Category Archives: F1 News

Carlos Sainz Jr has emerged as a possible candidate for Caterham thanks to the team’s relationship with Red Bull – and a deal has been discussed for the Spaniard to race as early as this season.

Sainz Jr, his father and Dr Helmut Marko were seen paying a visit to the Caterham motorhome during the course of the Silverstone weekend.

Giving Sainz some race mileage now, prior to a full season at Caterham or possible move to STR for 2015, would be a logical step. However, a senior Red Bull source said that in the short term the company wants Sainz Jr to focus on winning the Renault 3.5 series, which he currently leads after nine of 17 rounds – although none of the remaining races clash with the F1 calendar.

It’s worth remembering that in 2011 Red Bull placed Daniel Ricciardo at HRT in the middle of his Renault 3.5 season, in a deal brokered by current Caterham advisor Colin Kolles.

Caterham has long used a Red Bull gearbox, and next year it will be the only team using a Renault power unit alongside RBR and Scuderia Toro Rosso. The departure of Lotus to Mercedes for 2015 allows Red Bull to forge closer links with Renault F1’s Viry base, and Caterham is in turn moving closer to RBR.

Nico Rosberg lost his shot at winning the British GP to a mechanical gearbox problem that left him stranded at trackside on the 29th lap.

Rosberg was just ahead of Lewis Hamilton at the time, and it was not yet clear how their respective strategies would play out. It was his first retirement of the year after he had finished first or second in the eight previous races, and it leaves him just four points clear of Hamilton.

Rosberg said he’d seen signs of an issue earlier in the race.

“There was one thing already before the start,” he said, “Or just after or something like that, which was weird. And then after that it sort of got worse and worse from lap 20 onwards. There were some occasions where I had neutral so I had to pull the clutch and go again, and then it just got worse and worse.

“My mentality changed to, ‘OK, let’s stop racing Lewis, and let’s just try and get this thing to the end somehow,’ because I have such a pace advantage, and I know that I can do some pretty radical things to try and keep this gearbox alive. But it was a mechanical problem, and there wasn’t anything that could be done.”

Rosberg said he would try find some positives: “What can I say, it was just a reliability problem, and a pity. So now we need to review it, and as always we need to push on and try and keep on working on any small reliability issues that we’re having, as we have done, and as we’re still doing.

“It’s difficult to find so many good feelings today, but tomorrow we’ll try to look for them again. I’m in the lead of the championship.”

Lewis Hamilton turned his frustration after Saturday’s qualifying session at Silverstone into elation today as he delighted the home crowd with his first win since Spain in May.

What might have been a sensational battle to the flag with Nico Rosberg ended when the German retired, but nevertheless it was a deserved victory for the Briton, who did everything right. He is now only four points behind his team mate.

“Yesterday was a really difficult day,” Hamilton admitted. “Obviously you never think situations like that would come up the way they did and I went away feeling terrible for the fans. They all turned up and there’s so much support here, I felt that I had let them down, not only them but the team and myself. Coming back today, trying to turn that serious emptiness and negativity into a positive today was really my priority.

“The support has been incredible this weekend. Just thinking of the history of this circuit, the great drivers that have won in the past, leading last year and not being able to see it through. It’s been since 2008 I had the win and I just feel very, very grateful for the opportunity. I honestly feel that I had the pace today.

“I was catching Nico in the first stint. I was able to extend my first stint longer than ever before. I was feeling pretty comfortable. Of course, you never want a team-mate to fall away, to win like that. I was looking forward to a wheel-to-wheel battle but I’m sure we’ll get many in the future.”

Hamilton conceded that his qualifying session was something of a wake-up call.

“We’ve had four wins, now five wins, but I’ve had the four wins and I think my hunger is on a par with any other year that I’ve ever raced in – but yesterday was a real kick in the balls. I really had to pick up, pull up my socks and get on it if I want to win this world championship, and I can’t have situations like yesterday. The last two races I’ve easily had the pace to be pole position and I’ve not put it there. I’ve put it much further back, made it much harder for myself but now I’m going to try to rectify that for the future.

“We’ll draw a line under that last nine races and now it’s attack mode, start again and now, utilising that pace and utilising the car’s pace. There are still some things we need to improve on. I wasn’t too worried about the time lost in the pit stop today as I knew the next one would be better. I’d been working on my position so I didn’t lose time in that but qualifying really – just getting myself back to my normal qualifying mode and that, I think, will be good.”

Esteban Gutierrez has received a three-place grid penalty for the German GP after his clash with Pastor Maldonado at Silverstone.

The two made contact at Club corner while battling with Jules Bianchi, and the damage led to the Sauber driver going off into the gravel a few corners later.

Gutierrez said: ” When I tried to overtake him in turn 16 he braked and did not leave me enough space. I was already beside him and could not avoid a collision with him.”

The FIA stewards determined that he was “predominantly at fault” for the incident.

Gutierrez had a 10-place unsafe release penalty at Silverstone and picked up five more places for a gearbox change, but in the end he lost only five in total as the rules ensured that three other cars had to start behind him.

Longtime McLaren sponsor Hugo Boss is to jump ship and join Mercedes GP next season.

Boss has been with McLaren since the early days of Ron Dennis’s involvement with McLaren, and while it has not been a major sponsor it is an iconic one, and thus its loss must be disappointing – not least because the German company has followed the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Paddy Lowe and indeed Mercedes itself in beating a path from Woking to the Brackley team.

Asked by this writer to confirm the news, a McLaren spokesman said: “The McLaren-Hugo Boss association has been an outstandingly successful F1 partnership for more than 30 years. However, Hugo Boss has recently decided to co-operate with Mercedes-Benz on a number of international marketing projects unrelated to F1.

“That being the case, it would be inappropriate for Hugo Boss to continue in partnership with an F1 competitor to Mercedes-Benz, however successful that partnership has been in the past and remains now.”

McLaren has yet to confirm any sponsorship plans for next season, despte promising to reveal a title sponsor on December 1 last year. However the team announced in its most recent annual report that its business model changes completely next year thanks to Honda’s input.

It’s worth noting that Kevin Magnussen’s career has been heavily supported by the Danish-owned Bestseller clothing company, which now has the opportunity to become involved with the team.

Pastor Maldonado has been excluded from qualifying for the British GP after failing to have enough fuel left in the tank of his Lotus to meet the requirements for the FIA fuel sample.

The Venezuelan was told to stop on track in Q2 and finished the session in 15th, ahead only of Adrian Sutil, who did not do a time.

The rules specify that he goes to the back of the grid, but in this instance he will start in 20th ahead of the two Caterhams – who failed to meet the 107% rule in Q1, and thus had to be given dispensation by the stewards to be allowed to start.

A Lotus source said Renault engineers were to blame for the error in fuelling the car.

Meanwhile with Max Chilton receiving a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change, and Esteban Gutierrez carrying a 10 place penalty for an unsafe release in Austria, some of those who had bad days today will gain up to three places.