Latest F1 news in brief

Daniil Kvyat not happy with teammate Sainz Jr.

Sainz Jr., Kvyat relationship hits road bump
Alonso not ruling out 2018 Indycar switch
Championship 'long enough' for Hamilton win – Lauda
Lauda agrees 25 races too many for F1
Sainz Jr. 'sure' Renault will improve 2017 engine
Stroll 'worst F1 rookie ever' – Villeneuve
Wolff delights in Mercedes 1-2 in Canada
Sainz Jr. gets three-place Baku grid drop
Vettel 'one lap short' of snatching podium

Sainz Jr., Kvyat relationship hits road bump
(GMM) The relationship between Toro Rosso drivers Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat has hit a bump in the road.

In Montreal qualifying, Spaniard Sainz hit out about supposed unfair treatment when it came to getting an aerodynamic 'draft' on the straight.

"We change the order the cars go out at every race and everyone in the team knows it," Kvyat said.

"From my side everything is clear, so if he is brave, he should come and talk to me. But it seems that he prefers to talk to me through journalists.

"From my side I have nothing to say to him. I know that I behaved properly.

"In Baku he should be behind me but now I'm not sure I want to work with him after everything he said. I'm not sure that we want to cooperate in the qualifying," Kvyat added.

Alonso not ruling out 2018 Indycar switch

Alonso will not run IndyCars in 2018 – he is just using the rumor to ensure McLaren switch to Mercedes engines

(GMM) Fernando Alonso is no longer ruling out quitting F1 at the end of the year.

Earlier, the Spaniard said that despite the difficulty of his last three seasons with McLaren-Honda, he was fully committed to trying to win a third title beyond 2017.

But that was before he obviously enjoyed the experience of skipping Monaco and being competitive in the fabled Indy 500.

So when asked if he might switch full-time to the Indycar series for 2018, he said on Sunday: "Why not? I'm very open to anything.

"I would be lying if I said I know what will happen next year."

Marc Surer, a former F1 driver and now commentator for German television Sky, said he thinks a full Indy switch is actually a probably outcome for Alonso.

"Basically, there are only three ways for Fernando," he said.

"He either stays at McLaren-Honda, he returns to Renault, or he does a full season in Indycar.

"On the normal (Indy) tracks he would beat his opponents, and he has shown at Indianapolis that he can learn about the ovals.

"Alonso wants to win races again and he can most likely do that in Indycar," Surer added.

Championship 'long enough' for Hamilton win – Lauda

Hamilton has Aldo Costa designing his car. It is the best on the grid. How can he lose?

(GMM) Lewis Hamilton is back in the fight for the world championship.

That is the news from Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda, after last week saying the Briton needed a retirement from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in order to have a real chance.

"No, that was exaggerated," the F1 legend told Osterreich newspaper.

"The championship is still long enough. Hopefully the Hamilton-Vettel duel will remain tense all the way to the end."

Lauda was speaking in Montreal, where a troubled race for Ferrari's Vettel allowed Hamilton to close the points deficit from 25 to just 12 points.

"Sebastian was unfortunate," said the Austrian, "but Lewis dominated from the start and our car was the best."

It was a clear turnaround for Mercedes, after the Monaco slump.

"The guys back at the factory have worked so hard to fix what we had in the last race, to bring it here and give it to the Ferraris," said Hamilton.

The British driver said Canada was a "blow" to Ferrari, but German Vettel said he is not worried.

"For Baku I am comforted," he said, "because we could have had a better result here."

Lauda agrees 25 races too many for F1

Lauda (R) agrees 25 races too many

(GMM) Niki Lauda has backed top drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton over criticizing plans to expand the F1 race calendar.

Under the watch of new F1 owners Liberty Media, the schedule will increase from 20 to 21 races in 2018, amid apparent plans for up to 25 grands prix in the near future.

Spaniard Alonso has said that if that happens he will quit F1, and Montreal winner Lewis Hamilton said at the weekend: "I understand what Fernando's saying and tend to agree with him."

With a similar opinion is Lauda, an F1 legend who doubles as Mercedes' team chairman.

"21 races is the maximum," the great Austrian told Osterreich newspaper.

"More would be nonsense, as F1 would become like the Ski world cup, where people are overloaded."

Meanwhile, Lauda rubbished Eddie Jordan's recent claim that Mercedes intends to quit F1 after the 2018 season.

Asked how he responds to the former F1 team owner's comments, Lauda said: "It's best not to at all. But he doesn't know what he's saying."

Sainz Jr. 'sure' Renault will improve 2017 engine

Sainz Jr.

(GMM) Carlos Sainz Jr. has responded to claims Renault will no longer update its engine in 2017.

Paddock rumblings in Montreal suggested that amid pressure from customers Red Bull and Toro Rosso, Renault was struggling to deliver a scheduled mid-season upgrade for its turbo V6.

But it is now reported Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul has informed that the next major engine upgrade will in fact not be until 2018.

Asked about that, Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz Jr. said in Montreal: "We expect updates from Renault.

"We are not putting pressure on them, because we know that nothing good will come of that.

"We are partners, and we will wait as long as necessary. But I am sure they will find a way to increase the efficiency of the engine," the Spaniard added.

Stroll 'worst F1 rookie ever' – Villeneuve

L=Is Lance Stroll the worse F1 rookie ever? His reasoning is that teammate Massa is washed up and over the hill, yet Stroll qualifies 10 places behind Massa.

(GMM) Jacques Villeneuve has ramped up his criticism of countryman Lance Stroll, following a difficult opening third of the 18-year-old Canadian's rookie F1 season.

Before the season, 1997 world champion Villeneuve actually defended Stroll, saying he deserved his Williams seat despite the millions in funding provided by his billionaire father Lawrence.

Stroll then finally broke through for his first points of the season in front of his home crowd in Montreal.

"I always had confidence," he told Le Journal de Montreal afterwards.

"I also know there will be nothing easy about the next races. There's a lot of room for improvement and we're working hard for more good results," Stroll added.

But Stroll had actually qualified ten places behind his teammate Felipe Massa in Canada, and Villeneuve said that was enough evidence that Stroll's struggles are beyond the pale.

"He is more than a second slower than Felipe," he told the Austrian broadcaster ORF.

"Results speak for themselves. It is one of the worst rookie performances in the history of formula one," Villeneuve charged.

Stroll is aware of the criticism coming from observers like Villeneuve, but he said in Montreal: "I don't care what people think.

"I'm happy for me and the team. The rest is noise. People who do not like me will always find excuses."

Wolff delights in Mercedes 1-2 in Canada

A perfect weekend for Mercedes

Toto Wolff described a "great" feeling after Mercedes captured its first 1-2 finish of the 2017 campaign at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton dominated proceedings at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, leading all 70 laps from pole position, and was backed up by team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who finished 20 seconds behind.

The result lifted Mercedes back into the lead of the Constructors' Championship, eight points clear of Ferrari.
"That feels absolutely great," said Wolff.

"We have finally taken a 1-2 finish and done so at a track that we expected would be difficult for us – and which certainly was for us last year.

"Lewis delivered a stellar performance this weekend: a pole lap that was almost scary when you watch the onboard, then a totally dominant race.

"Likewise, Valtteri struggled with the car in qualifying but he got everything right in the race to complete a perfect day for our team."

Wolff voiced his admiration for Mercedes, after it bounced back from a sub-par weekend in Monaco, where Bottas and Hamilton finished only fourth and seventh respectively.

"Ever since Monaco, the guys and girls in the factory have been flat out," he commented.

"There was no weekend and people working 24/7 to better understand our problems – credit goes to so many people.

"So to bounce back in this way shows the caliber of the group that we have in the team."

Wolff stressed that Mercedes must remain level-headed in order to stay in front when the sport heads to the next round in Azerbaijan.

"The secret to this weekend was to keep the ball flat, stay calm, analyze our problems and come up with solutions," he explained.

"So this is the time to keep our feet on the ground, keep working hard and take it one race at a time.

"We saw some encouraging signs but we need to working in just the same way to translate them into more success in Baku."

Sainz Jr. gets three-place Baku grid drop

Sainz Jr. gets penalty

Carlos Sainz Jr. has been given a three-place grid penalty for the next round of the season in Azerbaijan after his first-lap clash with Romain Grosjean at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Sainz Jr. moved across Grosjean's car exiting Turn 2, with resulting contact sending Sainz Jr. sliding sideways towards Turn 3, where he hit Felipe Massa, sending both into retirement.

Grosjean, who recovered to 10th, labelled Sainz Jr.'s actions as "very, very dangerous", and the Toro Rosso driver apologized to his Haas and Williams rivals after the race, saying he was caught out by his blind spot.

"I had a good start and was in P12, trying to overtake Fernando [Alonso] around the outside of Turn 2," said Sainz Jr., as he recalled the first few hundred meters to the race.

"He got better traction than me out of there so I focused on positioning myself to try and attack him into Turn 3 and, all of a sudden, I touched with a Haas that was on my right-hand side.

"I have to say I never saw the car there, it's simply a dead angle in my mirrors so I never knew he was there. If I had realized I was there, of course I would've been more careful and left some space.

"Once we collided I was just a passenger, crashed into the wall and that was the end of my race.

"I'd like to say sorry, especially to Felipe, who received a touch from me…"

After reviewing the incident, the stewards handed Sainz Jr. a three-place drop.

"The driver of Car 55 (Sainz Jr.) claimed he checked his mirrors but that Car 8 (Grosjean) was in his blind spot and therefore he did not see it," read the stewards' statement.

"Notwithstanding this, and our conclusion that the collision was not caused by a deliberate act on the part of the driver of Car 55, we find that his assumption (as he stated) that there was no car alongside him and therefore he could move to that track position, was careless and potentially dangerous.

"This was evidenced by the further collision of Car 8 with Car 19 (Massa), a direct result of this incident, which caused the retirement of Car 19."

Sainz Jr. was also given two penalty points, bringing his total up to seven for the 12-month period.

Vettel 'one lap short' of snatching podium

Vettel drove through the field from last to 4th – it was the drive of the day

Sebastian Vettel reckons he was "one lap short" of claiming a podium finish at the Canadian Grand Prix, after recovering from the back of the field to fourth.

Vettel, having suffered a poor start, was attacked by Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen into Turn 1, the latter cutting back across his front wing, causing damage.

A few laps later, elements of the wing broke off, forcing Vettel to pit for a replacement nose, and dropping the championship leader to 18th position.

Ferrari put both of its drivers on a two-stop strategy, in a bid to make up lost ground, with Vettel rising to seventh, just behind team-mate Kimi RÃ¤ikkÃ¶nen.

Vettel slipped past RÃ¤ikkÃ¶nen, who hit brake trouble, before clearing the squabbling Force Indias of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon, which left him fourth.

He did his best to catch third-placed Red Bull driver late on, but fell six-tenths short, and felt that one more lap would have given him a shot at snatching a podium.

"I wanted to get a trophy and I didn't get one," lamented Vettel.

"Obviously the beginning of the race didn't go our way, but I was still believing that we could fight back and probably get a podium.

"At the end, when I came back to that group, I was fairly confident, but yeah, [I was] one lap short…"

Expanding on his clash with Verstappen, he added: "I don't think… three cars into Turn 1 doesn't work.

"I had a bit of a poor position, I need to have a look, maybe I could have done better.

"I was stuck… with Lewis in front, I couldn't really brake any deeper, otherwise I'd push him off, I had Valtteri on the left, and Max then suddenly appearing on the right.

"Max saw his gap, fair enough, and ran over my front wing, which you don't do on purpose, because the chance of a puncture is very high.

"In the end I was the one who had damage, which was a bit unfortunate."

RÃ¤ikkÃ¶nen held on to seventh, just ahead of Renault's Nico HÃ¼lkenberg.

"We had quite good speed after the [second] pit-stop and I was just getting behind the cars in front when the brakes went," he commented.

"It was not an easy day, a difficult first few laps, not very good starts, and then it was just hard to get past.

"Once we changed our tactics a bit, we had actually the speed difference, but then we had the brake issues… that's how it goes."

Vettel, who was voted 'Driver of the Day', now holds a 12-point title lead over race winner Lewis Hamilton, while Mercedes has moved eight points clear of Ferrari.