The Italian press has pointed the finger at Vitaly Petrov’s “rubles” as Jarno Trulli races out of formula one.
With Vitantonio Liuzzi replaced at HRT by Narain Karthikeyan, and veteran Trulli ousted at Caterham by Petrov, F1 history enters a new phase as Italy no longer has a single driver on the grid.

“If you look,” said former grand prix winner Riccardo Patrese to La Stampa, “the drivers coming in now are from central America and the East.”

The unsponsored Trulli, 37, said he still wants to race but also has his wine and hotel businesses to keep him busy.

“More than anything else, apart from the results, I am proud to have been able to fulfil my dream of racing in F1 for many years and stay on the grid on my own power, without anybody’s help,” he is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Switzerland’s Blick newspaper points out that no fewer than 81 Italian drivers have raced in the modern F1 championship.

And Brazilian correspondent Livio Oricchio reminded that in 1989, no fewer than 16 drivers in the field were Italian.

Some Italian fans are pointing the finger at Ferrari, annoyed that the famous marque has not signed a full-time Italian race driver for many years.

And why Felipe Massa? “Because we believe in him,” an official of the Maranello based team is quoted by Spain’s Marca newspaper.

“It’s not enough to have an Italian passport to drive for Ferrari,” he added.

Which can be downloaded to relive the entire 2010 season, with the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro as a main protagonist in an exciting Championship, with an exceptional recovery and an unfortunately missed victory.

Six chapters around the 2010 World Championship with wins, difficult moments, the epilogue in Abu Dhabi and further sections dedicated to technical in-depth articles. 28 drawings by Giorgio Piola with virtual animations of the F10′s various components, four specials about the most important issues of the season such as pit stop and new rules, also explained in a video by Marc Gené, the complicated logistical aspects and the celebration of the 800th Grand Prix for Ferrari. A detailed section with a list from 1950 until today concludes the review, with Formula 1 models Ferrari used in the pinnacle of motorsports since the beginning of the F1 Championship.

Over 120 extraordinary images and more than 25 parts with multimedia content on the different pages, enriching the texts in the sections turning reading into real pleasure. The protagonists statements are combined with comments from the fans, who followed and supported the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro during the whole season in the Communitys forum as well as on Facebook and via Twitter. As of today the review’s first part is online, followed by the other issues covered in upcoming sections, completing the 2010 Championship review.

Jaime Alguersuari has offered a less than flattering opinion about the personality of his fellow Spaniard and F1 driver Fernando Alonso.

“He is cold (frio), very cold,” said 20-year-old Alguersuari, the youngest driver on the grid who races with the second Red Bull team, Toro Rosso.

“He is a man of few words,” he is quoted as saying by Dir Emotions.  “I have no relationship with him.”

Alguersuari also described the Ferrari driver and double world champion as “a great” F1 racer.

Alonso, 29, recently moved to clarify some misperceptions by revealing that when people actually meet him, they often remark that he is “nicer” than his media image.

The German-language spox.com compared Alonso’s apparent win-at-all-costs attitude with that of Michael Schumacher.

“In the media we read again and again things about ourselves that are not right,” said the Spaniard.

“People are making judgements from the outside, but that’s the business.”

Asked to clarify the misperceptions, Alonso said: “I am very calm and relaxed, even romantic.  Actually, I’m a normal guy.

“A little bit shy, but when everything’s right, that’s when the Spaniard in me comes out,” he laughed.

In Singapore last weekend, Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali agreed that Alonso is “cool and calm and sometimes difficult”.

And after back-to-back victories from pole, Alonso says he is on the top of his game.

“The F1 championship is very long compared to other sports so you can’t be completely fit, focused, motivated 100 per cent of the time.

“But now, in this part of the championship, I’m at a peak,” he is quoted in the Spanish press.

As rumours persist that Timo Glock might be looking to move on, it emerges that Virgin has been in contact with Esteban Guerrieri about a 2011 race seat.

German Glock has a firm two-year contract with the struggling new British team, but he has been mentioned in connection with the potentially vacant seat next year alongside Robert Kubica at Renault.

He has been playing down those rumours in recent days, but this week admitted that running at the back of the grid has not been easy for him.

“For someone like me who has won the GP2 title and been on the podium with Toyota several times, it is no secret that it is not easy to be at the back,” Glock is quoted by DPA news agency.

The 28-year-old said he still wants to win the F1 championship one day.

“If I didn’t think this, and did not do everything I can to make it a reality, then I would not belong in the premier class of motor racing,” said Glock.

As those rumours swirl, it emerges from Argentina that the government could be set to support the potential F1 debut of 25-year-old Buenos Aires-born driver Esteban Guerrieri.

Local reports say there has been contact between his manager, Julio Gutierrez, and Virgin team boss John Booth, and also that the Formula Renault 3.5 driver has met with the Argentine interior minister.

“It was a very good meeting,” said manager Gutierrez. “The minister expressed his intention to collaborate so that Esteban can reach formula one.”

Guerrieri said: “I think the time is right to try (F1). I have an invitation from the Virgin team and we’re working on it, because in principle to get one of their seats we need to have about 8 million dollars.

“There should be developments within September, and the limit would be November.”

The Argentine government was also involved in the ill-fated 2010 deal between Jose Maria Lopez and the abortive USF1 team.

Jun.7 (GMM)  Kimi Raikkonen has admitted a return to formula one is “possible”.

But in an interview with Austria’s Kleine Zeitung, the 2007 world champion also sounded more than happy with his new foray in world rallying, and not keen to immediately switch back to the grand prix grid.

During an event for his sponsor Red Bull, the 31-year-old Finn answered “Sure, anything is possible” when asked if he is open to launching a second F1 career.

But when asked if he still feels like ‘Raikkonen, the F1 driver’, he said: “The past is what it is — over.  I don’t miss it.”

And Raikkonen raved about his new job with Citroen.

“I love this job and the whole environment.  But I have much to learn and I want to be good at what I do.  With a relaxed setting you do not go far.”

Asked whether he would like to add a rally title to his F1 championship, Raikkonen admitted: “No one can see into the future, but yes, it is a dream.

“Now it is the time to learn; my formula one past does me no harm.”

He said rally is a more difficult discipline than F1.

“Because it’s constantly changing; the weather, the surface, the track.  You have to be flexible, adjusting and responding quickly.”

When asked which is more fun, he did not hesitate: “Rally!  Because there are always new challenges.”

Apr.29 (GMM)  Pirelli has definitely joined the race to supply tyres to formula one teams next year.

We reported last week that, after a shareholder’s meeting of the Italian company, chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera said Pirelli might be interested in entering F1 if certain conditions are met.

He said that if the permitted diameter of F1 tyres is increased, and providing the arrangement makes financial sense, Pirelli would “look into this (F1) world with greater attention”.

But in the wake of his comments, the F1 teams alliance FOTA met on Wednesday of this week, and Williams’ Sam Michael emerged confirming that the bulk of the conversation centred on a choice between Michelin and Avon.

However, Pirelli said in a statement on Thursday that it will now “present … an offer for the supply of tyres to all the teams in the F1 championship”.

The marque said the presentation will take place in Barcelona ahead of next weekend’s Spanish grand prix.

The 2010 F1 Championship is historic for Spaniards.  This season, not only will the beginning of the official calendar will take place in the Comunitat Valenciana ‘Ricardo Tormo‘ circuit, but it will also be an all-time milestone, because, for the first time, three Spanish drivers have a seat in the Formula One World Championship grid as official pilots.

Alonso, De la Rosa and Alguersuari

Fernando Alonso is making his debut as Ferrari’s official pilot in these tests, while Pedro Martínez de la Rosa occupies a place in the grid for fourth time in his career by the hand of Sauber, after seven years as test pilot in McLaren.  The threesome is completed with the young pilot from Toro Rosso, Jaime Alguersuari who has just been confirmed.

But we cannot forget rumors that point to a fourth Spanish pilot who could make his debut in the same season in the Renault team, Andy Soucek.

So, for first time in the history of modern F1, there will be three Spanish pilots confirmed in the Formula One World Championship grid during the 2010 season