Pirelli is closer to finding a solution to its current lack of a F1 test car.
In the past two years, the sport’s Italian supplier has used the last car raced by defunct team Toyota to develop its tyres.

But Paul Hembery, Pirelli motor sport director, has said the 2009-spec TF109 is now too outdated and has been retired.

It is believed the marque initially intended to find an agreement to run a competitive 2011-spec car, but the new plan could be to acquire a single seater from the 2010 season.

“We do most of the work in the simulator,” Hembery told the El Pais newspaper, “but it’s more difficult to work on the compounds because it requires the interactivity with the asphalt.”

The Briton admitted that, so far, the teams have been unhelpful in terms of agreeing a solution for a new-specification car, because of the potential performance advantage that could be gained by the chosen team.

Hembery, however, used the example of the common electronic unit which is supplied to all teams by a McLaren subsidiary.

“They all have it and no one complains,” he said.

“But we have asked for help and they tell us that we should continue with the Toyota, and that’s nonsense,” added Hembery.

He said talks are still taking place.

“We have to find a car that was competitive in 2010, which was reliable and that allows us to incorporate all the systems that allow us to do our work.”

Sebastian Vettel should not be worried about his 2011 championship running off track.
That is the view of the Red Bull driver’s rivals as well as pundits and journalists despite a third consecutive defeat for Vettel in Hungary last weekend.

German newsmagazine Focus observed that while Budapest winner Jenson Button “laughed” on the podium, it was the sullen Vettel who had “scored” by actually pulling out his championship lead to a huge 85 points.

“It is really beginning to look like it is a case of when, and not if, he will seal his second world title,” former driver Johnny Herbert wrote in his latest column for The National.

Some pundits believe Vettel needs to worry, however, given that McLaren and also Ferrari look to have caught up with his previously-dominant RB7 car.

“But,” Herbert insisted, “Vettel’s lead is so vast that just finishing in the top four or five regularly should be enough to see him home.”

Also pessimistic is Marc Gene, Ferrari’s test driver who writes a column for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

“Our resurgence has been outstanding,” he said, “but unfortunately the championship situation is not changing much.”

Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport said the remaining races this season will be closely contested by Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari, but likened the actual championship battle to a runaway leader in the Giro d’Italia bike race.

“It’s too late for the championship as the pink jersey is far ahead,” said the sports newspaper.

“Vettel no longer has a performance advantage but now he can use his head more than his foot, while behind him the protagonists take points off each other.”

Former Renault boss Flavio Briatore told Onda Cero radio on Monday that the world championship “is over” unless “something tragic happens”.

Agreed Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, who called the Hungarian grand prix with German Sky television: “That (Vettel’s second place) is how he will become world champion.”

For instance, Button – then with Brawn GP – won the title in 2009 with a smaller mid-season points advantage, a smaller and less financially-powerful team, and more pressure given that he was charging for his first title.

“If I had the lead he’s got, I wouldn’t be feeling any pressure at all,” the Briton told The Independent.

Button headed to Hawaii this week to begin F1′s summer break, and Bild newspaper reports that Vettel is Mallorca-bound.

“I need a bit of energy from the sun,” the 24-year-old German is quoted by Die Welt.

Said Italy’s Tuttosport: “Vettel can enjoy his holiday in peace.”

Christian Horner does not think Red Bull will need to modify its 2010 car ahead of the Belgian grand prix.

Amid suggestions the front of the RB6 and Ferrari’s F10 are running too low to the ground at high speed, the FIA has served notice that scrutineering tests will be amended for Spa-Francorchamps and beyond.

It had been expected that most teams would need to make changes in order to pass the new tests, but team principal Horner does not think Red Bull will be among them.

“Based on the correspondence the FIA has sent us, we believe our car still meets those criteria,” he told the print edition of Autosport magazine.

If true, and rival teams do need to make changes to pass the new tests, the Austrian team could find itself with an even bigger performance advantage.

Championship leader and Hungaroring winner Mark Webber thinks the RB6 will be competitive at every remaining circuit in 2010.

“We’re a little bit worried about how the long straights might go at some of the other venues, at maybe Monza,” he said in a Red Bull video interview.

“But the car is very, very strong at most tracks so we’re ready to take on anyone at any venue and I’m looking forward to all the races coming up,” added the Australian.

Jun.12 (GMM)  Stewards are looking into whether Lewis Hamilton should be penalised for an incident at the end of qualifying.

The 2008 world champion achieved pole position in Montreal, but on his ‘in lap’ was asked by a McLaren engineer to stop the MP4-25 at the side of the track.

The radio call, broadcasted live on television, informed 25-year-old Hamilton that the reason for the stoppage was to ensure there is enough fuel in the tank for the FIA to test a sample.

“The FIA don’t take kindly to you not having enough fuel to get into the pits at the end of the lap — they’ll be taking a look at that,” predicted BBC commentator Martin Brundle.

Allowing McLaren to get away with running Hamilton’s car too light in Canada, which is a performance advantage, would set a precedent whereby cars are regularly fuelled to stop on the circuit after a final flying lap.

McLaren did not mention the incident in its post-session press release.

Jenson Button on Saturday said he thinks McLaren has taken a step closer to the dominant Red Bull team.

The reigning world champion qualified half a second behind pole sitter Mark Webber, but his teammate Lewis Hamilton was only a tenth from the leading RB6.

And the McLarens managed to split the Red Bull pair, although Sebastian Vettel led both Q1 and Q2 and would have been comfortably on pole had he managed to replicate his earlier pace before a brake problem.

Button told reporters: “In Barcelona, the gap to the Red Bulls was almost a second.  Here, it’s a couple of tenths.

“Red Bull’s qualifying pace is what has stood out about them.  If we’re closer in qualifying, I think we can challenge them in the race.”

Hamilton acknowledged that the Red Bulls “still have a performance advantage” over the rest of the field, and team boss Martin Whitmarsh said it showed particularly “in the all-important Turn 8″.

(GMM)