Romain Grosjean is happy the early signs of his relationship with new teammate Kimi Raikkonen are positive.
Last week, the newly-acquainted pair spent time at Jerez, where their new Lotus car was the surprise standout performer of the first pre-season test.

Another “really pleasant surprise”, according to GP2 champion Grosjean, was “Kimi”.

“It took a little time and I did wonder what kind of relationship we would develop, but I think he is a really nice guy. Whatever I have asked, he has answered.”

Arguably more important, of course, is their black and gold car, and it set tongues wagging by proving the standout performer at Jerez.

“It is definitely better than our one of last year,” Frenchman Grosjean is quoted by Finnish broadcaster MTV3.

And he said both he and Raikkonen are likely to develop it in harmony.

“I did not see anything strange,” said Grosjean when asked how his and Raikkonen’s driving styles compare, “the telemetry was nearly identical.”

Also more than pleased is Lotus’ technical director, James Allison.

“The best thing about the week was the drivers’ feedback,” he said. “We had not heard anything as positive in the last couple of seasons.”

Red Bull will make a decision about its 2012 driver lineup in late August, team boss Christian Horner has announced.

Before the British grand prix, it seemed near certain that Australian Mark Webber would be retained to race next season alongside Sebastian Vettel, who is under long-term contract.

But 34-year-old Webber then ignored team orders towards the end of the Silverstone race, prompting Horner to schedule private talks.

“He risked the second place of Sebastian, his third place and 33 points for the team,” Briton Horner said in an interview with Bild newspaper.

The team boss sounded angry about Webber’s behaviour.

“I understand that he’s racing, but he also absolutely unnecessarily risked a crash. If all 500 people in the team thought only of themselves, we could never achieve our goals,” he charged.

Asked directly if Webber has endangered his 2012 seat, Horner answered: “We will meet in late August and take a decision together.”

As for the requirements for Vettel’s teammate next year, Horner said: “He must bring harmony to the team.”

He then voluntarily referred to this week’s speculation about Kimi Raikkonen.

“I think his head is in a different place than formula one at the moment. So far I’ve seen no signs that he wants to come back.

“We don’t have a driver problem; everyone in the pitlane is already beating on our door, and we have time,” said Horner.

Christian Horner has revealed it is “very, very likely” Mark Webber will be signed up to stay at Red Bull in 2012.
Australian Webber, one of the only key members of the Austrian team not already contracted for the foreseeable future, has struggled this season alongside Sebastian Vettel.

Speculation has linked Lewis Hamilton with a high-profile switch from McLaren, but team boss Christian Horner told Servus TV that the most likely outcome is a new deal for Webber.

“Well, that’s very, very likely,” said the Briton. “We have agreed to sit down a bit later and then focus on next year,” Horner told the Red Bull-linked Austrian broadcaster.

As for the Hamilton rumours, Horner smiled: “I really don’t think blue is his colour. For Red Bull, the most important thing is the harmony.”

But according to former F1 winner Johnny Herbert, Red Bull should think hard about its driver choice for 2012.

“He (Webber) is showing none of the fire that he showed last season, which helped him fight Vettel and make the championship so exciting. Until he finds it again I do not see him competing for wins,” he wrote in a column for The National.

Ross Brawn has admitted his days as Mercedes team boss are numbered if he cannot power the German marque’s name to the top of formula one.

With the Brackley based team failing to live up to its billing as the reigning world champions with Michael Schumacher in the starring role, there have been widespread rumours about team harmony falling apart.

Brawn insists Schumacher is staying put and denies he is at odds with the German manager Norbert Haug, but acknowledges that he needs to deliver a much better silver car for 2011.

“Fourth position in the championship – and forget 2008 because that was the year I came to Honda and I couldn’t do anything about that – is probably the worst result I have had since I have been in senior management,” he told the Telegraph.

“And if the team continues running at a mediocre level then I probably won’t be running a team for much longer.  But the important thing is that I believe I know where we have gone wrong,” added Brawn.

He has explained this year’s problems as due to fighting in 2009 for the team’s survival as Brawn GP last year, whilst also pushing Jenson Button to the title.

“This business is all about spinning plates on the end of sticks.  And if you stop spinning them they fall off.  A few of our plates fell off last year.  Now we have put them back and we are spinning them,” he said.

Team figures are not hiding the fact that a major restructuring is about to take place, with one example being the rumoured drafting-in of Nico Rosberg’s former Williams engineer Tony Ross.

“My lips are sealed,” the German driver, who is currently engineered by Jock Clear, is quoted by Turun Sanomat newspaper.

“Anyway, we are moving in the right direction and nobody is being kicked out,” Rosberg insisted.

Michael Schumacher is probably the pilot, in which demand and reality currently the most gape. But the world champion is known for his strength of will – that’s why he has checked off the 2010 season as well as his Mercedes racing team already and concentrate fully on the coming year.

Before that, however, must be analyzed why the comeback season, the 41-year-olds went so far as disappointing. Schumacher for his own theories. “You simply must emphasize that we got this car down into the hands”, he explains that he and team mate Nico Rosberg on the development work as a team newcomers had little impact. “This is practically a relic of what last year was developed. And there are quite a few compromises that we must respond to driver.”
Thus, Schumacher refers primarily to the fact that his predecessor Jenson Button preferred a much understeer car, he is even better but with a tendency to oversteer cope. But that’s not enough: “The tires are of course a big issue. But the fact is that the car is not at all in harmony – not with the tires, even with the drivers. So it is to invest all the time is that the next years is not the case. ”

2010 Schumacher is two-thirds of the season knocked off at the ninth World Cup standing. missing on championship leader Mark Webber him 123, to team-mate Rosberg 56 meters. “If you look at the points table, then we must certainly not be satisfied,” Schumacher is too open. However, he doubts not on his own performance: “There are good reasons why the difference is relatively large. The fact is that I feel completely at home. We are on the right track to compete again next year.”

Martin Whitmarsh has chimed in on the tension at Red Bull by insisting the same situation would not occur at McLaren.
Mark Webber was obviously angry after qualifying the sister RB6 at Silverstone, with his new front wing given to pole sitter Sebastian Vettel after the young German’s broke in morning practice.

Boss Christian Horner said the decision was based on Vettel’s higher position in the world championship and better pace at Silverstone, surmising that giving both drivers the older specification wing would have “hurt the whole team”.

But Whitmarsh, boss of the rival McLaren team, indicated that he would not give just one driver a single new component.

“This weekend we were pushing very hard to bring forward this new floor, and we decided that if there was only one we would not use it for this race,” he told reporters.

“I think the cohesiveness of the team is such that you don’t need to set up those sort of tensions.”

Last year, Lewis Hamilton was given a single car upgrade ahead of his then teammate Heikki Kovalainen, and Whitmarsh said he felt “deeply uncomfortable” about it.

In Red Bull’s position, with Australian Webber clearly feeling he is being ‘stitched up’ in Vettel’s favour, Whitmarsh suggested that the decision taken by Horner on Saturday was wrong.

“In those circumstances it is to the detriment to the overall performance of the team, and certainly the individual who feels he is being stitched up — to use your expression,” he said.

When also asked about Saturday’s incident, Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn joked: “I think they should have given the wing to us!”

Ferrari driver, Fernando Alonso welcomes the extension of the contract of Felipe Massa and comments on the development work in Maranello

Since Wednesday is clear: Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will take over the next two seasons with Ferrari at the wheel. The tradition of Maranello team extended the contract of Massa by a further two years until 2012, making the contracts, the regular drivers now have the same maturity. Alonso welcomes this decision and is happy for Massa.

“I am very satisfied,” Alonso is quoted by ‘Ticionline’. “The same group is still working so for two more years together. Stability is very important to the success of a team. I am very familiar with Felipe. We have much respect for each other and create a good harmony. And such a one also needs if one is long journey together. ”
It is also important that the development during the season, not stagnant. In relation to Ferrari, however, could be no question of such a scenario, said the Spanish driver. “It is not true that the development has stalled. The distance to Red Bull is still a few tenths. We have improved, but even they have become faster.”
“The truth is, however, that we have not made progress in Barcelona, as we had planned. The others, however good progress come,” Alonso is before the Canadian Grand Prix on record. As team boss Stefano Domenicali admits that Ferrari could have burned “specially modified in view of the new F-shaft technology something.

Alonso would not miss this development: “It was a good thing to address this matter,” says the 28-year-old. “We were so far not yet in a position to exploit the full effectiveness of this system. Other teams also seem to have trouble with it. Who the F-shaft had been from the beginning, however, retains its advantage.”

(TotalMotorsports)

Jun.10 (GMM)  Fernando Alonso has welcomed the news that his current teammate Felipe Massa will be staying at Ferrari at least until the end of 2012.

It had been rumoured that the Spaniard’s friend Robert Kubica, or Red Bull’s Mark Webber, might switch to the Maranello based team to replace Brazilian Massa, 29.

“I am very pleased,” Alonso is quoted by Ticionline, “because it means the same group will be working together for another two years.

“Stability is very important to the success of a team,” he added.  “I feel very well with Felipe — there is a lot of respect between us and that creates the harmony that is necessary to be together for the long term.”

Alonso also played down reports that he is ruing a lack of development with the F10 car since winning the season opening Bahrain grand prix.

“It is not right to say that the development stopped; the few tenths to Red Bull has been the same, so that means we have been improving, as have they.

“The truth is that in Spain we did not take the step forward that we expected, while others moved ahead,” he said.

Alonso, 28, also acknowledged that the work on the F-duct system has greatly occupied the relevant engineers.

“I think it has been useful to work on it, although we have not been able to exploit this work completely effectively.

“I see that other teams have also had difficulties, while those (McLaren) who had it from the beginning retain the advantage,” he added.

Apr.22 (GMM)  Rubens Barrichello has admitted there will be no quick solution to Williams’ current lack of pace.

The newly Cosworth-powered FW32 showed signs of promise in the pre-season, but has collected just 6 points from the first four races, causing technical boss Sam Michael to surmise that the car is “not fast enough”.

“We know exactly some of the areas in which we need to improve,” said Barrichello, who joined Williams from F1′s title winning team of 2009, Brawn.

“We are not suddenly going to find a second (per lap) from somewhere, but the important thing is that I am firmly convinced that the second is in the car,” he is quoted as saying by Speedweek.

“We want to be in the top six in qualifying, but even to achieve this, we need to find half a second,” added the Brazilian veteran.

On the positive side, the 37-year-old said that he and Williams – just his fifth team in 18 consecutive seasons in F1 – are already working well together.

“There is a good harmony between driver and team,” he is quoted as saying by Brazil’s Globo.

“The best thing is that I am not happy with the results and neither is the team.  We just need to keep on working.

“Williams are prepared to listen to me, which is good.  They really trust my inputs so I am feeling good about that,” added Barrichello.