F1′s season of confusion looks set to continue, with an uncertain weather forecast only adding to the uncertainty ahead of the Spanish grand prix.

The bizarre 2012 contest stepped into yet another gear on Saturday, with events unfolding to put the previously-derided pay driver Pastor Maldonado on pole, alongside the crisis-ridden Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

And the Pirelli tyre predicament, worsened on the challenging Circuit de Catalunya layout and under hot Spanish skies, will continue to confound teams on Sunday, with temperatures set to drop and rain clouds predicted to gather.

“I am telling you now, honestly,” said Red Bull’s Mark Webber. “We don’t have even the slightest idea who will benefit when it gets colder.”

The German magazine Auto Motor und Sport laid out the fascinating if bewildering situation as of Saturday in Spain: “Sebastian Vettel doesn’t know why his car suddenly lost grip in qualifying.

“Jenson Button has no idea why he couldn’t generate any tyre temperature on the 40 degrees track. Williams don’t know why Pastor Maldonado clocked the second fastest lap.

“Mercedes’ engineers had to admit they still don’t understand the Pirelli rubber.”

Acting team principal Bob Bell smiled tortuously: “If we did understand, we’d be on pole. But even Pirelli don’t know all the answers.”

Writing in O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, Livio Oricchio estimated there are up to 12 candidates for victory.

“A grid of madness!” said former F1 driver Patrick Tambay on France’s RMC Sport. “And it’s not over yet.”

So, is Michael Schumacher – having sat out Q3 in order to save tyres for the race – now even more critical of Pirelli?

“I’ll leave it with what has already been said,” he insisted late on Saturday.

 Mercedes could be set to surprise the entire F1 world by setting the pace in 2012.
That is the claim of the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, having found that the W03 had the strongest ‘long run’ pace during recent pre-season tests.

The major daily Bild agrees, crowning the Ross Brawn-led team the “Bluff champion!” of the winter.

“The analysis of recent testing in Barcelona shows that Mercedes are even faster than Red Bull,” the report exclaimed.

Brawn is quoted by Brazil’s Globo: “You always believe it. You want a winning car, and I have not seen anything that tells me that we don’t have (now).”

Perhaps even more sensationally, Sauber ranked second in the Auto Motor und Sport analysis of long runs, although last year the Swiss team looked similarly fast in testing.

Red Bull, McLaren and Lotus come next, followed by the struggling Ferrari.

Peter Sauber wrote in Blick newspaper: “It has never been as difficult as it is this year to get a picture of where everybody stands.

“Why? Because the field has never been so close together.”

McLaren and Mercedes look to be leading the way with the latest technical ingenuity in formula one.
Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the two teams are set to combine the button-activated DRS system with a sort of additional F-duct at the rear of their 2012 cars.

It was believed F-ducts were no longer legal, but new passive systems have emerged on the front wings of some 2012 cars, pioneered by Mercedes.

As for the rear wings, those F-ducts are also still legal “under certain circumstances”, the German magazine claims.

Combining a legal rear F-duct with DRS could result in a “huge top-speed gain”, writer Michael Schmidt claims, with the Mercedes W03 reportedly racing ahead by a whopping 18kph at the recent Barcelona test.

 Red Bull and McLaren have the quickest cars as formula one teams prepare for the final pre-season test before Melbourne.

That is the view of Sauber designer Matt Morris, despite the Swiss team’s Kamui Kobayashi setting the fastest overall time at last week’s Barcelona test.

“The top teams are yet to show their hands,” read a report in the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport.

Morris agrees with that assessment.

“If we are to believe our own analysis then Red Bull and McLaren are in front, there is a question mark about Ferrari, and behind them is a very close group of several teams.

“I think the gaps between those in this central group will be smaller this year,” he added.

The F1 world’s real gaze this week will however be on the apparent title contenders, with Lewis Hamilton quoted by the SID news agency as saying: “Maybe Red Bull are a bit quicker than us.”

But McLaren’s team boss Martin Whitmarsh revealed: “We will have a fairly substantial (update) package in Barcelona this week.

“We assume Red Bull will do the same,” he added.

Unlike last year, however, there will be no last-minute technical sensation that determines the pecking-order for the start of the season.

Sauber’s Morris explains: “There will be nothing spectacular; the rules don’t allow it any more.”

But he admitted that the best-funded teams will continue to tinker at the edges, as demonstrated by McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull who have so far run several different exhaust configurations in the wake of the blown diffuser ban.

Morris said: “Any modification in this area is an expensive pleasure, while before we (Sauber) do anything, we have to be sure that it is clearly better.”

 McLaren has once again stepped in to prevent Lewis Hamilton from answering a reporter’s question about the Adrian Sutil affair.
At the recent launch of the MP4-27 car, a reporter asked Hamilton about his former friend Sutil’s accusation he is a “coward” for not appearing as a witness at the recent assault trial in Munich.

“We’ve been told that Lewis shouldn’t really go there because it (the conviction) might go under appeal,” the spokesman quickly intervened.

Hamilton smiled: “I’ll listen to him.”

The Briton’s former F3 teammate did indeed file an appeal, but not before Sutil’s father Jorge described Hamilton as “pathetic” in the German press.

Asked about the latest insult from the Sutil camp, Hamilton was once again prevented from answering in the Jerez paddock by a McLaren media minder.

“That question is not permitted,” the spokesman is quoted as saying by Auto Motor und Sport.

The German magazine article read: “We say that Hamilton should have the courage to speak for himself.”

In other courtside F1 news, former Benetton driver JJ Lehto’s attempt to appeal his prison sentence for manslaughter got off to a dismal start, the Swiss newspaper Blick reports.

Finn Lehto’s lawyer reportedly appeared in court to file the appeal but was “immediately arrested himself, apparently because of money laundering”.

Force India is Nico Hulkenberg’s only chance to return to the formula one grid in 2012.

Last year’s impressive Williams rookie had to settle for the reserve role at Force India in 2011, including the opportunity to practice on most Friday mornings.

With current race lineup Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta also in the running for next season, team owner and boss Vijay Mallya has said he will not make a decision about 2012 until mid December.

German Hulkenberg, 24, therefore said on Twitter this week that he is “not sure yet” if he will be able to call himself a F1 race driver once again next year.

“I hope I can race with Force India but the team will decide not before December, so I must wait,” he added.

According to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, Hulkenberg must be hoping that his countryman Sutil cannot hold out until December and therefore decides to market his experience and personal sponsors Medion and Capri-Sonne elsewhere.

Mallya’s December deadline means that the options in his drivers’ contracts will by then have expired, but Sutil manager Manfred Zimmermann insisted recently: “We still have our destiny in our own hands”.

28-year-old Sutil has already visited Williams’ Grove headquarters but Zimmermann insisted on Monday that Force India is the first choice.

Auto Motor und Sport however said Sutil “has also been seen in the paddock in conversation with (Williams) team boss Adam Parr”.

For Hulkenberg, the only option is Silverstone based Force India.

He told the German magazine: “Everyone from Renault down wants to see money (from its drivers).”

He is referring not only to Renault and Williams but also F1′s newest teams including Virgin and HRT.

It is possible both Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov will not feature in next year’s Renault team lineup.

That is the claim of the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, reporting that Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean are in the running for the 2012 race seats.

Pole Kubica is recovering from injury at present and hoping to be ready to start driving once again as early as next month.

The report said he will start his comeback in a road car and possibly then move into a Renault single seater designed for the World Series or GP2.

“The question is whether Gerard Lopez and Eric Boullier want to wait that long,” said Auto Motor und Sport.

Kubica currently has no contract for the 2012 season, with team boss Boullier warning at Monza that he needs to finalise the team’s lineup soon.

Kubica’s 2010 teammate Vitaly Petrov, on the other hand, has a contract for next season.

But Auto Motor und Sport refers to “rumours that the team could go with Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean in 2012″.

Referring to Senna, who has already replaced Kubica’s initial 2011 substitute Nick Heidfeld, the report said the “potential to find sponsors is greater in Brazil than it is in Russia”.

New GP2 champion and Frenchman Grosjean, meanwhile, can be signed “at a discount price, with the hope of getting a subsidy from Renault for the engine”.

Russian Petrov said at Monza that he is not worried.

“My contract is safe for next year,” he insisted.

Bernie Ecclestone has organised a meeting of the F1 Commission in an attempt to formally scuttle the proposed engine rules for 2013.
That is the claim of the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, revealing that the meeting will take place on Wednesday.

The report said F1 chief executive Ecclestone, a staunch critic of the proposed rules, believes FIA president Jean Todt improperly introduced the four-cylinder turbos by bypassing the official bodies including the F1 Commission.

Despite Renault’s apparent threat to quit F1 over the controversy, Ecclestone is understood to have attempted to overturn the rules with a recent vote of the World Motor Sport Council.

The rules narrowly survived and Wednesday’s F1 Commission is his ‘plan B’ according to Auto Motor und Sport, with the 80-year-old also not ruling out a legal challenge.

If Bernie Ecclestone were to bet a few dollars of his fortune on the outcome of the 2011 title, he would safely back his young friend Sebastian Vettel.
The F1 chief executive is famously friendly with the 23-year-old German who last year became the sport’s youngest champion and this year is running away with the spoils.

“Put it this way,” Ecclestone, 80, told the German magazine Speed Week. “Someone else would have to have very good luck to win this world championship.

“When I look at the speed of his car, I think only his own teammate has a chance,” added the Briton.

Vettel has won five of the opening six grands prix so far this season but there are more than a dozen to go.

“Until then, it’s a long way to go,” he is quoted by the SID news agency. “Last year we saw how quickly things can change.”

Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko agrees: “Sebastian has a comfortable lead but there are 350 points to go.”

In reality, Vettel is on target to set a new record for the earliest-decided title, with Michael Schumacher holding the current record for winning in 2002 with 6 races to go.

But he is cautious: “Anything – reliability, mistakes – can happen.”

FIA president Jean Todt hopes so.

“It is obvious for the sport that it would be best to have a different winner at every grand prix, but he has done a great job and has a great talent,” the Frenchman told Spain’s Diario Sport.

Six races into his 2011 campaign in injured Robert Kubica’s Renault, the spotlight on Nick Heidfeld is growing brighter.
It has been suggested boss Eric Boullier believes the veteran German has underperformed, amid rumours the Gravity-managed Romain Grosjean might be a candidate to replace him.

German magazine Speed Week quoted the Frenchman as saying Heidfeld’s season has been “good, but not good enough”.

“Nick starts at the pace of Vitaly Petrov but there is always a drop,” Boullier added. “We need to sit down and I need to understand what Nick’s concerns are.

“On Sunday he is good, very good indeed,” he said.

To the French sports newspaper L’Equipe, Boullier admitted that Renault is missing the leadership of Kubica, who will likely sit out the entire season – and possibly longer – as he recovers from a horror rally crash.

“Robert was able to manoeuvre into a leadership role,” he acknowledged. “He is demanding and knows in himself what he wants from the team.

“If he sees that things are not going well, he hits his fist on the table hard. But Robert is not here now.”

The other side of Renault’s current driver lineup is Petrov, whose seat is believed safe due to his substantial backing, but Boullier’s assessment of the improving Russian is also not rosy.

“Vitaly needed someone who could tell him what time at the track he is expected in the morning so he’s not late for meetings, how to organise his day and how to behave off the track,” he said, apparently scotching suggestions the 26-year-old is ready to step into the vacant leadership role.

Mercedes is set to take complete control of the Brackley based F1 team that bears its name.

The German carmaker took over the team last year but Ross Brawn and his partners retained 24.9 per cent of the shares, the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport said.

The report said a deal to make Mercedes and Daimler shareholder AABAR the 100 per cent owner will be in place by March’s Bahrain season opener.

The Brackley based team began life in the late 90s as British American Racing (BAR), later becoming Honda who pulled out of F1 at the end of the 2008 season.

Auto Motor und Sport said Mercedes intends to keep team boss Brawn on board as an employee.

The union of formula one drivers, the GPDA, revealed in Korea last weekend their push for more influence in the sport’s decision-making processes.

According to the German magazine Speed Week, the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association – now headed by president Rubens Barrichello – met at the Yeongam circuit with FIA president Jean Todt.

“We want a permanent dialogue with the governing body,” Brazilian Barrichello, accompanied to the meeting by fellow GPDA directors Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa, is quoted as saying.

According to another German language report in motorline.cc, Barrichello and his colleagues believe some of the problems in Korea – like troublesome kerbs and the dangerous pit entry – would not have been encountered if the drivers were more seriously canvassed.

“It was ok,” Barrichello said after the meeting with Todt.

“We discussed three or four things and he was very open. All we want is for the GPDA to be able to contribute more to the future of the sport,” he added.

Luca di Montezemolo on Wednesday confirmed Felipe Massa’s hopes that he is not set to retain his subordinate driving role beyond the 2010 season.

Earlier on Wednesday, it emerged that Brazilian Massa had told German magazine Sport Bild that if he is expected to give way to Fernando Alonso beyond the current championship, “I will stop driving for Ferrari”.

Days ago, Ferrari president Montezemolo urged Massa to “shave points off the rivals” in the last races of the season, insisting the “decision to focus on Alonso has been proven to be right”.

Ferrari revealed on Wednesday that Montezemolo spoke to Massa, and separately to Alonso, by telephone as the pair prepared in Japan for this weekend’s event.

“Felipe is and will always stay a number one driver for Ferrari,” said the Italian.

“I expect the performances of a number one driver from him — both in the next four races and, with different tyres, next year.

“Those (performances) will be crucial to bring us wins next season and to take important points from our opponents in the battle for this world championship,” added Montezemolo.

Jean Todt has played down rumours he is prepared to stay as FIA president for only a single four-year term.

The 64-year-old Frenchman was elected late last year to be long-term president Max Mosley’s successor, and his reign so far has been praised for its lack of controversy.

But reports earlier this year suggested Todt is already planning to depart the unpaid post in 2013.

“That’s not true,” he said in the latest edition of the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport.

“Nevertheless, I am not thinking today about the second term of office.  My priority is to use my time as effectively as possible to reach my goals.”

One of those aims is new engine regulations for F1 in 2013, and the return of energy-recovery KERS technology as soon as possible.

“I am not happy the teams voted unanimously against using KERS for the 2010 season,” said Todt.  “I am personally committed to having this position reconsidered for 2011.”

He said it is not acceptable to wait until 2013 to implement a new KERS strategy to accompany the smaller and more efficient new engines of 2013.

“We cannot afford to go two and a half years while doing nothing,” said Todt, referring to the global automotive push for greener technologies.

“As head of the FIA there needs to be pressure in this direction; it’s the only way we can be credible.”

(GMM)

Apr.20 (GMM) The reaction prior to Sunday’s Chinese grand prix was already not positive, so Michael Schumacher is advised to avoid the media in the wake of the Shanghai race.

After finishing a minute behind Nico Rosberg at the chequered flag, and seven tenths off his teammate’s pace in qualifying, the specialist Auto Motor und Sport said China was probably “the worst weekend in the record winner’s whole career”.

The German magazine gave 41-year-old Schumacher just 3 out of 10 for his performance at the wheel of the grey Mercedes.

One of his former Ferrari teammates, who did not want to be named, told the Independent: “After the beating he got on Sunday, in conditions in which the old Michael Schumacher excelled, I don’t think he’ll ever come back to his old level.”

The Cologne publication Express published a photo-shopped image of a snail with the seven time world champion’s head and cap, while France’s Auto Hebdo observed that in China “the former rain king seemed lost”.

Bild newspaper’s headline read: “Rain God? Schumi got flooded!”, while Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport asked of Schumacher’s return: “Why did he do it?”

The sports newspaper Tuttosport said Schumacher “is only a shadow of himself”, while another sports daily Corriere dello Sport called him “an old lion attacked by a group of young and hungry animals”.

The broadsheet La Stampa said: “F1 without overtaking? Just ask Schumacher, who was passed constantly”, while the major La Repubblica said the German “is no longer in the league of the best formula one drivers”.

Hamburg’s Abendblatt called Schumacher a “learner driver”, while the Frankfurter Rundschau blasted his “horrible performance” and Austria’s Kleine Zeitung said he had been “humiliated” in China.

Britain’s The Guardian recalled the moment in the post-race press conference when Lewis Hamilton was asked how it had felt to race wheel-to-wheel with his childhood hero.

Jenson Button leaned over and demanded Hamilton “tell the truth” before the pair both laughed, and the Guardian said the exchange “may have been the unkindest cut of all” for Schumacher.

“The way things look, it would be no surprise to see him bowing out with as much dignity as he can salvage before the formula one season is very much older,” added the newspaper.