Category Archives: F1 News

April 24, 2015 · 9:19 am

Horner says RBR interested in Ecclestone ‘parity’ engine plan

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner says he’s open to the idea of two types of engine competing in F1 from 2017.

Bernie Ecclestone wants to introduce a cheaper engine for the struggling midfield teams – potentially a V8 or twin-turbo V6, in either case with KERS – which would race alongside the current hybrid V6s.

Intriguingly, if the idea gains support it could open the door for Renault to make a version of such an engine. Given the ongoing problems with the Renault hybrid V6 that could potentially give Red Bull Racing an alternative future path, and a chance to level the playing field, depending on how the FIA manages parity between the two types of engines.

“It’s an interesting concept,” Horner told this writer. “We ought to have a good look at it and explore the pros and cons, to be honest with you. It’s happened before, and you might get certain engines competitive at different tracks, and it might move things around a bit. It’s certainly worth a good debate.

“It’s certainly interesting. I would think Renault would certainly consider it – it’s more of a question for Renault than it is for me. But I would have thought they would certainly consider it.”

The biggest challenge is how the FIA would ensure that there’s far competition between the two types.

“There are all kinds of permutations that clever engineers can come up with, but first of all let’s have a look at the concept. These days simulation is very accurate, we can simulate what the outcome could be, and then decisions could be made on an informed basis rather than guessing.”

Asked what the odds were on F1 ending up with two engine specs in the future Horner said: “No idea. Ask me in a month…”

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April 23, 2015 · 2:16 pm

Ecclestone believes teams can run “cheap” engines in 2017

Bernie Ecclestone says that F1 engine options for 2017 remain open, despite Toto Wolff stating last weekend that all four current manufacturers want to keep a version of the current V6 for any new 1000bhp rules.

Ecclestone had been talking about a V8/KERS package, and that remains on the table as a cheaper option for struggling teams. There have also been suggestions that a ‘budget’ twin-turbo V6 with KERS could be made available to teams as a possible alternative.

In either case the idea is that these low-cost customer engines would run alongside their works counterparts. In other words we could have something like half the grid using the budget engines (assuming the likes of Williams and Haas stick their regular deals). It brings up the difficult question of how the FIA would ensure some form of parity.

“It depends what we’re going to do,” Ecclestone told this writer. “Toto does a lot of talking, but no action, if you know what I mean. It’s no good talking about, ‘This is what I’d like.’ They are one team.

“I never wanted to go back to V8s, I wanted to set up a single engine to be in F1, which they could run for let’s say 10% of what these manufacturers spend. It would be a different regulation, which would be cheaper. If the manufacturers then decide this would be a good thing, then that’s OK. Or if they want to supply [current] engines at a realistic price to the teams, then good.”

Asked about how two types of engine could compete in parallel he said: “We used to run turbos with normally aspirated engines before. You can do either.”

How the likes of Mercedes or Ferrari would react if they face stiff competition from a good team equipped with a ‘budget’ engine remains to be seen.

Meanwhile the discussions could also be seen as a way of putting pressure on the manufacturers to lower the prices for the current engines. Costs went up considerably in the move from V8s to the hybrid last year, and midfield teams feel that they are funding the R&D of the works operations.

“You never have everybody happy. At the moment they are doing a very good R&D project supporting by the teams that are paying. That engine will never be used in any car or a boat or anything. It was never designed to do that. Just the regulations were put out, the engineers got hold of it, and said this is what they can do. They’ve done a super job, but it has to be cheaper.”

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April 21, 2015 · 9:35 am

Kvyat will get stronger and stronger, says Horner

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says that Daniil Kvyat’s drive to ninth place in Bahrain will serve as a big boost for the Russian, who has had a difficult start to his first season with RBR.

Although Kvyat earned the same result in Malaysia this time he has to fight his way up from 17th after a troubled qualifying session.

“I think both drivers did a good job, they got everything they could out of it,” Horner told this writer. “The recovery Dany had from 17th was pretty good really. He drove a good race in Malaysia, but he’s had the lion’s share of bad luck. If anything’s gone wrong it’s tended to happen with him.

“It’s good for his confidence, a race like that. He just needs a clean weekend really, and the potential’s there. Then you’ll see him just get stronger and stronger.”

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April 20, 2015 · 10:22 am

Mercedes compromised brake cooling for performance, says Wolff

Toto Wolff admits that the changes Mercedes made to the W06’s set-up on Friday night in Bahrain contributed to the brake issues suffered by both drivers in the race.

Mercedes reacted to the Friday long run pace of Ferrari by trying to find speed and improve tyre usage for Saturday, and the race indicated that the team got its sums right. However some of the changes also made brake cooling marginal, and Nico Rosberg paid the price when he ran wide and lost second place to Kimi Raikkonen.

Lewis also had a problem on the last lap, but his lead was big enough to allow him to cruise home safely ahead of the Finn, although had it happened earlier he might have been in trouble.

“It was a good race and the changes we put on the car after a hard Friday into qualifying proved to be the right ones,” said Wolff. “The car was the quickest car today on both tyres. We certainly have to be happy with one and three, no doubt about it, but losing second place with Nico – everybody who ever doubted in Nico saw him at his best, fighting hard, overtaking, and losing that position because of a brake failure was a bit of a pity.

“We saw very hot brakes on Nico’s car in traffic, following Kimi and Sebastian first, and then lots of fighting and hard braking. So we monitored that. Then at the end with the backmarkers and lapping cars those brake temperatures went through the roof, and we had a brake by wire failure on both cars, in the same corner. It was on the hard braking on the straight, the temperatures went sky high, and when that happens the brake by wire switches into the conventional system, and then you are without weapons to defend with.

“You can’t do anything if the brake-by-wire collapses or fails and it goes to coventional, the pedal becomes long and the car doesn’t stop any more. This what happens to Nico.

“It’s set-up issues. We knew the changes we made on the car were compromising a little bit brake temperatures, so we knew what we were doing. But then it was a hard race, we had lots of overtaking, especially on Nico’s side. And then both cars struggled to make it through some of the backmarkers at the end of the race. You follow another car or you follow a couple of cars the air stream collapses, and this is why he made the brakes hot.

“On Nico’s car the brake failure didn’t come as a surprise, we saw high temperatures. On Lewis’s car it was a bit of a surprise, and it must have been linked to the fact that he gave it a gentle push seeing Kimi, and making his way through backmarker traffic.

Wolff admitted that Mercedes might now have to think again: “It is never one single solution so you try to tackle a problem, which we had on Friday, with a couple of adjustments. And one of them was linked to the capability of brake cooling. So in hindsight, knowing that this caused us the problem and nearly lost us the race, and it lost as P2, we will probably look at things again and do it differently in the future.”

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April 20, 2015 · 6:07 am

Maurizio Arrivabene: “We put together an aggressive strategy…”

Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene says both his drivers would have finished on the podium in Bahrain had Sebastian Vettel’s race not been compromised by mistakes.

He also confirmed that Kimi Raikkonen’s strategy of using medium tyres in the middle stint was decided before the race.

“We had a clear strategy for the two drivers,” said Arrivabene. “Seb made two little mistakes, the big one was at the beginning so we were obliged to change the strategy for Seb. We told Kimi to follow our strategy, at a certain point he was not really convinced, and we said no, we stay as we are. He was brave enough and disciplined enough to follow, and it was a good result.

“With Seb we changed the strategy and we went to Plan B, but with Kimi we were following exactly what we preferred.”

Arrivabene said the team choose Kimi’s strategy after conditions turned out to be cooler for the race than in Friday practice, which led to the decision to use mediums in the middle of the race.

“Today we put together an aggressive strategy, and this is exactly what we discussed. Today we recognised the gap that we have with Mercedes, so the only way is to be aggressive, because at this stage you can make a mistake if you are aggressive. If you are not it’s not the right time. If one day, I don’t know when, we are able to catch them, of course the strategy must be put together in a way that is a bit different.

“You saw on Friday that our pace was quite good, but the temperature was different versus today. This is the reason why were changing the strategy that we had in mind before to the new one, due to the conditions of the track, which were changing. If everything was going well I’m sure we were going to have two drivers up to the podium. I don’t tell you which positions, but two drivers for sure. I don’t tell you the position because I don’t know! But one was very, very interesting.

“Regarding Seb I have to say he two little mistakes, but we don’t have to forget what he has done until now, he won one race, two podiums. Sometimes it happens, we are human beings, thanks God, and this is the beauty of the sport. I’m happy for Kimi because now I can officially, not that I signed a contract, that Kimi’s back. We have two strong drivers.”

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April 18, 2015 · 9:02 pm

Lewis Hamilton: “I’m going to have my work cut out…”

Having qualified on pole in Bahrain Lewis Hamilton is hopeful that the Mercedes will be better on its tyres in Sunday’s race than it appeared to be in practice on Friday, when Ferrari had a clear edge on long runs.

The team made changes for today but the hot afternoon FP3 session was not representative, so the true test will only come in the race itself.

“There were a lot of small things that we changed overnight in the hope that they will make the tyres last a little bit better,” he said tonight. “The tyres are lasting fine, it’s just actually pure pace, so it’s getting more from the tyres. I was saying that in Malaysia we thought we were going to be ahead, and we ended up behind, then in the last race we thought they were going to be much stronger in the race, and they were no problem in the race… for me. But then tomorrow it appears that they are going to be strong. I don’t know which way it’s going to go, but I hope it’s the way I hope it’s going to go.”

Asked whether Sebastian Vettel or Nico Rosberg would be the biggest threat tomorrow he said: “Your biggest rival is always the guy that’s closest to you. When you go into a race your first concern is the one that’s closest to you. Even more so Sebastian because it appears that they were quicker on their long runs than we were. So I know that I’m going to have my work cut out while trying to stay ahead whilst looking after the tyres and making them go the distance.

“I don’t know how much he’s going to be on my tail. We might get round the first corner and it might be cool to be able to control it from then. In Malaysia each time I was kind of having to up the pace and he’d got an answer every time I did that. So I guess I won’t know until I get round the first couple of corners tomorrow.”

He also admitted that he doesn’t yet know where he might have an advantage over the Ferrari.

“To be honest I have no idea where their strengths are in terms of being on the track and seeing it. I’ve never really been behind them or with him to really know. The one little bit was at the end of one of the stints in Malaysia where he pitted and I came up the inside. So they’ve obviously got power on the straights. But otherwise I’ve not witnessed where the weak areas are of the car. But I would imagine they are probably comparable, both cars, in certain areas. Maybe tomorrow we’ll find out.”

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April 18, 2015 · 12:12 pm

No grid penalty for Vettel as FIA deems wheel was loose but not unsafe

The FIA stewards have decided to take no further action against Sebastian Vettel for an unsafe release after a further investigation this morning.

As reported here earlier, during yesterday’s investigation into Vettel’s collision with Sergio Perez it emerged that one of the German’s front wheels may have been loose. If that was classed as an unsafe release, he risked a grid penalty.

An investigation was postponed until this morning as the FIA wanted to gather further evidence. It was deemed that while the wheel was not properly in place, it was in fact secured, and the retention device was still safely in place.

The FIA accepted that the driver and team had the situation under control, and that the wheel could not have come off. Video of the pit stop showed that there was no panic among the crew and no suggestion that anyone thought the car had been dispatched with a wheel issue.

As such it was not deemed to be an unsafe release, and there is no grid penalty for Vettel.

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April 17, 2015 · 8:40 pm

Vettel under threat of unsafe release grid penalty

No action was taken by the FIA stewards after the collision between Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez in FP2 today, but the matter might not be over for the Ferrari driver.

The pair made contact at Turn One late in the session when Perez turned in and Vettel – who had just emerged from the pits – crunched his nose on the Force India’s rear wheel. Vettel said on the radio that he had a braking issue, but surprisingly perhaps the focus in the stewards’ enquiry was on Perez as the potential guilty party, rather than Vettel.

In letting the Mexican off the stewards noted: “As no driver was determined to be wholly or predominantly to blame the Stewards decide that no further action should be taken.”

However it emerged during the discussions that Vettel could have had an improperly secured front wheel – which if proven could open him up to a penalty for an unsafe release from the pits.

It’s understood that the FIA will take another look at the matter on Saturday morning, when it will have the opportunity to gather and review further evidence.

The FIA takes an unsafe release in practice particularly seriously as clearly there is less urgency than in a race, and also more people are in the pitlane. The rules states: “If a car is deemed to have been released in an unsafe condition during any practice session, the stewards may drop the driver such number of grid positions as they consider appropriate.”

Ferrari also had a wheel issue in Australia, and one rival team has even suggested that as a result Vettel’s description of a “brake problem” could in fact be pre-arranged code for “loose wheel.”

Mention of the latter on the radio would of course have immediately alerted the FIA to the fact that the Ferrari had left with an unsecured wheel, and thus made the charge of an unsafe release a formality…

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April 17, 2015 · 4:28 pm

Raikkonen heading for extended Ferrari deal, says Robertson

Kimi Raikkonen’s manager Steve Robertson says everything is moving in the right direction for the Finn to extend his Ferrari contract.

Raikkonen, who last year hinted that 2015 might be his last season, is now committed to a longer term future with the team – and just has to wait for the Maranello outfit to take up its option.

“Everybody’s positive,” Robertson told this writer. “Kimi wants to carry on and he’s made that very, very clear. The team is happy with his input and his consistency. It’s all positive talk, but there’s a difference between positive talk and pen to paper and all that sort of stuff. But at the end of the day it’s all heading in the right direction. He wants to be part of it, 100 per cent.”

Raikkonen has been upbeat since his first run in the SF15-T hinted at the potential of the package, and he works well with close pal Sebastian Vettel. Robertson agrees that the key is Kimi is having fun again.

“As soon as he had the first test he said, ‘The car’s a good car, there’s a lot more potential there, they took a big step in the chassis and a big step in the engine. He’s enjoying driving. At the end of the day for Kimi it’s very important that he enjoys it, he doesn’t need to be here for any other reason. He wants to be competitive, he wants to be challenging for races wins and championships, and now he’s in the position to do that.

“It’s a completely different team, it’s a completely different package. Everything is positive. Last year it was difficult to find something positive. He enjoys the car, it suits his driving style more, he’s in a team that’s on the upward trend. Everybody is pushing. Just look around at all the smiling faces, and Kimi’s one of those smiling faces.

“He loves F1 when it’s like this – of course he doesn’t love F1 when everything’s a shit fight and the car’s not good. He loves the environment like it is, and the package, and he can only see it getting stronger.”

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April 17, 2015 · 3:02 pm

New Hamilton contract “just needs to get signed” says Lauda

Niki Lauda says he is not concerned that Lewis Hamilton has yet to sign his new Mercedes contract for 2016 and beyond, and insists that the deal really is done and dusted.

The saga of when Hamilton’s deal might be formalised and announced has been dragging on since late last season.

“It’s all going in the right pace,” Lauda told this writer. “There’s nothing wrong. It is basically sorted out, no more discussions. It is sorted out. It just needs to get signed.

“For me it’s out of the way because it’s done. An announcement, I don’t care. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Lauda dismissed suggestions in the German media to the effect that Hamilton might now be eyeing up Ferrari: “No, he can’t. We all agreed he’s driving, he agreed, we agreed, that’s it. Simple.”

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