Officials have played down reports Valencia is set to be the only Spanish host of formula one.
Currently, both the port city as well as Barcelona host annual grands prix, but Bernie Ecclestone said recently that each country should have only a single race.

On Tuesday, Cadena SER and Radio Valencia reported that Valencia will be the only Spanish race from 2012.

It is believed representatives of the Circuit de Catalunya attended last weekend’s Valencia event and told Ecclestone they want to pay a lower annual race fee in future.

At the same time, the Spanish radio reports said Valencia is willing to pay EUR 20 million per year and wants an earlier date in the European race season.

“At the last World Motor Sport Council the 2012 calendar was ratified and Barcelona was assigned a date,” Spanish motor racing president Carlos Gracia said.

“I think the two races can coexist perfectly.”

Circuit de Catalunya director Salvador Servia, meanwhile, told Marca sports newspaper that the latest reports about Barcelona losing its place are “invented”.

“Spain has just held two successful grands prix. Everything else I would hope are just rumours,” he said on Onda Cero radio.

“I think someone has said ‘I want this to happen’ and so somebody else said ‘This is going to happen’. For next year they have already set the dates,” added Servia.

The key to calling off the rescheduled 2011 Bahrain grand prix is held by Bernie Ecclestone.
That was the claim of the FIA on Friday, after F1 chief executive Ecclestone confirmed the Sakhir race is “not on” and the circuit admitted it will not host the race in October.

Official confirmation from the sport’s governing body, however, is still missing, with the FIA website showing Bahrain deleted from the calendar despite the recent World Motor Sport Council decision and India – originally with the October 30 date – now unlisted as “to be announced”.

“In the light of the statement by the Bahrain International Circuit, we are now waiting for the commercial rights holder (Ecclestone) to suggest a new calendar to the World Motor Sport Council,” a FIA spokesman is quoted by Reuters.

With the on-off 2011 Bahrain GP saga becoming farcical, Bernie Ecclestone on Wednesday announced his sport “of course” cannot go to the troubled island Kingdom later this year.
Prior to the FIA last Friday controversially rescheduling the race for October 30, F1 chief executive Ecclestone seemed to favour that decision being taken.

But the 80-year-old Briton has now isolated president Jean Todt by urging the teams group FOTA to write their letter, demanding a new vote of the World Motor Sport Council, and now coming to the obvious conclusion that F1 must stay away for now.

“Hopefully we can return in the future, but of course it’s not on,” Ecclestone told BBC Sport.

“The schedule cannot be rescheduled without the agreement of the participants — they’re the facts.”

The FIA did not immediately comment.

The Mercedes is the loudest formula one car in 2011.

That is the finding of the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, after testing the volume of this year’s field trackside in Monaco just over a week ago.

The silver W02 registered 127.8 decibels, which is louder than the average human pain threshold, and nearly as loud as a military jet aircraft take-off with afterburner at 50 feet.

The Renault comes next at 127.5 decibels, followed by McLaren-Mercedes (127.3) and Renault-powered Red Bull (127.1).

The quietest F1 car this year is the Cosworth-powered Virgin, at 125.9 decibels.

Bernie Ecclestone has cited the awesome sound of the current crop of F1 cars as his main objection to the proposed four-cylinder turbo rules for 2013.

The FIA last Friday acknowledged that the 2013 debut could be delayed.

“In consultation with the main stakeholders, and following the outcome of this consultation, a fax vote by the World Motor Sport Council could be considered by 30 June latest to redefine the implementation date”, the governing body said after its Barcelona meeting.

All signs point to ‘yes’ on Friday after the FIA sat in Barcelona to deliberate a new date for the 2011 Bahrain grand prix.
Amid logistical and political concerns up and down the pitlane, a Bahraini government official ‘Tweeted’ that the World Motor Sport Council is in the process of rubber-stamping a new date for a race this year in the troubled island Kingdom.

“FIA finalising date now,” said Sheikh Fawaz al-Khalifa, head of the information affairs authority.

The news is not yet official but Bernie Ecclestone denied as he arrived in Spain in the morning that the decision will be about the $40 million race fee.

“Nothing to do with money at all. Nothing, in any shape or form,” the 80-year-old told Reuters.

A key FIA official has admitted the opinions of the formula one teams will be considered when the fate of the 2011 Bahrain grand prix is discussed this week.

It is during Barcelona’s World Motor Sport Council meeting on Friday that the FIA body will either rubber-stamp a new date for the postponed event or cancel it completely for this year.

Martial law in the troubled island Kingdom expires on Wednesday, but the teams are expressing concerns about the fact a 2011 race rescheduling would push out their calendars to an unprecedentedly late December finale.

Some team bosses have made their feelings clear, including Mercedes principal Ross Brawn who said a December finale is “totally unacceptable”.

“On Friday, we will need to determine whether teams are against (Bahrain), who is against it, why they are against it — we have some very strong decisions to make,” FIA vice president and United Arab Emirates automobile federation president Mohammed ben Sulayem told The National.

Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) chairman Ron Walker has dashed to Abu Dhabi as a dispute threatens to race Melbourne off the 2011 calendar.

He said the country’s official motor racing body, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), is demanding $800,000 in fees to sanction the Albert Park event.

If the AGPC does not pay, CAMS is threatening to recommend to the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council that Australia be deleted from next year’s schedule, said Walker.

He said the situation follows the state Victorian government’s request that the organisation of the event be put to tender due to CAMS being “a monopoly”.

“We will not sign a new contract with CAMS unless they modernise their management and reduce their prices,” Walker is quoted by the AAP news agency.

He has travelled to Abu Dhabi for emergency talks with Bernie Ecclestone, who has said CAMS could be retained as the sanctioning body while another organiser – for example the organiser of the British grand prix – is appointed to run the 2011 race.

But CAMS “have said ‘you (must) re-hire us on our terms or we will apply to the FIA to have you removed from the calendar’,” Walker revealed.

The F1 team currently known as Lotus might forgo its official Concorde Agreement prize-money for finishing the 2010 championship in tenth place if it is forced to enter next season with a completely different name.

That is the claim of the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, amid the highly convoluted dispute involving Tony Fernandes’ team and the entirely separate Group Lotus.

Also separate is David Hunt, the brother of 1976 world champion James Hunt who for years has separately held the Team Lotus brand.

He recently sold it to Fernandes, whose naming license courtesy of Proton-owned Group Lotus had been revoked. The affair is now the subject of proceedings in the British High Court.

In an interview with journalist Peter Windsor, Hunt is quoted as admitting he is “infuriated” with Group Lotus.

“I believe they are counting on it never reaching the court hearing and a ‘Malaysian settlement’ resolving ‘ownership’ of Team Lotus in their favour,” he said.

But Hunt also said there are now “difficulties” between himself and Fernandes’ group, who have “threatened legal action”.

A fascinating side-note is that Group Lotus is looking to enter F1 in collaboration with Renault, with a title sponsorship that could result in the team being renamed Lotus-Renault.

But, now with a customer engine deal with Renault in place, Fernandes also wants his team to be called Lotus-Renault in 2011.

It is a fascinating stand-off, particularly in view of the fact that F1′s Swiss based team had to go on calling itself BMW-Sauber this year long after the departure of the German carmaker.

There is therefore likely to be great interest surrounding forthcoming meetings of the F1 Commission and World Motor Sport Council, regarding the application of team names for the 2011 season.

Hunt hopes Fernandes’ side wins the day.

“I certainly hope they don’t give in and I’m comforted that Tony has confirmed to me again over the past few days that they will fight it all the way in court,” he said.

He suggested that one possible resolution is to take back ownership of ‘Team Lotus’, deal with the Group Lotus legal action himself, and simply issue a naming license to Fernandes.

“That would free him up to focus on delivering results on track and the fans would see the true DNA of Colin Chapman’s F1 legacy on the grid next year whilst I sort out the legal side,” said Hunt.

Renault and Cosworth have written a letter to the FIA as F1 struggles to find agreement over a new engine formula for 2013.

The FIA is pushing hard for turbocharged 4 cylinder engines with exhaust-heat KERS capabilities to replace the current normally-aspirated V8s, and aiming to rubber-stamp the rules at the World Motor Sport Council in December.

Superficially, the engine makers support the sport’s ‘green’ direction but are concerned about initial costs and then a development arms race.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the Renault and Cosworth-powered teams last week signed a letter to the FIA pointing out the weaknesses of the proposed new rules.

They want tight limits on things including minimum weights for pistons and conrods and the entire engine unit.

“If the new engine formula becomes an arms race in turbochargers and cylinder heads, then an independent engine manufacturer will have no chance,” said Cosworth’s Mark Gallagher.

Renault team boss Eric Boullier said the French supplier will support new rules “within certain cost limits”.

“Our market in production cars is for four cylinders with a hybrid. For that reason we are not unhappy with that engine format (for F1).

“But it is about how the rules are defined. The less clear they are, the more expensive it becomes,” he insisted.

It is hoped that a cost-effective and modern engine formula might entice new suppliers, including the recently departed Honda and Toyota, into F1.

But Ross Brawn, still with contacts within Honda, said: “They’re not planning to return.”

Max Mosley believes a title for Fernando Alonso with less than seven points ahead would be dangerous for Formula 1
If Fernando Alonso the world title this year did not win more than seven points ahead, then it would devalue the Formula 1, says the former FIA president Max Mosley. Thus the British refers to the change of place, the Ferrari at Hockenheim has been implemented, as Felipe Massa Alonso had to leave the victory. Although the team was then a penalty of $ 100,000 due to team orders, but there were other sanctions, although Mosley before the hearing before the World Motor Sport Council had meant there had to be penalized.

“I have a feeling that at least the extra points scored by Alonso overtaking Massa should be withdrawn,” Mosley told the BBC repeated now. “This is the absolute minimum, because if Alonso for some reason the World Cup less than the seven-point lead would gain, he has brought there, would devalue the World Cup. But this is a personal view ..”

Spain’s leading FIA official has been told the inaugural Korean grand prix will go ahead as scheduled in two weeks.

Charlie Whiting is only inspecting the Yeongam venue on Monday and Tuesday, but it is believed that selected media have essentially been briefed to the effect that nothing will now lead to the cancellation of the October 24 event.

That follows the latest information and photographs to emerge from Korea, showing that the top layer of asphalt is now complete and curing, that kerbs and barriers are in place and the basic building infrastructure able to accommodate the teams and media.

Indeed, Spain’s AS newspaper said Whiting’s inspection early this week is a “mere formality”.

“The race is going ahead.  This has been confirmed at Suzuka to the president of the Real Federacion Espanola de Automovilismo, Carlos Gracia,” said the report.

Gracia is also a member of the FIA’s authoritative World Motor Sport Council.

F1 team chiefs are set to discuss a possible change to the safety car rules for 2011.

Previously, the sport abandoned a rule where the pits are closed upon deployment of the safety car, because cars out of fuel were forced to pit and then serve a penalty.

It is believed that, now that drivers cannot pit during the race for fuel, the rule could be reintroduced, with the pitlane to be closed throughout the safety car period.

The idea is to minimise the ‘lottery’ effect of the current rules, but the fact an opportune safety car period can benefit the lower runners during a race means the small teams may not vote for the change for 2011.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the issue is to be discussed in Korea in two weeks, with a rule change for 2011 requiring unanimity.

For an introduction in 2012, only a majority team vote is required for ratification by the World Motor Sport Council.

A meeting to discuss the future of team orders in formula one has been postponed.

When the World Motor Sport Council recently met to consider Ferrari’s Hockenheim breach, the matter was instead referred to a committee to reconsider the controversial ban.

Leading FIA official Charlie Whiting had scheduled a meeting with team bosses about the matter in Singapore, but Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that it was delayed.

“We have postponed until Korea,” Whiting confirmed.  It is, of course, not entirely clear that the inaugural Yeongam event will go ahead late next month.

“The idea,” FIA president Jean Todt said a week ago when asked about the new team orders debate, “is to find out what is most healthy and transparent.”

Another rule up for discussion in the near future could be the safety car one, after lapped cars lined up in front of the leaders ahead of a re-start in Singapore.

For a time, the safety car would wave the lapped cars through before a re-start, but it is believed the practice was discontinued because it took too long.

Virgin’s Lucas di Grassi has called for the rule to be reinstated.

“I agree,” said his teammate Timo Glock.

“I don’t understand why we’re not waved through,” the German insisted.  “Then the race at the front is not ruined and we can also keep driving our races.”

Jean Todt has hinted that F1′s team orders ban will be reconsidered in order to make the sport more “transparent”.

But the FIA president denied he is bowing to the pressure and ideals of Ferrari, the famous Italian team he led to enormous success last decade.

Maranello based Ferrari recently and controversially escaped additional penalties for switching the places of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso at Hockenheim.

Instead, the World Motor Sport Council ruled that the ban on team orders, installed after Todt ordered Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher win the 2002 Austrian grand prix, be reconsidered.

“I’m not for or against team orders; it depends on the situation,” Todt told the Clarin daily whilst visiting Argentina.

“It’s as old as racing,” the Frenchman insisted. “After what happened with Alonso and Massa in Germany, the issue was reopened and passed to a committee to make the rules clear.

“The idea is to find out what is most healthy and transparent,” said Todt.

He denied that the FIA’s apparently new approach to team orders demonstrates a link between his new presidency and Ferrari.

Asked what his response to those types of critics is, Todt answered: “They are fools.

“It is the same as when I was with Peugeot, and also Ferrari. Now as president of the FIA, I do my best for the organisation, regardless of the particular interests of others,” he explained.

Danny Sullivan will be in the stewards room this weekend in Singapore.

The 1985 Indy 500 winner debuted in the FIA’s new driver-representative role at Hockenheim in July.

There, he was famously involved in the decision to fine Ferrari $100,000 and summon the team to the World Motor Sport Council for imposing illegal team orders.

60-year-old American Sullivan’s formative racing career took place in European open wheel series, but he raced in CART before switching to formula one with Tyrrell in 1983.

He returned to America in 1984, winning the series in 1988 before announcing his retirement whilst recovering from a crash in 1995.