News bits and pieces

F1 is currently on a three-week break before the next race at Imola and there's not much happening aside from testing. The track activity will be focused at Barcelona this week and one person who will be working hard is Super Aguri's Yuji Ide. After his erratic performance in Melbourne the team is reportedly considering replacing him unless he improves.

Yuji Ide.

Photo by xpb.cc.

Rookie Ide is not close enough to teammate Takuma Sato's pace for Super Aguri's liking. "We will give him a full test in Barcelona before Imola and then we can assess him with more time and also fairness, to give him a good chance to prove that he is good," team manager Daniel Audetto said, according to Autosport.

"San Marino will be tough too, but giving him a full day in Barcelona I think we should see the potential in full at Imola. Otherwise, we will have to take consequences because we cannot have a driver who is two seconds a lap slower (than Sato)."

Tensions are still simmering in the Red Bull camp after David Coulthard and Toro Rosso's Scott Speed clashed on and off the track at Melbourne. Speed was fined for swearing at Coulthard in a stewards' hearing but the American is unrepentant and claims Coulthard "started being a bit physical."

"He was very disrespectful toward me," Speed said at a press conference. "The fact we have the same parent company, Red Bull, and that we're part of the same family means that eventually things will cool down. As it is right now, there's certainly a lot of tension between us."

There's always speculation going on about circuits and the Spanish press is talking up Valencia's chances of host a Grand Prix in the future. The Ricardo Tormo track hosted a GP2 race over the weekend and Bernie Ecclestone was a visitor, firing rumours that he was there for discussions with the circuit managers.

It's been suggested that Valencia could take the calendar slot of the European GP but the Nurburgring, which currently hosts the event, has denied that it may lose its race -- at least, not in the near future. The circuit manager is quoted in the German media as saying the race is safe for another three years.

Every driver's ambition is, of course, to win the title and Ralf Schumacher believes he can do it with Toyota. Schumacher scored Toyota's first podium of the season with third in Australia and hopes for the team's maiden win this year. Now in his 10th year of F1 he has recorded six victories but admits that he had expected more than that.

"There have been too many lows and not enough highs," he told the Sunday Times in regard to his F1 career. "I did my best, sometimes I made mistakes, but 90% of the time I was right on it and it just didn't produce results. Like other drivers, I still dream of winning a world championship, and I think I can do it with Toyota."

Schumacher's teammate Jarno Trulli has yet to open his scorecard in 2006 but the Italian is optimistic for the San Marino GP. "It was not my plan to come home from the first three races without any points but in the last two races my car has been hit," said Trulli. "Sometime soon my luck has to change. Let's hope it's in my home country at Imola!"