The next technical spat has kicked off in formula one.
Multiple sources are reporting on Sunday that "a number of" rival teams have spotted a hole in the floor of Red Bull's Adrian Newey-penned RB8 that they suspect is illegal.
The sources said there is the remote chance of a results protest in Monaco, with McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari reportedly the most aggrieved.
A report in the Sunday Times said the offending 'hole' is in "the surface of the step plane directly in front of the rear tyres".
The report said the FIA gave the innovation the go-ahead when it debuted in Bahrain, where Sebastian Vettel won.
Red Bull's Christian Horner insisted there is "no doubt the car is fully compliant.
"We're totally comfortable with the car, that it complies with the regulations and we’re not going to change it."
More than 2000 days after his last pole, Michael Schumacher's qualifying triumph in Monaco has turned the speculation on its head.
Now, his critics have been silenced, and the pundits are having to consider the rising prospect of an even further extended tenure for the sport's elder statesman.
So it was with a smile that the great German batted away what must be a heartening round of new rumours.
"You imagine that just because of one result I've done at this moment I'm suddenly restarting or opening a different subject? No, that's not the case," he insisted.
Team boss Ross Brawn, however, swung the door open.
"If Michael keeps going like this then he can be with us forever," the delighted Briton enthused to Auto Motor und Sport, having admitted to shedding a tear at Saturday's result.
Germany's Bild newspaper said the "old Schumi" is back.
"We always believed in Michael," Mercedes' Norbert Haug is quoted as saying. "We knew that he was still on it."
As for the forthcoming talks about a new deal for the 43-year-old, Haug is quoted by Welt newspaper: "We are in no hurry."
Referring to the 2013 driver market, he added: "It's like a chess game -- when there's movement, you have to follow."
New deal or not, Schumacher's pole triumph - even though a penalty dating back to Barcelona means actually started the race sixth - was popular in the paddock.
"I feel bad for Michael that he can't enjoy his first pole after so long," Fernando Alonso told Spanish television Antena 3.
It is Mark Webber who inherited the pole, but the Australian insisted: "I think it's Michael's day."
Lewis Hamilton added: "Michael did a really great job. Not bad for an old timer!"
Heikki Kovalainen is quoted by Turun Sanomat: "This was Michael saying 'Hey, don't forget me and here I come!'"
In the Times newspaper, Kevin Eason concluded: "The day belonged to the old man."
Barcelona winner Pastor Maldonado has gone from F1 glory to back-of-the-field ignominy in the space of less than two weeks.
But as Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports, the Venezuelan - who last time out in Spain broke through with Williams' first win in seven years - is lucky to be on Sunday's grid at all.
The FIA stewards, including 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell, imposed a severe ten-place grid penalty after ruling that the 27-year-old deliberately swerved into Sergio Perez during practice.
Maldonado insists the crash was not revenge but simply a driving mistake on a slippery track.
Team shareholder Toto Wolff even confronted Mansell about the apparent harshness of the penalty, to which Mansell reportedly replied: "Be happy that he's even racing.
"We were close to excluding him for the whole event," the former Williams driver reportedly told Wolff.
The final misery for Maldonado, who actually qualified ninth, is yet another grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change, as the result of damage following his post-Perez collision crash.
Jolyon Palmer (iSport) takes victory in the second race presented in Monaco, after a multi car pile-up in the first lap.
Pole sitter Stéphane Richelmi went out at the very first corner, because of a contact with James Calado, who was able to maintain his car on track in second position. The incident gave Jolyon Palmer the lead.
Right after, race 1 winner Johnny Cecotto span at Massenet corner, which brought a massive accident behind him, involving ten cars, including championship leader Davide Valsecchi and his teammate Felipe Nasr, whose car was launched in the air, with no damage for the Brazilian driver.
Calado, who stayed on track in second position after the first corner incident, was forced to stop to fix a broken front wing.
Max Chilton moved up to second, and finally crossed the finish line only one second behind his fellow countryman Jolyon Palmer, who secured his first GP2 win. Giedo Van der Garde takes third.
Jolyon Palmer is the son of former F1 driver Jonathan Palmer.
Race 2 results - GP2 (Monaco)
1 - Jolyon Palmer - iSport - 30 laps in 45min41.227s
2 - Max Chilton - Carlin - 1.083s
3 - Giedo Van der Garde - Caterham - 4.426s
4 - Marcus Ericsson - iSport - 8.133s
5 - Rodolfo Gonzalez - Caterham - 19.968s
6 - Luiz Razia - Arden - 23.273s
7 - Nathanael Berthon - Racing Engineering - 26.376s
8 - Esteban Gutierrez - Lotus - 26.880s
Etc.
Two British newspapers on Sunday reported an explosive rumour about F1's reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel.
The Independent, and the SundayTimes, separately said the Red Bull driver has signed a pre-contract to join Ferrari in 2014.
"Insiders are adamant that the German has signed an option with Ferrari for 2014, subject to competitive form from the Prancing Horse stable for the rest of 2012," said the Independent.
The Sunday Times agreed, adding that Vettel's current teammate Mark Webber could also be moving to Ferrari to replace Felipe Massa, but only for a single season in 2013.
Fernando Alonso's Ferrari contract runs until 2016.
"It is not known whether the Vettel option is binding on either side, but if there is a one-year Ferrari vacancy for 2013, it strengthens the case for Webber being the man to fill it," said the Times.
Auto123.com Racing is delighted to offer motorsport fans a live description of the most important race of the IZOD IndyCar Series, the 500 Miles of Indianapolis.
Due to logistic reasons, we are proving both French and English comments on the same page. Thanks! And enjoy the race!
Brad Keselowski's fuel strategy to save gas won the day at the Charlotte Nationwide Series race.
Only Brad isn't telling how he stretched his gas mileage to 73 laps.
When asked how he held off Denny Hamlin's Toyota for the win he said "well, I can't tell you that," with a big toothy smile. "There's a strategy and you know, Penske Racing engines, they do a great job with fuel mileage on the Dodges and they deserve a lot of credit for it.
"There's only so much you can do as a driver and a lot of it comes down to the car and what it needs. Denny didn't let me save any. I can tell ya at the end he was running pretty hard and I knew he was going to be tough, both him and Kyle (Busch)."
It was Keselowski's 18th win in NASCAR's junior series.
Hamlin was not surprisingly disappointed: "It was a great battle back for us," Hamlin said.
"We were just struggling to get the motor running at end of the straightaway. I thought we had a carburetor problem. We fought the handling. We just didn't have that good of a car, but we were able to make something of it.
"I had used my stuff up so much trying to get back through the field. I wore out the right front right off it."
Ford driver, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, the points leader, had a broken driveshaft, causing a lengthy pit stop for a replacement and repair. He finished 26th - 21-laps behind the winner -, but still has a 13-point lead over Elliott Sadler, who finished fifth.
Austin Dillon, the highest ranked rookie who finished 11th, is third in the standings, 28 points behind Stenhouse, Jr.
Danica Patrick finished 13th, and X-Games Champion, Travis Pastrana 24th, five laps down of two spins.
Rockstar Energy Drink duo Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard took away their second Canadian Rally Championship event of the year by winning the Rocky Mountain Rally, in Calgary.
"Winning at the season opener Rallye Perce-Neige and again here at the Rocky Mountain Rally gives us the maximum possible championship points heading into the summer events in Quebec," L'Estage said.
"It's an excellent result for us."
Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard at the Rocky Mountain Rally (Photo: Andrew Snucins/CARS Media)
Despite debuting a new gearbox and despite the traditional muddy conditions, L'Estage and Richard put on a clinic, leaving rivals Pat Richard and Alan Ockwell (Subaru Canada) fight for second place with Crazy Leo Urlichich and Carl Williamson (Can-Jam).
It was a heated battle between the two Subaru teams, but Richard and Ockwell came out on top.
Eric Grochowski and Leanne Junnila won the two wheel drive class and Eric Pehota, alongside co-driver Richard Doucert, the Production GT category.
Final results - Rocky Mountain Rally (Canadian Rally Championship)
1. Antoine L'Estage/Nathalie Richard (Mitsubishi EVO X)
2. Pat Richard/Alan Ockwell (Subaru Impreza WRX STI)
3. Crazy Leo/ Carl Williamson (Subaru Beast)
4. Hardy Schmidtke/John Hall (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX)
5. Alexandre Kozlov/Martin Matas (Subaru STI)
6. Eric Pehota/Richard Doucet (Subaru WRX Wagon)
7. Azam Deen/Shabir Haji (Subaru Impreza STI)
8. Tibor Kertes/Spencer Armstrong (Mitsubishi EVO X)
9. Eric Grochowski/Leanne Junnila (VW Golf)
10. Kris Shofield/Jennifer Daly (Toyota Corolla)
Piloting a Citroen DS3 WRC alongside co-driver Daniel Elena, Loeb performed faultlessly to secure his 71st career victory after fending off a host of rivals. And by claiming three bonus points for winning the event-closing Power Stage, Loeb's lead of the WRC drivers' standings increases to 30 points with seven rounds remaining.
Petter Solberg started Sunday's five stages trailing Loeb by 10.2s only to crash out on the opening test in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
The Norwegian's misfortune - he tore a rear wheel off his car after striking a tree - promoted Loeb's teammate Mikko Hirvonen up to second with Jari-Matti Latvala securing the final podium place in third. The Finn marked his return from injury by claiming 10 fastest stage times.
Behind Latvala, Mads Ostberg moved into third overall in the WRC standings by finishing fourth. Martin Prokop and Thierry Neuville also continued their strong scoring runs in fifth and sixth respectively.
A 1933 Alfa Romeo that its owner longed for as a youngster growing up in South Africa took home the "Coppa d'Oro Villa d'Este" honors at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este.
Dany Bahar, the chief executive with ambitious plans for British-based sports car maker Lotus, has been suspended by the new Malaysian owners of Group Lotus.
Fuji Heavy Industries is making a contrarian bet: The maker of Subaru cars is cranking up domestic manufacturing at a time other Japanese automakers are expanding overseas to escape the strong yen.
Defunct auto supplier Cambridge Industries got ensnared in the Obama campaign's recent attacks on Republican Mitt Romney over his time at Bain Capital.
A Consumer Reports survey indicates that our American cousins rate fuel economy as the most important factor when it comes to changing cars.
37 % of respondents agree that consumption figures are a priority when picking a vehicle.
Almost 75 % of them also went as far as saying they would consider buying an alternative fuel vehicle because of the energy crisis. Other factors taken into account by potential buyers when looking for a new vehicle include quality (17 % rated it the most important factor), safety (16 %) and resale value (14 %).
Performance (6 %) is the least important factor of them all.
All Americans are increasingly worried about the environment - but those aged below 55 even more so apparently. A larger share of them is seriously interested in buying alternative-powered vehicles.
However, Consumer Reports' Jeff Bartlett pointed out that changing your vehicle right now may not be the wisest choice. If it is less than 3 years old, depreciation alone will cost you more than you would save in gas money.
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