Adam Cooper F1

John Elkann – the boss of both Fiat and the Exor group that has expressed an interest in taking over F1 – says he wants to modernise the sport.

The Exor/News Corp saga has dominated conversations in Turkey this weekend.

“Whoever is into motors will obviously be tempted to be part of this world,” he was reported as saying by AGI. “We are interested in making this sport more modern and younger. We’re still going through a preliminary phase but we’re trying to understand if there are the grounds to carry on.

“We would like to help ensure the stability of this great sport and think about its future.”

Smoke still wafts from the back of the truck as the clean-up begins

Team Lotus suffered a major setback when one of its trucks was damaged in a fire early this morning.

The electrical fire started in the plant room, which houses the mechanism that raises the top level when the vehicle is parked in the paddock.

One mechanic admitted that there was ‘quite a lot of damage,’ while another source said the team’s data system had been affected, which may prove to be the most serious problem.

Update: The team confirms that there is no problem with its data systems although they were in that truck, whose upper level was also the gearbox/hydraulics workshop. The truck will have to go back to its maker for repairs and won’t be back in action until Valencia.

Jenson Button finished at the top of the times in Turkey today, albeit only just ahead of Nico Rosberg.

As ever the true picture will only emerge in qualifying, but it was a respectable start to the Istanbul weekend for the McLaren driver.

Button made only a brief appearance in the morning’s rain as the team opted to save its wet and intermediate tyres, on the basis that it could rain on Sunday.

“The day was pretty good,” said Button. “I had a quiet morning, lots of tea, didn’t do any running in the first session because it was very wet, and also we didn’t want to use too many sets of wet tyres, because you are limited. This afternoon we did quite a bit of running, which was positive.”

McLaren’s biggest problem is under braking for Turn 12, where all the cars are bouncing on the bumps, but the MP4-26 appears to be struggling more than most.

“My feet are hurting a little bit from Turn 12, on the bumps! I don’t know if you’ve watched the cars there, but wow, it’s bumpy, it’s like they put a motocross jump in, just before the corner.

“Apart from that I’m relatively happy. There’s always things that you want to improve. The car is working reasonably well. I’ve been trying a few things out with the limited running that we have. And I think we’ve made some good progress. There’s a lot of data, but trying to get the car to ride the bumps well into Turn 12 is something that’s been a little bit difficult. But we’re trying our best, and I think we’ve improved a little bit, which is good.”

Button said a lot of thought is going into protecting the tyres, especially through Turn 8.

“We ran both tyres in the session, as I think everyone did. Turn 8 is very difficult for the car, because you can damage fronts, you can damage rears, it’s whatever your balance is. It’s about getting the balance right. We’ve concentrated on that quite a bit today. And the car’s working well.

“We haven’t got everything that we wanted to put on the car here, for certain reasons, which is disappointing. We do have some updates on the car here, which is nice.”

Fernando Alonso was upbeat in Turkey today, but the former World Champion cautioned that it was still too early to say how successful Ferrari’s latest updates have been.

Alonso lost some time with some problems, including a moment when he stopped before the pit entry and had to be pushed into the garage. He finished the day a modest 11^th, while team mate Felipe Massa was sixth.

“It’s difficult to evaluate right now because we just finished practice, but the car felt good. Felt OK this morning, felt OK this afternoon. We had some mechanical issues in my car, but nothing too worrying. So we’ll see tomorrow.

“In terms of performance as I said it’s difficult to evaluate after a Friday, you never know what the others are doing as well, but we did a step forward. We need to see how big it was.

“All the improvements we’ve brought here are aerodynamic parts, obviously what you feel in the car is a little bit more overall grip. If it’s down to the tyres, to the improvements, to the track conditions, or everybody’s feeling a good grip, we don’t know. It’s too early to say, but we’ll wait for tomorrow. The target is to be fighting with them.

“I think Mercedes also improved a lot, they are quick. Renault I think also, they will also be competitive. So it’s tough. I think two or three tenths, you can be fourth or fifth, or ninth, so we just need to make our best tomorrow. We need to take out the best of the car, the maximum potential we have, and be in front of all these people.”

Alonso says he hasn’t learned much about tyre wear, and especially the impact of Turn 8.

“I didn’t complete enough laps to answer this question completely. We lost a bit of time in the garage with some problems in the car, and then I think I did only six or seven laps in the long runs.

“In those laps it felt OK, but it’s a question mark after those laps what is going to happen to the tyres, and how the track will improve as well during the weekend, because it was the first laps on dry tyres for any category so far this weekend.

“We’ll see after GP2, after GP3, and tomorrow’s qualifying how the race goes. But there is no doubt that it’s a stressful circuit for the tyres.”

Sebastian Vettel was unperturbed after missing the Friday afternoon practice session in Turkey following his heavy crash in the morning.

Vettel damaged all four corners of the RB7 when he spun off after running just four laps in the rain. The Red Bull crew was unable to repair the car in time for him to get out in what turned out to be the dry second session.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t get the car ready in time, I’m sorry for the guys,” said Vettel. “It makes it a bit more difficult no doubt, but I don’t think it will be a big problem. We know the track quite well from the last years. In the end it was only one afternoon we had in the dry. Tomorrow I think it will be dry.

“We’ll see. I‘m still confident for tomorrow. Everything is open. It looks fairly close, this afternoon I had a bit more time to watch the times than usually. I think it will be quite exciting tomorrow.”

Vettel spent some time in the garage while the crew worked on his car rather than hiding in the motorhome.

“It was only fair. Obviously I apologised, because it was not my intention to damage the car. But this is racing, this can happen. The most important thing is that we are still here. Of course this means a lot of work for the mechanics now, but it’s only fair to show them that I am with them, because if I’m struggling or I have a problem they are with me as well.”

Former BAR boss Craig Pollock has confirmed that he’s involved in a project to create a turbo customer F1 engine for 2013.

The PURE corporation counts Mecachrome – long associated with Renault – as one of its partners. Former Renault F1 engine head Christian Contzen is a consultant and Jean-Pierre Boudy, another leading ex-Renault man, is also involved.

Pollock says he now needs to find potential customers among the existing teams, although that clearly won’t be easy.

“The project has started up since the beginning of the year,” Pollock told Reuters. “And we are in a design and development stage at the moment but we now have a good package that we can go forward and start talking to teams.

“Our design team have actually been working on this since the announcement on December 10.We are very much down the road, probably the same if not further ahead than the key manufacturers.

“Formula One to us is one project but we have other projects that we are working on in marine engines, aviation, helicopter engines. We are definitely looking to use Formula One as a test bed to be able to take cleaner technology back into the mainstream.”

PURE also offered a supportive quote from Jean Todt: “We welcome PURE to Formula One. The rule changes for 2013 have been developed to provide lower cost, greener and more fuel efficient technologies for Formula One. We wish PURE every success in developing powertrains compliant with the new FIA regulations.”

The arrival of a new manufacturer will clearly give Todt more ammunition as he tries to fend off Bernie Ecclestone’s attempts to change or delay the 2013 rules package.

The story of News Corporation’s interest in F1 took another turn tonight when the company confirmed its intentions to explore a possible co-operation with Exor, the investment company in which the Agnelli family has a majority stake.

Exor owns stakes in Fiat and the Juventus football team, and is run by Fiat boss John Elkann.

A vaguely worded statement tonight said: “EXOR, one of Europe’s largest listed investment companies, and News Corporation, the global media group, confirm that they are in the early stages of exploring the possibility of creating a consortium with a view to formulating a long‐term plan for the development of Formula One in the interests of the participants and the fans.

“Over the coming weeks and months, EXOR and News Corporation will approach potential minority partners and key stakeholders in the sport. There can be no certainty that this will lead to an approach to Formula One’s current owners.”

There was no mention of Carlos Slim but he is thought to be a potential partner in the deal.

Mike Coughlan is to return to F1 with Williams next month in the role of chief engineer.

Coughlan has not been involved with the top level of the sport since the McLaren ‘Spygate’ scandal in 2007, and has most recently been involved with the Michael Waltrip Racing NASCAR outfit.

Coughlan will overlap with the departing Sam Michael for the rest of the season, and it remains to be seen whether he then inherits the technical director role.

To their credit neither the team nor Coughlan himself have attempted to ignore his controversial history in making the announcement.

Frank Williams said in a statement: “Mike Coughlan is a fine engineer with extensive experience across Formula One and both civil and defence engineering. He left Formula One in 2007 because of conduct which he acknowledges was wrong and which he profoundly regrets. His two year ban from the sport expired some time ago and Mike is now determined to prove himself again.

“Williams is delighted to be able to give him the opportunity to do this and we are very pleased to have one of the most talented and competitive engineers in the sport helping us to return to the front of the grid. This is the first step in re-building and strengthening our technical group. We will announce the next steps as they develop.”

Coughlan added: “I am grateful to Williams for giving me this opportunity. My experience in 2007 was life-changing. Since then, I have endeavoured to put my skills to good use in the design of the Ocelot vehicle whose purpose is to transport soldiers in safety. I have also enjoyed my time with Michael Waltrip Racing: they are an excellent race team and I wish them well for the future.

“Now, I am looking forward to returning to a sport which I love and to joining a team that I have admired for many years. I will dedicate myself to the team and to ensuring that we return to competitiveness while respecting the ethical standards with which Williams has always been synonymous.”

Williams technical director Sam Michael and chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson are to leave the team at the end of the season.

A statement said that both men had resigned but, in an unusual move, would stay on until the end of the year.

That gives Williams time to find replacements (in addition to Mike Coughlan, see next story) and also in effect stops either man from joining another team in the short term, and thus contributing to its 2012 car.

Frank Williams said: “Both Sam and Jon are talented and driven people who have worked hard for Williams over 10 and five years respectively. Nonetheless, they have recognised that the team’s performance is not at the level that it needs to be and have resigned in order to give the team the opportunity to regroup and undertake the changes necessary to get back to the front of the grid.

“Both will continue to work in their present positions through until the end of the year to ensure that the team maintains focus and momentum during the 2011 season. We are very grateful to Sam and to Jon for their professional approach.”

The Bahrain government has been given an extra month by the FIA to secure a place on the 2011 calendar.

The original deadline of May 1 passed on Sunday. A statement tonight said: “The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, has granted the Bahrain Motor Federation and the Bahrain International Circuit an extension until June 3rd, date of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Barcelona.

“This decision was taken after consultation with the relevant Bahraini authorities and Formula One Management, the international promoter.”

It’s believed that Bahrain GP representatives and Jean Todt will both be in Turkey this weekend.