Vicky Chandhok experienced a classically harrowing moment on Wednesday when greeted by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone at the new Buddh circuit.
The first Indian grand prix has endured a tumultuous build-up, but the Hermann Tilke-designed venue has ultimately been delivered just on time.

“You are always nervous,” Tilke admitted to the German news agency DPA. “Little things do go wrong at a (circuit’s) first grand prix.”

One of those ‘little things’ was the presence of mouse droppings all over the brand new team facilities buildings, and faulty wiring that had to be fixed, an unnamed member of the Williams team revealed.

Tilke told O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper: “We did the project and advised the work. We are not responsible for the buildings.”

And Germany’s Die Welt revealed that there was a worrying glitch during a safety test this week when key marshals could not find the medical centre even after 20 minutes.

Vicky Chandhok, the boss of India’s motor sport clubs, admits he felt a rush of adrenaline when sternly greeted by Ecclestone on Wednesday.

“I had Charlie (Whiting) drive me round the track this morning, and afterwards Bernie came up, slapped my face and he said to me, How did you put up such rubbish?” he told the Daily Mail.

“I looked at him aghast and said, What are you saying?” added Chandhok.

“Then he laughed, gave me a big hug, a slap on the back and said ‘Great job’.”

Second place improved Lewis Hamilton’s mood in Korea, but not much.
The unshaved 2008 world champion was strangely miserable as he started from pole in Sunday’s grand prix, but he at least managed some small smiles after finishing the race behind Sebastian Vettel.

His mood, however, had triggered some wild speculation, including that he has split with his girlfriend, joined the celebrity religion Scientology, or had a raging row with his McLaren bosses.

On the latter theory, Hamilton told reporters: “Whoever wrote that, it’s a load of rubbish; I am very happy.”

But he also admitted that a single second place was not going to completely brighten his misery after what he calls the “worst year” of his career.

“So if you expect me to be all happy-doolally after a race like that you’re not going to hear it,” said the 26-year-old.

On Monday, the British Mirror and Daily Mail tabloids are reporting that Hamilton is on the verge of splitting with his Pussycat Dolls girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger.

But the British driver on Sunday indicated that it is the specialist motoring publications that worry him the most.

“Time will tell,” Hamilton said when asked if his performance had “redeemed” him after a run of bad races.

“It depends what you guys write. It depends how people perceive how the race went, how my attitude is, how I behaved. I am sure it is a few brownie points that I scored.

“It’s (about) positivity, positive stories, positive fans, it’s standing on the podium smiling. It’s that energy that you get that stays with you until the next race and then you do it again,” he added.

Jarno Trulli on Friday sounded confident about his future with Team Lotus, despite sitting out this weekend’s German grand prix.
The Italian veteran, eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new power steering system for the T128 car, is not racing this weekend as boss Tony Fernandes hands over the seat to Indian reserve driver Karun Chandhok.

But Fernandes insisted when he announced the Chandhok news that Trulli can expect a new contract for 2012.

“This clears the air for so many people who have been talking rubbish,” the 37-year-old is quoted by the Daily Mail at the Nurburgring.

“I couldn’t talk before, but things have to happen at the right time. The future is looking bright,” added Trulli.

Trulli confirmed he will be back in his deep-green car in Hungary next weekend, when the steering system he so dislikes will be replaced with an updated version.

“I’d rather do this (sit out a race) now so I can start a complete new season from the next race,” he said.

Lewis Hamilton on Friday scoffed at claims Red Bull’s rivals are nipping at the heels of the reigning championship leaders.
“Certainly the McLarens look competitive,” Christian Horner said at Sepang, after Mark Webber dominated the opening practice session before enjoying a smaller margin in the afternoon.

“Mercedes is not too far away,” added the Red Bull boss. “I don’t think Ferrari have shown their full hand yet,” said Horner.

McLaren’s Hamilton, however, said he was not buying into the story.

“I think they are always blowing smoke,” said the 2008 world champion. “I think it’s a load of rubbish really, I think they’ve got another half a second at least to pull out.”

Friday’s fastest Webber admitted he is in a strong position.

“I think we will see pretty much the same picture (as in Melbourne),” said the Australian. “We will be pretty competitive here — that’s my guess.”

And his teammate and championship leader Sebastian Vettel also acknowledged Webber’s pace.

“He was a bit faster today,” said the German, “so I need to find some more from myself tomorrow.”

The British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) insists it has not run out of money to complete sweeping renovations at its British grand prix venue Silverstone.
The circuit-owning BRDC announced on Thursday it is seeking investors to help realise “the full potential of Silverstone”.

A new pit and paddock complex is being constructed at the Northamptonshire venue, and there have been rumours that money is running short.

But the BRDC insisted that if a “suitable investor” is not found, “we will continue with the development ourselves, albeit at a slower pace”.

Some observers interpreted the announcement as a desperate plea for more money, but BRDC chairman Stuart Rolt dismissed that view.

“You can see our accounts every year and they will tell you we are making money,” he told the Telegraph.

“If there’s one thing I want to get across it is that the rumours of impending financial peril are complete rubbish. These are exciting times,” he added.

Mark Webber has rubbished attempts to pre-empt the outcome of the five-driver race to the 2010 title.

With three races to go, the Australian driver has a comfortable 14 point lead, and a complicated formula devised by a doctor of physics at the UK’s Reading University has tipped Webber to still be in front at the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile, a Spanish newspaper this week used another probability formula to calculate the percentage changes of the five world championship protagonists

And even the more mathematically-challenged statisticians have surmised that another win and a couple more podiums will be enough for Webber to guarantee his first title.

But the 34-year-old said in Korea: “It’s ridiculous to start calculating things because a lot of things can happen.

“As you say, I win the next two races, it’s all over anyway. Just keep doing our best, that’s the most important thing,” added Webber.

Rubens Barrichello, meanwhile, echoed a widespread view in the paddock that Webber would be a very popular champion.

“For some reason, I’m with (supporting) Webber,” the Brazilian said on Thursday.

“I think since Silverstone, when he spoke his mind and strengthened his position in the team, probably many people think the same,” he revealed.

Michael Schumacher’s decision to return to formula one this season was “a disaster”, according to his former Ferrari teammate.

Eddie Irvine, who openly acknowledges he lacked the talent to beat the German during their time together in the late 90s, thinks the 41-year-old should now admit it is he who is struggling for raw pace.

“On paper, his return wasn’t a bad idea,” the Ulsterman told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview.

“But he had already lost something in 2006, when Felipe Massa was often in front of him.  Three years later he has lost even more.

“The result?  It’s a disaster,” said 44-year-old Irvine, who has made a fortune in property investment.

He said Schumacher should stop making “excuses” for struggling to keep up with Nico Rosberg in the sister Mercedes.

“It’s ‘this is a new team, with new people’.  But in his first year at Ferrari, the car was rubbish but he won three races,” said Irvine, who in the sister car finished the 1996 world championship in tenth place.

In contrast, Rosberg is currently seventh in the W01, three places ahead of Schumacher.

Irvine also countered suggestions that Schumacher is good at building a team, for example by leading the path on development matters.

“Ferrari took him for his talent; he had no idea about how the car was behaving.

“Michael is a great driver; you can give him a suitcase with four wheels and he’ll drive it quickly.  Schumacher’s strength is the driving, that’s all,” said Irvine.

Bernie Ecclestone on Sunday insisted next month’s Korean grand prix will go ahead.

It has emerged that despite September 21 being the originally belated date for the Yeongam circuit’s final inspection, the FIA is not now expected to sign off the track until next week or even later.

A South Korean delegation is in Singapore this weekend, triggering the latest round of paddock rumours about whether the race will take place — including talk of a looming typhoon.

“We’re happy with the circuit at the moment,” F1 chief executive Ecclestone told the Korea Herald newspaper from Singapore.

He played down the rumours that the track will not be ready.

“I don’t take a lot of notice of rumours,” said the Briton, explaining the reasons for the delayed inspection.

“We waited for an obvious reason, because the weather’s been bad.  The federation (FIA) seems very happy with what’s happened, with everything that will happen,” he added.

Ecclestone also denied suggestions that FIA rules will prevent Korea from holding a race in 2011 if the inspection does not go well.

“We signed a contract,” he said.  “I can’t discuss this (outcome), because it’s going to happen.”

Ecclestone admitted that he does not expect a big crowd for October’s inaugural event.

“People are reading complete rubbish in papers that it is not going to happen, so I don’t estimate a big, big crowd,” explained the 79-year-old.

In the days after the Silverstone front wing furore, Mark Webber was recovering from food poisoning.

“Bloody prawn, mate,” he said at his Buckinghamshire home during an interview with the Daily Mail.  “Vicious, aren’t they?”

The news “led to jokes that it may have been tampered with at the barbecue hosted by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner last Sunday,” teased Telegraph correspondent Tom Cary.

Webber, 33, cried foul both before and after winning the British grand prix, because a newer specification front wing was taken from his RB6 and fitted to the sister Red Bull driven by his teammate Sebastian Vettel.

The Australian’s anger has since subsided, but he admits that his comments last weekend were “a message to my team”.

“I don’t want any favouritism; just a fair deal.  You need to make sure you don’t have any headwinds.  You can’t afford anything that makes it a little bit harder for you,” he said.

But Webber denies he is bitter towards 23-year-old Vettel, or that his mechanics are at war with the other side of the garage.

“Seb did nothing wrong all weekend.  After the race, I spent 20 minutes with Seb’s mechanics.

“The stories that the teams on the two sides of the garage aren’t getting on is total rubbish.  You don’t need to have enemies in life.  I just want a fair crack,” he added.

According to well-known French commentator Jean-Louis Moncet, a notable meeting involving the Mercedes GP team took place on Monday.

Moncet wrote in his Auto Plus blog that the video conference would involve the Stuttgart based Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche, and the Brackley based team’s Ross Brawn, Norbert Haug, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.

He said the “various statements by members of the team to the media” would be discussed, even though a Mercedes spokesman rubbished the report.

And although Mercedes insists the comments were taken out of context, Moncet could be referring to Rosberg’s quoted claims about being frustrated by a lack of development progress.

There have also been hints from Rosberg, Schumacher and Brawn that development of the 2010 car could be stopped in favour of focusing on next year’s project.

But in a team statement late last week, those figures insisted the team is still working hard on the W01.

“It’s been tough for us over the last few races but we are working hard to improve and I am confident we will get there,” said Rosberg.

However, a headline in the German daily Die Welt said “Expectation and reality are far apart at Mercedes”.

The article included Zetsche’s warning of early this year when he said that “If there are clear indications that we can use our money more effectively outside of formula one, we will have to take a new decision”.

And former Jordan and Jaguar designer Gary Anderson said: “The people around Brawn understand the car they have built for 2010 in the same way they understood it in the second half of last year.”

But Bernie Ecclestone thinks Mercedes needs more time to get up to speed with its own team.

“Of course it takes a bit of time to revive a myth, but I am sure they are on the right track and that the Silver Arrows will come back to full strength,” said the F1 chief executive.

(GMM)

Jun.16 (GMM)  According to the latest rumour, Felipe Massa may have agreed a ‘Barrichello-clause’ in the pages of his new Ferrari contract.

As the 29-year-old arrived in Turkey mid last week, the Italian team said Massa will keep racing a Ferrari in 2011 and 2012, contrary to speculation that Mark Webber or Robert Kubica might replace him.

But so far in 2010, Massa has struggled to match the pace of his new Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso, including in Turkey, where he was outqualified before driving a messy race and crossing the line a lap down.

The latest edition of the Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell reports rumours that one of the conditions of Massa’s contract renewal was that he agree to be the number two driver.

‘Barrichello clause’ is a reference to Michael Schumacher’s former Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello, who famously raced to support the championship charges of the team’s favoured driver.

Massa is quoted as responding to the rumours: “Rubbish”, while Alonso refused to comment.

On the occasion of Ferrari’s 800th grand prix, Tony Fernandes made sure the Italian team’s celebratory champagne tasted sour.

After proving the strongest of the three new teams in 2010, the Lotus team boss stared mockingly at the qualifying timesheets in Turkey and recalled the pre-season words of Luca di Montezemolo.

The Ferrari president had derided the new teams, accusing them of reducing F1 to little more than a glorified junior series.

But Lotus is now closing on the tail of the established teams, including Force India whose Tonio Liuzzi was just 1.2 seconds clear of Jarno Trulli at Istanbul Park.

And “The team who has done 7 races (is) 2.4 seconds slower than the team who has done 800 races.  Wonder if Luca still thinks we are rubbish,” Fernandes wrote on his Twitter.

Ferrari began the season with one of the favoured cars, but a worried Fernando Alonso said in Turkey that the F10 is now “far behind” Red Bull and McLaren, outpaced by Mercedes and at risk of falling away from his old team Renault.

“We need to roll our sleeves up even higher,” team boss Stefano Domenicali told Finland’s Turun Sanomat after Alonso suggested the car has not been developed quickly enough.

“In Valencia we will have a strongly updated package,” he promised.

(GMM)