Mar.14 (GMM) The proudest dads in Australia were in the Toro Rosso garage on Saturday. 52-year-old Carlos Sainz, a world rally legend, was arguably proudest, after his son and namesake out-qualified the sister car on debut. But he was also arguably the most nervous. “When you drive yourself,” he told German television RTL, “you have […]
Category: Recent stories
FIA tells Manor to explain qualifying absence
Mar.14 (GMM) Manor has been summoned by the FIA to explain its failure to even attempt to qualify for the 2015 season opener. Team chief Graeme Lowdon said the former Marussia team, having only exited administration weeks ago, elected to travel to Australia rather than wait for Malaysia where it might have been more prepared […]
Bottas could miss Australian GP
Mar.14 (GMM) Valtteri Bottas could sit out the Australian grand prix. The Finn, who qualified three places behind his Williams teammate Felipe Massa on Saturday, was seen limping in the paddock immediately after the session. Engineer Rob Smedley confirmed he began complaining of lower back pain during qualifying. Williams said the 25-year-old driver went to […]
Webber sad to see Red Bull struggle
Mar.14 (GMM) Two former Australian F1 drivers sided with their compatriot Daniel Ricciardo after qualifying in Melbourne. Ricciardo’s huge grin is plastered over seemingly every billboard in the nearby capital, but the best he could manage on Saturday was P7 on the grid for his home race — a full two seconds off Mercedes’ leading […]
Car, not engine explains Mercedes gap
Mar.14 (GMM) A better engine no longer explains Mercedes’ continuing domination of formula one. “Aldo Costa designed a great car last year,” said team chairman Niki Lauda in Melbourne, “and this one is even better.” Indeed, Mercedes’ gap over the field was an astonishing 1.4 seconds in Melbourne qualifying, with the closest chaser being the […]
Boullier admits ‘grey areas’ in Alonso mystery
Mar.14 (GMM) A cloud is now hanging over Fernando Alonso’s return to action in Malaysia in two weeks. Sunday’s Australian grand prix marks precisely 21 days since his unexplained Barcelona testing crash — the precautionary timeframe given by McLaren-Honda for concussion. So the fact Alonso could now miss Malaysia will ramp up already widespread speculation […]
Manor looks set to miss qualifying
Mar.14 (GMM) Manor looks set to miss qualifying in Melbourne. Just weeks out of administration, the former Marussia team has been unable to even start its customer Ferrari engines in Melbourne so far. Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi missed yet another practice session on Saturday. “The team is doing everything possible to get us out […]
Van der Garde gives up on Melbourne seat
Mar.14 (GMM) Giedo van der Garde has dropped his legal action against Sauber at the Australian grand prix. The warring parties were back at court on the morning of practice and qualifying in Melbourne, but the Dutch driver’s lawyer said a settlement has been reached. “I’ve very glad to see a settlement,” the judge confirmed. […]
Bottas hurts back in Melbourne qualifying
Mar.14 (GMM) A limping Valtteri Bottas ended qualifying with a sore back. The 25-year-old Finn, who qualified three places behind his Williams teammate Felipe Massa in Melbourne, was seen limping in the paddock after the decisive session on Saturday evening. “Valtteri was suffering with his back,” the official Australian grand prix Twitter account quoted Williams […]
Mercedes dominates, McLaren-Honda dead last
Mar.14 (GMM) The contrast between the two silver-coloured teams in Melbourne could not be more stark. At the front, the extent of Mercedes’ continuing dominance became crystal clear on Saturday. World champion Lewis Hamilton is not just six tenths ahead of Nico Rosberg on the front row, but a huge 1.4 seconds clear of Williams’ […]
Lauda slams Sauber ‘negligence’ amid van der Garde crisis
Mar.13 (GMM) Giedo van der Garde is still in the Albert Park paddock on Friday, even though Sauber’s two other contracted race drivers were seated in the cars. But Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr went nowhere in Friday practice, highlighting the depth of the legal crisis at the struggling Swiss team. Earlier, Dutchman van der […]
Ailing backmarkers could leave Button dead last
Mar.13 (GMM) Amid a diminishing Melbourne grid, Jenson Button is worried he could be left dead-last at the start of the new McLaren-Honda era. That is partly because the reunion of the famous and successful names has been a disastrous affair so far. But struggling McLaren-Honda may then find nowhere to hide in Australia, given […]
Melbourne scoffs at Sydney Harbour Bridge bid
Mar.13 (GMM) Melbourne officials have scoffed at reports Sydney is lining up as an alternative host of the Australian grand prix. Reports coinciding with Albert Park’s twentieth consecutive running of the formula one race this weekend suggested rival state New South Wales’ premier aims to take over from Melbourne once the new contract expires in […]
Judge tells van der Garde, Sauber, to be ‘sensible’
Mar.13 (GMM) The Giedo van der Garde saga will continue into yet another day on Saturday. While Sauber race duo Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr finally took to the track in Melbourne, the local supreme court confirmed that Dutchman van der Garde’s legal case will resume on Saturday morning. The judge “urged (the) parties to […]
Williams also rejects wind tunnel ban
Mar.13 (GMM) Williams has joined Mercedes in hitting out at a proposal to ban wind tunnels in formula one. The proposal, admittedly “extreme” and “controversial” in the words of boss Christian Horner, has come from the Red Bull camp. He says the sport’s enormous costs need to be cut, but it should also be remembered […]
Manor not up and running in Melbourne
Mar.13 (GMM) The 2015 season is off to a stuttering start in Melbourne, with only 8 of the 10 teams actually firing up their engines in Friday practice. Sauber is embroiled in the Giedo van der Garde chaos, while the engines at resurrected Manor stayed silent for entirely different reasons. After its computers were wiped […]
Magnussen ‘surprised’ after Melbourne crash
Mar.13 (GMM) Kevin Magnussen swiftly took responsibility after crashing his McLaren-Honda in Melbourne practice. The Dane is filling in for Fernando Alonso this weekend, as the Spaniard continues to recover from his mysterious Barcelona testing crash. After returning to the paddock, Magnussen initially told Sky’s pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz he was “surprised” to have lost […]
Alonso mystery rolls on as Melbourne practice begins
Mar.13 (GMM) As the cars begin to roar in Melbourne, the uncertainty about Fernando Alonso’s return to action at McLaren-Honda remain. The Spaniard tweeted a ‘selfie’ showing off his muscular form in the gym and promising he will be back to work “soon”. But team boss Eric Boullier on Friday morning said that whether that […]
Red Bull slams Renault in Australia
Mar.13 (GMM) Red Bull has slammed its engine partner Renault, after a difficult start to the 2015 world championship campaign in Australia. Star driver Daniel Ricciardo could not run at all in Friday’s second practice session due to an engine problem, and in the morning had been just tenth fastest. It emerges that the team […]
Hamilton says newspaper report ‘piece of rubbish’
Mar.13 (GMM) Lewis Hamilton has slammed a newspaper report that suggested he was demanding $1.5 million per week to sign a new Mercedes deal. Boss Toto Wolff has already rubbished the claims, telling a reporter “You must question where you get your drugs from”. The original report, labelled as exclusive by the London newspaper The […]