Olivier Panis is happy with the early progress of French rookie Charles Pic’s 2012 season.

Panis, the 1996 Monaco grand prix winner and veteran of over 150 formula one races, now manages the career of 22-year-old Pic on behalf of the Lagardere group.

“I had the chance to talk with Ron Dennis on the grid,” the former Toyota racer and McLaren test driver Panis told RMC, “as he had come to see him (Pic).

“It shows that nobody is indifferent to what he is doing so far.”

Panis, 45, revealed that Pic is also spending “a lot of time” in McLaren’s driver simulator, thanks to the technical agreement between Marussia and McLaren.

“He is building an image slowly, which is positive. He has earned the respect of the paddock, and now we have to continue,” Panis added.

Charles Pic’s situation leading into his rookie season in formula one is “sad and frustrating”.

That is the claim of his manager Olivier Panis, the 1996 Monaco grand prix winner and former Toyota racer and McLaren test driver.

His well-sponsored countryman Pic, 22, will debut in Melbourne this month alongside the experienced Timo Glock, having never turned a wheel in his 2012 car.

Ahead of next weekend’s season opener, the new Marussia is yet to pass all the FIA crash tests, which has left the former Virgin team grounded throughout February’s test period.

“It’s sad and frustrating,” admitted Panis, when asked about Pic’s situation.

“The beginning will be difficult for him,” he told RMC.

For F1′s backmarkers, including HRT who have also struggled through the winter, the tougher crash tests are just another hurdle, atop tackling the financial might of rival giants like Ferrari and Red Bull.

The sport’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone is unapologetic.

“If we tried to make things less complicated, you will always find the guys at the top looking for that tenth of a second.

“That’s the difference between the winners and losers,” he told the Sun newspaper.

Timo Glock hopes Virgin will be a better shop window for his talents next year.
The German was earlier critical of the struggling team’s direction but Virgin recently split with its designer Nick Wirth and inked a technical and wind tunnel deal with McLaren.

Even so, the 29-year-old confirmed he would jump ship to Red Bull if offered a seat.

“Every driver would answer the same,” the former Toyota driver told Die Welt. “But that’s a dream. I have to do it the hard way, fighting to go towards the front with my team.”

Glock is set to stay with Virgin in 2012, when he hopes the next red and black car can move into the midfield.

The deal is expected to be announced before Sunday’s German grand prix.

“I have to show that what I can do with a car like the Virgin is deliver quality services,” he continued.

“I will probably not be winning races or getting podiums very soon, but technically we have to try to move ahead and that will make me more visible as a driver.

“This is extremely difficult. If we cut the gap by half a second from five seconds, hardly anyone notices. But on a drivers’ track like Monaco for example, if we have a better car in 2012, then you can really stand out,” added Glock.

Pastor Maldonado has revealed he will not be talking to Lewis Hamilton after the Monaco grand prix.
McLaren’s Hamilton was penalised 20 seconds for their crash and after the race ranted about the Williams rookie, who had driven a strong race in the Principality, as well as his 2008 title rival Felipe Massa.

“These drivers are ridiculous,” said the Briton. “It’s stupid.

“People want to see racing, but you get done trying to put on a show,” added Hamilton.

Maldonado told Germany’s motorsport-magazin.net he won’t bother trying to talk it through with Hamilton, 26.

Asked if the McLaren driver apologised, he replied: “No, and I won’t try to discuss the incident with him. That wouldn’t serve any purpose.”

Ferrari’s Massa also returned fire at Hamilton, who had blamed the Brazilian for their in-race crash for which he was given a drive-through penalty.

“Massa held me up in qualifying and I got the penalty. Then he turned into me (in the race) and I got the penalty,” said Hamilton.

30-year-old Massa was not impressed.

“What he did today was unbelievable,” said the Ferrari driver. “Not just with me, but with other drivers as well. He needs to be penalised again and in a good way — otherwise he doesn’t learn.

“He deserves at least a one race suspension,” Massa is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Hamilton did learn quickly from his poor joke about the stewards – including former Toyota driver Allan McNish – picking on him “because I’m black”.

He returned to the circuit late on Sunday to clear the air.

It is believed McLaren was worried its driver’s comments might have brought the sport into disrepute.

“They accepted my explanation, they understood,” said Hamilton after the late stewards’ meeting.

“We all shook hands. They said they would make sure other people in the FIA understand and clarify it with anybody else who has heard it and misunderstood,” he added.

Jarno Trulli has denounced as “embarrassing” the F1 naming dispute between his employer and the carmaker Lotus.
The lack of an official or amicable resolution before the start of the 2011 season means the Italian 36-year-old is set to compete this year with Team Lotus against the newly-rebranded Lotus Renault GP.

“Which is the real one? We don’t know, it’s embarrassing, surreal,” Trulli, a former Toyota driver and race-winner with Renault, told Sunday’s Gazzetta Sportiva newspaper.

Timo Glock insists he is “100 per cent” likely to be staying with the Virgin team in 2011.

A few days ago, reports linked the 28-year-old German with Vitaly Petrov’s Renault seat and quoted him as saying it is only “99.9 per cent certain” he will be staying with Virgin even though he has a contract for next year.

But in a team interview published on Friday, Glock said he is “excited” about 2011.

“And yes I am definitely driving for Virgin,” said the former Toyota and Jordan driver.

“It is not just 99.9pc certain that I will stay, as has been reported — it is 100pc certain that I am staying. Since the beginning I have had a long-term contract with the team and I said then that I was doing this to help build a team for the future.”

Glock said the rumours about him being unhappy at Virgin are wide of the mark.

“There has been a lot of speculation about me wanting to leave, but it is not about leaving a team, it is about wanting to do better and keep moving forward,” he insisted.

“This is a great team of people who have given blood, sweat and tears to our first season. Some people haven’t seen that with their own eyes, like I have, so it’s easy to criticise or be cynical,” he added.

Glock’s 2010 teammate Lucas di Grassi is not yet confirmed for 2011. The Brazilian rookie wrote on Twitter that he has “nothing yet” for next season but is “confident”.

Glock said: “I don’t think we will have to wait too much longer for that news — hopefully before Christmas.”

On the market is Nico Hulkenberg, the solid 2010 rookie who has been ousted by Williams.

“I still do not have a new contract with another team, but that will hopefully change very soon. It looks well,” the 23-year-old German said on Friday.

Jarno Trulli’s place on the 2011 grid is secure, but the same is reportedly not true for Italian countryman Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Reporting on Italy’s dwindling presence in formula one, Autosprint magazine recalled 1989, when no fewer than 12 Italians lined up on the grid.

Now, there are just two, and the veteran Trulli is expected to re-sign with Lotus Racing for 2011.

But F1′s other Italian driver, Vitantonio Liuzzi – while possessing a contract for 2011 – must reportedly tremble as Force India considers its next lineup.

His 2010 teammate Adrian Sutil says he has agreed to stay next year, while two drivers – Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg – are strongly linked with the other seat.

Hulkenberg’s manager Willi Weber has revealed talks with the Vijay Mallya-headed team, and reserve driver di Resta upped his credentials at the weekend by wrapping up his first title in the German touring car series DTM.

“I’m certainly hoping I can get a seat there next year because I’d love to continue a long relationship with them,” di Resta is quoted as saying on Monday.

“My dream is to become formula one world champion, and that’s the next box in my book I’ve got to tick off. I’ll keep praying it happens,” he added.

Di Resta’s Scottish countryman and former Toyota racer Allan McNish also hopes the 24-year-old makes his F1 debut next March.

“If you look at the mistakes Sutil and Liuzzi have made in the past few races, you would have to say Paul has a good case to be out there,” he said recently.

“Unfortunately, there is a lot of politics in motor sport and F1 is at the very height of that so it is not just about a driver’s performance,” added McNish.

With Nick Heidfeld at the wheel of a Toyota TF109 Pirelli is currently testing in Mugello – tires for Formula 1 and GP2 will be the same in future.

It is serious for Pirelli, the future Formula 1 tire manufacturer who will replace the previous incumbent Bridgestone in 2011 for at least three years, today officially launched at Mugello quasi with preparations for the coming season. At the wheel sat the test carrier as announced Nick Heidfeld.

The former Mercedes test driver took a Toyota TF109 from last season site, used by the company based in Cologne TTE, a remnant of former Toyota Formula 1 team. The main objective of the two-day test is to get the new tires and to collect valuable data for further development in the coming months. In this regard, Heidfeld will describe his impressions and give input.
However, it is not at the Mugello test track at the premiere of the forthcoming Pirelli tires. This took place in July with a GP2 test carrier in Le Castellet. For what many do not know: According to information of ‘Motorsport-Total.com’ Pirelli will offer in 2011 for Formula 1 and GP2, the same types of tires. This helps the GP2 as a springboard to the premier class, and also saves costs.

The Italian tire manufacturer will continue the test at home tomorrow. Then there are five more tests with the TTE test carrier on the program before it will be the week after the season finale in Abu Dhabi, the first tests of all the teams with the new Pirelli tires. Insiders expect that the tires are beginning to turn more conservative, after all do not want to stand out by Pirelli defects.

Timo Glock has admitted he is keeping his “eyes open” for a better seat on the formula one grid.

The former Toyota driver is under contract with the struggling new team Virgin for another season, but he has been linked with a possible move to Renault.

“If there is an opportunity at Renault, I don’t know at the moment,” German Glock, 28, told ITV, amid uncertainty about Vitaly Petrov’s future at the Enstone based team.

Adrian Sutil has also been linked with Petrov’s seat.

But on a trip to India, the German said: “Force India is the best team to be with currently.”

Like Glock, his 2009 Toyota teammate Jarno Trulli also moved to a new team for this season, and technical boss Mike Gascoyne has indicated that Lotus will field the same lineup next year.

“Of course this year is difficult for me to accept but the outlook for 2011 is better,” the Italian, who at Spa this month will notch up his 228th grand prix, told Auto Bild.

“I do not want to come to terms with being a backmarker.  I accepted that because Lotus has a long term plan,” added Trulli.

Elsewhere at the back of the 2010 grid, Bruno Senna is already thinking about next season.

“Do I have a contract for next year?” the Brazilian is quoted as saying in Dutch language reports.  “That depends on how you look at it.

“I can’t say any more at the moment, except that I want to stay in formula one and have as competitive a car as possible,” added Senna.

Timo Glock has admitted he is keeping his “eyes open” as the 2011 driver market unfolds.

The German revealed earlier this year that he opted to switch to Virgin even though Renault and Sauber were also options.

Glock, 27, said that at the time he made his choice, the futures of the aforementioned teams looked much dicier than Virgin’s, the struggling new British team.

“I’m keeping my eyes open,” he is quoted by Auto Bild Motorsport, in a report that also said Force India was an option for the former Toyota driver.

Glock admits life at the back of the grid has been “hard”.

“You can’t think to yourself, ‘oh, I could be sitting in that car now!’  The situation is what it is and you have to make the most of it, otherwise you can’t perform to your best.

“So I try to ignore the other 18 cars.  For me it’s a world championship with Lotus, and simply that is how I motivate myself,” he explained.

(GMM)