Contrary to some team bosses earlier remarks, ‘Delhi belly’ is a concern for formula one teams as they head to India next week.
‘Delhi belly’ is a colloquial term for the sort of sickness often picked up by travellers to India as they sample local foods and drink the tap water.

But McLaren and FOTA boss Martin Whitmarsh warned the media not to “overstate” the risks of racing and eating in Delhi.

“I don’t think we should single out India as a particular challenge in that regard,” he insisted.

Fellow boss Christian Horner added that Red Bull has had a crew running a show car in India recently and there was only “one incident of an upset tummy”.

“No, we’re not taking any additional precautions,” he revealed.

But that’s not the case with some of the other teams. A spokesperson for Swiss team Sauber said stomach bugs “could seriously compromise the team’s performance if team personnel fall ill”.

“This is why so many precautions are being taken,” the spokesperson is quoted by the Indian Express.

Added a Toro Rosso spokesperson: “It is a fact that Europeans often pick up stomach bugs when in India”.

And a Mercedes spokesperson said its catering team had been deployed to India ahead of time to “source local produce in a new destination”.

David Coulthard will not be driving a formula one car on the streets of 2012 US grand prix host city Austin this weekend.

The 13-time F1 race winner was slated to drive the Red Bull show car pending the approval of a city filming permit.

“Due to feasibility, a formal formula one show car demonstration that is open to the public will not be executed this week,” the energy drink company said in a statement.

Red Bull, whose F1 show car is already in the US, added that it is “excited about the upcoming US grand prix … and eager to drive awareness of the race and the sport in general to a broad audience”.

Red Bull’s 2010 title charge would be easier if F1 dropped a race, but Mark Webber is confident the sport is still headed to Korea.

There have been widespread doubts about the readiness of the new Yeongam venue for its inaugural October 24 date; one of the remaining seven rounds this season.

Australian Webber is currently leading the drivers’ championship by a slender 4 points, and he admitted on Thursday that he would be feeling more comfortable if there were fewer races still to run.

“If this was the last race,” he said at Spa-Francorchamps, “then we would be in a very good position. But you can’t think about it that way.

“Obviously if there were 30 races left then our position would be worse than with 6 or 7 to go.

“But I think we are going to Korea and we are going to race there,” added Webber.

The optimism about Korea of Webber, who turns 34 on Friday, could be significant, given Red Bull’s participation in the circuit’s inaugural laps late next week.

Karun Chandhok is scheduled to drive a Red Bull show car around the new Korean layout next Saturday.

“It will be a real honour to be one of the first people to drive around the new Korean circuit,” said the Indian driver.