Paul di Resta has hinted he would leap at the chance to replace Michael Schumacher at Mercedes.

The German marque’s Brackley based chief executive Nick Fry this week earmarked impressive Force India driver di Resta, earlier a Mercedes protege, as an ideal successor should Schumacher not stay beyond his 2012 contract.

Asked about Fry’s comments and the media speculation on Wednesday, di Resta said in Monaco: “It’s always nice to have the press interest and people looking out for you, but I need to stay focused on doing the best job I possibly can.”

He told Sky Sports News: “It’s no secret that I want to be a race winner and world champion — and to do that, I need to be in a great car.”

Ferrari’s title tilt could hinge on the competitiveness of the updated F2012 this weekend in Barcelona.

“What I want is to have a competitive car in Barcelona,” insisted the famous Italian marque’s president Luca di Montezemolo on Tuesday.

“That’s what I’ve asked for,” he is quoted as saying by Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

Ferrari had congregated at its Fiorano test track, to watch Jacques Villeneuve drive the 1979 single seater to mark the 30th anniversary of his father Gilles’ fatal crash.

But Montezemolo’s disappointment is with the latest Ferrari, which has been heavily updated since the Bahrain grand prix three weeks ago.

“Our technicians are confident, but we will have to see how our opponents have advanced too,” he added.

O Estado de S.Paulo correspondent Livio Oricchio claimed “Montezemolo knows” that anything other than a big step forward in Barcelona will mean Ferrari has to “start thinking about” its 2013 project instead.

“Now we have to make a quantum leap, to have a car that is more competitive, less difficult to drive, and gives confidence to the fans,” Montezemolo is quoted by La Stampa newspaper.

“Let’s see how it goes in Spain,” he told Rai television.

“I have asked for an extraordinary response from our engineers,” Montezemolo is also quoted as saying by Italy’s Sky Sport 24.

La Gazzetta dello Sport, meanwhile, quoted lead driver Fernando Alonso as saying: “Our goal is to be world champions in November, and if we are to succeed then we must do better than we have done so far.”

Team boss Stefano Domenicali agreed: “We expect a significant evolution that will bring us closer to the step we need.

“The Spanish grand prix is definitely open, as is the championship. I say this because we believe.”

The FIA appears to have waded back into the ‘F-duct’ debate, indicating that the Mercedes-style solution is fully legal.

We reported on Monday that the saga looked set to continue into China next weekend, with some teams – notably Red Bull and Lotus – questioning the legality of the aerodynamic innovation.

It had emerged that Lotus technical director James Allison has come up with another argument against the technology that will be posed to the FIA’s Charlie Whiting ahead of scrutineering in Shanghai next week.

Christian Horner insists Red Bull and Lotus’ concerns are shared by others.

“Believe me it’s not just Red Bull, I think there’s half the paddock that’s been looking at this,” he told British television Sky Sport’s The F1 Show.

The Red Bull team boss revealed that Whiting left Malaysia wanting “to have a think about it”.

So, the latest development is the re-release via the FIA website of an “edited version” of the technical briefing that Whiting gave to reporters in Australia last month.

It is believed the complaining teams’ main objection to the Mercedes system is that it arguably uses ‘driver movement’ – the pressing of the DRS button – to be activated.

Under the heading “Pressing the DRS button and the issue of ‘driver movement’”, the media briefing quotes Whiting as stating simply: “This is specifically allowed (in the rules).”

Mercedes’ Ross Brawn is quoted by the BBC: “We call it the DRS, because that’s all it is. The purpose of the DRS is to improve overtaking and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Whiting’s stance in China, however, may not be the end of it.

“Then the teams are faced with alternatives,” Horner explained. “Either accept it and get on it and maybe look at your own solution if that fits your car.

“You’ve got the opportunity to protest if we were to feel – or any other team were to feel – that we didn’t agree with Charlie’s interpretation,” he added.

 Robert Kubica is back on track yet again, according to the latest reports from Italy.
It emerged a few days ago that the Pole had moved his recovery from serious injury forwards by returning to the wheel of a Skoda Fabia rally car in Liguria, Italy.

La Gazzetta dello Sport now reports that the former BMW and Renault driver has tested a kart at a circuit in Montecatini-Terme, Tuscany.

Former Renault boss Flavio Briatore advises Kubica not to rush his return to F1.

“I have seen him a few times and have told him not to hurry back. You cannot lose your talent, but first you should focus on your health. 100 per cent,” he told Italy’s Sky Sport 24.

Briatore recalled former Benetton driver Alessandro Nannini, who badly injured his arm in a helicopter crash in 1990.

“He hurried back and we all know how that ended,” said Briatore.

“I think Kubica will succeed, but he needs to plan to come back in two years. You can’t be in F1 if you’re not 100 per cent.”

 Flavio Briatore has hit out at formula one by suggesting “any top driver” would have won last year’s title with the 2011 Red Bull.
“It’s only a real show now when it rains,” the former Renault team boss told Italy’s Sky Sport 24.

Briatore, 61, blames the huge role played by technology.

“If you were to take GP2 cars and put the 6 world champions in them, it would be more fun,” he insisted.

“The car is now made in the wind tunnel, the engineers aren’t even at the circuits and they spend 200 million euros making identical machines.

“Last year, the championship was over after the first race, and this will be the same; McLaren are two tenths from Red Bull, Mercedes three, and Ferrari and Lotus 4 to 7.

“Two tenths is like 2-0 behind in a football game. In F1, the Messi is Alonso, but if his car is not competitive, he is going nowhere.”

Ferrari has set to work to fix a problem at the rear of its troubled F2012 car, Italy’s Autosprint reports.
The report said initial winter testing highlighted problems with the car’s exhaust solution, prompting Pat Fry to order the outlets be moved inwards.

This, however, left the homologated portion of the chassis that housed the original exhausts intact, with modification to require a new FIA crash test.

“I want to understand what is happening, and how many seconds it will take to be fixed,” president Luca di Montezemolo is quoted as having said.

Triple world champion Niki Lauda is alarmed.

“I have never heard comments like this from within a team — this is dramatic,” the great Austrian told Blick newspaper.

However, the Swiss newspaper also said some of Ferrari’s rivals are making similar modifications to their cars that will require new FIA crash tests.

Even so, “nobody at Maranello expected this”, wrote the famous Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Corriere dello Sport, meanwhile, said the fact Ferrari gagged its drivers for the first time ever recently is “more worrying than the testing results”.

Test driver Marc Gene told Spanish television Antena 3: “This will be a very long world championship, and we will fight to win.

“At the moment we are not at the level we wanted to be.”

It is faintly possible Ferrari is playing an extreme hand of bluff, but Lauda insists that theory is now believed by “only a few”.

“They’ve got a great team,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports, “they haven’t fully shown their hand yet. I think they’re more competitive than people believe they are.

“I’m sure the car looks a handful but sometimes a difficult car can be a quick car so it would be foolish to write off Fernando (Alonso) going into Melbourne,” he added.

Mark Webber is yet to secure his place at Red Bull for the 2013 season.
Team boss Christian Horner said the Australian has a “spring in his step” after a strong winter following Sebastian Vettel’s dominance last year.

But as for the future, he said that will only be discussed “in the summer”.

“We’ve extended his contract on a year by year basis, I think that’s something that Mark and the team agreed was the right way forward,” Horner told Sky Sports.

“His motivation is high at the moment, he’s still delivering and undoubtedly will sit down later in the summer to discuss the future.”

The biggest threats to 35-year-old Webber’s place are rookie team Toro Rosso’s new signings, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Horner admitted the young duo is “being groomed for the future”.

But the real tension for Webber will be in the Red Bull garage, as another trouncing by Vettel could signal the end of his tenure.

“(Vettel is) probably one of the best, if not the best driver on the grid at the moment and that’s what Mark Webber’s got to come up against, unfortunately,” 1980 world champion Alan Jones told News Limited newspapers.

“This is why I think Mark’s really got to come out of the blocks flying, he’s got to come out firing.”

 Christian Horner and Bernie Ecclestone have singled out Jenson Button as potentially the biggest rival to Red Bull’s dominance in 2012.
McLaren’s Button surprised many observers by beating his highly rated teammate Lewis Hamilton last year, and finishing runner-up behind Red Bull’s dominant Sebastian Vettel.

“Jenson seemed to get the team around him and strung a set of results together that was very impressive,” Red Bull team boss Horner told Sky Sports.

And when pressed on BBC radio to name Vettel’s biggest rival, he admitted: “Probably Jenson.”

F1 chief executive Ecclestone, meanwhile, tipped 32-year-old Button to give Hamilton yet another headache in 2012.

“Jenson looks after the car and tyres better, so it is more than likely he will be a big problem for Lewis,” he told the Sun newspaper.

Mercedes is committed to the crumbling teams association FOTA, team boss Ross Brawn insists.
The Geneva based alliance has lost the support of top teams Red Bull and Ferrari, and also smaller outfits Sauber, Toro Rosso and HRT.

It is rumoured Lotus could be the next to go.

But McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh remains the chairman, and media outlets on Wednesday quoted Mercedes’ Brawn as saying the German marque remains “very committed” to FOTA.

“We believe it’s a great shame that we’ve lost some of the members from FOTA because I think we may live ultimately to regret that,” he is quoted by Sky Sports.

Contemplating the reasons for the FOTA split, Brawn explained: “When there is outside pressure it pushed FOTA together. Now, there is not so much, the natural competitiveness of the teams is pushing it apart a bit.

“I hope we don’t regret it … because one of the objectives was to find the right solutions for F1, not just for individual teams.”

Dario Franchitti insists he has no regrets despite never adding success in formula one to his list of career achievements.
The famous Scot, whose wife is the Hollywood actor Ashley Judd, is the cousin of impressive Force India youngster Paul di Resta.

Last week, 38-year-old Franchitti joined his family member at the Jerez test.

The four-time Indycar champion and double Indy 500 winner was asked by Sky Sports if, despite flirting with Jaguar at the beginning of last decade, he regrets not having made it to F1.

“You can live your life thinking ‘I wish I’d done this, I wish I’d done that’,” he answered.

“It would have been great to race in formula one at some point, but when the chances were there I didn’t take them; I didn’t feel that they were better than the opportunities I had in America.”

Added Franchitti: “I made the decisions I made, I’m delighted I won a couple of Indy 500s and the four championships, so I wouldn’t change that for that world.”

Mark Webber’s manager has refused to back the Australian’s stance against Red Bull’s imposition of team orders at Silverstone last weekend.
Britain’s Sun newspaper says Australian Webber, 34, “put his job at risk” by openly ignoring boss Christian Horner’s instruction to end his challenge on teammate Sebastian Vettel towards the end of the British grand prix.

“I wasn’t happy with that (order) because you should never give up in F1,” Webber said on Monday.

Although the winner of six grands prix effectively handles his own career with his partner Ann, former Renault boss Flavio Briatore is still involved as a manager.

He told Italy’s Sky Sport 24 that he thinks Red Bull was justified in asking Webber to hold station.

“Welcome to F1,” Briatore is quoted as saying. “I would have done the same.

“If you’re playing for a world championship, you have to take decisions and drivers need to understand that it’s not your car and it’s a team of hundreds of people. They (drivers) need to respect that,” he added.

Briatore’s other charge, Fernando Alonso, won the British grand prix but the flamboyant Italian does not believe Ferrari can chase down Vettel.

“He (Alonso) might be second or third in the end, but he has no chance of winning because the championship is over already.”

Mikhail Aleshin is a contender to make his F1 debut next year with Force India, according to Finland’s Turun Sanomat.

His father and manager Peter revealed last month he is in talks with Vijay Mallya’s Silverstone based team as well as Lotus and Virgin about 2011.

The 23-year-old, who would be the second Russian in F1 after countryman Vitaly Petrov, recently secured the Renault World Series title and a test with the Renault team in Abu Dhabi later this month.

But he told the Sovetsky Sport newspaper that he does not have the full EUR 10-15 million in sponsorship that he needs to buy a seat for 2011.

“Now it’s the sponsors’ turn to decide,” said Aleshin, who is already backed by state-owned Gazprom and the tyre company Cordiant.

Only a “disaster” will prevent Fernando Alonso from winning his third drivers’ title in 2010.

That is the claim of his manager Flavio Briatore, who said the championship challenge is now a straight fight between two drivers in his stable: Spaniard Alonso and Red Bull’s Mark Webber.

“Alonso will lose the world championship only with a disaster,” the Italian told Sky Sport 24.

“For Vettel it’s impossible, Hamilton the same. The only two who can win are Alonso and Webber,” said Briatore.

“And for Alonso I see the chances at 80 per cent, except if Red Bull changes their strategy.

“For Alonso he has always driven the same way, only the Ferrari has become better and more reliable,” he said.

Briatore is highly critical of Red Bull’s refusal to get Sebastian Vettel to fall in line behind Webber, surmising that the Austrian team “have the best car but it seems like they’re trying to lose the championship.

“And they’re getting there,” he added.

Rumours linking Flavio Briatore with Ferrari have shifted into a higher gear.

In July, it emerged that the disgraced, ousted and banned former Renault boss had visited the famous Italian team’s Maranello headquarters.

The visit unleashed a flood of rumours, including talk of a possible consultancy role with Ferrari.

Now, according to the major German daily Die Welt, 60-year-old Italian Briatore has visited Ferrari no fewer than two more times in recent weeks.

Additionally, Briatore was in the Monza paddock last weekend, as was Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, and Fiat chiefs John Elkann and Sergio Marchionne.

Briatore was also seen inside the Ferrari pits.

Welt reports that the charismatic Italian is endeavouring to have his FIA ban reduced so that he can return to a direct operational role in F1 before 2013.

If successful, he could replace Stefano Domenicali as Ferrari’s team boss, the newspaper said.

Briatore was asked about his Monza visit by German television Sky.

“I am meeting with Bernie (Ecclestone) and then flying back to London,” he answered at the Italian circuit before the race.

“It’s fantastic to be back, to see friends and to be in Italy,” added Briatore. “Ferrari are on pole and everyone is happy. Just wonderful.”

Briatore, who is Fernando Alonso’s manager and former team boss at Renault, played down suggestions he is itching to return to F1.

“I’m feeling very good and I’m happy with the way things are,” said Briatore.

To Italy’s Sky Sport 24, he indicated that a return to formula one in a commercial role is more likely.

“We will see what happens in the future,” said Briatore. “Next week I will not be in Singapore; I am also perfectly happy at home.”

Valentino Rossi’s switch of MotoGP teams has moved him closer to formula one, according to his father.

The flamboyant motorcycle rider will move from Yamaha, his team for the past seven years, to the Italian marque Ducati for 2011 and 2012.

And his father Graziano, also a former motorcycle world championship rider, thinks the switch moves his son closer to F1.

“Valentino is not yet able to stop with the motorcycles,” Rossi Snr told Italy’s Sky Sport.

“But if in three or four years he will get into formula one, then what better road than with Ducati?” Graziano added. “This seems like a big step forward.”

Ducati and Ferrari share a common sponsor in Marlboro, traditionally appearing together for the start-of-season Madonna di Campiglio media event.

Rossi has tested Ferrari’s F1 cars on several occasions, and figures in the Maranello based team’s push to contest grands prix with three cars.