Latest F1 news in brief

Algarve circuit

Portugal willing to be non-championship F1 host
F1 to see 'real' Red Bull in Melbourne
2017 'power units' only slightly louder – report
Renault confident in midfield battle
Liberty boss hints at F1 engine rule changes
Ferrari Giving Up Formula 1 Stake In Exchange For Liberty Media Stock
Formula 1 Appoints Global Heads For Sponsorship, Research

Portugal willing to be non-championship F1 host
(GMM) A Portuguese circuit has put up its hand as a potential venue for a non-championship F1 race.

Recently, new F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn said he would like a non-championship race to be the scene of experimental tweaks to the race format.

The Portuguese specialist newspaper Auto Sport claims Brawn's plan would be for a pre-season race in February, close to the majority of the teams' European headquarters.

Paulo Pinheiro, boss of the Algarve circuit in Portugal, thinks the track in Portimao fits the bill.

"A F1 race is really good and interesting for us and for tourism," he said, "as the economic impact and the media exposure is huge, especially in a low tourism season as February."

Pinheiro revealed that the Algarve track is pressing ahead with F1 homologation, in the wake of the changes needed to suit the much faster new cars.

"We believe that the process will be finalized in the next few days," he said.

The project might even have state backing, with the Portimao mayor saying Portugal should host F1 again and Portuguese prime minister Antonio Costa agreeing: "The idea that you proposed is extremely appealing and exciting."

F1 to see 'real' Red Bull in Melbourne

Red Bull was sandbagging in Barcelona too?

(GMM) In the last full week until the F1 circus heads off to Melbourne, the 2017 pecking order remains unclear.

On the basis of Barcelona testing, Ferrari and Mercedes are neck and neck at the top of the order and closely trailed by Red Bull.

But there are big question marks about Red Bull's true pace.

"Have they just put the 2016 car on wide tires?"? teased Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, according to Auto Motor und Sport.

He is referring to the fact that it is believed Red Bull will not release most of the visual upgrades for the 2017 car until Melbourne.

"We will see the real Red Bull in Melbourne," agreed Mercedes' Toto Wolff.

Indeed, when Red Bull boss Christian Horner was asked if the team will "surprise" with its Melbourne car, he answered cryptically: "You can count on it, although it might be a different surprise to what you imagine."

Another theory is that Red Bull's development program has actually been held up by handling issues and reliability problems with the new Renault engine.

Lewis Hamilton, who branded Ferrari the "favorites" for Melbourne, thinks Red Bull "will be there" come Melbourne.

"They usually only bring their big upgrade package to the first race," said the Mercedes driver.

Marko, meanwhile, agreed with Hamilton that Ferrari is looking particularly strong early in 2017.

"Ferrari will be a very serious contender for the lead," said the Red Bull official. "Mercedes seems to have some difficulty with the floor of the car, so I think their advantage will not be what it was before."

And Marko confirmed that one of Red Bull's biggest problems is Renault reliability.

"We've had several problems with the MGU-K," he told Speed Week. "We were told that it would be fixed for the second test but it was not."

But he also admitted that the car is not perfect.

"Sometimes we don't get the tires in the correct temperature window," said Marko, "and we don't fully understand why."

And Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz said as he observed the final day of Barcelona testing: "Mercedes leads, but Ferrari and us are catching up.

"We expect to be level by the summer."

2017 'power units' only slightly louder – report
(GMM) F1 is continuing to nudge up the volume of its controversial 'power units'.

In 2011, in the midst of the screaming V8 era, a German newspaper clocked the leading Mercedes engine at 128 decibels – beyond the human pain threshold.

Then in 2015, for the second season of the much quieter V6 turbo 'hybrid' era, a Spanish publication found that the Ferrari was just 102 decibels.

"The pain threshold," said a correspondent, "is around 120 decibels, a figure that none of the current cars are close to."

Now, Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport has recorded the Mercedes and Ferrari 'power units' at between 109 and 110 decibels during recent Barcelona testing.

The sports newspaper said that is just 6 decibels louder than at the start of the new engine era in 2014.

The 2017 Renault is just 105 decibels, La Gazzetta added, with 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve declaring: "The sound of these (F1) cars is still not good."

Renault confident in midfield battle
(GMM) Renault thinks it is a solid bet to head the F1 midfield in 2017.

The French works team had a bad 2016 in the wake of the Lotus takeover, but technical boss Alan Permane said at the end of Barcelona testing: "Together with Toro Rosso, we are slightly ahead of Force India and Haas."

Indeed, it is believed that Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull top the pecking order, Williams is alone in fourth place followed by a gaggle of midfielders.

Permane added: "I do not believe that Toro Rosso, Haas and Force India will be able to keep up with our development pace."

Toro Rosso chief Franz Tost told Speed Week: "We are well placed in the midfield.

"I see Mercedes in front, then Ferrari and Red Bull with a gap to (Felipe) Massa in the Williams. Force India seems to be faster than us, with Renault in our league and question marks about McLaren and Haas."

Liberty boss hints at F1 engine rule changes
(GMM) Liberty Media boss Greg Maffei has hinted F1 needs to make changes to its current engine regulations.

Last week, FIA president Jean Todt ruled out a return to screaming V8, V10 or V12 engines, declaring it would "not be accepted by global society".

But the volume of the current 'hybrid' power units remains highly controversial, and apparently has not escaped the notice of the sport's new owners.

"Yes, there are some things to do around the engines, there are some things to do around the DRS system, there are a few things to do to try to balance the amount of money the teams get," Liberty chief executive Maffei is quoted by the Spanish sports newspaper AS.

He also revealed that moves are afoot to bring back some European circuits that have become lost to the F1 calendar.

"There are always races that come and go," said Maffei, "but it's more negative when it's a traditional European race which is in the heart of the fans.

"We have already started a process to bring some of these circuits back."

And he said some race weekends must be made more exciting overall.

"We will take as reference the best grands prix, such as Mexico, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, and bring what happens there to the traditional tracks," said Maffei.

Ferrari Giving Up Formula 1 Stake In Exchange For Liberty Media Stock
Ferrari traded its entire stake in Formula 1 "for an interest in the racing franchise’s new owner, Liberty Media," according to Christian Sylt for the London GUARDIAN.

The Italian luxury car company revealed in a regulatory filing that it sold its 0.25% stake in the top-ranked single-seat auto race series in exchange for $3.1M worth of stock in Liberty and a cash payout of $11.4M.

Ferrari’s annual report stated that "as a consequence of the change of control, Ferrari exercised the options … and on 22 February 2017 received approximately $11.4 million in cash (including $2.7 million of previously undistributed dividends), 145 thousand Liberty Media Corporation shares and $911 thousand of Liberty Media exchangeable notes."

The automaker is F1's "most famous name and is the first of its 10 teams to acquire stock in Liberty." This is not the first time Liberty has "tried to tempt F1’s teams into becoming stakeholders in an effort to change the old-boys management structure of the storied race franchise."

In the wake of the takeover, Liberty offered F1’s 10 teams the chance to buy $1.1B worth of its shares, but "none of the teams accepted the offer." Since then, Liberty has "scaled back and has given the teams a July deadline" to buy $400M worth of its stock.

Ferrari is the first company to take Liberty up on its offer. Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said that the shares are being offered to teams "as part of an induced change in how we operate together." He said that if the teams do not "buy the shares they will be repurchased by Liberty" GUARDIAN

Formula 1 Appoints Global Heads For Sponsorship, Research
Formula 1 "appointed global heads for sponsorship and research as it accelerates into a new era under U.S.-based Liberty Media following the departure of Bernie Ecclestone," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS.

F1 said on Friday that former ESPN exec Murray Barnett would join from World Rugby, where he was CCO, in April as global head of sponsorship & commercial partnerships. Matthew Roberts will start in June as global head of research, joining from Sky TV where he led the sports insight division. He also worked previously for ESPN and BT Sport.

F1 Managing Dir, Commercial Operations Sean Bratches said that the appointments marked "an important next step in the evolution of the sport." REUTERS

THE DRUM's Tony Connelly reported with Liberty Media "keen to strengthen the broadcast revenue of the sport," Barnett’s experience in working in global marketing, sales and programming "will prove valuable to the new owners."

In addition to holding an int'l TV coordinator position at NBA Europe, where he managed marketing and commercial agreements with the NBA's broadcast partners in the region, Barnett was also "part of the launch team for ESPN UK" THE DRUM