Charlie Whiting has defended the decision in Spain to move Lewis Hamilton from pole to the very rear of the grid.

Although McLaren was widely criticised for making a grave error, the stewards’ penalty was at the same time described by the world’s press as “draconian”.

“Quite frankly I did not expect the penalty that we received,” said McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

Indeed, given that McLaren’s fuel indiscretion occurred only in the decisive Q3, why not simply delete Hamilton’s Q3 laptimes, thereby putting the Briton mid-grid for the race?

“We had no room to move,” Whiting, the FIA’s race director, responded to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport when told that Hamilton’s penalty seemed too severe.

“If there is a violation, it applies to the whole session, not just part of it,” he insisted. “Qualifying begins with Q1.”

Whiting explained that if Hamilton had only lost his Q3 time, a precedent would have been set tempting teams to risk not being checked for the mandatory 1 litre fuel sample in post-qualifying scrutineering.

Auto Motor und Sport said only one or two fuel samples are actually checked after qualifying at grands prix.

Competitors could, therefore, genuinely “run the risk” of using less fuel than is allowed in Q3, if the penalty for being caught is relatively light, Whiting argued.

He recalled last year’s German grand prix, when Sebastien Buemi was sent to the back of the grid because his fuel sample showed irregularities.

As it was not possible to check if the illegal fuel had also been used in Q1 and Q2, the Toro Rosso driver had to be disqualified from qualifying, Whiting argued.

 With the 2012 season now looming, Dr Helmut Marko has admitted Red Bull is “slightly ahead” of its rivals.
February’s official testing season is over, leaving competitors and pundits to predict the likely pecking order less than two weeks before the Melbourne grid forms.

“I see it like this,” Red Bull consultant and driver manager Marko told Austrian television Servus TV.

“We are slightly ahead, then there are McLaren and Mercedes — I don’t know exactly, but not far away,” he said.

On the other hand, Marko said Ferrari does not appear an immediate challenger.

“At Jerez, their car was very bad. It has improved since then, but as we speak, Ferrari, I believe, are not in a position to go onto the podium,” said the Austrian.

Mark Webber has backed his rival Lewis Hamilton to bounce back in 2012.
McLaren’s 2008 world champion had a tumultuous season on and off the circuit last year, but has returned having reunited with his girlfriend and with extra support in the form of Mika Hakkinen’s former manager Didier Coton.

“It’s normal for a sportsman or woman to go through some headwinds in their career — particularly someone like him who had so much success so early, and he’s black, and he’s got interest, and he’s got a girlfriend of profile,” Red Bull driver Webber is quoted by the Sun newspaper.

“Let’s hope he’s strong but not too strong. As a competitor you hope he can realise his potential but clearly we still want to beat him,” added the plain-talking Australian.

Despite winning the season ending Brazilian grand prix last year, Webber also had a less than ideal 2011 as his teammate Sebastian Vettel utterly dominated.

The 35-year-old, however, has lost a couple of kilos over the winter and insists he is ready for 2012.

F1 chief executive Ecclestone backs Webber to succeed.

“I think Mark will be the guy who will threaten him (Vettel) if anybody,” the 81-year-old told The Australian newspaper.

“The last time I spoke to him about it, he was really motivated.”

The precise pecking-order is clouded, but one thing is clear: 2012 looks set to be a highly competitive season in formula one.
“There are a lot of cars out there that look competitive,” said McLaren’s Jenson Button, on the day Williams’ Pastor Maldonado set the quickest time in the midst of the second group test in Barcelona.

Earlier this week, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was the pacesetter, causing Mercedes’ Norbert Haug to tell Bild newspaper: “That’s great.”

“I didn’t expect that,” agreed world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Hulkenberg smiled: “‘Test champion’ gives me nothing. But I am in good shape.”

Vettel continued to Kleine Zeitung newspaper: “This year everything is closer together”, he said, after his teammate Mark Webber admitted there is “no question” Red Bull needs to keep working on the pace of its new RB8.

According to Die Welt newspaper, Vettel continued: “Most of the competitors are difficult to assess. It’s the same old game.”

He is referring to unknown fuel levels, tyre age and differing approaches and programmes — and teams’ deliberate sandbagging or ‘show-run’ efforts.

“I never paid too much attention to direct comparisons on headline laptimes,” insisted David Coulthard, “but on the longer runs you can start to build a picture.”

Williams engineer Mark Gillan told Auto Motor und Sport: “It seems as though the entire field has moved much closer together. It will be a tough fight.”

An early assessment of the pecking order might have Red Bull and McLaren at the front, and Mercedes and Lotus possibly ready to join the fight.

“It looks like Red Bull are fairly stable,” Coulthard agreed to Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency, “(and) McLaren and Mercedes maybe closer than they were.

“Ferrari is a bit of an unknown but I wouldn’t write them off. Let’s be patient, another three weeks of tweaking and then we’ll find out,” said the former McLaren and Red Bull driver.

With one group test and three weeks until Melbourne, Ferrari, Red Bull and Lotus have modified their pre-season programme.
According to widespread media reports, and confirmed by the top teams, Red Bull and Ferrari will delay their Barcelona running next week by a day.

They will therefore test between Friday and Monday rather than Thursday through Sunday.

It is believed they argued successfully to their competitors, who needed to unanimously green-light the change, that Mercedes set the precedent by leaving Jerez one day early recently in order to run alone on the day before this week’s Barcelona test.

Speculation indicates that Ferrari wants the one-day delay in order to gain more time to manufacture parts.

Following a difficult start to the life of the Italian team’s radical new F2012 car, F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone this week said Ferrari “know what the problem is”.

“It’s not a (difficult) problem to fix,” he told reporters, “so I think you’re going to find that they are going to fix it quite shortly.”

Red Bull, meanwhile, wants some quieter running in order to test parts that have been held back by Adrian Newey’s technical team, according to rumours.

“They haven’t shown everything yet,” thinks Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, according to Bild newspaper.

And Lotus will almost certainly be granted an extra test day in addition to next week’s four days of Barcelona running, after the former Renault team pulled out this week after discovering a serious chassis problem.

“This request will probably be accepted by the other teams,” Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn confirmed to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Heikki Kovalainen insists he has “no concerns” despite having to start work with a new teammate less than a month before the 2012 season.

In 2010 and 2011, and since the formation of the former Lotus team, Kovalainen has shared the green garage with fellow grand prix winner Jarno Trulli.

Now, Caterham has replaced the Italian veteran with the much less experienced Vitaly Petrov, who has moved his Russian backing from Lotus (formerly Renault).

“I got along well with Jarno, but a new teammate doesn’t change my life in any way,” Kovalainen insisted to Finland’s Turun Sanomat newspaper.

“I have met with Vitaly here in Barcelona and I don’t have any concerns. He is definitely a strong competitor but I always give 110 per cent to beat my teammate.

“I don’t underestimate anyone,” he added.

Kovalainen admitted that Petrov might have to adjust to the fact that Caterham is smaller than Lotus, and the car not as competitive.

“Of course he has to get used to the team,” he said, “and if he has any questions, I’m available.

“But Vitaly is a professional driver and in F1 it is expected that the driver is able to start tackling the programme right away.”

 Lotus could become the next team to withdraw from the formula one teams association FOTA.
Already departed are HRT, Sauber and Toro Rosso and also the top teams Red Bull and Ferrari, leaving fellow grandees McLaren, Mercedes and the others on the wrong side of their competitors’ former unity.

Now, this week, team owner Gerard Lopez has been quoted as admitting that Lotus is contemplating pulling out.

The reasons for the withdrawals appear different, with Red Bull having been accused of breaching the gentleman’s Resource Restriction Agreement (RRA) and Ferrari rumoured to want to use its individual power to shape the future of the sport’s rules and structure.

The formerly BMW-owned Sauber, however, insisted that recent cost-cutting in formula one has not made it easier for smaller teams to survive.

“The RRA was a step in the right direction, but now other steps must urgently follow,” he told F1′s official website.

“It definitely has not become easier for the smaller teams.”

But beneath the surface, unity has not broken down completely, argues McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh, who doubles as the FOTA chairman.

It is true, for example, that the new non-FOTA members will continue to respect aspects of the body’s agreements, such as the summer factory closure.

“I’m not too hung up on the brand ‘FOTA’,” Whitmarsh said recently.

“I think what’s important is that the teams realise there are critical issues within this sport where it will be better if we cooperate and take sensible decisions, and I hope and believe that we’ll continue to do that.”

He added last month: “Relations between McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari remain very good indeed.”

Toro Rosso counts Caterham – the 2010 start-up team that has failed to score a single point since inception – among its close rivals for 2012.
Last season, the Red Bull-owned rookie team Toro Rosso finished the championship in eighth place with 41 points, well clear of Williams and behind Sauber and Force India.

“Our direct competitors are Sauber, Force India and Caterham,” the Faenza based team’s boss Franz Tost is quoted by autohebdo.fr.

Formerly Lotus, the Tony Fernandes-led Caterham team has been the best of the new 2010 teams including Marussia (nee Virgin) and HRT.

“Caterham has managed to build a good infrastructure,” Tost is quoted as saying.

“They have the Renault engine and a KERS from Red Bull and it means their package is good.

“They have two experienced drivers and I expect they will become our rivals.

“Our goal is to take seventh place in the championship — we must do better than last year,” added Tost.

HRT is apparently no longer pushing so hard to have exhaust blown diffusers banned in 2011.
At recent races, the Spanish team has been threatening to protest the results after the FIA vowed to crack down on the technology that has moved into the realm of outlawed ‘moveable aerodynamic devices’.

But ahead of this weekend’s Canadian grand prix, Hispania announced that one of their developments is a “new exhaust system”.

It emerged during morning practice in Montreal that, in collaboration with engine supplier Cosworth, the system is indeed a blown exhaust.

That means that the only team not running a blown exhaust of any type at present is HRT’s nearest competitor, Virgin, who according to Auto Motor und Sport will not be ready to re-introduce a similar layout until Silverstone.

The FIA still intends to push on with the ban, however, with talks scheduled for the technical working group meeting next Thursday.

Asked on Friday about speculation of a ban, HRT’s technical director Geoff Willis told the BBC: “It’s going to be very tricky.

“There may be a solution for 2012, but what we do for 2011 is going to be very difficult in terms of what’s fair for everybody.”

Pirelli and the F1 teams are looking into options so that the sport’s new tyre supplier can test with a fully up-to-date car.
In its development preparations for the 2011 season, the Italian marque has used a 2009-specification Toyota run by the departed F1 team.

But with the 2011-generation cars now set to be launched and tested, Pirelli has reportedly decided that its future testing work should not be done with an outdated two-year-old mule.

And Italy’s Autosprint reports that Pirelli has decided it needs to use a fully-modern F1 car rather than a “hybrid” solution.

Another option rejected on cost grounds is Toyota’s offer to update the TF109 in the wind tunnel so that it better reflects the behaviour of the 2011 cars.

And some teams are reportedly worried about giving away an advantage should Pirelli test a car built by any of the active F1 outfits.

Autosprint said two options are under review by the teams association FOTA. One of them is to use an external team to run a test car designed by an active competitor.

Another option is that, for example if Pirelli schedules seven private track outings, the cars of the seven highest-placed teams are alternatively used for the tyre testing.

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.”

Lucas di Grassi is disappointed to be sitting out Friday evening’s initial practice session on the streets of Singapore.

For the next four initial Friday sessions in Singapore, Japan, Korea and Brazil, the Brazilian rookie must give up his Virgin cockpit to the team’s new test driver Jerome d’Ambrosio.

Di Grassi is quoted by the Brazilian outlet Agencia Estado as admitting that missing practice in Singapore is a particular disadvantage.

“This is my first time in Singapore.  It’s a pity I am missing the first session as the circuit is one of the most difficult in the entire calendar,” he said.

“But it was a team decision based on a financial issue and I must respect it,” added the 26-year-old.

“It’s going to affect my adaptation to the track conditions and also the balance of the car,” di Grassi warned.  “But I will do everything I can to make up for the lost time in the second practice.

“As a competitor, it’s a frustrating situation, but it’s a challenge that will not stop me from trying to do my best throughout the weekend,” he added.

If Belgian d’Ambrosio can amass EUR 5 million in sponsorship, it is believed Virgin is considering signing him to be Timo Glock’s 2011 teammate.

Formula 2 champion Dean Stoneman gets a prize for his title win a Formula 1 test in a Williams and a FIA Super Licence
Dean Stoneman has stood down yesterday as the new Formula 2 champion and therefore can now make the next career step thoughts. This is definitely a formula – even if only for a day. Expected at the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi will be sitting in the Brit Williams.

For the FIA as a prize for the championship not only an F1 super license, but also a day of testing in the Williams does not. Last year Andy Soucek was able to enjoy this pleasure, the Spaniard was able to use his chance despite day’s best time but not in Jerez de la Frontera and missed the jump in a Grand Prix cockpit. Even his Virgin contract as test driver has now been resolved.
“To come into Formula 1,” said Stoneman, “was always my big dream. To this I am now one step closer.’s Hard to say what to expect there, but it is a fantastic opportunity, a Williams Formula to test-a-car. Hopefully I can prove myself, I’ll just fly and do what I do best: get in the car and drive as fast as I can. ”

Series Promoter Jonathan Palmer is also pleased with Stoneman, although that has beaten in the title fight just his son Jolyon: “Dean has made this season a great job and is certainly a worthy Formula 2 champion,” said the former Grand Prix driver ( 83 Rennteilnahmen 1983-1989). “He is an exceptional talent, extremely fast, a tough competitor and, moreover, very consistent.”

“I am very confident that Dean will provide the high standard of competition in Formula 2 demonstrated by the Williams test delivers an impressive performance,” shows the Formula 2 boss confidence in his new hope. “The fact that the affordable and balanced starter box, Dean has given the opportunity to demonstrate his talent, without a big budget, have certainly others will be inspired.”

Adrian Newey was hospitalised after a racing crash in England at the weekend.

Red Bull’s famous technical boss, whose RB6 car has won six grands prix so far in 2010, was contesting the Ginetta support-race during the British touring car round at Snetterton.

Competing in a guest car, the 51-year-old was tipped into a spin before being struck side-on by another competitor.

Briton Newey was removed from the car on a stretcher and taken to hospital for precautionary checks.

Reports said he was talking in the ambulance on the way to hospital but in some pain, and the Ginetta series’ boss Lawrence Tomlinson confirmed he had escaped serious injury.

“It’s testament to the strength of the G50 roll cage that the car withstood heavy impact and there were no serious injuries,” he said.

Red Bull driver Mark Webber will be at the wheel of ‘Luscious Liz’ at this weekend’s British grand prix.

The RB6 chassis was named by his teammate Sebastian Vettel at the beginning of the season, before it sustained damage and the German underperformed while Webber dominated in Barcelona and Monaco.

So Vettel, 23, stepped into the winter testing chassis and called it ‘Randy Mandy’.

Meanwhile, the car driven to Webber’s earlier emphatic wins this season has been temporarily retired after his backflip in the recent European grand prix.

After a tour of the team’s Milton Keynes factory on Wednesday, the news agency PA said Webber will now race Vettel’s earlier chassis.

The crashed car, currently featuring scrawled messages including ‘RIP’ courtesy of the mechanics, is now being repaired and will be used as the spare monocoque in Britain.

“I don’t get attached to cars, but clearly that one was unique,” said Webber, 33.

He revealed that after he won at Monaco, the team promised him he could keep the RB6.

“They’ll probably give me something else (now),” he added. “But the car did a great job for me in two cases. It won races for me, and it looked after me when I needed it.”

Webber’s new car is unlikely to feature the ‘Luscious Liz’ signage on the dashboard, with the Australian admitting his relationship with German Vettel is “pretty good” after their Istanbul crash but they don’t get on “like a house on fire”.

“If Seb’s drowning in the ocean then I’ll go and help him out. It’s not easy to have a beautiful, fuzzy, warm relationship when your teammate is clearly a competitor,” he said.