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PAUL MARTIN: MERCEDES AND FERRARI NO SHOW ON NETFLIX LET F1 DOWN

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The intriguing battle for the 2019 Formula 1 crown between Mercedes and Ferrari was enthralling stuff, packed with action and subplots between the title contenders, but the soon to be released Netflix series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” was forced to focus on the sideshow instead of the main show.

The 10-part behind-the-scenes documentary description trumpets: “As a new generation of drivers steps out of the shadows, Formula 1 has opened its doors to give unprecedented access to the top drivers, team principals and owners, to set the scene for a new wave of gripping competition and challenges.”

However Mercedes and Ferrari did not buy into the concept.

In an interview about the series that airs on 8 March, executive producer Paul Martin told BBC, “Mercedes and Ferrari wanted to operate under different terms to the rest of the teams, and us, as producers, and Netflix as the broadcasting platform, didn’t feel comfortable with that.”

“It was going to be all-or-nothing and if those terms were good enough for the eight other teams, it should have been good enough for Mercedes and Ferrari, too. My view is that they did a slight disservice to the fans and the sport by not taking part.”

“We were lucky enough that teams such as Red Bull, Renault, Haas, and the others gave us fabulous access and bared their souls,” added Martin.

Reacting to the criticism, a Mercedes F1 spokesperson said: “We were delighted to see that last season’s compelling, year-long battle for the championship between Ferrari and Mercedes helped drive 10% growth in unique viewership for F1 worldwide and made the sport the fastest growing in the world on social media.

“Competing for the world championship is an all-consuming business that demands every ounce of focus from the entire team; we are driven first and foremost by performance in every decision we make.”

Ferrari did respond when asked for comment.

The PA report adds, “The absence of Lewis Hamilton, F1’s biggest star, and the sport’s top two teams, is a major blow to F1’s owners Liberty Media who dreamt up the documentary series in order to crack the United States. Indeed, the sport’s commercial chief Sean Bratches is listed as an executive producer.”

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RED BULL: HONDA ENGINE MUCH BETTER THAN WHAT WE HAD WITH RENAULT

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Red Bull chiefs are bullish(!) about their gamble to switch to Honda power as they brag about the “missile” they have bolted onto the four cars the energy drinks organisation fields in the Formula 1 World Championship this year.

Toro Rosso impressed mightily in the first F1 Test in Barcelona last week, while Red Bull were happy to keep their powder dry as they racked mileage with their new engine supplier.

Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly will again target a lot of mileage while performance is expected to be dialled up during the second Formula 1 preseason test, at Circuit de Catalunya, which kicks off tomorrow [Tuesday] at the Spanish Grand Prix venue.

Speaking ahead of the second four-day test, Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko told Auto Bild, “Honda has incredible resources. We see that both at the factory in England and here on the track. It’s unbelievable how many parts they take to testing.”

The Austrian revealed that Honda did not crank up in their PU at Circuit de Catalunya last time out and added, “You already notice a big power boost. At the moment we are number two just behind Ferrari, who look very good. Maybe two or three tenths. But we are faster than Mercedes and that’s not just because of our good car, but also because of the engine.”

If there is one word to sum up the malady afflicting the Honda PU since its birth then ‘vibration’ would do it, but Marko insisted, “To cure this, appropriate measures have taken. We are fully satisfied.”

In an interview with Formula Passion, team principal Christian Horner echoed his colleague’s enthusiasm, “The [Honda] engine is much better than what we had with Renault.”

“We are right on schedule with the work programme, the car works as we expected and the Honda power unit is a rocket. Gasly told us that the engine is stronger than last year and Max is enthusiastic, he feels a lot more power.”

Asked about the different aero paths pursued by test pacesetters Ferrari on the SF90, compared to Adrian Newey’s RB15, Horner replied, “We are using what works best for us, we have studied the Ferrari concept but our simulations tell us that our aero has more [development] potential.”

Fighting talk from the Red Bull bosses. So far all the boxes have been ticked: mutual respect; a strong early bond; an ok season one with Toro Rosso; a decent PU package for both teams to sample in testing; solid package for Test 1…

But what they really have in their ‘rocket’ will first be revealed in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix and finally a day later at the end of the race in Melbourne.

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Franz Tost is confident Pierre Gasly will avoid the same fate as Daniil Kvyat

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Franz Tost has expressed confidence that Pierre Gasly will avoid the pitfalls that befell Daniil Kvyat during his time at the Red Bull Formula 1 team.

Gasly, as with Kvyat, has been promoted to Red Bull earlier than initially planned, following an unexpected driver departure.

The Frenchman's promotion has come after one full season – in the wake of Daniel Ricciardo’s switch to Renault – while back in 2014 Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari move resulted in Red Bull promoting then-rookie Kvyat.

Kvyat scored a couple of podiums with Red Bull but was demoted back to Toro Rosso in early 2016 amid a run of poor results, which coincided with the rise of Max Verstappen.

But Tost has pointed to Gasly’s greater experience in junior categories as the reason for Gasly avoiding a similar fate.

Tost said: “It’s a big difference between these two drivers. Why? Because Daniil Kvyat came from GP3 directly to F1, and this already is a big risk. But he did it because he is a really high skilled driver.

“Pierre Gasly has a completely different education, let me say it in this way.

“He did first of all the Renault 3.5 World Series, which is a very good series, a very fast [series] in those days.

“Then he did two years F2 [ed: GP2], and he did one year Super Formula in Japan.

“That means his basis on the education side, from the experience side, is on a much higher level than it was with Daniil Kvyat, because he didn’t have so much time.

“Daniil also would have stayed with us two or three years, with Toro Rosso, but in those days Vettel changed to Ferrari and therefore Red Bull needed a driver. That’s the reason why, it was not the programme from the beginning onwards.”

Tost has nonetheless backed Kvyat – who has returned to Toro Rosso for a third stint – to prove his worth, following a year out of the sport.

“We all know that Daniil Kvyat is a very high skilled driver, and he showed this in the past,” stressed Tost.

“He won the GP3 championship and then in 2014 when he was racing the first year with us he also showed there a very good performance.

“Then he came to Red Bull Racing, and I think everything was a little bit too fast.

“He came then back to us, and there were so problems with our car in those days, we were not so competitive.

“Then he was one year at Ferrari in the simulator, where he got the chance to learn a lot, to get more mature, and he is now back.

“I think we have Daniil Kvyat back in our car as we know him from the former times, and therefore Daniil Kvyat will do a good job. If the car is running well, as we expect, then he will also do a good job.”

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I have to 'delete' others' expectations - Charles Leclerc

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New Ferrari Formula 1 recruit Charles Leclerc says he has to "erase and delete" any expectations placed upon his shoulders but is wary of the responsibility that comes with competing for the team.

Leclerc has stepped up to Ferrari after an eye-catching rookie campaign with Sauber, which itself came off the back of successive titles in GP3 and Formula 2.

Leclerc is one of the youngest and least experienced drivers to secure a Ferrari F1 race seat in several decades, raising expectations over both his short- and long-term potential.

Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton cautioned over placing an unfair expectation on the youngster’s shoulders, and Leclerc has adopted a similar attitude.

“I’m just focusing on myself, trying to erase and delete what everyone is expecting from me,” he said.

“Obviously any time you are driving a Ferrari the expectations are big because it’s a top team and it’s probably the most legendary Formula 1 team.

“Expectations are always high when you’re driving for a team like this but at the end, I just need to focus on myself.

“Putting pressure on myself won’t change anything, it won’t make me perform better. If anything it’ll make me perform worse. So yeah I don’t think at all about these things.”

Leclerc added: “I’m not really focusing on the result at the moment.

“As I’ve said in the past, so long as I’m focusing on myself and trying to do the best job possible in the car and out of the car, the results will come at some point, so I will focus fully on myself.

“I don’t want to put in my head I want to win the first race, that is not what is in my head at the moment.

“I just want to grow as much as possible to the first race and be as comfortable in the team and in the car, and then the results will come.”

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Feature: The unexpected Formula 1 rookie

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Motorsport Week catches up with Toro Rosso rookie Alexander Albon to reflect on a remarkable turnaround from scrapping to save his top-flight hopes to joining Formula 1 in the space of a year...

Through the 2018 Formula 2 season there were three drivers who regularly stood out among the others.

One of them was the reigning GP3 champion, backed by Mercedes, and who ultimately proved the victor, capturing a Formula 1 2019 seat on the way. One of them was the reigning Formula 3 champion, nestled within McLaren, and who was the first of the trio to secure a Formula 1 seat for 2019.

The other was someone who not only barely figured on the radar of many observers, but whom had never tested an F1 car, had no F1 affiliation, and who started the campaign on a race-by-race contract, such was his financial predicament.

The rejuvenation of Alexander Albon’s career and the path that has led to a Formula 1 race seat is one of those feel-good stories that has come about through hard work, determination and a small sprinkling of fortune.

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The softly-spoken Anglo-Thai thrust himself into contention with a starring Formula 2 campaign and, allied with the manner in which Formula 1’s silly season unfolded, was well-placed when Red Bull came calling, six years after he was axed from its junior campaign. 

“It was a little bit of a shock,” said Albon on the moment Helmut Marko’s number appeared on his phone. He had been shopping in Abu Dhabi at the time.

“There were rumours, of course back then it still wasn’t as… there were rumours but nothing really was done at that point. It was just rumours. People saw how things were unfolding and presumed it to be more ahead than anything. It was nice to receive that call.”

That speculation came about because Albon never appeared during Formula E pre-season testing for the Nissan team with whom he held a three-year deal. Albon was eventually confirmed as a 2019 Toro Rosso driver the day after the 2018 season finale in Abu Dhabi; “It’s almost a no regret mindset,” he says of that period of uncertainty. “Where you’ve got to do it. That’s always been my dream. If things didn’t work out things didn’t work out.”

The year-on-year transition is remarkable. In 2019 Albon is being pulled left, right and centre – the life of a Formula 1 driver – and has an army of 500 colleagues at Toro Rosso, not to mention everyone at Honda. 12 months ago he was scrabbling to remain on the Formula 2 grid, pleading with DAMS to take a chance.

“It was a situation where the winter testing was extremely stressful,” he explains. “Then you get to a point where it becomes stressful where you start not getting stressed! It was quite a weird thing, but you get over it, you realise every race can be your last race. You can’t just keep being stressed by it. It’s almost like… you adapt to it, by the end of it, it’s like ‘I just have to keep on driving the way I drive’. I wasn’t worrying so much, it was a case of just do your job, keep doing what you’re doing, and go from there.”

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It wasn’t the first time Albon had faced adversity in his career. His sole year as a junior in Red Bull colours in 2012 was disappointing, as he took only a handful of points in dual Formula Renault campaigns. From the outside perspective, it wasn’t until his GP3 title fight with Charles Leclerc in 2016 that he truly announced himself as a potential Formula 1 driver.

“Truthfully speaking there wasn’t much more to say than I wasn’t driving too well, that was my first year in single-seaters,” comments a reflective Albon. “It was a tough situation with the team as well, on top of that going through some issues personally, but with all that it was quite normal that Red Bull didn’t keep me on because of how the results went. It’s motorsport. If you don’t deliver you don’t get the opportunity again. I had a successful run in karting. And obviously that first year in single seaters was a bit of a... not a blow, but just starting from zero again.

“When that process happened in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 it wasn’t so much having needing to prove myself, it was just purely getting used to single seaters. At some points, already in 2014, in Formula Renault, I started to feel really comfortable with the car, getting back the confidence I was missing at the beginning of single-seaters, back from karting.”

Albon moved into Formula 3 in 2015, for the re-joining Signature squad, and placed seventh, in a year in which his rivals included Felix Rosenqvist, Antonio Giovinazzi, Lance Stroll, and soon-to-be GP3 and F2 rivals Leclerc and Russell.

“People don’t look into that year too much, but it was a really good year,” he said. “We were a re-appearing team, Signature, and for what we had, the personnel for a new team, we did a really good job.”

2016, though, was sink or swim, and Albon glided through the water.

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“That was the chance to compete against the very best,” he says. “That year against Charles, Nyck [de Vries] and Nirei [Fukuzumi] it was a year that I knew ‘okay this is it now, this is against at that time the best junior drivers out there and I’m going to see what I can do’. You could say I surprised some people but I was quietly confident during the year that I could get a good result.”

Albon’s rookie Formula 2 campaign with ART Grand Prix was promising, albeit derailed by a mid-season collarbone fracture, but it was last year where he flourished – and racing against the highly-rated British stars boosted Albon’s chances when Red Bull was thrust into an unexpected position: it had to promote Pierre Gasly from Toro Rosso and was similarly unconvinced by Brendon Hartley.

“I think racing against George and Lando, it’s very clear these were the superstars of junior motorsport and there was a big hype,” he says. “Rightly so. But of course, at that point, if you can fight with these guys, you’re fighting for the championship, and there’s no reason why people would overlook you. It was nice because of course these guys carry a lot of weight with them, and being so highly regarded, it only did me favours that I’m driving with them.”

Albon is comfortably the least experienced Formula 1 driver, with (so far) just a shakedown and two test days under his belt. But he now has his desired opportunity with Toro Rosso, with a chance to make an impression to the wider world.

“I think in terms of end goals I don’t set myself any,” he says. “It’s just more focusing on session by session, getting up to speed. I do want to hit the ground quickly, if it’ll come or not time will tell. [But] I think you wouldn’t be in Toro Rosso if there wasn’t a path [to Red Bull], that’s always going to be the goal, but I’m not looking that far in front, I’m just focusing on this year.”

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George Russell: Force India’s delayed 2015 start is inspiration for Williams

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Williams rookie George Russell says the team can look to Force India’s 2015 season as inspiration, in the wake of its dismal showing in the opening 2019 Formula 1 test.

Williams’ FW42 was not ready until Wednesday afternoon – the third of four days of running at Barcelona – leaving the team firmly behind its opponents.

Russell and Robert Kubica amassed a combined 88 laps, significantly down on their rivals, with their best lap times substantially adrift of the pack, as Williams focused on aero correlation.

Force India – now Racing Point – suffered delays with its 2015 car and had to run an old package, limiting the time with its new car, but went on to finish fifth in the championship.

“I think even myself, until you are involved in a Formula 1 team, you don’t understand how much work goes on just to get a Formula 1 car on the track,” he said.

“I went around the factory and met everyone in January and I was amazed, despite being in a Formula 1 team [at Mercedes] for two years, I was still amazed about how much effort goes in to make the simplest of parts.

“We’ve seen it before, Force India missed the whole of 2015 test, I want to say, and they still finished fifth in the championship.

“You don’t get points for testing so who knows what will happen.

“It has been quite annoying watching everyone on track and obviously as a driver you just want to get out there.

“It has passed quite quickly because I have understood how much work has been going on for all the people building this car.

“It hasn’t made me frustrated, I understand that we haven’t got in this situation on purpose, everybody is obsessed about it and they are working their socks off to make it right.

“That was refreshing for me. It made me quite proud of the guys and how much they are working. It is a privilege to be part of this team.”

Russell stressed that he has “full faith” in Williams to turn around its current predicament.

“At this stage, we’ve been so limited for mileage we have no idea what state the car is going to be in performance-wise,” he said.

“Obviously we are behind the others in terms of experience but I’ve got full faith in the guys to do the job.”

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Early Alfa Romeo signs are ‘pretty positive’ – Kimi Raikkonen

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Kimi Raikkonen says the early indications of Alfa Romeo’s C38 are “pretty positive”, revealing he has yet to properly push the car’s potential.

Raikkonen has returned to the team with which he made his Formula 1 debut in 2001, albeit now competing under the Alfa Romeo guise following the rebrand earlier this month.

Alfa Romeo completed fewer laps than only expected title contenders Mercedes and Ferrari through last week’s opening four-day test at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, while Raikkonen placed fourth on the combined timesheets.

“Pretty positive, I would say,” said Raikkonen on his first week in the C38.

“We did a decent amount of laps but there’s still a lot to learn and we haven’t really done any set-up work. That’s for next week.

“We haven’t done any qualifying laps, we just ran with difference tyres, but I think generally it’s a well-balanced car and it has pretty good grip. Once we start pushing we’ll see where we get.”

This season marks Raikkonen’s first since his rookie season in which he is part of a team that will ostensibly not be challenging for victories.

When asked whether that altered his mindset and goals, Raikkonen replied: “They’re not different because I don’t have any expectations.

“We can only do our best, but I think the team has built a good car and I think that’s a good starting point.

“We still have a lot of things to work on, for sure more work to be done than maybe in a bigger team, but I think so far it has been good.”

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Lando Norris is buoyed by improved atmosphere at McLaren

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McLaren's Lando Norris says the team is “going in the right direction” in terms of its co-ordination and atmosphere, as he prepares to make the step up to Formula 1.

Norris joined McLaren as a young driver in 2017 and spent 2018 fully integrated within its organisation through his role as its test and reserve driver.

McLaren finished only sixth in last year’s Constructors’ Championship amid problems with its MCL33, including rear-end instability and high levels of drag.

McLaren had a subdued first test, with both Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr. appearing to struggle at times with the MCL34, but the 19-year-old exuded confidence that the team is heading in the right direction.

"I definitely think it is an improvement from last year," said Norris. "Obviously I wasn’t the driver last year, so wasn’t as integrated as what I am now.

"But in terms of seeing everyone, the motivation from everyone, how they work as a whole group and a family pretty much, it definitely seems to be going in the right direction.

"It’s not perfect, but yeah, I think some of the problems that we have had or some of the niggles that we’ve had to overcome have been ironed out slowly.

"It’s just trying to make sure everyone works in the right direction and in a positive way, but it’s still going to take a bit more time before I think everyone is working together in the correct way.

"But it’s going in the right direction which is the main thing, and I think everyone is very motivated and has been working extremely hard for this season.”

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Williams had 'compromised' car in first test - Robert Kubica

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Robert Kubica says Williams was running with a “compromised” package during the opening Formula 1 test due to the delays in readying its new car.

Williams’ FW42 did not arrive at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya until the early hours of Wednesday morning, and was unable to take to the track until after lunch.

It has left Williams substantially behind its opponents in terms of preparations for the new campaign and Kubica accepted that the delays meant Williams had to cut corners.

“In the end, the team did a good job to build it up as quick as possible,” Kubica explained, adding that Williams built up the car five times quicker than usual.

“Of course there are some compromises - I think so - but finally we got the car so we can concentrate on our job so I’m looking forward to next week.”

“It would be better to have a few more ideas and a bit more of a feeling in the car, especially because Australia is not far off.

“It would be better to be prepared more both from a driver point of view and a car point of view, but the reality is this so we have to keep working and hopefully the delays are only for testing.

“Australia is not far off… Everyone is concentrating on Barcelona because our car was late. Hopefully, the only penalty or downside is that we were late a couple of days and nothing more, but everything will be Australia. We’ll see.”

Kubica nonetheless stressed that the atmosphere within Williams’ camp is healthy, but that the team is braced for a tough start to the campaign.

“In the situation we are in [the atmosphere] is good, but we have to remember that Australia is not far off,” he said.

“So when you miss tests it’s OK, it shouldn’t happen but that’s a reality, but we have to make sure we get into the best possible shape for the first races, which for sure won’t be easy. But let’s see what will be.”

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Bottas hasn't "achieved anything" in F1

Bottas hasn't

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas feels he hasn't "achieved anything" in Formula 1 yet, as he targets a championship challenge for 2019.
Bottas scored nine grand prix podiums for his first F1 outfit Williams, establishing himself as the team's lead driver despite sharing the garage with former title contender Felipe Massa.

Nico Rosberg's shock retirement in 2016 opened the door for Bottas to join F1's leading outfit Mercedes, and he soon scored a maiden race win with the Silver Arrows.

However, Bottas has been unable to match champion teammate Lewis Hamilton in his two years alongside the Briton so far, and will likely need to raise his game to keep his seat past 2019, with highly-rated Mercedes protege Esteban Ocon waiting in the wings.

Asked whether he felt he had something to prove heading into 2019, Bottas said: "Well, first of all I feel I still haven't achieved anything in Formula 1 - so for myself I still have a lot to achieve.

"I do want to meet my targets, so, yes, I still have a lot to do in Formula 1.

"I feel like I have nothing to prove for anybody else, except me. The team knows exactly what I'm capable of doing, but it's going to be up to me, and us as a team, to work hard to be able to perform on my best level all the time.

"And I know exactly what I can do if I can perform at my very best."

Bottas had enjoyed a promising start to 2018 but dropped away badly towards the end, slumping to fifth in the drivers' standings as Hamilton romped to a fifth drivers' title.

Denied surefire wins by a late puncture in Baku and team orders in Sochi, the Finn became the first Mercedes driver to go winless in an F1 season since 2012.

"It was a disappointing season and nearly made me angry to myself that it's been six years in Formula 1 and I've not achieved my target yet," Bottas said.

"I do have time. But I'm starting to realise you definitely only have one career. I don't want to be in a situation again that I feel like that, that I start to question myself, if I could have done something better.

"I just want to make sure this year I do everything I can to achieve those targets. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to achieve those. Mentally prepared to put it all in.

"It all comes down to details and that is for me to try to be the best me I can. I can't change certain things, how I drive, but I know what I can do if I perform on my best level.

"I've been able to match or beat Lewis in race pace and qualifying, I know I can do it, and now it's just hard work to be there more consistently."

Bottas hopes to benefit from changes to his engineering crew, having gained a new race engineer and performance engineer following the reshuffle prompted by the departure of his 2018 race engineer Tony Ross to Formula E.

"It feels like a bit of a fresh start to the season," he said. "It's been good, change can be good.

"We started to know each other better at the end of last year. All the meetings we had in December and January about my performance and what we can do better in race weekends, my weaknesses, my strengths, the main things - it's been quite nice to work with two new people."

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Mercedes: Switching front wing concepts would take months

Mercedes: Switching front wing concepts would take months

Mercedes says changing its front wing concept to a Ferrari-style version is a project that would take months to complete, but it accepts it must be "open-minded" to work out if its rival's idea is better.
The new 2019 Formula 1 aero regulations have thrown up a fascinating divergence of approaches about how best to manage airflow at the front of the car.

While teams like Mercedes and Red Bull have opted for more traditional front wing designs, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo have done something totally different – with the outer edges of the front wing sloping downwards towards the endplate to help produce outwash.

Ferrari's strong start to pre-season testing last week, allied to Mercedes' low-key beginning, has prompted questions about whether or not the front wing designs are playing a part in their performance.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said his team doing its own thing had served it well over recent years, but reckoned that it should not ignore the possibility that there could be better ideas out there.

"You need to be open minded," he said at an event for Mercedes' title sponsor Petronas. "We have always had a different design philosophy to many of the other teams.

"We have gone longer than the other teams. We have never had rake in the car compared to some of the other teams. It is not because we believed our concept was superior in every angle, but we believe that the whole car power unit package was the best for us that way.

"Having said that, with new regulatory change, you need to be open minded about what the others have done. And if something functions better, every team at the moment will look at what the others have put on the car and try it themselves."

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"Same page" Ricciardo/Hulkenberg feedback boosting Renault

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Daniel Ricciardo thinks Renault’s progress in Formula 1 will be boosted because he and teammate Nico Hulkenberg are on the "same page" with what they want from their car.
The Australian, who has switched to the French car manufacturer after a five-year spell at Red Bull, has just completed his first week of action with the team at Barcelona in Spain.

And having got down to work quickly Hulkenberg, he sees a huge positive in the fact that he and the German are demanding exactly the same things from the new RS19.

Speaking about how things were developing with Hulkenberg, Ricciardo said: “It has actually been good.

“We haven’t had much interaction because we have been splitting the days, so I did most of my work in the afternoon and he will do most of his in the evening, or vice versa. But it has been okay.

“But we are both asking for pretty much the same things from the car for improvements, so that is good.

"If one is pulling one way and the other is pulling in another, then the engineers are left with a ‘what do we do?’”

Renault technical director Nick Chester said his first impressions of Ricciardo were encouraging, and said the fact both the team’s drivers were wanting the same things made sorting the car easier.

“He’s been really good,” said Chester about Ricciardo. “He has got good feedback.

“He is clear about what he wants from the car. He has fitted straight in, and his feedback is quite similar to Nico. So it makes it easy to set the car up.”

Although he had only worked trackside with the team for a few days, Ricciardo said he already felt at home.

“I feel comfortable with everyone and I guess it does feel normal walking into the meeting rooms and the debriefs,” he said. “It feels familiar.

“I think the way everyone is engaging with me has been positive and they are certainly trying to draw as much as they can out of me and to also see if Nico and myself are on the same page.

“I know the main things we talked about were identical and where to improve the car, so that is also positive that we are also asking for the same things. It feels cosy.”

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Hulkenberg: New F1 rear wing feels like "parachute"

Hulkenberg: New F1 rear wing feels like

Nico Hulkenberg says that the 2019-spec Formula 1 rear wing is like a “parachute”, and the extra drag means that it’s harder to compare Renault’s latest engine with last year’s spec.
For this season, the FIA has mandated a larger rear wing with a bigger DRS effect as part of a new rules package designed to improve racing.

This change, according to Hulkenberg, is having an impact on how his Renault feels in a straight line.

“I would say yes,” said the German when asked if the RS19's engine felt more powerful. “But on the other hand, you know, we have a lot more drag with a big rear wing, so that obviously you have less of that sensation.

“It’s like pulling a parachute now, you know, across the straight, and you just see that massive rear wing in the mirrors, and obviously that has an impact on the feel of power.”

Hulkenberg, who set the fastest time of the first week of testing in Barcelona, says that overall the RS19 doesn’t feel too different to its predecessor, despite the front wing changes.

“It doesn’t feel a completely different animal, it was more of a feeling like coming home," he said.

Nico Hulkenberg, Renault F1 Team R.S. 19

"For me anyway it hasn’t changed that much. We have the same steering wheel for example, the seating position is very similar, so perhaps I also wasn’t expecting a huge difference.

“Obviously the aero regulations it was difficult to kind of judge and anticipate how that would impact the feeling, but for now it’s not so different.”

Hulkenberg says, that unlike some rival drivers, he hasn’t increased his body weight this season to take advantage of the new 80kg minimum for the driver/seat package.

But he believes that lighter drivers have less of an advantage now in terms having margin for using ballast.

“To be honest, all my career I've been at one number," explained Hulkenberg. "I have like my fighting weight, you know, my happy place, and that’s 78kg basically. So two kilos below 80.

"That’s where I want to be and where I need to be, and more or less where I can be, not much less.

“But I just see it, the lighter drivers have an advantage taken away from them, one that they used to have, now they don't have anymore, so it should be just a bit more fair. But I don't think that’s really a measurable advantage for me.”

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Bargeboards the "real playground" in F1 development race

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Racing Point technical director Andrew Green believes that the bargeboard area - not front wings - will be the key development area in Formula 1 in 2019.

F1 teams have displayed a variety of approaches for their front wings, which has been simplified in an attempt to boost overtaking.

However, Green says front wing development is limited by the regulations imposed to close loopholes, even suggesting that they are "over-restrained".

That means teams will look elsewhere to try to gain performance, and Green believes the bargeboard area has a lot of room for development.

"I think the front [wing] regulation was pretty well tied-up," said Green. "You could say it was over-restrained.

"It's very difficult to design anything other than what we see out on the track right now.

"I think people will move into a certain front wing quite quickly, and then the development race is in the middle of the car – so all the bargeboard area, all that front of floor area, that's the real playground for development, that's where you've got a huge amount of freedom.

"You just have a box that you can put anything you like in. That's where you'll see a huge amount of work," he added.

Green said he hadn't seen anything unexpected on other cars that has caught his eye, but conceded that – like Racing Point itself – teams have parts in the system that won't be seen until the first race in Australia.

"There are some small philosophies on the front wing, some teams have gone with one philosophy, some teams have gone with another, but it was nothing new, it was the sort of philosophies we experimented with very early on.

"So I'm not surprised to see people experimenting and going one way and going the other.

"We haven't seen anything so far that has stopped us in our tracks and made us change any direction.

"But it is early days, and I suspect many, many teams, if not all of them, are holding back – I know we are – a lot of the real good stuff."

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Mercedes needs upgrade to cure handling issues, says Bottas

Mercedes needs upgrade to cure handling issues, says Bottas

Valtteri Bottas says Mercedes needs an upgrade to completely solve the handling issues that dogged the first run of its new 2019 Formula 1 challenger at Barcelona in Spain last week.
While Ferrari hit the ground running and enjoyed a strong first week of pre-season testing, Mercedes had a more low-key start that left it in no doubt it is currently on the back foot.

Speaking at an event with Mercedes title sponsor Petronas in Italy on Friday, Bottas revealed that the main issue for the team was finding a consistent balance for the car over a whole lap – with the W10 having ‘massive’ issues in some corners.

“We have work to do, but it’s a good feeling in the sense that it feels like there is potential,” Bottas told selected media, including Motorsport.com. “We do need to make improvements. 

“We were struggling a bit over the week to find a good balance for all the corners. There were some corners that were good, some corners we would have balance issues and other corners we would have massive balance issues. 

“We were getting to a much better state at the end of the week, but some of the handling issues can only be sorted with some upgrades. We’re hoping to fix those hopefully soon.”

World champion Lewis Hamilton said he had not wasted too much time worrying about what other teams had done, but was in no doubts about the scale of the fight Mercedes faced.

“At the moment we are behind,” he said. “So, we don’t approach the first race currently at all relaxed, not that we ever do. We still have a lot of work to do.”

He added: “This is going to be the hardest year yet, but I feel I have the best group of people behind to climb that mountain together. We are going to face our toughest challenge but I feel like I have the right soldiers behind me.”

Asked what was missing from the car, Hamilton said: “I won’t say! I don’t want the others to know what we do and don’t need.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had no doubts that Ferrari was ahead, and reckoned that the Italian team still had plenty of performance in its pocket.

“I think in Barcelona [test] one what we have seen is that Ferrari is ahead of the pack,” he said. “The car looks fast and is fast on lap times. 

“I think that yesterday they could probably have gone 1.5 seconds faster if they wanted to, and that is the fastest car we have seen in testing so far. Then it is pretty much everybody bunched up, which is pretty exciting between all the other teams.

“Now it is about seeing what happens in Barcelona [test] two. I have a feeling everybody will bring stuff to the car and then again in Melbourne. So probably only then will you be able to judge the competitive balance and not before.”

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Marko: Ferrari are fastest – but Red Bull can win races

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Red Bull enjoyed a positive start to their relationship with Honda, with four days of issue-free running during the first week of pre-season testing in Barcelona. And while Red Bull’s Motorsport Advisor Dr Helmut Marko thinks that Ferrari are currently the team to beat, he remains confident that there’ll be wins for his own squad in 2019.

Red Bull announced the radical decision to switch from Renault power to Honda power in 2018, having watched their junior team Toro Rosso’s progress with the Japanese power units throughout that season. And speaking midway through Day 4 of the pre-season tests , Marko revealed his belief that one or both of Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly would be victorious this season – and not just at ‘Red Bull-friendly’ tracks either…

“What I saw yesterday on the circuit, Ferrari for sure is the fastest car,” said Marko, “and behind that, it’s Red Bull and Mercedes. So let’s see what we can do, but at the moment we are quite optimistic we can win races from our own strength and not just if others have trouble, or at special circuits like Monte Carlo and Singapore.”

Asked whether he felt Red Bull were better off with Honda as engine partner rather than Renault, Marko replied: “I mean, it’s a new period. We don't look back, we look forward. It’s a very good relationship [with Honda]. The concern was, of course, reliability and so far there’s not a problem at all. It’s a new culture as well, but it fits well with our people.”

Despite their impressive reliability, Red Bull ended the first week of pre-season nearly 1.4 seconds off the ultimate pace set by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. But with reliability now less of a pressing concern, Red Bull will look to turn up the taps on Verstappen and Gasly’s cars in week two, and give us a glimpse of what the Honda-powered RB15 can really do.

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GASLY CRASHES THE RED BULL RB15 AT HIGH SPEED

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Pierre Gasly crashed heavily during the afternoon stanza of the third day of the second Formula 1 preseason test at Circuit de Catalunya.

A day earlier Sebastian Vettel wrecked the Ferarri SF90 when he suffered a mechanical failure on the car.

Gasly did serious damage to the new Red Bull RB15 when he crashed into the barriers, his second incident during the preseason testing with his new team. He also spun into the barriers at Turn 13 on his first day of running in the RB15, this time the high-speed Turn 9 caught him out.

The impact was such that Gasly had to visit the medical centre for a check-up before being released uninjured.

Sky reported that Gasly, who is fourth on the timesheet, was on his 66th lap of the day and on a long run. CCTV footage suggests it was a fairly hefty impact with the tyre barriers.

At trackside, Craig Slater explained, “Hard to see how much damage was caused, but there was surely a fair bit because Gasly went heavily into the barriers at Turn Nine. It’s a fast part of the circuit, there’s also very little run-off in that area, and he was embedded in the barriers.”

“But he walked out of the car, he had to visit the medical centre, but he seemed perfectly ok as he made his way back to Red Bull hospitality. We’ll get some idea later whether that’s the end of their day. That’s two big shunts for Gasly now this pre-season after he clipped a kerb last week,” added Slater.

 

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BOTTAS: WE’VE BEEN IN DIFFICULT SITUATIONS BEFORE WITH THE CAR

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While Mercedes continue to shun the limelight by opting to a rigid programme that involves accumulating mileage and ignoring lap times, during the second Formula 1 preseason test in Spain, Valtteri Bottas suggested that all is not well with the W10 and it’s not the first time he has had a moan.

Speaking to Sky F1 ahead of his stint in the car on Thursday afternoon,”We have some kind of balance issues we still need to solve, there are many things in the car we can still improve but I have faith in the team, we have been in difficult situations before with the car.”

Bottas also revealed that the W10 will be vastly different when it gets to Melbourne and said of a possible setback the World Champions may face between now and then, “Any obstacle, I think it’s possible to overcome.”

“I trust everyone is really making sure that, with the starting point for the season, we’re going to be in best possible shape for Melbourne. If it’s going to be enough to win races, that’s unknown at this point.”

Bottas went on to add that he felt thinks Ferrari are still ahead, with Mercedes and Red Bull closely-matched and hinted that the team will start their “shorter runs” and qualifying simulations, on the final day of testing on Friday.

The Finn completed 96 laps during his afternoon in the car, but was slowest of all, almost 2.5 seconds off the pace set by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

Notably, Bottas opted to run the medium Pirelli C3 compound, while Leclerc had the softer and faster C5s bolted on during his table-topping run five minutes before the lunch break.

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YAMAMOTO: RED BULL IS A PURE RACING TEAM AND WE ARE EXCITED

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Word is that in 2017 when the Honda-McLaren debacle was at its lowest point, the Japanese Auto giant’s big shots gathered at the headquarters where they were faced with the prospect of folding their Formula 1 project and quietly disappearing into the distance while saving buckets of money.

Apparently, the withdraw from F1 motion was discussed at length. There were two choices: 1) they accept failure and depart or stay involved to save face and prove McLaren wrong.

When decision time came it was: “あそこに出かけて彼らの尻を蹴りましょう!” which translates to: “Let’s go out there and kick their butts!”

Red Bull chiefs who risked all with this venture, as well as their drivers Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, have been quick and constant in their praise for Honda who are now geared to supply two teams for the first time since they returned in 2015.

It is clear Dieter Mateschitz and his lieutenants have done their homework on diplomacy (which they lacked with their French partners) as ‘that warm and fuzzy feeling’ of a new romance between Red Bull and their new Japanese partners is mutual, the obsessive target to win races and titles is shared.

Honda’s motorsport boss, Masashi Yamamoto praised Red Bull in an interview on the official Honda F1 website, “All the decision-making and execution of Red Bull is always decided thinking: How we can win the race and championship?”

“It is always their first priority anytime, everyone in the team is working together towards such a clear target. This impression has not changed from the time of negotiation until now. It is a pure racing team and we are excited to work with such an outfit.”

After the humiliation with McLaren all eyes are on Honda to step it up and deliver the goods for their new partners adding to the burden of expectation that inevitably is attached to the project.

Yamamoto conceded, “In terms of the pressure, we already knew from the beginning of the conversation that they are obviously a big team and all the fans and media have high expectations for them so, to be honest, there’s not much change there either. We were ready for it.”

“You could describe it that half of our feeling is one of big pressure but the other half is of positive expectation,” he added.

Red Bull is clearly, and for obvious reasons, the number one focus of their title shot, but Yamamoto insists Toro Rosso will remain a high priority regarding the Power Unit supply as Honda are now geared up to supply and service four cars, as opposed to two, for the first time since their return in 2015.

He explained, “It is the same for both teams in that we are targeting achieving better results through the year. As Honda ourselves, we’ll keep working hard on the development and try to introduce the updates during the season as planned, but also we want to win races. We want to make this season the year we get it right to challenge at the top.”

Tales of a new positive spirit blowing through the Red Bull factory in Milton Keynes are plentiful, and according to Yamamoto the same applies to the troops 10,000km away at the Sakura factory.

He said, “To be a partner with such a big team like Red Bull, it is a big pressure for Honda but also it is for sure a very big chance for us. We believe we can have a good relationship together where we can have open communication with mutual respect, just like we have built with Toro Rosso.”

“We can’t be sure if we can immediately compete at the level to fight for the top until we actually see our cars running on track, but I strongly think this is a partnership which we can make steps forward together,” added the Honda motorsport chief.

His organisation’s main, and substantial, success in F1 has been as an engine supplier, partnering to F1 world titles with McLaren (4) and Williams (2) while collecting 69 grand prix victories with cars powered but Honda.

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HORNER: ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY THIS IS A 2-TO-3-YEAR PROJECT

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Although all the signs are very good for Formula 1’s latest partnership between Honda and Red Bull, and despite the vast resources available from both organisations for their collective Formula 1 programme, team chief Christian Horner is looking to the long term and downplaying expectations of instant results.

In an interview published on the Honda F1 website, Horner explained, “Inevitably when you’ve got such a big change – it’s the first time that we’ve changed power supplier in 12 years – there’s going to be a getting to know you process.”

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, so whilst we’re expecting to make progress throughout the year the target is very much looking at this as a two-to-three-year project.

“In terms of the gap to Ferrari and Mercedes, we know where we’ve been the last couple of years. There are circuits that have suited us, there are circuits that haven’t, and our target is to be consistent across all types of venue.”

Honda and McLaren famously parted at the end of 2017 after a partnership that brought only agony for both parties but was, in retrospect, never expected to work as the two corporations differed vastly on how to approach racing. The split was inevitable.

But Horner suggests their partnership with the Japanese auto giant, is different,  “I have found working with Honda very straightforward. There’s a great deal of passion and enthusiasm.”

“It’s been a very open and straightforward dialogue that the two companies have been having, and you can see their sense of determination and the commitment that Honda has made to Formula 1. It’s a perfect match for us. It’s been enjoyable and hopefully we can also have some fun along the way as well.”

Horner credits the successful 2018 partnership with Toro Rosso and Honda for smoothing integration by Red Bull this season, “Strategically it was a vital decision when Toro Rosso elected to take up a partnership with Honda for the 2018 season.”

“It gave Red Bull Technology – who supply the drivetrain solution to Toro Rosso – the ability to see behind the scenes a little of how Honda operate and their working practices, as we incorporated our transmission onto their engine.”

“Monitoring the progress through the year meant that, by the time it got to Red Bull Racing making an engine decision, in the end it was very straightforward,” explained Horner.

In the end, it is results that will matter. To win races and championships Red Bull powered by Honda need to beat the collective might of Ferrari and Mercedes.

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ALFA ROMEO: MICK IS PART OF OUR SHORTLIST FOR BAHRAIN TEST

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As we reported last month, Mick Schumacher has taken a step closer to driving a Formula 1 car for the first time and is likely to get his first chance to do so next month after Alfa Romeo confirmed the reigning Formula 3 Champion was one of their candidates for testing.

In January, Schumacher – the son of seven-time F1 legend Michael – joined the Ferrari Driver Academy, increasing the speculation he would soon follow in his father’s footsteps.

Schumacher Jr has impressed in his fledgeling career, winning the 2018 Formula 3 European crown to seal his progression to F2 with Prema Racing.

Such has been the impression the 19-year-old has made, Alfa Romeo – who are powered by Ferrari engines – are considering putting him in their C38 at one of the young-driver tests.

Teams must run young drivers during two of the four days of in-season testing in Bahrain and Spain, and Schumacher is a prime candidate.

“There is a shortlist and Mick is part of the shortlist because he is one of the guys in F2 who fits the criteria to be eligible for the rookie test,” Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur told the official F1 website.

“But we have not made a decision yet. There are several names on the list. We will continue to evaluate the options available and discuss with Ferrari.

“[But] the choice is quite limited. To find someone who gives good feedback but hasn’t done more than two races is tricky.”

Alfa Romeo – formally Sauber – have given the chance to young Ferrari drivers over the past two years. Charles Leclerc impressed so much in 2018 he earned a move to Ferrari, while Antonio Giovinazzi has been handed a seat for the coming season.

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VERSTAPPEN: WINGS WON’T IMPROVE OVERTAKING AND MANY WILL BREAK

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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is not expecting more overtaking despite new regulations specifically designed by the rule-makers to reduce airflow behind cars and thus allow for closer racing… theoretically.

But the ‘solution’ to simplify the front wing has resulted in even more turbulence due to the outwash effect by the bigger wings, which has nulled the desired effect of reducing the airflow wake caused by F1 cars and added the risk of damage in wheel-to-wheel ‘combat’ situations.

Which translates to Lap 1, Turn 1 will be interesting and could be very expensive too!

In a wide-ranging interview on his website, Verstappen was asked if as a result of the new rules he expected more overtaking in 2019, he replied, “No. When I am trailing someone I still have a lot of turbulence and, when you look at the lap times, you see that we are still going tremendously fast again as we did before.”

“I think that the FIA and FOM never expected us to get back up to speed again so fast. Engineers are very smart and are more than able to work around a problem and, like in this instance, find downforce somewhere else.”

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel asked the obvious question: Why were wings made bigger when for ages we have known that they are the problem?

Asked about the new front wing, Verstappen explained, “I don’t think there is anything wrong with the rear wing, I am now better able to look in the mirrors. It actually looks a bit more butch now.”

“The front wing, on the other hand, is a bit too clean. I do like a smaller front wing, like the cars in 2007 and 2008 had, as opposed to such a broad one. I think we’ll see many front wings being damaged this year at the starts because they’re as wide as the wheels are.”

As for the larger DRS gap, the Red Bull driver acknowledged, “You can notice that. The wing is also lower, causing the DRS-effect to be much stronger. But it still depends on the circuit how big it will be. In Australia and Hungary it will be more difficult than in China, where you can race beautifully.”

Despite a few niggles on the RB15 during his stint in the car on Wednesday, Verstappen still managed an impressive 128 laps.

He summed up afterwards, “Not a perfect day, but still a good one. There are always things you want to check, instead of driving until something breaks.”

“We did a routine check this afternoon and then got back out again at the end of the session. But even with the delay we had, we still managed to do over 120 laps, so I think it was still a very positive day.”

“The more laps, the better and today we did a lot, so overall I’m happy,” added Verstappen.

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Why Sebastian Vettel at last has Red Bull at Ferrari

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Cognitive polyphasia, psychologists call it. That is, happily holding contradictory thoughts in your head simultaneously. For all the term sounds spooky, fear not. It’s something that afflicts just about all of us to some extent.

Formula 1 fans especially so. And especially around now at pre-season testing time. The annual tropes are of course familiar. ‘Don’t read anything into the lap times’; ‘we know nothing about the programmes being run’; ‘only in round one’s qualifying session will we get our confirmation of who’s quick and isn’t, so there’s no point pre-empting’.

Yeah, right. It’s advice given seemingly on the strict understanding that it will be immediately and roundly ignored.

As pretty much from the moment a wheel is turned on the morning of the opening test we’re trying to decipher what it all means. And it’s not only us simple folk watching on who can’t resist, the sober professional correspondents are as guilty as anyone, churning out their analyses of who’s weak and strong; even where each car is weak and strong. Some go so far as to number crunch to give us a pecking order.

And so it was again this time with the first four-day round of Barcelona advance running. This time though we got a clear picture.

Good luck finding anyone – be they sober professional correspondents or indeed simple folk – who on this basis don’t think Ferrari is ahead. Not ‘put your feet up’ ahead, but clearly ahead all the same.

That’s what the said number crunching told us. So did the paddock grapevine. So did the evidence of the eyes from those watching the SF90 performing beautifully on track, its drivers apparently willing and able to push it further and further. Even without all that, the sight of the two Ferrari drivers’ positive and persistent beaming out of the car throughout the opening week would have given the game away on its own. Sebastian Vettel called it the best pre-season test he’s ever had.

The bookies, those most reliable judges of winners and losers, have noticed too, slashing Vettel’s odds to win this year’s title from 4/1 before the test to 2/1 afterwards.

Vettel this year enters season five at the Scuderia – actually a long stint by Ferrari lead driver standards (ignoring the massive outlier that was Michael Schumacher). And the relationship in that time, such is the way of things down Maranello way, hasn’t been entirely plain sailing. Waters got particularly choppy last season.

But the evidence right now is that maybe, just maybe, everything is coming right for Vettel and Ferrari at last. And for more reasons than this year’s car clearly is a quick one.

Before we go on, no doubt a few will be shouting at their screens at this point. That Ferrari’s not all about Vettel; that he has a team-mate. True, the intra-Ferrari team-mate battle in 2019 has featured prominently in season previews as something to anticipate.

This is another thing that by now will sound familiar: will the combination of new boy Charles Leclerc’s prodigious performance shown in his debut year at Sauber in 2018 plus Vettel’s mistake-ridden campaign at the same time reach its logical conclusion in their direct Ferrari face off this year? In that classic pretender-usurps-the-king story arc we’ve seen repeatedly in history; indeed as Vettel loosely had done to himself by Daniel Ricciardo in 2014?

Perhaps, but not so fast. Even over and above the usual consideration that Vettel is the incumbent with his feet firmly under the Ferrari table, plus that Leclerc is entering that most demanding, and often knotted, of environments, and with but a single season of F1 on his CV – and that you have to go back decades to find the previous example of a driver entering Ferrari with such inexperience. Even over and above too, that Vettel’s a four-time world champion who’s very good at driving cars quickly.

We can point to a specific as well. For all that Leclerc’s Sauber bow impressed, there was an area for him to work on. Nailing his best lap at the last of qualifying, as only three times in 2018 did Leclerc string together his theoretical best quali effort based on best sector times. It’s the sort of thing that doesn’t get noticed so much in the midfield, but will be exposed pitilessly at the sharp end. Especially given who his direct yardstick is. As who out of the entire F1 grid in 2018 at the last strung together his ultimate lap most often? Yes, that’s who.

And starting ahead, in an F1 in which passing isn’t easy particularly with the same equipment, adding also that with this he’ll get strategic priority, and Vettel has a solid basis on which to be the first Ferrari home.

Even better his new boss Mattia Binotto has confirmed that Vettel will get Ferrari’s first dibs, initially at least. “I think it’s normal, especially early in the season, that if there are particular situations our priority will be Sebastian,” Binotto said at the 2019 car’s launch. “He is the guide with which we aim for the championship.” And how often do we see that team-mates’ early-season comparative results set the tone for the rest of the year?

Something else noticeable from Vettel’s previous is that he tends not to have two bad seasons in a row. His difficult 2014 campaign, his final one at Red Bull, was followed by a magnificent Ferrari debut in ‘15. His iffy ’16 season was followed by a much more polished ‘17. We may therefore do the maths from his tricky 2018 campaign just passed. It suggests too a man who doesn’t take adversity lying down, and who learns from his errors. But then again we knew that already.

And it’s easy to lose sight of quite how magnificent Vettel is at his best. Granted the evidence until now is that he needs everything around him to be in place – both in terms of the car and the team – to extract this immaculate pitch. At Red Bull where he won his four titles he indeed had everything around him; a car nailed to the floor and a positive, proactive team which adored him.

Yet Vettel returned the favour with something that often resembled a film on a loop: nailed, maximised, stunning qualifying laps at the last of Q3, followed up with masterful race victory performances, establishing in a blink a gap in the lead then managing it. Driving errors were as rare as hen’s teeth. It wasn’t at all exaggeration to say that time after time first place was as good as done within a few laps.

At Ferrari, again such is the way of things down Maranello, things haven’t been nearly so simple. But now Vettel may be about to go back to the future, and get the sort of situation at Ferrari that he had in his Red Bull title-winning pomp.

We can start with the car. As intimated there is close to unanimity that the Ferrari is, at this stage, a gem. An admiring Mark Hughes described it as “beautifully poised, consistent and reliable”.

Last year Vettel also had a strong car, yet he didn’t have the other part of the Red Bull equation – a team that is strong operationally and provides a positive environment.  By contrast, at Ferrari last year the car’s potency was dashed frequently by operational errors – which by the latter part of the season bordered the risible – and doubts around the management style of boss Maurizio Arrivabene. He presided apparently over a culture of fear.

Possibly it had a spiral effect as well. Vettel right or wrongly felt he had to intervene to resolve the operational shortfall personally. Frequently he questioned the team and strategy over the radio, and it reached the point that during the last of qualifying at Spa after a rain shower he had to snap at his colleagues for not lifting the car properly and thus risking damaging its floor while pushing it.

And it was in stark contrast to what Vettel had at Red Bull where he was free to concentrate on the driving; loosely what the guy who’s beaten him to the last two titles, Lewis Hamilton, has also benefited from at Mercedes. As noted Vettel hardly made a driving error while at Red Bull. It may all be instructive.

Arrivabene has now gone, replaced by Ferrari’s highly-rated technical chief Binotto. And the culture is changing apparently with it, to the sort of open, warm and creative one which Binotto presided over in creating those strong cars in the first place. Another thing likely instructive.

“The philosophy for next season certainly is try to enjoy [it],” Binotto said at the latest car’s launch. “That’s something that we were maybe missing in the past.”

“Serenity will prevail,” added Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri. “We will work with creativity, talent and transparency.”

Vettel has noticed too. “If we can maintain the level of joy and fun I found on the track here and saw on people’s faces the last couple of months, then I’m positive and hopeful for the future,” he declared during Barcelona’s first test.

“It was unbelievable,” he added after the first day’s running. “I think the car was working really well. We had no issues slowing us down; we completed the programme just the way we wanted. We were able to squeeze a little bit more out even.

“Obviously it’s very early. But for now I think huge compliments to everyone back at the factory. How they tackled the new rules and regulations and what they put on track today is very close to perfection.”

It is indeed very early. But it also all sounds an awful lot like what he had at Red Bull. And we know how that one ended.

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George Russell accepts Williams is F1’s slowest team

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George Russell has conceded that Williams is currently bringing up the rear of the Formula 1 field in terms of pace, with just one day of testing remaining.

Williams finished at the back of the field in 2018, with just two points finishes, and suffered a delayed start to pre-season testing in 2019 due to setbacks in readying its FW42.

Williams has managed to rack up substantial mileage this week in its bid to play catch-up, completing the third-most laps, but has been towards the bottom of the timesheets.

“I’d be lying if I said we were not the slowest at the moment, that is a reality,” said Russell.

“It is clear we have some work to do, but was very positive is that we made a big step from when I jumped into the car definitely on Tuesday, we made a step since Robert [Kubica] was in the car yesterday.

“Hopefully when he jumps in again tomorrow, we will find another step.

“We understand the issues, we recognise that, and we are doing everything we can to rectify it.

“I’m definitely very happy with the number of laps we’ve done but we have not been able to do lap times, we still have a bit to find with them … we were up there but we’ve got work to do.

“We were a big step behind everybody else.”

The next time Russell will step into Williams’ FW42 will be at the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.

“I think I need to step back and pinch myself and realise I am in F1 and I will be making my debut, but at the end of the day my goal is to be in F1 for many years to come,” he said.

“If I step back and relax too much I might be kicked out of the door. So my goal at the moment is to work with the team to try and push this car and get everything out of it.”

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