Reigning champion and 2011 title leader Sebastian Vettel has this week been holidaying with Bernie Ecclestone.
Bild newspaper published a photograph of the 24-year-old Red Bull driver waterskiing off the coast of Croatia, near F1 chief executive Ecclestone’s yacht ‘Petara’.

The amateur photographer said: “I had no idea who I was photographing — I was just trying out a new lens.”

Vettel will return to work on Monday, when he drives in Red Bull’s F1 simulator in Milton Keynes (UK).

Force India pays bills later than most of its formula one team rivals, according to a report.
The Daily Mail said the Silverstone based team, which is owned by the Indian liquor baron, politician and billionaire Vijay Mallya, pays bills on average 30 days past due.

“If Vijay sold his yacht, it would keep the team going for a couple of years,” said an unnamed supplier.

On the other end of the scale, business information firm Dun and Bradstreet found that 2010 drivers’ and constructors’ champions Red Bull is the only team in F1 that pays its bills when they are due.

The report, comparing data from December 2009 to November last year, said Red Bull’s punctuality is due to a recently boosted budget.

On average, however, F1 teams reportedly pay their bills 28 days late, which is four days later than the previous Dun and Bradstreet report.

The worst offender is F1 newcomer Team Lotus, paying its bills 180 days late, but the report showed that even Ferrari and Mercedes usually fail to pay suppliers on time.

Italian police have handed back Flavio Briatore’s luxury yacht.

The former Renault boss’ 60-metre boat ‘Force Blue’ was seized a month ago on suspicion of tax fraud.

But according to a report in the Spanish newspaper Diario Sport, Briatore has taken back possession with two conditions.

The first is a deposit of 5 million euros, and the promise that the boat will not leave Mediterranean waters.

The Sunday Times said in May that the evasion of millions in taxes could cost Briatore, expelled from F1 for the 2009 crashgate scandal, EUR 40 million in fines or a six-year prison sentence.

The 60-year-old denies any wrongdoing.

“It was a big television production by the police and completely unfair, so we are fighting them now,” he told the Telegraph.

“That boat was a commercial boat with a 50 million euro turnover in the past four years, but the police seem to think that was all for me.”

Briatore does not deny using the boat, and claims he is supported by seven Italian MPs who have written to the government “to find out what happened”.

“Of course, I use the yacht, because if you are going to own a business, it may as well be one you can enjoy — otherwise, I would have bought a funeral home.”
(GMM)

Adrian Newey has revealed he is unlikely to ever switch from Red Bull to another formula one team.

Red Bull’s highly paid and respected chief technical officer was recently reported to have removed a clause from his contract that set a definite end-date.

The 51-year-old contemplated retirement almost ten years ago, before recommitting to McLaren but then switching to Red Bull in 2006 on an estimated $10m per year retainer.

Newey admits to the Guardian that when he does leave F1, he is not sure what he will do.

“I’ve looked at (designing) yachts but that seems the only sport more anti-social than motor racing.  I don’t know.

“I can’t see myself staying in this in my 60s but I can’t see myself lying on a beach either.  At the same time I can’t see myself moving on to another formula one team,” he said.

When Newey initially joined Milton Keynes-based Red Bull, the infrastructure essentially put in place by Jaguar was not on the level of the top teams.

Now, Red Bull is F1′s pacesetter, and the Briton said: “We’ve managed to create a very good working environment here.  It’s a good, honest, engineering-based team that goes about its task.”

(GMM)

Red Bull Racing has played down suggestions Kimi Raikkonen was a serious contender for a seat in 2011.

As the team edges closer to re-signing Mark Webber for next year, boss Christian Horner was asked if there was any truth to recent reports linking Raikkonen with the Australian’s seat.

“No.  Kimi has committed himself to rallying and he seems to be enjoying that environment,” he is quoted by The Guardian.

Finn Raikkonen, 30, left Ferrari and formula one at the end of last year to drive a Red Bull-sponsored Citroen in the world rally championship.

The 2007 world champion took in the recent Monaco grand prix from his yacht ‘Iceman’ and attended several parties, but never once stepped into the F1 paddock.

The Telegraph quoted Horner as saying Webber, 33, is close to signing a new deal for 2011.

“We’re just dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s now,” he said.  “I would expect something will be announced within the next couple of weeks.”

Meanwhile, Felipe Massa sounded happy with the news that Ferrari is likely to retain him for next year.

“Let’s wait a bit to see what happens, but definitely I would like to stay here,” said the Brazilian.

Renault’s Robert Kubica admitted it is possible he will leave the Enstone team after just one year.

“There will be a time to think about whether I should stay or leave Renault,” said the Pole.

A week after the banned former Renault boss hosted Bernie Ecclestone on the 60-metre Force Blue on the Monaco harbour, police boarded it on Thursday.

They had followed the yacht with high speed boats to the port of La Spezia, near the northern city of Genoa, with the 60-year-old Italian, his wife Elisabetta and new son Falco all on board.

Local prosecutor Walter Cotugno ordered the boat be impounded on the suspicion it is improperly registered as a charter.

Investigators suspect Briatore has registered it in the Cayman Islands, with a hire price of 275,000 euros a week, in order to obtain a tax break and to avoid paying sales tax when anchoring in European harbours.

They suspect the yacht is not chartered at all and in fact is used only by Briatore’s family.
(GMM)

In a sport and a paddock from which he is supposed to be banned, Flavio Briatore is making his presence solidly felt this weekend in Monaco.

With the crashgate scandal still fresh in the memories of F1 regulars, Briatore’s huge yacht Force Blue was spotted earlier this week in the Monte Carlo harbour.

The 60-year-old, implicated in the Singapore 2008 race-fixing scandal and banned for life by the FIA last year, then made his first personal appearance of the event by attending a party on Vijay Mallya’s nearby Indian Empress yacht on Thursday night.

With Jean Todt now in charge of the governing body in the wake of Max Mosley’s reign, a recent ban settlement means that Briatore and his crash conspirator Pat Symonds will be allowed to work in F1 again in 2013.

But the original World Motor Sport Council ban had ordered officials “not to permit Mr Briatore access to any areas” at FIA-sanctioned events.

On Friday in Monaco, Briatore lunched with Bernie Ecclestone, the Italian’s friend and business partner who has issued the ousted Renault boss a paddock pass as his personal guest.

Todt told the Associated Press that Briatore, wearing a blue t-shirt, is “free” to be inside the paddock because he does not have an “active role” with a team.

Meanwhile, spotted aboard his yacht ‘Iceman’ in the Monaco habour on Friday was the Citroen rally driver Kimi Raikkonen.

(GMM)

HRT “have got problems” and will struggle to make it through the 2010 season.

That is the admission of F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who told the Daily Telegraph he is working to help the new Spanish team.

“HRT have got problems.  I will sort it out.  I’d like to see 12 teams finish the season because they have made the commitment to come in.

“We might lose one of them.  But I’m doing my bit to make sure it doesn’t happen,” said the 79-year-old Briton.

In the same interview, Ecclestone also spoke about Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Jean Todt, Max Mosley and Flavio Briatore.

On Schumacher, despite his teammate Nico Rosberg outpacing him in practice on Thursday, Bernie said the seven time world champion looks in “good shape”.

“People were too quick to write him off.  Why pick on him?  His return has been brilliant for formula one.”

On the other hand, Ecclestone thinks 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton has been “disappointing” so far in 2010.

“People praise his overtaking but you don’t get any points for passing cars,” he said.

Flavio Briatore is watching from the vantage-point of his luxury yacht in Monaco, and after a party on Thursday night Ecclestone admitted he regrets the Italian’s paddock ban.

“He is good company and he was good for this sport.  People associated him with F1.  He was a character.  We miss Max, too.  Max got a lot more right than wrong.”

On the other hand, Ecclestone sounded happy with the quieter role being played by Mosley’s successor Jean Todt.

“We don’t need the president getting involved in stuff that doesn’t concern him,” he said.

“The biggest problem that Max had was that he couldn’t package things in a nice way.  You tell people to take it or leave it and it doesn’t work.  It’s quieter now at the FIA, which is how we like it.”

(GMM)

Although banned from working in formula one or even stepping into the paddock, Flavio Briatore is making his presence felt in Monte Carlo.

With a prominent mooring alongside Vijay Mallya’s Indian Empress and two other Force India-branded yachts, Briatore’s huge 63-metre boat ‘Force Blue’ is this weekend taking pride of place alongside the grand prix circuit.

Just days ago, the sacked Renault boss refused to rule out launching a return to the sport when his renegotiated FIA ban runs out at the end of 2012.

“When I stopped in 1998, I said I would never go back.  I went back in 2000.  Life is never say never,” he told Arabian Business while launching one of his ‘Billionaire’ fashion shops in Dubai last weekend.

Briatore, 60, recently ruled out returning to F1 as a team boss.

“I have open eyes.  I still have all my friends in formula one — my best friend is in (F1), Bernie.  I still have all my drivers and my management in formula one.  But I’m not looking for a job,” he insisted.