McLaren's Italian legal case near end

Legal action relating to McLaren's 2007 spy case is close to being resolved following the latest developments in Italy.

Charges against ex-McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan, and senior McLaren engineers Paddy Lowe, Jonathan Neale and Rob Taylor have now been dropped following a 'nolo contendere' (no contest) agreement between the respective lawyers representing them and the Modena district attorney.

In exchange for not contesting the charges of copyright infringement of Ferrari's data, the four men have agreed to pay sums of monies to the Italian authorities. Coughlan will pay 180,000 Euros, while the other three men will pay 150,000 Euros each.

A McLaren spokesman said: "This legal formalisation follows on from the successful resolution of last year's disagreements between McLaren and Ferrari."

It is understood that Lowe, Neale and Taylor's monies will be paid for by McLaren, while it is unknown whether or not former McLaren chief designer Coughlan will have to pay himself.

"Mike Coughlan no longer works for McLaren," added the McLaren spokesman. "That being the case, we feel it would be both inappropriate and discourteous for us to comment on his behalf."

With the action against McLaren staff having now been sorted, sources suggest that McLaren boss Ron Dennis and F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh expect to have all charges dropped at a hearing of Preliminary Investigations Judge Barbara Malyasi scheduled for next February.

The ending of legal action against McLaren comes after the Woking-based team and Ferrari settled their differences over the matter earlier this year.

A McLaren spokesman said both teams had moved on considerably since then and, with the legal process drawing to a conclusion satisfactory to all parties, all focus is now on the outfit working with Ferrari, the FIA and the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) in improving the sport.

"As is well known, in simultaneous press releases issued as long ago as June 11 this year, McLaren and Ferrari have already publicly drawn a line under those disagreements," said the McLaren spokesman.

"Indeed, the two teams are now co-operating productively and cordially alongside each other within FOTA for the good of the future of Formula One.

"The FIA, too, long ago declared the controversies of last year closed. Indeed, during of the course of the past 12 months, McLaren has been working closely with the FIA on cost-cutting plans, on environmental initiatives and on a concerted effort to rid motorsport of racism, namely the FIA's 'Every Race' campaign.

"We at McLaren therefore welcome this legal formalisation and conclusion in Italy, and feel confident that - in co-operation with FOTA, Ferrari, the other Formula One teams, all the Formula One manufacturers, FOM and the FIA - McLaren will play a key role in shaping the future of Formula One in the months and years ahead."

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South Africa rules out F1 race before 2011

South Africa will not consider making a bid to host a Formula One race at least until 2010, an official have said.

The country moved closer to see Formula One back after a new company - Guateng Motorsport Company - was set up last week bring top class events to the Kyalami circuit.

However, Guateng Motorsport Company's newly-appointed chief execute Steve Watson says it's still too early to starting thinking of hosting a Formula One race.

"We'll conclude our assessment early next year and in terms of hosting an event, I wouldn't be pro the hosting of one before 2010 because we've got enough on our hands as a country at the moment," Watson told the Sunday Times newspaper.

He said, however, that the current financial crisis would not affect their future projects.

"The proposition we have isn't based on the backing or manufacturers, it's more of an economic and tourism benefit through hosting events that are established," he said.

"We've seen these cycles before so we've been heads down working on his initiative - what happens in the economy around us happens.

"We'll keep aggressively pursuing the model we've built and believe will work. The Gauteng motorsport programme is not reliant on a manufacturer-backed programme."

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Hamilton: Cost cuts make title repeat hard

Lewis Hamilton believes that radical cost-cutting regulations introduced for next year will make it harder for him to repeat his world championship success in 2009.

The FIA last week rubber stamped a wide-ranging number of measures aimed at reducing budgets against the backdrop of the worldwide financial crisis.

And it is those new regulations, including an in-season ban on testing, that Hamilton believes will make it a bigger challenge for him to triumph.

"I don't think it will make it easier," Hamilton was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. "With the new regulations it's going to make it very tough to win the championship again.

"We have less testing obviously, but I think we as a team are in a position to pull together and make a difference in some other way. But everyone's in the same boat."

Hamilton made it clear, however, that the team were not worrying about the changes - and were simply focused on how best to exploit new opportunities.

"It's amazing how many different things happen in a year but all we're thinking about is how we can continue in the sport and continue to put on a good show," he claimed. "How we can move forward and continue to win as a team."

And he also did not rule out there more teams challenging at the front as a result of the changes.

"We don't know who's going to be quick, surely we're going to be at the front, with Ferrari maybe, BMW, but you never know," he said. "Maybe there's going to be a fourth team up there with us."

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Kubica expects KERS to hamper him

Robert Kubica believes the added weight of the new-for-2009 Kinetic Energy Recovery System will penalise him - but hopes BMW still uses the device as its new car has been designed around it.

BMW Sauber have been a major supporter of KERS, while some other teams have suggested that its introduction is an unnecessary expense amid the current round of cost reductions. Several squads will start the season without the device as they are still working to perfect it.

Kubica said he had mixed feelings about KERS, because as one of the heavier drivers on the grid he thinks the added weight it brings will affect his performances, but he thinks it is now too late to abandon the system.

"Our car for sure will also run without KERS," he told the official Formula One website.

"And it is my opinion that the car built without KERS can go quicker compared to the car that was built with KERS but is not using it. KERS needs space, and if you then don't use it, it means that you are wasting space. We are analysing what is better and in which direction the development should go.

"My demand is that we are use the most powerful and best performing car at the first race. I would prefer the car without KERS in that I have a bigger disadvantage with KERS. And this is a fact that all taller and heavier drivers agree on, as there is additional weight on the car, but the minimum weight of the car plus driver has stayed the same as last year, so this seems like a disadvantage."

The Pole said BMW are likely to wait until the end of winter testing before deciding whether to use KERS in the early races, as it was still hard to quantify its benefits.

"I think it is a bit too early to say exactly what the difference is because KERS is at quite an early stage, although we have already put in a lot of work," said Kubica.

"It is still almost impossible to explain the difference in how the car feels with or without KERS. From my personal point of view - as I am a tall and heavy driver - it is not really positive, as the weight of KERS is influencing quite a lot, especially when it comes to weight distribution, so it is limiting me quite a lot.

"It is nice when you press it as you feel an additional boost. Yes, it works, but we have to see in the later stages when we are closer to the first race which configuration is the quicker one - I think this is the most important issue."

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Barrichello hungry to race on with Honda

A fired up Rubens Barrichello flew to England this week to tell Honda Racing chiefs that he is ready to help them through their troubled times - as he sets his sights on securing a fresh deal at the team.

Rubbishing any suggestion that he was contemplating retirement in the wake of Honda's decision to pull out of Formula One, Barrichello made a visit to the team's Brackley headquarters to explain to boss Ross Brawn how keen he is to remain in the sport.

And speaking exclusively to autosport.com in London, the Brazilian explained how he hopes his visit here, a new training regime and victory in off-season kart events have sent out the message of just how determined he is.

"I told Ross, right now I am into the situation where I am not old and I can still use this as a learning emotion," he said. "I am so fired up.

"I told him again that it could be a good time for me to say goodbye and start shouting bad against people for what they have done bad to me, but no. I am ready to race. I have lost half the weight of what I need to lose, and am eager to keep going.

"I don't think it is coincidence that I won the two kart races back in Brazil. Of course, it is at a level of competition that is much lower than F1, but it shows that I am up to it. I think I can use my mentality, plus my speed and my focus on the right stuff right now to really help the team carry on.

"And I don't want to sign just for one year. I want to sign for two or three years. I also started my career on slicks and I definitely want to finish my career on slicks."

Barrichello believes that the dramatic rule changes introduced for next year, which now include a total ban of in-season testing, make it more important that a team like Honda opt for experience over youth.

"There are two sides to this. First of all you need to have speed. If you only have experience and don't have the speed, then you are never going to get the speed. This is the main point. So you are better off getting someone quick and you develop him with experience.

"I think in terms of myself I have both. It is a question of checking if the old boy is still eager to do it, because at this point – if you talked to David Coulthard and then talked to myself it was a completely different thing.

"When I heard DC telling me he was going to stop – he was feeling he had done enough, he wanted to go home. I just cannot see myself going back to Brazil yet – because I still have the speed. Yes, I can see when I am done going back to my country, which I have always loved. But I still want to race.

"I haven't driven the car for a while and I went to the simulator today and spent two hours there – before they told me to stop because I had to do something else.

"So it is still there in myself – and I do think speed plus experience will be needed next year. There is no testing, a different approach with a new car and new tyres, and you need to know in three laps if the car is going to last with the tyres or not."

Barrichello had been due to join Honda Racing for their second test of the winter in Jerez earlier this month, but that run was cancelled in the wake of the decision of their parent road car company to withdraw from F1.

Although Honda's bombshell has cast serious question marks over Barrichello's future, the Brazilian claims that he has not thought once about calling time on his record-breaking career.

"No. It is far away," he said. "It is crazy, but all the happenings all through the past month have made me even more eager to drive. It would be easy to see the negative about the situation, but it has shown me that another door has opened. So it is a bit of a different approach."

He added: "I have unfinished business in F1. I am sure I can finish higher up, if not winning the championship. I really believe that is what I deserve.

"It would be a shame not to use the services of someone so eager to do it, plus with all the experience and the speed. It is the right time – and it comes with the willingness to do well.

"If you sign someone with the speed but whose time is over, they will set up the car differently and badly. You are 80 percent of the time going through corners, and you set up the car different compared to someone who comes and wants to go flat out.

"For me, I am still taking it flat – and sometimes this year in qualifying you have that little pimple on your skin saying 'just remember you are not a boy any more' after the corner. So it is still there very much.

"I came to show my face here in England, to show I appreciate everything that happens to the team, and to tell them to keep working hard and putting every effort in possible.

"There is no negative about anything – you have to take the positive side and there will be a positive side. Someone will buy it and it can be better than it was the last two years."

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Toyota give Caldarelli maiden test

Toyota gave a first Formula One test to 18-year-old Italian Andrea Caldarelli in Bahrain this week.

Caldarelli has been a member of the Toyota Young Driver Programme since 2007 and finished third in this season's Formula Renault Eurocup.

He completed 128 laps during Monday and Tuesday in the TF108, finishing with a best time of 1:33.170 - two seconds off Jarno Trulli's qualifying time at the same track earlier this year.

"This has been a great experience for me and I have thoroughly enjoyed it," said Caldarelli. "To get the chance to test a Formula One car when I am still only 18 is such a good opportunity and I was determined to make the most of it.

"Obviously, the TF108 is a big step up compared to my usual car. The power is amazing but so are the brakes, and the grip you have going round corners takes a few laps to adjust to. I think I did a good job considering the circuit is new to me and this is my first full F1 test.

"I would like to thank Panasonic Toyota Racing for giving me the chance. This experience gives me extra motivation to fight as hard as possible to one day race a Formula 1 car."

Timo Glock was also testing this week, analysing the new Bridgestone slick tyres with a low-downforce configuration and working on Toyota's KERS development. The team expect to test their KERS for the first time on track in January.

Glock completed 258 laps during the week with a best time of 1:32.090. The team's test driver Kamui Kobayshi completed the team's annual test mileage by running for 33 laps today.

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Cost cuts could hit drivers' wages

Formula One drivers will be the next to suffer the consequences of the worldwide economic downturn by being forced to accept reduced wages, claims Ferrari's team boss.

With the FIA and the teams having worked hard in recent weeks to thrash out a major overhaul of the technical rules to help reduce budgets, there are widespread hopes that the sport can see itself through the difficult financial times.

But Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali thinks such cost savings are only the start of a spending clampdown that teams are going to have to go through - and he believes drivers will be the next target.

"I think that in the following months there will be a major revolution, also with the drivers, as far as retainers are concerned," Domenicali said in an interview with Italian magazine Autosprint.

Domenicali believes that the momentum for such a drastic course of action - which could go as far as current terms having to be renegotiated - will come from the bigger teams.

"Let's be clear: at a moment when the teams, whether big or small, must reduce costs in a significant way, one could feel like saying you need an ace to make the difference," he explained.

"However, I feel that in the current climate the big teams - the small ones can't do that now - won't have the ability anymore to think of offering certain amounts of money that some drivers get. So discussions can be held on this issue."

When asked whether terms of contracts that were recently signed, such as Kimi Raikkonen's fresh deal announced in Monza, could be changed, Domenicali said: "Anything can be modified in life.

"The important thing is wanting to do it. We know the terms of the contract. However, I'm convinced that this issue will soon be discussed among all the teams and with every driver."

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