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Adrian Campos has said he would like to use Spanish drivers when his new Campos Grand Prix team joins the Formula One grid next year.

Campos Grand Prix will be based in Madrid and Valencia and will use a chassis designed by Dallara and a Cosworth engine.

Spain’s AS newspaper said that four drivers were in the running for a race seat with the team in 2010: new Le Mans winner, Marc Gené,  GP2 driver Javi Villa, former Force India test driver Roldan Rodriguez and McLaren third driver Pedro de la Rosa.

Thanks to his recent Le Mans success, the press have focussed on Marc Gené, but I’m more interested in seeing Pedro de la Rosa’s name in connection with a race seat.

I like Pedro.  He is a very experienced driver, having been in Formula One for ten years and as well as being an excellent test driver has performed well when required to take the McLaren out on race day.  He finished second in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix behind Jenson Button.

Lewis Hamilton thinks he’s ok, too:

I’ve known Pedro since he joined the team in 2003.  His approach, outlook and positivity were an inspiration to me as I prepared to make my Formula 1 debut.  His efforts over the years have lifted this team to some phenomenal heights.  I am proud of what Pedro has done – and continues to do – for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, the guy is a legend.

Legend he may be, but at 38 de la Rosa is also the oldest driver in Formula One, older even than Rubens Barrichello.  But like Barrichello he clearly still has a passion to race in Formula One and as David Coulthard proved with Red Bull, what a young team really needs is an experienced driver.

60 years after the first Ferrari won Le Mans, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo waved the French tricolour to start the 77th Grand Prix of Endurance at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

In 1949, Luigi Chinetti practically single handedly won the race behind the wheel of a Ferrari 166 MM, Spider/Barchetta Touring, driving for 22 out of the 24 hours.

It is a race Ferrari won 9 times between 1949 and 1965 and this year there are 10 Ferrari F430 GTs competing in the GT2 category (the biggest number of cars of the same make) – but no works Ferraris.

Naturally, with such a historic connection to Le Mans and all the talk of Ferrari withdrawing from Formula One, people are wondering about a return to the 24 Heuers Du Mans for Ferrari.

Di Montezemolo spoke to the press after a lap of the circuit in a Ferrari California with Jean Alesi behind the wheel:

A Ferrari at Le Mans? Why not?  If we should not race in Formula 1 anymore this would be an option: obviously not with a car with a Diesel engine, but maybe with a hybrid, who knows.

In this race you can really see the values of competition in the areas of sports and technology, but I have to say again that the life, the heart and the soul of Ferrari are with Formula 1.  This year, also because of the rules we can call “grey”, it doesn’t go too well, but we will never give up.

Where we will be in 2011? For sure this situation will be resolved somehow: we will race in a Formula 1 with characteristics we want to keep or there will be some sort of alternative.

It’s true that many years have passed since the last overall win of a Ferrari in this race and I have a dream, which is also a wish, to see sooner or later an official car starting in the race.

Image: Ferrari

The FIA has published the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship Entry List. It is only a short press release but it is packed with controversy.

There are 13 teams on the list as the maximum number of cars permitted to enter the 2010 Championship has been increased to 26.  All existing 2009 F1 teams are there along with three new entrants: Campos Grand Prix, Manor Grand Prix and Team US F1.

McLaren, BMW, Renault, Toyota and Brawn are listed as conditional entries and are ‘invited to lift those conditions following further discussions.’  The FIA has given these teams a week to drop their conditions.

But more importantly, Ferrari and the two Red Bull teams are not listed as conditional entries which prompted the following response from Maranello:

Ferrari shall not take part in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship until the conditions of its entry are satisfied

Maranello, 12th June 2009 – Following publication of the list of entries for the 2010 Formula One World Championship, which includes Ferrari as an unconditional entrant, Ferrari wishes to state the following:

• Ferrari submitted on 29 May 2009 an entry to the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship which is subject to certain conditions. As of today, these conditions have not been met;

• notwithstanding this and despite Ferrari’s previous written notice to the FIA not to do so, the FIA has included Ferrari as a unconditional participant in next year’s Formula One World Championship. For the avoidance of any doubt, Ferrari reaffirms that it shall not take part in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship under the regulations adopted by the FIA in violation of Ferrari’s rights under a written agreement with the FIA.

And this from Red Bull Racing:

Following the FIA’s publication of the entry list for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, Red Bull Racing would like to make it clear that its entry was submitted as a conditional entry, consistent with those of all other FOTA members.

Red Bull Racing remains committed to FOTA and fully endorses all its principles.

So what now?

Autosport reports that FOTA have written to the World Motor Sport Council asking for their support in finding a ‘solution that allows long established competitors to continue in their sport within a framework of sound governance and stability that will ensure the future and sustainability of Formula 1’.

The letter also confirms that the teams are prepared to enter into a binding agreement to race until 2012 and are also willing to ‘encourage and assist new entrants to the sport’.

Why is it that FOTA always seem to make helpful, considered suggestions while Max Mosley and the FIA seem intent on being confrontational and difficult?  The following excerpt from the FOTA letter sums it up nicely:

Our fundamental wish is to work within a framework of cooperation and dialogue with the Federation to improve Formula 1 and to stop the confrontational and negative approach that has dominated the sport in recent years.

This approach compounded with constant announcements of regulatory changes, resulting from the unstable governance process that exists, has unfortunately created a situation of confusion and uncertainty among the public and sponsors. This situation is adversely affecting the business of both the teams and the organisers

New York artist David Macaluso has painted a portrait of Lewis Hamilton using oil taken from the McLaren MP4-23 Formula One car Hamilton used to win the 2008 World Championship.

Commissioned by McLaren partner Mobil 1, the painting will be unveiled at the British Grand Prix next weekend.

Apparently next week is National Oil Check Week and Mobil will be running a competition where you can win one of 50 limited edition prints of the portrait.

Macaluso has been working with used motor oil for some time and has even painted a series of portraits of Barack Obama.

Apparently the Mobil 1 oil was ‘extremely smooth and very particle-rich’, making for a  ‘great painting medium’:

I’ve been recycling used motor oil into paintings since 2005, so it was exciting to do a portrait of Lewis, and it was a privilege. When people look at my portrait of Lewis Hamilton, I want them to know it contains the Mobil 1 that circulated inside his Mercedes-Benz engine.

Lewis Hamilton liked the results, too:

I’ve always known that the Mobil 1 in my race car is an important component that can give us an edge over our rivals in some circumstances, but I’d never have guessed you could use it to paint with; the oil gives this picture a unique look and feel.

Another McLaren partner has also been busy making automotive art.

Ever wondered what would happen if Lewis Hamilton’s Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 car was driven through 1,200 liters of paint?  AkzoNobel has.

After months of planning, Hamilton’s MP4-24 was driven through pools of red and silver paint.  Unsurprisingly this resulted in paint being sprayed everywhere with the splashes captured on two 50 square metre canvases.

I’m not sure the results are as impressive as Macaluso’s portrait but take a look at the making of video below and see what you think.

In January I said that if KERS didn’t prove itself in Formula One then it should be abandoned.  Now, after seven races that have seen the number of teams using the devices fall to two, FOTA has decided to drop the technology for 2010.

Introduced as a way of boosting Formula One’s green credentials, the heavy devices have proven to be expensive and difficult to integrate into a Formula One car’s chassis.  Only McLaren, BMW, Ferrari and Renault have raced with KERS this year and of those four only Ferrari and McLaren with any regularity.

KERS stores energy created under braking which can then be converted into power at the touch of a button, giving a boost of up to 80hp.  While this can be an advantage in passing or defending, a KERS device can weigh up to 30 kilograms which negatively affects the balance of the car and can (literally) outweigh any power gains.  None of the top three teams in the Constructors’ Championship have used KERS this season.

McLaren’s KERS system is widely regarded as the best but team principal Martin Whitmarsh said he would go along with the majority decision:

McLaren’s position is we would like to see KERS retained – but we also accept that we have to be responsible members of the F1 community, and if the majority don’t want to have KERS, or can’t afford KERS at the moment, then we have to be realistic.

While KERS is still allowed under the 2010 regulations it remains to be seen whether Williams or any of the new non-FOTA teams will continue to develop the technology.

Williams’s device is different from the others in that it uses a flywheel rather than batteries to store the power and if the team could find a way to make it work well they would definitely have an advantage.  But the fact that none of the leading teams are using the device suggests that this year is the last we will see of KERS.

Image: Getty / Red Bull