F1′s next winner could be at the wheel of a black and gold car.

“I think Kimi (Raikkonen) will be the sixth different winner in the sixth race,” said Finnish commentator and former driver Mika Salo, to the MTV3 broadcaster.

Although the results in 2012 have proved impossible to predict so far, many paddock pundits expected Lotus’ E20 to be the car to beat last weekend in Barcelona.

“The big surprise was when Kimi didn’t win,” admitted former Ferrari driver Salo, referring to Pastor Maldonado’s victory for Williams.

Also confident about Lotus’ potential is Raikkonen’s teammate, Romain Grosjean, who finished behind the 2007 world champion last weekend.

“It’s good to be a little disappointed with third and fourth,” he told the French language RMC Sport. “It shows that as a team we are convinced we can win.”

According to the reigning world champion team Red Bull’s drivers, however, there is a downside to this year’s impossible-to-predict F1 landscape.

“Maybe we will see an HRT or a Marussia on pole in Monaco,” world champion Sebastian Vettel said, unenthusiastically and half-seriously.

Mark Webber insists that what has been described as the Pirelli ‘lottery’ might not be a good thing for the sport.

“I don’t know if they (the fans) will get sick of seeing so many different winners,” the Australian told Fox Sports.

“It’s nice to have different winners but also we want rivals.”

Bernie Ecclestone is leading the negotiations as France tries to return to the formula one calendar.
The country’s government is pushing hard to include Paul Ricard on the 2013 calendar, with a deal to alternate annually a single race date with Belgum’s Spa Francorchamps.

RMC Sport reports that Paris has formally requested Ecclestone, F1′s chief executive, send them the contract.

But the report said a crucial detail is missing: the necessary race fee.

As those negotiations begin, it is revealed that Eric Boullier – the Lotus team’s French team principal – met with Ecclestone in London on Wednesday to talk about it.

Boullier had tried to “speed things up”, the French language report said.

RMC added that Spa-Francorchamps’ Belgian promoters currently spend EUR 22.5 million per race on the grand prix, a figure neither they nor France are willing to pay in 2013 and beyond.

“Both have set a maximum of EUR 15 million per race,” said the report.

The responsible Belgian minister, Jean-Claude Marcourt, declined to comment.

 Giedo van der Garde is set to return to the track with Caterham during the forthcoming Barcelona tests, reigniting speculation about Jarno Trulli’s future with the former Lotus team.
After the sponsor-backed Dutch GP2 driver was signed on as 2012 reserve driver, he was also drafted into the Jerez test lineup at short notice, bumping Italian veteran Trulli from Thursday’s running.

And France’s Auto Hebdo quotes the 26-year-old as revealing he expects to return to the wheel soon.

“It was not easy for me to fully exploit the new tyres and brakes, but it will be better at the next test.

“The team is happy with my performance. I hope to do another test before the season starts,” van der Garde said.

Also reportedly in the running at Caterham is the Renault refugee and Russian-backed Vitaly Petrov, with Sport Bild claiming Trulli’s 2012 place is “probably not safe”.

“For now I’m safe,” Trulli was quoted on Monday by the Italian website Stop and Go.

Also perhaps feeling nervous at present is Marussia’s new signing Charles Pic, who according to Dutch website f1today.nl is grappling with “sponsorship and payment problems”.

The former Virgin team denied the reports.

“I want to prove to everyone that I have the talent to succeed in F1,” he is quoted by French language RMC Sport.

“Timo (Glock) has a lot of experience and has been on the podium — my goal is to learn from him and try to beat him as soon as possible,” added Pic.

Ferrari has joined Red Bull in questioning the viability of the formula one teams alliance FOTA.
Amid fears some teams are breaking the gentleman’s cost-limiting agreement and faltering talks in Korea, Red Bull chief Christian Horner said the group needs to shape up “or we’ll stop”.

According to a French language report by the AFP news agency, his Ferrari counterpart Stefano Domenicali also has grave concerns.

“In terms of the cost cutting (disagreement), we can no longer afford to continue like this,” said the Italian, referring to the burgeoning debate.

“If there is no trust, there is no need to go forward,” added Domenicali.

“We know why FOTA was put together so we need to understand whether we still need it. What are the objectives for the future of FOTA, if it has a future?”

The news of the fracturing alliance will be music to the ears of Bernie Ecclestone, who would prefer to negotiate separately with the teams as F1 looks towards its next Concorde Agreement.

French carmaker Renault’s continuing involvement in formula one relies on “certain conditions” being present.
That is the claim of Carlos Tavares, who is the marque’s freshly appointed chief operating officer.

After the ‘crashgate’ scandal, Renault effectively withdrew from F1 as a works team and is now only an engine supplier to the Red Bull, Lotus Renault, Team Lotus and – in 2012 – Williams teams.

“It was a reasonable decision which led us to a level of expenditure in line with our means,” Tavares is quoted in a French language report by Agence France-Presse.

“Renault does not have infinite funds,” he insisted. “This decision allowed the company to refocus its efforts on the core of the race engines.”

AFP said that instead of paying EUR 220 million to run the works Renault team in 2009, the marque now spends just 60 million on its F1 programme.

Asked about the difference in image, Tavares answered: “I don’t know that we have lost anything.”

As for the future, he said Renault’s “strategy is to be the leaders in zero-emission vehicles.

“Our commitment to F1 is long-term when the conditions of cost, image and sporting fairness are also met”, added Tavares.

“As long as the conditions are there, there is no reason to not be in F1. It has been almost 30 years that we have demonstrated our passion (for F1) and we continue to do so every day.”

Jean Todt has scrapped his earlier plans to appoint a commissioner in charge of formula one.
Upon being elected as new FIA president, the former Ferrari boss has as promised appointed commissioners for many of the federation’s series including world rallying, touring cars and GT.

“Firstly, I still respect the principle of what I said I would do,” he is quoted as saying by the French-language autohebdo.fr.

“The election was a new experience for me. My advisors suggested I create a commission for all the disciplines of the FIA.

“Except in F1, where the president of the commission owns the commercial rights – Bernie Ecclestone – we have committees in all disciplines.

“I think in the case of F1, you would end up with two separate commissions. That’s why I abandoned the idea,” explained Todt, who has been at loggerheads with Ecclestone over several political matters of late.

The 65-year-old also said it is too early to commit to standing for another term as FIA president.

“I’ve been here for 18 months. It has gone quickly but I still have 30 months as president to go. I can still accomplish many things before I take a decision,” insisted Todt.

It is not right to say Michael Schumacher’s return to formula one this year was a failure, his former championship rival Jacques Villeneuve insists.

The seven time world champion struggled with the Mercedes car alongside Nico Rosberg in 2010, but Villeneuve thinks Schumacher ultimately had the edge on his younger teammate.

“It was difficult for him until mid-season but by the end he was ahead of his teammate,” the French Canadian told French language autohebdo.fr.

Villeneuve, who beat Schumacher to the 1997 title, also thinks F1 fans have a rosy recollection of the great Schumacher.

“At Ferrari, he was one or two tenths ahead of his teammate but rarely more,” said the 39-year-old.

“Everyone thought he was going to be a second ahead of Rosberg, but it was never even like that in the past.”

Villeneuve also wanted to come back to F1 this year and he said he acknowledges the enormity of the challenge.

“It’s difficult,” he said. “I was away for six months (in 2004) and physically it was tough, and then you’re getting your bearings. The last tenth is hard to get back.”

Villeneuve also backs Schumacher’s claim that the 2010 Mercedes car was a main reason for his results this year.

“If the car didn’t suit him then that’s hard to resolve,” he said, “but at the end of the season he was there.”

In a new interview with CNN, Schumacher was asked whether he is risking his reputation by pushing ahead with an unsuccessful return to F1.

“I enjoy it. I feel I have the right to do what I enjoy. Whether I put in dispute my reputation … I just feel good about my decision and I have so much support from people,” said the German.

Jacques Villeneuve has denied he threw away a good chance to return to formula one in 2011.

A French Canadian radio commentator had implied that the 1997 world champion was offered the Indycar drive in Lotus colours this year and would then have progressed to F1 when the sports car marque announced its 2011 tie-up with Renault.

“That was never discussed,” Villeneuve insisted, according to French language Rue Frontenac.

Late last year, the 39-year-old visited Lotus’ Norfolk headquarters for talks with his friend Gino Rosato.

“There was never any discussion of F1,” Villeneuve said.

“Everyone knows how hard I worked on my return to F1. If the only thing I needed to do was spend a year in Indycar, I would have done it!

“The truth is that F1 only came into the plans of Lotus Cars in the last few months,” he explained.

Rosato, who for a long time worked in F1 with Ferrari before moving to Lotus as vice-president of corporate affairs, backed Villeneuve’s story.

“F1 was not in our plans when I spoke to Jacques about Indycar,” he said. “I would have loved for him to race with us. In my head, Villeneuve and Lotus was a natural fit but the planets were not aligned.”

Villeneuve agreed: “It’s true that we talked about Indycar, but Takuma Sato had already been hired as their first driver and I was asked to bring some of the budget that my partners at the time wanted to invest for F1.

“It was not an option,” he clarified. “And Indycar and the Indy 500 — I’ve already done that. And that was before the separation, when the series was more competitive.

“If I have to bring a budget, it will be for a new challenge like NASCAR, not to go back to something I have already ticked off and achieved,” added Villeneuve

Robert Kubica is travelling to Korea this week in podium-winning form.

At the weekend, between the Japanese and Korean grands prix, the Pole and rally enthusiast took part in the Rallye d’Antibes in the South of France.

The rally, with Kubica at the wheel of a Clio S1600, is part of the FIA European Rally Championship.

According to French language sources including Belgian television RTBF, the 25-year-old finished the rally in third place overall.  Auto Hebdo described it as “an excellent performance”.

F1 Renault driver Kubica reportedly finished ahead of many faster S2000 cars, topped the times in three separate stages, and won the A6 class outright.

A month ago in Italy, he took his first class victory in the Rally d’Alipi Orientali.

But at Suzuka just over a week ago, Kubica retired his F1 car from second place behind winner Sebastian Vettel when his R30 shed a rear wheel.

He was, however, buoyed by his pace in Japan.

“I didn’t expect to be as quick as we were,” he admitted.

Team boss Colin Kolles has played down paddock rumours that HRT is on the verge of collapse.

The new Spanish outfit has struggled with the slowest car in 2010, and the rumour at Monza last weekend was that the Cosworth engines were set to fall silent due to unpaid bills to Cosworth.

“We discussed our budget in Italy and it was approved,” Kolles is quoted by the French language L’Equipe website.

“We still need to complete certain objectives, but there is no cause for concern,” he insisted.

“The bill for the engines has been paid for to the end of the season. I think we are in better shape than some others,” said Kolles.

“We will see who finishes the season and who does not, and we’ll see who is on the grid next season.

“I am used to these rumours. When I arrived at Midland, everyone thought we would not survive, and it was the same with Spyker and Force India, but the team is still there,” he said.

Elsewhere, the team’s technical coordinator Jacky Eeckelaert has ruled out reports of a merger with Epsilon Euskadi, and also quietened rumours that HRT is turning to Cologne-based Toyota Motorsport for a 2011 collaboration.

“That’s a delicate question to answer,” he started. “It is true there were contacts with Toyota, but I don’t think it’s going to happen for 2011.

“As for a merger with Epsilon Euskadi, I’m not aware of that,” added Eeckelaert.

Romain Grosjean has admitted he is hoping to be appointed the full-time replacement for departed Pirelli tyre tester Nick Heidfeld.

Heidfeld left the role after his third Pirelli tyre test at Jerez late last week because he is returning to the formula one grid with Sauber.

Former Renault racer and GP2 driver Grosjean, 24, will replace the Sauber-bound German when F1′s incoming official tyre supplier moves its 2011 programme to the Monza circuit this week.

But it has not been confirmed that the Swiss-born Frenchman will be staying in the role beyond his Italian outing.

“I am doing two days at Monza on Tuesday and Wednesday,” he told Auto Hebdo in a French-language interview.

“After this test the decision will be made about continuing together or not. I hope to be with the project until the end,” added Grosjean.

“I’m anxious to get behind the wheel of a formula one car again, especially as this Toyota was clearly one of the best cars at the end of last season.

“To be again accumulating kilometres in an F1 car is of course a good step towards returning to F1 soon,” he said.

Grosjean attended the Jerez test last week, before travelling to Toyota’s Cologne headquarters for a seat fitting.

“Nick told me the TF109 is very good and very neutral, which is the perfect way to test tyres,” he added.

Kimi Raikkonen’s interest in driving for Renault next year is “flattering”, team boss Eric Boullier has admitted.

2007 world champion Raikkonen’s manager last week confirmed reports the pair had spoken with Boullier about the vacant 2011 seat alongside Robert Kubica.

The 30-year-old Finn switched to world rallying this year after winning 18 grands prix with Ferrari and McLaren last decade.

“It’s flattering,” Boullier said in a French language report of the Agence France-Presse agency, “because it shows that our team is again attractive to a formula one world champion.”

After Fernando Alonso’s titles in 2005 and 2006, Renault entered a period of decline that resulted in the French carmaker selling to Luxembourg based Genii Capital at the end of last year.

“Our simulations show that our car has improved by about 1 and 3/4 seconds between the first test and now. We have been one of the teams with the greatest progressions.

“That is a true source of satisfaction,” admitted Boullier. “We have proved the team has the qualities to operate at the highest level.”

Durango, the Italian racing team, has confirmed Jacques Villeneuve’s announcement that there are plans to buy an existing formula one team.

After the FIA decided recently to leave the 13th team entry vacant in 2011, 1997 world champion Villeneuve said “plan B” is to “take over one of the existing teams”.

Press reports in recent days said HRT and Virgin are the French Canadian’s most likely targets.

“The only way to enter F1 in 2011 is to buy an existing team,” confirmed Durango spokesman Giuseppe Dorigo to French language Radio Canada Sports.

“And as planned we will do it together with Jacques Villeneuve. Yes, we believe it’s worth it.

“Our only goal now is to be on the starting grid next year,” added Dorigo.

Jacques Villeneuve on Wednesday said he has not given up on heading his own formula one team in 2011.

Earlier in Paris, the FIA ruled that neither Villeneuve’s collaboration with Italian racing outfit Durango, or the Spanish applicant Epsilon Euskadi, had satisfied the requirements for the vacant 13th place on next year’s grid.

“Now we turn to our plan B, which is to take over one of the existing teams,” the French Canadian said in a telephone interview with French language Rue Frontenac.

But the 1997 world champion admitted he is cautious.

“It is probably going to be a bit more expensive and we must ensure we have a free hand,” said 39-year-old Villeneuve.

“We do not want to be with partners we would not have chosen. There may also be contracts in place that interfere with our plans.

“For example, we have tremendous confidence in the design of our car. We want to be able to use it, not to have an existing design imposed on us,” said Villeneuve.

He said the next step is to sit down with his associates.

“I’ve only just heard the news so there isn’t a timetable set. I have to sit down with my partners and establish the strategy.

“I am also pleased we continued to work on NASCAR. Things on this side are going well,” revealed Villeneuve.

Jacques Villeneuve is not confirming reports that the FIA intends to leave the 13th team spot vacant for the 2011 season.

The 1997 world champion, in collaboration with Italian racing team Durango, is in the running along with Spain’s Epsilon Euskadi for the last place on next year’s grid.

But according to reports this week, the governing body has decided to leave the position vacant because neither of the applications has a strong enough combination of engineering and financial resource.

It is believed the news could be announced after Wednesday’s meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris, even though the decision was reportedly made a week ago.

But Villeneuve told the French language Canadian publication Rue Frontenac late on Tuesday that he is still hopeful.

“We have had no news – positive or negative – from the FIA,” said the 39-year-old.

“All I know is that we are proud of our bid and we followed the process instituted by the FIA.

“We have a budget in place for the next three years, and the design of the car is going very well.  Phase 1 is nearing completion.

“We have submitted our application and we only need the approval of the FIA for the next phase.”

Villeneuve said he can understand the FIA’s careful deliberations about allowing another new team to compete in formula one.

“The memory of the USF1 debacle is still fresh in their minds,” said the winner of 11 grands prix, who competed in F1 most recently in 2006 for BMW.

“They want to be really sure that the group with the 13th spot will be very solid, and that suits us because we are strong,” Villeneuve insisted.

“After our meeting, they wanted to do due diligence and that’s probably why the announcement is a bit late.

“We look forward to the news but we’re not panicking — far from it,” added the French Canadian.

He said Durango owner Ivone Pinton is not panicking either, despite the reports about the FIA deciding not to open F1′s door to any more teams for now.

“We have barely discussed it, except to say the media is a bit fast on the trigger!  It’s possible the FIA will say no but we have no indication to that effect.

“Their analytical work is ongoing — that’s all we know,” added Villeneuve.