Max Mosley will not attend the Bahrain Grand Prix

Max Mosley will once again not attend the Bahrain Grand Prix, circuit boss Martin Whitaker has confirmed.

A year ago, in the midst of the FIA President's sex scandal, the Gulf Kingdom's royal family asked the embattled Mosley to stay away despite his scheduled visit.

Whitaker, however, told the local Gulf Daily News that the 68-year-old's confirmed absence in 2009 is nothing to do with the sadomasochistic saga.

Whitaker's on Thursday was also a rare voice of support for the new 'gold medals' system of scoring for the 2009 F1 season.

"Sports is all about winning, not necessarily consistency, so I think this change is of huge relevance," he said during a media event at the Sakhir venue.

The track is scheduled to host round four of the 2009 world championship late next month.

Ecclestone angry to opposed teams

Many of F1's leading teams are clearly opposed to the voluntary budget cap for 2010, but Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone believes the FIA should take the concept even further.

"Maybe the 30 million (British pounds per team per season) is a little too low for that," the 78-year-old conceded.

Following this week's announcement about the controversial 2010 rules, the obvious division between the teams' alliance FOTA and the sport's governing body grew much bigger.

Ecclestone, representing F1's commercial rights, is making clear whose side he is on, although he said he is open to meeting with the teams to discuss their concerns.

"The teams must wake up," he told the Milan daily Il Giornale. "The truth is that they are run basically by engineers. They all want to prove they are smarter than everyone else so what happens? The costs go up.”

"The teams have reacted badly because they haven't yet read what the technical regulations for 2010 will be. I have said it for years: we must reduce the money the teams have to spend to be competitive," Ecclestone added.

As senior Ferrari figures on Thursday gathered at Maranello for a visit of the Italian President Giorgio Napoletano, Luca di Montezemolo stepped up his opposition to the rule changes, including the new scoring system.

"I find it really absurd, serious and dangerous that one week before the start of the season we have created a situation of this nature which is very negative for our credibility, the teams, the constructors, the supporters, the journalists and the sponsors," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I would like this climate to become more responsible, the teams have already reduced their costs by 50 percent. It's important to create a more serene climate and to avoid continuously changing the rules, things that provoke trouble and worries for those doing the work," he added.

Bulgaria close to secured F1 Grand Prix

Bulgarian officials are close to reaching an agreement with Formula One for a Grand Prix in the south-eastern European republic.

Conducting the talks with F1 authorities is the Bulgarian Motorcycle Federation (BMF), with its chief Bogdan Nikolov telling the Dnevnik daily newspaper "we expect to have a result by next week."

The BMF said it has already secured the funds to build a track to host the MotoGP championship in 2011.

"Once we sign the contract for hosting an F1 event, we can build a second track," Nikolov said.

Bulgaria's other motor racing body, the Bulgarian Motor Sport Federation (BFAS), was involved with the F1 negotiations until six months ago, its President Georgi Yankoulov revealed.

"I cannot imagine that the FIA will take any commitment before the ground-breaking ceremony for the track," he said.

"I am not against the idea but I have moderate expectations about it. The task is too complicated and difficult especially in the current situation of an economic crisis with sponsors backing down."

F1 Test at Jerez 15-19 March

Impressive last pre-season testing for Nakajima

Kazuki Nakajima ended Williams Toyota's pre-season test programme on a high note as he set the pace today at Jerez from Heikki Kovalainen. Nico Hulkenberg and then Nico Rosberg kicked off the test with his team-mate taking over for the final two days of running, the trio completing just over 2,000km of running.

Nakajima completed 102 laps today of the Spanish test circuit, as the team made final preparations of the FW31 ahead of the 2009 season including set-up tuning, aero work, reliability checks and tyre testing. The Japanese racer recorded a best time of 1:17.494s coming on his 31st tour, the fastest of the week.

Kazuki Nakajima
“Firstly, I think we’ve had a successful run of winter testing. We’ve managed to put a lot of mileage on the car, mainly because we haven’t experienced any reliability issues. The team have done a lot of work on the car throughout this process and it’s looking quite good, but we will have to wait to see where everyone really is. I’m really excited about going to Australia and can’t wait to get there now. Many thanks to everyone at the factory for all their hard work, and especially thanks to the guys on the test team.”

Nico Rosberg
“Now that we’ve reached the end of testing, I think that we are probably in a strong mid-field position, but we will have to wait until Melbourne to be certain. There’s great potential for development over the year with the new rules. If we take the right direction with that development from the outset, it will help us make good steps forward, so we will be pushing hard to make that happen."

"I’d like to thank everyone at the factory for their hard work with the FW31 but particularly the test team for their motivation and drive throughout the winter despite any uncertainties there might be following the in-season test ban that has been put into place. On the back of a difficult season last year, it’s been great to see everyone’s determination and I am grateful for all their efforts.”

Pre-season testing is over

The final tests ahead of the new Formula One season came to a close this afternoon at Jerez with McLaren Mercedes and Williams Toyota concluding their pre-season running.

Kazuki Nakajima was on hand to wrap up testing of the FW31, putting in 102 laps of the Spanish test circuit and recording a best time of 1:17.494s. The time eclipsed Jenson Button's best of 1:17.844s recorded on Tuesday and will be a boost for the Grove-based team.

“Kazuki was back in the cockpit today working through last minute reliability and performance items that required sign-off for Melbourne," explained Technical Director Sam Michael. "We have put over 8,000kms on the FW31 in the last two months and, while there are always areas that require attention, reliability has been good.”

“We’ve also been working hard with Toyota to achieve good reliability on the engine’s working range, which has been subject to a reduction in revs but an increase in mileage. Considering the time we’ve had to do this, the work has gone well, he concluded"

Heikki Kovalainen was back behind the wheel of the MP4-24 for the second day, the team once again using flow visualisation paint, this time on the floor of the chassis just ahead of the rear diffuser.
Kovalainen was just under half a second adrift of Nakajima but three-tenths up on his Wednesday best.

"The team concluded the on track proving process of the MP4-24 package," McLaren said in a statement. "New components, which arrived from the McLaren Technology Centre overnight, were fitted to the car for today’s session receiving productive feedback."

With the new regulations in place that prohibit in-season testing, the ten teams will now only be in action over the next 17 Grand Prix weekends, the first of which gets underway next Friday in Melbourne...

Jerez - 19/03/2009
1 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW31 - 1:17.494 (+ 0.000 ) - 102 laps
2 . H. Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 1:17.946 (+ 0.452 ) - 84 laps.