Formula One 2011

[Sam]

Anyone know who is driving on Friday or Saturday? Tickets are only 10/15 euros so I thought I might pop along as it's only 30 mins up the road.

[Katsuya]

Everybody, to my knowledge, is driving on Friday. Hispania are set to launch the new car on Friday too.

ETA: It does look like it's going to be a straight up RBR vs. Ferrari fight to begin with at least. Renault look like they're edging out a little on the competition, while Sauber and Toro Rosso are looking good. Force India look like they've started their traditional quick slump down the order in testing too.

Edited March 9, 2011 by Katsuya

[Lineker]

Go Friday - McLaren's first day, Mercedes have a big new upgrade, HRT release their new contender...

[Katsuya]

Liuzzi's confirmed as the second Hispania driver. Also, McLaren have been running today and yesterday and bombing hard, then they're back on Friday after inexplicably taking Thursday off.

[Sam]

I read that each team can only do 4/5 sessions which I presume is why Mclaren are skipping it tomorrow.

[Rich]

Renault doctor Dr Riccardo Ceccarelli has just given the latest update on Robert Kubica's condition as the Polish driver recovers from a rallying accident four weeks ago. Kubica is continuing to rehabilitate at the Santa Corona hospital in Italy after having surgery on his right arm, hand and leg. Kubica says he wants to race again this season but Ceccarelli says on a potential return: 'It is impossible to say. There are two positives; the job done by the doctors and [the fact that] Robert is strong.' The doctor also confirmed that the main issue remains the injury sustained to Kubica's right arm, where the hand was nearly severed. Ceccarelli added: 'We are very, very happy with the surgery. Robert is moving his fingers and moving the wrist. That is the positive, but we cannot predict.' Kubica will stay at the hospital for the foreseeable future as he continues his rehabilitation.

Update on Kubica from the Testing live text on BBC Sport.

[Gazz]

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 :/

Manage fan expectations and force the designers and mechanics to pull their fingers out a bit.

It also means Melbourne is a 2 way fight between Vettel and Alonso since Webber will more than likely choke again.

[Lineker]

In addition to Liuzzi signing for HRT, Pedro de la Rosa has returned to McLaren as a test/reserve driver. Gary Paffett has still been retained.

Red Bull remained on top on day two of the final winter test at Barcelona, as world champion Sebastian Vettel gave another impressive demonstration of his team's 2011 pace.

After Mark Webber's timesheet-topping run yesterday, Vettel swiftly moved to the head of the order this morning, and then put in a blistering 1m21.865s time at the start of a five-lap stint.

Though Vettel's pace swiftly dropped off, his initial lap was 0.7 seconds quicker than anyone had managed in Barcelona testing so far, and he would dip into low-1m21s again on several other short stints. In the afternoon he focused mainly on long runs, doing a pair of 16-lap outings in which his times averaged in 1m28s before fading.

It was a one-two for Red Bull-owned teams, as Toro Rosso continued its encouraging winter with second place for Sebastien Buemi.

His best time of 1m22.396s came on an afternoon qualifying-style run, and followed a very respectable race simulation in the morning. He also managed to complete 120 laps despite stopping on track and causing a red flag mid-afternoon, and went through a dozen consecutive practice pitstops at the end of the day.

Renault's Vitaly Petrov followed a similar schedule, and earned his third place with a 1m22.670s at the start of a four-lap stint before switching to long runs. He caused the session to end very slightly early when he stopped at Turn 6 and prompted a final red flag.

It was another very tough day for McLaren. A hydraulic leak and then two exhaust issues interrupted Lewis Hamilton's morning, forcing the team to abandon a planned race simulation. He later got up to fourth on a single-lap, qualifying-style run in the afternoon.

Ferrari was back in fifth with Felipe Massa as it introduced a new exhaust and some aerodynamic changes, but its form was more encouraging than the result suggested. There were no one-lap-only runs from the Brazilian, whose best time came at the start of a five-lap outing, and on longer runs of around 14 laps his pace often matched Vettel's.

Paul di Resta was in the top three for a while during a morning of testing Force India's qualifying pace, as he quickly bounced back from causing a fuel pressure issue that caused a stoppage. He covered 118 laps by the end of an afternoon of longer runs, taking sixth in the order ahead of Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber.

Mercedes brought a new exhaust and some bodywork upgrades today as well, with more significant changes to follow later in the week. Nico Rosberg's eighth place was a quiet start for the package, though some medium-length stints of around 10 laps averaging in 1m27s compared well to other teams.

Jarno Trulli was ninth for Lotus, followed by Pastor Maldonado, as a KERS problem severely hampered Williams. The team had to miss most of the morning as a result, and only managed 29 laps later on after disconnecting the energy recovery device.

Virgin's Jerome D'Ambrosio completed the field, 7.1s off the pace. He also lost some running to an electrical problem.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps

 1.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m21.865s            112

 2.  Sebastien Buemi    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m22.396s  + 0.531s  120

 3.  Vitaly Petrov      Renault               1m22.670s  + 0.805s  116

 4.  Lewis Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      1m22.888s  + 1.023s  57

 5.  Felipe Massa       Ferrari               1m23.324s  + 1.459s  101

 6.  Paul di Resta      Force India-Mercedes  1m24.334s  + 2.469s  118

 7.  Kamui Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.436s  + 2.571s  107

 8.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m25.807s  + 3.942s  100

 9.  Jarno Trulli       Lotus-Renault         1m26.090s  + 4.225s  98

10.  Pastor Maldonado   Williams-Cosworth     1m26.989s  + 5.124s  29

11.  Jerome D-Ambrosio  Virgin-Cosworth       1m28.982s  + 7.117s  64


All timing unofficial[/code]




Sergio Perez set a surprise fastest time for Sauber on day three of Barcelona testing, as the Swiss squad interrupted Red Bull's dominant week.



There was no doubt that the Mexican's 1m21.761s - even quicker than world champion Sebastian Vettel's Wednesday lap - was done on a low-fuel qualifying simulation, as Perez went through a string of one-lap runs during the morning, but the pace was still impressive regardless of the car's configuration. A later race-style run was interrupted by a KERS problem and Perez also caused a late red flag by stopping at the pit exit.



Felipe Massa's second place time for Ferrari, 0.331 seconds down on Perez, was also achieved on a single lap outing just a few minutes after the Mexican's lap, so Sauber could be very content with its day. Ferrari also achieved impressive mileage again, Massa leading the day's lap count with 127.



Red Bull was only third this time, with Mark Webber's best of a 1m22.466s coming on a relatively light but not totally empty run - the Australian staying out for a further four laps after putting in that time. It came during a fascinating phase of the morning when both Red Bull and Ferrari kept doing short runs almost in unison and setting comparable times, as testing briefly resembled a pole position battle.



Rubens Barrichello twice pulled off and caused stoppages, but the Williams still managed to cover 105 laps and go fourth-fastest with a 1m22.637s on a qualifying-style run.



Mercedes also set its best time on a very short stint. The team mostly ran heavier fuel loads as it worked to get a baseline with its new exhaust design before adding the rest of the major upgrade package for the second half of the test. But Michael Schumacher also slipped in a 1m22.892s on a single-lap run to complete the top five.



Lotus split its day between its two race drivers - which worked out much better for Heikki Kovalainen than Jarno Trulli. The Italian only completed six laps before a gearbox change was required, and then a water leak prevented any further running. A slight water leak remained for the afternoon - a replacement radiator having been damaged in transit - but Kovalainen was able to do 39 laps and take seventh.



It was a similar story at Renault, as a KERS problem limited Vitaly Petrov's mileage in the morning, though he still covered 24 laps and did a time good enough for eighth before Nick Heidfeld - back after his illness earlier in the week - took over and grabbed sixth in the secnd session.



Force India and Toro Rosso focused on mileage and longer runs, and yet more pitstop practice in STR's case, as Adrian Sutil and Jaime Alguersuari both exceeded 100 laps in ninth and 10th. Jerome D'Ambrosio again brought up the rear for Virgin.



[code]Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap        Laps

 1.  Sergio Perez        Sauber-Ferrari        1m21.761s             95

 2.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari               1m22.092s  + 0.331s   132

 3.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m22.466s  + 0.705s   97

 4.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     1m22.637s  + 0.876s   105

 5.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m22.892s  + 1.131s   89

 6.  Nick Heidfeld       Renault               1m23.541s  + 1.780s   32

 7.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault         1m23.990s  + 2.229s   40

 8.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault               1m24.233s  + 2.472s   24

 9.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1m24.334s  + 2.573s   108

10.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.779s  + 3.018s   107

11.  Jerome D-Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth       1m27.336s  + 5.575s   96

12.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus-Renault         1m34.485s  + 12.724s  6


All timing unofficial

Go Sergio! I think that him and Kobayashi are going to be spectacular together this year.

Anyone else think that this 'huge' Mercedes update is just going to be a white elephant?

[Lineker]

Fuck me I was clearly wrong about the white elephant Mercedes upgrade - Schumacher just posted a 1:21.268 - the fastest time of the whole winter!

Hispania Racing has become the final team to unveil its 2011 car, as it took the wraps off the new F111 at Barcelona during the penultimate day of winter testing.

After initial plans for the team to work in partnership with Toyota fell through, HRT has built its own new car in a project led by former Williams, BAR/Honda and Red Bull man Geoff Willis.

New drivers Tonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan are confident that the F111 will be a massive upgrade over last year's troubled car, which was originally created by Dallara but not developed after the turmoil that surrounded HRT's gestation.

The F111 also carries a totally new livery, which has been created by Hollywood designer Daniel Simon.

The team will test this afternoon and all day Saturday. It had participated in the previous Valencia and Barcelona tests with its 2010 car on Pirellis to get some initial mileage.

Colin Kolles believes his squad can capitalise on any chaos early in the season as the field gets used to the new tyres and rules.

The new HRT F111 was unveiled in the Catalunya pitlane today and is unlikely to run until tomorrow as its dampers are still in customs.

But despite that lack of mileage, Kolles said HRT's focus was on being ready to take chances if faster teams slip up.

"We know that we don't have the quickest car. That's very clear," he told AUTOSPORT.

"We can discuss how to take the risk and get one tenth more on something. This is not our strategy, our strategy is to be reliable, to finish races, to have experienced drivers to take advantage of certain situations.

"I hope the racing will be quite interesting with the tyres. Maybe on one lap we will be not as fast as others, but let's see how this develops through the race - how many pitstops others will need, how many pitstops we will need."

Kolles is confident that the new HRT is notably faster than last year's car, but unwilling to predict where it will fit into the pecking order.

"If I open my mouth too much now it's not good. I don't know," he said.

"I think that our car is quicker than last year's car. Significantly. We have a Williams rear end, we have a Cosworth engine - this is a package you can get into the top 10 in qualifying, and finish sixth in the championship. There is nothing wrong there.

"We have an improved aero package so everything looks more promising. We have drivers with much more experience so this should all be better. On paper it looks better, I think."

Kolles expects recent signing Tonio Liuzzi to make a major difference to HRT with his experience.

"I think that Tonio is one of the best drivers in terms of giving feedback to the engineers," said Kolles. "I think what he did in Barcelona at the last test was an amazing job because I know how much fuel there was on and I know what would have been possible."

He believes taking a driver like Liuzzi rather than seeking someone with sponsorship will prove to be a key step for Hispania, as he credits the Italian for taking their former team Force India forwards.

"I think that when the shareholders understood this strategy at Force India and took Liuzzi and took [Giancarlo] Fisichella and kept [Adrian] Sutil, this is where the team has made a step," Kolles said.

"Drivers like Liuzzi and Fisichella, they contributed a lot to bring the right feedback, to take a step forward. Obviously the engineers had to also do their job, like the whole team."

Hispania's current colour scheme contains several areas left blank in the hope of attracting further sponsors, but Kolles denied that funding was a major concern.

"There is a budget that has been signed off, and we are working according to this budget," he said. "We plan to have updates, we have a development programme. So let's see how it develops.

"Obviously you have to work every day and every night to get more money into every team - not only our team, any team. If somebody's telling you that they don't need money, they are lying."

More pictures.

Can't be much worse than last year, ey.

Edited March 11, 2011 by Lineker

[Lineker]

Michael Schumacher was quickest and Nico Rosberg third-fastest on the final major day of winter testing at Barcelona, as Mercedes took plenty of encouragement from its new upgrade package.

Today was the first day that Mercedes' full raft of Melbourne developments had been on the car, and Schumacher wasted no time in showing their potential.

A series of qualifying-style one-lap runs this morning took him to 1m21.268s, as he beat Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by 0.346 seconds and went half a second quicker than anyone had done at Barcelona this winter before today.

Mercedes is one of the teams staying at Catalunya to test tomorrow as well, but with forecasts suggesting a wet Saturday, the team elected to put Nico Rosberg in the car for the final part of today to make sure he got some dry mileage with the latest version of the car.

Rosberg managed 19 laps to Schumacher's 67 and managed to grab third with a time half a second off the pace.

Alonso's lap to split the Mercedes also came on a qualifying-style run. Ferrari attempted a race simulation later, but it was interrupted by a red flag for Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber stopping on the circuit, although Alonso still managed 141 laps.

Most of today's top times came on qualifying practices, including Nick Heidfeld's 1m22.073s to take fourth in the Renault. He switched to longer runs for the afternoon but spent some time stuck in the garage while issues were attended to.

While Rubens Barrichello's fifth-place time for Williams came on a qualifying simulation, it was his race distance form that was most notable. The Brazilian's times only faded by around a second across each 10-12 lap stint, suggesting far less of a tyre degradation issue than had been seen on many long runs this winter.

Sauber and Toro Rosso took sixth and seventh with Kamui Kobayashi and Jaime Alguersuari, their times coming on short runs as well.

Champion team Red Bull's final day of winter testing was a low-key one. Sebastian Vettel completed a relatively low total of 63 laps, spending much of his session on runs of around five to six laps in the 1m23s/1m24s range, and avoiding the push for fast times seen from Red Bull earlier in the week. He then caused the red flag to come out with a minute to go when his car stopped at the pit exit.

Lotus was very encouraged with the performance of its latest aerodynamic parts, with Heikki Kovalainen completing a mammoth 137 laps on the way to ninth. His best time of 1m23.437s - 2.1s off the pace - came from a short run.

Force India split its day between Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil, who were 10th and 11th.

Williams also intended to give both drivers a run, but the need for an engine change meant Pastor Maldonado only had 11 laps on track in the end.

An engine change also cost McLaren a lot of running. Jenson Button only covered 57 laps, most on short runs but none on a low-fuel pace.

All 12 teams were present as HRT unveiled its F111 in the lunch break, but the team was unable to run as some parts had yet to arrive.

Most squads have now finished their winter running for 2011, but McLaren, Williams, Ferrari, Hispania and Mercedes will stay on for a final day tomorrow.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps

 1.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m21.268s            67

 2.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m21.614s  + 0.346s  141

 3.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m21.788s  + 0.520s  22

 4.  Nick Heidfeld       Renault               1m22.073s  + 0.805s  67

 5.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     1m22.233s  + 0.965s  89

 6.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m22.315s  + 1.047s  98

 7.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m22.675s  + 1.407s  72

 8.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m22.933s  + 1.665s  64

 9.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault         1m23.437s  + 2.169s  138

10.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m23.653s  + 2.385s  42

11.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1m23.921s  + 2.653s  26

12.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth     1m24.108s  + 2.840s  11

13.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.837s  + 4.569s  57

14.  Jerome D-Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth       1m27.375s  + 6.107s  46


All timing unofficial[/code]




Nico Rosberg set the fastest time as the 2011 winter testing season ended with a washout at Barcelona today.



Incessant heavy rain left conditions too dangerous even for worthwhile wet tyre testing from the four teams still present.



The morning session passed almost entirely without activity, with Lewis Hamilton only setting the day's first flying laps shortly before the lunchbreak.



The McLaren was joined for more concerted running by Maldonado's Williams and Rosberg's Mercedes in the afternoon, and as the weather finally improved a little in the final quarter of an hour, the trio engaged in a busy battle for the top spot.



It was Rosberg who ultimately emerged ahead, his 1m43.814s half a second quicker than Maldonado and 0.7s clear of Hamilton.



Michael Schumacher had driven the Mercedes in the opening hours, but decided against trying a flying lap before his scheduled handover to Rosberg.



Ferrari limited itself to five exploratory installation laps with Fernando Alonso before calling it a day, and was packing up to leave the circuit by mid-afternoon.



Although Hispania was present, it announced last night that it would not be able to run after all as the F111's dampers were still stuck in customs. The new car will therefore not make its track debut until practice in Melbourne.



[code]Pos  Driver              Team/Car           Time       Gap       Laps

 1.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes           1m43.814s            35

 2.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth  1m44.333s  + 0.519s  23

 3.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   1m44.560s  + 0.746s  33

 4.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes                                5

 5.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari                                 5


All timing unofficial

Jenson has sure changed his tune - now he is saying that the McLaren's true ability is being hidden by reliability issues! Martin Whitmarsh clearly must have had a quiet word in his ear after what he said earlier in the week. Red Bull on the other hand are confident that they won't have any early-season reliability issues like they did last year. Schumi has expressed his confidence for Melbourne after the new upgrades to his Mercedes. And, in classic HRT fashion, they could go into the Formula 1 season without any testing after calling off its planned Saturday run at Barcelona as parts are stuck in customs. Elsewhere, Williams have finally decided to run KERS in Melbourne.

Robert Kubica has undergone a fourth operation in hospital in Italy today.

Doctors treating the injured Pole had initially hoped that he would only require the three operations carried out in the days following his rally crash last month.

But today further surgery was carried out to help the mobility of his injured elbow. Italian media reported that the operation was conducted by Dr Luigi Celli and Dr Francesco Lanza, and that his rehabilitation will resume in the coming days.

Renault team doctor Ricardo Ceccarelli said during a visit to Barcelona testing earlier this week that the general trend of Kubica's recovery was positive.

"Robert is getting better every day," he said. "I see that he is recovering, psychologically and physically, very quickly.

"This is not a surprise for us because we know Robert very well. But it is a big surprise for the doctors of the Pietra Ligure hospital - so this is good news because they are satisfied how he is reacting to the surgery and all the injuries he had.

"We are quite happy for this strong reaction. This is the first positive thing in a traumatic situation."

[Lineker]

Sebastian Vettel has agreed a new contract with Red Bull which will see him drive for them until at least the end of the 2014 season. The Ferrari rumours should hopefully disappear for a while now. And Lewis Hamilton will now be managed by Simon Fuller's famous XIX Management team - see the Spice Girls!

[Lineker]

The already slim chances of the Bahrain Grand Prix returning to the Formula 1 calendar later this season now appear to be all but over after a state of emergency was declared in the Gulf state on Tuesday.

Motor racing's governing body, the FIA, had given Bahrain GP organisers until May 1 to resolve the political troubles that had forced the 2011 season opened to be called off and to request a new date.

However, on the back of fresh protests in Bahrain over the weekend, and troops from Saudi Arabia having been called on to help restore order, the state's King on Tuesday declared a state of emergency for the next three months.

In a statement that was read out on Bahrain's main television channel, it was announced that the King had "authorised the commander of Bahrain's defence forces to take all necessary measures to protect the safety of the country and its citizens."

With the three-month period running past the May 1 deadline given to the state by the FIA, there now appears very little prospect for the race getting slotted in later this year.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has said several times that if Bahrain could guarantee it could put on a trouble-free event, then he would give it a date later in the year.

"If the Crown Prince is of the opinion that his country is able to host a race we will return to Bahrain," Ecclestone told the official F1 website earlier this year.

Ecclestone also insisted that it was not for the F1 community or the FIA to get involved in a country's political situation.

"Formula 1 must never be political - full stop," he said. "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."

The FIA says it will stick to its May deadline for a final decision over the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix, despite fresh tension in the country making it ever more unlikely that the race will be able to go ahead on a rescheduled date.

The Sakhir event should have opened the 2011 Formula 1 schedule last weekend, but the race was postponed following the unrest in capital Manama in February that saw a number of fatalities.

Hopes that the situation was subsequently calming received a blow today when the Bahrain government declared a three-month state of emergency after fresh protests.

The FIA had said that it would give the Bahrain authorities until the start of May to inform it whether the political situation had improved sufficiently for the race to be slotted in on a new late-season date. Despite the three-month state of emergency being set to run through May, the governing body's president Jean Todt said tonight that the previously-announced deadline still stood.

"As you all know, on advice from the Bahrain Motor Federation (BMF) we have had to skip the inaugural grand prix in that country due to severe social unrest," Todt wrote in a letter to the F1 media.

"We have asked our Bahraini colleagues to inform us by May 1st on whether the race can take place. We wish them well in their ongoing attempts to resolve their issues."

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has always been adamant that he would like the Bahrain GP to take place this year provided the state's government was content that it was safe to go ahead with the race.

Pirelli want DLR to stay on for one final test, for continuities sake. Shouldn't be too much of a problem but is there now an impartiality issue due to his McLaren ties?

Wings set for Melbourne analysis:

Formula 1 teams could be allowed to try out how well the new moveable wing rules work in free practice for the Australian Grand Prix, the FIA has revealed.

With the governing body keen to ensure that the rules are a success, F1 race director Charlie Whiting said on Tuesday that discussions will take place with teams to see whether or not a section of practice should be devoted to evaluating the wing regulations.

Although the use of the wing is totally free throughout practice, there is an eagerness to try out the timing loop, which will work out if a car is less than one second behind the car in front, plus the wing's activation in the 600-metre overtaking zone, before it is used in a race for the first time.

With the FIA set to decide this week exactly how long the overtaking zone in Melbourne will be, and where the timing loop will be situated, Whiting says talks will take place with teams in Australia on the Thursday before the race to decide if a test should happen.

"This has been discussed but no decision has been taken," said Whiting. "We will discuss the possibility of using part of a free practice session in Melbourne with the teams on the day before first practice."

Whiting is confident that the new rear wing rules will be a good for fans, and not result in them getting confused about what is going on - especially as it is now confirmed that television graphics will reveal when a driver is able to use his wing.

"There is no reason to suppose spectators will be confused," he said. "Operation of the wing as described above is simple, there will be marks (lines) on the track to show the area where proximity is being detected and a line across the track at the point where the drivers whose system is armed may deploy it.

"Furthermore, the television broadcasters will be sent a signal each time a system is armed and this will be displayed to the viewers."

Bernie reiterates how important the Australian GP is:

The Australian Grand Prix is as important as the Formula 1 race in Monaco, according to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, who admitted he would "hate" to lose the event.

"Australia is as important to us as Monaco," Ecclestone was quoted as saying by Reuters during a teleconference with Australian media.

"It's part of the world championship and has been for an awful long time. We'd hate to think that we're going to lose Australia.

"In the case of Melbourne, if the product is too expensive for them, we understand that and when the contract comes to an end there's no need to renew it. We wouldn't force somebody to buy something that they don't want or think is too expensive.

"We get massive worldwide television coverage - if that's not important well, okay, don't buy the product," added Ecclestone.

The Australian Grand Prix has faced growing opposition by locals in recent times, with some politicians calling for the end of the race, which has posted big losses over the past years.

Ecclestone said earlier this year that he was ready to end the deal with Melbourne if organisers really wanted.

The race will open the 2011 Formula 1 season next week.

"Exhausts to make bigger difference than double diffusers" - Ross Brawn

Mercedes GP boss Ross Brawn believes the introduction of forward exhausts will have a more significant impact than double diffusers had during the 2009 season.

The Renault team presented one of the biggest technical innovations ahead of the start of the season with its exhaust exits coming out at the leading edge of the sidepods of its car.

Some teams already tried similar versions of that during winter testing.

In similar fashion, the Brawn GP squad introduced a double diffuser in its 2009 car and the device, with which the team went on to win both titles, was eventually copied by its rivals.

Brawn reckons the impact of the forward exhausts could be even bigger.

"It is a significant area and maybe more significant than the double diffuser in terms of performance and of course the teams are all working with their engine partners to work out how to get the most out of the exhaust energy so that is the new interesting area of development," said Brawn.

"It is in the spirit of F1 to push these boundaries and find new areas. We may find in the future that that is not where we want to be and we will change the regulations to control it, and in 2013 we only have one exhaust and it is a turbo engine and the whole thing will change again so there are lots of differences coming - but it is a fascinating area and all within the spirit of F1."

Unlike the double diffuser, however, Brawn reckons there are no grey areas about the exhaust design, which he believes is not controversial.

"I think the nature of F1 is that the engineers are always challenging the interpretation of the regulations," he added. "It is very, very rare for people to cheat in F1 and what all the engineers do, and what I expect my engineers do, is to challenge the boundaries of what you can do.

"And obviously the double diffuser was one of those boundaries.

"The exhausts – I don't think they are challenging the boundaries so much, I think they are a clever idea but I don't think there is any regulatory problems with the exhaust systems so I don't see that as being overly controversial.

"There have been clarifications in the last week or two about the materials and one or two other things, but they are not really that controversial."

Shell has become the official title sponsor of the Belgian Grand Prix after concluding a multi-year agreement with Spa.

Television networks covering Formula 1 will walk away from the sport if the environmentally-friendly engines are adopted from 2013.

That is the view of Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who reckons the planned move into smaller, turbo engines from 2013 will only be bad for grand prix racing.

"I'm anti, anti, anti, anti moving into this small turbo four formula," Ecclestone told the Australian Associated Press.

"We don't need it and if it's so important it's the sort of thing that should be in saloon car racing.

"The rest of it is basically PR - it's nothing in the world to do with Formula 1. These changes are going to be terribly costly to the sport.

"I'm sure the promoters will lose a big audience and I'm quite sure we'll lose TV."

The F1 boss admitted he was "at loggerheads" with FIA president Jean Todt over the matter.

"He's not a promoter and he's not selling Formula 1. to be honest. Jean and I are a little bit at loggerheads over this engine. I don't see the reason for it.

"We had the KERS system and this was supposed to solve the problem that Formula 1 is not green and now we've got something else."

Ecclestone also reckons the lower noise from smaller engines will make people lose interest in Formula 1.

"I meet people worldwide in all different walks of life - sponsors, promoters and journalists and I think there are two things that are really important for Formula 1," he said.

"One is Ferrari and second is the noise. People love and get excited about the noise. People who have never been to a Formula 1 race, when they leave you ask them what (they liked) and they say 'the noise'.

"I brought some Russian gentlemen to Singapore and I met them afterwards in Russia - it was the first race they'd ever been to and I said what was it that impressed you.

"I didn't even think about the noise and they said the most important thing was the noise - it's incredible, it really gets to you. It's unbelievable that even more so the women - the ladies love the noise."

Bernie, for once, is talking some sense!!

Technical talk:

Formula 1 could make moves to change the design of high noses over the next few years in a bid to try and avoid a repeat of the type of take-off accident that Mark Webber suffered in Valencia last year.

That is the view of the FIA Institute's technical advisor Andy Mellor, who reckons that cars being launched into the air after nose-to-wheel collisions, like when Webber struck the back of Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus, could be eradicated by tweaking regulations.

Speaking in the FIA Institute's new IQ magazine, Mellor reckons that ongoing research into F1 collisions may point to the fact that lower nose designs may be better.

"The key aspect is the nose height of the car behind, as this will determine whether or not launch occurs," said Mellor, who said more conventional designs often mean a nose will 'submarine' under a rear wheel rather than lift up in a collision.

"Another influential factor is velocity and the resulting fore-aft acceleration and vertical acceleration."

He added: "Nose-to-wheel science is solved. There are very definite parameters by which these contacts do not cause a launch. The knowledge exists, so it just needs to be eradicated."

Rather than banning high noses total, it is suggested that changes could be made to the design of the front wings so that they help keep the nose down in the event of a collision with a rear wheel.

Formula 1 drivers will have a much larger role in managing tyre use and strategy in their efforts to win races than they have done before, reckons former Pirelli test driver Pedro de la Rosa.

Amid growing anticipation about how the characteristics of the 2011 Pirelli rubber are set to spice up the action from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, de la Rosa thinks the onus of choosing the right tactics will be shifted away from teams and on to the men in the cockpit.

"I think that drivers will have to think a lot more about tyres - and how they manage the tyres," de la Rosa told AUTOSPORT in an exclusive interview. "That is not only related to strategy, because that is down more to the teams.

"As a driver you will feel the degradation earlier than the teams see the lap time loss. So I think that the driver will play a key role in knowing when the tyres are just hitting their end. If you leave it one or two laps too late you can lose five or six seconds.

"The feeling of when the tyre has gone off will be extremely important, and this is something I realised during the Pirelli testing. The tyres have a linear degradation until suddenly they have a huge drop off.

"And that huge drop-off, you will have to avoid it during any of your stints. And it will be a driver dependent decision, not a team dependent one.

"You will have to tell the team over the radio that the tyres have gone off and that you are going in. This will be interesting - as it will not just be a matter of engineers looking at a screen to pit you in."

De la Rosa, who is now a reserve driver at McLaren, believes that the excitement delivered by the tyres may be a headache for drivers and teams – but it good news for those watching the sport.

"I think it will be great for the fans," he said. "It is difficult to predict exactly how many stops we will have. You can say roughly that it will be around three, and that is fantastic.

"I remember last year that on a Thursday you already knew, no matter what the tyre compound was or which circuit it was, whether it was going to be a one-stop strategy with the window opening between lap 12 or 18. That would then be the end of the story.

"Now you have a lot of play with, and it will be more interesting for the fans. In F1 we talk about degradation, about linear degradation and non-linear degradation, but really we should think about the fans.

"Let's go to Australia, let's do the first few races and let's see what the fans think of the whole situation. And then let the teams and Pirelli decide what is next."

Kamui Kobayashi discussed the current situation in his homeland Japan

Kamui Kobayashi admits the start of his 2011 season has been completely overshadowed by the events going on in Japan.

With his country going through one of its worst crisis in history, the Sauber driver conceded his mind is on the people who have lost it all.

Kobayashi said he is hoping for a strong result in Australia in order to give his countrymen some positive news.

"Of course I was very worried about my country and so went to Japan after the Barcelona test," said the Japanese in a team preview ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

"I must say the situation is really, really bad. So many have lost their lives, become homeless, are without food and water in the cold winter, and have lost their loved ones. It is difficult to believe that a scenario worse than in any movie has become reality.

"We need to stay together and we need help from all over the world. I am worried the whole country could disappear - it is just too awful. Since the earthquake and the tsunami news is getting worse every day, there is nothing positive to look forward to at the moment.

"I feel I have to do something, I want to help - but in fact there is nothing I can do by myself. I think at least for the time being what I can do is to be focused and fully concentrate on the season's opening race in Melbourne. Originally I was looking forward to this with great joy.

"Now what I really want to do is my very best to achieve a good result, which perhaps can at least give the people in Japan a little bit of hope and positive news."

Team-mate Sergio Perez also admitted he was concerned about the situation in Japan, but the Mexican, who will be making his grand prix debut, said he couldn't wait to go racing.

"Without a doubt I am also worried about the people in Japan, and I really wish them all the best. At the same time personally a dream is about to come true. I have dreamed for many years of competing in my first Formula 1 grand prix, and now it is going to happen," he said.

"I am excited and I am very much looking forward to it. It will be a weekend during which I have to adapt quickly to many things - to the circuit, which is new to me, and to all the aspects of a grand prix weekend from free practice to qualifying and the race.

"I cannot imagine yet how it will be for me when the lights go out on Sunday, but I can't wait to find that out. I have never been to Australia before. Of course, I have checked the circuit lay-out and other things. I understand it is a tough track, very challenging and not easy to find the limit, so it will be hard."

Whitmarsh targetting a Melbourne suprise:

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is adamant his team has the capacity to "surprise a few people" at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix despite its difficult winter testing.

Whitmarsh, whose team was unable to cover as much mileage as it wanted during the winter, conceded McLaren is not arriving as favourites to win in Melbourne.

But he insisted the Woking-based squad cannot be written off.

"It's called testing for a reason - and testing MP4-26 beyond its limit has, in some ways, been highly instructive," said Whitmarsh in a team preview.

"In actual fact, we've gathered a huge amount of useful data about the car, its handling characteristics and its management of the tyres. So while we've further fine-tuned the package for Melbourne, we've once again set ourselves some extremely tough targets for this opening race weekend.

"So, do I think our testing pace is representative of the pace we'll show in Australia? No. Do I think we head into the weekend as race favourites? Unfortunately, no. But do I feel that we have the capacity to surprise a few people and be competitive? Very much so."

Lewis Hamilton is also upbeat about his prospects for the weekend, the Briton confident McLaren will be able to raise its game in comparison with testing.

"We can't hide the fact that testing has been tougher than we expected: our test mileage hasn't been as high as that of our rivals, nor have we had the outright pace of the fastest cars," he said.

"Still, I have a good feeling with MP4-26: I like driving our car, I think it will look after its tyres quite well and I understand that we'll be making further performance steps ahead of this opening race.

"Nevertheless, we know we go to Melbourne ready for battle: some teams are extremely well prepared – both from a pace and reliability point of view – but that can sometimes count for little in the unpredictable and somewhat chaotic opening races where it's equally vital just to take points home.

"I strongly believe that, while our preparations haven't gone as smoothly as we'd have liked, I get the impression that we'll be arriving in Melbourne with everything finally meshing together – and that makes me really excited."

Team-mate Jenson Button, the winner in Australia for the past two years, admitted he is not ruling out a third consecutive victory.

Button said: "Albert Park has been good to me: I've won there for the past two seasons; it's a great circuit for racing, it always seems to create unpredictable races and, perhaps because it's habitually at the start of the season when a precise pecking order has yet to be established, we often see fast cars running out of sequence – and the excitement that that brings. With the added issue of multiple tyre stops, it could be a very exciting and unpredictable race weekend.

"I'm regularly being asked if I can make it three wins in a row this year. On paper that might not look likely, but, seriously, who knows? I most definitely wouldn't rule it out."

Pirelli has announced the colours that it will use to distinguish the six different types of tyre to be used during the 2011 season.

Each tyre will carry its own colouring on the Pirelli and PZero logos affixed to the sidewall.

The six colours are as follows:

Wet - orange

Intermediate - light blue

Supersoft - red

Soft – yellow

Medium – white

Hard – silver

"We're very excited by the prospect of returning to Formula 1 for the first time in 20 years, and we're aiming to be a proactive and colourful partner in Formula 1," said Pirelli's Paul Hembery. "So what better way to symbolise this than a brightly coloured selection of Pirelli logos to run on the sidewalls?

"These will enable both live and television audiences to tell at a glance who is on what compounds, which will be vital knowledge as tyres are set to form a key part of race strategy this year."

Pirelli will take the hard and soft compounds to the first three races of the season, meaning that silver and yellow tyres will be first to make an appearance in Australia.

HRT concentrating on putting miles on the clock in Australia, and dedicate their livery to Japan for this race:

The Hispania drivers say all they are looking for from the season-opening weekend in Melbourne is an opportunity to put some miles on their untried new car.

The F111 was launched on the penultimate day of winter testing last week, but was unable to get any mileage as its dampers were not released by customs in time.

Although that means it will not make its debut until practice in Australia, Tonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan are optimistic that the car is enough of an improvement to take the team forward despite its lack of mileage.

"Even though it was disappointing to not be able to drive the new car in Barcelona, I'm sure the car is a significant step forward from last year's," said Karthikeyan. "It certainly looks the business, we just have to wait until Friday morning in Melbourne to put it all into practice.

"I think Albert Park will be a great place to start off with the new F111 since it's not a very demanding track. For a new and unproven car such as ours, I think that reliability is something we need to work on before we can start to extract the maximum performance, so I believe that if both cars finish the race, we will have had a satisfying weekend.

"Once Tonio and I have driven the car in Melbourne, we will both have a better understanding of what to expect for the rest of 2011."

Liuzzi agreed that Melbourne will effectively be a test session for HRT.

"It's difficult to predict how the car will respond here since we didn't get to test it in Barcelona, but I'm sure the areas we concentrated on developing will prove to be a significant improvement from last year's car," he said.

"The aim for the weekend is to come away with a clear picture of the car, making sure that all the new regulation items work well. If both cars make it to the chequered flag at the end with good pace and reliability then the weekend will have been a great success.

"Hopefully in this 2011 season we will take a giant leap forward and set some solid bases for the future."

Both drivers also expressed their sadness at the plight of the Japanese people following last week's earthquake and tsunami. The F111s will sport a Japanese flag design for the Melbourne weekend.

"This is a terrible thing for the Japanese population. I am shocked. I cannot watch TV anymore," said Liuzzi. "I feel so sorry for all my friends there, but I am sure that they will come out of this situation stronger than ever.

"Hopefully they will be able to recover and limit the damage. They are a strong population and I am sure they will react soon because they have incomparable dignity and hopefully all the other nations will help in every way possible because this kind of event should make the world unite."

Finally, Adrian Sutil has said that he expects his Force India team to struggle for the first few races.

Anybody else as excited for the first race as I am! It seems like forever since that fateful day in Abu Dhabi last year...

[Lineker]

Yesterday, the Lotus vs. Lotus court case begun. Let the mud-slinging begin!

The Lotus naming row has taken a new twist on the day when the court case between Tony Fernandes' Team Lotus and Proton-owned Group Lotus commences.

David Hunt, who Fernandes acquired the Team Lotus naming rights from when Group Lotus withdrew the squad's licence to run as Lotus Racing, has now hit out at Fernandes and revealed a disagreement over the terms of their deal. He had previously been a strong supporter of the second-year squad's right to use the Lotus title in Formula 1.

"When we had to make the Team Lotus staff redundant in 1995 I made a promise to them and the fans to return it to F1 in the hands of a worthy custodian, and initially I had high hopes that [Lotus bosses] Tony, Din and Nasa were going to tick the boxes," Hunt told the Daily Telegraph.

"What angers me is that I have, in good faith, worked extremely hard on the build-up to the hearing because I believed Tony would honour our January agreement.

"He's apparently 'changed his mind' at the 11th hour, by his own admission, now that I've done so much work on his company's behalf, and he's trying to renegotiate by offering new terms which are, frankly, ludicrous.

"All I'm looking for is for Tony to stick to his word and honour our agreement. If he doesn't, then regrettably I don't see why I should continue to provide assistance and this trial won't be the last battle he's facing, even if he wins."

A Lotus spokesman rejected Hunt's claim, telling the Telegraph: "Team Lotus has an agreement with David Hunt which was signed by both parties. David Hunt has tried to renegotiate that agreement, which Team Lotus is not prepared to do."

The court case which commences today is intended to finally resolve all issues in the Lotus versus Lotus row.

Having now entered into a title sponsorship deal with the Renault team, Group Lotus is arguing that Fernandes has no right to continue using the Lotus brand in F1, while Fernandes believes both that he has a legitimate claim to operate as Team Lotus and that his agreement with Group Lotus was unfairly terminated.

Meanwhile, TEAM Lotus have confirmed that Karun Chandhok has officially joined them as its reserve driver for 2011 - and his duties will begin in Australia this weekend with him taking to the track for the first free practice session.

McLaren will introduce a 'simpler' exhaust system and new floor for the Australian Grand Prix after its troubled pre-season testing period - and hopes to gain over a second per lap from the changes.

The team has been off the pace and struggling for reliability during the winter, and team boss Martin Whitmarsh said during a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in conference that he had decided the only option was to shelve the MP4-26's radical exhaust.

"I'm not satisfied with where the car was on reliability or performance in the test," he said. "We have made some fairly dramatic changes, and those changes we will see in Australia. There's some risk in that, but I think it was the right thing to do and we're hopeful that that risk comes off and the car is a lot more competitive in Australia."

He said the exhaust and floor were the headline elements in a major change to the car.

"We have a completely new floor and a new exhaust system. There are a lot of other bits and pieces, but they're the clear and obvious ones that people will see in Australia."

Whitmarsh acknowledged that the original exhaust design had been too complex and had created too many reliability issues.

"I'd say it is a simpler design than we've had before," he said. "I think the exhaust systems have become quite extreme on quite a lot of the cars. I think we in particular had very extreme solutions.

"But I think that they were not delivering, in my opinion, sufficient benefits for their complexity.

"I believe that the car isn't fundamentally a bad car. I believe that we need to unlock the exhaust-blowing potential.

"We had some very creative ideas, some of which could have worked spectacularly well. But if they were to work spectacularly well then they had to be sufficiently durable to be raceable, and frankly some of our solutions weren't, and that's why I think we had to go back on it. But I think in doing so we found some interesting performance."

Whitmarsh admitted that going straight into the opening race of the season with such major changes on the car was a risk, but felt it was worthwhile given the performance gain he expects to see.

"I think it will still be a challenging weekend, but I'm hopeful that we'll put on more than a second in performance," he said.

"That's not what you like to do after a test like that, but I think it's the right decision, and if it wasn't then I'll have to put my hand up."

While unwilling to make firm predictions about where the revised McLaren could stand in Australia, he said the team would be aiming for victory.

"I can't make any predictions, but you always have the target of going to win races," Whitmarsh said. "I'm not predicting we're going to win it, I'm saying we're aiming to win it."

This is interesting. However surely it will make a reappearance later in the season. Otherwise it is a massive waste of their time, efforts, and money.

Teams will be given an extra set of tyres to use at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, with Pirelli deciding to bring into use more rubber for Friday practice. Following a rule change agreed with the FIA earlier this month, at selected events throughout 2011 Pirelli can choose to give teams 12 sets of tyres for a weekend - rather than the 11 sets that is laid down in the regulations. This tweak in the rules has been introduced to give Pirelli the chance to try out experimental tyre developments throughout the campaign – and also at other events ensure that teams have enough sets of tyres to complete plenty of running. With the weather in Australia set to be warmer than was experienced throughout winter testing, Pirelli has decided that it makes sense for teams to get an extra set for the Melbourne weekend so they can more throughout practice. The 12th set of tyres, which will be of the 'prime' hard specification, can only be used in first and second practice and must be returned to the FIA, along with two others set of prime and one of option, before the start of third practice.

On the subject of the Oz GP:

Australian Grand Prix promoter Ron Walker insists the future of his event is 'very secure' beyond its current 2015 deal - despite ongoing speculation suggesting Bernie Ecclestone could pull the plug on the race.

Speculation about the future of Albert Park has been intense ever since Melbourne's Lord Mayor Robert Doyle spoke out earlier this year against the high costs of putting on the race.

His comments did not go down well with Ecclestone, who has said several times since then that if Australia does not want its race then he will not hesitate to drop it from the calendar.

But with the Lord Mayor having now thrown his weight behind the race, and even appearing at a promotional event that took place with a two-seater car in downtown Melbourne on Tuesday morning, Walker says he is fully confident about the city's F1 future.

"I think it is very secure," Walker told AUTOSPORT about his feelings on the contract beyond 2015. "There is a five-year option there that goes either way, and Mr. Ecclestone recognises that this is a great city to come to.

"It is like Montreal. They lost it, and then they turned around and wanted to get it back. It is one of these things that advertises the city on free to air television....It is an amazing sport to help publicise the city."

Walker and local government representatives are putting together an official economic impact study to show the benefits of hosting the race – which he believes is well in excess of $160 million (Australian dollars) per year.

And although Ecclestone has reiterated his belief that Melbourne's future cannot be guaranteed, Walker sees nothing unusual in the F1 supremo's comments – and thinks it is just his way of making sure that Melbourne makes it clear it wants to keep the race.

"I would say the same thing if I was him. If you have the mayor of a capital city criticising the race and saying we don't really need it as it is too costly, I would turn around and say: 'Well, I'll give it to President Putin, or to the Prime Minister of India, or Korea.' The Mayor of New York wants one for Staten Island. So that is what I would be saying – Bernie doesn't want a race to come to a capital city where it is unwelcome."

As evidence of his belief about the long-term viability of the Melbourne race, Walker has also revealed that he plans to speak to the Victoria government in the next few weeks to evaluate the possibility of switching the race to a permanent facility near Avalon Airport.

"Now that Mr. Ecclestone has raised the issue again, maybe we might go to Avalon and look at the plans. It is a lot of money to build it, but then again the government has $1 billion invested in the Tennis Centre. If you take the interest rate of that, it is slightly more than the grand prix costs. So, there are various ways of cutting the cat.

"It would take about three years to build, and the decision would have to be made next year. Or, as part of the new contract from 2015 going forward…It is something that we will raise with the government very soon after the race."

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, who will now attend this weekend's opening round of the F1 championship despite having said a few weeks ago that he would not support, also clarified his position about the event. He said that no thought was being given for Melbourne to try and get out of its current deal.

"This is an event for Melbourne, and if something is good for Melbourne then I am for that," he said in front of Melbourne's Town Hall on Tuesday.

"The grand prix certainly brings excitement to Melbourne. The question of the licence fee is a question for another day, and I am here because any event that is good for Melbourne is an event that I will support."

When asked if he felt the race had a future in Melbourne beyond 2015, he said: "I think that is a question for a different time. Those conversations will happen when the licence fee renewal rolls around again.

"For the moment it is here. It is here until 2015 and my view is that we have got to get behind it while it is here. If it is good for the city of Melbourne, then I am behind it."

The Lord Mayor also said that he did not regret having spoken out against the race earlier this year.

"No, I don't regret making those comments," he said. "Healthy debate is healthy but at the same time this is a major pillar event in our city, and therefore I want to see it work. I want to see the best grand prix in the world here in Melbourne."

Fantastic reassurance. One of my favourite races, despite the local opposition, it can't go anywhere.

Massa unsure of Ferrari stance:

Felipe Massa says Ferrari still does not know how well its car stacks up against the opposition - even though he is sure the team has put together a reliable package for the season ahead.

The Maranello-based outfit spent much of its winter focusing on reliability, and only brought major aerodynamic updates to its car for the final pre-season test at Barcelona.

And although that strategy means Ferrari is bullish about reliability, Massa concedes that there is still some uncertainty about its pace compared to the rivals.

"I can't wait to get going: I'm ready to race and I think the whole team is well prepared after doing so many laps over all the days of winter testing, even more than we had planned in the end," Massa wrote on the official Ferrari website.

"The car appears to be reliable, but on its own this is not enough as the car needs to be quick too. For the moment, reliability has been good and I don't think we can complain about performance, but we won't have a clear picture until all the teams are together on track in Melbourne."

Massa also believes that predictions for Australia are much harder because of the complicated tyre situation - as no one yet knows what impact Pirelli's tyres will have on the racing.

"Getting to understand the new tyres has been one of the most interesting aspects of the winter tests and for my part, it's true I don't have any difficulty warming up the tyres which was a big problem for me last year," he said.

"With the high degradation we are seeing, the races will be very different and we will need to pit several times, whereas last year many races needed just one stop. It will also be interesting to see how the tyres operate when we reach the warmer countries, although maybe not Australia, as it is not expected to be so hot in Melbourne next week.

"Also, the difference between the soft and hard compounds is far greater which might even change the way you approach with a view to what tyre you will then use to start the race the next day.

"Certainly the drivers will have more influence over when we make the pitstops in the race: of course there will be a plan regarding our strategy made before the event, but I expect the situations to change far more quickly during the races with a driver feeling when tyre degradation is starting and choosing to pit early to get ahead of the car in front, or in the case of a safety car period. It will be very different and maybe more exciting for the spectators."

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali believes having the quickest car will not be enough to win this year's titles, as he is adamant that strategy will be "absolutely vital".

"From what we have seen in winter testing, these tyres are very different to those we used in the past," said Domenicali ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

"Therefore, we have to adopt a fresh approach and clearly, from what we have seen so far, the number of pitstops required to complete a race distance competitively will be higher than before.

"This is significant in terms of teamwork at the races, because more pitstops means the role of team members becomes even more important in terms of deciding the final outcome of the races. A further impact of having more pitstops is that possibly qualifying and therefore grid position will be less important than in 2010.

"In simple terms it is more likely that a car that has not set the fastest time and taken pole position can still go on to win the race.

"It will be absolutely vital to have the right strategy in order to win the race," he added.

The Italian said his team arrives in Melbourne very well prepared after a strong winter of testing, but he admitted he is staying cautious about its own performance ahead of the first race.

"The atmosphere in the team is good and everyone is keen to get to work in Melbourne, to see where we are compared to the other teams," Domenicali added. "So far, we have done a lot of testing through four test sessions in Spain in February and early March but this will be the chance to see where our base line puts us.

"There were fifteen days of winter testing in total. I am by nature very cautious so in assessing how we went during these days, I have to take into account how we worked through our programme, as well as looking at what the other teams did and because we do not know exactly what the others were doing in testing, I have to remain cautious in rating our own work."

Domenicali insisted there is just one goal for the team this year, saying: "The goal is so clear I don't need to repeat it."

4 days, ten and a half hours....

[Lineker]

Mark Webber has added his voice to calls for a rethink about the moveable rear wing rules in Formula 1 - saying he does not understand why its use is unrestricted in practice and qualifying.

On the back of discussions between the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) and F1 race director Charlie Whiting at the recent Barcelona test to discuss the regulations, a number of drivers have voiced concern about the situation.

And with Sebastian Vettel having hinted that, as a last resort, drivers could even strike if they felt their safety was being compromised – Webber has admitted that the situation has baffled him.

For although drivers need to try out the wing in practice and qualifying to sort out gear ratios for its use in the grand prix itself, Webber says that could be achieved just as well by limiting its use to the FIA-mandated zone where it can only be used in the race.

"I don’t quite understand why we have to use the wing all through qualifying," Webber said at a Red Bull media event in Melbourne on Wednesday.

"For qualifying, it is an added distraction and loading which we don’t really need. It is not helping the show – it is another session where you want to do the ultimate lap time but everyone has the same tools to get that lap time, so why overload the driver? There is no real gain for doing it."

Webber thinks that use of the rear wing in qualifying could also introduce more risk than the F-duct posed last season – when drivers were having to take hands off the steering wheel to use it through some corners.

"Yes, I think so," he said when asked if it was worse than the F-duct. "We only had one thing. We like to be challenged at this level, and all the drivers like that, but when everyone has got it, what is the advantage of complicating it? And also, going around Singapore for example trying to use the button....

"If you look at Eau Rouge at Spa – that is why I am saying for qualifying – why not just have it at the same points we have it for the race? On the straight. Everyone does it, it is easy. If you take Eau Rouge, Copse, or Becketts – it is not improving the situation. For us, it is making it a little bit more sketchy.

"We know the teams are pushing us completely to the limit and it is not nice to open the door up for them. It was for racing, so I don’t see why we need to be trying to get through Eau Rouge with an open rear wing. We tried that with the F-duct, it was a little on the edge and Charlie wasn’t too happy with that…"

As per usual, Mark Webber speaks sense. However we should give the wings a chance - the word is that the Mercedes version is innovatively operated by an extra pedal in the cockpit as opposed to the standard button/paddle on the steering wheel.

Sakon Yamamoto will be Virgin's reserve driver for the first three races of the season, the team announced on Wednesday.

Jarno Trulli just won't shut up about the Pirelli's. Getting a tad irritating now:

Jarno Trulli believes the high degradation of Pirelli's tyres will lead to confusion in the races this season.

With at least three pitstops per driver expected in the opening races, the Italian fears the amount of stops will make the races too confusing for the spectators.

Trulli also denied drivers had asked for the tyres to degrade so fast, but he is hopeful the FIA and Pirelli will work to rectify the situation.

"Speaking with the other drivers, I've noticed that everyone bar none has had big problems with tyre degradation," Trulli wrote in his column for Repubblica newspaper.

"After just five laps the tyres lose a good part of their efficiency. The most balanced cars can reach seven laps, but after that it's a vertical drop. A driver can do 14 laps to finish his run, but with no performance.

"This is why we have complained: it's not true, as I've read in some places, that we asked for tyres that degrade so quickly. We've never asked for any such thing, also because for a driver tyre consistency is a fundamental element.

"It's what allows you to evaluate all the other set-up variables. If the tyres are inconsistent you never really understand what makes your performance better or worse.

"The tyres' high degradation will also cause great confusion in the race, with at least three pitstops for each car. That's an average of 72 pitstops per race: a hardly manageable situation. The Federation has taken notice, and so has Pirelli.

"No one wants to leave the race in the hands of such a random variable. Pitstops are random elements that are too difficult to manage, therefore I hope the situation may improve on Sunday already."

Finally, for fans of Australian drivers like myself, Ricciardo is 'ready to race' this year should he be required to - to be honest I reckon he'll end up taking over from whomever performs worse out of Buemi/Alguersuari come mid-season.

Daniel Ricciardo says he feels ready to race in Formula 1 this year if the opportunity arises.

The Australian has been signed as Toro Rosso's third driver, and will be in action in every Friday practice session in all grands prix this season.

Should Sebastien Buemi or Jaime Alguersuari be unable to race, Ricciardo feels he would be ready to jump at the opportunity.

"I would have to say yes! With the situation now, I am very happy with how it is," said Ricciardo in Australia on Wednesday.

"And if the opportunity was to arise then I would make sure I am ready."

Ricciardo, who will compete in the Formula Renault 3.5 series this year, insisted his sights are set on a race drive for next season.

He added: "It is a very good opportunity for me this year to do that. That is the basis of it - to get more miles under me and to get more familiar with race weekends and the pressure. And days like today - to be more prepared for what is ahead.

"So I have to do the job on Fridays and then next year, 2012, I really have my eyes set on a full-time seat. If I can work hard towards that this year it should set me up well for next year."

When asked if he felt ready for a full-time race seat next year, he said: "Yes. Yes."

Just three days now! And this time tomorrow, the first practice session will be almost upon us!

[Lineker]

The season has started!

- Liuzzi thinks that HRT could contend for points this year. Perhaps by some miracle in a chaotic race this year, their car should be a lot more reliable this year anyway, but I doubt it'll happen. Karthikeyan is less optimistic, having spoken about qualifying fears.

- Alonso expects a 'new style' of F1 to debut this year with all of the changes. Another one?

- Schumi thinks that his car will be the main chasers of the RB7 this year and have emphasised his belief that things won't be too overly complex for the drivers this year with KERS returning and the new adjustable rear wings. Rosberg agrees and has stated that qualifying is now going to be even less important and stressed that the best race set-up's will pay dividends.

- Jenson thinks that we're set to be shocked at the amount of over-taking there will be. Wait and see? Him and Lewis say they are both optimistic about Australia despite poor testing performances.

The FIA has extended the moveable rear wing overtaking zone to before the final corner of the Albert Park circuit for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

The zone, which is the only place on the track where drivers will be able to use their moveable wing in the race, will now start from just before the final turn onto the start-finish straight.

The exact start of the zone, which will be marked on the track with a painted line, is 867 metres before Turn 1. By starting the zone before the final corner, it means drivers who are eligible will be able to try and use their wing the instant they get on to the start/finish straight.

With the zone starting before the final corner, the FIA has moved the detection zone - which will monitor when a pursuing car is less than one second behind a rival – to just before Turn 14.

This will then give drivers a few extra seconds, as they run down to the Turn 15 left-hander, to be properly notified that they were within the one second margin and that they can use their rear wing.

World champion Sebastian Vettel has declared himself "comfortable" in the Red Bull Racing team after signing a contract extension to the end of the 2014 season.

Some media reports - based on quotes extracted from an interview with Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz in the Allgemeine Sonntagszeiting paper – had focused on the existence of an exit clause in the contract permitting Vettel to leave if Red Bull Racing failed to supply him with competitive machinery.

But, speaking to reporters in Melbourne on Thursday, Vettel emphasised that he is happy with his decision to stay.

"It's not something you decide in one day," he said. "Well, at least I didn't – there are a couple of pages on these things [contracts], rather than one line which you either agree to or you don't. Basically, though, I feel very comfortable in the team and there's nothing that I'd like to change.

"We have a common target and we've achieved a lot together in the past, racing against the best teams and drivers out there. My number one priority is to win races and to be at the top of the field.

"Don't get me wrong – I love to drive but I also love to compete. And I'm very confident I can do that with the team I'm in."

Poor Rubens!!

Rubens Barrichello was relieved to finally make it to Australia on Thursday after a nightmare trip to get to the opening race of the season.

The Williams driver was scheduled to fly from the Buenos Aires airport, but that plan was canned when the airport was forced to call off all flights due to a failure of its communication systems.

Barrichello decided to travel to Uruguay by boat, before being told the airport would re-open in less than 24 hours, so the Brazilian decided to return to Buenos Aires.

His plane eventually took off some 15 hours later.

The relieved driver finally made it to Melbourne on Thursday.

"I'm finally here," Barrichello told reporters in Melbourne. "They said that there was a control tower radio problem and I got to Argentina with my plane, and the idea was to leave the plane there and just get the normal Qantas flight.

"I had my pyjamas on already inside the plane, and the plane was out, and then after three hours they said 'You guys are going to have to jump out.' As soon as I jumped out I said 'Wow, there's going to be trouble.'

"Then I heard a guy in the bus going back saying it was going to be a minimum of 12 hours, and I said 'That's a nightmare.' I tried everyone. I called Mark to see if he could help me with Qantas. I called everyone I could possibly think of.

"They shut the airport. I couldn't take my plane out, I couldn't do anything, and that's why I tweeted. I was going to go to Uruguay by boat for three and a half hours, then take a flight to Santiago, and then fly from there and get here this morning.

"I took a cab to the harbour, but I was told not to do that because we heard they were going to re-open the airport, so then I came back. Luckily they said it was going to be no more than 24 hours, and I ended up being there for 15.

"I was like one of those guys you see in a video, sitting there with a cup of coffee in his hand waiting for a flight.

"People disconnected from the fact I'm a racing driver waiting there myself. In the middle of everything, with people shouting 'When are we going? Where are we going?' they were coming up to me asking for my autograph.

"It was such a nightmare. When I eventually got on the place I slept for 13 hours flat."

He added: "There was never a chance I would miss the race, even if I had to swim over here."

Barrichello also played down the effect the jetlag will have on him despite the late arrival.

"By Sunday I'll be fine. Last night I slept okay, but it was only from 1am until 6am, so I will feel a bit dodgy.

"But after 19 years I'm quite good on jetlag, so I will be okay, but today I do feel tired. The only positive thing is I missed my PR commitments yesterday."

Jean Todt vs. Bernie is set to be big ongoing thing this year. Think I may actually agree with him though?

Formula 1 commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone has launched an attack on FIA President Jean Todt, comparing him unfavourably with his predecessor Max Mosley.

"Jean Todt is a poor man's Max," Ecclestone told the Daily Express. "He has been travelling around the world doing what Max didn't do too much - kissing the babies and shaking the hands. It is probably good for the FIA but we don't need it in Formula 1."

Ecclestone's comments come against a background of increasing friction between the FIA and Formula One Management on certain issues.

This week Todt lent his public support to Melbourne as a host venue for the Australian Grand Prix, telling The Age newspaper: "For me, as the president of the FIA, there is a contract between the promoter of F1 championship and the promoter of GP and for me the Melbourne GP is a healthy and great event when you see the enthusiasm of fans coming from all over the world.

''We should enjoy the magnificence of this international event for the F1 calendar and Australia. The race is not leaving Melbourne, I will not speculate. They have been doing a great job, so let's encourage them to keep on doing a great job.''

Ecclestone had recently suggested that the Australian Grand Prix could move elsewhere, telling local media, "In the case of Melbourne, if the product is too expensive for them, we understand that and when the contract comes to an end there's no need to renew it... We get massive worldwide television coverage - if that's not important well, okay, don't buy the product."

Ecclestone has also repeatedly heaped scorn on the FIA's decision to embrace more fuel-efficient engine technologies by mandating a four-cylinder turbo formula from 2013 onwards.

Last week he said, "People love and get excited about the noise. People who have never been to a Formula 1 race, when they leave you ask them what [they liked] and they say 'the noise'."

"Already I hear about the noise, but that's evolution," Todt told the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday. "Two decades ago, you had a 12-cylinder engine, now you have only 2.4-litre V8... I think it's very important that F1, being the pinnacle of motor racing, takes on board the evolution of society. It will be definitely greener, with the introduction of more technologies in the future."

Ecclestone used his interview with the Express to make his position on the F1 regulations quite clear.

"We should write the rules with the teams," he said. "The competitors have got to race and have got a big investment. We have got a big investment. We should write the rules, give them to the FIA and they should make sure they are followed.

"It should be like the police – the police don't write the rules and say you've got to do 30 miles an hour. The FIA is a joke."

[Katsuya]

Why the hell is the rear wing zone there!? I don't think I've EVER seen an overtaking move pulled off down there, mainly because instead of accelerating to pass someone you're braking massively to make the left hander!

[Lineker]

I guess to encourage it? I would go check in this month's F1 Racing magazine (which has an incredible comprehensive season preview - a must read) but I can't be bothered.

0131: Oh dear. A desperate moment for Chandhok. He puts on the power coming out of Turn 3 and he loses the back end and smacks into the barriers, destroying the front of the car. Well, that's one way to start a campaign. "I don't know what happened," Chandhok tells his team. "I just lost it."

0130: And we are go for 2011 and Lotus test driver Karun Chandhok is the first man out... and we have a crash!

:lmao:

The Hispania is being fired up!!

For anyone interested, coverage of P1 is now on the red button.

[Katsuya]

It was all a bit dismal with Karun, really. Didn't look like he could do anything about it though.

Red Bull dominated FP1. Hispania didn't actually go out on to the track and it sounds like something dodgy is going on there based on what Ted Kravitz was hinting at, implying they won't actually be racing this weekend and there's something still not finished/there on the car. Looks like the top four are still the top four, really, with Rubens, Kamui and maybe the Renaults being the ones that could get amongst them. In other words, nothing at all has changed from last year after all.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

If it is indeed true that the changes in tyres etc mean that tyre strategy is going to be important this year (as reported on BBC) then I'd expect Button to perform well as his strengths seem to be in tyre choice and changeable weather conditions.

[Gazz]

He's also awesome at conserving his tyres due to his ultra smooth driving style. Webber is the same, which was usually why he was always a tenth off balls to the wall Vettel in qualifying last season.