Amid the European cold snap, Franz Tost admits he was worried Toro Rosso might be late for its own car launch.
The STR7 was unveiled on Monday in the Jerez pitlane, a day ahead of its testing debut.

“When the trucks left Faenza on Saturday night I was worried we would not arrive in time,” La Gazzetta dello Sport quotes the relieved team boss as saying.

Ultimately, it turned out well, although Daniel Ricciardo – one of Toro Rosso’s new Red Bull-backed rookies – was not overly impressed with the car’s looks.

“It’s not exactly beautiful,” said the Australian, referring to the now notorious ‘stepped’ noses on the 2012 cars, “but I’d rather have a quick car than a pretty one.”

Actually, designer Giorgio Ascanelli is worried the STR7′s nose might not be ugly enough.

“I think we could have made it more aggressive,” said the Italian, “but in the end we had to homologate the car before we could test it.”

Arguably more ugly is the nose on Sauber’s new C31, but Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi isn’t so sure.

“You think it’s ugly?” he told reporters at Jerez. “If everybody has the same style of car then it’s not ugly. Only the McLaren is different, so we will see.”

On McLaren, Kobayashi might have a point.

Of the eight 2012 cars seen so far, all of them have a ‘step’ except the McLaren. And Pedro de la Rosa has hinted that the new HRT will also feature the unattractive solution.

“Like almost everyone one else we have had the idea to have as much area under the car as possible. The regulations force us to do what we have done,” Sauber designer Matt Morris is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

Said Telegraph correspondent Tom Cary: “It begs the question — have McLaren got it wrong?

“Were they ‘sandbagging’ – faking – at last week’s launch? Have they got it right and everyone else got it wrong?”

McLaren’s technical director Paddy Lowe is confident: “We have always had a different philosophy than the others for the front of the car,” he is quoted by Blick newspaper.

Two 2012 cars with ‘step’ noses – Lotus and Sauber – made their track debuts on Monday, ahead of official testing which begins on Tuesday.

Lotus’ technical boss James Allison thinks the E20 is the “most beautiful ugly car” seen so far.

“It feels great in first and second gear,” smiled Kimi Raikkonen, referring to the running for ‘filming purposes’.

Agreed Sauber’s Kobayashi: “I obviously can’t make serious judgements on the car because we had just a promotional day and were running only demo tyres.”

The new Williams will be seen for the first time on Tuesday.

There is an increasing feeling in the F1 paddock that Jenson Button is taking up the mantle as McLaren’s team leader.

When the 2009 world champion joined the famous British team last year, many observers likened becoming Lewis Hamilton’s new teammate to stepping into the “lion’s den”.

But Hamilton has had a troubled 2011, with Button nine points ahead of his countryman in the points standings.

Button is quoted by the Telegraph as claiming he is driving better now than he did when he won the title at Brawn in 2009.

“It is to do with confidence after winning the world championship,” said the 31-year-old, “feeling the team around me and being in a good place off the circuit.

“I took my engineers and mechanics out for dinner on Saturday night in Italy. It is not for a competitive edge over Lewis’s side of the garage, it was to pay them back for all the hard work they have done,” he added.

Button also said he is playing a solid role in the development of McLaren’s 2012 car, “and they are really listening to what I have to say”.

“Every time I drive the simulator we test something that I specifically want.

“I don’t think I am having more of a say but I think they are listening more, which is nice,” he added.

Felipe Massa has revealed a racy detail of his preparation for a grand prix.

The Ferrari driver told Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport: “On the Saturday night before the race I always have sex.”

30-year-old Massa, who has not won a race since his championship challenge in 2008, is married to 33-year-old Raffaela, with whom he has a 1-year-old son Felipe Jr (Felipinho).

The Brazilian said he enjoys his qualifying night ritual “even though I know it doesn’t make me faster!”

He had another disappointing outing in Turkey last weekend but Massa said he is buoyed by the aerodynamic upgrades introduced at Istanbul Park.

“They definitely increased our performance level,” he said.

Lewis Hamilton’s slim championship hopes are still alive after stewards decided not to penalise him on Saturday night.

With a Friday reprimand already over his head, the Briton was summoned to the FIA officials after collecting a bollard and almost Ferrari’s Felipe Massa after delaying the Brazilian during an out-lap in Q2 in Abu Dhabi.

The 25-year-old said on the radio that it had been Massa’s fault, to which the Brazilian replied that Hamilton must be “crazy”.

It has emerged from the Yas Marina circuit late on Saturday that the stewards have decided to take no further action.

“These things happen,” Hamilton had told reporters, before the team’s post-session press release made no mention of the incident.

The official document did, however, contain an apparent warning, with the Briton’s championship hopes resting on a race win and then the hope that his rivals run into trouble on Sunday.

“On the grid, I don’t have to worry about who’s around me — they all have to worry about who’s around them. I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“It’s the other drivers who’ll have to worry,” added Hamilton. “I don’t have to be cautious at all in the race. Perhaps they need to think about that.”

Four hours before the inaugural Korean grand prix, the brand new Yeongam venue is awash with rain.

It started raining just before 10pm on Saturday night, and was heavy at times throughout the night and did not completely stop at any point.

Some forecasts had predicted the weather would ease on Sunday morning, but at 11am the precipitation is still light and the skies still completely grey.

The sheer amount of water that has fallen on the new track surface will ensure that the rubber laid by the F1 cars on Friday and Saturday has now been washed off.

And the ‘weeping’ of asphalt oils from beneath the newly-laid top layer, mixed with the rain that is still falling at Yeongam, will ensure a very slippery surface for the race at 3pm.

Expert forecasts at the circuit think the rain could stop completely and sunshine emerge at about midday, which would mean a damp surface for the race start is still a possibility.

“I hope it stays wet and slippery!” enthused Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen.

As the dark Korea paddock emptied on Saturday night, word spread that Lotus has finally secured its engine supply contract for 2011.

It has been an open secret that the new Malaysian team is switching from Cosworth to Renault, but the naming dispute with Proton was believed to have held up the formalities.

But, whatever the current status of the dispute with Group Lotus, it seems the contracts were at last signed in the new Yeongam paddock late on Saturday.

Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen would not confirm.

“If it happens it will be an interesting deal for our team,” he told the Daily Mail.

After Renault, the next step will be the announcement of Kovalainen’s new deal for 2011, with his current teammate Jarno Trulli also tipped to return next season.

“At the moment I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Kovalainen insisted.  “I think we have made good progress this year, so it is of course a very strong possibility for me to carry on here.

“That is all I can say at the moment,” he added.

Lewis Hamilton’s bad weekend at Suzuka and fading championship chances got even worse on Saturday night.

The 2008 world champion learned he will have to move five places down the grid, whose order will be determined by an unusual Sunday morning qualifying session.

McLaren confirmed it detected “abnormal gearbox oil pressure” on Hamilton’s MP4-25 during the Saturday morning practice session.

“As we fired up Lewis’s car several times in preparation for qualifying, we became aware that the symptoms were worse than we’d originally diagnosed,” a team spokesman, revealing that the gearbox had to be changed out of sequence, said.

Nick Heidfeld shouldn’t feel down after being comprehensively outpaced by his teammate on his return to formula one, according to team boss Peter Sauber.

The German, who has been test driver with Mercedes and then Pirelli for most of 2010, was disappointed in Singapore on Saturday to significantly trail the pace of the Swiss team’s regular rookie Kamui Kobayashi.

Heidfeld, 33, was particularly unhappy with Saturday night’s result, having looked a match for Kobayashi under the artificial lights until the decisive knockout session.

But Sauber told Auto Motor und Sport: “We expected too much of him, and he expected too much from himself.

“He has been out for a year and didn’t know the car or the tyres, and Singapore is an extremely difficult track.  That explains the gap to Kamui, even if it is a second,” added Sauber’s founder and boss.

Heidfeld has also joined the ranks of drivers who do not instinctively enjoy Bridgestone’s 2011 generation of tyres.

“My first impression is that I got along better with last year’s tyres,” he said.

Sauber is quoted in Singapore by Germany’s Speed Week: “This weekend is for him to settle in so I will not judge him yet.”