McLaren remains “the team to beat” despite the topsy-turvy outcome of the recent Malaysian grand prix.

That is the claim of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel, having slumped to sixth in the drivers’ standings after a dire weekend in Malaysia.

The formerly-dominant Red Bull driver now lags a Ferrari and even a Sauber, after Fernando Alonso and the unlikely Sergio Perez proved the cream of the slippery Sepang circuit.

Vettel, however, is still thinking silver.

Asked by the French-language RMC Sport to name the ‘best team’ of the moment, the German answered: “There are several.

“But McLaren seems very strong right now. They are the team to beat,” said Vettel.

The trophy enthusiast received a small memento on the Melbourne podium last month, but a more impressive prize was the prestigious Grand Prix de l’Academie des Sports that he collected from FIA president Jean Todt recently in Paris.

“That was my first trophy (of 2012),” he laughed, “but I want much more than that!

“It’s a long championship,” Vettel argued. “We did quite a good job in Australia, and Malaysia was chaotic with the weather.

“We have a good car and the objective is to fight for the title.”

The FIA has dismissed the latest rumours about next month’s Bahrain grand prix.

Some publications this week said F1′s governing body was in the process of drafting a statement announcing that the Sakhir race has been cancelled due to security concerns.

But the FIA’s director of communications Norman Howell angrily denied those reports.

At the same time, Sheikh Abdullah bin Isa al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s motor racing federation chief and also an FIA world council member, admitted he could not guarantee the safety of F1′s travelling personnel next month.

“There are no guarantees in this world,” he is quoted by PA Sport, after admitting “disturbances” in Bahrain are still taking place.

“You could be (in danger) anywhere, even Silverstone.

“All I can guarantee you is you will be as safe as at any other grand prix.”

Asked if there will be extra security measures in place, Khalifa answered: “No, absolutely not. It will be life as normal.

“We’ve never had any violence towards foreigners simply because they are foreigners or in F1.”

F1 industry monitor Formula Money has found that the Bahrain grand prix is more commercially successful for teams and trackside advertisers even than Monaco, Spa and Monza.

The publication also said that if the 2012 race is cancelled, “the teams could lose $44.7m of prize money”.

Jean-Eric Vergne has predicted a good season ahead for Toro Rosso.
Along with Daniel Ricciardo, French rookie Vergne makes up the Red Bull junior team’s new driver lineup, following the ousting at the end of last season of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

Perhaps because their prize could be Mark Webber’s seat at the senior team in 2013, Ricciardo and Vergne set almost identical laptimes last week at Jerez as the new STR7 was tested for the first time.

And according to 21-year-old Vergne, the Ferrari powered car showed promising form overall.

“We hope to be one of the strongest teams in the middle of the classification,” he is quoted by the Italian website Tuttosport.

At the same time, Vergne is not getting carried away ahead of eight pre-season test days in Barcelona, starting next week.

“Barcelona could be different as Jerez was rather cold and the surface is very abrasive. I don’t think there’s much difference between the teams.”

Vergne is quoted by France’s L’Equipe: “What Jerez showed us I think is that we have a good basis.”

After Sunday’s Korean grand prix, Christian Klien could return to the wheel of the HRT for one or both of the remaining races of 2010.

That is the claim of the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, recalling the 27-year-old’s strong performance with the struggling Spanish team in Singapore recently.

With his apparent food poisoning gone, Japanese pay-driver Sakon Yamamoto returned to the Cosworth-powered car in Japan and Korea.

But Kleine Zeitung said HRT is now considering putting reserve driver Klien back in the car for Brazil or Abu Dhabi, in a last-ditch effort to beat Lotus to tenth place in the constructors’ world championship.

Lotus has been the best of the three new teams in 2010, but neither it, HRT or Virgin has scored a single point.

Lotus is currently tenth due to Heikki Kovalainen’s 12th place finish at Suzuka, but an eleventh for HRT or Virgin at Interlagos or Yas Marina next month would see Lotus overhauled.

Only the top ten constructors share in the annual distribution of prize-money under the provisions of the Concorde Agreement.

Klien said in Yeongam that 2010 has shown that some pay-drivers are not necessarily the best value for F1 teams relying on the lucrative Bernie Ecclestone income.

“There is one at Virgin and Renault, and possibly two at Hispania,” he said.

But Klien acknowledged that a surprise result for HRT with the F110 car is unlikely.

“We are the only team that, since the season opener in Bahrain, has not aerodynamically improved its car,” he said.

He is therefore more hopeful about 2011.

“In March next year, I definitely see myself in a formula one cockpit,” said Klien.

Renault and Force India have emerged as the most likely teams to keep Nick Heidfeld’s formula one career alive beyond 2010.

Although returning from Mercedes and Pirelli test roles to complete the current season with Sauber, Heidfeld has not been signed for next season by the Swiss team, who are instead pitting the Telmex-backed rookie Sergio Perez alongside Kamui Kobayashi.

But veteran Heidfeld, revealing in Korea this week that he does not carry any personal sponsorship, has emerged as a candidate to replace the disappointing Russian pay-driver Vitaly Petrov at Renault.

Team boss Eric Boullier, suggesting that a decision could be made by Abu Dhabi next month, told Auto Motor und Sport: “Both Heidfeld and Sutil have a chance.”

Renault’s thinking is that, with a good driver alongside Robert Kubica this year, the team might have beaten Mercedes to fourth place in the constructors’ championship — with prize-money arguably beyond even Petrov’s impressive dowry.

Adrian Sutil, with a solid offer to stay at Force India, is also an interesting candidate, especially with his EUR5 million in Medion sponsorship to offer.

The good news for Heidfeld is that Sutil is also in the running for the Williams seat, and his departure to either Renault or Williams would free up the place at Force India.

“That place is only free if Sutil goes,” Heidfeld confirmed.

And if Sutil does go, the 33-year-old German must be a strong contender.

“It is hardly conceivable that Force India will go into 2011 with Vitantonio Liuzzi next to Paul di Resta — one a newcomer and another who has been disappointing,” said the German media report.

Stefano Domenicali has admitted it will be “interesting” to see how Ferrari’s rivals tackle the remaining three races of 2010.

Of the title contenders, only the Italian team is solely focused on a single driver, while Red Bull and McLaren still endeavour to provide equality to each of their race drivers.

“In the other two teams they have both drivers that will fight (each other),” said team boss Domenicali, contrasting Felipe Massa’s role for the rest of the season in support of Fernando Alonso’s title challenge.

“I think it will be very important to see how all the drivers approach the next few races mentally, within the teams and against the other drivers — it will be very interesting,” he added.

The most obvious negative example of a team’s commitment to equality is 2007, when McLaren’s acrimonious duo Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso tied on points but both lost the championship against the odds to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Flavio Briatore, who is Mark Webber’s manager, insists Red Bull should order the Australian’s teammate Sebastian Vettel to fall in line.

“With only three races left, Red Bull should make Mark their number 1 driver,” he said in a new interview with the Times of India.

He thinks team orders and the notion of number 1 drivers have an obvious place in formula one, whose biggest prize is the individual drivers’ title.

“If I had been at Ferrari, I would have done the same thing,” said Briatore.

Felipe Massa insists he is happy with the Ferrari team’s “100 per cent” support during his current trough.

The Brazilian has been in the headlines of late; struggling with the F10 car, relegated to a subordinate role for Fernando Alonso’s title charge, and urged to get up to speed by his bosses.

Some Italian media interpreted recent comments by Luca di Montezemolo and Stefano Domenicali – including the Ferrari’s president’s claim that he has “waited with great perseverance” for an improvement – as an ‘Italian ultimatum’ for Massa.

But reporting on the team’s official website from Brazil, the 29-year-old insists Montezemolo and Ferrari are actually fully supportive.

“Even though I am going through a particularly difficult time right now with a lack of results in the last couple of races, I know I can count on the support of the team, who have always been behind me one hundred per cent, especially in the difficult times,” said Massa.

“Knowing he (Montezemolo) has faith in me is something I truly appreciate: he has an excellent understanding of the sport and he knows that you can sometimes go through tough times.

“The fact his support is always there is very important,” he added.

Massa’s latest comments also tackle speculation that he is no longer pushing as hard as possible, given that the biggest prize on offer is a third drivers’ title for his teammate Alonso.

“My desire to do as well as possible for me and for the team is the same as ever and that has been my approach to the sport ever since I started in formula one,” he insisted.

According to Daniel Ricciardo’s team boss this year, the 21-year-old Australian is ready to move into formula one.

Currently the reserve driver for Red Bull’s two F1 teams, Ricciardo was replaced by David Coulthard for the Suzuka race last weekend as he contended for the Renault World Series title in Spain.

He ultimately lost out to Mikhail Aleshin, a 23-year-old Russian whose prize will be a Renault F1 test in Abu Dhabi next month.

But Ricciardo is also destined for formula one, his Tech 1 team boss Simon Abadi insists.

“We’re all convinced that not only will he get into F1, but above all he’ll win there.  It couldn’t be otherwise,” he said.

Red Bull-sponsored Ricciardo is now leaving the Tech 1 team, and is tipped for a seat in the GP2 championship for 2011.

“I should be taking part in the F1 rookies tests in Abu Dhabi,” he said.  “We’ll see in the coming weeks what Red Bull has in store for me.”

In Abu Dhabi, Red Bull’s sister F1 team Toro Rosso will be running Ricciardo’s Tech 1 teammate Jean-Eric Vergne.

It was not an engine problem that slowed Sebastian Vettel and allowed teammate Mark Webber to pass him during the Italian grand prix.

The conspiracy theorists’ eyes widened during Sunday’s Monza race when the RB6 driven by Vettel, who is behind Webber in the world championship, temporarily slowed but then recovered pace after the Australian had passed him.

The young German was heard on the radio complaining of a loss of engine power, to which BBC pundit Eddie Jordan recommended him for a Bafta — a British acting prize.

Team boss Christian Horner later clarified that the problem was not caused by the Renault engine.

“At first we thought one of his visor tear-offs might have flown into the airbox, but it now looks as though his brakes were momentarily binding, probably as the result of hitting a kerb,” said the Briton.

The same conspiracy theorists were also pointing to an incident during Felipe Massa’s pitstop that put the Ferrari driver out of contention for the top two places at Monza, a race won by the Brazilian’s teammate Fernando Alonso.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said afterwards. “I just saw that they took a little bit of time to change the front right tyre.”

Lewis Hamilton has backtracked after initially refusing to sign a helmet for organisers of Abu Dhabi’s formula one race.

It emerged earlier this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps that every driver on the grid had signed the helmet that will be used for a prize, with only the 2008 world champion demanding to be paid.

But Hamilton, recently listed as F1′s highest earner behind Fernando Alonso, has now vowed to add his autograph, after initially misunderstanding what the helmet would be used for.

“I would never ask for money to sign anything,” he is quoted by News of the World.

“The only thing I ever ask is whether it is for charity.”

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh confirmed: “Lewis has said he will sign it.

“Both Lewis and Jenson do more signature signings than any driver I have ever witnessed and they do it with good grace.  They never ask for money,” he insisted.