Category Archives: F1 News

Mercedes has decided that Nico Rosberg will use the engine that was feared to be damaged in FP3 in Monza on Friday in Suzuka.

The upgraded engine was not used in Singapore because the team was still not sure if it was healthy, and the risk of the German losing valuable track time was too great.

However the team is now confident that it is not damaged, but not to the extent that the unit will be used in qualifying or a race. It will thus become Rosberg’s Friday engine for the foreseeable future, and he will qualify and race in Japan with the new unit introduced in Singapore.

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton says that Nico’s issue in Monza and his own in Singapore are not indicative of a trend, or a reflection of Mercedes pushing too hard.

“It wouldn’t make any difference,” said Hamilton. “The thing that happened in the last race wasn’t down to performance, it wasn’t down to having the engine turned up a down, it was just a part failed. So there’s no is no plan to turn it up or down, we’ll run it in exactly the same way as usual.

“We’ve got plenty of life in the engine. The performance is generally great. We’ve had 20 races or something like that without reliability issues, which is pretty amazing, considering the amount of force and the stress we put on these engines, on how far they’ve got to go with just four, so we have no concerns.”

Manor team boss John Booth says that the return Suzuka a year after Jules Bianchi’s accident will be an emotional experience for everyone in the team – including drivers Will Stevens and Alexander Rossi, who were both present in 2014.

Booth has made it clear thar he wants the F1 paddock and media to respect the team’s privacy.

“There is no escaping the fact that this will be an extremely emotional week for us,” he said in a team race preview. “Many of the team members who were with us in 2014 are back with us this year, including our colleagues at Scuderia Ferrari and of course Will and Alexander, both of whom were in Suzuka last year in their roles as Reserve Drivers. It will also be a different emotional experience again from Monaco, a place full of so many special memories for our team, and Hungary, where we all had to say a very difficult goodbye to a greatly-loved friend and colleague.

“We think of Jules every single day; he will forever be a huge part of our team. Without doubt, our memories are overwhelmingly happy ones, celebrating his incredible achievements in our race cars and the enjoyable times we shared along the way. Jules’ funeral reminded us that he was a special gift to so many people, not least of all the magnificent Bianchi family, who are always in our thoughts and prayers.

“We were Jules’ team, and with that in mind I would ask everyone to understand and respect that, this weekend, we wish to deal with the experience of returning to Suzuka in a very private way. Our commitments will reflect this. It is my job to provide the team with the right environment in which to be able to do their job in spite of very difficult circumstances. This will be my primary focus. Jules has not only been constantly in our thoughts since that terrible day in 2014, but his name has also been on our car at every single race. That tribute, our incredibly fond memories of Jules and the camaraderie we have within our team are all we need to race on in his honour in Suzuka this weekend.”

Lotus has confirmed that Pastor Maldonado will stay on for the 2016 season.

The news was announced by the team in the middle of the night Singapore time. Maldonado and sponsor PDVSA always had one more year on his contract with the team, but his position appeared to be in limbo given the ongoing negotiations with Renault. His manage Nicolas Todt was seen talking to both the team management and to Renault’s Cyril Abiteboul over the Singapore weekend.

Team boss Gerard Lopez said: “It’s a positive for the future of Lotus F1 Team that we are able to confirm publically that Pastor remains with us for next season. Everyone at Enstone will testify that Pastor is a terrific person to work with and we all know the performances he is capable of on track. Pastor joined us with a multi-year deal so this confirmation is a reiteration of our belief in him. We hope to be able to make further positive announcements regarding the team in the near future.”

Maldonado added: “It’s great that the team can confirm my position as race driver for 2016. Obviously, there has been a lot of speculation about the future and whilst I have remained focused on my job on track it is also positive to know that my future is confirmed. This season has presented us with some challenges but the quality of the squad at Enstone is clear to see. I really feel part of the family at Enstone and I’m looking forward to building on the work done this year to deliver better results in 2016.”

Lewis Hamilton was at a loss to explain why Mercedes is so far off the pace in Singapore after he and Nico Rosberg qualified only fifth and sixth tonight.

Hamilton said he was happy with the feel of the car, but was mystified by the loss of speed relative to rivals.

“The only way I can really explain it is it’s a bit like doing a good lap on the prime tyre, then you go and do exactly the same lap on an option tyre, but it’s a second and a half faster,” he said. “And then I do the lap, and say it’s a really good lap, but it’s a second and a half slower than the guys up ahead. We’ve not lost any performance on our car, the drivers have not lost any performance, so there’s only one way it can come from, and that’s obviously the rubber. But I don’t know why it is the case.

“I’m very interested to find out. I actually challenge all of you guys to go and find what the reasons may be, I’m challenging my team to find out what is, where we lost time, whether it’s in tyre pressures, temperarures blankets, ride heights, I’m challenging everyone to find out, because I want to go and win tomorrow.”