Valencia will not be on next year’s F1 calendar, Bernie Ecclestone said on Saturday.

He confirmed that, starting in 2013, an annually alternating deal between the Spanish port city and Barcelona will begin.

Barcelona, the scene of this weekend’s Spanish grand prix, will host the race in 2013, before Valencia returns to the schedule in 2014, the F1 chief executive told Reuters.

Less secure, meanwhile, is France’s touted spot on the 2013 calendar, particularly with the country’s new anti-F1 president Francois Hollande now taking power.

Until recently, the F1 chief executive was saying Paul Ricard was set to join the 2013 calendar, annually alternating a race date with Belgium’s Spa Francorchamps.

As for the state of the deal now, the 81-year-old admitted: “I have no idea. No idea what they (France) are doing.

“It’s a funny arrangement they were making anyway. So I just don’t know.”

Ecclestone is also working on a new deal for the popular Canadian grand prix, having told promoter Francois Dumontier that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve needs to be upgraded.

“There are two ways of looking at it,” Dumontier, in the paddock of the Circuit de Catalunya, is quoted by La Presse newspaper.

“Either Bernie requires an annual fee windfall, or he will charge a reasonable fee and ask in return for investment in the infrastructure.”

He said the contract on the table is for 10 more years, taking Montreal’s existing deal through 2024.

Ecclestone said on Saturday that he is sure an agreement will be reached, because Canada is one of F1′s most loved destinations.

“I remember saying to Bernie, ‘New York, Austin, I don’t know why you want to go there. Your sure bet is Montreal’. He knows that.

“He’s been in Montreal for 34 years. And in the 22 years of the grands prix in the United States, they’ve had eight different cities.

“He said ‘You’re right’,” added Dumontier.

Another rumour, repeated by The Times’ Kevin Eason on Saturday, is that the planned 2014 Russian grand prix in Sochi “is doomed”.

Montreal has been warned to spend around $15 million on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve or risk losing the Canadian grand prix.

La Presse reports that Bernie Ecclestone has said only a major redevelopment of the circuit will lead to talks about a new contract beyond 2014.

The report said that, in light of the F1 chief executive’s warning, Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay has appealed to higher levels of government for the necessary money.

“Negotiations are underway between the three levels of government and the bodies of formula one”, the report said.

Race promoter Francois Dumontier told RDS: “It’s premature to talk about this.

“There are still two years to go on the current contract. We have started talking, but that it’s out now I find excessive. Honestly, I don’t know where it’s come from.”

He added: “Given that the permanent installations of the circuit, including the control tower and the garages, are nearly 25 years old, it is likely that their repair is an important element in the negotiations for an extension to the current agreement.

“But it seems to me to be premature to talk specific sums.”

The other major race at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is in danger of being scrapped.

In addition to hosting the grand prix, Montreal is the only Canadian stop on the NASCAR schedule.

But AP reports that the Quebec government turned down a request for $1 million in support to offset the event’s expected $1.6m loss.

“Efforts were made,” Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay said. “It’s unfortunate, but maybe there will be other events in the future.”

Promoter Francois Dumontier is quoted by CTV Montreal: “We were shocked when we learned about it (the decision).”

Not long after some were calling time on Michael Schumacher’s poor comeback, the seven time world champion raced almost to the podium in the chaotic Canadian grand prix.
“That’s sport; the situation changes quickly,” said Mercedes’ motor racing vice-president Norbert Haug.

“It showed he can still do a good job if we can give him the right car,” the German is quoted by Italy’s Tuttosport.

Haug told L’Equipe: “It’s like what happened with his brother Ralf in DTM. He had a lot of criticism but is now doing good results.”

Indeed, during the weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve rumours abounded that Schumacher, 42, was set to sign a two-year extension to his current contract, which is set to expire at the end of next season.

The rumours were based on the German’s claim that it will probably be after 2012 that Mercedes will reap the benefits of the groundwork being laid now.

“I heard the speculation and it was an interpretation of my comments,” said Schumacher. “I still have the three seasons to complete and will decide my future soon also on the basis of the results.”

Also on his “five years” comments, L’Equipe quoted Schumacher as saying: “It (a contract extension) is not what I meant.

“At the right time we will talk about the future.”

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said he had noted Schumacher’s performance in Canada, in which he came the closest so far to securing a comeback podium.

“I find it incredible that in a year in a half he has failed to do so,” the Italian told Sky Sports 24.

“I was pleased to see him up there and do not forget all that he gave to us,” said Montezemolo.

World rally driver Ken Block, famous for his online gymkhana stunt videos, will test the Pirelli F1 test car later this year.
American Block, 43, will drive the updated 2009 Toyota at Monza in August, the sport’s official tyre supplier announced in a media statement.

He will take over the car for a “one off” drive after Pirelli’s test driver Lucas di Grassi tests at the Italian grand prix circuit on the first two days.

“Everybody talks about formula one being the pinnacle of world motor sport so I can’t wait to discover it for myself,” said Block at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday.

Many race-goers walked out of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve during the Canadian grand prix’s excruciatingly-long rain delay.
“Stay or go? That was the question that haunted the soaked audience on Sunday afternoon,” wrote La Presse.

The Montreal rain caused the F1 world and its global television audience to wait more than two hours for the rain to stop.

But spare a thought for the drenched local spectators who had nothing to watch but the rivers running down the track.

“I never thought about leaving,” one spectator, who travelled from New York with his brother, said. “We came too far to give up that easily!”

A Montreal local added: “I have waited for this all year. It’s the biggest sports event in Canada.”

The press office for the race promoters would not speculate upon the percentage of the crowd that remained until the late chequered flag, but spectators guessed that between 25 and 50 per cent went home.

“It was just common sense,” said one departee, who had come with his 10-year-old son. “It was like a flood and not at all fun in those conditions.

“But we still had a great weekend in Montreal,” he added.

A spectator from New Jersey also left: “It was like being in the centre of a typhoon, with the rain so strong I dared not move from my seat. I can understand why they had to suspend the race.”

Another couple had attended every Canadian grand prix since 1978 but decided to leave when the red flags were waved.

“Anyway, Vettel is going to win,” said the woman at the exit.

Lewis Hamilton could be considering a switch from McLaren to Red Bull, according to new speculation on Monday.
Sapa-AFP wire reports said the 26-year-old world champion of 2008 met with Red Bull officials at the offices of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at the weekend.

Team sources confirmed Hamilton spent 15 minutes during a “social visit” with Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

The British driver’s McLaren contract runs until the end of next season.

The new reports come after Hamilton this year joined the XIX Entertainment management company, with its chief Simon Fuller also handling the likes of David Beckham.

The latest rumours are also hot on the heels of a difficult period for Hamilton, whose aggressive style and run-ins with FIA officials have triggered controversy.

“I think he has had an unfortunate run, but I think he has to be the racer he is, and I am sure he will be,” McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh is quoted as saying.

Hamilton was also defended by Norbert Haug, the motor sport vice-president for Mercedes-Benz.

“He is a good driver, he is a friend and I do not share the criticism that is on him. We will support him and he is a great driver,” said the German.

Esteban Gutierrez sounded upset on Friday after missing the opportunity to make his formula one race debut.

The Mexican teen was signed by Sauber to be the Swiss team’s official test and reserve driver at all races in 2011.

But the reigning GP3 champion, who now races in the F1 support category GP2, was not in Canada on Friday when his countryman Sergio Perez had to withdraw from the event due to illness.

Instead, Sauber turned to in its 2010 driver Pedro de la Rosa after hurried negotiations with McLaren, who now employ the veteran Spaniard as its reserve driver.

Despite Perez’s hospitalisation, concussion and bruised thigh in Monaco, and the fact FIA doctors only cleared him to race on Thursday, Sauber was caught so unprepared that de la Rosa was wearing McLaren overalls when he took to the C30 in afternoon practice at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

And Gutierrez, apparently in his native Mexico, wrote on Twitter that Sauber displayed a “lack of transparency” in informing its official reserve of the situation.

“I learned from Twitter,” he said on the social networking website.

“It’s a shame to hear about Montreal, I hope ‘Checo’ (Perez) recovers soon,” added Gutierrez in Spanish.

“I never received any instructions to prevent this situation. I was ready,” he said.

Sergio Perez has been declared fit to race in Canada this weekend.

The Mexican rookie was hospitalised for two days after his big Monaco qualifying crash, but he has since had a positive medical check in Zurich and been karting with his brother in his native country.

“I felt very good,” said Perez, 21, referring to the karting.

He met with FIA medical representative Jean-Charles Piette at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Thursday and was cleared to drive this weekend.

Perez’s Swiss employer Sauber confirmed the news.

Pedro de la Rosa has predicted a “very interesting” weekend in Canada.
In comments provided by his press office, the experienced McLaren reserve driver said the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a layout on which overtaking can usually be done “quite easily”.

In 2011, the new ‘DRS’ adjustable rear wing system has debuted and for the Montreal race this weekend it will for the first time be deployed twice per lap.

De la Rosa, who has been working in recent days in the McLaren simulator, said Canada will be “extremely interesting for many reasons”.

One reason is DRS, because its influence in Canada will mean teams take different approaches to setup.

“We will have cars with a variety of (top) speeds depending on the aerodynamic settings. With DRS everything has changed so we won’t know if teams are opting to have a fast car for the straights or for the curves,” said de la Rosa.

And the 40-year-old Spaniard predicted qualifying to play a minor role.

“This is the circuit where the importance of grid position is probably least, so it’s better to concentrate on having a fast and consistent car for Sunday.”

Renault test driver Bruno Senna agrees that predictions for the weekend are difficult.

“Our car has been consistently among the five fastest in a straight line,” the Brazilian told Globo Esporte when contemplating the long straights of Canada.

“But downforce is essential, especially for the chicanes. Therefore, it will remain very difficult to tackle the cars that are aerodynamically the strongest, like Red Bull and McLaren,” added Senna.

Renault’s new black and gold livery might fall afoul of strict anti-tobacco advertising laws in Canada this year.
That is the claim of the Toronto based Globe and Mail newspaper, after the Enstone based team’s newly Group Lotus-sponsored livery was launched officially last weekend at a racing car show in Birmingham.

The 2011 Lotus Renault GP livery is a tribute to the Lotus cars of the 70s and 80s, whose black and gold colours were to promote Imperial Tobacco’s John Player Special cigarette brand.

Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar recently played down the latter fact, insisting that the 2011 Renault livery will not have any “negative implications with potential tobacco advertising”.

But a Health Canada spokesperson revealed that if a F1 car did resemble a cigarette packet whilst racing on Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, “tobacco inspectors would need to fully review to assess whether a violation of the Tobacco Act has occurred”.

An Imperial Tobacco spokesperson said: “It is categorically against the law to present any likeness to a cigarette pack.

“If I were Lotus (Renault) … I would be concerned — I wonder if they are aware of the law in Canada.”

Jun.17 (GMM) Recent championship leaders Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton disagree about the likely direction of the 2010 season.

After winning the Turkish and Canadian grands prix in the wake of Red Bull’s earlier dominance, McLaren driver Hamilton said the fight for the title is “tight”.

The statistics so far appear to support his argument, given the five different race winners and the fact they are all separated by just 19 points.

“So it’s the ultimate challenge I’ve experienced in formula one, perhaps in formula one history,” the Briton added.

Australian Webber, however, predicts that the current five-driver championship fight will ultimately become a more regular head-to-head as the season winds down.

“Last year,” the Red Bull driver told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, “Jenson won many races at the beginning. But that’s not usually what happens.

“It is more often the case that until mid-season there are three to five drivers all together.

“70 per cent in there will probably be only three or so in it, and with a few races to go it becomes a duel,” Webber predicted.

“Perhaps the champion will even be known before the last race.”

The 33-year-old also played down suggestions that, given the outcome of the Montreal race, McLaren is now the pacesetter.

Red Bull had predicted after Turkey that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve would not suit the RB6.

“Valencia is another track on which we might not be so good,” said Webber. “But we surprised ourselves in Canada when we were more competitive than we thought we would be.”

Jun.15 (GMM)  British F1 pundits have rounded on Michael Schumacher after the eighth race of the seven time world champion’s comeback.

The 41-year-old German had already had difficult moments in 2010, but in Montreal – an event he has won a record seven times – he qualified 13th and on Sunday had a calamitous and pointless race.

“I think Schumacher has driven appallingly today,” said Martin Brundle, one of Schumacher’s former Benetton teammates, who now commentates for the BBC.

The Briton was referring to Schumacher being overtaken by Sebastien Buemi, both Force Indias on the last lap, and separate clashes with Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa that Brundle referred to as “naughty”.

“You have to treat the back of Schumacher’s car like the back of a donkey,” added Brundle.  “This is Schumacher’s worst weekend since he came back.”

The usually highly partisan German daily Bild newspaper agreed, describing Canada 2010 as ‘Schumi’s blackest lap’.

“Schumacher was humiliated in his comeback season like never before,” the report added.

Eddie Jordan, who gave Schumacher his initial F1 debut in 1991, commented: “The big story (of Canada) was that Michael Schumacher did not even make the top 10.

“That’s a big, big concern about the Michael Schumacher comeback.”

Former rival David Coulthard pointed out that, in his prime, Schumacher’s talents always shined on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

“In all honesty he looked a shadow of his former self on Sunday,” the Scot wrote in his latest column for the Telegraph.

“I’m not beating up on Michael.  But what is wrong with him?  If I had to guess I would say it is F1 that has changed.”

Coulthard refers not only to today’s harder and thinner tyres, but also the V8 engines and 18,000rpm rev limit, offering “no torque”.

Jun.15 (GMM)  After the problems seen at Montreal’s most recent F1 races, the surface of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve did not break up during the running of the 2010 edition.

Before Canada fell off the calendar last year, the track’s crumbling asphalt came in for scathing criticism.

Ahead of the race’s return last weekend, the troublesome sections were resurfaced with Shell Bitumen, whose same product is in use at other grand prix tracks.

“I’ve said that part of the problem was the (grooved) tyre,” new race promoter Francois Dumontier is quoted by the Montreal Gazette.

Before last weekend’s race, the last time slicks were fitted to F1 cars in Montreal was 1997.

“An engineer explained to me that in every corner, the (grooved) tread was pushing the asphalt.  We put down a new surface last year, but I think the improvement is a combination of that and the slick tyre,” explained Dumontier.

“After the first practice session, I sent somebody out to look at our repairs.  It was a relief.”

However, throughout the race weekend, drivers complained about the low grip of the surface and the way Bridgestone’s tyres were uncharacteristically graining and degrading.

Dumontier replied: “I think drivers need to adapt to every track.

“At Barcelona, for example, which is used for testing, they know exactly where to put their tyres.  Our circuit is used just twice a year to race.”

Jun.13 (GMM)  Red Bull suffered two gearbox problems in Canada on Sunday.

With McLaren now leading both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships with victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, it has emerged that Sebastian Vettel struggled to the chequered flag with a gearbox problem.

His Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, who finished behind Vettel in fifth place, earlier lost his front row starting place due to an unscheduled gearbox change penalty.

In the wake of recent suggestions the Milton Keynes-based team will walk the 2010 season with a superior car, the Canadian result – featuring a McLaren one-two – could be a turning point.

“I had a gearbox problem from around halfway through the race, which meant I had to slow down,” German Vettel said.

However, race winner and new championship leader Lewis Hamilton has acknowledged that despite the Montreal result, the RB6 is still the superior car on more conventional circuits.

“There is no reason to panic from our side,” Vettel confirmed, “we have a very good car and we’re looking ahead to Valencia.”