Apr.22 (GMM) Nico Hulkenberg is settling in at his new “second home”. The German headed straight from Bahrain, where he raced with the struggling Force India team, to a test this week at the wheel of Porsche’s Le Mans prototype. Hulkenberg is splitting his time this year between F1 and a sports car programme, culminating […]
Month: April 2015
Toro Rosso helping Red Bull to end Renault crisis
Apr.22 (GMM) Red Bull is looking to speed ahead — with the help of its sister team, Renault and an Austrian partner called AVL. Right now, according to Italy’s Omnicorse, a Toro Rosso car is up and running on the sophisticated AVL dynamic test bench in Graz, Austria. It follows a disastrous start to the […]
Stevens deletes ‘ugly’ tweet about Merhi
Apr.22 (GMM) Will Stevens has deleted a tweet described as “ugly” by one well-known Spanish sports daily. After Bahrain, Briton Stevens highlighted the significant gap between his race finishing time and that of his Manor teammate, fellow rookie Roberto Merhi. “Really good race pace today,” Stevens’ ‘tweet’ read, “car felt good and got into a […]
McLaren improvement to be ‘gradual’ – Boullier
Apr.22 (GMM) Fernando Alonso left Bahrain expecting McLaren-Honda to make a “big step” for the start of the forthcoming European season. Having switched from the now-resurgent Ferrari, the Spaniard – as well as fellow champion teammate Jenson Button – have struggled so far in 2015 and are the only drivers except those at Manor yet […]
Raikkonen considered quitting after 2014 – report
Apr.22 (GMM) Kimi Raikkonen considered returning to F1 retirement after his disastrous 2014 season, according to a Spanish sports daily. In Bahrain, the Finn bounced back from a slump by running reigning world champion and championship leader Lewis Hamilton close for victory. It came after an horror 2014 for Raikkonen, who was thrashed by his […]
McLaren ‘on verge of points’ now – Alonso
Apr.21 (GMM) Fernando Alonso says the new McLaren-Honda project is now on the verge of being able to score points. “We did not have a good start to the season,” Yasuhisa Arai, the F1 boss of the struggling Japanese manufacturer Honda, told Speed Week. “The path to the summit is steep. But we have left […]
Maldonado hits back at ‘Crashtor’ reputation
Apr.21 (GMM) Pastor Maldonado has fended off his growing reputation as a crash-prone F1 driver. The Telegraph newspaper said a nickname doing the rounds for the Venezuelan is ‘Crashtor’, while one unflattering website mischievously lists the days and hours since Maldonado’s last crash. “The world is safe for another day,” the website hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com currently reads. […]
No rest for Manor’s Merhi
Apr.21 (GMM) While the other F1 drivers take a weekend off, there will be no rest for Roberto Merhi. As he has not been signed up for the full F1 season by Manor, the Spaniard will kick off his 2015 campaign in the Formula Renault 3.5 series in Spain this weekend. Beyond that, he knows […]
Leberer plays down Raikkonen incident
Apr.21 (GMM) Josef Leberer has played down suggestions he was almost struck by Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in Bahrain. Finn Raikkonen was given an official reprimand for “dangerous” driving after he dodged around cars at the end of the pitlane during Friday practice. Rumours had swirled in the media centre that Leberer, the well-known Sauber trainer, […]
Kvyat struggling with pressure – Villeneuve
Apr.21 (GMM) Daniil Kvyat is struggling to deal with the pressure of driving for Red Bull. That is the claim of the outspoken 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve. “Last year he did ok at Toro Rosso,” said the French Canadian, “but it was nothing special.” Russian Kvyat, 20, was promoted from the junior team over […]
Arrivabene defends ‘human being’ Vettel
Apr.21 (GMM) The case of Sebastian Vettel shows how quickly things can turn around in formula one. Before Bahrain, the German was the new darling of Ferrari, dubbed ‘Per-vettal’ by the Italian press while teammate Kimi Raikkonen was once again struggling for results. But on Sunday, it was the Finn who pushed Mercedes hard for […]
Qatar race now unlikely – Ecclestone
Apr.21 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has put plans for a grand prix in Qatar on the back burner. In February, the Arab country’s highest ranking motor racing official said: “We are about to sign contracts to organise a formula one race” in 2016 or 2017. That was despite F1 supremo Ecclestone earlier saying he could not […]
Renault in ‘very deep trough’ – Jos Verstappen
Apr.21 (GMM) Having kept its composure until now, Toro Rosso’s patience in 2015 may finally be up. While big-brother team Red Bull has been highly critical of Renault this season, the junior outfit Toro Rosso has kept calm. But according to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the Faenza team’s boss Franz Tost made a hasty […]
Ferrari set for engine power boost in Barcelona
Apr.21 (GMM) Ferrari is preparing to unleash more horse power in Spain. Reports are doing the rounds that the Maranello team will debut an upgrade for its turbo V6 ‘power unit’ in June for the race in Canada. But Germany’s Bild newspaper said a new specification will in fact make its bow in Barcelona in […]
Catching Ferrari ‘difficult’ – Smedley
Apr.21 (GMM) Williams has admitted it will struggle to quickly recover its position as the first force behind title favourite Mercedes. The Grove team finished last season as clearly the fastest team behind the title winners, but the fabled Italian giant Ferrari has sped past in 2015. “After the first four races you can already […]
Renault ready to spend to fix F1 crisis – Horner
Apr.20 (GMM) Christian Horner has acknowledged Renault is now getting serious about fixing its obvious problems in formula one. Earlier, the Briton and other Red Bull officials were scathing of the French supplier’s performance and reliability so far in 2015, and the problems did not appear to significantly lessen in Bahrain at the weekend. Horner’s […]
Ferrari still not ready to sign Raikkonen extension
Apr.20 (GMM) At least for now, Ferrari is leaving the door slightly ajar for Lewis Hamilton. After declaring that Hamilton would make a great teammate for Sebastian Vettel next year, Bernie Ecclestone backtracked just ahead of the race in Bahrain. “No,” the F1 supremo told British television Sky. “He’s happy where he is.” But Mercedes […]
Allison ‘signature’ helping Raikkonen – manager
Apr.20 (GMM) Designer James Allison was a key to Kimi Raikkonen’s 2014 resurgence, the Finnish driver’s manager admits. Raikkonen struggled notably to match former teammate Fernando Alonso last year, bringing into serious question his future at the Maranello team. But the 35-year-old is returning to form this year, and on Sunday he ended a long […]
Vettel says Ferrari could be last F1 team
Apr.20 (GMM) Sebastian Vettel thinks Ferrari could be his last stop in formula one. The 27-year-old switched to the fabled Maranello marque for 2015, and is believed to have signed at least a three-year contract. But the German, who won his four world titles with Red Bull, thinks he could now stay in red for […]
Alonso aiming for Q3 in Barcelona
Apr.19 (GMM) For Fernando Alonso, the next target is Q3. The Spaniard’s new project with McLaren-Honda started literally at rock bottom, but in the space of a month he has powered from his hospital bed to the back of the grid and now a spot in the ‘Q2’ qualifying segment in Bahrain. “Although it is […]