Bernie Ecclestone has backed Karun Chandhok to return to the formula one grid next year with a “better car”.

When the Indian rookie signed up for his debut season with HRT this year, he thanked F1 chief executive Ecclestone for being “a superb pillar of support to me and my family”.

However, it is now expected that Chandhok, 26, will sit out the remainder of the season in deference to the Japanese pay-driver Sakon Yamamoto.

But crucially, one of Chandhok’s sponsors is Jaypee Sports, who are bringing formula one to India next year at the circuit currently under construction 40 kilometres southeast of New Delhi.

Ecclestone in 2010 described India as one of “the most important and powerful players in the world of business, culture and sport”.

The Briton is now quoted by the Times of India: “Having an Indian team (Force India) is obviously a big help. An Indian driver will be an even better deal.

“I definitely want to see Karun in a better car next year,” said the diminutive 79-year-old.

Ecclestone said of Chandhok, who now travels to the grands prix to commentate for British television: “He served his apprenticeship in a car that he could do nothing about.

“He really needs to be in a team where he can show his potential because I think he can be very, very good if he gets the right car,” added Ecclestone.

He said he plans to visit the site of next October’s inaugural Indian grand prix after the forthcoming race in Brazil.

“The rains would’ve stopped by then (November),” said Ecclestone. “Work has really suffered I heard.”

On a PR visit to India last weekend, Lewis Hamilton also backed Chandhok to shine at the wheel of a better car.

“Karun is a very good driver,” said the 2008 world champion. “He understands the nuances of the sport very well and if he is able to get a better car, he would be able to make a big difference.”

Two weeks after a boat crash in his native Finland, former F1 driver JJ Lehto has told police he has no memory of the incident.

The 44-year-old, who drove for teams including Sauber and Benetton until 1994 and is now a commentator, was one of the two occupants of a speed boat that struck a bridge pillar at 4am in the morning.

His friend did not survive, but Lehto managed to swim ashore with head injuries and broken ribs.

Finnish reports said Lehto failed an alcohol breath test, and police suspect he might be guilty of other offences, including speeding in the narrow channel.

But a police superintendent said two weeks ago that Lehto could not be interviewed because he was “strongly medicated” while recovering from his injuries in hospital.

And according to Turun Sanomat newspaper, Lehto has now told police that he cannot remember the crash, or the events leading up to it.

(GMM)

After two double victories in a row, the McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button tip lies in the Formula 1 World Championship, but Sebastian Vettel wants a new car in Valencia back to the place in the sun. “We can be back in front after the next Grand Prix,” said Vettel’s team boss Christian Horner before the Grand Prix of Europe. The bulls want to “keep up with the new R-bay system and without problems in reliability even local hero Fernando Alonso at bay.

The confidence in the camp of Red Bull is based on several pillars. On the one copied from the “inventor” McLaren F-shaft system, which is not satisfactory after a test in the free practice in Istanbul for the first time in the race and used in the simulation is to represent a time savings of three tenths per lap. “We hope an ordinary leap forward,” Horner said in the journal ‘Speedweek’.
was distributed to the other, the team hopes that repeat the transmission problems of Montréal and the defect is not the devil, who followed the team and especially since the start of the season Vettel. “Yes, we had defects, but every mistake only once. We are all the quirks to the bottom left. It’s just incredible bad luck, which happens especially in Sebastian this year, everything,” said Horner.

At the very least, the Heppenheim, which is before the ninth of 19 World Championship races in the championship behind Hamilton (109 pixels), Button (106), Webber (103) and Alonso (94) with 90 points in fifth for Valencia to be transmission probably can not change. The new device has “lost a bit of oil,” Horner gives as reason that Vettel was in the final stage in Canada are clearly lying in fourth place from the gas, “he can use it again in Valencia. Team-mate Webber, who lost by Vettel finished fifth behind the championship leader, had lost in Montréal by an unscheduled gearbox change shortly before the race five starting slots.

The Aussie, who recently was quickly four times in a row in qualifying wants to beat Vettel in Valencia again. “That he can create. For if he was behind it, it’s because of a defect, as in Turkey, due to a driving error like in Montreal or he was beaten only a tenth of a second,” said Horner.

imagine Despite the current benefit, the McLaren drivers not in security: “It’s a surprise that the Red Bulls are not in leadership. They were at every race so fast, but we have more made of it,” said defending champion button that as Webber and Hamilton this year has already celebrated two victories. Hamilton also sees its first championship lead since winning the title in November 2008 “not granted” on.
The Mercedes team with Nico Rosberg and world champion Michael Schumacher, who is the first time since 2004 on an unfamiliar route hopes in Valencia placements at less concerned with the tires and thus better. Meanwhile, Alonso is Ferrari’s home race at a comprehensive revised version of the B-F10 available, which also has an R-bay system and has taken some of the bonds in the aerodynamics of Red Bull. With the new car he was allowed to drive even at short film, Alonso will now shine on home soil – and to inspire both the Spanish and the Italian fans.

“The Italian mentality, and the Spanish are similar, and the habits of life. We both also have the same passion for the race,” Alonso describes in the ‘Sport Bild’, why he feels so comfortable at Ferrari. “We might have to say: There are two grown together, which somehow belong together forever. I have the impression that the people enjoy this combination in the world. Especially in Spain and Italy, the mood is downright enthusiastic about it. It makes me proud.”

Police are looking into a boat crash involving former formula one driver JJ Lehto.

It emerged at the weekend that the 44-year-old Finn, who drove for teams including Sauber and Benetton until 1994 and is now a commentator, swam ashore after the six-metre boat struck a bridge pillar at 4am last Friday morning.

Lehto sustained head injuries and broken ribs, but the other occupant of the boat did not survive.

According to a report in Finland’s Turun Sanomat, Lehto failed an alcohol breath test, and police suspect he might be guilty of other offences, including speeding in the narrow channel.

Locals said the boat belonged to Lehto, and an eyewitness who initially treated the veteran of 70 grands prix said he thought the Finn was drunk.

A police superintendent is quoted as saying Lehto might be charged with safety offences, including culpability for the death of his friend.

“Some kind of offense is suspected, but I am not taking a position until it becomes clearer who did what,” officer Juha-Pekka Vuorinen, who said Lehto had undergone surgery, is quoted by Ilta-Sanomat.

And Vuorinen is quoted by HBL: “We cannot interview someone who is still strongly medicated.  The doctors say he could be discharged (from hospital) in a week and then we will hear from him as soon as possible.”

(GMM)

The Finnish former Formula 1 driver J.J. Lehto is in the early morning was seriously injured taken to hospital. As the Finnish Agency ‘YLE News reports, “the former Benetton team-mate Michael Schumacher on Saturday against four clock had struck with a motor boat to a bridge. On board was apparently a friend of the 44-year-old who could be salvaged, but only dead.

According to initial findings, the boat had collided with a speed of 40 knots (the equivalent of almost 75 km / h) against a concrete pillar. Both occupants were thrown in the southern Finnish city Tammisare into the water. Lehto had to swim ashore and in a nearby house to get help.
The police have the identity of the former Formula 1 stars and traveling with his friend, not yet officially confirmed, but witnesses and local residents have the 44-year-olds clearly identified. Details on the accident happened and the cause is not known. Lehto was denied in its active Formula 1 career 1989-1994 a total of 62 Grands Prix for Onyx, Scuderia Italia, Sauber and Benetton.