Briatore derides F1 new entrants

After Ferrari derided next year's prospective entry list as turning F1 into 'Formula GP3', Flavio Briatore has followed suit.

The Renault boss says the sport risks watering down its prestige and value by opening the door to outfits worthy of junior categories.

"We are devaluing Formula One," Italian Briatore is quoted as saying in El Mundo newspaper. "It is not correct that teams of GP2 race with us; it brings down our image and our technology."

The 59-year-old also rejected claims that making it easy for new teams to enter Formula One is necessary because of the risk of existing competitors pulling out.

"It is said that the constructors will go. But with normal regulations, I do not believe that any constructor would go," Briatore said.

"What we cannot have is F1 with a little bit of Formula Two and a little bit of GP2.
The small teams have to have success on the basis of their results.

"I began with a small team, Benetton, and with clear regulations we competed with McLaren and Ferrari and won (the titles) in 1994 and '95 with a budget 80 percent smaller. We never asked for different regulations."

Briatore added: "We want a Formula One that is unique, with the best technology and the best teams and drivers."

Haug - Rosberg on the list

Norbert Haug, Mercedes-Benz's F1 boss, has admitted interest in seeing his German countryman Nico Rosberg at the wheel of a McLaren.

Rosberg, 23, is out of contract at Williams at the end of the season, and - while happy with the Grove-based team's progress this year - is openly assessing his options for 2010.

With Lewis Hamilton the darling of the works team and under long-term contract, the seat in question is the one currently occupied by Finn Heikki Kovalainen, who joined McLaren last year to replace Fernando Alonso.

At the same time at the end of 2007, McLaren pushed to hire Rosberg but found the German securely under contract.

"We had to respect it," Haug told Spox.
com in Monaco. "How things develop, we cannot discuss in public, but we have known Nico long enough and he is a man on the list."

"It is clear that he is on many teams' lists," the German added.

Alonso frustated with midfield battle

According to the Spanish press, Fernando Alonso is growing weary of life in the Formula One midfield.

With every passing day, the signs are growing stronger that the Spaniard will definitely leave Renault - perhaps at the end of this season - to join Ferrari.

In multiple press interviews now, the 27-year-old has spoken glowingly about the famous team, and on Sunday said he was "excited" to hear that a poll in an authoritative Italian newspaper showed that the country's fans want him to occupy a red car in 2010.

On the other hand, Alonso is increasingly downbeat about his current mount, the Enstone-built R29, even after boss Flavio Briatore promised him an improved package for Turkey and a race-winning car before the end of the season.

Briatore, blaming traffic in Monaco, said: "I think today Fernando could have easily competed with Ferrari and Red Bull, but not Brawn."

In the pages of Spain's El Mundo, Alonso responded: "I am not going to spend the entire press conference responding to what Flavio has said or not said."

"We are going to introduce new pieces in Turkey but I think everything will stay more or less the same. It happened in Barcelona: everyone promised the world and everything stayed the same," said Alonso.

In Diario AS, he was quoted as continuing: "I am still very motivated, but I'm tired of being left behind."

Red Bull stick with double diffuser

Red Bull is planning to stick with its new 'double diffuser' for the Turkish Grand Prix and beyond.

The concept's debut on the RB5 at Monaco last weekend was later than many of the team's rivals, because it required a substantial reworking of the unique characteristics at the rear of the car.

And after beginning to look a match at recent races for the dominant Brawns without the diffuser, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were slightly off the boil on the Principality's streets.

Moreover, Vettel dropped dramatically off the pace with ruined soft tyres at the beginning of Sunday's race, leading to his crash and retirement at Ste Devote.

Team boss Christian Horner, however, said Red Bull had always predicted that Monaco would not suit the high-speed aerodynamic characteristics of the Adrian Newey-penned car.

And he said it is wrong to blame the new diffuser.

"We can see that it has put aero performance on the car," he insisted.

"It will be interesting when we go to Istanbul and Silverstone.
Theoretically they are tracks that should come to the characteristics of our car," added Horner.

Meanwhile, BMW Sauber boss Mario Theissen on Tuesday confirmed that the Swiss-based team will use a "multi-level diffuser" for the first time in Turkey in two weeks.

After the German squad's disastrous outing at Monaco, he said: "We are convinced that this will be a step in the right direction."

It is believed that a decision about whether or not to reinstall the KERS system to the F1.09 in Istanbul has not yet been taken.

Monaco podium isn't enough for Kimi Raikkonen

Within seconds of the start of the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, Kimi Raikkonen knew that he wasn’t going to take the victory.

Starting second alongside championship leader Jenson Button, the Ferrari driver made a slow getaway allowing Rubens Barrichello in the second Brawn Mercedes through into second and with passing all but impossible, the race was all but over.

Raikkonen duly pushed Barrichello hard to try and regains the position, but 78 laps later took the chequered flag third and recorded his first podium position of the season.

"I wasn't too happy with the third place at the Monaco GP," he admitted. "For sure it was the best result in the last time, but that was nothing new to me and we knew that we could arrive on a place on the top. When the leaders in the championship are so far ahead in the classification, in the end it's only a victory that counts."

While third position was not that impressive to the Finn, he admitted that it was a good result for the hard working Italian team. "Being back on the podium is a nice reward for the whole team," he stated.
"We know that we're on the right way now: there are still some minor things to be done but sooner or later we will win. We'll show up with further improvements of the F60 in the upcoming races and we hope we can then challenge the leaders even more, in the qualifying and in the race."

Raikkonen went on to explain that starting second at Monaco is a major disadvantage as it is on the ‘dirty side’ of the circuit and traction is therefore compromised. "In the end it was difficult to fight for second position and then there was this story at the last pit stop, where we lost a couple of seconds, due to a problem with the right rear wheel. When I took up the race again I was further behind than before.

"We brought home both cars and gained some important points. There were many things at Monaco we can be satisfied with."