David Coulthard has been gearing up for his debut at the wheel of a DTM car by testing this week. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Button, Brawn, Nominated For Laureus Awards: Jenson Button, and the former Brawn (now Mercedes GP) team, have been nominated for prestigious Laureus World Sports awards. 30-year-old Button, who having previously won just a single Grand Prix, is nominated in the Breakthrough of the Year category after winning the 2009 drivers' championship. He is up against fellow Britons Mark Cavendish (cycling) and Tom Daley (diving), as well as Juan Martin del Potro (tennis), golfer Ji Yai Shin, and Germany's VFL Wolfsburg football team. Brackley based Brawn, formed in the wake of a management buyout after Honda's withdrawal from F1, and is nominated for the Team of the Year prize. Also nominated are the football teams FC Barcelona and Germany's female team, the LA Lakers, New York Yankees and South Africa's rugby team. No F1 names are nominated for the main World Sportsman of the Year prize, but Valentino Rossi represents motor racing. The nominations, announced by sportsmen including Laureus member Mika Hakkinen this week, follow a ballot involving the world's media. The winners, to be named during a ceremony in Abu Dhabi next month, will be selected by a jury of 46 of the world's greatest ever sports men and women.
Cosworth 'Better' Than Toyota's F1 Engine – Hulkenberg: Nico Hulkenberg has admitted that returning engine supplier Cosworth's V8 unit feels "better" and "stronger" than the Toyota power plant. The German rookie was Williams' test driver in 2009, meaning that the last two formula one cars he drove were respectively Toyota and Cosworth powered. Williams has this year switched to Cosworth, the independent British supplier supported by the FIA to also power F1's new teams Virgin, Lotus, Campos and USF1. Asked about the Cosworth engine by reporters at Jerez, 22-year-old Hulkenberg said: "It is good; I'm positively surprised about it." Asked to compare it with Toyota's engine, he added: "It feels better, it feels stronger." Thursday was otherwise not a great day for Williams, after a hydraulic leak preceded a drive shaft problem aboard the new FW32 car.
Williams To Buy More Of Own Hybrid Power Company: Williams intends to buy more of the company that has developed its flywheel KERS system. It emerged on Thursday that, following FOTA's 2010 KERS ban, the energy recovery unit will instead be fitted to Porsche's new 911 GT3 R Hybrid road car, and raced by the marquee at the Nurburgring. Williams, already developing the system for Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover, said the technology would also be available to buses, trains, ships and wind power generation. The Grove based team bought a 40 per cent share in the British company Automotive Hybrid Power in 2008, relocating it to the team's factory and renaming it Williams Hybrid Power. Team chief executive Adam Parr told the financial news service Bloomberg that Williams is now buying a majority stake in the company. "We are very hopeful it will turn into a great business," he said, adding that it could provide "a significant contribution" to the F1 team's budget.
Coulthard Testing Mercedes DTM Car In Spain: David Coulthard has this week been gearing up for his debut test at the wheel of a DTM car. The Scot, who is contemplating returning to the race cockpit with the German touring car series, has been at Spain's Circuito Monteblanco. His mount is the Mercedes C-Class of the Mucke team, according to Speedweek. The test was reportedly scheduled to run for four days between Tuesday and Friday.
