Formula One 2012

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Aren't you all fortunate that I've stumped up for this!

Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery says he is not yet sure whether his company would stay in F1 if the so-called tyre war returned to the sport.

Hembery reckons the move would not make sense, as he feels the racing would be much less exciting.

"We work for the sport. The sport has to decide what it wants," Hembery said. "If it wants a tyre war and procession racing again, like it did in the early 2000s, when the audience disappeared, than that's one approach. It's not for us to decide.

"We will wait and see if the rules change. If they change, then we will consider it. At the moment the teams are certainly not interested in a tyre war."

Formula 1 last had a tyre war in 2006, when Michelin quit the sport and left Bridgestone as the sole tyre supplier. Pirelli replaced the Japanese manufacturer at the start of the 2011 season.

Hembery thinks the public is not interested in a fight of the tyre suppliers, and believes the move would mean cost would escalate once again.

"We would have to see the rules first, what does it really mean to have a tyre war? If it means spending 100 million euros to go half a second quicker, and you can't even prove that you have the better tyre, because the teams will dominate still, it is pointless," he said.

"We saw that in the past. You'll only get a reputation in F1 as a tyre maker if you do an Indianapolis, and you stop a race.

"Ultimately no one could really make out what tyres were on what car when there was a tyre war. Nobody knew, because all the money was being spent on trying to find performance that the public couldn't see. And if the public can't see it, we don't understand it."

Citing the 2005 US Grand Prix fiasco as an example, when only the six cars on Bridgestones started the race, Hembery also stated that a tyre war would ultimately be unsafe.

"All the teams I've talked to don't want a tyre war. They see it as money wasted on an area they can't control, and have limited value to the public. And ultimately at least for safety issues," he said. "The tyre companies would push the safety barriers, because that's where you get performance.

"As we saw it in Indianapolis, that's the ultimate effect of a tyre war. I don't think that's good for tyre makers, and certainly not good for the sport.

Ferrari has strongly refuted claims from rivals Red Bull that it has been running a manually-adjusted ride-height system in Formula 1 - on the back of the latest technical controversy that erupted at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Red Bull found itself last weekend having to deny suggestions that it breached the sport's regulations by having a system on its car that could adjust the ride height without the use of tools.

It had emerged that the FIA had asked the team to change its design in Canada, because the governing body felt the effort required to make set-up alterations was too low.

Red Bull's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has not only denied his team ever made changes to its car's set-up by hand - but he has also questioned why his team aroused suspicion because he claimed Ferrari had run an identical design.

Speaking to Auto Motor Und Sport, Marko said: "We have never adjusted anything by hand. I don't know why the others are upset – we know Ferrari has used something like that for a year."

But Ferrari says Marko's claims are incorrect – and that the outfit has never run anything like that.

"This is completely untrue," a team spokesman told AUTOSPORT in reference to Marko's comments.

When asked for a response to Red Bull's suggestions that it broke the rules, the Ferrari spokesman added: "Did they really accuse us of cheating? Are you sure? Anyway, we have all the confidence in the FIA's role to make sure all the regulations are fully respected."

McLaren is continuing to evaluate the introduction of a double DRS for later this year, despite the concept being banned for 2013.

Mercedes was the first to pioneer the design at the start of this season and, although a number of outfits gave up on copying it - because of costs and question marks about its ultimate benefit - Lotus is now planning to race its own version soon.

With great intrigue about the potential benefits that Lotus's system will bring – with it hoped it can deliver a big straight-line speed advantage in races – McLaren has revealed that it is still keeping its own project on the back burner.

Sporting director Sam Michael told AUTOSPORT that McLaren was being mindful about where best to focus its resources – but that double DRS was on the list of developments it could introduce over the remainder of the year.

"It's not like the Lotus one, but we have got a system like that," he explained. "As for the chances of us bringing it, I don't know yet.

"We will look at all the programmes and see if it is feasible, because it requires work and it detracts from normal upgrades as well. So it is quite difficult to make the system work, as Lotus are discovering.

"But like anything in the pit lane, if we see a new idea then the guys jump on it, they analyse it and, if we decide that it will be a benefit to the team, then we will bring it."

F1 teams have agreed to a number of regulation changes for 2013 that will effectively ban teams from pursuing double DRS, which means any work done on it this year will not be carried over for next year.

Michael said that that was another factor to be taken in to account – as would the amount of benefit Lotus will get out of its own system.

"There is possibly the question of a waster resource on it," he explained. "As for Lotus, they are damn quick already, and if they add that then they will be even quicker."

Mercedes insists there is no reason to believe its season is now a write-off - despite its recent struggles in Formula 1.

Having come into the year as a potential frontrunner, and having helped Nico Rosberg dominate the Chinese Grand Prix, there was a stage of the season where the team even appeared to be championship dark horses.

But since the Monaco GP Mercedes has fallen away from its rivals – and has scored less than half the points than teams like Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Lotus.

Last weekend's Hungarian GP marked a new low in the campaign, with neither of its drivers making it through to Q3 and it coming away from the race with just a single point – its worst result since Malaysia.

Despite its form having dropped away, team principal Ross Brawn says the team understands what is happening – and thinks that the characteristics of recent tracks explain why his squad has struggled.

Speaking about what has happened to the team's form since the Monaco Grand Prix, Brawn said: "I think in Montreal we made a bit of a hash of qualifying, but we were pretty good in the race.

"For Hungary, someone asked me why we were not competitive there but competitive at Monaco, but I think they are different circuits. If you look at the long corners you have at the Hungaroring, they are not the same as Monaco in any shape or form.

"Our car suits some tracks and, what we have to do is produce a car that is competitive on all circuits. That is our priority. There is a massive amount of work going on to improve the situation."

Brawn thinks the key to Mercedes making the step forward it needs is to produce a car that is quick at all types of circuit.

"Occasionally one team will dominate and be competitive at all tracks, and we have been fortunate to be there, but more often than not there are ups and downs, and particularly up and downs on how well you use the tyres at different tracks.

"That is something we are addressing to have a more broad range of usage on the car. Maybe in Hungary the consistent balance on the long corners was not good, so we need to look at it and find some solutions."

Sauber needs to iron out the small errors it has made on grand prix weekends if it is going to realise the full potential of its car over the remainder of the season.

That is the view of its drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez, who both believe that the outfit can deliver a lot more in the second half of the campaign than it did in the first.

Kobayashi said: "Overall we have done a good job and achieved great things. The team built a very good car with an excellent performance.

"Since the beginning of the season we have been competitive on most tracks, and this means we can be confident for the remainder of the season.

"The downside so far has been we definitely missed some opportunities for some more great results. Too often we didn't manage the weekend perfectly. If we can improve there, a lot will be possible."

Although Perez has delivered two podium finishes for the team this year, the outfit has seen other opportunities slip through its grasp - like with the Mexican's puncture on the first lap in Spain, and his steering problem in qualifying in Monaco leaving him unable to fulfil all that had been hoped.

Perez added: "We need to be more efficient and I want to contribute to that. It is not that our performance was not consistent, but we didn't always get the things right and also we have been unlucky sometimes.

"We have to get everything together and make the most out of what we have. The car is quick and for me my first victory would be a dream come true."

Pedro de la Rosa says HRT has accomplished its goals for the 2012 season with "flying colours" during some periods of the campaign.

Although the Spanish squad failed to qualify for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, it has managed to compete with its most direct rival Marussia since then.

"Without a doubt," said de la Rosa when asked if the targets set have been met. "We're accomplishing them and with flying colours at times. We started outside the 107 per cent in Australia and we've reached peaks of 103.6 per cent in Monaco and our best qualifying result which was 103.4 per cent in Valencia.

"That was a very ambitious target that we set ourselves because, for us, to be close to 104 per cent is a realistic objective. We've surpassed it and have potential to do more.

"In our case, it's going to be easier to improve in this second half of the season than it will be for a big team that is striving for perfection because we've got much more room for improvement. For now we've accomplished our objectives but there are still many races to set ourselves more ambitious targets."

The Spanish driver believes that this progress will provide a great boost for the team ahead of the 2013 season.

"If we manage to qualify inside the 103 per cent it will be a complete success," he said. "Especially doing so without KERS and a much less effective DRS system than the other teams. But it's going to be very difficult because at the last grands prix the difference has been a bit bigger.

"If we manage to be under 104 per cent with the aero package for Singapore it will be a great finish to the season and the necessary momentum to start next season strongly."

De la Rosa, whose best result this season has been a 17th place in the European Grand Prix, says the team has grown significantly since the start of the season, and reiterated his belief that moving the headquarters to Madrid has helped HRT a lot.

"The team is going through a period of change and growth and now we've got a fantastic headquarters that has transformed the team. We've got a base from which it is growing day by day. No one has stopped pushing, no matter what the situation. And we've felt supported.

"It's not easy being at the back and finishing last. But what motivates us every day is that we see that we're improving and we believe that we won't be at the back for long. It's very nice to see that, despite the fact that it's being very tough, we believe in that step forward."

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Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug is confident that there will be enough new engines to supply the entire Formula 1 grid in 2014 - even if independent supplier PURE fails to resurrect its plans.

As AUTOSPORT revealed last weekend, PURE has been forced to suspend its operations because investment money has failed to come through - and it cannot continue working until the finances are in place.

With continued uncertainty about whether or not Cosworth will push on with a 2014 engine, PURE's absence could leave just three engine suppliers in F1 after next year – with only Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Renault having already begun development of the new turbo power units.

But with suggestions that Mercedes and Ferrari do not want to expand beyond their current two customer teams, and the FIA not eager for one engine supplier like Renault to supply the rest of the grid, there is the outside chance that some teams could find themselves without an engine.

Haug is optimistic though about the situation, and thinks that even with just three engine suppliers a solution can be found.

"I am pretty sure that we will have three [engine suppliers]," he explained. "I do not know about more than three, but with three I think we can get the job done."

When asked by AUTOSPORT about whether or not Mercedes would be willing to expand beyond its current two customer teams, Haug said: "Let's not discuss this yet, but we need to evaluate the situation for the teams.

"We are in discussions with the three manufacturers together - still on cost issues, and still on bringing the costs down. There will also be a subject on who will supply."

Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn says her team is relaxed about its driver line-up for next year and insists its main focus is on the current season.

Sergio Perez has been linked with rival teams after a promising second season in Formula 1, having finished on the podium twice.

The Mexican, who is a member of Ferrari's young-driver scheme, has been tipped as one of the candidates to replace Felipe Massa at the Italian squad, although president Luca di Montezemolo said he lacked experience.

Despite such speculation, Kaltenborn says she is not losing any sleep over the situation with her drivers.

"We make our driver line-up for a whole season, so from that point of view there will be no changes," she told the official Formula 1 website.

"We are not worried. And we are in the middle of a season that hopefully will be a successful one for us - at least all indications point in that direction - and our drivers have to focus solely on this season. Regarding the future, we are not under pressure and I am laid back about it."

Kaltenborn also denied the performance of Kamui Kobayashi has dipped in recent races, saying the Japanese driver has been unlucky.

"I am not sure if it is really the case that his performance is dipping against Sergio. I think that the results do not show the whole picture. Kamui has shown good performances, but yes, he was a bit struck by misfortune.

"Twice in qualifying there were some hiccups with the car - only his car - and on the other hand the very risky strategy Sergio was running on in Malaysia bore fruits and catapulted him into the spotlight.

"So I would say that some factors played for Sergio - and some simply didn't work out for Kamui. But as we still have half the season to go, Kamui can go out and copy Sergio."

The Sauber CEO, whose team is enjoying a strong season, said she rated her drivers' performance in the first half of the year as "satisfactory".

"I would put on record that both show a good development curve. Never forget Kamui is in only his third season, and Sergio only his second.

They have established a good communication line to their engineers and to the whole team, and are always very welcome in the factory as their input is held in high regard.

"I also think that both are behaving well. Of course tempers can sometimes run a little wild, but that's because they are young. So the interim report reads 'satisfactory'."

Bruno Senna is optimistic he will be able to secure his future at the Williams team if he continues to qualify as strongly as he did in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Williams driver has struggled to match the qualifying performances of team-mate Pastor Maldonado this year, having only reached the top-ten shootout at the Hungaroring.

He built on that strong performance however, putting in a solid performance in the race to finish in seventh position.

The Brazilian is confident that if he can continue to qualify well, his future at Williams will be secure.

"The only reason why we scored good points like this is because we qualified well, and we need to keep on doing it," Senna said.

"Everybody needs opportunities to grow up and this is mine. I need an opportunity to grow up and develop with the team. It's probably the hardest season in Formula 1 for who knows how many years. With a tenth of a second you can be five or six positions up.

"In the races I think I'm doing pretty well this season. As I said before, nailing qualifying will be the key to make sure I stay for next year and hopefully the next few years."

Senna believes the Hungarian weekend was his best so fat this season, and admits he feels much more comfortable about his position going into the summer break.

"I think so," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT if Hungary had been his strongest weekend yet. "I think we had a strong weekend overall, and it's important to keep on pushing like that. Definitely if I had come out of the weekend with a bad result or with poor pace, you come into the break with something in the back of your mind.

"I have nothing to worry now. I think we had a strong performance overall, and I'm learning, I'm improving and it's going to be a case of chipping away and in the second half of the season I'll have much more experience and everything helps."

And the Brazilian is optimistic Williams can continue to make progress in the upcoming races, as the team knows what is the best direction for the development of its car.

"You need to keep pushing and improving. We know the team has potential. We know the direction to push the car for the next few races. There's a clear development path.

"It's just great to have car that's a top-10 finisher pretty much every race and every time you don't finish in the top 10 is mostly because of something else happened."

Lotus is prepared to push on with developments of its E20 much further into the campaign than it has its previous cars, as it eyes a full-on assault on the world championship.

With the outfit's double podium finish in Hungary leaving rivals in no doubt that Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean are a serious threat for victory, Lotus itself thinks there is no reason why it cannot be chasing the ultimate prize this year.

Technical director James Allison told Sky Sports News on Friday that his outfit has realised that its form in recent years suffered from it electing to shift its resource on to the following year's cars - something it is not intending to do this season.

"One of the things that our team has got a little bit wrong in the last couple of seasons is that we have been too ready to switch over to the new car a little bit too soon," he said.

"So we started this year consciously intending to develop this one a bit longer than normal."

Although Raikkonen is 48 points adrift of points leader Fernando Alonso, Allison thinks there is everything to play for in the championship – especially with a driver capable of securing 225 points over the remainder of the season.

When asked about the chances of Raikkonen being champion, Allison said: "Why not? There are an awful lot of points for coming first and there are a lot of races to be done. The lead is minuscule compared to the points available."

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has faith that the FIA is handling this year's spate of technical controversies in Formula 1 in the right way - even though the number of changes that Red Bull has had to make to its car has left some rivals uneasy.

On the back of an incredibly close fight for glory, Red Bull has found itself under close scrutiny from both rivals teams and the FIA over design aspects of its car.

Since the Monaco Grand Prix it has been asked to change the design of holes in its floor, its wheel hub concept, revise a system that allowed manual changing of suspension settings and also ditch clever engine maps.

Each time the changes have been enforced the race after the design has been used, which has led some to question why the FIA has not acted tougher against the team and punished it at the time.

But Lotus boss Boullier, whose team has emerged as a dark horse contender for the world championship on the back of recent strong results, believes that the FIA has acted correctly.

He suggests that there is a big difference between arguing over an interpretation of the regulations, and going all out to cheat.

"In theory, if you are illegal and you don't get a penalty there is something wrong," Boullier told AUTOSPORT.

"I am not involved in the process with the FIA, but you need to make sure that when a team does something really illegal, then you obviously have to be penalised.

"But if you just exploit a loophole, then that is something different. I think if you look at the mapping situation for example - it was legal and a clever idea."

Red Bull's technical chief Adrian Newey has told AUTOSPORT that the key thing for the FIA is to ensure that all teams are treated equally when there is debate about an interpretation of a specific regulation.

"What is important is that teams are treated fairly and equally when they come up with things that are in the grey area," he said.

"For example, the double DRS is in the grey area but has been deemed legal [until the end of the season], which is fine. As long as everything is consistent, then that is the nature of it."

The Nurburgring's hopes of holding the German Grand Prix next year have been boosted following local government intervention to help the financially beleaguered circuit.

Following weeks of uncertainty about the fate of the famous track, which was facing bankruptcy on the back of a failed revamp project, it has now secured the finances it needed to move forward.

The Rhineland-Palatinate's state legislature has approved 254 million Euro to help guarantee a 330 million Euro loan that was handed to it for the circuit improvements.

Although the track is not yet totally in the clear, the local government intervention should give it the breathing space to sort out its financial situation.

Nurburgring track boss Jorg Linder was quoted as saying by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper: "I am very optimistic that formula one will be going to the Nurburgring next year."

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone warned last week that if the Nurburgring's troubles were not sorted out then he would move the German GP to Hockenheim in 2013 - but he did want to try and help the venue out.

"We are talking to them, so will see," he told AUTOSPORT. "I wouldn't want either of them to go bust. We need to keep the German race - so we have to do the best we can."

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Mark Webber reckons rivals' doubts about the legality of Red Bull's cars are becoming 'boring'.

The latest controversies over Red Bull designs saw the FIA issue a clarification about engine mapping rules following the German Grand Prix, and details emerge of a device that allowed manual adjustment of the car's suspension.

"I think it's incredibly boring for most people," Webber told Reuters.

"All we can do is keep passing every single test and we have... it's not a one-make series, you can design a car to the regulations and that's what we do."

Webber also believes rows over Red Bull gain more attention than queries about other teams' cars.

"I know other teams have been asked to address things with their cars, but [FIA directives] are not for general consumption," he said. "And some of ours do make the general consumption, which is just the way it's been."

He was adamant that everything Red Bull is doing is comfortably within the regulations.

"Whether it's with the wings or whatever - and there'll be something else I promise you that will pop up - we will always pass every single test," he said. "Not one single team has protested us, because they know it's within the rules."

Some rivals feared Red Bull was set to resume 2011-style domination when Sebastian Vettel pulled away from the field prior to an alternator failure in Valencia and then Webber won at Silverstone. But the team was defeated in Germany and Hungary, and Webber believes the top teams are evenly matched.

"I don't know who's got the fastest car," he said. "There's always talk that it's not the fastest car, but you need the most consistent one. I don't think anyone's got the fastest car at the moment.

"We did after Valencia and then Fernando [Alonso] had it at Silverstone until six laps to go and then all of a sudden we had it again. And then McLaren turned up for a few weeks. And Lotus.

"Kimi [Raikkonen] pushed Lewis [Hamilton] over the line in Budapest and before that we had Fernando winning with JB [Jenson Button] there and me in Silverstone. So it is up and down."

Ferrari has learned from some development misdirections in recent races and will start regaining ground again when the Formula 1 season resumes after the summer break, reckons the Italian squad's technical chief Pat Fry.

After a tough pre-season, Ferrari staged an impressive recovery, allowing Fernando Alonso to win three races and establish a comfortable championship lead.

But Alonso acknowledged in Hungary, where he would finish fifth, that some of Ferrari's latest developments had not paid off. Fry acknowledged this, but said Ferrari had learned from it.

"It's true we had a handful of parts that did not work the way we had expected," he told Ferrari's official website. "There's always a chance that can happen in work like this.

"The positive aspect is that we understood the problem and everything is alright now: that way, we can use this experience to move forward rather than being left confused about it. In fact, we have a clear idea on the direction we need to take and we have already begun to work in this direction."

Fry said Ferrari had specific development for the upcoming high-speed tracks at Spa and Monza.

"We have a few interesting developments that we will introduce at Spa, a track which, from an aerodynamic downforce point of view, is quite special, as indeed is Monza," he said. "In fact, we will also have an aerodynamic and engine package specifically suited to the Italian track.

"Therefore a lot of work has been done, but there is still also a lot to do. We must continue to keep up the pressure to a high level."

While delighted that Ferrari appeared to be winning the 2012 development race, Fry promised there would be no hint of complacency.

"In my opinion, we have overtaken a large part of the other teams in terms of development over the season," he said. "We staged a good recovery, but there is still a long way to go."

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Lotus can build upon its excellent recent form and become an even stronger outfit across the final nine grands prix of 2012.

That is the view of trackside operations director Alan Permane, who is optimistic the team's 'desperate' desire to win can be achieved in the season run-in.

Lotus scored more points than any other constructor over the last five races before F1's summer break, when it had a presence on every podium except Silverstone.

Permane is confident the team can exceed such standards in the second half of the year, particularly as it has now adapted to having two new drivers for the start of this year's campaign.

"We will be much stronger in the second half. The car is great, we have started with that, and we have shown we can develop as well if not better than others," Permane said.

"We have spent time getting to know our drivers, and Romain has [had some] crashes on the first lap. Without that things would be very different. There's no reason why we can't have a good second half.

"I think everywhere suits our car - we were super-quick at Silverstone and Hungary, and they are opposite ends of the scale. Nowhere scares us."

Permane admitted Lotus was looking to add downforce to improve its qualifying fortunes, but said he expected the upcoming circuits to also play into the team's favour as they aided overtaking and therefore reduced the emphasis on qualifying.

"I don't think there is much in the set-up," he said when asked about where Lotus could improve the car.

"[After final Hungarian practice] Kimi was ever so happy with his car. I said 'what do you need?', and he just said 'more downforce'. The car is good, but to go faster it just needs more front and rear grip.

"The race pace of his car compared to ours, he had no right to be four tenths faster in qualifying - that's where we need to be better, absolutely. If we had been in front of him we would have driven away and disappeared with both our cars.

"A track like Hungary, second [on the grid] isn't good enough. Other circuits you can overtake - the next tracks are Spa and Monza, different stories.

"If we can finish second or third every race this year and win both championships I'll be very happy, obviously, [but] we are desperate to win a race."

Daniel Ricciardo is confident that he will remain at Toro Rosso for a second season in 2013.

The Australian has scored only two points through his ninth-place finish in Melbourne, although his qualifying performances compared to team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne have made a good impression.

But despite missing out on a potential Red Bull seat after Mark Webber, whose new deal was announced after the British Grand Prix, was re-signed, Ricciardo admits that he always saw his Toro Rosso seat as at least a two-year plan.

"Unless we were getting some podiums and doing something extraordinary, I never saw that happening next year," Ricciardo told AUTOSPORT when asked about his hopes of moving to Red Bull.

"The thought of it was nice, but I wasn't disappointed because I didn't really expect it. We've still got a bit to learn.

"I'm definitely happy here. I'm not confirmed for what I am doing next year, but I'd be happy to do another year here to improve myself and see what happens."

Ricciardo admits that he does not expect to have a decision from Red Bull on next year until the end of the season.

In 2011, STR drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi did not learn their fate until December, but Ricciardo is in no rush.

"It's always very late and since I started with the Red Bull junior team, the earliest news I got was November," said Ricciardo.

"If it comes before that, I would be surprise. Some good results would maybe confirm it a little bit sooner, but I think it will be quite late."

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Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn says Ferrari remains the team's preferred engine supplier for 2014, when Formula 1 is set to switch to turbocharged 1.6 litre V6s.

While that change could lead to a considerable shake-up of the current order, Kaltenborn believes the most logical option would be to have talks with Ferrari first about extending their engine partnership.

She did however admit that financial concerns would be a major influence on future decisions.

"There is nothing in place, [but] it is a logical step for us to first go and talk to our current engine partner, because we do have a long history together," Kaltenborn explained.

"But all is open because I don't think they themselves know about certain conditions. We have to wait.

"Our position, I think as all customer teams have made clear, is that the financial aspect is very important for us. We don't want to return to the times when you paid so much more than today for the engine.

"They [engine suppliers] will make it anyway, so I think you have to find an equitable solution for customers and for suppliers on what you can do on the pricing and developments costs."

Kaltenborn also played down talk of a potential wide-ranging partnership with VW, insisting that a recent meeting between Sauber and the German giant had not resulted in ongoing discussions.

"We were asked about a meeting, and we confirmed it took place in Geneva, and that is it, there is nothing further to say. There are no further talks," she said.

"If we want to increase our competitiveness, it is one of our targets to have a strong partner, and the strength of the partner matters. [but] we are definitely not talking to them [VW] now."

Asked about Sauber's potential driver line-up for the 2013 season, and whether the team could ever be interested in welcoming Felipe Massa back, Kaltenborn added: "At the moment two drivers interest me, and they are the ones driving our car.

"We always announce on a yearly basis and this year we don't see ourselves in any rush. We can still manage a lot and the drivers we have play a key role in that. Not soon, for sure [a decision].

"Our drivers did a very good job this winter [helping us] focus on developing the weaknesses in the car. We will follow the same strategy for next year, there are no drastic changes - and no need to do everything again."

Mark Webber says consideration of his own legacy within Formula 1 has helped fuel his desire for future success.

The Australian, at 35 one of the elder statesmen of this year's grid, currently sits second in the world championship, 40 points down on Fernando Alonso.

While therefore in the hunt for the championship, Webber admitted his desire for victory was also symbiotic with a desire to cement his standing in F1 history. His total of nine victories puts him 33rd in the all-time list of grand prix winners, ahead of past world champions like John Surtees and Keke Rosberg.

"It's human nature to always want more," Webber told AUTOSPORT when asked if he felt a compulsion to win more before retiring. "You never think you have more wins than some world champions, but that's the way it is.

"Would you have one win and one world championship? Well, probably yes, but I have nine wins and of course I want to get more wins, and let's see what happens with the big stuff later on.

"Ultimately, I've been very proud of what I've achieved - you always want more, that's normal. When I left Australia to have what I would call a reasonable career in Formula One, that was something which wasn't a guarantee when I left, so I think I've got what I deserved.

"I've chipped away and boxed at it, we've had some ups and downs; and to improve my statistics is in my hands. I'm going to have to work very, very hard at it, but at the end of it all, the numbers don't lie.

"I am at a world class team, and we have a great chance to improve many, many statistics and that's what I want to do."

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Mercedes boss Ross Brawn says fifth place in this year's championship will not be enough to satisfy the team's ambitions.

The German squad had a promising start to the season, with Nico Rosberg scoring his maiden win in the Chinese Grand Prix, the third round of the championship, and enjoyed other strong races.

But its form has dipped in comparison with some of its championship rivals more recently. The team is now fifth in the standings, 83 points behind Ferrari.

"I want to do better. P5 is not our ambition and we will do anything possible to end better," Brawn told the official Formula 1 website. "There are still a lot of races to come with many more points to be won."

Brawn is confident, however, that the second half of the year will be better for his team.

"We haven't got the car quite as we wanted right now, but we have a very good team - very good people - so I am optimistic that we are going to have a stronger second half to the season than the first half," he said.

Despite his desire to do better, Brawn reckons the team's performance so far has been pleasing.

"I think we are pleased with some of the achievements this year. We've won a race and had some strong podiums, and we've scored more points than we'd done this time last year.

"But, of course, we also feel that we are not quite where we want to be in terms of consistent competitiveness. We are still working on strengthening the team, strengthening the designs to be more competitive in the future."

Mercedes will not be rushed into a decision about Michael Schumacher's future, according to team boss Ross Brawn.

"I think this is a very important decision for all the people involved," Brawn told the official Formula 1 website in an interview.

"We won't be rushed on the decision and when the time is appropriate we will announce what we are going to do. I don't want to increase speculation by commenting on where we are."

Schumacher, whose contract with the team ends at the end of this year, is yet to decide if he will race on after his current deal expires.

The seven-time champion, who returned to the sport in 2010, has had a mixed season, with strong performances hindered by bad luck - though he was the fastest qualifier in Monaco and took the first podium of his comeback in Valencia.

So far he has scored just 29 points compared to team-mate Nico Rosberg's 77.

Brawn said it was the team's responsibility to take the blame for Schumacher's misfortunes.

"Well, you could argue what luck is," he said. "It was very unlucky for Michael - the problems that he had – but these problems have had a cause. There has been a reason why they've occurred, which has nothing to do with Michael.

"It just occurred on his car and you categorically can't see any reasons why they occurred on Michael's car, but they have.

"So the fact is that something went wrong – and when something goes wrong it's the responsibility of me and the team to not allow it to go wrong again. He had that many years perhaps benefiting from good fortune and this year he has some poor fortune, but I prefer not to believe in luck – not in motor racing."

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh says he will not stand for re-election as chairman of the Formula One Teams' Association.

The Briton has been at the helm of the teams' body since the end of 2009, when he replaced Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo.

Although the position was originally supposed to be occupied on a rotational basis for 12 months, Whitmarsh has been there for nearly three years.

But the McLaren boss has revealed he will not stand for re-election next time.

"I'm never going to volunteer for it," Whitmarsh told AUTOSPORT. "I think it's probably healthy, I suppose it's three years or whatever, I think it would be quite healthy for someone else to do it now. I think it's for the teams to decide on that.

"I care about Formula 1, whatever role I'm in. McLaren I think, has been an extraordinarily good citizen, in my opinion, of the sport.

"We [FOTA] have tried to be a galvanising, stabilising force, trying to understand the issues of all the players. Whatever happens, we'll continue to try and do those things. But I think it would be quite neat for someone else to have a go at it."

Whitmarsh said he has not spent time considering who may replace him, but he feels it would be a good chance for whoever takes over.

"I think it depends. I mean, it's a long way away. At the moment we've got 10 races left and I'll concentrate on that and on other things. We'll see what happens, but my recommendation to them will be that someone else does it. It'll be a good opportunity for them."

When asked if Mercedes boss Ross Brawn or Lotus chief Eric Boullier could be possible candidates to replace him, he said: "I'd support either of those candidates."

The European Commission has extended the scope of its investigation into the aid granted to the Nurburgring circuit to help avoid insolvency.

After weeks of uncertainty about the future of the track, which faced bankruptcy following a failed revamp project, the Nurburgring and the companies operating it received additional public support measures earlier this year.

The measures included a rescheduling of interest payments on previous loans among other things.

The European Commission has announced it is stepping up its investigation into "several additional financial measures aimed at avoiding an immediate insolvency of the companies concerned" amid fears that the measures were not granted on market terms.

"At this stage, the Commission has doubts that the measures were granted on market terms and that the companies are viable without continued state support," said the EC in a statement.

"The extension of an in-depth investigation gives interested third parties an opportunity to comment on the additional measures under assessment; it does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.

"The Commission is concerned that Nurburgring may already have been a company in difficulties in 2008, when it received the previous aid. Because of its highly distortive effects on competition, rescue or restructuring aid to a company in financial difficulties may be granted to a given company only once in a period of 10 years.

"The Commission will now investigate whether these repeated public interventions were in line with EU state aid rules."

Pastor Maldonado is confident of making up for the points he has missed out on during the first half of the Formula 1 season after the August break.

The Williams driver has not scored a point since his victory in the Spanish Grand Prix in May. He has only banked four points, four eighth place in China, on top of the 25 he claimed for that win despite several outstanding qualifying performances.

He vowed to convert his prodigious pace into more top 10 finishes in the second half of the year.

"There are still nine races to go, which is quite a lot, so we have time to recover," the Venezuelan told AUTOSPORT. "I will do my best in the second half of the season to recover the loss and will never back off.

"We need more points and we need to improve and learn from the mistakes. Every time I go on track, I try to learn and constantly improve. That is my approach.

"For [various] reasons, we didn't get any points after Barcelona. But this is racing. Qualifying has been good."

Maldonado has been the subject of criticism this season. He has been punished by race stewards three times in the last four races for clashes with Lewis Hamilton (Valencia), Sergio Perez (Silverstone) and Paul di Resta (Hungaroring) but insists that he isn't being distracted by such comments.

He emphasises that he has not let his focus waver in the face of criticism, or after the praise that he deservedly received after his win in Spain.

"I was not looking for [good] comments from people on that," he said of how that win changed the way he was perceived. I had full focus on my job trying to push the team forward.

"When you do well, you have everyone on your back in a good way and when you do badly you have everyone on your back in a bad way."

[Lineker]

McLaren team boss and outgoing Formula One Teams' Association chairman Martin Whitmarsh says retaining Formula 1's current V8 engines alongside the 2014 V6 turbos in an equivalency formula would be an 'unattractive' option for the sport.

F1 will switch to new generation engines after next season, but there have been concerns that there might not be enough of the new V6s to supply the whole field, or that the costs will be too great for smaller teams.

AUTOSPORT understands that there have been tentative discussions about the possibility of allowing teams to continue using V8s as a back-up option, but this has so far found little favour - and Whitmarsh played it down.

"It's feasible," he said. "I don't think it's an attractive thing to do, personally. Equivalence formulas, we have had it before, we had it in '88, we had turbos and normally aspirateds when we were coming the other way. It wasn't such a bad memory for McLaren, but it wasn't an attractive formula."

Whitmarsh underlined that if V8s were kept on, the rules would have to be balanced in the V6s' favour.

"I think you'd have to arrange, if you did it, such that the new turbo engines have advantage over normally aspirated, so you're creating a two-tier championship, which is I think not an attractive thing to have," he said.

When F1 last changed engine regulations in 2006, Toro Rosso was given a temporary dispensation to continue running restricted versions of the previous V10 engines as the rest of the field switched to the new V8s.

HRT boss Luis Perez-Sala believes the team's F112 car is at 50 per cent of its full potential after the halfway point of the 2012 Formula 1 season.

The car was not tested properly before the start of the season, and both cars failed to qualify for the first race of the year in Australia.

However, since then the team has been able to make all the races and even fight with direct rival Marussia.

Although Perez-Sala concedes the car's birth was a difficult one, he reckons there is still a lot to come from it.

"I think that, overall, the F112 is a car that has given quite a good result, keeping in mind how it started," said Perez-Sala. "In winter I had a lot of doubts, because the car was handed to us and we didn't have enough time to review it.

"The proceedings and deadlines weren't the usual ones and that forced us to go quicker to make up for lost time and organise the different parties implicated in the project to complete the car on time.

"But even with all these obstacles, the car has given good results. It has a good base and that's its biggest strength. It's a reliable car with good mechanical resistance and it offers a lot of possibilities for its development.

"I'd say we're at 50 per cent of its potential and we can still extract another 50 per cent, mainly in aerodynamics."

Perez-Sala said the car will have new developments for the Singapore Grand Prix at the end of September, admitting it is impossible for the Spanish squad to bring updates faster.

"We have some upgrades prepared for the Singapore Grand Prix," he said. "As a small team we can't afford small upgrades every two or three races because the cost of an upgrade or creating a new piece for a small upgrade is very high.

"Besides the aerodynamic study, you have to produce the parts and that also implies a lot of time. So we have to make the most of any changes and have a very clear idea of the direction we want to take for those upgrades to be productive."

[Lineker]

Ferrari technical boss Pat Fry has admitted that weather conditions have played a part in allowing Fernando Alonso to lead the world championship by 40 points.

While Ferrari has made remarkable progress with the F2012, allowing Alonso to win three races, Fry admits that the team still needs to find more pace in the dry.

Alonso's wins in Malaysia and Germany were assisted by rain in the race and qualifying respectively, with only his European Grand Prix victory taken in all-dry conditions. The Spaniard's fifth place after dry conditions in both qualifying and the race in Hungary before the August break is a more accurate indicator of form.

"Obviously, if it had been a completely dry race in Malaysia, it would have been a different story," Fry told AUTOSPORT. "I don't think we can hide behind the fact that the weather has helped us out.

"Do I think we're the quickest in a dry qualifying? I don't think we are now, but in the last two wet sessions [silverstone and Hockenheim, where Alonso took both poles] it has been more impressive."

Fry, who believes that the F2012 has improved by something in the order of 1.5 seconds since the start of the campaign, puts the time deficit in the dry at several tenths at the minimum.

He has regularly underlined the need for Ferrari to make further progress in developing the car, with upgrades expected for the Belgian Grand Prix after the break, but emphasised that the team's ability to capitalise in wet conditions is not down to luck.

"We just need to keep working at it," he said. "We're fortunate to be where we are - some of that is luck with the weather but then everyone's got those conditions. They've got to go and make the most of it.

"Yes, we were helped by the weather, but then why didn't other people take advantage of it?"

[Lineker]

A planned 'hero's homecoming' Formula 1 street demo for Williams driver Pastor Maldonado in the Venezuelan capital Caracas was cut short on Sunday when he spun and damaged the car on only his second lap.

Maldonado, visiting his home country for the first time since becoming Venezuela's first grand prix winner, was due to complete a 12-lap run on the Fuerte Tiunas military parade ground in front of 20,000 fans and numerous political and military VIPs, with team owner Sir Frank Williams and shareholder Toto Wolff also present.

But Maldonado was caught out by the extremely bumpy surface of the show ground and spun his Williams FW33, damaging its suspension on the roadside kerbing.

The run had been planned as the highlight of a day of national sporting celebration, during which Venezuela's top sportsmen, including Olympic gold-medal winning fencer Ruben Limardo and IndyCar racer EJ Viso, were paraded before the assembled crowd.

However, fellow PDVSA-backed driver Rodolfo Gonzalez saved the situation by performing an eight-lap demonstration run in his GP2 car.

A violent electrical storm shortly after Gonzalez completed his demo ended thoughts of repairing Maldonado's car to resume running.

Oh Pastor...

[MJB]

Pastor, you tool

[Lineker]

Valtteri Bottas says he is striving for his third driver role with Williams to blossom into a 'long career' racing for the former champion team.

The GP3 champion has been a Williams test driver since 2010, and this year is driving in place of Bruno Senna in most Friday practice sessions, impressing with his performances so far.

Asked by AUTOSPORT if he was aiming to stay at Williams or was looking for a race seat elsewhere, Bottas said his goal was to not just make his Formula 1 racing debut with the Grove team, but to become a major part of its story.

"That would be ideal. I really enjoy working with these people and Frank [Williams] is pushing hard," he said.

"It's a team with a great history and it's already my third year with the team and I feel like it's home here so the ideal would be to stay here and I would hope for a long career with Williams."

Both Williams's current race drivers Pastor Maldonado and Senna bring some sponsor backing to the team, and Bottas admitted he was working on finding his own funding to boost his chances of a race seat.

"The ideal would be to be get in because a team knows you are fast and they want to hire you," he said.

"But the way the sport is going now, for sure it helps if you have some financial backing and of course we are pushing for that because it's a bonus for the team and it also makes your chances higher in the driver market."

The 22-year-old remains open-minded about his prospects of a 2013 race seat.

"It's difficult to say about my chances, I really don't know," he said.

"I think it's too early to speak about it. We're only halfway through the season and there's plenty of time for the teams to decide. I really cannot say anything is impossible."

Bottas has said that he does not want to go more than one season without racing, and reckoned if he was not on the F1 grid in 2013, combining a third-driver role with a Formula Renault 3.5 programme was probably his best option.

"I think there are only two options for my situation and that would be GP2 or the Renault World Series. I think those are the two most competitive championships and they're also quite quick cars," he said.

"I think doing GP2, you are not allowed to do Fridays [in F1] so that is one reason why we didn't do it this year. World Series is definitely a good option."

[Lineker]

Lewis Hamilton says a more settled personal life and improved relationships with his McLaren team have been key to his return to form in 2012.

The 2008 Formula 1 world champion had a turbulent 2011 season, and although he won three grands prix, he also had a number of incidents and was outscored by his team-mate Jenson Button, who beat him by three positions in the points standings.

Hamilton said he had made conscious efforts to reduce the level of 'baggage' in his life and develop better communication with his engineers this year.

"Every year you finish the season and you try to analyse what you've been through and what you've done, and try to take away the positives from what you've done," he said. "Then you try to channel those and then improve on the things that you didn't do so well.

"I've always said it's a combination not just of things you do at the track, but it's your personal life out there, time at home, time with friends, those sort of things.

"I've strengthened bridges and relationships with people, not only in my personal life but also in my team. I've been working with the engineers better this year and all of that stuff has just helped.

"I don't have any particular problems going on in my life, or any baggage - and last year I had a big, big sack. Fortunately I've dumped that in the dumpster and it's all good now."

After winning the last grand prix in Hungary, Hamilton is now fourth in the championship, 47 points behind leader Fernando Alonso.

Qualifying is no less important a determining factor in who wins races in Formula 1 in 2012 than it has been in previous seasons.

There have been suggestions that the combination of high-degradation Pirelli rubber and the relative ease of overtaking have reduced the impact of Saturday afternoons, but the statistics suggest this not to be the case.

An analysis of the past 10 years of Formula 1, a total of 172 grands prix from the start of the 2003 season to the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this month, reveals that this year, 55 per cent of races have been won from pole.

By comparison, the mean for the past decade for wins from pole stands at 52 per cent, three per cent lower than this season.

In 2012, 82 per cent of races have been won from the front row, which is seven per cent higher than the average.

The mean average qualifying position for race winners is 2.7, relatively high compared to the previous 10 years, but this is distorted by Fernando Alonso's exceptional wins from 11th at Valencia and eight at Sepang.

Despite the belief that qualifying is not as important as it was in the pre-DRS, Bridgestone era, the 2010 season produced the lowest percentage of race winners from pole position.

While it is clearly easier to pass this year than it was before the introduction of the DRS and Pirelli rubber, the need to manage tyres makes it difficult to charge in races.

Also, time lost by a quick car in traffic in the first stint of the race is difficult to make up given how tight the competitive spread between the top nine teams is.

During this period there have been a number of changes to the regs that have effected the way cars qualify. Most significant is the ban on refueling ahead of the 2010 season.

Percentage wins from pole by season (*)


 1. 2007: 65%

 2. 2004: 61%

 3. 2003: 56%

 4. 2006: 56%

 5. 2012: 55%

 6. 2009: 53%

 7. 2011: 47%

 8. 2005: 47%

 9. 2008: 44%

10. 2010: 42%


Percentage of races won from the front row by season (*)


2007: 88%

2011: 84%

2004: 84%

2012: 82%

2008: 78%

2010: 74%

2006: 72%

2009: 71%

2005: 63%

2003: 56%


Average starting position of race winners by season (*)


 1. 2003: 3.2

 2. 2005: 3.2

 3. 2012: 2.8

 4. 2006: 2.7

 5. 2008: 2.6

 6. 2009: 2.2

 7. 2004: 2.2

 8. 2010: 2.0

 9. 2011: 1.9

10. 2007: 1.5


* Figures rounded up to nearest whole number. In the case of a tie, the figures are ordered by reference to unrounded number. [/code]

[Lineker]

Felipe Massa 'knows what he has to do' to stand a chance of salvaging his Ferrari drive for 2013, according to team boss Stefano Domenicali.

AUTOSPORT understands that the Brazilian still has an opportunity to stay on in the second Ferrari race seat for an eighth season, despite the disappointing form that has seen him fail to finish on the podium since the 2010 German Grand Prix.

Massa is currently 139 points behind his championship-leading team-mate Fernando Alonso in the 2012 standings.

Despite Alonso holding a 40-point cushion over his rivals in the drivers' title chase, Ferrari is only fourth in the constructors' standings, 57 points behind leader Red Bull - and with the Italian squad admitting that Red Bull, McLaren and Lotus all have faster cars at present, Domenicali said this was a critical moment for Massa to raise his game.

"I think Felipe knows [what he has to do]," said Domenicali.

"He needs to maximise the performance that he can because we need his capabilities behind the wheel. We need points to try to attack first place in the constructors' championship, and also to take away points from the other drivers in the drivers' championship.

"He knows that he has in front of him some very important races for him as a driver and also as a team member for Ferrari."

Domenicali added that Ferrari acknowledged it could also help Massa by providing a quicker car.

"We need to improve the car and I'm sure he can do a good job," he said.

The situation regarding Ferrari's second driver for 2013 remains unclear. The team held talks with Mark Webber before he re-signed for Red Bull, and talk of a promotion for its protege Sergio Perez after his early-season podiums has cooled.

Domenicali said Ferrari did not feel under any pressure to commit to a 2013 line-up yet.

"There is no rush on our decision," he insisted.

Adrian Newey has put his Red Bull team's failure to recapture its dominant 2011 form down to the winter rule changes designed to outlaw exhaust blown diffusers.

Red Bull was the first team to harness the concept in 2010 and last year optimised it to a degree that allowed it to dominate both the drivers', with Sebastian Vettel, and the constructors' championship.

Despite working to recreate such an effect in a limited way, which led to a rules clarification that forced Red Bull's Renault engine partner to modify engine maps designed to extract the most downforce available from blowing exhaust gases at aero-profiled brake ducts, Red Bull has won only three times this season.

While it leads the constructors' championship by 53 points, after 11 races last year it was 103 points clear.

"It's pretty much as we feared before the season started," Newey told AUTOSPORT.

"Having explored exhaust blowing technology quite heavily for two seasons and then having that taken away together with other changes like the front wing flexibility [test rules], hurt us quite a lot.

"Probably [it hurt us] more than other people because we had been exploiting it for longer. It has taken a while to try to understand what we need to do and to recover."

Newey also hinted that Red Bull has yet to re-adapt its car to the engine mapping rule change introduced ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July.

While Vettel was able to finish fourth at the Hungaroring, he struggled to match the race pace of McLaren and the Lotuses and the car was flattered by running on fresher rubber relative to the top three late in the race.

"We've been working with Renault and were suddenly faced with a clarification that was a different interpretation to what we thought we were operating to.

"That's where we are and we've got to go back and have a fresh look."

Williams reserve driver Valtteri Bottas says he has surprised himself with his performances in Friday practice so far this year.

The reigning GP3 champion has regularly been a match for the team's race driver - and Spanish Grand Prix winner - Pastor Maldonado.

"I'm happy with how I've improved. I think I'm still improving all the time, in every session," said Bottas, when asked by AUTOSPORT how he would rate his season so far.

"With my goals before the start of the season, I maybe didn't expect to be on the pace so quickly, because the first couple of Fridays already went really well. But I'm still learning more and more, so I'm happy with how it's been going."

While pleased to compare so favourably to Maldonado at this stage, Bottas feels he can still improve a lot more.

"It's nice to see that I can match him and sometimes be quicker, and still I feel there's much more to come if I get to drive more," he said. "It's nice to see the speed is there, but there is still so much more I have to learn, like the race distance."

The Finn added that while he would prefer to be racing, he had managed to adjust his mindset and make the most of his 2012 opportunity. Bottas is driving Bruno Senna's car in the majority of Friday morning practice sessions at grands prix.

"Of course it's not easy for me as I've raced basically all my life, starting at five or six years old," he said. "For sure I would like to race, but for now that's how things are. Now is time to learn."

Narain Karthikeyan has made matching his HRT team-mate Pedro de la Rosa in qualifying his major aim for the second half of the Formula 1 season.

The 35-year-old Indian is yet to outqualify de la Rosa this year and, while he feels his race performances have been strong, he concedes he has to raise his game on Saturdays.

"I think that my race performance has been very strong, with my 15th place in Monaco standing out, but in qualifying I've been a bit weaker," said Karthikeyan.

"Right now I'm about three tenths [per lap] behind Pedro and that's something I have to improve in this second half, no doubt about it."

Karthikeyan admitted that he is still trying to adapt to Pirelli's tyres, of which de la Rosa has more experience.

"The tyres have been quite difficult to get used to and Pedro has a lot of experience with Pirelli and McLaren. He's a very good driver who hardly makes mistakes and I must learn from him to improve," he said.

The HRT driver said that finishing ahead of his team-mate in the championship standings would mean a successful season for him, given the Spanish squad's current form.

"From where we are now, it would be great to match and beat my team-mate Pedro, who has been a good benchmark. Added to that, if we finish ahead of Marussia in the championship standings that would be a successful season."

[Lineker]

Mike Hewland, founder of the Hewland Engineering company that became synonymous with motorsport transmission technology, has died at the age of 89.

Formed in 1957, Hewland Engineering's first Formula 1 involvement was altering a gearbox for the British Racing Partnership team, before the company really made its name in Formula Junior.

From there, the Hewland business grew to such an extent that for much of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, almost the entire F1 field ran its gearboxes, with Ferrari the only exception for a long period. The package of a Cosworth DFV engine mated to a Hewland gearbox dominated most of the era.

Mike Hewland retired in 1991, with his son William taking over at the helm of Hewland Engineering.

Williams is the Formula 1 season's most improved team, based upon a comparison of points scored in 2012 so far relative to last year.

AUTOSPORT's comparison shows that Williams, which returned to winning ways for the first time since 2004 at the Spanish Grand Prix in May, has achieved 1325 per cent of its 2011 points tally this year.

Inevitably, this type of comparison favours teams that underachieved last year, meaning that the Lotus team, which competed as Renault last year, is second in AUTOSPORT's ranking at 290 per cent.

Scuderia Toro Rosso is at the other end of the spectrum, with its haul of six points compared to 27 at this stage of 2011 representing the worst relative performance of any team.

The figures also show that the points have been shared around more evenly in 2012. Red Bull and McLaren, which hold first and second positions respectively in the constructors' championship - as they also did last year - have both scored around two-thirds of their 2011 points totals.

While it is inevitable that last year's high-achieving teams will struggle to match their totals, the fact both Red Bull and McLaren have significantly fewer points supports the belief that this season is much closer.

Conversely, several midfield teams have not benefitted from their improved points scoring. Force India (177 per cent) and Mercedes (133 per cent) are both ranked one position lower in the constructors' championship despite having improved their points haul.

Sauber, too, has taken a big step forward (229 per cent), but is in the same sixth position that it held this time last year.

Team Performance 2011 v 2012*


Based upon each teams performance after the first races in 2011 

compared to the first 11 races of this season. All figures rounded to 

the nearest whole number.


1. Williams

Points scored 2011: 4 (9th)

Points scored 2012: 53 (7th)

Relative performance: 1325%


2. Renault/Lotus

Points scored 2011: 66 (5th)

Points scored 2012: 192 (3rd)

Relative performance: 290%


3. Sauber

Points scored 2011: 35 (6th)

Points scored 2012: 80 (6th)

Relative performance: 229%


4. Force India

Points scored 2011: 26 (7th)

Points scored 2012: 46 (8th)

Relative performance: 177%


5. Mercedes

Points scored 2011: 80 (4th)

Points scored 2012: 106 (5th)

Relative performance: 133%


6. Ferrari

Points scored 2011: 215 (3rd)

Points scored 2012: 189 (4th)

Relative performance: 88%


7. McLaren

Points scored 2011: 280 (2nd)

Points scored 2012: 193 (2nd)

Relative performance: 69%


8. Red Bull

Points scored 2011: 383 (1st)

Points scored 2012: 246 (1st)

Relative performance: 64%


9. Scuderia Toro Rosso

Points scored 2011: 22 (8th)

Points scored 2012: 6 (9th)

Relative performance: 27%


*Lotus/Caterham, HRT and Virgin/Marussia failed to score in 2011 and 

have yet to do so in 2012, giving each a relative performance figure of 

100 per cent. This is why they have been left out of the comparison.[/code]

[Lineker]

Adrian Newey expects engine performance to become t' dominant differentiator between teams when t' new V6 turbo engines are introduced in 2014.

Adrian Newey expects engine performance to become the dominant differentiator between teams when the new V6 turbo engines are introduced in 2014.

The Red Bull chief technical officer fears that the combination of tighter chassis rules and potential differences between the performance of the engines could lead to one group of teams sharing one supplier having a big advantage.

"In 2014, you will have the variation in engine performance," Newey told AUTOSPORT. "That means the engine power unit itself, which is not only the internal combustion engine but also the various recovery systems bolted to it.

"It is possible that one manufacturer will do significantly better than the others, at which point you might end up with that manufacturer's cars at the front of the grid.

"You could end up with an engine manufacturers' championship."

Newey has long been critical of how restrictive the chassis rules are in F1 and believes the 2014 rules to be even tighter.

He expects this to further swing the balance in favour of engine performance, with the main scope for innovation potential coming in terms of the way that the engines are used.

"The chassis regs, aero wise, are a more restrictive version of what we have already," said Newey.

"The installation of the engine is obviously something that the teams will work on with their engine manufacturers. It remains to be seen whether someone comes up with something novel there and steals an advantage."

Austin Grand Prix officials insist that they have followed the proper process in pushing on with their race at the Circuit of the Americas, despite fresh doubts about the venue's eligibility for Texas state funding.

A ruling by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott at the end of last week failed to resolve the issue of whether or not Austin was eligible for £30 million (USD) worth of revenue from a Major Events Trust Fund - which was set-up to help finance national and international sporting events taking place in the state.

Abbott suggested that because there had not been a local application for the funding, then Austin should not receive the money - which had been expected to be released after this year's event that takes place on November 18.

He wrote: "Unless an application for an event as defined in the statute is submitted to a site selection organisation, that event is ineligible for METF funding."

There is a dispute, however, over whether or not Austin did apply locally to Formula One Management rather than simply being selected to host a grand prix – and this will be key to the issuing of funding.

In a statement issued by the Circuit of the Americas, circuit president Steve Sexton said he was satisfied everything had been done correctly in preparation for the event – and that he was looking forward to co-operating with regional officials.

"We have worked with the local organizing committee in following the process to secure and host this international event," he said.

"This event will pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the Texas economy while creating thousands of new full and part-time jobs and will have a positive impact on our community.

"We look forward to the first Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in Austin this November, and to working with state, county and city officials to create another key economic driver for Central Texas."

Caterham moved in to its new Leafield factory on Monday, with the team finally able to begin work following the enforced summer shutdown.

The team made full use of the fortnight break to complete the switch over from its old Hingham headquarters, where it has been based since it entered F1 back in 2010.

The Leafield base was formerly used by Arrows and Super Aguri, and has been upgraded for the arrival of the Tony Fernandes-led operation.

Caterham technical director Mark Smith told AUTOSPORT earlier this year that the shift of facility would not be a distraction for the outfit.

"We don't expect a great deal of disruption," Smith said. "If you think about the race team, it can go anywhere in the world and be fairly self sufficient, so that side of the business moving to Leafield I don't see as a big issue.

"The side of the business that [includes] our IT infrastructure in terms of design, CAD systems and dynamics, we should be able to do that physical move and get the infrastructure up and running. We use the second wind tunnel at Williams so we are closer to that, so that helps. It is really the manufacturing aspect of it, and what we plan to do is leave a reasonably strong core of that at Hingham.

"The primary structural composite side of the business, the bit that we regard as important to have on site, will be at Leafield, but there will be a manufacturing base at Hingham as well. We are thinking it will be fairly painless."

[Lineker]

Grand Prix of America organisers have suffered a blow after the company's president, Tom Cotter, announced that he is to resign from his post.

Cotter was only appointed to the role in January. After leaving his position at the end of this month his duties will be taken over by Dennis Robinson, the event's chief operations engineer, and Richard Goldschmidt, the special assistant to race promoter Leo Hindery Jr.

In a statement that was issued to the New York Times, Cotter said he was sure the event would prove to be a success - despite recent suggestions from Bernie Ecclestone that there were doubts about the venue getting finished in time.

"I have full faith in the Grand Prix of America team and look forward to sitting in the grandstands at a world-class race in 2013," explained Cotter, who plans to return to his former sports marketing company.

Hindery Jr added: "We're all thankful for Tom's leadership in bringing Formula 1 to Port Imperial. During his stewardship we've made great progress and are less than a year away from the sport's top racers speeding around a street course with New York City in the background."

The inaugural event in New Jersey is expected to take place in June next year, as a back-to-back event with the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Jenson Button says going back to basics on his set-up and adapting his driving style to better suit the 2012 Pirelli tyres were the key to getting back on the pace.

The McLaren driver scored just seven points in the six Formula 1 races between his second place finishes in China and Germany, and was struggling to even qualify in the top 10.

Button said his personal breakthrough came in Valencia, but that it was only when McLaren's German Grand Prix upgrade kicked in that he was able to show he had conquered his issues.

"From Valencia and the British Grand Prix I was confident in the car and felt like I was doing a good job, we just didn't have the pace as a team," he said. "Previous to that, it was more that we were trying new things with the car, and they definitely didn't work, and I wasn't happy with the balance.

"The worst races for me were Monaco and Canada. That was difficult, but when you've been racing for as long as I have, you know there are reasons for you not being on the pace, and I think we've solved a lot of those issues.

"A lot of it was going back to what we knew a little bit more and for Valencia I was much happier with the car - we just didn't get the result we wanted and nothing went our way."

He said his issues with the Pirelli tyres had led to the team taking the wrong direction around Monaco.

"I find [the tyres] very difficult to understand, that's why we tried a few new things this year in Canada and Monaco and places like that, because I felt I needed to find a bit more direction with the tyres, and what we tried definitely didn't work," Button said.

"So we went back to what we had at the start of the year at Valencia, and that's when we started being more competitive in terms of me within the team being more competitive, not compared to Ferrari and Mercedes and Red Bull but compared to Lewis [Hamilton]."

Button explained that keeping the Pirellis in the correct operating window had been his main issue, with his famously smooth style not always paying dividends.

"Most of the problem this year has been in and out of the range where they work, and that's a difficulty," he said. "You try and drive gentle with them to look after them, and they drop out of the range and you end up damaging the tyre more than if you keep them in the range and are aggressive with the tyre.

"It's been very difficult, especially for me, because my style of driving initially didn't suit the tyres - I've had to adapt a little bit."

He added: "The car, if you get the temperature in the tyres and the tyres working, is good in whatever condition – the problem is if we don't get the temperature we're nowhere, which is understandable."

Sauber sees no reason to regret the points-scoring opportunities it missed in the first half of the 2012 Formula 1 campaign, as it remains confident it can continue to challenge its bigger budget rivals over the rest of the season.

Despite having scored two podium finishes to produce its most successful start as an independent contender, Sauber knows it could have done even better - having seen good opportunities slip through its hands at several events, including Spain and Monaco.

But although the tight battle in the constructors' championship means that delivering consistency is vital if it is to close down the gap to Mercedes and keep ahead of Williams, Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn says the way it has performed has been encouraging, and that it is not ruing any missed chances.

"We got asked similar questions last year, about if we regretted not pursuing the blown diffuser [after slipping down the championship order], but I don't think it will happen this year," Kaltenborn told AUTOSPORT.

"I don't expect anything like that technical situation to come up in the second half of this season, and I don't really regret what we missed out. We have been working on our chances, and we have been getting them a lot through merit."

Sauber is currently sixth in the constructors' championship and Kaltenborn believes that it should applaud itself for what it has been able to deliver so far this year – considering how its size and budget compares to its rivals.

"We are very satisfied with the season so far – and we always have to look at the bigger picture," she said. "For us, the picture starts at the end of 2009 when we had a major setback and became again a private team.

"Coming from there, and seeing how step-by-step with two inexperienced drivers we have been going; how the team has with all the limitations it has – both on the personnel and funding side – come up with this kind of competitive car is a good resume which shows now in the first half of the season.

"And we are in a learning curve in a way. We have young drivers, they have to make their way through and sometimes we make mistakes – but this is all part of it.

"The important thing for us is that we know what we can improve, which is our efficiency. We know we can get a lot of points at every race and that is what we need to work on and focus on."

Williams is faster than it has been able to show in recent races and still stands a chance of scoring more top results later in the season, according to its reserve driver Valtteri Bottas.

The Finn is driving Bruno Senna's Williams in most Friday morning practice sessions this season. Although Williams is only seventh in the constructors' championship and has not taken any top-six finishes since Pastor Maldonado's shock Spanish Grand Prix win, Bottas is adamant that its car is getting better and better.

"We are definitely improving and we are understanding much more about the car since the beginning of the year," he said.

"The direction is right all the time. Of course other teams are improving as well, but if we can up the good work and if everyone keeps pushing I think we can still get some proper points."

Bottas is adamant that it is bad luck, not a lack of pace, that has kept Williams off the podium since Spain.

"I think the results we've got in the last few weekends, we've been really unlucky," he said. "I think we should've had more points, there's been a lot of bad luck. The car has more pace than it's been showing."

[Lineker]

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh sees no reason to worry about his team's failure to finalise a new deal with Lewis Hamilton yet - because he has no doubts a new contract will be signed eventually.

Although Hamilton's current McLaren deal runs out at the end of this year, and there remains a chance that Mercedes could lure him over if Michael Schumacher does not continue, Whitmarsh insists both team and driver are happy to bide their time to ensure what they agree on is best for both parties.

And ahead of what looks set to be a tight battle for the world championship over the second half of the campaign, Whitmarsh is convinced there will be no detrimental effect if nothing is sorted out before the Belgian Grand Prix.

"I honestly don't think it is an issue," Whitmarsh told AUTOSPORT. "You get a few questions over a weekend about it, and it is clearly fascinating to some people, but I really don't think it is an issue.

"Lewis and I have spoken two or three times at length. I think we are closer than we have ever been, and I have known him [Hamilton] since he was 11, and our conversations have been about how we are going to beat the other teams, and how we are going to try and win races. We don't talk about these issues at race tracks because I don't think it is the right environment.

"Ultimately it [the contract situation] is relatively straightforward. If Lewis wants to stay in the team, which he has told me he does, then he should do. And if we want to keep him, then we should do.

"If the answer to both those matters is yes, then I think it is eminently doable - so not something that has to have as much focus as turning up at races, trying to bring the quickest car you can and doing the best job possible."

Although Hamilton has had some frustrations this year, and lies 47 points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso, Whitmarsh thinks he is in the best form of his career.

"I think inevitably you can pick over the bones of issues in minutiae, and come to a conclusion, but if you stand back, I think anyone who has closely observed Lewis in terms of where he is in his head, where he is in his focus, and in his confidence - I think he is actually in a much stronger position now than he was last year," he said.

"He has gone through some interesting cycles, and it has been interesting for some of us who have known him for a good many years to see that. He is in a stronger place and, although it doesn't mean everything is going to go right for him, he is stronger mentally than he has ever been.

"He has had some big challenges, and last year by his extraordinarily high standards was not one of his better years. But he is a passionate driver who wants to win races, and I would be very worried if he did not exhibit those characteristics - and he is stronger minded and clearly more experienced than he has ever been."

The second half of the 2012 Formula 1 season needs to be less 'random' if it is to keep spectators enthralled right to the end of the world championship battle. That is the view of Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn.

He believes there is a risk the sport could lose some of its attraction if this year's campaign fails to form a narrative following its unpredictable start.

"For F1, we must make sure that the random factor is not too strong," Brawn told AUTOSPORT, talking about his reflections on the first half of a year when F1 delivered seven different winners in the first seven races for the first time in its history.

"I think there have been some random elements of this year that have been exciting, but I actually think that [the excitement] will fade after a while if it stays too random.

"There is a funny analogy to fishing, which I was thinking about the other day. In fishing, the great thing is that a complete beginner can come along and catch a huge fish, because there is a randomness to it. That is what makes it really fun for participants - but that doesn't make it a very good spectator sport.

"What we cannot have in motorsport is a randomness where you don't know who is going to win, and that you could work really hard to improve the car but your car doesn't suit the conditions and you are not competitive. That is not where we want to be."

F1 faced criticism from some quarters that it was too unpredictable at the start of the year. Detractors suggested that the huge variations in performance of teams from race-to-race, due to the lack of understanding of Pirelli's 2012 tyres, was a turn-off for hardcore fans.

But Brawn is optimistic that now teams have got a better knowledge of the tyres, the situation is calming down - and he thinks that is vital for F1's credibility going forward.

"To some degree things do appear to be getting better, but the differentials you are getting in teams with their two drivers are still curious. One weekend with Red Bull you have Mark [Webber] almost dominating, and the next weekend it is Sebastian - and no one really understands that.

"There is a pattern emerging, and a trend emerging, as we all get more competent with the tyres. I suspect that is what will happen and, as long as it does happen, that is fine. But what we don't want is the randomness."

He added: "I think there has to be a pattern. There has to be a team or two that are the reference point, and others are trying to beat them and aspire to beat them.

"You need that order for people to enjoy the season, and enjoy the whole year - otherwise there is a randomness and someone who gets it slightly better than someone else might have accumulated more points.

"We want to see guys racing each other. We want to see the guys who are first and second in the world championship being out in front racing each other hard, not one in the midfield and one running away with it because that weekend they got the tyres right."

Nico Hulkenberg believes Force India has the potential to beat race-winners Williams in constructors' championship this year - and has not ruled out overhauling Sauber either.

Although Force India had a slow start to the season, the team has made good progress with its VJM05 car since then – with both Hulkenberg and team-mate Paul di Resta showing strong potential at numerous races.

Force India is only seven points behind Williams in the team standings and Hulkenberg thinks that further development progress can help lift it past its Grove-based rivals.

"We already showed last year that our development speed is very competitive and I do not see a reason why we shouldn't be able to repeat that again," he told the official Formula 1 website.

"We're only seven points shy of Williams and I think we can catch them. I don't know whether it's possible to catch Sauber. It will be difficult, but the whole team will try their very best, that's for sure."

Sauber is currently sixth in the constructors' championship with 80 points, ahead of Williams on 53 and Force India on 46.

Hulkenberg thinks that his team has punched above its weight in qualifying this year, but its form in races is more indicative of its real pace so far.

"Pace-wise we are still behind Sauber, Williams and all the frontrunners," he said. "This means, that we have the chance to beat Williams, Sauber or Mercedes when our weekend goes completely smoothly and they struggle. In qualifying this happens more often, but in the race they have 50, 60, 70 laps to get their faster cars in front of ours. So our race pace actually shows us where we really are."

[Lineker]

The Belgian Grand Prix's future has been guaranteed for the next three seasons, after race organisers signed a new deal with Formula 1 chiefs.

The fate of the Spa-Francorchamps event has been the subject of uncertainty over recent years, amid suggestions it was seeking a race-share deal with the Nurburgring or Magny-Cours.

But with the Nurburgring alternating with Hockenheim, and French GP plans collapsing for now, Spa chiefs have agreed their own deal.

The contract, which was announced by the Walloon Region's economy minister Jean-Claude Marcourt, will run from 2013 to 2015 - and is on more favourable financial terms for the circuit.

However, neither Marcourt nor Belgian GP chief Etienne Davignon were willing to speak about the financial terms of the contract during a press conference in Belgium.

Felipe Massa remains optimistic that he can deliver good enough results in the second half of the season to help secure a fresh deal at Ferrari.

The Brazilian has been under pressure this season to lift his game and produce the kind of points-scoring finishes that his team needs for constructors' championship positions.

And, on the back of a lift in his form since the Monaco Grand Prix, and a season-best fourth place finish in Britain, Massa feels that if he continues making progress then his future should take care of itself.

"I'm confident," Massa was quoted as saying by Associated Press after an FIA road safety seminar in Sao Paulo. "Even though the results have not been good, the performances were better. Now we need to have a clean race so the result can be positive in the end."

He added: "In the end the result is what matters the most. That's what's crucial for every driver. I'll need to stay prepared and finish the races well to try to have better results in the second half of the year."

Massa revealed that he had opened talks with Ferrari, which has also been linked with a number of drivers this year including Sergio Perez, Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Raikkonen.

"The discussions began a long time ago," said Massa. "But until there is a deal finalised, nothing changes."

Massa's team-mate Fernando Alonso has scored 164 points this year, while the Brazilian has just 25 to his name. Ferrari is currently fourth in the constructors' championship, three points behind Lotus and four behind McLaren.

McLaren believes that making more of its opportunities is key to its Formula 1 title hopes over the second half of the season.

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh thinks the outfit has the basic car package it needs to triumph - but it has so far failed to get the best out of its MP4-27.

That state of affairs has helped Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari, which started the season off the pace, to open up a healthy lead in the title chase.

In an exclusive interview with AUTOSPORT, Whitmarsh says the team knows where it has under-performed so far - but he sees no reason to be downbeat because there is still everything to play for.

"In the first 11 races we were on the front row eight times, so the car is not slow in qualifying at least," he explained.

"But this season has been difficult for everyone – and you would have to say Fernando and Ferrari have done a great job: one in terms of development and two in terms of getting the best out of the package.

"We haven't got the best out of our package."

McLaren had headed into the campaign convinced that if it started the season with the quickest car, its historical strength in development would help it maintain its edge for the whole campaign.

However, Whitmarsh says the season did not pan out in the way it had hoped because of the complications caused by Pirelli's 2012 tyre characteristics, as well as growing pains the team experienced in ramping up its pit stop performance.

"The tyres have been a real challenge," he said. "There are a number of parallel paths that you now have to tread, and one is that whatever else is going on, you have to make the car quicker.

"We have been working hard on that and made a bit of progress, but you have to avoid mistakes as well. We have made a few mistakes, and you have to eliminate them, but we have made a bit of progress there.

"This year in particular you have got to get the tyres into the sweet spot, and we have made some progress, but just as you try and get on top of the dry tyres then the challenge of intermediates and wets starts.

"You have to say in Britain we were quick in the dry, quick in the wet and poor on the intermediate, and then at the next race [in Germany], we were quick in the dry, quick in intermediate and poor in the wet, so it's not easy. But it is an interesting challenge."

Although Hamilton is 47 points adrift of Alonso in the drivers' title chase, and McLaren 52 points behind Red Bull Racing in the constructors' battle, Whitmarsh thinks the gaps are still small considering how many races are left.

"We are learning, we are improving the car – but none of it happens as quick as we would like.

"However, I think we are on more solid foundations and we are making some progress. There are lots of points up for grabs, and that is what we have to keep reminding ourselves.

"But we must not get obsessed by that; we must be obsessed by doing everything we can at each grand prix to have the quickest car, to not make mistakes, to ensure that we get as good an understanding of the tyres as we can, set the car up as well as we can, execute a good qualifying and then deliver a good race."

Formula 1's young driver test at Magny-Cours is to go ahead next month, AUTOSPORT can reveal.

A number of teams had been looking for an alternative venue after Silverstone's test in July was reduced to two days, because they were not keen to run at Yas Marina in November.

An idea to run at Jerez post-season did not gather much support, but a proposal first put forward by Mercedes to test at Magny-Cours in the week after the Italian Grand Prix seemed more feasible.

Ferrari has now revealed that it is definitely attending the Magny-Cours test, with the Italian outfit also likely to be joined by Mercedes - although the Brackley-based outfit has not officially confirmed its plans yet.

Red Bull, Toro Rosso and McLaren are all sticking to their original plan to run at Yas Marina in the week after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - which takes place on November 4.

Williams, HRT and Marussia all elected to have their young driver test days at Silverstone.

Sauber, Lotus, Caterham and Force India's plans are not finalised yet, although it is possible that the latter may run at Magny-Cours too.

[Katsuya]

As much as Bernie might say F1 doesn't need to go to places like Montreal, Silverstone, Monte Carlo, Spa etc., he knows that it really does. There's just much more of a buzz and excitement about going to those circuits than there is China, Korea, India. He'll do anything he needs to sp he can keep those ones.

[MJB]

As much as Bernie might say F1 doesn't need to go to places like Montreal, Silverstone, Monte Carlo, Spa etc., he knows that it really does. There's just much more of a buzz and excitement about going to those circuits than there is China, Korea, India. He'll do anything he needs to sp he can keep those ones.

Completely agree, these four are always some of my favourite races in the whole season. Spa staying for another three years is excellent news.