Adam Cooper F1

Jaime Alguersuari says he’s in a positive mood despite yesterday’s decision by Toro Rosso to drop him from the team.

The Spaniard has issued a statement outlining his thoughts on the situation, in which he confirms that as of earlier this week he was given the impression that all was well.

“I am very surprised by the decision,” he said. “Just a week after winning the Challenge das Estrelas in Florianópolis I talked with Helmut Marko and Franz Tost and they told me they had plans for me in 2012.

“They did it with enthusiasm and showed me much confidence, they also asked me to be on Monday in Madrid in a wonderful CEPSA event in which they told me to insist on our 2012 project in F1.

“So after talking with Franz Tost and Helmut Marko this morning [Wednesday], I thought of three things. First, I will not judge the situation because if I thought it was a  crazy thing to make me debut in 2009 with 19 years and three months without having done a km in F1 ever before, today’s news seemed to be a major misunderstanding in the best moment of my sporting life. I will not judge the reasons of the decision, because Red Bull gave me everything since I was 15 years old, I’ve been formed with them, and I’ve become a complete F1 driver at age 21.

“Second, I am not a victim because for seven years I have enjoyed the privilege of being in the best team in the world and with the best means, they brought me here, with them I won the British F3 International Series at 18 years and with them I have achieved the best results of a 21 years old F1 driver in 2011. At the end of March I will turn 22, with 46 GPs disputed. They have taken a decision that I respect, but I am left with an enviable training at emotional and fitness level.

“Third, there is no drama, because I have many plans for the present and the future. At all levels – professional and sportive. The surprise has lasted a couple of hours. It was necessary to talk to my family, watch the street, and then realise that life is full of opportunities and challenges.

“Reading the headlines I’ve come to realise that there are almost five million unemployed persons in Spain, and we can only give back to this country the confidence and optimism, thinking about fighting and improving every day. And that’s what I’ll do starting tomorrow, I promise to all the fans and the people who appreciate me.”

Luis Perez Sala has been appointed team principal of HRT, as replacement for the departing Colin Kolles.

The former Minardi driver has acted as an advisor for the new owners, and played a key role in getting Pedro de la Rosa on board.

By co-incidence in 1988 he was team mate to Adrian Campos, the man who founded what became HRT under its original Campos Meta name, but left before its first race.

“I joined the team as an advisor to the new owners and to contribute with my experience in any possible way,” said Sala. “We had to establish a base from which to grow slowly, and we are now seeing the first rewards of that work. But we mustn’t lose our perspective and be aware that assuming responsibilities such as designing the car or moving the headquarters to Spain are huge tasks and we still have a lot of work ahead.

“We must be patient and keep in mind that we cannot expect to achieve great success in the short term, but we can take a team forward that we can all feel proud of. The simple fact that Spain has a team in the pinnacle of motorsports is already a great feat; we’re a part of the G12. And that, apart from being an honour, means a greater development to the structure and everything surrounding it.”

Explaining the decision, CEO Saúl Ruiz de Marcos said: “From the moment we took control of the team last July, the first thing we did was to study and value where we were, whilst also set ourselves a target and establish a strategy. We have been working discretely but relentlessly towards this for the last few months.

“We’ve always made it clear that our priorities were the car, the headquarters and our drivers. The car is evolving, Pedro has been a great asset to the team and we have always wanted to settle the team in Spain and have everybody working under one roof. Since we began working with Luis our connection has been great. Now he takes on a much more key role in the team but the decision was an easy one given his knowledge and his way of doing things. It is the best decision we could make.”

Scuderia Toro Rosso has kicked out both Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari and replaced them with Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.

Explaining the decision, team boss Franz Tost said: “I am pleased that we have been able to reach an early decision [his words!] on our drivers for next year, because it means we can all give our full attention to 2012, without any distractions. Over the past year, both Daniel and Jean-Eric have proved their worth and I expect them to make a significant contribution to the team’s performance next year. Daniel has the benefit of having actually raced in Grands Prix for much of this year, while Jean-Eric proved he could adapt quickly to the demands of driving a Formula 1 car.

“As they have both worked with the team and its engineers very recently, this should allow us to get up to speed right from the start of winter testing in a couple of months time.

“I must also thank Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari for all their hard work over the past three seasons. They have delivered some excellent performances which have helped the team move forward and develop. We wish them well for the future. However, one has to remember that when Scuderia Toro Rosso was established in 2005, it was done so with the intention of providing a first step into Formula 1 for the youngsters in the Red Bull Junior Driver programme. It is therefore part of the team’s culture to change its driver line-up from time to time in order to achieve this goal.”

Daniel Ricciardo said: “This is a really big deal for me and something I have wanted ever since I was driving for Toro Rosso on Friday mornings at the races in the first part of last season. To be honest, I am still jumping up and down with excitement at the news. In the second half of 2011 I learned a lot from the people I worked with, racing in eleven Grands Prix and I want to thank them for the opportunity they gave me.  I have to say that joining Scuderia Toro Rosso was always my real goal, so a big thank you to Red Bull for giving me this fantastic opportunity and now I can’t wait to get to work once testing begins.”

Jean-Eric Vergne added: “Christmas has come early for me this year! Having driven for them a few times this year and also testing for Red Bull Racing in Abu Dhabi, I definitely feel ready to make the move, even if I know there is a big difference between testing and actually racing. I enjoyed working with the guys at Toro Rosso this year and I can’t wait to be part of the team for real. Sitting on the grid in Melbourne next March cannot come soon enough.”

Former Grand Prix driver JJ Lehto has received a two year and four month prison sentence in relation to a speedboat crash in his native Finland in June 2010.

The 45-year-old – who was charged under his real name of Jyrki Javilehto – was deemed to have been intoxicated at the time of the night time accident, in which a close friend of his was killed. The boat hit a bridge support in a narrow canal linking two lakes near Rassepori.

Lehto had denied that he was driving at the time of the crash, but the court decreed that he was. He has lodged an appeal.

Lehto was originally a protégé of Marlboro and Keke Rosberg. He won the British F3 title in 1988, and made his F1 debut for the Onyx team in 1989. Later he raced for Scuderia Italia, Sauber and Benetton, making a total of 62 starts before his final outing in Australia in 1994 – after he had moved back to Sauber following a disastrous spell as Michael Schumacher’s team mate. His best result was a lapped third at Imola in 1991 for Scuderia Italia.

He won Le Mans in 1995 and again in 2005, and also raced in the DTM, Champcar and the ALMS.

More recently he was an F1 commentator for Finnish TV, although he has not been seen at a race since the crash.

HRT has announced that it has parted company with team principal Colin Kolles, the man who rescued the former Campos Meta team when it nearly collapsed even before its first race.

The team has been planning to move its base from Germany to Spain, and Kolles had made it clear that he would be willing to step down if the circumstances were right.

A team statement said: “HRT F1 Team and Dr Colin Kolles have reached an agreement to end their co-operation and therefore the Team Principal will abandon his post on the 15th of December 2011.

“This is due to the new direction that the team has taken and the decision of the new management to move the team headquarters to Spain.

“HRT F1 Team would like to thank Dr Colin Kolles for his work and dedication throughout these past two years and wish him the best in his future projects.”

It remains to be seen what the future holds for the former dentist, but he must hold some sort of record having previously been team boss of Jordan, Midland/MF1, Spyker and Force India in addition to HRT…

Romain Grosjean will race alongside Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus in 2012, having beaten the likes of Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna to the drive.

The announcement makes it clear that sponsor Total is very much behind the appointment of the Franco-Swiss driver.

“I am thrilled to be one of the team’s race drivers in 2012,” said the GP2 champion. “There’s a big grin on my face at the prospect of getting behind the wheel of next year’s car, and I feel very privileged to be given this opportunity.

“To be racing alongside a former world champion and someone who is hungry and returning to Formula 1 will be a great experience, and I’m sure will help raise my level of performance too. I feel that my successful season in GP2 Series has helped me mature a lot, and I am a much more complete driver than I was last time I was competing in this sport.

“Returning to Enstone as a race driver feels like coming home. I will not disappoint and I wish to thank all the people without whom this return to F1 would not have been possible. Total, which supports me since 2006, and Gravity Sport Management, are first on this list.”

Eric Boullier added: “Romain has shown a lot of maturity in the past twelve months both through his GP2 Series victory and his development as third driver with us. We were impressed when he drove for us in the first practice sessions in Abu Dhabi and Brazil.

“We are confident that drafting him in to one of our driver’s seats will help us in our rebuilding process. I would like to thank Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna for their contribution to the team’s performance this year and I wish them all the best for the future.”

Team Lotus has revealed that former McLaren aero man John Iley has been given the rarely used title of Performance Director at the team that will soon be known as Caterham.

Iley will head up “all aerodynamics, CFD and related activity” for the team, which changes its name on December 14.

Iley’s move became public knowledge some time ago, but the team had not made an official comment until today.

Iley is a longtime protégé of Mike Gascoyne. He originally worked with EuroBrun and on a couple of sportscar projects before joining Jordan in 1995. He hooked up with Gascoyne when the latter joined in 1998, and they went to Renault together in 2002. He later worked at Ferrari before joining McLaren, where he was chief aerodynamicist.

In Brazil Martin Whitmarsh played down his loss to McLaren, saying that Iley organised the aero department rather than led its R&D.

Caterham CEO Riad Asmat said: “It is a real sign of our growth and development as a serious contender for long-term honours that we can attract someone of John’s calibre and we are all very excited about the contribution he will make to our future success from the moment he starts work with our team.”

Sauber has followed Ferrari and Red Bull as the latest team to signal its intention to leave the Formula One Teams Association – leaving the organisation further weakened.

With HRT having left long ago FOTA now has eight members among the 12 teams.

The Swiss outfit told its fellow members three days before yesterday’s meeting in England.

A spokesperson told this writer tonight: “The Sauber F1 Team has declared its departure from FOTA last Friday. The team has informed FOTA about the reason for the decision.”

In the past Sauber has been known to often support Ferrari’s stance on political issues, but sources say that the team told its fellow members that this wasn’t the case.

Toro Rosso did not have a representative at Tuesday’s meeting, but there is no official word as to whether the Italian team is also on the way out. Given its Red Bull and Ferrari connections such a move would not be a huge surprise.

COTA has confirmed that it has concluded a deal with Bernie Ecclestone and paid him for the 2012 US GP.

The race has remained on the calendar after today’s meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Delhi.

In a statement investor Red McCombs said: “Mr Ecclestone received his check today for the USGP. We want to thank the fans supporting us, the local officials and businesses that have encouraged us, the state of Texas, Circuit of The Americas’ staff and Bernie himself.”

Bobby Epstein added: “Our investors have believed all along that this project has tremendous benefit for our region, and provides a strong economic engine for the future. We remain committed to reaching our goal of being valuable community partners as we establish a platform for sports and entertainment. We’re glad that Tavo’s vision of bringing F1 to the people of Texas will become a reality.”

The statement added: “Engineering and construction teams working on the track will resume immediately, ensuring completion for the 2012 race date.”

In addition to confirming the calendar the FIA has ratified various technical and sporting regulations, most of which were already in the public domain.

Among the new ones, lapped cars will be allowed to unlap themselves and join the back of the queue at safety car restarts, while there will be a clampdown on corner cutting on laps back to the pits and so on, as practised by Sebastian Vettel in qualifying in Korea.

The full list is as follows:

Changes to the 2012 Technical Regulations

• All engine standard ECU set up and control parameters, which were formerly contained only within a Technical Directive, are now contained within the relevant parts of the Technical Regulations.

• The exhaust tailpipes are now strictly regulated in order to ensure that the aerodynamic effect exhaust gases have on the car is kept to an absolute minimum.

• Better marking of in-car emergency switches operated by marshals are now stipulated.

• The side impact structures will now have to be subjected to a further (upward) push-off test.

Changes to the 2012 Sporting Regulations

• Cars may no longer take part in pre-season testing without having passed all crash tests.

• There will now be a maximum race time of four hours to ensure that a lengthy suspension of a race does not result in a race that could run up to eight hours if left unregulated.

• Before the safety car returns to the pits all lapped cars will be allowed to unlap themselves and then join the back of the pack, ensuring a clean re-start without slower cars impeding those racing for the leading positions.

• Cars which were in the pit lane when a race is suspended will now be allowed to re-join the cars on the grid in the position they were in when the race was suspended.

• Drivers may no longer leave the track without a justifiable reason, i.e. cutting a chicane on reconnaissance laps or ‘in’ laps to save time and fuel.

• Drivers may no longer move back onto the racing line having moved off it to defend a position.

• One three-day test will be carried out during the season, formerly there were none.

• All stewards’ decisions which are not subject to appeal are now in one place instead of being in various places within the regulations.

• All tyres allocated to a driver may now be used on the first day of practice; formerly only three sets were permitted.