The penalty might be harsh, but the loss of Lewis Hamilton’s pole in Spain is just the latest calamitous mistake by McLaren.

That was the tone of the paddock’s reaction to the news late on Saturday that a McLaren gaffe saw the FIA send Hamilton from first to last on the Spanish grand prix grid.

The Sun newspaper called it a draconian “24-place grid penalty” imposed by the FIA after an “astonishing cock-up” by McLaren.

Hamilton was told on the radio to pull over after his pole lap due to a “technical problem”.

Sporting director Sam Michael argued ‘force majeure’, but the stewards ruled that it had been entirely McLaren’s fault that not enough fuel was put into Hamilton’s car to ensure a scrutineering fuel sample.

Writing in the Telegraph, Tom Cary said the severity of the disqualification “raised eyebrows”, but agreed that “McLaren’s mistake was horrendous”.

He said it has been “a season of errors” by the famous British team, who are yet to get Hamilton’s signature on a new contract beyond 2012.

“Hamilton must be seething,” read an article in the Daily Mail newspaper, while The Times laid out McLaren’s “catalogue of errors”.

27-year-old Hamilton’s “raw talent is being thwarted by mishap and cock-up,” said journalist Kevin Eason.

“McLaren are lovely people but how the hell do they get themselves in this position?” wrote the Mirror’s Byron Young on Twitter.

Even the non-English language media agreed.

“It was another great mistake by McLaren that could eventually cost Hamilton the championship,” wrote Livio Oricchio in O Estado de S.Paulo.

Italy’s La Stampa called McLaren’s fuel gaffe a case of “harakiri”.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport added: “It was error number 13 for McLaren since last year”.

While highly critical of McLaren’s own-goal, however, the feeling in the paddock is that the stewards’ penalty – although accepted by McLaren – was overly harsh.

“Back of the grid? Way, way too harsh”, said the Mirror’s Young on Twitter.

“Draconian penalty in my view,” agreed PA Sport’s Ian Parkes. “Dropping Q3 time would have sufficed.”

Sky commentator Martin Brundle added: “(I) feel they should have deleted that (Q3) laptime only which would have put him sixth”.

And excluding Hamilton from Q3 altogether would have put him 11th. Now, he will be “lucky to score a point”, Auto Motor und Sport predicted.

In the Independent, however, David Tremayne noted: “Welcome to the draconian world of F1.”

David Croft, the lead Sky commentator, said the FIA stewards had acted correctly.

“A good rule should be one that covers all eventualities with a penalty that acts as a deterrent which in this case is what happened.

“Too little fuel can’t be tolerated,” he added. “It seems harsh but had Lewis taken pole by one thousandth of a second, would it be harsh then?”

The Spanish fans – not Hamilton’s biggest supporters dating back to his spats with Fernando Alonso in 2007 – were happy.

Asked on the El Mundo website whether the penalty was fair, 76 per cent answered yes.

Food giant Nestle’s boss has confirmed he is set to enter the world of formula one.

Austrian businessman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe confirmed to Kleine Zeitung newspaper that he has been lined up to chair the sport’s parent company once it has floated on the Singapore exchange.

“That’s right,” said the 67-year-old.

“And it’s true that I have agreed to take over the chairmanship of the supervisory board in a non-executive function.

“If formula one is to be a public company then it is important that the chairman is independent.”

Brabeck-Letmathe confirmed that Bernie Ecclestone, 82, is remaining F1′s chief executive.

“We certainly hope that Bernie stays healthy for a long time and can keep on working,” he said.

“I am already impressed with his performance. But of course it is the task of a supervisory board to ensure the succession of a business.

“At Nestle, I have always ensured that everyone can be replaced from the executive board within 24 hours. So we need to think about how to replace Bernie Ecclestone as well.”

Rumours that F1 team owner Genii is contemplating buying the Group Lotus sports car company are continuing to gain steam.

That is despite Genii’s Gerard Lopez confirming recently that the Enstone based team has ended its sponsorship deal with the carmaker, even though the team will continue to carry the Lotus name.

But subsequent media reports indicate that the newly Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom owned Group Lotus is for sale.

“Genii … is thought to be interested, and its boss, Gerard Lopez, is said to have had talks with Hicom, but also with (Group Lotus chief) Mr (Dany) Bahar about a possible management buyout,” read a report in the Independent newspaper.

Bahar is not ruling out the transaction.

“Whatever happens will happen,” he told the local Norfolk publication edp24.co.uk.

“Genii has expressed interest and if there is a good deal to be done, why should they not be interested? I think it would just make sense.”

 Senior F1 official David Campbell has left the sport.
Late in 2010, Bernie Ecclestone appointed Campbell – whose most famous achievement was the transformation of London’s O2 Arena – to succeed the retiring Paddy McNally.

McNally headed the lucrative trackside advertising company Allsport and the Paddock Club.

Campbell was therefore tipped as a likely successor for 81-year-old Ecclestone.

But a report in the Independent quoted CVC as confirming Campbell “has left”.

“It didn’t really work out,” said the source. “Bernie wanted to take the business in a different way, and that wasn’t the basis on which we hired David.”

Valtteri Bottas has given some insight into Williams’ decision to switch to Renault power for this year.
For the past two years, the famous British team has been independent UK marque Cosworth’s highest profile customer.

But for 2012 the Grove based team has switched to Renault, the maker of world champion Red Bull’s engines, as well as fellow customers Lotus and Caterham.

“The Renault engine is more powerful,” revealed Williams’ test driver Bottas.

“It is also smaller in size, which is good for the aerodynamics, and has a lower fuel consumption,” he told the MTV3 broadcaster.

The 22-year-old Finn, who is managed by Williams co-owner Toto Wolff, will drive the FW34 on Wednesday at the Barcelona test.

He will also contest 15 of this season’s Friday morning practice sessions.

“This season will definitely be better than the last,” said Bottas, “when it was Williams’ poorest in history.”

Cosworth still supplies the struggling Marussia and HRT teams.

Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, a United Nations war crimes expert, thinks Bahrain is ready to host formula one again.
Last year, the Egyptian led the high-profile independent investigation that found the Bahrain authorities were heavy-handed in reaction to the civil unrest.

But now, media outlets including London’s Telegraph newspaper have seen a letter Bassiouni wrote to grand prix circuit chief Zayed Alzayani, who is determined to host April’s Bahrain grand prix at Sakhir as scheduled.

Bassiouni, whose letter was copied to F1 chiefs Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone, said the race can be used to promote “national healing and reconciliation”.

He said it will be “an important point of departure for the people of Bahrain to forge ahead in their national efforts towards reconciliation”.

Red Bull has no plans to scale back its involvement in formula one, owner Dietrich Mateschitz insists.
Red Bull Racing’s Nascar equivalent is being wound up but it is a different story in F1, where Sebastian Vettel is on the verge of being crowned the youngest ever back to back champion.

Mateschitz told the Independent newspaper he is even happy with his second F1 team Toro Rosso.

“No,” he insisted when asked if the Faenza based team is for sale, “although partnerships would not be ruled out, as long as the partner is the right one.”

Also not being sold is the premier Red Bull team, even though “a forecast is difficult and a decision always depends on the wider picture, the politics, influence of F1 shareholders and many other factors”.

He played down the supposed cost-drain of being involved in F1.

“The total marketing investment for (the) Red Bull (brand) is 10 times as much as in F1,” said Mateschitz.

There is, however, no title sponsor as it is “difficult to find one due to the strength of the Red Bull brand”.

Bahrain paid its race sanctioning fee for 2011 despite not hosting a grand prix this year.
Amid the island Kingdom’s troubles earlier this year, Bernie Ecclestone revealed that he would not charge the government the reportedly more than $40 million fee.

“The fee that is normally being paid for the event is not being paid,” the F1 chief executive said at the time. “I am not charging them for a race they are not getting.”

But according to The Independent, Ecclestone said the fact Bahrain ultimately paid the 2011 fee means that the sport’s revenue and profit will not reverse this year.

“I don’t think turnover will be down this year. I think it will be flat because we were paid for Bahrain. I said we will give them the money back and they said don’t bother,” said the 80-year-old.

Bahrain is scheduled to return to the F1 calendar next late April.

“I spoke to the Bahrainis yesterday and they said everything is going to be fine. I hope they are right for their sake, not ours,” said Ecclestone.

If Bahrain does not come back, the diminutive Briton already has plans for F1′s likely next destinations.

“After Russia I would like to go to South Africa and Mexico. Both countries are trying to do something,” said Ecclestone. “Greece are also trying to do a formula one race.”

On Greece’s economic problems, he quipped: “The Germans will lend them some money”.

Formula one teams have agreed a budget cap for operational spending in 2011 and beyond, according to an Italian media report.

Earlier this week, we reported that team bosses discussed the so-called Resource Restriction Agreement in Singapore last weekend.

There are signs that, despite the cost-cutting pact negotiated at the end of the 2009 political war, some teams – notably the new and independent ones – are still struggling financially.

Italy’s Autosprint reports that a new operational budget limit was therefore agreed within the FOTA group, with engine and transmission costs not included.

The report said teams may no longer spend any more than EUR 20 million each on operational elements, while team staff numbers have been capped at 415.



McLaren newcomer and reigning world champion Jenson Button has admitted that he has not been as fast as his teammate Lewis Hamilton in 2010.

The 30-year-old, who has won two grands prix compared with Hamilton’s three so far this season, said his countryman has been better at the wheel of an unbalanced car, and over a single qualifying lap.

“I need a car that is more stable than he does.  In that respect Lewis is very strong,” Button said in an interview with The Independent.

But the Briton insists he has not been destroyed this year by 25-year-old Hamilton, who was groomed by McLaren since he was a boy.

“Overall I think it’s been very close with Lewis.  But I am behind him, not in front.  So qualifying is something that I still need to work on,” Button acknowledged.

Some figures in the paddock believe that Button was effectively ousted by Brawn at the end of last year as the re-branded Mercedes GP wanted to pair the seven time world champion with the already-contracted Nico Rosberg.

But Button insists it was his “decision” to switch to McLaren, despite having had no input into the initial development of the MP4-25.

“I have made a lot of wrong decisions but I’m really happy with the one to move to McLaren,” he said.

F1′s harsh spotlight of the international media is shining on Ferrari and Fernando Alonso, but also the regulation prohibiting team orders.

In a frosty post-race press conference at Hockenheim, some reporters warned Spaniard Alonso he now risks winning a “dirty” championship, comparing his win at the hands of an illegal team order to his victory at Singapore in 2008.

“That’s your opinion,” the Ferrari driver told them.

Team orders, of course – dating back to the gentleman racer’s days when number two drivers would pull into the pits to hand over their cars – are nothing new.

“This was just handled very badly,” said Lotus’ Mike Gascoyne.

And Ferrari’s handling in Germany, with Felipe Massa ordered aside by way of a coded message from apologetic engineer Rob Smedley, fuelled the media’s fire.

“I am glad that the media in the paddock are kind of like our police,” remarked Alex Wurz.

But according to Spain’s Marca sports daily, “the English press showed no mercy” for a driver who clashed so memorably with Lewis Hamilton back in 2007.

The Sunday Express called Alonso and Ferrari “dirty, thieving cheats”, while even the milder Daily Telegraph admitted that the World Motor Sport Council could in theory disqualify the famous team from formula one at an August meeting.

“A suspension for a number of races is another possibility,” said the Daily Mail.

Triple world champion Niki Lauda scolded Alonso for blatantly denying he had won the race thanks to a team order.  The Independent newspaper said “nobody was fooled” by Alonso’s argument that he wasn’t aware of the fix.

“I’ve never heard a driver talk such bullshit.  He has no character,” said Austrian great Lauda.

Dr Helmut Marko, under fire for some recent decisions at Red Bull, revelled in the change of fortune.

“It is unbelievable how awkwardly they demonstrated who is their number one.  The FIA must react with a drastic punishment,” he is quoted by Blick.

The Swiss newspaper’s correspondent agreed: “There are different ways for Alonso to return to the throne.  Lying and cheating should not be one of them.”

Even the usually partisan AS newspaper remarked: “Alonso deserved to win the German grand prix, but not like this.  Domenicali has confirmed his true ineptitude by giving Massa obvious team orders that are prohibited by the rules.”

Said Brazil’s Folha de S.Paulo: “It was an insult to the sport.”

Rio de Janeiro’s Lance added: “We regret writing it, but from Massa it was a lack of courage.”

Rubens Barrichello, whose move for Michael Schumacher in 2002 motivated the team order ban, said: “I will speak to Felipe myself.  Nothing has changed at Ferrari.

“I think you can read my opinion better from my face,” he stormily told Brazilian radio Jovem Pan.

Said French newspaper Liberation: “Ferrari is a team unlike another; when not undermined by political intrigue, they shoot themselves in the foot.”

La Libre wondered how the FIA is going to react at the World Motor Sport Council: “Would Jean Todt dare punish his old team for a practice he applied himself?  We honestly doubt it.”

Another side of the story is what Renault’s customer engine boss Fabric Lom described on Europe 1 radio as the “hypocrisy” of the current regulations.

Agreed Italy’s Corriere dello Sport: “It is fair to recognise that the problem is in the regulations.”

Rome daily Il Tempo said Ferrari “did the right thing in the wrong way”, and Spain’s El Mundo said the team order ban is “a regulation that penalises team interests”.

Italy’s Autosprint marvelled that Ferrari was “fined for teamwork!”

Said Britain’s Telegraph: “Ferrari were caught and they must pay.  But the rule is unenforceable.  To pretend otherwise is deluded.”

Mercedes’ Norbert Haug does not quite agree: “We need to think of the spectators.  They want to see fights on the track, not these actions.

“The different teams have different attitudes about team orders.”

To the Spanish press, Alonso argued: “The ones who pay us are the team, not the newspapers or anyone else, and now Ferrari is taking 43 points back to Italy.

“And that is what we have to do — what is best for the team.  On Friday I was faster, I was second in qualifying and faster than Felipe in the race.  I don’t think the slower driver won this race,” he added.