Helmut Marko has kept firing amid the war of words between 2010 championship rivals Red Bull and Ferrari.

Marko recently likened Ferrari’s hiring of strategy boss Neil Martin as a move to poach Red Bull’s “spirit”, prompting Luca di Montezemolo’s retort that the Austrian team doesn’t “know how to behave as champions”.

“This was all blown up by a newspaper,” Red Bull consultant and driver programme manager Marko insisted, according to Auto Bild Motorsport.

The saga did, however, highlight the relationship between the two sides, with both Ferrari and Red Bull to use a Magneti Marelli KERS next year.

“We are both working with Magneti Marelli as the basis (of the system),” confirmed Marko, “but the real development will take place in the fine details.”

Another common ground between the two sides is sister team Toro Rosso’s Ferrari engine supply, but on this matter Marko poured fuel onto the fire.

“We stand to learn nothing from Toro Rosso’s customer engines, which – anyway – are not on the same level as the real Ferrari engines,” he said.

Toro Rosso will use Ferrari’s KERS system in 2011.

Ralf Schumacher on Sunday indicated he thinks it is possible 2011 will be his older brother’s last season in formula one.

Mercedes this weekend denied reports that 41-year-old Schumacher could be shown the door is he again fails to match the pace of his teammate Nico Rosberg next season.

Currently, the seven time world champion is contracted to the end of 2012.

Asked about his brother’s full three-year commitment, former Williams and Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher, standing in this weekend for absent RTL commentator Niki Lauda, said: “You have to be realistic, and Michael is a realist.

“If he finds out next year that it is still not working, he will base his decision on that,” added the German.

Another rumour flying about at Suzuka this weekend is that Felipe Massa could leave Ferrari at the end of the year, even though Sebastien Buemi laughed at wild Italian reports indicating he might be the replacement.

“I will have a Ferrari engine but not a Ferrari car,” the Toro Rosso driver told BBC television.

And Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali also said it is “categorically wrong” that Massa, who failed to qualify inside the top ten on Sunday morning, is leaving the team.

The motors could play in the fight for the Formula 1 crown in 2010 still a crucial role. Especially those pilots who are pushed by a Ferrari engine in front, standing before the last five rounds of the season as not particularly good. This applies just Sauber Nick Heidfeld most returnees, as his predecessor Pedro de la Rosa had been in Belgium can be mounted engine, and receive the ninth for the punishment.

But even with the red from Maranello, there are worries. Fernando Alonso, who after his latest, Monza win again good cards in the title fight, had to leave Italy in his last fit of the allowed per season eight fresh engine. Although the Spaniard still used engines in the rear, for example, the race in Singapore should survive well, but an engine blowouts could end the dream of a world title soon.
Ferrari may get the receipt for the engine damage to the season. How ‘auto motor und sport’ reports, the Italians had to start to apparently serious problems with the seals on the valve train. A too aggressive lubricant developed to have caused the problems. Ferrari could repair despite frozen development, since the like is more niche occurred. The training on Friday engines currently have to persevere with the Reds longer distances than planned.
“Unfortunately we started the year with problems,” Ferrari president Luca Marmorini Motor says in an interview with ‘Motorsport-Total.com “. “If we had this year had 20 races, then it would be difficult for us. We can afford no problems at all during the season more,” said the Italian, the order makes it clear how close the Reds for the final sprint of the season to be charitable. In comparison, Renault have both drivers still two fresh engines in the rear.

“It’s funny. In the past two or three years, we always say that the engine development is frozen and will remain the same engines,” says LM. “But it’s only the hardware is frozen, change the environment on the other hand constantly. The engines have to endure nearly double the mileage. This year it is a very different use of the engines, because refueling was banned.”

The Italian expert engine already provides for the coming year bring up new dark clouds. “There are more races,” said Marmorini. “This is really funny: The engines are to remain the same, but the conditions are changing. This makes it difficult for us.” At Ferrari’s we are not sure if it was eight engines per season is the right number. And for the years from 2013 it gets even thicker.
When equipped in three years, the formula with a little turbo machines, then the term should be again raised considerably – for cost reasons, as they say. “Originally, there should be four engines per year, but in the first five years of the new regulations,” said LM, which urgently needs an adoption of the new engine regulations. “This is an enormous step. To develop reliability is extremely difficult and expensive.”

“One should not underestimate the real”, said the Italian, who – as is probably many at Ferrari – not a big fan of small four-cylinder turbos. “Even if we had hinbekommen the new term with us for years known motors, then the effort would be substantial. This issue is particularly important and should be addressed quickly.” As a solution might look like, leaves Marmorini. The number of four or five engines per year, but seems far from set in stone to be.

Jun.16 (GMM)  After a dismal Montreal weekend for the Swiss team, boss Peter Sauber admitted the C29 car is not a good one.

But the 66-year-old has also been quoted indicating that he is not happy with the ongoing poor reliability of the customer Ferrari engine.

“Five problems with the Ferrari engine in eight races is unacceptable.  At this rate we will need more than eight engines per driver for the season.

“We need better reliability,” he is quoted by the Swiss newspaper Blick.

In Canada, Pedro de la Rosa’s race ended with an unspecified engine failure.

Earlier in 2010, both Sauber and the works team were struggling with poor reliability, but Maranello based Ferrari were given FIA clearance to implement a fix.

“Ferrari has solved its problems with the engines but Sauber has again had a failure,” Ferrari test driver Marc Gene wrote in his post-Canada column for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

“It is an issue that will be analysed thoroughly by the team,” he added.

“Two months ago there was a basic reason, but now … it is very strange,” wrote Gene.  “They will need to work to analyse it with Ferrari.”

The Spaniard seemed to indicate that Sauber’s ongoing engine problems are probably related to the C29 car.

“It is surprising that (Ferrari powered) Toro Rosso have never had a problem,” said Gene.

Jun.15 (GMM) Pedro de la Rosa has revealed he is “available” for employment by formula one teams.After a long stint away from the grid as McLaren’s test and reserve driver, the 39-year-old Spaniard this year returned to racing with Sauber.

But his season has been difficult at the wheel of the usually uncompetitive and unreliable C29 car, while also dogged by constant suggestions that he is set to be ousted.

More bad luck followed de la Rosa to Canada last weekend, where after qualifying just 17th he was punted out at the first corner by Vitaly Petrov before his Ferrari engine failed.

“No matter how bad it’s been, it’s better than testing,” he later smiled during an interview with the BBC.

Despite the setbacks, de la Rosa insists he has “fully” enjoyed his return to formula one, but indicated that his career is now in doubt.

“I feel young. For the future, if anyone wants me, I am available,” he revealed.

“I am usable, even if I have to go back testing or as a reserve driver, because I have had another year in formula one racing it will extend my career, simple as that,” added de la Rosa.

The once-promising rookie Kamui Kobayashi is also under the spotlight at Sauber, especially given his first-lap crash into Montreal’s famous ‘Wall of Champions’.

“As is often the case in Canada, it was easy to score championship points today, however, we didn’t collect them,” angry team boss Peter Sauber said.

“We lost one car which was in tenth at the end of lap one through an over-optimistic move, and the second one through an engine failure.”

Apr.30 (GMM)  Drivers’ and constructors’ championship leaders McLaren are also winning the race as F1′s most reliable team.

The British outfit, whose Jenson Button leads the drivers’ table by 10 points over Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, completed every single lap with both MP4-25 cars at the initial Bahrain, Australian, Malaysian and Chinese grands prix.

In second place, a 100 per cent record for Ferrari was tarnished only by Fernando Alonso’s engine failure in the closing stages in Malaysia.

Red Bull is third with a 92.4 per cent finishing record in 2010, despite the RB6 appearing to have suffered from several reliability glitches so far.

In fact, Sebastian Vettel’s wheel nut problem in Melbourne was the team’s only DNF, while teammate Mark Webber has completed all four races within the top 9.

Similarly, only one Mercedes car – Michael Schumacher’s in China – has failed to reach the chequered flag, but the German team is fourth in the list with a 89.2 per cent record due the stoppage occurring early in the race.

Williams’ single DNF culminates in a 86 per cent reliability record because Nico Hulkenberg was taken out on the first lap in Australia.

Renault is sixth of the ten teams with 75.1 per cent, for while Robert Kubica has finished every race with the R30, rookie Vitaly Petrov’s first race finish was in China.

In Bahrain the Russian damaged the suspension by hitting a kerb too hard, in Melbourne he spun into the gravel, and in Malaysia he had to stop with a gearbox problem.

Impressively, the new team Lotus also has a 75 per cent finishing record, even though Jarno Trulli was not actually a classified finisher at Sepang because he was ten laps behind.

And in Melbourne, the Italian’s T127 was not even on the grid due to a pre-race hydraulics problem.

Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari has finished all the races, but teammate Sebastien Buemi was taken out on the first lap in both Australia and China — first by Kamui Kobayashi and then Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Force India is now increasingly mentioned as a serious F1 competitor, but its reliability record so far in 2010 is just 65.9 per cent.

Liuzzi crashed in China and had a throttle problem in Malaysia, while Adrian Sutil had a Ferrari engine problem in Melbourne.

HRT’s F1 career started badly with only one car crossing the line in the opening two races.

But the Dallara-built cars of Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok both finished in Malaysia and China, giving the Spanish team a 65.2pc finishing record.

Virgin and Sauber are at the bottom of the pile, with Virgin achieving a mere 33.8pc reliability record with only Lucas di Grassi able to cross the line in Malaysia by aggressively saving fuel.

Sauber is last, with only Pedro de la Rosa recording a race finish in Melbourne for a reliability record of just 25.5 per cent.

“We’ve suffered too many reliability issues on both the chassis side and with our engines,” team founder Peter Sauber said on Thursday.

“That’s very unusual — we’ve always been one of the best teams in this respect over the years.

“We’ve closely analysed all the chassis-related problems and already put measures into effect.  Our engine partner Ferrari is doing the same,” he added.

Apr.29 (GMM) The possibility of bringing KERS back to the formula one grid in 2011 was discussed at a meeting of the FOTA alliance on Wednesday.

Williams’ technical director Sam Michael revealed that Ferrari and Renault have offered to make their existing KERS technology available to other teams for no more than 1 million euros.

“Renault will supply anyone who asks for it on the grid,” the Australian is quoted as saying by the BBC. “Ferrari will supply anyone who is running a Ferrari engine.”

Michael’s comments follow the Grove based team’s announcement that it has upped its stake in its own flywheel KERS company to 78 per cent.

It is believed that if KERS is given the green light to return next year, Williams intends to use its own system.

But Michael said both Ferrari and Renault want their 1 million euro KERS to be much more powerful than the units seen in 2009, otherwise “they are not prepared at this stage to commit”.

Less powerful KERS systems are already allowed by the technical regulations, but FOTA members voluntarily agreed last year not to fit the units in 2010.

Michael said the issue could be finalised by next weekend’s Spanish grand prix.

“I think that by Barcelona, the FOTA executive is due to try and make a decision on KERS for 2011. It’s all pretty split at the moment on that,” he revealed.

The first three official test days for the 2010 Formula One World Championship have concluded, and if we had to choose a short sentence to define them it would be, “Ferrari is a step above the rest.”

Even though, they’re just doing tests, the teams need to check-out and take the most advantage possible of the cars so to confirm the actual performance of the single-seaters and carry out the improvements and adjustments that are needed.  That’s what it’s all about.  It’s worth noting that since the first day, the Brazilian, Felipe Massa at the wheel of the Ferrari F10 evidenced the supremacy of the red racing car in the Valencia racetrack (right in these moment), during the second official tests.  We’ll see what happens.

Talking about single-seaters, several options have been seen.  Some quite innovative, as is the case of the Mercedes GP with its “double airbox”; the Toro Rosso’s union of the sharp fin with the rear wing, etc.  Different solutions to the problems that were brought forward to the engineers regarding the cars’ design.

Having said that, Ferrari returns to the leading positions forecasted by the experts.  The F10 looked solid with great rhythm in the long portions, with an exceptional performance of the red racing car driven by the Spaniard, Fernando Alonso, who made his debut today with Ferrari.  Alonso only needed one training session in the Comunidad Valenciana Ricardo Tormo Circuit to show that he was the fastest of all the pilots who have participated in these three days of collective tests.

The pilot from Asturias started out with the intention of making clear that he’s not just a Ferrari passer by, stopping the chronometer in 1:11.470, better time than his team-mate Felipe Massa, who marked the rhythm during the first two testing sessions.

Alonso won seven times Massa’s best time, and he made most of the more than one hundred racetrack’s laps in 1:12, a devastating rhythm.

However, the surprise of these tests has been in charge of the BMW-Sauber, in the hands of his pilots Pedro Martinez de la Rosa and the Japanese, Kamui Kaobayashi.  They have shown options to be on top.  The clear evolution of the BMW 2009 together with Ferrari engine’s performance has resulted in a machine with ambitions.

Both pilots have concluded in second position during the three testing days.  They have followed Ferrari’s wake in sessions that have helped Pedro to recover the feeling of a team’s official pilot.

As De la Rosa, the German, Michael Schumacher has recovered the control of an F1, the Mercedes GP, showing to be a step behind the Ferrari and the BMW-Sauber, during the first contact of the season.

The new and remodeled Toro Rosso has improved from last year, as well as the Spaniard, Jaime Alguersuari who complied with in his debut.  He has only driven one day in Cheste, but it has been helpful enough to show him he can finish among the best.  He got the best fourth time of the session, better than the time of his team-mate, Sebastien Buemi, and try to learn all that he can to continue progressing in the Formula 1.

The most noticeable note in a negative sense was given by the current world champion, Jenson Button who with his McLaren had to be pleased with the fifth best time, far from the Ferrari.  Together with Button, the Renault R30 still does not convince us.  In spite of the innovations and changes, the single-seater has not been able to find the solution.  Let’s hope Kubica can contribute with his experience to improve the car.

The afternoon session began with comments in the paddock regarding the possibility of seeing Fernando Alonso testing the Ferrari F10.  With a warmer weather and more grip on the tracks the single-seaters started to leave the boxes heading to the Valencian Ricardo Tormo Circuit’s racetrack in Cheste.

With a lost Austrian –we say ‘lost” because we didn’t see him through all the morning (strange thing)-, Lewis Hamilton started by lowering his morning times, 1:12.256, but still far from Felipe Massa’s chronometer and his F10.  That’s how the afternoon started.

At 3:30 the pilot from Austria was seen around the box, and rumors spread with regards to his possible participation in today’s tests.

Massa carried out many tyre tests –we assumed he was testing their performance-, explaining why the Brazilian entered the box continuously.  The same as Ferrari, the rest of the ‘scuderias’ tested their performance, thus the morning times were not improved.

The Renault improved only a bit.  The Polish, Robert Kubica, wearing a completely black helmet, continued to average very high times ( 1:14 ).  The R30 seems to have very little performance evolution compared to its predecessor, last year’s R29.

Today was a hard working day for Nico Rosberg who commanding his Mercedes GP made all kinds of tests.  Yesterday, his single-seater was very fast, but today it was slower marking 1:14. high times and running 25 lap periods to try the tyres out.

The Ferrari engine Sabuer of Kobayashi, after completing a period of 30 laps started to lower its times, becoming one of the fastest of the afternoon ( 1:12.667 ).  The Sauber is giving a good impression in these first tests.

The first impressions of Barichello on his Williams FW32’s Cosworth engine, indicate less speed (point) than the rest.  Specifically, around 8-12km/h (Mercedes and Ferrari).

In a bit more than an hour the session will end.   We’re walking towards the paddock to pick up some feelings.

Today, the Valencian circuit has had around 7.000 spectators, according to the organization.  A good number of people has gotten together to see the tests, so if climate conditions permit it, a higher number is expected for tomorrow with the attendance of Fernando Alonso in the racetrack.

Best times of the day.

1º Massa (1:11.722)

2º Kobayashi (1:12.056)

3º Hamilton (1:12.056)

4º Rosberg (1:12. 899)

5º Barrichello (1:13.377)

Next Monday will be a hectic day in Valencia, because the first Formula One official test will take place, and if yesterday, Mercedes and Williams already confirmed they will be there showing their single-seaters in the Valencian racetrack, now Toro Rosso announced its debut in the Spanish circuit.

The STR5, as his predecessor, have a Ferrari engine and they will be driven by the official pilots that have already been confirmed: the Swiss star, Sebastien Buemi and the young Spaniard, Jaime

Alguersuari.  Buemi will be in charge of the first test on the morning of February 1st.

This year, Toro Rosso aims to occupy a position in half of the grid, above the poor positions that left it in tenth place in the Constructors’ Championship in 2009.