Category Archives: F1 News

Bernie Ecclestone met with F1 race promoters in Barcelona on Saturday, and inevitably engine noise was top of the agenda.

Melbourne’s Ron Walker was among those who stressed that it’s a serious issue that has to be addressed, due to the negative reaction from fans. The consensus was that next week’s test by Mercedes will be crucial.

If the results are successful, and the exhaust modification is deemed to have no performance impact on any of the three power units, the hope is that it can be introduced as soon as possible.

“Everybody’s looking forward to what the ‘megaphone’ is going to be like,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “I think there are different opinions around the paddock about what’s going to happen or not. We were asked by the FIA and Bernie to put the device on the car, and see if it’s really effective. We are pretty clear, if the fans want to have more noise, and it’s making the car not only sound better but also be perceived in a more attractive way then we would be [behind it].

“Then hopefully the other teams will vote in favour as well., As you know it’s part of the technical regulations, if you want to implement it in the season you need a unanimous vote. There are not lots of times in that paddock where you have unanimous votes. It will be an interesting one.”

Daniel Ricciardo continues to impress the F1 paddock with his strong form, and on a weekend when team mate Sebastian Vettel has been hampered by technical gremlins the Aussie has showcased his talent by securing third on the Barcelona grid.

The downside is that he was over a second slower than pacesetter Lewis Hamilton.

“I think we’re again sort of best of the rest but that’s not quite good enough,” he said. “We’re still a second off and the lap, I thought my lap was not too bad, so I was expecting a smaller gap than that. I think we’ve made some improvement but they – they being Mercedes – have as well. So we would have liked to have closed that but we have some work ahead of us. On a positive note we’re a clear third today.”

Ricciardo hopes that he might benefit from better tyre degradation than rivals.

“If we can do something about Lewis and Nico we will try our best and then yes, the pace yesterday was good, still not as good as a Mercedes but I think in relative terms we made the tyres last a long way. I think if there’s any issues with making a two stop possible, if the race ends up being more of a three stop, then we might be in that window to do a two but we will see how we go. We have to assess everything after lap one and then push from there, but it’s a tricky one here. You push but you’re in conservative mode for the tyres as well. It’s one of those tracks where tyre wear is a big one.”

Regarding the gap to Mercedes he said: “For us it’s just to keep closing that gap to them. On a positive, we’re the best of the rest but we’ve still got to keep the others, keep the guys we have behind us behind us, but to close to them. A second is too much. Even with a different strategy in the race it’s going to be very hard to make up a second per lap. We’ve got to just keep chipping away. Obviously they’re doing a great job and, yeah, I’m sure I can still learn a bit. As I am, I think, each race. We’ll put up a fight tomorrow and at least try to get on the podium. And if we can’t do anything about them, then keep the rest behind us.”

Sebastain Vettel is set to drop from 10th to 15th on the Spanish GP grid thanks to a gearbox change penalty.

The German lost second gear as he accelerated out of the pits at the start of Q3, and then lost all his gears by the time he got to Turn One.

Although teams can replace damaged components under parc ferme rules the team clearly decided that it would be a safer plan to change the whole thing and take the penalty.

Those who move up a place are Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Daniil Kvyat, Esteban Gutierrez and Kevin Magnussen.

Jean-Eric Vergne has been given a 10-place grid penalty for an unsafe release in FP2, while Toro Rosso has been given a €30,000 fine.

The Frenchman lost a rear wheel immediately after leaving the pits towards the end of FP2 after what had been a relatively leisurely pit stop of around 8s.

The FIA said: “This is regarded as a serious offence and the stewards are of the opnion that this was a significant breach of the safety requirements.”

The team will also have to prove that it is compliant with Article 14.7 of the technical regulations, which reads: “All cars, whilst under their own power, must be fitted with devices which will retain the wheel fastener in the event of it coming loose.”

The team believes that the wheel was not properly located, and thus nor was the retention device, which thus failed to deploy.

The stewards also asked the FIA technical delegate to check that all other cars are also compliant.
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Renault Sport F1 boss Jean-Michel Jalinier says that the manufacturer’s 2014 programme could be compromised by teams being late with payments.

He admitted that the situation could become critical within the next few weeks – and confirmed that the ultimate sanction could be to cease supply.

Although he declined to name the teams involved – he confirmed it was more than one – it’s no secret that Lotus has been late with payments in the past, which is why its 2014 deal was confirmed so late.

“The main point was to deliver,” he said when asked by this writer about the PR challenge Renault has faced this year. “And show that we we are progressing, we’re not going to be able to make it at the first race, and win the very first race. We need to show that the action plan is delivering and the action plan race-after-race was bringing an efficient package. This is the way we were able to manage the PR.

“In order to develop the action plan we need the resources, and our resources are coming from two sources. One is Renault, with financial resources or human resources, and the other part of it is coming from the teams, because we are selling the engines to the teams. On this part I must say we are not at an acceptable situation, because some of the teams are just late in payment, and at the time that you spend resources in order to catch up you cannot afford to have those non-payments.”

He confirmed that the issue is a serious one.

“It is a serious concern. We can live with it up to a certain point. We are developing, we are putting money into the business, we need to get our resources.”

As to when the critical point might be, he said: “It’s just weeks away… Then we’ll have to address the situation with the team, and take decisions, because that’s something we cannot carry forward.”

Asked if the response could be to withhold supply : “That’s an option. You first need to work with your team and then get back to some financial situation. But in the end that’s an option.”