Motorsports

Former F1 team boss Flavio Briatore says Red Bull management has handled the stoush between its drivers badly and Mark Webber will leave at the end of the season. Sebastian Vettel defied the team's orders to stay behind Mark Webber during the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, passing his teammate in the closing laps to win the race, sparking outrage from Webber, the Red Bull team, and fans. Briatore, the disgraced former boss of the Renault team, has slammed Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner for not ordering Vettel to give the lead back to Webber after the contentious pass was made. "If there was a manager with balls, he would have had them switch positions again," Briatore told Italy's RAI Radio. Read full story at: www.news.com.au  

You know, you really did deserve that corner. Sorry for crashing into you.Wow, that's really cheap for a pie and a drink!This protest against the race is really getting us nowhere. Lets just go home.It's great that they use Channel Ten news readers in the Celebrity Race. Really adds some gravitas.Mark who? Never heard of him.Only $400 for a bright silver spray jacket with a giant logo on it? I'll take two!Nah, one tram every 30 minutes after the race is plenty.DRS? KERS? Of course I know what they are.Felipe Massa will have the drop on Fernando Alonso this year, you watch.You know, you look a lot more into F1 than I am. Want my corporate ticket? 

Felix Baumgartner and Hungry Heidi were the surprise stars during the early running at Albert Park yesterday. How's that? Well, triple world champion Sebastian Vettel is wearing a helmet for the Australian Grand Prix this weekend that is a carbon copy of the crazy Red Bull skydiver's safety gear. And his car is called Hungry Heidi. In early practice, it was Vettel - with the Baumgartner helmet and Heidi beneath him - who shaded the Ferrari pair of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso through the early laps at Albert Park. The top five drivers all lapped closely in the 1 minute 27 second bracket to confirm the even field predicted after pre-season testing in Europe. Australia's Mark Webber was right in the mix, driving Red Bull RB9 identical to Vettel's but without a crazy nickname. "It's not really surprising," said Remi Taffin, the head of track support for Renault Support, which supplied the engines in five of the 10 fastest cars. "It's no big deal. They're just setting up things." But Vettel's speed matched his Gen-Y superstar status, and his reputation as a man who pushes every angle. Just as multiple world champion Valentino Rossi changes helmets almost as often as he changes gears, Vettel has created a pattern where he has different paint jobs on his helmets for most races. Once he wins with a helmet, it is retired. On the car front, Vettel likes to nickname his cars - and the job is usually done at a rowdy pre-season dinner with his mates. So Hungry Heidi follows Abbey, which carried him to last year's world title. Before he uncorked Abbey, he drove cars called Kate, Kate's Dirty Sister, Luscious Liz, Randy Mandy and Kinky Kylie.  

Those are the promises from the man who provides the racing rubber for Formula One as teams complete final preparations for the 2013 season opener at Albert Park. "It's always good in sport when there is uncertainty," the motorsport supremo at Pirelli, Paul Hembrey, tells News Limited ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. "If we hadn't made some changes, there was the risk of starting the year with some very boring races. At the end of last year the teams were starting to be too conservative." So the Italian tyre company has changed the compounding and construction of its racing number for his year, technical tweaks that will translate directly into races with more variables for drivers and teams. Hembrey said the 2013 Pirelli tyres will mean more pitstops, and the potential for wildly differing race strategies, which both play to a better show for fans. The changes even mean the tyres are two kilograms heavier for each set - 300 grams for a front tyre, 700 for a rear - which means something else which means teams will have to tweak their cars. Looking to Sunday afternoon at Albert Park, Hembrey predicts more pitstops and split strategies - with front-running teams changing tyres three times and midfield runners only stopping twice for fresh Pirellis. That means the race could build to a climax with a fast driver on a three-stop plan trying to run down a slower two-stop runner in the dying laps. "Yes, that is definitely possible," he said. Looking at the overall pictures, Hembrey said teams will likely have to make one stop more than 2012. "Last year was 1-2 stops. This year will be 2-3," he said. He predicts the front-runners will all qualifying and start on Pirelli's latest super-soft tyre, before switching to the medium compound also available to teams. "Wear is not really an issue. It's about thermal degradation - when the tyre overheats and they lose lap times." Each driver has 11 sets of slick tyres for the AGP weekend, six in medium compound and five in super-soft. There are also wet-weather tyres in case Melbourne is hit by a downpour. "Albert Park is really a traction circuit. It's all about braking and traction. In the past we thought we couldn't bring the super-soft tyre, but we were a bit conservative." He also believes the new-generation Pirelli tyres will close the field, as even teams - like Caterham and Marussia at the back end of the grid - will have enough downforce to get the rubber working well. And there is less need to warm them carefully before going flat-out.  

But we've beaten him to the prize - a sinister gunmetal grey Benz belter. The SL63 AMG is idling with intent as I arrive in the pit lane that will be the home of Formula One this weekend as the 2013 grand prix season kicks into gear.The final touches are being applied to the course but the SL has already been polished and preened for an early preview of the action. It is strong and eager as I ease onto the main straight and - very, very briefly - uncork its turbocharged V8 power.There is a strict 40km/h speed limit for me, but Doohan will be let completely off the leash when he compete in the Ultimate Speed Comparison this weekend. He is up against his racing mates David Coulthard and Casey Stoner in a contest that's intended to highlight the difference between a regular road car, a V8 Supercar and a full-on F1 car.Stoner is wheeling the V8 this time and Coulthard, a grand prix winner in Australia with McLaren, is sliding into one of last year's Red Bull rockets. "It's a bit of fun," Doohan tells me. "You're never going to beat a Formula One car, even in an AMG Mercedes."I know exactly what he means because I had two years as the road-car rabbit at Albert Park, running BMW M cars against the grand prix greyhounds. I will never forget the first time that Christian Klien blasted his BMW F1 car past me down the front straight, running more than 100km/h quicker in an explosion of noise and violence.I had always though that an M car was fast, but as I applied the brakes for Turn One at around 210km/h he calmly shifted into top gear and zipped in ahead of me trailing a huge wash of dirt and debris from the unused side of the track. It took me a while to get my breath after that one.This time, I know the SL63 and I know Albert Park, and I know the enjoyment that Doohan will be having. He might have won his five world titles on two wheels, but the 500cc tyro loves fast cars and has been an AMG ambassador for more than 10 years.What's he like as a driver? He's fast for sure, as I have seen from the passenger seat, but he's never going to score maximum style points. "The SL63 is a fantastic car.To romp it around the racetrack should be a bit of fun," Doohan says."It's not too serious, but it is still a race. I know Mercedes-Benz wants to win, and so does Red Bull Racing, and Casey. The idea is to have all three cars cross the finish line at exactly the same time. "But you don't want to put the car in the wall."This car is specially built for Doohan's drive, and weighs in with a $409,575 pricetag. When you catch your breath, that means a base price of $381,500 boosted by metallic grey paint that looks like it was peeled off a jet fighter, an AMG performance package that unleashes extra turbo torque, a panoramic sunroof and matt-black alloys that are 19 inches on the nose and 20 inches on the tail.But the most striking difference is Doohan's name on the side windows. And that's what has people staring as Carsguide noses out into ordinary Melbourne traffic in the F1 racer.I have driven the SL63 before, and absolutely loved an early-morning blast last year in southern Spain, but its a revelation on the pockmarked bitumen. It is obviously fast and firm, but also surprisingly cosseting and enjoyable. And even the seven-speed auto can slur for minimal intrusion.For me, it's a better everyday car than the Benz SLS, because it rides smoother and you can also drop the top for sunshine fun. It has more than enough performance with 395 kiloWatts and 800 Newton-metres, even though the SLS is more brutal again with 420kW, and you save big against a gullwing that is priced from at least $468,320.As we head around Albert Park and dodge the workers who are putting the final touches to the course, Doohan's words come back to me. "The only time things get a bit iffy in a road car is if the track is wet. Then you're working," he tells me.This is a bit of a surprise from a bloke who had so much brilliance on a bike. He might have ended his career in an ambulance, but Mighty Mick always rode like he was racing with the devil on his tail. And, even today, he does not play well with others.He has channeled his efforts into a booming aircraft business in jet charters, owns nightclubs and property, and has a matt-black helicopter parked in the shed at his Gold Coast spread.When he pulls on his famous helmet this weekend, he says he is looking to have some fun and a bit of a speed."You can't just stooge or dawdle around. I remember the time that Pedro de la Rosa disappeared under the rear wing of Jaffa, that CLK63 Black Series, as we were coming onto the straight. I just didn't see him," Doohan says."But my job is to be consistent every day. We want to show people the difference in speed between the three types of cars. "It should be good with DC and Casey. We'll be looking across at each other and having a bit of a laugh."This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover 

Italian design house Pininfarina will unveil a new concept car honoring the late Sergio Pininfarina at next month’s Geneva Motor Show, with the first teaser image released by the company today.It’s still too early to gauge any details, apart from the concept’s sultry hue, but we know that it will be called the Sergio and that it has been designed with exclusivity, innovation and passion in mind.Sergio Pininfarina, son of Pininfarina founder Battista Farina, passed away in his home in Turin, Italy, in July, 2012.He originally started working for the family design business in the 1950s and during his reign was responsible for some impressive cars, including the Fiat 124 Spider, Peugeot 406 Coupe, the Ferrari Testarossa and more recently the Ferrari Enzo and Sintesi concept.Last year Pininfarina used the Geneva show to unveil the Cambiano concept, a stylish sedan powered by a extended-range electric drivetrain consisting of a diesel engine, lithium-ion battery array and four electric motors.Given the description of the latest Sergio concept, we have a feeling Pininfarina is planning something a little sportier this year.www.motorauthority.com  

...the next model is almost ready.We know turbo charging is inevitable, but how about three of them? Jawohl, a tri-turbo 3.3-litre inline petrol six good for some 330kW. Numerologically auspicious, then, in addition to bloody fast. Here early in 2014 for about $150k.

A broken back and a heart attack would be enough to put most people off racing altogether, let alone the punishing Dakar rally. But neither will stop Bruce ‘Lazarus’ Garland taking on the world’s meanest rally in his Isuzu D-Max ute from January 5 in Lima, Peru.The 54-year-old fractured a vertebra in the 2011 Dakar when he landed heavily in a sand dune. It ended the event for Garland and long-time co-driver Harry Suzuki, who was not injured. It was a big setback, but the situation worsened when Garland suffered a heart attack two months later.“At one point I didn’t think I would make it out of the hospital,” Garland says. “I got ready to die, did my will and all that stuff.” Expert care at the MonashHeart hospital meant Garland survived, but only after open-heart surgery that included five heart bypasses.Garland, who had competed in four Dakar events, was determined to make it back into the D-Max driver’s seat. “I said I had some unfinished business, so I had to get back,” he says. A Dakar campaign seemed unlikely early on. “I couldn’t walk out to the letterbox when I got home,” Garland says.With the help of his wife Celena and a personal trainer, Garland improved steadily. He worked with Isuzu to build a racing version of the all-new D-Max, but the company was going through its own problems. “This all happened around about the time of that terrible Tsunami in Japan, so Isuzu was having a hard time as well,” Garland says.His car was one of the first of the new generation models off the Thailand production line, which was soon hit by devastating floods. “That was a terrible flood, really, really bad. They actually lost track of the ute in the middle of all of that and then found it in a field with some other stock about a month later.”Despite all the setbacks, Garland, Suzuki and his team were able to get the D-Max ready for the brutal Finke desert in June. Not only was the race, known for its high speed jumps, going to test the new ute, but also Garland’s back. “If anything is going to hurt your back, it’s the Finke,” Garland says.The event went well and the team did some other testing before heading across to WA’s Australian Safari at the end of September. It went pear-shaped on day three when Garland hit a fence post. “Normally, it’s not an issue, but this one was set in concrete, so it did a lot of damage.”The team decided to withdraw and fix the damage because the ute had to be shipped overseas in order for it to join the Dakar field. Joining it in the container was an Isuzu NPS 300 crew cab, which will carry a lot of the team’s spares from stage to stage. “It’s a great little thing with room for lots of gear, there’s a fridge in the back and two seats,” Garland says.He and Suzuki are in the car class, but often race in amongst the awesome heavy trucks that compete at Dakar. “When one of those things comes past it’s like a bloody tornado they throw up that much sand and dust,” Garland says. “You look across and all you see is their wheels, which are almost as tall as our ute.”Caution is required near the big rigs. “You don’t want to get in their way,” Garland says. “They don’t move or stop for anything or anyone.” In fact, it was a truck that contributed to Garland back-crunching crash in 2011. “We were in the sand dunes next to two trucks and I didn’t want to cut across and get hit by them. I was looking across and drove right off a cliff and into the ravine,” Garland says.He is confident of a top ten finish this year, which would beat his best result of eleventh, but deep down he knows making the start will be a great achievement in itself. 

And so emotional we saw two usually very cool guys show their human side at the awards night on Monday. Retiring V8 Supercars boss Tony Cochrane really was quite emotional when he became the first non-driver to be inducted into the hall of fame. Then our team principal, Roland Dane, got up and made a very impassioned speech. It was that type of year of emotions with the end of the Holden versus Ford era and the 50th anniversary of Bathurst. I was quite happy to have finished the year with a flourish, scoring a first and second at Homebush despite fairly ordinary grid positions and copping a 25-point penalty. It was frustrating to end up second, just over 300 points away from my teammate Jamie Whincup. I put that down to my driver error in turn four at Symmons Plains earlier this year. That put me out of that race and with the cars being so reliable it is almost impossible to make up for even one non-finish. Unfortunately there’s not much chance of carrying my winning momentum through to next year because we have all new cars and two new manufacturers which will put a whole new complexion on the championship. It was very sad to see such a talent as Shane van Gisbergen end his too-short career with two DNFs. It was equally sad to see Greg Murphy possibly end his career in the same way. But our sport is so healthy we have lots of young talent ready to step up. Like David Reynolds who tied for second in the Barry Sheene medal with me. Also, I have to say Scott McLaughlin very much deserves a go in the main game. At just 19, he's emerging as a real future talent. For me, the highlight of the year was Bathurst. Even though we didn’t win, it was an amazing week of motorsport with a huge audience and lots of promotional activity. Having my car decked out in Peter Brock livery was very stirring and then to be able to drive Bev Brock around the mountain was something I will never forget. It quite simply was one of the biggest weeks of my career in motor racing. Next for me is another test in next year’s car, followed by a Christmas break with the kids, then I’m off to France in the new year for the Monte Carlo Classic Rally. It’s been a long season, but before I know it we’ll be back on the starting line for an even longer 2013 season with new circuits and new challenges.