Paddock regulars insist the formerly-dominant Red Bull team cannot be written off after a single defeat in Australia.
On paper, reigning back-to-back champion Sebastian Vettel’s second place on Sunday doesn’t look bad.

But Melbourne was in fact the first race since before either of the German’s title-winning campaigns in 2010 and 2011 that a Red Bull car failed to lead a single lap.

“You cannot discount them, they (Red Bull) are always there,” said Albert Park winner Jenson Button, “but it seems that the tables have turned.”

After not winning a title since 2008 with Lewis Hamilton, Button’s McLaren colleagues will hope that is true.

“Red Bull needs to dress warmly,” German racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck told Sport1, “although I see McLaren on an equal footing only.”

He warned against over-analysing the Melbourne result.

“This is not a benchmark for the rest of the season — the Malaysia circuit is much more meaningful because who is good there is good everywhere.”

However, McLaren hinted after Melbourne that it could actually have performed more strongly last weekend.

“We were more than marginal on fuel,” boss Martin Whitmarsh is quoted by Kleine Zeitung newspaper. “There is no question we could have been faster (in Australia).”

But so could Red Bull, Vettel insists.

“In Melbourne, we learned a lot about the behaviour of our car, which has great potential,” he said.

“We need to make it harder for McLaren in Malaysia.”

Triple world champion Niki Lauda agrees: “Red Bull will catch up quickly.”

Team advisor Dr Helmut Marko insisted: “We have not brought everything out of the car yet. So we are very optimistic about the next races.”

He is also dismissive of Red Bull’s other rivals.

“Only McLaren are on par with us,” said Marko, who scorned at Mercedes, the team who fared strongly in Melbourne before suffering in the race.

“They were more like a chicane,” the acid-tongued Austrian added, according to laola1.at.

Mercedes on Tuesday gave the strongest hint yet that Michael Schumacher is set to stay with the Brackley based team beyond 2012.
The seven time world champion returned from retirement with the German team in 2010, and has been widely criticised for failing to live up to the hype of his meteoric initial career.

But 2011 was undoubtedly a better season for the 43-year-old, moving team boss Ross Brawn to hint that Schumacher could receive a new deal for 2013.

“At the moment we aren’t talking to any other drivers,” he told Sport Bild magazine.

“I am also assuming that he is not talking to other teams.

“So if Michael is still enjoying what he’s doing while bringing in the results that we expect, then why not? He definitely has not said that he is toying with the idea of stopping,” added Brawn.

Mercedes’ competition director Norbert Haug added that the great German is “still one of the best race drivers in the field”.

Haug said Schumacher is often as fast or faster than his younger teammate Nico Rosberg, which is impressive “because Nico is undoubtedly among the five best drivers in F1″, he is quoted by FAZ newspaper.

Added Brawn: “It took a little longer than planned for Michael to be where he wanted to be — and even longer than I would have thought.

“The first year was difficult,” admitted Schumacher’s former Ferrari colleague. “I think he did an excellent job in the races in the second year, while Nico was slightly better than him in qualifying.

“I think that really frustrated him (Schumacher),” added Brawn.

A witness in the forthcoming trial of former F1 banker Gerhard Gribkowsky reportedly supports Bernie Ecclestone’s claims.

The F1 chief executive insists he only paid millions to jailed Gribkowsky amid the sale of the sport’s commercial rights some years ago because he was effectively blackmailed.

But Ecclestone, 80, has reportedly remained under investigation by the Munich prosecutors as some paddock regulars wonder how the indefatigable Briton could ever be blackmailed and for such a huge amount of money.

Der Spiegel news magazine, however, will report on Monday that a female former colleague provided Gribkowsky with a document showing Ecclestone’s links with Bambino, his offshore family trust.

Ecclestone, to appear as a witness at the trial, had claimed in July that Gribkowsky “threatened that he was going to say that I was running it (the trust)”.

“He was shaking me down and I didn’t want to take a risk,” he added.

Spiegel claims Ecclestone’s explanation is backed by the female witness who told investigators that she showed Gribkowsky the offending document in 2004.

“I was scared,” the report quotes Ecclestone as telling investigators, who have reportedly not found the document. Gribkowsky denies its existence.

Michael Schumacher was the best, but Mercedes should now be looking for a faster driver.
That is the view of the German’s former Ferrari teammate Eddie Irvine, who always said openly that Schumacher is simply better than him and his peers.

But, with Schumacher now 42 and struggling even for a podium in his comeback, Ulsterman Irvine said his former colleague is now being simply outclassed.

“There’s no point either for him or for his team,” he told Germany’s Auto Bild.

“His curve is downwards, so Mercedes is investing in falling stock,” added Irvine.

“Michael was an absolutely super driver. Everyone said he is a leader, the best developer, blah, blah blah — bullshit. He just had the most talent, incredible car control, incredible speed,” said the 45-year-old.

Schumacher admitted to Germany’s Sport Bild this week that he is no longer as good as he was when he won five consecutive titles at Ferrari.

“Am I as good, as perfect as I was during this time? Probably not,” he said. “I am after all 42.

“But am I still good enough? I would say definitely yes.”

Today’s FIA press conference at the Interlagos circuit was an all-Brazilian affair, with the two “new boys,” Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna, joined by their senior colleagues, Rubens Barrichello and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro’s Felipe Massa. Indeed, it was an all Paulista affair as the four are from the city of Sao Paolo.

Asked to look back at this season, Felipe singled out his qualifying performance as the worst feature of 2010. “This year’s results have not matched my expectations, especially in qualifying where I struggled to put together a good first lap on fresh tyres,” he said. “It’s true there have also been some races where I failed to finish in the points and then there was Singapore, where a qualifying problem meant I had to start from the back.”

As to this weekend’s home race, Felipe shared his fellow panelists’ enthusiasm for the Interlagos circuit. “I have great memories from here with two wins and poles in 2006, ’07 and ’08, which was the last time I raced here. Then going even further back, at the start of my career, I won here twice in Formula Chevrolet. This track has many interesting challenges and you can be creative with the set-up, while many sections of the track require a very technical approach. It might be a short lap, not like most of the new tracks, but this circuit is very well thought out and there is always overtaking here and some nice fights. But it is really the Brazilian people who make Interlagos special – they are so hot with emotion and they sing all day long in the grandstands, which is great for us Brazilian drivers, giving us some extra power.”

Mathematically, Fernando Alonso has a chance of winning the Drivers’ title on Sunday and Felipe was asked if he felt it might happen. “Well, Fernando is leading right now, so for sure I think he can do it here, but as we have seen this season, everything is possible. My personal aim is to try and win the race and of course I can help Fernando by taking points away from his rivals.”

This week sees the premiere of a film made about the life of Ayrton Senna and all four drivers were asked for their memories of the great Brazilian champion, who died during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. “Ayrton was really amazing and I remember so many of his races,” said Felipe. “But what really stands out in my mind was his ability in qualifying, not only taking pole in so many races, but often doing so with a big gap over the rest. For me, that was his strongest point.”

Mark Webber insists he is not concerned that it is Sebastian Vettel, and not himself, who is regarded as the star of the Red Bull team.

Australian Webber is better placed in the points standings than his German colleague Vettel, but team figures are insisting upon a situation of driver equality for the remaining two races of 2010.

Experts believe the situation is a reflection of the fact that it is 23-year-old Vettel who is the darling of the Austrian team.

“It doesn’t bother me at all,” Webber said in an interview with the Italian magazine Autosprint.

“I am 34 years old and I think it’s great that I’m still at the top level and as competitive as I am,” he added.

“If I was ten years younger and was getting the same results, I’m sure you’d all think I’m the superstar.

“I think the only difference is that Vettel is young. I don’t really see him working any differently than, say, Heikki (Kovalainen) at Lotus,” said Webber.

“I think the best way to judge someone is to consider the consistency of their results,” he added.

Ross Brawn has revealed he is worried about F1′s future without Bernie Ecclestone.

As the sport’s long-time ‘supremo’ turns 80 on Thursday, Brawn admitted he is concerned there is no “structure” in place to replace the diminutive Briton who has steered and shaped F1 for decades.

“We discuss it frequently,” he told the Telegraph. “We don’t have a solution.

“That is one of our fears. A succession plan for Bernie and (F1′s owners) CVC is not clear and is one of the things which teams are always seeking clarity on,” said Brawn.

But Max Mosley, the former long-time FIA president whose career in F1 politics began as Ecclestone’s lawyer and sidekick in the 70s, is confident the sport will not implode without him.

“No, it would just be different,” he said.

“When I wanted to step down from the FIA in 2004 I was told I couldn’t until I had a succession plan. Bernie needs a succession plan too but, secretly, he probably has one,” added Mosley.

Mosley hailed Ecclestone as a “master tactician”, and another long-time colleague Sir Frank Williams is also full of praise for the wily Briton, an “unparalleled negotiator”.

“What would happen if he were gone tomorrow? Well, not to devalue him in any sense, but I would hope formula one would not implode,” said Williams.

“Not only has Bernie structured long-term contracts with key parties, but he has placed a robust infrastructure around formula one and helped to populate it with clever people, so a bright, creative successor would emerge, such is the way of the world,” he added.

The union of formula one drivers, the GPDA, revealed in Korea last weekend their push for more influence in the sport’s decision-making processes.

According to the German magazine Speed Week, the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association – now headed by president Rubens Barrichello – met at the Yeongam circuit with FIA president Jean Todt.

“We want a permanent dialogue with the governing body,” Brazilian Barrichello, accompanied to the meeting by fellow GPDA directors Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa, is quoted as saying.

According to another German language report in motorline.cc, Barrichello and his colleagues believe some of the problems in Korea – like troublesome kerbs and the dangerous pit entry – would not have been encountered if the drivers were more seriously canvassed.

“It was ok,” Barrichello said after the meeting with Todt.

“We discussed three or four things and he was very open. All we want is for the GPDA to be able to contribute more to the future of the sport,” he added.

The design of Mercedes’ 2011 car is already in the wind tunnel and “more innovative” that its disappointing predecessor.

That is the claim of the German marque’s Norbert Haug, one day after team boss Ross Brawn admitted the W01 was designed too conservatively amid Brawn GP’s 2009 title challenge.

“The prototype of the new car is in the wind tunnel,” Haug told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “It will be more innovative, the result of taking more risks.

“The development of the current car is finished, so our engineers have more time to perhaps pursue some ideas that initially might seen outlandish.

“At the same time, our competitors are designing their new cars for 2011 whilst still fighting hard for this world championship,” added Haug.

In the same interview, the German also scotched reports he is at loggerheads with Brawn.

Working in the same office as his British colleague in the team’s offices at Yeongam, Haug insisted: “Does it look as though we cannot work with one another?”

However, much more pressing is the speculation that – at the end of another disappointing season next year – the team’s parent Daimler might pull the plug.

“Absolutely not,” Haug insists. “We certainly do not intend to be in the midfield, but no one at Mercedes is talking about quitting.”

Jacques Villeneuve has admitted he wants Mark Webber to beat his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel to the 2010 title.

The 1997 world champion, in Australia for a touring car race, said the Australian driver has been “amazing” in the face of difficult conditions.

“He’s been very strong mentally, it’s the best he’s ever driven, and the team has been against him as well,” said Villeneuve, referring to Webber’s struggle for status alongside the rising star Vettel in 2010.

Earlier this week, French Canadian Villeneuve said he thinks Webber has a mental advantage over Vettel, who he denounced as “spoilt” by Red Bull.

The German newspaper Die Welt said Villeneuve’s opinion is widespread within the driver camp, its headline announcing that Vettel is “unpopular among his colleagues”.

Rubens Barrichello said the ill-feeling can be traced back to Silverstone, where Webber triumphed despite publicly declaring he felt like a “number 2 driver”.

Red Bull has pledged equality, at least for the three-race run to the Abu Dhabi finale, but team boss Christian Horner thinks the team has bigger problems.

“We are going to have to reckon with tactical games,” said the Briton, referring to Ferrari’s clear system of preference as Felipe Massa supports Fernando Alonso’s title charge.

“Our philosophy,” added Horner, “is different.”

Christian Klien on Friday hinted he might appear on the formula one grid at the wheel of an HRT car in 2010.

At Silverstone, Bruno Senna was mysteriously dropped by the struggling Spanish team, replaced for the British event by test driver Sakon Yamamoto.

Austrian Klien, 27, is also a Hispania test driver.

When asked why Senna was sidelined at Silverstone, team boss Colin Kolles told the Australian broadcaster One-HD: “We have four drivers.”

For now, Klien said he is hoping to make another appearance in the F110 car during Friday practice.

“What is planned for Hockenheim, I don’t know,” he said in an interview with motorline.cc.

“Who will sit in the car, I think, will be a short-term decision.”

When asked if he might race at some point in 2010, as his Japanese test colleague did in Britain, Klien answered: “That, I don’t know.

“First I am thinking about the Friday testing — everything else is a team decision.

“Since the last race, it is the case that Hispania can nominate any of the four drivers for the race seat. And all four drivers are treated equally. After that, the decision rests with the team,” he added.

Klien also confirmed that, despite earlier uncertainty about the future of Geoff Willis, the Briton is working on HRT’s 2011 car.

Mercedes has played down an apparent incident between its F1 drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.

During Friday practice at Silverstone, Italian media colleagues spotted Schumacher waving his fist from his cockpit at his younger countryman Rosberg.

Blick newspaper said the 41-year-old had been held up on a fast lap, but quoted a Mercedes official as describing the incident as a “misunderstanding”.

And a British media colleague said Mercedes insists the relationship between the pair is still in good shape.

Also in the Silverstone paddock, Rosberg played down his recently misreported comments about the development pace of the W01 car.

“It is true that Valencia was a disaster for us,” he is quoted by Finland’s Turun Sanomat. “Who wants to be in positions 12 or 15?

“But I never criticised Ross, who I respect as a great personality and a skilful team leader.”