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Ferrari has run into a huge controversy in India after displaying the flag of the Italian navy on the nose of its cars.

The flag relates to an incident earlier this year when two Indian fishermen were killed by the navy – who were protecting a cargo ship – after apparently being mistaken for pirates. Two Italian sailors have subsequently faced criminal action in India, and there has been some tension between the countries over the matter.

Ferrari said on its website that it was displaying the flag in relation to the two sailors, and a storm of protest has resulted, with the matter figuring strongly in TV news bulletins.

Meanwhile New Delhi’s foreign affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said “using sports events to promote entirely unrelated causes is contrary to the spirit of sports.”

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali attempted to play down the matter when quizzed in an FIA press conference: “There was a press release that was done two days ago, so if you want any clarification of that, our press office is absolutely very pleased to answer to your question. But if you look behind in the past we’ve done a lot of initiatives, but there’s nothing that I want to get into very specifically, because it’s not really the place where I should do it.”

However later a statement from company president Luca di Montezemolo reported by news agency ANSA said: “We only want to make a small contribution, with great respect for the Indian authorities, so that a solution might be found through dialogue.”

Mark Webber was in upbeat mood after finishing second to team mate Sebastian Vettel in FP2 in India, although the Aussie cautioned that today might not have provided a clear picture of how the weekend will unfold.

Webber was 0.1s behind Vettel in the afternoon and almost half a second clear of nearest pursuer, Fernando Alonso.

“It went pretty well today, but pole position is one thing, obviously Sunday is another,” said Webber.

“We need to perform well on both days, and I think we have a very good chance of doing that. The car is working well, the guys are doing a great job, and we have a huge amount of stuff to go through tonight with the car. The team is obviously incredibly motivated and the drivers are as well, so we’re going OK.

“It was a pretty good day for us. P3 is going to be pretty important in the morning. The track temperature doesn’t change a huge amount here. So it’s important that we get a good clean run in P3 as well, then blow it up for qualifying and see how the car performs in that very important session.

“And then obviously the work we did this afternoon we can learn when to put that in place for Sunday’s Grand Prix. But ultimately I think as a team we had a pretty good day but there’s always areas we can improve.”

Sebastian Vettel has played down the significance of Red Bull’s advantage after the German and team mate Mark Webber dominated practice in India.

Vettel topped both sessions today, while Webber backed him up in second in FP2.

“The track improved enormously, at least that’s we found,” said Vettel. “The circuit kept improving, there was quite a lot of grip at the end. I was surprised with the long runs.

“I think we can be quite happy, we didn’t have any major issues. We tested a few things. Now we need to say whether we made progress, and hopefully we can make progress for tomorrow.”

Asked whether he thought it would be a battle between the Red Bull drivers for pole, he said: “I know it’s not between me and him, it’s not between Mark and myself, it’s between all of us. I think Friday is always difficult. It depends on a day like this, on a circuit like that, largely when you were out doing your new tyre run.

“I think the track improvement was quite big, we saw that until the end. I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow looked a little bit different. We’ve had worse Fridays, so I’m quite happy.

“I think the benchmark is quite high from last year, so if we can do the same again this year here, that will be a good start. Today is Friday, we’ve got another practice before going into qualifying, I think we’ll focus on that before anything else.”

Sauber has confirmed that Esteban Gutierrez will replace Sergio Perez in FP1 in India today.

A handily timed illness for Perez has given the team the perfect opportunity to evaluate its reserve driver, who has a good chance of landing a race seat for 2013. Gutierrez, who has had very few opportunities to try a car on track, will also do the Abu Dhabi Young Driver test.

Oddly enough the team expects that by missing FP1 Perez will be in good shape for the rest of the weekend…

A statement said: “Due to the fact Sauber F1 Team race driver Sergio Pérez is unwell, the Sauber F1 Team has decided to let its reserve driver Esteban Gutiérrez jump into the car for the first free practice session ahead of the Indian Grand Prix on Friday. This should help Sergio’s speedy recovery so he is able to drive for the remainder of the weekend.”

Lewis Hamilton says he’s determined to end the season on a high after his bad recent run of races derailed his title challenge.

Hamilton has had little luck since his win at Monza closed out the European season, retiring from the lead in Singapore and being hampered by mechanical problems in both Japan and Korea.

“One hundred per cent as always,” said Hamilton of his commitment this weekend. “And I’m just hoping things turn out a bit better than they have in the last three races, because it’s been pretty tough for us. I’m just going to try to enjoy it. It’s the last four races of the season, and obviously with this team, so I want to make sure I give everything.

“I’m hoping this weekend the car suits the track a little bit better, and I’m hoping that we don’t have any problems throughout the race, so we can just fight for points, fight in the race, try and get the best result possible.”

Regarding the 62-point gap to leader Sebastian Vettel, he said: “I don’t feel that that gap is particularly easy to close up, but it’s not impossible.

“If me and Jenson are able to deliver with the team a constructors’ championship, even though we don’t have a driver’s championship, that would be a fantastic way to end the season.”

Lewis also made an interesting comment on replacing Michael Schumacher next year.

“I’ve got very big shoes to fill. For me it’s an honour to be sitting in a car that he once sat in and a team that he drove for. When he was racing for Ferrari and winning everyone wanted to be able to sit in his seat. I’m doing that, but in Mercedes.”

Kimi Raikkonen says he’s still in with a shout of the World Championship, although the Finn admits that he faces a much tougher task than in 2007, when he came from behind to pip Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at the final race.

That year Raikkonen was 17 ‘old’ points behind with two races to go – the equivalent of around 42-43 under the current system – but his Ferrari was a more consistently competitive car than this year’s Lotus.

“[Then] we had a car that you knew that could win all the races,” he said today. “And right now we are not the fastest car, so we need more help to really win it, but we will keep trying and hopefully we can achieve it. We will try until there’s no chance, but it’s a bit different situation. But if we can improve the car in the next three races, you never know.

“I’m happy. If you had told me before the season that I will be in this position with this many points  and stuff like that I would have taken it but of course when you do some good races you always want more and more and then you’re disappointed if you’re not. If you do well you want more and more. It could have been better but it could have been much more worse also.

“For some reason, after the summer break, some of the teams have been much more consistent. I think we still have a good car. We improved it in the last race again but we are not at the level that we maybe were compared to others at the beginning of the season.”

Meanwhile Kimi said nothing had been decided with Lotus for next year.

“I don’t know. I mean, we have options but nothing is decided but I guess it will be decided at some point.”

British GP2 driver Max Chilton will take a step closer to landing a Marussia race seat for 2013 when he takes part in FP1 in Abu Dhabi, in place of Charles Pic.

Chilton has already driven for the team when it opted to run its Young Driver test at Silverstone earlier this year, while he also tested for Force India in Abu Dhabi last year. The team says Pic won’t lose out because of the remaining tracks, he is already familiar with Abu Dhabi.

“As part of our ongoing assessment of the next generation of racing talent, we are interested to see how Max has progressed since we first put him in the car at our Young Driver Test at Silverstone in the summer,” said team boss John Booth.

“Since that time, Max has impressed a great deal in the GP2 series, achieving two race wins in the latter part of the season, so at the same time as ensuring his preparedness for the Reserve Driver role, we are looking forward to comparing his driving development with his growing maturity outside of the car.”

“This is the next step in the process of proving my potential and another important notch for me personally in terms of my ultimate goals,” said Chilton. “As for next Friday, the 90 minutes of FP1 will fly by so quickly that it’s a real bonus to be testing the car at a circuit I know well. It means I can get up to speed straight away and focus on delivering some proper set-up and aero evaluation data for the team to help during the rest of the weekend.”

Luiz Razia and Johnny Cecotto Jr will drive for Scuderia Toro Rosso at the Abu Dhabi Young Driver test, the team having chosen not to use graduates of the Red Bull junior programme.

Razia, who finished runner-up in this year’s GP2 series, has previously driven at the same test for the former Lotus and Virgin teams. He also drove in FP1 for the former at the 2011 Chinese GP.

Cecotto, who drove for Force India in last year’s Abu Dhabi test, will have the car on the Wednesday, while Razia will drive on Tuesday and Thursday.

The FIA says that its crunch meeting with the teams in Paris today was “constructive” and an “important step” towards securing the future of the World Championship via a new Concorde Agreement.

A short statement from the FIA tonight read as follows: “During a constructive meeting, Jean Todt, the FIA President, in co-operation with Bernie Ecclestone, the Commercial Rights Holder, has presented to all F1 Team Principals the new structure of governance, including the new conditions of entry for the Concorde Agreement, starting in 2013.

“All the participants in the meeting were encouraged to seek clarification which resulted in a fruitful and helpful debate on how the new structure would operate in 2013 and beyond.

“A further important step has been achieved today to secure the future of the F1 World Championship which should lead to a final settlement to be reached between the FIA, the Commercial Rights Holder and the Teams in the coming weeks.”

New Jersey F1 promoter Leo Hindery insists that the Grand Prix of America will take place in 2014 after the race was dropped from next year’s calendar.

A statement from the circuit said today that the delay was due to “ongoing construction issues on the unique riverfront street course,” and specifically “the additional time needed for the development of complex Hudson Riverfront facilities and for finishing the second pits and paddock garage on the site.”

“We are going to be racing at Port Imperial, unfortunately just not as soon as we hoped and expected,” said Hindery. “We promised Governor Christie, the towns, the sport and its international fans the best possible experience, and unfortunately we need additional time to ensure that happens.

“We remain 100% committed to the Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial and the race could have no better partner and friend than the CEO of Formula One, Bernie Ecclestone. We benefit greatly from his experience and counsel and from his support.”

Ecclestone added: “I remain totally committed to the Port Imperial race and its unique location and attributes, and we will continue to work closely together to realise our dream in 2014. As Leo says, we are still going to be racing at Port Imperial, now however in 2014.”