Villeneuve has distanced himself from Gaddafi

Jacques Villeneuve has distanced himself from reports that the son of controversial Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is an investor in his new team.
The former world champion released a statement on his website confirming a link-up with Italy-based Durango.
"There are a number of rumours circulating at the moment and I wanted to clarify a few things before this gets out of hand," said Villeneuve.
Villeneuve Racing will attempt to join the F1 starting grid in 2011.
Canadian Villeneuve, 39, added: "The team will be a joint venture with Durango, and based out of Italy. To be clear, right now all the money comes from corporate sponsorship and not from personal investors."
Durango owner Ivone Pinton said last week that he had joined forces with Villeneuve, who is expected to drive for the planned team initially before exploring a different role.
Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion with Williams as well as a winner of the Indy 500 and CART series, last competed in Formula One in 2006.
The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) has invited applications to make up a 13th team in F1.
It is expected to decide in the coming weeks whether any have what it takes to participate at a time when some teams are struggling to raise sponsorship.
Durango ran a car for Villeneuve in the Dubai-based Speedcar series until that folded last year - and then dropped out of the GP2 support series in 2009 due to financial problems.

By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Ferrari are still in the chase: Alonso

Fernando Alonso has warned rivals not to write off Ferrari ahead of the second half of the Formula 1 season.
The two-time world champion says that Ferrari's updates for next week's European Grand Prix in Valencia are only the start of a concerted push.
"We will have further developments for England and Germany," said Alonso. "Valencia is not a last-ditch effort."
The Spaniard lies just 15 points - the same as a third-place finish - behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
But Ferrari's pace has been disappointing this season since Alonso won the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on his debut for the team.
Last weekend, however, the Montreal circuit used for the Canadian GP, suited the Ferrari F10 far better, allowing Alonso to fight for the lead and eventually finish third.
The Valencia city circuit has some similarities to Montreal; it has long straights and relatively slow corners, playing to the Ferrari's existing strengths of mechanical grip.
But a major breakthrough on aerodynamics has excited the team, and is due to feature on the F10 for the first time in Valencia.
The new development uses exhaust gases to move the airflow around the diffuser and rear beam wing more effectively. The concept is believed to be the key to the Red Bull RB6's stunning pace in fast corners this season.
In his blog on Ferrari's website, Alonso said: "We will have major updates on the F10 which I hope will allow us to up our performance level.
"Following on from that, we have further developments in the pipeline which should arrive for England and Germany, which is to say that the European GP is simply the ninth round of the championship, not a last-ditch effort for Ferrari, which I heard some people saying.
"I don't see how they can say that given that we have not even reached the halfway point of the [19-race] season, and that after Valencia there will still be 10 Grands Prix to go.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again now: this is a stage event, and the final one of those stages will not come until November in Abu Dhabi. Things can change very quickly."
Alonso said the team's mood had changed since the disappointment of being beaten by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in Canada.
"The sense of disappointment that we missed out on a win has been replaced with the awareness that we did actually get a great result," he said.
"We have to look at it as a glass half-full because on the Thursday we would have been satisfied with the thought of a podium finish.
"We were competitive throughout the whole weekend, both in qualifying and the race, which is very positive.
"In the first eight races of the season all sorts of things happened - mistakes, reliability problems, bad luck - but we are still in the thick of the fight for both championships [drivers' and constructors']. The same can be said of McLaren and Red Bull, who have also missed out on points along the way."

BBC Article
By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Vettel on pole In Australia

Sebastian Vettel will start the Australian Grand Prix from pole position after leading a Red Bull one-two in qualifying in Melbourne.
Team-mate Mark Webber was 0.116 seconds behind Vettel, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso third well clear of the rest.
World champion Jenson Button's McLaren was fourth, 0.564secs behind Alonso.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton failed to make the final session complaining of a lack of grip and will start Sunday's race at Albert Park in 11th place.
It was also a disappointing day for Ferrari's Felipe Massa who was 0.726 seconds off team-mate Alonso in fifth, ahead of the Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.
Williams's Rubens Barrichello and Renault's Robert Kubica followed with Force India's Adrian Sutil impressing as he completed the top ten.
"It's a great result for both of us and the team. It is a bit funny, Mark was on pole in Germany last year so a bit of revenge," said Vettel.
"We are looking forward to tomorrow, we do not know how messy it might get so it is always good to be on pole."
After a dominant performance in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Vettel was again in ominous form for the rest of the field, leading at the end of all three sessions.
Despite running wide on the exit of a turn late in his decisive lap, the German's pace ensured he deposed home favourite Webber at the top of the standings.
Gloomy conditions and falling track temperatures made a dramatic late riposte from Webber unlikely and the Australian had to settle with improving on his sixth place in Bahrain qualifying.
"I would love to be on pole, it is good for the team both of us are up there, but there is always a bit where you can get a bit more out of it, overall it would be nice to be one place further up," he said.
The Red Bull pair proved fastest throughout the day with Alonso and the possibility of rain providing the only threats to their monopoly of the front row.
The Spaniard set an early benchmark in the first qualifying session but was soon surpassed by Vettel as the frontrunners struggled to pick their way through the heavy traffic.
Rosberg moved to second on his final lap, but, despite some promising practice sessions on Friday, Renault's Vitaly Petrov could only finish 18th.
The Russian rookie was excluded from the final two sessions, with the day also coming to an early end for the Lotus pair of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli ahead of Virgin Racing and Hispania.
Hamilton was also an absentee from the top-ten shootout after returning to the pits early in the second session and, having slipped to 17th in the meantime, failing to find the pace to dislodge Renault's Robert Kubica in tenth.
As he qualified outside of the top ten, Hamilton can take small consolation from the ability to choose which set of tyres he begins Sunday's race on.
With backmarker Karun Chandhok of Hispania lapping 5.839 slower than Vettel during the first session, the leaders' ability to negotiate stragglers is likely to be a prominent feature of the action.
Schumacher, who will be hoping to improve on his sixth-placed finish in the Middle East a fortnight ago, predicted pit-stop strategies may also play a big part in deciding the race.
"Traffic was quite difficult, a couple of guys didn't use their mirrors well," he said.
"The weather does not help with tyres but it is the same for everybody. It will be a long race, the start and the stop you plan to do are two major factors."



BBC Website
By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
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Hamilton fastest in practice

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton took advantage of some rare dry conditions in the second session to clock Friday's fastest practice time in Melbourne.
Hamilton set a lap of one minute 25.801 seconds to edge out team-mate Jenson Button by 0.275 secs before a spell of heavy rain hit the Albert Park track.
Red Bull's Mark Webber emerged as the track dried later on to go third ahead of Mercedes's Michael Schumacher.
Renault's Robert Kubica was fastest in the day's first practice session.
"It's definitely not the weather I am used to in Australia, but we did get some dry running which is not too bad," said Hamilton.
"The track was very dirty in the first session, everyone just waits forever to go out and I wanted to go out and have some fun, so I went out early.
"Generally the session was quite good. I had to make some changes to the car but I did that in between sessions.
"It was difficult at the end when we made some more changes as the track was not up to top speed. Nevertheless we felt quite comfortable with the balance of the car so I am quite happy."
With temperatures lower than in the first session and light rain falling, there was little action for the opening part of the second 90-minute session as the pit crew switched their attention to the weather and weighed up swapping slick tyres for intermediates.
The BMW Sauber pair of Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi were among the first to go out, but they struggled for grip.
But the rain eased off and the Williams duo of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg posted the first times after 16 minutes.
Hamilton and Button's McLarens then vied for the lead, with the 2008 champion responding after his successor had stolen ahead.
Button pushed hard to strike back but could not match his colleague and the two McLarens stayed at the top of the times for the rest of the session as the rain came and went.
The track dried in the closing minutes of the session, allowing Michael Schumacher to depose Russian novice Vitaly Petrov's Renault from third spot before the seven-time champion was himself beaten by Red Bull's Webber.
The Australian's team-mate Sebastian Vettel ended the session 16th fastest, sandwiched between the Ferraris of Bahrain winner Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa as all three appeared to concentrate on race preparation with heavy fuel loads.
After his short-lived debut at Bahrain, Karun Chandhok's Hispania had to be pushed back to the pit lane by the marshalls after a suspected gearbox failure left it stranded on the track.
There was more drama right at the end as De la Rosa narrowly avoided collisions as he was overtaken by both Button and Hamilton.
"As soon as I jumped in the car, I was reasonably happy with the balance and it's just got better throughout the day," said Button.
"It is so busy that it is difficult to get a gap but our cars are running well around here so it is positive in that way. The last couple of laps were frustrating.
"I think some cars are not being told the correct information about us catching them up.
"I know it is tough with a big difference in speed and we are one of the quicker cars at the moment, but we will forget about that and just focus on making sure it is competitive tomorrow."
One of those struggling outfits, Virgin Racing, suffered badly from technical problems as a gearbox leakage and telemetry problems blighted Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock's second sessions.
Kubica was 11th in the second session after setting the pace in the first session with a fastest lap of 1:26.927, 0.199secs ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.
The German was 0.356secs ahead of Button's McLaren in third, with Massa, Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton were next up.
Force India reserve driver Paul di Resta, who drove the session in place of regular driver Adrian Sutil, was a creditable 11th on his Formula 1 race-weekend debut, one place ahead of Schumacher's Mercedes.


By Adam Feneley
Motorsport Engineering
www.motorsportengineering.blogspot.com
-- Post From My iPod Touch

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