Williams denies Maldonado bought his seat

Williams chairman Adam Parr has dismissed suggestions the team's new recruit Pastor Maldonado is little more than a Formula One "pay driver".

Despite Nico Hulkenberg's solid rookie season with the British team, including pole position in Brazil, he was released at the end of the 2010 campaign and replaced by the heavily-financed Venezuelan Maldonado. Although Hulkenberg dominated Maldonado when they were team-mates in GP2, the 25-year-old won the feeder series this year.

Parr said the description of Maldonado as a pay driver is "repulsive and irrelevant … we have never sat a driver in our car who we did not think was ready for Formula 1, deserved to be in Formula 1 and was capable of delivering.

"The guy [Maldonado] has just won the GP2 championship with a rookie team, winning more races than anyone else. The mere fact that we have to talk about this is absurd."

He insisted that Maldonado is a "great talent" and that it is "not just our opinion". "We work with an independent driver coach and he believes that, in terms of pure speed and talent, Pastor has as much capacity as the two Nicos [Hulkenberg and Rosberg]."

Parr also denied that Maldonado's tenure will be a short-lived one. "We do not see it as a one year agreement but a long term investment. If you have a young talented driver, it is a promise for the future, and if he also has sponsors, all the better.

"Money is irrelevant. Fernando Alonso's sponsor [Santander] is the biggest in Formula 1."

As for the job-seeking Hulkenberg, Parr said he sees a bright future for the young German, even though there is no room at Williams in 2011. "I would like to see him with Williams again. He has the dedication and the passion to be a great driver and I was so impressed with his maturity and professionalism."

"I hope he finds something somewhere else and on the other hand I would like to keep up a relationship with him."

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Verstappen backs third-car proposals

Former Formula One journeyman Jos Verstappen has backed Ferrari's push to allow top teams to enter third cars in the sport.

"For the teams it's not expensive as the parts are already there," Verstappen, who usually drove for the kind of small constructors that Ferrari president Luca di Montezeolo is now so critical of, said.

"A third car could be an unique opportunity for young drivers to get into F1. If it was up to me, I would have the maximum age of a third driver at let's say 23. You could make it a kind of development car for a talented driver."

The current situation, with almost no track testing, is not acceptable he added. "Let's face it, at the moment the so-called 'third driver' has little or no opportunities to drive."

Verstappen said third race entries "would be a good solution that the FIA should in my opinion consider seriously".

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2011 Ferrari passes crash tests

Ferrari's 2011 chassis has passed a sequence of crucial crash tests, according to Italian media reports.

The mandatory monocoque tests reportedly took place under FIA guidelines and in the presence of an official observer at the CSI technical facility in Bollate, near Milan. The reports cited rumours that the outcome of the tests was a relief to Ferrari's Aldo Costa-led design team, due to fundamental differences between the F10 and its successor.

A key difference, said the reports, is in the new monocoque's actual construction and composite materials, which are more extreme for 2011. Ferrari's crash test chief Davide Terletti reportedly investigated a crack that opened on the surface of the monocoque, but the detail was not enough to cause the chassis to fail the tests.

The reports said other parts of the 2011 car will be crash tested shortly.

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Di Resta deserves F1 chance

Sir Jackie Stewart has tipped fellow Scot Paul di Resta to make his Formula One debut in 2011.

24-year-old di Resta, the new DTM champion, was Force India's reserve and Friday driver in 2010 and is being considered for a race seat next season. Adrian Sutil, Tonio Liuzzi, Nico Hulkenberg are also linked with the two Force India drives, but triple world champion Stewart told the Edinburgh Evening News: "I don't see any reason why Paul shouldn't be on the grid next year. He's impressed everyone with what he's achieved during his Friday test sessions with Force India this year, and he's fast."

Stewart added: "He's also very clever, astute and - from what I've heard - very good with his technical feedback. I definitely think he'd help strengthen the grid even more."

Stewart said the 2011 grid of drivers is shaping up as the best in F1 history.

"In my mind, definitely, I think it's the best field ever assembled in Formula One," he said. "If 2010 was a great year, 2011 - because the same people are there with even more experience - is going to be another great year."

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Windtunnel two years away

Mike Gascoyne has admitted it will take up to two years for Team Lotus to start using its own windtunnel and five years before it starts to compete with Formula One's biggest names.

Late in 2010, the Tony Fernandes-led outfit announced it would soon build a tunnel at its Hingham headquarters. But when asked if those plans would be realised during the course of next year, Gascoyne told paultan.org: "No, 'soon' is 18 months to two years time and we're in the planning stages. Planners are very keen for us to develop the site and working with us and that's fantastic. But, realistically it's 18 months to two years away.

"If you look at the example of Red Bull which just won their first world championship, it took them seven years and they bought an existing team, which was a Jaguar team, which was a Stewart team, but when I went to Benetton, to bring Renault back into Formula One, again that was an existing team, we started in 2001 at the back of the grid, podiums the next year, we won our first race in 2003 with Fernando in Hungary and they won the world championship in 2005.

"So even with an established team that won the world championship, it took five years to turn it around into a winning team … We've made a good start, but it's very much the first step along the road."

He said the target for 2011 would be to mix it with the lower midfield, now the team has secured deals to run Renault engines and Red Bull gearboxes.

"I think our aims are very very clear, Tony is very good at setting ambitious aims, which is good, but we target teams that finished sixth to ninth," he said. "Williams, Force India, Toro Rosso, Sauber. That is clearly where we want to be. Formula One is very close at the moment. We were probably, best a second off that group, and we're very confident of closing that up and we want to be racing in that group. We've targeted seventh or eighth in the championship; I think that would be a fantastic step."

Gascoyne denied that the team's wind tunnel in the UK means the plan to set up a headquarters in Malaysia has been scrapped.

"I still think that we want to set something up in Kuala Lumpur, possibly in Sepang," said the Briton. "It may well make sense for us to base the show car program out in Malaysia in Sepang, so we'll have a small team running that program and hopefully look at Malaysian mechanics. We're a Malaysian team and we're proud of that. Hopefully in a few year's time you'll see Tony up in the winner's podium getting the trophy and the Malaysian flag being pulled up. But we're very proud of that, undoubtedly there will be a technology centre in KL."

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2011 Red Bull an evolution of 2010 car

Red Bull's 2011 car will be an evolution of the championship-winning RB6 rather than a radical new design, according to chief designer Adrian Newey.

Since new regulations were introduced in 2009, Red Bull has produced race-winning cars and finished both seasons with the fastest chassis. In 2011 double diffusers will be banned, the car's weight distribution will be set by the FIA and teams will have to accommodate bulky KERS units in the chassis, but Newey said the RB7 won't need a radical rethink.

"It is a further evolution of the current series," he told laola1.at. "The DNA of the car is the same. The RB6 was basically an evolution of the last car; one basically turned into the next."

Asked if Red Bull's rivals will therefore once again spend the season complaining about the legality of his car, Newey answered: "I hope so! Because that would mean we have done a good job again. If you're out the front in F1, everyone always thinks you are cheating."

Looking to the next major regulation changes in 2013, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he was not ruling out the possibility of the team switching its engine supplier or even producing its own engines. In 2013 Formula One will use 1.6-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged engines and Red Bull team owner Dietrch Mateschitz recently hinted at a major change.

"We are on stand-by for an interesting partnership," he said. "And even the idea of developing our own engine, I think, is no longer so absurd."

In a more recent interview with laola1.at, Horner added: "It is important to keep all the options open. This is one of Mr Mateschitz's great strengths."

An F1 engine deal with car giant Volkswagen, however, might be considered more likely.

"With Didi's vision, anything is possible," Horner acknowledged.

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Rosberg staying realistic about 2011 chances

Nico Rosberg has played down Mercedes' chances of competing with Formula One's frontrunners right from the start of next season.

Mercedes finished fourth in the constructors' title in 2010, but failed to notch up any wins and finished the season well off the pace of Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren. However, the team was able to focus more of its resources on the development of next year's car and has been tipped for success in 2011.

"The gap we are closing is of course fairy big," Rosberg told the SID news agency. "It will take time and I don't know how much. Perhaps at the beginning of next season we will be close. We will have to see, it is difficult to predict. What is definite is that we will look better than this year."

Rosberg beat his illustrious team-mate Michael Schumacher by 70 points in 2010, but said he was still disappointed by his lack of wins.

"On the one hand, I'm obviously happy that I was able to beat Michael," he added. "That was very important because you compare yourself with who is in the other car. On the other hand, I had hoped for better results, but they will come - hopefully in the near future."

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'No chance' of F1 return

NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya has ruled out the possibility of returning to Formula One in the future.

Montoya left F1 in 2006 after a difficult season with McLaren and made the switch to NASCAR where he now races for Target-sponsored Chip Ganassi entry.

"Some people tell me I should go back to F1, but I'm happy," the 35-year-old, who made his F1 debut for Williams in 2001, told prensa.com. "I think it is clear that there is no chance of going the other way at the moment."

In 2010, Montoya failed to finish among the top 12 Sprint Cup contenders; a system for deciding the series champion known as The Chase.

"At this moment I am happy, my sponsor is happy and Chip Ganassi is happy and that's all I care about," he insisted before adding that NASCAR is "more fun" than F1. "I saw the (Abu Dhabi) finale this year and it's like it has been all the time -- one car is a second faster than another but he cannot pass. They say the problem is the tracks but honestly F1 has always been the same."

Montoya said he thinks F1's new champion Sebastian Vettel deserves the title.

"He's got talent even though he did everything possible not to win it," Montoya said. "He and his team made many mistakes that made it very complicated for them, but I think the fastest driver and car won."

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KERS 'inefficient', says HRT's Cuquerella

HRT engineer Antonio Cuquerella believes Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) are "inefficient" and returning to Formula One in 2011 for marketing reasons.

The technology, which recovers energy otherwise lost under braking and turns it into a power boost, first ran in 2009 before it was dropped by the teams in 2010 to cut costs. Both HRT and Virgin are not expected to run KERS in 2011 due to cost reasons, while F1's frontrunners are committed to the system.

Cuquerella, who previously worked for BMW in F1, questioned the logic behind the return of KERS while speaking at a technical university in Valencia.

"It is a fashionable green technology that helps to sell more [road] cars," he is quoted by Spain's motor21.com. "It's inefficient but the large manufacturers want it to sell their cars."

Cuquerella added: "A lot of the manufacturers want KERS as a tool of their marketing departments to justify their investments in Formula One."

He also addressed his boss Colin Kolles' controversial statement that it was HRT's inexperienced drivers that held the team back in 2010.

"It is true that we were disadvantaged compared to having a driver like Trulli, but there is no doubt that the car was slow as well," he conceded.

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Buemi breaks waterslide record

Sebastien Buemi has been keeping busy over Formula One's winter break but still found the time to set a new record.

The Toro Rosso driver slid down three high-speed waterslides at Aquaparc in Le Bouveret, Switzerland, faster than the previous record holder.

"I have a competitive spirit, whatever game I am taking part in," the 22-year-old told Le Nouvelliste.

He admitted that launching himself into waterslides as quickly as possible is a risky off-season pursuit.

"It can be dangerous in the sense that you can slip over, that's true," he smiled. "But I was careful. Before coming, I got the 'ok' from my team."

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Pirelli happy after five-day Bahrain test

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery is confident his tyre company will deliver in 2011 after completing its latest private test in Bahrain.

Pedro de la Rosa and Romain Grosjean have been at the wheel of Pirelli's 2009 Toyota for five days of testing in Sakhir, where they compared different compounds in the heat of the desert.

"We ran two drivers in order to compare two different sets of feedback, and the fact that they were both saying the same positive things at the end of the test only underlines the progress that we have made," Hembery said. "There's still some work to do, but we can head into 2011 with confidence."

The test was prolonged by a sandstorm but Hembery said it didn't cause any major concerns.

"I think this goes to show that, wherever you are in the world, uncertain weather can arrive in a variety of forms. But Formula One is all about expecting the unexpected, and we were able to quickly react to these changing circumstances by extending our test.

"With the extra time we had, we were probably able to put in a little bit more work than we had originally planned, so everything worked out very well in the end. We ran through our entire dry tyre range, and to have reached the point where we are at now, just five months after the F1 tyres ran for the very first time at Mugello in August, is an incredible testimony to the commitment and capability shown by every member of our team."

The next private test will also be in Bahrain on January 9-10 before three days of testing in Abu Dhabi. By the start of February Pirelli will be on track with the F1 teams, testing the 2011 cars in Valencia.

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Side-splitting humour from Spain

A Spanish website has admitted a news story about Santander buying into the Spanish team HRT was a hoax.

The website claimed the bank had bought 40% of the struggling team and would announce the deal at the same time as confirming Pedro de la Rosa as the main driver for 2011. The news was published on December 28; a Spanish holiday known as 'Day of the Innocents', which is similar to April Fools' Day.

Last year, the same website staged a hoax about Nelson Piquet Jr signing to drive for the new Campos team.

On Wednesday, the website admitted it had continued its annual tradition of "playing" with its readers by publishing a credible news story that is false. "Today we can assure you that the purchase of Hispania by Banco Santander is not real," read the new report.

The humour and wackiness of of the website's editors clearly knows no bounds, and we await next year's side-splitting revelations with keen anticipation.

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Top Gear in hot water over burka show

The BBC's Top Gear show has landed itself in hot water after the three presenters dressed in burkas during their Christmas Special in which they had to travel from Iraq to Bethlehem.

Several tabloid newspapers have, perhaps predictably, run indignant articles claiming Muslims are up in arms about the programme which was seen by 6.6 million viewers.

High-profile Islamic extremist Anjem Choudary, said: 'The burka is a symbol of our religion and people should not make jokes about it in any way. It would have been equally bad even if they'd not been in a country mainly populated by Muslims.'

An editorial in the Star, while not condoning the presenters' antics, said: "Hate preacher Anjem Choudary is the main rabble rouser against them. He also thinks Christmas is evil. Clarkson can be crass but he's no racist. Ranting Choudary is trying to spoil yet another British tradition. He's ruining it for the vast majority of Muslims who can take a joke. Don't let this hardline nut control our telly."

The BBC said it had not yet had an opportunity to assess viewer feedback.

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Personal problems cost Hamilton title tilt in 2010

Lewis Hamilton has revealed problems in his personal life as a contributed to his failure to recapture the Formula One title in 2010 and said he was trying to banish "outside intrusions" from his mind.

While he declined to go into specifics, many believe he was referring to his much-publicised decision to sever his professional relationship with his father, Anthony, who had always acted as his manager.

"The personal life, the way things have gone have not been as smooth and as happy as they could have been in the past and to do what I do is a combination of many, many things that are surrounding you," Hamilton told the BBC. "It's not just arriving at the race track and driving, it's your appearances, it's your mood swings, it's the people that are around you - your family and your friends - and the time that you are able to give to them and the relationship that you have with them.

"As soon as some of those things are off, and you've not got all those pieces of the puzzle in place, it makes it very hard to do other aspects of your life as easily. The key I think to life is getting all those pieces of the puzzle in place."

But he went on to say he believed he was in a better position heading into 2011. "My plan right now is to smooth everything off and make sure that next year I am 100% clear in my mind and have no outside intrusions mentally.

"I look at the likes of Tiger Woods. He's had many, many things that have had an impact on him this year, but he still plays, he still pars it, he still gets birdies. But that to him is a bad year, but to other people when everything is right he is amazing."

Looking back at 2010, Hamilton admitted that fourth place in the drivers' championship was a big disappointment. "It's been a long time since I finished out of the top three of a championship in my career. Finishing fourth is not something that I'm not particularly proud of.

"We had a solid couple of bad races where I lost points which would have put me in a much stronger position to compete for the championship at the end of the year and really just throughout the year in general."

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'I'm not afraid of Vettel'

Fernando Alonso has responded to comments that Luca di Montezemolo made earlier last week when he claimed Sebastian Vettel would one day drive for Ferrari.

"I'm not afraid of Vettel," he said. "Should he come to Ferrari one day it won't be a problem, I have nothing to say on the matter. I'm not afraid to face any team-mate, I've never feared any of them.

"None of my team-mates have ever finished a season with more points than I have, so I don't see why I should be afraid of anyone."

He added he was confident Ferrari would compete with Red Bull and McLaren in 2011. "I have no doubts that next year Ferrari will build the car that I want."

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Luca Filippi harbours Formula One ambitions

Luca Filippi has not given up on getting a drive in Formula One in 2011, even if it means him having to settle for a place as a test driver.

"I'm seriously working to find a place in F1, no matter if it's as a test driver," Filippe told Autosport. "I already did that for Honda F1 in 2008, and I think that with what I've shown throughout my career I should be linked to an F1 team today.

"Last year after finishing second in GP2 Asia a Formula 1 deal seemed really close for me, so I don't feel that I can already call it quits. Anyway I must also be realistic and to be fair I can't see that happening at the moment, too many things have to fall in place.

"If it won't be F1 then it will be Auto GP. I already have advanced talks with one of the teams, and we are very close to an agreement."

Filippi has tested with the F1 teams Minardi, Honda and Super Aguri and last April was linked with a possible drive for Sauber.

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Vietnam Grand Prix rumours quashed

Recent rumours that the FIA is looking at Vietnam as a possible venue for a grand prix have been played down by circuit advisor Hans Geist.

A visit to the country by Geist to meet with officials fuelled speculation discussions were moving ahead for a possible venue in the Nha Trang bay area, around 200 miles east of Ho Chi Minh City.

But Geist brushed aside such talk. "My mission is usually to inform interested parties about Formula 1 and what it takes to build a race track to FIA F1 standards and organise a GP," he said. "I would say that of all my informative meetings maybe 10% develop into a serious concept. In Vietnam, my job was purely informational."

He did admit that as far he knew, South Africa, Bulgaria, Romania and Argentina were currently keen on hosting a GP, while there is was interest in the staging of a second race in China.

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Lotus unveils abandoned livery

Lotus has released images of the black and gold livery it had planned to run in 2011 before Renault announced that it too would paint its car in the John Player Special colours.

Lotus set up a competition at the end of last season for fans to design its 2011 livery in black and gold and received a large response. However, when Group Lotus announced it was sponsoring Renault next year, the Enstone-based squad immediately unveiled a black and gold livery of its own.

As a result Lotus will again run in the traditional green and yellow colours, but still went through with the competition anyway. The winner was Raphael Campos who took inspiration from Emerson Fittipaldi's championship-winning Lotus 72D that was the first car to run with JPS sponsorship.

The team will paint a show car in the colours next year.

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Chapman family backs Group Lotus over Fernandes

Group Lotus has received the support of Colin Chapman's family in its battle against Tony Fernandes over the use of the historic marque's name.

Last year Fernandes received the blessing of both Group Lotus and the Chapman family to run his new team under the Lotus name, but since then the car company has revoked its licensing agreement and decided to sponsor the Renault Formula One team instead.

In response Fernandes acquired the rights to the Team Lotus name from David Hunt, who had bought them when the original team folded in 1994. Group Lotus is set to contest Fernandes' right to use the name in court, while Fernandes is looking for compensation for Group Lotus' decision to end its licensing agreement early.

In the midst of the legal wrangling, Clive Chapman, the son of founder Colin and owner of Classic Team Lotus, has come out in support of Group Lotus.

"The Chapman Family is impressed by the exciting developments underway at Group Lotus, and it is very grateful to Proton for the significant investment that is being made, to secure a strong future for the excellent workforce at the Hethel factory," a statement published by Autosport.com read.

"In 2010 the Chapman Family and Classic Team Lotus have been pleased to support Group Lotus in many ways. In consultation with Proton, this included supporting the use of the Lotus name in Formula 1, which was licensed by Group Lotus.

"The Chapman Family was impressed by the achievements of Lotus Racing [Fernandes' outfit] as a new team, and appreciated its respect for Team Lotus history. However, then its license to use the Lotus name was terminated and things changed."

Chapman also made clear that he would rather the Team Lotus name, which his father established in 1958, did not return to Formula One.

"During 2010, the Chapman Family, as and when appropriate, made it clear to those involved that it would prefer that the Team Lotus name should not be used in Formula One. Indeed, assurances to this effect were received. The Team Lotus identity represents the motor racing legacy of Colin Chapman, and this was preserved by the Chapman Family and invested within Classic Team Lotus.

He added that Group Lotus' actions were more in the spirit of the original team than Fernandes'.

"The association by Group Lotus with Team Lotus history is much appreciated and entirely appropriate, especially as it is in keeping with how things were in Colin Chapman's time. The Chapman Family is looking forward to continuing to give its support to Group Lotus, which is the ongoing Lotus entity created by Colin and Hazel Chapman. After all, the Lotus marque is the responsibility of Group Lotus, and Hethel is the home of Lotus."

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