May 21 (GMM) Daniel Ricciardo says Red Bull can no longer complain only about its struggling ‘power unit’. Earlier in 2015, officials of the energy drink-owned team were pointing the finger angrily at Renault, bemoaning a lack of power, driveability and reliability. But Australian Ricciardo, Red Bull’s lead driver, said on Wednesday it is now […]
Category: Recent stories
Pirelli not sure F1 needs ‘tyre war’
May 21 (GMM) Pirelli is not sure a ‘tyre war’ is the solution to F1’s problems. In the past days and weeks, the fact the driving ‘heroes’ are often doing little more than keep their tyres alive at GP2-like pace has been a big topic of conversation. Indeed, the Strategy Group declared last week that […]
Rosberg surprised by Hamilton qualifying choice
May 21 (GMM) Nico Rosberg furrowed his brow on Wednesday when told about teammate Lewis Hamilton’s Monaco strategy. A year ago in the Principality, Hamilton accused his silver stablemate of deliberately ruining a qualifying lap and therefore the Briton’s shot at pole. This time, Hamilton has reportedly declared that the decision has been made and […]
Grosjean to keep sitting out Fridays
May 21 (GMM) Romain Grosjean will continue to give up his cockpit in Friday practice sessions in 2015. Recently, tension was clearly brewing between the Frenchman and his Lotus teammate Pastor Maldonado, as the heavily-sponsored Venezuelan is contracted to drive in every session at every race. So it is Grosjean who has been sitting out […]
Mercedes on track for Hamilton announcement
May 20 (GMM) Lewis Hamilton’s future remains on track. Recently, as the long wait for an announcement about a new Mercedes deal continued to drive speculation, the world champion promised: “I will have some news for you in Monaco.” Mercedes has now invited members of the media to a “cocktail reception and announcement” on Saturday […]
Long wait for Hamilton contract finally ends
May 20 (GMM) The long wait for official news about Lewis Hamilton’s future finally ended on Wednesday. After months of speculation, delays and public negotiations, media reports said the reigning world champion’s new three-year contract will see Hamilton earn about $50 million per season until 2018. “Mercedes is my home and I couldn’t be happier […]
‘Every top team’ eyeing Bottas – Wolff
May 20 (GMM) Every top team has its eye on Valtteri Bottas. That is the claim of Toto Wolff, who is not only the team boss at world champions Mercedes, but also part of the Finnish driver’s management team. In the past days and weeks, the Williams driver has been linked with a potential switch […]
Mercedes denies F1 engines not road-relevant
May 20 (GMM) Mercedes has hit back at claims the ‘power units’ featured in formula one today will never carry over to normal road cars. Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko was the first to make the claim, telling APA news agency last week: “As they are so difficult and complex, it will be impossible to […]
Dennis’ Boullier criticism ‘humorous’ – McLaren
May 20 (GMM) McLaren on Wednesday said a journalist misreported what happened in a recent team meeting. Writing for the Daily Mail, correspondent Jonathan McEvoy claimed that, at the post-Spanish grand prix debrief, McLaren supremo Ron Dennis was heavily critical of team boss Eric Boullier. “He said that Boullier had had ‘a good kick in […]
Rivola returns to work for Ferrari
May 20 (GMM) Massimo Rivola has returned to work for Ferrari. The Maranello team’s sporting director missed the recent Spanish grand prix, amid speculation he had been suspended or dismissed over an internal team scandal. “He needed a week off and we gave it to him,” was all team boss Maurizio Arrivabene would say in […]
Former boss slams ‘unprofessional’ Perez
May 20 (GMM) One of Sergio Perez’s former team chiefs has slammed the Mexican driver. Peter Mucke is a well-known name in the formative classes of motor racing, having paved the road to F1 for stars including Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica and many others. In 2006, Mucke ran Perez – now with Force India – […]
Alonso ‘right’ to leave Ferrari – Briatore
May 20 (GMM) Flavio Briatore has backed Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari exit as the “right” thing to do. Earlier this week, veteran F1 journalist Nigel Roebuck told El Confidencial newspaper: “To see Fernando Alonso at the back of the grid is a joke. “I can understand why it came to the point that he said ‘I […]
Sainz lost lucky grey cap in Barcelona
May 20 (GMM) Carlos Sainz lost his lucky grey cap at the recent Spanish grand prix. For the past two years, as the 20-year-old conquered the Formula Renault 3.5 series, impressed Red Bull with his F1 tests, and earned his move to Toro Rosso in 2015, Sainz always wore the same Red Bull-branded grey cap […]
Hill says Hamilton ‘underestimated’ Rosberg
May 20 (GMM) Damon Hill has warned fellow F1 champion Lewis Hamilton to keep his eye on the ball. A year after the Mercedes driver’s controversial run-in with teammate Nico Rosberg in Monaco, Hamilton has reportedly vowed to “go out first at the end of qualifying” to avoid a repeat incident, Telegraph correspondent Daniel Johnson […]
Lotus cannot compete with top teams – Lopez
May 20 (GMM) Gerard Lopez says it is unreasonable to expect Lotus to return to the top step of the podium. A couple of years ago, when Kimi Raikkonen began to win races for Enstone, the team began to push hard to become a truly top outfit. Instead, Lotus utterly slumped in 2014. “If you […]
Honda denies engineer made ‘no wins’ comments
May 20 (GMM) Honda has denied that one of its engineers admitted the Japanese manufacturer is unlikely to power McLaren to race wins either this year or in 2016. An engineer by the name of Ryo Mukumoto was quoted by the Spanish newspaper Marca this week as answering “No” when asked if McLaren-Honda will win […]
F1 and Le Mans ‘not that different’ – Hulkenberg
May 19 (GMM) There is “not much difference” between Nico Hulkenberg’s two cars, according to the German. The Force India driver is heading into a very busy time in his personal 2015 calendar. He races in Monaco this weekend, then heads straight to the pre-Le Mans test, then back to his F1 cockpit in Canada, […]
Ferrari sure upgraded car is better
May 19 (GMM) Ferrari will try again with its new bodywork package in Monaco this weekend, former double world champion Mika Hakkinen believes. The resurgent-in-2015 team had headed to Spain with the significant upgrade and high hopes, only to find that the gap to Mercedes only blew out. “We need to understand if it is […]
Mexico confirms 2015 grand prix sold out
May 19 (GMM) An official of November’s Mexican grand prix has confirmed reports the 2015 race is already sold out. We reported last week that while other races, like the Red Bull-promoted Austrian grand prix, are struggling to sell tickets, Mexico sold out “within hours”. After a 23-year absence from the calendar, F1 is returning […]
Wolff sells stake in racing company HWA
May 19 (GMM) Toto Wolff has continued to narrow his focus on formula one with Mercedes. Since taking over as the German giant’s team boss, the 43-year-old has been diluting his shareholding in the rival Williams team. And on Tuesday it emerged that Wolff has sold his significant stake in HWA, the Mercedes-linked company involved […]