Kimi Raikkonen is already planning for 2013 with Lotus. (Photo: Getty Images)

Raikkonen To 'Have His Say' On 2013 Lotus Design: Just two races into 2012, Kimi Raikkonen has already sat at the wheel of Lotus' car for 2013. His race engineer Mark Slade revealed that the Finn was at Enstone on Wednesday to sit in "a basic mock-up" of the single seater for next season. "There's some rethinking in terms of the driver position for 2013, and we wanted to test it out before committing any further to the concept," said Slade. "It may seem early, but it's better to do these things sooner rather than later. Otherwise, it can hold up the whole design process." A report by the Finnish broadcaster MTV3 said that Lotus' 2012 car was essentially complete late last November, when Raikkonen joined the team. So "Raikkonen can have his say on the car for next year," the report added.

Perez Developed Skills In Mexican Rain - Father: Sergio Perez honed his wet-weather race craft from a very early age, his father has revealed. According to the rumor mill, the 22-year-old Mexican has gone straight to the top of Ferrari's shortlist for 2013 after his strong charge for victory in the changeable Malaysian GP recently. "This ability to drive very fast in the rain is a talent he developed at an early age," the Sauber driver's father Antonio, a former champion of Mexican F3, told France's Auto Hebdo. "With his brother, he accumulated hours of karting from the age of six, driving even in torrential downpours that characterize the rainy season in Guadalajara."

Lack Of Development Budget 'A Shame': Sauber is in a race for money after discovering its 2012 car is up to speed with F1's richest teams. As ever in F1, World Championships are won not on the basis of a clever initial design, but on a team's ability to continue to develop it throughout a long season. According to O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, the formerly BMW-owned Sauber team's chief executive Monisha Kaltenborn admits that the Hinwil-based outfit cannot compete on that front with the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull. "It's a shame," she is quoted as saying. "I hope we can show enough potential so that some companies decide to invest in our project," said Kaltenborn, with the Brazilian newspaper estimating that Sauber's budget is EUR 80 million this year. In contrast, the top four teams' budgets are believed to be all above EUR 220m. Kaltenborn told F1's official website recently that Sauber would back a push to impose a budget cap — an issue that triggered the big teams' bitter political war with former FIA president Max Mosley a few years ago. "We ... have also openly said that we are not satisfied with our sponsor situation because we have high targets and to achieve them you need appropriate funding," she continued. "We still need to work on that side of things, as of course the more funding you have the more you can develop — and it shows on the track. I have said before that when we look back we practically never had enough money to do what we really wanted to. The question is always how big the gap is — sometimes it is bigger, sometimes it is smaller."

Lotus Wants 'No More Crashes' From Grosjean: Pressure is on Romain Grosjean to have a clean race in China next weekend. The reigning GP2 champion has shown pace in his return to F1 so far this year, making good use of the competitive Lotus E20. But in the actual races, the 25-year-old is yet to see much action in 2012, colliding with Pastor Maldonado in Australia and spinning in the Sepang rain. With Kimi Raikkonen also yet to enjoy a fully clean race on his own return to F1, Lotus' trackside chief Alan Permane is quoted by the Sun: "It would be nice to have a straightforward race with no penalties and no crashes from Romain after the first couple of corners. I think it is McLaren and Red Bull at the front, and then I believe we are there." Grosjean has duly vowed to do better. "When you make mistakes you have to admit it and not repeat that mistake. When it's not your fault — well, it's not your fault. "I know that we can do some great things in the future races. My season starts properly in China."

Mercedes' Clever F-Duct Not Easily Copied: In the case of Sauber's clever exhaust solution, Red Bull simply rolled out a copy in the days before the 2012 season. Writing in O Estado de S.Paulo, Brazilian correspondent Livio Oricchio said the Sauber philosophy makes ingenious use of something called the 'Coanda effect.' In the wake of the FIA's strict clampdown on blown exhaust technology for 2012, the C31 uses the Coanda effect — named after Romanian aerodynamics pioneer Henri Coanda — to legally entice the flow of exhaust to the diffuser. Ferrari is understood to be the next team set to follow suit. Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus, however, have a vastly different attitude when it comes to Mercedes' clever F-duct, which uses the existing DRS rules to redirect air from the rear of the W03 car to the front. The concept not only significantly boosts straight line speed but also improves handling. The FIA's Charlie Whiting has declared that Sauber and Mercedes are doing nothing wrong. But the three aforementioned teams continue to rail against the F-duct, even leaving open the threat of protest ahead of the Chinese GP. Red Bull's Helmut Marko explains: "Lotus, who are very responsible, have discovered two ways in which the F-duct is not in accordance with the regulations." So is the difference in attitude when it comes to the Sauber and Mercedes innovations actually about the ease in which they can be copied? Oricchio quotes Red Bull's Adrian Newey as having said in Malaysia: "In regard to the aerodynamic (F) duct of the Mercedes, and sending the airflow from the back to the front, it is necessary to review the entire project."