Paul di Resta has hinted he would leap at the chance to replace Michael Schumacher at Mercedes.

The German marque’s Brackley based chief executive Nick Fry this week earmarked impressive Force India driver di Resta, earlier a Mercedes protege, as an ideal successor should Schumacher not stay beyond his 2012 contract.

Asked about Fry’s comments and the media speculation on Wednesday, di Resta said in Monaco: “It’s always nice to have the press interest and people looking out for you, but I need to stay focused on doing the best job I possibly can.”

He told Sky Sports News: “It’s no secret that I want to be a race winner and world champion — and to do that, I need to be in a great car.”

With the F1 world now returned from Bahrain, the sport is assessing the fallout of one of the most controversial grands prix in history.

The drivers were conspicuously quiet over the saga in the island Kingdom, but – with no contract tying him down – former Force India driver Adrian Sutil admitted he was glad he was not there.

“In a situation like that, it is probably better not to go,” the German said on Sky Deutschland.

“On the one hand, the decision was made (to go to Bahrain), on the other hand, it’s very difficult when there are so many problems in a country.”

Red Bull reserve driver Sebastien Buemi, who has family living in Bahrain, does not agree at all.

“I arrived on Monday and I had no problem — maybe there were a few more police than two years ago, but nothing happened to me,” the Swiss insisted on Austrian Servus TV.

Force India and Sauber, however, witnessed Molotov cocktail attacks on their treks to and from the circuit.

And Caterham team spokesman Tom Webb told the Sun that there was “one minor incident when one of our (hire) vans slowed down in traffic and its occupants saw a local youth on the side of the main road brandishing a bottle with a rag stuffed in its neck”.

World champion and race winner Sebastian Vettel also admitted the feeling was tense in the paddock throughout the weekend.

“It was not easy for anyone,” the Red Bull driver admitted, according to SID news agency, “but I’m glad that nothing happened to any of us (in F1).”

And the Telegraph quotes Vettel adding: “Hopefully, we come back in the future when everything’s a little bit safer.”

Reuters reports that Vodafone, the main sponsor of the half Bahrain-owned McLaren team, sent no staff to the country and expressed concerns to the British outfit.

But Jim Wright, an F1 sponsorship expert, told the Guardian that he thinks while the sport’s image took a beating last weekend, sponsors will be happy.

“Most teams handled a difficult decision very well,” he said. “On that basis I think a lot of people would be pleased with that and happy to get involved with them.”

The television audience was also unaffected – even boosted – with the BBC reporting more viewers for Bahrain than Australia and Malaysia, and Germany revealing similarly strong figures.

Still, there remains criticism.

“Now is an opportunity to reflect,” former F1 driver Alex Zanardi told Tuttosport, “and make sure that major sporting events are assigned only to governments that deserve the honour of hosting them.

“Ecclestone is brilliant and has made formula one what it is, but he can’t administer races at any cost and above all else,” insisted the Italian.

Due to security fears, Force India sat out a practice session on Friday so that staff could return to their hotels in daylight.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone was reportedly enraged, and according to rumours got his revenge by instructing Formula One Management’s television cameras to ignore the Silverstone based team’s cars in qualifying.

“There was a bit of fuss about what we did,” deputy team principal Bob Fernley is quoted by Spain’s AS newspaper, “and it was not easy, but I think it turned out to be the right response.

“We had a lot of pressure, our attitude was not well received,” he confirmed, “but I think that we had a duty of care to our employees, and to do the right thing by the team.”

With Red Bull the latest to hold a trophy aloft this year, yet another potential 2012 champion has emerged.

In theory, back to back world champion Sebastian Vettel, the Bahrain grand prix winner, was always a contender for a third drivers’ crown this year.

But his RB8 was not a race winner until Sunday, after McLaren, Mercedes and even Ferrari had tasted the first victory spoils so far this season.

It was said that – amid the extraordinary field of 2012 – Adrian Newey’s latest creation was simply in the league of other midfielders including Lotus, Sauber, and perhaps even Williams and Toro Rosso.

But as Dr Helmut Marko remarked at the chequered flag: “Those pronounced dead live longest!”

“We never wrote them off,” McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh insisted to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, “because we knew that they had a good car and that they only needed to find the key.

“This season is really crazy; more exciting than we would like!” the Briton admitted. “And now we have to say Lotus are also contenders.”

German Vettel won in Bahrain from pole, but even he admitted that the weekend was a surprise.

“After Australia it seemed that McLaren had a supercar and it would be difficult to beat them, at least in the short term,” he is quoted by O Estado de S.Paulo.

So even the experts are at a loss after the initial ‘flyaway’ phase of the new world championship.

“We know that we know nothing,” beamed Vettel after his victory, referring to the oddly see-sawing balance of power in 2012, blamed mainly on the Pirelli tyres.

“It is almost impossible to predict in advance how the different tyre compounds are going to behave on race day,” he is quoted by Der Spiegel.

“You have an idea, but nothing more.”

Two experts have tipped Lotus to shine this weekend at Sepang.
The black and gold E20 car was a standout of the winter pre-season, but Kimi Raikkonen qualified poorly in Australia while Romain Grosjean was punted into early retirement by Pastor Maldonado.

Seeing the chequered flag first in Melbourne was McLaren’s championship leader Jenson Button, but he said he is expecting a “strong fight” this weekend.

“Of course we’re not relaxing,” said the Briton.

“Both Red Bull drivers were very quick in the race (in Australia), and I think we can expect further strong challenges (in Malaysia) from Mercedes and Lotus,” added Button.

Also anticipating a Malaysian push by Lotus is team ambassador Jean Alesi, the former Ferrari race winner.

“The car should suit Sepang well,” said the Frenchman.

“In testing in Jerez and Barcelona it was particularly good in the fast turns, which is what defines the Malaysia track.

“Lotus appear to be quicker than everyone except McLaren,” added Alesi.

He is worried, however, that the former Renault team might not be able to keep up its pace throughout 2012.

“Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari have much bigger budgets,” said Alesi.

“They have a brilliant team at Enstone but it is really tough to match the development pace of the biggest teams, and I think that will be Lotus’ challenge this year.”

 Most leading specialist publications see Red Bull as the continuing pacesetter in formula one.
In their recent analysis, outlets including Auto Motor und Sport (Germany), La Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy) and Autosport (Britain) believe world champion Sebastian Vettel again resides the best car ahead of the 2012 season.

“They still have an advantage, but it’s smaller,” agreed Jenson Button, according to Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo.

His boss Martin Whitmarsh added: “Red Bull has a solid, fast car, better than us in slow corners, but we’re better in the fast ones.”

Switzerland’s Sonntagsblick, however, sees McLaren actually ahead of the energy drink-owned team, with Mercedes in third place and Force India a surprise fourth.

“Red Bull is faster (than Mercedes),” said the German marque’s boss Ross Brawn, “and clearly a little more than we had hoped for,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

The international publications said Lotus, amid their chassis flaw problems, rank anywhere between third (Auto Motor und Sport) and eighth (Blick).

According to the same press, Ferrari is in trouble, ranking no higher than fifth in the lists of the aforementioned publications — and the authoritative Auto Motor und Sport predicting nothing short of a disastrous season for the fabled Italian team.

Felipe Massa is quoted by Spanish reporters as saying Barcelona was “a little more positive” than the Jerez test recently, and he was asked to rank the development of the new F2012 car out of ten.

“Probably more than five. There is still much to do, but now we are closer than we were,” said the Brazilian.

As for whether the car is a race winner, Massa added: “I hope so, but it’s very difficult to say anything in testing,” he is quoted by Finland’s Turun Sanomat.

Indeed, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi ended last week’s Barcelona test with the quickest time, but Blick’s veteran correspondent Roger Benoit warned against taking that too seriously.

“When with the same tyres at the same time, (Mercedes’ Nico) Rosberg was a second faster per lap than Sauber’s Japanese,” he said.

“In testing, the truth is seldom revealed — if the teams used lie detectors, they would all be laying exploded around us.”

According to Britain’s Sun newspaper, Kobayashi confirmed: “I don’t think McLaren and Red Bull are slow.

“We don’t really wish for wins or podiums. For us this is a bit too far away.”

Instead, the midfield battle looks extremely tight, with Brazilian correspondent Livio Oricchio surmising that Sauber as well as Force India, Toro Rosso and Williams are all in there.

“It will be race to race,” Toro Rosso’s Giorgio Ascanelli told the Italian press. “From what we’ve seen so far, this fight will be amazing.”

And Oricchio concluded: “As for HRT and Marussia, who have not even presented their 2012 cars, they undoubtedly have capable people, but also almost as many difficulties.”

Nico Rosberg has named Mark Webber as his toughest teammate in formula one so far.

The German made his grand prix debut alongside Australian Webber at Williams in 2006, moving four seasons later to Mercedes.

While at Williams, Rosberg also raced as teammate to Alex Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima.

Rosberg’s Mercedes move in 2010 coincided with seven time world champion Michael Schumacher’s return to formula one at the same Brackley based team, where they have been teammates ever since.

When asked by Germany’s Sport Bild who his toughest teammate has been, he answered: “Mark Webber in 2006, then Michael.”

And he hopes he will be in front of his famous current teammate yet again in 2012, particularly with Mercedes hoping its new W03 is a race winner.

“To be the first German to win in the new Silver Arrow would be an absolute dream for me,” said Rosberg, whose father Keke won the title in 1982.

Michael Schumacher is not as good as Sebastian Vettel or Nico Rosberg, but he’s still up to speed with Mark Webber.
That is the view of former ten time race winner Gerhard Berger, who until 1997 shared the circuits with F1′s only seven time world champion.

Der Spiegel quotes the Austrian as saying Schumacher, while once the fastest driver in the sport, no longer holds that mantle.

The case in point is qualifying, where Rosberg has utterly dominated Schumacher this year at Mercedes.

“In my opinion Rosberg is on the same level as Vettel; in the right car he could win races and titles,” said Berger.

“Schumacher can no longer beat them, but he is still as good as – for example – Mark Webber.”

Berger is therefore highly critical of the apparent place-swapping between Rosberg and Schumacher at Spa recently, with the younger German dropping behind to save fuel while Schumacher drove ahead on the 20th anniversary of his debut.

Norbert Haug denies Mercedes imposed team orders, also insisting that Schumacher “would not accept such gifts”.

But given the safety car period in Belgium, the German team’s claim about Rosberg running out of fuel has been ridiculed.

Former Sauber driver Karl Wendlinger told Servus TV: “Without the safety car you would have to believe that Rosberg would have run out of gas with ten laps to go.”

Added Ferrari engineer Dieter Gundel: “It is possible to make an error in calculating the fuel level before a race, but you then have to wonder why Mercedes made the error only with one car.”

David Coulthard will not be driving a formula one car on the streets of 2012 US grand prix host city Austin this weekend.

The 13-time F1 race winner was slated to drive the Red Bull show car pending the approval of a city filming permit.

“Due to feasibility, a formal formula one show car demonstration that is open to the public will not be executed this week,” the energy drink company said in a statement.

Red Bull, whose F1 show car is already in the US, added that it is “excited about the upcoming US grand prix … and eager to drive awareness of the race and the sport in general to a broad audience”.

Red Bull team figures were out in force on Wednesday, playing down links with Kimi Raikkonen and suggesting Mark Webber will be staying in 2012.

It has been reported that the energy drink owned team had targeted world rally and NASCAR driver Raikkonen, F1′s 2007 world champion and a former race winner for McLaren and Ferrari, for next year after Australian Webber openly ignored team orders during the British grand prix on Sunday.

But team owner Dietrich Mateschitz is quoted by the German news agency SID: “There is still no doubt about Mark’s contract extension.

“He feels comfortable with us and within the team is very popular,” he told the Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten.

“He can not get a better car, and we can not get a better driver from the market,” added Mateschitz.

Team boss Christian Horner was reportedly furious with Webber’s insubordination at Silverstone, but Mateschitz seems less bothered.

“I understand that he wanted to come further forward; he would be a bad racer if he did not try,” said the billionaire.

As for the Raikkonen rumours, Mateschitz’s F1 right-hand man Dr Helmut Marko told TZ: “Kimi Raikkonen is not and will not be an issue for us. He definitely will not drive at Red Bull.

“These rumours are far-fetched and total nonsense,” added the Austrian.

Marko added that when Red Bull is ready to replace Webber, it will be with a driver from the company’s own talent pool.

Red Bull is planning to pair Sebastian Vettel with his friend Kimi Raikkonen in 2012.

That is the sensational claim of the high-circulation German newspaper Bild-Zeitung, less than two days after Mark Webber ignored team orders at the end of the British grand prix.

2007 world champion and Finn Raikkonen, 31, left formula one at the end of 2009, and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was quoted on Monday as saying “I believe he has put F1 behind him”.

Bild said the plan to replace Australian Webber with Raikkonen is “top secret” but divulged the information of a source “at the highest level”.

German Vettel remains friends with Raikkonen, the pair often meeting in Switzerland to play badminton. Asked recently who his ideal teammate is, the reigning world champion replied: “Kimi.”

The former Ferrari and McLaren race winner had talks with Red Bull last year and has now “apparently changed his mind” about wanting to stay in rallying and NASCAR.

And referring to Webber, Red Bull’s driver manager Helmut Marko told Bild recently: “We have other options but I don’t want to talk about them now.”

The report also said Raikkonen told a Finnish journalist recently: “I have never said that my formula one career is over.”

Jarno Trulli has denounced as “embarrassing” the F1 naming dispute between his employer and the carmaker Lotus.
The lack of an official or amicable resolution before the start of the 2011 season means the Italian 36-year-old is set to compete this year with Team Lotus against the newly-rebranded Lotus Renault GP.

“Which is the real one? We don’t know, it’s embarrassing, surreal,” Trulli, a former Toyota driver and race-winner with Renault, told Sunday’s Gazzetta Sportiva newspaper.

Davide Valsecchi is visiting HRT’s German headquarters this week.

Last month, it was reported that the 23-year-old is a candidate to make his formula one debut with the Spanish team in 2011 if he can find enough funding.

Valsecchi, a race winner in GP2 this year, was the quickest of any of the young runners with F1′s three new teams at the Abu Dhabi test in November.

“Italy should support him,” team boss Colin Kolles was quoted as saying.

Italiaracing magazine said Valsecchi’s strong pace in Abu Dhabi “surprised” Kolles and his management colleagues, who therefore invited him to Germany for a meeting.

Felipe Massa furrowed his brow in Singapore when an Italian journalist dared to ask about the health of his world championship chances.

Brazilian Massa is mathematically still in the title chase, but the media is billing 2010 as a five-way contest between his Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso and the Red Bull and McLaren drivers.

29-year-old Massa is increasingly seen as a bit-part to number 1 Alonso’s push.

So when asked by the Italian journalist about his chances, Massa angrily reacted: “On some questions, you could probably think of the answer.

“But I will say it again.  The world championship for me is over.”

Massa started from the rear of the grid in Singapore due to a gearbox failure in qualifying, but Brazilian journalist Livio Oricchio was unimpressed with his performance under the floodlights.

“He stayed behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams most of the time,” he wrote in his column for Jornal da Tarde.  “But Massa has the same car as (race winner) Alonso.

“Ferrari can be accused of having team orders, but not of giving its two drivers different cars.

“Alonso proved that the car is very fast.  But we didn’t see a single attempt from Massa to overtake his opponent, even when his tyres were new.

“What we’re seeing is a disproportionate difference in competence between the two Ferrari drivers,” charged Oricchio.

The press was also hard on Lewis Hamilton, who for the second race in a row retired due to a collision.  The Mirror said: “Lew blew it … again”.

But Hamilton vowed to stay aggressive.

“It’s the way I am,” he said in the Spanish newspaper El Pais.  “That’s me, and I think this aggression is my main strength.”

Mercedes has denied it is building a car especially tailored to Michael Schumacher’s driving style for the 2011 season.

The seven time world champion has struggled on his return to formula one this season, with a car designed essentially by Brawn when the Brackley based team thought Jenson Button would be driving it.

Schumacher has openly written off the rest of the 2010 campaign, amid suggestions he is waiting for the W01′s successor that will be tailored to his driving style.

“We are not building a car around Michael; we just want to develop a good car,” team boss Ross Brawn is quoted by the SID news agency.

“There is no special characteristic,” he insisted.

But Brawn had already acknowledged at Monza that Schumacher’s 2011 campaign depended in part on “how good the Pirelli tyre is” next year.

Schumacher commented: “I cannot remember a car that was designed to a specific style of driving.

“The only thing is a continuous development with the drivers, which can go in certain directions. But first of all it’s about making the car as fast and as efficient as possible,” he added.

Brawn said the gestation period of the 2010 car means it will never be a race winner, but he is hopeful about the future.

“We think we understand why we are where we are with this car,” said the Briton.

In addition to Mark Webber’s spectacular crash, it was for many observers, the issue of the race weekend in Valencia: Lewis Hamilton obsolete in a safety car period, the medical car and it occupies just 13 laps later with a drive-through penalty.

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso then assumed the race, they have manipulated the Grand Prix of Europe, because Hamilton had in his view, by the late penalty to no disadvantage.

According to former racing driver Martin Brundle, however, these accusations without any basis. “Alonso’s emotions have common sense superimposed,” former McLaren driver writes in his’ BBC’ column. Hamilton was by his maneuvers Ferrari ultimately not harmed. Instead, the Italians might as well be upset with race winner Sebastian Vettel.
“Etc. It was just fate and chance, would come out when the safety car,” said Brund. It was just very difficult, the timing of driving out the safety car always right. Brundle already suspected other reasons for Alonso’s excitement: “It was certainly not conducive to his whim, as was the Ferrari-powered Kamui Kobayashi on fresh tires passed him on the penultimate lap.”