Category: Formula 1

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Formula 1

Hulkenberg says no to Kimi’s sloppy seconds

2013 Korean Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen’s hurty back has given Lotus an empty racecar for the next two grands prix and word is the team has offered the drive to Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. Despite being one of the favourites to replace Kimi on a full-time basis in 2014 Hulkenberg has turned down the chance to fill in for Raikkonen in the US and Brazil.

Hulkenberg’s manager, Werner Heinz, told Bild, “We had an offer from Lotus, are available and have discussed about it. But we decided that Nico will drive the last two races with Sauber.”

Isn’t it nice to see such loyalty in F1 these days. Let’s forget for a moment that Nico shares an empty wallet with Kimi, thanks to Sauber’s own financial plight and that contractual issues might have made a late season switch problematic for Hulkenberg.

What we do want to know, though, is can we now put a line through Hulkenberg’s name on the shortlist of drivers in the sights of the Lotus F1 Team for 2014?

And in a late development it looks like Caterham reserve driver and former F1 regular Heikki Kovalainen is willing to answer Lotus’ SOS and lap up Kimi’s sloppy seconds.

[Source: Adam Cooper | Pic: Sauber Motorsport AG]

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Formula 1 McLaren

Sergio says: McLaren has struggled with reality

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Reports suggesting McLaren will replace Sergio Perez with Kevin Magnussen are gathering momentum, with expectations an official announcement will follow after this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

That’s given Perez the unwanted freedom to comment on what he calls “probably the worst season in history” for McLaren. While Perez is one of only three drivers to finish every race so far this year, along with teammate Jenson Button and Marussia’s Max Chilton, the 23-year-old Mexican can only count the modest return of fifth place at the Indian Grand Prix as his best result.

He currently has 35 world championship points; a long way off the 66 points and three podiums he recorded last year with Sauber.

“I’m very disappointed,” he told Brazil’s Totalrace. “I think when your goals are much higher than your results, you get disappointed. And that goes for both sides.”

Figuring he has the talent to do better, Perez is placing the blame for his poor results squarely at McLaren.

“It’s a great team, I have no doubt of it, with a very capable crew, but I think it lacked organisation and a little bit of humility to face the reality,” he said. “During the season, being a great team, McLaren took a long time to recognise the reality of where we were, which was scoring points on a good weekend, and not winning races.”

Facing the prospect of an off-season looking for a drive Perez doesn’t have too many options, with Force India perhaps being his best bet. Although, Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil might have something to say about that.

[Source: Motorsport.com | Pic: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes]

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Formula 1 WRC

Formula 1 return “nearly impossible” says Kubica

2013 Rallye de France-Alsace

On the eve of his debut in a WRC car Robert Kubica says a return to Formula 1 following injuries sustained in a rally crash in February 2011 remains a dream for him, even though he says such an outcome is unlikely.

“It’s a dream, a target, but for now, it’s very difficult, I would say nearly impossible,” Robert told the BBC when asked about a return to F1. “I will never take the opportunity if I don’t feel 100% ready. If one day things improve, for sure we will see. For now, I am concentrating on rallying.”

Kubica still has an open diary for 2014 and after wrapping up the WRC2 championship last month a full-time rally gig would seem a natural progression.

“Driving on gravel is very demanding. There are lots of movements on the steering wheel which put a lot of stress on my arm and my hand,” he said. “If I stay in rallying next year, I would like to do a whole season. But to do all the rallies in one year is quite a big challenge.”

A successful outing for Citroën in Wales Rally GB this weekend might begin to offer some clarity for next year. For now Kubica says he doesn’t have the strength to race a single-seater. Although, he isn’t ruling out a return to the track, where he has previously tested a Mercedes-Benz DTM car.

“One option is to come back to circuit racing. For sure, it won’t be single-seaters, but I haven’t got it clear in my mind what I will do.”

[Source: BBC]

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Formula 1 McLaren

McLaren set to ditch Perez for Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen

The Formula 1 silly season is in full swing with word McLaren will replace Sergio Perez with reserve driver Kevin Magnussen, who first tested with the team at Abu Dhabi in 2012.

Magnussen has just collected the Formula Renault 3.5 title and looks set to follow the path of Robert Kubica and Giedo van der Garde as former champions who have made the progression to Formula 1. The 21-year-old Dane would also follow the path of his father, Jan, who made his F1 debut in a one-off race with McLaren in 1995 and also drove for Stewart in 1997 and 1998.

Officially, the word from McLaren Team Principal, Martin Whitmarsh, is: “The fact is at the moment we haven’t confirmed our driver line-up, we haven’t signed contracts with drivers.” But Autosport reports a deal with Magnussen has been agreed and awaits official sign-off.

It’s worth noting, British driver, Oliver Gavin, who races with Jan Magnussen at Corvette Racing in the American Le Mans Series has sent his congratulations to his teammate via twitter:

A lack of consistency is understood to be behind the decision to release 23-year-old Sergio Perez, who joins Pastor Maldonado as another current driver looking for work in 2014. With Nico Hulkenberg still the favourite to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus, there’s not much on offer if you don’t have seat secured in 2014.

[Source: Autosport]

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Formula 1

Felipe Massa to race for Williams in 2014

Felipe Massa

After eight years with Ferrari Felipe Massa will be moving to Williams in 2014. He will race alongside 2013 rookie Valtteri Bottas, which leaves Pastor Maldonado being officially thanked for his services.

The 32-year-old Brazilian has won 11 races and stood on an F1 podium 36 times. On current form he’ll have to be an optimist to hold expectations those stats will receive notable increases during his time with Williams, despite his new team’s past glories.

And you sense Massa is acutely aware of that as well: “With such a major change of regulations in 2014, I hope my experience will be useful in helping the team in its effort to move on from a difficult period.

“I’m highly motivated to start working hard from the very beginning in what is an exciting new challenge in my career.”

Sir Frank Williams has spoken, too: “We are delighted to be able to confirm our 2014 driver line-up and welcome Felipe into the Williams family. He is an exceptional talent and a real fighter on the race track; he also brings a wealth of experience as we begin a new chapter in our story. Valtteri is a valued member of the team and I’m pleased he was able to demonstrate his talent in tricky conditions in Montréal. There is much more to come from him.”

Deputy Team Principal, Claire Williams, has been left to do the heavy lifting in terms of rebuilding team hopes: “This announcement is a key step towards our goal of returning Williams to the front of the grid, and part of our on-going plans to ensure we are stronger in 2014 and beyond. The stability of having both our drivers on multi-year contracts, Mercedes-Benz as our engine partner and a strong commercial base all contribute to the future success of the Williams F1 Team.”

You can read the full Williams F1 Team announcement after the break.

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Formula 1 Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat qualifies for FIA Super Licence

Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso

It’s been a busy few weeks for 19-year-old Daniil Kvyat. He’s scored a new job as a Formula 1 driver with Toro Rosso for 2014, wrapped up the GP3 championship and has now qualified for an FIA Super Licence.

That last achievement came thanks to a special “filming day” test organised for Kvyat so that he can take part in Friday testing for Toro Rosso at the final two races on the F1 calendar in the United States and Brazil.

A Toro Rosso team statement reads: “On Friday, the Russian who is now the 2013 GP3 champion, drove a two year old Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1 car, an STR6 at the Misano circuit in Italy, as part of a filming day organised by the team. He racked up 102 laps, equivalent to around 402 kilometres and thus qualified for the necessary paperwork required by the FIA for him to compete in Formula 1.”

So now any conspiracy theorists wondering if Mark Webber will be relieved of his Red Bull duties sooner than expected—allowing both Kvyat and Red Bull-bound Daniel Ricciardo an early start in their new rides—can rest uneasy knowing that Kvyat is qualified to race.

[Source: Toro Rosso | Pic: Toro Rosso/Getty Images]

 

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Formula 1 Lotus

Kimi backs out of Lotus career

Kimi Raikkonen

The melodrama of Kimi Raikkonen’s recent relationship with Lotus has reached a climax with word the 2007 world champion will miss the final two grands prix of the season to have back surgery.

Kimi and Lotus have endured a strained relationship ever since the 34-year-old announced he was moving to Ferrari in 2014. Motivations for Kimi’s switch became clearer when it emerged he hadn’t been paid all season due to Lotus’ financial woes.

Indeed, last week Raikkonen had threatened to withdraw from the final two races unless his pay disupte was finalised. This followed an angry radio exchange during the closing stages of the Indian Grand Prix where Lotus Trackside Operations Director, Alan Permane, ordered Kimi to “get out of the fucking way” of a faster Romain Grosjean.

Despite all this we were led to believe Kimi would be racing in Austin and a satisfactory resolution to his pay dispute had been reached.

Clearly that resolution didn’t last and we’re being told that Kimi’s troublesome back has forced his hand. Of course, the timing of his injury-related end to the season could just be an amazing coincidence.

“In an ideal world it would have been nice to finish the season with Lotus in the final two grands prix,” Steve Robertson, Raikkonen’s manager, told Autosport.

“However, due to the severe pain that Kimi is having, sadly it is not possible.”

Highlighting what a farce the Raikkonen–Lotus saga has been, the lead story on the Lotus website is currently all about Kimi looking forward to racing in Austin next weekend.

Lotus reserve driver Davide Valsecchi is probably hoping, maybe even expecting, to get the call up to replace Kimi. But who knows what will happen next.

[Source: Autosport | Pic: Lotus F1 Team/LAT Photographic]

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Formula 1 Infiniti Red Bull Racing

Some people are never happy

2013 Indian Grand Prix

The dominance of Sebastian Vettel in Formula 1 has had many people suggesting the sport has become boring. That it’s turning fans away from the category. The fact Vettel and his team have won the two biggest prizes in the sport for four consecutive years helps to support this claim.

As bad as that might be for the average F1 punter, if it is bad at all, you’d reckon team sponsors would be loving all the attention. Apparently not. Arriving late to the Red Bull gravy train—first as ordinary sponsor in 2011, then as title sponsor at the end of last year—Infiniti has always been an odd and slightly misleading fit with F1’s premier team, given Renault builds the engines. And now they’re actually having a whinge that Vettel’s success is bad for their sponsorship.

Yes, really. Here, look:

“It’s a fact that we are in F1 to gain awareness of our brand, and that’s all about getting eyeballs on screens.

“From that point of view you could say Sebastian has been too successful. Wrapping up the championship with four races to run is maybe not good news for us from that perspective.”

They’re the words of Andy Palmer, Infiniti’s Executive Vice President, and he may as well add moron to his otherwise impressive job title. Perhaps he’d prefer INFINITI Red Bull Racing to be fighting with Williams as the best former high achievers in the field scrapping over tenth place and whatever dignity that might offer.

A sponsor complaining that the team they back is too successful? Really, get a grip Andy. Proving his own flaws Palmer adds they will be leeching off Red Bull and Renault successes further by creating more special editions carrying Vettel’s name. Authentically, too he insists.

“The beauty of Seb is that he won’t get involved in any project that isn’t utterly authentic,” said Palmer. “So he turns up at our test days and puts in the hard work. It’s a genuine benefit, and we have plans to use his expertise on more models bearing his name. But the point is we want to do them properly, and that means they are inevitably a couple of years down the line in the product cycle.”

“Utterly authentic.” Do you reckon he had a straight face when he said that?

[Source: Autosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 News

Bernie Ecclestone’s life revolves around controversy

Bernie Ecclestone

Bernie Ecclestone has found himself in more hot water, forced to defend himself in the British High Court against claims he deliberately undervalued Formula 1 when its commercial rights were sold to CVC Capital Partners in 2005. The hearing is scheduled to take three days and began with a slightly bizarre entrance to the court building from the 83-year-old F1 supremo (see video below).

German media company Constantin Medien is seeking £100 million in damages from Eccelstone, claiming he sold to CVC Capital Partners in 2005 on the cheap after they had agreed to allow him to keep his “supremo” title and keep running the sport.

Constantin Medien, a former F1 shareholder, stood to benefit from massive commissions if the sport’s rights were sold for more than £1 billion. The sale price in 2005 was £830 million.

The case is related to the bribery claims Ecclestone is facing from a German court alleging he paid former BayernLB banker Gerhard Gribkowsky $44m to prevent Gribkowsky from exposing Ecclestone to British tax authorities. For his part in the transaction Gribkowsky was convicted and sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail.

[Source: The Telegraph & Yahoo Sport]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

VIDEO: Get your free donuts here!

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Last week it cost Red Bull €25,000 so newly crowned world champion Sebastian Vettel could indulge in the art of the donut. This week the team has not only learnt its lesson but seen both Vettel and Mark Webber celebrate their one-two finish with a simultaneous donut display.

The best part is, it turns out if you return your car back in parc ferme, as per usual protocol, you are free to do donuts to your heart’s content. Although, we do wonder how long the FIA will humour drivers before providing some guidelines on when you can and can’t be a loon.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

“Nothing’s forever, mate”

Mark Webber wins 2009 F1 German Grand Prix

As Mark Webber’s F1 career draws to a close it’s only natural that media outlets will be after time with Mark to chew the fat over his 11 years in the sport. Andrew Maclean from Fairfax Media was fortunate enough to be granted a relatively long interview with Mark which has been published as a 15 minute video on Drive.com.au.

Webber talks about the highlight of winning his first F1 race at the 2009 German Grand Prix, his motivations and moving to Porsche in 2014. As always it’s worth taking the time to hear what Mark has to say. He’s passionate, honest and committed to being the best he can be.

[Source: Drive.com.au | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2013 Abu Dhabi GP: Post-race press conference

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Reflecting on his victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel was asked what it was like to equal the record of seven successive race wins jointly held by Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari. As is often the case Vettel spoke with humility and grace. He may be Formula 1’s pantomime villain, but after some time he’s maturing into a pretty decent guy, really.

In his comments Mark Weber spoke openly about his struggle with the Pirelli tyres, especially the soft compound rubber. He looked very happy on the podium last night and it was great to see him enjoying himself.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo expressed his disappointment after starting in the top 10 but finishing down in P16. Let’s hope he doesn’t develop Mark’s habit of poor starts when he moves to Red Bull. “This was not at all the race I was hoping for,” he said. “In this sport, if the start doesn’t go well, it’s hard to recover, so I want to look at the data to understand what happened. The car didn’t get off the line well and then, at Turn 1 there was a bit of chaos as I dropped back into the group behind me.

“I had to run wide to avoid some accidents and from then on, my race was pretty much over. At the moment, our pace is not sufficient to fight back into the top 10 if something like this happens. We must see what we can do to have better starts, because when we get good ones, we have generally gone on to score points.”

The full transcript of the post-race press conference featuring the first three drivers can be read after the break.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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