FORMULA 1 - 2015

[MIKA27]

Pirelli to add super-super-soft as part of tyre shake-up

Formula 1's tyre supplier, Pirelli, will add an additional compound to its line-up for 2016, expanding the range from four to five, with the fifth compound a super-super-soft.

The change is part of wider shake-up of the tyre rules for next season, in the hope it will create different strategies and allow teams to take a more aggressive of conservative route.

At present Pirelli nominate two dry compounds from a possible four for each race weekend, both of which must be used at least once during the race.

However in 2016, it's believed they will move to a new system whereby Pirelli nominate three compounds, one of which will be mandatory, again this will be chosen by Pirelli, whilst the teams themselves can choose one from the remaining two they will run alongside Pirelli's chosen tyre.

According to Autosport, the compounds will likely be called A, B, C, D and E, or numbered one through five, but when three have been selected for a race, they will be known as the soft, medium and hard options.

If Pirelli elects the medium compound as the mandatory option, a team could choose between running the medium and soft for an aggressive strategy, or a conservative one with the medium and hard.

The move is a watered-down version of the Strategy Group's proposal to allow a completely free tyre choice. With Pirelli voicing concerns over safety, they proposed the aforementioned idea which is due to go before a vote later this month.

[MIKA27]

Raikkonen has no issue helping Vettel in title battle

Kimi Raikkonen says he's ready to play a supporting role in helping team-mate Sebastian Vettel in the battle for the championship, if he finds himself in a position to do so.

Whilst Raikkonen is 145 points adrift of leader Lewis Hamilton, Vettel is less than two race wins off with a gap of just 49 points following his victory in Singapore and Hamilton's DNF.

"Obviously we hope to have a good end for the championship for both of us, but obviously I'm not really in the championship," conceded the Finn.

"If it comes to that [helping Vettel] I've no issues with it, I've done it before," he said in reference to Felipe Massa's close fight for the title in 2008.

"We're here to fight for Ferrari. Who knows? Time will tell."

However Raikkonen isn't ruling out a win for himself in 2015, despite having been in the podium just twice in 13 races.

"Hopefully we can win, that's the aim always. I wouldn't be here if I wouldn't believe that I could win," he said.

"It hasn't been an ideal year. I think if it happens this year it happens, if not we try next year again. But obviously the aim is always to do well."

[MIKA27]

Haas to make driver announcement on Tuesday

Gene Haas has scheduled a press conference for Tuesday next week, with confirmation that it will include a driver announcement.

The American team is set to join the grid in 2016 and has yet to confirm either of its drivers, but insists it must sign a driver with experience given its position.

The Haas F1 Team has a technical partnership with Ferrari, therefore one of its two seats will likely go to either Esteban Gutierrez or Jean-Eric Vergne.

Meanwhile Romain Grosjean is rumoured to have signed a contract with Haas.

The announcement is to take place at Haas' factory in Kannapolis on Tuesday.

[MIKA27]

McLaren to test gearbox fix during Japanese practice

McLaren are hoping they've found a cure for their overheating gearbox problem and will test the fix during practice for the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday.

The team headed to Singapore with high hopes of scoring a handful of points. Both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were running in the points as their power problems were masked by the slow layout of the Marina Bay circuit.

However both later retired with the same problem, which Alonso is hoping won't trouble them again.

"Last week in Singapore we retired with an overheating gearbox," said the Spaniard on Thursday.

"We studied [the problem], we came up with solutions and we'll test those solutions tomorrow in the free practice."

With the team failing to score any points for a tenth time this season, Alonso believes the criticism is deserved, but insisted both McLaren and Honda are working hard to resolve the issues which have plagued their season so far.

"We should be criticised, that is understandable but from the team point of view we can only do what we can do," he added.

"Everyone is doing 100 per cent of their ability. We need to learn lessons."

[MIKA27]

“Big surprise” if Mercedes struggle at Suzuka – Vettel

Sebastian Vettel says it will be a “big surprise” if Mercedes struggle as much this weekend as they did in Singapore.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg qualified on the third row in Singapore, 1.4 seconds off Vettel’s pace, despite Mercedes having taken pole position at every other race this year.

Vettel told reporters in Japan he doesn’t expect Mercedes to have another difficult weekend.

“You have to remain realistic,” said Vettel. “I think in a way it was a big surprise to see Mercedes struggling which I don’t expect being the case here, again it would be a big surprise.”

“But if the chance is there we have to go for it,” he added.

“The nature of the track is completely different here. We have to wait, the weather could bring a lot of surprises as well so it could be a tough weekend.”

[MIKA27]

Drivers are still not convinced by F1’s hybrids – Vettel

Sebastian Vettel says drivers still aren’t convinced F1 has gone in the right direction by switching to V6 hybrid turbo engines.

The new engine formula increased last year has led to much quieter cars, which some claim has hurt F1’s appeal. Lap times also rose in the first year with the new engines, indicating a reduction in car performance levels. However this may also be due to new aerodynamic restrictions introduced last year, and so far this season lap times have fallen and top speeds continued to rise.

However Vettel remains sceptical about the change and claims other drivers share his view.

“I think the power unit, for us drivers – well, it is what it is,” he said during today’s FIA press conference. “I think we’re not probably at the same standings as the fans in terms of sound etc…”

“Obviously it is a step back but in terms of the technology behind it, it is incredible. The question still remains open, whether we need it or not, that’s for everyone, individually, to decide, I guess.”

According to Vettel, there are other aspects of current F1 car design which drivers are unhappy with.

“I think obviously the cars changed massively from ’13 to ’14, not just the power unit but also the car itself,” he said. “So I think for all of us it was the experience that there’s quite a lot less grip available, which as a driver is obviously not the right direction to go in because you want to go faster.”

The introduction of the new engines coincided with Vettel’s only win-less full season in F1 to date. However he said he is happier with this year’s car, which he scored his third victory with last weekend.

“There were some things that I had to get used to and for sure, at the beginning of the year, last year wasn’t great, getting the experience with this generation of cars etc…” Vettel explained.

“On top, I had a difficult year for many reasons but yeah, I think much more in control and comfortable with this year’s car compared to last year’s for many reasons, but I don’t think it’s down to the power unit really.”

[MIKA27]

Hamilton: I don't believe in conspiracies

Lewis Hamilton is adamant that he doesn't believe in any conspiracy theories regarding the tyres used by Mercedes in Singapore – and says that the team's problems were a result of set-up issues.

After qualifying in fifth at Marina Bay, his worst grid position since last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton challenged his team to find out why he and Nico Rosberg had struggled badly for grip, and since the race his engineers have conducted an in-depth analysis.

“Whatever happened, happened,” he said at Suzuka on Thursday.

“I believe there are reasons in our balance and our set-up that we had, the avenues that we went down which affected the car the way it did and the tyres the way it did, and the other teams perhaps did better than us.

“I don't believe in all that conspiracy stuff, we just put it down to the technical side of things, and we could have done a better job.”

Confident issues understood

Hamilton added that the team is satisfied with the results of its post-race investigation.

“I can't tell you what the team have come up with, but they have come up with a lot of solutions, a lot of reasons for it being the way it was.

“The majority of them believe at least one of the many solutions, or reasons for it that we've came up, with had a domino effect.

“I'm confident that it's been understood, but they will continue to do analysis, I'm sure.”

“It was consistent, it felt the same all weekend. We obviously changed the set-up, so it felt better by Saturday in qualifying, it felt better by the race. But generally it was the same.

“It felt normal to us, we didn't have more grip at one point, and less grip later. That's the grip we had all weekend, and it felt normal to us. It's just the others had more.”

He added: “I believe it was specific to Singapore, so we should go back to normal weekends, really.”

However, he said that Mercedes was not taking anything for granted after its worst performance of the season, which yielded a single fourth place finish for Rosberg as Hamilton retired with a turbo failure.

“Well you can never say never, thinking that it was just a fluke or anything like that,” said the Brit.

“Sometimes there are going to be situations like that whether it's this year or next year or the year after.

“I'm hoping that we've learned from that weekend, and hopefully it won't happen again.”

[MIKA27]

Alonso expects Mercedes slump to remain a "mystery"

Fernando Alonso says the reasons for Mercedes' slump in performance in Singapore will be a 'mystery' that may never be solved, as Pirelli on Thursday moved to further dispel talk of a conspiracy.

The way that Mercedes struggled for pace last weekend on the back of its season-long dominance left many in the sport scratching their heads, and even prompted wild theories of the team being deliberately hobbled.

But while the Brackley-based team thinks it has discovered the answers in terms of tyre temperature issues, Alonso suggests that the full reasons may never come to light.

He is confident, however, that it will prove to be a one-off, and Mercedes will be back on form in Japan.

"I think I will be surprised if this [singapore performance] will be the normal performance of Mercedes," he explained.

"We have all been here many years, and we never saw [any team] being one second faster all year long and being 1.5 seconds slower for another race.

"This is a mystery that we will probably never understand. But this is F1. You take it or you leave it."

Pirelli explains tyre picking process

Pirelli found itself in Singapore having to deny suggestions that there could have been a conspiracy involving Mercedes running different compound tyres to everyone else.

In a note sent out to media on Thursday, Pirelli explained how F1's tyre picking process worked to make clear that such a scenario could not happen, because selections are totally random.

This means it would have been impossible for it, or anyone else, to have deliberately influenced the tyre selection to give one team either superior or inferior rubber.

All of the 1700 tyres that are used over a GP weekend are fitted with a bar code, which is embedded in the structure and cannot be removed.

Pirelli's system then randomly grounds the bar codes in to blocks of four – for two front and two rear tyres – and then a list of those sets is sent to the FIA.

The FIA then allocates those sets to teams on a random basis.

The Pirelli note said: "Pirelli itself is not involved in this whole process at all, meaning that the Italian firm cannot if any way influence which tyres are allocated to which teams, or when they are used – although a rigorous quality control process ensures that all the tyres leaving the factory are identical anyway."

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery added: "Deciding which tyres are allocated to which teams, or when they are used, is a job taken care of entirely by the FIA once the tyres have left the factory."

[MIKA27]

Red Bull Racing - From Singapore to Japan

Follow the Infiniti Red Bull Racing team as Jonathan Wheatley takes us behind the scenes of the team journey from Singapore to the legendary circuit of Suzuka in Japan.

[MIKA27]

Singapore GP Review + Japanese GP Preview + Back-to-Back Races Prep

In this week's Studio Show Leandra reviews what happened at the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend. We also have all the facts and figures for you about the Suzuka circuit ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend. And Leandra talks to one of the team's engineers about how the team prepares for back-to-back races and what happens at the factory during a race weekend.

[capitalpg]

Ferrari is poised to make a nice run for the 2nd half of the season as they have nothing to lose by taking uncharacteristic risks. Constructors 2nd place is almost assured, so they really have the ability to play spoiler. Team appears cohesive is all respects which doesn't hurt.

It'll be fun for sure!

[MIKA27]

Ferrari is poised to make a nice run for the 2nd half of the season as they have nothing to lose by taking uncharacteristic risks. Constructors 2nd place is almost assured, so they really have the ability to play spoiler. Team appears cohesive is all respects which doesn't hurt.

It'll be fun for sure!

It's a great spanner in the works for sure

I'm a Mercedes fan BUT in saying that, I was pleased to see another team take P1 which makes the season alot more interesting.

Welcome to the forum by the way, thanks for posting

[MIKA27]

I can turn it around, says Rosberg 24 September 2015

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg believes he can turn it around and overhaul Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, although he concedes he does have to start winning, beginning with this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

After Hamilton suffered his first retirement of the season in Singapore last Sunday, due to a technical problem, Rosberg closed the gap from 53 points to 41, with six races remaining and a total of 150 points up for grabs.

Quizzed on if he feels he can still catch his team-mate ahead of the 14th round in the 2015 F1 World Championship, Rosberg replied: “Yeah, six races to go - and my focus really is on the race itself [here] because I need to win. To go in the right direction I need to win races and so I need to try and start now and win Suzuka. So that's what I'm focusing on, then once I manage that I will think about the rest.”

Pressed on if he knows what he needs to do to beat Hamilton, Rosberg replied: “I just have to do a great job and get my weekends together and be at my best. That's what I'm aiming for anyway, it's so small that it just takes Lewis to have a bit of a worse weekend and me to have a bit of a better one and then it will be enough to turn it around.

“It's been within a tenth our qualifying now for the last races - Monza is difficult to judge because of different engines but it has been very, very close so it doesn't take much.”

Rosberg also said he wasn't frustrated that the race where Hamilton retired was the one that Mercedes wasn't in the hunt.

“I understand why you'd say that but it is for me a bit far-fetched, that idea, to think of it in that way. I didn't think of it that way, I thought about it simply in the way that I made up many of the points I lost in Monza [when my engine let go], closed down the gap which is definitely going in the right direction.

“That's it, I didn't think more than that.”

Meanwhile, Rosberg added that while Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari are a danger, it is Hamilton he is gunning for.

“Well Sebastian's a threat for sure and we're all keeping an eye on him, definitely, and on Ferrari in general because they have been very strong at times this year and they have been our closest competitor. They are capable of anything so we need to be careful,” Rosberg confirmed.

“But championship-wise I'm not looking backwards, I'm just looking forwards because if it comes to that then third or second is not really a difference to me. I'm going for first place this year - second I've already been last year - and so only first place counts.

“I'm just looking forwards, so Sebastian being a couple of points closer or further away doesn't really make a difference for me.

“I'm just looking at the 41 points to Lewis.”

[MIKA27]

Relaxed Ricciardo not ‘breaking Mateschitz’s balls yet’

Daniel Ricciardo remains confident that Red Bull Racing will 'get what it's after' as it continues negotiations with Ferrari about an engine supply for 2016, saying he isn't yet concerning himself with the prospect of the team quitting F1.

On the back of his best result of the season in Singapore, Ricciardo faces a relatively uncertain future as power unit discussions between Red Bull and Ferrari continue on against the backdrop of speculation the team will leave F1 if it cannot get the deal it wants.

Indeed, the agreement seemingly hinges on whether Red Bull can land 'parity' in terms of developments and updates, a status Ferrari may be less willing to accept given the team's upturn in performance around the chassis-compliant Singapore street circuit.

From Ricciardo's perspective though there is relatively little concern, saying he is gleaning confidence from Christian Horner and Helmut Marko that the situation will be resolved, even if he hasn't approach Dietrich Mateschitz as yet.

“I am too young to have a year off, but right now I am not concerned – more curious to see what happens basically. It is still only September, so sure the sooner we get an answer the better don't get me wrong, but we are not in November or December yet.

“When you start getting towards that part of the year, then you have got to really decide what is going to happen, but it is still early. I am confident we will get what we are after. Curious to see how it unfolds.

“I have spoken to Helmut and Christian. I haven't broken Dietrich's balls yet. I am sure he has got a lot on his plate. I will let him do what he needs to

“Christian and Helmut are confident we will figure it out one way or another. Obviously it is in our interests to try and get the best [power unit]. We want to win as well, so that is what we are trying to get.

“If it gets later in the year and still nothing has come, then yeah, maybe I will make a little bit of noise. But honestly I don't think it will get to that.”

[davidsan]

Got to love the F1 circus which happens around this time of the year, driver changes, engine changes & tyre changes for next year and the puppet master Bernie at the centre of it all.

It should be an interesting race if it's wet, and all eyes on how the Merc's can recover from last race.

[MIKA27]

Alonso: McLaren-Honda deserves criticism

Fernando Alonso says that the McLaren-Honda partnership deserves to be criticised for its lack of progress this season – as it prepares for more tough times on the engine manufacturer's home turf.

The Spaniard has endured a frustrating campaign, with a lack of performance and reliability woes having left the Woking-based outfit in ninth place in the constructors' championship.

Alonso said ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix that the team's struggles did not shock him any more, and that fans had every right to be critical of the lack of progress his outfit had made in 2015.

“It is not a surprise any more,” he said about potential disappointment on Honda's home ground. “This has been processed in February, because when you are five seconds off the pace in Australia you don't think you arrive in Suzuka on the podium. It is the way it is.

“We are taking races in a completely different approach to what it should be, in terms of how the performance will be and how competition is with other teams.

“We take races as a very important test, as an opportunity to learn many things with other cars together around us.

“But when this is difficult to take from the fan point of view, I understand, and we should be criticised for our performance because we are not delivering what the people are expecting from us. This is understandable.

"But from the team point of view it is a little bit different because we cannot do much more than we do, and everyone is 100% focused on reliability.”

Winter wait

With Honda's having to wait until the winter to make needed architectural changes to the layout of its engine, Alonso is well aware that there is little hope of a performance lift before the end of the campaign.

However, that thinks there are still things that can be gained this season that will help McLaren next year.

When asked about targets for the remainder of the campaign, he said: “I don't think we will see anything better than what we saw in Singapore, so we cannot expect any miracle or any position that will definitely make happy everyone, and will show the direction for next year.

“We need to concentrate on next year's car and follow the programme. I think everyone is doing what they can, and everyone is working 24 hours a day to improve the situation in all areas.

“We need to improve the performance, we need to improve the reliability, some of the procedures that we do in the weekend, some free practice philosophies, some pit stops as we saw in Singapore, and some driver errors that we do sometimes.

“We have had some difficult free practice sessions with minimal laps, and we go to qualifying and we have only one lap because in Q2 we do not arrive, so on that one lap it is not perfect."

He added: “We all need to improve from the first mechanic to the drivers. We are in that part of the process and I will be happy in that part of the year if we keep growing on that aspect of the trackside, and if we keep making progress in the development of this year and next year's power unit and next year's chassis.”

[MIKA27]

Japanese GP: Sensational Sainz masters wet conditions at Suzuka

Rookie Carlos Sainz Jr topped an official Formula 1 session with Toro Rosso for the first time in his short career in the opening free practice session at Suzuka.

Sainz, the son of two-time World Rally Champion of the same name, picked his moment perfectly on intermediate tyres to record a 1m49.434s. He then immediately complained of “more aquaplaning” as the rain intensified once more.

Story of the session

With a soaked track, not much happened for the first part of the session apart from installation laps.

Max Verstappen was the first to show after 53 minutes, recording a 1m51.741s on wet tyres, with Toro Rosso teammate Sainz exactly 2s slower on his first lap.

Verstappen worked down to a 1m51.640s, with Sainz doing likewise to a 1m52.201s. Then Sainz improved to 1m51.369s, before switching to inters.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel went P2 on wets, before Nico Rosberg hit the top spot on 1m51.077s – also using full wets.

There was then a brief window in the weather to allow cars to chance their luck on intermediate tyres. Braveheart Verstappen was first, recording a 1m50.940s, with Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat then laying down an impressive P1 time of 1m49.938s on his very first lap on inters.

But Sainz timed his run to perfection, beating him to the top spot with 1m49.434s, before complaining of “more aquaplaning” as the rain fell harder.

Kvyat stayed second, over half a second in arrears, ahead of Rosberg, Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen fell to sixth, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa (Williams), Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) and Valtteri Bottas (Williams).

Only 12 cars recorded times, despite a healthy turnout from a huge crowd the other eight cars couldn't be bothered to complete a flying lap.

Plenty of scary moments

Bottas, on inters, suffered a big moment exiting Turn 2 as he splashed through a river, while Verstappen overshot at Spoon and rejoined. Massa also did well to stay out of the wall after a huge moment.

Vettel had a massive twitch on the high-speed kink approaching Spoon, while Nasr just stayed out of the gravel in the Spoon corner itself, and Sauber teammate Ericsson followed suit near the end of the session and explored the 103R run-off too.

Raikkonen had a big moment at Turn 1 on wets at the end, but everyone kept their cars on the track.

Times

1 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:49.434 10 laps

2 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:49.938 0.504 7 laps

3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:50.077 0.643 14 laps

4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:50.519 1.085 12 laps

5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:50.722 1.288 6 laps

6 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:50.940 1.506 10 laps

7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:51.212 1.778 15 laps

8 Felipe Massa Williams 1:52.288 2.854 12 laps

9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:53.820 4.386 12 laps

10 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:53.964 4.530 14 laps

11 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:54.013 4.579 9 laps

12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:55.678 6.244 6 laps

13 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull No time 1 lap

14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India No time 4 laps

15 Sergio Perez Force India No time 3 laps

16 Fernando Alonso McLaren No time 5 laps

17 Pastor Maldonado Lotus No time 1 lap

18 Jolyon Palmer Lotus No time 1 lap

19 Will Stevens Manor No time 3 laps

20 Alexander Rossi Manor No time 4 laps

[capitalpg]

Hoping there is no Merc recovery;)

Prayers that Ferrari is able to build upon the slight momentum gained last race. F1 needs a strong Ferrari showing to make this a "drama" filled latter half of season. Obviously biased, but without strong Ferrari, F1 just isn't F1.

[MIKA27]

Japanese GP: Kvyat quickest in rain-hit FP2

Daniil Kvyat set the pace in a wet second free practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, as the rain restricted the running once again.

Although the rain had stopped for the start of the session, the track was always very wet, and no one managed to run on slicks.

Red Bull's Kvyat led the way with a quickest lap of 1:48.277, set on intermediate tyres, ahead of the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

Kvyat's teammate Daniel Ricciardo was fourth, with Singapore GP winner Sebastian Vettel completing the top five for Ferrari, albeit nearly two seconds off the pace.

As the lights turned green, there was no hurry from most teams to get any early running done, with the track still very wet, even though the rain had stopped earlier.

Kvyat, however, broke the silence three minutes in, the Russian venturing out on intermediate tyres and setting the first timed lap of the session, which was already faster than the best FP1 time set by Carlos Sainz.

Rosberg took to the top of the times after 15 minutes, lapping a full second quicker than Kvyat as the conditions improved as more cars jumped onto the track.

Hamilton made it a Mercedes 1-2 on the timesheets, the Briton lapping over half a second slower than his teammate just minutes later.

As the session reached the 30-minute mark, most drivers had set a laptime.

The McLarens and Valtteri Bottas had not appeared on the timesheets, however, Fernando Alonso spending some 45 minutes in the pits as his McLaren team was forced to revert to his Singapore GP engine following problems during opening practice.

Teammate Jenson Button, like Bottas, took things easy and did not seem in a hurry to post a time. The Finn did not take to the track at all.

Max Verstappen also faced a delay as his Toro Rosso mechanics worked on his car, the Dutchman not taking to the track during the first 30 minutes of running.

Some 35 minutes in, Kvyat set a new benchmark - 1:48.277 - still on intermediate tyres, just beating Rosberg's time.

But the rain began again with some 50 minutes to go, making the laptimes significantly slower and reducing the number of cars on track.

First Marcus Ericsson and later Alonso ventured out with full wets in the final 30 minutes, but the running was scarce, with heavy rain hitting the circuit.

There were several incidents during the session as the drivers tried to find the grip limits, but none of significance.

[capitalpg]

This track, the weather and with Shumi in the cockpit... Ah, this would be an epic turn of fortunes for Ferrari - one can only dream!

Hoping Ferrari finds pace tomorrow/tonight as not looking very promising at the moment. Vettel & kimi should do OK in wet though.

[MIKA27]

This track, the weather and with Shumi in the cockpit... Ah, this would be an epic turn of fortunes for Ferrari - one can only dream!

Hoping Ferrari finds pace tomorrow/tonight as not looking very promising at the moment. Vettel & kimi should do OK in wet though.

[MIKA27]

HORNER: MATESCHITZ IS DISILLUSIONED WITH F1

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said on Friday that owner Dietrich Mateschitz has become “disillusioned” with Formula One but insisted he was fighting to prevent the team from leaving the sport.

The Austrian energy drinks giant has threatened to quit F1 if it cannot secure guarantees of a competitive engine next year after its impending split from Renault with Ferrari considered the best – and perhaps, only – option.

Speaking before this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Horner pulled no punches about Red Bull’s possible exit.

“Dietrich Mateschitz doesn’t talk very often, but when he does you have to sit up and take notice,” he told reporters in Suzuka. “He is somewhat disillusioned with F1 at the moment and has been very consistent in that statement. It is my job to try to find a solution.

“We have a big commitment to F1, a big workforce, a very talented team, and I’m doing my best to try to ensure we find a competitive engine to power the team next year.

“Of course if that is not the case there is a risk because Red Bull’s position is different to teams like McLaren, Williams or Ferrari,” he added.

“Formula One has to provide a marketing return globally. In order to do that, you need to be able to not be restricted in terms of the tools at your disposal.”

A formal announcement of Red Bull’s split with engine suppliers Renault could be made soon but Horner said talks with the French carmaker were continuing.

“There are some positive discussions going on behind the scenes with Renault,” he said. “Red Bull’s position and Renault’s position is fairly clear with what we want to achieve. Hopefully that should be concluded in the coming days.”

Red Bull entered Formula One in 2005 and dominated the sport between 2010-13 when German Sebastian Vettel won four successive world titles.

They have made a commitment to the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone to race until 2020, but Horner blamed a diminished return on investment since those glory days for Red Bull’s change of heart.

“As Bernie Ecclestone often says, circumstances change,” said Horner. “The circumstances now are very different compared to when we entered into that agreement.

“(But) our intention is to find a solution. There is an awful lot of work going on to find a solution. Every effort is going on to ensure Red Bull will be here until 2020, and hopefully beyond. But there’s some big questions that obviously need answering.”

[MIKA27]

McLaren trying to convince Button to stay next year

McLaren's chief operating officer, Jonathan Neale, has hinted that Jenson Button has decided to retire from Formula 1 at the end of the season, but says discussions are ongoing with the team keen to convince him to stay.

The Briton recently said the sport was giving him no "joy" due to McLaren's difficult situation which has seen them score in just three races so far this season.

When asked if he'd come to a decision with regards his future, Button recently said: "There is no more information to give you", but added that he was having "good talks" with the team.

Neale meanwhile is hoping the team, which holds an option on his services, can convince Button to stay.

"There's a lot of discussion about where Jenson is at," he said in Japan.

"He is a fantastic guy, a World Champion, and a big part of our family at Honda and McLaren.

"We are contracted with him, we want him to stay and we like him very much, but if you are a driver who doesn't really want to be in a seat, then you have to respect that.

"I really hope we have done enough between us to continue those discussions with him and have the confidence to have him with us. That is what we would like."

[LLC]

HORNER: MATESCHITZ IS DISILLUSIONED WITH F1

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said on Friday that owner Dietrich Mateschitz has become “disillusioned” with Formula One but insisted he was fighting to prevent the team from leaving the sport.

The Austrian energy drinks giant has threatened to quit F1 if it cannot secure guarantees of a competitive engine next year after its impending split from Renault with Ferrari considered the best – and perhaps, only – option.

Speaking before this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Horner pulled no punches about Red Bull’s possible exit.

“Dietrich Mateschitz doesn’t talk very often, but when he does you have to sit up and take notice,” he told reporters in Suzuka. “He is somewhat disillusioned with F1 at the moment and has been very consistent in that statement. It is my job to try to find a solution.

“We have a big commitment to F1, a big workforce, a very talented team, and I’m doing my best to try to ensure we find a competitive engine to power the team next year.

“Of course if that is not the case there is a risk because Red Bull’s position is different to teams like McLaren, Williams or Ferrari,” he added.

“Formula One has to provide a marketing return globally. In order to do that, you need to be able to not be restricted in terms of the tools at your disposal.”

A formal announcement of Red Bull’s split with engine suppliers Renault could be made soon but Horner said talks with the French carmaker were continuing.

“There are some positive discussions going on behind the scenes with Renault,” he said. “Red Bull’s position and Renault’s position is fairly clear with what we want to achieve. Hopefully that should be concluded in the coming days.”

Red Bull entered Formula One in 2005 and dominated the sport between 2010-13 when German Sebastian Vettel won four successive world titles.

They have made a commitment to the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone to race until 2020, but Horner blamed a diminished return on investment since those glory days for Red Bull’s change of heart.

“As Bernie Ecclestone often says, circumstances change,” said Horner. “The circumstances now are very different compared to when we entered into that agreement.

“(But) our intention is to find a solution. There is an awful lot of work going on to find a solution. Every effort is going on to ensure Red Bull will be here until 2020, and hopefully beyond. But there’s some big questions that obviously need answering.”

If you got points for whining they would be world champions already. This just goes on and on. Leave already. Nothing but sour

[MIKA27]

SUZUKA QUALIFYING: ROSBERG TAKES POLE AS MERCEDES BOUNCE BACK

After a forgettable weekend in Singapore, Mercedes bounced back in the best way possible by annexing the front row of the grid for the Japanese Grand Prix with Nico Rosberg set to start from pole and teammate Lewis Hamilton beside him – the session was cut short after Daniil Kvyat ploughed into the barriers just as they all filed out for their second runs in Q3; the Russian was unhurt.

Rosberg seemed to have the edge all day over Hamilton and in his first run popped a 1:32.584 which in the end was only seven hundredth of a second up on his world championship teammate who made a couple of telling mistakes on his first flying lap, and may well have had the fire-power to steal top spot from Rosberg, but we will never know…

Rosberg was relieved afterwards, “A great day today. A good comeback for the team after such a difficult weekend in Singapore. We really turned things around and I pretty much nailed my laps today. Great position for tomorrow.”

He added, “I am confident that the car will be good on Sunday. Like everybody else we did not have the perfect preparation so there could be a few surprises tomorrow.”

After the first runs the scene was set for an interesting pole shootout between the Silver Arrows duo but we were denied, instead it was an anti-climatic finish to a second day of action in which Mercedes firmly reinstated themselves at the very top of the F1 pecking order.

Hamilton said, “The first lap I lost a bit of time in Turn 11 and in the last corner. Nico is driving well this weekend. I felt pretty well on that last lap but the main thing is that Kvyat is OK.”

Valtteri Bottas in the Williams made it Mercedes power for the top three albeit almost half a second adrift of the top time, while teammate Felipe Massa’s time was good for fifth place on the grid.

Bottas summed up, “Third is very good for us. We knew this track would be better for our car. Today was a difficult qualifying because of the rain on Friday, so a good surprise.”

Splitting the Williams pair, in fourth, was Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari with teammate Kimi Raikkonen seventh.

But the big story was the dramatic final stages of qualifying as Kvyat got on the grass,lost control and got on the sand which launched his Red Bull into the barrier, snapping a wheel before it came to a rest. Kvyat was fine but nevertheless it was a heart stopping moment.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said, “It was a big impact, but the main thing is he is fine. A little bit winded. I think he was trying to optimise all the track he could to get as much speed out of it he could.”

Report in progress…