Latest F1 news in brief – Wednesday

• Renault working overtime to improve their inferior power unit

  Renault to keep working over Christmas

• Lauda returned home from rehabilitation – Marko
• Former Ferrari boss not ruling out Alonso return
• Verstappen happy with Ricciardo replacement
• Kubica not offended by Vettel comments
• Brawn: This year’s aero lessons very important for 2021
• Brawn: Teams will have over a year to work on 2021 cars
• Verstappen: Newey is heavily involved with the RB15

Renault to keep working over Christmas

(GMM) Staff at Renault's works F1 team will work throughout the Christmas and New Year period.

That is the news from Cyril Abiteboul, the French works team's boss.

Renault reached its goal of finishing behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull in 2018, but team officials were disappointed they did not more significantly close the actual performance gap.

Therefore, the team will be working hard this holidays.

"We want to give ourselves the maximum chance of having a car and engine that is up to expectations in the winter tests," Abiteboul told France's Auto Hebdo.

"It remains the essential period to determine the basis of what we will have next season, so we are working every day. Everyone has decided that voluntarily," he added.

Lauda returned home from rehabilitation – Marko

Niki Lauda

(GMM) Niki Lauda has now returned home after a long period in hospital and rehabilitation.

That is the news from Dr Helmut Marko, who is F1 legend Lauda's Austrian countryman and friend.

69-year-old Lauda, the Mercedes team chairman, underwent a lung transplant in early August and missed the rest of the 2018 season.

But Red Bull official Marko says Lauda's recovery is going "very well".

"After five months, Niki has finally left the hospital and rehabilitation clinic and is back home," he told Servus TV.

"All his organs are working, now it's time to regain his strength. I am optimistic we will see him back in Australia next March."

As for Red Bull, Marko said Red Bull's preparations to switch to Honda power are on track.

"So far, all their promises on the technical side have been kept," he told the Austrian broadcaster.

"If this continues, we will then have a great chance to compete for the title in the coming season."

Marko said he is not worried the Red Bull-Honda collaboration will end as badly as McLaren's did.

"We have a different approach than McLaren," he explained.

"It is the first time in 14 years that we have factory status. We said to Honda 'Bring us the strongest engine you can build. Whatever you bring, we'll put it in the car'.

"At McLaren, the approach was different," said Marko.

"We are prepared for Honda having a different culture, but they have the potential and the financial resources to succeed in formula one. We will see how things go."

Former Ferrari boss not ruling out Alonso return

Stefano Domenicali must be smoking some sort of funny weed

(GMM) Former Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says it is possible Fernando Alonso will return to the Maranello team.

Alonso raced for Ferrari for five years until their relationship soured and he left at the end of 2014.

The 37-year-old Spaniard has now retired from F1 after four subsequent fallow years with McLaren, but is not ruling out the possibility of returning in 2020.

Domenicali, now boss at Lamborghini, says Alonso and Ferrari could reunite.

"It would be a great story, but it is something that should not be forced," the Italian told Auto Bild.

"But if in the future he makes that decision, why not? Of course it depends on whether Fernando returns and to all the other people involved and I leave that decision to them," Domenicali said.

However, Domenicali rejected the suggestion that Ferrari and Alonso could never work together again because of the two-time world champion's paddock reputation.

"To be honest, when you work with these types of personalities, with that much talent, you cannot say if it is difficult or not difficult," he said.

"The only thing I can say is that Alonso was very strong, he was very motivated, and he wanted to achieve so much.

"Beyond that, if I am honest, saying that he is controversial is totally incorrect," Domenicali added.

Verstappen happy with Ricciardo replacement

Verstappen will chew Gasly up and spit him out

(GMM) Max Verstappen says he is happy with Red Bull's pick for his new teammate.

The Dutchman says he cannot understand why Daniel Ricciardo decided to quit Red Bull and switch instead to the less competitive works Renault team.

"He had already committed to Dietrich Mateschitz, the big boss of Red Bull, so I didn't understand that," Verstappen told the Dutch publication Formule 1. "Nobody in the team understands it.

"But I never talked to him about it — it's not my problem."

Some believe Ricciardo was worried about Red Bull's switch to Honda power, while others think the Australian decided to flee the team's increasing focus on Verstappen.

Indeed, 21-year-old Verstappen hinted that he may have had some influence over Red Bull's choice of replacement for Ricciardo.

"In the end it's not about me saying yes or no. That's not my decision," he explained.

"But I clearly told them what will work and what will not work. I am not going to mention names, but I am glad that Pierre Gasly is coming," Verstappen said.

"He is very nice and very fast, but I am afraid of no one. I fear no one," he insisted.

Kubica not offended by Vettel comments

Kubica not offended by Vettel vote of no-confidence

(GMM) Robert Kubica says he is not offended by comments made by quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari's Vettel said that while he is happy 34-year-old Kubica is returning to F1 after an eight year recovery, "there are also young drivers who deserve a chance".

Kubica, whose burgeoning F1 career was interrupted by a 2011 rallying crash, says he is not offended.

"Everyone has their own opinion," he told Polish radio RMF FM.

"Not everyone has to be happy that I am coming back. Certainly when it comes to other drivers, it's normal that the competition is big," Kubica said.

"You also can't really say that Vettel is a lot younger than me. On the other hand, there are a lot of young drivers who are entering formula one — my teammate (George Russell) for example," he added.

Brawn: This year’s aero lessons very important for 2021

The Williams team tested a 2019 wing this past year

Motorsport chief Ross Brawn is adamant that the less complex front wing next season is part of a bigger picture.

The new front wing rules were devised in an effort to reduce the turbulence or so-called ‘dirty air’ caused by this generation of F1 car and their highly intricate front wings which, as a result, has made it difficult for drivers to follow closely and to overtake.

But some teams have built and tested the wings, done the maths and say it’s a waste of time – claiming the changes will hardly be felt – and also question why the need to squander money on developing cars that will be obsolete in 2021. Depending on who you believe – Red Bull’s Helmut Marko in this instance – it has cost teams over $15-million to produce these wings!

In his season summary, Brawn addressed the issue, “What we learn from this aero program will be very important for the next bigger step, in 2021. The point to stress is it’s a philosophy and a culture, not just a one-stop solution."

“If we don’t achieve everything we want to achieve with these changes, we’ll learn from it, press on and carry on with the next phase of changes and we’ll keep doing that until we get the cars in a form when they can race each other much more effectively, which they can’t at the moment."

“It’s useful to see if the teams have been able to evolve and take different directions because we don’t want to discover that in 2021."

While some teams cite no difference at all, Brawn is taking a wait-and-see attitude, “Until the cars run, we don’t know what solutions they have made, but from predictions, we’re achieving about 20% improvement."

“So we’re about a quarter of the way there to where we think we could be. But it’s not a one-stop shop in the sense that you do this and then you don’t touch it anymore," explained Brawn.

Brawn: Teams will have over a year to work on 2021 cars

2021 F1 Car Concept

While the Formula 1 world waits impatiently for direction on regulations for 2021 and beyond, motorsport chief Ross Brawn has revealed that the delays have been by intent, in an effort to try and balance the opportunities available to teams irrespective of resources.

In a way, rule makers are caught between a rock and a hard place with regards to the rules deadline, too soon may benefit the big budget teams – Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull – to the detriment of the minnows. However the same could be said if the rules are released too late, hence timing is critical.

In his end of the season review, Brawn explained, “The FIA and ourselves have issued a framework of what the car could be like with tasks for each team to look at aspects of it. It’s not enough for teams to go off and start designing a car, we’re purposefully trying to hold back on that."

“We don’t want teams with a lot of resource to gain a march on those who don’t. But it’s a difficult balance because there is a perfectly valid argument that the later you leave the issuing of the information, the more it suits the teams with a lot of resource."

“The teams will have about a year or so to work on the designs of these cars, I think that’s the right sort of timescale. Once they’ve designed their 2020 cars, they need to be able to focus on 2021," added Brawn.

Simple maths suggests that a “year or so" from now is circa end of next season, upon which teams will have the double headache of embarking on an all-new project while maintaining their race program at the same time.

On the upside for fans, sweeping regulation changes can tinker with the pecking order as his own BrawnGP team proved in 2009 with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.

“Whenever you introduce fairly major conceptual change in the regulations, the opportunity exists for a team to devote its resource to that project and leapfrog a year – accept where it is and that it might not be the greatest year – in favor of jumping up to where they want to be the following year," reasoned Brawn.

Verstappen: Newey is heavily involved with the RB15

Adrian Newey

While Honda seek to build a decent engine, Red Bull star Max Verstappen is happy Adrian Newey is deeply involved in the production of next year’s RB15, the car that will take the team into their new era.

In an interview with Motorsport-Total, Verstappen revealed, “It’s always very good news when Adrian Newey gets involved with something."

Verstappen continued, “Of course we have to build a good car, of course, but a lot will depend on how good the new Honda engine is, I’m hopeful, but I also want to stay realistic, and we have to wait and see what the power unit is really capable of."

“I think this year has already been pretty good. They have taken a lot of engines just because they could because they were at the back or something happened. I prefer, maybe, to win a race and then blow up in one than be consistently slow."

Ironically the last races with Renault, the engine supplier he lambasted on a regular basis, were his best races and his best spell of the year, finishing on the podium in all five of the last races, including a superb win in Mexico to add to the famous win in Austria.

But heading to 2019 the 21-year-old is playing down expectations, “It all looks very promising but I want to be realistic. First, we still need to build a car, and then the engine should be reliable as well, and powerful." Grandprix247