Pirelli is reportedly considering signing a 2011 race driver to be the official tyre supplier’s new test driver.

AS newspaper in Spain said Jaime Alguersuari, formerly at Toro Rosso and now travelling the F1 calendar as a co-commentator for British radio, is a front-runner.

Pirelli has secured the use of a 2010 Renault for private development testing this year, which is expected to begin in May.

AS said the “only obstacle” to a deal for 22-year-old Alguersuari is that Pirelli, an Italian marque, is also interested in grand prix winner Jarno Trulli, who raced last year with Team Lotus (now Caterham).

There are no Italian race drivers in F1 this year.

Pirelli will use the former Renault team’s 2010 car for private track testing this year, the sport’s official tyre supplier announced on Wednesday.
Until now, the Italian marque has tested with Toyota’s 2009 car, the TF109, which was deemed now too outdated to use for the next generation of Pirelli tyre.

“The Toyota is no longer able to generate the same sort of forces that we need to simulate in order to meet the current requirements of formula one,” said motor sport director Paul Hembery.

Another reason is that the Toyota’s fuel tank was not big enough to simulate a race-load of fuel, for the current regulations that came into force in 2010.

Pirelli said the Renault R30, originally raced by Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov, will be run in plain black carbon, driven by a test driver whose identity will be revealed “later this month”.

The car will be adapted to simulate this year’s regulations, and run by Pirelli’s own technicians, “with no team member connected to a current formula one team” in order to “ensure complete impartiality”.

Pirelli said it will test four or five times this year, beginning in May, with an observer from each F1 team invited to attend.

 Tongues were wagging in the Barcelona paddock on Thursday when some drivers hit the Spanish circuit wearing odd-looking Pirelli tyres.
Some of the tyres, whose compounds are normally visibly differentiated with coloured branding, featured significantly different markings.

The big rumour was that, now just two weeks before the start of the season in Australia, teams had requested the blank tyres in order to hide their test programmes from their rivals.

According to France’s Auto Plus, motor sport director Paul Hembery cleared up the matter by explaining that the blank tyres were in fact “prototypes”.

They had been manufactured not at Pirelli’s usual F1 factory in Turkey, but elsewhere, in the event that a natural disaster forced the tyre supplier to change its plans at the last minute.

Hembery also answered the criticism that, after Pirelli’s initial 2011 tyres spiced up the racing early last year, the new generation might not be aggressive enough.

“We need data from the races to judge that,” he insisted. “It’s far too early.”

He also confirmed that Pirelli is close to announcing the identity of its 2010-specification test car, and a new test driver.

It is believed former Force India driver Adrian Sutil is a candidate.

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

Lucas di Grassi is disappointed to be sitting out Friday evening’s initial practice session on the streets of Singapore.

For the next four initial Friday sessions in Singapore, Japan, Korea and Brazil, the Brazilian rookie must give up his Virgin cockpit to the team’s new test driver Jerome d’Ambrosio.

Di Grassi is quoted by the Brazilian outlet Agencia Estado as admitting that missing practice in Singapore is a particular disadvantage.

“This is my first time in Singapore.  It’s a pity I am missing the first session as the circuit is one of the most difficult in the entire calendar,” he said.

“But it was a team decision based on a financial issue and I must respect it,” added the 26-year-old.

“It’s going to affect my adaptation to the track conditions and also the balance of the car,” di Grassi warned.  “But I will do everything I can to make up for the lost time in the second practice.

“As a competitor, it’s a frustrating situation, but it’s a challenge that will not stop me from trying to do my best throughout the weekend,” he added.

If Belgian d’Ambrosio can amass EUR 5 million in sponsorship, it is believed Virgin is considering signing him to be Timo Glock’s 2011 teammate.

Jun.16 (GMM)  Williams’ new test driver must start winning races if he is to progress further in formula one.

That is the admission of the Grove based team’s technical director Sam Michael, referring to Williams’ 2010 test and reserve driver Valtteri Bottas.

The 20-year-old Finn is also contesting this year’s F3 Euroseries, and he drove in the same series last year as well as British F3, but has won no races so far.

Earlier this month, however, Bottas did win the F3 Masters event at Zandvoort, as he also did in 2009.

“Of course, it was a brilliant performance,” Michael is quoted by the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat.

“Valtteri is the first person to have won the event twice and the Masters has always meant a lot to Williams.

“But he knows what he needs to do.  We all expect him to win the Euroseries and hopefully he will do it soon,” added Sam Michael.

“Valterri is a clever guy and he knows that he has to start winning races in F3, and only then will we look together at the next stage.”

Williams’ new test driver made his formula one track debut this week.

In January, the British team signed 20-year-old Finnish F3 driver Valtteri Bottas.

As well as race driver Nico Hulkenberg, he drove the FW32 car on Monday at Silverstone.

“It was a great day for Valtteri,” spokeswoman Claire Williams is quoted by Finland’s Turun Sanomat, “and the team was also pleased.”

(GMM)

Karun Chandhok will have to admit to being “amazed” after sitting out the morning practice session in Barcelona.

To both his and teammate Bruno Senna’s chagrin in Spain, the Indian rookie’s HRT car was occupied instead by new test and reserve driver Christian Klien.

Austrian Klien’s 26 laps were the first at a grand prix weekend since he practiced in a Honda in 2007, but he has been brought in by team boss Colin Kolles for his experience of 48 grands prix and three subsequent years of testing.

Before the morning session, Chandhok was quoted as saying by the BBC: “I’ll be amazed if he goes half a second quicker than Bruno; I highly doubt it.”

However, Klien was in fact exactly half a second quicker than Brazilian rookie Senna, cutting the deficit to F1′s other new teams to just five tenths.

Chandhok said: “Christian has got good experience of some good teams so he could bring something.

“The team is a little bit behind the game, so any information we can get from other people is useful.  It’s frustrating for me, I want to drive the car as much as possible.”

Christian Klien on Thursday moved to dispel any claims that he has walked into a stormy relationship with his new HRT teammates.

The Spanish team’s new test and reserve driver will take over Karun Chandhok’s F110 car on Friday morning, and fellow rookie Bruno Senna admitted in Barcelona that he is not keen to sit out sessions this year.

But Klien, 27, told Germany’s Motorsport-Magazin.com that the pair have not complained to him.

“No, not at all,” said the Austrian. “We walked the track together and it was a good relationship.”

Klien however admitted that it is “understandable” that the two race drivers “want to sit in the car as much as possible” during the race weekends.

He said he is not sure if and when he will return to the Friday cockpit later in 2010.

“So far Barcelona is the first one planned, then the team will decide whether it will be the same for other grands prix,” explained Klien.

The Malayan ‘scuderia’, Force India has announced that the presentation of its new single-seater for the 2010 Formula One World Championship will take place next Tuesday through the Internet.  A day before the second period of collective testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit.

The new single-seater called ‘VJM03′ will be launched at 10.00 AM.  It seems that this year’s trend is to make presentations online; Virgin Racing will also launch its single-seater through Internet.

The car for the 2010 season has been created by a team led by the technical director, James Key and the design director, Mark Smith, and it will be the first one that is presented with Otmar Szafnauer as new operations chief.

Yesterday, Force India introduced its new test pilot, the DTM star, Paul di Resta, also assuming the position of reserve pilot for the 2010 season.