Apr.24 (GMM) Valtteri Bottas has joined team engineer Rob Smedley in playing down Williams’ chances of chasing down Ferrari in 2015. Team deputy Claire Williams admitted in Bahrain that the Grove team had hoped to build on its promise of last year and take on champions Mercedes in 2015. “That’s what we wanted to do […]
Merhi could focus on 3.5 title after Barcelona
Apr.24 (GMM) Roberto Merhi will contest the forthcoming Spanish grand prix. That is the claim of the Spanish daily El Mundo Deportivo, reporting that Manor has now unofficially confirmed the news. “Whether he stays beyond that will be decided after the race in Spain” next month, the newspaper added. Part of the decision may be […]
Maldonado ‘refused’ to sit out Friday practice
Apr.24 (GMM) Pastor Maldonado is refusing to budge as Lotus attempts to accommodate ‘Friday’ driver Jolyon Palmer. In China and Bahrain, Maldonado’s race teammate Romain Grosjean sat out Friday practice sessions so that Briton Palmer could drive his black and gold car. “This is not ideal for the racing drivers as we lose an hour […]
No title charge until 2017 – Boullier
Apr.24 (GMM) It will be 2017 before McLaren is ready to charge for the title. That is the admission of team boss Eric Boullier, who said that despite a difficult start for the new McLaren-Honda collaboration, he retains the support of team supremo Ron Dennis. “Ron knows what I have done, he knows also what […]
Button didn’t ‘storm out’ after Bahrain – McLaren
Apr.23 (GMM) McLaren has denied reports Jenson Button lost his temper with the team’s situation after the Bahrain grand prix. The 2009 world champion had a horror weekend of unreliability in the island Kingdom, and then could not even take his Honda-powered car to the grid on Sunday. “The chances of it (the energy recovery […]
Merhi looks set to keep Manor seat for now
Apr.23 (GMM) Roberto Merhi looks set to hang onto his Manor seat at least for another race. While his F1 rivals take the weekend off, 24-year-old Merhi is currently in his native Spain, preparing for the opening race of the Formula Renault 3.5 series. But EFE news agency quoted the Spaniard as indicating he is […]
Wurz backs Sauber over engine cost limits
Apr.23 (GMM) GPDA chief Alex Wurz has backed Sauber over the future direction of F1’s engine rules. Former Williams driver Wurz, now chairman of the F1 drivers’ union, linked on Twitter to a story promoted by a news agency headed by his wife Julia. The story said that amid talks for louder and more powerful […]
Ferrari won’t rattle engine strategy – Lauda
Apr.23 (GMM) Mercedes will not react to title rival Ferrari’s engine allocation strategy. In Bahrain, the resurgent Ferrari team fitted the second of four allocated ‘power units’ for the season to Sebastian Vettel’s car. Asked if Mercedes will now follow suit and give its contenders a fresh turbo V6 for Spain, team chairman Niki Lauda […]
Vettel becomes F4 ‘patron’ to back Schumacher son
Apr.23 (GMM) Sebastian Vettel has become a patron of this year’s Formula 4 series, the German newspaper Bild reports. The German junior single-seater category kicks off at Oschersleben this weekend. “I know some of the young drivers on the start list,” Ferrari driver Vettel said. All of Vettel’s four titles at Red Bull were won […]
CVC must act amid ‘dangerous’ F1 omens – Montezemolo
Apr.23 (GMM) Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo thinks formula one needs to urgently reform. And he said the onus is on the sport’s “owners” – headed by major shareholder CVC – to pull F1 from the brink of a lull that is risking its long-term future. “The owners have to invest, they must set […]
No Red Bull comeback until season end – Marko
Apr.23 (GMM) Dr Helmut Marko has admitted the Red Bull-funded Austrian grand prix trophy will probably be passed into Mercedes’ hands. The June race at the former A1-Ring, now known as the Red Bull Ring, is promoted by the energy drink company. This week, Red Bull’s Marko and Daniel Ricciardo unveiled the carved wood and […]
Lauda wants Hamilton deal by Spanish GP
Apr.23 (GMM) Yet another deadline is now looming over the finalisation of Lewis Hamilton’s 2016 contract — Barcelona. “Everything will be fixed by the Spanish grand prix on May 10,” Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda is quoted by the Swiss newspaper Blick. Hamilton’s new deal has been delayed and discussed publicly for so long that […]
Renault is Red Bull’s ‘best chance’ for success
Apr.23 (GMM) Christian Horner on Thursday pinned Red Bull’s hopes on the fate of its current engine supplier. For much of the season so far, the energy drink owned team’s chiefs have been scathing of Renault’s performance. But Red Bull has ruled out building its own engine, apparently failed to woo a Volkswagen brand to […]
Rosberg admits he cannot hide bad moods
Apr.22 (GMM) He is not giving up yet, but Nico Rosberg admits he could not hide his bad mood in Bahrain. A bad qualifying session left him six tenths behind teammate Lewis Hamilton, but German Rosberg appeared to have returned to top form on Sunday with a fighting race punctuated by overtaking moves on Ferraris. […]
Manager guarding Schumacher’s privacy
Apr.22 (GMM) Michael Schumacher’s manager is reportedly working hard to keep news about the health of her famous client quiet. Ever since the F1 legend and seven time world champion was injured in a late 2013 skiing fall, the Schumacher circle has carefully guarded its privacy. Italy’s Autosprint claims this has been especially true over […]
Sauber denies testing new Ferrari engine
Apr.22 (GMM) Sauber has denied it ran Ferrari’s next-specification engine during the 2015 winter test season. Following reports Ferrari is planning to introduce a new specification of its 2015 ‘power unit’ in Canada, Bild newspaper claimed that a Barcelona debut has actually been scheduled for the 20-30 horse power boost. “The new engine was already […]
Hulkenberg not in talks with other teams yet
Apr.22 (GMM) Nico Hulkenberg is settling in at his new “second home”. The German headed straight from Bahrain, where he raced with the struggling Force India team, to a test this week at the wheel of Porsche’s Le Mans prototype. Hulkenberg is splitting his time this year between F1 and a sports car programme, culminating […]
Toro Rosso helping Red Bull to end Renault crisis
Apr.22 (GMM) Red Bull is looking to speed ahead — with the help of its sister team, Renault and an Austrian partner called AVL. Right now, according to Italy’s Omnicorse, a Toro Rosso car is up and running on the sophisticated AVL dynamic test bench in Graz, Austria. It follows a disastrous start to the […]
Stevens deletes ‘ugly’ tweet about Merhi
Apr.22 (GMM) Will Stevens has deleted a tweet described as “ugly” by one well-known Spanish sports daily. After Bahrain, Briton Stevens highlighted the significant gap between his race finishing time and that of his Manor teammate, fellow rookie Roberto Merhi. “Really good race pace today,” Stevens’ ‘tweet’ read, “car felt good and got into a […]
McLaren improvement to be ‘gradual’ – Boullier
Apr.22 (GMM) Fernando Alonso left Bahrain expecting McLaren-Honda to make a “big step” for the start of the forthcoming European season. Having switched from the now-resurgent Ferrari, the Spaniard – as well as fellow champion teammate Jenson Button – have struggled so far in 2015 and are the only drivers except those at Manor yet […]