Amid France’s push to return to the F1 calendar, it appears Magny Cours is not yet out of the game.

Prime minister Francois Fillon, however, has earmarked Paul Ricard – the well-known test circuit at Le Castallet near Marseille – as the host.

But it was Magny Cours that hosted the French grand prix between 1991 and 2008.

The local Nievre department’s president Patrice Joly last week accused Fillon of “bias in favour of Le Castellet” for the 2013 deal.

He said Magny Cours has “all the facilities, infrastructure and expertise needed to organise such an event”.

Championing Magny Cours’ renewed push to host the 2013 French grand prix is Guy Ligier, the now 81-year-old Frenchman who once had his own formula one team based at the circuit.

“I am trying to lend a hand,” he confirmed to the sports daily L’Equipe.

“I have had Bernie (Ecclestone) on the phone several times, as a friend, and have asked for his advice. We talked about the hotel business around (Magny Cours).

“He said to me, ‘Guy, I know you’re in the know.’

“I have a feeling that Bernie is not going to sign anything before he knows the outcome of the presidential election.

“I’ll tell you honestly what I feel: nothing is lost for Magny Cours,” added Ligier.

German bank and former F1 shareholder BayernLB contemplated dismissing Bernie Ecclestone six years ago, it emerged during Gerhard Gribkowsky’s corruption trial this week.
The trial, with Briton Ecclestone set to appear as a witness next month, surrounds the F1 chief executive’s suspect payment of millions to Gribkowsky, who was then in charge of BayernLB’s F1 share.

An employee testified on Wednesday that Ecclestone heard during bank meetings several times in 2005 that F1 “could do without him”, the Reuters news agency reports.

Ecclestone, turning 81 on Friday, told the German newspaper Die Welt this week that formula one would survive without him.

“It would,” he said, “but things would be very different if I’m not there.

“I have a very great and strong support from many people, with a lot of mutual trust.

“If the leadership was to change, nothing would be affected seriously but it would be more complicated and difficult because that trust might not be there any more.

“People would probably want to read the contracts ten times more than if I was there,” added Ecclestone.

Niki Lauda has slammed the “farce” of the Silverstone exhaust blown saga, questioning the motivation of the governing FIA.
Throughout the British grand prix weekend, the rules about off-throttle engine exhaust blowing changed several times, with many observers wondering if the dominance of the Red Bull team was being directly targeted.

“If that was so, it would be the greatest insolence. You can not punish someone just because he is better,” triple world champion Lauda told Germany’s N-TV, referring to world championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

As for the Silverstone scandal, the great Austrian said it was “the biggest farce ever”.

“Why change the rules in the middle of a season? The crucial thing is that absolutely no one was protesting; the practice (of exhaust blowing) was tacitly accepted by all the teams.

“Suddenly the FIA and Charlie Whiting had the idea to change the rules in the middle of the season. I personally don’t understand it.”

Lauda said he was relieved when, late on Sunday, it emerged that the FIA had accepted the teams’ unanimous request to return to the pre-clampdown rules of Valencia.

“I very much hope that this absurdity stops now and we and the audience know at the Nurburgring in two weeks exactly what the rules are,” he added.

The jury was out on Sunday after Mark Webber was ordered to hold station behind his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel.
A year ago, after his new front wing was removed from his car and handed to Vettel, Australian Webber furiously declared “not bad for a number 2 driver” as he won at Silverstone.

German Vettel went on to win the 2010 title as Red Bull insisted staunchly that team orders run against the philosophy of the team’s owner mogul Dietrich Mateschitz.

But in the closing stages of the British grand prix a year on, Webber was told by boss Christian Horner on the radio as he challenged Vettel for second place: “Maintain your position.”

The initial reports were that, despite team orders now being fully legal, the 34-year-old is furious and in fact ignored the order several times.

“I can understand Mark’s frustrations,” Horner told the BBC, “but we cannot give away a load of points.

“He should be fine with that, he is a team player.”

Webber commented: “I tried to do my best with the amount of conversation I had with the four or five messages of the team.”

Asked if he felt like repeating his ‘Not bad for a number 2 driver’ after crossing the line in third place, he added: “Not really, I wanted to race to the end.

“Of course they (Vettel’s side of the garage) want the points, but I also need to try to get some points as well.”

Tony Fernandes’ F1 outfit is pushing ahead with the Team Lotus moniker, despite lingering expectations he might drop the name before the start of the 2011 season.

The Malaysian, whose official license for his team’s 2010 identity Lotus Racing was terminated because Group Lotus wanted to enter F1 separately, has said several times recently that he favours a “pragmatic” solution to the dispute.

But the latest news is that green and gold ‘Team Lotus’ signage, including the famous CABC logo, has been erected outside the outfit’s Hingham (UK) factory.

The signage also features at the team’s new official website, which is located at teamlotus.co.uk because teamlotus.com is controlled by Group Lotus.

“The migration to (the) Team Lotus brand has started,” Fernandes wrote on Twitter. “It’s a shame. I liked Lotus Racing and always thought Team Lotus should be returned to (the) Chapman family.

“But that’s the deck of hand (cards) we got handed,” he added.

Renault F1′s new website, located at lotusrenaultgp.com, will be launched on January 31.

Red Bull’s top staff are the envy of the formula one pitlane, according to Dr Helmut Marko.

“Of the top 30 people who work for us, there is no one who has not already received an offer from a competing team,” said the Austrian, who is Dietrich Mateschitz’s right hand man on motor racing matters.

Last Sunday, at its sixth attempt since taking over Jaguar in 2005, Red Bull Racing wrapped up the 2010 world constructors’ championship.

At the very top of Marko’s ‘top 30′ employees – and the highest paid – is designer Adrian Newey.

“He has said several times that Red Bull will be his last job in F1,” said Marko, referring to Briton Newey who has also designed title-winning cars for Williams and McLaren.

Newey, 51, said this week he intends to stay in F1 for “a while to come”.

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.



Timo Glock and Adrian Sutil had hoped to secure the second race seat at Sauber for 2011, according to a Swiss newspaper.

The Blick daily said the German duo, who currently drive for Virgin and Force India respectively, were in the running to be Kamui Kobayashi’s teammate until the Hinwil based team signed well-backed Mexican rookie Sergio Perez.

“Several times,” wrote veteran correspondent Roger Benoit from Suzuka, “they or their managers have appeared in Hinwil — in vain.”

Also hoping for the Sauber seat was its current occupant Nick Heidfeld, who according to Blick must now consider a 2011 switch to Force India, Lotus, Virgin or HRT.

Korea’s new formula one circuit is scheduled to host its first motor races at the end of next month.

The scheduling is the latest rebuttal to constant rumours that the track in South Jeolla province will not be ready for its inaugural grand prix in late October.

The Asian Festival of Speed, with Asian GT and junior single seaters on the bill, was originally set to take place at the South Korean venue at the end of this month.

Event organisers said in a statement that the rescheduling was due to construction delays “caused by bad weather”.

“This delay has caused many rumours about whether the event will ever take place,” said Motorsport Asia’s chief executive David Sonenscher.

“I have personally visited the site several times and I feel very sorry for them that despite all their hard work, they missed the deadline by only a couple of weeks.

“I can assure you that it was not through lack of effort or commitment,” he added.

The grand prix organisers said the 5.62 kilometre circuit will open officially on September 5.

Formula one could soon return to Austria.

After dropping off the grand prix calendar in 2003, the A1-Ring in Zeltweg – located in central Austria – was demolished.

Supported by Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz, EUR 70 million reconstruction works began late in 2008, including new pit buildings and grandstands.

But although Mateschitz said at the time that “speaking about a return of formula one” to Austria “would be absurd”, a report in the Kleine Zeitung newspaper has now raised that possibility.

The Styria-based newspaper said F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone sees the former Osterreichring as a potential replacement for a current Asian race.

Kleine Zeitung said the A1-Ring rumour was heard “several times” in the Valencia paddock last weekend.

The rebuilt circuit, with a DTM race already likely, is set to re-open in April or May of next year.

(GMM)

GP2 championship leader Pastor Maldonado claims Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez wants him to debut in formula one.

The well-sponsored 25-year-old has been linked with F1 seats several times, including when he was close to inking a deal with the hopeful Serbian outfit Stefan GP.

“We were nearly ready to sign … but at the end it didn’t get an entry,” he told Reuters at Valencia on Friday.

The news agency said Maldonado is backed by the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

“Venezuela is pushing very hard for me, to have me in formula one,” he confirmed.  “All my sponsors are from Venezuela so that’s a big support.

“He (Chavez) is pushing.  I know that,” Maldonado, also a contender for a Campos/HRT seat in 2010, added.

He said president Chavez is also interested in hosting a grand prix, possibly off the northeastern coast of the country on Margarita Island.

Jun.15 (GMM)  Vitantonio Liuzzi proved in Canada he still deserves a place on the formula one grid, his team boss Vijay Mallya insists.

Heading into the Montreal round, speculation was rife that Force India was considering replacing the underperforming Italian with the team’s rookie reserve driver Paul di Resta.

But Liuzzi, 28, travelled to Canada with a new VJM03 chassis and not only outqualified his teammate Adrian Sutil but put in the team’s best qualifying performance of the season.

Starting from fifth on the grid, however, he was hit several times by Felipe Massa and needed to pit for repairs, but still finished in the points.

“I am so happy to see Tonio back to his best again,” Mallya, not in Canada last weekend while he re-launched his career in Indian politics, said.

“We believed in him and wanted to give him the support he needed to realise the potential we knew was in there.”

Red Bull may have identified the reason for Sebastian Vettel’s recent struggle to keep up with his on-form teammate Mark Webber.

33-year-old Australian Webber has commandingly won the last two grands prix from pole at the wheel of the dominant RB6.

But according to Germany’s Auto Bild Motorsport, after returning to Milton Keynes from the Barcelona/Monaco double header, the Austrian team has identified damage to Vettel’s chassis.

“We have found a defect in Sebastian’s chassis,” Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner confirmed, referring to the car superstitiously nicknamed ‘Lucious Liz’ by the highly rated 2009 championship runner-up.

Horner added: “For the next race in Turkey, he will have a new chassis.”

Vettel, initially the stronger of Red Bull’s driver lineup this year, is now equal on points with Webber at the head of the 2010 standings.

Briton Horner said he is confident Vettel can impress again at the wheel of a new chassis.

“Sebastian began the season in great shape and I am sure he will bounce back at the next race.

“In Barcelona and Monaco, Mark was simply stronger, he had more confidence and felt more comfortable in the car.  In contrast, Sebastian complained several times about the balance of the car,” added Horner.

(GMM)

Bernie Ecclestone added more fuel to the fire when he made statements regarding the possibility that USF1 and Campos Meta 1 get a place in the grid of the first race at Bahrain. The F1 boss went even further by suggesting the both teams will miss the three first races of the season.
Ecclestone himself revealed there is a clause in the Concord Agreement which allows the teams to be absent at three races during the season. Even though most of the teams will not make use of it –due to the sponsorship contracts-, this could offer an extra period to Campos and USF1 to prepare for their debut in the Formula One.
“I think we won’t be seeing Campos nor the Americans, who are going to request to be absent to three races,” declared Ecclestone to Express. “According to the Concord Agreement the teams are authorized to be absent from three races.”
Both teams have insisted several times that they will run the first race of the season, even though Campos has admitted he is still looking for investors to pay the debts he has with the Dallara chassis manufacturer. On the other hand, the USF1 is ready for his final crash tests, and a number of reports suggest that the chassis is in a very advanced phase.
However, the Serbian, Stefan, who is developing the Toyota’s team F1 2010, is ready to intervene if necessary, suggested Ecclestone, saying that Stefan GP has gotten enough funds to be in conditions to participate in the races. “They have the Serbian government money. I have talked with the Prime Minister.” declared Ecclestone.
Formula One ex-pilots, Schumacher, Kazuki Nakajima and Jacques Villeneuve have been associated with the new team, that will make tests at the Algarve Portimao Race Circuit in Portugal, at the end of the month.