious target for Red Bull in 2012 is to win again.

“We really have no choice except to defend our two world titles,” he insisted.

“Also Toro Rosso will have to improve; the team should be in the midfield and fighting for fifth place with Force India, Sauber and Lotus.”

Some in the F1 paddock reacted “with cynicism” to Vijay Mallya’s sale of almost half of the Force India team.
Just last week, the Indian billionaire said he was “shocked” to read the media speculation about his negotiations with Sahara’s Subrato Roy.

But on Wednesday, the $100 million deal was announced in Delhi.

“Some in the F1 press are (therefore) unimpressed with him, with rumours persisting that this is merely the first phase in a gradual exit,” wrote Daily Telegraph correspondent Tom Cary in a blog from Korea.

Despite boss Vijay Mallya’s recent denials, the part-sale of Silverstone based Force India was confirmed late on Wednesday.

The team will be renamed Sahara Force India, the Indian billionaire sitting alongside conglomerate Sahara India’s Subrata Roy announced in a Delhi hotel.

“On behalf of the Force India team, I am delighted to announce this partnership,” said Mallya.

“Sahara India will invest 100 million dollars and will have a 42.5 per cent equity share,” he revealed, according to Indian commercial broadcaster NDTV.