HRT’s team boss has admitted installing KERS is an unlikely goal for the struggling Spanish team this year.

Luis Perez Sala said the new F112 was designed to accommodate the energy-recovery technology, but qualifying comfortably within the 107 per cent rule is a better target for now.

“We have a car we are yet to discover,” he told El Confidencial.

Indeed, HRT travelled to Australia last month having hardly run its new Cosworth-powered car, and failed to qualify for the season opener.

“It is designed to carry KERS but in the short term we will not (use it). We don’t think we’re going to race with it this year,” he added.

“So, in this respect, it’s not perfect. Right now, we have assembled the car in a hurry and so the private testing at Mugello, just after Bahrain, will be very important to us.”

Sala, having rebuilt HRT following the departure of team boss Colin Kolles, was speaking from HRT’s new headquarters at the Caja Magica (Magic Box).

“After Bahrain, we will have the cars here. From the Spanish grand prix, we will begin to function more effectively.

“In China and Bahrain we will improve things in the car and the team, but it is a slow process that will last all year.

“As I sit here (in Madrid), some people are in Valencia, others in Germany, England … the cars are flying to China and we need to address issues of reliability, not just performance.”

It is a tough situation for HRT, but Sala concedes that the ‘paddock perception’ of the team is that it has gone backwards since debuting in 2010.

“It is really our first year,” he insists.

He reveals that Bernie Ecclestone, once a staunch critic of the struggling backmarkers, is “quiet”.

“We have not had any problems, I think he is calm,” said Sala.

It is also a busy time off the track for HRT, as many rival teams are busily signing the new Concorde Agreement for 2013.

“There are teams that are more advanced than others; for us, the negotiations are still at the beginning,” he said.

The most obvious goals right now, Sala insists, are to have “a team that works together, has a reliable car and a small team that can develop it, and we’re around 105pc off the pole”.

After all the pre-season hype, the Melbourne paddock banter about its clever F-duct system and a strong showing in qualifying, Mercedes failed to shine in last Sunday’s season opener.
The situation has many paddock regulars confused as to just how good the new W03 really is.

“Good question,” Michael Schumacher told Bild newspaper at an event this week in Malaysia. “We don’t know yet.”

Agreed Finnish commentator and former F1 driver Mika Salo: “It’s going to be interesting.

“Malaysia requires a lot more from a car aerodynamically than does Australia.

“I am sure McLaren will still be at the front, but Red Bull and Mercedes will probably be closer.”

So what happened to Mercedes’ early promise in Australia?

“In the race we had some problems, especially with the tyres — they degraded too quickly,” revealed team boss Ross Brawn.

But for Sepang, “We have an idea about how we can get it under control,” he added.

If that is true, then Sir Jackie Stewart is looking forward to seeing “the old Michael Schumacher” for the first time since he initially retired in 2006.

“He is driving well again,” the famous Scot told Kolner Express newspaper, “but so too is Nico Rosberg.

“They have a much better car than last year, and Michael is finally showing what he is capable of.

“I don’t know if that will be (good enough for) victories, but for sure we will see him again on the podium,” added Stewart.

 From the depths of 2011, Williams is now ‘not far’ from the pace of F1′s strongest teams.
That is the claim of Pastor Maldonado, who in the newly Renault-powered and Mike Coughlan-designed FW34 qualified eighth and was pushing Fernando Alonso for fifth in the race when he crashed out of Sunday’s season opener in Melbourne on the last lap.

It indicated a major turnaround for the formerly championship-winning team that collapsed to a dismal ninth place in last year’s points standings.

Venezuelan Maldonado hopes last Sunday was indeed the start of a Williams resurgence.

He said this weekend in Malaysia “should be interesting”.

“McLaren and Red Bull look strong, but we are not far away,” he is quoted by Finland’s Turun Sanomat.

“We were very close to (Red Bull’s) Mark Webber in the first and second stints,” said Maldonado.

“I think we are faster than Ferrari, Sauber and Force India,” he added.

Maldonado’s last-lap crash in Australia cost Williams a full ten points — double the team’s tally of the entire 2011 season.

“We need points in the future,” he acknowledged, “but we are also now more relaxed now.”

 The BBC’s delayed and edited highlights of Sunday’s Australian grand prix attracted more viewers than the British broadcaster’s live coverage of the same Melbourne race a year ago.
From 2012, F1′s television coverage for Britain is being shared between pay-channel Sky – who have the full-time live rights – and the public broadcaster BBC.

Last year, the BBC’s live coverage of the 2011 season opener averaged 2.13 million viewers.

But the delayed highlights package for 2012, aired hours after the race finished between 2 and 4pm, attracted 2.7 million viewers.

The figures may, however, be a one-off, with Australia usually among the lowest-rating races in Europe due to the very early morning live timeslot.

Sky’s live coverage of the pay-channel’s 2012 coverage, meanwhile, averaged just 526,000 viewers.

A spokesman for the channel refused to comment on whether Sky was disappointed with the figures.

“It is the performance of the whole (F1) channel we are interested in. We are pleased with the launch of the channel overall,” he told the Guardian.

Eight of F1′s 12 teams are based in Britain.

 The debate about Mercedes’ controversial new ‘F-duct’ solution looks set to speed across the Indian Ocean.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, and particularly his Lotus counterpart Eric Boullier, had warned in Melbourne at the weekend that they might protest the qualifying and race results.

They are arguing that Mercedes’ technical innovation is not legal, but ultimately the 2012 season opener was run without a protest being filed.

But the threat is merely on the back-burner, as Boullier and Horner seek urgent talks with the FIA and Mercedes’ Ross Brawn.

“We want to sit together at a table with Mercedes and the FIA and find a solution,” Frenchman Boullier is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Separately, Horner agreed: “We are expecting some pretty heated discussions in the next five days.” By then, the F1 circus will be firmly based at the Sepang circuit, for the second round of the season at Sepang.

McLaren, the dominant winner of Sunday’s season opening Australian grand prix, is staying out of the debate about the Mercedes concept.

“I think the system is legal,” said team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

Auto Motor und Sport writer Tobias Gruner explained: “The reason for (Whitmarsh’s) opinion is simple — his engineers at Woking have been hard at work on a copy for some time.”

Narain Karthikeyan was unequivocal as he walked through the paddock gates on Saturday.
“I have to qualify. There are no two ways about it,” said the Indian.

It had been a difficult winter and an even more difficult season opener so far for the struggling Spanish team.

Saturday would be even worse, with Karthikeyan and his teammate Pedro de la Rosa indeed failing to get within 107 per cent of the fastest time in ‘Q1′.

Often, the FIA allows drivers who fail to qualify to start the race anyway, but the new F112 has simply not merited a free-kick in Melbourne.

“We did everything we could,” de la Rosa is quoted by EFE news agency.

“In the end, we have so much room for improvement and it is true to say that we have to change many things, we know what they are, so all I can say is that we all have to be patient.

“I said when I arrived in Australia that this is a test for us; this is our preseason. The downside is we are doing it in front of all the cameras.

“It should be done already but it was not possible for us, so what we do now is work for Malaysia and the following races and focus on the areas that are important to make the car better.”

A report in AS newspaper said the biggest problem with the F112 car is the hydraulic system, which cannot be repaired in time for next weekend’s Malaysian grand prix.

“I am proud of this team — you cannot ask for more than 24 hours a day of work from people,” said de la Rosa.

On the brighter side, fellow straggler Marussia did manage to qualify on merit in Australia.

“We’ve all had a great lift but we have a long way to go and plenty of hard work to do to make the car quicker,” said Timo Glock.

He told Auto Motor und Sport that it will some time.

“Over the next few weeks we will do the little things first,” said the German. “Unfortunately we don’t have the capacity of someone like Red Bull so we would rather work a little longer on a big update.”

Jenson Button is an outright favourite for the 2012 title, according to former F1 driver Mika Salo.
The Finn, Salo, will be a regular in the paddock this season with the MTV3 broadcaster, except for this weekend’s season opener for which he is detained to test last year’s Ferrari at Suzuka.

Asked however in a pre-season interview to name some likely challengers to Sebastian Vettel’s crown, the 45-year-old answered: “Jenson Button is not necessarily the quickest driver, but he is able to collect points consistently.

“I would not previously have put him as a favourite, but when Hamilton had his personal problems, Button was immediately on the case.”

Behind Vettel and Button, Salo predicts Hamilton and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg to be on the favourites’ heels.

“It will depend on Hamilton, and whether or not he splits with his girlfriend every other weekend.

“Nico will be strong, if he has a good car. Webber, I think, is a bit past it, especially if Red Bull is no longer as dominant as they have been,” he added.

If Sebastian Vettel hangs on to the drivers’ world championship trophy at the end of 2012, he will be only the third driver in the sport’s history with a title hat-trick.

Eight drivers have won three or more championships in total, but only Michael Schumacher (2000-2004) and Juan Manuel Fangio (1954-1957) won more than two on the trot.

Names including Prost, Lauda, Senna and Alonso all failed.

“My guess is that he (Vettel) really can do it again,” Bernie Ecclestone told F1′s official website. “What points against it? I think anything else would be the surprise.”

So what does the 24-year-old German think about the chances of a treble?

“That only two or three had done it before, I was not aware,” he is quoted by SID news agency.

“All good things come in threes. Of course it would be great, but there’s a long way to go and we stay patient and keep the feet on the floor.”

The 2012 field, however, appears closer than in 2011, and the Red Bull perhaps not as dominant.

“To say that everything is perfect would be a lie, because we have some problems to solve,” admitted Vettel ahead of the 2012 season opener in Australia.

“It will only be possible to make a true assessment of our performance and the performance of the others this weekend.”

 Red Bull is considering taking the ‘old’ version of its new car to Melbourne for the 2012 season opener.
That is the claim of Germany’s authoritative Auto Motor und Sport magazine, after the radically updated model made a troubled debut late last week as the pre-season test period ended.

Rivals and pundits believe the reigning champions are still leading the field, but the latest Barcelona-spec car – featuring a significantly different exhaust layout – did not complete many laps.

Moreover, it also did not appear fast.

“When I watched Webber’s long run on Saturday afternoon,” said an engineer for a rival team, “it was nothing special — not the laptimes nor the tyre wear.”

Also unconvinced are the drivers, with Mark Webber saying the new car did not feel “massively different” to the earlier launch-version RB8.

Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, was dead last after just 23 laps on Sunday, and is quoted as saying: “It wouldn’t be fair for me to judge the upgrades, so we have to rely on the data collected by Mark.”

Another rival engineer said there is visual evidence that the exhaust gases on the revised layout “are not going where they (Red Bull) want them to go”.

Niki Lauda has tipped Mercedes to flirt with the top positions in 2012.
After February’s winter group tests, rivals and pundits are now assessing the likely pecking-order less than two weeks before the season opener in Australia.

“My feeling is that McLaren and Red Bull are almost equal,” triple world champion Lauda told Austrian television ORF’s Sport am Sonntag programme.

“The big positive surprise is Mercedes. They have chosen a different way,” said the 63-year-old.

“The nose is relatively small, making the car look quite different to the others, because they have the (front wing innovation) F-duct.

“For me, it’s the most innovative car, and it also looks to me as through the (F-duct) mechanism works very well.”

Lauda said a strong Mercedes will be the first real test for Michael Schumacher since the great German returned to F1 in 2010.

“It’s a very important year for him,” he said, “because for the first time he and us will really know the answer to how he stands against Rosberg.

“Michael needs to prove to us all how good he really is — which of course is difficult, since logically you do not get faster with age.”

Meanwhile, Lauda agrees with speculation sweeping the F1 world about Ferrari’s current pre-season crisis.

“They’re behind, no doubt about it,” said the Austrian. “The car is pretty unstable, slipping at the front as well — I think they could be two or three tenths behind the top three.

“At the beginning of this year, that’s quite a lot,” explained Lauda.

“In Alonso they really have a top man, but if the car is too far behind then he can’t do anything about it, especially as he has a not-so-strong teammate in Massa who is not going to push him.”

Charles Pic’s situation leading into his rookie season in formula one is “sad and frustrating”.

That is the claim of his manager Olivier Panis, the 1996 Monaco grand prix winner and former Toyota racer and McLaren test driver.

His well-sponsored countryman Pic, 22, will debut in Melbourne this month alongside the experienced Timo Glock, having never turned a wheel in his 2012 car.

Ahead of next weekend’s season opener, the new Marussia is yet to pass all the FIA crash tests, which has left the former Virgin team grounded throughout February’s test period.

“It’s sad and frustrating,” admitted Panis, when asked about Pic’s situation.

“The beginning will be difficult for him,” he told RMC.

For F1′s backmarkers, including HRT who have also struggled through the winter, the tougher crash tests are just another hurdle, atop tackling the financial might of rival giants like Ferrari and Red Bull.

The sport’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone is unapologetic.

“If we tried to make things less complicated, you will always find the guys at the top looking for that tenth of a second.

“That’s the difference between the winners and losers,” he told the Sun newspaper.

 Organisers of the Bahrain grand prix have admitted disappointment with being bumped from the head of the 2012 calendar.
Following the cancellation of its 2011 race and test over the civil unrest early last year, Bahrain was provisionally scheduled to return to F1 by opening this season’s championship.

However, when the calendar was ultimately published, Bahrain was given a late April date, making it the fourth round after Australia, Malaysia and China.

Reports at the time said Bernie Ecclestone had “responded to teams’ fears over the uncertain political landscape” in the island Kingdom.

So as tickets go on sale this week, the Sakhir circuit’s chief executive admitted he is disappointed Melbourne will be kicking off the sport in less than a month’s time.

“I think formula one should start the world championship in a timezone that makes sense,” said Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa.

“We have a lot of support in Europe for our grand prix and to start in Australia, where it is 2am or 3am in Europe, that to me doesn’t make sense,” he is quoted by The National newspaper.

In addition to not being the season opener, Bahrain is also the second leg in a logistically-difficult ‘back to back’ pairing with China.

“Hosting the first race, you benefit obviously by people talking about you in the lead up to the start of the season,” continued Al Khalifa.

“Now we are going to be after China so our event will come into play only after the third round. For us, it is important to host the race and we plan to make it a success,” he added.

The slogan for Bahrain’s 2012 return to F1 is ‘Unified, One nation in celebration”.

On the continuing security fears in Bahrain, Al Khalifa insisted: “I don’t see an issue.

“Obviously, there are always concerns and the authorities are aware of that, but my main concern is that everybody is secure in and around the circuit and I am confident we can provide that.”

 Five days before the W03 is publicly revealed, Mercedes remains highly secretive about its 2012 car.
The German squad went a different path than all of its main formula one rivals by opting to keep its new machine at the Brackley factory rather than debut and test it last week at Jerez.

Michael Schumacher will do the first laps in the silver car next Tuesday, as the first of eight days of Barcelona testing kicks off ahead of next month’s season opener in Australia.

Mercedes leaked out some ‘teaser’ images of the W03 this week, but all carefully masking the detail of the single seater, including the ‘step’ nose solution.

“I assume that they want to hide something from the competition,” surmised Red Bull designer Adrian Newey, according to Germany’s Sport Bild.

“It must be something that can be copied quite quickly, otherwise they wouldn’t try so hard to keep it secret.”

Agreed Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko: “They seem to have something special at the front of the car.”

Ferrari is reportedly likening the situation to when the team – then called Brawn GP – arrived late with the famous ‘double diffuser’ and duly went on to win the title.

The Corriere dello Sport website cited a Ferrari official in recalling Brawn was “like Cinderella” in sweeping in at the last moment and keeping her trick secret.

“It’s a calculated risk,” team boss Ross Brawn, quoted in Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, insisted when contemplating the 2012 car’s late reveal.

 Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel has flagged his friend Kimi Raikkonen as a potential pretender to his throne in 2012.
After becoming friends prior to Raikkonen’s rallying switch two years ago, German Vettel has stayed in contact with the Finn, occasionally meeting in their domiciled Switzerland to play badminton.

They did not manage to catch up at the Jerez test last week, but Red Bull’s Vettel admitted the pace of Raikkonen’s new Lotus caught his eye.

“If it’s as good as it seemed at Jerez, then Kimi is a serious opponent,” he is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

Not trying to play down Lotus’ impressive debut for the black and gold E20 car is the team’s technical director, James Allison.

But the Briton also urged against getting carried away, with two tests at Barcelona still to run before the Melbourne season opener next month.

“We all try to know what is happening with the other teams, but in any case, we won’t know anything definite until Melbourne,” he is quoted by L’Equipe’s website.

“The most important thing is that the car runs well, not just from a mechanical standpoint, but also in terms of how the drivers feel, which is also important.”