Narain Karthikeyan has revealed he is sick and tired of what could be described as ‘cucumber-gate’.

After the Indian collided with Sebastian Vettel in Malaysia three weeks ago, he was twice shown the middle finger, and called a “gherkin” and “idiot” by the reigning world champion.

But that’s when the real fuss began, as the world’s media became involved — a mischievous German reporter even presented Karthikeyan with a cucumber in China.

“It’s done and I would have preferred for it to stay private,” he is quoted by the SID news agency.

But the affair is threatening to drag on even longer, with Vettel telling reporters in Shanghai that Karthikeyan had apologised to him.

He did not say if he has apologised himself.

“Sebastian can say what he likes,” HRT driver Karthikeyan responded.

He said the incident had become an affair of “unbelievable proportions”.

“It’s crazy; I was questioned about it day and night,” he said.

“It’s become too much — I don’t want to talk about it anymore and I’d prefer if I never even thought about it again.”

 The future of the embattled Korean grand prix looks safe for now.
The Korea Herald reports that organisers of the Yeongham event have reached a deal with Bernie Ecclestone to reduce the race fees.

Completing its bespoke circuit at the last minute, South Korea joined the calendar in 2010 but soon bemoaned the huge costs.

Sunday’s media report said organisers will save more than $20 million this year by successfully negotiating a reduced race commission and annual television license fee.

The new deal will last until the end of Korea’s race contract, in 2016.

The Korea Herald said organisers paid almost $40 million to Ecclestone’s Formula One Management last year — a 10 per cent rise on 2010.

The new deal will see the 10 per cent increase scrapped, the report added.

“With the successful negotiation, we’ll be able to save a significant amount of money this year,” said organiser Kang Hyo-seok.

“It’s a still difficult situation, but we’re trying hard to improve it.”

Mika Salo has now played down his two-day test for Ferrari this weekend.
It emerged last week that the 45-year-old Finn, who in 1999 replaced Ferrari’s injured Michael Schumacher, would test the famous Maranello team’s single seater at the Suzuka circuit.

A spokesman insisted Salo is simply appearing as a guest during the Ferrari Racing Days event, but media speculation hinted he is playing a more crucial role amid the famous team’s struggle to improve its new F2012.

“The news media got a bit out of hand,” Salo told Finnish broadcaster MTV3.

“It’s only a two day test for me in last year’s car. If you think about it rationally, there is no benefit for the F1 team.

“I am 45 years old and haven’t driven a single metre (in a F1 car) for ten years — I could not give any useable feedback,” he insisted.

Kimi Raikkonen ended the 2012 pre-season with this year’s fastest Barcelona laptime, but the Finn is not yet predicting a win in Melbourne at the end of next weekend.
“No one will know how fast any of the cars are until we get to qualifying at Albert Park,” said the returning 2007 world champion.

Lotus – fast at Jerez and also at the Circuit de Catalunya – is expected to trail pacesetters Red Bull and McLaren this season.

Yet in reality, the situation is deliberately clouded: Red Bull had a bad final day of testing on Sunday, but when he was running, rivals expected Sebastian Vettel’s RB8 was brimmed with fuel.

And when he came into the pits, there was the odd sight of team mechanics using large umbrellas to hide the car’s newly-added secrets, including the sidepod exhaust.

“I think that’s a question for Charlie Whiting,” said Ferrari’s technical director Pat Fry when asked about the legality of the solution.

Even so, Red Bull’s position of dominance seems to have been somewhat eroded for 2012, with Mercedes chief Ross Brawn suggesting the RB8 is closely matched by its rivals unless the team has been “running a huge amount of fuel”.

Sebastian Vettel told DPA news agency: “McLaren are strong. Mercedes are definitely stronger than last year and Lotus and perhaps some other teams should not be forgotten — Sauber, Force India.

“Ferrari seem to be having some difficulties,” added the reigning world champion.

World champion Vettel’s final comment appears undoubtedly true, with the famous Italian team’s drivers oddly banned from speaking with the media while technical boss Fry confessed that all is not well.

“I’m always pessimistic,” said the Briton, who said a podium for Ferrari in Melbourne is not likely. “I’m disappointed with our performance at the moment.”

Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, ignored his media muzzle and told Spanish television at a football game: “In the first races we will suffer — we are not yet at 100 per cent.

“We’re not in as good shape as (Barcelona players) Messi and Iniesta,” he is quoted by Barca TV.

But for now, it’s all talk, and so the reticent Raikkonen summed it up well: “Like I said, I don’t know, probably no one does,” he is quoted by Germany’s Sport1.

“In two weeks, we’ll know.”

Vitaly Petrov could stay at the Caterham team beyond 2012, the Russian’s manager said on Friday.
Earlier, the former Lotus outfit announced that Petrov, ousted by Lotus (Renault) at the end of last season, is replacing Italian veteran Jarno Trulli with immediate effect.

On the face of it, the deal is not a good look for Petrov, having displaced one of F1′s most experienced drivers – and a grand prix winner – on the back of his sponsors’ purse.

Moreover, it also means there is no Italian on the F1 grid for the first time in decades.

“Vitaly is thinking about his place in formula one, and the rest is a question to the team,” insisted Petrov’s manager Oksana Kosachenko.

Team boss Tony Fernandes hinted in Caterham’s media statement on Friday that the Petrov deal is indeed fueled by the world’s economic situation.

So does that mean he is a ‘pay-driver’, and Heikki Kovalainen the clear number one?

“As far as I know,” Kosachenko said, “we’re having absolutely equal status.”

She revealed that the initial contract is for one year only, but that could change.

“At the moment we’re discussing that,” Kosachenko is quoted by the Ria Novosti news agency.

Earlier, she admitted that Bernie Ecclestone – perhaps because he is scheduling an inaugural Russian grand prix for 2014 – was trying to help Petrov find a seat this season.

“He was talking to me, he was trying to assist,” Kosachenko said on Friday, insisting that the eventual contract was “absolutely an internal deal” between Petrov and Caterham.

“No one else involved,” she clarified.

Interest in the 2011 season will decline now that Sebastian Vettel has wrapped up the world championship.
The world’s media are busy hailing the 24-year-old German’s latest achievement rather than building up as per normal for the next race, to take place in just a few days in South Korea.

McLaren and FOTA chief Martin Whitmarsh admits that, from the public’s point of view, the early championship conclusion has taken the shine off the forthcoming races also in India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil.

“Inevitably, there will be a drop of interest — the tension and excitement that we’ve been fortunate to encounter in recent years is never a given,” he told the Times of India, referring to recent season finales.

On the other hand, Whitmarsh said that any consequences of a championship contest, such as team orders or racing with an eye on the points mathematics, will now dissipate.

“I actually think you’ll really see the gloves come off and we’ll get to see some truly incredible racing by the greatest drivers in the world,” he insisted.

There is also the issue of driver motivation, with Fernando Alonso for example buoyed that his car was at least competitive at Suzuka even though Ferrari has ceased its development.

“That gives us some extra motivation for the remaining races knowing that it is going to be tough as the updates on the car will be minimal,” said the Spaniard.

“But in some races, some circuits, we are still competitive, so why not fight for victory in one of the remaining races.”

HRT’s new owner is already making changes at the struggling Spanish team.
The sports daily AS reports that the team’s former owner is no longer involved in any way, contrary to earlier speculation that Jose Ramon Carabante’s son Jose would be installed in a senior management role.

The newspaper also said new owner Thesan Capital, a Madrid-based investment company, has dispensed with the team’s media boss Alba Saiz.

And the team name Hispania will no longer be deployed by Thesan in formula one, as a new silver logo bearing the words ‘HRT Formula One Team’ is debuted.

AS said the immediate changes are the result of an analysis carried out by Thesan since early July, involving the visit to Silverstone of former Minardi driver Luis Perez Sala.

The report also said Thesan was upset with the way its takeover was announced by Hispania, such as the claim that the “current team and directors” would be retained.

More changes and the team’s new image are expected to become clearer at the Nurburgring this weekend, AS added.

According to Luca di Montezemolo, there is still a risk that formula one teams will break away and form a rival series after 2012.

Although the political row with departed FIA president Max Mosley ended with peace, the current Concorde Agreement expires before the 2013 season and the Ferrari president hints that the teams are once again pushing for more of the sport’s lucrative revenue.

According to the Telegraph correspondent Tom Cary who attended Thursday’s media dinner with Montezemolo, the 63-year-old likens F1 at present to a “prison”.

“We are at a crossroads,” said Montezemolo.

He said three scenarios are possible: the status quo, new owners for the sport with Bernie Ecclestone in charge, or a model like “the NBA”.

America’s premier basketball league is owned by the teams.

“In the end we can always find a different promoter. At the end of the day this business is not so complicated,” said Montezemolo.

Whether or not the latest breakaway threat will fail as did all the others, Ferrari’s clout is as powerful as ever and Montezemolo made clear he is no fan of the new four-cylinder engine formula for 2013.

Suffering from a bad cold and not eating dinner along with his colleagues, Montezemolo was quoted by Germany’s Welt newspaper: “We must not exaggerate the savings.

“We also must not overdo it, as we have done already with the testing ban.”

The Spanish newspaper El Pais quotes him as adding: “Ferrari will never make (road) cars with four cylinders.

“(And) what they (FIA) want to do is cut costs, but all they do is raise them if the rules change every five minutes. This is formula one, which should be the spearhead of technological development.”

He played down persistent rumours that, as a reaction to Ferrari’s championship loss due to a simple strategy mistake, significant heads will roll.

“At Ferrari we believe in stability,” the Spanish sports newspaper Marca quotes him as saying.

“But that doesn’t mean the team is locked, we need to open the window from time to time to breathe fresh air.”

On the subject of newly-legalised team orders, Montezemolo admitted for the first time that Ferrari went too far in Austria in 2002; the place-swapping controversy that triggered the ban.

“I think it (the team order in Austria) was too soon (in the season), but not in the case of Germany (2010),” he said. “Fernando was faster than Felipe.

“What is not right is when it is taking place in the first races of the year.”

He said Felipe Massa will therefore begin 2011 on an equal footing with Fernando Alonso. “I want two drivers fighting for the championship, not someone frustrated at the first race.

“This is very important, but in the second half of the season we will have an open mind and understand that the drivers know what to do if needed.”

Montezemolo promised that if team orders are deployed, it will be done transparently for the benefit of the spectators.

He also teased those present who were hoping for a shock announcement about his decision to enter Italian politics.

“I have an important announcement to make,” he joked. “I am starting my own party!

“Seriously, I have spoken with the Ferrari family and I can say that my future is here. This work is my life and it will remain so.”

A cheeky Italian journalist risked the ire of Luca di Montezemolo on Tuesday during the Ferrari president’s annual Christmas dinner for the country’s media.

Asked what Christmas present he is planning for Fernando Alonso, the 63-year-old replied: “What the heck do you give him?

“He earns enough,” laughed Montezemolo, who gave each of the reporters a model of this year’s F10. “And I already give him a F1 car!” he quipped.

Amused that Montezemolo seemed not to be planning a gift at all, the questioner cheekily hit back: “I’m not asking you what you’re going to give Chris Dyer…”

Chief engineer and Australian Dyer is thought at risk of losing his job after bungling the race strategy that cost Alonso the drivers’ title last month in Abu Dhabi.

Montezemolo repeated again that Ferrari is not planning a major staff upheaval before the 2011 season, but that “some adjustments” are likely to take place.

He also played down rumours he is preparing to enter Italian politics, or that Ferrari to be floated on the stock exchange.

Montezemolo will similarly meet with international journalists on Thursday.

Fernando Alonso believes Ferrari’s rivals are “trying to divert attention” from their own problems by playing psychological games in the media.

With just two races still to run in 2010 and Alonso leading the championship, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner this week admitted it would be “frustrating” to lose to the Spaniard after the Hockenheim team orders affair.

Stefano Domenicali hit back by suggesting it is a “miracle” the energy drink-owned team has not already wrapped up the title due to its car advantage, and his driver Alonso has now weighed into the squabble.

“There are some favourite teams, who have not resolved their own problems, trying to divert attention,” he said in an interview with Diario Sport newspaper.

“Fortunately for us, we are united as a team, as we show at each race, including my relationship with Felipe (Massa),” added Alonso.

“There are always media strategies designed to make you nervous or put you under pressure,” he said.

In another interview, with the O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, Alonso insisted he is not concerned that – as he bids to wrap up his third championship this weekend – his personal image within Brazil is not the best one.

“In several countries they say my image is not good, but when I land at airports or go to the hotels or race tracks, what I see is the opposite.

“I’m not worried about it. My job is to get results at the track and to have the team happy with my work,” Alonso added.

He said he hopes his teammate Massa’s home supporters at Interlagos will understand if the Brazilian pulls aside to let him win the race on Sunday.

“Those who will understand know that this sport is complicated, where at least at Ferrari, the team comes first. There will of course be those who don’t understand,” said Alonso.

“But my job is not to understand the views of the fans, but to do my job on the track.”

He denied that Massa is the weakest teammate he has ever had.

“No. Felipe is very capable, 100 per cent professional, working from January to December on his goals,” said Alonso.

Jaime Alguersuari has offered a less than flattering opinion about the personality of his fellow Spaniard and F1 driver Fernando Alonso.

“He is cold (frio), very cold,” said 20-year-old Alguersuari, the youngest driver on the grid who races with the second Red Bull team, Toro Rosso.

“He is a man of few words,” he is quoted as saying by Dir Emotions.  “I have no relationship with him.”

Alguersuari also described the Ferrari driver and double world champion as “a great” F1 racer.

Alonso, 29, recently moved to clarify some misperceptions by revealing that when people actually meet him, they often remark that he is “nicer” than his media image.

The German-language spox.com compared Alonso’s apparent win-at-all-costs attitude with that of Michael Schumacher.

“In the media we read again and again things about ourselves that are not right,” said the Spaniard.

“People are making judgements from the outside, but that’s the business.”

Asked to clarify the misperceptions, Alonso said: “I am very calm and relaxed, even romantic.  Actually, I’m a normal guy.

“A little bit shy, but when everything’s right, that’s when the Spaniard in me comes out,” he laughed.

In Singapore last weekend, Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali agreed that Alonso is “cool and calm and sometimes difficult”.

And after back-to-back victories from pole, Alonso says he is on the top of his game.

“The F1 championship is very long compared to other sports so you can’t be completely fit, focused, motivated 100 per cent of the time.

“But now, in this part of the championship, I’m at a peak,” he is quoted in the Spanish press.

It is definitely holiday-time in formula one when Ferrari’s media boss Luca Colajanni has a Maldives holiday booked.
“We all need a breather”, wrote Telegraph correspondent Tom Cary.

He’s not the only one. Silvia Hoffer, working for McLaren’s PR department, was stocking up on gossip magazines in Hungary, the last race before a four-week calendar break.

“I need something to read on the beach,” she smiled, revealing her vacation destination is Italy.

The reason for the rare glut of holidays is a mandatory two-week factory shutdown for all the teams.

Red Bull’s factory will stay open until later this week, but McLaren opted to kick-off its two-week shutdown at the stroke of midnight after Sunday’s race, despite having a lot of work to do to improve the MP4-25.

“I’d love not to have a shutdown and be ploughing on, to understand what’s permissible on the front wing and make them next week,” said Martin Whitmarsh.

The happiest vacationer is therefore Mark Webber, the Hungaroring winner and new championship leader with just seven races to go.

“There’s everything to play for,” said the Australian, “but not until I’ve turned my phone off and had a couple of weeks’ holiday!”

Jun.10 (GMM)  Mark Webber on Thursday insisted he can still work at Red Bull alongside Dr Helmut Marko.

Two weeks ago, it was the team’s Austrian consultant Marko who began blaming Australian Webber for the crash with his teammate Sebastian Vettel in Turkey.

It raised the suspicion that the team’s powerful German-speaking faction favours youngster Vettel over Webber, but all parties sat down for a clear-the-air meeting at Milton-Keynes last week.

“I had a good chat with Helmut at the factory.  He’s fine,” Webber, 33, told reporters at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

He was asked what he thought about Marko immediately blaming him for the crash, while many pundits within the paddock believe it was Vettel’s fault.

“Helmut wasn’t fully up to speed with all the facts at the time.  He went pretty quick with his comments, which he’s learned from and will move on,” said Webber.

Also revealing that he had a “very positive” phone conversation with team owner Dietrich Mateschitz since the incident, Webber said he understands Marko’s tilt towards 22-year-old Vettel’s side of the garage.

“He brought Seb along, he speaks the language, so you can expect a bit of emotional support that way.  But I’m fine with that.

“Helmut has been … there are a lot of things that have happened with this team through his support, and I’ve been off the back of that as well,” added Webber.

Vettel’s media scrum on Thursday was an uncomfortable one for the 22-year-old, with some reporters pushing the German hard to issue an apology.

When it became clear that no apology would be forthcoming, one questioner asked him if, like his countryman Michael Schumacher, he finds it difficult to admit his mistakes.

“The way that I grew up and the way that I am, honesty is something that is very important to me.  You can ask anybody in the garage, if I make a mistake in qualifying then I am the first to raise my hand and blame myself.

“I am open for self-criticism and I try to improve myself.  I’m not jumping out of the car and saying this is a shit car if I couldn’t do better,” said Vettel.

“If from my side something isn’t right I raise my hand and stand up.  I have no problem with that and it’s one important thing in life otherwise it will always come back to you,” he added.

F1′s media and pundits are divided over Michael Schumacher’s late overtaking move on Fernando Alonso in Monaco.

The stewards, including Schumacher’s former title nemesis Damon Hill, penalised the seven time world champion for illegally passing the Spaniard during a safety car period.

But the safety car had actually pulled into the pits, prompting the message ‘track clear’ on the official monitors, and video evidence showed green flags and green lights.

Former driver Marc Surer told the German news agency SID: “I think the stewards have made a mistake, because they had shown green (flags).”

He insists there was at the very least no “clear” breach of the rules, given that the stewards took more than three hours to decide to impose the 20-second time penalty.

The Italian press was less sympathetic.

“Is he not 41 years old?” read an editorial in the Tuttosport newspaper.  “He should know the rules by now.”

Epsilon Euskadi boss Joan Villadelprat wrote in his El Pais column that Schumacher’s was a “monumental error”, but former German F1 driver Christian Danner said the mistake was the FIA’s for ordering that green flags be waved.

Bild newspaper published a photo proving that Schumacher drove past a green light in the Rascasse corner prior to passing the Ferrari, even though Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali argues that the race ended “under yellow conditions”.

But Alonso insists he was “immediately certain” that the Mercedes driver would be penalised.

“That’s why I let him go,” the Spaniard told spox.com.

“My team had told me that you can’t overtake.  I had wanted to try to pass Lewis Hamilton but they told me I could not.”

And Sebastien Buemi told the Swiss newspaper Blick that Toro Rosso ordered him to hold position.

“I was surprised when the team told me not to attack Liuzzi, because there were green lights flashing everywhere!” he said.

(GMM)

May 13 (GMM)  Four years after the ‘Rascasse scandal’, the British media on Wednesday demanded an apology as Michael Schumacher returned to the fabled Monaco circuit.

During the seven time world champion’s last visit to the Principality as a race driver in 2006, he was famously accused of ‘parking’ his Ferrari in the Rascasse corner during qualifying in order to prevent his title rival Fernando Alonso from beating him to pole position.

The stewards agreed with the charge and penalised Schumacher, but he has never owned up to having cheated.

“They say that sorry is the hardest word.  Is there any reason you are not able to say sorry for four years ago?” one British tabloid reporter asked the 41-year-old following several questions in the Mercedes driver’s media round on Wednesday.

Schumacher neither admitted his culpability nor denied the charges, insisting only that the F1 world should move on.

“I think you can keep trying, absolutely, but as I said before I am not in 2006 any more,” the German answered.

Asked if he regretted the manoeuvre, Schumacher said: “It doesn’t change things if we go back into it.”

And he said only the reaction of the media marked out the event as a low point in his long and successful career.

“You made it (a low point), yes,” said Schumacher.  “You journalists.  Some of you guys … let’s look forward and not backwards.”

Asked if he would be willing to try a similar move in 2010, he told a BBC reporter: “You’re boring.”

Also on Wednesday, Alonso also sounded unwilling to think about the 2006 controversy.

Asked if he had forgiven Schumacher for 2006, the Spaniard simply answered “yes”, insisting that F1 history is littered with famous on-track incidents.

“There’s nothing really to think about.  It’s a small incident.  That’s all,” the Ferrari driver added.

Lewis Hamilton also played down the media’s attempt to make the controversy a hot topic in 2010.

“That was a long time ago,” said the Briton.  “I wasn’t involved then.  I think we need to look forward.”