The boss of Abu Dhabi’s F1 circuit has criticised plans to run the young driver test at Silverstone later this year.

Originally, the young driver test was scheduled to take place as usual this year at Yas Marina, the week after the Abu Dhabi grand prix.

But, due to the calendar congestion at the end of this season, the majority of teams have decided instead to go to Silverstone in July, with only the two Red Bull-owned teams sticking with the Abu Dhabi plan.

Lotus team boss Eric Boullier, however, is quoted by The National newspaper as saying the Silverstone plan is “nonsense”.

Yas Marina chief Richard Cregan agrees: “If you’re a good young driver in the middle of a season, then it’s not ideal to be testing a formula one car midway through the year.

“These guys should be focusing on whatever series it is they are racing, which is why the F1 testing in Abu Dhabi worked so well in the past because it was effectively the end of their season.”

He also warned that the earlier timing of the Silverstone test means teams could spend more time trying to develop their cars than on seriously evaluating the next generation of drivers.

“It is first and foremost a young drivers test and it must remain that,” Cregan insisted.

“It is a chance for young drivers to get maybe a first chance to drive an F1 car and it is chance for teams to run their eye over a driver and evaluate his performance.

“Developing the car and parts should be secondary,” he said.

Abu Dhabi could, however, be back on if Silverstone’s weather forecast looks poor, even though as soon as a car has left the pitlane in July, that team will no longer be allowed to change its plans.

Even though Lotus’ Boullier thinks the Silverstone decision was wrong, he has vowed to stick with the majority.

“But actually I would like it to rain, so we will go back to the original schedule,” said the Frenchman.

Cregan said Abu Dhabi’s door remains open.

“We’ll still be working to the same standards,” he said. “So in that sense nothing changes.”

Mark Webber has hit out at F1 rival Vitaly Petrov.

Last week, as the sport tested at Mugello, Russian driver Petrov suggested the high speed Ferrari-owned layout is too dangerous for modern grand prix cars.

“You get very close to the walls and it’s maybe a bit small for the cars now,” said the Caterham driver.

Australian Webber, however, had raved about Mugello, likening 10 laps there as akin to 1000 tours of Abu Dhabi’s heavily-criticised Yas Marina layout.

Posting a photo on Twitter of Jim Clark driving unprotected past houses at the Aintree circuit in 1962, Webber remarked: “I wonder if V Petrov was there”.

Red Bull’s two teams look set to test alone in Abu Dhabi later this season.

Until recently, the now-traditional young drivers’ test – giving inexperienced drivers the chance to drive current F1 cars amid the sport’s strict testing limits – was scheduled to take place as per usual at the Yas Marina circuit in November.

But those plans were reconsidered due to this year’s congested calendar.

India takes place just one week before Abu Dhabi, the young driver test is scheduled for the week after and then the races in the US and Brazil happening back-to-back next.

In the light of that arduous schedule, Reports in March said the teams were keener on having the young driver test at Silverstone.

“It’s a long season as it is and there are a lot of back-to-back races this year, so it’s tough for them (the teams),” Abu Dhabi circuit boss Richard Cregan conceded.

The German-language Speed Week reports in its May 2 edition that the majority of teams want to test instead at Silverstone, in July.

But the magazine said Red Bull’s two teams – Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso – are sticking with the original Abu Dhabi plan.

The report also said other teams might cancel Silverstone at the last minute and join Red Bull in Abu Dhabi, should weather reports indicate the British weather would likely affect the July test.

This year’s young drivers’ test could be called off.

Currently, the event – giving inexperienced drivers the chance to drive current F1 cars amid the sport’s strict testing limits – is scheduled to take place as per usual in Abu Dhabi late this season.

But with India taking place just one week before the Abu Dhabi grand prix, the test scheduled for the week after and then the races in the US and Brazil taking place next, there are fears some in F1 will have to work on five consecutive weekends.

There have been reports the teams are therefore contemplating dropping Yas Marina and rescheduling the test for a new date at Silverstone.

“Whether they have the tests here in Abu Dhabi is a decision the teams themselves would need to make,” Yas Marina circuit boss Richard Cregan told The National newspaper.

“We have made provisions and blocked out the week after our race, but they have the freedom to change that.

“We would obviously be disappointed if Abu Dhabi didn’t host the young drivers’ test because it has become a part of our season, but I can understand the teams’ concerns,” he added.

“It’s a long season as it is and there are a lot of back-to-back races this year, so it’s tough for them.”

Cregan said he anticipates a decision to be made mid-season.

The rookie lineup for next month’s young driver test in Abu Dhabi is taking shape.
Some brand new names are in the mix, according to Italy’s Autosprint magazine.

One is the 22-year-old Monegasque driver Stefano Coletti, who has reportedly secured one of the seats that according to speculation has been sold by Toro Rosso.

Team boss Franz Tost is reportedly also in talks with Italian teenager Kevin Ceccon.

Another teenager, 18-year-old Estonian Kevin Korjus, will apparently run with Renault, as will the German DTM driver Christian Vietoris.

It was believed Frenchman Charles Pic was in talks with Toro Rosso, but the GP2 star will reportedly run at Yas Marina with Force India.

The mayor of Sao Paulo has played down fears poor circuit facilities will see the Interlagos venue fall off the annual formula one schedule.

Mayor Gilberto Kassab was at the scene of next weekend’s Brazilian grand prix at the weekend, as the circuit performed safety checks for the forthcoming race.

Asked if he is worried that many in the F1 circus – including the sport’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone – believe Interlagos features arguably the worst facilities on the calendar, he answered: “I am not.

“The city of Sao Paulo has a great interest in staying on the schedule and has invested a lot for it.

“The organisers of F1 also have an interest in having the race here,” he is quoted by Agencia Estado news agency.

“After all, Sao Paulo is one of the major cities of the world, and there’s no reason for Brazil to not be in the loop,” added Kassab.

For the 2010 event, new ‘softwall’ barriers, anti-slip paint, synthetic grass and better drainage have been installed around the circuit.

More comprehensive upgrades to the ageing facilities have not been done yet, but the mayor said a ‘Master Plan’ will be drafted at the end of the year.

Kassab is also quoted by Globo Esporte: “There are some things missing, but I like what I see. I am very calm. Every year we improve the autodromo, which is one of the best in the world.

“If not the largest, F1 is one of the major events of the world. It generates jobs and income for the city. That is why we invest so much in it,” he added.

On the other end of the scale is Abu Dhabi’s impressive Yas Marina circuit, which is set to host the 2010 season finale one week after Brazil.

Ecclestone told Gulf News: “If only all the venues were as superb as Abu Dhabi, I would be a happy man.

“How long is their arrangement to hold a grand prix? For ever. For as long as they want it,” added the Briton, who turns 80 this week.

After Sunday’s Korean grand prix, Christian Klien could return to the wheel of the HRT for one or both of the remaining races of 2010.

That is the claim of the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, recalling the 27-year-old’s strong performance with the struggling Spanish team in Singapore recently.

With his apparent food poisoning gone, Japanese pay-driver Sakon Yamamoto returned to the Cosworth-powered car in Japan and Korea.

But Kleine Zeitung said HRT is now considering putting reserve driver Klien back in the car for Brazil or Abu Dhabi, in a last-ditch effort to beat Lotus to tenth place in the constructors’ world championship.

Lotus has been the best of the three new teams in 2010, but neither it, HRT or Virgin has scored a single point.

Lotus is currently tenth due to Heikki Kovalainen’s 12th place finish at Suzuka, but an eleventh for HRT or Virgin at Interlagos or Yas Marina next month would see Lotus overhauled.

Only the top ten constructors share in the annual distribution of prize-money under the provisions of the Concorde Agreement.

Klien said in Yeongam that 2010 has shown that some pay-drivers are not necessarily the best value for F1 teams relying on the lucrative Bernie Ecclestone income.

“There is one at Virgin and Renault, and possibly two at Hispania,” he said.

But Klien acknowledged that a surprise result for HRT with the F110 car is unlikely.

“We are the only team that, since the season opener in Bahrain, has not aerodynamically improved its car,” he said.

He is therefore more hopeful about 2011.

“In March next year, I definitely see myself in a formula one cockpit,” said Klien.

Sauber’s new rookie driver for 2011 has been at the team’s Hinwil headquarters this week.

Mexican Sergio Perez, 20, visited the Swiss factory for a seat fitting, ahead of his team debut at the season ending tests in Abu Dhabi next month.

Blick newspaper said the Telmex sponsored driver is scheduled to drive for two days at the United Arab Emirates capital’s Yas Marina circuit.

The Valencia street circuit is now a “home” for formula one, according to F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

Ahead of its debut race in 2008, it is believed a seven-year contract was signed.

But the venue has met with criticism, including a 5.4 kilometre layout that has hosted processional races, and a lack of atmosphere due to the absence of many boats in the marina.

There were, however, a healthy 50,000 spectators for Saturday’s qualifying session, and Ecclestone is quoted by the local news agency EFE: “I’m very proud and pleased with Valencia.”

The Briton said he once thought setting up a circuit in the America’s Cup port area was “almost impossible” and a “20 year project completed in two”.

“It’s a miracle,” Ecclestone laughed.

“This is now a home for us.  Today a journalist told me ‘this is another Monaco’,” the 79-year-old added.

However, Telegraph writer Simon Briggs on Saturday described Valencia as “a poor man’s Monaco”.

(GMM)

A Singapore official has played down concerns the city-state will run out of time to prepare the floodlit street circuit for this year’s formula one race.

Singapore will host the Youth Olympic Games in the same Marina Bay area until the end of August — less than a month before the F1 circus arrives in town for round 15 of the 2010 world championship.

But Justin Chew, the Singapore Tourism Board’s executive director of F1 projects, told the state-owned MediaCorp: “We do have enough time.

“Based on the timeline set by the Youth Olympic Games organisers, they will take at least two to three weeks to vacate the circuit completely.

“But we have already ‘de-conflicted’ it and whatever time they need to move out and what we need to put in the area have been worked out,” he insisted.

The tight schedule means that fundamental structures for the street circuit such as lighting trusses are already being erected.