A favourite for victory this weekend, Pastor Maldonado is reportedly lucky to be gearing up to race in the Principality at all.

Bild newspaper recalls that the Venezuelan, who defied his ‘pay driver’ critics by winning for Williams in Spain two weeks ago, was actually banned after an horror incident on the streets of Monte Carlo seven years ago.

Racing in the Renault World Series in 2005, the then 25-year-old ignored yellow flags before striking and severely injuring a marshal.

Organisers of the Monaco grand prix reacted by banning Maldonado from the street circuit for life.

Germany’s Bild revealed that Maldonado’s wealthy father intervened, promising to pay for the marshal’s recovery and rehabilitation from a broken back.

That intervention saved Maldonado’s future formula one career, as no team would hire a regular driver that cannot participate in the sport’s most famous race.

Maldonado is therefore a favourite for victory this weekend, with his Williams now acknowledged as arguably the best in the entire field when it comes to slow-speed traction.

And in his four seasons of GP2 between 2007 and 2010, Maldonado finished on the podium each time, winning and achieving pole position twice. In 2006, he won in Formula Renault.

Last year, in qualifying for his first Monaco grand prix, he qualified his then struggling Williams in eighth place, comfortably ahead of Rubens Barrichello.

“He is very good at Monaco,” agreed Barrichello.

In the 2011 race, Maldonado was fighting for fifth when he crashed with Lewis Hamilton.

“If the last sector in Barcelona is the marker, then the Williams will be unbeatable in Monte Carlo,” Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport quotes Dr Helmut Marko as saying.

The breakthrough success in Barcelona has piqued the interest of Maldonado’s native Venezuela, having not had an F1 points scorer since the ignominious Johnny Cecotto in 1983.

“My country will be following every second of the next race,” Maldonado is quoted by O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

“I love street circuits, this one in particular. My style of driving fits perfectly with Monaco. I am ready to get another great result.”

Maria de Villota is not ruling out appearing during a Friday morning practice session some time in 2012.

The 32-year-old Spaniard made international headlines in March when she signed with Marussia as a test driver.

She subsequently admitted, however, that – despite travelling to all the grands prix with the former Virgin team this year – she is “not the reserve driver”.

De Villota, whose father Emilio is a former F1 driver, also clarified in March that she is not contracted to practice on Friday mornings.

But she is not ruling it out now.

“It depends on the team,” she told the Spanish news agency EFE.

“I am trying to do all my duties well so that they are happy with me. And I think they are,” said de Villota.

“But the car is new and the drivers need the miles to develop it. So it’s up to the team (to decide).

“Hopefully it will happen soon, but what happens this year will happen. There may be surprises, but for now I am getting to do a lot of work in the simulator.”

Meanwhile, she made a bold prediction when asked which team she tips to win the so-far unpredictable 2012 championship.

“I think that McLaren is very strong,” said de Villota.

The last female driver to take part in official grand prix sessions was the Italian Giovanna Amati, who failed to qualify for three races in 1992.

Ferrari’s title tilt could hinge on the competitiveness of the updated F2012 this weekend in Barcelona.

“What I want is to have a competitive car in Barcelona,” insisted the famous Italian marque’s president Luca di Montezemolo on Tuesday.

“That’s what I’ve asked for,” he is quoted as saying by Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

Ferrari had congregated at its Fiorano test track, to watch Jacques Villeneuve drive the 1979 single seater to mark the 30th anniversary of his father Gilles’ fatal crash.

But Montezemolo’s disappointment is with the latest Ferrari, which has been heavily updated since the Bahrain grand prix three weeks ago.

“Our technicians are confident, but we will have to see how our opponents have advanced too,” he added.

O Estado de S.Paulo correspondent Livio Oricchio claimed “Montezemolo knows” that anything other than a big step forward in Barcelona will mean Ferrari has to “start thinking about” its 2013 project instead.

“Now we have to make a quantum leap, to have a car that is more competitive, less difficult to drive, and gives confidence to the fans,” Montezemolo is quoted by La Stampa newspaper.

“Let’s see how it goes in Spain,” he told Rai television.

“I have asked for an extraordinary response from our engineers,” Montezemolo is also quoted as saying by Italy’s Sky Sport 24.

La Gazzetta dello Sport, meanwhile, quoted lead driver Fernando Alonso as saying: “Our goal is to be world champions in November, and if we are to succeed then we must do better than we have done so far.”

Team boss Stefano Domenicali agreed: “We expect a significant evolution that will bring us closer to the step we need.

“The Spanish grand prix is definitely open, as is the championship. I say this because we believe.”

Jaime Alguersuari’s father has slammed Red Bull’s decision to axe his son.

Jaime Alguersuari snr said the decision by Dr Helmut Marko to oust the young Spaniard after a strong season and at the age of 21 was “unfair and incomprehensible”.

But “whoever killed him buried him badly,” Alguersuari snr added, referring to his son’s new full time roles as co-commentator on British radio and with Pirelli.

Alguersuari snr, who is involved with the organisation of the Renault World Series, said his son is due to test Pirelli’s 2010 Renault test car next week.

According to EFE news agency, Alguersuari snr also said his son’s career to date has been more impressive than Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, who are Toro Rosso’s new drivers.

Sergio Perez honed his wet-weather race craft from a very early age, his father has revealed.

According to the rumour mill, the 22-year-old Mexican has gone straight to the top of Ferrari’s shortlist for 2013 after his strong charge for victory in the changeable Malaysian grand prix recently.

“This ability to drive very fast in the rain is a talent he developed at an early age,” the Sauber driver’s father Antonio, a former champion of Mexican F3, told France’s Auto Hebdo.

“With his brother, he accumulated hours of karting from the age of 6, driving even in torrential downpours that characterise the rainy season in Guadalajara,” Perez snr added.

Adrian Sutil has admitted that discovering Lewis Hamilton was not a friend was one of life’s “disappointments”.

Since their F3 days as teammates, Sutil and Hamilton have been arguably the closest pair of friends in the formula one paddock.

That changed, however, when the German driver was charged with assaulting Lotus team executive Eric Lux, and Hamilton was summoned as a witness to the Shanghai nightclub incident.

But Briton Hamilton declined to appear and also changed his mobile phone number without informing Sutil.

Sutil and his father reacted by calling the McLaren driver “pathetic” and a “coward”.

When asked about his former close friend, Sutil told Die Welt newspaper: “Basically I only had a problem with one person, which was Mr Lux.

“He has offered me his hand and said that for him, the issue is finished.

“What Lewis Hamilton does is not decisive for my ambitions to get back to formula one. Just as with defeats, you have to deal with disappointments, it’s as simple as that.

“I think no one should expect to find any friends in the paddock — and I don’t look for them there either. I have enough friends outside of F1,” added Sutil.

Amid speculation regarding Felipe Massa’s immediate future, Sergio Perez’s father has revealed that Ferrari approached Sauber.

Earlier, Sauber driver Perez played down the rumours about Massa’s future, including the suggestion he was at the very top of Ferrari’s replacement list.

“Sergio is focused one hundred per cent on (performing in) Malaysia,” the 22-year-old Mexican’s father Antonio is quoted by the Spanish-language Medio Tiempo.

Perez snr’s son is the cream of Ferrari’s development driver ‘academy’ programme.

“Since last year, Ferrari has had three drivers: Alonso, Massa and Perez,” he said.

“‘Checo’ has a great relationship with the team but I can say today that Perez is signed only with Peter Sauber.”

Nonetheless, it has been suggested Ferrari made an approach to Sauber recently, amid Massa’s performance slump.

“Yes, Monisha (Kaltenborn), who is the chief executive of Sauber, confirmed that Ferrari people approached her to talk about Sergio,” said his father Antonio.

At the very least, Perez is a candidate for Massa’s seat next year.

“That would be a good package,” the Mexican answered when asked about the potential pairing of his son with Fernando Alonso.

“I see it only as a matter of time. We have to wait and be patient rather than distract Checo from what he is doing now.

“Sergio was not even aware of the statements made by Ferrari: he was training and focused on his fitness,” added Perez snr.

Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari’s president, urged calm over the famous team’s current situation, including the calls for Massa’s scalp.

“I understand that the fans are disappointed,” he is quoted by Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper, “but I ask them to remain calm.

“We must remain calm and focused.”

Still, the rumour mill waits for nobody, and even Ferrari’s official ‘Tweet’ about the “reasonable job” done by Massa on Saturday did not go unnoticed.

“I take that to mean, ‘You’re useless!’ German RTL commentator Christian Danner joked.

Kimi Raikkonen’s managers have revealed they only now take a back seat in the career of the 2007 world champion.
Britons David and Steve Robertson have guided the famous Finn throughout his motor racing career.

But Steve told Finland’s Turun Sanomat that they only intervene now when the 32-year-old driver requests it — such as when he needed to negotiate last winter with Williams and his ultimate 2012 employer, Lotus.

“We came to the end of the road really in late 2009,” he said.

That is when Ferrari bought out the rest of Raikkonen’s contract, and he headed to world rally.

“We can’t honestly say that we are real rally fans — it’s alien to us, while we know F1 through and through.

“When Kimi wanted to go back to F1, he turned to us for help with the agreement. After a few months Kimi got what he wanted.”

Robertson, however, explained that the father-son duo are no longer involved in the “day to day” running of Raikkonen’s career.

“I have known Kimi for 11, 12 years, and he has become really close to us. When he asks for help, he knows that we are always ready to give it,” he continued.

“I was delighted when he wanted to come back where he really belongs (in F1),” said Robertson. “There is so much nonsense about Kimi’s problems with motivation.

“The truth is that he wanted to come back for one reason only — because he is super-motivated to race in F1 again.

“By taking Kimi, it shows the (Lotus) team’s desire to succeed. I think Kimi and Romain Grosjean are a good combination.

“By changing the drivers the team has showed that it was not satisfied with the level of last year and that they want to come back to being among the big teams,” he concluded.

 Michael Schumacher has revealed he would not have returned to formula one if not for the sport’s strict testing ban.
Two years after his record seventh title, the famous German retired in 2006, but then came back with the new Mercedes GP venture in 2010 and is now deciding whether or not to extend his contract for 2013.

But as a multi-millionaire and 43-year-old father of two, he was asked by the German newspaper Bild-Zeitung why he was not content to simply “enjoy your family” in the wake of his unprecedented success.

“Because racing is my passion,” he insisted, “and anyway it doesn’t mean I have to stop enjoying my life with my family.

“When I came back again, one of the reasons (for the decision) was that formula one is much less time-consuming as it was in my ‘first career’.

“Then, we had testing after each race, now – during the season – there is not. I have plenty of time for my family,” said Schumacher.

“Otherwise, clearly, there would have been no comeback,” he admitted.

So, Schumacher is now deciding whether or not to stay in 2013 and beyond.

Would he consider returning to Ferrari, to once again take on the challenge of pulling the famous Italian squad out of a crisis?

“Let’s just say this,” the German answered. “The probability that I will end my career with a team other than Mercedes is so exceedingly low that I don’t need to even think about it.”

Sir Frank Williams has stepped down from the board of his own formula one team.
Earlier this week, the Grove based team’s 69-year-old founder, major shareholder and team principal named chairman Adam Parr as his future successor.

“If for whatever reason I couldn’t come in to do my job, Adam would fill the gap,” he told the British magazine F1 Racing.

On Friday, a team statement read: “Sir Frank Williams, founder and team principal, announced his decision to step down from the board.”

He explained: “I turn 70 in April and I have decided to signal the next stage in the gradual but inevitable process of handing over the reins to the next generation.

“This is not as dramatic a move as it may appear: I shall continue to work full-time as team principal and I shall continue to attend all board meetings as observer,” added Williams.

He will also have a Williams family member on the board, as his daughter Claire steps up to be director of marketing and communications.

Frank Williams said: “I am proud to say that she has fought hard to earn this appointment and of all the battles she has had to fight, the prejudices of her father were not the least challenging.”

Late last year, the team’s co-founder Patrick Head also stepped down.

Nico Rosberg has named Mark Webber as his toughest teammate in formula one so far.

The German made his grand prix debut alongside Australian Webber at Williams in 2006, moving four seasons later to Mercedes.

While at Williams, Rosberg also raced as teammate to Alex Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima.

Rosberg’s Mercedes move in 2010 coincided with seven time world champion Michael Schumacher’s return to formula one at the same Brackley based team, where they have been teammates ever since.

When asked by Germany’s Sport Bild who his toughest teammate has been, he answered: “Mark Webber in 2006, then Michael.”

And he hopes he will be in front of his famous current teammate yet again in 2012, particularly with Mercedes hoping its new W03 is a race winner.

“To be the first German to win in the new Silver Arrow would be an absolute dream for me,” said Rosberg, whose father Keke won the title in 1982.

 Jaime Alguersuari has told his fans he “will return” to formula one despite not having a seat on the 2012 grid.
Along with Sebastien Buemi, who moved to Red Bull’s reserve role, Spaniard Alguersuari was dumped by the energy drink company’s rookie team Toro Rosso.

A Barcelona native, the 21-year-old’s fans showed their support by displaying banners as the Circuit de Catalunya test began on Tuesday.

“I did nothing wrong, but I wasn’t killed either,” Alguersuari told the Italian magazine Autosprint. “I’m only 21 and I did my best with the equipment I had.”

One of the men who replaced Alguersuari, Daniel Ricciardo, backed Red Bull’s decision to make a clean-sweep of the Toro Rosso lineup for 2012.

“The only reason they kick you out is if you are not performing. And then you probably don’t deserve to be world champion,” the Australian is quoted by The Sun newspaper.

“That’s just the business we’re in.”

But Keke Rosberg, the 1982 world champion and Mercedes driver Nico’s father, criticised Red Bull for not giving Alguersuari a fair chance.

“They (Alguersuari and Buemi) had been there for three years and they (Red Bull) didn’t think they would go all the way to the top, so I understand if Red Bull wants to do something else.

“What I don’t understand is why the decision was made so late, when there was not anything else available for them.

“If someone says in June that they no longer need your services the following year, that’s fair. Then you have the time to find a new job.

“Buemi would probably have found something, if he’d have had more time,” added Rosberg.

Nico Rosberg’s father has questioned the decision by Mercedes to delay the launch of its 2012 car.
Nico Rosberg, the German-born son of 1982 world champion Keke, has publicly backed his team’s approach in not running the W03 in anger until now, a full group test after main rivals Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari got their new cars up and going.

“There is definitely some risk,” said former McLaren and Williams driver Keke Rosberg, 63.

“It’s Barcelona and so there could be some snow and the test could even be cancelled.

“Or if it happens to you what happened to Ferrari in Jerez, then you have even a shorter amount of time to fix everything.

“The tests are separated only by days and then there is the last one, and again it could be snowing or raining,” added Rosberg. “It’s not Andalucia, remember, but the Costa Brava.”

Rosberg said the issue for Mercedes and also Ferrari is the risks they are needing to take in order to catch up with last year’s pacesetters, Red Bull and McLaren.

“How could Ferrari be having such problems, when without the exhaust gases last year they won at Silverstone?

“Maybe it’s because they had to take such a leap, but when you do that there’s the risk it will go wrong.

“It’s the same for Mercedes, because last year they were in calm waters with a big gap to the top and the middle groups.”

 A former world champion has dealt Lewis Hamilton a mild rebuke after the Briton refused to appear at Adrian Sutil’s assault trial.
Not only did the McLaren driver defer to his team’s looming car launch date rather than leap to his former friend’s aid in Munich, he has also refused to contact Sutil or answer a single question on the matter posed by the media.

Sutil’s father has called the 2008 world champion “pathetic” while the former Force India driver himself described Hamilton as a “coward”.

“I don’t know whether you’d call him a coward,” 1980 title winner Alan Jones told GMM, “but I don’t know whether I’d like to have him in the trenches with me.”

Hamilton, who recently reunited with his girlfriend Nicole, had a tumultuous 2011 season and so this year will be accompanied to races by experienced manager Didier Coton.

When involved with Mika Hakkinen’s career, Coton worked for the management company headed by Keke Rosberg.

“In the past, Lewis has certainly made mistakes in the professional organisation of his life,” Rosberg, backing the changes Hamilton is making, commented to the Finnish broadcaster MTV3.

“You can’t go flying every other week to America when you’re making a serious job of being a formula one driver,” he said.

Keke Rosberg also questioned a recent claim made by the 27-year-old Briton.

“He says he wants to win all the races this season. That’s quite a claim.

“I would think Jenson Button wonders how he will do it when he will probably win a few races in the same car,” said Rosberg.