Sergio Perez admitted to mixed feelings on Wednesday as he returned to Monaco.

The last time he was in the Principality to race – for his debut grand prix in the fabled Principality – he was hauled away in an ambulance, having been knocked unconscious in a huge qualifying crash.

“To me it’s unbelievable to be back here after such an accident,” the 22-year-old said on Wednesday, according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Mexican Perez said Monaco is still his favourite track.

“It is definitely not a good feeling that the walls are so close, but we know the risks. It’s a special place.

“I can remember everything right up to the crash. The next thing I know was that I was on the way to hospital — I was unconscious for several minutes.

“After such an accident it is not easy to come back — I cannot say for sure how I will feel when I come out of the tunnel for the first time. But I think it will be completely out of my head.”

Perez said he really needed “four or five” races to recover from the heavy concussion, but that there was pressure from sponsors to come back as soon as possible.

“I wanted to get back into the car in Montreal, but it was impossible,” he recalled.

“In Valencia it was very difficult for me.”

Now, he is hoping for a very different Monaco weekend, after looking strong last year until his crash.

“Our goal must be the podium. I hope to find a good setup although we have recently had a little problem with the traction.

“We are so close to the top that every tenth can make a difference.

“After our second place in Malaysia, maybe the next step will be victory — I don’t know if we will succeed. But the opportunities are there,” said Perez.

McLaren tested a higher front nose at the Mugello test last week.

Backmarker Marussia aside, the famous British team is the only team in 2012 to have resisted the temptation of running a high ‘step’ nose, in the wake of new safety regulations.

McLaren was the early frontrunner this season with its MP4-27 car, but Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton struggled notably last time out in Bahrain.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said the team quietly tested the significant nose development on the final day of Mugello testing last Thursday, with test driver Oliver Turvey at the wheel.

The report also speculated that McLaren experimented with an adjustable brake duct system at Mugello, which might be used to regulate tyre temperature for the finicky 2012 Pirellis.

The system would have to be adjusted by the mechanics during a pitstop.

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.

It was mission accomplished for HRT Formula 1 Team in Malaysia a couple of weeks ago after both cars qualified and completed their first race of the season after a hard start. The F112 accumulated many kilometres and data on the track and the engineers had a lot of information to work on during the two week period between the race in Sepang and China. Having met the team’s targets last time out, HRT now aims to progress from where it left things in Malaysia and continue improving.

The Shanghai International Circuit is made up of sixteen turns, with nine being right-handers and seven left-handers. Cars reach maximum speeds on the 1.2km straight between corners 13 and 14, where they try and take advantage of the length of the straight to overtake. In China, the team will have a new member on board, Ma Qing Hua, who will be joining the outfit for the first time as a member of the driver development programme at his local Grand Prix.

Pirelli have elected their soft and medium tyres for this grand prix.

Pedro de la Rosa, #22: “After these first two Grands Prix we arrive in China much better prepared, with more mileage and having learned a lot, especially after the Malaysian GP. All the data gathered in the last race is very important for us, as we mustn’t forget that we didn’t have a preseason. Now we have a better insight on the areas where we must improve, but the most important thing in this initial stage is to finish races. That is the prime objective in order to learn and improve race by race. The hardest part comes now but we are better prepared. China is a circuit where I have always done well and a place I know well, both in dry and wet conditions. It’s not a particularly hard track for the car or the driver, but aerodynamics are fundamental”.

Narain Karthikeyan, #23: “We took a step forward in Malaysia and our aim is definitely to carry the momentum into China and rest of the season. Although we managed to finish the race, cooling was still an issue at Sepang and once we have it sorted out completely we’ll be able to unlock some more performance from the car. The back straight at the Shanghai circuit is of course one of the longest on the calendar and the tightening first corner is uniquely challenging since the corner entry is in top gear and by the time you exit you’re in second. Plus there are a fair amount of technical slow-speed corners as well, and the high-speed direction change of turns 7/8. Given these mixed characteristics, it is a demanding circuit for traction, aero and braking stability in equal measures”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal: “The start to the season was very complicated because we were behind schedule with regards to the other teams. We had to put in a colossal effort to be able to get on track in Australia and improve our performance just one week later in Malaysia. There’s still plenty to do and many areas to improve on to be where we should be but at least in these two weeks we’ve had a bit more time to analyse data, prepare and recharge batteries, therefore I’m confident that we’re arriving in China in a much better situation. We mustn’t forget that the F112 is only taking its first steps and, as of today, what we must do is progress without stopping. In Shanghai we’ll have some small updates to optimize cooling and aerodynamics, and the target for this weekend is to check that these adjustments work. To sum up, we have to get more out of the car but must also improve on teamwork and coordination”.

 Romain Grosjean will be happy if this week’s weather forecast for Melbourne proves right.
Although Wednesday will be warm and sunny in the Victorian capital, the clouds will begin to gather on Thursday, when the F1 circus congregates in the nearby Albert Park paddock for media and scrutineering activities.

Then, when practice signals the official start of the 2012 season on Friday afternoon, rain and isolated thunderstorms are predicted.

And isolated showers are forecast for the qualifying and race days.

Lotus driver Romain Grosjean has not tested his new E20 mount on a wet track, and the last time he saw rain from the cockpit of any F1 car was in Brazil 2009.

“It feels like a long time ago!” the Frenchman confirmed.

“I’m ready if the (Melbourne) track is more slippery, and I’ll try to make the best of it.

“I like racing in the wet, so maybe it will be a bit of an advantage for me,” added the reigning GP2 champion.

Sunday will be his eighth career grand prix, following 7 races with the Enstone based team – then known as Renault – in 2009.

Jenson Button has tipped Ferrari to recover, after the famous Italian team announced it does not initially expect to be a podium contender in 2012.
Paddock insiders are tipping a close three-way battle between Red Bull, McLaren and possibly Mercedes early this season, as Ferrari apparently flounders with its complex F2012.

But McLaren’s Button said: “I’m sure Ferrari can find their way out of a sticky situation — if they’re in a sticky situation.

“We’re all trying new things at the start of the year. One of us will get it right and I’m sure the others will follow suit in the end,” he told the Guardian.

“They’re obviously on the back foot but I’m sure they’ll catch up.”

Despite an almost unprecedented media muzzle, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso broke his enforced silence last weekend to admit by way of analogy that his 2012 car is not in top Barcelona football players’ Messi and Iniesta’s league at present.

But the Spaniard also pointed out that while the press is making a fuss about Ferrari’s troubles, the immense pressure on Ferrari is unique.

“For example yesterday (Sunday at Barcelona) Red Bull had only a few laps and the last time on the sheet,” Alonso reportedly told Ferrari staff at Maranello.

“If something similar had happened to us, hell would have broken loose, but here (in Italy) nobody really noticed it.”

Alonso does not think he will be pushing for the Melbourne win next weekend, but he also insisted: “What counts is not to be first in the first race, but in November, at the end of the championship.”

Mark Webber has backed his rival Lewis Hamilton to bounce back in 2012.
McLaren’s 2008 world champion had a tumultuous season on and off the circuit last year, but has returned having reunited with his girlfriend and with extra support in the form of Mika Hakkinen’s former manager Didier Coton.

“It’s normal for a sportsman or woman to go through some headwinds in their career — particularly someone like him who had so much success so early, and he’s black, and he’s got interest, and he’s got a girlfriend of profile,” Red Bull driver Webber is quoted by the Sun newspaper.

“Let’s hope he’s strong but not too strong. As a competitor you hope he can realise his potential but clearly we still want to beat him,” added the plain-talking Australian.

Despite winning the season ending Brazilian grand prix last year, Webber also had a less than ideal 2011 as his teammate Sebastian Vettel utterly dominated.

The 35-year-old, however, has lost a couple of kilos over the winter and insists he is ready for 2012.

F1 chief executive Ecclestone backs Webber to succeed.

“I think Mark will be the guy who will threaten him (Vettel) if anybody,” the 81-year-old told The Australian newspaper.

“The last time I spoke to him about it, he was really motivated.”

 Sebastien Buemi must up his game if he wants to practice on Friday morning ahead of next month’s 2011 season finale in Brazil.
Toro Rosso has told the Swiss, and his teammate Jaime Alguersuari, that whoever has the least amount of points after the penultimate race in Abu Dhabi will give up his car at Interlagos to French hopeful Jean-Eric Vergne.

Vergne, the latest cream of Red Bull’s young driver programme, will kick off his new Friday morning duties this weekend in Korea at the wheel of Alguersuari’s STR6.

“Jaime sits out the session because the last time a driver was replaced on Friday morning, it was Sebastien Buemi who gave up his seat to Daniel Ricciardo,” the Faenza based team said in a statement.

Vergne will sit out India because it’s a new circuit, and will return on Friday morning in Abu Dhabi “replacing Buemi”, the Red Bull junior team added.

And for Brazil, “whichever of the Toro Rosso drivers has the least points will give up his seat to Vergne for FP1″.

Currently, three races before Brazil, Buemi trails Spaniard Alguersuari by three points.

And also looming in the background is Red Bull’s other young hopeful Daniel Ricciardo.

“In the next couple of years not only the loss of practice laps is threatened, but also the complete loss of their seats,” noted Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Red Bull avoided a repeat of last year’s ‘wing-gate’ by letting Mark Webber keep his latest specification front wing at Suzuka.
At Silverstone 2010, Australian Webber kicked off the controversy by angrily declaring ‘Not bad for a number 2 driver’ after winning the British grand prix.

The win came after the team took the front wing off his car because the only other version collapsed on Sebastian Vettel’s RB6 in practice.

At Suzuka, a similar situation arose when Vettel crashed at Degner on Friday morning.

But the German then tackled the rest of the weekend until qualifying with an older spare front wing replacement, and was duly outpaced in all the practice sessions by McLaren’s Jenson Button.

Suddenly, Vettel returned to the front in qualifying — with a brand new front wing.

“The team did everything to bring it back and just in time it arrived (from Milton Keynes) for qualifying,” the 24-year-old said.

Team boss Christian Horner told Reuters he never considered simply taking Webber’s front wing away again.

“Last time (at Silverstone), it failed and we had one left and it wasn’t anything to do with the driver,” he said.

“Yesterday it was purely down to him (Vettel), that’s why he looked pretty pissed off when he got out of the car because he knew he’d damaged a front wing that he knew there were only two of in Japan at that time.”

Pirelli wants to use the services of Pedro de la Rosa for one last time.

The veteran Spaniard, who was the Italian tyre marque’s main tester for the development of this year’s tyres, has now returned to his former role as McLaren reserve driver for 2011.

But Pirelli has vowed to continue to make improvements to the current generation of tyres and wants de la Rosa to be on duty one last time.

“Our first test is in April and it would be ideal for Pedro to do it before he leaves,” Pirelli’s Paul Hembery is quoted in Spanish by the as.com website.

“We have made some modifications to the (2009) Toyota and as Pedro has driven it I would like him to compare (the changes),” he added.

2014 could be the last time Melbourne hosts the Australian grand prix, state Victorian premier John Brumby has admitted.

The race’s annual taxpayer-funded losses have grown to almost $50 million, moving the ruling Labor Party to consider not renewing the current contract.

“I know there’s a range of views in the community and it is a costly major event, but we’ve got it until 2014, and really we’ll look at whether we go beyond that,” Brumby told the national radio broadcaster ABC.

He added that the debut race in 1996 was amid a broader major events programme for the state.

“Certainly when we first won that (event) in Victoria it had a newness and a freshness and the longer you go with these things that freshness can obviously diminish a little,” said Brumby.

The other side of state politics is also questioning the value of the grand prix, with opposition leader Ted Baillieu saying the cost is “a real worry”.

Today’s FIA press conference at the Interlagos circuit was an all-Brazilian affair, with the two “new boys,” Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna, joined by their senior colleagues, Rubens Barrichello and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro’s Felipe Massa. Indeed, it was an all Paulista affair as the four are from the city of Sao Paolo.

Asked to look back at this season, Felipe singled out his qualifying performance as the worst feature of 2010. “This year’s results have not matched my expectations, especially in qualifying where I struggled to put together a good first lap on fresh tyres,” he said. “It’s true there have also been some races where I failed to finish in the points and then there was Singapore, where a qualifying problem meant I had to start from the back.”

As to this weekend’s home race, Felipe shared his fellow panelists’ enthusiasm for the Interlagos circuit. “I have great memories from here with two wins and poles in 2006, ’07 and ’08, which was the last time I raced here. Then going even further back, at the start of my career, I won here twice in Formula Chevrolet. This track has many interesting challenges and you can be creative with the set-up, while many sections of the track require a very technical approach. It might be a short lap, not like most of the new tracks, but this circuit is very well thought out and there is always overtaking here and some nice fights. But it is really the Brazilian people who make Interlagos special – they are so hot with emotion and they sing all day long in the grandstands, which is great for us Brazilian drivers, giving us some extra power.”

Mathematically, Fernando Alonso has a chance of winning the Drivers’ title on Sunday and Felipe was asked if he felt it might happen. “Well, Fernando is leading right now, so for sure I think he can do it here, but as we have seen this season, everything is possible. My personal aim is to try and win the race and of course I can help Fernando by taking points away from his rivals.”

This week sees the premiere of a film made about the life of Ayrton Senna and all four drivers were asked for their memories of the great Brazilian champion, who died during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. “Ayrton was really amazing and I remember so many of his races,” said Felipe. “But what really stands out in my mind was his ability in qualifying, not only taking pole in so many races, but often doing so with a big gap over the rest. For me, that was his strongest point.”

At one point, Valentino Rossi in qualifying at Motegi official found himself in pole position, shaded only by 54 thousandths poor in favor of Andrea Dovizioso. Disappointed? Quite the opposite: back on the front row is good news for Valentino, as well as the gradual improvement in physical form only so much to talk about it later after the tests on Saturday at Twin Ring Motegi …

” It‘s really a good feeling to be back here in the front row after such a long time, last time was in Le Mans!“says Valentino Rossi. “Here we were able to improve on every aspect, changes to the set-up allowed me to better guide the M1, but also the new engine allows us to be faster on the straight and the hard compound Bridgestone tires work better than the Motorland Aragon. “

Inevitably, Valentino Rossi has spoken of his physical condition, with the shoulder here, surprisingly, is much less bad than expected with a logical explanation.

“As I said yesterday, I expected to suffer more with his shoulder, but I actually feel pretty good: this is not holding back bent, so I do not feel too much pain. I am very happy. Starting from the front row will be very important for today, hope for good weather and see what we can do, “concluded the nine-time champion.

A few laps of running in post-vacation, but at the end Jorge Lorenzo could not find the command of the standings after the first round of testing at Brno on the track where it has never finished on the podium in MotoGP has marked the best time the day in 1’57 “215 just found a good balance and rhythm of his Yamaha M1.

‘It’s always hard to get back on track after the holidays, especially in a circuit different from that at Laguna Seca, where we ran the last time, “says Lorenzo. “Brno is a difficult track, but when you find the pace the session was good, I felt good riding my bike had a good base setting.

Met opening, as for all the MotoGP riders are two unknowns: the tires and the meteorological conditions that appear to promise anything good for the rest of the weekend.

“I managed to try the two rear tires that Bridgestone brought here, but I need more time to choose. The rain allowed us to find all the information needed for this choice, so we have to wait until tomorrow, but I hope it is dry and that we can continue the work we begin today, “said the leader of the world.

For a long time it looked like it, as if Fernando Alonso at Hockenheim a bit faster than Sebastian Vettel, but at the crucial qualification was the German finally in the lead – albeit with a possible margin of only 0.002 seconds ahead.

“I think we have to be happy. We are now for the first time this season in the first row, which for us is definitely a step forward ‘ , the Ferrari driver, who can start the last time at the Hungarian Grand Prix last year from the first row.

“We were competitive all weekend, I have very great confidence in the car. I was the first, second and third qualifying round with the car very happy. At last we’ve managed a perfect Saturday.”

“Of course we have the pole position quite narrowly missed, but the points are not there tomorrow, Saturday. We must therefore focus on the following day. Following is a good day today, the aim is also a good day tomorrow to have. We will try to get some points tomorrow. ”

He had “not quite expect,” to be tuned as close to Red Bull: “We always expect that Red Bull in the third qualifying round is a bit more. We have already seen that it is in free practice approaching a very short, but third qualifying round, they are then far away. We were surprised that we were so close and could ultimately fight after ten races at one pole position. It took a little longer, but now we are very close. ”

And team-mate Felipe Massa was satisfied with his third place: “That was one of us a good performance. There was a very tough qualifying. In the third qualifying round, I could not get all the sectors together. I’m happy that I was back in third Qualifying round-am, and I now focus more on the race tomorrow. I hope we do well, and for the team and myself can get many points. “