With the F1 world now returned from Bahrain, the sport is assessing the fallout of one of the most controversial grands prix in history.

The drivers were conspicuously quiet over the saga in the island Kingdom, but – with no contract tying him down – former Force India driver Adrian Sutil admitted he was glad he was not there.

“In a situation like that, it is probably better not to go,” the German said on Sky Deutschland.

“On the one hand, the decision was made (to go to Bahrain), on the other hand, it’s very difficult when there are so many problems in a country.”

Red Bull reserve driver Sebastien Buemi, who has family living in Bahrain, does not agree at all.

“I arrived on Monday and I had no problem — maybe there were a few more police than two years ago, but nothing happened to me,” the Swiss insisted on Austrian Servus TV.

Force India and Sauber, however, witnessed Molotov cocktail attacks on their treks to and from the circuit.

And Caterham team spokesman Tom Webb told the Sun that there was “one minor incident when one of our (hire) vans slowed down in traffic and its occupants saw a local youth on the side of the main road brandishing a bottle with a rag stuffed in its neck”.

World champion and race winner Sebastian Vettel also admitted the feeling was tense in the paddock throughout the weekend.

“It was not easy for anyone,” the Red Bull driver admitted, according to SID news agency, “but I’m glad that nothing happened to any of us (in F1).”

And the Telegraph quotes Vettel adding: “Hopefully, we come back in the future when everything’s a little bit safer.”

Reuters reports that Vodafone, the main sponsor of the half Bahrain-owned McLaren team, sent no staff to the country and expressed concerns to the British outfit.

But Jim Wright, an F1 sponsorship expert, told the Guardian that he thinks while the sport’s image took a beating last weekend, sponsors will be happy.

“Most teams handled a difficult decision very well,” he said. “On that basis I think a lot of people would be pleased with that and happy to get involved with them.”

The television audience was also unaffected – even boosted – with the BBC reporting more viewers for Bahrain than Australia and Malaysia, and Germany revealing similarly strong figures.

Still, there remains criticism.

“Now is an opportunity to reflect,” former F1 driver Alex Zanardi told Tuttosport, “and make sure that major sporting events are assigned only to governments that deserve the honour of hosting them.

“Ecclestone is brilliant and has made formula one what it is, but he can’t administer races at any cost and above all else,” insisted the Italian.

Due to security fears, Force India sat out a practice session on Friday so that staff could return to their hotels in daylight.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone was reportedly enraged, and according to rumours got his revenge by instructing Formula One Management’s television cameras to ignore the Silverstone based team’s cars in qualifying.

“There was a bit of fuss about what we did,” deputy team principal Bob Fernley is quoted by Spain’s AS newspaper, “and it was not easy, but I think it turned out to be the right response.

“We had a lot of pressure, our attitude was not well received,” he confirmed, “but I think that we had a duty of care to our employees, and to do the right thing by the team.”

Fernando Alonso was spared the Italian media’s wrath after Ferrari opened its 2012 campaign with the troubled F2012 car.
“Alonso once again saved Ferrari from disaster,” said the authoritative La Gazzetta dello Sport, after the Spanish driver drove the car to fifth place in Australia.

The under-pressure Felipe Massa’s opening race, however, “was a nightmare”, the daily newspaper added.

Jaime Alguersuari, the former Toro Rosso driver who is now a media analyst, also praised fellow Spaniard Alonso.

“For Ferrari, it is an unique advantage to have a driver like Fernando Alonso,” he told El Mundo newspaper.

“He did a sensational Sunday, with intelligence and ambition, which will push and raise the team, I’m sure.”

Alonso remains confident.

“There may be cars quicker than us now,” he is quoted by Britain’s Daily Mail, “but it’s like Manchester United or Chelsea who play badly for a game but still win 1-0.

“Before this race we were working 24 hours (a day),” Alonso is quoted by Marca, “now it must be 25.”

The Spanish press, however, is livid.

“The fifth place is really a miracle,” said the sports daily Marca. “The car is ridiculous, rendering the team a midfielder.”

Jenson Button, meanwhile, received universal praise from the international press corps, as did the fact that Red Bull’s dominance appears to have been knocked by McLaren.

“That’s good news for everybody except (Sebastian) Vettel,” insisted Corriere dello Sport.

The fight, however, has just begun.

“Vettel turned the middling new Red Bull into a good race car,” said Gazzetta, referring to the German’s performance on Sunday, “which is a warning to the opposition.

“He is still the world champion, and he will be hunting his first triumph of the year in Sepang.”

Tuttosport, meanwhile, said Mercedes – which until Sunday’s race was the talk of the Melbourne paddock – was the “big disappointment” of the 2012 opener.

Jean-Eric Vergne has predicted a good season ahead for Toro Rosso.
Along with Daniel Ricciardo, French rookie Vergne makes up the Red Bull junior team’s new driver lineup, following the ousting at the end of last season of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

Perhaps because their prize could be Mark Webber’s seat at the senior team in 2013, Ricciardo and Vergne set almost identical laptimes last week at Jerez as the new STR7 was tested for the first time.

And according to 21-year-old Vergne, the Ferrari powered car showed promising form overall.

“We hope to be one of the strongest teams in the middle of the classification,” he is quoted by the Italian website Tuttosport.

At the same time, Vergne is not getting carried away ahead of eight pre-season test days in Barcelona, starting next week.

“Barcelona could be different as Jerez was rather cold and the surface is very abrasive. I don’t think there’s much difference between the teams.”

Vergne is quoted by France’s L’Equipe: “What Jerez showed us I think is that we have a good basis.”

Mercedes is having to become a bigger team in order to win races as a constructor.

That is the claim of Nico Rosberg, who has been Michael Schumacher’s teammate for the past two years and will stay with the Brackley team in 2012.

Rosberg, 26, is also tipped to sign a much longer contract, in which he hopes to take the benefit of boss Ross Brawn’s efforts to improve the team structure.

Brawn radically downsized the team in the wake of former owner Honda’s departure from the sport at the end of 2008.

The British engineer admitted to F1′s official website this week that “possibly we have been a little bit too optimistic” in cutting staff numbers.

“We need to move up to the (staff) limitations that are allowed,” he revealed.

German driver Rosberg agrees: “The team has not been big enough to build a winning car, but we have recognised the situation and are strengthening the organisation.

“We are now developing rapidly and new faces are showing up all the time,” he told Italy’s Tuttosport. “It shows there is a great desire to improve.”

As Mark Webber prepares to commit to Red Bull for 2012, team consultant Dr Helmut Marko has given the strongest sign yet that his successor will be another Australian.
Marko reinvigorated the speculation about Webber’s future in Hungary by saying that the 34-year-old is likely to retire after racing one more season.

“Mark Webber will continue with us for another year, and then he will decide what to do in his career,” the outspoken Austrian is quoted by Italian publications including Tuttosport and Corriere dello Sport.

Marko reportedly added that “Red Bull will decide who takes his place, although it is likely it will be (Daniel) Ricciardo”.

He is referring to the 22-year-old Australian who recently made his grand prix debut at HRT with Red Bull backing.

“I thank the guys at Red Bull for the nice words, but it’s still too early to talk about the future,” said Ricciardo.

“I hope there is a chance to race with them, but first I need to beat my teammate Liuzzi, who is a few tenths ahead of me.”

As for Webber’s 2012 deal, he said he is on the verge of making his decision.

“I’ll decide about my future at Spa,” said Webber, referring to the forthcoming Belgian grand prix.

Asked if it is his decision alone, Webber simply answered “yes”, adding that the only thing he is weighing up is “purely my own motivation for racing”.

And as for Ricciardo, Webber told Austria’s laola1: “I think he has a great future ahead of him.”

Rubens Barrichello has admitted it is not a foregone conclusion that he will stay at Williams next year.

The Brazilian veteran recently admitted he would like to see in his fortieth birthday next year with a third consecutive season at the famous British team.

He is also buoyed with news of Williams’ engine supplier switch from Cosworth to Renault for 2012 and beyond.

“It’s good to have a powerful engine behind you and I’m convinced that with Renault we will take a quantum leap,” Barrichello is quoted by Tuttosport.

“But the team needs to show their interest just as I am showing mine, and then we can agree.

“I do not exclude the prospect of switching to another team, if Williams doesn’t offer me a reasonable solution. But it’s not a priority,” he insisted.

Barrichello has contested more than 300 grands prix, and 2012 would be his nineteenth consecutively in F1.

“If there are other people willing to have me next year, and Williams do not want me to continue with them, then yes, I would look elsewhere,” he admitted.

Adrian Newey has refused to completely dismiss suggestions he might end his formula one career with Ferrari.

Amid the famous Italian team’s current struggles to catch up with dominant Red Bull, it has been suggested the first move by Ferrari should be a new high-price offer for the energy drink-owned team’s gifted designer.

Briton Newey, however, is quoted by Italy’s Tuttosport and Corriere dello Sport as insisting he is happy with his current employer, where he inked the dominant RB7.

“I think my career has been varied with several changes of teams but I’m now very happy with Red Bull. I really can’t see myself in another place,” he said.

Newey refuses, however, to completely rule out the possibility of a move to Maranello.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do at some point in the future, I have no idea,” he said.

“There are several teams looking to me and once I conclude the project here at Red Bull, I will look at the offers.

“But if I did do something else, I think it would be something very different from F1,” added Newey.

The FIA is pressing ahead with its clampdown on blown exhaust technology following a meeting in London.
The technical working group met with Charlie Whiting on Thursday where, despite some controversy, the FIA delegate told teams they will have to severely limit their off-throttle diffuser exhaust blowing from next month’s British grand prix.

It is suggested pioneer Red Bull will be the team most affected by the ban, but Mercedes and Renault are also leaders in the field.

“The degree that a team will be affected is dependent on how much they’re exploiting that technology,” Red Bull chief designer Rob Marshall told The Sun newspaper.

“There are certainly some teams that are exploiting it very vigorously and some that aren’t exploiting it at all. Some will suffer more than others.”

And Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali is quoted by Italy’s Tuttosport: “After Silverstone it will be possible to express an opinion about our season.

“All I can say is that I hope it (the clampdown) affects us less than others.”

Felipe Massa thinks Red Bull’s drivers are open about swapping positions during the Abu Dhabi grand prix on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver, who was controversially ordered aside for his teammate Fernando Alonso at Hockenheim, was commenting on the main topic of conversation at the 2010 finale — whether Sebastian Vettel will move over for Mark Webber in order to prevent Fernando Alonso from winning the drivers’ title.

“My personal opinion is that the Red Bull drivers will fight to the end, because they both have a chance to become champion,” the Brazilian is quoted in Italian by Tuttosport.

“But if at the end Sebastian is first and Mark is second, I’m sure they will swap places. If not, they would give the title to another team.

“But you should ask them, not me.”

Even Rubens Barrichello, who like Massa was also the victim of Ferrari’s blatant imposition of team orders, agrees.

“I have always been against team orders,” he is quoted by Globo.

“But if someone has no more mathematical chances in the last moment but the other one (the teammate) does, then it is definitely better for the team.

“So I see nothing wrong if that happens in the last lap.”

Officially at Red Bull, the position is that team orders will not be imposed, but team management is hoping Vettel will be “magnanimous” should he find himself able to deliver the drivers’ title to Webber rather than Alonso.

“Logic tells me that Sebastian will do it (give up the win) if Alonso is right behind them,” Niki Lauda told RTL television.

“For me it would be a great gesture from Vettel; gentlemanly and fair,” said the triple world champion.

Even from Vettel’s perspective, that scenario appears a no-brainer.

“It would not take a genius to know what to do,” the 23-year-old is quoted by the Spanish media.

Helmut Marko, however, admitted that not seeing Vettel crowned world champion on Sunday would have a bitter taste.

“Without the technical problems this year, Sebastian would already be champion,” Red Bull’s motor sport consultant is quoted by Bild newspaper.

Sections of the international media have questioned Red Bull’s strategic approach to the 2010 drivers’ world championship.

After Sebastian Vettel won the Brazilian grand prix from the team’s points leader Mark Webber at Interlagos, Der Spiegel noted: “Red Bull gives (Fernando) Alonso wings”.

Not switching the places means that Spaniard Alonso can take his Ferrari to just second place this weekend in Abu Dhabi and be champion, whereas the alternative strategy would have set up Webber for a straight fight.

“It is not easy for Webber to drive in a team that considers him a burden to be up against Vettel,” said La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Tuttosport noted that it seems “the Austrian team would be happier to lose than to see Webber beat Vettel”.

“No team orders at Red Bull. Another own goal,” headlined La Repubblica.

Joan Villadelprat wrote in his El Pais column: “Had Red Bull opted for Webber a few races ago, the Australian would probably now be champion.”

Red Bull, however, is unrepentant. Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper that “second under proper conditions can often be more valuable than a first”.

But there is a feeling that the team is not simply giving up the fight for the drivers’ title.

One columnist in Brazil’s Globo wondered if Vettel’s radio message in Abu Dhabi might sound something like ‘So … Mark is faster than you’.

“I’m always in favour of leaving the fight on the track with equal chances for both sides,” said Rubens Barrichello. “But I wonder if they would do that if the situation was in reverse.”

The Brazilian obviously suspects that, if Vettel was the points leader, Webber would unquestionably be playing a subordinate role by now.

“Mark has done a great job this year and he has been told by his team what position he is in,” said Lewis Hamilton. “Against adversity he has kept at it. I want to see Mark win.”

Webber believes that, if a strategy is deployed, it will only be on the “last lap” of the season this weekend.

“Sebastian is part of a team,” said Niki Lauda, who believes Webber should be backed fully by Red Bull. “If he does anything it should be helping Webber and not just on the last lap.”

Webber is quoted by Bild newspaper: “It makes sense. Otherwise it would mean that Ferrari’s team orders would have paid off for Fernando.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner hints that sense will ultimately prevail.

“We have already given too many presents to Fernando this year,” he is quoted by Autosprint.

Ferrari will unveil yet another development of its blown diffuser layout on the streets of Singapore this weekend.

After encountering difficulties with the F10′s latest developments at Spa recently, the Italian team finally got the layout working optimally at Monza, where Fernando Alonso won from pole position.

“We now have a package that should work on all types of circuits,” the Spaniard is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

“We know Red Bull will be very strong at the next two circuits, but we should now be more consistent than we were before.

“Consistency is the key to this title,” said Alonso.

The next step, to be seen for the first time in Singapore this weekend, is a further integration of the diffuser and the gearbox and how the exhaust gases are directed through the rear bodywork.

“This race will be important but not decisive,” team boss Stefano Domenicali told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“The championship looks to be open right until the end, and the new scoring system helps us,” he added.

As for the new developments for Singapore, Domenicali is quoted by Tuttosport: “We need to avoid a repeat of what happened in Belgium, where our developments failed to give us what we expected because we weren’t able to test them.

“It’s impossible to predict what will happen because there are so many variables at play,” added the Italian.

He confirmed that the F10′s next developments are “aerodynamic” in nature, situated “at the bottom of the car”.

In their blogs on the official Ferrari website, Felipe Massa said Hockenheim had been a “great team result”, while Fernando Alonso said victory was a “great feeling”.
They did not even mention the team orders scandal.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali summed up the internal mood – while the F1 world is alight with controversy – by saying he wants Ferrari to “remain focussed on our own work, starting in Budapest” this weekend.

But the headline in Brazil’s Globo summed up the attitude as ‘no remorse’, while the Jornal do Brasil published a cartoon of Paulista Massa as a puppet.

In Italy, however, Tuttosport backed Luca di Montezemolo’s claim about team order “hypocrisy”, accusing Martin Whitmarsh of having “amnesia” when he suggested there are no team orders at McLaren.

The article referred to Hockenheim 2008, when Heikki Kovalainen gave way to Lewis Hamilton.

Other reports have referred to the arguable ‘low fuel’ messages for Jenson Button and Hamilton recently, with Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport claiming the pair received a similar order last Sunday.

Indeed, in La Gazzetta dello Sport, writer Umberto Zapelloni appeared to praise Ferrari for applying its team orders “without subterfuge”.

“Massa was not told he was consuming too much fuel or his tyres were in crisis, but others have been (told those things) this season,” he wrote.

Luca di Montezemolo has once again repeated his disapproval of F1′s new teams.

In the wake of the carmaker exodus, the Ferrari president expressed his desire to see the big teams be allowed to field third cars.

Instead, new teams including Virgin, HRT and a relaunched Lotus debuted with the support of the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone.

But earlier this year Maranello based Ferrari ridiculed the new entry list as being more deserving of the name ‘Formula GP3′.

And Montezemolo is now quoted by Tuttosport: “In the 60th year of formula one, Ferrari is celebrating its 800th grand prix.

“Let me say with pride that no one will be able to match this record.

“For us it is a source of great satisfaction and pride because is represents that Ferrari has been here even in difficult times, while other teams have come and have gone.

“I repeat that formula one without Ferrari is not formula one, and this year there are many teams that should be racing in GP2,” added Montezemolo.

(GMM)

F1′s media and pundits are divided over Michael Schumacher’s late overtaking move on Fernando Alonso in Monaco.

The stewards, including Schumacher’s former title nemesis Damon Hill, penalised the seven time world champion for illegally passing the Spaniard during a safety car period.

But the safety car had actually pulled into the pits, prompting the message ‘track clear’ on the official monitors, and video evidence showed green flags and green lights.

Former driver Marc Surer told the German news agency SID: “I think the stewards have made a mistake, because they had shown green (flags).”

He insists there was at the very least no “clear” breach of the rules, given that the stewards took more than three hours to decide to impose the 20-second time penalty.

The Italian press was less sympathetic.

“Is he not 41 years old?” read an editorial in the Tuttosport newspaper.  “He should know the rules by now.”

Epsilon Euskadi boss Joan Villadelprat wrote in his El Pais column that Schumacher’s was a “monumental error”, but former German F1 driver Christian Danner said the mistake was the FIA’s for ordering that green flags be waved.

Bild newspaper published a photo proving that Schumacher drove past a green light in the Rascasse corner prior to passing the Ferrari, even though Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali argues that the race ended “under yellow conditions”.

But Alonso insists he was “immediately certain” that the Mercedes driver would be penalised.

“That’s why I let him go,” the Spaniard told spox.com.

“My team had told me that you can’t overtake.  I had wanted to try to pass Lewis Hamilton but they told me I could not.”

And Sebastien Buemi told the Swiss newspaper Blick that Toro Rosso ordered him to hold position.

“I was surprised when the team told me not to attack Liuzzi, because there were green lights flashing everywhere!” he said.

(GMM)

Stefano Domenicali has raised the possibility that the ban on spare cars may be overturned.

Fernando Alonso had to sit out qualifying for last weekend’s Monaco grand prix because his chassis was written off in a practice crash.

It meant he started the race from last place in the pitlane.

The availability of complete spare cars was banned a few years ago as a cost-saving measure.

Now, teams may transport spare monocoques to races and build up a new car in the event that one is damaged.  But in Alonso’s situation, there simply was not enough time.

Ferrari team boss Domenicali said he agrees with cutting costs, but argues that in the case of banning spare cars, “you lose value in other ways”.

“You cannot leave the spectators without the possibility of enjoying one of the biggest stars in qualifying,” he is quoted by Spain’s Diario AS newspaper.

“We will discuss it with the other teams to see if we can change it (the rule),” said the Italian

Quoted by Italy’s Tuttosport, Domenicali added: “Nothing has been decided, but I hope it happens soon.”

(GMM)