Pirelli stands ready to supply special ‘qualifying tyres’ to formula one teams next year.

With the emphasis of the sport’s spectacle now relying on the complex and heavily degrading control tyres, it was the qualifying session that suffered last weekend in Barcelona.

Arguably to the detriment of Saturday’s spectacle, teams took an exceedingly strategic view of the fight for pole position, with some drivers sitting out the decisive ‘Q3′ runout altogether.

One solution, according to Pirelli’s chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera, is the return of ‘qualifying tyres’.

The proposal has been made following recent criticism, notably by seven time world champion Michael Schumacher, of Pirelli’s 2012 product.

Tronchetti defended his marque’s approach.

“What we have is many competitive cars, which is what the teams wanted — opprtunity for everyone who is able to win,” he told Italian radio Rai GR Parlamento.

“So it’s fine if someone complains. We are available to the teams. We are ready to make qualifying tyres tomorrow.

“But they are choices that are not ours.”

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.”

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.

 Former boss Colin Kolles and his Greding-based company is no longer involved, but there remains a strong German input with the struggling team HRT.
A report in the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper reveals that the new Cosworth-powered F112 car, which failed to qualify in Melbourne last weekend, was designed and built in Augsburg, a city in the south-west of Bavaria.

It is there that, since November 2011, the Holzer-Gruppe company has been frantically building up the Cosworth-powered cars for Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.

“Under our management almost everything has been made here in Bobingen,” said Gunther Holzer.

“For the wind tunnel we used the Mercedes facility in Brackley (UK),” he added.

Eight of F1′s 12 teams are based in England, with the others either in Italy (Ferrari and Toro Rosso) or Switzerland (Sauber).

HRT uses Williams’ gearbox.

“We wanted to go our separate way, not like almost everyone else who are all within a few miles of Oxford,” said HRT chief executive Saul Ruiz de Marcos.

The team’s longer plan is to be solely based in Madrid, but for now Holzer will lead the development of the F112.

“For the start of the European season in Spain we are planning the first improvements to the car,” said Marcos.

Holzer explained: “The car is designed first for safety and so is heavy compared to the competition. For the future we are focused on making it lighter.”

Before the lighter car debuts in Barcelona, HRT faces three more challenges – Malaysia, China and Bahrain – at which the sport’s 107 per cent rule will be a major hurdle.

“The goal is to qualify, there is no other,” admitted de la Rosa. “Race reliability is something else we need to work on, but first we have to qualify.”

So far in 2012, McLaren stands all alone — with not only the fastest car, but also the best-looking one.
With almost every other team fielding an ‘ugly’ stepped nose, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button dominated qualifying in Melbourne with their sleek silver machine.

A report in the Mirror suggested McLaren’s rivals have all made “a design blunder”.

“We felt it (the conventional nose) was the right decision and we’re pleased it looks good and it’s reasonably quick as well,” smiled team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

As for the direction taken by McLaren’s rivals, including Red Bull who pioneered the ‘high nose’ philosophy for the now-past blown exhaust era, Whitmarsh insisted: “It’s not a question of right or wrong.

“But there’s no doubt which one looks best. Ultimately, it’s which one is quickest.”

Writing in Autosprint, Alberto Antonini wondered if Saturday in Australia marked “the end of an era”, after Red Bull dominated the past few seasons in formula one.

“A new era in F1 has begun,” agreed Marca newspaper’s Marco Canseco.

At least for now, there is no obvious signsof panic at Red Bull, with Mark Webber telling Speed Week: “There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the car, we just haven’t got everything out of it.”

As for Sunday’s Melbourne opener, former driver and RTL commentator Christian Danner predicted: “I think the McLarens are unbeatable.

“Behind them we will see a wonderful fight for third place, with Grosjean, the two Mercedes drivers and, of course, Sebastian Vettel.”

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.

HRT F1 Team has reached an agreement with Dani Clos by which the young 23-year-old driver from Barcelona will become test driver of the Spanish outfit for the 2012 season.

The incorporation of Clos is another step in the team’s aspirations of establishing itself as a platform for young talents to reach the pinnacle of world motorsport.

Dani Clos will form an integral part of the team, taking part in several free practice sessions on Fridays and travelling to every Grand Prix throughout the season, with the main objective of learning and getting to know the team. There is a lot of hard work ahead of him but Dani will have the whole team’s support, including that of his teammates Narain Karthikeyan and Pedro de la Rosa, to help him learn and progress in such a demanding environment.

Dani Clos experienced his first contact with the team this past November, during the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi, and made the most of the opportunity given to him. The good sensations that the team and driver had, along with the objective of strengthening HRT F1 Team, helped to reach a quick agreement that was desired by both parties.

The Spanish driver will start to exert his functions as the team’s test driver immediately and will be with the team for the third pre-season tests in Barcelona from the 1^st to the 4^th of March.

Dani Clos: “I’m very proud to be a part of HRT Formula 1 Team. It is a great step in my career, something that I have dreamt of all my life and, finally, my dream is starting to come true. I’m very impressed with the job the team is doing; they’re achieving fantastic things in a short space of time. The team has changed a lot since we met in the Abu Dhabi tests and I think it’s a great opportunity and an honor to form a part of this new team. What they’re achieving is very important for motorsport in our country and has a lot of potential. Also, being alongside Pedro de la Rosa is very important for me, since he and Karthikeyan can positively contribute to me becoming a better driver. I want to thank Saúl Ruíz de Marcos and Luis Pérez-Sala for the trust they’ve shown in me from the start and, above all, I would like to thank the people who have always been by my side, such as Leonardo Soldevila and my father. For me a new chapter is beginning, one where hard work and dedication are going to be my priorities; I’m going to give it my all so that this phase is as successful as it can possibly be for the team, my teammates and myself”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal of HRT: “I’m very happy to have Dani on the team. He’s a quick, talented driver who, above all, is very willing to progress. The incorporation of Clos is another step in our project of restructuring HRT but also fits in with our desire to promote young motorsport talents. I’m sure that it will be a very positive experience for both parties”.

-Ends-

Dani Clos – Profile

Date of Birth: 23rd of October 1988

Place of Birth: Barcelona (Spain)

Nationality: Spanish

Height: 1,77cm

Weight: 68 kg

Country and place of residence: Barcelona (Spain)

Website: www.daniclos.com

Twitter: @daniclos

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 2^nd in the 24H Barcelona race. In 2009 he made his debut in the GP2 series, with a 3^rd 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.

Career Summary:

2011: GP2: Racing Engineering, 9^thin the Championship

F1: Young Driver Test with HRT F1 Team

2010: GP2: Racing Engineering, 4^thin the Championship (1 race win)

2009: GP2: Racing Engineering, 21^stin the Championship

2008: F3 Euroseries: Prema Powerteam: 14^thin the Championship

2007: F3 Euroseries: Signature Plus: 13^thin the Championship

2006: Formula Renault 2.0 Italia: Champion (8 race wins)

Renault 2.0 Eurocup: 7^th position

2005: Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0: 32^ndin the Championship

Italian Formula Renault Championship: 16^th in the Championship

After months of evaluations and negotiations in which diverse options have been assessed, Spanish team HRT has finally opted for the facilities of the Complejo Deportivo Madrid Caja Mágica to locate its permanent headquarters.

The team will occupy part of the Caja Mágica facilities and will coexist with the Masters 1000 Madrid Open. HRT F1 Team will be specifically situated in the Indoor Sur and Indoor Central buildings, occupying a total surface of 11,000m2.

In only seven months, the new directors have carried out a restructuring process with the objective of providing the team with stability and viability, besides having a new identity. To reach these targets, a lot of hard work has been focused on three fronts in these last three months: the new car, the renewed operational and technical team and a permanent headquarters which, besides from uniting the whole team in a workspace with F1 standards, will contribute an added value to the team.

With the signing of Pedro de la Rosa this past October a long desired objective was accomplished, which was none other than to incorporate a Spanish driver. The recent addition of Narain Karthikeyan completes a driver line-up packed with experience, which is of great value in this new chapter for the team.

The renewal of the technical team started once the 2011 season was over and the new team members have been working ever since at the temporary logistical base in Paterna, Valencia, until the definitive relocation to the permanent headquarters is carried out. The chosen venue had to meet very specific and ambitious requirements.

And the Complejo Deportivo Madrid Caja Mágica meets the requirements that HRT Formula 1 Team considers indispensable for this new chapter. It is a versatile and sustainable space that will take in the different departments that make up the team besides being an area open to fans, sponsors, suppliers and collaborators.

Remodeling and adaptation of the space will begin immediately and it is calculated that in under a month the first workers will be able to move in. The technical and operational sectors of the team won’t do so until Formula 1 returns to Europe but the headquarters is expected to be fully operational for May. The Technical Design Office is anticipated to move in progressively as of early June, thus completing a programme which is calculated to generate more than a hundred jobs with different degrees of specialization.

The headquarters won’t only be a technological and R&D centre, but also a way of getting closer to the public, sponsors, suppliers and collaborators with accessible areas such as a future museum, guided tours or a conference area, whilst also becoming a formation centre.

Electric mobility and sustainability are fundamental aspects for HRT and something it shares with the Complejo Deportivo Caja Mágica. The team is a pioneer in the Formula 1 world after integrating alternative energies to petrol in its mobility plan and using electric bicycles to move around both at Grands Prix and away from them.

The Complejo Deportivo Madrid Caja Mágica is a multifunctional centre designed by the architect Dominique Perrault. It is located in the Parque Lineal del Manzanares, in a space of 17 hectares which includes large garden areas. The design and distribution of this space enables the celebration of all kinds of events, not only sporting ones, such as presentations, spectacles and conventions.

Saúl Ruiz de Marcos, HRT F1 Team CEO: “For us it is fundamental to have a headquarters that, apart from uniting the team and ending with the dispersion, is beneficial from a logistical and industrial point of view. But that also enables us to maintain a closer relationship with our fans, suppliers and sponsors. Madrid and the Caja Mágica facilities fit perfectly with the standards we were looking for. In the last few months we have assessed different options, looked at their pros and cons, and we feel that the decision to establish our permanent headquarters in Madrid was the best one. I want to thank Madrid Espacios y Congresos for the interest they have shown in this going ahead and I’m sure that this relationship will be very beneficial for everyone”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal of HRT F1 Team: “We’ve been working hard for months and establishing our permanent headquarters was very important. Finding a space in which we could all work together was vital, in order to optimize work and generate a good team feeling, a sense of belonging. When the adaptation of the facilities is completed and every department starts working under the same roof in a few months, we will only have one step left to take, which is to have the design department in Madrid too. All this implies not only becoming a place to feel identified with and carry out activities for the team, its sponsors, suppliers and fans, but also an important reference in technology and R&D in the centre of Madrid”.

A Belgian politician has played down fears Spa-Francorchamps is set to lose its grand prix, but admitted that no European venue is completely safe.

Bernie Ecclestone said this week it is “absolutely” possible the famous and popular venue, which is reportedly struggling to pay the F1 chief executive’s annual race fees, will be axed to make room on the calendar for the sport’s expansion.

Jean-Claude Marcourt, economics minister of the local Walloon government, reacted cautiously to the 79-year-old Briton’s comments.

“Formula one is becoming more globalised,” he is quoted by the Belga news agency, “and some countries are sparing no expense to join in.

“But we should not dramatise the situation; negotiations are still gong on,” added Marcourt.

For just 16 thousandths Marco Simoncelli was close today, the first row in the grid of the MotoGP at Phillip Island. A qualification encouraging for the Gresini team rider who has always gone well in Australia, winning the last two editions of the GP reserved for 250cc, showing fast even with the Honda RC212V MotoGP.

“I’m really happy because it has a few Grand Prix were following the second row and today I did for a while and even I could conquer the first! I am happy although I must admit that Spies in front of me, perhaps, is slightly faster. In any case, that’s fine so we did a good improvement from this morning and now we have to think about the race.

In conclusion Marco Simoncelli speaks of the wind and a tornado … or Casey Stoner, who has seen him turn a close today in official qualifying.

“Unfortunately the wind was quite annoying and I was in trouble especially when I was in my lap in front of Stoner and I honestly could not understand how she could go so hard. “

The mechanic injured during Sakon Yamamoto’s Monza pitstop is still in hospital, the HRT team has revealed.

The German radio mechanic, whose first name is Marco, was nursing broken bones and concussion after being struck violently by Japanese Yamamoto’s rear wing and wheel.

He is “recovering positively”, the Spanish team said in a statement late on Monday.

“He is supposed to leave the hospital in Italy soon, where he was kept under observation and go back to Germany, his home country,” added Hispania.

Recovered with interest the success of failure of last year. Pedrosa dominates at Indianapolis centering the 3rd win of the season and 34th career MotoGP (11 of them in MotoGP), putting into practice his favorite among race strategies : the escape. Fourth after the first round, three-time World Champion has passed sequentially Hayden, Dovizioso and especially Ben Spies, a leader in the first seven laps later, giving the pole position yesterday. Since that time the road was inevitably downhill, with a wheelbase of reach for anyone not a matter of 2-3 tenths as shown by the evidence, but a “net at will, when necessary, when necessary. Couple as an important victory in sight last part of the championship, which could put it mildly for the championship (68 points are to be recovered), but portends a different for the 2011 Honda is finally following a path (which is one. .) development of the RC212V less dancing than usual, as only tamed Dani Pedrosa was unable to do in recent years.

America is called “runner up”, the second good, and today was definitely Ben Spies on the podium again after Silverstone, but this time after a weekend protagonist with the pole on Saturday and a valuable 2nd place in race . With the Tech 3 Yamaha team with technical updates of nature “motor” from Laguna Seca, a track like Indy, where he finished the 6th even with Suzuki in 2008, the Superbike World Championship in office did not miss the call using favorable opportunity to celebrate the best promotion to the official team for 2011.

A performance that could be a warning bell for Jorge Lorenzo, but the safety, speed and talent of the leader of the world does not pose any concerns, just think that today’s third place was his worst result of the season … down from the podium Valentino Rossi, 4th salvage in a weekend by three falls in four practice sessions (two days), paying duty against Lawrence, but also of Spies. Misano 7 days between the time comes to take stock of the situation to understand what is wrong if only compared to races like the Sachsenring and Laguna Seca.

There is the desire of the nine times world champion to fight for the top positions even in these his last adventure races for Yamaha before moving to Ducati Nicky Hayden in sixth place behind Andrea Dovizioso (15 “by the accused teammate Pedrosa) and Casey Stoner crashed in the early laps when he had his own “heir” with the Desmosedici for 2011.

If the 7th Marco Simoncelli resists attacks with a surprising Alvaro Bautista Suzuki Loris Capirossi has not gone beyond the eleventh place. On the ground Marco Melandri, only 13 riders at the finish line including the returning Hiroshi Aoyama preceded Randy De Puniet, returned in Misano Adriatico in 5 days where there will be time to recover from ailments, even for Dani Pedrosa to celebrate a success without discussions.

Chronicle of Race

Spies has an excellent behind the 2nd pass Dovizioso on Hayden, Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Rossi, Stoner badly as much as 9 °. Nothing changes in the first round, wait overtaking Pedrosa Hayden at the damage curve 10 which is the third position in pursuit of Spies and Dovizioso who have already taken a few meters ahead. Intermediate phase of stroke to “warm up” the tires on the third lap Lorenzo’s passing Hayden, Pedrosa takes second position with the fastest lap in 1’41 “406, Melandri finds himself on the ground in an attempt to Stoner to resist the 7th square bitterly closing its 200th Grand Prix in MotoGP.

Skip a few laps before you see the race enlivened somewhat by passing Stoner Rossi Hayden rejoining except fall near the seventh lap ending in zero from the first race at Le Mans this part. Virtually the same time Pedrosa exploits the wake of Ben Spies and sets the command, following a step-by-race with frightening 1’40 “8 eleventh round, a” better than everyone, including Jorge Lorenzo which bypasses Dovizioso for third place.

He stops in the pits to a technical problem Colin Edwards, his teammate Ben Spies takes the comparison distance with Jorge Lorenzo view and does not seem to have trouble keep the second place: much more complicated the work of Andrea Dovizioso now also approached Valentino Rossi.

Towards the final rush falls Mika Kallio when he was in 9th place near Bautista and Simoncelli, there are more changes with Dani Pedrosa wins by dominating Ben Spies, Jorge Lorenzo was third followed by Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden and Marco Simoncelli. Appreciable eighth Alvaro Bautista with Suzuki, Loris Capirossi only better than 11 percent.

MotoGP World Championship 2010
Indianapolis Race Standings

01 – Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 28 laps in 47’31 .615
02 – Ben Spies – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – 3575 +
03 – Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – 6812 +
04 – Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – 12,633 +
05 – Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 21,885 +
06 – Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – 35,138 +
07 – Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – 36,740 +
08 – Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki – Suzuki GSV-R – 36,825 +
09 – Aleix Espargaro – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – 44,905 +
10 – Hector Barbera – Paginas Amarillas Aspar – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – 51,368 +
11 – Loris Capirossi – Rizla Suzuki – Suzuki GSV-R – 55,386 +
12 – Hiroshi Aoyama – Interwetten Honda – Honda RC212V – 57,903 +
13 – Randy De Puniet – LCR Honda – Honda RC212V – 1’04 .139 +

Red Bull does not share Ferrari’s view about the outcome of the recent European grand prix.

Ferrari is still on the warpath about the Valencia stewards’ reaction to the safety car period, when Lewis Hamilton passed the AMG Mercedes but received only a drive-through penalty many laps later.

Enraged that the Briton still finished second, the Italian team’s website has now drawn attention to a short comment made on RAI radio by Pirelli president Marco Tronchetti Provera.

The Italian reportedly said it was “a chaotic situation which did incredible damage to Ferrari”.

But Australian driver Mark Webber says his Red Bull team has a different view.

“For me, everything in that race was fine,” he told the BBC.  “I can only go on what my team told me … and they told me the race was handled normally.”

Meanwhile, Hamilton says a word of words about the incident with his former nemesis Alonso is now over.

“We (text) messaged the other day, things are cool,” the 2008 world champion told Reuters.

“He said everything’s cool and he knows how the racing world works and this is a tough year,” added Hamilton.

(GMM)

Entering formula one will not cause Pirelli to increase its budget, chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera said on Thursday.

The Italian company has won its bid to succeed the sport’s departing exclusive supplier Bridgestone in 2011, but its boss played down suggestions the sport is still extremely expensive for participants.

Tronchetti Provera confirmed that teams are paying Pirelli for service over the next three years, adding that the cost to the marque “will be zero compared to our budget”.

And “the advertising campaign … will be switched from other races where we’ve reduced our presence, first of all rallying, where there are new rules starting next year”, he is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

“We’ll reduce our budget in other racing (categories) and be fully dedicated to formula one,” he said, although Pirelli will also supply GP2 and GP3 next year.

Meanwhile, Pirelli’s director of motorsport Paul Hembrey played down reports the unraced 2010 Toyota car will be used by the marque for F1 tyre testing.

Revealing that a GP2 car will be used instead, he said as “a test-bed, particularly for integrity reasons, reliability and stability, it’s probably a good starting point”.
(GMM)