Who is the real winner of the recent driver shakeup in Formula One?

The recent shakeups in the status quo of Formula drivers were expected, and yet still a surprise. Lewis Hamilton has expressed his feelings in many ways so his jumping ship makes sense. However, leaving a team he has been connected with for 14 years does make one wonder why the Briton walked away from the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team.
Imagine being a team owner / principal and having a brash youngster of 10 walk up to you and claim “one day I want to race your cars!” That is how the story goes on how Hamilton met Ron Dennis. Perhaps the head of McLaren might have thought ‘can you imagine the guts this kid has?’

Podium: race winner Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, second place place Sergio Perez, Sauber F1 Team

Photo by: xpb.cc

Hamilton left an impression and in 1998, Dennis called him, and signed the young kart champion to the McLaren driver development program. In 2003, Hamilton landed his first single-seater title: Formula Renault 2.0 UK title. In 2005, he became the Formula 3 Euro Series champion, and the earned the Masters of F3 title. The next year, he was the GP2 Series champion. The Briton proved his worth in 2007, finishing second I the FIA Formula One Championship as a rookie! The next year, Hamilton earned his only World Championship. But his glory days were short; even though he was a front runner.
This year has been very difficult as the Briton has had mechanical failures and errors in pit lane that either cost him a race win, a podium finish or even point paying positions. Thus far in 2012, the British racer has notched five poles -- the most of any other Formula One driver. However, he has retired twice, and when in the lead of the grand prix event. Still he has three wins this season.
One can see why Hamilton wanted the change, and perhaps his brashness is one reason Ross Brawn was keen to steal him away from McLaren.
In order to snag Hamilton, Mercedes factory team had to shove the seven times Formula One world champion aside. Yet they were the ones who convinced Michael Schumacher to come out of retirement and lead their Silver Arrows team.

Third placed Michael Schumacher, Mercedes AMG F1 in the FIA Press Conference

Photo by: xpb.cc

Truthfully one can understand not resigning the German racer. He has earned just one podium finish since his return in 2010. Placing third in Valencia saw Schumacher smile brightly. Still it seems that Mercedes believes their team is championship contenders, and yes they should be. Neither of their two German drivers, Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, has produced consistent top results. Rosberg did score the pole and the victory in China earlier this year but his best finish since then was second at Monaco.
Is Hamilton making the correct move for his future? Viewing the stats says no; but knowing that he has not been happy at McLaren, it would seem that it is a good move. Perhaps with a new car and a new team will be the best of all worlds for Hamilton.
Schumacher did not retire as many expected. He still might as he has made a fortune over the years and can return to his “castle”. His public appearances will enhance his lifestyle, along with special events. Still he was bitten again by contesting Formula One grand prix events and there are a few possible seats available.
The German still holds records in Formula One, along with the most championships. Yet the recent criticism of his driving style has made more news than the winner of the recent Singapore Grand Prix. His fans are angry with the negative comments of their favorite driver, and now with the Mercedes team. They would be delighted to see Schumacher continue to race.
Peter Sauber’s team is now down to one driver due to the fact that their young hot-shoe from Mexico signed with McLaren. Sergio Perez has shown the skills, and the desire to challenge for podiums, and a potential victory. The current Sauber driver has three podiums to his credit. Next year, he will be racing for one of the top teams!
When one views the changes to the status quo, Perez truly is the winner in the recent changes for the 2013 season, and beyond.

Sam Michael on McLaren Problems

Sam Michael of McLaren says that McLaren have to go home and do some homework and come back better.

Other teams are bringing development quicker than us. The strategy did not work in the middle stint with the Option Tyre.
We should not have been making covering moves. We should have been fighting.

Our focus is to be up there in Germany straight away.

Lewis Hamilton is back on track according to McLaren

By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer for the BBC

  Lewis Hamilton on his skiing trip. Photo via his Twitter account

Lewis Hamilton has put a difficult 2011 season behind him and is back on track, his McLaren team say.

Hamilton's three wins last year were interspersed with a series of errors and penalties as he admitted personal problems affected him.
McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale said: "I'm speaking to him most weeks. He's getting himself together.
"He's winter training really hard and he's in the right place doing the things he needs to be doing."
Hamilton is believed to be in the United States training in the Rocky Mountains, but will be back in the UK at the end of the month in time for the launch of the new McLaren on 1 February.
Hamilton said at the end of 2011 that he would spend the winter analysing the difficulties he had had last season and ensuring he was mentally back to full strength for the new season.
Neale said: "What he needs to do is get himself in the car. He's only got something to prove to himself. He's his own biggest critic.
"He puts extremely high demands on himself, we at the team are here to support him. It's a tough business, you've got to get the job done."

Red Bull have been good for the last two years, but Ferrari have obviously got a lot to prove this year.

Jonathan Neale McLaren managing director

One of the motivating factors behind Hamilton's difficult 2011 was his disappointment that McLaren had not produced a car that could challenge Red Bull on a consistent basis.
Neale acknowledged that McLaren needed to up their game in 2012 - not just in terms of performance, but on an operational level as well after strong finishes in several races slipped through their fingers because of errors.
"One of the things we measure is our did-not-score rate," he said. "If we had a good car that was capable of scoring good points in that race and we didn't, we go back and ask ourselves why.
"There have been a number of operational issues we've needed to get fixed and some of the changes we're making in our line-up and some of the processes - and bringing people like (former Williams technical director) Sam Michael on board (as sporting director) - are aimed at tackling some of those issues."
Neale said he expected world champions Red Bull to remain strong in 2012, and that he was wary of a revival from Ferrari, who struggled last year partly because they were unable to maximise the year's must-have technology, exhaust-blown diffusers.
This is when the teams channel the exhausts along the rear floor of the car and blow gases through them even when the driver is off the throttle. The technology significantly increases downforce, but has been banned for 2012.
Ferrari's only win in 2011 was at the British Grand Prix, where the technology was severely restricted for one race.
"Red Bull have been good for the last two years," Neale said.
"They sorted out their reliability last year and it's just speculation at this moment (who will have the quickest car).
"Who knows who will come out with what?
"Ferrari have obviously got a lot to prove this year.
"From the glimpse we got of how their car was at Silverstone without the blown diffuser they were quick, so they have some capability there.
"But the whole car hangs together well for Red Bull and, with an evolutionary set of rules, they would be disappointed if they weren't among the front runners."

Schumacher upbeat ahead of home race

Michael Schumacher is hopeful that the promise shown by his Mercedes GP squad at Silverstone can be translated into a better performance next weekend, with the German preparing for his home event at the Nürburgring. The seven-time Champion says he has 'a good feeling' ahead of the race, admitting that a strong result here is vital.

Schumacher finished ninth at Silverstone after colliding with Kamui Kobayashi

"With two home races in a row, we are fortunate to be given an extra boost as we head to the Nürburgring next week for the German Grand Prix, just two weeks after Silverstone," Schumacher explained.
"This season has been a difficult one for performance predictions so far; however I can predict one thing for sure: the extra boost we are receiving will be transformed into extra motivation.
"We saw some improvements over the Silverstone weekend with our new exhaust system, along with improvements to how we work with the tyres, so we go to the next race weekend with a good feeling added to our fighting spirit. We definitely want to show our home crowds our best level of performance possible.
"It will be the first time that I race through the corner which is named after me (Turns 8 and 9), and obviously I would like to believe that this is not only making me proud, but also even faster."

Button targets podium in home Grand Prix

Next weekend’s British Grand Prix will be the twelfth for Jenson Button, although the 2009 World Champion is yet to record a rostrum result in his home race. After debuting for Williams eleven years ago, Button’s best Silverstone finishes to date are his fourth place results for BAR and McLaren in 2004 and 2010, respectively.
“Hopefully I can get onto the podium and that’s my aim- for some reason I’ve never been on the podium at the British Grand Prix,” he said in a Tuesday interview for McLaren title sponsor Vodafone.

“I think Lewis (Hamilton) and myself were a bit negative after the (Valencia) race because we just weren’t quick enough. But, looking at it now, we have some good improvements for Silverstone. I don’t know whether it’s going to be enough to fight with the Red Bulls or to get onto the podium, but we have improvements and we’re positive that we’re going to get the best out of them. We’ll see. We want to put on a good show for the British fans and I think that’s why we were a little bit negative after the last Grand Prix.”
When asked if Sebastian Vettel’s championship advantage of 77 points can be cut down, Button replied:
“He’s got a big advantage after eight races but…who knows. We’re not going to stop trying. We’re going to be trying our best, we’re a fantastic team and I feel that, if we keep pushing hard, we’ll slowly, slowly pull them back. I hope so.
“It’s tricky because they’re doing a great job, and they are doing a great job. The only people that have beaten them have been us – Lewis and myself – so we are the challengers.”

Chinese Grand Prix to remain until 2017

The Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai will be staying on the Formula 1 calendar until at least 2017, it has been confirmed, with the news following much speculation that the event – which debuted in 2004 - was soon to be axed.

The Shanghai International Circuit has most recently been in the news for problems involving sinking ground at three corners – the chief cause of drainage problems during the wet 2010 event.

However, the race will remain an F1 fixture for at least seven more seasons, courtesy of a deal between organisers Shanghai Juss Event Management Co. and Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Administration (FOA).

“F1 is a calling card for Shanghai,” Zhao Wen, vice mayor of Shanghai, explained to reporters on Wednesday. “I am confident about the success of the event in the years ahead. We've learned that high ticket prices have led to fans staying away and will try to improve the situation in the following years.”

Citroen says Raikkonen free to make F1 return

Kimi Raikkonen can pull out of the 2011 world rally championship to return to F1 if he wants to.
That is the claim of Citroen's rally chief Olivier Quesnel, amid reports the 2007 world champion is now contractually committed to rallying for this season.
The Finn and his management have not yet responded to multiple attempts by the Formula One media to confirm rumours that Raikkonen, 31, is a candidate to replace the injured Robert Kubica at Renault this year.
After making his full-time world rally debut with Citroen last year, the former McLaren and Ferrari driver has announced he will drive a Citroen DS3 under the Ice 1 entry in 2011.
"If he wants to leave, I couldn't say anything because he is a client," Quesnel told RMC Sport.
"He has rented a car from us and drives with his own sponsors," added the Citroen boss.
"I suppose there may be considerable pressure from Bernie Ecclestone, the FIA and the whole world of F1 who want to see him come back because he is still an emblematic driver for the sport."
However, Quesnel indicated that he doesn't think Raikkonen is too keen to go back to F1.
"If he is taking phone calls, they would have to be very convincing to get him back there," he said.

Heidfeld and Liuzzi in frame for Renault drive

With Robert Kubica almost certain to miss the majority of, if not all, of the 2011 season following his Italian rally accident on Sunday morning, a number of names are now being linked to the vacant Lotus Renault GP seat alongside Vitaly Petrov.

Although all thoughts continue to remain with the injured Pole, who requires at least another two operations following initial seven-hour surgery on Sunday, a selection of drivers are already being named as possible replacements – not least 2007 World Champion and current World Rally driver Kimi Räikkönen.

With Kubica out of action, the search is now on for a substitute

However, Team Principal Eric Boullier has now also mentioned former Sauber and Force India racers Nick Heidfeld and Vitantonio Liuzzi as candidates.

“We spent about a quarter of an hour with Robert (in hospital),” Boullier explained to IVG.it. “We joked and were in good spirits. Of course, he immediately wanted to know the team’s schedule for this season.

“We are searching for a Kubica replacement. The possible names are (reserve driver) Senna, Liuzzi and Heidfeld. The team is close to Robert, though, and we are waiting with open arms, hoping he can return by the end of the season.”

FIA Academy names 12 winning drivers

A total of twelve drivers have been handed places for this year’s inaugural FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy, with the entire scheme being organised and run by the motorsport governing body plus Alexander Wurz and Robert Reid.

Selected from a variety of motorsport formulae, the 12 drivers are:

- Kevin Abbring, 21, Netherlands
- Paul-Loup Chatin, 19, France
- Albert Costa, 20, Spain
- Alon Day, 19, Israel
- Philipp Eng, 20, Austria
- Robin Frijns, 19, Netherlands
- Timmy Hansen, 18, Sweden
- Egon Kaur, (23, Estonia
- Andreas Mikkelsen, 21, Norway
- Alexander Rossi, 19, USA
- Richie Stanaway, 19, New Zealand
- Stoffel Vandoorne, 18, Belgium

All 12 men will now be coached in the car by ex Formula 1 pilot Wurz and out of the car by Reid, former World Rally Champion co-driver of the late Richard Burns. The first Academy workshop will be staged in Edinburgh on Saturday 26 February.

Glock adopts realistic approach

Timo Glock says Virgin has to remain realistic about how much of a relative step forward it can make with its second Formula 1 car – but thinks it can set its sights on catching the teams at the back of the midfield pack.
Virgin and fellow 2010 new teams Lotus and Hispania were cut adrift at the back of the field in normal conditions last season but the former two teams in particular are eyeing significant progress in their second campaigns.
Lotus has been particularly bullish about its prospects and has spoken about challenging the likes of Williams and Renault by the end of the year.
Asked at the launch of the new Virgin challenger on Monday if he was concerned that the ambitious Lotus outfit might pull away in 2011, Glock argued that the large gap both teams found themselves trailing the top squads by last year would be too large to bridge over one winter – therefore it was wise to set more achievable targets.
“It’s difficult to say, I just try to be realistic,” he told reporters on Monday.
“We were three to four seconds off the pace – sometimes even more – [last year] same with Lotus and I don’t think it’s just possible to catch up four seconds over the winter time or three [seconds].
“Realistically for us I think we should be two seconds behind the top teams, [which] would be great, maybe two and a half, and then close to the midfield teams – that’s the target.
“If Lotus is pulling away then they did a fantastic job over the winter. I think they’ve got different possibilities than us, different budget than us and a lot of experienced people from Toyota.
“So let’s see. I think our car looks quite a step forward, so I hope we are in front of Lotus at the end of the tests and the end of the year.”
None of last year’s newcomers managed to get near a points finish but Glock wants to see Virgin moving up on some of the grid’s more established teams with its new MVR-02.
However, after its debut campaign was beset by reliability problems, Glock admits that above all else he just wants to complete more mileage on a consistent basis from the car's first test next week onwards.
“[An] Acceptable level would be very close to teams like Sauber, Toro Rosso, maybe Force India,” the German driver said.
“But being strong at the tests already, not in terms of performance, but in terms of making…. I just want to drive 800ks a day and I want to fall to bed and say ‘hey, I did enough today’ and it was not that the car broke down again.
“That’s what we have to make sure, that at the first test we have to hit the track and we have to drive, drive, drive and see where the bad points are on the car to already sort this out before the first race, because if it comes to the first race and you have a list of problems [that] you have and you cant sort it out you are already in trouble and you start on the back foot.”
Speculation at various stages of 2010 suggested Glock may have been seeking to leave Virgin and rejoin a more established team as his new employer struggled at the back of the field.
The former Toyota man admits there were various times when he called into his question his bold decision to move to the start-up operation, but says he never expected its first year to be easy and first 12 months proved to be a “character-building” experience.
“To be honest I had some thoughts about ‘bloody hell, what am I doing here’ because fighting the whole weekend and then you go into the race and after 10 laps you got a radio call ‘Timo, you have to come back to the pits’…it was just quite tough, quite hard,” Glock confessed.
“As well like races in Korea where we sorted out everything, we were quick, I was quick, in the wet conditions and [we were] just unlucky [to be] taken out by Sebastien Buemi.
“But that’s how racing is and that’s how a first year of a complete[ly] new F1 team is.
“It was a good experience for me, a good experience for the team, and character building and now we should be on a way to be in a better position.”

Why racers take risks and why we love them for it

‘Did you never think of stopping Robert (Kubica) from taking part in rallies?’ asked L’Equipe newspaper to Renault team boss Eric Boullier today.
“Not for one second,” replied Boullier, “He could just as easily have been knocked over by a bus. Robert is a racer, he loves cars and he lives for nothing but racing. Competing is his essence. At 14 he slept in a kart factory because he loved racing. From the outset it was agreed among us that Robert would do rallies as well as F1. It was vital for him. His strength comes from that passion. I never thought about the risk. Motor sport is dangerous, but he loves it.”

Photo: Darren Heath

I have found the reaction to Robert Kubica’s accident fascinating and enlightening. There is the team principal above, who understood him and attempts here to justify the decision to let him compete elsewhere, then the rival team bosses who are both appalled by the injury and surprised by Renault’s relaxed attitude to Kubica’s extra curricular activities. There are the fans and media, some of whom castigate him for taking unnecessary risks so close to the start of the season and others who simply feel terribly sorry for him and his plight.To recap, the latest bulletins from the doctors suggest a horrendous injury to his right arm which caused him to lose a lot of blood and despite some heroics by surgeons, the experts in the field to whom I’ve spoken suggest he may never regain fine motor function in that hand and if so his F1 career is unlikely to continue. Of course there are always miracle comebacks, but that is what will be required here for him to race an F1 car again. Renault disagree and say the doctors are exaggerating and that he will recover within a year.
Kubica was injured in a rally car, when a pole supporting an armco barrier, appears to have pierced the floor of the Skoda he was driving and caused the injury. A freak accident, like the one Frank Williams suffered on the road. A few years ago Kubica walked away from an accident in Montreal which was many times worse in terms of impact energy, but F1 cars are built much more strongly than rally cars.
So why did he do it? Why did he take the risk of losing everything just to satisfy some urge to drive fast? And will this put an end to drivers doing anything but the most safe hobbies in future?
I grew up with a father who was a racing driver. He raced for Team Lotus in the 1960s. If you’ve not lived with it, it’s hard to explain the ‘daredevil gene’ racers have, which forces them to race. It’s a restlessness, a need to challenge oneself. At the margin it’s almost a kind of rage.
I don’t have it, I recognised that early on, but throughout 22 years working in F1 I’ve seen it countless times in the eyes of the racers I’ve encountered. Why else did Valentino Rossi and Kimi Raikkonen do rallies while holding down major roles with leading teams? Why did Jim Clark or Stirling Moss drive every kind of car they could get their hands on?
Juan Manuel Fangio once said, “There are those who keep out of mischief, and there are the adventurers. We racing drivers are adventurers; the more difficult something is, the greater the attraction that comes from it.”
This is the best quote I’ve ever come across to explain why racers race and it also why we love them for it. Nowadays F1 cars are still challenging to drive on the limit, but they are so safe that drivers have become quite matter of fact about the risk in their job.
1970s F1 driver Patrick Depailler used to enjoy hang gliding in his spare time. He had a bad accident and was still recovering from it when he was killed in F1 testing in 1980. No-one would allow an F1 driver today to go hang gliding, but the question is, in this age of ultra professionalism, should drivers be forced to avoid all dangerous sports in their spare time? I think they might after this and a little bit more of that racer spirit will be lost.
This looked set to be a breakthrough year for Renault after two years of struggle. Team owner Gerard Lopez said last summer that he wanted to build the team around Kubica, so should Renault have stopped him taking part in the meaningless rally in Italy which has now put the team’s whole season in jeopardy? Who is going to score 150 plus points for them?
Other team principals I’ve spoken to today say that their drivers would not be able to take part in such activities. Insurance is a big factor. To insure an F1 driver for F1 driving is actually quite cheap now, because the cars are so safe. A team will typically insure a driver against being unavailable to them. So if a driver is unavailable, the insurance company will pay out for his replacement. They may also pay out for his salary.
The driver, on the other hand, will typically insure himself against injury and loss of earnings. The premiums rise significantly the more they take part in dangerous side sports like rallying. Kubica’s manager Daniel Morrelli is a very precise, careful individual and he will no doubt have taken care to ensure that his client was correctly insured.
Bruno Senna is reserve driver and if he has brought money to the team, as has been suggested, that may come with a clause which gives him the drive da facto. If not, Renault may look to someone like Nico Hulkenberg, who will have a clause in his Force India reserve driver contract releasing him if a race seat comes up elsewhere. That is standard. It may be Nick Heidfeld who gets yet another chance.
But one thing’s for sure, Renault will have to look to someone else to drive for them this year.

By James Allen

Raikkonen to replace injured Kubica?

Kimi Raikkonen is top of Lotus Renault's list to replace the injured Robert Kubica following his crash at a rally event on Sunday morning.

Kimi Raikkonen relaxing before Rally Finland in 2010. Photo by Red Bull GmbH and GEPA pictures GmbH.

Despite original fears that the 26 year-old might loose his right hand following the accident in Italy, surgeons have confirmed that he is expected to make a recovery but that he is not likely to return until the end of the year. This has left Renault with few options open to it to find a suitable replacement before the season kicks off in Bahrain on March 13th.
As the 2007 Formula One world champion, Raikkonen would seem to present the perfect choice in terms of previous success although he recently announced his plans for 2011 in the World Rally Championship. Last year, the Finn made his WRC debut with the Junior Citroen WRC team and now as team owner/driver - the same as Petter Solberg, and like Solberg, he has in place a contract with the French-based manufacturer to campaign the 2011 season with Citroen.
There are however, potential stumbling blocks over a possible deal with Raikkonen. A much publicised spat with the Renault management last year following reports the Finn was negotiating a drive for 2011 and also the salary demands he is likely to command. It was rumoured in his final year with Ferrari in 2009, the ex-world champion was in receipt of little less than £25m and while his absence from the sport will have devalued his stock slightly, the fact that his contract with Citroen may have to be bought - from their fiercest rival, that tally could possibly surpass the monumental mount he received 3 years ago.
Nick Heidfeld however, presents a safer investment option for the Enstone outfit. While unlikely to win races on a regular basis, he is a proven 'points generating' driver and the belief is that with all top line drivers unavailable for hire, if Renault's aim is to collect as many points as possible in place of the injured Kubica, Heidfeld could be given the nod.
While Bruno Senna was confirmed as the teams third and reserve driver at the recent R31 launch, it is understood that Lotus Renault team principal Eric Boullier is now in the search for a more established 'name' to fill the seat vacated by Kubica and that negotiations with Raikkonen have begun to try and buy him out of his contract for a reasonable price.

Cause of Buemi stoppage still unknown

Toro Rosso have not yet revealed why Sébastien Buemi’s car came to a half in the final 20 minutes of Valencia testing on Wednesday, with the Swiss driver having stopped his new STR6 just past the pit entrance on the Ricardo Tormo start/finish straight.

When contacted by GPUpdate.net on Wednesday afternoon, the team was unable to reveal the reason for the stoppage and its daily press release also failed to explain a cause.

Jaime Alguersuari remained in the hot seat for the morning

“This afternoon was my first time in the car and it felt good to be driving again after the winter break,” Buemi commented. “I ran for about three hours managing 46 laps, which is quite encouraging for a first day.

“It is going to be an interesting evening studying all the data, as so much is new to us and we also need to understand, as soon as possible, how the car behaves; so tomorrow will be a case of carrying on down this route.”

Heikki Kovalainen Positive after power steering failure

H_Kovalainen

  

First feeling with the new car was very positive, just didnt get proper running due to a power steering failure, got some checks done anyway

Chandhok closes in on Team Lotus deal

Karun Chandhok is closing in on a deal as reserve driver for Team Lotus after accepting an offer to visit the team who are debuting the T128 in pre-season testing at Valencia.

Karun Chandhok at Valencia wearing a Team Lotus jacket. Photo by xpb.cc.

Although he has not denied a wish to have a role with the team, the Indian has confirmed negotiations are on going though a contract is yet to be signed.
"At the moment I am still in discussions," he told Autosport.com. "Nothing is confirmed yet, and I have come here to see how the team works and to have a catch up with Tony Fernandes and Mike Gascoyne.
"Of course it would be nice to have a continued role in F1, but there is nothing finalised yet."
Team boss Tony Fernandes confirmed that the Indian was being considered yet hasten to add there was no rush to decide who would get the vacancy.
"Karun is here as a guest," he told Autosport. "Again I am not somebody who is going to rush into things.
"I think he likes us a lot, and he would! I want the team to also gel with him. He is a good lad, he can add a lot of value to the team. I would like Karun to be involved with us in some way shape or form.
"We want a reserve driver who is going to be good for us, and Karun is definitely on the list. For me, I want it to be a team effort, and I want the team to feel comfortable.
"I want everyone to feel good about it, and I think the reserve driver has to contribute. Today is for him to see what the team is like."
With the Indian Grand Prix scheduled for 30th October, the commercial attraction Chandhok brings will benefit the team and an announcement confirming the appointment is expected in due course.

Brawn cautious on speed of new Mercedes

Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn is quietly confident his team have improved sufficiently on their below-par 2010 Formula One car but refrained from making any early predictions on the pace of the new MPG W02.

Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP F1 Team with Ross Brawn Team Principal, Mercedes GP and Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP F1 Team. Photo by xpb.cc.

"With this car we've moved a good step forward with the construction, the weight, centre of gravity," he told the Press Association. "We've recovered a lot of the aerodynamic performance that was lost from the regulations. There are other things like the unity of the design groups, we've a second season with both drivers, and that helps."
Despite everyone having to acclimatise to changes in the new FIA regulations for this year's Formula 1 season, Brawn is content the 2011 challenger will power both Michael Shumacher and Nico Rosberg to better results than last year.
"It's about lots of things all coming together and moving in the right direction," he confirmed. "But you never know if it's enough. You never know if someone is going to make a strong breakthrough. But I'm comfortable we've made real progress over the last six months, and that this car is the culmination of that."

Santander stays as McLaren sponsor

Santander will remain a sponsor of the McLaren team in 2011.
The Spanish bank's spokesman admitted last November that 2010 was a year of "transition" as the new major sponsorship with Ferrari began.
"Who knows if in the future we will keep on having a relationship with them (McLaren) and their drivers," he said.
But Santander announced on Wednesday that the deal has indeed been extended, with the logo to now appear on the helmets and overalls of drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
"The relationship that we have built, initially with the McLaren team, and now its drivers, has been integral to creating and building the Santander brand in the UK," said Santander UK CEO Ana Botin.
Spaniard Ana Botin is Grupo Santander chairman Emilio Botin's daughter.
The McLaren/Santander sponsorship began in 2007.

Afternoon test update: Vettel still clear

Sebastian Vettel continued to occupy the position at the top of the times in Valencia as the second day of pre-season testing hit its half-way mark on Wednesday.
Renault’s Robert Kubica and Force India’s Paul di Resta had both had spells at the top of the times on an initially very chilly morning in eastern Spain, before Vettel – spending his second day in the new Red Bull RB7 – went fastest in the day’s second hour on his eighth hot lap.
His best time of 1m13.614s was already just over a tenth of a second faster than his benchmark time from the first day, and by 1pm the world champion had chalked up 40 laps to add to the 93 trouble-free ones he completed on Tuesday.
Fernando Alonso was up in second in the new Ferrari, five tenths of a second back after 38 laps, with di Resta third in the 2010 Force India and Kubica ending his first morning in the innovative Renault R31 fourth, with 40 laps.
Lewis Hamilton is making his sole appearance of the week on Wednesday to get his first taste of the Pirelli tyres to be used this year, after McLaren decided not to use its race drivers in the post-season Abu Dhabi tyre test last November.
After a lengthy gap after a early installation lap, the 2008 champion eased himself back into driving duties and by lunchtime had completed 26 laps and occupied fifth place.
Mercedes’s opening day programme for the W02 had been restricted by a hydraulics problem during Nico Rosberg’s morning run on Tuesday so the German team and driver would have been pleased to have racked up 34 laps by 1pm on day two.
The team was also trying out the German manufacturer's renowned KERS system for the first time, having not used it on the opening day while it carried out other checks.
Team Lotus, meanwhile, was debuting its new T128 and, while Heikki Kovalainen had failed to post a lap time by lunchtime, the team’s Twitter updates suggested early work was going well, the Finn having done five exploratory laps during a programme of system checks and car alterations.
There had been two red flags by 1pm, the first of which was caused after half an hour by Rubens Barrichello, whose new Williams FW33 stopped out on track with an electrical problem.
13.30 update: Alonso has since jumped ahead of Vettel at the head of the times, the Spaniard’s new benchmark standing at 1m13.469s.
Valencia test day two times @ 13.00

1  VETTEL      Red Bull     1m13.614s (40)

2  ALONSO      Ferrari      1m14.111s (38)

3  DI RESTA    Force India* 1m14.199s (33)

4  KUBICA      Renault      1m14.412s (40)

5  HAMILTON    McLaren*     1m14.701s (26)

6  ROSBERG     Mercedes     1m15.383s (34)

7  ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso   1m16.474s (60)

8  PEREZ       Sauber       1m17.019s (25)
9  GLOCK       Virgin*      1m17.228s (15)

10 BARRICHELLO Williams     1m17.344s (36)

11 KARTHIKEYAN HRT*         1m17.823s (29)

12 KOVALAINEN  Lotus        no times  (5)

laps completed in brackets

* 2010 car

Ferrari names 2011 car F150

Ferrari has revealed that its new car will be called the F150, with it set to be revealed in Maranello live on Italian television this Friday. For 2011, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa remain as race drivers although, with Luca Badoer now in retirement, Jules Bianchi joins Marc Gené and Giancarlo Fisichella on the reserves bench.

‘The choice of name stems from Ferrari’s desire to pay tribute to this year’s 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy,’ reads an explanation on the Ferrari website. ‘The placement of the “Tricolore” Italian flag as part of the car livery will therefore have even more significance in 2011.’

The initiative has also received the appreciation of Italian Republic President Giorgio Napolitano, to which Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo replied: “Ferrari is an expression of Italian excellence, talent and creativity.

“All the men and women who put so much effort and passion into their work at Maranello share the pride and responsibility of representing our country around the world and it is in this spirit that we chose to dedicate this car to an event that is so important for the whole of Italy.”

Mallya: Line-up one of strongest on grid

Vijay Mallya has expressed his feelings over this season’s Force India driver combination, which involves Adrian Sutil remaining with the team as Paul di Resta steps up to replace Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nico Hülkenberg joins as reserve pilot.

“I am genuinely excited by the drivers we will be fielding in 2011,” commented the Silverstone squad’s Chairman and Team Principal. “I believe that the combination of talent we've assembled gives us one of the strongest line-ups on the grid.

Left-right: Paul di Resta, Adrian Sutil and Nico Hülkenberg

“Adrian has matured into one of F1's most consistent and highly-rated young drivers while Paul is, I believe, a real star of the future; he has won in every category in his career and this base speed was in evidence when he got in the car on Fridays last year.

“With Nico, signing him was too good an opportunity to let by; he showed a good racing head and talent and I was amazed by his control in Brazil last year.

“Together I think they are a formidable partnership and will help take us to the next level of performance.”