Apr.4 (GMM) Ferrari on Sunday played down rising speculation its championship campaign could be derailed in 2016 by a fundamental reliability flaw. Amid rumours of a fault with the turbo design, Kimi Raikkonen – who retired with a flaming airbox in Australia – said before the Bahrain grand prix when asked if Ferrari has a […]
McLaren ‘can count on’ Vandoorne in future
Apr.4 (GMM) Stoffel Vandoorne has left Bahrain a happy F1 debutant, even though he will probably have to hand back the keys to Fernando Alonso in China. The highly-rated Belgian, the reigning GP2 champion, made his F1 race debut in Bahrain after the McLaren-Honda regular was sidelined with chest injuries. Vandoorne, 24, more than impressed, […]
Todt backs doctors amid Dennis’ frustration
Apr.3 (GMM) FIA president Jean Todt has backed the decision to keep Fernando Alonso on the sidelines this weekend. McLaren supremo Ron Dennis on Saturday admitted his frustration after the governing body’s doctors refused a late bid to re-assess Alonso’s health and let him return to the cockpit. “Fernando felt good and wanted to drive […]
Mercedes open to MotoGP test for Hamilton
Apr.3 (GMM) Mercedes has opened the door for a potential MotoGP test for the team’s reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton. Last year, the Briton said: “When my dad bought me my first go-kart I actually wanted a motorbike. “I’d love to test a MotoGP bike just to see what it’s like.” The natural fit for […]
Magnussen qualified just to beat Palmer
Apr.3 (GMM) Kevin Magnussen said he put the pedal to the metal in qualifying without even thinking about getting a good spot on the Bahrain grid. That is because, no matter where the Dane qualified, he would always have to start Sunday’s race from the pitlane after running a red light on Friday. “It’s no […]
Baku, F1 confirms revised start time
Apr.3 (GMM) Race organisers and F1 have confirmed reports that the race start time for the inaugural grand prix in Azerbaijan is changing. We reported on Saturday that after daylight saving was scrapped in the country, Baku promoter Arif Rahimov had asked the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone to agree to wind back the official start […]
Teams told to consider ‘aggregate’ qualifying
Apr.3 (GMM) F1 bosses have been told to mull over an all-new ‘aggregate’ format for qualifying, after reverting to the 2015 system was ruled out by the sport’s authorities on Sunday. “It’s crazy,” one source at the meeting told the Telegraph newspaper, as it emerged that simply abandoning the failed ‘musical chairs’ experiment was no […]
Bosses to meet again over qualifying saga
Apr.3 (GMM) The farcical qualifying format saga is set to run and run, with bosses on Sunday only agreeing the date of the next meeting. The team chiefs got together before the Bahrain grand prix with Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt to discuss the future of the ‘musical chairs’ format, amid widespread hopes it will […]
Jury out over Williams’ new nose – Massa
Apr.3 (GMM) The jury is out over Williams’ highly-anticipated new ultra-short new nose and front wing assembly. After a long delay in getting the piece through the FIA’s mandatory crash tests, one version finally arrived in Bahrain on Saturday and was fitted to Felipe Massa’s car. The Brazilian qualified seventh — two thousandths of a […]
F1 governance unlikely to change until 2020 – Todt
Apr.3 (GMM) To the surprise of no one, the ‘musical chairs’ qualifying was run again on Saturday to collective cries for it to be scrapped. “It’s not good unless you have a weak bladder,” joked Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who is actually furious that F1 did not act collectively to revert to the 2015 system after […]
Mercedes asks parent for new clutch design
Apr.3 (GMM) F1’s reigning world champion team Mercedes has appealed to its carmaker parent Daimler to stave off a threat posed by 2016 title rival Ferrari. In Australia two weeks ago, both silver cars were beaten off the grid by the Ferraris, after the Maranello team proved to have best mastered the new rules limiting […]
Hamilton defies paddock ‘Snapchat’ ban
Apr.2 (GMM) On the very same day he acknowledged the ban, world champion Lewis Hamilton defied Bernie Ecclestone by filming inside the F1 paddock. Fiercely protective of the sport’s exclusive rights, the Ecclestone-led Formula One Management had reportedly noticed that Hamilton often films footage on his iPhone for ‘Snapchat’ videos. “The team (Mercedes) got a […]
Force India plays down absent boss Mallya’s troubles
Apr.2 (GMM) Force India deputy Bob Fernley has moved once again to play down the high-profile legal and financial problems surrounding Vijay Mallya. Mallya, the Silverstone based team’s co-owner and boss, was absent from the paddock not only in Australia but now in Bahrain. The latest news suggests he is offering to repay $600 million […]
Ecclestone set for more Monza future talks
Apr.2 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has kept hopes alive that Monza might retain the Italian grand prix beyond September’s 2016 race. In the past week, reports have suggested the negotiations might be close to collapse, but F1 supremo Ecclestone said on Friday that talks will resume “in a couple of weeks”. “There will be another meeting […]
McLaren angry with FIA over Alonso injuries – reports
Apr.2 (GMM) Ron Dennis is reportedly angry with F1’s governing body for not detecting the injuries that have sidelined Fernando Alonso in Bahrain. Just after his enormous Melbourne crash, the Spaniard was given a clean bill of health to take the long haul flight from Australia and commence his preparations for Bahrain. But Alonso said […]
Kvyat not worried Verstappen could derail F1 career
Apr.2 (GMM) Daniil Kvyat says he is not worried he might be the victim of the next step in Max Verstappen’s meteoric F1 career. Mercedes and Ferrari have both now admitted interest in the 18-year-old teen, putting pressure on Red Bull to promote Verstappen from Toro Rosso or risk allowing an exit clause in his […]
Mercedes working to catch Ferrari on race starts
Apr.2 (GMM) In one area at least, Mercedes is working hard to catch up with Ferrari. The Maranello team’s strong challenge to the dominant world champions in Melbourne was significantly boosted when both silver Mercedes were overtaken at the start. The technical rules have changed for 2016, with drivers now allowed only one clutch lever […]
Alonso gatecrashes live TV to slam critic Herbert
Apr.2 (GMM) Fernando Alonso gatecrashed live British television on Saturday to slam former F1 driver turned pundit Johnny Herbert. Earlier, the veteran of 165 grands prix, 51-year-old former Benetton and Sauber driver Herbert, had advised Alonso to use his chest injuries as a final excuse to retire. “I don’t think Fernando should come back,” Herbert […]
F1 Commission seat for driver ‘would be nice’ – Button
Apr.2 (GMM) Jenson Button has admitted a seat on the F1 Commission representing the drivers would be “nice”. After the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association published its open letter with the support of the entire field of active drivers, paddock rumours swirled that GPDA president Alex Wurz is eyeing a future in F1 politics and a […]
Todt open to returning to 2015 qualifying
Apr.2 (GMM) In an ultra-rare paddock appearance for the media, FIA president Jean Todt on Saturday said it was race organisers who pushed for the introduction of the now-hated ‘musical chairs’ qualifying system. “The organisers asked us to make qualifying more attractive,” he said. After the format’s farcical debut in Australia, the same system will […]