Latest F1 news in brief
- BMW compile list to replace tester Glock
- Appeal makes McLaren 'worst losers' – report
- Wurz denies retirement not voluntary
- Damon Hill attacks again
BMW compile list to replace tester Glock
(GMM) A list of candidates to replace Timo Glock as BMW-Sauber's primary tester is beginning to emerge.
25-year-old German Glock, the newly crowned GP2 champion, is expected to shortly be signed in a racing role for one of formula one's Toyota powered teams.
Upon imminent confirmation of Glock's plans, BMW motor sport director Mario Theissen is expected to quickly organize a new driver ahead of the upcoming post and pre-season tests.
According to Auto Motor und Sport, reigning A1GP title winner Nico Hulkenberg – the 20-year-old who is looked after by Michael Schumacher's manager Willi Weber – is in the running for the reserve role.
Another young German being mentioned for the drive is Christian Vietoris, as are Estonian rookie Marko Asmer and Ulsterman Adam Carroll, who won two races in GP2 this year.
Appeal makes McLaren 'worst losers' – report
(GMM) Europe's most widely circulated newspaper has slammed McLaren for appealing the outcome of the drivers' world championship.
"If McLaren succeed, they will deserve only one title: Worst Losers, 2007," the German language Bild-Zeitung proclaimed.
Team chiefs Martin Whitmarsh and Norbert Haug insisted on Tuesday that the appeal is not motivated by the desire to snatch away Kimi Raikkonen's crown, but rather to clarify the decision of the stewards at Interlagos over the 'cool fuel' issue.
"(McLaren) wishes to win races and championships on the track," a statement issued by the Woking based team clarified on Tuesday.
"However, if there has been an irregularity, which is not the fault of the team, we feel that the matter must be properly examined to ensure that the rules are applied," it added.
The statement acknowledged that the "significance" and "timing" of the issue is "regrettable".
But despite insisting that winning the title is not the objective of the appeal, McLaren explained that the team will accept the decision of the FIA's Court of Appeal — which could hand the championship to Lewis Hamilton.
"Ultimately we feel that the FIA should determine whether an irregularity occurred or not, and the team will fully respect the process and any decision that is ultimately given," the statement said.
Bild, meanwhile, revealed that the 'cool fuel' in the BMW-Sauber and Williams cars was up to four degrees outside the regulations last Sunday.
But the stewards' reluctance to penalize the trio emerged because while the FIA published the ambient temperature at Interlagos at 37 degrees, the teams' contracted meteorologist Meteo France said it was only 33 — which could explain the 4 degree fuel temperature discrepancy.
Wurz denies retirement not voluntary
(GMM) Alex Wurz has denied suggestions that his decision to vacate his Williams seat prior to the Brazilian grand prix may have not been entirely voluntary.
When Japanese test driver Kazuki Nakajima stepped in to replace the veteran Austrian, it was already rumored that Toyota may have paid out Wurz to the tune of a six-digit figure.
Additionally, team co-owner Patrick Head is quoted as telling the Swiss magazine Motorsport Aktuell that deposing 33-year-old Wurz was one of the "tough decisions" that need to be made in a "tough business" like formula one.
Head added that Wurz was "invited" to vacate his car for rookie Nakajima, who is strongly backed by Williams' semi-works engine partner Toyota.
"The fact that for large sections of the year we only won points with one car was discussed internally," the Grove based team's engineering chief and long time partner of Sir Frank Williams said.
Williams' technical director Sam Michael also suggested that Wurz's early retirement was not entirely voluntary.
"We obviously wanted to defend our (fourth) position in the championship. So we had to reorient out focus," the Australian hinted.
Wurz denied that he was asked to step down.
"That is simply not true," he is quoted as saying. "I was simply no longer prepared to give 100 per cent of myself in the car."
Wurz's teammate in 2007, Nico Rosberg, said he missed Wurz's vast technical experience at Interlagos when it came to setting up the FW29 car.
"It was a difficult situation (with Nakajima)," the young German admitted.
"Alex would definitely have been a help."
Damon Hill on the attack again
Damon Hill told Radio 5 Live that he does not understand the decision by the race stewards in Brazil.
"Rules are rules," Damon said. "The FIA have found some teams are in breach of the regulations. If this had been something McLaren had done during the season, do you think the FIA would have insisted that their cars were legal or illegal? I think on past performance they're prepared to persecute McLaren for any infringement that they've made this season."
"It does get quite difficult to see where the consistency lies because if you go back to the beginning of the season, McLaren's argument is that Ferrari won the very first race using a device which was later found to be illegal by the FIA. They removed it but the result stood. It's very unsettling to have this appeal, but there is so much at stake and the FIA have to find somehow a way of being consistent. I can see how a couple of degrees fuel temperature can be regarded as being so negligible that it wouldn't make any difference but we're talking about such tiny differences all the time in Formula 1, there has to be a line where you're one side or the other.
"You have to say there's no doubt there does sometimes seem to be one rule for Ferrari and another for everyone else."