Five races in, F1′s cleverest brains are still yet to decode the mystery of the bizarre and fascinating 2012 season.

As was the case when he utterly dominated last year, Sebastian Vettel is still leading the drivers’ points chase.

But, before last weekend, if he had been told that Williams’ Pastor Maldonado would be the winner of the Spanish grand prix, the German admitted: “Well, I would have put a lot of money on them!

“I think the odds weren’t bad,” he smiled.

Indeed, the major British bookmaker William Hill was taking bets at 500-1 prior to the Barcelona weekend.

A spokesman confirmed that only two bets at 10 pounds or above were placed on Maldonado prior to qualifying.

“I’m sure Williams don’t understand why they just won the race here,” McLaren’s Jenson Button is quoted by the Guardian newspaper.

But the previously-derided ‘pay driver’ Maldonado is not the only potential new winner in 2012, after Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg and Vettel won the opening four grands prix.

A detailed look at F1′s specialist reporting in the past few weeks shows that Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean, Michael Schumacher, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi are all also widely regarded as genuine victory candidates in 2012.

And given that their teammates have won grands prix this season, even the struggling Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna should be added to that list.

“Dammit, let’s go for (HRT’s) Karthikeyan!” wrote Chris Hockley in the Sun newspaper.

“It’s really quite crazy right now,” Vettel, who despite his young age would count himself among F1′s currently perplexed purists, told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

“What’s happening is difficult for us to explain,” he added.

The situation has split the F1 audience, with the purists shaking their heads, and others marvelling at the unprecedented spectacle.

“The spectacle has taken over the sport,” said the Paris daily Le Figaro.

“Even the teams can’t be sure who will be the hare and who will be the tortoise at any given track,” wrote Hockley.

Alonso, who is the joint championship leader, is in the purists’ camp.

“Of course it is attractive for the spectators that we are going to Monaco not knowing if we will fight for victory or be left out of the points,” he is quoted by El Pais.

“But in a way, after eleven years in formula one and now I’m at Ferrari, I would like to have more stability,” the Spaniard admitted.

Sir Jackie Stewart said: “What’s going on is unbelievable, which I think is the outcome of the new rules, new tyres — I think it’s many factors,” he told the Spanish sports daily AS.

“What’s happening,” said Maldonado’s race engineer Xevi Pujolar, “is that these tyres are allowing teams who do not have the biggest budgets to be eligible for really good results.

“The reason is that the most important thing now is to have a good setup and also some luck with the temperature.”

Pirelli, F1′s tyre maker, has received both criticism and praise for its huge role.

“Pirelli have been both bold and brave,” Sun journalist Hockley said. “It can’t be easy for a manufacturer to make tyres that sometimes wear out faster than you can say Mercedes.”

Marco Tronchetti Provera, the Italian marque’s company chief, is unapologetic.

“What we have provided is what the teams have asked for, and it was not easy,” Italian language reports quote him saying. “Our engineers have done an extraordinary thing.”

Mark Webber has denied signing with the Ferrari team for 2013.

Spanish media reports, indicating that a letter of intent may already have been written, said Fernando Alonso favours Australian Webber to replace the struggling Felipe Massa.

The reports also said Webber, 35 and with an expiring Red Bull contract, could be signed for a single season ahead of Sergio Perez joining in 2014.

“Sergio was flavour of the month last week for the Ferrari drive; now it’s me,” Webber said at the Mugello test on Tuesday.

“I’m focusing 100 per cent on this season and doing the best job for myself and Red Bull Racing. I’m not putting any energy into anything else.”

Italian-language reporters also quote Webber as saying: “There’s a whole season ahead of us before we need to think about the future.

“One day the talk is about Jenson (Button joining Ferrari), then it’s Sergio, now it’s me. I haven’t signed anything.”

“My focus is on this team (Red Bull); we’ve had a good start to the season, we’re only four races down and the road is very, very, very long before we start talking about the future.”

As for the closely-contested 2012 championship, Webber added: “The grid is very close together.

“Sebastian (Vettel) had a weekend without problems in Bahrain and won but he didn’t dominate, and that’s the same for everyone.

“No one will be dominant in the first half of the season, so to be third at the start of the European season is not bad,” he said.

 BAR founder Craig Pollock’s new 2014 engine supply venture, Pure, is setting up camp in Cologne.
A German-language report at motorsport-total.com said Jacques Villeneuve’s former manager has struck a deal with former F1 team Toyota.

The report said Pure, to move shortly, needs better facilities than it currently has at its Paris headquarters.

“We have signed an exclusive agreement with TMG (Toyota Motorsport GmbH),” Scotland-born Pollock is quoted as saying.

He said the deal involves office space, a workshop and engine test stands.

Pollock explained that time and cost factors explains why Pure did not set up its own factory.

But he said there is plenty of time left to find at least two F1 team customers for 2014.

Pollock also said Pure will retain its French headquarters as a business base.

Bernie Ecclestone is leading the negotiations as France tries to return to the formula one calendar.
The country’s government is pushing hard to include Paul Ricard on the 2013 calendar, with a deal to alternate annually a single race date with Belgum’s Spa Francorchamps.

RMC Sport reports that Paris has formally requested Ecclestone, F1′s chief executive, send them the contract.

But the report said a crucial detail is missing: the necessary race fee.

As those negotiations begin, it is revealed that Eric Boullier – the Lotus team’s French team principal – met with Ecclestone in London on Wednesday to talk about it.

Boullier had tried to “speed things up”, the French language report said.

RMC added that Spa-Francorchamps’ Belgian promoters currently spend EUR 22.5 million per race on the grand prix, a figure neither they nor France are willing to pay in 2013 and beyond.

“Both have set a maximum of EUR 15 million per race,” said the report.

The responsible Belgian minister, Jean-Claude Marcourt, declined to comment.

Rubens Barrichello has revealed he hopes to stay with the Williams team in 2011.

His comments, in a Portuguese interview with the news agency Reuters, follow reports that the veteran Brazilian could be replaced next year by the Venezuelan pay-driver Pastor Maldonado.

Previously, it was believed that Barrichello’s rookie German teammate Nico Hulkenberg was the most likely to make way should the Oxfordshire based team decide to sign 25-year-old Maldonado and his sponsor.

“I’ve done a good job this year and I’m focused on the car for next year, so I’m hoping to stay,” the Portuguese language report quoted Barrichello, 39, as saying.

Currently in his native Sao Paulo ahead of the Brazilian grand prix next weekend, Barrichello also revealed that he is not in talks with any other F1 teams.

Last month, the Brazilian said he was “100 per cent” sure he will be driving for Williams in 2011 even though the deal had not been confirmed on paper.

But when asked on Thursday if a deal is in place, Barrichello said: “That’s something you will have to ask Williams.”

And when discussing taking part in his 18th home grand prix next weekend, he added: “Our car is getting better and all I can hope for is a positive weekend.

“The start of the season was not so good, we thought we had a good car but it was hard for us to be in the top ten.

“But the rapport with the team was very good and we managed to improve,” said Barrichello.

Globo also quotes him as saying: “I’ve been working on the car for next year. There are things arising from the regulations that we are only going to find out later, but the design is bold and 2011 is going to be better than this one.”

Bruno Senna, the nephew of the great Ayrton Senna, is in talks to switch for 2011 from struggling HRT to F1′s best new team Lotus.

That is the claim of Brazil’s Globo Esporte, noting that the move would reinvoke the fabled Lotus/Renault/Senna combination of the 1980s.

Rookie Senna, who turned 27 earlier this month, has had a difficult debut season in 2010 at the wheel of the slowest and least developed car on the grid fielded by the Spanish newcomer Hispania.

“Bruno Senna is close to getting something better,” said the Portuguese language report.

“He is in talks with Lotus and these talks are already well advanced,” Globo added, nominating Jarno Trulli as the driver most likely to leave the Malaysian team in the event that Senna is signed.

The report cited sources “close to the driver” as insisting that Senna cannot finalise the deal until his sponsors agree, adding that these talks with “several companies” are also already taking place.

Globo Esporte also said Lotus’ announcement of its Renault engine deal for 2011 will be made next weekend at Interlagos.

Late triple world champion Ayrton Senna won his first grand prix at the wheel of a Renault-powered Lotus in 1985.

He won a further 5 grands prix in a Lotus-Renault, as well as 24 podiums, 16 pole positions and 150 points before moving to McLaren.

The union of formula one drivers, the GPDA, revealed in Korea last weekend their push for more influence in the sport’s decision-making processes.

According to the German magazine Speed Week, the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association – now headed by president Rubens Barrichello – met at the Yeongam circuit with FIA president Jean Todt.

“We want a permanent dialogue with the governing body,” Brazilian Barrichello, accompanied to the meeting by fellow GPDA directors Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa, is quoted as saying.

According to another German language report in motorline.cc, Barrichello and his colleagues believe some of the problems in Korea – like troublesome kerbs and the dangerous pit entry – would not have been encountered if the drivers were more seriously canvassed.

“It was ok,” Barrichello said after the meeting with Todt.

“We discussed three or four things and he was very open. All we want is for the GPDA to be able to contribute more to the future of the sport,” he added.

Kimi Raikkonen’s interest in driving for Renault next year is “flattering”, team boss Eric Boullier has admitted.

2007 world champion Raikkonen’s manager last week confirmed reports the pair had spoken with Boullier about the vacant 2011 seat alongside Robert Kubica.

The 30-year-old Finn switched to world rallying this year after winning 18 grands prix with Ferrari and McLaren last decade.

“It’s flattering,” Boullier said in a French language report of the Agence France-Presse agency, “because it shows that our team is again attractive to a formula one world champion.”

After Fernando Alonso’s titles in 2005 and 2006, Renault entered a period of decline that resulted in the French carmaker selling to Luxembourg based Genii Capital at the end of last year.

“Our simulations show that our car has improved by about 1 and 3/4 seconds between the first test and now. We have been one of the teams with the greatest progressions.

“That is a true source of satisfaction,” admitted Boullier. “We have proved the team has the qualities to operate at the highest level.”

Spa-Francorchamps fell more than 10,000 tickets short of its spectator target for the recent Belgian grand prix.

Only 52,500 spectators attended last Sunday’s race, after the organisers had targeted the figure of 65,000 in order to “achieve a balanced financial position”.

Crowds well above 100,000 were regularly recorded early last decade.

According to the AFP news agency in a French language report, the organisers are concerned about seeing the event’s local government funding reduced when the current contract expires in 2012.

“It is necessary to reduce the impact of this event on the finances of the Walloon region,” admitted local economy minister Jean-Claude Marcourt.

Added budget minister Andre Antoine: “It doesn’t mean we intend to end the contract. But at the time of negotiation, it (the finances) will be borne in mind.”

It was reported in August that Spa is under threat from potential rival hosts who can offer much higher annual promotional fees to formula one.

One solution known to be under consideration for Spa-Francorchamps is an annual race-alternating scheme with another European circuit.

“We are playing with the idea. That is the current situation, even if we are not quite at that stage,” Spa president Etienne Davignon told hln.be.

The actual financial figures for the 2010 event will only be known in October, and Spa official Andre Maes is not jumping to any conclusions.

“Obviously the horrible weather all weekend was little incentive for people to come,” he said.

Former German grand prix driver and now Volkswagen’s competition representative Hans-Joachim Stuck has had surgery after a head injury.

German-language reports including in the Welt, Kleine Zeitung and Express newspapers say the operation on Saturday was for a hematoma that developed after a heavy crash in an Audi R8 at the Nurburgring several weeks ago.

At another event last weekend, the VW Scirocco Cup support race at the Nurburgring, he complained of headaches, dizziness, loss of balance and nausea.

The reports say Stuck, who contested 81 races in the 70s, has been transferred from intensive care to a normal hospital ward in the German town Neuwied.

“We advised Strietzel (Stuck) after practice to consult a doctor,” confirmed VW motorsport director Kris Nissen.

The marque’s spokesman Stefan Moser confirmed the reports about Stuck’s surgery.