Valtteri Bottas has given some insight into Williams’ decision to switch to Renault power for this year.
For the past two years, the famous British team has been independent UK marque Cosworth’s highest profile customer.

But for 2012 the Grove based team has switched to Renault, the maker of world champion Red Bull’s engines, as well as fellow customers Lotus and Caterham.

“The Renault engine is more powerful,” revealed Williams’ test driver Bottas.

“It is also smaller in size, which is good for the aerodynamics, and has a lower fuel consumption,” he told the MTV3 broadcaster.

The 22-year-old Finn, who is managed by Williams co-owner Toto Wolff, will drive the FW34 on Wednesday at the Barcelona test.

He will also contest 15 of this season’s Friday morning practice sessions.

“This season will definitely be better than the last,” said Bottas, “when it was Williams’ poorest in history.”

Cosworth still supplies the struggling Marussia and HRT teams.

Toro Rosso counts Caterham – the 2010 start-up team that has failed to score a single point since inception – among its close rivals for 2012.
Last season, the Red Bull-owned rookie team Toro Rosso finished the championship in eighth place with 41 points, well clear of Williams and behind Sauber and Force India.

“Our direct competitors are Sauber, Force India and Caterham,” the Faenza based team’s boss Franz Tost is quoted by autohebdo.fr.

Formerly Lotus, the Tony Fernandes-led Caterham team has been the best of the new 2010 teams including Marussia (nee Virgin) and HRT.

“Caterham has managed to build a good infrastructure,” Tost is quoted as saying.

“They have the Renault engine and a KERS from Red Bull and it means their package is good.

“They have two experienced drivers and I expect they will become our rivals.

“Our goal is to take seventh place in the championship — we must do better than last year,” added Tost.

Red Bull insists the champagne is not yet on ice, but the team’s owner has already decided what present he will be giving Sebastian Vettel for winning the 2011 world championship.
“The same as last year,” Dietrich Mateschitz said in an interview this week with the German news agency DPA. “His championship-winning car.”

In 2010, when German Vettel became F1′s youngest ever title winner, Mateschitz delivered the Adrian Newey-inked RB6 to his home in Switzerland.

Red Bull’s team management are coy over the 24-year-old’s chances of wrapping up a second consecutive championship in Singapore this weekend, but billionaire Mateschitz is more honest.

“We anticipate that, once again, we will achieve both of the titles this year”, said the famously low-profile Austrian, 67.

He has high praise for Vettel, who enters this weekend’s Singapore night race with a lead so big that his only championship rivals have already given up the fight.

“The fact that Sebastian is highly capable, we knew,” said Mateschitz. “That he would be able to deliver it so consistently over a long time has surprised many people.”

Bild newspaper said Vettel’s championship present, the RB7 chassis that he has unofficially dubbed ‘Kinky Kylie’ – but minus a EUR 200,000 Renault engine – is worth almost a million euros.

“Slowly, his garage in Switzerland is becoming too small,” confirmed Red Bull driver manager Dr Helmut Marko.

So what does Vettel think about his championship present?

“I am not thinking about that because I haven’t won anything yet,” said the driver at Zurich airport before boarding a flight to Singapore.

Vettel told the German-language Eurosport that he is not counting on celebrating his second title this weekend.

“When it happens does not matter. As long as we are still first after the final race, that will be ok,” he said.

The RB7′s designer Newey insisted that Vettel will not be playing a points-counting game under the Singapore lights.

“Seb doesn’t want to cruise to the world championship, he really wants to earn it,” the Briton told The Sun newspaper.

Sebastian Vettel was unbeatable on Saturday, his McLaren rivals admitted.
The Italian grand prix weekend looked set to be closely fought between Red Bull and the famous British team, but Vettel duly scored pole position by an easy half-tenth margin.

“Sebastian was mega quick today. That was untouchable,” said fellow front-row sitter Lewis Hamilton.

His McLaren teammate Jenson Button, third, agreed: “We were never going to challenge Seb.”

Red Bull entered the Monza weekend bouyed by good pace on the high speed Spa layout, but still wondering if the Renault engine would be good enough for the long straights.

“We did not think we would be on pole by such a big margin at a track that for the last two years did not suit us,” admitted Vettel.

Team boss Christian Horner, speaking to BBC One television, agreed: “It’s a massive margin, and was completely unexpected.”

Rubens Barrichello’s future at Williams remains clouded.
The Brazilian veteran recently admitted he has not yet been offered an extended contract by the famous British team.

He then arrived at the Nurburgring announcing that talks about 2012 with Williams chiefs should be “straightforward”, after bosses Sir Frank Williams and Adam Parr both indicated a deal is likely.

But long-time Blick correspondent Roger Benoit revealed that he asked team principal Williams inside the Nurburgring’s Dorint hotel if the team will line up next year with Barrichello still alongside Pastor Maldonado.

“Not necessarily,” Benoit quotes Williams as smiling.

The wheelchair-bound 69-year-old then suggested that it is not the well-backed Venezuelan rookie Maldonado whose seat is in doubt.

“Many people believed we only have him because of the money. But he (Maldonado) is also super-fast, straightforward and the team loves him.

“With a Renault engine, we can give him a better car in 2012,” added Williams.

Rumours about the health of the team currently known as Renault refused to disappear at Silverstone.
Boss Eric Boullier recently dismissed the rumours, hinting that they were triggered mischievously at Monaco by his predecessor Flavio Briatore.

But six weeks later, there was once again similar talk in the paddock of the British grand prix, not long after Williams was announced as engine supplier Renault Sport’s newest partner team for 2012 and beyond.

Apart from the continuing naming connection, a customer engine contract and their historical links, the French marque is no longer involved with the Lotus-sponsored Renault team.

And Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the team might even be powered by Cosworth engines next year.

“This is fiercely denied by those in charge,” the magazine acknowledged.

However, the Williams situation is perhaps relevant, particularly with the fanfare of the Renault engine announcement involving former works champions Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve at the team’s Grove headquarters last week.

As for Lotus Renault, “poor results and apparently still pending payments for the engines do not make things any better”, Auto Motor und Sport added.

Dominant team Red Bull stands to lose a chunk of laptime if diffuser exhaust blowing is banned after Sunday’s Canadian grand prix.

The team’s engine supplier Renault argued for a delay of the ban until after Montreal on the grounds that, because of the basic architecture of the engine, it is a reliability issue.

Adrian Newey explained in Monaco that the Renault V8 opens to full throttle when the driver is not pressing on the accelerator due to “exhaust valve cooling”.

Reliability aside, Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport and Autosprint in Italy claim that the driveability of the Renault engine will also be badly affected by the exhaust blowing ban.

The reports say the 2.4 litre Renault was designed specifically to produce an aerodynamic effect off-throttle, while others have struggled to adapt.

“We lost several engines testing this,” confirms Mercedes’ Norbert Haug.

Auto Motor und Sport estimates the total ban of exhaust blowing will cost some Renault and also Ferrari-powered teams as much as eight tenths per lap.

FIA president Jean Todt is resolute: “It (exhaust blowing) is a pointless consumption of fuel.”

Auto Motor und Sport said the Renault engine is designed to be at open throttle when not accelerating, with Ferrari also at risk of reliability and driveability problems in the event of the ban.

Specifically, Ferrari argues that is opens the valves in that situation to reduce pressure in the crankcase, while Mercedes and Cosworth have an entirely different approach to their valve philosophy.

Heikki Kovalainen has given the strongest sign yet that he is staying at Lotus for 2011.

The Malaysian team is yet to confirm its driver lineup for next year, but it is expected that Finn Kovalainen and fellow grand prix winner Jarno Trulli are staying put.

Kovalainen told Finland’s Turun Sanomat that he is expecting the new outfit to take a major step forward in 2011: “That’s why I chose this team,” said the former Renault and McLaren driver.

“It was a risk at the time to go with an entirely new team, but I’m happy with the choice that I made and what we achieved this season,” added the 29-year-old.

Lotus Racing, likely to field an entirely new name for 2011, will be powered by a Renault engine fitted to a Red Bull gearbox next season.

“Expectations are high,” admitted Kovalainen. “It would be a disappointment if we did not make a step forward.”

The team’s technical boss Mike Gascoyne confirmed that Lotus is happy with Kovalainen.

“We always had confidence in Heikki and he delivered for us what we expected from him,” he said.

“He performed well and he’s also a nice guy, making it very enjoyable for the team to work with him,” added Gascoyne.

Bruno Senna, the nephew of the great Ayrton Senna, is in talks to switch for 2011 from struggling HRT to F1′s best new team Lotus.

That is the claim of Brazil’s Globo Esporte, noting that the move would reinvoke the fabled Lotus/Renault/Senna combination of the 1980s.

Rookie Senna, who turned 27 earlier this month, has had a difficult debut season in 2010 at the wheel of the slowest and least developed car on the grid fielded by the Spanish newcomer Hispania.

“Bruno Senna is close to getting something better,” said the Portuguese language report.

“He is in talks with Lotus and these talks are already well advanced,” Globo added, nominating Jarno Trulli as the driver most likely to leave the Malaysian team in the event that Senna is signed.

The report cited sources “close to the driver” as insisting that Senna cannot finalise the deal until his sponsors agree, adding that these talks with “several companies” are also already taking place.

Globo Esporte also said Lotus’ announcement of its Renault engine deal for 2011 will be made next weekend at Interlagos.

Late triple world champion Ayrton Senna won his first grand prix at the wheel of a Renault-powered Lotus in 1985.

He won a further 5 grands prix in a Lotus-Renault, as well as 24 podiums, 16 pole positions and 150 points before moving to McLaren.

Christian Horner hopes Sebastian Vettel’s engine situation does not further dent his championship chances.

The Red Bull driver retired from the lead of the Korean grand prix last Sunday with a sudden and catastrophic failure of his Renault engine.

The 2.4 litre V8 unit that failed was the eighth he has used in races so far in 2010, but it had successfully completed 1600km of its projected life of 2000km.

But the other engines still available to the German are also quite high on mileage, which explains why Vettel did relatively few laps in practice last weekend.

“It’s obviously not an ideal situation,” team boss Horner said when asked about Vettel’s engine situation going forward.

“Hopefully it will have a negligible effect on him,” he added.

A gutted Red Bull team on Sunday night was ruing a catastrophic Korean grand prix, where Mark Webber lost the championship lead, and Sebastian Vettel the race.

The immediate attention centred on pole sitter and race leader Vettel’s Renault engine failure, which Helmut Marko said took the team and its supplier by complete surprise.

“It did,” the Austrian said on German television RTL. “It’s our first engine failure this year.

“The mileage was at about 1600 kilometres, and normally the average (life) is 2000-2100,” added Marko.

“Something broke in the valve area, so it’s the first time. On Friday we were using an engine with much higher mileage,” said the team’s motorsport consultant.

He advised German Vettel, 23, not to give up.

“It’s not easy, but there are still 50 points to get,” said Marko. “Alonso is on his last engine. We’re not giving up.”

Renault apologised for the failure.

An eventful and marathon inaugural Korean grand prix, beginning in boredom and ending in darkness, has changed the face of the 2010 world championship fight.

Championship leader Mark Webber lost his 14-point lead with a crash on the slippery track, and his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel failed to pick up the pieces because of a Renault engine failure.

“Totally my mistake,” admitted Australian Webber after his crash, which also took out Nico Rosberg.

The result means Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso – who laughed hysterically on the radio at the chequered flag – is the new championship leader, 11 points ahead of Webber with two races to go.

“Nothing has changed really,” said the Spaniard. “We all know the new points system. Anything can happen.”

After driving through the carnage and finishing second, Lewis Hamilton is now third in the championship, 21 points behind but four ahead of Vettel.

“It’s obviously not a nice moment,” said Vettel, the pole sitter and leader until his failure, as the race finished in near-darkness.

Jenson Button, 12th at the finish and among the slowest cars on track, is now a distant 42 points behind.

“I’m not really in it anymore,” said the reigning world champion on BBC television.

The Red Bull team does not fear straight lines as much as it did earlier in 2010, according to a German media report.

After dominating on the slow, corner-dominated Hungaroring in August, the RB6 was subsequently beaten to the flag at Spa and Monza; circuits punctuated by long stretches of asphalt.

Then, before he dominated at Suzuka, Sebastian Vettel said the Japanese layout was “designed for” the Adrian Newey-penned car, even though the Renault engine was not expected to be strong on the front straight and the long run between Spoon and the chicane.

Team consultant Helmut Marko has been vocally worried about F1′s forthcoming trip to Korea, with the new layout featuring twistier sections separated by some very long straights.

After Mark Webber and the team pulled out leads in both world championships at Suzuka, the Austrian said “we need a cushion, especially for the next race”.

“One of the three long straights (in Korea) is 1.2 kilometres long,” Marko groaned.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, however, the RB6 is now performing better on the straights, thanks to the latest development of the car’s F-duct.

The report said Newey has essentially aped the Renault team’s F-duct solution, and as of Suzuka the RB6 is producing better straight line speed.

“We are no longer losing so much on the straights,” confirmed Vettel.

Confirmation of Jarno Trulli’s extended stay at Lotus next year is due before the forthcoming Korean grand prix.

That is the claim of the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, insisting that the Italian’s current teammate Heikki Kovalainen has already penned a new deal for 2011.

It was reported from Suzuka that Trulli, 36, was bullish about the future, even though it had been expected that Lotus’ 2011 lineup would have been confirmed by now.

Turun Sanomat said Finn Kovalainen – who is currently staying in Kuala Lumpur at team chief executive Riad Asmat’s house – signed his new deal on the Sunday morning of the Italian grand prix last month, but that Trulli’s salary talks were ongoing.

The report added that Trulli still hasn’t signed a contract, but that news on the driver front is sure to be announced before Korea.

Lotus has been making many announcements recently, including the termination of its Cosworth contract, an altered name for 2011 and the Red Bull technical deal.

Confirmation of the Renault engine deal is still pending.

Lotus joked about the situation after qualifying was rained off at Suzuka last Saturday, revealing that the team “has nothing to announce for the first time in several weeks”.

A spokesman has confirmed reports that aspects of Korea’s new formula one track are not completed.

The FIA’s Charlie Whiting this week approved the Yeongam venue ahead of the inaugural race in less than a fortnight.

But media reports have indicated that safety requirements and the asphalt aside, the entire venue is not finished.

“Landscaping work to the surrounding area and parking lots still remains to be done,” a spokesman for organisers KAVO told the Korea Herald.

“But we are finalising last-minute touches and can be ready on schedule,” he added.

After the weekend’s Japanese grand prix, the F1 teams’ equipment and cars are already en route to the facility 320 kilometres south of Seoul.

Red Bull’s Helmut Marko admitted the team is slightly worried about the layout, with the curvier sections punctuated by straights not suitable to the RB6′s Renault engine.

“One of them is the longest straight on the calendar,” he groaned, according to Auto Motor und Sport.

Nico Rosberg, however, expressed concerns that the crucial top layer of track has only just been laid.

“The only concern is the new asphalt,” the Mercedes driver is quoted by Welt newspaper.

The media report recalled June 1985, when the Belgian GP at Spa had to be postponed for months because the new asphalt surface disintegrated.