Preparations for the inaugural US grand prix in Texas are set to get back into gear.
The FIA announced after Wednesday’s World Motor Sport Council meeting that the event is still scheduled to be held at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin next November.

Earlier, Bernie Ecclestone had said Wednesday was the final deadline for a dispute with the organisers – who had halted construction of the circuit – to be resolved.

“Mr Ecclestone received his cheque today,” chief backer Red McCombs said in a statement.

Founding partner Bobby Epstein added: “We’re glad that Tavo (Hellmund)’s vision of bringing F1 to the people of Texas will become a reality.”

(pitpass) The future of the United States Grand Prix at the Texas venue took a further twist tonight when the organizers issued the following statement:

“Organizers of Circuit of The Americas, a premier motor sports racing and entertainment venue being developed in Austin, Texas, are suspending further construction of the project until a contract assuring the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix will be held at Circuit of The Americas in 2012 is complete. The race contract between Formula One and Circuit of The Americas has not been conveyed to Circuit of The Americas per a previously agreed upon timetable.

While construction at Circuit of The Americas has progressed as scheduled with over 300 workers at the construction site daily, all work will suspend immediately. The delivery of the Formula One Grand Prix race contract will allow construction operations to resume.

“We have spent tremendous resources preparing for the Formula One and MotoGP™ Championship races, but the failure to deliver race contracts gives us great concern,” said Bobby Epstein, founding partner of Circuit of The Americas. “We believe the United States is vital for the future of Formula One and its teams and sponsors. Given the purpose-built Tilke design, creating a unique fan experience and iconic challenge for drivers, we hope that Texas will not be left behind. More than 100,000 fans have expressed an interest in purchasing tickets for Formula One alone.”

“It is in the best interest of all parties to reach a timely resolution,” said Red McCombs, chairman of McCombs Enterprises and founding partner of Circuit of The Americas. “Local businesses, fans and the State of Texas are counting on us.”

As in India recently, there will be two separate DRS zones in use this weekend in Abu Dhabi.
Throughout most of 2011, the first season of DRS deployment in F1 history, the FIA has installed only single detection and activation points for rear wing-assisted overtaking.

But at Monza and India there were two distinct DRS areas, and the same approach will be seen in Abu Dhabi this weekend, it has emerged.

That is particularly good news for Yas Marina, as the otherwise spectacular venue is notoriously difficult to overtake on.

Last year, for example, the layout was blamed for not allowing Fernando Alonso, the championship favourite, to overtake the slower Vitaly Petrov.

McLaren’s Jenson Button said: “It’s usually been quite difficult to overtake in Abu Dhabi, especially last year, but I think that DRS will change all that.

“It would be great to see the new rules turn this circuit into a place where overtaking is more common and more exciting,” he added.

Despite the wet racetrack due to yesterday’s rain, the morning session allowed to collect and prove the single-seaters’ new modifications.

The pilots scheduled for the morning rolled out: Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Nico Hulkenberg, Viantonio Liuzzi, Sebastian Buemi, Michael Schumacher, Timo Glock and Kobayashi.

During the morning two red flags were seen, the second being more significant, because a front wing belonging to Timo Glock’s car roamed in the racetrack and the German pilot passed over it destroying it.

Sebástien Buemi’s Toro Rosso was a surprise making the best time; the pilot from Switzerland lowered his own times.  Alonso remained up to an hour in the boxes doing changes to the F10.  Everything is ready for the evening. The teams expect better racetrack conditions.

Second day’s morning times

1. Sebastian Buemi (Toro Rosso) 1:20.026 (58 laps)
2. Jenson Button (McLaren) 1:20.618 (29)
3. Nico Hulkenberg (Williams) 1:21.565 (28)
4. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) 1:21.907 (60)
5. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 1:21.928 (79)
6. Robert Kubica (Renault) 1:22.129 (43)
7. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) 1:22.886 (37)
8. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1:23.164 (60)
9. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) 1:23.190 (41)
10. Timo Glock (Virgin) 1:29.964 (11)

The afternoon session began with comments in the paddock regarding the possibility of seeing Fernando Alonso testing the Ferrari F10.  With a warmer weather and more grip on the tracks the single-seaters started to leave the boxes heading to the Valencian Ricardo Tormo Circuit’s racetrack in Cheste.

With a lost Austrian –we say ‘lost” because we didn’t see him through all the morning (strange thing)-, Lewis Hamilton started by lowering his morning times, 1:12.256, but still far from Felipe Massa’s chronometer and his F10.  That’s how the afternoon started.

At 3:30 the pilot from Austria was seen around the box, and rumors spread with regards to his possible participation in today’s tests.

Massa carried out many tyre tests –we assumed he was testing their performance-, explaining why the Brazilian entered the box continuously.  The same as Ferrari, the rest of the ‘scuderias’ tested their performance, thus the morning times were not improved.

The Renault improved only a bit.  The Polish, Robert Kubica, wearing a completely black helmet, continued to average very high times ( 1:14 ).  The R30 seems to have very little performance evolution compared to its predecessor, last year’s R29.

Today was a hard working day for Nico Rosberg who commanding his Mercedes GP made all kinds of tests.  Yesterday, his single-seater was very fast, but today it was slower marking 1:14. high times and running 25 lap periods to try the tyres out.

The Ferrari engine Sabuer of Kobayashi, after completing a period of 30 laps started to lower its times, becoming one of the fastest of the afternoon ( 1:12.667 ).  The Sauber is giving a good impression in these first tests.

The first impressions of Barichello on his Williams FW32’s Cosworth engine, indicate less speed (point) than the rest.  Specifically, around 8-12km/h (Mercedes and Ferrari).

In a bit more than an hour the session will end.   We’re walking towards the paddock to pick up some feelings.

Today, the Valencian circuit has had around 7.000 spectators, according to the organization.  A good number of people has gotten together to see the tests, so if climate conditions permit it, a higher number is expected for tomorrow with the attendance of Fernando Alonso in the racetrack.

Best times of the day.

1º Massa (1:11.722)

2º Kobayashi (1:12.056)

3º Hamilton (1:12.056)

4º Rosberg (1:12. 899)

5º Barrichello (1:13.377)

Finally, the FIA accepted the proposals made by FOTA and approved the changes to the Formula One World Championship scoring system.

According to FIA’s press release, and subsequent to the meeting that the Formula One Commission held on Monday, the winner of the Grand Prix will be awarded with 25 points, while the second and third places will receive 18 and 15 points, respectively.

The remaining points for the GPs will be allocated up to the tenth pilot that classifies, the following way: 12-10-8-6-4-2-1.  This is a modification to the model proposed by the organization last December with 25-20-15-10-8-6-5-3-2-1.  Now, the FIA pretends to encourage the ‘run to win’ mentality.

Additionally, but for 2011, the FIA announces changes to the regulation regarding the diffusers.  The height of the main diffuser was reduced from  175mm to 125 mm, while the “magic” double diffusers –key element at the beginning of 2009, in the Brawn GP title-, will be finally excluded..

In addition to the change to the scoring system, each single-seater will only have 11 sets of dry weather tires available, instead of 14, and to encourage the teams to run through the practice sessions, ” a set must be returned before the start of Friday’s second practice session, and two sets before the start of the third practice session.  FOTA’s last proposal has also been accepted: cars having participated in Q3 must start the race on the same set of tyres with which their grid time was set.

Things being like this, all these proposals have to be submitted before the World Motor Sport Council that has to finally give its approval, even though its just a step because this is already a fact.

The 2010 Malaysia Grand Prix, at the Sepang raceway is scheduled at the FIA’s calendar for next April 4.  However, the GP will begin an hour earlier this year, because, if you recall, the test was interrupted due to a tropical storm that made the visibility of the pilots in the racetrack impossible.

Last year’s schedule became a problem after an intense rain that fell over the Sepang International Raceway, which, due to poor visibility, forced the stewards to consider the race as finished at lap 32 of 56, adding only half of the points to the first eight classified pilots.

To avoid a similar situation, this year the Grand Prix organization requested a “more adequate schedule” for the appointment, which will finally begin at 16.00 (local time), as announced by the raceway’s Executive Director, Razlan Razali, at the official presentation of the race.

The organization foresees an increase in the audience.  “We expect approximately 100.000 spectators on Sunday.  On the last edition, there were almost 60.000,″ said the race’s organizer, Mokhzani Mahathir to the ‘Bernama’ news agency.