Bruno Senna has confirmed reports he has signed with Williams for a single season only.
We reported recently that the former HRT and Renault driver, reportedly taking EUR 14 million in sponsorship to the famous Oxfordshire based team, is guaranteed the seat for 2012 only.

With countryman Felipe Massa’s Ferrari contract also expiring this year, the situation raises the prospect that there will be no Brazilians in F1 in 2013.

“All drivers, Brazilian or not, have great pressure to deliver results,” Senna is quoted by Agencia Estado.

“Of course it is very important to have Brazilians in formula one, but we always do the best we can, regardless of the duration of the contract.

“I think this is the beginning of my career, as with a good job this year, we can extend the contract and, god willing, keep on getting better in the future,” he added.

“Last year at this time all I could do was work on my fitness, but now I am driving the car, working with the engineers in the team and doing everything else that has made all the difference in this preseason.

“I have got to this stage of the championship with a preparation probably better than last year when I finished the race in Brazil,” he added.

The 28-year-old said Williams’ target for this season is to score points regularly, after a woeful 2011.

“All the teams have taken a leap forward; I think Force India, Toro Rosso and Sauber are strong,” said the Brazilian.

“Lotus seems to be strong, Mercedes as well. Ferrari do not seem to have the performance, unless they are hiding their game.

“It seems like McLaren and Red Bull are a little in front of everyone.

“I think the big surprise has been Caterham, who seem to have a reasonable performance. So it’ll be very interesting to see what will happen,” added Senna.

Sebastien Buemi is now the Toro Rosso driver under pressure after two strong races by his teammate Jaime Alguersuari.

Alguersuari was besieged at Valencia by widespread speculation that he will soon lose his race cockpit to the promising Australian Daniel Ricciardo.

But he ran strongly to eighth place in both Canada and Spain, and the AS and Blick newspapers now believe it is Swiss Buemi who is most at risk of losing his seat.

“With these two races he has secured his year and his future,” the Faenza based team’s boss Franz Tost is quoted as saying, referring to Alguersuari.

Veteran Blick correspondent Roger Benoit wrote: “Must the Swiss (Buemi) now tremble?”

Ferrari test driver and Alguersuari’s countryman Marc Gene agrees that the Spaniard has looked stronger of late.

“Previously his big problem was understanding the behaviour of the tyres, but his pace is now impressive. Valencia was a super result when he needed it the most.”

Alguersuari, 21, is quoted by El Mundo newspaper: “My goal is to finish races, score points and be ahead of my teammate.”

Fernando Alonso’s former team-mate Jarno Trulli on the error rate, Red Bulls inability and 2010 world champion who is
The 2010 season – it is also one of the World Cup failure. No title candidate could yet keep out of unwanted incidents. In particular, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso were on their Patzer been heavily criticized, with the Spaniard was still incorrect as his German rival: in Shanghai put the Ferrari star towards an early start in Monaco, he destroyed the free practice his car at Silverstone outdated He Kubica off the track at Spa and he slid off the track. But he qualifying his poor record: “At Ferrari, the attention of the media is much greater. Every bad move because twice as hard.”

His former Renault team-mate Jarno Trulli has an explanation for the unexpected failure of vulnerability for many experts currently best Formula 1 drivers. The Lotus-pilot says to ‘ITV-F1′: “Ferrari struggling with perhaps a less competitive car. Fernando sometimes goes over the limit. And if you do, you have to expect mistakes.”
Trulli and the Magny-Cours-trauma

The veteran, who this year its 14th Formula 1 season contests, speaks from experience: “This can happen even if we tried everything. I have made mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. As a driver it is not easy, especially when a force in the circumstances an error. ” Particularly bitter is the remembrance Trulli at the Grand Prix of France 2004th

The former Renault driver had in this season’s team-mate Alonso surprisingly grip, but was overtaken in the penultimate corner of Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello, and thus pushed from the platform. That was perhaps the greatest defeat in the career of the amateur vintner, who then brought in this season no longer walk on the floor and the team had to leave prematurely.

will decide the title race 2010, Konstanz, believes Trulli: “If you want to be world champion, then it is important to finish races and score points in many races, we all know. Until now, Lewis Hamilton is the most reliable and most consistent driver. ” Criticism he exercises the other hand, the Austrian team, based in Milton Keynes: “They have really hergeschenkt many points. Red Bull had far the best car, but yet it seems they are trying everything to not deliver the best result.”
Trulli and Webber taps Hamilton

But who is world champion, Jarno? “Until now, it is very difficult to judge this season,” he waves him off. “We have seen many errors and in many races there were problems for the top people. It is hard to tell who will win.” Finally, the 36-year-old can still be carried away to a tip: “Lewis has a good chance, just like Webber. Vettel and Alonso can afford no more mistakes.”

A man, who may still work out good title chances comes in Trulli forecast does not: world champion Jenson Button. The Briton is often underestimated, but an inconspicuous point-scorers. The situation is reminiscent of 2007 when Kimi Raikkonen at the end unexpectedly struck. If Button this year, a similar trick?

Force India has become the latest team to incorporate a F-duct style concept in its 2010 formula one car.

After McLaren pioneered the rear downforce-stalling innovation this year, teams including Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams and Sauber have followed suit.

The already-dominant Red Bull is also expected to debut an F-duct this weekend in Turkey, as will Force India.

The Silverstone based team said on Thursday that the version for the VJM03 car is called a switchable rear wing or SRW.

“Should be a good improvement,” Force India said on its official Twitter.

Vitantonio Liuzzi told reporters at Istanbul Park that he and teammate Adrian Sutil will activate the flow of air through the engine cover and rear wing slot by covering a hole in the cockpit with their wrist.

“The target is to get into Q3 and then score points,” he said earlier this week.

“We deserved to have a double points finish earlier than Monaco, but for some reasons it didn’t happen, so we need to continue to put both cars the top 10 if we want to catch Renault.”

Ferrari, on the other hand, has modified its initial Barcelona-spec F-duct for Turkey so that the drivers block the inlet with their knee rather than their hand.

It is believed Felipe Massa is particularly happy with the change, given that in Spain he had to move his hand further than Fernando Alonso to block the inlet due to the position of his steering wheel.

With F1′s points system of 2009, Fernando Alonso would currently be the world championship leader.

Before this season began, the FIA tweaked the points system so that two extra finishers per race score points, while the points gap between the winner and second place was widened.

But under last year’s system, Alonso would currently be leading Jenson Button by a single point, according to an analysis by Spain’s Diario AS.

Instead, Button – who has won 2 races compared with the more consistently-competitive Alonso’s single victory in Bahrain – is leading the Spaniard by three points.

Briton Button told the Spanish sports newspaper that when he moved from Brawn to McLaren for 2010, he did not expect to be leading the world championship after five races.

“For the first five races my goal was to feel at home and adapt to the car,” said the reigning world champion.

“Leading the championship at the moment is a great feeling, but it’s only the beginning.  There’s a long way to go in a championship that is going to be very challenging and close,” added Button.

(GMM)

Apr.28 (GMM)  Kimi Raikkonen insists he still has not made a decision about returning to formula one in 2011.

After agreeing to end his Ferrari contract a year early late in 2009, the Finn signed on with Red Bull and Citroen and then endured a difficult and crash-laden start to his new career in the World Rally Championship.

But early this month in Jordan, 30-year-old Raikkonen became the first driver since Carlos Reutemann to score points in both F1 and world rallying.

And then shortly after declaring he is not missing formula one, he finished less than 7 minutes behind winner Sebastien Loeb in Turkey for fifth place.

But when asked if his recent results make it more likely he will stick with rallying in 2011, Raikkonen told Turun Sanomat newspaper: “It has not turned in any direction.

“There is no rush for me to make decisions.  We’ll have to see what are the possibilities and what for me is the most interesting — what I enjoy the most and what it is I most want to do,” he added.

“We will see at a point some time later this year,” said Raikkonen.

Famously not fond of F1′s off-track activities and pressures, and ruing the lost days of characters like James Hunt, Raikkonen’s observers agree that he seems happier in the rallying world.

“If the F1 world could go back 20 years, it would be the same as rallying now,” he said.  “It (rallying) is still professional but in just a bit more of a relaxed style.”

Held at the state of the art Shanghai International Circuit on the outskirts of China’s largest city, the Force India Formula One Team will be heading to this event with high hopes of keeping its recent run of form going after scoring points in the first three races of the year. Adrian Sutil picked up his first points-finish of the year in Malaysia with a fighting fifth place, taking the team’s season total so far to 18 points.The Chinese Grand Prix will be the fourth round of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship and the final event in the quartet of flyaway races that opened the season.

Team Q&A
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
Dr Mallya, the team is currently sixth in the constructors’ championship and has 18 points from three races. You must be pleased with this progress so far?
At the start of the season I said we wanted to be regular points finishers and here we are, three races in, with three points’ finishes. It’s very pleasing when you see just how far we’ve come in one year: after three races in 2009 we had nul points and were tenth. The difference, I believe, has been keeping the focus on what we want to do. We’ve kept our heads down, got on with the job and to a certain extent kept out of what the other teams are doing – we’ve focussed on our own game. It’s a real credit to Mark Smith and his team that we’ve got the points we have. The team at Brackley and Silverstone are tight-knit, efficient and the results are now coming through.

You’ve made a lot about wanting fifth in the championship. Three races in, do you still think this is possible?
The grid is very tight as we saw in Malaysia and Australia and there’s no clear delineation between the front and the midfield. The most important at this stage is that we are still up there fighting. Renault look very strong right now but there’s still a lot more races to go this year and we have a clear direction about where we are going that will keep us with them, or hopefully leapfrog them. The drivers are confident and the team is working well so I think fifth is still realistic.

Driver Q&A
Adrian Sutil (car 14, VJM03/03)
Adrian, you scored your first points of the season in Malaysia. What were your feelings after this race?
It felt really good to finally get them. It was an exciting race as well in the end, racing against Lewis. Fighting against each other is always a pleasure, as we did it a lot in F3 and sometimes in F1. We have a lot of respect for each other; I am happy for him when he wins and he is happy for me when I do well. I was happy, relieved, proud – all of the above really – when we got to the finish. I knew we had the car to do it so it was only a matter of time before we scored some points. I’m now full of motivation for the rest of the season.

What do you think about the next race in China?
The next race in China will be a bit different but there are some similarities to Malaysia as well. The circuit layout is different, of course, but you need a good top speed, which we have, and you need a little bit of downforce for the mid sector, for the slow corners so I think it should suit our car really well. I don’t think we should be concerned about our performance at the moment, we are strong and we can fight in the top 10, and that’s very encouraging at this point of the year.

What is possible in Shanghai?
I’m confident, definitely. It was encouraging in Malaysia, and also the last races in Bahrain and Australia. I think we can show a very similar performance in China. Temperatures will be a bit cooler, but there is a long straight and you need to be very fast on that, and that’s what our car can do. It has also the downforce required for the slow speed corners. My feeling is that we can perform well again in Shanghai.

Tonio Liuzzi (car 15, VJM03/01)
What are your thoughts on the next race in China?
We are pushing to try to bring some more steps forward for the car. I have been in the simulator and we are pushing to bring updates to China as we want to be ready to score points again and not let our momentum slip. For sure it’s one of the circuits that I like, and I’ve always had good results there. In fact my best result in F1 was at that circuit – in 2007 Sebastian Vettel and myself finished fourth and sixth for Toro Rosso. We go to China pretty positive about our potential. It was good to finally get into Q3 in Malaysia and from there we have to hope for a good race. In Malaysia we were quite comfortable in the car and I have to hope that the luck stays with me this time and we can get some more points.

Do you enjoy driving at the track?
It’s pretty similar to Malaysia. There are a lot of high speed corners, and it’s quite technical, especially Turns One and Six and Seven. It’s got a flow as a circuit and there are some technical corners, and it’s always a crazy race because there can be some different weather conditions. So overall I’m looking forward to it! More points are the aim and we can do it, for sure.

Paul di Resta, test and reserve driver
Paul, you’ve driven two practice sessions now. What are your key learnings from this?
It went relatively well in Malaysia. It was always going to be a difficult task as I hadn’t had any running in the simulator beforehand so it completely new to me and very different conditions. With the high temperatures and the different behaviour of the tyres it was an uphill curve but I felt I moved forward, I improved and I got some good experience. I didn’t find it physically tough but the heat and humidity was something else. In DTM you get very hot inside the car but this wasn’t something I’d ever experienced. It’s all part of that learning curve and I felt I acclimatised to it well.

You’ve also had the chance to sit in different cars, with you driving Adrian’s in Australia and Tonio’s in Malaysia. Is this a particular challenge for you?
Each crew has their ways of doing things as there are different engineers and mechanics but the cars are very similar. I am now getting a feel for how Tonio or Adrian want their base set-ups, but in terms of the programme it is entirely the same as the race drivers. At the moment I’m still conscious it isn’t my car so I have to be careful to build up gradually, be controlled and constructive and get the data for weekend

Have you driven on the Shanghai International Circuit before?
No it will be new again to me and I won’t have any simulator running beforehand so it will be starting from the bottom, learning the new track. At least I have now got some experience on this type of wide, Tilke track so it should just be a case of making steady progress again.