Organisers of the grand prix in Melbourne are reportedly considering sharing the city’s formula one rights with another Australian state.
Under financial strain, Germany alternates the annual hosting rights between Hockenheim and the Nurburgring, and Spain is set to begin a similar scheme for the struggling Barcelona and Valencia organisers.

Under pressure to ease the burden on Victoria’s state taxpayers, organisers of the annual Albert Park race are considering something along those lines, the local Herald Sun reports.

Citing “high placed sources”, the Melbourne newspaper said Sydney or Perth could be the alternate race hosts.

Perth is the capital of Western Australia, and premier Colin Barnett said: “(The) grand prix is a great event, but WA will not be bidding for it.”

A spokesman for Victorian premier Ted Baillieu, however, did not rule it out.

“We’ve got the race until 2015 in its current form,” he said. “Negotiations beyond that will focus on value for money for the Victorian economy.”

Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Ron Walker, however, described the idea as “a formula for disaster”.

“All of our major events are hard won and we are not about to share ours with another Australian city,” he said.

The rumours are already swirling in the Melbourne paddock.

“I think to move it interstate would cause more headaches than it’s probably worth,” said Australian driver Mark Webber.

“It’s been so successful in Melbourne for so long now. (But) you never say never, nothing is forever.”

 Bernie Ecclestone insists he wants to sign a new race contract with beleaguered German venue the Nurburgring.
At present, the future of the biennial event looks grim, after the Rhineland-Palatinate state cancelled the circuit operator’s lease, and Nurburgring Automobile GmbH hit back by threatening legal action against the government.

Perhaps because F1′s current world champion Sebastian Vettel is German, and because Hockenheim only wants to host one race every two years, the sport’s chief executive Ecclestone sounds keen on a solution.

“If the government finds a new partner who agrees to have the race, then I am more than happy to agree to a new contract,” the 81-year-old is quoted in the Rhein Zeitung newspaper.

“What we can make possible, we will make possible,” added Ecclestone.

The relevant state government minister Roger Lewentz told the same newspaper that he is prepared to meet with Ecclestone.

“We want to continue with formula one at the Nurburgring, but at a reasonable rate,” he said.

Ecclestone commented: “So far I have not heard from him (Lewentz).”

The future of the German grand prix at the Nurburgring looks set to race into the courts.
The Rhineland-Palatinate state this week said it intends to cancel the circuit operator’s lease, arguing that a bright future is “not possible” with the existing tenants.

Minister Roger Lewentz said he wants to personally take over the negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone about the future of the F1 race.

But according to the SID news agency, the operator Nurburgring Automotive GmbH (NAG) has announced it will fight back, including demanding “substantial amounts” from the government for the wrongful action.

“There is no reason for this extraordinary step,” NAG’s lawyer is quoted as saying.

The company’s spokesman said the situation is crucial to Germany’s future on the F1 calendar.

“Already, there are many candidates waiting for a (race) date to be available,” NAG spokesman Karl-Heinz Steinkuehler said.

“Without the Nurburgring, formula one would make probably only a guest appearance every two years in Germany, at the Hockenheimring,” he warned.

The minister Lewentz, however, said the government is ready for a fight, despite hoping for “an amicable solution” to the dispute with the operator.

“If not, a lengthy legal dispute cannot be ruled out,” he said. “We consider ourselves well prepared.”

He may not race in his native India this weekend, but Karun Chandhok could have a future with Team Lotus, boss Tony Fernandes said on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Malaysian businessman had to announce that, to his emotional disappointment, he must stick with the team’s regular lineup of Heikki Kovalainen alongside Jarno Trulli.

Fernandes had openly contemplated putting Chandhok on the Delhi grid, but ultimately decided that Team Lotus must safeguard its lucrative tenth place in the constructors’ championship.

“We had to make the best decision for the future of the team,” he said.

“While this is obviously not the decision Karun wanted us to take he understands that we have to take the long-term view and do so in the best interests of the team.”

Fernandes hinted that Chandhok, who replaced Italian Trulli for a one-off race at the Nurburgring earlier this season, may get his chance in the future.

“He understands that his relationship with our team is not about just one race, it is about growing together.

“While this is an historic event, there will be many opportunities to race in India in the future, and he is in the best possible place with us to take advantage of those chances in seasons to come,” added Fernandes.

And he said on Twitter: “If we don’t have the right finances there won’t be a team, and that includes Karun.”

Chandhok, who will nonetheless practice on Friday morning, admitted he is “obviously disappointed” he won’t be racing in front of his home crowd.

“I understand that this isn’t about me, it’s about the team and everything the 254 people on track and back at the factory are doing to build for the future,” said the 27-year-old.

Just over a week before the F1 circus is scheduled to congregate in India, Karun Chandhok is still waiting to hear if he will be lining up on the grid.
The Indian is Team Lotus’ reserve driver but boss Tony Fernandes has warned that he will not necessarily decide to replace one of the team’s regulars Jarno Trulli or Heikki Kovalainen so that Chandhok, 27, can contest his country’s inaugural F1 race.

“This is the most asked question to me right now,” Chandhok told the Times of India.

“Honesty speaking I don’t know what the team’s plans are. They haven’t made a decision yet and there are several factors that will govern the team’s decision which I can’t comment on.”

It is believed the hold-up is due to contractual negotiations, with Trulli, who sat out the Nurburgring for Chandhok in July, and Kovalainen signed up to contest every race on the 2011 calendar.

Sponsorship may be another issue.

Chandhok, who admitted the current waiting period is “agonising”, has practiced on Friday mornings ahead of the recent Japan/Korea double-header.

“As far as I am concerned, I have done the duties which the team has entrusted me with so far in the best possible way and have proven my abilities,” he said.

Formula one needs to accept the steady move away from its traditional European homeland.
That is the claim of Spanish test driver Pedro de la Rosa, whose employer McLaren is based in the UK close to seven other formula one teams.

The other four teams are based elsewhere in Europe but, next year for example, no fewer than 12 of the 20 scheduled races will take place on other continents.

De la Rosa wrote in his latest formulasantander.com column that F1 is moving with the times of the world.

“We all know that the grands prix are usually contested in those countries which can permit it, and nowadays, the majority of countries which can permit it are now in the Near East or on the same continent, Asia,” he said.

The next traditional host in danger of losing its F1 races is Germany.

“I find it hard to imagine a season of formula one without Germany,” the Nurburgring’s Karl-Josef Schmidt is quoted by the DPA news agency this week. “I think it’s the same for Mr Ecclestone.”

Schmidt is trying to negotiate a lower race fee for the circuit’s next scheduled race in 2013.

But de la Rosa said F1′s traditionalists need to accept the future has arrived.

“I understand that it is very hard for all those who, like me, grew up watching F1 races at the Nurburgring, at Brands Hatch, Estoril or at the Paul Ricard circuit,” he said.

“But it is as obvious to recognise that the investment of Asian countries is supplanting and even replacing the tradition of European countries.”

Karun Chandhok has admitted it would be “fantastic” if he can contest his home Indian grand prix next month.
Team Lotus boss Tony Fernandes said this week he would “like” to put reserve driver Chandhok at the wheel of team regular Jarno Trulli’s car in Delhi.

“It’s obviously very nice to hear,” Chandhok, 27, told CNN. “He (Fernandes) is the man who can make it happen. I’ve just got to wait and see what he decides.”

Chandhok’s father Vicky is the president of India’s federation of motor sports clubs.

“I’ve been very involved in the circuit,” said Karun, who replaced Trulli for a one-off race at the Nurburgring in July. “I’ve been visiting the (Buddh circuit) site every month.

“To have the opportunity to drive would sort of complete that circle,” he added.

Chandhok acknowledged that the fact he is now regularly considered for the race seat occupied by Italian veteran Trulli has created some tension at Team Lotus.

“It’s not ideal, there’s no doubt about that. I experienced it last year (at HRT), my drive was given to Sakon Yamamoto in the second half of the season. It’s tough,” he said.

“When they put me in the car in Germany … it’s a very difficult situation. It can be awkward. But I have to say Jarno was fantastic.

“He offered his advice and support all through the weekend. I have to say hats off to him, he was a model professional,” added Chandhok.

Trulli however has already been confirmed for the 2012 season, while Fernandes said this week that Heikki Kovalainen is the team’s “number 1 driver”.

At the same time, Chandhok is hoping for a regular race seat.

“I need to sit and figure things out with Tony and where we are and where we see the future. I’d like to stay with Tony, with Lotus, and in the future race for them full time. That’s my ambition,” he said.

There could be a second Indian on the grid in Delhi next month, Team Lotus boss Tony Fernandes admits.
It has already emerged that Narain Karthikeyan will be reunited with his HRT cockpit when India stages its inaugural formula one race.

And his countryman Chandhok, who has already replaced Jarno Trulli this year at the Nurburgring, could be a second Indian racing around the new Buddh circuit.

“I’d like him to. It’s up to the team to see,” Fernandes is quoted by Reuters.

The Malaysian entrepreneur admitted it will be Trulli to step aside should Chandhok, Team Lotus’ reserve and occasional Friday driver, be given the green light for India.

“Yes, I think Heikki (Kovalainen) is our number one driver, although Jarno’s outqualified him here,” Fernandes said at Monza.

Jarno Trulli might need to endure another race without Team Lotus’ new power steering system.
The Italian veteran has struggled all season with the original system and even sat out July’s Nurburgring race whilst waiting for the new one to debut in Hungary.

“For me it makes a lot of difference because I can actually feel the car and get the exact car behaviour, which I didn’t have with the old one,” he said at Monza on Thursday.

“I was pretty much a passenger before rather than a driver. With the new one it’s normal power steering.”

At the same time, it emerged that Trulli had to do without the new steering at Spa two weeks ago for “technical reasons”.

The new system is back on the car for Monza, but 37-year-old Trulli hinted that the problem is still not entirely solved.

“We might have to probably jump another race but at the moment I just want to concentrate and focus on this one,” he said.

Also hoping to stay with his current team in 2012 is fellow Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, who thinks HRT is finally set to make some progress off the back of the grid.

“The big project is for the future, for 2012, and I have to say the new owner Thesan are planning big things for the team,” he said on Thursday.

Karun Chandhok has denied saying he definitely will not contest India’s inaugural formula one race in October.
The Team Lotus reserve driver stepped in for Jarno Trulli at the Nurburgring recently and has consistently refused to rule out getting another one-off chance to race this season in his native India.

On Twitter, however, the 27-year-old described a quote attributed to him by a website as “fake … I didn’t say that”, insisted Chandhok.

It is believed he was referring to a quote that originally appeared in India’s Financial Chronicle.

Chandhok reportedly said: “It is embarrassing when you don’t drive for your country when your country is hosting the grand prix.”

After McLaren and Ferrari fielded cars with winning pace in July, Red Bull could be challenged even more once this month’s summer break ends.
That is the view of Mercedes’ Ross Brawn, who thinks the championship is likely to heat up at Spa-Francorchamps and beyond.

“It’s impossible to predict what will happen from Spa,” he is quoted by Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo, “but I think that as we saw Ferrari and McLaren managing to make their cars faster over the last three races, they are likely to improve even more.”

Agreed Renault’s sporting director Steve Nielsen: “Because Ferrari and McLaren are developing the aerodynamic exhaust later than Red Bull, they have more potential to improve it.”

Toro Rosso’s veteran technical chief Giorgio Ascanelli, however, disagrees, and HRT’s Geoff Willis explains: “I know Adrian (Newey) well from Williams and how he works when the opposition gets tougher.

“I predict they (Red Bull) will come back to dominating the races, although not like early in the season because the competitors have come to understand some of their solutions.”

While McLaren’s drivers won the last two grands prix, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso would have won the championship by three points over Sebastian Vettel if the season consisted only of Valencia, Silverstone, the Nurburgring and Hungary.

Red Bull, meanwhile, might struggle on the high speed sections at Spa and then Monza.

“That’s right, those two tracks are not exactly our best ones,” Mark Webber told laola1.at in Austria this week.

“So we need to limit the damage and then attack again when we can,” added the Australian.

Mercedes has reportedly targeted ousted Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa.
In May, as Ferrari grappled with its new 150 Italia car, the famous Maranello based team said the Italian had stepped down.

It emerged a few days ago that Costa has left the carmaker completely but is on what is known in F1 as “gardening leave” until the end of the year.

The specialist Italian magazine Autosprint reports that Mercedes, headed by another former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, has targeted Costa.

We reported recently that the Brackley based team is on a recruitment drive to boost its staff numbers to the height of big three teams Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

Autosprint said Brawn told Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche at the Nurburgring that Mercedes’ struggles in 2010 and 2011 have been due in part to the team’s comparatively small size.

“So he (Brawn) received the go-ahead for the recruitment campaign,” said the report.

Heikki Kovalainen says he is happy his teammate Jarno Trulli is back up to speed.
Italian veteran Trulli struggled with Team Lotus’ power steering system in the first half of the season and actually sat out the Nurburgring before updated technology was added to the green T128 in Hungary.

Trulli was duly delighted with the new system at the Hungaroring, and his Finnish teammate Kovalainen admits it was also a relief for him after sharing the garage with Indian Karun Chandhok a week earlier.

“The fact that the new steering is better for him is positive for the whole team, and me as well,” he told motorline.cc.

“When you’re on your own, you don’t know if you’re doing your job well or not. You need a good comparison.

“Karun did a respectable performance (in Germany) but Jarno has much more experience and that’s exactly what we need in our team at the moment.

“I can say that the stronger my teammate is and the better he feels in the car, the better it is for me, because I am driven so much more to the limit,” added Kovalainen.

The team has failed to win a race so far in July, but Red Bull remains the favourite for victory this weekend in Hungary.
That is the claim of triple world champion Niki Lauda, who said the energy drink-owned team is usually very fast on the many tight curves of the Hungaroring.

“If normal temperatures prevail, and if everything goes to plan, then yes — he (Sebastian Vettel) is the clear favourite,” the Austrian told APA news agency.

Lauda added that 24-year-old Vettel is “still clearly on course” for the 2011 title, despite Red Bull losing to Ferrari at Silverstone and then McLaren last weekend in Germany.

“He still has a big gap in the standings,” said Lauda. “He need not worry.”

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso agrees that the championship is still heading Red Bull’s way.

“We did very well in Britain, McLaren won in Germany, but Red Bull is always on the podium, if not with one driver then the other,” he is quoted by La Stampa newspaper.

“They are good on all circuits, so in Hungary they will be competitive. We are the ones who must make further progress,” added Alonso.

At McLaren there is a mix of confidence and trepidation, with Lewis Hamilton winning at the Nurburgring amid the suspicion the MP4-26 might revert to struggling in hotter temperatures.

“We might get to Hungary and be massively off because we might overheat our tyres,” he said.

Paradoxically, Ferrari is looking forward to better weather in Hungary.

“It should be a good race for us to be able to go on holiday after a formidable July,” predicted test driver Marc Gene in El Mundo newspaper.

Hamilton is pushing for a better ‘DRS’ rear wing system for his McLaren, with boss Martin Whitmarsh telling Auto Motor und Sport it will not be ready until Spa after the summer break.

“We don’t have a DRS as efficient as the others,” Hamilton said. “That’s what we need to work on.”

Whitmarsh, meanwhile, thinks McLaren and Ferrari need to unite to combat their common enemy.

“Ferrari is in the same situation as us; we need each other to take points off Red Bull,” the Briton is quoted by Corriere dello Sport.

Bernie Ecclestone has proposed to ink a new contract with the Nurburgring with terms equal to those of Hungary’s formula one race.

The new politically-sensitive coalition government has announced it no longer intends to offer funding for the Nurburgring’s grand prix, which alternates annually on the F1 schedule with the other German venue Hockenheim.

Talks about a new contract began at the German grand prix last weekend, and DPA news agency reports that Bernie Ecclestone has offered to lower the sanctioning fee.

The report said Ecclestone is willing to offer a contract identical to that possessed by organisers of this weekend’s race at the Hungaroring.

“The contract in Hungary is definitely cheaper,” a spokeswoman for Nurburgring GmbH confirmed.

It is believed the Nurburgring’s current contract involves a EUR 20 million per race sanctioning fee, and that the race last weekend recorded a loss of 13.5 million.