Latest F1 news in brief

Bottas will likely pass Vettel in the final standings and it will be another Mercedes 1-2

Bottas must 'believe' he can catch up – Coulthard
McLaren needs time to catch Red Bull – Boullier
Liberty 'don't want me at races' – Ecclestone
Schumacher family should tell 'truth' – Weber
Hamilton-Vettel duel to resume in 2018 – Berger
Formula One teams' costs rocket after rules changes
Sainz Jr. aims to 'hit the ground running'

Bottas must 'believe' he can catch up – Coulthard
(GMM) Former F1 driver David Coulthard has urged Valtteri Bottas to "work hard" to get back on terms with his teammate.

Not long after joining Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes this year, Finn Bottas appeared strong and he won in Russia and Austria.

But more recently, the 28-year-old has slumped.

"I experienced the same sort of difficult times when I was at McLaren with Mika (Hakkinen)," Coulthard, now a commentator for British television, told Ilta Sanomat newspaper.

"Valtteri just needs to work hard, find out where the gap to Lewis is and believe that he will be able to close it," the Scot added.

"Valtteri is a quick and talented driver," Coulthard continued. "As a person he is quiet and reserved, but he needs to think about his races and everything that brought him to this point and believe in himself.

"At the same time we also have to realize that he has one of the fastest ever drivers as his teammate."

McLaren needs time to catch Red Bull – Boullier

Can McLaren catch Red Bull with the same engine?

(GMM) McLaren will need some time to catch up with the top Renault-powered team in F1.

That is the claim of boss Eric Boullier, as the British team prepares to switch from Honda to customer Renault power for 2018.

Fernando Alonso, who is yet to sign a contract for next year, has said it is possible McLaren will win races in 2018 because Red Bull has also managed to do that with Renault engines.

But team boss Boullier is quoted by the Spanish daily Marca as warning that catching Red Bull might take some time.

"If you have a ten-year relationship with a partner, you obviously have a different starting point to us," said the Frenchman.

"But we are in the process of building that relationship now. It will take some time, but we are motivated to do our best.

"We are McLaren, we exist to win, so we're going to do everything to achieve that," Boullier added.

He also acknowledged that, after three seasons as the exclusive Honda partner, McLaren will now have a strong benchmark in the form of Red Bull next year.

"If you have the whole package – which means a good engine, the best car, people and driver – you should win. So for us the pressure is the same," he said.

"If another team has the same engine and you don't beat them, then you know something is wrong with the rest of the package," added Boullier.

Liberty 'don't want me at races' – Ecclestone

Carey and Ecclestone

(GMM) Bernie Ecclestone says Liberty Media is not making him welcome at grands prix.

F1's long-time supremo has attended a handful of races this year, after being stepped down as chief executive by his successor Chase Carey.

"Chase sent a message to one of the girls in the office to tell me that they haven't got so many offices at the circuits — only what the race promoter gives them," the 86-year-old, who will attend the Brazilian grand prix next month, told the Daily Mail.

"So basically they don't want me to come to races. It would have been just as easy to have said that to me. Anyway, I have obliged them," Ecclestone said.

He admits stepping away from the sport he oversaw for decades has been difficult, but he is moving on with his life by relocating from London to Switzerland.

Asked if leaving London will be a wrench, Ecclestone answered: "Yeah. It's a bit of a wrench not being involved in formula one, but you get used to it."

But he also said he thinks new F1 chief executive Carey is having a tougher than expected time running the sport without him.

"They (Liberty) haven't done anything yet as far as I can see," said the Briton.

"I got things done quietly. All they do is talk," Ecclestone said. "They said they wanted six races in America, for example.

"Chase had preconceived ideas of what needed to be done. But now he's on board, it isn't quite as easy as he thought. So I feel sorry for him," he added.

Schumacher family should tell 'truth' – Weber

Michael Schumacher

(GMM) Michael Schumacher's former manager thinks the family of the F1 legend should come clean with his millions of fans.

Almost four years after the seven time world champion's skiing crash, almost nothing is known about the extent of the now 48-year-old's brain injuries.

Concurrently, there are unconfirmed rumors Schumacher will be moved from Switzerland to the US, that his health condition is improving, and that he has relapsed into coma.

Willi Weber, who was Schumacher's long-term manager, blames the confusion on the great German's family and current management.

"I find it very unfortunate that Michael's fans do not know about his health. Why are they not being told the truth?" he asked.

Weber was speaking to the Munich-based newspaper TZ, shortly after an operation on his back.

"Formula one is just like my back now — painful," he said.

"It is now a Mickey Mouse show and nothing else. The sport has gone into the background," said Weber.

Hamilton-Vettel duel to resume in 2018 – Berger

Hamilton (Aldo Costa car) will beat Vettel (Mathias Binotto car) car again in 2018

(GMM) Gerhard Berger is predicting a "big battle" between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel for the 2018 championship.

The former F1 driver's prediction comes as the tension in this year's title battle fizzles, following Ferrari and Vettel's horror three-race tour through Asia.

But Berger says Vettel should not consider himself "a loser".

"Vettel should not feel as a loser of 2017," the former McLaren and Ferrari driver told Auto Bild.

"Ferrari made a giant leap from last season and put Mercedes under much more pressure than was expected. They are on the right track," Berger added.

"In 2018 there will be a big battle between Hamilton and Vettel, both of whom will have four world championship titles by then," he said.

Berger, now the DTM series boss, was speaking last weekend at the finale of the German touring car championship at Hockenheim.

The event was attended by Vettel himself, as the Ferrari driver watched over the progress of his younger brother Fabian in the Audi TT Cup support race.

When asked why Vettel's championship campaign collapsed so suddenly in 2017, Berger said: "It may be that Ferrari was surprised how well they were doing and put too much pressure on.

"If you develop faster than planned then the risk of defects increases," he added.

Formula One teams' costs rocket after rules changes

Rules changes to slow Mercedes has only made costs higher….and Mercedes still dominates

Next weekend Britain's Lewis Hamilton could secure his fourth Formula One title at the United States Grand Prix.

His Mercedes team is a staggering 145 points ahead of arch-rivals Ferrari despite the sport introducing rules this year which aimed to put the brakes on the dominance of a single outfit. They came at a hefty cost.

The new regulations were designed to make for closer racing by increasing aerodynamic and mechanical grip through the introduction of wider tires and wings.

According to one of the teams it has "rewritten" the rulebook and the impact is just as noticeable off track as on it.

But if some had hoped the rules might stop Mercedes from running away with the F1 championship they will have been disappointed. Ironically, they have also forced up its rivals' costs.

Only the frontrunners have had the resources to foot the bill from their cashflow whilst one of the outfits lower down the grid even had to get a driver to cover the cost.

Research by Christian Sylt has revealed that new regulations fueled a $218m increase in the F1 teams' costs in 2016. They rose 14.5% to hit a combined $1.7bn – the highest-ever total recorded in the sport. To put the increase in perspective, the 2016 F1 cost increase was equal to the entire IndyCar grid budget. More at BBC

Sainz Jr. aims to 'hit the ground running'

Carlos Sainz Jr. now in Renault colors

Carlos Sainz Jr. says he aims to "hit the ground running" with Renault as he prepares to make his first start for the manufacturer in the United States next weekend.

Renault confirmed in Singapore that Sainz Jr., who made his Formula 1 debut with Toro Rosso in 2015, would race for the team in 2018, on loan from Red Bull.

However, Renault then reached an agreement to split with Jolyon Palmer, enabling Sainz Jr. to move across from Toro Rosso for the upcoming Austin round.

Sainz Jr. is wary that he faces a "big challenge" but is hopeful of performing from the outset at the Circuit of the Americas.

"I'm very excited to joining the team and I hope to hit the ground running," said Sainz Jr.

"We have some hard work ahead of us going into Austin with lots of things to learn and many people to meet.

"I'm going to give everything to be on the pace as soon as possible even though I know it can take a bit of time to adapt, but I'm confident we can do it.

"It's a big challenge, but it motivates me. We have this last push for the season and I have to find where the limit of the car is, get used to the steering wheel, things like that.

"That's the procedure and I will embrace the challenge."

Sainz Jr. added that he expects to gain from Nico HÃ¼lkenberg's greater experience across the rest of 2017.

"We are very close together in the championship, but we haven't had too many on-track battles," said Sainz Jr., who has 48 points to HÃ¼lkenberg's 34.

"I'm really looking forward to working with Nico. I think he is a great driver and one of the most talented on the grid. He has lots of experience in Formula 1 so I will learn from him as soon as I can.

"Hopefully we can both help the team move further up in the championship before the end of the season."