Money could be at the heart of the delay in Lewis Hamilton’s re-signing with the McLaren team.

Until now, the British team has indicated it wants the 2008 world champion to stay on board, while 27-year-old Hamilton insists he has no plans to leave and will turn his attention to the 2013 contract soon.

But according to Blick newspaper, McLaren is pushing to cut Hamilton’s existing contract retainer “in half” to “about EUR 10 million”.

The Swiss report said the driver is unimpressed with the negotiations so far, but at least Hamilton’s mood has improved tenfold compared with his calamitous 2011.

It is a full year since Hamilton raged about his “frickin ridiculous” track rivals in the 2011 Monaco grand prix, when he also half-seriously suggested that the stewards were targeting him “because I’m black”.

He is back on top form this season, but still yet to win a race, arguably mainly due to McLaren’s numerous team mistakes.

Reports have suggested boss Martin Whitmarsh, who insists Hamilton “deserves” to win this weekend in Monaco, is worried the mistakes might drive the highly rated racer away.

On Wednesday, however, Hamilton denied he is frustrated.

“I’m not, no. This is the way racing goes sometimes,” he insisted.

“I could easily get frustrated because I could have a healthy lead in the championship — but that’s not the case.

“I don’t want to speak too early but something has definitely changed. Whatever I’m doing is working,” he told British reporters.

“In life, things just seem a lot better and that’s enabling me to get on with my job without having any baggage.”

Charlie Whiting has defended the decision in Spain to move Lewis Hamilton from pole to the very rear of the grid.

Although McLaren was widely criticised for making a grave error, the stewards’ penalty was at the same time described by the world’s press as “draconian”.

“Quite frankly I did not expect the penalty that we received,” said McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

Indeed, given that McLaren’s fuel indiscretion occurred only in the decisive Q3, why not simply delete Hamilton’s Q3 laptimes, thereby putting the Briton mid-grid for the race?

“We had no room to move,” Whiting, the FIA’s race director, responded to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport when told that Hamilton’s penalty seemed too severe.

“If there is a violation, it applies to the whole session, not just part of it,” he insisted. “Qualifying begins with Q1.”

Whiting explained that if Hamilton had only lost his Q3 time, a precedent would have been set tempting teams to risk not being checked for the mandatory 1 litre fuel sample in post-qualifying scrutineering.

Auto Motor und Sport said only one or two fuel samples are actually checked after qualifying at grands prix.

Competitors could, therefore, genuinely “run the risk” of using less fuel than is allowed in Q3, if the penalty for being caught is relatively light, Whiting argued.

He recalled last year’s German grand prix, when Sebastien Buemi was sent to the back of the grid because his fuel sample showed irregularities.

As it was not possible to check if the illegal fuel had also been used in Q1 and Q2, the Toro Rosso driver had to be disqualified from qualifying, Whiting argued.

Sebastian Vettel has defended his former mentor Michael Schumacher.

The seven time world champion has been roundly criticised since last Sunday’s Spanish grand prix, after crashing into Williams’ Bruno Senna at the end of the Barcelona straight.

He called the Brazilian driver an “idiot” on the radio and later defended the outburst, but the FIA did not agree, imposing a five-place qualifying penalty for Monte Carlo for causing a collision.

“For us, that manoeuvre of Michael’s cost us a lot,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said on Austrian Servus TV.

He said the debris from the crash not only damaged Vettel’s front wing, but led to the reigning world champion having to serve a drive-through penalty due to activating his DRS wing in the yellow-flag zone.

German Vettel, however, defended Schumacher.

“In those situations we don’t have much time of course,” he said, “and you can get very great speed differences (between the cars) on the straights.

“I think it should be classified simply in the category of racing accidents. Unfortunately it happens,” said the reigning world champion.

“Of course you can always say what is what afterwards,” added Vettel, “just as you can say that it always takes two to tango.”

Mercedes’ Norbert Haug was less eager to comment, although he did tell Germany’s Sport1 that the team “accepts the verdict of the race stewards”.

The penalty might be harsh, but the loss of Lewis Hamilton’s pole in Spain is just the latest calamitous mistake by McLaren.

That was the tone of the paddock’s reaction to the news late on Saturday that a McLaren gaffe saw the FIA send Hamilton from first to last on the Spanish grand prix grid.

The Sun newspaper called it a draconian “24-place grid penalty” imposed by the FIA after an “astonishing cock-up” by McLaren.

Hamilton was told on the radio to pull over after his pole lap due to a “technical problem”.

Sporting director Sam Michael argued ‘force majeure’, but the stewards ruled that it had been entirely McLaren’s fault that not enough fuel was put into Hamilton’s car to ensure a scrutineering fuel sample.

Writing in the Telegraph, Tom Cary said the severity of the disqualification “raised eyebrows”, but agreed that “McLaren’s mistake was horrendous”.

He said it has been “a season of errors” by the famous British team, who are yet to get Hamilton’s signature on a new contract beyond 2012.

“Hamilton must be seething,” read an article in the Daily Mail newspaper, while The Times laid out McLaren’s “catalogue of errors”.

27-year-old Hamilton’s “raw talent is being thwarted by mishap and cock-up,” said journalist Kevin Eason.

“McLaren are lovely people but how the hell do they get themselves in this position?” wrote the Mirror’s Byron Young on Twitter.

Even the non-English language media agreed.

“It was another great mistake by McLaren that could eventually cost Hamilton the championship,” wrote Livio Oricchio in O Estado de S.Paulo.

Italy’s La Stampa called McLaren’s fuel gaffe a case of “harakiri”.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport added: “It was error number 13 for McLaren since last year”.

While highly critical of McLaren’s own-goal, however, the feeling in the paddock is that the stewards’ penalty – although accepted by McLaren – was overly harsh.

“Back of the grid? Way, way too harsh”, said the Mirror’s Young on Twitter.

“Draconian penalty in my view,” agreed PA Sport’s Ian Parkes. “Dropping Q3 time would have sufficed.”

Sky commentator Martin Brundle added: “(I) feel they should have deleted that (Q3) laptime only which would have put him sixth”.

And excluding Hamilton from Q3 altogether would have put him 11th. Now, he will be “lucky to score a point”, Auto Motor und Sport predicted.

In the Independent, however, David Tremayne noted: “Welcome to the draconian world of F1.”

David Croft, the lead Sky commentator, said the FIA stewards had acted correctly.

“A good rule should be one that covers all eventualities with a penalty that acts as a deterrent which in this case is what happened.

“Too little fuel can’t be tolerated,” he added. “It seems harsh but had Lewis taken pole by one thousandth of a second, would it be harsh then?”

The Spanish fans – not Hamilton’s biggest supporters dating back to his spats with Fernando Alonso in 2007 – were happy.

Asked on the El Mundo website whether the penalty was fair, 76 per cent answered yes.

Amid Ferrari’s performance crisis with the struggling F2012 car, the Italian team has emerged from the opening ‘flyaway’ races with a solid head of steam.

He might be just fifth, but Fernando Alonso is a mere 10 points off the lead of the drivers’ world championship, after a see-sawing pecking order emerged from the overseas races in Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain.

The Spanish driver admitted mere days ago that the F2012, at present, is perhaps the “sixth or seventh” best on the grid.

But next up is the test at Mugello, where major upgrades to the car – so significant that some sections of the media are expecting a ‘new Ferrari’ – will be tested ahead of its Barcelona debut.

Sepang winner Alonso’s latest surprise was to finish ahead of the best McLaren in Bahrain.

“If we had said that beforehand, it would be unthinkable,” he told Antena 3 television.

“It was another race where we have limited the damage pretty well.

“We were eight points behind the leader, now it’s 10. We have spent the first four races outside Europe losing ten points, which I think is more treasure than we deserve.

“For Montmelo (Barcelona) we have to be better. We have to stop depending on others and start depending on ourselves,” added Alonso.

Asked how much he is expecting the F2012 to improve, the 30-year-old was coy.

“I have said it could be one tenth, maybe two, one and a half … but we may not be in the same situation as before.”

Alonso was also critical of the stewards’ decision to leave Nico Rosberg without a penalty on Sunday, after the German driver forced him off the circuit whilst defending position.

“He also did the same to Hamilton, so it’s two to zero for him (Rosberg),” said Alonso.

“But if there was a wall there, you would have to be talking to someone else now …”

On Twitter, he sarcastically added: “I think you are going to have fun in future races. You can defend position as you want and you can overtake outside the track! Enjoy!”

Whilst admitting the RB8 has “very nervous” handling, Sebastian Vettel insists there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the 2012 Red Bull.

The German looks likely to struggle to add a third consecutive drivers’ title to his tally this season, after slumping to just sixth in the points standings after the first two races.

In China, he has reverted to a launch specification of the Adrian Newey-penned car’s exhaust layout, whilst Mark Webber is plugging ahead with a further development of the Australia-Malaysia solution.

“There is no question of something (being) wrong,” Vettel is quoted in Spanish media reports as saying in Shanghai, “just a few things that are probably just not working in an ideal manner.

“The problem we have is that the balance of the car is not as good as we had last year. It’s not a question of downforce, but of ensuring that all the parts are behaving as a whole.

“That is what we are trying to achieve.”

Vettel dismissed the suggestion that because Red Bull’s cars are in two different specifications this weekend, it means the team has “lost” its way.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “I firmly believe we have a very competitive car, at the moment we are just not able to take its full potential out.”

Meanwhile, the 24-year-old said he has spoken with Narain Karthikeyan, following their collision in Malaysia.

Vettel twice showed his Indian rival the middle finger, and described Karthikeyan – who was penalised by the stewards – as an “idiot”.

“I spoke with him and he apologised,” Vettel is quoted by Germany’s spox.com.

But when told that he was once a backmarker like Karthikeyan, the German insisted: “I was never as far behind as the HRT.

“Of course you have to drive your own race. But you still have to know what is going on around you.”

World champion Sebastian Vettel was unapologetic this week, having shown his Indian rival Narain Karthikeyan the middle finger recently in Malaysia.

The German also called the HRT-driving backmarker a “gherkin” and “idiot” in the aftermath of their Sepang clash that cost Vettel fourth place.

“I lost a solid fourth place so that’s obviously disappointing,” the 24-year-old is quoted by German media, including Sport Bild, after being asked this week about his loss of temper at Karthikeyan.

It was suggested Vettel might have breached the FIA’s code of conduct, but it is believed the governing body has decided the stewards properly investigated the incident in Malaysia.

And Vettel is unapologetic.

“Sometimes you let some emotion show and I don’t think someone should be ashamed about that,” he said. “It’s part of the sport.”

Vettel, having utterly dominated a year ago, is now just sixth in the drivers’ points standings after two races.

“Of course I would have preferred a slightly better start (to 2011),” he admitted, “but it’s a long season.

“We have a very good car and I still have a good chance — it is still the goal to fight for the title,” he said in Paris, where he accepted the ‘Grands Prix de l’Academie des Sports 2011′ award.

“Only a few hours ago I was in the simulator, preparing for China and Bahrain. We should hopefully have a few good improvements, but we need to prove that at the tracks,” said Vettel.

Dr Helmut Marko has denied reports Sebastian Vettel was summoned to Red Bull’s headquarters this week to explain his behaviour at the recent Malaysian grand prix.

The Narain Karthikeyan-saga aside, reports suggested the German deliberately ignored his bosses’ instruction that he retire his RB8 – ostensibly due to a brake issue – so that he could fit a new gearbox without penalty in China.

The reports suggested Vettel had confessed immediately after the race that he heard the instruction but chose to ignore it.

“That is all nonsense,” Red Bull’s motor racing consultant Marko told Sport Bild.

“Sebastian did nothing – absolutely nothing – that was against our wishes.”

Marko said Vettel’s visit to Milton Keynes this week was scheduled long ago, adding that he will be working inside the driver simulator amongst other things.

He also hit back at claims the 24-year-old could be penalised by the FIA for breaching the code of conduct when he showed the ‘middle finger’ to Karthikeyan.

“The matter was resolved during the meeting with the stewards (in Malaysia). For me, the case is closed.”

Speaking to Kolner Express newspaper, however, an FIA spokesman confirmed that the code of conduct forbids superlicense holders from insulting their rivals.

But he added: “I imagine the application of this paragraph was considered by the stewards in Malaysia.”

And Sebastian Vettel’s spokeswoman said: “We know of no investigation.”

F1′s governing body has played down claims Sebastian Vettel faces a penalty for his behaviour during the Malaysian grand prix.

After the race, the reigning world champion dismissed HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan as an “idiot” following their on-track collision.

On-board footage subsequently proved that Red Bull driver Vettel, 24, twice showed his Indian driver a ‘middle finger’ salute.

Reports in Germany suggested the behaviour was a breach of the stricter code of conduct under FIA president Jean Todt, with the German theoretically facing anything from a warning to the revocation of his superlicense.

“My understanding is these matters are dealt with by stewards at each grand prix,” an FIA spokesman told us. “I am not aware of any other action being contemplated.”

Karthikeyan, who was penalised after the clash, told the Hindustan Times newspaper that the stewards favoured world champion Vettel’s explanation.

“They (the stewards) didn’t care about what I had to say because Mr Vettel told them god knows what when he went and talked to them,” he said.

But Red Bull team boss Christian Horner defended Vettel, telling the Mirror that it is “Karthikeyan’s responsibility to get out of the way for the leaders”.

Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg, meanwhile, partly excused Vettel’s outbursts.

“I think Vettel was just emotional at that point of time. At the end of the day, he is just human and sometimes you get emotional,” the German is quoted by the Times of India.

Former driver Adrian Sutil goes even further.

“I can understand him (Vettel),” he told Die Welt newspaper in Germany. “I was often angry when I was lapping people, when they make no room for you while they are fighting for places that have almost no significance.

“Karthikeyan ended up influencing not only Vettel’s race, but also Jenson Button’s. They (backmarkers) have to understand that as well.”

 F1′s governing body reportedly rejected a push to lower the in-race pitlane speed limit from 100 to 60kph for 2012.
The latest edition of Italian magazine Autosprint said FIA president Jean Todt made the decision after reviewing the widespread lower speed limits in other major series, including Le Mans, GT1 and Nascar.

It was said the change would have a major impact on race strategy this year.

But in the wake of the Autosprint report, Britain’s BBC claims the FIA in fact rejected a push by the teams to lower the speed limit to 60.

Race director Charlie Whiting reportedly “told them he feels there is no need to make the change as there is no evidence that the current arrangement is unsafe”, according to the broadcaster.

Instead, the 2012 rules state that the race limit is 100kph at most races, but that the speed “may be amended by the stewards following a recommendation from the FIA F1 safety delegate”.

 Felipe Massa was penalised for the collision with Lewis Hamilton in India because it “could have been avoided”.
That is the claim of former grand prix winner Johnny Herbert, who was serving as the fourth FIA steward at the inaugural Delhi race.

Although McLaren’s beleaguered Hamilton is usually the one receiving the penalties at grands prix, Herbert said it was the embittered Massa who deserved the blame this time.

“It was clear that Massa knew where Hamilton was before he chose to turn across him,” he wrote in his column for The National newspaper, citing evidence that the Brazilian looked into his mirrors.

Another former racer, BBC commentator David Coulthard, does not agree.

“I simply can’t understand how Felipe could have been deemed the guilty party,” he wrote in his Daily Telegraph column.

“As drivers we are always taught that the car behind is responsible so to my mind the stewards misinterpreted what happened.”

Coulthard fears the stewards issued the penalty not objectively, but in the context of Hamilton and Massa’s increasingly poisoned feud.

“It was almost as if they felt that – with Lewis receiving so many decisions against him this year – they were trying to redress the balance,” he said.

Also critical of the decision is another former F1 driver and German television RTL pundit Christian Danner.

“It was Lewis’ attack and it would have worked only if Massa had driven off the track,” he said.

Even Hamilton’s good friend Adrian Sutil agrees, telling Auto Motor und Sport that he thinks it was a racing incident and therefore an “unnecessary” punishment.

“I cannot quite understand why Felipe got it,” he added.

F1 might end a spate of near-constant driver penalties by installing a permanent race steward. FIA president Jean Todt’s new initiative of having a former professional racing driver on the stewards’ panel at every grand prix has been widely praised. But the system may not be perfect, as the last couple of grands prix indicate. Some observers were amazed that Sebastian Vettel’s swerve against Jenson Button at the Suzuka start last weekend was not penalised. “I am not going to lie. At that moment in time, yes, I felt that it was a little bit more than was needed,” said Japanese grand prix winner Button. Alex Wurz, speaking on Austrian television ORF, said he thinks Vettel was lucky not to have his championship celebrations delayed by a penalty. “He was lucky that (1980 world champion) Alan Jones was the driver steward, because someone else might have issued a warning or even a stop and go,” he said. Agreed a report in Speed Week: “Obviously Alan Jones took a tough approach (at Suzuka).” Like Button, also upset at Suzuka was Felipe Massa, angry that Lewis Hamilton’s latest collision went unpunished. “They (the stewards) have penalised people for much less this year and this time they didn’t do it,” said the Brazilian. Force India team manager Otmar Szafnauer agrees that consistency is crucial so that drivers know how to behave. “If something has happened three times before then he knows the way it is and what has to happen,” he told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

F1 figures have admitted they are not keen on proposals to put a roof above the heads of the sport’s drivers.

After the incidents involving Felipe Massa and the late Henry Surtees in 2009, technical chiefs started looking into the possibility of jet fighter-style canopies or polycarbonate screens for the cars’ cockpits.

The FIA has released a video (http://vimeo.com/26098946) showing a F1 wheel being fired at 225kph at a jet-fighter canopy and a proposed cockpit screen.

“Full scientific results of the firings … have now been presented to the formula one technical working group,” the video revealed.

1992 world champion and occasional F1 steward Nigel Mansell admitted: “I don’t know if I’d like to see that. It wouldn’t really be formula one,” he is quoted by ennstal-classic.at.

Another former driver Marc Surer agrees: “It would be very warm in there, and then the next problem is needing an air conditioner. And imagine if KERS fails and the vapours get into the cockpit.”

Christian Danner said: “The visibility of the drivers will be affected by the reflection.”

Mercedes’ Norbert Haug told Bild am Sonntag newspaper: “We are always interested in the advancement of safety. It’s an interesting experiment but I feel that a single seater cockpit needs to be open.”

Nico Rosberg added: “It sounds good. Anything that increases safety is a step forward.”

Alain Prost will be the ex-driver representative on the stewards’ panel in Monaco this weekend.
It is the four time world champion and former team owner’s second appearance in the role, after kicking off the FIA’s driver representative era in Bahrain last year.

Prost, now 55, is one of the most successul drivers in F1 history; his 51 wins bettered only by Michael Schumacher’s 91.

He dominated in Monaco between 1984 and 1986, and also won in 1998 when his arch-nemisis Ayrton Senna crashed at Portier whilst easily leading.

It also emerged in Monte Carlo on Wednesday that the FIA has installed “higher kerbs and speed bumps” to stop drivers from short-cutting the chicanes at the tunnel exit and the Swimming Pool.

At the same time, teams were struggling to get their motorhomes up and running after being delayed by the Ste-Devote fire.

The McLaren drivers and Mark Webber escaped with mere reprimands on Sunday after being investigated by the stewards.

The stewards, including former F1 driver Mark Blundell, looked into whether the trio went too quickly for the yellow flag triggered by Heikki Kovalainen’s crash.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh welcomed the “sensible” reprimand, rather than an actual penalty, because he insists his drivers were “off the throttle” in the yellow flag zone.

Steward Blundell, however, said on BBC terlvision that the drivers were reprimanded because their “personal sectors improved” within the yellow zone.

Meanwhile, HRT team boss Colin Kolles said after Sunday’s race that he is not protesting the outcome of the Spanish grand prix.

But because he is so unhappy with teams running what he calls “illegal” blown exhaust configurations, he vowed to protest at “some time” during the Monaco round next weekend.