Formula One 2012

[hugobomb]

Kevin can't be worse than his dad surely?

He'll be the inverse of Senna, Rosburg and Viilenevre, having some very small shoes to fill

[Lineker]

He probably won't ever see the light of F1 day, tbh.

Bernie Ecclestone says Formula 1 teams have absolutely no concerns about the situation in Bahrain, and insists the race will go ahead as planned.

"We are planning to go. I've always said that if there was going to be any drama it would be on the Day of Rage," Ecclestone told The Telegraph.

"They would have to do something then. People there seem confident that a race two months away will be alright.

"The teams are not the slightest bit concerned. They seem happy that things will go ahead without problems. Last year was a more clear-cut decision not to go but things have changed a lot since then."

Last year's race was first postponed and then cancelled.

On Tuesday, armoured vehicles patrolled Bahrain's capital Manama on the one-year anniversary of the uprising, with police firing tear gas at protesters.

"The only message I got was that there were some kids in trouble with the police," Ecclestone added.

Last week, a group of British politicians urged the FIA to cancel the event, scheduled for April, because of the unrest in the country.

"We've always been non-political," Ecclestone said. "Any decision will be made on grounds of safety."

Pirelli has announced the tyre compounds it will take to the first three races of the 2012 Formula 1 season.

The soft and medium compounds will be used in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as well as as in the third race of the year in China.

Pirelli will take the medium and hard compounds to the Malaysian Grand Prix, the second round of the championship.

Each team will receive six sets of the harder compound and five sets of the softer compound for each race weekend.

Pirelli will also bring its intermediate and full wet tyres in case of rain to all races.

Jean Eric-Vergne says Toro Rosso's promising showing in Jerez testing suggests the team could be one of the strongest of this year's midfield runners.

Both Vergne and fellow Red Bull protegee Daniel Ricciardo impressed over the four days in Jerez, while the team suffered few mechanical complaints whilst racking up 316 laps on the 4.4km circuit.

Buoyed by such a record, Vergne said he was confident the team could replicate its pace on Barcelona - which he says will be a better barometer of performance levels for the season ahead.

"I think Jerez showed we have a good baseline, and we look to be one of the strongest of the midfield teams so far," Vergne said.

"We are looking quite good. We had a really good four days as a team, the result of a really good winter for the team. We didn't have any major problems and got a lot of mileage, so there were many positives and not much of a downside.

"Barcelona of course may be different - Jerez was quite cold and the surface is quite abrasive, and it's a circuit we never race on. Barcelona will be a better test in some ways, but I hope with the car as it is now we should also have a good week there."

Vergne also downplayed concerns his and Ricciardo's inexperience could hurt future development, saying he was confident the team can fare well over the entire season.

"I don't think there is so much difference between teams with more experienced drivers [and us]," he added.

"I think if I work as I should – and as a rookie driver that means very hard – it shouldn't be a problem. It's not only about having a good car now, it's always really important to have good updates during the season and I believe we can do that."

Caterham chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne is confident that the team's mid-season move to a new factory will not affect its competitiveness this season.

The outfit is moving from its current base in Hingham in Norfolk to the ex-Arrows and Super Aguri base in Leafield in Oxfordshire.

The move is expected to be completed in the August break and although Gascoyne admits that there will inevitably be some disruption, he does not anticipate it being a problem.

"Being realistic, it's not going to be totally straightforward," Gascoyne told AUTOSPORT. "But having said that we got a team up and running from scratch in five months a couple of years ago so we feel we can tackle most things."

"There will be some disruption, but we are hoping to move in the August break where there will be some downtime anyway.

"We don't have to move everything at the same time and it's not as though we are moving out of this [Hingham] factory, so I'm confident that we can manage it."

Gascoyne added that the move is also well-timed because it will come at a time when the final developments slated for the 2012 car are likely to have already been signed off.

"The idea is that we will be finishing on one car and starting on another," he said. "Hopefully people can come back after the two-week break and the drawing office will be fully-fitted and ready to go.

"It also gives us several months to equip Leafield and get it ready. It's an advantage to us not to have rushed into it because we have got time to get it prepared."

It is anticipated that the relocation of the team into the heart of the UK's motorsport valley will boost its ability to recruit personnel. Gascoyne highlighted this as a key advantage for the future.

[Lineker]

Mercedes enjoyed a successful first run of its 2012 Formula 1 car at Silverstone today ahead of its test debut at Barcelona next Tuesday.

The Mercedes F1 W03 completed the 100 kms of running permitted on a filming day using Pirelli demonstration tyres, with both Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher taking turns behind the wheel.

Vice president of motorsport Norbert Haug hopes will allow the team to "hit the ground running" next week.

"Judging the performance on a roll-out day is very difficult because you run on demo tyres and it was on the short circuit, but the car did everything it was supposed to do," Haug told AUTOSPORT.

"There's a limit of 100 kms so Nico did 50 kms in the morning and then we changed to Michael. There were no teething problems and now we are heading to Barcelona."

Details of the new car are sketchy, but the glimpses seen of the car so far reveal that, like all but one of the teams who have so far unveiled their new machines, it features the so-called 'platypus' nose that only McLaren has opted against.

"The nose is the most discussed issue," said Haug. "It's a stepped nose as some have seen. It's a very nice solution really and a very dynamic one."

Haug added that the extra 10 days of preparation time gained by not running the new car at last week's first test at Jerez have been put to good use.

In addition to mileage completed using the old car at Jerez on the 2012 Pirelli tyres, Haug believes that the simulation work done at the team's Brackley base leaves the team in good shape.

"We have done some very good simulations and calculations and worked a lot inside the company," said Haug. "We had the car on the rig ahead of time and simulated using the engine, gearbox and KERS for quite a while. So we are positive and the target has to be to hit the ground running [at Barcelona].

"We learned something with the old car concerning the new tyres and specifically ran with the blown diffuser because the comparative data with the old tyres was gathered under these conditions.

"We learned a lot and hopefully we can translate what we have learned into the new car."

Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost says the talent of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi was simply not enough to be in a position to challenge for a seat at Red Bull Racing.

Both Alguersuari and Buemi were replaced at the Faenza-based squad in a shock decision by the team, which hired Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne for the 2012 season.

Tost has stated repeatedly that Toro Rosso's mission is to nurture talent that will fit sister squad Red Bull Racing's demands of a top driver.

And the team boss believes neither Alguersuari nor Buemi were strong enough for that.

Tost also reckons the duo should be thankful to Red Bull for having helped them get into Formula 1.

"This is a high-performance sport and 'departures' are a part of the game," Tost told the official Formula 1 website.

"Both drivers have to thank Red Bull as otherwise they would never have made it into Formula 1. And even now they have it in their own hands to make something out of the chance Red Bull has given them.

"Well, Buemi is still with Red Bull Racing as their third man. What will happen to Alguersuari? I have no information at the moment but, as I said, thanks to Red Bull they have a very good basis to pursue their careers from. Maybe even in Formula 1 at another team.

"I'm not saying that they are not fit for Formula 1 as both have shown substantial talent at some races, but it is not enough for Red Bull Racing.

"But I could imagine that they could be top drivers somewhere else and have a successful racing career."

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was quoted as saying that Buemi and Alguersuari would not have been F1 winners, and Tost believes there is a certain degree of truth in that.

"There is probably some truth in Helmut's assertion. When we speak about the 'right stuff' for Red Bull Racing we are talking about a double world championship-winning team, which means that drivers who get elevated there must have the ability to win races and championships.

"And it was from that perspective that second thoughts set in when it came to Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari. Toro Rosso is a rookie team - and we will head into the 2012 season with two rookies. I fully support this decision."

Tost also reckons Ricciardo and Vergne will have a couple of tough first races this season, but he is confident in their ability to deliver.

"Both have done extremely well in all the series they've raced in before entering Formula 1 and, yes, they showed potential at the test," he said. "Daniel, with 11 Formula 1 races under his belt and frequent Friday drives with us, has an advantage. But in general I would say that this wow-effect is not so easily manageable in a first season.

"But it definitely has to be delivered in the second season. What I do expect from both is that they deliver solid performances. This means that they have to improve. I don't necessarily mean that they must score points... unless we've built a winning car!

"My guess is that the first four flyaway races will be difficult as neither knows the tracks, but once we come to Europe I expect them to do significantly better. Let me say a final word. I don't have a problem when a driver has a good race and at the next race he has a shunt - that's part of the game.

"Both drivers will have a 'crash period' but that is part of their development phase. It was the same with Sebastian Vettel. But at some point they have to get their game together - and the question is who will be better at doing that? Let's wait and see."

Buemi will be Red Bull Racing's third driver this year, also racing with Toyota in the World Endurance Championship.

Alguersuari is yet to announce his plans for 2012.

Christ, don't hold back Franz!! Also, Adrian Newey has been deservedly indicted into the Motor Sport Hall of Fame. Congratulations to him!!

Mark Smith has taken over control of the Caterham F1 team's technical department after Mike Gascoyne's was promoted to chief technical officer of the entire Caterham Group.

Gascoyne, who joined the team before it made its Formula 1 debut in 2010, will now be responsible for proposing, supporting and coordinating technical initiatives in Caterham Group's F1 and GP2 team as well as Caterham Cars, Caterham Composites and Caterham Technology & Innovation.

Smith, who as the team's technical director, takes over the day-to-day control of the technical side of the F1 team. He will increase his presence at races in 2012.

The team said Gascoyne will also continue to attend grands prix this year.

"This is a very proud moment for me," said Gascoyne. "My new role will now give me the chance to help drive value across the whole group through the creation and delivery of new projects in all the sectors we are already working in, and opening up new opportunities for each of the Group's companies to embrace.

"Mark Smith is exactly the right person to step up to the broader role he will now be taking on in the F1 team, and I am looking forward to working even more closely with Mark Edwards at Caterham Technology & Innovation, Phil Hall at Caterham Composites and Ansar Ali at Caterham Cars.

"This is a big challenge but one I am extremely excited about and I want to thank our shareholders for this opportunity."

Tony Fernandes, Caterham Group Chairman added: "We are all delighted that Mike has taken up the challenge we have presented him, to lead technical direction across the whole Caterham Group.

"His experience, knowledge, enthusiasm and creativity give him the perfect skill set to help us achieve the ambitious goals we have set for all the group companies, and I know Mike is excited about what lies ahead."

Valtteri Bottas will have his first taste of the new Williams-Renault FW34 on the second day of next week's Barcelona test.

Bottas, who is scheduled to drive in 15 Friday practice sessions in his capacity as Williams reserve driver in 2012, has two days of testing under his belt with the team, both in last year's car during last November's Abu Dhabi young driver test.

Bruno Senna will drive on the first day of the test on February 21 with Pastor Maldonado taking over for the final two days after Bottas's run.

Pedro de la Rosa believes Formula 1 racing will not change much this year despite the introduction of new tyres by Pirelli.

The Italian firm has decided to alter its compounds in order to reduce the performance gap between the softer and the harder tyres, hoping that racing will be even better than last year.

Although some drivers like Nico Rosberg said the new compounds will have a "big impact" on the racing, de la Rosa reckons there will not be a big difference.

"I don't think it will change much because I think that we are still looking at, let's say, an average of two to three stops per race if not more," said de la Rosa.

"And the fact that the hard is softer will only push us into more stops, so I don't think it will change much. But it will not help the drivers that like the very hard compound or the teams that manage to warm up the compounds.

"It helps the little teams like us where we would have had more issues with the hard compound especially when it is cold."

De la Rosa conceded, however, that the tyres had changed significantly in comparison to last year's rubber.

"The hard especially is a big difference. It is a lot softer and the gaps between them - especially the hard and the medium is much, much smaller. Much smaller, basically."

The Spaniard, who will return to racing with HRT this year, said last week's test with his new team was irrelevant for the squad as it was testing its 2011 car.

He said, however, that it was good to test the new Pirellis.

"It is irrelevant, to be honest," said the Spaniard. "I don't think there is anything that will be a carry over to the other car, so the testing is purely to get the team together, to keep the guys experienced to work on an F1 car, under a pressure environment and make the people that are experienced have the chance of teaching the people who are new, and for me to get the rust away.

"It is true we have learned on the tyres as well, because they are quite different from what I experienced last year and that is a bonus for us to come out from here. I was not expecting to learn much about the tyres but I was happy that Pirelli was bring soft, medium and hard because this is a bonus for us."

The HRT team will skip the first Barcelona test in order to focus on being ready with its new car for the second and final test there.

The Spanish squad tested for two days at Jerez last week, using its 2011 car as the new challenger is yet to pass all the mandatory crash tests.

HRT had hoped to attend the first Barcelona test with the new car, but the failure to pass two crash tests meant a change of plans.

The team has decided it will not be testing at Barcelona next week with the old car either in order to concentrate on getting the new single-seater ready for the March 1 outing.

The Barcelona test kicks off on Tuesday.

[MJB]

That seems a tad harsh Tost, both Buemi and Alguersuari showed glimpses last season, enough to get another season for at least one of them I thought.

Any pictures surfaced yet of Merc's new car?

[Lineker]

Nope. Not yet. Not Marussia or HRT.

[MJB]

Don't care about them

[Katsuya]

Petrov has replaced Trulli at Caterham after all.

Sad to see Rubens and Jarno both go in the same year, but I think it makes sense really. Caterham are fast becoming the Renault reject-pile >_>

[Lineker]

Agreed. Sad but sensible. Jarno spent most of last season moaning anyway. Here's the full story.

Vitaly Petrov will race with the Caterham team during the 2012 season, taking Jarno Trulli's place at the squad, it was confirmed on Friday.

The Russian had been linked with the outfit for several weeks despite the veteran Italian having a contract with the team he had raced for since the 2010 season.

Petrov was left without a racing drive after Renault - now Lotus - signed Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean for the 2012 season.

The 27-year-old from Vyborg, Russia, will partner Heikki Kovalainen at Caterham.

"This is a very exciting day for me," said Petrov. "I would like to thank Tony, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin for giving me the chance to join a team that made its F1 debut at the same time as me, and has grown from one of the new teams to a serious force for future honours.

"The passion and spirit that Tony and the whole team have to keep moving forwards is infectious, and I am honoured to be able to join them and play my part in helping the team mount a serious challenge to the teams ahead in 2012 and for many seasons to come.

"I have been training hard all winter and am ready to get back into the cockpit and go to work. From what I have seen already, our new car is another good step forward from 2011 and now I cannot wait to see how it feels when we get to Barcelona. I would also like to take this chance to thank all my fans and partners for their support and their patience."

Petrov made his Formula 1 debut with Renault in 2010 after finishing runner-up to Nico Hulkenberg in the GP2 Series the previous year.

He has scored 64 points, including a podium finish at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last year.

Trulli, 37, is left without a Formula 1 drive for the first time since he made his grand prix debut with Minardi in 1997.

"I want to take this chance to thank Tony, Kamarudin, SM Nasarudin, Riad, Mike and everyone in the team for the two seasons we had together," said Trulli.

"From zero we built up and established a solid F1 team. I'm really proud to have been part of it. I understand the decision the team has made and I want to wish to the whole team the very best of luck for the season ahead."

Team boss Tony Fernandes said the decision to replace Trulli had not been an easy one.

"It was not an easy decision to bring Vitaly in to replace Jarno, but it was one we made to ensure that we give fresh impetus across the whole team and with a realistic eye on the global economic market," he said.

"Jarno has an incredible natural talent behind the wheel, and his winning record and longevity in the sport will bear testament to that talent in the Formula 1 annals forever, but now it is time to open a new chapter in our team's story, and Vitaly is the right person to help us do that."

Russian Vitaly Petrov has replaced Italian veteran Jarno Trulli at Caterham for 2012.

Trulli, 37, was under contract to the team but has been dropped after a tough 2011 season and the arrival of Petrov with a substantial sponsorship package.

The move is likely to end the career of a man who has been in F1 since 1997 and won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix.

Petrov, 27, joins Caterham after two years at Renault, now re-named Lotus, and will partner Heikki Kovalainen.

Trulli joined Caterham - who have raced as Lotus until this year - for their debut season in 2010 but the relationship between the team and driver soured through 2011.

The Italian, who is renowned as a remarkably sensitive driver who needs the car to be to his liking to perform at his best, struggled with the car's power-steering system.

He was comprehensively out-performed by Kovalainen, and although his form improved when the team were able to fit a modified system with improved feel, he was out-qualified by Kovalainen in 16 of the 18 races they did together.

This was especially disappointing for the team as Trulli has been recognised throughout his career as one of the fastest drivers in the world over a single lap.

The Finn was also generally the stronger race performer, although Trulli did finish ahead in the championship on the basis of having one more 13th place finish.

Caterham's decision is based on two major factors.

One was that the budget Petrov brings - worth several million pounds - is the equivalent of having a new major sponsor, a major consideration in the current difficult economic climate, especially given that Trulli needed paying a salary.

The other was the usual size of the margin between Kovalainen and Trulli - often nearly a second in qualifying.

Although Petrov is considered only a journeyman, the team believe he should still be able to produce performances at least as good as if not better than Trulli was managing in 2011.

Team principal Tony Fernandes - a multi-millionaire businessman and owner of the Air Asia airline and Queens Park Rangers Football Club - has also been putting pressure on the team to become more self-sufficient. They have so far mostly been funded by his businesses.

It will be the first time since 1970 than an Italian driver is not on the grid for the start of a Formula 1 season! Bonkers stat.

[Lineker]

For MJB:

The new Mercedes W03 broke cover for the first time at Silverstone on Thursday, completing its first run ahead of its maiden test at Barcelona next week.

This spy shot of the car during a filming day shows it to feature a stepped nose, in common with almost the whole 2012 F1 grid and several other key differences from last year's machine.

Mercedes motorsport vice-president Norbert Haug told AUTOSPORT: "The nose is the most discussed issue. It's a stepped nose as some have seen. It's a very nice solution really and a very dynamic one."

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg drove the car. Filming days require that no more than 100km is completed and demonstration Pirelli tyres are used.

[hugobomb]

Shame to see Jarno go, great driver

[Katsuya]

To be fair, all props to Jarno for being so good in the way he responded to it. I have a feeling he'll be working with them in some kind of role probably as an advisor.

[Lineker]

New Caterham F1 signing Vitaly Petrov says he is relieved to have sorted his future in F1 after months of uncertainty.

The Russian is replacing Italian Jarno Trulli at the team after weeks of speculation about his future.

The deal was completed too late for him to join the opening test at Jerez last week, meaning that his first opportunity to drive will be the Barcelona test that begins on Tuesday.

But the 27-year-old told AUTOSPORT that he is relieved to be back in the cockpit.

"Of course it's not good to miss one of the tests, but I'm just happy that I can do the second test at Barcelona," Petrov said.

"It was a long time during the winter and it is difficult, not knowing what is going to happen with your future. But now finally we've taken the decision with Caterham and I can start to work with them over there."

Petrov endured mixed fortunes during his two years at Renault, with strong performances on occasions such as Australia last year (where he earned his first podium) offset by occasional errors and mounting frustration from both himself and the team over the limits of the R31.

But he says that the move to Caterham is an opportunity for both himself and the team to prove what they can do.

"I think this is a fantastic chance for me, and I think I will show a good side of myself," he said.

"I think I can improve myself together with them. This team has a lot of potential. Over the past two years they have shown that they have improved their car, they are getting closer to the other teams, and this year they have added a lot of new people at the factory, and we are moving to a big new factory close to Enstone.

"You can see in their eyes that they want to win. They want to be there in the top 10, so they are pushing quite hard."

Jarno Trulli was philosophical about his exit from the Caterham F1 team after it was announced that he would be replaced by Vitaly Petrov.

The Italian, a veteran of 256 grands prix, will be absent from the grid at the start of the season, having made his debut in 1997.

One-time GP winner Trulli had a contract with Caterham for 2012, but the team replaced him with Petrov, regarded as one of Formula 1's 'pay drivers'.

Trulli said his exit had not come as a surprise to him, and is hoping the financial backing Petrov brings helps Caterham secure a better future.

"Personally I'm not displeased: I was prepared for a possible divorce from Caterham, in the knowledge that the difficult economic situation would have pushed the team to find an adequately-supported driver," Trulli told the Ansa news agency.

"Small teams have certain needs and contracts are clear. I hope that, with Petrov's contribution, all the people who work there can have a more serene future."

Trulli's exit means there will be no Italian drivers in the first race of the season for the first time since 1970, something the Pescaran reckons was inevitable given the lack of support for young drivers in Italy.

"Formula 1 without Italian drivers is a shame," he said. "I'm sorry but the problem is not mine: others must take responsibility for this impoverishment, for a situation that after all did not begin yesterday, and over which no action has been taken.

"In Italy there's no system that helps drivers emerge at high level, so it's normal it ends up in situations like this. There are talents, but without anyone's support they are hopeless.

"I'd like to see more involvement from everyone, but at such a time of crisis for the country I can't see how a young driver can find help in order to be considered by any team."

Trulli, 37, said he plans to continue racing in the future despite his exit from Formula 1.

"I own a wine production company and a hotel in Switzerland so I'm quite busy, but my job is racing driver and that's what I count on keep doing: either in Formula 1 or elsewhere."

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali says he is very sad Formula 1 will have no Italian drivers on the grid in 2012.

Jarno Trulli was the only Italian with a contract for the upcoming season, but on Friday Caterham announced he will be replaced by Vitaly Petrov.

The move leaves the grid for the first race of the season without an Italian for the first time since 1970.

"I am very sad that, after so many years there will not be an Italian driver in the Formula 1 world championship field," said Domenicali on Ferrari's website.

"I say this on the sporting front and on a personal level when it comes to Jarno, who only on a few occasions has had a car capable of showing off his talents.

"So here, I wish him all the best for the future, both in racing and away from the track. It's a difficult moment for our sport, partly for external reasons.

"For a few years now, Ferrari through its Driver Academy, has established a long term plan to create a new generation of young drivers, which works also in collaboration with the CSAI and I am pleased to see that just now, we can announce that two talented youngsters, Raffaele and Brandon, will be given a great opportunity to progress in the sport."

Fellow veteran Rubens Barrichello, also without a drive for 2012 after nearly 20 years in the sport, lamented Trulli's situation too.

"Sad to see that Trulli won't be on the 2012 grid...Money is dominating everything," he wrote on Twitter.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Formula 1 teams will trust the FIA when deciding on the Bahrain GP, but insists there are no plans to cancel the event at the moment.

The current political situation in the country has led to calls for the event to be canned, although F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone said earlier this week there were no concerns about the grand prix.

Horner said the teams will rely on the FIA to make the right decision.

And he made it clear that, as of right now, there are no reasons to believe the event will not go ahead as scheduled.

"As far as I'm aware, we're definitely going," Horner was quoted as saying by Reuters on Friday.

"We rely on the FIA, it's the FIA Formula 1 world championship, and Bahrain is one of the races on the calendar.

"They are far better placed to know what the issues are, and we trust their judgement, as we do the promoter, and we'll see how things develop. As of today there's a race committed to Bahrain, and therefore we'll be there."

The Bahrain Grand Prix, the fourth race of the season, takes places on April 22.

[Lineker]

Formula 1 legend Stirling Moss believes current world champion Sebastian Vettel is the modern equivalent of Juan Manuel Fangio.

Moss, who was one of five-time champion Fangio's biggest rivals in the 1950s and his team-mate at Mercedes in 1955, said Vettel's current superiority over the F1 field was comparable to Fangio's.

"Vettel is a modern Fangio, really, in Formula 1. I can't see, other than his natural ability, how he is that good, how he can be that good," Moss was quoted as saying by Reuters.

"I think Vettel is quite outstanding, but then he has got the best car, which is fair enough because normally the best driver gets the best car.

"Fangio went around and took what he wanted and one took whatever was left."

Asked how he felt Britain's current leading duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton compared, Moss said he did not believe the McLaren pair were on Vettel's level.

"Vettel is outstanding. They are up there, but not as far as he is," he said.

"Lewis does funny things, so one can't be sure. I would put my money on Jenson. Yes I would. Lewis is terrific, he really is exceptionally quick, but Jenson thinks about certain things better than Lewis will. Like when it's raining and whether or not to go in for a change of tyres.

"For all those sorts of things he has a better understanding of it, and experience is a lot of it."

The 82-year-old added that he admired Vettel's personality and approach to the champion's role as well as his driving talent.

"Where we're lucky is that Vettel has a great sense of humour," Moss said. "He is a damn good world champion. I can think of a lot of other people who get to that position and they don't give back as much as they get out, but he really does."

Daniel Ricciardo says the fates of past Red Bull proteges who have not lived up to expectations do not put any added pressure on him - as he is already extremely hard on himself.

Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne are moving into the Toro Rosso race seats this season after predecessors Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari became the latest Red Bull young drivers dropped for not making the grade, as Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed had been before them.

But asked by AUTOSPORT if Red Bull and Toro Rosso's reputation for ruthlessness awed him, Ricciardo insisted it did not create any pressure that he would not have been putting on himself already.

I feel pressure to deliver yes, but it's not only pressure from Red Bull, it's pressure from myself. And not only this year, but since I joined with Red Bull four or five years ago," he said.

"But even before that I put pressure on myself to try and get spotted by Red Bull. So I guess for my whole career. Basically every driver, to get to this level, has put pressure on themselves.

"Maybe there is some added pressure from Red Bull but if you want to be world champion then you know you have got to perform, and they only reason they kick you out is if you are not performing and then you don't probably deserve to be world champion. That's just the business we're in."

Having started 2011 racing in Formula Renault 3.5 while also being a Red Bull reserve, before adding an HRT F1 race deal from the British Grand Prix onwards, Ricciardo said he was glad that Toro Rosso could be his sole focus this season.

"Since Christmas I have been able to prioritise this and only this," he said. "And particularly last year was pretty intense when I was juggling Toro Rosso, World Series and then HRT. And there was a lot of travelling involved so...

"This year I will definitely be better prepared and devote a bit more time to the job, to training and to focus with less interruptions."

[Lineker]

Mercedes completed a private test of its new W03 at Barcelona today, ahead of the next full-field test at the track, which starts on Tuesday.

Because Mercedes only used three of the four days of the opening test at Jerez, it was able to complete 200 kilometres of private running today. Michael Schumacher drove in the morning, before Nico Rosberg took over for the afternoon.

Mercedes used its 2011 car at Jerez earlier this month, focusing on getting data about this season's Pirelli tyre specifications before rolling out the new car this week.

The W03 will be officially unveiled just before the start of testing on Tuesday morning.

[Gazz]

At another forum I frequent (slut), one of the members is on the Alan Titchmarsh show today at 3pm on ITV apparently.

Early last year, with no racing experience, he decided he wanted to try some single seater racing. Now, most people would start with Karts, not this guy, he bought this...

A 2007 Honda F1.

[maninblack]

I hope the F1 Honda he bought includes a lot of free spare parts.

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali says he is very sad Formula 1 will have no Italian drivers on the grid in 2012.

It probably made for some good press back in Italy, but if Ferrari themselves aren't making any priorities about a driver's nationality, there's no reason why the other teams should do the same.

Fellow veteran Rubens Barrichello, also without a drive for 2012 after nearly 20 years in the sport, lamented Trulli's situation too.

"Sad to see that Trulli won't be on the 2012 grid...Money is dominating everything," he wrote on Twitter.

As if money was never the key factor in F1.

[Lineker]

If Domenicali is so sad about it then maybe he should bring back Luca Badoer

Gosh that car was fuck ugly. Poor Jenson and Rubens having to drive it!

Gazz posts elsewhere? WHERE! What else aren't you telling us

Norbert Haug has warned that the new Mercedes MGP W03, which will break cover tomorrow, will not feature any dramatic innovations.

Glimpses seen of the car so far show that it features a stepped nose, in common with eight of the other teams to have launched 2012 machinery. But despite speculation that Mercedes' decision to skip the first test might be motivated by a desire to hide an as-yet unseen technical innovation, Haug insists that the priority has been to come up with a well-packaged car rather than pursing any eye-catching new concepts.

"I don't think that your eye will be caught by any big surprises when you see the car during the unveiling," Haug told AUTOSPORT. "But I certainly hope that we have some clever solutions and we have some good ideas incorporated on the car.

"It's a good base to work from and certainly we will not turn the world upside down, but we do need to make a good step [with this car]."

The new car has already taken to the track twice, once during a filming day at Silverstone last Thursday and in a private test at Barcelona yesterday. Haug is hopeful that the W03 will prove the effectiveness of the changes that have been made at the team over the past year, but stopped short of saying it marked a new beginning for Mercedes.

He is determined for Mercedes take on the top three teams, but admitted that this has to be viewed as a long-term project given the intensity of competition.

"I wouldn't say that it's a new start," said Haug. "This car is the product of what we have learned in the last two years.

"We had three podium finishes in the first year, but last year we did not head in the right direction. We had some highs, like the Chinese Grand Prix when the track was front-tyre limited and the performance was a little better. But over the course of the year it wasn't good enough.

"To be a regular contender with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren is quite a task. We need to learn, we need to develop our team in that direction and I'm sure that we can do that."

The new Mercedes will break cover at Barcelona on Tuesday morning ahead of the start of the second pre-season Formula 1 test.

[Lineker]

Second test begins today, with the first of the two Barcelona tests.

Mercedes became the last of the frontrunning Formula 1 teams to officially unveil its 2012 car, when it rolled out the W03 at Barcelona prior to the start of the second week of testing today.

The new car has already shaken down the car at Silverstone last week, and conducted a private test at Catalunya on Sunday - which Mercedes was permitted to undertake because it had only been present for three of the four days of running at Jerez earlier this month.

Mercedes chose to stick with its 2011 car for Jerez in order to gain data on this year's Pirelli tyres, and was quickest on two of the days it was present - though it was running to full '11 specification, including the no-longer-permitted exhaust-blown diffuser.

Mercedes' motorsport chief Norbert Haug told AUTOSPORT earlier this week that the W03 would not feature any radical innovations - contrary to speculation that the team had waited until the second test to reveal the car because it featured technical breakthroughs it did not want rivals to copy.

The most obvious outward change is the move to a stepped nose, in common with the majority of rival teams.

Having been unable to beat rivals Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari to race wins in its first two years, Mercedes GP is hoping to get among the top three on a more regular basis this year.

Last season it revamped its technical team with the addition of former Renault man Bob Bell, ex-Ferrari design chief Aldo Costa, and Geoff Willis, formerly of Williams, BAR and Red Bull.

Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher continue in an unchanged driver line-up at Mercedes. With Schumacher coming into the final season of what was initially planned as a three-year comeback deal, speculation about whether the seven-time champion will stay on into 2013 and beyond is likely to be one of the biggest stories around Mercedes this season.

Ross Brawn believes Mercedes GP must move up the Formula 1 grid this year, following two consecutive seasons where it finished fourth in the standings.

After officially unveiling its new W03 at Barcelona on Tuesday, Brawn said that the Brackley-based outfit has the ingredients it needs to deliver improved form on track - which means regularly fighting for podium finishes.

"We have to go forward," he said. "None of us are happy with a recurring fourth place. That is not why any of us are here. We have to go forward, but I am quietly confident with the strength we have got, the resources we have got and the team we are building that we can do that."

Brawn says that the one factor that has encouraged him about Mercedes GP's prospects was the bolstering of the technical department that occurred last year – and specifically the arrival of Bob Bell, Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa.

"I think the important thing for me is the strengthening we have done of the team," he said. "We have much more depth in the engineering team that we had 12 months ago, especially with Bob Bell joining, and Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa.

"We had a great, very bright team of engineers, but adding that maturity and that strength gives me the confidence that we are going to react more strongly to anything we face. I don't know where we are going to be with the car, I feel reasonably comfortably with what we have done but wherever we are, I am sure we are going to have a much stronger response that we ever had in the past."

When asked if the team was now mature enough to go for top three finishes regularly, Brawn said: "We are definitely ready to go for podiums. Any team that has not won the world championship has to look at how it can improve, how it can strengthen and how it can achieve better results. Even if you win the world championship you still look at that.

"And if you are not winning races and not winning a championship then perhaps you have to look at even stronger improvements. But the key is not to ruin what you already have to build something stronger, and that is what we have been very focused on.

"We have some great people in the team already and I was comfortable in adding Geoff, Aldo and Bob because they are people I know would fit in with the existing structure, but also enhance the structure and make it stronger."

Brawn says he remains comfortable with the team's decision to skip the opening pre-season test at Jerez, even though it means the outfit has less time to prepare its W03 for the first race.

"For us at least (Jerez) was quite important, because we wanted to correlate the new car, the old car, the new tyres and the old tyres and understand where we are," he said.

"With the old car being so reliable it meant we did a solid three days of testing, and we did almost as much mileage in that as many people did in four. That meant we just did lots of useful tyre testing, so we could get that out the way and now focus on new things on the new car."

The W03 features the now common stepped nose, and Brawn says the outfit has learned lessons from last year in its design – when some radical concepts on the W02 did not deliver the steps the team had hoped for.

"Notwithstanding the distinctive nose design, which is certainly an acquired taste, the F1 W03 is an elegant interpretation of the current regulations, and a clear step forward over its predecessor in terms of detail design and sophistication," he said.

"Last year, we produced a very bold car and, although its more radical elements didn't always deliver the results we had hoped for, the experience we gained has been invaluable to the design of the 2012 car."

Michael Schumacher believes it is too soon to know whether the new Mercedes W03 can be a winner but says that it did give him the right messages when he shook it down for the first time at Silverstone last week.

Mercedes unveiled its 2012 challenger at Barcelona on Tuesday morning, having completed a private test with it at the circuit on Sunday.

And Schumacher says he can't wait to get a better picture of its true potential this week.

"Already last week, when we were driving the F1 W03 for the very first time, it instantly gave us good feedback and sensations," said Schumacher.

"Starting today, we will work intensively to make it a competitive runner.

"Obviously, we will only see over the next couple of weeks how big the step is that we have made, but I can say already that the guys and girls back in the factories at Brackley and Brixworth were brilliant in putting in so much effort.

"For my part, I am eager to fight again, looking forward to the new season, and I can't wait for it to begin."

Team-mate Nico Rosberg was also positive about his initial reaction to the new car: "We have had a good start to our 2012 testing programme, and it was a great feeling to drive the first laps in the new F1 W03.

"The car looks good, and is very nicely packaged under the bodywork - all the parts are in harmony, which reflects how well the different departments of our team are working together," he added.

"From the beginning of our running, we have been able to focus on understanding the car and making good progress with our test programme."

Mercedes GP is making the steps that are needed to eventually get itself to the front of the Formula 1 grid.

That is the view of Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Nobert Haug, who feels that the outfit has learned valuable lessons over the past two seasons that should help it make good progress.

"We are in the building up process," said Haug as his team unveiled its new W03 at Barcelona on Tuesday. "We have been two times fourth in the last two years and our ultimate goal is to move up the ladder and go in the ultimate direction of first place.

"It takes time and a lot of effort, but we are working very hard and ultimately we can achieve it.

"We want to climb up the ladder. To beat Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren-Mercedes is quite a task, but ultimately we want to achieve that. We are still a young team, we need to learn and I think our learning process is underway. My feeling is we are heading in the right direction."

The W03 features the stepped nose that is common in F1 this year, but is more sculpted than other designs.

"I think our designers did a good job," he said. "With these stepped noses you need to get used to it, but wait and see. After a while the car that is winning races looks good, and I think our new Silver Arrows is a pleasant and nice car."

Mercedes GP elected to skip the first pre-season test at Jerez in order to give itself more development time for the W03, which has already had a shakedown test at Silverstone and a full day of running at Barcelona. It joins the second pre-season test at Barcelona this week.

Jarno Trulli admits that he is surprised by the number of offers he has received since being dropped by the Caterham Formula 1 team.

The 37-year-old is keen to continue his racing career, and has not ruled out continuing in F1 even though such a possibility appears unlikely.

But despite the opportunities that have already arisen to race outside of F1, Trulli insists that he will take his time before deciding on his future.

"I was very surprised by the fact that one or two days later, I had already received some offers," Trulli told AUTOSPORT. "I didn't think that it would move so quickly.

"But I don't want to take any decisions now. I want to put all of the offers on the table and see what is the best for me.

"At the moment, I have no plans."

Trulli insists that he is not limiting his horizons as to where he will race. As well as not ruling out continuing in F1 in some capacity, he confirmed that America could be of interest when asked about the prospect by AUTOSPORT.

He is also likely to evaluate opportunities in sportscar racing.

"I'm open to any possibilities as far as top level and professional racing is concerned," he said. "I'm happy to work hard, to go testing, to develop a project but I want something with a structure that at least gives me the potential for performance.

"NASCAR and IndyCar could be a possibility, but obviously I don't have sponsors. I've never had that in my career so I've had to deal with my talent and nothing else."

The Italian is hopeful of reaching a deal to race somewhere, but is focusing on finding an opportunity that will allow him to compete at a higher level than he was able to with the team then known as Lotus in 2010/11.

"We would like to do something at a higher level than what I've been doing for the last two years," he said. "I spent the last two years at the back of the grid and it was a bit frustrating after spending my entire career fighting for the top."

Alex Wurz will return to the Williams team as a driver mentor, the Grove-based squad announced on Monday.

Austrian Wurz raced for Williams during the 2007 season, and he will be reunited with his old team when he starts his new role in the upcoming Barcelona test.

Williams said Wurz will travel to races this year, helping race drivers Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado.

"This is a great initiative by Williams and highlights just how hard the team is pushing to optimise its performance," said Wurz.

"Throughout my career as a sportsman, which started at the age of 12 in BMX racing, includes over a decade in Formula 1 and is still ongoing (racing in the World Endurance Championship), I am lucky to have gained so much experience.

"I grew up in a family business of driver training and naturally I enjoy helping fellow athletes to operate at their best.

"I'm really looking forward to using my expertise to help Williams at this important stage in its history."

Engineering chief Mark Gillan added: "I am delighted to be working once more with Alex and look forward to his valuable input with the drivers as the whole team strives to continuously improve in all aspects of its operation."

Martin Brundle believes he will be a better commentator for Sky in 2012 thanks to the experience he gained from leading the BBC's television commentary during Formula 1 races last season.

Brundle became lead commentator for the BBC in 2011, standing alongside his former rival David Coulthard in the box, after Jonathan Legard was dropped from the line-up the previous winter.

Brundle has switched to Sky Sports this year and will now revert to his preferred 'expert' co-commentary role for qualifying and races on the satellite service, alongside former BBC 5 Live radio presenter David Croft.

"One thing is absolutely for sure, having now done a year of lead commentating," Brundle said when asked by AUTOSPORT at a media briefing for Sky's new F1 HD channel, "I will now be a better co-comm.

"I have now realised some of the challenges there are being a lead which I hadn't experienced before. I'd kind of sensed it, but hadn't it experienced it, so when Murray [Walker] used to look at me as if to say 'Shut up!' I now know why."

Brundle added that he is much more comfortable in the co-commentator's role, a job he took up for ITV in 1997 after quitting driving in F1, and then continued when BBC took over the coverage for 2009.

"I much prefer being the co-comm," he said. "I realised halfway through last year when I was lead comm - which I enjoyed doing, and I think it worked well with DC. I got a lot of nice comments; I mean there were a lot of people who said we couldn't carry the comm box as well, but we had a four hour and four minute race [in Canada] where we carried it just fine. But I prefer to be the co-comm.

"And then when I did the rehearsal the other day [for Sky], it just absolutely cemented that in my head. I had to force being lead commentator whereas I don't have to do that with co-comm."

[Lineker]

Sebastian Vettel put Red Bull on top of the first day of pre-season testing at Barcelona.

The German had risen to the top of the timesheets shortly before lunch, displacing compatriot and Force India pilot Nico Hulkenberg.

With warmer track conditions not as conducive to chasing times, many teams opted for longer run programmes, but Vettel was able to slightly better his time to end the day with a 1m23.265s.

That effort, set on Pirelli's hard compound - rather than the medium on which he set his morning best - put him 0.175s clear of the field as the chequered flag brought the first day of testing to a close.

Vettel's improvement proved the exception rather than the rule, with second through to seventh position not changing in the afternoon.

That meant Nico Hulkenberg ended the day second fastest for Force India, having set the pace for much of the morning until Vettel's late lap.

The German managed nearly 50 laps in the afternoon, but did not get within a second of his previous benchmark.

The same was true of Lewis Hamilton, who completed several long-lap simulations in the second half of the day. The Briton trialled a variety of compounds, and was consistently in the mid to high 1m28s.

Daniel Ricciardo likewise set his best time in the morning, less than three hundredths of a second down on Hamilton. The Australian was the last man to break the 1m24s barrier.

Fernando Alonso ended the day fifth fastest in the Ferrari F2012, having also completed an 18-lap run with an average of 1m26.208s in the final hour.

The Spaniard ended just five hundredths clear of Michael Schumacher, who managed 51 laps in what was the first day of testing for Mercedes' new W03.

Sergio Perez was the last driver to get within a second of Vettel, although the Mexican's afternoon programme was disrupted by an issue with the rear anti-roll bar.

Heikki Kovalainen too suffered a truncated day, as a broken track rod left him stranded sideways at the final turn after just nine laps of running.

The team was able to fix the issue and he returned in the afternoon, eventually getting down to a 1m26.035s – enough for ninth, just behind Bruno Senna in the Williams FW34.

There were issues too for Lotus, with Romain Grosjean reporting a strange sensation from the team's second chassis.

As a consequence the Frenchman completed just seven laps before the team decided to halt operations.

With HRT opting not to run, Marussia's Charles Pic rounded out the day's runners, 4.7s down on Vettel. The Frenchman racked up 121 laps – the most of any driver - on his first day in the car.

Tuesdays times


Pos  Driver         Team            Time                Laps

 1.  Vettel         Red Bull        1m23.265s           79

 2.  Hulkenberg     Force India     1m23.440s  +0.175   97

 3.  Hamilton       McLaren         1m23.590s  +0.325   114

 4.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      1m23.618s  +0.353   76

 5.  Alonso         Ferrari         1m24.100s  +0.835   75

 6.  Schumacher     Mercedes        1m24.150s  +0.885   51

 7.  Perez          Sauber          1m24.219s  +0.954   66

 8.  Senna          Williams        1m25.711s  +2.446   97

 9.  Kovalainen     Caterham        1m26.035s  +2.770   31

10.  Grosjean       Lotus           1m26.809s  +3.544    7

11.  Pic            Marussia        1m28.026s  +4.761   121[/code]


Sebastian Vettel posted the quickest time on the opening morning of Formula 1's second pre-season test of 2012 at Barcelona.



A late surge from the reigning champion established the Red Bull RB8 as the morning pace-setter, with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg - who had been quickest for much of the morning - dropping to second.



After a slow opening hour – in which track activity mirrored the frosty conditions – times steadily fell as the session wore on, with Hulkenberg the first to dip below the 1m24s bracket.



The German improved that benchmark several times, eventually getting down to a 1m23.440s – which looked good enough to seal top spot at lunch.



Vettel however had other ideas and, with 15 minutes of the morning remaining, he rose to a seemingly customary position at the top of the timesheets with a 1m23.343s, less than one tenth clear of Hulkenberg.



Lewis Hamilton, who had traded fastest laps with Vettel earlier in the morning, finished third fastest. His best was less than a quarter of a second slower than Vettel.



Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo was the only other driver to break into the 1m23s, although his best time of the morning – a 1m23.618s – was set on Pirelli's soft compound. Vettel, Hulkenberg and Hamilton all set their bests on the medium option.



Fernando Alonso managed 36 laps for Ferrari, ending the session fifth fastest, three quarters of a second down on Vettel.



Michael Schumacher, piloting Mercedes' W03 for the first time in testing, was just five hundredths of a second down the road in sixth. He managed 41 laps in the team's new car, which was officially unveiled this morning.



Sauber's Sergio Perez was the last driver to get within one second of Vettel, the Mexican finishing seventh fastest despite completing a relatively light 28 laps.



There was no such issue for Williams, which managed 56 laps with Bruno Senna at the helm. The Brazilian wasn't able to break into the 1m25s however, ending the morning 2.8s down on Vettel in eighth.



That still put him ahead of Lotus's Romain Grosjean and Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen, both of whom experienced severely truncated sessions.



After a fantastic opening in Jerez, Grosjean's Lotus managed just seven laps, the lowest total of any driver. His team has been forced to stop running today as it had to send its chassis back to Enstone for checks.



Kovalainen meanwhile managed nine before stopping sideways on the final corner, bringing out the only red flag thus far at Barcelona. He has thus far been unable to get going.



Charles Pic rounded out the running order, finishing more than 5s down after completing 65 laps. HRT chose not to run at Barcelona after their 2012 car failed a crash test.



[code]Tuesday morning times:


Pos  Driver         Team            Time                Laps

 1.  Vettel         Red Bull        1m23.343s            38

 2.  Hulkenberg     Force India     1m23.440s  + 0.097   47

 3.  Hamilton       McLaren         1m23.590s  + 0.247   45

 4.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      1m23.618s  + 0.275   45

 5.  Alonso         Ferrari         1m24.100s  + 0.757   37

 6.  Schumacher     Mercedes        1m24.150s  + 0.807   42

 7.  Perez          Sauber          1m24.219s  + 0.876   29

 8.  Senna          Williams        1m26.188s  + 2.845   56

 9.  Grosjean       Lotus           1m26.809s  + 3.466    7

10.  Kovalainen     Caterham        1m27.537s  + 4.194    9

11.  Pic            Marussia        1m29.248s  + 5.905   65

The Lotus team has been forced to wrap up its first day of testing at Barcelona early because of a problem with its car.

Romain Grosjean managed just seven laps with the second E20 chassis in the morning session before the team decided to stop running.

Lotus said it had to send the chassis back to Enstone to carry out checks.

"This morning was our first shakedown of our second chassis," said Lotus's Alan Permane. "Once the car was on track it was soon evident that everything wasn't quite as it should be.

"As a precaution we are returning the chassis to Enstone for further investigation. Chassis E20-01, which we used in Jerez, is being sent over and we expect to be on track with that chassis tomorrow."

Team boss Eric Boullier downplayed the issue, saying it was a "minor setback".

"This is a minor setback to our overall test programme. Fortunately we accumulated good mileage in Jerez. If this is the only issue we have during testing then we will still be well prepared for the start of the season.

"We'll be back on track tomorrow with chassis E20-01 and assessing chassis E20-02 back at Enstone."

Romain Grosjean has described the feel of his new Lotus chassis as "strange" after the team was forced to abandon today's running.

The Franco-Swiss driver completed only seven laps this morning on the shakedown of Lotus chassis number two.

When the problem was detected the team decided to send it back to its Enstone base and fly out chassis one, which was used at Jerez, to build up for tomorrow.

Although Grosjean did not want to be drawn on the details of the problem, he did confirm that it was obvious when he took to the track.

"It felt quite strange on the steering wheel," said Grosjean. "Both myself and the team picked up the problem at the same time.

"It was a small chassis issue. We sent the chassis back to Enstone to analyse and we will have a new one ready for the morning."

Grosjean is confident that the team will not suffer too much from losing today's running.

Lotus completed more miles than any other team in the Jerez test two weeks ago and he has no doubts that it will still be able to complete its programme at Barcelona.

"Hopefully from tomorrow we can go into our programme," said Grosjean. "We got some good mileage in Jerez and still have three days here and four days next week.

"We can still work on the car. I will still have some good time driving and we will be as ready as we can be for Melbourne."

Lotus has pulled out of the Barcelona test with immediate effect as a result of the problems it encountered with its chassis this morning.

The team has decided to abandon running in order to fully understand the problem with the chassis that manifested itself on chassis 2, which ran for the first time today.

This is despite chassis 1 completing the full Jerez test two weeks ago. The team said the problem requires modification to both chassis.

The car completed 1788 km of testing at Jerez, but the problem manifested itself at the higher-speed Barcelona configuration.

"Before we were due to fly chassis E20-01 out to Barcelona in replacement of chassis E20-02 - damaged this morning - we ran a series of simulations at the factory based on the data provided by our brief running on track today," said technical director James Allison.

"As a result, we were able to identify an area which requires some additional work. It will be more productive for us to carry out these modifications to both chassis at Enstone rather than send E20-01 out to this week's test. We'll put the right measures in place and we will be able to fix the problem before next week."

Team boss Eric Boullier added: "Not running this week has been a tough decision to take, but we feel that our choice is the right one. On the positive side, we have quickly identified the issue with the chassis and our design office has already devised a solution. We will be present at next week's test in Barcelona.

"We draw faith from the fact that the E20 was quick out of the box in Jerez and showed its reliability there. We have a lot of work ahead of us over the next week but everyone at Enstone is ready for this challenge."

Although the team has not revealed the exact nature of the chassis fault, AUTOSPORT understands it is in an area towards the front of the car.

AUTOSPORT's technical correspondent Gary Anderson believes that the high lateral loads experienced at Barcelona played a key part in revealing the chassis fault that forced Lotus to abandon this week's test.

Lotus ditched plans to run chassis 1 in place of the new monoque that ran briefly at Barcelona before Romain Grosjean complained of a 'strange' feeling.

Speaking to AUTOSPORT about the Lotus situation, Anderson said: "The aerodynamic loads on the car are higher in Barcelona than in Jerez, so that could explain why the problem didn't manifest itself at Jerez.

"Reading between the lines, I would say it was likely to be something to do with a mount rather than the front suspension, as if it was a suspension problem you could have a good go at patching it up at the track with a glue injection and fastenings to hold it in situ.

"The fact that Lotus has pulled out of the whole test rather than going back to the factory to patch it up and then run later in the week suggests it's a serious problem. Unless it is something that is too severe to fix so quickly or that you need to produce new parts to solve."

Anderson believes that the confirmation that Lotus also detected a potential problem that will require modifications to chassis 1, which completed almost 1,000 miles of testing at Jerez two weeks ago, supports the hypothesis that it is related to an attachment.

"Lotus wasn't as quick on the final day of that test, though, so maybe there was a little deterioration," he said.

"Barcelona is a very different challenge. There was a pretty vicious bump around the start finish line in the past, so it's possible this has caused a problem. Alternatively, it could be the long right-hander at Turn 3, where there is a huge amount of torsional stress on the chassis.

"It could also be that chassis 1 was used for the torsion and bending tests that a team would do and then chassis 2 did the crash tests. But as you wouldn't push to the absolute limit to see how stiff the car was, the problem might have been hidden on chassis one."

Lotus plans to make modifications to chassis 1 and chassis 2 to allow it to continue testing in the second Barcelona test that kicks off on March 1.

The team has not confirmed where exactly the problem on the chassis is, but one theory Anderson has is that it is related to the engine mounts.

"The mounts will be a solid insertion and could be made of carbon fibre, machined aluminium, titanium, all sorts of things. It's basically to give a solid fastening," he said.

"It's the kind of thing that you can fix, ideally back at the factory in a controlled environment. But you could do that in one day so if they aren't going to run this week, it suggests that they maybe need to do more than just inject glue and put fasteners in. So it could be a more dramatic problem and maybe it will need new chassis.

"Chassis 3 would likely be on its way for Melbourne and might be at the point in the manufacturing process where you could integrate the fix properly. If they did that, it's possible that Lotus might have to have that chassis and one patched up one for Melbourne as it's a tight turnaround to build a fourth chassis if it hasn't started."

Anderson adds that he feels the problem is more likely to be a manufacturing fault than a design error.

He also backed the team's decision to pull out of the test.

"The engine specification and the mount positions won't have changed with the Renault engine, so I doubt if there's a design error," he said. "There's no point in re-inventing the wheel so it's likely to be the same.

"If it is the engine mounts, then I would have thought that either an error in the material or with the bonding or something like that has caught them out instead. But if it's, for example, a glue problem, then what starts as a small problem could become a big one because there might be 50 inserts all over the chassis.

"The problem isn't a huge safety issue, but if the car feels strange, as Romain Grosjean says it did, then it's only going to get worse.

"It's a dramatic enough problem to wipe the test out, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens from here."

Bahrain Grand Prix organisers have received a major boost after winning the support of a leading United Nations war crimes expert for this year's race to go ahead.

Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, who headed up the critical report of last year's political troubles in Bahrain, believes it vital that the event goes ahead this season after it was cancelled 12 months ago.

Writing to Bahrain circuit's chairman Zayed R Alzayani, Bassiouni explains that hosting the event would provide an important stepping stone in helping the Gulf state to move forward.

His views on the matter are important because Bassiouni has in-depth knowledge of the political situation in Bahrain, having last year compiled the Bahrain Independent Commission on Inquiry that looked into the causes of the political troubles, and the way in which the security forces handled the situation.

In the letter, a copy of which has been seen by AUTOSPORT, Bassiouni writes: "This is an important initiative, which gives another opportunity for the People of Bahrain to come together again after all that has happened in the last year.

"The Grand Prix is a significant national event, which is of great interest to a substantial percentage of the population and all of its communities. It is therefore an event of deserved national pride, which you have used in this year's launching as a way of promoting national healing and reconciliation.

"Aside from the economic, publicity, and public relations advantages that the Grand Prix brings to Bahrain, it is, on this one year anniversary of the February/March events of

last year, an important point of departure for the People of Bahrain to forge ahead in their national efforts towards reconciliation.

"You and the respective organizations involved are to be commended on this initiative. I hope there will be many in Bahrain, during this year and in the years to come, who will

consolidate the processes of national reconciliation, and that all elements of society will add their support and positive encouragement to this and other similar endeavors designed to enhance national reconciliation."

Bassiouni copied the letter to Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and FIA president Jean Todt.

The Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled to take place on April 22, with tickets for the event having gone on sale last week.

Jarno Trulli has revealed he was offered a seat at the Ferrari team while he was racing for the Toyota team in Formula 1.

The veteran Italian is set to be absent from the grid this year after losing his seat at Caterham following a grand prix career that started in 1997 with the Minardi team.

Trulli, a one-time grand prix winner with the Renault team, raced for Toyota from the end of the 2004 season until 2009, when he moved to Lotus, now Caterham.

Speaking in an interview with Autosprint magazine, the Pescaran says former Ferrari boss Jean Todt offered him a seat to drive for the Italian squad, but he turned it down because he had committed to Toyota for the long term.

Trulli did not specify the year in which he was offered the drive, but said he felt like a Ferrari driver briefly.

"Nobody knows this, but at this point I think I can publicly thank Jean Todt for having been one of the few top team managers to consider me during my career. No one knows this, but Todt offered me a seat at Ferrari," Trulli was quoted as saying by Autosprint.

"I won't tell you when exactly: I was racing for Toyota and I was doing very well. But I had signed a rather long contract with the Japanese, and in my career I've always honoured my commitments. In 15 years of F1 I've never needed lawyers.

"I thank Todt not only for having offered me a drive at Ferrari, a chance that unfortunately I couldn't accept, but also for every time I asked for advice and received fine indications with a friendly approach.

"He has always been very honest with me. I've always kept this thing for me, but since today it's thanking time, I've felt like doing that. Regardless how things went, for a moment I felt I was a Ferrari driver."

Toyota is returning to Le Mans this year with an LMP1 programme and Trulli, who said he had a series of offers on the table, admitted he would like to return to the Japanese squad in another series.

"Toyota remains for me unfinished business," he said. "With them I started in a great way, with provisional pole in Japan. In 2005 at the second race I got on the podium, the team's maiden one, and in the first part of the season I was second in the standings behind Alonso.

"However we still lacked that development capability that was achieved later, so we lost ground. In 2009 I did everything in order to win the first race, but for many reasons we didn't manage to. Since I didn't manage to in F1, it would be nice to win a race for them in another series."

Sebastian Vettel has singled out McLaren as the rival team that he thinks is in the best shape at the start of the second pre-season test at Barcelona in Spain.

The double world champion made clear that while it is still too early to divine a pecking order from what had taken place so far in testing, he felt that McLaren appeared to have got an early handle on its MP4-27.

"I think McLaren looked very strong today," Vettel told reporters after ending the session fastest of all with a time of 1m23.265s - some 0.3s quicker than Hamilton managed. "For the rest it is too early.

"I haven't seen all the lap times yet, I have only had a couple of looks on the long runs that Lewis did today – they seemed to be quite interesting.

"At this stage we are not really talking about the championship for sure. I don't think there is anybody here trying to do worse than last year, so we are trying to do what we did last year, but it's a long way from now."

When asked about whether he had a car to challenge for a third title, he added: "To be honest I haven't seen much of other cars on the track.

"Obviously I can judge for myself that the feeling [on my car] is fine but I don't know whether that is good enough or not. I think the McLaren looks quite competitive. I think they didn't go for one lap at all but they did long runs etcetera and they looked fairly competitive, so I think they will be strong straight from the beginning of the season.

"I think we saw in Jerez Lotus was quite a surprise, whether they can keep it up or not, I don't know. Today they didn't run much.

"Ferrari is a bit of a secret at this stage and nobody knows whether they are really good or really bad – and I don't know what other people think about us, so we will have to wait and see."

Ross Brawn believes the decision by four of his rivals to quit the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) was short-sighted, and fears all the sport's competitors may live to regret it.

With Ferrari, Red Bull Racing, Sauber and Scuderia Toro Rosso all having quit FOTA in the wake of ongoing wrangling over a Resource Restriction Agreement, there have been questions raised about the future of the organisation.

However, the remaining members of FOTA are wholly committed to it, and Brawn says he hopes that circumstances do not play out - such as in imminent talks over a new Concorde Agreement - where teams wish they had stuck together.

"We are very committed to FOTA, we believe it's a great shame that we've lost some of the members from FOTA because I think we may live ultimately to regret that," said the Mercedes boss.

"When there is outside pressure it pushed FOTA together. Now, there is not so much, the natural competitiveness of the teams is pushing it apart a bit.

"I think we're very short-sighted with not recognising that FOTA has a very important role to play. I think it is unfortunately the nature of F1 that we all seem to find it difficult to come together with these much bigger issues.

"I am a great believer in FOTA, but I am disappointed with what has happened in the last few months. I hope we don't regret it in Formula 1, because one of the objectives was to find the right solutions for F1, not just for individual teams."

Mercedes has been involved in talks with Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull Racing to try and reach agreement on the RRA, following disagreements about various aspects of the deal teams are currently working to.

Those discussions have not produced a positive outcome, but Brawn thinks it vital efforts are ramped up to try and get the matter sorted.

"The RRA is very important," he said. "We have to find some means of restraining the costs in Formula 1, as technical and sporting regulations can only go so far.

"The concept is very important, but it does need everyone to commit to it and work together to find the best solution to having an RRA system.

"We are committed to it, and we are going to persevere to try and make sure it is applied properly and is part of the future of F1, because without it we are at higher risk."

Red Bull will still be the team to beat in 2012 - that is the view of Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, whose team publicly unveiled its new W03 challenger to the world at the beginning of the first day's testing at Barcelona.

Brawn insisted that it was still too early to say whether the new car will move Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg closer to the front of the field this season, but said that he expected Red Bull to be there whatever the order.

"I think we can see that naturally Red Bull are not going to deteriorate overnight so they will have a very strong car I'm sure," he said. "McLaren will be good, Ferrari perhaps having a challenging time at the moment but I'm sure they will get their car together because they are a very strong and experienced team.

"I think it will be a similar group quite frankly. We have to break the mould and move up.

"I'm not sure who we can displace but I think we are all battling to match Red Bull, who have demonstrated over the last few years how strong they are."

Brawn added that he had been reasonably happy with the car's first day running in company - the W03 was shaken down at Silverstone last week and had a day's running in private at Barcelona over the weekend.

Schumacher, the team's nominated driver for Tuesday, completed 51 laps and ended the sessions sixth fastest with a time of 1m24.150s.

"I think it's too early to judge, but we are reasonably happy, as much as you can be on the first day, trying to get your references," Brawn said when asked about his first impressions of the W03. "The car seems to behave sensibly, nothing odd. It's correlating with what we expected, and now we have to learn about the car and drivers have to learn how to use it.

"We had a small hydraulic problem which spoiled the running, which was a shame, so we're just trying to understand that. Sure we will get that fixed for tomorrow. Reasonably happy with the first day, taking that into account."

Nico Rosberg believes it is now time for Mercedes to start delivering improvements on track this season.

On the back of the restructuring that has taken place at the Brackley-based outfit since Mercedes-Benz took over, plus the recruitment of high-profile technical figures like Bob Bell, Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa, Rosberg thinks the time has come for the team to show it is heading in the right direction.

"For me it is very clear that we need to start our progress on the upward trend now," said Rosberg at Barcelona on Tuesday.

"We are on a very good path towards that, especially in the factory you can feel that the whole organisation is strengthened.

"Things are working better, people are working better together and the whole atmosphere is much more positive now. There is a good feeling in the factory, so you can feel the upward trend is now starting.

"What that will be in terms of results and positions I don't know yet, but it needs to be progress. I am confident that we can make that happen."

Rosberg says his early impressions of the new W03 car have been encouraging, even though it is hard to gauge its competitiveness because of the change in regulations this year.

"We did quite a few laps on Sunday, and the impressions were positive in general but difficult in terms of pace to get a real feel," he said. "It was more just the general impression of the car, how it was put together - the general feel of it.

"It is agile, easy to drive, and looking at it also, everything is working as expected, so generally it is a much more positive start. That was the first impression."

Michael Schumacher is positive about the potential of the new Mercedes W03 after his first day of public running on Tuesday.

The German, who had already driven the car during a shakedown and during Sunday's private test in Barcelona, managed 51 laps on his way to the sixth quickest time of the day.

Although Schumacher's session was shortened due to a hydraulic problem, the seven-time champion was pleased with how the new car handles.

"Reasonably positive," said Schumacher of his day. "It is the fourth day we are in the car and it's the first time we had a little issue with the hydraulics.

"It has good potential. I had a good feeling inside the car. It's difficult to say what that feeling is worth because of the rule changes, but the potential is good."

He refused to judge the pace of the car compared to the opposition, however.

"I don't want to be too precise right now, because I have not been able to overlay our running with the other guys and that is the important matter that can give me a direction, or at least confirm the feeling that I have."

Schumacher also said he had no concerns about the looks of the new car as long as it's quick.

"For us it's very transparent. The main point is that the aero numbers are good and there are different ways of interpreting the rules. We'll find out what is the better way. For us it's not really anything special. The most important thing is what we see on the clock and that is what I'm looking at."

And the Mercedes driver, whose contract with the team expires this year, said he is not thinking about his plans at the moment.

"There's no reason to make any statements or comments about my future. I will make a decision when it's the right time."

Nico Hulkenberg has been pleasantly surprised how well-balanced his new Force India has felt around the Barcelona circuit, after an encouraging first day's running this week.

The German, who was having only his second full day in the car, was second fastest behind Sebastian Vettel on the timesheets after completing 97 laps on the first day of this week's Barcelona test.

"We had a good day, it was a positive programme," he said. "We started with some aero gathering this morning, some tyre comparisons with different compounds, and then long runs this afternoon.

"Generally there were no reliability issues, so there was a very positive impression of the car and a good feeling today."

With Barcelona demanding good aerodynamic performance from the car, Hulkenberg said he was encouraged by how good his car felt around the Spanish GP venue.

"It was pretty good, surprisingly well," he explained. "Maybe it suits a little bit better here than Jerez. I am also getting better. It is my second day, as Jerez was my first day after a long time out of the car. Each day, each kilometre is better."

He added: "Reliability wise, the whole picture just looks very good right now. We are bedding in right now. Today, after lunch, I got back in and felt comfortable again. It feels a bit more like home - I am going through the sensation of that feeling. So, so far so good."

Formula 1 must do much more to bring down costs in the future, says Force India's deputy team principal Robert Fernley, if the sport is to remain sustainable.

Although much focus from teams this year will be in trying to secure a greater share of revenues from F1's Commercial Rights Holders in a new Concorde Agreement, Fernley thinks that the bigger issue is actually the expenditure of competing.

"From a personal point of view, I think the cost base of F1 is still wrong," Fernley told AUTOSPORT. "You need to bring it down.

"I believe very strongly that when you cannot make profit based on your television income and your sponsorship income, then there is something wrong with the sport, and I still believe that is the case today. Our costs are too high."

F1 teams currently share between them 50 percent of the commercial rights income - and are seeking to increase that to up to 70 percent under the new Concorde Agreement.

Should they be even that successful, which is unlikely, Fernley does not think it will ease the financial burden that many teams on the grid are facing at the moment.

"Even if you increased the income from the CRH it would still leave a deficit, and you would still need support," he said.

"I would say today the average team is spending between 80 and 100 million dollars as a small team – and the FOM income will nowhere near cover that. So you have to have the commercial income top up and then make a profit."

Last year, AUTOSPORT estimated that world champions Red Bull Racing earned $93.1 million from commercial rights income for its title success – which is almost less than it spent in capturing both titles.

Fernley said he hoped discussions about a new Concorde Agreement would start in the next few weeks, and that the process would be smoother than last time – when teams briefly agreed to a breakaway series for 2010.

"If we can collectively sit down with [F1 owners] CVC and Bernie [Ecclestone], that is always going to be win/win," he said. "It should be a programme that benefits all."

Bruno Senna believes Williams has to improve its consistency on slow corners following his first day of testing at Barcelona.

The Brazilian had another productive day in Spain on Tuesday, covering 97 laps on his way to the eighth fastest time of the session.

Senna said he was pleased with the car's handling over medium and high-speed corners, but he reckons there is still room for improvement on lower-speed ones.

"I think we are learning about it," said Senna at the end of the day. "Today I don't think we managed to improve as much as I think we need to. There is still room for improvement.

"Our car seems to be consistent on the medium and high-speed corners, but on the slow speed we still need to work."

Senna admitted he had run out of time to test solutions to try to solve the problem today.

"We'll have to wait and see if the changes we make are going to be enough to mitigate the issue that we have. I didn't have enough time today to try enough stuff to see."

Despite that, he was still pleased with his day's work after completing nearly 100 laps.

"We did a lot of laps today and again, reliability seems to be in a good place," he said. "The tyres are behaving differently here than they were in Jerez so we need to understand what we are doing, but overall we have learned a bit about the car."

Daniel Ricciardo is confident Scuderia Toro Rosso has produced a car that will enable it to move up the order in 2012.

After some positive early indications from the new STR7 during the first tests at Jerez and Barcelona, Ricciardo feels that the team can achieve its ambition of finishing in the top seven teams this year.

"It's going pretty good," Ricciardo said about testing of the new car. "I think we're still going to be fighting the guys we were last year realistically, but even if we get one further spot up in the constructors' championship, it is still a huge deal and accomplishment. I'd say we're on the right track for making progress.

"I'm happy too. Jean-Eric [Vergne] and myself are really happy to be here, and for the team it's another challenge to work with us, like a new motivation for the team. At the moment the vibe is very good, and I don't expect it to change. It's a good feeling inside the garage."

Ricciardo feels that the new car has built on the positive aspects of last year's car - which he tested regularly on Friday mornings during the first half of the campaign.

"The team finished with a pretty good car last year from my understanding and what I saw, and I guess they've just refined that even more for this year," he explained.

"I think everyone will start off with a similar car, so with that, plus myself and Jean-Eric eager to impress, I'm not too surprised. I'm happy, I'm happy to be competitive at least for now. It's still early but it's nice to be up there."

British driver Tom Blomqvist has joined McLaren's Driver Development Programme, the British squad said on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old, son of 1984 World Rally Champion Stig, was shortlisted for the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award last year after a race-winning season in the German F3 Cup.

McLaren's programme also includes Dutch karting racer Nyck De Vries and British F3 runner-up Kevin Magnussen.

"I'm thrilled to get this opportunity with McLaren," said Blomqvist. "The competition gets fiercer every time you step up a category, and having this level of support will really improve my strength and confidence."

The British driver finished in sixth place in the German F3 series last year after scoring one win and four podiums.

"Tom is rightly considered to be a very bright prospect in single-seater racing, as demonstrated by his presence in the shortlist of finalists for the 2011 McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award, the ultimate accolade for young drivers and a programme which McLaren has had the pleasure of supporting for more than two decades," said team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

"Tom is also now a member of the McLaren Young Driver Programme. On-track results are the ultimate measurements of a driver's merit, and in this regard Tom is already delivering on his potential.

"As a winner of the Formula Renault Championship, he's following in the footsteps of Lewis Hamilton, who passed this career milestone just three years before graduating to Formula 1 with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. We're therefore watching Tom's progress with great interest."

[Lineker]

Nico Hulkenberg's morning efforts were enough to ensure Force India topped the second day of pre-season testing.

With the sun at its zenith in the afternoon, teams opted to pursue long-run programmes rather than chase outright times, and there was therefore little change to the morning's order.

Fernando Alonso in the F2012 was one of the rare movers, as a late 1m23.180s - set in the final 30 minutes - moved Ferrari up to fourth, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso.

The Australian was not able to register a lap until the final minutes of the afternoon, when he banged in two mid-1m25s.

Valtteri Bottas and Charles Pic were the only other drivers to ostensibly improve – the Finn registering a 1m25.738s and the Frenchman a 1m27.343s. Neither improved in the order however, staying eighth and tenth respectively.

There was still plenty to be learned though, not least from the fact that Red Bull and McLaren were both able to complete almost full race simulations runs - a useful indicator that they are fairly comfortable with their 2012 challengers.

Red Bull's performance was in stark contrast to the morning, where it managed just 31 laps, the least of any team. In the afternoon it completed a 67-lap run broken only by pitstops, with Vettel switching between tyre compounds throughout.

His run coincided with Hamilton's, with the pair at one point the only two on track and separated by less than a second – Vettel eventually working his way past after spending several laps tucked up behind the MP4-27.

Hamilton ended the day with 121 laps completed, one of five drivers – Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg, Bottas and Pic the other four – to break into triple figures.

It was Hulkenberg who ended the day on top however courtesy of a late lap in the morning session, set on Pirelli's super soft compounds.

Sergio Perez, who finished just four hundredths of a second down the road, and Ricciardo also set their best times on the red-painted rubber.

Vettel's afternoon runs married with strong pace in the morning, with the German setting the pace until Hulkenberg and Perez's late runs.

He ended the day third fastest, ahead of Alonso, Ricciardo and Hamilton.

Nico Rosberg was the last driver to get within two seconds of Hulkenberg as he got to grips with Mercedes W03 for the first time in public.

Bottas, Petrov and Pic rounded out the day's order, with Lotus deciding to abandon the test after discovering chassis problems on the opening day.

Todays times:


Pos  Driver         Team            Time                Laps

 1.  Hulkenberg     Force India     1m22.608s           112

 2.  Perez          Sauber          1m22.648s  +0.040   85

 3.  Vettel         Red Bull        1m22.891s  +0.283   104

 4.  Alonso         Ferrari         1m23.180s  +0.572   87

 5.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      1m23.639s  +1.031   48

 6.  Hamilton       McLaren         1m23.806s  +1.198   121

 7.  Rosberg        Mercedes        1m24.555s  +1.947   82

 8.  Bottas         Williams        1m25.738s  +3.130   117

 9.  Petrov         Caterham        1m26.605s  +3.997   69

10.  Pic            Marussia        1m27.343s  +4.735   108[/code]


Nico Hulkenberg put Force India on top of the timesheets on the second morning of pre-season testing at Barcelona, setting the fastest time of the week so far at the Catalan circuit.



Tyre compounds proved decisive as the conditions improved on a morning also notable for the absence of Lotus - the team having elected to abandon the test after discovering chassis problems on the opening day.



Hulkenberg had been near the front for the majority of the session, but he moved well clear in the final 30 minutes when he switched to Pirelli's super soft compound and clocked a 1m22.608s.



Sauber's Sergio Perez - who had likewise run at the sharp end of the field and then elected to try the super softs - got to within four hundredths of Hulkenberg's best, but couldn't do enough to displace him.



For much of the morning it had been Hulkenberg's compatriot and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel who had set the pace, with the Red Bull RB8 proving especially strong in the final two sectors.



At one stage Vettel was more than 1.3s clear of the field as he repeatedly lowered his benchmark, eventually dropping down to a 1m23.056s - more than two tenths faster than he managed yesterday.



Hulkenberg and Perez both closed on his benchmark as the lunchtime interlude approached, before usurping him when they switched to the red-marked Pirelli compound.



Vettel did manage a late rally, getting to within three tenths of Hulkenberg in the final five minutes while using the soft compound. He completed the fewest laps of any driver however, managing just 31 – less than half Hulkenberg's total.



Fourth was claimed by Daniel Ricciardo, who also set his best time – a 1m23.639s – on super softs.



The Australian's late lap demoted Fernando Alonso to fifth, the Spaniard just one thousandth of a second down the road. Alonso had been the pace-setter with a string of mid 1m24s in the opening hour, before Vettel and then Hulkenberg took charge at the top.



Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were the last two drivers to get within two seconds of Hulkenberg – Hamilton finishing 1.4s down and Rosberg a further half a second down the road.



Hamilton set his fastest time early on in the morning, after which he completed only four flying laps.



Rosberg meanwhile completed several long runs in his first public day in the Mercedes W03, including an 18-lap run with an average of 1m27.208s at the session's close.



Valtteri Bottas, who will participate in 15 Friday practices for Williams this year, put the FW34 eighth ahead of Vitaly Petrov's Caterham and Charles Pic in the 2011-spec Marussia.



Petrov's first day in the Caterham included work on his seating position and cockpit set-up, but he still managed 36 laps with a best of 1m26.605s.





[code]Morning times:


Pos  Driver         Team            Time               Laps

 1.  Hulkenberg     Force India     1m22.608s           63

 2.  Perez          Sauber          1m22.648s  +0.040   51

 3.  Vettel         Red Bull        1m22.891s  +0.283   31

 4.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      1m23.639s  +1.031   45

 5.  Alonso         Ferrari         1m23.640s  +1.032   52

 6.  Hamilton       McLaren         1m24.040s  +1.432   45

 7.  Rosberg        Mercedes        1m24.555s  +1.947   75

 8.  Bottas         Williams        1m25.858s  +3.250   69

 9.  Petrov         Caterham        1m26.605s  +3.997   36

10.  Pic            Marussia        1m28.092s  +5.484   47


All timing unofficial

Lewis Hamilton is optimistic McLaren has the pace to fight at the front in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix when the season kicks off next month.

Hamilton completed his week's work at Barcelona today, after covering 120 laps on his way to the sixth fastest time of the day.

The McLaren driver admitted the feeling this year was completely different to the 2011 pre-season, when the team struggled with its car.

"Last year I think I struggled to do 30 laps. I think we struggled to do 10 laps without the exhaust failing," Hamilton said at the end of the day.

"So to do a whole day and to do 120 laps, I can't remember last time I did that many laps. Definitely we feel in a much more comfortable place and confident that we can be at the front fighting with the guys at the top."

The Briton suggested, however, that Red Bull may still have the edge after him and Sebastian Vettel completed a race simulation at the same time during today's session.

"I was just focusing on my job. I think we were out at similar times during the runs," Hamilton said of his race simulation.

"I was always on used tyres and I think he started with new tyres in the second couple of stints, but generally he looked very, very competitive, perhaps a little bit faster than us.

"But again, we don't know what fuels loads they are on and it's much too early to say. But when he was behind me his car looked like it was handling quite well."

Hamilton said he had been surprised by how strong his car was on the high-speed corners of the Barcelona circuit, and is hopeful future upgrades will make it even better.

"It's actually been quite a surprise that the car has been behaving really well high-speed corners," he said. "I think the baseline of our car is better than last year's and the characteristics of the car is that it's better in high speed.

"We have made some changes to enable that compared to the last test, but it's been performing better in Turn 3 and in Turn 9 than I expected. At some stage we will have some upgrades and it will be even better through the high-speed corners."

The British driver will return to action at the start of the month for the final test before the first race, and he conceded he could not wait to go racing.

"I love the last test. That's usually when the car is at its best and when you get a really good feel of where the car will be when we get to the first race.

"The last one is always exciting because you know the next time you get in the car it will be the first race in Australia, and that's a fantastic feeling. I can't believe we are so close."

Fernando Alonso has conceded that Ferrari may not be heading into the new season with the quickest car - but he still thinks it is too early to judge where the F2012 stands in the pecking order right now.

While its main title rivals are already at the stage in their testing programmes where they are conducting race simulation runs, Ferrari is still compiling aerodynamic data and running with a variety of sensors.

Alonso is not being too downbeat about the situation though - and thinks it more important that Ferrari keeps trying to get a better understanding of where it can improve the F2012.

"It is true that we keep getting information about the car, information that sometimes we should already have in our pocket, but the car seems quite complex to understand and we need to keep understanding better what is the behaviour," said Alonso, who has now completed his two days of running for Ferrari at Barcelona.

"I remember last year in the first tests we did a race distance on the final day and we were 1.5 seconds behind Red Bull in Australia. So a race distance is always welcome, but I prefer to have a performing car and to find reliability, than to have a strong car that is slow."

When asked by AUTOSPORT if he felt there was potential in the car for it to be fighting for victory in Australia, Alonso said: "We [will] see. I think it is too early to say.

"Definitely our targets are very ambitious. It is normal for Ferrari; you always try to win straight away the first race of the championship if you want to be a contender, so that was the target over the winter.

"At the moment we don't know exactly where we are. I think maybe we are not the fastest but definitely we are not the slowest – so we need to wait and see, especially in the final test. With hotter temperatures in Australia etc we will see how the cars work and in Q3 there is the time to see where you in Melbourne.

"Red Bull seems competitive. That is not a surprise, as they have continuity in the last two or three years with that car, so it is difficult to get it wrong completely.

"They will be always there, so McLaren/Ferrari they need to invent something and be a bit more creative to beat Red Bull, and that is what both teams did. McLaren and Ferrari, they chose different solutions, different philosophies maybe and maybe more complex, but the result we will see in Melbourne and more importantly in November."

Alonso also played down trackside observations that the new Ferrari did not appear as well-balanced on the Barcelona turns as other cars – although admitted it was lacking in the way it exited from corners.

"From the driver point of view, it always feels loose the car, you always want more and more grip. I don't know [about] the others, but when you drive the car you think the others are having the same problem.

"If you say the others don't have the same problems then that will be a problem, but it is difficult in a test to understand what the others are doing and watching the others it is always difficult.

"Sometimes we put a very old set of tyres on and do constant speeds, and in the corners you are extremely slow. At the same time another car is running with new tyres and a short run of fuel and they fly in the corners. So from the outside it is difficult to see. But it is one area we need to improve: [the] exit of corners is one area where we are struggling, yes."

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn says F1 could have been spared the awkward look of 2012-style noses.

Brawn said the ‘step’ – which features on all of the 2012 cars launched so far apart from the McLaren MP4-27 – is due to a compromise made to allow teams to continue using 2011 chassis this year.

Speaking after the launch of the Mercedes W03, Brawn said: “The high chassis and high noses evolved to get the air under the car, and to improve the flow in what we call the keel are and out into the sidepods and under the car.

“We don’t want to put the chassis higher because obviously that’s weight up higher and there’s no advantage to that. But we put it up high for aerodynamic reasons.

“So when the noses were brought down low we wanted to see how we could retain some of the advantage that we had with the high chassis. And that’s why you see these stepped noses – because the height of the nose is constrained up to a certain point, the chassis is constrained after that and the dimensions are different.

“This extra height of the chassis was retained because there were a few teams who said ‘we want to continue with our 2011 chassis, and we want to be able to match the new nose up to it’. So the FIA agreed, at least for now, to let that pass.”

Brawn added he is sceptical whether the compromise was needed: “I doubt, quite frankly, whether there’s going to be many people who are going to carry over their new chassis from last year.

“So I think it may well be a detail which will improve in the future.”

Vitaly Petrov sees no point in setting targets for himself and Caterham this year - and instead thinks the most important thing right now is simply in getting to understand the team better.

Speaking after his first day of running with the Hingham-based outfit at Barcelona in Spain on Wednesday, Petrov sees plenty of room for improvement in how he and the team work together.

"At the moment I don't want to talk about high levels, or what team we will pass – what is more important in this moment is to understand what we want," he said.

"I want to improve with this team, go step-by-step in front – not to win but to close the gap in front of the team. And what we need is to work for 24 hours [each day].

"I know this year they will have bigger factory, have more people, have some technology – and [manufacture] carbon fibre themselves – so the team is moving in the right direction little-by-little.

"So we don't need to hurry up to take the first points until the end of the year. We need to continue to work the same, like we started here and they started before – but perhaps a little push more now."

Petrov's biggest problem on his first day in the Caterham was getting his tall frame comfortable in the cockpit – with the Russian only having done his seat-fitting last Friday.

"It was a normal first day when you want to understand the car, what brakes you use, and how they work," he said. "It was a positive day – and what is important is that they understand what I like and I what I want to have on my car in the future, so they can keep that in mind.

"Tomorrow is another day and we will start to work with the set-up. The steering position was right, but there was only a short time to make the seat, and they did maximum they could do [in that time].

"I am comfortable mostly, but my left hand side and legs are not comfortable - so today I continue to work with the seat and tomorrow I hope it will be easier to drive."

Sergio Perez says Sauber has good reason to optimistic for the opening races of 2012 after labelling the new C31 as a good starting point to work from this season.

But he insisted that the Swiss team must keep working hard to develop the car right up to the first race in Melbourne to capitalise on it.

The Mexican, who impressed on his debut at Melbourne nearly a year ago by finishing seventh on the road, was second fastest overall after two days of testing at Barcelona and ended Wednesday just 0.040s slower than the best time - set by Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.

"I think we are optimistic of course," said Perez afterwards. "It's a good starting point for us, but we must develop our car from now to Melbourne – we have to find performance because most of the other teams will too.

"It is really important to push the maximum to try to get the performance before Melbourne which will make the difference now. I believe that we are now in a good position, but everything could change when we get to Melbourne."

Perez said the team plans to bring more developments to the final test at the end of next week and added that he believed there was more time to come from the car through set-up work.

The Ferrari Academy driver also revealed that he felt in a far better shape approaching his second season than he had in his rookie year.

"Physically I am a lot fitter than last year as a starting point, so I have done a very good training during the winter," he said. "Mentally with my engineers the communication is a lot better too, so I am very well prepared for this season and I am looking forward.

"[Circuit knowledge] will help a lot. It's not just knowing the circuits, but being used to the complete race weekends. I already have the information from last year now; what happened in that race weekend, how conditions are change, what we have to change – so I can guide the team a lot more than I could last year. In that side it's how experience counts."

Valtteri Bottas feels ready to make a big contribution to the Williams team's race weekends this year, after completing his single day of pre-season testing at Barcelona on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old is scheduled to participate in 15 morning practice sessions in 2012, starting off at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

With that plan in mind, the Finn spent part of his Barcelona running doing the kind of work that will be expected of him when he drives in Friday practice.

"I think I'm capable of being a help to the team on Fridays," said Bottas, when asked by AUTOSPORT if he was ready for the role. "I felt really good in the car this afternoon and I'm sure it will be fine. And as soon as the Fridays start, I will get more and more mileage.

"We had some of the same style of testing that we will do on Fridays. But one goal was also to put some more mileage on the car, see how the reliability is and to understand it because there is still a lot of set-up stuff we can try.

"It was a good day for me, because I completed a lot of laps. It's the only test day that I will have before Malaysia so it was really nice to get a feel for the FW34. There are some differences to the FW33 and it looked very positive."

Bottas was happy that he was able to get a handle on the way that the new-for-2012 Pirelli rubber degrades during longer runs.

He also backed up race driver Bruno Senna's assertion that the team still has more work to do in slow corners.

"Normally, our runs were 10 laps so you could see what the tyres were like," said Bottas. "It was interesting for me to see the drop-off with these tyres.

"I agree with Bruno that the slow speed [corners] is still something we can improve on. Today, we learned more about the handling in them. I think we know more today than we did yesterday."