Jan.28 (GMM) Kimi Raikkonen has this week become a father. The Ferrari driver’s fiancee, Minttu, is quoted by Finnish newspapers including Lansi Savo and Iltalehti as saying on Wednesday: “The little one saw light of day in Switzerland yesterday. “He is healthy, measuring 51cm and weighing 3.7kg. “The parents are also well, happy and proud!” […]
Vettel pondered F1 exit amid career crisis – Horner
Jan.28 (GMM) Before making the radical switch to Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel contemplated simply quitting formula one. That is the claim of Christian Horner, who as Red Bull team boss witnessed first-hand the German driver’s slide from four consecutive world titles to the struggles of 2014. Last year, Vettel notably struggled to adapt to the sport’s […]
Newey was still ‘designer’ of 2015 Red Bull – Horner
Jan.28 (GMM) This year’s Red Bull is probably the last 100 per cent Adrian Newey car, team boss Christian Horner has admitted. After Horner and his 2015 drivers met with the media on Tuesday, Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said Horner put an actual percentage on the time Newey will spend on formula one from […]
Lotus to test 2015 Mercedes engine at Jerez
Jan.28 (GMM) Lotus has hit back at reports it will not benefit from the 2015 specification of Mercedes’ turbo V6 engine starting from the Jerez test this weekend. Auto Motor und Sport correspondent Tobias Gruner had claimed that only the works team and Williams would have the latest Mercedes at their disposal, with customers Lotus […]
Berger tips Dennis to keep top McLaren job
Jan.28 (GMM) Gerhard Berger, once linked with the top job, has now backed Ron Dennis to keep running McLaren. For some months, rumours and reports have been doing the rounds suggesting a shareholder wrangling is taking place behind the scenes at Woking. It was said Dennis, the group CEO and chairman, had only until the […]
Only Mercedes, Williams to test 2015 engine at Jerez
Jan.27 (GMM) Nine weeks after the 2014 finale, formula one is now counting down the mere days before the resumption of track action. The winter lull will soon be replaced by a spate of car unveilings and the sound of F1 2015, as the first official test of the new season begins at Jerez on […]
Alonso ‘an alternative, not a priority’ – Wolff
Jan.27 (GMM) Talks to renew world champion Lewis Hamilton’s contract are finally looming, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has announced. The British driver’s current contract expires at the end of this year, and Wolff has already declared that Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas are at the front of the queue should Hamilton not stay. Indeed, […]
2015 revival could see Dinnington return for Manor
Jan.27 (GMM) If the former Marussia team survives the winter, it will have to house itself elsewhere. That is because Haas, F1’s new American entrant for 2016, has confirmed reports it has bought the Marussia facility in Banbury from the ailing team’s administrators. Haas denied, however, that it is the mystery investor that could revive […]
Renault wants to halve gap to Mercedes in 2015
Jan.26 (GMM) Boss Cyril Abiteboul has admitted Renault was about 60 horse power down on dominant 2014 title winners Mercedes last year. “We estimate the gap between our engine and that of Mercedes at the end of the season to be about 60 horse power,” he revealed to the broadcaster Canal Plus. But Renault and […]
F1 on track for engine change after 2016
Jan.26 (GMM) F1 is on course for a sharp change of direction after 2016. Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene is calling for a “revolution” on the technical front, as Bernie Ecclestone also looks to spice up the sport’s speed and sound just a year after the all-new turbo V6 era dawned. Renault, also trailing behind F1’s […]
Mexico on schedule for 2015 return
Jan.26 (GMM) Organisers of this year’s revived Mexican grand prix have announced they are on course to bounce back into formula one in November. The country has been missing from the calendar since 1992, but the very same Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City is currently being rejuvenated for its 2015 return. “The demolition of […]
Rosberg predicts more Mercedes dominance
Jan.26 (GMM) Nico Rosberg has tipped another season of F1 superiority for Mercedes. Last year, as the turbo V6 era dawned, the German driver and his teammate, the new reigning champion Lewis Hamilton, duelled for the title in a battle rarely challenged by any rivals. And now, as the sport enters its second year under […]
F1 should think again as ‘myth’ tracks disappear – Imola
Jan.26 (GMM) F1’s historic venues are struggling to write the next chapters of the sport. Germany looks set to fall off the 2015 calendar, and other traditional hosts like France and also Imola, the former Italian venue of the annual San Marino grand prix, are no longer represented. That is despite Imola’s Enzo e Dino […]
Sauber set for blue and yellow livery – report
Jan.26 (GMM) Sauber looks set to swap its white and grey livery for prominent blue and yellow for the 2015 season. That is the claim of the Portuguese-language publication Universo, claiming the Swiss team’s colour choice is in deference to new driver Felipe Nasr’s major backer Banco do Brasil. Last year, 22-year-old rookie Brazilian and […]
Arrivabene backs Lauda for F1 ‘revolution’
Jan.24 (GMM) Ferrari has called for a rules “revolution” for formula one in 2017. Upset with the mild tone of the new V6 engines and a dwindling audience, Bernie Ecclestone wants a radical change and this week he earned the backing of Mercedes’ team chairman and F1 legend Niki Lauda. “I want a car for […]
Streiff apologises to Todt for Bianchi comments
Jan.24 (GMM) Philippe Streiff has apologised to FIA president Jean Todt. Todt, and the governing body’s medical commission chief Gerard Saillant, vowed to sue the wheelchair-bound former F1 driver after he criticised their handling of the investigation into Bianchi’s horror Suzuka crash. “I let myself get carried away in front of the camera,” Streiff, who […]
Hamilton signs with music PR agency
Jan.24 (GMM) World champion Lewis Hamilton has replaced one entertainment-based management agency with another, British newspapers the Daily Mail and Telegraph report. In November, despite not yet negotiating a new Mercedes contract beyond 2015, the Briton split with Spice Girls-famed Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment. The 30-year-old, whose girlfriend is Nicole Scherzinger, has never hidden his […]
Force India defends 2015 car delay
Jan.23 (GMM) Force India insists the decision not to debut its 2015 car at the opening Jerez test was deliberate. The Silverstone based team, having unveiled its new livery this week by using a show-car with a 2015-style nose, will instead run the 2014 car at Jerez before the VJM08 makes its bow in Barcelona […]
Illien says tweaks would make V6 engines louder
Jan.23 (GMM) Mario Illien says it is possible tweaks to the current generation of turbo V6 cars can produce a louder sound for formula one. The most controversial aspect of the new ‘power unit’ regulations, introduced last year, is their mild tone in comparison to the screaming V8 and V10s of the past. Bernie Ecclestone […]
Ecclestone involved in FIA’s Honda U-turn
Jan.23 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has admitted he was involved in the FIA’s U-turn over allowing Honda into the new 2015 engine ‘unfreeze’. Initially, the governing body had locked McLaren’s new works partner out of the decision to let 2014 suppliers Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault deploy their development ‘tokens’ beyond a start-of-season deadline. But the FIA […]