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Whitmarsh denies Lewis had to be persuaded to stay

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has denied that Lewis Hamilton had to be talked out of quitting the team and F1 by FIA President Max Mosley in the wake of his controversial disqualification from last week's Australian GP.

According to a report this morning, the World Champion was prepared to walk away from the sport over the controversy surrounding his evidence given to the race stewards in Melbourne last week.

It was suggested that Hamilton had contacted Mosley as the furore blew up, expressing frustration that he had been led by McLaren into falsely telling the stewards he had not been instructed to allow Jarno Trulli past during a safety car period late in the race.

Hamilton was reportedly so disenchanted by the incident, which resulted in his exclusion from the race after he had battled back from 18th on the grid to a top-four finish, that he was considering leaving the team and the sport but was advised by Mosley not to do so.

However, when quizzed about the report during a press conference ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang today, Whitmarsh, having earlier spoken to Hamilton's manager and father Anthony, insisted quitting was never on the cards.

"The story that he spoke to the FIA came out this morning and when we checked a few moments ago, we found out it wasn't true," said Whitmarsh.

"We have asked Anthony only five minutes ago if this is true and Anthony has told us that Lewis has not spoken to Max.

"I knew that both Anthony and I spoke to Max. I also spoke to (race director) Charlie Whiting and (Mosley's official representative) Alan Donnelly. I know that but I have been told that Lewis has not spoken to Max."

Whitmarsh claimed that despite the tumultuous events of the last few days - including the reigning world champion appearing alone before the media on Friday to apologise for his part in the affair - Hamilton had not indicated any intention of leaving McLaren.

"It's been a pretty tough time for him," he said. "We've been trying to deal with this and to allow Lewis to concentrate on doing the best job that he can out here. We're a racing team trying to go motor-racing.

"Every thing that Anthony and Lewis have said to me has been incredibly supportive and appreciative of what this team has done for them. And there's been no hint of anything that they have said to cause me to contemplate that for this or any other reason that he intends leaving this team.

"If something different has been reported in the media - and a leading part of that is that Lewis has spoken directly to Max - I don't believe that had happened because Anthony told us minutes ago that there was no truth in that story."

Source:
http://www.planetf1.com

Massa advises F1 to scrap twilight races

Felipe Massa says the abandonment of the Malaysian Grand Prix has sent Formula 1 “a clear message” that ‘twilight’ races should not be held in future.

Both the venues for the season’s opening two rounds, Melbourne and Sepang, agreed to hold their race at 5pm local time for this year to appease Bernie Ecclestone’s requests to stage the events at more convenient times for the sport’s core European TV audience.

But after drivers complained that dwindling light last week in Australia created visibility problems late in the race, several voiced fears that the similarly late start-time in Malaysia could cause the same issues especially if the event was hit by late-afternoon rain storms as is common in the region.

A forecast downpour duly arrived just after half distance in Sunday’s race forcing the event to be red-flagged and eventually halted for good due to extended rain and fading daylight.

Ferrari driver Massa, who finished outside the points in ninth after a troubled weekend, says the red flag has shown that holding a race in such a time slot is not advisable.

“I think you do the race in the night or you do the race in the day,” he told reporters after the race.

“You can not try to go in the middle, that’s clear.

“I said [about it] before, and I think many people said before, but it didn’t help.

“But now it was a clear message.”

His Brazilian compatriot Rubens Barrichello added that with the event starting so late any weather-related delay was always likely to have serious consequences for the remainder of the race.

"That’s the unfortunate thing about starting the race at five o’clock, but it was definitely the right thing to stop it because visibility now – not from the rain, but from the sky – wasn’t going to be easy," the Brawn GP driver told the BBC.

With Sepang officials only recently having ruled out following Singapore’s lead and holding a night race due to the extra cost involved, the circuit and F1’s rulers now face a decision over whether or not to revert to an early afternoon start time for 2010.

Asked if it was an issue the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association would be looking at, Massa said: "We can, but I think maybe it is not in the GPDA which they need to change it – it is in another meeting.”

Source:
http://www.itv-f1.com

Button and Brawn victorious after rain stops play in Malaysia

It was always likely that the rain would affect Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, but nobody expected the precipitation to play such a key role in a race that was full of excitement. The management of pit stops proved crucial as conditions changed and Brawn GP's Jenson Button won amid much confusion as the race was red flagged after 32 laps.

Button was leading when the expected rain finally arrived on the 22nd lap, despite making a second pit call (the first had been on the 19th lap) to switch from his second set of soft compound Bridgestones to wets. He resumed still in the lead and continued that way until it became clear just how fast Toyota's Timo Glock was going on intermediates after his stop on Lap 22. Button swept back in on Lap 29 for inters, and grabbed the lead back from Glock as the Toyota dived in at the end of Lap 30 for wets.

The conditions had changed again, so in came Button for a third time on lap 31 to go back to the deeply grooved rubber. He resumed in the lead again as Glock battled with BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld for second place, and that was when race director Charlie Whiting decided that it was time for the safety car. A lap later, out went the red flag. Confusion reigned.

Up to that point, the Malaysian Grand Prix had been a gripper.

Button made a poor start and was engulfed by Williams' Nico Rosberg, who made a super getaway. Button tried to run round the outside of him in Turn One and lost out also to Toyota's Jarno Trulli, and Renault's Fernando Alonso got in on the act briefly too before Button snatched back third before the lap was over.

Further back, Rubens Barrichello had sprinted up to fifth in the second Brawn car ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, Red Bull's Mark Webber, Glock, Heidfeld and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

In the second McLaren Heikki Kovalainen went off the road in Turn Five, while Robert Kubica's BMW Sauber was all but left on the grid and expired on the second lap.

Rosberg pulled away a little from Trulli, who had his hands full with Button, but after the German stopped on the 15th lap and the Italian on the 17th, Button got the hammer down and was able to concede the lead just to team mate Barrichello before taking it back when Rubens stopped on lap 23.

The biggest gamble of the day came from Ferrari. When Raikkonen pitted on the 18th lap they put him on wets early, and it proved a disastrous decision as he lapped 21s slower than Button. Further back, team mate Felipe Massa struggled with Hamilton as the world champion lost out in fights with the Red Bulls of Webber and Sebastian Vettel, who had been the first to pit, on lap 13.

Just before the rain, the order was Button, six seconds ahead of Rosberg, Trulli and Barrichello. Alonso was fifth from Hamilton (both yet to stop), then came Heidfeld and Massa, Piquet and Nakajima, Webber, Glock and Trulli who had all stopped, Raikkonen, and then the Toro Rossos and Force €ndias.

Then came the wholesale stops on the 22nd lap as the rain came, followed by thunder and lightning and all the drama that had been predicted.

By lap 25 things had stabilised a little as the drivers splashed their way around, and parts of the track became less wet than others. Button was still leading, from Rosberg, Trulli and Barrichello, but Webber was now fifth from Heidfeld after Alonso had briefly fallen off, then came Hamilton, Glock, Massa, Piquet, Nakajima, Vettel (also, like Glock, flying on inters), Alonso, Raikkonen et al. But conditions were still so tricky that many decided to change to inters, only to find, as Button did, that wets were the answer after all.

When the red flag came out on lap 32, the order read: Button, Glock, Heidfeld (a long way behind after a spin), Trulli, Barrichello, Hamilton, Rosberg, Webber, Massa, Bourdais, Alonso, Nakajima, Piquet, Raikkonen, Sutil, Vettel, Buemi and Fisichella (who had spun twice).

That was when the guessing began. Would they restart the race, as the rain eased but the sky became darker with the onset of evening? If not, when would they backdate the result, because of all the pit stops?

At 18.52 the race directors finally called it off. Button had won, it was just a matter of deciding how far they would go back to decide the order behind him. In the end, that was lap 31, giving a race finishing order of:

Button, Heidfeld, Glock; Trulli, Barrichello, Webber, Hamilton and Rosberg as the points scorers. Then: Massa, Bourdais, Alonso, Nakajima, Piquet, Raikkonen, Vettel, Buemi, Sutil and Fisichella.

Since the race had gone past the 50 percent mark but not 75 percent, half points were awarded. But for Button, it was the chance to extend his championship lead from 10 points to 15, with Barrichello next on 10 from Trulli on 8.5. In the constructors' championship, Brawn have 25 to Toyota's 16.5.

Source:
http://www.formula1.com

Adriano risks Mourinho wrath again

Rome - Brazil forward Adriano could face the wrath of Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho after another late return to the Serie A leaders from international duty this week.

"Adriano has not returned," read the club website on Friday following media reports he had missed his flight from his homeland.

The powerful striker, an unused substitute in Brazil's 3-0 win over Peru and a 1-1 draw with Ecuador in World Cup qualifiers, is likely to be fined and dropped from Inter's squad for Sunday's visit to Udinese, media reported.

The 27-year-old had edged back in Mourinho's good books after returning late from the winter break having irritated the coach with a perceived lack of commitment earlier in the season.

The affair is likely to increase speculation about the player's long-term future after Adriano said this week he would decide at the end of the season whether to extend his contract with the Italian champions, which runs until June 2010.

A late return from Brazil was among the incidents of indiscipline that led to friction between Adriano and Mourinho's predecessor Roberto Mancini.

Source:
http://fourfourtwo.com

Sergio Pellissier heroics leave Juventus coach Ranieri fuming

Chievo Verona ace Sergio Pellissier added to his reputation with a superb hat-trick in yesterday's 3-3 draw with Juventus.

“We paid a heavy price for some mistakes and lost two very important points,” Juve coach Claudio Ranieri said of Pellissier's last-gasp equaliser.

“It was a bit Jekyll and Hyde. We struggled in the first half, but found ourselves in the second and created many chances.

“We were able to take the lead and then at the end made a silly mistake. Chievo had four shots on goal and scored with three of them, but we accept it because this is football.”

Ranieri defended his decision to replace Alessandro del Piero at halftime with David Trezeguet.

“It was simply a tactical choice. I decided not to take off [Vincenzo] Iaquinta because he is in great form right now and I would have been crazy to replace him,” added Ranieri.

Source:
http://www.tribalfootball.com

Juve dismiss Trezeguet's Blues link

By RivalsDM

Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli has brushed aside rumours linking striker David Trezeguet with a move to Chelsea this summer.

The French forward is under contract with the Turin giants through to June 2011.

"Trezeguet will not leave Juventus," said Cobolli Gigli.

"An offer from Chelsea? I am not aware of this."

Earlier this month Trezeguet had a row with Juve coach Claudio Ranieri over the lack of playing time.

A groin injury sidelined the 31-year-old for the first half of the season but since returning to play on February 4, Trezeguet has made just two league starts for Juve.

Source:
http://msn.foxsports.com

Mourinho: Hard to reject United

By RivalsDM

nter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has admitted he would find it hard to turn down the chance to manage Manchester United.

Mourinho's name has consistently been linked with the United post as interest increases as to when current United boss Sir Alex Ferguson will finally decide to call it a day.

That interest was intensified last week when the Scot's son, Darren, currently in charge of League One Peterborough, revealed that he believed his father could retire at the end of next season if the club overhaul Liverpool's overall title successes.

Red Devils director and club legend Sir Bobby Charlton has expressed a reluctance to appoint the former Chelsea boss as Ferguson's replacement but the self proclaimed 'Special one' is confident that the 67-year-old will be around for a while yet.

"Which is the manager that says no? Nobody can say no," Mourinho told ESPN.

"Manchester United belongs to a small group of clubs from around the world where nobody can say no.

"But first of all I don't believe in 2010 he is leaving - I don't believe.

"I think year after year he is the same, he's exactly the same person; healthy, happy, so I don't see a reason for him to quit.

"And in a very fair way, I hope he still goes. I hope he still goes on, because he's good."