Amid Ferrari’s performance crisis with the struggling F2012 car, the Italian team has emerged from the opening ‘flyaway’ races with a solid head of steam.

He might be just fifth, but Fernando Alonso is a mere 10 points off the lead of the drivers’ world championship, after a see-sawing pecking order emerged from the overseas races in Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain.

The Spanish driver admitted mere days ago that the F2012, at present, is perhaps the “sixth or seventh” best on the grid.

But next up is the test at Mugello, where major upgrades to the car – so significant that some sections of the media are expecting a ‘new Ferrari’ – will be tested ahead of its Barcelona debut.

Sepang winner Alonso’s latest surprise was to finish ahead of the best McLaren in Bahrain.

“If we had said that beforehand, it would be unthinkable,” he told Antena 3 television.

“It was another race where we have limited the damage pretty well.

“We were eight points behind the leader, now it’s 10. We have spent the first four races outside Europe losing ten points, which I think is more treasure than we deserve.

“For Montmelo (Barcelona) we have to be better. We have to stop depending on others and start depending on ourselves,” added Alonso.

Asked how much he is expecting the F2012 to improve, the 30-year-old was coy.

“I have said it could be one tenth, maybe two, one and a half … but we may not be in the same situation as before.”

Alonso was also critical of the stewards’ decision to leave Nico Rosberg without a penalty on Sunday, after the German driver forced him off the circuit whilst defending position.

“He also did the same to Hamilton, so it’s two to zero for him (Rosberg),” said Alonso.

“But if there was a wall there, you would have to be talking to someone else now …”

On Twitter, he sarcastically added: “I think you are going to have fun in future races. You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy!”

Red Bull has hit back at claims the team lied about a technical problem in Malaysia in order to gain a tactical advantage for the forthcoming races.

Near the end of the Sepang race, Sebastian Vettel’s engineer repeatedly instructed the back-to-back world champion to retire his RB8 car.

Team boss Christian Horner said the brake temperatures had risen to a dangerous level, but Vettel nonetheless raced to the chequered flag and finished eleventh, one position out of the points.

Horner explained Vettel did not hear the radio calls due to a “lightening strike”, but photos prove that the German driver was also repeatedly shown pit boards with the same messages.

And the 24-year-old revealed after the race: “Of course you can save the car, but I wanted to see the chequered flag. I think that’s how it should be.”

Moreover, the authoritative Auto Motor und Sport quotes Vettel as confirming: “I heard the command.”

Red Bull has been accused in some media reports of feigning the brake problem in order to retire the car for tactical reasons and therefore install a fresh gearbox for China next month without penalty.

Dr Helmut Marko told Bild newspaper: “After the crash (with Narain Karthikeyan), the temperature of the brakes rose far above the allowed level.

“We called him in purely because the car was no longer safe. It was not a tactical decision,” the Austrian insisted.

It is reported that Vettel will sit with his team bosses this week in Milton-Keynes to discuss the apparently ignored team order.

German racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck said: “Another driver would be fired, but Vettel has the confidence of being a double world champion.”

According to Welt newspaper, Swiss commentator Marc Surer added: “It was the right decision by Vettel, as the team needs to be careful with commands like that.”

Adrian Sutil has admitted that discovering Lewis Hamilton was not a friend was one of life’s “disappointments”.

Since their F3 days as teammates, Sutil and Hamilton have been arguably the closest pair of friends in the formula one paddock.

That changed, however, when the German driver was charged with assaulting Lotus team executive Eric Lux, and Hamilton was summoned as a witness to the Shanghai nightclub incident.

But Briton Hamilton declined to appear and also changed his mobile phone number without informing Sutil.

Sutil and his father reacted by calling the McLaren driver “pathetic” and a “coward”.

When asked about his former close friend, Sutil told Die Welt newspaper: “Basically I only had a problem with one person, which was Mr Lux.

“He has offered me his hand and said that for him, the issue is finished.

“What Lewis Hamilton does is not decisive for my ambitions to get back to formula one. Just as with defeats, you have to deal with disappointments, it’s as simple as that.

“I think no one should expect to find any friends in the paddock — and I don’t look for them there either. I have enough friends outside of F1,” added Sutil.

HRT is hoping to get one up on its tailender rival Marussia by at least running its 2012 car before shipping it to Australia.
Marussia, formerly Virgin, has announced that after failing an FIA crash test, it will be unable to run its new Cosworth-powered car at the final Barcelona test this week.

“Of course it’s a shame,” German driver Timo Glock told the DPA news agency, “but safety comes first.”

HRT’s 2012 single seater, however, has – despite a similar delay – at least now satisfied the FIA’s safety rules and is therefore allowed to run at the Circuit de Catalunya if able.

Indeed, in the Barcelona paddock this week, the HRT motor home is present.

But team figures Pedro de la Rosa and boss Luis Perez Sala have admitted that, while now homologated, the 2012 car is not quite ready to be tested.

“The truth is that, today, the goal is to try to debut on Sunday,” de la Rosa is quoted by the Diario Sport newspaper. “If not, we would have the possibility to do a test on Monday.”

The FIA has already declared that testing on Monday – the day after the final official Barcelona test ends – is not allowed because that would be the week before Melbourne.

But HRT is yet to do its allowed filming day, team boss Perez Sala is quoted as saying on Wednesday.

“We are in the construction phase of the car and it would be great to have it ready for Sunday,” added de la Rosa.

The former McLaren test driver also revealed that HRT’s new car is designed to run KERS, unlike the 2012 Marussia.

“It is designed to use it, but the team has decided to start the season without (KERS),” said de la Rosa.

 Marussia’s new car for 2012 does not feature a ‘step’ on its front nose.
Every team on the 2012 grid, including HRT who are yet to release their 2012 car, responded to the FIA’s new height regulations by designing an awkward ‘step’ between the monocoque and the tip of the nose.

The one exception, until now, was McLaren.

But Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the 2012 Marussia, which will be seen for the first time in Barcelona next week, also has a clean aerodynamic line at the front.

The former Virgin team works closely with McLaren, including using the famous British team’s test rigs and wind tunnel.

“In fact, there was little difference in theory between the two solutions. So why take risks with something that we do not know?” a Marussia team source is quoted as saying.

Timo Glock has already driven the new step-less Marussia in the McLaren simulator.

“We don’t have too much experience with the simulator so we hope that it’s right, but we will not be too optimistic — that’s not to say that I’m disappointed,” said the German driver.

“I think we have a good base to build upon,” added Glock.

“We have been focusing for a long time on finding the errors with the previous car and getting over them,” he is quoted by Speed Week magazine.

 At the very end of last season, Adrian Sutil had four options to stay in formula one in 2012.
That is the claim of the German driver’s manager Manfred Zimmermann, who has so far failed to secure Sutil a race seat for the forthcoming season after his five consecutive years with Force India.

“We will fight to stay in formula one and we’re still hoping to get a seat for 2012 — even if it is in the course of the season,” he told the Sport Bild magazine.

He played down the impact of the 29-year-old’s grievous bodily harm conviction, insisting there has been “encouragement and support from all sides”.

Zimmermann said that at the very end of last season, Sutil was juggling four concrete options for 2012 that ultimately “slipped like soap” through their fingers.

“Unfortunately in formula one, money is always important,” he explained. “It simply didn’t work out in the end.”

As for the role the assault charge played, Zimmermann conceded: “I can’t really judge.”

However, for Sutil’s career, all is not lost.

“We have had enquiries in the past days from several series such as Indycar and touring cars. In America Adrian is a very highly regarded driver.”

Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz is ready to celebrate Sebastian Vettel’s second consecutive world championship for Red Bull.

The German driver still has to achieve at least a tenth place at one of the remaining five races in 2011.

But given his nine wins and more than 300 points so far, an interviewer for Austria’s Kleine Zeitung told billionaire Mateschitz that it is impossible that that the title will slip away from Vettel.

“Basically you are right, of course,” Mateschitz responded, before laughing: “But what if he falls off a ladder?”

The interviewer told Mateschitz that, even if the 24-year-old broke a leg, McLaren’s Jenson Button would then have to win every remaining grand prix to take Vettel’s title.

So Red Bull must surely now be focused on 2012?

“In a way, yes,” confirmed Mateschitz, “but there are not great changes in the regulations (for 2012) so we will continue to develop as much as possible until the last race.”

Adrian Sutil’s manager has rubbished reports the German driver is looking to switch to Williams for 2012.
It has emerged in recent days that Kimi Raikkonen as well as Force India’s Sutil recently made separate private visits to Williams’ Grove headquarters.

The famous British team on Monday refused to deny or confirm the rumours.

But the suggestion is that Sutil, 28, would make an ideal replacement for veteran Rubens Barrichello thanks to his backing by the German computer company Medion.

Sutil’s manager Manfred Zimmermann said the story is “nonsense”.

“Our first choice for 2012 is Force India,” he told the Daily Mail newspaper. “At this time there is no action talking to other teams.”

Zimmermann also rubbished the suggestion it is Sutil’s sponsorship that makes him a frontrunner for the Williams seat.

“There is no need to bring sponsors or money to a team for Adrian,” he insisted.

“Last year and this year, he is fighting for a top ten result in the world championship.

“Medion make their decision after we have signed a contract. If there is a nice offer they become a sponsor of the team, if not, they will not.”

BMW’s motor sport boss has refused to comment on speculation Nick Heidfeld could move from formula one to the DTM series next year.

German Heidfeld, 34, was appointed as injured Robert Kubica’s replacement for 2011, but Renault has now dumped him in favour of Bruno Senna.

It is being reported that talks between Heidfeld and his former employer BMW, no longer in F1 but to tackle the German touring car series DTM next year, have already begun.

With Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus already confirmed for 2012, there are still four official BMW M3 cockpits to fill.

“We have always said we would look first at the drivers from our own programme,” Jens Marquardt, who has replaced Mario Theissen as BMW’s motor sport director, told the German news agency SID.

When asked if Heidfeld is a candidate, he answered: “We do not comment on rumours.

“I am confident that we will have a competitive driver lineup in 2012,” he is also quoted by sport1.de, denying that BMW will look specifically for a German driver.

Emotions were running high on Sunday between Red Bull and Pirelli, amid the situation at Spa-Francorchamps over blistering tyres.
Pirelli chief Paul Hembery was spotted in a row with Sebastian Vettel, after the German driver and Mark Webber were told they could not start the Belgian race with new tyres.

Red Bull argued that the tyre blisters that appeared in Q3 was a safety issue, with F1′s official supplier hitting back that the phenomenon was the team’s own fault.

“Frankly at the end of the race I was very relieved that both our drivers were safe,” car designer Adrian Newey told the BBC.

Der Spiegel quotes a Pirelli spokesman as saying the Italian marque would have to “think about” whether Red Bull’s intimation about the basic safety of the tyres was a case of defamation.

“Had Red Bull done like everybody else (and followed) to our specifications, they would never have got into trouble,” the spokesman added.

Pirelli said in a statement that the problem was caused as “a consequence of some car setups”, believed to be tyre camber and pressure.

“We are confident that a similar scenario will not arise again, provided that our usage recommendations are followed,” said Hembery, insisting it was “never a safety issue”.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh agreed that Red Bull had pushed the boundaries too far.

“It’s about the safety of drivers,” he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport. “We lose a little performance, but that’s the safe way. Some other teams seem to have a different attitude.”

24 hours before the drivers file into the Spa-Francorchamps paddock, there is no confirmation about Nick Heidfeld’s apparent loss of his Renault race seat.
Multiple media sources are unofficially confirming Heidfeld’s former boss Eddie Jordan’s claim this week that Bruno Senna will be in the black R31 alongside Vitaly Petrov this weekend in Belgium and possibly beyond.

Germany’s Bild newspaper said Renault is not denying the story.

“We do not want to comment on speculation,” a spokesperson is quoted as saying.

And Auto Motor und Sport said 34-year-old Heidfeld’s management is also not commenting.

Finland’s Turun Sanomat said the situation is complicated, with Renault apparently already behind in its scheduled payments to the German driver.

The newspaper also said Renault is unable to drop Heidfeld without compensating him, with his contract to replace Robert Kubica in 2011 “skilfully” negotiated by his manager.

It is also reported that Senna will only be given the official green light when his Brazilian sponsors sign on the dotted line.

And with the Genii-linked Romain Grosjean rumoured to be in line for the seat once he has wrapped up the GP2 title, Turun Sanomat said those sponsors “are not so eager to put up money for only two grands prix”.

Nico Rosberg has admitted he has had to delay for now his hopes of becoming a grand prix winner.

The German driver, who contested his 100th formula one race in Hungary, said in an interview with Spain’s El Pais: “No one could win with my car.

“There are three teams – Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren – who are ahead of the others. I need to wait to get a better car.

“Later this year or early next year I will start to think about winning,” said Rosberg.

Mercedes GP entered the 2011 season with high hopes, but Auto Motor und Sport reports that the Brackley based team has now acknowledged that key technical aspects were flawed.

For instance, the W02 car has recently switched to a Red Bull-like exhaust/diffuser layout, while boss Ross Brawn admitted that for 2012 “we will build a longer car”.

Rosberg’s goal for now, then, is to finish just behind the aforementioned three teams at grands prix.

“With this car, to me seventh place is like winning,” said the 26-year-old.

Asked which areas of the car need to be improved, Rosberg added: “Everything. In general it’s the aerodynamics, mechanically in terms of reducing weight.

“The engine is fine,” he continued, “but the blown exhaust system, which is a very important part of the aerodynamics now, can be improved a lot. We’re working on it.”

German police visited the Force India team in the Nurburgring paddock on Saturday.

Bild am Sonntag and Express newspapers report that the visit was not connected to the criminal assault charges laid against the team’s German driver Adrian Sutil by Renault co-owner Eric Lux.

Rather, a German supplier is pressing the Vijay Mallya-led team for an unpaid EUR 50,000 bill.

“After a brief interrogation, the officers left the paddock,” said Bild.

Express cited team manager Otmar Szafnauer as reporting that the debt dates back to the pre-Force India days, when the Silverstone based team was known as Jordan, Midland or Spyker.

Another piece of intrigue on Saturday was Sebastien Buemi’s exclusion from the qualifying results when his Toro Rosso was found running illegal fuel.

However, the Red Bull junior team had not cheated. Rather, a chemical inside a new fuel system installed in his STR6 on Friday contaminated the car’s fuel.

Swiss Buemi must now start the race from the back. “What can I do if there is something wrong with the fuel?” he is quoted as frustratingly telling Blick newspaper.

Meanwhile, Renault F1 PR representative Andy Stobart was struck by a car whilst cycling in Germany prior to this weekend’s Nurburgring race.

Now walking wounded in the paddock, he is sporting cuts to his eyebrow, chin, cheeks and torso after being knocked unconscious and hospitalised.

The decision to tie-up with McLaren and enter a wind tunnel might have convinced Timo Glock to stay at Virgin in 2012.
The German driver has had a frustrating season and a half with the struggling 2010 start-up outfit, but Virgin recently split with designer Nick Wirth and ended the policy of building its cars exclusively with computer modelling.

Glock, 29, happily told Auto Motor und Sport that a scale model of the Virgin car will soon enter the McLaren wind tunnel.

He also said he will try McLaren’s state-of-the-art driver simulator “as soon as possible”.

Asked if the developments could affect his plans for 2012, Glock smiled: “It is quite possible.”

As for any hope of a dramatic improvement when the McLaren tunnel programme begins, he explained: “Unfortunately we have the two week summer break coming up, where the factories are closed.”

And Wirth’s scheduled Silverstone development has been called off.

“Maybe we’ll do something for Singapore,” said Glock. “This is still not decided.

“Only if we find something in the straight line testing or the wind tunnel that can be a big step forward without much effort, we will act now. Otherwise, I do not expect any big jumps (this year).

“Our direct competition, unfortunately, is already far ahead.”

Force India reportedly considered dropping KERS at Silverstone this weekend as the blown exhaust clampdown takes its full effect.
Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said the Silverstone based team was concerned that the handling effect of the off-throttle blowing ban would be further exacerbated by KERS, the system that reuses power collected under braking.

“It will upset the brake balance so that the benefits of KERS are reduced,” admitted team manager Otmar Szafnauer.

But Force India ultimately decided to keep KERS on the car following last-minute simulator tests.

“In the braking zone, we will definitely have less downforce on the rear, making the car unstable. But we will get used to it, hopefully quickly,” said Adrian Sutil.

And the German driver said braking is not much of a worry at Silverstone anyway.

“There are only three hard braking areas,” continued Sutil. “We have tested it in the simulator and it was fine, we will run as normal with KERS.”

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh, who acknowledged the “problem” of KERS alongside the clampdown, confirmed that the British team’s car will also be using its energy recovery system as per usual at Silverstone.

But Auto Motor und Sport said Red Bull might ultimately decide to do without its system.