Latest F1 news in brief – Thursday
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How much do the Russians pay Toro Rosso to run Kvyat? Only money keeps Kvyat at Toro Rosso – Villeneuve
- Force India wants to keep Ocon and Perez
- Grid penalty system 'incomprehensible' – Jochen Mass
- Verstappen yet to prove himself – Jochen Mass
- Hulkenberg tells Pirelli to improve rain tires
- Haas not keen on 'pay driver' model
- French GP layout 'fun' for drivers – Alesi
- No 'serious' interest in 11th, 12th teams spots – Todt
- Hamilton to do 'due diligence' for Singapore
- Renault reveals reliability action plan for Red Bull
Only money keeps Kvyat at Toro Rosso – Villeneuve
(GMM) 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve says he would not be surprised if Toro Rosso sweeps its driver lineup clean in the near future.
The French Canadian said he is not particularly impressed with either Carlos Sainz, who is linked with a switch to Renault or elsewhere, or Daniil Kvyat.
Villeneuve is especially critical of Russian Kvyat.
"He did not adapt to Red Bull, so he went back to Toro Rosso. But he did not bounce back," he told the Belgian website f1nal-lap.
"He is still not at the level of Sainz, and in addition, he does nothing but stupid things and never learns from them."
Indeed, Kvyat has scored only 4 of Toro Rosso's 40 points this year, but Villeneuve says he is not very impressed with Spaniard Sainz either.
"He stays in a straight line — he's the same driver he was three or four years ago," Villeneuve insisted.
"Also, he so often spits on Toro Rosso — 'the car is no good, I don't want to be in the team'. I would not be surprised if these two do not continue for long in F1.
"(Pierre) Gasly is coming, but the chance that Kvyat stays is because Red Bull needs a Russian. Clearly he does not deserve his place this year. He's there purely for political and media reasons," Villeneuve added.
Force India wants to keep Ocon and Perez
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| Mallya (C) likes the money the gets from Carlos Slim to run Perez (L) and the engine discount he gets from Mercedes to run Ocon (R) |
(GMM) Force India wants to keep both of its current drivers for 2018.
Recently, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon have been at loggerheads on and off the track, but deputy boss Bob Fernley said the Silverstone based team still needs them.
"We'll do everything in our power to keep both drivers," he told Speed Week.
"We are in the enviable position of having a driver duo that is as good as the top three teams, and we need them if we want to keep our fourth place in the championship in 2017."
Indeed, he said other teams have been sniffing around at both Perez and Ocon.
"Yes, our drivers are clearly in demand," said Fernley, "and for good reason — they are not average drivers. Luckily Esteban is with us for three years.
"And I don't get the impression that he wants to go somewhere else either. He does not forget that we gave him the chance that others did not want to give him, including Renault."
As for Perez, Fernley admits that the Mexican is always sought after by other teams, but Force India has the advantage of being one of the most competitive midfield teams.
"There is always an alternative for him, but I think Checo is happy with us," he said. "He knows that we can offer him the most competitive car in the midfield."
Grid penalty system 'incomprehensible' – Jochen Mass
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| Jochen Mass |
(GMM) Pressure is growing for F1 to scrap its system of grid penalties for technical car failures.
In the name of cost cutting, drivers are penalized with grid penalties when they run through their allocation of limited engine parts for the season.
Former F1 driver Jochen Mass told the German source T-Online: "Moving down the grid for changing a part is completely incomprehensible to me.
"These are parts of the car, and when they do not run, they need to be changed.
"We all saw the chaos of Monza, where numerous drivers were punished," he added.
New F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn says the need for a new system is even "urgent", but it may not be possible to find an alternative until 2021.
"We will look at this in forthcoming meetings," said FIA president Jean Todt, "but it is not easy to find a solution."
Brawn said: "We hope to find a solution before the introduction of the new engine generation in 2021.
"Why? Because I think the current system is very unpopular with the fans. We need to find a better way."
Verstappen yet to prove himself – Jochen Mass
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| Verstappen needs to stop hitting things. He took himself out of Monza by being too aggressive with Massa. The list goes on and on. Who will he have contact with next? |
(GMM) Max Verstappen is yet to prove himself in formula one.
That is the controversial claim of Jochen Mass, a former F1 driver.
19-year-old Verstappen has been highly critical of Red Bull and Renault recently after a spate of car problems in 2017, hinting that he wants to break his contract.
But Mass, a veteran of 114 grands prix and a single win, told T-Online: "Verstappen is too convinced of himself.
"I think it's because the hype about him all came far too early. He was praised to heaven after his victory in Barcelona (2016), but he won with a lot of luck.
"Now miracles are expected of him," the 70-year-old German said.
"Sure, Max is a talented boy, but we will only see how good he really is in the future."
Hulkenberg tells Pirelli to improve rain tires
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| It was pretty wet in Monza, not the fault of the tires |
(GMM) Nico Hulkenberg has called on Pirelli to make better F1 rain tires.
The Renault driver said the situation at Monza last Saturday, with qualifying repeatedly delayed in 15 minute segments for over two hours, was "really annoying".
"We were putting on and taking off our helmets as often as we were getting in and getting out of the cars," he told Germany's Sport1.
"When it was clear that the delay would take a long time, I thought I should be doing something better than waiting. Sleeping, for example," Hulkenberg added.
The 30-year-old joins those who think F1 should return to an era when falling rain would not stop the track action.
"The rain was not so strong and there was not so much standing water," he said.
"The problem was that the tires are only made to displace a certain number of liters of water. Otherwise, aquaplaning happens easily and of course the drivers don't want that.
"Charlie Whiting had limited options," Hulkenberg added.
"For the future, I think we should continue working with Pirelli to improve the situation. Because in the past, with other tire manufacturers, we could still drive in those types of conditions.
"The only thing is that there is not much testing in the year at all, so certainly not much on wet tracks. So it is difficult for Pirelli to improve," he acknowledged.
Haas not keen on 'pay driver' model
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| What Haas is really saying is he wants more money, like free Ferrari engines, to run one of their juniors. $5 million doesn't cut it |
(GMM) Team owner Gene Haas seems determined to avoid the 'pay driver' trend in F1.
For the American team's first season last year, Haas took on Esteban Gutierrez, who came with the backing of team supplier Ferrari as well as his Mexican sponsors.
But the Mexican underperformed, and for 2017 Haas replaced him with Kevin Magnussen.
Now, even though Ferrari is actively looking for seats for its juniors Antonio Giovinazzi and Charles Leclerc, Haas has confirmed it is keeping Magnussen alongside Romain Grosjean for 2018.
Asked if he rules out ever taking on a 'pay driver' again, Gene Haas said: "No, I don't think we rule it out.
"But for a business model it doesn't really make a lot of sense.
"It's no secret that it costs $60m to put a car on the track for the season, and if someone – not just Ferrari – gives you a driver and they're going to pay you $5 or $6 million, there's a $55m deficit there.
"I think our point of view has always been that we need to score points and that's how we make money moving forward. So that's our business model," Haas added.
"I think Ferrari respects that. Based on that, if there's some mutual agreement we could come to, we probably would be more open to it," he said.
French GP layout 'fun' for drivers – Alesi
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| Paul Ricard |
(GMM) The new Paul Ricard layout will be "a real benchmark" for F1 drivers when they tackle next year's French grand prix.
That is the claim of Frenchman and former Ferrari driver Jean Alesi, as the Le Castellet circuit on Wednesday launched its 2018 F1 track layout.
There had been speculation Paul Ricard might leave the long Mistral straight intact so that drivers head into the legendary Signes corner at astonishing speeds of over 350kph.
But a chicane will instead be in place halfway down the Mistral.
Even so, Alesi said: "The circuit will be a real benchmark for the drivers, because it has every type of corner.
"I am sure the drivers will all have a lot of fun here."
No 'serious' interest in 11th, 12th teams spots – Todt
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| Todt knows that no new teams are going to come into F1 with the silly current technical and sporting regulations in place |
(GMM) F1 looks set to stay at just ten teams for now.
Recently, FIA president Jean Todt confirmed reports that a couple of groups have expressed interest in filling the last two team places in pitlane.
"If a large manufacturer wants to come in, that is easy," said the Frenchman. "If it is an independent team, we would have to take a closer look."
It now appears as if the interest expressed recently was indeed by parties proposing to launch smaller, independent teams.
Todt said: "Yes, there are enquiries, but nothing that I would describe as serious.
"We now have ten teams and a good world championship, but ideally we would have 12 teams as is allowed in the current agreements.
"If we would get to the point where a serious request is made, as was the case with Gene Haas, then we would make a new tender," he added.
Hamilton to do 'due diligence' for Singapore
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| Hamilton knows he has the superior car, now he just has to drive it to victory in Singapore |
Lewis Hamilton says he will do all of the necessary "due diligence" in the build up to this year's Singapore Grand Prix in a bid to limit Mercedes' previous struggles at the event.
Mercedes dominated F1 from 2014-16, following the move to 1.6-litre V6 power units, but the night-time Singapore event, held at the technical Marina Bay Street Circuit, has been a bogey track.
Red Bull and Ferrari were already much closer to Mercedes than usual at the 2014 event, while in 2015 Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position and victory, with the highest-placed Mercedes only fourth.
Mercedes, having described its 2015 experience as "character building", returned to winning ways at the venue last season, though only by half a second.
Mercedes has been tipped to face another challenging weekend in 2017, given Ferrari's improved level of performance, and Vettel's impressive CV at the track (four wins).
But asked whether he has any worries about going back to Singapore, due to Mercedes' troubles, Hamilton said: "Currently that's not my mind-state, no.
"I will do all the due diligence [that is] possible to make sure that we arrive there best prepared.
"We have no idea until we get there what the picture's going to look like, but I think we learned a lot from the past. I think we'll be able to give them [Ferrari] a good race.
"I think the car is continuing to improve and as I said, our understanding of the car is beginning to… it's constantly improving.
"Perhaps if we went back to Hungary, for example, maybe we would be in a better position [than we were] with the knowledge of being there already.
"I approach it with a real positive mind-set that we are going to be fighting for a win, but if that's not the case, then we'll just take it at face value and try to get damage limitation."
Hamilton moved into the championship lead for the first time this season with victory at last weekend's Italian Grand Prix, three points clear of Vettel.
Renault reveals reliability action plan for Red Bull
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| Verstappen's engine shut down at Spa. Did he pound the curbs so hard a sensor shut the engine off thinking it was about to self-destruct. Inevitably Verstappen either hits something, or someone, and fails to finish. His teammates engines are just fine. |
Renault is to assign extra personnel to Red Bull from the Singapore Grand Prix as part of a detailed response plan to improve its reliability.
Frustrations with Renault’s reliability this season boiled over at the Belgian GP when Max Verstappen suffered yet another problem in the race, as a sensor shut down his power unit.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said Renault was providing a ‘below par service’ as he labelled the French car manufacturer’s form in F1 this year unacceptable.
Renault accepted that it was not doing a good enough job and has put in place an action plan to ensure things improve in the future.
As well as specific changes to its power unit made from Monza last weekend to eradicate the problems that Verstappen has suffered, there will be extra Renault personnel devoted to Red Bull to focus on reliability from the next race.
Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul told Motorsport.com: “The first type of response is that every single type of incident that Max has had, like any other driver, there is a counter measure in place.
“The last one was a sensor default that we had in Spa. There is now a much better procedure that is better documented than what we had.
"It is not a matter of apologizing, because that should have been in place – it should have been in place. I am not looking for excuses. It should have been in place and is now in place.
“The second element is that in terms of parts introduction, we have been more than loyal to Red Bull in focusing on making the best parts available to Red Bull – even at the expense of Renault. We feel that we have this duty to Red Bull and to Max.
“And the last thing, in terms of people, is that we have added more resource. It has not happened yet, but it will happen from Singapore onwards, when we will have someone dedicated to them, plus someone else looking after reliability and operations.
“We are reacting. We are not taking it easy. We are reacting. And I am quite proud of how we are dealing with that situation." Jonathan Noble/Motorsport