Formula One 2011

[Slogger]

On the Australian thing - If Melbourne doesn't want it than there no shortage of tracks that will gladly take the race from them (I would assume anyway)

I'd like to see them go back to Adelaide; or go to a place like Bathurst or Surfers Paradise.

That said, Nothing will replace Montreal as my favourite track on the F1 calendar.

I just hope that Australians can win both races that matter there this year, After 5 years it's starting to drag on.

and I guess Webber could win at home too - That would be a start.

[Lineker]

Robert Kubica has begun his rehabilitation and is in "pretty good" condition mentally following his accident, one of the the doctors treating him said on Tuesday.

Kubica underwent his final surgery last week and was moved out of the intensive care unit a few days ago.

Doctor Igor Rossello said Kubica's conditions was positive and that the Pole was already working on his rehabilitation.

"He no longer needs intensive care so he has begun the rehabilitation process," Rossello, a hand specialist, said.

"He is now in his own large room so that he is as comfortable as possible. He has already started some gentle hand exercises with the slight flexing of his fingers.

"He can move his fingers slightly and has a little bit of sensitivity already in his hand. What is very important is that there is no sign of infection, which is the main concern."

He added: "I saw him this morning around 8:30am. He is doing pretty well and his condition is positive considering what he has been through. The good news is that there have been no complications following all the surgery he has had recently.

"He's no longer in pain and his psychological condition is pretty good. He's obviously keen to start the rehabilitation work as soon as possible."

Rossello admitted it was hard to tell how long will Kubica stay in the hospital's rehabilitation department.

"It's difficult to say. For the next couple of weeks, he will stay here so we can monitor his condition. During that time there is still the possibility of infection and other complications so he will have the dressings on his hand changed every few days. After two weeks we will assess his next move."

In his first interview after the accident, Kubica said he was determined to return to action this year.

Trulli critical of Pirelli's:

Jarno Trulli believes Pirelli's tyres are still lacking development, the Italian claiming this year's rubber is proving too inconsistent.

Pirelli is returning to Formula 1 this year for the first time since 1991, and the company has stated several times that its tyres have been designed to wear quickly enough for drivers to have to make two pitstops in each race.

Trulli, however, reckons the tyres are lacking balance.

"I think something is still missing in the development, because the tyres aren't balanced yet," Trulli was quoted as saying by Autosprint magazine.

"I think this is the biggest problem to face at the moment. Pirelli says that this is what the FIA asked them to do, to have tyres that wear quickly, but I don't think this is the problem.

"In my opinion tyre wear is secondary compared to the tyre's balance problems, because at the moment you get on the track with a new tyre that initially is understeering, and after three laps the behaviour is the opposite, that is impossible oversteering."

The Italian driver admitted he is also sceptical about the moveable rear wing producing more passing this year.

"Are we sure there will be more overtaking, as many people say? I'd wait for the first races to really understand how everything works.

"I have no opinion yet simply because I haven't had the chance to test it all in race conditions yet. Let's wait for the first race, then we'll see whether it's a positive new thing, or if it's something we could have done without."

And Trulli claimed Formula 1's constant changes in the rules are actually counterproductive, as they confuse the fans.

"I strongly believe that Formula 1 changes too often," he said. "My opinion is clear: there should be a discussion with all involved parties for one year, or even two if necessary, and then introduce a set of regulations that may well be revolutionary, but with many years of stability.

"Each change is a cost for the teams, and if the top teams can afford investments in the short term too, for the other teams it's a financial drain. Another thing I want to highlight is that every change is a cost for the big audiences, the ones that watch on Sundays.

"A spectator can't always be chasing the changing regulations, like refuelling, number of pit stops, F-duct and KERS. Can a spectator get passionate about KERS? People at home want to understand, and if we carry on changing the regulations every year we are just creating confusion."

Kolles 'optimistic' that HRT will catch up with Lotus and Virgin this year:

HRT team boss Colin Kolles sees no reason why his squad cannot overhaul fellow 2010 newcomers Lotus and Virgin in the future, and believes its new F111 will bring up to date with contemporary Formula 1 design after its poor debut year.

The 2010 HRT - which was originally created by Dallara before the relationship between the Italian constructor and the team broke down - was the slowest car in the field throughout last season.

But Hispania is close to finishing an all-new 2011 car, the design of which has been led by former Williams, BAR/Honda and Red Bull man Geoff Willis.

"There are experienced people working on the car. For sure we had no optimum winter, but we have a completely new car, and we will work on it and try to improve it," said Kolles in an exclusive interview with AUTOSPORT.

"The car doesn't look too bad; it looks like a modern F1 car. We'll see where we are - I cannot tell you at the moment. I think we'll be better in performance than last year, and this is what the indications are at this stage.

"We have to face reality. It's not just having a new car, we have to see what we do with the new car in the future. I think that we will have a good CFD programme in place, a very strong one, and then we'll see where we will be. You have to have an efficient development programme.

"For me one of the surprises last year was that we were running the same car, but the gap was getting smaller and not bigger. I cannot explain it. Maybe our drivers got better! This is a fact, you can see that the percentage that we were slower got smaller.

"I think that if we have the time and if we have our programmes in place, Lotus is not going to be an issue for us. And also Virgin. Because I trust in the people we have, and also the quality of the people I have. I'm not scared at all..."

Despite regular rumours about HRT's financial health last year, Kolles believes there are other teams in worse positions than his.

"People said you are not going to make it Bahrain, we made it," he said. "Then they said you are not going to end the season, and we ended the season. They said you are not going to be in the Abu Dhabi test, and we were in the Abu Dhabi test. Then they said you are not going to be at the Valencia test, and we were.

"What shall I say? Of course we need sponsors, of course we need investors, and of course we need partners. Like everybody else. I have been criticised for having a lot of test drivers in the past. I mean, what are the others doing, with third class drivers? I'm very sorry, but people have to face reality, and see the facts.

"I think that other teams are in deeper trouble than we are, that's number one. I don't know why we are always asked the same question. I repeat myself, I think that in terms of budget and in terms of budget requirements and in terms of debts and so on, we are in very good shape compared to others.

"Our main strategy is to be long term in F1. How you reach this point, we know there are maybe different ways, but this is the goal. Maybe others have different goals. I cannot judge on this."

[LUKIE]

Robert Kubica has begun his rehabilitation and is in "pretty good" condition mentally following his accident, one of the the doctors treating him said on Tuesday.

Kubica underwent his final surgery last week and was moved out of the intensive care unit a few days ago.

Doctor Igor Rossello said Kubica's conditions was positive and that the Pole was already working on his rehabilitation.

"He no longer needs intensive care so he has begun the rehabilitation process," Rossello, a hand specialist, said.

"He is now in his own large room so that he is as comfortable as possible. He has already started some gentle hand exercises with the slight flexing of his fingers.

"He can move his fingers slightly and has a little bit of sensitivity already in his hand. What is very important is that there is no sign of infection, which is the main concern."

He added: "I saw him this morning around 8:30am. He is doing pretty well and his condition is positive considering what he has been through. The good news is that there have been no complications following all the surgery he has had recently.

"He's no longer in pain and his psychological condition is pretty good. He's obviously keen to start the rehabilitation work as soon as possible."

Rossello admitted it was hard to tell how long will Kubica stay in the hospital's rehabilitation department.

"It's difficult to say. For the next couple of weeks, he will stay here so we can monitor his condition. During that time there is still the possibility of infection and other complications so he will have the dressings on his hand changed every few days. After two weeks we will assess his next move."

In his first interview after the accident, Kubica said he was determined to return to action this year.

Trulli critical of Pirelli's:

Jarno Trulli believes Pirelli's tyres are still lacking development, the Italian claiming this year's rubber is proving too inconsistent.

Pirelli is returning to Formula 1 this year for the first time since 1991, and the company has stated several times that its tyres have been designed to wear quickly enough for drivers to have to make two pitstops in each race.

Trulli, however, reckons the tyres are lacking balance.

"I think something is still missing in the development, because the tyres aren't balanced yet," Trulli was quoted as saying by Autosprint magazine.

"I think this is the biggest problem to face at the moment. Pirelli says that this is what the FIA asked them to do, to have tyres that wear quickly, but I don't think this is the problem.

"In my opinion tyre wear is secondary compared to the tyre's balance problems, because at the moment you get on the track with a new tyre that initially is understeering, and after three laps the behaviour is the opposite, that is impossible oversteering."

The Italian driver admitted he is also sceptical about the moveable rear wing producing more passing this year.

"Are we sure there will be more overtaking, as many people say? I'd wait for the first races to really understand how everything works.

"I have no opinion yet simply because I haven't had the chance to test it all in race conditions yet. Let's wait for the first race, then we'll see whether it's a positive new thing, or if it's something we could have done without."

And Trulli claimed Formula 1's constant changes in the rules are actually counterproductive, as they confuse the fans.

"I strongly believe that Formula 1 changes too often," he said. "My opinion is clear: there should be a discussion with all involved parties for one year, or even two if necessary, and then introduce a set of regulations that may well be revolutionary, but with many years of stability.

"Each change is a cost for the teams, and if the top teams can afford investments in the short term too, for the other teams it's a financial drain. Another thing I want to highlight is that every change is a cost for the big audiences, the ones that watch on Sundays.

"A spectator can't always be chasing the changing regulations, like refuelling, number of pit stops, F-duct and KERS. Can a spectator get passionate about KERS? People at home want to understand, and if we carry on changing the regulations every year we are just creating confusion."

Kolles 'optimistic' that HRT will catch up with Lotus and Virgin this year:

HRT team boss Colin Kolles sees no reason why his squad cannot overhaul fellow 2010 newcomers Lotus and Virgin in the future, and believes its new F111 will bring up to date with contemporary Formula 1 design after its poor debut year.

The 2010 HRT - which was originally created by Dallara before the relationship between the Italian constructor and the team broke down - was the slowest car in the field throughout last season.

But Hispania is close to finishing an all-new 2011 car, the design of which has been led by former Williams, BAR/Honda and Red Bull man Geoff Willis.

"There are experienced people working on the car. For sure we had no optimum winter, but we have a completely new car, and we will work on it and try to improve it," said Kolles in an exclusive interview with AUTOSPORT.

"The car doesn't look too bad; it looks like a modern F1 car. We'll see where we are - I cannot tell you at the moment. I think we'll be better in performance than last year, and this is what the indications are at this stage.

"We have to face reality. It's not just having a new car, we have to see what we do with the new car in the future. I think that we will have a good CFD programme in place, a very strong one, and then we'll see where we will be. You have to have an efficient development programme.

"For me one of the surprises last year was that we were running the same car, but the gap was getting smaller and not bigger. I cannot explain it. Maybe our drivers got better! This is a fact, you can see that the percentage that we were slower got smaller.

"I think that if we have the time and if we have our programmes in place, Lotus is not going to be an issue for us. And also Virgin. Because I trust in the people we have, and also the quality of the people I have. I'm not scared at all..."

Despite regular rumours about HRT's financial health last year, Kolles believes there are other teams in worse positions than his.

"People said you are not going to make it Bahrain, we made it," he said. "Then they said you are not going to end the season, and we ended the season. They said you are not going to be in the Abu Dhabi test, and we were in the Abu Dhabi test. Then they said you are not going to be at the Valencia test, and we were.

"What shall I say? Of course we need sponsors, of course we need investors, and of course we need partners. Like everybody else. I have been criticised for having a lot of test drivers in the past. I mean, what are the others doing, with third class drivers? I'm very sorry, but people have to face reality, and see the facts.

"I think that other teams are in deeper trouble than we are, that's number one. I don't know why we are always asked the same question. I repeat myself, I think that in terms of budget and in terms of budget requirements and in terms of debts and so on, we are in very good shape compared to others.

"Our main strategy is to be long term in F1. How you reach this point, we know there are maybe different ways, but this is the goal. Maybe others have different goals. I cannot judge on this."

Bathurst would be way too difficult and dangerous for them to go there.

Surfers Paradise could be good though.

[Lineker]

Texas GP update

The organisers of the new United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, have appointed former Churchill Downs race course chief Steve Sexton as the project's president.

Sexton's background is in running horse racing venues, most recently as president and CEO of Churchill Downs Entertainment.

US GP chief Tavo Hellmund said: "Steve brings more than 25 years of major sports and entertainment management experience to our project.

"He understands our aspirations as an owners group and we have every confidence he will be a tremendous asset to our operation going forward."

The Austin track is set to host the US GP from 2012, bringing Formula 1 back to America for the first time since Indianapolis' last grand prix in 2007.

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone says he will try his best to get the Bahrain Grand Prix back on the calendar this year following the withdrawal of the event.

Bahrain finally confirmed earlier this week that the season opener would not take place as scheduled due to the unrest going on in the country.

Bahrain officials said there was no decision yet on whether the race would take place this year, and the FIA suggested the call will only be down to the governing body itself.

Ecclestone, however, says he will do all he can to make sure the Sakhir race takes place this season.

"What has happened in Bahrain is desperately sad but one month ago everyone was looking forward to the race," Ecclestone told the Daily Telegraph.

"No one had a problem with it then. If everything is peaceful, which we hope it will be, then we will try our best to fit it in."

Ecclestone also revealed that Formula One Management will pay for the costs of the cancelled event, estimated to be around $40 million.

"The fee that is normally being paid for the event is not being paid," he said. "I am not charging them for a race they are not getting.

"Whether they are covered by their insurers for loss of revenues, ticket sales, etc. I am not sure. But if anything is force majeure then that is. It is similar to if an earthquake had struck — no one could have foreseen that a month ago."

"If and when it is rescheduled they will pay their usual fee."

The end of the season is going to be such a clusterfuck now.

Nick Heidfeld has admitted he had to do some "intensive soul searching" before accepting Robert Kubica's drive at the Renault team.

Heidfeld has been hired by Renault to replace Kubica after the Pole was injured in a rally crash.

The German driver was without a seat for 2011, and he conceded replacing an injured driver made him hesitate because of the poor circumstances.

Heidfeld was Kubica's team-mate at the BMW Sauber team from 2006 to 2009.

"I did some intensive soul searching - probably more intensive than most others would have done - and now I would say that I have cleared the situation for myself," said Heidfeld in an interview with the official Formula 1 website.

"It was not my fault what happened to Robert and I truly wish he'll be back soon - that is one side. The other is that I had to grab the opportunity and feel happy to be driving again."

Heidfeld admitted, however, that it was an opportunity that he could not miss, even if he is unsure if he will see out the season.

"Whether it is for the whole season is not clear right now, but of course I am ready and available for the whole season! The biggest sensation is that I did not expect to race this year," he said.

"The test season had already started, so I was in talks with Mercedes to get my old job from last year back, plus I had the option to sit in one of 'those' cars, which I still had no interest in.

"This chance came completely out of the blue. At the start of it there was definitely the emotional need to get my head clear because there was the emotional strain of coping with Robert's accident while knowing that this could be a chance for me.

"It was not an easy situation, but I had to take the chance that came my way. In my long years in Formula 1 I have made my own experiences. I only started to believe that I am in again when the ink on the contract had dried. Sure, I felt happy because it was so unexpected."

[Lineker]

The Williams team unveiled on Thursday its definitive colour scheme for the 2011 season

The Grove-based squad unveiled its 2011 challenger, the FW33, earlier this month and has been running with an interim livery during winter testing.

But its final colour scheme was only presented to the public in an event broadcast online on Thursday morning.

The most visible sponsorship on the car is from energy company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), with which the team announced a "substantial" deal earlier this year, and from temporary employment company Randstad.

Williams's livery resembles that used by the team back in the 1990s, when it was sponsored by Rothmans.

The car will be driven by Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.

Now that is a stonking-looking car.

[Rich]

ooooooooooo purdy

My soft spot for all things Williams will forever continue.

[Katsuya]

To begin with I thought it looked a lot like the one they've had for the past few seasons...but I love the bit from the nose up to the cockpit. That looks awesome as hell, and I like the little retro throwback the back of it has (looks a lot like the 1997 car, I think).

[Lineker]

Williams technical director Sam Michael says his team is not ruling out using its flywheel KERS this year, although he conceded it was very unlikely.

The team will start the season with its battery-based KERS, after having ruled out the flywheel version because of packing reasons.

Williams has been the only F1 team known to be developing a flywheel system.

Michael admitted it was unlikely that the system is used this year, but claimed it is on the cards for next season.

"We have a battery system in the car. All about KERS is contained underneath the chassis and we did mainly for aerodynamic reasons," said Michael during the launch of Williams's livery on Thursday.

"We did consider a flywheel for this car. It was very close but unfortunately the packaging sort of us stopped us from doing that to start with.

"But we also haven't discounted introducing it in the car at some point. It'd be very unlikely during 2011, but it's definitely on the cards for 2012."

Williams has a very competitive car and will enjoy a strong season if it manages to develop it quickly, according to technical director Sam Michael.

"I think that all the testing that we have been doing show that we have a very competitive car in the FW33 and as long as we develop it quickly, which is what we are doing, I think we'll have a good year," said Michael on Thursday during the launch of Williams's livery for the 2011 season.

The team from Grove is aiming to return to the sharp end of the field after having not won a race since the 2004 season.

Michael admitted, however, that it was impossible to predict the competitiveness of teams right now.

"There's lot of speculation about where everyone is and within Formula 1 teams we have enormous amounts of data, lots of laptimes," said Michael.

"We know how the aero platform is, and we take photos of the cars, and we have no idea where everybody is. So the journalists don't have any chance to predict it."

He also insisted that being strong in winter testing will not necessarily translate into being competitive once the season begins.

"If you've got someone who looks strong today it may not be in Melbourne, or Malaysia or Shanghai because the rate of progression is very big," he added. "That's what comes with these big rules changes."

[Lineker]

The final test of the winter has changed dates - moving from 8-11th to 9-12th March. Williams technical director Sam Michael confirmed that a one-day date adjustment for the Barcelona sessions had recently been agreed.

More from Williams:

Williams chairman Adam Parr says his team was unlikely to attend the Bahrain Grand Prix, had it not been cancelled earlier this week.

Unrest in the country had called the event into doubt and it was eventually postponed on Monday, but several teams have indicated that they would not have travelled even if it had gone ahead.

"The decision was right by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and if for whatever conceivable reason that hadn't been the decision, I don't think we would have [gone]," Parr told AUTOSPORT.

"Had the Bahrain Grand Prix gone ahead, I don't think we, and in fact I suspect even all the teams, would have gone.

"It was quite apparent to everybody that we were simply going to make the situation there worse, because we would have been a focal point for demonstrations and unrest. There would have been all the media associated with us there, and therefore I think it would have just been incendiary."

Both Formula 1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone and the Bahrain GP organisers have indicated their desire for the event to return to the schedule as soon as possible.

Parr says there will be an attempt to run the race later this season, though the political situation in the country will remain a deciding factor, as well as the climate in the Gulf.

"I think everyone is going to try really hard to put it back on the schedule, but I am not sure about it with the weather," Parr added. "Obviously that takes out the summer months, then it's a bit hectic with all the flyaways we've got.

"I'm sure everyone is going to try really hard to find a new date, assuming of course that everything has settled down. But I am not sure at the moment."

Williams chairman Adam Parr is confident that 'intelligence and imagination', rather than extra finance, can get his team back to the front in Formula 1 - and is optimistic that the radical FW33 will be a big step in that direction.

Having not won a race since 2004 and with its last championship victory now 13 seasons ago, Williams is pinning its 2011 hopes on a bold design with unique rear-end packaging.

The team has seen its sponsorship revenues decrease in recent seasons, but Parr insists that a lack of money will not automatically confine Williams to the midfield.

"You have to ask questions every year about how you move forwards," he told AUTOSPORT. "Our goal is not to be a midfield team.

"The reason that Red Bull [and Brawn] won is that they did the best job, the smartest job in any given season so it's not about money. They had to beat people with the same or more money.

"So even if you say, 'well the Brawn was funded by Honda money', which it was, and even if it is true that Red Bull has all the money of Red Bull behind it, the fact is that they didn't have more money than the teams they beat.

"It isn't just down to money, it's down to intelligence and team work and imagination and creative reading of the rules and all those important things that make F1 what it is.

"And I think it would be completely wrong for us to say that we are midfield because we don't have enough money. Nobody in this team believes that.

"The dynamics within all teams mean that you go through good phases and bad phases and I think we are climbing back up the grid. What I don't know is how smart and brave everyone else has been and we won't know until Australia.

"We have got 470 fantastic people in our team, we have got great facilities and so we should be able to build a competitive car and I very much hope that the FW33 is one of those."

Parr said that he had no qualms about supporting technical director Sam Michael's decision to take a radical approach to the FW33, which he feels is already being vindicated by testing results.

"I'm absolutely thrilled that it has paid off in terms of reliability and performance," said Parr.

"We did take some very ballsy decisions and I was absolutely supportive of Sam through that process to be as brave as he wanted to be.

"And in terms of how that is going to result on the track all I can say is that the tests we have done so far are encouraging but it's just too early to say."

Michael added that he felt the current season was the ideal time to try design innovations.

"When we started having standard diffusers and all these restrictions, I thought this is getting really dull. We're really dumbing down F1," he said.

"But it's doing the opposite because ... by not being able to work on the diffuser you then say 'right, here's something [else] that might give you two tenths', whether it's the gearbox or the exhaust or whatever. But you have to differentiate yourself because if you don't you're going to be at the back.

"So you all have nice simple cars but anyone that finds two tenths is suddenly going to be at the front because the gaps are so close. So I think it is having the opposite effect [to dumbing down], which I think is very good for F1.

"These are the most standardised regulations that F1 has ever had and the cars look completely different. Look at the different designs that everybody has got. I didn't predict it would be like that."

Williams technical director Sam Michael says he has no concerns about the level of vibration on the FW33's rear wing, amid suggestions that the way the wing is mounted in the radical design could cause problems.

The team's 2011 design features a very low and re-angled differential and gearbox, with the rear suspension wishbones mounted onto the central rear wing support.

Michael dismissed reports that this was causing excessive movement of the wing.

"We have done three tests on it and we have not had any problems," he told AUTOSPORT.

"It's not because it's mounted on the suspension, as some people have suggested. It's because it is mounted on a single [central] pillar. The rear lower wing is fully-floating. The main structural mounting point is at one place.

"Actually for the last test we added two little stays to the rear wing endplates and that has stopped all that lateral shaking.

"To be clear, it's not because it is mounted on the suspension pillar. The suspension pillar is not moving, it's just the fact that it is mounted on the central pillar and that's the only place we hold it.

"If we had a higher gearbox and we mounted our wing on a pillar, exactly the same thing would happen."

He also revealed that Williams has a substantial new package arriving for the final winter test next month.

"We have a new diffuser, new front wing, new brake ducts, new bargeboards and new bodywork," said Michael. "The only thing that is not changing at the moment is the rear wing."

Ross Brawn speaks on Mercesdes' current issues:

Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn says the W02's problems have been exacerbated by short-notice changes made to resolve a cooling issue.

But he remains adamant that the definitive 2011 package that will be ready for the final test will both tackle this problem and bring Mercedes fully up to speed.

Mercedes' form has been disappointing for much of winter testing so far, though the team and drivers insisted that this was because of a tactical decision to launch with a 'basic' design to perfect reliability before bringing the final 2011 specification car to the last test.

Now Brawn has admitted that some of the lack of speed has been down to changes made necessary by the cooling worries.

Asked, in an interview for the team's official website, if he was worried that Mercedes appeared to be trailing the leaders, Brawn replied: "It's a fair statement. We are well aware of the pace of our current car, the distance to the current frontrunners and the reasons for this, which include the compromises brought about by our cooling issues.

"Our intention was always to launch the car in a fairly basic specification to allow more time to focus on the upgrade package. This inevitably means that we look further off the pace than people might expect.

"Knowing all of the facts, I am comfortable with our current position and the developments that we have to come."

He said the temporary solution to the cooling issue had been a significant performance limitation.

"The biggest challenge for us so far has been a cooling problem," Brawn acknowledged.

"The short-term modifications that we made to the launch-specification car cost a reasonable amount of performance.

"The solution has been incorporated into the bodywork design for our upgrade package and will recover that performance before the first race."

He added that while Mercedes' reliability had not been flawless, he was content with that aspect of its preparations.

"You naturally expect to experience faults with a new car and fortunately we've had relatively few of a 'car-stopping' nature so the impact on our programme has not been significant," said Brawn.

"Our mileage has been good, we've covered 4,300kms over the three tests to date and, of course, the more mileage you can achieve, the more opportunities there are to identify any issues and resolve them before the season gets underway."

[Lineker]

The lack of Formula 1 experience in Sauber's driver line-up will not be detrimental to the team's development efforts, technical director James Key insists, as he praised Kamui Kobayashi's efforts to step up into a team leader role already.

With Kobayashi having only contested 21 grands prix and his new team-mate Sergio Perez fresh from GP2, Sauber is set to have the least experienced driver pairing in the F1 field this year - subject to who Hispania picks to partner Narain Karthikeyan.

Last season Kobayashi was able to rely on having veterans Pedro de la Rosa and Nick Heidfeld in the sister car, but he is now Sauber's primary source of technical feedback.

Key reckons the Japanese driver is already raising his game to meet this challenge.

"They are both doing their best and doing a good job at giving us decent feedback," Key told AUTOSPORT.

"Kamui is being very good. He's trying to assist as much as possible with our understanding the tyres and the way that the car is responding and we have all agreed with him where we think the weaknesses lie that we need to work on next. His feedback reflects what we are seeing.

"You always want to have a reference point with lots of experience because they can pick up on something that they remember from five years ago and they can run through the ways to deal with it, but it's not really an issue for us."

Perez is also finding his feet within the team, according to Key.

"Sergio is coming up to speed quickly with his understanding of things and he's beginning to make proactive comments rather than waiting to be asked," he said. "He's coming up with ideas and he discusses things in the garage, which at this stage is good.

"It's never ideal to be in the position we are in with such inexperience, but it's certainly not to the detriment of the team."

Key is also calm about Perez's incidents in testing so far, with the Mexican having put his car in the barriers at Jerez and spun into the gravel in the wet at Catalunya last weekend.

"The off in Jerez was just inexperience and optimism on his part - personally I think he should have lifted!" said Key. "I think the Barcelona off was because of slippery conditions and the tyres take some getting used to, so you can't hammer him for sliding off.

"Otherwise he has been good. He's still got a bit to go in terms of getting used to the car and extracting the most out of it, but his long runs have been consistent."

Meanwhile, a crowd of between 150,000 and 200,000 greeted Perez as he carried out a Formula 1 demonstration in his hometown of Guadalajara today.

Perez drove last year's Sauber C29 on a 1.5-kilometre course through the streets of the city.

"This was one of the best days of my life," said Perez. "It was a great, great experience. I have never experienced something like this before with so many people cheering me.

"I'm proud to be Mexican, and I'm proud to receive all this support. It is a big boost for me ahead of the new season."

Sauber team manager Beat Zehnder added: "It was an enormous event with unbelievable enthusiasm. What the state of Jalisco managed to put on within a very short space of time was one of the greatest F1 roadshows I have ever looked after."

And you remember Alex Zanardi?

Former Williams and Lotus F1 racer Alex Zanardi has revealed his plans for the 2011 season. The Italian has a number of races planned for the coming year, but they won't be at the wheel of a car.

Instead Zanardi will compete in the World and European handbike championships as he seeks to win a place on the Italian team for the 2012 Paralympics in London. Having lost both of his legs in a horrific accident nearly ten years ago Zanardi has dovetailed his motor racing commitments with handbike events in recent years, and now has his eye on the sport's ultimate prize.

After infrequent appearances with Lotus, Minardi and Jordan in the early nineties the Italian endured a torrid season with Williams in 1999, failing to score a single point and ultimately departing the team at the campaign's conclusion.

But he remains highly respected in the racing world for his achievements in American open-wheel competition. He was CART champion in 1997 and 1998 and is recognised as one of the series' all-time greats.

Following his F1 nightmare Zanardi returned to American open-wheel only to suffer a life threatening crash at German oval the Lausitzring in 2001, losing both of his legs in the process.

Miraculously he recovered sufficiently to return to racing, competing in a specially modified BMW in the World Touring Car Championship between 2006 and 2009. He scored four race wins with the first of them, rather fittingly, coming in Germany.

During this time Zanardi also became involved in handbikes, his racing prowess proving transferable to the new discipline. After tasting success in a number of events the Bologna native revealed his goal of competing at the 2012 Paralympics in London last year.

"This is my new sport passion and it needs much more training than motor-racing," Zanardi said in a post on his personal website today.

"This year is going to be very important to reach London 2012: results achieved in this season will be crucial and at the beginning of May I will have the first World Cup race in Australia.

"In September the World Championship will be held in Denmark. Up there I will eventually understand if it makes sense for me to keep on racing at this level or if handbike has to remain for me a good hobby and a good way of keeping fit for a new motor-racing commitment.

"On March 20th I will be at Rome's marathon then on 27th in Treviso. Afterwards, on April 10th, I'm in Milan then on the 17th in Paua and then... I will let you know."

[LUKIE]

Good for Kobayashi. He is immensely talented. I just hope his Director can keep him reeled in a bit, because last year he made a few mistakes that a more experienced driver wouldn't have done.

[Lineker]

The Mercedes GP Formula 1 team is now wholly owned by the car manufacturer's parent company Daimler AG and financial partner Aabar Investments PJS, after the two companies bought out the other shareholders in the Brackley-based operation.

In a move that had been widely expected ever since Mercedes-Benz took over the then Brawn GP outfit, Daimler and Aabar have purchased the remaining 24.9 per cent of the outfit that was owned by team management including Ross Brawn and Nick Fry.

The new shareholding structure of the team has resulted in Daimler owning 60 per cent, with Aabar owning the remaining 40 per cent.

Dr Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG, said the move to take over Mercedes GP fully was a statement of intent about his company's ambitions of remaining in F1.

"The acquisition of a majority stake holding in our Silver Arrows team sends a clear signal that we intend to achieve technical and sporting success on world motorsport's biggest and most important stage - and to do so in cost-effective conditions," he said.

Brawn, who helped save the team in the wake of Honda's departure from F1 at the end of 2008, said: "Daimler and Aabar's acquisition of the remaining 24.9 per cent stake in Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix will be a further step in the consolidation and strengthening of our team for the future.

"Motor racing, particularly Formula 1, is a very specialised industry, and we are privileged to have such strong and understanding partners as Daimler and Aabar to support our joint ambitions.

"I remain fully committed to our team for the long-term, along with the management team and all of our employees. We all look forward to the challenge of making our team successful, and proudly representing Mercedes-Benz and the racing tradition of the Silver Arrows."

No changes will be made to the way that Mercedes GP is run after Daimler AG and Aabar Investments took full control of the team, according to the German firm's motorsport boss Norbert Haug.

It was announced this morning that Mercedes and Aabar had acquired the remaining 24.9 per cent of the team, which was owned by the five shareholders involved in the original management buyout of Honda in 2009 - Ross Brawn, Nick Fry, Caroline McGrory, John Marsden and Nigel Kerr.

But Haug insists that this was a natural step and that Brawn will "absolutely" remain as team principal. Brawn admitted late last year that he is keen to scale back his involvement in Formula 1 in the long term, although he underlined that he does not plan to do so in the immediate future.

"It doesn't change a lot in practical terms, but it shows our commitment," Haug told AUTOSPORT. "This is the foundation of a long-term investment and strategy.

"We are investing in the future of F1 and that's a learning process, but there are clear limits from the resource restriction agreement and we think that we have a good baseline for the future. We think that we have very good people."

Haug added that there was always the possibility that the original management buyout stakeholders would sell up and that all parties were happy with the move.

"It was not guaranteed from the beginning, but it was an option and a plan," he said. "There were constructive discussions and everyone was in agreement that this was the right way to go.

"All of those shareholders, if you historically look back, did not plan to be the owners of an F1 team. Everyone involved agreed that it was a logical step, so we are happy about it."

Haug also insists that there are no plans to increase the team's budget, with efficiency remaining central to Mercedes' F1 plans.

"Not at all," said Haug on whether this would change the team's approach. "We have the money needed to do a good job, that's for sure."

Heikki speaks KERS:

Heikki Kovalainen says Lotus must be ready to add KERS mid-season if the lack of the device is proving too costly.

Although Lotus could have used new engine supplier Renault's energy recovery system, it decided to focus its resources on other areas of the car design rather than dealing with the complex packaging that KERS requires.

Kovalainen backs that decision - but believes Lotus should be prepared to change it plans as the year progresses as it suffers against KERS-equipped rivals.

"If that is very obvious from the start of the season, then we have to react quickly to that," he told AUTOSPORT in an exclusive interview. "I think we need to just play it by ear and see where we are.

"The decision was made to put more resources in the aerodynamics of the car, rather than on KERS. Of course as a driver I favour KERS, I'd rather have it because in a racing situation it's very important, and it's probably about 0.3 seconds in pure lap-time as well. But the team decided it was more important to get the aerodynamics right, and add the KERS later on.

"It should be a reasonably good system, because Renault had it a couple of years ago and they've probably further developed it now."

The team's chief operating officer Keith Saunt said when the car was launched that KERS had more disadvantages than benefits for a squad in Lotus' position.

"If KERS was going to get us from eighth to sixth then we'd have it," Saunt said. "But when you look at the weight of it and some of the engineering challenges, I think it's a good decision not to start with it.

"We might end up with it, who knows? But if we did we've got a lot of experienced people who could turn their hands to it."

Kovalainen thinks how Lotus can progress through 2011 will be a crucial sign of its growth as a Formula 1 team.

"This is the first year where we have to develop the car all the way through the year, rather than in the middle of the year start working on another project," said Kovalainen. "We are not big enough to work on two projects together, so we really need to learn how to work throughout the year.

"But even with the facility that we have now and the capacity we have now, I think we should be able to do it. It will be one of the key things to get up to speed on the development race, because if you ever want to win the championship you need to be able to do that."

He is not expecting miracles from 2011's T128, but wants to be in touch with the upper midfield.

"My personal goal for this year is to score points for the team whenever there's a serious chance. You've got to be there," Kovalainen said.

"We've got to be in the [middle] group, and occasionally in some special circumstances we've got to be in the top 10 in qualifying in some freak races. We should finish the races on the same lap [as the leaders], and not be two or three laps behind."

[Lineker]

Alonso not keen on new tyres:

Fernando Alonso says he is not in favour of the move towards less durable tyres for 2011, as he fears this will end up penalising faster cars.

Pirelli has responded to requests to make tyre management a greater factor in grands prix and deliberately designed its new-for-2011 tyres to wear faster than 2010's Bridgestones, which were often capable of covering an entire race distance.

Drivers' views on the new tyres' characteristics have been mixed so far, and Alonso said at a Santander event in Madrid today that the likelihood of extra pitstops would cause 'uncertainty' in races and hamper the top teams.

"From what we have seen so far, degradation is very significant, which means we will have races with lots of pitstops," he said.

"I'm not keen on that because I think this increased uncertainty does not favour the strongest teams.

"It's as if in football, it was decided to have a penalty per team each half hour in which case Barcelona and Real Madrid would not be jumping for joy.

"However, the situation is the same for everyone: it will be important to be fastest because I don't think we can make one stop less than our main rivals."

The 2010 runner-up remained unwilling to predict where Ferrari stands in the current pecking order, though he expects the lead pack to be significantly closer than it was last year.

"We will only really know where we stand compared to the others when we are in Melbourne," said Alonso. "At the moment, I am happy because we proved to have a reliable car.

"If all goes to plan, we will be in the group of teams capable of fighting for the title, along with Red Bull the reigning champions, McLaren, Mercedes and also Renault, who had already made a step forward towards the end of last season. Even Toro Rosso has made significant progress."

Whilst Kobayashi is unsure as to over-taking benefits of new regulations:

Kamui Kobayashi is unsure there will be more overtaking during the 2011 season despite the return of KERS and the introduction of the moveable rear wings.

The Sauber driver reckons the fact that most teams will run KERS will mean its advantage is erased, and he is also unsure the current rules on moveable wings will make the system effective.

"I don't believe the KERS will help because almost everybody has it," said Kobayashi. "So it is only the rear wing and I'm not sure if the idea for the races of the one second gap to the car in front will really work."

Kobayashi, who became one of the stars of the 2010 season because of his overtaking moves, believes the skill to pass other cars will now be worth less.

"Maybe yes, especially in case it turns out overtaking really becomes much easier for everyone. But this is nothing to worry about because it is part of the rules," he added.

The Japanese also thinks those drivers who can manage all the new systems better will have an edge this season.

"The most important question is how you can improve laptimes with the new systems and by how much. I am working to get used to the new systems.

"It is a driver task and people who are using it well will have an advantage compared to those who are using it less efficiently. It is a matter of concentration, that is true. I can definitely manage that.

"Regarding all the talk - well, we are race drivers and complaining sometimes can be part of the business."

Even Bernie is doubting the new rules:

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is doubtful that the new moveable rear wing rules will be a success - and thinks there are better ways to help spice up the show.

Although the moveable wings have been introduced in a bid to improve overtaking, the early experience of them in testing suggests that they will not help matters much with the way the rules are currently.

Ecclestone thinks there are also other important factors that need to be considered in relation to the wings – as he backed comments from Sebastian Vettel that the wings were only on cars to satisfy the television audience.

Speaking to the official F1 website about Vettel's view, Ecclestone said: "He's probably right. It is very difficult to control it by the stewards because the window of usage is very small.

"The chances for protests are inevitably there. To me this system looks pretty dangerous. What if the wings are not up again before the corner and the driver is lacking downforce? That could easily lead to incidents. We have to observe it carefully."

Ecclestone still believes his idea of a medal system would be better for improving excitement in F1 – even though the concept has not received much support from teams and fans.

"I stick to it - let's have medals instead of points," he said. "Drivers want to win and they are not racing for second, third or fourth place. So let's have a system where wins count. Last season it would have worked pretty well.

"Vettel and Alonso would have been even after the last race with five gold medals each, and the same number of silver and bronze medals. Vettel would have won the world championship because he had more fourth places... I call that a thriller!"

Talking about even more radical ideas, Ecclestone believes that perhaps F1 should consider artificially wetting tracks during races.

"Look at the races we have now. Overtaking is almost impossible because in the dry there is only one line good for maximum speed because of the rubber on the track. You have a completely different picture when it is wet. We always had the most exciting races in the wet so let's think of making rain…

"There are race tracks that you can make artificially wet and it would be easy to have such systems at a number of tracks. Why not let it 'rain' in the middle of a race? For 20 minutes or the last ten laps? Maybe with a two-minute warning ahead of it. Suspense would be guaranteed and it would be the same for all."

Japanese car maker Infiniti is to enter Formula 1 as a major sponsor of the Red Bull Racing team in 2011, although the move will not extend to a rebranding of the outfit's Renault engines.

Infiniti, which is the luxury car brand of long-term Renault partner Nissan, has embarked on the move to increase its brand awareness as part of a major push to raise sales worldwide.

The initial two-year deal, which will also act as a precursor to technical collaboration between the company and Red Bull Racing, will see Infiniti's name and logos feature on team clothing and prominent parts of the car - including the rear wing and nose.

Infiniti's presence will be alongside, and not instead of, the continued major presence of the Renault brand at the championship-winning team. The French car manufacturer remains the team's official engine supplier and its logos will continue to feature heavily on the car.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said: "Red Bull has always taken a different approach, so when the Infiniti executives outlined their innovative plan to us we were very open to working with them. Coming off the back of our 2010 drivers' and constructors' world championships, we feel even more excited to be starting the 2011 season with a new and committed partner like Infiniti."

Andy Palmer, senior vice president of Infiniti, said: "Over the mid-term, Infiniti will be simultaneously expanding its global presence and broadening its product range. Given these twin ambitions, it is clear that F1 offers us an unrivalled global communications platform."

Horner believes that the arrival of Infiniti into F1 is great news for the sport - at a time when it is attracting fresh manufacturer interest following the arrival of Lotus, Lada and Marussia in the last two years.

"From a Red Bull perspective and from an F1 perspective, it is positive news that we have got Nissan and Infiniti coming into the sport - and picking the sport because of the exposure that it is generating globally," he told AUTOSPORT. "It is not only a fantastic news story for us, but as manufacturers have been leaving in their droves over the last few years, for a Japanese manufacturer to be coming back in is great news."

Infiniti's decision to enter F1 has also been welcomed by Renault, which believes the collaboration is a big boost to both car brands.

Bernard Rey, president of Renault Sport F1, said: "While Renault is rightfully very proud of our achievements within F1, we know the future is about collaboration.

"To have a talented and committed Alliance partner like Infiniti is very welcome as we set out on the current and future challenges in Formula 1.

"So it is with great pleasure that I would like to welcome Andy Palmer and his entire team in our F1 adventure, and I look forward to starting the 2011 season together as Alliance partners."

Red Bull Racing believes its partnership with Japanese car-maker Infiniti will give it the chance to match bigger-money manufacturer rivals in terms of technological development over the next few years.

Although the newly-announced deal is primarily a means for Infiniti to boost its worldwide brand recognition, both car company and team are hoping that there will be opportunities for technical collaboration in the future.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said: "As the team has evolved, it is important for us strategically, as we look to the future, to make sure we are aligned with the right partners - whether they are from a marketing perspective or elsewhere.

"But particularly from a Red Bull perspective, it is the technological challenges that F1 presents. As an independent team we are not battery specialists, and we are not KERS specialists. We want to focus on designing and producing F1 chassis, and if we can tap into the type of resource that Nissan and Infiniti have, that is very exciting for us."

Infiniti's vice-president Andy Palmer believes that one of the main areas where his company can benefit Red Bull Racing is in battery technology - which will become more important as KERS use increases over the next few years.

"There are all sorts of things where there is potential to work together," he said. "We are a car company, so in consequence we have a lot of power in terms of analytical type of work.

"Obviously Nissan is a leader in electrical vehicles so, as things move in that direction, there are opportunities to work that way. But we will see. It will be a case of wait and see. We are there to answer requests in the first instance and then we will see how it goes."

Infiniti has no desire for Red Bull Racing's Renault engines to be rebadged under its own name as part of its commercial tie-up with the world championship-winning team, despite wild claims this week about such a move.

Widespread media reports incorrectly suggested that Infiniti's partnership with Red Bull Racing would result in the Milton Keynes-based outfit rebranding its Renault engines for 2011.

However, Renault is not only maintaining the naming of its power-units but it is also keeping the increased branding presence on Red Bull Racing's cars that it enjoyed at the end of last year.

Renault's logos will appear on the engine covers and drivers' visors, while Infiniti's branding will appear on the rear wing, nose and drivers' overalls.

When asked by AUTOSPORT about if there had ever been a plan for the engines to be rebranded, Infiniti's senior vice president Andy Palmer said: "No. Infiniti is all about being genuine - so rebranding an engine would not have been genuine.

"Obviously there is a very strong relationship between Renault and Nissan anyway. Through the alliance partnership, Renault owns 44 per cent of Nissan and Nissan owns 15 per cent of Renault, so there is obviously a strong linkage there, but simply changing the badge on an engine would not have been a genuine thing to do.

"So Renault will continue to be the supplier of engines to Red Bull, and our involvement is very much about working together on the car itself."

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said that Infiniti's partnership with his outfit would not affect its relationship with Renault.

"We will continue to work closely with our colleagues at Viry-Chatillon, and their name will remain on the car for the foreseeable future," he said.

"Renault has introduced us, through the alliance, to colleagues at Nissan and Infiniti, and that partnership will be working in tandem with Renault, but mainly focusing on some of the future technologies with an eye on what the future engine [from 2013] will possibly be."

Fairly interesting news there. Here's an update on the possiblity of a rescheduled Bahrain GP:

Formula 1 chiefs will decide before the season-opening race in Australia about whether or not the Bahrain Grand Prix will be slotted into the calendar later this year.

There have been suggestions that the race could be rescheduled for the end of the campaign - possibly as a double-header with the nearby Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

F1's commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone said on Tuesday that he has agreed with governing body the FIA that a final decision on the matter will be made in the next few weeks - as he even hinted about Bahrain getting slotted into the August summer break.

Speaking on the official F1 website about plans to reschedule the race, Ecclestone said: "To do that the FIA has to change the calendar, and Bahrain has to apply for a new slot.

"The FIA World Council will meet at the beginning of March and could look into the situation. I have already spoken with FIA President Jean Todt about the possibility of finding a new date and we both agreed that a decision has to be made before the season starts."

He added: "If the Crown Prince is of the opinion that his country is able to host a race we will return to Bahrain. I think the teams are sensible enough even to race in Bahrain in the summer break, and despite high temperatures, because this is the way we can support the country."

Ecclestone also hit back at accusations that he and the FIA has not acted responsibility in cancelling the Bahrain Grand Prix as soon as it became clear about how much political trouble there was.

When asked if he should have called off the event earlier, Ecclestone said: "No. That was not possible. Shortly before the crisis I had lunch with the Crown Prince (HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa) and there was absolutely no indication of what would come just days after. He was full of ideas for the future then shortly after the chain of events set in. There was almost no time to react.

"Of course we needed a decision by February 21, and that is what I told him. He asked what I would do if I were him, and I answered, 'You are there. We in Europe are hardly in the situation to make a serious judgment of the conditions. Decide what is best for your country'. He then cancelled the race and I think it was the right decision.

"It was not an easy one, as it was Formula One that put Bahrain on the map. Before 2004 - when Formula One raced there for the first time - not many people knew Bahrain."

Speaking about the fact that he and the FIA had deliberately kept out of the politics of the situation, Ecclestone said: "Formula 1 must never be political - full stop. My job is it to do the best deals possible for Formula One - to secure jobs.

"Five thousand people have jobs which are directly or indirectly connected to Formula One, and I want to secure these jobs. It is not my business to make politics. We have politicians for that."

Finally, Timo Glock is set to miss next week's Barcelona test after having surgery to remove his appendix. D'Ambrosio is likely to drive all four days.

[Adam]

Bernie Ecclestone is mad. Really hope those ideas never come in. 'Let's make it artificially rain for half a race!'. Let's not, eh Bernie.

[Lineker]

Sir Jackie Stewart has been taken to hospital in London after falling ill on a flight from Geneva.

The three-time world champion is understood to have suffered from chest pains during the journey, and was met by paramedics at Heathrow airport.

Stewart, 71, was then transferred to Hillingdon hospital.

His son Paul told the BBC that precautionary checks were now underway.

"He did pass out and as a precaution he was taken to hospital to be looked at," said Paul Stewart.

"I've just spoken to him in hospital. He seemed absolutely fine but obviously something happened and we need to establish what, but I'm on my way to see him right now.

"I should think he'll just be checked over and hopefully it will be nothing more sinister than that."

Stewart is believed to have been on his way back from the Geneva Motor Show when he fell ill.

He is expected to make a full recovery from the health issues that he experienced on a flight today.

Stewart is currently in Hillingdon Hospital in Uxbridge where he is undergoing precautionary checks after being taken ill on a British Airways flight from Geneva to London Heathrow.

It is understood that the 71-year-old suffered chest pains during the flight, and was met by paramedics when he reached Heathrow.

A statement from Stewart's office said: "I can confirm Sir Jackie is in Hillingdon Hospital, Uxbridge after a physical set back on flight back from Geneva to London Heathrow early this afternoon (flight no. BA0727).

"He is fully conscious and having precautionary medical checks but we are expecting a full recovery."

Elsewhere: Pirelli have madly backed Bernie's water feature ideas!

Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli has backed Bernie Ecclestone's idea of introducing artificial wet races in a bid to increase excitement in the sport.

Ecclestone put forward his radical idea this week, suggesting that the suspense created by using sprinklers to wet a circuit mid-race would be a much better way of improving the show than having moveable rear wings.

"There are race tracks that you can make artificially wet and it would be easy to have such systems at a number of tracks," Ecclestone told the official F1 website.

"Why not let it 'rain' in the middle of a race? For 20 minutes or the last ten laps? Maybe with a two-minute warning ahead of it. Suspense would be guaranteed and it would be the same for all."

Ecclestone's idea may have divided opinions among fans, but tyre manufacturer Pirelli believes that such a move would be great for F1.

"I thought Bernie Ecclestone's comments were quite interesting," Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery told AUTOSPORT.

"Straight after our recent successful [wet-weather] Abu Dhabi test I saw him and said, 'why don't we do an artificial wet race?' The technology is such that you can wet a circuit with a sprinkler system, so the idea is not as daft as it sounds.

"Having seen what it was like in Abu Dhabi, certainly with a wet element it would look spectacular - and visibility shouldn't be a problem because there would be no clouds.

"From a tyre makers' point of view, there is no difficulty in making suitable tyres. We have seen great races in the past when you have had an extra variable like the weather, so why not?"

Although the introduction of artificial wet races could be viewed by some as too much of a gimmick for F1, Hembery believes that the sport should be looking at avenues where it can increase entertainment - and he thinks there are other gimmicks that have become accepted as the norm.

"At the end of the day you want people to watch what you are offering," he said. "F1 ultimately competes for entertainment space with other sports - so people need to see something that is interesting.

"From that point of view, an artificial wet race would add to the show - and you want something people will watch.

"A good example of a radical idea in the sport that have been accepted is the Singapore Grand Prix. You could argue that running at night under lights is a gimmick. But it has turned out to be one of the most spectacular races of the season. It is stunning.

"Couldn't you in fact argue that a street circuit itself is gimmicky? After all, you have created a circuit out of normal roads."

He added: "I would agree that something fake like throwing in safety cars frequently to close the field up if they got too spread out would be going too far, but in terms of throwing something of a new challenge, like an artificial wet race, at drivers, tacticians and engineers, it would be great."

Pirelli conducted several days of wet weather night running at Abu Dhabi earlier this year to simulate the kind of conditions they could encounter in the early-season Asian races.

The Italian tyre manufacturer soaked the circuit itself to simulate rainy conditions.

Madness. Why on earth would anyone want that? It would be like watching Wipeout! Vettel has had a cheeky pop at them too:

World champion Sebastian Vettel believes Pirelli's tyres will force drivers to make at least three pitstops during races, as he reckons one or two are impossible at the moment.

Pirelli has said several times that it has designed its tyres to wear out quicker than last year's Bridgestone, with two-stop strategies the main goal.

Vettel, however, reckons the current tyres will not last enough to stop just twice, and he predicts races with up to four pitstops.

The German also thinks the racing will change significantly because of the different tyres.

"The tyres are very different from last year, but then again it's the same for everybody," said Vettel. "I think the racing will change.

"I think one stop is impossible and at this stage also two stops, so I think it will be a three or four-stop race. I think it will make it very interesting.

"The question is if it is a good thing for us or a bad thing. It's hard to say now because obviously we have to get going first and see how the races unfold.

"But other than that we have the rear wing which should make overtaking a bit easier to us. A lot of questions, but I think we will only find the real answer when we go racing, really."

The Red Bull driver admitted he is also hoping the moveable rear wings and the KERS will not make overtaking too artificial.

"KERS is the same for everybody so it doesn't really make a big difference. The rear wing is a bit of a different story because you can use it in the race only for attacking, not for defending.

"I just hope it doesn't make overtaking too easy because then it would make the racing artificial. We need to see."

Lewis Hamilton says his McLaren car's main issue is a lack of downforce, although the Briton is hopeful the team will be able to sort some of its problems before the start of the season.

McLaren's new challenger has not been among the strongest during winter testing so far, with the team also hindered by problems that have not allowed its drivers to run as much as hoped.

Hamilton said the MP4-26 was not as bad as the team's 2009 machine, with which he struggled at the start of the season, but admitted it is currently lacking performance.

"The '09 was terrible because the car was hopping, three-wheeling through corners, it was locking up, and it had no downforce," Hamilton told Reuters.

"This doesn't lock up, it doesn't three-wheel and it handles really nice, better than last year's car, but it just doesn't have as much downforce...so that's where it feels weak.

"Hopefully we've got some more downforce coming onto the car before the first race."

Team-mate Jenson Button also conceded he was not blown away when he first drove the car, but he too is confident there is more performance to extract from it.

"When I first jumped in it (the car) the first reaction was not 'Wow, we're going to blow everyone away'. No," Button told Reuters.

"I don't think anyone would have felt that because it's got a lot less downforce, the tyres are working very differently to the previous tyre.

"But there's nothing that really scares me about the car in a negative way, so there's a lot we can improve with this car through general set-up work."

Button is also hopeful that the four-day test at Barcelona next week will help McLaren solve its problems.

"This year, at the moment, we've had some issues in testing in terms of getting parts to the circuit and a couple of reliability issues, so we've not done as much running as we would have liked, which has hurt our set-up work," said Button.

"But we do have four days and hopefully everything's going to run sweet at the next test, and we get a lot of laps in and we can improve the base that we have.

"There's a lot still to extract from this car that we haven't because we just haven't had time to do it, we haven't got everything together yet, so we don't really know where we are compared to the competition."

Hopefully they won't struggle too badly this year. Gotta love Jenson.

[Lineker]

SPECIAL F1 2011 PREVIEW SHOW NOW ON BBC RADIO 5LIVE WITH JAKE AND MURRAY WALKER, NOW. Go go go!!!

[Lineker]

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has ruled out a summer slot for the Bahrain GP, and is aiming to have the race at the end of the season instead.

Ecclestone had suggested earlier this week that Bahrain could be rescheduled to the summer following its cancellation as the opening race of 2011.

But speaking to the BBC on Thursday, the F1 boss suggested the Sakhir race could be slotted in around the end of the season.

And he insisted he will do everything possible to not lose the race this year.

"We'll have a look and see what we can do, how we can swap things round. Maybe we can change with Brazil, something like that," he said.

"I don't know how likely it is that there is going to be peace in Bahrain. But if there is, we will find a way.

"The people there have been very big supporters of us, and are becoming bigger and bigger. We have much more support in Bahrain than we did when we first started there, and if they want the race we want to supply it for them."

He added: "Forget August, it's too hot. It's too hot for the public to sit in the grandstand when it's 40 degrees."

Ecclestone said a decision is expected early next week.

"Yes. Before the world council we need to propose it," he added.

He also denied Formula 1 had been damaged as a result of the decision to cancel the race.

"No, not at all. And I'm hoping upon hope that things settle peacefully in Bahrain and we can try and find a slot later in the year.

"I was nothing to do with the country. The person that runs the country was the right person to decide whether or not it was the right decision, and that's what he thought, that he'd made the right decision - and I'm sure he has.

"Whether if we were there it would have given the opportunity for more unrest or not, I don't know. But I'd hate, had it happened, that we were the cause so people could suddenly get a lot more publicity by sabotaging Formula 1."

Mark Webber has confirmed that he wants to end his F1 career at Red Bull, no suprise there. He's also dismissed the artificial rain plans as

Formula 1 teams are considering a plan to run development tyres in free practice sessions this year, perhaps as soon as the Malaysian Grand Prix, as Pirelli looks to keep up its in-season development.

With testing banned once the campaign gets underway, Pirelli will have no opportunity to get data on tyre tweaks from current cars during 2011 unless it gets agreement from teams for special running to take place.

Although some thought was given to organising some post-race tests during the campaign to allow Pirelli to evaluate changes it may want to make to tyres, it has now decided the better option is to give extra 'experimental' rubber to teams during Friday practice sessions instead.

The Italian tyre company has now proposed this idea to the teams and the sport's chiefs - and if the plan comes off it could be in place as early at the second round of the season in Sepang.

Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery told AUTOSPORT: "If we go ahead with the idea of using FP1 [first free practice] we would give each team a couple of sets of a new proposal tyre and they can use them then.

"After they have used these extra sets, the teams could then revert to the normal race sets for the rest of the weekend. So far we've asked the teams if they are in favour of this plan."

Hembery said that the idea of using FP1 was better for Pirelli and the teams because it would involve far less cost and organisational hassle than holding a test on the Monday after a race.

"We had to find a solution that kept costs in check," he said. "Giving the teams extra tyres does not interrupt the teams' race simulation work - and it also means there isn't some joker card or something unknown as there would be if we replaced the normal weekend tyre sets."

Hembery said no final decision had been made on when or how often Pirelli would want to run development tyres in sessions - but said the catalyst for such a move would be when the company felt it needed to make improvements to its tyres.

"We will do it when the timing works well. We won't make changes just for the sake of it – but it's more likely if we see something that we want to tweak or change.

"That is why Malaysia is attractive for us, because of the extreme heat. We have to have compounds that work well in temperatures ranging from 10-degrees Centigrade to 50-degrees C – so we have a lot to learn this year."

Mercedes not panicking over form:

Mercedes GP is hopeful that it will be in 'reasonable' shape by the time the season starts in Australia - despite the struggles it has faced so far in early testing.

The new W02 has not been a match for early favourites Red Bull Racing and Ferrari in testing, and its hopes for a step forward in performance are pinned on an upgrade package that it is bringing to next week's final pre-season test in Barcelona.

Although the team readily admits that its running so far has not been as good as it had hoped, its CEO Nick Fry said on Thursday that it was too early to write off its campaign.

"Performance, obviously from what we've seen on the track, at the moment is not as good as we would like," Fry told news agency Reuters. "But I think there are two major reasons for that.

"One is that the car did have some cooling issues and has been running with a very sub-optimal cooling package and aerodynamic package, and that is (worth) a significant amount of (lap) time.

"Secondly, we went in (to testing) with a slightly different strategy of having what we called the basic car to start with and what we think will be a significant upgrade for the first race. So we knew we were going to be not the quickest, let's put it that way.

"We are not panicking, we have a plan, we're sticking to it and I think that we will be in a reasonable shape by the time we get to Australia."

Fry was hopeful that the development steps coming for Barcelona – believed to include a revised exhaust package, and new front wing, bargeboards and sidepods would see a lift in Mercedes GP's form.

"There will be some differences in Barcelona as well. I think you will see an improving trend and we are far from panicking. Michael understands the situation and all racing drivers want to be the fastest from the start. That's in their nature."

As well as the pace and reliability problems that Mercedes GP has suffered, there has also been speculation that the team has faced troubled passing the FIA's mandatory crash tests that it needs to do to race with a new exhaust configuration.

Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug told this week's AUTOSPORT that he did not believe the team would have an issue getting those tests completed

"We will not comment on that," he said when asked if the team had passed the tests yet. "But that should not be a hurdle for us."

Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn has admitted that the upgrade package being fitted to the W02 for next week's Barcelona test needs to make the car one second quicker if it is to be a frontrunner.

The team has had a troubled start to winter testing, and has been some distance behind the likely championship contenders so far.

Though Mercedes has stuck to a schedule of only bringing its definitive 2011 package to the final test, Brawn acknowledged that the new parts needed to both bring the W02 much closer to the leaders and fend off whatever upgrades the rest of the field would have in Spain next week.

"In the last test at Barcelona we had a go at running low fuel and the super-soft tyres and we were the second-quickest car, but I don't think that's where we are overall," Brawn told BBC Radio Five Live.

"I think we're about a second off where we want to be, and where we want to be is mixing it at the front. So we've got to find a second in the upgrade, which we think we can do but you never know what the others are going to do as well. Everybody's going to have new bits at Barcelona.

"If somebody does come through with a radical innovation that none of the other teams have thought about then it can change things, but we've set out our plan and we'll know when we get to Melbourne whether our plan was right. It's fun to speculate at the moment, but it's very difficult."

Brawn said he had no regrets about the approach Mercedes had taken to the winter.

"I think we said when we started that we had some things to learn with KERS and tyres and we were going to start with a fairly plain car, and you'll see in Barcelona something quite different," he said.

"We're as quietly confident as we can be. We think our strategy is correct, to approach it the way we have, and we'll all know when we get to the first race."

He added: "We may get egg on our face when we come to Melbourne if it hasn't all come together, but we're optimistic."

The team boss also insisted that Michael Schumacher was fully behind Mercedes' handling of the 2011 build-up and backed the squad's design strategy.

"He's part of it, he knows what we're doing and why we're doing it," said Brawn.

And the Ford/Ferrari naming dispute has been resolved. The chassis will now be known as the Ferrari 150° Italia.

[Lineker]

Red Bull Racing has become the final team to confirm its testing plans for Barcelona next week, with the team electing not to join Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams and HRT in running on the final four days of the test.

The final pre-season test in Barcelona has been expanded into a five-day session after Mercedes GP elected to switch its programme - running Wednesday to Saturday instead of Tuesday until Friday.

There had been some discussion between teams about all outfits running on those days, but only Ferrari, HRT and Williams have elected to go down the Mercedes route.

Other outfits were adamant they wanted to stick to the original plan, and Red Bull Racing has spent this week evaluating whether it too would keep to the Tuesday-Friday schedule.

The team had to weigh up whether it would benefit from holding back its running so it mirrored main rival Ferrari's testing programme, or ran early to gain an extra day's preparation time before freight is shipped to Australia.

Red Bull Racing has now decided to run from Tuesday to Friday - meaning that Ferrari, Mercedes and Williams will run alone on Saturday.

As well as being the final pre-season test, Barcelona is set to mark the first time that all the 2011 cars will run at the same time, as HRT is hoping to unveil its new F111. A team spokesman told AUTOSPORT that it was "90 per cent certain" that the new car would run for the first time on the Wednesday or Thursday of the test.

HRT second-driver update:

Christian Klien says he is still pushing to secure the second Hispania seat alongside Narain Karthikeyan, despite Tonio Liuzzi appearing to be the leading contender for the drive after his recent test for the team.

HRT openly admitted that Liuzzi's test at Catalunya was a step towards a possible race deal for the ex-Force India driver, but Klien - who drove for Hispania in several grands prix last year - says he has not given up on staying with the team and beating Liuzzi to the final vacant seat in the 2011 Formula 1 line-up.

"My manager Roman Rummenigge is in permanent contact with the team's management," said Klien in an interview for his personal website. "Needless to say I would love to drive for HRT."

He is confident that the new F111 - which makes is scheduled to hit the track at Barcelona next week - will bring the team forward after spending 2010 firmly at the back of the field.

"I am convinced the team will make good progress and surprise a few people," said Klien. "In Geoff Willis and chief designer Paul White they have engineers who know very well how to build competitive racing cars. I would love to develop it further. And they are masters of efficiency like no other team on the grid."

As the 2011 car has not yet made its debut, Klien does not think he is at any disadvantage from not testing over the winter.

"All tests were done with the 2010 car, which I have raced on five weekends last season," he said. "Together with the race engineers I did a lot of set-up work on it to improve performance. At the end of the season we were able to close the gap to the other teams although there was not a single new part all year long.

"Other drivers like Tonio or Giorgio Mondini have no experience in this car. From a team's perspective it is only justified to get as much feedback as possible and test other drivers' work."

The Austrian is also relaxed about the new car's late debut.

"Each day matters," Klien admitted. "But if you look back how this team rose from the ashes of another operation at the beginning of 2010, you will have no doubt HRT will make the most of its limited resources in 2011. They have a solid and analytical way of facing challenges."

He added that he found it ironic that he was in competition with Liuzzi for the Hispania seat, as they had shared a Red Bull drive in 2005. On that occasion the team chose to stick with Klien for the majority of the season, leaving Liuzzi on the sidelines.

"Yeah, funny, isn't it?" said Klien of being up against Liuzzi again. "At Red Bull we were both members of the groundbreaking 'seat sharing' model. But Tonio and I have remained good friends over the years. As usual we phoned after his HRT test.

"Last summer I was given an extra ticket for the football Champions League final in Madrid. Of course I invited Tonio to come with me, which he did happily. No matter who gets the drive, it will not change our good and respectful relationship."

STR duo not worried by Riccardio threat (they should be though)

Toro Rosso race drivers Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari are adamant that they do not feel any extra pressure from the presence of third driver Daniel Ricciardo in the team this year.

Ricciardo is tipped as the Red Bull junior programme's next big star after his strong performances in feeder categories and the winter Formula 1 rookie tests. His 2011 deal involves driving for Toro Rosso in Friday morning practice at every grands prix, and Buemi and Alguersuari's drives are believed to only be guaranteed for the first half of the season - leaving the door open for Ricciardo to be promoted if the race duo underperform.

But Alguersuari says he welcomes Ricciardo's presence and that the Australian can be an asset to the team.

"I think it's very important for us that Daniel is in the car, as we have so many things which were not there last year," the Spaniard said in an exclusive interview for this week's AUTOSPORT magazine.

"We know Daniel is a fast driver, and we will have another voice in the team to judge what we need to improve, what we need to achieve. And it's also great for him to get this chance of driving an F1 car on Fridays, getting to know the tracks. I think Daniel is an important part of the team.

"In the end, the pressure is always in your hands. You live and you die with your own pressure. It's never the others, it's yours, it's what you create in your mind. It's not a negative thing, actually it's a very positive thing. I don't mind to stay off the track in FP1, because to be honest, we don't really run a lot.

"It's obviously important that you're in the car more, but I would prefer that Daniel is with us, and he can improve the car. And he tested a very competitive car last year [with Red Bull], so it's very important that he can compare both."

Buemi agreed that missing out on occasional Friday practice sessions would not be a great hardship.

"Not driving on Friday morning every two grands prix... I have to be honest, you don't do too much, and the circuit is not clean," the Swiss driver told AUTOSPORT. "And we will have a kind of comparison, you know? Daniel has been really quick in a Red Bull car, and now we will see in a Toro Rosso.

"Obviously he will have the same car as us, so it's good for the team because they know that he has been doing a good job. I'm looking forward to it as well."

Toro Rosso has a record of dropping drivers mid-season, having replaced Scott Speed with Sebastian Vettel halfway through 2007 and exchanged Sebastien Bourdais for Alguersuari in mid-2009. But Buemi, who is starting his third year as an STR race driver, said the squad should also bear in mind the value of continuity.

"It's pretty difficult if you change the driver all the time," he said. "You lose time getting up to speed with them. Obviously the driver has to be good - you don't want to spend one or two years with a slow driver."

Fucking Bahrain, this extra wait is unbearable. Also, for anyone interested there is a Special Report on Sky Sports News at 19:30 tomorrow night, about F1 rookies; featuring Paul di Resta and Pastor Maldonado. Should be a decent watch.

[Lineker]

Mark Webber gave a hint of Red Bull's pace as he set the fastest time on the first day of the final winter test at Barcelona - though he was only elevated to the top when a late time from Sergio Perez was deleted for chicane-jumping.

Webber's 1m22.544s was faster than anyone managed in last month's Catalunya test, and it came on a qualifying-style single-lap run this morning. He followed it up with another lap just one tenth slower shortly afterwards, having previously lapped in 1m23s on a five-lap stint.

For the afternoon, Webber switched to slightly longer runs, doing stints of 10, 13 and 17 laps that tended to start in the 1m27s/1m28s region before getting up to 1m30s to 1m32s as the tyres wore.

In the final few minutes of the session it looked like Webber had been deposed by a shock time from Sauber driver Perez. But the Mexican's 1m21.176s included a suspect final sector time two seconds quicker than the opposition and was subsequently deleted.

He remained fourth, though, having spent most of the session in the top five on a day of generally short runs briefly interrupted by an oil leak.

Jenson Button gave McLaren a lift with the second-fastest time. In the morning it looked like the team had to abandon a race simulation - with Button pitting shortly after being shown a pitboard that indicated he would be running for a further 50 laps.

But he showed encouraging pace when back on the circuit, doing two 1m22.9s lap on qualifying-style runs to put himself 0.366 seconds behind Webber in the end-of-day times. On subsequent six to seven lap stints the McLaren's pace was generally in the 1m29s, while the start of its race simulation had seen times drifting from 1m30s to 1m34s.

McLaren had earlier prompted plenty of discussion when Button's car ran with a bizarre bulge from its nose section. This was a measuring device being used to assist with future front wing development, rather than an odd technical innovation.

Renault held third and fifth positions - Vitaly Petrov having taken over from Nick Heidfeld when the German called a halt to his day due to a cold near the end of the morning. Heidfeld's best morning time still held for third until Perez and Petrov made big improvements in the last 10 minutes of the session.

Force India also split its running between two drivers, though its lunchtime switch was scheduled. Nico Hulkenberg had his first taste of the 2011 car in the morning, his best time leaving him ninth in the end, before handing over to Paul di Resta for the afternoon. The Scot took sixth.

AirAsia GP2 drivers Davide Valsecchi and Luiz Razia were given a chance to drive for parent team Lotus today. Valsecchi had the morning session and briefly took third place with a late lap, before putting the car in the gravel and causing a red flag. He was pushed down to seventh in the end, with Razia - who also prompted a red flag with just a few seconds of the test remaining when he stopped on track - going 10th-fastest.

The first red flag of the day was down to Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso, which missed several hours of running after grinding to a halt on the pits straight. The Swiss driver got up to 48 laps in the end with a busy afternoon, taking eighth.

With Mercedes, Williams, Ferrari and Hispania not out until tomorrow, Virgin's Jerome D'Ambrosio was the only other driver in action. The team seemed to be concentrating on a variety of assessments rather than outright pace, as though its rookie driver covered 57 laps, he did not set a competitive flying lap and was often in and out of the pits repeatedly.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car              Time       Gap      Laps

 1.  Mark Webber        Red Bull-Renault      1m22.544s           97

 2.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m22.910s  + 0.366  74

 3.  Vitaly Petrov      Renault               1m22.937s  + 0.393  27

 4.  Sergio Perez       Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.117s  + 1.573  90

 5.  Nick Heidfeld      Renault               1m24.735s  + 2.191  20

 6.  Paul di Resta      Force India-Mercedes  1m25.039s  + 2.495  38

 7.  Davide Valsecchi   Lotus-Renault         1m25.406s  + 2.862  50

 8.  Sebastien Buemi    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.004s  + 3.460  48

 9.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m26.030s  + 3.486  31

10.  Luiz Razia         Lotus-Renault         1m26.723s  + 4.179  29

11.  Jerome D-Ambrosio  Virgin-Cosworth       1m32.060s  + 9.516  57


All timing unofficial[/code]

So unlucky for Sergio!!


Bahrain Grand Prix organisers have been given until May 1 to decide if they want their race to be put on again later this year.


Following the cancellation of this year's opening round of the Formula 1 season, there has been intense speculation about whether or not the event could be slotted in later this year.


The most likely scenario was for the Bahrain GP to be twinned with the nearby Abu Dhabi GP towards the end of the campaign - perhaps with the Brazilian season finale being moved.


The matter was discussed at Tuesday's FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris, but no decision was made on what will happen.


However, the FIA has given race organisers another seven weeks to inform them on whether it will be possible for the Bahrain GP to take place.


A statement issued by the governing body said: "The World Motor Sport Council asked the Bahrain Motor Federation to communicate by May 1st at the latest if the Bahrain Grand Prix can be organised in 2011."


Bahrain would need to guarantee that there was no chance of further political trouble in the Gulf state before it could put on the race - something which may not be possible in the short timeframe available.


F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has emphasised that the sport will do everything it can to fit Bahrain in if the political situation allows.


"I don't know how likely it is that there is going to be peace in Bahrain. But if there is, we will find a way," he told the BBC last week.


"The people there have been very big supporters of us, and are becoming bigger and bigger. We have much more support in Bahrain than we did when we first started there, and if they want the race we want to supply it for them."

So much for an imminent decision  


Pirelli has been given the green light to give teams 'experimental' rubber to test at Formula 1 race weekends this year. They want to keep up development of its rubber throughout 2011, but with in-season testing banned it has been forced to look for an alternative solution to continue its evaluation. After proposing to teams that extra tyres could be made available for first free practice sessions at some races, the move has now been approved by the FIA. The FIA has also adjusted the regulations for safety car periods and pitstops 'under yellow' for the 2011 season to increase safety and close potential loopholes. Last year cars had to maintain a specified slower speed once the safety car was called, even if they had not yet caught up with the train of cars. This regulation has now been extended to cover two laps, given the officials more time to get the field formed up. Adjustments have also been made to prevent cars potentially gaining an advantage by ducking through the pits during this period, and to stop drivers getting caught at the pit exit red light if their stop coincides with the safety car train passing the pits.


The FIA has announced that its circuit commission will look into whether Formula 1 tracks can be changed to encourage more overtaking. With the return of KERS, more tyre performance variation and the introduction of an overtaking-focused adjustable rear wing system this year, the rulemakers hope that there will be more opportunities for passing in the 2011 F1 season than in recent years, but the governing body also wants to take action on circuit design - and is looking at what existing tracks could do rather than just setting requirements for new venues. FIA president Jean Todt hinted that such a move was on the cards after expressing his displeasure at the difficulty drivers faced in overtaking during the season finale in Abu Dhabi last year. 


Tonio Liuzzi is now all-but confirmed as HRT's second driver. Good move for all there, he has experience and will bring money to the team.


Fallout from Tuesday's test: Heidfeld reckons RBR are holding back, Jenson says that his car will be nowhere near the Ferrari's or Red Bull's in Melbourne, Mark Webber can't wait to get the season started, and Sergio Perez is confident of challenging for early points from the get-go.


Finally, on the theme of Mark Webber:

[spoiler]Mark Webber hopes that the rest of the world will quickly move on from talk about the troubled relationship he had with Sebastian Vettel last year - as he thinks discussion of their issues is now a 'broken record'.


The Australian endured some flashpoints with his Red Bull Racing team-mate in 2010 - with talk of favouritism within the outfit, their on-track collision in Turkey and the behind-the-scenes politics at Silverstone.


But despite their difficulties, Webber and Vettel held clear-the-air talks after the season finale in Abu Dhabi – and are heading into 2011 in a much better way.


When asked about the team situation for this year, Webber said: "At the moment we only have one car so it is a problem if we don't get on with one car. When we get two, let's see what happens!


"Unquestionably we learned a lot about each other last year. It was a sensational season for the whole team, both of us personally. Of course I would have liked a slightly different result, but that is sport and that is what competing is.


"At the end of the day there can only be one guy who won the world title and Lewis [Hamilton]/Fernando [Alonso] and myself, we missed it. This year, we don't even know if we have a chance to go for those types of results again, and that already changes things.


"If we cannot, then of course there is less tension. But last year was quite a unique situation. It is not often that you have two team-mates going in the same team at the last few races for the world title. Of course I hope it happens and we know we learned a lot."


He added: "But it is a completely broken record. People keep talking about it, but it is a broken record. I hope when I am 70 they are not still asking me if I love Sebastian."[/spoiler]

[LUKIE]

Jenson says that his car will be nowhere near the Ferrari's or Red Bull's in Melbourne,

As in not good enough? Why would you say something like that, when they are paying you millions of dollars :/