F1 figures have mixed feelings after this week’s Mugello test.

Amid speculation the Ferrari owned circuit would like a spot on the race calendar, it emerged that the famous Maranello based team pushed hard for the Tuscan facility to host the first in-season test in many years.

“It’s very beautiful and the food is very good,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, “but we are spending a lot of money and honestly we didn’t feel the need to come here.”

Indeed, the only circuits comparable to high speed Mugello on the F1 calendar are Monza, Spa and parts of Silverstone.

And testing at Barcelona prior to next weekend’s Spanish grand prix would have made infinitely more logistical sense.

Lotus team boss Eric Boullier said Mugello was “money spent needlessly”.

Of course, those in the Ferrari camp thought differently.

“I would do more tests during the season,” said Fernando Alonso. “One lap here is worth 100 at other places, without considering that one day here is worth a year’s work on the simulator”.

But Mark Webber said Mugello is too fast for a decent test circuit, but he was among those who enjoyed the layout.

And the Australian couldn’t understand McLaren’s opposition, which extended to both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button giving up their running to test drivers.

“It was an absolute no-brainer for (Sebastian Vettel and I) to be here,” said the Red Bull driver.

“Mileage is so limited these days that it’s good for me to be in the car. Any chance we get to drive the car in the real world, we’ll do it,” added Webber.

Amid France’s push to return to the F1 calendar, it appears Magny Cours is not yet out of the game.

Prime minister Francois Fillon, however, has earmarked Paul Ricard – the well-known test circuit at Le Castallet near Marseille – as the host.

But it was Magny Cours that hosted the French grand prix between 1991 and 2008.

The local Nievre department’s president Patrice Joly last week accused Fillon of “bias in favour of Le Castellet” for the 2013 deal.

He said Magny Cours has “all the facilities, infrastructure and expertise needed to organise such an event”.

Championing Magny Cours’ renewed push to host the 2013 French grand prix is Guy Ligier, the now 81-year-old Frenchman who once had his own formula one team based at the circuit.

“I am trying to lend a hand,” he confirmed to the sports daily L’Equipe.

“I have had Bernie (Ecclestone) on the phone several times, as a friend, and have asked for his advice. We talked about the hotel business around (Magny Cours).

“He said to me, ‘Guy, I know you’re in the know.’

“I have a feeling that Bernie is not going to sign anything before he knows the outcome of the presidential election.

“I’ll tell you honestly what I feel: nothing is lost for Magny Cours,” added Ligier.

Ahead of his test in Team Lotus’ newly launched T128 at Jerez this week, Karun Chandhok insists he is still yet to sign a deal for 2011.
It is expected that the Indian driver, who made his F1 debut with the HRT team last year, will be signed up by Team Lotus as a reserve driver.

It has also been reported that Chandhok needs to bring a specified amount of sponsorship to the Tony Fernandes-led squad and that he might get the chance to race at his inaugural home grand prix in Delhi this October.

“There are lot of ‘ifs’ in it,” confirmed the 27-year-old at the Spanish test circuit.

“Right now I am here to do a test drive in one of the next three days. The deal is later and the rest comes way later,” Chandhok told the Times of India.

It is believed Chandhok will drive on either Thursday or Friday. The Jerez test also runs over the weekend.

“It has been months since I last drove an F1 car and I am very excited to be back in the elite club,” he added.

“I am sure I can add value to the team and its development programme. Tony (Fernandes) and Mike Gascoyne understand the value I can bring to the team as a test driver.

“The final deal is yet to be finalised but things look bright at this point,” said Chandhok.

According to simulations done by Sauber, Silverstone is not set to become the fastest circuit on the formula one calendar.

When the British track’s new Arena layout was launched, organisers indicated that Monza could lose its mantle as the F1 venue with the highest average speed.

While actually adding more slow bends to the layout, the new half-mile Arena section is indeed due to make Silverstone faster on average.

But to investigate the claim that Monza could be knocked off the perch as F1′s fastest, Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport commissioned a study with the help of the Swiss team Sauber.

A simulation lap of the revised layout processed by Sauber’s famous Albert II supercomputer projected a laptime of 1.31.0, resulting in an average speed of 233.4kph.

Monza’s average speed is about 248kph.

The Sauber simulation, however, shows that the new right-hander at the abolished Abbey chicane will be taken at 279kph, followed by a 281kph left sweep, making it the fastest chicane on the calendar.

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Christian Horner on Friday accused a “naughty” Ferrari of breaching the “spirit” of the in-season testing ban.

The Italian team tested its new Red Bull-like low exhaust layout at its own Fiorano test circuit last week, under the guise of a “filming and promotional” day.

Indeed, Ferrari did distribute media photos of the event and even a video of Fernando Alonso driving the car with a camera mounted on his helmet.

“It was arguably within the letter of the laws but not within the spirit,” Horner, team principal of Red Bull Racing, told the Telegraph.

“You don’t just run these cars – there has to be a lot of planning – and it wasn’t by mistake that they happened to run on that day with the new exhaust system,” he added.

Horner suggested that if Ferrari was really just running the F10 for filming purposes, the car did not need to be fitted with its important Valencia update.

“They managed to have a look at it, and they’ve probably learned a bit.  I’m sure there will be a lively debate at the next team principals’ meeting,” he predicted.

“I think it’s something that needs to be tidied up, because it’s effectively a gentlemen’s agreement, and it’s important that that should be respected.”

But it is true that the Ferrari was running with Bridgestone’s ultra-hard promotional tyres, and Alonso said the runs had been of little competitive value.

“I was running behind a car with cameras at 60kph so it was very stable,” the Spaniard joked.

“We did some laps also with no car in front, and ten cameras on the car and on the helmet, so it was not very comfortable to drive, and it was also the first time driving a Ferrari F1 car at Fiorano,” insisted Alonso.

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With formula one between grands prix, many familiar faces spent their weekends in a slightly different racing environment.

Sports lover Mark Webber was F1′s most recognisable face in the paddock of premier motorcycle racing MotoGP’s Silverstone round.

But also at the British circuit was Mercedes’ Nick Fry, HRT driver Karun Chandhok, commentator Martin Brundle and occasional steward Johnny Herbert.

“I like to watch bike racing on TV,” Australian Webber told sport1.  “I don’t live far away, I have seen many friends here, and there are also many Australians working in MotoGP.”

Elsewhere, despite the ban on in-season testing, more serious business was taking place.

At the UK’s Snetterton circuit, the Classic Team Lotus Festival was taking place, but among the cars in action was the brand new T127 ‘Chassis 4′, to be debuted by Jarno Trulli at Valencia next weekend.

And at Ferrari’s own Fiorano test circuit, Fernando Alonso was driving the F10 for the “promotional and filming” reasons as permitted by the test ban.

But, as confirmed by Italian media sources, the 2010 car was in its full Valencia specification, including Red Bull-style low exhausts, designed to channel more air to the double-diffuser.

“You have to make the most of any opportunity in this era of the testing ban,” the Italian team said.

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May 3 (GMM)  Former Renault driver Romain Grosjean has delivered a less than stirring appraisal after racing on Silverstone’s revised F1 layout.

After his disappointing half-season in F1 last year, the Swiss-born Frenchman now drives a Ford in the FIA’s new GT1 category.

That series was the first to race on the layout incorporating Silverstone’s newly launched ‘Arena’ section.

The 760-metre stretch features some slower bends that could help overtaking, but Silverstone is nonetheless tipped to knock Monza off the perch as the fastest circuit on the F1 calendar.

“It’s nothing special,” Grosjean, 24, told the Guardian newspaper when asked about the new section, which is currently surrounded by building construction works and resembling Bahrain because grass verges have not yet grown.

“We have lost Bridge and the complex which was very nice, and we didn’t gain much with the new part.  I’m not 100 per cent convinced.

“With the single seater cars they are flat-out through Abbey and in formula one it is going to be very fast as well.  I don’t think it gives any overtaking opportunities.  So that’s a bit of a shame,” added Grosjean.

Former F1 safety car driver Oliver Gaven, however – who now drives a Corvette in GT1 – was more positive.

“I think the circuit flows very nicely; I’m very happy with it,” said the Briton.

“It’s got a nice combination of corners and some nice challenging stuff for us.  There are two or three corners that are nearly flat and one or two that you have got to have a lot of commitment.

“The style of Silverstone has been carried on.  They have done a cracking job with it,” said Gavin.

Meanwhile, BBC commentator Martin Brundle doubts the new section will boost overtaking, but fellow former F1 veteran Johnny Herbert thinks ‘Arena’ adds “one” additional overtaking place to the circuit.