Jan.12 (GMM) Daniel Ricciardo has expressed confidence Red Bull can close the gap on dominant 2014 title winners Mercedes this year. Given Mercedes’ level of dominance last season and the restraints of the engine development freeze, many believe the German team will be hard to challenge even in 2015. La Gazzetta dello Sport, for instance, […]
Melbourne not keen on earlier race start time
Jan.12 (GMM) Race organisers are reluctant to shift the start time for the 2015 Australian grand prix. In response to Jules Bianchi’s horror crash at Suzuka, the governing FIA vowed to look into ensuring that races are no longer started too close to dusk. Races at the season opener Melbourne, for instance, are traditionally now […]
Ferrari spends EUR 40m on new technology – report
Jan.12 (GMM) Ferrari is spending a whopping EUR 40 million as it steps up its off-track technology at Maranello. Having struggled in 2014 and subsequently undergone a revolutionary shakeup, the fabled Italian marque is now spending big on a dynamic platform that will allow in-factory testing of the entire car-plus-engine package. Italy’s La Gazzetta dello […]
Williams’ next step will be harder – Symonds
Jan.12 (GMM) Pat Symonds has admitted Williams’ next step will be more difficult than the giant leap of 2014. After a career slump that hit bottom in 2013 with ninth in the constructors’ standings, the once-great Grove team managed to end last year as arguably Mercedes’ closest challenger. But Red Bull designer Adrian Newey thinks […]
Verstappen passes theory driving test
Jan.12 (GMM) Max Verstappen has cleared the first hurdle as he seeks a normal road car driving licence. The controversy sparked by the young and inexperienced driver’s impending grand prix debut reportedly triggered the FIA’s tough clampdown on the rules for qualifying for a super licence beyond this year. One of the stipulations for 2016 […]
McLaren denies pre-Jerez test for 2015 car
Jan.12 (GMM) McLaren has denied reports it will run its Honda-powered 2015 car a few days before its launch and official test debut. Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo claimed that, following news the MP4-30 will be launched on 29 January, the car will actually clock up some laps beforehand. “A few days before (the launch), the […]
Renault hits back at new super licence system
Jan.12 (GMM) Renault has reportedly hit back at the FIA’s controversial new system for issuing F1 super licences. In light of 17-year-old Max Verstappen’s controversial debut this year, the governing body is installing a new system for 2016 to ensure new grand prix drivers are older, more experienced and successful in the junior classes. But […]
Vergne sets sights on Raikkonen’s 2016 seat
Jan.11 (GMM) Jean-Eric Vergne has admitted he has set his sights on Kimi Raikkonen’s 2016 race seat at Ferrari. The Frenchman, developed and groomed by Red Bull, was dropped by the energy drink company’s second team Toro Rosso at the end of last year. He has rescued his F1 career with a test driver role […]
Ferrari confirms 30 January launch
Jan.10 (GMM) Ferrari has announced it will reveal its 2015 car on 30 January. Having reported McLaren will launch its Honda-powered MP4-30 on January 29, we then claimed Ferrari will reveal its car “a day earlier or later” than the British team in an online presentation. Indeed, the Maranello team announced late on Friday that […]
F1 teams favour money over talent – Bird
Jan.9 (GMM) Former Mercedes tester Sam Bird says F1 teams no longer scour the world’s top racing categories in search of the best possible drivers. 28 today, the Briton was until recently a Mercedes simulator driver and a GP2 winner — a resume that in decades past would have seen him knocking loudly on the […]
McLaren confirms January 29 launch
Jan.9 (GMM) McLaren has confirmed reports it will launch the Honda-powered 2015 car on 29 January. We reported earlier that the Woking based team would stage an event for the unveiling of the MP4-30 at its headquarters. “Yes,” a McLaren spokesman told us on Friday. “As has been reported recently on various websites, the McLaren-Honda […]
Porsche chief Muller says no to F1
Jan.9 (GMM) Porsche chief executive Matthias Muller has now added his confirmation to reports the German marque is not interested in entering formula one. Already this week, the fabled Volkswagen-owned sports car company’s research and development chief Wolfgang Hatz said F1 “has never been an issue for us and won’t be. “Le Mans is a […]
McLaren, Ferrari to launch in late January
Jan.9 (GMM) McLaren looks set to launch its Honda-powered 2015 car with an event at the British team’s Woking headquarters on January 29. International media reports are suggesting the McLaren launch could then be followed a day earlier or later by the official presentation of the new Ferrari. Unlike the McLaren event, however, which will […]
Alonso to struggle at McLaren in 2015 – Trulli
Jan.9 (GMM) Fernando Alonso’s former teammate doubts the Spaniard’s high-profile switch from Ferrari to McLaren will result in instant success. But Jarno Trulli, who was Alonso’s teammate at Renault over a decade ago, does think the end of the five-year partnership with Ferrari was inevitable. “I think after five years of marriage with Ferrari, when […]
F1 to challenge laptime records in 2015 – Hembery
Jan.9 (GMM) Paul Hembery, official tyre supplier Pirelli’s F1 chief, is expecting the field to speed up significantly in 2015. Last year, the Italian marque took a deliberately conservative approach to its 2014 rubber, having gone through a tumultuous 2013 and with the uncertainties of the new turbo V6 era in mind. As a result, […]
Surname has harmed Susie Wolff’s career – Toto
Jan.8 (GMM) Toto Wolff thinks his relationship with wife Susie has actually harmed rather than helped the Williams test driver’s career. Formerly Susie Stoddart, the Scot and former F3 and DTM driver married Toto Wolff in late 2011. It has often been suggested that her move into F1 was powered by her marriage, as Austrian […]
Lotus paid 2015 entry fee late – reports
Jan.8 (GMM) Lotus was late to pay the FIA entry fee for the 2015 world championship, according to reports in Spain and Italy. The Enstone team’s place on the 2015 entry list recently was marked by the governing body with a “subject to confirmation” asterisk. Reports suggested this may be connected to rumours Lotus is […]
McLaren can survive without title sponsor – Boullier
Jan.8 (GMM) Team boss Eric Boullier says McLaren can survive without a title sponsor. The Woking team lost its title backer Vodafone at the end of 2013, and raced throughout last season without naming a replacement. And now as the new works Honda era dawns, Boullier has been quoted by Russia’s f1news.ru as saying McLaren […]
FIA super licence ‘points system’ emerges
Jan.6 (GMM) The FIA has devised a points system as part of its clampdown on the ease of achieving an F1 super licence. With Max Verstappen set to debut this year at the controversially young age of 17 and just one year out of karts, the governing body has moved to toughen the criteria for […]
End of the line nears for dying backmarkers
Jan.6 (GMM) Caterham and Marussia are nearing the end of the line as other teams move preparations for the 2015 season into high gear. With just 26 days until the winter test season begins in Spain, neither of the beleaguered backmarkers are committing to running at Jerez at the start of February. “Talks with interested […]