Adam Cooper F1

Esteban Ocon has been confirmed as Nico Hulkenberg’s replacement at Force India next season.

The Mercedes protege tested for the team last year, and made a good impression. The news leaves a seat free at Manor.

“He’s an exceptional talent, as his status as a Mercedes Junior demonstrates, and I have no doubt he will flourish inside our team,” said Vijay Mallya. “We’ve had our eye on Esteban for a number of years and have followed his progress through the junior categories where he delivered outstanding results.

“We ran him in the car last year during testing and his performance convinced us that he is more than capable of racing alongside Sergio. Sahara Force India has a tradition of investing in young, talented drivers and the arrival of Esteban will bring some fresh energy and motivation to everyone in the team.”

“I know the team quite well already because I was a test driver last year and I’m really looking forward to working with everybody at Silverstone once again,” said Ocon. “I’m still relatively new to Formula One, but spending half a season at Manor Racing has given me some valuable experience and I feel ready for this new opportunity with Sahara Force India.

“The next few months will be very busy as I do all I can to prepare for the challenge ahead of me. It means lots of days at the factory, working on the simulator and building relationships with the engineers and everybody in the team. It’s something I’ve been working towards my whole life and I intend to grab this opportunity with both hands so that I can deliver the results the team expects from me. I want to say ‘thank you’ to everybody at Manor and especially to Mercedes-Benz for their support and belief in me. I can’t wait for 2017 and my first full season racing in Formula One.”

Toto Wolff added: “Esteban has the most impressive track record in junior formulae and he is an exceptional personality outside of the car. Force India have a strong record of working with young drivers and have again shown courage and vision to take Esteban under their wing. Even more, it is a positive development for Formula One that talent wins over money and we will be seeing some of the most impressive youngsters fighting to make it to the top in Formula One over the coming years.”

Third place in the Mexican GP has changed for a second time after the FIA Stewards penalised Sebastian Vettel for his blocking move on Daniel Ricciardo in the late stages of the race.

The revised order sees Ricciardo third, Max Verstappen fourth, and Vettel fifth.

Vettel had finished fourth on the road, but moved up to third when Max Verstappen was given a five seconds penalty for gaining an advantage by going off track. Vettel was thus able to go to the podium to collect the trophy.

However after the race a fresh investigation began into his defensive move ahead of Ricciardo, when the Australian tried to get past on lap 70. The FIA deemed that Vettel made an “abnormal” change of direction in the braking area that was “potentially dangerous.” He was penalised 10 seconds and given penalty points.

The decision follows a rules clarification made by Charlie Whiting in Austin in the light of Verstappen’s moves in Hungary and Japan. The decision reads as follows:

The stewards paid particular attention to the Race Directors Notes from the US Grand Prix (v2) and from this event (point 18). Notwithstanding the F1 Commission directive to “let the drivers race” we note the concern that has been expressed about manoeuvrers involving a change of direction under braking as expressed at the Drivers Briefing at the US Grand Prix and in the Race Director’s Notes from the US Grand Prix and this event.

The telemetry and video evidence shows that the driver of Car 5 did change direction under braking.

Article 27.5 and the Race Director’s Notes have essentially three criteria that determine a breach

1) Driving in a manner potentially dangerous

2) An abnormal change of direction

3) Another driver having to take evasive action

The video footage, including the close circuit footage, the broadcast vision, both drivers’ on board cameras plus the telemetry show that there was an abnormal change of direction by Car 5 and this was considered to be potentially dangerous in view of the proximity of the wheels of each car.

The video evidence clearly shows that Car 3 had to take evasive action as a result.

Accordingly as all three criteria have been met, the driver of Car 5 is guilty of a breach of Article 27.5

Force India has confirmed that Nico Hulkenberg will leave the team at the end of the season, thus freeing him up to join Renault in 2017.

The Silverstone team had previously confirmed that the German would be staying put, alongside Sergio Perez. Esteban Ocon is thought to be the top of the list of possible replacements.

“Everybody at Sahara Force India wishes Nico well as he embarks upon a different path in Formula One,” said Vijay Mallya. “Having spent five years with us, Nico has become a great friend and contributed a huge amount to the team’s success. He’s an outstanding driver, who has scored more points for this team than anybody else. While it’s true we will miss Nico, we respect his decision to explore fresh opportunities and it would be wrong to stand in his way.”

Mark Webber will retire from driving after the last WEC race of this season, Porsche has announced.

However, he will have a new role with the German company, which says that he will “represent Porsche at global events and as a consultant will contribute by lending his experience to the motorsport programmes of the sports car manufacturer from Stuttgart. This includes talent research as well as driver training for up and coming professionals and the huge number of worldwide Porsche amateur racers.”

Webber has been with Porsche for three years since leaving F1, winning the WEC title last season with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley.

“I have arrived where I belong,” said Webber. “Porsche is the brand I always loved most and the one that suits me the best. The 911 is iconic – it has got elegance, performance and understatement, and is never intrusive. It is just the right car for every scenario. I will miss the sheer speed, downforce and competition, but I want to leave on a high and I’m very much looking forward to my new tasks.

“It was a big change from Formula One to LMP1 and an entirely new experience. But it came at the right time for me. I found I liked sharing a car and the chemistry between Timo, Brendon and me is special and something I’ll always remember. It will be strange getting into the race car for the very last time in Bahrain but for now I will thoroughly enjoy every moment of the remaining races.”

The Japanese GP grid was shuffled around on Sunday morning when both Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button took penalties.

Raikkonen, who was in third place, tumbles down to eighth with a five-place gearbox penalty. With his team mate Sebastian Vettel already put back three places the Red Bull drivers, who qualified fifth and sixth, now both start on the second row. Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean also gain.

Meanwhile Button goes to the back of the grid thanks to a 35-place penalty after a “strategic change” by Honda, having taken his sixth example of all six power unit elements.

This gives him a fresh set of equipment and specification parity with Fernando Alonso. The team felt that he had little to lose from 17^th.

Seven F1 teams have now signed a letter to the FIA in support of moving next year’s pre-season testing from Barcelona to Bahrain to avoid what Mercedes technical boss Paddy Lowe says could be a repeat of the 2005 US GP tyre fiasco.

Pirelli has indicated that it wants to test its new, wider tyres in a hotter climate on definitive 2017 cars, which will feature much higher levels of downforce than the mule cars currently doing the prototype testing. Pirelli believes that, despite the higher loadings seen at Barcelona, it has to run its new tyres in hot conditions in order to fully explore the limits.

The teams had booked Barcelona for the two four-day tests, but Mercedes has been pushing for a move to Bahrain, with Niki Lauda personally lobbying rival teams.

Cost issues meant that Mercedes originally had limited support, but several teams have now come out in favour of the Bahrain option. One source told Motorsport.com that Bahrain provides “more bang for the buck,” with the obvious extra benefits of being able to test cooling systems in hotter conditions, and a guarantee of dry running.

Under the FIA regulations a majority of teams have to back any plan for a test outside Europe, and the teams who want Bahrain have signed a letter to Charlie Whiting confirming their support. It’s understood that those now supporting Mercedes are Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Force India and Haas, with Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Williams and Sauber those still standing firm on Barcelona.

The letter from the former group reads: “We the undersigned agree to the two pre-season team tests for 2017 according to Article 10.6(g) of the F1 Sporting Regulations (Testing of Current Cars) to be conducted at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC). Since the BIC is outside Europe we submit our request agreement according to Article 10.6(d). We make this agreement in support of the request from Pirelli for more representative track testing of the new tyres for 2017.”

Originally a straight choice between the two venues was being discussed. However, although in theory the rules don’t allow it the FIA is now also open to the possibility of two parallel tests running and the teams deciding which venue to attend, and that Whiting said at tonight’s drivers’ briefing that those are the three options. A first test in Barcelona followed by one in Bahrain is not thought to be on the agenda.

With the tests running in parallel that could open up the possibility of seven new cars running for the first time in public at 9am local time in Bahrain on February 27th, with the other four appearing later the same day in Barcelona – leaving the world’s media with a choice of which venue to attend.

It’s understood that Whiting will discuss the Bahrain plans further with Pirelli boss Paul Hembery tomorrow, before a meeting of team bosses on Sunday.

Paddy Lowe is adamant that the teams have to support the tyre company’s request to run in Bahrain.

“The situation is that we have the biggest change in tyre regulations probably for one or two decades, and Pirelli have asked the FIA if they would support testing in Bahrain, which is outside Europe,” said Lowe.

“So by regulation it requires a process to get there. So as I understand, a majority of teams support that request. For me, the important point that Pirelli were asking for is some hot condition testing of the compounds particularly. The structure of the tyre is created and tested in the lab, but the compounds they can only evaluate in real circuit conditions.

“And unfortunately the mule car programme which is running at the moment has delivered three cars which are very helpful to the process, but they are not delivering the level of aerodynamic load that will be seen next year.

“So for me it’s a matter of supporting Pirelli’s request to contain the risk of arriving at the first race as being the first event with hot conditions and there’s real risk to the show. We’ve seen what can happen, for example, in Indianapolis 2005. We mustn’t forget that we need to put on a show, we need to run a 300kms race with sensible numbers of tyres, so that’s not an inconsiderable risk and should be covered. So that’s why we particularly support that request.”

Meanwhile Pat Symonds of Williams made it clear that his team is still opposed to the idea.

“The cost of doing a test outside of Europe is vast,” said Symonds. “Depending on exactly how you do it and how much you have to ship back to the UK, how much you can ship on to the first race – we’re talking of a minimum of £300,000, probably a maximum of £500,000 so a likely figure sitting in the middle of that.

“Now to a team like Mercedes, I’m sure that they can put contingencies in their budgets to cover things like that. A team like Williams simply can’t, it’s a significant amount of our budget, it is unaccounted for and therefore I think it is the wrong thing to do.”