Gascoyne perplexed by naming issue
Lotus tech director Mike Gascoyne says he's confused by the Group Lotus' unwillingness to allow his F1 team to use the Lotus Racing name.
Group Lotus initially signed a deal with team owner Tony Fernandes allowing him to race under the Lotus Racing name, however, he has since agreed a deal with David Hunt, who required the rights to Team Lotus in 1994 when the team went under, to use Team Lotus as of next season.
However, Group Lotus are disputing Hunt's right to sell Fernandes those rights.
"We don't really understand why Group Lotus doesn't want to support us in doing that job for them," said Gascoyne told BBC Radio Norfolk.
"We've brought great value to the brand and the shareholders invested something like £80 million into the brand and the development of the team, and we're a little bit failing to understand why Group Lotus seems to want to try to kick us out.
"That's not in my hands - my job doesn't change with the name and it's the same for all the engineering staff, but I think it's a great shame that there is this thing for everyone in Norfolk, because we're a Norfolk-based team, we brought the Lotus name back into Formula 1 and did it proud and we don't quite understand why we don't have the support of Group Lotus in that."
Gascoyne added that his team's recent technical deals, such as the one they have signed to use Renault engines next season, is proof that Lotus are aiming for bigger and better next season.
"We'll be firing the car up on 25 January in readiness for the first test in February," said Gascoyne, whose team finished 10th in this year's Constructors' Championship.
"We've had lots of exciting announcements with Renault supplying us with engines, Red Bull Technologies supplying us with gearboxes and our own wind tunnel developing, so it wasn't just about 10th in the championship this year, it was about building the team up so that we move solidly into the midfield next year.
"Those announcements are all very much part of that and we're bang on schedule."
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Ricciardo ready for step up to F1
Red Bull youngster Daniel Ricciardo says he is "probably as ready as he can be" for the step up to Formula One.
The 21-year-old Australian, who is the regular Red Bull/Toro Rosso test driver, dominated the timesheets in the RB6 on day one of the young drivers test at the Yas Marina Circuit on Tuesday. His fastest effort of 1:39.616 would've seen him qualify P3 behind Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Although he doesn't want to get too carried away, Ricciardo believes he is ready to make the move to Formula One.
"I think it's hard to know when you're exactly ready but I think I've done quite a bit now in the junior categories and now this is my fourth proper day in an F1 car, so it's probably as much as you're going to get at this age and with limited testing it's not easy," he told Autosport.
"So I think I'm ready and tomorrow we'll try and do a few more long runs, maybe prepare more for a race situation to see how the body holds up, but I think I'm probably as ready as I can be."
Ricciardo admits getting so close to the qualifying time of the "big boys" was "cool".
"Realistically, I knew I could do a decent job but I really wasn't sure how close I could get to the big boys' times from the weekend, so it was quite cool," he said. "A bit closer than I thought.
"There wasn't much development going on for the team. We tried something in the afternoon, something they tried mechanically in the last few races, but it was quite invisible for me so it was still just about driving and trying to do some good times, which was cool. I didn't have to do any aero tests - they haven't strapped anything to the car yet.
"Maybe tomorrow [Wednesday] we'll do a bit more fidgeting with that, a bit more for the technical boys."
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Marussia takes significant stake in Virgin
Virgin Racing has secured its future for 2011 and beyond after strengthening its links with a nascent Russian sportscar company.
Marussia Motors joined forces with Virgin last year in a minor sponsorship role, but the Moscow-based manufacturer has now taken up a significant shareholding.
Following a turbulent debut season for the team, owner Sir Richard Branson said: "Our first year in Formula One was always going to be tough, even more so as we were launching in the midst of a worldwide recession.
"Virgin is now delighted to have secured a partner which shares our vision and spirit for challenging the establishment.
"We can look forward to working together to move the team up the Formula One grid."
After signing a four-year deal from 2011 the team will be known as Marussia Virgin Racing as the country continues to make significant inroads into F1.
A year ago Russia had no links with the sport, but first Renault signed Vitaly Petrov and he has since attracted sponsors such as Lada, as well as a vodka and shipyard company.
Only a few weeks ago F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone finally secured a deal with Russia to hold a grand prix, hopefully from 2014 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Marussia founder Nikolay Fomenko said: "This is the realisation of a dream for us.
"In manufacturing, launching and promoting our cars, we will now have a Formula One team to promote these activities and demonstrate to the world that a new car manufacturer has arrived from Russia with truly international ambitions."
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Vettel: A good start to the weekend
Sebastian Vettel is remaining cautiously optimistic, insisting it was too soon to declare Red Bull the favourites for Sunday's Brazilian GP.
Vettel was the man to beat at the Interlagos circuit on Friday, finishing almost half a second up on Mark Webber in Practice One and a tenth up on the Aussie in the afternoon session.
Red Bull's pace on Friday was such that title rivals Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have conceded it will be difficult to beat the Bulls if the rain doesn't fall.
However, Vettel insists too much should not be read into Friday's lap times.
"I think it was pretty good today - of course it's not the most important thing to be at the top of the timing list today, it's more important tomorrow and Sunday - but it's a good start," he said.
"The car feels alright, I'm not one hundred percent happy with the balance and think we can improve it, but it's looking okay."
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Seb: I can still win the title
He may be 25 points behind the leader in the Championship, but Sebastian Vettel is refusing to give up on his hopes of winning the title.
With only two races to go, many believe it is time for Red Bull to throw their full support behind Mark Webber to win the Drivers' Championship as he is only 11 points adrift of pacesetter Fernando Alonso.
Vettel, whose Korean GP came to a heartbreaking end when his engine blew up 10 laps from the finish, insists he can still walk away with the silverware this year.
"There is still a chance to clinch the title," he told the official Formula One website.
As for how he will approach the penultimate race of the season at Interlagos in a fortnight, Vettel said: "No differently than this weekend because there is no reason to change anything I am sure, had I finished the race, I would have left Korea with 25 points. The race for the title is not over yet so let's wait what the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi brings."
Although bitterly disappointed with his DNF in Korea, the 23-year-old took it rather well.
"Well, in the first split second I hoped that the problem would go away," he said.
"But there is also something telling you that when four cylinders give in the white smoke is just a blink of an eye away, and if that happens there is nothing that you can do. It is not easy under such difficult conditions to be in the lead because when you are following someone you can see where he is braking or where he's running into danger of spinning. But that's life."
Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner hopes Vettel's engine failure won't have too much of an impact in the final two races of the year.
"Hopefully it will have a negligible effect on him," said Horner. "Hopefully he has enough engine mileage to be able to run unaffected until the end of the year.
"He was a bit tight on mileage this weekend which is why he did fairly few laps, and obviously it is not an ideal situation."
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Massa: Qualifying is the key
Felipe Massa admits Ferrari need to get ahead of Red Bull in Korean qualifying as that's the area that has handed the Bulls the advantage this season.
So far this season, Red Bull have achieved 13 pole positions but only four of those have translated into race victories. The team's other three wins have come from two second-placed starting positions and one third placed.
And given that their pole to win ration indicates they were not as strong in grands prix as they are over a single qualifying lap, Massa reckons the best way to ensure a win over the Bulls is to qualify ahead of them, negating that slight advantage they would otherwise have had.
"I think the best thing Red Bull has is the qualifying. It looks like it is a bit more easy for them to do the good lap in qualifying," said the Ferrari driver.
"Many times they do a completely different direction in qualifying and the race. Sometimes in the race they are not the quickest car on the track, but they start in front which is the biggest help.
"That is why I think if you look at the whole season, they are the team that has started most from the front. That is quite good.
"To fight in the last three races they need to be there, fighting at the front, but many races they started at the front they did not finish. So consistency is also important in the fight."
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Schumi 'pleased' with Suzuka practice
It was a case of so far, so good for Michael Schumacher as the German revealed his Friday practice in Japan was better than expected.
Heading to Suzuka, a track where Schumacher has tasted the victory champagne no fewer than six times, the Mercedes GP driver admitted he wasn't expecting much but had hoped to "get the maximum out" of the weekend.
But he may have misjudged what that maximum could be after finishing eighth in both Friday practice sessions, later admitting his car performed better than he had expected.
"It's a great feeling to be driving this track again. It's really fun and a great challenge," said the seven-time World Champ.
"I have always loved Suzuka and particularly the first sector which is cool and demanding at the same time. If you get it right, you enjoy it big time.
"I'm pleased with our practice today as the car looks better than I had expected here and I didn't face any real issues.
"So now we hope for a clean qualifying tomorrow where we will try to achieve as much as we can."
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