Two experts have tipped Lotus to shine this weekend at Sepang.
The black and gold E20 car was a standout of the winter pre-season, but Kimi Raikkonen qualified poorly in Australia while Romain Grosjean was punted into early retirement by Pastor Maldonado.

Seeing the chequered flag first in Melbourne was McLaren’s championship leader Jenson Button, but he said he is expecting a “strong fight” this weekend.

“Of course we’re not relaxing,” said the Briton.

“Both Red Bull drivers were very quick in the race (in Australia), and I think we can expect further strong challenges (in Malaysia) from Mercedes and Lotus,” added Button.

Also anticipating a Malaysian push by Lotus is team ambassador Jean Alesi, the former Ferrari race winner.

“The car should suit Sepang well,” said the Frenchman.

“In testing in Jerez and Barcelona it was particularly good in the fast turns, which is what defines the Malaysia track.

“Lotus appear to be quicker than everyone except McLaren,” added Alesi.

He is worried, however, that the former Renault team might not be able to keep up its pace throughout 2012.

“Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari have much bigger budgets,” said Alesi.

“They have a brilliant team at Enstone but it is really tough to match the development pace of the biggest teams, and I think that will be Lotus’ challenge this year.”

Sebastian Vettel has confirmed there might be some place-swapping with his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber towards the end of Sunday’s inaugural Indian grand prix.
The team, already with the drivers’ and constructors’ championships in the bag, has revealed that its last ambition for 2011 is to power Webber from fourth to second in the points standings.

Publications on Thursday quoted team boss Christian Horner as hinting that team orders – now entirely legal in formula one albeit still controversial – cannot be ruled out.

World champion Vettel, who insisted he would “love” to see the Red Bull drivers finish both first and second in the 2011 championship, would be the one asked to move over.

“We’ve seen this year, in particular, races are long and a lot of things can happen in the beginning but also the end — overtaking is definitely possible,” the 24-year-old is quoted as saying by the AAP news agency.

“So the race order may not be clear, five or 10 laps to the end,” he said in India.

“For sure, it depends where you are. So we worry first of all to make sure we’re in a strong position and then I think the scenario-situation comes last,” added the German.

Christian Horner could not hide his smile despite a Red Bull not winning Sunday’s Hungarian grand prix.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel finished the Budapest race second, but because the fifth-placed Jenson Button won, the German’s vast gap grew from 77 points to 85 over teammate Mark Webber.

And Vettel’s gap to the closest non-Red Bull runner – Lewis Hamilton – is now a whopping 88 points with just 8 races to run.

“Excluding the Red Bull drivers, Jenson was the one we wanted as the winner,” Red Bull team boss Horner is quoted as saying by German media.

“Congratulations to him,” said the Briton.

“We are not disappointed. In situations like that it’s always a lottery.”

Formula one figures are now looking forward to an almost one-month break before Spa-Francorchamps, including a mandatory two-week factory shutdown.

“We will be working at full speed for another week until we close the factory and re-charge our batteries — just like KERS,” joked Horner.

Felipe Massa thinks Red Bull’s drivers are open about swapping positions during the Abu Dhabi grand prix on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver, who was controversially ordered aside for his teammate Fernando Alonso at Hockenheim, was commenting on the main topic of conversation at the 2010 finale — whether Sebastian Vettel will move over for Mark Webber in order to prevent Fernando Alonso from winning the drivers’ title.

“My personal opinion is that the Red Bull drivers will fight to the end, because they both have a chance to become champion,” the Brazilian is quoted in Italian by Tuttosport.

“But if at the end Sebastian is first and Mark is second, I’m sure they will swap places. If not, they would give the title to another team.

“But you should ask them, not me.”

Even Rubens Barrichello, who like Massa was also the victim of Ferrari’s blatant imposition of team orders, agrees.

“I have always been against team orders,” he is quoted by Globo.

“But if someone has no more mathematical chances in the last moment but the other one (the teammate) does, then it is definitely better for the team.

“So I see nothing wrong if that happens in the last lap.”

Officially at Red Bull, the position is that team orders will not be imposed, but team management is hoping Vettel will be “magnanimous” should he find himself able to deliver the drivers’ title to Webber rather than Alonso.

“Logic tells me that Sebastian will do it (give up the win) if Alonso is right behind them,” Niki Lauda told RTL television.

“For me it would be a great gesture from Vettel; gentlemanly and fair,” said the triple world champion.

Even from Vettel’s perspective, that scenario appears a no-brainer.

“It would not take a genius to know what to do,” the 23-year-old is quoted by the Spanish media.

Helmut Marko, however, admitted that not seeing Vettel crowned world champion on Sunday would have a bitter taste.

“Without the technical problems this year, Sebastian would already be champion,” Red Bull’s motor sport consultant is quoted by Bild newspaper.

A rain-soaked track that was drying by the end of the qualification so far that could be driven on the drying racing line with dry tires gave the fans an extremely exciting time trials for the Grand Prix of Brazil. For under such conditions was Red Bull’s superiority going on – basically everyone had displayed in the top 10 the way to the end in front.

And that proved true in the last round, when Nico Hulkenberg import in the Williams, with more than one second ahead of his first pole position – before the two Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Landed behind Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica, Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa and Vitaly Petrov.

After the first qualifying round, the seven slowest drivers dropped out: Adrian Sutil (Force India), Timo Glock (Virgin), Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen (both Lotus), Lucas di Grassi (Virgin), Christian Klien and Bruno Senna ( Both HRT).

At the end of the second round the following drivers had the slowest laps park your car in the pits: Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), Sébastien Buemi ( Toro Rosso), Nick Heidfeld (Sauber) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India).

Sergio Perez has denied his major sponsor Telmex is positioning to buy control of the Sauber team.

The Mexican telcom will have significant signage on next year’s C30, and its figurehead Carlos Slim – the richest man in the world – has been seen at several grands prix recently.

But boss Peter Sauber earlier this month denied he is considering selling the Hinwil based team, and Slim said the deal is a “commercial alliance” rather than a precursor to a greater involvement.

But when told that the rumours about Telmex buying Sauber still exist, rookie driver Perez said: “No, that’s not true.

“Telmex is entering as a sponsor and nothing more,” he is quoted by the AS newspaper.

The rumours are retaining their strength because Perez will be joined at the team by another Mexican, the test driver Esteban Gutierrez.

“Esteban and I are here because Sauber decided to sign us,” Perez, 20, insisted.

He also backed Fernando Alonso to win the 2010 world championship.

“He doesn’t have as good a car as the Red Bull drivers, but he is the best driver,” said Perez.

Asked what he needed for success this weekend, Nico Rosberg’s jovial answer might have raised eyebrows within his Mercedes team garage.

“A Red Bull,” laughed the German.

“The car, not the drink,” added Rosberg, musing the dominance of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber at Suzuka so far while his own W01 looks at least a second off the pace.

Williams’ Rubens Barrichello also predicts an easy margin for the Adrian Newey-inked RB6 car.

“For me, the Red Bulls will be a good half a second in front,” said the Brazilian.

If Ferrari and McLaren are unable to keep up in Japan, pole and victory is therefore likely to be contested by the two Red Bull drivers.

“I find what’s happening incomprehensible,” said Webber’s manager Flavio Briatore in the Italian press, angry that Red Bull is not ordering Vettel to play a Felipe Massa-style supporting role.

Australian Webber’s own needle is more subtle, quietly questioning his teammate’s decision to use a new white helmet livery this weekend.

“He always has bad luck when he uses a new helmet,” Webber joked.

But so far, the 2009 Suzuka pole sitter and winner is once again obviously enjoying the Japanese layout.

“I was running around the track and I thought ‘Why can’t they all be like this?’” smiled Vettel.

Ferrari has been the most reliable team so far in 2010.

Red Bull is leading the championships and has collected the most wins and pole positions, but ranks only second in the reliability stakes, an analysis by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport has found.

The F10, driven by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, has completed a remarkable 1471 of the possible 1474 laps throughout the 12 races so far.

That is 98 laps more than the Red Bull drivers.

But the Italian team is just third in the constructors’ championship, while Alonso is the highest-placed Ferrari driver in fifth place.

The Spaniard’s late engine failure in Malaysia was Ferrari’s only retirement, with neither he or Massa crashing out of a race.

Mercedes is the only other team fielding drivers that have not retired due to accidents in 2010.

In contrast, Red Bull has recorded one failure and two driver crashes, while McLaren has had two technical failures and one accident retirement.

Renault has the worst reliability of the top teams, with 4 technical retirements and 2 crashes.

The least technically reliable teams overall were Virgin (11 technical retirements) and Sauber (10).  HRT is the most reliable new team (8), ahead of Lotus (9).

F1 should take a new approach to team orders, Christian Horner has told a German news magazine.

Just last month, Red Bull’s team boss backed the FIA’s current ban by insisting that “team orders are wrong”.

The Briton has now told Focus: “It is a regime that should definitely be discussed again and clarified.”

After 2002, the FIA banned team orders due to the furore sparked by Rubens Barrichello reluctantly moving aside to allow his Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher to win the Austrian grand prix.

In more recent weeks, Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel collided from the lead in Turkey, before the team was embroiled in a controversy surrounding the transfer of a new wing from Webber’s car to Vettel’s.

Horner insists that Webber and Vettel are treated equally, but admitted that 23-year-old Vettel is obviously a longer-term prospect.

“Mark only has two, or at the most three years still in him, but in Sebastian there are ten, eleven, twelve.

“So when you talk about the future, then it is obviously Sebastian who – hopefully – will spend many years with the team,” he said.

Jun.7 (GMM)  In future, Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel will not prevent the fastest RB6 from overtaking.

That was the revelation on Monday of the energy drink’s motor racing consultant Helmut Marko, who had earlier pointedly blamed Webber for the now famous Istanbul Park crash.

But he told the Italian website 422race.com that the issue was “solved” at last Thursday’s clear-the-air summit in Milton-Keynes.

“The two drivers can still freely battle, but they always have to let through each other.  That was the conclusion,” said the Austrian.

Helmut Marko no longer thinks Mark Webber was to blame for the collision that foiled Red Bull’s one-two finish in the recent Turkish grand prix.

Marko, the energy drinks company’s motor sport advisor, had initially blamed the Australian driver for the crash, despite most experts, pundits and former drivers believing his teammate Sebastian Vettel had turned into the side of Webber’s sister RB6.

In an interview provided by the Milton Keynes-based team on Tuesday, team boss Christian Horner said he blames both drivers for the crash.

“Having looked at all the information it’s clear that it was a racing accident that shouldn’t have happened between two teammates.

“After looking at all the facts that weren’t available immediately after the race, Dr Marko also fully shares this view,” Horner added.

But while most non-Red Bull team members thought 22-year-old Vettel was to blame, Horner said he thought it “acceptable” that the German tried the move on lap 40.

“Ultimately both drivers should have given each other more room,” he said, confirming that Webber had been asked to switch to a fuel-saving engine mode whilst Vettel was able to run at full speed for a couple more laps.

“He (Vettel) appeared to be the faster of the two Red Bull drivers.  Had the incident not have happened, I believe we would have achieved a one-two finish,” added Horner.

(GMM)