The penalty might be harsh, but the loss of Lewis Hamilton’s pole in Spain is just the latest calamitous mistake by McLaren.

That was the tone of the paddock’s reaction to the news late on Saturday that a McLaren gaffe saw the FIA send Hamilton from first to last on the Spanish grand prix grid.

The Sun newspaper called it a draconian “24-place grid penalty” imposed by the FIA after an “astonishing cock-up” by McLaren.

Hamilton was told on the radio to pull over after his pole lap due to a “technical problem”.

Sporting director Sam Michael argued ‘force majeure’, but the stewards ruled that it had been entirely McLaren’s fault that not enough fuel was put into Hamilton’s car to ensure a scrutineering fuel sample.

Writing in the Telegraph, Tom Cary said the severity of the disqualification “raised eyebrows”, but agreed that “McLaren’s mistake was horrendous”.

He said it has been “a season of errors” by the famous British team, who are yet to get Hamilton’s signature on a new contract beyond 2012.

“Hamilton must be seething,” read an article in the Daily Mail newspaper, while The Times laid out McLaren’s “catalogue of errors”.

27-year-old Hamilton’s “raw talent is being thwarted by mishap and cock-up,” said journalist Kevin Eason.

“McLaren are lovely people but how the hell do they get themselves in this position?” wrote the Mirror’s Byron Young on Twitter.

Even the non-English language media agreed.

“It was another great mistake by McLaren that could eventually cost Hamilton the championship,” wrote Livio Oricchio in O Estado de S.Paulo.

Italy’s La Stampa called McLaren’s fuel gaffe a case of “harakiri”.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport added: “It was error number 13 for McLaren since last year”.

While highly critical of McLaren’s own-goal, however, the feeling in the paddock is that the stewards’ penalty – although accepted by McLaren – was overly harsh.

“Back of the grid? Way, way too harsh”, said the Mirror’s Young on Twitter.

“Draconian penalty in my view,” agreed PA Sport’s Ian Parkes. “Dropping Q3 time would have sufficed.”

Sky commentator Martin Brundle added: “(I) feel they should have deleted that (Q3) laptime only which would have put him sixth”.

And excluding Hamilton from Q3 altogether would have put him 11th. Now, he will be “lucky to score a point”, Auto Motor und Sport predicted.

In the Independent, however, David Tremayne noted: “Welcome to the draconian world of F1.”

David Croft, the lead Sky commentator, said the FIA stewards had acted correctly.

“A good rule should be one that covers all eventualities with a penalty that acts as a deterrent which in this case is what happened.

“Too little fuel can’t be tolerated,” he added. “It seems harsh but had Lewis taken pole by one thousandth of a second, would it be harsh then?”

The Spanish fans – not Hamilton’s biggest supporters dating back to his spats with Fernando Alonso in 2007 – were happy.

Asked on the El Mundo website whether the penalty was fair, 76 per cent answered yes.

A third team has decided to join Red Bull in Abu Dhabi for the young drivers’ test.

Due to the calendar congestion at the end of this season, and also to cut costs, most teams have opted to drop the Abu Dhabi option in favour of testing young drivers in July, at Silverstone.

But Red Bull, and its second team Toro Rosso, are sticking with the original November plan, amid criticism July is too early to be assessing young drivers.

McLaren is now following suit.

“Our plan at McLaren at the moment is to test in Abu Dhabi,” said the British team’s sporting director Sam Michael, who said another factor against Silverstone is that teams are only half-way through their engine mileage allocations in July.

“Engines is a significant factor,” the Australian explained.

“If you want to test at the end of the year, you have so many part-mileage engines that all have a little bit of mileage on them so you can effectively do it for free, in terms of your race engines,” said Michael.

“If you try and do that in the middle of the year, you can’t use your race engines so you have to prepare a special test engine.”

Top teams McLaren and Red Bull have questioned whether F1 should have tested last week.

Since the sport clamped down hard on private testing for cost reasons some years ago, there remained many in the paddock – notably Ferrari – who argued that at least some in-season testing should still take place.

So, for 2012, it was agreed that Mugello would host a three-day session in between the Bahrain and Spanish grands prix.

Every team except HRT attended.

But there were rumblings that not everyone was happy. McLaren, in fact, did not even send its race drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to Tuscany.

Then, on Friday in Spain, the British team’s regular duo was busily testing in official practice, fielding extravagant sensors and experimental components.

“We would have had a very similar programme whether we went to Mugello or not,” said sporting director Sam Michael.

“All the teams are geared up to not have testing, to not having test teams and that means we’re equipped and do our planning to do all of that work on Friday.

“I think the (Mugello) test itself, personally, I think you could do without it,” Michael continued. “I think it’s a lot of energy and expense during the season that we probably don’t need.

“Of course McLaren will gain a lot out of that test but formula one is all relative, so all we really did was spend a load of money.”

Red Bull’s technical boss Adrian Newey agreed.

“I think we learnt the pasta in Italy is still the best in the world and that’s about it really,” he said when asked about the Mugello test.

“I’d agree with what Sam says. To me, yes you go to the test because it’s available. We all spent money but the value of in-season testing has to be questionable.”

Rubens Barrichello left the Interlagos paddock late on Sunday without saying goodbye.
It is believed the 39-year-old Brazilian’s longest-ever F1 career might have ended as the chequered flag waved at Interlagos, as Adrian Sutil and Valtteri Bottas appear more likely candidates for the Williams seat in 2012.

But former Jordan, Stewart, Ferrari and Brawn driver Barrichello is refusing to give up.

Even in Williams’ official post-race media statement, he is quoted as saying: “There’s been a lot of talk over the weekend, but I believe I will be back again next season.”

He has even selected his helmet colours.

During his post-race chat with more Brazilian reporters than usual, Barrichello showed them a picture drawn this weekend by his six-year-old son Fernando.

“I know that your first question is (going to be) ‘Are you ready to stop?’ I’m not,” he insisted.

“So I will show you the helmet that Fefe made for me to start next year. That is the answer to the question,” laughed Barrichello.

Williams has promoted the former ‘spygate’ engineer Mike Coughlan.
The former McLaren chief designer was sacked and also banned after receiving secret Ferrari information in 2007.

He went to NASCAR but in June returned to F1 with the famous British team Williams, whose technical director Sam Michael has just departed.

Coughlan initially joined as chief engineer.

“We have just confirmed (Coughlan) as our new technical director,” team chairman Adam Parr told reporters in India.

Mark Gillan joined Williams last month as chief operations engineer.

“In terms of how they are going I think it has been a very positive step for us,” added Parr.

Williams is the lowest-placed team in the 2011 constructors’ championship except for newcomers Lotus, Virgin and HRT.

“There are some areas where we need to invest a little bit and we are doing that as fast as we can to really try and take a big step forward for next year,” said Parr.

Williams sees Kimi Raikkonen as the key to securing a major new sponsor, according to a Finnish newspaper.
The 2007 world champion recently visited the British team’s headquarters, and rumours in Singapore said the parties are serious about potentially working together next season.

According to Ilta Sanomat newspaper, signing Raikkonen could secure the team the backing of the part state-owned Qatar National Bank.

Williams already has links with Qatar, including the Williams Technology Centre located in the Arab emirate.

The report said Sir Frank Williams has been trying “for several years” to sign the Qatari bank as a sponsor.

During his last grand prix as Williams’ technical director in Singapore two weeks ago, Sam Michael was asked if the team is now taking its driver decisions on financial grounds.

“I think Williams will make the choices that are best for the company and the best results. That’s what it will come down to,” he said.

The Australian also hinted that Pastor Maldonado, strongly backed by Venezuala, is set to stay in 2012.

“You can definitely start to see the signs as to whether a rookie is capable or not by mid-season and I would definitely put Pastor Maldonado in that category,” he said.

“And if he wasn’t in that category, he wouldn’t have kept his drive going forward. So I can see the guy having an even stronger year next year,” added Michael.

McLaren may have got it wrong when designing its bespoke rear wing for Monza, according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.
“If you walk up and down the pitlane you’ll see that some cars have a wing on that looks like the thickness of two sheets of paper,” said the team’s Jenson Button.

Auto Motor und Sport reports that McLaren’s is visibly the biggest of them all.

Last year, Button surprised the paddock by performing strongly with a notably big rear wing at Monza, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton – and the rest of the field – wore traditionally-thin Monza wings.

Button’s decision paid off in 2010 because of the drag-shedding F-duct, which could be deployed anywhere around the circuit, with the big wing producing more grip in the corners.

But in 2011, the similar ‘DRS’ system for the rear wing can be used in the race only in its designated zones.

Another difference with 2010 is that with the exhaust-blown diffusers now producing much of the rear downforce, running more wing at Monza is not as beneficial in terms of the top-speed trade-off.

Williams’ technical director Sam Michael, however, is not sure.

“On Friday we will test a Monza wing against a Spa wing,” he revealed. “My gut feeling is that more downforce may be the better solution.”

Departing technical director Sam Michael’s last grand prix with the Williams race team will be Korea in October.

Jacques-Armand Dupuis, writing for France’s autohebdo.fr, reported that the Australian is not sure if he will then revert to a factory-based job or be sent on ‘gardening leave’ as the British team looks ahead to 2012.

“Most of the technical directors go to the races, but the (new) structure at Williams means that he will not.

“Mark Gillan is the chief engineer and he will be in Japan and Korea and he will then take my place,” said Michael, who has been linked with a move to Force India.

Dupuis reported that moves to Mercedes and Ferrari have also been touted for the 40-year-old.

“Everything is open for the future,” insisted Michael.

Meanwhile, after Williams experimented with a no-KERS configuration for Rubens Barrichello at the Nurburgring, Michael confirmed that the energy recovery technology will return to the Brazilian’s car this weekend.

Williams is experimenting with a no-KERS configuration aboard Rubens Barrichello’s car this weekend at the Nurburgring.
Before the recent Silverstone race, we reported that Force India was toying with not using the energy recovery technology to see if the differences in weight-ballast and brake-balance had a positive effect.

The Silverstone based team ultimately decided to keep KERS aboard.

It has now emerged that Williams is experimenting with a no-KERS setup on Barrichello’s car this weekend, in conjunction with a new diffuser.

Technical director Sam Michael said the decision to leave the system off the Brazilian veteran’s car is to “give us more information going forward”.

“On Rubens’ car we chose not to race with KERS here in order to get some more data for comparison,” he added.

Barrichello ultimately qualified 14th behind his teammate Pastor Maldonado.

F1 teams have discussed the possibility of allowing some in-season circuit testing in 2012.
FIA president Jean Todt said recently that the current blanket ban is “stupid” and teams should be allowed to do a few tests during the season in 2012.

A report at France’s autohebdo.fr said the teams, who must agree to the rule change for next year, discussed relaxing the test ban during a meeting at Silverstone.

But the talks “have made little progress”, the report said.

Williams technical director Sam Michael is quoted as confirming: “There has not yet been a vote, just some ideas about having a test for young drivers during the season.

“It (testing) was on the table but we had many other things to deal with (at Silverstone),” added the Australian, referring to the V6 engine rules and the blown exhaust saga.

Italian magazine Autosprint is linking Red Bull’s aerodynamics chief Peter Prodromou with a move to Mercedes GP.
The dominant RB7′s creator Adrian Newey is not interested in switching camps for now, but 42-year-old Prodromou also worked closely alongside the talented Briton at McLaren.

Also rumoured this week is that Ferrari’s new technical boss Pat Fry is working on moving two key engineers to the famous Italian team from his former employer McLaren.

Finland’s Turun Sanomat and other newspapers even named Fry’s apparent targets: senior aerodynamicist Rupad Darekar and CFD expert Ioannis Veloudis.

Sources at Ferrari neither confirmed nor denied the speculation.

Much of the credit for Fernando Alonso’s Silverstone win has been credited to recent aerodynamic improvements.

“Now with better aerodynamics and better understanding of the tyres, we will constantly improve,” Alonso’s race engineer Andrea Stella said.

Meanwhile, Italiaracing reports that Force India is in talks with Williams’ departing technical director Sam Michael.

Williams is likely to retain its current driver lineup for the 2012 season, according to chairman Adam Parr.

Team boss Frank Williams at Silverstone described Brazilian veteran Barrichello as “superb”, while rookie and reigning GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado is improving and his Venezuelan sponsor PDVSA is under contract to the famous Oxfordshire based team.

Asked if that means Williams is keeping its drivers, Parr told reporters: “Yes. I think that’s vastly the most likely outcome.”

The previously ultra-successful Williams has had a challenging past half-decade, but the future looks brighter with Renault coming on board as engine supplier and Parr looking to seal new sponsor deals.

“I said to the marketing guys (last year) ‘just back off. Keep things ticking over for the moment because we need to put in place a vision for the future which is very different to the vision of the present’,” said the Briton, as Sam Michael prepares to depart as McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan has come on board.

“We have some fantastic conversations going on and I’m very optimistic we will bring in some stunning new partnerships for next year,” he added.

There are management changes afoot at the back-of-the-grid HRT team.

It was rumoured at Valencia last weekend that Geoff Willis, the Spanish team’s technical director, could soon move into a higher management position.

At the same time, Germany’s motorsport-total.com reports that Gary Savage, formerly a close colleague of Willis’ at BAR/Honda some years ago, is close to signing on at HRT in a senior technical post.

Savage was seen in the paddock at Montreal and Valencia, and HRT confirmed that it is in “advanced discussions” with the engineer.

Another ex-BAR man already at Hispania is Jacky Eeckelaert.

GrandPrixActual reports that the Willis/Eeckelaert/Savage trio, with Hispania to soon kick off its aerodynamic programme in BAR’s old wind tunnel at Mercedes’ Brackley facility, might result in current HRT boss Colin Kolles losing his job.

Team owner Jose Ramon Carabante said: “He helped this team to be born but I have not signed a lifetime contract with Colin Kolles.

“If we agree, we will continue together, and if not, we will go on with other people.”

Should Kolles leave, it would raise many questions about the basic structure of HRT, with the team effectively based at the moment at the Romanian’s TME facility at Greding, Germany.

Meanwhile, with technical director Sam Michael set to leave and Mike Coughlan now starting work, Williams on Tuesday announced two more senior appointments.

Jason Somerville, joining from Renault, will be the new head of aerodynamics, while former Toyota man Mark Gillan is joining as chief operations engineer.

“We now feel that, together with Mike, Jason and Mark can form the right technical leadership to take the team forward as we work our way back to the front of the grid,” said Sir Frank Williams.

Rubens Barrichello on Wednesday admitted he is keenly awaiting the arrival at Williams of Mike Coughlan.

Coughlan, out of F1 since being sacked by McLaren and subsequently banned by the FIA amid the famous spy scandal, will join the British team in June, while departing technical director Sam Michael serves his last six months.

Until then, 39-year-old Barrichello admitted he is frustrated to be “driving my balls off and finishing nowhere”, but insists he is not thinking of quitting.

“The car’s not there, you are fighting all the way. But having said that it’s just too early to think about walking away,” he is quoted as saying by The Sun.

“I’m sure I will (turn things around), but I’m suffering here at the moment.”

Barrichello, well clear of his record 300th grand prix, admitted the thought of former McLaren chief designer Coughlan joining is a motivating factor.

“The team is going through a tough period. And right now the family needs to hang on and create a nice environment. It’s almost cuddling time to get things going.

“We just need to wait until Mike Coughlan comes in and hopefully that will give us direction with some technical leadership,” he said.

Rubens Barrichello on Thursday sounded reluctant to sign up for a third season at Williams in 2012.

The famous British team has had its worst start to a new championship in its illustrious history, prompting technical director Sam Michael and chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson to lose their posts for next year.

And Barrichello, the most experienced driver in F1 history, told the British magazine Autosport that he could be the next high profile departure.

“Williams must improve a lot for us to reach an agreement for next year,” he said.

“Things are standing still. It’s not worth going on this way. I need the team to start to shake up and I need to see differences,” insisted the 38-year-old.