Valtteri Bottas has given some insight into Williams’ decision to switch to Renault power for this year.
For the past two years, the famous British team has been independent UK marque Cosworth’s highest profile customer.

But for 2012 the Grove based team has switched to Renault, the maker of world champion Red Bull’s engines, as well as fellow customers Lotus and Caterham.

“The Renault engine is more powerful,” revealed Williams’ test driver Bottas.

“It is also smaller in size, which is good for the aerodynamics, and has a lower fuel consumption,” he told the MTV3 broadcaster.

The 22-year-old Finn, who is managed by Williams co-owner Toto Wolff, will drive the FW34 on Wednesday at the Barcelona test.

He will also contest 15 of this season’s Friday morning practice sessions.

“This season will definitely be better than the last,” said Bottas, “when it was Williams’ poorest in history.”

Cosworth still supplies the struggling Marussia and HRT teams.

He says a deal is not done, but Kimi Raikkonen has finally admitted talking to Williams about possibly returning to formula one next year.
Amid intensifying speculation about the 2007 world champion’s plans, Williams co-owner Toto Wolff confirmed last week that the talks with former McLaren and Ferrari race winner Raikkonen about next season are “serious”.

Ahead of the last world rally round of 2011 in Wales, Raikkonen on Wednesday finally admitted the same.

“We have been talking with them (Williams),” the 32-year-old is quoted by Finland’s Turun Sanomat, “but I do not have any agreement in any direction.

“Nothing has changed,” added Raikkonen, referring to the last time he insisted he is not sure what he is going to do next year.

After leaving F1 at the end of 2009, Raikkonen has raced almost full time in world rally, also dabbling in the world of NASCAR.

“It’s been fun and, compared to where I started, I have developed a lot,” he said, referring to rallying.

“I wasn’t expecting anything even though I always try to go as fast as I could. Sometimes the results were good, sometimes not so good.”

With Michael Schumacher having struggled to readjust after a three-year sabbatical, Raikkonen played down the challenge of coming back to F1.

“It is the thing I have done most of my life. Much more challenging would be to try to do something else,” he said.

And the winner of 18 grands prix also does not think F1 has changed too much since 2009.

“From what you can see on TV, no. The main difference is the tyres,” he said.

Kaj Lindstrom, Raikkonen’s recent co-driver, would like to see the Finn keep rallying.

“He will make his own decision but it would be interesting to see how far he can go in the rally,” he said. “The only way to develop is to drive.

“I said at the start that this is a four-year project if you want to get to the top,” added Lindstrom.

The 2011 rules are still not set in stone, leaving Luca di Montezemolo calling for “total clarity” ahead of next season.

Next year, along with the return of KERS and the arrival of Pirelli as F1′s tyre supplier, drivers will be able to adjust their rear wing angle when close to a rival in order to boost their chances of overtaking.

But Williams’ co-owner and engineering boss Patrick Head warned recently that the latter innovation is “not set in stone”.

Ferrari president Montezemolo said at the team’s end-of-season event in Valencia: “I hope we start the season with total clarity as regards the regulations.

“I am not worried about it, but our experience of 2009 still grates,” he added, in a reference to the rule loophole that led to the development of so-called ‘double diffusers’ early last year.

Nico Hulkenberg’s manager has played down suggestions the young German will definitely lose his race seat at Williams at the end of the season.

The British team on Monday seemed to confirm speculation it is considering replacing the 2009 GP2 champion with the feeder series’ new title winner, Pastor Maldonado.

Venezuelan Maldonado, 25, is heavily backed by the state owned petroleum company PDVSA, and Williams co-owner Patrick Head in Korea admitted that economic factors would influence the board’s driver decision for 2011.

In a media statement, the Oxfordshire based team announced that Maldonado will test the FW32 in the post-season Abu Dhabi ‘young driver’ session next month.

And he is not in contention for merely the team’s 2011 test seat, because Finn Valtteri Bottas “will remain” in that post next year, Williams said.

Maldonado said last month that he hoped to secure a deal for his 2011 debut “before the race in Abu Dhabi, so I can participate in the tests there after the GP with my new team”.

But Hulkenberg’s manager Willi Weber insists his rookie charge is still in the reckoning at Williams.

“Nico is not ‘out’ already, as has been speculated,” he told the German news agency DPA.

“The talks with Williams are continuing, but there are obviously alternatives,” added Weber.

“Williams is the first choice and we would love to stay, but it is extremely important that Nico has a race cockpit in formula one for 2011,” he said.

Interestingly, Weber seemed to acknowledge the legitimacy of Williams’ apparent reconsideration of Hulkenberg’s place at the team.

“(Chairman) Adam Parr has a great responsibility to hundreds of employees and as the highest priority he must consider the welfare of the team,” he said.

The struggling HRT team has emerged as a likely customer for technical support by Williams in 2011.

Last month it was reported that famous British team Williams could be set to supply its hydraulic systems and gearboxes to one or more of the sport’s small new teams.

In 2010, the standard Xtrac systems have proved outdated and unreliable, and Lotus broke ranks to arrange of a supply of Red Bull’s technology for 2011.

“We’ve had enquiries for our hydraulics and gearbox, we’re open to supplying it, but nothing has been agreed at this point,” a Williams spokesman told us in September.

The Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat believes Hispania Racing (HRT), the back-of-the-grid Spanish team, has been in talks with Williams about the systems.

Susie Stoddart has revealed she would like a formula one team to give her the opportunity of a proper track test.

The 27-year-old Scottish driver, whose partner is the Williams co-owner Christian ‘Toto’ Wolff, currently races a Mercedes in the German touring car series DTM.

“I dream about formula one,” Stoddart, no relation to the former Minardi owner Paul Stoddart, told the Austrian magazine SportWoche.

“I would at least like my first test. That’s what I really want to do. But I don’t want it to just be a PR stunt.

“I want to show them what I can do,” added Stoddart, who has also raced in Formula Renault and British F3.

She is currently 12th in the 2010 DTM standings, ahead of former F1 drivers Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard and Markus Winkelhock, with two races to go.

With just three races left to run in his rookie season, Nico Hulkenberg admits he is still yet to sign a new contract for 2011.

It is believed that while Williams has secured the services of veteran Rubens Barrichello for another year, the Grove based team is looking seriously at the $15 million in sponsorship offered by Hulkenberg’s successor as GP2 champion, the Venezualan Pastor Maldonado.

That would leave 23-year-old German Hulkenberg without a seat, despite arriving on the F1 grid just seven months ago with arguably a more impressive formative racing record than Lewis Hamilton.

“I’m doing my job and I’m confident about what I’m doing,” he is quoted by the German-language Speed Week.

“I cannot do more.  I would like to stay with Williams because I believe next year’s car will be competitive, because I feel comfortable in the team and get along with my teammate very well.

“I’m hoping for a new contract,” added Hulkenberg.

But the British tabloid The Sun believes dramatically that the ‘Hulk is facing incredible axe’, with Force India’s Adrian Sutil also linked with his seat and reportedly offering $3m in backing.

Another report in the Evening Standard recently said Williams’ combined losses in the past five years amount to more than $9 million, with profits falling 50 per cent last year on top of millions in debt.

Williams’ minority co-owner Christian ‘Toto’ Wolff is known to be a keen Hulkenberg supporter, but he admits the team’s driver situation is presently in the air.

“At the moment everything is possible — we are currently trying to get as much information as possible,” he said in an interview with motorline.cc.

“Generally speaking, the team is making great progress,” added Austrian Wolff.

Cosworth has played down rumours that Lotus is set to switch to Renault power for the 2011 season.

Recently, the British independent engine maker also played down speculation Williams could change suppliers, insisting the team last year signed a three-year contract.

But Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that, like Williams, Lotus has also been disappointed with Cosworth’s 2010 engine, including driveability issues and performance degradation.

“With Lotus, as with all the new teams, we have a three-year contract,” Cosworth’s business director Mark Gallagher said in Valencia.

He said he has spoken with Lotus team owner Tony Fernandes about the rumours.

“He told me that they were contacted by all three of the engine companies,” said Gallagher, referring to Renault, Ferrari and Mercedes.

“That is the reward for being the best of the new teams,” he added.  “He (Fernandes) told us that for next season, they are planning (to be) with us.”

(GMM)

Williams has confirmed that a loose manhole cover caused Rubens Barrichello’s high speed crash during the recent Monaco grand prix.

With technical director Sam Michael initially diagnosing a rear suspension failure, Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport subsequently reported that an investigation showed that the left rear wheel was in fact damaged by a loose drain cover.

In a media statement, the British team has now confirmed that a manhole cover at turn two “was spun up and hit the rear left wheel, causing failure”.

“This incident has been reported to the FIA,” added Williams.
(GMM)

Rubens Barrichello has denied claims he recklessly endangered his F1 rivals after crashing out of Sunday’s Monaco grand prix.

The Brazilian veteran threw his steering wheel onto the racing line after shunting due to a technical problem whilst climbing Beau Rivage at high speed.

The impacts dented the Armco barriers on both sides of the Monaco layout, and in apparent frustration Barrichello, who turns 38 this Sunday, threw his $50,000 steering wheel onto the track.

It was promptly run over by Karun Chandhok, who dragged the expensive debris all the way to the tunnel before it came loose and was run over again by Bruno Senna.

It was a spring from Barrichello’s Brawn that last year struck the hapless Felipe Massa on the helmet.

It is also a fundamental rule breach not to re-connect the steering wheel after abandoning a stricken car.

“What was he doing?,” Chandhok said of Barrichello.  “Charlie (Whiting) actually asked me about it.  You see on the video that he just throws it.”

But the Williams driver insists: “I threw the steering wheel because I wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible.

“After the shunt I was facing the wrong side of the track and the car was on fire,” he argued.

Williams co-owner Patrick Head also defended his driver.

“If you are standing in the middle of a 120mph corner, you tend to think ‘let’s get out of here as quickly as you can’.”

(GMM)

Sir Frank Williams admits that letting Mark Webber switch to Red Bull at the end of 2006 was a “mistake”.

After two disappointing seasons with the British team in 2005 and 2006, the Australian moved to Red Bull, where in the past week he has won two grands prix from pole position.

“You could say we made a mistake,” Williams is quoted by Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung.

“Our car was a disappointment, and we thought he was a part of that problem.  Therefore, he was not our first choice (for 2007),” added the Grove based team’s eponymous chief.

It is now expected that Webber, 33, will sign an extension to his current contract for the 2011 season.

Williams co-owner Patrick Head confirmed that he and Sir Frank were reluctant to pay Webber a high salary to stay on board in 2007.

“It wasn’t that we thought he wasn’t worth a decent salary, but we’d lost a major sponsor and we were going through some very tough times commercially,” he is quoted by the Guardian.

“For the amount Flavio was asking, we didn’t think we could build a car that would justify keeping him on,” added Head.

The Briton also thinks Webber, the first Australian world championship leader since Alan Jones in 1981, has improved since leaving the Williams team.

Said Head: “He was very quick over a single lap but in our view he had an occasional tendency to make mistakes in the race and suddenly go off.

“In his first year with Red Bull he was pretty much the same.  But in his second year with them we noticed that those in-race mistakes disappeared.”

(GMM)