Latest F1 news in brief

We're not quitting

Red Bull has 'no intention' to quit
Rosberg, Vettel 'wake up' for 2016 attack
2017 FIA F1 engine to be 2.5 liter twin-turbo V6
Verstappen also no 'grid boy' fan
Minute of silence was for France – Lauda
Ecclestone happy with similar grid for 2016
Pirelli 'too conservative' in 2015 – Hembery

Red Bull has 'no intention' to quit
(GMM) Red Bull is now confident it will be in formula one beyond next weekend's 2015 finale.

Earlier, the energy drink outfit was threatening to pull out amid its search for a new engine supplier.

But according to F1 business journalist Christian Sylt, writing in the Telegraph, team boss Christian Horner revealed in Red Bull's latest accounts that it has "no plans or intentions that would materially affect the ordinary operations of the company within the next 12 months".

It is believed Red Bull's plan now is to plug the 2016 season with unbranded Renault power before switching to F1's new 'client engine' supplier for 2017.

"It is fair to say that Red Bull has found a solution," Renault F1 chief Cyril Abiteboul said. "But first of all we have to decide on our participation in F1.

"What do we want to do? What will we do with Lotus? With Red Bull and Toro Rosso? I know what the rumors are but the decision is for our CEO."

It is understood that Renault president Carlos Ghosn will make a final decision before December 8.

Rosberg and Vettel

Rosberg, Vettel 'wake up' for 2016 attack
(GMM) F1 is looking ahead to a more competitive 2016 season starring Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel, according to the Italian press.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton dominated this year, but his teammate Rosberg is now on a run of five poles and two consecutive wins that bode well for a better 2016.

"F1 like a sleeping pill," Italy's Corriere della Sera said after an uninspiring race in Brazil, "but at least Rosberg and Vettel are wide awake.

"In 2016, the race for the title will be merciless."

La Gazzetta dello Sport agrees that Ferrari now appears ready to take one final step and take on Mercedes next year.

"Brazil was a pleasing prelude to 2016 in which Ferrari will go for the title without excuses. It's time to look to the future with optimism," the Italian sports daily added.

But La Repubblica wonders just how hard the hard-partying champion Hamilton is pushing on track at the tail end of 2015.

"Hamilton has never done such a boring race. To surrender in that way to Rosberg is not his style," it said after Brazil.

Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz is also hoping the battle at the front is closer in 2016.

"It would be nice if there was at least one team that can compete for the title with them (Mercedes) — something like we see in MotoGP," he told AS newspaper.

The 2.2-liter twin-turbo IndyCar engine does not make enough HP so the FIA bumped the F1 version from 2.2 to 2.5-liter and it will run gasoline instead of methanol

2017 FIA F1 engine to be 2.5 liter twin-turbo V6
(GMM) Details about the specification of F1's alternative engine for 2017 have emerged.

Previously, it was believed independent outfits like Ilmor or Cosworth were being invited to bid to exclusively supply a 2.2 liter twin-turbo V6, with the regulations to run parallel to the existing 1.6 liter 'power units'.

The specifications now say the new engine will be a 2.5 liter V6 or smaller, with one or two turbochargers producing "greater than" 870 horse power.

The engine will have no limits on revs, engine durability or fuel flow, freedom in the area of the exhaust and no hybrid power.

Mercedes, the double world champion team of 2014 and 2015, has made clear its dissent.

"I think many of us share the opinion that the 'balance of performance engine' does not work. It doesn't work in any other category," said team boss Toto Wolff.

"We hear about the aggravation in GT racing and it does my head in hearing these ideas," he added.

Verstappen also no 'grid boy' fan
(GMM) Max Verstappen is another F1 driver who is no fan of the new 'grid boy' concept.

Verstappen happy to have a 'grid girl' in Brazil

Photo by Red Bull

In Brazil, Sebastian Vettel jokingly warned he would "strike" if assigned a grid boy, as Interlagos introduced the new idea of mixing male with female 'grid girls'.

Vettel was duly assigned a 'grid boy'.

18-year-old rookie sensation Verstappen, however, was luckier.

"I think they should keep it as it was, with fun, happy girls," the young Dutchman told De Telegraaf newspaper.

"Fortunately for my car I had a nice grid girl. I was pretty happy about that. I think they should have a grid boy only if there is a woman in the car," Verstappen added.

It is believed the mixed 'grid boy and girl' concept for Brazil was dreamed up by F1 supremo Ecclestone's wife, Brazilian Fabiana Ecclestone.

She is the owner of Celebrity Coffee, a brand that was written across the chests of the grid boys and girls on Sunday.

Verstappen's teammate Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, has more on his mind than the gender of his grid girl.

The Spaniard, while impressive on debut in 2015, has been totally overshadowed by the meteoric success of Verstappen.

"Yes he is good, everybody knows that and I can't deny it," Sainz told AS newspaper. "But I think next year we will have a good opportunity to be compared more equally.

"This year I have had so many reliability problems, so I think it's not fair if you compare our points."

Niki Lauda

Minute of silence was for France – Lauda
(GMM) Two F1 personalities made clear the minute of silence on Sunday's Interlagos grid was for the victims of the Paris terrorist attack.

FIA president Jean Todt, the French chief of F1's Paris-based governing body, was intensely criticized for insisting the silence was officially for road crash victims, arguing that more die on the roads every day than at the hands of terrorists.

Undoubtedly referring to the FIA's global road safety campaign 'Think before you drive', the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag advised Todt to "Think before you speak".

French driver Romain Grosjean, meanwhile, held up a French flag during the silence.

And F1 legend and Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda insisted: "If there was a minute of silence, it was for the French."

Ecclestone happy with similar grid for 2016
(GMM) Bernie Ecclestone says he doesn't mind that next year's grid will look very similar to the one in 2015.

All of the grandee teams including Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Williams and McLaren will field unchanged driver lineups next year.

"I think it's because all of the teams are happy with what they have," F1 supremo Ecclestone told O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

"For me, it's not so positive to have drivers changing every year," he added.

Paul Hembery (Back-right)

Pirelli 'too conservative' in 2015 – Hembery
(GMM) Paul Hembery thinks F1 will be more exciting in 2016.

Fans and insiders agree that Sunday's Brazilian grand prix was too processional. World champion Lewis Hamilton called it "boring" as he followed home Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg on an identical strategy.

Pirelli is taking some of the blame if races in 2015 were not inspiring.

"We may have been a little too conservative this year, because we have seen too many one-stop strategies," chief Hembery admitted to UOL Esporte.

"This is not in line with what we want and what we were asked to do, which was to get two to three stops," he added.

Hembery said the problem for Pirelli was weighing the request for tires that degrade for the benefit of the 'show' versus the fact that testing is so strictly limited.

"With the lack of testing, we were just so limited in the amount of changes that we could make," he said.

But he said things will stabilize for 2016 with another season with the same rules, before it is all change with new chassis, engine and tire regulations in 2017.

"The rules will be changed dramatically, although we don't really know yet what is going to change," said Hembery.

"And there is the understanding that we need to have a significant increase in the number of tests. There is no company in the world that can do what we have done without testing," he insisted.