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.

 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.”

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.”

Luca di Montezemolo on Thursday revealed he resisted the urge to invite Michael Schumacher to play at a football game.

The seven time world champion is Ferrari’s most successful ever driver, winning five world championships during his 1996-2006 tenure.

But after retiring four years ago, the 41-year-old returned to the grid this year with Mercedes, and the tension between the German and his former camp has been obvious.

“We had beautiful years together and I gave him back his desire to race,” said Ferrari president Montezemolo, referring to the offer of a temporary seat last year to replace the injured Massa, which subsequently became a full return with a rival team.

“At times I miss Schumacher, he gave so much to Ferrari, but he also received a lot,” the Italian told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

He then referred to the forthcoming Partita Del Cuore charity football match, to be played in Modena early next week and featuring current Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Said Montezemolo: “A few days ago I was tempted to call him (Schumacher) to ask him to play for us.  But as the team carries the Ferrari name, I avoided it.”

(GMM)

Apr.19 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has dismissed claims that next month’s Spanish grand prix could be cancelled.

It was confirmed on Monday that this weekend’s Japanese round of the MotoGP series has been called off due to the travel disruptions caused by the volcanic ash above Europe.

And football games on Thursday between Atletico Madrid and Liverpool, and Hamburg and Fulham, could also be scratched, with UEFA to make a decision “in the coming days”.

Mercifully for F1, there is now a rare three-week break between Sunday’s Shanghai round and the opening of the European season in Spain.

But with the hundreds of tonnes of freight, including the cars, stranded at Shanghai airport – while F1′s six 747 jets are grounded in Europe – it is currently impossible to predict when the team factories will be reunited with their equipment.

“The main concern is getting the engines back because they have to be worked on,” F1 chief executive Ecclestone told the Times.

“But I am sure everything will be all right,” said the 79-year-old, who despite having a private plane in Shanghai is currently unable to return to Europe.

“We know there will be a Spanish grand prix, we just don’t know where yet,” he joked to another reporter in China, adding that his plan-B is “suicide”.

“There is no question of cancelling the Spanish grand prix,” he insisted. “Of course, it is causing everybody problems, but we will find a way to get everyone home.”

The movement of F1′s actual people is less problematic, albeit expensive: several teams – including Ferrari and McLaren – are organising private charters on Tuesday or Wednesday into Spain, where some major airports are still landing planes.

The personnel will then return to their respective team headquarters by bus.

Other F1 people have diverted to Dubai or even as far afield as the US, in the hope of finding another air route back to Europe.

As for the freight, the end of the air chaos could even be nigh, after British Airways, Air France and KLM tested planes in European skies without problems, and Niki Lauda’s airline conducted a test with an Airbus A320 from Vienna to Salzburg.

“The flight was the best ever, with blue skies. I don’t understand what all the fuss is about,” said the triple world champion.