Adam Cooper F1

The FIA World Motor Sport Council has passed a package of changes for 2015. The most controversial is the move to standing starts after safety car periods, although these will not take place close to the start or finish of the race.

The ban on tyre warmers scheduled for 2015 has been abandoned, while there is a cut back on in-season testing, as teams found that the four sessions planned for this year were too expensive and logistically challenging. There will now be two sessions. The full list of changes is as follows:

The last date at which the sporting and technical regulations can be changed without unanimous agreement has been changed from 30 June to 1 March each year, starting from 2015.

A two-stage wheel fastener retaining system is now compulsory.

Last weekend’s Austrain GP proved to be a huge success, and Red Bull Racing’s Christian Horner says his boss Dietrich Matechitz deserves full credit for reviving the event after an 11-year hiatus.

Red Bull bought the former A1 Ring some years ago although it took some time before the track was rebuilt and Bernie Ecclestone agreed to an F1 date.

“I think the return of this race has been fantastic,” said Horner. “This is an event that’s been put on for the fans, so irrespective of out own frustrations in this race I think the weekend as a whole has been fantastic. The weekend has been wall-to-wall action, it’s been an enormous crowd, there’s been a great atmosphere here, and I think you have to really congratulate and applaud Dietrich Mateschitz for the commitment and vision that he’s had in bringing this Grand Prix back to Austria, and the event that’s been put on.

“I think it’s a great example for all the promoters as to what can be done over a Grand Prix weekend. There’s been a real carnival and festival atmosphere here this weekend, there have been all kinds of displays, every five minutes there’s been something different going on. And it’s a fantastic facility as well. Overall the event has been a great success.”

Horner said that other promoters could learn from the experience.

“We’ve had more than 100,000 people here today, and those tickets sold out in about 36 hours. The tickets were also affordable, and it was well planned and well organised. The key thing is having the right promoters involved, and I think Red Bull have demonstrated how an event can be promoted and can be organised. I think they’ve done an unbelievable job. Dietrich is a fan of the sport, and thi event wasn’t for Red Bull Racing, it was for the fans. He deserves credit for having the vision and commitment to invest and put this event on.”

Meanwhile Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “We must really take our hat off to what Red Bull has done around Spielberg. This is an amazing race, the infrastructure is amazing, and everybody says that. It is really an honour to be racing at such a race track.”

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier is adamant that the team has solved its key issues and will be able to build a competitive car for 2015.

“I do have the confidence that we will have a good car from next year,” he said today. “Just because obviously we’ve addressed all the issues internally, and I believe we made all the right decisions. We have seen already in Austria the first benefits of the changes which we have done in the organisation, and I think now we are heading in the right way.”

Boullier said that the partnership with Honda will be a huge boost for the team: “Having a works engine allows you to play, let’s say, with much more set-up possibilities than if you have a customer engine. We can just take this year’s example, if you just compare Mercedes GP and Red Bull Racing, we all know the Red Bull Racing chassis is very good, maybe slightly better than the Mercedes one, but the big difference between both is that Red Bull has a Renault engine, which is not a works engine.”

He says that Honda’s development programme is on schedule.

“This is a big project, and obviously it takes months, even years to build it up, so you work with a clear schedule in place, and obviously some clear objectives to target. So far I think everything is in order and matching the path we have until the next year first race.”

As to whether Jenson Button will still be on board he said: “It’s a question that I cannot say yes and I cannot say no to. We are evaluating or assessing every strategy for the future, and we are lucky to have two drivers who want to commit to us for the future, and we have some options that we can take up, so we are not worried about next year or about, let’s say, the future driver line-up.”

Michael Schumacher’s management has confirmed that someone is attempting to sell what are alleged to be medical files relating to the German’s stay in the Grenoble hospital.

It has also been made clear that any use by the media will result in legal action.

A statement read: “For several days stolen documents and data are being offered for sale. The offeror claims them to be the medical file of Michael Schumacher.

“We cannot judge if these documents are authentic. However, the documents are clearly stolen. The theft has been reported. The authorities are involved.

“We expressly advise that both the purchase and the publication of such documents and data is forbidden. The contents of any medical files are totally private and confidential and must not made available to the public.

“We will therefore, in every single case, press for criminal charges and damages against any publication of the content or reference to the medical file.

“We trust for your understanding.”

Christian Horner has made clear his frustration at Renault by insisting that the French manufacturer has to change the way it does things.

His comments came after Sebastian Vettel’s Austrian GP was ruined by an early glitch that put him a lap down.

“It’s frustrating that we are in the situation we are,” said Horner. “We’ve had a lot of success with Renault, we’ve won all the races and all the championships we’ve achieved with Renault power. The situation just isn’t improving at the moment. Reliability is unacceptable, performance is unacceptable.

“There needs to be change at Renault, because it can’t continue like this. It’s not good for Renault, it’s not good for Red Bull. We need to work together as partners – there will not be another engine in the back of the car next year, we want to be competitive, we want to run at the front, and these kinds of issues can’t and shouldn’t happen.

“Something needs to happen, because whatever’s being done there is not working at the moment. It’s not our business, it’s not our responsibility, we’re the end user. It’s just frustrating that the product is just not working at the moment.

“It’s no surprise that there are eight Mercedes cars in the top 10. We haven’t been competitive this weekend, eighth was the optimum that we could achieve, and it’s frustrating that we’re nearing the half way point in the season and the situation hasn’t really improved from Melbourne.”

Asked about suggestions from Helmut Marko that Red Bull could pursue its own engine project he said: “It’s highly improbable. First of all we need to see what the plans of Renault are. Obviously a team like Red Bull isn’t short of choices, but we want to make sure that we’re competitive for the long term. Obviously designing and manufacturing our own engine currently isn’t part of our plan.

“We’re specialists in building chassis. We have no desire to be an engine manufacturer, we want to work with a strong, competitive partner.”

Meanwhile Horner confirmed that Vettel retired from the race in order to preserve his equipment for future use.

“On the first lap by the time he got up to Turn 2, the engine lost all drive. It looks like an electrical issue, there was no throttle response whatsoever. Obviously he lost a lap while there were plenty of re-sets going on and we were trying to establish what the issue was. The engine came back into life, he got going, at which point he was a lap and a half down. We kept going and then after some front wing damage with Gutierrez, following that it didn’t really make sense to go any further.”