Latest F1 news in brief

Jolyon Palmer looks worried. He should be.

Palmer has 'no explanation' amid rumors
Still 'too early' for contract talk – Bottas
Honda admits 'test bench' problem
Ferrari not ready to talk 2018 contracts
Boullier: Late Canada exit 'gut-wrenching'
Verstappen 'worried' about 2018 prospects
Ericsson: Canada result 'maximum' for Sauber

Palmer has 'no explanation' amid rumors
(GMM) Jolyon Palmer says he has "no explanation" for his struggle to keep up with his teammate Nico Hulkenberg at Renault so far in 2017.

Team boss Cyril Abiteboul recently gave the Briton a hurry-up, amid rumors a mid-season driver change – potentially involving tester Sergey Sirotkin or even Robert Kubica – might be on the cards.

Palmer, who is yet to score a single point this year, said the rumors are not putting pressure on him.

"What puts pressure on is not putting in good performances," said Palmer.

"The way to stop the rumors is to do well on track and hopefully I can do that."

As for what has caused his 2017 struggle, however, Palmer said he isn't sure.

"I have no explanation," the 26-year-old is quoted by Speed Week.

"I don't think I've done anything wrong. There are just small things that make the difference," Palmer added. "I just have to drive as well as I can — what happens on the other side of the garage doesn't matter."

This week, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve lashed out at his Canadian countryman Lance Stroll, suggesting the 18-year-old doesn't belong in F1.

He said F1 is now so safe that the grid is filled with pay-drivers.

"In the past, we were dealing with guys who were so passionate they were willing to risk their lives," Villeneuve told Die Welt newspaper.

"Now, fathers actually want their sons to race, even if they don't have the talent — a formula one cockpit is safer than a motorbike or skiing," he said.

Palmer's father is British motor racing circuit mogul Jonathan Palmer, while Stroll's F1 career is funded by his billionaire father Lawrence Stroll.

Still 'too early' for contract talk – Bottas

Valtteri Bottas

(GMM) Valtteri Bottas says it is still "too early" to talk about the possible extension of his contract.

After Nico Rosberg's shock retirement, Mercedes signed the Finn only for 2017 and there have been rumors Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel could move to the German team to replace him.

However, team management and Lewis Hamilton have in recent days hailed the new dynamic within Mercedes, raising the potential of a 2018 contract for Bottas.

"Of course I hope to stay at Mercedes," Italy's Sky broadcaster quotes the 27-year-old as saying.

"But it's still too early to talk about it. I'm thinking about doing well day by day, race by race so I'm focusing on the present," Bottas explained.

"If I do well in the future then it will be downhill."

Bottas, however, agrees that his relationship with Hamilton is on track.

"We will get to know each other better during the season, because before this year I didn't know Lewis well," he said.

"We are definitely very different. I like to stay in a calm environment, at home with my family. I care very much about my privacy, while Lewis is more social and good around people.

"But we have a very professional relationship and respect, but at the same time we want to beat each other on the track. We accept this and can work together well.

"I think there's a great team spirit," he added.

As for Mercedes' 2017 season, Bottas said he is happy about how the team fought back in Canada after a more difficult outing in Monaco.

"The season is still very long," he said, "but the main thing was to be back after Monaco where Ferrari was clearly quicker than us.

"We improved a lot after Monaco, making good progress and finding a better setup and also with the tires.

"We're expecting a very close fight in the championship, so every little progress is very important."

Honda admits 'test bench' problem

Yusuke Hasegawa explains that Honda is lost

(GMM) Honda has given an explanation about the extent of its struggle so far in 2017.

The signs are growing stronger by the day that McLaren has now decided to dump its hapless engine supplier mid-contract.

"The rhetoric has changed," former technical boss Mike Gascoyne told British television Sky. "It just sounds like a decision has been made."

Some think dumping Honda, and switching to customer Mercedes power, could be a desperate effort by the Woking team to hang onto its frustrated top driver Fernando Alonso.

Asked if Honda or Mercedes power would make a difference, Alonso said: "I think it doesn't make any change to my decision."

Nonetheless, it is believed the final straw for McLaren was the days before Montreal, when Honda informed the team that a planned upgrade would not be delivered on time.

Honda chief Yusuke Hasegawa now explains: "We have not managed to get the right conditions on the test bench.

"Now we need to understand why there is a difference between the test bench and the track," he is quoted by Osterreich newspaper.

Some believe Alonso's team choices in F1 are severely limited for 2018, raising the prospect of a full-time switch to Indycar.

"I've said many times, a third world championship is still my biggest priority," the Spaniard insists.

"I have developed my skills in the last 16 years to drive F1 cars, so it's still the best thing that I can drive.

"If I cannot succeed here and win this third world championship, I still love motor racing and I will race in any series," Alonso added.

Ferrari not ready to talk 2018 contracts

No rush to re-sign Vettel, he's staying

(GMM) Ferrari has refused to comment on the contractual status of its F1 drivers.

Both championship leader Sebastian Vettel and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen are out of contract at the end of the year.

Many believe German Vettel will obviously stay in 2018, while there have been reports that Ferrari is now considering a new one-year deal for Finn Raikkonen.

But Vettel said in Canada that he is fully focused on the title campaign at present, and it is a sentiment echoed by his boss Maurizio Arrivabene.

"We are not thinking about contracts now, we are thinking about the championship," said the Italian.

"As I have said many times, we are all working together, including the drivers, we are very focused on our job and I have to say the contract is not an issue."

Arrivabene also played down suggestions Ferrari had decided on a clear driver hierarchy for the rest of 2017, particularly amid suggestions Raikkonen was deliberately disadvantaged through pit strategy in Monaco.

"As Ferrari we are looking to the constructors' championship," he said. "The drivers' championship is their job.

"They are free to do it until the numbers are going clearly in one direction or the other. In that case, we apply our rules of engagement. But not now, and not in Monaco," Arrivabene added.

Boullier: Late Canada exit 'gut-wrenching'

Boullier gutted

McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier has described the team's late race failure at the Canadian Grand Prix as "gut-wrenching", adding that its current situation is "not good enough".

McLaren's 2017 campaign has been beset by a lack of reliability and performance, causing strained relations between the team and power unit partner Honda.

Fernando Alonso (hydraulic leak) and Stoffel Vandoorne (MGU-H) were both hindered during practice, though were able to make progress across the opening laps of the race.

Alonso held 10th spot but slowed along the back straight with three laps remaining due to a loss of oil pressure, caused by a power unit problem, denying the team its first point of the season.

"For the first time this season, running in 10th place within spitting distance of the flag, we dared to hope," commented Boullier.

"OK, what we were daring to hope for were hardly rich pickings: a solitary point for Fernando, who had driven superbly all afternoon, as he's driven superbly for the past two-and-a-half years.

"But, after so much toil and heartache, even that single point would have felt like a victory.

"And then came yet another gut-wrenching failure. It's difficult to find the right words to express our disappointment, our frustration and, yes, our sadness.

"I'll say only this: it's simply, and absolutely, not good enough."

Stoffel Vandoorne finished a lapped 14th in the sister MCL32, explaining post-race that he felt like a "sitting duck" amid Honda's power deficit.

McLaren remains the only team yet to score a point in 2017.

Verstappen 'worried' about 2018 prospects

Max Verstappen wants more power

Max Verstappen has admitted that he is getting "worried" about his and Red Bull's prospects in 2018, amid engine supplier Renault's current performance.

Verstappen jumped from fifth to second at the start of last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix but retired just a few laps into the race due to an Energy Store failure.

Red Bull added several new parts to its car for the event, which both Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo praised, but they were still over a second away from pole position.

Verstappen reiterated that this is largely down to a lack of progress on Renault's side, with the French manufacturer ruling out major gains until 2018.

Given the still sizeable deficit to Mercedes and Ferrari, Verstappen is concerned that even 2018 could be too early for Red Bull to push for the title again.

"It's clear to see the car got better, now we have to wait on engine power," Verstappen told the chat show Peptalk, aired on Dutch TV channel Ziggo Sport.

"As you might have heard, there will not be any updates this year, and that's something I worry about, because Renault promised that.

"We haven't received a lot of updates in 2017, which is a pity, and causes me to worry about next year.

"I want to win and I think the team is capable of winning.

"This year we wanted to fight for the title, but we are far away from are target now, which is of course not something you want to happen, so we have to work."

Verstappen added that he did his best to keep his cool following the retirement, his third in five races, having initially smashed his wheel in frustration as he ground to a halt.

"Everything just needs to work, you should get to the finish," he added.

"It's up to the package to see which position you can finish in.

"I've had these kind of things in karting, but it is unnecessary to express your anger to the team.

"They know that it's not nice to have a retirement and they all apologized to me, but as a driver, it makes no sense to shout at the team and so on."

Verstappen holds sixth in the Drivers' standings, just one point clear of Force India's Sergio Pérez, with Red Bull third in the Constructors' battle, over 100 points down on Mercedes.

Ericsson: Canada result 'maximum' for Sauber

Marcus Ericsson

Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson believes he extracted the maximum from his car during a "tough weekend" for the team at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Sauber, powered by year-old Ferrari engines, struggled for performance at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with Ericsson starting 19th, ahead of only team-mate Pascal Wehrlein, who crashed out of Q1.

Ericsson ran an Ultra Soft/Super Soft strategy, making his sole pit-stop during the Virtual Safety Car phase, and trailed home in 13th place.

"Overall it has been a tough weekend, but I got the maximum out of the car in the race," said Ericsson.

"We made a step forward with our tire management throughout the race [and] the pace that I had was similar to our direct competitors for most parts of the race.

"Now we have to build on that and take those insights with us to Baku."

Wehrlein started from the pit lane after his car was withdrawn from parc ferme, a result of his Q1 crash, with a new rear wing damaged in the contact.

He brought up the rear of the pack, crossing the line a twice-lapped 15th.

"It was a difficult weekend, for one because of the crash in qualifying, and also because I could not keep up with the lap times of the competition," he rued.

"We have to make sure that we understand the reason for that."