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 […]
Nasr saw ‘many ways’ to reach F1
Jun.9 (GMM) Felipe Nasr says three other F1 teams were interested in signing him before he started his road to the grid with Sauber. Although impressive on debut in 2015, the 22-year-old Brazilian has had to continually fight the public notion that he is a ‘pay driver’. Nasr has brought the strong backing and colours […]
Wolff plays down Hamilton ‘radio coaching’
Jun.9 (GMM) Toto Wolff has played down suggestions Mercedes did not treat its drivers equally during the Canadian grand prix. During the Montreal race, leader Lewis Hamilton’s engineer Peter Bonnington told the British driver that while Rosberg has no problems with fuel consumption, the German’s brake situation was “critical”. But when Rosberg asked about the […]
Honda president set to gauge McLaren progress
Jun.9 (GMM) McLaren-Honda is still united despite a horror start to the project, boss Eric Boullier insists. Star driver Fernando Alonso let his frustration show on the radio during the Canadian grand prix, but Boullier says the Spaniard knows 2015 is little more than a “test year”. “It’s a strange situation for Alonso,” said Italy’s […]
Red Bull expecting ‘worst’ home race – Marko
Jun.9 (GMM) Red Bull does not see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, Dr Helmut Marko has warned. The former champions had a particularly bad weekend on Montreal’s long straights, but also notable was the dwindling smile on the face of Daniel Ricciardo. “Daniel struggled for pace all weekend,” said team boss […]
‘No excuses’ after Raikkonen spin – Arrivabene
Jun.8 (GMM) Maurizio Arrivabene struggled to hide his anger after the Canadian grand prix. With Sebastian Vettel struggling through the field following reliability problems and a penalty, Ferrari’s podium challenge was left to teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who is pushing to have his contract extended for 2016. Boss Arrivabene already had the Finn on notice to […]
Marko blames F1 for smaller Austria GP crowd
Jun.8 (GMM) Red Bull is struggling to fill the grandstands ahead of its second race as a formula one race promoter. Last year, the energy drink company achieved a full house of 95,000 spectators for race day at the Austrian grand prix. But the local news agency APA says only 60-70,000 spectators are expected at […]
Schumacher’s son breaks hand in crash
Jun.8 (GMM) Michael Schumacher’s son ended his second weekend as a single seater race driver in hospital. Amid intense scrutiny and global media interest, the 16-year-old German won a race on his Formula 4 debut in April. But round two of the German junior series was much more difficult for the son of a F1 […]
Change rules or say ‘goodbye’ to Renault – Horner
Jun.8 (GMM) Renault will probably quit formula one if the ‘engine freeze’ rules are not changed. That is the claim of Christian Horner, boss of the French carmaker’s premier customer Red Bull. At present, strong rumours indicate Renault is unhappy with its current situation and is looking at buying back the Enstone based team it […]