Mar.24 (GMM) As F1 speeds towards its next battleground, the debate about the very future of the sport will also resume in Malaysia. After the Melbourne opener, Red Bull furiously slammed the current regulations and threatened to pull out if they are not changed soon. “According to our research,” Dr Helmut Marko told Speed Week, […]
Renault accuses Red Bull of ‘lying’
Mar.24 (GMM) Renault’s relationship with works team Red Bull continues to crumble. Cyril Abiteboul, chief of the French carmaker’s F1 engine programme, on Tuesday accused Red Bull technical boss Adrian Newey of lying. He admits that Renault is struggling at the start of 2015, insisting: “I am not looking for excuses”. But he said it […]
Bottas ‘back to normal’ – manager
Mar.24 (GMM) Valtteri Bottas’ manager on Tuesday said he expects the Finn to return to action this weekend in Malaysia. After sitting out Melbourne with his injured lower back and recovering in Indonesia last week, the 25-year-old Finn arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. He will be at the Sepang circuit on Wednesday. It emerges, […]
Verstappen feared GP2 would ‘stall’ career
Mar.24 (GMM) Max Verstappen says he jumped at the chance to become F1’s youngest-ever race driver for fear his career would otherwise stall. The 17-year-old, whose meteoric rise from karts to formula one within a year has been highly controversial, also received an offer from Mercedes in 2014. The German marque offered to make Verstappen […]
Rumour – Alonso’s steering ‘locked’ before crash?
Mar.24 (GMM) The cause of Fernando Alonso’s mysterious Barcelona testing crash may now be clearer. Until now, McLaren-Honda has insisted the incident that sidelined its star driver for more than a month was not due to a technical failure. Indeed, as recently as Monday, the British team said an exhaustive investigation showed “nothing” abnormal in […]
Silver lining for McLaren is good chassis
Mar.24 (GMM) A silver lining for struggling McLaren-Honda could be the cornering ability of the new MP4-30 car. After Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen qualified dead last in Melbourne, some estimates put the team’s power deficit to pacesetters Mercedes at as much as 150-200 horse power. But the silver lining could be the chassis. “The […]
Sepang ‘not satisfied’ with new F1 deal
Mar.24 (GMM) As the F1 circus touches down in Malaysia, it is possible this week’s race will be the seventeenth and last at Sepang. Early this year, Malaysian race officials travelled to London to discuss their expiring contract with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. Now, on the eve of the 2015 edition, a deal for next […]
Young athletes is ‘global trend’ – Verstappen
Mar.23 (GMM) F1 is simply adjusting to the new “global trend” of younger athletes. That is the claim of Max Verstappen, who in Melbourne shattered the old record to become the youngest race driver in the history of the sport. The old record was held by Jaime Alguersuari, who was 19 when he made his […]
Alonso, Bottas, Manor all hoping to race
Mar.23 (GMM) McLaren on Monday confirmed reports Fernando Alonso is preparing to return to action this weekend in Malaysia. Spanish media reported on Sunday that, after meeting with FIA-appointed doctors at Cambridge, the 33-year-old got the green-light. McLaren announced on Monday that Alonso will indeed race in Malaysia “subject to a successful final FIA medical […]
New fuel-flow controversy brewing – reports
Mar.23 (GMM) A new controversy surrounding F1’s fuel-flow rules could be brewing. A year has now passed since Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified from the 2014 season opener when his Red Bull-Renault was found to have breached the maximum allowed flow of fuel to his turbo V6 ‘power unit’. Now, the ‘fuel flow’ issue is set […]
Alonso travelling to Malaysia ‘in coming hours’ – report
Mar.23 (GMM) Fernando Alonso on Sunday was cleared by FIA-appointed doctors to travel to the scene of this weekend’s Malaysian grand prix. The Spaniard’s visit to Cambridge University to sit with the three specialists came exactly a month after his mysterious Barcelona crash, which caused him to miss the 2015 season opener in Melbourne. Now, […]
Bottas ‘impatient’ for Malaysia return – manager
Mar.23 (GMM) Valtteri Bottas is “impatient” to return to the cockpit of his Williams this weekend in Malaysia. That is the news of the Finn’s manager Didier Coton, after his 25-year-old charge sat out the 2015 season opener because of a torn disc in his lower back. Bottas travelled straight from Australia to Indonesia, where […]
Kaltenborn admits ‘mistakes’ in van der Garde saga
Mar.23 (GMM) Monisha Kaltenborn has broken her silence on the Giedo van der Garde affair, admitting she made “mistakes”. The storm surrounding Sauber’s Indian-born Austrian boss and co-owner in Australia recently caused some reporters to question her ongoing suitability for the job. Now, in her first interview since the resolution of the saga with a […]
German GP axe ‘just sad’ – Lauda
Mar.23 (GMM) Niki Lauda has described the official demise of Mercedes’ home race this year as “sad”. The F1 legend and Mercedes team chairman confirmed reports that the German carmaker made efforts to save the July 19 race, as circuit promoters and Bernie Ecclestone ultimately failed to agree. “This is just sad,” Lauda told the […]
Mercedes offered millions to save German GP – report
Mar.22 (GMM) Mercedes offered to help keep the German grand prix alive in 2015. On Friday, the FIA revealed that it has removed the scheduled July 19 date from this year’s calendar because Bernie Ecclestone and a German circuit “did not reach agreement”. Earlier, as F1 supremo Ecclestone discussed the crisis with the financially embattled […]
Ferrari busy with F1 factory move – report
Mar.22 (GMM) Ferrari is moving house. Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper reports that, in the week after cementing its new form in Australia as the second force behind Mercedes, the fabled Italian team has been relocating. Ousted former boss Stefano Domenicali commissioned the state-of-the-art new building on Ferrari’s Maranello grounds back in 2010, with the […]
Alonso to sit FIA tests at Cambridge University
Mar.22 (GMM) Fernando Alonso’s mandatory medical tests on Sunday will take place at the famous English university Cambridge, multiple British newspapers report. The Telegraph, Observer and Daily Mail said that as the McLaren-Honda driver bids to return to the cockpit in Malaysia next weekend, he will first have to satisfy three doctors appointed by the […]
Alonso will race in Malaysia – manager
Mar.21 (GMM) Fernando Alonso’s manager says the McLaren-Honda driver will be back in action in Malaysia next weekend. “Fernando will be in Malaysia,” Luis Garcia-Abad announced to the Spanish press early on Saturday. It is known that the 33-year-old driver, who sat out the Melbourne season opener last weekend after his mysterious Barcelona testing crash […]
Alonso crash costs insurers EUR 1.8 million
Mar.21 (GMM) Fernando Alonso’s Barcelona testing crash has cost insurers EUR 1.8 million so far. That is the claim of Italy’s specialist La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper, who said the Spanish driver and McLaren had to follow doctors’ advice or risk not receiving the payout. That is because the “contracts of the teams include a […]
FIA confirms German GP demise
Mar.21 (GMM) F1’s governing body has removed Germany from the 2015 calendar. The move follows both the Nurburgring and Hockenheim having declared that time ran out as they negotiated new deals with Bernie Ecclestone. “The German grand prix has been withdrawn as the CRH (commercial rights holder) and promoter did not reach agreement,” the FIA […]