The key backer of the scheduled 2012 US grand prix insists he remains committed to the Circuit of the Americas project.

Construction in Austin, Texas, has continued amid raging local media speculation, as lawsuits are pending and questions are constantly asked about the viability of the project commenced by the now offside promoter Tavo Hellmund.

With 84-year-old billionaire Red McCombs now reportedly in the driving seat, he insisted it is “without question” he will continue to push the project forwards.

“Never has been any question,” McCombs is quoted by mysanantonio.com, after the authoritative Austin American Statesman newspaper had suggested he was on the verge of pulling out.

“I’m there for the full ticket,” McCombs insisted, although he admitted the row with Hellmund is proving a speed-bump.

“I will say we do expect to have some resolution to those issues in a timely fashion, but in dealing with the courts, I don’t know what a timely fashion is.”

He told reporters the circuit is now 60 per cent complete ahead of the inaugural November 18 race date.

A favourite for victory this weekend, Pastor Maldonado is reportedly lucky to be gearing up to race in the Principality at all.

Bild newspaper recalls that the Venezuelan, who defied his ‘pay driver’ critics by winning for Williams in Spain two weeks ago, was actually banned after an horror incident on the streets of Monte Carlo seven years ago.

Racing in the Renault World Series in 2005, the then 25-year-old ignored yellow flags before striking and severely injuring a marshal.

Organisers of the Monaco grand prix reacted by banning Maldonado from the street circuit for life.

Germany’s Bild revealed that Maldonado’s wealthy father intervened, promising to pay for the marshal’s recovery and rehabilitation from a broken back.

That intervention saved Maldonado’s future formula one career, as no team would hire a regular driver that cannot participate in the sport’s most famous race.

Maldonado is therefore a favourite for victory this weekend, with his Williams now acknowledged as arguably the best in the entire field when it comes to slow-speed traction.

And in his four seasons of GP2 between 2007 and 2010, Maldonado finished on the podium each time, winning and achieving pole position twice. In 2006, he won in Formula Renault.

Last year, in qualifying for his first Monaco grand prix, he qualified his then struggling Williams in eighth place, comfortably ahead of Rubens Barrichello.

“He is very good at Monaco,” agreed Barrichello.

In the 2011 race, Maldonado was fighting for fifth when he crashed with Lewis Hamilton.

“If the last sector in Barcelona is the marker, then the Williams will be unbeatable in Monte Carlo,” Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport quotes Dr Helmut Marko as saying.

The breakthrough success in Barcelona has piqued the interest of Maldonado’s native Venezuela, having not had an F1 points scorer since the ignominious Johnny Cecotto in 1983.

“My country will be following every second of the next race,” Maldonado is quoted by O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

“I love street circuits, this one in particular. My style of driving fits perfectly with Monaco. I am ready to get another great result.”

Jerome d’Ambrosio is the latest name linked with struggling Felipe Massa’s Ferrari race seat.

While Mark Webber or Sergio Perez are the Maranello team’s more likely longer term solutions, Ferrari may be looking simply for a stop-gap solution, having reportedly run out of patience for Brazilian Massa’s lack of pace and results.

The French sports daily L’Equipe named d’Ambrosio, the Belgian driver who lost his Virgin/Marussia seat at the end of last season.

He is managed by Eric Boullier, and now Lotus’ reserve driver.

Also named as potential substitutes for Massa in recent days were Nico Hulkenberg, Paul di Resta and Kamui Kobayashi.

But, according to L’Equipe, d’Ambrosio “has the advantage of being immediately available, giving Ferrari time to find a more permanent solution” for 2013.

Also ready to step in now is Adrian Sutil, the former Force India driver who is putting his career back together after the Eric Lux assault affair.

“I have no money to offer,” the German is quoted as saying. “After five seasons, people know what is my level. I want a normal salary, that’s all.”

Magny Cours is still in the race to host France’s return to formula one.

But according to RMC, the race’s former host – having run the French grand prix between 1991 and 2008 – has been handed a much higher price-tag than Paul Ricard.

Just before Nicolas Sarkozy lost the recent presidential election, the basis of an agreement to annually alternate a French GP with Belgium’s Spa Francorchamps was agreed.

The 2013 host would be Paul Ricard, the Bernie Ecclestone-owned circuit, and the race fee EUR 22 million.

Politics, it seems, have intervened.

Francois Hollande, France’s new president, is not a supporter of the grand prix, and vowed to re-evaluate the sport’s return to the country.

RMC reports that officials at Magny Cours have used the opportunity to “repeatedly” contact F1 chief executive Ecclestone in recent days.

The Nievre region is politically aligned with the new administration, but Ecclestone is reportedly “asking EUR 10 million more” for a race at Magny Cours.

Politics, however, could also be on Paul Ricard’s side, with Citroen’s former world rally boss Olivier Quesnel reportedly lined up to lead the F1 project.

Quesnel is reportedly close to FIA president Jean Todt, and the pair apparently met earlier this week.

Bahrain, the controversial island Kingdom, could have been central to McLaren’s decision to agree the terms of the next Concorde Agreement.

Bahrain’s ruling family, through its investment arm Mumtalakat Holdings, owns half of the famous British team.

The Times’ F1 correspondent Kevin Eason quoted a source as saying the link “pushed (McLaren’s) Concorde deal over the line”.

In return for signing up, Bahrain reportedly received a “pledge” that last month’s highly contentious grand prix would go ahead.

Eason also said it is possible that one of McLaren’s two Bahraini directors, rather than the obvious choice Ron Dennis, could be appointed to the F1 board once the sport is floated on the Singapore exchange.

Bernie Ecclestone denied the 2012 Bahrain grand prix and the Concorde Agreement deal were linked.

“It was nothing to do with the Bahrain race (going ahead),” the F1 chief executive insisted. “But McLaren liked the deal.”

Intriguingly, however, F1′s post-stock market floatation chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe has defended the controversial decision to push ahead with Bahrain last month.

“The race was exploited by the opposition in Bahrain, not vice versa,” he told the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung. “That was not interpreted correctly by the media.

“If groups want to exploit sporting events for their interests, then the worst thing you can do is give way.”

Brabeck also compared Bahrain to England.

“In what countries are there no riots?” he asked rhetorically. “A year ago there were riots in London — should the Olympic Games now be cancelled?”

Tuesday was a new experience for many F1 regulars; a rare in-season test on an unfamiliar track.

Some teams wanted the three-day session to take place at Barcelona, saving money ahead of the Spanish grand prix at the same venue, but Ferrari pushed hard – reportedly even waiving the circuit rental fees – for its circuit in Tuscany to get the nod.

The day did not start well weather-wise, but the spectators – reportedly 25,000, and visibly more than in Bahrain last weekend – came nonetheless.

“This is my first time here,” Sebastian Vettel, whose teammate Mark Webber kicked off proceedings for Red Bull on Tuesday, told Auto Motor und Sport.

Australian Webber, second fastest after the first morning behind crowd favourite Fernando Alonso, has been here before.

“I once did a sports car race here,” he said.

“It’s a bit too fast (for F1).”

Indeed, of the grand prix circuits, only Monza is faster. Nico Rosberg, in the Mercedes, gave Mugello a big thumbs up.

“1 to 10, I’d give it 8.5,” the German grinned.

It is an important test for Ferrari, but – contrary to earlier rumours – there is no ‘B’ car.

Alonso told La Gazzetta dello Sport that Mugello and then Barcelona next weekend will not make or break Ferrari’s championship.

“We need to catch up race after race,” said the Spaniard. “If we do poorly in Barcelona, it doesn’t mean our season is over.”

Romain Grosjean was given a familiar instruction by his team during the recent Bahrain grand prix.

The Finnish broadcaster MTV3 reports that the Frenchman was told that his teammate “Kimi (Raikkonen) is faster than you”.

“Do not hold him up,” the radio message reportedly ended.

In 2010, when team orders were still illegal, Felipe Massa was famously told “Fernando (Alonso) is faster than you” shortly before the Brazilian gave up the lead of the race to Alonso.

Ferrari was fined $100,000.

Today, team orders are allowed, but Lotus denied it instructed Grosjean to let 2007 world champion Raikkonen pass before the Finn finished second in Bahrain.

“We don’t want to play team orders,” Lotus team principal Eric Boullier insisted in Bahrain, “so we let them race normally and what happened, happened.”

Ferrari will not run all of its planned car improvements at the Mugello test this week.

“My information is that the new single seater is not ready,” reported Livio Oricchio, the correspondent for O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

There has been speculation that, following Ferrari’s troubled start to the new championship with its F2012 car, the changes for the forthcoming Barcelona race will be so sweeping that it might be called a “B” version.

But technical director Pat Fry reportedly told Oricchio that Ferrari designers are “staying with the (current) front suspension”; a reference to the Maranello based team’s innovative use of pullrod technology this year.

And the well-informed journalist Dimitris Papadopoulos adds that, even though the Mugello-spec Ferrari will have a new nose, sidepods and wings, “there will be no new chassis”.

Australian F1 fans are this week rejoicing in local hero Mark Webber even more than usual.

Pressure applied by the Red Bull driver was reportedly instrumental in returning the sport to the live television airways in Australian capital cities.

Fans were outraged with Australian broadcaster Ten’s decision to take formula one from its high definition channel One, which in turn meant viewers in Perth and Adelaide had no live coverage at all.

Angry fans bombarded Ten’s Facebook and Twitter pages with criticism abuse, and urged Webber to help their cause.

Webber obliged.

“Come on (Ten), I hear our great Australian motor sport fans are not happy with rescheduling of timings of the GPs,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Let’s go live.”

Within an hour, Ten reinstated Perth and Adelaide’s live broadcasts — and in full HD.

“The next time Ten wants to tangle with its motor sport audience, perhaps they should ask Mark Webber first,” read a report at The Australian newspaper.

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.”

Bernie Ecclestone has met yet again in London with David Douillet, the French sports minister.

The F1 chief executive confirmed this week that a deal to alternate an annual calendar spot between France and Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps beginning next year is now close.

“Spa have agreed; apparently they’re going to do it in (Paul) Ricard,” Ecclestone told the BBC.

The French sports daily L’Equipe reports that the 81-year-old’s latest meeting with Douillet is “another step towards the return of the grand prix de France”.

The meeting, reportedly confirmed by “several sources including those in Belgium”, is Ecclestone’s second with Douillet in 2012.

A Daimler shareholder has called on the German car giant to pull its works Mercedes team out of formula one.

Fund manager Ingo Speich, of the Daimler shareholder Union Investment, said at Daimler’s annual general meeting that he is disappointed Mercedes has lost ground to road car rivals Audi and BMW.

“Mercedes is no longer the measure of all things in the premium sector,” he is quoted as saying by Die Presse.

Speich referred to “a lost decade” for Daimler, and called on the company to follow BMW’s recent lead and pull out of formula one.

His speech reportedly received applause from other shareholders.

Mercedes is the biggest formula one team yet to follow the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull in signing a new Concorde Agreement beyond 2012.

Construction of the facilities for the 2013 New York grand prix is speeding ahead.

At the same time, there remain grave doubts about the Texas project, despite the permanent Circuit of the Americas venue being scheduled to host its inaugural US grand prix in November.

The Austin American Statesman newspaper has this week quoted county commissioner Sarah Eckhardt as saying: “It appears they (the organisers) don’t have the cash flow to prepare the site for the event.”

It is a very different story so far at Port Imperial, where the American grand prix will take place mid next year on the streets of West New York and Weehawken, amid the Manhattan skyline.

Wheels.ca published a photo depicting the advanced construction of the pit and garage building, which will reportedly house the F1 teams in June next year.

Ferrari is planning to follow Sauber’s lead when the first major development of the disappointing F2012 car is unveiled soon.

“No doubt about it,” Fernando Alonso said after winning the Malaysian grand prix, “they (Sauber) were quicker than us.”

The Italian magazine Autosprint have mischievously christened the updated Ferrari a ‘Ferrauber’, explaining that the rear of the ‘B’ F2012 will be very similar to Sauber’s impressive C31.

Right at the end of the pre-season test period, Red Bull rolled out a Sauber-esque solution at the rear of Adrian Newey’s 2012 car, the RB8.

In the wake of the blown diffuser clampdown, the Sauber exhaust layout reportedly flies close to breaching the spirit of the 2012 rules, but the FIA has declared it legal.

“We are not in a position to be able to say exactly how much aerodynamic influence each individual system has,” said the governing body’s technical delegate Charlie Whiting.

“Hence, it’s impossible for us to say ‘That’s too much, or that’s ok’. The aim of the new regulation was to ensure that we don’t have to do that,” he explained.

So, Ferrari looks to be the next in line to copy Sauber’s rear solution, particularly as the small Swiss team already uses Ferrari’s engine and gearbox.

It is believed the new 2012 Ferrari gearbox is narrower than last year’s unit.

Autosprint reports that the F2012 ‘Ferrauber’ will also be similar to the Sauber in the area of the sidepods.

Jenson Button reportedly received an “offer” from Ferrari before re-committing last year to the McLaren team.

The Brazilian news agency Agencia Estado said the Briton held talks with Ferrari prior to October last year, when his new ‘multi-year contract’ with his famous British employer was announced.

Estado said Ferrari courted Button, 32, as a potential replacement for struggling Felipe Massa, who is now tipped to be succeeded in 2013 by Sergio Perez.

Asked to comment, Button said: “I was happy to know that my work was respected.

“I had a listen to what some of the other teams could offer me.”

The revelation in the Brazilian press follows Button’s comments last week about Fernando Alonso.

“If Lewis (Hamilton) wasn’t in formula one, I personally feel it would be exciting having Fernando as a teammate,” he told the Daily Mail.

“Is he the fastest in the sport? Probably not, and he would probably say the same, but he is very intelligent.

“One of the ways in which we are (similar) is in terms of wanting a team of people around us. We need that support to really achieve.

“So yeah, he’d be exciting to work with, to work with and to be an enemy, which I’m sure he would be,” added Button.