Latest F1 news in brief

They can boo all they want, Vettel knows who is #1

Cool Vettel 'can live' with booing
Raikkonen exit could cost Lotus sponsors – Salo
Drivers could get sixth engine for bustling 2014 calendar
Ferrari sent Webber bill for Singapore 'taxi'
Ferrari testing 2011 car in Barcelona – reports
FIA finally signs up to new Concorde
Domenicali says it's 'crucial' Ferrari have their wind tunnel up and running

Cool Vettel 'can live' with booing
(GMM) Sebastian Vettel insists he is not taking the recent booing personally.

At Spa, Monza and most recently Singapore, and also in Britain for June's British grand prix, the reigning world champion was the obvious target of the spectators' verbal disapproval.

But the Red Bull driver told Germany's Sport Bild he is not taking it personally.

"If the sport is your passion and you have a favorite driver, it's obvious you support them," German Vettel, 26, said.

"So that means you're against his opponents. I can live with that," he insisted.

However, Vettel's boss Christian Horner hinted after Singapore that the booing is in fact getting to the runaway championship leader, who is only "human".

Vettel denies it.

"For me it's simple. If I'm on the football stands and the decision of the referee goes against my team, I go with the group and call him an idiot as well.

"It's nothing personal," said Vettel.

Asked how he can deal so coolly with such a potentially emotional issue, he explained: "I've learned that I can't please everyone.

"Let's say you sign 100 autographs — the 101st in line will be angry. That's a fact. So it doesn't matter what you do.

"The way I see it is if you are honest with yourself and can go to sleep with a clear conscience, that's ok," he added.

Slightly less calm about the booing issue is former triple world champion and F1 legend Niki Lauda.

"These people are booing their own idiotic boredom, not Vettel's performance," he told Osterreich newspaper.

Raikkonen exit could cost Lotus sponsors – Salo
(GMM) Kimi Raikkonen's departure is a "terrible loss" for Lotus, and could cost the Enstone based team some sponsorship.

That is the view of former F1 driver Mika Salo, referring to fellow Finn Raikkonen's decision to switch to Ferrari next year, apparently for money reasons.

"Kimi's move is a terrible loss for Lotus," Salo told the MTV3 broadcaster.

"His market value is much higher than Grosjean's, so they (Lotus) will probably have some explaining to do to the sponsors."

On the other hand, there have been rumors Raikkonen's Lotus exit could also spell trouble for Ferrari.

Salo, however, said he spoke with a high-ranking Ferrari official in Singapore and asked him about those rumors.

"I asked quite directly if Alonso is going to leave, and he said he is not," said the 46-year-old, who in 1999 filled in at Ferrari for an injured Michael Schumacher.

Drivers could get sixth engine for bustling 2014 calendar
(GMM) F1 drivers may be allocated an extra engine for next season, if the calendar really does swell to an unprecedented 22 races.

In 2013, the long-life engine rules dictate that drivers can use no more than eight V8 engines for the entire season.

But from next year, under the radical new turbo V6 rules, drivers will be penalized if they use more than just five 1.6 liter 'power units'.

It is expected that, when he presents the calendar to the World Motor Sport Council in Croatia on Friday, Bernie Ecclestone will have trimmed the schedule to 20 or 21 races.

But race director Charlie Whiting told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport: "If there are 22, we can talk about a sixth engine per driver."

The smaller teams, however, might not be happy with that.

Their engine bills are already doubling under the new V6 regime, and Auto Motor und Sport claims that just one extra engine will cost them an extra EUR 2 million.

And they will need yet another extra engine – perhaps two – for the new private testing in 2014.

"Every kilometer now costs us 800 euros," said Force India team manager Andy Stevenson. "Many of us can't afford these testing days."

Ferrari sent Webber bill for Singapore 'taxi'
(GMM) Ferrari joined the 'taxi ride' fun after the recent Singapore grand prix, sending Mark Webber a hefty bill for hitching a ride back to the pits with Fernando Alonso.

Webber, who will serve a ten-place grid penalty in Korea next weekend, angrily slammed the stewards' decision to reprimand him after breaking down towards the end of last Sunday's race.

Spaniard Alonso, however, saw the funny side, posting on Twitter a photoshopped image of a film poster depicting himself and Webber in a taxi.

Ferrari apparently also joined the fun, as the German newspaper Bild published a joke invoice sent from the team's Maranello headquarters to Australian Webber.

The bill, listing the salesperson as 'Fernando', charged Webber a whopping $27,500 – including a $2,500 'tip' – for the 'after hours' taxi service.

F1 legend Niki Lauda, however, backed the FIA's decision to penalize Webber.

"Yes," he told Osterreich newspaper, "because it's against the rules, it's damn dangerous and because it was always punished with a warning."

Ferrari testing 2011 car in Barcelona – reports
(GMM) Ferrari has tested this week at the Barcelona circuit with a 2011 car, it has emerged.

Italy's Autosprint, and the Spanish sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo, report that test driver Pedro de la Rosa is at the wheel of the 150 Italia car.

The test, apparently involving the development of Pirelli's 2014 tires, was reportedly confirmed by Ferrari.

FIA finally signs up to new Concorde
(GMM) The FIA has finally signed on to a new Concorde Agreement.

In late July at the Hungaroring, F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone sat down with FIA president Jean Todt and shook hands on the new deal through 2020.

But that was only a "framework" for the implementation of the Concorde, a tripartite agreement that binds the teams with the commercial rights holders and the FIA.

And it emerged on Friday that a "multi-party Concorde Agreement" is still yet to be concluded.

The big stumbling block, however – the FIA's new financial deal – has now been overcome, and the arrangement between the commercial rights holder and the FIA is now in "force", the Paris federation announced on Friday.

A statement said the agreement gives the FIA "significantly improved financial means".

Domenicali says it's 'crucial' Ferrari have their wind tunnel up and running
Stefano Domenicali has admitted that properly calibrating Ferrari's wind tunnel will be "crucial" for their competitiveness in 2014 and beyond.

The Scuderia's Team Principal was speaking on Sunday night after watching Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel score a crushing win at the Singapore Grand Prix. The success once again underlined the aerodynamic advantage the World Champions enjoy, while Ferrari's attempts to play catch-up remain hampered by correlation problems with their wind tunnel.

The problems are long-standing, with Ferrari closing the Maranello facility and using Toyota Motorsport's wind tunnel in Cologne to develop their current F138.

Work on the car's successor is already advanced and Ferrari's own wind tunnel is scheduled to be back up and running at the end of October – and in the nick of time, according to Domenicali, bearing in mind next year's rule changes.

"It's crucial for us. For two years, maybe more, we had correlation problems with small models, so we are really looking forward to opening up again. That will be a massive tool to use," he said.

"It's like playing basketball with one hand behind. You do it for training but when you play, it's better to use two hands."

With Ferrari's Fernando Alonso now 60 points behind Vettel in the standings after trailing home a distant second at Marina Bay, Domenicali admitted that the title is now Red Bull's to lose.

Like most teams, Ferrari are now concentrating most of their efforts on next year, when comprehensive new rules aimed at increasing efficiency will be introduced.

"There is still one group of people that are working on the last things that are almost ready," Domenicali said of Ferrari's remaining upgrades. "Most of the troops are already oriented to the new project. I believe honestly that all the others are doing the same.

"You will see the project that comes out next year and realize that if you lose more time, it will be very difficult to recover."

Red Bull might enjoy a significant aerodynamic advantage but with Vettel winning four of the last five races, Domenicali also believes the tire change Pirelli made over the summer for safety reasons has played into their hands.

"I think it's a fact that the change of specification of the tires reshuffled the general performance of all the cars. That is a fact, so I have to say they were able to solve their issue," Domenicali said.

Asked whether Ferrari might be able to gain more tire performance in the remaining six races, he replied: "We will try but it's micro-management. There is nothing really huge that it's possible to do in that respect." Sky Sports