Formula 1 news at a glance: There is rumbling behind the scenes

B ernie Ecclestone has the turn of the year in his chalet in Gstaad. World champion Sebastian Vettel also enjoyed the holidays in the snow. Both can sit back and relax. Everything goes like clockwork for them.

Special deal for Ferrari and Red Bull

What auto motor und sport suspected a week ago now seems to be a certainty. Ecclestone apparently concluded a special deal with Ferrari and Red Bull before the start of negotiations on the new Concorde agreement from 2013. Allegedly two months ago. And that was also one of the reasons why the two teams left FOTA. No matter what they say now.

Ferrari and Red Bull can hardly fight with the rest of the teams on a united front if they have pushed ahead with the Concorde agreement. With that Ecclestone, the old fox, would have won this battle too. The rest of the teams have to accept the terms he dictates to them. Without Ferrari and Red Bull, they can hardly threaten a pirate series.

Webber takes precedence in the new Red Bull RB8

Sebastian Vettel only has to wait five weeks before he is back in the racing car . While Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg will not get their new Mercedes until the second test date in Barcelona in mid-February, Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey continues to promise that the new RB8 will be ready in time for the test start on February 7th in Jerez. Mark Webber should start. Vettel has reserved the last two days. The bonus of a double world champion. Should the team-mate bother with the teething troubles.

Buemi substitute pilot for Vettel?

There is growing speculation that Sebastian Buemi will be the substitute pilot at Red Bull and Toro Rosso. The Swiss would have one foot in Formula 1 that way. First of all, it is not impossible for two Red Bull or two Toro Rosso drivers to get sick. Second, there are no promising juniors coming up at Red Bull. For the time being, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne are the last arrows in the junior quiver. Should Mark Webber end his career at the end of 2012, there would only be three drivers for four cockpits. A chance for Buemi to kiss the hand again through the back door.

Williams: Barrichello vs. Sutil

At Williams there will probably be a duel between Adrian Sutil and Rubens Barrichello. With not that bad chances for Barrichello. Sutil isten years younger, but not a long-term investment for Williams. The German only wants to sign for one year in order to join the list of candidates for the possibly vacant Massa seat at Ferrari in 2013.

Barrichello may be a discontinued model at almost 39 years of age and then 20 GP seasons, but the Brazilian knows the team, is tech-savvy and flexible. Williams has to get used to the possibility of losing Pastor Maldonado's 28 million euro dowry from 2013. In the Venezuelan government, the opposition has launched an official inquiry as to why so many millions are being diverted from the domestic oil industry for a Formula 1 project.

Alguersuari out of the running at HRT?

Hispania is also about money. Jaime Alguersuari's chances of founding a Spanish national team with Pedro de la Rosa are rather slim. The new owners have indicated that the second driver will have to bring money. Narain Karthikeyan allegedly has seven million dollars in his backpack.

Glock's cockpit in danger?

There is now a new variant of the rumor that Vitaly Petrov is replacing Jarno Trulli at Caterham. Namely that the Russian docks with the Russian team Marussia, formerly Virgin. Instead of Timo Glock. But that should be difficult, because Glock only signed a new three-year contract with the racing team in July. And that will be harder to crack than Trulli ancient contract with Lotus.

In addition, Glock cannot be blamed for poor performance. Without the Germans, Virgin would have been even worse off last year. The training duel against Jérôme d‘Ambrosio was clearly 15: 4 in favor of Glock. And some of the four defeats were due to technical reasons.