Ross Brawn has confirmed reports that Mercedes’ 2012 ‘F-duct’ will not be easily copied by rival teams.

We reported on Thursday that while Red Bull and now Ferrari worked quickly to copy Sauber’s clever exhaust solution, they are crying foul over the Mercedes F-duct.

Is it because they really believe it breaks the rules, or is the system simply difficult to copy?

Red Bull designer Adrian Newey was quoted by Brazilian O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper in Malaysia: “In regard to the aerodynamic (F) duct of the Mercedes, and sending the airflow from the back to the front, it is necessary to review the entire project.”

Mercedes team boss Brawn confirmed: “The opposition is so fierce (because) there’s a recognition it’s quite difficult to do.”

He rejected the rivals’ arguments about cost, however, insisting Mercedes’ system consists mainly of carbon tubing costing no more than thousands of pounds.

“It’s a very simple, cheap system, but not so easy to implement if you haven’t integrated it into your car,” said the Briton.

“This is at the heart of the frustration of some of our opponents. If someone could put it on their car easily, I promise you we wouldn’t be having these discussions.”

It emerged this week, however, that despite the FIA having consistently sided with Mercedes on the F-duct issue, Lotus’ technical boss James Allison has come up with two new arguments that will be put to Charlie Whiting next week in China.

“We would obviously be extremely disappointed if someone was to take a different view,” said Brawn.

“The FIA have been fairly consistent over their position so we have faith that they’ll maintain that consistency.”

HRT’s team boss has admitted installing KERS is an unlikely goal for the struggling Spanish team this year.

Luis Perez Sala said the new F112 was designed to accommodate the energy-recovery technology, but qualifying comfortably within the 107 per cent rule is a better target for now.

“We have a car we are yet to discover,” he told El Confidencial.

Indeed, HRT travelled to Australia last month having hardly run its new Cosworth-powered car, and failed to qualify for the season opener.

“It is designed to carry KERS but in the short term we will not (use it). We don’t think we’re going to race with it this year,” he added.

“So, in this respect, it’s not perfect. Right now, we have assembled the car in a hurry and so the private testing at Mugello, just after Bahrain, will be very important to us.”

Sala, having rebuilt HRT following the departure of team boss Colin Kolles, was speaking from HRT’s new headquarters at the Caja Magica (Magic Box).

“After Bahrain, we will have the cars here. From the Spanish grand prix, we will begin to function more effectively.

“In China and Bahrain we will improve things in the car and the team, but it is a slow process that will last all year.

“As I sit here (in Madrid), some people are in Valencia, others in Germany, England … the cars are flying to China and we need to address issues of reliability, not just performance.”

It is a tough situation for HRT, but Sala concedes that the ‘paddock perception’ of the team is that it has gone backwards since debuting in 2010.

“It is really our first year,” he insists.

He reveals that Bernie Ecclestone, once a staunch critic of the struggling backmarkers, is “quiet”.

“We have not had any problems, I think he is calm,” said Sala.

It is also a busy time off the track for HRT, as many rival teams are busily signing the new Concorde Agreement for 2013.

“There are teams that are more advanced than others; for us, the negotiations are still at the beginning,” he said.

The most obvious goals right now, Sala insists, are to have “a team that works together, has a reliable car and a small team that can develop it, and we’re around 105pc off the pole”.

Sauber has revealed it cannot afford to simply jump in and copy Mercedes’ innovative F-duct solution.

The small Swiss team had almost winning race pace in Malaysia last weekend even without the extra straight-line speed that would be provided by a system along the lines of Mercedes’ DRS-complimenting concept.

Despite their complaints about the legality of the system, there is little doubt the big-budget teams will be working frantically to emulate the Mercedes’ concept, which to date has the blessing of the FIA.

According to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, however, it will be a different story for the smaller teams.

“If we started now with a blank sheet of paper, we would be ready in two months,” said Sauber’s chief designer Matt Morris.

“But it would really add up. We have to ask ourselves whether it’s worth it for us, or whether we would be better off chasing the laptime with more conventional steps.

“On the other hand the big teams can handle a development like that in parallel to their normal programmes,” he added.

Also on the technical front, Auto Motor und Sport reveals that rival teams are closer to getting to the bottom of Red Bull’s ever-flexible front wings.

After the last day of testing in Barcelona, detailed photographs emerged of Sebastian Vettel’s stricken RB8 that appeared to show a sort of torsion bar inside the damaged front wing.

The report said the torsion bar may be pre-loaded in order to pass the FIA’s static load tests, but then bend at speed.

An FIA insider suggested the system, although permitted in private testing, “would not be allowed” at the actual grands prix.

 Hot on the heels of the new F-duct controversy, Mercedes has turned the heat back onto Red Bull.
Amid complaints from rival teams including Red Bull about its innovative aerodynamic concept aboard the W03, Mercedes’ Ross Brawn admitted he sensed a diversionary tactic.

“The discussion about our system has diverted the focus from the exhaust issue,” he said in Australia.

The FIA has clamped down hard on the exhaust-blown diffusers seen throughout the grid last year, but much pre-season chatter focused on some teams’ post-ban 2012 solutions that reportedly fly close to the boundaries of the new rules.

But now Germany’s Bild newspaper reports that Mercedes suspects Red Bull is also bending the rules in another area.

The report said Mercedes’ sound analysis indicated Renault-powered Red Bull is deploying an “illegal engine trick”, apparently involving the turning on and off of individual cylinders.

Mercedes’ competition vice-president Norbert Haug commented: “There is no official protest by us. But there are some questions that we are asking the FIA.”

Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko hit back: “No one will find anything. We comply with the rules.”

German specialist magazine Auto Motor und Sport, meanwhile, reports that Melbourne winner McLaren currently has the most sophisticated exhaust solution on the 2012 grid.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s illegal,” said Peter Sauber, “but it’s borderline.”

Teams including Mercedes, Lotus, Toro Rosso and Williams reportedly used much more conservative solutions in Australia.

“First we wanted to see what is allowed and what is not,” said Williams engineer Mark Gillan.

Marussia’s 2012 car made its track debut on Monday, despite having failed to pass all the mandatory FIA crash tests.
But because the action at Silverstone is the team’s ‘filming and promotional’ pre-season running, rather than an official test, it was allowed by the governing body and rival teams.

Designed by former Renault man Pat Symonds, the MR01 – fitted on Monday with demonstration Pirelli tyres – does not feature a ‘step nose’, uniquely in common with technical partner McLaren’s 2012 solution.

“It has been a long and frustrating wait for everyone in the team but we can now get back on track and start working towards the first race of the season in Australia next weekend,” said team boss John Booth.

The car must now pass the missing FIA crash test before Melbourne, and Symonds sounds hopeful.

“The component in question has actually passed an ‘unobserved’ crash test but has been performing inconsistently in the observed tests,” he is quoted by Reuters.

Also for a filming day, HRT’s 2012 car is making its debut on Monday, at the Circuit de Catalunya.

 Christian Horner has admitted Red Bull is keeping its cards close to its chest ahead of the 2012 season.
Under the glare of the F1 world’s eyes, the title-defending RB8 has been in action for four days at Jerez recently.

But when the Adrian Newey-penned car was officially launched, the team refused to host a traditional unveiling ceremony, instead releasing a short animated video.

“We didn’t want it photographed at the first opportunity from every side by our competition,” admitted team boss Horner to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Amid Red Bull’s meteoric recent success, rival teams have copied the blown diffuser and flexible wing concepts, and this year’s ‘step’ noses are all the result of yet another Newey design philosophy beneath the chassis.

“At last year’s launch at Valencia there were 100 photographers all doing their shots from the roof of the pits,” Briton Horner exclaimed.

“In no time at all, everyone knew every dimension of our car.”

So, in 2012, some mysteries about the RB8 continue to exist — one is the real or secondary function of the letterbox-style nose slot, and another is an unlaunched development of the exhaust layout.

“Last year we had to have the blown diffuser out early,” explained Horner, “because we had to find out how the exhaust gases affected the tyres.

“This time, the secret is in the detail, and you don’t want to give your competition too much of a helping hand,” he smiled.

Ferrari’s 2012 car will borrow some ideas from Red Bull and other rival teams in formula one.
That is the admission of chief designer Nikolas Tombazis, who is heading the project of what has been described as an “aggressive” change of direction for the famous Italian team.

But recently in Korea, Ferrari ran a 2012-style new wing that some observers analysed as similar to the philosophy seen this year in Red Bull’s dominant car.

“One can not ignore the competition, nor that Red Bull wins (the championships),” Tombazis is quoted by the website of Italian magazine Autosprint.

“But Red Bull are not the only ones with interesting solutions; there are also solutions to consider on the slower cars,” he said. “We don’t need to hide that.

“However I believe that next year’s car will have lots of different elements, all ours. It would be absolutely unfair to say that it is a Red Bull.

“It will be a Ferrari but it will be different in different areas, with new solutions in other areas. It will be a mix,” added Tombazis.

Mark Webber has contradicted recent reports that said he re-signed with Red Bull for 2012 because he had no other options.
The Australian revealed that, in fact, the interest expressed by rival teams when he was still on the market was “amazing”.

Webber, 34, has had a difficult season alongside Sebastian Vettel, failing to win a grand prix compared with his dominant teammate’s ten so far.

“What was amazing this year was the amount of response I had from other teams when I was about to sign with Red Bull,” he is quoted as saying by the Sydney newspaper Daily Telegraph.

“They were very, very interested in having a chat to me, which was another little reminder to me that things were going pretty well.”

Webber therefore leaves the door open to switching teams after next season, saying he considers retirement to be “incredibly overrated”.

“I’ll go again next year, (but) to say where I’ll head in 2013 and 2014, we need to another six months and see how we go,” he said.

As for 2012, he insists that F1′s youngest ever back-to-back reigning world champion Vettel is beatable.

“Yes, it’s possible, absolutely. I’ve seen enough, and knowing how close it is, it’s possible,” said Webber.

 Nico Rosberg has overcome a chink in his armour, Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn has revealed.
When Brawn GP became Mercedes’ works team ahead of 2010, the former Williams driver was signed to be the returning Michael Schumacher’s teammate.

Nearly two seasons on, despite an improved turn of form by Schumacher in the last three or four races, it is 26-year-old Rosberg who has been the faster.

But team boss Brawn did spot a weakness.

“I have to be honest, when Nico first arrived from Williams there were times when he was not fit enough,” he is quoted by the Telegraph.

Rosberg has since blitzed fellow amateur triathlete Jenson Button’s best time at the multi-sport discipline, and regularly posts Youtube videos proving his high fitness.

“I can’t criticise him at all on that score now,” admitted Brawn. “He goes above and beyond.”

Brawn’s praise comes amid speculation rival teams have expressed interest in Rosberg beyond his 2012 contract, with Mercedes’ Norbert Haug revealing he would like to sign him up for the long term.

Rosberg says he is buoyed by the team’s acquisition of well-known technical directors Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis.

“Mercedes are in the background and they are pushing flat out. Whatever it takes,” he said, admitting it would be special to succeed with what is effectively a German national team.

“The other thing that is special is I know that this team is betting on me; counting on me to deliver once I have the car to do so. And I’m very confident that I will be able to. I just have to be patient,” said Rosberg.

“Michael, of course, isn’t getting any younger. So theoretically it is all set up perfectly for me here.”

Ross Brawn has called upon rival teams to stop asking for “favours” before helping Renault and Team Lotus to change their names for 2012.

Because name changes are generally frowned upon by the sport’s officials, the Renault/Lotus issue has been referred to a meeting of the F1 Commission early next month.

But Mercedes team boss Brawn suggested it is not right that rival teams have a say.

The Briton told reporters that one “unfortunate (thing) about formula one” is that motives are not always pure.

“Unfortunately, if it becomes a trading position – and I guarantee those teams that are trying to change their name will have had approaches from other teams who want different favours paid in order to agree to the name change – that’s not correct,” he said.

As team principal, Brawn negotiated the change of Mercedes’ name from Brawn GP after the German carmaker bought his Brackley based team.

“I know that (teams asking for favours) happened to us when we wanted to change our name,” he revealed. “People sought to get favours from that decision. (But) it needs to be done in an adult way and not used in a divisive way.”

McLaren and FOTA chief Martin Whitmarsh agrees.

“I recall when there was a desire to change the (Brawn) team name to Mercedes, how a number of people conspired against that, which was a ridiculous position to take and very damaging to the sport,” he said.

“As Ross said, if (a team comes) up with a clearly silly, divisive name or a name that’s damaging to formula one, then we should be able to use good judgement to prevent it.

“But if it’s clear that the name change facilitates the funding and the retention of that team, then we shouldn’t use the polemics and politics of formula one to prevent it,” he added.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner agreed that F1 has to be “a little bit careful” when agreeing to team name changes because the sport needs to be able to consistently market its brands.

But on the other hand, “it doesn’t make any sense for a team to be called Renault when it isn’t Renault, therefore a name change in a situation like that makes sense”, he said.

Similarly, Whitmarsh agrees that “for there to be two Lotus teams doesn’t seem very sensible”.

Sebastian Vettel returned to the top step of the podium and extended his championship lead on Sunday by winning the Belgian grand prix.
But the German was sporting an angry face before the Spa-Francorchamps race, after rival teams refused to allow the Red Bulls to change their qualifying tyres due to blistering.

Pirelli had reacted to the situation by rushing spare tyres to the fabled circuit, but ultimately the likes of McLaren and Ferrari – and FIA chief Charlie Whiting – made Vettel and the sister RB7 start on their damaged tyres.

“We had a lot of concerns,” Vettel said after extending his points lead to 92 points over his teammate Mark Webber. “We didn’t feel too comfortable and we both had to stop pretty early.”

The Red Bulls finished one-two ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.

“No wonder Ferrari and Mclaren objected to them wanting to change them (the tyres) before the race,” said BBC commentator Martin Brundle.

Red Bull had not only the fastest car in Turkey but also the fastest pitstops, according to a Spanish sports newspaper.

The Marca daily said the championship-leading team’s sub-4 second pitstops, so crucial now in the era of Pirelli tyres and no refuelling, were aided by a spring-assisted front jack that drops the car to the ground faster than rival teams.

“Then, when all four wheels touch the ground, the car can be driven out immediately without hint of delay,” said the report.

Marca said Ferrari’s pitstops, in contrast, seem slower due to the manual jack not lowering the car as quickly, before the drivers comparatively struggle to get the 150 Italia back in motion.

The report speculated that, just as it is using different engine mapping settings in qualifying and the race, Red Bull might also have devised a superior computer setting for the engine during pitstops.

Like the innovative new Renault, McLaren’s unlaunched 2011 car reportedly also features a trick exhaust system.
That is the claim of Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, after the Lotus-sponsored R31 was revealed this week with the engine exhaust exiting at the bottom of the sidepod area.

“The MP4-26 apparently has the same trick,” said the German report, referring to the car that will be launched in Berlin on Friday.

A report in Italy’s Autosprint said the solution generates more downforce through the flow of air to the now mandatory single diffuser.

Renault has confirmed that the R31′s exhaust layout is the reason for the car’s slightly different engine note at Valencia.

“Renault’s thinking is in the right direction,” confirmed Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn. “We are working on a similar solution.”

Indeed, most teams’ final car specifications will not be released until shortly before the Bahrain season opener.

“There is always a certain amount of nervousness,” Red Bull designer Adrian Newey is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport. “The regulations we have now are pretty narrow.

“Having a stroke of genius is fairly difficult, but should the competition come up with something, we will respond.”

Last year, rival teams struggled to ape McLaren’s F-duct innovation because the basic chassis had to be homologated at the start of the season.

“That was only for last year,” said Newey. “So now we can respond to things if necessary.”

Team Lotus will have its 2011 car at the opening test in Valencia but is not planning a traditional “launch”, a spokesperson said on Monday.
After a visit to the team’s Hingham (UK) headquarters last week, owner and boss Tony Fernandes said the new car “is looking great” and “much slicker” than its predecessor but warned that Lotus “won’t do (a) conventional launch”.

But a spokesman clarified to Dutch website f1today.nl that, as per the plans of many rival teams, Team Lotus will be giving the new car its debut at Valencia early next month.

“We will present the car there,” he said, referring to the permanent Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste, on the outskirts of the Spanish port city.

Meanwhile, after an HRT spokeswoman confirmed that the Spanish team elected to leave FOTA due to “politics”, Fernandes said on his Twitter account on Monday that Team Lotus will not be following suit.

“We think Fota is very good and very important,” he said.

Adrian Newey has nominated 2010 as the worst season in his long formula one career in terms of “petty finger pointing” from rival teams.

As the Red Bull car designer’s RB6 model dominated the timesheets this year, some of the team’s championship rivals complained about alleged technical illegalities.

“It wasn’t a distraction, but it was an annoyance. I’ve got to say I’ve never known a season quite like this one for the petty finger pointing that’s gone on in the paddock,” Newey told Red Bull Racing’s official website.

The rivals’ complaints ranged from allegations of adjustable ride height systems to flexible floors and wings, moving the FIA to toughen a range of legality checks that Newey’s ultimately championship-winning car continued to pass.

But the rumblings persisted; including a common claim in the pitlane and media centre that the RB6′s drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were oddly able to up their pace by as much as three tenths in the crucial ‘Q3′ qualifying segment.

“It’s a myth!” insisted Newey.

“I’m not sure our Q3 performance has been particularly different to our Q1 and Q2 performance, to be honest.

“I haven’t bothered looking through statistics, but I think it’s one of these stories that starts when once or twice the drivers have improved in Q3 and suddenly everybody writes it and it becomes accepted without any real basis,” he added.