Latest F1 news in brief

Toto Wolff expects close battle with Ferrari and Red Bull

Wolff expects close battle in 2019
Albon wants to be on the pace 'immediately'
Sponsor to decide on Sirotkin's F1 return – Aleshin
Vettel must 'regain his head' in 2019 – Tavoni
Cars to take 'huge' performance hit in 2019 – Green
'Leaked' McLaren 2019 photo was a fake
Finland Formula 1 race study under way
Jenson Button selling LA Home for $6.6M

Wolff expects close battle in 2019

(GMM) Toto Wolff is expecting a close battle at the front in 2019.

Last year, Mercedes was being strongly challenged by Ferrari until the Italian team suffered a mid-season slump.

But Wolff thinks Ferrari will be strong again in 2019.

"Ferrari has ramped up its game over the last years tremendously and I think our performance levels were pretty close to each other," said the Mercedes team boss.

"In the end we came up with a small advantage, but they have become a formidable competitor," Wolff added.

He is also expecting Red Bull to be strong in 2019, particularly as that team has switched its customer Renault engines for a highly anticipated works Honda partnership.

"Red Bull and Honda might be another team joining the party," said Wolff. "But with the new regulations it's up in the air if somebody else could be competitive too."

That additional team is most likely to be Renault, even if boss Cyril Abiteboul is not ready to declare the French team's precise targets for 2019.

"We will announce our target at the start of the season but you need to expect from us that we keep on progressing," he said.

A big part of that progress, Abiteboul admitted, is the signing of Daniel Ricciardo.

"We expect Daniel to play a key role in completing the construction of the team, just like he played a key role at Red Bull both on track but also off track.

"We also feel that we need someone to embody that charge," the Frenchman added.

Albon wants to be on the pace 'immediately'

Alexander Albon – brought big check, will race

(GMM) 2019 rookie Alexander Albon says his goal is to be "immediately" on the pace this season.

The 22-year-old Thai driver, who was actually born in London, is Red Bull's surprise pick to race for Toro Rosso this year in the place of Brendon Hartley.

So late was the call-up that Red Bull had to extract him from a long Formula E contract.

But Albon says he is determined to not be outclassed by his teammate Daniil Kvyat, the returning Toro Rosso driver.

Asked by the Dutch publication Formule 1 what his biggest challenge is for 2019, Albon answered: "I think mainly it's to get up to speed immediately.

"I have four days to test in Barcelona and I haven't driven a formula one car before," he said.

"That's not a lot of time before Melbourne and these cars are of course very different to Formula 2 — they're a lot faster," Albon added.

"So it's mainly an issue of getting to know the car and trying to be fast."

Not just that, Albon said he is spending a lot of time this winter preparing physically for the F1 challenge.

"I've just had a few neck, cardio and blood tests and some scans," he revealed. "Of course I am trying to prepare my neck as much as possible.

"It's going to be demanding physically, so that's where the focus is right now," Albon said. "I have my trainer with me and we're trying to be in top shape for Melbourne."

Sponsor to decide on Sirotkin's F1 return – Aleshin

Sergey Sirotkin – if he has check, he will race again

(GMM) A return to formula one is a possibility for Sergey Sirotkin.

That is the view of Mikhail Aleshin, a senior driver for the Russian bank SMP's motor sport program.

Fellow Russian Sirotkin made his F1 debut for Williams in 2018, but one year later he has lost his seat.

But when asked by Sportbox if a return to F1 is possible for 23-year-old Sirotkin, Aleshin answered: "There is that opportunity.

"The decision, naturally, will be made by the management of SMP Racing.

"Objectively, Sergey has great potential, but it is clear that it cannot be realized if you go with a weak team.

"Before the start of the season, no one thought Williams would be so bad. When that became clear, Sergey's only task was to stay ahead of his teammate.

"It was not easy for him, considering that his teammate had more experience. Nevertheless, he coped and proved that he would be able to do well with a good team," Aleshin added.

Sirotkin is expected to join SMP Racing's LMP1 program in 2019, and recently tested a DTM car and attended the Morocco round of the Formula E race.

Vettel must 'regain his head' in 2019 – Tavoni

Vettel will regain his head when Ferrari produces a faster car

(GMM) A great name from Ferrari's past, Romolo Tavoni, is expecting that Mattia Binotto will get assistance as he becomes team boss in 2019.

As it stands following the ousting of Maurizio Arrivabene, Binotto has been tasked with replacing him as team boss and continuing to be technical director.

93-year-old Tavoni, a Ferrari team manager from the Enzo Ferrari days in the late 50s and early 60s, told Italy's Autosprint that there were obvious "internal frictions" between Binotto and Arrivabene in 2018.

When asked about Binotto, Tavoni said: "He is a very high level engineer. However, his new role involves maintaining relationships with the other teams, dealing with politics and relating to Liberty Media.

"Overall it will be a very complex and very burdensome task, so I think that he will be helped by someone and that this appointment will be very important for the success of his term," he added.

It is expected that Laurent Mekies will step up to some of Binotto's responsibilities, while Stefano Domenicali has been linked with a return to Ferrari.

"I sincerely believe that the departure of Arrivabene is just the first shock," Tavoni said.

"Let's not forget that Vettel did a bad championship in 2018. I believe the immediate future of Ferrari rests on the situation with Vettel.

"We saw some unacceptable mistakes, and now we just have to see what will happen," he added.

"In other words, Ferrari has a new boss but it is also necessary that Vettel, the spearhead on the track, regains his head."

Cars to take 'huge' performance hit in 2019 – Green

2019 cars to be slower. So what?

(GMM) F1 car performance has taken a "huge" hit with the advent of the new technical regulations for 2019, according to a current technical director.

In a bid to improve overtaking, the FIA has mandated a raft of changes for this year, most notably to the front wing.

Force India technical boss Andy Green said he was shocked when the changes were applied in the wind tunnel.

"The whole thing throws us back about two years in development," he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

"I don't know if we can even make it back to what we had before with these regulations."

Green recalls with particular horror the first time Force India tested the 2019 technical rule changes.

"The car looked really bad when we first put it in the wind tunnel," he said.

"The performance loss was huge. We are talking about several seconds in laptime."

Green said it will therefore be a very busy year for the engineers who are involved in developing the cars.

"The learning curve is very steep for everyone," he said. "I expect a long fight.

"Once the new season gets going, engineers will definitely be keen to see what solutions the competition comes up with."

As for whether the rules really will make overtaking easier in 2019, Green answered: "That's not easy to say. But I'm already worried about it."

'Leaked' McLaren 2019 photo was a fake

It was Fake News says Zak Brown

(GMM) McLaren has denied that a teaser image of its 2019 car revealed a major new sponsorship.

Late last season, the struggling British team announced a minor on-car deal with Coca-Cola.

"I think they are a great entry into the sport," team boss Zak Brown said at the time. "They will help bring a younger audience and it's great for McLaren.

"Hopefully it will be a successful partnership that will go on into the future."

And according to the supposedly leaked teaser image, it looked as though Coca-Cola was indeed continuing and ramping up the deal for 2019.

It was claimed that McLaren uploaded an image to its Facebook page that showed the orange 2019 car with prominent Coca-Cola branding on the rear wing.

But McLaren says the image was not leaked, but actually a fake. The team said it was never added to its official Facebook page.

"It's a fake that was made by an amateur," a source close to Carlos Sainz told the Spanish sports newspaper Marca.

"The real images will not be seen until February 14," the source added.

McLaren confirmed that the image was a fake.

Finland Formula 1 race study under way

KymiRing

A study is under way in Finland to evaluate the feasibility of hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix in the country, ostensibly at future MotoGP circuit KymiRing.

A press conference was held on Wednesday to outline that 80 per cent of KymiRing, located around 130km North East of the capital Helsinki, has now been built.

The circuit has a contract to host the Finnish Motorcycle Grand Prix from 2020 through 2024, having initially delayed from 2019, and a MotoGP test is penciled for August this year.

The 4.6-kilometre circuit will feature 18 turns while there are proposals for other facilities to be built in the area around the venue.

Button Selling Los Angeles House for $6.6 Million

Jenson Button's LA Home

Formula One racer Jenson Button is selling his five-bedroom, seven-bathroom Los Angeles home for $6.6 million.

The Cape Cod style home is located on South Westgate Avenue in the affluent neighborhood of Brentwood. It has 4,751 square feet of living space, spanning across two floors, according to listing agent Cindy Ambuehl of The Agency.

"The estate is extremely private, setting way back from the road and hedged with huge trees," Ms. Ambuehl said.

The listing is already live on The Agency website, and Ms. Ambuehl plans to list the property on Multiple Listing Service next Monday.

The British-born Mr. Button, 38, who won the Formula One World Champion title in 2009 and has since retired, purchased the house in 2017 for $6.1 million, property records accessed through PropertyShark show.

The home was built in 1959 and completely remodeled in 2015 before Mr. Button moved in.

Custom design details include crown moldings, vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, high-end appliances, and high-quality finishes throughout, according to Ms. Ambuehl.

"Normally a Cape Cod-style house can look a little dull, but this one looks glamorous," she said. "The open floor plan living is perfect for entertaining or family gatherings."