Formula One 2013

[Lineker]

Anything but Ricciardo to Red Bull next year will come as a huge surprise to me.

Oh, and Takuma Sato is in IndyCar at the moment!

Force India will be running Briton James Calado, to evaluate him with possible Friday practice running in the future in mind.

Updated line-up:

[Lineker]

The young drivers test begins today but he big story is that Bernie has been indicted!

[MJB]

Ricciardo beached the Red Bull just seven laps into his run.

[Lineker]

Could well have been a mechanical problem with the car for all we know. He looked very good in the Toro Rosso in the morning session, virtually a second quicker than the next fastest car, da Costa in the Red Bull.

[Lineker]

The Austrian Grand Prix is set to return to the Formula 1 calendar in 2014, after Spielberg's owner Red Bull revealed a deal had been struck for a July 6 date.

The energy drinks company issued a short statement to Austrian media outlets on Tuesday morning saying that it had concluded negotiations for F1 to return to the circuit.

It said: "Dietrich Mateschitz [Red Bull owner] and Bernie Ecclestone have reached agreement to the effect that Formula 1 will come back to Styria next year."

Austria last hosted a Formula 1 race in 2003, prior to it falling off the calendar when redevelopment plans at the Spielberg circuit stalled.

Its new owner Red Bull spent time considering what to do with the venue, prior to a major investment push that led to it reopening as the newly named Red Bull Ring in 2011.

Mateschitz has made no secret of the fact that he wanted to attract F1, and there were discussions last winter about a race taking place there this year as a replacement for New Jersey.

In the end a deal could not be agreed for 2013, but it now appears that Red Bull has pushed on for next year instead.

The return of the Austrian Grand Prix will need to be formally approved by the FIA later this year, when it rubber stamps the 2014 calendar at a meeting of its World Motor Sport Council.

Record 22 race calendar? Feel sorry for the crews but great for us fans!

[Chris2K]

Can I just get everyone's opinions on Max Chilton? To me he's just another pay driver who has a seat in F1 more due to money than being better than any alternatives, but the media seem to overlook this because he's British. Any other nationality and he'd be considered as just another Narain Karthikeyan.

Am I alone in thinking that way?

[MJB]

His qualifying performances have been fairly poor but in the race, he usually finishes ahead of VDG. I don't think there's much chance of him being around next year, he'll probably be replaced by a young Ferrari driver. But I also don't think he's the worst driver on the grid. Plus we're halfway through the season and he hasn't hit anyone yet, so he's not as bad as Karthikeyan.

[Lineker]

He's ok. I feel if he got a second year he'd improve tenfold. But I doubt he will, unless Bianchi is moved onwards and upwards, which I doubt.

James Calado is probably the best British prospect. Sam Bird too.

[EddieG]

On the subject, what's the opinion of VDG?

[Lineker]

Utter dross.

[MJB]

Yeah, when he's finished the race, he's usually last. Decent one-lap pace but over the full race distance, he's pretty poor.

[Lineker]

We can all agree though that Gutierrez is the absolute worst.

[LUKIE]

Can I just get everyone's opinions on Max Chilton? To me he's just another pay driver who has a seat in F1 more due to money than being better than any alternatives, but the media seem to overlook this because he's British. Any other nationality and he'd be considered as just another Narain Karthikeyan.

Am I alone in thinking that way?

There is always a huge bias for home country racers. We have the shit with Stoner in Moto. Bradley Smith gets the Chilton experience in Moto too. Guy is fucking shit and the commentators talk him up beyond belief. Europe is huge for motorsport so they will always cater to particular fan bases and give certain people a leg up over others. More so in Moto then F1, but F1 gets plenty of bias. It is to be expected. It is why Rossi and Schumacher could never do wrong

[MJB]

Teams will be handed a ten-place grid penalty at the following race if they release their car without having all four wheels properly attached.

[Katsuya]

Pretty much anyone not named Jules Bianchi who joined F1 this year has been utter shit (even Bottas, who really only got lucky in Canada before falling way back down). Gutierrez may be worst of all though.

[Lineker]

Actually cheered when Hamilton pulled out that stonking lap to beat Vettel to pole. I felt so dirty.

Ferrari has boosted its technical line-up with the signing of ex-Lotus man James Allison.

Formula 1's stalemate over a new Concorde Agreement appears to be at an end after Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt reached agreement over its terms on Saturday. After months of stalled discussions, the FIA and Formula One Group issued a statement saying that the two parties had approved a plan to implement the new Concorde. Their deal sets out the framework for the new deal to be drawn up, with the process set to be completed in the next few weeks.

Sauber has ruled out any Friday practice outings for its future prospect Sergey Sirotkin this year.

Mark Webber really has laid it on Red Bull heavily.

McLaren is hoping to find its young driver Kevin Magnussen a seat in Formula 1 next year - possibly at Marussia. A combination of him and Bianchi sounds really exciting.

Formula 1 teams are meeting ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix to try to finalise next year's pre-season build-up plans - with Dubai set to hold two tests.

[Lineker]

This can't happen.

Red Bull is considering Fernando Alonso as a potential team-mate to Sebastian Vettel for 2014.

It has emerged that secret talks took place between the Spaniard's management and Formula 1's champion team at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

High level sources claim that the notion Red Bull should consider Alonso as an option for 2014 emerged in a conversation that took place between the Ferrari driver's agent Luis Garcia Abad and team boss Christian Horner at the Hungaroring on Friday.

Both Ferrari and Abad insist, however, that the talks he had with Horner were only related to a potential future for Carlos Sainz Jr, who he also represents.

While the specifics of the conversation between Abad and Horner remain disputed, Horner admitted in Hungary that the Spanish driver was now a candidate.

When asked if he could deny the Alonso talks, or rule out the Spaniard for a 2014 seat, he said: "Any conversations between any of the drivers and any of the parties will always remain confidential.

"But of course there have been quite a few drivers who have expressed an interest in the seat, as you can imagine."

The suggestion of Alonso being a free agent in the near future is a particular surprise because it had previously been thought that he was firmly tied to Ferrari until the end of 2016.

Horner said that while Alonso was being looked at, he was also unsure about the exact contractual situation, despite suggestions of break clauses.

"Is he available?" said Horner. "I don't know. You ask him."

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali claimed that Alonso was firmly locked down at the team - but acknowledged that the outfit had to improve its current performance to please its driver.

"First of all we have a contract with him," said Domenicali. "No doubt, Fernando is an asset for the team.

"We need him to work very closely with everyone, because after all this is a difficult moment in the season.

"We have to deliver a job. Full stop. This is the same for everyone, not only for him."

Although Alonso is not in the championship situation he had hoped to be this season, he made it clear on Sunday that he was still "happy" at Ferrari.

The team's situation is set for a boost with imminent confirmation of James Allison's arrival in a senior technical role, although the impact of Allison's arrival will take time to show.

Horner's frankness over Alonso could also be viewed as an act of gamesmanship, at a time when the driver market is particularly fluid and the championship fight is getting more intense.

The Alonso situation could weaken Kimi Raikkonen's bargaining power in his Red Bull talks, as well as causing internal friction at Ferrari.

Equally, Abad (pictured with Alonso) may have known that a meeting with Horner in front of photographers at a race would fuel speculation about a potential Alonso switch - which would serve to remind Ferrari about the Spaniard's desire to succeed.

When asked by AUTOSPORT if he could confirm he would see out his Ferrari contract, and was happy to stay at Ferrari irrespective of results, Alonso said: "I am very happy.

"Obviously we need to improve the car and we are going to have chances to win the world championship.

"August with four weeks with no F1 is a very dangerous period for you guys [the media]. Hopefully we will have a quiet summer."

Horner said the only thing his team was interested in was putting together the strongest driver pairing it could, with Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo also being considered.

Asked about the potential dynamics of an Alonso/Vettel partnership, he said: "It would be interesting.

"At the end of the day, you have to think about what is right for the team. Obviously the pairing that we want to put together for next year has to be right for the team.

"Last week there was speculation about Kimi. This week it is about Fernando.

"I think for us we want to make sure that nothing waivers in our mind of putting together the right team package for next year with the two fastest drivers that we can, who will work collectively well together and achieve the best results for the team."

Formula 1's first 2014 pre-season test in January is set to be moved back a week to give teams more preparation time for their new cars. The first test, which will take place in Spain, had originally been due to take place in the week commencing January 20. However, following discussions at a team managers' meeting in Hungary on Sunday, it has been decided that this first test will now take place a week later. The teams also agreed that there will be two Middle East tests before the first race, but no agreement was reached on whether these would take place in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain or Dubai. Although Dubai remains the clear favourite to secure the tests, there is believed to be some scepticism about its value for testing both tyres and engines. Further discussions about which venue to choose will now likely be delayed until after the summer break, with teams preparing for the imminent factory shutdowns.

Pirelli is considering plans to widen the rear Formula 1 tyres for next year in a bid to ensure they can cope with the demands of the new 2014 engines. F1's tyre supplier is pushing to finalise the specification of next year's rubber, which will have to deal with the increased torque of the 1.6-litre V6 turbo power units. An early season request for teams to supply data on the performance figures of the 2014 cars only drew a response from five teams - which has left Pirelli concerned about the exact targets it needs to aim for. With Mercedes believed to be worried about how tough the new engines will be on tyres, Pirelli has been asked to consider making rear tyres wider and larger in diameter. This idea has been floated with the teams, but many of the leading outfits are not keen on the move as it would lead to an expensive redesign of suspension concepts. With the teams at loggerheads over what should be done, AUTOSPORT has learned that the FIA has now stepped in and demanded that each outfit supplies the 2014 performance information to Pirelli in the next few days. Only once it has the data available can Pirelli then decide on what needs to be done for next year. In a bid to help it make an informed decision, it is understood that Pirelli has been given an extra month to finalise the specification of the 2014 tyres. That deadline had originally been at the start of September, but it has now been moved back to October 1. Speaking earlier this week, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said that his company would likely be more conservative with its choices for next year. "We have already said that it is probably a year for us to be quite cautious as they [the teams] have a lot of challenges," he said. "It is a year for them to be talking and explaining where they are. There will be a lot of talk about the engine manufacturers next season."

Elsewhere, a new deal has been signed which will keep the Hungarian GP on the calendar until at least 2022.

[Rainiac]

Can't see Alonso wanting to go to Red Bull myself. Same reason why I can't see Kimi Raikkonen being Vettel's team-mate next season either: too many egos. Personally Red Bull would be much better going for a definite 'No. 2' driver that they could build up over time, and Ricciardo fits that bill to perfection. What's the point of Toro Rosso even existing if they don't move one of their drivers to the 'A' team when a position becomes available otherwise?

[LUKIE]

I doubt Red Bull would want to be paying Alonso's high commanding wage to be a #2 to Vettel.

[Lineker]

The Indian Grand Prix is unlikely to be included in the 2014 Formula 1 calendar, according to Bernie Ecclestone. The event made its debut in 2011, but teams have been constantly concerned about taxation issues when entering the country.

Ferrari has confirmed former Lotus technical director James Allison will join the team this year as chassis technical director and will begin working with the team on September 1. Current technical director Pat Fry will take on the new position of director of engineering, both men reporting to team principal Stefano Domenicali.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has warned Fernando Alonso about his conduct following comments made by the Spaniard during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

While it is unclear which comments Montezemolo was referring to, the Italian squad suggested Alonso had been critical of the team after a difficult weekend in Hungary.

It also emerged during the weekend that Red Bull was considering Alonso as a contender for a 2014 seat.

In a statement on its website, Ferrari wrote: "There is a need to close ranks, without giving in to rash outbursts that, while understandable in the immediate aftermath of a bad result, are no use to anyone.

"That was a reference to the latest comments from Fernando Alonso, which did not go down well with Montezemolo, nor with anyone in the team."

Ferrari revealed di Montezemolo talked to Alonso today to wish him happy birthday but also warn him about his conduct in public.

"All the great champions who have driven for Ferrari have always been asked to put the interests of the team above their own," Montezemolo said.

"This is the moment to stay calm, avoid polemics and show humility and determination in making one's own contribution, standing alongside the team and its people both at the track and outside it."

Alonso finished a distant fifth in Hungary on a weekend when the team effectively reverted to an old specification package because new parts introduced in recent races had not worked.

The Spaniard said Ferrari was finally getting to the bottom of its problems, but warned that an improvement must come right after the summer break in order to stay in the fight.

"Now we understand the car, we understand the problems," said Alonso.

"We know what parts were not working and in a way it is normal to have this deficit now we are driving with the old parts.

"Over the summer we need to make a step forward that we thought we should make at Silverstone.

"We need these couple of tenths to come immediately for Spa and Monza to have the same performance with the cars we are fighting for the world championships."

The two-time champion has not won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix in May, although he is still in third place in the standings.