Valtteri Bottas has refused to criticise the Williams team for not scheduling a test day for him in November.

The 20-year-old Finn has been a frontrunner in the F3 Euroseries in 2010, whilst serving as the famous British team Williams’ test and reserve driver.

He said earlier in 2010 that he has done some aerodynamic straightline testing in the FW32 this year “and after the season (I will do) the young drivers test in Abu Dhabi”.

But whilst confirming that Bottas is staying as test driver next year, Williams announced this week that it will be F2 champion Dean Stoneman and Pastor Maldonado at the wheel of the car for November’s Abu Dhabi test.

But Bottas is not critical of the team, despite missing out on the test opportunity.

“They need to test someone else,” he is quoted by Turun Sanomat newspaper. “It doesn’t change anything for me.

“I respect their decisions and I’m working as usual to support the team,” added Bottas, who is managed by Mika Hakkinen.

Bottas will still be in Abu Dhabi, having scheduled a test with the GP2 team ART.

Williams reserve driver Valtteri Bottas is targeting a place on the 2012 grid.

“Williams is not likely to change drivers for next season, but 2012 might be different,” the 20-year-old Finn, a frontrunner in the F3 Euroseries, is quoted by Turun Sanomat.

Currently, Bottas conducts some straightline tests for the famous British team, and like his predecessor Nico Hulkenberg undertakes tasks at the Grove factory.

“It is a bit like an apprenticeship for an F1 driver,” he said.

Bottas said he will do some more aerodynamic testing in 2010, “and after the season the young drivers test in Abu Dhabi”.

“The next step would be GP2,” he explained.  “Williams will probably be involved in the decision about the team when the time comes.”

Bottas could also immediately step into the FW32 if either Hulkenberg or Rubens Barrichello are unable to race, even though he does not currently possess a mandatory super license.

He is managed by 1998 and 1999 world champion Mika Hakkinen, who works for his own manager Didier Coton’s organisation.

“My career is in good hands and I never would have reached this point without them,” insisted Bottas.

Jul.7 (GMM) McLaren has urged formula one against making a knee-jerk reaction to the safety car rules.

Although Ferrari cried foul after Lewis Hamilton’s drive-through penalty in Valencia – where multiple drivers were also penalised for transgressions – Mark Webber said this week that Red Bull saw the events of the race as “normal”.

And although the Sporting Working Group is looking at the rules as a response to the Ferrari-powered controversy, McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale said on Wednesday: “I would be wary of knee-jerking.

“There wasn’t a lot wrong with last weekend (Valencia) and I don’t think we should be doing instant rule-making,” he told reporters during a teleconference.

Meanwhile, after Williams said it will test a blown rear exhaust for its car early this weekend, Neale confirmed that a similar approach will be taken by McLaren at Silverstone.

“If the drivers think it’s good it will stay on and we’ll run it,” he said, after the upgrade for the MP4-25 was tested during a straightline session.

“If not, we’ll continue to develop it.”

Neale also backed Red Bull boss Christian Horner’s view that the effect of the exhaust concept has been overstated.

“I would tend to agree that it’s not a case of bolt on your blown diffuser and then blow everybody into the weeds,” he said.

Timo Glock has joined a group of F1 drivers who think the ‘proximity’ wing idea is a bad one.

FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh has admitted that the proposal, with chasing drivers able to press a button and boost straightline speed next season, might not see the light of day.

“I think it’s highly dangerous,” Glock is quoted as saying by the website of the Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell.

“From the viewpoint of safety, I think it’s a wrong decision.”

The speed difference between the Lotus and Red Bull cars was arguably the cause of last Sunday’s huge crash at Valencia involving Mark Webber.

“We’ve seen what can happen if the guy behind has significantly more speed,” Virgin driver Glock said.

“Mark was just lucky that there was enough run-off and he could just run into the tyre barrier,” added the German, suggesting that the return of KERS in 2011 could boost the speed differences even more.

“The drivers all have the same opinion; it is clearly too dangerous,” said Glock of the adjustable rear wing idea.

“Perhaps the (GPDA) drivers’ union can do something.  It should definitely be talked about.”

Red Bull’s Christian Horner this weekend accused a “naughty” Ferrari of breaching the “spirit” of the agreement by testing its new exhaust layout at Fiorano last week.

Ferrari argues that the run was allowed because “filming and promotional” activities were taking place, and FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh on Saturday said the teams association will react.

“I didn’t think they (the rules) needed clarification, but for some they clearly do,” he said.

“It isn’t ambiguous in my English interpretation of it, but others obviously thought it was.

“That’s why we have to remove that ambiguity, and I think we are going to do the correct and honourable thing.”

Whitmarsh made clear that, like Ferrari, teams including Mercedes and Renault have also made “some arguable decisions” with regards to the rules about in-season testing.

“Once one does it then everybody feels ‘well, if that’s how you are going to interpret something, then I’ll push it to the limit’,” said the Briton.

He made clear that when McLaren tries its Red Bull-like exhaust layout next week, it will do so with one of its allocation of straightline test days.

Whitmarsh also thinks it is time F1 relaxed its approach to in-season testing.

“We had to take significant measures given the crisis involving the economy and formula one,” he said.

“I think now, as we can see signs of the economy improving, we can go back to testing.”

Jun.16 (GMM)  Robert Kubica is the first formula one personality to oppose plans for ‘proximity wings’ in 2011.

After a meeting in Canada last weekend, teams agreed that drivers should next year be able to adjust their rear wings when they are following a car, in order to boost their chances of overtaking.

“I think that could be quite exciting,” said FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh, insisting that drivers will not be able to use the straightline speed-boosting system to defend position.

FOTA’s technical chairman Ross Brawn added: “It’s going to be an enhanced F-duct, where the car that is following will be allowed to reduce its drag to attack the car in front.

“I think that will give a lot more opportunity for overtaking.”

But Renault driver Kubica insists that grands prix have been exciting enough in 2010 without the radical innovation.

“And secondly,” he told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, “why it is only now that people are noticing that overtaking is difficult?

“I watched my first formula one race in 1997, and there was not much overtaking then,” noted the Pole.

Red Bull might not test its new F-duct system on the long straights of Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve next Friday.

The team took its initial version of the downforce-stalling concept off the RB6 after Friday practice in Turkey, after Sebastian Vettel reported that it had not functioned perfectly.

“We need to work on getting the right effect,” said the German.

It had been expected that the team would test the innovation again during Friday practice in Canada, where the straightline speed boost will be a big advantage on the fast layout.

But on Austrian television ‘Sport und Talk aus dem Hangar 7′ on Tuesday, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko indicated that the F-duct will not be used in Montreal next week.

“It did not work perfectly,” he confirmed on Tuesday, referring to the Istanbul Park test.

“Therefore, we are developing it further.  We will bring it again to Valencia,” he added.

(GMM)

With the Red Bull-fight raging, it is easy to overlook that the whole episode was triggered by the major step forward made by McLaren in Turkey.

The entire F1 paddock had predicted another race of utter dominance from the energy drinks-owned team.

But although Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were leading at Istanbul Park, it was the pressure applied by the chasing Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button that revved up the urgency of Vettel’s ill-fated overtaking move.

“We were quicker than the Red Bulls,” said Button.  “It’s amazing how much of a leap we’ve made.  We’ve bridged the gap and the rest have stayed back.”

It is suggested that the success of McLaren’s F-duct on the long straights of Turkey has clouded the overall improvement to the MP4-25 car.

Red Bull tested its own version of the straightline speed-boosting innovation in Istanbul, and will test it again on Friday in Canada after the team decided not to qualify or race with the immature system.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner is busily sorting out the internal teammate crisis at present, but he is also expecting another hard fight from McLaren at the forthcoming races.

“We’ll bounce back in Montreal and Valencia, but those are two tracks that are going to play to (McLaren’s) straightline advantage,” he admitted.

Joan Villadelprat wrote in his latest column for El Pais newspaper: “The Mercedes engine, the most powerful on the grid, is another element playing in the favour of McLaren.”

And Ferrari test driver Marc Gene wrote in El Mundo: “We must applaud the British team.  They did a great race and the one-two was no accident.

“Their improvement has been remarkable and their jump has surprised everybody.”

(GMM)

Cosworth is not in Rubens Barrichello or Lucas di Grassi’s good books at the scene of the Turkish grand prix.

Williams’ Rubens Barrichello, just fifteenth on the grid at Istanbul Park, said the British team is “suffering” from a lack of power.

“The engine that we brought did not work,” he is quoted by Brazil’s Globo.  “The straightline speed is not good.”

Lucas di Grassi is also unhappy, having been outqualified by Bruno Senna of the struggling HRT team.

“My lap was good,” said the rookie, who is finally at the wheel of Virgin’s updated VR-01 car this weekend.

“The car was good in the corners, but the engine was not working on the straights or in acceleration.”

Di Grassi will have a fresh engine fitted for Sunday’s race.

(GMM)

Lewis Hamilton on Monday admitted he is worried about Red Bull’s plans to introduce an F-duct this weekend in Turkey.

The downforce spoiling concept was pioneered this year by McLaren, but key rivals including Ferrari and Mercedes have steadily followed suit.

The system promises a straightline speed boost, which is an ominous prospect for Red Bull’s rivals, given the current dominance of the championship leading RB6 car.

“With this system the best team becomes even stronger,” 2008 world champion Hamilton is quoted by Germany’s Sport Bild.

“The RB6 has many good, detailed solutions. I have already told my engineers that we must copy them,” added the Briton.
(GMM)

A written plea by McLaren did not convince the British team’s rivals that controversial ‘F-duct’ innovations should be allowed to stay in F1 in 2011.

During a team meeting last weekend in Barcelona, a majority of the bosses voted for a rule tweak that will outlaw the controversial downforce-stalling solutions for next year.

After McLaren invented the straightline speed boosting concept this season, teams including Sauber, Ferrari, Williams and Mercedes have experimented with their own versions.

It is also believed that Red Bull, Renault and Force India are working on the concept at their respective factories.

But Red Bull’s Christian Horner indicated that the vote against F-ducts for 2011 was influenced by the marginal safety of the systems seen in Spain last weekend.

Both the Sauber and Ferrari drivers were activating the airflow with one of their hands, often out of high speed corners like Barcelona’s turn 3, while simultaneously fidgeting with other controls including brake balance.

“It’s a clever piece of engineering and hats off to the guys who invented it, but some of the solutions this weekend look a little bit marginal when you see drivers driving with no hands basically,” Horner is quoted as saying by the BBC.

“So I think there is a safety issue and a cost issue to take into account,” he added.

(GMM)

(GMM) After finished last GP, Back at Maranello, Ferrari is hard at work to emulate the success of McLaren’s so-called ‘F-duct’ downforce-spoiling innovation.

On the British team’s 2010 car, the once-controversial solution – with the drivers controlling a flow of air through to the rear wing with their left knee – passed scrutineering at the Bahrain season opener.

At the next race in Melbourne, Sauber’s similar system made its first appearance, amid reports that Red Bull, Force India, Williams and Mercedes were also working on F-ducts at their respective factories.

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali said after Sunday’s Malaysian grand prix that Ferrari is also working on a version for the F10.

“We have seen that the advantage (of the system) is very, very big,” said the Italian, referring to the straightline speed advantage enjoyed by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

“We will bring it to the races as soon as possible, once we are sure that it is 100 per cent,” added Domenicali.