Latest F1 news in brief

Abiteboul says new Renault still not assembled

2019 Renault car 'still in pieces' – Abiteboul
Massa, Alonso back sweeping changes at Ferrari
After Todt controversy, F1 back on Sky in Germany
Drivers not sure 2019 rule changes will work
Mercedes dominance could now be over – Rosberg
PM hopes Malaysia returns to F1 calendar
Stoll: Ghosn is gone but Thierry Bollore is a real fan of F1

2019 Renault car 'still in pieces' – Abiteboul

(GMM) Renault's 2019 car is yet to see light of day.

Ostensibly, the French team 'launched' its new single seater on Tuesday, but it was actually the 2018 car with 2019-style bodywork.

One theory is that the car is delayed, and another is that Renault doesn't want to reveal its secrets.

Team boss Cyril Abiteboul admitted it is "the biggest step we have taken since the introduction of V6 engines".

Team advisor Alain Prost says Renault has been working over recent months to build up, declaring on Tuesday: "We are now a big team."

And with Daniel Ricciardo now in the cockpit, Abiteboul says Renault has "perhaps the strongest" driver lineup of any team. Nico Hulkenberg, he added, is "enormously underestimated".

Australian Ricciardo has joined Renault from Red Bull, and he says his mission now is to show that it is a "serious" move with the aim of eventually winning a title.

"When I signed here, a lot of people were saying 'Why has he done that?'" he admitted.

"I feel as though not everyone sees it as a serious move, so I want to show that I am serious."

And German Hulkenberg said: "If I had to put my expectations into words, I would say 'We have work to do, but hopefully not too much'."

As for the missing 2019 car, boss Abiteboul explained: "Our new car is still in pieces, but we will have it ready for the Barcelona test.

"I believe we are not the only team to be in this situation," Abiteboul added.

And when that car emerges, Prost says the goal is for it to be close to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

"We will be able to reduce the gap to the top three teams, I just don't know by how much," said the quadruple world champion.

"Everything looks very promising," Prost added. "I don't think it will be enough to beat Mercedes and Ferrari, but Red Bull and Honda are a question mark for me."

As for the future, it appears that Renault's intense team-building process is now basically over. Abiteboul admitted Renault is "several hundred people" short of the big three, but that will not change for now.

"We are talking about a capped budget for 2021, so we will not go further than we are today," said the Frenchman.

Massa, Alonso back sweeping changes at Ferrari

Felipe Massa

(GMM) Former Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa have backed the Maranello team's new boss.

After failing to win the 2018 title despite having a top car, Ferrari ousted its boss since 2014, Maurizio Arrivabene.

After a power struggle, his replacement is Mattia Binotto, the existing and continuing technical boss.

"Binotto is a very calm guy. He is one of the people who stays calm even under stress and absorbs the pressure at Ferrari much better than Arrivabene," former Ferrari driver Massa is quoted by Auto Bild.

Alonso, Massa's former teammate, agrees.

"Mattia has shown leadership when he was the technical boss," he said. "He will do everything to make Ferrari stronger."

It is interesting times at Ferrari.

Italy's Automoto reports that FIA chief Jo Bauer had to be personally present for the crash test of the 2019 car, because of a radical new technical innovation.

Reportedly, that innovation is the existence for the first time of 3D-printed bodywork parts, with one source calling it a "technical revolution" as Ferrari would now be able to introduce new parts at the race track.

Another bit of news is that Ferrari has shaken up the engineers, with many of Kimi Raikkonen's former team now joining Sebastian Vettel.

Jock Clear, meanwhile, moves from a more senior role to concentrate more exclusively on newcomer Charles Leclerc.

German Vettel, however, denied rumors that his own race engineer could also be defecting to Leclerc's side of the garage.

"(Riccardo) Adami remains my race engineer," he clarified.

After Todt controversy, F1 back on Sky in Germany

Jean Todt

(GMM) There is good news for German fans ahead of the forthcoming 2019 season.

Last year, Jean Todt caused a stir when he said he watched the Brazilian grand prix on RTL, Germany's free-to-air broadcaster.

"I was the most frustrated television viewer imaginable," said the Frenchman, declaring that he watched "more advertising" than he thought was possible.

"If I was a German formula one fan, I'm sorry, I would be very frustrated with formula one," added Todt.

Todt's comments coincided with speculation the German pay-TV network Sky Deutschland could be looking to return to German screens in 2019.

That has now been confirmed, with Sky saying the deal is for at least 2019 and 2020.

Dr Holger Ensslin, of the Sky Deutschland management board, confirmed that the deal includes "no commercial breaks during the races".

"With this package, we once again offer the best coverage of formula one on German television," he said.

"We have listened to the wishes of many of our customers who last year missed the way we showed F1."

Drivers not sure 2019 rule changes will work

New front wing on the Haas

(GMM) Two F1 drivers are not so sure the aerodynamic rule changes for 2019 will make a big difference.

Max Verstappen's bosses at Red Bull, Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko, say the changes including new front wings are little more than a waste of $15 million per team.

"It's supposed to improve overtaking," Verstappen said. "There are other little things in addition to the front wings, but I do not think it will work so well.

"I think if all the teams do well with the new regulations, we should see a hierarchy similar to what we know," the Dutchman is quoted by France's Auto Hebdo.

"It will not improve the races because the cars have too much downforce and they are too wide. But we know there are tracks that are good for overtaking and that should stay the same," Verstappen added.

Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg agrees, saying all the teams are busily feeding computer models into simulators to test the 2019 rule changes.

"Honestly, I don't know if the new rules are a chance for a team like us, or if the top teams will move even further away because they have more resources," said the German.

"It can go either way," Hulkenberg added.

Mercedes dominance could now be over – Rosberg

It all comes down to how much of the new car now semi-retired Aldo Costa designed

(GMM) Nico Rosberg thinks Mercedes' utter dominance of the 'power unit' era may finally be over.

Before retiring, Rosberg won the 2016 title for the German team. And since 2014, when the turbo V6 era began, Lewis Hamilton has won every other championship.

"This year, everything resets to zero because of the rule changes," Rosberg told DPA news agency.

"Perhaps Mercedes will no longer be the dominant force. I'm really looking forward to seeing that," he said.

Rosberg said Red Bull could play a bigger role now that the team has paired with Honda, but thinks the pressure is piling on the shoulders of Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel.

"Of course the pressure is very big," he said.

"They have now had two chances and last year in particular they didn't use them," Rosberg said of Ferrari and Vettel.

And putting extra pressure on Vettel is the arrival of his new young teammate, Charles Leclerc.

"I am sure we will have a lot of fun, because the boy is really on the gas," said Rosberg.

"He is on a different level to Kimi, who was clearly number 2. Leclerc goes straight to number 1 and it will to exciting to see how Sebastian deals with it."

Rosberg also thinks Valtteri Bottas has a chance to bounce back in 2019, after being comprehensively beaten and demoralized by Hamilton last season.

"If he has a good start and Lewis loses some of his motivation, which sometimes happens to him, a lot can change," he said.

PM hopes Malaysia returns to F1 calendar

Sepang

(GMM) Malaysia's prime minister hopes formula one returns to the country.

The Sepang Circuit near Kuala Lumpur was built specifically for F1 ahead of its 1999 debut.

In 2017, the government pulled out of its contract with a year to run, with sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin declaring: "Costs too high, returns limited".

But PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has now told the local Star newspaper that he has "hope" Malaysia will host F1 again.

"I remember my visit to Estoril in Portugal, which inspired me to have a similar track in Malaysia," he said.

"Malaysians took up racing themselves and are now very well into motor racing and also the engineering behind the cars. So we have gained a lot of things from the Sepang races and the money spent on the track was well worth it.

"I hope the races will continue into the future, and I also hope formula one will come back in all its glory," the prime minister added.

Stoll: Ghosn is gone but Thierry Bollore is a real fan of F1

Thierry Bollore

The departure of scandal-hit Renault chief executive and chairman Carlos Ghosn changes nothing with regards to the French carmaker’s commitment and involvement in Formula 1, team president Jerome Stoll said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the launch of the team’s 2019 car at their English factory, the Renault Sport Racing boss told reporters that the company remained fully committed.

“OK, Carlos Ghosn is gone but (new Renault CEO) Thierry Bollore is a real fan of Formula One," he said.

“Despite his very busy agenda, he came to (the Renault techno center) in Viry in late December to make an address to all the staff and restate the fact he was a strong sponsor and it was not because Carlos Ghosn was no more the chairman that Renault will limit its commitment to the Formula One competition.

“He came, he made his address, it was very clear — 200 people in front of him — and he said we are here, the strategy remains the same."

Renault replaced Ghosn in January, more than two months after his arrest in Japan over allegations of financial misconduct uncovered by Renault’s Japanese partner Nissan, which he also chaired.

Stoll, 64, had been due to stand down this year but remained in place after his designated successor Thierry Koskas suddenly left the Renault Group.

Renault finished fourth in Formula One last year and are aiming to close the gap on Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull before targeting podiums, wins and a championship challenge under a five-year plan.

They have signed popular Australian Daniel Ricciardo, a race winner from Red Bull, and invested heavily in upgrading the factory.

Stoll warned however that the carmaker was very concerned by the lack of a clear plan for the sport beyond 2020 when current commercial agreements expire.

He said Renault and U.S.-owned commercial rights holders Liberty Media were aligned on key proposals such as implementation of a cost cap and the redistribution of revenues, but swift action was needed.

“The Concorde (Agreement between teams, rights holder and governing FIA) will come to an end within two years, and we need visibility to know what is going to be the next step after," said Stoll. “My main concern is to have a decision.

“We are pushing. I had several discussions with (Formula One chairman) Chase Carey about that. He promised the decision would be taken by late last year. No decision has been taken. So I’m going to push.

“As soon as I meet him again at Melbourne (for the opening race on March 17) or maybe in Barcelona (for testing) next week I’m going to start again to push him. What is your planning? When can you take a decision? It’s crucial for us."