FORMULA 1 - 2015

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New Ferrari F1 engine made Kimi Raikkonen Italian GP charge possible

Kimi Raikkonen doubts he would have been able to pull off his Italian Grand Prix charge without the engine upgrade the Ferrari Formula 1 team brought for Monza.

The Finn plunged from second on the grid to last at the start of the race after difficulty with the Ferrari's clutch.

He recovered to fifth place, overtaking 10 cars on track and gaining the other places through problems for rivals.

"On other occasions this year it's been very hard to overtake most of those cars," said Raikkonen.

"[At Monza] it was not easy to overtake, but we could get through them, especially the Force Indias, which were very fast in a straight line.

"I expected it to be a bit more difficult, so overall I was quite positively surprised how we got through them.

"In an ideal world I wouldn't really want to be there to overtake them, but at least we could make progress and not get stuck behind people like quite a few times this year."

Raikkonen said the engine upgrade - which involved the spending of three development tokens - was relatively small but useful for Monza in particular.

"It's a small step in the right direction," he said.

"We would never use those things if we didn't think it would help us.

"It's not a big, big step but it's going in the right way.

"Definitely at this kind of circuit, where it's about speed and power, it seemed to help us.

"We have to be happy with what we have done because we expected it to be a bit more difficult before we came here."

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Ferrari positive despite gap to Mercedes

Ferrari says it is far from concerned about not having closed the gap to Mercedes at the Italian Grand Prix, despite using more engine development tokens.

The Italian outfit made use of three tokens to deliver an improved power unit for Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

But despite encouraging signs in qualifying, as Raikkonen delivered his first front row start for the Italian outfit, in the race the team was no match for Lewis Hamilton and his new upgraded Mercedes engine.

In the end, Hamilton finished 25 seconds clear, although that gap was opened up in the closing stages when the world championship leader was asked to push to build up a margin in case he got a post-race penalty.

Speaking about his feelings on the engine, Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said: "I always said that our development in terms of the car and in terms of engine tokens, our strategy was to have a kind of gradual development.

"We spent a couple of tokens here. We were satisfied with the performance of the engine, but we have to work also on the reliability of the engine from now until the end of this season.

"Now it is a kind of tactical decision on what we want to do with the rest of our tokens. For sure, we are still [working on] the development of this car.

"We don't give up and we will continue together. The car doesn't mean engine, it means overall car."

Mixed feelings

Although Ferrari's chances of pressuring Hamilton at the first corner were wrecked when Raikkonen failed to get away at the start, Arrivabene said there were still reasons to be encouraged by the weekend.

"Kimi had done a great qualifying, and we were all pleased," he said. "In the race, he messed up a bit, we need to still to check, but most probably messed up a bit with the fingers.

"But during the race, to overtake many, many other cars and his race was fantastic to see.

"Concerning Seb, second place here in Monza, it was an incredible result for us even if we were hoping for a good start of both of the drivers to achieve a bit more. We are happy."

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Rosberg's engine faces further investigation

Nico Rosberg must wait a few more days to find out if he will need to use a new engine at the Singapore Grand Prix, following his problems at Monza.

Mercedes elected to use all its engine development tokens for an upgrade of its power unit at Monza as it eyed early development work for 2016.

However, a cooling system issue on Rosberg's power unit caused a problem in final practice and he was forced to revert to the previous specification engine. That unit then failed in the closing stages of the race.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff said the engine would now be investigated at its Brixworth headquarters to find out if it can be used again.

If not, Rosberg will have to switch to his fourth power unit for Singapore.

"We don't know yet whether it is terminally damaged," said Wolff. "And to make the point – it wasn't an engine specific failure we had. It was a leak in the cooling system which led to the engine to fail."

When asked if there had been any early warning prior to Rosberg's failure, Wolff said: "The engine was on its sixth race, so it was very high on miles. We didn't get any warnings, no.

"We gave it a little push to try to catch up Sebastian [Vettel] and this is when it decided to call it a day."

Early work better

Although the engine situation was not ideal for Mercedes, Wolff said that bringing in its bold upgrade strategy was essential for it to make the progress it wants for 2016.

"We brought that phase four engine because we want to understand if the direction of development was the right one," he said. "It was a bit of a risky call.

"We saw what happened to Nico and that was the result of that engine. The reliability runs were on quite a high mileage but they weren't finished yet, so in hindsight we lost a car and Nico lost valuable points.

"But this is a very competitive championship. It is going to be one next year and the earlier you can understand which direction you need to go, the better it is."

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Grosjean emerges as strong contender for Haas F1 drive

Romain Grosjean has emerged as a strong late-contender for the Haas team in 2016, amid ongoing uncertainty about the future of his current Lotus outfit.

The Frenchman put in one of the best performances of his career at the Belgian Grand Prix a fortnight ago to deliver a surprise podium finish, and remind people of his speed.

And although he has previously made it clear that he would love to be a part of the new Renault team if it takes over Lotus, the ongoing delays in finalising that deal have left him pondering other options.

Motorsport.com undertands that with no guarantee the Renault takeover of Lotus will happen, Grosjean has been in negotiations with Haas about a switch there for 2016.

Haas has been clear from the start that it wants experienced drivers on board, and Grosjean's podium form and the fact that he is a current driver has left him as an obvious choice for the new American outfit.

Other drivers pushing for a chance at Haas are Kevin Magnussen, Jean-Eric Vergne and Esteban Gutierrez – although none of those have been racing this year.

Decision this month

Haas team principal Gunther Steiner told Motorsport.com at the Italian Grand Prix that his outfit would make a decision this month – having lost out on previous top contender Nico Hulkenberg.

"We are still aiming for September," Steiner told Motorsport.com. "Obviously it is a very important decision for us and we are not rushing into it, but we are still aiming for September.

"Everybody knows how the market looks like, with a lot of the dominoes having fallen by now with people staying put.

"So we are talking with all the people out there with experience and we just want to make the right decision."

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WOLFF: WE WILL LET LEWIS AND NICO FIGHT

Nico Rosberg remains free to chase title favourite Lewis Hamilton for the Formula 1 world championship, their Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff insists.

That is despite the fact that Rosberg’s retirement at Monza leaves him a whopping 53 points behind, which in the past might have been enough for a team to conclude that a clear championship pecking-order should be imposed.

“No,” Wolff told Speed Week, “there are still seven races left and 175 points still to give out. So nothing is decided yet.”

Indeed, while downbeat after Monza Rosberg wrote in his column for Bild that he is not giving up, “I know I need a small formula one miracle if the championship is still going to work out for me.”

“But my fighting spirit is still alive. ‘Give up’ is not in my vocabulary. I still believe that I can be world champion,” Rosberg added.

So Wolff said the pair will be left alone to fight, even though the chasing Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel is ready to pounce, and insisted, “We will let them fight, just as we always have done.”

Two former F1 drivers, however, know exactly how tough Rosberg’s battle is. Both David Coulthard and Mark Webber have been at championship-winning teams as their respective teammates consistently dominated.

“My weakest year was the year after (Sebastian Vettel’s first championship) and Nico is going through that now,” former Red Bull driver Webber told BBC radio.

And Coulthard said he can also relate to Rosberg’s plight, having often struggled during his McLaren years to match Mika Hakkinen, “I know what it is to be alongside a driver who fundamentally is just that bit faster.”

“You don’t give up and say ‘Oh, he’s better than me.’. You keep digging deep, and keep thinking of ways to win. You keep believing. But Rosberg has not been the equal of Hamilton this year, and he knows that,” Coulthard added.

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RED BULL: THE MERCEDES TOPIC IS OVER FOR US

Red Bull is seemingly shaping up to be powered by Ferrari engines in 2016 and beyond, despite recent reports linking the energy drinks outfit to Mercedes power units.

Earlier, it emerged that the energy drink team and its sister outfit Toro Rosso were definitely set to split with their current engine partner Renault.

Reportedly, Red Bull’s preferred new supplier was Mercedes, but it is believed the Daimler board has finally decided against working with the former quadruple world champions.

“The Mercedes topic is over for us,” Red Bull official Helmut Marko confirmed to Bild newspaper. “We are focusing on other options now.”

It is no secret that Red Bull’s other option is Ferrari, with representatives of the two sides meeting at Monza last weekend for talks.

“It is my job to talk with everybody,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

His Ferrari counterpart Maurizio Arrivabene, meanwhile, indicated that – perhaps unlike Mercedes – the Maranello team has no issues with working with Red Bull.

“I don’t see any kind of problem to give our engine to any other team or be scared of the competition before they start,” he said.

“Red Bull have big names like Adrian Newey, and it is easy to think if you give them the engine they will build a scary chassis,” Arrivabene added. “But my team, my engineers, my aerodynamicists know their jobs. We fight with everybody.”

Horner said a decision is now pressing, with the ball in Renault’s court to decide its next step, which is said to be a buyout of the Lotus team.

“Time is starting to press on,” he said. “We are now into September and everyone needs to know what are Renault’s plans within the next two weeks.”

Once the ball starts to roll, and Lotus presumably moves from Mercedes to Renault power, it is expected that Manor will then become Mercedes’ next F1 partner.

“Manor would be basically the experimental and junior team of the Silver Arrows,” said Bild newspaper.

“They would accommodate there the DTM driver and current F1 reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein,” the German report added.

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HAMILTON ON FAST TRACK TO FORMULA 1 TRIPLE CROWN

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, a man with a strong interest in the title race staying open as long as possible, had feared Lewis Hamilton would have his third world title wrapped up by Monza.

If the sport’s 84-year-old commercial supremo had only added the words ‘all but’ when he made the prediction before the season started, he would not have been far wrong on Sunday’s evidence.

Hamilton departed the Italian Grand Prix circuit, performing a tyre burnout for the fans on his motorcycle as he left, with a 53 point lead over Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg in the championship and seven races remaining.

In simple maths, that means the Briton does not have to win again this season to join Jackie Stewart as Britain’s only triple champions.

With 25 points for a win and 18 for a second place, Rosberg has to hope that Hamilton suffers some of the bad luck the German endured at Monza when his engine blew while in third place with two laps to go.

Even that might not be enough. Looking at past performances, it appears to be all over bar the shouting — of which there is sure to be plenty sooner rather than later.

The big question now is where will Hamilton clinch the championship, with the United States (round 16 of 19) or Mexico looking possible on current form as the chances of Abu Dhabi hosting another decider recede into the distance as fast as Rosberg’s hopes.

Hamilton won five of the six races after Monza last year — Mexico not being on the calendar then — while Rosberg beat him only in Brazil, and even there the Briton finished second.

Rosberg has never yet won three races in a row, and only once in his career has he won a race in the second half of the season, and this season he has been battered like never before by his team mate.

Hamilton, by contrast, has finished first or second in all but two races this season and it has now been more than a year since he last suffered a retirement.

From Monza last year to this, he has won 13 times in 19 starts and his career success ratio currently works out at one win in every four races. All the signs point to him only growing in confidence, and even more determined to win.

The sole wrong move he made all weekend was to fail to remove his headwear, covering his newly dyed blond locks, during a minute’s silence to the late British IndyCar driver Justin Wilson.

As he explained later, he had intended no disrespect, he simply had not realised it was happening.

“I feel seriously strong now, with the way I’m driving,” he said after his victory was confirmed following a stewards enquiry into low tyre pressures that could have taken away the 25 points. “This weekend is the best I’ve driven. I’m really, really happy with how I’m driving.”

Hamilton was dominant at Monza — fastest in every practice session, on pole position for the 11th time in 12 races and setting the fastest lap on a ‘perfect weekend’.

The next race is Singapore, where last year Hamilton started on pole, set the fastest lap and won.

The Briton has every incentive to do that again — another win would take his career tally to 41 from 161 races, exactly the same number as his boyhood hero and late triple champion Ayrton Senna.

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FERRARI BIG BUDGET BLOWING WILLIAMS AWAY SAYS SYMONDS

Ferrari is now leaving Williams behind in the 2015 Formula 1 World Championship pecking order, and the British team knows why.

“It is easy to explain,” said Williams technical boss Pat Symonds.

At Monza, while Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas battled hard to the line for third and fourth, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished a full 22 seconds clear of the pair.

“Ferrari has a very big budget; much bigger than ours,” Symonds told Globo. “They made a huge investment to make a better chassis but especially a better power unit, which was their biggest problem in 2014.”

Brazilian Massa agrees, saying Ferrari’s latest engine upgrade was obviously better as it made its debut at Monza.

“Now it’s as competitive as our Mercedes (engine) and on a track like Monza the engine makes a tremendous difference. Each race gets harder for us, as they continue to improve their car,” added Massa.

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HARTSTEIN VERSUS FIA SPAT HEATING UP AGAIN

The ongoing spat between the Jean Todt-led FIA and former F1 doctor Gary Hartstein is also still raging, after Hartstein suggested officials of the governing body might be liable for the death of Jules Bianchi.

Hartstein’s latest comments earned him a letter from an FIA lawyer, who accused the American of posting “defamatory remarks” with the “sole objective of harming the FIA and its leadership in your quest for personal vindication and publicity”.

The letter was revealed online by Hartstein: Letter to Gary Hartstein from FIA 24 08 2015

And also published a copy of his reply to the FIA’s lawyer: Hartstein email response to FIA lawyer

“When writing,” he wrote to the lawyer, “I am always scrupulously careful to verify my facts, and to present that which is not factual as not being factual.”

Hartestein added on his blog:

• this will play out VERY publicly
• if necessary, I will crowdsource my defence, relying on the thousands of fans of our sport to help me defend myself against those whose major objective would appear to be not the safety and well being of the participants in motorsport, but rather their own safety and well being.

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RENAULT HELPED LOTUS SURVIVE TAX HEARING

Renault helped Lotus to survive a crucial court date on Monday, as the two sides continue to drive towards a team buyout deal.

Financially-crippled Lotus headed straight from Monza to the London high court, where the British tax authorities pressed for the Enstone team to be put into administration.

The case, surrounding an unpaid tax bill, was adjourned until September 18 – the day of Friday practice ahead of the forthcoming Singapore Grand Prix.

“It appears Lotus were saved for now by representatives of Renault at the hearing,” wrote

Telegraph correspondent Daniel Johnson.

A deal between Lotus and Renault, however, still has not been done.

Auto Motor und Sport said the reason for the delay is because Renault wants to pay Lotus by using extra funds that would be assigned by Bernie Ecclestone to give the new factory team the same ‘special status’ as enjoyed by Ferrari, Mercedes and other grandees.

“The biggest obstacle is written confirmation [of the status] from Ecclestone to [Renault president] Carlos Ghosn,” said correspondent Michael Schmidt.

“Ecclestone has promised it verbally to Ghosn that the world titles of 2005 and 2006 will put Renault among the factory teams,” he added.

Until the Renault deal is done, Lotus is basically financially crippled, with an unnamed team member saying the next races in Singapore and Japan “will be critical”.

The situation is apparently making team driver Romain Grosjean nervous, as the Swiss newspaper Blick reports that the Frenchman may have been targeted by the new American outfit Haas.

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PHOTOGRAPHER SUTTON WANTS TO SUE HAMILTON

Mark Sutton, a renowned F1 photographer, is furious that without seeking permission, Lewis Hamilton used a photo of himself (shot by Sutton) doing a burnout on a motorbike whilst leaving Monza on Sunday for his Instagram account.

Sutton subsequently wrote on Facebook: “I don’t like to rant to much but I take a photo on my way out of the track of Lewis Hamilton doing a burnout which is posted on our social media at Sutton Images, now it appears on his (Lewis Hamilton’s) Facebook & Instagram official sites like its his image and his copyright!”

“The cheek, nerve and blatant miss-use of copyright of someone else’s image and intellectual property! Any lawyers out their who understand breach of intellectual copyright let me know! ‪#‎lawsuit‬. Also now On daily mail website with his copyright!” he added.

MIKA: WOW - What a jerk (Sutton)....

Does Sutton ask Lewis for royalties taking his picture every GP weekend!? Isn't Suttons living made OFF people like Lewis et al?

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FORCE INDIA STEERING WHEEL STOLEN AT MONZA

Force India has lodged a complaint with the police after a spare F1 steering wheel (above is a 2010 version) was stolen from the Monza circuit at the weekend.

La Repubblica newspaper claims the F1 technology, worth some EUR 100,000, was taken overnight between Saturday and Sunday in a garage corridor reserved for the Silverstone based team.

“Force India made a complaint to the police”, the Italian report said.

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MONZA HOPES RISE AFTER WEEKEND OF TALKS

Monza’s hopes of staying on the Formula 1 calendar after 2016 have risen after a weekend that left no doubt about the historic Italian circuit’s importance to drivers, fans and the very fabric of the sport.

“We’ll get something done, I’m sure,” Formula One’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone told Reuters after talks with race organisers and politicians, including Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Roberto Maroni, president of the Lombardy region, said he was 99.9 percent sure a deal would be done by the end of the year while Renzi also sounded optimistic.

“If the government is needed, we’ll be there,” the Gazzetta dello Sport quoted the premier as saying after a brief meeting with Ecclestone.

There are still hurdles to overcome, with Ecclestone making clear previously that Monza could expect no cut-price deals, but local officials were making positive noises about that too.

“I’m sure that the money will be found,” said Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago.

If anyone had any lingering doubts about the circuit’s importance, they needed only look at the hordes of Ferrari fans flooding the track after Sunday’s race.

“If we take this away from the calendar for any shitty money reasons I think you are basically ripping our hearts out,” said four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel after finishing second for Ferrari.

“It’s what we’re here for. You stand on the grid, you look to the left, you look to the right, people are just happy to be part of it and it makes our day,” said Vettel.

World champion and race winner Lewis Hamilton agreed, even if the crowd would rather not have seen the Mercedes driver on the top step.

“This is one of the best tracks in the world. This has to stay here for moral reasons,” said the Briton. “We definitely have to keep this.”

Brazilian Felipe Massa, third for Williams and a former Ferrari driver, said the circuit — on the calendar every year bar one since the first world championship in 1950 — had to remain a part of Formula One’s future as well as its past.

“We race for the people and when you see the podium with a lot of people like that and they’re screaming and crying, I don’t think we can lose that,” he said.

“This is part of our blood and we cannot lose this type of races.”

Red Bull principal Christian Horner, one of Ferrari’s fiercest rivals, said Ecclestone had to maintain a position and did not make threats lightly.

“But hopefully a deal can be done to make sure it does stay on the calendar because it is part of the heritage, he added.

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Hamilton: I feel seriously strong

He has a comfortable lead in the standings and can afford to finish second in the final seven races, but Lewis Hamilton has vowed not to ease up from here on in.

The reigning World Champion won the Italian GP from pole to flag on Sunday and, with Mercedes team-mate and main title Nico Rosberg retiring, it helped him to open a 53-point lead in the Drivers' Championship.

With only seven grands prix still left this campaign, Hamilton only has to finish second in all of them to successfully defend his title, but he has no intention of doing that.

"You guys come up with those statistics each year but it is absolutely irrelevant - I have got to win every race from now on," he is quoted as saying by Press Association.

"I don't go into the next races thinking I have got to finish second. I think that I have got to win every race."

The 30-year-old produced another immaculate display at Monza, securing his 11th pole position of the season and going on to win his seventh race of 2015, and he admits he is at the top of his game at the moment.

"I feel this weekend is the best I have driven," he said.

"I feel seriously strong now with the way I am driving and the way I feel with this car, and the way I gel with the engineers - they are doing an incredible job. No matter what is thrown at us as a team we will fight through."

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Webber: F1 Driver depth at its weakest

Mark Webber has bemoaned the current state of Formula 1, saying the driver "depth has never been weaker", adding "we need cars to be more exciting, faster, noisier".

Formula 1 is once again going through some growing pains with many not happy with the direction in which the sport is heading. The FIA, though, is looking at ways to improve the show.

Former Red Bull driver Webber believes a lot of people are losing interesting in F1 and a lot of things need to change before things will improve.

"I spoke to Sebastian Vettel's father the other day who came to the sportscar race in Germany and he said 'I don't get the goosebumps any more when I go to there (Formula One)'," the Australian told told BBC Radio 5 live.

"That is a general trend and a general feel from the people sort of in the know that we have to get the cars more exciting again for the drivers.

"We need the cars to be more exciting, faster, noisier - just put them on a level where they are not close to other categories as they are now. GP2, the category below F1, are doing very similar lap times. It is not right.

"The physical components are probably at the lowest they have ever been, too. It is like a rugby union tackle, 30 per cent softer."

Another area that F1 has fallen behind, according to Webber, is the number of high-quality drivers and he feels there are too many people paying for their drive these days.

"The depth has never been weaker," he added. "If you go from the top 10 back in terms of there are lot of pay drivers on the grid. This is not good.

"We need to get the calibre of driver and depth of the field that we have at the front."

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Kimi pleased with Ferrari progress

Kimi Raikkonen has hailed Ferrari's engine upgrade, saying it's one of the main reasons why he was able to weave his way through the field at Monza.

Having secured his best grid position of P2 for the season on Sunday, Raikkonen found himself at the back of the pack at the opening corner after he failed to get away when the lights went out.

The Finn, who believes a clutch problem was to blame for his slow start, produced an excellent fightback and finished in fifth place.

Raikkonen feels Ferrari's decision to use some of their in-season engine development tokens ahead of their home race in Italy gave him the boost he needed.

"On other occasions this year it's been very hard to overtake most of those cars," he is quoted as saying by Autosport. "[At Monza] it was not easy to overtake, but we could get through them, especially the Force Indias, which were very fast in a straight line.

"I expected it to be a bit more difficult, so overall I was quite positively surprised how we got through them.

"In an ideal world I wouldn't really want to be there to overtake them, but at least we could make progress and not get stuck behind people like quite a few times this year."

Apart from Raikkonen's slow start, Ferrari had a very good weekend in Italy as Sebastian Vettel started third as both SF15-T cars were within 0.300s of Lewis Hamilton's pole time while the German went on to finish P2.

"It's a small step in the right direction," Raikkonen. "We would never use those things if we didn't think it would help us. It's not a big, big step but it's going in the right way.

"Definitely at this kind of circuit, where it's about speed and power, it seemed to help us.

"We have to be happy with what we have done because we expected it to be a bit more difficult before we came here."

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Massa and Piquet Jr to team up at ROC

Felipe Massa will return to the Race Of Champions (ROC) after a 10-year absence with the Williams driver teaming up with Nelson Piquet Jr at this year's edition.

The Formula 1 veteran's last appearance in the event was back in Paris in 2005, but he will make his comeback at London's former Olympic Stadium on 20-21 November.

He will represent Team Brazil and will link up with Piquet Jr, who is fresh from winning the Formula E Championship earlier this year.

"I’m delighted to be coming back to the Race Of Champions for the first time in 10 years," Massa said.

"I really enjoyed my appearances in Paris and I’m overdue a return to meet up with many of the world’s best racers from all the different championships.

"Since then the Race Of Champions has often clashed with my own karting event in Brazil but this year is the perfect opportunity to have another go."

Piquet Jr spent two seasons in Formula 1 in 2008 and 2009 before switching to NASCAR, but his biggest success came in June this year when he won the inaugural Formula E title.

"It's been a brilliant year for me and there is no better way of rounding it off than an appearance at the Race of Champions," Piquet Jr said.

"I already have plenty of happy memories of London from this year as it was the scene for the FIA Formula E finale in June.

"That day I had to battle my way through the field and ended up winning the title by a single point so I hope that will be a good omen for the Race of Champions as well.

"I also look forward to teaming up with Felipe again and we'll try to bring a bit of Brazilian flair to London's former Olympic Stadium in November."

Sebastian Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo have also committed to this year's ROC in London.

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Button eager to resolve McLaren future

Jenson Button admits he would like to resolve his McLaren future in the coming weeks as speculation continues.

Last year Button did not know until December whether he would remain with the Woking-based outfit for the 2015 season, and the team are yet to decide whether to exercise their option to keep the Briton for the final year of his current contract.

There has been speculation that Button could lose out on his race seat to either Kevin Magnussen, who was replaced by Fernando Alonso for the current campaign, or Stoffel Vandoorne who is currently dominating the GP2 class. Both Magnussen and Vandoorne are members of McLaren's young driver academy.

Button has said that he would like to have a decision made one way or another in the coming weeks.

"I think that is something we need to discuss away from the circuit over the next few weeks," he said. "It is always in your hands and hopefully over the next few weeks we can decide, either way."

It had been suggested that should Button leave McLaren, he may return to Williams where he began his Formula 1 career in 2000. However, Williams recently confirmed that they would be retaining Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas for the 2016 season.

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F1 bosses hit back at 'stale' driver market claim

Team bosses have hit back at suggestions that Formula One's driver market has become 'stale' and 'conservative'.

Many have commented that teams appear more reluctant to change drivers than used to be the case. And indeed early in the Monza weekend Williams became the latest team after Mercedes, Ferrari and Sauber to confirm an unchanged driver line-up for 2016. Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Force India at least are expected to follow suit also.

Responding to a question from Grand Prix Times in Monza Force India's Bob Fernley denied that anything in the driver market had changed and spoke of the importance of stability to an F1 team, as well as that there is no point in changing drivers that are doing well.

"I don't think there's any reason to assume that you're not going to move drivers and change drivers," he said. "I think you're always looking for stability and if you have drivers that are performing well, you want to retain them."

Red Bull's Christian Horner concurred on the point of there being little to gain from changing drivers for the sake of it: "Changing drivers in any team is quite a big thing," he explained. "The drivers are pretty fundamental components and I think that if ever you're going to change, you want to change for the better.

"Red Bull continues to be investing in young talent so we've got quite a large talent pool but of course you always want to put your best foot forward."

Some bosses also spoke of their peculiar circumstances that support keeping the same drivers right now.

Maurizio Arrivabene of Ferrari noted that stability is particularly important for the current Ferrari team which has experienced a lot of recent personnel changes elsewhere. "It's quite a new team and we would like to keep the stability in the team and to have a clear goal for everybody," he said.

In the case of Kimi Raikkonen, Arrivabene added that his past achievements were part of the reason for keeping him on: "We confirmed Kimi after Hungary. Again, he's a World Champion, he's the last World Champion with Ferrari. We don't have to forget that."

Matthew Carter of Lotus however outlined the very unusual case at the Enstone team right now, as it awaits an imminent takeover:

"I think we're probably in a slightly different position in that we have two drivers under contract" he said. "The only reason that we haven't announced our driver line-up for next year is that we're waiting to see what pans out in the next few weeks, month or so. So absolutely no reason to change, both drivers under contract but I think there's probably wider issues to play at Lotus at the moment."

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Kvyat against closed cockpits despite potential danger

After the sad death of Justin Wilson in an Indycar race renewed a debate in F1 about closed cockpits or other cockpit protection, Daniil Kvyat said that it is racing's nature that unfortunate things will happen as a result of its danger.

"Racing is dangerous, that's unfortunate," Kvyat said.

"It's always a sad thing," he said of Wilson's death which was caused by flying debris from another accident, which struck his head.

But Kyvat said that he started in motor racing knowing that danger was in its nature: "I started the sport with scars here and scars there, I know that it's not a safe sport," he added, pointing at scars on his arms, "it's all [from] racing, it's [from] karting, karting is even more dangerous [than F1].

"In a way you have to be also a little bit crazy to understand these kind of things. But we all not it's not the safest sport and I go there knowing that anything can happen."

Kvyat doesn't support the idea of closed cockpits, believing they go against the 'philosophy' of Formula 1.

"It's easy to talk now [but] open cockpits have been in F1 since it started," he said.

"To be honest I don't know what should happen with closed cockpits but I don't think it's the F1 philosophy. I might be the guy who might [have the worst happen] because of this, but I understand that it's not the safest sport in the world."

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Manor Formula 1 team in Mercedes engine deal talks for 2016

Mercedes is in discussions with Manor regarding an engine supply for the 2016 Formula 1 season.

Manor is using one-year-old Ferrari power units this term while Mercedes has customer deals with Williams, Force India and Lotus alongside its own team.

If Renault completes its talks to take over Lotus, Mercedes could have capacity to supply an alternative team - and has now decided against a potential deal with Red Bull.

Mercedes' head of motorsport Toto Wolff confirmed Manor was a possibility.

"On the engine, we had some discussions and they're interested in exploring the competitive environment," he told AUTOSPORT.

"They have a Ferrari engine today but it's a young team and a new team and they need to meet with all engine suppliers and make the best deal for yourself.

"This is why we've been talking to them."

A Manor source confirmed talks have taken place between the two parties.

Mercedes needed to get dispensation from the FIA for four teams to have its engine this year as the regulations state a single manufacturer can only supply a maximum of three teams.

"It's a capacity question [with Manor] and at the bottom we don't know what is happening with Lotus and Renault and this is why you have to keep all options open," added Wolff.

WOLFF KEEN ON WEHRLEIN PROMOTION

Wolff said there have been no talks with Manor regarding putting one of Mercedes' drivers in the car, but he remains keen to get the team's reserve Pascal Wehrlein into an F1 seat.

The German currently races in the DTM, and had been linked to a Force India F1 race seat after testing for the team.

"We haven't talked to Manor about drivers yet because I think it's too early," said Wolff.

"I'm a keen supporter of Pascal because he's doing a great job in the DTM and he was an outstanding kid in F3 as well.

"So I definitely see him having the potential to go into F1.

"But at the moment my agenda is purely concentrated on the racing team and locking in the championship.

"The next step is going to hopefully have Pascal in the right seat.

"Force India was an opportunity and that door closed.

"Now it's about looking at the market overall and the other teams, but we are not under pressure.

"We need to find the right seat for him."

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Vettel "helping stabilise" Ferrari - Arrivabene

Sebastian Vettel has delivered not only impressive speed for Ferrari but has helped calm its political situation behind the scenes, says his team boss Maurizio Arrivabene.

The four-time world champion has put Ferrari back in the winner's circle this year with victories at both the Malaysian and Hungarian Grands Prix.

But it is not just the on-track triumph that has left Arrivabene a happy man, because the way that Vettel's personality has impacted on the staff back at the factory has been just as vital.

"The team is getting on very well together," explained Arrivabene. "He [Vettel] brought to the team a lot of enthusiasm.

"Many times he has helped me to make sure that we are getting together and, most importantly, he is co-operating very well with his teammate.

"This is the reason why, when I was explaining of the confirmation of Kimi [Raikkonen for 2016], that we are looking at the moment of the stability of the team.

"Seb is a fantastic champion but is also a person who is helping to stabilise the team together with Kimi. And is helping a lot for all of us to do that together.

"You saw after the race [in Italy]. You look at Seb. He is always smiling and positive and then I become a bit more flexible when I have to complain."

No Alonso comparison

Although Vettel's infectious positivity is in contrast to the way Fernando Alonso's final spell at the team appeared to pan out, Arrivabene declined to compare them.

"For sure I don't want to talk about Fernando," he said. "I met Fernando when I was not doing this job and we have a good relationship.

"I don't want to talk about him. I talk [only] about my drivers and I am perfectly fine with them."

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Horner says new Mercedes engine 'frightening'

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has labelled the progress that Mercedes has made with its new engine as 'frightening'.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were handed an upgraded power unit for the Italian Grand Prix weekend, with their Mercedes bosses having elected to use all seven of their in-season development tokens.

The potential of their improvements, which are aimed at new development paths the team wants to take for 2016, was clear from first practice when both Mercedes drivers were in a class of their own.

And although Rosberg's weekend was derailed when his engine hit problems and he had to revert to a previous specification unit, Horner is under no impressions about the potential Mercedes has shown.

"It looked quite frightening on Friday and then they must have had some kind of issue with Rosberg because it looked like they wound the engines back a bit," said Horner.

"But the step on Friday looked quite significant, quite worrying. They are in a league of their own at the moment."

Ferrari progress

Horner's views on the Mercedes step must be particularly painful, because his outfit had been hoping to secure a supply of the company's power units for 2016.

However, as Motorsport.com revealed on Monday, Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche met with Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda over the Italian Grand Prix and has decided not to accept any overtures from its rival for a customer deal.

That has left Red Bull with Ferrari as its only choice for next year, unless it pulls out of F1 completely.

Although Ferrari's own updated engine appeared to have made progress in qualifying, as Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel took second and third on the grid, in the race Hamilton again showed the edge.

Horner added: "Certainly in qualifying they were closer than Friday suggested but then in the race we saw the pace Lewis had on a scrubbed prime tyre at the end there. It was pretty awesome.

"I guess he was just managing the gap throughout the grand prix. They [Mercedes] are clearly some way up the road."

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Red Bull and Toro Rosso might not use Renault upgrade

Red Bull and Toro Rosso have admitted that there is a chance that they may choose not to race Renault's upgraded Formula 1 engine when it finally becomes available.

Renault has not yet used any of its 12 tokens, and the long-awaited upgraded D-spec is now not expected to be available before the United States GP, leaving just four races in which it could be deployed, with the first inevitably compromised by a grid penalty.

At Monza, both teams made sufficient engine changes to get all four cars through to the end of the season with the current power unit and without further changes, and thus grid penalties.

If any of the drivers takes the upgrade, they would have to take an extra penalty in Austin in order to have use of a potentially stronger straightline package, and no more penalties, for the last three races.

Red Bull's situation changed when one of Daniel Ricciardo's new engines suffered a failure in FP3 in Italy, so the Australian is now obliged to make an extra change anyway, and take a penalty.

Logic suggests that the team will attempt to postpone that change until Austin and thus give Ricciardo the upgrade for the end of the season races.

However, the decision on whether to stick with the proven old spec or go to the new one will involve weighing the potential increase in performance against any reliability risks associated with the upgrade.

Christian Horner admitted that it could transpire that neither Red Bull driver will actually use the revised engine.

"It's a possibility," he told Motorsport.com. "It depends on the value of the update. What you have to calculate is is the increase performance worth the deficit of grid positions?

"I think with Ricciardo he is going to have to take another engine, so theoretically that should be the D-spec if it's reliable.

"At the moment I think a lot of work is being done in the background to make it reliable. It's not a great situation obviously, but it is what it is, and we've just got to try and battle on through it.

"It's beyond frustration, we've just got to deal with what we've got on a race-by-race basis."

Gains could make it worth it

Meanwhile, Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost agreed that the potential performance increased was the key, and admitted that it could be worth taking the penalty in Austin if that led to a boost over the remaining three races.

"There are always different reasons behind an engine change," he told Motorsport.com. "First of all we need a performance advantage behind it, otherwise it doesn't make sense. Up to now we don't have all the information about the D-spec. We will see.

"Of course if the D-spec is much better than the current one, we will take another penalty, because we need to show the best possible performance, and we need to take this advantage.

"After Austin in Mexico there's a long straight, and in Sao Paulo there's a very long straight. We need the best possible engine.

"If you ask me now from my personal opinion, then yes. But this is also a decision from the engineering side, not only my side."

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Lotus dismisses talk of missing races

Matthew Carter says there is no danger of Lotus being forced to miss any of the remaining flyaway rounds on the 2015 Formula 1 World Championship calendar as discussions over its future drag on.

Despite the on-track boost from its first podium finish in two years at Spa-Francorchamps, Lotus has generally generated more headlines off the track over its increasingly desperate financial problems and its ongoing negotiations with Renault over a possible sale.

As it stands, Renault is still yet to decide whether to take Lotus over and revive its entry as a fully-fledged manufacturer, delays that have halted development on the car and raised continuous pressure on Lotus' hopes of clearing its mounting debts.

Indeed, with its participation in the Italian Grand Prix put in doubt after the team trucks were impounded following a court order brought by former reserve driver Charles Pic, Carter says there is no danger that Lotus will be faced with similar difficulties going forward.

“I can guarantee you that we'll be at Singapore,” he said. “One of our sea-freight containers has left, our airfreight will leave this week. We will be in Singapore. Our financial issues are all over the press, everyone is aware of them. We're working as hard as we can behind the scenes to get them sorted out. None of them have become terminal, obviously. We're still here, we're still racing and we will continue to do that.

Referring to the discussions with Renault, Carter admits he is working towards ensuring it goes through in order to secure the future of the Enstone-based squad, which operated Renault's former factory team until 2009.

“The negotiations that were referred to are going on behind the scenes. I'm hopeful that's going to secure our future one way or the other going forward – and when I say one way or the other it just means we have more than one option going forward to secure the future of the team.

“As far as the race of the races this season, we have a budget in place and we will operate to that budget and will be at all the races.”