Mercedes not yet decide to join F1 quit threat

Mercedes-Benz's racing chief insists that rival teams' threats about quitting Formula One are real, but for the time being the Stuttgart marque is not following suit.

Renault issued its quit threat on Wednesday, following Ferrari on Tuesday and BMW, Red Bull and Toyota on the weekend of the Spanish Grand Prix.

But Mercedes, the majority owner of the 2008 drivers' championship-winning team McLaren, is for now holding off -- perhaps because it recently narrowly escaped the wrath of the FIA over the 'lie-gate' affair.

Norbert Haug, Vice-President in charge of Mercedes' motor sport programmes, said: "All the teams agree that there cannot be a Formula One with two different sets of regulations."

When asked specifically by the German news agency SID if Mercedes is also threatening to not enter the 2010 championship, he answered: "We want to achieve a common solution to this and we think that it can be done."

"We will do everything we can to contribute," said Haug.

Haug also insisted that the quit threats, for example that of the legendary Italian team Ferrari, are serious and not mere political posturing.

Renault join Ferrari threat to quit F1

Renault could be the next car manufacturer to threaten to quit Formula One at the end of 2009.

Ferrari, F1's oldest and most famous name, sent the specialist and mainstream media into a spin on Tuesday by announcing that the FIA's budget cap plans for 2010 will lead to its withdrawal from the sport.

Toyota and Red Bull have made similar threats, while Mario Theissen said last week that the new regime would likely lead to the BMW board reassessing its commitment to F1.

Le Figaro is a leading French morning daily, and it claims: "According to our information, Renault will announce the same decision (as Ferrari's) on Wednesday."

Kimi signs up another rally contest

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen is set to contest yet another professional rally, his third of the year.

The 2007 F1 World Champion entered two rounds of the Finnish Rally Championship in the winter, driving a Tommi Makinen-prepared Fiat Abarth Grande Punto.

The Finnish media now reports that Raikkonen, currently 13th in the 2009 drivers' championship, will race the same car in the Rally della Marca on the weekend between the forthcoming Monaco and Turkish Grand Prix.

Taking place in northern Italy's Treviso region, it will be Raikkonen's first asphalt rally.

Ecclestone - "Ferrari don't want to leave Formula One"

Ferrari's executive board is meeting on Tuesday to discuss Formula One, but Bernie Ecclestone is not worried the Italian team is planning to call time on its long association with the sport.

The meeting comes amid other teams' 2010 entry boycott threats, and Ferrari and Formula One Teams' Association President Luca di Montezemolo's fierce spat with Max Mosley over planned budget caps.

But Ecclestone told London's Times newspaper: "Ferrari are not stupid. They don't want to leave Formula One and we don't want to lose them, so we'll get to grips with it."

He suggested that the main gripe is with the 'two-tier' element of the FIA's proposed rules for 2010, but that the prospects of that are ‘slowly disappearing’.

Ecclestone also revealed that the teams are uneasy about external auditors probing the teams' accounts to police the cap, but the Briton said the teams will be allowed to oversee their expenditure themselves.

Ferrari considering to quit from Formula One

Ferrari's Board of Directors, chaired by Luca di Montezemolo, held a meeting on Tuesday at their Maranello headquarters to discuss business matters, but high on the order were the recent decisions taken by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council regarding the controversial budget cap option beginning next year.

Under the 2010 regulations, teams opting to limit their budgets to 45 million Euros ($60m US) would enjoy much greater technical freedom than other teams, effectively creating a 'two-tier' series within Formula One.

Many teams find the matter unacceptable as it currently stands, and the FIA's deadline of May 29th in order to file entries for the 2010 championship only added pressure to an already volatile situation with some teams speaking of boycotts.

Today Ferrari has boldly stated that, unless common ground can be found, it will retire from Formula One at the end of the current season.

Speaking of the WMSC decisions, a Ferrari statement indicated that "for the first time ever in Formula 1, the 2010 season will see the introduction of two different sets of regulations based on arbitrary technical rules and economic parameters."

"The Board considers that if this is the regulatory framework for Formula 1 in the future, then the reasons underlying Ferrari's uninterrupted participation in the World Championship over the last 60 years - the only constructor to have taken part ever since its inception in 1950 - would come to a close."

A long-standing point of conflict has been the FIA's tendency to move ahead with its plans without - from the teams' point of view - taking the considerations forwarded by the teams under serious review.

"The Board also expressed its disappointment about the methods adopted by the FIA in taking decisions of such a serious nature and its refusal to effectively reach an understanding with constructors and teams," the Ferrari press release continued.

"The rules of governance that have contributed to the development of Formula 1 over the last 25 years have been disregarded, as have the binding contractual obligations between Ferrari and the FIA itself regarding the stability of the regulations."

The Formula One Teams Association is not against the principle of budget capping but many teams have been lobbying against the 'two-tier' system on the basis that the sport, like any sport, should have identical regulations for everyone involved. Now Ferrari calls for a change in the way F1 is governed as well.

"The same rules for all teams, stability of regulations, the continuity of the FOTA's endeavours to methodically and progressively reduce costs, and governance of Formula 1 are the priorities for the future," Ferrari affirm.

"If these indispensable principles are not respected and if the regulations adopted for 2010 will not change, then Ferrari does not intend to enter its cars in the next Formula 1 World Championship."

"Ferrari trusts that its many fans worldwide will understand that this difficult decision is coherent with the Scuderia's approach to motor sport and to Formula 1 in particular, always seeking to promote its sporting and technical values. The Chairman of the Board of Directors was mandated to evaluate the most suitable ways and methods to protect the company's interests," the statement concludes.

Domenicali consider to quit

Stefano Domenicali has admitted he would consider his position as Ferrari Team Principal if he thought it would pull the Italian team out of its crisis.

Despite a technical step forward in Barcelona, only Williams, Toro Rosso and Force India sit lower than the reigning constructors' champions in the 2009 standings, following more strategic and reliability issues at the weekend.

F1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone mused in Barcelona that the team's new top management is the problem.

"I think with (Jean) Todt gone, we've gone a little bit back to the way it was before Todt went there," said the Briton, always keen to jump on any particular bandwagon.

And when asked about Felipe Massa running out of fuel at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix, Renault team boss Flavio Briatore told Spain's AS newspaper while laughing: "Fortunately I am not the head of Ferrari!"

Massa’s woes allowed the struggling Alonso to inherit fifth position in the leading Renault.

Quoted by the German broadcaster RTL, Domenicali commented: "I do not think I'm the problem. But if necessary, I would make room."

Flavio vowed to help Piquet

Flavio Briatore has vowed to ‘help’ rather than immediately sack Renault's struggling Nelson Piquet.

Intense speculation has surrounded the future of the 23-year-old Brazilian, including rumours in Barcelona last weekend that Piquet could be ousted as soon as the forthcoming British Grand Prix to make room for reserve driver Romain Grosjean.

But in interview with Spain's Diario Sport, team boss Briatore said Piquet is being given time to prove himself now that the season has begun on the more familiar European circuits.

"He is a good team-mate for Fernando and has always been very loyal to him," the Italian said. "He is experiencing a difficult moment, but when someone is having trouble you help him, not kill him. We have to give him some room for the European races."

Briatore also did not want to address rising speculation that, given Kimi Raikkonen's struggles, Alonso is now being tipped by the Italian media to restore Ferrari's fortunes perhaps as soon as 2010.

"I do not talk about these issues because I have others to solve. These decisions are for another time," he said.

Red Bull love to secured Vettel with long term contract

Red Bull is keen to secure the services of Sebastian Vettel for a long time, team boss Christian Horner has admitted.

The Austrian squad's contract with the 21-year-old German, the only driver apart from Jenson Button to have won a race this year, runs out at the end of 2010.

But Horner told Sport Bild: "We see our future with Sebastian. We want to strengthen and expand our team around him."

Openly interested in Vettel beyond 2010 is BMW Sauber and McLaren Mercedes, but Bernie Ecclestone has made clear he would like to see his driver favourite at the wheel of a Ferrari – no surprise there.

However, Horner said: "Sebastian feels comfortable with us. If we give him cars with which he can drive at the front, there will be no reason for him to move."

Williams expecting more in Monte Carlo

Starting ninth, Nico Rosberg was able to finish Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix one position higher and claim one championship points for the Williams Toyota team, taking their tally to 4.5 from the first five races.

The FW31 proved especially rapid in the opening rounds of the championship, but a few small errors combined with some bad luck went against the Grove-based team who- by their own admission - has been unable to capitalise on their early pace.

"Nico secured a point for the team but we really need to be getting both cars in the points more regularly than we are if we’re going to improve upon our position in the constructors’ standings," stated Technical Director Sam Michael with reference to their eighth position in the constructors' championship.

"There were some positives from this weekend in that it was encouraging to be only 0.3 seconds off the quickest time during Q2, particularly on a track where aerodynamics are the key, and the upgrade package which we brought to the race worked as expected."

While Rosberg was able to finish in the points, team-mate Kazuki Nakajima has yet to qualify in the top ten or score a championship point this year. The Japanese racer started Sunday's race an encouraging 11th however but was forced to pit for a front wing following the inevitable first lap skirmishes.

"That incident caused damage to Kazuki’s front wing end plate so we had to pit him for a new front wing assembly," Michael explained.
"Because the safety car was deployed, it fortunately didn’t cost him as much time as it could have done."

However, stuck behind the Force India Mercedes of Giancarlo Fisichella at the back of the field when the race restarted, Nakajima was unable to make the pass until late in the 66-lap event and this ruined any hopes of his first championship points. He finished a distant 13th.

While the team are disappointed with the results to date, the development race continues and the FW31 will feature further updates for the high-downforce challenge in Monte Carlo is just over a week’s time.

"We will be bringing more upgrades to the car for Monaco, as will all of the other teams," Michael continued. "Our target is obviously to score more points as we haven’t had the conversion rates we would have liked in recent races. We are typically fast on street circuits, so we are looking forward to getting the best out of the FW31 at Monte Carlo."

Mercedes considering adding branding with Brawn GP

Given Brawn's dominance and McLaren's struggles, Mercedes-Benz is considering adding corporate branding to the championship-leading BGP 001.

Brawn GP's use of the Stuttgart marque's engines this year is simply a customer deal, but the package has won four out of the five races so far this season, and is leading the drivers' and constructors' championships.

A three-pointed star was not in Mercedes' original plans for the Brawn linkup, but Norbert Haug said after the Spanish Grand Prix that the scenario is now being ‘considered’.

"We have possibilities and options and it has been offered to us," Mercedes' competition boss, is quoted as saying by the broadcaster RTL.

However, the 56-year-old added that Mercedes does not want to ‘divert’ from its works relationship with McLaren, winner of the 2008 drivers' title with Lewis Hamilton.