PRESS CONFERENCE

Kamui, so far this season a couple of good races and a couple not so good. What’s been the difference between them?

Kamui KOBAYASHI: Of course it’s definitely the car. We had quite good performance at the start, quite a good start to the season. Unfortunately, we also some races where the strategy was not really going well. It’s not let’s a bad thing for my season. I had a great start but I think we have to work hard especially on the long runs.

Yesterday, Fernando talked about drivers having more respect for one another. Do you think that’s the case? Should drivers leave more space for each other?

KK: Maybe. I don’t know. It’s always difficult to say.

You’re quite an aggressive overtaker

KK: Yeah, but for me I’m doing something quite normal. It’s not special. I’m just doing my job. Maybe it looks aggressive but I never crash with anyone. I never crash and stop the car. There may be contact but it’s always quite OK. Maybe it looks aggressive but it’s not aggressive in fact.

And of course, you’ve been on the receiving end as we remember from Spa last year.

KK: Spa last year? Where? Ah, with Lewis, you mean? That’s what I mean that was just an accident you know. I didn’t expect both cars to make contact because there was no point. I didn’t expect Lewis to come across and I just stayed on my line. It was just sudden, you know. There was no way to avoid that. That was something special though, it’s not really a racing accident and not aggressive stuff from me, so…

Nico, on paper you’ve been beaten by your team-mate so far this year. How are you feeling about it?

Nico HULKENBERG: Well, the first four races have been quite tough to be honest. I would have liked to take more than two points out of the first four races. We have been quite unfortunate in some races, such as Melbourne, where we had a first-corner incident and there was very little I could do and then a clutch failure issues in Bahrain. These were two races where we potentially could have finished in the points. But I’m looking forward, I’m bedding in well with the team. I think the team is doing a good job in putting everything together and if we get a bit more luck then I think it will be good.

How do you feel about team development? Are the developments coming at a reasonable rate as far as you’re concerned?

NH: Yes, definitely. We bring some new parts, probably like every other team, here and we have to wait and see where the new parts put us but obviously we’re hoping it’s a step forward. I think it is a step forward but just how big a step we’ll see over the next two days.

Pedro, we see a new team that has recently moved to new premises and taken on a lot of new staff. What sort of role do you see yourself playing in the development of Hispania Racing Team?

Pedro DE LA ROSA: As you’ve said, everything is new. We’re establishing ourselves; restructuring the team; we are growing. But really I’m not playing any different role than any other race driver would do. I’m part of the team; I’m a race driver; I’m experienced. If they need my advice on anything, I am there. But I’m not playing any special role other than driving as fast as I can and giving good feedback about the car.

You spent so long at McLaren are you not trying to put some of those influences on the team?

PDLR: Gradually I will. That’s the aim and that’s what I’m here for as well. But so far the team has been extremely busy trying to move into our new premises in Madrid, establish a structure, a ‘basement’ as I say, and after that we will grow gradually and that’s when I think my input will be, if possible, more beneficial. But so far the objective has been clear. We have to establish ourselves, we have to put he ground for building more floors on top of us but so far I’ve been very discreet and not in a very important position.

And where do hope the team will be at the end of the year?

PDLR: I have no idea really. We are improving race by race. We have made the car a lot quicker. Don’t forget at the first grand prix we did not qualify and gradually we have been closing the gap to pole position. That’s what we have to aim for: race by race, closing the gap, making sure that our car is a little bit quicker than it was at the previous grand prix. After that, at the end of the year, we will see. We don’t have to set ourselves any targets other than making the team more competitive race by race.

Kimi, you were plainly a little frustrated that you could have won at Bahrain but didn’t. Is that a true appraisal of your feelings about Bahrain?

Kimi RAIKKONEN: Yeah, I think once you get so close, you’re not happy with second. If you’re 20 seconds behind then it doesn’t really matter but we had a chance but at least for the team it was a good weekend.

You’re a two-time winner here, both from pole position. Do you think a win is possible here? You’ve said you team will be winners at some stage.

KR: Well, the rules are different, so you don’t have to be on pole now to win. We’ll try. I don’t know how it will go. It’s very difficult to say before the weekend starts. The teams are very close. So if everything goes smoothly then we can be up there. But small difficulties in some areas and you’re suddenly much further back. We try to do everything right and then see what happens.

You didn’t test at Mugello as apparently the team hadn’t brought major modification, but for this race have you at least brought modifications that will at least see you maintain where you were at the opening rounds?

KR: We should have some new parts and we’ll see what happens.

Fernando, another winner here in 2006. How did you feel the Ferrari was in testing? Did you feel it was a lot different?

Fernando ALONSO: No, not really. We didn’t have any big improvements in the car, so what we tested were different set-ups and things we missed from winter testing. It’s been quite difficult for us with a lot of problems on the car and not many laps. The Mugello test was to complete what we had left from winter but in terms of improvements, we had minimum changes on the car so it felt the same?

Did that set-up research, as it were, make you feel more comfortable with the car, more competitive?

FA: Well, we’ll see. Obviously we had some ideas in terms of setup and some different possibilities that we were not introducing in the first four races because we didn’t have the opportunity to test them. So, it was good in Mugello: some of them were positive; some of them were negative so it’s good to know. As much information as you have is better preparation for the next grand prix. Obviously we arrive more prepared now than how we arrived in Australia with only three tests in the winter. But to make the car faster I think in terms of setup you cannot find much. If you want to be running at the front it’s more aerodynamic parts and updates in the car. Hopefully they come but we need to wait.

You know this circuit pretty well, you had a very good start to the race last year – do you think we’re going to see more overtaking on the circuit now, what with more KERS and a longer DRS as well?

FA: I think it will be similar to last year, to be honest. I saw some numbers of previous races here. On average like four or five overtaking manoeuvres in the last nine years and last year there were 57 – so it was a big change. The race this year will be similar to last year because of the degradation, the DRS and the KERS. With all the possibilities that we have now, as we had last year, for sure we will see some more overtaking. This changes also a little bit the philosophy of this circuit. As Kimi said, pole position was 60 per cent of the victories, now pole position is obviously the best starting position but it’s not crucial anymore because with this year’s tyres it’s less important.

Sebastian, you broke the mould last year by winning from second on the grid, where you’ve started for the last three years but you won last year from there. This is such a performance track, is this a track where you’re really looking for an indicator for the rest of the first half of the season? If you’re competitive here you will be elsewhere?

Sebastian VETTEL: Well, I think if you are competitive here I think it means that you have been previously. It’s a track that we usually know quite a lot from winter testing, we have some data to compare to, so it’s very familiar. But it doesn’t mean if you are competitive here you are competitive everywhere. Equally, if you are not competitive here it doesn’t mean you will never be competitive. I think it’s similar to other tracks. Really, if you think which sector you’re talking about, which speed range of the cars. I think you have sectors on every track where you could get an indication. As I said, I think it’s the fact that we know a lot about this track, we have a lot of data to compare against, to see if we did a step forward compared to the winter and how big the step was. Surely then you have to consider different temperatures: it’s a different time of year so it’s also difficult to compare black and white – but yeah as a rule of thumb probably this circuit does give you an idea because simply you have all the corners you find somewhere else, you have tight chicanes like in the last sector, hard braking for the hairpin, fast corners like in the first sector. You have a bit of everything.

And yet everyone has been here, everyone knows exactly what sort of setup they would require. Is it perhaps one of the toughest races in that respect?

SV: Yeah it is. But as I said as well, you race here in May, it’s quite different if you look at the temperatures compared to February or March, so yeah, it does have a big change on the setup, so whatever you might have found out over the winter in testing, it might not work in the same way or the same style it did during testing. Also, you need to consider that the cars you launch are quite different to the cars you race at the first race, and then, you know, you race around May or June later in the season. So, yeah, it’s a bit wishy-washy because of that – but overall it’s a track we know fairly well from a driving point of view as we’ve done a lot of laps here. We should know our way around here.

Questions from the floor:

(Alex Popov – RTR TV) Question for Pedro and Fernando, about the Spanish Grand Prix in general because here and there we read about the difficult situation in Valencia, the difficult situation in Barcelona and now we have two grand prix but in the worst situation we will finish with no grand prix at all. Your thoughts about it.

PDLR: I’ve said a lot already since the first time we were told that Spain would have two grands prix, that it was a historical moment and a unique situation and we should be very, very proud of it. I still say the same answer: we still have two grands prix in Spain this year, and we should, all of us, be very proud, very happy and maximise this moment and then wait for the future to tell us what will happen – which is completely out of our hands, you know? This is all I can say. I’m very happy to be here, this is a Spanish Grand Prix, but also a Spanish Grand Prix with a Spanish driver in a Spanish team – so let’s forget about what might happen in the future because, as I said, I have absolutely no control over it.

(Mike Doodson – Honorary) Gentlemen, Michael Schumacher persistently criticises the Pirelli tyres, or at least the policy of Pirelli. To us and the fans it’s clear that Pirelli has been a major ingredient in the improvement of the quality of the racing this year and last year. Do any of you share Michael’s concerns about the tyres or do you think he’s just making excuses for not winning?

FA: I think Seb should answer, being German.

SV: Yeah? I think, y’know, we get a completely different impression inside the car than you might get outside the car. So, you’re always talking of two different worlds. I think for us quality of racing, if you compare racing today, you have to, I think, look after your tyres a lot more than probably you had to three, four, five years ago. For us, if you take, for instance, 2009 where we were allowed to refuel, we had new tyres and the tyres lasted longer, in that they didn’t see that much degradation. It’s a different quality inside the car because you can push nearly every lap similar to qualifying, whereas now I think the racing is different: we fuel the cars up, they are much heavier, and if you have a heavier car there’s more stress for the tyres, so it puts the whole thing in a different window. If you put a new set of tyres on with 20 laps to go, or 15 laps to go, which is, let’s say, the stint length, earlier, a couple of years ago, it’s a different world for the tyres. The tyres do see more degradation and then we start to slide and then one guy slides more than the other because he puts his tyres on two laps earlier. It creates a different type of racing, more overtaking, which I imagine is seen as better quality from the outside, simply because things happen. I think it depends what you really want. We have more overtaking. Fernando is good with numbers, so like Fernando said earlier. I think the races today – over the last two years since we have changed a couple of things – has become much better. Also for us. I had a race here where I was following – how many laps is the race, 66? – I think I was following Felipe [Massa] for 60 laps out of that and I couldn’t pass. Nowadays you know that your chance will come in the race and that’s changing the position inside the car as well.

Fernando…

FA: I don’t know. I agree with Seb but I don’t agree that Michael has continually criticised Pirelli. Michael said one thing and what has been written in the press has maybe exaggerated what he said. I read what he said and I don’t see any big problem with that.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Fernando, you have a very different car from this race. Let’s suppose this car does not correspondent to that criteria…

FA: We’ll see, we’ll see after the race, because we don’t know what car we have. Obviously we have new parts, but everybody has new parts. Because it’s Ferrari, there are quite a lot of expectations every race we go to. It seems like only Ferrari is bringing new parts. We have a step forward, we believe, on what we had in Bahrain, but we also know that it’s not the last step we have to do. It’s a continuous work, that we need to start here in Barcelona, making a step forward and try to improve our qualifying position and our race pace, but in Monaco we have to bring new parts. In Canada (we have to) bring new parts. So we will not bring a new car to every race as it seems that we brought here in Barcelona.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) But just to finish the question: if the car does not correspond…

FA: I answer you on Sunday.

Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Yes, but just to finish: considering your car has completely new ideas, a revolutionary car, do you think this could be the end of the season for Ferrari and you will start thinking about next year’s car?

FA: I don’t think so. I don’t think so. We need to see how the car works here and if it works fine, it will be a good step, the first step of many that we have to do during the next couple of races. If the step is not good enough, because the others improved the same or more than us so we remain in the same position, we need to work harder, for Monaco and for Canada, and bring more new parts in a more aggressive approach or whatever, because the championship is long and we will never give up in May, after four races.

Q: (Livio Orricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) Do you think the basis of this car could be used for next year’s car?

FA: I think so. Yes.

Q: (Gary Meenaghan – The National) For all of you: if you look at the drivers in 1992, there were only two non-European countries represented. If you look at the same field twenty years later, this year, there are seven non-European countries represented. Is there a chance that in a few more years, the majority of the drivers will come from outside Europe and how do you think that will impact the sport?

KK: It’s difficult to stay. For drivers I think it’s very difficult, everywhere, Asia especially. I don’t know for the future, but at the moment I don’t know how many Europeans there are now? 17. We have to see. It’s very important for a programme for the development of drivers. I think that this programme is quite weak everywhere. I think for the future, they definitely have to work a lot. It’s very difficult to find how young drivers come to Formula One. I don’t know how it can be changed for the future but I definitely think we have to work on programmes for driver development.

Q: A huge German presence on the grid at the moment, Nico. Can you see that being maintained by a young driver programme in Germany?

NH: Which young driver programme? Is there one? I don’t know. We don’t keep track of that statistic. I think it will always be a good mixture between European and non-European drivers in the future.

Q: (Andy Benson – BBC Sport) To anyone, but Fernando and Sebastian particularly: following the rulings in the two Nico Rosberg incidents in Bahrain – one of which Fernando was involved in – are you clear in terms of what’s allowed and what isn’t when it comes to defending your position?

FA: Yes.

Q: (Andy Benson – BBC Sport) Has your understanding changed between before Bahrain to now?

FA: No, maybe I did…

SV: Fernando made it pretty clear. He said ‘you have to leave the space. All the time you have to leave the space!’

FA: Yes. Yes.

SV: It was clear, no?

FA: As I did last year with Sebastian. In Monza.

Q: (Andy Benson – BBC Sport) That isn’t what happened in Bahrain.

SV: He just thought my car was slimmer.

FA: But you passed. You passed.

SV: I think the rule is clear. You can argue. I think there were two incidents with Nico in Bahrain, one with Fernando and I think Fernando made his point clear afterwards. And with Lewis, and I think Lewis got past, so I think you can talk for hours now, but if you saw the situation in Bahrain, it’s exceptional, because you have a kind of asphalt run-off. Yes, it’s pretty dirty but we always try to go on the limit, the one who is overtaking, the one who is defending. Surely sometimes you need to respect that the guy is there and you need to leave the space. I think if it would have been grass, it would have been a different story. You wouldn’t go there in the first place. In Fernando’s case I think he would have made the same point.

Q: (Carlos Miguel- La Gaceta) Fernando and Pedro, if a fan of Formula One in Spain is thinking about coming here on Sunday, what are your goals for the race? What can you offer to the people?

PdelaR: Well, from our point of view, you know our goal is to fight and to improve from where we left it in Bahrain and that’s all we can offer, we can promise. We cannot promise victories – we leave that for Fernando – but we will promise, wherever we finish, we will do it with the pride of being here and doing a serious job, giving it all, and maximising what we have.

FA: Same thing. And giving 100 percent. We cannot promise anything. This is not a mathematical problem, it’s a sport, we all try to do our best so we will work hard, we will take care of every detail this weekend as we do normally, trying to do a serious job and hopefully finishing in the best position possible, but you cannot promise anything.

Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Leaving aside whether or not it’s a home race for you guys, how much of a difference does it actually make for you to be back in Europe again? Kimi, you don’t actually like the travelling very much out of Europe, do you?

KR: Yeah but I I arrived in China on the Thursday morning, so arriving for a European race on the Thursday morning is no different really.

PdelaR: I’m biased answering this question because it’s back to Europe, but especially it’s back to Spain, so for us, it’s a Grand Prix that arrives a little bit too early in our development programme, as far as I’m concerned. We have been improving since Australia but we probably need more Grands Prix to offer a more competitive show to our fans. That’s the only downside, but nevertheless, we are here, we are in Spain. It’s our home ground and we are very happy to be here. I’m looking forward to it. I used to live ten minutes away from the track and this is something that – when you grow up – you can always listen to the engines, so the Formula One cars, when you wake up every morning during the weekends – for me it’s a very special event, absolutely.

Q: Kamui, not so easy commuting from Japan.

KK: For sure. I’m used to being here a lot of times. I came to Europe 17 years ago and I’ve been here to Barcelona a lot of times. After long trips being back in Europe in Formula One is always great and it’s always great to see the motorhomes in Barcelona. This is always great and it’s always good to be back in Europe for Formula One.

SV: I think for all of us we’re happy to race in Europe. Surely we have races overseas which we enjoy. For instance, we all love going to Australia. Yes, it’s a long trip but once we are there I think we all enjoy being there and it’s the same here. In the end, I don’t think it makes a difference how long you travel. Yes, it is more convenient if you are only an hour, an hour and a half or two hours on the plane rather than twelve and then another twelve. As I said, I think every country we go to, there is a strong culture for motor sport. We hope for a lot of excitement and for a lot of people to come. It makes us feel very special when we are on the grid, to see that the grandstand is packed and usually around here are a lot of fans, cheering, especially for Fernando and the Spanish drivers, but it’s the same when we go to Silverstone, they’re cheering for their drivers. I think we can be very happy everywhere we go, and hopefully put on a great show so that the people enjoy it as well and they come back next year.

Q: (Alex Popov – RTR TV) Gentlemen, after testing at Mugello, Vitaly Petrov criticised the circuit, because he expressed concern about its safety, so do you think he was wrong to express his concern like this? He was criticised by other drivers, because he expressed concern. Is he wrong?

FA: I think everyone will have his opinion. I’m not someone to say that Vitaly is right or wrong. It’s more maybe the safety commission’s job or whatever. Personally, everyone will have their opinion, as I said. I like Mugello, I like the layout, I like the feelings, the emotions that you have driving there. As I said after the test, driving one lap in Mugello is like driving one hundred at another circuit, for adrenalin and how much you enjoy the lap. We were in Italy, with a lot of Ferrari support. I enjoy those three days testing so much, but in terms of how safe the track was or not, I don’t have the information to give an answer.

NH: Personally I enjoyed Mugello very much. I think it’s a very different circuit to all the others that we go to. You always feel like you’re flying there, a lot of fourth, fifth, sixth gear action which is great to have. Like Fernando said, whether you feel safe or not is a very personal thing. I think it was OK.

KK: That’s a great circuit. There are a lot of very safe circuits like Abu Dhabi without gravel, but this circuit had gravel and if we made a mistake we ended up in the gravel which is good for drivers and good for training and testing. The test was something we had to try and in the race, of course we have to stay on the track and it’s difficult to take a lot of risks but during testing we can take more risks to improve our driving. It’s great for me.

SV: Well, the first time I heard that he was saying something about safety at Mugello. I think we all loved the track because it’s different – like Nico said, there’s a lot of high speed corners. Sure, if the speeds are high, there is higher risk. There is obviously quite a lot of run-off but surely here and there you would like to have more. As long as nothing happens, everything is fine; if something happens… it’s always easy to say something after there’s an incident and say this and that. I think it was not as if we felt we were scared. We left the garage feeling safe. I think if we would race there one day, potentially yes or no, then surely here or there you can argue to make improvements for safety, but I think they did everything they could on the day.

Q: (Vanessa Ruiz – Radio Estado ESPN) Nico mentioned that Mugello is different from every other track that you guys race on in the year so does this very fact make it less useful to have tested there instead of somewhere else?

KK: Difficult. I think maybe it’s not really useful for mechanical stuff but definitely useful for aero development at least, because we can test the aero on the straights. Difficult to see the stability in the corner. Basically I think this was a good test.

SV: I agree. I think it was good to test some parts of the car, not for some others, but like all the other circuits. When we test in Jerez, test in Barcelona, we try different things. I remember in the old days testing in Paul Ricard. Some days we test on the 50s lap circuit because we were testing for Monaco Grand Prix: different tyres and different parts, so every test is welcome for different areas of the car, but it’s good. For people who don’t like Mugello there is a very easy solution.

Jaime Alguersuari is reportedly in talks with McLaren about becoming a test driver.
The former Toro Rosso racer was speaking with Spanish radio Cadena Ser, after being revealed as a radio co-commentator for the 2012 season with Britain’s BBC.

“I am talking to a top team and there have been several meetings,” he said.

“Everybody was caught out with not enough time to think of everything, so I was left without a seat.”

It is believed Alguersuari, 21, received a call from McLaren in January, enquiring about his services as a potential test driver.

The driver was asked about the rumour and he replied: “The person who has said it (the top team) is McLaren is you.

“There are several possibilities that are being talked about. For now I’m with the BBC as a commentator and I don’t know how it’s going to go watching the races, because I want to get back to racing.”

 French GP2 driver Charles Pic’s manager has confirmed talks about securing a place in formula one next year for the 21-year-old.
Pic, fourth in this year’s GP2 championship, has been linked recently with a Toro Rosso test in Abu Dhabi next month, and possibly a race seat with Virgin in 2012.

His mentor and manager Olivier Panis, however, indicated that a role as a “third driver” for Pic is most likely.

“We have had discussions mainly with Team Lotus and Virgin Racing,” said the former grand prix winner, working with Pic’s management Lagardere.

“There are two other possibilities that Charles will be in F1 next year, as a third driver, but nothing is signed yet and the discussions are continuing,” Panis told the French daily L’Equipe.

He admitted that the first step for Pic is a seat in November’s young driver test in Abu Dhabi.

“It is important he takes part in the rookie days in order to gain experience,” said Panis.

GP2 frontrunner Giedo van der Garde’s manager has revealed talks about the 2012 season with three formula one teams.

Last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, where the Dutchman emerged in second place behind the new GP2 champion Romain Grosjean, 26-year-old van der Garde was linked with the 2012 Williams seat currently occupied by Rubens Barrichello.

Media reports said he has “the most” sponsorship money to offer a potential F1 employer.

“That (F1) is the goal, yes,” NUsport quotes van der Garde as saying. “My management is in talks with three teams, so there are possibilities. There is no plan B.

“So there are some free places but it (F1) is a strange world.”

Van der Garde’s case is indeed unique, with his manager Jan Paul ten Hoopen doubling as the commercial director of the F1 sponsor McGregor, a Dutch fashion house.

And van der Garde’s father-in-law is billionaire Marcel Boekhoorn.

The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports that Boekhoorn may be interested in buying into the Renault team, and van der Garde has also been linked with Virgin.

“The real conversations (with teams) don’t take place until October, or at least after the Italian grand prix,” said manager ten Hoopen.

Timo Glock has admitted there is a tiny chance he will not return to the cockpit of a Virgin car in 2011.

When the German joined Toyota in 2008, he said he wanted to be challenging for the world championship in three years.

Instead, the Japanese carmaker pulled out of F1 and Glock rescued his career by switching to Virgin, a new British team that finished its debut season in last place.

It was rumoured that Glock, 28, eyed Vitaly Petrov’s 2011 seat at Renault, but the Russian rookie looks set to renew his deal, while Glock already has a contract for next year with Virgin.

Therefore, staying at Virgin in 2011 “is 99.9 per cent certain”, he confirmed to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

But Glock said he hasn’t given up on dreaming of race wins and titles.

“If you have the opportunity to go to Red Bull or McLaren, then you’d have to go for it. From a sporting perspective you are open to new possibilities.

“It is definitely still my goal to go for the world championship,” he added.

Glock insisted that even though it has come early in his countryman’s young career, he is happy for new world champion Sebastian Vettel.

“You cannot begrudge him,” said the German. “He has done a great job this year, maybe one or two errors. But it’s the same for everyone.”

In contrast, Glock recorded zero points, 9 DNFs and a best finish of just 14th.

“In the winter we lost too much time because some basic things did not work,” he said, “but you can’t expect it all to fall into place right away for a new team with a blank sheet of paper.”

It remains unclear who will take over after Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1 – FIA president Jean Todt who had no worries and sees a positive future

Bernie Ecclestone is celebrating 28 October 80th Birthday. The Briton has expanded the “Formula 1 to a global stage. In 1958, he was even reported for two races, could not qualify in Monaco and Britain, however. has managed with Jochen Rindt, the Ecclestone for some time, first ideas for the marketing possibilities of Formula 1 were born. As Brabahm manager was happy the man shook hands with quality in the eighties on world title. In the new millennium Ecclestone has expanded the formula 1 in the new markets in Asia. But it is the eternal question: who comes after him?

Ecclestone has no plans to go into retirement. On the question of who will succeed him, he said that “some car dealers. He acted in front of the Formula 1 cars to rise. No one knows if Ecclestone has already organized his successor. Martin Whitmarsh, who currently heads the association FOTA team, says that it is “impossible to predict.”
FIA president Jean Todt believes that the succession is a matter for the CVC, which holds the marketing rights to Formula 1. “The responsibility for the future of Formula 1 is located at more than CVC at Bernie,” is dead by ‘TheHindu.com’ quotes. “It is up to them.” The Frenchman appreciates the CVC bosses as “wise business people” and is not afraid of the future.

“I am confident that Formula 1 has a very strong future. We must not forget that the formula counts one of the major sports on the planet. The World Cup is held every four years. The Olympics are only every four years . Formula 1 is held every year. ”
Todt passes out, however, that the formula may look a nothing for granted. For Ecclestone’s successor might not be easy. “Bernie knows that CVC knows this and we know it,” the FIA president.

A warm weekend of weather might be expected at Silverstone for the forthcoming British grand prix.

The weather has been nice in England so far this week, with the mid-twenties temperatures forecast to persist through to the formula one event on July 9-11.

But there has also been some cloud in the skies, and more possibilities of light rain are predicted for next weekend and an event that is so often blighted by bad weather.

“I’m sure when we go racing the clouds will come in like every year, and it will start to rain,” laughed German driver Adrian Sutil, who drives for the locally-based Force India.

Briton Lewis Hamilton won his home race in 2008 but last year, like the rest of the field, was annihilated by the dominant Red Bulls.

And despite leading the world championship, the 25-year-old is expecting Red Bull to again lead from the front.

Hamilton, whose British countryman Jenson Button also drives for the British team McLaren, said: “It’s going to be tough.  We can’t go into it thinking we’re the favourites because the Red Bull, as it stands, is definitely the fastest car.”

The competition between the development departments of the Grand Prix teams will be played with the same intensity as the position of duels on the track. Indeed, the pressure to succeed, under the working Formula 1 specialists in recent years grown more and more: Who wants to stay competitive and at the top, must evolve continuously. The cars are compared to the season opener in Bahrain has become consistently faster by about one second.

“The racing teams have realized that the incessant development is during the season just as important as the conceptual design of the next car,” said James Allison, Technical Director at Renault. “Today we hold for our R30 to each Grand Prix, a new package ready parts, whose size is roughly equivalent to those improvements we have introduced in the past, every third or fourth race.”
“We are there but no exception. Every team that wants to stay at the top, must rise to this challenge. This means for our colleagues in the workshops that they have to work so hard, and at such a high time pressure than ever before . The new front wing, which will celebrate its debut in Valencia, provides an ideal example of this: He is already the eighth variant, which comes this year for use – in the ninth race of the season! ”

But where does this escalation? A major factor provided by the new technical regulations, which came at the beginning of last year in force, so is still relatively young, always – and therefore much room for improvement, provides the enabling virtually every week important development steps. This applies in particular to the aerodynamics. Furthermore: Since modifications of the engine are not allowed to search for possibilities for improvement focused almost exclusively on the chassis of the cars.
“As further develop all vehicles on the grid with incredibly high speed, always, we need to bring any improvement found immediately able to use in order to remain competitive,” says Allison. “Previously, we have combined the optimization of a package, which is then flowed into a stage of evolution of the car. This we can not allow today. Each Grand Prix that you wait means lost performance.”

“The heavy workload meets each individual,” said Allison. “The workshop is constantly under the high pressure, constantly develop and produce new parts and need. We are therefore constantly faced with the difficult task of finding a healthy balance between major stages of development and reasonable workload.”

It seems almost an irony of fate that this once again increased rates of development associated with the prohibition of testing during the season goes. But while earlier, thousands of miles on the Grand Prix circuit in Barcelona have been scrubbed to run the team today in the central simulation computer at full speed to check for new parts and votes for their usefulness.
“Thanks to this advanced tools we can use the advantage that we bring some modifications on the track, set with an accuracy that is different from the real output by less than 0.5 percent,” said Allison. “For mechanical parts, we rely on computer simulations, whose results are then verified on test stands. With special durability testing arrangements, we can expose those individual components of loads and forces that occur in the context of a Grand Prix.”

Besides the incessant improvement of the current Grand Prix racer to run the latest from the beginning of summer and work on for next year seater. “We stand every time a difficult compromise on how much we already want to invest in the future without losing its competitiveness in the current season,” says Allison.

Stefano Domenicali on Sunday indicated that Avon-Cooper and Bridgestone are no longer in the running to supply formula one tyres next year.

The Ferrari boss was discussing with the media Sunday’s series of meetings at Monaco, where a decision about the departing Bridgestone’s 2011 replacement was again deferred.

“It will probably take another week,” the Italian is quoted by Germany’s Motorsport-Magazin.com.  “Perhaps next weekend.”

Avon was among those who have submitted formal proposals, and in recent days the teams have been pushing Bridgestone to reconsider its decision not to seek a new contract as the sport’s official sole supplier.

But Domenicali revealed: “There are only two possibilities; Michelin and Pirelli.”

(GMM)

Apr.28 (GMM)  Kimi Raikkonen insists he still has not made a decision about returning to formula one in 2011.

After agreeing to end his Ferrari contract a year early late in 2009, the Finn signed on with Red Bull and Citroen and then endured a difficult and crash-laden start to his new career in the World Rally Championship.

But early this month in Jordan, 30-year-old Raikkonen became the first driver since Carlos Reutemann to score points in both F1 and world rallying.

And then shortly after declaring he is not missing formula one, he finished less than 7 minutes behind winner Sebastien Loeb in Turkey for fifth place.

But when asked if his recent results make it more likely he will stick with rallying in 2011, Raikkonen told Turun Sanomat newspaper: “It has not turned in any direction.

“There is no rush for me to make decisions.  We’ll have to see what are the possibilities and what for me is the most interesting — what I enjoy the most and what it is I most want to do,” he added.

“We will see at a point some time later this year,” said Raikkonen.

Famously not fond of F1′s off-track activities and pressures, and ruing the lost days of characters like James Hunt, Raikkonen’s observers agree that he seems happier in the rallying world.

“If the F1 world could go back 20 years, it would be the same as rallying now,” he said.  “It (rallying) is still professional but in just a bit more of a relaxed style.”

The F1 ex-pilot, Christian Klien and the F2 champion, the Spaniard Andy Soucek are still battling for the two remaining positions of the Formula One grid for this season.
USF1 and Campos have not confirmed yet their second pilots, and both Klien and Soucek assure to be in negotiations with the teams before the opening of the season in Bahrain, on March 14th.
“The possibilities are still good,” declared Klien. “Until there is an actual possibility I’m going fight to participate in the F1. Another year as reserve driver would not be a catastrophe.”
On the other hand, Soucek, has announced that his negotiations with the Spanish team are in an “advanced” stage, while his conversations with USF1 are more casual.
“Right now it is not signed, but during the negotiations new options have come up,” said Soucek and added that he does not discard participating as test driver, but naturally, without paying seat.
They are both competing with champion Adrián Vallés, who many consider one of the favorites for the USF1 seat. The Spaniard was already very near in 2007; maybe this is his chance.
“I’m sorry. I cannot talk. I only hope things don’t go wrong.“ declared Valles, last week.
We are still waiting for Campos to comment on the solution of his financial problems and centers in the vacant seat, as well as submit his plans as the beginning of the season is approaching

Three teams, three places. Can you imagine an advertisement poster like this aiming to get money?  This is Formula One’s scenario a week prior to the beginning of the first tests of the season.  Three teams: Renault, USF1 and Campos Meta have not yet confirmed a place for their single-seated cars.

Subsequent to Pechito López’ signing in and Jaime Alguersuari’s confirmation as Torro Rosso’s second pilot, there are three vacant seats.  The thing is that the three ‘Scuderias’ (Renault, Campos Meta and USF1) are selling their seats through sponsors that each pilot might attract.

SCUDERIAS AND CANDIDATES

Renault

Things seem to indicate the beginning of a 15 million euro agreement of the Russian, Vitaly Petrov with Renault, even though it has not been confirmed, yet.

According to Autoblid, 800.000 Euros for each Grand Prix he would fight for would be the money put forward by his sponsors, coming primarily from the Moscow bank, Sberbank and from Gazpron.  If this is confirmed, the German Nick Heidfeld’s option who stated to be in the best disposition to take a wheel this year, would be canceled.

Campos Meta

Robert Doornbos -who ran in the IndyCar last year, and previously with Minardi and Red Bull-, has been requested by Campos Meta and USF1 ‘Scuderias’ more than 3.5 million Euros for occupying one of the seats.

Hence, the pilot declared that “… there were talks with USF1 and Campos Meta, but they asked for 5 million dollars, just in sponsors,” declared a Doornbos who seems to indicate he will not move from the IndyCar this 2010.

That being so, the Spanish ‘Scuderia’ has two options: the Venezuelan

Pastor Maldonado, who ran the GP2 last year with ART Grand Prix and Andy Soucek who seems a more remote possibility.

USF1

The US team will give a press conference today, Monday to confirm the signing up of ‘Pechito’ López, their boss, Peter Windson.  However, who is going to occupy the other seat of the ‘Scuderia’ is yet unknown.

The US media speculate with two possibilities: the US, Jonathan Summerton and the Canadian, Jacques Villeneuve, who is determined to return to Formula One.

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