Jun.11 (GMM) Sergio Marchionne says he was never under any illusion about the challenge faced by Ferrari in 2015. Sebastian Vettel’s breakthrough win wearing red came early this season, raising hopes the resurgent team might be ready to challenge Mercedes’ utter dominance. But five further races have now passed without a follow-up Ferrari victory, even […]
‘Customer cars’ just big teams’ money grab – Fernley
Jun.11 (GMM) Bob Fernley has accused F1’s biggest teams of conspiring against the smaller outfits. On Friday in Montreal, a meeting convened by McLaren’s Ron Dennis was attended only by representatives of three other teams — fellow grandees Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull. Even the strategy group members Williams and Force India were excluded, and […]
Journalists say Horner should be F1 supremo
Jun.11 (GMM) Two authoritative F1 correspondents have identified Christian Horner as the ideal man to take charge of the sport’s future. Writing in the British newspaper The Times, Kevin Eason said F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone “must start to hand over — now.” The call comes amid a near-unprecedented round of introspection for the pinnacle of […]
Kubica backs Alonso’s ‘huge challenge’
Jun.11 (GMM) Robert Kubica has backed his old friend Fernando Alonso’s decision to join McLaren-Honda. Much has been made of Spaniard Alonso’s Ferrari departure, especially on the eve of the Italian team’s resurgence in 2015. Alonso, however, insists he made the right call as he didn’t want to be “second forever” wearing a red uniform. […]
Red Bull relationship still good – Vettel
Jun.11 (GMM) Sebastian Vettel says he maintains a good relationship with Red Bull and the energy drink company’s mogul Dietrich Mateschitz. Although now a Ferrari driver, German Vettel was groomed from boyhood by Red Bull’s junior programme, going on to win four world championships in the familiar dark blue. So as F1 moves on to […]
Mercedes ‘listening’ to unfreeze arguments
Jun.11 (GMM) Eric Boullier has tipped Mercedes to compromise over the current engine rules. Christian Horner, boss of the struggling Red Bull team, said this week that if the so-called ‘engine freeze’ rules are not relaxed, F1 must be prepared to wave “goodbye” to Renault. A complex ‘token’ system is giving Ferrari, Renault and Honda […]
Red Bull to take engine penalties in Austria
Jun.11 (GMM) Red Bull looks set to start dead last on the grid for its home race in Austria next weekend. The embattled energy drink owned team has acknowledged that, after burning through unreliable Renault engines early this year, grid penalties for fitting unscheduled fifth units will inevitably strike. It was suggested that a good […]
Raikkonen hopes to win a race in 2015
Jun.10 (GMM) Kimi Raikkonen is hoping to win at least one race in 2015. After boss Maurizio Arrivabene gave the Finn “qualifying homework” to do after Monaco, Raikkonen duly lined up third on the grid in Montreal. But at the same time, Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel suffered technical problems and also a further grid demotion […]
Worried Vettel says F1 races ‘too complicated’
Jun.10 (GMM) Sebastian Vettel has admitted he is worried about the future of formula one. The latest alarming news is from the Ferrari driver’s native Germany, where on Sunday the TV ratings for the Canadian grand prix were outpaced by a women’s football game. But Vettel tells Sport Bild magazine: “The best indicator is the […]
Force India missed Mercedes engine upgrade
Jun.10 (GMM) Force India had to do without Mercedes’ latest engine upgrade in Canada, it has emerged. Without having to trade in any of its in-season performance ‘tokens’, the German marque brought an upgraded power unit to Montreal. The rumour in the paddock is that while not actually more powerful, the reliability fixes mean the […]
Rosberg plays down Hamilton ‘inequality’ story
Jun.10 (GMM) Nico Rosberg has played down a controversy about an episode of apparent ‘radio coaching’ inequality during the Canadian grand prix. During the Montreal race, Lewis Hamilton’s engineer told the British driver that while his Mercedes teammate Rosberg has no problems with fuel consumption, the German’s brake situation was “critical”. But when Rosberg asked […]
Schumacher speculation ‘not right’ – Haug
Jun.10 (GMM) Norbert Haug says he has his “fingers crossed” for his old friend Michael Schumacher. The hunger in the media for news about the F1 legend is so strong that it emerged recently that paparazzi fly helicopters and even camera ‘drones’ above his mansion on the shores of Lake Geneva. Official information about the […]
Renault now ready to power up in 2015
Jun.10 (GMM) Renault is now set to turn its attention to speeding up in formula one. Amid ever-growing speculation about Renault’s future in the sport, the highest placed car powered by a French engine in Canada was Daniil Kvyat — in ninth place and a lap down. “It’s the best we could do,” the Red […]
McLaren ‘short nose’ fails FIA crash tests
Jun.10 (GMM) The centrepiece of McLaren’s aerodynamic upgrade for the Austrian grand prix next weekend is yet to receive the green light. Montreal was a notably bleak weekend for the Honda-powered team, but the bright side was that a raft of improvements are in the pipeline for Austria. “There is a new engine package, a […]
Boss Mallya to watch Hulkenberg at Le Mans
Jun.10 (GMM) Nico Hulkenberg wasted no time after the Canadian grand prix as he looked ahead to his next race outing. The German is completing the ultra-rare feat in 2015 of combining a full-time F1 seat with a programme to contest the fabled Le Mans 24 hours. From the Le Mans pitlane on Tuesday, Hulkenberg […]
Struggling Ricciardo gets new chassis for Austria
Jun.10 (GMM) Daniel Ricciardo hopes a new chassis will solve his mysterious lack of performance in the Canadian grand prix. The Australian struggled to bare his famous wide grin throughout the Montreal weekend as he was comprehensively out-performed by Red Bull teammate Daniil Kvyat. “I don’t know. It was my worst race,” said Ricciardo when […]
Canada was ‘Groundhog Day’ for F1 – press
Jun.9 (GMM) Niki Lauda says he is not concerned about Mercedes’ utter domination of F1. In Monaco, a strategy blunder showed a potential weakness of the German team, and then Ferrari looked to have closed the horse power gap in Montreal with its upgraded engine. But world champion Lewis Hamilton then cruised to pole and […]
Refuelling idea axe ‘unanimous’ – Wolff
Jun.9 (GMM) F1’s strategy group looks set to proceed with taking the earlier-proposed reintroduction of in-race refuelling off the table for 2017. At the last meeting, the top teams, Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA agreed that refuelling should be part of a package to spice up F1 for 2017. But in subsequent meetings between team […]
Key teams excluded from ‘customer cars’ meeting
Jun.9 (GMM) Two teams were excluded from a key meeting in Montreal, it has emerged. Last Friday, photographers in the paddock spotted Maurizio Arrivabene (Ferrari), Ron Dennis and Eric Boullier (McLaren), Toto Wolff (Mercedes) and Christian Horner (Red Bull) meeting at McLaren-Honda for “several hours”. It emerged that the topic of conversation was customer cars […]
Vettel still not ‘number 1’ driver – Arrivabene
Jun.9 (GMM) Sebastian Vettel is not Ferrari’s ‘number 1’ driver, according to boss Maurizio Arrivabene. Earlier, the Italian said one of the first things he told Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in 2015 is that the hierarchical days of Schumacher and Alonso are over. That is despite Arrivabene leaving Montreal on Sunday admitting his anger with […]