Vitaly Petrov thinks it is possible Felipe Massa will lose his Ferrari seat long before the 2012 season is over.

But Caterham’s Russian driver, who moved from Renault (now Lotus) at the end of last season, does not believe reports that Ferrari could sack the struggling Brazilian imminently, such as after next weekend’s Monaco grand prix.

“I don’t think they’ll fire Massa just now. At least not until August,” Petrov is quoted by the state owned Moscow news agency Ria Novosti.

There are six races until August’s month-long calendar ‘summer’ break.

So while Petrov thinks Massa’s career is genuinely in danger, he does not agree that Ferrari is ramping up the pressure on the 30-year-old.

“I wouldn’t say that Ferrari are criticising him that strongly,” he said. “They’re not saying he has one more chance or anything like that.”

Last Sunday proved that Pastor Maldonado is no mere ‘pay driver’.

“If he was a fool, he would not be with us, no matter how much money he brings,” Sir Frank Williams is quoted by Brazil’s Globo Esporte.

Venezuelan Maldonado, whose links to the state owned oil company PDVSA and president Hugo Chavez controversially deliver many millions to Williams’ Oxfordshire based team, became F1′s fifth different winner of 2012 last weekend in Spain.

It has helped him to shake off the ‘pay driver’ insult, Williams insisting he is now a potential world champion instead.

“Without a doubt. He is very fast and makes no mistakes,” the newly 70-year-old Briton said.

Williams does, however, acknowledge that Maldonado’s money was a key factor in the decision to sign him.

“Yes, it was to some extent,” he said. “I don’t deny that. But he’s also a real driver. He fully deserves to be on the team, with or without money.

“The truth is that if you don’t have money, you don’t get to be in formula one,” added Williams.

Team shareholder Toto Wolff agrees: “If you want to race in GP2, you need a few million pounds. So, the drivers need not only to be fast and talented, but able to attract the sponsors.

“So let’s forget this thing about ‘pay drivers’,” he insisted.

Triple world champion Nelson Piquet, however, has some lingering doubts.

He ran Maldonado in his own GP2 team some years ago, and this week recalled a driver who was often “too aggressive” and made too many mistakes.

“We’re not talking about a guy who shone in his youth, like Nico Rosberg,” said the famous Brazilian, “or someone like Lewis Hamilton, who always had everything he needed thanks to Ron Dennis.

“In GP2, when you don’t stand out in your second year, you begin to be doubted. In Maldonado’s case, he only shone in his fourth year.

“Perhaps because of this he only made it to formula one as a paying driver, without having anything special, apparently. He was perceived as just a good pilot, but clearly no Alonso.

“Now he was at the right place at the right time but he still managed to beat Alonso in Spain as well as another world champion, Kimi (Raikkonen). So hats off to him.”

Former F1 driver Mika Salo believes his Finnish countryman Valtteri Bottas is being groomed by Williams for a race seat — in 2012.

When the Toto Wolff-managed Bottas, 22, was announced as the British team’s 2012 reserve, Sir Frank Williams said he would practice on 15 Friday mornings and then “most likely” be replaced with a “more experienced driver” for the rest of those race weekends.

That more experienced driver would ultimately turn out to be Bruno Senna.

So with Brazilian Senna struggling so far in 2012, Salo has revealed he senses things could be about to change.

“Bottas is incredibly respected by the team,” Salo, now a commentator for the Finnish broadcaster MTV3, said.

“When I spoke with Frank Williams, he praised Valtteri to the skies, and said that he belongs in the races.

“I asked him when and he said it wouldn’t be long.

“Yes, I read between the lines that he means this season,” added Salo.

One major spanner in the works, however, is that Senna brings crucial sponsorship to Williams.

“It is a difficult situation for Williams, where both drivers bring money,” Salo acknowledged.

“But the good thing is that Frank Williams is not a businessman first, he is an old racing driver. He thinks about nothing else but how to make his team successful.

“Although Senna is a nice guy, he is not able to drive at the level that he needs to be at.”

When asked about Salo’s theory, Bottas commented: “I have no information.”

The boss of Abu Dhabi’s F1 circuit has criticised plans to run the young driver test at Silverstone later this year.

Originally, the young driver test was scheduled to take place as usual this year at Yas Marina, the week after the Abu Dhabi grand prix.

But, due to the calendar congestion at the end of this season, the majority of teams have decided instead to go to Silverstone in July, with only the two Red Bull-owned teams sticking with the Abu Dhabi plan.

Lotus team boss Eric Boullier, however, is quoted by The National newspaper as saying the Silverstone plan is “nonsense”.

Yas Marina chief Richard Cregan agrees: “If you’re a good young driver in the middle of a season, then it’s not ideal to be testing a formula one car midway through the year.

“These guys should be focusing on whatever series it is they are racing, which is why the F1 testing in Abu Dhabi worked so well in the past because it was effectively the end of their season.”

He also warned that the earlier timing of the Silverstone test means teams could spend more time trying to develop their cars than on seriously evaluating the next generation of drivers.

“It is first and foremost a young drivers test and it must remain that,” Cregan insisted.

“It is a chance for young drivers to get maybe a first chance to drive an F1 car and it is chance for teams to run their eye over a driver and evaluate his performance.

“Developing the car and parts should be secondary,” he said.

Abu Dhabi could, however, be back on if Silverstone’s weather forecast looks poor, even though as soon as a car has left the pitlane in July, that team will no longer be allowed to change its plans.

Even though Lotus’ Boullier thinks the Silverstone decision was wrong, he has vowed to stick with the majority.

“But actually I would like it to rain, so we will go back to the original schedule,” said the Frenchman.

Cregan said Abu Dhabi’s door remains open.

“We’ll still be working to the same standards,” he said. “So in that sense nothing changes.”

Sebastian Vettel has hit back at what he thinks was an “exaggerated” reaction to Michael Schumacher after the recent Bahrain grand prix.

Schumacher, Vettel’s countryman and friend, had heavily criticised the sport’s official supplier Pirelli, despite the Italian marque’s 2012 tyres being widely credited for the exciting grands prix seen so far this year.

“It’s been a bit exaggerated,” world champion Vettel, referring to the reaction to Schumacher’s comments, is quoted by Sport Bild.

“Ultimately, we all have the same tyres, but of course as a driver you always want more grip, whether from the tyres or from the car.

“It is in our nature to want more — more especially than the others,” he smiled.

“When I talk about this with Michael, it’s not so dramatic. He has been around for a long time and has seen a lot, also when it comes to tyres.

“I don’t think he is so easily shocked,” insisted Vettel.

* Energy drink Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz made a rare visit to the sport’s action on Thursday, catching the final day of Mugello testing.

Ferrari’s task is to improve step by step, rather than make a quantum leap in Barcelona next weekend.

That is the claim of Spaniard Fernando Alonso, as the famous Italian team disappointed some headline-writers on Tuesday by not launching a ‘B’ car at the Mugello test.

“We have to take a step forward in Montmelo, one in Monte Carlo, another in Canada, and so on,” Alonso is quoted by La Stampa, after topping the rain-affected first day of testing on Tuesday with the improved F2012 car.

He acknowledged that Ferrari cannot win the 2012 season if the performance of the opening four grands prix is repeated throughout the season.

“We have to be qualifying in the top ten, fighting for the top five and having both cars in the points in every race,” he insisted.

Asked if he thinks the title is a realistic goal, Alonso said: “We are optimistic.”

He said he pushed as hard as he could in Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain with a sub-standard car.

“It was like walking on a wire a hundred feet up,” said the 2005 and 2006 world champion. “If you do one thing wrong – hit a curb in qualifying or miss a braking point in the race – you’re not in the top ten.

“We do not have the fastest car, but with a team like Ferrari, a good car is enough.

“I’m not the best in qualifying, or in the rain, or on the street circuits, but I try to be a 9.5 in everything.”

More reports are suggesting Mark Webber could be Ferrari-bound.

One of Spain’s leading F1 correspondents, Raymond Blancafort, wrote in El Mundo Deportivo that “there may be a pre-contract” between the Maranello based team and Red Bull’s experienced Australian driver.

Webber, 35, was also linked with Ferrari last year, before Red Bull decided to sign him up for another single season alongside Sebastian Vettel.

He is now touted as Felipe Massa’s 2013 replacement, not only because of his “experience (and) the consistency of his results” but because “he gets along” with number one driver Fernando Alonso, Blancafort said.

Flavio Briatore also manages both Alonso and Webber.

Following Blancafort’s claims, Spain’s El Confidencial is now reporting similarly.

The publication said Webber has been earmarked as Alonso’s ideal teammate for 2013, perhaps pre-dating Sergio Perez’s move to the team in 2014 when the young Mexican has gathered another season of experience.

That may mean yet another single-season deal for Webber, but it might be better than what he is offered by Red Bull, given the energy drink-owned team’s grooming of youngsters Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne at Toro Rosso.

El Confidencial said Webber is also Spaniard Alonso’s first choice, with a source saying a deal has been “already reached but not signed”, possibly therefore in the form of a letter of intent.

Jerome d’Ambrosio has revealed he could drive one of the Lotus cars during Friday morning practice sessions at some point in 2012.

The former Virgin driver, who is managed by Lotus boss Eric Boullier’s Gravity company, was appointed as the team’s third and reserve driver for this year.

But, until now, it was not known if the role would involve Friday morning practice duties.

Asked by the La Libre newspaper when he will be seen on the grid once again, Belgian d’Ambrosio answered: “I hope in 2013.”

He will get his 2013 campaign up and running on Tuesday, when he gets the chance to drive Lotus’ current E20 for the first time at the Mugello test.

The 26-year-old said on Monday: “I will try to show what I can do every time I have the opportunity, not only tomorrow but also during the Friday morning tests that I can participate in.”

D’Ambrosio admitted he would rather be racing this year, but insists that his role at Lotus is a good stepping stone.

“I’m not complaining,” he said. “I remain convinced that my decision to become a reserve driver with a big team was the best thing for me.”

And he insisted he is not jealous of the similarly-aged Romain Grosjean, who took the E20 to the podium in Bahrain recently.

“Honestly not,” said d’Ambrosio. “I would be a fool to think that if Romain had crashed twice more I would replace him in Barcelona.

“Instead, what Grosjean has done confirms that young guys can be trusted. I am glad to see him succeed.

“I don’t come to grands prix hoping one of my teammates is hurt. I’m here to learn, not to laugh.”

He thinks Lotus could win a race in 2012.

“It’s possible, yes,” said d’Ambrosio. “The E20 works well when it’s hot, degrading the tyres not too much.

“In Bahrain, we had the best car in the race. We cannot afford to miss opportunities.”

All this year’s title contenders know after four ‘flyaway’ races in 2012 is that they do not know what will happen in Spain next month.

“The only certainty is uncertainty,” read the German headline at Netzeitung.

With F1 generally regarded in the wider world as a sport with predictable results, this is an entirely new situation.

“The statistics show that it’s been nine years since there have been four different winners in the first four races,” said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali.

Indeed, the famous Italian team as well as McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull have won the opening races of 2012, and also with potentially winning pace have been Lotus and Sauber.

“More than that,” continued Domenicali, “you have to go back 29 years to find the last time four different cars won.”

One explanation is that F1 has never been more competitive, with plenty of well-oiled teams and no fewer than six world champion drivers on the grid.

But Domenicali thinks Pirelli is the dominant factor.

And not everybody is happy about that. Michael Schumacher told Bild newspaper that this year’s tyres degrade so fast that rubber “flies from the rim” if he pushes too hard in a corner.

“We drive around like the safety car. It is not a satisfying situation,” the seven time world champion said.

Pirelli’s motor sport director Paul Hembery is unimpressed with the rebuke, insisting that the Italian marque is only trying to “make tyres that make the races exciting”.

“We cannot take individual drivers into consideration,” the Briton insisted.

“It would be dead easy for us to make tyres that don’t break down. Then the top ten would also be the top ten in the race.

“But no one wants to see boring processions,” Hembery claimed.

Agreed the Swiss headline at Blick: “Pirelli is sweeping away the boredom”.

Indeed, not even the other Mercedes driver, Shanghai winner Nico Rosberg, agrees with Schumacher.

“It’s total chaos. You don’t know who is going to be fast at the next track,” he is quoted by DPA agency. “Formula one has become almost unlike any other sport.

“Yes, you cannot drive any laps any more at full throttle. Often, it’s like driving on ice. But that’s a big and an interesting challenge,” said the German.

Undoubtedly exciting for the fans, but the teams are having to adapt quickly. Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport said on Sunday that Vettel’s victory could mean Red Bull resumes its dominant grip on F1.

Dr Helmut Marko doesn’t think so. “We don’t even know who our opponents are!” he exclaimed.

With the F1 world now returned from Bahrain, the sport is assessing the fallout of one of the most controversial grands prix in history.

The drivers were conspicuously quiet over the saga in the island Kingdom, but – with no contract tying him down – former Force India driver Adrian Sutil admitted he was glad he was not there.

“In a situation like that, it is probably better not to go,” the German said on Sky Deutschland.

“On the one hand, the decision was made (to go to Bahrain), on the other hand, it’s very difficult when there are so many problems in a country.”

Red Bull reserve driver Sebastien Buemi, who has family living in Bahrain, does not agree at all.

“I arrived on Monday and I had no problem — maybe there were a few more police than two years ago, but nothing happened to me,” the Swiss insisted on Austrian Servus TV.

Force India and Sauber, however, witnessed Molotov cocktail attacks on their treks to and from the circuit.

And Caterham team spokesman Tom Webb told the Sun that there was “one minor incident when one of our (hire) vans slowed down in traffic and its occupants saw a local youth on the side of the main road brandishing a bottle with a rag stuffed in its neck”.

World champion and race winner Sebastian Vettel also admitted the feeling was tense in the paddock throughout the weekend.

“It was not easy for anyone,” the Red Bull driver admitted, according to SID news agency, “but I’m glad that nothing happened to any of us (in F1).”

And the Telegraph quotes Vettel adding: “Hopefully, we come back in the future when everything’s a little bit safer.”

Reuters reports that Vodafone, the main sponsor of the half Bahrain-owned McLaren team, sent no staff to the country and expressed concerns to the British outfit.

But Jim Wright, an F1 sponsorship expert, told the Guardian that he thinks while the sport’s image took a beating last weekend, sponsors will be happy.

“Most teams handled a difficult decision very well,” he said. “On that basis I think a lot of people would be pleased with that and happy to get involved with them.”

The television audience was also unaffected – even boosted – with the BBC reporting more viewers for Bahrain than Australia and Malaysia, and Germany revealing similarly strong figures.

Still, there remains criticism.

“Now is an opportunity to reflect,” former F1 driver Alex Zanardi told Tuttosport, “and make sure that major sporting events are assigned only to governments that deserve the honour of hosting them.

“Ecclestone is brilliant and has made formula one what it is, but he can’t administer races at any cost and above all else,” insisted the Italian.

Due to security fears, Force India sat out a practice session on Friday so that staff could return to their hotels in daylight.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone was reportedly enraged, and according to rumours got his revenge by instructing Formula One Management’s television cameras to ignore the Silverstone based team’s cars in qualifying.

“There was a bit of fuss about what we did,” deputy team principal Bob Fernley is quoted by Spain’s AS newspaper, “and it was not easy, but I think it turned out to be the right response.

“We had a lot of pressure, our attitude was not well received,” he confirmed, “but I think that we had a duty of care to our employees, and to do the right thing by the team.”

Force India on Friday will run a shortened second practice session in Bahrain.

The BBC reports that staff members, some of whom were caught up in a Molotov cocktail attack earlier this week, want to pack up early in order to avoid travelling back to their hotels in darkness.

Deputy team boss Bob Fernley confirmed to Reuters that Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta will therefore run limited second practice programmes, and may skip the session altogether.

Other reports quote him as saying Force India will however take part in qualifying and the race.

Respected British commentator and former grand prix driver Martin Brundle, however, thinks the island Kingdom has “never looked better”.

“Clearly, there is some trouble out there,” he told Sky, “but I’ve not seen any of it.

“Some journalists have gone looking for it and unfortunately the trouble found Force India.

“My view is this: F1 can’t run away from this,” Brundle insisted.

Jenson Button doubts other teams will be pushing too hard to rush a Mercedes-style ‘double-DRS’ to their 2012 package.

The F-duct-style concept is, so far, the highest profile innovation of the season.

So with the FIA declaring it fully legal, and Nico Rosberg breaking through with his maiden pole and win in Shanghai last weekend, it seems a no-brainer that the other teams will now be following suit.

But McLaren’s Button doesn’t think so.

“I really don’t think it’s giving them that much — I think they’re just quick,” he is quoted by the BBC.

“From all our simulations, we don’t think it’s a massive margin at all. It’s a great invention on their part, but our DRS system is very good so I don’t think it’s giving them much over us.

“Obviously nothing in the race and in qualifying it’s minimal,” said Button.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton thinks the fastest cars so far are the Mercedes, the McLaren and the Red Bull.

“The Mercedes I think is now the quickest — particularly over one lap,” said the 2008 world champion.

“Not sure they are quickest in race pace. I think the Red Bull is probably the quickest in race pace. We have shown we have good qualifying pace and race pace.

“We are there or thereabouts and we have as good an opportunity as anyone.”

A support-race team and a respected journalist have become the next to pull out of this weekend’s highly controversial Bahrain grand prix.

The Porsche Supercup team MRS said its decision to skip the support race in the divided island Kingdom is the “first time in our history that we have had to cancel”.

“In the end we have the responsibility for our employees,” said team boss Karsten Molitor, citing security concerns.

Another withdrawal – joining the sacked Williams catering staff member, and the TV broadcasters Sky Deutschland, Fuji TV and MTV3 Finland – is the respected correspondent for O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, Livio Oricchio.

“I have decided in agreement with Estado to not go,” he said. “We had the tickets for the entire season, except for Bahrain and the United States, because there was a doubt they would be run.

“Like many journalists, I will not be at Sakhir,” Oricchio admitted.

“I always believed that the race would not take place, and I’m still not 100 per cent sure that something will not happen that will lead the FIA or FOM to cancel.”

Indeed, following the sport’s decision to push ahead, the pressure on formula one to cancel at the eleventh hour has only intensified.

Nabeel Rajab, the leader of the government opposition group Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, admitted that the next protests – ‘three days of rage’, to coincide with the race’s three-day calendar – are aimed specifically at F1.

“We’re protesting to show anger at formula one for conducting the race here,” he is quoted by the BBC.

And the wife of a well-known jailed Bahraini activist who is on a long hunger strike, added: “I am not angry with the government… what makes me angry is people like Ecclestone who decide to come to Bahrain because he thinks everyone is happy.”

Italy’s La Stampa reports that F1 personnel have been advised to stay away from restaurants and shops, while “girlfriends and wives stay at home”.

That’s not entirely true, as Felipe Massa touched down at the airport on Thursday with his wife and baby son.

And Giedo van der Garde, the reserve driver for Caterham, said he has found Bahrain peaceful since his arrival on Wednesday.

“I’ve not been here long,” he is quoted by Auto Hebdo, “but everything seems quiet. Obviously, there’s a heavy police presence,” the Dutchman continued.

“But I haven’t seen any trouble or anything. Let’s hope it stays like that.”

Marco Canseco, the correspondent for the Spanish sports daily Marca, said he witnessed a “minor altercation” in the capital Manama on Wednesday.

“Then all the teams and everybody were able to get to the track for work without a hitch, the same on return,” he revealed.

Many are protesting the race going ahead on moral grounds, others due to security fears, whilst others fear for F1′s image.

“The ongoing debate about Bahrain is the only damage to the high gloss of the exciting 2012 season so far,” agreed Austria’s Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

More wins could quickly follow for F1′s newest race victor, Nico Rosberg.

The Mercedes driver began the 2012 season with more than a century of races under his belt, causing some pundits to predict he will never taste winning champagne.

But he broke through in China just a day after his maiden pole.

“I took 113 (races to win) and he’s on 111,” 2009 world champion Jenson Button smiled in Shanghai.

Niki Lauda thinks Rosberg’s next wins will be easier.

“It (winning) gets easier,” the Austrian legend said in China late on Sunday, “because he know you can do it, and you’ve proved it.

“The next victories come quite quickly,” Lauda told the German broadcaster RTL.

Patrick Tambay won just two grands prix in consecutive seasons, 1982 and 1983, but he said the first one – achieved in Keke Rosberg’s championship year – came with “a sense of completion”.

“After that, things seem easier,” said the Frenchman, “especially so when you’ve waited 110 grands prix!

“It will feel like a relief,” Tambay told RMC Sport. “Now, he’s still young at 26 but with a lot of experience; he has everything he needs to reproduce this victory.

“The first is the most difficult.”

However, Tambay thinks Rosberg has a fight on his hands if he thinks the Shanghai victory is a springboard to a potential championship challenge.

“I see the McLaren as the best car of the season. They passed up a good opportunity for the (China GP) win,” he said.

Heikki Kovalainen has dismissed advice he should quit Caterham as soon as possible.

Fellow Finn Mika Salo, a former Ferrari and Toyota driver, told the broadcaster MTV3 he thinks Kovalainen should jump ship now because Caterham has failed for the third year running to move into the midfield.

But Kovalainen hit back by insisting he will at least see out his contract.

“It is a fact that I have a contract until the end of this year. It’s written on paper,” he said in Shanghai.