Dr Helmut Marko has dismissed suggestions Red Bull is entering the 2012 season with a question mark over the legality of its new car.
With two days of pre-season testing remaining, the reigning world champions took a heavily revised car to Barcelona recently and guarded the rear exhaust solution intensely, with covers and – oddly – even umbrellas.

Initial analysis indicated it might be close to what the FIA will allow, following the strict clampdown on exhaust diffuser blowing.

Asked by the Kleine Zeitung newspaper if the FIA has completely banned the aerodynamic use of exhaust gases, Marko replied: “No.

“The regulations stipulate the position of the exhaust, within a certain parameter.”

As for the ‘cheating’ rumours, the team advisor insists: “It bounces off us completely. The way we see it, there are no grey areas and we are well within all the regulations.”

Meanwhile, FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting has admitted it is “quite likely” he will have to “revisit” the exhaust regulations for 2013.

Renault will try again with its Red Bull-style rear exhaust exits in Hungary next week, according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.
While Vitaly Petrov continued to use the front-exiting solution that has been on the R31 all season, teammate Nick Heidfeld tested the new layout on Friday at the Nurburgring.

But the German’s car was reverted to Silverstone specification for Saturday.

“It’s too early to consider running the rearward exhaust in anger because it isn’t competitive with the forward-facing yet, but it’s certainly something we are going to keep exploring and considering,” said technical director James Allison.

Added Heidfeld: “The new system definitely has potential but it’s very complicated. It’s hard to get something like that up and running so quickly.

“We didn’t expect it to just work straight away.”

Jul.7 (GMM) McLaren has urged formula one against making a knee-jerk reaction to the safety car rules.

Although Ferrari cried foul after Lewis Hamilton’s drive-through penalty in Valencia – where multiple drivers were also penalised for transgressions – Mark Webber said this week that Red Bull saw the events of the race as “normal”.

And although the Sporting Working Group is looking at the rules as a response to the Ferrari-powered controversy, McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale said on Wednesday: “I would be wary of knee-jerking.

“There wasn’t a lot wrong with last weekend (Valencia) and I don’t think we should be doing instant rule-making,” he told reporters during a teleconference.

Meanwhile, after Williams said it will test a blown rear exhaust for its car early this weekend, Neale confirmed that a similar approach will be taken by McLaren at Silverstone.

“If the drivers think it’s good it will stay on and we’ll run it,” he said, after the upgrade for the MP4-25 was tested during a straightline session.

“If not, we’ll continue to develop it.”

Neale also backed Red Bull boss Christian Horner’s view that the effect of the exhaust concept has been overstated.

“I would tend to agree that it’s not a case of bolt on your blown diffuser and then blow everybody into the weeds,” he said.

Jul.6 (GMM)  Williams will decide whether to race a Red Bull-like blown rear exhaust layout at Silverstone this weekend after Friday’s practice sessions.

With official confirmation on Tuesday, the British team will become the third team to emulate on track Red Bull’s low-exhaust concept, with engine gases diverted through the double diffuser to boost downforce.

“We’ll evaluate the exhaust during the practice sessions on Friday and will make a final decision as to whether we race it that night,” said technical director Sam Michael.

In the hands of Finnish test driver Valtteri Bottas, the new package made its debut on the runway at England’s Kemble airport on Tuesday.

Nico Rosberg has described the W01 as a “disaster”, as Mercedes moves closer to abandoning development of its 2010 car.

The 25-year-old German again outqualified his famous teammate Michael Schumacher at Valencia, but his prize was a mere twelfth on the grid.

He then scored no points in the race, despite the Brackley based team – winners of the 2009 world championship as Brawn GP – using a raft of improvements in Spain, including a Red Bull-like blown rear exhaust layout.

Rosberg was angry immediately after the race, and a week later has told the Cologne publication Express: “It’s a disaster.

“The problem with the tyres is well known to the team.  For weeks we have said we are coming to the front, but nothing happens — actually we go backwards.”

Rosberg admits he is “angry” with the situation.

“If you’re twelfth, behind both Williams – who two weeks ago were nowhere – what do you expect?  I went from Williams to Mercedes because I thought I would have a winning car.”

Boss Ross Brawn said the team will continue to work on the W01, but admitted the time will come for a new approach.

“We have not done a good enough job,” admitted the Briton.

“First we need to get our new aero package working properly, and depending on the result we will decide to what extent we then concentrate on next season,” added Brawn.
(GMM)

Little more than half a second separated runners for five different teams as Friday’s practice running concluded at Valencia.

The only car inside the top six without a so-called ‘blown rear diffuser’ was Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren, as Fernando Alonso led the pace with the heavily revised Ferrari.

Close behind were the Red Bulls, followed by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, while the Renault of Robert Kubica was sixth quickest featuring an impressive emulation of the Red Bull-style rear exhaust layout.

“I can’t talk in high enough terms about it,” BBC pit reporter Ted Kravitz said on Friday, adding that the R30′s solution “is wonderful”.

After Red Bull earlier looked set to walk the 2010 title, before McLaren looked to have taken the upper hand more recently, victory in Valencia could be hotly contested.

“The cars are merging together, we’re not seeing one or two teams moving into the distance.  It’s very exciting,” said British commentator Martin Brundle.

(GMM)