Franz Tost has admitted team owner Red Bull will decide Toro Rosso’s 2012 driver lineup.
A mid-season driver change had been expected for the energy drink’s secondary team this year, but Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi duly upped their game and have kept their places for now.

Red Bull’s rising star Daniel Ricciardo therefore made his debut last weekend for the struggling Spanish team HRT, but a full-time place at Toro Rosso is regarded as likely for the 22-year-old Australian next season.

“He can’t drive for Toro Rosso (in 2011) because we have two race drivers who are doing a good job,” confirmed team boss Tost to redbull.com.

“What our driver pairing will be in 2012, I don’t know yet. This will be decided by Red Bull at the end of the season.”

The FIA’s rule clarification about adjustable ride-height mechanisms has no impact on Red Bull, boss Christian Horner and designer Adrian Newey insist.
Race winner Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull Racing RB6 Formula One World Championship, Rd 3, Malaysian Grand Prix, Race, Sepang,

Race winner Sebastian Vettel drives into parc ferme after winning the Malaysian GP

Following speculation that the ride-height of the RB6 car is somehow being altered between qualifying and the race, the governing body said last week that such a system would theoretically be a breach of the regulations.

But Horner says the FIA is “completely happy” with the car after detailed inspections, adding that it will be transported to China in an identical mechanical specification to the one raced to first and second places in Malaysia.

And Newey told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport: “We have neither an illegal, automatic system, nor a legal one like Ferrari’s which allows an adjustment at the pitstops.”
Adrian Newey (GBR) Red Bull Racing Chief Technical Officer with with Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull Racing RB6. Formula One World Championship, Rd 2, Australian Grand Prix, Preparations, Albert Park, Melbourne,

Adrian Newey examines the RB6 cockpit with Sebastian Vettel

However, it also emerges that while Horner said recently he would welcome an FIA rule-tweak to legalise a ride-height change between qualifying and the race, Red Bull actually voted against the proposal.

Auto Motor und Sport said a second team also vetoed the rule change.

But the reason for Red Bull’s veto reportedly has nothing to do with a secret system aboard the RB6, but instead the fact that its design is more efficient than its rivals with both high and low ride-heights.

The team’s German driver Sebastian Vettel told Sport Bild magazine: “It is always the case in formula one that the fastest cars are observed closely by the competition.

“There is always speculation and it’s actually a compliment, because it shows that we are feared,” the 22-year-old added.

Sebastian Vettel, Winner! great start from attack championship.
“What a day! At the start, I realised that I had a good start past Nico (Rosberg). I was then able to gain on Mark; it’s a long sprint down to Turn one and I had an advantage, so I took the chance into Turn 1 and just made it through! Mark had a better exit out of Turn 2 though Turn 3, but it was very slippery and we both tried to push. We are here to fight, but you should always keep respect and I think we both had respect for each other”, said Vettel.

“If Mark had been in my position I’m sure he would have done the same. After that it was a question of getting away from our competitors. I could see that Mark and I had the same pace – he was a little quicker in the beginning, but I was trying to save my tyres so I could pull away before the stop. The second stint was extremely long and it’s very hot here – I didn’t stop sweating”, addded driver.

It’s very physical and at some stages I was hoping for rain just to get a bit of a cool down! Yesterday was extremely difficult with the conditions, but today it stayed dry. We have a magnificent car and the key once again was to pace yourself and watch your tyres. Bridgestone did a good job bringing two compounds here that worked well. It’s a very good result for us after two races where we didn’t finish where we wanted.

Driver have words to Team: “Thanks to the team – it’s crucial not to panic in that moment and stay relaxed as it’s a long season. Sitting here on Sunday afternoon after finishing in first position is the best result we can get. On top of that, Mark is in second place. It’s a big plus for the team and a lot of points for us, I’m very, very happy.”

Car 6 Mark Webber, 2nd, Start Position: 1st
“We know these days with the strategy and the way the races unfold that the first part of the race is crucial. I got a bit of wheel spin at the start and Seb got a tow into the first corner. I didn’t know where Nico was, so I braked late. Both Seb and I were on the limit to make the first corner. I had a little bit better exit coming out of Turn 2 and the fight continued into Turn 4. We had a chat to Christian at the start of the race and he said “Boys, behave yourselves!” and we did. The spirit and the chemistry in our team is awesome and we fight very hard. You saw that today – it was a good fight between Sebastian and I. It could have gone either way, but in the end he did the job at the crucial stage and deserved the victory. A one two finish for us as a team is sensational. The cars ran very well and it was a nice come back for us after a tough few races where we didn’t finish as we wanted to. I’d like to be one spot further up, but it’s a great result for the team. We executed a beautiful weekend, so well done to Red Bull and also to Renault, the engines were great today.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A fantastic team performance. The race ultimately came down to the first 500 metres; both drivers had excellent starts. Sebastian got the inside line into Turn 1, Mark gave him enough space and they fought each other through Turn 2 and into Turn 3. That was the difference between them today, they matched each other tenth for tenth in pace and it was great to see the team achieve a faultless one two finish. It’s been a huge amount of hard work. Obviously we’ve had
frustrations in the first two races, but the team has stayed focused. We’ve had tremendous support from the factory this weekend and people gave up their Easter to ensure that our cars had the best opportunity for finishing at arguably one of the toughest races. Both cars behaved impeccably, so it puts us right back in the Championship and gives everyone a lot of confidence.”

Fabrice Lom, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: “Woo hoo! What a good result – it’s the one we deserved since the beginning of the season, but due to reliability problems we were not able to make it. Now it’s done, the reliability is there and it’s a one two finish – it’s great. After all the difficult times we are a team and are back in the fight. Our big competitors didn’t score a lot of points so it’s a really good result for us and the engines behaved very well in this heat. We are fully happy today. “

The second day of official tests in the Valencia Ricardo Tormo Circuit have started.  Today’s surprise was the attendance of ex-champion, Lewis Hamilton.  Climate conditions are better than Monday’s.   Massa and Kobayashi are leading the time table since early this morning, confirming yesterday’s good impression of the two single-seaters (Ferrari y Sauber).

The morning session started as yesterday’s, Massa runs through the racetrack and in a little while stops the chronometer at 1:12.393, near the best time he got yesterday (1:12.547).  After him, came Hamilton with 1:13.366.

After this first period, Massa starts to ‘exploit’ his Ferrari, stopping the time at 1:11.722, and pulverizing yesterday’s times.  The Brazilian pilot seems has adapted quite well to the F10.  However, a little bit later, Kobayashi goes up to the second place in the time table with 1:12: 384, with a scarce difference of 662 from Massa.  Yesterday’s story seems to repeat itself with the battle between Ferrari and Sauber.

Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) was the third fastest of the morning with a better lap of 1:12.508, even though, one who also improved yesterday’s time was Nico Rosberg with the Mercedes GP.  The German managed a better lap of 1:12.899, almost a second faster than the one he got on the first day.  Rubens Barrichello’s Williams (1:13.377), Kubica’s Renault (1:13.659) and the Swiss, Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso (1:14. 826) were behind.  The latter was the only one who improved yesterday’s times.

Better conditions

The improvement of, both weather and the asphalt atmosphere conditions, as well as the quantity of rubber in the racetrack helped to lower the times.  All the ‘Scuderias’ tested the components and as yesterday, ran with different fuel amounts.

1. Massa (56 laps)
2. Kobayashi (29 laps)
3. Hamilton (48)
4. Rosberg (41)
5. Barichello (45)
6. Kubica (59)
7. Buemi (41)