Latest F1 news in brief

Kvyat

Kvyat wants patience amid constant rumors
Hamilton denies disrespecting media
Grosjean denies losing patience with Haas
Vettel 'surprised' by Sepang crash reaction
Rosberg wary of Red Bull's potential
Ricciardo hopes to be 'close' to Mercedes

Kvyat wants patience amid constant rumors
(GMM) Daniil Kvyat has called for patience amid constant rumors about his future.

Not long ago, reports suggested his employer Red Bull – having demoted him from the senior team mid-season – had now decided to oust the young Russian completely for 2017.

But now, media sources report that Toro Rosso driver Kvyat will in fact sign a new two-year Red Bull deal.

"First I'm fired then I sign for two years," the 22-year-old, responding to the constant rumors, is quoted by Russia's Sportbox as having said at Suzuka.

"All these rumors don't interest me. When there is something to announce, it will be announced, so you need to be patient," Kvyat added.

Hamilton and Alonso

Hamilton denies disrespecting media
(GMM) Lewis Hamilton has denied deliberately disrespecting the assembled media ahead of the Japanese grand prix.

Throughout the official FIA press conference, the world champion played on his phone, uploading a series of 'snaps' to the social media platform Snapchat and using swear words to declare his boredom.

"Fun and frolics — or disrespect?" wondered The Times' Kevin Eason.

Eason said the antics attracted a "thunderous look" from senior FIA officials, while The Telegraph said Hamilton turned the presser into "a farce".

Faced with the criticism, the Mercedes driver later said on Twitter: "Today was meant to be fun, not at all disrespectful. Some people take themselves too seriously."

Some people, however, had wondered whether Hamilton's antics were simply diversionary tactics, having triggered a post-Malaysian grand prix storm by insinuating that Mercedes is sabotaging his championship campaign.

"No," Marc Surer, a former F1 driver and pundit for German television Sky, said when asked about the conspiracy theories.

"The worst possible advertising for Mercedes is a broken engine."

Surer suggested Hamilton needs to learn how to accept defeat and bad luck as easily as he accepts victory.

"Hamilton was world champion for the past two years, which of course involves a lot of luck. So he also needs to accept bad luck," he insisted.

Grosjean in the Anti-American Haas car

Grosjean denies losing patience with Haas
(GMM) Romain Grosjean has denied that his increasingly outspoken tone on the radio is revealing a loss of patience with the Haas team.

The Frenchman has been struggling with car problems at recent races towards the tail-end of Haas' first season on the grid, and Grosjean has not been shy to voice his discontent over the radio.

When asked about it, Grosjean said at Suzuka: "I know that my messages occasionally seem a little aggressive, but they just reflect my passion.

"It's nothing personal. I'm not a Finn, I'm more emotional but I'm actually a nice guy as I think people know. But you also know that I push myself to the limit.

"I cannot just tell the team that the car is bad. I want to get them to act, and to do this you need to put into words the feeling that is sometimes not so easy.

"People who don't know me think that my attitude is wrong, but my team knows me better," Grosjean insisted.

The 30-year-old is almost certainly staying with the new, Ferrari-linked American team for 2017.

Vettel surprised

Vettel 'surprised' by Sepang crash reaction
(GMM) Sebastian Vettel says he was "surprised" by the reaction of fellow drivers and the media following his performance in Malaysia a week ago.

Track rivals including Max Verstappen and Nico Rosberg, and the Italian press, reacted angrily to the first-corner crash at Sepang that cost Ferrari's lead driver a grid penalty at Suzuka this weekend.

"I did not drive like 'crazy'," Vettel insisted in Japan when asked about Verstappen's criticism.

"I took a risk that did not pay off. I'm sorry for Nico and after the race I went to him to explain.

"I'm a little surprised if people say they never saw me like this. I have attacked many times at the start before and I did well most of the time," he added.

"The last time was one of those times when it doesn't work. I don't think there is much to analyze — it's normal, it happens.

"Sometimes you try too hard and sometimes you don't try hard enough, so it's a matter of finding the right balance between the two," Vettel said.

Vettel said he was sorry the crash tipped Rosberg into a spin, but thinks the grid penalty for Suzuka is "hard".

"I am not of the opinion that I did something stupid," he said. "It was a small mistake which was punished very hard."

Vettel also denied he is losing heart with the situation at Ferrari, insisting he has a "good feeling" about the Maranello team's prospects for 2017.

"A lot is happening behind the scenes at Ferrari, and that will show in the coming season," he said.

"Of course, we are not satisfied with what our performance has been so far, and if we could change it in a day we would. But I still think it was a good season if you look at what happens behind the scenes."

Nico Rosberg has nothing to worry about with regard to Red Bull

Rosberg wary of Red Bull's potential
Nico Rosberg remains wary of Red Bull's potential at the Japanese Grand Prix after their Soft-tire runs were hindered during practice.

Mercedes pair Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton led the way at Suzuka on Friday, with Ferrari third and fifth, split by Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Verstappen and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, however, both abandoned qualifying-style efforts when the Virtual Safety Car was deployed.

After Esteban Gutiérrez's car was cleared away, Verstappen managed to improve to fourth, but Ricciardo headed on to longer runs.

Rosberg thus expects Red Bull to show its true pace tomorrow.

"It's been a case of finding my way today; it began with quite a lot of understeer and we had to work through the set-up in order to find a better balance on the car," said Rosberg.

"In the afternoon, the Medium tire didn't seem as strong as the Hard, as we saw in Malaysia. However, on the Soft tire we showed good one-lap pace [and] the balance felt good."

Rosberg, who holds a 23-point title lead over Hamilton, added: "It looks like we're ahead of the Ferraris, but it remains to be seen as to where we are compared to the Red Bulls."

Hamilton was relieved to enjoy a trouble-free day, after his engine failure at Sepang.

"It's been a really good day with no problems on the car, which is great," said Hamilton.

"We managed to get plenty of laps in but there's still some work to be done overnight in order to find more pace – that's a work in progress and hopefully we'll be going into Sunday in good shape.

"It's great to be here in Japan and I'm excited to get out on track again for qualifying."

Ricciardo

Ricciardo hopes to be 'close' to Mercedes
Daniel Ricciardo hopes that Red Bull will be "close" to Mercedes during Japanese Grand Prix qualifying, after its pace was masked in practice.

Ricciardo and team-mate Max Verstappen had to abandon Soft-tire laps when the Virtual Safety Car came out for Esteban Gutiérrez's stoppage.

Verstappen was able to claim fourth, between the Ferrari drivers, when the session went green again, but Ricciardo moved on to long runs.

Red Bull is looking to build on its 1-2 finish in Malaysia, where Ricciardo led home Verstappen after Lewis Hamilton's late engine blowout.

"It was a pretty good day, a pretty good afternoon," said Ricciardo.

"I think the lap we had to abort was definitely in the 1m32s, so it probably would have put me just behind Kimi's time. Ferrari look pretty strong, but we're sort of close enough I think for today.

"Our long run seemed pretty solid. We finished on the Hard tire and that seemed decent.

"If we get the car hooked up in quali we can be strong, close to Mercedes, and hopefully ahead of Ferrari.

"Kimi's time was solid today. If I was able to complete that lap, I probably wouldn't have been quicker than him anyway. I think tomorrow we can squeeze a bit more out of it, but we'll have a challenge."

He added: "The top three teams will be going hammer and tongs the rest of the year."

Verstappen was also optimistic over Red Bull's general performance on the first day.

"You could see today that we were not too far off, but on the short runs you can't really say, because with the Virtual Safety Car we had to come in again while we were on a fast lap," he said.

"On short runs I think [Ferrari] are not too far away, but on long runs I think we can have them."

Red Bull holds a 46-point lead over Ferrari in the battle for second position.