Latest F1 news in brief – Thursday

• Renault to reveal in Paris

  Renault to reveal 2016 plans in Paris

• Mateschitz paying EUR 3m for Salzburgring – report
• New GP2 sponsor eyes F1
• Alonso's manager eyes 'competitive' 2016 McLaren
• Ferrari denies Toro Rosso to use 2016 engine
• Kubica's rally career could end – report
• F1 option 'not closed' for Merhi
• Capito: 'Impossible' to turn down McLaren
• Video: Toro Rosso practice pit-stops

Renault to reveal 2016 plans in Paris
(GMM) The media has been summoned to Paris for February 3, as Renault presses the throttle on its plans for 2016.

In a teaser video released on Wednesday, the carmaker declared: "Can't you hear us coming back?"

Indeed, Renault's plans appear to be on schedule, as the Enstone based outfit formerly known as Lotus declared on Twitter: "Chassis homologation: done."

It means the 2016 car, tipped to be yellow and black to mark Renault's return to full works team status, has passed the FIA's mandatory crash test requirements.

The next milestone will be in Paris when the full team including the management and drivers are unveiled.

Williams, third overall in 2014 and 2015, admits it is looking over its shoulder at rivals like Red Bull, Force India and also Renault.

"The works Renault team are going to start investing," senior engineer Rob Smedley is quoted by Sky. "So I think there are lots of people behind us who can make great strides."

Salzburgring

Mateschitz paying EUR 3m for Salzburgring – report
(GMM) More details about Dietrich Mateschitz's latest acquisition have emerged.

Last September, we reported that the Red Bull mogul and billionaire, already the owner of the F1 circuit in Spielberg, is adding another Austrian track to his collection.

"I can confirm that," said a spokesman for the Salzburgring, a 4.2km circuit east of Salzburg that hosted MotoGP until 1994.

Kronen Zeitung, an Austrian newspaper, now has the details.

Mateschitz, 71, is buying the circuit with his company Distribution and Marketing, of which he is the 100 per cent owner.

"Currently we are still working on the last details of the contract, which is legally very complex," said a representative of the Salzburg authorities.

Kronen Zeitung said the agreed price is about EUR 3 million.

Adrian Campos was eyeing IndyCar but sponsors won't touch it with those NBCSN TV ratings so his sponsor Kentucky Fried Chicken eyes F1

New GP2 sponsor eyes F1
(GMM) The new sponsor of a GP2 team is tipped to eventually enter formula one.

The Spanish newspaper El Confidencial said a deal between the GP2 outfit Campos and Jangonya Ayan – KFC's Indonesian branch – will be formally launched in Jakarta on February 26.

With the deal, Indonesian driver Sam Gelael is joining the team.

"It is a sponsor with formula one potential," said Adrian Campos. "At the moment, they want to be in GP2 with us, and we want to be with them, of course."

KFC is the world's second largest fast food chain after McDonald's.

Won't Alonso be surprised if Mercedes actually widens the gap

Alonso's manager eyes 'competitive' 2016 McLaren
(GMM) Fernando Alonso's manager says he is confident McLaren-Honda will prepare a better car for the Spaniard to race in 2016.

Having wooed Alonso from Ferrari, the Anglo-Japanese collaboration had an abysmal 2015 season, but the team and Honda are sure they will be competitive this year.

"For Fernando, he is still the best," Alonso's manager, Luis Garcia Abad, told Europa Press.

"Until we see the car on February 21 we cannot say anything. I suppose that this season will be better and they will do everything possible to be competitive," he added.

Garcia Abad also said Alonso's plans to found a professional cycling team are still on hold.

"It won't be this year, that's for sure," he said.

"If the circumstances are in favor yes, but it depends not only on us," Garcia Abad added.

The only way Toro Rosso gets a 2016 Ferrari engine is if it gets Max Verstappen in 2017

Ferrari denies Toro Rosso to use 2016 engine
(GMM) Toro Rosso and Ferrari have played down media reports that are doing the rounds on Thursday.

A report in Italy suggested that although Toro Rosso will use Ferrari's 2015-specification engine this year, there is a chance the Red Bull junior team will upgrade to the latest version of the Maranello-built 'power unit' later in the season.

Both sides moved to dismiss the rumors.

"This is not even an issue for us," Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost told Speed Week. "I have no idea where it even comes from."

And Ferrari spokesman Alberto Antonini added: "I've not even heard of that story.

"It would definitely not be easy to adapt a car to a different engine specification," he said.

Robert Kubica

Kubica's rally career could end – report
(GMM) Robert Kubica's rally career could end after the forthcoming season opener in Monte Carlo.

Now 31, the talented Pole's F1 career was tragically halted just prior to the 2011 season, when his arm was almost severed in a rallying crash.

The injury has prevented Kubica from returning to an open cockpit, so for the past few years he has competed at the highest level of world rallying.

However, the German newspaper Stuttgarter Nachrichten reports that while Kubica is slated to do the season opener of the 2016 world rally season this weekend, his future beyond that is clouded for financial reasons.

"For the second half of the season, there are options," the former BMW-Sauber and Renault driver said.

"It could also mean that I return to the (circuit) race track."

Roberto Merhi can land Manor seat in 2016 if his check is large enough

F1 option 'not closed' for Merhi
(GMM) Roberto Merhi is not giving up on formula one.

El Confidencial, a Spanish newspaper, says the 24-year-old has been busily preparing for 2016, even though he lost his full-time Manor seat to the better-funded Alexander Rossi late last season.

"I have been swimming, running, cycling. In February I will do some karting," he is quoted as saying.

But it is in February that his old F1 rivals will be eagerly shaping up to return to their cockpits, for eight days of pre-season testing prior to the first race in Melbourne.

Backmarker Manor has confirmed that it will be at the opening test in Barcelona.

When asked about the possibility that his F1 adventure will continue this year, Merhi said: "It's not closed. Not at all."

Merhi is managed by the former McLaren driver Mark Blundell.

"There are a couple of things that are being watched," said Merhi, "but nothing concrete yet."

Jost Capito

Capito: 'Impossible' to turn down McLaren
Volkswagen motorsport boss Jost Capito says it was "impossible" to turn down the chance to join McLaren's Formula 1 team, but will not complete the move until a successor is in place.

Capito was announced as McLaren's new Chief Executive Officer last week, as part of a management reshuffle that will involve Jonathan Neale switching to the brand's technology division.

Capito oversaw Volkswagen's three successive WRC titles from 2013-15, but has been tempted back to Formula 1 by McLaren, following previous spells at Sauber and Ford.

"Anybody who works in our industry knows that F1 is about McLaren and it's about Ferrari, and the chance to run the McLaren team is not one that you can say no to," he told Autosport.

"For people who live in our world, it would be impossible to say no to this.

"McLaren deserves to be in a better position than it is right now.

"This was the most difficult [decision] in my career and it will be the biggest challenge in my career. But it's McLaren, and it's me – I am always interested in the big challenge."

Capito made clear that he will not leave VW until its future plans are settled.

"We wanted to make the announcement, to get the news out there, so that we could stop the rumors and all of that," Capito explained, referring to McLaren's recent press release.

"Now the process has to start to try to find somebody to replace me. I don't know how long that will take, but until that is done and I am happy with the way that's done, I won't be going anywhere.

"I will be here for the next three or four rallies, it could be longer – I don't know."

Argentina hosts the fourth round of the 2016 WRC season from April 22-24.

Video: Toro Rosso practice pit-stops
Watch as Toro Rosso mechanics practice pit-stops inside the team's new factory at Faenza, Italy.