Jean Alesi would like to see the pressure eased on the shoulders of France’s new F1 hope.

Until Sunday, Alesi was the last French driver to have stood on a formula one podium, after taking his Sauber to third at Spa in 1998.

Romain Grosjean therefore ended a 14-year podium drought for France, tasting top-three spoils in just his eleventh race in formula one.

“(Grosjean as) My successor?” Alesi told RMC Sport. “I don’t see it that way.

“It’s promising but we need to leave him alone now,” the 47-year-old veteran of 202 grands prix over 13 seasons insisted.

Alesi is referring to the media hype about Grosjean after the first two races, when he failed to get his Lotus around even the first lap in Australia and Malaysia.

He then scored his first ever points in China and seven days later was on the podium, triggering press speculation in France that the tones of ‘La Marseillaise’ are next.

But there remains other pressures on Grosjean; exalted as France’s new hope, and at the same time accused of preventing Kimi Raikkonen from winning in Bahrain by not letting his faster teammate through in the absence of team orders.

“I know what I’m talking about,” said Alesi. “Since the beginning of the season there have been all sorts of comments about him.

“That isn’t right.

“He needs to have calm and take the time that he needs to get on top of everything.

“When it’s a podium, we’re all happy but when it’s a bad performance, we all have to be behind him too,” he added.

A support-race team and a respected journalist have become the next to pull out of this weekend’s highly controversial Bahrain grand prix.

The Porsche Supercup team MRS said its decision to skip the support race in the divided island Kingdom is the “first time in our history that we have had to cancel”.

“In the end we have the responsibility for our employees,” said team boss Karsten Molitor, citing security concerns.

Another withdrawal – joining the sacked Williams catering staff member, and the TV broadcasters Sky Deutschland, Fuji TV and MTV3 Finland – is the respected correspondent for O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, Livio Oricchio.

“I have decided in agreement with Estado to not go,” he said. “We had the tickets for the entire season, except for Bahrain and the United States, because there was a doubt they would be run.

“Like many journalists, I will not be at Sakhir,” Oricchio admitted.

“I always believed that the race would not take place, and I’m still not 100 per cent sure that something will not happen that will lead the FIA or FOM to cancel.”

Indeed, following the sport’s decision to push ahead, the pressure on formula one to cancel at the eleventh hour has only intensified.

Nabeel Rajab, the leader of the government opposition group Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, admitted that the next protests – ‘three days of rage’, to coincide with the race’s three-day calendar – are aimed specifically at F1.

“We’re protesting to show anger at formula one for conducting the race here,” he is quoted by the BBC.

And the wife of a well-known jailed Bahraini activist who is on a long hunger strike, added: “I am not angry with the government… what makes me angry is people like Ecclestone who decide to come to Bahrain because he thinks everyone is happy.”

Italy’s La Stampa reports that F1 personnel have been advised to stay away from restaurants and shops, while “girlfriends and wives stay at home”.

That’s not entirely true, as Felipe Massa touched down at the airport on Thursday with his wife and baby son.

And Giedo van der Garde, the reserve driver for Caterham, said he has found Bahrain peaceful since his arrival on Wednesday.

“I’ve not been here long,” he is quoted by Auto Hebdo, “but everything seems quiet. Obviously, there’s a heavy police presence,” the Dutchman continued.

“But I haven’t seen any trouble or anything. Let’s hope it stays like that.”

Marco Canseco, the correspondent for the Spanish sports daily Marca, said he witnessed a “minor altercation” in the capital Manama on Wednesday.

“Then all the teams and everybody were able to get to the track for work without a hitch, the same on return,” he revealed.

Many are protesting the race going ahead on moral grounds, others due to security fears, whilst others fear for F1′s image.

“The ongoing debate about Bahrain is the only damage to the high gloss of the exciting 2012 season so far,” agreed Austria’s Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

Red Bull has hit back at claims the team lied about a technical problem in Malaysia in order to gain a tactical advantage for the forthcoming races.

Near the end of the Sepang race, Sebastian Vettel’s engineer repeatedly instructed the back-to-back world champion to retire his RB8 car.

Team boss Christian Horner said the brake temperatures had risen to a dangerous level, but Vettel nonetheless raced to the chequered flag and finished eleventh, one position out of the points.

Horner explained Vettel did not hear the radio calls due to a “lightening strike”, but photos prove that the German driver was also repeatedly shown pit boards with the same messages.

And the 24-year-old revealed after the race: “Of course you can save the car, but I wanted to see the chequered flag. I think that’s how it should be.”

Moreover, the authoritative Auto Motor und Sport quotes Vettel as confirming: “I heard the command.”

Red Bull has been accused in some media reports of feigning the brake problem in order to retire the car for tactical reasons and therefore install a fresh gearbox for China next month without penalty.

Dr Helmut Marko told Bild newspaper: “After the crash (with Narain Karthikeyan), the temperature of the brakes rose far above the allowed level.

“We called him in purely because the car was no longer safe. It was not a tactical decision,” the Austrian insisted.

It is reported that Vettel will sit with his team bosses this week in Milton-Keynes to discuss the apparently ignored team order.

German racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck said: “Another driver would be fired, but Vettel has the confidence of being a double world champion.”

According to Welt newspaper, Swiss commentator Marc Surer added: “It was the right decision by Vettel, as the team needs to be careful with commands like that.”

 Two teams are in danger of sitting out Sunday’s Australian grand prix.
“The idea, here, is to qualify for the race,” Marussia’s Timo Glock told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper from Melbourne.

The hurdle that the struggling former Virgin team – as well as HRT – must get over, is the 107 per cent rule in Q1.

It is an even higher hurdle than last year, because Pirelli has made its harder tyres softer in 2012 — meaning the difference between the tyres being used by the quickest cars and the slowest cars in Q1 will be smaller.

More bad news is that Red Bull has brought new parts to Australia that could make qualifying-specialist Sebastian Vettel even faster on Saturday.

“If that’s true then the qualifying test for us – with zero kilometres under our belts – is almost impossible,” admitted Glock.

At HRT, the situation is arguably worse — especially for Pedro de la Rosa, who was little more than a spectator on Friday as the Spanish team built up his Cosworth-powered car at the eleventh hour.

“Keep smiling, be patient,” he is quoted by Auto Motor Und Sport, when asked what his mantra is in Melbourne.

“We need to think more in the medium term. We are experiencing the birth of a new racing team.

“For us, this year is not just about getting the new car up and running — over the next months, we are taking the whole team to Madrid.

“At the moment we are still operating from Madrid, Valencia and Munich,” he explained.

The Spanish team’s new boss Luis Perez Sala agreed that qualifying at Albert Park is a big ask.

“For us it has been almost a success just to be here in Melbourne because it has been very tough,” he said on Friday.

As for the 107 per cent rule, “It will be difficult for us,” said the former Minardi driver.

“I’m not thinking now about the speed of the car, I’m just trying to get all the things done that we need to do as best as possible to get into (practice) tomorrow.”

He said HRT will try again next weekend, in Malaysia.

“I would like them (the team) to relax a bit and we will see. Malaysia? Shanghai? Whatever.”

After Sunday’s Korean grand prix, Christian Klien could return to the wheel of the HRT for one or both of the remaining races of 2010.

That is the claim of the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, recalling the 27-year-old’s strong performance with the struggling Spanish team in Singapore recently.

With his apparent food poisoning gone, Japanese pay-driver Sakon Yamamoto returned to the Cosworth-powered car in Japan and Korea.

But Kleine Zeitung said HRT is now considering putting reserve driver Klien back in the car for Brazil or Abu Dhabi, in a last-ditch effort to beat Lotus to tenth place in the constructors’ world championship.

Lotus has been the best of the three new teams in 2010, but neither it, HRT or Virgin has scored a single point.

Lotus is currently tenth due to Heikki Kovalainen’s 12th place finish at Suzuka, but an eleventh for HRT or Virgin at Interlagos or Yas Marina next month would see Lotus overhauled.

Only the top ten constructors share in the annual distribution of prize-money under the provisions of the Concorde Agreement.

Klien said in Yeongam that 2010 has shown that some pay-drivers are not necessarily the best value for F1 teams relying on the lucrative Bernie Ecclestone income.

“There is one at Virgin and Renault, and possibly two at Hispania,” he said.

But Klien acknowledged that a surprise result for HRT with the F110 car is unlikely.

“We are the only team that, since the season opener in Bahrain, has not aerodynamically improved its car,” he said.

He is therefore more hopeful about 2011.

“In March next year, I definitely see myself in a formula one cockpit,” said Klien.

New F1 circuits look unlikely to be able to emulate Korea, whose delayed Yeongam venue was given an eleventh-hour reprieve by the FIA.

Usually, the governing body inspects a new track 90 days before the inaugural race date, giving either a thumbs-up or down.

But in the case of Korea, with construction badly delayed, Charlie Whiting kept postponing the final inspection until mere days before this week’s event.

“Is that going to happen again? No,” said Nick Craw, FIA senate president.

He was speaking to the Austin American Statesman newspaper, after visiting the site of the 2012 United States grand prix and saying he was happy with the organisers’ plans.

American Craw said future races in India and Russia will also be subject to the 90-day rule, to almost certainly be reinforced by the FIA at its November meeting.

“That probably protects everybody’s interest a little better than running right up against the event and saying, ‘Golly gee, we’ve got it wrong’,” he explained.

However, the construction timetable for the Austin race is tight, and he revealed that he will lobby against the 90-day rule if race promoter Tavo Hellmund thinks it will be a problem.

And Hellmund confirmed: “We certainly don’t want the mandate of 90 days because the only track it would affect in the world would be this one.”

A mechanic has been dismissed by Toro Rosso following an incident before Sunday’s Singapore grand prix.

Jaime Alguersuari qualified a strong eleventh under the street circuit’s lights, but then had to start the race from the pitlane due to a coolant leak.

“My hopes of having a good day disappeared,” recalled the Spaniard.

According to Spanish reports, including in the AS newspaper and the Motor21 website, an unnamed mechanic apparently discovered the leak with five hours to spare but did nothing but regularly wipe up the water puddle.

The problem therefore only came to the attention of the Faenza based team in general after Alguersuari left the pits to form up on the grid.  There was then not enough time to replace the radiator before the pitlane closed.

Toro Rosso has been contacted for comment.

Priority number one: delete slipped Brno With this belief, the Forlì Andrea Dovizioso going to compete in the Indianapolis circuit for the eleventh round of the 2010 season. The defeat of the Czech Republic in fact, with dangerous crash at turn ten, during the third lap, with bike and rider remained at the center of the track, was doubly bitter if you count the pilot Honda HRC had shown more than a step competitive all weekend.

A race pace definitely more important than that incurred last year on the American track, where he took fourth place in each event final. But the performance of teammate at Indy in the 2009 season bodes well Italian, for a benefit to help him climb the charts and change the downward trend over the first half of the season.

“I always look good with eye on competing in the U.S.”says Andrea Dovizioso, “and this time is no different. I like to visit America, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the typical American home with great facilities and huge galleries. The MotoGP circuit is not particularly interesting but the atmosphere is always special. The circuit has many different types of surface and last have made everything difficult enough, but I think with the package available now, especially with this weight distribution, varieties of asphalt and different grip levels will not be a problem.

Looking back at the Grand Prix at Brno I must admit that, except the final result was a good weekend. We were competitive, our race pace was good but the result has not arrived. So now we go to Indy determined to transform this good performance results. We need good performance for the team and the classification. Last year I finished fourth, but we were not as fast as the front runners, and Dani (Pedrosa) is very fast. But this means that we have the potential to do well, and this is another reason for the weekend. “

The overtaking of Rubens Barrichello to Michael Schumacher Fans deals, media, and currently also the race stewards. The Williams driver was the Germans at the start-finish straight to overtake, but Schumacher pushed him towards the pit wall, left him little room.

“I wanted to make the life course as difficult as possible, that’s understandable. It has often happened, DSAs if you are sitting in the car, one with the little mirror has a vision, and one out with the various TV cameras, perhaps might have a different view. I’ll be watching it later. ”
“Everyone has his own perspective. If you want to see the facts, then it was obvious enough space, so he has durchgepasst. Of course I had clear intention not to allow him the line to shut down. A change of direction is indeed welcome. I I suggested to him trying to choose the other side, as would have been much more space. ”

“The fact is that we have not touched and Rubens is driven past. So must have been enough room to be. Unfortunately, God, for I really would like to have made the line so that he must use the other side. This would have been open. I have in the proposed, but that he did not respond. ”

The fact that Barrichello claimed more during the race, the disqualification, can be cold Schumacher: “I know Rubens long enough. We all know what views he represents in part. There go our somewhat apart. I have no problem it must, since you ask him. ”

Even the charge that he had closed the line too late, he can not be sitting on: “I see the course different. It is the view depends. We sit in the cars have there only the small mirror. We try to estimate certain things and behave accordingly. Of course, fair but tough, we are indeed in Formula 1 and not on a walk in the park. When you see things on TV and has since different perspective, one can perhaps to a different opinion come. The course I had not. ”

The fact that going ore hard, wants Schumacher also not dismissed out of hand: “From my point of view was correct, what I did, otherwise I would not have done it. I am aware that I no gifts distributed, but also races go, do it against my colleagues. I think that everyone knows by now. I try to behave accordingly. ”

The race, which he eventually finished eleventh out of the points was not a simple one: “This was certainly a race for which I worked harder than for many other in the past. If the behavior of a car is difficult, and the vote here carries with it certain problems, one is employed at the wheel, of course, more to keep the car on the track. ”

“It must be very clear that our performance today was present in moderation. Points would have been possible, as has our pit stop, certainly not entirely helped. So far, my boys the best in the pitlane, as it would be absolutely unfair to them . criticize ”

“Of course I was driving on the limit, but the car responds now and then to surprise something that does not make it easier. This also increases tire wear and bring with it a chain reaction, which we of the performance a bit limited.”

Now the family man is happy only once on the holiday: “I’m definitely looking forward to the holidays, a bit of time could use the guys. Then we can with the old strength and fresh tailwind maybe way back in Spa to its former strength.”