FORMULA 1 2011

[MIKA27]

'Tremendous boost' for F1 if Schumi succeeds

Mercedes GP team boss Ross Brawn believes Michael Schumacher might "surprise a few people" this season.

The seven-time World Champ returned to F1 in 2010 with Mercedes GP, however, failed to produce the performances many have come to expect from him.

In fact, the German failed to reach the podium never mind claim a race victory and finished the Drivers' Championship down in ninth place.

This year, though, Brawn believes F1 could see more of the older Schumacher as the 42-year-old is back in form.

"It would be a tremendous boost for Formula 1 if he succeeds," Brawn told BBC Radio Northampton.

"We had a quiet year with Michael last year. Now he's looking sharp and he might surprise a few people."

As for Schumacher's disappointing 2010 Championship, Brawn says his driver just needed time to get back into the swing of things after three years away from the sport.

"He's not been involved in the sport for three years, and undoubtedly in that time, certain edges go soft. I think they're sharp again now.

"I've heard the comments that he's tarnishing his image because he's not winning races, but he's loving what he's doing. He's not worried what people think about him."

[MIKA27]

Schumi: Reliability and now we need pace

Michael Schumacher admits Mercedes GP need to turn their attention to performance after completing a race distance at Barcelona on Friday.

Despite a late start to the day as a result of heavy overnight rain at the Circuit de Catalunya, Schumacher completed 90 laps on the opening day of the four-day Barcelona test.

The German carried out aerodynamic evaluations and balance checks during the morning session before putting in a race simulation, including pit stops, in the afternoon.

His best time for day was a 1:27.512, which put him 3.138s behind pace-setter Sebastian Vettel.

It also prompted Schumacher to concede that now that the car is working "fine", the team needs to turn their focus to performance.

"We had a good day and it is certainly satisfying to finish a race distance with all of the systems operational and to have everything working fine," said the German.

"Now we have to turn our focus to performance and it was important to complete today's simulation to understand how the car and tyres behave going from a heavy to lighter fuel load."

MIKA: I seriously do hope Mercedes GP get their act together and have a car with some pace. Last season, the Mercedes GP racer was one of THE more reliable vehicles on track but seriously lacked pace. I would have hoped they added some pace to this seasons drive as it would be great to see MS win some more races.

[MIKA27]

Bell to join Mercedes GP

Mercedes GP has announced it has recruited former Renault chief Bob Bell as its new technical director.

His new role, which commences from 1 April, will see Bell reporting to team principal Ross Brawn and heading up the chassis team at Mercedes' Brackley base, allowing Brawn to take more of an overview of both the chassis design and engine parts of the organisation.

In a three-decade motorsport career, Bell worked for McLaren, Benetton and Jordan before coming into the spotlight when he became deputy technical director at Renault in 2001, and then being promoted to technical director two years later.

In the wake of the 'race fixing' scandal erupting in late-2009, Bell became acting Renault team principal following the departures of Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds. He oversaw the transition to the new Genii era and stayed on as managing director until leaving Renault last October.

Bell said he was "delighted and honoured" to become part of Mercedes.

"It will be a privilege to be a part of such a strong and determined organisation, and to be able to contribute to furthering the enviable heritage of Mercedes-Benz in motorsport," he said.

Brawn added: "Bob's appointment is a key step in the strengthening of our excellent technical team and we are pleased to have recruited one of the most experienced engineers in the sport.

"Bob will be an important asset to our team, bringing with him a wealth of Formula 1 knowledge and championship-winning experience, and we look forward to welcoming him at the start of April."

[MIKA27]

Team Lotus hits back at Proton

Team Lotus has hit back at Proton after the Malaysian car maker claimed the team had asked for a big sum of money to end their naming rights dispute.

As the public war of words continued between the two parties, Lotus issued a statement on Friday refuting claims from Proton, which had claimed in another statement on Thursday that Team Lotus boss Tony Fernandes had asked for up to £37 million to settle the naming row.

"The statement contained a number of factual errors that are at best misleading and at worst straight lies," said Lotus on Friday about Proton's claims.

"The case concerns the unlawful termination of 1MRT's licence to use the Lotus Racing name and Team Lotus Ventures' rightful ownership and usage of the Team Lotus name in Formula 1.

"Proton's statement contains a number of points that are designed to paint a very negative picture of the shareholders and founders of 1MRT and to cloud the truth ahead of the court case between 1MRT and Group Lotus, beginning in London on 21st March:

"Proton has now stated for the first time that 1MRT could have remedied the breaches in the licence agreement and continued to use the Lotus Racing name in 2011. None of this is true and is in direct contradiction to the reasons given at the time for termination of the Licence which said that the breaches alleged were not capable of remedy.

"Additionally, in a number of recent media articles it has become clear that the Renault F1 team were working on black and gold livery designs for their 2011 car in August 2010, well before the licence allowing 1MRT to use the Lotus Racing name was terminated.

"The only possible reason this livery was being planned was to promote Renault F1's sponsorship with Lotus Cars, using a classic Team Lotus F1 livery to cement their brands' relationship in the public arena. This begs the obvious question - If Proton were happy to allow 1MRT to continue to operate under the Licence and use the Lotus name, why were their employees at Group Lotus working with Renault F1 arranging a sponsorship deal which was in direct contravention of the exclusive licence given to 1MRT and using a livery so obviously owned by Team Lotus Ventures and not Group Lotus.

"Unfortunately Proton's assertion that 1MRT could have continued to use the Lotus Racing name in 2011 is made to avoid the obvious conclusion that Group Lotus was itself in fundamental breach of the 1MRT licence, as is proved by their own partners at Renault F1 telling the truth about when they started working with Group Lotus on their proposed sponsorship deal. Fundamentally Proton made it very clear that they no longer wanted to work with 1MRT and the facts of this will be borne out in the upcoming court case.

"Reference is also made to the sum of money offered to 1MRT for the Team Lotus name, suggesting that 1MRT shareholders were making unreasonable compensation demands of Proton. However, what Proton fails to mention is that the vast majority of the compensation sought by 1MRT was to cover the loss of FOM revenue awarded to the team for their efforts on track in 2010.

"1MRT asked Proton to indemnify them against the potential loss of prize money from FOM which would have resulted from 1MRT having to change its chassis name. The compensation sums being discussed for 1MRT leaving aside the FOM revenue were not overly generous, which is specifically why Proton has not included that in their statement yesterday.

"With the FOM revenue included the sums are reasonable - without referring to it Proton are able to paint 1MRT as greedy which is why they are deliberately excluding that key point."

[MIKA27]

Schumacher predicts wins, not title

Michael Schumacher says his current expectation is that Mercedes can aim for a grand prix victory in 2011 but probably not a world championship bid.

The team had appeared to be struggling early in pre-season testing, though it emphasised that it was focusing on reliability ahead of the arrival of a substantial upgrade for Bahrain. Schumacher then showed better form by going quickest at Jerez last Friday.

Today at Catalunya the seven-time champion was only eighth-quickest, but did complete a race simulation.

Schumacher said that while he still preferred not to judge Mercedes' potential until the W02 was in its definitive 2011 specification, he felt at present that the odd race win would be the limit of its potential.

Asked what he felt Mercedes' target for 2011 was, Schumacher replied: "The target is still the same as we said weeks ago: to hopefully be, with this car, on the podium and maybe, if things go very well, to win a race this year.

"That's probably the maximum we can talk about, but it is very difficult to judge our performance at the moment against the others because obviously we will improve the car a little bit further to the Bahrain race.

"But, how much compared to the others, that's the question mark."

He was encouraged by the mileage that he had been able to complete today.

"We had a good day and it's certainly satisfying to finish a race distance and to have everything working fine," Schumacher said.

Nico Rosberg now takes over the Mercedes for the next two days before Schumacher returns on Monday.

[MIKA27]

Williams rues disrupted day

Williams technical director Sam Michael admitted that the team needed more mileage to get through its set-up programme after a disrupted test at Catalunya today.

Most of the morning's running was on a damp track following heavy rain earlier in the week, and Rubens Barrichello was then sidelined for much of the afternoon while a precautionary engine change was carried out.

"We didn't have enough set-up time today," said Michael. "The track was moist to start and didn't start ramping up until late morning, at which point we encountered an issue with the engine.

"Over the break, we changed the engine and did just one proper run at the end of the session."

But he said the day had not been a complete write-off.

"Despite the downtime, we actually tested and measured quite a few aero and systems items in the background," said Michael, who added that the team would use KERS again tomorrow, having deactiviated the device for the end of the Jerez test and today following glitches last week.

Barrichello said the mileage on a damp track this morning had still been handy.

"We did some laps in the wet this morning which was good as it allowed us to get a feel for the car on intermediate tyres," he said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get much running in the dry."

MIKA: It would have been good to get a dry run but if anyone can overcome the lack of dry running is Rubens who IMO is THE best wet weather driver F1 has ever seen. RB has always excelled in the wet and if he's developing a car whilst on a wet/damp track, he'd make the most of it. Hopefully Williams comes to form this season.

[MIKA27]

Pirelli pleased with soft tyres wear rate

Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery insists the wear rate of its soft tyres is where it needs to be in order to force drivers to make two pitstops during races.

"The wear level is probably where it needs to be," Hembery told AUTOSPORT during testing at the Barcelona circuit on Friday.

"If it's a two-stop strategy, you can't give them a tyre that will last for 35 laps - otherwise that's a one-stop strategy.

"Where we would like to understand better is putting more rubber down onto the circuit. We also want to avoid having a dirty circuit where drivers can't move off line without pick-up," he added.

Pirelli has announced that it will take its hard and soft tyres to the first four races of the season, hoping the gap between the compounds will help the show.

The Italian manufacturer made some changes to its softer tyres for the Barcelona test, and Hembery admitted he would like to be able to test in hotter conditions.

"There are changes from Jerez to here with the soft compound, which has evolved, intended to give us more durability, stability. We still have to see when we have some higher temperatures," he said.

"We're suffering from testing here with some very cold temperatures and certainly at Jerez. For here we'll see in the analysis tonight, but we're not seeing the evolution of the circuit, the rubber being put down which will affect your wear rate between 30 and 40 per cent between a Friday and a Sunday.

"That's something, strangely, we didn't see at Jerez and that's new for us. We've got some ideas about why that might be but we want to see the results from here to see if it's the same.

"We're also hoping to get some higher temperatures, say 25 degrees plus, on the track surface. The track is very cold, when it's eight degrees for most of the day it's almost a superficial track temperature and that's something we're trying to understand because we've tested, by and large, in higher temperatures.

"We're open to learning and we need to know how representative these conditions are."

Hembery also conceded Pirelli would want to be able to test its rain tyres properly before the start of the season.

"If we could have a very good simulation of a wet race that would be fantastic," he said. "We could do with a real downpour and then a drying track. That would be ideal because they could get out on the wets and go through the phases to the intermediates and back onto the slicks.

"That's what's needed for all the teams, to go from full rain through to dry, or the other way, then they can work out the change over points."

He also said he favoured Paul Ricard as the venue for the final test of the winter if the Bahrain test is cancelled due to the unrest in the country.

"If I had the chance to go to Paul Ricard and gain some wet testing with the teams, from a tyre point of view that would be ideal. To come back here or to go to Jerez, it's cold, it's not going to give us any extra information. If not Paul Ricard, we'd prefer to go to Abu Dhabi where there's some heat.

"But there are a lot of question marks over what is going to happen over the next couple of weeks. It's going to be very difficult because the logistical demands on everyone are huge. So we all have to hope everything goes forward as planned, though that's currently a very difficult situation."

[MIKA27]

Ecclestone now cautious over Bahrain

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has admitted there is now more uncertainty about the Bahrain Grand Prix after the government cracked down on protests on Friday afternoon.

Ecclestone has said this morning in an interview with the BBC that he was "more hopeful" the race would take place despite the unrest in the country.

The situation, however, worsened in the afternoon, with Bahraini troops shooting at demonstrators and reportedly wounding many of them.

Speaking to the BBC again in the afternoon, Ecclestone conceded the situation was not as positive as before.

"We should wait and see what happens over the weekend," Ecclestone said.

"I don't know what has happened this afternoon because I've been travelling but from what I've been told it's a bit different to this morning because of this funeral that's gone on which is what you would expect I suppose."

He added: "I just think things have changed and that we should wait and see over the weekend exactly what changes there have been."

The Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) was meeting in Barcelona this afternoon to discuss its stance on the Bahrain Grand Prix and possible alternatives for the final test of the winter if the Sakhir event is cancelled.

[MIKA27]

Teams will follow FIA, FOM on Bahrain

Formula 1 teams will back the decision made by Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA over whether the under-threat Bahrain Grand Prix will take place, according to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

The 2011 season opener, scheduled to be held on March 13, is in doubt because of unrest in Bahrain - which forced this weekend's GP2 Asia race to be canned. Horner, speaking on behalf of the Formula 1 Teams' Association (FOTA) after a meeting held after today's testing in Barcelona, insists that it's not down to the teams to make the call.

"It's obviously a really difficult situation in Bahrain, but we have complete trust in Bernie, FOM and the FIA to make the right decision. They will only send us there if it is safe.

"It would be a great shame to lose the race, but it's not the teams' decision - it's down to the promoter. Bernie and the FIA will have much more information than us and we will trust their decisions."

During the meeting, teams also discussed the upcoming pre-season test in Bahrain, due to start on March 3. Alternative venues were considered, but the decision whether to run there or not will depend on the status of the grand prix. Should the race be cancelled, FOTA would switch to a different venue.

"One is linked to the other; they are only a week apart," said Horner. "It wouldn't make sense to go and test there if the race wasn't to happen. We will wait for feedback from FOM and the FIA and make a decision accordingly. We are looking at some alternatives because we don't know whether we can go to Bahrain."

Horner added that he expects a final decision "at some point during the next week."

[MIKA27]

Barcellona testing gallery:

Michael Schumacher completes some early laps under typically sunny Spanish skies as the pre-season testing circus pitches up at Barcelona. But after rain on Thursday, the track was still drying in the opening hours of the third test

The demanding Circuit de Catalunya will provide a good test for how far Lotus has come in improving its car’s aerodynamics for 2011

Nick Heidfeld's second full day in the R31 doesn't come to Saturday, but he was behind the wheel again briefly on Friday morning to complete some pit-stop practice with his new team

Jenson Button kicks things off for McLaren in Barcelona. After several niggles on the MP4-26's debut in Jerez, will the team start to show some more of the car's outright potential here?

Getting KERS to work function smoothly continues to play a major part of most teams' testing programmes

Virgin's Jerome D'Ambrosio has admitted he has lots to learn ahead of his F1 debut season

Alonso was back in the new Ferrari and, after the early rain, started conducting further Pirelli tyre evaluations. He didn't take long to get to the top of the times too...

After skipping the Jerez test to complete some filming with Pirelli at Monza, Hispania rejoins the group testing fold. F1 returnee Narian Kathikeyan continues to complete all the teams laps in the 2010 car

Alguersuari gets a feel for the Pirelli wets

The early slippery conditions meant teams finally got a first chance to try out Pirelli's wet tyres

Mercedes has had an up and down time in testing.

Kovalainen and Lotus were thrilled to be within 1.3s of the fastest time

Petrov puts more miles on the Renault

[kgoings]

Thanks for the continued stories and the pics are great!

[MIKA27]

Teams consider fifth test to replace Bahrain GP

It is understood that the teams are considering a fifth pre-season test to replace the Bahrain Grand Prix, if it's decided unsafe to go ahead with the race.

Protests and unrest in the country over the Royal Families powers have seen several people killed and hundreds injured. This could force the fourth test and first race of the season to be cancelled.

If the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone decide to cancel the race, FOTA have discussed the possibility of holding the fourth test in Barcelona whilst adding an additional test to ensure they don't miss out on any running which would have taken place during the Bahrain GP weekend.

A replacement race has been mooted as it would be too difficult to re-route their equipment and freight within such a short timescale.

A final decision on the viability of the race going ahead will be made mid-next week with a decision on a fifth test to come shortly after.

MIKA: Sounds like a great idea.

[MIKA27]

Kolles: 'Liuzzi a strong contender for seat'

Vitantonio Liuzzi returned to the cockpit of a Formula One car today as he secured the opportunity to test for Hispania in Barcelona.

The Italian doesn't, as of yet, have a race seat for the 2011 season after being dropped by Force India, the team opting for Paul di Resta as a replacement.

The former Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Force India drivers future looks a bit brighter after HRT team principal Colin Kolles admitted he is a 'strong contender' for the second seat alongside Narain Karthikeyan.

"As I always said our target is to get the best possible package," Kolles said in Barcelona.

"Tonio is a strong contender for the second seat given that he has a lot of experience in Formula One. We hope his comments and feedback will help the team to progress in the right direction."

Meanwhile Liuzzi says he's happy to be back: "I am happy to be back in a car again here in Barcelona for the upcoming test.

"Hispania Racing is a team with potential that can grow in the future and could have a good package for the season with the new car.

"There is still a lot to do because we are starting tomorrow with the first test, but there will be a lot to come. I am sure it will be a good day and I am looking forward to the next step."

[MIKA27]

Gallagher urges Bahrain decision by Tuesday

Cosworth's director of Formula One, Mark Gallagher, has urged F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone to make a decision about the Bahrain pre-season test and race before Tuesday evening.

Gallagher says a decision within the next 72 hours would be critical for the teams and suppliers being able to rearrange everything for a stand-in test at another location.

"The decisions over the next 72 hours are going to be absolutely critical for all of us, and I think the sport needs a decision by the end of play on Tuesday at the latest," he told SkyNews.

"We're currently testing in Barcelona, which finishes on Monday, and the freight needs to be shipped out for the test in Bahrain which is in 10 days time.

"The test comes first, then the Grand Prix itself on March 13th, so really the big decision needs to be made by Tuesday evening."

It's important that the correct decision is made, with safety the main priority, added Gallagher.

"It's a big decision all round for it to be cancelled. Of course, sport has to take second place to what's happening politically out there, as well as the safety of the spectators, the media, the teams, which comes first."

[MIKA27]

Vettel tops test times two days in a row

Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets in Barcelona for a second day running as he managed to set a time over two-tenths quicker than Jaime Alguersuari.

The German also beat his day one time by over a second as he completed 103 laps. His best time came during a qualifying simulation in the morning.

Jaime Alguersuari made an impression on the timesheets as he almost matched the Red Bull drivers time. A 1:23.519 pushed him above Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard a further four tenths back.

The morning saw most of the drivers pushing for quick laps before focussing on race simulations in the afternoon.

McLaren's Jenson Button spent much of the morning in the garage after a hydraulic issue. That limited his running to just 54 laps, the least of any team.

Meanwhile, Ricardo Teixeira made his test debut in the Team Lotus T128, setting a best time of 1:31.584, the slowest of the day as he completed just 26 laps before handing the car back to Heikki Kovalainen.

Test times from day two (Barcelona):

Pos.

01. S. Vettel Red Bull 1:23.315 (103 Laps)

02. J. Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:23.519 (94 Laps)

03. F. Alonso Ferrari 1:23.978 (89 Laps)

04. R. Barrichello Williams 1:24.008 (115 Laps)

05. N. Heidfeld Renault 1:24.242 (39 Laps)

06. K. Kobayashi Sauber 1:24.243 (123 Laps)

07. N. Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.730 (131 Laps)

08. J. Button McLaren 1:24.923 (54 Laps)

09. P. di Resta Force India 1:25.194 (80 Laps)

10. H. Kovalainen Team Lotus 1:26.421 (55 Laps)

11. V. Petrov Renault 1:26.884 (61 Laps)

12. V. Liuzzi Hispania 1:27.044 (69 Laps)

13. T. Glock Virgin 1:27.242 (60 Laps)

14. R. Teixeira Team Lotus 1:31.584 (26 Laps)

[MIKA27]

Button: McLaren lagging behind rivals

Jenson Button was left to rue his lack of track time after again running into problems at Barcelona on Saturday.

With McLaren having opted to delay the launch of their 2011 car until after the first test, the Woking teams needs to put the miles on their MP4-26.

But that proved to be a problem on the opening two days of this week's Barcelona test.

Button managed just 77 laps on Friday, missing the bulk of the afternoon session, while on Saturday he amassed just 54 due to a hydraulics failure in the morning and then again later in the afternoon.

The Brit concedes it is costing McLaren dearly as it is not giving the team a proper picture of how their MP4-26 can perform.

"We're not doing as many laps as we'd like, so we're a little behind some of the other teams, which is a bit of a disadvantage, but that's something we're addressing," said the 2009 World Champ.

"Over the next two days, hopefully our reliability will be better, and we'll be fully equipped with spare parts.

"Mileage not only helps reliability, but it's also useful for set-up work. It's difficult to balance the car with the front wing when you're trying a variety of tyre compounds and fuel loads.

"And it's taken a bit of a time, especially at a circuit like this, where getting the aero balance right is important.

"There's a lot more performance still to come from this car - now we just need some proper mileage to see what it can do. Hopefully, Lewis will be able to achieve that over the next two days."

[MIKA27]

Alonso: No cause for concern

Despite encountering several problems at Barcelona on Saturday, Fernando Alonso insists he's not worried about Ferrari's reliability.

The Spaniard was the first to bring out the red flags on Day Two as his F150th Italian suffered an electrical problem, forcing him to stop out on track.

Underway again a bit later, mechanical failures cut short Alonso's running, keeping him down to just 90 laps with a best time of 1:23.978.

Despite his woes, the double World Champ insists there is no cause for concern in the Ferrari camp.

"So far testing has been a surprise for us, with no big problems in the car," he said.

"Today is the first day we've had some mechanical issues, but it's not too worrying. We are putting a lot of mileage on the car. Everything is working well.

"We know that to see how competitive we are, we need to wait for the first two or three races. Then it will be time to say if the car is good enough or not. At the moment, everything feels okay for us."

Pirelli's rubber was once again a hot topic as the Italian tyre supplier brought modified versions of the super-soft and soft tyres to Barcelona.

Alonso, though, says they have similar degradation to their predecessors.

"To be honest, it's not a big difference compared with what we found at Jerez and Valencia.

"The tyres are still degrading a lot on the long runs, maybe here it's not only the rear tyres but also the left front.

"It's very demanding (for the left front) here at Barcelona on Turn 3, Turn 4 and Turn 9, so it's a little bit more than normal, but the degradation is something that we already saw at Jerez and Valencia, no big difference here."

[MIKA27]

Heidfeld less happy with R31 balance

Nick Heidfeld has admitted that he is less happy with the balance of the Renault R31 at Barcelona than he was during his first test in the car at Jerez last week.

The 33-year-old completed 41 laps, setting the fifth fastest time of the day, after taking over from team-mate Vitaly Petrov for the afternoon session.

But despite his concerns over the handling of the car, he is confident that set-up changes will improve performance.

"I was not as happy with the balance of the car here as I was in Jerez, but I only had the afternoon, which is not a lot of time to make changes," said Heidfeld. "It's not outside the window [balance-wise], but it can definitely be improved.

"You never have a car that you fully like and there are always things to improve. In Jerez, we were pretty close to a car that I like with only small things that I didn't like. Today, I was surprised it was so different, but the track and conditions are different.

"It's very interesting and we need to understand it because you don't have so much time to find the setup. And we also have to understand what part the tyres play.

"We made some improvements both mechanical and to systems and hopefully on Monday I will get a lot more laps and try more things."

Heidfeld is confident that he will have no problem adapting to the style required for a car built around old team-mate Robert Kubica, adding that he is not convinced that focusing on one driver makes much difference to its characteristics.

"It's difficult to know how much influence that has and how much it is possible to build a car around one driver," said Heidfeld. "I will just try to do my best and not think about it.

"I will just try to do my best and not think about it. The car is what it is and whoever the car is built around doesn't make any difference to my work."

Petrov will take over for tomorrow's running, with Heidfeld back in the car for the final day of the test.

[MIKA27]

Petrov: Need reliability to judge R31

Vitaly Petrov says the Renault team needs more reliable testing mileage before it knows how competitive its R31 can be this season.

The car has shown flashes of impressive speed with Nick Heidfeld setting the quickest time on one day at Jerez last week. It was often closest to Red Bull in the fast corner speed traps, but it has also been plagued by reliability troubles and has not completed as much running as the team had hoped.

Renault was sidelined several times at Jerez with KERS/braking-related troubles and lost time again on Friday at Barcelona due to another KERS problem.

"We've still not found the limit or something close to it," Petrov told AUTOSPORT. "I didn't do many laps. I had a lot of problems with brakes, KERS and leaks so I didn't run so much. For me it's very difficult to compare how it is. I didn't push.

"We still need to work on a lot of things. We had a lot of problems with the KERS and it was difficult to find where this problem was."

Petrov says he suffers from the same braking issues with the R31 as he did with its predecessor and identified that as the team's main area of concern.

"The braking is just locking too much at the rear, I think we just need to have the right shape map on this curve," he said. "That's why we need to test. We were struggling all last year with the brake stiffness and retardation, now we came back in the beginning with the same problem so we need to sort it out.

"As soon as you approach the brake, the rears start to lock. When it's rear locking, you lose performance from the tyres and when you have rear locking, after two or three corners the rear tyres are already too hot and there's no grip there. It's the main problem."

Renault is still yet to test its car over longer runs, with Petrov adding that the team's attempts so far have had to be aborted.

"We've tried already since the first test and the car is not working," he said. "So cross fingers, we hope we can do long runs here."

[kgoings]

Does anyone have a good set of rules/scoring for a Fantasy F1 league? Looking to do a league at work with friends where we DRAFT drivers and constructors. But all the leagues I look at are you get a certain amount of points or dollars and you build a team, I dont like the type of fantasy leagues where every team could have Vettel, I want to do a draft style where if you get the first pick you can take vettel but your next driver (considering 5 teams) would be the #10 guy.

[MIKA27]

Does anyone have a good set of rules/scoring for a Fantasy F1 league? Looking to do a league at work with friends where we DRAFT drivers and constructors. But all the leagues I look at are you get a certain amount of points or dollars and you build a team, I dont like the type of fantasy leagues where every team could have Vettel, I want to do a draft style where if you get the first pick you can take vettel but your next driver (considering 5 teams) would be the #10 guy.

Sorry KG...

It seems like a great idea to have but how would it all score considering there are so many drivers?

If you get Vettel GREAT, I'd hate to see who gets the HRT's!!

Should anyone find a solution, I'd be interested to see how it all works.

[MIKA27]

Ecclestone: Crown Prince will make decision

The decision of whether or not the Bahrain Grand Prix goes ahead is that of the Crown Prince, says Bernie Ecclestone.

The 80-year-old has decided it would be best if Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa makes the decision, as he is the one with the best view of ongoings in his country.

"He will decide whether it's safe for us to be there," Ecclestone told the BBC. "I've no idea. I'm not there, so I don't know."

The F1 supremo stressed he wouldn't send teams there if it wasn't safe to do so.

"We won't advise people to go unless it's safe. Let's hope it'll be all right," he concluded.

A decision is expected on Tuesday, though it has been reported that one team will boycott the race if it does go ahead as planned.

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Webber voices concern over Bahrain GP

Mark Webber has voiced his concern over the Bahrain Grand Prix which is set to take place on March 13th.

The Australian believes Formula One shouldn't visit the Middle Eastern island if the situation remains the same, stressing that they have bigger priorities than a sporting event.

"When you hear of people losing their lives, this is a tragedy," the BBC quote him as saying. "It's probably not the best time to go there for a sporting event. They have bigger things, bigger priorities."

Webber is confident the right decision will be made come Tuesday when the FIA, Bernie Ecclestone and the Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa come to a decision on whether or not the race will go ahead.

"In the end the right decisions will be made. Maybe it is still the first race, maybe Melbourne is the first race, we don't know.

"It's not a big deal to be honest because there are more things than Formula One in Bahrain," he added.

The fourth pre-season test also planned to be held at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain has been cancelled, with confirmation expected on Monday.

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Rosberg the quickest man in Barcelona

Nico Rosberg finished the third days testing in Barcelona at the top of the timesheets.

The German set the fastest lap of the test so far, beating Sebastian Vettel's day two time by almost two tenths.

Vitaly Petrov secured second with a 1:23.463, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton whom had led for much of the afternoon's running until the final hour.

McLaren fans can breath a sigh of relief as the Woking-based outfit managed to rack up 92 laps, their best so far following some trying times.

Though it was Mark Webber who claimed the most running. The Australian lapped the Barcelona circuit 138 times as the Red Bull team ran a race simulation.

Jarno Trulli had a pleasing outing in the Team Lotus T128, finishing sixth fastest, ahead of Sergio Perez by a tenth and a half.

A wet morning saw a few minor off-track experiences from Felipe Massa, Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado - all of which resulted in red flags. A fourth red flag came with just one minute remaining when Webber stopped between turns seven and eight.

Test times from day three (Barcelona):

01. N. Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.168 (91 Laps)

02. V. Petrov Renault 1:23.463 (93 Laps)

03. L. Hamilton McLaren 1:23.858 (92 Laps)

04. P. Maldonado Williams 1:24.815 (58 Laps)

05. M. Webber Red Bull 1:24.995 (138 Laps)

06. J. Trulli Team Lotus 1:25.454 (48 Laps)

07. S. Perez Sauber 1:25.567 (114 Laps)

08. A. Sutil Force India 1:25.720 (102 Laps)

09. S. Buemi Toro Rosso 1:26.155 (31 Laps)

10. F. Massa Ferrari 1:26.508 (122 Laps)

11. T. Glock Virgin 1:26.598 (96 Laps)

12. G. Mondini Hispania 1:28.178 (39 Laps)

13. D. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:28.329 (42 Laps)

14. N. Karthikeyan Hispania 1:30.722 (32 Laps)

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Hamilton: 'This was a positive days running'

Lewis Hamilton was pleased with McLaren's running in Barcelona on day three, despite a minor mechanical issue.

The Brit managed to complete 92 laps as well as setting the third quickest time of the session.

He spent much of the morning focusing on shorter runs, however his programme was cut short before lunch to correct a minor mechanical issue.

In the afternoon, he conducted longer runs, evaluating tyre behaviour over the course of a stint.

"This was a positive day: we’ve been focusing on our programme, trying to complete as many laps as possible, improve reliability and understand the Pirelli tyres. We’re learning more and more about them every day," said the McLaren driver.

"We've had a few technical issues with this car, but the guys have been working incredibly to rectify them. To get more than 90 laps under my belt today was a big positive, and I’m looking forward to a trouble-free day tomorrow."