It is too soon to be picking the winners and losers ahead of the 2012 season, reigning back-to-back world champion Sebastian Vettel insists.
An early analysis might suggest Ferrari is struggling whilst Lotus could be set to join the pacesetters this season.

But German Vettel, who drives for 2010 and 2010 constructors’ champions Red Bull, said after the Jerez test that it is way too soon to be drawing conclusions about his rivals’ form.

“There is a bit of a reference when you look at what runs they’ve been doing, but if you look at previous years at this time of year it’s all up and down. Nothing really shows yet,” he is quoted by PA Sport news agency.

“Now we wait for Mercedes (to launch their 2012 car) and then we will know a little more, certainly at the last test in Barcelona,” added Vettel.

“The change in rules have also given people an opportunity to catch up, so we’ll see what happens.”

One of those with potential to catch up is midfield team Sauber, but boss Peter Sauber insisted that Jerez provided “no more than a snapshot” with two group tests yet to run before Melbourne.

“For me, any attempt to create a pecking order based on Jerez is no more than reading tea leaves,” he told the Swiss Sonntagsblick newspaper.

Sauber agreed with Vettel that the final test in Barcelona next month will “lift the fog” ahead of the trek to Australia for the season opener.

“Only at the last test will we see the teams using their technical packages for Melbourne,” he said.

Vettel added: “Lotus looks quite good from what I’ve seen — fast and consistent.

“Ferrari and McLaren are the big unknown, and perhaps us as well,” he is quoted by Spain’s Europa Press.

Bidding to form a team in 2011 was too great a risk for  Prodrive, the famous motor racing brand’s boss David Richards has admitted.

The Briton and Aston Martin chief had attempted to form a team in previous years, but said in April that Prodrive will instead concentrate on world rallying and sports car racing.

On Sunday, he is quoted as saying the decision was driven by his concern for his 579 staff.

“I wasn’t prepared to risk everyone’s livelihoods,” he told the Independent, adding: “It was quite interesting to watch the reaction of everybody when I told them.

“The biggest fear people at Prodrive had is that we were going to risk everything on one throw of the dice by entering F1.”

Now, Prodrive is expected to team up for a world rallying bid in 2011 with formula one refugee Toyota.

“We want to be prepared if and when we get a call from Japan to go and compete,” a spokesman for Cologne based Toyota Motorsport confirmed.

(GMM)

As in previous years, Adrian Sutil has indicated he is potentially on the market to switch teams.

The 27-year-old German made his grand prix debut with Spyker in 2007, staying with the same Silverstone based outfit when it became Force India.

Sutil has often indicated he would change to a bigger team, but he told Germany’s Sport Bild that he is happy with Force India’s recent rate of progress.

“As long as every year there are steps being made, I am very satisfied,” he is quoted by the Munich newspaper TZ.

But Sutil admitted he is keeping an eye on the potential seat movements at a couple of top teams.

“We have to see how long Michael Schumacher wants to go on.  And also what happens at Red Bull,” he admitted.

(GMM)

Higher kerbs have been installed at key sections of the Monaco circuit ahead of this week’s formula one race.

Last year, race director Charlie Whiting warned the drivers about cutting the kerbs and installed observers at the Nouvelle and Swimming Pool chicanes.

It is at those corners that new “higher elements have been added behind the existing kerbs” for the 2010 event, the governing body confirmed on Tuesday.

F1 photographer Mark Sutton inspected the new kerbs on Tuesday and remarked on Twitter that the drivers will “not want to touch them!”

Sutton was also disappointed to find new debris fencing at the Rascasse corner, recalling that in previous years “you could just lean over the barrier and shoot as the driver went past at speed”.

The Monaco circuit has also been resurfaced in the pitlane, from Ste Devote all the way up the hill, from Place du Casino to the tunnel entry, and from the tunnel exit to the chicane.

(GMM)