Lotus did not consider employing team orders in order to boost Kimi Raikkonen’s chances of winning the Bahrain grand prix.

The 2007 world champion ultimately finished second and even had a stab at overtaking winner Sebastian Vettel.

And he might have had an ever better chance at challenging the Red Bull had his Lotus team chiefs ordered teammate Romain Grosjean aside at a crucial moment.

“Yeah,” confirmed Finn Raikkonen, “but there are no team orders and we know the rules.

“I tried to get past as quickly as I can but it’s not easy with two similar cars.

“It’s always easy to say afterwards ‘if we had done that’ but in the end we were not fast enough to win and we have to take the second,” he added.

Despite team orders being effectively legal in F1, team boss Eric Boullier confirmed that Lotus does not follow that policy.

“We don’t want to play team orders, so we let them race normally and what happened, happened,” he is quoted by the Mirror.

The most important thing, according to Spanish commentator and former veteran F1 engineer Joan Villadelprat, is that the former Renault team still knows how to win.

“Maybe they don’t have the best car on the grid, because McLaren and Red Bull and Mercedes are probably better, but Lotus have made a car capable of competing with the best in the right circumstances,” he wrote in El Pais newspaper.

Two authoritative sources have admitted they doubt Adrian Newey was telling the whole truth about the air inlet in the ‘step’ nose of Red Bull’s 2012 car.
Designer Newey, the pioneer of the now-banned blown diffuser solutions seen throughout last year’s grid, insisted that the mysterious letterbox-slot gap in the RB8 is simply to cool the drivers with air.

But the aerodynamic expert’s explanation was met with some initial scepticism, amid speculation the monocoque air could also be flowing elsewhere for a performance benefit.

“The drivers are going to get their feet wet when it rains,” a suspicious unnamed engineer smilingly told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Also unconvinced is Joan Villadelprat, a veteran former formula one engineer who has worked at McLaren, Ferrari, Benetton, Prost and – most recently – heading the operations of the sports car team Epsilon Euskadi.

He wrote in El Pais newspaper: “Personally, I don’t believe Adrian Newey’s explanation that the opening is to refresh the drivers.

“If that’s what they need then Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber must drive half-asleep,” the Spaniard joked.

Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport speculates that the RB8′s inlet directs air underneath the floor, as per Ferrari’s innovative nose-slot of 2008.

Sebastian Vettel sounds unlikely to voluntarily fall in line behind Mark Webber as Red Bull pushes for its first ever drivers’ world championship.

Although heading for the championship lead in Korea before his engine failure, Vettel is now 25 points off Fernando Alonso.

It means Ferrari’s Spanish driver is the favourite for the title, with Vettel’s Australian teammate Mark Webber the most likely challenger due to his 11 point deficit.

But Germany’s Bild newspaper said it sounds unlikely that Vettel is going to give up.

“Nothing is going to change in my approach to the final two rounds,” he is quoted as saying. “My (engine) failure makes everything more interesting and difficult. But it is still possible.

“I am going to fight until the end,” Vettel vowed.

Like McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh who is in a similar situation, Red Bull chief Christian Horner said before leaving Korea that team strategy will be discussed internally before the season’s penultimate event in Brazil.

Former Ferrari driver Jean Alesi thinks Red Bull made a big mistake by not establishing a hierarchy some time ago.

“They needed to take advantage of the fact they had the best car,” the Frenchman told CNR Media. “It’s doubtful they will have the same advantage next year, so you have to say they have mismanaged this season.

“I think they’ve missed a great opportunity,” added Alesi.

Joan Villadelprat, a veteran F1 team manager who now operates his own Le Mans team Epsilon Euskadi, agrees.

“There has been a lack of solidarity at Red Bull, who have not been able to manage their superiority and are now giving the title away to Ferrari,” he wrote in his El Pais newspaper column.

“When a double world champion like Alonso takes the kind of advantage he has now, he does not fail,” the Spaniard added.

Joan Villadelprat on Monday insisted he has not given up on bringing his Spanish Le Mans team Epsilon Euskadi into formula one.

The Spaniard tried to acquire the thirteenth and final team entry for 2011, but the FIA ruled that none of the applicants had the financial resources to justify the go-ahead.

But Villadelprat told the Noticias de Gipuzkoa that the 13th entry is not the only route into F1.

“We have not thrown in the towel,” he confirmed.

“The most important thing in formula one is the funding that allows you develop for the long-term. We already have the infrastructure and human capacity.

“We are still working with a range of investors and we hope soon to have a final decision,” added Villadelprat. “If the decision is positive, we have a range of options.

“We can go for the 13th entry in 2012, or for 2011 buy an existing team.”

He ruled out buying the struggling HRT team.

“We are not in contact with them,” said Villadelprat, with decades of experience in F1 with Ferrari, McLaren, Benetton and Prost.

“But we are confident that there are licenses available, because there are several teams in a very delicate economic situation,” he added.

“If we secure the budget for the next four years to take over the project of one of these teams, we will — otherwise, no.”

Joan Villadelprat is eager for the FIA to make its decision about the identity of F1′s thirteenth team for 2011.

The formula one veteran, who has worked at Tyrrell, McLaren, Ferrari, Benetton and Prost, is now pushing to bring his own Le Mans prototype and junior single seaters team Epsilon Euskadi onto the grid.

It is believed the Azkoitia-based outfit is in competition with Villeneuve/Durango and Stefan GP, but it is also possible that the governing body will deem none of the applicants worthy of the 13th place.

It is also rumoured that many more than the three aforementioned projects are still officially in the running for the entry.

“We are already working with our wind tunnel model,” Villadelprat is quoted by the Italian language Al Volante.

“From the economic point of view we have an interesting budget but not yet what I would want to have for the formula one programme.

“Before investing a lot of money, our possible partners want to be sure that we have been chosen (by the FIA), but this (situation) will end in August,” he added.

Indeed, the FIA’s decision about the 13th team entry is due late this month.