Mar.15 (GMM) Mick Schumacher’s new single seater career has kicked off with a crash. Newly switched from karting to F4, the 15-year-old son of the most successful grand prix driver of all time began his pre-season test programme at the Lausitzring by losing control at 160kph, the major German daily Welt reports. “The accident was […]
Month: March 2015
Marko confirms Renault in Toro Rosso takeover talks
Mar.15 (GMM) Talks are underway between Red Bull and Renault, regarding the sale of the Toro Rosso team. In the Melbourne paddock, high tension between officials of the energy drink company and its French partner is obvious. A divorce could be nigh. So according to Austria’s Salzburger Nachrichten, Renault has kicked off talks with Red […]
F1 stars worry about sport’s questionable ‘show’
Mar.15 (GMM) Local hero Daniel Ricciardo on Sunday admitted F1 had put on a questionable show for Australia. From courtroom battles to backmarkers stranded in the pits, cars breaking down before the race began and Mercedes’ enormous technical advantage, the actual race was then unspectacular and all but a few runners were lapped. “I feel […]
Bottas will not race in Melbourne
Mar.15 (GMM) Valtteri Bottas is out of the Australian grand prix. The Finn spent the night in the nearby Alfred hospital after suffering back pain during qualifying in Melbourne on Saturday. He is at Albert Park on Sunday, but was missing from the official driver group photograph on the grid and the subsequent driver parade. […]
Honda needs Alonso ‘more than ever now’ – Salo
Mar.15 (GMM) Honda has defended its woeful return to formula one in 2015 by saying it opted to go conservative for Melbourne. Experts are predicting McLaren’s works supplier is up to an enormous 250 horse power down compared to Mercedes at the start of its new era on the grid. But Honda’s F1 chief Yasuhisa […]
Newey comments show Red Bull-Renault divorce nigh
Mar.15 (GMM) Adrian Newey has joined fellow Red Bull officials in angrily pointing the finger at Renault. After Renault struggled at the start of the turbo V6 era last year, the formerly title-winning team is back in trouble one year later in Melbourne. Team figures have slammed Red Bull’s French partner for making apparently backwards […]
Mercedes dominates, McLaren-Honda dead last
Mar.14 (GMM) The contrast between the two silver-coloured teams in Melbourne could not be more stark. At the front, the extent of Mercedes’ continuing dominance became crystal clear on Saturday. World champion Lewis Hamilton is not just six tenths ahead of Nico Rosberg on the front row, but a huge 1.4 seconds clear of Williams’ […]
Bottas hurts back in Melbourne qualifying
Mar.14 (GMM) A limping Valtteri Bottas ended qualifying with a sore back. The 25-year-old Finn, who qualified three places behind his Williams teammate Felipe Massa in Melbourne, was seen limping in the paddock after the decisive session on Saturday evening. “Valtteri was suffering with his back,” the official Australian grand prix Twitter account quoted Williams […]
Van der Garde gives up on Melbourne seat
Mar.14 (GMM) Giedo van der Garde has dropped his legal action against Sauber at the Australian grand prix. The warring parties were back at court on the morning of practice and qualifying in Melbourne, but the Dutch driver’s lawyer said a settlement has been reached. “I’ve very glad to see a settlement,” the judge confirmed. […]
Manor looks set to miss qualifying
Mar.14 (GMM) Manor looks set to miss qualifying in Melbourne. Just weeks out of administration, the former Marussia team has been unable to even start its customer Ferrari engines in Melbourne so far. Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi missed yet another practice session on Saturday. “The team is doing everything possible to get us out […]
Boullier admits ‘grey areas’ in Alonso mystery
Mar.14 (GMM) A cloud is now hanging over Fernando Alonso’s return to action in Malaysia in two weeks. Sunday’s Australian grand prix marks precisely 21 days since his unexplained Barcelona testing crash — the precautionary timeframe given by McLaren-Honda for concussion. So the fact Alonso could now miss Malaysia will ramp up already widespread speculation […]
Car, not engine explains Mercedes gap
Mar.14 (GMM) A better engine no longer explains Mercedes’ continuing domination of formula one. “Aldo Costa designed a great car last year,” said team chairman Niki Lauda in Melbourne, “and this one is even better.” Indeed, Mercedes’ gap over the field was an astonishing 1.4 seconds in Melbourne qualifying, with the closest chaser being the […]
Webber sad to see Red Bull struggle
Mar.14 (GMM) Two former Australian F1 drivers sided with their compatriot Daniel Ricciardo after qualifying in Melbourne. Ricciardo’s huge grin is plastered over seemingly every billboard in the nearby capital, but the best he could manage on Saturday was P7 on the grid for his home race — a full two seconds off Mercedes’ leading […]
Bottas could miss Australian GP
Mar.14 (GMM) Valtteri Bottas could sit out the Australian grand prix. The Finn, who qualified three places behind his Williams teammate Felipe Massa on Saturday, was seen limping in the paddock immediately after the session. Engineer Rob Smedley confirmed he began complaining of lower back pain during qualifying. Williams said the 25-year-old driver went to […]
FIA tells Manor to explain qualifying absence
Mar.14 (GMM) Manor has been summoned by the FIA to explain its failure to even attempt to qualify for the 2015 season opener. Team chief Graeme Lowdon said the former Marussia team, having only exited administration weeks ago, elected to travel to Australia rather than wait for Malaysia where it might have been more prepared […]
Famous dads support sons in Toro Rosso pits
Mar.14 (GMM) The proudest dads in Australia were in the Toro Rosso garage on Saturday. 52-year-old Carlos Sainz, a world rally legend, was arguably proudest, after his son and namesake out-qualified the sister car on debut. But he was also arguably the most nervous. “When you drive yourself,” he told German television RTL, “you have […]
Honda has 9 FIA tokens for 2015 upgrades
Mar.14 (GMM) Honda has 9 FIA ‘tokens’ to improve the performance of McLaren’s works engine throughout 2015. Unlike the sport’s 2014 suppliers Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari, the Japanese marque had to ‘freeze’ the specification of its power unit two weeks ago. The other engine makers can deploy 32 performance ‘tokens’ to improve their engines throughout […]
Judge tells van der Garde, Sauber, to be ‘sensible’
Mar.13 (GMM) The Giedo van der Garde saga will continue into yet another day on Saturday. While Sauber race duo Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr finally took to the track in Melbourne, the local supreme court confirmed that Dutchman van der Garde’s legal case will resume on Saturday morning. The judge “urged (the) parties to […]
Melbourne scoffs at Sydney Harbour Bridge bid
Mar.13 (GMM) Melbourne officials have scoffed at reports Sydney is lining up as an alternative host of the Australian grand prix. Reports coinciding with Albert Park’s twentieth consecutive running of the formula one race this weekend suggested rival state New South Wales’ premier aims to take over from Melbourne once the new contract expires in […]
Ailing backmarkers could leave Button dead last
Mar.13 (GMM) Amid a diminishing Melbourne grid, Jenson Button is worried he could be left dead-last at the start of the new McLaren-Honda era. That is partly because the reunion of the famous and successful names has been a disastrous affair so far. But struggling McLaren-Honda may then find nowhere to hide in Australia, given […]