Jun.3 (GMM) Max Verstappen has a date with the doctor ahead of the weekend’s Canadian grand prix. Because of the magnitude of his huge head-on shunt into the Ste Devote barriers in Monaco, the 17-year-old rookie must now be cleared fit to race in Canada. According to Speed Week, that FIA medical check will take […]
Month: June 2015
Ferrari closing power gap to Mercedes – report
Jun.3 (GMM) Ferrari’s token-upgraded engine will bring it just 15 horse power short of dominant Mercedes’ turbo V6. That is the claim of Germany’s Sport Bild as the world of F1 begins to descend on Montreal ahead of the Canadian grand prix. The report said the upgrades have added 20 to 30 horse power, bringing […]
Russia GP plays down bankrupt promoter reports
Jun.3 (GMM) The Russian grand prix has hit back at reports that its promoter is bankrupt. Early this week, a Russian court declared that the government-owned ‘Formula Sochi’ company is bankrupt, even though a contract to host the race through 2020 is still in place. But race organisers have hit back, insisting that the actual […]
Renault expecting two penalties per car in 2015
Jun.3 (GMM) Every engine manufacturer in F1 has been busy preparing upgrades for its 2015 ‘power units’. Ferrari and Honda have traded in the very first in-season performance ‘tokens’ in the days between Monaco and Canada, while Mercedes is taking a reliability upgrade to Montreal. And the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, closely following the early […]
Sauber still looking to improve in 2015
Jun.3 (GMM) Sauber is not resting on its laurels, having recovered from its disastrous 2014 season. “Yes, 2014 was a disaster,” admitted team boss and co-owner Monisha Kaltenborn. 2015, though, also began disastrously for the small Swiss outfit, as Kaltenborn faced down the prospect of jail at the Melbourne season opener over the Giedo van […]
F1 more lucrative than World Cup – report
Jun.3 (GMM) F1 has been more lucrative than the FIFA World Cup in the past fifteen years. That is the finding of F1 business journalist Christian Sylt, writing for Forbes. He said the pinnacle of motor sport’s revenue has been $16.2 billion, compared to FIFA’s $14.5 billion in the same period since 1999, he said. […]
F1 tyre war ruled out until 2020
Jun.3 (GMM) A tyre war has been ruled out in formula one at least for the next four seasons. Pirelli and, it seems, Michelin have both put their names forward for the newly-announced tender process to identify the sport’s official supplier beyond 2016. And according to Pirelli’s Paul Hembery, the tender document says F1 “will […]
Juncadella among handful of Mercedes sim drivers
Jun.3 (GMM) Dani Juncadella is just one of a handful of drivers who work for reigning champions Mercedes in the sophisticated Brackley simulator. Last year a reserve driver for Force India, the Spaniard is now focused mainly on racing for Mercedes in the German touring car series DTM. Less known is that he spends two […]
Symonds says Massa ‘incredible’ driver
Jun.3 (GMM) Williams appears more than happy with Felipe Massa. In recent weeks, the star of the early 2016 ‘silly season’ has been Valtteri Bottas, who is strongly linked with a potential move to Ferrari. Also on Ferrari’s shortlist to possibly replace Kimi Raikkonen, according to Italy’s Autosprint, is frustrated Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. […]
All eyes on engine ‘tokens’ for Canada
Jun.2 (GMM) It is not clear if Ferrari and Honda will deploy their performance-upgraded engines this weekend in Canada. The FIA this week has informed all the teams that the aforementioned two engine manufacturers have spent the first in-season ‘tokens’ of 2015 to up the speed of the respective power units. In the rear of […]
Small teams resisting ‘customer car’ push
Jun.2 (GMM) F1’s smaller teams are pushing back hard against the latest moves to introduce ‘customer cars’. Four teams – Manor, Force India, Sauber and Lotus – are reportedly at risk of financial collapse, and perhaps as soon as 2015, according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport. They are pleading for lower engine bills and […]
Lowe plays down Mercedes’ Monaco blunder
Jun.2 (GMM) Mercedes on Tuesday appeared keen to put the strategy blunder of Monaco into the past. The late pitstop cost Lewis Hamilton a sure second career victory in the Principality, but the world champion said in a team statement: “I think everything that needs to be said about Monaco has already been said.” Hamilton […]
Russian GP company bankrupt – reports
Jun.2 (GMM) A company involved in the Russian grand prix has been declared bankrupt. Media outlets including the Spanish agency EFE said Formula Sochi, owned by the government, was declared bankrupt on Monday in a Russian court. With the key backing of president Vladimir Putin, Russia held its first modern world championship race last October, […]
Report – Renault to take over Manor?
Jun.2 (GMM) Bob Bell’s shock switch to the F1 backmarker Manor has added fuel to speculation about the future of engine supplier Renault. Earlier, former Mercedes technical chief Bell was said to have returned to Renault, where in 2009 he emerged through the ‘crashgate’ scandal to be the works team’s boss. After that, Renault sold […]
F1 engine ‘tokens’ spent for Canada
Jun.2 (GMM) Engine manufacturers are finally preparing to deploy in-season performance ‘tokens’ in 2015. Until now, although Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda had made modifications to their ‘power units’ on reliability grounds, none had traded in any ‘tokens’ to make outright performance gains under the engine freeze rules. Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda departed Monaco […]
Canada GP partly for sale – report
Jun.2 (GMM) The Canadian grand prix is partly for sale, the Montreal daily La Presse reports. The newspaper said promoter Francois Dumontier, with a new ten-year race contract with Bernie Ecclestone in his pocket, is having talks with potential investors regarding his company Octane Racing Group. La Presse said Dumontier is open to selling “up […]
Bosses vote Hamilton best driver in F1
Jun.1 (GMM) Team bosses have voted Lewis Hamilton the best driver in formula one today. Germany’s Auto Bild magazine ran the survey amongst all ten rival team principals in the paddock, with Mercedes’ reigning world champion emerging at the front ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. “This means a lot to me,” Briton Hamilton […]
Hamilton yet to explain ‘Portier moment’
Jun.1 (GMM) Mercedes is yet to explain why Lewis Hamilton stopped on track immediately after the Monaco grand prix. Following the strategy bungle that cost the Briton a sure victory, Hamilton’s car stopped momentarily in the Portier corner before resuming its slow return to the pits. Some compared the Portier ‘moment’ to Ayrton Senna’s legendary […]
‘French paparazzi’ invading Schumacher privacy
Jun.1 (GMM) Sabine Kehm has pointed the finger at the “French paparazzi” for trying to invade Michael Schumacher’s privacy. It emerged last week that ever since the F1 legend returned to his luxury Swiss villa on Lake Geneva last September, the media has gone to great lengths to capture an image of him. Der Spiegel […]
Kaltenborn feared jail over van der Garde saga
Jun.1 (GMM) Monisha Kaltenborn has admitted she feared starting her 2015 season in jail. Until now, the Sauber chief has not spoken at length about the ‘Giedo van der Garde saga’ that risked derailing the Swiss team earlier this year. “There was a real risk,” Kaltenborn admitted, when asked by UOL Esporte if suggestions the […]