Years after F1′s ‘spygate’ sagas, the issue could be set to return to the very top of the governing body’s agenda.

Force India claims Caterham and their common former wind tunnel partner Aerolab were this week “found liable” by a British court of using Force India data for the Team Lotus car of early 2010.

Vijay Mallya’s Silverstone based team said the ruling has been “referred for the consideration” of the FIA.

But Aerolab has hit back, insisting the judge “entirely rejected” Force India’s charge of “systematic copying”.

“On the contrary, such misuse as I have found to have occurred mainly consisted of opportunistic copying of CAD files by CAD designers in order to take a short cut,” the wind tunnel company quoted judge Justice Arnold as saying.

Nonetheless, Caterham was ordered to pay EUR 25,000 to Force India, but not the 18 million requested by the team.

“We were deeply disappointed with the damages award,” Force India deputy team principal Robert Fernley told the Guardian.

He said Caterham/Aerolab did not make a simple “short cut” in copying the CAD files, but copied “front and rear break duct systems, the front wing, the rear wing, the barge boards, the vortex generators and the diffuser”.

“The judge might say it’s not systematic but in my view it’s pretty extensive,” added Fernley.

Force India is expected to appeal.

And if the FIA intervenes and charges Caterham with theft, “it would cost Caterham tens of millions for the money they received for finishing tenth in the world championship for the past two years”, wrote Guardian correspondent Paul Weaver.

“And that is before any fine.”

Timo Glock has revealed he is happy to know F1 spectators still rate his talents.
2012 is the 30-year-old’s third consecutive season with backmarkers Marussia (formerly Virgin), after an impressive earlier career at Toyota.

But a recent online poll in Germany showed that a majority of his countrymen think he would be a worthy successor at Mercedes for Michael Schumacher, should the seven time world champion return to retirement.

“It’s very positive that the fans who follow the races on TV are still able to say ‘Glock could still do it if he had a fast car,” he is quoted by Auto Bild.

But for now, he will have to wait even for an improved car, with the first real fruits of Marussia’s tie-up with McLaren not expected until the European race season.

“Our current car was still built just with CFD,” Glock told Auto Motor und Sport. “The first concept of the car was already done when we went for the first time into the McLaren wind tunnel.”

 Force India has been ordered by a British court to pay over a million dollars.
With team boss Vijay Mallya already in financial strife over his collapsing airline Kingfisher, his Silverstone based team must now pay Italian wind tunnel Aerolab.

The high court judge on Wednesday said the amount, which according to the Daily Telegraph will skyrocket to over $6 million once legal costs are added, is for unpaid fees following a copyright dispute with Aerolab and Caterham.

The newspaper said the bill could be the final straw for struggling Mallya, who may now cede control of Force India to 42.5 per cent shareholder Subrata Roy, another Indian billionaire.

But Force India hit back in a media statement on Wednesday by revealing that Aerolab and its client Caterham were found “liable for copyright infringement”.

“Some parts created using Force India confidential information were used on the Team Lotus race cars in the early part of the 2010 season,” it read.

Force India said it has referred the court’s ruling to the FIA.

 Former boss Colin Kolles and his Greding-based company is no longer involved, but there remains a strong German input with the struggling team HRT.
A report in the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper reveals that the new Cosworth-powered F112 car, which failed to qualify in Melbourne last weekend, was designed and built in Augsburg, a city in the south-west of Bavaria.

It is there that, since November 2011, the Holzer-Gruppe company has been frantically building up the Cosworth-powered cars for Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.

“Under our management almost everything has been made here in Bobingen,” said Gunther Holzer.

“For the wind tunnel we used the Mercedes facility in Brackley (UK),” he added.

Eight of F1′s 12 teams are based in England, with the others either in Italy (Ferrari and Toro Rosso) or Switzerland (Sauber).

HRT uses Williams’ gearbox.

“We wanted to go our separate way, not like almost everyone else who are all within a few miles of Oxford,” said HRT chief executive Saul Ruiz de Marcos.

The team’s longer plan is to be solely based in Madrid, but for now Holzer will lead the development of the F112.

“For the start of the European season in Spain we are planning the first improvements to the car,” said Marcos.

Holzer explained: “The car is designed first for safety and so is heavy compared to the competition. For the future we are focused on making it lighter.”

Before the lighter car debuts in Barcelona, HRT faces three more challenges – Malaysia, China and Bahrain – at which the sport’s 107 per cent rule will be a major hurdle.

“The goal is to qualify, there is no other,” admitted de la Rosa. “Race reliability is something else we need to work on, but first we have to qualify.”

 Flavio Briatore has hit out at formula one by suggesting “any top driver” would have won last year’s title with the 2011 Red Bull.
“It’s only a real show now when it rains,” the former Renault team boss told Italy’s Sky Sport 24.

Briatore, 61, blames the huge role played by technology.

“If you were to take GP2 cars and put the 6 world champions in them, it would be more fun,” he insisted.

“The car is now made in the wind tunnel, the engineers aren’t even at the circuits and they spend 200 million euros making identical machines.

“Last year, the championship was over after the first race, and this will be the same; McLaren are two tenths from Red Bull, Mercedes three, and Ferrari and Lotus 4 to 7.

“Two tenths is like 2-0 behind in a football game. In F1, the Messi is Alonso, but if his car is not competitive, he is going nowhere.”

Marussia Racing’s new MR01 finally made its first on-track appearance during a promotional ‘filming’ day at Silverstone, just a few miles from is Banbury base.

The Anglo-Russian team endured a torrid time in its attempts to get the car ready for the third and final group test at Barcelona last week, having skipped the opening session in Jerez to prepare the MR01 for early March, only to fail the mandatory FIA crash tests. Although both Timo Glock and rookie Charles Pic got some miles under their belts in Barcelona last month, it was at the wheel of the 2011-spec car, leaving them preciously short of time in the new machine ahead of its race debut in Melbourne next weekend.

The Silverstone shakedown, part of a promotional event ahead of the car’s departure for the Australian Grand Prix, will provide both team and driver with vital information on the new machine, which has been conceived after a ground-up re-evaluation of the way Marussia designs its racing cars. As such, the car is almost entirely new, with very few carry-over components from last year’s Marussia Virgin MVR-02.

The desire to make a clean break from the previous CFD-only creations presented the design team, led by technical consultant Pat Symonds, with the challenge of going back to basics to produce a solid mechanical package, whilst maintaining an eye towards achieving the incremental performance steps required to move the team forward.

The starting point for the design programme was a consideration of the people and resources available to the Banbury-based team. The former three-base operation has been consolidated into one site, the Marussia Technical Centre in Banbury, bringing the various elements of the business together to form ‘one team’. In particular, the design department and practices now benefit from far greater integration and collaboration. Furthermore, the aerodynamic department has been completely restructured and the aero methodology reinforced, blurring the boundaries between CFD and experimental work in the wind tunnel, as well as enhancing the fidelity of the team’s aero approach.

The technical partnership forged with McLaren Applied Technologies in July of last year has also been influential in the design process and the relationship is starting to yield benefit as the advanced facilities that the Marussia team has access to have been used to prove the correlation process with the MVR-02. It is however early in the relationship and the MR01 will become a beneficiary of the relationship in due course.

The key design priorities were to address previous aerodynamic deficiencies and, mechanically, achieve greater weight saving. At the same time, a lot of the detail of the car has been refined and the design team have been a little more adventurous than before, stepping closer to the engineering boundaries. The car can best be described as a significant evolution of its predecessors. The relationship with McLaren is also evident, as the MR01 is only the second car launched this season, after the Woking giant’s MP4-27, to eschew the stepped nose concept favoured by the rest of the field.

“We are very pleased to be running the new MR01 for the first time this morning,” team principal John Booth admitted, “It has been a long and frustrating wait for everyone in the team, but we can now get back on track – literally – and start working towards the first race of the season in Australia next weekend.

“Today is the first of two promotional events, so while the drivers will be able to get a feel for the car, they won’t be able to draw any real conclusions until we start running in anger in Melbourne. Nevertheless, this is an important day for us and we’ll enjoy every minute on track with the new car.”

Glock turned the first laps with the MR01, beginning his third season with the team and providing the all-important element of continuity required to keep moving the package forward. He is joined in 2012 by Frenchman Pic, who embarks on his rookie year in F1, having made the step up from GP2 to replace Belgium’s Jerome d’Ambrosio. Both drivers will get track time with the new car over the next two days, albeit running on demonstration tyres as opposed to the Pirelli P-Zeros that they will use once competition starts in Melbourne.

 Marussia’s new car for 2012 does not feature a ‘step’ on its front nose.
Every team on the 2012 grid, including HRT who are yet to release their 2012 car, responded to the FIA’s new height regulations by designing an awkward ‘step’ between the monocoque and the tip of the nose.

The one exception, until now, was McLaren.

But Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the 2012 Marussia, which will be seen for the first time in Barcelona next week, also has a clean aerodynamic line at the front.

The former Virgin team works closely with McLaren, including using the famous British team’s test rigs and wind tunnel.

“In fact, there was little difference in theory between the two solutions. So why take risks with something that we do not know?” a Marussia team source is quoted as saying.

Timo Glock has already driven the new step-less Marussia in the McLaren simulator.

“We don’t have too much experience with the simulator so we hope that it’s right, but we will not be too optimistic — that’s not to say that I’m disappointed,” said the German driver.

“I think we have a good base to build upon,” added Glock.

“We have been focusing for a long time on finding the errors with the previous car and getting over them,” he is quoted by Speed Week magazine.

 Red Bull has fended off the latest round of speculation, as tales of cheating and overspending refuse to go away.
Germany’s Bild newspaper said the culprits of the renewed allegations about the back to back world champions are McLaren and Ferrari, reportedly concerned that the FOTA cost-limiting agreement has not been honoured.

“Ludicrous,” Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s motor racing consultant, hit back.

“It is the jealously of poor losers, throwing mud and hoping something sticks.”

The major German daily on Saturday published some previously unknown details of the accusations.

The first is that Red Bull has engaged more than the allowed 350 staff for the direct design, construction and development of the car.

“That’s not true,” said Marko. “The other top teams simply need to realise that we work more efficiently than they do.”

The second accusation is that Red Bull has operated its wind tunnel longer than the allowable hours according to the resource restriction agreement (RRA).

“Our wind tunnel is an antique, 80 years old and three times bigger than a modern one. It just takes longer to get going, and so only when it is (running) do we begin to measure (the time),” explained Marko.

Another charge is that Red Bull has refused to let inspectors check the team’s adherence to the RRA during inspections.

Marko insisted: “We have provided the information that we had to and nothing more.”

 Timo Glock is already pressing the throttle for the 2012 season.
He revealed to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport that, this week, he has been working on McLaren’s driver simulator for the very first time.

It is part of struggling Virgin’s new tie-up with the famous British team, including use of the Woking wind tunnel.

German Glock says he is also buoyed that, in the wake of technical boss Nick Wirth’s departure, the appointment of veteran Renault engineer Pat Symonds is already bearing fruit.

“My feeling is that we have definitely improved,” he said. “It can’t be easily seen because Lotus have also brought improvements which equalised our step.

“But the data has confirmed what I have felt in the car,” said Glock, referring to the current 2011 single seater.

For 2012, the McLaren simulator tests are now taking place and Virgin’s new wind tunnel programme is back on track.

“There was a little delay but we have caught up now,” Glock revealed.

“We went to Korea with new setup directions, since we have nothing to win or to lose now we can afford to do some development work for next year.”

The race failed to yield even a podium place for the famous team, but Korea showed that Ferrari is getting back on track.
That is the claim of team boss Stefano Domenicali, who referred to the successful debut of a new front wing raced to fifth place by Fernando Alonso.

The part, based on the 2012 car philosophy, was not necessarily much faster than the conventional wing run to sixth place by Felipe Massa.

But according to Domenicali, the “data obtained in the wind tunnel matched the data seen throughout the (race) weekend, so it’s a good sign. There is no doubt,” AS newspaper quotes him as saying.

He was referring to Ferrari’s earlier troubles with the correlation of information between the wind tunnel and the track.

Spaniard Alonso hopes the team can provide him with a good car for 2012.

“I do not need the best car to win the world championship, just a competitive one,” he is quoted as saying.

Robert Kubica was paid by Renault in 2011, team owner Gerard Lopez has revealed.
His comments to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport follow reports that the Enstone based team may be happier to choose between Vitaly Petrov, Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean for next season’s lineup.

Genii’s Lopez however said that with injured Pole Kubica nearing recovery from his horror rally crash injuries, it is wrong to suggest Renault prefers pay-drivers.

“If Robert is on the market then of course we will take him,” he said. “Our commercial model requires success on the tracks.

“Also we paid Robert’s salary this year, although he drove no races with us.”

Last week, some media reports suggested team boss Eric Boullier was firm with an end-of-October deadline, even though Kubica may only be ready to decide his comeback for 2012 some weeks later.

“We will look at the matter at the beginning of November,” Lopez clarifies. “Robert will have a car to show us what he can do.

“The data analysis is now so good that you can see with another car whether he is physically able to return.”

As for paddock suggestions that Genii is running Renault more as a business rather than a racing team looking for results, Lopez firmly denied it.

And the rumours about being late in engine payments to Renault Sport F1?: “We have paid every bill on time,” he insisted.

“We have increased the team from 480 to 520 employees, we have expanded the wind tunnel from 50 to 60 per cent and are about to install a new simulator. These are not things you do if you only have the business in mind.”

Virgin will not be using KERS technology in 2012.
Another of the new-in-2010 teams, Team Lotus, has announced that from next season it will be using the kinetic energy recovery system developed by Red Bull.

“We have done the very best job we can this year but without that extra power we are always competing on a different level to the teams ahead,” said team boss Tony Fernandes.

Virgin is also making efforts to catch the more established teams, including by hiring the highly experienced ‘crashgate’ engineer Pat Symonds.

“My impression of him is very good,” driver Timo Glock told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Symonds’ attention to detail is already becoming apparent, with the switch from steel to titanium pitstop jacks, and the use of laser technology for pitstop positioning, seen for the first time in Singapore.

The German report also said the 60 per cent scale model of Virgin’s 2012 car is now complete and will enter the McLaren wind tunnel at the end of next month.

But Glock reportedly confirmed that, when complete, the car will not feature a KERS system.

And he warned: “I don’t think that by the first race of next year we will make a big jump. There just isn’t enough time. But for the start of the European season we are planning a major update.”

Ferrari will finally follow Red Bull’s lead with the suspension layout of its 2012 car.
That is the claim of the Italian daily Corriere dello Sport, revealing that a scale model of the Maranello based team’s new car is already clocking up the miles in the wind tunnel.

With its 2011 design, the 150 Italia, Ferrari raised some eyebrows by sticking with its usual push-road suspension philosophy rather than opting for Red Bull’s pull-rod layout.

“At Maranello, everything has been called into question in light of the unsatisfactory results of this season,” said the Italian newspaper report.

“The (pull-rod) system will allow for a lower and smaller rear end but it will appear only next season,” added Corriere dello Sport.

“In the last six races of this year, even in the races, mechanical and aerodynamic parts (for 2012) will be tested.”

Boss Franz Tost as well as Jaime Alguersuari have denied that Toro Rosso’s new sponsorship deal has secured the future of the Spanish driver.
The fact that the logos of the Spanish oil company Cepsa have been added to the livery of the STR6 this weekend was interpreted by some as good news for Alguersuari.

The 21-year-old Spaniard, as well as his Swiss teammate Sebastien Buemi, are under pressure by Toro Rosso’s owner Red Bull to prove they should not be replaced for 2012 by Daniel Ricciardo.

“It’s good that they (Cepsa) have come along, because the team needs the money,” Spanish media reports quote Alguersuari as saying at Monza.

“But I don’t think they have come for me, they have come for Toro Rosso because we are a young team with huge potential,” he insisted.

And Tost told The National newspaper: “Jaime’s future with the team is exactly the same as it was before Cepsa came on board.”

Alguersuari also told Spanish reporters that Toro Rosso’s 2012 car has been in the wind tunnel now for “about a month and a half”.

Meanwhile, he said he quickly got over the Belgian grand prix two weeks ago, when Bruno Senna took him out at the first corner.

“I don’t stay angry for long,” said Alguersuari. “Bruno sent me a message and apologised, which I accept. We can all make mistakes, even big ones like that.

“I hope I never make one that destroys the race of another.”

Timo Glock hopes Virgin will be a better shop window for his talents next year.
The German was earlier critical of the struggling team’s direction but Virgin recently split with its designer Nick Wirth and inked a technical and wind tunnel deal with McLaren.

Even so, the 29-year-old confirmed he would jump ship to Red Bull if offered a seat.

“Every driver would answer the same,” the former Toyota driver told Die Welt. “But that’s a dream. I have to do it the hard way, fighting to go towards the front with my team.”

Glock is set to stay with Virgin in 2012, when he hopes the next red and black car can move into the midfield.

The deal is expected to be announced before Sunday’s German grand prix.

“I have to show that what I can do with a car like the Virgin is deliver quality services,” he continued.

“I will probably not be winning races or getting podiums very soon, but technically we have to try to move ahead and that will make me more visible as a driver.

“This is extremely difficult. If we cut the gap by half a second from five seconds, hardly anyone notices. But on a drivers’ track like Monaco for example, if we have a better car in 2012, then you can really stand out,” added Glock.