Paul di Resta has hinted he would leap at the chance to replace Michael Schumacher at Mercedes.

The German marque’s Brackley based chief executive Nick Fry this week earmarked impressive Force India driver di Resta, earlier a Mercedes protege, as an ideal successor should Schumacher not stay beyond his 2012 contract.

Asked about Fry’s comments and the media speculation on Wednesday, di Resta said in Monaco: “It’s always nice to have the press interest and people looking out for you, but I need to stay focused on doing the best job I possibly can.”

He told Sky Sports News: “It’s no secret that I want to be a race winner and world champion — and to do that, I need to be in a great car.”

Jerome d’Ambrosio is the latest name linked with struggling Felipe Massa’s Ferrari race seat.

While Mark Webber or Sergio Perez are the Maranello team’s more likely longer term solutions, Ferrari may be looking simply for a stop-gap solution, having reportedly run out of patience for Brazilian Massa’s lack of pace and results.

The French sports daily L’Equipe named d’Ambrosio, the Belgian driver who lost his Virgin/Marussia seat at the end of last season.

He is managed by Eric Boullier, and now Lotus’ reserve driver.

Also named as potential substitutes for Massa in recent days were Nico Hulkenberg, Paul di Resta and Kamui Kobayashi.

But, according to L’Equipe, d’Ambrosio “has the advantage of being immediately available, giving Ferrari time to find a more permanent solution” for 2013.

Also ready to step in now is Adrian Sutil, the former Force India driver who is putting his career back together after the Eric Lux assault affair.

“I have no money to offer,” the German is quoted as saying. “After five seasons, people know what is my level. I want a normal salary, that’s all.”

The drama stepped up a notch even after the chequered flag in Barcelona.

A couple of hours after Williams’ first win since 2004, something exploded in the British team’s garage, triggering a major fire.

Team members and fire crews battled the blaze as paddock regulars scrambled away from the heavy smoke and police arrived on the scene.

The Telegraph’s Tom Cary said on Twitter there are “multiple injuries”.

It is believed Williams, Force India and Caterham staff – some of whom bravely fought the fire – are being treated in the medical centre, some for smoke inhalation.

An emergency helicopter will ferry others to hospital.

“Couple of our guys got injuries, burns and maybe one broken wrist, no news on Williams guys I hope they’re ok,” wrote Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen on Twitter.

Rumours indicated the fire could have been caused by a KERS explosion, or possibly fuel, as a burned fuel rig was pulled from the gutted garage.

Paul di Resta has played down media speculation linking him with a high-profile switch to Ferrari.

The reports suggested the famous Italian marque has been impressed with the Scot’s one and a half seasons with Force India and sees him as a potential replacement for the struggling Felipe Massa.

“I have not heard anything about it,” the 26-year-old, who is managed by Anthony Hamilton, said in Barcelona.

“I am just concentrating on the job I have to do for Force India. That is my only focus,” he is quoted by the Scottish Sun newspaper.

However, di Resta is widely regarded as having outshone his highly-rated teammate Nico Hulkenberg so far in 2012.

But he denies he is the number one driver.

“(There is) equal opportunity and everybody seizing his chances,” di Resta told F1′s official website.

As for his dominant position over Hulkenberg, he insisted: “That would be for Nico to answer.”

Hulkenberg said on Thursday: “The first four races have been quite tough but I’m looking forward — I’m bedding in well with the team.”

Paul di Resta has emerged as the latest candidate to possibly succeed struggling Felipe Massa at Ferrari.

Britain’s Mirror newspaper said the famous Maranello based team has “made enquiries” about the 26-year-old Scot’s current contract with Force India.

The speculation follows Red Bull’s closing down of rumours linking Mark Webber with the switch, as Christian Horner and Dietrich Mateschitz suggested the Australian is set to continue beyond his 2012 contract.

Ferrari chiefs “are known to be impressed” with di Resta since he moved as the reigning DTM champion to formula one at the end of 2010, the Mirror’s F1 correspondent Byrton Young wrote.

“Paul di Resta would be a very good target for Ferrari because (Fernando) Alonso probably has the best toolkit of knowledge and physically is one the best drivers in the world,” triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart is quoted by the Daily Mail.

“Alonso is almost at his peak and to have a young driver such as di Resta be an understudy to Alonso is something I’d consider if I was at Ferrari,” he added.

James Key could be the next formula one engineer to join F1′s struggling giant Ferrari.

Multiple media sources, including the authoritative Italian specialist newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, say the Maranello based team is interested in Key, a 40-year-old Briton.

Key’s career dates back to the Jordan days, continuing through the transition to Force India, and he eventually joined Sauber in 2010.

He was the highly respected technical director at the Swiss team until earlier this year, and was therefore in charge of the impressive 2012 Sauber C31, amid speculation he had headed to Lotus’ sports car project.

But the media reports, including in the major German daily Bild, say Ferrari is now interested, particularly because Key is already familiar with the Italian marque through Sauber’s use of the Ferrari drivetrain.

However, when asked what truth there is to the Key rumours, Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni snapped: “Nothing, nada, niente!”

A spat between two Britons could drive the German giant Mercedes out of formula one, according to a new media report.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone recently confirmed he is at loggerheads with Mercedes over the next Concorde Agreement.

But at the same time, he insisted that the Stuttgart marque is “very important to formula one. I have always supported them and I will always,” he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

Indeed, Mercedes has its own and newly-winning works team, powers the marquee McLaren outfit, and also supplies engines to Force India.

Ecclestone’s dispute is with fellow Englishman Ross Brawn, who is the Brackley based Mercedes GP team’s principal.

“I have spoken to the team manager (Brawn) about it (the dispute) and he seems to believe that the team has won a few world titles and about 80 races since the Tyrrell days,” said the 81-year-old.

Sport Bild reports that Ecclestone is refusing to give in to Brawn’s demands for extra Concorde Agreement entitlements for past title successes and history.

The magazine said the relationship has become so intense that Ecclestone has even refused to give a joint interview with Brawn.

“He (Brawn) was never very nice to me,” the F1 ‘supremo’ is quoted as saying.

The German report said there is a risk Mercedes will, as a result of the ‘ice age’ between the British duo, pull the plug on its entire F1 involvement.

Another theory about Force India’s absence from a practice session in Bahrain last weekend has emerged.

Word has it the Silverstone based team sat out the second session on Friday because staff were spooked by a Molotov cocktail incident and didn’t want to be returning to their hotels in darkness.

Officially, Force India said the decision to skip a practice session was for “logistical reasons”.

“None of the other teams seem to have a problem,” said Bernie Ecclestone last weekend. “Maybe (it’s) nothing to do with being in this country, maybe it’s something else.”

An event summary by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said: “There are rumours that Force India wanted to save its engines because they are short on cash.”

The team’s Bahrain crisis was handled by deputy chief Bob Fernley, in the absence of owner and principal Vijay Mallya.

Indeed, Indian Mallya does seem to have bigger problems, with the latest reports indicating he is considering selling 26 per cent of his flagship spirits company in order to rescue his dying airline Kingfisher.

A spokesman for JM Financial, representing Mallya, dismissed the suggestion as “factually incorrect and speculative”.

HRT has announced it will sit out next week’s rare in-season formula one test at Mugello.

For the first time in years, the sport has relaxed slightly its strict testing ban in order to give teams the chance to run between grands prix.

The three-day session at Ferrari’s Italian circuit will begin next Tuesday, during the three-week gap between Bahrain and Spain.

Struggling backmarkers HRT, however, will not be there, opting instead to be “completely focused” on relocating to its new Caja Magica headquarters in Madrid.

Every other team will be at Mugello, 30 kilometres from Florence — the first in-season test for four years.

26 drivers will be in action, as will a lot of update packages following F1′s return from the hectic ‘flyaway’ season.

Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Sauber, Marussia and Toro Rosso will use their regular race drivers.

Running regular racers and a tester will be Lotus (Jerome d’Ambrosio), Williams (Valtteri Bottas) and Force India (Jules Bianchi).

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said Caterham is “using the opportunity to earn some money” by accepting the sponsorship of the Venezuelan Rodolfo Gonzalez.

McLaren has scheduled to run its testers Oliver Turvey and Gary Paffett, although Lewis Hamilton has indicated he might gatecrash the programme in order to help solve the MP4-27′s newfound tyre problems.

Becoming Pirelli’s test driver was “not an option” for Adrian Sutil, the out-of-work F1 driver has admitted.

“Right now I’m waiting,” the former Force India driver told Eurosport Deutschland.

German Sutil, 29, was an established F1 driver until 2011, when he became embroiled in a legal battle with Lotus team executive Eric Lux over an assault.

He has been left without a seat for 2012, causing many to wonder why he – and not the less experienced Jaime Alguersuari – was not selected to test with F1′s official tyre supplier Pirelli.

“A collaboration with Pirelli didn’t work out, but I was never in contact with them directly,” Sutil said. “It wasn’t an option.”

He also didn’t find a test or reserve seat with a team.

“The fact that there is hardly any testing, of course, is not very helpful,” Sutil insisted.

He has been linked with struggling Felipe Massa’s Ferrari seat.

“I do have to hope,” admitted Sutil, “that either some drivers don’t do well, or a cockpit becomes available. That is my chance.

“That drivers are changed is just a part of formula one,” added Sutil.

“My plan is to wait and see if there is a possibility. If not, then of course you have to give serious thought about what to do in the future — in 2013.”

With the F1 world now returned from Bahrain, the sport is assessing the fallout of one of the most controversial grands prix in history.

The drivers were conspicuously quiet over the saga in the island Kingdom, but – with no contract tying him down – former Force India driver Adrian Sutil admitted he was glad he was not there.

“In a situation like that, it is probably better not to go,” the German said on Sky Deutschland.

“On the one hand, the decision was made (to go to Bahrain), on the other hand, it’s very difficult when there are so many problems in a country.”

Red Bull reserve driver Sebastien Buemi, who has family living in Bahrain, does not agree at all.

“I arrived on Monday and I had no problem — maybe there were a few more police than two years ago, but nothing happened to me,” the Swiss insisted on Austrian Servus TV.

Force India and Sauber, however, witnessed Molotov cocktail attacks on their treks to and from the circuit.

And Caterham team spokesman Tom Webb told the Sun that there was “one minor incident when one of our (hire) vans slowed down in traffic and its occupants saw a local youth on the side of the main road brandishing a bottle with a rag stuffed in its neck”.

World champion and race winner Sebastian Vettel also admitted the feeling was tense in the paddock throughout the weekend.

“It was not easy for anyone,” the Red Bull driver admitted, according to SID news agency, “but I’m glad that nothing happened to any of us (in F1).”

And the Telegraph quotes Vettel adding: “Hopefully, we come back in the future when everything’s a little bit safer.”

Reuters reports that Vodafone, the main sponsor of the half Bahrain-owned McLaren team, sent no staff to the country and expressed concerns to the British outfit.

But Jim Wright, an F1 sponsorship expert, told the Guardian that he thinks while the sport’s image took a beating last weekend, sponsors will be happy.

“Most teams handled a difficult decision very well,” he said. “On that basis I think a lot of people would be pleased with that and happy to get involved with them.”

The television audience was also unaffected – even boosted – with the BBC reporting more viewers for Bahrain than Australia and Malaysia, and Germany revealing similarly strong figures.

Still, there remains criticism.

“Now is an opportunity to reflect,” former F1 driver Alex Zanardi told Tuttosport, “and make sure that major sporting events are assigned only to governments that deserve the honour of hosting them.

“Ecclestone is brilliant and has made formula one what it is, but he can’t administer races at any cost and above all else,” insisted the Italian.

Due to security fears, Force India sat out a practice session on Friday so that staff could return to their hotels in daylight.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone was reportedly enraged, and according to rumours got his revenge by instructing Formula One Management’s television cameras to ignore the Silverstone based team’s cars in qualifying.

“There was a bit of fuss about what we did,” deputy team principal Bob Fernley is quoted by Spain’s AS newspaper, “and it was not easy, but I think it turned out to be the right response.

“We had a lot of pressure, our attitude was not well received,” he confirmed, “but I think that we had a duty of care to our employees, and to do the right thing by the team.”

Sauber has become the second formula one team to reveal a brush with Bahrain’s civil unrest.

Force India was involved in a Molotov cocktail attack earlier this week, resulting in two team members returning to the UK and Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta sitting out the second practice session on Friday.

Now, the Swiss team Sauber has revealed it saw masked protesters throwing petrol bombs whilst returning from the circuit to their Manama hotel late on Thursday.

“At 20.50 the 12 mechanics, being on that minibus to the Novotel, noticed fire on the medial strip of the highway,” said spokesman Hanspeter Brack.

“On the opposite lane there was no traffic. The team members saw a few masked people running from there over to their lane where a bottle was burning as well.”

No one was hurt.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone on Friday played down the latest drama, accusing reporters of “wanting a story” and offering to ride in the cars with the frightened Force India team members if they are afraid of Bahrain’s night.

Bahrain 2012 is all about tyres, said Shanghai winner Nico Rosberg on Friday.

More specifically, Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport revealed that the key to victory this weekend will be the management of Pirelli’s rear tyres in the hot Sakhir desert.

“If you stand on the gas too much, the tyres are too hot already,” said Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Rosberg won in cool China and was fastest in Friday’s hot second practice session in Bahrain, but there remains a question mark about the way his Mercedes uses its tyres.

Referring specifically to Bahrain, the German admitted: “It’s tricky to keep the rear tyres alive.

“It will have little to do with fast driving — it’s more like Le Mans or something.”

Bahrain’s Crown Prince on Friday ruled out cancelling the troubled island kingdom’s grand prix.

“I think cancelling just empowers extremists,” he told reporters, whilst standing alongside F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

Pressure on the race organisers, Ecclestone and the FIA to cancel the race has only intensified after Force India and Sauber revealed their brushes with petrol bombs.

“I can absolutely guarantee that any problems that may or may not happen are not directed at F1,” the Crown Prince insisted.

Ecclestone, meanwhile, pointed his finger at the media.

“There are other countries much higher up the priority list you should be writing about,” he told the scrum of reporters.

“Go to Syria and write about those things there because it’s more important than here.”

When asked about the violent clashes between Bahraini protesters and the police, Ecclestone said: “It’s a lot of nonsense. You guys love it.”

However, he did admit that going ahead with the race is “a little bit silly” for the Bahrain government because it gives the protesters “such an incredible platform”.

Force India on Friday will run a shortened second practice session in Bahrain.

The BBC reports that staff members, some of whom were caught up in a Molotov cocktail attack earlier this week, want to pack up early in order to avoid travelling back to their hotels in darkness.

Deputy team boss Bob Fernley confirmed to Reuters that Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta will therefore run limited second practice programmes, and may skip the session altogether.

Other reports quote him as saying Force India will however take part in qualifying and the race.

Respected British commentator and former grand prix driver Martin Brundle, however, thinks the island Kingdom has “never looked better”.

“Clearly, there is some trouble out there,” he told Sky, “but I’ve not seen any of it.

“Some journalists have gone looking for it and unfortunately the trouble found Force India.

“My view is this: F1 can’t run away from this,” Brundle insisted.