Lotus is the “biggest surprise” of the 2012 season so far, Red Bull’s team owner Dietrich Mateschitz has admitted.

In an interview with Austria’s Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper, the billionaire mogul was mildly critical of the “lottery” that is this year’s championship, with Pirelli’s unpredictable tyres setting the scene.

“That is going to continue,” Mateschitz said.

“Then it will gradually turn into a duel between McLaren and Red Bull Racing,” he predicted.

“Mercedes are still not able to keep doing in the race what they are doing in qualifying. So we are not convinced of their F-duct (double DRS) system and we won’t try to copy it.

“Ferrari needs to try the hardest to catch up. And Lotus are the big surprise for me,” he insisted.

Paul di Resta has emerged as the latest candidate to possibly succeed struggling Felipe Massa at Ferrari.

Britain’s Mirror newspaper said the famous Maranello based team has “made enquiries” about the 26-year-old Scot’s current contract with Force India.

The speculation follows Red Bull’s closing down of rumours linking Mark Webber with the switch, as Christian Horner and Dietrich Mateschitz suggested the Australian is set to continue beyond his 2012 contract.

Ferrari chiefs “are known to be impressed” with di Resta since he moved as the reigning DTM champion to formula one at the end of 2010, the Mirror’s F1 correspondent Byrton Young wrote.

“Paul di Resta would be a very good target for Ferrari because (Fernando) Alonso probably has the best toolkit of knowledge and physically is one the best drivers in the world,” triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart is quoted by the Daily Mail.

“Alonso is almost at his peak and to have a young driver such as di Resta be an understudy to Alonso is something I’d consider if I was at Ferrari,” he added.

Mark Webber appears headed for a new contract with Red Bull, after receiving a clear vote of confidence from the energy drink company’s chief.

Following speculation the 35-year-old Australian could be headed to Ferrari in 2013, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insisted Webber “is happy to be here, and we are happy to have him with us”.

And the Swiss newspaper Blick has revealed that team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, the billionaire mogul, is also happy with Webber.

“I hope that he keeps driving with us for a long time,” the 68-year-old is quoted as saying.

Sebastian Vettel has hit back at what he thinks was an “exaggerated” reaction to Michael Schumacher after the recent Bahrain grand prix.

Schumacher, Vettel’s countryman and friend, had heavily criticised the sport’s official supplier Pirelli, despite the Italian marque’s 2012 tyres being widely credited for the exciting grands prix seen so far this year.

“It’s been a bit exaggerated,” world champion Vettel, referring to the reaction to Schumacher’s comments, is quoted by Sport Bild.

“Ultimately, we all have the same tyres, but of course as a driver you always want more grip, whether from the tyres or from the car.

“It is in our nature to want more — more especially than the others,” he smiled.

“When I talk about this with Michael, it’s not so dramatic. He has been around for a long time and has seen a lot, also when it comes to tyres.

“I don’t think he is so easily shocked,” insisted Vettel.

* Energy drink Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz made a rare visit to the sport’s action on Thursday, catching the final day of Mugello testing.

Dr Helmut Marko has admitted Red Bull has work to do in order to return to the front in formula one.

Having dominated F1′s recent history, the energy drink owned team is now behind McLaren in the constructors’ standings after two races in 2012, while its highest placed driver is Mark Webber in fourth.

Austrian Marko, the motor racing advisor to Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz, insisted that Adrian Newey and his technical team have built a good car for 2012.

“But it doesn’t help,” he told Salzburg television channel Servus TV, “if we are the fastest only in certain conditions, rather than consistently.

“To tell you the truth, at the moment it’s almost as though the car decides when it is the fastest, and when it is not,” Marko said during the ‘Sport und Talk aus dem Hangar-7′ programme.

The outspoken manager also vigorously defended Sebastian Vettel in the wake of the Narain Karthikeyan affair, after Red Bull’s world champion lost his temper with the HRT driver following a clash in Malaysia.

Marko firmly pointed the finger at F1′s backmarkers.

“We have told our team manager to talk to both Marussia and Hispania about getting their drivers to simply pay more attention,” he said.

“They are driving in another league, they’re six or eight seconds slower, and so they need to watch out more than they do.

“They are 12 points Vettel lost that could be crucial in the world championship,” added Marko.

He also fended off the claim that Vettel’s behaviour in Malaysia, featuring the display of middle fingers and calling Karthikeyan an “idiot”, was not worthy of a role model.

“You’ve just been in a race, you’ve seen the chance of possibly a third place go away — you’re naturally upset because he’s a human as well.

“I think we can understand an emotional reaction,” added Marko.

 Christian Horner has told British newspapers he is not switching to Ferrari.
As Red Bull looks to have its fourth consecutive championship-contending car on its hands for 2012, F1′s most famous team Ferrari has kicked off its new title campaign in stark contrast, with a car not yet fit for the podium.

Designer Adrian Newey has already said no to a switch to the Maranello marque, and now Horner – Red Bull’s 38-year-old team principal – has scotched similar speculation about his own future.

“Ferrari is a great team but my future is committed to Red Bull,” he is quoted by the Sun.

“You can see what the appeal is at Ferrari but you can also see the pitfalls.”

And the Briton is quoted by the Daily Mail: “Dietrich Mateschitz gave me the chance as a 31-year-old to step into formula one and entrusted me to build a team for him.

“I feel very much part of the team and I have no burning desire within me to go and work at Ferrari.

“I am happy where I am. I have a multi-year commitment,” Horner insisted.

The original creator of the Red Bull energy drink has died.
Chaleo Yoovidhya formulated the drink – Krathing Daeng, which translates to ‘Red Bull’ in English – in the 70s, before co-founding a company with Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz in 1984.

Thai state media MCOT on Saturday said billionaire Yoovidhya, 89, died of natural causes.

Billionaire Mateschitz owns the Red Bull and Toro Rosso formula one teams.

 With an eye on the usual suspects McLaren and Ferrari, Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz thinks yet another team could be a real challenger in 2012.
Referring to Mercedes, he told the Austrian newspaper Kurier that the Ross Brawn-led team seems to have come up with “very good improvements” and “a major development”.

He is believed to be referring to clever new systems on the W03, with the latest discovery said to boost top speed significantly by combining ‘DRS’ with a new and legal F-duct solution.

Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko agrees that the Mercedes idea is “shrewd”, adding that there is not time to fit a similar system to the RB8 before Melbourne.

Triple world champion Niki Lauda told Germany’s RTL television: “I think the McLaren and the Red Bull cars are on par.

“Mercedes is the big question mark — I think they are also really fast.”

Finally realising Mercedes’ apparent speed, a newspaper recently crowned the Brackley based team the ‘Bluff champion’ of the 2012 winter.

Michael Schumacher, however, insists it has not been a deliberate strategy.

“Formula one is just so complex that we simply don’t know much about how the other teams are going. Clearly, the W03 is a step forward,” he told Bild-Zeitung.

“The question is how big our step has been compared to the others. We really need to wait until the first race.”

Red Bull has devised a “clever” way of reclaiming some of the downforce lost through the banning of blown diffusers.
That is the claim of Jean Francois Caubet, who is in charge of the team’s engine supplier Renault.

Red Bull, the reigning back to back world champions, and Renault Sport F1 have worked more closely than ever before ahead of their 2012 title defence.

“Formula one is about creativity,” Caubet is quoted by Germany’s Auto Bild, “and although the rules have changed, we have worked with Red Bull and found a solution to compensate for the loss of performance.”

Last year, the cars acquired extra downforce through the ‘blowing’ of hot engine exhaust gases into the diffuser, even when the driver was off the throttle.

It is rumoured that, despite the FIA’s ban, some teams have flown close to the letter of the new rules with their new solutions.

“It is not the same as before,” Caubet continued, “but a clever development that could make the difference.”

After the first week of testing at Jerez recently, some observed that Adrian Newey’s new Red Bull RB8 was cornering as though on rails.

“That’s because we all used to play with model trains,” joked team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

Added Newey: “The exhaust is one of the areas in which we still have some ideas up our sleeves.”

Dietrich Mateschitz has left open the door to Mark Webber receiving a new contract to keep racing with Red Bull beyond 2012.
The Australian is the only significant member of the championship-winning team who is not yet already signed up for the 2013 season.

But billionaire team owner Mateschitz this week backed Webber, 35, to return to Sebastian Vettel’s pace this year, insisting the pair will receive no more or less than equality in 2012.

At the same time, however, Webber was utterly dominated by Vettel last season, causing some experts to predict that Red Bull will replace him for 2013.

Indeed, Mateschitz said at the Jerez test last week that “Our primary goal is to put one of our juniors in the car”.

He told the German-language Speed Week magazine: “That’s one reason why we changed the drivers at Toro Rosso.

“Both (Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne) are highly talented and have great potential, but the question will only arise if, for example, Webber stops at the end of 2012.”

Jean-Eric Vergne has revealed he will try to keep the “tension” down to a minimum inside the Toro Rosso garage in 2012.
Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz this week has admitted that, beyond Mark Webber’s 2012 contract, “Our primary goal is to put one of our juniors” alongside Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull.

With Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari ousted by the energy drink’s Faenza based secondary team after 2011, those most eligible juniors are now French rookie Vergne and his new Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

At Jerez last week in the new STR7 car, their rivalry got off to a fascinating start.

By the end of the four days of running, their fastest laps were separated by no more than one hundredth of a second — with Ricciardo enjoying the miniscule edge for the moment.

With a Red Bull seat up for grabs, 21-year-old Vergne admitted to RMC radio that the stakes are high.

But “There was not too much tension,” he insists. “You have to forget about all those different aspects when you think about the work you need to do.

“We had four good days of testing. The engineers are working now for the next test in Barcelona at the end of the month.

“There is a competition with my teammate but at the same time we can’t (let it) go in the wrong direction.

“You always want to beat everybody but my teammate is also the only other person who is working on the very same car as me,” added Vergne.

 Dietrich Mateschitz is giving Mark Webber at least an equal chance to get back on terms with his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel in 2012.
After his 2010 title challenge, Webber was utterly dominated by back to back world champion Vettel last year.

But team owner Mateschitz told Kleine Zeitung newspaper that the pair will continue to have equal status this season.

“Our attitude has not changed — there are no team orders,” the Austrian billionaire said. “It starts at zero again, for both of them.”

As for which Red Bull driver will get the upper hand in 2012, Mateschitz is open minded.

“From today’s point of view it is difficult to say. But why not (Webber)? I’m curious to know how hard or difficult or impossible it will be for Vettel to defend his dominance,” he added.

Beyond 2012, however, Webber has no contract, and Mateschitz confessed that “our primary goal is to put one of our juniors in the car”.

He also admitted that rule changes could play against Red Bull for 2012, but still expects Adrian Newey’s car to be on the pace.

“The competition copied from us so much last year that at the end our advantages were no longer the same. But at the last race we still had quite a bit of an edge.

“Of course you take that into the new year.”

Based on the initial Jerez test, however, he said it is too early to say the RB8 is the best car.

“These tests are not to scale,” said Mateschitz. “Everyone drives with their own goals and plans or to meet certain criteria.

“But I do think the balance of power has stayed about the same.”

Ferrari’s worrying start to the 2012 pre-season got a boost on Friday when Fernando Alonso topped the times in the famous team’s new car.
Earlier, when Red Bull’s Dietrich Mateschitz was in the paddock, he wondered to Blick newspaper: “What’s up with Ferrari?”

Former Ferrari driver Mika Salo answered: “They’re having problems at every corner.”

But although not as quick as the impressive Lotus earlier this week, Spaniard Alonso was faster than all comers on the last of the four-day session at Jerez, including Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel who had technical problems.

Typically, Alonso was giving nothing away.

“This time is worth nothing as is the one I set yesterday and those of the previous days,” he said.

He was also not getting excited about Lotus’ potential title challenge.

“I don’t know as even for them it’s a bit early and I would rather just say I am very happy to see Kimi (Raikkonen) back.

“He’s a great driver and a great person,” said Alonso.

He may share a garage with the reigning double world champion, but Mark Webber will still have an equal chance to win in 2012.
That is the news of Red Bull’s low-profile mogul Dietrich Mateschitz, who made a rare visit to a formula one paddock this week at Jerez.

Asked if Sebastian Vettel’s Australian teammate will have equal status this season, the Austrian billionaire insisted: “Absolutely.

“Both get the same equipment,” he told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper.

“The only change is that Mark has a new chief mechanic.”

Mateschitz, 67, said the obvious target for Red Bull in 2012 is to win again.

“We really have no choice except to defend our two world titles,” he insisted.

“Also Toro Rosso will have to improve; the team should be in the midfield and fighting for fifth place with Force India, Sauber and Lotus.”

 Alongside step noses, clever exhausts and Lotus’ surprise pace, another point of interest in the Jerez paddock this week is Mercedes’ radical front wing.
Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said the German team, albeit still running its 2011 car, tested a new front wing featuring a passive F-duct style system.

In Nico Rosberg’s hands, the W02 was quickest of all on Thursday, just as it had been when Michael Schumacher was driving earlier.

The German report said air enters Mercedes’ revolutionary nose at the tip, where it is rechanneled onto the front wing.

Auto Motor und Sport said McLaren Whitmarsh estimates the top speed benefit of the system, which first appeared on the Mercedes in prototype form late last season, to be around 5 and 8kph.

“For the front wing, there are no (F-duct) rules,” said the Auto Motor und Sport report. “It is legal.”

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz was in the Jerez paddock on Thursday, checking out his team’s progress and also the new cars fielded by rivals Ferrari and McLaren.

“Now we are all waiting for Mercedes,” he said.