Ferrari ready to fight back

By the Scuderia Ferrari's own admission, the Chinese Grand Prix must be a turning point in its difficult start to the 2009 season. After the first two rounds held in Australia and Malaysia, the team has yet to record a single championship point; it is Ferrari's worst season start in over 15 years.

Following the Malaysian race, Team Principal Stefano Domenicali quickly saw the urgency in the current state of affairs: "Clearly we have to extricate ourselves from this situation."

Once back in Italy shortly thereafter, the mood was filled with tension during the race debrief held at Maranello HQ.

"I met some very angry people and I'm using an euphemism here," Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo stated after the meeting. "Angry with themselves, but very determined to react."

"The team remains united and I believe in them," he added.

Amid calls from management that every person within the team take responsibility for their role in the championship campaign, Ferrari has proceeded with a reshuffle in order to tackle the situation and turn their results around.

"The goal is to anticipate as much as possible the introduction of new technologies to reduce the performance gap as fast as possible," reads a Ferrari statement.

Technical Director Aldo Costa has been put in charge of the new task force. Team Manager Luca Baldiserri joins him in coordinating the work accomplished at the Maranello factory, while remaining in close contact with the data being recorded at the circuits. With Baldiserri staying in Italy, on-site activities will now be covered by Chief Track Engineer Chris Dyer.

The challenge Ferrari faces is not only of a technical nature however: strategic errors occurred as well. In Malaysia, a qualifying blunder saw Felipe Massa standing in the garage while the Q1 timer ran out, and come race day a bad tyre call ahead of the oncoming rain dropped Kimi Raikkonen several positions down the order.

Ferrari will be bringing a modified front wing to China as the team hopes to gain back some ground, and (depending on what happens at the FIA Court of Appeal hearing on Tuesday) team engineers will begin implementation work on a 'double-decker' diffuser design.

Along with Renault, BMW and Red Bull, Ferrari has appealed the race stewards' decisions to green-light the contested diffusers used by the Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams teams at the Australian and Malaysian races. Chief designer Nikolas Tombazis and design consultant Rory Byrne will represent Ferrari at the hearing.

The Court of Appeal's decision is expected to be known Wednesday. If it approves the controversial diffuser design, the seven other teams will enter a new type of race as they rush to redesign their own diffusers... and it is a sure bet that they have already begun to look into it.

Vasselon - Focus on Shanghai set-up

The first two races of the 2009 championship saw Toyota drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock complete both events in good form, with each driver either stepping onto the podium or finishing just shy of it.

In Australia, Trulli took third place while Glock claimed fourth, and at the following Grand Prix in Malaysia they exchanged positions.

Both tracks had very different characteristics; with the team taking positions three and four on both occasions, the Toyota TF109 displayed its adaptibility. The development rate over the season will have to be maintained, but the team has already proven it has built a podium contender.

With the Chinese Grand Prix taking place next week-end, the Toyota team's Senior General Manager Chassis, Pascal Vasselon, has identified two important aspects which he will carefully consider when setting up the car for the Shanghai circuit.

"Shanghai is a track which offers a very wide range of cornering speeds so you cannot optimise the car just for high-speed or low-speed corners; you have to find a good balance," indicated Vasselon.

"The unique aspect to the Shanghai track is its very long corners: turn 1 and turn 13," he explained. "It is extremely important to get the balance of the car right in turn 13 because it comes out onto the main straight and you want to exit at the highest possible speed."

"These two corners and the specific layout in general are also demanding on tyres so overall Shanghai is quite severe in terms of tyre wear. If you have a compound which is too soft it is likely to have graining issue."

"So it will be interesting to see how the super soft and medium compound tyres behave this weekend," Vasselon concluded.

Renault R28 spectacular roadshow in Dubai completed

The Renault F1 Team completed a successful Roadshow in Dubai this weekend as race driver Nelson Piquet led the demonstrations along with third driver Romain Grosjean and demo driver Adam Khan.

Entering its seventh year, the Renault F1 Roadshow kicked off its 2009 campaign with a unique format which saw last year's Renault F1 car, the R28, demonstrated at various venues across Dubai, including the desert and Dubai Autodrome.

However, the main venue for the spectator events was Downtown Barj Dubai in front of the world's tallest building with the demonstrations staged on a giant floating platform built on the Dubai Mall lagoon.

The climax of the Roadshow on Sunday saw Nelson Piquet demonstrate the R28 at Ski Dubai, an indoor ski slope. Fitted with specially-adapted Bridgestone studded snow tyres, Piquet completed a series of donuts in the snow at the bottom of the slope. It took the Bridgestone engineers 16 hours to manually insert all 2,016 studs, but the end result was well worth the effort.

Speaking at the end of the weekend, Piquet said: "Coming to Dubai has been a great experience and a real success for Renault. We packed a lot into this event and did some unusual things that I hope the fans enjoyed.
Driving on the snow in an F1 car is something I never thought I would have the chance to do and it was a lot of fun."

Romain Grosjean commented: "Dubai is such an amazing city and everyone here has really embraced the Roadshow. For me the highlight was driving through the desert, but the downtown demos were great for the fans as they could get close to the team and the car, which is what the Roadshows are all about."

Adam Khan, who made his Roadshow debut added: "To come to such an exciting place as Dubai and experience my first Roadshow has been really enjoyable. Seeing everything for the first time and the enthusiasm of the fans has made me realise just how special these events are."

Still no KERS or adjustable wing for Force India F1

Force India is yet to deploy the two main innovations allowed by F1's 2009 regulations, Adrian Sutil has revealed.

It is already known that the Silverstone-based team's VJM02 car is not featuring KERS technology, but 26-year-old German Sutil also admitted that the single seater is not even fitted with an adjustable front wing.

"It is not as simple as it seems," he wrote in his column for the Dutch Formule 1 Race Report. "It has the electric motor for the up and down movement of the flap, and there is a lot of software involved."

"By the time we go racing in Europe, I believe that Force India will drive with a KERS and adjustable front wings," Sutil added.

But he insists that the features are not the silver bullet to F1's shortage of overtaking.

And he said of KERS: "It is waiting for us at the factory to be put on the car, but at the moment we think there is a weight disadvantage."

Possibility F1 night racing in Sepang

The possibility of a second Formula One night race on the 2010 calendar has stepped up a notch.

Despite Malaysia previously hesitating at the concept of installing expensive floodlighting, the chairman of the Sepang track now admits night racing is not so unappealing.

Officials of the venue near Kuala Lumpur have already expressed concern about the events of last weekend's race, which was curtailed by 24 laps amid torrential rain and fading light.

"After every race, we have discussions with Bernie Ecclestone to see where we can improve," Sepang chairman Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir told the local New Straits Times.

"The question of having the race earlier or at night will be finalised soon," he added.

The 'twilight' concept was agreed as a compromise for 2009, amid pressure from the F1 chief executive for a night race to better serve the bulk European TV audience.

But Mokhzani now sounds open to the idea of full night racing.

"We can recover the cost (of installing floodlights) by renting out the track for other events," he said, although he admitted that night racing would not be a perfect solution for Malaysia.

"There were objections to holding the race at night because they wanted the skyline to be visible during racing," said Mokhzani.

Malaysia's current Grand Prix contract runs until 2015, but Mokhzani suggested the country wants to feature permanently on the F1 calendar.

Crowd numbers in 2009 were significantly down but "this was because of the economic slowdown," he insisted.

Stewart told Brawn not to sack Barrichello for Hamilton

Brawn GP should not sack Rubens Barrichello in favour of reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton, Sir Jackie Stewart has warned.

Ahead of McLaren's appearance on sporting fraud charges at the World Motor Sport Council later this month, it is speculated that a negative result could cause Hamilton to quit the British team.

It is becoming clear that - if found guilty on the disrepute charge - the most likely sanction for McLaren is suspension for multiple races, which could also trigger the 24-year-old and his furious father and manager Anthony's departure.

The only team linked with the potentially on-the-market Hamilton so far is the dominant Brawn, already powered by McLaren's engine partner Mercedes-Benz, who are annoyed about the scandal so soon after the 'spy-gate' saga of 2007.

With Jenson Button leading the World Championship, it is suggested amongst the speculation that the most likely Brawn driver to move over for Hamilton would be the veteran Rubens Barrichello.

But Stewart, who between 1997 and 1999 employed the Brazilian racer at his own F1 team, said: "Rubens is very experienced in the setting up of the car, Lewis is not."

"And Ross (Brawn) needs that knowledge right now because of the ban on in-season testing," he added.

Whiting - "Hamilton apologize for lies"

Lewis Hamilton apologised personally to FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting for lying to stewards, it has emerged.

In addition to his now famous public apology in front of the world's media at Sepang, the reigning World Champion issued another apology at the verge of the recent Malaysian Grand Prix, according to Whiting.

"He came to me and wanted to talk to me privately, and just said he wanted to apologise for everything he'd done, and he wouldn't do it again," he is quoted as saying by the Mirror.

Whiting admits he suspected that Hamilton was lying in Australia, when he and McLaren Sporting Director Dave Ryan first insisted that Jarno Trulli had not deliberately been allowed to pass under the Safety Car.

Several days later, the pair lied again to a reconvened stewards meeting, triggering Hamilton's race disqualification and McLaren's summons to the World Motor Sport Council.

"I was distinctly uncomfortable about Lewis's demeanour on Sunday (in Australia), and on Thursday (in Malaysia) I would say he was just doing what he was told to do," said Whiting. "On Sunday it was completely clear that he was telling lies."

Whiting's account is backed by what the British newspaper News of the World referred to as an 'FIA source.'

The source said Hamilton and Ryan's apparent strategy with the stewards was to be "extremely vague and not very direct with the answers."

"Then the interview where he (Hamilton) said 'I was told to let him through' was played."

"At that point they both got very uncomfortable, but still denied that's what had actually happened," according to the source.

USF1 team propose Cosworth engine

The USF1 team continues its ongoing preparations as it aims to join the Formula One grid next year, and an important part of that plan is finding an engine supplier. It has now come to light that the Cosworth name is on the American team's list of potential suppliers.

The V8 engine itself already exists and was last seen in F1 when it powered the Williams cars in 2006; when Williams switched to Toyota for their engines, Cosworth exited Formula One. That could change next season, suggested USF1 Sporting Director Peter Windsor.

"The Cosworth engine is certainly an attractive proposition," he told Autosport.

"Apart from anything else, Cosworth is now owned by an American, Kevin Kalkhoven, and that is a nice little link for us as well," Windsor added, referring to the team's continuing plan to showcase American know-how.

However, having Cosworth on the list does not necessarily mean the firm is at the top of it, as the USF1 project had initially declared it would contact the manufacturers presently active in F1 for its engine needs.

"I wouldn't say (Cosworth is) preferred, but it is definitely an option we are looking at very, very seriously," Windsor elaborated.

"The idea of working with a small specialist company is kind of in-tune with the way we are operating as a race team as well," he pointed out.

Apart from an engine deal, the future team still has many important details to work out - such as hiring personnel to design the car. The process is about to begin very shortly according to Windsor, with nominations to be completed during the summer.

As for the official team name, the USF1 moniker used at the project's announcement last February has since been changed to USGPE (for 'Grand Prix Engineering'), but that appellation will also be replaced eventually.

"When the entry is formalised, when the 2010 championship is announced by the FIA, that is when we will come on line with a team name and a few other really good announcements as well," Windsor said.