Latest F1 news in brief

Will Renault engines really make McLaren into winners next year? Alonso said he will only drive in 2018 where he can fight for wins.

Alonso wants to be 'loyal' to McLaren
McLaren, Renault waiting for Toro Rosso decision
'No panic' despite bad race at Monza – Vettel
Force India in talks with Perez sponsors
Hamilton agrees to test on Thursday
Renault should not 'go crazy' over Monza
Ultra Soft tires favored for Singapore GP

Alonso wants to be 'loyal' to McLaren
(GMM) Fernando Alonso says he wants to be "loyal" to McLaren as he weighs up his future in F1.

Boss Zak Brown said before departing Monza that he thinks it's "likely" the Spaniard will sign a new deal for 2018, so long as McLaren dumps Honda and switches to Renault power.

Alonso told Spain's Antena 3 broadcaster the day after the Italian grand prix: "McLaren is in a difficult situation because for three years it has been very uncompetitive.

"I think three years of not being competitive is the limit for a team like McLaren — one of the best in F1 history. Starting next year, I think it's going to change.

"I don't know what will happen, but I'm very optimistic.

"One option is to change the engine. I will wait for their decision before taking mine.

"I want to be loyal to the team as we have been through difficult times together. When they decide and they know the package they will have, I will make a decision," Alonso added.

The 35-year-old said he expects to know of McLaren's decision "this week".

When pressed about his desire to remain 'loyal' to McLaren, Alonso continued: "I'll give them a chance. We have shared very hard times together.

"I feel part of the team and I think they deserve it."

McLaren, Renault waiting for Toro Rosso decision

The Renaults were slow as pigs on the long Monza straights. This is the engine McLaren wants? Let's not forget that the Renault Red Bull is running is not the same as the Renault engines McLaren will get. Red Bull's Renaults are specially modified by Mario Illien.

(GMM) The ball is in Red Bull's court as the McLaren-Honda saga rolls on.

As the teams packed up in Monza, it seemed clear that McLaren and Honda were set to split.

"I'm still trying to get a good performance from us to convince them (to stay)," Honda's Yusuke Hasegawa said on Sunday. "But I'm not sure it will be enough."

Indeed, the rhetoric from bosses Zak Brown and Eric Boullier indicates that the Woking team's patience is definitely up.

"McLaren has always reached its targets. Honda have never reached theirs," Boullier declared.

But although believed willing to take a $100 million per year hit by canceling its Honda sponsorship, McLaren cannot simply quit the deal.

That's because it needs an engine supplier to switch to — and Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault are all fully-subscribed with three partner teams apiece.

So McLaren is trying to convince Toro Rosso and its owner Red Bull to give up the Faenza team's customer Renault deal in order to keep Honda in F1.

"The situation is complicated because it's not just about McLaren," Boullier said.

"We also need to consider what is best for the whole of formula one. All parties to the negotiations understand this. I cannot tell you any more about it."

McLaren executive Zak Brown said: "The ideal scenario is where everyone is smiling at the end.

"But to get there Toro Rosso has to play along.

"We need to know what we are doing and where we are going, because we're now in a timeframe that affects the design of the car for next year," he added.

Renault advisor Alain Prost said of the French supplier: "We are ready.

"But first, Toro Rosso, McLaren and Honda have to agree," he told Bild newspaper.

'No panic' despite bad race at Monza – Vettel

Ferrari brought their latest most powerful engine and still Mercedes buried them at Monza. The Aldo Costa designed Mercedes is just too good and Ferrari now know it.

(GMM) Sebastian Vettel says there will be "no panic" at Ferrari after a bad home race at Monza.

The German lost his long championship lead to Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in the Italian grand prix, following a second consecutive defeat to the Briton.

The Italian press said it was a "cold shower" for Ferrari at home, while team president Sergio Marchionne called it "embarrassing".

But Niki Lauda, the Mercedes team chairman, thinks Ferrari simply made a fundamental setup mistake at Monza.

"Marchionne told me that he was not satisfied with the setup," the F1 legend told Kronen Zeitung newspaper.

"I think they made a mistake, because under normal circumstances we would never have run away like that," Lauda added.

"The normal difference between Mercedes and Ferrari is one, two tenths per lap, but this time it was double."

Ferrari's Vettel agrees that Monza was a one-off for Ferrari.

"We have a very strong car — very strong," he told La Repubblica newspaper. "We will have a great season finale, I'm sure of that."

Vettel confirmed Lauda's suspicion that it was the car setup that derailed his challenge at Monza.

"Since the start I did not feel the car and in the last 20 laps I struggled a lot.

"It was just a bad race. I'm not worried about the future — I'm optimistic. In spite of the numbers and the odds, the championship is still very long and we will not disappoint the people who want us to do well," he added.

However, of the seven remaining circuits, four of them might be said to favor Mercedes on paper — Sepang, Suzuka, Austin and Abu Dhabi.

"Things on paper do not interest me," Vettel insisted. "As well as what is on paper, there is the extra element of competition that makes a difference.

"In short, the more difficult it is, the more fun it is. In sports, the easy things are boring," he added.

Force India in talks with Perez sponsors

Force India lives off of the Carlos Slim money they get to run Perez

(GMM) Force India looks set to keep Sergio Perez on board for 2018.

Despite his on and off-track clashes with teammate Esteban Ocon, the Mexican driver had said recently he hoped his future would be decided by Monza.

Now, the parties are targeting Singapore in two weeks.

"There's not much left to agree with Checo (continuing)," sporting boss Otmar Szafnauer said.

As for the long delay in announcing the deal, however, he explained: "I don't think it's a secret that since he (Perez) started racing, he has had Mexican sponsors.

"So the difficult thing is that with Checo you almost have to do two contracts," Szafnauer added.

"We agree completely with Checo, but we must also look to the side with his supporters."

However, the 2018 'silly season' remains in a state of flux, particularly with Perez and Ocon at loggerheads and McLaren and Toro Rosso yet to even confirm their engine suppliers.

It means someone like the Mercedes-backed Pascal Wehrlein is having to wait for now.

"We are looking for opportunities (for Wehrlein)," Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda told Speed Week, "but nothing is decided yet.

"It changes every day, because no one knows if Toro Rosso will have a different engine or what is going on with Force India.

"So for the moment, everything is still open," Lauda added.

Hamilton agrees to test on Thursday
(GMM) Lewis Hamilton has agreed to help Pirelli with tire testing later this week.

The triple world championship openly admits to disliking track testing, and often pulls out of scheduled sessions with injury or illness.

But after winning his second race on the trot last weekend and taking over the championship lead from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton has now leapt at the chance to test at Paul Ricard.

"I've got the test later this week which is very rare for me — I'm not a tester," the Mercedes driver said.

"I'm looking forward to it. I offered to do it. So I'm looking forward to that — kind of."

The test will take place on Thursday.

Renault should not 'go crazy' over Monza

Hulkenberg says the Renault engine had no top-end power to fight at Monza

Nico Hulkenberg says Renault should not "go crazy" over its performance at the Italian Grand Prix, as the team lacked straight line speed and he struggled for balance.

Hulkenberg and Renault arrived at Monza with encouraging results behind them, having finished sixth in Britain and Belgium, giving the German a confidence boost.

However, as expected, both Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer were restricted by Renault's straight line speed deficit, while Hulkenberg's troubles were accentuated by an ill-handling car.

After failing to challenge for the top 10 in qualifying or the race, Hulkenberg is already focusing on the next round in Singapore, which should be more favorable.

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to make into the points, as the race was a bit of a struggle," said Hulkenberg, who finished a lapped 13th, as Palmer retired with a transmission issue.

"As we had anticipated, we lost out on top speed, meaning we couldn't fight with the cars ahead. I was also struggling with the balance, so overall it was a tough race.

"That said, I don't think we need to go crazy over the performance. We need to look ahead to Singapore and focus on the next Grand Prix."

Renault Managing Director Cyril Abiteboul is also hopeful that the team can return to its pre-Italian Grand Prix level at upcoming races.

"We were expecting a difficult Grand Prix," he said.

"We did everything within our means to get Nico into the points, [but] with the pace we had, it wasn't possible; the balance of the car simply wasn't there throughout the weekend.

"We hope that the upcoming races will play more to our strengths."

Meanwhile, Hulkenberg drew level with Adrian Sutil on the all-time list for most starts without a podium last weekend, both drivers having taken part in 128 races.

Most Formula 1 starts without a podium (i.e. the most overrated drivers of all-time):

Nico Hulkenberg / 2010, 2012-2017 / 128 starts
Adrian Sutil / 2007-2011, 2013-2014 / 128 starts
Pierluigi Martini / 1984-1985, 1988-1995 / 119 starts
Philippe Alliot / 1984-1990, 1993-1994 / 109 starts
Pedro Diniz / 1995-2000 / 98 starts
Ukyo Katayama / 1992-1997 / 95 starts
Jonathan Palmer / 1983-1989 / 83 starts
Marc Surer / 1979-1986 / 82 starts
Vitantonio Liuzzi / 2005-2007, 2009-2011 / 80 starts
Piercarlo Ghinzani / 1981, 1983-1989 / 76 starts

Ultra Soft tires favored for Singapore GP
Formula 1 tire supplier Pirelli has revealed drivers' choices for the Singapore Grand Prix, with teams loading up on the Ultra Soft rubber, as expected.

Pirelli matched its 2016 selection of Ultra Softs, Super Softs and Softs for this year's event at the Marina Bay Circuit, which will be held from September 15-17.

Most drivers (13) have selected 10 sets of Ultra Softs, with Haas pair Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen the most conservative, picking eight sets.

Super Soft selections range from one to four, with Haas taking the most, given its Ultra Soft allocation, while Soft selections range from one to two.

Formula 1 championship rivals Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel differ only in that the Ferrari driver has one more set of the Ultra Soft tires, and the Mercedes driver one more set of Super Softs.

As usual, drivers were free to pick 10 out of 13 compounds; a set of Ultra Softs will be held for Q3, and a set of Super Softs and Softs for the race (one of which must be used).