FORMULA 1 - 2016


Recommended Posts

KVYAT UNDER-FIRE AFTER AWFUL PERFORMANCE IN RUSSIA

DaniilKvyatF1GrandPrixChinaPracticetW_Vb

Daniil Kvyat’s future with Red Bull was cast into doubt on Monday when the team said they would summon him for talks on his role in the multiple-collision that wrecked their ambitions in Russian Grand Prix.
The Russian racer rammed into the Ferrari of former Red Bull hero, four-time world champion German Sebastian Vettel, twice on the opening lap of an eventful race won by Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.
Vettel and two other drivers were forced to retire on the opening lap and both Kvyat and his Red Bull team-mate Australian Daniel Ricciardo’s cars suffered severe damage.
They continued, but finished out of the points adrift of victorious German Nico Rosberg who won ahead of his Mercedes team-mate defending champion Briton Lewis Hamilton. Rosberg now leads Hamilton by 43 points in the title race.
It was Rosberg’s fourth straight win this season and seventh in succession, including three last year, and was a disastrous day for the chasing pack including the Ferrari and Red Bull teams.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner apologised to Vettel and Ferrari for Kvyat’s impetuous driving in Turns Two and Three and the Russian afterwards apologised to Vettel and ‘everyone involved’ for his reckless moves.
After the race, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Austrian Helmut Marko, the hard-headed consultant who oversees the team for Red Bull owner Dieter Mateschitz, made clear his displeasure.
VettelKvyat.jpg?resize=750%2C451
“Let’s put it this way,” he said. “Kvyat was over-motivated. Braking too late once and hitting another car would be acceptable in front of his home crowd, but this doesn’t apply for the second crash.
“It’s a pity because he not only ruined Vettel’s race – and Ricciardo’s race – but also his own race. He had to do an extra stop. It was a day of disaster for Red Bull.”
It was the second successive race in which Kvyat had crashed into Vettel, having angered the German by careering into his car the start of the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks earlier.
He said the team did not want to discuss the matter in detail in Sochi because emotions were too high. Ricciardo had demanded an apology from Kvyat after the race and the Russian said he spoke to Vettel by phone.
“Let’s cool down a bit,” said Marko. “During the week, we will talk about this.”
Although Finn Kimi Raikkonen finished third for Ferrari, it was only a consolation to the team after the loss of Vettel in an atmosphere of rising pressure as they labour to keep pace with Mercedes.
Max-Verstappen-F1-Grand-Prix-Bahrain-uUy
Red Bull have also made clear they have ambitions to close the gap and revive their former glories and have hinted that driver changes are likely.
The huge potential of Dutch teenager Max Verstappen and his team-mate Spaniard Carlos Sainz at the Red Bull ‘sister’ and ‘feeder’ team Toro Rosso are under close observation with a view to one of them stepping up – as both Ricciardo and Kvyat did.
The competitive tensions between all four drivers are intense and have become so strong at Toro Rosso that the team recruited the vastly-experienced former Manor team boss John Booth to assist in their management as a consultant director of racing.
Verstappen, 18, has been linked with Ferrari while Sainz, 21, is also regarded as a ‘hot shoe’ with a big future ahead of him.
Both are the sons of former racing drivers – Verstappen’s father Jos raced in F1 while Sainz’s father Carlos was a two-time world champion rally driver.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 3.4k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Posts

He screwed himself.  No one forced him to drive that aggressively onto the curb.  Did drivers get screwed by the wall in Monaco when they slam into it?  By qualifying everyone knew what the curbs were

Ha Ha

I thought it was a fairly entertaining race. McLaren had some speed, Alonso would would've been a p7 or 8 had he not had that horrific crash. Renault engines, when the work, look to have decent pace

HAAS: I REALISE THAT, BOY, THIS IS A TOUGH SPORT

Gene-Haas.jpg?resize=750%2C500

The Haas Formula 1 team came back down to earth with a bump in China two weeks ago but Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix put the US-owned newcomers back into orbit.
Romain Grosjean delivered their third scoring finish in four races and again it came after the Frenchman started way down the grid.
“I think we are kind of between Earth and the Moon right now,” team owner Gene Haas told Reuters as he considered another job well done.
“Any day that you get points, that’s a great day. We’re very happy with what we did. I think Romain did a great job of maintaining his position in the last 20 or so laps. He’s scored points three-quarters of the time.”
Grosjean, who joined from the financially-stricken former Lotus team that is now Renault, was eighth in Sochi after starting 15th on a one-stop strategy.
He was sixth in Australia, where he qualified 19th on the team’s debut, and then took fifth in Bahrain from ninth on the grid.
RG-en-route-to-eighth-at-Sochi.jpg?resiz
In China, the race before Sochi, the Frenchman had struggled home in 19th place with Mexican teammate Esteban Gutierrez 14th and there was talk of a reality check for the Ferrari-powered newcomers.
Haas said the team, riding high in fifth position overall, had no illusions about the task ahead but there was also plenty to be optimistic about over the next 17 races.
“We have a lot left in the car to develop so there’s a lot of positives, that’s for sure,” he explained.
“I think it’s going to get harder. I think the other teams look more competitive. The time gaps between all the competitors has shrunk so it’s going to be more and more difficult going forward to score points. I’m very excited but also I realise that, boy, this is a tough sport.”
Haas, the first US-owned team in 30 years, have now scored in more races already than the last all-new outfit, now-departed Toyota, did in their entire debut season in 2002.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ARRIVABENE: THERE ARE 17 RACES TO GO WE WILL NOT GIVE UP

Arrivabene-Ferrari-002.jpg?resize=750%2C

Maurizio Arrivabene insists Ferrari must keep its eye on the goal of winning the 2016 Formula 1 world championship despite Mercedes’ continued dominance.
Amid reliability troubles and recent race incidents for Sebastian Vettel, some suggest the pace and points gap to Mercedes is already looking insurmountable.
Team boss Arrivabene, however, is staying upbeat, “Everyone was aware before the season that an enormous task was in front of us,” he told Italian media after the Russian grand prix.
“For the world title, Ferrari must not give up and I will not allow it,” Arrivabene insisted. “We have 17 race weekends still ahead of us and I am not convinced that the championship train is pulling out of the station.”
However, the Vettel-Daniil Kvyat crashes aside, Sochi was not a good weekend for Ferrari in terms of pace.
Arrivabene said: “Yes, but due to the circuit characteristics of Sochi we also expected this.
“It must not happen again but I am convinced that we will be much stronger in the next circuits compared to here. Firstly because these circuits suit our car better and because the recent developments on the engine are more of an advantage on circuits like Barcelona.”
He is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport: “Ferrari has the human, technical and financial resources to stay in the race and reverse the current trend of the championship.”
Link to comment
Share on other sites

MALLYA RESIGNS FROM INDIAN PARLIAMENT

jm1404jy542.jpg?resize=750%2C500

Beleaguered Force India owner Vijay Mallya on Monday resigned as a lawmaker, even as a committee was preparing to expel him from parliament over an unpaid billion dollar bank loan.
The 60-year-old, a part-owner of the Force India Formula 1 team who used to run a liquor empire and Kingfisher Airlines, left India on March 2 despite calls for his arrest and is believed to be in Britain.
“He has resigned from Rajya Sabha (upper house) of the Indian parliament,” Mallya’s spokesman told AFP.
Last week the ethics committee from parliament’s upper house asked the embattled businessman to explain his conduct, after it unanimously decided to expel him over huge bank debts.
He reportedly travelled to Britain on a diplomatic passport while a group of public banks chased him for $1.43 billion in unpaid loans.
A two-time independent MP, Mallya has an arrest warrant against him over money laundering charges.
Once dubbed the “King of Good Times” for his lavish lifestyle, he represented his home state of Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha in 2002 and became a politician again in 2010, a term expiring in June 2016.
An active Twitter user, his profile continues to introduce him as a member of parliament.
Last month the Indian government revoked Mallya’s passport, after he repeatedly failed to appear before investigators looking into financial irregularities at Kingfisher Airlines, which shut down in 2012 after several loss-making years.
India has requested British authorities to deport him to face investigations in his home country.
His massive debt has become a symbol of Indian banks’ vast volume of bad loans — meaning in default or close to it — seen as a threat to financial stability in Asia’s third-largest economy.
He has denied absconding and has criticised the media for what he has called a “witch hunt”.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

LAUDA: I’M WORRIED ABOUT RELIABILITY OF OUR ENGINES

sne14310.jpg?resize=750%2C500

Mercedes chiefs Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff say priority number 1 is for the reigning champions to solve car reliability problems.
While Nico Rosberg utterly dominated at Sochi, his teammate Lewis Hamilton has suffered repeated technical problems that have caused some conspiracy theories to surface.
Wolff, however, said the German marque demonstrated its loyalty to the reigning world champion by rushing a part to Sochi by private plane that prevented a further penalty.
“The box came off the plane and within 90 seconds was out of the airport. I have no idea how Bernie (Ecclestone) managed to do that,” he smiled to Bild newspaper.
According to Auto Motor und Sport, the next private plane was flown out of Sochi by team chairman Niki Lauda, who will stop off at Brackley to ensure the team is straight to work on ending the series of engine problems.
That is because Hamilton suffered yet another technical glitch in the race in the form of a water leak, while telemetry from Rosberg’s winning car showed indications of a fault.
NikiLaudaF1GrandPrixChinawR1wUP99yRYx.jp
“For a moment we thought Nico’s race was over,” Wolff said, referring to Sunday’s race winner.
Lauda added: “I’m worried about the reliability of our engines but I trust our people to solve it. What man can build, he can also understand and fix.”
Wolff insists Mercedes will not panic, explaining that the problems are just the result of being pushed harder by rivals so far in 2016.
“The longer the rules are stable, the more difficult it is to find a few more horse power,” he said.
“Internally, we call our engine guy Andy Cowell ‘Mr Performance’, because he wants to get everything out of it that is humanly possible.
“But we might have to take a small step back and ensure that we are giving the drivers a car with which they can get to the finish line,” Wolff is quoted by RTL broadcaster.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ecclestone opposes cockpit protection

02b1022.6666666666666x767__origin__0x0_B

After Red Bull debuted their aeroscreen during FP1 of the Russian Grand Prix, Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that he is not the biggest fan of cockpit protection.
The F1 chief explained that teams will have one more thing to worry about and added that he doesn't how it would actually protect them if the car is moving at such tremendous speeds.
"We're going to get a lot of pitstops now when they have to stop to clean the screen and things," he told motorsport.com.
"I just think to try to simulate something when you've got a stationary object, and you're firing a tyre at it, when in the race when the wheel has come off normally both cars would be moving.
"So how can you simulate it by having a car stationary? And how would you ever know what's going to happen with a wheel anyway?
"If it hits the thing it would probably bounce off anyway. So I don't know."
When questioned about he thought about World Champion Lewis Hamilton claiming that danger is part of the appeal to spectators, Ecclestone said:"In his case I don't know whether the money made any difference as well.
"We can make it more dangerous if he wants."
He said that he doesn't like the proposed 'halo' concept or the aeroscreen.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fourth “was the limit” for Williams in Russia, says Bottas

f1-russian-gp-2016-valtteri-bottas-willi

Valtteri Bottas admits he was frustrated to lose out on a Russian GP podium spot to Kimi Raikkonen, but reckons fourth was the best Williams could do in Sochi.
Having started second, Bottas lost out to Raikkonen off the line, but then quickly retook the spot when the race was resumed after the safety car.
However, the Ferrari driver jumped him during the pitstops after Bottas got held up behind Fernando Alonso's McLaren.
After the race, the Williams driver conceded that, in the end, the Ferrari was simply faster.
“Not 100 percent happy, of course I wanted more,” said Bottas.
“But in the end, looking at the results, seeing the pace of Mercedes and Ferrari, that was the limit for us, pretty much.
“It was tough. I was really hoping today to fight for the third place, being in the top three, but obviously they had a quicker car.
"They managed to get us during the pitstops. I got stuck behind a McLaren for a while after my stop, so that cost me a little bit.”
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fuel saving cost McLaren-Honda 50 seconds in Russian Grand Prix

c316871dbdfb1262582f5f6f089159b5.jpg

Fuel saving cost the McLaren Formula 1 team 50 seconds in the Russian Grand Prix and without it, the team would have matched Williams's pace, says racing director Eric Boullier.
Fernando Alonso finished sixth, one lap down, but was 52.829 seconds behind fourth-placed Valtteri Bottas at Sochi.
Boullier says that gap was entirely down to the Honda engine's fuel appetite compared to rival power units.
"We can see that we are the team that have a lot of fuel saving for obvious reasons," said Boullier.
"But with Fernando you could see towards the end of the race he was more than 1.2s faster [per lap].
"So without fuel saving we'd save another 50s which we would've had at the end of the race.
"If you look, we are with Williams [without fuel-saving] so it's the kind of progress we need to go [further].
"But that the pace was good and the drivers were happy with the car balance.
"Fernando had some fun."
Alonso's team-mate Jenson Button was 10th to give McLaren its first double-points finish since last year's Hungarian GP.
Boullier said McLaren's race pace was better than expected and a welcome tonic after it just missed out on Q3.
"We keep bringing performance and missing Q3 for one tenth was a bit of blow," he said.
"But it was a good surprise in the race because our race pace was better than expected."
Alonso was delighted with the result as he felt it was reward for the team's hard work of late.
"I feel happy," he said. "We deserve the points, finally, after some unlucky situations. The pace was very good.
"We've been lucky at the start, we recovered some places after the accidents, but then the car performed quite well and we didn't have any threat from behind.
"We had the fifth-fastest lap of the race so I think sixth position is what we deserve and I'm happy with the way everything is going.
"We seem more and more competitive every race, so let's hope from Barcelona and Monaco to get some more points."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

HONEYMOON IS OVER AS VETTEL FEELS FERRARI TENSION

SebastianVettelF1GrandPrixRussiaQualifyi

Sebastian Vettel is starting feeling the pressure as Ferrari’s 2016 title push flounders, according to the Italian press after the grand prix in Russia.
“Vettel could not hide his anger,” wrote Corriere dello Sport, after the German was taken out by Daniil Kvyat at Sochi.
“The gap between Ferrari and Mercedes deepens more and more,” it added. “The Maranello team begins to get nervous and Vettel feels the impact of a tense climate.”
Indeed, the qualifying gap to Mercedes in Russia was almost a full second, while Nico Rosberg easily cruised to his fourth consecutive win in 2016.
“Ferrari is sinking in a quagmire of problems,” La Repubblica, also referring to reliability issues, said.
“The only consolation for Maranello (at Sochi) was Raikkonen, but his podium was not enough to mitigate the disappointment of Vettel’s weekend.”
La Gazzetta dello Sport agrees: “Vettel’s weekend could not have been worse. (Car) problems and the catastrophic start left Sebastian and Arrivabene angry with a weekend nobody expects from Ferrari.”
“Kimi reached the podium but (in the race) he fell asleep a couple of times,” wrote Umberto Zapelloni.
This was echied by Arrivabene immediately after the race, “Raikkonen? He had a good race but after the safety car he could have been better.”
Arrivabene-Vettel.jpg?resize=750%2C525
The sports daily explained that the anger of team boss Maurizio Arrivabene and Vettel is because, although just four races into the long 21-date calendar, the points gap to Rosberg is already 67 points.
“Ferrari is at a crossroads,” reported Gazzetta.
Arrivabene, however, was quoted as saying: “If we win the next five races, everything is open again.”
Former Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso thinks that is very unlikely, “Ferrari is having unfortunate races and mechanical problems, but the problem is the big advantage Mercedes has year after year.”
“It is true that Ferrari has more pressure because it seems to get closer and then not, but the problem is Mercedes,” the McLaren-Honda driver added.
Meanwhile in the wake of the Sochi weekend Ferrari big boss Sergio Marchionne has only added to the pressure by saying, “[sunday] was a bad day and we must close the gap at the speed of light.
“I am used to seeing the Ferrari of Schumacher so it hurts my soul to see a Ferrari that suffers,” added Marchionne, who earlier had set the team goals of immediate race wins and the title. “But I have the utmost confidence in the team that we will succeed.”
Link to comment
Share on other sites

MARKO: VETTEL KNOWS REVENGE WILL BRING NOTHING TO HIM

SebastianVettelDaniilKvyatF1GrandPrix76h

Red Bull driver manager Helmut Marko doubts Dannil Kvyat’s now two-race spat with Sebastian Vettel will spill into even more race weekends.
The pair argued before going onto the podium in China, before German Vettel launched a foul-mouthed radio tirade against the Russian in the wake of their Sochi clash.
Maurizio Arrivabene said Vettel had also gone “ballistic” behind closed doors, but Marko, Kvyat’s boss, doubts the former Red Bull driver will hold a grudge.
“I think Sebastian is so logical that he knows revenge will bring nothing to him. Instead he has to focus on getting good starts and bringing the car home in one piece. So I don’t believe this will be a problem,” said the Austrian.
Marko agrees with Ferrari’s Vettel that Kvyat was entirely to blame for Sochi and vowed to speak to the 22-year-old, “Let’s cool down a bit,” he said. “During the week, we will talk about this.”
Amid his dark period, Kvyat is at least receiving some backing from the F1 paddock.
“Daniil made a mistake with the first contact,” veteran David Coulthard told Tass news agency, “but for the second one he didn’t expect such a sharp deceleration from Vettel.
vettel-kvyat-crash4.jpg?resize=750%2C501
“Unfortunately, after a great race in China, Kvyat disappointed on his home track but he remains a terrific driver,” he added.
Former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos agrees: “Kvyat misjudged the braking with the first touch, but the second was a racing incident.
“It is of course very bad that you take the lead Ferrari off, but it seems that Vettel had a problem,” he told Ziggo Sport Totaal. “That corner is basically full throttle but you can see that Vettel is off the gas.”
Nevertheless, it is an awkward time for Kvyat, amid intense speculation that Max Verstappen is being lined up to replace him for 2017.
“The Russian has a few months to prove himself to (team boss) Christian Horner,” former F1 driver Franck Montagny told Le Point.
“He is clearly in danger of losing his place in the team. With what happened in China he is now under a lot of pressure. For next year it is likely that Red Bull will prefer one of the two Toro Rosso drivers,” he predicted.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ALESI: PRESSURE ON RED BULL DRIVERS IS UNHEALTHY

Helmut-Marko-F1-Grand-Prix-Malaysia-yFFz

Former F1 driver Jean Alesi thinks Red Bull is partly to blame for Daniil Kvyat’s first-lap crashes with Sebastian Vettel at Sochi, because of unhealthy pressure that the energy drinks backed drivers are under.
But that is not to say Alesi is not also pointing the finger at the young Russian, likening him hitting the Ferrari twice to “an attack”.
“Seb was hit, for me, in an incomprehensible way,” the Frenchman told Canal Plus broadcaster. “It looks like Kvyat was looking somewhere else, which is impossible.”
Alesi, who drove for teams including Ferrari and retired in 2001, said he thinks the ten-second stop and go penalty for Kvyat was not enough, “If we give ten seconds for an attack, because for me it was an attack, then where is the limit?”
He also points the finger at Red Bull and its notoriously tough driver programme headed by Dr Helmut Marko, “He (Kvyat) is a nice boy but he is under pressure.”
“I think it’s a bit unhealthy. They have four very good drivers in their cars plus another good driver, in this case French (Pierre Gasly), who is waiting for his turn. So everyone is under pressure and I think it creates first laps like that,” added Alesi.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

MCLAREN HAVE SIGNIFICANT UPDATE FOR SPANISH GRAND PRIX

X0W0716.jpg?resize=750%2C501

Following the highs of a double points finish at the Russian Grand Prix, McLaren are planning to upgrade their car with ‘significant’ updates for the next race in Spain.
Fernando Alonso’s sixth place and Jenson Button’s 10th marked just the second time both the McLaren drivers finished inside the top 10 since the team formed a partnership with Honda in 2015, with the previous occasion being in Hungary last July.
And having claimed that without fuel saving that McLaren can run at a similar pace with Williams, racing director Eric Boullier now hopes that a range of updates could see the Woking outfit take a step closer to the front of the pack.
“We have a significant upgrade for the next race in Spain,” said Boullier. “Monaco should suit us, so we should be more competitive in Monaco, but Barcelona I don’t know.”
Button was also positive of McLaren’s progress, citing that the team are in a far stronger position at this point of the campaign than they were in 2015.
“We’ve got a lot more points now at this time of the year compared to last year so it’s really good for the team,” the 2009 world champion said.
“The next race is still a little bit difficult for us on outright pace but then in Monaco [we can hope for] another good points haul.”
Meanwhile Aonso was also hopeful of the team’s chances in Monaco, which is expected to mask much of McLaren’s achilles heel in the Honda power unit and play to the strengths in their chassis.
But the Spaniard was also hopeful of quick pace at his home circuit at Catalunya.
“The potential is there and there are some circuits coming up now that will suit our car even better, like Barcelona and Monaco,” Alonso added.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

F1 DRIVERS TO DISCUSS RACE START CRASHES SAYS ALONSO

vettel-kvyat-crash.jpg?resize=750%2C500

Fernando Alonso says Formula 1 drivers will sit to discuss the recent series of messy race starts and incidents which has blighted races this season.
Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton collided in Bahrain, the two Ferraris clashed in China, and last Sunday at Sochi Sebastian Vettel was left furious after being punted into the barrier by the Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat.
“Especially the first few corners have been strange this year,” McLaren-Honda’s Alonso, one of the most experienced drivers in F1, told Cadena Cope radio.
“This last one (in Russia) I escaped by a whisker. For Barcelona we will try to speak about it at the drivers’ meeting,” said the Spaniard. “We have to see what has upset the grid so much this year.”
However, Alonso does not jump on the bandwagon of those slamming young Russian Kvyat, who was caught up not only in the first corner controversies in China but then again in Russia.
“Surely he was to blame for Sochi and that is why he received a penalty, so I am sure he will be a little calmer next time,” said the double world champion.
“But Shanghai I think was a little unfair (on Kvyat), the whole controversy was an unfortunate situation for everyone but I don’t think anyone was to blame.”
Link to comment
Share on other sites

PUTIN MEETING SURPRISED ROSBERG

VladimirPutinF1GrandPrixRussiaArIp92W2_s

Russian Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg has admitted to being surprised when he met Russia’s president Vladimir Putin after the race in Sochi.
As the drivers prepared for the podium ceremony, Putin and his translator spoke separately with Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and race winner Rosberg.
“He congratulated me,” Rosberg said, “but I was a little surprised that he did not speak German with me.
“He can actually speak German quite well, right?” the Mercedes driver told Bild newspaper.
Indeed, the report claims Putin spent five years working as a KGB agent in Dresden, and still regularly reads German-language newspapers.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard compound to make first appearance in Spain

e481022.6666666666666x767__origin__0x0_P

For the first time this season, teams will get to see how Pirelli’s hard compound tyres drive at the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks time.
As part of the 2016 regulations, Pirelli have to make three of their five dry weather tyres available at each race.
However, at the expense of the supersoft compound, team across the grid seem to be trying to avoid using the hard compound as the medium and soft compounds dominate their tyre selection ahead of the Spanish GP.
Ferrari and Haas have each chosen eight sets of soft compounds, one more than Mercedes, which will make them the most aggressive teams on the Circuit de Barcelona come race weekend.
ChhrcfIWIAAF4oy.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honda willing to supply two more teams

d351022.6666666666666x767__origin__0x0_H

Only supplying one team on the F1 grid since their return, Honda have revealed that they are open to supplying one or two extra teams in line with the 2017 engine regulations.
Returning to the sport last year after an eight-year absence, Honda partnered with McLaren after the British team decided to part ways with Mercedes.
However, their return was met with bad reviews as the newly formed McLaren-Honda suffered a disastrous 2015 season.
With the new engine agreement, Honda will be forced to supply other teams if they are required to, something McLaren prevented ahead of the 2016 season when they refused to let their engine supplier agree a deal with Red Bull.
"So far we haven't any plans but we have already promised the FIA that we would have the potential to supply a second or third teams," Honda's F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa revealed to ESPN.
"We are preparing that, but there are no concrete plans."
With hopes of the 2017 regulation changes reducing the cost of engines, Hasegawa is also glad that the token system will also be removed as well.
"We are happy to have removed the tokens for next season so we can have more freedom for the development which is good," he said.
"Cost reduction is very tough for every manufacturer but we are happy and agree about that."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sauber pulls out of post-Spanish Grand Prix test

pirelli-sauber-c35_A2F8241.JPG

Sauber has confirmed that it will no longer participate in the post-Spanish Grand Prix test, meaning it will be the only team not present during the two-day session.
There are two in-season tests scheduled this season, with one following the British GP later in the year. Participation isn't mandatory, but most teams use the opportunity to test new developments for the European-leg of the season.
According to the team, they won't be introducing an upgrade for the Spanish GP and they can't fulfil the requirement to run a young driver who has not started more than two grands prix on at least two of the four days of in-season testing.
"Quick news: We cancelled the first in-season test in BCN [barcelona]. There are two reasons: 1. We will not introduce a car update at the Spanish GP. 2. We do not have a young/test driver available that fulfills the requirements," the team, confirmed via Twitter.
The Swiss team are facing a difficult season with well-documented financial troubles leading to late staff wages and a lack of car development, with the C35 near-identical to that used during pre-season testing.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bernie Ecclestone 'struggling' to seal Las Vegas race deal

las-vegas-strip-wiki.jpg

Bernie Ecclestone has admitted that he is struggling to get a Las Vegas Grand Prix off the ground, despite the organisers having a contract to host Formula 1.
The 85-year-old is keen to see more races in the United States alongside the existing race in Austin, Texas. However a deal to host a street race near New York fell through and plans to return to Long Beach also failed to materalise.
Ecclestone recently revealed that organisers hoping to host a race in Las Vegas held a valid contract, but there remained an issue with the exact location of the race, with Ecclestone keen to see The Strip a feature of the layout.
"We are struggling a little bit, yeah," he told reporters in Russia at the weekend.
"I want to make sure we are on The Strip, so when people turn their television on, they immediately know it is Vegas."
Despite pushing for the deal, Ecclestone suggested there were plenty of other candidates interested in hosting a race in America.
"We missed out a little bit on New York, but lots of places are talking about it," he added.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Red Bull and Ferrari can win this year – Webber

P-20160417-00399_HiRes-JPEG-24bit-RGB.jp

Mark Webber doesn’t believe Mercedes will win all the races this season despite their commanding start.
Mercedes has won all four races so far this year and could tie the all-time record of 11 consecutive wins at the next round in Spain. But Webber tipped his former team to turn their season around soon.
“I think Red Bull are sleeping there,” he said, “they’re going to really come in the next part of the season, from probably Monaco onwards they look extremely competitive.”
“So yes I think there’ll be different winners. Mercedes won’t win every race this year, Ferrari and Red Bull will definitely have a chance to win grands prix, no question about it. But the championships of course look very safe with Mercedes.”
Webber doesn’t feel Mercedes’ sustained success – winning all bar six of the last 42 races – is necessarily bad for F1. “In Formula One we always had teams dominating for long periods of time,” he said.
“We had the Williams era, McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and now we have Mercedes. I think the thing to focus on is the racing, the quality of the cars, the drivers have to be excited, the drivers have to be passionate.”
“If we have these components in, you’re going to have still a little bit of domination at the front but we have to make sure the whole concept is something the people love, enjoy and watch. And that’s the essence of the sport. It has to be cutting edge, it has to be futuristic and it has to be the fastest show on earth by a long way. And that’s what we’ve got to work towards.”
“We talk about tyres too much”
f1160417002H-470x306.jpg
However Webber urged the sport to ensure drivers are able to push hard throughout races and questioned whether increasing tyre testing was a good move.
“Is it better to have more tyre testing? I’m not sure,” he said. “I think it was good in terms of controlling costs that they had a bit less testing in Formula One but they probably went too far. So to have a little bit of in-season testing for the teams is nice.”
“But I think there’s still too much talk about tyres. We talk about tyres too much in Formula One. We need to talk about more the drivers, of course the cars, but we constantly are talking about the tyres.”
“In Shanghai there was a lot of overtakes but if you ask the drivers really are they genuine overtakes, not really. They can pick where they want to pass. Old tyres and new tyres, that’s the difference in the pace.”
“And the drivers really only race in the first two laps and the last ten percent of a grand prix. In the middle of the race they are managing things. They are managing batteries, managing tyres, they really cannot push to the limit. And this is the part of the race we need to look at, that it’s not fabricated.”
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Analysis: The crude effect of oil prices on F1

f1-canadian-gp-2015-pastor-maldonado-lot

Recent years have seen Formula 1’s global expansion heavily reliant on oil-rich countries able to afford the sport’s high sanctioning fees.

As the sport has moved away from its European heartland to seek riches east and west, F1 has unintentionally become dependent on the oil markets for its sustained financial health.
Of the 21 countries on the record-breaking 2016 F1 calendar, six races are dependent on oil wealth either to cover the government investment in said Grand Prix, or as title sponsors: Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Malaysia and Russia.
The Belgian and Hungarian Grands Prix were sponsored by oil companies in recent years, although those contracts have since expired (recall too at Spa in 2013, Shell was targeted by Greenpeace protesters – Ed).
Drivers too are not immune from oil dependence. Pastor Maldonado’s F1 career was reliant on support from PDVSA, and the collapse in oil prices coupled with the volatile Venezuelan economy brought an end to his racing dreams over the winter.
Indonesia’s Rio Haryanto – who carries the colours of state oil and gas company Pertamina – is dependent on funding for his seat. The drop in the price of oil has led to a situation in which the young racer is now asking his fellow citizens for financial support in the wake of his government’s decision to cut non-essential spending in light of decreasing oil revenues.
“Certainly the lower oil price will affect our revenues, although the effect will not be as it was in the 1980s and the 1990s when oil and gas were still dominating our revenue,” Indonesian finance minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told the Financial Times in March. “To some extent, of course, we have to create efficiencies in the spending itself.”
The Indonesian government needs oil to sell at around $50 a barrel in order to balance the books. Last week, Brent crude oil recovered to its highest price since November 2015, but it’s back at just under $43 right now – having been as low as $27 in January.
Alternative funding sources
f1-bahrain-gp-2016-rio-haryanto-manor-ra
Haryanto now has government backing for an innovative crowd-funding scheme aimed at using Indonesia’s passion to support their driver’s F1 future.
Five local telecoms firms joined forces to create an SMS donation system so that fans could help raise the outstanding €4.2 million Haryanto needs to secure his Manor seat through 12.4 million text messages costing €0.30 each.
“Let’s support this. Make it like taking medicine, three times a day. The number of mobile phone users in Indonesia is high, so if everyone does this, we’ll have enough for the donation,” communications and information minister Rudiantara told CNN.
On a national level, the price of oil has been hurting several F1 hosts and title sponsors all year, with the price of crude dropping as low as $30 a barrel over the winter. In January, Bahrain joined Abu Dhabi (and Oman and Saudi Arabia) in raising fuel costs in an attempt to redress budgetary deficits caused by the plummeting oil price.
According to a report in the Financial Times published that month, Bahrain needs the price of oil to jump to an unlikely $125 a barrel in order to balance its budget. The decision to increase the cost of fuel by 56.3 percent (60 percent for premium fuels) made for the country’s first price hike in 33 years.
Newcomer Azerbaijan seeks aid
bss-baku-world-challenge-2014-baku-atmos
Azerbaijan has been in discussions with the International Monetary Fund over bailout packages related to the low value of crude for much of 2016 thus far, one of several OPEC countries currently seeking financial aid.
The Azeri currency, the manat, has been devalued in the wake of falling oil prices, while the country’s central bank has spent the year using up its foreign currency reserves.
The maiden Baku race will go ahead as scheduled, but the Grand Prix of Europe is going to be far more expensive than organisers had expected.
In January, the Baku City Circuit issued a statement confirming the race would go ahead: “The devaluation of the manat will have no impact with regards to the staging of the…  race in Azerbaijan... When the budget for the Grand Prix of Europe was approved, it was initially calculated in US dollars. As a result, we are not expecting any changes to the current event budget.”
The manat has fallen more than a third against the dollar since December 2015, and it must be assumed that despite BCC’s assurances, the Baku race will not be regarded as a bargain.
Shell re-affirms its commitment
f1-russian-gp-2016-sebastian-vettel-ferr
While the current price of crude has raised questions over the long-term viability of some of the more oil-dependent venues on the F1 calendar, one of the sport’s biggest names is a petrochemical giant committed to Formula 1 through sponsorship and partnership: Shell.
Shell can boast the longest partnership in motorsport history through its Ferrari connection, with the two brands having worked together since Enzo Ferrari’s days as a racing driver for Alfa Romeo.
The relationship is a genuine technical partnership that is mutually beneficial, explains Kai Uwe Witterstein, Shell’s global sponsorship manager, and it is for that reason that falling crude prices will have no impact on his company’s future involvement in the sport.
“Why are we doing this sponsorship? It’s not just having stickers on the car, or having media value – it’s about our products,” Witterstein told Motorsport.com in Shanghai. “We in Shell have been producing products for Scuderia Ferrari for a long time. We are developing our products with them, and that is very important for us.
“Shell does all of this at the forefront of fuel development, but also lubricants development. So it’s about our products - we have active proof points for our customers to demonstrate that our products are the best, and Formula 1 gives us the perfect environment to prove that.
“Of course [crude prices] are affecting our overall company, but if you look back, during the 65 years [of the Ferrari partnership] we have had a lot of ups and downs.
“But we always stayed in because we think that our relationship with Ferrari – despite the oil price – gives us a big benefit by testing our products and having good arguments for our customers as well.”
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haas to make engine decision this week

f1-russian-gp-2016-esteban-gutierrez-haa

Haas will decide this week whether or not it will run Ferrari's upgraded engine at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Ferrari spent three of its development tokens ahead of the Russian GP on improving the combustion of its internal power unit.
And although the changes did not appear to deliver a big step forward at Sochi – the fourth most power-sensitive track of the season – Ferrari is more optimistic about the impact the tweaks will have at the next race.
That is why customer team Haas plans to evaluate the situation carefully and decide if it moves on to its second power unit yet or holds fire.
Team principal Gunther Steiner said: "We will decide this week. We don't know exactly in terms of their manufacturing schedule, if they can introduce a new engine.
"But if we can get a new engine for there we will have it, but we will have to see how it all lines up."
f1-russian-gp-2016-romain-grosjean-haas-f1-russian-gp-2016-romain-grosjean-haas-
New wing
As well as the potential for improvement on the engine front, Haas also plans to trial an updated rear wing for the start of the European season
"We have got a new rear wing for Spain," said Steiner. "We are bringing stuff for Spain and we keep on bringing things.
"But we need to be sure they work. You can never be sure until you try, but we will be as sure as you can be."
f1-russian-gp-2016-romain-grosjean-haas-f1-chinese-gp-2016-romain-grosjean-haas-
Back in points
The optimism for the Spanish Grand Prix comes after the team returned to the points in Russia last weekend, following a disappointing time in China.
Steiner added: "It is a fantastic result and you never give up in this game. We had a difficult China. We went back and looked at what we did: then FP1 and FP2 here were difficult. That was a learning session.
"FP3 was a little bit better but it wasn't perfect qualifying. We got into Q2 which already is good – because don't forget it is only our fourth race – so finishing eighth is fantastic again. Again it shows that if we get it right, the car can do it, the driver can do it."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Renault pushing for 2017 Red Bull engine deal

f1-australian-gp-2016-renault-sport-f1-t

Renault is seeking a fresh customer supply deal with Red Bull for 2017, sources have revealed, amid hopes that it can get the situation sorted as early as the end of this month.
After the long-standing partnership between the manufacturer and team nearly collapsed last year, the two parties were forced to continue for this season after Red Bull failed to secure an alternative engine deal with Mercedes, Ferrari or Honda.
That contract, which allows Red Bull to rebrand the engines as TAG Heuer, finishes at the end of this year – and it had been previously been thought that Renault would want to focus on its work team rather than have a customer base.
However, sources with good knowledge of the situation say that the promising progress made by the power unit – and the clear benefits of the giving the Renault team a chassis performance benchmark with Red Bull – have left it eager to extend its partnership.
f1-russian-gp-2016-daniel-ricciardo-red-f1-russian-gp-2016-christian-horner-red-
Renault pressure
Renault team principal Frederic Vasseur thinks that continuing with Red Bull for 2017 and beyond is essential to help his outfit better understand its level of progress.
“To be honest, I think it is the best thing that could happen to Enstone,” he told Motorsport.com. “It is very important to have a benchmark.
“So far we know that Red Bull is one of the best chassis on the grid and it is important for us to know exactly where we are, and what will be the target in the short term view.
“To be honest I will push as much as I can for it to stay like this.”
When asked if there were fears that having a rival as strong as Red Bull with the same engine would put too much pressure on his his team, Vasseur said: “We have to manage the pressure, and we have to live under the pressure.
“If you don't, you have to stay at home and change your job. Pressure is the best thing to push the team and we need to do it.”
f1-chinese-gp-2016-frederic-vasseur-renaf1-australian-gp-2016-guillaume-boisseau
June deadline
It is understood that internal discussions have already taken place inside Renault to green light efforts to conclude a new Red Bull deal.
The discussions with Red Bull are also likely to progress quickly because under new regulations for 2017 that have been agreed between the manufacturers and the FIA, a firm timetable is now in place for when decisions have to be taken.
This means it is now impossible for teams to be left in a situation like Red Bull faced last year where they do not have access to an engine even at a late stage of the season.
Under the terms of the new F1 engine regulations, by this Friday (May 6), manufacturers have to notify the FIA of their intention to supply teams with engines for next year.
By May 15, the manufacturers have to notify the FIA of the list of teams with which it has concluded agreements with.
Before June 1, if not enough teams have engines, then the FIA can call upon a manufacturer to supply more teams.
With 11 outfits on the grid, and with four manufacturers, under a formula agreed it means each must, if called upon to do so by the FIA, supply at least three teams.
Ferrari (Ferrari, Sauber, Haas, Toro Rosso) and Mercedes (Mercedes, Williams, Force India, Manor) are already above that level – which means only Renault and Honda could be asked to supply extra teams.
But with Renault eager to continue its customer base, and its engine progress delivering on track, the main hurdle to overcome between Red Bull and Renault will now likely be commercial terms.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Winning Formula – David Coulthard On F1 2016 | Mobil 1 The Grid

Mobil 1 The Grid caught up with former McLaren man turned Channel 4 presenter David Coulthard to get his views on winter testing and the 2016 F1 season ahead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

F1 cockpit safety: Nico Rosberg wants 'haters' to 'get over it'

af14854bb866070b3e4bf3827369b90a.jpg

Nico Rosberg says he hopes the "haters" of plans to bring further cockpit protection into Formula 1 "will get over it", because it is the right thing to do.
The halo, tested by Ferrari in pre-season testing, and Red Bull's aeroscreen concept, which it ran in Friday practice at the Russian Grand Prix, are the two solutions under consideration.
A deadline of July 1 has been set to agree on which one will be pursued, but on Sunday F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said he dislikes both concepts and does not believe F1 needs such a device.
When asked to address Ecclestone's comments, Rosberg said: "In the history of the sport, every time safety has come about, it's always been a compromise.
"Every episode you can talk about in the history of the last 60 years, there has been exactly the same moaning initially, exactly the same issues with the looks changing.
"Just think to the cockpits being raised and not being able to see the driver anymore, things like that.
"We just need to accept that and hopefully the haters will get over it.
"Of course I respect that and understand it but I hope they get over it, as we need that and it's the right direction."
Rosberg said protecting the driver outside of the cockpit was the most important area to focus on.
"We need it - it's the biggest danger zone which remains in our sport as we have seen.
"There have been some fatalities. It's an area where we need to keep pushing safety.
"That is the area that is most important at the moment and it's great to see things are progressing.
"I'm confident a solution will be found. All drivers are up for it.
"We're aware it's not ideal for the purists, and we're purists ourselves, so we're very well aware."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Renault offers free access to F1 filming day at Silverstone

4607d0d2a26d047e7da322f1103bbf88.jpg

Renault is holding one of its two Formula 1 filming days at Silverstone this Friday, offering free access for fans.
Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer will drive the RS16 with cars from the Renault Sport range also taking to the track.
The action will run from 9am to 5pm with fans granted access to the international pit-straight grandstand.
Teams are allowed to conduct two promotional events each season but no test may exceed 100km in length.
The regulations also insist only promotional tyres provided by Pirelli may be used.
It comes ahead of the first in-season test of the season, which takes place in Barcelona on the Tuesday and Wednesday after this month's Spanish Grand Prix.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

Community Software by Invision Power Services, Inc.