Martin Whitmarsh has played down fears McLaren has made a crucial mistake by overlooking the ‘step nose’ trend that will dominate the 2012 grid.
With the new Mercedes having now broken cover, and Pedro de la Rosa revealing that HRT’s 2012 car also has a step nose, famous British team McLaren is all alone in keeping a smooth aerodynamic line from the end of the monocoque to the tip of the nose.

Every other team has decided that the best solution to the new rules forcing a lower nose is to plough ahead with having as high a chassis as possible, in order to maximise the flow of air underneath the car.

“I’ve asked our technical guys if they are sure that we have done the right thing and they have told me not to worry,” team boss Whitmarsh is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

He admitted there is an obvious aerodynamic benefit to the ‘step nose’ solution.

“But we have a lower centre of gravity, more freedom in the suspension geometry, and a more comfortable seating position and a better view for the driver,” added Whitmarsh.

The main reason for McLaren’s decision is that, having already gone a different route to Red Bull at the front of the car last year, a ‘step’ nose would have required a wholesale design philosophy change.

“This car is an evolution,” confirmed Whitmarsh.

“In terms of radical innovations that are visibly obvious, I’ll have to disappoint — these rules just don’t leave that sort of room any more.”

Sebastian Vettel’s Suzuka crash was an embodiment of the kind of “perfect year” he has enjoyed in 2011.
That is the claim of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, referring to the Red Bull driver’s nudge into the Degner wall on Friday morning.

The fact Vettel lost no track time, because the crash happened right at the end of the session and the mechanics had enough time to repair the car for the afternoon, shows that “When you do everything right, everything goes right for you”.

“This has been a perfect year for him, also with a tremendous superiority of his car,” Alonso is quoted by the EFE news agency.

“He has always done a perfect job in the moments that he had to; with his pole positions, in the races, with his problems only on the Fridays.

“There have been some extremely difficult races, for example in the rain in Canada where he managed to stay calm to finish second.

“It is true that he has had some luck but he has done the perfect job at the key moments,” the Spaniard added.

On Suzuka, Alonso said Vettel might finally be challenged by a rival team – McLaren – in the qualifying hour, with championship rival Jenson Button topping every practice timesheet.

But the Briton played down his tiny mathematical chances.

“It’s like challenging a four year old to a 100 metre race. You’d totally destroy him,” said Button.

Yet more drivers, experts and pundits are crowning Sebastian Vettel the likely 2011 champion after his latest victory in Belgium.
At the German’s rival team McLaren, team boss Martin Whitmarsh insists giving up on the championship would not be right despite Vettel’s huge points lead.

Veteran test driver Pedro de la Rosa however acknowledges that realism could be about to set in.

“Perhaps this is the moment to forget Spa,” said the Spaniard after the Red Bull one-two, “perhaps it is even the moment to forget the drivers’ world championship”, he wrote in a column for formulasantander.com.

“Forgetting the calculator now, and accepting that there is already virtually a winner of this world championship, we can begin to think of 2012 and how to avoid at all costs the domination of Red Bull being prolonged for another season,” added de la Rosa.

Another former McLaren racer David Coulthard, now a British television commentator and Red Bull advisor, agrees that Vettel’s chasers have left their run too late.

“Ferrari and McLaren have the resources and personnel to catch Red Bull, and in fact they have done so,” he wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph.

“McLaren probably had the quickest car in Belgium at the weekend. They just didn’t get the job done.

“Seb’s lead … has almost certainly assured him of a second successive world title,” agreed the Scot.

Also succumbing to the eventual mathematics of the current points standings is ten time grand prix winner Gerhard Berger, who thinks Red Bull is right to keep its optimism under wraps for the moment.

“As long as it (defeat) is still theoretically possible, it is bad luck in sports to celebrate in advance,” he told Red Bull-linked Austrian television Servus TV.

“But for me there is no question; barring a disaster for him, this year’s world champion is Sebastian Vettel,” said Berger.

Gary Paffett insists he is not “bitter” despite sitting on the sidelines while his 2010 rival is now hot property in formula one.
The Briton, under long term contract to Mercedes in the German touring car series DTM, is also a test and reserve driver at top F1 team McLaren.

Last year in DTM, 30-year-old Paffett finished second to Paul di Resta, the rookie Scot who now drives for Force India and is tipped as a future driver for Mercedes’ works team.

“I find it hard to say that formula one is only the secondary thing for me, but it is a fact that I’m there, I’m a part of a big team and my job is to help them to win races,” he told Germany’s spox.com.

Paffett insists he has not given up on his F1 dream.

“No, definitely not,” he said. “The longer I’m there, the more experienced I am.

“I don’t see why a 30-year-old is no longer suitable for a regular seat in formula one. That’s still my goal and if an offer comes, I will definitely think seriously about it.”

At the same time, he insists he has been happy to see di Resta impress in 2011.

“I’m happy for him because he’s a good friend. If I was bitter about some of the opportunities my rivals have had that I have not then I would not survive.

“Motor sport is a difficult business that is not just about how fast you can drive.”

A warm weekend of weather might be expected at Silverstone for the forthcoming British grand prix.

The weather has been nice in England so far this week, with the mid-twenties temperatures forecast to persist through to the formula one event on July 9-11.

But there has also been some cloud in the skies, and more possibilities of light rain are predicted for next weekend and an event that is so often blighted by bad weather.

“I’m sure when we go racing the clouds will come in like every year, and it will start to rain,” laughed German driver Adrian Sutil, who drives for the locally-based Force India.

Briton Lewis Hamilton won his home race in 2008 but last year, like the rest of the field, was annihilated by the dominant Red Bulls.

And despite leading the world championship, the 25-year-old is expecting Red Bull to again lead from the front.

Hamilton, whose British countryman Jenson Button also drives for the British team McLaren, said: “It’s going to be tough.  We can’t go into it thinking we’re the favourites because the Red Bull, as it stands, is definitely the fastest car.”

The qualification of the Grand Prix of Europe in Valencia gave one or the other team a surprise – it was a good or bad. Because compared to the last free practice session this morning there was held under ideal weather conditions Zeitenfahren some major shifts.

The pole position could be after a long losing streak of four races Sebastian Vettel. The German realized a personal best of 1:37.587 minutes. Secured second place team mate Mark Webber. Lewis Hamilton was third in the McLaren-Mercedes.
In the fourth place followed by Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica (Renault), Jenson Button (Team McLaren Mercedes), the two Williams drivers Nicolette Hülkenberg and Rubens Barrichello – identical with time – and Vitaly Petrov (Renault)

After the first qualifying part of the seven slowest pilots were ruled out: Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock (both Virgin), Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna (both HRT).

After the second pass the Zeitenfahren for the following driver had run ahead of Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber) and Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso).

British banking giant Barclays is looking for a road into formula one.

Sources told Marketing Magazine that the London based bank, which according to Forbes is the world’s 25th largest company, is in talks with Red Bull Racing.

Barclays denied the report.

The bank is currently title sponsor of England’s Premier League football competition, with its three-year deal estimated at close to EUR100 million.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is pulling out of its Williams deal at the end of this season, and Holland’s ING left Renault amid the crashgate scandal of 2009.

But Spain’s Santander is strongly involved with both Ferrari and the British team McLaren, having successfully expanded its European and UK operations.