Latest F1 news in brief

Vettel choked yet again in the USGP – crashing while leading in Germany, spins in Italy, Japan and the USA – he's done

Vettel 'hurts' as title falls apart – Glock
Vandoorne to be Mercedes simulator driver
Ocon race seat 'up to Williams' – Wolff
Raikkonen happy to leave Ferrari after win
McLaren split helped Honda progress – Verstappen
Alonso slams Stroll after US GP clash
F1 checkered flag rules changed for 2019
Grosjean now two points away from F1 ban

Vettel 'hurts' as title falls apart – Glock
(GMM) Former F1 driver Timo Glock says he feels for Sebastian Vettel.

Although delaying Lewis Hamilton's 2018 title win for now, German Vettel's campaign nonetheless continued to fall apart in Austin as he spun early in the race in a clash with Daniel Ricciardo.

"This is the third time," the Ferrari driver told the German broadcaster RTL.

"It should not be this way, especially because we should have taken better advantage of the weaknesses of Mercedes."

Vettel said he is at least happy for his teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who ended a long winning drought.

"It was a tough week for the team. Only for me does the hard time seem to be not over," he explained.

Glock, now a pundit for German television, says that amid continuing criticism of Vettel, he feels for the quadruple world champion.

"You can see that it hurts him. I know him and I've rarely seen him like that," he said.

"He needs to find the reset and start again. The small mistakes must stop. The fact that Ferrari is back on Mercedes' level must at least give him a boost."

Vandoorne to be Mercedes simulator driver

Vandoorne auditioning to be Lewis Hamilton's future 'bitch' should Bottas tire of the job

(GMM) Stoffel Vandoorne will keep one foot in the world of formula one next year.

The Belgian has lost his seat at McLaren and will instead race for Mercedes' works Formula E team from 2019.

But he will also stay in touch with F1.

"We like Stoffel a lot," Gwen Lagrue, who is the head of Mercedes' driver development program and George Russell's manager, told RTBF.

"We need his expertise and his talent for simulator work, and we'll see in the future if this opens up other opportunities.

"He's still young and has a lot of talent. Stoffel's career does not stop," Lagrue added.

Ocon race seat 'up to Williams' – Wolff

Toto Wolff will have to beat Kubica's $10M check if he wants Ocon to drive for Williams

(GMM) It is up to Williams whether it selects Esteban Ocon to complete the British team's 2019 driver lineup.

That is the claim of Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss who says he has done his best to try to keep the French driver's F1 racing career alive for next year.

"The decision is not up to us, it's up to Williams to determine what they think is the best driver for them," he told Speed Week.

"As far as I know, Robert Kubica and some other drivers are still in the running and they all deserve a chance. So it's up to Williams to decide," Wolff said.

No matter what Williams decides, Wolff says Ocon will continue to be well looked after by Mercedes in the wake of his ousting from Force India.

"We are prepared and we have a plan B for Esteban," he said.

"I can assure you that he will be in a good car in 2020 because there are many teams that have expressed an interest in Esteban."

Raikkonen happy to leave Ferrari after win

In the post-race press conference Raikkonen said he is happy the Sauber shop is so close to home

(GMM) Kimi Raikkonen says he is "very happy" to join Sauber for 2019, even though he finally ended his winning drought on Sunday in Austin.

The Finn, who just turned 39, hadn't won for years until he triumphed at the US grand prix.

But he only has three races left for Ferrari before switching to Sauber, a midfield team.

Asked if he thinks Austin proves Ferrari should keep him, Raikkonen insisted: "I think people don't understand that I'm actually very happy where I'm going.

"I had my time with Ferrari, I won the championship with them. I won many races with them and for me, as a driver, I want different challenges, I want different things and I'm actually very happy to go there," he added.

Raikkonen has signed with Swiss-based Sauber for two years, meaning he will be 41 by the time the contract is up.

"It (Sauber) is roughly 40 minutes from my home," he said. "For sure my family will be happy, I'm happy to be with my family. I think it's probably the best thing. I wasn't really disappointed with the decision at any point."

McLaren split helped Honda progress – Verstappen

Verstappen looking forward to Honda power

(GMM) Max Verstappen admits he is getting excited about 2019.

Recently highly critical of Renault, the Dutchman finished second behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton in Austin.

He says Red Bull's chances for 2019 look good as the team switches its customer Renault engines for the new works Honda collaboration.

"I'm very excited about next year, because Honda is obviously very fast in qualifying now," he is quoted by Speed Week.

"Of course we want to finish this year as well as possible, but the whole team is already looking forward to the next season. Everyone is really motivated.

"The data coming from the test stands is very promising," Verstappen revealed.

He said Honda is making good progress now because it is getting full support from Red Bull, beginning with the Toro Rosso collaboration this year.

Verstappen says that is in stark contrast to the failed McLaren-Honda pairing of 2015-2017.

"They (Honda) have been able to do their own thing and build the engine to their liking. They no longer have to deal with the team they were dealing with," he said.

"Also, some new people have come on board, the management is new, and the whole thing looks very good.

"Of course we'll have to see how it develops, but it's going in the right direction and I'm happy about that."

Alonso slams Stroll after US GP clash

Lance Stroll – his daddy bought him an F1 team

(GMM) Fernando Alonso slammed Williams backmarker Lance Stroll after the US grand prix.

The McLaren driver's race in Austin was cut very short due to a clash with the French Canadian, whose father is the billionaire fashion mogul Lawrence Stroll.

"When you're in the middle of the group the truth is that the low level [of talent] you find there is strange," Alonso said.

He said the FIA is not currently interested in cutting out the sort of midfield antics he is complaining about.

"Until there is a very bad accident they won't do anything, but it's interesting that in another category you can enjoy racing with 34 cars with some amateurs and some 60 year old men and nothing happens," Alonso said.

"Here, we need to put up bumpers like in rental go-karts so we can just race."

He said he is not interested in whether the FIA penalized Stroll or not for the incident.

"The important thing is finishing the race or not," said Alonso.

"We arrived here on Monday, we're here until Wednesday, so it's nine days for 300 meters. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth."

F1 checkered flag rules changed for 2019

Raikkonen takes the checkered flag ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton at COTA on Sunday

(GMM) F1 has changed a long-standing rule about the iconic checkered flag.

In Montreal this year, the end of the Canadian grand prix was thrown into chaos when model Winnie Harlow accidentally waved the flag too early.

As the rules stand, whenever the physical checkered flag is waved, the race is over whether the official number of laps have been completed or not.

In response, the FIA has now replaced the checkered flag with a checkered flag light signal. The flag will still be waved, but it will only be symbolic.

Charlie Whiting played down the development.

"The black and white checkered light signal has been around for three years, and the flag will still be there," the F1 race director told Bild newspaper.

"But now the light will mark the official end of the race. It's partly a reaction to the incident in Montreal," he confirmed.

Grosjean now two points away from F1 ban

Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean has received a three-place grid penalty for Formula 1's Mexican Grand Prix after hitting Charles Leclerc and is now two penalty points from an automatic one-race ban.

Grosjean locked his wheels and drilled the Sauber driver on the opening lap of Sunday's United States GP, which spun Leclerc to the back.

The incident was investigated after the race, with the stewards opting to hand Grosjean a grid drop and one licence penalty point.

That puts Grosjean at 10 penalty points in the last 12 months, meaning he is only two away from a ban having been at risk of one already for a severe offence.