Latest F1 news in brief
- F1 shake-up not just due to diffusers – Mosley
- Mosley cautiously happy with 2009 rules
- Wurz adamant he is Brawn reserve driver
- Saturated Sepang was 'good show' – Ecclestone
- Hamilton 'not the first liar' in F1 – Ralf
- Only McLaren used Melbourne engines at Sepang
- Renault must analyze KERS use for China – Alonso
F1 shake-up not just due to diffusers – Mosley
(GMM) Max Mosley at the weekend said he does not believe "the inversion of the established order" in formula one can be simply reduced to the controversy about diffusers.
According to AFP France, the FIA president made the comments on a visit to the Portugal rally, adding that he has no idea which way the Court of Appeal hearing on April 14 will go.
The Briton said there are arguments "for and against" the use of the so-called double or triple-step diffusers.
At Sepang last weekend, meanwhile, Ross Brawn revealed that he proposed to the F1 teams' technical working group a full year ago to amend the 2009 regulations so that certain loopholes could not be exploited.
"I offered them and they were rejected, so my conscience is very clear. And those rules that I put on the table would have stopped a lot of things," he told reporters in Malaysia.
Brawn third driver Alex Wurz agrees that, with the regulations ultimately set in stone, no-one can now complain about legitimate side-effects of the loopholes.
He told Sport Bild: "In my view formula one has regulations, and where within these rules you are able to innovate, you do. All the teams do it, and our diffuser is a good example."
Mosley cautiously happy with 2009 rules
(GMM) Max Mosley has given a cautious thumbs-up to the success of F1's new regulations.
Speaking at the rally of Portugal last weekend, the FIA president said that on the basis of the recent 2009 season opener, the changes to improve overtaking seem to have worked.
"At the moment it looks satisfactory," the Briton is quoted as saying by the French language news agency AFP.
"Melbourne was better than last year, it appeared that it was easier to overtake, but we will have to wait for three or four more grands prix before knowing if there really is an improvement," Mosley added.
Wurz adamant he is Brawn reserve driver
(GMM) Alex Wurz remains adamant that he is contracted to be Brawn GP's third and reserve driver in 2009.
There has been some confusion as to whether Wurz, already under contract for this year according to his previous Honda deal, or the less expensive Anthony Davidson, will attend the grands prix this year in case Brawn's regular drivers are unable to race.
But Austrian Wurz, 35, told Germany's Sport Bild: "I am the third driver.
"If one of the drivers cannot for any reason drive, I will substitute him," he clarified.
"In addition I am a sort of connection between the drivers and the team," said Wurz.
Briton Davidson, in Malaysia to commentate for British television, would not comment specifically about whether he is Brawn's current reserve driver.
Saturated Sepang was 'good show' – Ecclestone
(GMM) Bernie Ecclestone in Malaysia seemed nonplussed when it was put to him that Sunday's 'twilight' race was a disaster.
When the race director finally pulled the plug on the Sepang event after 32 laps, it was only the fifth time in modern F1 history – and the first time since 1991 – that weather had shortened a grand prix.
F1 chief executive Ecclestone's 'twilight' concept thus immediately came under the radar, because evening monsoonal rain is common near Kuala Lumpur, and the 5pm start-time meant that fading light was another concern.
Malaysia's prime minister and the local boss of the track on Sunday admitted the episode has endangered the future of twilight racing.
But Ecclestone told Germany's Bild newspaper: "It was a good show anyway, wasn't it?"
Hamilton 'not the first liar' in F1 – Ralf
(GMM) Ralf Schumacher in Malaysia poured water on the 'lie-gate' saga, suggesting economy with the truth is not a rare commodity in formula one.
The former six-time grand prix winner was at Sepang last weekend, filling in for Niki Lauda as a pundit for German TV.
He therefore witnessed the scandal unfold first hand, from when the stewards disqualified Lewis Hamilton to the suspension of Dave Ryan.
It is now likely that the matter will be referred to the World Motor Sport Council, where sanctions against McLaren could be applied.
The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag asked Schumacher, who raced full-time in F1 for a decade until 2007, if he ever lied in his capacity as a driver.
"I could not say that, in my active time (in F1), that I would not have acted in the same situation in the same way (as Hamilton).
"You are together with your team," Schumacher, 34, said, "and together you say what you have to say."
Ralf said he does not condone lying "but on the other hand Lewis was surely not the first" to do so.
Only McLaren used Melbourne engines at Sepang
(GMM) All but two of the twenty cars on the Malaysian grand prix had fresh engines installed prior to Saturday's official action.
Before 2009, changing an engine after just one race would have attracted a ten-position grid penalty.
But this year, the rules have been changed, allowing the teams the freedom to decide how to use a maximum of eight engines for the entire season.
Only when a ninth engine is fitted to a car this year, will the driver be penalized.
Initially, it was reported that all cars except Toro Rosso and McLaren changed their engines at Sepang, but it subsequently emerged that Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastien Buemi also did not race their Melbourne-specification Ferraris.
It is believed the widespread decision was based on the fact that Sepang's high temperatures and long straights made it wiser to use a fresh engine.
According to the 2009 rules, the Melbourne engines can now be reprised elsewhere on the calendar, while the Malaysia power plants are likely to be used at one of the less arduous tracks.
Renault must analyze KERS use for China – Alonso
(GMM) In the two weeks before the next grand prix in China, Renault should consider whether the KERS route was the right decision for the opening two rounds of 2009.
That is what Fernando Alonso told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo after Sunday's Malaysian grand prix.
The 27-year-old was disappointed with the performance of his KERS system in Australia, but admitted that the energy re-use technology was better suited to Sepang last weekend
Indeed, as one of only seven cars fitted with KERS, Alonso sprang from ninth on the grid at the start to be third by the first corner.
But he said: "Right now we are not where we want to be overall and we have to change this. Soon it is necessary to analyze KERS or not (using) KERS.
"Here (in Malaysia) it was worth the trouble, whereas in Australia I do not know whether it was or not. We will go to China knowing more about it," added Alonso.