Adam Cooper F1

Caterham has issued a statement denying rumours suggesting that legal proceedings against the team could prevent it from racing in Japan this weekend.

The team said tonight: “There have been unfounded and unsubstantiated rumours concerning actions against 1MRT, the entrant and owner of CaterhamF1.

“An action was threatened yesterday against a supplier company to 1MRT. This company is not owned by 1MRT and it has no influence over the entry of CaterhamF1 or the entrant.

“Also contrary to uncontrolled rumours, all operations are currently in place at Leafield and the race team is doing its preparation in Japan. “

Toro Rosso has confirmed that Max Verstappen will replace Jean-Eric Vergne in FP1 at Suzuka as he continues his preparations for 2015.

The Dutchman, who only turns 17 tomorrow, has been granted a superlicence that allows him to run in FP1 sessions.

“It is good preparation for next year, even if it’s not something I could have imagined a few months ago,” said Verstappen. “To already be participating in a practice session is of course a dream come true. I have actually been to Suzuka before, to take part in a go‑kart race on the track that is located next to the main circuit’s back straight. My dad has raced at Suzuka many times and he told me it’s not an easy track to start on.

“For me it will be a very valuable experience, spending some time in the car and also getting used to working with everyone in the team, to prepare myself for next year. I am not going there to break any records, I just want to gain experience. I have spent one day driving this track on the simulator, which helps a bit, but it’s no substitute for driving it for real. My first impression is that it’s not an easy track and for example it looks hard to get the combination right in the first Esses. I have one and a half hours to drive there and I’m looking forward to doing a good job, for myself and for the team.”

Mercedes says that a foreign substance in Nico Rosberg’s steering column led to the problem that forced him to retire from the Singapore GP.

The team said via its Twitter feed: “Forensic analysis has revealed that the steering column electronic circuits were contaminated with a foreign substance.

“The contamination was not visible and did not manifest itself until Sunday as Nico went to the grid.

“The result was an intermittent short circuit in the electronic circuits meaning Nico could not command clutch or engine settings.

“Fresh parts will be used at the forthcoming races. Our hard work on reliability processes will continue at the same intensive level.”

Later Mercedes added: “To clarify, the contaminant was a substance used in normal pre-event servicing of the component,” in effect confirming that an employee had simply screwed up somewhere along the line…

Caterham has played down suggestions that the team has reached a crisis point amid reports of a meeting between staff members and team principal Manfredi Ravetto today.

A source close to the team told this writer: “The meeting was called by Manfredi yesterday morning for lunchtime today to tell the company what was happening. He gave the same speech to the race team last weekend, essentially that at the end of June the investors had bought a runaway, driverless train with all employees aboard.

“It’s now the end of September and the train has a driver on board who has control, but efforts to stabilise it are being threatened by ‘surprises.’ Everybody knows the picture is not pretty, and nothing has been hidden.

“They were also told that work on the 2015 car continues with a further wind tunnel session at Toyota starting Monday and we will be on the grid in Melbourne in 2015 if we all pull together. He also confirmed that the wages had been paid today, three days early.”

The ‘surprises’ referred to are believed to include unpaid bills left behind by the previous owners, and which are only now coming to light.

Meanwhile yesterday the team sent its demo car to an event in Jerusalem.

Rumours continue to circulate regarding Fernando Alonso’s future plans, and the consensus is that in the next few days we will learn a bit more about how the 2015 entry list will look.

Alonso has been linked with McLaren and Honda for months, and his name has obvious appeal to the Japanese manufacturer, which sells a lot of motorbikes in Spain.

It’s absolutely imperative that McLaren has a star on board, and with due respect to Jenson Button, the paddock acknowledges that Honda is working from a very short list, headed by Fernando, Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel.

Of course the big questions over the weeks have been a) who might be able to make themselves available to join McLaren for 2015, and b) who has faith in the potential of Honda to be competitive from the off. One thing that is not in doubt is the funding available to pay for a big name, which would certainly cushion the blow should Honda not quite be on the pace immediately.

If Alonso is indeed on his way to McLaren, then obviously Ferrari needs to find a superstar with which to replace him – and for the past couple of years Sebastian Vettel has been the name in the frame as the next Ferrari signing.

However a source close to the Italian team tells me that none other than Lewis Hamilton now figures high on Maranello’s wish list, and indeed the Briton might be more easily able to walk away from Mercedes in 2015 than some might believe. He’s certainly less tied down than Vettel.

Of course for Lewis the issue is complicated by the ongoing title battle, but Ferrari would have obvious appeal to Hamilton, perhaps moreso if he secures his second title with Mercedes and can perhaps lose a year or two being a key part of a Maranello revival, thus following in the footsteps of Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher.

Those who think the idea unlikely should remember that exactly two years ago this week the world didn’t believe that Lewis would quit McLaren for Mercedes…

Nico Rosberg may have suffered a disappointing retirement in Singapore, but he was able to find some positives by using the rest of the race as a learning experience.

After he retired he changed out of his overalls, grabbed a headset, and then spent the rest of the race observing from the Mercedes pit wall.

“I just decided rather than going home I’m going to try and see if I can pick up anything that might become useful in the next couple of races,” he said when asked about it by this writer.

“Did I learn anything? Of course. I’ve never watched the other car live in a race, I’ve never watched the pit wall work together during a race this year, there are a lot of insights that I got.”

Meanwhile Rosberg admitted he had mixed feelings watching Hamilton win in Singapore.

“I’m split I two. On the one side I’m pleased that even though one car stopped the team was able to win with the other car, it means a lot to me when the team can have something to cheer for. A lot of the team had a good day, especially one side of the garage. And for the constructors’ it’s important that Red Bull didn’t catch up too many points, it was important to win.

“So that’s one half, on the other half I’m just disappointed that I wasn’t able to finish of course, because I wanted to have a shot at the win too.”

The debate over third cars continues to rumble on, but until it becomes clear that two current teams won’t be on the 2015 grid, it remains an academic exercise.

As is well known should the field fall below 20, which realistically means losing two teams, third cars become a serious possibility under current arrangements.

However in public at least bosses of top teams seem to have little enthusiasm for that prospect, despite the obvious advantage of being able to gainfully employ a third driver.

“It’s a debate with wrong timing, we have to wait and see if there’s a need to run three cars,” said McLaren’s Eric Boullier today. “And then we will see. If at the end one day we are called and asked to help F1 to run three cars, we’ll have to.”

Asked how much notice would be needed he said: “I think the driver is the easiest to get on board. The chassis, logistics, the people around, we would need at least six months notice.”

It’s worth noting that we have already passed that deadline for Australia 2015.

“It depends how many teams there are, to be honest with you,” said Christian Horner. “If there’s not enough teams then we’ll run a third car, if there’s enough teams then we’ll stick with two cars. Hopefully all the teams will be there next year, and a third car won’t be necessary, but should the numbers drop down then of course it’s something that we’d have to consider.”

Meanwhile Mercedes boss Toto Wolff made it clear that he doesn’t think it will be either healthy for F1, or cost effective for the teams – even those who could take a paying third driver.

“I don’t think it’s good for the sport,” he said. “There’s a regulation which says if the grid drops below 20 cars, so 19 cars, then there is a certain mechanism which would trigger certain teams to fill in. Now that’s not the case, and I don’t see the grid dropping below 20 cars, because that would mean two teams disappearing.

“I’m not a big fan of it. A third car means additional costs, the way you can refinance it is not enough, so even for the smaller teams it wouldn’t be a profitable business case to put in a third car, and for the moment I don’t see that coming.

“But obviously if it would ever happen and the grid would get diluted to less than 20 cars, that is a good tool to fill it up, and then obviously the devil lies in the detail. Would you fill it with rookie drivers, which would be very exciting for F1, to give rookie drivers a chance? But we don’t want to harm F1 by the top teams suddenly filing three cars. The midfield teams would really struggle, it would bite them hard, so I’m not very keen on that idea.”

He also gave an interesting insight into the cost: “If you run it properly it’s about £20-25m to run a third car. So even if you have one of the very good pay drivers, it wouldn’t pay.”

Red Bull motor sport boss Helmut Marko has put a little extra pressure on his new protege Max Verstappen by comparing the Dutch youngster with Ayrton Senna.

Verstappen, who only turns 17 next week, is being groomed for some FP1 appearances with Toro Rosso, prior to racing with the team next season.

Speaking to the F1 website Marko called Verstappen “an exceptional talent that come along only once in decades.”

Asked to make a comparison, he said: “Most likely Ayrton Senna. And in such a case you must not look at his age. He has been talking with people who are experts when it comes to the development of youngsters and they all say that [in terms of] his mind he is more like 22 than 16. And regarding his skills behind the steering wheel, he has been racing since he was four years old – professionally. So we expect him to be competitive from the first race. We are not playing the lottery, we know what we are doing. And success proves us right.

“And yes, we work with him intensively. He will do some Friday runs. Not long ago he did a 400kms test in Italy, he’s in the simulator whenever possible, and he’s working on his physique and psychology with top experts. Yes, some things became visible that we will have to address for the 2015 season. Having said that, he is getting the perfect ‘schooling’ before he gets on the grid.”