Pirelli is reportedly considering signing a 2011 race driver to be the official tyre supplier’s new test driver.

AS newspaper in Spain said Jaime Alguersuari, formerly at Toro Rosso and now travelling the F1 calendar as a co-commentator for British radio, is a front-runner.

Pirelli has secured the use of a 2010 Renault for private development testing this year, which is expected to begin in May.

AS said the “only obstacle” to a deal for 22-year-old Alguersuari is that Pirelli, an Italian marque, is also interested in grand prix winner Jarno Trulli, who raced last year with Team Lotus (now Caterham).

There are no Italian race drivers in F1 this year.

Felipe Massa’s Ferrari seat is a big talking point in the Sepang paddock on Thursday.
Following a dire performance in Australia for the Brazilian, the Italian press has named Sergio Perez, Adrian Sutil and even Jarno Trulli as possible candidates to immediately oust Massa.

Mexican Perez, the cream of Ferrari’s development programme and already at Ferrari-powered Sauber, said in Malaysia: “It’s very early to say that or speculate.”

Very keen for a chance like this, however, is Force India refugee Sutil, who has been left without a job in the wake of his criminal conviction.

“I am very motivated and I’m training hard to stay fit,” the German is quoted on Thursday by Auto Bild Motorsport.

All eyes will be on Massa this weekend, as Ferrari has agreed to build him up a new F2012 chassis in the wake of his lacklustre performance in Melbourne.

“I really don’t care,” he said in reaction to the rumours, “I have a job.”

 Ferrari has swiftly denied reports Felipe Massa could be dumped even before his 2012 contract runs out.
Among the Italian press’ hypothetical candidates for the struggling Brazilian’s seat are Sergio Perez, Adrian Sutil and even the out-of-work Italian Jarno Trulli.

But according to O Estado de S.Paulo correspondent Livio Oricchio, Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni dismissed the reports as being “without foundation”.

Colajanni added that Ferrari is fully supportive of Massa’s situation, and has built up a new F2012 chassis for him to race this weekend after underperforming in Australia.

Oricchio quoted Massa as having said after Melbourne that he believed there was a problem with his original chassis.

“My setup was not very different from Alonso’s,” said the 30-year-old, “but my tyres were gone after five laps.”

 Felipe Massa’s formula one career appeared in deep crisis on Wednesday, as the Italian press lined up multiple candidates to replace him.
Earlier, the weekly Autosprint suggested out-of-work grand prix winner and Italian Jarno Trulli is available to step in immediately to replace the beleaguered Brazilian, whose contract expires this year.

Ferrari seemed to clear a path for the 30-year-old’s removal by moving to replace his F2012 chassis ahead of Sepang, “to clear up any doubts about the unusual performance of his car” last weekend in Australia.

On Wednesday, the authoritative daily La Gazzetta dello Sport said Ferrari is considering dropping a driver mid-season for the first time since Rene Arnoux in 1985.

The newspaper said Ferrari development driver Sergio Perez, who is currently at Sauber, is an option, as is the former Force India driver Adrian Sutil.

A poll at Autosprint’s website, meanwhile, asked readers to nominate a worthy replacement for Massa — Mexican Perez scored the highest, with 44.7 per cent of the vote.

Second was Trulli with 27.6pc, followed by Rubens Barrichello at 6.6pc.

Only 1.3 per cent voted for 30-year-old Massa, who never returned to form following his serious accident in Hungary in mid 2009.

Fernando Alonso kept up a positive outlook on Sunday despite some Italian newspapers describing Ferrari’s situation as a “crisis”.
Melbourne qualifying confirmed the famous team’s winter woes, but Spaniard Alonso fared better in the race.

“After the way qualifying went, ending up with ten points behind the top two teams is good news,” he is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The sports daily Marca described the attitude as Alonso “seeing the glass half-full”.

“For the Ferrari fans I say ‘wait a few races’,” former F1 driver Jarno Trulli told Italy’s Rai Uno television.

“Alonso managed to do something good but Ferrari needs to react, immediately,” the Italian, who was Alonso’s Renault teammate in 2004, added.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali, however, told Finnish MTV3 television that the F2012 will not be in better shape for ‘a few races’ at least.

Alonso agreed that, with one week between Australia and Malaysia, “We will have almost exactly the same car” at the Sepang circuit this weekend.

Added Domenicali: “We know what needs to be improved, but it can’t be done overnight.”

Former F1 driver Jaime Alguersuari remarked that the improvement in Alonso’s pace between Saturday and Sunday was significant.

“The opposite of Mercedes,” he told AS newspaper. “I think Alonso once again showed his quality, although clearly they have much work ahead.

“A driver can only win with the best car, but what he can do is demonstrate his quality with a good or a bad car,” he added.

It is on that final point that the pressure on Felipe Massa merely increased in Australia, as the Brazilian had a disastrously poor weekend from start to finish.

“We need to get behind him now as it’s clear he’s under pressure,” Domenicali told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“When people find themselves under pressure you have to find a way to relieve that pressure so they are free to express themselves in the way they can.

“I’ve asked his engineers to work closely with him and analyse the data so they can offer their support,” he added.

 Caterham’s team boss insists Vitaly Petrov is just as good as the experienced grand prix winner he replaced.
Just ahead of the 2012 season, Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes decided to oust former Monaco grand prix winner Jarno Trulli with Russian Petrov, the well-sponsored Russian and former Renault driver.

“I think he (Petrov) is as good a driver as Trulli, but he obviously brings a Russian commercial element,” Fernandes told the US cable news channel CNN.

“It gives us the ability to exploit commercial opportunities in Russia. We’ve watched Petrov very closely. He brings in sponsorship. He’s competent enough to be a second driver,” he added.

Fernandes, who also heads the Malaysian airline AirAsia and the English premier league club Queens Park Rangers, said Caterham is once again targeting tenth place in the constructors’ championship for 2012.

“We want to get into the midfield,” he confirmed. “We said it’s going to take us two years, we want to be tenth then we want to be racing.

“And looking at the times right now, we’re there or thereabouts. Maybe half a second, a second away from the midfield pack.”

 Vitaly Petrov has hit out again at his ‘pay-driver’ label, insisting even the highest paid driver on the grid has a similar arrangement with his team.
“I see no difference between myself and Alonso,” said the Russian, who has moved his lucrative backing from Renault (now Lotus) to the Caterham team for 2012.

His new appointment is controversial, given he has ousted the experienced veteran and former Monaco winner Jarno Trulli, who was the last Italian in F1.

Comparing himself with Alonso, Petrov told La Stampa newspaper: “Everyone knows that he is funded by the money from (Ferrari sponsor) Banco Santander.

“Anyway, you only get to F1 because of talent.”

And Petrov, 27, insists he does not feel sorry for Trulli.

“Life is hard,” the Italian newspaper quotes him as saying.

He admitted that having friends in F1 is impossible, whilst making some comments that will also not endear him to the sport’s Italian followers.

Asked to explain the rare absence of Italians on the grid, Petrov criticised the country’s junior categories and added: “Your drivers lack the passion.”

And as for Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo’s complaints about the dramatic role being played by aerodynamics in F1 at present, he answered: “When you’re not winning, it’s easy to complain.”

Petrov, however, lived in Italy in his past, revealing that his favourite elements of Italian life are “the food and the girls”.

But on the latter, he does not expect to be wheel-to-wheel with the opposite sex any time soon.

“They do not have the physical ability and also are not prepared for the high speeds. But everything in life is possible,” said Petrov.

Heikki Kovalainen insists he has “no concerns” despite having to start work with a new teammate less than a month before the 2012 season.

In 2010 and 2011, and since the formation of the former Lotus team, Kovalainen has shared the green garage with fellow grand prix winner Jarno Trulli.

Now, Caterham has replaced the Italian veteran with the much less experienced Vitaly Petrov, who has moved his Russian backing from Lotus (formerly Renault).

“I got along well with Jarno, but a new teammate doesn’t change my life in any way,” Kovalainen insisted to Finland’s Turun Sanomat newspaper.

“I have met with Vitaly here in Barcelona and I don’t have any concerns. He is definitely a strong competitor but I always give 110 per cent to beat my teammate.

“I don’t underestimate anyone,” he added.

Kovalainen admitted that Petrov might have to adjust to the fact that Caterham is smaller than Lotus, and the car not as competitive.

“Of course he has to get used to the team,” he said, “and if he has any questions, I’m available.

“But Vitaly is a professional driver and in F1 it is expected that the driver is able to start tackling the programme right away.”

Jarno Trulli has revealed he was offered a seat at Ferrari some years ago.
After fifteen consecutive seasons in formula one, the 37-year-old Italian has lost his Caterham race seat to the well-backed Russian Vitaly Petrov.

2004 Monaco grand prix winner Trulli, 37, drove since 1997 for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Caterham’s former guise Lotus.

Writing in his New York Times blog, correspondent Brad Spurgeon said Trulli was made the Ferrari offer while he was racing for Toyota between 2005 and 2009.

Trulli reportedly told Italy’s Autosprint magazine that Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali’s predecessor, the now FIA president Jean Todt, made him the offer.

“Nobody knows this, but at this point I think I can publicly thank Jean Todt for having been one of the few top team managers to consider me during my career,” he said.

“I won’t tell you when exactly — I was racing for Toyota and I was doing very well. But I had signed a rather long contract with the Japanese, and in my career I’ve always honoured my commitments.

“In 15 years of F1 I’ve never needed lawyers,” added Trulli.

Trulli left Renault for Toyota at the end of the 2004 season, driving for the carmaker until it pulled out of formula one at the end of 2009.

Rubens Barrichello left Ferrari at the end of 2005, replaced by Felipe Massa. Michael Schumacher retired a year later, replaced by Kimi Raikkonen.

At Ferrari, Frenchman Todt handed over to Domenicali at the end of 2007.

1980 world champion Alan Jones has backed Caterham’s decision to dump Jarno Trulli.
Despite having extended the Italian veteran’s contract for 2012, the former Lotus team decided at the last minute to sign the well-backed Russian Petrov.

Caterham explained that Petrov brings “fresh impetus” to the team, whilst also admitting that the decision was made “with a realistic eye on the global economic market”.

One French report has calculated the 27-year-old’s sponsorship contributions at EUR 12 million, including money from Russia’s largest petrochemical company Sibur.

But the straight-talking Australian Jones, who won Williams’ first drivers’ title three decades ago, said Caterham was also right to oust Italian Trulli on performance criteria.

Told that Heikki Kovalainen “destroyed” Trulli in 2011, Jones said: “I think he was destroyed by everybody, wasn’t he?”

On Caterham’s decision, he told GMM: “In my opinion Trulli wasn’t doing the job so it would have made it a pretty easy decision to get in this younger guy who is perhaps a bit keener, a big hungrier.

“It’s also a fact that he (Petrov) is bringing in money, so to me it’s a no-brainer,” added Jones.

The Italian press has pointed the finger at Vitaly Petrov’s “rubles” as Jarno Trulli races out of formula one.
With Vitantonio Liuzzi replaced at HRT by Narain Karthikeyan, and veteran Trulli ousted at Caterham by Petrov, F1 history enters a new phase as Italy no longer has a single driver on the grid.

“If you look,” said former grand prix winner Riccardo Patrese to La Stampa, “the drivers coming in now are from central America and the East.”

The unsponsored Trulli, 37, said he still wants to race but also has his wine and hotel businesses to keep him busy.

“More than anything else, apart from the results, I am proud to have been able to fulfil my dream of racing in F1 for many years and stay on the grid on my own power, without anybody’s help,” he is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Switzerland’s Blick newspaper points out that no fewer than 81 Italian drivers have raced in the modern F1 championship.

And Brazilian correspondent Livio Oricchio reminded that in 1989, no fewer than 16 drivers in the field were Italian.

Some Italian fans are pointing the finger at Ferrari, annoyed that the famous marque has not signed a full-time Italian race driver for many years.

And why Felipe Massa? “Because we believe in him,” an official of the Maranello based team is quoted by Spain’s Marca newspaper.

“It’s not enough to have an Italian passport to drive for Ferrari,” he added.

 Rubens Barrichello on Saturday said it is “sad” another established formula one veteran, Jarno Trulli, has lost his race seat.
After 19 consecutive seasons, Barrichello is poised to switch to Indycar in 2012, while Trulli – who made his debut in 1997 and is a Monaco grand prix winner – has lost his seat to Vitaly Petrov.

“Money is dominating everything,” said Barrichello, with Caterham even admitting that the “global economic market” influenced the decision to replace Trulli with the well-backed Russian.

And with F1 now not boasting an Italian driver for the first time since the end of the 60s, Trulli lamented that no one is poised to succeed him.

“During a crisis as we have in our country, I can’t see how a youngster can find the help needed to be considered by any team,” he told the Ansa news agency.

“I knew of the difficult economic situation that would force the (Caterham) team to look for a driver with adequate backing,” added the 37-year-old.

Also lamenting the new dearth of Italian drivers, Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali admitted: “It’s a difficult moment for our sport, partly for external reasons.”

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said former Lotus driver Petrov is bringing a “double digit” sum in the millions to Caterham for Trulli’s 2012 seat.

Vitaly Petrov could stay at the Caterham team beyond 2012, the Russian’s manager said on Friday.
Earlier, the former Lotus outfit announced that Petrov, ousted by Lotus (Renault) at the end of last season, is replacing Italian veteran Jarno Trulli with immediate effect.

On the face of it, the deal is not a good look for Petrov, having displaced one of F1′s most experienced drivers – and a grand prix winner – on the back of his sponsors’ purse.

Moreover, it also means there is no Italian on the F1 grid for the first time in decades.

“Vitaly is thinking about his place in formula one, and the rest is a question to the team,” insisted Petrov’s manager Oksana Kosachenko.

Team boss Tony Fernandes hinted in Caterham’s media statement on Friday that the Petrov deal is indeed fueled by the world’s economic situation.

So does that mean he is a ‘pay-driver’, and Heikki Kovalainen the clear number one?

“As far as I know,” Kosachenko said, “we’re having absolutely equal status.”

She revealed that the initial contract is for one year only, but that could change.

“At the moment we’re discussing that,” Kosachenko is quoted by the Ria Novosti news agency.

Earlier, she admitted that Bernie Ecclestone – perhaps because he is scheduling an inaugural Russian grand prix for 2014 – was trying to help Petrov find a seat this season.

“He was talking to me, he was trying to assist,” Kosachenko said on Friday, insisting that the eventual contract was “absolutely an internal deal” between Petrov and Caterham.

“No one else involved,” she clarified.

 Caterham on Friday finally confirmed speculation that Vitaly Petrov will replace Jarno Trulli in 2012.
It has been rumoured Petrov, the Russian driver ousted by Lotus (formerly Renault) after two seasons, was waiting on his sponsors to decide whether or not to pay out veteran Trulli’s contract.

37-year-old Italian Trulli, permanently in F1 since 1997 and the 2004 Monaco grand prix winner, said mere days ago that he expected to race this season.

He tested Caterham’s 2012 car at Jerez last week.

“It was not an easy decision to bring Vitaly in to replace Jarno, but it was one we made to ensure that we give fresh impetus across the whole team and with a realistic eye on the global economic market,” said team boss Tony Fernandes.

The Malaysian businessman said an “agreement” was reached with Trulli to end his contract, “but he will always be part of our family”.

“I understand the decision the team has made and I want to wish to the whole team the very best of luck for the season ahead,” said the former Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota driver.

Petrov, 27, had a seat fitting at Caterham’s Hingham factory on Friday and will test the car in Barcelona next week.

 Giedo van der Garde is set to return to the track with Caterham during the forthcoming Barcelona tests, reigniting speculation about Jarno Trulli’s future with the former Lotus team.
After the sponsor-backed Dutch GP2 driver was signed on as 2012 reserve driver, he was also drafted into the Jerez test lineup at short notice, bumping Italian veteran Trulli from Thursday’s running.

And France’s Auto Hebdo quotes the 26-year-old as revealing he expects to return to the wheel soon.

“It was not easy for me to fully exploit the new tyres and brakes, but it will be better at the next test.

“The team is happy with my performance. I hope to do another test before the season starts,” van der Garde said.

Also reportedly in the running at Caterham is the Renault refugee and Russian-backed Vitaly Petrov, with Sport Bild claiming Trulli’s 2012 place is “probably not safe”.

“For now I’m safe,” Trulli was quoted on Monday by the Italian website Stop and Go.

Also perhaps feeling nervous at present is Marussia’s new signing Charles Pic, who according to Dutch website f1today.nl is grappling with “sponsorship and payment problems”.

The former Virgin team denied the reports.

“I want to prove to everyone that I have the talent to succeed in F1,” he is quoted by French language RMC Sport.

“Timo (Glock) has a lot of experience and has been on the podium — my goal is to learn from him and try to beat him as soon as possible,” added Pic.