Latest F1 news in brief

Kimi Raikkonen fast in the Ferrari again at Barcelona

Red Bull needs to catch up – Ricciardo
Ferrari still shining with 2015 car
Mateschitz denies selling F1 team to Audi
Crash turns heads but Ferrari shining brightest
Rosberg to become father in 2015
Lotus back on track for 'top places' – Gastaldi
Lotus' Gastaldi says 'huge egos' hurting F1
Extra Mercedes power 'noticeable' – Wehrlein
Manor takes another step to salvation
Vettel plays down Schumacher comparison
Ralf Schumacher divorced
Massa, Lauda support helmet livery change ban
F1 move 'out of the question' for Danica Patrick

Red Bull needs to catch up – Ricciardo
(GMM) Daniel Ricciardo has admitted Red Bull has some catching up to do in the few short weeks before Melbourne.

"We are not where we would like to be," the team's new number 1 driver was quoted by Speed Week after the second winter test began in Barcelona.

"Others are further ahead than us."

At Jerez, the 2010-2013 world championship-winning team struggled for laps and pace. On Thursday at the Circuit de Catalunya, Ricciardo was third quickest after doing 59 laps.

He said: "The car feels ok. We are moving forward."

Ricciardo confirmed reports that the biggest issue is the RB11's turbo V6 engine, after works supplier Renault made big organizational and technical changes over the winter.

"The biggest thing is the drivability of the engine," he admitted. "But we knew it would take some time.

"On the other hand, I have not changed my mind — when it comes down to it in Australia, we will be there."

Ricciardo said Red Bull has made progress since a troubled test at Jerez.

"We did not do 100 laps today," he acknowledged, "but there was nothing major that meant an engine change, as was the case in Jerez.

"It is too early to be frustrated," said the Australian. "On the other hand, testing can be a little frustrating generally, but I won't be worried unless we are lagging behind after a few races."

According to Auto Motor und Sport, the 25-year-old continued: "I can feel that the engine has a few more horses, but we need to work on drivability.

"Also with the car we are not where we want to be," Ricciardo added.

Ferrari still shining with 2015 car
(GMM) Ferrari is continuing to impress with the apparent speed of its 2015 car.

At Jerez recently, the fabled team – despite having gone through the turmoil of a personnel revolution after its disappointing 2014 campaign – surprisingly emerged with the quickest pace as the winter test period began.

And the SF15-T continued to shine in Kimi Raikkonen's hands on Thursday, as the second of just three pre-season tests began in Barcelona.

At the top of the times, both the Finn as well as ultimate pacesetter Pastor Maldonado, of Lotus, were quicker than Lewis Hamilton's Spanish grand prix pole time of 2014.

Raikkonen pointed out that some on track were using soft tires on Thursday, but the Finnish broadcaster MTV3 revealed that the SF15-T was not among them.

"We used only the medium and the hard," the 35-year-old driver confirmed.

"The car is a completely different story from last year's," Raikkonen reported.

"We've still got a long way ahead of us but the team is working well and has produced a very nice car."

Raikkonen hinted that all the high-profile personnel changes, including a new team boss and Sebastian Vettel as his teammate, were made "for the right reasons".

"There is a nice atmosphere in the team," he is quoted by Italy's Autosprint. "I see a motivated and happy group of people, but as I said, we know that we are just beginning and we will still work to improve.

"But we are together as a team, which is a good starting point."

Autosprint reports that Raikkonen's best lap on Thursday was not only good enough for the 2014 pole, but his top speed between turns 4 and 5 as well as on the main straight was fully competitive.

"As I already said," the 2007 world champion is quoted by Speed Week, "it's a totally different car, a different story."

Italy's Omnicorse, meanwhile, revealed that new team boss Maurizio Arrivabene arrived at the Circuit de Catalunya mid-afternoon on Thursday.

"Let us not be surprised in these days," the former Marlboro executive insisted.

"It's too early to make any assessments, but the team is there," he added.

"And that is important. I was sure that it was enough to give a little tranquility and motivation to a group that can do great things," Arrivabene added.

Mateschitz denies selling F1 team to Audi
(GMM) Dietrich Mateschitz has denied reports he might be looking to sell his F1 team Red Bull to Audi.

On Thursday, stories emerged in the German press suggesting that the Red Bull mogul and billionaire might be looking to go beyond his role as a team owner and buy into the sport's commercial rights.

In the process, he might be offering to sell the multiple title-winning Milton-Keynes based team to Audi, the Volkswagen-owned German carmaker, for EUR 300 million by 2017.

"I don't know anything about it," Austrian Mateschitz insisted to the German-language Speed Week.

"As far as I know, we are having no such 'clearance sale'," he added.

Crash turns heads but Ferrari shining brightest
(GMM) Nearly three months after the checkered flag waved in Abu Dhabi, it was a pair of rookies who had pulses racing on Thursday.

The press room at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya buzzed when images of Felipe Nasr's Sauber with heavy rear damage, and the similarly-stricken Williams of female tester Susie Wolff, depicted the pair in the travel trap.

Wolff later showed to reporters video footage on her mobile phone of the moment Brazilian Nasr, on a flying lap, was hit from behind by the Briton.

"I went straight over to him and said 'what the hell went on?'" Wolff recounted.

"He was a bit speechless and to be honest with you I was also a bit speechless. It's stupid," she added.

Predictably, Nasr also denied the blame, claiming that Wolff confessed to him after the crash that she had not seen him.

"I was clearly in the braking zone already, a few meters after the braking zone, and suddenly I felt a big hit," he said.

It was an exciting diversion in an altogether revealing day of action in Barcelona, as the second of just three official winter tests before Melbourne began in sunny Spain.

The most impressive performance belonged to Kimi Raikkonen, whose fastest time on hard tires was almost as quick as the soft tire-shod Lotus of Pastor Maldonado.

"The Ferraris are fast early," Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport, "and they're setting the pace.

"But I'm sure Mercedes could do that (time) as well. They had a difficult day.

"We are lagging a bit behind," said the Australian, "but the picture is not clear yet. It's still early."

What is clear, however, is that Ferrari has made obvious progress since 2014.

Veteran journalist and former F1 team manager Peter Windsor agreed: "I think Ferrari has reached Mercedes' level of the end of last season," he is quoted by the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat.

"But Mercedes has not yet shown their 2015 level," he insisted.

Rosberg to become father in 2015
(GMM) Nico Rosberg is the next F1 driver on pole position to become a father.

Other new dads in the paddock are Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, while the Lotus duo of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, plus Felipe Massa, also have young children.

And Mercedes' newly-married Rosberg, championship runner-up in 2014, will be the next.

"It's a girl!" the headline of the major German daily Bild exclaimed.

The 29-year-old German, who is scheduled to test on Friday despite reports of a neck strain, confirmed: "Vivian is four months pregnant and we are both super-happy."

Rosberg said he went with Vivian to the latest pregnancy scan, and admitted: "Simply amazing. On the 3D images you can already see exactly how she is growing."

The newspaper said his daughter is due to be born in mid-August, in the days immediately before the 2015 Belgian grand prix.

"Maybe I'll ask Bernie Ecclestone to move a race," laughed Rosberg, when told he might be in the midst of yet another scintillating title scrap with Lewis Hamilton.

"Seriously," he added, "it's much too early to think about that."

Lotus back on track for 'top places' – Gastaldi

(GMM) After a miserable 2014 season, Lotus appears back on track this year.

Pastor Maldonado's chart-topping time in the new Mercedes-powered E23 on Thursday would have been good enough to beat Lewis Hamilton to pole at the Spanish grand prix last year.

However, the Venezuelan was fitted with soft Pirelli tires, while the almost-as-quick Ferrari also beat Hamilton's pole-time — with hard tires and reportedly more fuel.

"The new car is running really well," Maldonado confirmed to the German press, "but we're not good enough yet."

As for the difference between the troubled Renault engine of last year and the new Mercedes V6, Maldonado insisted: "It's just too early to make a statement. But it is nice to see my name at the top.

"We are still learning with the Mercedes engine, but we are making rapid progress. Where will we end up? Who knows," he added.

More willing to predict a much better year for Lotus have been teammate Romain Grosjean and team owner Gerard Lopez.

And now team boss Federico Gastaldi has followed suit.

"It might seem daring," he admitted to Brazil's Globo, "but I see the potential in the project for this year to be targeting the top places, as we did in 2012 and 2013."

Gastaldi admitted that the "aerodynamic problems" with the 2014 car were "realized too late", while Lotus also suffered "many problems" with the Renault engine.

"Everyone who worked with Renault faced serious difficulties," he said.

"I remember practice at Monaco, Pastor left the pits and stopped on the track because of the power unit. At that moment we decided we needed to change our supplier.

"We started talking to Mercedes that weekend and were very pleased to find that it was possible to use their power unit. We also found that the cost was much lower than the Renault, which we didn't know before," Gastaldi smiled.

At the same time, however, Lotus was reeling from the departures of key figures, including James Allison and Dirk de Beer, who both fled to Ferrari.

"But the other engineers stayed," Gastaldi insisted. "Allison never worked alone! It is this very group, now coordinated by another capable engineer, Nick Chester, who produced the good car that we have now."

And he denied there are problems on the driver side, as Lotus has not won a race since Kimi Raikkonen also fled to Ferrari.

"Pastor (Maldonado) has won a race," Gastaldi pointed out. "And we know that Romain (Grosjean) is another driver who will fight for wins with a good car, that is for sure. He has matured a lot."

Lotus' Gastaldi says 'huge egos' hurting F1
(GMM) "Huge egos" have ensured the status quo in formula one when it comes to cost-cutting and income distribution.

That is the claim of Federico Gastaldi, the deputy chief at Lotus.

Late last year, his boss Gerard Lopez was highly vocal as he joined fellow midfielders Force India and Sauber in complaining about the financial situation within the sport.

But according to Gastaldi, nothing has changed in the last three months.

"We have lost count of the number of meetings we have had with Bernie Ecclestone and the other teams," he is quoted by Brazil's Globo.

"Over the past year it hasn't moved an inch in terms of the changes that we consider important not only for us but also for the whole sport," Gastaldi added.

He said some of the biggest problems are the personalities involved.

"There is a lot of vanity here," Gastaldi is quoted as saying. "This is a world of huge egos. There are interests of all kinds.

"They do not see that we are important to them too.

"What is really wrong is that there are some, who already have a lot, who get the lion's share of what is generated by the show. And those who do not have as much, or who have much less, get much less.

"It is a model that does not work," he argues.

A similar case was made by Malaysian aviation entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, who founded his team in 2010 but sold the now-ailing Caterham mid last year.

He admitted this week that the income distribution model is broken.

"There is enough money for everyone to make money from (F1)," he told Britain's Sky.

"Formula one needs a bit more excitement, needs a bit of cost control and needs to make sure that teams have enough money to survive," Fernandes added.

Gastaldi explained that the biggest and most powerful teams on the grid "have a lot of strength" to keep the situation as it is for reasons of self-interest.

Still, he insists Lotus has a big enough budget to compete.

"It does not compare with those teams that receive much more than us," he said, "but in 2012 and 2013, with less than half of what they got, we were there.

"We have the potential, after the mistakes of the past year, to once again be very competitive," Gastaldi added.

Extra Mercedes power 'noticeable' – Wehrlein
(GMM) How much progress has dominant 2014 title winner Mercedes made over the winter?

The perfect man to ask on Thursday was Pascal Wehrlein.

A DTM driver, the 20-year-old German began his duties at the Barcelona test at the wheel of the Force India.

It is powered by Mercedes' 2014 power unit, which was steered by works drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to every race victory last year except three.

"As soon as I got used to the Force India," Wehrlein smiled, "I was asked to drive the Mercedes."

That was because world champion Hamilton did 10 laps in the new, 2015 works Mercedes before pulling into the pits with a fever.

The W06 is powered by Mercedes' revised 2015 engine. How much better it is than the hugely-dominant 2014 version is one of the great unanswered questions ahead of the new world championship.

"Of course," Wehrlein is quoted by Speed Week, "the two engines did not feel the same. But it's hard to compare them.

"Over the winter everyone tries to get more power out of what they have, and of course that is noticeable to the driver," he added

Manor takes another step to salvation

(GMM) Manor, the reborn Marussia team, took a step back from administration on Thursday.

We reported earlier that the ailing backmarker's administrators would on Thursday issue a statement confirming that a restructuring process (CVA) agreed with creditors is now in place.

Indeed, the statement was issued to the media at 3pm UK.

"With new investment and a continuity of the respected management, the business has the ideal platform from which it can accelerate the operational rebuilding already under way to get a team back racing," said administrator Geoff Rowley.

Manor is now in a race against time to be ready for Melbourne.

Although it was believed the team could sit out the opening three races of 2015 and remain alive, new reports indicate Manor must in fact present for scrutineering in Melbourne in just three weeks time.

For now, Force India has blocked Manor's efforts to simply race the 2014 car in Australia, so a small staff is working hard at Dinnington to prepare a machine conforming to the 2015 rules to be crash-tested and cleared by the FIA.

It is believed Justin King, the former Sainsbury's boss, is powering the new operation, and German reports indicate another key investor is from Northern Ireland.

And according to the F1 correspondent Ralf Bach, McLaren may also be playing a role in the resurrection of the formerly Banbury-based team.

Writing on his blog f1-insider, Bach said McLaren supremo Ron Dennis is keen to emulate Ferrari's new alliance with the 2016 entrant Haas in terms of having a de-facto 'B-team'.

Bach said Manor might nominate Woking as the venue for its wind tunnel program, while Dennis is reportedly "trying to convince Honda" to supply the team with engines.

Vettel plays down Schumacher comparison

(GMM) Sebastian Vettel has denied he is a "carbon-copy" of fellow German and F1 legend Michael Schumacher.

Earlier this week, new Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene hailed the arrival at Maranello of Red Bull's quadruple world champion.

"I was around in Michael (Schumacher)'s time," the former Marlboro executive told Leo Turrini's blog, "and I confess that there are times when I look at Vettel and, in some ways, it really seems like a carbon copy of Schumi!"

Vettel, however, reacted to Sport Bild: "It is almost impossible to compare any driver to Michael. What Michael achieved was unique — he played in his own league."

Ferrari insiders, however, insist that 27-year-old Vettel has adopted a Schumacher-like disposition at the fabled team, as he stalks the paddock analytically taking notes.

"It is always very special to be compared to Michael," he acknowledged. "And I'm also happy that I have been so warmly welcomed by everyone at Ferrari.

"Still, I'm Sebastian, not Michael, and I must and will go my own way," Vettel insisted. "I also think today is a very different time to Michael's."

But the early signs are positive, as Ferrari has begun yet another test week with impressive pace from the new SF15-T car.

"The first impression at the tests has been good," Vettel agreed, "but we need to keep the ball nice and flat. I know how much work we still have ahead of us.

"Ferrari is a team that is changing and it will be a while until everyone feels comfortable in their new roles. Including me," he said.

Ralf Schumacher divorced

(GMM) Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher and his wife Cora have divorced.

Late last year, we reported that the great Michael Schumacher's younger brother was only communicating with Cora, whose maiden name is Brinkmann, through their lawyers.

Shortly afterwards, it emerged that police had been called to their home, with Ralf and Cora each lodging assault claims against the other.

The reports said that after 13 years of marriage, they were fighting over the former Williams and Toyota driver's EUR 100 million fortune, their homes in Germany, Austria and France, and their 13-year-old son David.

Now, the Swiss newspaper Blick reports that after a four-hour court proceeding near Cologne, Ralf and Cora are officially divorced.

Another report, in the German gossip publication Bunte, said Cora has received a EUR 6 million settlement.

Schumacher's lawyer would not comment except to confirm: "They are divorced."

Massa, Lauda support helmet livery change ban

(GMM) The new ban on helmet livery changes was actually a compromise measure, it emerged on Friday.

So far, news that drivers will be limited to just a single helmet livery per season has been highly controversial.

"I am a fan of consistency," Grand Prix Drivers' Association president Alex Wurz said, "but seriously! What's next? Rules on haircut?"

Felipe Massa, however, is not sure what the fuss is about.

"The helmet is your second face," said the Brazilian, who rarely races without his familiar dark blue and incandescent design.

"I don't understand why you need to change it all the time."

From now on, drivers will not be allowed to. Germany's Auto Motor und Sport claims that the measure was a desperate attempt to make the drivers more easily recognizable from the grandstands and on television.

Reportedly, Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone pushed for bigger race numbers on the cars, only to be met with opposition from teams who argue the space is needed for sponsors.

FIA president Todt then proposed at the recent F1 Commission meeting that cars be mandatorily fitted with a large, Le Mans-style fin on the engine cover, making room for a big race number, driver name and nationality flag.

"The (race) organizers were delighted," claimed correspondent Michael Schmidt. "But the teams again resisted, heeding the protests of their engineers."

The helmet livery ban was Todt and Ecclestone's compromise solution.

"I think the rule makes sense," said F1 legend and Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda. "Sometimes I can't recognize even my own drivers in the car."

F1 move 'out of the question' for Danica Patrick

(GMM) Danica Patrick has played down suggestions she might be in pole position to enter formula one next year.

She already drives in Nascar for Stewart-Haas, the team co-owned by F1's 2016 newcomer, Gene Haas.

32-year-old Patrick's move from American racing to F1 would be an enormous publicity coup for the sport, as she is undoubtedly the most famous female racing driver in the history of racing.

But she told the German newspaper Welt: "Many, many people have always said that I will move to F1 one day. But no one ever talked to me about it!

"But that's ok, because I wouldn't go anyway.

"It's not so much that I am not interested in driving a formula one car," Patrick explained. "But in order to do it properly, I would have to leave the US, and for me that is out of the question.

"Also, I only want to do things if I have a chance to win, and as an outsider that would be so difficult in formula one," she added.