Latest F1 news in brief

Kvyat struggling with 'lemon' engines

Qatar race now unlikely – Ecclestone
Maldonado hits back at 'Crashtor' reputation
Kvyat struggling with pressure – Villeneuve
Arrivabene defends 'human being' Vettel
Leberer plays down Raikkonen incident
McLaren 'on verge of points' now – Alonso
Renault in 'very deep trough' – Jos Verstappen
No rest for Manor's Merhi
Catching Ferrari 'difficult' – Smedley

Qatar race now unlikely – Ecclestone
(GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has put plans for a grand prix in Qatar on the back burner.

In February, the Arab country's highest ranking motor racing official said: "We are about to sign contracts to organize a formula one race" in 2016 or 2017.

That was despite F1 supremo Ecclestone earlier saying he could not organize a Qatari race unless organizers in nearby Bahrain agreed.

"It's not for us (to say)," Bahrain circuit boss Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al-Khalifa said last weekend. "It's for the rights holder."

And according to Reuters news agency, Ecclestone told reporters in Bahrain when asked about Qatar: "I think we've got enough (races) here, don't you?"

Ride-Buyer Maldonado has bad reputation

Maldonado hits back at 'Crashtor' reputation
(GMM) Pastor Maldonado has fended off his growing reputation as a crash-prone F1 driver.

The Telegraph newspaper said a nickname doing the rounds for the Venezuelan is 'Crashtor', while one unflattering website mischievously lists the days and hours since Maldonado's last crash.

"The world is safe for another day," the website hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com currently reads.

The PDVSA-backed Lotus driver, however, insists his reputation as a crasher is undeserved.

"When Pastor crashes, it's big news," said Maldonado. "When the other people crash, there is no news.

"To find the limit, you need to cross the limit. I think I have the big balls to cross the limit every time."

He is yet to score a point in 2015.

Kvyat struggling with pressure – Villeneuve
(GMM) Daniil Kvyat is struggling to deal with the pressure of driving for Red Bull.

That is the claim of the outspoken 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve.

"Last year he did ok at Toro Rosso," said the French Canadian, "but it was nothing special."

Russian Kvyat, 20, was promoted from the junior team over the winter to replace the Ferrari-bound Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull Racing.

"Red Bull is good at creating a hype around someone," Villeneuve told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, "but F1 is also about handling the pressure."

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, however, said it is not fair to judge Kvyat following the team's disastrous start to 2015.

"I think the problem is that he has had to face so many difficulties," he said.

"When his car was working well, he showed he is up to the job, as in Malaysia.

"We have no doubts about his speed, he gives good feedback, and after he gets some consistency, then we will see his potential," added Horner.

Vettel made 2 costly mistakes in Bahrain

Arrivabene defends 'human being' Vettel
(GMM) The case of Sebastian Vettel shows how quickly things can turn around in formula one.

Before Bahrain, the German was the new darling of Ferrari, dubbed 'Per-vettal' by the Italian press while teammate Kimi Raikkonen was once again struggling for results.

But on Sunday, it was the Finn who pushed Mercedes hard for victory, while Vettel had an error-strewn race.

"After three perfect races, Vettel paid a high price for many mistakes," said La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Another Italian newspaper, La Stampa, added: "This time Vettel was the number two at Ferrari … imprecise, nervous, harried".

Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said: "Sebastian made a couple of mistakes, otherwise we could have had two drivers on the podium.

"But he is – thank god – a human being, as we all are," the Italian insisted.

Arrivabene continued: "We live in a world that is far too fleeting. He has won a race and stood on the podium twice, and is part of a team that has done something incredible over the winter."

Leberer plays down Raikkonen incident
(GMM) Josef Leberer has played down suggestions he was almost struck by Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in Bahrain.

Finn Raikkonen was given an official reprimand for "dangerous" driving after he dodged around cars at the end of the pitlane during Friday practice.

Rumors had swirled in the media center that Leberer, the well-known Sauber trainer, only narrowly managed to leap clear of the wayward Ferrari.

"I had to jump back a little bit," Leberer told Finland's Turun Sanomat newspaper, "but it didn't really frighten me."

Is McLaren-Honda now capable of at least 10th place?

McLaren 'on verge of points' now – Alonso
(GMM) Fernando Alonso says the new McLaren-Honda project is now on the verge of being able to score points.

"We did not have a good start to the season," Yasuhisa Arai, the F1 boss of the struggling Japanese manufacturer Honda, told Speed Week.

"The path to the summit is steep. But we have left base camp now," he smiled.

Indeed, although an awful weekend of reliability in Bahrain for Jenson Button meant he could not even take to the grid, teammate Alonso left the island Kingdom declaring that Q3 is the target for Barcelona.

McLaren and Honda are preparing significant upgrades for the first European race of the season.

"We are on the verge of points now," said Alonso, "and hopefully it will be in Spain or Monaco, where the engine matters less," he is quoted by El Confidencial.

Japanese Arai, meanwhile, insisted the disastrous start of Honda's return to F1 has not resulted in sackings.

"No, that's not true," he said. "We are still working with the same people."

Any talk of a sudden leap from points to the podium, however, is premature for now.

"A podium would be a wish or a hope," said Arai. "We have only four races behind us and 15 opportunities laying ahead.

"We will begin to score later in the season on a regular basis," he added.

Jos Verstappen (L)

Renault in 'very deep trough' – Jos Verstappen
(GMM) Having kept its composure until now, Toro Rosso's patience in 2015 may finally be up.

While big-brother team Red Bull has been highly critical of Renault this season, the junior outfit Toro Rosso has kept calm.

But according to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the Faenza team's boss Franz Tost made a hasty exit to the airport on Sunday after both cars failed.

"No comment," the Austrian is quoted as saying.

Former F1 driver Jos Verstappen, the father of Max, explained: "Franz is not happy.

"They are all a bit desperate, because they cannot do anything about it. All we can do is wait and hope for better times.

"I know that Renault is doing everything to solve its problems, but it is not possible in three weeks.

"Formula one is a very competitive sport," Jos added, "there are always highs and lows, but this is a very deep trough."

For the otherwise highly-impressive 17-year-old Max, it has been a frustrating start to his career with three car failures in four races.

"Maybe that's a record," the young Dutchman smiled wryly.

"It's a bit ridiculous. Of course I'm worried about the future.

"I try to stay positive, but now my fist is hitting the table. This cannot continue, but I know they understand that too," Verstappen added.

No rest for Manor's Merhi
(GMM) While the other F1 drivers take a weekend off, there will be no rest for Roberto Merhi.

As he has not been signed up for the full F1 season by Manor, the Spaniard will kick off his 2015 campaign in the Formula Renault 3.5 series in Spain this weekend.

Beyond that, he knows he might not return to the F1 cockpit in Barcelona next month.

Merhi, 24, has admitted he will be sidelined if Manor signs up a better funded driver to be Will Stevens' full-time teammate.

Not only that, Merhi has struggled notably in 2015.

After Bahrain, he said: "I don't know. I felt like something was missing: top speed, traction, the front of the car and it was very easy to make mistakes.

"We will have to see, because I don't think this is the way to continue," he is quoted by Spain's El Confidencial.

"I have been consistent, yes, but consistently slow. I would rather be ahead and finish only once.

"We have many problems," Merhi added, "and we have to work on that, because there are too many differences with my teammate which is a bit rare (for me)."

Rob Smedley when he was with Ferrari

Catching Ferrari 'difficult' – Smedley
(GMM) Williams has admitted it will struggle to quickly recover its position as the first force behind title favorite Mercedes.

The Grove team finished last season as clearly the fastest team behind the title winners, but the fabled Italian giant Ferrari has sped past in 2015.

"After the first four races you can already see the balance of power," chief engineer Rob Smedley said after the Bahrain grand prix.

"We are preparing a series of upgrades for Barcelona, but catching up with Ferrari will be very difficult."

Team driver Felipe Massa acknowledged in Bahrain that Williams' much smaller budget against the might of Ferrari is beginning to show.

"Third isn't anything to be ashamed of," Williams deputy Claire Williams told Britain's Sky.

She agreed with Massa that competing against Ferrari's spending is difficult.

"I've always said it's about working harder and smarter than the others," said Williams. "The likes of McLaren and Ferrari have always had bigger budgets than us and we have won sixteen championships against them.

"I heard that Ferrari are plowing in another 100 million to their development on top of what they had already allocated — and that's our whole budget!

"To be honest, I'd love to be able to win against them," she smiled, "with a third of their budget."

But from an engineering perspective, Smedley acknowledged how hard it will be for Williams to fend off his and Massa's red-clad former employer.

"We have already extracted good potential from our cars," he said, "and this work continues, but we do not expect to be able to rapidly increase our pace.

"Also, we can't forget that behind us there are teams like Red Bull, which is a huge organization, well equipped and with a very considerable resource.

"When they sort out their problems," said Smedley, "they will be doing much better than they are doing now. Generally, all of our main rivals are very strong."