Money could be at the heart of the delay in Lewis Hamilton’s re-signing with the McLaren team.

Until now, the British team has indicated it wants the 2008 world champion to stay on board, while 27-year-old Hamilton insists he has no plans to leave and will turn his attention to the 2013 contract soon.

But according to Blick newspaper, McLaren is pushing to cut Hamilton’s existing contract retainer “in half” to “about EUR 10 million”.

The Swiss report said the driver is unimpressed with the negotiations so far, but at least Hamilton’s mood has improved tenfold compared with his calamitous 2011.

It is a full year since Hamilton raged about his “frickin ridiculous” track rivals in the 2011 Monaco grand prix, when he also half-seriously suggested that the stewards were targeting him “because I’m black”.

He is back on top form this season, but still yet to win a race, arguably mainly due to McLaren’s numerous team mistakes.

Reports have suggested boss Martin Whitmarsh, who insists Hamilton “deserves” to win this weekend in Monaco, is worried the mistakes might drive the highly rated racer away.

On Wednesday, however, Hamilton denied he is frustrated.

“I’m not, no. This is the way racing goes sometimes,” he insisted.

“I could easily get frustrated because I could have a healthy lead in the championship — but that’s not the case.

“I don’t want to speak too early but something has definitely changed. Whatever I’m doing is working,” he told British reporters.

“In life, things just seem a lot better and that’s enabling me to get on with my job without having any baggage.”

A favourite for victory this weekend, Pastor Maldonado is reportedly lucky to be gearing up to race in the Principality at all.

Bild newspaper recalls that the Venezuelan, who defied his ‘pay driver’ critics by winning for Williams in Spain two weeks ago, was actually banned after an horror incident on the streets of Monte Carlo seven years ago.

Racing in the Renault World Series in 2005, the then 25-year-old ignored yellow flags before striking and severely injuring a marshal.

Organisers of the Monaco grand prix reacted by banning Maldonado from the street circuit for life.

Germany’s Bild revealed that Maldonado’s wealthy father intervened, promising to pay for the marshal’s recovery and rehabilitation from a broken back.

That intervention saved Maldonado’s future formula one career, as no team would hire a regular driver that cannot participate in the sport’s most famous race.

Maldonado is therefore a favourite for victory this weekend, with his Williams now acknowledged as arguably the best in the entire field when it comes to slow-speed traction.

And in his four seasons of GP2 between 2007 and 2010, Maldonado finished on the podium each time, winning and achieving pole position twice. In 2006, he won in Formula Renault.

Last year, in qualifying for his first Monaco grand prix, he qualified his then struggling Williams in eighth place, comfortably ahead of Rubens Barrichello.

“He is very good at Monaco,” agreed Barrichello.

In the 2011 race, Maldonado was fighting for fifth when he crashed with Lewis Hamilton.

“If the last sector in Barcelona is the marker, then the Williams will be unbeatable in Monte Carlo,” Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport quotes Dr Helmut Marko as saying.

The breakthrough success in Barcelona has piqued the interest of Maldonado’s native Venezuela, having not had an F1 points scorer since the ignominious Johnny Cecotto in 1983.

“My country will be following every second of the next race,” Maldonado is quoted by O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

“I love street circuits, this one in particular. My style of driving fits perfectly with Monaco. I am ready to get another great result.”

Jaime Alguersuari has told Spanish publications he is “absolute certain” he will be on the 2013 grid.

“This is the best year of my life,” he told Mundo Deportivo, referring to 2012, the year after his young F1 career stalled when he was dropped by backer Red Bull.

“I’m only 22,” said Spaniard Alguersuari, who is now Pirelli’s main test driver and a co-commentator for British radio. “I’m in the prime of my life.

“It is increasingly clear that what happened with Toro Rosso was not a sporting decision. It was an internal decision and I don’t want to go deeper.”

He sounded confident about the future.

“It is 100 per cent that I will return in 2013. After being with Pirelli I will have very important knowledge. I knew that this transitionary step was necessary and I’m very happy,” said Alguersuari.

“If I had gone (to be test driver) with a team, with all due respect, I’d have no options now.

“I am developing a product (Pirelli) that nobody understands but that is vital for formula one — to know the tyres and to understand them. I’m in the right place,” he is quoted by La Vanguardia newspaper.

“I chose to be with Pirelli because I knew it would be the most important (element) in formula one.

“I know where I am and I know where I’ll be next year,” he insisted.

A lack of official information has triggered speculation about Ross Brawn’s health.

And another rumour is that his absence in Barcelona could be connected with Mercedes’ billion-dollar dispute with Bernie Ecclestone over the next Concorde Agreement.

The German squad announced on Thursday that Bob Bell is leading the team in Barcelona because regular boss Brawn is back in Britain on doctor’s orders.

Bild newspaper said the 57-year-old was given the advice in hospital earlier this week, following a dizzy spell at his home in England.

“It’s more than the flu,” chief executive Nick Fry is quoted as saying, “but I can assure you that it’s nothing life threatening.”

Indeed, a spokeswoman told us on Thursday that Brawn will be back to work at Monaco in a fortnight.

For Spain, Brawn will watch the action on television.

“We will still keep in touch,” Michael Schumacher revealed. “Ross cannot be replaced. That’s simply impossible.”

Rubens Barrichello has alleged that Ferrari made a threat that might have ended his motor racing career during the infamous 2002 Austrian grand prix.

Ten years ago, the Brazilian led the race at the A1-Ring but eventually, at the very last corner, succumbed to team orders that allowed number one teammate Michael Schumacher to pass him.

Subsequent video footage has depicted then Ferrari team boss Jean Todt asking Barrichello on the radio to simply “let Michael pass for the championship, please”.

But Barrichello, having left F1 at the end of 2011 for a seat in Indycar, says it was not quite as simple as that.

“It was eight laps of war,” he is quoted by Brazil’s Globo.

“It’s very rare that I lose my temper, but I was screaming on the radio. I kept going right to the end, saying I would not let him pass.

“That’s when they said something about something much broader. It was not about the contract.

“I cannot tell you what they said, but it was a form of threat that made me think about re-thinking my life, because the great joy for me was driving,” said the 39-year-old.

Spanish driver Dani Clos will step into the F112 for the first time on Friday to take part in the first free practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix which will take place at the Circuit de Catalunya. 23 year-old Clos will substitute teammate Narain Karthikeyan for that session and will join Pedro de la Rosa for the first 90 minutes of practice in Montmeló.

It will be history in the making for HRT Formula 1 Team at the Circuit de Catalunya since this will be the first time that two Spanish drivers hit the track forming a part of a Spanish team at the Spanish Grand Prix. It will be a moment to remember for Spanish motorsport and a great opportunity for Clos to prove his worth in front of his home crowd.

After having completed 377.67 kilometres at the helm of the F111 in the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi last November and having joined the team as an official test driver in February, Dani Clos will take another step on Friday and will fulfill another vital aspect of his testing role by completing his first laps at the wheel of the F112. A car that will be brining a series of aerodynamic upgrades for this important Grand Prix.

Dani Clos: “I’m delighted to have this opportunity. It’s something I’ve fought for all my life; to make my debut in Formula 1 and, above all, to be able to do it at the Circuit de Catalunya which is something very special for me. Besides, I’m extremely lucky to be able to do it with a Spanish team, alongside another Spanish driver who I admire and at home. I can’t ask for more! It’s the ideal situation and I’m proud to be where I am with the people who have always been with me and still are. I hope to extract a lot of data from this practice session, contribute with positive things to the team and do my job in the best way I can. I feel 100% ready and I can’t wait for the moment I step into the car and hit the track”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal HRT: “I’m very proud and happy that this moment has arrived and that we’ve given Dani the chance to get in the car on Friday’s first free practice session at such a special and important Grand Prix as is a home Grand Prix. In this first contact he will drive next to Pedro de la Rosa and will have the chance to drive the new F112 for the first time. It’s an important session given the short amount of time on track that we have and more so when you take into account the various aerodynamic upgrades which we have brought. Dani is a great driver and I have no doubt that he will do a good job. Besides, this debut also represents another step forward in our desire for HRT to serve as a platform for young drivers to make it into F1”.

DANI CLOS – PROFILE AND CAREER SUMMARY

Dani Clos was born in Barcelona on the 23rd of October 1988. With a renowned trajectory in karting, Clos made his debut in single-seater racing in 2004 in Formula Renault Italia 2.0, going on to win the Championship in 2006. A year later he joined Renault’s F1 programme and took part in the Formula Three Euroseries. In 2008 he entered Williams F1′s young drivers’ programme and finished in 2nd in the 24H Barcelona race. In 2009 he made his debut in the GP2 series, with a 3rd place finish in Portimao being his best result. In his second year in GP2 he achieved his first win in Turkey alongside various podium finishes. Last year, Dani Clos took one win and two podiums in what was his third season as a GP2 driver. Also in 2011, he took part in the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi with HRT F1 Team, completing total of 377.67km in one day and leaving a very good impression on the team. In 2012, Dani Clos joins the HRT Formula 1 Team as its official test driver.

Career Summary:

2012 F1: test driver, HRT Formula 1 Team
2011 GP2: Racing Engineering, 9th in the Championship
F1: Young Driver Test with HRT F1 Team
2010 GP2: Racing Engineering, 4th in the Championship (1 win)
2009 GP2: Racing Engineering, 21st in the Championship
2008 F3 Euroseries: Prema Powerteam: 14th in the Championship
2007 F3 Euroseries: Signature Plus: 13th in the Championship
2006 Fórmula Renault 2.0 Italia: Champion (8 wins)
Renault 2.0 Eurocup: 7th position in the Championship
2005 Renault 2.0 Eurocup: 32nd in the Championship
Fórmula 2.0 Italiana: 16th in the Championship

Kimi Raikkonen insists he is “not interested” in formula one — except the cars, and winning.

Asked by the reporter for Bild am Sonntag newspaper if the famous Finnish character might remove his sunglasses for an interview, 2007 world champion Raikkonen replied simply: “No.”

At the end of his fourth race since returning to F1 from rallying, the 32-year-old was back on the podium in Bahrain.

“It’s not going too bad,” he said. “I like what I’m doing, that’s enough. I don’t care if someone says whether I’m doing it well or not.

“Still, it’s disappointing when you’re only second. Who knows what’s going to happen at the next race,” the Lotus driver added.

Just after leaving F1 at the end of 2009, Raikkonen said he disliked everything about the sport — except the cars.

Nothing has changed.

“No. I’m only here for racing,” said Raikkonen.

“All the other bulls**t I can do without. If you took away the cars from formula one, I would not be there.

“Formula one plays no role in my personal life. I have a real life! I think for many people, their life is formula one. For me it’s not.”

He may be in Bahrain, but Fernando Alonso’s mind is thinking firmly ahead to Europe as the Spaniard prepares to struggle on Sunday yet again.

Ferrari’s number one driver squeezed into Q3 with the struggling F2012 on Saturday, and is targeting some minor points on Sunday.

“The two McLarens and the two Red Bulls are at the front, and there’s (also) Rosberg,” Alonso is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport, predicting how Sunday’s race will unfold.

“We’re not going to go past them. For us, we are racing behind the top five.”

He is hoping it will be his latest and last experience of life as a midfielder in 2012.

For Barcelona, the first European race of the season mid next month, Ferrari – so disappointed with its start to the season – is planning a major upgrade for the F2012.

An added bonus is that it can be tested at Mugello in early May.

“Despite our problems I am in third place in the championship, and tomorrow (Sunday) I have a chance to score well. That’s more than we expected.

“Next is Barcelona, a most important race for us. I hope the season starts again for me (there),” said Alonso.

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Norbert Haug said he is proud Mercedes has reached the top of formula one in a short space of time and with a small budget.

The German carmaker’s works team is often lumped together with F1′s other grandees including Ferrari and McLaren, but Haug insists the Brackley based outfit is in fact “a small team, with a small budget”.

Mercedes’ competition boss, who on Sunday collected the winning constructors’ trophy on the Shanghai podium, also said some of the team’s rivals – undoubtedly Red Bull – “took five years to win”.

“We have done it in two and a quarter,” the German told the RTL broadcaster. “That’s not bad at all.

“And there are other teams that still have not made it.”

So is Mercedes now a contender for the world championship, despite Haug’s earlier protestations that the team needs a few more campaigns under its belt for that?

“It is too early to make a prediction,” he told Auto Motor und Sport. “I hope so, but so far we have seen three different winners in three races.”

The newest of those winners is Nico Rosberg, who along with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve are the only sons of F1 drivers to have also gone on to win grands prix.

It is a good omen for Rosberg that both Hill and Villeneuve also won titles.

Rosberg’s former Williams teammate, Alex Wurz, has high praise.

“As a teammate (in 2007) he made my life difficult because he was such a fantastic qualifying driver. In the race it was then always okay.

“But for this (race win) he deserves praise,” Wurz told the Austrian ORF broadcaster, “because he did everything after his pole position also sensationally.”

But in Bahrain, there could be another winner, triple world champion Niki Lauda remarked.

“I have never before seen F1 as interesting as this,” said the Austrian legend. “Every race we see another winner.”

Michael Schumacher could be the next silver-clad driver who takes a Mercedes to the top step of the podium.

His teammate Nico Rosberg dominated the Shanghai weekend and, at his 111th attempt, finally broke through with a maiden pole and win.

The much-younger German also dominated Schumacher, the 43-year-old, at Mercedes in the last two years — ever since the seven time world champion returned to formula one in 2010.

But former Benetton and Ferrari title winner Schumacher appears much more on Rosberg’s pace this season, and in fact even solidly outqualified his 26-year-old teammate in Australia and Malaysia.

“It’s simple,” Schumacher told Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo.

“The way I can drive this car is much more how I have driven a car throughout my whole life.

“If you look at my driving today and compare with ten years ago, not much has changed,” said the famous German. “But if you look at 2010 and 2011, my arms never stopped working.

“It wasn’t my way to drive,” insisted Schumacher.

Having followed Rosberg early in the Chinese grand prix – before his retirement – Schumacher admitted that he could not quite match the leading pace.

But, despite not standing on a podium even once since his F1 comeback, he has now smelled that a victory is close.

“It will be the same feeling as when I went to the podium for the first time with Benetton, and Ferrari,” Schumacher predicted.

“When I started with those teams, we were far away from being able to think about it. But after a lot of work, I would say years – just as now with Mercedes – we had reached the stage of being able to fight.

“Most people have no idea how many things need to be changed, how much effort and investment is required. At 43 I’m going through all of this again, but it’s because I really love what I do.”

Schumacher’s Mercedes contract expires at the end of this year.

“You might not believe it,” he responded, “but I’m so focused on developing this car that I don’t think about it.

“Later on in the season, of course, it’s inevitable.

“Of course it gives me great pleasure that we are starting to see the results of this great work. I am still perfectly capable of winning in formula one,” Schumacher insisted.

Kimi Raikkonen has a simple theory as to why his return to formula one was much smoother than fellow former champion Michael Schumacher’s.

After two less competitive seasons in 2010 and 2011, seven time title winner Schumacher, 43, is finally back up to speed this year.

Finn Raikkonen is more than a decade younger than his German rival and he was off the grid for only two years, not three.

But he thinks there is a simpler explanation as to why he has returned immediately to the pace, while Schumacher took more than two full seasons.

“It’s just about whether you have a good car or not. It has made life much easier for me,” said Raikkonen, who has returned with Lotus.

“He (Schumacher) was not so lucky,” the former McLaren and Ferrari driver told Germany’s Sport Bild.

“The (Lotus) car is good,” the 2007 world champion added, referring to his black and gold E20. “Whether it’s good enough for victory or not, I don’t know.

“At least we are not far away from the top.”

Raikkonen insists not much has changed in F1 since he left for a world rallying foray at the end of 2009 — not even his friendship with Sebastian Vettel.

“He has won two titles since then but it didn’t change him,” said Raikkonen.

“Sebastian is a great racing driver but he’s also a really nice guy,” he added.

As for himself, Raikkonen insists he is just the same.

“Maybe people see me as more relaxed, which I think is down to the (Lotus) team,” he said.

“It’s a different atmosphere to what I’ve experienced before.”

Rubens Barrichello has advised his friend and countryman Felipe Massa to remember to enjoy his job, amid rumours the Brazilian is speeding towards the exit at Ferrari.

Speculation is rife that amid his apparently worsening performance slump, Massa will be replaced by the famous Italian team — perhaps as soon as within the 2012 season.

F1 veteran Barrichello, who has switched to Indycar this year after losing his Williams seat, told Brazil’s Globo Esporte that he thinks Massa’s problem is psychological.

“It’s not a speed problem,” he said, “it’s something that he needs to solve within himself.

“He has to close his eyes and enjoy, remembering that he does this because he likes it.

“Every time that I lost a little bit, it was because I had forgotten that I did it because I liked to. So we (drivers) have to relax and improve that way.

“(For Massa) it is just a moment, and every moment and race in formula one is a cycle of life.”

Barrichello’s advice for Massa may be particularly relevant, as he was at Ferrari during Michael Schumacher’s ultra-successful reign last decade.

Now, it is Fernando Alonso who is the Maranello team’s favoured son.

“Of course Ferrari loves Alonso, because he is one of the best, if not the best who is there (in F1) now,” said Barrichello, 39.

“So, it’s tough for Felipe.”

Barrichello also laughed at the results of a recent fans’ poll in the Italian media that showed he would be a highly popular choice as Massa’s replacement.

“It was very unexpected,” he said. “Maybe it was a way (for journalists) to see if Italians would pick an Italian driver, and suddenly I win.

“It is a very public business and shows that I must have left something behind,” added the winner of 11 grands prix.

Jenson Button has revealed he will “definitely” remain loyal to McLaren for the next few years.

It was reported this week that the 2009 world champion received an “offer” from Ferrari last year to replace the struggling Felipe Massa.

According to the Brazilian news agency Agencia Estado, those talks took place prior to October last year, when the 32-year-old Briton signed a new ‘multi year contract’ to stay at McLaren.

“I had a listen to what some of the other teams could offer me,” Button confirmed.

He also appeared to leave the door open to a Ferrari move in the future, admitting it would be “exciting” to be paired with Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

But Button has now insisted that he is perfectly happy at McLaren, despite the common paddock perception that the British team lacks the sort of “passion” seen at Ferrari.

“We have a great atmosphere, everyone thinks it’s a very cold, very grey team,” he is quoted by the Daily Mail.

“People talk about Ferrari and them being very passionate, and they are. But I don’t think most people realise how passionate this team is, and how much they want to achieve.

“So I’m very happy here, and you never know what’s going to happen in the future,” said Button.

“I’m not going to sign my life away, but I’ll stay here for the next few years, definitely.”

Button also lived up to his promise to “hurt” himself after a poor result in Malaysia recently, finishing sixth overall in the Waikoloa Lavaman triathlon in Hawaii.

“Yeah, I did (hurt myself),” he smiled immediately after the event. “My gluts are killing me. “They say that means you are riding the bike correctly, but it hurts.”

Adrian Sutil has admitted that discovering Lewis Hamilton was not a friend was one of life’s “disappointments”.

Since their F3 days as teammates, Sutil and Hamilton have been arguably the closest pair of friends in the formula one paddock.

That changed, however, when the German driver was charged with assaulting Lotus team executive Eric Lux, and Hamilton was summoned as a witness to the Shanghai nightclub incident.

But Briton Hamilton declined to appear and also changed his mobile phone number without informing Sutil.

Sutil and his father reacted by calling the McLaren driver “pathetic” and a “coward”.

When asked about his former close friend, Sutil told Die Welt newspaper: “Basically I only had a problem with one person, which was Mr Lux.

“He has offered me his hand and said that for him, the issue is finished.

“What Lewis Hamilton does is not decisive for my ambitions to get back to formula one. Just as with defeats, you have to deal with disappointments, it’s as simple as that.

“I think no one should expect to find any friends in the paddock — and I don’t look for them there either. I have enough friends outside of F1,” added Sutil.