Emerson Fittipaldi, the successful Brazilian driver of the 70s, has tipped Jenson Button as a strong contender to match his own tally of two world championships come the end of the 2012 season.

“From what I can see, it will be between Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg. They are the big favourites,” the 65-year-old is quoted by Brazil’s Globo.

“Obviously, if Ferrari improves, then Fernando (Alonso) is spectacular. Lewis Hamilton is very aggressive, very fast, but I think Jenson is very clean, easier on his equipment and the tyres.

“I think this (season) is best suited to his (Button’s) style,” said Fittipaldi.

McLaren’s Button, however, is not so sure, pointing out the unusually closely-packed 2012 grid, and the big role being played by the Pirelli tyres.

“You don’t know who is going to be your main opponent on Sunday,” Auto Motor und Sport quotes the 2009 world champion as saying.

“It could be Red Bull, or Mercedes, or Ferrari, or Lotus or even Sauber,” he smiled. “So who do you focus on for the strategy?”

This weekend, F1 will find out whether the hot track temperatures in Bahrain will reshuffle the order. Button laughed when asked if it means McLaren will pull ahead of Mercedes this weekend: “We hope so, but we don’t know!”

Michael Schumacher, whose career stretches all the way back to 1991, said 2012 is the “closest season I’ve experienced”.

As for what happened in China, where his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg won from pole for the first time, the German admitted: “I really didn’t think that would happen.”

It is for that reason that Button warned against writing off F1′s reigning champions, Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel said he is not expecting “miracles” in Bahrain, but he also said: “We still haven’t seen a team that is clearly above all the others.

“Maybe McLaren is the most consistent, but they didn’t do what you expected them to do in Shanghai …”

Sauber is in a race for money after discovering its 2012 car is up to speed with F1′s richest teams.

As ever in formula one, world championships are won not on the basis of a clever initial design, but on a team’s ability to continue to develop it throughout a long season.

According to O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, the formerly BMW-owned Sauber team’s chief executive Monisha Kaltenborn admits that the Hinwil based outfit cannot compete on that front with the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull.

“It’s a shame,” she is quoted as saying.

“I hope we can show enough potential so that some companies decide to invest in our project,” said Kaltenborn, with the Brazilian newspaper estimating that Sauber’s budget is EUR 80 million this year.

In contrast, the top four teams’ budgets are believed to be all above EUR 220m.

Kaltenborn told F1′s official website recently that Sauber would back a push to impose a budget cap — an issue that triggered the big teams’ bitter political war with former FIA president Max Mosley a few years ago.

“We … have also openly said that we are not satisfied with our sponsor situation because we have high targets and to achieve them you need appropriate funding,” she continued.

“We still need to work on that side of things, as of course the more funding you have the more you can develop — and it shows on the track.

“I have said before that when we look back we practically never had enough money to do what we really wanted to. The question is always how big the gap is — sometimes it is bigger, sometimes it is smaller.”

Martin Brundle has described Red Bull’s lack of pace as the biggest surprise of the 2012 season so far.

After consecutive world championships with Sebastian Vettel, the energy drink-owned team was universally tipped as the pre-season favourite for yet another F1 title.

But McLaren dominated in Australia before Ferrari and Sauber surprisingly set the pace recently in Malaysia.

Former F1 driver Brundle admitted the struggling RB8 was the surprise of the opening salvo in 2012, but he also acknowledged that the turnaround might have been predicted.

“When you look at how the regulations have changed, it’s almost like they were designed to slow the Red Bulls down,” the Sky television commentator told the website of the BBC programme Top Gear.

“Doubling the torsional stiffness of the front wings, the way Red Bull were ‘flying’ their car down the track with lots of rake, nose close to the ground, exhausts helping to sort the high rear ride height out, it’s all been taken away from them,” added Brundle.

An unnamed engineer at Red Bull has admitted the team was caught on the hop in the winter pre-season, when it became clear McLaren was better prepared for the new rules.

“McLaren came with a (exhaust) system on the edge of legality,” the engineer told Germany’s Auto Bild, “and it was declared legal by the FIA.

“So (Adrian) Newey had to adapt,” he added, referring to Red Bull’s last-minute decision to change tack at the very end of the pre-season test period.

The message coming from the Milton Keynes based team, therefore, is that Red Bull is playing catch-up.

“We need to understand the car better,” admits team advisor Dr Helmut Marko, “which is why for the next race (in China) we will have hardly any new parts.”

So until he’s back at the front, F1′s formerly-dominant Vettel – who lashed out at backmarker Narain Karthikeyan recently in Malaysia – needs to adapt.

Asked if the German was justified in calling his Indian rival an “idiot”, Brundle insisted: “No.

“That’s just an angry man who hasn’t got a front-running car at the moment. He’s just frustrated.”

 Red Bull has been isolated from F1′s other teams, as the FIA is asked to step in and police their cost-cutting efforts.
Last year, there remained suspicions the energy drink owned team – the winner of the past two world championships – flouted the ‘resource restriction agreement’ (RRA).

But the agreement was only an initiative of the teams’ trade union FOTA, which has now essentially collapsed.

Moreover, the agreement includes only financial sanctions for breaches, and Red Bull was never penalised anyway — Ferrari’s Luca di Montezemolo said recently he didn’t push the issue “Because I didn’t want it to be an excuse for our performance”.

A letter has now been addressed to FIA president Jean Todt requesting that the governing body step in and make the RRA an official sporting regulation.

Breaches would therefore carry a sporting sanction, such as the loss of points, or race bans.

“Yes, it (the letter) was unanimous. Most of the teams have signed it,” said Lotus team boss Eric Boullier.

He would not, however, confirm the identity of the teams that did not sign.

But a report in the Kolner Express newspaper claims “only two teams did not sign: Red Bull and the sister team Toro Rosso”.

Alain Prost has conceded it will be difficult for the once-great Williams to return to the top in formula one.
The legendary Frenchman won the last of his four world championships with the famous British team, which in 1993 was utterly dominant.

But Williams has not won a single race since 2004, and last year finished the constructors’ standings a woeful ninth, having scored only a handful of points.

“I talk often with Frank Williams,” Prost told the Russian website F1News, “and this winter I even tried to help find him some sponsors, but failed.

“It’s difficult for them,” he continued, “as when you get yourself into financial problems, it’s so hard to get out of them.”

Prost’s own team collapsed in 2001.

Sebastian Vettel has hinted he might be willing to give up a race victory to help his team perform a perfect score in 2011.
Red Bull and the 24-year-old German have already secured the constructors’ and drivers’ world championships, but Mark Webber currently lies in only fourth place behind Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button with three races left to run.

Webber has failed to win a single race in 2011 compared with Vettel’s ten so far, so the Australian might need some help to curb the 13-point gap to second place.

“With three races left, we hope for the best results possible for ourselves but also for the team,” Vettel is quoted by the AFP news agency.

Agreed team boss Christian Horner: “He (Webber) has had a very strong year and we want to get him second in the drivers’ championship.

“That’s our remaining target for the remainder of the year — to get him a race win and finish the season in style.”

When asked if that might involve him giving up a win so that Webber can reach the top step of the podium, Vettel answered: “Yeah, definitely.”

Little has changed at Korea’s Yeongam circuit since the calamitous inaugural grand prix a year ago.
Bild newspaper reports the ghastly news that, when some teams opened the fridges in their paddock offices this week, food left over from the 2010 event remained rotting on the shelves.

And Williams revealed that the stickers on the team’s hospitality suite still show Nico Hulkenberg driving for them, while the words ‘Mark Webber’ and ‘Sebastian Vettel’ on the floor of the garage had to be painted over by McLaren.

“It looks as though they locked the gates after the last race and simply unlocked them yesterday,” one source is quoted as saying.

Said Sebastian Vettel, who has won two world championships since last visiting Korea: “It’s funny, thinking about everything that has happened since then.”

Another bone of contention is the circuit’s location in Mokpo, hundreds of kilometres from Seoul and with the drivers all staying in the same five-star Hyundai hotel.

For the less affluent team members and journalists, they are still having to stay in so-called ‘love motels’, while the entire Williams team is staying in Gwangju, an hour from Yeongam.

“Here in the south it’s really a little too quiet,” said Vettel. “I think basically there hasn’t been a lot going on since we left.”

The fact Yeongam still seems barely finished has raised speculation about financial problems for the event.

“It is true that we are struggling in terms of profit because of the high investment and high cost structure,” said chief organiser Park Joon-yung.

An audit by a company called Capgemini has found “discrepancies” in relation to Red Bull’s budget in the context of last year’s resource restriction agreement.
That is the claim of Italian magazine Autosprint, as Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel travels to Singapore where he can wrap up his second consecutive championship this weekend.

Earlier this year, boss Christian Horner denied claims the team flouted the FOTA-governed cost savings agreement by as much as EUR 60 million in 2010.

Autosprint said the suspicion is that Red Bull broke the agreement by filing contentious information about its structure and workforce.

The magazine cited “sources” in claiming Red Bull figures have attempted to stop the Capgemini audit because it is an “invasion of privacy” requiring the release of “sensitive data”.

The report said the teams association FOTA, headed by McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh, wants a “clarification” at a meeting this week even though “at the moment there is no mention of any penalties”.

Autosprint also questioned the timing of the emergence of the Capgemini story, given that Red Bull is on the cusp of securing both the drivers’ and constructors’ world championships for the second season running.

Flavio Briatore has refused to simply rule out speculation linking him with a role at Ferrari.
Recent rumours have suggested the former Renault team boss could be signed shortly by the Maranello based as a consultant, in view of possibly replacing Stefano Domenicali when the ‘crashgate’ ban lifts in 2013.

The flamboyant Italian was asked about the speculation by Onda Cero radio in the wake of last weekend’s Hungarian grand prix.

“I am a Ferrari tifoso (supporter), but in life you never know — anything can happen,” said Briatore, who is still involved in the management of Fernando Alonso’s career.

In 2005 and 2006, Alonso won his two world championships at Renault under Briatore rule.

Briatore insisted: “I think Fernando Alonso can win the championship at Ferrari without Flavio Briatore.

“Fernando deserves to be the best driver in history. He has decided to be with Ferrari until the end of his career and I hope he can get the cars to win more titles than (Michael) Schumacher,” he added.

Briatore said he rates the newly 30-year-old Spaniard higher than any of his current rivals.

“If he had that car,” he said, referring to the Red Bull RB7, “Fernando would be winning by a huge margin. He is one of the few great drivers with Senna, Prost and Schumacher.”

As for the comparison with seven time world champion Schumacher, Briatore said: “They are two totally different drivers.

“Fernando is a little better, because when Michael becomes depressed, he falls back, while in the same situation Fernando’s concentration sharpens.”

Michael Schumacher on Friday paid tribute to Juan Manuel Fangio, the Argentine legend whose record of five world championships he matched and then broke earlier this decade. Friday, the scene of practice for this weekend’s European grand prix, was the 100th anniversary of the late and great Fangio’s birth. Speaking at Valencia, seven time world champion Schumacher recalled the early 90s, when he actually met Fangio at a DTM race a few years before he died. “I was struck by how youthful he still looked, even though he was already into his eighties,” the 42-year-old told Germany’s motorsport-magazin.com. “From his physical coordination and the alertness of his eyes, you could see what a great racing driver he must have been.” Of Fangio’s 51 grands prix, Fangio started from the front row on 48 occasions and won 24 times. He died aged 84 in 1995.

Team Lotus is aiming to climb the formula one grid, but Mike Gascoyne has admitted mixed feelings at the thought of vanquishing the next target.
Asked by The Sun to name Lotus’ likely next scalp, he nominated the famous British marque Williams; winner of 16 world championships but not a single race since 2004.

In 2011, the Grove based team has fallen to a slump not suffered by Williams since 1979, ignominiously joining Virgin and HRT as non-points scorers after three races.

“Unfortunately, (the next target is) probably Williams.

“I say unfortunately because it’s a great team and a great name, and you’d like to see them nearer the front,” said Lotus’ technical chief Gascoyne.

“So maybe I’m a bit of an old git and there’s a bit of nostalgia there. But we’re Team Lotus now and if we’re racing Williams then that’s good for us.”

Lewis Hamilton has hit back at Christian Horner’s claim that pairing him with Sebastian Vettel would risk creating “fireworks” at Red Bull.

“Look at me and Jenson (Button),” said the McLaren driver, referring to his current teammate. “World champions can definitely race together as long as there is quality in the team.”

British reporters asked the 26-year-old if the rumours and counter-rumours about his future, particularly the link with Red Bull, had him “rattled”.

He denied it and insisted it’s “positive I’m being talked about, which means I’m not forgotten”, added Hamilton in quotes published by Fleet Street newspapers from Malaysia.

But apparently pouring water on a possible tie-up with Red Bull, Hamilton suggested Vettel is the one who would cause the fireworks if he switched to the reigning championship-winning team.

“Some individuals can take being beaten, some are better losers or better winners,” he said.

“When I beat Jenson, he doesn’t whinge and say ‘Oh, Lewis has a better car than me or Lewis did this and I did that’.”

And he tentatively committed his future to McLaren.

“I’m contracted for the next two years and I want to win world championships here. I hope that continues, but you never know what happens in the future,” said Hamilton.

Nico Rosberg has shrugged off his allocation of the higher car number at Mercedes for the second season in succession.

Last year, with Michael Schumacher coming out of retirement, Rosberg agreed to relinquish the lower number 3 because the returning seven time world champion is “a bit superstitious” and prefers to wear odd race numbers.

Schumacher went on to score 70 fewer points than his younger cohort but, for the forthcoming 2011 season, Mercedes has once again agreed to allocate the premier odd number (7) to the 42-year-old.

“We talked about it in the team about a month ago,” Rosberg told the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper. “Michael wanted the number 7.

“First, because he is superstitious and thinks odd numbers are luckier, and secondly because of his 7 world championships. I had no problem with that.

“Anyway, the number 7 has only ever caused me bad luck in my career so I’m happy with 8,” smiled Rosberg, 25.

Meanwhile, Rosberg said he was in Mercedes’ driver simulator at Brackley last week where he got to grips with the additional buttons for 2011, including to charge and deploy KERS and operate the adjustable rear wing.

“At the beginning it was very difficult,” he admitted. “There are so many things to consider at the same time.”

Luca di Montezemolo has hit back at Red Bull by suggesting the Austrian team doesn’t know “how to behave” as F1′s new champions.
After Ferrari poached Red Bull’s strategy chief Neil Martin and made offers to other staff members, Helmut Marko accused the famous Italian team of trying to buy its rival’s “spirit”.

“I see people who won world championships who don’t quite know how to behave as champions,” Ferrari president Montezemolo told reporters after arriving in the Italian Dolomites for the team’s media event.

“It’s part of the game, but maybe when they have won 10 percent of what we have won, then we’ll respond,” he added, insisting that Red Bull is not yet “in the habit of winning”.

Montezemolo, who was seen at Madonna di Campiglio with Bernie Ecclestone, was also asked about Red Bull’s alleged overspending but the Italian was not so bold as to say the accusations are true.

However, he suggested the saga demonstrates that F1 has gone about controlling costs in the wrong way.

“It shows that our view that we are against an artificial cap is the right one,” said the 63-year-old.

Michael Schumacher does not feature in an authoritative magazine’s ranking of the top 50 racing drivers of 2010.

The editor of the British print magazine Autosport, often described as the ‘bible’ for motor sport fans, said the seven time world champion missed the cut because he “wasn’t very good” on his return to formula one this year.

Drivers for all major motor racing series around the world are eligible for the top 50.

“If there had been just one race where you thought Schumacher was exceptional that may well have been enough to get him into the top 50,” said editor Andrew van de Burgt. “But I can’t think of that one performance.

“Coupled with that, his comeback was easily the most hyped and eagerly anticipated I can remember. The expectations were so great and the results so disappointing.”

The editor dismissed Schumacher’s argument that this year’s Bridgestone tyres did not suit his driving style.

“The tyres are the same for everyone and a driver who has won 91 grands prix and seven world championships has got to adapt,” he insisted.

Schumacher’s Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, who is 16 years younger than Schumacher and has never won a race, was ranked 12th in the 2010 Autosport ‘Best Of’ driver ranking.

“Rosberg more than had the measure of Schumacher,” said van de Burgt. “And what we have seen in the past suggests Rosberg is a very good driver but maybe not a great one.

“So to be so comprehensively beaten by him didn’t really show Schumacher in a great light.”

He admitted that the 41-year-old German showed “a few little hints” of promise at the end of the season, but for the top 50 it was “close but no cigar”.