Stefano Domenicali has ruled out responding to Ferrari’s latest crisis with the old ‘rolling heads’ technique.

One perception in the paddock is that the fabled Italian team, under intense pressure from the Tifosi and president Luca di Montezemolo, often reacts by emotionally shedding staff, with Aldo Costa and Chris Dyer the obvious recent examples.

So, having installed new faces including Pat Fry but still struggling with the latest F2012 project, will boss Domenicali set heads rolling again?

“Firing people is the work of two minutes,” he is quoted by Germany’s Auto Bild, “but this would not solve our problem.

“Instead I need to find new people who can improve the organisation and push the engineers to improve the car,” added the Italian.

In the meantime, there is no silver bullet.

“I am not happy with the F2012 project,” he acknowledged.

“But if you want to see the glass half full rather than half empty, then Fernando has done a great damage control and, with an improved car, he at least has the possibility to continue to fight for the championship.

“We have to improve,” Domenicali insisted. “I have asked my people to wake up and respond, and I will no longer hear excuses.”

Jenson Button has revealed he will “definitely” remain loyal to McLaren for the next few years.

It was reported this week that the 2009 world champion received an “offer” from Ferrari last year to replace the struggling Felipe Massa.

According to the Brazilian news agency Agencia Estado, those talks took place prior to October last year, when the 32-year-old Briton signed a new ‘multi year contract’ to stay at McLaren.

“I had a listen to what some of the other teams could offer me,” Button confirmed.

He also appeared to leave the door open to a Ferrari move in the future, admitting it would be “exciting” to be paired with Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

But Button has now insisted that he is perfectly happy at McLaren, despite the common paddock perception that the British team lacks the sort of “passion” seen at Ferrari.

“We have a great atmosphere, everyone thinks it’s a very cold, very grey team,” he is quoted by the Daily Mail.

“People talk about Ferrari and them being very passionate, and they are. But I don’t think most people realise how passionate this team is, and how much they want to achieve.

“So I’m very happy here, and you never know what’s going to happen in the future,” said Button.

“I’m not going to sign my life away, but I’ll stay here for the next few years, definitely.”

Button also lived up to his promise to “hurt” himself after a poor result in Malaysia recently, finishing sixth overall in the Waikoloa Lavaman triathlon in Hawaii.

“Yeah, I did (hurt myself),” he smiled immediately after the event. “My gluts are killing me. “They say that means you are riding the bike correctly, but it hurts.”

HRT’s team boss has admitted installing KERS is an unlikely goal for the struggling Spanish team this year.

Luis Perez Sala said the new F112 was designed to accommodate the energy-recovery technology, but qualifying comfortably within the 107 per cent rule is a better target for now.

“We have a car we are yet to discover,” he told El Confidencial.

Indeed, HRT travelled to Australia last month having hardly run its new Cosworth-powered car, and failed to qualify for the season opener.

“It is designed to carry KERS but in the short term we will not (use it). We don’t think we’re going to race with it this year,” he added.

“So, in this respect, it’s not perfect. Right now, we have assembled the car in a hurry and so the private testing at Mugello, just after Bahrain, will be very important to us.”

Sala, having rebuilt HRT following the departure of team boss Colin Kolles, was speaking from HRT’s new headquarters at the Caja Magica (Magic Box).

“After Bahrain, we will have the cars here. From the Spanish grand prix, we will begin to function more effectively.

“In China and Bahrain we will improve things in the car and the team, but it is a slow process that will last all year.

“As I sit here (in Madrid), some people are in Valencia, others in Germany, England … the cars are flying to China and we need to address issues of reliability, not just performance.”

It is a tough situation for HRT, but Sala concedes that the ‘paddock perception’ of the team is that it has gone backwards since debuting in 2010.

“It is really our first year,” he insists.

He reveals that Bernie Ecclestone, once a staunch critic of the struggling backmarkers, is “quiet”.

“We have not had any problems, I think he is calm,” said Sala.

It is also a busy time off the track for HRT, as many rival teams are busily signing the new Concorde Agreement for 2013.

“There are teams that are more advanced than others; for us, the negotiations are still at the beginning,” he said.

The most obvious goals right now, Sala insists, are to have “a team that works together, has a reliable car and a small team that can develop it, and we’re around 105pc off the pole”.

 Renault is a secret to Red Bull’s recent success in formula one, the French carmaker claims.
The common perception, however, is that the energy drink-owned team has dominated the sport in recent years despite Mercedes-Benz actually supplying a more powerful 2.4 litre V8 engine to Red Bull’s rivals.

“The Mercedes engine is indeed about 15 horse power more powerful than ours,” confirmed Renault Sport F1′s Jean-Francois Caubet.

“But in terms of driveability and fuel economy, it is our engine in front. So when it comes to the bottom line, we are a little bit better than Mercedes,” he claimed to Germany’s Sport Bild magazine.

The most crucial factor, Caubet claimed, is the engine’s fuel economy amid the backdrop of the recent ban on in-race refuelling.

“Because our consumption is lower, Red Bull can start the races with 15 to 18 litres less petrol in the tank than the competition,” he said.

“That makes a big difference.”

Another factor is Sebastian Vettel’s driving, he agreed, with the back to back world champion having a “very fuel efficient” style, and being “extremely interested in the data”.

“They are both key factors when the driver wants to use the engine perfectly,” said Caubet.

Felipe Massa has admitted 2012 will be “crucial” if he wants to retain a top seat in formula one.
Ferrari will honour the Brazilian’s contract for next season, but Massa has struggled since his near-fatal crash in 2009 – and the birth of his son Felipinho – to keep up with Fernando Alonso.

In Korea, he was told by a reporter for the O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper that 2012 will be crucial.

“I think so too; to do a good year will be very important, crucial for my future of being in a competitive team, no doubt. And so my determination is greater than ever,” said the 30-year-old.

He acknowledged the possibility he will have to leave Ferrari for 2013.

Asked what he would do then, Massa answered: “I go to another team! There is no other option; I will continue to race and thinking about the best for my career.

“I am not afraid of anything that can happen as I’ve always been a guy with his feet on the ground. I know that if I do not have a good 2012, everything can change. Everything follows according to the results.”

Massa said he is confident another team would sign him up if Ferrari does not.

“I think so. Regardless of having a good season, I believe I am among the best in formula one.”

He denied that his struggles are due to the paddock perception of his ‘number 2′ status to Alonso.

“The telemetry in the team is 100 per cent open. Without a doubt, 100 per cent, the treatment and the equipment is the same.

“If you have an inferior car you can see it in the numbers, you cannot help it. I have never had any different treatment,” added Massa.

Karun Chandhok has admitted he is hoping to race at Team Lotus in 2012.
While his countryman Narain Karthikeyan will be in action for HRT at India’s inaugural F1 race in October, Chandhok admitted he is unsure if he will also be on the grid in New Delhi.

He told the Hindustan Times that his real priority is 2012.

Reserve driver Chandhok, 27, revealed that he will appear in the green T128 for Friday practice a couple more times this season.

“(And) for 2012, I am looking at a potential full time race seat,” he said.

Chandhok insists, however, that he was signed by Team Lotus this year on merit, and that his sponsors have not guaranteed him a race seat next year.

“There’s no deal,” he said. “It’s just another wrong perception like the belief that I paid to get into Lotus.”

He said he will only earn his place based on his speed on Friday mornings.

“That’s a big internal assessment for the team. I also want to be on the grid after earning the respect of the team engineers and not just because I am Indian,” said Chandhok.

The Renault might be more efficient but Norbert Haug says he is happy with the perception that Mercedes’ is the most powerful engine in F1.
Renault Sport F1, powering the Renault team as well as Red Bull and Team Lotus, claimed recently that the RS27 is “extremely good” in the area of consumption, saving 10 per cent more fuel than usual to burn through customer teams’ blown exhausts.

The boast was a counter to the general perception in F1, pressed by Red Bull who have in the past coveted the German power, that it is Mercedes’ V8 that is the best on the grid overall.

“I don’t know the numbers of our competitors,” said the Stuttgart marque’s motor racing chief Norbert Haug, “but our engine as well as our KERS are repeatedly referred to as the yardstick in the industry.

“We haven’t claimed this ourselves, but many have argued it,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

“That our competitors do highly competent work, whether they are called Ferrari, Renault or Cosworth, there is no doubt,” he said.

But Haug then moved to counter Renault’s claim that it is the most efficient engine that might be described as the best in F1.

“Using less fuel than your competitor is generally because you have less power.

“I think that in specific consumption, we look very good. In absolute consumption, for the reason I gave, maybe I prefer if we are not the very best,” he insisted.

Despite suffering broken bones in two falls in recent history, Mark Webber has revealed that he still loves mountain bike riding.
The Australian driver was commenting on Robert Kubica’s new battle to recover from horrific injuries suffered in a rally crash.

“Compared to Robert, I had a scratched finger,” said the Red Bull driver, referring to his own badly broken leg and – more recently – shoulder.

Webber said there is no trying to stop F1 drivers from going about their lives away from the track.

“Our perception of risk is different to normal people,” he insisted in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport.

“First of all, Robert should thank his lucky stars; to survive something like that is already a gift from god. From now it will be about the head.

“He is going to go through the ups and downs, because after three good days of training you have a bad one and you wonder if it’s all going to pay off.

“He has to be patient, which for a racing driver is exactly the worst thing: we are hyperactive and he will want to see progress every day, as we do with our jobs.

“He just has to give it the time it needs,” advised Webber.

Jaime Alguersuari has offered a less than flattering opinion about the personality of his fellow Spaniard and F1 driver Fernando Alonso.

“He is cold (frio), very cold,” said 20-year-old Alguersuari, the youngest driver on the grid who races with the second Red Bull team, Toro Rosso.

“He is a man of few words,” he is quoted as saying by Dir Emotions.  “I have no relationship with him.”

Alguersuari also described the Ferrari driver and double world champion as “a great” F1 racer.

Alonso, 29, recently moved to clarify some misperceptions by revealing that when people actually meet him, they often remark that he is “nicer” than his media image.

The German-language spox.com compared Alonso’s apparent win-at-all-costs attitude with that of Michael Schumacher.

“In the media we read again and again things about ourselves that are not right,” said the Spaniard.

“People are making judgements from the outside, but that’s the business.”

Asked to clarify the misperceptions, Alonso said: “I am very calm and relaxed, even romantic.  Actually, I’m a normal guy.

“A little bit shy, but when everything’s right, that’s when the Spaniard in me comes out,” he laughed.

In Singapore last weekend, Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali agreed that Alonso is “cool and calm and sometimes difficult”.

And after back-to-back victories from pole, Alonso says he is on the top of his game.

“The F1 championship is very long compared to other sports so you can’t be completely fit, focused, motivated 100 per cent of the time.

“But now, in this part of the championship, I’m at a peak,” he is quoted in the Spanish press.

Felipe Massa has not been relocated to a purely supportive role for the rest of the 2010 season, Ferrari team Stefano Domenicali has insisted.

Brazilian Massa, who contentiously moved over to let his teammate Fernando Alonso win July’s German grand prix, sounded resigned to a subordinate role on Sunday at Monza.

“I will continue to fight for the wins and for the good of the team,” said Massa, who is 63 points behind the leader with five races left to run.

But despite the perception that Ferrari’s main focus is now Alonso’s 21 point gap to the championship leader, Domenicali insists there has been no recent change of position with regards to Massa.

“For myself and for us, the consideration is always that everyone does their best for the team,” he is quoted by Brazil’s Globo Esporte.

“We have not changed our position from the start of the season, but maybe some others have.

“But for ourselves we are happy with our way at looking at the whole situation,” added Domenicali.