In the case of Sauber’s clever exhaust solution, Red Bull simply rolled out a copy in the days before the 2012 season.

Writing in O Estado de S.Paulo, Brazilian correspondent Livio Oricchio said the Sauber philosophy makes ingenious use of something called the ‘Coanda effect’.

In the wake of the FIA’s strict clampdown on blown exhaust technology for 2012, the C31 uses the Coanda effect – named after Romanian aerodynamics pioneer Henri Coanda – to legally entice the flow of exhaust to the diffuser.

Ferrari is understood to be the next team set to follow suit.

Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus, however, have a vastly different attitude when it comes to Mercedes’ clever F-duct, which uses the existing DRS rules to redirect air from the rear of the W03 car to the front.

The concept not only significantly boosts straight line speed but also improves handling.

The FIA’s Charlie Whiting has declared that Sauber and Mercedes are doing nothing wrong.

But the three aforementioned teams continue to rail against the F-duct, even leaving open the threat of protest ahead of the Chinese grand prix.

Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko explains: “Lotus, who are very responsible, have discovered two ways in which the F-duct is not in accordance with the regulations.”

So is the difference in attitude when it comes to the Sauber and Mercedes innovations actually about the ease in which they can be copied?

Oricchio quotes Red Bull’s Adrian Newey as having said in Malaysia: “In regard to the aerodynamic (F) duct of the Mercedes, and sending the airflow from the back to the front, it is necessary to review the entire project.”

It did not take long for F1′s first technical controversy of the 2012 race season to erupt.
Asked about Mercedes’ F-duct system that reportedly works in conjunction with the deployment of DRS, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: “Are they allowed?”

The FIA’s Charlie Whiting says yes. “I cannot see a rule that prohibits it,” he said.

“What is not allowed is the movement of the driver to generate an aerodynamic effect,” he is quoted by Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo.

So at least for now, the other teams will have to react, amid talk the concept is worth several kilometres per hour in a straight line.

“We’ll have to have a look at it,” confirmed Horner.

But according to BBC analyst and former F1 designer Gary Anderson, Red Bull and Ferrari – and maybe others – have reacted already.

They “appear to have a different system and I’m struggling to understand how it complies with the rules”, he said.

“I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this subject”, Anderson added.

Also legal for now are all the teams’ different interpretations of the new exhaust rules — even the controversial Red Bull’s.

“As far as we’ve seen so far, they all do comply with the rules,” confirmed Whiting.

 Paddock insiders already have a name for Mercedes’ new front wing innovation — ‘W-duct’.
We have reported that the German marque has already tested the F-duct style concept at the front of its newly-launched W03 car.

The Finnish broadcaster MTV3, describing the system as ‘W-duct’, has provided some detail as to how it works.

When the car is being driven in a straight line, air flows into the tip of the silver car’s nose and is dispersed in a W-like pattern across the length of the front wing.

But when the car is cornering, the air flows more predominantly to one side or the other, improving the balance and handling.

Unlike the driver-operated rear wing F-duct, which was banned for 2011, Mercedes’ system is entirely passive and requires no moving parts, and is therefore legal.

Meanwhile, team boss Ross Brawn on Tuesday defended Mercedes’ strategy of employing numerous technical bosses, including Aldo Costa, Bob Bell and Geoff Willis.

“How it works is a mystery to me,” Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko told Die Welt newspaper, “but Mercedes must know what they’re doing.”

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.”

An initially innocuous ‘tweet’ by a Swiss test driver has stirred up a controversy involving the championship-leading team Red Bull.
Neel Jani wrote on his Twitter account this week that he “really worked my neck out” on Sunday during a 400 kilometre test at the wheel of the RB7.

The test is believed to have taken place at the Idiada venue in Spain.

The 27-year-old’s comment raised eyebrows because the only testing allowed during the season is to be conducted in a straight line, but Jani said his neck was twinged due to “high speed cornering”.

The offending tweets have been deleted.

A Red Bull spokesperson denied to f1fanatic.co.uk that Jani’s test broke the rules.

“We did not complete high speed cornering and tested within the permitted regulations — which is an aero test carried out on FIA approved straight line or constant radius sites,” the spokesperson said.

Red Bull also claimed Jani did not write the tweets himself.

Nico Rosberg is set to test a DTM car this weekend.

The event will be a showpiece at Hockenheim as the 2011 German touring car championship kicks off.

According to Bild newspaper, the 25-year-old German will be appearing for Mercedes, for whom he races in formula one.

The report said the outing will be Rosberg’s first proper run in a DTM car.

“As a racing driver I grew up in the DTM, on the programme with the Formula BMW Junior and Formula 3 series,” he said.

“But I’ve never driven a DTM car, except from a few metres at the end of last season for the victory party for Paul di Resta’s championship in Stuttgart,” added Rosberg.

Meanwhile, F1 engines were firing on Wednesday at Duxford (UK) aerodrome, where alongside the Caterham announcement Team Lotus test driver Ricardo Teixeira was straight-line testing the T128.

According to Speed Week, Bruno Senna was also in action for Renault with a similar aerodynamic test at Duxford, and the Brazilian will now travel to Spa-Francorchamps to demonstrate the team’s F1 car during the World Series event.

“I will have the 2010 car on Saturday and Sunday,” Senna confirmed to Globo. “The basic idea is to entertain the crowd but it’s also a chance for me to keep in action.”

Nick Heidfeld on Monday said he is losing out on the straights compared with his teammate Kamui Kobayashi.

The pair are driving identical Sauber cars, but the speed traps usually show Japanese Kobayashi with better ultimate speed in a straight line.

Heidfeld, 33, joined the Swiss team after serving test driving roles with Mercedes and Pirelli this year, and he is currently on the lookout for a full-time job for 2011.

In his three races alongside rookie Kobayashi so far, the German has been out-qualified two times, and is yet to finish a race higher than the Japanese.

Heidfeld said on his official website nickheidfeld.com that his speed deficit compared with Kobayashi is due to his “engine situation”.

He took over ousted predecessor Pedro de la Rosa’s allocation of eight engines for 2010, after the Spaniard suffered several problems with his Ferrari units.

“Therefore the remaining engines have to cover a lot of extra miles,” said Heidfeld.

“This unfortunately leads to an engine power loss due to having ‘older’ engines, which is the reason for losing out on acceleration and top speeds,” he added.

The Red Bull team does not fear straight lines as much as it did earlier in 2010, according to a German media report.

After dominating on the slow, corner-dominated Hungaroring in August, the RB6 was subsequently beaten to the flag at Spa and Monza; circuits punctuated by long stretches of asphalt.

Then, before he dominated at Suzuka, Sebastian Vettel said the Japanese layout was “designed for” the Adrian Newey-penned car, even though the Renault engine was not expected to be strong on the front straight and the long run between Spoon and the chicane.

Team consultant Helmut Marko has been vocally worried about F1′s forthcoming trip to Korea, with the new layout featuring twistier sections separated by some very long straights.

After Mark Webber and the team pulled out leads in both world championships at Suzuka, the Austrian said “we need a cushion, especially for the next race”.

“One of the three long straights (in Korea) is 1.2 kilometres long,” Marko groaned.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, however, the RB6 is now performing better on the straights, thanks to the latest development of the car’s F-duct.

The report said Newey has essentially aped the Renault team’s F-duct solution, and as of Suzuka the RB6 is producing better straight line speed.

“We are no longer losing so much on the straights,” confirmed Vettel.

6 minutes after the start of free practice at Motegi, Jorge Lorenzo has found 2010 MotoGP World Champion, thanks to the fall and subsequent injury (broken collarbone) Dani Pedrosa. He did not want to win so “Porfuera, who said he was sorry for the bad luck of his only rival for the title race.

“I’m really sorry for him, “said Jorge Lorenzo. “It ‘s really a great misfortune injured at this stage of the season. As for me I must not think me to be influenced by this situation and continue working as usual. “

About the first session of activity at Motegi the “virtual” World Champion 2010 (only Pedrosa, KO, could reach it …) ended the third time showing happy, especially thinking about the difficult test to Motorland Aragon. The only “new”, the non-availability of the new engine …

“Compared to Aragon go much better and this is really a relief. I did not, contrary to Valentino, the new engine, but I hope to use it soon, but here you lose less in a straight line from the last race and we have a better acceleration. We must seek more traction in some parts of the track, but overall for us was a good day and we are not so far from Valentino. I just hope the rain does not arrive tomorrow, so as to continue our work program, “said Lorenzo.

Toro Rosso is back in action this week as the Italian team bids to get its blown exhaust and F-duct up and running as soon as possible.

At Monza on Friday morning, six grands prix from the end of the 2010 season, the Faenza based squad became the last of the established teams to run the technical innovations.

“We are just beginning to test it and it still requires a lot of work,” said Sebastien Buemi, who debuted the new parts during a straight line test at Vairano last week.

The Swiss said the F-duct was taken off the STR5 “after a few laps” at Monza. “It was never our intention to run it for the (whole) weekend,” confirmed chief engineer Laurent Mekies.

It now emerges that the F-duct will make another appearance at Vairano this Thursday, this time in the hands of Buemi’s teammate Jaime Alguersuari.

“Maybe we can have it on the car for Singapore,” said Buemi.

“If we continue like this I hope to be able to fight fair and square with the Williams and Mercedes in the final races,” he added.

Sebastian Vettel is worried about the performance of his Renault engine ahead of the Italian grand prix.

The young German was between 2 and 3 kph slower than his teammate Mark Webber in a straight line on Saturday; a handicap described by the Australian as “peanuts”.

But Vettel, having qualified at Monza lower than ever in 2010, said: “Overtaking is going to be very difficult.”

Team consultant Helmut Marko told Bild newspaper: “We do not have a super engine.”

Vettel’s extra speed deficit at Monza is a mystery.

“It was a new engine,” Vettel confirmed, “but it seems not to be as good as we expected.”

He is not sure what he is expecting from the Monza race.

“It’s hard to tell — better than sixth place, I hope,” said the German. “And it’s better that it is Fernando and not Lewis on pole position.”

He vowed to take a normal approach to the start of the race.

“I’m not sure; either I act like a bowling ball and knock everyone out of the way as all the experts expect me to do now, or I will approach the race as usual,” he answered sarcastically.

McLaren got off to a strong start at Monza on Friday morning, despite testing a rear wing that looked more suited to a high-downforce track.

While many rivals were running more conventional for Monza ‘tea-tray’-style wings for the Autodromo’s long straights, observers were surprised when the MP4-25 emerged from the pits with a very big rear wing.

After the British team hinted it might not use an F-duct at all this weekend, the wing was indeed used on Friday morning in conjunction with the downforce-shedding innovation.

The implication is that McLaren achieves high straight-line speeds by activating the F-duct on the straights and stalling the wing, while in the corners the car gains a competitive advantage by producing higher-than-normal downforce.

Jenson Button topped the morning timesheets at the Italian circuit, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton was third quickest in the sister car.

Ferrari had a tough race at Spa-Francorchamps but could be set for a stronger showing this weekend, according to team boss Stefano Domenicali.

The Italian team, whilst trying to recover its championship deficit, brought updates for its F10 car to Belgium two weeks ago that resulted in a backwards step in terms of competitiveness.

Domenicali has made it clear that one more bad result will mean Ferrari switching its focus to 2011, but he also told Corriere dello Sport that he is hopeful of a strong outing on home territory this weekend at Monza.

“Winning at Monza is not unthinkable, because we have understood where we went wrong with the improvements in Spa.

“We know now how to get the best from these parts,” he said.

As part of the last-ditch push for 2010, test driver Giancarlo Fisichella did an astonishing 700 kilometres of straight-line running with the new parts last week at Vairano.

Fernando Alonso, 41 points behind the title leader, admits the situation will mean additional “pressure” in front of the tifosi this weekend.

“It is obvious that this race is very important for us.  There will be some pressure,” admitted the Spaniard.

Domenicali concedes that Alonso has been feeling the pressure all season.

“If Fernando has done some mistakes, it is because he wants to show who he is.  Wearing red overalls is very heavy and a lot heavier than what is seen from the outside,” said the Italian.

Domenicali is also supportive of the other half of Ferrari’s driver lineup, albeit acknowledging that Felipe Massa has things to work on.

“Felipe needs to find the right balance in his relationship with Fernando, and this will happen over time.

“He has grown a lot with Ferrari,” added Domenicali.  “He is a driver whose best comes out at crucial times, when the pressure is the highest.”

The Italian press rounded on Fernando Alonso after the leading Ferrari driver dropped more than 40 points off the championship lead last weekend.

After showing early promise with the F10′s latest upgrades in practice, the team newcomer qualified just tenth at Spa-Francorchamps before being taken out on the first lap by Rubens Barrichello.

Ferrari then fitted intermediate tyres that had to be changed shortly afterwards, before Alonso lost control over a kerb and crashed.

“An Alonso flop. While Kimi Raikkonen always drove brilliantly at Spa, his successor slipped on a puddle,” remarked the Milan-published Il Giornale.

The sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport said Ferrari’s championship chances “are now gone”.

But that’s not the message being trotted out by the Maranello team’s officials, and La Stampa reports that Ferrari is pressing ahead with development of the car.

In the coming days, a straight line test at Vairano is scheduled.

“In addition to reviewing solutions for Monza, engineers will try to understand why the innovations introduced at Spa-Francorchamps did not work as expected,” said the La Stampa report.

Ferrari acknowledges it is running out of time.

“Everyone in Maranello is aware that if more ground is lost, it could compromise any chance of a comeback,” said the team.

Discussions about a pre-race test in Bahrain immediately before the 2011 season took place at Spa-Francorchamps.

We reported at the weekend that the team managers’ meeting about the 2011 test schedule took place on Friday.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport had said 15 days of winter testing, with four of them occurring in Bahrain in the days before the March 13 season opener, were on the table.

But FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh has revealed that there will actually be six full tests in the off-season, including one in Bahrain.

“It (Bahrain) hasn’t been quite agreed yet,” he warned.

“We want to make sure that it’s cost effective for the small teams,” added the McLaren team boss.

A more contentious issue for the small teams is their bigger rivals’ desire for some proper in-season testing, with the only non-race running allowed at present being straight-line tests and demonstrations.

“I personally would like to see more testing but I am respectful of the fact that there are teams still hurting,” said Whitmarsh.

“We’ve now got at least six tests in the winter so that’s a step further forward. What we haven’t got at the moment is agreement to test during the season.”