Haug denied Hamilton and Mercedes pulling out

If the wilder reports are true, part-owner and engine partner Mercedes is pulling out while Lewis Hamilton scans the fine print of his contract to look for an escape to his five-year contract.

But, in the Bahrain paddock, the reigning world champion, and Mercedes' racing representative Norbert Haug, sang a different tune when asked about their commitment to the embattled team McLaren.

"Some people have suggested that Mercedes are pulling out," Haug told reporters at Sakhir. "Mercedes is not pulling out."

The German, however, admitted last week that parent group Daimler's commitment to F1 - as would be the case with all other carmakers amid the global recession - is not open-ended.

But as for 2009, "We have the confirmation ... for our activities," said Haug.

While outwardly business-as-usual, McLaren will be nervous ahead of the 'lie-gate' scandal hearing in front of the World Motor Sport Council next Wednesday.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh's letter to Max Mosley has been interpreted as akin to the Woking team throwing itself at the mercy of the governing body, while moods were ragged a week ago in Shanghai when Hamilton addressed the media.

The 24-year-old Briton again did not face the press on traditional 'media day' Thursday in Bahrain, but his grim mood of China has at least improved.

"I'm here, I'm enjoying myself and my time (with) the team," said Hamilton, asked again about his future following his non-committal reply of Shanghai.

"I don't abandon my team when times get tough. We ride the bad and good times together, so I am happy where I am. We've a long way to go, and hopefully I've got a long, long time here with them, so I am looking forward to it," he added.

Less believable was his insistence that next week's looming Paris date is not a ‘distraction’, but he admitted he has turned to the advice given to him personally last year by Nelson Mandela.

"He said at 90 years old he is still learning, so I know I am going to continue learning every day of my life," said Hamilton.

"I definitely feel stronger and far more experienced after what has happened over the past few weeks. I am growing all the time, learning."

Bahrain GP Free Practice 3 - Glock on top

The final practice session ahead of qualifying is always a confusing one as some opt to run with a heavy fuel load in preparation for the final round of qualifying and some opt to run with a very light load as they simulate the first and second rounds of qualifying. Today at Sakhir was no exception with a number of drivers very much out of position from where we would normally expect.

Timo Glock suffered a mechanical problem with his Toyota right at the end of the session but the German racer had just posted a time of 1:32.605s, a time that would remain unbeaten in the final minutes of the hour long session. Glock, who has had very little luck this year, is one of those expected to be in the final top ten shoot-out and the battle for the pole position this afternoon.

Felipe Massa showed well on both the harder prime tyre and then the softer option tyre as he set the second fastest time in his Ferrari. Given the recent pace of the f60 package, it is pretty safe to assume that this was a low fuel run aimed to simulate the second round of qualifying.

Nico Rosberg had to be content with the third fastest time on this occasion as he continued to run the latest developments on the Williams Toyota package. Rosberg had proven the pace of the FW31 time and time again and will be aiming for a top five position in qualifying.

McLaren Mercedes do seem to have made a small gain this weekend and Lewis Hamilton was the first to run the option tyre this morning. Undoubtedly on a low fuel load the defending champion ended the session with the fourth fastest time, less than four-tenths of a second off the ultimate pace.

Kimi Raikkonen was fifth fastest in the second Ferrari ahead of Nelson Piquet in the leading Renault. Robert Kubica pulled a rabbit out of the hat late in the session to vault seventh fastest in his BMW Sauber ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams, Jarno Trulli in the second Toyota and Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW Sauber.

Chinese Grand Prix winner and pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel was tenth fastest in his Red Bull Renault, undoubtedly content to lap with a relatively heavy race fuel load on board, confident that his RB5 package has the pace to clear the first two rounds of qualifying.

Heikki Kovalainen lost a little time at the start of the practice session with a minor mechanical problem on his McLaren Mercedes, but was soon on track and went on to record the 11th best time ahead of Fernando Alonso in the second Renault.

Once again Alonso languished at the bottom of the timesheets for much of the session and it was only a late push on the option tyre that saw him improve to 12th. Unlike team-mate Piquet, hoping to make it into the second round of qualifying for the first time this year, Alonso is focused on the third and final round.

Adrian Sutil was 14th best in his Mercedes-powered Force India ahead of the Brawn Mercedes duo of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The BGP 001 is a front-running car and at roughly a second off the ultimate pace, will have been running with race fuel levels on board.

Sebastien Buemi was 17th in his Toro Rosso Ferrari while team-mate Sebastien Bourdais had a mechanical problem on his STR4 limiting him to just one short stint early in the session. The Frenchman was 20th and slowest as a result behind Mark Webber in the second Red Bull Renault and Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Force India.

Kimi hit back on Coulthard - "What a guy"

Kimi Raikkonen hit back at his former McLaren teammate David Coulthard on Friday, after the retired Scot questioned the Ferrari driver's car development abilities.

Amid Ferrari's current slump, 38-year-old Coulthard suggested the Italian team would do better to dump the 2007 World Champion and instead hire Fernando Alonso.

"The Finn has never shown me he can lead a car's development," Coulthard, now Red Bull's reserve driver and a pundit for British TV, wrote in a column.

To the Finnish broadcaster MTV3 in Bahrain, 29-year-old Raikkonen responded: "I don't know any driver who develops the cars."

"I think it's pretty funny to hear comments like those from people who never really achieved anything. It's none of my business, what a guy," the Finn added.

Martin Whitmarsh, boss of the McLaren team, also contradicted Coulthard's comments.

"The fact is, he is very sensitive to what makes a car quicker and is very intelligent -- he just doesn't always give it all away," said the Briton, referring to Raikkonen, who raced for the Mercedes-powered team between 2002 and 2006.

"Based on my experience of when he was here he was a very committed development driver. When he spoke those few words they were always very valuable," Whitmarsh added.

Mosley is now welcome again in Bahrain

Max Mosley is once again welcome on the island Kingdom of Bahrain, Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa insists.

The FIA President was asked to stay away from the event last year, while he embroiled in the much publicised sex scandal.

Mosley, who was subsequently backed by FIA members and won legal action against the tabloid newspaper News of the World, never intended visiting Bahrain this season.

But he is now welcome, the Crown Prince told the Times newspaper at the Sakhir track.

"Yes, absolutely. He was cleared and re-elected," he said.
"And as long as the court case and the re-election has taken place, he is the representative of the FIA and therefore is due respect and is welcome."

Briatore seemingly spoiling for a fight with Brawn

As the global recession continues to bite and the major manufacturers in Formula One continue correspondence with the sport’s governing body regarding cost cutting and suggested budget caps for the 2009 season. Today Renault boss Flavio Briatore confirmed previous reports of salary reductions amongst the high earners within the Anglo-French team.

“We are cutting the costs across the whole team, not only my salary but the top people. Myself, Bob Bell and Pat Symonds have taken a cut of twenty percent,” Briatore said. “The second level have taken a cut of ten percent and everybody else has taken a cut of five percent.”

Briatore has been especially vocal against the Brawn Mercedes team in recent times and at Sakhir today there was no exception as he accused the team and its former owners Honda of going against proposed cost cutting measures.

“I don’t see Ross Brawn with 1200 people looking for cost reductions,” the Renault boss stated. “Maybe we are talking about something else. I don’t see this aggression at Honda last year regarding cost cutting, even though they have thirty or forty percent more people than us.”

The Brawn GP team of course has and is making significant cuts in its Brackley-based workforce.

Red Bull still revelling in maiden win

Red Bull Renault scored a stunning one-two result last time out in Shanghai and while both race winner Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber ran well today in practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the team were rightly savouring the break-out result from last Sunday.

"It was a fantastic result for the team, for Red Bull, for Mr Mateschitz who has put so much effort into the teams and into Formula One," declared Team Principal Christian Horner today at the circuit.

"It was a massive high - a monkey off our back to get the first pole, first win and a one-two. We have had great support from our partners. A quite good engine and I thank Flavio (Briatore) and Renault for that. It has just been a great week and the whole team in Milton Keynes have worked tremendously hard to achieve that result. We have just got to do it again now. We did not have long to enjoy it and we are focussed on the next one."

One concern a week ago in China was the driveshaft failures that compromised both drivers ahead of - and in – qualifying, but Horner is confident that the situation has been resolved and the RB5 package will have no such issues at the Sakhir circuit.

“We believed that it was a batch problem,” he explained. “We had done over 6000km of racing and testing and there was no problem in the race on Sunday and no problems at all here, so it looks like a rogue batch.”

While the similarly powered Fernando Alonso was second fastest today for the Renault team, Flavio Briatore was making no bones about the fact that Red Bull has simply done a better job than his team this year.

When asked what makes the difference between the pace of the RB5 and the R29, the Italian Team Principal simply replied ‘the chassis’ as the Anglo-French team pins their hopes on development of the diffuser.

“Red Bull at this moment do a better job,” Briatore explained. “We have no excuse. What we need is to improve the chassis and we have our first version of the diffuser which is not what we believe is the best but at least we have done something. In Barcelona we will have another step and I am sure in Monte Carlo we will have a big one. We started very late like everybody and we try to have the short cut and to be ready, at least in Monte Carlo, to be competitive and to fight for the podium and to win races.”

Red Bull Racing already seems to have the advantage however and are in a similar position with regards to aero updates. The Milton Keynes-based team targeting Monte Carlo for the introduction of its ‘Brawn-style’ double diffuser.

Montezemolo set to arrive in Bahrain today

As Ferrari's fortunes flagged even further, word spread in the Bahrain paddock that Luca di Montezemolo is set to arrive in the Persian Gulf on Saturday.

The Ferrari President may also be on official Formula One Teams' Association business, but figures in the Italian press insist Montezemolo is desperate to avoid his team sinking to the Scuderia's lowest ever trough this weekend at Sakhir.

Never in the history of the Prancing Horse has it attacked the opening four races of a championship without recording a single points finish.

The news coincided with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen slumping to 16th and 18th respectively on the second Friday timesheet, after Raikkonen earned a 4000 euro fine for speeding in the pitlane.

As the sport's pecking order seems to turn upside down, Force India's Adrian Sutil soared to seventh in the afternoon heat, as he and team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella made use of a new 'double diffuser'.

On the other hand, BMW Sauber 's good morning form fizzed in session two, while Williams' Nico Rosberg topped the times ahead of Fernando Alonso.

In the sister Renault, Nelson Piquet got his hands on the same 'double diffuser' as Alonso, but trailed the famous Spaniard's pace by nearly a full second.

Championship leader Jenson Button settled not only behind the two Red Bulls but also Jarno Trulli's Toyota, while the morning pacesetter Lewis Hamilton dropped to 11th.

"We haven't made significant progress, we didn't bring anything new here this weekend - our goal remains to score some more points," said the world champion.

McLaren set to face the WMSC on wednesday

The 'lie-gate' saga has continued to be a topic in the Bahrain paddock, as McLaren Mercedes' World Motor Sport Council grilling looms for next Wednesday.

The latest twist in the scandal is the leaking to the press of a letter from Martin Whitmarsh to FIA President Max Mosley, in which the McLaren Team Principal acknowledges that McLaren broke the rules and apologises.

"Certainly, there's been no leak about it from us and I can't comment on it," Whitmarsh, asked about the Times newspaper leak, said in Bahrain.

The Guardian said the contrite letter is a break from McLaren's ‘previously oppositional stance towards motor sport's governing body’.

Some have therefore interpreted the letter, and the leak, as a manoeuvre to reduce the prospect of a harsh penalty next week.

According to rumours, the most likely punishments are either a 30 point reduction or race bans.

"It's very difficult to predict what the court will do," Red Bull's Christian Horner commented. "It would be a shame to lose a team for a couple of races but then again there has to be a penalty for lying to the stewards."

Mosley agreed to reduce 2009 drivers superlicences

Max Mosley has also agreed to lower the cost of this year's Formula One superlicences.

It was reported last month that the FIA President had backed down in his dispute with the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, who were unhappy about recent price hikes for their mandatory credential.

The FIA said a month ago that a proposal "will be made to the World Motor Sport Council to revise super licence fees for drivers in the 2010 championship."

But Germany's Auto Motor und Sport insists that the lower price will also apply to 2009.
Instead of 2000 Euros being charged per point, the FIA has agreed to charge only €500 per point scored.

Drivers have already paid for their 2009 licences, so they will be issued refunds to reflect the change, the magazine said.