The Italian press is reporting that Ferrari could abandon the innovative pull-rod suspension layout of its disappointing F2012 car.
The Spanish sports daily AS concurs, adding that the revised car could be ready as soon as next month, and certainly in time for Barcelona in May.

“Ferrari may even give up its revolutionary front suspension,” wrote correspondent Manuel Franco.

Until the F2012, the pull-rod layout has not been seen at the front of a formula one car since designer Gabriele Tredozi’s 2001 Minardi.

Interestingly, Spaniard Fernando Alonso raced both cars.

According to O Estado de S.Paulo correspondent Livio Oricchio, Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni played down the reports.

“But I am not so sure the information is unfounded,” Oricchio insisted.

At Sepang, La Gaceta reporter Carlos Miguel Gomez asked Alonso about the ‘big step’ for the F2012 that is being imminently planned by Ferrari.

“It is up to you to write that there will be a new car coming,” the Spanish driver answered.

“It won’t be just us: I think everyone will make updates at every race. We just need to make ours work a little bit more,” said Alonso.

“New parts will slowly come at every race and hopefully they work, but there’s not one magic race or one magic moment when we think things can change.”

 Two teams are in danger of sitting out Sunday’s Australian grand prix.
“The idea, here, is to qualify for the race,” Marussia’s Timo Glock told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper from Melbourne.

The hurdle that the struggling former Virgin team – as well as HRT – must get over, is the 107 per cent rule in Q1.

It is an even higher hurdle than last year, because Pirelli has made its harder tyres softer in 2012 — meaning the difference between the tyres being used by the quickest cars and the slowest cars in Q1 will be smaller.

More bad news is that Red Bull has brought new parts to Australia that could make qualifying-specialist Sebastian Vettel even faster on Saturday.

“If that’s true then the qualifying test for us – with zero kilometres under our belts – is almost impossible,” admitted Glock.

At HRT, the situation is arguably worse — especially for Pedro de la Rosa, who was little more than a spectator on Friday as the Spanish team built up his Cosworth-powered car at the eleventh hour.

“Keep smiling, be patient,” he is quoted by Auto Motor Und Sport, when asked what his mantra is in Melbourne.

“We need to think more in the medium term. We are experiencing the birth of a new racing team.

“For us, this year is not just about getting the new car up and running — over the next months, we are taking the whole team to Madrid.

“At the moment we are still operating from Madrid, Valencia and Munich,” he explained.

The Spanish team’s new boss Luis Perez Sala agreed that qualifying at Albert Park is a big ask.

“For us it has been almost a success just to be here in Melbourne because it has been very tough,” he said on Friday.

As for the 107 per cent rule, “It will be difficult for us,” said the former Minardi driver.

“I’m not thinking now about the speed of the car, I’m just trying to get all the things done that we need to do as best as possible to get into (practice) tomorrow.”

He said HRT will try again next weekend, in Malaysia.

“I would like them (the team) to relax a bit and we will see. Malaysia? Shanghai? Whatever.”

Jarno Trulli has revealed he was offered a seat at Ferrari some years ago.
After fifteen consecutive seasons in formula one, the 37-year-old Italian has lost his Caterham race seat to the well-backed Russian Vitaly Petrov.

2004 Monaco grand prix winner Trulli, 37, drove since 1997 for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Caterham’s former guise Lotus.

Writing in his New York Times blog, correspondent Brad Spurgeon said Trulli was made the Ferrari offer while he was racing for Toyota between 2005 and 2009.

Trulli reportedly told Italy’s Autosprint magazine that Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali’s predecessor, the now FIA president Jean Todt, made him the offer.

“Nobody knows this, but at this point I think I can publicly thank Jean Todt for having been one of the few top team managers to consider me during my career,” he said.

“I won’t tell you when exactly — I was racing for Toyota and I was doing very well. But I had signed a rather long contract with the Japanese, and in my career I’ve always honoured my commitments.

“In 15 years of F1 I’ve never needed lawyers,” added Trulli.

Trulli left Renault for Toyota at the end of the 2004 season, driving for the carmaker until it pulled out of formula one at the end of 2009.

Rubens Barrichello left Ferrari at the end of 2005, replaced by Felipe Massa. Michael Schumacher retired a year later, replaced by Kimi Raikkonen.

At Ferrari, Frenchman Todt handed over to Domenicali at the end of 2007.

 HRT on Friday refused to guarantee Narain Karthikeyan will race the full season with the struggling Spanish team.
Albeit with different team ownership and management, HRT began the 2011 season also with Indian Karthikeyan at the wheel, but he was replaced mid-season for the Red Bull-backed Daniel Ricciardo deal.

Reportedly with millions in sponsor backing, 35-year-old Karthikeyan is back on track for this season — but perhaps not guaranteed a place at all twenty races.

“The idea as of now is to race him the whole season, but nothing is taken for granted in F1, you have to work for your place in every race,” team boss Luis Perez Sala told the Indo Asian News Service.

“But as things stand, Karthikeyan and Pedro will race the entire season,” the former Minardi driver added.

While Karthikeyan’s teammate Pedro de la Rosa was testing the 2011 car last week at Jerez, HRT’s new single seater failed two of the FIA’s mandatory crash tests.

That means the team will sit out next week’s Barcelona running altogether.

“We have a new car and a new team. That means, to start with, we will be a little bit behind,” said Sala.

“But we believe that sometimes to improve you must go backwards firstly, we have taken one step backwards in order to take two forward. Our target is to grow little by little as the season goes on.

“If we can stay ahead of Marussia, we will be happy and if we get closer to Caterham, then we will be delighted, but our first objective is to get things under way, improve on reliability and progress as the season advances.”

 Caterham on Friday finally confirmed speculation that Vitaly Petrov will replace Jarno Trulli in 2012.
It has been rumoured Petrov, the Russian driver ousted by Lotus (formerly Renault) after two seasons, was waiting on his sponsors to decide whether or not to pay out veteran Trulli’s contract.

37-year-old Italian Trulli, permanently in F1 since 1997 and the 2004 Monaco grand prix winner, said mere days ago that he expected to race this season.

He tested Caterham’s 2012 car at Jerez last week.

“It was not an easy decision to bring Vitaly in to replace Jarno, but it was one we made to ensure that we give fresh impetus across the whole team and with a realistic eye on the global economic market,” said team boss Tony Fernandes.

The Malaysian businessman said an “agreement” was reached with Trulli to end his contract, “but he will always be part of our family”.

“I understand the decision the team has made and I want to wish to the whole team the very best of luck for the season ahead,” said the former Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota driver.

Petrov, 27, had a seat fitting at Caterham’s Hingham factory on Friday and will test the car in Barcelona next week.

 A feature of the 2012 Ferrari car has not been seen in formula one for more than a decade, test driver Marc Gene has confirmed.
While the ‘stepped’ noses have been grabbing all the media’s attention, arguably more noteworthy is Ferrari’s decision to design its F2012 around ‘pullrod’ front suspension.

While some F1 teams have been using pullrod suspension at the rear of their cars, it has been essentially absent from the front since the 80s and 90s.

“The system seeks to lower the centre of gravity and improve the entry and operation of the air from the front to the rear to improve downforce,” Spaniard Gene wrote in the El Mundo newspaper.

“It was last seen at the front of Fernando Alonso’s Minardi in 2011,” he added.

After the first day of official testing on Tuesday, Ferrari designer Nikolas Tombazis said: “No one will be able to accuse us of having been timid in the design of this car.”

HRT has insisted that its new car will be in action before the opening round of the new F1 season despite running into delays with its plans for 2012.

The team has undergone extensive restructuring in recent months after a change of ownership during the 2011 campaign, which has led to suggestion that – for a third straight year – the team was in a race against time to carry out any pre-season testing.

While team principal Luis Perez-Sala wasn’t available for interview, a spokeswoman for the Spanish team told the BBC that the team was working towards running the new car for the first time in the second test of the year, which will take place in Barcelona.

The new car is reported to have started its FIA crash tests, which it is required to pass before it will allowed to take part in any on-track action.

“Luis Perez-Sala is fully focused at the moment on the car and the new structure, and he prefers not to give any statements or interviews to the press for now until everything is in place,” the spokeswoman said.

“Rumours that we will take part in the initial grands prix with the 2011 car are not true. The target is to be at the second [pre-season] test with the new car.

“There’s been, and still is, a lot to work on but, even if we may struggle in the beginning, the structure that is being built now is a lot more solid, reliable and committed. Hopefully, we’ll be able to prove all that soon and change the team’s perception, which is no longer real. It won’t be a bed of roses but we’ll manage to do it.”

Former Minardi driver Luis Perez Sala has taken over as team principal at HRT.

The news, announced in a media statement issued by the Spanish team on Thursday, follows Wednesday’s news that Colin Kolles has stepped down.

52-year-old Spaniard Sala, who contested 32 grand prix weekends with Minardi at the end of the 80s, was appointed as an official advisor by HRT’s new owners Thesan Capital earlier this year.

“It is the best decision we could make,” said chief executive Saul Ruiz de Marcos, who revealed that Manfredi Ravetto, formerly the team’s director of business affairs, is also leaving the team.

Spanish former Formula 1 driver Luis Pérez-Sala (Barcelona, 15th on May 1959) takes on, as of today, the role of Team Principal of HRT F1 Team after the exit of the head sporting figure from the Spanish team.

With the naming of Luis Pérez-Sala at the fore of the team, HRT F1 Team closes one chapter and begins a new one, which will hopefully come with new successes and satisfactions. Having Pedro de la Rosa at the helm, headquarters in Spain and the design of next season’s car being carried out internally, this is an exciting project although there is still much work to do before the 2012 season begins in Australia on the 18th of March.

Saúl Ruiz de Marcos, HRT F1 Team CEO: “From the moment we took control of the team last July, the first thing we did was to study and value where we were, whilst also set ourselves a target and establish a strategy. We have been working discretely but relentlessly towards this for the last few months. We’ve always made it clear that our priorities were the car, the headquarters and our drivers. The car is evolving, Pedro has been a great asset to the team and we have always wanted to settle the team in Spain and have everybody working under one roof. Since we began working with Luis (Pérez-Sala) our connection has been great. Now he takes on a much more key role in the team but the decision was an easy one given his knowledge and his way of doing things. It is the best decision we could make. I would like to also thank Colin (Kolles) and Manfredi (Ravetto) for their work and dedication in these two years that the team has existed and I wish them the very best for the future”.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Team Principal of HRT F1 Team: “This naming is an honor but also a great responsibility. I joined the team as an advisor to the new owners and to contribute with my experience in any possible way. We had to establish a base from which to grow slowly and we are now seeing the first rewards of that work. But we mustn’t lose our perspective and be aware that assuming responsibilities such as designing the car or moving the headquarters to Spain are huge tasks and we still have a lot of work ahead. We must be patient and keep in mind that we cannot expect to achieve great success in the short term, but we can take a team forward that we can all feel proud of. The simple fact that Spain has a team in the pinnacle of motorsports is already a great feat; we’re a part of the G12. And that, apart from being an honor, means a greater development to the structure and everything surrounding it”.

Luis Pérez-Sala profile

Luis Pérez-Sala was born in Barcelona on the 15th of May of 1959. He made his first steps in motorsport in karting and in 1980 he won the Spanish Renault Cup. The following year, alongside Luis Villamil, Pérez-Sala won the 2 hours Renault 5. In 1983 he began to compete on the international stage in the Alfasud Sprint Cup and one year later he competed in Formula 3 as a part of team Campsa. From there he moved onto F3000 where he was runner-up in 1987 and one year later, in 1988, he made the definitive step into Formula 1 with Minardi. He completed two whole seasons with the Italian outfit and achieved his best result at the 1989 British Grand Prix where he finished in sixth place, helping him to score one point in Formula 1. In his first season with Minardi, Luis teamed up alongside Adrián Campos making it the first time ever that two Spanish drivers coincided in a same Formula 1 team.

After abandoning the pinnacle of motorsport, Luis returned to Spain to compete in the national touring car championships. He won the Spanish touring car championships in 1991 and 1993 and finished runner-up at the 1999 Lamborghini Europa Trophy. In 2000 he took the 24 hours of Barcelona title in the diesel category and in 2003 and 2004 he won the Spanish GTB Cup alongside Manel Cerqueda. In 2005 he won the 24 hours of Barcelona once again, but this time in the main category and the following year he ended in second. In 2008 he was runner-up in the Spanish GT championship and won the Trofeo Ibérico along with Manel Cerqueda Jr. in what would be his final season before retiring.

Since 1990 he combined his sporting career with work as a lecturer, commentator and technical analyst for different media channels (RTVE, El País, TV3, Grand Prix, etc.). He is also specialized in all kinds of instruction and formation courses related with technical motorsport formation on tracks for competition drivers, and he is also a part of the Joves Pilots del Circuit de Catalunya program. A program backed by the Generalitat of Catalunya, the Circuit de Catalunya, the RACC and the Catalan Motorsport Federation and that in the 2011 season has backed four drivers: Daniel Juncadella (F3 Euroseries) who recently became the first Spanish driver to ever win at the prestigious F3 Macau Grand Prix, Víctor Colomé (French F4 Championships), Gerard Barrabeig (European and Italian F-Abarth) and Álex Riberas (Eurocup FR 2.0). Other drivers such as Jaime Alguersuari, Miquel Molina (DTM), Dani Clos (GP2), Albert Costa (Formula Renault 3.5) and Miki Monrás (Formula 2) have also gone through the program in previous seasons.

In July of 2011, Pérez-Sala returned to Formula 1 as a sporting advisor to HRT F1 Team where he is now the head sporting figure after being named Team Principal.

Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost has revealed he had no argument when Red Bull poached Sebastian Vettel after the 2008 season.
Vettel, then in his very early 20s, showed immense potential at Red Bull’s Faenza based junior team in 2007 and 2008 before he moved to the parent squad for 2009.

In 2010 and 2011, he won back-to-back world championships, but Toro Rosso’s Tost has no bitterness at the thought that with Vettel on board, the former Minardi team might have been pulled up the grid.

“It (keeping Vettel) was never an issue even for one second,” the Austrian told Sportwoche magazine.

“In that situation, Vettel would not have been allowed to stay with us. It probably would never have been even considered,” added Tost.

He conceded that a large part of Vettel’s success at Toro Rosso in 2008 was due to Red Bull.

“We are ultimately about the future of the drivers and in 2008 we were using the car from Red Bull Technology, designed by Adrian Newey,” added Tost.

And when Vettel left Toro Rosso for Red Bull, Tost said he was sure it would be a formidable alliance.

“It was clear to me that that combination – Red Bull, Vettel and Newey – would be dominating sooner or later,” he said. “In fact they would have taken the title already in 2009 if it wasn’t for the double diffuser story with Brawn.”

But even though he sees Vettel’s departure as inevitable, Tost said he is not happy to simply look back on 2008 as Toro Rosso’s finest hour.

“No, it should be repeated,” he answered confidently. “As often as possible.”

Toro Rosso will not select from outside of Red Bull’s own talent pool for its 2012 driver lineup, team boss Franz Tost has confirmed.
It is believed Sebastien Buemi, Jaime Alguersuari, and young Red Bull hopefuls Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, are all in the running for the Faenza based team’s two race seats next year.

“It is 100 per cent certain that next year we will have two Red Bull drivers,” Austrian Tost told the Sportwoche publication.

“That is the meaning and the purpose of why Red Bull bought the team,” he added.

“Our job is to allow young drivers from the Red Bull pool to enter formula one in training for (the move to) Red Bull Racing,” said Tost.

Since the Minardi takeover in 2006, however, the only driver to successfully move from Toro Rosso to the premier team is Sebastian Vettel.

“The reasons for that are simple,” said Tost. “First, he is more talented than the others.

“He is also more disciplined, brings more passion for the sport, is more innovative, open and more flexible in accepting suggestions to make himself better. And that’s why he’s the world champion,” he added.

“In their development too many drivers get to formula one and think ‘Now I have made it’. Actually, the hard work has only just begun. Everything before is kindergarten.

“In formula one you have to live formula one, 100 per cent, yet only a few do that completely,” said Tost.

A press officer well-known to F1 journalists a few years ago has passed away.
Canadian-born Graham Jones, who died in Britain last weekend of cancer, worked at Minardi throughout Paul Stoddart’s reign beginning in 2001.

He subsequently worked as a columnist for the Toronto Star.

“What I remember most is his kindness,” said Molson Indy communications manager Sid Priddle. “He was always willing to listen to ideas and was always a gentleman.

“You never felt like you were in a PR/journalist situation but working with a friend.”

Jarno Trulli is staying with Team Lotus in 2012, the Tony Fernandes-led outfit announced on Sunday morning.
Ahead of the 37-year-old’s 15th home race at Monza, a media statement said Italian Trulli will race a third consecutive season with Team Lotus next year.

“We are all delighted that we have been able to reach an agreement to keep Jarno on board for at least one more year with our team,” said boss and owner Fernandes.

Trulli made his debut as a 22-year-old with Minardi in 1997, and has also driven for Jordan, Renault and Toyota.

His sole grand prix win was the Monaco grand prix of 2004.

The days are over when Ferrari is seen to enjoy a position of privilege in formula one.
That is the belief of two highly experienced F1 paddock veterans; the Brazilian journalist Livio Oricchio, and Red Bull’s technical boss Adrian Newey.

The former, who writes for the O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, said Pirelli’s choice of tyre compound for next weekend’s British grand prix is proof Ferrari can no longer overtly exert its influence.

The Italian team very publicly pushed for the official supplier to swerve its hardest compound for Silverstone, but Pirelli insisted that its final decision was the result of equal consultation with all 12 teams.

“Today’s reality for Ferrari in formula one is different,” wrote Oricchio, referring to the period when former Minardi owner Paul Stoddart quipped that FIA actually stands for Ferrari International Assistance.

Newey, who during that period a decade ago was with McLaren, remembers it well.

“There was a period around 2002 when there seemed to be so much politics in F1, particularly between Ferrari and the FIA and what they were allowed to get away with,” he told The Sun.

“I became disillusioned with the whole sport and started to look around for what else I could do. I needed a fresh challenge and found it with Red Bull. I am really enjoying it at the moment,” added Newey.

Karun Chandhok looks to have definitely secured a role with Team Lotus for 2011.

The former HRT driver hinted recently that he is close to becoming the Tony Fernandes-headed team’s reserve and Friday driver.

“Nothing is final until you have a contract in your hands,” said the Indian.

That contract appears to have now been signed, given Chandhok’s sighting early on Wednesday wearing a ‘Team Lotus’-branded jacket.

The photograph of Chandhok, standing alongside the team’s driver development official and ex-Minardi driver Alex Yoong, was posted on Twitter by Fernandes.

Team Lotus’ T128 makes its test debut at Valencia on Wednesday morning.

Heikki Kovalainen has denied media reports claiming his former manager Flavio Briatore twice prevented his formula one race debut.

A Finnish newspaper had said the Finn could have raced with Minardi and then Williams in 2004 and 2005, but Kovalainen instead had to wait until 2007 for a race seat at the then Briatore-managed Renault to open up.

Kovalainen, now 29, subsequently split with Briatore after the crashgate scandal, and negotiated his own move from McLaren to Lotus for 2010.

But he wrote on Twitter late on Monday: “(The) news about my management blocking my career (is) so not true.

“We had (a) clear plan since I joined (the) Renault junior programme and stuck to it 100 per cent. Ignore the false headlines originating from Finland,” added Kovalainen.

In other driver news, Williams refused to comment on speculation about its 2011 lineup, following reports that Pastor Maldonado is a candidate to join the team next year if Nico Hulkenberg does not accept the offer of a five-year contract.

“We have no comment to make concerning our driver line up for 2011 at this juncture,” said a spokeswoman.