MOTORSPORT: Red Bull keeps Ricciardo on tenterhooks

While Formula One is abuzz with ‘silly season’ talk as the world championship resumes at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, the V8 Supercar Championship also fires up again at Winton in northern Victoria – with lots of rain likely today, but easing over the two race days.

The success of young stars Chaz Mostert and Scott McLaughlin at Queensland Raceway in the previous round four weeks ago has created some excitement in the series, and now there are some expectations that the Nissan Altimas will provide a serious challenge to the Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons at Winton.

Meantime, the Volkswagens of French ace Sebastien Ogier and Finn Jari-Matti Latvala lead after the first two stages of Rally Germany, the last round of the world rally championship before Rally Australia at Coffs Harbour in mid-September. And Australia’s young rally star Brendan Reeves, already with a hat-trick of success in the US this year, could take another step towards winning the Rally America Series this weekend.

IndyCar is talking of a new international series, outside its American championship, which could raise the prospect of a revival of the Indy event on the Gold Coast – but it would have to be in January or February, unlikely to suit the Queensland tourism industry, and the prospective race fee could be prohibitive.

Three Aussies are competing at the 15th round of the IndyCar series at Sonoma in California – Will Power with Team Penske, Ryan Briscoe with Panther Racing and James Davison in his second race with Dale Coyne Racing.

Power and Briscoe have won the past three years at Sonoma – Power in 2010 and ’11 and Briscoe last year, for Penske – but Chip Ganassi’s Honda-powered cars have won the past four races this season and may be better suited to Sonoma this time than the Chevrolet-engined cars of Power and Briscoe.

NASCAR veteran Mark Martin has replaced injured Tony Stewart for 12 of the 13 remaining rounds of the Sprint Cup, while Aussie Marcos Ambrose is hoping this weekend to carry forward momentum from his sixth place at Michigan last weekend to the half-mile (800m) oval at Bristol, Tennessee, where he has finished third and fifth before.

F1 world awaits Raikkonen’s decision
The expectation that last night Red Bull Racing would confirm Daniel Ricciardo as the man to fill Mark Webber’s seat proved to be a false dawn.

It was Red Bull’s powerful motorsport consultant Dr Helmut Marko who had indicated to a German publication last weekend that an announcement would be made at Spa, and it made sense that it would be before practice begins tonight. Yet it was also Marko who then said there would be no news on the plum seat -- just yet.

“We will express ourselves when the time comes, and that will definitely not be at Spa,” Marko said.

And Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said “nothing is fixed yet”.

Contrary to Kimi Raikkonen’s manager Steve Robertson’s statement several days ago that negotiations for the Iceman to join Red Bull had ended without agreement, it now seems that the 2007 world champion is still very much an option to replace Webber. Or to rejoin Ferrari, with which he won his world title...

Raikkonen reportedly was not well enough yesterday to fulfill some press commitments, but we wonder whether he was well enough for another chat about joining Red Bull.

Postponement of the Red Bull announcement means it most likely now will come in two weeks at the Italian GP, where Ferrari traditionally confirms its line-up for the following season.

There will be great interest now in whether Fernando Alonso tries to wriggle out of his long-term Ferarri contract to join Red Bull, if Raikkonen doesn’t grab that seat. Or, indeed, whether Raikkonen rejoins the Scuderia, either in place of Alonso or his disappointing teammate, Felipe Massa.

Raikkonen, 33, is second in the world championship, 38 points behind Vettel and one ahead of Alonso after 10 rounds. The Finn won the season-opener in Melbourne and has finished second five times since. He could yet stay with the Lotus-Renault team, although it has some financial worries.

The wildcard in all this may yet be young German Nico Hulkenberg, an A1 GP winner at Sydney’s Eastern Creek and who could be a ‘smokey’ for a seat at either Red Bull or Ferrari.

Hulkenberg is managed by Willi Weber, the man who handled the career of Germany’s seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who won five of those titles with Ferrari.

Ricciardo not taking anything for granted
Young Aussie Daniel Ricciardo has said he is none the wiser about whether he will be Webber’s replacement and that he was never going to take anything for granted.
“I’m not going to assume anything… For me there is still a seat up for grabs,” Ricciardo said.

“Obviously there is a bit of excitement around, but there is nothing further to say from what I knew in Budapest. I think I’ve learned that until something is signed, sealed and delivered nothing is ever concrete.

“There’s still my [Toro Rosso] teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, who as far as I’m concerned isn’t out of the picture, and a lot of other drivers on the grid with pretty good credentials.

“Until something comes from Red Bull I’m not going to start celebrating or getting my hopes up.”

But, if he eventually lands the second Red Bull seat, 24-year-old Ricciardo has said he would expect (contrary to some of Webber’s experiences) to get a fair crack at winning races against the team’s multiple world champion Vettel.

Much interest in Webber’s seat
It was Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner who said at Spa last night that no decision had been made yet on Webber’s replacement, hinted strongly that Kimi Raikkonen was still in the frame and that the announcement would now come at the Italian GP.

“We are in a fortunate position where there are a lot of drivers who would like to be in that car,” Horner said.

“Nothing is fixed yet. We said we would take the [northern] summer to mull things over, but there is no commitment yet.

Horner said Raikkonen was “very much his own man”.

“I think at the end of the day I am sure he will do what is best for him,” he said – and, in Horner’s mind, that would have to mean joining Red Bull.

“We are in a fortunate position where there is an awful lot of interest in the seat and we have got a bit of time until we make any firm commitments, so we will use the time to evaluate the market fully.

“It’s up to him [Raikkonen]. We want to make the right decision and we will take the appropriate time to make that decision.

“Daniel has done a very good job in the test he has done for us [at Britain’s Silverstone last month] and the recent races he has done for Toro Rosso.

“But that doesn’t mean it is a foregone conclusion… It is an important decision for us and we want to take the time to make the right decision and consider all the options.”

Oh, and there’s a race at Spa on Sunday – and Mercedes is the form team now. It has had seven pole positions this season and won three GPs – two by Nico Rosberg and the third by Lewis Hamilton at the most recent in Hungary. And Red Bull and Vettel have only won once at Spa, in 2011.

Jenson Button won there last year for McLaren, but that team does not look like winning a race this season. What a pity, as this weekend is the 45th anniversary of the first of its 182 wins -- by New Zealand founder Bruce McLaren there in 1968.

For the record, Ferrari has had the most GP wins, 221, while Williams trails McLaren in third with 114 and Red Bull has 38 (29 by Vettel and nine by Webber).

Ferrari’s Alonso, a dual world champion with Renault and still widely regarded as the best of the modern F1 drivers, has never won at Spa, while Raikkonen has – four times.

Holden and Mazda differ on future of V8 Supercars
Even if the rain eases at Winton after today’s practice it ought to be an action-packed weekend of V8 Supercar racing. Dramas at the Victorian regional circuit have brought out the safety car in more than 80 per cent of V8 Supercar races there this century – 21 of 26 to be specific.

Ten drivers already have won races at the eight events – or rounds – so far in this first season of the ‘Car of the Future’. Seven drivers and six teams have won the past seven races. An it has been the first season in 17 years that two full-time rookie drivers (Chaz Mostert, at Dick Johnson Racing, on loan from Ford Performance Racing, and New Zealander Scott McLaughlin at Garry Rogers Motorsport) have won races. McLaughlin has won two, while Mostert’s breakthrough came at only his fourth event.

Another New Zealander, Fabian Coulthard, also has scored his maiden V8 Supercar victory this season.

These successes, the new cars and the addition of two new brands, Nissan and AMG Mercedes, have given the series a freshness, but the four-week break since Ipswich has cost it momentum – unlike F1, which has been sustained through its break by the intrigue of the Red Bull vacancy and the emergence of Mercedes as a powerhouse.

The time is fast approaching for the new V8 Supercar makes to start seriously challenging the Holdens and Fords that have won all 24 races to date (20 by Holden, four by Ford). There is a feeling that the Nissan Altimas, particularly those in the hands of Rick Kelly and James Moffat, may do that at Winton.

A podium or even a win for one or both them this weekend would add some spice with the endurance season next up – at Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast.

While Nissan Motorsport (the reincarnated Kelly Brothers outfit) and Erebus Motorsport with its three E63 Mercs mount their challenge, and Volvo prepares for its entry next year with Garry Rogers Motorsport, Ford’s future in the sport remains unclear – with no firm commitment from the Blue Oval factory to the privately-owned Ford Performance Racing.

Holden managing director Mike Devereux, though, has indicated the Lion still sees itself in the sport for a good while yet.

“Racing is natural for us – we are absolutely committed to V8 Supercars,” Devereux said.

“I think we get good value from being involved in the sport and it is part of our DNA.

“The sport is looking fairly robust. There are a couple of new teams in there that are showing up well, so I think the sport is pretty healthy.”

Mazda managing director Martin Benders has a very different view though.

“Australian motorsport needs to come to terms with the way the car industry has gone,” Benders told Auto Action magazine this week.

“When V8 Supercars started [in the 1990s] the No. 1 selling cars were the Commodore and Falcon, or that size of vehicle. But now the number one group of vehicles is the C Car-segment [small to medium-sized sedans and hatches]. So when will motosport reflect what’s happening in the motoring industry? [Australian] motorsport has to change its mindset.

“Worldwide, we [Mazda} are out there racing, but there’s nothing in Australia. We can run Targa stuff, but that’s very niche and only once a year or so.

“We want to race, but right now, the way it is, V8 Supercars is not an option at all. Firstly, it’s expensive, plus we don’t have any V8 engines, so it wouldn’t reflect anything we do.

“It just wouldn’t make sense – and that needs to change,” Benders said.

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...

Don't forget to register to comment on this article.