Latest F1 news in brief

Not that it matters because he isn't fast enough anyway, Rosberg will be ordered to give way to Lewis Hamilton from here on out

Mercedes must 'think about' team orders – Wolff
Red Bull pressuring Ferrari for rescue engine deal
Hakkinen sympathizes with Mercedes' Singapore slump
Hakkinen backs 'tough' Verstappen after team order
Hamilton has 'no confidence' of Suzuka comeback
Sutil expecting poignant return to Suzuka
Prost not buying Renault works team stake
Mercedes F1 Team Gets Highest-Ever Value As Turnover Increases By $33.7M

Mercedes must 'think about' team orders – Wolff
(GMM) After Mercedes' mysterious performance slump of Singapore, boss Toto Wolff is no longer ruling out team orders.

Earlier, Wolff said he would continue to allow the silver-clad drivers to duel freely at the front, while Nico Rosberg insisted he is not worried Lewis Hamilton's championship lead would lead to a team pecking order.

But in Singapore, Mercedes suddenly slumped, inexplicably falling behind not only Ferrari but also Red Bull.

Team figures have said they do not even know why it happened, or whether it will be resolved for this weekend's Japanese grand prix.

And so, suddenly, Wolff is no longer ruling out team orders in order to protect the growing threat posed particularly by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

After Singapore, Vettel is now just 8 points behind Rosberg, and 49 behind championship leader Hamilton with six races to go.

"If the gap is much smaller at the end, we would think about it," Wolff told the German newspaper Bild, when asked if the issue of team orders is now back on the table.

On the other hand, the German said Mercedes needs to "remain calm" after Singapore and trust in the performance of the car, which until now has been utterly dominant.

"The car is the same. We have not lost any performance," Wolff said.

Dietrich Mateschitz desperate for Ferrari engines

Red Bull pressuring Ferrari for rescue engine deal
(GMM) Red Bull is stepping up its F1 quit threat by putting pressure on the sport's authorities, and potential supplier Ferrari.

At present, the energy drink camp is in the throes of divorce from Renault, but Mercedes' Toto Wolff has confirmed that the German carmaker is not interested in bailing out Red Bull and Toro Rosso with an alternative supply of 'power units'.

"We decided two weeks ago against exploring an engine supply to Red Bull," Wolff declared on Tuesday to F1's official website.

Struggling Honda is not yet offering customer deals to teams, and so the only other engine option for Red Bull is Ferrari.

But there is some uncertainty about whether the Italian outfit will offer the full 'A' spec of its turbo V6, and Dr Helmut Marko has said that any other scenario would be unacceptable to Red Bull.

So the final option for Red Bull is to quit.

"What shall we do without competitive engines?" team owner Dietrich Mateschitz is quoted by Speed Week, a Red Bull-linked publication.

"We cannot enter soapbox cars," he insisted.

Team boss Christian Horner said after Singapore that F1 officials like Bernie Ecclestone might need to step in, and he now says that the onus is also on Ferrari.

"If Ferrari wants there to still be a Red Bull in the championship, they should give us engines," he is quoted by Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Horner said he is confident Ferrari will play ball, describing president Sergio Marchionne as "broadminded and a true sportsman. He indicated earlier this year that he would like to take a step like that," added Horner.

"I don't think there should be any fear that we would beat them. I see it that Ferrari would have two very strong teams to hunt down what until now has been a superpower in the form of Mercedes," said Horner.

And if Ferrari simply says no, Horner warned: "Then Red Bull would have a big problem. Formula one too."

But he said that does not mean the VW Group – newly embroiled in the global emissions scam – or Audi will step in to the rescue.

"That is only paddock speculation," said Horner.

The only reason why Mercedes got beat in Singapore is because their 100 HP advantage was negated on the tight streets of Singapore

Hakkinen sympathizes with Mercedes' Singapore slump
(GMM) Mika Hakkinen says Mercedes' performance problem of Singapore is perhaps not as unique as it seemed.

The otherwise-dominant team's sudden slump on the floodlit streets was fuel for F1's usual conspiracy theorists, with some surmising that Pirelli may have supplied the 'wrong tires’ as payback for the Monza pressure saga.

"I don't believe we got the wrong tires," Lewis Hamilton insisted on Tuesday. "I've never heard that in F1 before."

Indeed, former two-time world champion Hakkinen says he experienced a similarly inexplicable loss of performance in the past.

"I remember I had the same type of problem in the Argentine grand prix," the long-time McLaren driver told Finland's Ilta Sanomat newspaper.

"Although we were clearly the best car, we just had no grip in the front end. The car was sliding in each corner," Hakkinen recalled.

"Mercedes had a bit of a similar situation in Singapore and didn't know what to do about it. I listened to the team's conversations and no clear reason has been found."

He is sure, however, that full silver service will be restored this weekend at Suzuka.

"Singapore is a fairly special place and clearly the track just didn't work for them. I believe they will return to the top at Suzuka, but definitely Ferrari and Red Bull will be more enthusiastic and motivated now after what happened," said Hakkinen.

Hakkinen backs 'tough' Verstappen after team order
(GMM) Mika Hakkinen says he is increasingly impressed with F1's teenage sensation Max Verstappen.

The young Dutchman was back in the headlines after the Singapore grand prix, not only after fighting through the field from dead last but also for defying Toro Rosso's team orders with a loud and clear "No!"

"No driver likes to let anyone past, even if it is not about a world championship or even a win, but only a few points," former double world champion Mika Hakkinen said.

"Verstappen only turns 18 next week," he told the Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomat, "but the guy is turning into a really tough professional.

"Young people today are developing at an incredible rate," Hakkinen added, "and I do not just mean the drivers."

Just like at Monza, Hamilton will be able to use his 100 HP advantage to win easily on the fast Suzuka circuit

Hamilton has 'no confidence' of Suzuka comeback
(GMM) Lewis Hamilton was giving mixed messages this week in the wake of Mercedes' mysterious Singapore slump.

The otherwise-dominant German squad was suddenly slower not only than Ferrari but also Red Bull on the floodlit streets, and it doesn't know why.

"Singapore was a strange weekend but I'm chilled about it," Hamilton was quoted as saying in an official team press release on Wednesday.

"It's been an incredible season so far and I've been around long enough now to accept that you can't win them all. So it's just a case of leaving that weekend in the past and moving on to the next one," he added ahead of the Japanese grand prix.

However, free of the constraints of a press release, British newspapers have quoted a much more alarmed Hamilton as he eyes his diminished 49 point advantage over dominant Singapore winner Sebastian Vettel.

Asked if he is confident Mercedes will bounce back in Japan, Hamilton said: "I don't have any confidence. I don't have any information to give me that confidence.

"I'm hoping it's a one-off but it was a very, very strange weekend to say the least."

In the official release, Mercedes chiefs Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe did not reveal a cause of the Singapore slump.

"The performance in Singapore was far below expectations and left us with plenty to think about moving forwards. But move forward is what we will do," said Wolff.

And with just two days to go before practice starts at Suzuka, Lowe added: "We came away from the weekend with plenty to analyze to ensure we come back in better shape for the future."

Hamilton, meanwhile, told the newspapers: "I told my engineers I would like some information about what they think it was. But there's not a lot of time before the next race."

Sutil expecting poignant return to Suzuka
(GMM) F1's return to Suzuka will be particularly poignant for Adrian Sutil.

Last year in fading light and on a damp track, talented Frenchman Jules Bianchi slid off the challenging Japanese circuit and into a recovery vehicle.

He never regained consciousness, and ten months later, Bianchi died.

The vehicle he struck was recovering the crashed Sauber of Sutil. The German driver also witnessed Bianchi's crash, and was mere meters from the stricken Frenchman as he was attended to by medical staff.

And so it is with a heavy heart that, now as Williams' reserve driver, he returns to Suzuka this weekend.

"There are moments that do change your life a bit," Sutil admitted to the German news agency DPA.

"Especially when it's the first time that you have witnessed something like up close. It was an extreme accident and it took a long time to get it out of my head.

"I would not say that it was permanent shock, but it was an eye-opener of what we (drivers) are actually doing.

"It (coming back to Suzuka) will certainly be a different feeling, not just for me but for many others who were directly or indirectly involved," he added.

Japan will therefore be particularly hard for Manor, who as Marussia was Bianchi's team.

"We were Jules' team," confirmed team boss John Booth, "and with that in mind I would ask everyone to understand and respect that, this weekend, we wish to deal with the experience of returning to Suzuka in a very private way."

Alain Prost not stupid enough to invest his own money in a money losing proposition

Prost not buying Renault works team stake
(GMM) Alain Prost has played down reports he is set to return to F1 as a team owner.

The paddock grapevine has suggested that as Renault looks to acquire Lotus, the deal will involve Prost stepping up his current ambassadorial role to actually buy into the Enstone team.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport says the buyout deal is now basically done, with Renault having signed a letter of intent. It is said that the full formalization of the project could now take a further six weeks.

As for Prost's role, it has been rumored that Prost could take up a position similar to that at Mercedes for fellow F1 legend Niki Lauda, who in 2013 bought into the team and is currently the non-executive chairman.

Prost told German television in Singapore that "I will not be the team boss".

While it is expected that Prost, 60, will have a prominent, Lauda-type role, the quadruple world champion has clarified that he is not buying into Renault's works team.

"It was never planned that way," he said. "I have never asked for Renault shares."

And he also urges the media to be cautious in its buyout reports, insisting: "It makes no sense to talk about something before it is 100 per cent for sure."

Mercedes F1 Team Gets Highest-Ever Value As Turnover Increases By $33.7M
German car manufacturer Mercedes got its "highest-ever value for money" from its investment in its F1 team last year and is "on track for a bonus prize money payment," per its financial statements, according to Sylt & Reid of FORBES.

Surprisingly, despite being one of F1's "biggest spenders," Mercedes' value for money is higher than that of many smaller rivals which are "thought to operate more prudently."

Teams in the middle of the grid get value for money of between $660,000 and $740,000 per point whereas the parent company of Red Bull Racing, which won the F1 title for four years in a row before Mercedes, spent $645,000 per point on average from '10-13. According to Mercedes Motorsport Dir Toto Wolff, operating costs rose last year "due to significantly higher performance bonuses payable as a consequence of the record-breaking level of sporting performance and also increased costs arising from regulation change."

Although costs increased last year, "so did revenue." It mainly comprises sponsorship and prize money and, Wolff said, turnover increased by $33.7M due to "higher sponsorship revenue and increased income from the Commercial Rights Holder flowing from improved on-track performance in 2013."

Last year alone revenue grew 18% and, overall, revenue has risen by 28% since the low point of the team's cycle of investment in '11-12. FORBES