Ross Brawn revealed on Wednesday he missed the recent Spanish grand prix to have checks on his heart.

After handing over to his Mercedes deputy Nick Fry in Barcelona, fellow Briton Brawn is back in action as the team boss in Monte Carlo.

Rumours hinted there was more to the story, but Brawn insisted to a German newspaper earlier on Wednesday that he was simply advised by doctors to take the weekend off after a night in hospital for checks.

He then told reporters in Monaco his symptoms had been “arrhythmia”, or an irregular heartbeat, insisting he is “back to normal now”.

Brawn, 57, joked the heart problem was triggered by watching an exciting football game on television.

There is trouble afoot at Monza, the scene of the famous and historic Italian grand prix.

On Tuesday morning, Italy’s finance police the Guardia di Finanza entered the Autodromo Nazionale to investigate seven people involved with the operation of the circuit.

According to Il Giorno and La Repubblica, the Monza prosecutor suspects tax offenses, false invoicing and other discrepancies in relation to Sias SpA, the circuit operator, between 2007 and 2012.

Among the suspected offenses is the issuing of invoices for non-existent transactions in order to show a positive balance sheet for the running of some events.

The officers raided the Sias offices and also the home of the circuit director, Enrico Ferrari, and other high ranking officials.

Rubens Barrichello has alleged that Ferrari made a threat that might have ended his motor racing career during the infamous 2002 Austrian grand prix.

Ten years ago, the Brazilian led the race at the A1-Ring but eventually, at the very last corner, succumbed to team orders that allowed number one teammate Michael Schumacher to pass him.

Subsequent video footage has depicted then Ferrari team boss Jean Todt asking Barrichello on the radio to simply “let Michael pass for the championship, please”.

But Barrichello, having left F1 at the end of 2011 for a seat in Indycar, says it was not quite as simple as that.

“It was eight laps of war,” he is quoted by Brazil’s Globo.

“It’s very rare that I lose my temper, but I was screaming on the radio. I kept going right to the end, saying I would not let him pass.

“That’s when they said something about something much broader. It was not about the contract.

“I cannot tell you what they said, but it was a form of threat that made me think about re-thinking my life, because the great joy for me was driving,” said the 39-year-old.

Romain Grosjean has admitted he didn’t try to keep his teammate Kimi Raikkonen behind him at the recent Bahrain grand prix.

In the wake of Lotus’ podium breakthrough, it was suggested Frenchman Grosjean was the victim of team orders.

Team figures, including boss Eric Boullier and 2007 world champion Raikkonen who finished the race second ahead of rookie Grosjean, denied the charge, even though team orders are fully legal.

But it emerged this week that, just before Grosjean was passed by Raikkonen, the French driver was told on the radio: “Kimi is faster than you.

“Do not hold him up,” the radio message, broadcasted for the first time by F1′s official website this week, ended.

Onboard footage of the move also showed Raikkonen briefly waving to his teammate as he completed the easy pass, ostensibly to thank him.

“I think that if I had closed the door on Kimi, or if we had fought, then I could have lost a wing,” Grosjean said this week.

“We knew that we could have a podium as a result and I didn’t want to make a mistake. I didn’t race at my best level,” he admitted to RMC.

Rumours that a top English premier league football club is entering formula one as a sponsor have proved correct.

Ever since Sauber has been running teaser ‘Out of the blue’ and ‘True blue’ graphics on its engine cover livery in China and Bahrain, speculation about the identity of the forthcoming sponsor have been swirling in the F1 paddock.

We reported the rumour that the deal could be with the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, to promote his football club Chelsea.

Swiss F1 team Sauber confirmed the “new and innovative partnership” on Monday.

“The C31 sporting the blue logo of Chelsea FC will be seen for the first time at the Spanish grand prix,” the Hinwil based team announced in a media statement.

“A partnership like this between formula one and football has never existed before in this form, yet there are numerous commonalities and possible synergies,” said Sauber chief executive Monisha Kaltenborn.

The statement said Chelsea will in turn display Sauber’s logo on its advertising boards and interview walls, ensuring one another “a significant market presence outside their original sport”.

F1′s governing body has played down claims Sebastian Vettel faces a penalty for his behaviour during the Malaysian grand prix.

After the race, the reigning world champion dismissed HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan as an “idiot” following their on-track collision.

On-board footage subsequently proved that Red Bull driver Vettel, 24, twice showed his Indian driver a ‘middle finger’ salute.

Reports in Germany suggested the behaviour was a breach of the stricter code of conduct under FIA president Jean Todt, with the German theoretically facing anything from a warning to the revocation of his superlicense.

“My understanding is these matters are dealt with by stewards at each grand prix,” an FIA spokesman told us. “I am not aware of any other action being contemplated.”

Karthikeyan, who was penalised after the clash, told the Hindustan Times newspaper that the stewards favoured world champion Vettel’s explanation.

“They (the stewards) didn’t care about what I had to say because Mr Vettel told them god knows what when he went and talked to them,” he said.

But Red Bull team boss Christian Horner defended Vettel, telling the Mirror that it is “Karthikeyan’s responsibility to get out of the way for the leaders”.

Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg, meanwhile, partly excused Vettel’s outbursts.

“I think Vettel was just emotional at that point of time. At the end of the day, he is just human and sometimes you get emotional,” the German is quoted by the Times of India.

Former driver Adrian Sutil goes even further.

“I can understand him (Vettel),” he told Die Welt newspaper in Germany. “I was often angry when I was lapping people, when they make no room for you while they are fighting for places that have almost no significance.

“Karthikeyan ended up influencing not only Vettel’s race, but also Jenson Button’s. They (backmarkers) have to understand that as well.”

 Paddock regulars insist the formerly-dominant Red Bull team cannot be written off after a single defeat in Australia.
On paper, reigning back-to-back champion Sebastian Vettel’s second place on Sunday doesn’t look bad.

But Melbourne was in fact the first race since before either of the German’s title-winning campaigns in 2010 and 2011 that a Red Bull car failed to lead a single lap.

“You cannot discount them, they (Red Bull) are always there,” said Albert Park winner Jenson Button, “but it seems that the tables have turned.”

After not winning a title since 2008 with Lewis Hamilton, Button’s McLaren colleagues will hope that is true.

“Red Bull needs to dress warmly,” German racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck told Sport1, “although I see McLaren on an equal footing only.”

He warned against over-analysing the Melbourne result.

“This is not a benchmark for the rest of the season — the Malaysia circuit is much more meaningful because who is good there is good everywhere.”

However, McLaren hinted after Melbourne that it could actually have performed more strongly last weekend.

“We were more than marginal on fuel,” boss Martin Whitmarsh is quoted by Kleine Zeitung newspaper. “There is no question we could have been faster (in Australia).”

But so could Red Bull, Vettel insists.

“In Melbourne, we learned a lot about the behaviour of our car, which has great potential,” he said.

“We need to make it harder for McLaren in Malaysia.”

Triple world champion Niki Lauda agrees: “Red Bull will catch up quickly.”

Team advisor Dr Helmut Marko insisted: “We have not brought everything out of the car yet. So we are very optimistic about the next races.”

He is also dismissive of Red Bull’s other rivals.

“Only McLaren are on par with us,” said Marko, who scorned at Mercedes, the team who fared strongly in Melbourne before suffering in the race.

“They were more like a chicane,” the acid-tongued Austrian added, according to laola1.at.

Argentina is close to returning to the formula one calendar, the president of South America’s second-largest country has revealed.
EFE news agency quotes Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as saying it is likely an Argentine grand prix, last held at the ageing Autodromo Oscar Alfredo Galvez in Buenos Aires in 1998, will take place in November or December 2013.

She said next year’s race would take place on the streets of the coastal city of Mar del Plata.

“For us this is very important,” she said, “because after football, motor racing is the second favourite sport of Argentina.”

Fernandez said the deal would be initially “for three years, in 2013, 2014 and 2015″.

 Flavio Briatore has hit out at formula one by suggesting “any top driver” would have won last year’s title with the 2011 Red Bull.
“It’s only a real show now when it rains,” the former Renault team boss told Italy’s Sky Sport 24.

Briatore, 61, blames the huge role played by technology.

“If you were to take GP2 cars and put the 6 world champions in them, it would be more fun,” he insisted.

“The car is now made in the wind tunnel, the engineers aren’t even at the circuits and they spend 200 million euros making identical machines.

“Last year, the championship was over after the first race, and this will be the same; McLaren are two tenths from Red Bull, Mercedes three, and Ferrari and Lotus 4 to 7.

“Two tenths is like 2-0 behind in a football game. In F1, the Messi is Alonso, but if his car is not competitive, he is going nowhere.”

 Red Bull is not yet one of F1′s ‘big two’ teams, according to Pedro de la Rosa.
The HRT driver admits his own Spanish employer is the “worst” in the field at present, but at the other end of the grid, he insists the “best” – Red Bull – is not yet one of the greatest.

“Formula one is in that respect very similar to the Spanish football league,” he is quoted by Marca sports daily.

“There are two big clubs, Madrid and Barcelona, and (in F1) I would say they are Ferrari and McLaren.

“Red Bull, not yet. They are one of those teams that can win the cup, but I would dare to predict that in 20 years the big two will still be the big two,” added de la Rosa.

Until now, de la Rosa was McLaren’s highly-respected reserve driver, with a new long-term contract.

“I thought (boss) Martin (Whitmarsh) was going to shout at me, so I found it difficult to tell him and he cut me short, saying ‘Pedro, what do you mean?’

“I told him I wanted to go to HRT, that I wanted to race again — there was a long silence and he said ‘You must be mad, but I love that my reserve driver is that way — it means we had the right guy’.”

De la Rosa, 41, will drive the 2012 car for the first time on Friday, in Melbourne. His teammate Narain Karthikeyan managed a few laps during a filming shakedown.

“When he got out, I asked him what it was like and he looked at me with his eyes sparkling and said ‘It is better than last year’,” beamed de la Rosa.

Spaniard Maria De Villota has become a Marussia F1 Team test driver.

Maria has raced in a variety of single-seater and sports car categories, including Spanish F3, the Daytona 24 Hours, the Euroseries 3000 and Superleague Formula Championship.

Maria has also experienced a Formula One cockpit previously, having received a test drive courtesy of the team formerly known as Lotus Renault F1 Team at Paul Ricard in August of last year, where she achieved 300kms of running.

As the daughter of former F1 driver and British Formula One Series Champion Emilio de Villota, Maria has always dreamed of following in his footsteps to reach the highest level of motorsport. Her integration into the Marussia F1 Team means she will have the opportunity to work with racing drivers operating at the pinnacle of the sport and, later in the year, the chance to drive the MR01.

John Booth, Team Principal, Marussia F1 Team, commented:

“We are pleased to welcome Maria to our test driver programme, which will enable her to be integrated into a Formula One team environment and gain a vast amount of experience that will be useful to her career progression. We will also provide Maria with the opportunity to sample F1 machinery later in the year, further adding to her racing credentials.”

Maria De Villota had this to say:

“I am very happy to be joining the Marussia F1 Team test driver programme. This is a fantastic opportunity to work closely with a Formula One team and gain important experience to help me progress my career, including the chance to drive the new car later in the year at the Abu Dhabi test. I will be joining the team trackside so I’m looking forward to working alongside them at the first race next weekend and this can only help my future ambition to step up to Formula One racing.”

Bernie Ecclestone is not close to lifting his foot from the throttle.
That is the view of the outspoken triple world champion and F1 legend Niki Lauda, admit the latest rumblings about the sport’s future beyond the 81-year-old Briton’s long reign.

It emerged on Monday that David Campbell, the new head of F1′s trackside advertising company Allsport as well as the Paddock Club, had left the role after just a year.

He had been tipped as a likely successor to chief executive Ecclestone, and so his departure sparked new speculation about F1′s next ‘supremo’.

But Lauda, denouncing the rumours as “unnecessary”, told Austrian television ORF’s Sport am Sonntag: “The end is not in sight for Bernie.

“This discussion has been around for ten years, since he turned 70 — everyone saying he won’t be around for much longer.

“On the contrary: I met with him just recently, he’s in high spirits and he keeps doing what he is doing for as long as he wants to — and I see absolutely no end,” the Austrian legend added.

Jenson Button has tipped Ferrari to recover, after the famous Italian team announced it does not initially expect to be a podium contender in 2012.
Paddock insiders are tipping a close three-way battle between Red Bull, McLaren and possibly Mercedes early this season, as Ferrari apparently flounders with its complex F2012.

But McLaren’s Button said: “I’m sure Ferrari can find their way out of a sticky situation — if they’re in a sticky situation.

“We’re all trying new things at the start of the year. One of us will get it right and I’m sure the others will follow suit in the end,” he told the Guardian.

“They’re obviously on the back foot but I’m sure they’ll catch up.”

Despite an almost unprecedented media muzzle, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso broke his enforced silence last weekend to admit by way of analogy that his 2012 car is not in top Barcelona football players’ Messi and Iniesta’s league at present.

But the Spaniard also pointed out that while the press is making a fuss about Ferrari’s troubles, the immense pressure on Ferrari is unique.

“For example yesterday (Sunday at Barcelona) Red Bull had only a few laps and the last time on the sheet,” Alonso reportedly told Ferrari staff at Maranello.

“If something similar had happened to us, hell would have broken loose, but here (in Italy) nobody really noticed it.”

Alonso does not think he will be pushing for the Melbourne win next weekend, but he also insisted: “What counts is not to be first in the first race, but in November, at the end of the championship.”

Bernie Ecclestone has expressed frustration with the attitude of Australia’s formula one race organisers.
The F1 chief executive is pushing for the Melbourne race, with a contract through 2015, to be held at night for a more favourable live timeslot back in Europe.

He may even be offering a fee subsidy, but formula one remains controversial within the Victorian state parliament, with taxpayers footing $50 million bills annually.

Ecclestone has reacted by offering to sit down and negotiate an early end to the Albert Park deal.

“If the government wanted to, we could certainly come to some terms, I suppose,” he told the Sunday Herald Sun from London.

81-year-old Ecclestone reportedly wants the government, led by premier Ted Baillieu, to come clean about his plans for the future.

“It would just be nice for somebody to say to me ‘Bernie, definitely, 100 per cent, we don’t want to renew our contract’,” he said.

So Ecclestone reportedly warned that Baillieu should begin talks now if he wants to keep the sport in Melbourne.

The premier’s spokesman reportedly said the government will not ‘take an open chequebook’ to the negotiations.

Kimi Raikkonen ended the 2012 pre-season with this year’s fastest Barcelona laptime, but the Finn is not yet predicting a win in Melbourne at the end of next weekend.
“No one will know how fast any of the cars are until we get to qualifying at Albert Park,” said the returning 2007 world champion.

Lotus – fast at Jerez and also at the Circuit de Catalunya – is expected to trail pacesetters Red Bull and McLaren this season.

Yet in reality, the situation is deliberately clouded: Red Bull had a bad final day of testing on Sunday, but when he was running, rivals expected Sebastian Vettel’s RB8 was brimmed with fuel.

And when he came into the pits, there was the odd sight of team mechanics using large umbrellas to hide the car’s newly-added secrets, including the sidepod exhaust.

“I think that’s a question for Charlie Whiting,” said Ferrari’s technical director Pat Fry when asked about the legality of the solution.

Even so, Red Bull’s position of dominance seems to have been somewhat eroded for 2012, with Mercedes chief Ross Brawn suggesting the RB8 is closely matched by its rivals unless the team has been “running a huge amount of fuel”.

Sebastian Vettel told DPA news agency: “McLaren are strong. Mercedes are definitely stronger than last year and Lotus and perhaps some other teams should not be forgotten — Sauber, Force India.

“Ferrari seem to be having some difficulties,” added the reigning world champion.

World champion Vettel’s final comment appears undoubtedly true, with the famous Italian team’s drivers oddly banned from speaking with the media while technical boss Fry confessed that all is not well.

“I’m always pessimistic,” said the Briton, who said a podium for Ferrari in Melbourne is not likely. “I’m disappointed with our performance at the moment.”

Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, ignored his media muzzle and told Spanish television at a football game: “In the first races we will suffer — we are not yet at 100 per cent.

“We’re not in as good shape as (Barcelona players) Messi and Iniesta,” he is quoted by Barca TV.

But for now, it’s all talk, and so the reticent Raikkonen summed it up well: “Like I said, I don’t know, probably no one does,” he is quoted by Germany’s Sport1.

“In two weeks, we’ll know.”