Trulli - Toyota will stay strong

Jarno Trulli is confident his Toyota team will be able to stay competitive all season long following its strong start to the campaign.

"I believe we have a good chance to be competitive all season but of course we have to keep on working hard, then time will tell," said Trulli.

"The car is really competitive right now and we are focused on what we are doing so I'm sure we can continue to fight at the front.

"Naturally, those teams who have historically been successful, but have struggled so far this season, are always capable of improving so we have to continue our development and never give up pushing. I have faith in my team."

The Japanese squad has enjoyed its best start to a season to date, having scored podium finishes in three of the first four races.

Trulli started last Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position but finished down in third position, a result that left him disappointed.

The Italian, however, admitted that it was encouraging that the team was unhappy with a podium finish.

"Absolutely. To be disappointed with third place makes such a difference compared to the previous few seasons.

"Last year my third place at Magny-Cours was a really special moment and the season before it was pretty much impossible to get near the podium so you can see that we have made a really big step this year.

"We have three podiums already from four races and that is the same number we had from the previous three seasons combined."

Horner - Still much more to come from RBR

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Honer insists there is still much more to come from his outfit following its latest showings.

Sebastian Vettel has moved into third place in the standings after winning the Chinese Grand Prix and finishing second in Bahrain.

The Shanghai victory was the first for Red Bull Racing, but championship leader Jenson Button reckons the Milton Keynes-based squad is now the team to beat despite the Brawn driver having won the last race at Sakhir.

Red Bull is yet to introduce a double-decker diffuser, as well as other updates, and Horner reckons there is still a lot of potential to be realised.

"I think that we have got a good car," said Horner. "We have got a lot of developments to come and we still have the double-diffuser to look forward to.

"So it is still early days, but we have clearly demonstrated in wet and dry conditions now what our potential is."

Horner added that is convinced Vettel could have won the Bahrain Grand Prix last Sunday if he hadn't been stuck behind Lewis Hamilton and Jarno Trulli for several laps.

"You will see on the race plot that we would have followed Jenson, and we had the overlap of about three or four laps on each stint," he added. "So I think we would have jumped him at the stop. It was hard to follow other cars as well, as it was doing quite a lot of damage to the tyres.

"We could see we had the pace, but well done to Jenson for making his opportunity work for him."

He added: "Toyota tried a different strategy, but we were very happy on the option. Sebastian was trying to look after them the best he could, behind Trulli and Hamilton. He did a brilliant job of doing that, so he could exploit the benefit from them in free air.

"Then on the prime at the end we had no real problem. We went out the pits 14 seconds behind the Brawn and with three laps to go we had closed it down to about nine seconds. Then obviously they turned their engines down."

Alonso - Next three race crucial for Renault

Fernando Alonso believes the next three grands prix in Spain, Monaco and Turkey will be decisive to see if Renault can recover from a poor start to the season and fight for the title.

The Spaniard and his team have scored just five points in the first four races, as the R29 car has not proved fast enough to fight near the top.

Alonso says the updates the teams will bring in the next three races are likely to determine the course of the season.

"I think the next three races are quite important - Spain, Monaco and Turkey," said Alonso, who finished in eighth position at the Bahrain Grand Prix last Sunday.

"I think more or less, all the teams will bring all the big parts for the next three races.

"Some of the teams will put everything in Barcelona, some of them will have something in Monaco and the last couple of teams will put what they have on in Turkey.

"So after that, we will see who is challenging for the championship, and who is challenging for podiums and who is completely out of everything."

The Renault driver also said Brawn and Red Bull, the two teams who have won races so far this year, have all the resources to stay ahead, despite not being backed by a major manufacturer.

"We will see. I think two private teams are leading now, but they are big teams," he said. "We cannot forget that sometimes we call them small teams, and they are not so small. Red Bull and Brawn have the resources, maybe more than even Renault, and more facilities than Renault.

"This is something that we need to be aware of, and it is a shame for Renault and Mercedes that they spent the money, they keep developing the engines and then they gave to Brawn and Red Bull and they fight for the championship - but that is the way it is."

Brawn - Jenson could be regular race winner in Formula 1

Jenson Button's impressive start to the season has given the 29-year-old the self-belief to be a regular race winner in Formula 1, according to team boss Ross Brawn.

Button has won three of the four races in 2009 after two difficult seasons with Honda during which he scored only nine points.

Brawn says that although all the elements needed to be a consistent winner existed in Button before, his growing confidence has been crucial in his emerging as a championship contender.

"Jenson is driving so well this year," said Brawn. "He's had the ingredients and the skills that you need and now he is getting the confidence.

"He's realising that winning a race is something that he can do. It's not so easy that you could ever say that winning comes naturally, but he knows he can do it when the environment is right.

"Jenson is exceptional. Even last year with the car we had there were races when I saw flashes of things that were special, but it's about putting it together on a consistent basis.

"All the guys in the team told me he was pretty special, but I wasn't lucky enough to see much of it. Now I am. He's such a smooth driver. You watch him in the car and nothing's happening because everything is under control. He's not exciting in the car because everything is working well."

Brawn added that seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher had always rated Button highly.

"I've spoken to Michael," said Brawn. "He always had lots of respect for Jenson when we were at Ferrari. He has the highest respect for him."

Brawn is cautious about his team's championship chances, despite Button having a 12-point lead over team-mate Rubens Barrichello with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel a further point adrift.

The team will introduce its first major set of updates at next week's Spanish Grand Prix, which Brawn hopes will ensure it is not overtaken by its rivals.

"We have got a long way to go in the championship - 13 more races," said Brawn. "This is a great start, but all we can do is push very hard for upgrades and improvements.

"You've seen the progress of some of the other teams, so we have to starting hitting our slopes of progress again."

McLaren accepts WMSC decision

This morning the FIA World Motor Sport Council met in Paris with McLaren Mercedes Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh to discuss events that took place at the Australian and Malaysian Grand Prix, commonly referred to as 'lie-gate'.

As a result of its actions, the Woking-based team has been handed a suspended three race ban and warned that the penalty will be applied should the team again be found in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code within the next 12 months.

In a statement issued this afternoon, McLaren said that it 'accepts the FIA World Motor Sport Council's decision' and went on to thanks the WMSC for a 'very fair hearing'.

"I would like to thank the FIA World Motor Sport Council members for affording me the opportunity to answer their questions this morning," Whitmarsh stated.

"We are aware that we made serious mistakes in Australia and Malaysia, and I was therefore very glad to be able to apologise for those mistakes once again."

"I was also pleased to be able to assure the FIA World Motor Sport Council members that we had taken appropriate action with a view to ensuring that such mistakes do not occur again," he added.

Once again, the team were keen to emphasise its efforts 'to develop a closer and more co-operative relationship' with the sport’s governing body.

WMSC decided to suspend McLaren for three race

McLaren Mercedes were invited to attend an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris today to face charges of multiple breaches of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code - essentially fraudulent conduct which brings the sport into dispute.

Today a statement from the FIA WMSC announced that the Woking-based squad has received a suspended three race ban for its actions, a light sentence that essentially reflects the team’s efforts to apologise to the governing body and fans of the sport.

“Having regard to the open and honest way in which McLaren Team Principal, Mr Martin Whitmarsh, addressed the WMSC and the change in culture which he made clear has taken place in his organisation, the WMSC decided to suspend the application of the penalty it deems appropriate," the statement read.

“That penalty is a suspension of the team from three races of the FIA Formula One World Championship. This will only be applied if further facts emerge regarding the case or if, in the next 12 months, there is a further breach by the team of article 151c of the International Sporting Code,” it concluded.

The whole sorry ‘lie-gate’ situation dated back to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix where Lewis Hamilton was instructed by the team to allow Jarno Trulli to pass him whilst behind the safety car. Trulli had made an error and slipped off the circuit allowing Hamilton to initially gain the position.

Following the race the stewards deemed Trulli’s pass illegal on Hamilton and handed the Toyota driver a 25 second time penalty dropping the Italian from third to a non-points scoring position. It later emerged that Hamilton had deliberately let Trulli past and the time penalty was retracted.

There were five charges against the McLaren Mercedes team. Firstly, on 29th March they told Australian Grand Prix stewards that no instructions were given to Lewis Hamilton to allow Trulli pass when behind the safety car. This was untrue. Secondly, the team ‘procured’ Hamilton to confirm this untrue statement to the Melbourne stewards.

Thirdly, the team knew that as a result of its actions, Trulli would be stripped of his third position and the team made no attempt to rectify the situation. Fourthly, on 2nd April a second meeting with the stewards in Malaysia saw the team continue with its untrue statement despite being allowed listen to team radio instructing Hamilton to allow Trulli past. Finally, the team again ‘procured’ Hamilton to continue with his false statement.

Sporting Director Dave Ryan, present with Hamilton in the stewards’ hearings, took the fall for McLaren with the team announcing on 3rd April that he had been suspended from his position. Four days later when acknowledging the 'invitation' to attend the World Motor Sport Council meeting, the team announced that the long-serving Ryan had been sacked.

Hamilton meanwhile was busy making his apologies to the media in Malaysia claiming he had been 'misled' by Ryan. It was uncomfortable viewing as the defending champion deflected all calls that he had deliberately lied to the stewards.

“I went into the meeting. I had no intention of... I just wanted to tell the story of what had happened and I was misled," he said. "That’s just the way it went.”

“I’m not a liar, I’m not a dishonest person,” he claimed. “I’m a team player and every time I’ve been instructed to do something I’ve done it. This time I’ve realised it was a huge mistake and I’m learning from it. It’s taken a huge toll on me.”

Back at the Woking base Ron Dennis announced on 16th April that he was severing all ties with the race team to focus on the road car division of the company. Many saw this is an action to try to appease the sport's governing body, given the long-running feud between Dennis and FIA President Max Mosley.

"I admit I'm not always easy to get on with," Dennis said at the time. "I admit I've always fought hard for McLaren in Formula One. I doubt if Max Mosley or Bernie Ecclestone will be displeased by my decision. But no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision. Equally, I was the architect of today's restructure of the McLaren Group. Again, no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision."

The team regrouped, completed the Chinese and Bahrain Grand Prix before Martin Whitmarsh travelled alone to Paris today to give his account of the team’s actions.

While McLaren certainly has a lot to learn from 'lie-gate' the same can be said for the FIA stewards who initially took the words of two individuals to penalise a rival driver without checking the facts thoroughly.

Horner - Vettel will not return to BMW Sauber

Christian Horner has dismissed speculation that Sebastian Vettel could be lost to the BMW Sauber team in less than two years.

The double Grand Prix winner is under contract to Red Bull for both this year and next, but is believed to retain links with BMW.

Vettel made his Formula One debut for BMW Sauber in 2007, leading to suggestions that the Swiss-based team may be able to recall the German once his current contract expires.

But Red Bull team boss Horner categorically denied that BMW retains an ‘option’ on Vettel's services.

"Definitely not," the Briton said in an interview with Sport Bild.

"They could have had him, they did have an option on Sebastian, the condition being that they give him a race cockpit for the 2008 season.

"In the middle of 2007 they let him go to the Red Bull family, to Toro Rosso, and they lost their rights to him," Horner explained.

Spanish Grand Prix concern with swine flu crisis

One solution to the swine flu crisis for Formula One would be to stage Grand Prix without spectators in the stands.

That is the claim of Motorsport Aktuell, after reports emerged this week that the Spanish region of Catalunya is recording the highest incidence of flu infections on the European continent.

The report quotes German health minister Ulla Schmidt as concurring that a potential pandemic, and public gatherings of thousands of people, do not mix.

"Everyone understands that there cannot be a major gathering of 70,000 people, if thousands of them could become infected," she said.

The Mexican death toll rose above 150 overnight, leading to the closure of schools, universities, museums, libraries, cinemas, theatres and churches.

A major football game at the Azteca stadium took place on Tuesday in front of deserted grandstands, after spectators were barred.

Engine change possibility for Red Bull

Christian Horner has refused to rule out the possibility of Red Bull switching customer engine suppliers at the end of the 2009 season.

The Milton Keynes based team's Renault contract runs out this year, and reports have indicated a switch to Mercedes-Benz is a possibility for 2010 and beyond.

Team boss Horner, however, told Sport Bild that Red Bull is happy with Renault, after the French marque was allowed to catch up its more powerful rivals over the winter amid the engine freeze.

"For the moment it is my belief that Dietrich Mateschitz does not intend to negotiate with a new engine partner," the Briton said. "Fortunately we have time."

But Horner does not totally rule out a switch.

"In these times, who knows what engine manufacturers are still going to be there in 2010?" he pointed out.

"Ross Brawn has proved that it is possible to have a very good car even with a very new engine partner. In this case Mercedes is attractive, not only because of the engine."

Horner said Mercedes' KERS technology might also be of interest to Red Bull.

"It seems to be the best system in the field," he acknowledged. "It's compact and has no negative effect on the car balance, which is really the fundamental problem of (other makers') KERS."

As well as McLaren, Mercedes-Benz already supplies the Force India and Brawn teams.