The decision to tie-up with McLaren and enter a wind tunnel might have convinced Timo Glock to stay at Virgin in 2012.
The German driver has had a frustrating season and a half with the struggling 2010 start-up outfit, but Virgin recently split with designer Nick Wirth and ended the policy of building its cars exclusively with computer modelling.

Glock, 29, happily told Auto Motor und Sport that a scale model of the Virgin car will soon enter the McLaren wind tunnel.

He also said he will try McLaren’s state-of-the-art driver simulator “as soon as possible”.

Asked if the developments could affect his plans for 2012, Glock smiled: “It is quite possible.”

As for any hope of a dramatic improvement when the McLaren tunnel programme begins, he explained: “Unfortunately we have the two week summer break coming up, where the factories are closed.”

And Wirth’s scheduled Silverstone development has been called off.

“Maybe we’ll do something for Singapore,” said Glock. “This is still not decided.

“Only if we find something in the straight line testing or the wind tunnel that can be a big step forward without much effort, we will act now. Otherwise, I do not expect any big jumps (this year).

“Our direct competition, unfortunately, is already far ahead.”

Two Spanish drivers and a new headquarters could be among HRT’s plans after it emerged Thesan Capital has taken over the Spanish team.
In its first two seasons, Hispania has been effectively based at Colin Kolles’ Greding headquarters in Germany, with no Spanish drivers on the roster.

But it was announced on Monday that the buyout will involve the “search for opportunities to optimise and improve the performance of the team” as well as “progressively making the team more Spanish and definitively settling … in Spain”.

According to the Spanish sports daily AS, Thesan is already developing some ideas along these lines for 2012.

One name mentioned is 23-year-old Spaniard and former GP2 driver Javier Villa, who this year is contesting the World Touring Car series.

And a “longer term” plan may involve 16-year-old Carlos Sainz Jr, the Red Bull-backed son of the famous former world rally champion who has begun a very promising single seater career.

AS said Thesan has “clear ideas” about a Spanish base for HRT, such as the state-of-the-art Epsilon Euskadi facility in Basque Country, amid the Joan Villadelprat-led operation’s current financial difficulties.

“Another of (Thesan’s) priorities will be to have the greatest possible number of Spanish personnel, both technically and logistically,” added the report.

Pedro de la Rosa insists a driver making a comeback to formula one needs a full year to get back up to speed.

The highest profile returnee in 2010 is Michael Schumacher, but Spaniard de la Rosa – two years younger than the great German – is also back in F1 full-time after seven years as McLaren’s test driver.

“At the highest level it is not easy,” the Sauber driver said at Silverstone.

“As the season goes on it is getting better. After a few races you are simply not yet right back on top,” added de la Rosa.

“To really be there again, you need a full year.”

De la Rosa insists he was never completely away from the cockpit; he was regularly at the wheel of McLaren’s state-of-the-art simulator, and occasionally tested on track.

But “in order to really compete with these guys, you probably need a whole year,” he added.

His McLaren job involved a much higher salary, but Pedro de la Rosa is not keen to go back to mere test driving.

At 39, the Spaniard returned with Sauber to the formula one grid this year after a long spell helping McLaren develop its cars.

The C29, however, has not been a good car, and de la Rosa said after the Canadian grand prix that he is “available” for future employment “even if I have to go back testing or as a reserve driver”.

But in interview with El Pais newspaper, de la Rosa insists he is much happier with an actual race seat, even if he is paid “three times less” than he was by McLaren.

“I have enough goals … I want to be the oldest champion in history,” he said.  “Fangio won at 45, and (at that age) was just as good!”

Salary aside, there are other ironies: such as the fact that when he was at McLaren, he learned the layout of the Valencia circuit on the Woking based team’s state-of-the-art simulator.

But now that he actually has to race on the streets of the port city this weekend, Sauber does not have a simulator.

(GMM)

French GP2 team ART could merge with an existing team rather than go it alone in formula one next year.

The outfit headed by FIA president Jean Todt’s son Nicolas has applied to debut in 2011.

But Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo reports that ART is also looking at other options, including merging with the under-financed former BMW-owned outfit Sauber.

The move would make Spanish hopeful Epsilon Euskadi, already with a state of the art headquarters, wind tunnel and proven Le Mans car-making abilities, the favourite to fill the 13th team slot next year.

“I think we have arguments that are difficult to refute,” said Epsilon’s Joan Villadelprat.

On the other hand, El Mundo said Peter Sauber’s ambition for his struggling Hinwil based squad is to “find a strong and stable partner and again retreat into the background”.

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.