FORMULA 1

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Alonso backs "zero tolerance" track limits approach

Fernando Alonso says he prefers it when Formula 1 chiefs take a "zero tolerance" approach to track limits, even though he fell foul of such a stance in Mexico last weekend.
The Spaniard had his time in Q1 deleted for leaving the track at Turn 11 on his first run in qualifying – even though he had only done so to avoid causing a crash and had gained no advantage.

While that decision put him on the back foot, he says he prefers it when the rules are clear – as they were at the recent Fuji WEC round when his car lost pole position for abusing track limits.

“I prefer when it’s zero tolerance,” said Alonso when asked for his views on track limits policing.

“In Fuji [WEC] we crossed the white line by one centimetre and they delete the laptime, and we were not on pole position because of that. 

"We didn’t gain time because it was a correction like here – you have a big moment, you end up off track, and they delete the lap. But the rules say if you are over that red and white line they delete the lap.

“They don’t consider if it was a mistake, a correction, or a pure gain in time, it’s just the line is there, and if you cross the line they delete the lap.

"They do it in other series and it works fine, so I’m happy with how it works.”

Alonso recovered from the Q1 incident in Mexico to qualify 12th but his hopes of taking a good points tally were wrecked by a freak incident when his car was damaged after being hit by debris.

“We were unlucky with some of the debris from the Force India in front of us landing in our car,” he said. “It's a one in a million possibility to have a DNF, but it happened. 

“It's the way it is. I think even if now I feel a little bit sad not to be in the car, the day in general was very emotional and magic with all the support and all the fans.

"I think overall it is going to be a good memory from this Sunday even with the retirement.”

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Mercedes ruling boosts Haas ahead of appeal

The FIA's recent ruling regarding Mercedes' wheel design suggests that Haas deserves to have its Italian Grand Prix result reinstated, team owner Gene Haas believes.
Haas driver Romain Grosjean had finished sixth at Monza, but was excluded after Renault submitted a protest regarding his car's floor - which the US-owned team had not modified in response to a technical directive from the FIA.

The matter revolved around the requirement to have a 50mm radius at the front of the floor, and ongoing discussions between Haas and FIA representatives about how and when it would have to be addressed, with the team claiming that the summer shutdown meant that it could not make revisions in time for Monza.

Haas appealed the exclusion, and the case will be heard by an FIA Court of Appeal in Paris on Thursday.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, team owner Haas likened the Monza case to the recent controversy surrounding Mercedes' rear wheel rim concept, which featured a number of internal holes and was seen as potentially violating F1's ban on moveable aerodynamic devices.

The FIA made it clear it considered the design legal and whatever aero effect it produced “incidental”, although Mercedes has not used it in the past two races to avert the risk of a Ferrari protest.

“What did they say about Mercedes, that their little disc didn’t have any effect on aerodynamics, it was immeasurable? It’s the same thing for us,” Haas said.

“What we did in putting a radius on a corner really was immeasurable.

“When it comes to Mercedes, they get away with it, when it comes to us, we get hammered. That radius was not relevant to performance.”

Haas says that in his team's case there were doubts over the interpretation of the relevant rules.

“The specification is written in English, it’s not really documented with a diagram exactly what they want. Any kind of paragraph is always going to be subject to interpretation. That’s why they were arguing about it for months between the teams.

“Then they finally put a date on it and said ‘this is what we want’, and we were saying we need one more race to get it done.

“We were racing it before that and other teams were racing it before that. It really wasn’t significant in terms of performance.”

The success of the appeal would mean a 10-point swing in the battle between Renault and Haas for fourth place in the world championship.

However, with Renault having now stretched its advantage over the American team to 30 points, Haas admits it is unlikely to be enough to affect the outcome of the battle.

“I think we’ve got to really be happy with fifth place and kind of look at the whole year. We were eighth the year before, and I think if we can hold on to fifth, that would be an accomplishment.

“I think it’s disappointing, near the end of the year we seem to have run into some bad luck and lost momentum.”

Renault, for its part, remains convinced that the right call was made by the Monza stewards.

“The appeal is between Haas and the FIA,” executive director Marcin Budkowski told Motorsport.com. “We’re just what they call an interested third party.

“We had to put a little bit of work into doing a dossier with the elements of why we believe the stewards’ decision was right, but the reality is we’re passengers or observers. We will attend, and we are potential witnesses if the judges decide to hear us.”

Asked if he was confident in the outcome, Budkowski added: “At the end of the day there’s a court of appeal and I’m not going to comment on the judgement, but we believe that we’re in the right, and that the sanction was appropriate.”

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ALLISON: I THOUGHT THE WORST OF LEWIS UNTIL I GOT TO KNOW HIM

Mercedes’ technical director James Allison admits that before he got to know Lewis Hamilton he believed the Briton was not always sincere when talking about his successes, but since working closely with the five times Formula 1 World Champion all his preconceived ideas went out the window

Talking to Sportsmail, Allison made an honest revelation about his perceptions of Hamilton before working with him at Mercedes, “He will probably be cross with me for saying this, but before I joined Mercedes it sounded to me as if he was saying things that did not have the ring of sincerity to them, and I would think the worst of him. If he said it was his greatest qualifying lap, I’d think why say that when you have done tons of brilliant pole laps?”

“But when you are inside the team with him you know it is sincere. He will tell you candidly that he doesn’t have a brilliant memory, so each lap can seem the best in his mind. He is so pumped by what he has done that his comments are utterly boyish. And utterly charming. But from the outside, I found them utterly charmless.”

Allison, who a couple of years ago Allison lost his wife Rebecca to meningitis, also revealed how compassionate his superstar colleague was at the time, “He had an entirely unconfected desire to tell me he was sorry about my wife and a willingness to listen afterwards, which was very un-racing driver-ish.”

“Having seen a large range of people try to deal with a shocking event like that, not everyone handles it with grace or convincingly. Many people want the subject not to be there. You can tell when someone is for real on a topic as raw as that. His reaction allowed us seriously to come together and told me that I was dealing with someone who is a good person.”

“Lewis is a superstar and they don’t live the sort of lives we lead. But the man behind the facade has a lot to like about him.”

Clearly inspired by Hamilton, Allison talks of the champion’s time with double amputee Billy Monger and explained how nothing was contrived even though it might have been perceived otherwise, “What none of the cameras saw was them sitting together talking one to one afterwards for a long time. There was no payback for either of them but their own enjoyment.”

“I found it difficult to see the young boy with those wounds, with his family around who clearly loved him. We all had the opportunity to talk to him but none of us did in the way Lewis did,” recalled the 50-year-old tech guru.

“Work-wise, he doesn’t try to own every situation like he is the alpha male in the room,” he continued. “He knows we all bring different aspects to the team and that he must give us space to do our job for him. His debriefs are not particularly long or short. When something needs talking about they are as long as necessary.”

“He sits there with a little book and writes things down over the weekend. Sometimes he misses something that we told him about. But he puts down what is important to him.”

“He gets stronger through the season. It’s as if he needs to know who his rivals are. And once it gets tighter he becomes more intense. Curiously, he gets easier to work with then. He becomes more forgiving of our screw-ups, more focused on the fight and more powerful as a team-mate. At this time of year he is just a weapon.”

In the wake of Hamilton clinching the title at the recent Mexican Grand Prix, Allison declared, “Lewis’ fifth World Championship, his fourth with Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – in a season which has tested all of us to the limit, considering our car has not always had the pace to win from the front.”

“Lewis’ contribution to keep us in the fight and to carve out his very, very well deserved championship will go down in history as one of the great performances of our sport,” he added.

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HAUG: HAMILTON VS ROSBERG, NOT EVEN HOLLYWOOD!

Norbert Haug knows a thing two about Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and reckons that the feud between the two, from their early teens in karting oblivion to the centre stage of the Formula 1 world is the stuff no Hollywood director would ever dream up.

For 22 years Haug was Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport until he quit in 2012. During that period he engineered the manufacturer’s return to Formula 1 in 1993 with Sauber after a four-decade absence.

The rest is well-documented history. On his journey, Haug was instrumental in the careers of Hamilton and Rosberg. Both backed by the three-pointed star in their junior careers and, of course, through to Formula 1 where both became world champions.

Speaking on Servus TV, Haug said, “They were rivals in karting and that later the two drove later in Formula 1 for the world championship title, you wouldn’t believe it even if it were a Hollywood movie.”

While both drivers acknowledge they were friends in their early years right through to Formula 1 until they became teammates at Mercedes in 2013, upon which the feud ignited and raged until that final night in Abu Dhabi when Rosberg famously claimed the title and promptly retired.

The ‘civil war’ had to be managed by Toto Wolff whose nerves and resolve were tested to the maximum as were those of the Mercedes team in general. According to insiders at times the ambience was “toxic” in the pit garage as the feuding drivers outright ignored one another.

Tapping into his vast experience as a motorsport boss, Haug gave insight into how to handle drivers at that level, “If you don’t get into the mind of the person you are talking to, you can say whatever you want. It won’t be heard.”

“The boss who thinks there is a remote driven racing driver will never have a world champion in his team. To keep the reins loose and to challenge the person in front of you with respect to wake up the hunger for success, that’s his recipe for success.”

“However, the perfect team boss also needs to set boundaries, he’s gotta tell him what the limits are, how to treat one another and how to act as a team player. This is not a difficult task with an intelligent driver.”

“It’s trickier to build a suitable car and to implement the right strategy. The fact that new talents will always come into Formula 1, doesn’t change much: young racing drivers aged 16 or 17 are very mature these days. At least, when it comes to their job,” added Haug.

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VETTEL: I AM SURE LECLERC WANTS TO BEAT ME

With Sebastian Vettel’s Formula 1 World Championship title challenge over the Ferrari driver is looking ahead to 2019 in which he will team up with Charles Leclerc in what is sure to be an intriguing partnership at Maranello.

Bucking tradition Ferrari have opted for the youth of 21-year-old Leclerc, arguably the top rookie this year on the F1 grid and a driver who is expected to become a new star of the sport.

Vettel, ten years his senior, has enjoyed an unfettered number one status with the Reds since he joined the team with Kimi Raikkonen mostly playing second fiddle to the German in the Italian team.

In Leclerc, he will find a driver with something to prove and ambitions to establish himself as a top gun of the sport. The Monaco Kid’s goal is clear: beat Vettel, because in F1 the first ‘enemy’ is the one within your own garage – your teammate.

And of course, the Reds want their young charge to be the real deal and will throw everything at making this a reality for the youngster. Put it this way: they won’t expect him to play wingman to the #5 Ferrari, quite the contrary in fact…

In an interview with MN, Vettel acknowledged, “It’s going to be different for sure, because Charles is not Kimi and Kimi is not Charles. He is young, so he will have a lot on his head and a lot of things in his mind. So I think for the team we need to work together on track.”

“I am sure he wants to beat me, I want to beat him, the rules are clear. It was the same with Kimi. But I think the key is that we work together and, as I said, he will have a lot things going on in his head.”

“I am his teammate, so I am also here to help. I am the last one that is trying to hide or playing any games or anything like that. That is why I think I get along very well with Kimi, because in this regard we are very similar. So we will see,” ventured Vettel.

At 31, with four Formula 1 titles and 52 grand prix victories on his CV, Vettel is now one of the elder statesmen in the top flight in an era in which the sport embraces younger drivers.

Almost a dozen years ago, Vettel himself stepped up to Formula 1 at the tender age of 20 and went on to break several ‘youngest’ records until Max Verstappen came along and owned most of those.

How long before the German calls it quits?

“Well, its another 10 years from now to go as long as Kimi,” he mused. “It is a long time. It’s as long as I’ve been here, so now its halftime basically. I don’t know.”

“We’re looking at 400 grands prix… in total. I don’t know, you should never say never, but maybe not. I don’t know. Depends, you know. If I win the next 10 years with Ferrari, then yeah, why not?” added Vettel.

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DOMENICALI: IT HURTS PHYSICALLY TO LOSE OUT ON F1 TITLE

Former Ferrari chief knows a thing or two about the joy of winning Formula 1 World Championship titles and the lows of defeat thanks to the years he spent at Maranello working with the likes of Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.

As Team Manager then Sporting Director at Ferrari during the Schumi golden years, in which the team won five F1 drivers’ and six constructors’ world titles.

He was promoted to Team Principal in 2008. That year the Reds won the constructors’ championship but also suffered the narrowest of defeats in the drivers’ championship with Felipe Massa losing out to Lewis Hamilton.

Under his watch, the team came close again twice with Fernando Alonso but it is now a decade that championship titles have eluded the sport’s most successful team.

This year, in the drivers’ contest, it was not close for Ferrari and their ace Sebastian Vettel as their nemesis, Hamilton, wrapped up the title with two rounds remaining.

Nevertheless, defeat will be hard to stomach for the Italian team as it was a season in which, perhaps for the first time since the new turbo era, they had the package to take the fight to Mercedes but slipped up badly in the latter half of their campaign.

Domenicali knows the agony of defeat too well, especially the impact it has at Maranello and in Italy for that matter.

Starting with that agonising final lap of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, he recalled those narrow misses in a recent interview, “Twenty-three seconds. I remember it like it was yesterday!”

“Everyone was already screaming but I was watching the GPS and I saw Lewis approaching and when I noticed that in the penultimate corner he was getting closer, I said… well, I cannot say exactly what I was I thinking!”

“But I turned around and on the screen, Felipe’s family were cheering. I said: please tell Antonio [Felipe’s father] that unfortunately, we have lost. It was really tough.”

“But if you look back at the image of the podium, Felipe was so proud of what he was able to achieve. I was really impressed by his reaction.”

“I remember later on we were in the room where he was changing. His wife and family were there and we didn’t say anything because… what can you say? When you lose this way it hurts a lot,” lamented the Italian.

More agony came along when Alonso came desperately close on two occasions, Domenicali continued, “I remember the same situation when we lost in 2010 and 2012 with Fernando. I can recall the nights we didn’t sleep, and I said it’s not possible, for the second time in a row, losing the last race in that way.”

“Of course, it was the fault of the team because there were two drivers to cover, Vettel and Webber. It was more difficult in 2012 because we were leading the championship by 50 points before the summer break.”

“You come out very strong after these things because it hurts physically,” admitted Domenicali who has since departed the Scuderia and now heads up Lamborgini since 2016.

In two years he has doubled the size of the company. Before that he was Vice President, New Business Initiatives at Audi which was set up to study a possible foray into F1 by the German marque, a project which was shelved long before it got legs.

Racing is in the 53-year-old’s blood, he explained, “The passion started when I very young when I was a kid in Imola watching all kinds of racing, two wheels, four wheels… it started from there. At Imola, the school is behind the track.”

“You start spending all your weekends there – your curiosity develops and that’s where the passion came from. It might seem strange but it’s true: when I was a teenager at school, I used to spend my weekends at the track at Imola, helping to park trucks in the paddock.”

“There is a photo of me when I was young which shows me parking those trucks. Later, many of the people in that picture went on to become my colleagues. That photo is very special to me because it reminds me of my roots.”

The inevitable question: Do you miss Formula 1?

Domenicali replied, “Formula 1 was my life. I was at Ferrari for 23 years and the passion is still there. Your stress level is very high when you are in Formula 1 and of course in one way I miss it but what I’ve gained is more time for my personal life, for my family.”

“I’m still involved, as I’m on the World Motorsport Council as President of the FIA Single-Seater Commission, so I am in touch with everyone. I still follow Formula 1 but in a different way, and now I’m totally committed to a different job,” concluded Domenicali.

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RICCIARDO: I WILL BE DOING THE LAST TWO RACES

Daniel Ricciardo was livid after the Mexican Grand Prix when looking strong for a podium the Red Bull driver had to park his car with a clutch problem, making it his ninth DNF of the season thus far.

Immediately after retiring from the race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez the despair was evident as the driver emerged from his crippled car and promptly declared that Pierre Gasly (who will replace him next year in the team) could drive the next two races in his place.

Now that tempers have cooled, and disappointment absorbed, the big smiling Australian has recommitted himself to the cause for his final two races in blue.

Ricciardo posted a video on Instagram, for his 1.7-million followers, in which he said, “First g’day. I would like to address a few things from Mexico…”

“The first one first: I will be doing the last two races, it is what I’m about, it ain’t about the other life. Yeah, it’s been obviously massive highs and lows this year – more lows, unfortunately.

“It’s been frustrating, I won’t lie, but I owe it to myself and to all the guys that work their butts off to give it two more cracks before we see each other off. So, I will be there – just needed a few days off really. So, Feels good,” he added.

Ricciardo will finish sixth in the championship this year, bottom of the Big Three points table before he moves to Renault for the next chapter in his Formula 1 career.

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FIA REJECT MONZA DQ APPEAL BY HAAS

The Haas Formula One team lost on Friday a bid to overturn a stewards’ decision that excluded French driver Romain Grosjean from sixth place at the Italian Grand Prix in September.

The governing FIA’s International Court of Appeal upheld the original decision and confirmed the exclusion a day after a hearing in Paris.

The court said a detailed explanation would be issued at a later date.

The U.S.-owned team expressed disappointment with the outcome.

“We simply move forward and look to the final two races of the year to continue to fight on track, earn more points and conclude our strongest season to date,” said team principal Guenther Steiner in a statement.

Ferrari-powered Haas are fifth in the constructors’ championship, 30 points behind Renault, who had questioned the legality of the floor on Grosjean’s car at Monza.

The Frenchman’s result, worth eight points, had put Haas ahead of Renault in the standings but his exclusion dropped them back to fifth.

Renault argued that Haas had not complied with a technical clarification issued to teams in July, and presented photographic evidence to back up their argument.

“Technical Regulations — especially those introduced for safety reasons — must be observed strictly,” said Renault chassis technical director Nick Chester, expressing satisfaction with the decision

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OFFICIALS CONFIRM VIETNAM GRAND PRIX FOR 2020

Vietnam will host a Formula 1 race in April 2020, Hanoi city officials said Thursday, becoming the third Southeast Asian nation to welcome top-flight racing as the franchise seeks to move into new markets.

The race will be hosted in the capital Hanoi, with the circuit set to be unveiled at a gala next week, the Hanoi People’s Committee said Thursday in an invite to the event.

“The city of Hanoi managed to conclude the cooperation to be entitled as the official host of a race of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship (from) April 2020,” the letter read.

Authorities said earlier this year they supported the idea of hosting a race, but would not dip into government coffers to pay for the event.

Mai Tien Dung, head of the government office, said in August that he hoped costs could instead be covered by potentially “huge” advertising revenues.

Officials had originally considered hosting the race around Hanoi’s scenic Hoan Kiem lake near the bustling Old Quarter, but decided instead on a route near the national stadium, where the roads are wider.

Formula One’s governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), did not immediately reply to AFP’s request for comment on Thursday.

F1 race director Charlie Whiting told reporters earlier this month that he had visited the site in Hanoi and was confident the circuit would be ready in time for the 2020 season.

He said much of the race would be on existing roads but some sections would need to be built, according to Fox Sports, “That shouldn’t be a problem based on previous experience.”

Formula 1 races can be costly endeavours and are seen as financially risky for host cities like Hanoi where racing remains outside of the mainstream.

In 2017, Malaysia said it would cancel the Formula One races that it has hosted since 1999, saying the loss-making event had been hard hit by competition from neighbouring Singapore.

Though informal — and illegal — motorbike street racing, and a nascent offroad racing scene have started to gain traction in Vietnam, Formula One has yet to take hold among the mainstream of sports fans, most of whom are football-mad.

Vietnam will be only the third Southeast Asian country to host a Formula One race, after Malaysia and Singapore.

Organisers are pinning hopes that a mushrooming middle class in Southeast Asia, home to some of Asia’s fastest growing economies, will embrace sports like racing that have taken off in richer nations.

Formula One was taken over by US firm Liberty Media last year for $8 billion, and the new owners have said they are keen on exploring new regions.

In the right markets, the sport has been highly profitable and raked in billions from advertisers and broadcasting rights.

Formula One-branded merchandise also brings in riches, but some F1 teams are plagued by financial problems and the sport has limited activity in the social and digital media platforms crucial to courting the next generation of fans.

MIKA: Why Vietnam???

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DE LA ROSA: SAINZ IS AT THE SAME LEVEL AS VERSTAPPEN

Pedro de la Rosa is convinced that Carlos Sainz is the real deal, as good as Max Verstappen, and is hopeful that his fellow Spaniard will find a McLaren team on the up when he dons their overalls next year to lead the team in what is a new era at Woking.

Red Bull shunned Sainz when he was available earlier this year while Renault, where he drives now opted for Daniel Ricciardo to partner Nico Hulkenberg which resulted in a McLaren offer which the 24-year-old accepted.

Asked by El Confidencial if it was the right move for young Sainz, De la Rosa replied, “Let’s see, I’m quite optimistic in the sense that McLaren has hit rock bottom, but no matter what people say is still a great team.”

“Next year they probably will not fight for a podium but they will be more competitive than this year. Honestly, I believe we have seen the worst of McLaren, but you have to be realistic as it is highly unlikely that from the back of the grid they will be podium contenders next year. This does not happen in Formula 1.”

“McLaren is immersed in a reconstruction period, I am sure the team will rise again but much depends on what Renault can deliver to help them,” explained De la Rosa who drove for the Woking outfit in 2005 and 2006.

As for Sainz who steps in to replace outgoing Fernando Alonso at the sport’s second most successful team, “I see [Carlos] as a top driver and for me, it is very clear that he is at the same level as Verstappen and [Nico] Hulkenberg and faster than many others which shows the level he is at.”

“I have no doubt he is World Champion material. The next Alonso? The comparisons are odious because Fernando is one of the best in history. In fifteen years we will be in a position to compare them, not now,” insisted De la Rosa.

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What's left to fight for in 2018 F1 season?

The destination of the Drivers’ Championship has been decided early for the second successive season and for a fifth time it will be heading to Lewis Hamilton’s burgeoning trophy cabinet. But there are still two Grands Prix left to run in Brazil and Abu Dhabi and, other than the honour of winning a race, there’s still a few matters left to decide.

Can Mercedes make it five on the bounce?

Hamilton’s title celebrations were tempered by the knowledge that Mercedes had suffered at the Mexican Grand Prix – and is not yet assured of this year’s Constructors’ Championship. Mercedes has swept up in the hybrid era but statistically this has been its weakest campaign, challenged more regularly by Ferrari and Red Bull, though it still holds a commanding position. Mercedes is 55 points to the good over Ferrari, with 86 up for grabs, and thus the Italian marque rival must out-score the Silver Arrows by 13 points in Brazil to even keep the fight alive heading to Abu Dhabi. Should Mercedes clinch the Constructors’ crown it would be its fifth on the bounce, the second longest streak in history, behind Ferrari’s 1999-2004 sweep.

Can Hamilton win a race as champion?

Hamilton has won 71 Grands Prix in history but has never triumphed in the wake of clinching a title early. In 2015 he finished runner-up to Nico Rosberg at the final three races, while last year crashed in qualifying at Interlagos – going on to recover to fourth – and then placed second to Valtteri Bottas in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton admitted at the end of last year that he wasn’t at 100 per cent of his capability after clinching the title, an understandable approach considering the effort put into a championship campaign. But with Mercedes still pushing for the Constructors’ crown and more records to chase, 2018 seems as good a time as any to keep on winning.

Or can Bottas finally get the win?

Valtteri Bottas has not had a good 2018 season, but he has been desperately unlucky to miss out on the top step. No-one has finished runner-up seven times in the space of a single season without taking a win, and had Lady Luck shone a little (or a lot) brighter on Bottas then he could easily have four victories to his name. The image of Bottas slumped against the Baku barriers adjacent to his punctured Mercedes heartbreakingly summarises his campaign. And, with hindsight, the team orders swap in Russia proved unnecessary – even if it was, at the time, eminently sensible. Bottas was second in Brazil last year and won in Abu Dhabi. A repeat would be very welcome as he strives to avoid becoming the first win-less Mercedes driver since 2012.

Who will get a trip to St. Petersburg?

Under FIA rules the top three in the standings must attend the Prize Giving ceremony, which this year will take place in Russian city St. Petersburg in early December. Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have already had their tickets booked, but the third-placed driver is still up for grabs, not that any of the three candidates are likely to be fussed. Kimi Raikkonen (surely the least bothered about a flying visit to Russia) is on 236, Bottas on 227, with the rejuvenated and in-form Max Verstappen on 216. Whoever finishes in the position will at least receive a trophy in Russia – albeit one unlikely to feature hugely highly in their respective cabinets.

Will Ricciardo’s luck change?

Daniel Ricciardo has had just one uncompromised Grand Prix weekend since the summer break. He was caught up in the Turn 1 clash in Belgium, had mechanical failures in Italy, the US and Mexico, started from the back in Russia, and was forced out of Q2 in Japan when his RB14 failed. Little wonder that Mexico was the straw that broke the Honey Badger’s back. Ricciardo understandably reined in his post-race comments and is out to cap his Red Bull career on a high. He has never gone well at Interlagos but a podium finish for the first time since Monaco would be a welcome reward.

Will Hulkenberg seal F1’s Class B fight?

Nico Hulkenberg has taken six 'wins' in the midfield battle this year – more than any other driver – and he and Renault have recovered from a post-summer dip to open a buffer in the fight for best of the rest. It’s not out of the question that Sergio Perez could still overhaul the German, but a 12-point turnaround across two Grands Prix is an improbable proposition. For Hulkenberg, finishing clear of his opponents in the midfield battle would surely send a message to 2019 team-mate Ricciardo that he means business.

Who will be fourth-coming?

The year-long scrap for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship has surely now been settled in Renault’s favour, given its recent upturn in results, Haas’ problems, and the American team losing its Monza appeal. The gap is now a surely insurmountable 30 points. Of other interest is whether Force India can take a net fourth by combining the two tallies from its pre- and post-summer guises. Perez has indicated that this is the team’s target, though it is also trying to breach a (real) 15-point deficit it holds to McLaren in the fight for sixth. The closest battle is for eighth – Sauber has moved on to 36 points to overhaul Toro Rosso, on 33.

Can Alonso finish with a flourish?

For a driver of Alonso’s calibre to end his Formula 1 career scrapping to make it into Q2 and getting caught up in other people’s accidents is borderline farcical, but sport is not a fairy tale, and Alonso’s 300 Grand Prix, 17-year stay is likely to end with a whimper. McLaren’s chronic underachievement has been a deciding factor but at the last two races Alonso has been eliminated in the wake of damage or picking up debris. There is not going to be a magical goodbye, but for Alonso to finish with a (relative) flourish, and not with a broken MCL33 by the side of the track, would be a more fitting farewell.

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Arrivabene hits out at “fake news” Binotto Ferrari exit stories

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has struck out over “false rumours” concerning the future of his technical director Mattia Binotto, saying they are designed to “create instability” at the Scuderia.
In the wake of Ferrari’s latest failure to win the Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship, some media reported that Binotto had a strained relationship with Arrivabene, and that interest from rival teams might prompt him to leave.

Binotto has been widely credited with Ferrari’s improved performances since the departure of previous technical director James Allison (now at Mercedes) midway through its winless 2016 season. He had been focused on the power unit division, before his promotion to overseeing the entire F1 project.

Following a restructure of the team’s technical departments, Binotto said his aim was “to build the team as a team, and set the right objectives, deal with them – try to be ambitious”.

Speaking to selected Italian media on Sunday, including Motorsport.com, Arrivabene was asked about his own future as well as that of Binotto, and said: “Let's make it clear once and for all. The rumours about Mattia are a fake news, put around to create instability in the team, an attempt to try to create problems where there are no problems, and I do not want to comment on false rumors anymore.

“During this season there have been many attempts at destabilization, sometimes with stories about the drivers, others about the technicians. My position? [Arrivabene smiles] Ask the managing director [Louis] Camilleri.”

Arrivabene also said he is in no rush to sign reinforcements to bolster his team for 2019, which enters the final two rounds of the championship 53 points behind Mercedes in the constructors’ points.

“No one has ever spoken of goodbyes, possibly we can talk about reinforcements,” he said. “But it takes time, we'll think about it next season. Today the team is there, and it's a good and compact team.

“If there are reinforcements they will arrive without any haste, I stress it, and [only] if we need to have them. The line is that of stability, if there are additions [they] will not undermine the soundness of the existing group.

“A team that works only needs reinforcements, not revolutions. Personally, I have never believed in revolutions, but in evolution.”

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Frederic Vasseur on Leclerc, Raikkonen and the pillars of Sauber’s success

When he came into F1 first time around, with Renault in 2016, things didn’t quite work out for a man whose arrival in the Big League had been eagerly awaited. But now that he’s at Sauber, the team have been progressing with impressive pace. David Tremayne speaks to a man known to most as simply ‘Fred’…

Frederic Vasseur is quite a poker player, as his answer to a priming question reveals. Probably because he’s been caught out before, after giving off-the-cuff answers to inevitable questions seeking comparison with one alumni and another from his famous ART junior race team. But of course, that doesn’t stop you trying.

“I don’t compare Charles [Leclerc] today with people such as Lewis [Hamilton],” he smiles, when you ask him how Ferrari’s latest signing is likely to stack up against the new five-time champion in 2019.

“First of all, Lewis was more than ten years ago [when he got to F1]. And he drove for McLaren, and they were a title contender, so there was a big aspect of differences at the same stage, with Lewis. He was allowed to do, I think, 19 days of testing before the first race. And when Charles joined us we were at the back of the grid, so Charles’ approach was a completely different one. It was much easier to start with Sauber, I think. He struggled a little bit on the first appearance, with so little testing. But step by step, the pace was quite fast and he improved a lot in his management skills; not only tyre management and fuel management, but in managing how he monitored all the information on the steering wheel and so on, because this is a huge step compared to the other series.

Vasseur celebrates a GP2 race victory with Lewis Hamilton in 2006. The Briton drove for the Frenchman's ART squad en route to the title.

“The base of the car is not huge compared to the GP2/F2 cars, the way they fight on the track. But the most difficult point is the management of the car, and working with the engineers, and that was perhaps a bit difficult in the first weeks, but then he improved quite fast. Up against Lewis next year, he is under pressure.”

But does he think the impressive young Monegasque is ready for the hot seat of Ferrari?

“Yes. Will he surprise? You never know, because at first it will depend on the value of the car that is in your business; it is always relative, but the car is improving, Charles is improving and everything is there on the table for him.”

And does he feel that it’s fair to say that Charles has been a significant factor in how well Sauber has done in 2018? [In Mexico Leclerc’s seventh place and team mate Marcus Ericsson’s ninth moved Sauber into eighth place, ahead of Toro Rosso.]

“Yeah, yeah, surely. You know that for performance in a team like ours that you have several pillars: engine, aero, expectation on track, budget and drivers, and you can’t miss one. I think we have improved on every single pillar, including drivers, and even Marcus has improved compared to last year. He is doing a good job and if you have a look at yesterday [our conversation took place in the paddock at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on race morning] he was two tenths off and he’s under control. So in the top 10 in Q3, and it’s not the first time of the season, but it’s also due to the emulation and the fact he and Charles are not fighting but matching each other and improving like this, step by step.

“I think at the beginning of the season, if Charles was able to improve quite fast, it was also because Marcus was there. For sure, that’s one of the pillars of the improvement of the team.”

"Charles is improving and everything is there on the table for him" - Vasseur on Leclerc

Losing a fast and aggressive up-and-comer such as Leclerc to Ferrari is potentially a massive loss to such a team, given that everyone regards him as the Next Big Thing, especially as they are seeking to battle to the top of the midfield. But is having a former world champion and proven race winner such as Kimi Raikkonen, rather than another up-and-comer such as Stoffel Vandoorne who dominated GP2 for ART and was the previous recipient of that ‘NBT’ title, the real answer for 2019?

“I think so,” Fred says. “If it was not, I would have taken another way. Because even if last year was the 25th year of Sauber in F1, we are a younger team. And after the difficult period at Sauber we have achieved a lot, but we are still restructuring the company, in the racing department and so on.

“I think the driver has to be the leader of the concept. I always had the same view on this and one of the assets of the driver is to be able to bring the team with him and to push in a clear way, and it will be one step forward for us to have someone like Kimi with huge reference to the business. To know exactly what he wants to do, and to deliver.”

So what has the Iceman been like to deal with thus far? One presumes he is a warmer character within his team, than he is to the outside world…

“We didn’t work together so far,” Fred admits with a grin, “but a couple of times we had good discussions, I would say. And I have a very good feeling because he is straightforward and I’m straightforward and we have the same approach. It’s much easier to improve when you are like this.”

Rumour suggests that they first got together on the Sunday at Monza when Kimi got the bad news about 2019 and his role at Ferrari. Not so.

“No, it wasn’t then,” Fred smiles, then laughs as he adds, “It was the Monday. Because I didn’t want to disturb him during the weekend, I didn’t want to do a move before any announcements or something like this, I wanted to be fair with everybody and as soon as it was announced about Ferrari, we made the move the next day.”

“I think at the beginning of the season, if Charles was able to improve quite fast, it was also because Marcus was there" - Vasseur on the important role played by Marcus Ericsson

Contrary to his outwardly laidback image, Kimi has already been to Hinwil four times, but Fred laughs again. “Yeah, but we have the advantage that we are 25 minutes away [from where Kimi lives]. But it’s good also to have this kind of commitment for us and for the team, the feeling that the driver is pushing, and that it’s important. I have asked a couple of times for the drivers to come into the factory through the season to motivate the guys. We are much less than the other teams and the only way for us to compensate is to over push and the motivation also has to come from the drivers.”

Overall, Vasseur is now bringing to Sauber what observers had expected to see when he joined Renault. He reminds me in some ways of Ron Dennis, as both were shrewd and intelligent racers who achieved much on the lower slopes before graduating to F1.

So why didn’t things work out with the French manufacturer’s team? Did he and team principal Cyril Abiteboul butt heads?

“I don’t know,” he says carefully, as if weighing his words precisely. “I think it was probably something like this, and not with a clear picture of the job definitions. And, honestly, I’m much more in my comfort zone at Sauber because it’s more or less the same size as the businesses I ran before, and it’s much more agile.”

He also has free rein, and was responsible, for example, for signing Simone Resta from Ferrari as technical director.

“It was one of the good moves we did this season and it may not pay off until late next year, because he joined the company at the beginning of June or July, and we are already on the 2019 work. But even in terms of motivation and internal push, it’s a huge step forward.”

It’s interesting to hear him speak of a comfort zone, given ART’s huge catalogue of success behind him with his enterprises in so many of the lower formulae, so how much of that is down to the lack of politics at Sauber?

“Honestly, I’m not complaining about Renault because I knew before [about the politics] and I made also some mistakes on my side, so I’m not complaining about them at all. Now I’m quite happy because I kept a good relationship with everybody at Renault and we are often flying together. So it’s fine for me, I don’t want to fight with them. But probably I joined at a time when there was not a good momentum. And so I stopped.”

I mention the thing about him and Ron Dennis, and how we’d been waiting to see what he could do in F1.

“I had some opportunities before but I was never in the situation to have only F1 in mind. For me racing is fine and I love to do racing, it doesn’t matter for me if it’s DTM, GP2, Formula 3. I had a very exciting season in F3 with Lewis or in GP2, and it’s probably better to do something like this than to be involved in a shitty project in F1.”

Kimi Raikkonen and Beat Zehnder, Sauber's Team Manager, in Italy. "I have a very good feeling (about Kimi for 2019) because he is straightforward and I’m straightforward," says Vasseur

Now the big question is how he manages everything, given that he runs Sauber in F1, teams in F1 and GP2, and builds cars for Formula E…

“I stopped completely my other business,” he says immediately. “Now it’s Sebastian Phillipe who is running the team. This story here at Sauber is more than a fulltime job, 21 races… Honestly it’s bit too much but I can’t complain because I like the project because we are a small team. I don’t have the comforts that I could have at Renault around me, but we have much more agility and the budget is decent, though we have to improve on that side for the future because the target is rising up and we need also to improve the budget, but we will do it.”

So is he in Hinwil all the time, or does he still spend most of his time in Paris?

“At the weekend off I’m in Paris, but I have the feeling that I’m spending my life in an aircraft,” he says, then smiles and adds, “but you also know this feeling.”

So what are Sauber’s targets for next year? And how much is it him setting them or the team’s owners?

“I never did it,” he replies, meaning setting any specific.

“Honestly, I never said before the season we have to be P3, P2. We have so many areas to improve that I think that the first approach for us is to improve in every single department, in terms of production, design, aero and so. Then on track it’s so tight between P4 and P10 that I look and see that sometimes people are sixth and seventh on the grid and then they are at the back. Everybody’s moving like this. I don’t want to say that we have to be in sixth or seventh but for sure I want it to improve and we need to improve, but the most important thing is to do it step by step, to be focused at the factory.

“I think we did some very good moves, the right moves, and it will pay off. At the beginning of the season we were far away. In Melbourne in P1, we were four, five seconds off, something like this. It was just a nightmare. But step by step I think that we improved. The motivation is very good and so is team spirit and the racing spirit.”

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HAMILTON TO FERRARI? YOU CAN NEVER SAY NEVER

Autosprint, the reputable Italian motorsport magazine, have teased Tifosi with a cover depicting Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari race suit and baseball cap asking the question: Would you like this?

Speaking after claiming his fifth Formula 1 World Championship, Hamilton is adamant he is very happy with Mercedes, but he did not put a lid on the matter when he told Sky after winning his fifth title, “At the moment, it’s very very difficult to imagine, envisage myself anywhere else.”

“This is my family, this is where I grew up but I said the same thing when I was at McLaren. I think one of the reasons I wanted to move was to go somewhere else and see if you could do something special somewhere else. I knew I could but I needed to prove it to everyone else.”

“Right now, I don’t feel like I need to go and be in another team to win a title in another team but you can never say never.”

Clearly inspired by Hamilton’s statement, Autosprint took poetic licence to produce a cover that is likely to cause a stir when it hits the streets.

It also stirs up the speculative theory that Hamilton in the Ferrari this year would have also done the business. Indeed many fans and pundits believe that the man in the #44 made difference when it mattered.

Hamilton has only raced with Mercedes powered cars in Formula 1, the manufacturer serving him well with five titles and 71 victories.

To keep Hamilton in silver, Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff knows what has to be done, “As long as we provide a car that is competitive to win championships and he continues to drive like he does, this can be a relationship that goes forever.”

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PEREZ: I SHOULD HAVE ACHIEVED GREATER THINGS

Formula 1 history is littered with drivers who made the wrong decisions at the wrong time which negatively impacted their careers, Sergio Perez was startlingly honest when he admitted he has made a bad career decision when it mattered and as a result, he has fallen short of his own expectations.

In an interview published on the official F1 website, Perez said, “I think that with the talent that I have, by now, I should have achieved greater things, but at the same time I’m conscious Formula 1 is so much about timing, the opportunities are so limited in terms of the teams you can get into and how good they can be.”

“2012 was my big year and I probably chose the wrong team at the time, and that has impacted my career quite a bit,” explained the Mexican with reference his stellar season with Sauber before his ill-fated move McLaren.

That year Perez was the ‘next big thing’ with second in Malaysia, third in Canada and a memorable second in Italy had his shares soaring. As a graduate of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Maranello was sure to come calling at some point.

Instead, Ron Dennis arrived on the scene, lured Perez to Woking and the rest is history.

Perez continued, “The future was looking amazing. Then McLaren came and things didn’t work out. That year was just a nightmare – the car and being against someone so experienced [Jenson Button] who was coping well with a difficult car.”

“In the first part of the season, it wasn’t so good. In the second part of the season, I was beating him. But so many things happened at McLaren that year which meant I had no seat,” he recalled.

These days he must find it hard to resist a chuckle when he contemplates the state of his former team, and explained why he is in the best place to be if a not with one of the Big Three teams, “Since joining Force India, I’ve been out of contract every year and every year I get some offers from other teams.”

“Some good teams show interest in me so that’s good. That’s good on me, it makes me feel proud. I’m delivering on track. The last two years, I’ve been best of the rest. If you’re not in a Mercedes or a Ferrari, Force India is probably the best place to be,” added Perez.

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VETTEL: WE STILL LACK THE VERY LAST STEP BUT WE CAN FIX IT

By now Sebastian Vettel has probably dealt with the bitter disappointment of defeat in this year’s Formula 1 World Championship, but he believes his team has taken giant strides and are a step away from completing the journey that will make them a title-winning force once again.

In the wake of magnanimously congratulating Lewis Hamilton immediately after the Mercedes driver clinched this year’s title in Mexico last time out, Vettel opened up to Formel1.de on his season.

Reflecting on the three years since he joined the Scuderia, Vettel said, “I think we’ve made tremendous improvements across the board, my job is to drive the car – I’m not responsible for vehicle design or team structure, that’s not my job. ”

“But as part of the team and as an observer, I think we can say that the team has made huge strides, we have very good people, talented, smart people, who come up with different solutions, ideas, concepts all the ingredients together. What we still lack is the very last step but I’m pretty sure we can fix it.”

A season that promised much for the Reds petered out as mistakes plagued the team and their star driver, the Monza fumble triggered a united attack by the Italian media on Maranello, with Vettel a target of much of the bombardment.

The criticism levelled at him Vettel repeated what he has said many times before, “I do not read much, my but credo has always been: You’re not as good as they say when they praise you, and not as bad as they say when they criticise you.”

“This works well for me, passion can be a good thing, because these people love this sport, and then there are others who are more critical, but that’s part of it. If someone criticises you, sometimes he’s a little bit right, not always 100 percent. Therefore, you have to look more from the distance and not be offended by what they write.”

The obvious question: Is a Ferrari driver under more pressure than his rivals in other teams?

“Earlier we talked about passion,” continued Vettel. “I think you should not just see that in a negative way, do you understand what I mean. Of course, you can complain that there is too much pressure and too much expectation, but it also gives you extra strength.”

“Italians love Ferrari, so if you know that a whole nation is behind you and if we don’t deliver, they’re obviously disappointed, that’s the way it is. But we’re a big team and we’re strong so we should focus on the positive aspects of that.”

Vettel started his career with Red Bull and scored his four F1 world championship titles with the energy drinks outfit – one a relative startup team formed as a marketing tool for a two euro fizzy drink and the other a legendary sports car manufacturer with an illustrious history in the sport.

When asked to compare his role in the two organisations he has driven for, he said, “On paper for both, my job is to drive the car but of course the circumstances in which I joined the teams were completely different.”

“I went to Red Bull when I was young and did not have any idea how things worked, I had to prove myself and we grew together. I came to Ferrari as an adult but I’m not here to help them grow, they grew up long before I was born.”

“But when I came here, Ferrari was not at the top and the goal is still to get back to the top. We’re getting closer and closer, I’m confident we’ll achieve it,” predicted Vettel who now, together with teammate Kimi Raikkonen, can still cause an upset in the constructors’ championship if they overturn a 50 points deficit to Mercedes in the remaining two races.

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PORSCHE: THE TIME FOR AN F1 ENTRY WAS JUST WRONG

Porsche will not be entering Formula 1 in 2021, although the Stuttgart based manufacturer are yet to make it official a report in Germany suggests the timing is wrong for the company which is facing billions in fines for the emissions scandal.

Auto Motor und Sport, quoting several sources including VW insiders, report that even if the engine rules beyond 2020 suited the German manufacturer there would be no top-flight project for a number of political reasons and that simply put “the time for an F1 entry was just wrong.”

Different sources confirm that Porsche has finally and definitively blown off a Formula 1 entry. Without stripped-down hybrid technology and with the burden of the exhaust scandal hovering over the brand, committing to the premier class makes no.

Meanwhile, Formula 1 has yet to confirm the engine rules beyond 2020 but this is unlikely to have impacted the decision as a Porsche foray – if it had happened – was only expected for 2022.

Before committing their future to Honda, Red Bull bosses flirted with the VW group in an attempt to lure either Audi or Porsche to Formula 1, but to no avail.

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ROB SMEDLEY TO LEAVE WILLIAMS

Williams’ head of performance engineering Rob Smedley will leave the Formula 1 team at the end of a dismal season for the former world champions who are struggling to score points.

The 44-year-old joined the British team from Ferrari in 2014 with now-departed Brazilian driver Felipe Massa, with whom he had a very close working relationship as his race engineer.

The Briton became a familiar voice to fans for his radio messages to Massa at Ferrari, including one at the 2010 German Grand Prix in which he relayed a team order for the Brazilian to move over for Fernando Alonso while leading.

“OK, so Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?” he said.

Williams’ chief designer Ed Wood left for personal reasons in May while head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer left in the same month.

Press Release:

Williams can confirm that Rob Smedley will leave the team at the end of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship season.

Rob joined the team in 2014 as Head of Performance Engineering, [following Felipe Massa from Ferrari to the team] making his first appearance at the Bahrain Grand Prix to help guide the race operations team at a time of transition following a poor 2013 campaign. The team went on to finish third in the Championship for two consecutive years before finishing fifth in 2016 and 2017.

Commenting on the decision Rob said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Williams. The team has been through great change since I joined in 2014 and it has been a pleasure to have played a part in that. Williams is a very special team within the F1 community and I’m certain that with all the talent that we have here they will go on and do better things. The team will always remain close to my heart. After 20 years in Formula One, however, I feel it’s the right time to reflect on things and evaluate what the next move is. I’m thoroughly looking forward to spending more time with my family before deciding on future opportunities.”

Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal added: “It has been a pleasure having Rob in our team for the last four years and we will miss him both personally and professionally. He agreed to join us at a time when our performance was low, and we are grateful that he saw the potential for us to turn things around at that time. During his time with us, he has made a significant contribution to the team through his role, but he’s also been just a great person to have at Grove, inspiring many with his enthusiasm and passion for Formula One. Rob’s been in the sport a long time, so we totally understand and respect his decision to take some well-deserved time out to spend with his wife and boys. We wish him all the best and thank him wholeheartedly for the time, passion and fighting spirit he’s given to Williams.”

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Mark Webber 'concerned' for Daniel Ricciardo ahead of Renault switch

Fellow Australian Mark Webber says he is "concerned" by Daniel Ricciardo's recent attitude, which could damage his chances at Renault next season.

The Red Bull driver is set to move to Renault for the 2019 season in a switch which surprised many and one that Webber described as "weird", but what concerns the former Red Bull driver turned TV pundit is Ricciardo's attitude toward the sport following a tough period.

The 29-year-old has had to endure a string of reliability failures this season, with the most recent coming in Mexico where he was in contention for the victory. That led to some strong comments from Ricciardo, who described his car as "cursed" and questioned the need to turn up for the final two events.

Although he has since backed down on those comments, Webber believes it could be a sign that he's falling out of love with Formula 1, and that won't bode well for next year.

"I think it’s quite obvious he can’t wait for the season to be over, which is a little bit of a concern," he told the Herald Sun.

"I don’t want him to fall out of love with the sport. I just think that really tests your mettle. He’ll be questioning the sport in his head.

"There’s not too many people to put an arm around your shoulder. Only the tough survive and he knows that."

Whilst Ricciardo has had many low points this year, he's also taken two race wins – the same number as his team-mate Max Verstappen – and Webber reckons 2019 will truly test Ricciardo's love of F1 as it's unlikely he'll be challenging for wins at all.

"He’s made his bed over there with Renault, which I think is a weird decision, but that’s what he wants to do because he wants a change of environment.

"He’s got to buckle up and keep going if he wants to bounce back with Renault next year, but [racing in the midfield] really can test how much he actually is enjoying the sport."

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F1 budget cap 'will eventually make sense' - Ferrari

New Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri has said a budget cap in Formula 1 would "eventually make sense", marking a major turn around in the Italian squad's stance on the subject.

Under the leadership of the late Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari was staunchly against the idea of a budget cap, with Marchionne even threatening to quit the sport if the proposal was pushed through.

Camilleri, who took over the top position following Marchionne's sudden passing, told investors during a conference call on Monday that a budget cap could make sense so long as it's well thought through.

"I think there’s been progress on the technical specifications, but in terms of the budget cap and economics, there really hasn’t been any progress," he replied when probed on the progress of F1's future rules. 

"Obviously the economics are also linked to the budget cap. I think that a budget cap eventually makes sense but the devil is in the detail and I think it’ll eventually be in everyone’s interests but we’re not there yet."

On Ferrari's performance this season, which saw Sebastian Vettel finish runner-up to Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, Camilleri admitted they had been unfortunate, but was encouraged by the progress the team has made and declared it their best season since 2008, when they won their last Constructors' Championship.

"Clearly winning for us is a priority, it’s part of our heritage. We were very close and the Constructors’ is still open, mathematically anyway, two races left.

"Winning for Ferrari is very important. What do we need to win...a great car and two great drivers.

"This year was somewhat unfortunate, we came very, very close and hopefully next year we can get there to…not much to add other than it’s very important and we’re doing everything we can to win.

"What I would say is in 2018 just based on the numbers it was probably our best season since 2008, we’re making progress, we’re not quite where we want to be and we’ll see where we are next year."

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Sauber "outdeveloping" even F1's top teams - Force India

Racing Point Force India team principal Otmar Szafnauer says midfield rival Sauber has “outdeveloped the top teams” with the leap it's made from its 2017 car to the current C37 challenger.
Sauber propped up the constructors' standings last year, scoring just five points to nearest rival McLaren's 30 as it struggled with a year-old Ferrari power unit.

Having switched to a current-spec engine, the team was once again slowest in the 2018 season opener in Melbourne – but the C37 blossomed into a midfield regular and an occasional Q3 threat as the campaign wore on.

Asked by Motorsport.com for his take on Sauber's recent progress, Szafnauer said: “I don’t know how they had such a steep development curve.

“I think they outdeveloped the top teams this year from last year. From where they ended last year to where they are now, they outdeveloped everybody.

“I don’t know how that happens with a small team, but we’re got to figure that out, because they’re smart guys.”

Sauber's progress has convinced former F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen to return to the team on a two-year deal after losing his Ferrari seat, with the Finn joined by Ferrari protege Antonio Giovinazzi in 2019.

The Swiss outfit sits eighth in the teams' standings with two races left, and will record its best points tally for the season since 2013 should it score a top-10 finish in Brazil or Abu Dhabi.

Szafnauer reckoned Sauber's 2019 campaign could “maybe” suffer if the team over-committed resources to the in-season development of the C37.

“I don’t know when they stopped developing this year’s car, because we stopped quite a long time ago to focus on next year,” he said.

“If they continued developing this year’s car in areas that don’t translate to next year, then it can hurt them.

“If it translates, if what you learned this year works next year too, than it doesn’t hurt. They can apply it.

“But I am impressed with their development rate, very, very impressive.”

Team boss Frederic Vasseur has previously claimed that Sauber was to cease 2018 development at the end of July.

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Hamilton wants FIA talks over young drivers' education

Five-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton fears young drivers risk compromising their education too much and intends to talk with FIA president Jean Todt on the matter.
Hamilton wants to help aspiring racing drivers who are taken out of school in pursuit of a career as a driver and then have little to fall back on if they do not succeed.

The Mercedes driver said he is aware of the impression F1 stars can make on young children because he sees the same "sparkle" in the eyes of those he encounters as he had as a youngster meeting David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen at McLaren.

"I just want to keep on driving hard and keep encouraging kids," said Hamilton. "Hopefully I'm going to meet with Jean at some stage, because I feel there is some positive impact that we can have on young kids that are at school.

"A lot of kids that are racing don't have an education or don't get an education. Parents take the kids out of school to focus on trying to get that ultimate and then when it doesn't happen you fall flat on your back.

"Obviously winning a championship is a great thing, but hopefully I can work on that with Jean, so that with these kids, even if they don't make it to Formula 1, or as another racing driver, they can be an engineer.

"There are thousands of people within these teams, there are so many opportunities within all these organisations, so that's something I want to get involved in."

Hamilton's fear that young drivers are compromising their education echoes that of Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey, voiced in late-2014.

Then, Newey said that he wanted more to be done by governing bodies to stop young children, like his son Harrison at the time, from potentially threatening their efforts at school by testing and racing.

Hamilton said he knows that he is "always going to be remembered as a racing driver" but has other off-track ideas he hopes to use his platform to implement.

"This great sport and this great opportunity that I have had has created a great foundation and an opportunity for me to do other things," said Hamilton.

"I've always been one to want to have some positive impact; I don't want to be just taking, taking, taking.

"I want to be doing some positive things for the future.

"So, if I want to be remembered for anything it's by building a school, whether it's encouraging education, whether it's just helping people get through difficult times.

"It's kind of difficult to put it into words but naturally I don't want my time on Earth to mean nothing."

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Red Bull given fuel boost for 2019 Honda debut

Red Bull has been given a boost in its hopes of progress with Honda in 2019, with fuel supplier ExxonMobil saying it is in a better position than it has been for years.
Honda’s promising development path this season has lifted Red Bull’s optimism that it can target strong results from the off.

And ahead of a crunch winter where Honda needs to finalise its 2019 specification, fuel partner ExxonMobil has revealed that it is much further ahead with its planning than it was at this stage last year.

With the current turbo hybrid formula putting the onus on fuel supplier and manufacturers working together, such a step could play a part in helping push the Japanese manufacturer on further.

ExxonMobil’s global motorsports technology manager David Tsurusaki told Motorsport.com: “When we had this announcement with Honda and Toro Rosso last year, it meant only getting ready for Barcelona testing in December – which was a short timeline.

“But now, after a year of continuous change, adjustments and testing, we have already been working on 2019 – which is really where you want to be.

“You don't want to be doing all your upgrades and preparations during the year, and then at the end of it start working on 2019. You want to be working on 2019 pretty early.

“So the fact we've had the chance to work with the Honda guys again, get comfortable with them, get things rolling, get the testing going and then start working on the single cylinder already with the full V6 durability tests now, it is exactly where we want to be.

“We are pretty excited. We are in a good position and we think they have the right fuel and the right lubricants ready for 2019.”

The other factor that will help progress is the fact that ExxonMobil will enjoy a proper works relationship with Honda next year, whereas other recent partnerships with Renault and Mercedes were on the customer basis where it had to battle for dyno testing time.

This sole relationship should help speed up the rate at which fuel upgrades can be delivered.

Asked how much that will help, Tsurusaki said: “I wouldn't say it's a major advantage, but it is a big step where we are not competing for time and testing time with someone else.

“In the case of previous engine manufacturers, we weren't necessarily the priority to test. So in this case we are not only the priority, we are the only ones. It is the best scenario.

“There were some comments earlier in the season about what is the best way to have fuel and oil suppliers for manufacturers, and it is true that if you are dedicated – which means one fuel and oil supplier – then you are minimising the duplicated testing time.

“I think we are already seeing the rewards of the fast quick response we can have. It means if we get the data we can adjust from there. And when you are doing that in weeks versus months it makes a big difference.”

[MIKA27]

WOLFF: UNFINISHED BUSINESS AS WE HEAD TO SÃO PAULO

With Lewis Hamilton’s fifth Formula 1 title in the bag Mercedes are now targeting the constructors’ championship, the latter prompting team chief Toto Wolff to rally his troops to finish the business in the final two rounds, starting with the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend.

In Mexico Hamilton’s fourth place was good enough to claim the title, but on the day Ferrari were the better team as both cars finished ahead of the silver ones on a weekend in which neither of their drivers could find the sweetspot around Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Lost amid the jubilation of Hamilton’s title glory was the fact that Mercedes were out of sorts in Mexico and although they head the standings by 55 points, there is still work to do if they want to make it ten titles in five years.

Ferrari, on the other hand, have narrowed the lead in the past two races and appear to have returned their car to a winning force after it was discovered that their updates had not been working, prompting them to return to a more competitive earlier version of the car. And with it they may have a slight edge again, Interlagos will reveal all.

Speaking ahead of the weekend at Interlagos, Wolff said, “Mexico was a bittersweet weekend. On the one hand, we’re extremely happy for Lewis. He is the best driver of his generation and his fifth Formula 1 World Championship puts him among the absolute greatest this sport has ever seen.”

“On the other hand, we cannot be satisfied with our race performance in Mexico. Qualifying looked promising but just a few laps into the race, we knew that we’d run into big issues with the tyres.”

“We started to analyse those problems immediately after the race and have made progress with understanding the challenges we faced and why. It’s important to apply all our learnings to make sure we come back strong in Brazil.”

“Our target for this season was to win both Championships, not one title or the other, so our mindset is one of unfinished business as we head to São Paulo,” continued Wolff.

“We have a big battle on our hands for the Constructors’ title and we have lost ground to Ferrari in each of the past race weekends – even though we had the base performance to do better. This is the moment to keep our feet on the ground, focus clearly on the objective and trust in our processes and people to deliver.”

“In the cockpit, I know that both Lewis and Valtteri are determined to end their respective seasons on a high note; as a team, we are aiming to finish this year with our heads held high and with two performances that properly reflect the level of performance we have attained this year,” added the Mercedes team chief.

[MIKA27]

RENAULT PREVIEW THE BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX

Renault Sport Formula One Team previews the twentieth race weekend of the 2018 Formula 1 season, the Heineken Brazilian Grand Prix.

Drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz share their thoughts on the challenges of Interlagos, while Cyril Abiteboul and Marcin Budkowski give the latest on the team and on the Renault R.S.18-R.E.18 package.

Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director, Renault Sport Racing: “Brazil has a great passion for motorsport and especially Formula 1. Many great racing names have come from Brazil, it has some fantastic tracks and there is always a great atmosphere when we arrive in São Paulo. Brazil is also an important market for Renault so we will have a lot of activities over the weekend, including an exciting presentation at the São Paulo motorshow.”

Nico Hülkenberg: “Interlagos is a circuit which carries so much history. There have been so many world championship titles decided in Interlagos, as well as a lot of other prominent Formula 1 moments. You feel all the emotions on a lap of the circuit and that’s why I find it so special. Maybe that’s why I seem to go well there!”

Carlos Sainz: “The track is quite challenging with a number of elevation changes and a variety of cambers in the corners. It feels like a rollercoaster ride! The in-field bit is tough as it’s twisty with a couple of blind and sharp turns where it can be easy to lock the inside wheel. You have to get into a rhythm around the circuit and try not to compromise any corners as that hampers you for next the turn.”