Latest F1 news in brief – Tuesday (Update)
10/21/14
-
Raikkonen demoralized by Alonso Brawn, Domenicali to investigate Bianchi crash
- Total president killed in plane crash
- F1 to exceed 20 races as Madrid plans emerge
- Raikkonen's 2014 problem 'psychological' – Massa
- More alarming news about Caterham future
- Rosberg must relax to get back in fight – Frentzen New
Brawn, Domenicali to investigate Bianchi crash
(GMM) A group of well-known F1 names will work with the sport's governing body to investigate the crash of seriously injured driver Jules Bianchi.
It is already known that new processes for yellow flag periods, and safety skirts for recovery vehicles, will be looked into by the newly-formed 'accident panel' instigated by FIA president Jean Todt.
Omnicorse reports that another new measure could be tougher roll-bar crash tests, after Charlie Whiting wrote a letter to the teams in recent days.
In his sickening collision with a recovery vehicle at Suzuka, the roll-bar of Bianchi's Marussia was sheared off. The Italian report claims the FIA is looking into increasing the lateral load crash test from its current limit of 50kN.
The FIA has announced that many well-known names will work on the new accident panel, including former Mercedes and Ferrari bosses Ross Brawn and Stefano Domenicali and former drivers Emerson Fittipaldi and Alex Wurz.
"The work of the group will start this week and a full presentation of its findings is to be made at the next meeting of the World Motor Sport Council on 3 December 2014 in Doha, Qatar," a media statement said.
Total president killed in plane crash
(GMM) The president of F1 sponsor Total has been killed in a plane crash, the Russian news agency Ria Novosti reports.
The French oil multinational is closely aligned in formula one with Renault-powered teams Red Bull and Lotus and the French driver Romain Grosjean.
Russia's Lifenews service also reports that Total's president, Christophe de Margerie, died in a plane crash at the Vnukovo airport in Moscow early on Tuesday.
"Together with the head of Total, all three crew members were killed," the news agency said, revealing that the Paris-bound jet crashed into a snow machine on the runway.
The airport confirmed that a Falcon 50 – a French-built, mid-sized corporate jet – had crashed.
In other F1 sponsor news, the Belgian grand prix venue Spa-Francorchamps will take legal action against Infiniti.
Infiniti is Nissan's luxury brand and the title sponsor of the Red Bull team.
Bloomberg reports that Spa will contest Nissan's trademark application for the name 'Eau Rouge', having intended to name an Infiniti road car after the fabled corner at the popular F1 circuit.
"It's like they want to steal the brand from the circuit," Spa director Pierre-Alain Thibaut said.
"We consider it exactly the opposite of fair play."
Finally, it appears Carlos Sainz Jr's quest for the vacant Toro Rosso seat for 2015 may stumble at the sponsorship hurdle.
Although a prominent Red Bull junior and the newly-crowned Formula Renault 3.5 champion, Spain's Marca reports that the 20-year-old's future may depend on Cepsa.
Cepsa is a Spanish oil company and mutual sponsor of the Toro Rosso team and Sainz. Marca reports that Cepsa and the Faenza-based team, however, are on the verge of a split.
"Maybe I need more than results," Sainz is quoted as saying.
 |
| Rumored races in Madrid and Las Vegas have surfaced in the past week. It seems Bernie Ecclestone is up to his old tricks. |
F1 to exceed 20 races as Madrid plans emerge
(GMM) Plans are afoot for a F1 street race in the heart of Madrid, Spain's El Confidencial reports.
It is claimed Bernie Ecclestone is in talks with a group of Spanish businessmen who want the sport to race on the streets of the large capital city.
El Confidencial claims the project is so well advanced that Ecclestone, the F1 chief executive, is already in possession of a detailed business plan and bank guarantees.
The report said the race would have an annual budget of EUR 50 million, funded privately, but "institutional, political and social support" is also necessary.
Spain already hosts an annual grand prix at the permanent Montmelo circuit in Barcelona, but its contract runs only until 2016.
With Mexico's return, the race calendar for 2015 currently features 20 races, which according to most teams is the logistical maximum.
Azerbaijan is then joining the schedule in 2016, and there are reports Ecclestone is in talks for a race along the famous Las Vegas 'Strip'.
Ecclestone told Forbes' Christian Sylt last week that it's "more likely it (the calendar) will go over 20 (races) with Baku than we lose a race".
 |
| Felipe Massa told the world something AR1 has been telling its readers for years: no one buries teammates quite like Fernando Alonso. |
Raikkonen's 2014 problem 'psychological' – Massa
(GMM) Kimi Raikkonen is suffering psychologically alongside his Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso this year.
That is the view of Felipe Massa, who although still friends with Alonso failed to regularly match the Spaniard's pace before he lost his race seat at the end of last year.
The Maranello team replaced Massa with Finn Raikkonen, his old Ferrari teammate and the 2007 world champion, who has notably struggled in red in 2014.
"I think Kimi's problem is psychological," Massa, now a Williams driver, told Lance!, a Brazilian sports daily.
"I also suffered a lot when Alonso arrived. Kimi is undoubtedly a lot better than he is showing, just based on what he has done in the past.
"But with Alonso in the team, he (Raikkonen) lost his head a little and is not doing the job he is capable of," he said.
"We live in a world of details, and if it's not working psychologically, you are unable to do a perfect job.
"It's easy to say Kimi is unmotivated, just as with me they said it was because of my accident.
"But in my opinion, Alonso is the strongest driver on the grid, so if you're not perfect, it is very difficult to be in front of him.
"He (Alonso) is also very intelligent and is able to get the team on his side. That's what makes the other driver suffer.
"Then when you see the other driver getting more attention from the team, the situation becomes very difficult to turn around," Massa added.
As Alonso departs, Raikkonen is expected to be joined at Ferrari next year by the quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, who is his closest friend in the F1 paddock.
 |
| Kamui Kobayashi is understandably growing tired of the goat rodeo that is Caterham F1. |
More alarming news about Caterham future
(GMM) More alarming news about the health of the ailing F1 backmarker Caterham has emerged.
The posts have now been deleted, but race driver Kamui Kobayashi reportedly admitted on Facebook recently that he considered pulling out of the Russian grand prix when Caterham ran out of spare parts.
He posted a photo of broken suspension on his car at Sochi that was repaired rather than replaced.
"It's checked all the time but, even so, being asked to race like this is too scary! I want to go home already," the Japanese said, according to the BBC.
The 28-year-old driver's manager Chikara Funada confirmed that Kobayashi had written the posts, which were at his private Facebook page and not a public profile.
Earlier this month, bailiffs seized items from Caterham's Leafield headquarters, in the wake of founder Tony Fernandes' exit and the arrival of Swiss-Middle Eastern owners represented by new team advisor Colin Kolles.
Now, it emerges that the company that designs and builds the team's F1 cars, Caterham Sports Limited, has been placed into a process of insolvency.
Finbarr O'Connell, working for the firm Smith and Williamson, told the Telegraph: "As administrator I control the machines they are working on, the computers, the factory, the intellectual property.
"If I don't do a deal with 1MRT (the Caterham F1 team) then they (staff) will have nothing to work on and their jobs could be at risk," he revealed.
It is believed the plan of Caterham's new management is to relocate the entire operation, possibly to Kolles' Greding facility in Germany, where the Romanian based his F3 and Le Mans projects.
"For avoidance of any doubt," team boss Manfredi Ravetto said last week, "I'd like to add that Leafield remains the team's base, even though it's no secret that we are looking for a more suitable alternative.
"We look forward to the final three races of the season, we will keep fighting, we will keep improving and we will introduce some positive surprises."
 |
| Nico Rosberg has been bested by teammate Lewis Hamilton of late. |
Rosberg must relax to get back in fight – Frentzen
(GMM) Nico Rosberg needs to relax if he wants to get back into the world championship fight.
That is the advice of German countryman Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who at the peak of his career fifteen years ago was the title dark horse in 1999.
Now 47, Frentzen told Germany's Auto Bild he thinks Rosberg – the former runaway championship leader in 2014 – is letting Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton run away with the title as the Briton hits a run of top form.
Hamilton, once well behind Rosberg but now 17 points clear with just three races to go, has won the last four grands prix on the trot.
"Nico is making mistakes because he is not free in the head," said Frentzen.
"He needs to pretend that the world championship fight is already over," the former Williams driver advised.
"Only by not thinking about it can he begin to relax again."
Frentzen said it is precisely this kind of calmness that is contributing to Hamilton's increasing dominance at the pointy end of the intense 2014 battle.
"He's mentally strong and totally relaxed," he said. "You can see it in the little things — the way he gets into the car, the way he puts on his gloves," added Frentzen.
However, with the unpopular 'double points' finale looming next month, it remains highly likely the title will go right down to the wire — even if Hamilton's run of superiority continues.
With 50 points on offer in Abu Dhabi, it is mathematically possible that Rosberg will be 49 points behind just before the checker waves but win the title if Hamilton suffers a breakdown.
Hamilton said at the DTM finale at Hockenheim last weekend: "There are so many points in the last race — the championship will be decided there."
But he insists he is not worried.
"There is no need to be concerned," said Hamilton. "You never know what is ahead and we will deal with it as it comes.
"It is no good thinking, 'if this happens or if that happens', or even thinking about what happens if I win.
"I am just going to enjoy this moment and make sure that in these last three races, I am stronger than Nico," he added.