Five days before the W03 is publicly revealed, Mercedes remains highly secretive about its 2012 car.
The German squad went a different path than all of its main formula one rivals by opting to keep its new machine at the Brackley factory rather than debut and test it last week at Jerez.

Michael Schumacher will do the first laps in the silver car next Tuesday, as the first of eight days of Barcelona testing kicks off ahead of next month’s season opener in Australia.

Mercedes leaked out some ‘teaser’ images of the W03 this week, but all carefully masking the detail of the single seater, including the ‘step’ nose solution.

“I assume that they want to hide something from the competition,” surmised Red Bull designer Adrian Newey, according to Germany’s Sport Bild.

“It must be something that can be copied quite quickly, otherwise they wouldn’t try so hard to keep it secret.”

Agreed Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko: “They seem to have something special at the front of the car.”

Ferrari is reportedly likening the situation to when the team – then called Brawn GP – arrived late with the famous ‘double diffuser’ and duly went on to win the title.

The Corriere dello Sport website cited a Ferrari official in recalling Brawn was “like Cinderella” in sweeping in at the last moment and keeping her trick secret.

“It’s a calculated risk,” team boss Ross Brawn, quoted in Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, insisted when contemplating the 2012 car’s late reveal.

When Adrian Newey said a mysterious ‘letterbox slot’-shaped air inlet in the stepped nose of his new RB8 car is for driver cooling, a wave of speculation eased.
But not everyone inside the F1 paddock was entirely happy with that answer.

When the 2012 Red Bull was launched recently, it was apparent the ‘step’ nose design differed from its rivals in the form of a sizeable inlet where the monocoque meets the new mandatory lower nose height.

Some surmised it must be for KERS cooling, or perhaps even an F-duct style channel through to the diffuser.

Amid suggestions Mercedes has come up with an F-duct style channel in its 2012 front wing, Red Bull designer Newey explained that the nose slot is in fact simply to cool the drivers.

“Traditionally the driver cooling slot is at the front of the nose,” explained Newey, “but really for styling as much as anything we moved it to where you now see it to break up the aesthetics of the ramp.”

There are, however, doubts about that explanation, particularly with close-up images showing that the main inlet is actually divided into two channels at the middle.

Indeed, the Telegraph last week quoted Newey as having said the slot is “primarily” for cooling, which suggests that it might have another use.

According to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, “the competition is suspicious”, having already been outsmarted by Newey in past years in the area of flexing wings and blown diffusers.

When asked about Newey’s driver-cooling explanation for the big letterbox slot-style inlet, an unnamed rival engineer smiled: “Then the drivers are going to get their feet wet when it rains.”

Asked last week about the ‘cooling inlet’ amid Jerez’s cold temperatures, Mark Webber reportedly grinned to Autosprint: “The toes are a bit too cold now actually.”

Rumours are once again swirling in the F1 paddock about the alleged illegality of Red Bull’s dominant single seater.
The latest speculation is about the apparent flexibility of the Adrian Newey-inked RB7′s floor.

“I’ve heard about it but I certainly do not participate in the rumours,” Mercedes’ Norbert Haug admitted on German Sky television.

“There are enough people who do that — spending a lot of time writing all sorts of those kinds of stories,” he added.

“Of course, everybody looks around, which is perfectly normal.”

Swiss commentator Marc Surer said he has seen the offending images of the bottom of Mark Webber’s car, showing “drag marks in the middle of the floor”.

“The competitors see it too and think ‘Ah, something is up’. I happen to think that as long as the car passes the tests, everything is in order,” he added.

Sebastian Vettel declared on the radio he is “back on track” after winning Sunday’s European grand prix.

“Germany one, England nil,” grinned third-placed Jenson Button, before leaving the FIA press conference to watch Germany score the first goal for real as the countries battle for World Cup survival in South Africa.

With his win, pole sitter Vettel snatches third place in the world championship – behind both McLarens – from his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, who escaped unhurt from a frightening backflip crash.

Caused by the Australian striking the rear of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus, the crash mirrored one during the earlier GP2 race, in which Josef Kral was hospitalised.

Some figures, including David Coulthard, slammed Kovalainen’s decision to race Webber’s much faster car, but Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne said on Twitter that the Finn was “pissed off with Webber”.

“For all those saying we should not have defended from Webber, when it is for position on track we race,” Gascoyne insisted.  “Always.”

The race was also controversial for other reasons.  Hamilton finished second after a drive-through penalty for overtaking the safety car, while Fernando Alonso did not make the illegal pass and finished just ninth.

“It is really unfair, it is like no penalty,” Alonso’s race engineer Andrea Stella told the angry Spaniard by radio during the race.

And nine drivers – Button, both Williams, both Renaults, both Force Indias, Sebastien Buemi and Pedro de la Rosa – are under investigation by the stewards for driving too fast on their pitstop in-lap while the safety car was out.

If penalised, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi – finishing behind four of the investigated drivers – could be the big winner, after finishing seventh with an unique race strategy that saw him make a very late single pitstop.

By performing impressive late-race passes on Fernando Alonso and Buemi, meanwhile, the Japanese also rekindled memories of his stirring late debut for Toyota last year.

Provisional Race Result -  27 June 2010

Lewis Hamilton was just two weeks after his triumph in Istanbul once again delighted with the victory. So that the McLaren-Mercedes driver took over in World Cup standings and the lead. For the British it was the second win in the third race at the Circuit de Montréal.

“This was an incredible weekend, it was fantastic,” said Hamilton, who won from pole position. “I arrived here on Wednesday and things have just gone well. I enjoyed the incredible support of the fans are. With so many Britons at the track, which is great to see.”
“The team continues to provide incredible work,” the former Formula 1 world champion. “It was so far one of the toughest races, but that’s also what you want. I am very happy and proud of the team.”

Jenson Button was in second place, the result for the team perfectly, but Hamilton has Red Bull is still more than just on the bill: “We do everything to close the gap on them. On the other courses, where slightly more Downforce is necessary, they may perhaps be a bit forward. But I have no doubt that we will close the gap. ”

Lewis Hamilton is hoping that the positive trend of recent weeks may be maintained: “At the race weekends, we do obviously better job. I hope we can continue with it. For me it is a special day. I have won my first race, and to repeat those three years is really a pleasure. ”
The most exciting moment experienced Hamilton during the pit stop as he drove alongside the Ferrari from Fernando Alonso through the pit lane, “I think I have something against him came on the air, but I was clearly not the best pit stop.”

“I saw how he was let go, and when he left, he was in my blind spot. Suddenly he was beside me, we went on that ground at the first corner and he came up to me. He had a great speed.” After Hamilton was able to overtake Alonso successful on the track.

The Red Bull crash hogged all the headlines, but a dice between another pair of high profile teammates in Turkey could also have spiralled into an intense controversy.

While Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber spectacularly crashed, it is believed McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button actually clanged wheels when they also fought for first place at Istanbul Park.

Television images of boss Martin Whitmarsh’s face captured the horror reaction of the all-British team that had effectively called off the fight for victory.

Button and Hamilton’s engineers had told the pair they needed to save fuel.

“Jenson is closing in on me, you guys,” Lewis Hamilton told his team via car-to-pit radio, according to the race review video posted at F1′s official website.

Added the 2008 world champion: “If I back off, is Jenson going to pass me or not?”

“No Lewis, no,” came engineer Andy Latham’s reply.

Moreover, while Hamilton was set an actual minimum lap time target for his fuel-saving, Button was not.

“They didn’t put a lap time on it.  They just said you have got to save a bit of fuel,” Button confirmed.

At the same time, Hamilton explained that it was his “slow” lap time target that allowed Button to mount his overtaking attack.

“I was slowing down to keep that target and all of a sudden Jenson was right up my tail,” said the 25-year-old.  “He just appeared from nowhere and he was up my tail and there was nothing I could do.”

Ultimately, Hamilton re-passed Button after a five-corner battle and won the race, but on the podium his celebrations were restrained.

In the week since the race, McLaren has released interviews with both Button and Hamilton that depict the clash as fair racing.

“It was tricky in those closing laps, because we knew we were pretty marginal on fuel, but the team lets us race and that’s exactly what we did,” said Button.

Hamilton denied that the incident soured his twelfth career win.

“Not at all, I think it added to the win if anything.

“I am looking forward to many more races like that where we have fun, hard battles yet fair in our race to the championship,” he insisted.

(GMM)

With their Turkish crash still loud in the news, attention is now turning to the new contracts on the table for Red Bull teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

It is believed the Austrian-owned team is imminently set to extend Australian Webber’s deal for 2011, amid reports Red Bull wants to secure Vettel’s services for a much longer period.

With the young German already under contract to the end of next year, rumours suggest Red Bull also wants to tie him down through 2015.

Team boss Christian Horner is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport: “Mark is happy with one-year contracts.  At his age he doesn’t want to commit himself for too long.”

The magazine’s latest edition also reveals that Webber recently confided in his former Williams bosses that he was prepared to retire at the end of 2010 if he had not secured a contract extension.

The likely one-year deal ties in with rumours that Red Bull is eyeing a future seat for Sebastien Buemi, the Swiss youngster who currently drives for the junior team Toro Rosso.

(GMM)

Force India’s newly-appointed technical director is switching teams to Lotus, it was announced on Wednesday.

Lotus, F1′s new Malaysian-backed team, said in a statement that Mark Smith will become technical director “at the end of his Force India notice period”.

The news is an embarrassment to Silverstone based Force India, who promoted Smith to the role of technical director in late February as the Sauber-bound James Key’s replacement.

The teams are set to battle one another in the courts, with Force India accusing Mike Gascoyne and Lotus of basing the T127 on a model left behind in an Italian wind tunnel.

Smith has previously worked with Renault and Red Bull.

He joins Force India colleagues Lewis Butler (chief designer) and Marianne Hinson (head of aerodynamics) in also defecting to Lotus.

Lotus’ technical boss Gascoyne has previously worked with Smith at Jordan, Renault and Force India.

“Lewis and I were together at Force India, and Lewis also worked with Mark Smith at Red Bull, and Marianne and I have known each other since 1999 when I gave her her first job in F1 at Jordan, so we all know each other very well,” said Gascoyne.

(GMM)

Gallery with all happened on this race. McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won when he took the chequered at the Turkish Grand Prix. We provide a gallery of selected images – shot by the great photographers from Sutton Images and Hoch Zwei – that capture Lewis’ weekend in Istanbul.

Sunday afternoon in Turkey hosted a dramatic seventh round of the 2010 world championship.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, challenged hard by the McLarens, collided whilst running first and second at Istanbul Park, triggering dramatic scenes both trackside and back in the paddock.

After emerging from his stricken RB6, German Vettel twiddled his finger around his ears in disgust, but whilst enraged initially refused to speak to reporters.

“Don’t you throw me around!” a journalist barked at a Red Bull minder as Vettel pushed his way into the Red Bull transporter.

Eventual winner Lewis Hamilton quietly asked Webber about the incident after the race, and the Australian gestured that Vettel had turned sharply to the right whilst alongside him.

Webber, 33, was then fiercely reserved whilst addressing reporters in the FIA press conference, but admitted that he thought Vettel had “turned pretty quickly to the right” before the crash.

In a frantic paddock press scrum, an angry-looking Vettel explained: “It was clear I had the inside and was ahead.  I dived down the left, I had the corner so I was trying to focus on the braking and I lost the car.”

Team boss Christian Horner said he was angry at both drivers.

“What we always ask is that the drivers give each other room,” he said.  “Today, neither yielded.”

BBC commentator Martin Brundle concluded that the young German was “unquestionably” at fault, and McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh admitted he is not sure he would have “cuddled” Vettel when the 22-year-old eventually walked to the pitwall.

But although celebrating a one-two at Red Bull’s expense, there was also controversy on the McLaren pitwall, after Jenson Button and Hamilton tussled for the lead after being told to save fuel and tyres.

Having been captured by live TV images in anxious response to their wheel-to-wheel battle, Whitmarsh admitted the moments had made him “uncomfortable”.

But the outcome of the race, while leaving championship leader Webber five points clear, sees both McLarens close behind, with Vettel dropping 15 points behind.

(GMM)

Apr.21 (GMM)  Toro Rosso has vowed to buck the current trend in formula one by not working on a F-duct device.

With the exception of the sport’s three new teams, it is believed the Ferrari-powered STR5 will therefore soon be the only car on the 2010 grid not exploiting the downforce-spoiling concept pioneered by McLaren.

Technical boss Giorgio Ascanelli said Toro Rosso’s decision is based on financial considerations.

“If I have ten euros and am hungry, I would buy two sandwiches instead of three grams of caviar,” he is quoted as having told the Italian magazine Autosprint.

So far, Sauber, Ferrari, Mercedes and Williams have tested F-duct-like devices on their 2010 cars, with varying levels of success.

Mercedes’ Ross Brawn said in China that those teams who are hoping to match McLaren’s straight-line advantage are now “learning just how complex” the integration of an F-duct is.

Ascanelli added: “You might see some benefit after five months of development, but in that time we can improve and develop other parts of the car.”

It is believed Red Bull, Red Bull and Force India will be the next teams to run F-ducts on their cars at forthcoming grands prix.

Sebastian Vettel pulled the proverbial rabbit out the hat with another magnificent last gasp effort that saw him steal pole position in the dying moments of qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit.

The young German, fresh from victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix, left the best for the very last as he turned the tables on a strong showing from the McLaren Mercedes duo and his own team mate Mark Webber who briefly topped the timing screens, and must have believed he had it in the bag, before Vettel once again made it count when it mattered with a mega effort which even surprised his team boss.

Christian Horner said afterwards, “I have no idea where Sebastian pulled that lap from. He’s been struggling in sector one all weekend and he pulled a great lap just to pip Mark.”

With Webber in second, Red Bull Racing will once again hog the front row of the Shanghai grid for the start of the Chinese Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) who was relatively subdued up until the final moments of qualifying was third fastest and will head up the second row with Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP) beside him in fourth.

The McLaren duo who looked feisty all session wrong will be disappointed that their best in Q3 was only good enough for fifth and sixth for Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton respectively. The reigning champion getting the better of his team mate who up until Q3 was dominating proceedings and seemed destined for pole position, alas for him destiny had other plans.

Hamilton was clearly disappointed, “We were doing so well in practice, Q1 and Q2, then the car started bottoming a lot more in Q3. I really don’t understand what was wrong with the car. We have to go and analyse it.”

This report is in the process of being updated.

Qualifying Lap Times

It is believed the Brackley based team instead wanted to devote its full corporate attention to title sponsor Petronas, the Malaysian state-owned oil company that also owns the naming rights of its home race at Sepang. Mercedes ran a new sponsor on the livery of its 2010 car at Sepang this weekend, despite not officially announcing the deal.

But a new deal had clearly been reached by Mercedes GP with a company called Autonomy, whose name and ‘A’ logo was seen on the monocoque sides as well as the aerodynamic piece in front of the sidepods.

Autonomy is a jointly UK and US-based software company.

GMM